i. it hasn't rained since last sunday

It was a rarity to see such a stoic persona so plainly distressed.

If he had to give something credit for the source of his distress, he would probably push the blame onto his traumatic teenage experience with Erwin's German Shepherd. Mikasa always made a big deal out of it every time they visited the blond's house up in Sina, consciously reminding him of that dark day.

For one thing, he couldn't stand the smell of wet dog. It was so distinct, like a pungent smoke that chokes you within a matter of seconds of breathing it in. Of course, there were various degrees of pungency, completely dependent on the viciousness of precipitation before the animal walks into a closed space and ruins his day, but nothing from his previous experience with the odour could compare to this.

It was overwhelming, but no-one else seemed as fazed about it as he was. How was he the only one in the room going through this torment?

He tried pinching and un-pinching his nose for a few minutes but it did nothing except make his skin itch. He tried to lower his head to rest on his clothed arm and breathe his own scent, but it was so awkward to take notes in such a position. And the one thing that was more important than getting rid of that god-awful stench was passing Chemistry.

He internally groaned. How was he supposed to do that when he couldn't even concentrate on the lecture?

His mind was numbing with every second that ticked by while he was still breathing. There was no way he was getting through this lecture. Unfortunately, he couldn't just up and leave the hall so abruptly. The professor might get the wrong idea and fail his assignments and he couldn't have that either.

Instead, he would just focus on pinpointing the source of his great discomfort.

And to his great distaste, he found it to be right across the hall from him. The girl on the fourth bench, three seats away from Shitty Four-eyes, calmly taking down the notes that he should've been taking.

His scowl couldn't get any deeper than this.

To make matters worse, he hadn't realised he'd been glaring at her for so long before he was met with a shock of electric amber staring right back at him. She raised a single, honey-coloured eyebrow. He diverted his line of sight back to the whiteboard, where unfamiliar blocks of text had adorned themselves onto. Christ, how much fucking time have I wasted?

He picked up his pen once more and trusted his olfactory receptors would become habituated to the stench in time. That is, until he was faced with another problem.

Why is she still staring?

His grip on the pen tightened. For fucks sake.

Discretely, he raised his eyes to her direction. It was a split-second glance, but it was plain to him that yes, she was still staring. Now even Shitty Four-eyes was giving him weird looks. There was no avoiding a confrontation with her after class either. He sighed.

He just needed to get through this. He needed a passing grade.

The shrill scream of the bell filled his ears with an indescribable elation. He was the first out of the hall.

Trost University was not as big as the ones up in Sina, but it certainly wasn't small. It took ten minutes to walk from his department building to the university library, for example. The campus was comprised of several faculty buildings where supervisions with his tutors were held every week and all around the scattered faculty buildings were small, isolated patches of grass populated, most of the time, by a third of the student body.

It was quite a cramped city. Most of the streets were lined with bicycles and old structures stained with the sepia of history. He chose it because of the fact that the air here was the cleanest and that you could hear a pin drop across the street when night fell. No-one else would be awake at that time either. He got by through his first year as smoothly as was theoretically possible, so much so that he even made the foolish mistake of thinking it would stay that way for three more years.

Yeah fucking right.

"Oi, Levi!" Hange yelled from behind him. He ignored her, instead picking up the pace. Fresh air hadn't felt this good since two hours ago, can't he just enjoy it for a while? Hange was already jogging to catch up to him. He stopped suddenly when he remembered he had to go to the library, which was in the opposite direction. Sure enough, he came face to face with his bespectacled lab partner. She was grinning from ear to ear. "What the hell was that a while ago? You got the hots for Petra or something?" She was grinning so widely it irked the life out of him. When Levi didn't answer, she continued. "I think you two would be so adorable together."

His neck snapped to face her. "No," he stated firmly, fixed with a death glare.

"You don't have to hide it from me, Levi," Hange scoffed, mock-offended. "Anyone could see you were stealing those obvious glances at her. Luckily for you, she's single too. If you need help with anything, I mean, I could, you know, introduce you two later—"

Levi sighed, pushing her to the side after a long internal debate on whether or not to let the bicycle crash into her and end this stupid interrogation. "Hange, no."

He started to walk across the bridge to the library, hoping he can shake the crazed woman off of his back. His phone started to vibrate in his pocket and he raised it to his ear as if he was about to answer. He was only looking to see if that would shut her up and turn her away. To no surprise, she was still on his trail and wouldn't stop barraging him with a flurry of nonsensical statements. He frowned when he returned the unanswered phone back into his pocket. Mikasa would text if it was that urgent.

"I mean, what's the problem with getting together with Petra? She's smart, she's pretty, and – wait for it – she's tidier than me!" Hange exclaimed excitedly.

"Everyone is tidier than you, Shitty Glasses," Levi retorted. "Even Eren, that idiot kid."

Hange seemed to seriously contemplate his reply for a few moments before starting again. "I'm not really sure if you're her type, though."

"I don't really care."

"But why?" she whined. So it has come to this.

Levi exhaled in exasperation. Again, he stopped in his tracks. "If I tell you why, will you give me your notes from that last lecture and then leave me alone?"

Hange's head bobbed up and down enthusiastically.

Levi rolled his eyes at her antics. He was hesitant on what to tell her. What if she snaked on him to that girl, Petra? Tch. I don't care. He cleared his throat, averting his gaze to the river below them. "She smelled like a wet dog."

All hopefulness had disappeared from the scientist's features, replaced by the upturned eyebrows of confusion and the tug of a frown. She straightened her posture in disbelief. "But it hasn't rained since last Sunday! Trost weather isn't that bad either."

The raven-haired boy shrugged. "Still smelled like a wet dog."

It was Hange's turn to let out a frustrated sigh. "Levi…are you sure? I mean, I didn't smell anything off around her, and I was only three seats away! Don't tell me you've turned into Edward Cullen—"

"I gave you an answer, Hange," he snapped irritably, obviously affected by his admission. "Just give me your notes and go back to where you were originally going."

Hange huffed in defeat, her eyebrows still knitted in puzzlement. Nevertheless, she reached inside her backpack and took out a yellow notebook. Levi accepted it wordlessly, walking past her without looking back. "Don't worry," she said before he was too far away to hear it. "I won't tell on you."

"Do what you want, Shitty Glasses," he waved it off, whatever 'it' was.

He supposed it was cruel fate too when he saw her seated at his usual spot near the window.

It was still daylight, but the telltale dimming of the sun had cast a twilight glow on the dust-filled shelves of the library, as well as illuminating the girl's copper-tinged hair so it looked like small licks of flame were dancing on the crown of her head.

Levi wondered where in the hell that poetry came from before sitting at a table that was as far away from her as possible. She didn't smell like she did a few hours ago, thankfully, but still…it would be awkward to sit too close. He was only here to take out a few books and translate Hange's sorry excuse for handwriting into actual, decipherable words.

The library was normally the quietest place he could be in during the day, but somehow the sound of the girl's scratches on paper was deafening to his ears. He rubbed his eyes, trying to focus on Hange's illegible scrawls.

The scratching sounds persisted.

"Right, nitrobenzene…" he muttered to himself. "Electrophilic shit…"

"Excuse me."

"Fuck off," he said under his breath, finally absorbed in his work. It was only until he inhaled once that he knew who was standing in front of him. He dropped his pen, raising his head to look.

Yep. Wet Dog Girl. "Can I help you?" he said, opting for a less-sarcastic-than-intended tone of voice. But his eyes said it all. After all, she was the reason he was even going through this struggle.

And hers did too, the amber orbs were filled with unadulterated curiosity. What in the world could she be so curious about?

"No," she replied, voice hoarse yet pleasantly sweet. "Here." She slid a stapled document across to him, flashed him a shy smile, then turned to take her leave, of which was brusque enough to let him inhale a whiff of her scent. He wrinkled his nose, grateful she didn't turn to look back.

Weird. Levi flicked through the pages. She had photocopied her notes from the lecture, and her handwriting was as clear as a Trost summer sky. He craned his neck to see where she had gone but she was nowhere in sight. He guessed he had no choice but to thank her later.

Hange would have a fit if she knew.

Petra scurried towards the library exit, holding the loose books tightly to her chest. She couldn't believe she had spoken to that boy, though she had no choice but to confirm a nagging suspicion that had gripped her since the lecture a few hours ago.

And she was right. She needed to avoid him at all costs.

A/N: I posted this on AO3 today but I decided to also post on FFNet to keep both accounts updated, just for consistency. This story will have around 17 chapters, all already planned out so no worries about me not updating for a million years (unless, of course, I die). But I am in the middle of exam period, so updates won't be as frequent as they will be during my summer holidays. I hope you enjoy reading!