Don't Write Me Notes || Levi x Reader

11. it doesn't count if you're hypothermic

You reach a section that you think you've been through before, but you really can't tell. Which way? Ugh.

"You've got to be kidding me," you whisper as you pick one of the two paths and start walking.

It feels like with every step, the wind gets worse and the snow gets heavier. That's probably not the case and it's likely just the temperature catching up with you, but it still feels pretty damn nasty. Fuck, you're cold.

You think you're lost. Shit.

You halt in place before you can make your situation worse for yourself, and you reach into your back pocket for your phone. You turn it on, gentle snowflakes falling on the screen, and you see a text from Levi, from several minutes ago.

Levi (10:04): need rescue?

For a moment, you stare. Then, you chuckle weakly, and tears pierce the corners of your eyes. 

Sweet was never an adjective that crossed your mind to describe Levi with when you met him, but he's been giving you so many reasons to reevaluate your initial impressions of him lately. If he hadn't turned out to be sweet, to be empathetic... you wouldn't be in this situation now, where you've both done many things that crossed every line you set, and you've enjoyed every second of it. 

You peel your glove off enough to press on Levi's contact in an attempt to call him, but your face drops: you don't have service. You curse as you tuck your phone away and pull your glove back on, resigning yourself to walking more.

God, does the cold suck away energy or something? Because you feel exhausted. Every step is draining you.

Maybe just- maybe just a second to catch your breath. Yeah, that would be nice.

You sink to the ground, falling into the snow, and you twist so that your back is pressed up against a tree. Your coat is just long enough so that you're sitting on it instead of sitting directly in the snow, which is a plus, at the very least.

"Holy shit," you mumble, pulling your knees into your chest. It's really fucking cold.

You should probably keep moving. Stay warm through physical exertion, get your adrenaline going. But you're just so tired...

Just a minute. You'll just close your eyes for a minute.

"Just a minute," you murmur, blinking away the frost that's forming on your eyelashes. "Just a..."

Just a minute.

.

Levi's not concerned when you're gone for five minutes.

He's not really concerned when you're gone for ten. He thinks about you a bit more, but he's not really concerned. Not really. 

It's when his phone tells him you've been gone for fifteen minutes that Levi starts to feel wary.

He's still ninety-nine percent convinced that whatever the hell happened in the middle of the night was a dream. There's no way it wasn't. It certainly felt real, but it still had a good chance of being a hallucination until you whispered something and he'd realized that no, this was real.

Even now. Waking up. Was it a dream? Was it not? But the two of you were cuddled up, and he was warm, and he could feel your heartbeat. Then you'd talked, and you'd flirted- was it flirting? He has no idea what constitutes as flirting- and then you'd smiled as you left, and he'd sat there like a damn idiot, staring at the door and wishing he'd had the guts to kiss you before you left.

It's dangerous, how quickly you've become important to him. How much he wants to see you happy.

This doesn't happen to him, Levi thinks. Crushes. He doesn't like people. He was at a point where he was convinced that he just couldn't have romantic feelings for someone and either he was crazy or the world was (and he was leaning towards the latter).