Levi shuts himself back into his office as fast as he can.
What the hell are you doing here?
He props his elbows up on his desk and presses his fingers into his forehead, allowing himself a minute to collect his thoughts. He hadn't expected it to be you: he'd expected another timid man or woman who would flinch every time he spoke to them. Another person that would be easily offended and he'd be tossed in another pointless HR meeting.
But he knows you're not like that. He knows, because your confidence is what attracted him to you at the bar, what made him go home with you and let you suck him off-
Levi groans, palms flush against his forehead. The sex had been great, so great he almost considered asking for your number before he left. Now, he's just glad he didn't.
You're his fucking assistant.
"Well, isn't that fucking peachy," Levi says to his ceiling.
It's fine. It's easy enough to pretend it never happened- as long as you're content with doing the same. Yeah, that'd be fine. Just pretend it never happened.
He spreads his paperwork out across his desk, wondering what he can assign to you so that you'll have minimal contact. Maybe the profiling- it's tedious work and it should be a good introduction to the system. Yeah, he'll give you that.
Minutes pass and he's nearly forgotten about you when he hears a knock. "You'd better have my tea," he calls.
You say something back about how it's green tea, and he calls you in. When you walk in, he finally takes more than just your face, which had stopped him cold last time. You're wearing a decent suit, and a turtleneck, which he bets is to hide some of the dark marks he made sure to leave across your collarbone. Just the thought of it makes him stiffen up.
He tries the tea you made. It's actually not half bad.
"This is shit," Levi lies, glaring at you.
Your shoulders sink. "Oh."
"Don't steep it as long next time," he says, because you've got more promise than most of the past interns and if you can manage to make him decent tea, it'll be worth it to have hired you. "It takes away the steepness." Levi remembers those profiles he thought of earlier and points them out to you, mentioning your work email. He notes how you stiffen up. "You have accessed your work email by now, yes?"
To your credit, your eyes don't stray. You say, "no, sir."
Sir. He wants to laugh.
Fine then. He'll play your game. "Get on it then, intern," Levi says.
He sees the sudden pause, the rise of your shoulders, and he hides his triumphant smirk. He's ruffled you. You take the stack of papers and head to the door, then turn back before you make it out of his office. "Anything else?" you ask.
Damn. It would've been easier to ignore you if you could've started out as a shit employee. Instead, you're respectful, polite, and can make a decent cup of tea. "No," he says flatly, but before Levi can stop himself, he adds, "looking forward to working with you."
You repeat the sentiment back to him, a smile on your face. You move to close the door behind you and Levi finds himself staring at your ass until the door blocks it from view.
The door clicks shut. Levi smacks himself in the head with his binder.
.
Getting settled in isn't too bad.
Historia helps you set up your work email without even needing to be asked- you swear she's an angel in disguise- and you click through some of the ones from this morning. Eventually, you start sifting through profiles, trying to get a sense of what you're supposed to be doing.
You soon learn that the lunch break is chaotic. Apparently Sasha has a tendency to steal everyone's food, so people have lunch boxes and packaging with locks on them.
You hand her one of your cookies that you're not going to eat and the woman latches onto your side with a grateful sob. "You're my favorite intern!" she says, inhaling the cookie in the blink of an eye.
"I've only been here a few hours," you say with a weak smile.
"Well, we had one intern break her computer by lunch, so you're doing pretty well," the blond man from another desk says with a smile.
You spend most of your lunch break observing and learning names. You watch how they interact with each other, how friendly all of them are. You learn the blond man's name- Armin- and the two people he sits with are Eren, the bloke who yelled about the bet earlier, and the black-haired girl whose name is Mikasa. She's quiet, but she seems to be on friendly terms with everyone.
The accounting group at the back seem to be tightly knit. There's a tall blond man named Reiner, who occasionally looks like he's staring off into space. Bertolt is the other man with him, and he's much friendlier; he comes up to introduce himself to you at lunch. The other woman is also very quiet and you're not sure if she's glaring at you or just has a resting bitch face. You're pretty sure her name is Anne... no, Annie.
After lunch, Erwin calls you into the conference room. He's seated there with someone else, a person with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. "I'm Hange!" they say as soon as you walk in. "Your HR rep!"
"Nice to meet you," you say, extending your hand.
They shake, grinning. "Sorry I couldn't meet you this morning, I had a few other things to take care of."
"Shall we get started?" Erwin asks pleasantly, gesturing for you to take a seat. "Just going over your contract and company policies."
You smile and sit. Hange goes over the basics of what you already know: today's your starting date, you end in December, just before Christmas. Four months. What time you're expected to be in, the possibility of overtime, biweekly payment, logging your hours, etcetera. You try your best to keep smiling and nodding.
Eventually, Hange turns to your personal record: your resume and school transcript. "Congrats on graduating," they say. "Not everyone does!"
"You'll be seeking a full time position after this, I assume?" Erwin asks.
You nod. "Yes, sir. This is just an opportunity to test out the field and see if this is what I'm looking for."
"Smart decision."
"You took chemistry courses," Hange notes as they skim through your transcript. "A few of them! Even though they weren't needed for your degree. Did you like it?"
You shrug. "I suppose. I was trying to keep my options open for minors. It was difficult but it was interesting."
"You think it's interesting?" the HR rep repeats, grinning. You feel like you've said the wrong thing. "Would you ever want to-"
"No, she doesn't."
The three of you turn to see Levi leaning in through the open door. "Levi," Hange says with a roll of their eyes, "I-"
"Was trying to kill my intern before she's even started," he snaps back. He shoots a look at Erwin, who only looks amused. Maybe this happens a lot. "Keep Four Eyes away."
"They're HR, Levi, you know I can only do so much," Erwin chides with a small smile.
"Well, this one might actually not be a total failure," Levi mutters. "So I'd appreciate it if she didn't get scared off."
You try to register his words. Might not be a total failure. ...that's a good thing, right?
"High praise, coming from the short king himself!" Hange hoots.
Something flies through the air and strikes Hange in the forehead with terrifying accuracy. It's a pen. You twist back to the door to see Levi's arm extended in a throw. Oh, holy shit. "Levi," Erwin says patiently, "what have I said about abusing your colleagues?"
"Hange harasses me plenty more," he argues, "so we're even."
"Ow!" the victim in question whines, rubbing their forehead. "Pens hurt, Levi!"
"Next time it'll be a stapler," Levi promises as he leaves.
You glance from the open door to Hange, who's rubbing their head, then back to the door, then back to Erwin. "Does this happen a lot?" you say tentatively.
He nods. "I'm afraid so."
And no one's been fired yet? You nod along, then force a smile. "Is it worth investing in a helmet?" you say, glancing at Hange.
They grin. "Maybe. He'd find a way around it though."
"And, uh, does that treatment exist mostly for you, or interns as well?"
"Depends how much he likes you," Erwin supplies.
You nod slowly, taking in the red spot on Hange's forehead that they're trying to rub away and Levi's pen sitting on the desk. "Is it worth returning this to him," you ask, grabbing the pen, "or will it just be thrown again?"
"Most likely be thrown," Erwin says.
You pause, dropping the pen back on the table. "I'll leave this to you, then."
Hange laughs. "I think you'll fit in just great here."
You glance back at the empty door, hoping that they're right.