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“Levi c’mon on. Open the door.”
“No.”
“Seriously Levi, this is getting ridiculous. I just want to talk to you,” you said with a sigh, rolling your eyes in frustration. You weren’t entirely sure what happened, but at some point at dinner Levi had become upset and made a beeline for his room. Normally this wouldn’t have been that unusual, it’s not like he ever leaves his room much in the first place, but recently the two of you had begun dating and had spent nearly every evening together since.
“I know I’m ridiculous. That’s why you should just leave,” Levi replied as he tried his best to conceal the waver in his voice. He didn’t want you to know he was crying. You were such a kind, loving person you’d probably feel responsible for it even though it wasn’t your fault, and that was the last thing he wanted.
He knew he was a worthless otaku, so why did he ever think this relationship business was a good idea? Things had been going well, sure, but how long would that last? How long before he screwed things up? How long before his utter lack of experience dealing with real people in any capacity would make him more of a burden than a blessing?
How long before you got tired of him?
While Levi continued to wrestle with his own thoughts and attempt to maintain his composure, you had finally reached your wits end - with your concern for your beloved otaku outweighing your respect for his privacy. He could get as mad as he wanted at you later, but for now, you were going to make use of that spell Satan had taught you (for the express purpose of pranking Lucifer) to unlock Levi’s door and let yourself inside.
“Levi.”
“EEEP!” Levi yelped, flailing in his bed as he whipped around to face you, “How’d you get in?! It’s locked!”
“True love,” you teased.
Levi gave a little huff, before turning back around and plopping into his tub. He scrubbed at his face with the sleeves of his jacket, his cheeks now burning out of embarrassment. He was going to have to pick a better spell for locking his door if you could get inside that easily. Maybe.
When you sat on the edge of his tub, Levi grabbed his Ruri-Chan pillow and clutched it to his chest, protectively almost, as though by doing so you wouldn’t be able to see exactly how anxious he was. Logically speaking, he knew that didn’t make any sense at all. Besides the fact that pillows, even Ruri-chan ones, don’t conceal emotions - you always had a knack for knowing when he wasn’t feeling his best. Which should have been extra obvious to him right now given you had just broken into his room, but he chose to ignore that reasonable thought as he rotated his body so he was no longer facing you.
“Will you talk to me please? Tell me what’s wrong,” you asked, your frustration melting away as you took in the sight before you. Despite Levi’s best efforts, his cheeks were still stained with tears, and your heart broke as you imagined him crying in his room by himself.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he mumbled, which only made you roll your eyes again. He knew it was pointless now to try to deny anything was wrong, but that wasn’t going to stop him from trying. Especially since the fact he always seemed to come crying to you whenever anything went wrong was one of the things that had left him feeling so anxious.
You thought for a moment about how best to proceed. Calling him on his bullshit was perhaps the most straightforward and obvious strategy, but that’s the sort of thing that worked best with Mammon who vastly overestimated his ability to bluff in situations like this. Levi, on the other hand, usually opened up to you rather easily and without much prodding, especially after you had confessed to him.
So this situation was going to need a different strategy.
“Ok, then scoot over so we can cuddle,” you said, standing up so you could climb into his tub beside him. Levi was caught completely off guard by the sudden request, not expecting you to have given up that easily. His body shifted automatically, as it had done so many times before, allowing you to slip in behind him before he had a chance to even fully process what was happening.
Once you had gotten settled, Levi curled in on himself more, his fingers digging into his body pillow as he hid his face. A small part of his heart ached that you seemed to have dropped it. And of course you had - you had probably gotten tired of his constant whining. He couldn’t blame you for that; he was tired of himself too.
Levi flinched when he felt your arm slip around his waist. He had gotten so lost in his thoughts for a moment, that he had forgotten you had snuggled up behind him. Levi was so used to being alone, the sudden contact startled him more than it probably should, and he flinched again when he realized and hoped you didn’t notice.
“You ok?” you asked, lifting your head a little to look at him and loosening your grip on his waist.
“Yeah,” was all Levi said as he shifted backwards ever so slightly so that he could feel your body against his again. It was probably a stupid thing to do. Hadn’t he just spent the better part of an hour trying to chase you away and not let you into his room?
But you didn’t seem to mind, chuckling softly as you settled down once again and hugged him tightly. Levi felt his face heat up once more, and was ever so thankful his back was to you. While it may have seemed at first as though you were simply giving up on him, the longer the two of you cuddled, the more certain Levi was that you had done anything but. You might not have been talking, like you usually did when trying to talk him through his frantic, paranoid thoughts - but you were still there, holding him close and making sure he didn’t forget that he wasn’t alone.
And that’s really all he needed right now.