Chapter Text
“Erwin…”, Erwin shifted in his sleep, slowly rising to consciousness at the feeling of prodding against his chest, “Erwi-”. The commander cracked his eyes open as he heard the broken whisper, trying to locate the source through his blurry vision.
Erwin felt another poke on his collar bone, prompting to look down at the man he had forgotten was wrapped up in his arms. “Oh! Levi!”, he said, loosening his hold on Levi so he could look at him properly, “How are you feeling? Did you sleep well?”. Levi didn’t answer right away, Erwin could see that the smaller man was grinding his teeth together as his face scrunched up in a wince; “Levi, are you alright?”.
Levi shook his head and tried to push himself back to Erwin’s chest, but Erwin put his hand on Levi’s shoulder so he could keep looking at the man’s face, “What’s wrong, Levi?”.
Levi’s body was shivering again, but it didn’t seem to be from the cold anymore. There was a steady sweat beginning to form on Levi’s forehead, and his cheeks were now a light pink. “hhh…hurts…”, Levi forced the words out through clenched teeth, Erwin furrowed his brow in confusion, “What hurts?”. Erwin had now moved his hand to rest on the side of Levi’s head, gently stroking his hair in an attempt to calm him down.
Erwin was beginning to worry as Levi’s breathing started to get quicker, the man was practically gasping with each breath, “B…burns”, Levi said, “B-body… bu-urns”. Erwin ‘s eyes widened as he quickly pushed himself to sit up, rolling Levi out of his arms so he was laying on his back. He pulled the mountain of blankets fully off Levi and immediately took off the gloves Hange had given him; the skin on his hands had thankfully stopping bleeding and they looked much less scaley, but they also had a pink-ish tinge to them.
Erwin remembered what Hange had said about post-hypothermic blood flow, how it might make Levi’s skin feel tingly and hot, it must just be hitting Levi very hard. He pulled Levi to sit up between his legs, propping the smaller man up with his back against Erwin’s chest. Erwin wrapped one arm around Levi’s chest to help keep him upright and placed his other hand on Levi’s forehead, almost flinching back at the temperature. “Levi,” Erwin spoke calmly, Levi was breathing much too quickly now, “Hey, Levi, listen to me. You’re going to be alright, your body is just getting used to being warm again, okay? The blood is flowing properly now, that’s why your skin probably feels like pins and needles.” Erwin began to pet Levi’s hair back as he spoke, wishing there was more he could do right now, “I think you’ve developed a fever too now from being out in the cold for so long, and I know that’s going to make you feel so much worse, but you just need to bare with me for a bit, alright?”.
Levi took a few more deep breaths that sounded close to sobs, the panicked sound made Erwin’s heart want to shatter but he knew he had to stay calm for Levi’s sake. Levi quickly nodded his head in response to Erwin and leaned back into the larger man’s chest, trying to control his breathing as he grit his teeth against the pain. Erwin continued to stroke Levi’s hair as he held him close, trying to think of ways to lower Levi’s fever without reversing his hypothermia recovery.
Erwin looked around the room for anything that could be making Levi’s current condition worse, his eyes eventually landed on the fireplace that was still lit; Erwin silently shamed himself for not putting the fire out before they fell asleep but that wasn’t important right now.
“Levi, I have to let you go for a second,” Erwin spoke into Levi’s ear, “I’m going to put out the fire and grab a cold cloth.”. Levi’s hand came up to grab the arm that was still around his chest, wrapping his shaking fingers around Erwin’s wrist like he had done before. It broke Erwin’s heart to see Levi like this; the pain of the fever, the hypothermia, and the overall aches of his body were really taking a toll on the man. Erwin brought his other arm down across Levi’s chest, placing his hand over the pale hand that clenched onto his wrist; he gave Levi a gentle squeeze before loosening the man’s death grip from his arm, “It’ll just take a moment, and I’ll come right back.”.
Erwin slid out from behind Levi and let him lean back against the pillows, making sure he was comfortable before walking away. Erwin made quick work of filling a bucket of water from the bathroom and putting out the fire, he refilled the bucket with cold water and went back to the bed. He set the bucket down on one of the chairs that was still beside the bed before digging through the medical bag that Hange had left behind for him, pulling out a small clean rag. Erwin moved back towards Levi and began to climb back into the bed, he gently lifted Levi up and forward so he could sit behind him again with Levi resting against his chest.
Levi quietly sighed as he settled against Erwin’s chest again; he absolutely hated how weak he was right now, and he just hoped none of his subordinates would ever see him like this, but for some reason he felt safe being this vulnerable with Erwin. He knew that Erwin would never judge him for feeling so miserable, Erwin would never tease him for wanting to be comforted with physical touch, he could let his guard down and not be ashamed about it. Levi leaned his head against Erwin’s shoulder, slightly turning his head so his forehead rested against Erwin’s neck.
Erwin smiled down at Levi as he made himself comfortable; it was hard to see him like this, but Erwin was secretly glad that Levi clearly trusted him enough to take care of him. Once both he and Levi were settled, Erwin reached over and dipped the small cloth in the water bucket, he rung out the excess and folded it before laying it across Levi’s forehead. Levi shivered as the cloth came in contact with his skin, not expecting the sudden coldness, but it did feel good against his fevered skin. Levi sighed and closed his eyes, wanting to just sleep all his pains away.
~ ~ ~
Erwin watched as Levi slowly fell asleep in his arms, he felt incredibly relieved that Levi’s ailments weren’t preventing him from at least getting some more rest. He held Levi close as he felt him shiver in his arms, yet somehow through the shiver was also a radiating heat. Erwin was heavily debating trying to get Levi in the bath again, but at the same time he knew the man needed rest more than anything right now. He sighed as he rested his cheek on Levi’s soft hair, deciding that he would wait until Levi woke up again and ask him if he wanted to try getting in the bath.
For the next few hours, Erwin continuously refreshed the cloth on Levi’s forehead and lightly rocked him as he slept away his pain.