two

Fate is a funny thing. Sometimes you've hated it and cursed the universe for the hand it played you, and sometimes you've celebrated the luck that's come your way. 

This is one of those moments that feels like both.

Ymir whistles from her chair, propping her feet up onto her desk. "Thought you told me to watch my language, Captain. Practice what you preach."

Levi doesn't even snap back at Ymir. He stares at you, lips parted in surprise. There's so many different ways this can go, so many things you can say. You feel your cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"Watch your language, Levi," Erwin chides, and that seems to break Levi out of his stupor.

He thrusts his tea mug at you. "Make me tea," he demands, and you fumble with the container. "We'll see how shitty you are."

And then he stomps back into his office and slams the door.

You blink uncomprehendingly at the slammed door, then down at the tea mug, then up at the door again. "He's always like that," someone says, and you turn to see a blond man smile softly at you. "Don't take it personally."

You offer him a weak smile in return. "Thanks."

"You'll be seated over there," Erwin says, pointing at a pod of three desks. There's another girl there, with long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail, and a man with a shaved head and wide eyes. They both wave at you. "We'll let you settle in and have a meeting later with our HR rep to make sure everything's okay so far."

You nod to Erwin in thanks and head over to your desk, trying to smile at your new coworkers. "Welcome!" the man says brightly, and you read the name tag on his desk: Connie. "Nice to see some new blood!"

"She's only here for four months, idiot," a man from a faraway desk calls out.

The woman directly across from you smiles and holds out her hand. "I'm Sasha," she says happily. "Did you bring any snacks?"

You blink in surprise. "I packed a lunch?"

"Don't steal her lunch, Sasha, she just got here," the other man scolds again. He raises an eyebrow at you and waves; his desk is in a pod of three with the loud girl from earlier- Ymir?- and another boy with freckles and a kind smile. "I'm Jean," the man says, raising a hand in greeting. "This loud idiot is Ymir, and this is Marco."

"Everyone here is really nice," Marco says politely. "Don't stress too much."

"Let the poor girl settle in!" Ymir says, flicking a wad of paper at Jean. "You're gonna scare her off, Horse Face!"

He turns, glaring at Ymir. "Shut up, Ymir!" 

"Settle down, you two," Marco says with a worried smile. "You're both going to scare her."

He's kind in that sentiment, but right now, nothing is scarier than the office to the left of your desk, with the name Levi Ackerman, Assistant Manager printed on the door. 

You don't have much for your desk: a few pencils and pens, clips and staples, and a framed photo of you with your friends at graduation. You smile wistfully as you set it up, and then note the empty tea mug that Levi had thrust at you. Shit. "What kind of tea does he like?" you ask Sasha, gesturing with Levi's mug.

She shrugs. "Dunno. I think he's been going through a lot of green tea, though."

Green tea, then. "Thanks," you say. "Where's the kitchen?"

Sasha points to her left- your right. "I used to have Connie's desk," she confesses, taking a bite out of a sandwich- where did that come from? "Closest spot to the kitchen. I didn't even have to get up! I could just wheel myself over."

"They moved her because she got into everyone's lunches," Connie supplies, grinning. "At least this way, more people can stop her breakaways."

You smile, trying not to be overwhelmed by all of the new people and new information. You head into the lunch room, eyes scanning the vending machines and the small kitchen counter next to a fridge. You take the kettle and fill it, then set it on to boil. You skim through a giant box of teas, looking for green.

As you're waiting for the tea to boil, you start taking note of the office. There are four sets of three desks, making twelve people in total. Plus Erwin and Levi, that's fourteen. And Historia, the secretary- fifteen. There was another area behind your desk, separated by some sort of divider. There could be more people back there.

One thing that quickly becomes apparent is that the office is loud. There's always people on the phones or yelling at each other- it seems like Jean and Ymir bicker a lot- or people coming and going to different desks. You have no idea how you're going to figure out who everyone is.

If you don't count the split-off area, there's three separate offices: Erwin's, Levi's, and one that looks like a conference room. Levi's door is closed, but Erwin's has been left ajar, and if the noise bothers him, he doesn't say so.

The people seem nice. You've got a desk. You're going to get paid.

Only one hurdle seems to stand in your way: your boss is also the best one night stand of your life. 

The kettle is boiled much too fast, and you try to figure out if he likes sugar or milk or anything else. How the hell would you know? Sighing, you take several small packets of each and curl them in your hand. You make his tea with absolutely no idea whether you're doing this right, and head to his office door.

You're about to knock on his door when you realize most of the office is trying to watch you discretely. Sasha is pretending to stick her nose in a manual, but her eyes are trained on you. Connie is a bit more obvious; he's staring over the top of his computer. The other pod of three next to Sasha and Connie houses the blond man who'd said hi to you earlier, a brunet with wide eyes, and a dark-haired girl that looks like she could shoot lasers from her eyes. All three of them are watching you hesitantly.

"Is he that bad?" you whisper-shout to Sasha.

She nods through a mouthful of food.

You curse under your breath and knock on the door with the hand holding the sugar packets. "You'd better have my tea," comes a low voice from inside.

"Yes," you call back, biting your tongue. "I hope green's okay."

A pause. Then, "come in."

You enter with baited breath. Levi's hunched over at his desk, pen twirling innocently between his fingers. You set his tea down on the end of his desk (clean and minimalistic, only having a phone, pencil holder, computer, and keypad) and open your other hand. "I didn't know if you liked sugar or-"

"I don't," he interrupts. "If you made it right, I won't need it."

You purse your lips and nod as he grabs his tea mug- holding it by the rim, how odd- and brings it to his lips. His eyes are trained on his computer screen; he hasn't looked up since you came in. You're ready for him to tell you you're fired, or he's passing you off to someone else, or-

"This is shit," Levi says, setting his mug down on the table.

You blink in surprise, then wilt. "Oh."

"Don't let it steep as long next time. It takes away the sweetness." He finally meets your gaze and you do your best not to melt on the spot. He nods his chin at a stack of papers sitting on the corner shelf. "Those are client profiles. They need to be filed. I'll send you more instructions to your work email." Levi raises an eyebrow. "You have accessed your work email by now, yes?"

You pale. "No." Then you add, "sir."

His expression doesn't change. "Get on it then, intern."

Intern. You went from Red to Intern. Feels like a hell of a demotion. "Yes, sir," you mumble, stepping across his office to grab the stack of papers. 

You're halfway out the door when you pause and turn back to Levi. "Anything else?" you ask.

Levi turns back down to his work. "No." He looks back up, and something flickers in his eyes that you don't quite catch. "Looking forward to working with you," he says.

You get it. You're both just going to pretend nothing ever happened. Well, that works for you. "Looking forward to working with you too," you say back. You force a smile on your face. "Thank you, sir."

You close the door on your way out, then look up at the rest of the office. Everyone's staring at you, but as soon as you make eye contact, heads drop and people start chattering again.

You skitter back to your desk and set the stack of papers down. "Well?" Connie whispers. Both he and Sasha are leaning in. "What'd he say?"

"Just gave me stuff to file," you reply with a shrug.

"Did he yell at you?" Sasha asks eagerly.

Why does that excite her so much?  You frown. "Well, he told me the tea was bad."

A knowing hum from Sasha and Connie. "That's okay, he always does," Connie says brightly. "Every intern leaves the office in tears at least once during their term!"

"Leave in tears?" you repeat, and several people nod. Is everyone eavesdropping?  you think with a sigh.

"I hope you hold up for a while!" someone pipes up from one of the other pods of three. It's the brunet with the blue-green eyes. "I've put a lot of money-"

The black-haired girl tugs his sleeve. "Eren! Don't spoil it!"

"You've got a bet going on," you say in disbelief, and way too many people nod at you in confirmation. Even the pod in the back, three people you haven't talked to yet (one blonde woman and two men) are listening in. "You haven't even met me," you say, then pause. "Anyone put money on me making it the whole term?"

No one speaks up.

"I've got two months," Eren offers unhelpfully.

You set your jaw. "Fine," you say, your lips switching in a smile. "I'll jump in. I bet I make it through the whole term."

Sasha's eyes widen. "Wow," she gasps, and Connie starts laughing. 

Ymir whistles. "I like this one!"

You stifle a smile. Maybe this term won't be so bad after all.