#leviweek2025

Levi Week Day 4: Historical

Day 4. 1920s

WIPs of some of my works for Levi Week. trying to get them finished and up as fast as I can. (⁠´⁠°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥⁠ω⁠°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥⁠｀⁠) @leviweek2025

Levi Week 2025 day 2: Domestic. Kuchel brushing Levi's hair in front of the mirror.

Day 2. Childhood

cw: monster, implied drowning? you kinda make out to death // wc: 2.7k

The ship rolled beneath your feet. You shifted your weight unconsciously, adapting to her movement as easily as breathing. Creaking wood, sails snapping- salt in every crease of skin, the wind in your hair like a fist. This was where you belonged.

The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon, melting into the calm sea. The first touches of a cold night slipped beneath your jacket as strode across the deck, relishing the rare silence. Your crew had long since banished themselves below. No one was willing to follow you into this particular danger. Just as well. You would not ask it of them. This mission was yours alone.

The legends of sirens were well known where you grew up. No child escaped the fearful whispers of them, stories that wound their way into play and nightmares. For you, they had always been a thrill. While others grew out of the tales, you flung yourself headlong after them, signing on to the first ragged crew out of your hometown's port.

Years had honed your skills, but never dimmed your determination to find the creatures- to hear a siren's song in your own ears. You made no secret of it to your crew. You had earned their loyalty, coupled with the provision they would not be obligated to share your folly.

You made your way to the helm, navigated your ship through a stretch of rocky coastline. You had triangulated the sightings, combing through disjointed reports, waterlogged maps, the interviews of drunken, half-mad sea dogs who swore into their mugs that a siren made these waters it's home. And now, as the moon slipped overhead and cast her languid light on the waves, your destiny had arrived.

Ship and captain crawled forward over the glassy sea. It was eerily calm. This made it easy to scan in all directions for a sign of movement, but it also made you exposed. Anything you saw would certainly have seen you first.

You leaned over the railing, startled by your distorted reflection. Your face rippled and dissolved into the foam thrown up by the ship's hull. As you watched the water, bright, ghostly forms shone through the churning wake. You had heard of organisms that gave off their own light, but out here in the quiet darkness you were just as liable to believe them to be spirits. Good or evil spirits, you could not tell.

Mesmerized by the brief flashes of blue and green, you did not notice the dark shadow that surfaced on a rocky peak in front of you, just barely jutting over the surface of the sea. You didn't feel the eyes on you until they had narrowed, appraised, committed you to memory. Weighed your soul.

Belatedly, the hairs on your neck stood up. Icy tendrils spread down your spine, but you fought down the fear. This was the sign. Slowly, barely breathing, you turned in the direction of the sensations. The rising moon threw the figure into stark relief, a silhouette against a deeper darkness.

A human figure- what you could see of it. The outline of a head, straight shoulders, the sloping sides of a lean torso. The rest was hidden beneath the water. You swallowed, steadying your voice.

"I am the captain of this vessel. I mean you no harm!"

Silence stretched across the empty sea. Slowly, the figure cocked its head. Listening, perhaps.

You called your name across the divide, hoping it would answer in kind. "What are you called?"

Silence followed again. Then, so deep that you felt more than heard it, a long, low call. It brought to mind the songs of whales, if they had been fitted to a human throat. The tone thrummed through your body, through the bowels of your ship. Your crew, you knew, were hiding in their hammocks with wax-sealed ears. Despite that you thought they may have felt it too, rocking them like children for the space of a moment.

"Is that your name?"

A slight incline of the head. You needed to see it- longed to be closer. You gripped the rail with both hands and leaned further out over the water. The figure mirrored you, bending forward at the waist. The movement brought it into a shaft of moonlight. You staggered back- not knowing what you expected, but certainly not this.

It was beautiful. The creature held still, as if allowing your unabashed examination. The face of a man, still half in shadow, watched you under a spill of black hair. It was shorn sharply at the brow, slick and impossibly dark, as if laden with ink. But at the back it flowed into the water, spreading like oil. You felt pinned at the glimpse of sharp eyes- gray as the arctic waters of the North, silvery, lit from within with an unearthly light. The eyes alone changed the creature to a person in your mind- him. His muscled torso was littered with healed wounds. Some you could read- the clutch of netting, the scrape of teeth. Others were unknown to you, speaking of battles waged in the deep that you couldn't comprehend- star-pointed scars, circular patterns like a bruising kiss.

Your gaze fell to his waist. The water lapped beneath just beneath his navel, concealing what you truly wanted to see, what you hoped against hope was a tail. You searched for the glitter of scales on his skin, but couldn't make them out from such a distance.

Already, curiosity was becoming longing, the sea calling to you. He was calling to you. Almost beneath your hearing, his name had morphed into something deeper, like a droning that dragged at your core. An ancient tone, gathering you to itself. You weren't aware that your ship had stopped, not even bobbing- still as if it had been frozen.

"Are you..." it felt foolish to ask. But those eyes never left your face, and the words fled unbidden. "Are you a siren?"

Something floated across the water- almost mirth but sharper, many-edged, dangerous. Then another droning response. You wanted to understand, to catch the bone-deep tones and shape them into words.

"I don't understand!"

He bent lower and stretched his hands out to the water. He scooped a handful in his palms and brought it slowly to his lips. You were mesmerized by the sinuous motion. A flash at his side startled you, renewing your hope that hidden scales adorned his body. If you were closer, would he still look like a man?

His gray eyes never left your face as he drank deeply. Water spilled at the corners of his lips, flowed down the column of his throat. When his hands were emptied, he held them out to you. An invitation.

You scrambled to the dinghy lashed at the side of your ship. The rope burned your hands with the speed at which you lowered it to the water. You climbed into it, feverish with excitement, already forgetting the few precautions you had allowed yourself. Stoppers of wax lay abandoned beside the helm, ropes to bind yourself to the wheel left limp and useless on the deck.

The creature made a new sound as your small craft touched the water- pleased and higher-pitched. He held his hands out to you again, stretching forward, more insistent.

So you dipped your cupped hands into the ocean and drank.

It seared your throat. You coughed, most of it coming back up, burning through your sinuses. Your eyes streamed, adding your own droplets of saltwater to the sea. The creature smiled, and you saw the razor-sharp teeth hidden behind its soft lips. They did not deter you. Steeling yourself, you swallowed another mouthful, then another, until your hands were as empty as his.

Yᴏᴜ ᴀsᴋ ɪғ I ᴀᴍ ᴀ sɪʀᴇɴ.

You understood the words. Words! Though they fell against your ear like the crashing of great waves. You gasped, nearly choking yourself again. The water must have been the key- you wished suddenly you had brought a notebook, something to record this historic- your thoughts dried up when the siren spoke again.

I ᴀᴍ Lᴇᴠɪᴀᴛʜᴀɴ.

Leviathan. You tasted his name, afraid to say it back. A mouthful of brine. He watched you silently shape the words, and smiled wider. More teeth. You saw the shining scars on his body again and could envision the mouths that made them. Suddenly you felt very cold.

Tʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴs ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴇʏᴇs. Dᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀs?

The cold spread, from your heart outward, down your limbs. You nodded slowly. Sleepily. Strangely, you could feel the ocean water in your stomach, sloshing like a ship in a storm. It should have made you afraid, you knew. But Leviathan watched you with glacial eyes. Colder still.

"I do," you whispered.

Leviathan began to sing. It was whale-song, yes, but with the ocean seething in your stomach and all around you, it was also the cry of gulls, the stirring of deep, steaming vents, the cracking of ice and the glittering swirl of fish. It wrapped around you, around your boat- moved you like a tide. You began to row toward him.

As you neared, the details that your ship had hidden became sharper. He did have scales- blue-green, glimmering scales that set into his pale skin and flashed when he turned his body under the moon. His limbs and hands were longer than a human's- the proportions warped and just far off enough to seem uncanny. Two fingers were missing from his right hand- more evidence of a harsh life? You could imagine his sharp-nailed fingers trailing along the sea floor, trawling for prey.

Only a few ship-lengths away, his music faltered as he stopped to breathe the night-air. You stopped rowing suddenly, arms burning from the exertion. You trembled in the stillness. "Levi-"

Yᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ sᴛɪʟʟ sᴏ ғᴀʀ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴍᴇ.

He interrupted you smoothly, lifting his head. For the first time you could see a thin, silvered scar across his face, stretching above his right eyebrow down to his chin. That eye was brighter than the other, almost white in its glow. His face arrested you, pinned you, drew you nearer all at once.

"I'm- He interrupted, his eyes narrowing with a flash.

Aғʀᴀɪᴅ?

You were. But other feelings outweighed it- pushed away the self-preservation and called up the long nights spent dreaming of this, the research and the searching and the years of wanting. Wanting to see, to know, to prove to yourself if no one else that the legends were real. Now that you were faced with it, the fearful opportunity, you wanted to take it with both hands and gorge yourself on it.

"Hungry."

Leviathan opened his maw and laughed. It sounded like the splintering of a thousand ships, dashed against cliffs, like the cries of sailors taken into the deep. Your calloused palms found the oars again, and you rowed on.

He sung you forward, the music twining along your muscle and bone, filling you from the inside out. The ocean still rested heavy in your gut. It felt like mere seconds before the bow knocked against the rocky outcrop where the siren sat. You stared up at him.

Soft, translucent gills pulsed on his sides, lining his ribs. They flared in time with his song, with the rise and fall of his chest. But did he-?

You looked down at the water, beyond the cleft of his waist. There it was. A wild joy rose up in your throat. A tail- a broad, curling tail that seemed to go on forever beneath the surface. Dark green, mottled into silver, gray, a shimmering array of scales that seemed to refract light and reshape itself with every flick of movement. It was dazzling, even in the darkness. It must have been astounding in the sunlight. Squinting, you could almost make out fins, far far below your vessel. They seemed to flare and spread wide, like fans of coral.

Leviathan saw you watching. He made an expression you couldn't read- pity or pride? But incredibly, he lifted it from the water for you, resting his tail along the side of your boat. It nearly capsized from the weight. Now you could see the full bulk of it, the thickly banded muscles that propelled the monstrous weight through the water. You wanted to see it in motion, see him swim.

He turned his head and you noticed seaweed rippling between the black strands. You reached out a hesitant hand. When he did not pull away, you gently touched your fingertips to his tail. Leviathan shuddered, rippling like a pond that you had skipped a stone across.

I ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ɢɪᴠᴇ ᴛʜɪs ʟɪɢʜᴛʟʏ.

You nodded, unable to tear your eyes or hands from his body. You ran your palm across the thickest part of his tail, then dared to drag it up to where his skin met scales. Just as you made contact, his slick hand closed around your wrist. He moved you aside and let go. His tail slipped from your boat with a splash, disappearing into darkness again.

Dᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ I ᴏғғᴇʀ.

It snapped you out of the trance, and you apologized in a whisper. Your pulse thrummed in your throat, blood pounding in your ears. Reality tried to push through your fog: You are alone. You are vulnerable. But it faded again when he gripped the edge of your boat. The wood began to buckle under his strength.

"Wait! I can't swim!"

Yᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ.

His hold tightened, and the side of your ship began to split. Icy water trickled in at the bottom, and you yanked your feet up, balancing perilously on the other side. The water yawned beneath you.

"Please!"

He let go abruptly. He leaned in, studying your features. You had the strange impression that he was tasting you, smelling your fear. His gills fluttered. Some resolution passed across his eerie face. Then the song returned.

The impact of it from this narrow distance overwhelmed you. Leviathan's song washed over you, dragged you under. Your body swayed helplessly. His face grew to fill your vision as he leaned forward. The lights in his eyes were stars, falling stars, and you thought briefly of strange creatures in the deep, drawing in their prey with beautiful lights held above sharp teeth.

His lips did not move, just stretched as he opened his mouth, the melody issuing from somewhere in his chest or even deeper. Dizzily, you felt you were falling into it- drowning in him as surely as you would in the ocean if he followed through with capsizing you.

You wished to join the song, wanted so badly to sing back that it ached. But you were not built for it. You felt a cold, long-fingered hand at the small of your back. He reached into your boat- drew you out and against his skin. You fell into his lap, soft as seafoam.

Leviathan looked so beautiful, you thought. The song undulated like waves, plaintive notes from instruments you had never heard, carved from coral or stone, sifted through sand. Then it was trailing off, and you were straining up to meet him, wanting to draw more from his lips, now so close to your own.

His breath washed over you, mist. Then his great mouth was closing, sharp teeth hidden again behind his lips, then- then-

The Leviathan was kissing you, consuming you, lifting you in cold arms to better reach your mouth, wet tongue lapping into your mouth. Wet, dominating all else, until it felt like you were drinking him in, like he was pouring the ocean into your empty body, making you full and whole.

You moaned like gargling, reaching for him, hands slipping on his slick skin. You were drowning, you were kissing a siren, you were dying under the weight of all you'd ever wanted.

"Le-Lev-"

He swallowed down your broken speech, broke it like a mast against his teeth. You had said you were hungry. He was ravenous.

"Levi-"

an for those who read this far?: whew I was not sure where this was going- similar to the knight!Levi piece, I feel like this was more of an exploration of the au using a character I love than a heavily-characterized piece like most of my fics. lmk what you think if you want!

I liked process and final result 🖤

⚠️Don't repost this piece, please!

Summary: Levi Ackerman hated birthdays.

In fact, he despised them. He was incapable of seeing the purpose of them, he couldn’t understand why people put so much effort and energy into celebrating, into finding the meaning.

Pairing: Levi x reader

Word count: 2.4k

a/n: Hii, I'm so sorry for disappearing like that, my life's been going through so much changes lately, but I didn't want to miss Levi's day without writing something, I hope you like it :)

I'll try to post more often soon, happy new year!

ao3 link

Levi Ackerman hated birthdays.

In fact, he despised them. He was incapable of seeing the purpose of them, he couldn’t understand why people put so much effort and energy into celebrating, into finding the meaning.

Maybe it was because growing up, there wasn't time to sit and reminisce on them. His mom used to try to make it special, but given their life conditions, she did what she could. And that was enough for him, it was all he could ever ask for. However, after she died, December 25th became an ordinary date like any other day.

It meant nothing.

He wanted it to be nothing. Why would he celebrate after all? With titans out there, hundreds of deaths every exploration, a corrupted government and a very doomed and crooked world. Or he was the crooked one? He focused so much on this while the rest had their peaceful lives, but why didn’t he?

No. It didn't feel right.

He didn't have the right to.

Perhaps that was the reason behind avoiding you today. He just knew you would drag him into some sort of shitty surprise, and Levi was not capable of saying no to you. It infuriated him.

You'd said something about birthdays last week, your eyes "casually" stopping on him, as if you wanted to warn him you knew.

He just hoped you hadn't told Hange or anyone about it. He already had a hard time with Erwin forcing him to take the day off, like that would help at all. He preferred to be training, working on some stupid paperwork, or even listening to Hange's infinite rambling about how awesome titans were. It was better than being alone with his thoughts. Especially on a day like this. With times that reminded him so much of his mother.

Humanity's strongest soldier was not strong enough for that.

So Levi had his usual morning routine when he woke up: he left his bed to make his hot cup of tea, watched the sunrise—pretended he hated it—, and then left to take a walk away from the headquarters.

He would usually come back at 7 for breakfast, but he supposed you'd be there, and as much as it hurt him, he had chosen not to face you for the whole day.

He successfully dodged you during lunch by sneaking into the kitchen to get his ration of what you'd call "insipid piece of inedible stuff."

You had some passion for cooking, not being the best at it, but knowing enough to recognize the difference between a decent dish and a piece of shit that was served for the cadets. He remembered your first weeks around: you sat by yourself, glancing down at your plate as if you could consume it without having to taste it in your mouth. You had lost so much weight, you could barely make it during training. Until one day, Hange dared to sit by your side.

They have been watching you too, worried about your state, concerned by nature about others.Hange asked why you refused to eat, and Levi still laughed at your answer: "I may be hungry, but not enough to torture my tongue with the taste of this."

As ridiculous as it sounded, he'd learned soon enough you had some character, even more than him. If you didn't want to do something, no force of nature could force you to.

Or changed your mind if you had set it into a plan, you had to do it.

He should’ve kept that as a reminder that you would find him anyway, one way or another.

Levi had managed to hide from you during the whole day, but as he made his way back to his room, past ten, he heard the typical sound of your feet tapping against the wood.

"There you are."

He sighed, tilting his chin up to face you. You were leaning your back against his door, crossing your arms. He didn't have to ask to know you'd been here for a long time, your furrowed eyebrows gave him the answer.

"We can't both be the mouse, you know? It's boring," you continued.

Levi stopped a few inches in front of you, his jacket hanging from his shoulders. "I wasn't playing anything."

"Hm." You waved your hand dismissively. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure avoiding me is part of your day now."

"Exactly."

"Not like we've been trying to move past that."

He sealed his lips, his gut twisting inside. He had been trying, he really had, but today was far more complicated than that.

"We are."

"Are we?"

The question hit him like a punch on his chest. He crossed his arms too, as if that built a wall you could not past, but he knew you would. You always did.

He studied you for a few seconds, noticing the bags under your eyes. You should be resting by now. Why were you waiting for him? Why, even after the asshole he'd been, did you still look for him?

A sigh left from you, your arms going to your sides as if they suddenly weighed on you. Were you carrying some burden too?

Levi shook his head. Of course you were, he was very aware opening up was as hard for him as it was for you. You grew up having more than him, but you also lacked some fundamental stuff: caring. And it hurt to digest that you still thought you had to earn his attention.

He took a step closer this time, as if intending to reassure you.

But you needed more than that.

You clenched your hands before speaking. "Happy birthday."

There. It was over. He blinked a second later, he knew it was coming. "Thanks."

You parted your lips to say something else, but the words died on your tongue before they could get past it. The tapping of your feet got louder, quicker.

Levi had to look away. The dim light from the window was falling on your face, it made your eyes shine in a way he liked, but that he didn't want to deal with.

Upstairs, Hange was running all around grabbing some books, with Moblit behind, failing to match their pace, his voice resounded, asking them to slow down. Some young cadets laughed outside, and some noise could be heard from Erwin's office, probably with Mike inside.

"I…" You bit your lip, "Wanna take some air?"

"I just came from outside."

"Right." You turned your head.

Asshole. Levi kept repeating in his head.

"But we can…" You both started at the same time, stopping right away.

"You first."

Levi shook his head, "No, after you."

You didn't move, you didn't know how not to break it any more, neither did he. But he could try. Right?

"Coming?" He whispered, unlocking his door.

Your eyes softened for a second. Then you nodded.

It was a start.

He didn't notice the way you bit your lip nervously as you passed him by. Or maybe he pretended he didn't. He couldn’t find himself ruining the surprise you had planned for him.

Levi took a deep breath, his hand held the handle with a tight grip as he closed the door behind him. His face remained stoic when he watched you light the candle.

He had to blink rapidly to get used to the brightness, his eyes quickly stopped on yours, then behind you.

Huh. He had expected more.

"I know you don't like surprises." You started, looking away as if that could ease the meaning behind your actions. "But I couldn’t not do anything."

Levi parted his lips, your name being breathed as a secret. Why were his hands shaking? He had to get it together.

"Everyone deserves a decent birthday, even a grumpy like you."

He exhaled something similar to a chuckle.

"So I contained myself," you dragged your feet to his desk where you had placed a little cake early, "and I kept it simple."

He tried to speak again, but he was speechless. What could he say in a situation like this? Why did you do this to him? It would’ve been easier if you left.

The cake was lifted in your hands, white, as proper as possible, but he could bet it had almost fallen at least three times on your way here, so the cream was a bit crunched and sloped, with your messy writing on its center: Happy birthday.

"I know it looks awful, but I promise you it's better than the shit we have here." Your voice was trembling, it made his lips twitch slightly. "And you don't have to eat it, but I just wanted you to have something and…"

The words died on your tongue, you swallowed hard. "Am I talking too much?"

Levi stayed still, both of his ears deep in red. "You always talk too much."

Your fist fell against his arm. "You could've just said thank you."

"Tsk." He took a step closer. "Thanks."

The beat of his heart had found a new rhythm, the one it had every time you were around, it was frustrating and… endearing in a way. He sighed, a hand on the back of his neck, he didn't quite know what to say, what you wanted him to say.

"You're supposed to make a wish."

Levi raised an eyebrow. "I don't see a candle."

A smile curved your mouth, as you got a yellow one out of your pocket. "Magic."

"Chances."

"Sh." You left the candle on the cake, then lifted it to him. "Go on."

"I don't have a wish."

"Everyone has a wish."

"Not me."

"Levi."

Fuck. Why couldn't he deny you anything? It was pointless. Wishes were not real, just a tale to make things exciting for children. He couldn't afford that as a kid, he wouldn't do it now. But then again, when you looked at him with those eyes, and that smile you failed to hide in your face… goddammit.

He closed his eyes for a second, sighing.

A wish.

A wish. What could he wish for? He had a decent life, a decent job, with hundreds of lives lost, but deaths happened every year, right? With or without the legion, and… why the fuck was he thinking about that? No. He also had friends, a luxury he would've never thought of in the past, and he also had you. You and your stubbornness.

But he craved it everyday. Even when you made him go insane. Especially then.

"Come on, it doesn't have to be big."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm thinking."

"Say whatever comes from your heart."

Calm.

The idea filled his mind like the wind taking the leaves in the fall. Nature.

With a groan, he leaned to the cake, closed his eyes and murmured the word in his head, he actually focused on it as he blew out the candle.

Calm.

"It wasn't that hard, was it?"

"Shut up."

You chuckled. With the tip of your finger, you rubbed the cake and tried it, then made a sign for him to have a taste too, he wrinkled his nose in disgust, but then chose to copy your actions.

"Delicious, right?"

"Edible."

"Fuck you."

Levi smiled for the first time in the night, pushing your buttons because he loved making your eyes roll. It was a sign you were listening, willing to listen.

He didn't remember the last time he had a peaceful night like this.

The voice of his mother echoed in his head. Yeah, it had been with her. The year before she left. She'd said he looked like an angel, despite his black hair, and his lack of wings.

Did you see him that way too?

Levi crouched down, his hand ran through his hair. You glanced at him before sitting next to him. "You okay?"

He turned his head to you, and took his chance to really see you. Having you this close… oh, it was a privilege he'd never take for granted.

People fought every day for this, to find a level of peace again in their lives. The sort you lost when you grew up.

"Levi?"

He bit the inside of his cheek. He didn't deserve this. What was he doing?

"Was it too much?" You rushed to ask, his heart crushed by the way your eyebrows had raised in concern. "I'm sorry. I didn't—I thought…"

"It was fine."

Asshole.

You needed more than that.

"I mean," he trailed off. "Tsk."

Words tended to fail him like that, making him look like an imbecile every time he spoke to you. He had to do something. Anything.

As you tried to put some distance, his hand rushed to grab yours, shaking.

Wait, who was shaking? Was it him? Was it you? Were you both so fucking sad and miserable that you didn’t even know how to hold hands?

His grip tightened.

"I… Thank you." He whispered. "For all of this."

You let out a long breath. How long had you been holding it?

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I know." He reassured. "I know."

You nodded your head, staying right there, next to him. Where your shoulder could brush his. His thumb carefully traced small circles on your skin. He'd learned his new habit weeks ago, while you both had some tea in the morning. He liked the way it eased the tension on your shoulders, and how it slowed the wheels in his brain.

You dared to press your forehead to his neck this time. With fear first, giving him time to pull back, and then with relief, when he tilted his chin to make you some space.

"Don't hate me for this, but I wrote you a letter." Your breath tickled his skin. "Sappy, I know." You didn't let him respond. "But you don't have to read it."

"I'll read it."

He felt the way your shoulders dropped under his arm. When had he wrapped it there? It didn't matter. He let himself be. Letting the calmness invade the moment.

Calm.

He already had it. He had this. He had just wished to keep it forever.

He grabbed the piece of paper from your fingers, his heart went rapid at the contact.

"Don't laugh at me tomorrow."

He breathed out, it almost echoed a chuckle. "You're not that funny."

"Ha ha." You whispered sarcastically, a yawn leaving your mouth. He felt you were trying to say something against his skin, but the idea faded before you could say it.

You pressed your face closer to his neck.

He pressed the letter closer to his chest.