Don't Write Me Notes || Levi x Reader

7. it doesn't count under mistletoe

One gorgeous angel ornament later, you and Levi start on one final lap of this second plaza. It's not snowing, but the wind is still sharp and the effect of the hot chocolate has worn off, so you're starting to feel rather cold. Levi doesn't even look phased and you're not sure how- that leather jacket can't be warm enough.

You're filled to the brim with questions that you've been dying to ask Levi, and finally, you muster up the courage to spit one of them out. "Can I ask you something?" you ask, and Levi hums. "Why is- why's your mother with him? Your stepfather? If he- if he treats you and her like that, and if he cheats, then..."

Levi doesn't answer right away. You continue on your lap of the plaza. Eventually, he asks, "did you hear the part of the argument this morning where Lovof said he picked me and her up off the street?"

You think so. "Yeah."

"That's not a metaphor." Levi sighs. "One of his political campaigns involved helping the homeless."

Homeless. They were homeless? You pinch your lips together so that you don't blurt out anything insensitive.

"It was all for press," he grumbles, boot kicking at a stray stone. "But he noticed how... sick my mother was."

"Sick?" you murmur.

"Cancer. Leukemia."

Oh, god. "I'm so sorry."

Levi's eyes are fixed on a stall in the distance. "He promised to help her- on camera, of course- and he paid for all her treatments. Somewhere in there, they fell in love-" (Levi grumbles out the last part) "-and got married. Perfect story. Single mother on the street, dying of cancer, and he picks her up and marries her, saving her life and her son's."

It's hard to see Kuchel loving a man like him- especially with how he treats Levi. But it's plainly clear that she loves Levi, and if marrying a man like Lovof saved Levi from a life on the streets... 

"She loves you a lot," you murmur. "That's why she's stayed, isn't it?"

He hums. "One day, I'll be rich enough that she can divorce that bastard and we'll be fine on our own, and I won't be dependent on him in the slightest."

You understand it a bit more now- Levi's resistance to being even the slightest bit dependent on his stepfather. "It'll happen," you say, nodding to yourself. "It will."

He doesn't reply for a minute. Then, you hear, "thank you."

You frown, looking to him. "For what?"

Levi doesn't say anything to that. He just looks away, the slightest lilt to the corner of his mouth.

Your lap of the plaza is done, and you're back to the alley on your way back to the first market square. You sigh to yourself, crossing your arms and rubbing your gloved hands across your biceps in an effort to warm up, and then you hear Levi call your name. "Yeah?" you ask, turning back to him.

His head is tipped up. "Mistletoe," Levi says.

You look up. Sure enough, there's mistletoe overhead, hanging from the dangling lights. "Mistletoe," you echo.

When you look back to Levi, he's now changed his gaze from the mistletoe to you. He's staring at you like he's trying to communicate without words, and you wish you could read his mind. When his eyes flicker to your lips for half a second, you think you know.

But he's not going to initiate. No stress, right? You're both faking this. There's no pressure. "It's mistletoe," you say, a tiny smile working its way onto your face. "Is it bad luck if we don't kiss like we're supposed to?"