Levi x Reader | Cold

Chapter Twenty-Five - Recover

Petra.

I feel my face redden out of anger and jump up immediately, his ankle hitting the bed forcefully. He gets up, walking towards me.

"Wait," he reaches for me and gets a hold of my shoulder, but I shrug him away. As I head for the door, I feel his body forcefully press against mine.

I fall back into the door and he turns me around so I'm facing him. He lifts my chin with two fingers and stares into my eyes with his slanted, steel ones.

"Estelle," he says. "It isn't what you think. He misinterpreted Petra's letter."

Shaking my head, I give him a weak smile. "And why would I believe you?"

"Why wouldn't you?" He asks. "We're childhood friends."

"What do you remember?" I ask.

"Everything."

"Prove it," I test.

"Oh?" He takes a pen from his desk and drops it before my feet, but quickly picks it back up, handing it to me.

He then pushes me lightly, but hard enough that I stumble, but holds me in place, putting a grip on my upper arm. Next, he takes off his Survey Corps jacket and puts it over my shoulders, a light smirk on his face as he presses his lips to my ear and whispers, "Stay with me."

Picking me up, he crashes down onto his bed with me on top of him. "Why are you clutching onto me so hard, cadet?" He teases, mimicking our past selves.

My face becomes dusted with red as he puts his knees to my sides and begins to kiss me softly, his eyes closed. I smile into the kiss and continue it, but he breaks it just as quickly.

When he breaks away, I decide its my turn. I nuzzle into his neck, humming the melody he played on the piano. I can tell his lips are parted by the way his jaw comes into contact to my skin.

He begins to hum the tune lightly in synchronization with me, and his skin is vibrating against my lips as he goes.

Once we finish the piece, he pulls me closer. "I haven't played in a while," he admits.

"I want to hear you," I reply, just as quietly. "You looked so cute when you fell off of that be-"

"Shut up," I can tell he's rolling his eyes from the tone of his voice.

I lay my head on his pillow and raise an eyebrow. "I never got to ask you, how were you and my Mom still talking to each other?"

He looks hesitant to reply, so I add, "Speaking of which, where did you even go?"

"Hold on," he mutters, as he grabs clothing and heads into the bathroom. He comes out with dark grey sweatpants hanging low on his waist, and a black t-shirt pulled over his chest.

After the longest minute of my life, he sighs and decides to start from the beginning. "After you left, your mother was talking to me about..." He pauses before continuing. "Marriage."

My eyes widen and I blush intensely.

"I told her we weren't really that serious, and she got so upset that she began lecturing me about how she could just see we were supposed to be together. She offered to let me stay the night," he stands up and walks over to his desk, pulling out a drawer. "Do you remember that letter?" He asks. "The one Jaegar gave you when you came?"

I nod, remembering the stained paper clearly.

"That was from me, and it was my reply to this..." He pulls out a familiar black journal, and I recognize it immediately.

"Y-you," I whisper, horrified. "You read it?!"

He slides my old diary back into his desk.

"After I stayed the night at your house and found it, I wrote to you and left to continue the plans I had. Being the brat you were, you never replied. I went to the undergrounds and ended up becoming a thug."

I stare at him questionably, but then burst out laughing. "A thug?" I double over on the mattress and cackle until my sides hurt.

He rolls his eyes and nods. "I had two friends, Farlan Church and Isabel Magnolia. We were caught by Erwin, eventually, and when he saw our skills with the 3D Maneuver Gear we stole, he forced us into joining the Survey Corps."

*Warning; Spoiler ahead for anybody reading 'Birth of Levi; A Choice With No Regrets' ; in the next paragraph, please skip it completely if you don't want a spoiler of the spin-off*

"We were treated like shit. After a little while, we went on a mission. They were impressed by my skills immediately, but during that time, Isabel and Farlan were killed. I'm not sure how," he admits, his voice sounding sullen.

"But after all of that, I became Lance-Corporal and well acquainted with Erwin. Your mother and I continued talking because she mailed me nonstop, asking if we were finally engaged and nonsense. Now I'm here."

"I'm sorry," I whisper, wrapping my arms around my legs.

"Don't be."

He sits with me on the bed, and we both lay down beside each other, looking up at the wall.

"You've changed a lot," he mutters.

"Yeah," I agree, and as I close my eyelids, Annie's face is shown in the darkness. "I don't want to believe that it's Annie."

"So you two were friends?" He inquires.

"Not exactly."

"I see."

I snuggle a little closer into his arm, smiling. "I'm glad Hanji made me talk to you," I admit.

He puts his lips against my forehead and holds me tight, wrapping an arm around my waist. I wince as his hard chest goes against my own fragile and bruised torso.

"Ouch," I whine, pushing him away.

Looking at me curiously, his attention darts to my now wrinkled shirt, and I can see he realizes what I was feeling. "Does it hurt?" He asks.

"Just a little," I lie.

"May I see it?"

I flinch and move farther away, flustered. "I'm not sure..."

"It isn't like that, you idiot," he rolls his eyes. "How serious is it?"

I lift up my shirt just past my midriff, and he sees the bruises that go from my ribs to my hip bone.

It's a horrible looking purple and red, but the blood is no longer there. I trace over the swollen bruises with my fingers, wondering if they'll be there forever.

"You're miraculous for surviving something like that," he comments. "With so many injured blood vessels in one place..."

I nod, looking down. "I wouldn't let myself die."

He presses his nose against mine, wrapping his arms around me. "I won't let you die, either."

[ A/N ]
Thank you for 8K reads! I decided I'm going to expand the story a little farther past the anime but there won't be any spoilers at this rate woohoo.
I wrote this yesterday so its up a little early~
Thanks again c: