Vogel im Käfig

Roommate

Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Your alarm clock buzzes on your bedside table, alerting you that morning has come and it was time to slip from the warm haven of your bed and venture into the chilly, cruel Monday. You turn, smashing the clock with the base of your left palm. The smell of bacon wafts from the kitchen of your shared apartment, and though your stomach has a hollow ache, you're so tired that you don't have the urge to leap from the bed and race towards the kitchen. Plus, you knew Levi wouldn't share even if you asked. 

"You awake, crab-tree?" A voice calls from the kitchen, echoing lightly off the linoleum floor.

You grunt and rub the sleep from your eyes. "More or less," you say grumpily, too tired to complain about Levi's rather rude nickname for you. 

"Good. Cereal?" 

"Sure."

Ugh. Why did he have to be such a... such a morning person? You'd always thought genuine morning people were just a myth. Naturally, you'd get paired up with the most morningy-morning person in the college.

Figures. 

"Sugar or grain?"

You roll your eyes, knowing he already knows the answer to that. 

It takes you another ten or so minutes, but you do manage to get out of bed... eventually. Your eyes sag with the effort of staying open, so you let them close as you fumble for clothes, but soon decide to just eat in your pajamas, despite the embarrassment of going out there and facing the most handsome man on the campus in a grimy, once-white tee shirt and baggy slouch-pants. You tousle your hair, running a brush through it, and stumble out of your dorm. Levi Ackerman, the Levi Ackerman, holds out the colorful box of the cereal he knows too well is your favorite, and you blink the last bit of sleepiness from your eyes. After pouring your breakfast, you munch mindlessly, watching blankly as he pads through the shared kitchen. 

"Don't you have classes?" Levi says after a few moments have passed. 

Your eyes widen, shock filling your gut. Your sleepiness dissolves suddenly into panic as you fix your eyes on the clock. 7:51, it read. Class was at 8 sharp! 

"Professor Oak is going to KILL ME!" you screech, scrambling to your dorm and snatching up a pair of jeans, a baggy gray Wings of Freedom University sweatshirt, and your favorite sca-

"LEVI! Where's my scarf?"

You hear a faint tsk sound from the kitchen. "Baka. Did you really lose it again?"

"N-no! It's just-"

Levi materializes at your door suddenly, his eyes half-narrowed, his expression cold and expressionless. "Idiot." He unwraps the crimson knit scarf from around his neck and holds it out. 

"No, I can't take your scarf," you say bashfully, shrinking away from him. 

He rolls his olive eyes and tosses the warm scarf around your head, wrapping it snugly around your face and neck. You feel a blush creeping up, and you duck your head slightly to avoid his steely gaze. You'd been Levi's roommate for a whole week, and still you didn't feel like you could understand or relate to him at all. Why was he icy cold one moment, only to be the most thoughtful person in the world the next? And why did he always play off his nice deeds as if he didn't mean to be nice? Most importantly, why did he seem to take such pleasure in harassing you, above anyone else? 

"Thanks," you mumble sheepishly. Slipping on your worn-out Converse, you hurry out the door and head off towards the gymnasium building for your first block class, thankful for the baggy sweatshirt that concealed your biggest secret.