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Trost University was home to many brilliant minds. It was a prestigious school with an acceptance rate of 600 out of 4000 yearly applicants, and producing the finest students; those of which would almost always graduate with high honors before starting a successful career of their choosing.
Its professors, undoubtedly, were of the finest quality as well. They were professional, extremely skilled, and highly trained. It was a workforce full of almost over qualified educators excelling in their respective fields, with master and PhD certificates framed on cubicle walls being the norm in the faculty room.
Erwin himself was proud to be a professor here. He started working as a high school teacher when he was still studying for his master’s degree, shifting from high school teachings to college teachings as years passed by, before eventually getting recognized and offered a job seven years ago by the prestigious school.
His friends— a loving and longterm couple who, as far as he knew, were high school sweethearts and still going strong today— had joined him on this journey as well. He’d known them since they were in college, all studying different fields but aiming for the same career of teaching.
The three of them shared a strong bond; a bond built on study groups, mutual dislike for crappy teachers, and a certain love for education. They were there for him, and he was there for them. He especially disliked it, however, when their relationship went through rough patches. He didn’t like picking sides, and listening to the same story being told from two different perspectives almost always made him want to grab Y/N and Levi’s heads and bash them together for how dumb they were acting.
But despite the differences and occasional fights, he wouldn’t hesitate to say that he trusted them with his life.
So Erwin, for the life of him, couldn’t figure out why he was just now finding out that the power couple he knew and loved wasn’t even a couple at all.
“So, wait.” He speaks, trying to be heard over the crowded cafeteria chatter. “You’re telling me… they’re not a longterm couple?”
“They’re not.” Moblit confirms easily. “Apparently, they’re not even dating.”
“Or so they claim.” Hange interjects. “Y/N and Levi have actual matching rings. Literally— I asked Levi about it once and he said Y/N was his fiancé.”
“But not romantically.” Moblit quickly adds on. “I was there too, he said not romantically.”
“Why would Levi propose to someone he’s not romantically interested in, huh?!” She counters back, a little louder than the brown haired man’s volume.
“I don’t know! Citizenship? Money? Sex—“
“They’re in love! You know they’re in love, you’re just denying it because you want to get in Y/N’s pants.” She huffs. “And because you’re about to lose the bet.”
Erwin’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion. “Bet? What bet?”
“Oh, you don’t know about the bet?” Hange asks. “It’s been going on for, like, five years now. The entire faculty’s in on it.” She begins to chow down on her soup, not offering more of an explanation. Moblit takes this as his cue to expand when he notices Erwin’s blank stare.
“Since you guys joined maybe… seven or so years ago? Everyone just assumed Y/N and Levi were a thing. Because of, y’know, the way they interact with each other. But then five years ago Hange and I asked them when their anniversary was so we could get them some wine, and both of them full on denied even being in a relationship.”
Hange nods, more than a spoonful of soup and a more than generous bite of bread in her mouth. “Yeah, but then I peaked at their faculty files—“
“Peaked at their faculty files?” Erwin murmurs, but he’s ignored.
“—and they have the same home address. They live together!”
“I can confirm that much, at least.” The blonde man answers thoughtfully. “They’ve been sharing a dorm since college but Y/N moved out at some point. They live together in Levi’s apartment now, though.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.” Says Moblit. “They could just be roommates and really good friends.”
“Well I’ll say!” Hange throws her hands in the air. “I caught Y/N sucking Levi’s dick at a party once. Must be one hell of a friendship they have, aye Moblit?”
Her elbow begins nudging the brunette beside her, and Erwin stares with amusement when Moblit starts getting irritated from the eccentric woman’s teasing.
“So what’s the wager?” Erwin asks.
The two professors stop their bickering and share an evil smile. Hange gestures for Erwin to come closer, as if she were about to tell him a secret, and he does just that.
“Whoever wins the bet gets a free meal from Shaw’s Bistro.”
Erwin’s eyes widen. Shaw’s Bistro; the classy high end restaurant with the fancy wine, fancier atmosphere, and the best Japanese Salted Salmon he’s ever had.
It was an expensive restaurant— even for someone with his salary. Erwin knew he could rarely ever eat there unless he wanted to run his bank account dry. And he concludes that this petty bet must be a Pretty Big Fucking Deal.
He squints his eyes. “I’m listening.”
Hange giggles as she continues. “Basically, you have to guess how long it’ll take for Y/N and Levi to finally admit they’re couple. But you can’t choose the same answer as other people in the bet, we can’t afford two winners. Literally.” She gestures to Moblit. “Unless you’re like dumb dumb over there who wagered they’ll never admit it because they’re not a couple—“
“They’re not!”
“—I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
Erwin nods his head, one hand on his chin in thought. He never did explicitly ask whether they were dating or not, he just assumed they were.
He carefully considers his options; be a snoop to his longterm friends and possibly break their trust for joining a foolish bet? Or Japanese Salted Salmon from Shaw’s Bistro?
Hange and Moblit look at him expectantly, smiling when he nods.
“Deal me in.”
—
The cafeteria was noisy when you walked in.
Students mingled amongst themselves, chatting idly about academics and gossip. Cutlery scraped against each other as people took bites of their meals. Your eyes scanned the crowd, spotting your friends sitting around their usual table and having what seemed to be a heated discussion.
You turned to look at the man beside you. “Did you bring your own lunch today?”
Levi nods as he lifts up a small black bag. “Always do. But I’ll stand next to you in the lunch line so you don’t look like a loner.”
That was Levi Speak for I’ll wait for you.
You smile. “Thanks.”
The brief silence between you is broken when you start talking about your students— how proud you were that Armin was tutoring some of the struggling students in his free time, how terrible Jean was at hiding his crush on Mikasa, how terrible Mikasa was at hiding her crush on Eren (“I don’t even think she’s trying to hide it. At this point, I’m convinced that Eren is either dumb or dense.”)
Levi nods along to your tales, seemingly uninterested and bored. But anyone who knew him well would know he was listening intently as you spoke, every word heard loud and clear and processing in his mind as soon as they left your lips. Occasionally, he would pipe in with his own comments (“Eren’s just dumb.”) but he didn’t engage too much, opting to let you speak and rant on.
Your talkativeness never got on his nerves, contrary to popular belief. He liked listening to your stories, listening to your voice, and seeing the little glint in your eyes when you start talking passionately about your students. He overall just liked being around you. You were cleaner than most people he knew. You were tolerable. Sometimes a pain in the ass, but still tolerable.
But what does get on his nerves, however, is being ‘secretly’ watched by his friends.
Once he’s sure you’re not looking, he turns his head in the direction of their table, murderous glare prominent on his face. Hange, Moblit, and Erwin quickly snap their heads down and pretend to eat, but Levi knew they were definitely staring.
“Oh crap, I forgot my free meal card.” He hears you mumble beside him. He hadn’t even realized you were already standing in front of the counter.
“Figures. You have the memory of a gold fish.” Levi comments off-handedly.
He hands the cashier his free meal card and grabs your tray for you, and you silently took the coat that Levi had swung over his arm to carry with you instead. You knew he’d hate for it to get dirtied by any accidental soup splashing.
“So, what’s happening on your end of the gossip?” You ask, both making your way to your usual table with friends.
Levi shrugs. “The brats are doing well on their thesis. Their grammar is shit though; makes you wonder how they graduated high school.”
You snicker. “You say that now but tomorrow pull an all-nighter to help them study and revise.”
“You’re not one talk. You scheduled two different consultations between classes and three more after your shift.”
“I can’t help it, okay?! You know I have a soft spot for the kids from the 104th.”
Of course he did. He knew of your affection for that specific group of students— admittedly, he held a twinge of affection for them too.
They were part of the first class you ever taught in your entire teaching career. At the time, you both worked at some crappy school in the 104th district. And to see the kids now, all grown up and studying at a prestigious college, it made your heart swell. And Levi’s heart… well, suffice to say it cracked some of the ice around it.
“That soft spot of yours is making you lose sleep.” He scolds. “I’ll take some of the consultations off your hands. The lil shits deserve a teacher who isn’t half asleep.”
Again, that was Levi Speak for Don’t overwork yourself, let me help.
You jokingly slap his arm. “That’s rude!”
“I know.”
Your conversation is interrupted when you finally arrived at the table, Levi setting down your tray in front of you and you handing him back his coat as you sat down next to each other.
“Hey.” You greet your friends, and Levi silently unpacks his lunch. “What were you guys talking about? It looked pretty intense.”
“Oh, nothing, nothing.” Hange waved off. “Just the usual. Grading papers, grading lab experiments, grading essays. The usual.”
You nod, unconvinced but letting it slide. “I see.”
The table is once again filled with laughter and conversations. Banter was thrown around here and there, mostly between you, Hange, and Moblit as you debated about films and TV shows. Levi and Erwin stuck to light chatter, but it didn’t go unnoticed to the shorter man when Erwin’s eyes squinted as Levi placed his arm around the back of your chair like he always did, or when Hange tried to hide her squeal when he wiped some excess soup from the corner of your lips.
Something was up.
It was about ten minutes into lunch when your phone began to ring, a notification from a reminder app you downloaded. You picked up your phone and sighed as you read your schedule.
“Gotta go. I have a meeting in a few.” You mutter, beginning to clean up your tray and utensils; you were a little disappointed. You didn’t even get to finish your soup.
Levi eyes you and the way you kept glancing back and forth between your soup and the clock. He sighs before he speaks, “I’ll take care of your dishes and buy you lunch later. Just go.”
“No, no, I can— fuck!” You yell when the bowl of soup is accidentally knocked over, spilling over your jacket.
Levi silently offers you his handkerchief to clean yourself up. He starts using napkins to clean the table as well, before taking the coat he brought and giving it to you.
“Use this for now.”
You smile at him once again, taking your coat off and slipping on his as you stood up. “Thanks.”
He doesn’t flinch (or react for that matter) when you kiss his cheek before you left, only letting out a small hum of acknowledgement as you waved goodbye to your friends and made your way to the meeting.
Once you were out of view, Hange’s smile immediately drops in favor of too serious eyes as she starts interrogating Levi.
“Okay, cut the crap, Ackerman. How long have you—“
“Hange, no, we’ve talked about this.” Erwin tries to reason but his pleas fall on deaf ears as she continues.
“How long have you and Y/N been dating?”
Ah. So that’s what it was about.
Levi sighs and continues to chew on his bread. He unenthusiastically stares at the woman yelling at him, swallowing his meal before speaking, “I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again: we’re not.”
“Bullshit!” She yells. “You guys are a disgusting old married couple who have two adopted children—“
“Dogs.” Levi corrects boredly, but just like everyone else at the table, he’s ignored as Hange continues her tirade.
“—have matching sweaters, do small bullshit for each other like paying for meals and lending your coats. And for god’s sake, they literally just kissed your cheek even though you hate human contact.”
She finishes her rant but Levi looks unphased. God, she wanted to punch his dumb and oblivious face so bad.
“Those are normal things normal friends do. I’m not surprised you wouldn’t know, four-eyes.” Says Levi, but Hange is unaffected and already used to his abrasive words.
Levi continues. “We don’t do anything beyond what’s considered friendship.”
Hange squints her eyes in suspicion. “Didn’t Y/N move into your apartment?”
“Yeah. Their landlord was shit.”
“Where I caught you having sex?”
“We’re fuck buddies. And you don’t know how to knock.”
“But you introduced them to your mom as your fiancé?”
“I lied so she would stop bugging me about getting married.”
“You literally have a shared bank account and a shared retirement fund!”
“It’s easier to keep track of.”
“Damn it, Levi!”
—
Armin stares at the study guide in front of him, mind half processing the words and half… not. Quite frankly, he starts to wonder if the papers you’d given him were written in gibberish or some dead language no one spoke anymore.
You see him struggle to understand the sheet of paper in front of him, and sigh.
“Need a little help there, Armin?” You offer but he shakes his head. “I’m okay. I think I can understand this if I read through it more, it’s my friends I’m worried about.”
He glances beside him where the rest of his study group also stared the papers, each face painted with a unique mixture of confusion and dread.
You weren’t surprised, however. The readings for this module were quite complex, and the fact that your brightest students— Armin and Mikasa— were struggling with it made you feel a little bit hopeless for the rest of your class. Truth be told, even though you taught this topic countless of times, you weren’t entirely sure how to simplify it without leaving out too much information.
“Okay, how about this, we could—“ A soft knock interrupts your sentence, and you stare at the students in front of you to remember if you were expecting any more. It seemed like everyone was here, however, so you weren’t sure who was at the door.
“It’s me.” Came Levi’s voice, almost like he heard your inner monolgue.
“Come in!” You called out, focus shifting back to the paper in front of you as you heard the door open and close.
Okay, so I guess I could take this part and summarize it for them? Or would that still be too complicated? No, maybe I can—
“Ah, it’s that topic.” Levi mumurs, snapping you out of your thoughts. His face was directly next to yours as he stared intently at the papers you held. “No wonder you all look like you’re about to crap your pants.”
“Language, Levi. Not in front of the students.” You scold.
“They curse more than I do.”
“Still.”
He ignores your comment as he hands you a brown paper bag, pulling a chair out to sit next to you. He grabs the paper from your hands to look over the study guide you prepared, undoubtedly trying to figure out a way to simplify it as well.
“What’s this?” You ask, opening the paper bag.
“Bought you dinner.” He replies, eyes not leaving the paper in front of him. “I figured you’d forget again.”
As if on cue, your stomach suddenly starts feeling empty. It was impossible that you were hungry, though. You just had lunch. And after lunch you had some meetings to attend to, a couple classes, some last minute consultations, and— okay. Maybe it’d been a couple hours since lunch, but it couldn’t be that bad. A brief glance at the clock confirms that—
“Holy shit, it’s almost 8pm.”
“Language, Y/N. Not in front of the students.”
“Kiss my ass.”
“Gladly.”
The students in front of you let out a loud groan, faces over exaggeratedly contorted in disgust at your and Levi’s conversation.
Levi glimpses up at them and raises his eyebrow in question, while you jokingly roll your eyes.
“Alright, I think we should continue our consultation another time.” You said, beginning to pack up your teaching materials as the students did the same. “It’s getting late and curfew’s at 8pm. I’d better not see any of you outside the dorms.”
You knew you would though. It’s Friday night, there’s a bar across the street, and they’re teenagers. What could possibly go wrong?
You turn to Levi and hand him the keys. “You go ahead to the car, I’ll finish packing up.”
“It’s alright, I’ll wait for you in the hallway.” Levi takes the car keys as he stands up, walking out the door once again and leaving you alone with your students.
As you began to arrange your papers and clear the table, you start to remind them, “Okay, so we can discuss chapters—“
“Are you and Professor Ackerman dating?” Eren asks curiously, earning a shove from Jean and a silent threat to shut up, dumbass.
You chuckle. “No, Eren. We’re not.”
He gives you a doubtful look, one which you only return with a curious face.
“What’s with that look?” You ask, and he shrugs.
“You should date him— ow, what?!” He speaks, getting shoved by both Reiner and Jean this time before Mikasa pulls them off of him. You pause from your task.
“Okay, I’ll humor you. Why should I date him?”
The students share a look, daring each other to respond to your bold question. A few tense moments pass by and you smugly continue packing your papers. Yeah, you figured no one would—
“He’s nicer when he’s with you.” To your surprise, it was Mikasa who answers.
Unsure how to answer but still wanting to remain professional, you nod your head without looking up from your task. “Duly noted. Now go on, I know you have parties to attend to. I won’t hold you here much longer.”
The students laughed as they said their goodbyes; you held the door open for them until everyone was out before you left as well, shutting down the lights and locking the room once more.
A warm hand makes its way to the small of your back, and you smile.
“Hey.” Levi greets.
“Hey.” You repeat. “You read to go?”
“Yeah.”
“Wanna share my dinner when we get back home?”
“…yeah.”
He takes the stack of paper from your arms, his free hand reaching out for your own. You walked down the hallway in relative silence, interlocked hands swinging slightly from every step.
From the opposite corner of the hallway, the students’ prying eyes observe the small interaction; the two professors remained completely unaware that they were being watched.
“Told you they were a thing.” Ymir gloats, and the group snickers as Reiner irritatedly hands her some money.
—
Something was wrong.
If there was one thing Erwin knew from the nearly two decade long friendship he shared with you and Levi, it was when something was wrong.
It didn’t go unnoticed to him when Levi didn’t open your side of the car door as he usually would when you arrived at the parking lot; when he made a beeline for his cubicle in the faculty instead of helping you get settled first; when you didn’t make a fresh pot of tea for him before classes started; when your small sweet gestures throughout the day were kept to a minimal; and most importantly, when neither you nor Levi wore your matching gold rings.
The faculty was nearly empty, save for himself, Hange, Moblit, and the two people who were having a lover’s quarrel. The entire day went by without seeing you two walk side by side like you usually would, and Erwin was pretty sure Levi’s permanent frown somehow got deeper.
Yeah. Something was horribly wrong.
“Pssst.” Erwin hears from the desk next to his. He turns around and is met with Hange and Moblit’s curious gazes.
“The hell happened to those two? Trouble in paradise?” Hange asks, eyeing Y/N and Levi’s grouchy faces and refusal to acknowledge each others’ existence as they each packed their things. She adds on, “Are they getting divorced?” Only to be reminded by Moblit that “They’re not dating.”
Erwin shrugs, answering Hange’s question. “No idea.”
Moblit chimes in, “I heard Petra tried asking Levi out yesterday and now Y/N is jealous.”
She scoffs. “Y/N isn’t the jealous type. Besides, Petra’s part of the bet so that means she thinks they’re going to get together.”
“I’m part of the bet and I don’t think they’re going to get together.” Moblit points out. “And Petra stares at Levi the way Levi stares at Y/N.”
“Full of disdain and irritation?” Hange asks.
“No,” Erwin finally interjects. “Full of love and admiration.”
“Can the three of you creeps keep your mouths shut?” Hange, Erwin, and Moblit’s heads snapped to the direction of the voice, eyes meeting a pissed off Levi with a pissed off Y/N beside him. It seems like their hushed whispering wasn’t so hushed at all.
“When you gossip about our private life the least you could do is wait until we’ve left the room.” You gritted.
“No, it wasn’t-” Hange tries to defend herself but is cut off by Levi, “We already heard you talking. Now out with it before I change my mind about letting this slide.”
The three guilty professors sigh, sharing a look before Erwin decides to come clean. “We’re concerned for you.” He starts. “You’ve been ignoring each other the entire day and whatever this fight is, it’s the worst one I’ve seen you have.”
You sigh. “Listen, it’s not that we don’t appreciate your concern, it’s just that-”
“-it’s just that it’s none of your goddamn business.” Levi interjects and you immediately glare at his rudeness.
“Shut it, Levi. I don’t have time for your bull.”
“And I don’t have time for your petty lies.”
The three watched as you and Levi begin to quarrel, sharp words and irritated glares thrown around with each passing second. Your voices overlapped with each other as Erwin tried to make sense of what it was you were even fighting about, some words about betrayal in the highest degree and ruining a good thing and a relationship built on lies being the few words he understands.
Finally, he has enough.
“Stop.” Erwin says loudly but firmly. The two of you pause from your bickering him and stare at him incredulously; he continues to speak, “We’re not teenagers anymore, we’re grown adults. I’m getting tired of playing mediator whenever you fight but if I have to do it again so you stop yelling, then I will.”
He sighs. “Now what the hell are you two fighting about?”
“Y/N started it.” “Levi started it.” You say at the same time, and Erwin feels a headache coming but decides to ignore it.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
The two of you stare at each other angrily, almost daring the other to back down. This goes on for a few seconds before Levi finally sighs and speaks.
“Y/N thinks lemon scented detergent is better than lavender scented detergent.”
Hange and Moblit snicker but quickly shut up when Erwin gives them a look. He wasn’t even surprised that a fight as small and menial as this would be the fight that tears his favorite power couple apart.
“It is and you know it.” You reply defiantly and Levi groans in frustration, hand holding his head in disbelief as he quietly mutters, “I can’t believe I’m marrying someone who thinks lemon is better than lavender.”
At that, Hange’s ears perk up. “You’re getting married?!” She screams, and the two of you look at her in confusion, fight suddenly forgotten.
“Yeah, next week.” You reply wearily. “We emailed you the invites.”
If Erwin thought your bickering was loud, then the squeal that Hange let out was nothing short of deafening as she suddenly lunges at the couple, forcing them into a group hug as she cheers, “I knew it! I fucking knew it! You are together.”
Levi scoffs. “Don’t be silly, it’s for tax purposes. Apparently the bank won’t approve the loan for our new house unless we’re legally wed; something about tax fraud.”
“House?” Moblit echoes. “Don’t you already live together?”
You nod. “Yeah, but we figured the kids-”
“Dogs.” Levi corrects.
“-deserve a yard to run around in. Our apartment’s getting too cramped for the four of us.”
“Don’t ruin this for me!” Hange yells. “I have a wedding to plan.”
Levi sighs. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, four-eyes. There isn’t going to be a ceremony. We’re going to a court house to get our marriage license approved. That’s it.”
“And we invited you and Erwin to be our witnesses.” You explained. “There isn’t going to be a celebration but we’re going to host a small dinner party for close friends and family.We’d greatly appreciate it if you can RSVP to the emails within the week so we know how much food to prepare.”
The three professors nod, each exchanging pleasant smiles. It wasn’t the wedding invite they were hoping to receive but it was still a wedding invite nonetheless, and they weren’t about to burst your bubble.
“Hold on a second,” Erwin mutters, suddenly remembering one detail. “Where are your rings?” He gestures to your ringless hands.
“We had them engraved with our initials. Makes things more believable.” Levi answers. “If you’re done with the dumb questions, we’ll go ahead now.”
He doesn’t wait for them to answer as he holds your hand in his, walking you out of the faculty room and into the hallway as he pretends not to notice his friends giggling like teenagers at the information you just shared.
“So…” You start, giving him a warm smile as you squeezed his hand. “Do you think they’re catching on?”
Levi lets out a rare smile, eyes softening as he looks at you. “No. They’re too dumb to know we’re actually together. They’ll eat up whatever bullshit explanation we come up with.”
“Okay, but remind me again why we have to keep pretending like we’re not actually together and not actually getting married next week?”
He brings your hand up to his lips, kissing your knuckles affectionately before placing his hand on the small of your back.
“Does it bother you that they don’t know?” He asks, and you hum as you think it through. “No. It’s actually really entertaining.” You laugh. “But why don’t you want them to know?”
He shrugs, pulling you closer to him. “That’s what they get for placing stupid bets.”