Stoke The Fire (Levi X Reader)

1.

Reader POV

Reiner grabbed my wrist as I turned to stomp off toward the door of his apartment. We'd just been in another fight and I was planning to walk out and go get a drink to cool off before heading home but this was new, he was trying to stop me. I tried to yank my hand away but his grip tightened. "Reiner, let go."

He growled and dragged my arm, pinning me against the wall by slamming his other hand against it right beside my head. I looked up at him with wide eyes. We'd fought a lot, we weren't a good couple by any means but not once had he even gotten physical until today. What was different this time? Why was he being so mean?

"You're not leaving here until you take back what you said. I didn't cheat on you." He demanded and I flinched, bringing up my free hand to try and push him away by the chest. That didn't work either. He was bigger than me, heavier. I didn't have the strength to get away from him like that. "Yes you did, I saw you kiss her! You're a liar and a cheater and I hate you. Let me go!" My voice got louder and more distressed as I struggled to get out of his grip without making progress. I froze at the sudden change in his eyes at what I said, his grip tightening on my wrist to the point I was certain it would leave bruises the next day. "I said you're not leaving." He repeated, great... He's gone completely irrational.

I could feel tears stinging my eyes as they started to form and blur my vision. No, I couldn't let him see me cry because I was scared of him right now. I stopped struggling and did the only other thing I could think of to get away, bringing my knee up harshly between his legs to hit him where the sun don't shine. I felt the grip on my wrist loosen and I took the opportunity to slip my hand away and duck out from his other arm, running to the door, leaving my shoes behind. Good thing they were just some flip flops that could easily be replaced for cheap. Once I was out of his apartment, I ran down the hall and took the stairs rather than the elevator so I could move faster in case he tried to come after me. He didn't. Thank god. But I just kept running and running until I couldn't anymore.

I looked around me, tears staining my cheeks from crying while I'd been running. I didn't recognize where I was and it was starting to get dark. What the hell was I going to do? My feet hurt, and they were probably all scratched up and bleeding at this point if the dull stinging was anything to go by. "Miss, are you alright?" A male voice asked and I whipped my head around to see who had spoken.

A tall man with neatly combed blond hair and large, fuzzy eyebrows stood there. He was dressed in a police uniform and I let out a soft sigh, relaxing a bit knowing he was an officer and I wasn't going to get kidnapped or raped or anything by some stranger. "No... I don't know how to get home from here. My boyfriend... He..." I trailed off, looking down at the ground as my hands played with the hem of my shirt. Cops always made me a bit nervous but that wasn't the problem right now. I just didn't know what to say about Reiner and what had happened.

"If you're lost, tell me where you live and I'd be happy to give you a ride. And on the way, you can tell me about what happened with this boyfriend of yours." I only nodded at what he said and followed him to his cruiser, telling him my address as he helped me into the back. "May I ask your name, Miss? I'm Erwin, this is my partner, Le-"

"Levi?" I asked in surprise, scooting forward in the back seat to look through the little caged divider in shock at my childhood friend that I had lost contact with ages ago. He glanced back at me and I saw his eyes widen ever so slightly. "You know each other?" Erwin butted into the awkward staring contest. Levi cleared his throat and nodded, turning to face forward. "Levi and I were childhood friends. I was actually his only friend all the way until we graduated high school... Then we lost contact when he went off to a different college than me. I never expected he'd become a cop. He was always the school bad boy." I laughed, my worries and stress from earlier forgotten. I noticed the tips of Levi's ears turn the slightest shade of pink at my ranting. Even Erwin chuckled a bit.

"Well, this is news to me. I'm glad you're feeling a bit better already, miss..." He paused, waiting for me to fill in my name for him. "(Name)." "Miss (Name). Sorry to break up this little reunion, but you said something about your boyfriend doing something? You sounded very distressed, could you explain?"

I sighed and looked down, not noticing Levi whip his head back around to look at me at this news. "Well, we got into a fight, and it's not unusual, we really aren't a good match for each other at all. But it never got physical, it was always just some yelling and then I'd storm out and we'd cool down and be fine a few days later... But..." I trailed off, not sure how to put it. Aside from grabbing my wrist and pinning me to the wall, he didn't really do anything too harmful.

"But what?" Levi chimed in and I glanced up to see him glaring at me though I was pretty certain that look wasn't actually directed at me but more at my boyfriend. "He grabbed me and pinned me to the wall so I couldn't leave this time. I had to knee him where the sun don't shine just to get him to loosen his grip on my wrist enough so I could dip out and run off. And I just kept running and ended up lost. And you know the rest." I finished with a heavy sigh, feeling much better after getting that off my chest.

"Erwin, take us to my house." Levi said plainly, his tone leaving no room for arguements. Erwin nodded and took the next right instead of heading straight to where I could see my house coming up. "Hey, why are we going to your house?" I halfheartedly complained and nobody answered for a long moment until levi finally spoke up again. "Domestic abuse is serious. I assume he knows where you live. You're not going back home tonight. Not until that brat has calmed down and it's certain he won't come looking for you to try and do something worse."

I was shocked to say the least, I never expected this kind of a response from a childhood friend that I had only just reunited with. He may have acted like he never cared about anyone or anything but he clearly did. Whether it was because I was an old friend or just because he was looking out for my safety as part of his job as a cop, I didn't really care. The sentiment was there and I appreciated it regardless.

But I don't have any extra clothes... I sighed lightly, thinking to myself but I suppose that was the least of my worries.