Attack on Titan, Modern AU, firsts
Faced with the grandness of the building he had so profoundly dreaded the past couple of weeks, Levi felt even smaller than he usually did. It was all glass, like all of those fancy new office buildings in the city centre usually tended to be designed, and through its windows, easily visible, stood desks and plants, and people in the middle of important calls on their phones, staring into the distance. They didn’t seem affected, or even aware, of the display they were put on, while discomfort heaved inside Levi by the sole thought of being in their place. Men in suits much more expensive than his passed him by on their way to the revolving door like a swarm of ants. Some of them bumped into him, some barely avoided doing so, and yet somehow, he still picked on his skin to remind himself he was perceivable and real.
His watch said it was 8:48, and though he still had a lot of time, it also meant he spent close to a quarter of an hour on the footpath. Slowly, he began putting one foot in front of the other, stiff as if, in the span of those fifteen minutes, he had managed to forget how to walk.
A young receptionist sat at the entrance. Her smile was pretty and kind, but also practised and slightly forced. Despite so many pairs of shoes traversing the pearl-white tiles, somehow they remained crystal clear, and Levi could almost see his distorted reflection.
“Excuse me?” The receptionist turned to him, her smile neither a millimetre smaller nor wider. He wondered if she kept it this way all throughout her eight-hour workday. “Could you point me to TitanTech Solutions?”
He nodded along as she explained the way while also forgetting it all altogether before she finished speaking.
“Clear?”
“Clear. Thanks.”
It took him two wrong turns, one incredibly incorrect elevator journey, and at least four conversations asking complete strangers for directions, to finally stand in front of a plaque adorned with the TitanTech logo.
“First day,” he muttered. “Let’s go.”