𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙴𝙲𝚁𝙴𝚃𝚂

1

Ten...

Nine...

Eight...

Seven...

Six...

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

Y/N opened her eyes, her vision blurring and the water burning in her eyes. Her lungs were starting to burn with her staying underwater for so long, but she wanted to see just how much she could take. She wanted to feel like she was going to become one with the water, even if it hurt.

But then she heard footsteps coming closer and she knew she better get back up and see who it was or she might be dead. This was the underground after all and chances were that someone might just go completely insane and decide to go on a rampage or something. It wouldn't be unheard of.

Y/N came up out of the water with a loud splash. She took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, moving her wet hair out of her face, so she could see. And what she saw was that she had left a mess on the bathroom floor. There was water everywhere, not just in the bathtub where it was supposed to be. Damn it. She'd have to clean that up, before her uncle came home.

"Oi, Y/N." she heard a stern voice. Y/N turned her head and saw Levi standing in the doorway. He had his eyebrows raised as he was eyeing her up and down, as if he was trying to determine whether maybe today was the day she had gone truly insane. Thankfully, it wasn't that day yet.

"Hi, Levi." she greeted him, as if she wasn't sitting in her bathtub fully clothed and soaked to the bone.

"I'm glad you're being so hygienic lately, but this is the third time this week I've come over to see you and found you almost drowning yourself in that filthy old tub. What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asked, crossing his arms. Y/N shrugged with a wide grin on her face, as she lifted herself out of the bathtub. It really was an old and filthy, battered thing. Kind of gross, now that she thought about it.

"Sometimes there isn't an explanation for everything. Sometimes you just gotta let things happen, Levi." she replied, as she climbed out of the tub, getting even more water everywhere.

"The water's supposed to be in the tub, too, you know..." Levi muttered, watching Y/N pull her clothes away from her body. It was no use, they were sticking to her. She hated that feeling, but she just felt way too vulnerable if she was to take off her clothes just like that. She only did that when she absolutely had to. And this bath wasn't really about getting cleaned up.

"Stop being a prick and hand me the towel." she replied. Levi scoffed a little, as he reached for the towel that was hanging over the door and handed it to her. Y/N used it to rub her hair a little dryer, before taking off her blouse and her pants and wrapping the towel around her chest.

She didn't really have a problem with Levi seeing her in her underwear like that. After all, they had more or less grown up together. Kenny was quite the character in the underground and of course he knew her parents. And since Levi was the same age as Y/N, they just kind of stuck together.

"So what the hell is this supposed to be? You read a new book or something?" Levi wanted to know as she was drying herself off quickly. Y/N grinned. He just knew her too well. She had in fact been reading a book and it was all about the ocean. And it had made Y/N wonder what it might feel like to actually be surrounded by water like that. True, a bathtub wasn't a great substitute for the entire ocean, but it was the best she could do right now. With a little bit of imagination, it was fine.

"I did. Stop giving me that judgy look. It was about the sea and I just... it's nice to imagine drowning somewhere in that wide ocean, okay? Even if I'm just pretending and even if it's just in that shitty old bathtub. Let me keep my simple pleasures." she answered. Levi shook his head.

"I don't know what the hell is wrong with you sometimes." he groaned. Y/N rolled her eyes, but she knew she couldn't be mad at Levi. Maybe she was able to get mad at him a few years ago, but right now? Right now she was having the biggest fucking crush on him that she could imagine.

And she found it really annoying to be crushing on Levi of all people. Levi who was well-known down in the underground. Levi, who probably would have been the crush of every single girl down here, if he had grown a little taller and wasn't always grumpy. Levi, who was still the crush of maybe half the girls in this area. Levi, who was her childhood friend and probably thought she was insane at this point. It really wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.

But here she was, in her underwear after she had just almost drowned herself in her own bath tub. Y/N quickly tied up her hair while Levi was watching her with that usual bored expression of his. She already knew why he was here - it was the same reason every afternoon - but she couldn't help but ask about it anyway. It was the highlight of her day to get Levi to confess one of his weaknesses.

"Why are you even here if you can't stand the way I do things?" she wanted to know, a smile on her face.

"You know exactly why..." Levi muttered, looking down at his feet, as if they were suddenly really interesting.

"No... I don't think I do know... either way, I just like to hear you say it." she told him, before walking out of the bathroom and gathering up a few clothes that were hanging over her chair. She quickly took off her underwear under the towel and put on her fresh set of underwear and clothes.

Levi didn't seem to take any notice, but in some rare moments Y/N had caught him looking. Not that she had said anything about it to him directly, because she knew he'd stop talking to her for a few weeks if she brought it up. Levi always seemed so aloof but he really wasn't that different to anyone else. He got flustered when seeing a naked woman just like any other man.

"No chance. You make me say it every damn time. There's no reason for you to be such an asshole about it." Levi protested. Y/N sighed. It seemed like he really wanted to fight her this time.

"I guess then I don't know what to do while you're here..." she muttered, sitting down at another chair and closing her eyes. She couldn't believe she had interrupted her bath for Levi to refuse that one simple request she had. She knew that it was probably his pride preventing him from admitting it, but he was also stubborn as hell. It would probably take a while for him to come around.

"Fine. I have no problem just sitting here and waiting for you to remember." Levi replied, sitting down in the chair opposite her and glaring at her. Now, normally the glare would have scared anyone shitless. But Y/N had known Levi ever since he was a child that could barely hold a knife properly. She had seen him when he was barely more than skin and bones. Levi didn't scare her anymore.

At least not often. Sometimes he could be really scary, but Y/N knew that he never meant it when he was acting all tough around her. She'd never say it to him, but it was pretty easy to see through his act, at least for people that knew him well. People that knew him well enough to know how much he loved his tea and how much of a clean freak he was. And there weren't many people like that.

"I suppose you won't be getting any of that nice tea that I got from my trip to the surface either..." Y/N said with a shrug. That made Levi's expression crumble. It was so easy to bribe him with tea.

"You wouldn't... fine. Whatever. I'm here so you can help me learn how to read." he muttered. Y/N chuckled.

"Was that so hard?" she asked. But she knew that it was that hard. Levi didn't like admitting weaknesses. And he definitely saw this one as a weakness: Levi had never learned how to read.