The sound of a magnet whirling in solution fills the Bean Laboratory. The room small, enough for a single island table, it had a long counter to the east of the room with a window spanning above it. The fluorescent lights above were turned off and the sunlight filtered into the 6th floor.

Armin was sitting at the counter, a notebook with data sitting in front of him. That morning he'd pulled open a window to let the morning July air in, cooling him from his mandatory long pants and lab coat. His hair was pulled out of the way with a hair tie to keep it out of his eyes. When a timer beeped he checked the solution. Nodding he signed off on a step on his notebook, quieted the magnet, and began collecting the solution in a test tube. But before he could put the test tube in the centrifuge, the sound of the door in the quiet morning paused him.

He smiled when he saw Hanji's large goggles peeking out from the crack in the door.

"Here to check up on me? I've been here since eight," he teased.

"Don't let me stop you either! Sonny lab wants that data to finally report back to the doctors." Hanji didn't bother hiding the roll in their eyes at their own words. The research Armin was doing was a part of what Hanji viewed as mandatory work for the lab. Personally, they believed there was much more interesting research to be done. Armin was doing a study to support Tylenol in the face of Advil, it was work along the lines of 'what pill dissolves fastest?' and was drab compared to the 'fun' research they occasionally had the chance to do. But it was much easier to get grants when supporting a major pharmaceutical company than to take the leap and test the effects of marijuana on diseases.

Hanji let the door swing behind them, making a harsh noise that caused Armin to flinch.

Erwin was sitting at his desk, organizing the income and expenses of his six spas that sprawled across Illinois as well as small branches to states on the East and West Coast

At times the dead look in Erwin's eyes indicated a bad month in the business, but right now his eyes were temporarily closed before blinking open to continue working. He was exhausted.

His only hope was the break he'd get from paper work for his 4-5 appointment. Lately he really only worked the massage table for close friends, those like family. Erwin had long since dropped his usual customers to actual masseuses in his spas, at least ever since he'd first begun to be raised up to managerial positions.

A spike in income caught his attention at the Wings of Freedom spa in Chicago. He rolled back a bit, to get the paperwork to tell him how it happened. Looks like Rivaille was working overtime.

Erwin slightly frowned. He now regretted calling him up, Levi wouldn't be happy to do the job. When he got into the run of things, Levi flourished with his talents. It's not like Erwin will force him into it, but…

Putting it out of his mind, he replied to the complaints from managers and workers that his secretary couldn't answer themselves.

Washing his hands, Erwin then changed into his usual suit in the bathroom. Hanji was waiting for him across behind his desk, a sleepy, happy, smile on their face.

"Make sure to…"

"I'll drink lots of water! Don't worry about me, I got all the scientific details down Erwin." Their voice was loud as usual, but Hanji's hand gestures were lazy and stupid. They slumped in their chair, still feeling relaxed from the massage.

Erwin just gave them a knowing look as he sat down. Being a masseuse was gratifying in the way a person just melted under your hands. You can find someone's weak sore spots and make it all better. Even more gratifying was that when Erwin worked with someone who had a similar job, not exactly CEO of a company but at least when they worked at the desk; the spots they needed rubbed were the spots Erwin was sore at too. There was a small line between the jealousy of getting the massage and relief for the other person, knowing how stiff they were before they came.

"I've just been writing endless pleas for grants on interesting research! But I've been rejected from six different companies so far. I kinda get that I need to start searching for the money in California or Colorado, but there's always annoying protocol to deal with far away companies!" Hanji's head flopped back on the leather chair, and their legs folded underneath them. A small exasperated movement of the hands was only a fraction of the agitation they felt about the topic, but relaxation from a massage by Erwin didn't disappear when you stood up from the massage table.

The door opened, and Hanji twisted to look over the back of the chair.

"Levi!" Their eyes sparkled, "Erwin's going back to being a masseuse! No one likes stuffy desk jobs anyway. Getting your hands on it is where the real magic's at!"

Erwin looked at them kindly, but the hardness in his eyes was there.

"What do you need me for?" Levi asked, ignoring Hanji completely.

"One more run to check up on the managers," Erwin started, and if Levi didn't look so bored it'd be obvious how exasperated he felt.

"Of course," He strung out the o in of, but the s was concise. He lounged down on the small two seat sofa and had his legs swing up after him. The bottom of his shoes hung loosely because he wasn't trash that would dirty someone's things.

"I've just hired someone who's going to take over the job but he needs to be looked over while he does it. Just spend a week teaching him the ropes, then you'll go back to your schedule." Erwin said.

At this, Levi craned his neck left to stare at Erwin, scowling. Erwin didn't blink. Erwin's work was his work, and his friends were his friends. But they were separate and Erwin acted like it.

Sighing Levi said, "So who's the recently graduated business major shithead I have to babysit?"

"Actually it's a recently graduated communications major, and you'll meet him next Thursday. You'll leave with him next Monday to California. Sharing hotel rooms, sorry."

"Right" Levi said, getting up and stretching his ands above his head. "I've got an appointment now so if we're done…" he made his way out.

Erwin nodded at the closing door, glad he got that over with, and glanced down to see Hanji asleep on the chair.

Armin tapped his pen against the desk. His hand was jerking, and his leg shaking. Every couple minutes his eyes jumped to the clock on the wall and only the pressing silence kept him from breaking it with a frustrated groan.

At first when he saw Hanji wasn't in their office at six he simply sat down to run some statistics and data organization he was planning to do on his bus home. But now he was done, and they still hadn't come back. He knew they had to come back at seven to do a final look over of their lab, but he'd planned to be home by six. His lunch had gone on a little longer than expected, it had taken him a little longer to get back into his lab afterwards, and everything had added up to him working more than eight hours without overpay if he left now.

He also had to lock up some expensive machines, and couldn't do it until they came back with the key.

He'd decided to sit in the hallway in front of their office, and was feeling gross. Long day, and his neck was sore from keeping the window open too long.

Armin felt hope when he heard the elevator ding, and lo and behold it wasn't a janitor but Hanji walking through the door. They looked happy and relaxed, until Hanji noticed Armin sitting there.

"Oh noo! Shoot Armin, have I left you out there all day? What do you need?"

"The key to room 74." Hanji opened her office, and quickly handed it to him.

When Armin came back with the key, Hanji was on the phone and gave Armin a sign to wait. She excitedly hung up and turned to him.

"You won't believe the massage I had today. You get all those kinks from working right? And I mean kinks in your neck," They winked at that, "So I feel super bad about not leaving a message about being late, so I decided to sign you up for a massage! It's all paid for, I get a special friends/family discount, and you won't believe yourself afterwards."

They had said it all very fast without pausing for breath. Armin wasn't sure he understood what they meant.

"So here's the card! Show up there at Tomorrow at eight am, and you better! Don't cancel on my friends!"

Armin took the card.

"I-I mean, thanks? Hanji, you really don't have to…? Umm… I'm grateful for this?" Armin, well, I wouldn't say what he was doing was speaking coherently, but he got the meaning across anyway.

"Noo problem!" Hanji said, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

Armin stepped into Wings of Freedom, and his eyes didn't have to adjust as the dawn light outside was mirrored with a calming atmosphere in the spa. A lady sat at the desk, her eyes dead tired, but she offered up a smile anyway and quietly asked if Armin had an appointment. He was then led to the changing room, where Armin changed into a bathrobe, only leaving his black briefs on underneath.

He was glad they gave out large lockers to hold his things, his back-pack was filled with research journals and notes, as he planned to head into work right after the massage.

Uncertainly leaving the room, he was met with a tall fit man. He was blonde too and his eyes seemed to be the same blue color as Armin's. He was wearing a white uniform, giving him a crisp clean look.

"Hello, I'm Erwin Smith. Are you Armin?" Armin nodded "Please come this way. I see Hanji recommended you for the back massage."

"Ya," Armin wasn't sure what to say, seeing as the quiet calm spa didn't really encourage being outspoken. He tried anyway, "How do you know Hanji?"

"Old college friend," He said with a small smile. Armin could see it because he was craning his neck to see his face as they walked through the spa.

"Hmm," was Armin's response. They had gotten to a room with a massage table.

"I'll leave for a moment so you can take your robe off and lay down under the blanket. Just quickly," and at this Erwin faced Armin and put his hands on his shoulder, pressing down slightly, "most people are slightly uneven when they stand and I take that into account with my massages."

Armin stood straight and waited. He was absolutely dwarfed by him. Looking straight ahead avoiding Erwin's eyes., he stared at the man's chest. It was a really nice one, he probably worked out. Armin's body was built petit and he was fine with it now, although a couple years ago he'd seriously tried to keep up with his childhood friend Eren by lifting and trying to bulk up.

Erwin let go.

"I'll be back soon,"

The door closed behind him and Armin placed his robe in a small closet that Erwin had indicated when explaining to him what to do. He the scooted up onto the table, laying down on his stomach and letting his face fall into a pillow with the special little hole that let him breath.

He sighed. It was still early morning, and laying down in a cool room with his eyes closed, soft music playing quietly, he expected himself to be asleep by the time Erwin came back.

His body melted and relaxed into the table, and he waited for Erwin.

...

The next thing he was aware of was warm hands on his back.

He shuddered awake, remembering where he was and realizing that he really had dozed off. Erwin's hands were on him. His thumbs were stroking forcefully against Armin's upper back.

"Tell me to go harder or softer," Erwin said.

His thumbs continued stroking down and across his shoulders, pushing Armin onto the table. He applied his strength onto him, but it wasn't painful and so Armin said nothing. Erwin used his palms to squeeze his deltoids and it almost felt reassuring, then his hands went back to following the natural curve of Armin's back. He massaged up to his neck, smoothing out any wrinkles in Armin's skin and using the prints of his fingers to put pressure at the top of his neck, slowly pulling back to his back. Awkwardly, Armin could feel his skin and a small amount of fat on his back shift with Erwin's hands.

There was a short reprieve, and without the pressure Armin felt himself relax onto the table. Throughout the massage he had become tenser without noticing, reacting to sensitive or sore spots.

But then Erwin's hands returned onto Armin's middle back, now warm with lotion, and the unexpected touch caused Armin to tense again; But his hands didn't pause, continuing to sweep down Armin's back as if he was stroking wings imprinted on his back.

Armin fell into a cycle between feeling relaxed and tensing up again. It's not that the pressure was too strong, but his body automatically tensed up half way through his middle back, only to melt again when he got to his lower back.

Then Erwin used the knuckles on his hand to press a particular point on one side of his back, and Armin let out a small groan as his body tensed up under the pressure. A couple seconds later Erwin let go, and Armin slumped to recover when Erwin moved to put pressure on his right side, and Armin groaned again.

It felt so good. But it was tiring to react to the massage in such a jumpy way. He wanted to drift off again, but every couple minutes Erwin found another knot on his back and Armin reacted.

When Erwin started focusing on his lower back, he blushed. He was sensitive there, and the slow brushes of his hands, not to mention oiled up and warm, caused him to tense from sensitivity and not from stressed muscles.

But Armin didn't tell him to stop and kept his whine silent. He shivered of arousal.

Erwin's fingers brushed against Armin's boxers, and Armin automatically pushed his hips forward, the calming massage suddenly making him alert and slightly frantic to control his breathing.

He was done with his lower back and instead focused on relaxing Armin's hands. He felt himself relax again, since he thought his arousal wasn't stemmed from anything sexual but as a natural reaction. His mind wandered away, and he drifted.

Erwin's hands left his back.

"You can lay there as long as you like, but I'll be back with some water."

Armin heard the door open and close, and stretched up on the massage bed. He was spent, happy, melted, and didn't want to ever get up again. A couple silent second went by and then he forced himself up to get his robe, ignoring the small stain of precome drying on his boxers, and sat down on the massage bed to wait for Erwin.

Knocking on the door to ask if he was decent, Erwin handed him a cup while explaining several detoxifying effects of a massage. Armin couldn't help asking a couple questions like if he'd read any journals on circulation and the lymphatic system, feeling uplifted by the passionate look in Erwin's eyes as he replied. Then they said their goodbyes, and Armin left to the changing room.