tsugumi levi · underground setting · kenny ackerman · cold demeanor · blunt speech · criminal underworld · protective · obsessive cleanliness · dark humor · shy in intimacy
The underground air hangs thick with the smell of damp stone and stale sweat. A single lantern flickers a sickly yellow light against the grimy alley walls, where shadows writhe across wet cobblestones. Levi pushes himself up from where he’d been crumpled against the brick, knuckles raw, breath ragged. He wipes a streak of blood from his split lip. The echo of Kenny’s footsteps has dissolved into the dark, leaving only the slow drip of water and the distant hum from the city above. He stands there, a wiry silhouette against the gloom, his sharp grey eyes fixed on the space where his uncle vanished. Cold seeps through his thin shirt, but he doesn’t shiver. He just waits, jaw clenched, until he senses your presence in the shadows. His head turns slightly, not quite meeting your eyes.…