Chapter Text
Levi’s ears perked up at the sound of birds chirping outside the open window, watching as the breeze gently danced with the curtains in the living room. The warmth of the sun made him stretch and arch his spine into the couch as he imagined this is as close to the life of a cat as he’d ever come.
He looked up at Nico who sipped on some icy peach tea, fixated on his tablet. This was Levi’s favorite place in the entire world, laid out on their couch, resting his head on Nico’s lap. If Levi could live forever in one moment it would be this one.
Nico sat his tea down and tapped Levi’s head with a cold finger.
“Again,” Nico said, keeping his eyes on his tablet trying to think of a thirteen letter word for ‘many’. He furrowed his brow, “At least one ‘D’ and one T,” he said quietly under his breath.
Levi reached up and gently massaged the space between Nico’s brows, “Remember how you said you were getting a wrinkle here? This…that right there.” Levi tapped the edge of the screen indicating the crossword puzzle was to blame.
Nico looked down at Levi who wore a ‘You know I’m right expression’. “A-G-A-I-N.” He said sternly.
“I know, I know.” Levi cleared his throat and turned to the notes in his hand, “Man-na-seo ban-gab-seub-ni-da.” He looked up at Nico who was wearing a large smile.
“Good. The pronunciation is better than before. Practice more in front of the mirror. So,” Nico looked up as he thought, “You’ve got hello, your introduction and you just did nice to meet you…OH! The most important one, repeat after me, naneun neoui adeulgwa salang-e ppajyeoss-eo.”
“And what does that mean?” Levi looked confused as Nico bent down to kiss him, “I’m in love with your son.”
“NO! Don’t fill my delicate pliable brain with stuff I am NOT going to use,” Levi protested as he messaged his temples trying to forget what was just fed to him.
“AH! Multitudinous!” Nico stopped teasing his boyfriend and filled in his missing word. “You know my parents don’t expect you to greet them in Korean.”
“I know,” Levi returned to his notes as Nico turned his attention back to him, “but I want to.” He could feel the sincerity in his voice and couldn’t help but kiss him again.
*
“Minke whales are relatively small averaging around 11 tons,” Levi mumbled to himself as Nico kept his eyes on the road and a tight grip on the steering wheel.
“11 tons is huge whaddya mean small? Aww they travel alone or with just one or 2 others.” Levi smiled and thought how much he had in common with the whale. Considered small by most but mighty and only having a few close friends. “Minke, humpback, gray….minke…orcas…minke,” Levi listed off the whales they might see on their whale watching trip with Nico’s family.
“Do NOT say Minke again.” Nico’s tone was curt making Levi put down his notecard in a huff. “Seriously you said Minke like 45 times since we left our place and it’s just a 3-and-a-half-hour drive.”
“Okay, couple of things. #1 Do not yell at me, #2 Minke whales are perfect and I don’t want to forget their name, #3 you’re being an ass and finally #4 it is NOT my fault that you forgot your mother’s present at home. Who was the one rushing me to get out the door?? You hovered over me the whoooole morning going ‘We were supposed to be on the road at noon,’ but look at you now. I’m the only one who’s prepare-” Levi stopped talking and began frantically feeling his clothes and looking in the bag at his feet. “I left my phone charger at home.” He said dejectedly.
Nico couldn’t help but burst into laughter, “HOW?? I actually reminded you and watched you pick it up.”
“Yeah but then I sat it down to grab something? else?? Maybe? I must have left it on a counter…or the couch?,” Levi pouted softly making Nico laugh even more. “It’s not funny. My mom’s gonna freak out if I don’t message her every few hours. She even said I had to text in the middle of the night because I’ll have to get up to pee eventually so I should just text her while I’m at it. She’s a lot.”
“There’s a mall on the way to my parent’s house. We can stop by and you can get a charger and I can get a gift,” Nico grabbed Levi’s hand and kissed it. “Ok rules: Each whale is 5 points. The orcas are where the real numbers are. You start seeing Orcas and you better start keeping count real quick. Dolphins are worth 10 points each and each sea lion and seal is two points. HOWEVER, if a bird poops on you, if you get motion sickness and vomit or gag, or if you lose your balance because of the waves you lose 20 points for each offense. And yes we can go negative.”
“There’s so much math!!!” Levi’s eyes lit up and seemed to sparkle with delight.
“Easy Numbers. We tried doing it like regular people but we ended up having to make it a little more complicated because we WILL cheat. This way you really never know what someone has til the end,” Nico flashed a wink at Levi who was still beaming. “OH!” Nico exclaimed as he remembered something special he prepared for their trip. “I got the good stuff.” He found the playlist and turned up the volume only to leave Levi openmouthed in disbelief.
“No.” Levi said with pleading eyes, “Not this…not again.”
“YES. I even sprinkled in some of the greats into this masterpiece,” he said with a glint to his eyes.
“The Shrek soundtrack is not a masterpiece! And what do you mean—“
“THEN I SAW HIS FACE NOW I’M A BELIEVERRRRR” Nico interrupted a dumbstruck Levi. “I’m in love oooohhh I’m a believerrr I couldn’t leave him if I triiiiiied.” Nico belted and bopped his head to the song while Levi slouched in the passenger seat unable to stop what was happening.
Smashmouth, I’m a barbie girl, genie in a bottle, Britney spears, nsync, backstreet boys…three and a half hours.
“You know what, I’ll just walk,” Levi closed his eyes trying to endure his boyfriend singing off key at the top of his lungs. “Or you can just crash the car….I won’t mind, really.”