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“So,” Eren said. He was squinting against the sun, unconcerned that he was supposed to be teaching a class in less than five minutes.
“So,” Armin echoed quietly from his beach towel. Eren was standing so that he blocked most of the sun from his friend’s face, a habit he’d picked up with Mikasa and the blonde once Eren had outgrown them. He knew Armin appreciated it, especially since it was barely nine o’clock in the morning and Armin was only out here to keep him company in between classes.
“So,” Eren continued, “I really think I can make the whole drowning thing look convincing enough he has to come save me.”
Eren was undeterred by the loud groan Armin gave in response. He was similarly unaffected by the way his friend covered his face with his hands and started muttering to himself in between his fingers. Honestly Eren wasn’t paying too much attention to Armin in general, since his eyes had slid almost automatically to the figure sitting in the lifeguard chair down the beach.
Dark hair, pale skin despite the hours he’d already spent in the sun, slim but muscled enough that Eren was sure that the lifeguard could haul him up against a wall if he wanted to, even though he seemed to be quite a few inches shorter than Eren…
“Eren. Eren,” Armin mumbled. He had to nudge Eren’s leg with his toes to get him to look at him, which Eren did with an exasperated grumble, tearing his eyes from the gorgeous figure with reluctance. “You do remember that you’re known all around town as a surfing star, right? No one’s going to believe you suddenly forgot how to swim.”
Eren frowned, crossing his arms. “Accidents happen,” he insisted stubbornly. Armin gave him a flat look in response, which made him roll his eyes. He caught sight of his surfing students gathered around the outjut of his board in the sand, glancing around the beach like they weren’t sure where he was. A few of them had spotted him, watching him with open curiosity, which he figured was warranted; not many people hosted nine am surfing classes and then didn’t show up immediately. He needed to go.
“Befriending you was an accident,” Armin grumbled. Eren knew the words held no heat, especially when Armin smiled at him slightly, peeking up between the fingers still pressed against his cheeks, bright blue eyes laughing at him. Eren laughed at the idea that Armin could possibly regret their friendship, nudging his friend’s leg with his sandy toes and feeling a tingle of sadistic glee when he left a small trail of sand on the other’s beach towel. Armin nudged back childishly, only grimacing a little when Eren shifted and the already-too-hot morning sunlight slanted across his face.
“Go teach your class,” Armin said, nose crinkling a little. “And don’t you dare try the drowning thing or I’ll call your sister.”
Eren crinkled his nose back at the blonde sprawled on the towel, huffing at the idea of Armin tattling to Mikasa. “What’s she gonna do,” he complained. “She’s backpacking across Europe; she can’t do shit right now.”
“Like she wouldn’t fly home early to kick your ass for something like that. Even if you succeed, she’s going to be even more pissed at your stupidity than she usually is, Eren. You do remember the dare in senior year, right?”
Eren winced. He couldn’t argue with a broken leg and the bright pink cast Mikasa had convinced the doctor he really wanted.
“Shut up and go back to burning, you pale piece of shit,” he muttered. Armin’s laughter was loud as it followed him down the beach, his friend shouting out for him to take it easy on the new kids as he left. Eren waved over his shoulder without looking and started jogging across the sand, his heart tripping over in his chest as he passed the tall chair where the lifeguard sat.
He wasn’t sure, because he wasn’t about to crane his head to look, but he thought the lifeguard might have been watching him jog past on the way to his class. The thought made his chest tight and his face feel warm,
Oh, Eren thought, clapping his hands to get his students-for-the-day’s attention. If only I knew his name.
-
Levi watched the surf instructor greet his students down the beach after jogging away from his blonde friend, clapping to get their attention before planting his hands on his hips. His group wasn’t huge, but Levi still took a pre-water headcount and scanned it for weak links anyway. The rest of the beach was still quiet enough that Levi wasn’t worried; there were a couple of teenage girls sunbathing, a family with three kids at the edge of the waves – but all three kids had so far displayed fairly adept swimming skills so Levi was trusting them for now – rough-housing around, and then the only one person on his end of the beach was the blonde the surf instructor had been laughing with before his class. Later, as the sun made it’s arched way overhead, the beach would fill up to the point where ogling pretty guys just wouldn’t be possible. But for now, Levi could let himself be distracted.
And distracted he very much was as one of the instructor’s class said something that made the guy throw back his head, throat bared in a shoulder shaking body laugh Levi could just faintly hear from his post.
Honestly, it wasn’t his fault. His type appeared to be tall, broad shouldered, dark haired guys with dark sun-kissed skin, and wide smiles. Who taught surfing and sometimes went running on the beach in the late afternoon.
Whose name Levi still didn’t know.
Levi glanced around the beach, just to check that everyone was still alive and kicking before resuming his creeping, only to bite his lip on a groan. The instructor was shaking his hair out of his eyes, still grinning as he reached behind him to grab a handful of his own shirt and haul it over his head.
There was too much skin on display; Levi had to drag his eyes away and take a deep breath.
It was shaping up to be a very long summer, he reflected as the guy instructed his class to get boards from the surf shack nearby. Very, very long.
-
“But why does he have to work every damn day,” Eren whined. He was slumped on the picnic bench in the outside seating area of one of the bars on the boardwalk, scowling over at the two people on the other side of the bench. “It’s not fair,” he continued quietly.
Jean squinted at him from across the table before glancing at Armin. “Is he still whining about that lifeguard dude?”
“Yes,” Armin muttered. Eren scowled harder, battling the feeling of his cheeks heating up in embarrassment.
“I’m not whining,” he argued, “I’m, like, bemoaning or something.”
“You’re definitely whining,” Armin said, taking a sip of his beer. The sun had set about an hour ago, at which point Armin and Jean had strong-armed him away from his board and into a shirt to have dinner with them. Apparently there was this thing where they didn’t want him surfing after sunset, which was total bullshit; the tide brought in some of the best waves. But he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so he’d let them drag him along on the condition that they paid.
Not even free food was worth this abuse, though.
“Jean whines,” Eren muttered, “not me. It’s one of his horsey habits. I’m just saying I don’t see why the ridiculously fucking hot lifeguard’s gotta be there every day. He’s gonna kill me. I’m literally going to die he’s so hot.”
“I don’t whine,” Jean sputtered, “and I’m not a fucking horse.”
Eren rolled his eyes at Jean’s dramatics, slumping further until his elbow was brushing Armin’s cup. “You look like a horse,” he muttered. Armin kicked at his shin under the table, as far from gentle as he could be in flip flops. Eren scowled, but didn’t retaliate.
“Shut up,” Jean snapped. “I offered to trade ends of the beach with you, but you refused!”
Jean had offered to switch sides of the beach with Eren, so he didn’t have to put up with the stupidly gorgeous lifeguard ruining his focus. But honestly? Give up sneaking peeks at the hottest person Eren had ever seen? Nope, ain’t gonna happen, Eren thought. He’d suffer.
“You know, Eren,” Armin said, propping his elbow up on the table so that he could stare down at where Eren was sprawled across the wood. “You could just talk to him.”
He crinkled up his nose at the suggestion and tried not to squawk as he said, “talk to him?! What the fuck am I supposed to say, man? ‘Hi my name’s Eren and the highlight of my day is thanking God your job doesn’t require a shirt’?”
Jean made a small gagging noise, but Armin looked faintly amused. “That would be a start,” he drawled. “You don’t know, Levi might even feel the same way.”
“Armin, that’s impossible, there’s no way he-“
Eren froze. He sat up so fast his knees knocked into the underside of the table, but the pain was distant. He squeaked wordlessly at Armin, eyes feeling like they were going to bug out of his head, and Armin just sat there. Staring at him.
“How,” Eren got out eventually, “do you know his name?!”
Levi, he thought while Armin rolled his eyes. The lifeguard’s name was Levi.
Armin sighed. “I asked him, Eren.”
“When?!”
“Yesterday? The day before? I don’t know, it got weird having to refer to him as ‘that lifeguard Eren thinks is the definition of Hot Damn’ so I went over and said hi. Seemed like a better idea than faking a drowning and scaring the poor guy, don’t you think?”
“Drowning,” Jean repeated in confusion. Eren flushed at the mention of the plan he’d thought up weeks ago.
“It is a very good plan,” he defended. “Better than just fucking walking up to him like a goddamn creep, oh my god, Armin!”
“Eren,” Armin mimicked back at him. He sounded a little frustrated, but Eren ignored it. Armin, much like Mikasa, sounded frustrated with Eren’s plans a lot.
“Wait,” Jean interrupted. “You were planning on drowning yourself?”
“Only enough to make it convincing that I needed rescuing,” Eren mumbled. He slouched back down on the picnic table, cushioning his head with his arms. “Not, like, actual drowning.”
“Damn,” Jean said. His eyebrows were climbing into stupid heights on his forehead. Eren wished he could kick him, but he was barefoot and Jean was wearing shoes. He knew when to pick his battles. Jean seemed to consider something for a minute, squinting at him, before muttering, “you got it bad, bro.”
Eren couldn’t help but sigh. “Yeah,” he said quietly.
It wasn’t quite pity that Jean expressed with his dumb eyes and eyebrows, but it was close enough Eren considered kicking him. That feeling disappeared almost immediately when Jean opened his mouth and offered, “want me to help drown you?”
“Dude,” Eren said, jerking to sit up again. Armin leaned over, grabbed the back of his head, and push it back down, forcefully.
“No,” the blonde said sternly. “No one is drowning anyone.”
Eren deflated, letting his friend push him back down into his sulk across the table. Jean deflated a little as well, slouching until his knee was pressed lightly against Eren’s under the table.
“Sorry, man,” Jean said sincerely. Eren just grunted, knocking his knee gently against his friend’s to show he appreciated the support.
-
Levi should’ve known his peace couldn’t last forever. It was foolish to think he could make it through the entire summer without anyone finding out, but dammit, after a month he’d had his hopes pretty well set on that dream.
“What,” Levi hissed. Below him, on the ground head craned back, Farlan rolled his eyes. He grinned a second later, making a small thrill of dread shoot down Levi’s spine.
“I said,” the bastard shouted, “his name is Eren!”
Levi didn’t think he’d ever gotten to the ground from his chair as fast as he did in that moment. Not even when he was trying to save someone did he find himself standing on the shifting sand so suddenly his head spun. As soon as he was sure he wasn’t about to fall on his ass he lunged for Farlan, grappling t try and cover his friend’s mouth with his hand before he said anything else embarrassing. Farlan was too tall for him to get a good grip on, especially when he ducked away from him, stumbling back to lean against the leg of the tall chair with a smirk tucked into the corner of his mouth.
“How do you know his fucking name?”
“I asked the girl down at the shack what it was,” Farlan answered easily. “She said apparently he’s some kind of local surfing star and that he’s won a whole bunch of competitions for it. He’s pretty well know, you know.” His smirk grew as Levi gaped at him and he crossed his arms smugly across his chest while Levi struggled for words.
Eren, Levi thought. His heart raced a little as he glanced out at the ocean, eyes drifting out to where he was straddling his board and waiting for a wave to roll in. Eren’s name suited him.
“You honestly didn’t know his name, did you?”
“Shut up,” Levi snapped. His face felt hot, like he had sunburn, which was impossible; he was careful to apply sunscreen regularly since he spent so much time in the sun. He’d reapplied the stuff just a few minutes before Farlan had strolled up and started shouting embarrassing things loud enough for the whole damn beach to hear.
“And also,” Levi added, taking a step forward until he was glowering up at his still smirking friend. “How. Did you. Find. Out?”
Farlan looked at Levi for a long moment, eyebrows slowly climbing up his forehead, before he suddenly burst into laughter. The sound was loud and familiar to Levi, but it carried over the beach like the seagull’s cry, distinct enough he knew everyone would be glancing their way. The thought of everyone looking their way made him consider fleeing back up his chair but he knew his oldest friend would just continue their conversation by shouting up at him and that would only draw more attention to them.
“I wish I could say something cool like ‘I have my ways’, but honestly Levi, you’re kind of obvious.”
Levi opened his mouth to protest, but Farlan snorted, cutting him off.
“Also, if you don’t want Isabel and Hanji getting to him before you do, I’d suggest hurrying it the fuck up and just talking to him. Because if they don’t know about this in three days I’ll be surprised as hell.”
Levi blinked for a second before his heart plummeted sharply, taking his stomach with him. The thought of those two getting anywhere near Eren was just- no. That couldn’t happen. Levi paled at the mental image his mind was dragging up. His practically non-existent chance with the guy would completely disappear if his looney friend and sister got within ten damn feet of Eren.
“No,” he said in a voice that was only slightly strangled. He turned to climb back up to his chair, heart pounding at the horror. “Go away, we’re done talking about this.”
Farlan laughed again, even louder than before. “Alright,” he called up, “but before I go; dinner ideas?”
Levi considered the question as he pulled himself up the last rung and into his chair. “No chicken,” he called back, leaning a little over the edge to see Farlan’s face. He nodded up at Levi, smiling wide and easy in that familiar way of his. Levi rolled his eyes but smiled back just a little bit, because if he was being honest his friend hadn’t given him half the amount of hell he could have.
Now all he had to do was hope a miracle would happen to keep Isabel and Hanji from finding out.
It was unlikely, but again, he could dream.
-
“Dude,” Jean said. He was dripping wet, board still tucked under his arm when he pulled to a sudden stop at Eren’s appeance. “You okay?”
“I think he’s got a boyfriend or something,” Eren said quietly. He’d been in the water earlier, drifting and waiting for a wave. He hadn’t meant to be eavesdropping, but when the other guy had shouted up at Levi asking what he wanted for dinner his stomach had dropped out from under him. He’d never drowned before, but he thought it might feel something like his chest going tight and his head ringing when Levi smiled down at the guy, small enough Eren almost couldn’t see it from the shallows.
“Who’s got a boyfriend- oh,” Jean said, cutting himself off. He blinked at Eren, glancing him up and down before nodding to himself. He marched past, grabbing Eren’s wrist in his hand to drag him along behind him as they both approached the surf shack. Eren dragged along his surf board, not caring that his hair was dripping in his eyes or that his board was kicking sand up against his wet calves. He wasn’t depressed or surprised exactly – of course someone like Levi would already have someone to love, it was just a pipe dream, honestly – but it still hurt, in a dull way that felt like most of the pain was just waiting in the wings for Eren to turn the wrong corner. He was going to get jumped in a dark alley by his own emotions, he thought with a dark curl of amusement.
“What’s with the long face,” Sasha called out as they approached. She manned the surf shack all day, safely out of the sun with a stash of snacks under the counter. Connie was with her most days, but today it seemed like it was just her, pressed against the counter with a piece of chewing gum she popped idly.
Eren shrugged. Jean cleared his throat pointedly as he passed his board over to Sasha, where she’d be able to hold it for him without them having to cart it everywhere.
“Eren’s a little bummed because the hot lifeguard he’s been drooling over appears to have a boyfriend,” Jean answered for him. Sasha winced sympathetically, leaning up on her tiptoes over the counter to ruffle Eren’s wet hair and brush it out of his eyes.
“Poor baby,” she said, “it must be real bad if you passed up a chance at a horse joke.” Eren twitched at the words, even though he knew they were meant with complete sincerity. He still leaned into the touch though, letting Jean press up close to his side to share some of his weight. It wasn’t until Jean was pressed against him that he realized he’d been swaying slightly on his feet. Sasha prodded his arm to get him to give her his board, taking it with a hum as she tucked it back out of sight.
“Text me if you need some help with him later,” Sasha told Jean. The other boy wrapped a wet arm around Eren’s shoulders, shaking him a little under Eren elbowed him halfheartedly.
“Will do, Sash. Hold down the fort while we’re gone, yeah?”
Sasha saluted them, waving as Jean hauled him around and down the beach. Eren didn’t want to walk all the way back, but most of the stuff on the boardwalk where he knew Jean was taking him was on his end of the beach, which meant they would have to walk past the chair where Levi sat. Eren tugged away from Jean’s arm as they passed the lifeguard on Jean’s end of the beach, who was tall and board shouldered, blonde with some kind of mustache or beard or something, Eren couldn’t really tell. Jean didn’t say a word about it, letting his arm fall casually back down to his side, and he was as equally quiet as they trekked over the unspoken line to Eren’s side of the beach and made their way up to the boardwalk.
“You wanna get sushi and get drunk on sake or go for greasy burgers and beer,” Jean asked as they stepped, barefoot and sandy onto the wooden boardwalk. Eren stepped closer and without prompting Jean slung his arm back around his shoulders, using that bit of height he’d managed to retain over him during their teenage growth spurt.
“Sushi,” Eren said. Jean hummed, giving his shoulder a tight squeeze, and turned them both in the direction of their regular sushi place. It was barely five in the afternoon, but he knew without needing to ask that eventually his friends would fill up the shop, loud and there for him as they plied him with uncooked fish and alcohol to soothe his pain.
-
Levi’s peace could only last so long. The day after Farlan visited – which was the same day of Eren’s sudden departure from the beach hours earlier than he usually left, accompanied by someone obviously familiar to him, tall and not unattractive who walked close enough to the surf instructor that their shoulders brushed slightly, not that Levi was envious or anything – Isabel showed up.
“Hello there,” she called up, surprisingly a little yelp out of him. He yanked his eyes away from where he’d been watching Eren sprawled on a beach towel waiting on his next class to gather, his cheeks heating up a little at the knowing smirk on his sister’s face.
Fuck my fucking face, he thought; where Isabel went into his matters, Hanji would inevitably follow.
“Go away,” he told her shortly, leaning over the edge of his chair to glare down at her. She merely smiled at him from under the brim of her large ridiculous sunhat, batting her eyelashes for good matter when he gritted his teeth.
“But I brought you some water to quench that awful thirst of yours!”
Levi hefted his sunscreen in one hand, pulling it back with something he would deny was a blush to the end of his days. Isabel just laughed at him, knowing he wouldn’t throw the bottle at her head, no matter how loudly she said embarrassing things while Eren was right fucking there.
“Catch,” Isabel chirped up at him, just before she tossed a water bottle straight up at him. It was a little to the left of the chair, so he hooked his foot in a rung and reached over the edge for it, feeling his heart pound a little bit as the sand underneath the legs of the chair shifted. Isabel only looked a little apologetic as he thumped back into his seat, water bottle in hand and scowl on his lips.
“Thanks,” he said gruffly. “Now leave.”
“No can do, big bro,” Isabel called up happily. “I’ve got a surf lesson to get to!”
Levi froze. He jerked his head to look at the towel where Eren had been sitting – it looked like he was nursing some sort of headache, a sour, tired expression on his face the entire morning that Levi wanted to kiss away until he smiled, goddammit – only to find it empty. Eren stood next to his board, as he usually did in the minute or two before his classes started, and as Levi jerked back to look at Isabel he found his sister laying her beach bag at the foot of his chair. He watched with renewed horror as she shimmied out of her jean shorts and pulled her t-shirt over her head to reveal her bathing suit, green with white polka dots. He unfortunately knew it was her favorite.
Isabel meant business about making his life a living hell.
God, he thought as he tightened his grip on the water bottle he’d caught. The little shit was lucky he could never hurt her.
“I hate you,” he called down. Isabel just smiled at him, placing her stupid sunhat carefully on top of her clothes.
“You’re lying, brother dearest. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go catch some narly waves. Or something.”
Goodbye sweet summer boy, Levi said, mentally kissing his chance with Eren goodbye. There was no way he couldn’t hear his loud exchange with the red headed girl bouncing over to his class barely twenty feet away, so he had to know they were related. There was no way he was going to want to even talk to him after Isabel’s little “narly waves” thing.
He settled into his chair as Eren started to address the class, going through his usual round of introductions. Levi had never spoken to him and he could only ever hear his voice on days where the wind blew his way, but he’d picked up a pattern in the surfer’s classes nonetheless. Eren always ran through everyone’s names, asked what they were all comfortable with, asked if they had any questions, and then he sent them over to the shack, where they borrowed boards and then scampered back to get in the water. Levi let himself watch the process a little more closely than he usually would, since his sister was in this batch of students, glancing elsewhere periodically to make sure everyone was still safe. The wind had kicked up the waves a little more than usual, giving Eren’s class perfect material, and an hour passed without incident.
And then, suddenly, between one breath and the next, Isabel was attempting to ride a wave crouched on her board when she slipped and tumbled beneath the water.
Only, unlike the other times students had done such a thing, Isabel didn’t come up immediately. And after a few long seconds, she wasn’t coming up at all.
Levi found he had been wrong the day before when Farlan visited; this was the time when he’d gotten to the ground faster than before, finding himself scrambling across the sand, desperately shouting his sister’s name. Eren’s voice caught his attention briefly, raised and alarmed, but Levi couldn’t pay attention to him now. He was in the water in the blink of an eye, everything racing and moving too slowly all at once. There was a splash, seconds before his, and as he dove underneath the water other voices began shouting, raised in alarm as well.
Levi found her seconds after Eren did, at which point the other was already hauling her toward the surface. Levi grabbed her other arm, since he had one, and kicked up, gasping when they broke the surface before ducking so that Isabel’s arm was slung around his neck. Eren did the same on Isabel’s other side as she coughed quietly, though strangely her coughs weren’t nearly violent enough for someone who had been underwater as long as she had.
“Uh oh,” Eren said, “brace yourself, there’s a wave coming up on us.”
Levi wrapped his arm around Isabel’s hip and hauled her as high as he could, muttering, “deep breath,” just as the water crested over their heads. They went under for a second before, legs kicking, they broke the surface again.
This time when they broke one of Eren’s other students was nearby, looking pale and worried and sick to their stomach with nerves. Eren called out to them as he started to swim their way, the arm he had of Isabel’s over their shoulder mean that with their every movement Eren’s side brushed against the arm Levi had around Isabel’s waist. At any other time he probably would have died at the chance to touch him, but he was still too caught up in the panic of his sister fucking drowning for a few seconds to care much at all.
Between them Eren and him managed to get her up on the other person’s board, though another wave took Levi by surprise and bounced him under for a second. Eren grabbed his arm, probably on instinct, and hauled him close so that he was clinging to the edge the same way Eren himself already was.
“Isabel, what the fuck,” he hissed, shoving a hand into his wet hair to get it out of his eyes. The other person on the surf board looked horrified and scandalized but Isabel just coughed, brushing a hand through her own wet hair to get it out of her eyes.
“Aren’t you supposed to have that weird buoy thingie with you when you do the heroic saving people thing,” she asked, voice a little rough. Levi considered smacking her, but as another wave bounced them up and then back down he figured he didn’t want to risk losing his grip on the edge of the board.
“Aren’t you supposed to know how to fucking swim,” he yelled. Immediately she looked a little guilty, eyes flicking away to the side. The side where Eren was dangling, barely an inch from Levi’s arm.
“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” Eren said, voice deep and soothing. Levi glanced at him and immediately wanted to cry, because his gorgeous voice was paired with gorgeous green eyes, like fucking gemstones. What the fuck, that wasn’t fair. “Accidents happen, right?”
“Right,” Isabel said empathetically. “Accidents happen. That’s why you’re here, Levi.”
“If you ever scare me like that again I’ll-“
“Wave,” Isabel interrupted. Levi braced himself for the bounce, kicking himself a little higher up on the board to keep his chin above the water. Eren did the same, his shoulder pressing briefly against Levi’s. Both of them were shirtless and soaked and Levi wanted to die. He wanted to drag Isabel back onto solid ground and then die.
“Get your ass to shore right now,” Levi told his sister quietly. “You’re getting checked out for injuries and then I’m calling Farlan to come get you. No arguments.”
Isabel shut her mouth on her protests, pouting in an adorable drowned rat kind of way down at him. “Fine,” she muttered quietly. Levi nodded once to himself before letting go of the surfboard, letting the next way bounce him underwater without another word. He high tailed it back to the beach himself, swimming most of the way underwater as the salt water stung slightly as his eyes, until he could put his feet on the wet sand underneath the waves and straight up again. He waved off the concerns of the anxious beach goers watching the proceedings, turning to making sure Isabel was okay.
Isabel and the other surfer sat on the board while Eren paddled it to the shallows, where Isabel hopped off and back into the water. Even though it only came up to her hips Levi still felt his gut clench and he reached out as she got close, fingers curling around her wrist as he sought out her pulse. She rolled her eyes at him fondly before glancing back, waving at Eren and shouting her apologies back at him. Levi tried not to pay attention as she did that, focusing instead of coaxing her back to the sand as he ran through all the things that could have happened to keep her underwater so long.
“Did you hit your head,” he asked, figuring that was probably the most likely option. She might have a concussion or-
“Pfft, no,” Isabel snorted. “You can save the questions, bro, I’m fine. I was faking.”
Levi blinked. “Excuse me,” he said quietly. “Repeat that.”
Isabel had the common sense to look a little scared, but only for a second. Then she stuck her chest out like a peacock, hands fisting on her little hips with a scowl to rival his usual expression.
“I said I was faking. Chill, Levi, I mean- someone had to do something, okay, and you weren’t gonna. I figured I’d give you a reason to talk to him and bam! You could stop sulking like a smitten little kitten!”
Levi let her words wash over him for a long minute as the beach around them was filled with its usual chatter of children laughing, seagulls squawking, and waves crashing against the sand. It was only when Isabel started to fidget did he speak.
“Go rinse off and then wait by the chair,” he said quietly. He didn’t say anything else and for a second it looked like Isabel was going to argue, but then, with a sigh, she deflated. Instead of following his orders she stepped forward, tugging him into a hug despite his stiff, angry stance.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” she whispered quietly. “I just want you to be happy.”
Levi wasn’t made of steel or ice or something rigid and uncaring like that; he couldn’t help but melt against his little sister, arms curling around her shoulders a shade too tight before he carefully pulled her back. She sighed at him quietly before going over to where the showerheads were by the edge of board walk, picking her way carefully over the sand to rinse the salt from her hair and skin. Levi turned to climb back into his chair, fishing his phone out of his own bag to call his sister’s boyfriend to come pick her up.
-
Eren shifted nervously as he eyed the figure still seated in the chair. Sunset was happening behind him, the sky gold and orange and purple and pink in all the best ways, and in his chest his heart was tripping over itself like an over excited puppy. The beach was pretty much empty and he’d already handed over his board to Sasha; he could leave and no one would be the wiser. But he’d been so close to Levi earlier, when little Isabel had gone under- he’d brushed shoulders and heard his voice up close and-
And he was weak. Levi had a boyfriend from the looks of it, but Eren wanted to talk to him anyway. Just this once. To apologize for putting his sister in danger. Levi deserved that from him, after a fucking month of him creeping on him like a freak. He straightened his back and walked over, fingers twitching self-consciously at his sides the closer he got to the lifeguard’s chair.
“Hey,” Eren called up, as he reached the base of the chair. “Uh, Levi, right?”
The lifeguard froze before craning his head to see Eren below him. Eren waved awkwardly and then immediately regretted doing such a thing. Levi was just staring down at him, making his stomach twist in knots. He swallowed roughly, forcing himself to continue.
“I wanted to apologize for earlier,” Eren called up. “I put your sister in danger and I’m sorry. I should have been paying better attention to my class and-“
“Stop,” Levi bit out, loud on the quiet beach. He seemed even more tense than before, his shoulders hunched slightly up to his eyes. Eren wasn’t sure, but he thought Levi had a white knuckles grip on the arms of the chair he was sitting in. Eren stumbled to a stop in his sentence, confused and more hurt than he wanted to admit. He was still slightly hung over from the day before, when he’d been so much sushi and given so much sake he’d thrown up several times and cried half a dozen times before passing out on Jean’s couch. He hadn’t wanted to show up today, but he’d had three classes to teach and he didn’t like bailing on his responsibilities.
“I don’t understand-“
Levi held up a hand, cutting him off again. Eren gritted his teeth, a little seed of anger blooming in his chest before Levi stood up fluidly and swung himself around to the ladder of his chair, shimming down it with practiced ease. The sight of his board shorts hugging his ass as he climbed down was entrancing, but not enough that Eren had forgotten the fact he’d been given the talk to the hand gesture.
“Don’t apologize,” Levi said, once he was on the ground. “You’re not responsible for what my sister did.”
Eren blinked, the anger melting to confusion. “I was supposed to be teaching her,” he tried to argue, but Levi just shook his head and wouldn’t look at Eren’s face.
“She did it on purpose,” Levi said quietly. “She thought she was trying to help and didn’t think through the consequences of her actions. Thank you for diving down to help her so fast, Eren.”
Blinded momentarily by the way his name sounded from Levi’s lips, Eren almost didn’t realize what Levi had said. When it hit him he gaped, head filled with too many emotions to piece through.
“She did it on purpose,” he repeated. Levi made a weird expression, chin tipping up to the sky and cheeks going-
Levi’s cheeks went pink.
Eren wasn’t quite sure if he still had knees, because he couldn’t feel them. It had been one thing when Levi had been the hot shirtless lifeguard Eren had wanted to make moan, but it was another thing to know he looked adorable when he blushed. He didn’t think he could handle this, honestly, his heart was about to explode.
“She thought that if she faked drowning during one of your classes, it would create a convenient time for me to try and introduce myself to you.”
Eren blinked. He couldn’t process anything for a long second, so instead of a full response the only thing that came out of his mouth was, “huh.”
Levi’s cheeks flushed darker, until he matched the sunset happening over the ocean’s horizon. Eren stared, transfixed, at the sight for so long he almost forgot that Levi was probably waiting for a response other than huh.
“I mean, uh-“ Real smooth, Eren thought to himself in exasperation. He ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat, feeling the grit of salt in his wet hair as the pounding of his heart echoed faintly in his ears. “Why would she-why would you want to introduce yourself to me?”
Levi closed his eyes. He bit his lip and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Eren’s swooped straight down, burying itself beneath the sand like a crab.
“Oh,” he said, voice arching high for a second before he cleared his throat. “I guess then that guy wasn’t your boyfriend, huh?”
Levi’s eyes popped open and Eren found that they were the color of the ocean, all blue and stormy and gorgeous. His cheeks felt suddenly hot as Levi gaped at him, looking confused and a little mortified.
“Who? Farlan?”
“The one who came to pick up your sister,” Eren clarified. Levi’s face only twisted further into confusion and mortification.
“No,” he said, voice scratchy and a little sarcastically dry. “He would actually be my sister’s boyfriend.”
“Oh,” Eren said again. “That might have been nice to know before I got really bummed out yesterday and let Jean get me wasted.”
Levi blinked, finally dragging his eyes to look at Eren head on. He looked- hopeful wasn’t the right word. There was a little bit of hope in those gorgeous eyes, but mostly it looked like he was bracing himself from this all to be a joke or some kind of dream. Eren understood the feeling perfectly, even though the sight made his chest clench.
“Did you know I had the same sort of plan as your sister did,” he blurted out. Levi jerked, startled, and Eren’s mouth continued without his permission as it added, “yeah, I was gonna pretend to drown so you could save me, because I didn’t know your name and didn’t have the guts to just walk up and say hi.”
Levi’s mouth fell open, but again he said nothing. Eren’s cheeks were probably the same color as the sunset now, but he couldn’t help the little twist of satisfaction as Levi closed his eyes and laughed, soft and shaking with disbelief.
“You’re shitting me,” Levi muttered roughly. “Please tell me you’re fucking shitting me.”
“Nope,” Eren said, popping the p sound obnoxiously and enjoying the twitch in the corner of Levi’s mouth as he smiled at the sound. “Armin wouldn’t let me, though, so I’ve just been kind of hoping you were single and less terrified of the idea of rejection than I was.”
“Single, yes,” Levi confirmed, “but apparently we’re both punk bitches about rejection.”
Eren laughed and felt something in his chest shift. With every second Levi was moving from really hot to fucking endearing, adorable, and also funny. Whatever Eren had been feeling was melting into a full-fledged crush, to the point when he was tempted to ask Levi’s favorite color because he wanted to know every damn dumb thing about him.
Do it, Eren told himself quietly. Just fucking do it, you goddamn chicken shit.
“Well then,” Eren said, only fumbling over his words a little. “Why don’t you say yes to dinner with me and save us both the trouble of facing our fears?”
Levi shifted quietly on his feet, ducking his head to scan the beach. Besides a few couples admiring the dwindling sunset and a teenager or two heading for the boardwalk there was no one nearby. Eren got the privilege of watching Levi’s cheeks flush darkly in the fading sunlight as Levi’s eyes flicked up to meet his, nearly stopping his heart in its tracks.
“Only if you promise to never pull a stunt like fake drowning,” Levi muttered quietly. Eren almost squeaked in excitement, shifting in the sand and swaying forward and backward as his heart tried to actually explode.
“Deal,” Eren agreed immediately. “Absolutely, 100% percent can do, no drowning, fake or otherwise, even though mouth to mouth from you sounds kinda awesome but-“
“No drowning,” Levi interrupted, but he was laughing and the corners of his mouth were curling up in a smile. Eren couldn’t help but laugh with him, smiling back so hard his cheeks hurt almost immediately.
“No drowning,” he repeated. And then, after a pause, “where do you wanna go for dinner then?”
Levi’s laughter was better every time Eren heard it and he was excited at the prospect that maybe, just maybe, he’d get the chance to hear it for a very long time. If the way Levi smiled at him was any hint, he was equally excited at the prospect of getting to make Eren smile.
And suddenly, just like that, Eren couldn’t wait for his chance to show off at work tomorrow.