SACRIFICE: [Ghoul Levi x Reader]

Chapter: [2] Levi

*Cover art credits @pdechun*

Since that night, I got into the habit of staying at work late. 10-20 minutes at first, then 30, 40 and even an hour. The reason that prolonged almost every shift was Levi. We got used to drinking coffee together and chatting just about anything after the doors of Hime were closed for customers. As I already figured before, on the day when we met, he was quite stingy with emotions and expressing his feelings, but despite his introverted appearance, he seemed to enjoy our conversations or even just sitting together, staring outside the windows in silence, which, surprisingly, was never uncomfortable.

He didn't talk much about himself, but was such a good and attentive listener. He was always involved in conversation about any topic that we effortlessly decided to discuss and genuinely showed interest in my life. I've never enjoyed talking to someone this much. If someone told me a month ago that at some point I'll prefer long conversations over going home into the embrace of my warm bed, I'd say the person is mental. And here I am. Falling more and more for a mysterious, crazily beautiful man.

From small fragments of information about his life that surfaced in the context of our conversation, a small puzzle about who he is has formed in my head. Levi is 10 years older than me, works as a stockbroker in the building next to Hime. From the quality of his suits and his car, I concluded that he has no financial problems whatsoever, although it was easy to guess, since brokers in Tokyo get paid very well. It doesn't look like he has a family or anyone close at all, but he once mentioned his uncle who raised him after his mother's death. They don't seem to talk much now, though.

I can't say Levi's lifestyle is something that surprises me - there are a lot of people in Tokyo like him, working from early morning to late night, living a lonely life, not bothering to build up meaningful relationships with anyone. I can relate to that. Although I do have parents who live in another city, we don't see each other for months. We occasionally text each other to check if everything is alright, but that is pretty much it. Until I met Touka, I didn't talk to people at all, only about university matters, but with her something just clicked. The friendship built up itself effortlessly and unobtrusively. I enjoyed spending time with her sometimes and talking about girls' stuff, like I never did before with anyone in my life. Because going out never seems like a great idea. Because talking is exhausting. Because connecting with people is just hard.

But not with Levi.

***

"Sup, Y/N? How are you today?" Jean greets me as I walk in through the glass door.

"Hey Jean. Not bad at all. Slight issues with sleeping schedule, but I'll be fine." I say, putting my uniform on.

"Remember what you promised me yesterday? Did you get a chance to think about my offer?" He asks, grinning.

Oh, no. Don't start this shit again.

Is it a fucking neverending contest for making excuses that I'm participating in?

"Oh yeah, about that... I'm sorry but I won't be able to join you this weekend." I say, trying to sound as believable as possible. Or any other weekend, or any day at all. Just please stop trying already. "Me and Touka, we took an extra project to make up for our poor performance on the last test in biomedical engineering systems."

"Oh well, poor thing. Don't be sad though! We can always find something interesting to do on the next day off! Right?" He pats me on the shoulder with the biggest and most idiotic smile I've ever seen.

"Heh, we'll see." I squeeze out a sweet smile.

Alexa, how to say "no" to people so it doesn't sound like there's still a chance? I really need to obtain this skill.