LEVI turned around with a scowl when he heard the doorbell ring. He been trying extremely hard to focus on writing his essay, and every sound seemed to drag him out of the world of physics and into the reality that was the suffocating summer heat. Additionally, he hadn't had his morning coffee yet, which wasn't doing wonders for his mood.

He made a mental note to buy earplugs, or perhaps just switch off the doorbell, and turned back to what he'd been doing-- trying to sort out the mess that his theory on the Higgs particle was in.

The bell rang again, and Levi swore. It was a string of foul swearwords that he'd picked up from his classmates at Highcrest High, accented with a few choice terms of Lex's, and most mothers would've washed his mouth with soap if they'd heard him. But Levi didn't have a mother-- well, not a real one; he had Lex of course. But he didn't really count.

The downside of having no mother, however, was that there was no-one else who was willing to answer the doorbell.

After a moment's pause the doorbell rang obnoxiously a third time, and Levi offered his essay an exasperated look before moving to the hallway of the small apartment.

"I'M COMING!" he hollered as the bell screeched out a fourth time, and he opened the door with a wild swing, his earlier good mood completely ruined.

His jaw dropped slightly when he saw an young lady standing on his doorstep. He opened his mouth to say something, but had no words at hand.

"I-I think you have the wrong address," he stuttered after a few seconds' silence. She arched an eyebrow, highlighting her pale blue eyes, and he instantly recognized Lily, a classmate of his; her immaculate posture and confidence had given her away.

Definitely the wrong address.

"What makes you think that, Levi?" she asked.

"Well... it's just that I... I never really get company," Levi smiled sheepishly, scratching his neck. It occurred to him that he hadn't bothered to change out of his pyjamas yet, and was standing in front of his unexpected guest in his Spiderman-pyjamas, his wild brown hair covered by a hoodie with a Spiderman-mask.

"I'm in your class," she introduced herself politely, "Lily Robinson, I don't know if you remember me? I thought I'd acquaint myself with you, seeing as how we're doing our Chemistry project together."

"We are?" Levi answered, his brain not functioning fast enough to come up with a reason why he wouldn't know this. He'd been assigned to do his Chem project with Jamie, right? He would've remembered being assigned to the project with his secret crush. Damn, he should've had that coffee, his mind was working at the speed of a snail.

"Mind if I come in?" Lily enquired.

"Oh!" Levi startled back to reality, some of his Lex's teachings on etiquette finally penetrating through to him, "right, of course! Do come in, I apologize for my behaviour, I'm a bit..."

"Scatterbrained?" she guessed with a smile.

For a moment Levi couldn't help but stare-- Lily's smile was so perfect, he seemed to drown in it. His whole brain froze up for a moment as he realized that his secret crush was standing in front of him. And she was asking him whether she could come in. Oh right-- she'd asked him whether she could come in. Perhaps it would be polite to answer.

"Scatterbrained is a good word for it," he muttered, turning around to enter the house. He quickly bulldozed all the loose papers of his essay off the couch and onto the coffee table, while Lily nodded in approval as she took in the apartment.

"This place is pretty neat," she noted, "do you live here alone?"

"Not quite," Levi answered, his gaze shooting to the bowl of cat food standing next to the kitchen door, "there's Lex -- and Isabel, Bucky and Captain America too."

"Ahhh, you're a fan of superheroes?" she enquired, smirking at Levi.

He saw her eyeing the Spiderman-mask on his pyjamas, and he quickly pulled down the hood, leaving his hair standing slightly on end.

"Umm, yeah. Was it that obvious?" he enquired, and Lily chuckled.

"Just a little bit."

There was a pause.

"Would you like some tea?" Levi enquired, starting into action, "I think we have some in the kitchen..."

"Green tea if you have, please," she smiled, and Levi nodded.

"On it, m'lady. Feel free to make yourself at home."

He dashed to the kitchen as Lily seated herself on the couch, and switched on the kettle. He had no idea how much longer he'd be able to last without caffeine, so while he made some tea for Lily he made himself a cup of cheap coffee.

"How would you like your tea, m'lady?" he enquired, raising his voice slightly so she could hear him in the living room. Not that the kitchen was particularly far away - Lex and Levi's apartment was on the small side - but there was still a wall in between them, albeit with a doorway.

"Oh, just add a teaspoon of honey, that'll be fine. And a squirt of lemon, if you have any."

Levi raised an eyebrow, pouring a little bit of the lemon juice --which Lex always had ready in the fridge in case Madame visited-- into the tall tea glass. Then he turned around to finish his coffee on the other countertop, and upon taking a spoon out of the drawer he hesitated. Did they have any honey?

An expression of annoyance dashed across his face and, deep in thought, he opened all the drawers and cupboards. No, no honey. Oh well, she'd have to do without.

Levi walked back into the living room with a mug in each hand, gently handing one to Lily, who accepted it with a warm nod.

"Lemon?" she enquired, and he nodded.

"Honey?"

Levi bit his lip.

"We don't have any."

Lily pursed her lips in a short flash of disapproval, before shaking her head.

"I suppose I can't blame you, I didn't exactly give you a fair warning ahead. But if we're going to be meeting up here do discuss our project more often, maybe I should bring my own honey."

"About that... I don't remember being assigned to the Chemistry project with you," Levi pointed out, "I mean, not that I mind, but... I'm afraid you're mistaken. I was teamed up with Jamie."

"Actually, you're right," Lily nodded, "you were originally teamed up with Jamie, and I was with Neall. Except Neall really wanted to be with Jamie, and I offered to switch places with Jamie for him. I hope you don't mind."

Levi shook his head slowly, still struggling to process the fact that Lily Robinson was sitting on the couch in front of him.

"No, I don't mind at all," he answered.

Why would Jamie and Neall want to be teamed up together? I thought they preferred being separate... wait a minute, did they do this for me?

Levi shook his head slightly more firmly.

It's too early for this kind of stuff.

Levi took a small sip of his coffee, wincing as he remembered that'd he'd used the cheap instant coffee-- he hadn't had the time to switch on the coffee machine for some of the good stuff. He was almost tempted to tip the contents of his Hawkeye mug down the drain, but he knew that having some caffeine in his system would improve his thinking processes by a milestone, so he kept drinking.

There was a momentary impasse before Lily echoed his gesture, taking a sip of her own beverage.

"So," she enquired, "what's our topic?"

"Ohh.. uhmm... Jamie and I hadn't planned anything yet," Levi admitted, "we were only assigned the project yesterday, so we were still brainstorming a bit."

Lily nodded in understanding.

"Did you have any ideas?" Levi enquired.

"Not yet," Lily shrugged, "but that'll come."

They slowly drank their hot beverages in silence, each watching the other with the awkward nervosity that can exist only between two people that aren't certain whether their feelings for one another are mutual.

"So... when do we start?" Lily enquired, breaking the silence.

"Umm... well, I have to finish my physics essay today, so that's not ideal," Levi gestured vaguely to the stack of papers littered on the coffee table to reinforce his statement, "how does Wednesday sound?"

"That sounds great," Lily answered with a smile.

"Great, Wednesday it is," Levi reflected her warm smile, although he couldn't help but feel that his attempt wasn't half as dazzling as hers.

Lily put down her empty glass as she stood up, dusting off her jeans.

"Well, I'll be going then. I wouldn't want to get in the way of your essay," she smirked slightly to show that she wasn't offended, and her icy blue eyes met his sharp green ones. Levi marvelled at how colours that were technically cold could radiate such warmth, before shaking off the thought and focusing on their conversation-- or more specifically, ending it properly.

"It was great having you here, even if it wasn't long," he answered as he stood up, "I um... I hope I'll see you around soon?"

"Wednesday," Lily reminded him gently.

"Right, of course," Levi closed his eyes as he cringed as his social clumsiness.

Lily chuckled, heading towards the door, and Levi followed her.

"Oh, and I live on 117, with my aunt Hayley," she smiled, "it's just across the hallway, but here's my phone number-- we can arrange a place to meet up and discuss the project."

She slipped a small piece of paper into his hands, and was gone.

Levi unfolded the paper slowly, his eyes staring at the phone number as if he couldn't believe it was there.

He flipped it around, spotting a few words written in the curly handwriting he knew so well it was almost ridiculous.

I can't wait to work on this project with you <3

Levi shook his head with a smile.

At that moment Lex walked in, tossing the house keys onto the coffee table. Bucky and Captain were close on his heels, nipping each others' ears as they chased one another into the apartment.

"I saw Lily on the way up," Lex stated, following the two puppies with his eyes, "was she here to talk about that Chem project?"

"Yes, she-- wait a minute, how do you know she's doing the Chemistry project with me? I told you I was teamed up with Jamie!"

"Buchanan, please leave Captain in one piece," Lex requested, breaking up the playful dogfight while Isabel II watched from her spot on top of the cupboard, her gaze radiating disgust at anything that wasn't feline.

"Lex!" Levi demanded.

"What is it, Levi?" Lex enquired, moving to switch on the coffee machine, "it's lovely weather, isn't it?"

"You're changing the topic," Levi remarked sourly, "and no, it's horrible weather. Too hot to move."

"You just drank cheap coffee, didn't you?" Lex asked with a bemused smirk, "yes, yes you did. No wonder you're so moody."

"Shut up," Levi countered, but his words held no real anger.

"So, this Lily girl..." Lex began cheekily, and Levi let out a groan.

"She doesn't like me dad, we're just working on this project together, that's all."

There was the sound of something fragile shattering into millions of pieces, and Levi raised his eyebrows in concern.

"Lex, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Lex answered, and Levi could hear him scraping the remnants of whatever he'd shattered together, "you just... surprised me, that's all."

"What did I say?" Levi frowned.

"Nothing, nothing," Lex reassured him, "how was soccer practice?"

"That was yesterday."

"I know that, I forgot to ask yesterday."

"It was great dad, as always."

Something else shattered.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Levi enquired, getting up from his desk to walk to the kitchen.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine," Lex answered quickly, ditching the shards into a plastic bag, "just a bit shaky, that's all."

"Maybe you should go lie down a bit," Levi suggested with a frown.

"No, it's fine," Lex replied, putting the back of shards next to the bin, "really, don't worry about it. You should get your physics project done."

Levi nodded slowly, not entirely convinced, but he walked back to his physics project, uncapping his pen and staring at the equations on the page.

He shoved the papers aside, grabbing a clean sheet and putting his pen to the paper.

Chemistry Project

Levi London & Lily Robinson

He smiled slightly to himself.

This was going to be his favourite project yet.

THE END

.

.

TADAAAA! I actually finished it. A standalone book. Wow. I did something.

Special thanks to Kayra, RangerStark, ang, laetitiaswan, Valkyrie, Dinosaut and, well, everyone who took a little time out of their day to read this. I'm not going to try to mention everyone, because otherwise people are going to feel left out if I forget anyone (and I'm a forgetful person XD) but thank you so much for sticking with me all this way! It's really appreciated.

.

.

For those of you like me, who can't handle loose ends, I have this (if you have any ones I'm missing that you'd like tied up, let me know in the comments and perhaps I can add them!):

TYING UP THE LOOSE ENDS

-Red and Jordan got married two years later

-Edith was fired from the BRSS, but managed to get a job as an actor and earned a fortune after starring in a big-screen movie. Her husband Tim quit the BRSS and stayed home to spend more time with his son, getting a part-time job as a teacher.

-Marshall was promoted to director of the BRSS five years after Lex's release, fell in love with his secretary Jane and married her not much later.

-Bucky and Cap were good dogs.

-Isabel II was the most sarcastic cat in the history of both sarcasm and felines, rivalled only by Lex himself.

-Levi's Chem project with Lily led to a close friendship between the two, and eventually romance.

-Lex got a job as freelance hacker which was able to support him until Marshall became director of BRSS, at which stage Marshall hired him as the BRSS's official Keysmith (aka hacker and thief extraordinaire).

-Lex and Levi lived happily ever after in their apartment

-THE END-