Vogel Im Kafig (End Of Tears) Levi X OC

Snowfall

I awoke to blinding white light outside of the bedroom window. Erwin had moved us to a little cabin five minutes' worth of a horseback ride outside of the castle. I sat up and stretched, then rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Levi groaned, and threw the pillow over his head. The blanket was wrapped around his flannel pajama bottom clad legs.

"Still having a hard time getting to sleep?"

He peeked up at me from under the pillow, his eyes bloodshot and dark, puffy circles under his eyes.

"You can say that," he said drowsily.

I leaned down, and after brushing tangled locks out from in front of my eyes, kissed him on the forehead.

I kicked the covers off, and I got out of bed. I padded over to the pantry barefoot, and hissed through clenched teeth because the floor was icy cold. I got out a jar of honey and warmed up some milk in a pan. I spooned some honey into two mugs, and poured the now warm milk into them. I mixed the liquid with a tablespoon, and walked back over to the bed, a steaming mug in each hand. I sat on the rumpled coverlet, and nudged Levi's bare back with my frozen toe. He hissed as my cold skin came into contact with his warm flesh. He sat up, and I passed the green mug over to him.

He took a sip, and closed his eyes.

"Just like my Uncle used to make, if he was in a good mood."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" I teased, remembering the stories that Levi had told me of Kenny. Obviously the black market legends of Kenny the ripper were true. But that didn't make me define Levi's personality. He was sassy, headstrong, and had an I don't care attitude, and that is what I loved about him.

"I would think of it as a good thing." He mumbled almost incoherently.

I reached over and brushed his unkempt hair out of his eyes. His eyelids were getting heavy. He blinked, unable to stay awake. Good.

I grabbed the now cold cup from his hands, and padded silently over to the sink. I gently placed the mugs on the countertop. Now Levi was curled up on his side, fast asleep. He snored lightly through parted lips. I took the thick survey corps afghan off of the back of my black leather couch and covered him up with it.

"Works every time," I whispered to myself.

I went into my bathroom and disrobed, then climbed into the huge walk in shower. The door was a stained glass mosaic of all corps' insignias.

I turned the single knob all the way to the right, and a heavenly cascade if hot water loosened the knots on my shoulders. I began rubbing my shoulders, and it felt amazing. I sighed with relief.

I grabbed the bottle of coconut scented shampoo and squirted some of the liquid into my hand, and began to massage my scalp. Every inch of my body was sore from training, and it didn't help that I was kept up most of the night. I rinsed the coconut scented bubbles out of my now dark locks. I lathered some soap onto my skin and grabbed my razor and shaved, because I was starting to feel less human. I noticed that I was forming more abs as I shut off the faucet, and wrapped a towel around my body. My hair was still streaming water, which ran down my back.

Tossing on my terry robe and cinching the belt into a knot at the waist, I opened the bathroom door and checked on Levi. He was laying on his stomach, one arm underneath a pillow, the other stretched out above his head. He mumbled in his sleep. He rolled over onto his back and smacked his lips, and started up a light snore. I put on a brown skirt and white tunic, and slipped on my black flats. Then I sat near the fireplace with my hairbrush and started brushing to get my hair to dry faster.

Once my hair had halfway dried, I grabbed my grey cloak from its peg in the foyer and headed out the door toward the mess hall. My stomach was rumbling, and I'm pretty sure Levi would be hungry by time he woke up. I opened up the door, and the world lay in a pristine, white cocoon, untouched by man nor animal. The pine trees bent with the added weight of snow. I walked in the shaded areas, reluctant to mar the beauty of the landscape.

"Today is Levi's birthday," I announced as soon as I entered the mess hall.

Hanji coughed and sputtered, choking on her orange juice. Erwin blinked in surprise, and my squadmates muttered, "happy birthday" and "why didn't we know sooner?" Whispers flooded the room.

Hanji wiped an arm across her mouth. "Erwin, I thought that it wasn't determined-" Erwin clapped his hand across her mouth. "That is classified information, Hanji. I trust you to keep silent about that next time."

"Oh, Its okay," I said. "I know that Levi's actual date of birth isn't classified."

Then, I realized that I made a blunder.

"How did you come across this information?" Erwin slowly got up from the table, and stood in front of me. He easily towered over me, and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I, Uhm," I stammered. I felt myself shrink. Oh, crap. I'm a terrible liar.

Hanji spoke up. "C'mon Erwin. You're scaring her. Obviously Levi told her. Besides that, lovebirds don't keep secrets from each other."

Erwin backed off. Yep, I'm pretty sure that I was sweating bullets. Tall men intimidated me. I silently sighed a sigh of relief.

"Well, since you mentioned it being Levi's birthday and all, we should throw a surprise party!" Hanji said. "What does he like besides you?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"He is into cleaning and is especially fond of tea leaves."

A cadet sitting at the table next to us coughed into his fist. "Are you sure you're dating a guy?" A couple of his buddies snickered.

Keeping my cool, I walked over to the cadet. He was fresh out of training. I roughly grabbed his shoulders, and bent down to his eye level where he was sitting.

"Unless you wanna go into Titan territory with malfunctioning 3DMG gear, I suggest that you keep that mouth of yours shut. I can make it look like an accident. Levi is more man than you will ever be," I whispered sweetly into his ear. "That is no way to question your commanding officer."

"C-c-Commanding officer?" The baka stuttered.

I stood up to my full height.

"Your one and only Lieutenant." (A/N: bear with me, I don't know my military ranks that well. I wish to give Rukia authority)

The cadet was quaking in his boots. His friends immediately stopped laughing.

"That's more like it," I said, and promptly walked back to my table. I loaded up some bread, meat and cheese into a napkin and tied the corners together, and grabbed a canteen of ale and slung the strap over my shoulder.

"Hanji, I will be back momentarily to discuss plans with you. I need to drop this off."

"Levi having some difficulties with his insomnia?"

"Yeah. He is lucky if he gets five hours of sleep a night."

Erwin whistled sympathetically.

Hanji now looked sad. "Poor guy."

"What is this I hear about a party?" Petra asks, leaning against the table.