Long Time, No See - Levi x Reader (Modern!AU)

19 - The Summer Triangle

"Where did you have in mind?" I asked Levi.

After helping me up, he'd brushed his back of dirt with one hand, clearly not wanting to let go of my hand. But I let go anyway, stepping behind him to help him out, gently brushing the blades of grass and patch of dirt that had clung to his back after we'd fallen.

Because he'd cushioned my fall, I'd gotten away with no injuries and completely clean. He hadn't been so lucky, but I knew that given the chance, he would do it again, if only to make sure I didn't get hurt. Guess I was lucky in that sense, too, to have someone so selfless with me. Someone who... never-mind.

Then I'd taken his hand again, and we set off wordlessly... until now, that is. We'd ambled over my fence and set off into the evening together. And now, I looked sidelong at him, waiting for his answer to my question.

"I was on a walk the other day," he started to explain, "and I found something."

"And what was it?"

"You'll see," he assured me. "Now stop asking before I change my mind."

I laughed lightly. "You know, if you ever want company on these walks of yours, you can always ask me."

His eyes met mine, something mischievous hidden in them. "I'd have asked before, but I didn't think you were so eager to sneak out."

"I wouldn't say eager," I said. "I didn't exactly have an easy way to do it before. But now that I know how to expertly tie a knot, maybe I'll consider doing it more." I smiled at him. "And I haven't asked until now because I thought you left that in the past."

"Once a delinquent, always a delinquent," he muttered. "Sometimes I just need to clear my head."

"I feel that," I said with a sigh. "I just didn't want to be at home right now."

"Bad day?"

"Worse," I said. "Shittiest day I've had in a while." We turned down another street, and as a chilly breeze picked up, I was grateful that I had thought to wear a jacket. It was a light one, sure, but so long as it didn't get colder, I would be fine.

"Do you want to..."

"Hm?"

"You should talk about it," he told me. "Might make you feel better."

"I will," I promised. "When we get where we're going, I'll tell you everything."

"I'm holding you to that."

"Right," I mused. "Still, I wish I knew where exactly we were going."

"We're going to the park, stupid," he muttered. "Now stop asking."

"I wouldn't have had to ask so much if you told me the first time," I teased. "Always so secretive."

"And if I wanted it to be a surprise?"

"I know you better than that," I said with a laugh. "You're just being stubborn, now."

He rolled his eyes, foregoing giving me a formal reply. And that was fine. It only told me, in so many words – or in none, I suppose – that I won this one. I smirked to myself, hoping that he wouldn't look over and see it. If he knew I would be so proud of winning one little discussion, one that really didn't even need to be won, he'd never let me live it down.

In any case, I quickly rid my face of the smirk and I let myself look around for a bit to take in the surroundings. Of course, it wasn't as though I was expecting the neighborhood to change all that much in the few hours it'd been since we'd last walked through it together. It was just so very different at night.