"Thunder and Lightning" for Leviwearseyeliner

Erwin awoke to the loud sound of thunder outside his window. He groaned and turned over, rubbing his eyes before pulling his fists away. His eyes widened and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. The door to his bedroom was wide open, a dark figure standing in the doorway.

Erwin almost didn’t recognize him at first, and was thinking of all sorts of ways to fight this stranger off, when he realized it was just Levi, wrapped in a blanket and standing in his door. Erwin couldn’t make out the expression on his face in the dark, but he wondered why his captain had come to call on him so late in the middle of the night.

“Levi?” Erwin frowned, sitting up slowly. “Levi, is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Levi replied, though his voice was strangely shaky and nervous. “Yeah I… I’m fine. I just… came to see if you’re okay.”

Erwin reached over to light the oil lamp, which added a small amount of light to the room, just enough for Erwin to notice what a wreck Levi was. He was quivering under his blanket, and his eyes were red. Had he been crying?

Before Erwin could say anything, Levi went to sit at the chair next to his bed, bangs falling into his eyes as he stared down at the floor solemnly. Something was clearly wrong, though Erwin hadn’t put his finger on it yet.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Erwin asked. “You seem quite frazzled.”

Just as Levi opened his mouth to answer, a bolt of lightning struck near the window and a loud boom of thunder shook the building. Levi immediately jumped like a scared cat before wrapping the blanket tighter around him and hiding his face in his hands. He was shaking violently, clearly afraid. Erwin was finally beginning to understand why Levi had come to see him. He looked very shaken up by the storm.

Erwin’s eyes widened slightly as he came to this realization, watching Levi’s shoulders shake with a quiet sob as he refused to look up at Erwin. He was probably embarrassed. Humanity’s strongest, afraid of a little thunderstorm. But Erwin wasn’t judging him. In fact, his heart went out to Levi, instantly wanting to comfort him. He just didn’t know exactly how to get Levi to open up to such a thing.

“Levi,” Erwin tried again, softer this time. “Are you afraid of the storm? It’s okay if you are…”

“M not,” Levi sniffled stubbornly, wiping his eyes on the blanket. “I’m not afraid. That’s for… for little kids.”

“Not really,” Erwin countered. “I know plenty of adults who are afraid of the thunder. It can be frightening. I’m not personally afraid of it, but there are things I’m scared of too. It’s okay to be scared.”

“I’m not,” Levi insisted. “I’m not scared.”

“Levi,” Erwin sighed. “You can either sit in that chair and keep getting scared by the thunder, or you can come sit with me and let me comfort you.”

Levi shook his head, going to respond when another bolt of lightning struck and thunder, not as loud as the last time but still loud, rumbled near the base. Levi practically leapt from the chair and into Erwin’s bed, and Erwin could finally see the tears streaming down Levi’s face, and how frightened he truly looked.

Erwin wrapped an arm around Levi’s shoulders, soothingly running his thumb up and down Levi’s arm. The two were close friends, and they’d had sex a few times by now, but they’d never really been loving or romantic with one another outside of that. They’d never even cuddled after sex. And yet, here they were, Levi clinging to Erwin’s shirt and Erwin with his arm around Levi.

“It’s okay,” Erwin murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of Levi’s head. “I’m here, Levi. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Levi sniffled and buried his face into Erwin’s chest, whispering sheepishly, “I… I feel so stupid. It’s just… we didn’t have th-thunderstorms in the Underground… the first time I heard one up here, I was so scared of it I just froze up.”

Erwin nodded, listening to Levi’s explanation before reaching over to his bedside table and grabbing a handkerchief. He tilted Levi’s face up to fully look down at him now, his eyes red and puffy with tears and his nose running. Erwin gently dabbed away the leftover tears and put the handkerchief to his nose, instructing him to blow, which he did. Erwin wiped up his nose and put the handkerchief aside before wrapping both arms around Levi and hugging him close.

“You know what my father used to say when I was afraid of the thunder?” Erwin asked.

Levi rested his face against Erwin’s chest again and nodded as if to say he wanted to know. Erwin’s voice appeared to be soothing him, as he wasn’t shaking as much now. Erwin rubbed Levi’s back soothingly, reminiscing about his father comforting him one night on a particularly bad thunder storm.

“Well,” Erwin explained. “He would say that the lightning struck down titans outside the walls. And the thunder is the sound of the titans falling over when they die.”

Levi chuckled a little, and Erwin smiled briefly, “What? What’s so funny?”

“That’s stupid,” Levi let out a quiet laugh. “But… But I like it…”

Erwin breathed a laugh out of his nose and pressed a soft kiss to Levi’s forehead. Another crack of lightning and a resounding boom of thunder hit shortly after, and Levi quickly got frightened again, gripping Erwin’s shirt and tugging him close. Erwin held him a little tighter, rubbing his back gently.

“Shh,” he cooed. “Shh, Levi. It’s okay, darling. I’m here.”

“I… I don’t know how I’m going to fall back asleep,” Levi whimpered. “I’m sorry, Erwin. I’ll probably keep you up all night at this rate.”

Erwin frowned and nuzzled his cheek against Levi’s, thinking for a moment before he had an idea, “Well let’s try. Come on, lay down.”

The two of them snuggled under the covers, trying to get comfy as Levi lay his head on Erwin’s chest and Erwin wrapped his arms around the smaller man. Levi was still quaking ever so slightly, and Erwin knew he would do anything to ease Levi’s fears.

He held Levi’s face in his hands and leaned down to press a kiss to his lips, “I’ll cover your ears, okay? That way, you won’t have to hear the thunder. And perhaps you’ll fall asleep.”

Levi smiled softly up at Erwin and nodded, “Okay.”

Erwin appreciated that Levi was putting his trust in him. He placed his hands on either side of Levi’s head over his ears, and ran his thumbs soothingly over Levi’s skin. Levi was staring up at him, eyes half-lidded with sleepiness.

Erwin smiled down at him, kissing his forehead again and watching Levi’s eyes slowly float shut. Another bolt of lightning and rumble of thunder came from outside the window, but this time, Levi couldn’t hear it. Soon enough, Erwin could hear the little snores of the shorter man in his arms, and he sighed contently at the fact that Levi was asleep now. He kept his hands where they were, drifting off to sleep as well with Levi in his hold.