Hello, this is a revised upload of my original fic. I realized that putting my name out for the world to see wasn't my brightest move at age 18.
So here it is seven years later, a refreshed and finished version of I'll Be Your Levi
-TLP
I Just Want to Stay with You in This Moment Forever
(Aerosmith: I Don't Want To Miss A Thing)
It was a sunny Friday afternoon in May. Cath hadn't seen Levi since his sister's wedding two weeks prior, which was longer than she had gone without seeing him in months. He had been so busy on the ranch he hardly even got the chance to call anymore, just the occasional text, so she thought the call was an accident.
"Cather Avery, would you do me the honor of coming out to Arnold to spend some time with me?"
"Like... stay with you?" she coughed out her Fruit Loops, "like, with your family? On the ranch?"
"Yeah! Late nights playing Uno with my sisters, reading together," he sighed, obviously smiling. "Stargazing in the bed of my truck, meeting my horses... my rabbits."
Cath giggled, "Do you really think your family would be okay with that..." She wiped her mouth off with her sleeve, "with me?"
"By that you mean my mother, right?"
"No," she began to rinse out her bowl, "well, mostly... but everyone else too. I've only met them the one time at the wedding."
"Cather," Levi said, in a jokingly-stern tone, "My family loved you. My sisters loved you. My dad loved you. My mother loved you."
"You really think so?"
"I know so."
Cath sighed, "For how long?"
"As long as you want."
"Levi, I don't think I'd ever leave."
"Good."
"Levi!" Cath groaned.
"A minimum of two weeks."
"A minimum of two?"
He was grinning, "So, is this a yes?"
"When?"
"Well, I'm driving out for your birthday next week, what if you come back with me when I leave?"
"Okay."
"Okay!" Levi chirped, do people chirp? "I love you, Cather."
"Oka-," She paused, "I love you too, Levi. So much."
She missed him more and more every time she replayed that conversation in her head.
It was Tuesday morning, her hair was up in a towel turban and the entire room smelled like toasted coconut shampoo. Wren was beginning to stir under the covers. They ended up falling asleep in their dad's bed. He left town for a business trip that weekend and they had already celebrated their birthday together, but they were a little sad that he wasn't there for them on the day.
They stayed up late the night before talking about Levi and Jandro. How weird it was that, between the two of them, it was Cath going away to stay with a boy for the summer.
"When is he supposed to be here?" Wren asked, not bothering to open her eyes.
"He should be here around noon."
"Are you excited?"
"I feel like my stomach is going to implode." Cath moaned, plopping down onto the bed.
Her sister sat up and smiled, "Do you want help picking out an outfit?"
After an hour of sister-grooming-bonding time, Cath looked herself over in the mirror. Her hair was pulled up into a braided bun as opposed to her normal messy bun. She was wearing Levi's light blue flannel shirt (he had accidentally left it behind when he was over for their birthday) with black leggings. Wren added a brown belt and a matching pair of boots.
"You look so good, he'd be an idiot not to rip it off and have his wicked way with you." Wren giggled, and so did Cath.
"Don't be gross," She ruffled her sister's overgrown hair. It was in an awkward 'really need a haircut' stage, but Wren had been debating whether or not she should grow it out again. She wouldn't though, too impatient.
The girls sat in their room passing Cath's gorgeous, new laptop, a birthday gift from their dad, back and forth collabing on a Simon/Baz future fic that they had been working on since they finished the final book. They were supposed to be giving the fanfiction world a Magicath/Wrenegade surprise one shot. But it was well over 15,000 words long and it was too long to not post in chapters, but they didn't care, it would be their best yet. (But never better than Carry On, Simon.)
It was almost lunchtime and the girls had decided to take a sandwich break. This is a dad kind of break Cath thought, the kind of break when the work is paused but you can't stop thinking about what to do next...
Wren frowned, "But Baz couldn't cheat on Simon, they're adults; men, a real man would neve—"
Ding-Dong.
Cath ran to the door, not stopping to compose herself. She swung the door open and there was Levi, leaning (always leaning) on the frame, one hand in his hair and the other dangling loose at his side. For a second, Cath felt paralyzed like a hallucinogenic spider had bitten her, causing her to imagine the lanky, blonde, like she was Baz in one of her older fanfics. It wasn't until Levi pulled her chin up and kissed her that she snapped out of it. Cath ran her fingers through his hair and tugged at it playfully as she pressed her nose to his so their lips only just brushed when they talked.
He was smiling ear to ear, "Hello, Cather."
"Levi..." His name rode out on an exhale, "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Cather."
"GOD, you two are going to make me puke out wedding plans." Wren laughed from the living room, snapping a picture of them with the camera she had gotten for their birthday. Levi blushed, pushing his hair back with both hands before giving Cath another quick kiss.
"Oh, Wren," He took a step towards her, opening his arms inviting her in for a hug, "I missed you too."
"Aw, really?" Wren smiled and reached out to hug him. Before either of the twins knew what was going on, Levi had Wren's head in his hand and fluffed up her hair so much it made his own floppy mess look tame.
"Yeah," Levi grinned as he released her, "I did."
"Dick." Wren sneered, but she couldn't hold back from laughing. Cath was smiling too. She really liked how he treated Wren like one of his sisters, it kept her from feeling jealous.
Levi took their hands to pull them into a hug, "So what'cha ladies want to do for your birthday?"
The three of them spent the day inside, playing Simon Snow Trivial Pursuit, baking cookies, and binge-watching True Blood. Levi seemed a little uncomfortable during the sex scenes, but he got really involved with the story. ("But that's Jason's best friend! Why would he do that to them?") After so many consecutive hours of trashy TV, Wren stood up excitedly waving her phone around.
"Jandro is here; he's got a surprise planned for me!"
"Have fun! Tell me about it later?"
"Well, don't wait up for me," Wren winked. "Besides, I think you deserve the house to yourselves tonight, and I'd hate to box-block my own sister.
Cath reached out to kick Wren in the butt, but she was already running towards the door, yelling back, "happy birthday, sister!"
"Sweetheart," Levi laughed, eyes smiled shut, "I honestly don't think I'll survive a night in this room while you're wearing that. It's just too much cute for me to handle."
Cath had stepped out of the closet in a pink shirt that read "I ❤ Magicians" and a pair of worn out, black shorts that Wren had written "Kanye Dance Pants" on the butt. He was sitting on her bed already stripped down to his white t-shirt and boxers wearing the brightly colored comforter over his head like a cloak. Yeah, I'm too cute. He looks like a little kid watching a scary movie. Cath rolled her eyes and slumped onto the bed as dramatically as she could without smiling.
"C'mere." Levi tugged at her hair, trying to loosen the updo it was in, "c'meeeere."
He kissed her on her forehead, then on her cheek, then the other, her ear, the other, her nose and then her chin. Grinning like a cheshire cat, Levi leaned back onto the headboard lifting the covers for her to climb onto him. She couldn't help but smile. The last time he was in her bed was after the wedding and that night stayed in her mind ever since. And now she intended to return the favor the next time they were alone together. When she tried to work his boxers off, Levi took her wrists in his hands and pulled her up so they were face to face.
"Woah, there little doggy," He said in an exaggerated old-western cowboy voice and laughed through his nose, "I missed you. Let me just look at you for a while."
Cath frowned, trying to wriggle her hands free, "It's my birthday, look at me all you want tomorrow."
"I'll fall asleep..." He whispered, still smiling, but his eyelids looked heavy, "I missed you."
She relaxed and ducked down to kiss him, "I love you."
His hands moved down to her lower back and played with the hem of her shirt before taking it off. Cath was having at the edge of his jaw, where she loved him the most, when he pulled his old, white shirt off. She bit his ear making his jaw clench and let out a giggle. Levi slid a hand under the waistband of her shorts and massaged her through the thin layer of cotton between them.
"Jesus..." She exhaled and buried her face into his neck. His skin smelled like salt, soil, and citrusy soap like he couldn't fully get clean of his work.
He rolled over so that he was hovering over her to get a better view and slid his hand under the elastic. His other arm kept his head lazily propped up. Levi's fingers found themselves in the perfect rhythm inside of her, Cath squeezed his arm and let out a breathy "there." He brushed his lips against the mole on her left breast, then up to her throat, waiting for another sound of approval, and then up to her mouth, taking her bottom lip between his teeth and tugging gently. They kissed; they kissed until she was on the edge, until there was barely enough oxygen to stay conscious, until there wasn't enough air for her to kiss him and come at the same time.
"Oh, Levi," Cath was panting, too blissed out to notice that he rolled onto his side so he could watch her face, "How am I ever supposed to leave this bed now that you're here?"
He moved his hand from out of her shorts up to her navel and smiled at her sleepily, "I'm your density. I mean, I'm your destiny."
"Nerd."
"You got the reference?"
"Duh."
"I love you, Cather Avery."
