Chapter Text
“Your haemoglobin is at,” the doctor drawled and then blinked, “17.9 g/dL… Hmm…”
Eren cringed in his seat. In the last three years where everything in his life went downhill, the only good that remained was his perfect health and the idea of losing it as well was too much. He said haemoglobin, so—God—do I have anaemia? I hope I don’t have anaemia. Oh fuck, Mikasa will fuss over me 200% if I have anaemia.
The doctor’s features took a serious turn and Eren tensed, holding his breath for the verdict that could make his already tough life plain hellish. He was praying in the back of his mind that whatever he had, the medication for it would be covered by his student insurance.
“That’s super good. More than healthy. Got to be careful that no vamp makes a meal out of you heh.”
What the fuck.
Hearing such a slur from a healthcare professional was awful and the joke was equally putrid. Adding insult to injury, the man was giving a smug grin, apparently expecting a laugh or a smile from Eren, though he was surely not going to give either to such problematic ‘humour’. He sighed instead.
“So I’m fine?”
“Fine? You’re great. All your results are great. Your RBC, WBC—your ferritin level is exactly the ideal as provided by the National Department of Health.”
Eren sighed again—relief washing over him now rather than frustration but it was short lived because the supposed ‘professional’ sitting across him smirked once more and added, as if it was so needed:
“No walking at night in the back alleys for you, though. You know, they love to hang out in the dark after all.”
Eren openly grimaced as he stood up from the chair, securing his backpack on one shoulder.
“Actually, according to latest government reports, vampires are four times more likely to be a victim of violence than to be a perpetrator, mostly for blood harvesting, so I think I’ll be fine as long as I stay clear of humans, who are statistically more likely to kill me anyway.”
He strode out of the room as though he was running from the plague; though ignorance was decidedly not infectious it was still horrid. All sorts of other figures popped up in his head since he had written an essay on the accessibility of healthcare for vampires a term before. The idea that any of the night students might have to visit the clinic and be faced with such horrifically biased staff—the seven seconds long elevator ride spent brooding made him angry at himself for not speaking out louder, for not saying more. I should’ve stood up to him the moment he said that word.
When he was stomping through the Health Services building’s lobby, however, his stomach started singing an ugly tune, reminding him how he had eaten nothing for more than half a day as his appointment had been early in the morning but the wait took hours. He dug in his pocket as he exited the glass door that automatically opened before him and for a second he was blinded with the glare of the sun attacking his eyes. As much as he liked summer, he was not fond of the scorching heat and too many bright hours—and it was noon, the time of the day he absolutely hated. Internally ranting at the weather, he changed his route towards the student run cafeteria located in the basement of the Department of Sociology. He quickened his pace, hoping that they had not run out of the cheap samosas which tended to be sold out well before afternoon. If he missed that, all he could afford with the total sum of three dollars in his hand would be a bagel, a muffin, and a cup of tea. It was ridiculous how high the prices in their school was; the student run cafeteria was the only place remotely affordable, the others run by the third-party catering company that the administration had contracted were extravagantly expensive, a single bagel with cream cheese costing full three dollars. A year ago Eren and some friends had tried rallying the students to rise against these unacceptable conditions but they ultimately failed since majority of the student body were from wealthy families and could not even perceive anything wrong with the prices.
Being on a full scholarship, he did not have to worry about tuition but there were a ton of other expenses to cover that he had to do all by himself. Working in a fast food restaurant did not pay well and being a third year undergraduate in political science and sociology, he didn’t have many chances of lucrative internships either. In fact every place he had applied for this particular summer had returned to him with positive responses that also promised “a lot of experience” but exactly zero income. It was incredibly frustrating and he doubted the grocery stores accepted ‘experience’ in lieu of money. He had to find a new job though—or a second miserable one in the worst case, and preferably soon. Their landlord had increased the rent considerably three months ago and even though they split it into three, it was still too much for him, given all the other costs he endured, from textbooks to transportation. He couldn’t come up with his entire portion the last month and Mikasa and Armin had chipped in more to even it, which made him feel useless which made him furious with himself and everything at once.
If he had any valuable possession, he would gladly sell it but all he had was his good health and mind.
“You could always sell your kidney.”
Mikasa elbowed Jean who moaned and rubbed his side, gritting under his breath that it had been only a joke.
“That’s not a bad idea actually—I’m surprised it came out of you Jean.”
This time it was Armin who elbowed Eren on the side and it was not even a mock gesture; it seriously hurt, causing a similar groan of agony.
“But isn’t it true? What do I have other than my body at this moment?”
“Your labour?” Armin enunciated and slapped Eren’s hand that was busy stealing his fries.
“Which currently doesn’t have enough value to sustain a living for me, great. Yay Capitalism.”
“And that means your only choice left is selling your body?” Mikasa snapped.
“Yeah! Yeah, maybe. Hell maybe I’ll just become a porn star.” Eren barked back, his tone and nerves both agitated but before his temperature could further rise, Connie burst out laughing, drawing all eyes to him.
Realising everyone was looking at him Connie simply cackled more, Sasha following in his example and chuckling loudly.
“Just what is it Connie?” Eren whined.
“Dude—” Connie started but couldn’t keep himself from laughing and had to pause. “It’s—dude. You and sex. Like you roll your eyes and look the other way at television sex so—”
He simply finished his sentence with another bout of laughter which Jean soon joined in. It was true though; that specific line of work being very much outside his comfort zone and capability, and the realisation pulled a trigger in him and soon Eren was also tittering, which led Armin to start giggling and Mikasa, finally, smiled while shaking her head at them.
“So pornography is out too then,” Jean summed up when their mutual hysteria was over.
“His career ended before it could even begin,” Armin nodded, “such a tragic story.” Eren poked his friend’s waist grinning. “Shut up.”
“Well he could still do other kinds of intimate work though.” Sasha piped up, chewing the last piece of samosa left on her plate.
“Huh?”
“Y’know, be a paid donor?”
“Ugh,” Jean scowled, “don’t speak like that at the table.”
“Bah, what? You’re disgusted of a little blood donation talk but not sex?”
“It’s not like sex—it’s not between ‘people’.”
“They are people,” Eren said sternly, sizing Jean up which seemed to only frustrate the other.
“Yeah, they are. Technically. I know that. They are just people with a peculiar condition, I get it. I don’t have prejudice. It’s just…”
“It’s just what?”
“It’s dangerous.” Mikasa answered instead though her point was certainly not what Jean was stammering about.
“Statistically speaking—“
“I don’t think the statistics matter much when you are baring yourself to the literal fangs of someone who could kill you in one misstep.”
“Look I’m not saying it does not have occupational risks. It does—but then every line of work does too. I have more chances of dying while frying the chips for god’s sake. Plus you know he wasn’t referring to that.”
“It’s weird to me okay. It’s really weird and I don’t know how people do that!” Jean raised his hands up, “You’re making yourself so vulnerable, they could kill you.”
“You could kill me now.”
“It’s not the same thing Eren. You’re objectifying yourself when you submit to them like that. You’re turning yourself into a freakin’ meal!”
“But it is. And they need blood to live. Should we go back to the Middle Ages and hunt each other instead?!”
Jean bit back the words he was about to say and perhaps purposely but perhaps not, Sasha chimed into the tense atmosphere quite carelessly: “Risks aside, I heard it pays really well. Like pretty much nothing else you can do in an hour pays so nicely.”
“The hell. You’d actually do it?”
“Hmm…” Sasha pondered Jean’s question not any longer than a second before grinning, “why not? Sure, it would be a bit strange but if I needed the money.”
“Don’t you have chronic hypoglycaemia?”
“Wow Connie, you know me so well.”
“I know you so well because you’ve fainted more than enough times during high school.” He frowned pushing his leftover apple pie to her while she giggled.
“I don’t think I could ever do something like that…” Jean mumbled to himself.
“What? Share your apple pie? I don’t know man, I don’t like too sugary things. Plus as I said, she kind of needs it.”
“No, Connie. I meant feeding—you know. Feeding them like that.”
“They have a name Jean.”
“For fuck’s sake Eren, I’m sometimes curious if you’re into a vampire or something.”
“Stop saying things that will give Mikasa nightmares!” Sasha threw a rolled up paper napkin to Jean’s head while still chewing a mouthful of pie, specks of crust stuck on her lips.
Jean had started groaning about germs then but Eren was too busy glaring at him and Mikasa gave Sasha a thumbs-up of approval.
Soon the topic turned around to Sasha being untidy to whether or not ‘sugar rushes’ actually existed to the upcoming judo tournament that Mikasa would participate. They talked for hours and laughed a lot and Eren got to forget the financial troubles looming over him at least temporarily.
It had been mostly a joke.
He had not thought of the possibility of such work at all after that conversation. As a matter of fact, he had applied for extra hours though he was not sure if his picky manager would accept. But one of those common “Earn 5000$ In An Hour For Just A Little Bit Of Blood” ads got him thinking, then got him remembering, then got him curious and eventually landed him on craigslist.
Most of the solicitations posted were rather creepy but the payments offered were quite good. A bit baffled, he started googling around and while 5000$ per hour figure from the ads was bogus as expected, the rates were generally high still. It made sense to a degree, given the many posts about health concerns involved, including contraction of dangerous diseases, and how even the more established websites that linked potential ‘donors’ with clients enforced a liability waiver to be signed. All of that not even including the social stigma most people who worked in this marginal sector faced; he still remembered the godawful slurs hurled at Mikasa’s family when the rumours began that her father had died while providing services to a vampire. In reality, he had been killed by a car accident and worked as a software engineer, but so what if the rumour had been true—why blame the victim and their family? It had made Eren furious at the time and led to more than a few fights at the school.
That night, he logged off after a few hours of idle research, too tired and not specifically interested in the topic. But in the next days, the idea simply kept resurfacing in his mind. His manager declining more hours and Armin’s car breaking down, adding more expenses on top of their already fragile balance only further increased the allure of the job. It was so very simple: he would only be donating blood. He was a regular at their department’s blood drive; sure, he had learnt that most vampires preferred, if possible, to directly suck which was a much more intimate experience than a needle being stuck in you in a van full of other people. Considering how he had never had such proximity with a stranger in the past, it intimidated him. He wasn’t even that physically close with anybody but Armin and Mikasa, whom he had practically grown up with.
But the idea was just so good.
It would help so much—so, so much given how with each passing day he was closer to not being able to fully pay his rent, again. And if in the odd chance that he got to meet a relatively old vampire, it would rather be enlightening to hear more about the times he’s been through.
This happened to him a lot: being attracted to an idea and not being able to get rid of it so easily. It kept swirling in the back of his mind as he endured the fast food industry exploit him through long shifts with minimum wage, went to jogging in the mornings, and walked the neighbour’s dog in the evenings. It crawled into his consciousness when he was eating or when he was watching a show and soon, he even had dreams about it.
Thus, it was no surprise that he made silly jokes of it more than ever before, rising others’ eyebrows sometimes—mostly of Armin’s and Mikasa’s. It was again no surprise that he blurted one out during a session with his advisor, while they were going through the abstract of a paper that Eren had written, beginnings of a project he hoped to develop in the coming term.
“Oh, you want to be a paid donor?”
At first, he thought his brilliant and eccentric professor Hanji Zoe was simply kidding but their features were more surprised than teasing.
“Uh—it—it was a joke?”
“Oh! Okay. For a sec I thought you really meant it…” They gave a sigh that almost sounded disappointed.
“You… Do you know people who do blood work?”
“Huh?”
“It’s… uh… you took it really well thinking I was serious so…” Eren twirled the pencil with his fingers, rather self-consciously.
“Well I have known a few.... But more to the point, one of my best friends—actually my best friend after Moblit and Moblit doesn’t count, right? He’s my husband too so I count him in that category, no duplicates, anyway—my best friend is a vampire.”
Eren’s eyes widened, “Wow. I didn’t know that.”
“I don’t really advertise it since some people are atrocious about this. I mean we have vampire faculty in both the departments of History and Literature but you wouldn’t believe some of the shit other staff whisper behind their backs.”
“I can imagine… some of my friends are… very biased too? I guess…”
“Hmm…”
Eren had taken a course in his second year from a professor specialised in Late Mediaeval Political History who also happened to be a vampire from that time—it was a blessing, or as he put it often: the best course ever. For a minute he had been busy recalling those amazing classes but then he recognised how Hanji was eyeing him.
“Is something wrong?”
“Were you really ‘only’ joking about the paid donation?”
“Ah… well…”
“Well?”
“I really need money these days and it’s been hard… you know…”
Hanji hummed and reclined on their chair, their fingers tapping on the table while their eyes were keenly boring on Eren, making him nervous.
“Actually,” they started with that voice they used whenever they would introduce last minute changes to the curriculum or grading, “my friend kind of really needs a donor these days. His last donor moved away.”
“I see.”
“He is a very private man, a bit of a neat-freak too—well, not a bit, quite a bit, let’s just say, a lot. All that basically makes it impossible for him to use more public… options.”
“I—I see.”
“Yeah. He is rather well off. A reserved man. Keeps to himself. Traditional in some ways—he never got de-fanged.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. Okay, I’ll be frank: Eren, would you?”
“Sorry—what?”
“Come on! You must know what I’m talking about. Were you seriously thinking of selling your blood because if you are—you would be perfect for him.”
“I was just entertaining the idea mostly for fun—“
“He cares the most about hygiene and health so you would have no worries on that side. Still he provides full health insurance to providers who don’t have it otherwise.”
“Hanji—“
“Nobody has to know! You could do it on a private contract! He doesn’t have many friends anyway.”
“Well those can be—“
“You can show it to a lawyer, aren’t your little blond friend studying law? Oh and Levi is strict about safety.”
“Levi? Hanji I’m—“
“My friend who needs blood; Levi. My vampire friend. He is a really nice guy! He looks grouchy and distant but has the softest heart and I’m sure you’d get along great.”
“I haven’t really done anything like this before...”
“He could pay you well.”
“It’s… What do you mean… How ‘well’?”
“I think he was paying 700$ per session to his previous donor and a session was… about forty minutes? He also covers transportation on top of that.”
“Oh…” Eren’s processing had stopped at the mention of seven hundred dollars—it was almost a hundred times more than what he earned per hour. He coughed, suddenly very excited and nervous at once, seriously considering the offer.
“So?”
“Well… You… trust him?”
“He is my best friend—of course I trust him.”
“I’m not sure but… could I meet him? Before… I decide?”
Hanji grinned all toothy and happy then; “You sure can and I’m sure you will love him!”
‘He’ was not anything like what Eren had imagined and Eren wasn’t sure how much he could trust Hanji’s words because it surely did not seem like they would get along.
The first sentence that came out of his mouth the moment Eren arrived and sat at their table in the designated meeting place, a peaceful and obviously high-scale Chinese teahouse, was:
“For fuck’s sake Hanji, how old is he?!”
Hanji snorted and Eren frowned.
“Oh don’t be so jittery and grumpy! He is 22,” they assured with a grin.
“Good to know. Can you move away now?”
“What? No! I’m the neutral party here.”
“Neutral party my ass, you’re the only party not neutral here.”
“Liar.”
“I know you want to set me up with a donor as soon as possible; you’d do anything for it. How do I know you didn’t blackmail him?”
“Oh come on—Eren, did I blackmail you? Hmm?”
“Uh—no?”
“That was a questioning tone.”
“Oh come on, stop trying to ruin it and you’re scaring him with your weird questions on purpose. He’s just surprised, alright?” They looked Eren pleadingly and he nodded as certainly as he could.
The strange vampire scrutinised Eren for a second then but quickly turned his glare back to Hanji, much to the relief of Eren because the steely gaze of this person was nerve-racking.
“Go. That table over there is good.”
“No, Levi please—“
“I know you’ll do anything just to make him accept.”
“You’re talking as if you don’t want—“
“That’s not the point. Why are you even this invested in my diet…”
“Not everyone handles your anger issues caused by long-term fasting as easily as Isabel and Farlan you know.”
Levi sighed. “I know but you are his teacher so it is not proper,” he pointed the table on the other side of the quaint tea room, “just go over there, please?”
“Okay fine, but don’t—“ Hanji looked between them before staring at Levi intently, “don’t scare him.”
Great. He does not have to scare me, because that warning scared me enough.
The second Hanji left though, they were left with a very tough dilemma… of staring at each other warily and having no idea where to start the conversation and Eren was half-thinking of simply running away.
“Fuck, can you please stop looking like you’re about to piss yourself?”
“I—“ Eren gawked, scandalised, “I’m not—what the fuck.”
“Oh good. For a second I thought you were too obedient.”
Eren gaped—openly and unabashedly gaped as the person sitting in front of him took out a small bottle of hand sanitizer, squirting copious amounts onto his palm and rigorously cleaning every curve and corner of his small, pale hands.
“Are you really a vampire?” Eren blurted out which made the stranger stop and stare at him with an almost bored face.
“Yes?”
“Wow.”
“Why?”
“It’s just—ah. Never mind.”
Levi shook his head in annoyance and signed to the waitress who quickly approached their table with a full smile.
“Welcome. You’ve decided on your order?”
“Thanks. Can I have Lu’an Gua Pian? In a teapot please.”
He looked at Eren who simply shrugged, looking away; he was honestly afraid how much a cup of tea cost here, let alone a teapot. The tables and chairs were ornately carved and there were all sorts of exquisite pieces of decoration around. He assumed even a cup of tea would amount to a whole meal’s cost and he didn’t have money to spare for such luxuries.
“Surely.” The waitress beamed as she walked away with Levi’s order and Eren realised how every other table—including Hanji’s—had received a menu but theirs. He thought it was a decent icebreaker.
“They didn’t bring any menu to us, odd, right?”
Levi seemed very unimpressed.
“They didn’t bring one because I’ve memorised the menu and they let me know if they have anything new. Did you want to order something? We could ask them for a menu.”
“Not really… I’m fine.”
They stared at each other again.
“So, you come here a lot?” Eren tried once more.
“Yes.”
Okay, this is a good one. Just continue with this.
“So, you like tea?”
“No, I just come here because their toilets are really nice.”
“W—what?”
“No. I mean—yes, their toilets are very clean and I like it but of course I come here for the tea.”
“Yeah…” Eren bit his bottom lip in worry and Levi shifted his gaze elsewhere in the room, adding more frustration to Eren’s wavering ego. He had never been good at chit-chat and doing so with a stranger was even more painful, especially given the reason of their meeting. Anxiety was catching up to him, so he spoke without much thought again: “I just didn’t know vampires drank tea.”
“Shocking, isn’t it?”
“Kind of strange, yeah. Oh… that was…”
“Sarcasm.”
“Yes. I see… it’s just I never—“
Levi palmed his face; “Can we get this over with quickly? Just ask whatever you have to ask and then I’ll ask whatever I have to ask and we’ll see if it works, okay? No need for a small talk.”
Just as Levi finished his words, their waitress was back with a bamboo tray. For some odd reason, as the beautiful teaware was placed in front of them, including an extra cup for Eren, and Levi’s eyes were glued on the steam dancing into the air, all the tightly knot nerves in Eren’s stomach resolved at once only to burn with irritation.
“You’re a prick.”
Levi’s eyebrows rose and his gaze lifted up to meet Eren’s contemptuous one, against Eren’s expectation however, Levi appeared to be surprised than angered.
“What?” Eren muttered, still irked.
“Nothing.” Levi mumbled, seeming almost self-conscious himself, which sounded ridiculous to Eren because this was a vampire sitting before him.
“We can drink tea,” Levi admitted then even though there had been no questions on the topic again. He delicately grasped the thin handle of the teapot and started pouring tea into the cup in front of Eren. “We can also drink coffee. Our tastes work differently though; most human food just tastes very weird and meat and vegetables can cause terrible constipation or be toxic. It doesn’t kill of course but it does pain… so fucking much too, and we don’t even need to eat them so we just… don’t.” He trailed off as he softly pushed the filled porcelain cup towards Eren and started pouring his own.
“I see…” Eren noted, agreeing to the hinted truce, gripping the fine cup before him carefully and taking a small sip. It was not like any tea he drank before; he had guessed it not being black tea by the colour but the taste made it harder to pinpoint. He was not a big drinker of green tea, which this seemed closer to, but it was nothing like the green teas he tried before either.
“This is…” Eren tried to find the right words as the remnants of the taste settled in his mouth, “kind of… floral?”
Levi’s lips almost curved then—‘almost’ and Eren was not sure whether or not the man had smiled as his face was soon obscured by the cup he was drinking from.
“A delicately sweet taste despite its smooth intensity in aroma and the finish is quite long with floral notes, taste overall only minimally, teasingly vegetal…”
“You,” Eren paused mid sip, “you really like tea.”
Levi finished the last drop in the small cup before placing it in front of him, his gaze avoiding Eren nonchalantly and focused on the now empty tea cup before reaching to the teapot to pour more.
“Yes.”
“Nice.”
“So?”
“Well, again this is my first time so…”
“If you don’t want to—“
“I didn’t say that. I am not absolutely against or for it… I just don’t know. Okay, how about we start with basics? How old are you?”
“42.”
“Oh you look much younger.”
“Of course, I was turned when I was twenty-three.”
“Wait. What do you mean you were—your biological age is twenty-three?”
“Yes?”
“What is forty-two then?”
“It’s been forty-two years since I’ve been born?”
“You—“ Eren gasped, shocked, “you’re only forty-two?”
“Yes?”
“Ah. Okay.” Eren’s shoulders slouched visibly.
“What ‘okay’?”
“Nothing.”
“It surely seems like something to me.”
“I just expected you to be older?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. The only vampires I met face to face were the faculty in the university and they are pretty old.”
“Of course they are,” Levi rolled his eyes as he slowly twirled the cup in his hand.
“Most night students are younger of course but I never had much interaction with them, they usually keep it to themselves.” When Levi peered at him inquisitively Eren tried to smile, hoping he could elaborate his disappointment in a polite manner. “I guess I thought you would be older since you’re Professor Zoe’s friend and I had hoped you would have… seen things, you know.”
Levi pursed his lips and stayed silent for a second before replying; “I saw things.”
“Like what?”
“I had a flip phone. We had dial-up modem back when I was young.”
Eren scowled, assuming the man was mocking him.
“What? I witnessed the great evolution of telephony. It is important.”
“’Telephony’? Now that makes you sound really old, I’ll give you that.”
“Sorry for being too young and destroying all your dreams of meeting an ancient vampire, kid. What did you think? We were all centuries old? Guess what, most of those guys died centuries ago. Or rather: got killed.”
“Sure many vampires died but—“
“Many? We are talking about massacres. We’re talking about genocide. It’s more than many. But look, let’s not talk about the great purges of the Middle Ages or the factory-prisons post the Industrial Revolution, okay? I don’t want to ruin my appetite.”
Eren was about to speak but Levi shushed him with a finger.
“No, really. We met for a specific reason, right?”
“Right.” Eren conceded, injured that Levi probably thought the worst of him and disappointed in himself for bringing something he shouldn’t have. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
“So any other questions?”
“I don’t know… Hmm… what do you do?”
“I’m a yoga instructor.”
Eren almost choked on the tea he had just refilled.
“For real?”
“Yes, why—I’m sorry did I shatter yet another dream of yours? What were you expecting? Mysterious mafia boss? Millionaire businessman? Unemployed nobility? Super-powered assassin? Rock singer?”
“Sarcastic graphic novel writer with a foul mouth?”
Levi hummed and tilted his head, considering him curiously.
“Not bad.”
“You really are a yoga instructor?” Eren asked just to confirm.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Any other questions? My height? Is my hair really black or do I dye it?”
Eren shook his head. “160-162? And I’d bet it’s natural?”
“You would have won that bet then. So nothing else?”
“Not… for now, I guess. Maybe after I hear your offer?”
“Okay. Good. Then shall I begin?”
“Yes, please.”
“Assuming you don't smoke. Twice a month. Each session 800 bucks. I take up to 100 to 150 mL each time. Even though it’s a small amount, you may still develop anaemia. You will see a doctor and get a blood test done after the first and the second months and we’ll see how your body is coping.”
“O—okay. I don't smoke or anything. I think I should be alright then, uh, I got a test recently and everything was good.”
“Hmm… how much was your haemoglobin level?”
When Eren didn’t answer right away, Levi coughed. “Just asking as… part of the interview but you can decline to answer. It won’t affect my offer as long as you don’t have chronic anaemia.”
“It’s okay I guess it makes sense for you to ask. It said 17.9 I think? I forgot the units but it was—“
“O—oh.” Levi exhaled and then hurriedly closed his mouth, ghost of a fang scraping his lip which made Eren shiver—it was the first glimpse of the famous tooth. He found himself more curious than scared, though it did make him anxious. He also thought that it was a bit small, just like every other part of Levi.
“That’s good,” Levi concluded after clearing his throat, “I will still fully cover any iron supplements or similar expenses. Transportation too. Or if you get hungry after a session, I’ll cover the food.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“So okay?”
Eren paused for a bit, pondering if he could really go through this but other than a mix of mild annoyance and wonder, he did not feel any reason he should not.
“Yes, okay.” He replied, palms getting lightly sweaty.
They both looked away, Levi focusing on his tea while Eren glanced over to Hanji who were wiggling their eyebrows asking how it was going. He gave a thumbs-up from under the table which led Hanji to grin large and fist-bump the air.
“One last thing Eren…”
Eren turned his attention hurriedly to Levi who seemed very serious and composed, the bits of awkwardness that Eren had felt moments ago completely gone.
“If you ever and I mean ever feel you do not want to do it—whether it is after a session, before one, in the middle of one—it doesn’t matter. You tell me. We stop. I still pay you for that last session and then it’s over—if you want it over.”
“I understand…” Eren agreed; while the emphasis softened his heart to the bizarre man before him, it also wound his insides together, tensing his flesh with both anticipation and disquiet.
“Your consent comes first.”
Eren nodded.
“Any other questions?”
“Where do we do it?”
“In my house unless you prefer somewhere else but if you do prefer somewhere else that somewhere else has to meet my hygiene requirements.”
“I am fine with your house. I guess.” Eren took a deep breath, trying hard not to avert his eyes. Despite his boldness and the agreement of sorts he had reached both with himself and his ‘client’, anxiety roared inside. It was a brave new world he was stepping into—one that Mikasa will kill me for—shit. I’ll need to come up with something good.
“Hanji can be with us during the sessions if you’d like?” Levi added, “They cannot be in the same room—it’s—I really don’t like being seen like that. It’s complicated. But they can wait in the next room.”
“That would be good.”
“So anything else?”
“I don’t think so.”
Levi finished his tea then and raised his two fingers, silently calling for the waitress from the other side of the room. Once he got the waitress’ attention he made a hand gesture that resembled signing and waitress went away only to come back to their table with a leather box.
When Levi grabbed it, Eren protested a little.
“I couldn’t—“
“Yes, you could. This isn’t a date, it’s an interview which I hosted and we drank the tea that I ordered. It only makes sense that I pay.”
He put a fifty-dollar bill in the leather box which the waitress happily took with her. Eren was about to further argue when Hanji popped up near their table, smiling cheekily and shifting from one side to another almost in a tiny dance.
“So, my boys, what’s the verdict?”
Levi huffed as he collected his bag and the thin scarf he wore, which puzzled Eren since even though it was the evening, the weather was quite warm.
“We reached an agreement,” Eren said glancing at Levi who was gingerly wrapping the navy blue garment around his neck. It suited his pale skin and inky hair.
“Yay! Got to celebrate this! Come on Levi!”
“I’m ill.”
“You’re a vampire!”
“Who is fatigued and worked hard all week. Why don’t you take the kid—“
“Eren.”
Levi cocked his head, pinching his eyebrows in confusion. “Huh?”
“I’m not a kid—can you call me Eren?”
“I could have a kid your age.”
“Yeah, I could have a sugar daddy your age.”
He had always had the habit of snapping at people with the first thing that came to his mind which he regretted a lot right afterwards—just as he was at that moment. Killing it in this first impression thing—Go Jaeger. Slay him like that. Now he thinks you’re weird—God—he wouldn’t think I’m hitting on him—he wouldn’t right—Oh God N—
When Hanji started cackling and Levi shook his head in disbelief, Eren stopped biting his sinful tongue.
“How do you deal with these—“ Levi sighed, “with these students every day? I’m too old for this.”
“Says the man who is biologically around the same age. Don’t mind him Eren; he has always been an old soul.”
“Well, can you take your dear student Eren home so I can go my home and—“
“And take a nap with your cuddly beautiful queen of all evil on earth?”
“Don’t call her that.”
“She hates me; of course I’ll call her that.”
“Well no wonder she hates you when you call her that.”
“She hates everyone Levi! She hates everyone, but you!” Hanji flailed and the waitress politely snuck in between them and Eren to put the leather box back on the table. Levi took it to retrieve his change.
Eren was feeling odd listening to the conversation right across the two but it was nice to know that Levi was already seeing someone; if she was at the house during his visits, he would feel more at ease. Moreover, it was probably the reason why Levi didn’t take his silly comeback to heart—being asexual and uninterested in romantic relationships but having a clumsy mouth had led Eren into many nasty situations where he had to explain to allosexuals, no, he had not meant it ‘like that’. It was a dreadful occurrence he wanted to avoid as much as possible.
“So,” Levi spoke again moving out of his seat and Eren followed. “You’re taking him?”
“I can go home by myself actually.”
“Don’t you live far? I remember Hanji saying you lived in the North side?”
“I do but there should still be buses?”
“They’ll probably be once every hour or something. Hanji can drop you off.”
“I wouldn’t want to burden them.”
“Guys, I’m here you know. And Eren I’d love to drop you off—I don’t even have anything to do tonight. You see I wanted to do party a little with this best friend of mine but apparently he wants to go home and sleep like old people.”
“Because I am old!” Levi insisted turning his back.
“I’m still two months older than you!” Hanji answered behind his back, laughing, and Levi flipped them off.
“He’s such a crabby crab but he’s also a cutie-pie, isn’t he?” Hanji asked then, once Levi was already too far away and closing the embellished oak door of the teahouse behind himself.
“Well… ah…” Eren sputtered, hoping his words would not be misunderstood, “he is rather… peculiar?”
Hanji slapped his shoulder. “See, I told you—you two would get along.”
Eren forced a small smile while thinking that Hanji surely had a different perspective on ‘getting along’.
It was a lovely Friday evening. Sun had started setting, painting the horizon to warmer hues, scattering shades of orange over the two-storey buildings lining up the quiet street. All the houses were in prime condition with beautiful and well-tended gardens. It wasn’t suburbs but it felt just as tranquil if not more; the only upscale residential area still relatively close to the downtown and without skyscrapers.
When he came in front of the building number 427, he stood baffled. The exterior was of grey stone, one part covered in green ivy, and the window panes painted a rich green. If the house was pretty, the garden was simply impeccable; azaleas and lilacs, daffodils and tulips, perfectly cut grass, a short stone wall more ornamental than defensive. It even had a marble statue of a cupid or cherub, holding what looked like a plate, Eren wondered if it was a bird bath or if he was simply hallucinating. Then a sparrow, chirping, came out of nowhere and landed on the rim.
Yup, definitely a bird bath.
He looked at his phone again, thinking that he probably came wrong but the email clearly said “427”. Eren checked the street-name three times and confirmed three times that he was indeed at the correct address.
“There goes nothing,” he whispered to himself as he padded towards the door, following the stone path from the garden gate. As he got close to the door, he started hearing shouting from inside; Hanji seemed to be yelling and Eren wondered if he had come at the wrong time. It was their arranged meeting time though and Hanji had told him six times throughout the week to be punctual because Levi cared about these things. Hence, he was indecisive whether he should wait till shouting ended or go away for a bit or press the buzzer anyway. After four seconds of consideration, finally after a particular shriek that again sounded a lot like Hanji, he opted for the third option partly out of concern for the well-being of his dear advisor.
Levi opened the door three seconds later with ruffled hair, slightly rosy cheeks, and a big scowl.
“Hello. The email said today but…”
“Yes, I know. Come—“
“Oh my God! She attacked again. Why?! I wasn’t even trying to pet her this time!”
Hanji’s yelling had obscured whatever Levi ended with but Eren assumed it was a “come in” and stepped inside.
“They never learn…” Levi shook his head as he locked the door behind Eren and then moved along the short but large entryway into the spacious living room.
“I’m really trying here!” Hanji was flailing to… a cat. Eren froze in his spot, staring at the weird dialogue of sorts that was taking place before him. The cat appeared indifferent, licking its paw while Hanji huffed and puffed.
“Levi, do something.”
“You haven’t been able to make her love you in over a decade, what am I supposed to do?” Levi shrugged, taking a seat in the green armchair placed close to the window.
“Is that—“ Eren scrutinised the black cat still ignoring Hanji, “is that a cat?”
“No, she is an evil queen who captures poor mortals’ hearts and then chews on them.”
“Hanji.”
“Oh and there you have the second part; she is also Levi’s precious beloved so you better never insult his dearest.”
“She,” Levi intoned loudly from his spot, “is my pet.”
“Oh.” Eren tried to contain his amazement; he had always been fond of cats but has never been able to have one due to Mikasa’s allergy.
“Can I pet her?” He asked, eyes full of hope, while the cat started staring at him, head tilted eerily human-like.
“No,” Levi refused right away much to Eren’s disappointment.
“Okay but for your information I would be very careful—I really like cats.”
“The problem is not you Eren,” Hanji came to stand next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, “the problem is her.”
“She is not a problem.” Levi disagreed vehemently, so vehemently that his voice increased in pitch. “She’s just—“ Levi considered his cat, “she is just wary of humans.”
“She’s just wary of every living being except you Levi!” Hanji rolled their eyes.
“Couldn’t be that bad...” Eren thought out loud, causing Hanji to sneer before rolling the sleeve of their arm, showing several bandaged wounds.
“You’re joking.”
“And this is only what I’ve faced today. I know you are a stubborn one,” Hanji put their other hand on Eren’s other shoulder as well, essentially holding onto him and looking down from the two inches of height advantage they had, face serious and voice dramatic, “but she is a goddess of wrath. Don’t push your luck.”
“Okay, now you’re just being silly.” Levi sighed and Eren had to agree but right at that moment the cat leapt forward, popping up right near them and looking up to them with almost threatening eyes. While he was not at all afraid of cats, having just heard Hanji blabber and due to the sudden movement surprising him, he was intimidated for a second. The cat however stood unimpressed and then silently walked away towards Levi, jumping up to the armchair and then gracefully settling on his lap. Levi’s hand came to pet her head almost naturally and the whole last three seconds felt rather bewitching to Eren. If he had to guess one amongst them to be divine or special, it would definitely not be the neighbourhood vampire Levi with apparently supreme gardening skills, or his certified genius professor nicknamed “Dr. Frankenstein” at the university, or the good old mundane student himself—it would definitely be the cat. Maybe she really is a goddess of wrath cursed to a human form or something.
“The cat,” Eren wondered then, “what’s her name?”
“Daffodil.” Levi replied without even sparing a look, lips curved into a small smile, contently watching his obviously much loved cat.
“Daffodil?” Eren parroted while Hanji snorted beside him.
“Yes, Daffodil,” Levi gritted between his teeth this time, turning his gaze to Eren’s face, making him self-conscious for the first time since he stepped into this strange household.
“Well, I guess it is time for me to move on to the kitchen and I don’t know—prepare you guys tea to drink after the thing?”
“Stop making it weird and please, please steep for the proper length of time. Earl Grey,” Levi told them before looking at Eren, “you do like Earl Grey, right?”
“Um, yeah, I’m fine with it?”
“Good. Earl Grey then, Hanji. Use the one in the silver tin on the second shelf. There are also cookies—and don’t steal, please.”
“As if I could,” Hanji clutched their shirt on the chest, “how heart breaking for you to doubt me Levi.” They smiled and then turned their attention to Eren, “You’re good?”
“Yeah,” Eren tried smiling, “I’m good.”
“Okay then if you need anything you can tell Levi or holler for me, alright?” They patted his shoulder and once Eren nodded his understanding, they winked, wishing good luck in a breath before disappearing into a door on the other side of the room.
“Well,” Levi said, “let’s get this started.”
While he was still in it, nervousness was rising in Eren, knots appearing in his stomach at the speed of light and tightening unforgivingly until Levi poked his cat softly and murmured in a gently voice as though speaking to his precious baby daughter, “Daffodil, come on sweet girl.”
As she hopped down and snuggled to Levi’s feet, Eren’s stiff nerves started easing—the sight, Levi’s tone, the scent of soap and tea that ruled the whole house calmed him significantly… that is until Daffodil gave him the dirtiest glare of his life and he gulped, shocked.