That Heart Of Gold | Levi X Reader

chapter twenty-three

You nodded and smiled. Hange stood and headed back in the direction of the broken scraps of the cart. She was on the other side of the clearing, so you didn't have to worry about her hearing you and Levi. You looked back at him, smiling when he was already looking at you.

"How bad?" he asked.

You swallowed hard. "Your... Your face is... pretty messy," you said solemnly as you placed your hand on the bandaged side of his face. "You took a lot of the explosion, so you're going to be pretty weak for a while." You paused. "You lost two fingers, but that and your face will be the only lasting damage-"

"Not me," he said, his gaze on yours. "You."

"Oh..." you breathed. "Well... I have a few broken and fractured ribs. And a pretty nasty gash in my side from the thunder spear. A few cuts and bruises on my legs." Levi lifted his hand and place it on the back of your head. You paused. "And I have a concussion."

He blinked. "A concussion," he repeated.

You nodded.

He shut his eye. "It's my fault," he said.

You frowned. "What?"

"Don't give me that. You're like this because of me. Your ribs, your head. It's my fault."

You shook your head. There was nothing to blame him for. "No, actually. You saved me," you said, drawing loose circles with your thumb on his cheek. "Hange said you survived because you're an Ackerman. There's no way I could've survived that. You pushed me out of the way."

"I couldn't get you out of the cart completely," he whispered. "I tried-"

"Hey, if I'd taken the brunt of that explosion, I wouldn't be here..." you trailed off. "You saved me."

"I didn't realise he was ready to die," Levi rebuked. "I put us in that situation to begin with. I didn't realise."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Levi," you replied. "You couldn't have known."

"You did."

You blinked. "Hm?"

"You tried to warn me." Levi cleared his throat. "You warned me, and I know I should've dropped my sword, but my first priority was getting in front of you," he whispered. "Nothing to thank me for."

You sighed softly. You couldn't argue with Levi when he was like this. He always took the blame onto himself, and there wasn't anything you could've done to get him to think differently. It made him noble, yes... but it also made you want to scream and yell at him so he wouldn't blame himself.

None of this was his fault.

Levi's gaze was on his hand, and his eye flickered to you. "It's kind of unfortunate..." he trailed off. "That I lost these two fingers."

After a few seconds of silence, you let out a chuckle. "Wow. Dirty minded much."

"Do you not think so?"

"No," you said with a laugh. "I don't mind. Besides..." you leaned closer, your lips brushing his ear. "You still have your other hand..."

When you pulled away, you smirked in satisfaction when you saw that the tips of his ears were red. "Brat," he said, closing his eye to feign composure.

After a few moments of silence, you leaned in again and kissed his bandaged forehead. "I'm happy you're okay," you said softly. "You scared me."

Slowly, Levi reached his hand out from under the blanket and placed it on your cheek, his thumb running along a small scratch that you hadn't realised was there.