Y/N stirred at her coffee, avoiding his eye contact.
"I'm not good at this sort of stuff." She admitted as he nodded, taking a sip of his drink.
"Neither am I. But if we want this to work, we need to talk." He said firmly as she sighed.
"Fine. I'm going to be blunt Levi. I don't trust you." She said, a bit too quickly, Levi not realising what she said until she finished, and he chewed on his lip inquisitively.
"I figured. And I don't blame you, I don't have the best reputation." He replied, trying not to take offence that the girl he had broken a million of his rules for still didn't trust him.
She didn't respond, stirring her coffee again and looking down at the table, avoiding his eye contact still.
"Y/N, baby, you have to look at me." He sweet talked her as she looked up, her expression a mixture of disgust and affection.
"Baby? We're not dating. You don't have the authority to call me pet names."
He laughed softly, and her heart wrenched a little bit.
In all honesty, she wished that they could just be together, but her response to their most recent situation was clear that she wasn't ready for him.
"Okay fine. No pet names for now. That okay with you?" He asked, politely and showing no signs of hurt, which annoyed her.
"So you don't want to call me anything affectionate?"
"Course I do. I'm just respecting what you want." He continued, talking coolly and unbothered.
"You're so annoying." She muttered under her breath, and Levi frowned at her.
"Listen. I'm doing whatever you want, so don't get mad at me for listening to you. You know I don't listen to anyone." He said with a twang of bitterness in his voice, making Y/N frown as well.
"We shouldn't date." Y/N finally said after a few minutes of silence, Levi looking at her, almost horrified.
"Are you insane?" He whispered, looking around incase anyone got the wrong idea, but lucky for them, they were tucked into an alcove, away from the straining ears of any snooping college students.
"I'm doing this so I don't go insane Levi. How am I supposed to date you when the slightest interaction you have with any female sets me off?"
"Sounds like a you problem Y/N." He scoffed as Y/N raised a brow.
"A me problem? I'm sorry that I don't trust you, but it's not easy considering you've slept with half your class. And mine."
"Look Y/N I know it's a sore subject for you but I'm not that big of a male whore you make me out to be. Tone it down a bit."
He genuinely sounded hurt. The only girl you've ever sought after telling you that she sees you in a bad light its quite stinging.
"Please. You tried to fuck me within ten minutes of knowing me. How could I trust you when I know what you've done?"
Levi ground his teeth together. She was being so difficult and he knew why. Perhaps it was easier for her to put her guard up and push her away than just let him in, but he was so close to getting what he wanted, having her. He wasn't going to let her ruin this.
He pulled her chair closer to his. His glare bore into her eyes, but Y/N refused to look away, even though they were now just a width of a hair apart.
"I've laid myself fucking bare for you. I have told you things no one has ever heard. I don't know what else to do." He whispered so quickly that Y/N could barely process it.
Levi opened his mouth once again to speak, but closed it. Y/N looked away, in fear that if she didn't, she probably would've kissed him right there.
"Time. I need time. To see you're real."
"If i'm real? I'm right here." He said obliviously, and despite the tension in the air between them, Y/N let out a laugh, using her fingers to push Levi at his forehead.
"Real about us. If you want me like you claim, you'd wait for me. Right?"
As soon as she said it, she regretted saying it.
Never knowing the answer to this question would hurt less than him saying no.
"I'd wait forever if that was what you wanted." He said almost immediately, relief washing over Y/N faster than the anxiety could even break through.
Y/N relaxed into her seat as Levi found her hand, clutching onto it reassuringly.
"I want us to work Y/N. I really do, and I know I'm probably the worst person to want to settle down with, but I'd do anything for you. I mean it." He reassured her as she nodded, her eyes beginning to burn with emotion.
"Promise?" She asked in earnest.
"I promise." He squeezed her hand softly.
She nodded again, her eyes returning to her coffee, unsure of what to say. Levi's eyes hadn't moved off of her, though he was stumped for words too.
"How long do you want me to wait?" He asked, and though her eyes remained on her drink, Y/N began to speak.
"Until I'm ready, and I know you are too."
"What do you mean? I'm completely ready." He said firmly, trying not to sound offended. He was head over heels for this girl, but he couldn't help but feel wounded about the fact that she was so skeptical about this relationship.
"You may think you are now Levi, but you're so used to having such relaxed relationships, if thats what you can call them, but would you be okay three months down the line? What about six? Could you even see us together next year?" She explained, and before Levi could talk again, she continued her row of defence.
"How many more times will you be able to stand a breakdown like the other day? How long until you start missing the lack of commitment, and how long until the idea of being with me, forever, scares you truly?" She continued, her eyes filling with tears as Levi gently smiled.
"Y/N, I think you're just telling me all your worries. And if my past really makes you doubt whether my feelings for you are true are not, then I'd do anything. Anything, for you to trust me." He reassured her again as she raised an eyebrow.
"Anything?"
"Whatever you want." He nodded as she smiled, a bit too sneakily for Levi's liking. He looked at her quizzically as she straightened herself up in her chair.
"Cut off every girl you know. At least just temporarily." She proposed, as Levi laughed weakly.
"What?" He asked half-heartedly.
"Well if you're as devoted to me as you claim to be, you'd have no problem distancing yourself from all your friends. Right?"
"Y/N..they're friends." Levi tried to emphasise.
Y/N rolled her eyes. It was amazing to see how this man went from bragging about he only made acquaintance with girls to bed them, but now they were friends.
"Please," she dismissed him, "you and I both know you don't have a single female friend you haven't fucked." She looked at him, daring him to choose what to say next.
"Okay. True. But some of them I genuinely do talk to, more than I've fucked." He tried to defend himself, but earned a frown from Y/N.
"You want me to trust you but you want to still talk to girls you've had your dick in?" She asked, emphasising certain words so that the message would get to Levi, who sighed.
"It's going to be awkward just texting them that we can't talk. Or meet up."
"You said you'd do anything Levi."
"I know. I did, and I meant it. They'll be gone, I promise." He said, a little less surely than Y/N would've hoped, but at least he said it.
She returned to avoiding eye contact with him, and he raised his hand to tilt her face towards him, so that they were eye to eye again.
"Y/N, I promised. No one means more to me than you do. I swear."
He looked down at their hands which were still linked, and moved his hand slightly, to hook his pinky with her's. Levi then lifted his hand to kiss their pinkies intertwined.
"See. Now you have to believe me."
Y/N couldn't help but laugh as Levi joined in, relieved that he could still make her laugh.
"So what, you just don't want to talk during our little sabbatical?" Levi asked as Y/N shook her head almost immediately.
"Course not. I don't think I could survive a day without talking to you." She shyly admitted as Levi raised a brow.
"A day? I can't survive a minute without you." He said in a voice so smooth that Y/N blushed immediately.
"Shut up." Y/N muttered darkly under her breath as Levi grinned, getting up, taking her hand as he did so.
"We should probably head back. I don't want Mikasa thinking I kidnapped you." He suggested as Y/N nodded, following Levi's lead out of the coffee shop, taking note of a gaggle of girls eyeing her, but choosing to ignore them. She would have to learn that being on the arm of Trost's most sought after wouldn't go well down with the Levi Ackerman fanclub.
Levi noticed also, pulling Y/N closer so that his arm was around her waist, clearly indicating what she meant to him, earning a few eye rolls.
"Her? Out of everyone?" Y/N heard a whisper as she scoffed.
Levi shot them a death glare, making them shut up before they finally left the shop. Y/N wriggled herself free from Levi's grasp as he looked at her, confused.
"We're not dating. We shouldn't let people think we are." She stated as Levi frowned.
"So what? I can't even be near you?"
"Think of this as a test Levi. There are no rules between us now. I'm seeing whether or not you can still remain mine, even if we're not together." She continued to say, with a little smile on her face.
"Are you playing me right now Y/N?" He asked, stepping closer to her as she took a step back.
"Maybe."
He inched closer, holding her this time so that she couldn't pull away.
"And what do I get if I win?" He asked sincerely as Y/N pretended to be stuck in thought, before shoving Levi away gently, creating space between them.
"I'll leave that to your imagination." She placed a finger to his forehead, tapping as Levi groaned in agony softly.
"You kill me." He complained as she smiled, making Levi's heart burst.
"That was the plan all along. I'm going home now."
"Can't I kiss you bye?"
"No. No more kisses for a while. I'm on a Levi Ackerman detox." Y/N declared, beginning to walk away and wave bye as Levi watched, smiling to himself a little bit as he himself began to walk to his car.
Y/N's apartment was a short walk across campus, and she was there within minutes, rushing into the warmth from the autumn air.
"Is that Y/N?" She could hear Historia call out as Mikasa came rushing into the hallway, holding a hefty pamphlet, before hiding it behind her back quickly.
"So how was my cousin?" She asked excitedly, her eyes glittering as Y/N looked at her suspciously.
"Good...he took it well. Operation Levi is under I guess?" She said with uncertainty.
A few previous nights before, Y/N came home, crying and embarrassed by the impulsive action she pulled, running away just because she feared that Levi had broken her heart.
"Oh Y/N," Mikasa cooed, hugging her best friend as Sasha and Historia joined in, all of them on the floor of Y/N's room, her cries muffled by their embrace.
After the tears, they all sat in a huddled circle, deciding that Y/N would have to somehow get over the over consuming fear that Levi would ruin her, and there were two options.
Get rid of Levi, or get over the fear.
And Y/N, to her utter dismay, decided that she couldn't just rid herself of Levi just yet.
"What if you test him? Just delay all the moving on, and just make him wait. Separate yourselves. If he waits however long, you'll be reassured with the fact that he would in fact do anything for you, and if he doesn't...well then you'd have to move on. Just a little later than we anticitpate." Historia suggested as Sasha nodded, but Mikasa looked bewildered.
"Except if Levi does pull his normal Levi antics," Mikasa looked at Y/N remorsefully, "which we know are to be...unspeakable, how does Y/N get over that?"
"Look, either way theres a chance he'll do something stupid. It's Levi. But they seem to really like each other, don't you think Y/N just ought to try?" Historia argued back as Mikasa looked at Y/N carefully, who was still sniffling.
"Maybe we should take a break. If I'm so distraught over this small misunderstanding I'm clearly not ready to be with him. At all." She said as all her friends nodded.
"Take time to yourself, and if Levi waits, then I don't know how else he can show that he's for real about you." Sasha took Y/N's hand, who nodded.
And now Y/N was standing in front of his cousin, who actually could care less about how he took the news, and whipped out the letter, presenting it to Y/N.
"This came for you in the mail. Is it a university pamphlet?" Mikasa asked inquisitively as Historia and Sasha barged into the hallway, also asking questions.
"You're not leaving us are you?"
"Hey! What if it's just a shopping catalogue?"
"Who even gets those anymore."
"I'm not leaving!" Y/N yelled amongst all the voices, and took the thick envelope from Mikasa.
"I don't even know what it is. But I'm not leaving Trost. Ever."
They all let out a sigh of relief, hugging Y/N tightly who just wanted to slip away to her room.
And when she got the chance to, she just tossed the envelope onto her bed, forgetting about it as she wiped her makeup off, changed into her comfy clothes and snuggled down in bed to commence her favourite activity, rotting away in bed on her phone.
It wasn't until later than night, when she got up to go brush her teeth, that she noticed the mysterious package had dropped onto her floor, causing Y/N to sigh and pick it up. Y/N didn't recall ordering anything, and knew it couldn't be a university brochure.
Her finger slid under the wax seal, wondering anxiously what could be inside such a thick envelope, which revealed to be a condensed pile of what she thought was photos. She flicked through the top of what was about twenty or so photos, before pulling them out onto her bed, her eyes widening.
Y/N picked up a note gingerly, her hands failing on her as she dropped it, before scrambling to pick it up again.
This is what you're signing up for by the way. Get out before he ruins you.
Her eyes fell back to the assortment of glossy pictures before her, which looked so bizarrely similar to paparazzi photos, except these were not of a scandalous celebrity, but someone even worse, but of the man that had sworn his affections to Y/N.
Pictures of his mouth against a different girl in each picture. Hands fisted into her hair. With every photo, Y/N felt her heart sink a bit further. She had always known he had a reputation, but seeing it for herself made it sick.
You think he just cuts them off? He has his own little rotation, and all for a reason. Every girl here is a daughter of someone.
You don't think that man's money comes out of nowhere do you?
After rifling through what seemed like hundreds of photos that made her feel nauseous, including screenshots, inappropriate, intimate photos, even pictures of Levi's journal here and there, Y/N reached just a paper with a phone number.
If that didn't convince you enough. I have more.
❦
cant rest can we ?