Chapter Text
“Well, that’s fortunate,” Erwin mumbles to himself as he looks at the car he’s supposed to do an oil change for. It’s a jeep, so it’s high enough for him to slide under without having to jack it up.
He lays down on the slide and pushes himself so he’s aligned with the oil drain under the car. Removing the plug from the drain, he lets the old oil drain out into the container he brought with him. He wrinkles his nose. Years of doing this job and he still can’t get used to the bitter smell of old engine oil.
After the oil’s drained out completely, he puts the drain plug back in place and secures it with his wrench. Then he slides further towards the head of the car to change the oil filter. As expected, it’s disgusting and a few drops of oil fall onto his left cheek. He wipes it away with the back of his gloved hand, but he’s sure there’s now a stain.
Once he’s done, he slides out from under the jeep and stands up, stretching his back. He opens the hood and adds the new oil, then gets in the car to turn the engine on for a bit to allow the oil to do its thing.
Turning the engine off after a minute, he gets out and checks the dipstick to see if the oil level is correct. It’s just where it’s supposed to be.
Closing the hood, he grabs the car keys and puts them on the counter for his boss to retrieve, and makes his way to his locker to get his lunch box. He brought chicken salad today and he can’t wait to eat. Working horizontally always makes him more hungry for some reason.
He looks at the little mirror inside his locker and notices he got oil stains on his cheek and his neck and wipes them clean.
He can’t wait to get home to take a nice, long shower.
As he’s eating his lunch, his boss approaches him. “Done with the jeep?”
“Yes, I left the keys on the counter for you,” he replies.
His boss nods at him and holds up another key. Erwin raises his eyebrows when he sees the familiar bull engraved on the key.
“It’s a lambo. Just received it from its owner. Doesn’t have major issues, the AC filter is just broken, so I told the owner it’ll be fixed in a week. Sound good?” his boss asks with a grin, knowing it’ll get Erwin excited.
A Lamborghini. Erwin’s heart starts to race at the thought of working on a lambo. Even if you’re a mechanic, you rarely see that kind of car.
“Sure thing,” he says, catching the keys his boss throws at him. “Anything else?”
His boss shakes his head before patting Erwin on the shoulder and leaving him to finish his lunch.
As soon as his boss is out of sight, Erwin starts stuffing his face impatiently with his salad and almost ends up choking on a too-big piece of chicken before he washes it all down with water and stands up to see the lambo.
His breath catches in his throat when he finally looks at her. He’s about to lose his mind. A fucking 2021 Countach model? Not only is it the newest model that lambo brought out, but it’s also a homage to the classic Countach model, Erwin notes as he steps around the baby to appreciate her beauty. It combines both the original style with the newest lambo technology.
It’s matte black and looks so sleek. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up. She’s gorgeous and he can’t wait to hear her growl.
He opens the door and sits on the driver’s seat, instantly feeling like it was made for his ass.
Looking around inside the car, he notices that everything is spotless, there’s not even a single piece of dust anywhere, as if it came straight out of a lambo commercial. There are no personal belongings in there whatsoever.
The only thing that indicates that the car isn’t coming out of a factory is the little air freshener stuck on the edge of the rear view mirror in the shape of two dices, both showing the number 6.
He turns on the car, lets the engine cry out for a bit, and then he grips the wheel tightly.
He really needs a cold shower right now.
——
After he was done taking selfies with the lambo in every possible angle, an action so very unlike him (well, it is a lambo), Erwin starts to work on the AC filter. It’s nothing major like his boss said, but it’s gonna take him a while to finish up.
He looks up at the clock on the wall. It’s after working hours and his boss has already left, so a thought crosses his mind.
He’s really itching to go on a little ride with this baby. She’s too beautiful for him to not drive when he has the chance.
He decides he’ll just drive it to get his takeout for dinner at McDonald’s and then drive it back to the workshop. It won’t even take half an hour.
So he takes off his dirty working clothes, gets in the lambo and out on a drive. She’s everything he ever dreamed of. She’s gorgeous in every aspect. He feels like he’s floating on air as he speeds up through the streets and he lets himself imagine being her owner. Imagine being rich.
He loved his job and he couldn’t really imagine doing anything else, but he wonders how his life would have been had he not dropped out of college.
After coming out to his parents, his father had denied him financial support and he could no longer afford to pay his tuition for college which led him to drop out. He had originally wanted to be a lawyer.
He had worked every possible job so that he wouldn’t land on the streets and starve, but none of them had been stable, secure jobs. That was until his current boss discovered him five years ago and gave him a place to live above the workshop and a job as a mechanic. He had been like a father figure to him ever since.
And Erwin was doing his job well. He received nothing but praises from the customers, which in turn made their workshop very successful and attracted more customers. Sure, if his boss found out he was driving a customer’s car, and a lambo nonetheless, he would get an earfull, but he also knew that his boss trusted him to never wreck a car, so it was gonna be alright.
He parks the lambo in the parking lot of McDonald’s, a little annoyed with the fact that they didn’t have a drive-in, and makes his way into the restaurant, ordering a Big Mac menu.
He makes a mental note to refuel the car later.
When he comes out a few minutes later, he sees a short figure standing close and looking at the car and curses at himself for coming to a freaking McDonald’s with a Lamborghini. There are so many gangsters around here at this time of the day.
He approaches the person and calls out to them. “Hey, can I help you?”
The figure turns around and it’s a short man with raven black hair and grey eyes. He doesn’t look to be much younger than Erwin and he’s wearing an expensive looking black suit. He’s so handsome that Erwin has trouble trying to look scary so the stranger wouldn’t dare come too close to the car he’s supposed to return unscratched.
“This baby yours?” the stranger asks.
Not wanting to look like a complete idiot, Erwin doesn’t say he’s a mechanic driving his customer’s car, and maybe a part of him wants to impress the man in front of him, so he goes with “Yes, it is.”
The stranger eyes him for a moment before looking back at the car. “It’s gorgeous,” he says.
Feeling his throat dry at the sight of the beautiful man next to the beautiful lambo, he grabs his large coke and takes a few gulps.
When the stranger doesn’t appear like he wants to move away any time soon, Erwin asks “Are you interested in cars?”
The man nods at him and has a glint in his eyes. “I am. You could say I’m a fanatic. I like to collect cars.”
Erwin raises his eyebrows. So this man is rich. He should’ve known, judging from the way he dressed. It’s obviously not a poor people’s suit.
“What cars do you have?” Erwin asks, trying to prolong the conversation for some reason. He feels a little stupid holding onto the paper bag and drink in his hand, so he opens the door to put them inside carefully. He’ll eat them at home.
The stranger starts talking about the cars he owns and Erwin gets impressed with every one he mentions. Porsche, Ferrari, Chevrolet, Bentley, this guy is obviously a car fanatic and appreciates their beauty. He shows Erwin photos of his cars on his phone and answers Erwin’s questions happily.
“You ask some really unusual and detailed questions,” he says, grinning. “I can see you’re a big car lover yourself.”
Erwin feels his cheeks blush. “Yeah, I adore them. I like working on cars,” he says. Well, that wasn’t a lie.
When an awkward silence settles in between them but neither of them make a move to go, Erwin gathers up his courage and asks, “Would you like to go on a ride?”
“Now?” the stranger asks, looking amused. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Oh,” Erwin chuckles as he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. “You’re right, my bad. My name is Erwin.” He holds out his hand to the handsome stranger.
He shakes it and says, “I’m Levi.”
“Nice to meet you, Levi,” Erwin says and asks again, “Would you like to go on a ride?”
——
Erwin ends up bringing Levi to a little spot above a rather high hill from which they have a clear view over the entire city. It’s especially beautiful because it’s dark and the city lights look like stars. Levi makes a little comment about how Erwin could kill him up here without anyone knowing and Erwin gives him a look before saying, “Please, you may be shorter, but you look like you could beat me up without even going out of breath,” to which Levi chuckles.
Levi comments that his take out is going to get stale once he reaches his home, so he should eat it now -of course outside the car- and Erwin agrees and ends up sharing his take out with Levi.
They talk about this and that -mostly cars- and Erwin asks what Levi does for a living. Apparently he works in real estate and is quite successful, which explains him being rich.
Much to Erwin’s relief, Levi doesn’t ask about his job and when it gets a little more chilly, Erwin offers to drive Levi home, to which the shorter man agrees.
Once they’re back in the car and on the road, Levi notices the little air freshener with the two dices on it. “That looks nice,” he says, pointing at it.
When they reach Levi’s home, he turns to Erwin and puts his hand on his forearm. Erwin feels a heat around his neck at the touch. “I had fun,” Levi says and releases his seat buckle.
Erwin smiles at him. “Would you…” he starts and then pauses, trying to gather up his courage. “Would you like to go on a date tomorrow?”
Levi grins at him before nodding. “Yeah, I would like that.”
They agree to meet at 7 PM the next day to go to a restaurant and after bringing the car back to the workshop and climbing up the stairs to his home, Erwin lets out a long, heavy sigh.
He doesn't even know what he could wear that wouldn't make him look like the poor man he is. But the excitement and giddiness of seeing Levi again makes him forget those minor worrie. For now.