Hi I'm Kat ( ´ ∀ `)ノ she/hers | writer | gif maker | 28 | personal: rydenkat minors and ageless blogs dni! doing so will result in a block Ask box status: general: open requests: closed, but feel free to still send in requests salty anons: go fuck yourself 🤗
hi ♥ i'm kat. i like writing angst and making janky gifs. here's a gif of a scene that i need to rewatch on a daily basis or i will lose my mind
about me: 28, she/they, coping through irl by writing levi angst, third culture kid/abc, AuDHD, levi ackerman's sugar baby by day and his cumslut by night (✿◡‿◡)
STATUS: insane girlie hours 😩
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➼ Loss Part 2 (levi x scout!reader, angst, hurt/comfort)
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{{ Chapter 4: September | Chapter 6: November I }}
Chapter Directory
levi's stupidly observant for someone who pretends to be aloof all the time, js
if you're interested in getting tagged for updates, fill out this form here!
✧ pairing ➼ levi ackerman x fem!reader, college x coffee shop x roommates!au
✧ summary ➼ After you find yourself plagued with misfortune due to struggles in your personal and family life, you find yourself needing to move last minute. As a junior in undergrad with little money and little social support, you considered yourself lucky when you found a sublease that was close to campus and was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it seemed that your roommate did not seem to be so excited regarding your presence.
✧ content/warnings ➼ fluff, slowburn, enemies to lovers (sorta), strangers to lovers, fem!reader, descriptions of reader being superficial (ITS PART OF THE BACKSTORY ILL EXPLAIN LATER ITS FINE), jean and eren being comedically competitive, the ex-boyfriend that was supposed to be porco that i renamed to zack, floche being gross, explicit descriptions of grief, substances/alcohol, college-typical parties
✧ word count ➼ ~4.8k
"Did you have to plan this on the day of the Rumbling?"
You shot an intentionally offensive side-eye towards Oluo. The two of you, plus the rest of the officers for your Honors Society, currently found yourselves at an arcade that was about a 10-15 minute walk from campus. It was the weekend after midterms, so you figured that it was the perfect time to host your first official social event.
However, your generally clueless vice president and social committee chair decided to conveniently book the event on the one night in which another major event that you were all planning on attending was occurring. You had initially said you would handle the booking and were pleasantly surprised when Oluo had offered to do it instead, only to be horrifically disappointed once you found out the date he chose.
This was why you never bothered asking the other officers to do anything—it always ended up like this. It was chaotic, disorganized, inconvenient, or all of the above.
The Rumbling was a rave at a nearby club on the outskirts of campus. They hosted a Halloween party every year, but had an age restriction of being 21-years old due to the open bar, which meant that this was the first year that you could attend without doing something shady to get a fake ID of some sort.
Literally all of the other officers were planning on going together, so you were more than pissed that Oluo had planned your social on this day. Not only did it disrupt your plans, but it also might give the freshmen a bad first impression. It wasn't much of a social support community if you were cutting them short and leaving them on their own at their very first formal event.
"I forgot!" Oluo exclaimed in defense, which earned an eye roll from you.
You looked over towards the entrance as you heard the door open and saw a few other students walk in. They weren't at your general meeting last month, so you didn't recognize them, except for one.
You smiled and waved at Marlo. You had never talked to him, but you've seen him behind the counter at the café before.
"Oh hey!" you said with a smile as Marlo walked up to you. "You're the freshman that works at Levi's café, right?"
"Sophomore," Marlo said awkwardly as he shuffled. "Just started, but yeah!"
After chatting a bit, it turns out that you and Marlo were both in an individualized track related to writing, although you were focused more on creative writing whereas he was focused more on grant-writing for criminal justice organizations. It was the same program, but completely different tracks.
Everyone had formed into their own little circles. Most had gathered around the dining table to chat while devouring the pizza you had ordered.
You looked up as you noticed a particularly rowdy group on the other side of the arcade.
It seemed that Eren and Jean were bickering with each other in front of a Dance Dance Revolution game, nearly having a yelling match over who was better at the game, while Mikasa was playing, clearly outscoring the both of them combined.
You were nervously checking the time periodically, wanting to end the event as late as possible without having to rush to get to the Rumbling later. After about an hour and a half, you began wrapping up, motioning for everyone to clean up before heading back to campus as a group.
Although the event had ended early, you were able to tell that the freshmen had a good time with how chatty they were on the way back to campus.
While that was good news, you still found yourself being restless, walking at a slightly faster pace than everyone and forcing yourself to slow down and wait occasionally. You were more than overstimulated by the time you finally dropped everyone off at the main hub on campus for them to each head to their individual dorms.
You watched them intensely as they all went into the building. By the time the door had shut, you were long gone, leaving the other officers confused.
They were supposed to accompany you to the party, but you found yourself much more stressed than they were, which resulted in you making a beeline for your apartment.
By the time you had arrived, you were out of breath and running purely on adrenaline. You entered through the front door and immediately ran for your room, without even taking a moment to notice if your aloof roommate was at home.
You frantically opened the door to your closet, your eyes scanning through all of your clothes.
It was silly, but the reason you were so stressed was because you weren't sure of what to wear to the Rumbling. It was a high-key Halloween party, so you felt obligated to wear a costume. There was nothing about a dress code and a good amount of people went in casual clothes, but you still felt the need to wear something that was obviously a Halloween costume.
Your eyes immediately fell onto a party dress that you had bought a few weeks ago that you had planned to be your default get-up whenever you went out. However, it'd be boring to wear such a plain thing to a Halloween party—and you definitely didn't want to seem boring.
After a few minutes of digging through your closet, you tensed as your eyes fell on a maid costume you had bought as a joke freshman year. You never intended to wear it as an actual costume—even now, a part of you resisted against it, wondering if you could find something else to wear.
You tapped your finger on the closet door, desperately trying to think of anything else to wear.
After a few minutes, you realized that you couldn't afford the time needed to labor over this decision. You immediately grabbed the maid outfit, groaning in exasperation.
~~~~~
The club was more than filled by the time that you arrived. Both you and Petra stepped inside after showing the bouncer your ID's. The music was stupidly loud, there was a DJ cheering everyone on at the very back, and fake smoke littered the air. A mix of students and locals were dancing on the dance floor, with some choosing to hang out around the local bar.
This wasn't your first party. You've definitely drank and partied before, but being 21 meant that you could officially drink now. It had a different feel to it. Some of the thrill that you used to get from illegally drinking had faded, but you felt that you were now able to enjoy it properly.
A few minutes passed before you noticed Oluo and Gunther also step in, with a tall gentlemen quickly following. You had never met him, but Gunther mentioned that he was friends with Eld and that he was bringing him along to catch up.
"You got changed fast!" Oluo said immediately, eyeing your maid costume.
You immediately punched his shoulder, feeling more than a little embarrassed that his first comment to you was related to your last-minute costume that you were already reluctant to wear.
"You think we'll see anyone we know?" Petra asked as she looked around.
"Probably," you said, walking past Oluo who was now rubbing his shoulder in pain. "It's a pretty big party."
The first half of the night was a blur for you. You remembered doing some shots while getting to know Eld, never mingling too far into the dance floor. The mosh pit-style get-up was just never your thing.
You were feeling a gentle buzz at this point and the sensation allowed you to let loose for a little while and forget all the bullshit you had to otherwise deal with.
However, that didn't last very long.
You felt your entire body freeze up with anxiety as your eyes fell onto your ex-boyfriend's figure on the dance floor.
Your relationship with Zack was not the best one. It wasn't anywhere near healthy, and the last time you saw him, you were having a yelling match and he kicked you out, which was what prompted your whole housing situation.
You saw him begin to turn in your direction and you immediately hid behind Eld's tall figure, thankful that you had noticed in time so that he didn't see you.
"What's up with you?" Eld asked, noticing your sudden change in behavior.
"N-Nothing!" you replied nervously, forcing a smile. "I'm going to grab a drink!"
You kept your head low as you quickly headed towards the bar, which was on the opposite side of the venue, immediately finding the most tucked-in corner seat that you could find and plopping down onto the barstool while burying your face in your hands.
After you took a few minutes to catch your breath, you gestured over to the bartender for a shot. Suddenly seeing Zack had sobered you up more than you would have liked it to and you definitely needed the numbing effect of more alcohol to forget his presence, although your night was already somewhat ruined.
Just what I needed. On the one night I decide to let myself let loose after the shitshow that was the first half of the semester and he's here.
You frowned as you glanced back towards the dance floor.
He can come out to a rave in the middle of the night, yet he couldn't find the time to drop off my shit?
You weren't surprised, but it still pissed you off.
Your view of the dance floor was immediately obscured as someone decided to sit next to you—a bit too close for comfort.
He was a scrawny dude roughly your age, with a cocky face and a questionable haircut that somewhat looked like a bird's nest. You couldn't tell if the haircut was purposeful or not. It looked ridiculous either way.
You've seen him around campus. He was a sophomore majoring in business, so you never had the chance—or desire—to interact with him.
"Name's Floche," he said with a tone of confidence that didn't really match his appearance. "Can I buy you a drink?"
You scoffed at him.
"Are you even old enough to be drinking?"
"I can be," he said with a shrug.
You grimaced for a split second at his answer, although it was barely noticeable—and especially not noticeable to someone like Floche. You quickly changed your expression to one of a forced smile.
"I'm okay, thanks! Already took a bunch of shots."
"Oh c'mon, let me treat you!" he responded, scooting a bit closer. "You're too pretty to be here alone, so let me keep you company."
Part of you had hoped when he sat down that he was just being friendly, but now you could no longer deny that he was being aggressively flirtatious. Normally, you wouldn't mind the random comments you'd get at parties. They were usually non-consequential, other than making you uncomfortable in the moment.
However, with your elevated anxiety due to suddenly seeing Zack, you really didn't have the emotional capacity to handle something like this at the moment. Any intention of humoring Floche with his cheesy and flirtatious commentary was nowhere to be found.
"Who said I'm alone?"
He needed to go away.
Instead, he scooted even closer to the point that you were starting to feel cramped as you scooted back towards the wall, cursing at yourself for choosing to sit in the corner.
"Well, you're over here on your own, without looking around for anyone you know."
He was getting way too close.
"Just let me buy you a drink! I promise you won't regret it."
"Mmm, I said no thanks," you responded sternly.
Floche responded by gesturing to the bartender.
You were not in the mood for this. You were beginning to get more than pissed, to the point that your people-pleaser façade began rapidly diminishing. You couldn't get yourself to continue masking.
You scowled at him.
"Dude, are you allergic to the word 'no'?"
"Don't worry," he said with a smirk. "I like it when you play hard-to-get!"
That did it. In that exact moment, you no longer gave a single shit about what others thought of you.
"What the fuck, I'm not-"
"Oi, fuck off, you lanky parasite."
You heard a familiar voice that brought you a heavy sense of relief—in contrast to how irritated it usually made you feel.
Floche looked over and made eye contact with Levi. He was about half a foot taller than your roommate, but Levi was much more intimidating than he was.
"What, are you her boyfriend or something?"
"Fuck no," you both responded at once.
You felt the corner of your lips tugging up subtly into a smirk in response to your simultaneous answer. At least you were on the same wavelength with Levi on something—a feat you never thought you'd achieve.
"See? I wasn't here alone?" you motioned towards Levi, hoping that this would be enough to get Floche to go away.
"So fuck off," Levi scolded, not giving Floche to make the decision himself. "Don't make me say it again."
After Floche finally left, Levi sat on the stool next to you. You glanced at him and noticed he wasn't in a costume of any sort, simply wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He couldn't possibly look any more plain.
"Fucking undergrads," he grumbled.
"What's with you and hating undergrads?"
You'd lost count of how many antagonistic comments he had made towards undergraduate students at this point.
"It seems I can't get rid of you even when I'm not at the café or apartment," he said, dodging the question. "How annoying."
You pursed your lips, giving him an unamused expression.
"You're the one that chose to sit next to me. You could be anywhere in this giant ass theater."
"That douche was harassing you," he said in a matter-of-fact tone, as if he was astonished that you were even questioning him. "And there's too many fucking people in here."
He paused, his gaze moving from your eyes down to the rest of your body, finally noticing your outfit.
"Kinda ironic that you're in a maid costume when you're shit at cleaning at home."
You groaned and rolled your eyes. While you were embarrassed when Oluo commented on it, you felt your head ache in response to Levi's comment.
"I'm going to need at least three more shots if I'm going to be forced to talk to you," you grumbled as you gestured the bartender over.
You immediately downed the shot when you received it, grimacing a bit at the feeling of the alcohol traveling down your throat.
Your eyes went back into the crowd, scanning the crowded theater nervously. You were well hidden, but the fact that Zack was here still threw you off. This did not go unnoticed.
"What the hell are you doing here if you're truly not alone?" Levi asked, raising an eyebrow at you. "Doesn't seem like you to just be drinking in the corner."
"Don't act like you know shit about me or why I'm here," you immediately responded, barely giving him a chance to finish his sentence.
You realized that you responded much more defensively and sternly than you had intended. His question had struck a nerve and your anxiety plus the alcohol made it harder to regulate around him.
You took another shot as he looked at you in his usual unamused fashion, but didn't inquire further.
"What are you doing here?" you asked, deflecting from his question. "This is the last place I thought I'd see you at."
"'Don't act like you know shit about me'," he muttered, repeating your phrase word-for-word, earning a scowl and a groan of frustration from you.
You told yourself it was the lighting or the alcohol playing tricks on you, but swore you saw an ever-so-subtle smirk appear on his face that was gone within the second.
Levi glanced into the crowd and motioned over towards the opposite corner of the bar. You looked over and saw two people conversing. You vaguely recognized Hange, who was rapidly chatting away with a tall blonde gentleman that you had never seen before.
"Friend's in town," Levi mentioned. "He's actually the roommate you replaced."
You glanced at Miche again. Although the two of you were in contact to get the sublease set up, you had never physically seen him before.
"I'm kinda pissed at him for moving out because now I have you to deal with," Levi grumbled.
You stuck your tongue out at Levi, which earned you a grimace in response from Levi.
His eyebrows immediately scrunched together as he saw your eyes slightly widen before your entire body tensed up again.
Your eyes followed Zack's figure as he walked by again. Once you were able to confirm that he hadn't noticed your presence, you finally let out a breath that you weren't aware you were holding in.
Your anxiety was acting up again and you felt like you couldn't stand being in that theater any longer. It was as if you were suffocating on the spot.
"I'm getting out of here," you mumbled as you took the third shot, immediately getting up.
"On your own?" Levi asked, turning in your direction as you began to walk off. "You're not seriously thinking of driving, are you?"
You stopped in your tracks and scoffed at him.
"Of course not. I'm walking, dumbass."
"It's a 45-minute walk at least, dumbass."
"Well, I have plenty of time," you retorted as you began to walk away again.
"Tch. I'll just drive you, you stubborn brat," Levi said in exasperation as he dug his keys out of his pocket.
He glanced up as you gave him a skeptical look, questioning his ability to drive.
"I'm sober contact anyway. Just let me grab Hange and Miche."
He got up and walked past you to summon the two of them over, indicating that he was leaving.
"Any excuse to leave this place."
~~~~~
You felt like you could finally breathe again once you got home. Not only were you able to dull down the anxiety that had been itching at you ever since you saw Zack at the party, but you were also able to finally take off that incredibly uncomfortable maid costume, regretting ever putting it on in the first place. You immediately changed into sweatpants and a loose t-shirt, which was the complete opposite of the costume you had been wearing earlier in the night.
By the time you came out of your room, Levi noticed that you had looked much more relaxed than usual. It was that stark contrast that he noticed every day. The person he knew at home versus the person you presented yourself as in public were two very different people.
Despite both Hange and Miche hanging out at the apartment, you were more than fine being in your casual home clothes. It was likely due to the alcohol and heightened anxiety from the party making you exhausted enough to just not be bothered to give a shit once you actually got home.
You typed a quick text message to Petra letting her know that you got home safe before tossing your phone onto the couch and sitting down on the floor on the opposite side of the coffee table in your living room. You didn't want to think about that party for the rest of the night.
The company helped keep you distracted. Miche sat on the couch while you, Levi, and Hange surrounded the coffee table. You were sipping on a beer as you chatted with Miche about having Levi as a roommate.
"Was he as annoying when he was living with you?"
A smug grin appeared on your face as you noticed Levi scowling at you.
"He had his quirks for sure," Miche responded with a shrug.
"So he's just a dick. Got it."
Levi's scowl grew more intense as he glared daggers into your skull.
"A dick that cares," Hange chimed in.
The scowl on Levi's face turned into an unamused frown as he looked over at Hange, wondering exactly what was going on through their head at all hours of the day to prompt them to say such things.
"Ha," you forced a dry chuckle as you sipped on your beer some more. "What an oxymoron."
The four of you spent the next 45 minutes or so just chatting. Miche and Levi were catching up. Hange was asking you about your studies. Hange and Miche bonded over what it felt like to be free from the constraints of University.
You and Levi avoided talking directly to each other, but this wasn't new—and from the lack of surprised looks from Miche or Hange, this wasn't news to them either. He had talked to them about you.
All horrible things, I bet.
A frown appeared on your face as you began to ruminate over what it was that Levi could have been saying about you behind your back. You couldn't stand him and couldn't really care less what he thought of you, but the possibility of him spouting that nonsense to others made your stomach churn.
"So what made you need the sudden move?" Miche asked, pulling you out of your head. "I had basically given up on finding a sublease when you showed up."
You looked up towards the ceiling, trying to figure out the best way to describe your situation in a way that wouldn't upset you or require further explanation that you weren't prepared to give.
"...Shitty ex kicked me out."
The look on Levi's face went from an intense scowl to a subtle frown as you spoke. He was more than prepared to spit out a snarky response at whatever excuse you came up with to justify upending his life, but he found himself staying quiet once you started talking. He hadn't bothered to ask (or care) about your housing situation prior to living with him, so he didn't know any of this either.
"Didn't really have anywhere to go."
As long as you left it at that, you could continue this conversation without getting too upset and be able to ride out the rest of the night.
"No family?" Hange asked.
It was an innocent and normal question. Most people would first go to their parents—or whoever took care of them growing up—for refuge in those situations, and especially for undergraduate students, who could just wait until August for leases to start renewing.
You fell silent. An unreadable expression appeared on your face and in your eyes as you lowered your gaze to the ground. You were emotionally exhausted and still buzzed from the alcohol. Masking was out of the question.
"Sorry," Hange spoke after a few seconds, knowing that they had brought up a sore topic.
The atmosphere was thick with tension and you felt yourself grow increasingly tense. You felt like everyone's eyes were on you, even if they physically weren't.
Family—who would you consider family? There wasn't anyone real that came to mind, other than your aunt, who was likely the least supportive person on the planet.
"Shitty aunt that was out of the country. That's about it," you said shortly, clearly indicating that you didn't want to continue the topic.
It was already too late. The conversation had already brought up all the grief you had buried deep within you. You felt like saying a single word more about it would make your whole personality come crumbling down into a sobbing mess.
"I'm getting another drink," you mumbled.
You were too enclosed within your own mind to notice, but Levi's gaze had been focused on you ever since he saw your reaction to Hange's question. He saw the way that you tensed and emotionally withdrew. He could tell that it was a painful topic to talk about—and likely, fresh. Your pain was either fresh or repressed to the point of agony.
He wasn't a stranger to that pain.
He subtly watched you as you stood up and made your way into the kitchen to pour yourself another drink, your expression remaining stagnant—but Levi could tell by the way you moved or even the slight way that you scrunched your eyes that you were deeply disturbed by the conversation.
For the first time since he first set eyes on you, he saw you as someone other than just a spoiled brat.
Maybe he was wrong about you.
~~~~~
Your head was pounding. You couldn't tell if it's from the hangover or the lack of sleep—and you couldn't tell if the lack of sleep was from the alcohol, the mention of your parents, or both. You had been chugging water ever since you woke up, but it was doing little to help.
You squinted and groaned in pain as you arrived at your obnoxiously bright classroom. Holding your hand up to your forehead to shield your eyes from the assault of the bright lights, you slowly made your way over to the table that Oluo and Petra sat at, immediately burying your face into your arms once you finally got to sit down.
"Rough night?" Petra asked.
"You could say that," you responded quietly, your voice muffled as you continued to hide between your arms.
Just being upset was one thing. Just being drunk was one thing—you never could sleep well after drinking, anyway—but Hange's question brought up bad memories. Those memories frequently translated into nightmares. You couldn't sleep no matter how hard you tried.
You couldn't get your parents' death out of your head.
Ever since their passing, it was literally just you and your aunt. She became your main source of support, but you couldn't realistically count it as support. Although you were hesitant to admit it, you knew that she was a pretty shitty person, and generally drained you more than she was able to help you.
You were well aware of your people-pleasing tendency, or your inability to really stand up for yourself or voice your opinions in certain situations, and you knew where that came from. Your aunt constantly made comments along the lines of having to "save face" in front of others, and that social relations made or break whether someone could be successful in their lives and that you should prioritize getting along with others, even if it was at the expense of your own autonomy.
You knew it was bullshit deep down. You knew she was projecting her inability to hold anyone in her life onto you, but she had made those comments ever since you were young. Your parents did try to passively shield you from it, but then the comments came in full force once your parents passed, leaving you completely vulnerable to those thought processes. It was going to take a lot of time and effort to break that chain of thinking, but that involved energy that you just didn't have right now.
Your breakup with Zack plus Hange's question from the night before were rude reminders that you really didn't have anyone else. You didn't have anyone that you could really call your family.
"Magath is out today, isn't he?" Oluo mused out loud.
"Partied too hard?" you joked dryly, trying to distract yourself.
You turned towards the classroom door when you heard footsteps approaching. The door opened and a tall blonde man with a beard and round glasses walked in. You remembered him as the neighbor that helped direct you to Levi's café on your first day at the apartment. Apparently, he was the substitute TA for the lecture today.
His voice, and therefore his lecture, was difficult to focus on, although you couldn't tell if it was because you weren't used to him or if it was due to the hangover. You felt yourself nodding off throughout the lecture, which you didn't fight, although your dozing never lasted for long.
It was either fall asleep in class and miss the content from a substitute TA or force yourself to stay awake and deal with the chaotic thoughts mixed with grief, anxiety, and anger that were running through your mind—and miss the course content anyway because you wouldn't be able to focus.
You were quickly regretting even coming to class, but staying at home wouldn't have been much better. You'd be trapped with your thoughts regardless—your thoughts of losing your parents and being left to navigate a harsh world all on your own, without a single stable source of support.
{{ Chapter 3: August I | Chapter 5: October I }}
Chapter Directory
it was really hard to get through this chapter because I'M SO EXCITED FOR NEXT WEEK'S ksdjfkdf
anyway, someone's mean to reader and levi decides to do something about it 🥰
if you're interested in getting tagged for updates, fill out this form here!
✧ pairing ➼ levi ackermann x fem!reader, college x coffee shop x roommates!au
✧ summary ➼ After you find yourself plagued with misfortune due to struggles in your personal and family life, you find yourself needing to move last minute. As a junior in undergrad with little money and little social support, you considered yourself lucky when you found a sublease that was close to campus and was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it seemed that your roommate did not seem to be so excited regarding your presence.
✧ content/warnings ➼ fluff, slowburn, enemies to lovers (sorta), strangers to lovers, descriptions of reader being superficial (ITS PART OF THE BACKSTORY ILL EXPLAIN LATER ITS FINE), someone being mean to reader, levi being *slightly* protective but doesn't want to admit it
✧ word count ➼ ~4.7k
The semester had fully kicked in. Things were getting better relatively.
Despite the shitshow that was your first day of class, classes were for the most part insignificant. You haven't had to think about your ex-boyfriend and even your somewhat hostile relationship with Levi had grown stagnant.
It wasn't better by any means, but you had gotten used to it. It had gotten to the point that you've even grown to make a joke out of it. It was a game for you to annoy the ever living shit out of your grumpy roommate. It provided a good distraction from school and the other stressors that you had to deal with outside of home. You were making the best of what you had. Plus, when it came to handling his responsibilities as a roommate, he did his part. That was at least better than when you were living with your ex. It was some sort of upgrade, although it didn't feel like it.
Walking from your apartment to the cafe felt absolutely miserable. The wind was providing heavy resistance against you to the point that you felt like you had weights strapped onto your legs. You hoped that the rest of your journey onto campus wasn't going to be as miserable.
Your hair was a hot mess by the time you reached the cafe and stepped into the door. You shook your head to let your hair settle down again, although you knew it was going to get messed up again the minute you stepped out the door.
You grimaced as you looked up and saw Levi behind the counter. You weren't surprised at him working this time, but you made sure to let him know your displeasure whenever you were forced to see him.
He matched your expression, scowling at you.
Your face lit up as you saw the other two baristas also behind the counter. It was rare for all three of them to be at the cafe at the same time.
"Good morning, Onyankopon! Nicolo!" you said with a cheerful wave before giving a disgruntled side-eye towards Levi. "And Levi."
Levi scoffed, waving you off.
"Your pastries are on the counter. Take it and leave before you sour my mood further."
You stuck your tongue out at him as you walked towards the pastry counter and he made an intentional effort to ensure that you saw the extent of his eye-roll in response.
You walked up to the barista that was primarily responsible for the pastries in the cafe. Nicolo was an undergrad—the same year as you, although you rarely saw him outside of the cafe—that helped Levi and Onyankopon start up the cafe a year or two ago. Levi provided the tea, Onyankopon the coffee, and Nicolo the pastries. His passion for baking and cooking made it more than appropriate for him, which resulted in him being more than happy to help you out when you mentioned wanting catering from somewhere other than the university dining services.
Your club was having its first general meeting later this afternoon and you wanted to prioritize being able to provide food to increase retention. Many college students, especially freshmen, were food-motivated and you knew this. University catering was boring and had questionable quality. You wanted to provide something different.
"Got five each of the finest pastries I got!" Nicolo said gleefully as he opened up one of the cardboard boxes that he had neatly packed a multitude of pastries into. "I must say, most just use the student dining services for catering."
You walked up to the counter and looked in the box, your mouth immediately watering upon both the sight and smell of them. Even if none of the freshmen wanted them, you'd be more than happy to take them for yourself. It was sure to be a refreshing upgrade from the monotonous university dining meals.
"Well, what can I say?" you said as you closed the box before you were tempted to eat one on the spot. "I like your stuff."
You tried not to look as Nicolo tried to hide the quickly growing grin on his face. These pastries were his pride and joy, so having even one person voicing their preference for his products was more than enough to make his day.
The boxes were neatly stacked on each other, but the empty space between the top of the pastries and the top of the box made them a bit wobbly when multiple were placed on top of one another. Still, you wrapped your arms around them and looped your fingers under the bottom.
"Yep," you muttered. As long as you were careful, you should be able to get all the pastries out of the cafe and to your destination without any casualties.
Your nerves were a bit ramped up as you unsteadily picked up the boxes, but you were determined to do it. You were the one that insisted that you could pick up the food on your own without help from any of the other officers, so you were stubbornly determined to go through with this.
You gripped onto the boxes and turned away towards the door.
However, you had turned a bit too fast, immediately bumping into someone, sending one of the pastry boxes tumbling to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" you exclaimed as you set the boxes down to check on the fallen one. It was just one box and the fall wasn't particularly far, so the pastries weren't damaged, much to your relief. However, the person you had run into was nowhere near relieved.
"God, the least you can do is watch where you're going," they grumbled, clearly not giving a rat's ass about your pastries or the fact that you were struggling to carry all the boxes on your own. All they had on their mind was the fact that you inconvenienced their day by accidentally bumping into them.
Levi watched as the customer continued to chastise you. He wasn't a regular customer and seemed like someone that was passing through campus. He seemed the type to be irrationally condescending to anyone under the age of 30. Levi frowned as the stranger continued to make commentary to the point of being verbally abusive—muttering sexist and ageist comments on top of accusing you of being careless and having little to no social tact.
Levi waited for you to tell him off. As annoying as you were, you weren't deserving of those comments.
You never did. You immediately conceded upon hearing his comments, hung your head low, and mumbled a quiet apology before immediately leaving, taking your pastries with you.
Levi's eyebrows scrunched together at your lack of a reaction. Anyone watching that interaction would have agreed that you weren't in the wrong and would have been justified in delivering a very offensive 'fuck off' to the man scolding you.
Plus, you weren't like that at home. You didn't tolerate any shit at home. This duality that he had noted at the beginning of the semester still weirded Levi out. It supported his theory of you lacking self-respect, but it didn't make him any less uncomfortable with it. It was strange to have to see you code switching back and forth every single day.
The frown never faded from Levi's face, even as the customer began to approach the register to order from him.
Levi knew that his customer service skills were subpar and he didn't particularly give a shit, but his next words were hostile, even for him.
"You get off on bullying the undergrads?" he asked, frowning at him.
He was feeling oddly hostile and he wasn't entirely sure why. Levi shrugged it off as just him being more irritable than usual, which was exacerbated by the fact that this customer had caused a ruckus, but he knew that wasn't entirely true. There was something else that pissed him off about that interaction, he just couldn't put a name to what it was.
"What?" the customer asked, taken aback by his comment. "Are you talking about that brat that ran into me?"
"More like you ran into her," Levi responded dryly. "Your ego big enough that you can't see in front of you properly?"
The customer blinked at Levi, genuinely not expecting this amount of attitude from the barista.
"Excuse me?"
"Tch," Levi muttered as he clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, walking away from the register, indicating for Marlo to come take over the register to serve the now more-than-agitated customer.
~~~~~
You moved on surprisingly quickly from the somewhat frustrating encounter you were forced to endure in the cafe. You had felt a sudden spike of anxiety when you dropped the pastries, but began numbing over the minute that you realized that you were being publicly chastised.
Some deep part of you knew that this was some defense mechanism that probably fed into your tendency to be conflict avoidant. You knew deep down that you didn't 'move on' from the situation, you just repressed any lingering feelings of frustration. You had to if you wanted to avoid breaking down on the spot. Getting scolded publicly like a child was bad enough. You didn't need the world to also see you emotionally break down in the middle of some café on the outskirts of some university. It'd only play into what he was saying: that you were a child with no social tact.
You took a deep breath as you impatiently tapped your finger on the clipboard you were currently holding. You had set up for your club's first general meeting. There was a sign-in sheet, a sweets table, napkins, paper plates, and plastic utensils for students to grab on the way in.
The structure of the club itself was simple. You were the president, Oluo the vice president, Gunther the senior representative and treasurer-secretary, and Petra the social committee chair. You had wanted to branch out on the executive board, but the shitshow that occurred last semester made it difficult to recruit with what little you had already prepared.
Oluo had been organizing some of the flyers that you had already printed and organized, which easily translated to him not really doing much of anything, before muttering something about being short on utensils and promptly leaving the room.
Petra was setting up writing utensils next to the sign-in sheet, and Gunther was setting up the projector to display the PowerPoint you had put together that neatly described the purpose of your Honors Society. The purpose of this first meeting was just to do outreach to any interested freshmen in the program. All you had to do was the introduction and then the remaining time would be spent socializing and eating to try to build rapport with the freshmen.
You felt your social battery rapidly draining as you saw the amount of students—a mix of freshmen and sophomores—trickle into the classroom.
"A lot of freshmen this year," Gunther mumbled next to you.
"Well, we did do that event at Shiganshina High School last year and I guess it caught their attention."
Your finger that was tapping on the clipboard increased in speed and intensity. You knew your comment wasn't entirely true. That event was rushed and mostly just consisted of finding students that had applied to Paradis University without an official major and putting in a subtle plug regarding your organization. It was one of the many events last year that just seemed to blur together.
"Still, twenty?"
You shrugged at Gunther's comment.
"We'll know after winter break which ones stay once grades start coming in. It usually levels out."
You glanced at the door and saw Oluo reappear with a box of utensils, chatting away with one of the freshmen, before promptly tripping over a power cord as his teeth clamped down onto his tongue and he howled in pain.
You frowned at him as he walked up to you in pain.
"Who the hell is that clumsy that they bite their tongue while talking?!" you scolded.
"You try entertaining the freshmen while carrying supplies," Oluo mumbled.
You rolled your eyes at his reasoning and turned your attention to the students that were each taking their seats at the tables you had set up around the room. You glanced up at the clock that indicated that activities officially begin in thirty seconds.
Taking a deep breath, you began to walk towards the front of the classroom, trying to calm your nerves on the way. You had put a lot of work into making this club work so that you could provide a safe space for the students that were quirky like you and weren't able to settle for a satisfactory standard major. You needed to make sure everyone got a good first impression. It would be a major blow to your pride if it flopped.
"Okay!" you exclaimed, putting on a smile as you looked at the somewhat dumbfounded expressions that they each gave you. "So, welcome to the Individualized Honors Society! We're here to provide a space for students on an individualized track to try to build a sense of community since a lot of the other organizations are specific to your majors. We're primarily social, but we can host networking or academic events if interest is there!"
You had already practiced the introduction, so your nerves quickly faded away as soon as you started talking. After going over your membership fees (or lack thereof—you found it ridiculous that someone should have to pay for social support) and how you'd compensate through fundraising, you handed the floor over to Gunther, who provided some more explicit examples of fundraising events that you had already planned for the rest of the academic year, such as food sales or paid workshops.
The meeting itself went smoothly. After Gunther gave his spiel, Petra went on to talk about some social activities to form that community that you had mentioned, like going out for game nights or plans to host end-of-year activities. Oluo then went to talk about some more general stuff and networking activities, such as a writing conference for any English-based tracks that was occurring within the next week.
You flipped through the sign-up sheet near the entrance of the classroom as the other officers continued talking about what your society had to offer. There were a total of 20 students, but the first six seemed to have come in as a group.
The students began to each introduce themselves as well as what their academic track was in—or if they were undecided, what they were thinking about. You took note of that first group that walked in.
There was a brown-haired noisy boy that seemed to give off a vibe of being overwhelmingly stubborn with a dark-haired girl wearing a red scarf hovering over him protectively—Eren and Mikasa, you noted as their names. Next to them was another blond-haired boy that hung out with them, but appeared to be the only one that seemed to have sustained interest in what each of the officers were saying.
Sitting a table away from them was another brown-haired student, although his hair was lighter than Eren's and he was a bit taller in stature—he introduced himself as Jean. He seemed to be primarily hanging out with the other two students at the table—Connie and Sasha—although he did seem preoccupied with Mikasa, consistently shooting glances her way.
Throughout the meeting, Connie primarily hung out around Sasha, who was rapidly devouring all of the pastries that you had brought over from the café.
Just from the 10-15 minutes of introductions, you were already somewhat able to see the dynamics of the incoming freshmen. You shook your head subtly as you felt feelings of resentment and envy rise up within you. Having a friend group was something you craved, but never truly received. You didn't have a group that you could call your own, which you knew translated into your continuous efforts to form that sense of community, which has recently done nothing but bite you in the ass. You weren't sure if you were doing something wrong or if others' didn't care, but you'd be lying if you said that your loneliness wasn't eating you alive.
You took the next twenty something minutes to regulate as Gunther began brainstorming some events, knowing that you couldn't be getting this worked up over just seeing some freshmen interact after only knowing each other for a week. You remembered being this excited to enter university and meet new people, although your situation did make it difficult to have the traditional experience.
Everyone's faces lit up upon Petra proposing a social event next month at an arcade after midterms. This provided you some sense of calm, as that reaction would likely translate into member retention.
After socializing for a bit, the freshmen began trickling out and you let out a breath you hadn't even been aware that you were holding in. Given how nervous you were about getting the club set up in the first place, you repeated to yourself in your head that today was a relative success.
"Damn, that one girl ate all of the snacks, didn't she?" Oluo muttered as he helped you pack up the unused utensils.
"Well, that's what we got them for," you said in a matter-of-fact tone as you tied up the garbage bag and prepared to take it out with you.
"You sure we have everything down for the social next month?"
You raised an eyebrow at his question, as if you thought he was joking.
"Well, you are the VP, so your help would always be appreciated," you said slowly, suggesting that he should step up more in terms of planning activities.
"What are you talking about?" Oluo responded as he shrugged off your undertone. "Of course I'll help!"
You grunted at him, indicating that you didn't believe a word he said.
"Just look up some spaces we can reserve for next month. I'll handle the booking."
Even you delegating yourself the task to book a venue was more than you should have been doing. Any social event planning was Petra's job, but you knew that you'd have to pester her repeatedly to get it done on time and dealing with her grouchiness was the last thing you wanted to think about.
This was just another instance of you being forced to take care of everything, although it was more akin to you not providing resistance when the other officers didn't feel like doing their jobs. You enabled them to be officers by title-only without any merit, but you also couldn't bring yourself to set that boundary and have that conversation over the appropriation delegation of tasks.
It's not that you didn't want to. It wasn't even that you couldn't bring it up or that you never got the chance to. You had become so desperate for this to work that you were willing to take on all of the responsibilities and do it yourself, instead of having to have that difficult conversation with the other officers, who were also the closest thing that you had that could compare to having a friend group.
~~~~~
After cleaning up, all you had left to do was to go back to the café to pay your bill to Nicolo. The original deal was that you'd pay the difference if there were any leftovers, but there wasn't. If Sasha was to be a regular member, you'd have to adjust your budget. Of course, this was technically Gunther's job, but you found yourself taking care of it as usual.
"No leftovers?" Nicolo asked as you walked up to the counter with your phone.
"Nah," you muttered as you looked around, noting that Levi wasn't there. "One of the freshmen really loved them, so we ran out like 20 minutes in."
Nicolo's face lit up at that announcement.
You frowned at your phone as you pulled up the bill that Nicolo had just sent you.
"Is this right?" you asked, glancing up at him. "I thought it was more expensive when I placed the order."
Nicolo nodded and shrugged.
"Figured I'd give you a discount since you're a regular. Plus, it didn't feel right to charge you the full pricing since you're a friend of Levi's-"
"Levi is not my friend," you said sternly, scowling at Nicolo.
You immediately noticed that Nicolo fell silent and realized that you likely responded in a much more hostile tone than originally intended.
"Sorry," you said quietly. "He's just-"
You paused for a second, trying to find the best way to explain your hostility towards your roommate.
"He's just a lot."
After a few seconds, Nicolo spoke again.
"He'll grow on you."
"Ha. Doubt it," you muttered as the mood lightened up again.
"I'm serious!" Nicolo exclaimed. "At least he cares, you should've seen what happened with that dude that was being a douche this morning."
You gave him a skeptical look, having zero idea what he was referring to. Sure, you had run into a customer that decided to throw an onslaught of insults at you, but you had no idea how Levi was involved.
"Levi's not the best at customer service, but some of the comments he was throwing his way was a bit much, even for him."
"Really?" you mumbled as your skeptical look only increased. You didn't believe a single word that Nicolo was saying.
You hmm'd to yourself as you thought of all the possible reasons to explain this. Nicolo wasn't the type to lie to you—and there was no reason to lie about Levi doing this in the first place.
"Well, I'm sure he was just grumpier than usual," you rationalized to yourself as you turned away. "Thanks again for the pastries."
You shot Nicolo a smile.
"Will be back for sure."
"Looking forward to it!" he responded with a wave as you walked out the door.
You pulled your hood up and stuffed your hands in your pockets as you walked towards your apartment. You had mentioned that Levi was likely grumpy and that's why he stood up for you, but that wasn't good enough of an explanation for you.
It didn't make sense.
He couldn't possibly be defending you. You wouldn't be surprised if he actually shared some of the same opinions that formed the insults that were being thrown at you this morning: that you were someone that was annoying, ignorant, and didn't have a single clue what they were doing with their life.
He must have had some ulterior motive or Nicolo must have grossly misinterpreted his actions.
There was no way that your aloof and grumpy roommate would ever even give a single shit about how you felt or how you were being humiliated in public. It wasn't in him. He wouldn't waste the time of day.
There was some contextual factor that was missing and you couldn't stop yourself from ruminating over it.
~~~~~
Levi was more than ready for the day to end.
After getting home from an incredibly annoying shift at the cafe, he had spent the next two hours meal prepping for the week. He neatly pre-portioned everything into ten containers—two for each day.
He spent the entire time internally chastising himself. He had no clue why he got as worked up as he did over the man that knocked you over. He had no reason to care. You were as annoying as always, but he found himself getting really angry as soon as that man opened his mouth.
Anyone without the context of your shared ire towards each other would tell him that he's exhibiting protective behavior. Even he could admit to a small part of that—and that irritated him further.
He still wanted you to go away and to get out of his life so he would never have to see you again.
So why did he get so angry?
He rationalized that it might be because he saw you immediately reacting submissively to the customer and that's what pissed him off since you reacted so differently around him. If it was him that knocked you over, you would've immediately told him to fuck off.
He groaned to himself as his ire towards you grew. He couldn't go a single day without you screwing something up in his daily routine. He just couldn't understand you.
The door unlocked as he put the final container of his meal prep into the fridge.
You stepped into the apartment, slowly bringing down your hood. You had been ruminating on the entire walk back to your apartment.
Levi Ackerman had stood up for you.
If it was anyone else, it wouldn't be such a world-breaking surprise—but it was Levi, who was basically your sworn enemy at this point.
You slowly walked up to the kitchen and placed your keys down into the little bowl on the counter that you had set aside for the two of you to keep track of them when you were home.
"...thanks..." you muttered awkwardly, your voice barely above a whisper.
Levi looked over at you and blinked a few times in confusion.
"What?"
You avoided his gaze, beginning to regret even bringing up the topic.
"I said thanks," you repeated. You wanted to shrink away into your jacket and bury yourself so that he couldn't see you anymore.
"For what?"
This confirmed it. Nicolo had misinterpreted. Levi definitely wasn't standing up for you. You had wasted your energy and this conversation would likely sour your relationship further.
"...that guy that ran into me," you continued, despite internally accepting that any gratitude was misplaced.
"What about him?"
He knew what you were talking about. He found himself getting annoyed again, but this time, it was at the fact that someone probably told you about him telling off that customer.
You shuffled in place for a while, unsure how to word the situation. After all, you've been very hostile to Levi up until now. Neither of you were expecting this exchange, but the part of you that still respected Levi as a person felt obligated to, as uncomfortable as it made you.
"...for talking to him after I left."
Levi scoffed at that response.
"If you consider telling him to fuck off as 'talking', then sure."
It made you even more uncomfortable that he didn't deny it and instead confirmed that he had been hostile to that customer as a result of your interaction. No one had ever stood up for you like that before and it made you very, very uncomfortable that Levi was the first one to do it. You'd expect him to be the last.
You finally looked at him and saw him giving you a blank look—a pleasant change from the usual scowl that you were consistently met with.
"Just thanks," you mumbled, "I guess."
He grunted.
"Just actually stand up for yourself next time, won't you?"
You remained quiet, unsure of how to respond.
It's not like you didn't want to assert yourself in these types of situations. You knew you should have. That man was in the wrong and overreacted, but you always found yourself having a lot of trouble standing up for yourself in the moment. That's how it's always been.
You watched as Levi turned away and walked towards his room.
You were weirded out that he stood up for you, for sure, but your gratitude was genuine. No one had done that for you before, but knowing that at least someone said something gave you a subtle feeling in your chest that you didn't mind, even if that someone was Levi.
No, it was only because it was Levi that you even had that subtle feeling. You had so much animosity with Levi that you knew he did it without an ulterior motive. He wasn't looking for anything from you.
He did it just to do it.
That realization only confused you further. Feeling gratitude towards him felt strange and abnormal, but it was undoubtedly there.
You shook your head, telling yourself that it was just a fluke—but it was a fluke you didn't mind.
Part of what makes the AoT ending so good, imo, is that it *isn't* really happy. It *isn't* really satisfying. But it is what it is, and the characters have to make do with it.
And honestly, isn't that kinda what life is? Life isn't necessarily happy. It's not satisfying. But we have to make do with our lot.
There's also the fact that there's so much room to wonder if things could've gone differently. Eren doesn't seem to think so, but he's a self-admitted "garden variety idiot". He openly admits that he's probably the wrong person to have all the power that he has, and what he did is the only option he could figure out to make things work — to the point he believes it's all determined. A slave to freedom.
And in the end, the cycle continues, as it always will. History may not repeat, but it certainly rhymes, and humans will make the same mistakes over, and over, and over again until the sun explodes and ends all our misery.
{{ Chapter 2: July I | Chapter 4: September I }}
Chapter Directory
reader is petty and tbh, same. also we get more on reader's backstory now! :D
if you're interested in getting tagged for updates, fill out this form here!
✧ pairing ➼ levi ackermann x fem!reader, college x coffee shop x roommates!au
✧ summary ➼ After you find yourself plagued with misfortune due to struggles in your personal and family life, you find yourself needing to move last minute. As a junior in undergrad with little money and little social support, you considered yourself lucky when you found a sublease that was close to campus and was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it seemed that your roommate did not seem to be so excited regarding your presence.
✧ content/warnings ➼ fluff, slowburn, enemies to lovers (sorta), strangers to lovers, mentions of family deaths, reader being a little shit, descriptions of reader being superficial (ITS PART OF THE BACKSTORY ILL EXPLAIN LATER ITS FINE)
✧ word count ➼ ~4.4k
It was the first day of class. How today goes will essentially decide your trajectory for the semester. Everything had fallen apart so quickly last semester, which meant that you wanted to place the utmost importance upon maintaining a good streak. 'No more bad days' is what you continued to tell yourself, even when the days were undoubtedly bad.
All of the problems from last year are resolved. You still have two more years to get everything done. Things will be back on track.
You stared at yourself intensely in the bathroom mirror as you repeated those thoughts to yourself, hoping that you would believe it if you thought it enough times.
There were still a lot of loose threads in your life: your ex-boyfriend was still floating around, your aunt was still breathing down your neck about your grades, and you still had a stupidly hostile roommate. The only good thing about the last issue was that Levi irritated you more than he made you anxious, which couldn't be said for the other two. You could cope with being irritated. It fed into your stubbornness.
The anxiety from the other two were much harder to deal with—so you didn't. It was a problem for future you. The only thing you wanted to focus on today was getting to class on time and surviving the day. After that, you just had to repeat the events of today every single day until you graduated.
Solid plan, you thought to yourself, although you knew that you were just trying to drown yourself in blind positivity at this point.
You finally came out of the bathroom, looking as chaotic as you felt. Your hair was a mess, your toothbrush was sticking out of your mouth, and you were still in your shorts and oversized t-shirt. You went into your room to grab your phone before locking yourself into the bathroom again.
Your grumpy roommate was already up, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Levi was currently in the kitchenette, making morning tea, hoping that the caffeine will help with the mind fog that was quickly kicking in for him. Mornings generally weren't good for him, usually due to his inability to sleep regularly. While most would feel refreshed in the morning after the typical 8-10 hours of rest, he would find himself tired, grumpy, and unable to focus, which made it so that he couldn't even do work if he wanted to. All he could do at that point was suffer.
Since he was already irritated by default, he found himself scowling to himself as you ran around the apartment in a rush to get to class on time. He was already dreading having to wake up to this every week for 5 days in a row with you making a ruckus. If you were going to be late on your very first day of class, he couldn't imagine the following days being any better. He had no idea how he was going to deal with this all year.
He raised an eyebrow at you as soon as you came out of your bedroom. You seemed like a completely different person. Where there was formerly an oversized t-shirt, there was now a tight-fitting blouse that had open shoulders and would reveal the small of your back if you stretched your arms up. You wore jeans that tightly hugged your curves and looked incredibly uncomfortable.
Levi wasn't one to judge how you dressed or presented yourself, but the sudden change in dress took him aback. He had spent the past two months seeing you every single day. You had made yourself comfortable in his home—he was still reluctant to verbalize the fact that you lived with him now—and he had seen you in those shorts and t-shirts every day, even when you left the house. The only time in which he saw you in dress that was consistent to what he was seeing now was the very first day you met, after getting off the bus that came from your ex-boyfriend's apartment.
He eyed you as you walked past him, trying not to make it obvious that he was looking at you. Levi could vaguely tell that you were carrying yourself differently—you were more formal, more elegant, and more...fake.
He could tell that every movement you were making was forced, as if you were fighting against your instincts. He couldn't tell exactly what it was that gave him this impression, but something seemed different. He'd directly ask what was going on if you didn't irritate him so much at baseline. He didn't want unnecessary conversation with you. He just wanted you to leave.
He told himself this, but Levi did still find himself curious as to what was going on behind your psyche. Has the person he had been living with the past two months actually been someone else and was masking? Or was it the other way around? Or was he completely misinterpreting something as simple as a change in fashion style?
Levi scolded himself for even being this nosey as he watched you pack your bags. It wasn't any of his business. He was just forced to see you every day, so of course he'd be curious about such a drastic change.
You swung your backpack over your shoulder and brushed yourself off, grabbing your phone to place into your back pocket. You barely acknowledged Levi's presence as you walked past him, but you were vaguely able to feel his eyes following you.
You glanced back at him.
"Later, grumpy," you said shortly before leaving and closing the door behind you, grinning to yourself as you visualized the scowl that undoubtedly appeared on Levi's face afterwards.
Levi stared at the front door that was now shut. Any lingering curiosity that he had 30 seconds ago was immediately replaced with irritation.
"Tch," he muttered to himself as he gently picked up his mug of tea. "Good riddance, brat."
~~~~~
You were wholly unprepared.
Throughout your first two years of undergrad, you had your ex drop you off at the main quad every day, so navigating campus or even knowing the bus routes was never an issue for you. You realized once you got to the bus stop that you had zero clue as to when the next bus would arrive or if you would even get onto the right one.
You had both a maps app and the local bus app pulled up on your phone, constantly refreshing every 10-15 seconds to make sure that you're getting on the right bus.
You eventually got onto the correct bus line, but that's where your luck ended. You had been standing on the opposite side of the street to where you were supposed to be, so you ended up getting onto a bus that went west instead of east. In your defense, the bus itself was facing east, but you had missed both the flashing sign in front of the bus that said it was the west line and the fact that this particular bus route you chose to take was one of the ones that drove in a circle around the block, which explained why it was facing a different direction once it arrived at your stop.
You noticed that the bus was driving you further away about two stops into the ride and you immediately panicked and pulled on the wire that indicated the bus driver to stop.
You found yourself frantically pulling up the maps and bus apps again once you got off, cursing at yourself for getting lost on the first day of the semester.
You eventually gave up on trying to figure out the bus system and just ended up walking halfway across campus, trying to ignore the irritating fact that it probably would have been faster just to walk anyway.
Although it was only by ten minutes, you were still late to class. You were able to arrive before any real discussions began, but it was still late enough that everyone would have noticed. It was a fairly small class that was seated at tables instead of a traditional lecture hall.
Luckily, it was only syllabus week, so you didn't have to worry about any assignment announcements—and you had printed out the syllabus ahead of time—but you were really embarrassed already when you walked in and saw everyone's eyes fall on you. On top of being late, you were fairly certain that you physically looked a mess from being forced to run around on campus for the past 20 minutes.
The class itself was an elective, so you weren't overly stressed about the coursework, but Paradis University was a small university at baseline and your major was even smaller. Everyone knew each other, which made this situation worse for you. On top of the blunder that made up today, everyone also knew of your struggles from the previous semester. They might not have known all the details, but nearly everyone knew that something had happened.
You made eye contact with the professor, who was side-eyeing you from walking in and disrupting his monologue. As you walked further into the room, you made eye contact with the graduate student that was TA-ing the class and gave her an awkward smile.
Pieck nodded at you to acknowledge you before making a head motion to a table in the back, indicating that you should skip formalities and take a seat before making the professor more grumpy. Professor Magath wasn't a harsh professor by any means, but getting on an instructor's bad side from the very beginning of the semester was something that even you knew was a bad idea.
You slumped into the open seat at the table that both Petra and Oluo—another one of the few classmates that you could call a friend—sat at. You dropped your bag on the floor and had to resist the urge to bury your face in your hands.
Petra gave you an empathetic look and passed you a cup of Matcha from the nearby Starbucks that she picked up for you since she knew that you would be stressed.
You shot her a small smile as you grabbed onto the cup. Your friendship with Petra was on and off, but you at least appreciated her attention to detail whenever you were going through it.
"It'll get easier with the more days that pass by," she whispered.
The smile fell off your face as you averted your gaze, frowning at an empty spot on the table.
Petra meant well. You knew that—but you were not in the headspace to discuss anything regarding "it" right now. You were in public and just had a rough morning.
"I don't want to talk about it, Petra," you said sternly.
At this point, it's been a little over two years since your parents passed overseas, but you were still struggling to adjust. They were there, and then they suddenly weren't. You remembered it all hitting you like a truck—with the first time being when you first got the bad news and the second time after your somewhat rocky relationship with your ex-boyfriend exploded and all of your emotional walls came crashing down. You thought you were over it, but you clearly weren't. It was more likely that you had used your relationship as a distraction from having to cope with your grief, and that once the relationship ended, you didn't have anything else to hold back all of the turmoil that had been building up inside you.
No one blamed your mental health for going down the drain towards the end of last semester, but it still resulted in unfinished classes and strained friendships.
You sighed quietly as you tried to calm your nerves, sipping on your drink.
You found yourself grimacing a little upon tasting the liquid that came into contact with your lips. You were perfectly content with the quality of the matcha tea latte's at Starbucks—until you had a certain barista brew it for you that apparently changed your standards out of the blue.
"You finally getting to murdering your roommate?" Oluo asked.
"I wish," you said with a scoff. "Can't afford the rent."
As you began chuckling to yourself for your snarky comment, you heard someone clear their throat from up front.
Magath was giving you a disapproving look as he briefly paused in his speech. You were being too talkative and too noisy.
You sipped on your drink again, turning away from your friends and towards the front in an attempt to avoid getting distracted again. However, given the fact that Magath was discussing the syllabus—which you had read the week prior—you still found yourself zoning out purely due to the lack of interesting information being spouted at you.
The only thing running through your mind was how annoyed you were at the fact that your first day of class was already kind of a shitshow. Still, you repeated those phrases in your head that you had muttered in the morning:
All of the problems from last year are resolved. Still have two more years to get everything done. Things will be back on track. Solid plan.
You were determined to make things go well.
By the time you zoned back into reality, class was over and everyone was packing to leave. Petra briefly patted you on the shoulder before heading out the door and Oluo briefly muttered something about being late to your meeting with him later during the day before rushing out.
You immediately began packing your own bag to leave, but you were lagging behind, and resulted in being the last one to leave.
You did another awkward smile at Magath and hoped that he didn't get too bad of a first impression from you.
As you passed Pieck, she made eye contact with you and then spoke, which prompted you to slow down.
"I'm glad things are picking up for you again, _____," she said softly. "But Magath isn't the type to go easy on you—even if your reasoning is valid—and there are only so many strings I can pull."
You clenched your jaw at her comment. She was right. It was only because of Pieck and the rapport she had built with the department professors that you had even passed your classes last semester. You hadn't shown up for more than a month and barely got assignments in. You knew it was only by chance that she noticed and reached out to you and it was by some weird stroke of luck that she was able to pull the strings that she did to convince Shadis to give you an incomplete last semester that you'd be able to make up in the summer.
Although you had Magath this semester instead of Shadis, your situation was undoubtedly known to some extent by everyone in the department, given how small it was.
The more you thought about your situation, the more you felt your face heating up, and the more desperate you became to mask and hide any feelings of frustration that were rapidly approaching. You felt like your heart was jumping out of your throat and that your vision was becoming unfocused. Your hands began to feel clammy and you felt your brain begin to jump into the self-shaming thought spirals.
You really were grateful to Pieck for all the help she had provided you last semester, but you were unsure how much you'd be able to vocalize it right now without breaking down on the spot. As a result, you nodded at her, muttered a quiet thank you, and promptly left the room.
You vaguely heard her speak to you as you left.
"Just remember to reach out when you need it."
~~~~~
While it was a significant day for you with classes finally picking up again, it was a fairly normal and ordinary day for Levi. He made his morning tea, read some papers, went to lab for a few hours, and then came into his shift at the cafe in the afternoon.
His shift was a bit busier during the late afternoon due to the undergrads beginning school and all deciding to come hang out in the cafe after classes were over, so he was more than ready for Onyankopon to come in and take over his spot at the register.
He was currently in the awkward layover period in which Nicolo, who was working the morning shift, had already left, but before Onyankopon, who was working the closing shift, had yet to come in. The layover period was only for thirty minutes, but it was still thirty minutes too long.
On top of having to deal with the annoying undergrads and his problematic roommate, his relationship with Hange and Erwin in lab had slightly soured. It was for no other reason that him not being in the mood to chat with either of them because of the conversation from last month. There was no bad blood or resentment, but Hange's comment regarding his disdain for the undergrads left him tilted and chatting with Erwin only ever involved his graduation progress, which was the last thing he wanted to think about at the moment.
He felt himself getting more and more frustrated and rarely found a moment in which he wasn't on edge because at this point, he literally feels like he doesn't have a safe space. Even when he's at home, he has to deal with you, even if he locks himself in his room most of the time. He couldn't catch a break no matter where he went.
Levi was able to recognize that he was being hostile towards you and that it wasn't entirely fair, but you were also being a brat towards him. He acknowledged that he probably should have tried to compromise when you approached him two weeks ago, but your behavior since then has destroyed any lingering motivation to make your shared situation any better.
You've been nothing but petty ever since that one day in which he brushed off your attempts to get along with him. You began doing explicit "my space versus your space" behaviors, such as neatly cleaning only half the sink or kitchen or even putting a clear divide between what was yours versus what was his. One of his biggest pet peeves that you've picked up as a habit was that when you did the dishes, you only did your own dishes and left his in a neat pile, unwashed—which killed the purpose of them being stacked neatly as the dishes themselves were still filthy.
It irked him to no end, but he also told himself that it was ultimately a good thing to keep everything separated. It would increase the chances of you moving out after the school year was over, but that was still around 10-12 months into the future, which gave him a headache to think about.
At this point, he began to wonder if maybe he cooked something that was scented a bit too strongly that made Miche mad and that was why he had to deal with you as a result of some bad karma.
He found himself sighing in relief when Onyankopon finally walked in through the door. However, that sigh immediately turned into a groan of discontent when he saw you follow promptly behind him. Your figure was significantly smaller than his coworker, so he didn't see you until you were already in the door.
You were completely distracted by your phone, furiously typing as you walked towards his counter. It didn't look like you did it on purpose, but he couldn't help but wonder if you were purposefully trying to irritate him when you took a seat in front of him at the counter—the same seat you had been sitting at ever since your first day stepping into the café back in June.
Finally, you looked up and flinched upon seeing Levi, which caused him to raise an eyebrow at you in irritation.
"Shit, I forgot you work today," you grumbled.
Levi grunted, rolled his eyes, and then walked away from you to clean his tea station.
You squinted at him as he walked away, glaring daggers into his back.
"Wonderful customer service skills as always," you grumbled as you scowled at him.
"Welcome!" a pleasant voice greeted you as you looked up and saw Onyankopon smiling at you as he walked up to the register. "I assume you and Levi know each other?"
"Unfortunately," you mumbled.
You had a shit day at school. Your following classes weren't much better compared to your first one of the day. While seeing Levi here didn't improve your mood in the slightest, you did find yourself coming into the cafe nearly every day. It was a convenient spot and had a good environment to study in—minus Levi, of course.
You eyes darted down to your phone as your screen lit up. Oluo had mentioned that he was going to be late for your planned meeting with him to set up the club you had mentioned to Petra, but he didn't mention just how late he was going to be. You were impatiently waiting for him to respond to your text about it.
"Well, what can I help you with?" Onyankopon asked.
"Matcha tea latte with coconut milk and a shot of espresso would be nice," you said with a smile. You knew that it was an unconventional combination, but you liked the taste.
"Coming right up."
"You're much more pleasant compared to Levi," you mused. "Do they pay you more?"
"They do not," Onyankopon said in an overly professional manner as he chuckled.
"Well, they should," you muttered loudly enough for Levi to hear in the back. You shot a smug grin towards him as your roommate glared at you from his station.
If it was your goal to piss him off every time he saw you, you were succeeding.
Onyankopon took your card and walked off to enter your drink into the order intake system.
You pulled out your laptop, opting to get some of the initial set-up done if Oluo was going to force you to wait for him. If your club wanted to operate this semester, you had to get the official paperwork in within the next two weeks.
As you pulled up the university's student life website, you glanced up towards Onyankopon and saw that Levi handed him your drink before Onyankopon was even able to hand him the sticker indicating what you had ordered.
As much as Levi chastised you for ordering a Matcha on your very first interaction, it seemed you had become predictable enough for him to immediately know what you were going to order every time. You wondered if you should switch it up occasionally to throw him off. The thought of it brought another smile to your face.
You sipped on it and you shut your eyes as another small smile appeared on your face. This blend was your comfort drink and was much better than the Matcha that Petra had brought you in the morning.
You didn't notice, but Levi was subtly eyeing you from the back as he restocked his station. You pissed him off to no end, but he'd be lying if he didn't at least take some satisfaction in the fact that you enjoyed his version of your comfort drink.
The door to the cafe opened again and two other undergrads walked in and sat next to you.
Oluo walked in and sat down first, with another upperclassman one year above you that immediately followed after. Gunther had said he wasn't overly interested in being an officer, but you needed a senior representative and he was the most available, so you were able to rope him into it.
Levi was immediately reminded of that subtle discomfort you seemed to be giving off this morning when you had first come out of your room. That same tension appeared in your body posture again as you sat up more "properly" as soon as you started interacting with the two of them. It was overly professional and once again, appeared "fake". He just couldn't understand you.
He vaguely overheard the three of you discussing the trajectory that your club was supposed to be taking. Levi scoffed to himself at the fact that a simple extracurricular was what you found yourself stressed about. You were incredibly privileged if that was the only thing you had to worry about.
Levi did notice that although you started the conversation, it seemed more like Oluo and Gunther were leading it. Any idea that you proposed that didn't get immediate agreement from the other two was discarded. You immediately backed down on everything. You wanted an academic component since the club was supposed to be an honors society. They said no, you conceded. You wanted a stricter budget to be able to afford a bigger social outing at the end of the year. They said no, you conceded.
Everything that you said made sense, and even Levi agreed in that he would prefer the activities you mentioned over whatever garbage Oluo was proposing, such as a social for stupid things like Valentine's day or Thirsty Thursday.
It irritated Levi even more that you didn't fight for your ideas in the slightest. You were letting both of them walk all over your club. He subtly squinted at you, watching your movements with them.
It wasn't a people pleaser thing, he could tell that much. It was more like you didn't really know how to navigate asserting your own opinions or desires, which was ironic. The person in front of him was not the person he had been coming home to every night.
Levi wasn't the type to be outwardly social, but he knew how to read people. That's how he was able to tell that this wasn't something as simple as being a people pleaser.
It was a lack of self-respect. He was able to see that even without full context over what was happening. The fact that you were different in front of him irked him even more.
He could not possibly think of a worse person to be forced to be around.
He had hoped that he would have had a better day after leaving lab and coming in to have a mindless shift at the café, but the only thing he was feeling was his mood rapidly declining the minute you stepped into the door.
{{ Chapter 1: June I | Chapter 3: August I }}
Chapter Directory
yes even modern au levi has a sad backstory, no i regret nothing
if you're interested in getting tagged for updates, fill out this form here!
✧ pairing ➼ levi ackermann x fem!reader, college x coffee shop x roommates!au
✧ summary ➼ After you find yourself plagued with misfortune due to struggles in your personal and family life, you find yourself needing to move last minute. As a junior in undergrad with little money and little social support, you considered yourself lucky when you found a sublease that was close to campus and was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it seemed that your roommate did not seem to be so excited regarding your presence.
✧ content/warnings ➼ slowburn, enemies to lovers (sorta), strangers to lovers, mentions of family deaths, mentions of an emotionally abusive parent figure, gn!hange (they/them), mentions of kenny being an abusive father figure, levi being mean
✧ word count ➼ ~3.6k
Although you weren't too surprised at your ex-boyfriend's lack of timeliness in terms of dropping off your belongings, you still cursed at yourself for being naive. You remembered waiting a week before shooting Zack a text message with a drop-off point to meet up for your belongings, in which he only responded with "I'll get to it when I get to it". You knew that this roughly translated into the fact that he would be taking his sweet time getting you your stuff, if he would even bring it to you at all.
You didn't have a car and you certainly didn't want to ask Levi to borrow his with how adamant he was on ignoring your existence. Luckily, one of your "close" friends was also in town due to a summer on-campus job, so you were able to go shopping for living supplies with her.
You and Petra had been friends since high school and you appreciated her existence, but you couldn't help but feel like she was only tolerating you instead of actually being your friend. It was always you reaching out and any attempts at bonding were half-assed at best. Still, she was the only reliable person in town at the moment—and you at least got to vent about Levi to her.
You had lived with your ex-boyfriend for around three years before breaking up and getting kicked out of his apartment. This was actually your first time navigating this type of situation on your own, but you were determined to make it work, no matter how much of a dick Levi was intent on being.
"He's just been kind of ignoring me," you muttered as you sat in the passenger's seat of Petra's car. The two of you were headed towards Chosahei Cafe. You had been spending your free time there the past couple of days and you enjoyed the atmosphere there, minus Levi.
"He barely responds to text messages and barely even acknowledges me at home. Trying to initiate conversation with him is like pulling teeth," you continued.
"Maybe he's shy?" Petra suggested innocently.
You looked at her with an "are you kidding me?" expression. You were never sure if Petra was blindly positive or simply naïve, both were irritating to deal with.
"Well, you'll be able to see him for yourself if he's working his shift today," you mumbled as you saw the café come into sight as Petra pulled into the parking lot.
"You still come into this café despite the fact that he works here?"
"Well, I figured if he's going to be a dick and continue ignoring me, then I'll be as much of a pain in the ass to him as I can be."
"You're petty."
You scoffed at Petra's comment without responding as you got out of the car, swinging your backpack that was no longer overpacked over your shoulder.
As you glanced at the entrance to the café, part of you wondered if Levi was working there at the moment. It would determine how enjoyable and productive your time at the café would actually be.
You found yourself sighing in relief when he wasn't.
"No Levi today?" you asked as you waved and smiled at Onyakopon.
"Thank goodness," you muttered, which earned a chuckle out of the barista.
Instead of taking your regular seat at the coffee bar near the tea station, you elected to sit with Petra at a small two-seat table in the corner of the café so that the two of you could chat regarding your plans for the upcoming school year.
You proposed the idea of a honors society social club towards the end of last year before shit hit the fan with your ex-boyfriend. The two other officers of the club were still off-campus for a few more weeks, so you couldn't do any serious planning ahead of time. On top of the club, you also had to think about your capstone project for graduation. Although you were primarily an English major on the creative writing track, your curriculum was a bit more individualized. As a result, your capstone project to graduate was to write and publish a light novel.
You had gladly accepted the additional requirements for your major last year before things fell to shit. You had everything planned out, such as how much you should write each month or how much time you'd dedicate to outlining versus actually writing. However, the whole situation with your ex-boyfriend threw everything out of proportion. Your grades in the spring semester plummeted—you even had to take an incomplete for a few classes—and you missed out on four months of writing, which left you horrifically behind. Luckily, it wasn't enough to throw your graduation into jeopardy, but it meant that these next two years would require you to work your ass off.
On top of that, you had to make sure your baseline grades were satisfactory enough to keep your helicopter parent-style aunt off your ass. Ever since your parents passed, your aunt had picked you up, including offering you food, shelter, and financial assistance at the expense of subjecting you to her somewhat emotionally abusive behavior.
"You sure you're able to do all that?" Petra asked. It wasn't that she doubted your abilities. She had seen how much of a mess you were the previous year and knew that keeping all of this up would be difficult, even without the emotional strain of everything in your personal life.
You stayed silent for a while.
"I have to try," you whispered.
You knew that it was going to be exceptionally difficult to even stay afloat if you don't get your shit together. You told yourself that this year would be different—you'd be more independent and focus on school and school alone. You wouldn't bother yourself with relationships or be too preoccupied with superficial friendships.
You had to—your schooling, career prospects, and even relationship with your last living family member depended on it.
~~~~~
In addition to all of the things you had to accomplish with school, you also had to do with your less than pleasant roommate every single day.
Levi Ackermann was an absolutely terrible roommate. You could not think of anyone worse. Even your ex-boyfriend, had he not been your ex, would might have been a more pleasant person to be around.
Levi was a clean freak. Although you weren't a particularly messy person, it apparently still wasn't enough for his standards. You remember you left a mug and plate overnight in the sink once and Levi spent the next 24 hours grumbling about being stuck with a "filthy" roommate and how you were going to be a magnet for pathogens. You vaguely knew that he was doing research in something related to immunology, but this behavior was too extreme even for that. Even if you did agree with him regarding the dishes, grumbling passive aggressive comments underneath your breath the entire day was certainly not an effective method of communication.
You were both light sleepers. However, this was primarily only an issue for you. Levi apparently rarely slept. You would notice him wandering around the apartment throughout the night or even pacing in his room. While he wasn't noisy by any means, you also being a light sleeper meant that you were always acutely aware of his movements throughout the night. His inability to sleep was also beginning to affect yours. You had made sure that you made a mental note to buy earplugs the next time you went shopping with Petra, although you doubt that would have helped much.
One day, you found yourself scrambling around in your room, digging through your backpack and wallet. You facepalmed as you realized that you forgot to pick up your laundry card from your landlord and she was out of town for the next two weeks.
You awkwardly knocked on Levi's door. You were out of clean laundry. You hated being forced to interact with him, much less ask him for help, but you had little choice.
Your grumpy roommate slightly cracked his door open and peeked at you through it with an annoyed expression.
"What do you want?" he asked in an unnecessarily annoyed tone. "I'm busy."
"Doing what?" you asked, matching his frown. "Staring at your laptop screen all day again?"
You didn't actually care about whatever it was that he was doing. As long as he didn't bother you, you couldn't care less about his day-to-day activities.
He didn't answer.
"Whatever," you said, trying to contain your irritation. "I forgot to pick up my laundry card from the landlord. Can I borrow yours? I'll Venmo you."
Levi remained silent and continued to frown at you. A suffocating feeling arose within him. You had only been living with him for a little under two weeks, but he could already tell that you were going to be an absolute pain in his ass throughout the next couple of months.
He walked away.
You were bewildered with his behavior and apathy towards you.
"Are you serious-"
However, before you could finish scolding him regarding how petty he was being, he reappeared and held his laundry card in between his index and middle finger, holding it in your direction.
He paused before completely handing it to you.
"Don't make this a habit," he said curtly, immediately shutting his door after you took his card.
You were grateful that he lent you his card, but you still had to take more than a few deep breaths to contain your frustration. You were already wanting to rip his stupid, obnoxious head off.
Why did I have to be stuck with the worst roommate imaginable?
There was no way that you could even fathom being stuck living with Levi for the next year.
The one positive in the sea of negatives was that you had rent and utilities figured out in terms of splitting the bill. That's what ultimately mattered, so that's what you tried to focus on, although ignoring everything else wasn't exactly easy. Even setting up payments was a pain in the ass.
He was fine with handwriting an old-fashioned check and mailing it out. You were not. You didn't understand why you'd leave so much up to chance in terms of trusting that he'd get the check written in time and that the postal service would get it to your landlord on time.
You opted to set up an automatic payment system through your leasing company's website. The fact that it existed and Levi never utilized it was astonishing. You set up automatic payments as well as spreading out bill due dates throughout the month so neither of you would have to worry about having to be overwhelmed with one gigantic bill at the end of the month. You really thought he'd be grateful that you were taking the time and energy to set all this up to make both your lives easier. He wasn't.
"Anything else you have a problem with, Matcha Girl?" he grumbled as he typed into his phone.
"Matcha Girl?!" you exclaimed, surprised at his unnecessary nickname for you.
You glanced over at his phone and saw that he was typing your nickname that you never consented to into your contact information, replacing your name with it. You scoffed at him in disbelief.
He looked up at you with a neutral expression.
"What? Are you not obsessed with your Matcha's? It's all you ever fucking order."
You clenched your jaw, finding yourself frustrated for the umpteenth time at him.
"You're a dick."
"You're a pain in the ass," he responded immediately, barely letting you finish your sentence.
Surviving this next year was really going to be impossible.
~~~~~
Levi found himself unable to concentrate. It was entirely your fault. He was sure of it.
Outside of reading at home and working at the café, Levi found himself being forced to labor away his time in lab. He was one year into his immunology PhD program and performed research regarding pathogens and the various effects of the different types on the human body. It wasn't the only reason, but it largely contributed to his status as a "clean freak".
He sighed to himself as he continued neatly writing in his notebook. He had just finished analyzing his slides and needed to jot the preliminary data before moving on to code it into the department computer. He wasn't particularly tech savvy, which contributed to how tilted he found himself at your insistence on using your leasing company's website to handle everything. Of course, you didn't need to know that. The less he had to interact with you, the better.
Levi groaned out loud as he heard the door noisily open as someone barged in, carrying too much in their arms than they could handle.
"If you fall and injure yourself, it's entirely your fault, four-eyes," he grumbled.
This so-called "four-eyes" stumbled into the room before noisily setting a myriad of lab equipment onto the table—mostly pipettes and beakers, but they had also finagled a microscope into their grasp.
Levi shot them an unamused look.
Erwin's lab primarily consisted of himself, Levi, and Hange, with Levi as the PhD student he was mentoring, and Hange as the lab tech that kept the lab running. There was the occasional undergraduate student, but this was rare.
"Oh c'mon, it can't possibly be that bad!" Hange exclaimed after listening to Levi vent about his new roommate situation for a few minutes. "_____ seems sweet."
Levi scoffed at their last comment.
"Yeah, when you're not living with her. I'm going to strangle Miche when he visits in October."
"For what? Getting a job?"
Levi remained silent at Hange's comment. He knew he had no valid reason to be mad at Miche for moving, he just hated the fact that he had to deal with you as a roommate.
"You're mad because she's an undergrad, aren't you?" Hange asked quietly.
Levi grunted and continued jotting down his notes, clearly no longer interested in continuing the conversation.
"Don't you remember your undergrad days?" Hange prompted.
"What's worth remembering?" he grumbled.
Levi always found himself incredibly irritated around undergraduate students. They were constantly running around, buying their cheaply made lattes, partying on the weekends, and generally being able to breeze through college through their parents' funding—all things he was never even given the chance to enjoy or explore.
Levi's mother had passed when he was a child. As a result, he was raised by his uncle, who couldn't be bothered to give a shit about schooling. Levi's financial aid got fucked up due to his uncle's lackluster performance in being a parent helping their kid get into and through college—which resulted in Levi having to work overtime through undergrad and pulling some strings with the academic advising office so that he could still get his degree despite having his family situation as an additional source of stress. He never got the traditional college experience, so he found himself irrationally pissed off at the more typical undergrads that didn't seem to give a single fuck about everything happening in the background that allowed them to have their "fun college experience".
"Oh y'know," Hange muttered in response to his rhetorical question. "Like figuring out how to navigate the world for the first time on your own."
They looked up and saw Levi glaring at them as if he was trying to murder them with just his gaze alone.
Levi always had to figure it out "on his own". Even around his uncle, he basically had to raise himself. He doubted that there was a single thing that Hange—or anyone—could say that would decrease his ire.
"Levi," a voice said.
Levi internally sighed as he turned to face his PI.
"Let's chat," Erwin said, gesturing to his office. "I want to discuss your project."
Since Levi was already irritable at baseline, he felt himself rapidly exiting his window of tolerance when Erwin began chatting about how he had been falling behind on research updates or literature reviews. What Erwin didn't know was that Levi was forced to work more for the past few weeks due to his moving situation, although it was unlikely that he would've done much to accommodate.
He still had three years before he needed to finish his PhD, and he could technically be granted extra semesters to finish his study, but being able to graduate in the standard four years seemed like the path of least resistance. Every other option required extra steps that gave Levi more than just a headache.
Levi decided to head home after the irritating back-to-back conversations he had been forced to endure over the course of the day. The only thing he wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and forget everything regarding real life, including labwork and the café. More than anything, he wanted to avoid thinking about his housing situation, but he knew that would be next to impossible. That further irritated him.
He groaned silently to himself as soon as he walked in the door and saw you on your laptop on the couch. You had your hair up in a messy ponytail and had already settled in for the night, wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt.
His following groan became audible as he noticed you approaching him.
"Hey," you said quietly, "I think we got off to a bad start."
You paused for a while to give Levi a chance to respond. He remained silent.
"But I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you letting me move in and working with me to get everything figured-"
"Just don't drag your undergrad shit home and we'll call it a day," Levi muttered as he cut you off, not interested in having a real conversation regarding the topic. He's had one too many irritating conversations in the day and he couldn't imagine talking with you as anything other than irritating.
"'Undergrad shit'?" you asked in disbelief as if you didn't hear him properly.
"Yep," he said curtly before walking past you.
You felt your frustration rising and forced yourself to take a few quiet deep breaths. You were trying to be nice and level out any tension that had resulted from bad first impressions or incompatible living styles, but none of that was being reciprocated.
Being around Levi truly was strange for you. You hated to admit it, but you knew you had a pattern of prioritizing other people's happiness over your own, even to the point of silencing your own voice and autonomy.
However, Levi effortlessly pissed you off every single time you interacted with him. Even if you wanted to prioritize his needs over yours, you couldn't. The last thing you wanted to do was give him the satisfaction.
"You really want to make living together this difficult?" you asked, trying your best to contain your anger.
Levi was immediately able to tell how pissed off you were getting, but that didn't give him any remorse. He shot you an expression that matched your mood: angry and hostile.
"Looks to me like you're the one making it difficult."
"What?!" you exclaimed, a bit louder than intended.
"Were you not the one that came up to me with this shit?" he asked calmly.
It pissed you off how seemingly calm he seemed while you were unraveling in rage.
"I walked in the door for less than 30 seconds before you brought shit up."
You clenched your fists and spoke through clenched teeth.
"Well, I'm trying to come up with a compromise!" you argued. "So we can at least get along while being forced to live together!"
Levi scoffed before rolling his eyes and walking towards his room, cutting the conversation off.
You couldn't understand why he was being this hostile to you. Sure, you had called him a dick at your first meeting, but in your defense, he was giving you a hard time at the café and your fuse was already short because you couldn't get keys to the apartment—which was also caused by him. If anything, you should be the hostile one.
You weren't sure if you did something wrong. Your previous roommate of three years, your ex-boyfriend, always said that you were a terrible person to live with, so you began to really suspect if it was something about you that made you difficult to live with, despite you putting in active effort to accommodate or be considerate of their living styles.
As you began to consider all the reasons as to why you might have had a fundamental flaw that made co-living unrealistic, you suddenly stopped your train of thought and clenched your fists—enough was enough.
Even if it was you, even if it was some terrible oversight you've had in which you were already ruining your relationship with your new roommate, you told yourself that you had enough of pleasing people like Levi—people who trampled upon your efforts to cooperate and threw them out the window. If he was going to be this difficult, you were going to be difficult back. Social reciprocity—or in this case, the lack thereof—was a thing.
You groaned to yourself as you sat back down on the couch, holding your head in your hands out of frustration.
How the fuck am I going to get through this year if I have to come home to this every day?
A non-writer asked me "but where do you get your ideas" and i genuinely did not know how to explain that it's not a place. it's not a website. it's not a folder. it's that i was on the bus and a woman was holding a paper bag very carefully and something about the way she held it made me need to know what was inside and then i needed to know why she was sad about it and then there was a whole person and then there was a whole story and the bus had already stopped and i missed my stop. that's where.
I'm so excited to finally publish this jdkflsjd. I'll get this chapter up on AO3 later this weekend or on Monday since my parents are in town, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to be on! If you're interested in getting tagged for updates, fill out this new form here: x :3
EDIT: this is now up on AO3 as well!
✧ pairing ➼ levi ackermann x fem!reader, college x coffee shop x roommates!au
✧ summary ➼ After you find yourself plagued with misfortune due to struggles in your personal and family life, you find yourself needing to move last minute. As a junior in undergrad with little money and little social support, you considered yourself lucky when you found a sublease that was close to campus and was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it seemed that your roommate did not seem to be so excited regarding your presence.
✧ content/warnings ➼ fluff, slowburn, enemies to lovers (sorta), strangers to lovers, fem!reader, eventual smut, ex was originally porco but i accidentally made him too much of a dick so i replaced his name with zack, no it is not a reference to zeke i'd rather puke, only adding tags/content warnings that are applicable to each chapter so people can skip around if need be!, will continue to add as more stuff comes up
✧ word count ➼ ~3.9k
College was difficult enough without having to worry about money, housing, and relationship issues. Unfortunately, you were not one of the few lucky students that could just get through those four years in isolation. In addition to worrying about school, you also had to deal with a last minute housing change after some recent bullshit regarding your now ex-boyfriend. Your dynamic had gotten to the point that you couldn’t afford to wait for another two months as leases began expiring and apartments would open up for prospective renters again. You’d rather live on the streets when compared to having to live with him for another day.
Given the fact that it was June and your only remaining family was out of the country, you were left with no choice but to desperately try to find a sublease that wasn’t ridiculously expensive. That, plus the fact that you didn’t have a car and would be forced to live near campus, meant that you were ready to rip your hair out by the time that you finally found a sublease.
You knew it was due to nothing other than pure luck when you found an apartment complex that was a ten-minute walk to campus, close to a bus stop, relatively cheap, and had a tenant that moved out the week prior.
Unfortunately, your luck ran out when you found that you'd have to take a 2-hour bus ride from your ex-boyfriend's house to your new apartment. It wasn't that far from the two destinations, but the bus routes looped around the town multiple times, making your commute much longer than if you had gone by car.
As a result, you found yourself leaning your head back against the glass window at the rear end of the bus.
This really is Zack's last "fuck you" to me, isn't it?
You anxiously tapped your foot against the floor as you pulled out your phone for the millionth time. The previous tenant that set up the sublease had given you the contact information for your new roommate to set up the exchange of keys along with getting everything set up regarding who's paying for what utilities and how rent would be split. You already knew this was going to be a pain in the ass to handle. What you weren't prepared for was the lack of a hasty response when you sent a text to the number that Miche had given you.
> [you (12:35pm)]: hey, miche said you'd be free this afternoon so i can get your keys? does 3:00 work
You had sent that text message to your mysterious roommate roughly an hour ago when you had boarded your first bus back towards campus. You were now about half-way through your trip and had boarded your third bus, which was finally your last one before getting dropped off roughly a block away from your new apartment.
You shot a frown towards your phone. Your roommate had still not answered. Frustrated, you began typing again, in case the urgency in your first text was missed.
> [you (1:45pm)]: im on the bus ride over. i don't have a car, so would we be able to handle this so i'm not stranded outside?
By the time you arrived, your roommate had still not answered. You had spent the entire two-hour ride anxiously bouncing your leg up and down, checking your phone every 5-10 minutes to see if you would ever get an answer.
You didn't.
When the bus driver finally announced your stop, you found yourself more anxious than you were relieved at finishing your annoyingly long bus ride. You stepped off the bus in a dejected manner, with your right hand holding onto your phone and your left hand holding onto your backpack strap that was a bit too tight on your shoulders. Your back ached from lugging it around all day. It was packed with the basic necessities that you would need to survive the week, with your ex-boyfriend, Zack, promising to drop off the rest of your stuff next week—although you knew that translated to "shit he didn't want". That's just how your dynamic was.
You unlocked your phone and typed in the address for your new apartment complex again, navigating your way through the fairly empty streets. It was a residential area and given the fact that it was near a college campus—and therefore primarily made up of university students—and it was in the middle of June, most of the tenants had gone home for the summer.
The new apartment complex wasn't bad. It certainly couldn't compare to a house, but it had an indoor lobby with mailboxes on one side and a recreation room on the other with some vending machines, and even a small kitchenette.
No wonder the rent was so expensive.
You stepped inside, a relieved exhale escaping your lips as you felt the cool air from the air conditioning unit wash over you. Although you were definitely still irritated, seeing the lobby and escaping the heat brought up your mood slightly.
Your resolve renewed, you began to climb up the stairs, trying to figure out the best way to greet your new roommate without being overly frustrated.
Maybe their phone was off. Maybe they took a nap and couldn't see the texts. Maybe you got the wrong number from Miche.
You thought of all the reasons as to why they wouldn't respond. You shook your head, knowing that you should just brush it under the rug. As long as your roommate was home to let you in and give you your keys, there shouldn't be any more issues—for now.
"Unit 217," you mumbled to yourself as you walked down the hallway, looking up at the door numbers.
Once you appeared in front of Unit 217, you frowned, noticing that the lights inside were off. That wasn't good news.
Maybe there's enough lighting from the windows that they don't need lights.
You gently knocked on the door.
There wasn't a sound—no movement, no noise, no talking, nothing.
You knocked again a bit harder.
Nothing.
You knocked again.
They're not home. Of course they're not home. What a wonderful start to this already shitty situation.
You rested your forehead against the door, tempted to smash your head against it out of frustration. Your eyes finally shot open when you heard a door open. You glanced over to the side and saw a tall blonde man with a beard and glasses walk out.
"Locked out?" he asked as you made eye contact.
"You could say that," you mumbled with a frown. "You wouldn't happen to know of anywhere within walking distance that has wi-fi?"
If you couldn't get ahold of your roommate, you might as well get some writing done until you can return later in the evening when your roommate has to be home.
"There's a café roughly a block down, if you were wanting to hang out there, although I'm not sure when Ackermann will be home. His schedule's been all over the place recently."
"Hmm," you muttered, indicating the lack of interest in learning about your roommate's backstory, although you now at least had a name.
Ackermann, huh? What a pretentious sounding last name.
~~~~~
These damn undergrads...
Levi Ackermann currently stood behind the doorway that led from the breakroom and into the main seating area of the small, local café that he currently held a part-time position as a barista at.
He wasn't supposed to be here. He had purposefully given himself the week off so he could catch up on some lab work, yet he still found himself here. One of the new hires—a sophomore named Marlo—called out roughly 20 minutes ago when Levi was headed home from his immunology lab after spending the entire morning chatting with his mentor about whether he'd be able to graduate with his PhD on time.
To make things worse, since he was new, Marlo's shift meant that Levi was stuck working at the registers to take orders, which he easily considered the worst part of the job. If his shift just consisted of making the specialty brews that came his way, he'd be significantly less grumpy. That way, he could just tuck away in his corner and do the one aspect of the job that he enjoyed—making tea—instead of having to deal with the irritation that came with dealing with the undergrads that frequently visited.
"For fuck's sake," he whispered underneath his breath as he shut the door to his locker, ignoring his phone that kept on lighting up. He had it on silent for everyone except for the two people that mattered in his life—Farlan and Isabel—and they wouldn't contact him unless it was an emergency.
The fact that coming into this shift was one of the smaller annoyances in Levi's life simply poured more salt onto his wound. He wasn't even supposed to be working this much since it took away from his school time to do his research, but the graduate program's financial aid office fucked up his stipend and he was left to fend for himself. It was only for this month, so it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but then his housing situation got all fucked up.
He had been living with Miche for roughly a year and they had a decent partnership as roommates, until Miche left to live closer to the city after freshly finishing a Master's program. Miche had moved out about two weeks ago, telling him that his new roommate would be reaching out soon. Levi's stipend situation couldn't come at a worse time, as Miche moving out meant he had to cover this month's rent on his own unless his new roommate magically showed up within the next day and was willing to cover rent when they hadn't even really started living there yet.
After shooting a death glare at the front register for a few more minutes, he finally decided to step up to the counter, hoping that it was at least a slow day so he could get home and pretend the grievances in his life weren't as bothersome for a few hours.
His shift had just started, so he was more than a little annoyed when he already heard the door open. The semester had just ended, which roughly translated to all the undergrads leaving for summer break. Other than the few stragglers and the unfortunate PhD students that were forced to work through the summer, everyone should have gone home. He glanced up as he saw someone walk inside.
An immediate frown appeared on his face. He could immediately tell that they were an undergraduate student, and likely an oblivious one at that.
Levi watched as you stumbled in through the door, dragging in a backpack that was slightly too large and overpacked. You looked like you had been running around with no sense of direction or purpose. You were all disheveled, as shown by how chaotic your hair looked and through how much you struggled stepping away from the door frame and towards the coffee bar.
He felt his eyes begin to roll before seeing you approach him.
Taking over Marlo's shift means I'm working the registers and have to talk with the undergrads. What a pain in the ass.
He stared at you with a neutral expression on his face as you plopped down at the coffee bar in front of him.
"Can I get you something?" he finally said, in a tone that indicated that customer service was not one of his skills in this profession.
You looked past him at the menu that was hung up behind him. Although you had passed this café a bunch whenever you found the time to travel off-campus and explore the town that surrounded the outskirts of Paradis University, this was the first time you actually found yourself in Chosahei Café. You squinted at the menu, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion at some of the options.
"Why are the specialty coffee drinks unavailable?"
"Ah?" mumbled Levi before turning around to glance at where you were looking. "The barista that specializes in those stepped out. I can get you one of the standard ones or I can get you one of the specialty teas."
You blinked at him for a few seconds as if you were struggling to process what he was saying.
"You're a barista and you can't make coffee?"
"Tch," he muttered, already beyond irritated as he frowned at you. He knew that he was likely biased against your presence and simply lumped you in with the rest of the undergrads that constantly drove him up the wall with their obsession with cheap iced lattes that he couldn't be bothered to care about making. "Did you not hear what I just said? I can get you a standard one or—if you were really wanting one of the house specialty drinks—one of the teas."
"You must get top remarks for your customer service skills," you said with a monotonous tone.
Levi placed his hands on the counter, leaning against it as he stared at you.
"This isn't some retail café like Starbucks—which is down the street, by the way," he said, pointing towards the door as a gesture to indicate that you could leave if you weren't satisfied. "The house drinks were all created by the employees and the barista that made the specialty coffees stepped out. Now are you going to order or not? I have other customers to attend to."
His eyes raised off of you and towards the back of the café, where a line of about 3-4 people gathered as they impatiently waited for you to order.
"Hmph," you said, letting out an irritated exhale. "Get me a matcha."
Levi raised an eyebrow at you.
"Out of all the specialty ones here, you go with something as basic as that?"
You were beyond confused over why this random barista in a small, local café was giving you this much grief.
"Oh what the hell? Just get me the damned matcha, you asshole," you snapped at him as you tossed your card towards him.
He quickly grabbed your card and put in the order with an unamused look on his face.
You kept your gaze on him as he begrudgingly prepared your drink. After about a minute, you glanced towards the door that opened as a tall gentleman that also wore the barista apron stepped inside. He was average height, but seemed much taller, likely due to the fact that the barista in front of you that decided to chastise you for ordering a matcha barely rose above you in terms of height—and you were not a tall person.
The new barista went behind the counter and started taking the other customers that had gathered behind you, removing the "unavailable" sign that covered up the specialty coffees. You frowned as he smoothly chatted with the customers, with your expression quickly turning into a scowl as you saw him remove the sign.
"I'm guessing he's the barista that actually knows how to make coffee?" you said, shooting another unamused look towards Levi as he walked back with your cup of matcha.
You heard a quiet grunt from the grumpy barista you had the misfortune of being served by and you sighed as you picked up the cup and took a sip of the matcha that he reluctantly made you.
You paused, a little taken aback by the taste.
It was pretty damn good—much better than any you've ever gotten at Starbucks, anyhow.
"Onyankopon brought over some specialty recipes that he apparently grew up making over at Marley," Levi grumbled to you. "That is why I couldn't make the specialty coffees."
After he said that, he subtly scowled at himself. Why he was even explaining himself to you was beyond him. You were just some random undergrad that stopped by and said annoying undergrad things. He had literally no reason to explain himself or justify his actions.
"So what brought you in? You're undergrad, right?" Levi asked, prompting you to look up at him. "Didn't classes just end? Most of you are back at your parents by now."
You sighed and pursed your lips, with a dark look entering your eyes. Levi was able to tell that you were biting your tongue on some information that was relevant, but that you didn't feel like divulging.
"Yes," you finally said. "I had some shit come up and had to move last minute, so I'm stuck on campus for now."
You took another sip of your matcha as a frown grew on your face.
"But at this point, I'm pretty sure it was a fucking mistake."
"Oh?" Levi asked, raising an eyebrow at you.
"I had to take a two-hour bus ride here since my asshole of an ex just happened to be busy on the day I need his car, but as luck would have it, my roommate also happens to be out, so I can't even get my damn keys from them, hence why I'm here getting chastised by you because I ordered a damned matcha instead of being in my new apartment and getting settled in."
You looked up at Levi upon hearing his silence.
"How unfortunate," he finally responded in an uninterested tone.
You rolled your eyes at his response.
"God, talking to you is a pain in the ass," you spat before quickly finishing the rest of the matcha and throwing a spare dollar onto the counter as a tip before getting up.
You paused before walking away, turning slightly towards the grumpy barista.
"You should probably consider the fact that people don't order your teas because they don't want to order from you."
"Ah?" Levi muttered as he took the dollar off the counter.
"People generally don't like interacting with someone that acts like a dick right off the bat."
~~~~~
Levi frowned to himself as he kicked off his shoes upon walking in the front door, placing them neatly upside down on the shoe rack next to the door. He sighed as he flipped on the light switch to his empty apartment. He didn't particularly mind living on his own, but Miche was a good roommate and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little on edge over who his new roommate was going to be.
He walked over to his bedroom, pushing the door open as he lifted his barista apron over his head to put away for the night. Seeing the apron reminded him of the café, and in particular, the conversation he had with a certain undergraduate student that he was forced to serve and insulted him right before they left.
Tch, he thought as he recalled the comment you made.
I'm not a dick. What the fuck.
He shut his closet after he put the apron away, his mood soured by the recollection of your conversation, although he wasn't in a great mood to begin with in the first place. He looked at the clock on his nightstand and saw that he had a few hours before he was supposed to "go to bed". Being a notorious insomniac, "going to bed" basically meant laying down and staring at the ceiling for a few hours. He rarely ever got to actually sleep, but the few minutes he can occasionally catch were enough to keep him going.
He walked over to his desk, turning the switch on his small desk lamp and pulling out a folder from his backpack that was hung up against the side of his desk. He pulled out a stack of paper and neatly placed them at the center of his desk. He took a seat in his chair and flipped through the packets, frowning at the sheer number he had yet to go through. His original plan for the day was to get home and read through some of these papers that Erwin had assigned him to read before he went back to lab on Monday—it was currently a Friday. He knew Erwin had high expectations for him. Erwin would even occasionally say that Levi was the best student he's ever had, which made Levi immediately want to shrivel up in discomfort.
He glanced up from the papers in his hand. His room was "empty". Miche had commonly made fun of him and said that Levi always made his space look like no one actually lived there. The top of his desk was always empty, his bed was always made, and not a single article of clothing was in plain sight. Levi Ackermann was just that type of person. It heavily contributed to why he was so on edge over who his new roommate would be and if they would even be compatible in terms of living style.
He turned on his phone to check the time, having ignored it for the entire latter half of the day.
7:30pm. That meant he had time to get at least a few papers reviewed.
He frowned as he looked through his notifications and saw an unknown number appear. The texts were from this afternoon, so he knew it was long past an appropriate time to respond.
> [unknown number (12:35pm)]: hey, miche said you'd be free this afternoon so i can get your keys? does 3:00 work
> [unknown number (1:45pm)]: im on the bus ride over. i don't have a car, so would we be able to handle this so i'm not stranded outside?
He sighed as he locked his phone and placed it onto his desk. It was just his luck that he went into a last-minute shift right as his new roommate contacted him. He knew that this new roommate was going to be irate with him since it's been around 6 hours since they sent that text. This just added more things onto Levi's plate that he really didn't need right now.
Before he could move to pick up his phone to shoot a reply at this unknown number, he heard not-so-gentle knocking on the door. Knowing that this was likely his new roommate that he had unintentionally ignored all day, he internally groaned to himself before forcing himself out of his chair.
He heard another knock as he made his way from his bedroom to the front door, bracing himself as he unlocked the door and pulled it open.
A frown appeared on his face as he looked at the person in front of him in confusion.
"What the hell?" he muttered as he saw an equally confused expression appear on your face.
That annoying undergrad from this afternoon?
"Did you follow me home?"
You raised an eyebrow at him. The last person you had expected to be greeted with was the grumpy barista that you had the misfortune of interacting with earlier in the day.
"Did you?" you retorted.
Levi scoffed.
"How the hell would I have followed you home if I was here first?"
He cursed to himself as he recalled the monologue you gave him earlier on in the day.
You had said that you had to suffer on a bus ride and couldn't get in contact with your new roommate to get keys to the unit. Now that you were standing in front of the door to his apartment, his frown only grew.
Your eyes widened as you finally put together the pieces.
"Wait," you asked, shaking your head slightly. "Are you-?"
"I guess so," Levi responded with an unamused sigh.
