A/N: Hello, everyone! It's been awhile... I haven't been into writing lately simply because I lacked inspiration these days. But I've been looking through some old Rivetra drabbles on my tablet and it was this one in particular that sparked my inspiration back!
Also, before you ask me what boba is, it's a milk tea drink with black, chewy balls made of tapioca, which is basically cassava starch. It's very popular in East and Southeast Asia, as well as areas in the USA. Boba is also know as Bubble Tea :)
If you never tasted boba before... GO TRY IT NOW 'CAUSE IT'S REALLY GOOD!
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Attack on Titan. They all rightfully belong to Hajime Isayama.
Boba
Yep he hated his current situation. The mall was thriving with its usual hustle and bustle comprised of little brats' (as to what Levi calls children) constant whining and pointless tantrums, teenagers chattering with their "juicy" gossip while they browse absentmindedly through their petty stores containing the latest trends, the 'ka-ching' sound of a cash register followed by the usual 'Is that all for you today?' by the cashiers, and people's arms about to drop with the amount of shopping bags they possess.
Oh wait, that wasn't the mall's usual hassle, it was Levi's usual day at a mall. Except he had no children to deal with—it was teenagers who decided that it was funny to call him shorty.
Brats these days.
And he wondered why would he ever want to come to the mall. That is, until he felt a tug on his sleeve and remembered once his eyes glance and fall upon her copper ones. If he said no when she asked, he would not have to experience the turmoil of the mall once again.
But how can he say no to her.
That's right, it was impossible.
"I'm a bit thirsty, is it alright if we make a slight detour and have a drink?" Petra proposed glancing toward the food court across the mall. Levi sighed and grunted a bit. Petra giggled knowing that it was his way of saying yes. She locked her right arm into his left and dragged him to where the court was in no time. They found themselves standing in the midst of people eating and ordering whatever food and drinks they desired.
Petra looked around the place as if she were searching for something. Suddenly she gasped when she saw a word that made her eyes squint to make sure that it truly was what she thought it was.
Levi quirked an eyebrow at her and trailed his eyes in the direction she was looking. He was able to pinpoint the word 'Boba' engraved on a wooden sign before Petra dragged him across the court to the place with 'boba'.
"Boba?" Levi asked once they arrived to their destination.
Petra gasped in shock as her eyes widened."You've never had boba before? Have you been living in a cave?" She shook her head in disappointment as Levi gave a roll of his eye at her.
"I've never even heard about it," Levi replied, only receiving another gasp by his girlfriend. She earned another roll of his eye from him again.
"You act like this is some kind of tragedy."
"Because it is a tragedy! How could you have never heard of boba? It's this delicious milk tea drink that has tapioca pearls in it! We're going to try some right now!" Petra huffed and made a one-eighty degree rotation to face the counter as Levi mouthed 'tapioca pearls?'. She flashed a smile to the brunette behind the counter who had her notepad ready to take her order. She looked no more than eighteen and had her hair tied up in a high ponytail.
"Hello miss, what would you like for today?" The teenaged-girl asked, readying herself with a click of her pen and placing it on the notepad.
Petra glanced at Levi's direction. "What would you like?" She whispered ever so quietly but enough for him to hear.
Levi scanned across the screen above where all the boba flavors were displayed. He debated whether he should get strawberry or mango until he saw the specials just below the flavor category. The first special listed was called 'Couple's Boba'.
"I'd like the Couple's Boba..." Levi squinted his eyes to read the cashier's name tag. "Sasha," he finished. Sasha smirked at his order, happily writing down the words. As she wrote the 'B' in boba she asked, "What flavor?"
Levi opened his mouth to respond until he felt a jab on his rib. Mustering an 'ow', he glared at Petra, who also appeared to be glaring—more like blushing—at him as well. "Wh—Why the Couple's Boba?," She stammered. "I hope you know that we have to share the same drink."
Amused to see his girlfriend flustered, he cracked a small smirk. "I want my first boba to be shared with you." Levi looked up to see the menus hanging above Sasha. "I'd like the strawberry please."
Sasha wrote Petra and Levi's order in a jiffy and tore the note from her notepad and bumped into another worker who appeared to be tall with a face almost resembling a horse. Seeing who it was, Sasha gave him a pleased look. "Good I was just about look for you, Jean. Here." Sasha shoved the note to said person.
"Owww, Sasha! Why didn't you just hand it to me?" Jean glared at Sasha, who was already cupping her hand against his ear.
"It's chance for you to redeem yourself from earlier." Sasha whispered. For a second, Jean's face was blank since he had no idea what Sasha was talking about. Then it hit him and he rolled his eyes and groaned.
"I'm telling you, Sasha I didn't mess up the order last time."
"Mixing up raspberry with strawberry is a mistake, horse face." Another voice chimed in as another teen who had brown hair and was slighty shorter than Jean walked in to take care of the other cash register.
"You stay out of this, Eren!"
"Boys! Get to work or I'll tell the boss on you!" Sasha said as she raised her voice.
Jean and Eren both shut their mouths and resumed their duties. Seeing that her co-workers settled their bickering (for now), Sasha heaved a heavy sigh and scratched the nape of her neck in embarrassment as she faced back to Petra and Levi.
"I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting. Those two are always picking on each other whenever they get the chance." Sasha apologized.
"That's okay, it happens." Petra smiled politely.
"How much is the boba?" Levi asked, who clearly couldn't care less about the scene the two teens caused.
"Oh right!" With a few taps on her screen, Sasha told Levi the numbers. "That'll be four dollars and seventy-five cents."
Levi got out his wallet and payed Sasha with a five dollar bill.
"Your change is twenty-five cents." Sasha dropped a quarter with the receipt onto Levi's palm. "Your order will be ready in a couple of—"
"Jean, they ordered strawberry not raspberry!"
"Don't tell me what to do, Eren!"
Sasha sighed again and gave an apologetic smile to the couple. "Like I was saying, it'll be ready in a few minutes" Suddenly the sound of plastic cups and angry yelling filled the air. "Hopefully," Sasha added, wincing when she heard more yelling and went to the back to scold at the two again.
Petra chuckled at the commotion while Levi's expression was equally that of a brick.
"Why are you laughing?" Levi asked his girlfriend. Although he was asking, he wasn't really sure why. Petra's easily entertained by anything—anything being from Grumpy Cat to watching one of those melodramatic but romantic Korean dramas that use up all of his tissue boxes (which by the way, Levi was still holding grudge for that, claiming that he needed those for cleaning).
"Doesn't Jean remind you of someone?" Petra asked.
"No."
Petra laughed. "Really? Are you sure?"
Levi looked at her with a strange look. "No, why?"
"Jean's like you!" Petra poked Levi on the arm in a playful manner.
Levi scoffed. "Please, my face does not look a horse."
Petra shook her head. "No no, I'm not talking about his appearance. Jean reminded me of the time when we first met. You used to always mess up the orders all the time at the coffee shop when you were working on the job for the first time."
Now it was Levi's turn to roll his eyes. "Spilling coffee on your shirt is not a mistake with an order."
"But customers like me expect to drink our coffee, not to wear it." Petra retorted back as she pouted.
"Stop acting like a kid."
"I'm not a kid, I'm a full-grown woman."
"Exactly."
Before Petra could respond, the couple saw pink in the corner of their eye and turned towards the counter, only to see Sasha taking out two straws and putting them in their Couple's Boba at the pick-up area.
"One Strawberry Couple's Boba ready for two!" Sasha exclaimed to both of them.
When Petra heard the word 'boba,' her eyes suddenly lit up and she completely forgot her argument with Levi. The couple went to pick-up area to pick up their drinks. Petra thanked Sasha as Levi grabbed their boba and they left and found an empty table not far from the boba place. Once they got themselves situated, Petra was the first to drink.
"Mmmmm..." Petra chewed on her tapioca pearls. Levi just looked at Petra and then back at the milk bubble tea, specifically focusing on the black dots at the bottom.
"Are those the tapioca pearls?" Eyeing the black dots.
Petra nodded her head. "Try it!"
Levi took his straw, brought it to his lips, and took a sip. Immediately, he tasted sweet strawberries but he also felt some weird spherical shape in his mouth. He began to chew on it.
"Well?" Petra examined her boyfriend's expressionless face as he chewed on the tapioca pearls "Is it good?" Although Petra did love boba and practically praised whoever invented the drink, she knew that boba, especially strawberry-flavored bob, can be sweet and Levi hated sweet things. So in all honesty, she wasn't expecting for Levi to like it.
Levi finished chewing and swallowed. "Yeah."
"W—What? Really?" Petra stammered.
"Yeah, I like it... why are you surprised?"
"Nothing... it's just I thought you didn't like sweet things." Petra explained as she took another sip.
Levi shrugged his shoulders and also took another sip. "Usually I don't but I think I like this better because I'm drinking it with you."
Petra almost choked on her drink upon hearing her boyfriend's cheesy line. "Okay, Levi. Now you're just getting really weird. You're not getting sick are you?"
"Getting sick? Is it really that unbelievable?" Levi frowned.
"Yes it is. First you're liking sweet things. And now you're throwing cheesy lines at me." Petra said. She got up and placed her hand over Levi's forehead to check if it was hot.
"I'm telling you, I'm not sick. Besides, you're the one who watches Korean dramas. Aren't they cheesy itself?" Levi can already tell that they were getting into another argument and he was taking this as an opportunity to get his girlfriend worked up. Now that was amusing to him.
"But Korean dramas are not cheesy! They're romantic!" Petra countered back.
"Exactly. That's why they're cheesy."
"No they're not."
"You're acting like a child again."
Meanwhile back at the boba place...
"Isn't it romantic, Mikasa?" Sasha, who had just finished taking an order from another customer, was staring at Levi and Petra drinking boba in awe. A teenaged girl with fair skin and black hair cut down to her shoulders was next to Sasha and she nodded.
"I suppose so... but what do you know about love, Sasha?"
Sasha turned to Mikasa and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that? I know what love is." Sasha spun around and Mikasa could've sworn she saw hearts in the brunette's eyes. "It's the same way you look at your food in a restaurant when the waiter is bringing it to your table."
Mikasa gave Sasha a questioning look. "Sasha, I don't think that's what lov—Eren! What are you doing to Jean?"
Sasha stopped spinning and watched Mikasa as she ran over to break up another argument between Eren and Jean and saw that Connie and Armin, who were two other workers, tried their best to pull apart the two before they could attack each other.
Sasha was about to help, but decided that Mikasa can handle it. She is Mikasa. So, Sasha decided ignore it and went back to staring at Levi and Petra, who were now squabbling over whether or not Petra was kid.
Sasha smiled. Petra's sweet like the strawberry-flavored tea and Levi's bland like the chewy tapioca balls. Although they may not taste good by itself, together they complement each other, she thought.
They're love for each other is just like boba.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one-shot. See you again until next time :)