Work Text:
Backpack slung over her shoulder, Hanji trudged up the narrow stairwell. The entirety of her Saturday morning, afternoon, and evening had been spent in the lab. But at least it had been productive. She’d finished nearly all of the physics project that was due the upcoming Monday. All that remained was the write-up. Easy.
As she circled the stairwell, holding fast to the cold rail, she breathed a long, drawn out sigh. While the high of scientific achievement offered a great many things, boundless energy was not one of them (as much as she wished otherwise).
By the time she reached the fourth floor, she was nearly out of breath. If she was at all rested, climbing the stairs wouldn’t be such a task. But currently, her body was running on nothing more than cheap coffee and vending machine granola bars.
Over the last seventy-two hours she’d clocked in a grand total of nine and a half hours of sleep. Though she was accustomed to pushing herself to stay active for long periods of time (the solid four days she spent studying for organic chemistry was a testament to this), her body had its limits.
Wrenching open the common room door, she shuffled inside, her steps lagging and the soles of her shoes nearly catching on the rough floor. Frequent blinks did little to dull the dry burn that had settled in her eyes. And as she stumbled down the hall, trailing a supportive hand against the wall, imagining the feeling of her pillow beneath her head, soft and cool, seemed a near carnal fantasy.
Nearly there, she’d already begun to envision dropping into bed, dragging soft sheets up and over her tired body. Her fingers hooked around the door handle and she started to tug it down, when she heard it: the telltale squeak of abused springs paired with the rhythmic thud of what could only be a headboard repeatedly striking the wall. Fingers braced against the handle, she paused.
Her sluggish, sleep deprived mind was several seconds slow in discerning the cause of the sounds. When the realization inevitably struck, she jerked her hand back, as if the knob had burned her.
She remembered.
Mike, Nanaba’s boyfriend, was visiting for the weekend. Since she’d stayed late at the lab, they must have assumed she wasn’t coming back that evening. She really couldn’t blame them. She spent enough nights in the lab to make the assumption a plausible one.
What the heck was she supposed to do?
She certainly couldn’t go in there now.
Hanji turned a quick circle. The living area was sparse. The table and wooden chairs that occupied it would provide for rough sleeping conditions. Not to mention the ceiling light that was programmed to stay on throughout the night. She was tired, but she doubted even she could sleep beneath the garishly glowing lamp.
Falling back against the wall, she let her head drop back, momentarily despairing at her current circumstances. She just wanted to sleep.
She stared up at the ceiling, blinking, as an idea struck her. There was somewhere she could go.
Digging her phone from her backpack, she lifted it in the air. Nineteen percent battery life. She was still good. Speed-dial three selected, she sat back and listened to it ring. The toneless ring sounded four times before he answered.
“What do you want?”
Leaning her shoulder against the wall, she cradled the phone against her ear. “Why do you always assume I want something?”
“You’re calling me at,” A pause. “Really? You’re calling me at 12:15 at night?” His sigh was a buzz of static at her ear.
“So…I take it you’re up?”
“I’m not interested in a booty call, if that’s what this shit is.” He said, his voice dry.
She purred into the phone. “You sure about that?” The effect of the joke was somewhat lost since he couldn’t see the rolling eyebrow wiggles accompanying the statement.
“I’m hanging up.”
“Wait! Ah – quick question. Your room’s clean right? Floor pretty clear?”
“…Yes.” His answer was hesitant, as if he knew she was up to something, but couldn’t quite figure out what.
“So there would be room for someone, to say…sleep on it?”
“You want to sleep on my floor.”
“Nanaba and Mike are doing it in my room. Pleeeeease Levi!” Her voice emerged, a wine. “I’m so tired. I just want to sleep.”
“Just wait it out.”
“But Mike’s got great stamina.”
“The fuck four-eyes, I don’t want to know that shit.”
“Pleeeeassee.”
Silence.
She heard a rustle, then a strained sigh. “Fine. Just don’t spread your shit everywhere tonight.”
“Thankyousomuch!” She pushed off from the wall. “I’m coming over now!”
She heard a click. Drawing the phone back, she checked the screen. He’d already hung up.
Hiking her backpack higher on her shoulders, she hopped down the stairs. She really did hope she hadn’t woken Levi up. He might not be in labs all day, but with a part time job and a full load of classes, he had a busy enough schedule.
Also – he’d be in a significantly better mood if he hadn’t already been sleeping.
That was one of the many Levi-isms she’d learned in the past year and a half. The first being that he hated, hated, dirtying his hands.
Freshman year, first day of class, she’d happened to plop down in the seat beside him. It was Bio 101. Ten minutes into the class, a cold, very dead frog was unceremoniously dropped in front of them. With legs splayed out, it was pinned down on a tray; she’d been equal parts horrified and fascinated by the dark, beady eyes staring up at them. When they were passed sets of scalpels, her new lab partner had paled.
Long story short, armed with a scalpel in each hand, she’d done the dissecting. At her side, Levi wrote their report in clean, precise print. It worked so well, she doing the dirty work, and he, the monotonous recording, that after they finished, they’d shaken hands (only after he’d made sure she washed hers twice) and agreed to be lab partners for the semester.
It was the start of a beautiful – almost friendship. In her opinion, she and Levi didn’t truly become friends until a few months later, on the night of Jenna Hammon’s now infamous party – but that was another story entirely.
Next to Nanaba, who’d shared her friendship since high school, Levi had come to be her closest friend. And though he’d probably never say it aloud, she was pretty sure she was his closest friend too. They spent many an afternoon hanging out, half-heartedly doing homework and trading jibes. And at night, if Nanaba was with Mike – or the others in her dorm decided to throw a last minute party – she’d go to Levi’s and he’d let her spread her lab reports across his spotless floor. If that wasn’t a sign of the neat freak’s stalwart friendship, she didn’t know what was.
By the time she’d crossed campus and climbed her way to the third floor of his building, she was winded. The granola bars really weren’t doing it for her. Huffing, she collapsed against his door.
When it swung in, she squeaked, and promptly dropped into the room.
A face leaned over her. She was met with Levi’s blank stare.
“The fuck.”
“Told you I was tired.”
By the time he’d tossed her backpack in a corner and closed the door, she’d managed to rise so that she was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Levi’s room was as immaculate as she’d come to expect. A single, the space was divided between a twin bed, desk, and tall dresser. His class books and binders lined the back of the desk. While a shiny, black laptop occupied the forefront of the immaculate space.
His dresser was closed and two pairs of shoes, loafers and gym sneakers, were placed in the empty space on either side.
And though she knew he’d been in bed, as he was dressed in sweats and a loose cotton tee, the edges of his comforter were still tucked beneath the mattress. Turned up sheets at the center of the bed were the only evidence that before she arrived, he’d been in it at all.
“You didn’t eat today.” It wasn’t a question. Arms crossed over his chest, Levi leaned against the door. He watched her with a perceptive stare.
“…well-”
“The shit from the vending machine doesn’t count.”
She closed her mouth. Holding her knees, she rocked back, and smiled.
Rolling his eyes, he crossed the room. He stopped, kneeling before the mini fridge that was tucked behind the end of his bed. When he rose, he held a to-go box in his hands.
“Dining was serving a crap-ton of pasta tonight.” Tossing the box in her lap, he dropped onto the bed.
She had it pried open before he even settled in. Grabbing up his discarded fork, she shoveled cold pasta into her mouth.
His lip curled back. “There’s a microwave in the lounge – and probably extra forks.”
Still eating, she shrugged. “Cold pasta’s not half bad.” She paused long enough to shove another fork load of curling pasta into her mouth. “And you’re so clean, this fork is probably the most immaculate thing I’ve eaten from all week.”
He picked at a nail, apparently choosing not to dignify the incredibly unscientifically founded statement with a response.
A few minutes passed. The pasta was half gone when he finally spoke.
“What’s the project this time?”
Rocking back, she paused eating just long enough to answer, “I was in the physics lab – working on simple harmonic motion in a spring-mass system.” She took a bite. “Had to design a test to find the relationship between the period of a spring and the mass carried by it.” Stabbing up the last couple pieces of pasta, she dropped the empty container to the floor.
Levi’s gaze followed the discarded box. She could have sworn she saw his right eyelid twitch the second it touched the floor.
“Trash.”
Groaning, she crawled to the trashcan beside his desk. With an exaggerated sigh, she dropped it in. Energy used up, she rolled onto her back.
What had she been saying? Ah yes, “My lab partner, Robbie-doesn’t know shit-Stanley, decided to skip out of town to visit his girlfriend this weekend.” She hummed, closing her eyes. “So I got saddled with the nearly all of it.”
“Robbie sounds like a jackass.”
“Oh he is. Don’t worry though, he’ll never pass the midterm.” She smiled. “With any luck he’ll drop the class and I’ll get a new partner.” She yawned, “Then…I won’t have quite…so many…late nights…at the lab.”
Again, it was quiet.
Though the floor wasn’t particularly comfortable, the silence was wonderful. Furthermore, Levi’s small desk lamp didn’t have nearly the output of the god-awful overhead lights in her dorm.
Laying on her back, her breaths evened out. Finally relaxed after nearly seventy-two hours spent in and out of the lab, her mind began to drift. She was sinking, listing lower and lower into the fluffiest bed of cotton clouds her subconscious could conjure – when she woke with a start.
“Come on – up.”
Levi.
A hand squeezed her shoulder.
She was still blinking, bleary-eyed and confused when he lifted beneath her arms, dragging her up and onto her feet. She swayed.
A curse. Steadying hands clamped over her shoulders. With his support, she shuffled forward, until her toes struck wood. Deft fingers snatched at her glasses, pulling them off her face seconds before she fell forward, landing face first in the soft sheets.
They smelled clean and crisp, and slightly like peony blossoms.
Hands at her legs hoisted her the rest of the way onto the bed.
Blankets were tugged out from where they’d been pinned beneath her, and then her cheek was against wondrously soft bedspread.
“Oi, four-eyes. Scoot over.”
Lifting her head, she blinked. Just awake enough to take stock of the situation, she squinted, watching Levi brace a knee against the edge of the bed.
“I see. This was a booty call.”
Firm hands pushed her to the other side of the bed. The mattress dipped as Levi crawled in beside her.
The lights switched off.
Rolling on her side, she curled her arm beneath the pillow. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear his breath, slow and even in the dark.
Wiggling into the soft mattress, she couldn’t resist one last jibe. “I’m going to pass out for a bit. But don’t worry. A couple hours from now, I’ll initiate the booty call.”
“I’ll toss you back on the ground.” The mattress dipped, and she felt him roll. “Stick to your side of the bed and I’ll stick to mine.”
She hummed, closing her eyes. “Goodnight Levi.”
Whether he responded or not, she couldn’t say. A full second had barely passed before her soft snores filled the room.
When she next awoke, the room was lit in tentative, pre-dawn light. In her sleep, she’d rolled to the edge of the bed, just shy of where the mattress met the wall. Sometime during the night, the covers had slipped down to her waist, yet her back was nonetheless warm, courtesy of the body currently curled up against it.
She huffed an amused breath. So much for sticking to his own side.
Levi’s arm was draped, loose over her waist, and where his face pressed against the back of her neck, warm breaths tickled over her skin. His legs fit against the back of hers, and occasionally, his foot twitched, his toes brushing the side of her ankle.
Pulling the pillow with her, she rolled back, taking full advantage of his warmth. Spurred by the movement, the arm at her waist constricted. Drawing her closer, he breathed an incoherent mumble against her back. With a long breath – she could feel his chest expand and contract – he sank back into sleep.
Pressing her cheek into the pillow she closed her eyes. She’d deal with Levi’s impending and inevitable mortification when the sun was higher in the sky. For now, she was going to enjoy another few hours of sleep while basking in her newest, albeit unexpected, discovery: Levi was a really, really good cuddler.
She sighed, already beginning to drift into another deep, dreamless sleep.
Maybe she could convince Mike to visit Nanaba next weekend too.