Merry Christmas! This is my gift to my lovely friend and secret santa @youre-ackermine. I hope you like it Val ❤️🎁
@levihanweek thanks for organizing this event!
Meet Cute (But Make It Scary)
Pairing: Levi Ackerman/Hange Zöe (Attack on Titan)
Ratings: SFW.
Warnings: Swearing; Well-meaning tackling (?)
Genre: Fluff
Additional tags: Attack on School Castes AU
Wordcount: 2,1k
Summary: Levi Ackerman gets locked inside the School one night, completely alone. Or so he thinks...
Once again, Levi Ackerman was the last person to leave the workplace. The new hire of Paradis High stood in the employee’s locker room as the world outside ended in deluge. The noise of heavy rain filled the empty room, and the droplets hit the egress window so fast that it was nearly impossible to discern anything through the glass.
The image of the other janitors stranded in a bar waiting for the water to stop invaded his mind. He told them it was going to rain…
Except he’d just lucked out with that prediction. The sky could have been clear and still, he would find an excuse to go home. Alone. It was just the way he was.
Levi started to zip down his janitor uniform with one hand, bringing the other one inside his locker to feel for his umbrella.
“Shit” he mumbled under his breath when he came up short.
As if on cue, a blue light descended from the sky. The whole room was engulfed in black.
“Shit!” Levi slammed the metal door, only to jump out a second later when the reverberating rumble of the thunder finally hit.
It was starting to feel like the setup for a bad horror movie.
Levi cursed Flagon, one of his chummier colleagues, for telling him those stories about the school.
Don’t take too long to leave after you clock out, Levi. This place is full of ghosts, especially at night. Did I ever tell you the story of the student who died in…
“Asshole” Levi mumbled.
***
The cleaning crew had used a flashlight to work on a darker section of the school’s basement the week before, and that’s what Levi was crossing the corridor to retrieve. The path wasn’t pitch black, as the emergency lighting had kicked in, but it was still far from ideal. The lamps barely illuminated the narrow space, creating an eerie atmosphere.
When he reached his destination, the room was so dark it didn’t matter if his eyes were open. Levi closed the door behind him with a click.
“Who is there?” a hesitant voice called from the darkness ahead of him.
Levi froze. His blood felt like liquid ice and his heart started pounding hard inside his chest in the second of silence that followed the question. His breathing picked up.
It wasn’t his imagination.
He shut his eyes hard, taking in a deep breath as quietly as he possibly could, though he was sure his heart could be heard from a mile away. Levi slowly backed up with his hands behind him, until he felt the light pressure of the wall against his fingers. His movements were silent and calculated. He slid his body to the side, always slow, hands always lightly on the wall, until he was met with harsh resistance. He felt around the edge of the desk, lowering his digits when he found the drawer.
Levi cringed at the light noise of wood sliding against wood as he carefully pulled on the handle. From the opposite side of the table, came a choked gasp.
Fuck caution! Levi reached inside the drawer, but the only thing he felt was cold fingers wrapping around his.
“AAARGHH!!” they yelled in unison.
The hands repelled each other immediately! Levi opened the door wide and sprinted through it, stumbling on his own feet. Suddenly a dancing yellow beam revealed the corridor before him. Levi took the opportunity to run faster, no longer hindered by the low lighting.
But the ring of light kept moving forward too. In fact, it seemed to be going faster than him. And the sound of steps he thought were just from him now seemed to also belong to someone else, someone close.
“Wait!” the voice called from close behind him. He looked back for a split second. White clothes. Brown hair all over the place. Crazy wide eyes. Fuck. Levi boosted again.
“Slow down!”
“The fuck I will!”
“I swear, I won’t hurt you!”
He didn’t respond, all his energy on his feet. Running. Running. Run-
He crashed flat on the ground like a starfish, crushed by the weight of whoever tackled him. Levi struggled like a bull trying to knock over a cowboy, to no avail. The weight lifted off of him for one second, enough for Levi to turn over and face his assailant. He was met with a blinding light.
“Who are you?” the voice sounded more composed now. It was low and rich, Levi tried to free himself again. The person above him sighed.
“I’m Hange. I work here." The flashlight turned 180º. Through the yellow stains in his vision, left behind by the light, Levi got a look at the person straddling his hips. Strands of brown hair were glued to their face. Ghosts don’t sweat, right? And the white clothing he got a quick look at before was a lab coat. “I’m the chemistry teacher. And you are a janitor, I assume?”
Levi remained silent.
“I’m sorry I tackled you.” Hange began explaining “It’s just that you were running in the dark and the doors of this corridor are locked” then pointed the light at the double doors not 3 meters before him “Good thing I stopped you, or It would’ve been bye bye to this perfect face.” Hange booped his nose.
“Tch. Get off of me” he struggled under the strange teacher again.
“If you tell me your name.”
He grunted.
“Levi.”
Hange smiled, finally de-straddling him. Levi staggered up to his feet, moving towards the corridor doors.
“It’s locked.” Hange warned. Still, he tried to push them open.
“Told you.”
Levi clicked his tongue and began walking in the other direction.
“I’ve tried that one too. We’re stuck here.”
“Huh?” He frowned.
“It happens sometimes to workaholic idiots who don’t know when to clock out,” Hange sighed.
Levi’s head was spinning. It was all too much. He stumbled back.
“Are you okay?” Hange was up in a second, hands all over him, lifting his arms, patting his sides and his face, searching for injuries. Levi flinched when two fingers simultaneously pressed on sore spots on his cheek and forehead.
The light was on his face again.
“Oh, you hit this side pretty hard.” Hange muttered, “This one is going to leave a nasty bump.”
Levi pushed the hand that held the flashlight away but allowed the other to rest gently on his cheek. “There’s a fridge in the teacher’s lounge, we can get you some ice! Come on!”
Several seconds of silence passed, but Levi eventually sighed in defeat.
***
“Voilá” Hange opened the door in an exaggeratedly cordial movement. “Mi casa es su casa.”
“Does su casa have any food?” Levi let his body fall on the two-person loveseat that occupied one corner of the room. Hange approached him moments later, bearing gifts.
“Iced tea and soufflé cake or ice cream?”
Levi reached for the right, grabbing the bottle with one hand and the small Tupperware and fork with the other.
“Don't these belong to someone?”
“The power is out, so it’s our moral imperative to save this food from waste!”
Levi shrugged, leaning in to take a bite out of the treat.
“I think Nanaba has some candles in here from the rising water experiment her class did last week!”
Levi took a few sips of his drink as the strange teacher jumped from cupboard to cupboard, fleshlight in hand. Soon, the room was covered in dancing shadows cast by candlelight. The heavy rain outside created a soothing symphony. Levi crossed his legs, supporting the cake on one of his thighs. Hange sat next to him, with a few ice cubes wrapped in a dishcloth.
“Is this clean?”
“Of course! Fresh out of the cupboard.”
Hange laid the improvised cold pack gently on his cheek, then on his forehead.
“You think we’ll be in trouble for staying in?” He took a sip of his drink, looking at his new acquaintance out of the corner of his eyes.
“Only if we get caught” the reply was casual “I usually hide in the teacher’s bathroom when I hear someone coming. Then I just have to wait a few minutes and make sure no one else is in the room before I exit. The timing is tricky though, no room for errors.”
He almost choked on his iced tea.
“How many times have you done this?”
“Don’t know. Lost count.” Hange shrugged.
“Why?”
“The lab is my favorite place in the world. Well, that and this lovely room right here” Hange joked but something vulnerable lurked behind the feigned chuckle. Levi turned to face the teacher, who continued “I also don’t have much else going on in other parts of my life. This is the closest thing I had to a date in… I don’t know… a year and a half?”
Levi’s cheeks felt warm, and he was grateful for the warm tones of the lighting in the room. To his surprise, he found himself saying:
“Eight months.”
He tilted his bottle to touch Hange’s ice cream cup.
Hange laughed, sincerely this time. The sound was low, bubbly, irregular. It was the weirdest combination of strange and familiar that made something resonate deep within him.
“What a couple of losers we are.”
“Yeah,” Levi replied, still stunned by the feeling.
***
“We should try and get some sleep.” Levi proposed, as the rain died out, and Hange nodded.
Except they didn’t. For some reason, whenever one of them stopped talking, the other broke the silence. Hange talked excitedly about the experiments the class did that day. Then Levi complained about the mess of the students and how some of the staff half-assed the cleaning. Hange nearly died laughing when Levi explained he ran because he thought he was being chased by a ghost but, for some reason, he didn’t mind. He liked it.
***
“I guess we won’t be needing these anymore.” The chemistry teacher blew the candles on the little center table before them, as the morning light entered the room, filtered by the blinds.
“I guess we won’t.”
“So, we’ll be out of here soon,” Hange commented.
“Yeah, I guess we will.” Levi turned to face his newfound friend. Now that the sun was up, he could see Hange’s features clearly. Smooth light skin. Strong, slightly convex nose. Brown chaotic hair that somehow fit the whole picture. Deep brown eyes one could get lost in and lips so full, so soft looking.
He averted his gaze when he realized he was staring, but it was too late. There was already a strange charge in the room, hovering over them. It was slightly uncomfortable but also exhilarating. The tension that precedes a leap into the unknown. Levi gulped, creating the courage to look at Hange again. Brown eyes stared right back at him. His heart picked up the pace as he moved forward. Hange moved too, tongue peeking out to moisten those lips. He could feel the heat emanating from them. Any second now.
A loud clanking outside made them jump in surprise.
“It’s the doorman!” Hange whispered. They both ran for the window. As one man unlatched the gate, another stood behind him.
“That’s Erwin, the history teacher!” Hange whispered as though they could hear them talking from that distance. “He always comes here first thing in the morning! Quick! Hide!”
They ran to the bathroom, hiding behind the partially closed door.
There was a creek. Then slow steps. Then the sound of a refrigerator door opening. Then silence.
“Is he gone?” Levi mouthed.
The chem teacher peeked through the crack and nodded negatively. Then frowned.
“What is it?”
There was a moment of silence. Then, in what can only be described as an oopsie face, Hange mouthed “I think he’s looking for his souffle cake”.
Levi caught the laughter last minute, letting out only a strangled snicker. Meanwhile, Hange was all silent open mouthed-chuckles, which intensified when Erwin rested his chin on his hand in a stoic pose while examining the empty fridge.
By the time the room was clear, they were both out of breath. Levi and Hange stepped out of the bathroom, looking each other in the eyes. The moment was gone, but there was a tinge of promise in the air. Hange spoke first.
“So, I’ll be bumping into you from now on?”
Levi shrugged. “if you’re lucky.”
Hange laughed and, once again, they ran out of words. Levi moved towards the door, but as he took a step out, he heard the teacher speak again.
“Hey, Levi!” He turned back to find Hange with the fingers of both hands crossed. “See you around!”
“See ya.” Levi stepped out this time, a smirk hiding on the corner of his lips. Maybe socializing with his coworkers wouldn't be so bad, after all.
