The Feeling's Mutual | Levi x Reader

four - bellona

Egotistical Bastard (22:17): report submitted, no thanks to you

You groan to yourself as you read the text, shoving your phone back into your pocket. You'll blame your delay in response on work, but honestly, you're just so tired and so fed up that you don't trust yourself not to snap at him unnecessarily. 

Actually, maybe snapping at him would be good for you. You could use a good yell. Maybe-

"Hey, Vee."

You jerk your head up. "Yeah?"

"Tired?" Ness asks, shooting you a patient smile. He's the other RA on duty right now, and he's not the worst company. He's a decent guy. 

"Yeah," you confirm, leaning back in your chair. The two of you are seated in the cafeteria, eyes skimming over the last few student stragglers that are leaving to go back to their own rooms. "Can't believe it's only been a month of school but I'm already burnt out."

He nods along. "I'm with you on that. You far behind?"

"Not even." You yawn, glancing at your phone again- only 10 pm? Ridiculous. "Just dealing with some exhausting group projects," you say vaguely, shrugging. "You?"

"Yeah. My capstone's going to kill me."

"Mm. Mechanical engineering, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Ness sighs, glancing around the cafeteria. "Alright. You ready for rounds?"

Rounds. Walking aimlessly through hallways and telling kids to shut up. "Sure," you agree, pushing yourself up from your chair. Ness leads the way, heading towards the north quad, and you trail after him, trying to keep yourself awake.

You shouldn't have taken this shift. You should've said no and you could've been in bed by now, scrolling through your phone until you passed out.

God damn it. Why'd you say yes?

You know why I don't like you?

You scowl to yourself. Stupid Levi and his stupid fucking thoughts that no one cares about. It's bad enough that he called you a people pleaser and a pushover- it makes it worse that you know, deep down, that he's right. Even if you'll never admit it.

Come on. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make sure people like you, right? Well, yes, you have to work on setting some personal boundaries for yourself- like not taking your coworkers' shifts last minute- but Lara will take yours tomorrow, and all will work out. Right?

"Hey, Ness?" you ask.

He hums, glancing at you. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you think I'm a pushover?"

He thinks for a minute, then asks, "wasn't this supposed to be Lara's shift?"

You sigh to yourself. "Never mind." 

And with that, you resign yourself to nearly complete silence the entire shift, choosing to focus your energy on thinking of as many negative words to describe Levi as you possibly can.

.

Thursday rolls around, and you've had a shitty week, so you're actually looking forward to working with Hange. When they suggest going back to their place to make pizza and work through the last bits of your report, you agree immediately- and maybe you'd be more excited if you weren't so tired. 

"You think it's going to rain?" you ask, glancing outside the lecture hall window.

Hange leans over next to you, eyes narrowing at the sky. "Kinda grey out there," they murmur, surveying the clouds. "Hopefully, it holds out."