Chapter Text
The coffee shop on Maria road was small but well frequented. Being a cheap, non-chain store it had been popular years before you had started going to Sina university three years prior, but always had a very limited staff. That over the years had come and gone; only a few worked at a time among the small selection of workers. In fact; now there were only four staff members other than managers and the owner.
The two boys from Gatava, apartment 302 were regulars at your coffee shop. They’re names were Levi and Erwin.
“Good morning, Erwin.” You said to one of the two as you slid him his drink: a macchiato with three shots of espresso.
“Good morning,” He smiled back with your name, “Sorry I couldn’t come this past week, although I wouldn’t be shocked if you weren’t working.”
You nodded, you took one class together which was a poetry / literature elective class named ‘No Rhyme or Reason’, which despite the funny title had book long essays due what felt like every other week. “I took Monday off and worked the night shift Tuesday, I would’ve missed you anyway.”
Next to Erwin stood another man with dark down, almost black hair. You were pretty sure his name was Levi, but Erwin had always ordered for him and he seemed kind of ‘anti-social’ as Isabel said. Isabel took a few classes with him; they were both English majors, as were you, although different focuses.
You waved at them both as they walked out the door, you turned back to the espresso machine and rang up a double shot of espresso for yourself at the register.
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
“You’re so boring!” Shouted Nifa.
You glanced over at Rico and pouted in her direction, but to your dismay she only responded saying “You did this to yourself. You should just go.” She said your name and turned to Nifa. “That said, you can’t make her go if she doesn’t want to.”
“I’ll think about it.” You trailed off. You checked your phone and saw a text from Hange, your other roommate. Nifa and Rico lived just next door in 217 as you and Hange, also a junior, lived in 218. You met via white board conversations in the dark of night over their first year, the year after yours, as they lived on the same floor as you and your old room mate, Mikasa.
“It’s in a week, you don't have much time. Here- I’ll send you the address, and you can decide if you want to come or not.” She said,
You sighed and nodded as the night came to an end as Hange got home. All four of you had things to do and you had the morning shift the next day.
‘Nifa - 11:48
party address!!
302 gatava road, apartment 604. Its probably a 15 walk from the english building (according to google maps, I’ve never been there 😞) but rico just told me its a penthouse
Im like 90% sure the hosts are named levi and erwin
doesnt isabel take some classes with levi?
You - 11:52
TYSMM
Idek who Levi is so I couldn’t tell you
Erwin is a regular tho
What should I wear?
Nifa - 11:53
a party dress
duh
You - 11:53
I do NOT have a party dress
Nifa - 11:53
you go to college
literally how
You - 11:54
Then I can’t go 🤷
Nifa - 11:54
borrow one of nifas
You - 11:54
No
Those are slutty
Read 11:55
Later on in the night as you both sat at your desks doing work in silence, Hange chirped up and you swivelled around in your chair to ask what was going on.
“There's this guy in my communications class- I think it’s his minor- and we were put in a group project. Actually, I think I've seen him in your store before, Levi is his name. He’s been a pain in the ass this entire time. I don’t know what prompted him to do communications but he's bad at it. And I know his friend Erwin, we went to highschool together actually, and he's so nice but how did he become friends with a guy like Levi-”
“Hange, I know them both, they’re regulars actually.”
“Are you going to their party next week?”
“Nifa wants me to, but I don’t know. I’ve only gone to like three college parties my entire time here and hated every single one.”
“Don’t say that!” She shouts. You looked over at her, glaring, “Tell you this, you come to research with Levi and I in the library tomorrow and meet him if you haven’t already and if you like him at all you should go.”
“Fine.” You sighed.
“Fine.” She laughed.
The next morning, Erwin walked in without Levi. It was actually more common for Erwin to be there without Levi, but in hopes he was sick and wouldn’t attend classes today, you asked where he was.
“Had a morning class to get to. Don’t miss him too much.” He chuckled and you covered your sigh with a laugh.
“Silly question, but is Levi always that… antisocial?”
“Always. If you know Hange Zoe, they are taking the same class, mass communication, and they’re in a group project.” You almost spat out your mocha drink at the mention of her. “She's been complaining to me for days on end about him.”
“I know.”
“You know Hange?”
“We live together.”
Erwin laughed. “You should get to know Levi, maybe next time I'll make him order for himself.”
From around the corner, you heard a familiar sunshiny laugh. “Oh he could never! I tried to convince him to go for anything other than a communications minor but he was set. You should try though, honestly, I feel like you’d get along.”
“Okay, Isabel.” You smiled and said sarcastically. “See you, Erwin.”
“See you.”
As Isabel told you to take over the making of the coffee and that she’ll just talk to customers, you thought of how much you dreaded meeting the guy. You had never been good at talking to people, parties weren’t your place and friends weren’t either. You surround yourself with people who made friends with you, not the other way around, and you weren’t quite sure how.
At 1:00pm, Furlan, the other worker, hadn’t shown up yet to clock in.
“Hey, you can leave, you know, your shift ended.”
“I can’t leave you alone during rush.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Doubtful.”
“Mean”
Then came 2:00pm, thirty minutes before you were supposed to meet Hange in the library. Any longer and you'd miss most of it, you hoped.
“Really,” Isabel sighed and said your name, “you can go whenever. Don’t you have things to do?”
“Not things I want to go to.” You laughed.
Isabel turners around, pulling you her phone and typing on it before holding it up to her ear.
“Hey, Furlan, where are you?” You heard muffled talking on the other end, scared of his response, “your shift started an hour and a half ago!” she paused for him to talk, “god you’re an idiot. You made our lovely friend have to wait here for you. I'll see you in five.”
“Isabel!” You shouted “I don’t want to go!”
“What is it anyway?”
“Hange’s dragging me along to study in the library while she works on a group project. Said she wanted me to meet him.”
“Who?”
“You know one of the regulars, is Levi his name? I hope it is because that’s what I’ve been calling him. It’s him.”
“I’ve known him for a while,” she said with your name, “And I do think you guys could get along if you tried.”
“I don’t want to try!” You whined as another customer walked up the counter.
She turned back to her phone, “You going to the party next week?”
“God no.” You laughed. “Everyone wants me to go though, it’s getting annoying. I made a deal with Hange and Nifa though.”
“That is…?”
“If I like Levi, I’ll go.”
Suddenly, the door crashed inward as Furlan, who looked to still be in his pyjamas, bolted in and threw on an apron.
He shouted your name, “Go, be free!” He laughed. Isabel laughed silently as a wave of awkwardness fell on the shop.
You moved to the break room, “Okay, Furlan.” You let out a small chuckle, grabbing your bag and handing your apron to Isabel as you left the store.
You were tempted for a while to just wander around campus or go home, or pretend you had a class so you could avoid the meeting. In fact, you weren’t sure why you were so desperate to get away from it. Usually hanging out with Hange was the highlight of your day; not today. You sighed as you found yourself approaching the library.
The time on the analog clock read 2:36pm, only a little late. You heard the loud sound of Hange shouting your name as you made your way to your usual study table near the microfiche archives in the basement.
Engulfed in a hug, you tried your best to set your bag down on the table that was out of your line of view, Hange ranting to you about the project.
“Where’s the guy?” You asked
“He's finding a book for us- oh, wait! Levi!”
You narrowed your eyes, how could someone she claimed to detest so much have her shouting like that.
“I thought you hated him?”
“He’s all good now, right Levi?”
“What?” You heard a low, hushed voice saw directly behind you. You wiped your head around there was the regular at the cafe you worked at. You had never gotten a chance to really look at him, but he had black hair and steel grey eyes that were sharp, almost piercing through you. “Coffee girl?”
Hange fell silent.
“Coffee girl?” She asked.
“She works at the cafe Erwin frequents and the one Isabel works at.” He responded.
His voice made you shudder, “You see me so often but can’t remember the name on the name tag?” You deadpanned.
“No, I know you like Mocha, but that's about it.”
“How would you know that?”
“Because I’ve overheard you talking to Erwin about how much you ‘love mocha’, you always try to convince him to get one.”
You turned to Hange, “I don’t like him. I’m not going.”
She laughed, but turned back to the book he handed her.
Hange ran away multiple times throughout the three hours, the winter weather had the sky dark by 4:00pm and just left you and Levi at the table together.
It was… awkward, to say the least. He worked silently and you worked even more silently. Hange zoomed around the room that felt like it had a blanket of white noise draped over the air, and before you knew it you had begun packing your bag back up and slinging it over your shoulder in an attempt to leave.
“Leaving so soon?” Hange whined as you made your way to the stairs.
“Yeah, I have an 8:00 am class tomorrow and a lot to do tonight. I’ll see you in the room.”
You opened the door, but from behind you heard someone call out, “Mocha.” You turned. “When's your shift tomorrow?”
You stared in awe, “7:30 to midnight.”
He nodded, and you left.
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
In the library at 6:00 the next day, you stayed in the same archives you had been yesterday staring at a black google document for your English class. You had spent a matter of hours there after your classes which ended at 3:30.
Your teacher, Dr Snow, had you stay for a little after her class to talk about your essay.
Dr. Snow pulled out a chair for you next to her own seat in the small closet-like room that was her office as she said your name. Despite being the head of all literature, she refused a large office and opted for the smaller one, she claimed that it was ‘homely’. “Sit down, I’d like to talk about your paper topic.”
You nodded.
“As you know, midterm season is fast approaching and your class should begin working on their paper assignment in the next few weeks. I’ll talk about it at the end of next class, but I’d like to give you a head start.”
You sighed. You thought you had been doing well in her class, you hadn’t known why nor were you given any indication as to you being unable to complete the assignment on schedule. You looked around the office, you had been in here before but hadn’t noticed that there was only one table with three chairs. Why three you hadn’t known yet, but the desk further to the corner had some of its own little things that didn’t seem to fit in with how Dr.. Snow presented herself.
The side of the table had two books on ‘The Philosophy of Money’ and also ‘Mass Communications – A Guide.’ A few tea boxes, one of a blend that seemed to be some sort of orthodox chai and vanilla beans and another of an authentic japanese green tea you had tried before. There were three pilot erasable pens and a bowl of cereal that seemed to be mostly plain except for a few strawberries; you knew Dr. Snow didn’t like strawberries.
You turned back to Dr.. Snow.
“You're advanced in this topic,” she said your name and moved her hand towards you, “the others in this class are not, at all,” she let out a small huff of air through her nose as a laugh. “I’d like for you to write a paper on it.”
“What’s the topic?” You asked.
“Before I tell you I have to tell you the rules, don’t get two eager now.” You laughed quickly and mumbled something under your breath unbeknownst to her. “This will not give you extra credit. You can choose not to, of course, and just pick from the list I’ve assigned, I will also assign my TA to help you work on this as he is also quite advanced in the topic.”
“Understood.”
“It’s a risk, are you sure you’d like to see it?”
“Please don’t stall anymore, Dr. Snow, I’m trying my best not to beg.” She laughed, and suddenly you regretted making the joke.
“God, dear, the topic is based on a specific chapter in a fiction novel, and the question is,” she rumbled around some papers, “how does the use or lack of use of currency and trade present in the story; how does it change the way the story is perceived?”
You smiled. “I’ve got this.”
“I know you do.”
To be honest, you didn’t get this. You emailed her later and she explained that you could talk to her TA. You were supposed to see him earlier that day when she called you in, but he had a project to work on.
But by the time that 6:30 rolled around and you had been painfully aware that you had been staring at a blank document for the entirety of your work session, you had it in you to head over to the cafe and keep Isabel and Furlan entertained.
Today, you had your shift with Armin, a blond hair boy who you vaguely remember living a few doors down from Erwin. His hair was blond and short, and he had always been kind of an awkward kid. He was only 19 but he was in your class, he was so absolutely smart that he managed to skip a year of highschool and graduate early and came here on scholarship. Of course, almost everyone in Sina Uni was a mastermind of some kind, it being an Ivy League.
So, you packed your bag and headed out to the cafe on Maria.
Luckily you had just missed rush hour. As you walked in and heard the little bell ring, you saw Isabel turn to the front and wave enthusiastically at you, to which you just averted your gaze and walked past the counter to the break room where maybe– the change of setting could help you work.
It didn’t.
At 7:00 you called for Furlan to give you a brownie,
At 7:02 you told him you wanted a corner piece, not a regular boring middle piece,
At 7:03 you got up to show him where you hid the corner pieces,
At 7:10 you called Isabel back in and gave her a $10, told her to get what she wanted and a small lemonade for you,
At 7:13 you gave her $5 and told her to get just your lemonade for you,
At 7:17 Erwin showed up, to which you left your work again to talk to him,
At 7:28 you put on your apron and Furlan clocked out.
At 7:31 Armin arrived and Isabel clocked out.
The went by smooth for the most part, a few regulars came and went, Levi wasn’t with Erwin that day so you felt safe and by 11:00pm you were ready to pass out
“I can take the next person in line” you called to the next customer in line.
“Hey, aren’t you in my English class?” said the blond haired man.
“I’m in a few English classes, who's your teacher?” you asked.
“Snow,” he said.
“Probably, order?” you asked, you glanced behind him and saw a buildup of a line as since Armin was mostly making drinks, you had to speed things along. The library had just closed so now those who were there are getting some last minute treats and heading back to their dorms.
“Have you heard about the essay topic?” He asked.
“Not doing it, what would you like?” You said as you began losing your patience.
“What do you mean? The topic or the paper?”
“The topic, what’s your order?”
“What topic are you doing? Is it easier or harder? In my opinion, this class is a difficult class and the topic proves so too but-”
“I’m sorry, sir, what’s your order?”
He sighed, “My apologies, just a white peppermint mocha, small please.”
“And the name for that order?”
“Zeke. Hey, you have something on your shirt, lint or something” Zeke bent over to touch your shirt and you slapped his hand away.
“Zeke, thank you.”
But he didn’t move. He continued to stand there as you gave Armin the order.
“Next one in line?” you said, peering around the man. But he still didn’t move. “Sorry, sir, if you’re waiting for a drink you wait over there.” You pointed to where two others were standing.
He acted shocked, “My apologies! I wasn’t quite sure but-” You turned around.
You asked Armin if he needed a break and you swapped places, he took the orders and you made them. You turned around back to the espresso machine as the last person in line ordered and you called out a few names.
“Zeke!”
The man held his hand out and you put it on the counter instead, “ thank you so much, what’s your name? I’d love to buy you a coffee some time,” he laughed “Not here, I’m sure you get it free here and all.”
You told him your name and continued calling some names off, but he persisted in speaking.
He again, bent over but this time he felt a few strands of your hair, you turned around and batted his hand away but he kept a firm grip. “Sir, please let go of me, I-”
Suddenly, a hand gripped Zeke’s shoulder and spun him around, in front of him now was Levi.
“Stop being blind, Zeke, she doesn’t like you.”
You stood frozen in silence.
“Why? I didn’t know little old Levi had a girlfriend.” To that, you shunned away, you weren’t sure why but the way Levi glared at him, he silently took his coffee and left.
“Mocha.” He said to you,
You laughed, “What? I have a name, you know.”
“Don’t care.” Armin turned to you and gave the last order. It was only 11:30 but there were only four people left in the store, you, Armin, Levi, and a short blonde girl on her laptop. He handed you a small bag of tea leaves. You put the boiling water in a to-go cup but before you could begin brewing, Levi said “step for two and a half, add half a teaspoon of honey.
“I know.” He looked at you confused as you put in the tea. “If you have any spare, bring it next time. I’d love to have it again.”
He smirked at you, you didn’t know why, but you didn’t care either.
He was carrying a book in his left hand, you recognised the cover but you weren’t sure from where, you have definitely never read it before.
The tea finished brewing and you gave it to him, he lifted his hand and you gave it to him and smiled.
“Have a good evening, Levi.”
“You too,” he said your name, and left.
The book's title was ‘The Philosophy of Money”.
Levi was your TA.
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
“So..” Hange trailed on. “You gonna go to the party?”
“You can’t make me.”
“Oh come on! It's this weekend and you already know both the hosts, it’ll be fun- exhilarating! Plus I know he came to visit you.”
You looked at her for a moment, how could she have known? “What?”
“Well he said he had to get going by 6:30 when we were working on our project because he had to run home so he could be somewhere by the time a place closes, and yesterday he asked when your hours were so I was assuming he was going to go there at 7:00, but then he ran into the science building so I assumed it was another meeting or something, then at like 11:30 I was walking home from dinner with Moblit and I saw him and asked where he was going and he said ‘Mocha’ and since he called you mocha yesterday it meant it had to be you and you were still working so… you gonna go?”
It wouldn't be that off to say your jaw was on the floor.
“Still not going to his party.”
“I can’t imagine it’s actually his, it has to be Erwins. After all, Levi’s antisocial and I can’t imagine him having many friends. You have three days to decide, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday till 8:00.”
You sighed. “Fine.”
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
His tea wasn’t strong enough to hold him through this conversation.
“Levi, It’s your apartment. Of course you should come, you can’t just hide in the cafe like you did last time.”
“I have shit to do.” He grouched in response.
“It’s almost break and finals are over, no you don’t. You have one group project and some papers to grade for Dr. Snow.”
Levi sighed and side stepped Erwin as he walked into the kitchen.
“I saw Zeke today.” Levi whispered, shovelling ice into a red solo cup.
“And?” Erwin asked in anticipation.
“He was harassing Mocha- the coffee girl. Not Isabel, the other one.”
Erwin laughed and said your name, “Mocha? Really?”
“She's always getting you to drink mocha, right?” Asked Levi.
“I mean– yeah, but I didn’t know you knew!”. Erwin sighed. “What was he doing?”
“He was taking up the line.” They both paused. “And he asked her out on a date when she was clearly uncomfortable,” Erwin nodded “And he touched her twice like an idiot. The second time I had to do something.”
“Did you kill him?”
“Almost.”
Erwin chuckled, “Don’t put him in the hospital till you’re off campus.”
“Noted, smartass.”
“Do you like her?”
“She's annoying.”
“That’s not true at all.”
“You are too… She's awkward.”
“You are too.”
Levi sent him a glare and started walking to his bedroom.
“Maybe she’ll come to the party!”
“Lets pray to god she won't!”
Erwin laughed again, he plopped down onto the couch and opened up his messages. One of his most recent messages he texted again.
Erwin - 01:12
You know both Levi and [reader], right?
Hange - 01:14
ofc
she's my roommate and I have a project with Levi.
Erwin - 01:14
Is she coming to the party on Friday?
Hange - 01:15
i'm TRYING to convince her but idk if she will
Erwin - 01:15
Zeke tried to talk to her today
Levi defended her
We’ve got to meet up soon tmrw i‘ll tell you everything
Hange - 01:16
IAFWHGHBAFIGAFWHHGAJFJA WHAt
Erwin - 01:16
Hange, what?
Hange - 01:16
it’s a keyboard smash
Erwin.
Erwin 01:17
Don’t smash your keyboard!
Hange - 01:17
i hate you.
Erwin - 01:17
[reader] works 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Meet up at 2:45 at the cafe and we can walk around the block and talk?
Hange - 01:17
WALK BLOCK TALK TIME !!
see you then
trucdyavkwuhbe
Erwin - 01:18
See you then, Hange.
“What are you smiling at, Hange?” You asked, looking away from your essay and over to the woman smiling like a maniac at her phone, “Please, you’ve got to tell me if you have a secret lover.”
“No no, I just… think you should come to the party on friday! In fact, I know you have work tomorrow so we can all show up at some time and get you to come. How could you ditch all five of your friends!”
“Hey, I have friends.”
“Like who? Don’t say me.”
“Nifa, Rico, Erwin-”
“Levi?”
“God no.”
Your email pinged before Hange could retort and you both went silent as you went over and checked your email. It was an email from Dr. Snow addressed to you and another student. For a moment, you were disappointed, you thought that you were the only student that would get this opportunity. You read the email, it started off by saying that she was so proud of you for taking on this challenge and that she scheduled a meeting with you and her TA for tomorrow at 1:00pm, and that maybe the two of you could get lunch.
Another ping a few minutes later read: ‘I can be there, Dr. Snow. I'm excited to see who I’ll be working with.’
The email was from Levi.
Levi was your TA.
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
You dreaded tomorrow at 1:00 more than you dreaded Monday at 2:30. The more you got to know the guy the more you’d consider him a friend and the more you would have to go to the party out of sheer kindness. You didn’t want that.
But it was steadily approaching.
12:30 you left your lecture early and ran to get some food to eat at ‘lunch’ from the convenience store. There, you grabbed a cup of japanese noodles and a cup of straight boiling water to avoid going to the school cafeteria at lunch hours and a coffee from your cafe where you met Isabel and Armin and you had to show Isabel how to clean the espresso machine
At 12:55 you made it back to the space you had been told to meet him at. Lo and behold, he was already there.
He looked up from his laptop and his eyes softened.
“Mocha?”
“I can’t tell if you’re referring to me, or the drink, but yes it’s a mocha.” You said, pulling out a chair and putting your food down on the table, you tried to hang your tote bag on the side of the chair but it was rounded, so you left it on the floor instead. “Why so early?”
“I had some papers to grade. I didn’t know you were the girl Dr. Snow was on about.”
You pulled out your laptop and logged onto your school email and clicked on the link to the email, and then over to the empty document you had been staring at for days. “What do you mean?” You took the cap off the boiling water and peeled the lip off the noodles, taking out the flavour packets and oil.
“She was talking about you, you must be a favourite of hers.” He said.
Carefully, you poured the water from the cup to the bowl. But Levi’s intense gaze on what you were doing was strong.
So strong that you split almost the entire cup of burning water on your lap.
“Fuck!” You shouted. Thank god the hall was nearly empty because it was loud.
You knocked back the chair you had been sitting in and brushed off the water on your sweatpants and lap. Levi, who had already gotten up from his own chair, was digging into his backpack and pulled out a bundle of napkins and handed half of them to you. The other half he poured onto some of his ice water rung them, handing them to you after.
He was completely silent in doing so. You wiped yourself and a chair down and carefully put the cold napkins on the small burns you got. Your sweatpants were drenched in water, light grey too it was painfully obvious something had happened. You took off your hoodie and placed it in your lap. Then, you pulled over a chair from another table and swapped the two out.
“I'm sorry.” You said as you settled back into the seat.
“No worries. The topic of your essay is about how the use or non use of money changes the perception of the book, right?” You nodded, he pulled out the book you saw him holding the night before.
The afternoon dragged on slowly, you were cold and desperate to get to work so you could change into your spares. You were only half an hour into working and although you felt like you were getting stuff done, you were hungry and cold.
Maybe the mocha you got earlier warmed you up for a bit and kept you awake for the most part, you were still cold.
You didn’t have food; you spilt the water on yourself instead of the noodles.
“You don’t seem like the kind of person to host a party.” You said as he typed an outline in a shared document. It was now about 2:30 and you were ever much more done with being there.
He stopped and looked up. “I’m not.”
“So, why are you?”
“It’s mostly Erwin’s idea.”
“Mostly.” you mocked back. “Mostly implies that you still do want to host the party but you're just not the one who thought of it first.”
He mumbled under his breath, “I hate you, Dr. Snow.”
“Do you want to seem less lonely or feel less lonely?”
“You’re psychoanalysing me, Mocha.” He sighed.
“I have work soon.” You chirped. “I should get going.”
“It’s not that far and you are nowhere near half way through with this paper.”
“I’ll do it there.”
“No you won’t”
“Yeah you're right I won’t.”
Levi stood up and began packing his tote bag so you did the same. Your pants were still soaked so you opted to putting your hoodie around your waist and carrying your tote bag in front of you.
The cafe was only a five minute walk away. As soon as you stepped out of the building, you were blasted with cold. You had only been wearing a short sleeve t-shirt and the weather had to have been below 10.
Levi noticed.
He didn’t do anything about it though.
At 2:40 you got there and waved to Furlan and Armin in the window as you ran inside. Levi followed after. Quickly, you changed into the spare sweatpants you saved in the back incase of emergencies (coffee spills) and threw your hoodie, which was now wet, to the side.
You walked out and put on an apron. Your shift didn’t officially start until 3:00 but it being rush hour, you were sure they could use the help during rush hour. You had been ringing people up and making drinks while casually talking with Levi who was waiting for his double shot of espresso.
A doorbell ring alerted you to the next customers.
Erwin and Hange…?
Hange looked at you confused for a moment, and shouted your name “We were coming to find you! How’s your day been?”
Erwin snuck around to Levi’s side and whispered something in his ear, to which Levi tugged on a lock of Erwin’s hair and pushed him backward into Hange.
They ordered and left, so you turned over to Levi as you spotted them walking away through the window and whispered, “they’re friends?”
“Apparently.”
Levi left soon after Isabel arrived to take over.
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
“Fine! I’ll come!” You shouted at Nifa and Rico.
It was Friday, lunch hours, the party started at 9:00 and Nifa and Rico had spent hours convincing you to come over the past three days. You had a shift at 3:00 till 7:00 and you could meet up in their dorm to get ready.
“But you’ll need to lend me a dress.” You said to Rico.
“Yay!” They both shouted in unison.
“Of course, you can pick when you come over, I’ll lay them all out for you.”
You sighed and stood up, grabbing your food and laptop and storming off to your next class, English.
The day continued to drag on. Hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second, you absolutely dreaded that night.
You left your last class at 2:45 and the sky was dark, it was pouring rain. Your phone said it was supposed to rain all day. You had never taken the bus to work, so you decided to walk. You didn’t really care for the rain, after all, your bag was waterproof and you didn’t mind your hair and clothes getting wet.
It felt like the worst day of your life.
Maybe it was the rain or maybe it was your dread for the night to come or maybe you had felt something you had never felt before but it felt all wrong. A twisty, crazy, creepy contraption where everything was wrong.
Nevermind that.
You walked into work, ten minutes late, and Isabel shouted your name.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” You said, shaking off like a dog and throwing your bag into the break room.
“No no, I’m all good” She leaned in, “Mr. Grumpy Pants here was looking for you.” she pointed to the dark haired boy wearing headphones at a table working on a document facing away from you. You leaned over his shoulder from behind the counter and saw familiar writing.
‘He was probably just asking about my essay, or he wanted to make fun of it.’ You laughed at the thought and turned around to draw yourself a shot of espresso.
Suddenly, Levi turned his head around like an owl and stood up, walking up to the counter.
“Mocha?”
You leaned onto the bakery cabinet and asked “Are you ready to order?”
“You walked here?”
“Obviously.”
“From the English building?”
“Why do you know I had english?” You laughed.
“I know Dr. Snow's schedule, obviously,” he mocked.
“You should totally try a mocha.”
“What is a mocha?”
“It’s like coffee and hot chocolate in one.”
He sighed, “Fine.”
Isabel smiled and wrote the name Levi A on a cup and poured some coffee into it, and she began making the drink.
You tried your best to ignore him standing there, looking over at you with a cold gaze. You sighed and called out for the next customer.
You felt your collar get grabbed.
“You’re coming!”
Hange.
“Yes, Hange, If Rico can shove me into a dress and also pay me four hundred dollars.”
“I’ll pay you!”
“No you won't.”
“Yes I will!”
“Then pay me back for the sushi the other day.” Hange stayed silent. “I thought so.”
“Mocha please!” Shouted another familiar voice. Nifa and Rico. Levi turned around and moved out of the way, back to his table.
“Of course, Nifa.”
“Pay her four hundred, Rico.” Hange said stern.
“Why don’t you want to go?” Nifa trailed on.
“I’m not a party person, I hate parties.”
“I get it. But it’s almost break!”
“I have a paper due for Dr. Snow soon,” Isabel handed you a cup, on the side it said Levi A, “It’s super important and I don’t want to fuck it up. Levi!”
He didn’t even turn around.
“You won't, you’re literally an English god. She loves you.”
“Mhm, Levi!”
“Besides, assigning a paper due the day before break is insane.”
“Levi!” He didn’t move again. You put up a finger to Rico’s face and went around the counter to give it to him.
All three of them and Isabel looked at you funny as you walked up to Levi and tapped on his shoulder. Hange turned over to Isabel and leaned in, saying that she wasn’t surprised you would do that, meanwhile Nifa and Rico stood in utter shock.
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
“Do I really have to go?” Nifa held dresses up to you, talking about your ‘colour’ or something. Nifa nodded enthusiastically.
“I have a bunch of makeup if you want to use it.” Rico paused. “Can I do your makeup?”
“Not in a million years.”
“Oh c’mon!”
“I love you guys, but never.”
Maybe you didn’t want to go, and maybe you were on the verge of passing out, but you had to admit, the navy blue dress Nifa picked out and Rico owned was absolutely stunning on you. It was only describable as rain blue with a rich navy blue tool film on top but it wasn’t itchy, it was form fitting but flared off at the hips and ended at the thighs.
Nifa also convinced you to wear these black large holed fishnets that had star beads between each intersection of strings. Along with these navy blue satin heels that matched the satin of the dress, they were platforms and had block heels, you silently cursed Rico’s parents for being Steve Madden rich.
Rico did your makeup. Simple, effective, but stunning. Clean base dusted with what she called “Im cold” blush. The eyeshadow was sparkly, a soft wing surrounded by a shiny navy blue and in the corner of your eyes a bright highlight and cat-eye effect.
Finally, star hoop earrings and two layered star necklaces.
You were absolutely stunning.
Rico and Nifa squealed as they brought the next door over and showed you off to Hange and Moblit in your dorm.
Hange was in awe.
You smiled gently, and you all began walking.
You weren’t bad with heels, in fact you were happy feeling so tall for a while. But Nifa did underestimate how long the walk was and it ended up being over twenty minutes of what Nifa called “straight labour”.
But by the time the five of you approached the building and saw cars upon cars parked outside, the feeling of absolute gut terror building up, but you wanted to run.
Yet somehow, you made it in.
But immediately, Hange, Moblit and Nifa ran off to grab alcohol and Rico said she'd stay with you, but saw someone she knew and moved away. You didn’t know where to go.
You weren’t a light weight, for sure, so you moved over to the alcohol table and poured yourself a cup of beer.
You hated beer. You weren’t sure why you poured it, your best guess was that you wanted to be drunk and not have to deal with this place level headed. That's what parties were for, wasn’t it?
Eventually, you found Nifa who was talking up a senior boy and clung onto her for dear life. In fact, she was zooming around the entire apartment which took you not so long to realise it actually wasn’t that big.
There was someone missing though; Levi.
You weren’t sure if it was worth it to disconnect from your lifeline just to go wander around and find a guy you didn’t like.
You heard someone shout your name. You turned around for just a second and Nifa was gone again. It was the blond guy from the cafe, the one that was way too friendly with you. You tried to lose him, zooming through the party and yet somehow he never lost you. You found yourself in a bedroom, and you tried your best to lock the door but somehow he still found you.
“You never gave me your number.”
“I’m not required to be nice to you at the moment, so I’ll be honest. I am not interested in you, whatever your name is, please stay away from me.” You backed into the wall.
“You don’t have to be interested to want it.” He said.
“And I don’t. Leave me alone.”
“You can’t ban me.”
“Of course I can, our cameras have audio recording.”
“Can I say,” he said your name, “that outfit is stunning you.”
“I know it is.” You moved around him and were about to leave the room until you noticed something, the papers on the desk had notes from Dr. Snow. This was Levi’s room and those notes were about you.
Then, you decided to lead him out of the room. He got lost in the party, and you re-entered the room.
Of course you knew it wasn’t right to snoop through his thighs, but leaving your door unlocked at a college party and someones bound to do it. You shuffled through the pile of sticky notes and note cards.
Levi,
There's a girl in my fifth period class that I’d like for you to work with. I’ll email you her email address later but I can guarantee you that she is a strong student. If you do end up leaving for Rose for your grad, I’m sure she’ll follow in your footsteps.
Snow
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Snow,
The meeting today went well. She’s a nice girl, I’m sure you know this but I have her roommate in a group project for my communications class.
Her writing is amazing and I do hope you get her to stay with you next year, she seems like a good choice. BTW I got to see some of the other stuff she has written, you may say it’s bad but she had the tab open and I couldn’t help but read some of her poetry. I think she takes Dr Baird’s class with my roommate Erwin Smith.
Levi.
You smiled. A wide smile. Out the window, there was an amazing view of the college campus in most of its entirety. There was a door, next to his pristine white bed, that led out to what seemed to be a balcony. It was still raining.
Finally, a small buzz kicked in and without thinking you stepped towards the door and opened it. You didn't care less for the french braids Nifa had braided into your hair, or Rico’s dress and shoes that was an issue for another day.
“Mocha.”
You whirled around, Levi was sitting on a dark blue velvet couch under an awning.
“Levi.” You said. You weren’t sure under this circumstance if you should walk up to him or not. But again, your body moved itself. You were sitting next to him.
“You look nice.” He said.
“Everything is Rico’s, even the makeup skill.” You laughed.
For a little, you two just sat there, silently. He held a red solo cup but you could also tell it was just some sort of alcohol in there. Even longer after, your head fell against the back of the couch and you sighed.
“How’d you get out here?” He asked.
“Your door was unlocked.”
“Fuck.” he muttered under his breath.
He stood up to lock the door and maybe kick you out, but you shouted. “Wait, I locked the door already.” He froze and turned to look at you, “The blond guy, Zeke I think, was harassing me again. I hide in your room.” He didn’t move still, “I didn’t snoop or touch anything, promise.”
You smiled again, and he sat back down.
“I thought you didn’t like parties.” He took another sip of his drink.
“I don't. Why else would I be out here?”
“I don’t either.”
“Why’d you host a party then?”
“Maybe I did just want to seem less lonely.”
“Feel less lonely.” You corrected. “And yet here you are, sitting here with coffee girl.”
“I guess I am always,” you smiled softly and your eyes fell to his, he was looking over the balcony at the light polluted sky covered in clouds and distant highways that were clear due to the rain. “It’s not a problem.” He took another sip of his drink.
You lifted your legs up because they had been splashed with water and curled up in a ball on the couch, your head was against the back of the couch and you unclasped your heels and left them on the ground. You dug your feet into the couch cushion and didn’t think about the fact that Levi could have minded.
“It’s just something.” you muttered, the rain got louder, “you’ll get used to it.”
You were still looking at him, he turned his head to look at you.
He couldn’t help but think that everything about you was gorgeous.
Levi took off his hoodie, it was navy blue and had the name of some place you had never been to before on the front, he handed it to you.
He did something about it this time.
You sighed. You knew it wasn’t good. The longer you looked into his eyes the more you felt yourself slip. He smiled at you, a sweet, small, upturn of his lips.
“I don’t get you.” You whispered to him.
“What don’t you get?”
“Who are you? I feel like you're practically a stranger, but everything about you makes me feel safer.”
“My name is Levi, my favourite colour is steel grey, I’m an English major and communications minor,” you couldn’t stop smiling, “I grew up in Paris with a single mom, I plan to go to Rose for grad school, and I’m,” he paused and let out a laugh through his nose, “lonely. Who are you?”
So you sat there for hours, telling each other who you were, stories your best friends didn’t know, stories you barely knew yourself.
The party began to die down around 2 in the morning, you did two. You had been half asleep for an hour by then but of course you assumed that your friends had all drunkenly left together or with some other guy they met and you weren’t going to get home.
But you didn’t care, you layed back down on the couch. You had never remembered the sound of rain being this tranquil, or maybe it was Levi, but you whispered something hesitant.
“I trust you, Levi.”
“I trust you too, Mocha.”
You were asleep by the time he said that.
I didn’t know what to do. He sat there, in shock.
He brought you inside, to his room, and laid you down on his bed. Although there was still music playing outside, he decided to leave his room and get a little more alcohol.
. ˚ * ✦ . . ✦ ˚ ˚ .˚ ✦
He stirred awake on the couch the next morning, the TV was on and someone had draped a blanket over him. He sat up to see Erwin, who looked bright as ever, watching the news.
“There's a girl in your room, is it your girl and someone else’s?”
“Rude.” He grumbled.
“Seriously, go check on her.”
But too late, she had already walked in. “Levi?” She rubbed her already smudged eye makeup.
“Goodmorning, Mocha.” Erwin smiled as Levi spoke. “Sorry.”
“This place is trashed.” You smiled.
“Not our fault.” Levi retorted back.
You sat on the end of Levi’s couch and Erwin took his cue to leave. “Thank you.” You whispered. He stayed silent. “I should go, shouldn’t I?”
Levi stayed silent.
You stood up and started putting your heels back on, ready to take the walk of shame back to your dorm. But Levi grabbed your shoulder. “Can I drop you off?” You nodded, “Can you come back here? I don’t wanna be lonely.”
You laughed. “Of course.”
The ride to your dorm was okay, you two didn’t say much but you couldn’t help but feel his eyes linger on you for a moment longer than they should while driving.
He let you out in front of your building and you ran inside. He said he'd wait there for you, and you didn’t want to make him wait long, so you grabbed an oversized t-shirt, a pair of shorts and another outfit of a tank top and sweats just in case. You also brought makeup remover and some skincare to just do there and a phone charger and laptop in a tote bag. You took off the dress and resorted to giving it to Rico whenever you got home or sending her a text, leaving on your undergarments and shorts.
You put on sneakers (jordans or converse) and ran back to his car.
When you got back to his apartment, he let you go change and take off your makeup while he talked to Erwin.
“Glad you have another friend now.” Erwin chuckled.
“You aren’t funny.” Levi snapped back.
“What did you do all night?”
Levi stayed silent for a while, “I’ve never liked parties, you know this, Erwin.” then he sighed. “I was all over her.” Erwin raised an eyebrow at him. “We didn’t makeout, or do anything. Despite the fact she ended up in my room.”
“Why?”
“Her friends all left.”
“Shitty friends.”
“But she was so fucking beautiful.” Levi cursed.
“Describe her.”
“You know what she looks like.”
“I didn’t see her last night, she went straight to you basically.”
“She was in all navy blue, her shoes were satin and platforms, her dress was also satin and it was about at her upper thighs and she was wearing these tights with little star beads interlaced and she kept on smiling at me, and she was saying shit I just didn’t understand.”
Erwin smiled.
“She laughed at one point and I felt like the world caved in. She was wearing my hoodie, the blue one- the one from my mom, and looked comfortable. And,” he paused again, “I was lonely.”
“Where were you?”
“We were out on the navy blue couch on my balcony.”
“It was raining, was it not?”
“Under an awning, it’s not like she cared though. I saw her earlier that day and she had apparently walked from the English building to the cafe in the rain with no umbrella. She didn’t care.”
“Did you ever give her your number?”
“No. I should.”
“You should.”
“She called me a stranger.” He said with as best of a laugh as he could let out. “But a ‘safe’ stranger. That's how I met her.”
“What do you mean?” Erwin asked.
“I introduced myself, that's how I learnt who that girl really is.”
You checked your texts,
Rico - 01:37
I’m with some kid named Jean right now, we left early
Tell me how it goess, youve got to come with us more often
Rico - 2:03
Are you okay?
Rico - 2:49
Im sp tired
And drynk
Hsve fun
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Nifa - 12:32
where the hell are u
i appreciate the grind but if ur not coming home w us
i’m gonna go get dicked down and see you tmrw
Nifa - 1:07
have fun ;)
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
Hange - 3:27
UT STAUING OBER?
UR SYAUIGN OVER
STAUING
ATQYING
DUCK
FUCK
j givr u=
You changed, but only into the shorts. You kept on the hoodie.
“We have to clean.” He said.
“Get Erwin to do it. It was his party.” You said.
“He has stuff to do today.”
“So let’s have stuff to do today, then he’ll come home to a messy house. And you don;t have to be lonely.”
He laughed, “Okay, Mocha.”