Archive of Our Own

Today was Tuesday and Tuesday’s were Levi’s regularly scheduled appointments with his youngest client, Mikasa. She was an interesting case, especially for only being fifteen years old. Her background was incredibly traumatic for someone so young, although Levi could relate to her on that. Perhaps that’s why he’s the only therapist she’s ever consistently seen since she first started receiving therapy when she was 10 years old. Levi got her when she was 14 and it had already been an entire year since she first started with him. Oddly enough, the young girl reminded him a lot of himself when he was her age, so he would like to think that maybe, just maybe, he was possibly getting somewhere with her.

As he looked over his notes of their previous sessions together, Levi’s mind wandered just a bit. He had a small window of down time between clients today so he chose to spend that downtime, well… working but it was for a good cause, or so he convinced himself. Mikasa was orphaned at the age of nine when she and her parents were involved in a brutal and violent home invasion one afternoon. It came out of nowhere, as most of these things tended to, but the difference was Mikasa was forced to see her parents murdered right in front of her eyes. Levi didn’t need to try to imagine the kind of trauma that sort of thing causes in a child so young, it was literallyhis job to know what kind of trauma it left in her, despite his usual clientele being an older demographic.

He made a few notations in a personal notebook as he remembered she had mentioned having night terrors recently. He wanted to try to touch on that a little if she gave him the chance but Mikasa wasn’t a client he could push too much; he learned very quickly that if he tried to get too much out of her at once or if he tried moving on to a different subject that she herself was not quite ready to talk about herself, she would instantly clam up tightly and refuse to speak the rest of their session and that pretty much got them both nowhere. Levi was never really a very patient man, so perhaps it was ironic that he decided to be a therapist of all things but despite this, having a client as delicate to handle as Mikasa had taught him the value of patience.

He hears a soft knocking on his door, prompting him to stop taking notes and look up. “What?” he asks irritably.

Levi watches as his door opens and a mop of messy brown hair pops in, followed by the obnoxious grin of his partner and fellow therapist Hanji Zoe. He had known the other therapist since college, yet somehow was never able to shake them, even a decade later.

“Your 3:00pm is here.”

Levi gave them a quizzical look, “It’s only 2:30.” he points out.

Hanji gives him a shrug, as if to say ‘your guess is as good as mine’ and they promptly turned and left, leaving his office door ajar. Damn that Hanji. They knew how much Levi hated when people came into his office for no good reason and left the door wide open. Well, whatever. He stood from his chair and shut his notebook before shoving it into one of the top drawers of his desk. By the sounds of it, Mikasa was a whole half hour early for her appointment, which was highly unusual. He wondered for a moment if perhaps her timing was just off but that didn’t quite make sense either. Mikasa was troubled, but not dumb enough to just forget how to read a damn clock.

He made his way toward the front waiting area, their office was relatively small so it only took him less than a minute and as he rounded the corner, he saw Mikasa sitting in one of the corner chairs, her head down staring at her phone that was in her lap as she scrolled through some music playlist. Nothing unusual there, except there was a rather tall man with her this time, one that Levi had only ever seen once before, when he had his first session with Mikasa. The man was sitting beside her, all broad shoulders and long legs crossed one over the other quite elegantly. He had shoulder length hair that partially covered his face, it was a deep chocolate brown perfectly complimenting his tan skin. They were both wearing black clothing, though Mikasa’s outfit was far more casual than the man’s sitting next to her.

Her usual black hoodie was oversized around her body, though Mikasa was not petite by any means so that only told him the hoodie was possibly the man’s hoodie. Her black jeans were torn open at the knees exposing a few scrapes and bruising from her boxing classes. Levi had suggested the sport to her months ago as a way for her to express her anger or sadness and she seemed very taken with it so if there was ever any bruising on her body, he didn’t immediately associate it with abuse, although he kept a close eye out for any signs of that anyway. As usual, her black and white converse were all scuffed up and well worn. The man on the other hand was wearing a very simple black turtleneck that accentuated his long, broad torso and a pair of gray skinny jeans that were also torn in the same fashion as Mikasa’s. Even sitting down, Levi could tell that the man would probably tower over him once he stood up.

“Mikasa?” he finally called. “Is everything alright? You’re early.”

At the sound of her name being called, the young teen looked up at him from her long side swept bangs and he could see the relaxed expression on her face, which he wasn’t quite accustomed to seeing. For the first time in awhile, Mikasa actually looked like the young, fifteen year old girl she actually was. It was oddly… refreshing to see.

“Oh, hey.” she greets casually. “Did you get shorter, Levi?”

“It’s possible.” he answers without a beat of hesitation. “Is there a problem?”

Just then, the man sitting next to Mikasa chuckles and Levi glances over at him suspiciously.

“Sorry,” the man apologises. “I didn’t mean to laugh at your expense.” Levi notes his voice is youthful and strangely captivating. Then the man looks up and the raven is hit with bright Viridian green eyes. “Mikasa just caught me off guard with how casually she speaks to you. I’m not sure what I expected but it wasn’t that.”

“I told you he was a shrimp.” Mikasa remarks with a snort. “But a shrimp that’s pretty good at his job, I guess.”

“Wow,” Levi remarks sarcastically. “Was that a compliment? From you? I’m flattered.”

Mikasa says nothing to this so Levi considers this a win. Suddenly the man sitting next to her stands up and just like he thought, the guy was a fucking tree. For once in Levi’s life, he’d like to be the tall one. Just once.

“I’m sorry if we’re dropping by a bit early, I called your office earlier and spoke to someone named Hanji? I was wondering if you could squeeze Mikasa in just a little early today. Something with work came up so I won’t be able to bring her in for her usual 3:00pm appointment today.”

Levi sighs at the mention of Hanji’s name, “What did Hanji tell you?”

“Just that we could come into the office but not if you were able to take Mikasa early for her appointment.”

“Of course they told you that.”

“Is it going to be a problem? Because if it’s not an option, I’ll just try to reschedule her for another day-”

“No,” Levi interrupts. “No, it’s not a problem. Luckily, I’m free for the next hour anyway.”

“Really?” the tall man smiles. His teeth were stupidly perfect. What the hell was up with this guy? Was he some kind of model? “Thanks so much. You’re really helping me out.”

“Eren,” Mikasa says. Ah, so this is Eren. It all makes sense now. “You don’t have to wait for me to finish with Dr. Shrimp.”

Another snort could be heard, although Eren did seem to try to stifle it this time.

“Mikasa,” he seems to scold, albeit very lightly. “His name is Mr. Ackerman and I know I don’t have to stay and wait for you but I will. I want to get an early dinner with you after we leave here and then I’ll drop you off at home and go to work. Sounds good, kid?”

A rare smile from Mikasa forms on her pale face, her dark eyes seem to soften as she stares up at the older man. “Okay. Sounds good.”

“Alright, well, I guess I’ll leave you two to it.” The brunet takes a step back and runs a hand through Mikasa’s short hair. She seems to lean into the touch like a puppy but Levi simply files this little information away for a later date. Perhaps having Eren here will help soften her up to some of Levi’s more pressing questions.

“Mikasa,” Levi prompts, motioning for her to follow him into his office. The teen stands up, seeming to hesitate as she leaves Eren’s side. The older man seems content sitting on the love seat where he and Mikasa previously sat together. “We’re on your time, kiddo. Come on.”

“Calm down,” she grumbles, eventually following after Levi who is taking quick steps down the hallway.

Just as they’re about to round the corner out of sight, Levi stops and turns to regard Eren one more time. “There’s coffee and water in the little pantry to your right.” he instructs. “In case you get bored while waiting.”

“Thank you, Levi.” he says with a smile. He seems polite enough, Levi thinks to himself. Although there was definitely something strangely alluring about him. Mysterious, even. It was hard to put his finger on. “I’ll be here when you’re done, Mika.”

The two ravens finally disappear into Levi’s office, where he begins to ask her questions about her week in general if there was anything in particular that she was wanting to focus on today. Throughout their session, Levi made sure to give Mikasa plenty of time to discuss things she wanted to discuss, and just as he thought, Eren’s presence seemed to have relaxed her and he felt like they made some very good progress. Their session seemed to fly by and just like that, he was walking Mikasa back out into the waiting area where Eren was still sitting in the same spot where they left him.

“Hey, kid. You ready?”

“Yeah,” she nods. Like a small child, she immediately gravitates to Eren’s side where she brushes his arm with hers. The brunet stands up and gives her a little squeeze of a hug. This seems to relax her even more. “I’m really hungry now.”

“Yeah? Alright, well, you pick where we eat and we’ll go.”

“I’ll see you again next Tuesday at 3:00pm, Mikasa.” Levi says before they have a chance to leave.

“Thanks again, Mr. Ackerman.” Eren says with a smile. “I’m sorry if this cut into your schedule in any way.”

“Call me Levi,” the shorter man says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “And don’t worry. Like, I said, I was already open for this hour but if you’ll excuse me, my next appointment should be here any minute.”

Levi watches as Mikasa and Eren make their way out of the office, the taller man’s arm around her shoulders as she leans into his side. Hanji saunters up to him from behind, beaming like some kind of idiot who thinks they did something brilliant.

“What are you smiling at, idiot?”

“Oh, nothing. Just the fact that the dreamiest guy I’ve ever seen just left our office and you’re not a drooling, mess.”

“Yeah, because I’m a normal fucking person who doesn’t pine after every mildly attractive person they see.”

“So you agree.” they say cheekily. “You think he’s mildly attractive.”

“...”

“Your silence is loud and clear, munchkin.”

“Shut up, four-eyes.”

“Aww! You haven’t called me that since Freshman year of college!”

Later that same evening, Levi had somehow managed to get tricked into going out to have a few drinks with Hanji despite knowing it was always a bad idea agreeing to drinks with them. They had a way of always drinking way more than just a couple of drinks and a drunk Hanji was even worse than a sober Hanji. The last time they went out to a bar to drink, Levi ended up having to cover a $200 tab. Two bourbons for him and about a dozen cocktails for Hanji and no, he was not exaggerating. He was almost positive they’d end up in the hospital with this idiot because of alcohol poisoning. Turns out, Hanji’s liver is indestructible.

This time, however, Hanji had tricked him into going to a strip club to get drinks. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite figure out it was a strip club until he saw a dimly lit stage with two stripper poles and dozens of drunk men and women chanting for someone named “Sasha Fierce” to come out on stage. It probably wasn’t too late to ditch Hanji (and the tab) but he had had a long day and a cold, alcoholic drink sounded like heaven right now. So, with plenty of disdain and reluctance, Levi decided to stick out their evening for at least two drinks. It couldn’t be any worse than some of the seedy bars and strip clubs Hanji had dragged him to over the years, especially when they were young and stupid college kids.

They ordered their first drinks of the evening, Long Island Iced Tea for Hanji and a jack and coke for Levi. He wasn’t big on the fruity stuff, although a jack and coke wasn’t exactly his favorite drink in the world either but it was simple and any two-bit bar could make it. Hanji absolutely slammed back their first drink like the fucking monster that they were while Levi chose to nurse his first drink instead. He wasn’t even halfway done with the first drink before he heard Hanji ordering another long island iced tea, to which he did nothing but roll his eyes. There really was no helping stupid was there?

“Is this your first time at our fine establishment?” he heard the bartender ask.

Levi glanced at the man standing behind the lit bar and observed him for a brief moment. He was tall (isn’t everyone?) with ash blond hair and what he guessed was supposed to be incoming facial hair? He wasn’t sure, nor did he care but he definitely knew it looked stupid and pretentious. Their bartender was wearing a tight black t-shirt with his sleeves rolled up to reveal his biceps, if you could call them that.

“Is it that obvious?”

“For your friend? No. For you? Absolutely.”

“That’s not my friend. That’s a curse that’s been placed on me for the last ten years.”

Their bartender snorted, seeming to like Levi’s terrible joke, which was kind of a surprise to be honest. Most people thought his sense of humor was shitty. Maybe this place wasn’t so bad after all.

“Alright, well, you guys let me know when you’re ready for another round. My name is Jean, by the way.”

Levi simply gave him a nod of his head which seemed to be Jean’s signal to move on to some other patrons that were sat at the bar now. Hanji had struck up some random conversation with another person at the bar, leaving Levi to slowly sip on his drink as he looked around the bar itself. It was your typical bar scene, but of course with the accommodations of a strip club (hence the stage and stripper poles) but otherwise, it was pretty subtle and had a laid back sort of vibe. The bar was filled with people, but no one was really crowding anyone’s space. They all seemed content to mind their own business and keep to their own private little bubbles, which was nice. There seemed to be a good mixture of different people, from couples to large groups of girls having a G.N.O. to smaller groups of men obviously checking out the girls. Nothing unusual there.

For once, Levi didn’t immediately hate it here. He wasn’t the most social person outside of his job (and sometimes even while he was on the job but that’s neither here nor there.) but he found himself strangely content here. People were leaving him alone and that was a nice change of pace. Even the music was good. Slow. Not too loud, not too quiet. He could hear himself think, at least. Before he knew it, he had already polished off his first drink.

He felt a hand pat him heavily across his back, causing him to jerk forward just a bit in his seat. Good thing his glass was already empty because if it wasn’t, he would have gotten jack and coke all over his nice black slacks. He turned with a deadly glare towards an already buzzing Hanji who was grinning from ear to ear, their usually messy hair an even bigger disaster than normal. How that happened, he didn’t want to know.

“Watch it, you shit-head.”

“Do you like it, Levi? Mike and Rico showed me this little gem a few weeks ago. Isn’t it adorable!?”

“Well, I was enjoying myself until you fucking used your hulk hand to nearly knock me out of my seat and into the goddamn stratosphere.”

Hanji let out the most obnoxiously loud cackle causing a few people to look over in their direction and give them questioning looks. The raven was already used to this by now, but the sounding of Hanji’s ear piercing cackle was still grating.

“You’re such a hoot, I swear! Ooh, look, the lights are dimming! Maybe there’s a show starting!”

Well, they were right about that at least. Levi paid no mind to dimming lights and flagged down Jean to order another drink. Something not so carbonated this time. He could hear a bit of a clamor going on from the other bar patrons but he ignored it in favor of watching the skillful way Jean prepared his old fashioned that he ordered. Not bad, he thought to himself. Suddenly, a voice over a mic system came on, startling Levi into turning to look at the now lit up stage. It was empty but he heard some girls getting very giddy and excited as they moved closer to the edge of the stage.

“Ladies and gentleman… and everyone in between.” That earned a round of giggles and cheers from around the bar. “Please give a big, loud welcome to our next performer--you know him as our resident desert flower but tonight, he’s transformed.”

The crowd started getting a little more excited, hell, with a dramatic intro like that, even Levi was kind of interested in whatever was about to happen. Hanji was practically fucking bouncing in their seat as she waved a wad of money around in their hand. Where the hell did they pull that out from? When the hell did they pull all that money out?

“Give it up for Mr. Jaeger Bombastic himself!”

The bar erupted in cheers and applause as the lights dimmed a little more and the stage lights flashed red bathing the entire room. Jean had just slid Levi’s drink to him when Levi heard a familiar guitar intro start to play over the sound system. Suddenly, a well built man climbed onto the stage wearing nothing but a loose mesh shirt and the tightest leather pants Levi had ever seen in his life. They were practically fucking painted on. He couldn’t see the man’s face because of the red stage lights dimming so that all you could see was a black silhouette. The only thing he could make out was he was quite tall and he had long hair.

He watched, completely mesmerized as the male stripper grabbed the pole with both hands and lifted himself up into an effortless 360 spin, bringing his knees up to his chest as he did so until he could kick them out to the side. He was now doing a split of sorts, the pants leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. The lights then started syncing up with the music, brightening and dimming with the beat, only giving brief glimpses of a youthful young man’s face as sweat dotted any visible parts of his skin.

The man slowly started removing articles of clothing, starting with the loose mesh shirt he was wearing. He tossed it into the crowd, causing quite a ruckus among the girls as they screamed and fought over the fabric. Levi couldn’t help but snort at this, taking a long deliberate sip of his old fashioned as he prepared for things to get… well, heated.

Levi hated when he was right. When the chorus dropped, the lights raised and Mr. Jaeger Bombastic could be seen sliding down from the top of the stripper pole, shirtless, his entire upper torso glittering with sweat and his long, damp hair stuck to his face. It was… very hot, to say the least. He was built like a fucking olympic athlete and now that the lights weren’t dimmed to just a dancing silhouette, Levi could see the gold glitter that was smeared across his sun-kissed skin making his sweat glisten even more. He was also wearing what Levi thought was some kind of black collar around his thick, muscled neck.

The man seemed to be reaching out to him from the stage, which, now that Levi thought about it, was a lot closer than he realized. He could almost see every curved outline of the man’s body and figured there was really no point to those leather pants anymore. He could practically see the guy’s dick from here. Levi continued to watch as he took long, slow sips of his drink. The man skillfully slid down the pole until he was upright once more, he made slow, sensual circles around the silver pole, his hand gliding up and down as though he were caressing a lover. Then with a precise flick of his head, the brunet’s damp hair was flipped out of his face and the lights hit the angles of his face just right to reveal a pair of familiar, striking viridian green eyes.

It took a lot for him not to spit his drink out, instead swallowing incorrectly and feeling the liquor burn the back of his throat a little more than it should. He coughed, felt the inside of his nostrils burning and then managed to swallow the rest of the drink down before he tried to compose himself. Hanji gave him a cheeky, sidelong glance that Levi promptly ignored. They could be near black out drunk and still way too keen then they should be and he hated that about them. He didn’t need Hanji teasing him about being caught off guard the way he was, on top of them teasing him for everything else in life.

“You good there, short stuff?” he heard them ask with way too much pleasure in their voice.

He shot them a glare that he only reserved for his foulest of moods but that didn’t seem to cow them at all. Instead, he could swear their shit-eating grin got even bigger, if that was even possible.

“Perfectly fine.” he growled back.

Needless to say the crowd was going absolutely apeshit for Eren’s performance and how could Levi blame them, really? He had been to his fair share of strip clubs and usually these dance performances didn’t move him, but he found himself strangely captivated and almost amazed. Almost. It also didn’t slip his mind at all that this was Mikasa’s older brother he was watching half-naked, half-hard with men and women fawning over him and stuffing dollar bills down his pants. He threw the last of his drink back and slammed the empty glass down on the glossy bar top catching Jean’s attention who sauntered over to him with a small smirk on his long face.

“Another one, boss?”

“Yeah,” Levi grunted. “Make it a triple, please. I wanna forget tonight.”

“You got it.”

“Wow,” Hanji said, sounding all too pleased with themselves. “You’re really shook up with that guy, huh?”

“...Not for the reasons you’re thinking, moron.”

There was a beat of silence where Hanji and Levi sort of just stared at each other. Hanji’s grin widening as Levi finally caved.

“Well, maybe it is a little but trust me, there’s an entirely different reason too.”

“You mean, because that’s one of your client’s family members? Yeah, I know.”

“Of course you fucking know.” Levi grumbles under his breath. “You always know everything, don’t you.”

“Well, in my defense, not everything.” they reason. “But yeah, almost everything.”

They both fell silent again as the performance seemed to be reaching its climax now. The lights began to flash in rapid succession as Eren did a few impressive moves on the pole that required far more upper body and core strength than Levi knew most people had. He doubted even he could do half of those tricks and he was considerably fit. Eren seemed to take a moment to scan the crowd as the last line of the chorus finished. Just as Levi realized his line of view was about to fall on him, those bright eyes met his own stormy grays and for a moment, he was stunned. Eren seemed almost as surprised as he had been but it only lasted for a split second before he went right back to entertaining the crowd.

He was very good at moving his body, Levi noted. Of course, that was probably all thanks to practice and hard work but he still found it hypnotizing the way Eren’s hips rocked and swayed with the beat, rolling his stomach and consciously remembering to wink and smile at drunk patrons. He definitely knew how to work that crowd and Levi couldn’t even be mad at it. He was obviously very, very good at his job. As the performance came to a close, Levi watched as Eren took a quick bow before pushing his damp hair back so he could make direct eye contact with him. He winked, causing Levi to scoff and roll his eyes. Hanji was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Did he just wink at you?” they squealed. “I think he just winked at you, babe!”

“Of course he winked at me. He winked at everyone, you fool. That’s part of his job.”

“Sure, but-”

“Hurry up and finish your drink. I wanna get the hell out of here already.”

“...Party pooper.”

After the rest of the room had calmed down after that performance from Eren, the bar returned to its previous laid back atmosphere. The slow, relaxing music from before was back and Levi found himself ordering one more drink. He had meant it when he said he wanted to forget about seeing Eren stripping on stage but he also knew it would take way more alcohol than just four drinks to get him to black out and completely forget the whole evening. That was another reason he hated going out to drink with Hanji. They both had a high alcohol tolerance so getting drunk took a lot of conscious effort. Though, Hanji seemed to manage it just fine. Levi, not so much.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, prompting him to turn around and see the last person he wanted to interact with tonight. Eren stood there, dressed quite nicely now, though he was still showing just enough of his body telling Levi he must still be on the clock. He could tell the taller man had cleaned up, no longer drenched in sweat from all that strenuous pole dancing. Though his long hair was still a bit damp, it had been neatly slicked back giving everyone who saw him a good look at his handsome face.

“So we meet again.” he says with a chuckle. “What brings the distinguished Mr. Ackerman to my humble place of work?”

“That would be me!” Hanji sings. They had impeccable timing. “Although, to be fair, it’s not like we knew you worked here.”

“Ah,” Eren laughs. “You’re Hanji, aren’t you? I spoke with you on the phone earlier today when I called your office.”

“Probably, yeah.”

“Well, it’s definitely nice to put a name to the face.”

Hanji beamed and Eren seemed to be playing his part of the flirtatious entertainer very well. Once again, Levi found himself thinking there was far more things to unearth about the mysterious man despite his otherwise open and friendly demeanor. Ah. He was a little too overwhelmed by the alcohol to really put too much thought into it. His mind was starting to become blissfully numb which was a blessing in itself.

“I told you you could just call me Levi,” He points out again. “Being called Mr. Ackerman makes me feel old.”

“Oh? Well, pardon me, Levi.” the way Eren said his name was just a little bit playful, or maybe that was just his imagination. Still, he didn’t hate it. “You’ll have to excuse me for being formal. I did just randomly meet my little sister’s therapist at my job which just so happens to be a strip club so you can understand why I’m a little stiff.”

“Understandable.” nods Levi. “On that note, though. That performance was quite impressive. I hope that’s not crossing a line by saying that.”

Eren seemed to be a little taken aback by this compliment, staring at Levi in complete shock before he quickly composed himself again and smiled.

“Thanks. I’m flattered you think so.” This smile, at least, seemed somewhat more genuine than all the others he’d seen him give so far today. “Well, I won’t keep you two. Please enjoy your evening and hang out for as long as you like. I’ll be by again once I’ve finished gathering up all my tips and things.”

“Are you almost off shift?” Hanji asked.

“Yeah, I’m about to go talk with the manager and get my things.”

Levi opened his mouth to speak but then hesitated. Maybe that triple scotch he ordered earlier was hitting him harder than he originally thought but regardless, he committed to his action and continued to ask,

“Would you like to join us for a drink? Hanji’s buying.”

“Yea-hey! Wait a second here!”

Eren lets out a laugh that makes Levi’s stomach do something funny that he can’t quite explain. He sums it up to him not eating well that day and the alcohol was probably just making him feel weird. Yeah, that was probably it.

“You guys don’t mind?” he asks almost bashfully. “I don’t want to interrupt your evening.”

“Nonsense!” snorts Hanji rather loudly. “You’d be making this evening better in my personal opinion. Besides, Levi himself invited you and he hates inviting anyone to anything. Take the opportunity and have a drink with us, Eren!”

Levi and Eren make eye contact and Levi makes sure to hold his gaze as confidentiality as he can. Eren seems to read the challenge in his eyes and straightens up.

“Sure,” he finally agrees. “I’ll be back aground here shortly. Until then, your next round of drinks will be on me. I insist.” the brunet lifts up a hand and gestures something to the bartender Jean who seems to understand immediately and just nods back. “See you in a bit. Don’t have too much fun without me.” as he gears up to walk away, Eren winks at Levi one last time before leaving and the raven is left a little struck in his seat.

He heard Hanji giggling at his expense but instead of giving her one of his usual tongue lashings, Levi instead just turned back around to face Jean the bartender and order his fifth drink for the night. So much for only staying for a drink or two. He really needed to stop agreeing to hang out with Hanji. They were probably going to be the death of him. At least this time, it wasn’t a complete disaster. While the situation was definitely an odd one, Levi really couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed with it at all which was strange but he chalked it up to the comfortable atmosphere and the alcohol. That was definitely it.