A Rose In The Storm (Rivamika)

The Girl In The Red Scarf

September 24th, 1934

"Levi, where were you last night?"

Levi turned to find Eren running up to him, newspaper in hand, brown hair tousled in the wind and bright green eyes open wide enough that Levi thought for a moment his eyes might fall out.

"I got called into work with Dr. Hanji. I couldn't pass up the money."

Eren shook his head, "You missed a really great night, the place was swinging, the music was fantastic. You really missed out."

The continued down the busy New York streets towards the university where they both studied. Both Levi and Eren were Biology majors at the University of New York, Levi working towards his masters and Eren on his way to attaining his bachelors. Levi had recently obtained a job with his professor, Dr. Hanji Zoe, much to his relief. He had not long ago lost his job due to cutbacks being made and had needed some way to make money for food, rent and schooling. Dr. Hanji had approached him asking if he would help her with lab work that the university had asked her to do and he jumped at the opportunity, and even though the pay wasn't amazing he loved doing it. Dr. Hanji was the only female professor on campus but was the most knowledgeable out of all the professors in her field, which was an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time. This made some professors love her and others hate her, but only because they wanted to be her.

Levi was two years ahead of Eren in his classes and the two had met when an earlier professor of Levi's had asked him to tutor Eren. The pair had not hit it off very well at the start, Levi being harsh and blunt whenever he thought Eren was being stupid or was not working to the best of his abilities. Despite the fact that this annoyed Eren he knew that Levi was top of his class so he patiently listened while Levi would sometimes call him names when he didn't understand a concept, but Eren would always leave the session understanding more about biology than when he had started. In spite of Levi's brashness he was a good teacher and Eren enjoyed learning from him whenever they had their tutoring sessions. Eventually Levi came around, learning to enjoy the company of Eren and eventually thinking of him as a friend as time went on. The stock market had crashed in 1929 leading to the beginning of the Great Depression and Levi, Eren, and their friend Jean had all moved in together into a small apartment in order to make ends meet. It wasn't anything fancy but Levi was happy to be away from the small town he had grown up in and left behind so many years ago, so he couldn't complain.

Eren pleaded, "What about tonight? Huh? Me and some other guys were planning on swinging by the dance club this evening. It is Friday Levi, you need to take some days off."

Levi looked at Eren whose face showed eagerness. As Levi glanced at Eren he nearly ran into a pole but was able to jump out of the way in time to miss being injured.

A sigh escaped his lips, "I'll try to make it Eren."

"Good! You know I will hold you to that promise."

Levi smirked slightly. Though he liked to maintain a stoic demeanour and an air of apathy Levi truly did enjoy going out with his friend on weekend nights. Weekday nights, not so much as he knew he had to study in order to keep his top grades.