A/N: title and inspiration from Under Stars by Tom Felton.
Night time outside the Walls are cold and quiet and Petra Ral waits for the meeting of the higher ups in an abandoned shack to finish.
She flies and sits on a low tree branch, gazing up at the stars and the moonless sky above.
So beautiful. They are never this many and this bright inside the Walls.
She thinks of her father, of how much he would love it here, outside the confining Walls. How much he would love to see the stars, thousands and thousands of them. She misses him and she makes a mental note to visit him once they get back from this expedition.
"Petra!"
She awakens with a jolt and almost falls off the branch. She was about to fly down when Levi uses his 3DMG and lands just beside her.
"Captain, I was just about to go back down," she says as she stands and stomps her leg to bring life back into it.
"Sit with me for a while,"
"C-captain? But it's late. We should get some sleep," she says because she doesn't need to see this man under the light of a thousand stars, she doesn't need any more reason to fall for him.
"You've already slept and I don't sleep much anyway," he shrugs and pulls her back down.
She feels her blood rushing to her cheeks when he reached for her, electricity dancing where his hand had been, and she is glad for the new moon. He doesn't need to know how much she craves his touch.
He doesn't say anything, so she remains silent, tries to calm down the butterflies fluttering in her stomach, and thinks about this man beside her instead. He's hard and unforgiving and strict, especially during training. He doesn't talk much and he's an asshole. He's not a very easy person to love, but she has fallen for him anyway. Because underneath that tough exterior, he cares and she knows that he has a heart, despite what other people think.
She turns her head towards him only to find that his face is closer than she remembers and that his eyes are watching her, and she blushes scarlet under the starlight. He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and leans in closer. Petra searches his eyes and her heart skips a beat. A voice in her head is screaming at her to stop him but oh, it's hard when his face is showing a myriad of emotions and his heart is pounding under her fingers.
"But why, Captain?"
Why me? I'm not good for you was what she wanted to ask him. She loves him, yes, but she knows it deep in her bones that she will not live long. She will only hurt him, when all she wants is to bring him joy and comfort.
"Levi. You should call me Levi," he ignores her question and takes her hand in his; hers is cold and clammy while his is warm.
"Levi," She replies and she thinks she saw him smile.
They remain silent for a while, just staring at the star studded horizon and holding hands like a couple of teenagers. But the question still nags on the back of her mind and she asks him again. This time calling him Levi instead of Captain, this time telling him everything.
He looks at her and she thinks that he's going to kiss her again, "Do you really need to know why? What matters is that I'm here and that I feel the same way," he says under his breath.
She nods and he takes her face in his hands and kisses her between the eyes.
"What matters is now,"