𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙴𝙲𝚁𝙴𝚃𝚂

15

Y/N was sitting in her library surrounded by a few candles, waiting for Levi to get back to her. He had insisted on getting her some sort of ointment and bandaging her wrist (even though it wasn't that bad, it was just a bruise that was looking really bad). But the stuff he got for her wrist had to be cooked up first, so he was busy doing that, while Y/N had gotten comfortable in her favourite place in the house.

Whenever she was sad she came here. Being surrounded by a bunch of old books had a very comforting effect on her, even if she wasn't reading them. Just being around them, knowing that she could know so much more than most other people in this world made her feel good. Whenever she wanted to relax, she came in here, because the room was very dark and she could just hide away and fall asleep for a while. Also, the library was the most comfortable room in the entire house, because it was the most well-kept room. To take care of all these old books, the conditions around them had to be just right - right temperature, no moisture, no mould.

She had to be careful with the candles, however, because this place was extremely prone to burning down. But she didn't have any oil at the moment for the lanterns and they needed at least some light for this. So she had to try and be as careful as possible. If this place burned down, a lot of knowledge and a lot of money would just... disappear from the world. And Y/N couldn't live with herself if that happened.

She wondered whether Levi was alright. He had been in the kitchen for a while, preparing that ointment for her wrist. Levi had always liked the library much more than any other room as well, but she was starting to wonder whether that was just because it was by far the cleanest room in the entire house. She knew how much Levi liked to keep things clean and tidy, so much so that everyone who knew him was joking about it regularly. It made sense, though, seeing how much filth everyone was living in in the underground. No wonder there was so much disease here.

That, and also that there weren't really any good doctors around here. There were some doctors inside the walls, but they were usually fairly rare and a lot of them had no idea what the hell they were doing. As far as Y/N knew there wasn't even any proper training for doctors. They had to be lucky enough to study the right books and just... get lucky until they knew what they were doing.

So most people who sold ointments were basically considered doctors, but you still had to make sure that they were somewhat reputable. Which meant they were usually quite expensive. In the whole underground there were about two very reputable pharmacists and both of them were expensive as hell. Good thing that Y/N had just sold a couple of books and could easily pay for it. Not that it would have been much of an issue either way, since Levi wasn't doing too badly for himself, but Y/N would have felt bad making him spend that money when she could just wait it out for a little longer. It wouldn't be pretty, but it would heal alright.

Y/N heard some steps coming closer to the library. Her breath hitched a little. She knew that it was most likely to be Levi, but she still felt like she had to be on her guard, making no noise, hoping that no one would find how to get into the library, hoping that this wasn't the military police deciding to pay her a surprise visit. She really hated that she had to worry like this all the time.

She only managed to relax again once she heard the mechanism that was hiding the door to the library clicking. Unless anyone had narced to the military police they wouldn't have found it so quickly and so precisely. This was indeed Levi who was coming back to her. Thank God. It was one of her worst nightmares to sit in her library one night and have the military police break in and discover the place. They wouldn't give her a trial. They would murder her right there and then. Or they would take her and torture her first to find out if others were involved.

Y/N thought back to that one afternoon when she came back home after running around the market all day, playing with her friends and just enjoying the day. When she came back home to her parents lying dead in their own blood, limbs bent at unnatural angles. It still made her sick to think of it.

"Are you okay? You're staring." she heard Levi's voice. It was snapping her back to reality. All of that was in the past. It wasn't something she had to deal with now. She wouldn't have to deal with it if she was careful enough.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. Just... thinking." she answered. Levi huffed and closed the door behind him, carrying the bandage in one hand. He sat down in front of her and held out his other hand. Y/N put her hand in his, so he could hold her wrist the way he needed to to bandage it.

"This looks really nasty. How much does it hurt?" Levi wanted to know, as he started wrapping the bandage around her arm and wrist. He had steeped it in the ointment they had bought, it seemed. Y/N flinched a little when he touched the bruise. It wasn't that bad, but the bruise felt tender.

"It's okay. A little sore. But it'll go away. I think it's really just a bruise and nothing else." she replied, her voice sounding a little higher-pitched than usual. Levi looked at her with raised eyebrows, pulling the bandage a little tighter, which made her gasp out in pain. Maybe it wouldn't be fine...

"It's okay, huh? Not that bad?" Levi questioned. Y/N sighed, as he loosened the bandage again. She rested her chin on top of her knees, as she watched Levi carefully wrap up her wrist. The herbs that were in the ointment smelled good and the bandage was nice and warm on her skin, as were Levi's fingers.

"Maybe it is pretty bad. I just don't want you to worry." she said quietly. Levi shook his head and tied the bandage together, so it would stay on her wrist, before softly kissing her wrist. Y/N smiled. Levi was usually not one for being soft and gentle or for showing much affection at all. But sometimes, he had his moments. It seemed like today was one of those times, not like Y/N was going to complain.

"You do know that I'll be way more worried about you, if you don't tell me what's going on, right? You're generally a good liar, but you're not good at lying to me. So don't even try." he told her, as he pulled her closer. Y/N shifted her position slightly and settled into his arms, closing her eyes as she was resting her head against his chest, listening to the beat of his heart - regular, deep, reliable. It was so calming to hear, especially after she had been so scared earlier.

"Sorry. I just thought I could deal with it on my own. And I could have, it would have just taken a little longer to heal." she said with a small smile. She was starting to feel exhausted now, after the day they had had.

"And how were you planning to use ODM gear with your wrist not fully healed? Our supplies are going to last a while, but not that long. Not if you somehow struggle on and hurt yourself even more." Levi countered, his hand rubbing small circles on her back. Y/N hadn't even thought of the ODM gear, if she was honest.

"Right... I kinda forgot... Do you think it'll heal that quickly?" she wanted to know. She could already feel how she was drifting off to sleep, but she tried to keep her eyes open just a little bit longer. Not that it helped much.

"It's anyone's guess, really. It won't do any harm, I'd imagine." he answered.

"Yeah, that's true..." Y/N muttered, her eyes falling shut completely. Her words were trailing off and she felt herself falling into a light slumber, only being marginally aware of what was happening around her. She noticed Levi hovering over her and then leaning back and continuing to hold her.

"Unbelievable." he mumbled, before she fully fell asleep.