Chapter Text
You watch your friends as they leave your small apartment, casting back goodbyes and wishing you a happy birthday as they file out the door.
You're usually not big on surprises, but when you got home from work this evening expecting to spend the weekend completely alone, the friends who popped out from behind your furniture were welcome. They almost made you drop your groceries, but those were soon whisked out of your hands and put away by someone else.
Your friends had filled the next hours with cake, games, and serenading you with the happy birthday song.
Now that they were gone, you were alone.
You turned towards the gift they had gotten you.
It was kind of a joke, you realized, when they had taken the blindfold off of your head and revealed the thing to you. You had laughed, and they had laughed.
It also made you feel seen - these friends really do know you, and you were torn between feeling touched and feeling utterly embarrassed. But everyone seemed so happy, so you went for the former.
You remembered sending a TikTok to one of your friends with a similar situation. However, that one was a cardboard cutout of Satoru Gojo, and this one is your most favorite character from Attack on Titan...
Levi Ackerman.
It's an official art image of him in the MAPPA art style. One of his hands is up - you never quite understood that pose - and he's got his signature scowl on his face. Your friends had cut cardboard in the shape of the drawing, then printed pictures out at the library and glued them on. The other thing that made you laugh was your friends' attention to detail - they measured out the cardboard so that the cutout was his canon height.
That put it in to perspective. He really is pretty small, and for him to be debatably the strongest character in the whole series is really impressive. Just one of the many reasons he's your favorite character.
You stare at the ink representing his hand. You place your hand on it for a second, then reel away.
Too para-social.
You squint at the image. "You're not real," you tell it, and then you turn away.
You need to go to bed.
~
You laid in your warm covers, unable to sleep for one reason or the other. Maybe it's the adrenaline of your friends being over. It hasn't really been that long, anyway.
You turn over on one side. Whenever you can't sleep, you try this tactic that you heard about somewhere when you were a kid. You're supposed to imagine a story in your head, and usually, you like to picture yourself inside of your favorite series. As of recent, that happens to be Attack on Titan.
You think of yourself as a scout, interacting with your beloved characters. You imagine you'd be friends with Hange, but that Captain Levi wouldn't like you very much. Typical of him, you suppose. You'd like to imagine you'd very skilled with the ODM gear, but you don't want to Mary-Sue yourself. The main characters are the main characters for a reason!
You think of yourself on a mission, slashing titans left and right. You wish you could fly around like that in real life, but then you think of the trade-offs of that kind of activity, and that means that you'd have to fight titans for real. If you're being realistic, you'd probably die immediately. You can't fight statistics.
You're having fun coming up with scenarios in your head, and you finally start to feel drowsy. You yawn, take a deep breath, and cuddle into your blankets a little more.
Then you hear a crash in the other room.
"Ow! ... the hell?"
You freeze.
You're a sub and dub watcher, so you recognize that voice immediately. Either Voice Actor Matthew Mercer has broken into your apartment, or your cardboard cutout of Levi Ackerman just came to fucking life.
Or maybe your TV just got turned on by a ghost and is streaming Crunchyroll?
Nope. You hear footsteps.
They're quiet, but you'd hear a pin drop in this silence. You slide out of your bed, wrapping yourself in a blanket and grabbing any sharp objects you can get your hands on on your way towards the door.
Okay. You need to think straight. If this is just a random burglar who happens to sound exactly like your favorite anime character, then you can just call the cops. If Matt Mercer broke in to your house, you would be pretty concerned for his mental state - because what is the DM of Critical Role doing in your apartment in the middle of the night?
And if by some miracle, Levi Ackerman has come alive in your living room, you'd have no idea what to do. You'll cross that bridge when you get to it - first you have to see the person.
So you push your door open slowly, and it creaks. You clench your teeth together.
"Who's there?" The voice calls.
You say nothing. Instead, you flatten yourself against the wall, inching down the hallway towards the living room. You just need to get a look at him. You assess the objects in your hands. A pen, a rock, and a straw from your water cup. Not the best choice in weapons, you might admit.
You crane your neck around the corner. Thankfully, he's not directly facing you, and you get a glimpse of the intruder before slamming yourself back against the hallway.
It's totally him.
You've seen so many amazing cosplays, so many incredible 'realistic' drawings of what people think he'd look like in real life, but the person standing confused in your living room is on an entirely different level. People are not supposed to be that attractive.
You shake your head. That is not what you need to be thinking about right now. There's literally a stranger in your home, and he's armed. The official art depicts him with his gear on, which means he has plenty of blades. Besides, you're pretty sure he could kill you without any weapons anyways.
Your heart is beating fast for a multitude of reasons. First, the obvious - fear; this person could very well just kill you if he wanted to. But also, it's not like he's some crazy serial killer - he's a good guy. He wouldn't kill you for no reason. Probably.
Second, you're excited. How many people in the world get to meet their favorite fictional character? Exactly zero people. This does not happen.
Your mind is coming up with too many thoughts way too fast, and before you know it, words are spilling out of your mouth.
"I come in peace!" You say, then slap a hand over your mouth.
What is wrong with you? You think. You're not talking to aliens. Or are you? Would he technically be considered an alien?
You hear shoes shift on your carpet, then footsteps near the hall where you are. You throw yourself around the corner, dropping the pen, rock, and straw on the ground. You thrust your hands in front of you, showing your palms to the man as he comes to a stop in front of you.
He's holding a small knife, pointing it in your direction. Now that he's in front of you, you feel like the wind has been knocked out of your chest. It's strange - he's not 2d anymore, but it's unmistakably him.
"Who are you? Where am I?" He questions.
"I'm (Y/N), and this is my apartment." You say, trying to sound normal. Your favorite fictional character just talked to you. You're talking to him.
His eyes scan around the room.
"Um," You say, "Can you put the knife down, please?"
He glares at you. You feel like you're melting.
"How did I get here?" He says, not moving the knife. You glance behind him, towards where you had left the cardboard cutout. The cardboard is still there, but the paper that was glued to it is gone.
"That," you start, "I don't know, but I do know who you are, Captain Levi."
His eyebrows knit inwards. "Okay, and?"
You feel your face heating up. What are you supposed to do now? He's only holding a small knife with one hand, but you know better than to try and disarm him. No matter how many women's self-defense classes you've taken, you don't think any rules apply to the Levi Ackerman.
So, you throw a 'Hail Mary.' Taking your right hand, you ball it into a fist and throw it atop the left side of your chest, over your heart. Your heartbeat hammers into your hand, and you're even more aware of how nervous you feel.
He glares again, but finally lowers the knife, shoving it into a sheath on his belt that you never knew about.
Your shoulders finally relax, and you realize how tense you had been.
"(Y/N), huh? Don't think I've come across that name." He says.
You want to scream. Levi just said your name, out loud, in his voice... all those hours of reading fanfiction can't compare to the real thing.
Okay, you need to stop acting crazy.
"I, uh... I'm not a part of the military." You say, moving over to the light switch as he watches you. And as you turn on the light, you watch as his eyes scan around the room, landing on certain things as confusion flashes across his face.
That's right, there's so many things in here that he's probably never seen before, like your TV, your Nintendo Switch, and all the modern looking furniture and interior design is probably completely unfamiliar to him.
"But I can explain," you say, gesturing for him to take a seat on the couch. "Maybe not everything, but at least some things..." You trail off.
Your place is a mess. Since your friends came and threw you a birthday party, it looks like a tornado has ripped through your living room. They helped you with the dishes and everything so at least there's no food out, but there's cards all over the table, confetti all over the floor, and balloons in the corner that are slowly losing their helium. You left it for the morning since it's the weekend, but now you're regretting your procrastination.
Of all the times to meet your literal hero, this is probably the worst time.
You don't miss the side-eye he throws at all the stuff on the ground as he tentatively takes a seat on the couch. You attempt to kick some confetti behind you as you sit down on your armchair.
"Okay, explain." He says, his voice coming out sharp. At least he's not pointing a knife at you anymore, but he might has well have been with that tone of his.
"You aren't from here." You say, not knowing how to start.
"No shit, genius." He says without missing a beat.
You stop yourself from laughing. "This," You wave your arms around "this is the real world. You... are from a fictional world called 'Attack on Titan'."
Levi's facial expression doesn't change. He either isn't listening to you or doesn't believe a word coming out of your mouth, which is understandable. You sound like a crazy person.
"We don't have titans here." You say, trying to find something he can relate to. That gets you a bit of a reaction, if you can count the slight narrowing of his eyes as a reaction.
"What do you mean?" He asks. "We're not on the island?"
"No, no... I mean, yeah, we're not on the island, but none of that exists anyways." You ramble. "I mean.... Titans, the scouts, everything you know from your world isn't real. It's all made up."
Levi looks down at his lap, then looks back at you and raises one eyebrow.
"I'm pretty sure I'm real." He says, deadpan.
You can't help but giggle at that. "Yeah, you sure seem to be... but I'm just as confused about that as you are. Do you remember anything?"
He looks down at his hand. "I was... in the forest. Then, I felt something touch my hand, and I think I passed out. Then I was here."
"So it's like a reverse isekai..." You say under your breath.
"A what?"
"Doesn't matter." You shake your head. "Who were you in the forest with?"
"That son of a bitch monkey..."
"Zeke?" You interject.
He looks back up at you. "How do you know who that is?"
"Just assume I know pretty much everything about your world." You say, and then immediately regret saying that. You probably sound like a huge creep to him. Then you pause. "Wait, you said you felt something touch your hand?"
"Yeah?"
You glance at the cardboard silhouette in the corner. "No way...."
"What?" He asks.
"No, no no no, no freaking way...." You continued.
"What the hell is your problem, (Y/N)?" Levi snapped.
"So, uh, I think that this is my fault." You say. "My friends were just making a joke, right? It's funny. They thought it would be so funny if they made a life-size cardboard cutout of you, cause you're... cause I... you know... uh... and anyway, they all left, and I was just looking at it - you, and I touched the... your... hand? So, what I'm saying is.... I think that I brought you here."
"...What?"
"I'm so sorry..." You say.
Levi clears his throat. "Okay, so send me back."
You shake your head. "I don't know how."
Levi holds out his hand. "Just try the same thing again."
You nod, and reach out your hand to him. You try to act as normal as possible, but your mind is screaming.
And when you press your skin to his, you feel electricity run through your body, but not in a magical, world-altering, genre-transcending kind of way. More in a 'I'm in fifth grade and I'm holding hands with my crush' kind of way.
Nothing happens.
You pull your hand back like you've been shocked, and that isn't completely untrue. Levi looks... different. Thankfully, it doesn't look like he's mad, but you can't quite determine what the look on his face means.
So you try to push forward. You suggest standing and having him pose the exact same way he does in the drawing, and then you basically recreated what you had done earlier that night. It was super awkward, and when you touched his hand, again, nothing happened.
Defeated, you say to him, "Do you even want to go back?"
"Why wouldn't I?" He says with no hesitation.
You grimace. "No offense, but your world kind of sucks. Without getting into too much detail... there's not really a 'sunshine and rainbows' ending to your story."
Levi scoffs. "I don't think I needed you to tell me that."
You think to yourself. All that rewatching and re-reading the manga meant you had a pretty good idea of the timeline. If he was in the forest with Zeke, that means that he hasn't had to fight all the titans in the forest, and he hasn't gotten blown up with that thunder spear explosion yet.
"Listen..." You start. "Not to like, totally just tell you your future, but if you go back right now, you're going to get seriously injured. Like, scars on your face that will never heal kind of injured."
Levi scoffs. "I'm prepared for that." He says.
You stop yourself before going on. Should you tell him that the wine all the scouts have been drinking in the forest was really Zeke's spinal fluid? Would that really help him? Can you change the ending of Attack on Titan?
Do you even want to change the ending?
People had mixed opinions about it. The way you saw it, there's pretty much no ending where almost everyone dies, and Levi happened to survive, so there's at least that. If you told him something that might change the ending, he might die.
Or maybe, he'll never go back, and that will change the ending.
You decide it's not really your decision to make.
"Do you want to know what happens?"
"No." He says.
You nod. He answered so definitively. It makes sense though, you've always thought he seemed like a pretty confident person. Everything he does is to the best of his ability, and his best is... pretty insanely great.
You take a deep breath. If he doesn't want to know, you shouldn't tell him. Even telling him about getting injured might've been too much.
After a bit of silence, Levi clears his throat. "Why... did your friends give you a 'cardboard cutout' of me?"
It feels like your face has erupted into flames.
How are you supposed to tell him that you have a crush on him? He didn't even exist a few hours ago and now...
"Do you want some tea?"
Levi's brow twitches upward, and he mutters a soft 'sure' as you scurry off into the kitchen. You turn on your electric kettle and try to take a couple of deep breaths as you go over everything.
Captain Levi Ackerman, a fictional character from a story created by Mangaka Hajime Isayama, just appeared in your living room. He practically walked straight out of the joke cardboard cutout that your friends made. You'd laugh so hard if it wasn't actually happening to you.
If it wasn't the middle of the night, you might text some of your friends, if they'd even believe you. Should you take a picture? Your phone is still in your bedroom.
"You never answered my question."
That low voice sounds way too close to your ear. You practically jump away, almost dropping the two mugs you grabbed from your cabinet.
"Gah!" You exclaim, and you turn around, finding Levi leaning against your counter.
You put the mugs down and try to will the heat away from your face.
"I, uh..."
He inches closer. "Are you going to tell me or not?"
"I just really like you!" You force out, trying to come up with the best formulation of words. Your mouth betrayed your brain, however, and it sounds like you're a little schoolgirl giving a love confession.
Levi stops coming closer, and you watch his shoulders tense. "You... what?"
"You're my favorite character, I mean!"
He looks away. "Really?"
"Of course!"
He brings a hand up and covers part of his face. "Why?"
"Well, for one, you're really strong - like the most skilled person in the entire show. And, you're super brave, and smart, and you go absolutely crazy on the ODM gear, and-"
You start counting reasons on your fingers, entering into a whole different mode as you speak. You love talking about your interests.
"There's so many thirst traps and edits of you on TikTok, and you know, obviously I like those and all, but I really like you because your personality is so-" You stop yourself.
Levi's looking at you with wide eyes.
You don't know what to say. You started rambling and said something about thirst traps... does he even know what that means? Hopefully he doesn't, so that he doesn't know that you find him attractive. It's not like you could be in a relationship with him, anyways. Even if he could like you... which is highly unlikely... he has to go back, right? He doesn't belong here.
"Your water is boiling." He says after a bit.
The two of you sit back down and enjoy the hot tea in silence, but you feel like he can probably hear the thoughts in your head because of how loud they are. You also can't get rid of the heat in your face and the buzzing in your chest. You basically just confessed to him, even if he didn't understand. You feel like an insane person.
"So... Is there somewhere else I can go?" Levi says finally.
"Hm?" You look up at him from your mug.
He looks away. "It's just... you seem really... uncomfortable."
"No! No, of course not! I'm very comfortable." You say, but your actions betray yourself.
"Okay..." He says, shifting on the couch. "Why don't you tell me about this place?"
You smile softly, and nod.
You tell Levi about your life - where you're from, a few of your hobbies and interests, and about your family and friends. You even turn the TV on and show him a part of an episode from season one of Attack on Titan, before deciding that was maybe a little too much to show him.
After hours of talking together, you start to feel tired. When you're considering going to bed, you notice the sky changing colors outside.
Sunrise.
You look at Levi.
He glances out the window as well.
You sigh, watching the colors change as the slightest bit of light creeps up. "Pretty."
"Yeah. Beautiful." You hear Levi say behind you.
You watch in silence until it's too bright to look without squinting. "Hey, Levi?"
You turn back to where he was sitting, but...
He's gone.
You stand up. "Levi?"
You look over to the corner, right where the cardboard cutout is. It's like before. The picture of an animated Levi is still glued to the front. You walk over to it and touch the same spot as before, wondering if it'll work again, but nothing happens.
As you stand in your living room, you think about what just happened. You could've chalked it up as a dream, but you're pretty sure you're not sleeping. You pinch your arm, and it hurts. Could it be that you were sleepwalking?
You pass out on the couch.
~
A few months later.
~
Every night, you kept trying to get the cardboard cutout magic to work again, but it never did. Eventually, you moved on, but you left it out as part of the decor of your living room. Your friends teased you, but they were the ones who made it, so you teased them right back.
As time went on, you chalked the whole thing up to a weird dream you must've had due to your lack of sleep.
One night, you decided to re-read the ending of the manga, and you cracked open volume 34, chapter 139.
You've always like the page that shows Levi's ending - it's simple and open-ended. It's not clear where he is, but he's with Onyankopon, Falco, and Gabi. In the anime, it's different - he's handing out candy to refugees. You like both endings, but the manga is the one you saw first.
But when you open to that page, it looks different. At first, you can't pinpoint what it is, but then you realize. The bandages on his face are gone, and there's a panel where Levi's raising his hand up in the air....
...Just like the dumb pose on the official art on your cutout.
You close the book and practically trip over yourself running over to that corner in your living room.
You place your hand in the same spot, and...
"Hey, (Y/N)."
"Levi! How...?" You stammer out, tears forming at the corners of your eyes.
He shrugs. "I found some books and shit on the 'Ackerman bloodline.' Apparently we're one messed-up family."
You laugh. "Your face... it isn't all scarred up..."
He raises his brows. "Was that supposed to happen? I shielded my face with my arm in the attack, after I remembered you saying something about scars."
"Wow, I can't believe it! I wonder if the rest of the manga is different... And the anime! I have to watch... or, maybe... you could just tell me what happened?" You pause. "Or... are you going to go away again?"
Levi shakes his head. "I have all the time in the world. I'll tell you all about it."
~
The End.