-

As you made your way to your desk, you heard Levi close the door and then walk over to you as you made your way around your desk and sat down in your chair, rolling yourself closer to your computer. You heard Levi's footsteps up until the point that you could see him walking to stand behind your chair in the corner of your

"What was four-eyes talking about?" You heard him ask, and you scoffed, continuing to scroll through your computer after you turned it on, looking for Hange's email with the security footage.

"Excuse me? Four-eyes? Is that what you call Hange? And...you'll see," You said, but then your tone turned serious at the end. Levi nodded and after that, the room was filled with nothing but the sound of your fingers tapping away and silence to fill the air in between.

Levi still had a thought stuck in his head that he didn't know if he wanted the answer to or not, why he cared at all, or why it caught his attention in the first place. But in any case, he decided he'll ask anyway.

"By the way, what was that about meeting your original blind date?" He asked, and he noticed you didn't stop typing, and you didn't take your eyes away from your computer, but you still answered.

"You told me to go find someone to marry that wasn't you? That's exactly what I'm doing," You said simply, letting out a carefree breath that told him you were perfectly fine with finding someone else to marry so that you can secure Grisha's position and his inheritance.

But when Levi let out a scoff, you stopped typing just as you heard that and slowly turned around to look at him with disbelief in your eyes. "Well, what if he's an idiot?" He asked, and you shrugged, turning back around, searching for a couple more seconds until you finally found Hange's email.

"Maybe he will be. Maybe not. I'll find out when I meet him. If I have to keep looking, I will," You said, and since you had your back to Levi, you missed the way that he rolled his eyes and silence filled the room again after that. There was a desperate change of subject after that.

"What's this anyway?" Levi asked, watching as you clicked on the email and then you were taken to a folder. He watched as you ran a hand back through your hair with a tired sigh and quickly explained. "Well, Grisha died from a deadly drug allergy on the day he ordered his audit team.

"The medicine was always in his medical bag in his office, so I asked Hange to gather some of the security footage from his office days before his death. The cameras must have definitely caught something. Anything," You said, but once you clicked on the file, you slumped back in your chair, taken aback.

There were so many videos. Almost too many. How will you be able to go through all of these? You didn't know what you were expecting but it wasn't this. This is going to take a while. "Holy fuck..." You muttered, leaning forward, scrolling down as much as you can down the number of files but it was never ending.

At least it seems that way. It took you a couple seconds until you scrolled to the end of the file. "It'll take forever to go through these," Levi said as you nodded numbly, looking at your computer with your mouth parted and eyes wide. You fell back against your chair and exhaled.

Levi took a couple seconds to look at your screen for a bit longer before he leaned back again. "Well...good luck," He said, turning on his heel to walk away. But your eyes widened and you were able to turn around and grab his sleeve before he could leave.

He turned his head to look down at you and saw the desperation in your eyes. You really didn't want to do this alone. "Uh-uh. You're not going anywhere. You have to help me look through these. Please. I won't go home tonight if I do it alone," You said but Levi just stared at you, raising a skeptical eyebrow at you at what you were asking.

You were asking for favors but you couldn't come through with what he was asking before. He was about to turn away again but you moved to grab his arm instead, wrapping your arm around his elbow, tugging him back to you.

"Come on. We're in the same boat, remember? You promised you'd help me reach my goal if I help you with yours," You said, and when you did, Levi smirked subtly and nodded. He would do this no problem as long as you did what he'd asked of you before. An eye for an eye.

"I'll do it," He said, and you sighed in relief, but that was short-lived after he continued. "On one condition, though. After all, you're supposed to help me reach my goal too?" He said and you sighed, already having a feeling where this was going.

You weren't being reasonable before and if it took for you to need something to realize that, then so be it. You needed to be fair and he could hold your wrist whenever he needed to. Within reason, obviously. "Okay. What?" You asked, preparing yourself to hear his request.

"I think you already know the answer to that," Levi said, gesturing to his tattoo on your wrist and you looked to the side of your forearm on your desk with his tattoo on full display since your sleeve rode up a little. He had a fair point. But you weren't being fair.

You said you'd think about it, but you didn't really have the luxury to do that anymore, did you? As long as the two of you were alone, he could hold your wrist as much as he wanted. That was the fair thing to do. You knew that well.

It respected what you wanted and also what he wanted out of it. You nodded in response and Levi's smirk widened. "Fine," You said, not being able to help but smile too, but hid it quickly enough so he wouldn't see.

You know deep down you were just as reliant on him as he was on you and compromise was all the two of you needed. 'About time..' Levi thought to himself, watching your face carefully.

You could pretend all she wanted, but he saw the way your grip on his sleeve lingered for a second too long before you finally pulled it away from him. And it was also hard to pretend the way you held his gaze for a couple of seconds before you blinked and hurriedly tore your eyes away, forcing yourself to move on. Yeah, Levi didn't miss that.

You handed Levi your laptop, that you'd briefly opened and also pulled up the file in. You handed it to Levi and he took it, and before he got comfortable to start looking through this.

When you felt him immediately reach for your wrist without warning, not wasting any time the second you finally agreed, you looked up and saw him raising his hand in the air, snapping his fingers, and not even a second later, his tattoo lit up as it always did, his powers took effect, and both rows of the shades in your office snapped shut. It gave the two of you complete privacy you needed for this.

Eventually, about 20 minutes had passed since you and Levi began combing through the security footage. You had split the files evenly—he focused on the first half while you examined the second—and the two of you had been at it ever since.

Neither of you had spoken a word. For nearly half an hour, the only sounds in the room that could be heard were clicking, scrolling, and the occasional typing.

At this point, your positions had shifted slightly, too. You remained in your desk chair, eyes fixated on your monitor as you scanned the footage, while Levi sat on a spare chair to your right, reviewing the same file but on your laptop.

And yet, despite working separately, you weren't entirely disconnected from him—your wrist was still very much occupied, held in Levi's grasp as he kept it closer to him in proximity, leaving you with only one free hand to scroll through the videos.

And this whole process was starting to become really, really boring. You were seeing the same thing in every video, just people walking in and out, nothing that suspicious or out of the ordinary.

You had your eyes peeled for anything at all but it was worrying you how you haven't been able to spot anything, but the longer you searched, the more unsettling it became that you hadn't spotted a single clue.

Every time you glanced at Levi and caught the hard set of his jaw, you knew he was thinking the same thing. He was just as tired of doing this as you are.

But even with the silence you've held for almost 30 minutes, you decided to finally break the silence. "Make sure not to accidentally watch one in my batch if you're done. Just so we don't watch the same ones twice," You pointed out as you kept your eyes on your screen for anything suspicious, but it was practically a ghost town.

Levi looked over at you, not letting the sharpness in his eyes waver, in fact it only got stronger as he narrowed them at you and then turned back to look at the laptop.

"I don't think I ever applied for the detective job, did I? Tell me again why I agreed to this?" Levi said, and you turned your head to look at him incredulously.

Did he forget? You raised your arm in the air, making him turn to look at you, looking back and forth between you and your hold on his wrist.

"This?" You said, raising an eyebrow, and then let your arm fall back down to the desk, turning to look back at your monitor.

Levi huffed and then raised his free hand up to his eyes and started to rub them uncomfortably, his face scrunching in the process. "My eyes are fucking burning! Jesus..." He muttered to himself, but it made you chuckle nonetheless.

He's never stared at a screen this long. You weren't any different because you were starting to feel that the myth that parents used to tell you when you were a kid about your eyes turning square was starting to come true. Maybe the two of you needed a break.

Levi sighed and turned to look at you, seeing your eyes still glued to your screen. "There has to be another way to do this. We won't get anywhere if we just sit here scrolling through hours worth of footage," Levi said as he slumped back against his chair and ran a hand back through his hair, gesturing to the computer screen in front of him.

You didn't turn to look at him but you did hear him loud and clear. Did he have something else in mind? "Well what do you suggest? I thought this would be a good place to start," You asked, continuing to scroll through the seemingly endless file.

Levi drummed his fingers lightly on the desk but then he stopped when something came to mind. Oh, you're going to hate him for this. But even so, if anything can get him out of staring at the screen in front of him, your reaction would be the least of his concerns.

"What if we use my powers to find the guy who's after you?" Levi said casually and you froze. It took you a couple seconds to process what he just said and you slowly turned your head around to look him dead in the eye.

"You can do that?" You asked, just barely above a mutter, still wondering in your head while Levi was telling you this now instead of tens of videos ago. You looked at him blankly and with disbelief creeping up on your face when you saw Levi simply nod at you.

You inhaled sharply and turned your body in your chair to fully face him, trying to contain yourself from blowing up. "And you waited until now to tell me that? Why didn't you?" You asked, hoping he'd have a valid reason for not mentioning that very important little detail that he was keeping to himself all this time.

"You never asked," He shrugged and pursed your lips, inhaling deeply and exhaling. You propped up your elbow on your desk and leant your face down to rub your temples.

Well, better late than never, right? You raised your head from your hand and looked at him, exasperated. "What have we been doing all this time, then? We could've done that instead," You said, gesturing to your computer that still had many files left to look through, but maybe you didn't have to anymore.

So, you immediately put that aside and started to look more on the silver lining Levi bringing this up now. "As unfortunate as it is that you waited until now to tell me that, this is great! Now we can find out who's behind this!" You said, not hesitating to roll up your sleeve and extending your wrist out for Levi to take.

Levi looked down at your wrist and then back at you, and for some reason there was hesitance in his eyes about it. Wasn't he the one who wanted this so badly?

You watched as he lifted his hand and let it hover over your wrist, but then retracted it, taking it back. You furrowed your eyebrows and watched as his face creased with something he wasn't saying out loud.

"Hold on," He started, and you sighed, suddenly preparing for whatever suddenly came to mind in his head. Levi turned to look at you and there was a certain glint in his eye that made you worry just the slightest bit. What was he thinking about?

"You have to promise me one thing," He said and you raised your eyebrows, clearly unconvinced, at him. "Among the many other promises?" You muttered loudly enough for him to hear. Levi ignored your little remark, undeterred as he pressed on.

"Once we catch that guy, you probably won't need me anymore. But I'll still need you. And if that changes things for you, I just want to hear you say that it won't," Levi said and you stared at him. After everything that's happened, does he still not trust your word?

Does he think you'll flip a switch on him and leave him in the dark? You'd never do that to him. Although, part of you is glad he's feeling comfortable enough now to voice things to you now and not keep you in the dark, even if it's about his distrust.

When you make promises, you never break them. "When I make promises, I don't break them, Levi. I told you before—this is equal. We agreed to help each other until we both get what we need. Don't you trust me?" You concluded, wanting Levi to hear the sincerity in your words. What's making him want you to assure him of this all of a sudden?

He wasn't like this before. Is he worried about something else? Was it something you said in the car? When did he start thinking about this? About you suddenly deserting him when your problem is solved.

But when you were met with Levi simply staring at you and he didn't respond, his silence was answer enough. Your jaw nearly dropped in disbelief.

When he agreed to be your bodyguard, he swore to be loyal to this job, and you promised him that too then too that you'd help him because he needs you too. Was that not clear enough for him?

You thought it was all this time. But if he needed reassurance, for whatever reason it may be, then that's what you'll do. "Fine," You sighed, extending out your wrist again for him with his tattoo facing up. "I swear I'll help you get your tattoo back—even after we catch that guy. Happy?" You said, and when Levi nodded, you exhaled in relief.

That was...really weird. What made him think you wouldn't help him after he helps you? You'll make sure not to ever do anything that makes him think otherwise.

But just as he was about to put his hand on your wrist again, your breath got caught up in your throat in disbelief when it hovered once again and then he retracted it. Again. "Wait. There's one more thing," He said, and you deadpanned at him as air lightly flared through your nostrils angrily.

"Are you enjoying my suffering? I think you are," You said, keeping your wrist held up and waiting to hear what other demand he had in mind now. Although, as you quickly racked your head, it all pointed to just one thing that he could possibly be about to ask you now. And you were completely right.

"From now on, you have to let me charge regardless of where we are or who's watching," He said and your mouth dropped agape at what he asked. You should've known this wasn't the last time he would bring it up and now he had the perfect trump card to make you do it.

He was sneaky, you'll give him that. "I was right. You do like to watch me suffer," You said, and didn't miss the look of amusement he gave you after that. You were weighing out the options in your head. Was it really worth it? After everything the two of you talked about in the car? You did say you'd think about it...

"I hate you so much... fine! I'll do it. I'll let you charge whenever you want after we catch that guy. That's fair enough, right?" You caved, not wanting to look Levi in the eye and see the gloating behind his steel eyes. He got his way after all, didn't he?

This was too much. Everyone around you would question it, especially after he turned you down. How could you possibly explain it?

You're also going against everything the two of you talked about in the car. That last little shred of dignity and self-respect you had left just wafted away into the air and into nothing.

"Fantastic. Now you better keep your word," Levi said, sounding way too smug for your liking. You rolled your eyes and held up your wrist for him to take for like the third time now.

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry up before I regret it," You said, and after that, at last, Levi did not waste a second after that  to move to wrap his fingers around your wrist securely, ignoring once again the goosebump-inducing tingles that it gave you.

Seems like he was much more on board with doing this now that he had a verbal agreement from you from all of those things he asked from you. He'd also much rather do this than go through any more files.

"Let's go catch that guy," You said, smiling hopefully, and Levi nodded, with assertiveness clear in his eyes. But just as he started to concentrate, you remembered a little, yet very important, detail that you should probably mention to him before he transports the two of you out of the office.

Just before Levi activated his powers, you chimed in. "But, before you do it. Bring us close to him, but not too close. Just enough to know his location," You said, and Levi turned to look at you once you said that. You broke his concentration.

He needed a clear picture of the guy in his head and how he remembers him, but he needed silence for that. "You're distracting me," He said, tightening his grip on your wrist and turning his head again, closing his eyes. You muttered a small 'sorry' before you sat in your chair and waited for Levi's powers to do their thing,

When Levi felt like he had an image in his head, he raised his free hand and prepared to snap his fingers while you watched in the corner of your eye how much concentration he needed for this.

But when he finally did snap his fingers, and expected the two of you to be where he had pictured in his mind, he opened his eyes and the only thing that was left was the sound of crickets.

You were both still in your office. You were both still here, right where you were seconds ago. Well...that was anticlimactic.

You looked around awkwardly and then at Levi, watching as he was starting to look just as confused as you did. Were his powers fluctuating again? It's only happened a couple times since you've met him and this seems to be one of the rare occurrences. You were about to say something but then you noticed embarrassment visibly start to grow on Levi as he cleared his throat and looked away. You decided to keep your mouth shut.

He really wasn't expecting it at all. Not one bit. First these weird memories came back to him and now his powers weren't working? What was happening to him? "What the hell?" You heard him mutter to himself and you leaned forward slightly to see him looking ahead, clearly trying not to think of the worst possible scenario here.

You decided this was a good time to interject and try to tell him that it was okay and if he needed to take a couple minutes. The two of you could try again later if he wanted.

You hesitantly leaned forward again, noticing the way that he was trying to concentrate all over again and get that image in his head. "Hey, do you need some time-" You started, but Levi held a hand up in front of you, catching you off guard and making you fall back a little.

"Just- hold on a minute. I'll try again," Levi said, sounding very frustrated by the looks of it. You nodded and adjusted yourself in your chair again, waiting for him to give it another go. "Alright..." You mumbled, watching as he began to roll his shoulders back, stretching his neck and his head side to side.

Once again, you prepared yourself and took a deep breath when you saw him raise his hand again and prepare to snap his fingers. But once again, once he finally did snap his fingers again and nothing happened, your shoulders sank and you looked at Levi.

His eyes were wide and his hand was frozen in the air. "Okay...so what now?" You let out a breath, not wanting to point out the obvious to Levi because it's clear what's happening here with his powers. "Damn it...this isn't right," You heard him mutter to himself.

You studied his body language and saw he was fighting internally every concern and doubt that was creeping up on him, pushing his pride aside, so he can try again. This just got a whole lot more complicated than it was before and that was a big problem.

After that, it just got harder to watch. You witnessed the way Levi just kept trying to snap his fingers, over, and over, and over again, and nothing was happening.

You sighed and pulled your wrist away from Levi's grasp, because it was clear the two of you weren't doing this now and probably some other time when his powers weren't acting up like they are now.

"Well, that was fun," You said dryly, and Levi stopped snapping his fingers, turning to look at you blankly but his glare spoke more than words ever could.

After that, Levi seemed to be just racking his brain for an answer as to why now, of all moments, his powers aren't responding. "Why isn't it working?" He muttered to himself, continuing to snap his fingers as if in a daze even when he wasn't holding onto your wrist anymore.

He was just looking forward, trying to figure this out. You looked at him and a part of you felt yourself feel for him a little bit.

You were joking before but you can't imagine something you rely on so much just vanish like that when you expect it to be there. "You can't have lost your powers, have you?" You said, floating the idea.

Hearing your words, Levi clicked his tongue and steeled himself to try one more time. Not to transport yourselves, but to focus on an object. That should be easier, right? It could be what could jumpstart his powers again.

"I swear if you put that out into the universe..." He said, grabbing your wrist again and keeping a strong and secure hold on it again. He started to let his eyes dart around and pick an object.

And soon enough, his eyes landed on a pen that was on the coffee table in the sitting area of your office. When he locked his eyes onto it, he took a deep breath, raised his hand, and snapped his fingers.

And this time, the pen went flying straight towards him and he swiftly caught it between his fingers. Your mouth went agape when you saw that happen in the blink of an eye, and you let out a laugh of disbelief as soon as it registered what you witnessed. If it works now, then what happened before?

Levi couldn't hide the small breath of relief he let out when he saw the pen he saw across the room, in his grasp now. But now he was just beyond confused. Was there something he did wrong before? He truly had no idea.

"You were saying?" Levi said, smugness returning to his voice and referring to you hinting at his powers being gone, as he turned his head to look at you. You shook your head with incredulity, with a couple laughs leaving your lips, as if he wasn't panicking seconds ago about his powers failing.

But he got his confirmation that his powers were still there, so you wouldn't comment on that. All that mattered was that they worked and the two of you could try again.

But Levi really wanted to make sure that his powers were really back. He wanted to try something else before he gave transporting the two of you another try.

He started looking around the room again and then focused on the shades that were blocking what you two were doing from the rest of the office. Once again, his eyes narrowed and when he snapped his fingers once more, the drapes snapped open.

You raised your eyebrows in surprise. His powers seemed fine now. He snapped his fingers again and the drapes closed, giving you two complete privacy again. You two would need it once he tried to transport the two of you again. Levi was stumped now.

"Then, why..." He asked himself, but trailed off. You knew exactly what he meant, though. It was probably hard to process why his powers didn't work the first time but they did for simple tasks.

Maybe Levi needed a clearer picture of that psycho before he could take the two of you to him, and he couldn't just transport both of you to him right away.

That was a lot more possible than any of the other theories you had. You looked at Levi again and saw that by the looks of it, he has a similar idea in mind on what to do now.

"You know what? Let's try something else. Let's not directly try to get to the guy just yet. Name anyone. Someone I've met before," Levi said and you nodded, starting to think. It made sense to try and transport someone who was closer for now, like maybe someone in the office.

Someone Levi at the very least could picture clearly. And as you thought about it for a few seconds, someone quickly came to mind. "How about Connie Springer? From the PR team. He shouldn't be hard to find. He's always around the office. We'll find him," You suggested and Levi nodded at your suggestion. That was definitely more doable for now.

"The buzzcut one? Got it," Levi said and you rolled your eyes as a smile came onto your lips, hearing what Levi is remembering him as. Feeling Levi's fingers tighten around your wrist once again, you knew he was about to try again.

You straightened up, took a deep breath, and watched as he raised his hand once again, preparing to give this another attempt. This time, Levi put all of his energy in picturing your employee in his head up until the moment he finally snapped his fingers. And at last, once he did, the two of you vanished in thin air.

But just as the two of you disappeared, a couple knocks were heard on your door to your office and then Hange walked through, keeping their focus down on their tablet as they walked inside. "Y/n, good news! I scheduled your date on..." Hange started but then they looked up, their words trailed off when they saw you nowhere in sight.

Your office was empty and Hange looked around in confusion, lightly fixing their glasses. They looked back down at their tablet and let out a breath. Where did you go? They could've sworn they haven't seen you leave your office in a while. Did they miss that? They thought to themselves.

-

You opened your eyes again, feeling slightly out of place for a couple seconds but when you fully registered where you were, you nearly gasped. You were in a storage closet. You and Levi were both in a storage closet. But that wasn't all.

The two of you were pressed up against each other since you were both in between two shelves that were full of products that were for the office's kitchen.

You were also very aware that Levi was staring at you, unwaveringly, but you ignored it and started looking around. And Connie? He was nowhere in sight. Did Levi's powers take you both to the wrong place?

It seems that way because you cannot see him anywhere or feel anything besides Levi keeping a tight hold on your wrist or him pressed up against you in a way that was making your breath get caught up in your throat. He was close. Way too close. Is your face warming? Is the room warming up? It feels like it is.

The first thing you did when you got your bearings was to yank your wrist away from his hold, knocking your hand slightly with one of the shelves, but you ignored the slightly pang you felt in your hand because you were feeling so many other things that you hoped weren't showing in your face right now.

You were trying so hard to focus on getting out of here first, but how could you? You could feel his breath lightly fanning against your face, his body brushing against yours when you try to move away. You could feel everything.

But you swallowed down anything you wanted to say about that and shove down any intrusive thoughts and focused on what was happening, trying to steel your nerves and remain as unbothered about this as possible.

Why did you have to get stuck in a situation like this with him? You rolled your eyes, scoffing as you felt Levi's eyes squint and focus on you slightly.

"I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Let's get out of here," You said, avoiding eye contact with Levi and he nodded in reply, still studying your movements as he remained silent. He hasn't said anything yet and it worries you.

You tried to step away from him and see if you could move past the narrow shelves, but it was very hard. Levi feels like he hasn't been able to find anything to say either, knowing this was already awkward as is, but he could tell you were acting differently the moment that you realized this is where the two of you ended up with.

As you started heading towards the door, Levi turned his head to see if there was anybody outside this door, because if the two of you walked out together out of the storage closet, it wouldn't look very good, would it?

But as you continued to struggle to shift to get across, Levi had leaned his head further enough not only to see but also hear people outside in the office's kitchen.

He had no idea what was running through his head when he did what did next, but without thinking it through, Levi grabbed your waist on both sides and hurriedly tugged you back to be pressed up against him again, forcing your back to be pressed against the shelves. You have nowhere to go.

Your waist was the most he could get ahold of since he can barely move his own arms. He didn't mean to. But when he did that, your breath hitched and you looked at him with wide eyes.

You heard the voices of your employee's too but did he have to bring you back like that? Damn it, your face was burning up.

You looked at him in shock and swallowed hard, seeing his focus and his eyes be solely on the door. His jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were creased together.

It didn't help seeing the way his Adam's apple bob lightly with nerves he was clearly trying to hide, but it didn't make your rushing emotions any better. God- what was happening to you right now? You needed to calm down.

But how could you possibly calm down when you start to feel his grip tighten on your waist, out of his own nerves that the two of you might be caught here?

You could feel his fingers pressing into you, feeling it was impossible enough to ignore, and as you tried to identify the voices outside, they only seemed to get more drowned out as you became more and more painfully aware of the situation you're in. Are you this touch starved that being here with him is sending you in overdrive? You don't get it. You needed to breathe.

But when Levi finally turned his head and his cool, steel eyes met your wide and shocked ones, you finally felt yourself come back to reality and hear who the voices belonged to outside.

"Guys, come here," You heard, and you could recognize that voice immediately. It was Connie. So Levi had brought the two of you to the right place. Connie was right outside that storage closet door, like you'd asked of Levi. But why did it have to be here? And why was Levi looking at you like that? Were you imagining it? Was any of this real?

You forced yourself to look away, still feeling Levi's unusually softened eyes towards you still burn into the side of your head. You needed to wait until Connie, and whoever he was with, were gone. Until then, you had to listen to them talk and whatever they had to say. You needed to calm down.

This would be over soon enough. "Don't you guys think something's going on between the boss and Mr. Levi? Isn't it so obvious?" Connie said, and you froze. You closed your eyes and exhaled. This wasn't helping. Not helping at all.

You opened your eyes again, and that was a mistake. When you opened them and saw Levi was still staring at you. Not anywhere else in the room. Not the door, not the shelves, not anywhere else. You.

And now you feel yourself running out of breath even if you've been stuck in place for what felt like years of your life already. Your heart's pounding painfully against your chest  that it feels like it'll fall out. You wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it, honestly.

Then you started hearing the voices of the people who were with Connie. "What do you mean by that?" Jean. You cursed inwardly, knowing that if your hunch was correct, Sasha was there too. You couldn't walk out now. You weren't the only one who felt far too aware of where they were.

Levi felt it too, it's why he can't help but stare at you even when you're looking directly at him. You're both painfully aware of the other but none of you can do anything about it either. Levi felt like he forgot to breathe for a moment too.

"You know what I mean. How much do you want to bet that the two of them are dating?" Connie said and you felt your face flare up with heat that made your mouth drop agape look away from Levi for a second, but when you got the courage to look back at him, you felt your mouth go dry.

His eyes were low, as if wanting to look deeply into your very soul, his hair was falling over his face and the sunlight pouring in from the small window in this supply closet was making his pale skin glow.

And it didn't help the way Connie was continuing to fill in the silence between you and Levi. It was making it worse. So much worse.

"Come on! They reek with sexual tension with the way they act around each other," Connie said proudly and with certainty in his voice, while you were looking directly into Levi's eyes after hearing what Connie said, nearly making something inside you burst.

God, Connie. Seriously? You groaned mentally. It seems hearing that comment made Levi uncomfortable too because he finally broke eye contact nervously and then started to shift around nervously, and you instinctively started to move around too. That was more than enough to tell you that he wanted to leave too, just as much as you.

After Connie said that, the two of you did everything to avoid looking the other in the eye again. Looking around the room, trying to find anything else to focus on.

"Connie, what fantasy world do you live in? Mr. Levi flat out rejected Ms. Y/n's proposal. You don't do that if you like someone," You heard the third voice say and you immediately recognized who it was. Sasha. You prayed to anyone listening that it was just them and that nobody else was out there. That would be your last straw.

This was suffocating. You really hoped Levi can't tell that you felt like you were falling apart on the inside. Were you masking it as well as you thought you would?

You hung your head low, and the moment Levi knew that you weren't looking at him, he took that as his opportunity to steal a couple more glances your way, with his pupils darting all over you, silently.

The trio outside continued to double down and make you feel like the shelves of this supply room were closing in on you. "She wouldn't have proposed to him if nothing was going on! Mark my words," You heard Connie say and somehow, you found yourself accidentally raising your head and locking eyes with Levi yet again.

There was a certain softness, sultriness, but also unsettling aspect to his eyes that made you want to look away but you couldn't. You didn't even know if it was just you, or if he was thinking the same thing you were, but you felt as if he was even closer than before.

What Connie said? You know for sure that's what many people were thinking. That you proposed to him because you felt something for him. And from the way you accidentally looked up at Levi and there was immediately a quick glint in his eyes as he just barely tilted his head to the side. He cannot think you have feelings for him, can he? You've made that very clear.

"You know what? That actually makes sense," Jean interjected, letting out a hum of approval. You swallowed again and you started to look everywhere in the room but at Levi, even if you could still feel his eyes trailing over every part of your face. When will this end? This is painful.

"Of course it does!" Connie said excitedly. Levi tore his eyes away from you, feeling that all of this might be getting to him too and they needed to find a way to get out soon. He would never admit that out loud to you, though.

Even if he wasn't exactly making it subtle by feeling drawn to nothing but stare at you. Up close. He also couldn't help but lean his head closer to the door to hear more of what your employees were saying just outside.

"What are you two even talking about?" Sasha said outside as she took a sip of her drink. This was their break and they were taking this as an opportunity to gossip when nobody else was in the kitchen. "Workplace romance can be so exciting, right?" Connie said, as if reminiscing, but Jean and Sasha looked at his friend skeptically, wanting to laugh at his friend's words. Jean was the first one to speak up first, keeping the conversation going.

"Have you ever had a workplace romance?" Jean snickered as he took a sip of his coffee, looking at Sasha who met his eyes and they both started chuckling. Connie saw this and huffed, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Totally! I have ladies lined up just to be with me in the building," Connie said, making Sasha snort and nearly spray out her drink. Jean lowered his cup of coffee and contained his smile as he turned to look at his friend.

"Really? And where are these ladies?" Jean asked, pursing his lips, putting his hands on the counter and leaning forward. He nearly burst out laughing as Connie racked his brain to think of something to say, tracing circles on the counter.

"You don't know them," Is what Connie settled on, making Jean and Sasha both hum as they nodded slowly, exchanging quick glances with each other as they tried not to laugh while Connie tried to salvage himself.

Why was this taking so long? Can they go? You don't want to be here any more than you have to and you could feel yourself spiraling with every passing second. Thankfully, Levi was able to lessen it somehow as he tipped his head back, exhaling and finally dropping his hands from your waist but instead settling in maneuvering them somehow to be on either side of you on the shelves behind you. He was still unbelievably close that way, but as long as his hands weren't on you and making your head spin, it was all good.

As the trio continued to fantasize about workplace romance, things weren't getting any better between you and Levi. Just as he straightened his head again, you looked at him at the same time and this time, you couldn't hide the way you nearly gasped, making Levi raise an eyebrow at you.

And even worse than that, you wondered to yourself why you allowed yourself to look down at his lips at a lightning speed that you hoped he didn't notice. Why did you do that? Why the hell did you do that? Stop it. Stop it!

And as much as you tried to convince yourself that you were fast enough and that Levi didn't see that, you were wrong. He saw that clearly.

And as smug as he wanted to feel, he couldn't even comment on that or show how amused he was because for a split second, his eyes dropped to your lips too, but inhaled sharply when he forced himself to settle on your eyes again.

That was a lot better on his conscience than admitting he did what he just did. Looking into your eyes felt like it was a much more bearable option. He does not want to go down that road. And he wasn't going to. Not a chance.

As for you? You couldn't take this anymore. You needed to move. You needed to do something. Anything. You're dying here.

You turned your head and started to look at both sides of you to see where you could escape to, but you didn't realize that in the process, as your hands explored your surroundings and the shelves behind you, you were unknowingly inching closer and closer to touching Levi's hands that were on either side of you.

When your hands finally moved enough, and they made even the most minuscule of contact with Levi's skin, you flinched and you retracted your hands quickly.

As you continued to try and find more space between the two of you, when you turned your head and made eye contact with Levi yet again, you felt your chest begin to rise and fall at the way he was looking at you now.

His steel eyes were dazed, focused, trailing all over your face and his breath was fanning against your cheeks. He was studying you carefully, having personally found a way to drown out everything else and the only thing he had eyes and ears for was you. How did he do it? No clue. Why? No idea.

But feeling like he's been standing here next to you for far too long, at a forced proximity, it's like the usual guarded mind he had crumbled by being here with you. He knows he'll snap out of it if the two of you were out of here and everything would go back to normal, so he was taking it in while he could.

You could see every possible feature that you've only managed to admire from afar. Because it's true. Levi was very handsome, and even if you can admit that, you've looked past that so you can focus on your agreement.

But how can you not focus on being here with him like this? You've ignored the way his suit that he wears as your bodyguard fits him in all the right places, how his jacket wraps around his biceps and how it- You need to stop. This has to stop. You can't take it anymore. This was so, so wrong.

He's making your stomach flip and it's making your first impressions of him come back full force in a way you'd never seen them, and you hate it. You can't think about him this way.

And it seems that as the trio was starting to get more rowdy outside, Levi must have been thinking about the same thing because he started to shift  around you at the same time you were.

This time, he was the one to swallow hard and turn away first, leaving you to gasp to yourself silently as you looked off to the side and started to move too.

But as you did, you moved your elbows behind you and knocked back some boxes behind you and your face paled. You hoped that the trio outside couldn't hear even the most minimal of movements.

As you and Levi continued to shuffle around each other carefully with your clothes rustling against each other, both of you briefly glanced at each other.

You sent him an awkward smile and went back to trying to move around while Levi pursed his lips and sent you a nod. It seems you were both thinking the same thing too, because you turned to look at each other again to speak.

"We should..." Levi started softly.

"We should-" You said awkwardly.

You both said at the same time, making you both freeze and cut yourselves off mid-sentence. You both looked at each other in shock and turned away from one another just as quickly. That's when you both wordlessly agreed this should be a silent process.

It shut you both up. But it didn't get better after that. Both of you moved your arms up at the same time, knocking them together and the contact making you both flinch.

Then, after another attempt to move your feet and move sideways at the same time, you ended up knocking together too.

Trying to get out or just make some space between the two of you was just collisions after collisions and accidental touches.

You sighed and looked off to the side, unable to look up at Levi anymore. This was absolute torture. How did it get to this?

But just after you stopped trying to make any more sudden movements and resigned to just staying here until the trio left, Levi must not have felt that way.

As you stayed still and felt him trying to continue to move, not being able to find your voice anymore to try to stop him, he made one wrong step, his hand crashed into some items in the shelf and fell on top of you, making you gasp. But your gasp was cut off when he put his hand over your mouth.

Levi cursed profanities under his breath as he tried to stay as still as he possibly could. Even still, with the least amount of noise, he lifted his head and looked at you.

Your eyes were blown wide in shock, and he just now realized that in the process he'd put a hand over your mouth so that the sound of your voice didn't add more to the suspicions of the fact that the two of you were in here since things already crashed and obviously caught the attention of the trio outside. Levi's breathing was heavy, his eyes were wide as he looked down at you and he didn't know what to do now.

"Don't make a sound. Got it?" Levi whispered in a dangerously low voice and you nodded shakily and silently. You couldn't think straight. What do you do? Any second now, the trio would find you and Levi in here in a very compromising position and you were dreading it.

You heard Jean, Sasha and Connie's startled yells on the other side of the door and you knew they'd want to investigate. This isn't happening, this isn't happening...

As Levi continued to look at you, not moving his hand away from your mouth, your eyes began to waver and shake as he looked at you with an unreadable expression on his face that you couldn't place? You're asking yourself again.

Why is he looking at you like that? His breath was hitting your face, making you shudder and his arm was right next to your face, blocking your view of the door and he was making no moves to move away.

What was he thinking? You could see his head was reeling too. He wasn't hiding it anymore, and neither were you. You didn't know what to do. But then, you saw something change in his eyes.

He thought of something. He had an idea. You nearly exhaled in relief and put all of your trust in Levi as you hoped he could put it in action before that door was opened.

Just outside the trio was huddled up together, about to brave into the supply closet to see who was in there while you and Levi were panicking to get out of there in time. Connie was in front while Jean and Sasha hid behind their friend.

Sasha held a broom she found against the wall and she cowered behind her friend. "Go on, Connie! Open it!" Sasha said as she nudged her friend, but Connie turned back to look at her in disbelief.

"Why do I have to do it?" He asked, pointing at himself. Jean put a hand on his friend's shoulder and had Connie face the door. "Because you do! Go do it!" He said, and Connie shook his head, refusing to go and see if there was anything scary in there. He had the worst case scenario plastered all over his mind that wouldn't get his feet to move.

"I don't want to!" Connie exclaimed, still refusing, and Jean groaned. He usually wouldn't be this intimidated but that sounded like a loud crash. There was someone in there.

It doesn't just happen, right? "Okay, fine! I'll do it!" Jean offered, earning nods from Connie and Sasha as the two huddled together in fear as Jean started to inch closer and closer to the storage closet door.

And once he finally did, wrapping his fingers around the handle, he took 3 deep breaths to prepare himself and with a hard tug, Jean opened the door and then scattered back to stand with his friends as they all closed their eyes by instinct and also let out terrified yells.

But once they opened their eyes after hearing the sound of something spilling, their shoulders sank and their mouths went agape.

There was nobody inside. What was spilling was the sound of coffee beans falling from their bag on one of the shelves. "Oh geez...that was scary" Sasha said, earning words of agreement from her friends and she put the broom back against the wall.

They all took a moment to breathe and move past the moment, and soon enough they went back to a new conversation.

But as for you and Levi, you trusted him enough to get the two of you out of there in time, and it worked. It seems like that crash finally made some sense and was knocked back into his brain.

He grabbed your wrist and tried to picture anywhere in the building where he could take the two of you. Anywhere but that supply closet would be a good choice.

Which is why, in the blink of an eye, you were in the supply closet and the next you realized you were outside. In fact, Levi had taken you two to the terrace of your building.

But not only that, you were both transported in the same position as you were before so when you were able to register where you were, you were able to register him too. Leaning on top of you.

You turned your head to the side to see his ear right in front of you and your eyes widened. You squealed and the first instinct was to push him away.

You shoved him as hard as you could and with a grunt, Levi stumbled back until he landed on one of the benches in the terrace. You've been wanting to get him off you since you were in that closet. You couldn't take a second longer.

Once he was off you and you began to look around, the sounds of the city began to fill your ears. There were buildings every which way you looked on the terrace. The place was a garden and the floor was entirely grass and there were bushes adorning the area around the benches.

You haven't been up here in a while but it seems that Levi has been here if he brought the two of you here. You put a hand over your heart to try and control your breathing from what just happened. You cleared your throat and straightened up, wanting to change the subject desperately and forget it ever happened.

"So, I guess your powers worked to find Connie, then?" You said, crossing your arms in front of you, Levi turned to look at you and you watched as he straightened out his suit.

"There's something wrong with that psycho. I pictured his face but nothing happened. It's not my fault," He said, and after he said that, you began to think about something, but you continued to let him talk. He was onto something. He remembers his face from fighting face to face with him, but his powers couldn't take Levi to him? That's weird.

"I saw his face, I remember it. I don't get why..." Levi started, trailing off in frustration as he stood up and started walking closer to you. You began to think about that.

You knew that Levi had to picture the person's face to get to them, but now it's clear that it requires most of that for it to work.

It's why Levi was able to find Connie so easily. "So, it's mostly face recognition," You stated, and Levi nodded wordlessly, stopping to stand in front of you. At a considerable distance at that. A respectable distance.

"Did he change his face or something? Plastic surgery? It'd be smart honestly," You joked, but deep down you admitted to yourself that it would make sense if that was the case, right? As to why Levi's powers couldn't track him down.

"So, what we learned from this is that my powers aren't the problem. Okay?" He said, and you nodded. I think this whole situation has made that pretty clear.

You shook your head, thinking about the supply closet and how the two of you were transported there in the position that you were, but then remembered what matters the most right now. You couldn't think about that anymore. You didn't need to.

"Anyway, that took a lot out of me. Let me hold your wrist," Levi said, reaching over for your wrist but you moved away. He looked at you suspiciously and you kept your head held up high. You were not about to admit that you were not ready to come in contact with him after that.

No way. You quickly found a good enough excuse for him not to hold it right now and so that you can make a quick escape. "Didn't we make a deal that it was after we caught this guy?" You said, putting your hand behind your back and watching as Levi huffed and stared you down. But you wouldn't crack.

You were outside now and you had fresh air running through your body. You weren't going to fall down that rabbit hole again like in that supply closet.

"And besides, people clearly already think we're dating. As I knew they would," You said, turning on your heel and walking away back towards the door that led back inside the building. Levi watched you go and he put his hands on his hips, his chest heaving up and down.

After what happened down there, you were still as difficult as ever. But as much as he hated to admit it, he made you promise and a deal's a deal. What happened was still fresh in his mind and he had a feeling he wouldn't forget about it for a while.-

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Hi! I hope you guys liked this one! Things are starting to pick up between y/n and Levi and I am so excited! The next chapter Is one of the chapters in the book I've been looking forward to the most- you guys will see why shsj I've had to do some research for it.

I'll give you guys one hint tho: Tango. That's all I'm going to say lol do with that what you will. I've been wanting to write this since I started the book lmao-

But even if I was late to this update (on a Monday), I still hope I can update this coming Sunday on schedule! And another thing, I'm also creating an AO3 account to post this story on there too so if you guys want to check it out, as soon as I create my account, I'll let you guys know! I'll start posting updates for this story there too!

Anyways, I'll see you guys this Sunday with the next chapter! I hope you guys are as excited as I am! <3 I love you all so much and thank you for reading! :,) Have a good start to your week! XO

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