Attack on Titan One-Shots

One Cup Of Tea - Levi X Reader [Modern AU]

One Cup Of Tea - Levi X Reader

Modern AU

You were dusting off the counter in the small café you worked in, humming the melody of your favourite song softly to yourself, having the place to yourself since the sign hanging on the door was flipped so it said 'Closed' to anyone passing by. It was past the end of your shift, and you really ought to have locked up the café and started heading home by now, but you'd kept forgetting to wipe down the front window after a kid wiped his sticky fingers on it and you couldn't rely on yourself to remember tomorrow, so you'd stayed behind to do it when you'd suddenly remembered as you flipped the door sign - and somehow, you'd ended up cleaning the majority of the room. You didn't really mind being here after your work hours - you were rather fond of the cosy little café and wanted to make sure it was spotless.

The bell on the door jingled merrily, signalling that someone had just entered the café. You looked up in surprise - the sign on the door clearly said 'Closed', so why was a customer coming in?

It was a man, wearing black skinny jeans and a leather jacket over a dark-coloured t-shirt, and he was looking at the floor rather than at you. He had raven-black hair, and you saw the glint of a pair of small silver studs in his ears. He walked straight over to the counter, and when he finally looked up you were caught in his steel-grey gaze. You had to admit, he was pretty good-looking.

"Uh...sorry, sir, but we're closed," you said. "I'm about to leave." You turned the dusting cloth over in your hands nervously. Something about this man was intimidating.

"You missed a spot," he remarked, pointing to a tiny patch you had missed on the counter. You hurried swiped it with the cloth. "Can I have a tea?" he asked, staring at the counter as if it might bite him.

"We are closed," you repeated firmly. "Come back tomorrow." You moved to turn away, but he reached over the counter and caught hold of your arm.

"Look," he said, still not looking at you, and suddenly his gaze filled with sadness and he didn't seem so intimidating any more. You almost felt sorry for him, though you weren't sure why. "I've been having a rough time lately. My heart was stomped on when my now-ex-girlfriend starting dating one of my friends, and now both of them hate me for whatever reason. My best friend died last week in a car accident, and I still...I still can't believe he's gone. The only other friend I have left moved away to another country without even a goodbye - I don't think he much liked me anyway. I have no family I know of, no friends left - so as you can see, I'm a little down right now. So come on, just one cup of tea."

You sighed. "One cup of tea?"

He nodded, letting go of my arm. "Make it black tea."

You turned away and went to make the tea, deciding the quicker you got on with it, the less annoyed the guy would be. In a spirit of kindness and sympathy, you grabbed a plate for the mug of tea to sit on and placed a chocolate iced cupcake beside it. The man had sat down at a table for two, so you brought the plate over to him and set it down in front of him. "One black tea."

He looked at it, and then at you. "I didn't ask for a cake. They're expensive in coffee shops."

At least he was being honest - and he was right, cakes were expensive of coffee shops and cafés. "It's on the house," you said. "Well, it's on me, anyway - both the tea and the cake."

He frowned. "You don't have to feel sorry for me," he said, picking up the cup gingerly with his thumb and forefinger, and taking a sip of the tea. "Good tea," he commented, and for some reason you blushed.

"I'm not feeling sorry for you," you said. "I just thought it might cheer you up to have someone be nice to you."

"Why are you being nice to me?" he asked.

"Because some people give a crap when they see someone else having a rough time," you explained with a sigh. "Plus, I have to make sure customers get good service, don't I?"

He shrugged, sipping his tea.

"I'm (F/N) (L/N)," you said in an attempt to make better conversation. "What about you?"

"I didn't ask for your name," he said flatly, and then after a pause, "My name's Levi," he said. "Levi Ackerman."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Levi Ackerman," you said cheerfully. "Maybe we'll see each other again sometime. Are you planning to return to this café? It'd be nice to see you come back, and I think you need someone to talk to."

"Fine," he said, downing the last of his tea in one gulp and setting the cup on the table. He scraped his chair back, standing up, and you suddenly noticed that he was rather short for a guy - he couldn't have been more than 5'3. Not that you could say much, since you were slightly shorter than him at 5'2.

"Fine," Levi repeated, heading for the door and opening it. "I'll come back if you really want me to. Though God knows why you want that." He didn't look back at he left the café.

***

"Levi!"

You hurried to fetch Levi's usual order of a cup of black tea as he walked into the café and headed straight for the seat he always sat in by the counter. Since first meeting him, stools had been placed in front of the counter so people could sit there, though it was only really usful to Levi since no one else ever sat there. You were glad he didn't have to drag a chair over any more, since he hadn't done it gently and there were a few marks on the floor where he'd dragged the chair.

It had been three months since you first met Levi Ackerman, and you hadn't really expected him to come back to the café, especially after your weird actions. But he had returned after a week, and had kept coming back every weekend, which delighted you. Every time he turned up, he would drag a chair over to the counter and sit there so you could talk to him while you worked. You never told him how much you enjoyed the days when he came, and how much you liked him. He often seemed bored, yet when you asked him if he was bored he simply shrugged and said he didn't mind talking to you. Though he never showed it, he secretly enjoyed these days as much as you did, if not more; he often considered coming to the café every day instead of once a week, but thought that would make it too obvious that he liked it - and that he was growing to like you, too.

Levi had never really thought he'd fall in love again, after his last girlfriend. He'd had a total of three girlfriends in his life so far, but had only felt real feelings of affection for the last one - until she cheated on him and then dumped him for his ex best friend. Despite that it was better than how the other two girlfriends had treated him, it had hurt a whole lot more. His heart had been broken. But your bubbly personality, and the cute way you tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear when it fell forwards into your face, and the way the tip of your tongue stuck out when you were concentrating hard on something, and how your eyes lit up in delight whenever you saw him - and everything about you, really - was making him fall for you.

It would take time, of course. A whole lot of time. But you were willing to be patient, and so was he, and your feelings for each other only grew. You had never truly loved someone until you met Levi, and now you were beginning to realise that maybe - despite how cheesy it sounded even to think it, let alone say it - just maybe, fate had pushed the two of you together.