Two hours later, and nothing gets done.
It was supposed to be simple. It was literally just supposed to be about you and Levi deciding on a topic so that you could start looking up relevant articles for your literature review due at the end of September- ages away. But having a topic early would make life a lot easier for you and take a lot of the stress off not knowing where this project is going.
But it's been about two hours of brooding silence, interrupted intermittently by quick arguments of the both of you vetoing each other's ideas. Levi's topic proposals seem much too simple- with a topic too basic, it could be difficult to get a good mark. If you want a decent grade in this course- and you need a decent grade in this course- then it needs to be something more complex.
Levi disagrees. Of course he fucking disagrees. "Complex will get us better grades," you insist for what must be the fifth time today.
"Complex is fine," Levi agrees, "but how the hell are we supposed to do a presentation on something we can barely pronounce?"
"Practice," you snap back. "Atherosclerosis could work as a decent topic."
"Maybe for a research report, but we've got to do a presentation on this shit." He leans back in his chair, exhaling. "I'm not doing a fifteen minute presentation stumbling through that big ass name the entire time."
You cross your arms, eyebrows narrowing. "If that's your only objection to that topic, then I'm going to tell you to get over it."
He groans. "It's too hyper-specific," Levi argues. "If we choose something more broad, we've got options for what we focus on and what we cover. We won't find ourselves at a dead end midway through the semester."
"Sounds great if you're planning on regurgitating the simplicity of our first year courses."
"You're so fucking bossy," Levi mutters, looking away.
Your eyebrows shoot to the top of your head. "Go fuck yourself," you tell him, leaning back over your laptop. "Not my fault you can't even consider compromising."
He glares at you. "You're not leaving any room to compromise anywhere. How the fuck am I supposed to work with that?"
"I'm not one not leaving any room for compromise? You've shot down every single thing I've brought up-"
"Because they're all shitty ideas."
"Yeah, because you've got better ones."
Levi's jaw locks. "I think there's a lot we could do with ammonia," he says. "Natural production, how it breaks down in the body, how different animals process it."
That actually doesn't sound half bad, but you're not going to let Levi win. "Anything more we can focus on with that?" you insist. "Chemical breakdowns? Specific functional systems that process it? Certain animals? But we'd need a comparison-"
"See, here you go again," he says with a sneer. "These are all things we can answer in the damn reports and shit. We don't need to start specific-"
You don't care. You're tired, you're frustrated, and you've got a residence event tonight that you need to set up for. "I'm done," you interrupt, closing your laptop. You slide it into your bag. "I'm done. We'll try this again after class tomorrow."
Levi stares at you for a second, then looks away with a huff. "Giving up already?" he asks, glancing back at you.
"No, I've got work," you snap, jamming your notebook into your bag. "Not sure if you know the meaning of work, but it means I have shit to do."
Levi scoffs. "Oh, right. What is it you do- the terribly hard work of the cafeteria staff? Or swinging yourself around a pole at a strip club? I didn't think the clubs were open this early on a Monday."
Oh, this motherfucker. "I wish I was a stripper," you say angrily as you stand up from your chair, zipping up your bag. "Because then I'd be making a shit ton more money from stupid, egotistical assholes like you. And at least," you continue, fuming, "that would be a job. Something I'm sure you're not familiar with. Complain about strip clubs all you want, but they're kept open by assholes like you."
"Nothing wrong with strip clubs," he rebukes. "Just didn't think a pretentious bitch like yourself knew how to work and you picked one of the easiest options."
"You think it's easy? I'd love to see you try." You shoot him one last withering glare. "And pretentious bitch? I've been called worse by better men."
You don't wait around to let Levi say anything else. You throw your bag over your shoulder and march out of the library, hands clenched into fists. The nerve. The fucking nerve of this fucking dumbass-
It's the first fucking Monday of the semester and you're already ready to throw your books into a shredder and tear your hair out.
.
Levi can't stand you.
Your bitchy attitude, your snark, your need to be right all the fucking time. He'd always assumed you would be insufferable, but he had hoped that was never something the universe would decide to prove to him.
Lo and fucking behold, you are. You're everything he chalked you up to be and so much fucking worse.
So on Tuesday, when you haven't texted him at all, he sends you a quick text just to confirm you're meeting after class. A quick is there any point to a meeting after class or is your head still stuck up your ass text and he tucks his phone into his pocket, wishing he could see your expression when you read it.
His phone buzzes, and he pulls it out to check on it.
Spoiled Bitch (11:21): are you going to be tolerable
His lips twitch. He shoots back with are you still going to be a bitch then and keeps his phone out, figuring you'll reply quickly. You do.
Spoiled Bitch (11:22): that's a no then
A no to being tolerable, or a no to meeting today? He's about to ask for clarification with as much snark as he can when another text pops in.
Spoiled Bitch (11:22): see you after class
Spoiled Bitch (11:22): asshole
He rolls his eyes and puts his phone away. As insufferably annoying as you are, you do have a tendency to keep your word; he's going to have to put up with you after class today. Lovely.
Levi sighs, slumps down against the desk, and tries to put the upcoming meeting at the back of his mind.
.
It takes another hour of bitching and complaining, but you finally get a topic, and it's decided by a fucking coin flip.
At this point, you're at yours wits' end with Levi and this god forsaken project. You've literally got eight more months of this shit and you're having this much trouble with a topic, which should theoretically be the easiest thing you're going to do.
So when an hour has gone by without a resolution, you tug your wallet out and fumble through the zippered pouch, pulling out a coin. "Flip," you say. "Heads, it's my topic. Tails, it's yours."
"That's what's going on now?" he says incredulously, dropping his notebook onto the table. "We're doing coin flips?"
"It's the only way we'll figure this out."
Levi stares at you, like he can't quite believe you're serious. "And you'll agree with whatever the result is?" he asks.
Your eyebrows knit together. "I should be asking you the same thing."
He clicks his tongue, dropping your gaze for a moment. You keep your eyes locked on him, waiting for him to agree. "Fine," Levi says, and he takes the coin from you. "Heads for you and tails for me."
"I already said that," you say with a scowl.
"And I'm telling you again, in case you try to switch it up on me."
Your scowl deepens, but you bite your tongue as Levi sets up on the coin on his thumb. He flicks it and the coin spirals upwards, spinning through the air before Levi catches it, flipping it over and placing it on the back of his wrist, covering it completely with his hand.
He meets your eyes. "Tails for me."
"And heads for me," you agree.
Levi lowers his hand towards you, so that you'll be able to see what it is. He stares at you a second longer, and just as your frustration begins to rise, he lifts his hand.
Fuck. It's tails.
"Tails," Levi says, and he sounds smug.
Well, you're definitely not about to give him the satisfaction of seeing you upset about this. You cross your arms. "Fine. So ammonia it is. Reconvene next week with relevant literature? I can set up a document and I'll email you the link to it."
Levi seems surprised for a moment before he recovers. "Fine by me," he says. "Just try not to find shitty work."
"I think I'll be fine," you say icily, grabbing your backpack and standing up from your chair. "Maybe you should be a bit more concerned about yourself and keeping your work up to standards."
He snatches his backpack from the table. "Knowing you, you'll be grabbing blog posts," Levi snaps, falling into step with you as you start to leave the library.
You scoff. "Yeah, blog posts. I'll let you worry about those."
You push open the door, not bothering to hold it open for Levi. Once you're both outside, you pause, turning on him. "Text me your school email and I'll share the document with you once I've got it set up."
"What, so in a few weeks?"
You force a pinch-lipped smile. "Try a few hours."
Levi adjusts his grip on his bag. "Fine," he says. "But don't expect me to work on it immediately. Take my lowest priority," he continues, holding out one hand as if to represent a level, "and you're way beneath that." He drops his hand down. "So I'm in no rush."
"Aw, I'm so special," you mock. "I don't care. Just have something for next week."
"Fine." Levi raises his eyebrows. "Am I free to go?" he says sarcastically.
You shrug. "Well, stupidity and being annoying isn't a crime, so- yeah. You're free to go."
"Fuck off."
"Go fuck yourself."
And with that, the two of you go your separate ways.
Well... it could've been worse. Right?
.
September flies by fairly quickly.
You don't meet more than once a week with Levi for a few reasons. One of those reasons being that your other courses have piled on rather quickly and the amount of work you have to do every week just seems to keep increasing. A second reason is that you've had to take a couple of hallway patrol shifts as part of your job being a residential assistant, so you're just getting busier and busier.
But the third and most prominent reason is that seeing Levi once a week is all you can stand.
When the two of you meet up, you've been treating it more as a checkpoint. Seeing what's due and when, seeing what needs to be done, making sure work is divided up. Theoretically, that's a five minutes conversation.
With Levi, it's fifteen. Because between the two of you, you can't stop bitching at each other for more than a minute. It's exhausting.
But it's only fifteen minutes a week. It's the worst part of your week, hands down, but you can handle it.
At least, you can handle it until the last week of September, when your meeting has to go longer than fifteen minutes. That damn literature review is due at the end of the week, and unfortunately, it needs a fair bit of collaboration between you and Levi. But you're tired and this is the last thing you want to spend your Tuesday night doing, so you suggest, "if we're going to go long, let's just do it back at my residence. So we can grab food."
"Is there a study room there?" Levi asks, but he's already started to gather his stuff into his backpack.
Well, at least he's just as eager to get it over with as you are. "Yeah," you say, shouldering your backpack and leading the way out of the library. "It's pretty quiet. Hopefully this doesn't take too long."
"Hopefully," Levi mutters under his breath. "If I'm expected to put up with you for more than an hour, then I need caffeine."
"I need a shot," you grumble in return.
Levi snorts. "I bet one shot would have you under the table."
You shoot him a dirty look, careful not to trip over the library steps. "I had three drinks that one weekend and was hardly phased," you object, referring to the weekend that Hange had set the two of you up on a blind date. "Scrubbed that encounter from your memory?"
"Forget the time I got to tell a stranger you ate dirt? Hell no."
"God, you're stupid."
"I'm the stupid one?" Levi scoffs. "You couldn't pour water out of a boot with instructions on the heel."
Frustration makes you clench your hands into fists, fingernails pinching into your palms. "I would agree with you," you snap, "but then we'd both be wrong."
"Wow. So witty of you."
"Yeah, you're a real fast talker yourself."
Levi doesn't reply, so you don't add anything else, glowering at the sidewalk in front of you. The nerve- the god damn audacity of this man. You can't stand him. If he says another word, you may just punch him.
Thankfully, he doesn't. The walk back to your residence building is done in complete silence, which you're grateful for. Even when you get to the main doors, Levi waits for you to take the lead so that you can direct the two of you up a set of stairs towards a large area filled with desks, chairs, and some whiteboards on wheels.
No sooner have you set down your bag does Levi immediately turn back towards the stairs, leaving his backpack at the desk you two have claimed. For a second, you're floored- where the fuck is he going? But then you realize he's probably going to grab food from the cafeteria below. You sigh to yourself and start setting up your laptop and pulling out one of your notebooks in case you need to write anything down.
Levi comes back a few minutes later with a coffee cup in hand and a container. "I'll be back," you say before he has the chance to sit down, and you go to grab your own food.
Hopefully, this'll only take an hour, tops. You two have both done a lot of separate work on your own, so this is more about meshing what you have and figuring out how to format it. You shouldn't be surprised that Levi's a hard worker; everything he's contributed to your shared document is well thought out and all sourced properly. You can still hate him and admire his work ethic, right?
You make it back up the stairs to the study room with your food and drink in hand, beelining towards where you had set up. Levi doesn't look up when you get to the table, and he waits until you sit down to say, "we've got to cut this shit down."
"How much?" you ask, setting your dinner on the table.
"We need three pages, single spaced," he murmurs, eyes scanning his laptop screen, "and we're at four and a half."
You sigh, head tipping back. "Fuck."
"Yeah. Fuck."
"Okay," you say, taking a long sip of your drink before you set it down. "What don't we need, then?"
"Am I allowed to say everything you wrote?"
"You could, if you want a shit grade."
"Yeah. Right."
You and Levi work in concerted grumbles and small arguments, debating whether certain sections are needed before ultimately coming to a conclusion. It's a lot of bitching- arguing over how much detail you need, what content is necessary- but you're actually making some progress. It's slow, but it's progress.
So you and Levi continue to work as you eat (Levi's coffee cup was empty five minutes into working) and you find yourself checking the clock constantly, watching the minutes take forever to pass. This is aggravating.
The two of you have made it down to three and a half pages when you hear, "Vee? I thought that was you."
You glance up, then force a smile. "Lara. Hey."
Lara wanders towards your table, and Levi looks to you. "She calls you that too?" he mutters. "It's not just a Hange thing?"
"It was," you argue, "but Hange introduced me as Vee to Mike, who works with me, and he's been calling me that, and it's..." you huff. "All my coworkers call me that now."
Not that you mind, not entirely- there are worse nicknames to have. Lara is another one of the residential assistants, and you've only talked to her a few times, at the training meetings and such. "What're you working on?" she asks once she's close enough, glancing between you and Levi.
"Report," Levi says shortly.
Well. Clearly he doesn't want her around, and you can't say you disagree. She's nice enough, sure, but you're trying to work. "Lara, this is..." his name feels weird on your tongue. "Levi. And this is Lara Tybur- we work together. She's another one of the RAs."
Levi's eyebrows rise, and then he looks back down at his laptop. He doesn't care. And for once, you almost appreciate his aloofness. "Pleasant," Lara mutters.
"Well, we're... kind of busy," you say awkwardly.
"Ah. I won't keep you long, then. I was wondering if we could trade shifts. You have the eight to one tomorrow night, right?"
"Yeah. When's yours?"
She smiles sheepishly. "Tonight. Eight to one."
The work shift in question is literally just hallway patrol. Wandering around, making sure students aren't being noisy and disruptive, filing some paperwork after you do your laps of the quads. It's not like it's hard work, but you're already so tired today, and this session with Levi is exhausting enough. You'd rather not, but...
"Please?" Lara asks, and you meet her eyes. She looks desperate. "It's with Ness, so it'll be a good shift! I've got an assignment due tonight, and it's taking me longer than I thought it would, and..."
"Yeah," you say tiredly, nodding. Hey, at least you'll get tomorrow night off. "Sure. I'll do it."
She smiles, straightening up. "You're the best, Vee," she says gratefully, clasping her hands together. "Thank you so much. I'll go make the switch official in the office, right now."
"Yeah, no..."
But Lara's already gone, halfway across the study hall before the words are even out of your mouth.
You sigh to yourself, sinking into your seat. "No problem," you finish to yourself with a groan. You glance at Levi; he's side-eyeing you, staring at you like you're an annoyance. "What?" you snap.
Levi scoffs, clicking his tongue. "Whatever. As long as we get this shit done."
"Whatever, what?" you push, glaring at him. "C'mon, asshole. Don't start mincing your words on me now."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," Levi says, scowling. He looks back down to his laptop. "You should learn how to say no for once in your life."
Your eyebrows shoot to the top of your head. "Excuse me?"
Levi doesn't even look up. His head tips slightly, shifting his bangs across his forehead as he continues to write. "You heard me."
Your mouth opens, then closes. "What the fuck," you say stupidly.
He looks towards you. "Are you deaf?"
"What- no, I'm not deaf."
"Then you heard me."
"Yeah, but- you're out of your mind."
Levi straightens up in his seat slightly before he leans back, eyeing you carefully. You feel your skin crawl. "You don't know how to say no."
"I do," you object. "I say no all the time."
"Yeah, right. To who?"
"You. All the time." You cross your arms, pencil pinched tight between your fingers. "When you tried to push on all of your stupid ideas, when you try to give me pieces of your work that you're too lazy to do, when you try to suggest stupid things, when you-"
"I don't count," he interrupts.
You scoff. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you do."
"No, I don't," Levi snaps, "because you don't give two shits what I think about you."
"Got that right," you mutter, casting your glance across the study hall.
"No, asshole. It's only because you don't give a shit that you've got no problem saying whatever the fuck you want to me." Levi's lip curls up in a sneer. "You know why I've never liked you?"
You lean your elbows on the table. "Enlighten me with your wisdom."
His scowl deepens. "Because you're a fucking pushover," Levi says, his voice low. You bristle, but he forges on. "I watch people come to you for questions and for your work and you let them walk all over you like you're a fucking doormat. You know that group project in third year, the one you did with a guy named Oluo? I talked to him and he point blank admitted you carried the whole project."
"Maybe I'm just a perfectionist who likes to see things through," you suggest snidely. You don't want him to see it on your face, but his words are bothering you.
"I've worked with perfectionists," Levi returns. "You may be one of them, but most of the ones I know wait until everyone's done their part before they go over everything and fix it how they want it, not physically do everyone's parts for them just because they're lazy."
Your mouth opens, then closes. "Oluo was busy," you defend lamely, trying to remember what the man's excuses had been. "I just got his section started for him. He had a lot going on-"
"Bullshit," he interrupts. "He just didn't want to do it."
"Well, most people don't."
"Because it's school, what the fuck do you expect?" Levi points his pen at you. "You're a people pleaser and you do shit even if you don't want to because you want people to like you, which makes you a pushover, and that's why I don't like you- exactly like what happened with that Lara girl or whoever she was. Fucking people pleasers piss me off."
God, he's insufferable. Talking to you like he knows you, but the worst part is, he's not completely wrong. But that just frustrates you even more.
"Yeah?" you challenge. "Do I get to tell you why you piss me off now, or is this a one-way street?"
Levi's lip curls. "Enlighten me," he mocks.
His mocking only serves to frustrate you more. "Because you're a pretentious douchebag," you snap, leaning forward. His eyebrows rise, which drives you forward. "You think you're so much better than everyone else, and your overly inflated sense of self worth just makes your fucking ego swell so much that there's no room left in your head for your fucking brain. You literally think you can do no wrong."
"Vividly put," Levi says dryly.
"You're an arrogant prick who needs to be taken down a few pegs," you conclude, leaning back in your seat. "If your ego gets any bigger, your head will burst."
Levi's pen hits the table; he's dropped it from his fingers. You're not sure why, but it makes your lips twitch. "Are you done?" he snaps, glaring at you. "Or do you need to keep talking and get the last word in so that you feel superior? You like that, huh?"
"Like I said," you return, "douchebag. Get off yelling at people so you can feel superior?"
He stares at you for a second. You drop your gaze back to your laptop, pretending to be disinterested. Levi's chair screeches as he shoves it backwards, and you watch out of the corner of your eye as he stands up, marching away.
For a second, you falter. Did he actually just up and leave?
No- his stuff is still here. Did you seriously rile him up enough that he had to take a walk? He had to leave and take a lap of the building?
You can't help it; you laugh. One point for you.
You get back to your work, clicking through another research article. It isn't until five minutes later that Levi returns with another coffee cup in his hand, from the cafeteria on the first floor. He sits down, angrily taking a sip of whatever he has. Your eyes flicker over to him, holding his gaze for a second before you look back to your work.
"I needed more caffeine if I was going to deal with you for another half an hour," Levi says when neither of you speak immediately.
"Couldn't have gotten me one too?" you ask without looking up.
You hear him groan. "God, if I could hit a woman," he mutters.
You tip your head so that you can look at him, and you raise your eyebrows challengingly. "No one's stopping you."
His eyes meet yours, hard grey drilling into you. His eyebrows rise to match yours.
You shrug. "Come on. Have at it."
"You're insufferable."
"That makes two of us, then."
Forty more minutes go by, and finally, the report gets done. It's not without a fair share of fussing and grumbling, but at the end, you're so fed up with Levi that you don't even care if it isn't your best work. You just want it done.
So when you've finally, finally cramped down your messy conglomerate of words into the three page limit, you slam your laptop down with more force than you intend to and snap, "you can submit it," to Levi before you gather up your stuff and march away, determined to get away from Levi as fast as you can.
The fucking nerve, calling you a pushover. Why does he have to be such an asshole? Why couldn't you have gotten literally any other god damn partner in the class-
Furious at Levi and Lara and your stupid report and the god damn shift you now have to work tonight, you pull out your phone and find Hange's contact, clicking on the call button. It rings three times before Hange picks up. "Hey Vee! What's up?"
"Hange," you say, pressing your student card against the door lock to get onto your floor. "You can be straight up with me, right?"
"Sure," Hange replies. "What about?"
"Am I a pushover?"
There's a pause on Hange's end. You glance down the hallway, waving to Sasha, who's coming out of the communal kitchen area with a tray in her hands. You can tell from the smell that it's pizza. "Hi, Miss RA!" she whispers as she steps by. "Bye, Miss RA!"
You shoot her a quick smile right as Hange responds. "Vee, where's this coming from?"
"Just answer the question," you say, tilting your head so that you can trap your phone between the side of your face and your shoulder as you dig through your pockets for your room keys. "Please."
"Well..."
That's basically an answer in itself. "Seriously?" you say dubiously, finding your key and jamming it into the lock on your door when you get close enough.
"Well, darling, I mean this in the best way possible, but... I mean, I definitely took advantage of it in that first lab course we had together. A little bit."
You nearly stutter step in the doorway. "What?!"
"Okay, well, only a little bit! But like, once we became friends, I didn't, I promise." Hange sighs. "Vee, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I promise I don't do it anymore. But you were so eager to help and you were willing to do extra, so..."
Yeah. You think you get it. You sigh, trying to control your voice as you reply, "thanks, Hange. I'll see you in class on Thursday, yeah?"
Hange's voice is chipper on the other end. "Of course! We'll make plans for you to come over so we can pound out that report for the weekend."
Right. Another report. "Yeah, sounds good. See you then."
Then you hang up, slam your door shut behind you, and drop your backpack to the ground. Your phone gets tossed onto your couch as you march to your bedroom, just so you can flop down on top of the covers and bury your face in the pillow.
Once you're convinced your voice will be muffled, you scream into your pillow.
Fuck Levi Ackerman.
.
I promised a slow burn, I'm gonna deliver a slow burn. Thank you guys so so much for reading- see you next Friday <3