Chapter Text
Erwin looks at the mirror and does finger guns at his reflection. He's looking really good, if he may say so himself. After finishing up a job on a motorcycle, he had asked his boss if he could leave work a little earlier today to have enough time to prepare for the date with Levi. His boss had left early in the noon today, which meant he could drive out the Lamborghini unnoticed, and the other guys could close the workshop for him.
Before his boss had left, Erwin had also asked him if he could receive his weekly salary in advance, so he had enough money to pay for the date. Although he feels a little embarrassed for doing this, he really doesn't want to give Levi the impression that he isn't rich.
No poor man would drive around in a car like that, and a part of him really wants to impress Levi.
After taking a shower, styling his hair and looking through his frugal closet -not that he had a lot of options-, he had decided to wear the only suit he owned. They would be going to a rather fancy restaurant, and Erwin didn’t want to dress casually, which was how he would usually dress. He even took the time to iron the suit, although it hugged him tight in all the right places, thus removing any wrinkles anyway. “Gotta cut down on those carbs,” he mumbles to himself. Maybe the suit was a tad too tight.
But when he turns around in front of the mirror and sees the way the tight suit makes his ass look, Erwin shakes his head. It’s perfect.
Throwing on his favourite black coat on top of the black suit, he gives himself a once over and grabs the lambo's keys to go down to the workshop.
Once he arrives at Levi's place, he sees the man already waiting for him outside the gates to his home and when he gets into the car, Erwin greets him with a warm smile.
Levi doesn't seem to be a person that talks or even smiles a lot, so Erwin makes it his mission to bring out as much as he can from the shorter man.
"So, where are you taking me?" Levi asks.
"I thought about going to this restaurant called 'The Rumbling', ever heard of it?" Erwin asks as he starts the engine, and the car begins to roll.
Levi shrugs his shoulders. "I don't think so, but as long as they serve good tea, I'm down to go anywhere."
So, he's a tea lover. Erwin stores this information in the back of his mind as they drive off to their destination.
---
The date goes well, in fact it goes so well that neither of them make a move to get up even after finishing their meals and desserts. When a waitress brings Levi the tea he had ordered for the both of them, Erwin moves to pour a teaspoon of sugar in his, but stops when Levi says "Oi!"
He looks up, confused, and watches as Levi pushes the sugar pot away from him. "I can't believe you were just about to put sugar in your tea in my presence," he mutters, looking like he was offended.
Erwin holds both his hands up in surrender, "Fine, I'm sorry," he says, "please do refrain from saying 'a real tea lover will never use sugar'."
There's a glint in Levi's eye and the next thing he knows, Erwin feels a sharp pain on his shin. Levi had kicked him under the table, but he was giving him an amused look.
Erwin can't help but grin. For someone who could shoot looks that could kill, Levi sure had a childish side to him that Erwin was enjoying a lot.
He found out that the shorter man had lost his mother at a young age and that he was raised by his uncle Kenny who only stayed around until Levi enrolled in college and could take care of himself. Apparently, he had never heard anything from his uncle since then.
In return, Erwin tells him about the picture-perfect life he had been living with his family until he had come out to them as gay, and his father denied him financial support. He tells Levi his dream of becoming a lawyer and how he had to give it up because he no longer could afford college. And when Levi asks him what he does now for a living, he tries not to come off as too nervous as he says, “I work in the automotive industry.”
He doesn’t want to lie to Levi. He’s having such a nice time with the man and Levi is telling him everything about himself so honestly and listening to what he has to say with interest. Apparently, the man doesn’t even go on many dates, the last one he remembers being many months ago.
“So, what made you want to go on a date with me?” Erwin asks. He’s generally not one to fish for compliments, but he has a feeling Levi isn’t one to generously give them to people either, so he wants to hear something from the man.
“I think you’re interesting,” Levi says, not at all looking bothered by Erwin so obviously asking for compliments. “Well, at first it was the car, obviously. But I think you’re a good guy, and I have nothing against getting to know you more,” he says, the tips of his ears a little pink.
A warmth settles inside Erwin’s chest and when Levi excuses himself to go to the bathroom, he brings out the crumpled bills from his pocket and pays for their meal, not wanting Levi to see it. He hopes he didn’t notice that Erwin had ordered something less expensive off the menu.
And when they leave the restaurant and Erwin drives Levi back, he walks him up to the entrance of his home with the hopes of agreeing on a second date.
“I had fun,” Levi says. And he’s smiling for the first time and Erwin thinks he looks beautiful. All he wans is to scoop the man up and kiss him senseless, but it’s inappropriate for a first date, and he hopes he will have the chance to do it soon. “Me too,” he says. “Thank you for letting me take you out.”
Just as he’s about to ask Levi for another date, the shorter man speaks up first. “Do you have time on Saturday?”
Erwin tries to suppress the grin his face is about to break into and nods, a little too enthusiastically. “Yes, I do,” he says.
“Do you want to go to the beach?” Levi asks, his face looking emotionless, but his fingers fidgeting a little.
“In this weather?” Erwin asks in surprise.
“I mean,” Levi starts, “Just to stroll around. And if it gets too windy, we can go to this café I know nearby and get something warm to drink.”
Erwin nods. “Sure, I’d be happy to.”
Levi looks like he’s relieved and then immediately goes back to his indifferent expression. Erwin is sure he was using it as a defense mechanism. And he is sure that Levi was as interested in him as he was in the shorter man, so he decides to make his life easier, if Levi was having a hard time showing emotion.
“So, I suppose it’s a casual dress code?”
“Right,” Levi says.
Erwin is relieved, because he doesn’t own another suit, and another fancy dress code date would give him away. Although he’s sure that even though Levi was looking him up and down throughout their dinner today, he was more focused on the way the suit fit Erwin’s body than its price (even though he’d surely be able to tell with one look that it wasn’t as expensive as Levi’s).
They exchange numbers and say goodbye to each other before Erwin gets back into the car and Levi watches him drive off.
---
It’s Saturday, and Erwin’s on his way to bring Levi home after their second date. It had gone really well, even better than their first one.
He had parked the Lamborghini on a side road close to the beach and they had strolled around with their hands in their pockets for a good hour before it got a little chilly and they decided to go to the nearby café.
This time, Erwin had chosen to wear a thick, gray pullover with crème-coloured pants and plain, white sneakers. He was also wearing his camel trench coat and had sprayed on his favourite perfume. He was glad he wasn’t working today.
Even though Levi had mentioned before that he wasn’t a man of many words, he was surprisingly talking and asking Erwin a lot of things. Their conversations mostly consisted of Levi telling Erwin he’s ‘doing it wrong’, no matter what Erwin mentioned he liked doing. But the blonde didn’t mind, in fact, he liked Levi correcting him on everything. He was sure that scolding people was just Levi’s way of showing affection.
He had also found out that Levi was a neat freak from the way he would wipe dust off the buttons in the Lamborghini to picking up a little leaf that had landed on Erwin’s shoulder to using a cherry scented hand sanitizer everywhere he went.
When they went to the café, Levi had ordered a tea, and Erwin soon realized that it was Levi’s favourite beverage. Although he did find it weird the way Levi would hold his teacup.
He answered everything Levi had asked him honestly, only leaving out anything that would expose him for not being rich. But the more they spent time together, the worse Erwin started feeling, because he knew he was getting attached to the shorter man from the way his chest would feel tight whenever Levi looked at him a little too long. Erwin knew all of this would have to come to an end eventually. In fact, the owner of the Lamborghini would come to pick her up on Monday, which was in two days, so Erwin was aware that this date would be their last.
Even though they had only been on two dates, Erwin had felt a connection right from the start when he met Levi at the McDonald’s parking lot. And now he was driving the man back to his home and towards his own misery.
When they arrive in front of Levi’s home, Erwin gets out of the car to walk him to the entrance. Levi turns to him and like he did the nights before, says, “I had fun.”
Erwin buries his hands deeper into the pockets of his trench coat as he feels more miserable by the minute. “Me too,” he says. “Thank you for everything.” He feels like these were going to be his last words before Levi would enter his home, and maybe the shorter man would text him and ask him out on another date, but Erwin knows he wouldn’t be able to see him again.
But instead of going inside, Levi takes his hands out of his pockets and steps closer to Erwin.
“Can I kiss you?”
Erwin can’t conceal his surprised expression but manages to give a nod of his head. This was what he had been wanting to do since day one, but because he knew the magic would be over too soon, he had never made a step.
Levi lifts his hands to cup Erwin’s face and goes up on his tippy toes before brushing his lips against his. The taller man leans down slightly to make it easier for Levi to kiss him, and soon they lose themselves in the gentle kiss. It’s nothing but a press of lips against each other, but it holds so much passion and gentleness that Erwin’s head is beginning to spin.
Levi’s lips are thin but felt perfect against his own, as if their lips were created for this purpose, to be united. And when Levi pulls away, he wears a deep blush on his cheeks, but doesn’t remove his gaze from Erwin’s.
And no matter how much Erwin had enjoyed the kiss, he feels even more miserable now that he knows Levi has the same feelings and was going to want to continue meeting him. Erwin had been lying to his face ever since they met each other, and he didn’t want to keep spinning a web of lies.
He would have to give back the car soon and he couldn’t allow himself to let this, whatever this between them was, go further. But when Levi touches his arm and asks, “Would you like to come inside for a cup of tea?”, Erwin nods wordlessly.
Levi has an amazing home, very spacious but minimalistic. When they enter, Levi gives him another gentle kiss before he hands Erwin a pair of slippers and motions him to make himself at home in the living room while he goes into the kitchen to prepare tea.
He doesn’t look like he invited him in for sex, and Erwin is glad, because that would only be another reason to get attached.
When Levi comes into the living room with two steaming cups of tea and places one in front of him, Erwin takes it with a small thanks. Then they make themselves comfortable on the couch before Levi turns on the TV, just to have some noise in the room.
They fall into a comfortable silence.
It isn’t until they’re finished with their tea that Levi talks again. “This is my favourite thing to do,” he says. “Coming home and relaxing with a cup of tea.”
He moves to sit closer and pulls his feet onto the couch, curling in on Erwin.
The blonde brings his hand up so that Levi can lean more onto him and wraps his arm around him gently. “It is nice, indeed,” he agrees. “I think I’m too old to live a fast life now. I much rather prefer a quiet, relaxed night at home after work.” Levi nods.
Erwin knows he doesn’t deserve being lied to. From what he had noticed and heard from Levi, he wasn’t very expressive with his feelings, so the fact that he had asked for another date, had initiated their kiss, and had curled up to cuddle with him, shows that he was doing his most to express his growing affection for Erwin. And Erwin doesn’t want to break his heart. He has to end it now, but he can’t find the right words.
“Levi…” he starts, and then trails off. He doesn’t know how he could tell him something like this, especially because he wants nothing more than to be with him.
Levi looks up at him. “Yes?”
“I’m…” he starts again, but pauses. “I’m not… I was…” He just can’t form a coherent sentence. He knows Levi doesn’t deserve him cutting it off with no explanation, but he’s too ashamed to admit his lying to Levi’s face.
With a sudden wave of embarrassment, he sits up and says, “I should probably go.”
Erwin thinks he sees disappointment on Levi’s face before the shorter man conceals it with his indifferent expression once again and leans out of Erwin’s space.
“Thank you for inviting me inside,” Erwin says, holding and giving Levi’s hand a gentle squeeze. Levi smiles and nods before they both stand up to go to the door.
And when Erwin slips out of the house, he feels like the biggest asshole in the world.
---
It’s Monday, and the day the owner would come to retrieve their Lamborghini.
Erwin is working on some last touch-ups on the lambo, knowing he’s going to miss sitting in the driver’s seat and gripping the wheel. He’d spent his absolute last penny on refueling the car when he came back from Levi’s place the other night and had been miserable ever since.
Levi had texted him a few times, but Erwin hadn’t replied, too ashamed of what he had done to the shorter man.
Giving the car’s interior one last wipe down, Erwin drives it outside the workshop and then gives the keys to his boss to do the handover before going back into the workshop. That would be the last time he sees the Lamborghini.
He starts working on doing another oil change on a car to get his mind off things, when he hears his boss call out to him to come out.
He knits his eyebrows and slides out from under the car. It doesn’t help that the car’s oil filter is an absolute mess and keeps dripping oil onto his clothes and skin. He’s gonna have to ask his boss to offer the customer a filter change as well.
“What’s up?” he asks when he walks outside to where his boss is.
He hears his boss say, “The owner of the Lamborghini wanted to thank you personally for working on his car”, but all his mind can think is Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
This isn’t happening.
Standing before him is none other than Levi, holding the keys to the Lamborghini in his hand.
A loud ringing comes from his boss’ office and the man thanks Levi one last time before leaving them alone to go get the call.
Erwin feels like he was hit by a million bricks. He’s frozen in place for the longest time until he lowers his gaze onto himself and his dirty clothes, his dirty skin, his dirty hands still holding a wrench.
He feels like he’s going to crumble and his blood feels like it’s frozen. He can’t move.
Until he notices that Levi hasn’t said anything at all, and he lifts his head to look at the shorter man. So, the Lamborghini had been his car.
And he had known this all along. One look at the license plate and he’d know it was his own. That’s why he had been standing in front of it that night at the McDonald’s parking lot. That’s why he had looked at him strangely when Erwin had said it was his own car.
Had it been Levi’s intention to approach him and act so affectionate towards him, only to embarrass him later? Had he been planning this moment?
No, Erwin thought. He was too affectionate and interested for this to have been acting.
He’s confused and embarrassed, but above all, he’s feeling hurt. Because he had been trying so hard to impress someone he liked that he had acted so very unlike himself.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Levi asks suddenly, his eyes never leaving Erwin’s face.
Erwin lowers his gaze to the ground. “I’m so sorry. For everything,” he manages to say. He doesn’t think he has the strength to look at Levi again or to mutter any other word. He just hopes he would take his keys and drive off in his car.
But then he feels Levi touch his arm, just like he had done that first night when he had told him he had fun, or like he had when he had cuddled up to Erwin on his couch. And when Erwin looks up and meets Levi’s eyes, he’s surprised he doesn’t see anger in them.
“Have you lied to me about anything else, other than the car or being rich?” Levi asks, removing his hand from Erwin’s arm.
The taller man holds Levi’s gaze as he shakes his head and says, “No. I have been honest with you about everything else. I had wanted to tell you, when we were in your home, but I didn’t have the courage.”
A long moment passes between them in which neither of them speaks, and then Levi’s eyes soften. “Then the rest doesn’t matter to me.”
Erwin gives Levi a confused look and has no time to prepare himself before the other steps closer to him and wraps his arms around his neck.
As if on auto-pilot, the blonde’s limbs unfreeze and his arms instantly go up to wrap around Levi’s shoulders as he lets the man’s words sink in. He feels like the biggest idiot in the world for thinking he wasn’t enough, for thinking Levi was superficial and could only be impressed by money, for not being himself.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were the owner?” he asks with his face buried in Levi’s shoulder and his voice muffled.
“I had wanted to, but I was enjoying your company so much that it didn’t matter to me anymore. Still,” he says, and Erwin can feel him sigh. “It was wrong to not tell you and make you feel embarrassed, and I’m sorry for that.”
Erwin shakes his head. He was the one who shouldn’t have claimed the car was his in the first place. “I’m the one who should apologize. I’m so ashamed.”
But before Levi can say anything else, Erwin remembers with a start that the other hates getting dirty. “Wait,” he says, leaning away from Levi’s embrace. “You’ll get dirty.”
Levi scoffs and shakes his head. “I could really care less about that right now,” he says and cups Erwin’s face before crashing their lips in a kiss. “And besides,” he mumbles into Erwin’s mouth in between breaths, “you look incredibly attractive like this.”