Blue ( levi X reader )

Chapter 9

It was one of those rare moments; Y/N slept through her nightmares, too unbothered and dead tired to care. She only stirred awake to the birds persistent chirping outside her window sill. She rolled over, hugging her pillow close to her chest, checking the time on her clock. She groaned.

She really had slept through the day. Time well spent. It was past noon when she decided to roll out of bed to freshen up and get a decent workout in before brunch.

It was quite a relaxing afternoon. Y/N did things at her own pace; got to enjoy the sun and the calm spring wind. She even took the time to just chill under a tree, watching and playing with a pack of stray dogs that Eld and Petra had tamed. They came and go from time to time as they pleased.

Evening fell, Y/N entered the dining room in her residence and to her surprise, greeted by Levi sitting at the head of the table alone sipping tea while looking through newspapers.

"Good evening," she greeted cheerily. She hadn't seen him all day. She assumed Levi locked himself in his study, doing paperwork or reading.

He simply acknowledged her with a nod. Two plates of food sat on the table, one in front of Levi and the other on his left. Leftover meat from yesterday's dinner.

Levi put his paper down. He brought the cup of warm tea to his lips while at the same time hooking his feet around the leg of the chair on his left, pulling it out, a gesture for her to sit. Y/N awkwardly made her way to sit next to the captain.

"Did you rest well?" she asked, attempting to make conversation. Y/N wasn't exactly the type of person to engage in conversations. She'd talk if another brought up a topic of discussion, but she'd rarely ever start one. It was a habit drilled into her mind after years of being silenced.

"Don't speak if you are told not to, child! No one needs an opinion from a dirty child!"

"It's as good as it gets, you? You seem oddly cheery today," the Captain said.

She cut the bread in half, spreading butter on the white part of the bread. "It's what getting sufficient sleep does," she replied, biting into the surprisingly fluffy bread.

"Trouble sleeping, I reckon?" Levi asked, beckoning her to open up.

She covered her mouth as she swallowed her dinner, washing down with tea."It's the nightmares; they keep me awake... It's stupid." She brushed it off; she didn't want to get into detail about her nightmares.

"It's not," he said. "It comes with the job, unfortunately."

"You too?"

"No. I can't sleep."

"Ah..." Her eyes dropped to his cup of tea, "Maybe cut back on the tea?" Y/N advised. It was what his 5th pot of black tea for the day? She knew two things about Captain Levi that were fact- the man has an obsession with cleaning, and he loves his black tea more than anything in the world. She learned a good part of their budget was spent on keeping Levi's tea in stock. She couldn't imagine a day where there was no tea. "It is caffeinated, you know. I mean, it's not as caffeinated as coffee, but there is some caffeine considering how much tea you intake daily."

"Caffeine?"

"Yeah, it's a natural chemical substance that keeps you awake."

Levi glanced at his cup of tea. "And you know, how?" Levi, on a special occasion, has had coffee before. The sour, burnt and bitter taste was an expensive experience he never wanted to try again.

"I read it somewhere in a book." Not necessarily a lie. She did read it in a chemistry book sometime in her teen years. But it came more from her experience. Her stepmother would have her drink coffee and tea to keep her awake to finish her studies for the day. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

Levi listened intently as she made small talk. He had adopted some of her observation skills, assimilating it to his daily life, he noticed her posture when she sat and stood. She never hunched or slouched over. And the way she articulated herself... He had wondered if she was someone of high status. Though, her file details proved otherwise.

Then again, he didn't trust what was in her file. It was too vague, too strange. A person with her talents should have graduated at the top of her class, yet she didn't. He didn't know how she had slipped through his fingers. It seemed like she was trying to hide from the world. She never talked about her family or childhood. All they've known about her was her life during and post-Training Corps.

"You're talkative tonight," Levi pointed out. She paused, bringing her fork down.

"Oh? Really?" He nodded, drinking his tea. She looked to her almost empty dinner plate and back up. "Should I stop talking?" Stupid.

"Yes," he bluntly replied. Y/N deadpanned. Why did I bother to ask?

She sighed, finishing up her food, and stood up, carrying her plates along. "Okay, I won't bother you anymore. I'll go read Hanji's three hundred fifty letters about titans," she stated, wholly intending to leave the Captain to his own devices.

"I was joking. Sit down, Schider." She blinked once, twice, thrice, eventually sitting back down, leaving her plate at the side. She didn't know Levi was capable of making jokes. "How is reading Hanji's wild theories more fun than I am?" he asked, appalled.

"Didn't say it was, but it is wildly interesting. I'd say Hanji is probably the most interesting person I've met my entire life!" she retorted. "Name me another person who is this infatuated with titans". She really did enjoy reading Hanji's theories and plans for future research. Still, the only thing that bugged her was what she called 'Hanji's excited handwriting'. The intelligible scribbles and joint words made her eyes hurt. "That's right, you can't."

"Tch," Levi crossed his arms, looking past her, over his shoulder. To say that Levi was pouting was pushing it. She choked back a giggle, chewing on her bottom lip. "Why is your face like that?" he asked.

"No reason, sir."

"Drop the honorifics, it's just Levi," he said. "We're not on the job."

"Okay then, just Levi, let's do something," she proposed. They had a whole week to kill, and she didn't feel like spending the entire week bored to death. Levi leaned back in his chair.

"What do you suggest?"

"I was going to suggest you propose something instead."

"Tch, brat." He thought about it. As far as he knew, on the surface level, she was a simple girl. But the revelation of finding out her actual age the day before had him more curious about her. "Let's get to know one another," he suggested.

"Huh?"

"No one knows much about you. I'd like to get to know you as a person."

She propped her chin in between her thumb and forefinger. "Whatever dark secrets we learn about one another stays between the both is us," she negotiated. There were things she would rather people not know, just for the sake of skipping the explanation of her whole life story.

"Of course, idiot. What do you take me for, a babble mouth?"

She rolled her eyes, smiling. Levi joking and talking so casually was a treat in itself. She stuck out her hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Hi, I'm Y/N Scheider. Nice to meet you."

He reluctantly shook her hand. "Levi Ackerman."

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Word count: 1280