"Here you go," she said with a cheerful smile, handing him a piece of crumpled paper, numbers scribbled onto it in a barely readable script. He held it up close to his face and stared at it for a good few seconds, charcoal grey eyes narrowing slightly as he tried to make sense of the child-like scribbles. The harsh winter wind rustled it, the cold stinging into his pale fingers as the two of them stood on the corner of an abandoned street and endured the weather.

Levi shuddered slightly as another gust of air blew against his back, glaring down at the little note as if blaming it for the illegibility of Isabel's handwriting. "Is that a one or a seven?"

She leaned over, peering down with a tentative look while pulling up her thick scarf to her chin, balancing on one foot.

"It's… um… it's a seven, probably."

"Probably?"

She gave him a nervous laugh when coming under his scrutinizing gaze, taking a step back again and stuffing her gloved hands into her pockets. "C'mon, big bro, don't you think I know my own phone number?" When he gave no reply and kept staring, she sighed, knowing better than to argue. "It's definitely a seven."

He was reluctant to take her word for it, but it did kind of look like a seven. He reached to the back-pocket of his jeans, sliding the little paper in and voicing no further doubts. She'd gotten a new number recently, but apparently hadn't taken the time to remember it properly, as far as he could tell. Levi supposed it was fine; he barely used his phone anyway aside from a few calls and text messages once in a while. Even if he ended up sending something to the wrong number it wouldn't be much of a hassle.

"I should head home now. I don't want to stick around when it's dark," Isabel murmured, leaning her head back to look up at the clouded sky which had grown considerably darker over the past few minutes. They'd just come back from a drink at a bar nearby, having met up with Farlan and his gang. Neither Isabel nor Levi was involved in whatever criminal activities those guys were up to, but they were both fairly good friends with Farlan and didn't particularly mind the company he kept. Their backgrounds were all very similar; hanging out with the likes of robbers and drug dealers wasn't all that out of the ordinary.

"You should," Levi agreed, opening his mouth again to make a wry remark about her finally having gained some common sense, when the sad look in her large, deep blue eyes stopped him. "What is it?"

"Well," she drawled, rocking back and forth on her heels and avoiding his gaze as if a shy child—Levi knew her well enough to see through the act. "I don't want to bother you or anything, but I'm… I'm a little thirsty, and-and hungry too." She peeked up at him through thick eyelashes, and he suppressed the urge to groan as he knew where she was going with this. Instead of turning his back on her and promptly walking away as he was tempted to do, he pulled out the keys to his apartment and threw it to her without warning. She caught it with a wide smile.

"You're the best, big bro!"

It wasn't like Levi actively disliked having her over, he just preferred not to have her over, or anyone else for that matter. He liked his apartment clean, and he had yet to discover someone who could keep up to his standards of hygiene so he hardly ever had visitors. For most people it would probably seem like a lonely existence, but he was rarely at home to begin with. Most of his time was spent outside, or working in the warehouse where he'd gotten a job a few weeks ago. It was a shitty job that involved lifting too much heavy crap on a daily basis, but it still paid.

He lived in a fairly decent apartment building on the third floor, and for once his neighbors were quite tolerable compared to the people who had lived across from him before. The arguing couple that couldn't seem to shut up during the nights had been replaced by a family of four, who were no doubt a bit cramped in a place like that, but were pleasant people overall.

It had only been recently that Levi had distanced himself from the illegal activities he'd been part of for a good chunk of his life. Mostly robbery, breaking and entering, selling stolen goods—after stealing from the wrong person and nearly getting Farlan killed as the man was the one he passed his stolen goods to, Levi had decided it was enough and had looked to live a more honest life. He had no criminal record (which also attested to his skill as a burglar) so getting hired for a minimum wage job hadn't been that difficult.

Both Isabel and Farlan were still involved in shady business, however, and he knew better than to try and dissuade them from it. It was the only way they knew how to get by and survive on the streets; he understood that all too well.

By the time Levi and Isabel climbed up the steps of his apartment building it had begun to rain outside, a slight drizzle that quickly grew into a storm. It seemed they'd made it just in time to escape it, making their way to the third floor where Isabel quickly unlocked the door to his home, mindful to take off her shoes before she went any further than the hallway lest Levi scold her.

Once both of them had taken their coats and shoes off, they walked into the small, spotless living room. Levi didn't own a TV (or a computer, for that matter) so it didn't take long for Isabel to get bored as she lounged on the tiny red couch, picking up a month-old magazine from the glass coffee table. Levi was in the kitchen, looking through his fridge for food to feed the brat with, only finding a few sausages shoved in the far back, and decided she'd have to make do with it.

Of course Isabel didn't complain, already satisfied she got to spend more time with Levi. They ate in the living room, and while she offered to do the dishes he immediately shot her down, mostly because he didn't trust her to clean them properly. When he got back from cleaning them he saw she'd gone through the whole stack of magazines that had been gathered on the small table, giggling at something in a pink-covered, girly teen magazine.

"Hey, why do you even have this thing?" she asked as he sat down on the armchair near the couch, barely interested.

"Don't remember. You must've brought it over at some point."

Isabel stretched her legs on the couch, flipping through the pages mindlessly until she suddenly stopped, something having gotten her attention.

"Who Is Your Dream Guy?" she said loudly, making Levi raise his eyebrows slightly. "What do you think, big bro? Wanna know who your dream guy is?"

He rolled his eyes, looking away as he put an elbow on the arm of the chair and leaned his head on his palm. "Take it yourself."

"Oh, come on, please? Humor me! It'll be fun!" Without even waiting for a response, she began. "Question one! You try to text your crush—"

"Isabel," he interrupted her with a slightly irritated frown, and she frowned back, blatantly continuing and ignoring his protest.

"You try to text your crush, but he's busy. Most likely you can find him: A) strumming his guitar, B) playing soccer, or C) reading old comic books."

"What the hell kind of options are those?"

"They determine his personality type." Isabel answered matter-of-factly, giving him a goofy grin as she pulled up her knees a bit and threw one leg over the other.

"What if I want a guy who dissects people in his spare time?" he replied dryly, leaning back in his seat, Isabel shooting him an incredulous look.

"That's gross! Why would you want that?!"

"It takes more skill than reading comic books or running around after a ball."

"What about the guitar? Playing guitar takes skill." When Levi didn't respond and stayed quiet, Isabel mentally checked that one off and went on with the quiz. It only consisted of six questions, and Levi ended up getting "The Musician" as his supposed dream guy. He didn't think much of it but he supposed it beat "The Athlete" and "The Geek", internally cursing Isabel for actually getting him to care about such a vapid quiz.

Not long after that, she decided it was time to leave, taking the magazine with her as she'd taken a liking to it. He didn't bother getting up from his seat, watching as she waved him a goodbye and took her coat, quickly slipping on and zipping up her boots before leaving. Levi didn't see anything amiss with how she'd left until, after he decided to get up and take a shower, walking past the hallway he saw she'd left her scarf.

"Idiot," he muttered under his breath, pulling out his second-hand smartphone from his front pocket and the piece of paper with her number on it. After deleting her old number and saving the new one as a contact on his phone, he sent her a text right after.

'oi brat

you forgot your scarf'

Content with that, he put the phone away on his coffee table and walked off to the bathroom to take a shower, mulling over the conversation he'd had with Farlan earlier in the bar. Apparently the gang leader feared the cops were on their trail after police surveillance in the area had been increased, but to Levi it seemed rather doubtful that the pigs had suddenly stepped up and were doing their job. So they patrolled a few circles extra around the neighborhood-it didn't mean shit if they kept their fat asses in the car and kept stuffing themselves with doughnuts as always. Farlan was even concerned they were planning a bust on them, and Levi had replied with skepticism. They didn't know any of the hide-outs the gang stayed in, much less where they did their business.

When he'd gotten out of the shower again, his hair dried and dressed only in a pair of old sweatpants, he walked to his living room and picked up his phone. He'd received a reply from Isabel already, which surprised him. Usually the girl took ages to check her phone—half the time it was lost, buried under the wreckage she called her bedroom.

'Sorry, I'll swing by to pick it up later.'

Levi's eyebrows arched sharply as he stared at the perfect grammar displayed on the screen. It wasn't Isabel's style at all, but perhaps she was fooling around again and trying to impress him. Either way the prospect of having her come over again wasn't a pleasant one.

'don't. i'll take it with tomorrow'

Tomorrow was Friday, where Levi had a day off from work. He always met with Isabel and Farlan at a small café on Friday mornings to start the day off with, and passed the rest of the day together. Taking a scarf with him wouldn't be a bother at all, so he didn't mind.

Leaning down to put his phone back down on the glass table, not expecting a reply back, he was startled when it started vibrating again. Looking back at the screen, he saw she'd immediately responded. He supposed she was bored again and had decided to fiddle around on her phone.

'How nice of you.'

For some reason, the little sentence seemed to reek of sarcasm, and he was convinced Isabel was trying to get on his nerves now. Sitting down on the couch and glowering at the phone, he quickly sent a text back.

'are you mocking me'

It took her about thirty seconds to write something back.

'I would never!'

She was definitely pestering him.

'cut the crap'

'Sorry, did I upset you?'

'isabel i s2g'

There was a long pause after that, leaving Levi wondering if she'd gone off to do something else when, after a silence that lasted at least three minutes, he received a single reply back.

'What?'

Levi blinked, confused.

'?'

There was another minute-long pause before he received something back, and the entire conversation turned utterly confusing from there.

'"s2g"?'

'what?'

'I'm asking what it means.'

Levi was left a little dumbstruck, staring at his phone for a good few seconds in befuddlement before the irritation came back again.

'are you joking'

'No.'

'you know what it means'

'I forgot.'

'how the fuck do you forget that'

'I don't know, I just did.'

'did you hit your head on the way home'

'Yes

What are you up to?'

Levi rubbed his temple with one hand, starting to feel a headache coming up. Sometimes the girl really didn't know when to stop goofing around, but if he didn't answer her now she would spam him with a hundred texts and that would be a pain in the ass to deal with later.

'i'm the fucking couch'

In his frustration he'd missed two letters and had sent it without correcting it, but he figured she'd understand that he was sitting on the fucking couch and wasn't actually the couch.

'You're the fucking couch? Impressive transformation, but how are you sending these text messages? Couches don't have hands.'

Tomorrow he was going to kick her ass so hard.

'isabel I s2fg'

'I still don't know what that means.'

'i'm going to bed'

'Why? You're a couch. Couches don't sleep on beds.'

'go die in a fire'

'Yes sir.'

'don't take that literally'

'I thought you were going to bed?'

'shut up'

'But I'm not talking.'

'omfg'

Just when he thought Isabel was going to send some smartass remark back, instead he received something very simple, and surprisingly polite. Levi stared at the two black words on his glowing touchscreen, wondering what had gotten into Isabel all of a sudden. Aside from the way she usually wrote being different, her sense of humor was different as well, and she was acting rather bold. While she made some jokes at his expense now and again, this was bizarrely out of character for her. Then to top it off with something that was almost considerate? He couldn't wrap his mind around it.

'Good night.'

On a sudden impulse, he quickly wrote something back.

'good night'

"What the hell do you mean you gave me the wrong number?"

The three of them were sitting at a small, round table near the windows inside of a bustling café named Aroma. It had a light atmosphere with a blue and white color scheme, filled with customers taking a quick stop to get something to drink or for some breakfast before heading off to work. The trio visited it so frequently that most of the staff knew them by name at that point, aside from the owner who wasn't around much, letting it be run by his manager most of the time.

Farlan was quietly sipping from his tea, hiding his smirk as Isabel's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment and Levi was eyeing her sharply, eyebrows furrowed.

The morning had started out normally. The two of them had met up first, and had taken a seat while waiting for Farlan to show up. He'd brought her green scarf with him and she'd been extremely grateful he'd gone through the "effort" of bringing it to her as it was the only one she owned. Isabel had started talking about how she'd seen an old lady being robbed right across the street on her way to the café, so Levi hadn't been able to ask her about the ridiculous text conversation from last night, until Farlan had finally arrived and had interrupted her mid-story.

After the two of them had greeted the newcomer (though in Levi's case it was more like a look of acknowledgment than anything else) the subject had changed. Levi had questioned Isabel about her pestering on the phone the other night, and a look of bewilderment had passed on her features. He'd pulled out his phone and had shown the conversation to her, and she'd sworn that it hadn't been her answering his texts.

"I-I guess I… I must've given you the wrong number," she'd professed nervously, which left Levi in the awkward situation where he realized he'd had a conversation with a stranger, and a complete asshole of a stranger at that. What kind of a jerkoff would think it was funny to pretend to be someone else and mock him like that?

Farlan didn't seem surprised in the least at Isabel's mistake. "Figures; your handwriting is terrible." Isabel puffed her cheeks with a deep scowl, shooting him an angry glare before leaning down and sipping from the straw in her soda. Farlan clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "You really shouldn't drink that crap in the morning. It's bad for your stomach."

"It's just one glass," she retorted stubbornly, continuing to drink from her coke as Levi had gone back to staring at his phone, as if still trying to grasp what had occurred last night. He comprehended the situation perfectly well, of course, but what should he do next?

Farlan ripped another slim pack of sugar open, dumping the white contents into his tea and mixing the hot drink with a little plastic spoon as he leaned over and read the conversation on Levi's phone as well, an amused smile passing on his lips.

"Aren't you going to delete that number?" he questioned when he saw no action from Levi after a few seconds. Isabel slurped loudly from her soda in the meantime and Farlan gave her an agitated look, snatching the straw right out of her mouth and the glass.

"Hey, don't steal my freaking straw!"

"No," Levi replied to Farlan, ignoring Isabel's shenanigans. "I'm going to text this asshole back." This person, whoever the fuck it was, had made a complete fool out of him and he wasn't about to let that slide. Both of his friends were quiet at that, exchanging looks at this sudden decision but not questioning him on it.

He ignored his cup of coffee, which was slowly growing cold in front of him, and his fingers flew over the keys, quickly sending a text to the deceitful stranger.

'Who the fuck are you?'

A/N: Figured I might as well post this here as well, since I used to hang out here a lot, before I bailed and switched over to AO3. It's still a work in progress, and I won't post all the chapters I've got so far in one go since I'm interested in getting some helpful reviews for each chapter first (god knows AO3 has failed me on that account). Tell me your thoughts so far! I hope you enjoyed it, I'll be uploading the second chapter soon!