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Levi knows he’s got it bad when he agrees to go apple picking with Eren.
He doesn’t even think about it. When Eren runs up to him, seemingly from across campus from how out of breath he suddenly is, his cheeks are bitten pink by the wind and he’s wearing a stupid beanie that makes him look even cuter than normal, and he asks, “Do you want to go apple picking with me this weekend?”
And Levi doesn’t even hesitate. He says yes, and Eren grins, and then he’s running away just as fast as he’d come—the fucking whirlwind of Levi’s life, that boy.
It had taken Levi a full five minutes of continuing his walk to his afternoon lecture before he’d realized exactly what it was that he’d agreed to.
Apple picking. Levi’s never even been apple picking, and for good reason. First and foremost that it involves trudging around in some dirty orchard, picking dirty fruit from dirty trees with his bare hands, and then eating said dirty fruit. All-in-all, there is far too much dirt involved for Levi’s taste, and he spends much of the week trying to cancel on Eren.
Which is easier said than done. Every time Levi even tries to broach the subject, Eren gets all bright-eyed and big-smiled and excited. As if it’s not enough seeing it, he continues on about how excited he is, and isn’t Levi excited? Because he is so excited, he wishes it was Saturday morning already!
So Levi wilts and doesn’t do it. At least, not in person. The one time he attempts to flake out on Eren over text messaging, he doesn’t get too far, either.
LEVI
So about apple picking
EREN
only 2 days away!!!!
i’m so excited!!!! i love apple picking!!!
did you know i go every year?
i can’t wait to go with you this time! :) :) :)
so what about it?
LEVI
What should I wear?
After all, there had been far too many smiley faces and exclamation points for Levi to back out at that point.
Well, that, and Eren can’t wait to go with him. That might have something to do with it, too.
*
On Eren’s advice, Levi dresses for the cold. He bundles up, and feels better for it. He’s always felt better in a multitude of layers, and being outside on a typical fall day is actually something he enjoys.
He does put a little extra thought into it, this time. He actually puts one of the few beanies he has to good use, spends far too much time making sure the scarf drapes just right around his neck, and hesitates over gloves before shoving them into his coat pocket. Better safe, than sorry. While Levi takes pride in his appearance, he never pours all too much time into it. His time is better spent on other things, but…
Well, it’s worth it, this one time, if the way Eren looks at him is any indication. Levi even thinks, as they trudge their way out of the dorms far too early in the morning, that maybe the day won’t be so horrible.
Which is a sentiment he takes back, immediately, the second Eren forces him onto several subway trains until they eventually find themselves on a public bus.
“Sorry,” Eren says as they sit shoulder-to-shoulder on the bus, and Levi is practically folded in half to keep from touching anything or anyone. He knows about Levi’s distaste for public transportation, and while his first comment had been the same as everyone else’s when he’d first discovered that particular quirk (“did you ever think maybe New York City wasn’t your best choice for school?”), he’s been adaptive ever since. Levi prefers to walk, and, no matter the distance, Eren will walk with him.
But leaving the city is quite a different story.
“Back home, we used to take my dad’s truck to the local orchard, but seeing as we don’t have that here…” he trails off in a shrug, and Levi glances at Eren.
He’s homesick. Not that Levi is surprised, he’s just a freshman and more than likely this is the first time he’s been away from home for so long. Eren’s hand is resting idly on his own thigh, and Levi has the urge to grab it. To give some sort of reassurance.
Instead, he laces his own fingers together so tightly his knuckles turn white, and glares at the advertisements opposite him.
*
For all it’s imagined short-comings, he orchard Eren takes him to is… Well, beautiful. It’s like they step off the bus and walk up the road and into a postcard. The trees are a rustic rainbow of autumn colors, rippling in the gentle, chilly breeze, and not far off, Levi swears he hears children laughing.
Seriously. Where the fuck is he?
“Okay!” Eren declares, throwing his backpack down on a bench. “I brought us both bags.” He holds out one of the said bags to Levi, and Levi dutifully takes it. “As well as some sandwiches. I’m not sure what they’ll have here besides apples.” He hoists his bag back over his shoulders and starts walking, and Levi follows, holding his empty burlap sack awkwardly and feeling incredibly lost.
“Are they supposed to have other things?” He asks hesitantly, carefully maneuvering around a large stone in the dirt road. His boots, he knows, are already scuffed with loose dirt and gravel.
“Well, yeah,” Eren replies, glancing back at him. “You know, they’ll probably have the usual things, like a hayride and cider and maybe homemade jam and…” Eren trails off, blinking at Levi, and Levi can only imagine the perfectly blank, lost expression on his face. “You don’t know?”
“No.” Levi shifts awkwardly, deciding to tuck the empty sack under his arm. “I’ve never been apple picking, you know,” he mumbles, glancing away like it’s something to be ashamed of. Like most of the general populace has never stepped foot in an apple orchard, but of course Levi has to fall for this boy who does it every year.
He probably does other stupid, adorable things, like catch fireflies in jars and make up his own constellations.
“Really?” Eren seems so genuinely shocked by this information that Levi doesn’t have the heart to tell him about the rest of the world and their lack of apple picking experience. But the disappointment that Levi was cautiously expecting quickly transforms into invigorated excitement. “Oh my god, then we have to do everything!” And then Eren is grabbing him by the wrist and tugging him excitedly up the road, past columns of red and golden trees that Levi assumes have apples in them and he wants to ask why they can’t just pick them from here.
“Everything?” How much shit is there to do here, exactly?
“Well.” Eren glances back at him, expression thoughtfully pinched. “Maybe not the hayride. I get the feeling you probably wouldn’t like that.”
No. Levi is pretty sure he wouldn’t.
*
As it turns out, the act of “going apple picking” has very little to do with actually picking apples.
This particular orchard, much to Eren’s apparent delight, does have a hayride that makes Levi itchy just looking at it, but there’s also a corn maze, picnic tables turned into makeshift shops where they’re selling homemade jams, candies, and jewelry, and what Eren blissfully refers to as fall in a pastry—which turns out to be some sort of small, incredibly delicious donut.
There aren’t a ton of people, but enough that the orchard feels busy, and Levi wonders why they call it apple picking when really it just seems to be some sort of apple festival sort of thing.
It’s all very confusing.
“So are we ever going to pick actual apples?” Levi asks, starting to feel silly toting around a burlap sack and trying to distract himself from the way the powdered sugar from the donuts keeps sticking to the corner of Eren’s mouth before he dutifully wipes it away with his tongue.
“Duh.” Eren looks at his fingers, most likely contemplating licking them clean much to Levi’s horror, before he decides against it and grabs a napkin. “But you can’t apple pick on an empty stomach, you know.”
“Says who?” Levi raises a skeptical eyebrow.
“You just can’t, okay.” Eren pouts at him, and when he looks away again, Levi hides a smile in his scarf. “Hmm… Will you need an apple picker, though…” he murmurs to himself, and then shakes his head, grabbing Levi by the wrist again and dragging him away from all the people in the clearing and towards the lines of russet trees.
At some point, by accident or by Levi’s simply wishing it into existence, Eren’s hand more or less ends up in his. He stares at where their fingers are wrapped around each others, and decides it’s better not to question it.
Levi finds himself slightly surprised by how far they have to walk before they start this whole apple picking business. They pass lanes roped off or marked with signs that ask for pickers not to enter, please, and while all the other trees aren’t picked bare, per se, most of the apples are too high up in the leaves for either of them to reach without the aid of ladders or by climbing the tree directly.
“Ah!” Eren exclaims suddenly, and then he warmth of his hand is gone as he darts a few lanes down the orchard and disappears up it. Levi pauses, blinking at the suddenness of Eren’s departure, before strolling casually after him. When he reaches the mouth of the row Eren ran up, he sees Eren with an apple in his hand and a proud smile on his face.
He’s smiling at the apple, the endearing idiot.
He catches sight of Levi, then, and waves the apple at him happily, and Levi almost finds himself smiling back when Eren raises the apple to his mouth and—
“What are you doing?” Levi asks in alarm, eyes wide, and Eren pauses, staring at him in confusion as his quick strides close the distance between them.
“Uh…” Eren looks at the apple, and then back at Levi. “Eating an apple?”
“That you just picked off a tree?” Levi is sure that somehow, reminding Eren of where he got the piece of fruit will also be enough of a warning against eating it. When Eren still seems perplexed, Levi presses his lips together. “Without washing it?” He continues, voice strained.
Eren blinks at him.
“Yeah?” He says it as if he sees nothing wrong with the idea. As if he eats unwashed fruit all the damn time. What about pesticides? What about dirt? What if there’s a fucking worm curled up inside, waiting for him? It makes Levi feel nauseous.
Without thinking about it, Levi grabs the apple and quickly drops it into his own bag.
“Sorry, you can’t. It’s my apple now.”
“Levi!” Eren says on a surprised laugh. “Oh my—I’ll just get another one.”
Except, when he tries, Levi picks it before he can, dropping it unceremoniously into his bag. Eren just stares at him, mouth hanging open, and Levi wonders if he’s taken it too far. He’s not trying to piss Eren off, really, he’s just looking out for his well-being without flat out saying so.
But then Eren’s look turns challenging, and he starts reaching for the next apple, and Levi’s hand flashes out to grab it at the same time.
“Oh, you are on.” Eren grins at him, and then dashes down the lane with Levi on his heels, although he overtakes Eren in no time at all.
The problem about getting ahead of him, however, is that he loses Eren quite quickly after that. Thankfully, Eren keeps laughing, the sound rich and punctuating in the orchard’s relative silence, and a warmth that Levi alters his direction towards in the fall chill. He sees flashes of Eren’s, hears his quick footsteps as they crunch over damp leaves, and Levi picks apples as he sees him, the idea that if he picks them, Eren can’t.
It doesn’t even occur to him how full his bag is until he finds himself winded and leaning against an apple tree, the burlap sack heavy and resting on the ground.
“Huh.” Eren is there, his own bag stuffed with apples and held up in both of his arms. “I thought for sure I’d won, but I’d say we’re pretty evenly matched.”
“What?” Levi looks up at him, squinting his eyes, feeling far too warm in his many layers but not quite to the point where he feels brash enough to start removing them.
It would just be more things to carry, at this point.
“Apples. That’s what we were doing, right?” Eren asks. “Seeing who could get the most apples?”
No. It’s not what they were doing at all. But at least if that’s what Eren was preoccupied with, the chance of him eating an apple and hurting his chances at winning is slim to none.
He ducks his head, trying to hide his smile the best he can.
“Gotcha,” Eren sing-songs, and his head is tipped so far to the side he’s almost upside-down, like he’s craning to see Levi’s face even with as far as its angled towards the ground. “I don’t know why you try so hard to hide the fact that you’re smiling.” Eren rolls his eyes, and then stands up straight again, and Levi wipes at his mouth like his smile will catch to the back of his hand and disappear. “I guess it just makes it all the more satisfying when I do see them, though…” Eren hums contemplatively, and before Levi can dwell to long on that statement, Eren murmurs a sudden, “shit,” that is full of epiphany and horrible realization.
“What?” Levi is scared to look at the apples. Like if he looks at the bushel, it will be covered in worms or something.
“This is a lot of apples.” Eren looks down, and then meets Levi’s eyes again. “Like. A lot. Fuck, what are we going to do with these?”
Levi looks down at the apples—perfectly fine and not worm covered, all rosy and tempting. He shrugs.
“I’m guessing you don’t know how to make apple cider, huh?” That usually takes a shit-ton of apples, right?
“No…” Eren frowns, and then snaps his fingers, like an idea just came to him. “But I do know how to make a killer apple pie.”
And rather than explain to Eren that they would have to make dozens of pies to use up all of these apples, Levi just stares at Eren, fighting the sudden rush of warmth that twists in his stomach and the sense of doom that these fucking feelings are never going away ever.
Oh no, he bakes.