Calendar -DISCONTINUED - spottyflake - Shingeki no Kyojin (2024)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Chapter Text

There's something that relaxes Eren about being being in the short, black haired man's room while he waits for him to finish showering. When he's done, they can go to the bar downtown, the same one they met at only months ago on Eren's birthday, called Survey.

After some encouragement for Levi to take his time, Eren reckons he has about five minutes to ransack the bedroom of all the memories Levi has hidden somewhere. They have to be somewhere. Because if not, the double bed, the oak colored desk of drawers and the lack of possessions in general would drive a person crazy. Then again, Levi is a quirky man; he's probably considered crazy already.

The surface of the drawers have nothing on them, except for towels that wouldn't fit inside and had no other place to sit until needed, since Levi's studio apartment didn't have an airing cupboard. There's nothing on the gleaming, white windowsill either, the one that overlooks their rural city with its ancient, sandstone buildings, unlike this one.

Levi had once told him he considered himself lucky for getting a house that didn't crumble when he cleaned it. Yes, Levi cleans the exterior walls of the entire three storey flat, erected in the late 90's, using a ladder or his own climbing skills. Somehow, the landlord doesn't seem to mind. Well, the man does clean the building for free, although he also grumbles about the state of the place.

Now, there's only the double bed with it's black and white design, and Eren wonders if Levi followed the adolescent ritual of hiding personal things under the mattress. Eren can recall those painful teenage years and takes it all with a large pinch of salt. Yeah. They hadn't exactly been "the best years of his life". But right now, there are memories, keepsakes, that are at utmost importance, not his, of course.

Just as he lifts up one side of the mattress to look underneath, a flash of color catches his eye from beneath Levi's pillow. Bingo. He drops the mattress in favor of retrieving what seems to be a calendar, with professional pictures of landscapes from around the world plastered all over it.

However, in neat, sharpie-black writing beneath the words "Calendar 2014" on the front cover alongside a beautiful blue lake, its says "Progress Report".

Curious, Eren flips to the first month, January. There is nothing marked in the dated boxes, but there's a lovely picture of Buckingham Palace after top of the page. He flips onto February, but there's still nothing in Levi's writing, and to be honest he doesn't care to look at the Pyramids right now.

But when he turns to March, his birth month, and right at the very end where it says March 30th; there's a tidily written sentence in ballpoint pen.

"The day I met Eren Jaeger is the day I fell in love for the first time."

Chapter 2: March 30th

Chapter Text

Even though Levi can hold his drink incredibly well, he doesn't go to bars often.

"Levi! Let me buy you a drink!" His tall, blonde and boisterous friend calls out to him from the bar counter with a huge, dorky grin.

The hulk of a man is probably the reason for his lack of visitation to bars.

The black haired man scoffs at him. "Tch, no."

Levi sits at his table, the one that's been abandoned by his friends that are now sitting at the counter, including Erwin, nursing his rum and co*ke. It's his rum and co*ke, since he bought it; and his pride likes that sense of possession. Erwin pouts back at him, which doesn't suit his Captain America-like face at all. In fact, it makes him look pretty damn dumb. Which in turn, makes Levi look dumb, seeing as he's actually friends with this idiot.

And not only that, they actually live together. Platonically. Because Levi kind of needs to freeload off of Erwin, seeing as he's piss poor. But he got a job recently as a cashier, so he'll use his own damn money, f*ck you very much.

Sure, Levi might be beneath Erwin, since the man's the assistant manager of their shop and he’s simply a mere cashier, but he's got an income now; and it's enough to buy him his own drinks. Although he could've had a better income if Erwin hadn't been so bloody good at his job. In fact, he could've gotten Erwin's job, if Erwin himself hadn't been "oh so perfect" at it. Levi is never asking for a promotion ever again.

No-one else in the crowded pub seems to be affected by his sour mood. Instead, they're choosing to find happiness in the sour liquids they have in their glasses. If anything, it's actually a lively night in the overheated pub, Survey; there's cheerful pop music playing from the flat screen T.V on the wall and it seems as though it's somebody's birthday, seeing as people keep shrieking "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAN!" And there's lots of yelping, which follows the slaps on the back of a brown haired man, who chases after someone laughing at the top of their lungs, as though slapping the living daylights out of someone's back is the funniest thing in the world.

Ah yes: birthday bumps. In Glasgow, they had a similar sign of affection. If you were head-butted by friends on greeting, it was classed as a "Glasgow kiss". Or, you could ask an ignorant soul if they fancied a kiss, and you head-butted them; then they knew that you came from Glasgow and weren't to be f*cked with.

Levi had done that a couple of times. It had been worth the bruise on his head and very much worth the look on those perverts' faces as they scrambled away down the alley. Good times, good times. Thank f*ck he doesn't live there anymore. Trost, a good number of miles away and far north of Glasgow, is a better place for him to be in.

He decides to go to the bar counter, just to avoid having Erwin shout across the room at him again, because even if it isn't embarrassing for Levi, it's just annoying, and the whole place is loud enough as it is. He watches the brown haired man from his bar-stool, who seems to be twenty one, if that can be guessed from the huge ass balloon at the man's table.

The man's back is facing him, and he's chasing an obnoxious, sandy haired man, shouting after him in a very Northern accent "I'LL f*ckING CUT YER BALLS OFF, YOU SLIMY PEICE OF sh*t!" Well. If Levi can hear him over the racket, the man certainly has a set of lungs on him. And from his accent, that means he's from around here. Not to mention eloquent. Levi likes him already.

Then the song changes to something by Fitz and the Tantrums, and suddenly an entire table stops moving upon hearing the music. Even the brown haired man and his frenemy stop in their tracks.

They rush out, as though the fast-forward button has just been pressed after the pause, and they go into the middle of the room to dance. There has to be around twenty of them, all about the age of twenty one or so. Either this guy's birthday is a huge deal to them, or they don't have school tomorrow. Seeing as it's a Sunday night, it's probably the first.

For some reason, he's still watching the brown haired man, still looking at his back and he begins to wonder why until his focus turns around and Levi can see his face.

And what a face.

Levi inhales, and it's as though there's a rising fizz in his gut, one that doesn't quite feel like nausea but it still sets him on edge.

Like, damn, what a face.

It's heart shaped, tanned, clear skinned and his hair's in a middle parting, with chocolate brown threads that fall over his forehead. He's wearing a blue football shirt and jeans too. Levi wants to get closer, because this kid's eyes are as big as f*ck, but he can't make out the colour of them. It's too dark, and he's too far away for Levi to ogle him properly.

So he does. He leaves a coaster on top of his drink, the universal sign for "don't f*cking touch it", and he makes his way to the middle of the dance floor, closer to the man that's got his attention, not hearing his friends, Erwin, Hanji and Mike, cheering loudly behind him. He squeezes past sweaty bodies, because even though Levi is an intimidating person-he's fully aware of that-he's also shortand therefore not that noticeable in crowds. He is definitely all too aware of that.

Usually, when Levi is in the mood to find a partner, he picks out possible candidates from the crowd, then figures out if they're worth the trouble of talking to or not. He usually spends too long considering his choices and they wind up leaving before he gets a chance to talk to them.

Yeah, that doesn't seem to be the case tonight.

The song changes and the man he's seeking out stops dancing. His fringe is wet from excursion, his cheeks and forehead are red from dancing, and Levi can now see that his eyes are green, with a gleam of perfect, fearsome beauty that burns brighter when he smiles. Within the thrum of the crowd, Levi stares at him, he heart swells, and it feels like everything besides them has gone still. Now, he's only an arm’s length away from the man.

A sense of giddiness takes over Levi, just as the man makes a move to leave, to go and sit down at the table where his friends are, and Levi grabs onto his arm with a look of undiluted hope. The feeling of skin on skin sends Levi into a trance, leaving him only able to feel the other man’s heat.

The man looks back at him, with thick eyebrows frowning at the pressure of the firm grasp, clearly a little pissed off. But when he takes a look at Levi's face, he eases up and smiles broadly; about to politely greet the strange, black haired man, but Levi speaks first.

"You have such soft, fluffy hair. I just want to run my hands through it." Levi tells him in all seriousness, still holding onto his arm, while wistfully looking up at his hair. He stutters a breath.

Levi tilts his head, scanning the man's face. "What's your name?"

"Uh..." He's pretty damn cute when he's confused, and Levi likes that a lot. "Eren...Jaeger..? Do I, uh, know you from somewhere?"

Levi shakes his head, licking his lips, leaning closer, repeating the name in his head. Eren. Eren Jaeger. It's got a ring to it.

"No, you probably don't. I just wanted to talk to you. Is that alright?"

Eren's eyes widen. "Oh, I-I see, um…"

He glances back to the table where his friends are playing shot games and gesturing for him to come over when they see him looking over at them. He looks back at Levi with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, my friends are waiting for me. Maybe another time?"

Levi nods eagerly and frees Eren's arm. Behind Eren, he sees an Oriental, black haired woman narrowing her eyes at him at Eren's table, a glare of which he returns. The f*ck is her problem? He's just trying to get laid, here. Maybe not even that. He likes this kid; he's sweet, and his attitude is endearing. He wouldn't mind asking him out, but the fizzing feeling is making it hard for him to breath, not to mention the warm air and the lack of outside's oxygen.

"Another time, then, when I find you here again."

Eren flashes him another grin before jogging over to the table that cheers at his arrival, a grin that leaves Levi breathless, making him stare at his back until the crowd covers Levi's view.

When, not if.

Because he will find him.

He knows his name now, so there's no way Eren will be out of Levi’s reach. When you learn someone's name, you're automatically their friend, right? With a pleased sigh, he goes back to the counter, where his glass is untouched. He sits down, takes it off, then has a sip of his drink before he notices his friends are staring at him in a row, like the weirdoes they are.

"What?" he growls at their perplexed and slightly horrified expressions.

Hanji, a man with long, dark brown hair in a ponytail and glasses, raises his eyebrow at him, apparently shocked. "What was that, Levi?"

"What was what?"

"Your interaction with that boy!" He cries out in a high tone. Hanji's from Ireland and it shows in his accent. He gulps down half his beer before explaining. There’s also the love of alcohol that explains his origin.

"You were so awkward, invading his personal space like that! The poor guy looked as though he thought you were going to devour him, with the way you were leering at him like that!"

Beside him, Erwin nods in a way that makes it clear he's had one over the eight. "It's why he didn't get the promotion he wanted."

Hanji spins round in the barstool to face Levi. "Say what?! You never told me you wanted a promotion, Levi!"

Levi rolls his eyes. "That's because I'm supposed to go to the boss when I want a promotion, not you."

"He lacks social skills," Erwin continued. "He's not good with customers, he makes little kids cower beneath the counter with the way he glares at them, and when he's on shift, nobody dares to pinch anythin' off the shelves. Ain't that right, Levi?"

Levi doesn't say anything and he glowers at Erwin instead, the man who has the job that Levi wanted and needed, much more than this idiot with too much money jingling in his pockets.

"He was pretty cute though, that boy." Hanji looks over to the table where Eren is skilfully making it through a round of shots without retching or gagging.

"You've probably scared him off though, typical." Erwin mumbles.

"Yeah," Levi lets one corner of his mouth turn upwards as he looks at Eren through hooded lids, ignoring Erwin. "He's a keeper, that one."

And Levi will be the one keeping him, because he knows Eren will be worth the chase.

Later on when Levi's at home, or Erwin's home, at least, he finds Erwin's new, unused calendar that's just sitting around on the glossy coffee table in the living room. And while lying on the black, leather couch; he recalls the bubbling feeling inside him when he saw Eren's face, when he heard the man's low and thick, Scottish accent and when he finally saw his green eyes up close. Christ, he even touched the angel’s arm!

It could very well just be a simple crush, but the thing is, is that Levi's never had such an intense reaction to seeing someone, ever. So as he writes a sentence in ballpoint pen on the dated box, he knows full well that it makes perfect sense to mark down such an event. And it deserves to be written as poetically, and romantically, as the event happened:

"The day I met Eren Jaeger is the day I fell in love for the first time."

Chapter 3: April 2nd

Chapter Text

He hasn’t quite lost hope yet, but after a few days that lack Eren Jaeger and his green eyed goodness, Levi is beginning to feel a little disheartened. With a heavy sigh, he leaves the somber clinic and walks out into the cobble paved street. His GP’s obnoxious words ring through his head.

“You need to eat more, Levi; it might be the reason for your bouts of insomnia.”

What a great way to spend a day off of work, huh? Because clinics and doctors are so much fun to be around.

Usually, Levi is lucky if he manages to get at least two or three hours of sleep, and that of course has absolutely nothing to do with his diet, which mostly consists of tea and canned food.

He’ll have a bowl of rice every now and then. Erwin usually eats out, leaving him in the apartment alone with a boiling pan of the white stuff since he refuses to have food be bought for him, unless it’s canned. Or curry. He can never say no to a good curry. Hanji knows this, and Levi and Erwin’s crazy neighbor abuses this fact by bringing a steaming bowl of it over almost every night.

His insomnia and eating habits have nothing in common whatsoever, so he has no idea what made his GP think that one might cause the other. It’s complete bullsh*t. The GP had been Erwin’s idea, after finding Levi loitering with his gang in the streets of Glasgow in early February.

To think he’d been forced into living with that idiot only three months ago.

Erwin had lived in Glasgow too.

In fact, he had lived one street away from Levi.

The life expectancy differentiates at around twenty years between the two streets. And they hadn’t lived even five minutes away from each other.

That means that Erwin was expected to live until he was at least seventy four years old, when he would die a peaceful death in his sleep. On the other hand, Levi was only likely to make it to fifty four, and most likely due to the filthy state of the houses in Calton.

They’re both in Trost now, though, so that changes things up a bit.

However, they both have very different backgrounds, different heights and different values, so according to political science; they’ll end up in their own stereotyped lifestyle, sooner or later.

To begin with, Erwin had only gotten him a GP because his health was bad enough that even Levi knew it was a problem that had to be solved. He couldn’t present himself for a job with a rash on his back, fungus on his toes and an ear infection, now, could he? Then the doctor started pressuring him for his daily habits, which were apparently bad habits.

So what if he’s a bit lax in his diet? It’s what he’s used to. He’s been living like a hobo for years, so it f*cking takes time to get accustomed to “social norms”, eating properly, or whatever.

He still sleeps with a blunt kitchen knife beside his head, and Erwin lets him, so long as he doesn’t tear apart the couch in his sleep. Yeah. That’s right Erwin. Make it all about yourself, as usual. The same way he made Levi’s promotion all about him and his own amazing skills. The bastard had even told him afterwards that it was so he could “support the both of them”.

Erwin, Mr. “I’m such a bloody hero” wouldn’t f*cking need to support them both if he’d kept his nose out of Levi’s goddamn business.

Levi is so busy stewing over Erwin and his selfishness that he almost misses the familiar head of brown hair that bobs past him down the street.

When he properly notices Eren, a warm sensation engulfs his insides, as though the giddiness is literally bubbling away inside him, and Levi can practically feel his eyes dilating.

For once in his life he actually feels a little overdressed. Levi is wearing a second hand t-shirt, dark blue jeans and white trainers, but even that’s better than Eren’s getup, which entails joggers with holes in them and an old polo shirt. Eren slouches as he walks, like most people his age usually do, so thankfully, he doesn’t see Levi face-plant into a lamppost as he stares after the green eyed beauty that has captured his heart.

Unfortunately for Levi, other people have noticed, but he doesn’t really care. He attempts to hide behind the lamppost he’s just walked into, in an attempt to watch Eren from afar, with his eyes glinting in excitement.

Is this a dream? Or is it some kind of joke?

Nah, April fool’s was yesterday.

Only the biggest idiot would play a prank after midnight.

Since Eren’s moving away from him, Levi has no choice but to tail him, and hide in alley entrances and behind an odd old woman or two. He can’t possibly talk to Eren. He's too nervous. He can't just talk to him, not after he made an idiot of himself last time. Hanji had reprimanded him, telling him that he’d definitely made Eren uncomfortable by being too close to him and using such a creepy chat up line.

Wait, chat up line?

No, he was just being honest. Eren’s hair looked really fluffy, he wanted to touch it, and so he told him just that. According to Hanji, you just don’t tell people things like that.

Through a throng of bustling people with shopping bags, briefcases and umbrellas (it is Scotland; no matter what stereotype there is, when there’s grey clouds in the sky, you just don’t take chances, not with this country) Levi soldiers one with his eyes trained on Eren’s back, where he can just make out the slightest hint of a sweat stain alongside the small of his back.

From the corner of his eye, Levi sees an Italian looking man with freckles standing beside him, and he eyes Levi warily as he covers the microphone on his smart-phone with a cupped hand.

“I think there’s a stalker following Eren.” The man’s brown eyes widen as he notices Levi looking at him. “He’s got black hair and he’s pretty short, think you can help me out? Send back-up in case he tries something? Thanks Jean.”

There’s someone following Eren?

A stalker?

Levi will kill them before they can take their mid-afternoon sh*t.

He walks directly over to Eren, grabbing his arm as he glares back at the freckled man who becomes incredibly flustered and worried, hurriedly speaking into his phone as he stares after him.

“Eren. We should go and get something to drink.”

He pulls Eren by the shoulder towards the nearest coffee shop, looking over his shoulder for the stalker. f*ck that f*cker. There’s no way he’s letting some skan*y, sh*tfaced pervert chase after an innocent guy like Eren. The younger man yelps under his grip as they make their way through the door.

“What the f*ck?! Let GO of me! Oh my-”

Eren turns to face Levi. Somehow, Eren has this amazing ability to furrow his eyebrows and still have his turquoise eyes wide open at the same time.

“You-you’re that dude from the other night at the bar, how did you even-”

There’s a noise emitting from Eren’s pocket, probably his phone, maybe a tracking device implanted by that weird freckled guy, but Levi doesn’t let him go until they’re both safe inside the shop. Eren digs inside his pocket, confusedly glimpsing at Levi while shifting from foot to foot, lingering beside the counter that Levi's now leaning on, and answers the call with an accent as strong as Levi remembers it from Sunday night.

“Hey, Marco? Yeah, I’m fine; I’m with this dude I know from… a couple of nights ago… Uh huh. No, I don’t think he’s, um, well he could be…”

Eren looks worriedly over to Levi with a hint of fear in his eyes. He must be worried about the stalker.

“But I think he should be alright. Yeah, I’ll let you know. Tell Mikasa she doesn’t need to have you guys keeping tabs on me. Sheesh, it was f*cking one time you guys!”

Eren hangs up aggressively, which is pretty difficult to do with a touch-screen phone. It’s quite impressive, really. He throws up his hands as he questions Levi.

“What the f*ck?” He repeats as angrily as before. “Why’d you drag me into a shop? And by the way, I still have no idea who the hell you are-”

“There was a stalker chasing your heels, so I thought I might do you a favour and get you someplace safe. Or is that a bad thing to do? If so, I’m sorry for not providing you with a hot stalker date.”

Eren doesn’t reply, and looks outside guiltily. A woman behind the black, speckled counter asks them if they’d like to buy something, but Levi only indicates that he needs a minute and he guides Eren to a table with a hand to his shoulder, making Eren tense up under his touch.

They sit down at a clothed table in the quiet shop, and the same woman as before walks over to them, asking if they’d like a menu and this time Levi shoos her away with a hand gesture. She turns away with a huff (what a bad retail-service attitude) and Levi focuses on Eren with a blush tinting his cheeks.

“So why were you dancing to that one song on Sunday night? Everyone at your table was, and I think that that’s more than just a coincidence.”

It’s been bugging him, so it feels good to ask.

Levi sits as far away from the table on his chair as he possibly can, knowing that if he sits too close again, he’ll make Eren uncomfortable. Oh, and Hanji also mentioned the staring, which was also a little intimidating, apparently, so Levi stares down at the table.

The table is not that interesting, with all it’s plain whiteness of the tablecloth, whereas Eren’s entire being is colourful enough to keep him entertained for hours. Not that he’d know that it could keep him entertained for that long, seeing as he’s only seen his face for less than fifteen minutes in total, including the time at the bar. But then again, he does think about his face a lot…

Eren co*cks his head to one side, as though he doesn’t understand the question, but he answers it anyway.

“Um, that was our high school jam… We, like, listened to it on the last day and it cheered us up after crying all day. Not that I was. Crying, I mean. The girls were though. And Jean was, too. He’s a total cry-baby. So… Yeah. What’s your-”

“So you’re at college now? University?”

Eren pauses before answering. “No… I’m actually a janitor; I'm on my way home from work, actually. I think I missed my bus, though, so I'm hoping Marco’ll give me a lift back.”

Levi looks up at him in surprise at the new fact, then sighs in disappointment.

“Well, I’d offer you a lift back to your house, but I don’t have a car. Or a driver’s license. Those things are so bloody expensive, you know that? I’m skint, and a pretty penny is hard to come by, especially since I’m only working as a cashier at the Pound Saver shop, down the road from here. You know the one; it’s opposite the pub we met at. I mean, I probably would have been less broke if I’d gotten the promotion I wanted, but you know. Life sucks, and so on. Are you from Trost? You sound like you’re from Trost. Everyone has the accent around these parts, and then you just hear me and all my Glaswegian glory.”

Levi rolls his eyes as he mocks his own background that he hates with a passion, and hopes it shows. Because this is something that Eren needs to know, he can feel it.

Eren clamps his lips together, biting his lip from the inside and glances down at his lap, because he was texting while Levi was speaking. Multi-tasking. This guy is seriously such a good catch. And if he’s a janitor, he must be good at cleaning, right? Levi likes it when they can clean.

For Levi, seeing Eren had been love at first sight, but today, he can totally understand the concept of falling more in love with a person each day. They just never fail to surprise you.

“I’m… I’m from Trost? No, I’m actually from Buckie… And compared to here, I actually have a really different accent. You’re from Glasgow? That… might explain why you don’t know, there must be less dialects around there... Wait, what were we talking about before?”

He’s from Buckie? Even more surprises are being thrown at Levi. He’s not one for spontaneity, but he loves all these unexpected facts.

Eren shifts in his seat, clearly becoming more confused by the second and the grimace in his expression becomes more prominent.

Levi shrugs his shoulders at Eren‘s question. “I don’t actually remember, but at some point you wanted to know my name, and it’s Levi.”

“Levi…?”

“Yup.”

“...What’s your last name?”

“I don’t know.” He tells Eren indifferently.

He's been using “Levi Smith” on official documents, but he doesn’t actually know what his last name is, and it’s something he’s never really cared to learn. What he would like to learn, however, is who the hell gave him the short gene. And he would also like to learn how he can force them into giving him a taller one.

Eren blinks at him owlishly and remains silent. Behind Eren’s head, Levi can see the brown haired woman sending them dark scowls at the counter, so he motions her over and orders two waters. Jeez, the things he has to do to get people to leave him alone!

At least the water’s free.

Free is good.

Sales are good, but free is just that much better.

That’s always been his motto. When he had gone “shopping” through the markets when he was younger, he paid close attention to that motto. Everything was “free” if he thinks carefully about it.

Before the woman with their drinks can come over to their table, however, Eren checks his phone to find a message. From his sister, he tells Levi with an odd look on his face. Eren shakes his head with a heavy sigh while frowning down at the screen and Levi escorts him to the door, as that seems to be where he’s heading.

The same freckled man as before meets Eren at the door; and as they walk away without saying goodbye. Levi follows them a little, and then realizes he probably shouldn’t be attempting to go with them. Levi can hear Eren talking (it’s kind of difficult not to).

“I swear he was trying to tell me his whole life-story, and I didn’t even know his name. Hell, he doesn’t even know his own name!”

---

Levi really wishes that their first date had gone a bit better, but then again, it hadn’t really been a date, had it? Levi had never officially asked him out, and he’d told Eren that he’d been helping him escape the wandering eyes of a stalker.

And they hadn’t even gotten to drink anything together.

Eren doesn’t like him. He left with his parting words not even being directed towards Levi. And from the sound of it, Levi hadn’t left much of a good impression.

Levi walks back to Erwin’s place after the incident and lays on the couch for a couple of minutes, before picking the calendar up from the coffee table in boredom, still feeling the need to record his encounter with Eren.

He had managed to look over the freckled guy’s shoulder, Marco, was it? And sure enough, he saw Eren’s contact information on his phone, plus a picture, but that had been too small to see it properly, though there was no mistaking those green eyes of Eren’s.

In ballpoint pen, Levi writes inside the dated box of the lame calendar.

He knows he’s not that young, his life’s an utter mess, but even he has some persistence in the things-the people- that are worth the effort.

“The day I got Eren’s number and almost had a date with him; he cheered me up after a crappy clinic appointment.”

Chapter 4: April 26th

Chapter Text

The internet, it seems, deems it completely impossible for two complete strangers to ever fall in love. Or meet. Or even come across each other.

When Levi went to the local library two days ago, where there is free internet, (free is just that much better) he asked the internet: “How did the store clerk and janitor meet?” And there were no results. Or, well there were, but completely unrelated ones. Not even the fan fiction results gave him any ideas. But Levi totally didn’t read those for inspiration. He’s better than that. Or so he likes to think.

He can’t do it. He can’t find Eren, and he can’t find a decent excuse to look him up in the phone book, or go around town looking for him (a tried and failed method. He also got scolded by Hanji for being a stalker), so he had resorted to the internet to find out how the hell a store clerk and a janitor could meet. Coincidently, of course.

Google says they just don’t meet. Google says that love stories must always begin when the two destined lovers are forced together, whether through school, a club, work. A broken elevator. Being neighbours. Things like that. None of those options really work for Levi. He still doesn’t know where Eren works. And he is sure as hell not joining a club.

Levi asked Erwin if he would hire Eren, make him clean the shop so that Levi could linger after work hours and talk to him.

Erwin said no.

Erwin is a bastard.

As a result of his bastard-ness, and what Levi likes to call Karma, Levi has been going on and on about Eren all morning since he woke up. If he feels like sh*t, then Erwin should suffer.

“Eren’s eyes are soooo green.”

“He has the most adorable and f*cking ridiculous accent I’ve ever heard.”

“Eren’s the sexiest twenty one year old I’ve laid my eyes on. Guys in their early twenties are supposed to be cute, not sexy. But he’s cute as well. I‘m not sure how that works, but I’m pretty sure that Eren Jaeger is a number of paradoxes, and the universe has to bend around his being for anything to make sense.”

“He has a two coloured haired frenemy. I bet they’re secretly best friends, but only when they have to be.”

“Eren can multitask. He’s f*cking perfect.”

“His work clothes are a polo shirt and joggers with holes. I attempted to take him out to get something to drink. It almost went well. That‘s the best that any almost-date I‘ve ever been on has gone.” Levi throws an arm over his face to hide the blush crawling onto his cheeks, even though Erwin can’t see him. His mouth twitches into the smallest of smiles.

“Eren has the best vocabulary I’ve ever heard, except mine. We’re totally neck and neck in the language department.”

“He says his high school jam was Fitz and the Tantrums. And that a boy called Jean cried on the last day, and the girls, but he said he didn‘t. I don‘t think I believe him.”

“He looks cute when he’s confused, goes all red and everything. Even the tips of his ears.” Levi can feel the giddiness bouncing around in him again, making him remember his first meeting with Eren and how he fell in love at first sight, something he never believed in at all. Until Eren, that is.

“Eren is a brunette, and brown is now a fully appreciated colour, because I make up for everyone’s lack of enthusiasm for the colour brown. Why don‘t more people like brown. Brown is trees. Brown is chocolate. Brown is Eren‘s hair and eyelashes and eyebrows. He has really bushy eyebrows, but not quite as fluffy as yours, Erwin. Eren‘s hair is fluffy. I haven‘t touched it, but I can tell that it is.”

“He has a sister called Mikasa, she keeps tabs on him. And he has a freckled friend called Marco. I reckon that Marco is part of the mafia, because he looks Italian and I don’t trust Italian men that don’t smoke cigars in public or don‘t speak with the accent. It’s not natural. Eren has an odd taste in friends.”

“Eren Jaeger supports Rangers, and I am okay with that.”

Levi is laying restlessly on his couch -yes, he’s taking over the couch; it‘s now called Levi’s Leather Love Seat, and he‘s the only one that can say it right the first time around- with his head resting on the armrest. He calls out his list of Eren’s Tidbits to Erwin in the kitchen, who‘s sitting at the table eating a bacon roll. He’s trying to ignore Levi but it’s a little hard when Levi is talking so loudly.

Levi doesn’t like bacon, his nose crinkles at the smell wafting into the living room. He probably isn’t going to eat brunch. When it’s eleven in the morning, a meal at that time is called brunch. It is eleven oh two in the morning. The name will still do.

“Eren is a janitor. He cleans, Erwin, he CLEANS. That makes me happy. Why aren’t you happy with me. Erwin. Erwin Smith. Smith. Smithy. Mum. Mother. Mummy.”

“Levi,” Erwin’s deep voice whines back at him, the sound echoing through the kitchen. “Shut uuup.”

Erwin may look big and scary, but in reality; he’s an oversized baby. A man-child. Or rather, the opposite: he’s like the mother that Levi never had. Levi’s man-mother. “Dad” doesn’t quite fit the bill because Erwin nags too much. There’s that, and the fact that he insists on picking Levi up from work like Levi’s some kid at primary school.

“You sound like you’re reading out a report. I seriously don’t understand how you can ramble like a love sick teenager and sound so goddamn serious at the same time.”

Levi lifts his arm off his face, frowning up at the white ceiling. “I’ve never been more serious in my life.” He pauses for a moment. “I’ve only ever been this serious one other time in my life. Maybe two. One of those times being when I told you that I didn’t want to go here with you. I could’ve went myself, even if it were only to find Eren.”

Dishes clatter, and Levi knows that Erwin has haphazardly left his oily dishes to sit and be very unclean in the kitchen sink. Where they will grow mould. If there’s anything he hates most; it’s mould. Erwin’s back hair is also on that list, but he tries not to think about that too much.

“Go do your dishes.” he spits at Erwin.

“It’s your turn to do your dishes.”

“I don’t have any dishes.”

“That might be true, but I can’t be assed cleaning and I know you can. I can see you brimming with your Anticipation To Clean. It makes your hair glow ever so slightly purple. Blue, if you’re outside.”

Levi’s GP has told him that he doesn’t have OCD. However, his cleaning habits are pretty remarkable, so Erwin has devised a new name so that he can make fun of him for it; ATC. And he does make fun of him for it. Far too often.

“I’ll clean them with your tongue. I’m not the one who’s going to be using them again, after all.” he deadpans.

Levi isn’t sure the last time he used a plate, as opposed to a cup for tea or a can of food.

Levi isn’t sure of the last time he ate a decent meal, if ever.

In the end, Levi ended up forgetting Eren’s phone number. He’s only human, things like memory loss happen, but it’s still bad. Because what if Levi is told about Eren’s birthday, and he forgets when it is? He goes to Survey each night, the pub where they met, in the hopes of being like the guy from The Script and his song The Man who Can’t Be Moved, but the sad thing is, is that Levi doesn’t even own a sleeping bag, so he’d have to change the lyrics a fair amount.

“People hand me money, they don’t understand, I might be broke -feel free to give me cash- but right now I’m a very love sick, stalker-ish man.”

One day, Levi is going to have to tell Eren about his parody. He really hopes he remembers to. But first he has to deal with being kicked out the bar each night because he stays too late, each night leaving him more and more depressed, though it‘s not because of the music that isn’t Fitz and the Tantrums or because of the alcohol in his system.

Today though, Levi has to go to work -thank god his shift is at one in the afternoon- and he has the worst headache. His joints are also stiff from having to sleep on a couch for three months and so.

He misses his swivel chair in Calton. He’d read books and had fallen asleep with his clothes still on while sitting on it. That red swivel chair was one of the few things that had given him quiet joy in the slums of his childhood.

So he goes behind the till, wearing his uniform consisting of a t-shirt with the store’s logo. He only works part time, so he gets to leave at five in the evening. Brilliant. Because four hours of constant scanning beeps isn’t going to do his head in.

He gets bored after an hour of slow business and the most recent customer had been in a hurry to leave after seeing his tired face. Levi has been told he looks even scarier when he’s tired, and he likes this fact. No-one else is on shift for the rest of the day, so he doesn‘t have anyone else to intimidate, much to his disappointment. He straightens out the newspapers to his left on the counter, and he restocks the promotional sweets on his right. Oh, there’s a sign that’s gone wonky. He fixes that too. It isn’t OCD. He’s just bored. He just has ATC.

At three in the afternoon, his eyes are beginning to droop. He must’ve stayed out too long last night at Survey, and Hanji had kept him up with a lecture. Doesn’t Levi know not to try to seek people out? Doesn’t he know that he has to be responsible and go to bed on time? He would, Hanji, but sometimes life is hard on him. And so are his friends with their useless lectures.

He finishes growling “Have a nice day” at the customer buying a f*ck ton of Pepsi and rubs at his eyes, where bags are growing heavier and his face is paler than it usually is. He’s about to fall asleep at the blue speckled counter, with one arm keeping his head up as he leans onto a hand and damn it’s the perfect way to fall asleep when suddenly:

“HOLY sh*t. There are Mars Bars’ for thirty pence here. NOBODY sells Mars Bars’ for thirty pence. That’s insane. And co*ke. Why are there cans of co*ke for forty-five pence. Most places do it for eighty. I think I found my new favourite store.”

Sure enough, a man with brown hair and bright green eyes walks towards the counter to buy his armfuls of sweets. And co*ke. Can’t forget the forty-five pence co*ke. Eren is so busy grinning at his piles of sweets he’s cradling that he doesn’t notice Levi behind the till. He looks up with a smile, looking adorable in his navy blue hoodie and bleached jeans, then the smile drops and so does the entire pile of sweets that he’s holding. His pile tumbles down to the floor with a loud clatter that wakes Levi up completely. Eren yelps in fear.

Eren runs out the store, and Levi is wondering what the hell he should do now, because right now he’s just being frozen from Eren‘s sudden arrival, and that’s not that useful. He should pick up Eren’s mess. He hops over the counter, not bothering to use the gate because he swears he can never find it, and collects all the things in a big bundle that looks much bigger in his arms than it did in Eren’s. Then again, Eren is taller than him. His arms are bigger. His dick probably is too-

Levi raises an eyebrow as Eren sheepishly comes back into the store, guiltily grimacing as he sees Levi picking up the items. He runs fingers through his hair, and the threads flop back into their previous place.

“S-sorry about that, I didn’t expect to see you here… It sort of feels like I’m seeing you everywhere I go.”

Levi knows that that is definitely not true.

“I live in the area; it’s to be expected, right?” He says casually, plopping the massive pile of sweets onto the counter so he can scan them. Assuming that Eren still wants them. He glances back at Eren and his breath hitches, his insides tingling from giddiness.

Levi shakes his head in wonder, clearing his throat. “Why on earth do you have so many sweets?” Leaving the pile on the counter, he turns to face Eren, leaning against the counter edge with two hands reaching behind him.

Eren pats his stomach proudly. “I’m a growing boy. I need to keep up my strength.” he grins.

Levi scoffs at him. “Tch. Last time I heard, you were twenty one. Boys stop growing when they’re eighteen.” Will Eren be impressed with his biology facts? Who knows?

“Well, you’re just annoyed because you stopped growing at twelve.”

Levi glares back at Eren. His mouth is half open at the insult, and as soon as Eren sees his glower he visibly steps back, but starts to laugh. That is, until Levi starts marching towards him and Eren sprints out the store again, swearing while still laughing.

On the middle of the path on the street, it looks as though Levi is going to hit Eren, with the way Eren crouches and hides his face like a child playing hide and seek. Of course, he doesn’t, and instead chooses to bash him playfully on the shoulder.

“That was uncalled for.” he snaps haughtily at Eren.

Eren laughs nervously, peeking through his hands, still crouching slightly. “Okay okay, don’t make height jokes around you. Jesus, you’re scary.”

They go back inside, and Eren tells him how he found a tenner outside the shop, which is why he could afford to spend almost that amount on sweets. As he’s scanning and packing the bags, Levi finds himself staring at Eren, no longer really paying attention to what he’s saying. Levi has missed that face. And with the way he’s smiling at him, just like he did that first night; it makes his eyelids droop lovingly and his chest throb with warmth.

Levi is Eren’s whether he knows it or not.

He gulps and forgets himself in amidst his own flustered response to the feeling of Eren’s fingers on his when he passes him the change, and then the bag. This is going to be goodbye, the moment he lets go. It took him this long just to find Eren again, and he might never do so after this. Eren frowns at him, trying to take the bag from him.

An idea strikes him, one that actually has some evidence to back it up if it’s questioned. It’s clever, and Levi is rarely clever around Eren.

“Hey Eren,” Levi likes how his name feels in his lips. “There’s a chance of winning an IPad if you enter the store competition, it’s advertised on the receipt. If you want to enter, you just have to give us your phone number, and we’ll tell you if you’ve won.”

That was smooth. That was the smoothest he’s ever been in his life. Eren tugs on the bag in their hands.

“I’m not sure-”

“It’s free. Why would you say no to a free IPad.”

Eren sighs and Levi knows he has won him over.

---

This time, Levi has Eren’s number in his phone, he’s memorized it -just in case- and if Eren asks him why he has his number, Levi can easily tell him he simply remembered it from when Eren read it out to him. Oh, but he doesn’t need to worry about Levi handing out his personal information. Eren’s sloppy signature at the bottom of the competition sheet confirmed that Levi’s store wasn’t allowed to do that.

Surely, surely he has an excuse to text or call him now? Hanji isn’t in their apartment complex. He’s safe. For now. And without him around, Levi can do what he wants without being lectured.

When he’s back on his usual spot on the couch, he finds his old flip phone- having refused to allow Erwin buy him a more modern one- and presses the button to dial Eren’s number.

“Hey,” he says when Eren picks up, leaning forward on the couch. “I was wondering if you-”

“If you are hearing this, then you could leave me a message? Yeah, uh, go for.”

It’s not what Levi was looking for, but damn, even hearing the guy’s voice on his voice mail has his heart soaring and makes him bite his lip in excitement. Then the beep stops. It’s recording him. He doesn’t know why he called. He just wanted to call Eren. This was a bad idea. He needed to have a reason, what’s his reason? Reason??

“H-hey Eren, I was, I was wondering you go you like- Wait, I mean, I was wondering you go to my house? Erwin’s house? Erwin’s my room, friend, uh we’re having movie a night with our other friend plural… and stuff… I’ll, um, text you the address?” he realizes that Eren might think he wants to talk to him about the competition, and his articulation improves.

“Sorry; this isn’t to say you won the IPad. But it’d be good if you did. It could be useful, maybe not for your work, but you know. The games on it are not bad. I hear it has a decent camera too and-”

The voicemail finishes, and cuts him off. Thank god it did, otherwise he’d end up rambling and going off on a tangent like an absolute moron.

When he hangs up on his end, he sees that his hands are trembling from nerves, he’s gone bright red from having to talk and not knowing what to say, and yet somehow; he’s never been happier.

Levi falls back onto his black leather couch, dropping his phone onto the carpeted floor. He sighs shakily. Erwin’s gone out, he won’t be back until later tonight, and he’s going to have to tell him to invite everyone around so they can have a movie night. If Eren wants to come, that is. He hopes so. He really, really hopes so. Because he’s not sure at all what would happen if he lost contact with Eren all over again.

As he reassures himself that the knife is still where he left it on the couch by his pillow, he sees the calendar sitting on the coffee table, as though it’s waiting for him to open it and squeeze out his feelings onto the glossy paper through writing.

The ball point pen is also beside the calendar, untouched. It isn’t rare for Erwin to leave things lying around, but suddenly Levi is very, very glad that Erwin left this calendar to his disposal. He reads over the last two dates he wrote in, and even though they are spaced out in terms of time; it was all so worth the wait.

“The day he came to my work to buy sweets was when I knew that Eren Jaeger could have my candy any day he likes. And he will, if he comes to the movie night. Because I will share my packet of Haribo with him.”

Chapter 5: April 27th part one

Chapter Text

He’s really done it this time. He’s had two chances, and he’s ruined it the second time around.

Hanji must’ve been right about Levi seeming like a stalker. He probably should’ve listened when Hanji told him that people “just don’t say things like that”.

Levi has been up all night, missing out on his usual two or three hours of sleep.

Waiting for the phone call. Or text message. From Eren, of course.

It’s not like there’s a bed waiting for him anyway. He needs no sleep. Though with the tiredness showing up on his face in the form of bags, he wishes he’d at least rested his eyes, even if he couldn’t go to sleep.

Today, Levi has a shift at four o’clock, which is beyond stupid; because it’s a Sunday and people stay in on Sundays. Don’t they? Maybe shopping life in Trost is different. He’s only been here three months or so, he’s allowed to still not know the culture of this crappy town.

He sits with Erwin in his car, a sleek black Porche that definitely would‘ve gotten torn to bits if they were still in Glasgow. He got it two months ago, and Levi is still mad about the purchase. It’s just Erwin showing off how much he can afford, and flaunts it in front of Levi by giving him lifts to his work-their work- where Erwin yet again flaunts his privileges.

They haven’t really spoken this morning. Levi’s been tense and grouchy, and since Erwin knows about the knife beside his pillow on the couch, he’s kind of gotten the idea that Levi isn’t the sort of person you console when he’s mad.

Levi sulks into the edge of the door, glaring at the outside world with all it’s grey skies and grey streets and grey pavements like it’s done something bad to him. The world sucks, it really does.

But then again, if the world didn’t suck, everyone would just fall off.

“Levi… You know, you can talk to me about anything that’s bothering you.” Erwin says, almost conversationally.

Levi sits in silence, and some sort of quietly burning anger is boiling up inside of him. Because even though Erwin isn’t the reason for his stewing today, that’s not to say he isn’t every other day.

And just because he lives with this guy (unwillingly) that doesn’t mean he should automatically share all his hopes and dreams and fears, or tell him things like ‘I took a nice sh*t this morning’. Because he thinks that if he had a best friend-a real best friend- he would tell them exactly what he thinks of his own sh*t. He’s not really sure why he would, but apparently it’s a guy thing.

“I tried calling Eren. You were right. I must’ve scared him off.”

The car is stopped as they reach a red light. He’s not sure why he’s telling Erwin this, but maybe he deserves to know, just so he knows it’s not his fault, and because Levi may have spent a lot of time rambling about him to Erwin. So Erwin should always be updated. That might actually work to Levi’s advantage… It annoys the hell out of Erwin, and Levi can improve his “social skills”. Plus; when is Eren not a good topic of conversation?

Erwin glances over at him, caressing the gear stick in his fist. “Eren? As in the “I’m obsessed with him and over analyse every second we have together” Eren?”

“Who else?”

“Wait… You didn’t get his phone number from some phone book, did you?” Erwin makes a pained face. “Because I know you don’t really get out much, but doing things like that is just… And the things you say to him are the weirdest things ever-”

“No, Erwin. I got it from him.”

Erwin pauses, tilting his head to one side. He starts driving again as the light goes green, and Levi can see his work around the corner of the next building. He raises his eyebrows in mild surprise, with maybe a hint of admiration.

“Really? I never thought you had game. Nice. Maybe I should learn a lesson from you.”

Levi scoffs at him. “Tch. That’s hypocritical, taking into account about what you said earlier-”

“Yeah, yeah, okay. That might be true, but you must be doing something right… I just wonder what the hell you did to get his number.”

Levi doesn’t say anything. Even though he knows that Erwin knows that he probably gained it by some illicit method (Erwin’s fantasies get away with him sometimes, especially since he knows Levi was a gang leader. That was unintentionally, but he was one, even so). But a competition letter isn’t illegal, so Levi will be fine. Unless Hanji comes and snoops around. But even then, fear not: Levi has hidden the letter under the couch pillow.

A few hours later and they’re both in the workplace. Erwin also has his shift on today, due to the manager going out of town last night. Thankfully, he’s got a sh*t ton of paperwork to do, so he stays away from Levi in his office. Levi is at the blue counter, and he is still in a bad mood. One where he wishes he could strangle someone.

He’s standing beside a mousy haired guy with a constantly terrified looking face called Moblit. At first, Levi thought it was him that made Moblit scared, but Erwin told him he was just always like that. Maybe if the guy grew some eyebrows then he wouldn’t look like he was always raising his eyebrows in fear.

Today, Moblit looks especially scared, though that might be due to the fact that Levi keeps staring him down whenever he catches Moblit trying to look at him. Moblit must be bored. He must want someone to talk to. But he and Levi aren’t friends, just co-workers.

And Levi doesn’t do small talk.

Levi doesn’t really do much other than clean, but he finds he can’t really do it in Erwin’s house because… Well, it’s Erwin’s house. It’s not his to clean. There are personal items that are Erwin’s, and he’s not allowed to touch them even if the blonde hulk of a man leaves them lying around.

He needs this shift to end. They’ve only got fifteen minutes left. What the point in staying if they don’t even have any customers? There’s one that Moblit’s serving, with just a packet of sponges and some toothpaste, but customers like that just go as quickly as they come.

True; Erwin might have been right about Levi lacking social skill, but despite his appearance and sour attitude to pretty much everything; he’d actually love to have a regular customer as a starting point to help him improve. He doesn’t do well with strangers, and isn’t that the case for most people anyway? Why does his employer expect him to instantly be able to talk to people upon meeting them?

Tch. He missed out, that employer man. His business could’ve soared if Levi was in Erwin’s place.

He tugs a strand of black hair in his fringe, thinking about how he’s definitely going to have another shower after he goes back to Erwin’s place.

The suddenly, as though he’d been coming to the Pound Saver shops for weeks, Eren walks in with his head held high. Though that changes when he sees Levi. Again. But this time he doesn’t run, so that had to be a plus, right? (it shouldn’t have even been a problem in the first place)

Oh wow. His mood has suddenly raised through the roof.

Eren gives him a small, flat smile, then briskly walked past the tills at the front of the shop to go to the sweet aisle, clearly on a mission. Levi feels the heat on his face rise as he watches Eren from behind. Dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans. Working class clothes, like always. Levi’s breathing hitches when he sees Eren’s picturesque profile as he rakes the shelves for sweets. Does he always look so angry? Levi felt his body shiver.

He shivered again when he saw bright green eyes looking back into his grey ones.

“I got a message last night. That was you, wasn‘t it.” Eren tells him accusingly, still having not decided on what sweet to get, if any. Levi nods at his statement.

“You must’ve had a really bad reception, because it sounded a little disjointed.”

Levi nods again, suddenly embarrassed about not being able to use his voice, about the things he said before on the rushed phone call.

“And I didn’t have any credit, so I couldn’t call you back, sorry.”

Levi’s gaze is averted when he sees the clock has turned to seven o’clock. His shift is over. Eren is providing a reason for him to leave. Eren is accepting his invitation.

“Although I‘m wondering-”

“Wait right there, I’m just going to dump my uniform round back.”

Levi sprints to where his locker is in the cold, garage-like staff room with stone grey walls. As he turns the key that he got from his small stash on his belt. He’s buzzing. He’s bouncing too, and that makes it a little hard to fumble with the back of his uniform string and get the damn thing off so he can get back to Eren and his green eyed glory.

Green eyes. Brown hair. A face of pure gold. Eyebrows that like to furrow, and a perfectly kissable, pink little mouth that sometimes twitches into a sweet, boyish smile. Levi hasn’t ever seen a face quite like it before.

When he gets back, he hops over the counter like he’s some kind of rabbit. Though he won’t let anyone know how much he actually loves jumping over it, because they’d make fun of his height (not to his face, unless they don’t know better). He grabs Eren’s wrist and takes them both outside, where he knows Erwin is in his car by now. He’s a punctual person, and it’s about the only thing that Levi likes about him.

Eren yelps, and Levi thinks he can hear him saying “not again”. They stop just before the car park, and Eren looks like he’s going to (try to) tear Levi’s face off.

“Dude! You can’t just go about dragging me like that!” Eren’s skin is inflamed bright pink where Levi pulled him.

“Uh, sorry. I didn’t hurt you did I?” he rubs at the skin on Eren’s wrist tentatively. What if Eren is sensitive to touch? He leaps back. What if, what if he has personal space issues or maybe he has OCD and hates dirty people-

Eren places a hand on his shoulder. It’s warm, and suddenly Levi forgets his panic and melts into the touch with his heart beating much, much louder. He gulps as Eren stares him down, towering above him.

“Why… Why did you call me yesterday? I got the most random voicemail and I couldn’t even understand it. And how did you- Oh. Wait. I gave you my number on that sheet. Right. Right…” Eren takes his hand away, still looking at Levi intensely.

Levi finds himself almost looking away. He‘s never been good with maintaining eye contact.

“I was trying to invite you to my house. My friend‘s house. We‘re… having a movie night.” He shuffles his feet, looking down at them with a straight face.

His shoulders sag. “I’m sorry if I appear a little… odd. I’ve been told by my friends that I come across a little too forward at times, but I’ve got no harmful intentions, I swear.”

He raises both palms to face Eren. If there’s anything he’s learnt, it’s that his body language speaks much better than he ever will.

“I’m not trying to win you over with a sob story, but you said you’d talk to me, right? I’d like that.”

Eren raises an eyebrow at him curiously. “You remember our conversation from my birthday?”

Levi’s eye widen as he realizes with a skip in his heart that it means Eren remembered too. “Yeah, I was-”

“You must’ve been really drunk. You said some really weird stuff.”

He’d been about to say “I was being serious when I said I wanted to touch your hair” but right around now, Hanji’s advice will probably come in handy.

“I was drunk.” Levi doesn’t get drunk. “Very, very drunk.”

He puts a hand on Eren’s shoulder, mirroring his action from before. “So, you want to come to our place and watch movies?”

The car journey there is painful on Levi behalf.

“…” Erwin takes every opportunity to look over at him with either a smug smile or an “I can’t believe you’re actually bringing this guy home” smile. Maybe even a “I’m going to torture you about this later, and you f*cking know it” smile.

His shoulders shake with silent laughter, and Levi is glad that Eren can’t see Erwin’s stupid face from behind the driver’s seat.

Laugh all you want Erwin; but you don’t even know why the guy’s even in the car.

“Whereabouts do you guys live?” Eren pipes up from the back, because Levi has yet to discover how small talk works. He’s trying, desperately so, but he can’t think of anything to say, of what he should talk about, but this is a good start.

Levi opens his mouth to speak, and Erwin interrupts him. “In the industrial estate.” Levi gives him a side glare, but Erwin doesn’t flinch. Erwin is bastard.

“Oh, you mean in the new flats? I heard those were really expensive. Are you renting them?”

Along the way, Levi learns that Eren lives in the three storey flats up beside the River Maria. It’s in a flood zone so it’s pretty damn cheap, but the flood prevention programme that the government is wasting it’s money on makes it really noisy outside his window. He lives with his brother and sister; Armin (apparently a “real smart dude”) and Mikasa. Levi sends him a knowing glance when he starts talking and talking about how Mikasa is overly protective.

Since it’s only a five minute drive, they have to stop mid conversation, and Levi wishes it could’ve never stopped. When you get Eren talking; he talks. His voice is mellow and musical. Both of those facts combined make Eren the perfect person to listen to, so much so that he’s better than the radio, and much better than whatever sh*t is on the UK top 40. Normally Levi hates talkers, but this guy is obviously an exception. Maybe the only one.

Erwin pulls up in the parking space outside the wood panelled flat, and when Levi looks back in his seat, Eren looks a lot happier, more relaxed, than he was outside the store.

“This place looks really nice.” Eren smiles, looking at the building through the window. Levi goes around to his door to open it, giving him a discreet smile of his own. (Levi loves being a gentlemen; he finds that out right there and then.)

“You look relieved.” he says when Eren’s outside the car.

Eren laughs, deep and right from the gut.

“I guess I am, I was expecting some kind of run down place with broken windows and graffiti everywhere. Some places in Trost are like that, but they’re never really too bad. Not like the places in uh, say… Glasgow or Aberdeen. Yeah, although Armin once loved in Forres and he said that was terrible, like, not the town but the place he was living in and-”

He stops suddenly, and looks at Levi as they make their way inside to the yellow walled interior of the building. Their footsteps echo in the stairwell as they climb to the second floor.

“Wow. Sorry. I have a habit of turning a conversation into a one sided speech, you can tell me to stop talking if I get annoying.” he smiles bashfully, running fingers through his hair.

He jumps a little when Levi gets closer to him, so that they’re shoulders are brushing. The adam’s apple in his neck bobs when Levi laughs quietly through his nose, with his mouth turned upwards at one corner. People like Eren… normally when people say things like that, Levi wants to wring their throat out because unless he snaps at them to shut up, they just keep talking.

But- and the fizzing feeling inside his stomach confirms this- he really likes it when Eren talks. It’s better than him not being there at all, and it’s damn fine to listen to him, or space out and pretend you’re listening to him, when really you’re just tuning out and looking at the shapes his mouth makes and wondering how they’d feel against your own lips and wondering what kind of “oh” shape they make when he-

“I don’t mind you talking. It’s nice to listen to. I bet you sing in the shower. Do you? I bet so. What else do you do in the shower? You know, some people mastur-” He cuts himself off, face burning while he mumbles for Eren to ignore him, whilst the latter chuckles uncomfortably.

He covers his mouth with the back of his hand. That’s not good. He’ll end up scaring him away again, and he just managed to get him inside his house-not his, yeah, but he also happens to live there-and…

Why is he clinging onto a complete stranger?

What is it about this guy that just makes him want to hold on so badly?

He can’t hold a conversation with the guy, he’s too nervous in his presence-Eren’s kind of scared of him and thinks he’s weird-and he doesn’t really know Eren. Knowing what he looks like is just superficial (in Eren’s case, he’s “super-facial” because he’s hot enough to star in one of Levi’s rare pun jokes)

When they walk into their flat, Mike and Hanji are already there, playing Erwin’s x-box. Ah. Levi needs to fix that.

“Oi, sh*tty glasses. Beak. We’re watching movies. Get your asses off that game console.”

By some miracle; they do just that, and unplug the x-box from the mains without a word. Then Mike looks up to face them, peers in their direction slightly, and behind Levi, Eren squeaks.

“Michael?!” That’s a name he hasn’t heard before…

Mike’s quite a shy person, so it comes as a surprise to Levi when he suddenly breaks into a huge smile and dumps the x-box controller in favour of making his way to Eren.

“You! I thought I recognised you! How’re you doing? Ah, man, I just… God, I’ve got so much to ask you!” Mike not so subtly leans down to smell him, then smirks to himself. Eren doesn’t seem to mind.

“Same!” Eren beams up at him. His eyes are glowing in the shady, curtain closed flat. “Why are you here, though?”

Mike stoops down from his height to hug Eren.

Levi wants to tell them no. He wants to pull them apart, instinctually, and his fingers are suddenly restless by his sides. It’s just a friendly hug, but WHY is there a friendly hug between Mike and Eren?

“I ended up-”

“You guys know each other?” Levi folds his arms with his eyes narrowed in Mike’s direction. Mike knows how he feels. He should know, at least.

Mike and Eren turn to look at him, as though they suddenly realize that they are still in company. They pull away, still wearing smiles.

“Mike was my therapist a little while back, when I was thirteen.” he turns back to Mike. “Though that was in Buckie. Then he moved down to England to be with his girlfriend?”

Mike shrugs, and it’s as though he’s an entirely different person Levi knew from the usual staggeringly tall mop of blonde hair. Even past his huge nose, Levi can see him smiling and behind his fringe, his eyes glint happily.

“I moved back up after it didn’t work out with her. I didn’t know you knew about her..?”

“You introduced us at that music festival? You know, the one in Findhorn?”

Levi takes a sharp intake of air and goes to sit down on the couch. Hanji looks up at him, still trying to put away the tangled consoles and x-box.

As it turns out, Eren’s voice seems much more worth listening to when it’s talking to him.

“Hey Levi, people don’t just randomly take people home. You didn‘t kidnap him, did you?” Hanji peers up at him from the floor, squinting into his glasses.

“People don’t usually throw tables and chairs when they’re angry, and yet there you are.” he sneers.

A phone rings, and Eren pulls out his phone from his pocket, lifting it to his ear as he presses answer.

“…Aw what? You can’t do that! I live there too y’know! I haven’t got anywhere else to go!” Eren gestures angrily as he speaks. He cups his hand over the microphone.

“I don’t suppose you guys could let me stay over here tonight? My roommate’s kicking me out because he’s got “company” pfft. Like that idiot could ever get laid. Uh, please can I stay?”

Chapter 6: April 27th part two

Chapter Text

The worst thing about sharing a house with Erwin-having to sleep on the couch, on top of that-is that Levi doesn’t have a room to himself. Therefore; Mike is there with him, alone, in the living room while Erwin and Eren go and get Eren’s sleepover stuff (he’s internally screaming at that) and Hanji’s upstairs cooking curry.

Levi eyes the calendar on the coffee table. He glances warily at Mike, with all his shaggy haired glory. Mike is looking back at him with an equally bored expression. He might peak Mike’s interest if he makes a move to hide it.

f*ck it.

He takes the calendar and lifts the couch cushion, placing the calendar underneath. Mike doesn’t question his actions, or even raise an eyebrow at his behaviour. Good. Levi has trained him well.

Levi weaves his fingers through his black hair, is about to say something to Mike, maybe something normal like “how was your day”. Levi doesn’t really care about his day. And when Mike talks, he gives relatively short answers. He’s succinct, which Levi likes, but it doesn’t make for good conversation. Basically; there’s no point in talking to Mike.

Instead, Levi leaves Mike to fend for himself and goes for a shower. If Mike looks under the couch and at the calendar; he fully knows what the consequences will be; the knife under Levi’s pillow on the couch is there for a reason, after all.

He slips into the bathroom; it’s white, clean with basic bathroom things and has fluffy white towels on the silver rack. He dumps a towel on the closed toilet seat and turns on the shower.

It isn’t until he’s halfway finished showering, the water having relaxed him with its cosy heat, then he remembers the dumb thing he almost said to Eren.

“You know, some people masturbat* in the shower. Quite frankly, I think it’s pretty f*cking revolting.”

Levi only takes three minutes under the stream of water, usually, but… something in his lower body is telling him to ignore his own beliefs and just let himself jerk it in the shower. Maybe imagine Eren pressed up against the pristine white tiles-clean, courtesy of Levi- imagine how he’d pant and whimper loudly, but the roar of the water would be too loud for anyone to hear them…. He shivers at the thought.

But Mike’s in the other room.

And it’s a little disturbing to know that after jerking off, he’ll only come face to face with another person-whether or not it’s Eren doesn‘t make much of a difference-after he’s done such a deed in the bathroom.
…

Levi doesn’t really want anyone but Eren to see what he looks like post-org*sm. He’s gone limp just from thinking about cleaning up his own cum off the tiles. Thinking about how Mike will look at him oddly after having taken such a long time in the shower. He’d know exactly what Levi had been doing, too.

Levi decides against the whole thing and settles with lathering his body with soap as quickly as he can.

When he returns to the living room, all dried and in new clothing from his stash in Erwin‘s room, Mike blinks owlishly at him. His thin, blonde moustache twitches curiously. But he doesn’t say anything.

The shorter man sighs, reluctantly going to join Mike on the couch-his couch, that’s been invaded by a blonde giant-and turns the T.V on.

Wow. Reality TV has never been so… boring and superficial. He flicks through the channels-Erwin has Sky HD-and finds a channel in the movie section to watch.

“How about we watch a horror movie?”

Normally people watch horror movies on the first date, right?

Though, Eren is only coming over because he got kicked out, and having a crowd of non-friends with them… yeah that cancels out the date idea. They’re just friends. If they can even be called that. Apparently, you have to know more than just their name to be a person’s friend. He wants to know more about Eren, but that comes with time. He shakes his head, ignoring Mike’s grunt of ‘I don’t really care either way’ and programs the TV so that it alerts them when ‘Robocop’ comes on. Levi lets his mind wander, and eventually comes across Mike’s face, and sees a small smile tugging at Mike’s lips as he folds his long legs onto the couch.

“What’s got you so happy?”

“Eh, just seeing Eren again. He’s a really good kid, haven’t seen him for years, y’know?”

Mike looks up towards the T.V, a little more interested with the channel that’s on. Some BBC documentary about monkeys f*cking or some sh*t. Levi leans against the back of the cushion, putting an arm onto the edge out of habit.

“Why did Eren need therapy?”

Mike pauses, and shakes his head with a low hum. “I can’t tell you, sorry Levi.” He smirks over at the smaller man. “I guess you’ll just have to ask your boyfriend yourself.”

Levi instantly feels the heat crawl up his neck and face. “He’s not my boyfriend.” He knows for a fact that his blush doesn’t show on his face, but makes him look angrier instead.

Mike frowns at him, amusem*nt playing on his face as his eyebrow quirks. “I thought you asked him out that night at the bar?”

“Nah, I just told him I liked his hair and that I wanted to talk to him. He had to go to his friends though. You were there, didn‘t you see?”

“… Aye. But well, I never heard the whole conversation, just Hanji’s comments.” Mike lowers his voice carefully. “Now you’ve got me wondering… How the hell did you get him here?”

“I invited him.”

“And he came over just like that?”

“Well. He came to the store, he ran away when he saw my face-”

“Why?”

Levi growls at the interruption. “I saved him from a stalker and we sort of spoke in a shop, though I don’t think he enjoyed it. Anyway, he ran away, and then I gave him the store competition form to fill out-getting his phone number off the sheet. He came into the store again, I invited him here, and presto; here he is. Or will be. If Erwin hurries the f*ck up.”

Mike just stares at him, with blue eyes as wide as the ocean and shaking his head as though he’s been told he’s going to die tomorrow. “Levi, taking personal information from a form is illegal-”

“And yet here he is.”

“Because you forced him!”

Levi frowns at him. “No, I-”

“Levi,” Mike looks him directly in the eye. “I’ve seen how you approach people, as rare as it happens. And… I don’t think you realize just how creepy you’re being.”

“I did apologize for that. And he came here by his own free will. Erwin made sure of that.” After many questions and glares at Levi while doing so before even letting the kid in the car. Yet, Erwin still didn’t know why Eren had come over.

With a heavy sigh, Mike slouches into the couch, putting his feet back on the ground. “At least he knows me. That must’ve come as a relief to him.”

All of a sudden, Hanji with a number of bowls, Erwin and Eren with a small overnight bag hugging his shoulder come into the flat and immediately take up more room. Levi’s eyes lock on Eren, and he can’t really pull his gaze away.

Levi finds himself almost missing the seclusion of his house in Calton. He’d pretty much lived alone, and he isn’t used to being in a room with so many people for long, seeing as Erwin usually invites his friends out.

Mike and Hanji have their ways of invading his privacy when Erwin invites them around, which is becoming more often since he‘s given them a spare key so they can play the x-box when he’s out. Mike invades his privacy by smelling him upon arrival and taking up too much space with his legs and hovering presence, and Hanji does as well by asking Levi too many questions and talking Way. Too. Much. To the point where Levi wants to strangle the Irish man.

‘Gotta love the Irish’? f*ck that noise. Levi has met one and he is hell to be around.

Hanji bustles around the kitchen, finding plates for everyone to eat their curry on. Erwin and Eren come into the living room, moving to sit on the other couch next to Levi’s.

Levi doesn’t like the other leather couch and usually refuses to acknowledge that it exists. Erwin had once thrown up on it-in front of him-after drinking too much one night. Levi never learnt why Erwin had drunk so much, but then again, he was too busy fuming over the vomit to really care.

Erwin takes the bag from Eren to keep it safely in his room with a small grin and a waggle of his eyebrows, and Levi wanders over to the other couch, slapping his arm onto the edge behind him. Eren jumps and Levi can actually see him cower away from him, can smell the fear igniting Eren’s being.

“Eren, do you hate me? I invited you around, but you don’t need to feel pressured to stay. Mike told me I’m creepy.” he does his best to keep his voice gentle.

Eren gives a small smile, though his eyebrows are still creased in fear and Levi can hear his breathing hitch. “I-I don’t mind! I don’t hate you, and you’re not that creepy. I got to see Mike again, and… as it turned out, I needed someplace to stay anyway. Besides… I always keep my promises.” he finishes with a determined grin.

So basically; Eren is an idiot. He is really sweet and madly endearing, but fairly stupid.

Levi leans back slightly, feeling his lips curve upwards slightly. “Good.” He gives a curt nod and turns his attention to the screen, where the alert tells him the movie is about to start.

God only knows what kind of trouble the kid could get himself into. Then again, there had been the mentions of stalkers, hadn’t there? Maybe it’s for the best that Eren is staying over after all.

Levi bites his lip, glancing discreetly at Eren, who has his arms crossed and bright green eyes staring at the screen. He looks calm in the near darkness, and the sun has long gone down, and Levi can see Eren’s face lighting up from the screen. It makes Eren look like a black and white film star. Levi starts breathing a bit more heavily.

Tonight; Levi is going to have to learn self restraint.

It takes him a while to realize, but it’s just occurred to Levi that he is sitting on the couch that Erwin puked on. He reassures himself that it’s fine, that the bottle of disinfectant he went through to clean it was good enough and that the couch is therefore beautifully clean. Ha. It’s hard to believe. He just needs to distract himself. Looking at Eren is an effective distraction. So is the smell of curry. That works quite well too. Though it blocks out Eren’s smell.

They’re halfway through the movie, and Eren is cooing over how the movie is a totally manipulative mind f*ck, testing the audience’s morals by flipping opinions around to their own benefit. He’s impressed by the movie, and that leaves Levi satisfied in knowing his choice of movie was a good one.

On the floor with a bag of popcorn, Hanji complains that the movie isn’t realistic at all, what with how they portray people’s reactions, and keeps questioning the T.V as though it has motives.

“Hanji, it’s just a damn movie! Jeez, man.” Erwin shakes his head in half amused annoyance. Hanji sulks and moves to clear up the dishes left behind from everyone’s curry.

Levi would have done it, but… he’s a little busy freaking out over Eren’s closeness.

Eren shuffled over to talk to him during the movie, with a dumb smile as bright as his eyes and an eager but low voice that has Levi clenching his fists with how frustrated he’s becoming. Sexually frustrated, that is. Now, he touches Levi’s wrist to get his attention, and Levi is glad that the darkness of the room means that Eren can’t see him blush, because he surely is. He must be. That would be a human reaction to such intimate proximity.

The only thing separating them is a few inches of leather, and the shared packet of Haribo sweets.

Levi finds himself wondering how the hell people even manage to have sex if they get so nervous, like this. He’s dizzy and shaking like a leaf just because Eren touched him and looked his way. He can’t even imagine what he’d be like if Eren were to do anything more.

He takes a deep, stuttering breath to steady his nerves, and allows Eren to see a small smirk appear on his face, shaking his head at Eren’s childlike excitement over the movie.

“You know, I actually wanted to go to Uni to do Film and Visual Arts, so hearing Hanji’s feedback interests me, as annoying as you seem to find it.” Eren whispers, and flashes his teeth at Levi who melts a little at the sight.

“Why didn’t you go do it?” He’d really like to have those teeth on his lips, if he wasn’t so damn terrified of… of being in love, it seems.

Eren gives a dark chuckle and there’s a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “sh*t happens, Levi.”

Levi scoffs, but not at Eren. “I would know, I work at a crappy shop and sleep on someone’s couch.”

Eren turns to him again, this time a little more curiously. “You actually sleep on the couch? How long has it been like that?”

“Eh, for three months or so.”

Eren frowns. “What, so you’re homeless?”

“Pretty much.”

Hanji comes back to sit on the floor, and that seems to end their conversation for the rest of the movie.

It’s difficult to have Eren so close. He can’t watch the movie at all and he can feel Eren’s breath on his skin. To think he’d went almost an entire month without seeing Eren then BAM he sees him for one day, and the next; he’s over at Levi’s house, asking to stay over. Eren’s going to sleep in the same room as him. His eyes widen in excitement at the thought. He could make Eren breakfast. He might get to hear Eren jerking off his morning wood-

Eren’s phone rings and he swears as he leaves the room to go and answer it. All at once, Levi’s suddenly more relaxed but at the same time, his body’s colder. Eren must be a radiator, keeping Levi warm like that.

If Levi hadn’t been so hyperaware he must’ve have even fallen asleep in the cosiness. Might’ve fallen asleep with his head falling onto Eren’s shoulder, could’ve woken up to the boy stroking his hair like a cat…

“What do you mean it doesn’t have “Ackerman Approval”?! That’s not even a thing, Mikasa! I’m a grown man, and I have a black belt in Taekwondo; I’m perfectly capable of keeping myself safe.” Eren’s voice is loud in the kitchen.

The credits begin to roll on the screen and Erwin gives a low whistle, having been intrigued by the plot like some slack jawed teenager the entire time.

“I never expected the News Reporter guy to get angry like that. It’s like… he moved from one extreme to the other about liking the robots, then started going on about how “great” America is and missed the point entirely.”

Erwin looks pretty damn dumb when he’s just had his mind blown. Wait. That’s not an image he wants to see right now. Urgh. Yuck.

He escapes the living room to head to the kitchen, and sits on the black, smooth counter as Eren rants to his sister. Mikasa Ackerman, it seems. Why does his sister have a different surname from him? He kicks his legs gently against brown cabinets as he watches Eren pace on the cream coloured linoleum.

“Eren, why don’t you let me speak to her? I’m the one that invited you, so she might want some reassurance that I’m not going to murder you in your sleep. I might have a knife beside my pillow, but it’s not like I’d hurt you with it.”

Eren and the voice on his phone pause for a very long moment.

“Eren, just come over. You should’ve asked me in the first place instead of intruding on strangers like that.”

The brunette sighs with a roll of his eyes. “Look, Levi invited me over, and his room mate let me stay. He reminds me a little of you. You’re both as tactless as one another. I think you’d like him. Plus, I have a promise to keep. I said I’d talk to Levi, but we’ve been too busy watching the movie to really get round to it.”

Levi’s leg stops swinging as he freezes. His throat is clogged with emotion; he’s suddenly love-struck with Eren’s sweetness. It surprises him that Eren would go to such an extent just to keep a promise… and to a stranger, no less. A really creepy stranger, as he’s been told.

Well. There wasn’t really any other way to go about trying to befriend Eren than inviting him over. Sure, he might have been a bit… unorthodox in his methods, but even after telling Levi that he was being weird, Eren seems to not give a damn in the least. Even if it’sdue to stupidity. But Eren said he’d wanted to go to University, so he can’t be all that stupid.

“Eren, please just come over. I’ll feel better knowing that you’re safe and with someone you know well.”

Yeah. Levi has a feeling he might not like Eren’s manipulative sister.

Of course, after a request like that, Eren gives in and tells Erwin he won’t be staying after all.

“It was nice meeting you, Eren. Don’t be a stranger; you’re welcome here anytime.” Erwin shakes Eren’s hand.

Hanji and Mike are already gone, and surprisingly a) Hanji barely spoke to Eren and Levi during the entire night b) Mike hugged Eren before he left. Mike is hardly the hugging type and by the looks of it, Eren didn’t really seem to enjoy it that much the second time around, probably having come down from his initial excitement from seeing Mike again. “Michael” as Eren said.

Eren manages to reassure Erwin that Mikasa actually lives close to here, and that it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes to get there, but doesn’t reject Levi’s offer to walk him home. Erwin looks at Levi with masked annoyance, and Levi can’t help but be smug with his winnings.

They head down the painfully bright yellow stairwell, and into the dark night. It’s around about eleven at night, and it’ll be getting brighter soon when summer comes. Summer is his least favourite time of the year. Then again, he kind of hates all seasons because each one brings new problems.

Summer brings too much heat and sunlight in the early hours which worsens his insomnia. Autumn brings insects upon insects into his house, so often that he can’t open the window to let out the last of the summer heat that’s still in his room. Spring is just too cheerful for Levi’s liking. Winter brings huge gas bills and f*cking annoying Christmas songs. Oh, and his birthday. Right on Christmas; the very day he also hates with a passion.

Eren and Levi walk down the street that’s lit with orange lamplights, the air is refreshing after having been in a stuffy room with too many people and Levi lets out a sigh.

“Is something wrong?” Eren takes a glimpse at him with mild concern. Levi has to look away as he suppresses a dopey grin.

“Nothing much. I’m just glad I’m out of that hellhole. It was way too crowded before. I’m going to have to wash my couch. It’s got Erwin’s ass germs on it now. Brilliant. It‘s bad enough that I can‘t clean properly when he leaves his stuff lying around everywhere.”

Their trainers clack onto the pavement, echoing in the silent street. Levi sees Eren readjust his bag on his shoulder, having to cross his arms across his chest to keep the heat. The cold doesn’t bother Levi much. He’s lived through worse, after all. It could get worse even in spring. A couple of years ago it snowed it July. Then it was sunny again the next week at 23 degrees Celsius. Damn, that’d been a weird summer to say the least. f*cking Scotland, man.

“You know, I could help you out with that. I know who to go to, after all.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, you just need to go to the council. Apply for the homeless list and since you’re sleeping on a couch, they’ll most likely put down your situation as “Dire” and get you into supported accommodation. You‘ll pretty much have a flat to yourself for a while until they find you a decent place.”

“How do you know that?” Levi had been to school, had stayed all through high school too, almost religiously. Although due to the lack of proper resources, he hadn’t done very well in his exams. Still, the school should’ve told him something like this, right?

“Ah, well, I got thrown out by my sister when I was sixteen. Back in Buckie. I was homeless for a while and had to go through all that.”

Levi frowns, completely confused. “Mikasa, the girl who keeps tabs on you, threw you out? How could she even do that?”

Eren shakes his head slowly. “No, I have another sister. Andrea. Mikasa isn’t my blood related sister, she’s my foster sister. Andrea… is my half sister. My mum went through a ton of boyfriends, so we have different dads. My mum had me when she was in Art College and my sister just before she started it. Probably not the best decision she could have made.”

Levi nods. “People do dumb things when they’re young.”

Eren just looks at him. “My mum was twenty when she had my sister.”

Levi nods again, slower this time.

“She had me when she was thirty.”

Oh. “Well. Okay.”

Eren chuckles. “So, yeah. My mum had always been ill, and Andrea looked after me from when I was nine, after I left foster care and she got the legal permission.” He sighs.

“I just think it’s really ironic. Like, Andrea was always telling me how ungrateful I was, telling me she loved me and that was why she took me on, with her son and eventually her daughter. My niece and nephew. Then she goes and kicks me out. Even though my mum had kicked her out when she was sixteen, too. Andrea didn’t just dump me on the streets like my mum did for her, after Andrea came out of foster care. She also had a semi-good reason to ask me to leave, but…” Eren trails off and Levi is struck with a chest pulling urge to comfort him.

He doesn’t try to. He’s not good at that at all, and he’d probably just make Eren cry. He kinda looks like he will. God. What has he done? He just wanted to know why Eren knew how to be homeless.

He’d considered taking Mike on his offer, maybe going and asking Eren directly why he was involved with Mike and his therapy, but yeah. He’s done enough damage tonight. It makes him feel oddly guilty to have pried so much. Though… it had been Eren’s doing.

Eren grins weakly at him. “See, you get me talking and I end up spilling my life story. I’m used to talking to strangers I guess. Well. You got what you asked for; I talked to you.”

Really, Levi still has a lot of questions that haven’t been answered. Even more, now that he’s been given a preview of Eren’s life. He’s really surprised at how open Eren is after just a few times of meeting.

“I think I actually asked if I could talk to you, not the other way round.” Levi teases him.

Eren laughs, more genuinely this time, like Levi’s somehow lifted a barrier. “Another day, another day. I’ll contact you this time, okay?” They stop in front a house, and Levi feels the familiar dread of never seeing Eren again creep in. It’s a cold and lonely feeling.

“Next time, I’ll take you to the council. We’ll talk to a housing officer. Yeah?”

Right now, Levi wants this to be a date, and he really wants to f*cking kiss this man full on the lips. Instead he gulps, nodding a little too eagerly and waves Eren off with a single goodbye before awkwardly walking back down the street without another word. He can’t really say anything, what with how overwhelmed he is all of a sudden.

Eren isn’t deterred in the least by Levi’s sudden indifference, and when Levi looks back, he sees Eren wave back a little more enthusiastically before rushing inside the house, his bag bouncing against his shoulder as he runs.

The words are like a mantra inside Levi’s mind. He walks down the street back to his house in a happy daze.

Next time-next time-next time.

He’ll contact Levi this time. God, this must mean he kept Levi’s phone number as a contact last time Levi called. Wow. Levi’s ears are burning at the tips. That means he’s really f*cking happy.

He still wonders why Eren needed to go to therapy. Eren seems pretty resilient, after what he’s heard and seen from him. He heard things about his mum. Levi isn’t quite sure how he should take it when he realizes Eren referred to her in past tense. Went through boyfriends. Had always been ill. And he’d heard about his sister, the other one called Andrea. They’d both been through foster care, and Eren had met Mikasa and possibly Armin through it, it seems.

Levi has lived by himself for as long as he remembers, seeing as his “guardian” Kenny wasn’t exactly there for him like a proper parent should. Still… There aren’t many people he can think of that get thrown out at sixteen years old… Not in this country. Not in this day and age.

But… then again, the universe kind of has to bend around Eren’s being for anything to make sense.

He reaches Erwin’s house and goes straight to the couch-his couch, of course. Erwin is in the bathroom, getting ready for bed and Levi can’t really care less. Levi could be leaving this place soon. He might never have to sleep on a couch again, and he might have his own actual f*cking house for once. His own space. His own privacy. All because of Eren.

Who’s to say Levi is a stranger now? He knows the kid’s name and practically half his story, and it’s almost the same for Eren. He gets to explain himself though. Next time.

And best of all; Eren doesn’t think he’s creepy. So f*ck you Hanji. And Mike. And Erwin. Everyone can just go f*ck themselves senseless and feel no pleasure whatsoever. Ha.

He fishes out the calendar from underneath the cushion, and finds the ballpoint pen using the weak light from the lamp across the room.

How does he even write down a day like this?

What can he say to immortalize the fact that he sat through a movie with Eren f*cking Jaeger, got to listen to his story, got to eat f*cking Haribo with him and he got to see Eren two days in a row, with the promise of another meeting? The fact that Eren guaranteed his freedom from Erwin?

How the hell does this guy even exist?!

“The day I realized that Eren Jaeger is humanity’s last hope.”

Chapter 7: April 29th

Chapter Text

Levi hasn’t told Erwin that he might be moving out soon. In a way, it kind of feels like Levi is cheating on Erwin, what with the way he‘s going behind his back like this. But they’re not dating. Ew. As if.

Besides, he’s still not had a phone call of any sort since he last saw Eren on Sunday. Granted, it’s only been two days, but what are the chances that Eren might’ve just told him he’d contact him, in the hope that Levi would leave him alone?

Levi likes to think that those chances are slim. But still. It’s better not to tell Erwin until things are sorted out for certain.

He stares out the porche window, leaning into the black leather of the seat. It’s kind of a nice day outside, there might be clouds everywhere, but the sun is shining behind them. That’s probably the best weather they’re going to get this hour. It’ll change soon. Really soon. It’s as though the clouds overhead of Scotland have a mind of their own, what with the way they change the weather so often.

There are people pottering around on the street. At this time on a Tuesday morning, it’s usually only old people and parents that go wandering around uptown. Kids are at school, or well, they should be.

Levi is half daydreaming as he stares outside, thinking about the fact there are stupid brats that skive school when they shouldn’t be taking such things for granted. He jolts into reality when his back pocket buzzes. He retrieves his flip phone and looks at the caller ID.

It’s Eren. There’s a small smile on his lips and his grey eyes widen slightly when he sees this. He answers it, pressing the pick up button and moves it towards his ear.

Now the question is; can Levi have a normal conversation with Eren over the phone?

Levi takes a deep breath in anticipation and says, “H-Hello?”

“Hey! Levi!” A cheerful Scottish voice calls back. “I’m on my break, are you busy right now?”

Is he busy? No, he’s sitting on his ass in Erwin’s expensive, sh*tty car. “I’m not, just on the way to work with Erwin.” he replies.

That.. That actually sounds like a normal reply. Wow. He’s improved. It must be because the fear of sounding stupid, and the fluttering in his stomach combined, makes him only capable of giving short, simple answers. At least it’s working for him. Eren isn’t cringing or mentioning how weird he sounds. That’s a good sign (he shouldn’t have to be looking out for signs like that).

“Right, right, okay. So, yesterday, I managed to get an appointment at the council. You can see a housing officer tomorrow at eleven. Is that okay for you? I can change it if you have work.”

Levi shakes his head. “No, I’m not busy then, that’s my day off.”

‘Smooth, Levi.’ He praises himself.

“Oh really? It’s my day off tommorrow too!” God, his excited voice is so adorable. It should be illegal to sound that happy!

“Where should we meet?” Please say Eren’s house. Levi wants to go to Eren’s house. Please. Please.

There’s a pause on the other side of the line. “… What, you want me to come with you?”

Levi slouches in his seat, frowning to himself. He thought Eren coming with him was a given. Best not to panic. ‘Keep improving, Levi.’

“Yeah, if that’s alright. I have no idea what I’m doing, and you do.” That’s right. Play the sympathy card. That usually works, since Levi rarely uses it. Normally, he just says straight out what he wants and makes sure he gets it.

“Och, it’s my day off anyway. Might as well. Eh… Well, the person should ask you why you’re homeless, and then they have to do a bunch of forms that pretty much all say the same things as what you just said. They’ll tell you about what benefits ye can apply for an’ ah. Is your job part time?”

“Uh, yeah. Twenty hours a week maximum.”

“How much d’ya get paid? Do you have a bank account?”

“Six pounds an hour. And yeah, I do.”

“…Eech, that’s not a lot.”

Levi rolls his eyes, smirking slightly. “Yeah. I don’t even have much saved up either.”

“Ah, well that’s good. I mean, not good, but good. You can’t tell them about any savings you have, otherwise they’ll try to take it all off you. It’s kind of illegal not to tell them, but I did it, and I’m fine. Nobody chased me up or gave a damn. ‘Sides, Andrea told me to do it that way, and she knows best when it comes to that stuff. We could meet outside the council, like, maybe… Ten or fifteen minutes before? The people usually end up being late anyway. Just like dentists and doctors.”

Looks like they won’t be meeting at Eren’s house. He just wanted to see what it looked like… He wants to know if Eren has potted plants or animals and see what his “idiot” roommate’s like. Maybe even just see the outside of wherever it is he lives. He said in the flood zone, right? Levi could visit the area-

Wait. It might be creepy if he goes wandering around to look for Eren’s house. It’s bad enough he tried waiting in the bar for Eren to show up, for almost a month. Levi’s on first name terms with the bar tender now.

The bartender’s called Billy. Billy can make a really mean Jaegerbomb, and Levi has definitely not been ordering them just so he can look at the name on the bottle. It’s in the past now. It’s fine. No-one has to know. And no more Jaegerbombs for him for as long as he lives.

Eren casually mentioned his and his family’s illegal activities. Levi’s not really sure why, but he likes knowing this. He just likes it. He hums happily into the microphone.

“That sounds fine, I’ll probably be early anyway.” Now he just needs to find out where the hell the council office is…

“Ai~” Eren needs to stop making adorable noises when he speaks. It‘s too much for Levi to handle and makes him hide his face under his free hand.

“I’ve gotta go back to work now. Yes, Connie, I heard you. Just give me a minute. Alright, see you outside the council a little bit before eleven?”

Levi nods, then realizes Eren can’t see him. “Uh huh.” is his dumb reply.

There’s shouting in the background and Eren shouts into the microphone. “GUYS I’M ON THE PHONE SHOW SOME DECENCY WOULD IT KILL YOU TO BE QUIET FOR ONE SECOND. I better write that time down. I’m totally gonna forget otherwise. Okay. It’s on my hand. Pens and palms are brilliant things.” Eren chuckles breathily to himself. “Bye, Levi!”

And then everything is silent apart from the cars driving past Erwin‘s car and the hum of the engine.

Levi stares at the screen of his flip phone in front of him, cheeks flushed and his lip trembling slightly. He did it! He finally spoke to Eren like a civilised person! He ends up having to bite back a smile and turn away from Erwin so he can look out the window with glazed eyes, stuffing his phone back into his pocket.

Erwin clears his throat. “It kinda sounds like your odd nature is rubbing off on him already. I could hear that kid’s voice from over here.”

Erwin gasps when he looks over to Levi again, to see him glowering at him unblinkingly from beneath his black fringe. “No, Erwin. We are one and the same kind of person. This is why we are meant to be.”

Erwin leaves him alone after that. And so he should, because Levi can pull a very impressive psychopath face. He learned it from Hanji, though Levi‘s version is more of a demonic glare, whereas Hanji’s version looks like a twisted grin. The Irish man isn’t aware of how often he slips into that face.

Hanji really needs to take some of his own advice. People just don’t grin widely at their grandparent’s funerals and tell everyone to have a good time during the wake.

---

That night, after a long fours hours of work, a packet of pot noodles for dinner and a few hours of staring blankly at the T.V screen later, Erwin has gone to bed and Levi is alone in the near darkness of the living room. In lamplight, he sits on his leather loveseat and retrieves the calendar from under the cushion.

Levi’s decided that hiding the calendar under the couch cushion might be a good idea, seeing as he doesn’t want Eren to find it on the coffee table, should he ever come over. He will, Levi will make sure of that.

And Erwin. He needs to hide the calendar from him. He doesn’t need that blonde hulk of an idiot getting his germs all over his things then making fun of him. Oh, and Hanji too. It’s bad enough he calls Levi out on acting odd in front of Eren.

God knows what he’d do if he knew Levi wrote things about Eren like a love-sick teenager with a diary. But he’s better than that. Levi has a calendar, not a diary. It’s more organised than a diary. More professional looking and less obvious.

The pen can stay on the coffee table, though. It’s inconspicuous and does no harm to his secret. Plus, Levi doesn’t fancy waking up to a broken pen under the cushion and his ass covered in ink one morning.

It’s amazing to know that Eren looked out for him in his own spare time, even if he didn’t contact Levi at all yesterday. It’s far better than having never been in his mind, after all.

In fact, Levi thinks that small gestures like phone calls to organise things are really underappreciated.

Sure, you get phone calls that can last until five in the morning, where both people spill their secrets and can hear each other’s husky morning voices and sleepiness, but…

Levi wants to enjoy small things like phone calls that organise things, until something bigger happens, because it‘s going to take time for anything more to happen. Him and Eren still technically strangers so they don‘t do things like call each other for company. They won’t be strangers for long though. Not if Levi can help it. Whether he intends to help it or not… seeing as his mouth likes to move faster than his common sense.

…Levi has a plan.

Beside the bread box in the kitchen, Erwin has left a black sharpie pen. Levi fetches it, and returns to write on the front of the calendar: “Progress Report”. Levi is sure one day, he’ll look back, and be able to analyse how exactly their relationship progressed, and see the exact chain of events that happened to push things forward.

It’s a brilliant idea. It’s something to look forward to look back on, as ironic as that sounds. And apart from Eren and his hopefully more common visits, Levi doesn’t really have much to look forward to. Apart from finally seeing the last of Erwin when Eren and the council helps him get his own place. That’s definitely something to anticipate.

He finds the ballpoint pen, and finds the calendar page that’s already flipped to April. In the dated box, he writes:

“The day I realized that Eren makes the little things in life -like short phone calls and speech habits and sweet ramblings- matter to me.”

Chapter 8: April 30th

Chapter Text

Levi enters the council office that looks suspiciously like an airport and smells like a hospital, wearing his fabric grey joggers and a matching hoodie which mostly conceals his green top. He’d ended up sleeping for five hours last night. Was that a record? For him, probably. He hadn’t slept like a baby since… well, since he was a baby, simply put. He is well on time for the appointment as the clock on the wall tells him.

Levi sees Eren already slouching in a seat in the cold waiting area, and finds that the view is hypnotic. His bright green eyes compliment his red t-shirt and blue denim jeans hug his legs just right. Eren turns to Levi, perfect mouth forming a smile until he notices something and his expression darkens. At least he isn’t running away…

Levi wanders up to him, sitting beside him and casually reaching his arm across the back of Eren’s chair.

“Hey. Y’alright?” he asks politely.

Levi crosses his legs. Eren looks back at him with a determined frown and hunches his shoulders away from Levi‘s arm. Eren’s cheeks are too cute and pink and round to let Levi look away. His lips are supple looking and angrily pursed like a bristling kitten-

Eren clicks his tongue. “Levi, I didn’t know you supported Celtic.” That’s a greeting Levi’s never heard before, that’s for sure.

There’s a trail of Goosebumps making their way up Levi’s arm at Eren’s aggressive tone.

Levi shuffles in his seat. “Your eyes are greener than my top. That’s actually impressive.”

There’s a pause as Eren’s eyebrows twitch in confusion and his mouth opens slightly, only to close again.

Levi continues, “At first, I just thought, okay so both are pretty green but yours are really, really green. I’m not sure how many levels of green there are, but your colour of green is at the top. Really high up, you know? Speaking of which, there’s a newspaper over there on that stand. Could you grab it for me?” Levi points to the stand where newspapers are placed in the shelf near the top.

He could’ve gotten the newspaper himself, but it’s worth the puzzled look on Eren’s face and the glimpse of his tan ass crack when Eren reaches out to get said newspaper.

And it sure beats football sectarianism in the middle of a council building. Levi had had to deal with that more times that he would’ve liked back in high school. He’d even been separated from Ranger’s supporters because of his shirt. The teachers had gone as far as putting conflicting supporters into different classes. There’d been a whole law banning strips in schools too, and in prisons.

Levi shuffles the flimsy paper in his hands. He frowns as he flicks through it, skipping the dodgy, p*rnographic pictures that you always get on page three in the Northern Scot Newspaper.

The first time he saw the naked, woman with heaving chebs on that page at the tender age of eleven; he knew for sure that he was gay.

“Someone took the job and entertainment section. All I’m left with is some sh*tty story about the new school that’s going to be built in Elgin, the Commonwealth games and Referendum crap. Independence… What’s your take on it, Ere-”

“Yes. I’m voting yes. Scotland has to become independent.” Eren stares him down, emerald eyes suddenly burning with fearsome beauty.

So Eren is pro-independence, huh? Not bad, not bad at all kid. Levi doesn’t really know about politics, but he can tell that Eren probably does. And since Eren can be smart, his take on the referendum is probably an informed choice.

There are little dots of yellow dotting the green and a ring of dark blue around his iris that Levi never noticed before. Huh. The yellow reminds Levi of a lemon ice-lolly. Especially with Eren’s intense gaze making the inside of his mouth dry up and his body tense from the close attention. Zesty. He slowly licks his lips and Eren looks away with redness burning on the apples of his cheeks.

“We need to be more individual, have more freedom, you know? People say Scotland’s an annoying teenager and England is the big parent. ‘s what it feels like anyway. They‘re caging us in like livestock and letting us have the canny Conservatives rule the U.K, even though we voted for Labour and the S.N.P.”

Levi shrugs his shoulders and looks towards the reception. Eren’s views remind him of Hanji’s drunken rambles and furniture throwing habits when he rants about the Northern Irish. “That’s just life, pal.”

Levi’s name is called out by a middle aged woman beside the reception after a few minutes of silence. She even looks like a councillor, with glasses and a tidy, neat bun and a pencil skirt. How sad must that be, to have your life be told instantly, just by how you look? Levi hopes his appearance doesn’t say much about him.

Levi jolts and he’s thrown out his thoughts when Eren taps his shoulder. He’s been staring at Eren. (Eh. He’s probably used to it by now anyway).

They walk along the hallway, and then make themselves comfortable in the little office; sitting on two crappy plastic chairs while the woman gets a comfy swivel chair.

Levi turns green at the unorganized mess of papers on the desk. And on the shelves and even on the goddamn floor. After a little while of introductions, Levi has learnt that the councillor’s name is Claire.

Eventually, Levi is asked to tell Claire why he’s homeless.

But see, he won’t just be telling Claire, because Eren’s in the room as well and that worries him a lot more than he thought. Apparently his apprehension shows, because Eren shifts on his seat timidly.

“Ah, um. I can leave if you want, Levi. Everything you say will be confidential with Claire, right?” Claire agrees with him.

A film strip of recollections filters through Levi’s mind; memories of the day when he’d taken Eren into the shop, and afterwards Eren had been annoyed that Levi had talked about his life.

Maybe rambling non-stop for three minutes solid hadn’t been the best attempt of an equal conversation. Yeah. Over eager doesn‘t even begin to describe how he felt that day, talking about everything he could. He doesn’t really like telling people about his past because there‘s not much to it. But ironically, when you get Levi talking about it; he just doesn’t stop.

He swallows slowly, remembering the month after that day, spent trying to find Eren in the pub and out on the streets of Trost. He remembers how Eren had leapt and actually ran away when he’d seen Levi again.

“You don’t… have to stay. I know you don’t like hearing about my life. It’s fine.” He kinda wants to tell Eren about his life though, since Eren told him about his. It’s fair.

Eren’s eyes widen in sympathy. “Hey, what makes you think that?”

Levi mimes reading the words in thin air, pointing at it with a finger as he reads in deadpan, “’I swear he was trying to tell me his whole life story and I didn’t even know his name. Hell, he didn’t even know his own name.’ Sound familiar by any chance?”

Does Levi sound uptight? Probably.

Eren’s eyes flicker to the table with a flash of dread and his adam‘s apple bobs thickly. “I wasn’t aware that you heard that.” Then as an after thought he adds, “Sorry.”

Levi hums in reply, staring Eren down with a glare, then catches himself fantasizing inappropriate things, including “proper apologies” in the bedroom, and shakes his head.

“Whatever.” Eren’s hands are visibly shaking in his lap. He rests a hand over them with his eyebrows quirking in surprise. “I told you, it’s fine.”

When he lifts his hand away, after a moment too long of lingering in Eren’s warmth and Eren squirms, he digs his nails into his own palm to see if that’ll numb the electric tingling sensation. Nope. Still tingling, the same way the aftertaste of lemon prickles the inside of your mouth. Levi eats lemons when he gets the chance, and takes pride in the fact that his face doesn’t screw up.

“Okay folks; story time.” he starts abruptly so that Eren will be distracted. Are they ready? Sit tight, boys and girls.

“I was born in Glasgow, Calton, raised there by my mum’s friend since mum died when I was born. My dad had been a one night stand, and had dropped off the face of the earth; so being looked after by Kenny it was. He wasn’t so bad at first, taught me to talk and gave me food, sh*t like that. But he started neglecting me when I was about fourteen. Went out to work or got drunk with his pals, whatever. I don’t know.”

Levi doesn’t know and he doesn’t care; but he still really hates that man for giving him an early adulthood on top of the sh*tty, poverty stricken environment they’d lived in.

Kenny clearly got a steady income; seeing as he was renown for always having a fully loaded revolver in his back pocket and dealt similar weapons. That part has nothing to do with Levi though. He’s made sure of that.

Eren looks interested, that’s good. Better than good.

“I messed around on the streets, pick pocketing rich people with a gang that I was apparently the leader of. I made friends with the lady down the street from mine who took pity on me after I tried to mug her. Erwin’s mum.”

He looks pointedly at Eren, smirking slightly since he’d met the idiot and Eren smiled at him, apparently relieved at his change of tune.

“Since Kenny was never home, I let her baby me from time to time. Then Erwin decided he’d look after me when he got old enough and tried to adopt me.”

He almost laughs at the memory of Erwin begging him to let him adopt him, saying he’d be the best adopted family ever and started spouting about how they could get a dog and a picket fence like in the movies. Then Levi had told him that adoption was how gay people got married, and Erwin stopped harassing him about it. For a while.

“When that didn’t work, Erwin got himself on the housing list and went to college. I did my jobs and started living by myself in my old house. Then Erwin got this brilliant idea when he got his house and left school. He packed one plastic Tesco bag with everything I owned and dumped me in the back of his car.

When we got there he told me ‘Hey Levi, you’re living with me now’. And by that, he meant sleeping on his couch. Three months in, and my relationship with that couch is still going strong. We’re living not-so-happily ever after. The end.”

Levi can’t help but roll his eyes in exasperation. “Who’s up for the epilogue? Better yet, the sequel?”

Hey, on the bright side, at least he didn’t go off topic. That’s good enough for him. And it seems to be good enough for Eren, because his shoulders are shaking. Wait. Levi tilts his head to see his face.

That little sh*t is f*cking laughing.

“What’s so funny, brat? Does my life amuse you that much?” He’s glad though, because Eren’s apparent light heartedness is better than him leaving for good.

Eren gasps, trying to contain his laughter, cheeks flushed bright red and eyes shining. “It’s… not it’s not the story. Just the bitty at the end. I can imagine Erwin saying that.” He wipes tears of laughter from his cheeks.

“Oh jeez. Sorry, lass. Didna mean to get so caught up.” Eren clamps his mouth together and his lips tremble from hiding giggles.

In the end, Levi gets a form and makes another appointment so he can hand it in again the next day or whenever. He’s told that since his case is in fact serious, like Eren predicted, he’ll most likely get into a homeless hostel or a bed and breakfast within a week. Eren looks a little stunned by the end of the session.

“You’re… you don’t act like you’re twenty three Levi.” That’s what he says when Levi tells Claire how old he is. Levi’s a nineties kid; hell yeah.

They stand outside the building for a while. Levi doesn’t really want to go, and scuffs his feet off the sandstone coloured slabs beneath him. Eren asks him about Kenny, but Levi can’t really tell him much more than what he already has.

Eren nods understandingly. “Hmm, that’s kind of the same for me and Andrea. I lived with her for like… eight years, and I still barely know a thing about her.”

The council building looms over them both, startlingly white against the ancient buildings around them. Buildings like the museum down the road, the gentlemen’s club that looks like a castle, the old bike shop just beside it and the houses that were built in the fifties.

It starts to rain, even though the sky had been bright blue earlier. It still is actually. Weird. Levi’s caught up thinking about how he doesn’t want to go, about how they’re lingering outside, almost as if Eren doesn’t want to go either. Eren glances up at him with a small smile, looking fair affronted.

He’s f*cking melting at that smile.

“You know, I actually met Mikasa in a similar way to how I met you. Found her on the streets, or well, she found me and I dumped my scarf on her, told her to come with me, since I’d seen her a couple of times on that same street corner for two days.”

“You haver, and say the most random sh*t, but I reckon I could come across creepier people. Like Jean. He does this face and I swear to god it’s the…” Eren shudders and makes a disgusted noise. “No, you know what, I can’t even tell ya how bouffin’ it is.”

Eren’s eyes lock on his and Levi has to ignore the heat crawling up his neck. “Give me a call if you need me, yeah? We’re cool. And I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you again, last time was actually kinda decent. I got free food and who the hell rejects free food? It‘s a god send!” he flashes his teeth and his eyes crinkle childishly.

Levi looks at the ground, contemplating that and thinking about Hanji‘s curries. “Hmm. I’ll let you know if we cook anything worth mentioning again.” Knowing Erwin’s pretty eat-the-breid, it might have to depend on Levi’s own cooking skills because Erwin will probably try to feed Eren rabbit food.

“I’ll help you move out too, I’ve got boxes if you- Or no, wait, it might be better to get you a food parcel? The hostel should provide stuff like furniture, but it’s only temporary. You’re gonna need a sh*t load of stuff when you get a place of your own. Lots of paperwork to fill out and places to go. Oh, and don‘t be too surprised if they move you out of town. Just take what you can get.”

What.

Levi doesn’t like it when Eren has to leave but he likes to watch him go.

Actually, no he doesn’t.

That ass might be nice, but it isn’t quite in focus and that makes it lose its initial appeal. He squints. Still can’t see. Damn it. Eren blurs from his vision and disappears.

Great. Now Levi needs to go to an optician. Maybe Eren likes the glasses type. If he doesn’t, there are always contacts.

It probably doesn’t help his eyesight when he sits on his black couch with only the lamp across the room to help him see. Erwin still hasn’t come home. He’ll probably come back drunk. Ooh, Levi could clean until he comes back, now that he’s not in the way. He usually cleans when he’s in a good mood. Or anytime he can.

Levi’s bowl of rice that he made is sitting stubbornly on the coffee table and Levi doesn’t really want to eat it anymore. It’s too rice-y. Bleh.

He writes a short sentence with a ballpoint pen that has already made its mark on his middle finger, and fantasizes about things as he attempts to sleep afterwards.

Those fantasies vary from tracking down Kenny and kissing Eren. Not the most likely combination of thoughts… But… Let’s just say there’s a lot of ways to spend ten hours when you’re not sleeping. (And no, he’s not a claw baw)

We owe it to each other to tell stories… Even if they’re just our own.”

Chapter 9: May 2nd

Chapter Text

There’s some kind of unknown buzz coursing through Levi’s body. He marches out the red pillared library and into the clouding over light of day, having finished applying to the waiting list for a house. He finds it a little pointless, seeing as he’s going to be going to a hostel.

But then again, Eren did only say it was temporary, that he might not even get to stay in Trost…

The new housing officer he met the day he returned the form council office told him that it was temporary as well, and on top of that; she explained what kind of benefits he could apply for, where he was likely to go and they talked about his life story again. The housing officer, Emily, said that she thought the Smiths were sweet and ‘very kind people’ for helping him out and that Levi was “an intelligent young man”.

But really, if Levi was actually intelligent, he might actually have a decent career like Hanji’s teaching for disabled children and Mike’s sculpting commissions and Erwin’s freaking assistant manager status.

But no; Levi is stuck as a cashier, earning a mere £120 a week. If even that. Levi almost cried when he saw the price of the rent for some of the hostels that are in Trost. All of them were more than his wages, but thankfully he can apply for housing benefit which pays for it until he finds a full time job.

Since he’s living with Erwin and gets paid that little amount for his part time job; Erwin completely pays for the rent, but Levi chips in for food (not that he actually eats a lot of it) and buys his own drinks and clothes. Whenever he can though, Levi saves up what little he has in order to achieve his 2014 goal and Erwin always insists on buying him stuff.

With the online application, he was able to pick the houses in Trost only, so he can stay here with Eren (there’s no way he’s going to let them be separated by any kind of distance, regardless of what he‘s offered).

He ambles along the red-purple pavement, glancing over the deserted expanse of grass called Maria Park, the children’s play area peeking out just ever so slightly over the small hill that hides it, and finds that his gaze lands on a small group of men crowding beside the pond. A duck innocently waddles up to them from the pond in the hopes of food, only to be shooed away.

It was by luck that Erwin didn’t pick him up today (i.e. Erwin was told to f*ck off so that Levi could concentrate in peace at the library, by himself) and Levi finds that he’s glad that the blonde’s absence allows for Levi to delve into the world of spontaneity and tune in further to that buzz that makes him feel alive and ready for all kinds of sh*t.

Ever since finishing (read: failing) his exams in May 2007 Levi’s life has lacked the routine he used to rely on as an anchor and since then his life has become much more interesting.

Well, if becoming a bin man and doing other odd jobs and then being taken hostage by your close-to-being brother and finally meeting the love of your life in said town of being held hostage all counts as being interesting, that is…

Oh, and add ‘getting involved in a fight’ to that list.

“YOU GIANT PEST!”

Yeah. Ready for “all kinds of sh*t”. He retracts that statement.

Eren’s war cry echoes throughout the park as he shouts and starts throwing punches. At least, Levi assumes that it’s Eren because no-one else he’s ever met has eyes that gleaming shade of green or that odd an accent. (Except for Hanji… Levi barely understands him half the time, though he‘s damn ugly and his eyes are hazel)

There’s four other guys circling around Eren, Levi counts as he runs over to the gathering at the pond. All of them are taller than Eren and yet he’s the one madly trying to put up a fight, while the rest of them try to hold him back.

They think they can restrain Eren like that? Hold him powerless so they can take advantage of his weakness?

Think again, assholes.

Levi’s not actually the best in fights. After all, his gang were all about theft, subtlety and running away from angry victims and shop keepers. But nevertheless, Levi sprints right up to them and drop kicks the one restraining Eren by the arms as he squirms and bares his teeth like a snarling wolf.

It’s all a blur after that. Someone grabs his forearm, which he manages to twist out of their grip and pins their arm round their back while Eren pivots out the caging arms, brown hair shining as he spins, and skilfully punches-hell, is he poking them with the tips of his fingers?-the guys ahead of him in the stomach and neck like he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Oh yeah; Eren told Mikasa on the phone that he was a black belt in Taekwondo. Wow. He can sure as hell taekwondo Levi any day. But maybe now’s not the time to pop a boner.

Levi pushes the guy he was holding back to the ground (f*cking filthy and wet mud, ugh. How the hell will he get that stain out?? There‘s goes his boner), straddles the man’s back and grabs his leg up so that he’ll stretch a muscle dangerously.

Just as Levi starts asking “Why the hell were ya picking on Eren?!” and grabbing the guy’s greasy brown hair to turn his face, he gets a boot to the face and everything goes black.

He can’t concentrate on anything from the searing pain in his face that makes his teeth feel like they‘re only glued there and makes his eyes sting with salt water. The rest of his body goes limp and suddenly he’s on the ground, the other guy moving underneath him, stands and kicks Levi in the ribs so that he quietly whines in agony.

Levi grits his teeth, blood soaring to his fist in a burning rage, and he somehow manages to blindly stumble up and punch the douche in the face, grabbing his hair again so he can knee the f*cking dirtbag in the stomach while the other three watch on the ground with blank expressions and Eren rushes over to him.

But he can’t see them, not really, and it isn’t enough even when the guy drops, limply staying vertical due to Levi’s grip on his hair until he drops like the piece of sh*t down a toilet that he is.

He’s kneeling before Levi who kicks his face in, darkly colouring one side of his face with grotesque bruises that had better last a f*cking lifetime (and not the UK version of lifetime which is only thirty years for prison time, but something more like eighty years) and he hears the crack of one of his crooked yellow teeth breaking and flying away into the long green grass.

Levi only stops when Eren crashes into his undamaged side and pushes him away from the scene, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along the grassy field like their lives depend on it.

But it’s not like it does. When Levi looks back, the group of guys are just staring back at them in shock and point blank horror, like they scarcely missed being hit by a bullet. But by now they know that Levi is way more dangerous than any damn f*cking bullet.

Or, he would be dangerous, but there’s a warmth trickling down his face that he licks absentmindedly until he dry heaves at the taste, feels the acid scorching his throat as he tries to gag, and a man with barely kept sobs that leak through his wheezing pants, dragging Levi to find a place to hide.

Over the field, past a bunch of big ass pine trees, past the red library, past the other library that got burned down but is still there as a boarded up, vandalised landmark, and towards the unfenced corner of a cathedral that stands separate from the rest of the ruins.

Levi hisses as the sandstone scrapes his shins and Eren gestures for him to climb up, nudging his foot with his hand to give him a boost up (and no it’s not because Levi’s short and can’t reach high enough).

He walks along a tightrope of stone to a platform, swaying in dizziness from the blood and collapses onto the grey area, shuffling along with a low groan so that Eren can climb up too. They both fall, backs hitting the concrete platform with a thud.

“What the ever loving f*ck just happened?” Levi pants, wincing as he tries to turn to face Eren and instead just stares up at the darkening spring sky.

Eren pauses for a while, controlling his breathing, before hesitantly chuckling. “W-we won a fight.”

“And why were we fighting?”

“Well, I was just showing them what’s what and you came in from absolutely nowhere and beat the sh*t out of that guy. You would’ve killed him if I hadn’t stopped you.”

Are they back to square one where Eren is terrified of Levi? No, no they’re not, they’re at level minus one because Levi’s kind of scared for Eren. Maybe even a little scared of Eren, as weird as that might be. Eren looked hot when he was fighting… but also beautiful in a terrifying kind of way.

“’Showing them what’s what‘?”

Levi lifts a hand to his face, immediately regretting the decision when he pulls it away to see his pale fingers dripping crimson. He shudders violently. Blood is something he can’t really handle. Even more so than mould.

He gags again in an attempt to keep the metal stench from affecting his stomach, despite already feeling the acid in his throat, and squeezes his eyes shut, focusing on his own ragged breathing. Eren’s is even worse and his voice cracks when he hurriedly speaks again.

“Yeah, they were like, ‘You look like a ‘no voter’. M-mind if you h-help us hand out these leaflets telling people why they sh-shouldn’t vote yes? And then I was like ‘Yeah but I’m a yes voter’ and they just said ‘O-oh well, we’ll change your mind s-soon enough’ as though they’re all together and going to make the world a… a f*cking better place and it just PISSED ME OFF!”

Eren gasps after shouting, growling deep in his throat and Levi looks from the corner of his eyes to see Eren with his arm covering his sniffling mouth and nose, tears streaming alarmingly quickly down his contorted face. Levi gulps audibly, unsure of who’s to blame in this situation, but Eren doesn’t hear.

“C-come on Lee-Levi. I’ll take ye hame so we can wash your f-face, I’m so sorry, I wasnae thinking’-”

“Aw wheest, let’s just go you wankpiece.” Levi snaps at him because the blood is going in his eye and it’s making him really uncomfortable. But even so, Eren helps him down without another word, sniffling all the while and pouting to stop his mouth from trembling.

It occurs to Levi after a few minutes of stumbling along a putty coloured pavement that he isn’t headed in the direction of his house. His eyes close as he realises they’re going to Eren’s house.

At some point the realises that the darkness he sees isn’t from behind his eyes, and that it’s from the leather of the interior of a black porche. Captain America is looming over him, ducking his head beneath the open car door. Levi whines childishly and finishes with a drawn out groan of despair.

“Aw sh*te.” He’d been this close to seeing Eren‘s house!

“It’s okay. You’re fine now. Eren told me what happened.” his blonde eyebrows burrow. “Are you sure it’s safe to be around that kid? You don’t know who he is and who he hangs around with. And if he attracts trouble like this, then-”

“He brought me to his house.” Levi reaches to touch his face, finds no blood and sighs in relief, flushing at the sound. “He even cleaned my face. Erwin, he cleaned my face.”

Levi straightens up, and catches a glimpse of himself in the rear-view mirror. His eyes widen. “It’s up to my standards, holy sh*t.”

There’s a few bandages on his head and plasters on his face, but you can’t even see the shadow of the blood peering through and holy hell is Levi thankful for that. He can feel the antiseptic burning a little, but only so much that it keeps him awake and alert.

“Did I pass out?”

“Yeah. Eren carried you and called me. He also wants to know what a ‘wankpiece’ is. I didn’t really have the heart to tell him you were insulting him so I just told him you were talking nonsense.”

Levi rolls his eyes, thankful that it doesn’t hurt to do so.

“Whatever. I’m gonna be sleeping this off in your Wanking Chariot tonight though. You can have the Puke Couch.” Erwin just shakes his head and sits in he driver’s seat.

That night, Levi pretty much crawls- fully clothed, mud and all- into Erwin’s bed in exhaustion, too tired to even remember about his secretly kept calendar under the couch cushion and falls asleep without writing in it. However, his last thought before he goes to sleep is:

“Does beating people up with Eren count as bonding?”

Chapter 10: May 3rd

Chapter Text

Levi wonders if Eren had a nursing degree of some sort, or if his cleaning abilities as a janitor surpass those of cleaning floors.

No, but seriously.

Staring at his pale face for a few minutes in the mirror, bandages discarded in preparation of his shower and dirty clothes sitting on the closed toilet seat, he’s kind of amazed at the magic his face has undergone. He thought for sure that that boot to the face would leave a scar, or even just a bruise. But no; there’s nothing.

It kind of… exceeds Levi’s standards. What even…?

Shivering from the cool morning air, he turns on the shower, waiting for it to heat up before going in and washing away the small remainders of his war wounds. Four guys against two! What a way to make a statement in this small town.

A little while later, when he’s leaving his damp hair to dry naturally and in a fresh set of clothes, he trudges to the living room and sits on his leather couch, remembering about his calendar when he sees the pen on the coffee table.

Stretching his muscles that aren‘t as sore as they usually are, he shifts to the side in order to lift the cushion up to retrieve his calendar. Idly thinking about how he’ll probably steal Erwin’s bed more often, even if it does smell weird. Come to think of it, where is Erwin? Levi’s hand only meets the fabric of the inner material. Nothing. No glossy paper hits his hand. His eyes widen fearfully.

Standing up frantically he heaves the cushion up and throws it away, not caring when it knocks something over.

Levi’s carrying that calendar to his grave; no one can ever see it-

And then, like it’s the most f*cking natural thing in the world, he sees Hanji sitting upside down on the Puke Couch, reading his calendar like its some god damn broadsheet newspaper. Hanji’s glasses are sitting on his head, but no, they won’t be there for long, not if Levi can help it.

“GIVE IT BACK.” he stomps over to Hanji. “OI, sh*tty glasses!”

Hanji shushes him obnoxiously, rolling off of the couch from his position in one fell backward swoop onto the floor, like a pro gymnast.

“Ssh, I’m studying your stalker tendencies! Just one more f*ckin’ minute and I’ll have it fully analysed!”

“NO.” He snatches the glasses off of Hanji’s head, holding them out of his reach, not that he’s even looking at Levi. “I’ll snap them in half.”

Hanji bolts upright and bares his teeth as he crawls towards Levi. “Go hifreann leat you sunovabitch!” Hanji abandons the calendar and crawls around him, attempting to climb onto him and pull him down.

“What the hell does that even mean?!” Levi throws away his glasses and crouches down the pick up his calendar when suddenly he’s being attacked by Hanji’s full weight and pinned to the floor.

Hanji pins his arms down and spits in his face. “GIVE THEM BACK! COIMHEAD FEARG FHEAR NA FOIGHDE!!!”

“THEY’RE OVER THERE! f*ck OFF! STOP SPEAKING IN TONGUES YOU SATANIST!” His struggles under the weight of the freaking heavy Irishman, gagging at the awful stench of his breath. Morning breath ugh.

“NOT ‘TIL I’M DONE WI’ YE!”

“I f*ckIN’ SAID I DON’T HAVE THEM!”

“EIREANN GO BRACH!” Hanji screams as he dives off of Levi and onto the floor, putting his glasses back on as though he’s making a point. Then he flips the coffee table and sneers viciously at Levi. Sticks his tongue out like he hasn‘t just made a mess of the living room.

They have a small stare off. Levi likes to think he wins because Hanji’s eyes swiftly clear up and he blinks with hazel eyes back at Levi.

“I can conclude that you are completely f*cked.” he lies down on the middle of the floor, completely ignoring the overturned coffee table. “And you are officially a stalker with bad intentions. God help that poor boy.”

The heat crawls up Levi’s neck and he sits up, crossing his arms after throwing the calendar back onto the couch. He sets the coffee table upright, picking p Erwin’s documents that had fallen off.

“If I had bad intentions then-” Suddenly a noise emits from his phone in his trouser pocket which he takes out. It’s Eren. He smiles gleefully. “Eren wouldn’t be calling me.”

Hanji protests and it hits him like a cold, wet slap in the face when he realizes. ‘Oh sh*t, Eren’s calling him. Again!’

Levi flips the phone open, biting his lip. He stares into nothing as his stomach falls and does flips along the way. “Ha-hello?”

“LEVI!” He jumps at the loud voice coming through the speaker. “I AM SO SORRY FOR YE-YESTERDAY. Please let me make it up to you?! Um, we can get lunch and I c-can ‘pologise in person? If you‘re not too beat up?”

Is… is Eren asking him out on a date?

All the blood leaves Levi’s face and even Hanji’s eccentricity evaporates in favour of a concerned expression. ‘What is it?’ He mouths, crawling over to Levi so he can listen in to the conversation. Levi swats him away, hand shaking from nerves.

“U-um, s-sure. Make it up; make it down to me, sure. Lunch, food, a c-café? Eh, I‘m not died, uh, dead, but I‘m practically in heaven-” Hanji’s roughly cupping his face in his hands. ‘Relax.’ He mouths, and it dawns on him that he’s so glad that Hanji’s here.

Well. No. Actually he’s not glad because Hanji’s annoying Levi with his putrid smell, greasy hair and hands that will probably leave red marks on his face which he’s currently squashing like you would with a baby. Levi glares darkly at him, then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Yeah. Okay. We can get lunch. Um. I have work at one o’clock though…”

Eren somehow sounds disappointed and relieved at the same time. “Ai~, well, maybe another day?”

Levi’s eyes shoot open and he gestures frantically in mid air. “No. I mean, we can go out early. Brunch. Time is it…”

He lifts the phone from his face. It’s half past nine. How long did he sleep for, last night? The sun was up when he woke up… Wow…

“Half nine, er… I can meet you in two hours?” Two hours. Two hours?? HOW THE HELL IS HE GOING TO GET READY IN JUST TWO HOURS FOR A DATE??!

A breathy chuckle emits from the phone and he blushes, suddenly feeling small. “That sounds great! How about we meet at Greggs bakery in the high street? They have tables, and their food is pretty decent. Saver menu deal an‘ all.”

“Aha, sounds great.” He says flatly, still completely zoned out at the thought of what the hell he should wear and-

“See you then, Levi!”

There’s a beep. Aaand Eren’s voice is gone. Hanji starts to snort, the sound making its way through his mouth until it’s a full blown belly laugh and he’s clutching his sides and rolling on the floor. As soon as it started, he stops laughing and moves directly in front of Levi.

“You’re well and truly f*cked.”

Levi gulps, remembering Eren’s husky laugh on the phone and shudders pleasantly. “I’m not sure that I want to be un-f*cked.” he cheeses.

He lets out a shaky sigh. An. Actual. Date. Lunch with Eren! It’s practically sitcom worthy. Levi would make a fine T.V show character. Levi stares at the phone in his unmoving hand and grimaces. He reeeeally doesn’t want to. But. He may have to. A last resort, seeing as Hanji’s tactics usually work in making Levi appear more normal… Don’t they?

“Can you help me out?”

Hanji frowns. “Eh? With what?”

“Get ready for my date.”

The face of the man in front of him falls and his eyebrows crease upwards as he pouts sadly. “Oh, Levi, no, I don’t think he meant it like that.”

Lost in his own day dreams, Levi nods curtly to himself. “I’m going to get him flowers. I’ll wear a suit.”

He can see it now; Eren looking at him when they meet at Greggs, all sleek and black and a perfect match for Eren’s white outfit… Church bells not too far ahead and a house full of cleaning supplies awaiting them both…

He bounces up and marches towards the door, picking up his spare key and tucking his phone into his jean pocket.

“LEVI! No! You’re not getting out of this flat!” Hanji crawls after him through the hallway, tugging at his trouser leg.

“Would you let me go? If you’re not helping, I sure as f*ck need to sort myself out.”

“IT’S NOT A DATE! IT’S JUST FRIENDLY!”

Levi scoffs at him, putting on his shoes at the front door while Hanji clings to him. “f*ck that, I’m still getting him flowers.”

“NO!”

Levi opens the door, dragging Hanji along with him until he stamps on his head with a glower fearsome enough to make a buff boxer run away screaming. He knows. He’s practiced this look. But of course, it has no effect on Hanji, who continues to clamber after him down the stairwell.

“MIKE!” Hanji hollers as he follows Levi down the stairs in a brisk walk, not moving faster unless Levi does. Levi starts to sprint. “HELP ME GET LEVI HE’S RUNNING AWAY!”

As he walks outside, he hears Mike grumbling at Hanji in the entrance to the flats. “What’s with all the noise? You smell agitated.”

“Oh Mike, you know how he is, right?” Hanji leans against the door. “Go follow him and makes sure he doesn’t f*ck things up anymore than he already has.”

A few hours later, Levi walks towards Gregg’s bakery in the high street with a cheap bouquet of flowers from Tesco. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to find a suit (not that he could even afford one in the first place) however he did manage to find a nice olive green, chequered shirt from a charity shop to wear over his black t-shirt. And luckily for him, the blue jeans that he had on weren’t worn out at the ends. He hasn’t seen Mike. Good. It should stay that way. Still, he’s wondering how on earth he’s able to hide himself so discreet-

Looking inside the window of Greggs, he sees a huge figure in a dark coat, face hiding behind a newspaper as he hunches over the table -in the centre of the shop- eyeing Levi with a piercing blue eyed gaze. Grimacing at Mike’s idiocy, Levi rolls the sleeves of his shirt up, wanting to show off his forearms despite the cold. He sighs heavily, leaning against the building as he clutches the flowers to his chest and closes his eyes.

He may have taken one flower out the bouquet along the way and played “he loves me, he loves me not” with one of the big ass daisies. Along the way a little boy went up to him as he walked down the street and asked him why Levi was talking to himself and torturing a flower. Levi just shook his head at the child and walked away. Kids these days.

Right then there’s a scuffle of shoes and his eyes shoot open, body shifting upright in the direction of what he hopes is a familiar head of brown hair and green eyes. There’s warmth in the pit of his stomach when he sees Eren’s face and his chest hitches when he sees that Eren has flowers too!

Then he notices…

They both have the exact same bouquet of flowers.

He raises an eyebrow, smirking ever so slightly. “Well, one of us is going to have to change.”

Eren’s face is blank for a moment and he doubles up in laughter. Levi suppresses a dopey grin, biting his lip, at the sight of Eren’s beaming face.

“That’s not even the right context. But whatever, let’s go inside and pretend this isn’t awkward at all.” Eren flushes as talks, scratching his head and hiding his face.

Awkward? It’s rather sweet, actually. Great minds think alike, after all. Lover’s intuition. Next thing he knows they’ll be finishing each other’s sentences…

Ah. That is… Unless Eren means that it’s awkward because this isn’t a date. But, he has flowers and asked him out to lunch…

To apologize, Hanji would say.

He groans inwardly, hanging his head back and trying not to feel mortified.

A few minutes later, Levi has a flapjack sitting in front of him because he’s never heard of them and Eren tells him that they’re nice, and hey; Eren’s paying, so why the hell not. Go for it, Levi. Poison yourself with the foreign food. Might as well, seeing as he thought this was actually a date.

At the table, he sits opposite Eren who has a sandwich and a bottle of orange juice, looking around at the tartan strips of wallpaper lining the wall, remembering all too well about what Hanji said about him staring. And talking too much. And sitting too close. And being himself. He should really try and not be himself. Be like Erwin! Hanji said. Yeah, well Hanji can go to f*ck.

Even so, he reminds himself half-heartedly that Hanji had been right about this not being a date and that maybe he should leave it to Eren to do the talking.

“Uh so, why did you get me flowers? I got you some to apologise for yesterday, but um, why did you…?”Eren asks with a confused grimace.

Quick Levi, improvise.

“I got them for your grandmother.”

Eren stares blankly at him, and when Levi tries to make eye contact, he fails miserably because Eren’s got that intense gaze thing going on and yeah he’s not really good at dealing with that.

Bad idea. When has Eren even mentioned his grandmother??

“I mean, I got them because you uh, you cleaned me up. Took my sorry ass to your house. And all that jazz.” Levi doesn’t look at Eren and decides to glower at Mike, who’s moved a few tables closer to them. Eren hasn’t noticed the abominable idiot shadow-man, much to his relief.

Levi ducks his head down and begins to text Hanji under the table.

“S.O.S Not a date, conversation topics?? Can I look at him? Or would that be weird? Can I tell him he looks pretty? He does. He looks pretty damn hot, like, I‘m pretty sure he could beat Johnny Depp in a beauty contest.”

It takes him a full five minutes to type it out, thanks to his incompetence in technology. Eren’s eyebrows are furrowed when he looks back up -he lets himself look- and he diverts his gaze to the tablecloth. Déjà vu, much?

“Who are you texting?” Eren asks, and is that a hint of contempt in his voice? Ooh is he jealous? That’s not what Levi’s going for, I mean, he’s trying to make sure Eren can read his intentions but at the same time not because if Eren knew he thought that this was a date then… Yeah…

“Hanji. Remember the thing you met at Erwin’s, uh, my place?” he mumbles to the plain tablecloth and clutches his hands together timidly, feeling his cheeks burn in humiliation because heeeelp what does he do??

“Oh yeah, I remember him. He didn’t talk much to me much.” Thankfully, Eren doesn’t read too much into it or ask if they‘re dating (Ew). “How did it go with the housing officer? I think you got a different one from the first, is that right?”

“Uh huh.”

“And… you’ll still be getting a place within a week.”

“Yup.”

“…”

“…”

“I’m uh, gonna go take a sh*t.” Ugh. UGH. What is Levi even doing with his life? Someone kill him now.

“Bathroom’s that way.” Eren points to the left with his thumb, hiding his face in his other palm in what must be embarrassment.

“T-Thanks.” he darts out his chair, almost sending the whole table flying until Eren catches it.

“It’s alright… I got it. Just don’t… hurt yourself.”

Levi passes a fat, rosy cheeked man in a suit on the way to the toilet, thinks to himself, “Wow he genuinely looks like a pig.” Then said man walks into the woman’s bathroom. Levi heads inside the men’s bathroom in an awful attempt to escape reality.

Hanji still hasn’t replied. That bitch! After all they’ve been through… these past three months… and he doesn’t even have the heart to help Levi out in his most dire moment of need! If he says ‘you should’ve stayed in the flat’ he will rip Hanji’s throat into three pieces. Three pieces, because the more precise you are about your threats, the more seriously the person is likely to take them.

After ten minutes of calming down and not taking a sh*t (because he would stink if he actually did take a sh*t) he washes his hands and walks back towards the table. He figures ‘hey, if Hanji’s not here to tell me what to do, I might as well discard the ‘advice’ I’ve been given and do my own thing’. After all, Eren’s stuck with him for this long. Which reminds him: he needs to add an extra entry to the calendar to make up for the one he missed yesterday.

“So.” Levi abruptly sits down at the table, raising a dark eyebrow at Eren. “You sure know how to pick your fights, huh? Mind telling me what that was all about yesterday? Where we both almost lost a limb?” Well. Maybe Levi was more likely to have lost a limb than Eren. Eren was kicking ass like a f*cking boss.

Eren blows a breath, slouching into his seat which he had been hunching over in before. Mike stares daggers at him in the corner of his eye, so he deliberately moves his seat closer to Eren, somewhere that’s actually near the table and not jutting into the chair behind him, and rests his chin on his palm, making sure to avoid putting his elbow on the plate of forgotten flapjack. Instead, his mouth makes an odd stomach noise, and he has to cover his closed mouth as Eren begins to talk.

“Oh, yeah, you’d want to know that, I guess… Um. Well, I kinda have a habit of picking fights. Always have done. But it’s usually for a good cause. Like, I’ll pick a fight with Jean if I’m mad or if he‘s pissing me off, but if it’s with a stranger, it’s either because they’re hurting someone in my family or pissing me off.” …Aren’t both scenarios for the same reason? Remind Levi to never piss Eren off…

“But you know you were so cool!” Eren’s tan face brightens, green eyes lighting up as though the yellow in his eyes is actually stars. “Fighting that guy like pow pow pow!” Eren motions with his arms some childlike punches (Levi’s pretty sure he kicked the guy, but whatever).

Levi shrugs. “That was nothing. I’m sure you did better with all your kung-fu magic.”

Eren chuckles and wow is that a nice sound, vibrating deep in Levi’s chest so that it sends his heart beating a little faster. “Mm, well, I reckon that my mum would’ve been a yes voter, so I take the referendum stuff seriously. Like, I’ve got a hold of all the facts, I’ve got banners all made up and I’m hoping to go to some of the events in the summer! Really Scottish festival stuff, hmm, Armin’s gonna love it.”

There it is again, with the past tense when he talks about his mum. “Did your mum die?” he asks bluntly. Well, better to ask direct, rather than assume wrongly, right?

Eren’s face falls slightly, as though he didn’t mean for it to but did anyway. “Yeah. Alcohol poisoning. When I was thirteen.”

Levi eyebrows twitch at the knowledge. “Is that why you went to Mike?”

Shaking his head sadly, Eren sighs. “No, I’ve been seeing people since I was four years old, when I got put into foster care. I’m really used to having to explain my life story to strangers, so uh, that’s why I went all weird on you the other day. I liked him though. He was like the father I never had. Or wanted.”

There’s a long pause and Levi doesn’t really know what to say. He himself hates it when people apologize for his loss, so why would he do so for Eren?

“Was your mum an alcoholic?” Eren fidgets in his chair, running a hand obsessively through his hair, staring at Levi blankly.

“No… Well, I don’t really know. No-one ever told me properly. At first I thought it was because she overdosed on antidepressants. She uh, she had severe… bi polar depression, so I don‘t think anyone really looked into her case. She’d been like that ever since her mum died when she was thirteen. And she also had a fear of being outside, just like her mum. Yeah. I had to hold her hand when I took her out to the shop. If she happened to be awake when I went to her house.” Eren talks quietly and shifts in his chair, no longer looking at Levi.

Levi’s first instinct is to ask more, because naturally he just wants to know everything about Eren’s life but… Even a terrible social cue reader like him can read that the atmosphere has suddenly gone very… very heavy.

He places a hand on Eren’s shoulder and looks at him solemnly. “I have absolutely no idea what to say, but I hope that you have healed from your loss over time.”

Eren giggles with a grin that shows his teeth and somehow Levi seems to have lifted a barrier. “That’s alright. It doesn’t bother me much to talk about it.” Blatant lie. “Um. I’m not really the best for light conversation, huh?”

Suddenly it hits Levi like an epiphany and he reaches his other hand to Eren’s shoulder. “You said you live with Mikasa, right?”

Eren’s mouth closes and he frowns in confusion at the sudden change of topic. “Yes…?”

Levi walked Eren to Mikasa’s house. Levi had walked Eren to his house.

“Who’s your roommate?”

“Um, his name’s Daz-”

“I thought you lived with Armin and Mikasa?”

Eren shrinks under Levi’s sudden intense gaze that’s burning with excitement. He took Eren home. Holy sh*t; he technically knows where Eren lives!

“I-I do, but they live in a different room from me. There’s like,” Eren counts on his fingers and stares into space. “six of us in that one house?”

“Wow.”

“I know. The rent is so cheap. Not to mention it’s a flood zone so yeah, it’s practically nothing.”

Levi moves his hands away from Eren’s shoulders and picks up the flapjack, popping a section of it into his mouth so that it crunches loudly, still watching Eren eagerly.

“Am I boring you? You look really annoyed…”

Levi frowns. What…? Where the hell did the man get that idea from?

“That’s just my face…”

Eren frowns as well, as though he’s competing with Levi. “You always tend to look a little pissed off.” Wow, way to be blunt about offending someone Eren…

“It works for me.”

“How?” Eren tilts his head and Levi likes the way the light hits his hair.

“It makes annoying people leave me alone and it’s a free Halloween mask. I can just show up as myself and no-one says a word.” Levi deadpans, trying not to laugh at his own joke. By the looks of it, Eren has no idea what to say, and he’s completely fine with this.

His phone makes a noise in his pocket and when he checks it. No, it’s not a text from Hanji; it’s his alarm telling him he has work. They spent almost an hour and a half in the bakery already? No wonder that older waitress has been giving him odd looks, which he had returned with some of his own when he had been avoiding Eren’s gaze earlier.

Levi stands up, picking up Eren’s flowers on the floor and gives it to him, fishing into his pocket for his other present.

Eren examines the bottle of hand sanitizer that been handed to him. Levi takes the bouquet that had been intended for him and sniffs it dreamily.

“Hand wash.” Eren shakes his head slowly at the bottle.

Blinking at Levi with bright green eyes, Levi leads Eren out of the shop, glad that they’ve already paid because so far he actually really likes this attention he’s getting from Eren. Sure, it makes him a little hot under the collar and look away more often than not, but hey; Eren’s attention is the best there is. Drown yourself in it, Levi.

They stand outside the bakery together, Eren trying to figure out why the hell he’s been given a bottle of cleaning stuff and Levi trying not to look at Eren for too long and especially not eye up his outfit because wow does that black fleece suit Eren and his mind is really not where it should be.

A few moments later, Levi’s walking away from Eren with a cheap bouquet from Eren in his hand. He has a dazed look on his face that has on goers looking as though they think he’s high, but he doesn‘t really care.

It’s not until he reaches the shop that’s a twenty minute walk from the bakery that he realises with a bright red face: ‘oh sh*t I just kissed Eren Jaeger on the cheek and just walked away like it was nothing’.

How f*cking ham-fisted is he?!

He sits in front of the coffee table, pen in hand because f*ck life and f*ck everything because what the hell has he done he has ruined his entire life and what the hell, what the actual hell-

He’s saved from his inner ramblings by a text, and when he sees who it is: of course it’s from Eren.

‘Call me whn u get ur hoose an ill hlp u pak ur things, if u need me 2. Mebbe Erwin cn hlp u? He has a car. We cn go homeware shoppin ^.^’

Ooooh thank every God in the existence of the universe.

Maybe he just imagined that he kissed Eren?

That would explain why he hadn’t realised for so long… because he hadn’t actually realised at all, he’d just imagined it.

Still, if he hadn’t kissed Eren, then the look on his face before Levi left made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Ah f*ck it. f*ck life. f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck-

On the calendar in the dated box, he scribbles into it with a flustered hand pulling sharply at his hair with an unacceptable crimson staining his cheeks.

“I’m f*cked Hanji was right I’m f*cked I’m so bloody f*cked it’s unreal. I’m hallucinating and I told Eren my face is a Halloween mask-” And the rest is all squiggles.

Chapter 11: May 7th part one

Chapter Text

One thing Levi has noticed about Trost is that there aren’t many foreign people. Sure, the central belt of Scotland has more job opportunities and there’s a few Polish and Romanian folk up here in Trost, but when you’ve lived your entire life surrounded by Pakistanis, Indians and whatever else they’ve got going on down there; it’s a little weird to walk into a corner shop that doesn’t have minority clerks. Even the Gregg’s store down there had a black server.

Oh lord. Even just mentioning Gregg’s gives Levi a metaphorical heart attack and the paranoia that maybe Eren can read his thoughts right now. Because that’s totally plausible.

Levi’s not entirely sure what happened last time, but he sure as hell hopes he didn’t do something weird to Eren. Maybe he can pass it off by saying he’s French and it was just a habit of his that he kissed him on the cheek.

But still!

He at least wants to remember what Eren’s skin tastes like. That’d be nice. He could die saying he did something he wanted to do. Put it on his gravestone: “I pecked Eren Jaeger on the cheek. Sure, I don’t remember it, but hey it happened.” Didn’t it?

Just as he walks out of the Co-operative shop with his fair-trade pint of milk, his brick of a phone buzzes in his pocket. He frowns when he sees a number he doesn’t recognise on the small screen. But hey, if he’s going to die due to his mistakes in this life, he may as well make it quick and answer anonymous calls. For the hell of it, as Erwin would say.

“...Hello?”

“Hi!” A cheerful female voice answers. “Is this Levi? This is the manager of the hostel of where you’ll be staying. We found you a place!”

Levi’s eyebrows shoot upwards a fraction. Well that was quick. When Claire said a week, she seriously meant a week.

When Levi arrives back at the industrial estate, he looks down at the silver spare key in his hand, knowing that it won’t be his anymore after today. How’s he going to break the news to Erwin? He debates over leaving the milk on the counter, not really knowing what to do with it since he’ll probably be packing it away soon.

It’s only when he’s finished with packing his clothes and towels that the blonde man himself walks through the front door in his work clothes; a grey suit with a pristine white shirt and grey tie. He immediately frowns at the sight of Levi with the small brown box of belongings. No, bad eyebrows, don’t frown at Levi.

Erwin tilts his head to one side biting his lip, piercing blue eyes flickering from the box to Levi in mild confusion. Levi makes a point to continue packing even when Erwin points a finger at the bag and starts talking.

“Are you running away?” Erwin asks cautiously. Oh yeah, because Levi is totally still ten years old with someone with parental rights over him that he can run away from, sure. Running away. God. Don’t make him hurt you, Erwin. Don’t even go there.

Levi shrugs nonchalantly, but it’s surprisingly difficult to form words past the sudden lump in his throat that formed when Erwin spoke up. “I’m moving out.”

“What?!” Erwin saunters over to the couch that Levi has set up on. “We haven’t spoken at all about you getting a flat! You can’t afford it Levi!”

Oh, there it is, the vein that always pops out on Erwin’s forehead when he’s mad. He’s also turning red from his cheekbones up to the area above his eyebrows, and that’s how Levi knows that Erwin’s extremely upset. Well, that and the fact that Erwin, a man not quite as stoic as Levi but reserved nonetheless, is raising his voice to someone as dangerous as Levi.

Levi sighs through his nose, folding his arms and raising his chin ever so slightly to look up at the looming blonde man.

“Eren helped me find a hostel for homeless people, and the manahger of the place phoned me today to tell me to come over.”

Erwin waves his hands in front of him in a questioning gesture. “And you’re just leaving? Without even telling me?”

“I wasn’t sure how to bring it up. I wasn’t sure how you’d react and I-”

“Telling me you’re leaving shouldn’t even be an issue, Levi! We shouldn’t have to be talking about this because you live with me-”

“No, I sleep on your couch, Erwin.” Levi pinches the bridge of his nose, breath becoming a bit shaky. Because it’s not like he’s abandoning this guy like Erwin makes it out to be. He’ll visit, right?

“I sleep in your living room; I have virtually no privacy of my own, everyone invades my personal space when they’re in the living room, you provide almost everything for me, I have to clean up after your mess-”

Just then, there’s a knock at the door. Levi pauses in his rant then rushes to answer it.

Eren!

Levi had texted him earlier to tell him that he’d been given a place, a place that he didn’t know the location of, what with him being completely new to Trost, and Eren had offered to help him move out. Not that he really needs help, seeing as he hardly has anything... Although there’s more stuff thanks to Erwin and his insistence that he bought Levi towels, a few mugs, and a blanket. It’s also a brilliant excuse to see Eren again.

But as he’s answering the door and his heart is jumping around in his chest, Erwin promptly follows him and peers to see who’s at the door.

The taller man begins to complain childishly. “Is that him? You know what, it’s his fault that you’re leaving! He’s just some dumb kid, Levi, don’t listen to everything he says just because you’re-”

Levi cuts him off with a rapid jab at his neck with his forearm and holds it there. His eyes widen because if that sentence had progressed even just a single word further...

“Erwin. Not a word. Don’t you dare. I’m serious right now, understand?” He glances over to Eren who blinks back at him uneasily and motions for him to go inside.

Whispering, he bares his teeth at Erwin and glares daggers at him while the blue eyed man competes with a stubborn pout and clenched jaw.

“I am a grown ass man. I have a job, albeit not a very good one and yes, it doesn’t pay well. But there are people who will help me out and support me in a way that helps me become independent and be an adult with responsibilities and bills, just like the rest of the world. I don’t know how, but I’ll get through it. Did you really think you could coddle me forever, Erwin? I have a life outside of you, I want a better one, and you’re in the way of that. So just stop, would you? Don’t bring him into this.”

“Uh, Levi, is this box yours? I’m just going to take it out to the car...”

Nibbling at his lips in annoyance over the situation, Levi nods at Eren, surprised at the soft, worried tone of his voice, and moves to follow him out the door.

“Keys.” Is all Erwin says with a low voice. Levi hands them over without another word, but pauses as Erwin herds him out the door.

“I can still come see you, right?” He hesitates when Erwin doesn’t reply, but feels the need to push on. “I mean, you are kind of my best friend. And I need to complain about the state of your flat from time to time, otherwise you’ll just leave it in a mess.”

There’s a hint of a begrudging smile on Erwin’s lips, but it’s hidden too well for Levi to call him out on it. He closes the door behind Levi with a firm click.

Well. That was slightly different from their usual family spats...

Levi turns from the closed door to see Eren wearing the face of a kicked puppy. His. Need. To. Hug. This. Man. But then suddenly he remembers Eren’s shocked expression after he may or may not have kissed him and he looks away, hands shaking at his sides, gulping dryly and biting the inside of his lip. There’s a warm pressure on his arm and Levi jolts at the sudden contact.

Eren rubs his arm reassuringly. Levi’s breathing falters at the knowledge and sensation. “I’m sure it’ll be okay. Yeah... You won’t avoid each other for too long, right?”

Not that Levi can avoid him, thanks to the fact that he and Erwin both work at the same place...

Eren touched him. Wait, that sounds wrong. Not that he’d be against anything more suggestive... His hands were bigger than Levi expected, warmer than he’d anticipated.

While he’s busy trying to push down the giddiness in his gut, he watches as Eren leaps down the stairs three at a time and sprints over to a car waiting for them at the side of the road.

A familiar freckled man rolls down the window, resting his arm on the ledge where the window once was and smirks. Or well, it looks like it’s supposed to be a smirk but the crinkles by his eyes are too cheerful for his grin to be smug.

“Get in losers, we’re going house hunting.”

Inside Marco’s smoke coloured Honda, Levi keeps to himself as the two men in the front seats chat quietly with BBC Radio 2 playing as a comforting backdrop of music. Well, as comforting as Nikki Minaj can be...

“So you’re going to Swansea, Levi?” Marco asks him, smiling kindly as he looks with wide walnut brown eyes into the rear view mirror at him. “Eren, you used to live there, didn’t you?” Is Marco Scottish? He sounds slightly English... (And here was Levi thinking he was Italian)

“Oh my god, yeah.” Eren begins to bounce in his seat excitedly with his tongue sticking between his front teeth that are a little larger than the usual. Levi can’t help but stare as his heart sinks into his stomach and his lungs fail him. Is Eren suddenly ? He seems really energetic today, or at least once they got out of Erwin’s flat. Maybe he ate something sugary? Jesus Christ, it’s actually really f*cking cute. He should use those bouncing skills of his while on Levi’s lap-

“That place changed my life forever. Swansea was the beginning of my manhood, I’m telling you that. I went there when I was like sixteen, and they started me with alcohol, got me my first cigarette, my first joint-”

“Eren you take drugs?” Levi asks incredulously as he’s pulled out from his quiet thoughts about what Eren’s favourite foods are.

Eren stops mid bounce to scratch shyly at his temple. “Oh, uh, no. I only smoked Weed twice. The first time had me really talkative! Apparently I kept asking people questions, ha. I was really clingy as well. Ended up making out with a total stranger ‘cause I thought he was cute. And the second time didn’t really count because it didn’t affect me at all and I just felt sober. Pretty sh*t, right?”

Levi shrugs, looking out the window uncertainly. To think Eren, a guy two years younger than him, already has more experience than him... “I wouldn’t know.”

There’s a pregnant pause and suddenly Eren turns around in his seat to face Levi with an accusing look of disbelief. “You were in a gang, no you f*cking led a gang, and you’ve never even taken drugs? What kind of gangster are you?” To think he once thought of Eren as innocent...

“The smart kind. The kind that steals to live, I’m that kind of gangster.” Levi prefers the term “thug” but whatever. “Plus, to get into drugs you kinda have to know people that sell them or at least know people who do.”

Eren sits back in his seat, lounging with a roll of his shoulders. “Aww, Levi. Don’t worry, we’ll help you network and soon you’ll know all kinds of people. That, or the people at Swansea will help ya a bunch.”

Eventually they reach a quiet street with houses at each side. One side has the dodgy looking set of two storey flats that are grey, have stains underneath the pipes and windows, one of the doors is open only to reveal a desolate and cold hallway with bare concrete stairs, not to mention the dry patches of grass at the front that look like they’ve seen too much in their lifetime.

The other side has white and peach, two storey terraced houses; each with a neatly trimmed garden, a few children’s toys and a new brown paint job on the fences that surround them. Oh and a hedge. It’s been a long, long time since Levi’s seen one without browning leaves.

On this side of the road, there’s also a massive white building with three rows of windows. But unlike it’s posh neighbours; this one has peeling paint and CCTV hovering above the door.

Eren points at the white monstrosity and babbles as Marco pulls into the narrow car park, which is really just the gap between the road and the row of red bricks guarding the building. Yup, just like a prison.

“I wonder if Lizzy still works there? She was the best key worker I had. Oh, Levi, you’ll get a key worker when you’re here and that’s basically someone that you have to spill your life to. If you don’t, they knock on your door every five minutes and make your life hell.” he shakes his head, lost in his mind as he delves into the nostalgia.

“Oh man, I remember Jono. He used to wake me up all the f*cking time when Eld was my roommate. Oh! You’ll share a flat with someone Levi.”

Levi freezes at the information, having made no movement to get out the car as Marco starts taking his box out from the boot. He really just wants some peace and quiet, and the whole reason that Levi left Erwin’s place was because everyone intruded in his space-

“You, like, share a bathroom and living room and kitchen but you get your own room. Just hope that your roommate agrees to a cleaning rota or whatever.”

A sigh leaves Levi’s lips. Thank god he doesn’t have to go crawling back to Erwin, crying about how sorry he was, how wrong he was... Not that he would, f*ck no, he has pride. But at least he gets what he wants out of this. Privacy! A bed! Quietness!

He leaves the cosy interior of the car in favour of retrieving his box from Marco’s steady hands and wanders towards the building. Eren pulls up ahead of him and pushes a button on a silver box next to the door, a buzz sounds and they reach the interior of what might be a badly disguised prison.

As soon as he’s inside the building, his nose twitches in disgust at the unclean looking blue carpet and he’s met with the sound of screaming and loud dance music from the floor above.

There’s a questionable call of “f*ck GET HIM TO THE f*ckING HOSPITAL HE’S f*ckING STABBED HIMSELF IN THE LEG OH f*ck.”

A woman a decade or so older than him appears from the plain door to the right wearing a floral top that has the sixties wanting it back.

She smiles at him with crooked, yellow teeth. “Hi! Are you Levi? Welcome to Swansea!” When he nods, she hands him some keys and points him to the door opposite the one she came out of. “This is the room you’ll be staying in, you can pop your things into here and then we can give you a proper introduction to the building.”

Eren yet again expertly takes the lead, swiftly taking the key from him and does something fancy with the door handle to make it open, motioning for him to be inside.

He turns around to Levi, grinning devilishly so that his green eyes gleam like a cat’s. (Levi has to discreetly hide his crotch with the box.)

“Welcome to your new hell.”

Chapter 12: May 7th continued

Chapter Text

Of course; the shouting just had to have come from the door that Eren just opened. Levi’s destined accommodation. Oh yeah. He’ll be living the life, that’s for sure. (Not.)

Glancing behind Eren with his mouth down-turned, Levi sees a short hallway. There’s an opening to a kitchen on the right, and on his left... Well. It seems to be a living room but it sure as hell won’t be Levi’s living room. Not until that couch is cleared of the blood. Man, not again... That’s like the ninth time this year he’s had to encounter blood.

Three young men- actually, no, they aren’t men. The dumb f*cks who are all clearly children, possibly the Three Stooges, are bouncing around on a two seated, black leather couch. (it’s a bit soon for Déjà vu, isn’t it?) A tall blonde, wearing Nike joggers and a football top that’s tight over his biceps, is standing about, gawking at the others with a vacant expression. A weedy brunette with an olive green shirt is lurching forward on his seat, ripping his shirt up in a heroic attempt to make a bandage for the tanned guy with a buzz cut, who’s currently bleeding onto the leather.

That’s to be known as the Bloody Couch, then. (Levi’s going to need a loooot of disinfectant, a couple dozen sponges; and he’s never sitting on that thing. Ever.) Although the injury probably looks worse than it actually is.

“Eh, eh, sh-should I go git Isle? Isle’ll help us, aye?”

The blonde one is squeezing a candle, and the handle of a bloodied bread knife, as he shifts from foot to foot in torn up trainers. Suddenly, the older woman from before is flitting through the open door behind Levi, telling him with a sweet voice not to worry as he’s ushered further into the hallway and invited to ‘go into his room, down the hall, right hand side’.

The jumpy blonde almost topples onto her as he spins round to face the floral shirted woman, blue eyes wide and mouth gaping open. He juts his hands into the air with a hysterical gesture when she purses her lips at him in a scowl.

“OH, NANABA, I DIDNA MEAN TO, like, uh, uh, WE WERE JUST PISHIN’ ABOOT, LIKE...!? I didna stab him, like, he was, aw f*ck, he was just tryin’ ta put the knife through the candle an’ whatever.” The knife and candle land on the floor and the blonde smears his hands down his flushed face. “GO HELP KEITH! HE’S f*ckIN’ BLEEDIN’.” The blonde guy wrings his hands, upper body rigid as he darts between the guy bleeding on the couch and the white haired woman called “Nanaba”.

Eren, who had been an audience to the entire performance with a furrowed brow, simply blinks and says, “Um, I happen to know first aid?” Then he tiptoes towards the couch, not taking his eyes away from the knife on the floor.

Damn. What a lucky guy, getting to experience Eren’s first aid skills. He better appreciate how clean he’s going to be. Levi decides to ignore the whole situation, trying not to gag at the smell of blood and wistfully hopes not much of the metallic liquid spilled. (Blood leaves a brown stain; as though someone took a sweet long dump on the couch and that same piece of sh*t marked its territory on the material).

He wanders idly down the sickly coloured hall (the amber carpet’s got dampness. It needs to be cleaned, maybe even renewed), remembering that this is why he keeps a knife under his pillow. He finds a promising white door one up from the kitchen, opens it; and discovers a bathroom that he wishes he hadn’t found.

Levi’s not religious, but...

Dear god.

Orange dry rot scales the pipes at the far right corner, close to the floor. No bath in sight; just a shower hose attached to the wall behind a flaccid shower curtain. Stains are smeared on the floor from where water has been left to dry, not mopped up.

The toilet seat’s been left up. The cabinet surface is cluttered with dust, condoms litter every available surface. Kiddie stickers of octopuses on the sink and the ceiling grin at him with toothless smiles, and on the cabinet shelf there’s a toothbrush (but noticeably no toothpaste) that doesn’t look like it’s ever been used and oh holy hell what on earth happened to that poor toilet brush?!

The yellowing toilet brush hides behind the dusty toilet without a container. Levi stalks into the filthy waste land with his box of belongings clutched tightly to his chest, getting a closer look. Has this toilet brush ever seen the light of day? Has it ever been dunked in a merciful dose of bleach? Levi feels offended on behalf of that poor brush.

Knowing that the bathroom is first on his To Clean list, Levi hurriedly escapes in search of the door to his new room. Shuddering at the scarring memory of the room he just left, he braces himself for what has yet to come. Welcome to Hell, Eren said. This is f*cking Hell, Levi thought. Well at least they can agree on some things! Does that mean they have something in common? Levi should ask him that! Ask him what the f*ck he thought he was playing at, bringing Levi to a dirty loony bin!!

This time, he encounters a bedroom. Thank god; it’s actually decent. It’s pretty bare and basic. A single bed lies in the corner; two small, brown chests of drawers guard each side of the room. On top of the bed there’s a pile of packaged bed sheets, a sheathed toothbrush, toothpaste, a face cloth and towels of various kinds sit on the bed. Not bad, he can make do with this. Plus it saves money on having to buy furniture and bedding. (Hey, just because this is all temporary until he gets his own place, that’s not to say he won’t know how to sneak the bed out the window when the time comes...)

The white walls look suspicious with their “blue-tack was once here” marks and the dents, but overall, it’s reasonably okay. It’s disgusting compared to Erwin’s place. But that’s the thing; this room is Levi’s, kind of. Erwin’s home isn’t Levi’s; it never was or will be, in any shape or form. And when he really thinks about it… he’s dealt with conditions much worse than this.

He swiftly takes his leave after placing the brown box on the bed, returning to the living room where Eren’s sitting beside the bandaged guy, who appears to be lounging on the couch, revelling in the treatment and attention with a smug smirk, as though being stabbed is actually nothing. Huh. Levi might tolerate that one. Jitters McBlonde seems to have ditched the party along with Nanaba, and the brunette stripper is-

HOLY sh*t.

Levi has to do a double take. He never got a good look the first time he saw the room. It could also be the fault of his failing eyesight. But why would his eyes forget to inform him about this?!

“Hey you!” he calls out to the brown haired boy. A sense of giddiness rolls around in his gut. “What’s your name?”

With a startled squeak, the boy peers round to face Levi, grass coloured eyes bulging. He bolts upright at the sound of Levi’s bark.

“Uh-uh, sorry... I’m Bertholdt? Ah,” With a tilt of his head, he eyes Levi, biting his lip before stage whispering. “You must be my new flat mate. Sorry, uh, we got a bit carried away with the knives when we were messing about with the candles, sorry...” he glances behind Levi and his mouth curls down.

“Ah, sorry, I think Nanaba and Reiner went to get the first aid kit... This man here, is he your friend? Sorry, I didn’t know that. Uh, he said he knows first aid, but ah, sorry, I really didn’t mean for this to happen, especially on your first day here, sorry. I really appreciate the help...” Bertholdt plays with his three way parted fringe with trembling fingers, his forehead beginning to dampen and shine.

Levi shakes his head slowly in disbelief. This guy’s his flat-mate (f*cking hell that sounds so British. Oh wait, Levi is British). He’ll have to share a space with this stranger.

Levi doesn’t think he’ll mind. And if he can clean, he’ll like him even more. Like him even more, you ask? Yes; Levi already likes him.

THAT GUY’S f*ckING TINY.

And yes, even Levi can say that.

BERTHOLDT IS UP TO LEVI’S WAIST -IF EVEN THAT- JESUS CHRIST.

“Okay, well, we’re friends.” Levi strides across the room, taking Bertholdt’s hand to shake it firmly as the latter smiles at him confusedly and limply takes his hand.

LEVI HAS FOUND THE PLATONIC LOVE OF HIS LIFE.

Levi ruffles his hair affectionately before sitting beside Dr. Eren on the floor, glancing back at Bertholdt who’s still looking at him with wide olive eyes, reminding him a little of Marco. The floor needs hoovered. Levi doesn’t have a hoover. Damn.

Bertholdt must be older than Levi first thought. The manager told him over the phone that the supported accommodation takes in people from the age of 16 to 24, and judging by Bertholdt’s subtle facial hair, he has to be at least around 17 or 18.

“Hey, so, do you have any cleaning supplies?” Levi asks Bertholdt.

Bertholdt tilts his head to the side in thought after shooting him an odd look. It’s familiar, that look… Where’s he seen it before? Oh, right! Eren usually looks at him like that. Wait that might be a bad thing-

“There’s a hoover and mop in a cupboard at the end of the hall... Sorry, I’d offer you some of mine but, ah, I forgot to go out and get some last time I was out shopping, sorry.”

Levi doesn’t believe that for a second. Not after seeing the bathroom. Who can even imagine the kitchen? Levi and this guy have very different ideas as to what “clean” means. He’ll have to teach this guy a lesson or two, that’s for sure. But there’s a free hoover. That’s a huge plus in Levi’s book. But it means he’ll probably have to buy his stash of cleaning stuff from scratch, seeing as he couldn’t take Erwin’s. (Levi needs his stash there for when he visits)

The blonde guy pokes his head through the opened door. “Hey Bert, there’s a guy out front who says he can give Keith a lift to the hospital. Nana’ reckons he might need stitches. Here, I’ll help ya out.”

Keith speaks up for the first time, frowning so that large creases appear in his forehead. “No, no. I’m fine, Reiner. It’s just a scratch.”

“That’s not what you were cryin’ about earlier. If anything, I’m pretty sure those were tears of pain.” Eren raises an eyebrow at Keith, who ducks his head down. “No need to be a man’s man in front of your friends and a couple of strangers, now.” Eren motions for Reiner to give him the first aid kit as he holds the shirt-bandage down. Now that he mentions it, Keith does look kind of pale...

“I’m FINE!” he roars.

Eren rolls his eyes at Keith and grips the cloth tighter so that he whimpers. “I don’t mean to sound like my sister, but, yeah. You’re going to the hospital. You want help carrying him out?”

Keith protests loudly as Reiner loops an arm around his broad shoulders and unbalancing Eren, seeing as he’s a fair bit shorter than the other two. Levi and Bertholdt follow him out to the car where Marco can be seen sitting on the hood of his Honda, hands swarming the air around him when he sees the blood stain on Keith’s leg. In a flustered panic he opens the car door of the passenger seat and glances back at Eren with startled eyes. All the colour drains from his freckled face.

Eren unhooks a limping Keith from his person. “Marco, I have a present for you. Happy Birthday. And before you ask, it’s not the stripper; it’s the post-war dude with the buzz cut. He’s tan, didn’t you tell me that you like tan guys? You do now. Oh, and he’s bleeding. Little bit of blood right there on his leg for ya. Jeez, I’m sure fulfilling a lot of your kinks today with this one guy. He’s aaaall yours.”

Nanaba totters outside to the car. Keith and his friends bundle into the car as Marco glares at Eren through the window while asking if Keith’s okay, tending to him in the passenger seat. Reiner demands that he starts driving; growling at him savagely in the back seat, a shirtless Bertholdt bites his nails and Nanaba lamely tries to divide Reiner from the front seat with a hand. They eventually drive away (into the non-existent sunset, to live happily ever after). Eren kicks the ground softly.

“Aw sh*t!” Eren’s head flicks upwards suddenly. “There goes my lift home. Should only take me just over half an hour to walk there, but,” he purses his lips in a grimace. He glances at Levi. “You got more stuff to pick up? I’ve got time to kill.”

Levi shakes his head, grimacing at the memory of the dirty flat. “I need to go shopping.”

“Ai~ Well, Tesco should only be about fifteen minutes away. Off we go then.”

After five minutes of complete silence and staring at the urban life they pass by; it suddenly hits Levi.

“You said you made out with a guy.”

His breathing hitches at the knowledge and he stops walking for a moment, narrowing his eyes at Eren. He remembers now, when Eren had talked about taking weed, he said that he made out with a guy because he thought he was cute. It was either a one time thing for him, or it reflects his sexuality. Latter. Latter. Go on, Eren, choose the second option. Eren stops walking, challenging Levi with a green eyed glare.

“Uh huh, and?”

...That doesn’t really imply much. Work with him here, Eren, come on.

Levi takes a deep breath that fills his lungs so much that it hurts. “Are you gay?”

Eren doesn’t say anything and Levi cringes slightly in panic. “Because I mean, I am. No judgement. But you know... I keep hearing all this stuff about there being loads of sexualities, and I don’t really understand all of that and whatever. But you know what’s convenient?” he gives Eren a pointed look and they start walking again.

“Scotland don’t care. Scotland don’t give a sh*t. You want dick? You want some person with tit* and a dick? You want some? We’ll give it to yeh. We’ll give you a f*cking marriage as well. I’m not calling it “gay marriage” because you know what; it’s the f*cking same thing as it would be with a straight couple. You’re not religious? You got no fans? You got no ground? Have a bloody civil partnership. Although, I reckon you’d look quite nice in a dress, Eren. Do you cross-dress?”

Levi tries to picture it in his mind, imagining Eren in a red co*cktail dress, wearing the sultry smirk from before when he opened the door earlier. Yup, sounds good to him.

“You should try it.” He muses. “I tried it one time at a pub for a dare but I am not going to tell you about that because you are giving me the odd look, that never means anything good, and I should probably stop talking now...”

Eren looks forward, not looking at Levi as a blush reaches his tan cheeks and continues trudging along the path, shaking his head. Aaah shiiiiit. Levi really needs to watch his mouth around this guy. How many times is he going to screw this up? Like, really? Cross dressing? Marriage? f*cking “The Wealdstone Raider“ inside jokes? (Okay, but... that last one is kind of excusable. Levi finds no fault in his humour)

He’s pretty sure there was an article on small talk and flirting in OK magazine that told him not to mention serious stuff like politics, religion and The Future into conversations... He’s kind of jumped around the Levels of Friendship as well by delivering his life story to Eren. He never was good at playing by the rules. Although to be fair on himself, Eren explained his life first. Eren’s just as bad as him.

“To answer your first question, yeah. I’m pretty gay. Gay as Broadway, in fact. I come with the singing part, but not the dancing part. Can’t co-ordinate my body for the life of me. You’ve got an... An interesting train of thought-”

Eren lets out a laugh that almost sounds like a sneeze, sticking his pink little tongue between his front two teeth to try and stop himself from laughing anymore. But Levi wants to hear him laugh more, he sounds like a twelve year old little boy when he properly laughs and it’s actually kind of amazing to hear, makes his heart do all sorts of things.

His eyes crinkle up at the sides, and Levi feels the bubbling urge to laugh too, but he remembers that Eren probably isn’t as innocent as he first thought he was. Levi’s not very good at judging people from a first glance, it seems...

“Yeah, okay. I guess everyone that ends up at Swansea has to be a least a little weird. Hell, I’m pretty weird myself. You just ask Mikasa and Armin, they’d tell you.” Levi probably will. He knows where they live… Maybe he should drop by, see what they’re like and what they think of Eren. And himself, if Eren talks about him, that is.

Eren sticks his hands into his pockets. “I wonder what would happen if we just left you to your own devices with a camera. You’d make an amazing blog, or you tube account, or something. You’d just dish out what’s what to your viewers and be like:

“If you’ve seen dick you’re probably, most likely, half a gay and a half and three quarters, although this is the UK so we don’t use quarters we use pennies. Oh wait, that looks like penises when you spell it wrong. Speaking of which, don’t forget to wash your hands after handling your genitals. Foreskin is nasty stuff, kids.” I would watch that. That’d entertain me for hours like a dog with a bone.”

Levi’s left a marvellous impression on this man. He might just live up to the image Eren provided for sh*ts and giggles. (Not that Levi giggles…)

Levi nods; peering past Eren to take a look at the man made waterfall beneath the bridge they’re on. ...It’s polluted, to say the least, but not that bad considering there’s nuclear waste thrown into other rivers.

At least you can tell the water was once clear and if trees can make a home by the bank then it can’t be too bad. The smell of piss in the air, however, tells him otherwise. Or right; there’s caravans on the field beside the river, must be the Gypsies Toilets then.

“I could blog about my parkour. I really hope I remembered my grapnel...”

Eren frowns at him again. To say that Eren frowns a lot would probably be an understatement. Levi once thought that Eren looking confused was cute but now... He knows that that’s just how Eren looks most of the time. And it’s still cute. “The f*ck is that?” he asks gruffly, running his hands through his brown hair. Stop tempting Levi, Erennnn.

“Parkour is like running around on buildings. A grapnel is like, I don’t know, a hook? Yeah, it’s a hook of sorts that you just-” Levi motions with his hands in an upwards gesture. “And, yeah.”

“So elaborate. I liked your use of gesture there. Really helped me to understand.”

Levi snorts, pleasantly surprised by Eren’s dry humour. “Thanks. Normally Hanji’s round to help translate me, but he ain’t here so you’re stuck with me and my sh*tty explanations.”

“Levi, I understand that you have OCD and, like, I used the hand wash you gave me so you wouldn’t freak out around me, but can you really afford all of this?”

Eren carries a basket of things he think Levi would need, and Levi has a basket of things he actually needs. Eren clearly requires a lesson in the way that Levi works. He walks towards Eren in the Bacon and Sausage aisle, scowling at the red meat because f*ck, how do people even eat that sh*t?

It looks like a lump of lard covered in blood and plastic packaging, kind of tastes like plastic too. Levi may have been traumatised by the video showing what happens in slaughter houses. He’s never quite been the same since, and neither has his diet. He’s fine with this. Eren however...

So it started like this: after some more walking and talking about random sh*t that Levi likes to call “bonding” and Eren likes to call “rambling about absolutely nothing with a weirdo” (that’s what Levi presumes he’s thinking, anyway) they finally made it to Tesco, that bad-ass supermarket that half of the country goes to, while the rest go to Asda, and Levi tells Eren “I’ve got a To Buy list in my head, so do you think you can pick up things you’ll think I’ll need? I have an idea, but it’s always good to compare.” And Eren failed in his mission.

The green eyed man’s trainers squeak on the speckled linoleum. “How are you going to live for the week? On a Mr Muscle and Twinnings diet? I get that you’re two years older than me, but a man’s gotta eat, no matter what kind of man he is, no matter what age, or even if he’s a she-”

“I don’t like bacon and that’s pretty much all that’s in your basket. Can we get out of this aisle?”

Eren glances around, noticing the Goosebumps on his arms. “Oh yeah, right I’m freezing. You go... Buy your sh*t and I’ll put this back.”

“But you might need to buy some of this too. I can walk away from you today knowing that your house isn’t clean. And I don’t have OCD, I have ATC.” Levi turns and saunters down the middle of the aisle and people have to move out of his way.

You can hear Eren before you see him: his voice follows his squeaky footsteps then suddenly he’s by Levi’s side. “What, is ATC a disease? Does it mean that you’re allergic to dust or something and you have to clean everything so you don’t die?”

It’s one of those rare occasions where Levi has to stop beside the shelf of bananas, and look round to give Eren an odd look. It’s quite satisfying, really. No wonder Eren does it so often.

“No. Just, just no. I like cleaning, kid, alright? Although, can I grab a few more of those pot noodles you’ve got there..?” He ducks down, close to tackling Eren as the taller man lifts the basket of food out of his reach, protesting like a child in the middle of the fruit aisle as Levi tries to grab the unhealthy food.

Eventually, they make it back to Swansea with a couple of shopping bags, and Eren’s shooed out of the building due to “confidentiality issues” when Levi is faced with having to sign all the papers and look over forms. It’s weird, having to go through all of this like some “coming of age” movie, where he’s six years too old to be the protagonist.

It feels like the movie is ending too soon. When Eren smiles in defeat and makes his way out the building, it strikes a chord in Levi that he can’t quieten.

“Hey, Eren!” He calls out as the green eyed man toddles up the stairs to the car park, heading home.

The lowering sun makes Eren’s expression harder to see, but even from here he can see Eren’s sweet, toothy smile. It might be thanks to the motion sensitive light that’s shining onto the path at the front door. The staff of the building needs it to be able to tell who’s going into the flats.

“…Thanks for helping me. I guess I’ll be out of your way now.” Levi lets one of the corners of his mouth to turn upwards and rubs the scratchy material of his clothes.

Eren’s sudden burst of laughter echoes out into the deathly silent street.

“Oh no, you can’t get rid of me that easy. I’ll see you soon, bye~”

Hmmm. Sequels are always promising. To be continued, the screen would say.

Later, when Levi’s busy in the bathroom, still trying to get the rot out of the pipes, Bertholdt peers from around the corner and blinks at him warily.

“…Are you alright? You’re not stressing yourself out, are you? I mean, I can help if you want.”

Levi deadpans a glare at him. “Did you know that the windowsill in the kitchen is actually white, and not grey?” He huffs a bitter laugh to himself. “No, no, it’s fine. This is just… something I need to do. Is, uh, is that guy okay?” he’s forgotten the bleeding guy’s name, figures.

Not only can Levi relate to Bertholdt in height; he’s not that bad to talk to either. Even if the conversation is forced. Extremely so. Then again, it’s like that with most people (especially the elderly staff, dear god, old women just never know when to shut the f*ck up). Fortunately, Bertholdt seems to be blessed with the knowledge of social cues and leaves Levi to his own devices soon enough.

One thing he likes about his new room is that it has a lock. Now that it’s clean and his belongings are where they need to be, all he has to do is move the bundles of paper on the white sheets and close the curtains. He was supposed to do this sort of thing years ago, he knows. Levi wasn’t like most others; he never had to opportunity to leave his hometown to go a college or even leave Kenny’s house, seeing as he was never taught how to, and the school was utterly useless.

Surprisingly enough, on their way home Eren told him about how he’d first started out at Swansea; telling Levi that he knew how daunting it was, and that he’s worried for Levi. Levi’s older than Eren had been when he went into supported accommodation, so it’s likely that he’ll get less help than what he got when he went there.

Ah man, if Levi wasn’t afraid of Eren freaking out with his behaviour; he’d hug him.

His calendar has found a place under his pillow (he had to pinch the pen from the coffee table though) and he can go to bed thinking of what the hell he’ll do tomorrow.

“Love isn’t a weakness, it just makes us see that we weren’t as strong as we first thought; and it doesn’t punish us for it.”

Chapter 13: May 13th part one

Chapter Text

Apart from his upstairs neighbour, a McDonald’s shop assistant called Mina, singing High School Musical songs at ten in the evening and Reiner’s voice filling the flat whenever he visits Bertholdt (which was far too often to be for platonic reasons) the building of Swansea is actually... really quiet. His bed has two pillows, is comfortable enough to get a few more hours of sleep in, and thanks to Levi’s cleaning skills; the flat now looks painfully domestic.

“You know, the guy who stayed here before was really horrible. Like, he wouldn’t clean and he did God knows what in that room of his -there’s actually a rumour that he wanked all over the walls- and it was terrifying, seeing as he was my first flat sharer and I’d never been in a place like this before. I gave up on cleaning after a while because it just got so bad with him refusing to do anything, so uh, sorry about the mess you had to clean up before. And no, I really don’t give a sh*t if you put that blanket on the couch, Levi.”

Bertholdt looks up at him with a grin, green eyes crinkling at the sides as he huffs a laugh, watching Levi stand by the couch. “If anything, I should be thanking you for doing stuff like that, and for being so nice to me.”

Maybe he’d swayed Bertholdt by cooking him curry on his first night and cleaning the entire house from top to bottom, but even so, it’s a great feeling to be called “nice” rather than “weird” or “intimidating”. Although, Bertholdt calls him “reserved” as well. But hey, at least he’s on good terms with his flat-mate. Though he’ll never look at his bedroom walls the same way ever again; to the bleach!

Unfortunately, being on good terms with Bertholdt means that he has to meet the other residents. It’s especially painful because as you know; Levi f*cking hates small talk and that is exactly what introductions consist of.

It turns out that Keith, Bertholdt and Reiner are all friends because of their mutual interest in Doctor Who. In other words; nerds stick together. Keith is actually Scottish-Italian and it’s a joke throughout the entire building that “he looks like the Chinese kid from the Indiana Jones movie”. That probably explains why Reiner shrieks “Mistah JOOOOONES” at random intervals in conversation.

Reiner shares a flat with a boy called Samuel, who he apparently doesn’t like because “he smokes f*cking drugs like all the time and it’s so bloody annoying but the staff won’t do anything about it."The staff are all volunteers at Swansea who’s jobs are to keep all the residents in check. Which is required. A lot. If that’s to be guessed by the amount of times the police have had to come around in the space of five days.

Reiner, Bertholdt and Keith drag Levi upstairs to meet Sasha, a gossiper who freaks out if anyone says anything relating, or not even implying, the fact she’s bi-sexual. Levi’s pretty sure that that should be the least of her worries, considering her... weight is what induces teasing more often, even from the trio who have a tendency to joke about it behind her back.

After meeting several other residents, Levi finally meets Mina’s -the singer above his room- flat-mate, a pretty girl called Petra. Or, well, she would be pretty, but she talks and bounces around like a five year old, insisting on using the entire bottle of concealer and straightening her hair before going outside.

Petra is friends with the trio and they invite him to hang out uptown, where he’s extremely surprised to learn that Petra is actually twenty one -rather than seventeen like he first thought. Outside Poundland, she glares at a young girl who has to be around thirteen years old; pushing a pram and talking with her friends. Petra walks into the shop while mumbling angrily: a complete one-eighty of the Petra he’d encountered before.

Keith shakes his head sadly when Levi asks him why she’d gotten so upset. “Petra’s kids got put into foster care. Government said she couldn’t provide for the both o’ them, what with her being kicked out her house and not payin’ rent.”

Now that the majority of the building knows his name, the only way he can escape them is by locking his bedroom door or by going to work at Poundsaver the next day. The second option sucks because Erwin’s there. Thankfully, Levi’s behind the till and doesn’t have to put up with any of the blonde man’s childish pouting and glares. Unfortunately, he’s stuck behind the till and some customer is trying to make small talk with him.

The customer runs shaky fingers through his two toned hair, digging into his pocket for money while his eyes widen at the sight of the scanned items on the counter. “Uh, would you mind helping me pack? Sorry, I’m just terrible at packing. It’s even worse at competitive places like Aldi...” Levi places the assorted groceries in the bag; the long faced man rants with a thick accent and hands him money, packing while Levi puts the money in the till then returns to helping him.

“I mean, they just scan your stuff. Don’t even give you a chance to pack before they ask for your money. Before you know it, you’ve held up the line...” With a blush on his face once noticing the queue of people behind him, he gives Levi a quick “thanks!” and hurries out the store.
It takes Levi a while before he puts a finger on where he knows the customer from; right! He was the one who’d given Eren birthday bumps at the bar. What a night that had been...

“Erwin!” he calls out when he sees the assistant manager not-so-subtly trying to sneak out the front of the shop. “C’mere, I need to tell you something.” Erwin crosses his arms, standing on the spot with a suspicious glint in his blue eyes. Levi doesn’t relent, instead beckoning him over with an urgent hand gesture and peers around the shop to make sure no-one will disturb them.

“This is really important, okay?” Erwin leans forward with a frown. Levi puts both hands on Erwin’s shoulders and looks him dead on. “I made a pizza,” he gazes intently into confused sapphire orbs. “From scratch.” Confusion melts into shock and Levi knows Erwin will forget about their family dispute for this.

“Are... Are you serious?”

“No I’m not Sirius.” Grey eyes roll. “Yes, of course I’m serious.”

A grin finds it’s way onto Erwin’s brightened face. “Levi! T-That’s incredible! How is that even possible? I mean you spent years living off the curry from the Chinese place when were in Glasgow, and all this time, you could cook?”

“That’s a lie. I ate other food when I felt like it.”

Erwin breaks out of Levi’s grip, standing upright and shaking his head in disbelief. “Okay, if you say so. But... Can I ask how you made it?” Levi offers to give him the recipe. “No, no I mean who taught you how to make stuff from scratch?”

“The key workers. At the hostel.” Levi shrugs. “They’re actually pretty decent people. Although... they think I’m depressed after I told them a bit about my life and because of the fact that I can’t stand talkative people.”

Levi expects him to make a joke about how misanthropic he is and feels a sharp pang of worry in his chest at the taller man’s distressed expression. “So the people from the place you’re at are good for you, aren’t they?” He peers at Levi as his eyebrows crease up slowly. “Better than I ever was, I bet. Couldn’t even get you a room or a bed when you stayed with me...Or adopt you...”

A deadpan look is all the solace Erwin gets when his voice breaks and he glances away, lips set tightly together. “First of all, I’m too old for you to adopt me anymore.” Levi lowers his voice. “Second... I’m coming over later to make sure your flat’s in one piece and to feed you and the others some home-made pizza. Hanji’ll appreciate me finally returning the favour, won’t he?”

After convincing Erwin he won’t need a lift to his flat after work, the blonde man goes out the front of the shop to go and do whatever the hell he’d intended to do before they went all weird with that heart to heart. Levi hates the idea of being a charity case, that was especially true when Erwin’s mother tended to some of his needs, but then again... The idea of “charity” is that the other doesn’t get anything out of it, so the least Levi can do is show he’s grateful that Erwin tried. “Tried” being a very key word.

Two thirty arrives, and Levi begins counting down the thirty long minutes until his shift ends. Why do people even work? So pointless. The money he earns now covers his rent -just- seeing as his part time job meant that he couldn’t get Housing Benefit. His service charge for electricity, his shopping; all of it is paid for with Income Support. He’d get another job, but the places he applied for a couple of days ago still haven’t got back to him. Most of them are empty vacancies anyway. Or have zero hour contracts! Those ones are the best. Not. No wonder so many people are on benefits: you can practically live your entire life on the dole.

What do you know: Eren makes his way into the shop. He’s not smiling, his green irises aren’t shining, and Levi follows him with concerned eyes. Not now, butterflies. When Eren’s sad, you can’t go about fluttering and making Levi a mess of affectionate feelings. Maybe something bad happened at work? Or at home? Perhaps something bad happened with... his love life?

Eren finishes shopping, heading towards the counter with a hoard of chocolate. That’s definitely worrying. Levi glances at his sunken face in between beeps, noting how Eren’s slouching and the fact that he hasn’t greeted Levi like he normally does. He should be happy that Eren’s not trying to make small talk, right? But... With Eren, babbling means he’s happy and it’s taking everything inside of him to not lean over the counter and hug him.

He pauses before packing the last item; a full sized Cadbury bar. A girl’s diet after she’s just been broken up with. *Gulp* “Are you on your period? I hear Tampax is the best brand. They’re free if you let me buy them for you.”

“What? No. I’m not on my period.” Eren mumbles then breathes inwardly. “Thanks for the offer though.” Eren hands the black haired man the money, the loose change clinking in his hand as he counts each penny.

“You sure? Everyone has bad days, but that doesn’t mean that yours is any less important. Even I have sh*tty days. Hard to believe, I know, because how on Earth could I have a bad day with a face as pretty as mine?”

The taller man raises a thick brown eyebrow, one corner of his mouth curling upwards as the florescent light shines on his irises. “Really, now? What’s a bad day in the life of Levi like?” he asks mockingly.

Bracing himself, Levi rests one hand on the counter and runs the other through his hair. “Sometimes... I wake up on a beautiful morning, sun shining through my flea-bitten curtains, and I go into the kitchen, look under the sink, only to find that,” he sobs with a sudden gasp of air. “The bleach has run out.”

“Okay, that’s not-”

“And I especially needed the bleach because it’d been said that the person who lived in my room before I did, you know what he did? He ejacul*ted his sem*n all over the walls.” Levi stands upright, crossing his arms over his chest as he tries not to smile. Or cry. Because crying sounds pretty good right around now. Oh the pain!

Standing back from the counter, Eren’s eyes widen in horror and he covers his mouth with a hand. “Oh sh*t, that is so f*cked up. Seriously, I had no idea that that had happened. f*ck, I used to live in that room, Jesus Christ...”

That’s suddenly made Levi’s day a bit better, but back to Eren.

He clears his throat and passes Eren his bag of sweets. “Really though, what’s with all this sh*t? Either you’re planning to recreate the chocolate river from Willy Wonka’s factory or there’s something up with you.” Eren pulls his Batman t-shirt over his stomach with a grimace. “I can sniff your lies from a mile away so don’t try it with me.” he tells Eren as a warning.

“...Well, as it turns out, I still haven’t grown out of comfort eating.” Levi shivers when he feels the air of Eren’s sigh reach his hand. “You remember how my room-mate is Daz?” Even though Levi nods, Eren takes his time before continuing, staring at him with those intense green eyes of his and increasing Levi’s heart rate.

“I got put with him because he’s been through some f*cked up sh*t like me, only worse, and everyone thought it’d be good for him because I can cheer him up and whatever.”

Pausing again, he tilts his head back and forth, as though fighting internally with himself. “Okay so, basically, he’s got PTSD and I’ve always been good with people with problems like that, but... Like, we can’t be friends properly; he just keeps bringing sh*t up, clinging onto me like I’m his last hope. Now I don’t even want to go home anymore because I know he’ll be upset, either with me or whatever trauma is running through his head and... Yeah.” Eren’s cheeks flush when his eyes meet Levi’s again and he purses his lips.

“It’s really draining to be around someone so dependant. Armin was dependant on me for a while, but he just needed help with bullies from time to time. Daz, he’s just... He’s probably the reason I don’t, like, he... reminds me that I could have it so much worse by dragging me down with him. Then he goes and tells me he feels guilty for asking me for help because it’s that obvious I get tired of dealing with his mood swings.”

“Anyone would get tired of that.” Levi cracks his knuckles and nods in agreement to his statement. “If... You don’t want to go home, why don’t you hang out with me? I ain’t pressuring you, mind.” He holds his hands up, giving Eren a pointed look to show he’s serious.

“Just thought it might be nice for you to get away from all that, and you did tell me you’d want to come around if there was free food. Which there will be! Better yet; I made it myself. That’s a once in a lifetime opportunity you’ve got going for you here.”

With the genuine smile that creeps onto Eren’s face comes the warm churning in his chest. Believe it or not; Levi isn’t trying to kidnap Eren. Yes, it’s quite the shock: someone please show the reader to the emergency room.

Eren’s just this nice guy who’s trying to help people to the point where he’s making sacrifices, has probably made some sacrifices for Levi, too. Does he get tired of dealing with Levi’s antics? Well, he’s said already that he although Levi’s behaviour confuses him, he could meet worse people? That... That’s a good thing, right?

Tan face falling at an inner realization, Levi interrupts before Eren can talk. “And if you’re thinking that you’re responsible for him; don’t. If he’s going about relying on friends for help, then he probably needs someone professional.”

“Daz already went to therapy. Besides, he says he can relate to me-”

“Nope. Still needs help of the professional variety. You got a degree in mental health issues? You’re a janitor, so I don’t reckon you do.”

“But-”

“Look, Eren,” The name rolls off his tongue, sending a jolt of pleasure down his spine. Not now, lust! “I’ve heard that if you have problems yourself, you shouldn’t help other people: you aren’t actually going to help them ‘cause you’re too busy dealing with your own sh*t. It’ll just get worse if you let this go on, seriously.”

Eren raises an eyebrow at him. “You some kind of psychologist?”

Levi scoffs, rolling his eyes with a small grin. “No, but Hanji and Mike are, so I’ve learnt from the best. Who knows, maybe they’ve actually been training me all this time, some guy with a contract comes along and I’ll finally be earning forty thousand a year.” Ah yes: that’ll be the day.

“I guess... If you say so. Alright then, we’ll go to yours.”

Shaking his head with a sigh, Levi takes a glimpse of Eren that he captures in his mind. “Oh no, we’re going back to the mad house tonight.”

Chapter 14: May 13th part two

Chapter Text

There are a lot of things in life that nobody ever tells you, because they can’t. They can’t physically teach you how to make someone happy; you have to learn to do that yourself after having learnt what the other person likes and about their attitude. They can’t really prepare you for the sh*t things in life; you kind of have to take them as they come, because every bad situation you’ll end up in will be unique, something that nobody ever thought to look out for and therefore can’t teach you to be prepared for it.

In this case; the thing Levi’s struggling to teach himself is how to spend twenty minutes waiting for his shift to end, while trying to entertain the love of his life over the counter. Ideas don’t seem to be in Levi’s favour. They could talk, sure, but what about? And how the hell is he supposed to talk to him if there’s ever a customer waiting to be served? Poundsaver is one of those ridiculously popular little shops, even more so than Poundland down the street. Thankfully, no-one’s come to the counter yet.

Tugging at the hem of his Ranger’s football top, Eren’s mouth curls down when he sees the bag full of his chocolate. He’s so... expressive with his face, unlike Levi. And it’s fascinating to watch what he does with his mouth, his thick eyebrows and the way he sighs at things he doesn’t like.

“Well this isn’t gonna be much use, is it?” he frowns up at Levi with his lips in a tight line. Levi tilts his head and blinks. “Pizza should fill me up, right? Kinda pointless to eat f*cking sweets if I’m getting supper later.” Supper. His vocabulary is so ridiculously Scottish, as though by being a Yes Voter, he’s trying to prove a point in showing how patriotic he is. “And I’m gonna have to carry this sh*t around with me until I get back home.” he mumbles.

And f*ck, the way he speaks. Levi’s kind of having to translate for you readers, because really, Eren’s accent is beyond thick; it’s practically its own language, especially with all the slang he uses, his awful grammar and how he utterly destroys the English language as he cuts up words everywhere to the stage where it’s pointless, and a little difficult to understand.

Whatever he says, how he says it and when; it always reflects Eren’s emotions, allowing Levi to be able to pinpoint when he’s angry or confused (which seems to be his main two attitudes). Eren speaks in Eren-ish; Levi is slowly learning it.

“You can leave it behind the counter if you want, pal. I don’t actually get off work until three, and I normally eat “supper” at about five o’clock.” he tells him. Not that he actually eats dinner, but he’ll at least drink some tea. Then again, his appetites’ increased ever since he started walking to work and getting some decent sleep. Damn that doctor...

Erwin will probably eat most of the pizza anyway, like an overly proud dad. He’s likely to take pictures of it too and label it “Levi’s First Pizza”. Erwin’s only two years older than him, tch. Idiot.

“...I, uh,” Eren looks away from Levi, casting green eyes to the till in front of him. He did that before as well, looking away when he was bothered... “I’d rather not go home? You know, to wait, or anything?”

sh*t. He’d forgotten about that. Well done Levi, you’re really showing how much you care. “Ah. Right. We could... have a late lunch, early dinner, or something like that. I’m sure Erwin won’t mind us coming over a little early. Plus, I’ve got to go pick it up from my place. Or no, I made a few of them, just to make sure I could actually make one and didn’t raise everyone’s hopes for nothing. That, and Erwin eats too much.”

Leaning onto the counter, Eren gives him a small smile and looks at him again. That’s a good sign. Levi should try to make him smile as much as he can tonight, considering he usually brings up bad subjects with Eren. “Oh yeah, I’ll get to see Swansea again! How’re they treating you?” His curiosity sounds genuine, as though he’s actually interested in hearing about Levi. “Is your room-mate nice? People giving you sh*t or anything?” he pauses, shaking his head. “No, you’re too scary to let people pick on you. But yeah, tell me.”

“Let’s see... My key worker is this guy called Mitabi; when he’s not crying, he’s flirting with the other workers. It’s... God, it’s so sad to watch.” A grimace is brought to his face at the thought. “He has no idea what he’s doing and sounds like a right dick all the time. He thinks I’m depressed, which is kinda rich coming from him, but on my report I’ve made sure he’s written down that I’m fine. As for Bertholdt...” His eyebrows quirk as he remembers something. “A little Bert told me he saw you coming out from the high school the other day, is that where you work?”

“Ah yeah, I do. Hopefully there’ll be a day where I can castrate every teenager alive and make a bloody mess in that damn school. Not literally. But I can dream.” Eren’s eyes widen as he thinks for a second and he covers his gaping mouth. “You can’t joke about Bertholdt’s height!! Oh my god, that’s-”

Levi frowns.

“I made a joke?”

A few moments pass where Levi searches for an answer in Eren’s bemused expression. What did he say? Levi can’t think of what he said that might be considered a joke... His humour consists of sh*t and deadpan phrases. And sometimes there’s The Wealdstone Raider inside jokes that he and Erwin have. (Go look it up. Educate yourself, you poor, uncultured child) Along with ideas for conversation topics, an answer to what he joked about can’t be found. Instead, all he finds is his embarrassment growing and his throat drying up the longer he stares at Eren’s gorgeous face. Eren looks away.

“A little Bert. You said a little Bert told you he saw me. That’s height-ist, Levi.”

Levi raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest as warmth grows there at the sound of his own name. “I’m not. And that never stopped you from making jokes about my height.” he huffs, denying the claim made against him.

“That’s different! He’s actually a dwarf whereas you just act like one! Like, like Grumpy from Snow White.”

He’s about to point a finger at Eren, hand on hip, when someone calls his name from the back room. He narrows his eyes. “This isn’t over.”

Eren stands upright, smiling toothily. His eyes crinkle at the sides yet they’re still wide as ever. “I should be telling you that.” Levi’s face softens all on its own, and he shakes his head mirthfully, trying and failing to hold back his own smile when he turns away to clock out.

But. It isn’t time to clock out. It’s only been two minutes...

Socialising is f*cking long but not long enough when you need it to be and difficult. It’s got too many f*cking rules and everyone should just shut up anyway. Life would be so much easier. And less tormenting.

“Levi...?” his attention turns to his co-worker as he reaches to garage-like staff room, causing Goosebumps to form on his arms. Moblit gestures to a branded box with a finger. “Could you, um, stock up the gum at the desk? There’s no customers, is there?”

There’s a way out of this predicament of his. There is. He just has to improvise.

“…I-I can’t.” He can’t f*cking make small talk anymore. True, but probably not a reason as to why he can’t cope with customers.

Moblit nods. “Okay- wait, what?” His meek voice rises as he gazes at Levi.

Levi frantically fishes out his phone, flipping it open and closed again and again. “Could you cover for me?” he creases his brows, a film playing in his mind as he reads a made-up script. “I’ve got a family emergency, please. They’re asking me to go to the hospital and I’m the only one with the shots he needs, and I’ll have to walk or get a taxi but I need to get money out the bank-”

“Yeah!” Moblit’s non-existent eyebrows shoot up at the sound of Levi’s panic. “G-go, I’ll tell the boss you were sick, d-don’t worry!” Levi throws his work t-shirt in Moblit’s direction and a hurried thanks over his shoulder, dashing out to the counter, jumping over it like he’s done a million times and Eren leaps away from him mid-jump.

“L-Levi! What-”

Levi pushes him from behind, stuttering a breath when his palms meet Eren’s back. It’s so worth missing work for. “No time! Family emergency. Let’s go!!” he calls loud enough for Moblit to hear and makes his way out the shop.

A face like Levi’s is useful in these kinds of situations… Seeing as everyone thinks he’s robotically unemotional, freaking out is a sure way to earn their sympathy. Not to mention, he hardly acts up as it is so he’d get away with it anyway. Oh, his devious teenage days are coming back to him it seems.

“I-is everything okay?!” Eren cries out, stumbling in front of Levi, plastic bag of food jostling in his hand.

Once they’re around the corner, back in the high street with its cobbled pavements, sand-stone buildings and a looming church a few hundred yards away, Levi glances in the direction they came from and releases Eren, already missing the contact.

Job done. To some extent. “That should do it.”

Eren spins round, performing that weird ability he has to keep his eyes wide open even while he’s frowning. “What the hell?!”

“There was only fifteen minutes left of my shift, but I skipped work. Told the guy I had to go to the hospital and he covered for me.” he sighs. “I should be an actor.” He nods to himself as they start walking to his home. “Life goal; become the black haired version of Leonardo DiCaprio.”

Walking with him on the pavement as they make their way past Poundland and a snobbish looking cafe, Eren stares into space. Its apparent that he’s lost his train of thought again, thanks to Levi’s rambling.

“Oh no, I reckon you’d be more of an Eiljah Wood kind of guy. Yeah, you do look a bit like him...”

Of all the comparisons Eren could have made...

“Ew. My teeth aren’t that crooked. And his hair-”

Eren moves so he’s in Levi’s way. “THAT’S THE BEST PART OF HIM.”

Levi walks around him and Eren has to catch up. “What’s my best part?” Levi asks, watching as Eren’s “frown of passion” simmers down.

Eren purses his lips as though he’s actually contemplating how Levi looks, evaluating and deciding which part of him looks best, if Levi’s right in guessing what he’s doing.

His eyes widen a fair bit when he actually realizes Eren’s checking him out, an intense green boring several holes into him, eyes raking Levi up and down as he feels the heat crawling at his neck, his heart hammering in his chest as he stares back.

“Your ears.”

God , Eren, you’re such a letdown. Then again, it seems like something Eren would say. Whatever that means.

“You’ve got these tiny little ears,” Eren tilts his head as he beams, gazing at the side of Levi’s head. “And yeah, I could just dunk you in my coffee. Not that I drink coffee, but metaphors.”

“Metaphors.”

“Aye.” Eren’s deep voice echoes as they walk through a short, dim subway that has abstract art on its tiled walls.

“Okay.”

“I’m so glad we agree on this. Really, I am. And pray tell, what’s my best part, since we’re sharing this info?”

It doesn’t take any thought whatsoever. Two can play at this game. “Eyebrows. Although, you’re competing against Erwin...” He hisses inwardly with an uncertain shake of his head. “Not sure you’ll win.”

Eren huffs at him, pouting as he pretends to be upset and staggers up the stairs leading out the subway, onto the cluttered Aldi car-park. “I thought we were having a moment. I was sharing my innermost opinion of you, and you had to ruin it.”

A smile tugs at Levi’s lips. “I think you should just accept that you have some eyebrow game.” Eren considers this for a moment, clenching his fist in dramatic victory, uncaring of the Aldi customers they pass by.

Yeah. Levi’s pretty good at changing the subject, he’s come to learn. Levi tends to ramble without realizing it anyway, though. And he’s good at acting. His acting is good enough to fool Moblit, though maybe that’s not such a difficult task to do. He’s pretty gullible, that guy. One of the most passive people Levi knows. At first he thought Bertholdt would be a passive person, but like Levi, he has to be a little fierce, otherwise people would pick on him for his height. Not that Levi did. Or that he would. It’d be ironic.

They walk in -hopefully comfortable- silence towards the grey railed bridge they crossed the other day to get to Tesco, with the river Levi’s grown accustomed to seeing. He’s accustomed to silence as well, just not when he’s around other people... Especially not Eren...

Questions... Questions are good, right?

Levi bites his lip, glancing at Eren as he walks beside him with slouched shoulders. Well, his posture definitely hasn’t changed that much since he first met him. “How long... have you lived in Trost for?”

“Ever since I was sixteen so... God, that’s six years? I feel so old. And I guess since I’ve been here for so long, I can’t really say I’m from Buckie?” Eren frowns, shrugging to himself. “Although Trost doesn’t really feel like a home-town kind of place.”

“What’s it like at Buckie?” Levi high-fives himself in his mind. Flow conversation, flow! “I’ve only ever stayed in Glasgow, never travelled to the Highlands.”

Gazing out onto the stream beneath them as they walk over the bridge, Eren rubs at a bruise on his bicep, with his plastic bag rustling in the wind. “I remember that at night, the beach is so dark you can chuck a body in the sea and nobody would ever notice.”

He gets this soft, distant look in his face as he continues and Levi watches the change in love-struck awe. “Me, Mikasa and Armin would go watch the seals sun bathing in the summer, and we were all friends with this fisherman who’d give us rides on his boat. It’s not much of a fisherman town, but you do get a few people who do that sorta thing.” He finishes.

Levi sighs because damn, that just sounds like the picture perfect life, despite the fact Eren mentioned being in foster care with Mikasa when he met her. “Glasgow’s miles from the sea, so I’ve only ever been during the summer.”

“Yeah, that’s the only good time to go.” Eren chuckles –which is a boyish, awesome sound- and looks at Levi. It’s probably just to be polite, but the colour of his eyes is just... It’s too intense to not be intimate and a little intimidating with how much it makes Levi freeze up and melt at the same time. “When winter came it was f*cking freezing and there wasn’t any snow to make up for the sh*tty weather. Sea melts snow or something like that.”

A few minutes later they finally make it to Swansea, and Eren almost seems disappointed by how quiet it is.

“How many times have the polis been around since you came?”

Levi fiddles with the lock on the door; a weird combination of having to twist the latch and turn the key at the same time, which is totally ridiculous because it means you have to use both hands to unlock the bloody thing. “...What’s the polis?”

“Eh, the police?”

“About four times. Three times for drugs, another time to calm down a guy on the third floor when his fiancé broke up with him, which to be honest, was kind of a given considering they were nineteen, like. And they’d only been going out for three months? People these days...” Levi goes inside to the kitchen –beautifully clean kitchen, that is- and heads straight for the fridge.

“This fridge surprised me... as well as the furnishings in the living room. Apparently Swansea gets a lot of free stuff. It’s a government building, so it’s not too surprising that they get free stuff, but the things they get are actually... of a decent quality?”

“Oh yeah, the people are good to you because of your circ*mstances unlike a lot of places, like The Royal. That’s where Armin stayed. I remember when I lived here I got offered a flat screen TV once... though they never gave me it. Man,” Eren glances in the direction of the Staff Flat across the hall before coming inside.

“The staff used to be way cooler than the people you’ve got now. Most of them were middle-aged old ladies like they are now, but some of them were a laugh.”

Just as Levi’s packed the pizzas into dinnerware boxes and handing one to Eren, Bertholdt appears from his bedroom and peeks into the kitchen. “Oh, I thought I heard voices, hey guys!” He walks up to them with a shy grin as he greets the two men.

“Hey, we never got introduced properly before. I’m Eren.” He’s so good at being social! It really hits the nail o the head for Levi, with the way Eren reminds him of just how awkward he is.

Before Levi can have a war-flashback to his first day at Swansea, Bertholdt flashes Levi a downright evil grin before looking back at Eren and shaking his offered hand. “Oh, I know your name. Levi mentioned you... in passing...”

Say another word, Levi challenges Bert with his glare. Just f*cking try it, why don’t you.

“Is that guy from the other day okay?” Of course Eren’s concerned about that idiot, such a darling man...

“Oh, yeah he’s fine. Keith... he, uh, got five stitches and cried like a baby in the emergency room, but he’s cool. So... Are you guys the delivery boys? Should I leave a tip? I mean, if you want, Eren, I could give you Levi...”

It probably doesn’t help that Bertholdt managed to sneak in some beer, strong stuff that somehow made Levi a little tipsy and he started talking, and talking and talking about Eren and how kind he is and how he puts up with Levi and his rambles and how angry he looks with his near constant and adorable scowls- Levi pushes his boxes into Eren’s back, glowering down at Bertholdt (that feels good) and ushers him out the building.

The alarm on the door buzzes for a while as they make their way outside. “...Did you not want me to meet him or something?” Eren’s eyebrows crease. “A little Bert told me that you already talked about me to him, so why...?”

Of course it would seem like that. Argh. Just, just ahhh, no. You’ve got the wrong idea-

“I don’t want you to be a victim of his evilness. He packs in quite a lot of Satan into that body of his.” Balancing the pizza boxes in one hand, he checks his phone for the time. “Um, do you want to get a taxi? We’ve got time to spare, but it’s about forty minutes to Erwin’s...”

“Dosh*te?!” Eren cries out, waving a hand in the air in despair. “Yeah, okay. We can split the fare.”

Levi blinks and stands still as he tries to process what Eren just said. “...The hell was that?”

Flushing in embarrassment, Eren looks down and wrinkles his nose. “Sorry. I do that thing where I blurt out random stuff in foreign languages. Mikasa’s fault, really. She taught me Japanese.” That’s adorable, t-that pinkness on his cheeks, oh wow.

“I know a bit of Hindi.” He replies in an attempt to relate to Eren, pulling out his phone to call for the taxi. “There were these Indians at the corner shop near my old house that taught me a bit so I could piss off the other corner shop for them. Works like a treat.”

“Really?! Oh, hey, I dare you to start speaking in Hindi to the taxi driver when we get into the car. That’d really freak him out.”

Levi feels himself flush at the sight of Eren’s excitement, seeing that one end of his smile stretches further than the other. “Challenge accepted.”

When the taxi arrives, they’ve already discussed their plan.

“Meri lundh choos.” Levi greets the taxi driver with a nod, hopping into the back seat with Eren. ‘Suck my dick.’

The balding taxi driver takes in Levi’s white-person appearance and clothing consisting of jeans and a batman t-shirt. “...What did you say?”

“Sorry,” Eren interrupts and slips into a terrible foreign accent. “He doesn’t speak English, but he said ‘Good day.’” The driver purses his lips and starts the car up.

They’ve only got ten minutes, so they have to work fast. Eren keeps looking at him from the corner of his eye, tongue grinding into his teeth so that Levi can see his canines, not perfectly straight, but perfect all the same. He fidgets in his seat, nudging Levi over the pizza boxes with an elbow. Let’s get started then, shall we?

“Teri maa ki bimaar badboodar.” ‘Your mother has a diseased, smelly c*nt.’

“Eh?” The driver stares at him, eyes becoming little slits in his confusion. He’s got sweaty armpits, yuck, thank f*ck Levi’s sitting in the back.

“He says he likes your car.” Eren “translates”.

“Oh, well thank you very much.” That just makes this all the better.

“Tere adha Nirodh mein rah gaya.” ‘The rest of you was left in the condom.’

“What’s that?” The driver peers in the rear view mirror to see Eren struggling to contain his giggles.

“H-he says he wants your car.”

“Tere maa ko sau kutte chode -sau wa tera baap!” ‘Your mother got f*cked by a hundred dogs -the 100th being your dad!’

“GIVE HIM YOUR CAR.”

(Several minutes later)

They reach the finale right as they’re on Erwin’s street.

“OH MY GOD LEAVE ME THE f*ck ALONE!” The driver sobs. “I’LL CALL THE POLICE!”

“TERI JHANTEN KAAT KAR-”

“SHUT UP.”

“-TERE MOOH PAR LAGA KAR UNKI FRENCH BEARD BANA DOONGA!” ‘I will cut your pubic hair and stick them on your face and make a goatee on your face!’

“OH MY GOD, STOP IT!”

“He says that maybe you should leave your wife because you didn’t buy her a ring-”

“I KNOW I KNOW JUST STOP IT!!!”

The car halts. They’re outside Erwin’s house. Levi leans forward, close by his ear. The driver thinks, no he knows the crazy white Indian’s going to tell him something dreadful that Eren will have to translate and break his heart and jinx him for life-

“No hard feelings, like?” Levi’s back to his usual Glasweign accent, fully speaking English. “Thanks for the lift pal.”

The driver simply points out the window with a meaty finger, struggling to meet their eyes as he whimpers. “Jus-just g-get oot.” They broke him.

Eren and Levi tumble out the car with their boxes, leaving the door open a little so Eren can tease the poor man even more. “You should really buy that ring-”

The driver leaves the kerb without even closing the door. Or charging them. “Score!” Eren grins, fidgeting on the spot with excitement. He pats Levi on the shoulder, who’s trying not to smirk and jump at the sudden contact. “We should definitely do that again.”

Levi’s laugh finally bubbles up as he grins at the path, then back up at Eren. “All the taxi’s are connected, you know! I’m pretty sure we’ll be famous with the taxi people after all that.”

“WORTH IT.”

“YES.”

Eren heads towards Erwin’s flat with a stride in his step. “Hey Levi.”

“Aye?”

He turns round to face Levi and stares right at him. “You’re way less shy than you were before.” Wait, what? “Did you get nervous around me or something?”

No, Eren, Levi just can’t control his goddamn feelings around you and f*cks up every second because he’s too awkward for his own good and thinks about f*cking you at inappropriate time and also thinks about making you breakfast and kissing your eyelids and if that’s not enough to overwhelm a person and make them spout a load of sh*t then the reason he acts so weird around you is-

“I’m really bad at small talk.”

Ah yeah, there’s that.

Eren gives Levi an odd look, ‘the odd look to give Levi when he’s speaking sh*t’, as he’s come to call it.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that.” Eren’s honest, so brutally, ruthlessly honest.

But he does have a point.

“Swansea’s done me a lot of good, so thanks for helping me get there. Seriously, I’m actually sleeping and eating now.”

Levi buzzes for Erwin, who lets them in without question. “And well, it could be worse. At least there’s no tables for me to trip up on, and I made you laugh rather than made you go on a morose adventure in your mind.” Those minutes spent in Greggs were dark, ebony times...

“Yes,” Eren brushes his clothed shoulder along Levi’s, effectively jamming up his throat. “Yes, you did. Thank you.”

Erwin opens the door to let them in and thank god he did, otherwise Eren would’ve seen Levi going bright red. Noticeably. It makes him look like an idiot, but this, whatever this is when he looks at Eren’s content smile, is the best he’s felt in a long while. And it doesn’t seem to go away, even when Eren disappears into another room.

Chapter 15: May 13th part three

Chapter Text

Holding the pizza boxes against his chest like a cage concealing a restless bird, Levi enters the Smith residence for the first time in what, a week? Not even that? He follows Eren into the living room with Erwin trailing behind him, attempting to peer over Eren’s head. (You will be stabbed if mention his height, just remember that)

He’s beginning to wonder if half his infatuation with Eren is due to his hair. Rubbing his fingers against the plastic box to resist the temptation to reach out and caress those seemingly fluffy locks, a wistful sigh escapes his lips.

“CAT.” Eren screams. Then all of a sudden his messy hair is out of Levi’s vision as he blurs and darts into the room ahead, throwing the door open.

And then everything is pink.

God, he can’t even leave Erwin alone for five f*cking minutes?

Levi walks into the living room, choking on a thick spew of curses. He whispers the words ‘f*cking hell’ and ‘Jesus f*cking Christ’ and ‘holy sh*t’, glancing at the dizzying glare of barbie-pink walls. A few paces in front of him the cat bed appears to have it’s own throne -hairy and ridiculous on top of the plain carpet that surrounds it.

He stops to stare, trying to see if there’s a remainder of the house he once lived in. The leather couch has been shredded at the arm rest and has a pink blanet draped over the back.

A bundle of white slides along the floor in front of him, followed by a cooing Eren, tan fingers attempting to pat the kitten’s cream fur. Like a tiger looming over a lamb, Eren makes an odd whispering noise and rubs his index finger and thumb together. “Heeeere puss-puss-puss.”

He glances up at Levi, quickly looking down at the oblivious cat again as his shoulders slouch, though his eyes glitter. “I found a cat.” he giggles, as though his discovery isn’t obvious.

That gets Eren a roll of the eyes, even though Levi’s heart is still recovering from a twinge of adoration. “Would you like a medal?”

“Yes.”

Levi hums thoughtfully. “I can offer you pizza.” Or a blowj*b-

“Yes!” Eren perks up, bouncing into the kitchen, retrieving his pizza box he’d left on the couch upon finding the cat. Things don’t get much better when he turns to face Erwin.

“What the f*ck,” he rakes Erwin’s figure with a blade-like glare. “Are you wearing?”

Erwin crosses his arms, nose pointing upwards as he looks away. “Clothes.” Erwin, you might want to add the goggle glasses, the fake moustache, the bolo tie, the fishhat and- is that a My Chemical Romance t-shirt? “I wanted to fit in with the youths at work.”

“Oh. Well, maybe you should wear those things around said ‘youths at work’.” He’ll have to ask Moblit to take pictures: blackmail material at it’s finest. Though, maybe not, if Erwin actually thinks he’s being stylish... “Also, your living room is disgusting.”

“But the pet book said that Locket would like the colour pink!” Erwin whines. Apparently the cat is called Locket. “I got lonely in the house by myself and I’m not ready for a family yet so I thought, hey, baby steps.”

Quickly swallowing, thinking back to Erwin’s recent pleas to join his family, Levi tells him “Cats are colour-blind. They see pink as grey.”

Erwin thins his lips, glaring at Levi. “Don’t ruin my dreams, Levi.”

“No worries, I already did.”

“Leviiiiiii, what temperature do these go in at?” Eren calls from b’en the house.

Levi instructs him as he wanders into the kitchen. “A hundred and eighty, but make sure the oven’s been preheated.” Levi dumps the other boxes onto the counter. “Get these ones in as well.”

Crouching in front of the oven, Eren turns the temperature dial, the soft glow from the machine softens his concentrated frown and paints his skin gold. f*cking Adonis. No, better than that, because he’s actually real and right here. Eren frees the pizzas of their boxes, setting them on top of the lids in preperation.

“Should take about ten minutes to preheat the oven, right?”

“Right.” Levi moves to sit at the table, realizing that he hardly ever sat there before. Erwin and Eren join him, with the latter two sitting side by side. It’s almost as if there’s something between them... Oh, yeah, great. This is the part where they make small talk.

But how.

How do socialise.

“So Eren,” Blondie, Levi is revoking your mouth so shut the f*ck up. Stop stealing his man’s attention. “What do you think of a guy who wears eye liner?”

f*cking Erwin and his sh*tty pick up lines.

“...What?”

“Well, do you think it looks nice or not?” For f*ck’s sake Erwin. Levi’s tempted to find the co*cktail sticks in the drawer beaneath the sink and stab him in the eyesocket. He does this with every person they meet, swear to god-

Eren shifts, his face blank in confusion as he stares at Levi (don’t look at him; you’re Erwin’s problem now since you sided with him) and his mouth drops vacantly. “I-it’s nice? Do you... Think so?”

“Ah, well see; there was this one night at The Wee Man, that’s a bar in Calton, one that we visited frequently, and did you know it was named after Levi? He’s pretty famous in those parts. Anyway, that night I dared Levi to crossdress-”

Tightening his fists on the table, Levi glowers at Erwin, realizing there and then that Erwin’s soul is as dark as Levi’s hair. “Erwin-”

But he doesn’t stop, and soon Eren knows about one of the most embarssing/memorable nights of his life and he’s laughing at Levi’s expense, yet somehow he doesn’t mind because would you look at that: they’ve gone from eyeliner to something about Levi’s past and isn’t that just the most darling thing?

No. Not it’s not. Say goodbye to your eyebrows tonight, Erwin Smith.

Eren’s prepubescent-like laughter fills the room, along with Erwin’s loud smirking in Levi’s direction, then he sees that the oven’s ready and goes to slip the pizzas in. As they’re waiting for the food cook, Erwin makes them all tea that Eren guzzles with reckless abandon and yelps when it burns him.

They spend a good portion of the time talking about their jobs and families; Eren came from a poor family and although he now considers Mikasa and Armin his family, apparently they’re not as close as Levi thought.

“They were nice enough to offer me the spare room when things went to sh*t when I was eighteen, but since they lived with each other throughout their childhood, it’s kinda obvious that I’m the odd one out, y’know?” He says, going on to explain that he hadn’t been able to go to univeristy simply because of his housing situation: too far from home and not enough funding to move elsewhere. Levi notices he keeps checking his phone...

He also tells the two men that Mikasa is the opposite of Andrea: overly concerned, willing to give him all the attention in the world and often seen with a deadpan expression. Armin, as nice as he is, has a tendency to block Eren out; preferring to daydream rather than try to find things in common with him.

In turn, Levi and Erwin tell them about their family: Levi had kids on the street, his gang members, that he looked after, Erwin’s dad is a police officer and his parents bicker over having another child -Erwin’s mum is as bad as Erwin: insistant on having a picture perfect family.

“You’re everyone’s dad, Erwin.”

“Am not!”

“No, you really are. But just not mine.”

“Uugh, it’s fine, I have Locket now.”

After they’ve eaten, Eren looks at his phone one final time, before announcing he has to go home. Levi accompanies him, seeing as it’s on his way back to Swansea. (That’s the scapegoat reason he’s using, anyway)

At first, it’d been a stiffling silence that encompassed them the moment Erwin closed to door on them -after Eren got his last cuddle with the kitten he’d been glued to for the majority of the night- but then they slowly eased into conversation about Levi’s life at Swansea; not as bad as he first thought, but wow, did it ever remind him of his gang back at Glasgow. Noisy, close friends with the police, with a number of old ladies as their adoptive guardians.

“So, you must’ve made a lot of friends here, if you were that popular in Glasgow?” Eren asks, clutching his bag of sweets that he dips into every now and then.

Levi feels his eyebrows furrow as he focuses on a speck of gum on the pavement. “Hmm... Not really. Just a few neighbours here and there, but not anybody I’d consider hanging out with.” His day spent with Bertholdt’s group seemed to be a one time thing.

“Oh.” Eren almost whispers, and leaves it at that.

“What about you? You had all those friends at Survey, do you hang out with them?”

Eren frowns, thinking. “Some of them, yeah. A few were my room mates, and don’t get me wrong, but most of them were Armin’s friends, and friends of their friends. Not people I know too well, if I’m being honest. Armin tells me there’s no reason not to be with whoever you want to be with, but I guess I find it hard to mingle in groups.”

He shrugs, shivering slightly and cursing himself for not wearing a hoodie. “When I was living at Swansea, Eld, who had moved out of Swansea at the time, he introduced me to the idea of parties. It’s dumb, really. I was scared about it, but all it really is is just talking to a bunch of people. You can learn how to make conversation over the internet, and usually everyone’s so tipsy that they don’t give a sh*t as to what you talk to them about.”

Levi nods, turning his head to see Eren staring up at the sky, his chocolatey hair dancing in the light breeze, and he was wearing that usual frown again. “Can’t decide whether I like people or not.” Eren admits ruefully.

“I just don’t really like people in general.”

Eren snorts. “Yeah, you’d probably prefer to just go about washing all the windows of Trost.” he points to a random window, a grin threatening to bubble up. “You gonna polish it?” he teases.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Levi looks away as he hides a smile. “I’ll wipe that dumb smile off your face.” It’s not dumb at all, though it is a little goofy and just a tad too proud. Suits him much better than that frown.

They walk a little more in (what he hopes to be) comfortable silence, watching as the lamps flick orange and the cars on the road turn their headlights on. Passing a nearby Burger King, Levi takes note of Eren’s house: two storey’s high, it might’ve once been white, there’s no garden; it’s attached neighbour looking exactly the same.

“Can I come in?” Levi blurts out, fearful of having to leave Eren once again as he wanders up the path.

Eren scratches his hair, looking anywhere but Levi. “I was gonna go check on Daz.”

“I won’t be in the way.” He reeeeally just wants to see the inside of your house, Eren. Levi wants to know what random sh*t Eren’s got in his room. Would he have books? DVD cases stacked up high? Does his wardrobe only consist of blue football tops and worn out polo shirts?

“It’s late.”

“It’s seven o’clock. How’s that late.” he saunters over to Eren who jumps at his sudden closeness.

He ducks away, out of Levi’s reach, peering at him behind his fingers as he protects his face. “Please don’t kiss me again.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you turn Levi into a stuttering, blushing mess of a man.

“F-French, ha-habit that’s it, that’s all, good day see you later bye bye bye bye-” he runs away. God dammit.

-------

His plan for tomorrow: learn how to bloody act around people, because this is just getting beyond a joke now. Levi considers asking Bertholdt for advice, but then again, Eren did mention that there’s a bunch of “conversation how-to’s online”. He marks it on his calendar, circling it so as not to forget.

But in the box for today, he writes (after finding a pen that works, since his has run out of ink)

“If Eren doesn’t want to go his house then I’ll make a place for him to go. He did it for me, after all.”

Chapter 16: May 16th

Chapter Text

It's a nice day outside, so naturally Levi has to spend it indoors, sitting in front of the computer screen in the library. Note the word “spend” and not “waste”. It’s time well spent too: turns out there’s a whole heap of crap for the sad idiots out there that can’t socialize. Idiots like Levi. (The joys of being a hypocrite)

God, why hasn’t he done this before? He could’ve trained himself and maybe he would’ve actually gotten hired back in Glasgow. Then again, the reason he didn’t get accepted was probably because of his lack of work experience and his grades, or lack thereof. (what a beautiful catch 22) On top of that, maybe he would’ve stood a chance with Eren. Well; better late than never. As a horrifically optimistic Hanji would say.

Mastering the Art of Small Talk:

Okay so this site says to avoid “obscure subjects”, arguements and emotionally charged subjects. Already, they’re doing so well with that aspect, he and Eren. *Sigh* Like many people, Levi does in fact not see the point of small talk, it’s utterly pointless and annoying (mental note to look that up later) but oh, what do you know! The site says that that couldn’t be further from the truth!! Oh but here’s something: it’s the easy way to get to know someone and create a positive first impression.

It’s on the internet! It must be true!

sh*t... There’s actually some decent stuff on this site. Turns out small talk is more than just unoriginal staements about the weather and random sh*t. It tells him to talk about general interest subjects like movies (a good one with Eren), music, theatre, sports (ha, maybe not... That could lead to an argument, well spotted Levi), books, food, travel and says that talking about such things makes him more approachable. And help him gain... Self confidence.

Huh, he really could learn more about Eren this way. Plus it’d be a lot nicer than feeling like he’s interrogating the poor guy. With the way he’s been doing things, he doesn’t really know Eren all that well. Like... Sure he likes movies, but what kind? What kind stuff does he do in his spare time? Because... Levi kind of wants to know. Just for the sake of knowing. And maybe Levi can do that stuff with him in said spare time. The site says that if you bring up topics like holidays, then you can add to it yourself if you have something in common with them... Genuis!

Levi keeps reading the webpage, skimming over the do’s and don’ts. It turns out, there is in fact a method of knowing what not to say. Bingo! Eye contact should be five to ten seconds long... That’s certainly useful. But ew, if people smile at him when he’s talking he has to smile back. Is he capable of smiling? Rarely. Once in a blue moon he’ll laugh when he sees cleaning supplies on sale. People have advised him not to. Apparently he looks scary when he does. (Good)

He’s brought the calendar with him, the progress report, so that he can write in the notes section all the things he’ll learn today.

It’s his own progress.

Levi’s notes are a little all over the place, but what he’s gathered from mutiple websites is:

Know what interests and experiences you’re willing to talk about
Try and wring them out from other people at the right times
Avoid stuff that generally makes people upset or angry
Open ended, not entirely useful questions are awesome
Listen closely to what they say
If they start talking crap about other folk or sh*tty things that’ve happened to them, don’t be afraid to change the subject (although this seems to be an exception between close friends that like to complain to each other)
Mutual Interests

Because having something in common with Eren would be like, I don’t know, being important to him. He’d have something to talk about with Eren without it being forced and full of pauses.

And that’d be lovely.

Now all he needs to do is make a routine out of talking to Eren. That way it won’t seem weird for him to hang out with him. Not that it was before, but... At least they’ll have a reason to now, rather it being because Levi was sleeping on someone’s couch. And they’re a bit out of each other’s environment, so really, it’s not like they’ll become friends just because Levi wants them to be.

For f*ck’s sake, why does the building of trust take so long? So much hard work?? (He’ll never tell anyone this, but Levi is actually pretty lazy sometimes and procasinating might as well be his middle name)

Work finished a few hours ago and he’s a little bored, so Levi decides to find a book and ends up reading one about non-verbal communication. Once he’s comfy in the beige recliner by the window of the sitting area, something begins to niggle at his mind.

If he doesn’t apologise to Eren, he most likely won’t come across him again. And he sure as hell isn’t going to wait around in empty, piss-smelling bars for the occasion to arise again. Well damn. How the f*ck does he start this conversation? Maybe he should go back onto the computer and search “how to be friends with someone you kissed but didn’t want to be kissed and thinks you’re really weird”. (He did that. Then decided the search results included the words “stalker” and “creepy” too much for it to apply to him)

The anticipation burns in his stomach as he stares at his flip phone held between a trembling thumb and palm, squeezing his other so that the nails dig into the skin. Aaaaah, okay okay here goes nothing.

Levi:
I’m sorry for the other day and if I made you uncomfortable. I didn’t even realize I’d kissed you until half and hour after. It was unintentional.

He sends it before he can scream at himself. (He had to use the word “kissed” god almighty). He stares at it like a puppy begging for food at the table, flips it open and closed, checks the time, uses the calculator to estimate how long it’s been since he’s sent the message and the percentage of how likely it’ll be that Eren won’t ever speak to him after that dreaded incident ( 100%) (Levi ran away after, that’s just pitiful!).

He jolts when his phone bleeps with a text message, quickly putting on vibrate so no nosey librarians will try and kick him out for being noisy.

Eren:
Ay up man, no nd to b so formal! It’s cool tho, it was jus a lil sirprising teh be smooched out the blu by somone i don know well? yea no worries! ^.^ not relly a touchy feely guy y'know

Levi finally slouches into his chair, deflating like a relieved balloon.

Levi:
I will try to get to know you.
I mean in general. Not so I can kiss you again.
wait im not implying that someone who gets to know you is trying to kiss you. because i wasn't.
although it might be true for others. dunno.

Eren:
Ahh good lif lesson there! Hanji and Michael bin teachin you stuffs? oh wait you call him mike donch

Levi:
They couldn't teach me sh*t. The internet is more useful. You said there was social lessons online so I checked them out.

Should he have told him that? Um, well it means Levi's showing an interest and listening to what he says... It's not necessarily creepy...

Eren:
Oh right... y'learn anythin interesting?

Levi raises an eyebrow when he realizes Eren's playing along with the rules of small talk: open ended, not necessarily useful questions that keep the conversation going. Good to know...

Levi:
A comfortable speaking distance is two-three feet. Also it appears I've revealed to much of my life to you too soon.

Eren:
Oh no i kno too much D: You gon kill me? plz spare my life what do i tell my kids and wife sob sb
at least make it look like an accident.
also cn ther be fireworks. I want to go oot wit a BANG! :D

Levi:
I won't kill you

Eren:
(YET!) (I see throo yer lies good sir)

Levi goes back to reading when he sees the librarian giving him dirty looks. About half an hour later, his phone buzzes again.

Eren:
hey levi did y usd te be a rebel in high/sch

Levi:
What? Why do you ask?

Eren:
Well see im at work. i practically left high/sch to go to highschl. pfft. findin it real hard to think of you owning the halls. ur more of a "too cool for skewl" kinda guy and i swear to god this one kid is out to get me, the day he gets outta here his ass is mine

Levi:
Never missed a day of school. Rebellion against schoolwork just means they're ungrateful little sh*ts. (probably like the one you mentioned)

Eren:
not once?? :O

Levi:
Nope

Eren:
Not even sick days??

Levi:
I studied in the nurse's office

Eren:
ermagerd u NERDLIT. even i mssd sm schol (i livd by mysel: no parents tellin me where im at, lol) i was like... average *sobs eternally*

Levi:
I wasn't a nerd. *Hands you a tissue*

Eren:
yh but yore a goody 2 shues w/ your perfect record. *snotts on your tissue wth my pride and brokn dreams*

Levi:
my grades were sh*t so no not a nerd (teachers never showed up unless it was to bang in the janitor's closet)

Eren:
DONT SAY THAT THATS NOT TRUE
I HAVE TO WORK WTH THESE PEOPLEE???

Levi:
I still have the photo on my phone from that scarring day *war flashback*

Eren:
... I fear for my career and sanity.
NEW KNOCKING POLICY IS NOW INTACT.
aussi is that why u work in a shop? (unlss its ya life choises [dont kill meeeee])

Levi:
No money for college, back in the sh*tty days. no SAAS for me.
Didn't know how to apply for college, not that I'd've gotten in, so yeah shop assisstant I turned out to be.
living the life. so happy im clapping along to Will Pharrell.

Eren:
WE@LL EDUCTE U LEVI DON U WORRY U WANT HIGHERS IL GIV YA SOM

It's too good to pass up on the opportunity. Eren's basically quoting it! He must know of the terrible joke!

Levi:
Have you watched the wealdstone raider video

Eren:
Uh... no? zat a movie?

Levi:
Youtube it. There's a grumpy guy with a football shirt in the picture.

Eren:
...I would say that fits your descripton, but sady I fit the bll too
uuurrrghh got work, see ya man
byeeee bye bye bye

Levi:
Watch out for them janitor closets mind.

Eren:
f*ck YU IM SCARED NOW
I CANT DO IT
i NEED THISJOB GODAMMTI

When he doesn't get a reply, Levi safely assumes he's either a) found the culprit in the closet or b) gone back to work.
HOW MANY MESSAGES LONG WAS THAT?!
THAT WAS THE LONGEST THEY'VE EVER TALKED PROPERLY AND EREN TEXTS LIKE THE CUTEST LITTLE THING WITH ALL HIS EMOJI'S AND TERRIBLE SPELLING AND AHH.

Levi returns to Swansea that night hoping to maybe try out his awesome new skills on his new little(!) friend, but alas: Bertholdt is nowhere to be seen. A notice on the wall next to his door informs him of a resident meeting and the cheerful announcement of free food! In other words: the only reason why anyone will actually attend this meeting. All the trouble makers in one room, eek. That should be interesting.

"I'm Eren's Nerdlit ^.^"

Chapter 17: May 19th & 21st

Chapter Text

19th of May:

Levi wanders into the living room, kneeling onto the couch as he looks out the window, a borrowed mobile phone in his hand as he waits for the other line to pick up. What a great view of their drug dealing neighbours' houses they have... "Damn, sh*tty signal..." he mutters.

On the other couch, Bertholdt grimaces, repeatedly tucking dark brown hair behind his ear as he sits cross legged on the leather seat. "Are you sure you want to go through with this? What are you going to do if you get found out? That's uh, going to be a pretty awkward situation to get yourself out of."

Although he can feel a flush on his cheeks Levi shoots Bert his best "does it honestly look like I care right now?" look. "I can think on my feet Bert," he reassures the shorter man. "This isn't nothin' I can't deal with- Hiiii this is Annie Leonhardt I'm calling about the ad from the library noticeboard...?" Squeezing his eyes shut, he cringes at the pitch heighten and accent change.

"Oh! The advert! I almost forgot about that, heh." Eren chuckles through the speaker and Levi sighs quietly because sometimes you just gotta appreciate the little things in life. "I'm Eren, the one who plastered that sh*t onto the library noticeboard. So you're interested in auditioning for the film?"

"...Uh huh." Levi squeaks as girlishly possible, Bertholdt starts silently laughing, clutching his chest as he deflates on the couch and hides his face in the mismatched floral cushions. "U-um, did you, uh, should I practice something...? Pretty sure there's some books at the library about audition pieces-" Levi coughs as his voice breaks, then he's back in action.

"I can drop by and pick up the script to practice? Or, no, you'd want me to improvise wouldn't you? I had to do that for the first peice I auditioned for. Or are you looking for past experience in particular-"

("How can you say all that in one breath, Christ almighty." Bertholdt wheezes some more into the cushions, seemingly enjoying watching Levi make a complete fool of himself)

"Woah, hey, hold up there friend," Eren interrupts Levi aka Annie. Sigh. Levi never thought he'd have to slip into this persona again...

"Nothing that complicated! Look, listen." Eren clears his throat before continuing confidently. "This film is your average indie film, we're entering it for a competition and the deadline's in September. September!" he repeats for emphasis, his babbling reflecting his child-like excitement. If only Levi could be cute and enthusiastic like him...

"We've still to go over, like, what we're going to actually do, and uh, I don't really think we've got a set script so you might end up helping come up with ideas." Eren pauses long enough for Levi to confirm he understands. "You might think that September's a while away, but, the film's gotta be around an hour long and we have to work software magic and I have no idea how to do that. My computer guy's out of commission with a fractured shin."

Levi's eyes flicker up to the ceiling as his considers, almost tempted to flutter his eyelashes considering he's now apparently a girl. "A fractured shin? How would that stop him from doing computer stuff?"

"I don't know, I mean, we live in the same house so I don't really get what his problem is, it's not like he has to travel to Timbuktu to do technical stuff. He'll probably change his mind. If not, then we can have an adventure with computers! Yay!" he cheers half-heartedly. "Do you know anyone smart? Please tell me you do."

"Um, I do."

"Really?!"

"...No."

Eren falters on the other end. "Oh. You had my hopes up there, Annie. Don't do that to a man's pride. My dreams don't deserve to be dashed like that. I mean, they already have been, but that's a story for another time."

Right, right, he's Annie to Eren now. He wouldn't have had to go through with this if Eren had just invited Levi into his house last time. Then Levi wouldn't be paranoid that Eren didn't want him in his house, where the letter said the filming would take place and hence how he realized it was Eren's advert. That, and the fact that it had Eren's name next to his phone number.

He couldn't think of a reason why Eren wouldn't invite him in, so he figured the problem must be himself. To fix the problem, he became someone else. See, Levi's smart like that. Thinks so far out the box that he realizes he can use said metaphorical box for his plans.

It looks like he'll be joining a club like Google told him to all that time ago: Film Club.

It's all for Eren, he tells himself. So that Levi can spend more time with him and so Eren can see how awesome Levi is, er well, Annie. Damn. How does he get past that milestone? Bertholdt's right... Still, he'll have a plan when the time comes.

"You never answered my question." Levi points out.

Eren hums confusedly. "Question?"

"Should I practice something to audition with or will you give me something to improvise?"

There's some noise in the background of Eren's line, followed by the microphone being muffled as Eren shouts at someone. "Sorry, right, uh, well like I said, we don't really have anything set up. No script, basically. Just come over to mine and we'll see if we like you."

"Who's we, exactly?" Levi doesn't really want to have to put up with a massive group, because that'd mean they'd steal all Eren's attention. "Other actors?"

"Ah, no, see; we've kind of got one person per job. There's... me, I'm doing camera sh*t and cinematography, Jean's on sound, Biscuit's on lighting, er, maybe props as well since he works at a second hand store-"

"Biscuit?"

Eren picks up his confusion and full on snigg*rs. "Y-yeah, we call him Biscuit because I can't pronounce his name. Sounds like "Oreo" when I say it, and you know. Oreo Biscuits are a thing. He's Jean's twin brother, actually. There's a lot of nicknames they get from me, you kinda have to be there to find it funny."Eren hums tunefully.

"Who else? Oh, Armin and Mikasa would join us, but Armin's half dead apparently and Mikasa's got work. In her spare time, she's manager. She might make it for your audition though."

"And that's where I come in. I'm the one-man, I mean one-woman- show. The actress. All by myself." Levi flops down onto the couch. Damn, this means all the attention is going to be on him. And if Eren's the camera man, it means he can't not look at Levi. Annie. Dammit.

"You might end up doing stuff with Biscuit, Jean and Mikasa, since it's not like they won't have no time to act, but we thought we'd make sure to have a single person solely doing the acting so we've got a protagonist, or whatever. That sound cool? We're meeting on uh, Wednesdays. Two til four. Might have to rearrange that to fit more rehearsal times, but we'll deal with that later. We're meeting at my place. The address was on the advert, yeah? I can give it to you if you need directions..."

The two of them continue to arrange Levi's visit, and Bertholdt seems to have disappeared, only to return to the living room with a cup of tea for him and Levi. That's one of the benefits of living with middle aged women as staff.

There's so many tea bags. Everywhere you look: teabags. They were spilling out of his cupboards in the kitchen when he first looked in them. It was heaven. Sadly, no black tea. Tetley will have to do him for now, until he can find an Asian cuisine shop that sells it. And with how tiny this town is, he probably won't have much luck.

Eren's voice brims with didactic enthusiasm as he talks. "Well Annie, it was nice talking to you. I look forward to meeting you in person."

"You too." After Levi says that there's a pause, and Eren hurriedly tells him "bye bye bye!" then hangs up. Yeah, Levi's never really been good at closing conversations.

He glances at Bertholdt as he passes back the phone.

"Looks like we're going wig shopping."

(Because that line is so epically climatic, Levi decides that that's tonight's entry for his calendar)

21st of May:

"Okay I might've lied a slight tad. I'm actually really worried about doing this." Levi confesses as he fidgets with the hem of his plain, black t-shirt.

Bertholdt peers into the bathroom as Levi calls out to him. "You decent in there?"

"Well I'm fully clothed so I should hope so."

He gets a thumbs up from the shorter man as he walks inside, patting Levi's arm who leans against the sink in despair. "You look like a girl! Congratulations!" Bertholdt claps, hopefully not ironically. "The transition is complete. Now just imagine you have a top secret mission and you have to infiltrate the Jaeger residence."

Big, olive green eyes gleam as a slow smirk spreads across his face. It drops as suddenly as it appeared and Bert sighs contentedly. "I have to admit, this isn't like other times when I've seen guys cross dress."

Levi rolls his eyes. "Why, because I'm not wearing a skirt?" he scoffs while eyeing up his own denim clad legs and white trainers.

"Probably." Bertholdt pouts thoughtfully. "I mean, girls wear skinny jeans all the times these days so I never get why people think when guys "dress as girls" they have to wear skirts."

"It's 2014. sh*t's got real."

"That it has. Are you ready? Make-up on? Wig as beautiful as we first bought it?" Bert coddles him like a mother to her child leaving home for the first day of school, though really it's a pep talk. "You didn't drop it in bleach and turn it green?"

"Give it time, I'll do something to ruin my own plan eventually."

The sound of the doorbell beckons Bertholdt and he groans. With a whisper of "good luck!" he leaves the bathroom to let Reiner in. (Because of course it's Reiner, the guy shows up every five minutes)

"Oh wait," Levi can easily hear the tall blonde at the door. "I forgot something. Be right back." (He always does this too)

Looking into the mirror, he fiddles with the itchy blonde fringe that hides his eyes, turning slightly to see the loose bun that it's styled in (courtesy of Bertholdt, who's experienced in styling girls' hair for some reason).

He'd only needed a thin layer of lip gloss, mascara and a padded bra to have him on his way. He's still a little flat chested, but does it really matter? Are people honestly going to question his gender due to the fact that they were staring at his chest? If so, he's got something to say to those f*ckers. The door bell goes again but Levi ignores it in favour of perfecting his story, complete with a higher pitch than his usual and a more Northern accent (although Bert said he sounded Irish).

"Name's Annie Leonhardt. I've always wanted to be an actress, been in plays, need some sh*t to do; fit's up, lads?"

Nailed it.

He's made it so Annie's a woman of few words and a total badass, that way it's easier to stay in character in case he slips up. Now all that's left to do is to actually go to Eren's house and ace that audition. Kind of. He needs to liked, anyway. Annie needs to be liked. He escapes the bathroom and darts down the hallway, only to be stopped halfway to the door as Reiner stares down at him and blinks.

"Hi." Reiner says with a vacant expression.

Levi huffs in annoyance, noticing Reiner's wandering eyes. "Hi. I need to leave, so move your ass."

"Woah! No need to be rude!" Levi pushes past him, thankful he's a slim guy. "Damn, tidy girls think they can-" Not waiting around to hear the rest of that sentence, he drags his sorry ass to Eren's, praying that it doesn't rain.

It spits, but that's good enough.

(He'll still curse the weather though, like any other Scotsman would)

Levi finds himself standing outside a familiar crumbling house, still as gardenless and barren as it looked last time. He sweeps the hair of the wig behind his ear, takes a deep breath, and knocks on the brown door that looms over him.

Because Life loves him so much and the karma from the time he laughed when Erwin stood on a Lego brick is coming back full circle, Eren's not the one who answers the door.

It's the chick from the night of Eren's party. The Asian looking one. And see that, it's like the scarf never even left her neck. Her dark eyes cast downwards at his feet and small lips timidly tighten, chin hidden beneath the red fabric. She's wearing an ironed white blouse, carefully rolled up at the sleeves and a crimson skirt falls to her ankles.

A short puff of air from her nose pushes straying strands of her black bob from her face. Well. She doesn't seem too bad. Soft eyed but alert; like a cat peering into the new neighbour's garden.

"Hi, I'm Annie." Levi drawls softly, widening his eyes in hopes that he'll seem more feminine. "Is Eren in?"

The girl before him continues her staring until it's broken by a blonde boy in a preppy vest shoving her to the side with a crutch. "Mikasa, that's the lady Eren told us about, the one that's gonna be the actress?" Blondie grins in his direction, grabbing Levi's arm (not noticing how Levi stiffens at the contact) and ushers him inside, leading him through the house as he hobbles beside Levi. "I'm Armin!" he chirps. Ah, Mikasa and Armin: the overprotective and smart foster siblings.

"Eren's not here at the moment, but he texted me a few minutes ago saying he's on his way back from the shop. God knows what he bought. Hopefully we'll actually get groceries this week." he glances back at Levi, who's struggling to keep up with his rapid speech that's much like Eren's.

"You're a little early aren't you? Well, no matter, means we can get to know you before Eren comes in and steals the stage. Has a habit of that, really. He could make a living in interrupting people with his life story and speeches."

With no time to take in the hallway, he observes the living room as best he can while Armin "fetches mandatory water for the guest". There's two worn out, possibly flea ridden, sky blue couches facing towards a sturdy, African looking coffee table and behind that a large, outdated T.V with a VCR. The walls are lined with flower silhouettes (tacky, in his opinion). "It's small," he says out loud without meaning to. "But I can easily imagine myself getting comfortable in a place like this."

Mikasa nods where she sits beside him on the other end of the couch, sinking into the material and curling her legs beneath herself. Her voice is muffled beneath all the layers of fabric. "We didn't have money to decorate properly. And when we did, we were too scared that we'd make a mess of everything. It's cheap and hipster looking, but I guess it's quite family-like." Levi nods, unconsciously rubbing a finger between his knuckles and crossing his legs.

Armin shouts in the kitchen as he hops back to Levi and Mikasa with a dinner plate that acts as a tray for the glasses. He's telling someone or other to "go into the living room!" like they're in for a surprise (such a shame that Levi's not a hired stripper that could pop out of a cake for them).

Just as Armin sets the three, identical glasses of water onto abstract art coasters, two boys poke their head around the door and peer into the living room. Oh, it's that guy that was giving Eren birthday bumps, the same one who went to his store and held up the queue.

Both boys wear co*cky smirks, sport the same two tone undercut and casual suits that are complete with waistcoats, though one boy looks old and sleazy whereas the other one looks like an attractive asshole and sleazy. Such eye candy, wow.

"We have a person." Two Tone One says.

"Ah," Two Tone two starts, raising a finger. "But can we keep said person?" They swagger into the room and plop themselves onto the other couch, seeing as the one Levi's on is occupied by Armin and Mikasa and he's sandwiched between the two.

"Depends if we like her." Mikasa mumbles sleepily. "Eren wouldn't know a good actor from a bad one so it's best we decide."

"Eren might be the host, but we're the judging panel. All of us except him are Simon Cowell."

"He's the Queen and we're the government; just because he rules over us doesn't mean he's got power."

They may not look identical, but they have the same inflatable ego that Levi sees all the time in guys at bars and clubs. Which isn't often, granted, but even he can make a quick judgement when necessary.

"Guys," Armin scolds them with a scowl. "He's the one that started all this in the first place so his opinion matters as much as any director's. Now, Annie; I'd like you to meet the lighting and sound guys: that one's Jean," he points at the more attractive twin with lighter coloured hair. "And for some reason we call him Biscuit," he refers to the male with a slight silver tinge to his hair and aged appearance. "I'm sorry man, I don't think I even remember your real name anymore."

Biscuit stares up at the ceiling in a mock existential crisis. "Neither do I, son. I tell myself it's okay so I might as well tell that to you too."

Armin chuckles tunefully, gesturing to Levi. "This is Annie. This is person. Do we keep person?"

"What music do you listen to?" Mikasa randomly asks him.

Before Levi can answer, Jean jumps up from where he slouches on the couch. "sh*t, question time! We could use a Facebook note, that might help us out." he whizzes out the room for a full two seconds before he sprints back with a laptop and sits it on the coffee table.

Half an hour and ninety questions later, they've all crowded round Levi, still furiously firing question after question at him. It's not bad, to be honest. He's always kind of wondered what it'd be like to be interviewed. Yeah, Levi had dreams about being famous, what's it to you? Their reactions are priceless as well, because he's been making each answer a little more interesting than is strictly true. So far, Jean and Biscuit seem utterly fascinated with him.

Mikasa glances at the screen, having chronologically chosen each of her questions from the note. "Oh yay, it's the music one I wanted, what do you listen to?"

"Uh, Coldplay, Snow Patrol... Arctic Monkey's? I tend to go for the mood of the song rather than specific bands." He can't lie to Mikasa. That'd be like... Lying to himself.

"Awesome, me too." Mikasa offers him a sweet, genuine smile, less of her face hidden by the scarf she seems attached to. "Armin, next question. Make it a hard one."

Armin, however, has been making all questions up on the spot. He lights up with devilish glee. "Okay, okay, hypothetically, if you were in a burning house and you had to save your hypothetical sister in the furthest room or five people in a room closer to you, who would you rescue?"

"If I save said five people could we go get my sister afterwards?"

"Nope, it's either one or the other."

"That's kinda harsh and unrealistic."

"That's life, Annie!" Levi grins in return as Armin clenches his fist in faux fury. "Since when is life actually logical?!" he collapses onto the couch, head falling onto Levi's lap.

Levi leans back into the couch, resting an arm over the edge. "Well, if I had to, I'd save the five people because you know, morals require me to do so and all that. If my sister was actually related to me and not some step sibling, then she'd have the same badass blood in her and be able to save herself. Would probably save a kitten on the way out too."

Everyone around him chuckles and look at him fondly: yup he's getting this part. No doubt about it. Mikasa's phone goes off and she tuts at the message she gets.

"Is that Marco again?" Jean asks.

"Yeah," she sighs heavily. "Says Eren's got "a surprise for us". Poor Marco. God bless that man. And you know, you have to think pretty highly of someone to ask someone else's god to bless them for you."

"You keep tabs on Eren?" Levi blurts out, then covers his mouth because sh*t he isn't supposed to know that. "At least, that's what it sounds like. Are you having Marco stalk him?" Nice save. Smooth as a water slide that's been out all day in the sun. Levi that was not smooth that was a total crash and burn.

As Armin ascends from Levi's lap, Mikasa flings her arms up and stares at the ceiling in annoyance. "Why does everyone think that? He really doesn't help either, going about being a drama queen, telling people I'm "so overprotective"." She glances over at Levi, slamming her hands down on the arm rest of the couch.

"Listen, I'll tell you the real deal: Eren's a public menace, one step away from being electronically tagged. You know, having a GPS attached to his leg so he can be tracked. I told work 'no, I'll save you guys money, I'll do it myself because he's my little sh*t to be responsible for'. Marco helps me when I'm not out with Eren 'cause he's my coworker."

"You're... Are you with the police?"

"Yup," she winks at him. "Officer Ackerman at your service, sweetheart."

Oh, oh god. Eren's sister... No, don't wink at Levi. He's gay but he's not the kind of gay that you want him to be, or even a he at all, f*cking sweetheart.

This is not a day he wants to relive, oh man.

Mikasa takes his humiliated flush the wrong way and shuffles closer to him and he does his best to hide a whimper. Just think happy thoughts, happy thoughts Levi! Think of Eren and his sunshine demeanour! How well he can bandage people up! The fact that he's a legit public menace being watched by the police!

Speak of the devil: there's a loud thud at the front entrance and soon Eren shuffles in, whispering to... What seems to be a house plant about the size of Levi that he's hugging, along with plastic shopping bags hanging like fat, white bats off his arms.

"Honey, I'm home~"

Levi's brain short circuits at the idea of Eren saying that to him, not to mention how his heart flutters upon seeing the man. Biscuit turns to Levi when he stiffens his posture completely. Eren's wearing a redflannel shirt with the sleeves roughly rolled up, much like the green one Levi has and damn, he wears denim jeans a lot better than Levi can.

Mikasa flops back onto the couch, arm resting over her eyes in sheer exhaustion. "Eren, please tell me you didn't dig that up from the Biblical Gardens." she says calmly, not quite pleadingly. "Or the primary school. Or someone's garden."

He peers round the plant at her with a huge sh*t eating grin. "Yes darling, I had a wonderful day. Hey Armin, remember when you said that carbon dioxide feeds plants?" Armin thinks for a minute, nodding instead of trying to correct him. "Well, I also remembered that when you speak, it lets out carbon dioxide and I was talking to the plant to make it healthy!"

"So you... Talked to the plant, all the way home."

Eren scoffs, shuffling around the room to sit the plant beside the window. He dumps the shopping bags beside them, clearly forgetting them as soon as he sets them down. "You say that like it's a bad thing. And Mikasa, I got this from B&Q. I even got one of them little bug shaped windmills to sit in the soil!" he mimes a spinning windmill with his finger. Is no-one concerned with why Eren has the plant in the first place...?

Jean frowns, along with Biscuit, the two of them folding their arms and sighing at Eren. "You do know that the windmill will be pointless..."

"Y'know, considering it's going to be inside."

The glare Eren shoots them is unmistakably feral. It's pretty damn hot. "Don't ruin the image I had in my mind. I will dream, you f*cking crayons!" he trots away with his nose high in the air, heading towards Levi. "Well how'd ya do! You're Annie right?" Levi nods dumbly. "I'm Eren," he bows down then offers a hand and Levi raises an eyebrow at his sudden, possibly reserved for strangers and very much fake, politeness. "We spoke on the phone?"

Before Levi has the chance to shake Eren's hand, Mikasa darts over to him, hands clamping around his waist and making him squirm uncomfortably. "We're keeping her." Not unkindly, he pries her hands away from the danger zone. Meaning his entire person.

Armin nods, scratching his cheek as it reddens. "I ditto that."

Simultaneously, Jean and Biscuit look at each other and nod in confirmation of the other's thoughts then back at the group. "It's a Big Yes from me."

Levi's definitely wondering why on Earth these people like him when he's only known him for half an hour. Then again, they're not too bad themselves.

Glancing around at the unanimous agreement, Eren's surprised expression wears off and he reaches out to Levi's head. Levi can practically feel the stars in his eyes as Eren smiles kindly down at him, his breath falling short as the hand nears his hair, then promptly ruffles it roughly.

That's uh, when the wig falls askew.

"Wait," Eren falters upon seeing the flash of dark hair, squealing as he rips his hand away from the wig. "Levi?!"

Armin bursts out laughing, wheezing hysterically and clutching his sides as he falls to the floor. "For the record I knew the entire time. You didn't do a very good job at hiding your Adam's Apple."

Jean coughs. "I'm beginning to question my sexuality." he whispers lowly and hides his face in Biscuit's chest.

Mikasa frowns dirtily at Armin, enough to silence him as he picks himself off the floor, taking a seat next to Levi. "Don't make fun of Annie because they're transgender." she growls.

Levi just wants to melt into the furniture. Eren's still staring at him and before that made him feel special but now he just feels like a complete moron. He pulls the wig off properly and crosses his arms, avoiding Eren's gaze. sh*t what's the plan what's the plan- "I'm not. Look, I'm really sorry-" he starts.

"You actually managed to convince me you're a girl. Didn't recognise you, I sh*t you not." He glances at Mikasa. "'s like Johnny Depp, right? With how well he can slip into a character, totally unrecognizable." Eren's... Complimenting him?! Why...?

Mikasa's quiet for a few moments. "Are you implying that An- I mean Levi helped you discover your sexual orientation? Stayed with you, especially during loud episodes of masterba-"

"-Mikasa!" Mikasa simply blows a raspberry at him. "I never should've taught you that." he runs fingers through his hair, griping the brown locks and hiding his flushed face behind his forearms. He catches Levi's eye accidentally, then holds it as he motions towards the group, hair flopping over his green eyes.

"Do you think you can handle these guys? I mean, they obviously don't care what or who you are. Man, I should've checked with you to see if you were up for this. You don't really seem the type? To act? Uh, yeah, so what do you say?"

Levi wipes the remnants of the lip gloss away with the back ofhis hand, and when he looks back to the group he's found to be pretty agreeable, he finds all the attention is on him. "Uh, sure..."

Eren shrugs with a dopey grin then claps his hands. "Looks like we've got everyone we need: now's to figure out what the hell we're actually doing."

This is... Not what Levi expected when his identity was revealed.

"No,"Armin interrupts Eren. "You're putting the shopping away since you bought a huge plant for no reason. Remember that that's our money. And we asked you to buy FOOD, not inedible plants." He points at the abandoned pile of shopping bags, smacking his lips and looking at Eren sternly.

Eren whines. "But Daaaaaad..."

"Get going you stupid crayon, or I'm returning it to B&Q." Eren rushes towards the bags and drags them to the kitchen, still complaining to his "Dad".

Armin goes to cross his legs, hissing when he realizes he can't do that and grimaces in Levi's direction. "So when were you going to tell us?"

The entire room's stare is on him and he baulks. "Um. When you found out, I guess?" Maybe they wouldn't be as accepting about the fact he lied about his identity as Eren made them out to be...?

"Well I don't know about you guys," Armin gestures to the others. "But I know."

Mikasa bites her lip, frowning in confusion before she watches Armin's face. "Oh." her eyes widen and she visably tries to compress a smile. "Yeah, I knew from the beginning." Jean and Biscuit just look at each other, both as lost as the other.

Jolting him, Armin nudges Levi so hard he almost falls over. "Right, now that we, as a majority, know, we're going to give you some tips!" he exclaims.

...Tips? Wait, what?

"First thing's first: make sure you know your films." Armin states.

Mikasa nods wisely. "Your next best bet is to look really impressed and give him your full attention when he starts showing off or babbling, especially when he's going on about cinematography."

Huh?

Armin and Mikasa nod to each other, glancing at Jean and Biscuit. Jean seems to understand what they're doing. "Make sure you say his name a lot when you're talking to him. Gets his attention, makes him flustered as hell."

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Levi shifts to the edge of the couch cushion, taking in each of the group in turn as he frowns confusedly.

Ignoring him, Armin continues. "You've got to be a yes voter."

"I would advise offering to take him out to the cinema. The bigger the screen and the more obscure the title, the better."

"He's a sweet tooth! Buy him a sh*t ton of sweets."

"Oh, I bet if you offered to write the script he'd marry you in a heartbeat."

That's when it breaks through to him and when he realizes, he slaps a hand over his mouth in an attempt to hide the burning on his face. He's really... Well it's not like he was trying to hide it but, but still, it wasn't that obvious, right? Apparently it was... He's only known these people for half an hour and they can already read his mind.

Solemnly, Armin nods and pats his back, stifling a giggle. "I can tell what you're thinking, and yes; you've got it pretty bad." Armin doesn't even lie about his telepathic powers. "Everyone's fallen in love with Eren at some point, but I'll be damned if we don't work together to get at least one of our friends with him. Say, what were you saying to him that night at the bar?"

"That's when I noticed." Mikasa adds. "You looked very nervous that night, and you don't seem like the easily flustered type."

Lowering his hand from his mouth, he cups his knee with it and hisses inwardly. "I-I told him... Uh, his hair looked fluffy." Jean shoots up from where he sits, pointing at Levi as he grinds his teeth. "I told you that was a valid complement."

Beside him, Biscuit rolls his eyes. "Yeah, but probably the worst pick up line," he glances at Levi. "No offence."

Jean slumps back down, a frown deep-set on his face as he snarls at his brother. "At least I don't lacerate my own tongue every time I try and look cool."

"Oh so you admit to trying to look cool-" They continue bickering while Levi focuses on Mikasa and Armin.

"Does he... Talk about me? At all?" Levi asks.

Mikasa tilts her head to the side as she ponders. "When did Eren talk about Levi... Ah, there was that time he told us that we couldn't phone a taxi because he pissed them off, and then while we were walking we made him explain why. Do you really speak Hindi?"

Levi nods, chewing on his lip. "So what does he think-"

Stumbling through into the living room with his jaw hanging loose as though he's in a daze, Eren's eyes flicker from Armin to Levi. "I'm done with the shopping, can I go talk to the plant now?"

In a low voice Armin whispers "I've got an idea." Then he turns away from Eren, focusing all his attention on Levi. He, along with Mikasa, starts questioning Levi again, basic things like what his schools were like, what hobbies he has, what his roommate is like and Levi goes along with it although he's not really sure why.

Eren asks how Levi's "audition" went; Armin shushes him and lets Levi continue talking. It makes Levi a little uneasy, because he can see Eren steadily growing more and more annoyed the longer he gets ignored.

"Is that so? I never really knew they paid attention to the pupil's preferences that much. I remember learning about the acts that were put into place and seeing a few signs on the train that told me how big of an offence it was to discriminate against the opposing football team but-"

"Armin."

"I don't really watch football," Mikasa pipes in. "I go down to the Dojo in my spare time and the sport's channel is always on when I'm watching T.V, although I only tend to watch-"

"Mikasa."

"I kinda gave up on T.V when all the daytime stuff went to sh*t. I remember when I was in Glasgow, we had to put coins into the T.V because it was just that old but at least it meant we didn't have to pay for a licence-"

Eren barges in, shouldering his way past Armin and Mikasa. "Alright that's it." And all of a sudden Levi is being picked up bridal style off the couch and he yelps then swings his arms around Eren for dear life. Warmth envelopes him while Eren jogs out the room, up the stairs. He's touching Eren okay, wow, wait WHAT.

Green eyes stare down into grey as though they're trying to stop his heart from working properly. "Stay close to your friends but stay even closer to your enemies." Eren tells him. He smells like citrus and fresh laundary detergent and holy hell Levi better not pop one here because that'd definitely end his life.

They reach a door on the first floor and Eren lowers his arms so that Levi can let himself down, and naturally he lingers with his hands at Eren's neck, but the latter's more occupied with seeing if his roommate's in.

"Yaaas, my room is vacant of the Daz. Come in, Levi!"

Either this is a torture room where Eren is going to decapitate him for stealing his friends from him or, or... No. It's going to be a torture room.

It's... A very clean torture room, so maybe it's not the worst way to go out.

The walls have been painted dark blue, and there's a questionable throw of what should hopefully be faux fur on the floor at the foot of the oak bunk bed. Eren makes his way to the desk with piles of stationary and random books and pulls open a drawer, telling Levi he can sit on the bottom bed. Because that's his. Yeah. Not a bad way to go out, he must admit. Maybe he already has? It wouldn't surprise him.

With a box in his hands, Eren walks back over to him and sits on the floor opposite him. "This is the camera I got during my last shopping trip when I knew I was going to do the competition. It's brand new, and I don't trust myself to open it." He passes the box to Levi like he's a kid holding a glass figurine. Resting his nose at the edge of the bed so that his mouth is covered, he graces the box with his best puppy dog eyes. "You do it." he tells Levi, still staring at the box.

"A-are you sure?" Eren nods. He winces in pain when he hits his nose off the bed frame. "You know you're going to have touch it at some point, right? After all you're the camera guy."

"But touching a sacred camera that is worth more than my big toe is like, like walking on a fresh layer of snow in the morning. I just can't let myself do it. I would break it."

Levi smirks slightly. "You sure sound confident in your camera man skills."

"The only skill I'm confident in is being able to tell the difference between window wiper and bleach, and my Impulsive Plant Purchasing skills."

"You have a name for what you do?"

"If we're going to be spending more time together I would suggest you don't question half the things I do." Eren chuckles, cheeks rounding as he leans away from the bed, covering his mouth to hide his smile and crinkling eyes.

"So I can't ask you why you bought the plant in the first place?" Levi asks, trying to memorise how the light from the window hits his hair.

"Ah well," Eren says with a sigh. "There's a no pet policy for our house. No cats, dogs, birds, lizards... It's dandy that I get to make friends with the neighbour's cats, but at this point I'd be over the moon with a goldfish."

Beyond the bedroom door, someone shouts "You're the pet dog, Eren!"

Eren turns to face the door. "Shut up you sh*tty Crayola stick!" he pounces at the bed beside Levi. "Come on! Open it, I wanna see what it looks like."

It's not like Levi can turn him down... He unwraps the plastic outer packaging to reveal a Nikon brand logo on the box, flinching when Eren hisses fearfully as he pries away the tabs to open it.

"Oh my god it's beautiful."

"It's all still in packaging and it's not even assembled-"

"BEAUTIFUL! We're totally testing this out." He snatches the camera away from Levi and examines the device once it's free of the protective layer. "How the f*ck do I turn this on."

Levi's never been one for instructions, so he peers at the buttons on the side and top. "The biggest one is our best bet."

"AHA!" Eren squeals when the red light turns on and the screen awakens. Then flashes off in the blink of an eye. "Levi you broke it."

"I did not! It just needs charged."

"You broke it! It comes charged. It doesn't need charged." Eren insists. He fishes out the instructions and reads the first page. "Nope, needs charged. You would'a paid a mighty fine penny if you'd broken this, Levi."

Eren begins talking to himself, trying to figure out "how the f*ck this thing works" (oh yeah their movie is going to be such high quality) and Levi thinks back to the advices the group gave Levi on, uh, winning Eren over. Because that's definitely what family members and friends do for strangers?

"Eren, what's cinematography?"

"Oh." Eren lowers the camera from his face where he'd been inspecting it closely. His eyes and mouth widen simultaneously, making him look a little crazy. "I'm glad you asked."

After a few minutes of explaining, Levi remembers he's heard of that before, specifically when he was browsing through Wikipedia.

"I think I know what you're on about. I remember there was a scene in Fight Club that really annoyed me because the actors looked like they knew something, like... f*ck what's it called.. Dramatic irony, I think. Uh, anyway, there was a scene where they were in the projector room and they looked like, I don't know, it meant something when they were talking about replacing one frame of film with something else." Eren folds his arms, lying down on them as he watches Levi.

He continues, spurred on by Eren's apparent interest. "When I looked it up, it turns out they'd put snippets of Brad Pitt in the scenes before to get you used to seeing him without realizing it. Because you know, he'd had the split personality even before he'd met the soap dude and that's how they managed to pass off the split personality through the entire thing. And nobody knew. And apparently they filmed in darker places on purpose, to give it a hom*o-erotic feel to freak out the audience..."

"Wow." Eren stares at Levi, a little slack jawed. For once, Levi doesn't feel embarrassed about rambling. Sure he's getting a little hot under the collar, but that's completely because Eren looks like Levi told him he invented sliced bread. "Maybe you should be the camera guy. I feel so incompetent, like, wow. It's good to know sh*t like what you said. Learning from the previous masters, and all that jazz."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Eren hands Levi the camera. "I still wanna see if this works and what settings it's got. Hook it up to my computer and see if you can turn it on."

After a while they manage to figure out what went where, Levi has to turn off the night mode and that causes some... "excitement" but they manage to get the camera up and running.

"Has it got one of them big microphones like you see in the movies...?" Eren rummages through the box. "Nup. Right. We shouldn't need it, but we'll see how high the quality is with just this. Alright." he flops onto his bed. "Film me like one of your French girls." He rasps in a French accent and poses as he bounces on the mattress.

Just as Levi lifts the camera to peer into the screen, there's a loud thud at the door and the twins barge in. "Oh, oh my! They're filming p*rn, we better get out of here." As the scuttle out, Eren leaps off the bed and chases them, all of them cursing their way to the living room. Levi sighs. He was invited to the guy's room, it's not like he's not getting anywhere...

In the living room, Armin assembles everyone around the laptop. "Okay guys, we have no idea what we're doing, so I think we're going to have to do it."

Mikasa hums unsurely. "Are you really going to...?"

He takes a big sigh, glancing at Eren who insisted Armin sit on his lap. "It's not like it's the end of the world but... Some measures have to be taken at the price of our pride and happiness." He begins typing into the url bar.

"I-is that..." Jean screeches and attempts to flip down the screen. "Don't resort to it! You're better than that!"

"We have no choice!" And thus, Wikihow covers the screen. 'How to make an Indie movie' is typed into the search bar, and everyone groans.

As Armin's reading the screen contents to himself, Levi's phone goes off: it turns out to be Bertholdt reminding him about the resident meeting at Swansea. sh*t. He has to leave. He doesn't... He doesn't really want to... But damn, Armin made a good point about having to take measures.

"Guys, I'm gonna have to run. I've got a meeting at the place I'm staying at." he could just slip away while they all stare at the screen...

But no, all eyes are on him as he tries to stand up. "Wait a second! Can't we get your number? You're coming back next week, right? Maybe we could go out for coffee before then?" Armin eyes are fearful, along with the rest of the group, which... really doesn't make sense because he's only known them for a few hours.

Levi nods at the brunette's directions. "Eren's got mine. You can get it from him, right? I'm coming back next week, uh, text me if you want." They all agree with a sigh of relief and quickly wave him goodbye. When he's away from the couch, he sees that he's left the wig on the couch... Sitting there like a mop of eternal lies for all to see...

Eh, they do drama. It might come in useful with costume. He leaves it at that and trudges home.

Half an hour later, he attends the pointless meeting that gets a little heated when Petra is accused by Mina for not cleaning the dishes on a regular enough basis, and Sasha gets upset when she finds out it was Reiner, Bertholdt and Keith who were playing knock-a-doorie in the middle of the night. Apparently the meeting was supposed to have them sit down and fix a bunch of problems, but yeah. That's not really what happens.

The three boys ditch Swansea to go drinking. Surprisingly enough, they invite him out, but he declines and says he wants to wash the make up off his face and go to bed early. One little lie never hurt anyone. They're social people, so they wouldn't understand that he just needs a quiet house and a clean bed to recharge in, even if he's not sleeping.

His phone rings out four times that night, all from unknown numbers:

(Unknown number at 18.05) -Heeey it's Armin! Got your number from Eren like you said :D Nice meeting you! You coming back next week? Think we finally know what we're doing LOL

(Unknown number at 18.37) -It's Mikasa. You're the only sane one that's ever entered our house. Please visit again.

(Unknown number at 19.52) -Hi Levy, this s Jean's no. Im the CUTE twin bro, Im sure u remember ;) xxx

(Unknown number at 19.53) -They won't stop talking about you. It's Biscuit btw. We asked Eren what he thought of you. He says you're cool. GET IN THERE YOU DOG xxx

He saves them in his contacts, shooting them all confirmation texts with a small smile and puts his phone on silent as he fishes out the calendar from under the pillow.

"The day I joined a film club, and Eren's group. What am I doing with my life?!"

Chapter 18: 28th of May

Chapter Text

It's been five days. A sudden heatwave has overtaken the country; the humidity in the air has everyone gasping for breath as though they're all being gassed. And Levi. Hasn't. Slept. Since. It. Arrived.

And slowly, just, ever. So. Slowly. He's been driven to the brink of a meltdown. Ha. (It's not funny)

A few days ago he thought hey; maybe it'd be a good idea to "make small talk" with his co-worker, the one that constantly looks terrified and has weird eyebrows. Moblit, his name is.

After five days, Levi's entirely ready to make that last sentence past tense.

He's really f*cking ready to kill someone.

f*ck the internet and it's lies. Small talk sucks. It's painful.

He doesn't f*cking care that Moblit bought a second hand, blunt garden machete and tried to threaten a douche-bag with it while he was drunk the other night. But now that he's started talking to Levi he won't stop. Somehow it's been ingrained in Levi to be painfully polite towards strangers he hates. Moblit's not doing anything wrong, just being really bloody annoying.

Levi doesn't f*cking want to come out his shell like his sh*tty key worker keeps advising him to do.

Reiner! Is! f*cking! Loud! And even Bertholdt has been getting on his nerves by simply breathing.

Levi's considering getting the cheese-grater out the drawer and SHREDDING someone.

ANYONE.

He doesn't get how Bertholdt does it; how he goes to everyone's door at Swansea whenever he wants -without really having a reason to, he just visits them out the blue (Sasha isn't too fond of that, but she usually makes an exception for Bert)- how he smiles all the bloody time and talks to all the staff every day and goes out drinking each and every weekend without fail. In fact, Bertholdt is the kind of person who recharges when in contact with people. Extroverts are things of insanity!

He turned down an offer to watch a movie in the staff's room and heard them talking beyond the door about how "Levi wasn't acting like himself" and "he was kind of rude, didn't look too well". HMM WONDER WHY THAT IS.

Sure they don't know about his insomnia but they could at least get the f*cking message that he doesn't want to talk to anyone, that it's nothing personal, he's just been having a really sh*t week. He would tell them but that would require being in contact with them and his headache objects the notion.

Not that he'd willingly go out and talk to them anyway. He doesn't know them all too well, and doesn't know how to improve their relationship. Doesn't really want to improve it either. He's perfectly happy in his own company. Staring at the ceiling in his bedroom. Burning holes into the people being noisy upstairs. Ah yes this is the life.

And... Naturally fate would play its part and make it so that he has to see Eren. Especially now when he's such a mess.

God it was going good for him for a while. He was finally getting somewhere. Visiting Eren's house just like he wanted to, talking to Eren about cinematography and pets (his pet plant?), and trying to work a camera together. He saw stars in Eren's eyes even though Levi was rambling and f*ck; even Eren's friends like Levi. That counts as having something in common.

They gave him tips after they recognised his feelings for Eren and co-operated to get Eren to notice him (they also co*ck-blocked him, but he'll get them for that next time). They made him feel like he'd been around them for at least half his life. They've been texting him on and off for the past week -Jean texted him every day and bloody hell that didn't do his headache and irritation any favours. Levi would ruin his good impression by spouting weird sh*t and freaking Eren out.

It's a wonder that Eren let him stay even after finding out he was pretending to be Annie. After he'd kissed Eren on the cheek and those trauma inducing phone conversations: it's a wonder he's still talking to Levi.

"You are officially a stalker with bad intentions. God help that poor boy."

Throughout the nights when he couldn't sleep, such memories would taunt him, reminding him that his infatuation -because why on earth would it be love if Levi still hardly knew Eren after a mere three months?- was similar to a highschool girl freaking out over attractive looks and meaningless quirks and over analysed glances.

"Eren? As in the "I'm obsessed with him and over analyse every second we have together" Eren?"

Sure, he agreed when Erwin said that. Because unbeknownst to most, Levi does in fact have a sense of humour. He's slightly self aware at the right times. Despite his self-deprecating jokes he knows he's tried far too hard to impress Eren, inviting him out using dumb excuses and going as far as looking things up online to simply speak to the man. He knows because trying to do the same around other people is bloody tiring and much less worth the effort.

It's because of Eren that the desire to make an effort to socialize even appeared. Is that even healthy? Speaking to people doesn't come naturally to him, nor is it something he particularly enjoys, his voice sounding foreign when he uses it. Okay, perhaps Eren's presence has encouraged him to be more healthy...

Levi doesn't want to come out his shell. He likes his shell and wishes it were even more secluded. But he wants to want to come out his shell; that's more than what he used to feel in that area. Which was nothing.

It bothers him that he'll have to socialize, but Levi knows he's made a commitment; he must reap what he once sowed. Uuuugh. He tells himself he gets to see Eren, but the excitement is dulled to a bitter-sweet pang in his chest when he knows he'll just make a fool out of himself. Then again Jean and Biscuit will be around so it's not like he'll be the only idiot there.

Peeling a sweaty arm from over his throbbing eyes, Levi reaches beneath his pillow to pull out the calendar underneath it. He holds it above him, lying on the cool sheets of his bed. This calendar. It's been around since the beginning and hasn't judged him once. But it will; give it time.

As he flips through the pages it tells him he's only interacted with Eren thirteen times. And not all of them were in person. None of them were for very long.

He looks at the dated box of May Thirteenth: "If Eren doesn't want to go to his house then I'll make a place for him to go. He did it for me after all." It feels as though he's gotten to know Eren a little better since then. Levi's found out how mischievous he can be, had a proper conversation with him over text -in person, even- discovered what lies beneath the cheerful demeanour Eren wears around his friends and come to think of it... Hadn't he visited the shop to see Levi? Sure the sweets and chocolate were cheap there but he could've went anywhere else. Levi replaces the calendar under the pillow and sighs.

By the end of that night Eren had looked a lot happier as well- oh, wait, that was when he told Levi not to... Yeah. Hmm. Considering the fact Eren is letting him join his club he must've brushed it off (what tolerance). Levi still has a lot to learn in that department. Maybe, hopefully, Eren understands Levi's awkwardness is simply a part of him. Not that he wants to be like that, but he is.

However if Levi met anyone like himself, if he were in Eren's position, he'd probably have knocked the stalker guy out at least once. Clingy people are annoying. Oh the irony!

Now he'll see Eren weekly, without fail. Without needing dumb excuses that would be painful to reflect upon! Given how much Eren fangirled over the camera and competition, it doesn't seem likely that he'd simply cancel the meetings out of the blue. Unless Eren got an actual actor. There's always that.

Even with that pessimistic thought in mind, Levi realizes he's become startlingly optimistic. Who knew infatuation would do him this much good? Granted, it hasn't all been smiles and rainbows (well, maybe the rainbows, if you catch the meaning). He's experienced more self-doubt and pining and overreactions these past three months than the protagonist of a bad soap opera does during a series.

Nevertheless; if you'd told the Levi of three months ago that he was listening to his co-worker rant -willingly (some of the time)- and learning to become more self aware and trying to impress a guy, he would've told you to f*ck off for even daring to speak to him. Then he'd scoff at the idea.

No wonder all Eren's friends had a crush on him when he had this kind of impact on people during such a short space of time. There'd better not be competition though. He'll slay their asses, foe or lesser foe. It doesn't seem as though there's any immediate challenge so Levi can take the time to get changed into non-sticky clothing and make his way to Eren's house.

Along the way his posture becomes more upright, the image of Eren's sweet smile and sunlit, chocolate hair burned into his memory.

Twenty minutes later he's knocking on the door to Eren's house (the place could use a good clean, that's for sure) and a few loud footsteps later, Eren opens the door. Green eyes are half closed in fatigue, hair sticks out in odd angles, shoulders slouch under the material of a Cookie Monster onesie.

Wow, he really is a sweet-tooth, and a childish one at that. How cute. Suddenly eyelids and thick eyebrows raise in alarm and Eren tries to hide behind the door.

"sh*t!" Eren squeaks. "I bloody forgot about the meeting today and slept in." What a lucky bastard. "Uh, come in, Levi. I think the Bozo bro's are in the living room. I'm... I'm gonna get freshened up." Eren leaves the door open for Levi, trudging down the hallway. Levi follows him, surprised that he can let loose a small smirk despite his painful light-headedness.

A few paces later Levi finds himself in the small, homey living room and sees Biscuit and Jean on the sky-blue couches. "Oh, hey."

Jean stands up immediately and walks over to him, both in their casual suits and grinning at him. "That idiot forgot but we were waiting for you!" Jean touches his shoulder and tries to guide him in.

Levi bunches his shoulders at the contact in an attempt to brush him off. "Yeah. Don't touch me." Jean drops his hand and returns to the couch undeterred.

He's kind of gotten the hint that Jean wants to flirt with him -if that can be told by how often he texts Levi with meaningless "hi's" and "wuu2's" that only serve to deaden the conversation. Does that count as flirting? But, well, Jean gave him advice on how to get on Eren's good side so he mustn't actually be interested in Levi.

If anything that just makes him even more annoying. Levi kinda liked Jean better before he was texting him all the time. And before Levi's early summertime insomnia kicked in.

Sitting on the other couch, Biscuit and Jean lean in his direction. "So you been up to anything?" Biscuit asks. And damn, if that is the one question Levi doesn't want to hear.

"Nothing much, work, the usual." he replies, already wishing the conversation was over.

"Oh yeah, Jean said you work at the Pound Saver shop? God, working in retail f*cking sucks." Biscuit groans empathetically and sinks into the couch as he rambles. "I've got my job at the second hand shop up the road from that place. So boring. All there is is dusty bloody furniture, dumb customers that want their refund way after the return date, and all those Facebook type mums with an excessively highlighted blonde bob and f*ck ugly Ford minivan-"

"Screaming brats that send the old Pokemon cards and expensive records flying all over the place-"

"And I gotta go to my manager each time to tell him we've got a Sharon."

"I'm so glad I don't work with you man." Jean pats his brother on the back and chuckles at the dismay in his expression. (Yay they've forgotten about Levi at this point. Lucky, lucky him...)

Biscuit snarks back at him. "Me too. You'd make my life even more of a hell than you already do."

"Excuse you! I'm a good brother. I visit you at work so you're not lonely and make you lunch." Jean huffs. Levi wants to go home, so he sighs and looks out the window.

"Actually," Eren's voice echoes from the stairs as he clambers down them, now dressed in a loose red t-shirt and blue jeans with the ends worn out, and everyone glances in his direction. "Mikasa does. And I know for a fact that you don't even know where we put the bread." Pointing at Jean accusingly, he sits next to Levi, who gets a pang of pride in his chest at being the Chosen One. Eren rests an ankle on his opposite knee and crosses his arms.

Jean raises his hands in exasperation, letting flop with a clap onto his knees. "I didn't know we had a bread bin in the pantry. Sor-ry."

This is even worse than the arguments they had during the resident meeting last week. Levi searches longingly for the smart people of this friend group. "Where's Armin and Mikasa?"

"Mikasa's sleeping, I think. She had work super early this morning." Eren shrugs. "ARMIN YOU COMING DOWN?" Armin calls back an equally loud "NO". Poor Mikasa. Levi might live in the same building as a lot of other people but at least they don't shout (at least, not all the time) and here the walls are paper thin. Cheap rent indeed...

"Oh no," Eren whispers in mock sadness. "My main Brain man is gone."

"He's your only brain. There's nothing in that thick head of yours." Eren dead-pans a glare at Jean. And stares. His eyes crinkle far too much as he smiles in a way that clearly says "shut up sh*t-head". Levi snigg*rs a little at that.

Smiling properly, Eren looks at him. The sleep is washed away from his eyes but his hair's just as messy as it was before. "Actor man, we're going to get you used to acting in front of people! You done any stage work before?" Levi shakes his head, realizing he can't maintain eye contact with Eren yet again. He forces himself to though, for three to five seconds mind you. Don't look at him like that; the internet's advice is a last resort.

"Alright, well back in the good ol' days of highschool, my drama class played this "Improvising Game". I thought it'd be a good way to break the ice before we start getting into serious business." Eren nods in agreement to himself. "Armin made a list of stuff we've gotta do after you left last week, like writing the script and whatever. But until then, why not have some fun yeah? I'd love to see how you act, Levi!" his eyes shine as bright as his smile.

Even Levi can't damper that extent of enthusiasm and his lopsided smirk returns as he tells Eren "sure". Has he been waiting to see Levi in action? The thought warms his chest, although he finds himself getting a little nervous as well. He really... Doesn't f*cking know how to act. But Levi's not allowed to embarrass himself anymore, he promised himself that.

Eren goes on to explain the rules, and Levi can't help but note how the more he talks: the more he motivates the twins, prompting them to ask questions and leaning in towards Eren, and even he finds himself intrigued by this game.

Basically, they have to make up a skit on the spot: they can be any character, in any setting and in any genre. To keep the game going, someone swaps in with one person acting and based on the last thing they said, the swapped-in person uses it to create a whole new skit with different characters and so on. Since Eren's gotten the twins so hyped up, they want to go first and gleefully race to the middle of the living room.

"So what, do we plan it together?" Jean fidgets with the hem of his shirt.

The brunette waves his hand in disagreement. "No, no, just start talking and work from that." Eren explains, amusem*nt flickering across his face.

They turn to each other, searching each others eyes. "You bastard!" Biscuit gives a full blown shriek and stage-slaps Jean, who stumbles back in surprise.

"Woah, Maria, darling what was that for? That hurt! Come kiss my boo-boo." Pointing at his "damaged" cheek and leaning in to his brother, Jean suddenly has an English accent...

In a fit of rage, Biscuit flings up his hands. "I found them! IN OUR BED!"

"Y-you mean..." Jean retreats, protecting his chest with his forearm.

"YES, THE KNICKERS OF THAT WOMAN YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME WITH!"

"Darling, you're misunderstanding it all..."

"How could I be?!"

Jean hides under his hands, covering his mouth with a deep gulp. "They're... A man's knickers, actually."

"What?!"

"Yes, um, they're my father's, in fact." Levi's eyebrows shoot up.

Biscuit breaks character, his high pitched exclamation mixed with a giggle. "W-what?!"

"Please, don't start laughing in your hysteria at this news. It's not a new development!" Jean maintains a poker face unlike his brother. "Even before our wedding night twenty years ago, my father and I have been in an intimate relationship." He clutches his shirt over his heart in a solemn gesture. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, but, I am in love with him. You were my beard, Maria."

Nodding understandingly, Biscuit bites his lip. "I also have an unnatural love for-"

"STOP." Eren interrupts, forcing the twins to break their characters. "I'm going to switch with Oreo, um Biscuit, since he spoke last. Then me and Jean are going to do a completely new skit." he jumps up from the couch to stand beside Jean. Biscuit sits beside Levi, who unblinkingly stares at him. Then at Jean.

"You don't think he really..." he trails off while still staring at Jean, his face feeling colder than before. "Um..."

Jean rolls his eyes with a snigg*r. "Just because I'm pansexual that does not mean I'm into incestuous relationships." Pansexual? That's... Not something Levi has heard of. He'll have to ask later. (He's sure Jean will love to explain his sexuality to him)

"I also have an unnatural love for..." Eren repeats, getting into character as he shifts into an Texan accent, frowning as he rests his hands on his hips in a show of confidence. "Peanuts."

"So the Mafia is chasing us because we needed a loan to pay for our obsession with peanuts?" Jean runs his hands through his hair, grimacing through his... Russian accent? What's with him and accents?!

"Looks like it." Eren glances off into his imaginary world, grabbing Jean's shoulder and pulling him down to the ground. On his knees Eren peers over an imaginary surface. "sh*t, they're coming! What do we do?"

"Throw rubber ducks at them."

Eren lights up like he's heard a brilliant idea. "Right! The German Grenades!" he fishes into his pocket, squeezing empty space and adding "squeaky" sound effects. "Alright rubber ducky, do your thing!" he darts up, miming an exaggerated throw and quickly "hiding" again. He cups his hands around his mouth, blowing into them so it sounds like an explosion (he must've had an exciting childhood. One that he's still in).

"Chester!" Jean exclaims. "We did it! What do you say we go to the bar to celebrate?"

"I'm always a slu*t for alcohol; let's go." Eren helps Jean to his feet and they walk around in a circle. Jean explains to the duo on the couch "scenery change". They both sit on the floor and Eren calls up "the bartender" and orders two Suicide Shots (isn't that tequila? Christ).

"Barney, I only met you today but I feel like we've known each other our entire lives."

"My name isn't Barney. It's Slacajov."

"Alright then Slackie-"

"In Russia Slackie means penis. You die now." Jean mimes holding a large gun (it probably looks cool in his head) "Today will be-"

"Uh, switch?" Levi calls out a little louder than he'd intended.

"Awesome!" Eren grins at him, breaking out of character. "Get up here man."

Aaah, this was a bad idea. Levi's not even up there and he's nervous. Eren's never going to want to keep him in the club after the sh*tty performance he's about to pull off. Eren has a seriously far-fetched imagination. Jean was surprisingly good..? Both of them were really random too. Even so, Levi stands up, silently walking past Jean who hurries back to the couch.

"Today will be..." he begins, looking at Eren with the straightest face he can muster (it's not all that hard). "My last day in this town." he opts for a Spanish accent.

"What?! Why are you leaving?" Eren pleads with him, grabbing his shoulders with a pained expression. Levi can feel himself flushing, eyes darting from Eren's eyes to his lips to the ceiling and back again in hope that he doesn't whimper.

Sadly, Levi forces his way out of Eren's grip (damn his character). "I-I can't tell you, Colin." That should do the trick.

"Julio." Oh, okay. "P-please you can't leave, there's so much I still have to tell you, so much, so much time I need to spend in your company." Eren clenches his fist, staring forlornly at Levi.

"I know it's hard, being a Mexican minimum wage worker in this sh*tty hotel restaurant. But aren't you happier now that you've left the hom*ophobic bastard you call a father? He tried to force you into the military! Julio... I knew I met a great man that day in the gym when we were working out." He peers into Levi's eyes, capturing him with his gaze. Levi shrinks a little under the intensity.

The words begin pouring from his lips in a passionate frenzy. "I discovered how brilliant you are, knowing three languages and your passion for reading. When you were reciting the poetry of Pablo Neruda and Garcia Lorca to me beneath the stars as we lay on the hotel rooftop, it filled my heart with joy..." Oh boy. Rein in the imagination Eren, um.

"Our discussions over several cups of coffee enlightened me, you became my muse. And when I began sleeping beside you in your bed, I would wake up to see your sleeping smile and," Eren pauses to stare at Levi. "I swear I... I fell in love with you." Levi's eyes widen.

I-It's just a drama piece, just playing pretend, just a really f*cking convincing character-

Levi grits his teeth, his face aflame as he's rooted to the spot. "T-That's not fair." he spits, his heart swelling in his throat.

"Why not?" Eren stubbornly stays in character, pouting as he faces Levi.

Breathe. His breathing becomes shallow. "I have to leave town whether I want to or not. I don't have a choice."

"Don't!" Eren shouts. "Don't listen to your father-"

"It's not my father, Colin." Levi pauses for dramatic effect, a sharp pang in his chest not leaving. "I have a life threatening bone disease that can only be cured by a doctor three thousand miles from here." Might as well go for the most cliche plot twist there is. (However Eren seems to eat it up)

"A doctor to cure your disease? Three thousand miles away?!" Eren clutches Levi's thick hands in his, and Levi blames his character for not being able to look him in the eye. "That's nothing Julio! I would travel across the whole world eight times for you! To the moon and back, that's how far my love for you reaches!"

Levi tuts at him, rolling his eyes at how cheesy Eren's words are. "Hush you sentimental fool, you can't leave behind everything you have here."

Eren rubs his knuckles with a soft thumb. "Julio... When do you leave?"

"I must leave now." Levi sighs brokenly, watching the small massage of his hand. His throat feels ticklish. He drops Eren's hand. "And you mustn't come with me. Farewell, Colin." Levi turns to leave, returning to the couch before Eren can say anything else.

Eren's left standing in the middle of the living room. He sniffs, though it sounds like a sob, and reaches out in Levi's direction. "Farewell, my dearest Julio." he says. Eren continues mock-sobbing, hiding his face in the crook of his elbow and running out the room, his footsteps pounding up the stairs.

As soon as he's gone, Levi hides his face in his hands and groans. Really? Was the declaration of love really necessary? Just as his eyes begin to sting, he pulls his hands away and sits upright, blinking quickly and looking at the twins. They stare back at him in concern. It makes his stomach twist, embarrassment beginning to settle there. They glance at each other and sigh as though they're exhausted.

"That was... Intense." Jean mumbles and bites his lip.

Biscuit shakes his head, hazel eyes wide from shock. "That was a dick move, even if he doesn't know."

Sitting in silence, they all wait for Eren to return.

"I swear I... I fell in love with you."

Maybe, if he's lucky, Levi just passed out from sleep deprivation or sun stroke and all of that was a dream! That's what he'd hoped to be true about the time he kissed Eren on the cheek. Luck is probably not in his favour then, huh...

Is that what Eren wants? To have some hot foreign guy sweep him off his feet and read poetry to him under the stars? He sure put a hell of a lot of thought into "Julio's" back-story... That can't have been thought up of on the spot, right?

Internally, Levi pats himself on the back. He brushed it off like he should have, he could've frozen up but no, he continued on with the scene. Yeah, great job Levi; kudos to you for putting yourself up for a fake confession.

It was surprisingly romantic. Cheesy, yes. But very romantic.

And... Also not directed at him.

...

Biscuit breaks the silence. "Slackie isn't Russian for penis."

"I don't care what you think. I want a divorce, Maria."

Eren stumbles into the living room, clutching a stack of notebooks. "Heeeeey y'all. It just so happens that I write scripts in my spare time and you should totally check them out! We might find one we can use for the competition. And that would be a lot less work. And. I'm lazy and don't want to write sixty pages worth of script again."

He sets the notebooks on the coffee table, plopping down next to Levi. Watching as everyone picks one up to read, Eren's trying to read their reactions. For Levi, the scriptwriting explains the whole poetry thing Eren enthused over earlier. He picks up a brown paper notebook with the words "Script Book" scrawled in Sharpie pen and what seems to be an attempt at cursive. He flips open the first page at the same time as the twins, though they do so much more quickly, skimming the work in front of them.

The handwriting is messy, some of it joined while some letters are separate, although it's surprisingly structured even without lined paper. "...And It Was Beautiful. Written by: Eren Jaeger." It begins. "Fade in: ext. A university -day..."

He doesn't understand the random lingo that continues to pop up over the script, however the description, the dialogue and narration all link together to tell a story about a young man from a made up town who's enduring his new at university; a cheerful, yet sometimes sarcastic character with a quirky, "literature enthusiast" room-mate (now knowing of Eren's love for gay characters, the room-mate will probably be the love interest).

At this point, Jean and Biscuit have tired of their chosen script and moved onto a new book, but Levi continues to examine the work in front of him. The plot seemed kind of generic to begin with, but the narration and word choice in the description pop out, making him see it in his head like the movie it was intended to be. Just as he's getting to an exciting part sixteen pages in (although all of it is intriguing, even though it's a comedy) he notices some handwriting that's not Eren's.

"What is it?" Eren picks up on his confusion, peering over his shoulder to look at the notebook. "Oh," he says slowly, carefully prying the book out of Levi's hand. He stares at the book, his expression unreadable. "That's the annotation my mum added. This must be the first script I wrote when I was thirteen." Ah. Oops...

Closing the little notebook, Eren peers at them all. "So, what do you guys think? You reckon we could use any of these?"

"I thought it was good. Well written, I liked the characters. One of them was a historical fiction. Pretty interesting." Biscuit shrugs, obviously trying to convey his interest by nodding and pointing to the book he liked.

Jean nods. "Yeah, it was great! It hit really deep and... It was well worded." Jean smiles at Eren, however Eren's smile seems a little forced in return.

He turns to Levi. "What about you? What'd you think?"

Even though English wasn't Levi's best subject in highschool, he does like reading. Kind of wishes he could've finished the one he was reading...

"I liked how you got a really good feel for the characters, and you only needed good word choice, like... how you said he was "bouncing" along the corridor rather than just walking, because that would be easier to visualise and act. Like, you wouldn't expect someone who's having a bad day to go about all jumpy and happy." He tries to remember what he read, pausing to stare up at the white ceiling in thought.

"I didn't get all the way through, but you created a good sense of "oh my god I'm completely new and lost" but the character seemed to take it as a challenge, rather than getting all upset about it and going for help." he glances at Eren who gazes at him in return, vaguely wondering if the main character was based on himself. He did want to go to university, he's got a sense of adventure, and yet again with the literature loving love interest...

"So it made sense why he was so eager to pick a fight with the boy in his class; because he likes a good challenge. And the other guy, well, why wouldn't you want to pick a fight with someone who flaunts how rich he is? So you've got good characters, the plot... Was it going to be a romantic-comedy?"

"Yeah!" Eren agrees delightedly.

"It's really obvious that the main character was going to fall for both and get stuck between them, then choose the room-mate. Also the room-mate, even though he was pretty funny and an active character, he seemed slightly too perfect to be believable. Even if you'd included the sad back-story I can tell you were going to add."

The glee drains from Eren's face. "Oh. So it was predictable."

Levi shrugs, not wanting to disappoint him. "That was your first one though, right? You've probably gotten better since then. And you know, that's just what I think. Normal people quite like cliches. That's why those "quick read romances" you find at train station shops are so popular. Besides, we couldn't use that, unless you've got access to a university...?"

"Aaah man that's right, we're on a low budget. You might have to play several different characters too."

"I can probably do that."

"And that means we're going to have make as much use as we can with the people we've got. Mmm that sucks. There's not much you can do with only one actor and a couple of extras."

"What can you do with only one actor?"

Eren ponders this for a moment, glancing at the pile of notebooks on the coffee table for inspiration. "Usually the survival "last man on earth" kind of story. Zombie apocalypse. Say, I remember I saw a great Indie film where this guy tried to rescue his baby even though he was turning into a zombie."

"Um... Nice."

"Or... There was another one where a guy was narrating his letters to his dead girlfriend and on his way to her grave. Something like that could work. Usually you only need two people, like, for interaction purposes. Otherwise they'll have nothing to react to and the story becomes boring." Eren explains. He runs his fingers through his hair as he speaks. Levi really wishes he could do it for him.

"Guy on a deserted island?" Biscuit chips in.

Jean purses his lips, scratching his clean shaven chin. "Someone held hostage?"

"What's to say it has to be a person the character interacts with? In Harry Potter, Ginny was pretty content in talking to a book."

"...Using the props as characters?" Eren's hand drops into his wriggles closer to Levi."That's actually a really good idea!"

"Yeah?"

Biscuit cracks his joints, stretching his leg. "Looks like I'm going to be "borrowing" stuff from my shop."

An idea pops into Levi's head. During the past week he'd researched a few indie films (it'd make for good conversation topics with Eren, he'd told himself; he was right) there'd been one about a girl who visited a charity store and tried on different clothes; each outfit taking her to a new world. "We could use the shop, if it's alright with your boss. Couldn't we?"

"Yeah and the whole plot could be about... A crazy shop with... With magical items!" Again, it sounds like a plot anyone could come up with, but Levi can tell Eren will be able to write it so that it becomes unique. "Although, we wouldn't be able to use the shop for the amount of time we'd need to shoot. It's got to make up at least forty-five minutes." Eren tells them.

Just then, there's a shuffle at the other side of the room. A sickly pale man stands by the living room door, blinking when everyone turns to face him like he's been caught. He waves, his hand jerking up and down like it's possessed.

"Oh, hey Daz!" Eren greets him. Isn't this the guy that drove Eren away from home? Eren is awfully cheerful towards someone who's "too dependant" on him. "You're just in time to help us come up with script ideas. Unless you want to go upstairs?" He must know Daz quite well if he can read his body language... Either that or he's really sensitive to Daz's mood. Wait, why is Eren letting him help? He didn't mention Daz being part of the Film Club...

Daz smiles, a quick flick of his lips, and makes his way to sit beside Eren. There's silence for a moment, Daz seems to be getting his bearings, and he glances at Levi. "Who're you?" he tests out the words, his voice quiet as though he's been scolded for being too loud.

"Levi."

"Oh, okay. Hi." He adjusts himself on the seat and stares down at the coffee table. Levi's gaze flickers around the group when he notices they've all gone quiet.

"When I was fourteen," Daz begins, and Levi's already confused. "I went with my youth group to Berlin. I wasn't really familiar with all the shops, they have a lot more shops in the bigger cities, you know. Especially in rich countries like Germany."

Daz's pale eyes flicker towards Eren, and he moves further away from Eren on the couch before he continues. He's still staring at the coffee table. Levi's tried a similar tactic when speaking. It's bringing back memories he doesn't want to face again.

"They eat a lot of sausages there, even for breakfast. They had cheese too, at the hotel we were at. The buildings... Some of them were different but they had a lot of sandstone ones, like they do here-"

"Daz," Eren interrupts him, chuckling quietly. "Where are you going with this story?" His eyebrows pinch, like he's trying hard to be patient.

"Um... There's a shop called Levi's." A slow flush rises to the man's cheeks, the reddish tint deepening when he looks at Eren. It's a look Levi's all too familiar with and he finds himself feeling a little possessive over Eren. "I saw one in Germany. His name reminded me of it."

... Looks like Levi's met the stalker person he claimed he'd knock out.

This is what Levi looks like to Eren? A bumbling idiot who can't even get to the point of his story, trailing off with his own train of thought that leads to nowhere? Levi's never empathized with anyone more in his life.

He hates Daz.

There's no way he's going to let himself drop to that level of awkwardness. It's embarrassing. But... the thought that he may very well end up like Daz, how similar he is already to him, lingers in his mind.

Eren attempts to recall his train of thought before Daz arrived. "So what did we have... A shop with magical items? Props as characters? How do we turn that into a story if we can't use the shop when we need it...?"

Jean raises a finger like a light-bulb just went off in his head. "We could film at home or outside, show the stories of all the people who bought stuff. What happens when their objects start going crazy, things like that."

"And the shopkeeper too! He gets a back-story too." Eren builds on Jean's idea. "That way, we could split it up so it's... I don't know, three customers. Three's a magic number. They each get about ten minutes of film time, then it's ten minutes for the shop keeper's story. We could include bloopers to make up the last five minutes or something."

"And since we're short on actor's, we'd only need two people." Levi adds, ever the practical planner. "The customer can just be an actor dressed up differently each time. And the shopkeeper could be several people too."

Eren reaches out for a notebook on the table, grinning widely as he retrieves a pen he'd apparently taken along with the pile. "Ooh yes, I'm liking this. Gotta write this down."

"Well hey, you don't have to write all of it. Why don't we split the work? That way we'll get it done quicker." Biscuit says.

Eren did say he was "too lazy" to write it all down... Levi agrees with Biscuit."It'd make the characters sound unique if a different person wrote each one."

Stopping mid-sentence, Eren tries to work his mind around all the information. "Aah, okay, that'd definitely be easier. Tell you what, each of us has to write about a person buying a magical object and all the sh*t it puts them through. Try and use as few settings and characters as possible. Write about... Ten pages? It usually adds up: one page per minute on screen. But even if it doesn't it's just a draft. Say Daz, what "magical" things do you think we could use in the movie? It can be anything."

Caught off guard, Daz jumps when he realizes Eren's diverted the attention to him. "Um, a hula hoop?"

Eren nods. "That'd be easy to find, yup. How could we make it magical, do you think?"

"It could be a teleporter." Jeans muses. "I saw that on Internet Icon last year with the Brothers Riedell, you remember that?" He turns to Biscuit who gasps in awe at the memory.

"Yeah! And they ended up in the most stupid places. I can't believe they made such a high quality video from those few props." He addresses the group. "To make things easier, why don't we just go to the shop- Oh, wait, maybe next time," Biscuit reaches into his pocket as a buzzing phone jolts him. He unlocks with screen with a swipe. "Jean, that's Dad. We better head over now." he says, groaning as he trudges out the room.

"What, it's already half four? That went quick." Jean stands up alongside Biscuit. "See you guys later."

"See you." Eren and Levi call out simultaneously. Daz nods at the twins. He's a lot quieter than Levi, that's for sure. Suddenly he stands up too, mumbling something along the lines of "I might as well go too" and darting out the room.

"Oh, er, bye." Eren blinks at Daz's abrupt departure. He turns to Levi, wiggling his eyebrows. "Looks like it's just me and you, Julio." he chuckles, eyes crinkling at the sides.

Levi rolls his eyes, ignoring the roll in his stomach in remembrance. "I left you a goodbye note on that bed we shared, Colin. I knew I wouldn't make it after the surgery. I didn't have the heart to tell you." He pauses, not really wanting to go back into that persona. "So is Daz going to be part of the film then?"

"Oh, eh, no. I try to make him feel useful, it's good for his self-esteem. He said he didn't want do the film, though." Eren shrugs. "Fair enough I guess. Just means he'll be missing out on the prize."

Levi's interest piques. "There's a prize?"

Humming in agreement, Eren leans back onto the couch. "There's a £5000 winning prize. That's kind of why I wanted to enter the competition in the first place. I thought it'd be a great way to save on living costs if I went to university. And that winning the competition would at least get me somewhere, like even just some recognition in the film business, if not university."

He tilts his head in shame. "But that was kind of selfish of me, so instead I'm... Planning a surprise that involves everyone. Something that everyone will like. I'll pick up the necessary info, figure out what one thing will please everyone." Eren sighs. "If that doesn't work then I guess we'll split the money. I don't know. We'll all talk about it. I was waiting until the end to think about it, that's how I do things best."

Wow, if they win and split the money, Levi could end up with nearly a thousand pounds...

"What kind of surprise?" Levi glances around the room, not wanting to stare too long at Eren.

"Ai, I don't know if I should tell you... It... involves leaving the country?"

That might've been a little too honest of Eren, yet Levi's head snaps toward him. "I'm in."

"Have you travelled?"

"Never left the country."

Eren frowns. "That's a shame. You're really missing out. You need to be confused by a country's culture at least once in your life."

"At least once..." Levi muses.

"Yeah. But in a good way confused."

Glancing at the books on the table, Levi remembers the tender expression Eren wore when he took the book from him. "Sorry if I pried into your, um, your personal book. I thought we could look through them all."

"Oh no," Eren reassures. "It's my fault since I brought it through." he sifts through the pile on the table, t-shirt stretching to reveal a slice of skin at the small of his back. "I write my diary in script format and I just picked up anything that looked like a script, so some of that and the old stuff got mixed in. I tend to keep the sentimental stuff."

"It was really good though, what I read."

Eren smiles warmly at him. "Thank you. Your feedback was really descriptive. Do you write?"

"Eh... I've never tried it as a hobby. I read a lot though so that's probably why."

"Readers make good writers." Eren encourages him, raising his eyebrows and nodding. "Should try it."

"Eren," Mikasa's strained voice calls from another room on the floor they're on. "You're a noisy piece of sh*t. You're also making dinner tonight as an apology for waking me up."

"Love you too!"

So... That's a word he throws around casually. Good to know.

"You staying for dinner Levi?" It's a little odd that Eren wouldn't let him in the house the other week and now he's inviting him to dinner...

"I haven't slept in five days." Levi replies. The headache hadn't left for the entire afternoon. But... He's alive~

Green eyes widen in absolute shock and horror. "JESUS CHRIST LEVI. Why the hell did you show up today?! Go to bed!"

"It's too hot though. I can't." He would if he could.

Eren points to the potted plant that stands proudly by the window. "My pet plant's name is Simon. Simon says you gotta go to sleep."

"I thought the plant's name was Rupert?" Mikasa asks.

Groaning, Eren leans forward and rests his forehead on his hand. "Mikasa, we've talked about you ruining my tasteful humour with your practicalities and logic."

He's told everything he's already heard before: Lavender, sweet tea, a warm shower, a damp face cloth, and blah blah blah (Eren stop sounding like his doctor, please). Eventually he excuses himself, telling them he's going back home for dinner.

Eren sees him to the door, reminding him to write his part of the script. Levi lingers by the doorway, knowing, hoping, that if they were to ever start going out, this would be when they kiss goodbye. Maybe they wouldn't even have to say goodbye, and it'd be a regular thing for Levi to stay over for dinner...

But instead, Eren waves him off, calling out a dramatic "Farewell, my dearest Julio! Until our next starlit poetry session!" (yeah, that was never funny to Levi) and he heads back home, the weather not being as harsh as the afternoon heat. But it's still humid. How long while it take before he finally passes out?!

When he arrives home that night, Bertholdt darts out the living room with a gleeful grin. "Guess what!"

Sighing tiredly, Levi closes the door to their flat behind him. "What..."

"I'm getting a house! It's in Lossiemouth, aaand I'm going for the viewing on Friday. I'm probably going to take it." Levi looks down at the man bouncing beside him.

Getting a house...? "What, so you're leaving?"

"Yup!" He chuckles softly. "Don't worry Levi, you can visit me. After all, we're totally best friends."

"Oh. Yeah, of course." Levi wanders down the hall. "I'll visit you. There's a beach there, right? That'll be nice to have over the summer."

Bertholdt follows him down the hallway. "You mean you'll actually visit me?"

He shrugs. "I don't see why not."

"Awesome! When it gets done up and decorated properly I'll throw a party, you in?"

When Levi nods, he means it. "I'm gonna go to bed now. I'm not feeling too good."

Bert stops just outside Levi's bedroom, retreating back into the living room. "Night, Levi! Get well soon!"

When he's stripped down to his boxers and lying on the covers of his bed, he raises his hand above him. Eren touched him a lot today... Held his hand like a lover would... He reminisces the feeling of Eren's warm, soft hands trailing over his knuckles, but with that comes the memory of the fake confession. Humiliation heats his entire body, turning his face a rosy red. It could've been worse, he tell himself.

If he'd actually confessed to Levi as a joke then it would've been a different matter. He wouldn't be able to brush it off. And Eren seems like the kind of person to use such a word easily, so there's always the fact he'll probably have to face it one day.

He remembers Daz, thinking back to when Eren helped him feel included and useful during their group work... Then back to when he complained to Levi about how Daz drained him. He never wants to be that kind of person to Eren, draining him of his happiness isn't in the plan. Eren sure has a lot more patience than Levi, being the type keep going forward with each new day, living in the moment.

And Eren decided to be honest about the prize money. It didn't really bother him now, but if he'd worked until September thinking he'd get nothing, only to find out Eren had gone behind his back to take all their earnings? Levi wouldn't be the only one mad, he can tell.

Now he has to take a shot at writing a script huh? Should be interesting...

The sky gradually darkens; it begins raining heavily outside -hallelujah!- and Levi sighs with the relief of finally being able to cool down. He stretches under the pillow to reach for the calendar, the ballpoint pen sitting on his bed-side cabinet, and he writes in the dated box.

Getting somewhere; still getting there but there's little rewards along the way. Even if they're simple things like congratulating himself for putting other people first.

"The day I fell in love with Eren a second time."

Chapter 19: May 30th

Chapter Text

Even Mr Introverted Levi has the urge to go out and meet with people, as rare as it may seem. Tonight: he’s with Erwin, Mike and Hanji at a decent pub that’s thankfully not too noisy (but still lively, otherwise it’d be boring). This isn’t the legendary Survey, no; this time it’s a place called "Flagon’s".

Much to his disappointment, the bartender isn’t called Flagon. It’s a cool name; Flagon. Is it pronounced like Dragon? Or is it fley-gin?

Levi leans back into the cushion of the russet armchair he’s in, drifting in and out of the conversations his friends are having (if anything, it’s hard to get a word in edgewise around these talkative folk. Not that he minds. Well. It’s not something he minds all the time, anyway).

He’s quite content to lounge with fizzy, dark fruit cider on his tongue and people-watch in his friends’ company. Although the karaoke session going on further into the building has him flinching in pain every now and then as some f*cker tries to blow out his eardrums with some off-tune Katy Perry sh*t. He’ll never understand people’s need to rip-off music that already exists.

Apart from their cosy little corner by the fake fireplace, the polished interior gives plenty of room for cheerful drunkards to wobble to and from the bathroom and bar, and gives space for the less drunk people to walk around them. Whoever designed this bar; Levi wants to congratulate them for considering humanity’s natural stupidity while they had the blueprints out.

Glancing back at his group, he notices that everyone’s gone quiet. All of them are now glassy eyed and sinking into their chairs -it could be the depressants finally making them drowsy- and it occurs to Levi that maybe he can practice his small talk skills with his friends too. It doesn’t just have to be around Eren and his co-workers at Poundsaver (Ideally, it would. But hey what do you know: Levi does in fact have a life and people just so happen to be everywhere).

He opens his mouth to speak, but beside him, Erwin’s head tilts. A single lock of golden hair falls out of place over his forehead; his eyes look up from the coffee table in the middle of the group only for his eyelids to lower a smidgen. His eyes don’t flicker. It takes a moment for Levi to follow Erwin’s line of vision. Is he looking at the ugly waiter or..?

Erwin’s gaze is something he recognises. It’s a look Levi’s shown before. Although it’s annoyingly more romantic, what with the f*cking fireplace casting an orange tint to his pale cheek, and a tenderness in Erwin’s eyes that Levi isn’t sure he’s capable of himself.

It makes sense why Erwin’s decided to wear his best white shirt and black tie tonight.

Erwin’s pining over Mike.

In his obliviousness, Mike is sneering out the window over Levi’s shoulder. Levi has to bite his bottom lip, and his nose crinkles as he bites down more, because if he doesn’t, he’ll end up laughing out loud.

"Hey, Erwin." The three of them glance in his direction. Erwin is... Yup he’s definitely trying not to get caught staring. Look at how fast he whipped his head round, oh lord, he’s f*cking blushing, that hulk-ish blonde is actually -dear Christ-

Levi doesn’t bother containing his smirk although he’s sure they’re suspicious now. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he says, unable to keep the teasing tone out his voice.

Erwin’s jaw twitches, but even so he follows Levi with heavy feet to the bar, both of them ditching their drinks. Levi can’t help but chuckle along the way. The minute he sits down and sees the confused look on Erwin’s face he full on splutters with laughter. Poor Erwin frowns; he doesn’t know that Levi knows, even though it was so obvious-

How the f*ck did Levi not notice f*cking... that until now?

Erwin’s practically his blood brother, they’ve known each other for nine whole years, been friends for almost as long, they’ve bloody lived together. What the hell.

"Is something the matter Levi?" His blue eyed friend mutters and perches on his spinning stool.

Levi raises an eyebrow. Erwin’s not getting out of this now that Levi has his suspicions. "Oh, I think you know."

"... No? I don’t actually." Erwin rests an elbow on the shiny bar counter and glares at him in worry for what’s to come. "The hell are you laughing about anyway?"

With a grin, Levi leans forward, stealing a peek at their friends a few feet behind Erwin. "You like Mike. Don’t you?"

Erwin’s face falls and Levi realizes he was right.

That’s just, it’s just- aw!

"Who told you?" Erwin checks around them, as though Mike’s going to pop up over his shoulder and confront him. And Levi rolls his eyes, even though he understands. Levi’s so nice like that.

"No-one. I figured it out myself."

"When?"

"Hmm. Now. Just now."

"Wait, you mean you only know because I-"

"No, I figured it out a few minutes ago. When we were sitting down. Was it- No. I don’t think I’ve properly paid attention, you know, when we’ve all hung out." Levi shrugs, running his hands over navy jeans. "It’s the kind of look I give Eren, I think." It surprises him a little when Erwin nods. Does he look at Eren that fondly? Then again, Mikasa and Armin did say he was obvious.

Erwin bows his head, mouth twitching as he speaks again."Right, yeah, I’m just... I didn’t expect anyone to figure it out?" he explains and combs fingers through his hair. "I-I mean, I told Hanji a few months ago. Even then it took a while for me to tell him because... Well. It’s not like Mike and I’ll... Y’know."

Erwin flushes, avoiding Levi’s eyes. His chair squeaks as he fidgets. "I don’t even think he’s gay." Erwin whispers with a tremor, one which brings forth a previously prominent Glasweign accent. Seems Erwin has adapted better to the dialect here, huh. "Eren said he had a girlfriend, and it’s not like I’ve ever seen him flirt with guys."

"I had a girlfriend once." Levi announces. "Remember Spit-Roast Sophie from that party...? Yeah, that’s the one. Don’t give me that look, sh*t-head. It went terribly because I didn’t realize we were even going out until she tried sticking- um, when she kissed me. Does that make me any less gay?"

Levi hisses inwardly at the cringe-worthy memory. "Who knows! Maybe I’m actually bi. I doubt it though. tit* are disgusting. But see? Bisexuality is a thing. You’ll never know unless you ask him. Or observe. Yes, observing may actually be your best option. Pay closer attention and perhaps-"

"Levi," Erwin interrupts, both of his hands smoothing over his face. "It’s not like I’m in love with him." Levi peers at him, and sure enough Erwin’s bushy eyebrows are twitching and he’s still not making eye contact (he’s lying. That dick-head). "I’m not going to do anything about it, so just leave it-"

"Would you believe me if I said that to you about Eren?" he asks pointedly. "‘Oh no Erwin, turns out it was just a wee crush I had on him. It’s not like I wanted to marry him or anything! Might as well stop checking him out now.’ Like really? C’mon man, Mike’d be mad not to like you back. If he doesn’t... Well." he shrugs again. "Then I’ll make him pay. Even though it wasn’t his fault." Mike shudders unknowingly when Levi shoots daggers at him.

"Do you have a plan then?"

"A plan?" Levi stares back at Erwin, eyebrows furrowing when his mind goes blank. "Uuuh, chat up line?" he offers.

The blonde grimaces and shakes his head. "No, I don’t think that’s-"

"Have you tried using one before?"

"...No. Because-"

"Then go and get your constipated ass over there." he points to Mike. "C’mon." Levi grabs Erwin by the shoulder and drags him back to the group. "Do it."

With a flump they both land in their seats. When Erwin stays silent, Levi raises his eyebrows and nods towards Mike. Get the f*ck over there! Do something! He groans when Erwin busies his mouth with more alcohol, downing it like it’s water. Erwin’s sure going to have a fun date with the toilet seat later on... Thought he wanted to date Mike! COME ON MAN.

"Hey Mike," Erwin blurts, close to dropping his glass on the table but it makes the journey to the surface with fail. "If you were a burger you’d be gorgeous." His face reddens, his hand lifting to cover his mouth.

"Uh... N-no, wait I meant Mc-Gorgeous." Mike and Hanji simply stare at him as he sinks into the seat along with his dignity.

"B-because," he breathes. "Like, McDonald’s burgers..." He suddenly giggles - as in full on heeheehee! girlish tittering and the longer it lasts the more his body collapses on itself. Then he gives Levi the please help me look.

And because he dragged Erwin into this, he decides to do the honourable thing and help him out. "Nah man, you must be an astronaut, because your ass is out of this world." Even if helping him out means taking one for the team.

Mike and Hanji gawk at him while his glare is trained on Erwin, who’s still hiding in his hands, his giggles dissolving into hiccups, and, wait, is he crying?! Erwin’s "heehee-ing" again as he drapes a clothed arm over his eyes and reclines in the chair. He tries speaking again, opening his mouth, only to shut it again and blush even more if that’s even possible. He’s fair skinned so it’s painfully obvious and not exactly attractive. Unless, of course, people happen to be attracted to vegetables. Tomatoes in particular.

Hanji pipes up, swinging his bottle of Carlings wildly. "Yeh know, there’s no reason for the alphabet to be in the order it’s in." His eyes dart from side to side, lips pursed in glee. "If I could rearrange it, I’d make it so "U" and "I" are together!" Either Hanji is trying to save Erwin from embarrassment or he’s an idiot.

Yes. The latter. Definitely the latter.

Mike chuckles, a grin glinting beneath the caterpillar of a moustache which Erwin is apparently horny for. "If you were a door," Mike begins. "I’d bang you all night long!"

Hanji cackles and both of them compete -with increasing volume- to see who can come up with the worst pick up line. Levi and Erwin are sitting beside each other and all Levi can do is apologise to Erwin in his head.

The fact that Erwin’s still hiding probably means it’s going to be a while before Erwin seeks revenge on him, but when he does, it’ll be horrific. And due to the amount of sh*t Erwin knows about him, Levi’s not looking forward to it. On the plus side he doesn’t know where Levi lives. On the negative side... Well. This is Erwin Smith. Clearly his all too common surname confirms he’s a foreign murderer with an alias.

His internal will-making is interrupted by the karaoke people screeching "I’m a Barbie Girl! In a Barbie wooooorld~" and as he turns to glower at them, he notices Eren standing in front of a projector alongside a short guy with a buzz cut. Both are holding a microphone. Eren’s the one belting out sh*tty songs. Great. At least he looks like he’s having fun. Eren must feel Levi’s stare because he turns around, missing his part in the duet as he waves with a huge grin and tries to come over, only to trip on the wire.

He’s had a few drinks, but not enough so that he can’t pick himself off the floor, stumble over to Levi and lean over the back of his seat. Levi has to peer at Eren upside down. He starts with a jolt when Eren pats his cheek with a wide grin.

"Hi Levi! How you doin’?" He kneels beside Levi’s chair, resting his face on the armrest like a puppy would. "I was ju-just singin’, did you hear?" he slurs, his eyes widen and his lips clamp together in interest of Levi’s answer. His regret over not staying over for dinner last time makes itself known. Again.

"I think all of Trost heard you, mate. It was hard not to."

"That’s how I like it! Say, you guys should sing too!" Hanji and Mike smile at him, not seeming to mind his drunken state. "It’s so much fun, isn’t it Connie? Connie?" He turns round in an attempt to track down his friend. "Dude, where’d you go?"

Levi has to resist the urge to pat Eren’s head. "You abandoned him on the stage, he’s singing that sh*tty song by himself."

"What?! Oh. Ah, he’ll manage." Eren slouches more onto the arm rest, squishing his cheek into the material. "Such a capable guy, y’know? Did you know he worked three part time jobs in high school so he could look after his family? What a guy eh? Love ‘im so much. His- He’s a janitor like me, actually?" Levi nods.

"Yeah he’s a lot of fun to be arn- arno- around. Don’t get to see him much since he’s payin’ off a loan his- Wait." Eren frowns. "I don’t think I should tell you that. It’s his life. Levi, you want to know more about Connie?" Eren glares at him for a moment. "Then you go ask Connie. Simple way of life innit?"

"Should tell that to Erwin." he mumbles, yet both Erwin and Eren hear him.

Eren’s attention is deflected to the other man. "Hi Erwin! Should come sing. Levi, you too: come, come. I will harvest you all. My children! No wait, hang on, I will gather you. Like a mother hen with her chicks. Harvest would mean I eat you. Hannibal may be hot but I am not him."

Eventually, Levi gets dragged along with Erwin to the karaoke area. He manages to escape long enough to get a glass of water for Eren and himself, while Erwin’s brooding on the table behind them. Finding Eren chilling out in one of the couch-like booths, Levi hands him the drink.

"Oh, water." Eren’s eyes widen like he’s seen salvation and he sits upright. "Thank you dear friend."

"No problem." Levi sips on the cold liquid, a smile on his lips as he watches Eren drink and bob along to the music without a care in the world. "How long have you been here? We were in that front bit for ages."

"Connie works here too, I came to see ‘im. And, well. Pre-drinking got a bit out of hand." Eren chuckles, fanning his heated face by tugging his neon green, t-shirt collar in and out. "But seriously, thanks for the water. I think the excitement of the karaoke had me feeling a bit more drunk than I actually am." Eren gestures mindlessly with his hand and smiles even more so, peering around the room in search of something.

"Must be nice to get drunk easily." Levi muses aloud.

Eren hums and inflates his cheeks with air. "Kinda, I’m usually a heavyweight anyway." He tilts his head in Erwin’s direction. "Why’s Erwin looking down? He has a pink house and a cat, what more could he want?"

Levi turns to look at Erwin at the table behind himself and sure enough Erwin’s head is on the table, hands caging it like he wants to buried there. It’s probably not far off how he’s feeling, actually. Levi’s familiar with humiliation. Sadly. "He wants... He’s trying to ask out Mike. Or rather I told him he should and uh, it failed. Miserably."

"How’d he try and do it?"

"Pick up line."

"Levi!" Eren looks horrified, frowning and shoulders slacking. Apparently what he’s done is terrible enough to make Eren hide his face in his hand. "sh*t like that is cheesy, that stuff might’ve worked in primary school or in the 90’s. Romance is key!" The water sloshes as Eren slams the glass down in preparation for what seems to be a lecture.

"Karaoke. Now." he points to the DJ booth beside the bar. "Get him up on the stage. Have him sing a love song! Make ‘im serenade Mike!" Eren tilts his head in thought. "Is Mike gay? Might make sense why I felt closer to him than the other sosho- social workers."

"We’re not sure, and it might be why Erwin’s sulking."

"Oh well I don’t blame him for bein’ all upset. Gay people are surprisingly hard to come across if you don’t know where to look."

"Yeah, Erwin’s parents weren’t very encouraging of his sexuality, so I think I might be the only person he knows that’s open. Except for you I suppose."

"That’s a shame. I never had trouble with that wi’ my family since Andrea’s a lesbian. And I’m usually direct about everything. I’m like, ‘You gay? No? Fine then, I shall be on my merry way!’ I don’t cry about that sorta sh*t man."

"I’m also a bit worried that if Mike does go out with him, he’ll dump him since Erwin’s waiting until marriage to have sex." Levi admits, pursing his lips as he glances at Erwin over his shoulder.

"...Why? It’s not like sex is that amazing." Levi hums in mild agreement. "But then again, I’m not all too interested in sex like most people. Makes me a bit biased."

Levi shrugs. "Not really, I think everybody feels that way about it at one point in their life."

"Nah not you!" Eren grins at him and his eyes gleam. "I bet you’re a real horn dog. You love sex don’t ya?" His smile widens when Levi raises an eyebrow, unable to help the flush on his face despite his poker face. Eren guffaws and rocks in his chair. "I’m just kiddin’. Say, why don’t we go help Erwin out? He’s looking all sad. Let’s go help your sad friend, Levi. Karaoke’ll be a winner, I’m telling ya!!"

Levi turns around in his seat, leaning on his calves and peering over into the next booth, arms resting on the divider. "Hey Erwin, Eren says you should go sing. Isn’t that right Eren?"

"Yus!" Eren bounces onto Levi’s seat, mimicking his stance as they hover over Erwin, who’s still hiding in his hand cage. "Wait, what song, d’you think would work? What would make your heart soar if it was sung to you?" Eren mimes his heart flying away from his chest.

"Oh, I don’t know." Levi inhales, daring a glance at Eren before he sighs. "Um. If I Fell. By The Beatles? I don’t think I’d want a serenade in public to be honest. I’d jump him on the spot if y- he sang th-that. What about you, Eren?"

"Ooh nice choice, Levi. Classics are always good ‘uns. I thiiiink..." His face softens and he looks at Levi with glowing cheeks. "Ah~ I knooow. I Only Have Eyes For You. Can’t remember who it’s by. Is it The Flamingoes?"

Levi shrugs in response, taking a mental note because that’s far too good an opportunity to pass up or forget. But he’s not singing now. No way. He’d f*cking die if he had to serenade Eren. Poor Erwin... Seeing him hiding even more from them tweaks his sympathy a little, but Eren seems to have no mercy. He pokes the taller man with a single finger, trying to encourage him.

"Go up there! You’ve got your balls, don’t you? And think about it, alright, just think: even if Michael doesn’t like ya after this, you’ll have other guys who’ll fawn over you. Singing takes guts y’know? Confidence is attractive."

Levi can’t help but scoff. "I bet it took a lot of guts for you to sing Barbie Girl, eh Eren?"

"Ha," Eren bows his head then points at Levi with what’s trying to be a firm expression. "You may laugh, you may mock me.... But... It actually did, yeah. Surprising with how much I’ve drunk. Usually all my fear goes away when I drink. Should drink some more, Erwin. Chug down somma that courage juice." Erwin groans in reply, and Eren pauses for a minute before he prods Levi with the same finger he used to assault Erwin.

"What was that for? You ganging up on me too Eren?"

Eren bites his lip, turning away as his mouth gives way to a grin that he tries to hide with a hand. "That. Why do you keep saying my name? It-it’s weird. Stop it. It’s my name, not yours. It’s my birth-right."

Suddenly Levi remembers Jean’s advice: "Make sure you say his name a lot when you’re talking to him. Gets his attention, makes him flustered as hell." Levi hadn’t even realised he was doing it, but now that he’s seen the effects...

"Why can’t I say your name, Eren? Should I give you a new name, Eren..?" he teases. Eren shoves Levi hard enough for him to topple against the wooden lining on the wall. But he doesn’t miss the way Eren keeps clenching and unclenching his fingers, running his fingers through the hair beside his ear.

It’s times like these when he’s with Eren that his chest fills with warmth, makes Levi feel like he’s buzzing all over. And it’s not like he can help it either. In moments like these he’s a percolator, and Eren’s presence, and everything he is, is the boiling hot water that’s forced into his system, igniting all the tubes that make up his nerves and emotions. The more water he consumes, the dizzier he gets from all the heat that swirls around inside.

Eren snuggles into his own arms under the pretence of overlooking Erwin, but Levi reckons he’s just hiding his face.

"Erwin," Levi says, not taking his eyes off Eren. "You going up?"

The blonde man groans in defeat. "Fine." Erwin slams a hand down on the table, and trudges to the stage. Eren and Levi are behind him the entire way.

Erwin ends up singing "Just The Way You Are" by Bruno Mars. Levi can’t help but cringe at the song choice, but at least Erwin can pull it off nicely. Eren shrieks when he realizes Erwin’s changing the gender in the lyrics.

"Is he- Oh my god, Levi, Levi, Levi! Mike’s looking, Mike’s looking!" Eren clutches onto Levi’s shoulders, bouncing so forcefully he practically takes Levi with him on each jump.

"I know," Levi chuckles at Eren’s giddiness. "But we need more than that. Everyone’s looking at Erwin. We’re kind of aiming for him to fall for Erwin at this point."

Eren insists, going as far so as to physically turn Levi around. "No, but look at Mike."

Mike’s beside Hanji -the latter who’s cheering wildly for Erwin, hanging off of Mike’s arm in an attempt to be taller- and Levi notices how Mike and Erwin keep making eye contact, how they both flush and act fidgety when they catch each other out. Oh Jesus, just find a room to f*ck in already, you two!

What Levi can’t get over is the fact that Eren actually noticed the gooey stares passed between the duo, considering each and every one of his friends has supposedly been in love with Eren. Has he gone out with any of them? Have any of them confessed? Does Eren even know how his friends feel for him?

The microphone is returned to the DJ once Erwin is finished since he got the last slot of the night, and he heads straight towards Mike and Levi is so f*cking proud of him when he whispers into Mike’s ear, something that shocks Mike so much you can actually see his eyes beneath the stupid mop of blonde hair (he needs a trim, seriously) and he follows Erwin out the door, leaving behind a very confused Hanji.

Eren pesters him from over his shoulder. "What did he say?! Levi what did Erwin say to Mike? I gotta knooooow...!" Hanji peers at levi as well, just as curious as to what is going on.

"He said ‘The song was for you.’"

They all sneak out to find Erwin and Mike around the corner beside a lamppost. Other than the amber light, everything is dim and the traffic is too far away to be intrusive.

"Couldn’t have done it better myself." Eren whispers and sighs. "Mike’s so lucky, damn." They watch as Erwin and Mike mumble, Erwin scuffing his feet in an odd show of shyness and Mike with the biggest smile on his face that Levi’s ever seen. "I think I’m gonna cry." Eren whimpers.

Levi’s brain only registers the word "cry" and his eyes begin to swell up with tears- No, no, f*ck that, Levi is not crying, it’s just, his best friend, his baby boy, this guy who’s mum picked Levi up off the streets, who tried to adopt him and was like the overprotective parent he never had-

The three of them almost squeal when Mike picks up Erwin in an elaborate hug, pecking him on the lips. They sprint back around the corner; Eren covering his wide open mouth and Hanji giggling from the excitement, and Levi’s throat hurts and his eyes are stinging-

And it’s been such a long time since Levi’s been this happy for someone, for his friends. The last time, the last time was when Farlan and Isabel, the two of them-

"Why the f*ck didn’t he tell me he was going to confess tonight?!" Hanji screams, probably alerting Erwin and Mike of their presence. "Oh that dick, what was- Was that- Oh sh*t, the pick up lines!" Hanji glares accusingly at Levi. "What the hell man?! Why did no-one tell me?! Oh never mind, good going with the singing idea!"

"Eren was the one... He was the mastermind behind that idea."

Eren’s still grinning, and trying to peer around the corner. "Yup! Told ya it would work- Oh, I left Connie inside!" he quickly grabs both of them in a one-arm hug and Levi’s stomach drops. "He’s my lift back, we’re getting a taxi. Are you guys coming back in?"

He sighs contentedly in Levi’s ear, still holding them in a lazy, swaying hug, while Hanji tells him they’re waiting on Mike for their lift back. He’s a lot colder when Eren lets them go. "I’ll see you at club, Levi! We wear pink on Wednesdays, mind!!"

"Oh, er, bye-" Eren disappears into the bar, and all Levi can do is watch him go.

Another voice brings him back to the present. "Since when are you in a club?" Hanji smirks at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Film club, I’m an actor now. Apparently... It’s this indie film competition we’re doing. You know, a couple of days ago..."

While they’re waiting for Mike and Erwin to quit making out around the corner (he’s kidding; it’ll probably take them at least six months just to get to first base) Levi tells Hanji about the skits they’d been performing and how Levi needs to come up with a script.

"Okay, who in the living hell are you?"

"They call me Stacy, they call me Jane-"

"Levi-"

"That’s not my name."

"Oh very funny, now Levi-"

"That’s not my name."

Hanji glares at him and he stares back, equally unamused. "...That’s not my, name."

Despite his annoyance at Levi’s joke, Hanji’s eyebrows crinkle upwards and his mouth wobbles. "Aaaw, I miss having you in our flat! There’s no-one to eat my curry anymore." Levi’s suddenly crushed into a hug. He pats Hanji’s back, unsure of when he’s supposed to let go. "I miss your stoic face and sarcasm. Your temper gave me life!" Levi begins to squirm, but Hanji refuses to budge.

"Are you guys getting together too?"

Mike and Erwin appear around the corner -hand in hand, oh yeah!- and gesture towards his and Hanji’s hug. Oh, and did Mike say too, as in, as well...? Aah, mission accomplished.

"Ew, no. This thing just won’t get off me though. Save me."

"He reminds me that I love my friends, and that I can love him as a friend too."

Chapter 20: June 3rd

Chapter Text

Chapter 21: 4th June part one

Chapter Text

While wandering half aimlessly along the street in search of a second-hand store, Levi sees Eren sitting on the steps in front of a church-like building. He unzips his favourite grey hoodie halfway down, either because he’s self conscious or because some strange part of him thinks it might look more appealing (ha, as if). Clamping his lips together, Levi jogs slowly until he’s in front of Eren, who’s on his smartphone and texting (or possibly pretending to. Yes, we’ve all been there Eren).

Eren looks up, bright green eyes shining as he smiles. “Oh hey! You didn’t get lost.” He stands, one hand on his clothed knee used to help himself up. “How’s you?”

“You gave me the right address... eventually... So it wasn’t too hard to find. And, um,” Levi shrugs a little, embarrassed by the social pleasantries. Since the staff at Swansea ask him the same question so often he has to make up stories as to what he’s been doing lately. “I’m fine, I guess.”

Levi hands Eren the loose papers with his badly written script. “Ah, awesome!” Eren beams and hurriedly skims over the words, pausing on his way inside the shop. He looks up again at Levi. “We’ll have a read over everyone’s stuff inside. We’re just waiting on Mikasa to come back with juice, then we can figure out what props we’re going to need, and that.” He shuffles alongside Levi. “How’s work been?”

Has Eren... Asked that kind of question before? It seems a little weird that he’s asking about Levi’s life all of a sudden. Well. Not that he’s complaining. It fills him with a sense of domesticity, leaves him day-dreaming about cuddling with Eren after a long day of work, as he fills him in about how Erwin almost got sacked for being a love-sick idiot around the customers.

“At least Mike’s finally encouraged him to redo his f*cking pink walls. That was a bloody nightmare.”

“Aw no, he still has Locket though, right?” Eren asks.

Levi’s lips tug at the edges in greeting when the other appear in view. “Yeah yeah, she’s still with him.”

Like Jean and Biscuit said, the shop really is full of junk and nik-naks. At the back they’ve magically stacked couches one on top of the other, with a few wooden chairs stuck in here and there for good measure. And it’s a good thing he’s brought his tiny bottle of hand sanitizer because this place is dusty as hell (because naturally for Levi, hell would be a dirty, putrid place. Where other people fear mythical fiery depths: he fears very real rot and grime. Why does Swansea come to mind...)

Levi hovers beside a clutter of CD’s as Eren walks ahead until Armin, Biscuit and Jean motion him over to where they’re standing by a section of lifeless fridges and antique suitcases. His footsteps echo and he nods to Armin’s crutches with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re still stuck with them?” Levi’s friend John had only needed them for three weeks. (He says ‘friend’ but really John was just some asshole who was friends with some other asshole in Levi’s gang.)

Armin pulls a grimace, shoulders sagging as he groans. “I fell down again, so it’s seven weeks. I give the title Genius a bad name.” he slaps Levi on the back, ignoring the glare he gets. “But hey, you’re here! Does Eren have your script? Jean had me write half of his, basically. I could be home right now but no, I need to make sure he doesn’t take credit of my work. And I’m bored being at home all the time, Levi.” he shakes his head solemnly, baby blue eyes widening and Levi’s tempted to copy him. “Being temporarily handicapped isn’t fun.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “So you’ve said.” Armin’s been texting him, and he’s been one of the more talkative of their group. It’s been like having another Hanji and it’s also not fun. Do you not feel his pain, Armin. You may be bored but Levi is in much pain. In the same way Armin’s legs are in pain, Levi needs crutches for his brain, perhaps.

Jean tries to go in for a “bro-hug” but Levi quickly dodges it and stuffs his hands in his trouser pockets as Jean falls forward. “Hi, no hugs, thank you.” Levi greets. The ashen haired man corrects his stance with a frown, like a bird would ruffle it’s feathers when intimidated. Sorry Jean, no-one’s stroking your ego today.

A few moments later, Mikasa appears with a six pack of co*ke cans and places them onto a nearby table . She and Levi seem to have some strange “eye blink” greeting where neither of them speak, but somehow find something to quietly snort in laughter about, only increasing in volume when the rest of the group watches the silent exchange with confused expressions. They only met two weeks ago but hey; it’s totally plausible that they’re suddenly best friends.

Once everyone’s settled with a can of juice and their chairs are set in a circle; beside Levi, Eren begins to read the scripts he’s been given.

It had occurred to Levi that maybe, hey, rewriting a conversation between yourself and someone else wasn’t the best idea. Mostly because he knew that Eren would be reading over it. Also because if he had copied it, he’d not only have to know off by heart the weird things he’d said, but be reminded of his own stupidity at each rehearsal. Assuming that Eren even gets to the rehearsal stage.

By the looks of things, they might not even get past the script stage. The group’s not exactly unorganized, but considering they didn’t even know how to film an indie movie and looked it up... Well it’s possible that this project might just crash and burn. Or be a waste of time. Whatever, at least it gives him something to do on his day off. And he has a reason to see Eren~

Eren starts with Jean’s and Armin’s piece, seemingly a skit about a young boy who buys a pair of boots and when he gets home a monster appears. He hurriedly puts on the new shoes rather than his usual ones, and it turns out they’re super speed shoes.

“How fast can you run?” Eren pauses and peers at him.

Levi leans back in his chair so his right arm is resting on the back. “Not fast enough to be a superhero, sadly.”

Biting his lower lip as he thinks -you know, just another occasion of Eren being strangely attractive and Levi noticing it at the wrong time- Eren nods, eyes cast off into space. “Suppose we could fix that in the editing process, uh... I was thinking for this, maybe you could pull some stunts? Can you run up walls?”

Levi nods and tells him again that he used to do parkour.

Somehow that leads to him doing a back-flip off of his chair. Because... obviously that’s a regular occurrence in Levi’s life.

“WOAH, you have GOT to teach me that, man.” Eren tells him with wide eyes. “You’re like Sonic the Hedgehog. Or Spiderman.”

Levi dead-pans a glance at Eren as he sits back down, easing away his panting breaths. “Yeah I like the Spiderman comparison better, thanks.”

After finishing reading aloud the rest of the scripts -including his own, which he cringes the entire way through because it’s a f*cking terrible idea-

“A beanie will be easy to find. I have a feeling this movie is going to be a small budget, possibly cheap production...” Armin notes, tapping his chin and staring at the check-list in his mind. “Not that that’s a bad thing, if anything it’ll help us get this done faster and my wallet will be smiling. Happy wallet, yay.”

Eren pipes up, smiling at the script he’s still holding. “Hey, can we make it so that the character’s bisexual and the beanie’s invisibility powers wear off on bisexual awareness week? I’d love that. By the way, your handwriting’s a lot messier than I thought it would be.” he adds.

And well, f*ck you Eren; Levi can’t be perfectly neat in every aspect. (Just kidding, he still loves you, Eren) It was also written at 4am with the delirium of a high-school student trying to finish their essay last minute. Although if anything, Levi was always able to hand in his assessments on time so he never fully understood that kind of panic.

Levi simply shrugs, taking a sip of his can of juice and trying to avoid everyone’s eyes. “They say smart people have untidy handwriting.”

“I must be the smartest of them all, then.” Eren nods solemnly.

As they continue discussing plot ideas, Levi sees Jean pulling his chair closer to Eren, nudging the other man with his feet and leaning forward so that Eren’s forced to look at him. Jean leans upright again, running fingers through his hair and smirking as he whispers to Eren. His stomach drops when Jean reaches out to wrap an arm around Eren’s shoulders. Why that f*cking little sh*t, he went and helped Levi out before now he’s flirting with Eren right in front of everyone?!

“Ahem.” There’s a cough, or rather a signal that says “pay attention to me” disguised as a cough, from the other side of the circle. Mikasa catches his eye, then glances back at Eren and Jean with a meaningful head tilt.

He frowns and shakes his head. Mikasa’s dark eyes widen marginally, and she repeats the same action, while mouthing “Make a move, you twat”.

“Oh f*ck no.” He whispers, mouth curling down into a grimace that reveals his bared teeth.

“Eren,” Jean exaggerates a large sniff. “Your cologne smells nice, what brand is it?”

Thick eyebrows furrow in confusion. “Um, I’m not wearing any..?” Eren replies.

“Oh...” Jean retreats onto his own chair and personal space, visibly defeated and with his tail tucked between his legs in a way that Levi can’t help but snort at.

Levi hasn’t really made a direct move with these kind of intentions since the beginning, so it should be okay for Levi to actually try something... Right?

For the next few minutes as Eren tells the other’s what edits he plans to make, Levi tries to catch Eren’s eye and quickly looks away whenever they make eye contact. Hmm. Not quite good enough, seeing as Eren’s behaviour doesn’t change. And... He’s starting to get deja vu so maybe staring isn’t the best option. Okay. New plan.

How about a plan of “ignoring everyone else and sticking to the plan of being Eren’s friend” like he’d decided he’d do before.

Ah, it’s not as fun.