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YOU FELT LEVI’S EYES ON you. You knew how he would be standing, too — arms and ankles crossed, leaning against a wall, eyes indifferent as they gazed your way. You didn’t bother turning around to confirm your suspicions; you only dipped your feather pen in a glass stump of ink, and continued completing the mission report. “Whatcha doing?”
“Waiting,” Levi’s voice sounded from a few feet behind you, a little to the side — just where the wall was.
You nodded, hiding a grin. “Ah.”
There was a bit of silence before he approached your chair, resting his hand utop the back of it. “How much longer?”
He didn’t ask it to be rude or to sound annoying, you knew. Levi cared about you, and was aware that you wouldn’t stop working until this task was entirely finished — even if that caused you to lose precious hours of sleep.
At this point, you would usually tell him to go to sleep without you — not that he ever did; like a gentleman, Levi always waited for you. So, tonight, you didn’t request it. Instead, you looked up at him from the chair, reaching out to take his hand.
“I’m almost done.” You lifted your other hand onto the desk, tapping the stacked papers on it. “Can you start putting these away while I finish up?”
“Sure.” He got to it. With Levi, it was that simple. You had known each other for so long that he understood your moods and requests, when you wanted to talk and when you didn’t. That night, he acknowledged that you just wanted to work, and quietly tucked your papers into their respective places with ease.
The whisk of the candle burned low as the night went on. You were hunched over the desk, slapping together a mission report with practiced diction and mature wording:
Yes, many people died, as always. Please keep funding us, though — we’re ready to go beyond the walls so we no longer feel like cattle waiting to get their turn in the slaughter house. We do have value, just look above for our list of hypotheses gained from this journey. Please don’t shut us down. Please.
(Now, that’s just paraphrasing. You didn’t actually write that — you’d be removed from your position for such unprofessionality.)
When the candle finally died, you had just scribbled your signature to close out the letter. Your eyes had already gradually adjusted to the dark, so it didn’t take you long to find an envelope from your drawer. You folded your letter into thirds, tucked it into the envelope, and stood. Levi was sitting on the floor next to you, resting against the wall, when you finished.
“Alright. Bedtime,” you announced merrily, extending a hand to Levi. He took it and got to his feet. As you left the room together, he didn’t let go.
Halfway to your room, Levi stopped walking. You faced him with a curious look, and as you did, he dipped. Gravity shifted a moment, and you panicked, but since you felt Levi’s touch still, you had a feeling it would be okay.
Soon, Levi resumed walking, but this time, he held you in his arms like a bride as he continued towards your room. You managed to hold back a childish squeal, but couldn’t suppress the giggles that escaped you.
I wonder if we’re waking up the kids. Or, I am, at least, you wondered. Are they awake to hear me?
That’s when Levi picked up speed. More laughs erupted from you, charged by the exhaustion and your brain’s desperate attempt to produce serotonin after a tough, focused night. With Levi, it wasn’t that hard to be happy, or to produce such chemicals.
I can afford not to care, you allowed, swinging your arms around Levi’s neck. Just this once.
Most of the candles in the hallway were burnt down to their crimson embers, but the moonlight seeping in from the windows provided enough light for you to see Levi trying — and failing — to hold back a grin.
His eyes met yours, and your heart warmed. He was smiling. The stone-cold Levi Ackerman was smiling. You beamed harder, knowing this only ever happened around you.
Levi carried you the rest of the way to your bedroom, which didn’t take much longer. He didn’t put you down until after he closed the door with his foot and you were set down on the edge of the bed. He stood between your legs, hands slipping down your arms to hold yours. You couldn’t help but smile harder.
Levi lifted your hands to gently kiss your knuckles. You pulled a hand back to place over your heart, feeling it’s pace speed up. It always did that when you were with him, especially when he was this vulnerable — when he was showing this much affection to you.
These actions were rarely something he did in public; he saved such romantic things for these private moments. You didn’t mind at all — he took your breath away regardless of what he was doing.
Levi leaned closer, bending at the waist, until his face was inches from yours. You raised an eyebrow, prompting him on.
Levi, never one to waste a moment, took your chin between his index finger and thumb and delicately pressed his lips to yours. You melted into it instantly, reaching up to cup the side of his face so that you wouldn’t fall too deep and forget the world around you.
Before you could, he ended the kiss. He pressed his forehead to yours, hands moving to hold your shoulders firm. You stayed like that for a few moments, breathing in his familiar scent of roses and soap that you had come to associate with peace and comfort.
Eventually, you parted to change into your nightwear and migrate under the covers. The night was cold, but the warmth of Levi’s side helped dim the chill — not enough, though. Moments after you settled in, Levi got up to retrieve the heaviest blankets you had from the closet. He tossed them over your still form, making quick work of yanking them neat before slipping under the covers again. Once he returned to your arms, he let out a sigh as he shifted and got comfortable.
“Thank you,” you murmured, kissing his cheek.
Only after he pressed another gentle kiss to your lips did he respond, “Anything for you,” in a low, tired voice.
You ran your hands along his sides, easing any stressed areas. He melted into it, going soft at the smallest actions of his lover. Truly anything you did was enough to warm his heart, calm his mind, and render him speechless.
In the darkest hours of the night, it was you who provided warmth; to Levi, you were the star that outshined the sun. Your eyes — the ones he hadn’t realized he’d been lost in until now — shimmered with the very light the night lacked, and that the sun dreamed to match.
His breathing hitched. In your eyes was the essence of purity and care; the very thing that so many had lost, and tried desperately to get back, but never completely could. During your first exchange with him, your eyes were dark, dead, lifeless — dedicated to your role as a soldier in the Survey Corps.
It dawned on him, then: your eyes, now filled with stars, were looking at him — he might’ve been the cause of the return of their light, the warmth in your expression, and the love in your eyes.
One hand, you kept relaxed over your head, and the other trailed up his side and halted when it met his nape. “Levi?”
“Yes?” He murmured back, covering your hand with his own.
You smiled softly, those ethereal eyes of yours crinkling at their corners. Your gentle gaze drank in his face before returning to his eyes.
“I love you,” you both whispered at the same time. Snickers soon followed.
There was never a doubt in his mind that Levi wanted to marry you — you, the only one he trusted in this world to break down his walls for. These moments, where the moonlight served as an additional blanket to the many he added, where the night haze was introduced but the love of the day was still there. These sacred moments where there was no tension, no stress, no war — it was only you two, drinking in every last moment with each other.
He pulled you close, resting his head atop yours. You tucked your forehead in the crook of his neck, feeling safer now that you were in his arms.
There was never any doubt in Levi’s mind that he wanted to marry you. This thought was always lurking around his brain, but this time, he couldn’t stop it from slipping past his lips. “I want to marry you.”
Your eyebrows, surprised, bobbed only for a second. “Yes,” came your immediate answer. “I want to marry you, too.”
He smiled his small, rare smile again, pulling you ever closer for a kiss. It was gentle and patient, like your relationship had been. Outside, the town slept, ignorant to the living light walking among them.
Levi returned the stars to your eyes, though he would never take credit; it was your very existence that dared the sun to cast more light and challenged the stars to glow brighter. It was a game they played, but never would win, he knew.
Only one thing could have Levi Ackerman and the universe alike completely in awe: you.