Monachopsis Tea 《Levi x Reader AU》

Meeting The Man

"Y/n!" Armin excitedly opened the door to my store calling out my name. I could hear his smile through his voice.

"Over here!" I called back walking out of the aisle I was in meeting him halfway.

"He said he'd meet you to discuss business!" Armin flung his arms around me in excitement.

"Really? That's great!" His own excitement was beginning to rub off on me as I felt my mood lighten.

"When are you free to meet him?" Armin asked letting me go.

"You know me, I'm always free. Unless I'm working but that's different." I laughed slightly.

"Then how about today after work? You both close around the same time, so if you just go to his shop once you close up you can talk about combining your businesses." Armin suggested.

"Sounds great!" I agreed happily.

"Great! I'll be back at closing, I'll walk with you over there." Armin smiled happily. "Fair warning though, he can be a bit intense at times."

Armin's words brought me instant anxiety, and I was having second thoughts. "Maybe it's not the best idea." I mumbled twiddling with my fingers.

"Oh! I didn't mean to make you nervous, it'll be fine! He's not that scary." His attempt to reassure me backfired.

"Not that? So he is scary. I don't know if I can do this, I don't think I could go into business with someone who scares me." I panicked.

"Y/n." Armin grabbed my shoulders to focus me. "He's not a bad person, you two will get along fine. I wouldn't have even considered this idea if I didn't think you would get along." Armin was firm in his speech which threw me off guard for a moment. "Alright? Trust me?"

"I trust you." I calmed myself down and decided to have faith in my friend.

"Good! I'll be back at closing then." Armin waved goodbye and left.

"Thanks Armin!" I called after him.

*+••+*

"Are you ready?" Armin asked walking into the store.

"Just about, I just need to lock the register and put a few books aside for customers." I replied walking out of the back room and behind the counter with a set of keys to lock the register.

"What books? I can help you grab them." Armin offered.

"Here's the list, you take the first five I'll get the rest." He nodded, running off to get the books while I finished locking the register. Once the register was locked and secure, I went to get the rest of the books.

Once we had all the books, I put them behind the counter and we walked out of the store. I locked the door and we started walking to the tea shop.

"So what's the name of the tea shop?" I asked curiously.

"It's Ackerman Tea." Armin replied turning a corner.

"I've never heard of it." I spoke mainly to myself as I sped up to catch up with Armin, who had gotten farther ahead of me.

After a while of walking we made it to the tea shop, it looked really nice from the outside. "Here we are." Armin said opening the door for me.

"Thanks Armin." I thanked him as I walked inside. It was insanely clean, and organized on the inside. The interior decorating could use some work though.

I continued looking around a little, standing at the doorway for a moment taking it all in, my eyes slowly fell upon a man wearing a black turtleneck, paired with black dress pants leaning against a wall, his arms neatly folded. He had short raven black hair, he wasn't very tall, but still taller then me. He was extremely attractive with his sharp blue grey eyes, though he looked exhausted.

"You're late Armin." He sighed, detaching himself from the wall and walking over to us. "You didn't tell me she was this small." He stared very intently at me, it was as if he was trying to figure out every little thing about me.

"Does it matter?" I asked timidly. His gaze deepened into a small glare. "Sorry I'll shut up now!" I piped out under the pressure of his gaze which made him chuckle.

"I'm just messing with you, you're fine the way you are." His voice was monotone, lacking emotion, I could feel something behind his words, but didn't know what exactly.

"Levi, maybe next time you could not stare so intently trying to read people. It can be really intimidating." Armin joked and we sat down at a table to discuss business. "You see y/n, Levi likes to read people, like books, he's really good at it too." Armin explained the strange encounter.

"I guess that makes sense." I mumbled to myself, remembering I had yet to introduce myself, I shot up and reached my hand over the table to Levi. "Pardon my rudeness, I'm y/n
l/n! Sorry, I just realized I hadn't introduced myself."

Levi looked at my hand skeptically for a while until he stood up and shook it. "I'm Levi Ackerman."

We stood there awkwardly shaking hands for a moment, well awkward for me, he seemed fine, until we eventually sat back down.

"So you want to combine businesses?" Levi asked eyeing me. "What's in it for me?"

"Actually it wou-" Armin began before being interrupted.

"I asked her." He didn't even spare Armin a glance, he just kept staring at me.

"Honestly." I took a deep breath trying to collect the right words to say. "I don't know really how it would benefit you, but I do know that I am going out of business and have no where else to go. I don't know what I would do if I lost my store, I just want to keep doing what I love. If you accept, I promise I will do whatever you ask of me- without question or complaint, just please don't let my dream die, I have nothing else." I tried my best to keep composure, but it was futile, my voice cracking a few times.

"This would be a huge risk for me, I could lose business if I accepted. You say you would do anything I ask, but I have no use for a lapdog. I don't really care about your dream, being completely honest. I don't really know you, and you could be extremely annoying to work with. But even still, after all of those things, something is telling me to accept the offer."

For the first time since I arrived he broke his gaze on me, looking over to a picture hung on the wall, it was of him and two other people, a girl and a boy.

"I'll except on one condition." He looked back to me.

"Anything!" I spoke quickly.

"You have to wear a maid costume."

His monotone voice added to the shock of the condition, Armin was about to say something before Levi spoke again. "I'm kidding you can close your mouths, the condition is that you have to keep the shop clean, and don't disturb the costumers."

After a moment of thought I stuck my hand out. "Deal!" Levi shook my hand and it was official, he now had a bookstore in his tea shop, and I had a way to stay in business.

"I'm not changing the name by the way." Levi's words made me giggle.

"Of course, that's fine!" I gave him a closed eye smile.

"I'll close for a few days and help you move in, Armin will help too." Armin looked shocked for a moment, he was involuntarily volunteered. "Isn't that right idea man?" Levi turned to Armin.

"I guess so." Armin agreed in defeat, Levi was definitely someone you didn't want to oppose or go against.

"Then it's all settled."

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Word count 1300