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Levi fucking hates this new kid.
It’s barely noon, and a large portion of the shop floor is covered in hemp milk (conveniently, the most expensive fucking plant milk out of them all), and he can feel himself prematurely greying. Customers are staring.
Levi’s not going to lose his temper. Coffee chains are fast-paced, complex. There are too many customers and not enough time to master the skill of everything on the menu before you’re thrown into the deep end.
If he repeats that to himself, his eye does not twitch.
He essentially begged Petra to put Armin in charge of training him, because Armin is a whizz at his job, and he also has the patience of a saint. He can train lazy, spoiled brats, whereas Levi would rather quit this job to become a lonely lorry driver. But no, Petra thinks Levi is the man for the babysitting task.
The worst part is, Jean does not give a shit. He’s messing up basic orders and breaking things without an ounce of remorse. Levi can’t get away with verbal threats without being chided, so he bites the inside of his cheek and scowls at Jean.
“Clean that up. Sort yourself out, seriously.”
Jean goes to the storage cupboard to grab the mop and bucket, face completely unfazed.
“That little fucking shit, I could slap—“
“Good afternoon.”
Levi can’t tell if his day just got better or worse. There’s a big fucking tree of a man standing at the counter with the biggest, bluest eyes Levi has even seen. Fuck if he doesn’t have a new favourite colour. He looks rich and snooty, though, so Levi wills his groin to relax.
Levi goes to open his mouth, like a customer service employee typically would, but the man laughs softly at him.
“Just a black coffee, please. Large and as strong as you can.”
“For?”
“Erwin.”
They don’t even write the customers’ names on the cups here.
“Erwin,” Levi says, turning away. He thinks about giving this one to Jean and actually doing a good job at cleaning the milky floor. It’s almost impossible to fuck up, but there’s no telling with him.
He watches Jean do a pathetic job at mopping. He looks very miserable, like his dog just died, or something. Maybe he got dumped. What else do teenagers get miserable over? Maybe his parents forced him to get this job and now he’s hacking away at Levi’s sanity to spite them.
This animated, blonde tree leans over the counter and whispers, “Is he okay?”
“He’s new,” Levi says bitterly. “Aren’t you, Jean?”
“Can I go on my break?” Jean has the nerve to ask.
No words that aren’t ‘fuck off’ come to Levi’s mind for five long seconds. “Take the mop with you,” Levi says.
With Jean out of his peripheral vision, Levi's jaw relaxes, and he has Erwin’s coffee together in no time, which is just as well because rather than moving away from the till to wait, he’s stayed put, watching Levi the whole time.
Levi sees himself kicking a lamppost on his way home by the time this day is over.
He slides the drink over and Erwin pays.
“Thanks,” he says, looking at Levi through his lashes.
Then he leaves. Levi wants to go home.
*
Erwin comes in at the same time for the next few days and orders the same thing.
He asks Levi how he is, smiles at him sweetly, takes his coffee and leaves.
The smell of Erwin’s obscenely strong coffee gives Levi a phantom bellyache each time he makes it.
Levi managed to negotiate with Petra, and now Armin’s now in charge of babying Jean because Levi can’t afford the premature ageing that comes with it. Armin is kind but assertive, and Jean starts getting the hang of things and looks marginally happier.
Levi hates teenagers.
*
“You can’t keep ordering a coffee that strong,” Levi says to Erwin on day six of him showing up.
Erwin raises a large, fluffy brow. “Oh?”
Levi whirls around. “Oh? Is that what you have to say for yourself? No concern for your gastrointestinal health? What, is your stomach made of steel?”
Erwin looks shocked initially, eyes the size of fucking moons orbiting Levi’s brain every waking moment. Then he laughs. “Actually, it does give me a little bit of heartburn sometimes, but it’s the only thing that stops me from falling asleep at my desk.”
“I would get a more entertaining job,” Levi suggests.
Erwin hums. “I could work here. You want to train me? I’m a fast learner.”
Levi doesn’t talk or move for a long moment. Erwin probably thinks he died.
He comes back to earth and begrudgingly puts together the same coffee as always for Erwin, yet again, and Erwin thanks him sweetly and leaves.
Someone needs to teach Levi how to talk like a normal human being to attractive people. To customers, even.
*
Erwin doesn’t come in the next day, or the day after that. If Levi cared, he’d be disheartened over it.
No, he turns up on the Sunday, five minutes before Levi is about to close.
Levi’s stacked the chairs upside down and out of the way neatly, cleaned every coffee machine and mopped the floor. There’s a wet floor sign in front of the door that Levi deliberately puts there whenever he’s closing as a polite fuck off and don’t try to come in we’re closing.
Erwin sidesteps the sign.
Levi's nostrils flare. “No, I’m not making you a cup of fucking liquid cyanide, we’re closing,” he says.
Erwin ignores him, struts over in his normal person clothes - t-shirt, jeans, jacket and converse (wow, Levi thinks), grabs Levi’s face and kisses him right there in the empty shop.
The mop Levi is holding falls to the floor with a clattering noise when Erwin pushes his tongue into Levi’s mouth.
Levi feels big, warm hands on his cheeks, neck and waist. He stands frozen, tries to make his brain and his mouth cooperate.
When Erwin pulls back, his cheeks are pink and he’s very nearly gasping for air. “Take me for a coffee,” he says.
“I prefer tea,” Levi says.
“Okay, so take me for some tea. You have tea at home, right?”
Levi does have tea at home. Levi's about to have tea and Erwin at home.
"Get out so I can lock up, then," Levi says.