Be careful, darling | modern!Levi Ackerman x wife!Reader
Summary: you want to surprise Levi on your anniversary but it does not turn out the way you expect. Modern AU. Warning: nothing, mentions of blood (you get hurt and he worries). A/N: English isn't my first language, sorry if there are mistakes. Words: 1.6k
Five years.
Time flies by in the blink of an eye, it feels like it was yesterday when you got on that train and ended up sitting next to Levi, but it’s been five years since then.
He seemed a little distant and spent most of the time frowning. During that train journey you discovered that both of you shared a certain aversion towards small children. You didn’t like them because they were little noisy humans and he didn’t like them because they were walking bags of germs.
Three hours later he was no longer frowning. Instead, one of the most incredible smiles you had ever seen dazzled in the middle of his face.
And now you are about to celebrate your second anniversary together since you got married.
Levi is still at work but he would be arriving home soon. You want to surprise him with a homemade dinner. He likes simple things and being calm, enjoying everyday experiences as well as spending time with you. As long as you are by his side, he’ll be happy.
Everything is almost ready, all that’s left is to take the food out of the oven and serve the dishes. You’ve lit a few candles whose scent fills the living room and the golden glow of the sunset comes through the kitchen window, creating a beautiful atmosphere. By the time Levi arrives it would be dark so he won’t see the golden light but at least you have the candles.
You take out some ingredients to make a salad and put them on the counter, where you already have a big glass bowl.
As you wash the tomatoes you hear the sound of keys turning in the lock and the sounds of Levi’s footsteps. He approaches, following the delicious smell of dinner and enters the kitchen, stopping next to you, in front of the sink.
"How was your day?" you ask as you cut the tomatoes into small pieces.
Levi shrugs while rubbing his hands with soap over and over again under the faucet. You see him doing it from the corner of your eye but decide to say nothing, although it worries you a little bit. Once he washed his hands so many times that the skin around his fingers and wrists started to crack and peel off.
“It was alright, Erwin wanted to go out and have a few beers but I said no”, he explains, drying his hands with a kitchen towel and moving to stand behind you. Then, he wraps his arms around your waist, leaning with his chin between your neck and your shoulder. “He kept insisting until I told him that my girl was waiting for me,” he whispers in your ear, leaving a trail of small kisses down your neck.
It makes you giggle and wriggle in his arms, and he takes the opportunity to start tickling you. “You could tell him and Hanji to have lunch together someday too. We haven’t seen each other in a while.”
Levi presses his body against you, growling softly. “I see them every day at work,” he complains.
“Exactly, you see them. But I haven’t seen them in ages. Don’t be selfish, they are your friends, and mine too!” you joke as you grab another tomato.
“Selfish? Me?” he asks, pretending to be offended. You smile at him over your shoulder and his grey eyes shine with amusement, small wrinkles form at the corner of his eyes.
“Yes, you are.”
Before you can react, Levi starts another tickling attack. You let out a surprised shriek as his skillful fingers slid over your ribs, making you squirm with laughter.
“Levi! No, no, stop. No!”
His melodious laugh accompanies your frantic one until you tense and a curse escapes from your lips. Levi stops, because you never curse. He seems to be frozen in time, expectant, not knowing what has caused you to react that way. He’s aware that something had happened nonetheless.
You drop the knife you were holding and the half cut tomato on the counter, prior to stare down at your hand. In the middle of your palm is beginning to form a red line, where you’ve cut yourself. You scrutinize it in silence, all the previous laughter gone. Levi peeks over your shoulder to see what has made you gone quiet all of a sudden and when he notices the blood, he starts cursing like a sailor.
“It’s okay,” you say softly.
It’s just a cut after all, not like you’re going to die or something. It’s starting to sting though, due to the juice of the tomatoes.
Gently, Levi grabs you by the wrist and leads you to the sink, where he places your hand under the stream of water. Immediately, the bottom of the sink turns a light tone of red.
“Fuck,” he mutters. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were cutting stuff. How did you cut your hand like that?” He is worried, which is evident in his voice. He grabs one of the clean dish towels and wraps it around your hand, pressing the wound to stop the bleeding.
You bite your lip and shake your head. Your voice comes out weak. “I don’t know, Lee.”
Levi stares at you with wide eyes. “Are you okay?”
You nod. “It’s the blood, you know that I don't like it. I think I should sit for a moment. I’m fine, don’t worry.”
He keeps staring at your face, which is getting paler and paler each second. Carefully so you don’t fall in case you faint, he helps you sitting in one of the chairs next to the kitchen table and sits in front of you. He’s still pressing his hand against your palm.
“The counter looks like a mess,” you mutter under your breath and Levi frowns. He looks at the counter and then at you before shaking his head. His soft hair bounces with the movement, falling into his eyes. He brushes it out of his face with the hand that’s not holding yours.
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll clean it up later,” he says. “Honestly, the counter is the least of my worries right now.”
He opens the cloth, now soaked in red, and examines the wound in silence. You look away and sigh, feeling better.
“You know, it was my fault. I was cutting into my hand,” you admit.
Levi raises an eyebrow and gives you a questioning look. “What do you mean? If I hadn’t been tickling you, you wouldn’t…”
You kick his shin under the table. “Stop blaming yourself, Levi! I was using my hand as a cutting board,” you explain, feeling quite embarrassed about it.
Then, Levi understands what you mean and his expression changes. He’s still worried but in a different way. He doesn’t say anything for a while, just remains quiet with his lips pressed in a thin line. When you meet his eyes, his face reflects an unspoken question: why are you like this?
“Darling, we have cutting boards. Plenty of them, actually. How many times have I told you not to use your hand?” he wonders, not really expecting an answer from you. “Sometimes I don’t understand you, it’s as if you had no self preservation instinct.”
“I know… but it’s an old habit that I have. Most times I do it and I don’t even realize it.”
Since you were young, you had been using your hand to cut things and not even once had you cut yourself. So you kept doing it that way over the years. Every time someone witnessed you doing it they always lectured you about how dangerous it was and that one day you were going to cut a finger off.
Levi sighs and leans with his elbows on the table. He takes another look at your wound. “It’s not bleeding anymore,” he informs you.
“I’m sorry, Levi,” you say and without any warning you start sobbing. You can’t help it and somehow it makes you feel like a child, so you look away to avoid meeting his eyes.
“Why?” he asks softly, as he leans further across the table to hold your face in his hands. He caresses your cheeks with his thumbs and his touch is gentle. He’s not mad at you, he’s just concerned. “Hey, don’t cry.”
But this only makes you cry harder.
“I’ve ruined our anniversary. I wanted to surprise you with a nice dinner and now look at this mess. You must think I’m a fucking idiot.”
Levi shakes his head and stands up, he doesn’t like to see you like this. He kneels next to you and wipes away your tears. You bend over him, until your foreheads are pressed together.
“I’m not mad at you, if that’s what you think,” he tells you, trying to lift your spirits. “I’m mad at myself for not paying attention. You just need to be more careful when knives are involved, after all the salad doesn’t need any piece of you in it, am I right?”
His joke makes you smile a little. He pushes away and holds your face once again between his hands. The two of you stare into each other's eyes for a while before he presses his lips against yours. Levi takes his time, not rushing it and you close your eyes, leaning into him.
“You haven’t ruined anything,” he whispers against your lips. “Happy anniversary, here’s to many more.”
You kiss him one more time. "Happy anniversary, Levi," you whisper tenderly, noticing a strange smell in the air.
It no longer smells like the scented candles that you lit a while ago, instead, a burnt scent has taken their place. "Turn off the oven!" you suddenly scream and Levi jumps to do so. He stares at the inside of the oven for a few seconds before turning to you, biting his lip.
"I think we should order something", he says nonchalantly and you can't help but laugh.
The surprise dinner is undeniably ruined, but at least you have Levi by your side and he has you. What else could you ask for?
