𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐒 | 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒊 𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏

the usual | shop-owner!reader.

❝ ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･➳ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐒𝐔𝐀𝐋. ❞

Opening your own tea shop must have been one of the best ideas you've ever had. It wasn't a busy place or anything, but you still got enough money to buy food for yourself. Living along also helped with the money problem, though it wasn't much of a problem anymore.

Most of the time it was the same customers every day at their own time, but of course, there were lots of other people that came in. The usual customers consisted of; the old nice lady that always came in early for her cup of morning tea. Always the same green tea with two tablespoons of honey. You were honestly surprised she was still alive even after drinking all of that honey. She sure had a sweet tooth.

Then there were the twins, After a few weeks of them always coming in without any parents you had asked them where they were. That is how you learned that their mother was sick so they came here every day to get her favorite tea so she would feel better.

After that, it was the old couple, the sweetest people you knew. They would always come in and try whatever new teas you had on the menu. They always had such nice things to say and it always made your day to see those two bickering about how much sugar one of them had put in their tea.

And finally, the grumpy man. The grumpy, Oompa Loompa looking, hot man. He always came right before you closed, probably to get his 'night tea' or something. He never talked to anyone in the shop. He always came in, ordered, sat quietly by the table in the corner, drank his tea peacefully, and then left.

You had tried many times to start a conversation but he always gave you quick responses and sometimes, just ignored you.

He was a real piece of shit.

Though one day you managed to somewhat get him to open up a bit. You found out that he was in the survey corps. And he told you his name, Levi... wait.

"Wait a minute, hold up. So you're telling me that you're Levi... as in Levi, humanity's strongest soldier?" You asked, surprised that he would come to your tea shop.

"Well, yes. But would you keep it down? I don't want everyone in here to figure me out." He hissed back at you.

"What do you mean? There is no one here. You're the only one who ever comes in this late." You turned around to put a teacup back in its rightful cabinet.

"True, true... Could I have another one?" He asked. You were technically supposed to close the shop 27 minutes ago but talking to Levi really made the time fly by.

"Sure, and what would you want this time?"

"I'll have the usual." Ah the usual, when has he ever ordered something else? Never. Always the same, plain black tea. No honey, no sugar, no nothing. Just black tea.

"Seriously? You're so boring, don't you wanna change it up a bit, and like... not only drink your black tea..?" You turned back to him and pointed at the menu.

He furrowed his brows, staring straight through your soul. "Fine, surprise me."

Victory. You gave him a quick smile as you sprinted off to the back, staring to make Levi some tea. He did say 'surprise me' so you chose to make him your personal favorite, (favorite tea). The water was finally done boiling and you poured the water into the teacup.

After finishing mixing the tea, you walked out to Levi again with the drink. You put it down in front of him and he stared at the tea, intensively. He looked up at you and then down at the cup again, narrowing his eyes.

Levi sighed, holding the cup in his own weird way. He took a sip and stared dramatically on the wall, trying to decide whether he liked the tea or not. He didn't.

"No, no, no. I can't, it's disgusting."

"Aw, come on. It's not that bad, is it?"

"Yes it is, I hate it. So as I said, I'll have the usual." Levi refused to any of your other recommendations and you eventually gave up and gave him his usual, black tea.

_______________________________

The next few days consisted of you constantly trying to convince Levi to drink something else, though he always refused.

One day he told you there was an expedition coming up and even though he told you not to worry, you couldn't help it when he didn't come for his tea later that night. You closed early to try to get a good night's sleep, but you ended up staying up all night staring out the window.

_______________________________

You were standing in the crowd of a bunch of people, waiting for the survey corps to come back. You saw some of them on their horses and some walking. You stood on some boxes, lying on the side of the road, to get a better look. Your eyes scanned the crowd of walking people for Levi but you couldn't find him. When they all had walked past you, you still hadn't seen him.

You hoped you just missed him, could be the case considering his height. But there was also the possibility that he was dead... hopefully not.

You walked back to the tea shop while fidgeting your shaky hands. You entered the empty shop and just stood there.

After about 5 minutes of you standing there completely still, the realization of Levi possibly being dead hit you. Your tears immediately fell down, uncontrollably, as you fell to your knees. You never opened the shop that day and instead sat in the corner and cried all day.

Three days later you were up and going again. You still hadn't seen Levi and the thought of him being dead crushed you. There was not the usual bright smile on your face, but a stoic and sad face. there was no happy chitchat with the other customers. No laughing at the silly arguments the old married couple had. No joy.

After hours of serving tea to all kinds of customers the day finally came to an end. Once finishing cleaning all the teacups and plates like a bartender, you walked to the back to place everything in its rightful place. You heard the door open and the bell above ring.

"Oh I'm sorry, we're closed!" You yelled as you peaked your head through the door. You saw who had entered the shop and froze.

"You sure? Was kinda hoping on getting a cup of the before the night..." the person said, scratching their neck.

"L-Levi? I... I thought you were dead...!" You immediately ran over to him and forcefully embraced him. "Heh, yeah. I got a little hurt during the expedition but I'm fine... Now that I'm here that is." You couldn't see his face but you were positive he was smiling as he returned the hug, even if it was just a little bit.

"Could you like... not scare me like that again?" You mumbled, nuzzling your face further into his neck.

"I'll try," Levi answered.

"Thank you... now," you started as you pulled away, "what would you like to drink?"

"The usua-" he cut himself off before starting over again. "Surprise me..."

"Really? Hell yeah, I'll be right back!"

'I'm going to regret this...'

[Word count: 1246]