Welcome to my first completed fanfic. It's technically a two-shot, but that sounds like some sort of double-gun inflicted wound so I'm just going to call it an extra-long oneshot because that's what it was originally meant to be anyway... Until it got too long and I got caught up in the story between these fabulous characters who may or may not be totally OOC. I completely apologize in advance, just in case. So it's basically fluff with a bit of a plot, and it's honestly pretty cute.
This first chapter is mostly Levi being awkward and cursing at everything and everyone – and meeting Eren... and you'll see what happens.
I somehow managed to write about 11k words using only 4 characters and "the crowd" which weirdly reminds me of those Shakespearean choruses, but whatever. I'm going on a tangent again...
Well, I reeeally hope you enjoy this fic, because I seriously worked my ass off on it, even if it is just two chapters.
Please give me feedback, I'd love to hear your opinions on it!
Fucking birthday party.
He would rather stick his ass in a rotting pile of squirrel carcasses.
This was all the fault of that damn glasses freak Hanji, Levi thought to himself as he stared blankly into his closet for something suitable to wear. Even though it was his own birthday party he was attending - Hanji had organized it against his will on the pretext of making it "a combo Christmas and birthday party! It'll be great!" - he didn't want to walk in looking like a garbage bag that had just been run over by a UPS truck. Having just come out of a workout session in his spare-bedroom-turned-to-gym, he was covered in sweat and smelled like something Hanji might cook for dinner (something habitually toxic and possibly radioactive).
He gave up on looking for clothes and stepped into the shower, deciding to put the decision-making off until after he had soaked in hot water for a bit.
After ten minutes of humming peaceful songs in the shower - there was one in particular that he liked which had some nice recurring lyrics like "don't fuck with me" - Levi stepped back into his room, picking jackets and shirts randomly out of his closet. According to Hanji, she had invited a bunch of people, which he took to mean approximately fifty or so. Maybe more. Apparently, it was being held at Erwin's house, which was more of a mansion than anything else, that rich bastard. Erwin was the director of a large watch company in the city that his late father had owned, but he and Levi and Hanji had been inseparable friends since middle school, so it didn't really matter.
In other words, Levi preferred to look nice. Especially since it was also a Christmas party, and it was usually expected to look at least halfway decent for those. He raised an eyebrow at the variety of clothes that he had laid on his bed: black band tee-shirt, black jeans, black jacket, black polo... dark gray hoodie. So much for liking monochrome a bit too much. He couldn't deny that having to look for the right clothes to pair up every morning was a shitty waste of time, but... He could probably afford to add some color to his wardrobe.
Levi checked again in his closet, finally finding a dark red button up shirt. He opted for pairing it with the black skinny jeans, and pulled on his trusty, never-go-out-without leather jacket. He snapped on a couple spike bracelets too, just in case shitheads got in his way and he didn't want to put too much effort in giving them hell. He touched his earlobes carefully, making sure his little stud earrings were still in place. Perf-
His phone started buzzing and ringing uncontrollably, to an annoying Electric Six song that Hanji had probably set up while he wasn't paying attention - "I wanna take you to a gay bar!" sang the phone, and Hanji was definitely fucking with him because she knew very well that he liked men, and thank god that shit wasn't ringing in a public place. He could hear it loud and clear, but had absolutely not idea where the hell it was. Where the fuck... Ah. Finally finding it under his bed, he put it to his ear, which was a grave mistake.
"Levi!" squealed a (very) loud voice on the other end.
Levi cringed, quickly extending his arm so that the infernal electronic device was at least two feet away from his ear. "I see you still remain unaware that when speaking on a phone, you don't need to fucking scream, you blind monkey."
"I'm outside waiting!" cried Hanji excitedly. "I'm outside your apartment, so hurry up!"
"I'm not done yet, fucktard," retorted Levi, walking calmly into the bathroom. He began debating whether or not he should add some eyeliner. At the café he owned and worked at, he did it sometimes and no one seemed to mind, although most of his friends and acquaintances - Hanji included - hadn't seen him more than once wearing any.
"You take more time than a chick, god!" continued Hanji.
"Patience is a virtue, four-eyes. And I don't give a crap, it's my party anyway." Yeah, it was his party. Therefore, no one could tell him whether or not to wear eyeliner. Done, decision made. He didn't give a shit what people thought of him anyway, which was the rule he usually lived by.
"I'm coming in, Levi! Don't be naked, 'kay?"
"Wh-" Levi started, but the call was ended on the other line, and he heard a key turning in his apartment door. He forever cursed the day he gave Hanji a key. It was like giving a rabid gorilla access to his home and all his valuables.
"Hanji, stay in the living room and don't break anything," he yelled over his shoulder. He went back to the painstaking task of applying a thin black line right above and under his eye.
As he finished, capping the eyeliner pencil, the door burst open loudly, and the already cramped bathroom was suddenly full of Hanji, whose general aura always seemed to take up more space than necessary.
"You jumped! I saw you! I scared you!" sang Hanji obnoxiously.
"Are you capable of shutting your trap for any longer than ten seconds? Holy shit, you're like a five year old. And also, I could have been taking a shit in here; you wouldn't want to see that. Crappy people with no boundaries..." he muttered under his breath.
"If you were taking a shit, you would have locked the door. I know you."
Levi rolled his eyes and crouched down to put the eyeliner back in the drawer under the sink.
"Are you wearing eyeliner?" asked Hanji incredulously. "Hey, turn around so I can see how you look, birthday boy!"
"Don't call me that, it makes me sound like a five year-old brat." Reluctantly, Levi turned around, earning a gasp from the woman in his bathroom.
"Holy shit, Levi, you look pretty hot."
"Really."
"Yes, really!" Hanji let out a low whistle. "Your eyes are like - BAM! - with that eyeliner, you know? In a good way, of course. And your hair looks nice too," she added, reaching out a hand to playfully twist a couple locks of his bangs.
Levi slapped her hand away. "Thanks. Yeah, I own something called a comb, unlike -" He cut himself off, getting a better view of how Hanji herself looked. Undeniably, and quite surprisingly, she looked stunning, in a low-cut, V-neck red dress that came down just above her knees, and hair that was, for once, pulled out of the habitual messy ponytail-bun slash fuzzy-caterpillar-like object and was instead hanging in loose curls around her shoulders.
"Oh," he said pointedly. "You look pretty nice," he mumbled, smiling slightly.
"Aww, Levi, you're too kind," she grinned, reaching out to give him a tight hug, which Levi returned stiffly. "Happy 27th birthday. I'm sure everyone will fall for you," she added in a soft whisper.
"I don't want a horde of drunk pigs all over me, thank you very much."
"Oh, Levi. Always such sweet words," she gushed sarcastically. "Come on, get in the damn car, we'll be late!"
XxX
"Hanji, your car smells like cinnamon rolls and pine needles. It's weird and it reminds me of a grandmother's basement."
Hanji just nodded, obviously paying absolutely no attention to what he was saying, and was wearing a smile so wide it was almost creepy, as she stared intently down the road lit by headlights and the occasional streetlamp. Cheesy, superficial Christmas songs blared on the radio, about reindeer and broken hearts and people coming home and other sappy shit, while they were ironically headed to a wild party where he expected everyone to come out either high, drunk or both. She was wearing a Santa Claus hat shoved onto her auburn hair in a sort of lopsided way, and she had somehow managed to get Levi to wear one too, which had somehow diminished the punk-grunge look he had been aiming for.
It was okay, though, because if he took it off, the Hanji of Christmas Present would berate him with threats of blackmail and rumor spreading - she had in her possession a certain picture of twenty-five year-old Levi grinding on a pole when he was probably more drunk than he had ever been, and he really didn't want that circulating around.
Levi cleared his throat in an attempt to sound as casual as possible. "Is that green-eyed brat from your bakery going to be there?"
"You mean Eren? Yeah, why?" asked Hanji, suppressing an amused smile.
"Wondering," replied Levi absently, turning his face to the side, toward the window. His face was getting hot. He leaned over to turn down the hellish heat waves that were circulating in the small car.
"He's the best cake-maker in my kitchen, you know?" She paused, taking a moment to recall something. "Come to think of it," Hanji said, smirking, "I heard you gave that same green-eyed brat your number a couple days ago."
"The fuck are you talking about," murmured Levi, fumbling with the knobs on the dashboard and accidentally sending a blast of hot air into his face.
"Stop lying, Levi. You brought him up in the first place." And that was probably a big mistake, thought Levi.
"He keeps staring at me; what was I supposed to do?!" he snapped.
"Every time I see you, you're staring at him back!"
"I am not, fucker."
"Oh come on, Levi, you come to my bakery every single freaking day during his shift at the register to buy your daily chocolate croissant when your own café has the same ones!"
"I don't want to waste the ones that we sell."
"God, Levi, you stole him during his break and gave him your number! I mean, you usually deal out death threats to people who look at you like that."
"I sure hope that it didn't look like a death threat, from his point of view," said Levi in frustration. "Because I was mostly just trying and failing to ask him out," he mumbled bitterly, more to himself than to Hanji.
"You were going to ask him out?"
Levi scowled in irritation, although he didn't deny it. The brat was pretty damn attractive, and had the most gorgeous green eyes he had ever set sight upon, but he would drink a jar of piss before ever admitting that to Hanji.
"Awww... sweetie," she sighed.
"Shut up, shit for brains."
"You should totally try to make a move tonight! It's your birthday."
"And being utterly rejected for my birthday would probably suck ass!" Levi huffed impatiently. "How the hell do you know about all this phone number business, anyway? You were out when it happened."
"Oh, he was casually bragging about it to the whole freaking kitchen, grinning and clutching that piece of paper like he had won the damn lottery. He definitely likes you," said Hanji, turning and winking at him.
Why was he having such a hard time believing that? "I don't know... I mean, look, Hanji, I'm just not generally the type of person people like, okay?" Hanji was known for her rather large coefficient of exaggeration, and on top of that, why would Eren brag about a short, pissed-looking (his default expression, he couldn't help it), punk-rock-like dude with black painted fingernails, suddenly dragging him off to a table in a corner, in order to roughly shove in his hand a ripped receipt with his phone number hastily scrawled on it, only to forcefully storm off a moment later? He hadn't been able to work up the courage to fully ask him out, so he had walked away, hoping the younger man had missed his burning red face. "I'm pretty sure I came across as intimidating and weird, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's too freaked out to talk to me tonight. He didn't even call me."
"I think that was the point. I think he's waiting to see you tonight."
"Hanji, I don't even know for sure that he's gay!"
"Oh yeah, he is."
"How the hell would you know?"
"Well, I was bored one day and asked him what kind of people he liked, right? And he started being all blubbery and blushy and started saying something like 'I like guys who -', and then he cut himself off and covered his mouth and turned away. I told him I didn't give a shit if he was gay and that my best friend was gay, so to me it really didn't matter."
"... Oh."
"I think he figured out that I was referring to you, by the way."
Levi sighed, running his fingers through the bangs that were sticking out under his Christmas hat. Any other person would probably have celebrated at a revelation like that one, but no, not him. He didn't know what to believe. He had to figure out a way to overcome his self-confidence issues. It was part of the reason why he had such a filthy mouth; to seem tougher and harder, so people would stay away from him, and he wouldn't have to talk. He wasn't sure how that all made sense, but over time, the cursing part at least had definitely grown on him.
As he leaned his elbow on the armrest on the side of the passenger seat, he noticed that they were entering a driveway. The driveway, in fact, Erwin's mile long private highway - seriously, he had never seen another driveway so long and majestic - that had to be separated from the main road by a set of wrought-iron gates that only opened when you pressed the little aiphone button and announced the reason of your presence. Hanji took care of that, and the gates swung open before them, Hanji driving on.
"Oh my god, Levi, we're here," she whispered excitedly. Levi looked up and saw Erwin's house rising up before them, shining brightly with white hanging lights lining the roof and windows, making the whole thing look like some sort of heavenly beacon, and there was Erwin in the doorway, waving to them in all of his tall, muscular blondness. Fucking Captain America.
"There are already, what, at least forty cars here? How many people are at this party?" asked Levi, incredulous.
"A lot. But I'm pretty sure they're all here already; they're probably just waiting for you."
Levi got out of the car, shivering in the cold winter air. Cold as a witch's fucking titties. Wrapping his arms around himself, he trudged over to where Erwin was standing at the front door. It was beginning to snow pretty hard, and he swore to god that if anyone started singing the Frozen soundtrack, he would be gone in an instant, before any crapface was able to wish him a happy birthday. Rubbing his hands against each other, he pounded up the stairs in front of the door, getting rid of most of the snow on his combat boots as he did so.
"Nice to see you, Levi," said Erwin, grinning widely in a handsome burgundy suit. He reached out an arm to greet him with a hug and a couple pats on the back.
"Always so formal, Erwin," responded Levi after pulling away. Erwin was a decent enough (excellent) friend. When they both had come out as gay around junior year of high school, they had dated for about a month before realizing that friendship was what fit them best and broke up. He was one of the only people Levi fully trusted. Erwin was what one would call a good person. He was intelligent, tall - at least a foot taller than Levi's five foot three stature, and oh, how he hated him sometimes for it - good-looking, and quite generous. The downside to Erwin was that he had the tendency to want things to go his way. Levi couldn't really say anything, though, seeing as he himself was an often self-centered asshole with an extremely uncensored mouth and a generally irritated look. He couldn't help priding himself in it, though, watching people take a look at him and turn away, a bit too intimidated to talk to him.
Levi was sucked out of his train of thought when suddenly, an immense crowd exploded into the large entryway from every single possible place not visible from Levi's point of view, shouting a not-entirely-in-sync but hugely enthusiastic "Happy Birthday!"
Levi felt his face grow warmer as he recognized most of the faces, and a smile slowly spread across his lips, which quickly blossomed into a grin. He really hadn't expected so much.
"Fuck, Erwin, I don't deserve this," he muttered as a table with a large cake was rolled out into the dining room.
"It's for Christmas too, so don't worry about it," said Erwin. "I just thought it would be fun to have a small party for your birthday, and then I decided that since it was a holiday too, we could just have an even bigger party with, uh... everyone."
"Levi, I love you so much," exclaimed Hanji, who had just walked in, rubbing Levi's head and pulling him into a tight bear hug.
"God, Hanji, let go."
Erwin just laughed.
"Erwin... Is that mistletoe in the corner over there?" he asked incredulously.
"Oh, yes. That was Hanji's idea; she said you might have some plans with someone?"
God damn it, Hanji. "The monkey has no idea what she's talking about."
"Levi has a crush," piped in Hanji. "On a guy from my bakery," she added in a whisper. Levi kicked her in the shin, hard enough that she buckled down onto her knees. "God damn it! That hurt!"
Erwin chuckled. "Um, Levi, just so you know, don't do anything more than making out under the mistletoe, okay? You're all free to use the rooms upstairs if you have any further bodily urges, except for the ones that are locked. And as long as you clean up after you're done."
"I don't fucking -" Levi began to retort angrily, until he glimpsed Eren himself waving at him brightly from the room where most people were crowded around in, drinking and laughing and talking loudly. He was wearing a tight white button-up shirt tucked snugly into straight-legged jeans, although his hair was messily tousled as usual. Levi paled, then nervously waved back.
Erwin caught his line of vision. "Ahhh. That one. Good call, Levi, he's pretty cute."
Levi flushed, then was nearly knocked off his feet by Hanji, who had suddenly gotten up off the ground to push him in Eren's direction. "Go for it," she grinned.
"Damn you all..." he groaned.
"I'll tell him myself, if you won't," said Hanji, cupping a hand around her mouth. "Hey, E-"
"Shut up! God, does your ass ever get jealous of the amount of shit that comes out of your mouth?" snapped Levi irritably. "I'll be the one telling him, got it?" he continued, as he straightened up and began walking towards the man with those perfect, amazing green eyes.
"Good luck!" yelled Erwin behind him. Levi did his best to ignore him. "I bet they'll at least be making out by the end of the night," said Erwin to Hanji.
"I bet they'll be waking up in one of those guest bedrooms naked tomorrow," replied Hanji, causing them both to erupt in peals of laughter.
"I can still fucking hear you," growled Levi, turning his head to face them.
As he turned back, he was met with a shock as he found Eren standing directly in front of him. Shit, he thought to himself. What in the name of all things holy was he supposed to do now?
Eren was the one who opened his mouth first, grinning nervously as he spoke. "Um, well... I guess I should start by saying happy birthday, right?" He paused. "Happy birthday."
"Thanks," replied Levi, rubbing his nape uncomfortably and looking away, anywhere except into those eyes, like galaxies swirling in infinities of... Fuck. His face was growing brick red again - and it frustrated him even further that the top of his head only reached the bottom of Eren's god damned forehead. His thoughts were already flustered, but the place smelled like sweat and alcohol, and loud, bass-heavy, grungy music filled the rooms, distracting them yet further.
"Some party, huh?" smiled Eren. Levi looked up again, but turned his head away quickly, not able to maintain eye contact without making everything feel awkward and tense. Eren had a sweet, interesting smile; innocent yet playful, and there was something more about it that Levi couldn't quite place a finger on, a sort of wildness that he never failed to notice when he stopped by the bakery.
"Yeah." Levi coughed. "Do you want to go get a slice of cake?" he asked, still not risking a direct glance at him. Damn, that was stupid, he thought bitterly. He could have said just about anything else. So much for avoiding communication with people. He fucking knew it would backfire on him one day.
"Maybe later," said Eren, swaying over to the side and tilting his head so that he was able to see Levi's face. "I'm sort of not hungry right now."
Eren's movement had unfortunately forced Levi to finally look at him, that captivating asshole. He was too close to him for comfort, so Levi quickly took a step back.
"Do you wanna go get a drink at the mini-bar?" continued Eren.
Oh, he knew that there was something right about this guy.
"I could definitely use a beer or two," answered Levi, breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that the tension between the two had loosened up a bit. Alcohol was a great problem-solver (until you woke up with a pounding hangover and an unknown body under the covers next to you, which had happened to him once on the same night as Hanji had snapped that regrettable picture of him and the pole).
People were crowded around the bar - he still couldn't believe Erwin had a freaking bar in his house - like god damned flies around a pile of shit, leaving them a space barely wide enough for an ant to squeeze through. Levi pushed himself forcefully between the sweaty bodies. There was alcohol awaiting him at the end of this dark tunnel, he thought to himself as he cringed at the bodily odors surrounding him.
He felt Eren's upper body pressing against his, also trying to pass through the crowd. The boy was pretty muscular, he remarked. Finally arriving at the front of the mass with a great deal of pushing and shoving (and some nearly spilled drinks), Levi grabbed two cold beers. Holding them both in one hand, he got a third one, passing it to Eren.
"Guinness okay?" he asked him as he handed the bottle to him.
"Yeah, that's fine."
"Good. Let's get out of here," said Levi, pulling Eren away by the arm. He noted in a satisfied way that the other seemed quite willing to follow him. Hah. He was in control now. They made their way to an unoccupied couch on a side of the room where they had a slightly higher chance of being able to hear each other over the commotion and the music. Levi plopped down onto the cushions, pulling Eren down next to him.
"Tell me more about yourself, Eren," said Levi, taking a swig out of beer bottle number one. Glancing towards the younger man, he was a bit surprised to see Eren's cheeks starting to redden. He wasn't sure whether it was an effect of the claustrophobic heat and scents in the room or something else, but it pleased him nonetheless.
"You're twenty-seven," mumbled Eren, seemingly unsure of himself.
"I fucking know that, and I'm asking about you."
"Yeah, I know, I know!" exclaimed Eren, quickly becoming more distressed. "This isn't coming out the way it should."
"What are you getting to?" asked Levi, trying his best to hide a smirk.
"Um, well, I'm twenty-two. I guess you know this, but I work part-time at Hanji's... um, I guess you know that. Obviously," stammered Eren. "Idiot," he muttered to himself under his breath. Levi let an amused grin sweep across his lips, although he stayed quiet.
"Oh, here's something you don't know: I'm also in culinary school at Trost Culinary Institute," beamed Eren proudly.
Trost was right down the street from the bakery, and was well renowned for its chefs and bakers, so Levi assumed that attending there was no simple feat. "That's pretty impressive."
"I almost flunked out on the first day, though," Eren added, laughing. "It looked like I couldn't use a god damned electric mixer, but it turned out they had just given me a defective one. I got eggs and batter splattered all over myself, though, so I guess as far as first impressions go, mine wasn't a great one."
"The first time I saw you was at the bakery," murmured Levi thoughtfully, having only been halfway listening to Eren speak. He quickly realized that that sounded creepier than it was supposed to, and was about to say something else, but Eren was smiling, and his brain was momentarily turned into a pile of chocolate pudding (Baking on the mind, shit).
"And you kept coming back," added Eren, amused.
Levi made a sound between a scoff and a grunt. Reaching up to scratch his head as he often did in uncomfortable situations, he found that he was still wearing Hanji's shitty Santa hat. He tugged it off immediately, throwing it at Eren and glaring at it with hatred.
"Tell me why the fuck I was still wearing that stupid hat."
Eren burst into laughter, taking it into his hands. "You looked so adorable; I didn't want to say anything."
"Damn you, Eren," mumbled Levi as he took another sip of beer. He nearly choked on it when Eren unceremoniously shoved the Christmas hat back on his head. He slammed his beer back on the table and swiftly grabbed the younger man by the shoulders, pushing him down onto the couch as he chortled at Levi's discomfort.
"You little bitch," growled Levi.
"Bastard," corrected Eren. "It sounds more manly."
"Oh God, no."
"You know, I used to be pretty scared of you," said Eren, sitting up again and snatching the hat back. "You come in every single weekday at exactly the same time - it's pretty amazing, by the way, how you never come in more than a minute before or after nine o'clock - and you always wear that black leather jacket, and sometimes you have those spike bracelets you're wearing right now, and you never really smiled... To be honest, and no offense or anything, but you're a bit intimidating at first."
"I'm not generally a very joyous person," answered Levi. This was what everyone thought of him, so he couldn't really blame Eren for it. "And - listen, I'm sorry if I seemed really weird when I... When I, uh -"
"When you gave me your number?"
Levi flushed and downed another gulp of beer in a flimsy attempt to hide it. "Yeah."
"It's okay," said Eren quietly. Levi noticed that his green eyes were avoiding his gaze, and that his cheeks were rapidly gaining in color. "I... I sort of expected you to do something like that."
"Something like forcing you to take a crumpled receipt with my number on it and then running away?!"
"Well, not exactly like that, but... yeah."
"And why were you expecting that?"
"Well, you're pretty much the only person who never fails to come during my shift... Um, you sometimes take a bit of time to talk to me about, well, about things that are crappy around your café and people who bother you - and I notice you looking at me a lot when you're sitting at your table and eating your croissant."
"I do not! You're just always looking my way when I look your way, and..." Oh god, this was getting stressful, and he was having trouble coming up with more shit excuses. He desperately needed to change the subject. "You haven't taken a single sip of your beer. Drink."
Eren proceeded to obey with a small smile that infuriated Levi. He sat back on the couch and listened to the music that the DJ was playing, something older by Siouxsie and the Banshees. The song was almost over, though, and he caught Hanji sneak over to the DJ's table and whisper something in his ear. Fucking shit. The glasses monkey obviously had something in mind.
"I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden began playing, and Levi paled, putting down his bottle gently. It was now or never. Couples began to form, and he felt his stomach knot nervously. "Come," he ventured, staring at his beer.
"Where?" answered Eren.
Levi turned to him, incredulous. "Just... Do you want to dance?"
Eren blushed, hard. "It's a slow..."
"I fucking know, dimwit. It's a yes or no question, so -"
"Okay."
Levi's heart was beating about as fast as if it were on a sugar high. No, he thought, correcting himself. His heart was high on a desire for closer contact with Eren, enhanced by alcohol and the pungent scents of sweat and cake and the prospect of hopefully having accomplished something by the end of the night. Those ocean-green eyes had entranced him since the day Eren first began working at Hanji's back in September. He took his hand, pulling him up and dragging him toward the center of the floor, where people moved over to give them a bit of room in the midst of other tightly woven bodies.
Awkwardly, Levi placed his hands on Eren's shoulders, as Eren let his fall to Levi's waist. They began to sway to the music, slowly, uncertainly, but even so... Levi knew that he often acted emotionless and uncaring, but he enjoyed qualifying himself as a hopeless romantic fuck, and as the two gradually grew more comfortable with this contact with each other, he felt that there really was something sparking between them (he tried not to get his hopes up too much). He felt Eren's arms gradually wrapping around the small of his back, rubbing tiny circles onto his spine and making Levi tighten his hold on the younger man's upper body, snaking his arms around Eren's shoulders.
"Those bracelets really suit you," said Eren, smiling. "They're pretty sharp, though."
"They're for immediate self-defense if I ever catch you making any sketchy moves toward me as we're dancing."
"You - you don't have to worry about that," murmured Eren, blushing furiously.
Levi couldn't help but smile, chuckling lightly at the boy's awkward attempts at what really seemed like blatant flirting.
Tentatively, Levi leaned his forehead onto Eren's upper chest. When, instead of apprehension, he felt the boy pulling him even closer, he took the risk of resting the side of his head on Eren's warm shoulder. Their chests touched, and Levi breathed a sigh of contentment at the contact as he delicately closed his eyes. He could hear Eren's heart beating faster than anything underneath him, which only made his own grow more excited, and he drew a shaky breath.
Levi had taken control of the dance, leading them slowly away from the center of the room, his blurred mind recalling the mistletoe that he had noticed earlier.
"Where are we going?" breathed Eren. His breath was hot against Levi's hair, heavy with the aromas of mint and beer and vodka - he had obviously had some other drinks before Levi had arrived - and he pulled away to look at Levi with an intense gaze that screamed of want and of pure desire. Levi's heart clenched and seemed to be threatening to beat out of his body. He could just barely keep himself calm and composed; the boy was turning him into a delirious mess. He had to do something immediately, he thought as he continued leading them both to a secluded corner of the room.
"Eren," he whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Do you consider yourself to know me well enough for you to be willing do something small for me? For my birthday?" Levi kept his eyes locked on Eren, anticipating the worst (yet hoping for the best).
"I think so," laughed the younger man softly. "I've sort of watched you purchase a croissant from me and eat it every day for four months." He looked down, failing miserably to hide his embarrassment. "I couldn't help it."
"Then do me a favor," said Levi, running his fingers through the lower part of Eren's soft hair. Eren nodded, and Levi smiled at him for the second time that night, looking up at the mistletoe hanging from a red ribbon on the ceiling. Eren followed his gaze, then looked back down, flashing a nervous grin at Levi.
"What is it?"
Levi's voice dropped to a low whisper, trembling with contained exhilaration. "Let me kiss you."