cure

Chapter 5: Heart

He woke up in a ferocious cold sweat, shell shocked by the very same night terror he'd been having on repeat for weeks. Blood, bodies, and unspeakable carnage. The images of his dead loved ones raked his mind like a broken record. Reminding him of the survivor's guilt.

Levi sat in bed, catching his breath and wiping the sweat off his face with his shirt. The visceral horror of his dream had caused him to forget that you were sleeping in bed with him. He glanced over at you who appeared to be sound asleep. Your back turned away, curled up in the blankets. The last thing he wanted to do was wake you.

He stood up in the moonlight and paced for a moment to clear his mind. It felt like his heart was going to pop out of his chest from how intensely it beat. Levi peeled off his shirt, drenched in sweat from the neck down, and hung it on the back of your chair.

That's when you woke up. You slowly peeked open your eyes only to see a shirtless Levi standing against the moonlight, its shine caressed his milky skin like a layer of sheer silk. You could hear his staggered breaths from across the room. He turned around and headed back over to the bed as you shut your eyes to pretend you were still asleep.

He sat on the edge of the mattress, collecting his thoughts. That's when you started to worry, you didn't hear him lay back down. He was just sitting there alone.

You rolled over, your body now faced him for the first time that night, although all you saw was his back.

"... Levi." You spoke in a vague whisper, the remnants of sleep obvious in your voice.

He winced for a second upon hearing you, he kept forgetting you were there.

"Are you okay..?" You asked.

Levi didn't turn around, all he did to acknowledge you was hum a simple, "Mhm." and nod.

You started to catch onto his mood and made the assumption that he had woken up from some nightmare. Hence the heavy breathing and sweat. You knew in his line of work, he'd definitely seen things that left significant mental scars. You could only imagine...

You weren't sure if what you were about to do was crossing a boundary between the two of you but something in your heart told you he needed it. You sat up and crawled to his side of the bed. You were still quite sleepy, if this was the daytime and you were fully awake, you probably wouldn't have done this.

You sat directly behind him, and began wrapping your arms around his torso from the back. The man froze, his breath went cold. He hadn't felt your touch since when you stitched his wounds and was quickly reminded of just how much he missed it.

Your cheek rested against his spine as you placed one hand over his chest.

"What're you... doing?" He said, anxiety caught in the back of his throat.

"Your heart's beating out of your chest, Levi..." You replied quietly, feeling the intimate bumps in his chest beneath your palm.

He swallowed, "You can feel that?"

"Yes, it's like a drum."

The logical side of his mind was screaming at him to pluck your body off and just walk away. But his heart wanted something else, he so desperately wanted to sink into your touch. The skin to skin contact was intoxicating. His heart started to slow down from your embrace. He was beginning to feel calm. Like a bolder was being lifted off him.

He kept his emotions inside, but the calm demeanor of his body spoke volumes about the effect you'd had on him.

Levi slowly turned to face you, steel blue eyes heavy with exhaustion. You lowered your arms and gazed into him, anticipating what he might do. You weren't sure if he was going to be annoyed or even tell you straight to your face that you'd made him uncomfortable. It scared you. Levi always wore a stoic expression so it was a challenge to read him.

You were ready to muster up an apology.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking just grabbing you like that." You said.

Levi wanted nothing more than to clear your confusion. But he couldn't get the words out. He wanted to just tell you, it felt nice.

Being the man of few words that he was, Levi decided to express how he was feeling through action instead.

The two of you—lost in the eyes of the other, slowly fell victim to the allure. Your face grew hot. You had no idea what was happening. Why you felt butterflies in your stomach or why Levi was starting to move his face closer to yours.

You mindlessly followed him, and slowly drifted in. His breath danced against your cheeks, your heart pounded. And before you had the time to rationalize what was happening, your lips were pressed against his in an innocent caress.

He planted his mouth over yours and swished his tongue inside for a sneaky taste before pulling away. You looked in his eyes, half lidded and for once, potent with emotion—desire.

In that silence, you fell back into each other, acquainted with the other's lips. You knew his taste, his texture, how he moved, you liked the surety and so desperately wanted to feel him again.

Half asleep yourself, it felt like you were in some hazy dream. As if you were blurring into him, fading away in a free fall against his body.

He held onto your forearm in an awkward attempt to pull you closer. Instead, you just moved by yourself. This gave him the green light that it was okay to hold you with no need for apprehension any longer.

His hands made their way to your waistline. A firm grip, gathered you in your nightgown. It was the catalyst which kick started something within you. Call it a passion, a kindled flame, but his sturdy pull at your waist started a fire in your belly. You wanted him.

Your hands started to explore his body, skidding up his lean torso until setting on his shoulder blades. His skin was hot to the touch, blood pumping fiercely. He hadn't felt like this in a while.

You two pulled away from your make out session. "Maybe we should stop... Before this gets out of hand." You said, turning away.

Levi cleared his throat, "Yeah... You're right."

"If we kept going it would make too much noise. I wouldn't want to wake your squad."

He raised his brows and once again, you realized just how lewd that sounded.

"I-... Jeez that sounded bad. Sorry." You stammered.

"It's okay... I mean, you were right about that too. It would... obviously get loud."

He gave you a quick glance up and down, dragging his eyes carefully across your body. To keep your desires locked away, was becoming an arduous task.

The air around you guys got stiff as the shame of making out with each other started to kick in. You both were thinking the same thing.

Did I make him uncomfortable?

Did I make her uncomfortable?

You both once again laid in bed, your backs turned away, fortifying another invisible boundary.

"Oi... Y/n." Levi said, breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

"... It felt nice by the way... I wanted to tell you that."

You turned around, flushed and nervous. You were about to reply when Levi turned his body around as well to face you. His delicate black hair flipped upwards, revealing his forehead. The urge to kiss him again was strong.

"I liked kissing you." You whispered, moving closer to shorten the distance between the two of you.

From the way you looked at him, he wanted to just cup your face and press his lips over yours again.

You lifted your hand, and ran a touch up his arm. Your eyes invited him in, although sleep was starting to get the better of you. Levi knew that, and simply cuddled you against his chest until your mind drifted away.

He didn't have another nightmare that evening, he simply focused on your soft breaths against his skin, your heartbeat... And that was enough to send him dreaming about you. For some reason, you were like a cure to his worries.

-ˋˏ ༻✧༺ ˎˊ-