Just a little riren one shot I wrote a few days ago. I hope you enjoy?
Levi could not sleep. He had tried all possible ways to make himself fall asleep - counting damn sheep, listening to classical music and rolling around the bed, but he was still unable to shut his eyes for more than a minute. He was feeling so restless and hated the sinking feeling in his stomach, which was probably due to the fact that he hadn't been able to sketch out anything at all that day despite sitting down in front of his sketch book for six hours.
He sighed, and got up to slip on a shirt. It was no use trying to sleep if he was going to be kept awake by his art block, hence he figured he could use a cup of coffee while he sat and sketched - or at least, try to do so.
Upon discovering that he had indeed run out of coffee bags, he sighed again and decided to go to the café nearby, which operated twenty-four hours a day. He slipped on his shoes and grabbed his wallet, sketchbook and his drawing materials, then shut the door behind him.
Trudging along the sidewalk, he hummed a little tune he heard the other day on the radio, something along the lines of hello, hello, I think I'm in love, or something else just as cheesy. He hated it when pop songs got stuck in his head, because he would usually end up humming it involuntarily. Damn these pop songs and their catchy tunes and stupid cheesy lyrics. Levi preferred rock or something classical, or even heavy metal, but never pop.
He finally got to the coffee-house after a good five minutes, and to his delight, it was empty, save for the employee at the counter. He placed his materials down at the table next to the window, and walked forward to the counter to place his order.
"Hello sir, what can I get for you?" the boy at the counter asked, finally peering up from his book - which looked suspiciously like a Biology textbook.
"One espresso, and a plain bagel," Levi requested, turning his head from the menu to look at the boy behind the counter. Then it hit him.
Green eyes, no, scratch that, intense green eyes stared back, a small smile on the boy's face. Damn it. This boy was attractive.
"Is that all?" the boy replied, and Levi nodded and watched as the boy grabbed a cup and toasted the bagel while the coffee machine whirred to life. Levi craned his neck a little to catch a glimpse of the name tag pinned to the boy's shirt.
Eren. The boy's name is Eren. Great, Levi thought to himself, slightly annoyed at himself. Now I'm going to start stalking this innocent barista? Levi's thoughts were interrupted when the boy placed his order onto the counter top.
"Here you go, that will be ten dollars in total," the boy said, still smiling. His eyes seemed to have a little twinkle in them, and his brown hair was slightly messy, as if he had ruffled it in frustration.
The art student handed him the money, struggling not to look at him in the eye. Grabbing his plate and coffee cup, he walked back to his seat and began to sip his coffee, silently watching as the barista went back to his Biology textbook.
It was only at around two in the morning - two hours later - when Levi was done sketching his first piece in a while. It was a nice dress, nonetheless, and he was almost certain that he would receive a good grade if he were to hand in his design to his professor. Levi was not completely interested in designing clothes, but it was a mandatory module to take to get a degree in modern art and design. It seemed as if coming to the café was productive for him, he mused, as he finished his coffee and swiped at his mouth with a piece of tissue paper.
Packing his art supplies, he looked up for a moment to see if the coffee boy, Eren, was still studying. He was, and it was in that exact moment that Eren had ruffled his own hair in frustration, causing Levi to smile a little.
Levi had not planned to do so, but he found himself walking up to the counter to talk to Eren despite being ready to leave the café.
"Hello," Eren said as he heard Levi approaching. "What can I get for you? I hope that whatever you were doing was much more productive than my studying here," the brown-haired boy said with a laugh.
Levi had tried to smile. "It was productive. It's nice to work here with the classical music playing in the background."
"Yeah, but when you have a brain like mine, nothing helps," Eren replied, scratching the back of his neck, somewhat embarrassed.
"You're studying Biology, right? Maybe I could help you. My friend majors in Biology and she always blabbers on about her weird experiments," Levi had replied without even thinking. Dang it, now he had to spend time with this attractive boy without crushing even harder on him?
"Really?" Eren replied excitedly, his green eyes twinkling and he smiled. "Oh, wait, would it be alright for you to stay here longer, though? It's going to be three soon!"
"Sure I can," Levi answered, and Eren smiled even brighter as he walked back to the table he was seated at before and placed his art supplies down. Eren seemed to be preparing another cup of coffee, presumably for himself. Levi watched for a few seconds, before he began flipping through his sketchbook idly till the green-eyed boy sat down in front of him, placing two cups of hot coffee on the table, Biology textbook tucked under his arm.
"It's on the house," Eren explained. "As thanks for helping a stranger like me with his studies."
Levi nodded in gratitude, and watched as the other boy flipped through the pages of his Biology textbook till he got to a certain page.
They spent another two hours, Levi explaining concepts that he was surprised he knew about, most likely thanks to his friend Hanji. Eren nodded quietly as he wrote down some notes neatly into his notebook. It was as comfortable sort of time for the duo, and when Levi was finished with the chapter, Eren was smiling so brightly that Levi wanted to grab him and hug him tight because it was just illegal to look that cute.
"Thank you so much, Levi!" Eren said - he had asked for Levi's name and had also discovered that he was a year younger than Levi - as he reached over to hug the other enthusiastically. Levi froze for a moment before smirking and hugging back, ruffling Eren's brown hair.
Maybe coffee at midnight was not such a bad idea after all.
Tell me what you think? I think my writing has deteriorated a little, I don't know. By the way, you can follow me on tumblr at musicandgenius. I'd love to make new friends!