→ softly | eruri

03

[ERWIN]

Autumn, the end of the beginning. I felt the cold wind blowing against me, picking up the golden-orange leaves from the ground; the golden and red colours flew about like a fire. But even with the wind and the rain, there was a distinct beauty about autumn. The colour the smell join to make picturesque scene.

The perfect day for an Autumn walk. The clouds scuttled across the sky, the sun breaking out in bursts as I made my way to school. My thoughts drifted a bit, thinking about yesterday. I hope Levi can catch up with his studies and my complex explanation with the subject.

We were planning on studying at my house this evening so I had to make a nice impression when he came by. Father will be home late tonight therefore we got the house by ourselves.

Minutes passed and I arrived at the school gate. The wind howled as students hustling and bustling down the corridors. I didn't waste anytime and went to my classroom right away.

"Erwin!" A high pitched voice yelled. I turned my head to the direction and saw Hange. She's as happy as a sparkling flames and her eyes were more alight than I've seen lately.

"Hange, good morning." I greeted her. Then, she wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, making me kneeled down slightly to reach her height level.

"How was tutoring yesterday? Was it fun?" She whispered in my ear as if it was a secret. Students who passed us by gave us a weird look. I removed her arm from my shoulder leisurely and chuckled. Oh, classic Hange. Always up for an update.

"It went well. Levi will come to my house this evening to study."

Hange wiggled her eyebrows teasingly and smirked after hearing my reply. I didn't see any big deal about it so I gave her a calm and uninterested stare, causing her to laugh awkwardly.

She continued to chat excitably about her new pal, Furlan and how much the boy was so nice and warm-hearted as we entered our classroom.

***

The cafeteria was a cacophony of loud chatter, each table a cosseted huddle of people raising their voices to be heard above the din. As I stood in the queue for my plate of nothing fresh I casted my eyes about as if in a wandering but really, I'm taking note of who associates with who. Yes, I'm nice to everybody but I'm still everyone's second choice.

"Erwin, over here!" A familiar voice called. It was Hange again, waving her hand with excitement at me. I see, she already found a spot with three other students which two of them I didn't recognise.

I approached them and sat beside Hange. Surprisingly, Levi is here too. However, he looked distress and I could sense his perturbation. He kept playing with the straw of his drink and didn't pay attention to the conversation of ours. I got that sinking feeling that something terribly wrong happened.

I wondered, while I observed, should I intervene or do I leave him to ponder his perplexed thoughts, alone.

"So, Erwin. Isabel here is a big fan of you." Hange spoke which brought me back to reality.
I looked at her confusingly and she pointed at a girl across us with her mouth.

The said girl has green eyes and red-brown hair which she kept in two pigtails. Her size is petite, probably the smallest one out of all of us.

She blushed hard after hearing Hange's statement and hid her face with her tiny hands out of embarrassment. "W-What? No way!" She denied.

The guy beside her smacked her playfully and snorted. He on the other hand has grey eyes and dark blond hair, his bangs hang over his forehead, between his eyes. I could tell that he's very captivating. If I remember correctly, he's the same person as Hange talked about.

"Pardon my interruption." I said. Both pair stopped laughing and turned back to me. "I didn't quite catch you guys' name."

"Right, sorry." The boy cleared his throat, trying to die down his laughter. "You probably already know me from Hange. Yes, I'm Furlan and sitting next to me here is Isabel." He made a quick introduction and I nodded.

"Isabel likes you." A small voice mumbled, almost robotically but it was loud enough for all of us of to hear.

It was Levi.

The pigtails girl gave him a look of terror and Furlan's mouth was wide agape just like his eyes. "Bro, what the heck?" Isabel spatted as she stood up aggressively while Furlan just laughing maniacally in the background as Hange joined him too.

Levi sneered quietly at her, only making her face grew more and more red out of humiliation. For a moment, I tried to stop the quarrel between the two of them but Isabel snapped.

"Y-You think this is funny?" Her voice has gotten soft but it was stern, didn't want to draw any attention to herself. Levi ignored her as he slowly stop snickering. "Oi, Levi I'm talking to you."

"Alright, guys. That's enough." Furlan said as he touched Isabel's hands gently to calm her down. The arguing had a dull exhaustion to it, like they'd been over the same bickering too many times before and Furlan was the one who's responsible to put the fight into an end.

I smiled fondly, very entertained by their friendship and how I wished I could experience the same too. I looked over to Levi and caught him staring at me and he looked away, leaving a hint of pink on his cheeks.

I didn't give much of a thought about it but to tell the truth, Levi is genuinely precious I would say.

***

As I exited my class, I saw Levi already waiting for me at the door. He was leaning against the door frame with his hands in his pocket. I was the last one to got out the class since I needed to stuff a bunch of my notes into my bag.

I heard an audible muttering from a student who walked pass us saying that they couldn't believe that I was hanging with someone who was below my league.

Well, I don't have any problems with Levi at all. In fact, I think he's an amazing person.

We walked alongside each other in another uncommunicative communication. We were not really in the mood to talk ever since the incident at the cafeteria.

Later on, we arrived at my house sooner than I expected. I got out my house keys from my pocket and unlocked the door. We were welcomed by a silent treatment from the inside.

Levi followed me after and examined the living room. He placed his bag on the couch and continued to roam around like a tourist with his hands on his back.

"We'll be studying here if you're okay." I said, signalling that we should do our lesson in the dining room. Levi seemed to hear me and nodded. Then, he approached me still eyeing on the furnitures attentively.

I caught a sight of him sliding his finger on the table and he looked at it after. He turned his head to me and opened his mouth to say something.

"Your house is..." he stopped, looking at his spotless finger for the right word. "...clean."

I was taken aback, puzzled. That was very sudden of him to confess something like that. I could see that Levi is the type of person who's very strict about cleanliness and that got me doing a mental note on myself.

"Okay, shall we begin the lesson?" I asked after a brief moment of silence.

"Yes, please."

***

[word count: 1295]