Welcome to Gaia! ::

Levi's eyes didn't leave the screen of his laptop where he sat at one of the tables in the break room, though a small nod indicated that he had heard the model speak.

After their initial meet, Levi had been offered a job with a local media company. Though he loved working in the music store, he had to admit that it was a dying business and working with the media provided many of the same opportunities he'd wanted. More than that, it'd meant that Lumiere (as a local model) was often drafted for many of their projects. As far as models went, she was much more tolerable than most and, even if he wasn't going to admit it without prompting, even kind of fun to hang out with.

"I hear you Illuminati, give me a sec," he muttered finally. He'd gotten off work ages ago but simply moved from the tiny office space he shared to the break room instead, where he sat finalizing some small piece of paperwork. He liked it better in the break room at the end of the day - few people bothered coming in when they could leave and it was a hell of a lot quieter than the boisterous offices where everyone was congratulating one another on the end of a long work week.

A few minutes passed before he finally looked up, leaning forward on the table some to stare at her.

"What is it?" Not rude, but no sugar coating, either. The typical Work-Levi response. With that tone, it was a wonder that he actually enjoyed talking to this coworker at all. She'd probably gotten used to it by now.

Levi's bright eyes swept from his laptop, to the pen she'd stole, and finally up to her pretty little face. For a moment there was no answer but silence. She was always so persistent. At last, he simply sighed, with more emphasis than was truly necessary.

"I get bored and go do something more interesting, that's not my fault," but even as he seemed to protest, he'd begun to shuffle the paper into a neat pile, sliding them carefully back into the pristine manila folder that had been lying open and empty next to them. One hand reached down to stuff them into his bag, though it came back with what appeared to be red licorice. He set the tip between his teeth and began the process of shutting down his laptop, still avoiding a real answer.

"I guess free food isn't bad," he looked up at her again, trying to hide the small smirk at the corner of his lips. As much as he tried to be a hard a**, he truly was just a (spoiled) kid at heart. Lumi knew him well enough to get past that prickly exterior without much effort these days. Even her presence seemed to lighten his mood considerably, which was probably why they always sent her to ask. He didn't mind so much.

"Alright, fiiiine," he drew out the 'I' as he put the laptop in his bag with the papers. "Is there a decent arcade machine at least? I don't want to listen to these people talk about their relationship problems all night."

The thrill of his acceptance was visible to someone used to studying Lumi. She was a model and, as such, entirely used to being stared at and picked apart - it was perhaps part of the reason his critical nature and bad attitude never seemed to bother her terribly. He found that quality in her to be admirable, if only because nothing turned him off faster than people prone to pouting and whining. It was irritating. Just like gossip.

"Do you think I care who likes me?" Although it sounded irritable, there was an amused smirk curling the corner of his lips. He leaned down, grabbed his bag, and slung it over his shoulder in one, practiced motion. "I spend my entire day trying to get people to leave me alone, Lumi. I couldn't care less about anyone's crush."

Although Levi preferred to be left to his own devices, he did frequent the music scene often for the sake of the music. Now and again he found a pretty girl, lost himself to the thrill of the beat, and spent a night with someone other than himself. It wasn't often and it never amounted to his ever wanting to speak to the person again. Relationships were an amount of work and personal feelings he didn't have time for.

It didn't mean he never noticed a pretty thing, though.

The tall, willowy man followed Lumiere out of the room, watching the grace with which she stepped in heels. Her beauty wasn't lost on him - he wasn't an idiot. He stared at her when she wasn't looking, the same way he might stare at a painting, or a sculpture. Her body was her art form and it was meant to be appreciated. That would be his answer if she ever caught him staring, and there'd be no apology for it if she did.

"I'm going to hold you to that, don't think that I won't," the smirk on his lips didn't die as he caught up to her outside the doorway. One hand reached up and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, giving himself more breathing room as they made their way to the parking lot.

"I'm driving then, eh?"

The tall man let his gaze slide to her nimble fingers and the flawless updo she managed with such little effort. The slope of her neck was enticing, but more than that, he had to wonder how good at PC gaming she might be with a little practice. She certainly had dexterity on her side.

"I hope you're up to that challenge, Illuminati."

The thought drifted away and was lost by the time they entered the bar. With his bag abandoned in the car and his button-up left open to reveal a crisp undershirt, he looked almost as if he'd intended to be here all along. The surprised looks that their colleagues donned and quickly covered up were not lost upon him, but he took a seat on Lumi's far side regardless, placing the petite blunette between him and their chatty work friends.

At least at the beginning of the night he could escape the more demanding needs of social interaction by busying himself in food. He managed to pick the sweetest things the bar had to offer - a selection of fatty, bready foods for the most part, and as much syrup as he could stomach. His body type was always in demand of calories, more than he could usually fill it with, and he made no effort to restrain himself for the sake of her limitations. One of the girls on Lumi's opposite side laughed as she regaled them all with the story of a recent ex. He gave her half of his attention, staring blankly between bites, but didn't even bother with the comforting nods and smiles most disinterested people would have faked for social propriety's sake.

Some of their coworkers were drinking, but they weren't drunk enough to be foolish yet. Levi, himself, had a fake ID - every good music fiend did. He just wasn't sure these were the kinds of people he wanted to drink around just yet.

"Are you drinking?" He asked, of a sudden, leaning in to Lumiere's space so he could speak to her below the drum beat of a cheesy bar song. It was a question without predetermined judgment. Just curiosity.

Levi's only response to eating entirely off the dessert menu was to raise his fork in a mini solute and then stuff another large mouthful of cake into his mouth. Everyone always had something to say about his diet, but sugar was fuel for the brain - and it was delicious.

"Probably not, they generally don't accept no for an answer, especially once they've already started" he admitted with a small quirk of his lips as he threw a skeptical glance at their mingling coworkers. As she bumped his shoulder and leaned into him, he threw his arm across the back of her chair casually, but the gaze that drifted across her bared skin before settling on the menu didn't go entirely unnoticed. One of the girls chatting near them watched him as he watched Lumi, escaping his notice but undoubtedly sparking some form of rumor that would spread like wildfire. Fortunately, reputations and hearsay did little to phase the antisocial twenty-something and he never let the fear of gossip determine his night.

"Oh, I know just the thing."

Abandoning their scan of the menu, Levi leaned back in his chair a bit and waved his free hand at the waitress winding through the tables of guests in various states of inebriation. She probably didn't much appreciate being flagged down in the middle of her routine, but Levi didn't appreciate waiting, either.

"Two old-fashioneds, please." The please was tacked on almost as an afterthought and likely not because he felt like being polite, but instead because he recognized politeness simply got things done faster. Whatever the waitress thought of his propriety didn't seem to phase her much, as she instantly asked to see their IDs. Though he emitted his best, most annoyed sigh, he fished in his back pocket for his wallet and set it on the table. In moments, he managed to open it with one hand, then slid the fake toward her. It passed her inspection, as she handed it back with little more than a once-over, but extended her hand for Lumi's as well.

The waitress seemed content with both their IDs and wandered off to turn the order in to the bartender, letting Levi's attention slip back to the blunette at his side. He didn't noticed her trailing eyes, having been too busy studying the waitress for any sign that she didn't believe them. He knew her job though - she was too busy to start picking fights with any young twenty something that rolled through the door. With several other people drinking at the table already, it was clear they weren't the average run of the mill teenage goof-offs.

"I doubt it. I might let you win, though." The smug smirk on his lips didn't falter as he glanced at her eyes, showing how confident he was in his own skills. He wasn't as dedicated to his games as he had once been since he had to balance his time between work, the negaverse and music festivals here and there, but there was hardly a day that he didn't sit down for a few hours to indulge himself. He leaned forward as she offered the spoonful of gelato, not bothering to take the spoon from her. The sweet, cold mix hit his tongue and he smiled around it, nodding with approval even with a full mouth.

"Pretty good for a place like this."

Yet he was cut off as the waitress returned with their glasses. He pulled his arm from behind Lumiere, brushing her exposed shoulders slightly as he did. The touch of skin on skin had been accidental and, though a shiver rushed down his spine, he managed to conceal it with his usual flippant nature. Instead he grabbed the glasses from the woman so she could tend to something else, and set one down in front of each of them. His arm returned to its position across the back of her chair and he leaned over, pointing at the side of the glass for Lumiere to see.

"They start with a sugar cube, then dissolve it and coat the sides. Its whiskey, though, so don't just gulp it down." With her size, he assumed one glass would be all she needed to feel the buzz - and all she'd want, given her general careful calorie counts that she didn't have to voice for him to notice. He picked up his glass and held it aloft in salute to her before he took a careful sip. "My favorite."

Levi didn't miss the subtle way she traced a finger along her neck, smirking lightly to himself. For his part, he simply relaxed back in the chair, slumping a little and letting his long legs splay comfortably under the table. It was an undeniably 'man pose, an aloof comfort only accomplished by someone who gave literally no ******** about who was watching.

"I don't mind the fruity girl drinks, it's only that I'd rather serve purpose over taste if I'm going to bother drinking at all." He brought his cup to his lips and took another sip, letting his eyes half lid as he relished the sweet burn of it. As the people around him started to get rowdier and rowdier, his interactions with them grew more and more minimal. Even direct interactions were ignored, passed off with a supposed inability to hear anyone.

It was only as Lumiere leaned over and asked him if he wanted to dip out after their whiskey that his face brightened. Though he never gave an outright sign of being overly pleased with anything, the corners of his lips quirked. He took a larger sip of his whiskey, hissing a little as the heat erupted down the back of his throat. Worth it.

"Yes," he managed, once he could speak again, swilling the remainder of his whiskey around in his glass so that it could soak up any remnants of sugar clinging to the glass. He did lean in a little so he could speak to her again, abandoning his casual sprawl in the chair. "I'd rather not stick around to listen to their drunken declarations, really." His gaze flickered to a girl already midhug and giggle, showing the first signs of drunken girl syndrome.

"There's a video game bar not far from here, actually."