Attack on Titan One-Shots

Come Home - Levi X Reader [Modern War AU]

Come Home - Levi X Reader

Modern War AU

You lay, your head resting on a soft pillow of green, leaves dappling the summer sky above you. The soft grass tickled your skin, the sun blocked from your view by a single leaf. Its golden rays shone out from behind the leaf, and the gentle breeze brushed against your skin. You took a deep breath, releasing it through your nose and imagining all of your pain, all of your worries, washed away in that one breath.

It used to work. It didn't any more.

Thoughts still remained in your head, untouched by your deep, calming breath. Worries, concerns, fears. You used to be able to send them away, ignore them, relax. But now they were determined to cling inside your mind, making you unable to feel anything less than worried.

It was all for him. You feared for him, for his safety, for his life. He could die out there, on the battlefield, and all you'd receive would be a letter or a phone call, telling you he was gone. Telling you that you'd never see him again. Just the thought of it made you miss him like crazy, as if he was already torn away from you. You prayed every single day that the war would end and he would come home to you.

Please come home.

You thought of his steely grey eyes, his guarded expressions that only you could break through to see his real emotions, his strong arms that held you close to him and made you feel safe, secure. His raven-black hair that you had once plaited while he was asleep as a joke - it was so soft to run your hands through. His height, which was taller than you, and therefore you made him feel taller than he was. His bruises and calloused hands from gruelling days of hard work and training in the army - small injuries that you took care of when he was home.

You loved him, loved everything about him.

Come back to me.

You missed him so much it hurt, a throbbing hole in your chest. You felt a tear run down your cheek, falling away onto a blade of grass. You closed your eyes, thinking of him. You wondered if his commander would be the one to break the news to you, should he be killed in the war. But you didn't really want to think about that - you wanted him to come home, and you had to hope for it. You weren't sure how you would be able to live otherwise.

Where would he be, now? The trenches, gun in hand, the metal cool and smooth against his rough hands? Head below the top of the trench, hiding in the dirt, gun raised and aimed over the top of the slope. Bullet in place, ready to fire, ready to kill. You knew it would kill, because his aim was perfect. He would never miss his target, as long as he could see it. Down on one knee, but not in the way you hoped he would one day be - instead, leaning over the hard ground, prepared to shoot at any moment. You hated to think of him like that, a trained gunman. He was trained to kill others, to send metal through their hearts, and it all seemed too violent to you. There wasn't enough peace in the world, and things like this only helped to make that worse.

Please look after yourself. Return to me.

You rolled onto your side, hearing a crackle as your arm brushed against a leaf, squashing it flat against the grass. It scratched your arm, so you reached to toss it away from you, watching the wind catch it and send it tumbling to a few metres away, where it fluttered to the ground. You ran your fingers through the blades of grass, thinking that it wasn't really fair to call them blades. They weren't weapons, not like those awful guns that the army, and the man you loved, would hold.

You remembered the day you had first met him. He hadn't seemed like the sort to go to a regular coffee shop - he looked like the type who was born into a wealthy family but still stole things for the fun of it. The leader of a gang, with everyone using his basement as a hideout. The one who bought all the cigarettes and alcohol for the party. But he wasn't like that at all - instead, he was one who drank his tea without milk or sugar, the one who couldn't get drunk, the one who sat in silence in the corner while everyone else partied. He was the man you had met in the street when you walked into him coming out of your favourite coffee shop as you'd been walking in - the man who had offered to go back inside the shop and buy you a drink, the man you had felt an instant attraction to. He was the one you wanted to marry sometime in your future, the one you truly loved, the one you could not imagine your life without.

But right now, you were without him. He was far away, and you didn't even know if his heart still beat, if his lungs still breathed, if his mind could still think of you. You knew that he was a survivor, and that he was likely to come home to you, but you didn't want to wait for it. You wished he was back with you now, promising never to leave your side again. You imagined him lying beside you on the grass, holding you close to him, kissing your cheek and whispering softly in your ear that he loved you, his eyes twinkling like the stars of a night sky and his hand gently caressing your face.

I wish you would come back soon.

One day, he would return to you - you knew it. And you would be waiting patiently until that day came, your love for him and the knowledge that he was strong enough to fight his way through and out of this awful war, would keep you going.

Come home, Levi.