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Eren talked about Levi a lot . Which struck Armin as weird, since Eren had always been more of the ‘suffer in silence’ type when it came to his crushes, but he took every opportunity he could to go on and on about how attractive and cool and funny the aloof upperclassmen was. Armin had found it rather endearing at first, but then it got to the point where it seemed Eren couldn’t go five minutes without griping about his hopeless crush on the man. Mikasa had lost her patience for it first, telling Eren to either ask the man out or stop gushing about him (earning his ire when she claimed she didn’t understand what was so great about Levi, anyways), so Armin had become the default friend for Eren to pour his heart out to. Armin prided himself on being a good listener, but even he had his limits, so when Eren told him over lunch that he’d finally concocted a plan to get Levi’s attention once and for all, Armin had been relieved.
That was, until Eren elaborated on the exact details of said plan.
“What ?! No, Eren, I'm not making a, uh, a-a magical roofie for you!”
“Ugh, Armin, why do you have to phrase it like that?” Eren sighed pathetically as he dragged his hands down his face. “I’m just trying to get his attention, I’m not asking you to make him fall in love with me.”
“That’s exactly what you’re asking me!” Armin breathed in deeply and collected himself before speaking again. “Look, Eren, why don’t you just try being yourself?”
“That’ll never work!”
No kidding , Armin thought. Eren and Levi were…friends? He supposed they were friends, at least. Both shared a major and sat beside each other in the large anatomy lecture Armin took with Eren, though they only sat next to each other because of the assigned seating chart, and both played soccer on one of their college’s intramural teams and were fond of making fun of Jean, their teammate and Armin’s former roommate. But Levi was quiet, cool, and several years older than them, and always looked a bit weary with but begrudgingly accepting of Eren’s overly-energetic personality. In fact, between Levi’s introversion, his surprisingly high level of dedication to his studies, and his straightforward but somewhat shy manner, Armin supposed that he had a bit more in common with Levi than Eren did, and he’d enjoyed the few conversations that he’d had with the man. Opposites do attract , Armin reminded himself as Eren continued to stare him down.
“Eren, I understand you like him, but I really really really wouldn’t want to do that to Levi. And besides, love potions are notoriously difficult and easy to mess up. I could cause him to go mad, or fall in love with someone else, or any other number of complications.”
Eren’s face fell. “Hmm…it sounds like you’re saying you can’t do it, then? That’s too bad.”
Wait. Hold on a minute. That wasn’t what Armin was saying at all. Despite himself, a touch of the old pride bubbled to the surface as he snorted haughtily.
“Well, no, I mean, I could theoretically do it. I can do anything, it’s just a matter of-”
“ Please , Armin.” Eren’s enormous green eyes stared at him imploringly. “I don’t ask you for magical favors that often, and you’re my only friend with the Gift. I just need something…temporary. To catch his eye, you know?”
Armin huffed, even as his heart twinged with sympathy for his best friend. He certainly knew how it felt to be on the unhappy end of an unrequited crush, and Eren had seemed particularly, miserably heartsick lately. And it was true that Eren didn’t pester him often to take advantage of Armin’s magical ability, despite having every opportunity to do so. And he was hitting Armin with his best puppy-dog stare that was ridiculously difficult to say no to. Armin felt his gut twinge with a touch of sickness as he sighed, deeply and beleaguered.
“Ugh. Fine . God, if it’ll make you stop going on and on about the man, I’ll do it.”
Eren’s face brightened visibly and he smiled broadly, making Armin’s spirits lift just a touch despite the lead weight that had settled deep in the pit of his stomach.
“Armin, you’re the absolute best !! Seriously. I don’t know a better boy. I’ll owe you one after this, whatever you want, I promise!”
You’re gonna owe me a lot more than one , Armin thought, miserably picking at his edamame and trying (and failing) to find some ethical justification for what he was about to do. “But Eren, I cannot emphasize enough that you do not tell anyone about this. I’m serious. Love potions are highly illegal, and for good reason.”
Eren nodded with the raptness and eagerness of a star pupil. “Of course, whatever you say.”
“And it’s gonna be temporary . In fact, I’m going to try and find the weakest love spell I can track down, so I’m not making any promises.”
“Yes, yes, that’s fine. Ooh! Speaking of…”
Armin craned his neck to where Eren was looking behind him. Levi, looking fresh from the gym, had entered the university dining hall with his to-go box, stuffing it full of leafy greens at the salad bar at the other end of the room. Armin gulped and quickly looked away from his soon-to-be magical target, not quite sure he could stomach looking at the man. To be entirely fair to Eren, he understood completely. He wasn’t sure what Mikasa was talking about; if nothing else, Levi was extremely attractive, with his compact, athletic build, glossy black hair, and refined features.
Eren sighed in a manner that could only be described as ‘over-the-top lovesick cartoon character’ as he gazed at the object of his affections as Levi filled up his water bottle. Armin was surprised literal hearts hadn’t yet formed in his eyes. “So you can make it happen, then?”
“ No . Promises .”
But yes, in theory, Armin could make it happen. In fact, he was quite confident of his ability to make it happen, even if he kind of wished he couldn’t. Not everyone had the Gift, and not everyone who had the Gift could brew successful potions, and not everyone who had the Gift who could brew successful potions possessed the illegal knowledge of how to craft love spells. Fortunately for Eren (and unfortunately for Levi), Armin possessed all three traits. His stash of ancient, leather-bound, black market spell textbooks had mainly been used to craft extremely high-potency psychedelics for his friends in high school and a few illegal but mostly-harmless charms used on some of his particularly noxious exes, but now Armin had to find a love potion in one of his books that would do the trick while not dooming Levi to a life of romantic servitude to Eren.
Eternal soulmate bond , read the description of one. Nope.
Madness-inducing romantic fervor . Nope.
Lust beyond reason and reckoning . Ew. Nope.
Armin whipped out a little pastel Post-It tab when he finally found a potion recipe near the back of an alchemical textbook that hadn’t been in print since the mid-1700’s. Zenobia’s Affectionate Precipitate . Low-grade, little to no risk of causing irreparable insanity, and, most importantly, one hundred percent temporary. Perfect.
Once acquired, the ingredients weren’t too difficult to assemble. Sandalwood and clay, crushed hibiscus, eye of newt and toe of frog, a clipping of werewolf fur, a clipping of Eren’s hair (distressingly similar to the werewolf fur), half a cup of red wine, and just the teensiest amount of lighter fluid. All of the ingredients blended together in a sickening swirl while Armin tapped his foot along to the old love song playing on the radio, muttered incantations over his mixing bowl, and tried his best not to think about what he was doing. He squatted in front of his oven as he waited impatiently for the mixture to finish baking, suddenly wishing he had just gone ahead and splurged on that cute little air fryer last Christmas.
Then it was done. It smelled…not great when Armin pulled it out of the oven, and it continued to smell not great as he crushed up the baked disc into a powder. He would only need a little bit. Levi was always drinking smoothies whenever Armin saw him come into class, so he figured that would be the best method of delivery. Armin blended the powder in with some banana and peach to mask the taste of anything magical , and voila; A foolproof and only slightly unethical love potion. Maybe he could even add a little protein powder, as well. If Levi was going to be duped into falling for someone, he might as well get some added muscle definition out of it. Not that he needed it , Armin thought with a slight flush as he poured the mixture into his nicest and cleanest reusable bottle.
“Here.” Armin huffed the next day as he plopped the smoothie down on Eren’s desk. “Don’t ever mention this to anyone ever , and you owe me about fifty extra favors ‘cause I’m pretty sure my blender is broken now. Poor thing couldn’t handle the brunt of my magical ability.”
“You’re the best and also I love you.” Eren said with a wolfish grin as he accepted the container from Armin. “No potion needed for that last part, buddy.”
“Quit talking about the potion.” Armin grumbled as he shuffled his way over to his own desk.
Only a few minutes later, Levi arrived, his pale cheeks flushed red from the October cold outside and his tight black workout shirt leaving little to the imagination. Definitely doesn’t need the protein powder , Armin thought guiltily as he averted his eyes when Levi strolled past him. As the man seated himself beside Eren, who immediately held the smoothie up to him explaining something about the shop giving him the wrong one on accident and how it had good probiotics or whatever, Armin decided to get an early start on his assignment for next period. He wasn’t sure he could handle actually watching Levi drink that awful potion.
In fact, Armin would’ve been more than content to avoid looking at Levi for the entire lecture. The material, admittedly, was not the most enthralling, but he determinedly kept his gaze fixed on the professor and his notes the entire time. The problem was that for whatever reason, Levi’s eyes kept shifting back to him. The first time it happened, Armin squeaked awkwardly, earning him a confused stare from his deskmate. The second time, he felt concerned. Had he done something wrong? Was the potion making him sick? Did Levi somehow know what was going on? But Levi kept drinking the smoothie and jotting down notes as though nothing was wrong, so it couldn’t be that. The third time it happened, Armin felt positively exasperated. Levi’s stare was becoming a bit more…wild. Feral? No, not quite that. But definitely unnerving. Armin knew his pale face didn’t normally have that intense quirk of concentration or that gleam in his silver eyes, especially not when he was looking at Armin. Armin sank down further and further into his seat and kept his eyes squarely on his notes (even when they probably should’ve been on the lecturer) to avoid accidentally making eye contact with his target again. It was probably just a weird side effect the textbook hadn’t mentioned. No biggie.
When the clock signaled the end of class and the lecturer reminded them all to finish their online assignments, Armin packed his belongings up as quickly as possible so that he could leave Eren with his beloved and avoid Levi’s intense gaze. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t quite quick enough. As he zipped his backpack up and rose from his seat, his heart almost stopped when he realized Levi was standing in front of his desk with a quietly bewildered expression across his face.
“Hi.” That was all Armin could manage under Levi’s arresting stare, feeling his pulse quicken with trepidation. Levi kept staring. Shit. He definitely knew something was up. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, he probably figured out Armin had tried to enchant him with a love spell and thought he was a total creep, a total creep who did something that was totally illegal, and now Armin was going to get kicked out of school and probably go to jail which he absolutely didn’t have the constitution for-
“You look nice today.”
Oh. Not what he was expecting. Maybe the potion was just making Levi a little friendlier. Not the worst side effect in the world, all things considered. Armin felt a blush beginning to spread across his cheeks as he nodded. “Uh, thank you, Levi. So do you. Say, has Eren-”
“Your eyes are so blue . Like the sky. Or the ocean. Or Cool Blue Gatorade.”
Armin blinked dumbly up at him. “Uh-huh.”
“How did you get them to be so blue?”
“I did not. Genetics did, um, so I guess my parents did that.”
Then Levi laughed . Armin wasn’t sure he’d ever actually heard the man laugh, and now he was doing so heartily and at a joke that wasn’t even particularly funny. “Armin, you are so hilarious.”
“Yeah, sure. Levi, are you feeling okay? At all…enchanted? Potion-y?”
“Hm? No, I feel fine. I actually feel really good right now. Say, would you like to go for a walk with me? It’s especially beautiful out today.”
Again, Armin could only blink and wonder what the hell was going on. “I’ve got to get to my next class, unfortunately, but I’m sure Eren would-”
“Your next class!” Levi straightened his posture. “I could help you carry your books maybe? You’ve always got so many of them with you, I’d feel bad making you carry them all by yourself to the other end of campus.”
“I can carry my own books, Levi.” Armin huffed a bit impatiently, then attempted to soften his features. “Thanks, though. I appreciate it. Actually, I think Eren wanted to talk to you about something-”
“Hey guys!” Eren chirped as he finally made his way to Armin’s desk to save him for whatever the hell this interaction was, having been caught up by the lecturer while attempting to pack up. Despite his cheerful disposition, he wore an expression of abject confusion as his eyes flitted between Levi and an equally-confused Armin. “Levi, did you still want to walk with me to that study group for-”
“Eren, don’t you see Armin’s hair right now? It’s practically glowing . It’s like…it’s like looking at the sun.” Levi sounded vaguely stoned. “It’s kind of hard to look at, actually. Is it a new shampoo or something?”
“Yes.” Armin said curtly at the same moment Eren uttered a quiet ‘what the hell’. “Anyways, great to catch up like this, Levi. Have fun with your study group!”
Without another word or even a glimpse back at the bewildered Eren or dazed Levi, Armin hurriedly slung his heavy backpack over his shoulder and scurried out of the classroom with the anxious speed of a field mouse ducking for cover from a hungry hawk, eager to get away from whatever the hell had gotten into Levi. Except, well, he knew exactly what had gotten into Levi. A love potion. His love potion, that for whatever reason was having some unintended side effects. Nagging questions and anxieties about what he could have possibly done wrong when crafting the potion plagued him all throughout the rest of the day, distracting him from his classwork as he tried to remember all of the steps of the love spell. Had he added some ingredients in the wrong order? Baked it at too high of a temperature? Gotten the pronunciation of his incantations wrong? Used a Merlot when a Shiraz would’ve worked better?
No, it couldn’t be any of that. Armin was more than used to following along the instructions for spells in his secret stash of books. The recipe was hundreds of years old; it probably just reacted strangely with the gastrointestinal system of a 21st century person or something like that. Still, though…the look in Levi’s eyes had been utterly unlike anything Armin had ever seen in another person, enchanted or otherwise. Levi had seemed at once surprised at the veracity of his words while also completely and totally certain of their truth. It had been unnerving, to say the least. Armin shivered as he exited the school library at the end of the day, both at the cold autumnal air and the trepidation beginning to settle deep in his bones.
See, Armin, this is why you shouldn’t mess around with illegal ancient spells! It’s one thing to grow a pig’s tail onto some creep’s back, but it is another thing entirely to play around with someone’s brain chemistry! Armin chided himself as he hurried over to where his bicycle was parked.
Or, rather, where it should have been parked. Armin scanned and re-scanned the bike rack looking for his little yellow cruiser to no avail, remembering with a frustrated groan that in his hurry to bring Eren the potion-infused smoothie, he’d completely forgotten to lock it up. Just another thing Eren owed him for.
Just my luck , Armin thought as he determinedly wrapped his jacket tighter around his thin shoulders, bracing himself for his long walk home. First I decide to do an illegal favor for a friend, then Levi starts acting all weird, and now the universe is punishing me by stealing my bike. It’s all I deserve.
“Armin!”
The deep and familiar voice from behind him elicited another groan from Armin, who forced his features into a sunny smile as he turned around to see Levi jogging up to him. Just what he needed.
“I thought that was you! I’m always seeing you picking up your bike over here. It’s a really cute bike, by the way.”
“Yeah, it was.” Armin sighed, trying to recall if he’d ever heard the word ‘cute’ leave Levi’s lips before. “It’s gone now, though. My fault. Must’ve forgotten to lock it…”
“Oh no!” Levi’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline in a heartbreakingly earnest expression Armin hadn’t realized the man was physically capable of making. “It’s not your fault it was stolen, people are assholes.”
Despite himself, despite everything , Armin couldn’t help but feel a small pang of affection at Levi’s words. It was probably just a side effect of the potion, but he could get used to this friendlier incarnation of the intimidating upperclassman.
“Anyways, would you like a ride home?
“Uh…” Normally, Armin wouldn’t have minded grabbing a ride from a classmate, having done so on a few occasions when class let out particularly late or when it was raining or snowing. But Levi hadn’t been lying when he said it was a beautiful day; it was a crisp and cool October afternoon, with a bright blue, cloudless sky and leaves beginning to change from deep green to brilliant crimson and yellow-orange, so Armin really didn’t mind the walk. That, and he wasn’t sure he could bear being around Levi in whatever mental state he was currently in. “That’s super nice of you, really, but I think I’ll just walk. Might as well get my steps in, anyways.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind. Or I could walk you home! It’s no trouble at all.”
Not for the first or the last time that day, Armin sighed deeply. “It’s okay, Levi. I think I need to clear my head, anyways. Thanks, though. I appreciate the offer.” He added as he saw Levi’s face fall like a kicked puppy dog. Seriously, what the hell was going on with the man?!
“Okay…but please let me know when you get home safe!” Levi’s tone of voice left no room for argument, so Armin just nodded and smiled and waved the man off. Something had definitely gone awry.
There was no way that…no, that wouldn’t have happened.
Unless…
Oh.
Oh shit .
Halfway to his apartment, Armin’s pulse quickened as a potential explanation for the sudden and drastic shift in Levi’s behavior surfaced in his mind. He really, really, really hoped he was wrong, but some indescribable feeling deep in his gut told him he wasn’t.
Armin finally made it home. After texting Levi a cursory ‘back safe!”, he spent the next hour and a half desperately tearing apart his shoebox of an apartment looking for the textbook. It would’ve made sense for him to put it back with the rest of his stash or stick it in a cabinet in the kitchen or place it on one of his bookshelves, which of course meant it wasn’t in any of those spots. Frustrated, anxious, and a little bit sweaty from going into a near-frenzy looking for it, he finally caved. Time to call Eren.
“Eren…” Armin started timidly as soon as Eren picked up the phone. “You know how I’m your best friend in the whole wide world and you love me and would do anything for me and would never ever hate me no matter what?”
“What did you do?”
“I totally messed the spell up. I think Levi’s in love with me now.”
“Ugh, Armin!” Eren whined. “I take back what I said, you are actually the worst boy.”
“I didn’t mean to!” Armin cried desperately as he threw himself back onto his pillows. “You have to believe me! I wouldn’t betray you like that, I just…didn’t read the instructions very carefully, I guess.”
Eren sighed deeply on the other end of the line. “Of course I believe you, Armin. Though I never want to hear you pester me about not reading a syllabus all the way through.”
“That’s fair.”
“So…what do we do?”
“ We don’t do anything.” Armin groaned. “ I have to rebuff his advances until he snaps out of it.”
“Which will be…?”
“...I don’t know.” Armin curled his legs into his chest, wishing he could just disappear into the comfort of his bed for the rest of time. “I mean, it shouldn’t take that long. The magical energy I channeled into it wasn’t especially strong. Maybe a week or so?”
“Is that all? You’ll be fine. I’ll fight him off for you if he gets too forward.”
“I don’t even want to imagine that.”
And so the following week passed. Levi was definitely under the influence of something . He kept giving Armin ridiculous, wide-eyed, moony stares in class and practically sighing like a lovestruck teenager instead of the grown man that he was. Armin would’ve felt bad for him (and, by extension, Eren, who was stuck watching his crush hopelessly pine after his best friend), except he was too annoyed at constantly having to avoid making too much meaningful eye contact with Levi in class and therefore missing several important notes from the lecturer. Exams were coming up, damnit! He didn’t have time to deal with a potion-addled Levi. At least Eren was taking the whole thing in stride, treating the whole incident more like a minor inconvenience and less like his best friend had unwittingly forced his crush into falling in love with him.
And the thing was, Levi really was kind of nice like this. He kept complimenting Armin, telling him he looked nice and smelled nice and laughing at his jokes, and Armin knew he shouldn’t let the compliments get to his head since Levi was only giving them to him because of the spell’s influence, but it still felt pleasant. Armin did his best to keep Levi at arm’s length, responding to his affections with clipped ‘thank you’s’ and polite smiles, but it was hard not to melt a little bit under the man’s attention.
Then there was the day when it was positively freezing and pouring down rain, and Armin just couldn’t help but take Levi up on his offer of a ride home, though he justified it to himself by saying that it was more for lovestruck-Levi’s sake than his own. Levi, even while under the spell’s influence, had proved a surprisingly enjoyable conversation partner. He was witty and funny, in a dry and subtle way, and was a surprisingly good listener.
And then there was the thing with the bike.
“Levi…” Armin said slowly, his voice level and his face a mask of congeniality despite his hammering pulse, “What is this?”
“It’s yours, don’t be silly.”
It was Armin’s. It was his bike, to be exact. Not just a newly-purchased lookalike, either; it had the same little ding on the side of the down tube, the same cheap light fixture mounted at the front, and the same sparkly butterfly sticker that Armin had once slapped onto it in a fit of adolescence.
“I can see that. I’m just wondering how exactly you…acquired it.”
“Well, that’s simple. I just found the asshole who stole it.”
“That doesn’t answer my question! Oh, never mind.” Armin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just don’t tell me you beat the guy up or anything like that, please.”
Levi said nothing, his arresting gaze not once leaving Armin’s.
“…Levi?”
“You told me not to tell you, so I didn’t.”
“Ugh, Levi! You shouldn’t-you know what, just forget it. Between you and Eren, I don’t know why I even bother trying to convince people to be a bit more responsible.” Armin groaned, even as his brain unhelpfully reminded him that keeping a small library’s worth of banned books for the purpose of his own personal convenience wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of responsibility, either.
Levi’s face fell as Armin chided him. Armin still wasn’t used to seeing the man’s emotions written so clearly and openly across his small, pale face; the man was normally completely cool and inscrutable, but the love spell made it seemingly impossible for him to conceal his inner feelings (at least, the inner feelings concerning Armin).
“I’m sorry, Armin. It’s just that you seemed to really like your bike, and I don’t think you should have that taken away from you just because you made one little mistake.”
Armin blinked. He blushed. He wished he could channel some of normal-Levi’s even temperament.
“Um. It’s okay, Levi. Just don’t do it again.” Armin ducked his face down on instinct, his long, choppy hair covering his cheeks. “And thank you. I mean that.”
When Armin was finally able to will himself to look back up to Levi, he couldn’t help the slight fluttering of his heart at the sight that greeted him (nor could he help the sharp stab of guilt that also resulted). Levi was smiling so earnestly and brightly one would think that Armin had just agreed to marry him. It looked surprisingly natural on his normally-pinched features. His gray eyes developed a few distinct laugh lines at their edges that Armin had never seen before, and his white teeth gleamed in the light of the afternoon sun.
Armin gulped as a feeling of doom began to wash over him.
“So I guess you won’t be needing to give me any more rides home then, huh?” He asked, his throat suddenly feeling a bit tight (he’d blame it on his allergies rather than any sort of emotion).
“Maybe I won’t need to…” Levi said, a hopeful lilt in his voice, “But if you ever want one, just ask.”
The entire bike ride back to his apartment, Armin tried to focus on how good it felt to have the crisp autumn air caressing his face and blowing through his hair once more, and not on how he was going to miss having Levi’s attention like this. The week was almost up. If Armin’s math was correct, the spell’s effects would be wearing off soon. Unfortunately for Armin, he suspected the impact it had on himself would not be going away so easily.
The next morning, Armin resolved to help Eren get with Levi once and for all, eager to put the whole episode squarely behind him. By the time he sat down with Eren for a quick breakfast before class, he’d already come up with a few non-magical and less ethically dubious ideas. Unfortunately for him, Eren, for once, did not seem overly engaged on the topic of Levi.
“Eren, out of curiosity, what exactly is your Plan B to get Levi to fall for you?”
Eren shrugged noncommittally as he chewed absentmindedly on his piece of toast, his eyes staring ahead to the table adjacent to them with a glazed over look in his eyes, either from boredom or lack of sleep.
“Dunno. I’ll figure something out, though. Maybe bring him a gift basket filled with cleaning supplies or something.”
Armin sighed. “You know there’s more to him than his cleaning obsession, right?”
“Yeah, totally.”
“He mentioned to me how much he likes horror movies, maybe you could bring that up with him? It’s something the two of you have in common, at least.”
“Yeah, totally.”
“Eren! Are you listening to me?” Armin huffed in annoyance, fighting back the urge to toss a Cheerio at his best friend’s face.
“Uh-huh, totally.” Eren was still staring ahead with an expression that lingered somewhere between annoyed and wistful. Armin’s eyes slid over to where Jean sat, then back to Eren, then back to Jean, and then finally back to Eren as he gave an incredulous and exasperated huff.
“Oh my God , Eren, you don’t even like Levi, do you?!”
“Nope, totally do. In love with the man.”
“You’re a terrible liar. The worst, in fact. Eren, how could you be so selfish?! To toy with someone’s feelings like that just because you’re too scared to ask Frenchie out!”
Finally, Armin seemed to have wrangled Eren’s attention away from the object of his actual affection. The other man turned back to him, and Armin’s chest swelled with pride at how red and flustered he looked.
“Wh-what do you mean, ask him out! I don’t like Jean , ugh, don’t be gross! He’s so…annoying and obnoxious and awful, I can’t believe you’d say something like that to me even as a joke, Armin.” Eren managed to inject a touch of real venom into his voice, but it wasn’t enough to fool his best friend.
“Right. So if I said I had some of that love spell left over and I wanted to use it to get him and Mikasa together, you’d have absolutely no problem with it then?”
“Of course I’d have a problem with it!” Armin could practically see the steam whistling out of Eren’s ears now. “He’s such an asshole, she deserves better than him!”
“Uh-huh. Eren, if you just admit it, I won’t even make you pay me back for the blender.”
Eren seemed to consider it for a moment. “...How much was your blender?”
“Just ask the man out and apologize to Levi.”
“Fine.”
So it turned out that Eren hadn’t been interested in Levi at all. That was at least one source of needling guilt removed. When Armin sat down for lecture hours later and watched quietly as Levi, his face again flushed red from the cold, walked stone-faced past Armin’s desk and straight towards his own instead of stopping to chat with Armin or see if he needed to borrow any notes or needed an extra jacket in the chilly classroom, a second source of guilt was removed as well. It had been a little over a week; the spell, no doubt, had worn off. Armin supposed he should’ve felt relieved, but he couldn’t help but feel a touch of heaviness in his chest as his eyes remained on the back of Levi’s head, even when they probably should’ve been on his notes or the lecturer.
When class ended, Levi packed his things and walked briskly out of the classroom without a word to anyone and deliberately avoiding Armin’s gaze.
Back to normal. All’s well that ends well , Armin thought, feeling not entirely normal or well at all.
By the time he made it home at the end of the day, tired and decidedly in need of a comfort snack, Armin was eager to put the whole episode behind him. So, of course, the universe chose that moment to reveal the location of his textbook, stuck on top of the fridge beside his emergency stash of cheese crackers.
Oh, that’s where he’d put in. What idiot stuck it there, Armin thought to himself as he dusted the cracked brown jacket cover off, crackers forgotten. Curiosity bubbled up within him. Even if he had no intention of ever making a love potion ever again, he might as well see what exactly went wrong. Armin lowered himself to sit cross-legged on his kitchen floor as he flipped to the instructions. Nothing about the specific sort of red wine or the temperature of the oven or whether or not the werewolf fur should be shampooed before use or not. Armin pursed his lips as he attempted to parse out what could have caused the reaction it had in Levi.
Armin had always been good at potions, he’d always been good at baking, and he’d always been good at his magical pronunciations. Armin had never been terribly good about reading footnotes, though.
*9 : Budding magicians should note that this potion, potent though it may be, cannot conjure up feelings where they do not already exist. The alchemical benefits of the concoction serve only to amplify affections already firmly lodged within the recipient’s heart, so take care to be aware of the intended’s true romantic inclinations before plying them with this potion.
What?! , Armin thought as he read and re-read the page, a hot blush creeping across his cheeks, That totally should’ve been in the main instructions!! Who the hell reads all the footnotes, anyways?!
That meant…
Armin read the entire recipe (and every footnote) over twice more while his more pressing assignments sat untouched inside of his bookbag, his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest and his palms suddenly too sweaty to be reasonably holding an almost three hundred-year-old textbook. Definitely not mistaken.
The next day in class, Levi predictably ignored him once more as he strode over to his seat. Today, however, Armin was determined to make eye contact with the man, even if it killed him. When the period ended, Levi made to exit the classroom just as quickly as he’d entered it, but not before catching Armin’s determined gaze.
“Hi, Levi.” Armin said evenly, a warm smile on his lips.
Levi’s cheeks pinkened, this time without the plausible deniability of the cold air outside, half-murmured something that might have been a ‘hey’, then practically ran from his desk and out of Armin’s sight. Armin smirked with a touch of satisfaction and ignored Eren’s confused and imploring stare. Maybe he’d bake something else for Levi soon. Something decidedly innocent and non-magical.