#also if you're comparing him to zack in that regard

[one-winged-dreams]

Every time someone criticizes Angeal saying "What, so we're supposed to think he's a good person?" it takes 5 minutes off my life from rage alone.

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

"get me a damned matcha" | Chapter 1: June I

{{ Chapter 2: July I }} Chapter Directory

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.

"Fuck."

#: @levisbrat25 @gothgril69 @sckerman @berrijam @notgoodforlife @meowjaa @averysmolbear @roseofdarknessblog @bejewelledd @hhighkey @ayame236 @sad-darksoul @velouria17

[debbiechanclub]

Hello

I come to you with a theory (for a lack of better words) regarding the BC CIVIL WAR (yes I will keep on calling it that way because I think it’s funny)

This theory in particular is about the involvement of BULLET GOLD. Like we all know Jay White was booted out of NJPW thanks to Hikuleo and then from Japan thanks to Eddie Kingston How will new Japan explain, kayfabe wise, his involvement in this situation? Maybe they are going to make him being the shadow that Finlay need to shake himself from in order to be seen as a LEADER for the bullet club especially because in recent years the bullet club has lose the vibe that they had originally: a group of foreigners that take the space that they think they deserve by using violence and being huge pieces of shit (not that think any of the members of the bc are that IRL). But as I said this is at least for now only a theory I don’t even know if the bang bang gang is going to be really involved so let’s wait and see.

I also thought about G.o.D involvement in this entire ordeal. I think that they will be like at first sight the main enemy that the BC need to take care of, I think that both David and Alex and Gabe will retain but it will be by the thread because I think that we will start to see a little of the BC crumbling so this will be the start of the war inside the BC

Talking about other stuffs on Sunday Ryohei Oiwa made his debut in pro wrestling NOAH (that btw has justified the N1 VICTORY tournament) alongside Kaito Kyomiya against Yoshinori Ogawa and Zack Sabre Jr. Why I’m telling you this? is because it surprised me that he’s going to do his excursion period in a Japanese company when often times in the past it has been done in companies that are abroad (mainly Mexico and United States). I can’t wait to see him develop his own persona (also his new gear was pretty cool in my own opinion)

Too sweet

MEG 🌼

I mean, this is really all I have to say to you, Meg, I agree one million-trillion percent!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 You're absolutely right that David needs to exorcise himself of the ghost of Jay, and not just because of Bullet Club! Their history is so intertwined it makes me fucking ill!!!! PERSONALLY, I think he has more than proven and distinguished himself (and I am correct) but he needs to shut up all the haters who keep ERRONEOUSLY COMPARING THEM. I am going to go on a rant if I'm not careful.

(Also, I'm terrified that all the boys are gonna lose their titles so we're just not gonna address it.)

As for Oiwa, it is extremely interesting and I'm so excited that NJPW and NOAH are working together (mostly because I want to see more of Kiyomiya).

In conclusion, you have served straight facts!!!

[iaintyourbro]

The Unknown Journey Continues

Part 1

I know it's been a while... but I've been going down a rabbit hole with @starlight-samurai regarding time loops, Jenova, Minerva, and more fun. So I figured I'd try to put it into one post to get the insanity out of my head. Everything in here is based on things we've found by either going through more obscure Ultimanias, learning more about Dirge of Cerberus and trying to decipher what the hell Jenova is by putting together various sources - including other Square Enix games - and how they handled freakishly similar scenarios.

Did you know there is a companion mobile game for it that was out on the good old flip phones? Did you know there was an online mode in Dirge of Cerberus only available in Japan, but had story elements that were not in the main game?

The sad part is, there's still so much to go through...

(I've also had various discussions with @ourfinalheaven, Manu, who doesn't have Tumblr, so here is her Twitter. and Somebody's Nightmare (here is her Twitter). So I wanted to tag them here, as it's much more fun to discuss these ideas as a group, since it'll only help you build on and strengthen your own ideas.)

Please be aware, there will be Spoilers for FFVII - Almost all Compilation titles, Xenogears, and NieR Automata throughout this.

So let's go on a journey where we explore what actually already exists in the compilation - including the idea of the whispers and timeloops - how Minerva may play into everything, and what exactly Jenova is capable of doing.

I asked Sesi if he'd ever played any of the NieR games, because he'd said something that made me wonder if they were going to take a similar approach. As a very, very quick high level summary: NieR Automata deals with a time loop type of idea. The androids will be rebooted and repeat the same things over and over again. This is broken when 2B is killed by A2 because she becomes infected with a virus. That being said, you have the option after Ending E to either erase all of your data and end the cycle OR you can try again. The Pods have a discussion, and one asks, "But won't they just do the same thing again?" and the other replies with "Maybe. But it could also be different this time."

Here's Sesi's message back to me when I asked him about this (cleaned up a bit since we were having a casual conversation over Discord):

Maybe I could just guess based comparatively on the Dirge storyline, because that was sort of SE's first flirtation with “robots and androids” since they’re all programmed and locked behind like task managers and shit that can shut them down. The story of the online mode for DoC that came out in Japan, we never got to see it, you’re basically an Android OC and you have to get to “the end of the level” and then essentially die, and a new one takes its place. This keeps happening until Weiss is essentially freed from being able to be task managed by the guys who are suppose to be able to control them and I know from tons of years with Square games that they’re verrrrry bad at differentiating their narratives they tend to just keep “ripping themselves off” so is it anything close to that?

Cuz if so I think I kinda know what you’re saying and yeah, I agree, I think with CC bringing in its poetic symbolism and LOVELESS, and DoC bringing back the cyclic nature of the lore, whispers, premonitions and future visions, proto-Materia and the perversion of this next cycle since the planet can no longer cleanse and protect itself and its will is weakening lesser and lesser to the point where it’s fate is “in a true sense of jeopardy This time essentially it’s all tied in together and sort of played as though it's a fated track; a cycle of events and something has hitched it, thus the whispers manifesting and Sephiroth's higher implied control over his destiny. Of course, even all that is just their new red herring game, but it’s definitely a part of the lore they want to play with, in order to go back and reMAKE the OG with the comp inserted from inception. Also gut punch a lot.

Time Loops

I was somewhat surprised to find out that this concept is NOT new to FFVII's universe. It's discussed in Dirge of Cerberus... probably one of the least played and least understood of the compilation. (Trying to sell a third person shooter with terrible controls to a market of mostly people used to turn-based combat wasn't going to go well.)

On top of it, we didn't even get all of it, since online mode was never released outside of Japan, and the Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode was on Amp'd Mobile and Verizon flip phones back in 2006. Were you around for the cell phones in 2006? I had the ones on the list, and how somebody could play a game on those blows my mind.

Square has a tendency to reuse themes from their other titles. Probably one of the most blatant is the similarities between Xenogears and Final Fantasy VII. They were both being developed at the same time and a lot of ideas that didn't make it into FFVII ended up in Xenogears.

NieR

So how does this work? In NieR (both Replicant and Automata), you play the same path multiple times. Each time, it's slightly different depending on what side quests you did your first and second playthrough, but there's also other subtle differences throughout the story. In Automata, you get to play as 2B your first playthrough and 9S for your second. They follow the same path, but you get it from his perspective the second time and it reveals a bit more of what is going on. However, even with some slight differences, the main plot points stay the same and the ending result it also the same.

Then on your third playthrough, you wake up in the Bunker, and you're getting ready to go on a new mission. This time, though, 2B is killed and shit hits the fan. Things get crazy, you play as a new character: A2. In the end, pretty much everyone "dies", but you can choose to "reboot" and try again. You also can say you are done and let them all rest and delete your save data (the game gives you the option for both Automata and Replicant, and with Replicant, it actually leads to a new ending).

The striking thing for me is... There are certain events that will always happen, no matter what.

Fixed Points in Time

It's been years since I've watched Doctor Who, but there was something that stuck with me, and that was the fixed points in time. You can read about all of them here, but here's the basics:

Now, of course Doctor Who goes into this with much more detail and it's a recurring theme. However, as you read through that page, you'll probably find many aspects that have been used in various JRPGs that you've played. And Doctor Who most likely pulled some of the idea from classic Science Fiction novels. Each story puts its own spin on it.

How does this relate to FFVII Remake? Well, when they say that the major plot points will stay the same, it reminds me of this. No matter what, Cloud must fall into the Sector 5 Church, the Sector 7 Plate must be dropped, Aerith and Zack both must die, and Meteor has to be summoned, to name a few. So, with a time loop, those things would still have to take place in order to prevent a complete collapse of reality (at least in how Doctor Who uses it).

Therefore, the Whispers are ensuring that the Will of the Planet is followed.

One of the major themes in FFVII is that of loss. People die and they do not come back. Yes, other FF games do allow this to happen (FFX, FFXIII, FFXV), but VII is not those games. It was written with that idea in mind, that once a person dies, they, just like in real life, are dead and cannot be brought back.

I've previously written that I think they'll make us believe we are able to change fate, but we will eventually be slammed with the reality that we can't. That is because the planet has determined that certain events are fixed points.

Xenogears

Xenogears takes a bit of a different approach to the loop idea. Instead of repeating the same time period over and over, it has the characters reincarnated, and the same outcome happens each time: Elly dies. However, each time it's different. After all, they're in various time periods, in some cases thousands of years apart.

In all of the lives of Fei (who will have a different name in each time period) and Elly (who is always Elly/Elhaym), Elly will end up dying trying to protect Fei and the others. In one life, she is a religious figure at a totally not Catholic church, in another she's the wife of a scientist who was working to create children from nanomachines due to mass infertility issues. But she is ALWAYS with Fei, even if his name changes.

In her Mother Elhaym time, this is when Lacan (Fei) finally snaps. Though he's not fully aware of his past lives, he becomes aware, the anger consumes him, and he becomes Grahf. Fei is then reborn into the time period you play the game in.

There's a lot to unpack with this, so I won't go into it. Grahf wants to destroy God (Deus) because he thinks if he does, then it'll stop the suffering (his suffering).

If you do want to read more about Grahf, you can do so here, but it probably won't make much sense unless you've played Xenogears up to that point... Since it's much later in the game that this is all explained.

Lacan's desire was to stop the cycle of Elly always sacrificing herself for his sake. Though Grahf is not a perfect existence - he's not fully "The Contact", he sacrifices himself in order to let Fei move forward, and hopefully stop the cycle, by destroying the Deus system. (Elly also tries to sacrifice herself here, but Fei goes after her and stops her.)

Now, some people may think I'm saying that Cloud or somebody is going to do this in order to save Aerith or Zack (or his village or mom), but in FFVII if they do the loop method, I don't think Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the others are aware of it. Most likely, it's only 'Sephiroth' and Aerith who are aware of it.

How this Could Be used for Final Fantasy VII

I'm stressing could because there's so many different possibilities on how they use this (if they are using this), so please, don't take this as fact. This is based on speculation based on what we know.

A time loop is a great way to explain away the differences in the story that we've seen: Biggs being alive, Wedge living for longer than he should have, etc. Since these are not major plot changes, they can simply say that this time it'll be slightly different... but your fixed points (major plot points) will remain the same.

It's a way to pull in some of the more obscure themes from Dirge of Cerberus and also play with the LOVELESS lore.

It could all simply be a big red herring and it's really just a remake of OG, but with the compilation tied together nicely... since it works much better when it's combined and not in 50 different games, books, movies, etc.

I don't think it's a "sequel" per say, not in the way I generally perceive a sequel. It's more of a loop of the same thing. The question is, when is the loop started and what will cause it to end? When will the planet (if it even is the planet) determine that it's good enough to begin moving forward?

JENOVA, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Minerva - Oh My!

Let's be real... Genesis isn't exactly the most popular character in the FFVII Compilation... but what if they make him one of the most important to the story? //Ducks as various fruits and vegetable are thrown in my direction//

I think what Genesis is probably most known for is his love of LOVELESS. He has the entire thing memorized and randomly says lines from it throughout Crisis Core. LOVELESS lore is still something I'm trying to grasp, so I am not going to comment much on it. Once I understand it more, I'll update this.

...And then this happens. The secret ending for Dirge of Cerberus, where Genesis picks up Weiss. Weiss, who has now been introduced along with Nero in FFVII INTERmission and is an optional ridiculously hard boss in the Shinra battle simulator in chapter 17 of the main story. There is some lore associated with the battle sim - so if you don't plan on beating it or you just can't, you can look up the pre-battle and post-battle cut scenes on YouTube. They're very short, but interesting. (I beat this asshole last night - it's a hell of a fight.)

....To Be Continued because apparently Tumblr won't allow more than 10 images per post now.... Next will be more on JENOVA and Sephiroth along with Minerva.

[deidaratheartboi]

Anime Arguments

Idk why I'm doing this also I haven't watched much anime and so I'll add some I haven't watched but meh Sennku: At least anime is educational and entertaining and not some kid saying "Believe it" every ten 20 seconds. Naruto: What the hell do you mean? I took a shot every time you said "10 billion percent" or "The power of science" like come on bro no one cares. My anime is way more action-packed and emotional than yours. Killua: More like an anime full of simps if you ask me. Besides my anime is so much better compared to both of yours. Naruto: 70% OF THE SHOW IS YOU AND GON TRAINING! Sennku: Half of yours is you yelling "Sasuke" and you two beating each other up. Typical. Tanjiro: Children please we all know Demon Slayer is the best hands down no other anime compares. Naruto: Go cry in the corner. Didn't your mom die from Micheal Jackson? Go back to your toxic fandom kid! Tanjiro: Shut up baka! Eren: All of your anime sucks. Half the time you're training, blowing stuff up, and having these godlike powers crying about your families dying, please get over yourself. Killua: Imagine saying you're going to kill all titans but you become one. Eren: No it's totally different from that! Tanjiro: Oh and Naruto your talking about my fandom being toxic? Your fandom argues about how Madara could have won or some other crap no one cares about. Killua: He's got a point Naruto: Well your fandom thinks Demon Slayer is the best like have they not watched DBZ? Jojo? Your fandom is hella toxic Senku: Guys I know the most toxic fandom ever? Killua: What? Deku: What up guys? Eren: Kill it Tanjiro: More of the weirdest Deku: My fandom is amazing Eren: 1. The plot is hella slow 2. The shippers make me want to crawl out of my skin 3. ALL YOU PEOPLE DO ARE FLASHBACKS Senku: Mans got a point Deku: Yeah but, at least my show I don't turn into stone Yumeko: Are you guys arguing about anime shows? Well I don't think mine is the best but, it's pretty good. Deku: It's just you gambling people

Killua: Your like another Hisoka but with cards Yumeko: But, you don't understand. The thrill of winning and the risks it's just so- Deku has kicked Yumeko. Sebastian: Well, regarding the best show for action, I'd say it's a tie between Demon Slayer and Naruto, maybe AOT. The most emotional I feel would be AOT and HXH. Mha is all by itself Tanjiro: Aren't you shipped with a kid? Sebastien: You're shipped with Muzan Naruto: Lmao Deku: At least he ain't shipped with his rival Naruto: Have you seen your fandom? Emma: Well my anime wins the most emotional. Tanjiro: Yeah I hunt demons you get eaten by them Emma: We got away! Senku: Too bad it only had one season Emma: It has two Senku: No there's only one Emma: TvT Vegeta: Move aside ladies the real OG has arrived! Ash: I'msorrybutwhatdidyoujustsay? Vegeta: You heard me Valt: We all know Beyblade was around way longer Ash: Pokemon is a game now I STILL HAVE SERIES GOING. MY GAME IS NUMBER ONE Valt: Just settle for second child Naruto: Nah he wants to be the very best like no one ever was. Vegeta: TOO BAD Eren: Man you guys are so overrated. With your godlike powers and exploding planets Senku: For real Vegeta: We earned this power! Senku: Whatb about Deku? I mean come on eating someone's hair and gaining powers? Not possible Deku: The way your hair is shaped ain't possible but, look at you. Zack Foster: Damn you guys have powers and I'm over here murdering people Tanjiro: I'm sorry who are you? Zack Foster: Zack Foster who else Killua: You guys heard of him? Eren: Nope Zack Foster: From Angels Of Death? Man, you big animes always overshadow the underrated ones. Senku: Yeah sorry about that Deku: I know that anime. Half the time Rachel trying to get herself killed my Zack and by the end of the anime, you don't know if she died. It's like HxH on Hiatus but intentional. In fact, it should be called HaitusxHaitus. Killua: Your's should be called "Green Pikachus dad went to get milk" or "Green Pikachu I AM HERE Naruto: At least we were allowed to have friends Vegeta: Says the guy with an anime full of simps

Naruto: Oh please Senku: Screw this I have stuff to do Naruto: Same Vegeta has deleted the group chat. -------------------------------------------------- I don't know much about DBZ, Demon Slayer, AOT, and I know a little about Naruto so yeah some stuff might not be accurate anwyho hope you enjoyed it. Edit: OMG I HAVE 20 FOLLOWERS I KNOW IT'S NIT MUCH BUT EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe Edit: Might have lot misspelled a lot of words or used them incorrectly. I'm using Grammarly but you know how that is

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

"get me a damned matcha" | Chapter 9: February I

{{ Chapter 8: January I | Chapter 10: March I }} Chapter Directory

mutual pining??!?!?!

if you wanna get 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, mutual pining, idiots in love, alcohol, college-typical parties, floche being gross ✧ word count ➼ ~5k

"HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!"

Oluo came barging into the classroom like a freight train, yelling at the top of his lungs. The Honors Society general members hadn't even come in yet, so the only ones that were forced to experience the unrequited enthusiasm were Gunther, Petra, and you. 

"God, Oluo, you're going to perpetuate this headache I'm rapidly developing," you grumbled as you shut your eyes and rubbed at your forehead.

"You're usually just as enthusiastic about this, prez'!"

It was true. In the past, you were stressed, but also quite excited about Valentine's Day. It was a day that was generally guaranteed to be dedicated to your romantic partner and used to carry heavy significance in your life, but that was before your relationship with Zack imploded. It wasn't even that you missed him. It was just that experiencing being single on Valentine's Day for the first time in years made your mood bounce back and forth all over the place.

"Well, I guess I'm not feeling it today," you said with a sigh. "Come on, let's get set up before the freshmen start coming in."

You brought the box of Nicolo's pastries over to the innermost wall of the classroom and began setting them on the plastic trays you had bought from the nearby dollar store. 

You were more than happy moping by yourself in the corner, so you found yourself pursing your lips when you heard Petra walk over. She went up to you and helped set up some of the utensils in plastic cups.

"You're grumpy because of Zack, aren't you?"

Petra was perceptive only when you didn't want her to be. You paused and a frown appeared on your face as you looked over towards her.

"This is what you decide to talk about?"

"There's nothing wrong with being single," she said with a shrug.

You groaned as you turned away to continue setting up the pastries, being a bit rougher with them compared to how you were handling them a few minutes ago.

"You think I don't know that, Petra?" you snapped. "If this is all you're going to talk about, Oluo needs plenty of help getting the drinks set up."

"I'm just saying," she responded, her tone still gentle despite your hostility, "just because you're single doesn't mean you have to be miserable today."

You shut your eyes and took a deep breath to keep yourself from snapping further at your friend. She really did have your best interests in mind, although that didn't help your mood.

"I get it, Petra," you said through clenched teeth. "Please change the topic or go help Oluo. I'm really not in the mood to be talking about this."

You watched Petra walk away through the corner of your eye. Although your mood wasn't great to begin with, it was now officially ruined. Part of you felt bad for snapping at her when she was only trying to help you feel better. If this was a few months ago, it was likely that you'd just give her a half-hearted smile before moving on. You didn't know what was up with you.

You weren't too preoccupied with getting into a relationship of any sort at this point, but it was still annoying being forced to spend the day watching other couples be happy next to each other. A part of you was envious, with another part of you being simply annoyed by the blatant PDA surrounding you for the next few hours.

You knew you had to prepare yourself if you were going to have anything even remotely close to having a good time at the party you were planning on attending tonight. It was Valentine's Day themed, which was already off-putting, but you felt obligated to go. 

Staying in, watching a television show, and ruminating about how miserable you were sounded more appealing, but you didn't want to be the only one in your cohort that didn't go to the party. Whether or not they were all actually going was up in the air, but you still felt a social obligation to attend, whether you liked it or not.

~~~~~

“Got any fun plans tonight, Levi?”

Levi effectively ignored Nicolo’s question as he continued pumping out the orders he was receiving for his station. Levi was like a well-oiled machine working his station, getting orders out at speeds most people couldn’t comprehend.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” he grumbled.

His speed and ability to multi-task and fulfill orders was much needed on a day like today: Valentine’s Day. He didn’t particularly care for the “holiday”, but the café served Valentine’s Day themed lattes for the overzealous undergrads that were trying to woo whoever had piqued their interests at the time before breaking it off in 2-3 weeks after the honeymoon phase passed. The café was obnoxiously red and pink. He couldn’t wait for it to be over.

Not only did his shift change, but he also had to suffer through seeing couples show off distasteful PDA. If he saw one more couple rubbing noses and kissing each other in the doorway, he was going to gouge his own eyes out.

“Yeah, but we’re only open until 5 today,” Nicole reminded him. “Whatcha got planned afterwards? Anything for Valentine’s?”

The passively annoyed expression he shot in Nicolo’s direction was enough to answer his question. Of course he didn’t have anything planned.

Not only did he not care for relationships right now, but the last one he did have wasn’t particularly memorable. The last time he was in one was some fling he had freshman year of undergrad that fell apart because he was too busy dealing with the financial aid bullshit that resulted from his uncle’s disinterest in him. His partner at the time didn’t understand and also didn’t put in the effort to understand. 

So no, he did not have any plans for Valentine’s Day, and he couldn’t see him having them anytime soon.

“You going out with that pastry girl that’s been hanging out here?” 

Levi chose to deflect Nicolo’s question with another question.

“Oh, Sasha?” he mused, slightly looking away as some color rose to his cheeks. “Not really, but I’m cooking a dinner for her at home tonight. I’ve never had someone enjoy my food as much before.”

“Hmm,” Levi mumbled in acknowledgement as he turned back towards his station.

Although he couldn’t imagine dedicating a whole evening just to cooking, he did somewhat understand Nicolo’s sentiment regarding how good it felt to have someone enjoy your cooking. Levi also got that same satisfaction whenever someone enjoyed the specific way he brewed his teas. 

He clenched his jaw as you popped up in his mind, as you were the most consistent customer that came in and really enjoyed his teas.

It wasn’t the same type of relationship as Nicolo and Sasha, however. Even if it was, he doubted you’d be interested in spending a whole night focusing on tea. He could already picture you babbling on about something regarding drama with your friends the entire night, which sounded like fresh hell to him.

"Are you just going to stay at home grumbling about all the papers you have to read?" Nicolo asked, pulling Levi out of his head.

Levi scoffed as he looked at him, neither confirming nor denying his assumption.

"You know, you really should get out there more! Might do you some good to see someone," Nicolo suggested before pausing, "although your abrasive personality definitely makes it more difficult."

Levi gave him a disapproving and unamused look.

You popped up into his head again. A relationship was out of the question. He already had you to deal with. Dating someone on top of that—especially after the bullshit that happened last month—and his school and work responsibilities sounded like an absolute nightmare.

"Not interested," he grumbled.

"At least get out more! Some stress relief might help with your focus on those papers you seem to be struggling to get through."

Levi didn't immediately shoot down this idea, but he also wasn't too sure on what he would be able to do. He wasn't particularly interested in parties and he didn't have too much of a social life. In fact, wandering through parties last month while searching for you was the most social activity he had gotten since Halloween. 

"Not a chance."

~~~~~

"This is the worst mistake of my life."

"Oh c'mon!" you said as you shoved Levi forward into the frat house. "It can't be that bad! A drink could also loosen you up."

Levi scoffed.

"I don't get drunk."

You rolled your eyes.

"Well, you were the one that insisted on coming with me."

"Yeah," he said as he glanced over his shoulder back at you with a scowl, "so you don't get fucking lost in the middle of the night again."

You rolled your eyes again, this time followed with a groan of exasperation. 

"You're so dramatic," you scolded as you gave him one final push before wandering off into the crowd. 

Levi watched your small form disappear within the sea of people and glanced at the door which was looking more appealing with every passing second. Part of him did regret coming to the crowded and rowdy party, but the thought of running around looking for you again sounded like an absolute pain in the ass.

You slightly glanced back at Levi who was shooting you a glare across the room. A part of you did feel guilty for what had happened last month—you drunk texted him, he dragged his ass around town in the cold looking for you, and then he took care of you after you caught a cold as a result of your reckless desire to search for food while freezing. You understood his ire, but his insistence on coming with you threw you off. He could've just said no if you texted him again.

Your eyes flashed up as you saw him making his way towards you. Upon looking up, not only did you see him, but you also saw quite a few familiar figures—mostly that of people who were not supposed to be there. 

One of the Honor's Society members blatantly stood near the drinks station, likely already at least two drinks in. Jean casually chatted with another freshman with black hair and freckles. You looked around to see if there were more Honors Society members that you had to turn a blind eye to. 

You recognized two others that weren't Honors Society members, but had shown up to some of your events. One of them was a blonde freshman that you were sure was the daughter of the mayor, although you never got close enough to confirm if that was true. She was interacting quite closely with an upperclassman with freckles that was wearing a brown ponytail and you had to avert your eyes to avoid staring. Your eyes landed right on Marlo and you had to quickly look away to pretend that you didn't see him drinking inappropriately. He was talking to another girl with short, wavy, dark blonde hair that was scowling at him as he looked awkwardly off into the distance, as if some message she was trying to send was being missed entirely.

They're definitely being more bold, aren't they?

It didn't surprise you. It was the spring semester. This was usually around the time that most freshmen that were initially hesitant on attending parties began to embrace it—whether that was a good or bad thing depended on context.

Levi gradually caught up with you and helped you push your way through the crowd, his hand gently ghosting over the small of your back. 

You felt chills running up your spine as you felt his touch. You had elected to wear one of your shirts that had an open back, so you felt his fingers directly on your skin. Your pulse hastened as you felt your face heat up.

There were a lot of people at the party. 

There were a lot of people, so it increased your anxiety about being here.

Yeah, that was it.

You shrugged off the chills that were rapidly taking over your body and made a beeline for the drink station. 

You didn't know what was going on with you. The last time you felt this anxious at a party was when Petra had triggered you about your parents and then at the Rumbling before that when you saw Zack, but it was different. While you couldn't say that you liked feeling this anxiety, it wasn't entirely unwelcome either. 

You flinched when you reached your hand out for the stack of cups near the drink station and felt your fingers brush up against Levi's. Heat rose to your cheeks, although you weren't sure if it was because you bumped hands with Levi or if it was out of embarrassment about the fact that you had even flinched in the first place. 

Luckily for you, it seemed that Levi was just as distressed, as the both of you immediately withdrew your hands.

"Sorry," Levi muttered as he cleared his throat, putting both his hands back into his jacket pockets. 

You shot him an awkward, brief smile of acknowledgement before turning back towards the drinks and pouring one for yourself before immediately running away into the crowd.

The source of your anxiety was Levi. You were at least emotionally self-aware enough to know that. You were anxious when he followed you closely to the drink station and then again once you had accidentally brushed up against him just now.

All that really meant was that you had to get away from him for now if you didn't want to be stressed during the entirety of this party. 

You were able to tell that you were slowly beginning to feel more nervous around him, although nervous wasn't really the best word for it. It wasn't really nervousness. Sure, the physiological signs were the same—your face would heat up, your pulse would hasten, and your breath would get caught in your throat. These were all signs that indicated anxiety, but at the same time, anxiety and nervousness didn't feel like the right words to describe what was going on. You couldn't quite pinpoint what it was and it was driving you nuts.

You easily disappeared into the crowd. Levi didn't follow. 

The whole point of him coming was to be there to drag your ass home if you got into trouble again, but he couldn't get himself to follow you. 

His hand felt like it was burning from where you had brushed up against him. He frowned at himself as he sipped on the drink he had poured for himself, immediately grimacing at the poorly made cocktail whipped up by inexperienced undergrads. He put it down and opted for a beer instead.

He didn't understand why he withdrew his hand so quickly, or why you had flinched. Did he startle you? Why did he feel so awkward afterwards?

Levi groaned to himself. He already regretted coming to the party itself. He should've just chilled at the 24-hour library and do literally anything else until it was time to pick you up. Everything could have been avoided had he just refused to come with. Unlike the Rumbling, in which he attended with Hange and Miche, he didn’t know anyone here. The only person he could be bothered to socialize with would be you, but he felt the increasing need to avoid you at all costs, despite his original reason for tagging along with you. He was stuck in the corner of the room, sipping on cheap beer while pretending that the crowd wasn’t actually as big as it was.

Your nerves quickly faded once you began drinking and chatting with some of your other classmates that had shown up, although you took care to avoid the freshmen that technically were not supposed to be there. The new semester had just started, so everyone was still in a fairly good mood regarding talking about school or even gossiping about faculty. Once assignments and grades began mattering, those topics would be nowhere to be found. 

Apparently some drama had been going on between Professor Zachary, the dean of the university, and the mayor and some of his secretaries over the legitimacy of the election. The drama had trickled down to the rest of the staff, leaving everyone—particularly the financial aid office—worried about future funding from the local government. 

While this drama generally wouldn’t have caught your interest in the slightest, your scholarship was a huge factor in you being able to attend this school, so you hoped that everything was over-exaggerated and that there wouldn’t be any actual issues. Otherwise, everything you had worked so hard for would have been for naught if you couldn’t pay your tuition.

Before you knew it, the house quickly filled up with people. You found yourself wandering back towards the drink station to haphazardly grab another drink. However, given the fact that you were more than a little intoxicated and that there were way too many people in way too small of a space, you found yourself stumbling over your own feet.

You tripped and immediately fell into someone's chest.

You panicked and immediately began to apologize out of embarrassment.

"Oh! I'm sorry-"

You felt both relief and further embarrassment when you saw who you had fallen into—Levi.

Blood rushed to your face as you leaned against him. You were so close that you could feel his pulse against yours. You could even smell the subtle scent of the cologne that he had put on in the morning, despite the stench of alcohol permeating the air otherwise. It was earthy and pleasant. It fit him well. 

You were looking directly into his gray eyes that held an unreadable expression. His hair fell perfectly over his eyes. He was wearing a simple button-up shirt with a black jacket over him and you didn’t notice until now how well it accentuated his figure—particularly his arms, shoulders, and chest—although that might have been the alcohol talking. At least, that's what you convinced yourself it was. Whether it was actually true or not didn't matter. Despite how awkward you felt, you didn't really want to move. You were oddly comfy. 

You felt those symptoms of your "anxiety" rising: your hastened pulse, your flushed cheeks, and your breath getting caught in your throat. Despite this, you didn't move.

The both of you stayed still for a while. You soon began to notice his hands that were on your waist after he had caught you. If your body was already reacting strongly to his hand on your back earlier, his touch on your waist was driving your heart rate through the roof. His touch was warm and firm. Chills traveled up and down your body as you made skin-to-skin contact with him. You felt your entire body warming up as you continued to look directly into his eyes. You didn’t want to take your gaze off him. Even the chaos of all the people around you seemed to have been lost on you as you stood agonizingly still up against him.

It was the alcohol. That'd explain it. Alcohol made you more sensitive and would explain your hastened pulse. 

After you rationalized that to yourself, you suddenly got up and cleared your throat, finally breaking your gaze from his stupidly pretty eyes. 

"...crowded party."

You vaguely heard Levi mumble.

"Y-Yeah," you said as you nodded at him. "Got crowded fast."

Levi didn't get a chance to respond and he was only able to watch as you immediately bolted away from him and into the crowd again to avoid looking at him. 

He clenched his jaw and sighed to himself. He was more than annoyed at himself for how awkward he was getting around you. Unlike you, he couldn't say that it was just due to the alcohol—and he wasn't even drinking that much in the first place. What was he thinking, holding you for as long as he was? He should’ve just shrugged you off him as soon as you got your bearings. Instead, he gazed into your eyes for much too long, unable to take the feeling of his hands on your waist out of his mind. The tips of his ears had grown pink as he held you and he only hoped that you were too drunk and that it was too dark for you to notice. He didn’t know what was going on, and he wasn’t particularly in the right mood or headspace to figure it out, especially not with you around.

At this point, you made it your personal goal to avoid Levi until it was time to leave. You found yourself sitting at the drink station, sipping on the not-so-pleasant Jungle Juice that you were too buzzed to notice tasted like shit. 

"Long time no see."

You heard a familiar voice and glanced over at the source. 

It was the same sophomore that you saw at the Rumbling—the 'lanky parasite' that Levi so rudely dubbed him as—Floche.

"...I guess not," you said as you stared at him, hesitant with your response. "You following me?"

He stepped closer.

"A girl as pretty as you, how could I not?"

Unlike at the Rumbling, when you were anxious and defensive from seeing Zack and therefore immediately rejected Floche's advances, you now did a shy smile, although it still felt awkward as fuck.

Although you rejecting him would have done little to stop him, he immediately began moving closer, and you could have sworn that his eyes traveled up and down your figure briefly. 

You were still uncomfortable—that hadn't changed—but a part of you appreciated the compliments. 

If you were less intoxicated and had a bit more time to sort out your anxiety regarding both your grumpy roommate and today in general, you'd be able to recognize your increased vulnerability that resulted from being single for the first time on Valentine's Day as well as your newfound dynamic with Levi. If you had recognized that, you probably would've told Floche to promptly fuck off again.

However, you didn't, and before long, you ended up exchanging numbers with him.

Levi stood still from across the room, watching that 'lanky parasite' flirt with you before getting your number. He felt himself get increasingly irritated the minute he saw Floche walking towards you with a suggestive look. He found it strange that he was so bothered by it, but figured that it was because his social battery had been drained for the night and that it didn't actually have anything to do with the exchange he was witnessing in front of him. 

His mood significantly soured once he saw the two of you exchange numbers. His grip on his beer bottle tightened as he chugged the rest of it in one go, tossing the bottle into the trash before walking towards you, under the guise of getting another drink.

Levi leaned on the wall next to you, clearly not having any actual intention of getting another drink.

"You come to these parties just to flirt with anyone that sets their eyes on you?"

The comment caught you off-guard. You blinked at him, unsure of how to respond to his oddly rude comment.

"Wh-What?" you asked defensively, taking slight offense to his comment once you were able to process it.

"Nothing," he mumbled. "It's getting too rowdy. Let's go."

At this point, a scowl was permanently plastered onto his face and you could tell that he was more than ready to leave.

You stared at him as he turned away and grabbed his car keys out of his pants pocket. He took a few steps towards the door before glancing back at you.

"You coming?"

You clenched your jaw, trying to swallow the increasing sensation of an uncomfortable lump in your throat.

"...okay," you whispered, getting up and following him out of the house. 

Levi looked at your upset expression and didn't say a word as he turned away and walked towards his car. He was feeling much too irritated to deal with anything other than getting into the car and driving home to forget this night ever happened.

~~~~~

The car ride home was silent. Levi had barely drank at the party and had been long sober by the time you actually got to leaving. You had drunk significantly more, although you were starting to sober up as well. 

You stubbornly looked out the window with your arms crossed, still trying to process how you felt regarding Levi's unexpected comment. 

You were offended. That much, you knew. It wasn't the first time he had insulted you, but some part did legitimately believe that the two of you had moved past it. You had come to terms with some deal about getting along with each other and he's been around during some of your more vulnerable moments.

Yet here he was, blatantly insulting you again. You were already somewhat emotionally compromised because of your unease regarding being single on Valentine's Day and you had been anxious around him all night, so his comment on top of all of that seemed to hit you much harder than any of his previous insults ever had.

"I'm not just...flirting," you mumbled.

He glanced over at you, clearly able to tell that you were upset with the way that you were avoiding his gaze and your low volume of speech.

It took him a second to respond. 

"...I know," he said quietly.

You frowned and then turned to look at him before speaking more audibly.

"Then why'd you say it?"

Levi didn't answer.

Not wanting to waste your energy fighting with him over his weird behavior, you let out a frustrated huff before crossing your arms and glaring out the window again. 

No words were exchanged for the rest of the car ride, or even during the walk into the apartment and into your separate rooms. 

You were more than irritated. Petra pissed you off at the meeting, you had been high-strung all night, and the one person you thought you could count on was acting weird and throwing snappy comments at you that bothered you on a much deeper level than they should have.

Realizing that you were too wound up to go to bed, you found yourself leaning against the railing on the balcony connected to your apartment. The cold winter air helped calm you down.

You turned towards the door as you heard footsteps approaching. You saw Levi's figure approaching from behind you, holding a bottle of beer in each hand.

He offered you one by raising it towards you and you stared at him, still frowning, before eventually taking it. He was still acting weird and you were still pissed.

You sipped on it in silence, glaring at the horizon as he stood quietly next to you.

"Sorry," he said after a while. It was quiet and part of you wasn't sure if you had actually heard him correctly.

You blinked at him.

"What?"

"The comment," he muttered awkwardly as he leaned on the railing and looked at the ground below. "Was just pissed from being at the party, I guess."

Your frown gradually softened as you looked at him. It was weird that he was apologizing, but it was also weird that you cared so much. Even after you had seemingly formed a truce with him, it's not like he suddenly became a pleasant person to be around. His personality was still abrasive and he still lacked a filter whenever he was annoyed, and you never caught him apologizing for any of it. 

You bit on your bottom lip subtly in an attempt to calm your nerves regarding the awkwardness that had been surrounding the two of you all night.

"Well," you finally spoke, attempting to break the tension, "good news is that you didn't have to chase me around this time?"

You heard a quiet scoff.

"Guess not."

"Told you so," you shot him a smug look as you took another swig of the beer.

"That's because I went with you, dumbass."

A small grin appeared on your face at his response. At least it had returned to your usual banter. 

"To be honest, I didn't even really want to go out tonight. Think I was trying to prove something to Petra."

"Oh?" he mumbled as he raised an eyebrow at you.

"Yeah," you said with an annoyed tone. "She kept insisting that I was purposefully being mopey over being single on Valentine's Day even though I kept on telling her I wasn't."

You looked over towards Levi once you noticed that he wasn't responding. He was frowning at the ground again.

"Nicolo was being a pain in the ass at the café today," he finally said. "Something about needing to get out more."

You found yourself smiling at the shared ire between the two of you.

"To us miserable singles?" you suggested before raising your beer as if you were giving a toast.

He gave you a skeptical look for a few seconds before sighing.

"Fine," he said reluctantly before clinking the spout of his beer bottle with yours. "To being miserably single."

He took a swig of his beer.

"Apparently," he added on, with a hint of heavy reluctance in his voice.

You glanced at him out of the corner of your eye as you raised your beer bottle to your lips.

You already knew Valentine's Day was going to suck this year because of all the bullshit that had happened in the past couple months, but Levi's presence made it just a little less lonely. You weren’t entirely sure what it was, but even just his presence was enough to make you feel not completely alone, something that none of your friends were able to achieve. He wasn’t actively doing anything to make you feel that way, but you still felt it nonetheless.

You smiled to yourself as you enjoyed his presence next to you. It was easy to forget your problems around him, even if it was something as silly as being single on Valentine's Day.

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