Stranded | Levi x Reader

Real

When Levi awoke in a soft, warm bed in a strange room, he froze.

This is not his office.

And like a ton of bricks, the reality of the preceding day hit him. He was in a woman's bed, in her apartment, in a foreign place, at an altitude he only could have reached by flinging himself in the air with ODM gear.

He rubbed his eyes with balled fists.

Outside the room was a delicious smell... it reminded him of those random Sunday mornings at the Scout Regiment headquarters, where the soldiers would be prepared a continental breakfast. He usually never indulged in it, but now he seemed to be regretting that. The heavenly smell coaxed him out of the bed and into some presentable clothes that (Y/N) had laid out for him the night before.

(Y/N) was busy cooking up some pancakes and bacon, which was a little more effort than she'd usually put in on a random Wednesday morning, but she had a guest, so she decided this was more appropriate than her usual meal of dry cereal.

Levi appeared behind her without a sound, and she almost jumped away from him.

"Levi! Good morning." She smiled. She noticed the way his eyes were not as dark as she expected them to be. "You look like you slept well."

"I did." He said. "Your cushy mattress is a lot more comfortable than the military-grade cots I'm used to."

"Well I'm glad." She hummed. She knew from prior knowledge that sleep was not usually Levi's closest friend, so finding that he actually was able to get some rest warmed her heart.

"But you know, I would be fine taking the couch, it's your bed anyway, and I don't want to be so much of a burden-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, mister." She flipped a pancake onto a stack of them. "Don't you dare start with that again. I want to help you, okay?"

"Fine." He mumbled.

The two of them ate in silence, and Levi insisted on helping (Y/N) clean up her dishes. He didn't know where anything was to be put away, but that didn't stop him from opening every cabinet until he found a place for everything.

"I don't work until the evening today. I suppose I should explain to you what my job is, huh." (Y/N) said. "I'm a janitor. My hours are pretty strange, because I can really only start cleaning once people have gone home from their office jobs, but that means I'm usually free during the daytime."

He looked around the apartment. "Janitors must get paid a lot of money here."

She laughed. "I have this apartment because the owners of this building also own one of the office buildings that I clean. They gave me my pick of any available apartment in the building, and they let me live here because I'm their favorite custodian."

"Sounds like a pretty good deal."

"It is. I enjoy it here. Sometimes it's a little freaky going out alone at night, but I manage."

Levi stopped wiping the counter. "You walk around at night alone? In a place like this? Didn't you say this is not a good city to be alone in?"

"Well, I have to do it if I want to get to work. Are you worried or something? I've been doing this for years. Nothing's happened but a few uncomfortable catcalls."

He gritted his teeth. (Y/N) had forgotten herself- of course Levi would be concerned about an issue like this, considering his past and his mother's unsavory occupation down in the Underground. No wonder he'd be opposed to anyone he knows having the chance of being in a situation like that.