bumblebeeonthistle

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Tried to make a banner with some of my sketches/digital + traditional art for my wattpad and Quotev profile...

Honestly, it just looks a bit confusing as a banner on those platforms, but still wanted to post it somewhere, so here we go XD

[bumblebeeonthistle]

You're having nightmares. Levi comforts you.

Tags: Levi/Reader, hurt/comfort, fluff, canon-verse.

Warning for panic attack.

“Oi! Hey, wake up. Dammit.”

You lunge at the shadow looming over you, but strong fingers grab your wrists, stopping you from hitting your target.

Gasping for breath, you open your eyes wide and are met with Levi’s face hovering above you, a small crease on his forehead and mouth taut.

You sit up with a start, almost headbutting Levi in the process. You try to take a deep breath, but it feels like your throat is constricting and oh gosh, you can’t breathe--

“Hey, it’s alright.”

Levi takes a seat at the edge of your bed and pulls you towards him, unceremoniously forcing your head against his chest as he strokes your hair.

“It’s alright. It’s alright. It was just a dream. A nightmare. You’re safe. You’re safe.”

“It was-- there was-- oh my god--” you gasp, continuing to hyperventilate despite the safety of Levi’s arms wrapped around you.

“Okay okay, listen to me. Listen to me. Five things you can see.”

You dry-heave, feeling sick.

“Five things you can see!” Levi repeats, fingers digging into your back.

“Floorboards,” you gasp, eyes darting frantically around the room, trying to look past the black spots beginning to form at the edge of your vision. “Curtains. ODM gear. Bedpost. You.”

“Good, good. Four things you can touch.”

“Sheets. Covers. Pillow. You.”

“Three things you can hear.”

“Eren sleep talking. Jean snoring. You.”

You can feel your breathing ease up and your heartrate slow down.

“Good. Two things you can smell.”

“Rain. You.”

“Okay, last thing, one thing you can taste.”

You lick your cracked lips. Levi’s gaze flickers towards your mouth for a split second before again raising his eyes to meet yours.

“Blood.”

“Good, good,” he mumbles, proceeding to stroke your hair.

You’re both silent for a while, waiting for your breathing to finally become normal again. You let out a hoarse chuckle. “You’re really just a softie, aren’t you?”

He doesn’t answer, and you bury your face in his chest, inhaling his scent.

The hand stroking your hair stills.

“Joking, I was joking,” you reassure him. “You’re a cold-hearted Scout. Very stoic. And menacing.”

He resumes stroking your hair. You can almost hear his lips stretch into that small, crooked smile that never fails to make your breath hitch in your throat.

“What time is it?” you ask, savouring the feeling of his fingers running through your hair.

“Middle of the night. I’ve been listening to you tossing and turning like crazy until you finally woke up, screaming like a banshee.”

“Hey, that’s not nice,” you scold, fist weakly hitting his chest.

He ignores it. “How long has this been going on?” he asks, grey eyes boring into yours from above.

You know what he means. Gulping, you avert your gaze. “Since…since the rescue mission.”

“I see.” Levi pauses, as if contemplating whether to continue. But then, he speaks again, voice quiet. “If you wanna talk about it, I can listen.”

“It’s stupid,” you mumble, again hiding your face against his chest.

“Nothing about you is stupid,” he says, without missing a beat.

You sneak a glance at him, raising an eyebrow. Softie, you mouth, making Levi click his tongue and roll his eyes. Then, he turns serious again. “I mean it.”

You sigh, your breath forming a damp spot on his shirt. Levi doesn’t comment on it. “It’s just…I keep thinking. And dreaming. About…about Reiner.”

Clenching his jaw, Levi nods slowly. “I guess it’s only natural. You were…friends, after all.” He says the word friends as if it burns his throat on the way out.

“I just keep wondering,” you continue, drawing patterns on his chest with a finger to distract yourself, “if he ever really cared about me. I know it’s selfish and totally unimportant compared to all the other things to worry about, but still…” You trail off.

Levi is silent for so long that you think he doesn’t have anything to say to that – and besides, it isn’t like you thought he would console you. What he has already done is more than you’d expected, to be honest.

But then…

“He did.”

“Huh?”

“He did care for you,” Levi clarifies, albeit reluctantly.

“You can’t know that,” you point out, lips pursing.

“Trust me, I would.”

You frown, but don’t object.

Levi’s next words catch you by surprise. “You know I also have trouble sleeping. I never told you why, though.”

You stay silent, letting him talk. He so rarely tells you about himself that you’re afraid to interrupt him.

“I also have nightmares,” he admits. “Always have. It just got worse after joining the Scouts…I wasn’t alone, that time. Two others joined with me, also from the Underground. They…they were called Isabel and Furlan.”

Were.

The use of past tense makes your heart clench and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened to them.

“How were they?” you ask after some time, voice soft. You don’t want to ask how they died – if Levi wants to tell you, he will. Still, you’d like to know what kind of people had been so lucky as to call Levi their friend.

Levi’s eyes glaze over as he dwells on memories of the past. Then, he raises his head, gaze seeking the moon visible through your window. “Isabel was always so…optimistic. Always looking on the bright side of things. Always pointing out the good in a pile of shit, always seeing the good in others. She used to annoy the hell out of me, calling me ‘big bro’ and always being so damn clingy. And I wouldn’t have wanted it any differently.” He gulps before continuing. “Furlan was calm. And funny. An easy-going guy – easy to like, easy to talk to, easy to be with.”

His eyes sharpen as he returns his gaze to you. “Long story short, they were everything I’m not.”

You reach up a hand to cup his jaw. “That doesn’t mean they were any better than you,” you tell him quietly.

He looks away again. “We were recruited by some noble scum called Lohof to kill Erwin in exchange for permits to live aboveground and a clean slate for all the criminal activity we’d engaged in in the Underground. And during our first expedition outside the Walls…” Levi trails off, jaw clenching. “I left for one fucking moment. And when I came back, all there was left of them were scattered body parts. I remember there being a thunderstorm.” He glances down at you again. “That’s why I always have the hardest time sleeping whenever it’s storming.”

You feel your heart break just a little more for him.

You never knew.

You never knew, but now, you do. And it makes you want to tear down the world for having hurt Levi so badly that he still has trouble sleeping.

You want to tell him that you’re sorry, even though you know none of it is your fault. To tell him that everything will be alright, even though you knew it’s a lie.

But you say none of those things.

Instead, you just wrap your arms around him and hold onto him, like he’d held you during your panic attack. Levi doesn’t protest, and you just sit like that for a bit.

After some time, you untangle yourself from him again. It’s not like it’s the first time the two of you are this close, but for some reason, you’ve suddenly become very much aware of how intimate you’re being.

“Well, I’d better get back to sleep,” you say as you lean back against the bedpost.

“You sure?” Levi eyes you critically. “Maybe, you shouldn’t be alone tonight.”

“Oh, and who do you suggest will keep me company? Jean?” you tease.

“Not funny.”

“You just have an abysmal taste in humour,” you shrug, sending him a lopsided grin.

Without warning, Levi pounces on you. In one swoop, he lifts you off the bed, stifling your scream with a finger to your lips before he begins carrying you out of your room.

“What are you doing?!” you hiss as he princess carries you through the dark hallway of the cabin. You keep glancing around, terrified that one of your friends will suddenly come bursting out of their room, catching the two of you red-handed in...whatever it is that you’re doing right now.

But Levi just ignores you, using his elbow to open the door to his room before carrying you inside and closing the door behind you.

His room is significantly larger than yours and serves as both his office and bedroom in the cabin. It even has a private bathroom connected. He beelines for the bed and only lets go of you once he has carefully placed you on his pristine sheets, corners tugged so tightly that the sight of the fabric creasing around your form is almost criminal.

Fully clothed, he joins you on the bed, pulling the covers around you both before he rolls onto his back at a respectful distance, his hands folded over his chest.

You turn to lie on your side, propped up on your elbow, hand supporting your head. “So, you meant it when you said there’d be a next time.”

“I always mean what I say,” he scoffs, turning his head to look at you.

Moonlight spills in through the window behind him, bathing his face in a silver glow. He looks so handsome and beautiful that it sends a jolt through your chest.

“Are you alright?” he asks, again with that tone of worry that makes your heart melt into a little puddle.

“Yeah,” you breathe, making that single word sound so lewd and needy that it makes your face burn with embarrassment.

Levi’s pupils dilate, fingers curling into fists.

Subconsciously, you lean closer, your breath fanning across his face.

And then, as if a thread snaps inside Levi, he moves, closing the final distance between you.

Excerpt from the newest chapter posted of call my name on ao3!

[bumblebeeonthistle]

me: ima just do a quick sketch.

also me: choosing references where i have to draw a lot of hands🙃

[bumblebeeonthistle]

You've been hurt on a mission. Levi goes livid

Tags: Levi/Reader, protective!Levi, possessive!Levi, one-sided Reiner/Reader, blood, injury, canon verse.

Summary: The Scouts have just returned home after rescuing Eren from the Armored and Colossal Titan. And you're hurt. Badly.

Levi is livid.

Medics had carried you away and he’d followed, as if in trance. And then, when they’d told him that he couldn’t come with you into the operating room, he’d almost jumped at them, but they had closed the door in his face and locked it before he could do so. And he knew better than to break down the door, so he had just stood there, staring at it.

But then, the screaming had started.

And Levi had lost it.

He’d begun hammering on the door, not caring that people around him were shouting for guards to come and pull him away.

He wants to break it down so that he can get to you and gut whoever is hurting you. He would be sure to make their deaths painful.

Someone is shouting his name, but their voice is muffled by the ringing in his ears – and he doesn’t care what they’re saying anyways. In fact, he doesn’t care about anything but getting to you. And if anyone dares cross him…

“…Levi…”

“Levi!”

“Levi, God dammit!”

“Someone drug him!”

“That won’t work on him!”

“Can we knock him out?”

“Good luck with that – this is Humanity’s Strongest we’re talking about!”

“LEVI!”

Levi growls, like a cornered animal, lashing out at the person who is trying to hold him back. His eyes are glossy, shining with a feral sheen that glints dangerously at anyone daring to come near him.

“Mike, help me here!” Hange shouts, and a pair of large, strong hands grab him. Levi thrashes and reaches for the knife in his boot.

“Don’t you dare!” Hange threatens, sending a kick right across Levi’s injured ankle. It’s a dirty trick, but if Levi first gets his hand on a dagger, they’re done for.

Levi stumbles, and Mike, Moblit, as well as three other Scouts don’t hesitate to dogpile him, pinning him to the ground.

Eren, Armin, and the rest of your friends watch with wide eyes and mouths agape. Yes, they’re worried about you too, but the Captain’s reaction seem…well, they don’t know what to think about it. They’ve never seen him show this much emotion. It makes them wonder exactly just how close you and the Captain are.

“You and Mike just got away with a suspended sentence,” Hange tells Levi quietly. “The MPs don’t need any more reason to have us all in cuffs. So, unless you want Erwin, me, the rest of the Scouts, and her to be thrown into the dungeons, I suggest that you calm down.”

And just like that, Levi’s eyes dull. He stops thrashing, almost going limp. One by one, the Scouts carefully let go until only Mike is pinning him down. Just for good measure.

Next thing Levi knows, he’s sitting in a waiting room, staring straight ahead without seeing. Shortly after his tantrum, he’d learned that Erwin had lost his fucking arm. Levi had scoffed at the notion – he’d lost an arm. As if Erwin had dropped it by accident or something. 

But Levi doesn’t have the energy to grieve or be shocked. He had visited Erwin to see how he was doing, and then, he’d gone back to the waiting room because he’d been promised that he could see you after those doctors were finished doing…whatever it is that they’re doing that made you let out those sounds.

He doesn’t want to think about it, but at the same time, he can’t not think about it. Just like he tries not thinking about the turquoise-eyed, brown-haired brat sitting a couple of chairs from him, but at the same time can’t ignore him, no matter how hard he tries.

Eren sits with his shoulders hunched, bangs falling into his eyes and hiding his face. He hasn’t moved from the spot since you’d been taken to the operating room and still reeks of dirt and sweat and blood, overpowering the boy’s otherwise refreshingly minty scent.

The others take turns staying with them in the waiting room – Hange, Mike, Armin, and your other friends among the new recruits. They try getting him to talk. To walk, to eat, to drink some water, to do something, instead of just sitting there.

But he doesn’t want to talk. He doesn’t want to take a walk. He doesn’t want to eat or drink or sleep.

No, he wants you. He wants to see you, to make sure that you’re alright. To make sure that you’re not--

Just then, a nurse appears, and Levi immediately jumps to his feet, making a beeline for him. “When can I see her? Is she alright? Is she going to…” He trails off, trying to maintain his composure, but it’s hard. So God damn hard when you’re in surgery and nobody knows if you’re going to make it.

The nurse clicks his tongue in annoyance, but answers nonetheless. “So, you’re her husband?”

Several brows are raised at Levi, but he’s too impatient to give a fuck. He just nods, knowing from experience that the medical staff won’t give up any information about your condition if he isn’t family or spouse – confidentiality and all that shit.

“Well,” the nurse starts, sighing “She’s been putting her body under an immense amount of strain. I’ve been told she participated in the mission to rescue Eren Yeager with three broken ribs, a bruised hip, a punctured lung, ecchymoses covering half her body, and severe blood loss.” The nurse looks sternly over the rim of his glasses at Levi and sends the rest of the Scouts present a nasty look – as if they’d all somehow forced you to go. Then, he continues. “It appears that jumping off her horse was the last straw – entire collapse of her left lung and a ruptured spleen. Honestly, it’s a miracle she survived, and if the wounds on her torso had been infected, I’m certain she wouldn’t be here now…” The nurse shakes his head in disbelief.

And just when Levi doesn’t think it can get any worse, the nurse sighs. “And to top it all off, sedatives seem to have no effect whatsoever on that girl. We couldn’t anaesthetize her during the surgery, let alone put her to sleep. We tried getting her drunk, but that didn’t work either. So, we had to strap her to the operation table and muzzle her because she kept thrashing and screaming. Poor girl…luckily, she passed out from pain after some time.” The nurse eyes Levi apologetically. Beside him, Eren has turned slightly green in the face.

“You can go see her now, by the way,” the nurse adds. “But she’s still out cold, so--”

But Levi is already out the door before he can finish.

You’ve been moved from the operating room to a private room in the medical wards. 

“Only two visitors at a time,” the nurse tells them sternly before leaving.

Instinctively, both Eren, Armin, and Levi step forth. Eren doesn’t wait for them, but enters without another word. Armin and Levi look at each other, both faces unreadable.

After some time, Armin lowers his gaze.

Levi nods once.

Soon after, he finds himself sitting by one side of your bed, Eren on the other. Your breathing is ragged and uneven, cold sweat beading your forehead. You look fragile as you lie there, white sheets pooling around your form.

“So…” Eren starts.

Levi tenses, afraid that the brat wants consolidation from him.

“…I guess she wasn’t just sent back for reinforcements as Mike said…Captain.” 

Levi lets out a quiet breath of relief. “You’re not as stupid as you look,” he answers curtly. “But yes, you’re right. Someone…kidnapped her. She was hurt by a titan before that, and that’s where the majority of her injuries come from. More than that, I don’t really know.”

Well, that isn’t entirely true, but Levi decides to keep everything he’s learned about the Ackermans to himself for now. At least until he can tell Hange or Erwin first.

“I didn’t hear much, since I was knocked out most of the time, but…”  Eren trails off. His eyes smoulder with thinly veiled fury. “But it sounded like Bertholt had something to do with it. He said stuff about her holding Reiner back. And Reiner kept insisting that she come with us…to where, I don’t know.”

Bertholt Hoover, Levi thinks. He didn’t think he had the energy for more rage, but it seems like his body disagrees – he can feel fire rush through his blood yet again, bringing it to a boil.

If he ever gets a hold of that colossal shithead…

And besides, what’s this thing about taking you with them? To where? What lies beyond the Walls? A lot more than just titans, it seems.

Levi can hear the wooden chair creak beneath him from how hard he’s clutching the seat. Slowly slackening his grip, he takes a deep breath to calm himself.

Silence again stretches out between them until a knock on the door tells them that their time is up.

Reluctantly, Levi gets to his feet and strides out of the room, turning his head to catch one last glance at you as he passes Armin and Jean who’ve come to see you next. It doesn’t go unnoticed by either of them.

“Captain, is it true that you and her…?” Eren starts, but clams up at the look Levi sends him.

“No,” Levi says. “The damn staff wouldn’t tell me anything otherwise. And it would be a great blow to the Scouts and Humanity if they were to lose such an…asset.” The lie tastes bitter as it rolls off his tongue, making him want to throw up. As if his body physically rejects the notion of you meaning so little to him. But he can’t have all these brats running around thinking he is somehow…romantically involved with you.

No, that wouldn’t do. At least not when the two of you doesn’t even know what you are to each other yet. Friends, yes, but more than that? 

He doesn’t know. 

And the deep yearning within him for what could be between you if you just took the leap scares him shitless. 

Levi hurries away before he can be questioned further – and thereby misses the sceptical looks exchanged between your friends. A look telling each other that the Captain might be Humanity’s Strongest, but when it comes to his feelings, he’s delusional. Delusional and stubborn and in denial.

Just like you.

Hange is waiting outside your room to ambush Levi as soon as he appears. “How is she?”

Levi gulps. “She’ll…make it.”

Hange’s shoulders visibly slump down in relief. If they’re mad Levi almost gutted them with a knife, they don’t show it. Instead, they straighten their back again, looking at him over the rim of their glasses. “Alright, I’ll see her after we’ve visited Erwin. Ready to give your report, now that you know she’s going to be alright?”

“Re…port?” Levi asks stupidly

“Erwin wants an oral and written report of everything that happened since we parted ways at Utgard Castle.”

Oh. Right.

Levi nods absentmindedly. Then, he halts to a stop as realisation dawns on him. “Wait, he wants the oral report now?”

Hange rolls their eyes. “Yeah, Shorty, he kept asking you to tell him what’d happened when you visited him, but you were too busy spacing out to listen.”

Without another word, Levi turns on his heels and marches in the direction of Erwin’s room, scowling.

Hange soon follows suit.

 “This has all suddenly become very complicated,” Erwin muses once Levi has finished his report.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Levi grumbles, folding his arms over his chest.

Erwin pauses, rubbing his temples. “I’m not happy to say this, but all we can do for now is see what happens and keep an eye out. Besides, I also have another pressing matter to discuss with you.”

Levi raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment.

“I want you to choose a new Special Operations squad. Eren will be part of it, since you will be working on unlocking more of his titan powers, as well as Historia, who’ll need your protection. But otherwise, you’re free to choose whoever you find to your liking – of course, with the consent of their squad leaders, if they’re already assigned to a squad. 

Levi isn’t surprised. He knew this was coming and, to be honest, has already given it quite some thought. He already knows who he wants on his team. He never thought it would come to this, but the people – or rather, brats – he has in mind have all proven themselves to be admirable Scouts during the two last missions. Besides, there aren’t that many Scouts left to choose from in the first place.

Inhaling deeply, he opens his mouth to tell his Commander.

Erwin nods in approval, and Hange gives him a thumbs up.

“And by the way,” Hange says just as the two of them are about to take their leave, “what was that whole ‘husband’ thingy? Proposed and everything without telling me? Also did the deed yet, eh? Ouch!”

Levi snarls. “Shut up.”

Hange looks towards Erwin. He just offers a half-shrug in return.

“Sorry, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up,” they whine.

Erwin’s lips twitch with amusement. “Don’t sue me when he one day kills you in your sleep.”

This is from my newest chapter of call my name || Levi X Reader on ao3!

[bumblebeeonthistle]

"There was only one bed" – Levi X Reader

Gif by @smol-ackerman

Summary: Levi takes care of you after the Battle of Trost.

He’d forced himself not to think about you yesterday when he’d seen you as good as naked. But now, it’s hard to keep his thoughts decent. He thinks about the way your muscles rippled beneath his fingers as he washed your back. The way your skin glistened. The way he’d flicked open one of your buttons before you’d stopped him. He thinks of your fingers wrapped around his wrist. Your fingers, firm, but gentle, wrapped around his--

You don’t really have the energy to feel embarrassed about the fact that Levi has to help you bathe. He’s too gentlemanly to look at anything but your face and back, so you’re certain he isn’t seeing anything improper while he helps you. And his fingers in your hair as he meticulously washes away all traces of battle and gently combs through it until not a single knot is left to be found feels so comforting, so…safe.

He feels safe.

Even when he snatches your wrist so fast that you don’t even have time to react, you don’t feel threatened. Not even uneasy. No, just…surprised, is all.

You wait as he studies the burns on your palms. To be honest, you’d completely forgotten about them, but now that he has mentioned them, the stinging and throbbing returns.

After some time, you turn your back to him again, and he lets go of your wrist.

You’re just about to protest when he leaves you alone in the bathroom, but bite back the words about to spill from your lips.

Get it together.

When you finally finish cleaning and drying yourself, you put on the clothes Levi had left for your use. It’s obviously his – it smells like tea leaves and fresh laundry and again, that earthy, musky scent you can’t quite put your finger on. The shirt is a little too big, hanging loosely on your shoulders, but at least you don’t have to roll up the pant legs. It will do for now.

You vaguely notice that the heap of clothes you’d left on the floor is no longer there. Levi must have taken it with him when he left.

Clean freak.

The alluring scent of black tea hits your nostrils as soon as you enter his bedroom, and the source of the smell is revealed when you spot a tray with chipped mugs and a teapot placed on the small table beside the bed.

Levi is sitting on the edge of the bed, fidgeting with what looks like a small ceramic pot and a lot of gauze.

You raise a brow at him. “What’s that for?”

“Burns,” he replies. Then, he beckons for you to join him.

Silently, you pad over to sit beside him, keeping yourself at a respectable distance. Levi lets out an impatient sound. “Get your ass over here, idiot. I can’t help you if you’re three feet away.”

“Oh. Sure.” You hurry to scoot over until you’re so close that you can feel the heat emanating from his body.

Without a word, Levi starts applying burn salve onto your palms. His fingers are cool and his touch gentle.

When your burns are decently slathered in the sharp-smelling concoction, he covers the whole thing with gauze, then wraps it all in bandages, making sure to keep your fingers free so that you can retain the use of your hands.

“It’s not too tight?” he asks when he’s finished, eyeing his work critically.

You shake your head. “Nope. It’s perfect. Although…” you trail off.

Levi just looks at you, waiting for you to continue.

“I’m not sure the salve will work,” you admit.

To your surprise, Levi just shrugs. “Me neither,” he admits. “Most medicines don’t have any effect on me, neither do drugs or alcohol. I assumed you’re the same. But the salve will still act as a disinfectant.”

You nod. “Right.”

Levi then reaches for the tea. He hands you a cup filled to the brim with golden, steaming liquid, and you accept it with a grateful smile, fingers slightly awkward and stiff from the bandages. But you manage.

You take a small sip.

A split second later, your eyes widen and you snap your head up to look at him. “It’s really good,” you exclaim, something akin to wonder in your voice. “I’ve never had tea like this before.”

“It’s because you’ve never had good quality tea made properly before,” he says, looking rather satisfied with himself.

As you continue nipping at your tea, Levi gets to his feet and disappears into the bathroom to clean himself.

While you wait on the edge of his bed, you take the opportunity to study your surroundings. His room is small, but still a huge step up from having to share a hall filled with bunk beds with a hundred other girls…a hundred other girls who have now been reduced to a little over a dozen.

Shaking your head to rid yourself of your morbid thoughts, you again busy yourself with taking in Levi’s room. The bed is meticulously made, the corners tugged in tightly and not a wrinkle in sight, except for where you are sitting. Every surface look sparkly clean and not a single smudge on the windows can be seen. Aside from the bed, the only other furniture is a small nightstand, a closet along one of the walls – probably containing Levi’s clothes and other personal belongings – and a small tea kitchen, just large enough for a burner, a kettle, a couple of chipped teacups, and what looks like multiple tins of tea.

“Are you hungry?”

Startled by his voice, you turn your head.

Levi has just emerged from the bathroom.

And what a sight he is.

His hair is still wet, his dark locks slightly tousled and glinting in the dim light. Some of it clings to the side of his face and falls into his eyes, and you have a sudden urge to brush it away. His cheeks are a little flushed, probably from the heat of the water, and his skin still glistens from the steam. 

For the first time, you also see him wearing casual clothes instead of his uniform. He looks painfully handsome in his white shirt, the two top buttons left open to reveal his sharply defined collarbones.

You think you might just have developed a collarbone kink.

It takes you a moment to remember that he’d just asked you something.

“Oh, ehm…not really.” You blush and avert your gaze.

“Bullshit, bet you haven’t had anything since all this shit went down.” He makes a vague hand gesture, cheeks still flushed. Probably just from the bath.

Fortunately, you don’t have to hold it together for too long, because Levi practically bolts out of the bedroom, leaving you alone behind.

You use the privacy to calm your racing heart and will your blush to disappear. Then, you check yourself in the bathroom mirror – just in case you’d been drooling without noticing.

After what feels like half an hour later, Levi finally returns with what looks like two cheese sandwiches. “Sorry, this was all I could find in the kitchen,” he says, handing you one of them.

The bread is a bit dry and the cheese slightly soggy, but you don’t mind and wolf down the sandwich in a couple of bites.

“And you said you weren’t hungry,” Levi teases, clearly amused.

“Shut up.” You look at him and realise that he hasn’t eaten a bite himself yet. Silently, he offers you the other sandwich. You eye him suspiciously. “What about you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Bullshit,” you say, mimicking his tone from earlier. He rolls his eyes but eats his sandwich nonetheless.

When he’s finished, you get to your feet again to look for your boots and jacket, but before you can get very far, Levi snatches your wrist to keep you in place. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

You frown down at him. “Uhm, the graduates have accommodations here in Trost as well--"

“I’m not gonna let you be alone tonight after everything that’s happened.”

Heat rises to your cheeks yet again. Annoyed, you yank your wrist free to cross your arms over your chest. “Well, where will you be sleeping then?” you ask tersely. “Like hell I’m gonna sleep in your office chair.”

He looks at you as if you’re stupid. “No, I will.” His words surprise you, but before you can open your mouth to protest, he continues. “I sleep there most nights anyways. If I even sleep at all.”

Your raise your brows at him. “You don’t…sleep?”

“Of course I do, dumbass,” he grumbles, before adding, as an afterthought, “…I usually get 2-3 hours a night.”

You just stare at him, nonplussed.

Is he joking?

After a moment, you decide that he isn’t. And then, because you’re an idiot, you blurt, “I don’t mind sleeping with you.”

Levi’s eyes widen. Then, after a split second of ear-deafening silence where you just wish you could sink into the ground and bury yourself alive, he lets out a sound between a snort of laughter and a cough. 

Fuck. Why did you have to say it like that?

Forget about being too exhausted to be embarrassed. You are beyond embarrassed at this point, flailing your arms at him as you try to cover up your mistake. “I mean, not like that. I just meant-- well, I mean-- I meant literally sleeping, you know…oh, fuck it,” you curse.

Levi coughs again, and you have to restrain the urge to flee from his bedroom.

You take a deep intake of breath before trying again. “I just meant that you don’t have to sleep in your office chair.”

Levi swallows a smirk. “Are you sure? You know, it’s no problem – as I said, I sleep in that chair most nights anyway.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” you repeat. “You must be exhausted too – you just came back from hell to an even worse hell, and you probably have tons of paperwork and stuff to do tomorrow.”

For a moment, Levi hesitates, conflict flickering behind his grey eyes. He gulps, and you can see the muscles in his neck tensing. Meanwhile, you fiddle with your bandages – probably stupid, since Levi had just so meticulously wrought them around your hands.

Levi’s eyes soften as he looks at you. “…alright.”

It must be well into the night when the two of you finally go to bed. You crawl underneath Levi’s crisp, fresh-smelling sheets on one side of the bed, while Levi does the same on the other side, your backs to each other as you say goodnight.

You don’t remember falling asleep.

But later, you realise that you haven’t slept as soundly as you do that night in over four years.

For once, sunlight is streaming in from the small crack between the drawn curtains when Levi wakes up. Usually, it’s still pitch-black when he gets up, but for some reason, he’s slept in today.

Frowning, he realises that he also doesn’t remember falling asleep last night. Usually, it takes him hours to fall asleep and when he finally does, his sleep is light and restless. But not this time. No, this time, he’d slept soundly and undisturbed for almost six hours – which must be a record for him.

As his still groggy mind slowly becomes aware of its surroundings, he finally realises that his front is pressed flush against another person’s back, and that his nose is buried in soft, sweet-smelling hair.

And suddenly, he is very much awake.

Your scent is intoxicating this close – like a spring meadow after rain with a slight hint of metal which he doesn’t mind in the slightest. If anything, it adds an interesting spice to your otherwise sweet smell. His right arm is draped over your waist, and his other arm is trapped underneath.

Another thing he becomes acutely aware of is the uncomfortable straining in his pants.

Shit.

If you woke up now, you’d definitely be able to feel that, he realises, mortified. And now that he thinks about it, then he knows you’d fallen asleep with your backs to each other, as far away from each other as his bed would allow. But now, the two of you are lying like this, on your side of the bed with him facing you. Which means that he must have been the one to move in his sleep and put the two of you in this position.

Shit.

And, depending on how light of a sleeper you are, he’s now unable to move without waking you up due to his left hand being trapped beneath you. Maybe, if he does it really fast, you’ll first wake up after he has peeled himself off you – before you can realise how cuddly the two of you had been in your sleep.

Shit.  

Bracing himself, he prepares to yank his hand free from beneath you. But just then, the door to his office is slammed open and you wake up with a start, tumbling over the edge of the bed and landing heavily on the floor with a thud and a hoarse cry.

At the same time, he grabs the handle of the dagger he always keeps under his pillow, shoots to his feet and stealthily tiptoes over to his bedroom door, waiting to ambush whoever is behind it while beckoning for you to be silent.

“Shorty!” a voice sings, and the person in his office starts knocking insistently on the door to his bedroom.

He sighs, his nerves turning into relief, soon to be replaced by annoyance. Discreetly, he adjusts his pants to hide his still half hard-on.

“What do you want?” he demands.

“Why aren’t you up yet?” The disbelief in Hange’s voice is evident.

“Well, the last forty-eight hours have been pretty rough,” he defends himself before repeating, “What do you want, Four-Eyes?”

“The Commander wants to see you. You’re in trouble, little guy.”

He knows this was inevitable. However, he’d at least hoped that he would have time for a cup of tea before he was forced to deal with the aftermath of yesterday – his insubordination, the titans, the breaching and subsequent seal of Wall Rose, your titan brat, and who knows what more.

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” he grumbles, pressing the heels of his palms against his closed eyes as he listens to the fading sound of Hange’s footsteps.

When his hands fall to his sides again, he’s met with an inquisitive look from you.

You, the girl – the woman – who had just spent a night in his bed.

Your hair is resembling a haystack and the shirt you’d borrowed from him is all wrinkled, but despite your bedridden appearance, your eyes are sharp as always.

The sight of you like this, in his clothes…it does something to him. A primal feeling of possessiveness rises in him, and he feels his cock harden fully again.

Fuck.

Before the flush creeping up his cheekbones becomes too evident, he mumbles an excuse and barricades himself in his bathroom.

Levi can’t hear what’s going on on the other side of the door for the water pouring down around him from the showerhead above. No, he can only hear the water drumming on his head, his body, the cold porcelain beneath his feet. And his own heart, the sound of its beating even louder than the water.

Annoyed with himself, he glares down at his still erect cock. He’d tried turning the water ice-cold, which had helped momentarily. But as soon as he’d turned it off again to rub shampoo into his hair, the effect had waned, and he found himself rock-hard yet again.

Fuck.

He’d forced himself not to think about you yesterday when he’d seen you as good as naked. But now, it’s hard to keep his thoughts decent. He thinks about the way your muscles rippled beneath his fingers as he washed your back. The way your skin glistened. The way he’d flicked open one of your buttons before you’d stopped him. He thinks of your fingers wrapped around his wrist. Your fingers, firm, but gentle, wrapped around his--

Levi lets out a low groan as he loses his last sliver of self-restraint.

And, before he can think about what it is he’s doing, his own hand has already moved.

He knows it’s wrong, but he doesn’t stop. His hand moves down along his toned stomach, down the dark trail of hair and even further down...

Read the rest on ao3: Call my name || Levi X Reader

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Another work in progress...

Totally only drew this for anatomy learning purposes...like, a med student's gotta do what a med student's gotta do, right?

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Anyone up for a game of tag?...with ODM gear?...where Levi's it?

Tags: Levi/Reader, slow burn, mutual pining, fluff, canon verse

Characters: Reader, Levi Ackerman, Hange Zöe

Summary: On orders from Erwin Smith, you have received private training lessons with Levi since you started as a cadet. One evening, Levi suggests that you play tag – for training purposes only, of course.

Excerpt from my Levi X Reader fic

It’s been months since you’ve last seen Hange, so as soon as you spot the familiar tall figure approaching beside a noticeably shorter silhouette, you feel your mood rise considerably.

Damn it. You’re growing soft, you guess.

“Hey, little prodigy!” they call, waving their arms at you in their signature greeting.

You’re just about to offer a half-hearted wave when you suddenly find yourself enveloped in a strong embrace.

“I missed you, little P,” they coo, their nose buried in your hair.

“I refuse to be named after a bodily fluid. That’s where I draw the line,” you scowl, trying to pull away from them without hurting them.

And failing.

“No no, not pee, but P! As in the letter P – for prodigy!”

“Nobody but you will know the difference!” you groan.

“What about L then? For little? Or for Levi’s, you decide.”

“I hate you,” you grumble.

Maybe not so soft after all.

And to think you’d been happy to see them.

You turn to Levi for support, but he only shrugs as if to tell you that you’re on your own this time.

Traitor.

“Can’t you just call me by my name?” you complain.

“Where’s the fun in that? Levi here is Shorty, I’m Four-Eyes or Glasses, and you’re our little prodigy!”

“I think you forgot the prefix to Glasses,” you mutter, earning you a twitch of Levi’s lips.

“So, should we start training, or are we just gonna stand here and chitchat all night?” you snap.

Before any of them can answer, you’ve grabbed Levi by the wrist and proceeded to haul him with you into the woods.

It’s first when you reach your forest clearing that you realise how casually you’d just touched him. Of course, you’ve done similarly before, but that was before the whole almost-kissing thing.

Mortified, you let go of his hand and whirl around to apologise, but he shushes you with a finger on your lips. “Do you really think you could have dragged me here if I hadn’t let you?” he muses, eyes twinkling silver and mouth curled into a smirk.

Your scowl immediately returns, and you stomp away from him.

“Oi, how are we supposed to train if you’re leaving?”

His words make you halt in the middle of the clearing. You can hear him approach you from behind and turn around to face him. “Okay, what’s on the program today then?” you ask, crossing your arms over your chest.

“We’ll play tag.”

You feel your jaw drop.

He can’t be serious…right?

“You’re catching flies,” Levi says dryly.

It takes some time before you’re finally able to string together a coherent sentence.

“What are we, five years old?” you scoff.

“It’ll be good ODM practice,” he points out.

You think about it for a moment before concluding that he’s right. Not that you like it – you’ll probably spend the whole night chasing him around, or the whole night being caught by him. Neither of which you’re particularly excited for.

“Who’s it?” you ask.

Levi’s eyes darken. It sends chills down your spine and you can’t decide whether it’s from anticipation or fear. Probably a bit of both.

“I am. You have a head start of thirty seconds.”

It takes you a moment to realise that you need to get the hell away  right now if you don’t want to get caught within the next minute.

You shoot into the air and begin zipping through the forest. If you can get far enough away, he won’t be able to hear the whizzing of your wires – because regardless of how much you oil the main housing, you know Levi will still be able to hear that – and you might be able to use the darkness to your advantage.

But you know it’s in vain when you hear him set off the ground after twenty-seven seconds have passed – because if you’re able to hear him, then he probably already knows where you are too.

Dammit.

Levi catches up to you after an embarrassingly short amount of time, like a shadow following you through the night. It doesn’t take long before you see the figure whizzing only a dozen metres to your right. You know you can’t outrun him so instead, you wait for him to get closer.

Closer.

Just a little closer.

Close…closer…closer…

Without warning, you drop to the ground. As you’d hoped, Levi continues his trajectory for a split second longer – enough for you to shoot in the opposite direction.

You swerve in and out of the trees, so fast that it takes all your concentration not to collide with anything. The wind whips your hair around your face and you feel your eyes sting and water. Furiously, you try to blink away the tears so they won’t obscure your view.

And before you know it, you’re back at your clearing. You aim for a tree on the opposite side, scanning the area for a glimpse of silver, listening for the faintest sound of whizzing wires.

But the forest has gone silent.

Too silent.

You should have known he was only waiting to ambush you.

As you shoot over the clearing, a figure comes hurtling at you from the side, too fast for you to avoid. The last thing you see before you’re thrown off course is Levi’s eyes and a glint of teeth. The impact of your collision knocks the breath out of your lungs as you both speed towards a large tree.

You feel Levi’s arms form a protective cage around your body, and he’s basically carrying you by the time he lands elegantly on a tree branch.

He loosens his grip on you slightly. “Got you,” he breathes into your ear before finally letting you go.

You stumble out of his arms, thinking that it wouldn’t surprise you if you keeled over from embarrassment right now.

Laughter sounds from below, and you spot Hange eyeing you from another tree, their long legs dangling over a branch and notebook at the ready.

“I suck at this,” you grumble.

Geez, you hadn’t even been able to evade him for longer than a couple of minutes at most – and he’d practically princess carried you because you were thrown totally off course during your collision and hadn’t been able to land properly yourself.

Levi’s fingers twitch at his sides before he curls them into fists, hiding them in his pocket as he answers. “It’s still a couple of minutes longer than most would’ve been able to.”

“If you say so,” you huff.

Then, you square your shoulders, sauntering over to him.

Fake it till you make it, or whatever the saying is.

“Well, is it my turn now?” you ask.

You really don’t look forward to chasing Levi around the forest – you’ll probably end up playing this stupid game until curfew starts because there’s no way you’ll be able to catch Levi if he doesn’t want to get caught – but you can still pretendto be confident, right?

“You don’t need to give me any head-start,” he says, just before setting off from the ground.

“You little--”

Seething, you set off after him.

As you’d predicted, you spend the rest of the evening following Levi around the forest.

You curse and yell and try any dirty trick you can think of to catch him off guard, to make him veer off course, to make him slow down. Anything that would give you just a glimpse of a chance of catching him.

But he’s always just beyond your reach. Sometimes, you think he’s letting you catch up to him on purpose, just to tease you – to let your fingertips barely graze the hem of his cloak just before he speeds up again, leaving you behind frustrated and fuming.

It’s like a game of cat and mouse, but where the mouse is the one toying with the cat instead of the other way around. And by the time training is finished, you’re gasping for breath, your uniform sticking uncomfortably to your back.

You land heavily on the ground after Levi calls it a night, swaying on the spot.

“Hey.” A firm grip steadies you before you collapse onto the forest ground. “Hey, breathe.”

“I’m trying to,” you hiss, “but someone made me chase them around the whole forest for an entire two hours!”

“Actually, it was only one hour and forty-three minutes,” Hange informs you.

You send them a nasty glare. They just shrug, then busies themselves with flipping through their notebook.

Sighing, you turn towards Levi. “So, am I excused now? I could really use a bath.”

“Actually…”

Read the rest on ao3 if you're interested! Call my name || Levi X Reader

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Just posted the next chapter of Call my name || Levi X Reader!

After a month of editing, I'm finally back to posting and hopefully, will be back with my weekly updates! Thank you so much for your patience and support, it really means the world to me!

Tags: Levi/Reader, slow burn, mutual pining, jealous/possessive/protective/soft-and-all-the-things-we-love-Levi Ackerman, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, canon-verse, eventual smut, canon-typical violence, PTSD-like symptoms

ao3 link: Call my name || Levi X Reader

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Not me writing Levi with a monster c*ck...

Tags: Reader/Levi, mild smut, first time, canon verse

Just a draft for my Levi X Reader fic...

You are sitting on the bed, wearing one of Levi’s shirts as he comes out of the showers…in nothing but a towel around his hips.

You feel your breath hitch in your throat and heat immediately starts pooling at your core as you take in the damp hair falling into his eyes, his toned chest and stomach, the V line dipping down underneath the towel covering his--

“Ehem. I, uh…I forgot my clothes.” Levi coughs, cheeks flushed pink.

“Sure, you did,” you say, unable to hide the fact that you’re practically drooling right now.

“Hm…” Levi looks thoughtful. Then, his lips tug into an almost imperceptible mirk. “Like what you see?”

“Definitely.”

Gosh, you aren’t even able to deny it.

An unsuspected moment of courage washes over you – not the kind of courage it takes to venture outside the Walls, or to face a titan – but the kind of courage that it takes for you to get off the bed and approach Levi, a small, confident smile playing around your lips.

Slowly, but surely, you close the distance between you and Levi, watching as his Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he gulps.

You stop when your face is only a few inches from his. Then, you take his hands in yours and begin walking back towards the bed again.

When your knees hit the edge, you let yourself fall back, Levi not even resisting as you drag him down on top of you, towel pooling onto the floor behind him.

You raise your head slightly to look up at him. His eyes are glazed over with lust, breaths coming in short, ragged gasps, and you feel your core clench around nothing as you reach up to press your lips against his.

You push your tongue against the roof of his mouth as he opens it for you, wrapping your legs around his waist and fingers clawing at his back as you pull him closer, closer, closer…

Until you flip him onto his back, straddling his hips and involuntarily grinding against yourself against him. He lets out a low, strangled moan and moves to pull you closer again, but you have other plans.

“Tell me…tell me if I do something wrong, okay?” you gulp, eyes meeting his. 

You’ve never done this before, but you do know the concept of male masturbation. And besides, you had studied anatomy, so…how hard could it be?

Levi nods.

You press a kiss to his sternum, then move down, down, down, until you reach the trail of soft hair on his lower belly, leading you right too--

“Holy shit!” you gasp, completely ruining the moment in your shock.

“What?” Levi shoots into a sitting position, almost knocking you backwards.

“Sorry, sorry, it’s, uh, nothing…” You trail off, biting your lip.

“Don’t give me that shit,” Levi snaps. “Did I do something wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Just tell me, okay? Please?”

“It’s just…” You hide your face in your hands, cheeks reddening and all your previous courage thrown out the window.

“Just what?”

“Is it supposed to be, uh…” You gesture vaguely at his crotch. “You know…so big?”

“Wha-- what the…?” Levi splutters, going red in the face too.

“Sorry, I just have zero experience whatsoever,” you apologise, “but, uhm, how is that ever gonna fit anywhere?”

“It’s just slightly above average,” Levi says, offended, as he falls back onto the bed again with a huff.

He’s rather cute when he pouts, but you can’t really focus on that right now.

“If that’s slightly above average, then your height is too,” you argue, crossing your arms over your chest, glaring down at him.

Gosh, you’re going to die from embarrassment, and you seriously hope that it doesn’t show.

“Let’s just go to bed,” Levi grumbles.

“No!”

He raises his eyebrows questioningly at you.

“Uh, I mean…I still want to, uhm…you know,” you stammer, before adding, “But only if you do!”

For a moment, Levi just stares at you. Then, the smallest of smiles tugs at the corner of his lips, mischief glinting in his eyes.

“Then, get to it.”

This is just a draft for a future chapter, but you can read what's already posted on ao3: Call my name || Levi X Reader

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Hi babe just read the Levi fic on ao3 and my god have you knocked it out of the park ❤️❤️❤️❤️ It was soo good I finished it in a day. Just dropped by to share love and hope you update soon❤️❤️❤️😘

Omg thank you! I've spent the past month editing the already posted chapters, so I'm really happy you like it🥹 I'm posting the next chapter tomorrow and then hope to resume my weekly posting schedule. Thank you so much for reading and leaving this message! It really made smile☺️ Take care<3

[bumblebeeonthistle]

You've been hurt, and Levi is not happy about it

Tags: Levi/Reader, slow burn, pining, injury, mild yandere Levi Ackerman, implied/referenced torture

Excerpt from my Levi X Reader fic.

You’ve never been late for your training sessions before.

Had it been any other person, Levi would’ve been annoyed. But because it’s you, he’s worried. You don’t strike him as someone who’s ever late for anything. Like him, you seem too punctual and meticulous to be late.

After twenty minutes have passed, he begins the trek back towards the barracks.

He knocks once when he reaches the door to Shadis’ office and doesn’t bother to wait for an answer before opening the door and entering. 

Shadis lifts his gaze to meet Levi’s cold stare, abandoning the paperwork he’d been in the middle of finishing when Levi barged in.

The door slams shut behind him, but he doesn’t break eye contact with his former Commander as he strides over to the desk.

“I thought your training session was cancelled this week,” Shadis says, unperturbed. 

“Where is she?” 

A pause. 

"Where. Is. She."

“In the medical wards.” 

Levi's eyes narrow into slits.

“What happened?”

Shadis lets out a huff.

“Some thugs attacked one of the groups during the cadets’ wasteland excursion. Said they were after the ODM gear. She was captured but escaped by herself, apparently killing one and knocking out four of her other kidnappers in the process. One escaped on horseback. A bullet grazed her right temple and she got shot in her left thigh. Lost a lot of blood and is still unconscious, but otherwise she’ll be fine.” 

Levi feels the blood in his veins freeze, cold fury seeping into every crack of his being. A metallic taste fills his mouth as he bites the inside of his cheek so hard that it draws blood. 

“Wasn’t that excursion supposed to be without dangers? Where the fuck were the Instructors when it happened? And where are those shitheads who did it now?”

The Instructor ignores his first two questions, but answers his third.

“As we're speaking, the four surviving kidnappers are being transferred to the Interior to be questioned by the First Interior Squad.”

Levi just glowers at the him. After a moment of silence, Shadis sighs.

“I don’t know any more besides what I’ve already told you. She hasn’t woken up yet, so we haven’t gotten a chance to question her. All we know is from the other cadets present during the kidnapping.” 

Not entirely satisfied, but accepting that he won’t get any more information out of Shadis, Levi leaves the office without another word.

Before Levi can think about what he’s doing, his feet lead him to the Training Camp's hospital wards.

You'll be fine. You’re fine. 

He chants the words in his head like a prayer.

This is why he keeps people at an arm’s length. This is why he never lets anyone get close. He is so fucking tired of worrying about people, of caring, of being scared. Scared of losing.

He has already lost so many.

If Levi hadn't been so engrossed in his own thoughts, he would have heard the muffled voices from inside the hospital wards from far away. But as it is, it’s first when he steps inside the wards and is met with three pairs of curious eyes that he realises that you already have visitors. Had he known, he probably wouldn’t have come. For the other cadets to witness him in this state would be unacceptable.

He freezes in the doorframe. 

Then, before he can help himself, his gaze wanders to the only occupied bed in the room.

You look smaller, much less...intimidating in your unconscious state, one side of your head wrapped in bandages, splotches of brownish-red peeking through the otherwise white fabric. His eyes linger on your left thigh but find that it’s covered in white sheets, hiding your injury from his view.

Well, at least you don’t look like you’re in pain, which is a good thing, he guesses. Because if you’re anything like him, then he knows anaesthetics won’t work on you.

Then, he shifts his attention to your visitors. Two boys are sitting on the left side of your bed, one brunette and one blonde. Levi assumes one of them must be Yeager. Another young man is sitting on the other side of your bed, idly stroking the back of your hand. 

For some reason, the sight makes his blood boil. Despite the other man’s seated position, Levi can see that he’s tall, much taller than himself. And blonde with golden eyes.

His diametrical opposite, he thinks bitterly.

Why does he care?

It’s the younger blonde who moves first. He scrambles to his feet, salutes, and addresses him with a squeaky, albeit respectful Captain. The brunette’s eyes suddenly grow wide with realisation, jaw dropping before he hastily follows suit.

The young man is the last to rise. His salute is impeccable, so unfortunately Levi can’t scold him for it.

“Shouldn’t you brats be in bed by now?” Levi asks, not giving away any of the emotions currently threatening to shatter his mask of indifference. 

“Yes, Captain,” the two boys comply in unison, but the young man remains silent.

Instead, he raises his eyebrows, his eyes trailing up and down Levi as if seizing him up. Levi only offers a cold stare in return. After a couple of seconds, the man lowers his gaze, and all three of your friends file out of the room.

As soon as they’re gone, Levi strides over to your bedside. For a long moment he just stands there, content to merely observe your breathing, unconscious figure. He reaches out a hand to swipe a stray lock of hair away from your face but stops himself before he can touch you. His eyes travel yet again to your thigh covered in white hospital sheets and he has to resist the urge to take a look at the injury.

He doesn’t want to be a creep, after all.

After one last look, he leaves the wards to fetch his horse. Not to go back to headquarters, though. No, he’s going to the Interior. He’s going to make those four men sing. He’s going to make them talk, and then, he’s going to make them wish they’d never been born.

And lastly, he will grant them their wishes. 

Read the rest on ao3! Call my name || Levi X Reader

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Sparring with Levi

Excerpt from my Levi X Reader fic:

Tags: Levi/Reader, slow burn, private training, canon-verse

Summary: On orders from Erwin Smith, you have received private training lessons with Levi since you started as a cadet. You haven't told anyone yet, though. That quickly changes, however, when Levi asks you to spar with him in front of all the other military recruits.

The Instructor’s eyes scan over the cadets before finally landing on…

“You!” the Shadis yells, striding towards you.

You have to restrain the urge to snort “me?” in return. Instead, you just salute with a “Sir?”

“You would do well to remember that I’ll be grading you on your actual performances and not what I believe you are capable of. I’ve been trying to get you to get your ass moving these past two years, but I’m no longer putting up with your bullshit. Unless all those private lessons with Captain Levi have been a fucking waste of time, I expect you to up your game in the future instead of holding back like a scared damsel in distress!” he bellows, his face so close to yours that you can feel small droplets of spit land on your face.

Meanwhile, the forest has gone silent. Or maybe, it’s just the ringing in your ears drowning out every other noise.

Oh no.

Oh hell no, Shadis didn’t just say that in front of the whole Cadet Corps. And the representatives from both the Scouts, the Garrison, and the Military Police.

You feel the eyes of every person present staring at you as you struggle to keep your face neutral. Your hands, which are currently curled into fists and placed above your heart and behind your back, are shaking ever so slightly with pent-up fury.

At one point, you can’t help but glance over to where you know Levi is standing. He isn’t looking at you, but at Shadis, as if he could burn the Instructor down with his gaze alone. You’re surprised the Instructor has the guts to blatantly ignore him.

If Levi had been looking at you like that…you shudder mentally.

“So, brat,” Instructor Shadis continues, eyes narrowing as he stares you down, “I suggest that you prove to me right now that you haven’t been half-assing your training, otherwise, you’re not fit to be in the military!”

The silence that follows next is so heavy you could choke on it.

You feel your anger turn to dread – because of all the threats, all the insults, all the whispers and rumours that you’ve had to endure ever since enlisting as a cadet – none of it has really affected you like this specific threat does. The threat of being thrown out of training.

The threat of being thrown out, while Eren stays and eventually joins the Survey Corps where he’ll have to venture outside the Walls.

Without you.

It’s unfair, you think. Yes, you hadn’t given it your all today but you’d still placed first – with the most kills and the best technique and the fastest completion of the course out of all two hundred plus cadets.

What more could Shadis ask for?

You’re just about to ask when someone clears their throat. That someone being Levi as he steps up and speaks.

“She’ll prove to you that she hasn’t been half-assing her training, Shadis.”

The Instructor raises his brows.

“And how will she do that?”

Levi stares up at the Chief Instructor, his former Commander, with an almost unreadable expression. It’s only the small glint in his eyes, the almost imperceptible tilt to his lips that tell you that he’s up to something. But you doubt anyone else has noticed.

“By fighting me.”

By fighting me.

Levi’s words echo over the training grounds as he pauses, waiting for Shadis’ reaction.

“Next thing on the program is sparring, right?” he asks rhetorically when Shadis still doesn’t say anything. “So, we’ll start off with a demonstration. Me against her.”

Another long pause.

And then, after eyeing Levi coldly for what feels like multiple minutes, Shadis lets out a snort.

“Alright, it’s settled then – although, you better not go easy on her.”

Levi’s lips curl into a small smirk.

“I never do.”

And that is how you now find yourself standing before Levi in the middle of the training grounds, surrounded by cadets, instructors, and representatives alike. You feel cold-sweat coating your palms – not because of the prospect of fighting Levi as you’ve done that on multiple occasions before, but because of the masses of spectators. It doesn’t help that you can hear the muttering among your peers – some sound excited, some dubious, and some are even placing bets on how long you’ll last against Humanity’s Strongest.

The only thing grounding you right now is Levi’s gaze, his grey eyes never wavering from your own.

“Ignore them,” he mumbles to you for the second time today. “Just focus on me, like you always do when we spar. I know you can do this.”

You don’t know what it is, but quiet encouragement grounds you. Everything else fades into the background – visual details, sounds, smells – and all you focus on is him. The ways his grey eyes bore into yours, as if they’re trying to look into your very soul. The ways his chest rises and falls calmly, the way his pulse flutters at his throat. The sound of air entering and leaving his lungs, the beating of his heart. The smell of tea leaves and fresh laundry and that earthy scent you’ve come to associate with him.

You straighten your spine and roll your joints, your mind wandering into that calm space it always does just before a fight.

“On the count of three!” Instructor Shadis bellows.

“One!”

“Two!”

“…three!”

You don’t hesitate, but jump, trying to land a roundhouse kick to Levi’s face, so fast that the spectators have a hard time following your movements.

But because it’s Levi, he doesn’t have any problems matching your speed.

He reaches out to grab your ankle and fling you to the ground, but you’ve already anticipated that. So instead, you twirl in the air and aim to kick him in the back instead. Levi swivels around to block you and, while you’re out of balance, goes for throwing you to the ground again. You manage to twist out of his grasp, and while he is slightly off centre, you bring down your elbows to break his spine – a very risky move had this been normal practice with one of your fellow cadets, but you know Levi won’t let you hurt him. And besides, Instructor Shadis had told you to prove yourself, so you might as well give it your all.

And, as you had expected, Levi effortlessly dodges your move before going on the offensive again.

It’s Levi who gets the first hit in – of course it is, you’ve only managed to land one single hit on him the entire time you’ve been training together, after all. He also gets the second, the third, the fourth, and the sixth hit in.

But he still hasn’t managed to incapacitate you.

Maybe, it’s because you know the stakes are so high this time, or maybe, it’s because you know hundreds of people are watching you, but you’ve never lasted this long in a sparring round with Levi before. And you can tell that it isn’t just because he’s going easy on you – you can see beads of sweat forming on his forehead and the slight crease between his eyebrows telling you that he’s concentrating.

And then, your chance at victory arises. Some loose gravel makes Levi lose his footing for a split second. And in that split second, you move. It is as if time slows down as you jump, landing a kick right to his solar plexus.

Someone whoops in the background – probably Hange, if you had to guess.

Levi grunts and hunches over in pain, but that doesn’t stop him from grabbing your leg and throwing you to the ground – for real, this time. The two of you roll around on the ground, first with him on top, then with you, then him again.

You know it’s the end for you when Levi finally manages to catch you in a headlock – the same one you’d used on Reiner and taught to Sasha and Connie.

Your back is pressed against the hard planes of his chest, one of his arms wrapped around your throat. Fingers, which are normally cool, but now hot to the touch, press against your pulse point. Not hard enough to hurt, but still firm. Almost demanding.

His hair tickles your ear as he leans forward to whisper in it.

“Do you forfeit?”

You sigh, ignoring the way your heart skips a beat at the sound of his voice, hoarse and a little throaty.

“I forfeit,” you mumble.

After a moment, Levi lets go of you. He gets to his feet before offering you his hand. You take it, letting him pull you off the ground.

It’s first now, when the fight is over, that you truly feel how exhausted and battered-up you are. Using the last of your resolve, you salute and wait for Instructor Shadis to pass his judgement.

To your surprise, the faintest ghost of a smile plays around Shadis’ lips as he gives you a single nod of approval.

“That’s all I wanted to see,” he says, and you can almost hear the smugness dripping from his voice.

And you realise that he’d never intended to throw you out of training. He’d just been goading you. Riling you up. Forcing you – and Levi, who has been covering for you so far – to show your true colours. To show what you’re capable of.

That…that scumbag.

And to think you’d been worried.

You can’t believe you fell for that.

Anger simmers just beneath your skin as you glare at the Instructor.

“Ehem.”

You, Levi, Shadis, and the rest of the spectators turn towards the MP representative who’d let out the sound. His beady eyes are darting back and forth between you and Levi, an overbearing smile plastered on his face.

“How do we know that Levi here didn’t just go easy on the girl?” he challenges, now fixing his gaze on Levi. “It’s clear that they have a relationship that goes beyond what is appropriate for a teacher and his…protégé.”

Your anger flares, this time directed at the MP. Your fingers twitch as you feel the urge to break his nose well up inside you.

Any idiot could see that Levi didn’t go easy on you.

But before you can tell the MP lizard to shut his big fat mouth, someone beats you to the punch.

“That’s Captain Levi to you, my dear MP fellow!” Hange tuts as they stride over to where the MP is standing, slinging an arm over his shoulder jovially. “You’re welcome to fight the girl yourself if you suspect foul play here.” The MP visibly pales at this suggestion. “Or,” Hange continues innocently, “you could also just file a complaint to Commander Erwin Smith himself about how you think his best soldier, Humanity’s Strongest, is neglecting his duties in training new recruits?”

The MP mumbles something unintelligible.

“That’s what I thought,” Hange muses before finally letting the MP go.

Your anger dies down. He isn’t worth it anyways, you think as you send one last look of disdain in the direction of the MP.

Then, you turn your attention to Levi.

“Damn. Didn’t know Hange could be that scary,” you mumble under your breath.

“That’s because you haven’t seen them in their lab,” Levi answers, quietly enough for only you to hear.

“And with that out of the way,” Instructor Shadis continues, as if you haven’t just gotten your ass handed by Humanity’s Strongest in front of the entire Cadet Corps, “Pair up and start training!”

You groan.

Does the Instructor really expect you to spar again, after what he just put you through?

Read the rest on ao3: call my name || Levi X Reader

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Truth or dare

Tags: Fluff, crack, shenanigans, reverse-harem, teen romance, secret identity.

Summary: You're a girl disguised as a boy, with the alias ‘Ryo’, in order to join Bofurin. You got hurt after your fight with KEEL, but luckily, no one discovered your secret. Now, however, you're all having a sleepover at Kiryu's and he wants to play truth or dare.

You think you might have a heart attack.

And you’re only in your mid-teens, for God’s sake. Aren’t heart attacks supposed to be something old people get?

But then again, how else would you explain your racing heart and the feeling of your skin being on fire? 

You’re currently siting on Kiryu’s bed, hands slapped over your face and eyes closed so tightly that the muscles around them are beginning to hurt, wishing that you could erase the images burned into your retinas.

But alas, you don’t think that’s possible. Oh gosh, you’re gonna die. Die from embarrassment. 

Because as soon as you had all settled into Kiryu’s room, all the boys had proceeded to strip, right in front of you. 

Forget that thing about not being embarrassed about sleeping in the same room as all your guy friends. You severely underestimated yourself because there’s no denying it: You’re way beyond embarrassed.

“Are you alright, Ryo-san?” Nirei asks anxiously. “Does it hurt somewhere? Should we go back to the hospital?”

“No no,” you reassure him, although your voice still sounds way too high-pitched to be natural. “I’m fine. All good.”

“Are you sure?” Suo asks, voice laced with worry. You dare to peek through your fingers, but regret it immediately afterwards when you see Suo nonchalantly pulling off his shirt, revealing a very…toned stomach.

Seriously, you think you might just die now.

You thought this would be the same as when you have sleepovers with your brother. But no. For some reason, this is very different.

“Ryo-kun, are you sure you’re alright?” Suo places a hand on your shoulder, and you want to slap yourself for not being able to get even a single word out. “Maybe, you’ll feel better after changing into pyjamas and lying down for a bit.”

“Ryo-san, you have to tell us if you’re feeling unwell!” Nirei says sternly.

“Yeah, cut the bullshit,” Sakura – who, bless him, still has his clothes on since he’ll be going home later – growls from beside you.

“Yes, even if your virtue is to be strong for your comrades, it’s also important to admit when you’re hurt!” Tsugeura bellows as he places his hands on his hips, standing before you in nothing but his boxers.

Oh, why can’t he just put on some God damn clothes, you think desperately as you try to control your breathing.

“Oh shit, he’s hyperventilating!”

“Do we have a bag somewhere?”

“What, that’s actually a thing?!”

“Yeah, it’s because you’re exhaling all of your CO2 which causes cerebral vasoconstriction, so if you breathe in a bag, it helps with--”

“Please spare us the lengthy details Nire-kun.”

Shortly after, a plastic bag is shoved into your hands.

Well, might as well give it a try, you think as you begin breathing into the bag.

In, out, in out, in out.

And lo and behold, it does help with the growing dizziness and tingling in your fingertips.

“It’s perfectly normal to feel like this after everything that happened,” Suo tells you as he rubs soothing circles on your back.

You don’t correct the assumption that you’re having a panic attack because of the fight with KEEL, and not because you’re in a room full of half-naked boys.

And just as you’ve finally gotten some control over your breathing, Kiryu just has to ruin it all for you again by coming out of the showers…in nothing but a towel.

Really, what happened to modesty?

But then again, you guess it’s not that uncommon for boys to be able to be naked together without being weird about it. Like, didn’t you do that kind of stuff when you went to onsens and such?

Not that you’ve ever tried it. And you beg to whatever Gods are out there that your friends will never, ever get the idea to organize a hangout at an onsen.

When you’re all in pyjamas (you fled to Kiryu’s bathroom to change once he had finished up), you sit down in a circle, per Kiryu’s request.

“So, what’s the point of this, Kiryu-kun?” Tsugeura asks curiously, looking around the room as if he’s waiting for something to happen.

“Now,” Kiryu says excitedly, clapping his hands together, “we play a game!”

“A game?!”

“Hm,” Kiryu nods confirmatively, “we’re gonna play ‘Truth or dare’!”

“Huh?!”

“Isn’t that a game for kids? Or like, teenage girls?” Suo asks, frowning slightly.

“Who says boys can’t do what girls do? Or vice versa?” Kiryu lifts his eyebrows, challenging someone to disagree with this statement.

Nobody does.

“Well, it’s settled then! I’ll start by spinning this bottle,” he fishes out an empty Ramune glass bottle from his bag and places it in the centre of your circle. “And whoever it lands on must either answer one of my questions truthfully or do a dare that I decide.”

“Alright, that sounds simple enough,” Tsugeura shrugs.

“Sounds stupid,” Sakura mumbles, glaring at the bottle as if it’s containing an explosive instead of the sticky remains of blue soda.

“Can I add a rule?” Nirei says, hand raised. “No unreasonable questions or dares. And if there’s something you reallydon’t want to answer or do, you don’t have to.”

“Hm, I guess that would be fair,” Kiryu admits, although he pouts disappointedly when he says it.

“Is something wrong, Ryo-kun?” Suo asks. He’s noticed that you’ve been awfully quiet ever since Kiryu suggested that you play this game.

“Well, I just don’t really like this game,” you mumble. “Last time I played with some kids from the orphanage, they asked me to eat dirt. And jump out the window from fourth floor. And hold my hand over the stove for as long as--”

“Okay, we promise that we won’t ask you to hurt yourself!” Nirei hurries to reassure you. Your four friends are all looking at each other, then at you, stricken. They didn’t expect you to suddenly trauma dump them.

“Okay, we could also play ‘Never have I ever’?” Kiryu suggests, but you shake your head.

“No no, it’s alright. I want to try this.”

“Okay. But we can stop anytime you want.”

And with that, Kiryu spins the bottle. You all watch, mesmerized, as the bottle spins and spins and spins before finally slowing down and landing on…

“Nire-chan!”

“…oh no.”

“Truth or dare?”

“Uhm, uhm, uhm…”

“No need to overthink it!”

“Right, right…uhm, I’m gonna go with truth.”

“Did you actually think that horrible purple shirt you wore on our first day of school was cool?”

“…”

“Pffft!”

“That’s what you wanted to ask me?” Nirei splutters while the rest you snicker.

“Well, did you?” Kiryu persists. He looks genuinely curious.

“Well, no. Actually, I don’t really like those loud colours…”

“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Kiryu winks. “Okay, now it’s your turn to spin the bottle, Nire-chan!”

Nirei spins the bottle, and it lands on you.

“T-t-truth or d-dare?” he stutters (it seems like he’s back to his usual self, to your relief).

“Truth?”

“Alright, uhm…right, I need to ask you a question,” Nirei mutters to himself while you patiently wait for him to tear down your dignity with whatever he’s going to ask you next.

“Right, uhm…”

There’re tons of thinks Nirei wants to ask you. He wants to ask you why you wear make-up. He wants to ask what the bandages are for. He wants to ask what it is that you hide – because he knows that you’re hiding something.

But despite the curiosity burning within him, he doesn’t ask you any of those things. All those questions seem too…personal. He knows that that’s what this game is about, but he also wants to respect your privacy.

So, instead, he decides to ask a rather dull, but hopefully safe, question,

“What’s your favourite colour?”

“Why’re you so boooring?” Kiryu complains. But you take Nirei’s question seriously and mull over it for a bit before telling him what your favourite colour is.

Then, it’s your turn to spin the bottle.

The game goes on like this for quite some time and you have to admit that you’re having fun learning more about your friends.

You learn that Suo likes teacakes and that he’s wearing an eyepatch because of an accident from when he was a child and not to seal in an ancient Chinese spirit like he claimed the first time you met him. You learn what type of protein powder Tsugeura prefers (Sakas Protein) and that it’s one of his virtues always to let his opponent get the first hit when he’s in a fight. You learn that Kiryu once accidentally dyed his hair orange instead of pink, and that his pet peeve is people who underestimate girls. You learn that Nirei has more clothes than can fit in his closet and that he loves hats and sunglasses, while Sakura only has one type of t-shirt in his closet and that he hates hats and sunglasses. 

The first one to choose “dare” is Kiryu himself, and Suo asks him to show you the most embarrassing photo on his phone.

Reluctantly, Kiryu pulls out his phone and begins flipping through his absurdly many photos. The rest of you can’t see what he’s looking at, but at some point, he turns bright red in the face.

“I think I’m gonna choose truth instead,” he says, hastily turning off his phone.

Or well, he would have turned off his phone if not Sakura had snatched it from right under his nose.

Sakura looks down at the picture Kiryu tried to hide from you and scrunches up his nose.

“What is it, Sakura-kun?” Suo asks. Sakura scoffs and throws the phone to Suo, too high for Kiryu to reach it. Instead, the pink-haired boy opts to hide his face in his hands in embarrassment.

You, Nirei, and Tsugeura look over Suo’s shoulder to get a look at the photo too – because although you do feel a bit guilty for invading Kiryu’s privacy like this, then you also have to admit that you’re rather curious.

Because what could possibly make Kiryu, who usually never gets flustered like this, blush so hard that he could be put in the same league as Sakura?

Well, it turns out that it’s a photo of you. Or well, not only you. It also has Sakura, Suo, and Nirei in it, but you are still the one in focus while the other boys are slightly blurry, half out of the frame. You’re laughing at something, sitting on a table in your classroom at Furin High, and the sun is filtering in through the window, hitting you at an angle that makes it look a bit like you’re glowing.

“What’s embarrassing about that?” Tsugeura asks, bewildered.

“Well, it’s taken from before you even spoke to Ryo-kun the first time,” Suo grits out accusingly, eye darting between the phone and its owner as if he can’t decide which one deserves his ire more at the moment. 

“Creep.” Sakura mumbles, glaring daggers at Kiryu.

“I wasn’t trying to be a pervert or anything!” Kiryu hurries to defend himself. “I was just-- well, it was just-- I mean…”

“I don’t mind,” you reassure him because really, you don’t. You know Kiryu didn’t mean any harm, and besides, it is a rather flattering photo of you.

“You’re too nice, Ryo-kun,” Suo mumbles, features softening as he looks at you.

After Kiryu chose dare, your other friends become more adventurous too. Tsugeura dares Suo to do twenty push-ups, and you have to avert your eyes to stop staring at the way Suo’s arms flex every time he does a push-up. You dare Nirei to shout out the window “I’M NOT LIKE A REGULAR MOM I’M A COOL MOM!!!” and Nirei dares Tsugeura to sing the Japanese national anthem backwards. Suo dares Sakura to say something nice about each of you, which makes Sakura turn red in the face and splutter as if the words are choking him on their way out.

“Y-y-y-y-our…you’re not as annoying when you aren’t shouting,” Sakura tells Tsugeura without looking at him.

“Wow, thanks, Sakura-kun, that’s really nice of you to say!” Tsugeura shouts, making Sakura’s eye twitch. 

“Okay, that was one, Sakura-kun,” Suo says cheerfully, “now, what about me?”

“Uhh…”

“That’s not very reassuring,” Suo pouts.

“Just wait a moment, godammit!”

After a moment, Sakura finally says,

“Nirei isn’t as lame as I thought he’d be when I met him.”

“Well, you already told me that once,” Nirei points out, “but thank you, Sakura-san.”

“A-a-and I guess...” Sakura continues, looking like he’d rather go at it with KEEL again than saying what he’s going to say next, “I guess Kiryu’s got some pretty cool moves when he fights…”

“Awww, thank you!” Kiryu coos, batting his eyelashes at Sakura.

“And, uhh…” Sakura makes eye contact with you, his face going from bright red to burning-hot-red in an instant before averting his gaze again.

“I guess Ryo’s pretty cool too…and strong. And fast. ‘s got good reflexes,” Sakura mumbles to the clenched fists in his lap.

“Sakura-kun, you still haven’t said anything nice about me,” Suo reminds him.

“But Ryo-kun got a whole four compliments, so I think we’re moving on!” Kiryu declares and Sakura doesn’t hesitate to spin the bottle again before Suo can make any more unreasonable demands.

At some point, it’s Kiryu’s turn to spin the bottle, and the flask ends up pointing at you. And because you’re finally feeling safe enough, you choose ‘dare’

…only to immediately regret your decision when you see the smirk on Kiryu’s face. You’re just about to bury yourself underneath the covers when he says,

“Kiss me.”

Chaos ensues.

Nirei lets out a shrill shriek, Tsugeura kicks a chair, making it topple over him, Suo begins shouting profanities at Kiryu (you’ve never, ever heard Suo swear before), while Sakura turns even more red in the face than you do (poor boy’s gotta take care not to get an aneurism). Kiryu just giggles maniacally at their reactions. 

“I thought we agreed on no unreasonable dares,” Suo hisses through gritted teeth.

“You really are a creep,” Sakura scowls.

“Well, he’s free to say no if he doesn’t want to,” Kiryu points out.

“Of course he doesn’t want to!” Suo seethes, eye twitching as he glares at Kiryu.

At this point, you’re not sure if you’re more shocked about Kiryu’s dare or the others’ reactions – especially Suo’s. Maybe, he’s still on edge after the fight with KEEL and that’s why he’s so overprotective of you.

Although, you don’t really see a reason for him to be. This is just Kiryu, after all.

“You don’t mind, do you, Ryo-chan?” Kiryu asks, and suddenly, all attention is on you.

“Well…”

Honestly, you’re a bit unsure of what to say. Because it’s not like you mind kissing Kiryu, but the murderous glare Suo sends him kind of deters you a bit. It’s not like you want to be responsible for one of your friends murdering your other friend.

“You don’t have to if you really don’t want to,” Kiryu says, but you can’t help but notice the slight wavering of his voice. There’s really no way to make all of them happy, is there?

In the end, you make up your mind.

“I’ll just give you a small peck on the cheek, alright?”

Immediately, Kiryu’s eyes lighten up, and he nods enthusiastically at your suggestion. He scoots over to you and you lean in, closing your eyes.

When your lips hit his cheek, you can’t help but think that this isn’t at all what a cheek should feel like. It’s soft and smooth, yes, but also oddly bony and uneven. 

You open your eyes. And are met with the sight of Suo’s fingers.

“Eh?”

It turns out that the moment both you and Kiryu closed your eyes, Suo had placed his hand in between your lips and Kiryu’s cheek.

“What did you do that for?” Kiryu whines, swatting Suo’s hand away from his face.

Suo just looks awfully smug as he cradles the hand you just kissed as if it’s something precious, while he continues to smile sweetly at the extremely disappointed Kiryu.

Sakura also can’t help but feel relieved that you didn’t actually kiss Kiryu, although he isn’t gloating openly the way Suo is. 

“Ehem.” You clear your throat. “It’s my turn to spin the bottle, right?”

You continue your game for a little while longer, although no one chooses ‘dare’ again. Not that you’re complaining – you also prefer ‘truth’ anyways because that way, you get to know your friends better. 

“Alright,” Suo declares, bringing you out of your thoughts, “Ryo-kun, truth or dare?”

You hadn’t even noticed the bottle pointing at you.

“Uhm, truth, I guess.”

“Hm…” Suo hums thoughtfully. He suddenly looks serious – way too serious for a silly game like this.

“Ryo-kun, you know that we’re your friends, right? And that you can tell us everything?”

You freeze.

Your first thought is that somehow, Suo has figured out that you’re a girl. It wouldn’t surprise you if he had – he’s awfully perceptive and it’s just a matter of time before he sees right through you.

But you know you also can’t just jump to conclusions. Because you’re not 100 percent sure that Suo knows yet, and if you barf out your secret now, not only will Suo with 100 percent certainty know, but the rest of your friends will too.

So, you try to play it cool…

“W-w-what d-d-do you mean, S-Suo-kun?” 

…and fail miserably.

“I mean, why didn’t you tell us that you were in a fight this weekend?”

You blink.

“Huh?”

“The marks. On your neck,” Suo clarifies, jaw clenching as he gestures at your bandaged neck.

“We didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Nirei adds, looking crestfallen, “but we…we couldn’t help but overhear the doctor mentioning those marks. Those that looks like strangulation marks.”

Oh.

So that’s what Suo meant.

You can’t say that you’re as relieved as you thought you would be to find out that Suo has not, in fact, figured you out (yet). Because this is just another one of your secrets that has to remain just that – a secret.

But then again, if your friends just think that you were in a fight, which technically isn’t entirely untrue…

“Yeah, I was in a fight,” you shrug. You’ve always been a terrible liar – you don’t believe in lying (except about your gender, but that you deem a necessary evil in the name of the greater good), so you’re trying to mix in a bit of truth in the story you’re about to tell your friends. 

“Just some random thug I bumped into on my way home from work.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sakura asks angrily, although you know that his anger isn’t directed at you.

“Uhm well, it’s just that I didn’t think it was that important.”

Your friends exchange glances for the second time tonight.

“Ryo-kun,” Suo says sternly, “Everything that happens to you is important to us.” The rest of your friends nod in agreement. “And if anyone as much as touches a hair on your head…” The temperature in your apartment suddenly seems to drop several degrees.

“They’ll have us to answer to,” Kiryu finishes for him.

“Did you at least beat the guy to a pulp?” Sakura asks after a moment of silence.

“I wouldn’t call it that,” you wince, “But really, it’s no prob!” 

Suo hums again. He trusts that you can take care of yourself from common thugs and random nobodies but still…he wishes that he knew who had laid his grubby hands on you so that he could make sure that the guy never got the use of them again.

“It’s getting rather late guys, maybe we should just call it a day?” Tsugeura asks because even though he might be a bit dense, even he can sense the tension that has sprouted between his friends.

As if on cue, you yawn.

Sakura immediately gets to his feet, mumbles a half-hearted “G’night,” and unceremoniously proceeds to stomp out of the annex.

“Wait!”

You shoot to your feet to follow Sakura out the door. Your head begins to spin and your vision blackens, but you still tumble out after Sakura, looking like a drunkard while ignoring the cries of alarm from your friends.

“Sakura-kun!”

He turns around just in time to see you stumble over your own feet and, before he can think, he’s at your side, catching you before you fall into the pond or something.

This gives him a strange sense of déjà-vu.

“Watch where you’re going, will ya?” he grumbles as he steadies you. “And what do you want?”

You fiddle a bit with your pyjamas and glance around the garden, gathering your thoughts. You think you catch a glimpse of a girl, observing you from the main house, smiling and winking at you. But she disappears again so suddenly that you think you might have imagined it.

“Well?”

Sakura’s voice snaps you back to the present. You clear your throat.

“Well, I just wanted to say…thank you.”

Sakura’s eyes widen in surprise. You take a deep breath before continuing,

“Thank you, Sakura-kun. For taking care of us, I mean. You only just became Grade Captain, and you’re already leading everyone. And this might sound presumptuous, but I also want to say that…I’m proud of you. Of course, I knew you would make a great leader – ever since I saw how you protected Kotoha-chan that day we met – but still. I’m proud of you.”

To no one’s surprise, Sakura is blushing by the time you’ve finished your little speech and despite himself, he can’t help but feel happy that you think that about him.

But at the same time, he also hates that your words make him happy because he doesn’t deserve your praise. Sakura knows Nirei blames himself for what happened to you, but really, he shouldn’t.

Because if it’s anyone’s fault that you got hurt, it’s Sakura’s.

“As I told the others, I didn’t do shit,” he scowls. “We were losing that brawl big time before the second years showed up, and that was only thanks to you and Nirei…”

“Nire-kun?” you ask, confused.

“Yeah, he wrote to Kaji-san before everything went to shit.”

“Huh. Well, anyways, if it weren’t for you, Sakura-kun, then we probably wouldn’t even have gone to KEEL in the first place, and then, who knows what would have happened to Anzai-kun and Nagato-kun?” you say rhetorically.

“You ran after Anzai when he got that photo too!” Sakura protests, and just then, you’ve just about had enough.

“Why can’t you just take a fucking compliment god dammit?!” you yell.

“…”

Sakura looks taken aback. He’s never heard you raise your voice once, let alone swear before – at least not when speaking to a…friend (for some reason he can’t explain, when that word applies to you, it doesn’t trigger the same warmth spreading in his chest as when Nirei asked him if they were friends earlier today. A bit like food just about to go bad, but not as spoiled yet that his tastebuds can detect it – it just tastes off…).

And then, you do something that makes him yelp in surprise.

The two of you are already standing pretty close, but you just slung your arms around him and are now hugging him, your still damp hair tickling his face.

Now, normally, Sakura’s first instinct would be to push anyone away who tried to initiate intimate contact with him like this. But for some reason, he can’t bring himself to push you away – no, scratch that. He doesn’t want to push you away. Even if he’s just standing there, stiff as a board, heart hammering in his chest and his cheeks so hot that you could fry eggs on them while you have your arms around him in this very one-way hug.

He screams at himself to just return your hug, but when he tries to lift his arms, they won’t move.

Then, after what seems like forever, but still not enough time, you pull away.

“Good night, Sakura-kun.”

And with that, you stumble back into Kiryu’s private shed.

Meanwhile, Sakura just stands there. His heart is racing, and his cheeks are burning, and he’s still just standing there like some God damn idiot.

He wonders what is wrong with him.

Then, he slaps himself, hard.

That finally seems to get his body moving.

Read the rest on ao3: Defy || Various X Reader

[bumblebeeonthistle]

How would you write Levi?

I feel like I write him pretty well in character, but a question of HOW I do it...well, I don't know if I explain it very well.

How would you write Levi?

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Discord server for anything xreader and OC-related

This is a server for anything xreader or OC related. So, if you're either a reader or writer or just interested in xreader or oc fics, then this is the place for you!

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[bumblebeeonthistle]

The Furin boys reacting to you getting hurt

Tags and warnings: Various/Reader, reverse-harem, blood, injury, KEEL arc spoilers

Summary: You're a girl disguised as a boy in order to enrol in Furin High and join Bofurin, defenders of the town. Naturally, you also join when your class goes to Senkan Shipyard to help Anzai. But this time, it isn't Nirei getting hurt. No, it's you.

A scream tears through the shipyard, the sound echoing eerily in the sudden silence that follows as both Bofurin and KEEL members alike stop what they’re doing to look in the direction of the sound.

Because it’s a scream the likes of a wild, cornered, enraged, and frightened animal who has nothing left to lose. A scream that makes your blood run cold and sends shivers down your spine.

And when they turn their heads to see who let out such a horrible sound, they see one of Bofurin’s six strongest fighters on the ground in an alarmingly large pool of blood and a blond boy clinging to the body as if his life depends on it.

Suo sees red. Because even though he can’t make out the exact features of the person lying on the ground, he knows that you were fighting in that exact corner of the shipyard, and that you were fighting one of KEEL’s VIPs while protecting Nirei. And that right now, that VIP has a shit-eating grin on his face as he raises a piece of lumber wrapped in razor wire, ready to bring it down on you and Nirei again.

Something within him snaps, and Suo moves. But it it’s like one of those bad dreams where your feet seem like they’re glued to the ground, and your movements are sluggish and slow. Too slow, he thinks desperately as the weapon is brought closer and closer to hitting you and Nirei.

He’s too slow.

A bit further away, Kiryu is standing frozen in place. He can’t help but stare. He can feel his heart thumping loudly in his chest – not because of adrenaline from the fight, but from shear and utter panic.

You look even smaller than you usually do as you lie there on the ground, your too large Furin jacket tangled around you and your hair falling out of its bun and spreading out, surrounding your head like a halo.

It almost looks like you’re…

No, he thinks to himself. You can’t be. You’re too strong. Too lively.

He hasn’t even gotten the chance to ask you where you got that new turtleneck you wore yesterday. He hasn’t even gotten the chance to show you all the new cat memes he has saved on his phone just for you. He hasn’t even gotten the chance to take you out to his favourite café which is nothing like the rowdy places your other classmates favour.

He hasn’t even gotten the chance to tell you that he-- that he--

No. Don’t think like that. There’ll be plenty of time to tell you later – because Kiryu just knows. He knows that you’ll soon be on your feet again. He refuses to believe anything else.

In the meantime, he has a bone to pick with KEEL. Specifically, one specific VIP swinging around a piece of lumber wrapped in razor wire.

And Kiryu is positive that at least a couple of particular boys from your class will be more than happy to help him beat whoever hurt you to a pulp.

Suo and Kiryu are not the only ones about to completely lose it. Sakura’s been fighting not too far from you and already knows that you were struggling a bit to both hold off the KEEL VIP and protect Nirei at the same time.

But still, it didn’t seem like you couldn’t handle it. And then, he was just looking away for what felt like a split second, but that split second was enough for everything to go seriously wrong.

And now, he’s staring down at your unconscious form sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood. Where did all that blood come from? Surely, it’s not all yours? And surely, you didn’t get knocked out from a measly piece of lumber?

But then, Sakura notices the razor wire wrapped around said piece of lumber, and he feels bile rise at the back of his throat.

He doesn’t know exactly how, but he knows that somehow, this is his fault. He was supposed to protect you all. To protect you. He even told you that he could take on KEEL all by himself.

But yet again, he failed.

He failed.

Another one of your friends who feels impossibly even worse than Sakura does right now is Nirei. Because if it’s anyone’s fault that you got hurt, it’s his. He was the one who ran off by himself, for once to try and make a difference, but all he managed to do was to get you hurt.

Which is why the only thing he can think of right now is to try to shield your body with his own, to take the blows bound to come for you.

That’s not to say Nirei isn’t afraid to get hurt too. He is. But he wants to protect you anyways because right now, that is infinitely more important to him than his own fear. However, he still can’t help but close his eyes when he sees the KEEL VIP raise his weapon again.

Kaji knew there was something seriously wrong when you wrote to him this morning. Now he knows why the location Senkan Shipyard sent shivers down his spine.

It’s because it’s the headquarters of fucking KEEL.

How could he have forgotten that? And why didn’t you write to him why you were going? If he had just known that you were going out to fight with one of the most unhinged delinquent gangs in the neighbourhood…

He should never have waited as you told him to. No, he should have headed out as soon he got your message so that he could stop you from going, or at least so that he could have gone with you.

All these thoughts are running rampant in his mind as he and his Vice Captains are sprinting for the harbour.

When they arrive, the sight of your whole class receiving a one-sided pummelling meets them as they skid to a halt in front of the wide-open doors to KEEL’s headquarters.

But Kaji doesn’t see the fighting going on. No, all he sees is a blond boy screaming while he uses his own body to shield an unconscious person, lying in alarmingly large pool of blood on the floor from a KEEL member holding a piece of lumber wrapped in razor wire, of all things.

Kaji is just able to glimpse some strands of long hair and a delicate hand sticking out from underneath Nirei.

Your hair.

Your hand.

Because that blood-stained, unconscious person on the floor underneath Nirei, is you.

It’s you.

Read the rest on ao3: "Defy"

[bumblebeeonthistle]

Drew some of my fav anime/manga characters (before I discovered Wind Breaker, that is🥲)