It Took a Little Time (Levi Ackerman x Black OC)

Chapter 1

Because I'm posting for the first time you'll get 2 chapters this week instead of 1. After this, it'll be 1 chapter a week.

Happy reading and excuse any grammatical errors!

-Simone <3

"I see you come here a lot. And you always order the same thing." I said to the good-looking guy as he took a seat a comfortable distance away from me with his usual cup of black tea.

He took a sip, legs crossed. "It's the only place I can get decent tea."

"But black tea though? Nothing else?"

He shook his head. "I don't need anything else."

His black straight hair was neat with an undercut that looked like it was freshly done. He wore a green cape over his brown jacket and white cravat with weird straps around his body and tall brown boots.

"So are you with the military?" I asked because based upon his appearance it seemed that indeed he was.

The guy finally looked over at me, his grey eyes sharp. "You don't know who I am?"

I gave him a confused look. "No. Am I supposed to? Have we met before or something?"

"No." He continued to look at me as I tried to figure out what he was thinking behind his stoic, blank expression. "Levi," He answered after a long pause.

"Ash. It's nice to meet you, Levi."

"Ash. Ash!"

Looking up at my best friend Carter I blinked a few times. "I'm sorry."

It's been a while since I thought about him.

"You spaced out on me. You okay? What were you thinking about?"

"Yeah I'm fine," I reassured, "What were you saying?"

"I asked you if you were going to drink that black tea. If not I can take it with me to work. My boss tells me that his friend drinks it all the time."

"Oh yeah no I don't. Take it. And I was thinking about Levi."

"Your old friend from a long time ago right? You told me about him a little bit, how close you guys were." As Carter collected the tea from the little box at the table in the cafeteria she spoke again. "And you're still coming with me to the ball my job host tomorrow night?"

"Yes him. The war was pretty bad from what I heard so I hope he's okay. We lost contact with each other. And I don't have anything to wear-"

"You know you can always wear one of my dresses! I was gonna give you one anyway."

"Car, please. You've done enough for me already."

She waved me off, "You know I don't care about helping you out. You're going with me. After class, we're going back to my place and getting ready. I refuse to allow you to go back to your ex's place."

I looked down into my teacup. "It's not like I wanna be there."

"Then just live with me and *Reiner."

"No. There's not enough space for me anyways. Plus Marcus is barely there. He's always with Nelly since she's pregnant."

I don't like living with my ex either. It's something I would rather not do, but I'm not going to live back at home with my parents or stay with a friend so I've been bouncing around from place to place only staying a few nights before I leave. I only do that if I know Marcus is staying home and won't be with Nelly at her place.

I've been working my ass off lately to get a place and I'm so close, just another month or so of doing this until I have an apartment.

And I know what you're thinking: why don't you ask your parents for money?

I can't.

And it's not just because they're my parents but in general. I don't like asking anyone for money. I don't like relying on people for anything. I've always been like that.

"I don't understand why you don't just get rid of him," Carter said with an eye roll. "And why doesn't he just move in with Nelly?"

"You know why. Regardless of how much I want to. And they move in together soon from what I heard."

Carter let out a groan. "Fine. But like I said you're coming with me."

"Alright alright." I looked down at my phone to check the time. "I gotta go. I have class." I told Carter as I stood, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "I'll see you later."

"See you."

As I walked out of the cafeteria and made my way across campus I let my mind wander once more back to Levi. Is it sad that I didn't realize I was in love with him until the last time we saw each other and I've been hoping to see him again one day?

That sounds very sad actually.

Depressing or stupid even, I know.

Why would you lowkey wait for someone you love to come around?

It's not even a matter of if he'll come around, I guess I just want to know if he's alive or not. I would get closure either way.

Even if he didn't reciprocate those same feelings, I still would like to see him. He was my best friend after all. I kind of think of it as how you become best friends with an older coworker after seeing them so often, except Levi didn't work with me.

The first few times he came into the shop I just thought he was nearby, but then after the fourth time I figured he was a regular and would continue to come in so being the nosey eighteen year old that I was, I talked to him and questioned why he only drank black tea. I told him that I was more of a pomegranate and peach tea lover myself and that sparked some interest in him because we started to have a full conversation about tea. From then on he came into the shop whenever I was working and it became a routine. He would come in for 15-20 minutes, or on busy days, he would come in whenever he had time, we'd talk, he'd leave, repeat the next day.

Towards the end of it all he would come see me before the shop closed and walk me home right away. Or I would be in his office for another hour or two before I went home.

I will say it took me awhile to properly learn the ways of Levi Ackerman.

He was stoic, dry, gave me one word responses mostly. He was very straight forward, not beating around the bush at all, or would simply hum or grunt in response to what I said, but even then I still smiled and greeted him as Captain Levi every time he entered, asking him what's up. Even if his face was in a frown or blank, his eyes held the truth.

For a few months I didn't think he liked me at all, but he continued to come back and listen to my annoying babbling. Once he told me "No formalities when it's just us in here," I knew then that we were friends. Levi was great at small talk and for somebody like me who could talk someone's ear off once I was comfortable enough around them, it was like I won the lottery with him.

My boss loved having him there as often as he was because his presence seemed to scare away the criminals or anybody who was intimidated by him so business was going great.

Out of all the conversations we had, me and Levi never talked about the war itself when he came to see me and get his tea and snack. I figured he was in the shop to take a break from all that and didn't want to relive it so I never asked questions about it, as much as I wanted to.

As I sat down and waited for my professor to start class I gave Levi one last thought before I focused on the lecture. 

Please be alive.

Somewhere.

Out there.

~~~~~~~~~

Pronunciation

*Reiner = RYN-UH