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The coffee shop’s exterior screamed typical college hangout. The interior did too, as Levi found out. It was busy, although he supposed that was to be expected for a Monday morning. Drab-looking young adults shuffled through the line, murmuring what they wanted to the barista and shoving their wrinkled money at him. Most of them look exhausted, despite probably never having struggled for money once in their precious lives, especially if they could afford over-priced coffee. That was how Levi saw it, at least. If he had any money to be conservative with, he certainly wouldn’t be buying himself coffee.
And yet there he was, in the corner of the coffee shop, taking up half of a two-person table.
He’d ended up there by chance. The brunette behind the counter may or may not have lured him in with that smile he pointed at his customers, and then the concentrated, determined look he gave the coffee as he made it. He furrowed his brows and probably pulled his tongue to one side of his mouth when he worked. Then, his expression would change back to sunny as he handed the coffee to the customer, and took the next order. Levi was sure that stupidly happy expression could have cleared the dreary weather up in a heartbeat. The clouds were dark and the wind was strong, bring the autumn’s first cold front through. Really, the warmth of the coffee shop, the smell—even that puppy-like barista—maybe, just maybe, Levi understood why the place was so popular.
The shop itself was practically a hole in the wall, a long, rectangular strip in the middle of a strip mall shopping center. It had a large window to the left of the front door that gave you just enough vision of the interior to see the counter, if there wasn’t a line of grumpy students. Wooden round tables, maybe seven or eight, with comfortable-looking wooden chairs were carefully placed throughout the shop, and there was a small area to the left of the counter with a couch and some beanbags, as well as a softly-volumed television that nobody really paid much attention to.
Levi sat, claiming the table in the corner to the right of the door as his own, as people filled in and out. Nobody tried to sit with him, although he could blame that on his generally unpleasant expression.
He dusted a crumb off of his table.
An hour passed, maybe two. The weather outside didn’t clear up. The shop quieted down as students rushed to their classes, or work, or wherever in God’s name they needed to be. Without the chatter and noise from the customers, Levi could hear music softly coming from a speaker system built into the ceiling.
The brunette behind the counter turned it up a little and mouthed along to the words.
Another hour (or at least Levi thought it had been around that long) and the coffee shop was completely empty. Levi turned his attention outside. Cars had stopped rolling by and nobody was chancing unpredictable weather. Everyone was busy. Everyone was at work, leading their lives, having things to look forward to. He had nothing, now, and he was wasting—no, he was killing time in a coffee shop that was too good for him. He could go back to his apartment, but how long would that apartment even be his? Rent was due next week, and he couldn’t pay for it.
“My boss is gonna kick you out when he gets here if he thinks you’re loitering or something, especially if I tell him you’ve been here for, like, three hours.”
Levi straightened up and snapped to attention. The brunette sat himself down in the chair across from him, pushing a coffee cup with one of those ridiculous sippy-cup-looking lids over to him. Even with the ridiculous lid, a little coffee sloshed out and dripped down the side of the cup and Levi immediately reached for a napkin to clean it up with. He offered Levi a small smile, and didn’t so much as flinch or blink when Levi returned it with a sharp, splintering glare. In fact, his smile grew. Levi fought the overwhelming urge to punch the kid in the face, and instead accepted the coffee as some sort of peace offering. Maybe he’d been expecting to be a little shit.
“Thanks, but I can leave. I don’t even like coffee, and I can’t pay for it.”
He didn’t want to leave. He loved coffee, and he hadn’t had it in months.
“You don’t have to,” the Barista stated, watching Levi a little closer than he’d like. He leaned back into his chair and nodded to the book shelf on the other side of the shop. “Grab a book and pretend to read it or something. Pretend to drink your coffee, if you really don’t like it. Don’t worry about paying. You looked like you needed a pick-me-up.”
Levi needed a thousand pick-me-ups, really. Alcohol, preferably, but while it was probably still around ten or eleven in the morning, he doubted he could find a bar. Aside from that, if he couldn’t afford coffee, he certainly couldn’t afford liquor.
“Unless this coffee is secretly tequila, I don’t think it’s the pick-me-up I’m looking for.”
He took a sip of his coffee, and the brunette laughed.
“Hey, I’m Eren, by the way,” he said, holding his hand out to shake. When Levi just regarded his hand with little interest before taking another sip of coffee, Eren withdrew his hand, unaffected. “Eren Jaeger. If you need anything, I’ll be here until four.”
“Levi,” he replied simply. “I’ll be leaving soon anyway.”
“Suit yourself.”
As quickly as Eren had sat down, he was up and back behind the counter, retreating to the break room. Levi hadn’t even noticed that a petite blonde girl had taken over his place. She caught his eye and smiled a little meekly, giving him a little wave. He grunted and returned to nursing his coffee. His free coffee. He’d accepted a hand-out—a surprisingly fucking delicious hand-out, but a hand-out nonetheless. Something about that would customarily hurt his pride, but now he disregarded it almost entirely.
Levi considered the empty coffee shop for a moment before placing his coffee onto the table and standing up to thumb through the books on the bookshelf.
[--X--]
Levi came back the next day.
His feet had taken him this time. He noticed, once he stepped inside, that Eren was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t sure if that was a relief or not. He’d probably be asked to leave today. He didn’t magically accumulate six dollars for an expensive latte, and he hadn’t thought to keep an empty cup or something so that he could just sit around and take up free space.
The small blonde girl from the day before was behind the counter again and Levi watched her work with a few customers. He’d shown up substantially later than he had the day before, and considering it was Tuesday, he assumed less people required caffeine to survive the day. It had certainly helped him yesterday, but he wasn’t about to admit that. The girl—he’d learned her name was Krista—caught his eye again. She gave him another signature smile and wave. He realized that, no, she hadn’t done anything wrong, and there was no real reason to make her think he hated her.
He gave a small wave back.
She was so caught off-guard that she spilled the beverage she was working with. He had to bite back a smirk.
Fifteen minutes passed to prove that Eren wasn’t going to magically show up, although Levi had to remind himself that the kid was really only a nuisance. He was too bright, too assertive. He didn’t give Levi the silence he wanted, to think and contemplate what in the world he was going to do with his life. He needed to figure shit out, and some freakishly tall, annoying kid was not—
“Levi, right?” Krista asked. There weren’t any customers, now, and she was standing in front of him with her arms behind her back. She smiled a little sheepishly, like maybe she was intimidated by him. She vaguely reminded him of a rabbit ready to run at the sign of danger. “Um, if you’re here for Eren, he’s off today—“
“I’m definitely not here for the messy brat.”
The blonde looked taken aback, but managed to smile anyway.
“Okay,” she said softly, holding out a coffee cup—the ridiculous sippy-cup-lid and all—to Levi. When he didn’t accept it, she gingerly placed it on the table in front of him. “Well, this is from him. He thought you might come in again today. He, uh, he wanted me to stress that you don’t need to pay for it, because he said you looked like you really enjoyed the one you got yesterday.”
Levi stared at the coffee cup in front of him like it had personally offended him. He felt his cheeks warm at the mere sight of the thing. Another handout from Eren.
“I don’t need it.”
“Please take it,” she pleaded, her smile turning apologetic now. “Eren’s really persistent. He’ll be upset if you don’t.”
“I don’t care if he gets upset,” Levi muttered. “Tell him I don’t need handouts.”
“I think it might be better if you tell him yourself,” Krista mumbled. She squeaked when he shot a little frown in her direction, before scurrying back to the counter. “I hope it’s good!”
It was.
[--X--]
Eren was leaning against the counter, today, his back facing the door. He was talking to a tall blonde man with a different colored shirt and a different styled nametag. He was probably the manager or something, but Levi didn’t take that into consideration as he approached the counter. The door opening and closing hadn’t caught Eren’s attention, and neither had his footsteps. Levi had shown up even later today, and there were various lunch items out on the food display sitting on the counter in front of the coffee machines. There were a few people sitting around, eating, chatting, scrolling through ridiculous sites on their laptops, talking on their phones. They were all oblivious to the others around them, all tied up in their own worlds. Good; less attention for Levi to deal with.
“Listen, Jaeger,” he hissed, stepping up to the counter and slamming his palm down onto the counter. Eren jerked and spun around, eyes wide. “I don’t need your fucking handouts, you hear me? I don’t need your shitty coffee.”
“Jesus Christ,” the barista breathed, eyes still comically wide and hand pressing to his chest.
Was the idiot checking to make sure he was still alive?
“Not quite, but close. You can just call me Levi.”
“You scared the shit out of me!”
“Take your prissy ass back to the bathroom and wipe, then.”
Only the man behind Eren chuckled, and he might’ve heard a noise from one of the customers nearby. Eren looked mildly offended, but not enough to do anything about it. He just looked like he was struggling to grasp onto a comeback out of thin air, but nothing was quite coming to him. It gave Levi a sense of victory.
While Eren’s face reddened, Levi turned his attention to the blonde man, finally. He had no plans of continuing to stop by the shop after this, but a little attention wouldn’t kill him, and he really didn’t want to get Eren fired out of malice. Eren could do that fine on his own.
“So you think the coffee here is shitty?” the blonde (manager?) asked, arms crossed over his chest. “I’d say you could take it up with management, but that’s a little redundant. I am management.”
Manager.
“You could probably take it up with the owners, but the closest thing right now is the owners’ daughter. I don’t think you want to make poor Krista cry. I heard you met her.”
“Ah,” was all Levi said, looking the man over. “Erwin?”
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Erwin hummed, a small smile tugging at the edge of his lips. “I’m still holding firm to the concept of you being immortal. Here I am, looking like I’m definitely in my thirties, and you still look eighteen.”
“I’m gonna pretend that’s not an insult.”
“You two know each other?” Eren cut in. His eyebrows were raised in a bit of curiosity and something that Levi couldn’t quite put his finger on. It would be illogical for the brat to be jealous. “Does this mean I’m not in trouble for buying him coffee, Erwin?”
“We went to school together,” Erwin explained, because Levi just rolled his eyes and didn’t budge. “No, you’re still in trouble.”
Eren opened his mouth to protest, but Erwin waved Levi to the side of the counter right as a customer stepped up, profitably distracting the brunette. He pulled out that signature warm smile, despite a little damper from Levi’s previous ‘harassment’, but he still concentrated heavily on getting the customer’s order just right. He had this hilarious look of determination, Levi noted, no matter what he was doing. His eyes, this curious shade of blue and green, were always bright. He looked like he was always searching out some sort of challenge, something to try his best at. Levi thought it might be cute, if it weren’t for the fact that the brat was so fucking obnoxious. What made him obnoxious, though? Levi had already forgotten. His attention moved to how much taller than him Eren was, down to the tanned skin of his fingers, long and thin, probably suitable for an instrument. Eren’s skin tone was a considerable amount darker than Levi’s paleness. He probably got outside more.
“You’re staring,” Erwin murmured absently, adjusting something from behind the counter. When Levi’s attention snapped back to him, he was gracious enough to change the subject. “Why are you here? Don’t you have work or something?”
“Lost my job,” Levi replied, averting his gaze again. “Trying to kill time while I figure out how to pay rent.”
“Have you put in any applications anywhere yet?”
“. . . Not yet.”
“And when did you lose your job?”
“Last week.”
“Levi . . .”
The man in question scowled. He crossed his arms over his chest, withdrawing a little, away from Erwin, and away from anyone else nearby. Eren was finished with his customers, and had returned to Erwin’s side, those big eyes trying to read the situation.
“I’ll look for work soon. I might have to crash with Hanji if I can’t come up with rent money, but she’s already offered her couch to me,” Levi said finally, despite Eren’s presence. He’d ignore the brat if he had any questions. He turned a glare on to the young brunette. “Now, back to the subject at hand.”
“Does the coffee really bother you that much?” Eren asked, face drooping a little. He really was like a fucking dog. “You seemed to enjoy it.”
Levi sighed, frustrated. Seriously, though, what about Eren frustrated him so much?
“Your coffee is fine, Jaeger.” Levi rubbed the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. “I just don’t need your charity, alright?”
“I wasn’t doing it because I thought you were a hobo or something, “Eren said with a frown. “I did it because you looked like you needed something nice, and I didn’t want Erwin to kick you out. Didn’t realize you two were close.”
There was silence, aside from the chatter and soft noises from the patrons in the shop. Eren looked frustrated—and even sounded frustrated—and Levi didn’t know what to do with a frustrated person. Normally, he just ignored them, walked away until they got over it or knew he wouldn’t have to bother himself with them again after that. Eren was irritating in ways Levi couldn’t explain about a kid he’d known for three whole days and spoken to on two occasions, but what did the boy expect from him? An apology? He certainly wasn’t good at apologies. An apology from Levi usually resulted in the other party even angrier.
Erwin cleared his throat and Levi realized he was staring again.
“Levi’s not a very honest person,” the blonde murmured, hiding any sort of amusement from his features. “You can keep it up, Eren, but really, before you start pulling something like this again, I’d really suggest you make sure it’s fine with me.”
“I’m not coming back, though—“
“Bullshit, you’re not.” Erwin let himself smirk now, before turning on his heel and heading back towards the break room. “I have things to take care of, but don’t cause too much trouble without me around. Eren, your lunch is in fifteen minutes. Krista will be here to take over for you.”
Eren lit up like a stupid fucking light.
Levi didn’t know why exactly he was so excited for his lunch, or maybe because he had permission to continue to give out free coffee. He didn’t think it had anything to do with him; that would be too flattering on his part. He didn’t want that kind of attention from Eren, after all. It’d be a nuisance. Eren was already a nuisance. A loud, tall nuisance with tanned skin and pianist fingers and pretty eyes and infuriatingly soft-looking hair.
“Hey, if you wanna sit down, I’ll be out when Krista gets here to take over,” he said, smiling brightly. Ah, fuck. He slid a cup of coffee over to Levi and how long had it been sitting there? Levi was pretty sure he just hadn’t noticed him making it. “Maybe we can look at some hiring ads. I wanna help.”
Levi, thankfully, was saved. There was a customer stepping up to the counter before he could open his mouth. Silently, he grabbed his coffee cup and fled out the door of the shop.
[--X--]
Inevitably, Levi returned the morning immediately following.
Really, he was losing patience with his legs, and he was going to blame them for as long as he could get away with. He’d show up at the coffee shop while in the middle of telling himself he wasn’t going to go that day. But he did. He showed up with a few applications and a pen to fill out while he sat there and listened to the soft music and the people chattering and Eren taking orders and the sound of the coffee machines because there was something wrong with him and that was okay. Well, no, it wasn’t okay, but for now he’d push that to the back of his mind so he could focus on getting himself a job and avoiding eviction. He needed to make a call to his landlord and practically grovel for an extension on his rent. She was relentless and hardly ever took pity trips, but he’d never made any special requests, so maybe she’d let it slide this time.
“Hey, Levi,” Eren hummed as he plopped down in the chair next to him. A different girl, one with strawberry blonde hair, a bit taller than Krista, stood behind the counter now. The brunette in front of Levi, though, looked like he was fighting off a frown. “You disappeared without a word yesterday.”
No coffee yet, Levi noticed, but he didn’t say anything.
Shit if he wasn’t disappointed.
“Yeah, I thought you might want to enjoy your lunch in peace.”
Obviously one to not dwell on useless things, Eren shrugged. He grinned, now, trying to peek at the applications Levi had on the table and was working on filling out.
“What do you have so far?”
“Library, some office building I used to work next to and,” Levi shot a look down to the applications, “an application for one of the high schools nearby. Apparently I qualify to be a substitute teacher. Starting to think it’s not a good idea, though.”
“Damn, wish I still went to school,” Eren mused. “You’d be one hell of a teacher.”
Levi forced a smile away, no matter how small it was.
He filled out the applications with no incident, Eren only commenting a few times but otherwise letting them rest in silence. After he returned to work after his break, he delivered Levi’s drink out to him with a cocky little wink, despite the way he stumbled over his feet on his way. Levi snorted and lifted the hot drink to his lips immediately, but it was really only a sloppy attempt to hide another smile.
The next day when he came in, Eren wasn’t working. He was there anyway, though, with a small pile of applications in front of him and a donut from the bakery box on the counter. The little fucker was in Levi’s seat.
“Move over, brat,” Levi murmured, nudging his leg with his shoe. “That’s my seat and you know it.”
The brunette dutifully relocated himself to the other chair and pushed the stack of applications over to Levi with an impish grin. It was the kind of grin that Levi simultaneously appreciated but also made him want to punch the shit out of him. He decided against either, instead grimacing down at the applications and shifting through them. He took note of each of the establishments, memorizing the names and deciding he’d definitely make sure what he was getting into before he turned them in. Some of them had job descriptions attached, giving him less to stress over.
“So I kind of thought some of these would suit you.”
“You really think I could handle a bunch of anxious, impatient teenagers at a movie theater, Eren? And Christ, have you seen how fucking dirty those places get? People have no sense of cleanliness, I swear to God.”
“Well, you got an application to be a sub, so I thought kids were okay.”
“I’d have more luck working at a daycare.”
“The one down the street from my house is hiring—“
“I’m not going to work at a daycare.”
“You could pull it off.”
“I could pick the kids up by their ears and fling them over tables.”
Eren seemed to actually consider this, watching Levi carefully. Maybe he was trying to figure out whether Levi was kidding or not (he wasn’t), or if Levi was the kind of person he’d trust with his own nonexistent children, but either way, he settled on a decision. He nodded.
“Let’s not have you working at a daycare.”
[--X--]
Somewhere along the process of filling out applications, Eren had insisted on giving Levi his number so he could bullshit being a reference for him. While Levi already had a few reliable references (which may or may not include Erwin), and he tried to stress that fact to Eren, the brunette hadn’t listened and had simply enforced that he could be a good reference.
The number came in handy in particular exactly one week and a day after they had met.
“Eren?” he asked, cutting through the first sign of life on the other end of the phone line. “Eren, it’s me, Levi. I—“
“Levi?” he asked. He sounded half asleep. The lazy ass was probably sleeping in as late as he could get away with. “Hey, what’s up?”
“So I got arrested. For battery. Care to lend me a hand?”
“ . . . You what.”
“Forget about that for now. I need you to tell Erwin,” he sighed into the receiver. He resisted the sneer that came so naturally at someone looking him over like the officer manning the phone was. “He can help me get set up with a bail. I’ll probably only get charged for a misdemeanor. Asshole had it coming. Anyway, like I said, get Erwin. I’m sure he’s had to put up with shit like this before.”
There was silence on the other end. After about ten seconds, Levi felt his nerves wring nervously. Had the brat even caught any of that? He really didn’t want to sit around in jail for god knows how many weeks. He’d rather owe Erwin out the ass for a bail.
Eren laughed on the other end and Levi practically melted with relief. The kid might not be useless.
“You’re ridiculous,” Eren breathed. “I’ll get Erwin as fast as I can. You can . . . Sit tight, I guess. Don’t drop the soap or whatever. Kick some ass and take some names while you wait. All out of bubblegum and all that.”
“Thanks, brat.”
[--X--]
Levi, amazingly, was out first thing the next morning.
Of course, his first destination was the coffee shop because Erwin had mentioned getting him a cup, and Levi wasn’t about to let him get off of that. He saw Eren pacing impatiently back and forth behind the counter. He hadn’t gotten out of work like he’d wanted to, to be with Levi like he wanted, with his embarrassing clinginess and ever-present determination to stick his nose right where Levi didn’t always appreciate it. He’d let it slide, today, because he really wanted coffee and he felt bad enough for freaking the poor kid out.
“Coffee,” Levi said as soon as he entered the shop to cut Eren off before he could even start. “Now.”
“We’re spoiling him, Eren,” Erwin mused, but grinned a little, fishing out the money for Levi’s beverage and handing it to Eren. “I estimate one more week before he fully expects us to shove coffee at him every time he graces us with our presence.”
“You two love me.”
“If by love you mean tolerate like a bitchy cat that eats the leftovers, then sure.”
Levi shot Erwin a look, and frowned at Eren’s laughter.
“To clarify, I already expect you to shove coffee at me every time I grace you with my presence,” Levi said, taking a sip, as if to prove his point. “I hadn’t touched coffee in months before Eren decided to drop one in front of me. I think we can all just take a moment to blame this on him. He’s rekindled my addiction. One I can’t afford but I’m not about to start selling my shit for.”
“At least it’s not cocaine or something,” Eren said with a bouncy little shrug to his shoulders. “So! Your coffee dependency aside, you really need to tell me how you landed yourself in jail.”
Erwin sighed and shook his head, shooting Levi a look before turning back towards the break room. Levi ignored him entirely, instead opting to watch the amusement and over-obvious excitement in his eyes and fuck he caught himself staring at him more and more with every passing day, caught himself looking for the emotions Eren displayed so easily in his eyes. It was proving to be hindering. If he was unlucky, Eren would notice, too, and he didn’t want that. He wanted the brat to continue to be oblivious, off in his own world, too excitable and determined and sometimes easily roused. He didn’t want the kid to know what he was thinking, so he did what he usually did best—change his mental track.
“It was the theater,” Levi stated, as if it were the most apparent excuse. “I went to drop off the application, and one of the shitheads from behind the counter took one glance at my application and made some stupid comment about how they weren’t going to hire some short, grumpy shit like me.”
“ . . . You punched him, didn’t you?”
“I punched him. And the girl behind the computer freaked out and called the police.”
“Hope you punched him hard,” Eren mused, trying his hardest to hide his grin. Levi could still see the amusement in his expressive eyes, though. “What a douche, though. I guess you were right about not being able to work at a theater.”
“By the way, jail isn’t so bad.” Levi smirked and sipped. “There were two other guys that got shoved in after me, but they wouldn’t speak or even look at me after they’d realized I intimidated the officers on duty to give me shit to clean the cell up with. It was fucking filthy, but hey, I pretty much ruled that place.”
“Really, that’s not surprising.”
Levi sighed. He leaned up against the counter, sipping his coffee. It was dead in the shop. There was one person nibbling on a donut in the corner opposite his, reading some e-book and looking completely ignorant to whatever was going on at the counter. It was cloudy and windy and disgusting outside just like it had been the first day he’d stepped into the coffee shop. He turned his gaze over to Eren, who was studiously scrubbing at the counter, now. After Levi had mentioned that it could really use some work, despite not having the spirits to do it himself, Eren had suddenly decided to go into cleaning mode. The tables were cleaner than Levi had seen them before. Maybe he’d been cleaning out of anxiousness.
Fuck, that was cute.
“I got that extension on my rent,” Levi murmured after a moment. “But I have a feeling it’s going to be hell finding a place that’ll hire me after that, at least on such short notice.”
Eren was silent for a long moment, studying the parking lot outside, the people rushing to their cars out of the shops nearby. He had the concentrated look again. His attention suddenly jumped, though, catching Levi off guard. He ducked down behind the counter and rummaged through the things they had stored there. Levi momentarily considered the messiness under that counter, and what it’d take to clean it, but then a tiny stack of stapled papers was being shoved at him, with a pen.
An application for the shop.
“We’re short,” Eren whispered, like it was some sort of a secret, looking sheepish. There was really only one other person in the shop, still, and they didn’t look like they cared. “We usually have a team of four, but there’s only me, Petra and Krista right now. Erwin and Krista have been pulling extra time to make up for it. Erwin could let the misdemeanor slip, and it’s not like we have some corporate office to freak out, it’s just Krista’s parents. And obviously, if I can do it, you can.”
Levi considered the application for a tick before he tucked it under his arm and picked up the pen. Eren stupidly lit up, like usual, and he didn’t miss that.
“Thanks, Eren,” he murmured, taking another sip. “I’ll fill it out and shove it at Erwin before I leave.”
He could feel Eren’s smile, bright per usual, as he stepped to the corner to take his chair. When he sat down, the brunette appeared to be busying himself with preparing something for the pastry box, doing everything he could to hide his smile—fuck, it’d be tough to work next to him if he’s like that a lot. Levi filled out the application in record time, anyway. A job was a job, and to be honest, this place was his home away from home anyway. Maybe he’d get more free coffee this way.
After finishing the application, he dropped it off in Erwin’s office by the break room. Erwin hadn’t done anything in the slightest to hide his amusement. On his way back out from behind the counters, Eren caught him by the sleeve.
“Levi,” he said, and his voice shook a little. “Hey—uh—I have a question.”
He was flustered. Well, more than flustered, Eren looked terrified. He looked a little like he was about to throw up, really. Levi was going to avoid that. He already needed a shower. Three, maybe.
“Shoot, kid,” Levi murmured, turning to give Eren his full attention. “What’s up?”
“I—“ Eren’s voice cracked already. He took a deep breath to compose himself. “I was wondering if you have any plans tonight. Around six.”
Silence, but not too long of one. Levi was only silent long enough for him to figure out if the brunette was really trying to ask him out on a date, and notice that the person in the corner had peered over at them curiously. He didn’t want to keep Eren waiting, of course, and knowing him, he still managed to have the guts to try to change his mind.
“I’m jobless and I practically live in this shop, Eren, of course I don’t have any plans. I don’t exactly have suitors knocking down my door.”
The relief was tangible.
“Then—maybe, you know—maybe . . . You could come over to my place? I can make dinner, and we can watch a movie or something if you want to.”
“By ‘make dinner’, you mean you’ll buy store-bought food and hope I think it’s all home-made, right?”
“ . . . You—am I really that predictable?”
“You really are.”
Eren’s cheeks flushed a light shade of red. He looked embarrassed, frustrated and maybe a little bit put-off. Levi hummed a little sigh and reached up (it was quite the stretch) to ruffle that brunette hair he’d been wanting to touch, and then carefully run his fingers through it to fix it again. It was as soft as he’d imagined.
“Sounds fun, Eren,” he murmured. “Around six, right? Send me the address later, when you get some free time.”
Eren, the ridiculous, obnoxious, freakishly tall, adorable fucking puppy beamed at Levi.
[--X--]
Eren’s small one bedroom apartment was, thankfully, not as messy as Levi had anticipated.
It looked like Eren had spent all of his time cleaning it, though, once he got home from work. The kitchen had the basics, a small table, a little counter space, a fridge, microwave, oven and a trash can off to the side. The living room was pretty basic as well, with a couch, coffee table, entertainment center with a moderately-sized TV, and a bookshelf off to the side with books that probably hadn’t been touched since they’d been put there. The bathroom could use some work, but it smelled freshly of pine sol, so Levi really had to give Eren an A for effort. He’d gone out of his way to make sure everything was just about as clean as Levi could expect from him.
Dinner, of course, had definitely been store bought, but tasty, nonetheless. Eren had whined about wanting to eat in the living room and watch TV, like he normally would, until Levi gave in. They turned on the movie Eren had picked out and sat, shoulder-to-shoulder, eating and making snide remarks about the littlest things. They also stood in mutual agreement, after the movie was over, that Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr were, undoubtedly, irrevocably, madly in love with each other.
Levi found out that Eren had a never-ending love for Michael Fassbender, and Eren found out that he would never live that down. It was Eren’s own fault for choosing X-Men: First Class.
The credits rolled, and they settled into a comfortable silence. Their dishes sat on the coffee table, where Eren had talked him into just leaving them for now.
“You know,” the brunette said, grinning over at Levi. “Magneto is one of my favorite villains. You’d make a good villain.”
“Oh?” Levi snorted. “I have no incentive to be a ‘bad guy’.”
“But if you did! If you had the incentive, I bet you’d scare people shitless. Well, I mean, you can already scare people shitless if you want, but you know what I mean. You’d be the kind of villain everyone would love to hate, like Loki or something. You’d be that one sexy villain that everyone would like more than the protag.”
Levi was silent as he waited for what Eren said to catch up to the boy. And, of course, when he was given the moment to think over what he’d said, a dusting of red over his cheeks was visible, even in the dim light of the living room. While Levi watched him, eyes alight with amusement, Eren flailed his arms a little, stuttering and sputtering to either clear up a not-so-misunderstood misunderstanding, or change the subject. Levi silenced him with a hand, and he felt himself smirk.
“So,” he said, swinging his leg around to the other side of Eren’s lap. He settled down into a straddling position, still only eye-level with Eren, even with the brunette’s slouch. “I’d be the sexy villain, would I? Would I have a ridiculous catch phrase, too?”
Eren stared at him, wide-eyed and alert, and gave a helpless shrug. His fingers twitched. He wanted to touch, but he wasn’t going to without permission.
Good boy.
Levi wound his arms around Eren’s neck. Absently, he twirled a stray lock of the boy’s hair. Eren shivered and leaned back into the touch. For once, Levi relished in having Eren’s complete and total attention on every little word he said, every little action he made. That’s what he wanted, and that’s what he was getting. Eren was unwavering, a determined person. Perhaps he took something like this as a challenge, and wasn’t going to give it up. That attitude was endearing and irritating at the same time.
Levi lowered his mouth to Eren’s ear, gave an experimental little flick of his tongue to the lobe, and whispered, “This time, Mr. Jaeger, the pleasure will be all mine.”
Eren shuddered and his fingers contracted. Levi decided against verbal permission, and instead reached down with one hand to place each of Eren’s hands on his hips. The brunette melted back into the couch cushions, eyes still trained on Levi.
“Xenia Onatopp?” Eren asked, chuckling a little breathlessly. Levi pressed his lips to the boy’s throat, and choked on the words that kept flowing from his mouth. “GoldenEye was my favorite Bond movie, I snuck it from the entertainment center because my parents wouldn’t let me watch it because of the sex and the language and shit, but of course they caught me—“
“Eren,” Levi growled, lips traveling up to nip at his jaw. This earned him a gasp and some strangled noise that sounded suspiciously like a moan. “You’re driving me insane, stop talking for a second.”
Levi was met with—thank God—silence, and rewarded Eren with his lips.
Eren tasted like store-bought chicken and mashed potatoes (he hadn’t been romantic with his food choices, really). His kissing technique wasn’t graceful, and was actually a little sloppy, but he picked up on the way Levi sucked on his lip or gently brushed their tongues and managed to flow with it. Eren was eloquent, in a sense, but his actions weren’t exactly exquisite. He gripped Levi’s hips, one of his hands even adventuring down his thigh. His mouth was still trying, trying as hard as he could, to match Levi’s pace and really, kissing shouldn’t be such a challenge, but Eren Jaeger could make anything a little more difficult than it was supposed to be. It was refreshing to Levi, though, and he preferred him this way (though you wouldn’t hear that come from his mouth).
Levi pulled back, and Eren gasped for breath like he’d just been submerged in ten feet of water.
“Breathe through your nose, stupid,” Levi muttered, biting Eren’s lower lip. He drank in the noise the brunette made. “You need practice, but I have time.”
The excitement in Eren’s eyes bypassed the insult and went straight for the permission he was practically being given. Levi pulled off of him, though, and stood, grabbing his dishes. He glanced back at Eren over his shoulder.
“Let’s put our shit away first.”
Dedication and determination back in full swing, Eren practically flung himself up off of the couch, gathered his dishes, and hurried to follow Levi into the kitchen.
[--X--]
It was Monday, two months after Levi had first stepped foot in the shop and begrudgingly accepted a cup of coffee from the bouncing brunette barista. Now, though, he was behind the counter with said bouncing brunette barista, watching him work. His actions and expressions were so much clearer when he was behind the counter, too.
He knew everything Eren did, by now, but sometimes a little more.
He knew how Eren always put in a little extra cream when his friends came to see him. He knew Eren always sat aside the last donut to buy and put to the side for the evening girls. He knew Eren, on many occasions, would get over-excited about a conversation with a customer and accidentally spill the coffee he was working with. He knew how Eren would shudder if he came up behind him and whispered a terribly cheesy 007 villain quote, and how Eren squeaked if Erwin heard them and told them to cut it out. He also caught on to the way Eren hinted that they needed to move in together, but was too scared to come right out and say it, and how badly he wanted to just come right out and say, “I love you.”
And so one day Levi said it for him.
It was spur-of-the-moment, with a few customers in the shop, but he couldn’t have cared if he tried.
Eren sputtered, nearly dropping the cream he was re-filling and storing away. He spun around to stare at Levi and blink a few times, like he’d misheard or Levi was actually an illusion. His reaction left Levi nervous, for the first time in years. Shouldn’t have said it, should have just shut my mouth, there are people around, he’s—
“I lo—I love you too,” Eren said, breathless, like the first time Levi had ever kissed him. “Yeah—I—y-yeah . . . “
Levi was pretty sure he’d lost his breath too. Maybe he understood Eren’s reaction, how it took him a second to respond, because hearing it from Eren’s mouth, instead of just simply knowing, left him frozen and elated at the same time, and he struggled to form words or even move until a customer stepped up to the counter and asked them for a caramel macchiato.