AN: so I know I said I would post phantoms and angels part 3 after Scout Design BUT DUE TO THE FACT THAT A NEW OTOME GAME CAME OUT WITH THE SNK MEN AS DATEABLE PRINCES, I simply had to do a Prince Levi AU. phantoms and angels will be the next one. I promise.

Also small plot points borrowed as ideas from Voltage Inc. but not the same. And the image used is in fact from the demo game (Edit: LOL JK. I TOOK IT OFF LIKE A YEAR LATER. OH WELL) And Levi is slightly OOC, for various reasons, plus this one shot will be quite long because I doubt I'll make it into any more parts after this. (Edit: LOL IT'S ALREADY AT SIX PARTS) Not sure yet.

Edit: .................I think I need to make this into two parts. I'm so sorry guys but all my ideas require so much plot and yeaaaaaaaaah. enjoy though!

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"Wait....what?"

You stood frozen at the entry way of your apartment, slackjawed and confused. There was a man standing outside in the hallway, fist over his heart as if to salute you, and wearing an outfit much like a tuxedo but far more refined. Of course, you had seen him briefly before, but you had never expected to see this man again, especially not so soon.

"I understand this could be quite strange and very sudden to you, Miss (f/n)," said the man in a reverent tone. "However, I am perfectly serious. Your presence is being personally requested by His Highness back at Castle Michel."

You furrowed your brow while trying to form your thoughts into words. "It was by fluke alone that I even attended last night's ball," you said quickly before realizing that your answer didn't follow his statement. "I shouldn't have even been there! I understand that there is the tradition to keep to, but honestly, who really would keep to that since I'm just a regular citizen? Please, Mr. Cristoph..."

"You can spare the formalities with me. I am merely a butler, so please, call me Cristoph," he explained, relaxing from his salute. He still, however, looked as regal as ever. You bit your tongue, trying not to snap at him for ignoring your plea; you knew he was just doing his job.

You had half a mind to invite him in to be polite, but he appeared hard pressed for time. "I have class at two. I can't just..." you trailed off, still bewildered. "I can't blow my presentation off."

Cristoph smiled slightly. "I understand Prince Armin invited you as a formality of tradition to his kingdom, but His Highness, Prince Levi has requested to see you." Again, he ignored you and his statement barely made sense. "I will personally see to it that your professor understands the situation and ensure you maintain your grades."

"You're really not giving me much of a choice, are you?" you huffed.

Cristoph lowered his head politely. "If you are truly adamant about not seeing Prince Levi, I shall inform him immediately. He had cleared his schedule for the day in order to spend it with you."

The butler pulled out a slim and simple cell phone. "No, no, no!" you cried, waving your hands furiously in front of you. "I'll go! I-I'll see him! Just...just give me a couple minutes to get dressed. I'm still in my pajamas."

"Of course, m'lady. I will be waiting outside in the car for you."

You shut the door, slightly more forcefully than you intended to hurry and get dressed. You knew you would be incredibly rude to turn down an invitation from a prince, no matter what other priorities you had. Especially not Prince Levi, for various reasons.

Ugh, just how am I supposed to make up the presentation? I hope he'll be lenient, you thought as you raced to find something suitable to wear.

Last night, by some strange miracle of God, you found yourself attending The Peace Ball, a grand party held every year in the kingdom of Valen that all the neighboring kingdom's princes attended. It was honestly just a lavish display of friendship and allegiance between each kingdom and the ball always was the talk of the world for weeks prior. Of course, you had been interested in the petty things, wondering who was attending and what this year's gorgeous fashion would look like but not enough to truly care.

As of right now, you were here in Valen on a study abroad program and had been residing here on scholarship for the last five months. Prince Armin Arlert happened to have come by the bakery store yesterday where you worked part time, a place he frequented secretly once a week, and begged you to go as his guest. Valen had a long standing tradition that the prince would invite a regular citizen to the ball. He hadn't the slightest idea of who to invite until he visited your bakery and felt you would be his best option on such short notice. You attempted to refuse, seeing you had a paper due in about a week and your presentation to prepare for, but Prince Armin looked desperate so you caved. If it wasn't for the fact that you had slowly become friendly with him by how often he would visit the shop, you would have politely declined the offer.

Fast forward five hours later and you found your arm linked with the prince of Valen, wearing a borrowed ballroom gown that your were sure was priced more than your entire college tuition. Your nerves were acting up; you knew you had no experience with any of this high class life and it showed just by how you carried yourself. You were uncomfortable, not just with how out of place you felt, but by the garb you were forced to wear just to look presentable. After formal introductions of the seven princes that comprised the seven countries of the United Commonwealth, you were toted around proudly by Prince Armin. He introduced you as a friend, clear that there were no intimate ties between you two, when the question arose, and you were grateful for that. Introductions alone had been difficult for you; the judgement everyone passed on you was obvious, especially those who had ties to royalty.

This world was ridiculously different from yours; by the end of the night, you could tell there was a lot more to being royalty than just being accustomed to wealth and living the high life where everyone catered to your will. To you, it seemed more of stifling political small talk, feigned interest in personal matters, and suffocating mannerisms and expectations than you ever would want to deal with. You were thankful for your simple, financially strapped life and would take that any day than to ever have to give your opinion on all the affairs of state.

You did enjoy yourself, of course. The food was magnificent and the ballroom itself was a sight worth more words than you could describe. Dancing, however, made it quite clear that you practically were a peasant in the eyes of the upper class, and you begged Prince Armin never to make you do another waltz for the rest of the night. You never were uncoordinated, but attempting to maneuver in your heels that were an inch higher than you could normally manage and a heavy gown proved far more difficult than you had assumed.

At the ball, you made one friend, a young woman who could sense your growing discomfort when ever Prince Armin had to leave your side to pay his respects to the other royalty of neighboring kingdoms. Mikasa had been her name and she was surprisingly not as uppity as the rest of her kin, to which you were grateful for. She was by your side for the majority of the time whenever Prince Armin left you, making sure to give you pointers under her breath so you did not appear too klutzy or otherwise out of place.

"Hold your head up, shoulders back" and "smaller steps and smile at all times" and "curtsy or bow to everyone you are introduced to" were a few things she told you, all of which were obvious yet surprisingly difficult.

You really enjoyed conversing with Mikasa, despite her veiled and constant interest in her childhood friend, Prince Eren Jaeger of Anduen. You found this amusing because you noticed very quickly that Prince Jean Kirschtein of Ryndell had his eye on Mikasa all night. Mikasa did not talk much, but when you were able to converse enough with her, you realized the only real passion she had about anything was when she would speak of her childhood days with Armin and Eren. If it wasn't about them, she usually was complaining in deadpan about how much some of the upperclass irritated with their haughty dispositions, even to their own kind.

Speaking of the princes, you had met all of them briefly while making rounds to exchange pleasantries with Prince Armin. Within minutes, you realized that though they were all princes, they all were incredibly different in their own rights. Prince Reiner Braun of Nemenvan and Prince Bertholt Hoover of Altura were inseperable, though Prince Bertholt was much more easy going compared to his counterpart; Prince Reiner didn't necessarily look angry or rude but he certainly intimidated you and both were incredibly tall. Prince Jean, Prince Armin, and Prince Eren were usually conversing with each other the most but it was clear that Jean and Eren were not particularly fond of each other; their curt tones gave that one away. It was hard not to laugh at how Prince Armin often tried to keep the peace between the other two and if Jean wasn't staring at Mikasa, he was the obvious favorite out of all the princes with the women of the ball. Prince Erwin Smith of Loria and Prince Levi Ackerman of Serendair often were not seen without each other, but you assumed that was largely due to the fact that they were closer in age, since they were much older than the other princes. Both seemed very serious and loyal to the other, but Prince Erwin was a bit more approachable than Prince Levi. Actually, the prince of Serendair looked so disinterested about the night and its festivities that you didn't even find the courage to say more than "it's a pleasure to meet you," paired with a polite and clumsy curtsy. Prince Levi merely snorted at you and didn't say anything, though you swore you might have seen a smirk at his lips for a second.

An event of the night, and the one that landed in you in your present mess, was the Giving of the Rose ceremony. Every year at the Peace Ball, each prince, if not already engaged, had to toss a rose to the women of the court. Every rose was a different color to differentiate each kingdom and each prince had to spend a designated day with the woman that caught his rose, as is tradition for the last hundred years. At first you didn't understand what the purpose of the ceremony was but Mikasa explained that many kings found their brides through this tradition, though not always.

"So...it's like a matchmaking service," you said more to yourself than to anyone in particular. Prince Armin laughed uncomfortably at this.

"In a sense, I suppose it is," he had said, scratching the back of his head. "Although, I've never really been fond of the ceremony."

You chuckled at his uneasiness and wished him luck before he went off with the other princes to prepare for the ceremony. You had turned your gaze to Mikasa, who had been watching Prince Eren go with a protective gaze. You almost commented on it but decided it was best left unsaid.

You didn't want to take part in the event; you weren't too keen on the slight chance of catching a rose and being forced to spend more time in such a stifling environment. However, Mikasa would not let you run away from it. She claimed that you, as a single woman, refusing to partake would be considered incredibly rude. With a sigh, you found yourself standing in a courtyard in the middle of a throng of ball gowns and squealing upper classed women. You were annoyed; you didn't like the way these women lost all sense of propriety and acted like a herd of penned up farm animals once they saw the seven princes standing on the balcony above.

"You're joking, right?" you hissed to Mikasa, who held a stoic expression. Even the music playing for the ceremony seemed overkill to you. "Just for a rose?"

She pulled away her eyes that were glued to Prince Eren to look at you. She let a sly grin play across her lips. "It's not about the rose, as it is more about the chance to be courted by a prince. It is many of these girls' dream to catch one."

"Well, I can understand that, I guess..." you said, though hesitant to agree fully. "Still. Their behavior is unnecessary."

You were glad your quiet conversation was going unnoticed around you; the last thing you wanted was to offend one of them.

"What if you caught a rose?" Mikasa asked absently, eyes back on Prince Eren.

You rolled your own eyes, gently shoving a young woman away from you because she had been pushing you unknowingly. She didn't even react.

"Unlikely," was your terse reply. "And unwanted."

After the signifying horn blast, each prince picked up their rose and simultaneously threw them into the air. Within seconds, you were jolted around in the clamor that the women around you were making, all of them vying to catch a flower. You reflexively pushed a girl in front of you to give yourself breathing room.

"Ridiculous!" you exclaimed, though mostly unnoticed by anyone.

And as unlikely as it seemed, you felt a rose hit your face and you instinctively brought your hands up to catch it. The rose was white with the tips dipped in gold and you looked up frantically at the women staring at you. Some women appeared downcast that they had not caught a rose while a few glared at you with disdain.

"H-here! You take it!!" You held the rose out to the nearest woman but she raised an eyebrow at you as if you had lost your mind. "Hurry! Please!"

Before any of the women could reply, you found yourself under a spotlight, along with six other women under their own. Mikasa stood nearby, clutching a red rose to her chest and was glowing with happiness. Not that you were sure, but you had a feeling she might have violently made for Eren's flower and causing some injury to the other girls but that was just a hunch. The unlucky women who did not catch a rose began clearing the courtyard and returning to the other guests surrounding it.

"Wait, what's happening?!" you whispered to your friend, growing hot under the light. "Who had the white one?!"

Mikasa smirked at you. "You have to dance with the prince of the rose you caught. It's tradition. And you caught Prince Levi's rose."

Your heart altogether stopped for a second at her statement and you noticed the princes were coming down the stairs to meet their respective girls. You were not prepared to dance; Prince Armin had been kind enough to spare you from humiliation but you weren't sure that would not be the case with the prince of Serendair.

You noticed Prince Levi was possibly the most stately prince of the seven, despite how his overall stature paled in comparison to the others. He held himself with a mature confidence but what what threw you off was the fact that he held such a bland look on his handsome face. As he approached you, you could not tell if he was pleased or appalled with the idea you caught his rose. All you knew was that you had to calm your nerves down because your hands were beginning to shake.

Needless to say, you stumbled your way through the dance and the more you did, the worse you performed. The prince barely said a word to you, other than the obligatory question of asking for your hand in a dance. The entire time, his eyes were distant and he held the most emotionless countenance you've ever come across. You wondered why Prince Levi appeared to not have the slightest interest in anything throughout the night, not mingling with others, not dancing with women, not even the fact that all these women were fawning over him for hours fazed him. But the prince was very regal and led you well; although he said nothing, you realized he was doing his best so that you would not trip over your hem or your own feet, to the point of even lifting you up an inch every so often to avoid you trampling his toes. Perhaps he was kinder than he led on. Despite that, it was still was difficult to maintain eye contact with him, as his eyes seemed to bore into yours.

The only other statement he made midway through was "straighten your back more and don't stare at your feet. Eyes on me. You'll appear more confident that way." He had said it so quietly, you barely caught, let alone that he had said it so sternly. You took his advice to heart and it became easier to follow his lead by feeling rather than by sight.

He abandoned you shortly after the customary dance, of course bowing politely to you beforehand. Part of you was grateful, and the other part of you thought he was extremely rude to not even have managed a small conversation. Either way, you prayed he wouldn't have any desire to court you for a day, so says the tradition.

Apparently, your prayers were not heard.

"You are brooding, Miss (f/n)," said Cristoph's voice, pulling you out of your memories. You blinked and remembered you were now in a nice luxury car heading to Castle Michel. Cristoph's eyes met yours in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah...sorry," you replied, rubbing your eyes. "I...was just wondering if what I'm wearing is even appropriate."

The butler smiled gently. "You look lovely in your spring dress. Floral print is pretty on you," he assured you, though you wondered if he was only complimenting you out of kindness. "Today is nothing to worry over. It is just an informal marriage interview."

"MARRIAGE INTERVIEW?!" you cried. "Excuse me but you failed to mention that earlier! I thought this was the equivilent to a first date or something, not marriage!"

Cristoph chuckled for the first time since you've met him. "As I said, it is informal," he repeated. "I think you will find that His Highness is not as intimidating or very different from you. There are many things he can relate to you on if he is willing to share it, given if he desires to see you after today."

"Let's hope not," you muttered bitterly to yourself. You were angry that the butler, or even Mikasa, had not said what the real meaning of the Giving of the Rose ceremony was. You had no intention of getting married, or even entertaining the thought, especially not to Prince Levi.

"I apologize, could you repeat that?"

"I-I said that I highly doubt he and I would be similar on any level. He is a prince, and I'm just a college student from another country," you rushed to cover yourself. "He and I are worlds apart."

Cristoph's smile softened. "May I offer an opinion?"

"Uhm, sure."

"Do not let differences in class blind you to who he is as a person, Miss (f/n)," he said. "His Highness may be the Prince of Serendair, but at the end of the day, we all are ordinary men and women."

You grimaced, not entirely understanding why Cristoph was saying such things. He was Prince Levi's personal butler, so you assumed he was merely being biased. That aside, you honestly didn't think the prince was "an ordinary" guy by any means.

****************************

"Castle Michel welcomes you back, m'lady," said Cristoph in a pleasant tone as you stepped inside the main hall. For the fifth time inside of ten minutes, you smoothed your dress over and wondered if you might be showing a bit too much leg since the dress stopped at mid thigh. You had rushed to get dressed, and the floral printed summer dress and cardigan you chose was as fancy as it would get with you without going into actual formal wear. Cristoph had mentioned through the closed door at your apartment that you did not need to appear in such attire but you just weren't sure since you'd be in the presence of royalty.

"Are you sure that I look okay? I feel like I'm dressed inappropriately," you pressed the butler as he led you through the vast, high-ceiling room. He chuckled very lightly, which caused you to frown behind him with indignation. You didn't understand what was so funny to him.

"I am almost positive that His Highness is dressed casually himself," said Cristoph in an effort to soothe your worry. "I believe he is out in the gardens taking his usual morning tea."

You bit your tongue, having nearly made a sarcastic comment about royalty and their "tea time."

Quietly, you followed Crisoph's lead through the enormous castle while your eyes wandered curiously over all the staff and the decor. Again, it seemed a bit stifling, even if everyone was taking away all the extra tables and chairs from last night's grand party; it seemed like quite a bit of clean up was to be done yet.

"So...did all the princes go home...?" you asked absently, moving aside to let a frantic looking maid of some sort pass by you. You didn't like the silence that passed between you and the butler and found yourself making idle talk.

Cristoph pushed open a vast door for you that lead to an open air foyer that led outside to the gardens. "No. All seven princes are still residing in the castle and will be for some time. All of them are attending to the tradition of the Giving of the Rose ceremony as we speak."

Your stomach felt heavy at the mention of last night's event. "I still don't see why Prince Levi is even making time to talk to me," you muttered. "I'm not of royal descent or wealthy, for that matter."

Again, the butler smiled politely at you. "I cannot speak for my master's behalf but, if I were to offer an opinion," he replied slowly, "I have a small hunch that he might find you intriguing. For various reasons that I cannot discuss with you at the moment."

"Secrecy is really unbecoming." You had meant it more of a joke but because your mood wasn't quite cheerful, it sounded more as a jab.

"Prince Levi is waiting for you just down the end of this path," said Cristoph, pointing down a long walkway that traversed over a creek and ended at a very fancy and large gazebo. You followed the stone path with your eyes and saw Prince Levi's figure sitting down at a table. From this distance, you couldn't tell if he was bored or in deep thought with the way his chin was resting on his hand and his elbow resting on the arm of the chair with one of his legs crossed.

At the sight of him, your heart began to race because your nerves kicked up again. How in the world were you supposed to act in front of a prince, let alone a prince that barely speaks to you? It also didn't help you that the prince in question was quite handsome and from one of the wealthiest kingdoms in the United Commonwealth too.

"N-no, no, no," you stuttered. "I can't do this! I can't do a marriage interview with him! Are you insane!?"

Cristoph blinked in surprised; he had thought you had gotten past the initial shock. "It is customary to meet the woman who caught his rose and view her as a potential bride, regardless of social class. Are you turning His Highness down?"

"No!" you exclaimed, exasperated. "I-I just really don't think that he and I should even bother with this whole 'tradition' thing, especially if it involves the thought of marriage. I mean, he obviously isn't going to find me attractive in any way, right?"

"I have no place to say what His Highness would feel about you, Miss."

"You're not helping," you grumbled, finding your hands shaking from anxiety.

With a very heavy sigh, you gathered up your courage and made your way down the path towards the prince. Each step forward only increased the ferocity of your pounding heart. You were sure it would burst through your chest cavity at this point. Thoughts were bouncing in your head, trying to best figure out what to even say to him.

"Shit.... This is going to be a disaster," you moaned to yourself.

Prince Levi's head turned when he heard the sound of your soft footsteps approaching and he automatically rose to a stand. You mentally berated him for doing so, having not wanted to be treated as if you were of nobility. Of course, you took notice of what he wearing; Cristoph was "right" about him being dressed more casually than last night, but he still was wearing a cravat and well tailored deep grey suit.

Casual, my ass...I should have worn something else, you thought desperately, silently cursing Cristoph though he had done nothing wrong.

"Miss (f/n)," Prince Levi said formally, though as emotionless as ever. You distinctively saw him eye you over from head to toe and the look made you incredibly uneasy.

You hastily curtsied, surprised he even knew your name. "Thank you for extending the invitation to see you again, your Highness. It's an honor."

How you managed to say anything without stumbling over yourself was the miracle of the decade. Prince Levi gazed at you for a second before he snorted. The noise caught you off guard.

"I'm not interested in formalities," said the prince with a surprising smirk. "So you don't need to be so deferential."

He didn't wait for your reply and moved to pull out your chair for you, causing you to stand frozen in confusion. For a prince, he certainly did not act like one, at least not in spoken word. The night before, he has been the most regal of the princes, but within the first minutes of your second meeting, Prince Levi seemed relatively, dare you think it, normal.

"Are you going to sit or what?" Again, the tone took you by surprised. It was curt yet strangely mild in itself, as if he was attempting to be playful.

"Y-yes, sorry," you replied quickly. You moved to sit down as gracefully as you could manage and he moved the chair in slightly for you towards the table. The prince returned to his seat, his lifeless eyes staring into yours.

"I must admit, I'm surprised you showed up," he said, resting his chin in his hand again. "I assumed you wouldn't have had the courage to face me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" you snapped without thinking. You regretted it the second it came from your lips and you stiffened. "I'm so sorry. That was rude."

The prince laughed dryly. "Feisty." He let his smirk widened a little more. "That's cute, I suppose."

You decided to not reply, hearing no weight in his compliment, and merely scowled despite being in his presence. He seemed approachable today and that made it easier for you to relax. The prince wasn't as intimidating as you expected, in regards to his status; however, he still seemed very cold and calculating. That type of personality didn't perturb you though, since your boss was similar to this and you knew how to deal with such men.

"Do you know why you're here?" he pressed on.

You fidgeted in your seat; you noticed he liked to get right to the point. You also had a feeling he was toying with you, like you were his new plaything.

"...formality," you stated simply. Prince Levi cracked a smile at this. "Although, like I told Cristoph, there wasn't a need to waste the tradition on me."

The prince shrugged apathetically. "You're probably right," he replied in a flat voice, shifting in his chair. "You're not royalty or of upper class. Quite rare for a potential bride for a prince, though not unheard of."

You ground your teeth together. Prince Levi was nothing like you had originally thought; of course it was true you were middle class but the way he so easily agreed with your claim stung your pride. He was actually quite rude, in your opinion, and his manners were a far cry from what he had shown at the Peace Ball last night. Now you were confused as to what side of him was an act, though you presumed the former probably was.

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time then," you spat.

"Tch, prideful as ever, I see." The prince of Serendair chuckled briefly, albeit humorously, and waved his hand around casually. Cristoph appeared at his side, from seemingly no where, and saluted his master. "The lady needs tea."

"Of course, sir. Anything else?" asked the butler.

The prince shook his head and waved Cristoph off dismissively. You couldn't help but eye the pair, not pleased with how the prince spoke to his servant. Then again, you had no place to say anything and you knew Cristoph was extremely loyal to his master.

"As tradition goes," said Prince Levi, turning his piercing gaze on you again, "the Giving of the Rose ceremony gives women an opportunity for a marriage interview for the princes of the United Commonwealth. You caught mine last night, so therefore, you are here as a potential bride."

"I highly doubt you and I would be compatible for marriage," you said honestly. "Just looking at the social standings...I'm a financially struggling college student and you're the prince of Serendair. Besides, I don't even know you."

He did not reply immediately, his gaze making you uncomfortable again. You averted your eyes to the surrounding scenery.

"This is a first," he said finally. He leaned back in his seat and folded his arms.

"What is?" You raised an eyebrow at him.

"I've never come across a woman who is so adamant against marrying me," he said. "Usually, they go on for hours about why they would make a good wife for me and eventually queen. It's quite boring actually."

In spite of yourself, you snorted because of his arrogance. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not interested in getting hitched to some guy I don't know and I'm certainly not interested in being a queen. I'm obviously not cut out for that sort of thing," you explained. "If I had it my way, I wouldn't even be here."

"Oh, I'm not the slightest bit disappointed," he replied with a wide smirk again. "This is refreshing. I'm enjoying the fact that you don't have any desire to impress me."

You sighed audibly just as a tray of tea was set in front of you. Cristoph gave you several choices and you picked one at random, not in the mood for tea. That aside, the prince was still staring at you with a pensive expression.

"So, tell me about yourself, (f/n). I'm curious to what the life of a struggling college student is like."

You sipped on your tea delicately and caught Cristoph giving you an encouraging smile as he left you two alone again. You thought of what topic was worth telling Prince Levi. There was so much you could say but then again, you had no intentions of building a relationship with someone who was so haughty.

"I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of my mundane life, your highness," you replied with a forced smile.

"I'd rather you not call me that," he said, a surprise switch in tone; he almost sounded angry. You froze slightly, not wanting to cause a problem. "Levi is fine."

"I would feel weird to be on such a friendly name basis with a prince that I just met.... Sorry," you added hastily.

The prince smiled for a moment and reached for his teacup. You tried not to eye him as he sipped from it in a strange fashion; you've never seen anyone hold a teacup like he did. "Your propriety is unnecessary. We have all day to be well acquainted. I cleared my busy schedule to spend it with you so I have no intention of sending you home early. So, Levi will have to suffice."

"If you insist," you sighed.

"I do," said Levi firmly. "So, about your mundane life..."

You spent the next two and half hours conversing over trivial things under the shade of gazebo and the pleasant weather, much to your astonishment. Initially, you had been wary about sharing anything about yourself with Levi but he actually was sincerely interested in everything you had to say and was even a surprisingly good listener. As you two talked, you both were more relaxed with each other, as if you had no difference in social class the longer the time waned.

Levi had a lot of similar interests that you had and was well versed in life as a middle class citizen. You couldn't help but notice how he slowly began losing his formalities with you the more comfortable he felt. The topics you ended up talking about ranged from music preferences, to your part time job, to how you ended up at the Peace Ball to the real reason why you almost refused to come back to Castle Michel.

Admittedly, you were starting to have fun now that the aura around you two wasn't so tense or cordial. Levi was still relatively deadpan in most of what he said but you could tell he was also enjoying himself. What caught you off guard was how easy it was to talk to him, despite the both you making sarcastic jabs at the other every so often. You mentally berated yourself for judging him so harshly about being arrogant about his status as a prince. Now that you had been talking, you wondered if he actually disliked living the pampered life based off some veiled comments he made throughout the conversation.

"We need to head out," said Levi suddenly when he had glanced at his wristwatch. He stood up and offered you a hand out of habit.

You raised an eyebrow. "Where are we going?" you inquired curiously, taking his hand and rising.

"You said you have a presentation for your social issues class at two," said the prince, walking down the path back to the castle. "That's an hour from now."

"Well...yes but my materials are at my apartment."

Levi turned his head and raised an eyebrow. "I know that," he replied casually. "I'll take you back home and then to school. Your education is important and you shouldn't slack off just because some prince of some random kingdom demanded to see you for a marriage interview."

You felt yourself smile at his back at the small joke he made. "You don't need to go through all the trouble."

"Oh don't misunderstand me," said Levi, slightly amused. "I will be attending your presentation. You're not getting out of the marriage interview."

"Your demands are exhausting, your highness," you joked.

******************************

You knew this would be difficult on your part but you hadn't realized just how recognizable Levi was.

"You're attracting too much attention," you grumbled. The pair of you were walking through your college campus, Cristoph following behind you at a distance to ensure his master's privacy but close enough for his safety. It wasn't hard to notice all the hissing from passing girls and even some guys were eyeing you two with curiously. You already knew that the majority of them knew who he was and there was hardly a way to avoid it.

"I'm not doing anything," said Levi nonchalantly.

"No, but you're just waltzing around Valen University without a care in the world," you snapped, moving your hair to cover some of your face. You really did not want to explain this situation to anyone you knew.

"Tch, you do that every day."

You cast a hard glance at Levi and he smirked despite having spoken in a bored tone. "Yeah, but I'm not the prince of Serendair!"

He chuckled briefly. "Valid point," Levi said. "But you could be the princess."

You couldn't hold down your harsh scoff. "I'll pass, thanks."

You had a feeling Levi was immensely enjoying himself, though his facial expression did not give that away, and not because of the silent attention he was receiving from all the students.

You had just left your social issues class after giving your presentation to the class about the positive and negative effects that video games have on children. All in all, you thought you did well but Levi had been quite insufferable throughout the class period. Of course, he attracted all sorts of attention just by being there; he not only flustered the college girls but even caused your professor to be scatterbrained.

Then of course, Levi felt it his duty to pester you with questions throughout the duration of your presentation. You almost threw your laser pointer at him in frustration by the end of it because he was making your life difficult. He kept asking you to repeat yourself or to define technical terms just to annoy you and it took all of you not to yell at him. But your professor seemed pleased with your work, merely for the fact that Levi praised it in a veiled sort of way.

At the end of class, the both of you were swarmed with students, all asking about the connection you had with the prince. Some even knew you attended the Peace Ball as Prince Armin's date because they saw you on television during the live broadcast. Avoiding the questions wasn't as hard as trying to make your way out of the class. Levi had relatively no comment other than "she's a friend."

It was strange how comfortable you two were with each other in a span of only four hours. You had not expected to "click" so well with someone who was so different from you in all manners of ways. You hated to admit it, but you found a fast growing fondness brewing in your heart for the prince, even if he was still haughty and cruel with his words at times. You liked his intelligence though and enjoyed bickering with him more.

"Well, now that your educational obligation is finished," said Levi presently, "your obligation to me to finish out your marriage interview can continue."

You snorted indignantly. "And just what does the prince of Serendair have in mind exactly...?" you asked warily. "I do have a ton of homework to attend to, you know, and I'm not exactly keen on the idea of entertaining you."

Levi remained stoic though you could see some mischief in his eyes. You thought he would have made some caustic remark about your second class life but he, instead, was silent.

"How I can even tolerate such a boring woman like yourself is truly a mystery," he said in deadpan. "It's strange how you care so little about my title as a prince and are more concerned about your own trivial life pursuits. Most women at least attempt to cater to my desires. You, on the other hand, are quite stubborn."

You glared hard at the back of his head, wishing your eyes could shoot daggers.

"I like my 'trivial' life, thank you very much," you snapped. "Just because you're a prince doesn't mean your life is any more important than my own. So excuse me if I'm not interested in pretending like I give a shit about your hoity-toity upbringing. And I definitely don't feel like 'catering' to you on any level because I'm not even interested in marrying you!"

Levi burst out laughing and it still sounded relatively humorless to you.

"Such a fiery spirit. I was jesting, of course," he said, flashing you another smirk. "You are intriguing."

"And you're annoying," you huffed; he definitely did not sound like he had been joking. You tailed the prince back to the parking lot where Cristoph left the inconspicuous car; not that being inconspicuous was even mattered at this point becasuse the entire university already caught wind of the prince of Serendair being there. Cristoph had kept his distance throughout the entire visit, but now that you were about to head out, he approached you.

"His Highness is enjoying himself," said the butler furtively, making sure that Levi, who was too far ahead with his fast pace, would not hear. You held an unconvinced expression and it caused Cristoph to smile gently at you.

"Yeah," you said with a sarcastic tone. "More like he is enjoying how much he can pick on me."

The butler let his gaze fall back on the prince for a moment, a certain fondness shading his eyes. He thought of all the things he could say that would convey to you what he meant.

"His Highness is rather rough with his words at times," admitted Cristoph, "but he is never tactless. The very fact that he teases you is a sign enough for those who have known him for an extended period of time that he enjoys your company. I have never seen him go so far out of his way for one of his perspective brides."

"I am not a perspective bride," you snapped quietly. "I'm with him today because of formality. Once I say my goodbyes, the likelihood of us seeing each other again is very slim. I guarantee he will forget about today within the week."

Cristoph glanced at you. "Do not presume to know his thoughts when you have uncovered so little of him," he said gently. "There is more to Prince Levi than you give him credit for."

With that, Cristoph hurried on ahead because Levi was already at the car waiting. You eyed the pair curiously, not understanding why Cristoph was so persistent in trying to show you that the prince was a decent guy. As far as you were concerned, Levi was certainly a handful; if he didn't appear bored out of his mind, he was incessantly making jabs at you. It was difficult to ever discern what he was thinking but it was even harder to know when he was joking with you or if he was being outright cruel.

All you knew was that you wanted to finish the day as soon as possible. Being in the company of a prince was exhausting.

******************************************

You tossed the tv remote back in the bed just after you turned it on to the morning news and headed towards your bathroom to get ready for your shift at the bakery. With a sleepy yawn, you rubbed your eyes and set about your daily routine.

Nearly three months have gone by since your strange day with the prince of Serendair and you haven't seen him since, just like you thought. You knew that it was meant to be like this, but even as your semester at the university was coming to an end and summer was fast approaching, you often found yourself idly wondering what the prince was doing these days. As you washed your face, you let your mind vaguely wander in that direction.

After your class that day, the prince had practically forced you to go horseback riding with him after he treated you to lunch. After many humiliating attempts to even get in the saddle, your horse thought it'd be hilarious to take off across the vast grounds of Castle Michel. Of course, you tried to remain calm under the pressure and amused gaze of Levi but there was no mistaking the shriek that pierced the air when your mount stopped suddenly and pitched you head first to the ground. You remembered Levi's deep laughter at your poor display of riding, much to your embarrassment. Needless to say, you ended up riding with Levi on his horse, sitting behind him and your arms wrapped limply around his waist.

The entire time, he teased you for your ungraceful fall while he led his mount down a path lined with trees. You did your best to be civil with him and were thankful your red face was not visible to him.

The path surprisingly led to a lake, and you had inquired just how large the grounds of the castle was. You two spent a long time meandering the bank of the water while letting his horse graze. Levi didn't talk as much as you had hoped, as he mostly pried into your life. Again, you found him easy to talk to. You mostly went on about the bills and piling school debt you had or your family life or the types of friends you associated with and the entire time, Levi was listening intently. At first, you thought he was bored with you droning on and on and even asked him if he was, to which he replied with a stern, "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know. I don't waste my time with things that don't interest me."

You also had attempted to get him to open up about his life as a prince. He, unsurprisingly, said little on the subject.

"It's everything you would assume how a prince would live," he had said blandly and he left it at that. "Not much to tell, in all honesty."

Once he was tired of the lake, you went back to the castle and he asked if you wanted to join him for dinner. You had hesitated because you didn't want to overstay your welcome, but that was when Prince Eren and Mikasa appeared. They also were going to have dinner and somehow or another, you spent your meal with them. Levi had not seemed too pleased about this but never outright refused the invitation.

Mikasa was happy to see you again and asked you how your marriage interview had been going when the two princes had engaged in some complicated political talk that you could not keep up with. You were honest, to which Mikasa found intriguing. According to her, the other princes had already finished up their prospective interviews and it was a surprise to all the princes that Levi was still courting you. She even went on to tell you that the prince of Serendair is notorious for sending home his marriage interviewees home very early in the interview, usually within the first two hours.

The night ended without much else that happened and Levi said his goodbyes to you at the car you arrived in. He had made no indication that he planned to ever speak to you again; although you understood why, there was a part of you, admittedly, that was sad to know you'd never see him again. Even if you spent the day constantly bickering with him, you had thought he might have considered you as a friend now.

But you knew you both were from entirely different worlds and remaining close would be difficult, if not impossible. Even having the expectation that he would consider you a friend was a little farfetched now that you thought about it.

Presently, your cell phone rang while you were getting dressed and you eyed the unknown number curiously.

Who the heck is calling me at eight in the morning?, you wondered.

"Hello?" you said politely.

"Good morning, Miss (f/n)," said a vaguely familiar voice. "I hope I did not wake you. This is Cristoph."

You froze on the spot. "Omigosh! Wow! Uhm, no no, you didn't wake me up. I'm getting ready for work," you said enthusiastically. "But hi! It's been so long and I never thought I'd hear from you again. How are you doing? How is Lev- err Prince Levi?"

Cristoph chuckled gently on the other side. "You are chipper this morning," he teased lightly. "I am very well, and so is His Highness. He also sends his regards. Unfortunately, I do not have much time to talk but I have a message to relay from Prince Levi to you. He would have talked to you himself but his work has kept him very busy and delegated the task to me."

"Oh, I bet. As are you, I'm sure. Since he keeps you just as busy," you said, feeling yourself smile; there was a small part of you that hoped maybe Levi was going to visit Valen and wanted to see you. You wondered if it was wrong to want that though. "But what's going on?"

"His Highness has taken the liberty to pay your college tuition in full, and should you desire to continue on for your Master's degree, he will have that paid for as well when the time comes," explained Cristoph, speaking a little quicker than normal. "He also wanted me to inform you that your rent for your apartment is taken care of for the remainder of your lease. At the renewal date, he would like you to inform him or myself if you plan to stay in the apartment so he can pay for it ahead of time."

You felt yourself go slackjawed at what you just heard. Your brain was spinning a mile a minute and you were trying to properly form a sentence.

"....what?"

"Shall I explain it again, perhaps more thoroughly?" asked Cristoph, sounding concerned. "Maybe I did not explain it well."

"Wait wait wait, no!!" you said, finally able to find your words. "Levi, crap, I mean, Prince Levi and I haven't even spoken in the last three months! Wh-why would he pay for all of that? It's not really any of his problems and I didn't even think he thought of me as a friend or anything. I honestly don't understand at all!"

There was a pause from the butler and you waited impatiently for him to say something.

"His Highness will be attending a conference with the other princes in Valen two days from now," he said finally and you couldn't stop yourself from silently throwing up your free hand in exasperation since the statement did not answer your question. "...He has intentions to see you, if you can spare the time. This gives you an opportunity to ask him yourself as to why he has taken an interest in your financial and educational security, for I cannot speak on his behalf."

"Cristoph!" you exclaimed. "Please be honest with me. You're dodging my question when I know you have your own opinion about this."

Again, he hesitated to speak. "Miss (f/n)," he said gently, and in a significantly quieter voice, "I will only say one thing because the prince is summoning me and it is this: I believe that His Highness is quite fond of you. He has often inquired Prince Armin, who frequents the bakery you work at, so I'm told, on how you are faring. As I had said to you before, the prince is not so different from yourself and the day you spent with him brought back memories for him. That is all I can say on the subject."

He quickly bid you a good day and hung up the phone, not before you heard Prince Levi's voice in the background saying, "I've been calling you for the last five minutes. What are you doing, waiting for the grass to grow?"

Annoyed that you hadn't got much of an answer, you glanced at the time; you still had forty-five minutes until you had to leave for work. Luckily, the bakery was only a four minute walk from your apartment.

Without thinking, you sprinted to the kitchen where you left your laptop, knocking your toe against the corner of the wall.

"Jeezus, augh!" you hissed, stumbling to the table. You opened up the internet browser on your laptop, muttering an incoherent slew of curse words for your injured toe, and Googled "Prince Levi Ackerman of Serendair." You had this insatiable desire to figure out why Cristoph continuously told you that you and Levi were similar in some ways.

Your first option looked promising and you clicked it impatiently, tapping your fingers against the wooden table. You began to read the basics on what was known about Levi but nothing seemed out of the ordinary or something you didn't already know.

You chuckled at the sight of his birthday. He's a Christmas baby........wait what? you thought but stared at the year. With quick mental math, you found your stomach drop uncomfortably.

"He's 32!?" you cried, eyes wide at the screen. "There's no fricken way he is nine years older than me!"

You put your head down on the table for a moment, trying to decipher how you felt about the idea of him being as old as he was. You had thought he had been, at the most, twenty-eight or so, but you would have never ventured to say he was in his early thirties. After a moment, you raised your head again and read on.

"'Questionable King'?" you said to yourself at a title of another section of the article. You clicked on it.

And you read on, only understand exactly why Cristoph had said what he had.

Levi had had a relatively poor upbringing as a child and because of that, he put himself through college until the age of twenty-six, when he was named crown prince of Serendair. According to the article, Levi was technically an illegitimate son of the King of Serendair, whom he had conceived with a nonroyal a few years earlier before he was crowned king. His queen was barren, never been able to have any children because of complications of ovarian cancer in her younger years. Because no heir had been born from the proper line, the king, whom had known about his son with his first love, finally announced that he had a son from indiscretion and pronounced Levi as the heir to the Serendair throne.

Your heart ached as you kept reading; the prince's life had been nothing as you had previously thought. Levi's mother moved to Loria in order to keep Levi's lineage hidden but he had had lost her very early on in his life from a fatal car accident on her way home from work, said the article. Since then, had been placed in foster care throughout childhood until he was a legal adult. All of you could think about was how young Levi would have felt; abandoned by a father he never knew and losing his mother at an age he needed someone the most.

He must have been very lonely.

The article questioned Levi's abilities as a leader and his mental state, because when he was announced as the future king, the press did some digging and put Levi on blast. Levi had been a troubled teenager, though you didn't blame him, and had several misdimeanor charges under his belt, such as petty theft. However, it didn't appear that he did anything too reckless or outright evil. Because of his run ins with the law, he had bounced around from different foster home to foster home. Somehow though, he must have cleaned up his act and put himself through community college and university, as well as holding down a job during that time before his father came looking for him. The article also mentioned that the relationship between him and his stepmother was incredibly strained, and you didn't have to even guess as to why that was. She more than likely didn't want an illegitimate son ruling after her husband and wished she could have bore an heir.

So...he's only been living as a prince for...what? Six years or so... you mused, staring at nothing in particular. Now that you knew his history, you understood why it had been so easy conversing with him and even more clear as to why he felt comfortable around you. You never lived a life like his; your childhood was actually quite boring in your eyes since you were an only child. More than anything, you just wanted to be his friend. You had noticed from the day you spent with him, but had appeared lonely then too but you had just thought it was because all princes were isolated from most people for their safety. Knowing that the prince was coming back to Valen and wanted to visit you made your heart seize slightly.

You had so many questions you had wanted to ask him now, such as why hasn't he talked to you in the last three months or why did he arbitrarily decided to pay off your debt to your university or how does he really feel about being the crown prince of Serendair.

"Oh, god..." you said, putting a hand over your face. "Do I like him?"

***********************************
Author's note: again, I do take requests if anyone is interested in that, both in world or AU. Admittedly, I'm slightly backed up with Phantoms and Angels part 3 (writers blooock), Scout Design part 2, and now Worlds Apart part 2, but if anyone wanted to request something in particular, I'm willing to make it happen. Please note though: I can't really do smut. I do obviously write a little of that but nothing rated R. It's just a preference.

Aaaaalso, just a side note: if anyone has a good Levi in world idea, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I have run dry with in world ideas. Xoxo