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The devastating sight of a kitchen covered in oil, flour and unevenly chopped vegetables would be enough to make every clean freak in the world, inside or outside of the walls scream in agony but it only sent concerned shivers down to Levi’s spine.
He could only feel his poor heart sink as his eyes paced around the room in a panicked state. The unpleasant smell of smoke that came from the fireplace only sent hot rushes of blood to his newly throbbing head.
In a haze, he tried to puzzle the pieces together, to figure out what had actually happened. With a quick check around the small space he was assured that all windows were indeed in perfect condition, not a single crack or scratch adorning them. In addition had been locked when he entered, a fact he was amusingly certain of.
Had this been an attack, surely the attacker must have had entered the cabin someway. The lack of blood and physical struggle around the room though, slowly put his mind at ease as he took a step at a time, heading to your shared bedroom.
Glancing around he found traces of tiny vegetable pieces, some flour -or so it seemed- and water. In many places they were mixed together, creating the weirdest mass of sticky residue; such filth was an unusual decoration to his house yet his cleaning obsession instincts refused to mingle with his thoughts just yet.
“(y/n)?” With the calling of your name he heard a saddened tune. He knew, he definitely shouldn’t have felt so relieved to the sound, still your situation was unbeknownst to him, but it was a sign that you were certainly still able to make noises.
As his shaking hand reached to push the wooden door of your bedroom open, he tried to shake all horrible thoughts out of his head.
“You’re home early.”
His eyes widened at the sight of you, feet sprinting on their own to your direction; you sat with your back against the closet door, your hands scrunched in weak fists resting on your cheeks, just underneath your eyes, wiping rivers of tears. Worry splashed on his chest in ice cold swepts as he kneeled down beside you, taking your hand in his in the process.
It was in that moment that he noticed you were covered in flour and unevenly teeny pieces of chopped vegetables. The sight immediately put his otherwise puzzled mind at work and in a second it had clicked to him. Naturally, it all came to fit in the bigger picture, he was proved wrong on his unitial guess on this being a home invasion.
A failed attempt at cooking, that’s what it was.
The way that you burried your face in the flat of your palms was as painful for him to witness as it was for you to endure. You were panicking, the sheer terror of his reaction to the mess of the house bullied the insides of your ribs by twisting and turning them, burning them to the point you had to leave pained whimpers escape you.
It was so hard for you to look him in the eye and admit what you had done. Yet, your own embarrassment wouldn’t allow you to torture yourself more than what you had already.
“D-don’t yell at me, Levi”
“Now, why would I?”
With an exaggerated movement, his hand came to mingle in the space under your jawline. Another sudden wave of hot salty tears threatened to spill out of the corners of your eyes as you melted under the feathery drag of his fingers across the nape of your neck.
His mellow touch was soothing and comforting; forgiving even. It made your whole body fall into serenity as you leaned your head into his palm. Your own hand came to palm under his, your chest letting out a pleased hum as your furrowed brows finally curved upwards in a relieved manner.
“There was a time I knew how to cook. Before all that.” you spoke low, voice barely over a whisper as your throat threatened not to hold back the lamp of cries that had gathered at the depths of it. “All I wanted was for us to have a nice anniversary dinner Levi.”
You couldn’t bear to look him in the eye just yet; your heart hammered inside your chest, anxiously preventing you from ensuring another comforting antic of his to yourself despite your need for it.
You hated yourself for not being able to exceed this simple domestic mission.
“It’s fine,” he eagerly spoke, his tone mimicking yours “you didn’t have to cook on your own. We could just go to a nice restaurant.”
“No, Levi! I wanted to make you those duck stuffed eggplants that you like! Why am I so useless that I can’t even cook? Seems like all I know is how to put on odm gear and kill Titans while I’m at it.”
His other hand came underneath yours. After having finally trapped your hand in between his fists he dragged your mingled hands to your chest, resting them right on top of your heart. Your pulse tightened, your heart threatened to spill in gory manners from the gaps between your ribs, this action was all too familiar to you, all too traumatic for you to momentarily try to endure. It struck you, though, in between coarse breaths and a sudden realisation that plastered wide shock in your eyes that this wasn’t a salute. His slow hands wouldn’t let go of yours; through your chasted breathing he could feel your whimpering heartbeat, the feeling causing the hair on the back of his neck to rise.
When, at last, your eyes fell into his the silence in the room became overbearing, the familiar buzzing that emitted from such lack of sound was sending your thoughts into a haze as your chest started to pulse with an all familiar warmth.
Surely enough your head wanted to guilt trip you and maybe pester you for not being able to simply mix ingredients together, but your heart ever melting under Levi’s affections was invested in its counterattack against your intoxicating brain. When he finally batted his eyes, a little too loudly at it, to prepare your ears to endure the sudden incoming words he was about to utter, you goggled at him desperately. As if you were asking for forgiveness your eyes watered again, a whole new wave of tears shaking you whole.
“Please allow me to drown those tears, we’ll prepare a meal together alright? I will show you how.” He whispered and crashed his body onto yours respectfully, his chin now sat at the space between your neck and your shoulder. It was a much necessary physical connection that you would never get enough. The warmth that spread from his whole body through every aspect of him that was in contact with you was enough to help you feel anew. Had you previously melted under his touch, now you felt like you were ready for be molded, your existence flickering between the consistencies of melted wax and gooey sand.
In addition to his soothing words, the achingly beautiful gesture that still sat on the left side of your chest burnt holes through your shirt and your skin. His eyes on you were gleaming as if he had ordered the outside world to come to an alt, everything in you screamed for his calloused hands to get a good grip of your heart while he was at it. It should serve him as a well deserved trophy in a solo collection, him the rightful owner of your heart could do as he pleased it so long you could feel him hold you like that.
“Could I take one hand out of our grasp to bring close to me properly?”
Your answer was inaudible, yet he manages to figure it was of positive nature due to the short nod of your head in the name of his neck. He prompted himself a few inches back, despairate not to break much contact with you and reluctantly unleashed his right hand from yours. Before you managed to protest of the prolonged departure of his body on yours though, his hand shot tenderly on your cheek, cupping the soft skin in an urging motion.
The kiss he planted on the apple of your cheek was followed by another on your eyelid, he tired to ignore the ticklish feeling caused by your lashes brushimg against his contact sensitive lips but it was to no avail, a smuh had made it to his mouth before he manages to plant a kiss on your forehead.
“I really love you Levi, I’m glad you’re in my life, I say this type of things every single year but-”
Your words were cut short as soon as they had began to form, only as his lips slammed against yours. In a matter of seconds he was moving feverishly, gluttony defining his earth shattering kisses and not even for a second did you hold back in returning the actions with fiery passion.
“I don’t speak of this often,” out of breath, he pulled back “but I do love you, so very dearly.”
Before he could process the endearing look in your eyes, you pulled him in for a kiss once again, lips trembling to meet up with your hearts expectations. If there was a way to show him how you loved him this was it, the soft mingling of each other as you bit and sucked and fought for his lips to never leave yours, pressing his head impossibly close to you.
You knew what your answer should be, a short telltale of the way he made you feel a few moments ago would serve your feelings justice before you could press your aching lips on his once again.
“You could do as you please with my heart and I’d thank you, please don’t ever leave me!”
“I won’t, I promise. I couldn’t be able to push forward without the one who holds my own heart.”