On the fifth day of preparation for the prince's arrival, I received three letters. The first was a letter from Nifa detailing progress on the outfits I had commissioned. The second was a letter from Historia asking how I was, the third was a letter I had been waiting on for weeks.

Levi's response.

Petra had come into my room, or well Levi's room, to wake me up as soon as it arrived a wide expectant smile plastered onto her face.

she's almost more excited than I am

"Now you can stop moping around waiting for it," she had teased me before leaving me alone to read it.

i guess i have been doing that these past few days-

With everyone running around to get work done I felt more lonely than usual.

Even Farlan is too busy to even begin to think about the paperwork piling up in Levi's office

and I would rather avoid a room with two empty seats

it just feels unnatural

The only room- funnily enough, that didn't feel empty was Levi's room.

probably because I've never properly been in here with him

That and-

the painting

The large painting that hung on the wall across from the bed. I hadn't had a chance to get a good look at it when I first came into the room, but now I found the portrait of a younger Levi and his parents slightly comforting.

i wish i knew him then

Who could really say whether or not it was an artistic liberty taken by the artist or whether or not he really looked like that but the small smile that graced Levi's features in the portrait felt warm in a way that was hard to describe.

he looks cute

Now I found myself sitting in bed across from the portrait, holding the unopened letter, my uncontrollable smile no doubt mirroring the one in the portrait.

'Dear Y/N,

I can't leave you alone can I? I'm relieved that you weren't actually kidnapped but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous. Only you could have an entire search party started because you forgot to tell someone that you were sleeping in a different room.'

THIS IS THE FIRST THING HE SAYS ???

AFTER A MONTH OF NOTHING ??

WHAT THE FUCK

'I thought wandering the halls in the middle of the night was a thing that we did together but I've been proven wrong.'

it was boring without you

'To address the concerns you brought up in your previous letter- there was never any need to invite the second and third princess to the duchy. If anything it would've caused more problems than it was worth."

i guess that makes sense but you still invited the first princess so like .

i don't trust you at all

<3

'The first princess's maternal family has always been pushier about the two of us developing a relationship than any other household, so it's only natural that she was more persistent. Does any of that really matter now? She visited with very little warning and I sent her back as soon as possible. It's not like I was picking favorites, if anything it made me like her even less.'

like brother like sister-

it does make sense though

i never knew my mother and my maternal family lacked status- that's part of the reason why i was so isolated

if i think about it-

historia, annie and hitch are all connected to prominent families

'I received a letter from Farlan, he mentioned that you've been sighing a lot recently.'

FARLAN YOU TRAITOR

'You'll make me feel like more of an asshole than I already do if you keep that up so stop it.'

i can picture him rolling his eyes as he writes this part

but it's true levi

you are an asshole for confessing and then leaving

you're just lucky i love you

if it was anyone else they might not forgive you

'There's only so much I can fit into a letter without looking like a complete idiot so I'll cut it short.'

i waited for a month- i don't care if it ruins your 'image'

I ALREADY KNOW THAT YOU'RE STUPID SO

FORGET YOUR IMAGE

'I'll be back earlier than expected.'

that's unspecific and unhelpful .

'I'm sorry for the late response. I was trying to wrap this up quickly.'

are you sleeping?

'Maybe next time I'll ask you to come with me, it's boring traveling alone after all.'

you can't say stuff like that it makes me miss you more

'Levi'

that's all-

Right above where Levi had written his name, signing off, was a scratched-out word.

i think i can guess what that says

it's cute

that someone like him could get embarrassed about something small like that

i mean-

he's said it to me in the past without breaking a sweat

does writing it down really change that much?

i guess in a way putting words to paper makes them feel a little more real

I fell back into bed, hiding my face in the pillows.

im going to blush thinking about levi struggling to write four letters

i can't believe he covered it up-

it's not like the feeling isn't reciprocated

then again would it really be the levi i know if he wasn't emotionally constipated at every given opportunity?

you can make it up by saying it to my face when you get back

i love you too levi

____________________

*speedrunning levi coming back*

ILU GUYS

- ami