That One Night... {LeviHan}

Chapter 1: Thunderstorm

Levi's POV

"Goddamn electricity..." Lighting a few candles here and there, I decided to make ramen. Thankfully, I have a gas stove, and electricity was not needed. 

For what seemed like forever, I finally had a bowl of ramen. Some people eat ramen with just noodles and seasoning. Not me. I chopped a long piece of green onions and used a bit of fishcake from the fridge. Since the electricity was out, I had to eat some things out of the fridge. Although the lights came back on when I was halfway done cooking.

Debating if I should eat it with chopsticks or a fork, I poured myself a cup of hot water. My favorite black tea leaves steeping in it. The more bitter it is, the better it becomes. At least, in my own opinion.

I finally settled for using the traditional chopsticks. Just as I was about to take a bite into my delicious masterpiece, thunder clapped loudly in the air as a bright light filled the room. I clenched my fists slightly when I heard that. My heart skipped a beat or two. After the initial scare, I went back to eating the ramen.

Knock, knock, knock.

Odd. I wasn't supposed to be expecting anything tonight- and who the hell is crazy enough to deliver something to me during a thunderstorm. A goddamn thunderstorm. Someone could get struck by lightning. 

I pushed the noise back, ignoring it. But the door was still knocked on.

Knock, knock, knock.

I didn't want to ignore it now. With a reluctant sigh, I went to the front door, peeking through the peephole. At first, I thought I saw nothing, but from the corner of my porch, something moved. The figure knocked again in the same pattern. This was no ding-dong ditch. Someone was there. 

Grabbing something nearby, I grasped one of the metal poles and opened the door. With the downpour of rain, the figure ran up to the weather door, crying out to me. "Please- I... I have nothing... can I stay the night?!" She shouts to me, showing that she was drenched in rainwater.

She pleads some more. One quick look around the neighborhood and I saw I was the only one with their lights on. It's dangerous to continue walking around with nothing but wet clothes. For some reason, I opened the weather door... and invited her inside.

"T-Thank you, sir... I'll just stay for one night... and I'll be gone by morning-."

"The storm isn't going to be gone tomorrow morning." 

I scoffed, walking to the bathroom upstairs to retrieve a bath towel. By the time I got downstairs, she had scurried into the half-bath, squeezing out the water from her clothes over the sink.

She heard my footsteps, and she turned around. With the light on her face, I was able to see her quite clearly. "S-Sorry I moved, but I didn't want to keep dripping water at the front door- and it would be rude if I started squeezing it out at the front door."

"Shut up, four-eyes." I handed her the white towel, sighing. "Dry yourself off with that first. Then you can take a bath upstairs."

"Sir-."

"Bath first. Did you have something to eat yet?"

"No-."

"I have ramen and hot tea in the kitchen. Finish your bath and you can eat." She opened her mouth in protest, but I cut her off. "You're a guest in my house, four-eyes. I have a spare bedroom you can sleep in. All I ask is that you leave things the way you found them and that you will leave when the storm goes. Understand?"

She nods her head, sighing softly. "Yeah, yeah, I got it." Her caramel eyes bounced back to me with a slight spark of joy in them. "Thank you very much, sir. I... I didn't get your name... what is it? Do you want mine?"

Hesitantly, I nodded. "Yeah. Just first names only."

"Well then, I'm Hanji. And you?"

"Levi." I pointed upstairs in the general direction of the bathroom. "There should a spare soap bar for you in one of the drawers. You can use my shampoo and conditioner. Not too much, please. Come down when you're done, Hanji."

She smiles gently, "Thanks for calling me that instead of the four-eyes name-calling." She began her ascent upstairs before she paused. "I... sorry about this, Levi, but... do you have any spare clothes I can borrow...?"

*   *   *

She came down 45 minutes or so after her bath. I apologized to her that the only clothes in the house were mine. She was able to fit into one of my shirts, but not the pants. She said it was too tight around her thighs. Embarrassingly, she also had to wear one of my boxers. I didn't want her to wander around without something covering her down there. 

While she was eating, I began to wash her clothes in the washing machine. Now, all we had to do was sleep the night away. Hanji ate in silence as I read through a book. I didn't want to make a conversation with her, but I could tell she wanted to. My guess was that she didn't want to make things awkward to the point where I would throw her out.

I'm not that cruel.

I didn't stop reading my book until I heard the water turn on and the dishes began to clatter. "What do you want for breakfast?" I asked her, putting the book back onto the shelf. "I'm not sure what time you'll wake up, and I don't want to wait longer to get things in place for breakfast. So, what do you want?"

"Anything is fine, Levi. I know I'm a stranger in your house, but... you shouldn't treat me as some honorable guest..."

I turned around, seeing her looking down at her feet. "What makes you say that you're not honorable?"

"When did I say that?"

"You said 'honorable guest' when you could've just said that you were a guest in my house." She gave me a quizzical look as I sighed. "I'm training to work with kids, so I've been trained to see the tiny details. Sorry."

She took a seat on the couch, nodding her head. "But you're right. I'm... not honorable. That's because... in truth, I ran away. I ran away from my problems. I'm not sure... how long I can keep running."

Sitting across from her, I sighed. "What kind of problem is this? It's not small, right?"

"It's... life-changing, Levi..."

"Then stay."

"Huh?" She tilts her head, pulling her shirt over her knees. "No, we made a deal. I stay until the storm is over and I'll leave-."

"If you're running, Hanji, you're safer here. I don't want to look at the news one day and see that you're dead or reported missing. Hanji, stay here for as long as you want. But in return... I sound cruel, but take care of my house. I'll make your meals and give you whatever you need. Just take care of my house."

"Why...?"

"Next month, I'll be starting my... hands-on experience. So I would be out of the house for the whole entire month. I don't have many things to take care of, but constant cleaning here would be fine. You can buy groceries and pretty much do whatever you want. Just... no other guests and nothing extravagant."

Hanji gives a soft smile, standing up from the couch. "Thank you, Levi..."

"Just promise me something else," with a heavy sigh, I gave a gentle smile, "don't ever think of yourself as a dishonest person. I don't see anything wrong with you. But one day, you need to face your problems again. Got it?"

"I got it... goodnight, Levi..."

"Goodnight."