Eren's heart swells with excitement as she, accompanied by a quiet Armin, walks around the lot, looking for Studio 5.
She still can't believe that her first big acting role is in a Mike Zacharias movie. She's admired his work for years, his intricate portrayals of human flaws and raw emotions somehow perfectly reflected in two mere hours, and now she's starring in it.
With Levi Ackerman.
As if gaining a huge role in a huge scriptwriter and producer's film wasn't enough to make her soul explode with happiness, her costar is Levi Ackerman, the crazily talented aloof actor who inspired her career (and who she's had a huge crush on for-practically-ever since his role as badass demon slayer Eric (just Eric) alongside the late Farlan Church and Isabel Magnolia in Of Blood and Bones, a Keith Shadis classic, a little over a decade ago).
Armin's voice invades her thoughts of sunny flower gardens, unicorns and rainbows, and Levi's pale toned abdomen. "Eren, watch-"
She collides into something hard that's around the same size as she is, and a hot liquid splatters onto her light turquoise sweater. She immediately looks down to see the strong-smelling substance on both her and the violet button-down of the person before her, a takeout Dunkin Donuts cup crushed in the person's hand.
Her eyes widen with worry and she starts sputtering. "I-I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where-"
"Ungraceful fucking brat can't fucking pay attention." The monotonous voice tugs at Eren's heartstrings and she looks up to see him scowling at her before he lets the cup fall to their feet and storms to the left.
That was Levi Ackerman.
She spilled coffee on Levi Ackerman.
"Way to make a first impression." she mutters.
"It's not entirely your fault," Armin says softly with a reassuring tone as he picks up the discarded cup. "He didn't move out of the way either."
She sighs. "Just don't tell Mikasa about this. She'll be all like 'I told you he was a good for nothing jackass. You should crush on someone who's actually worth your time'."
The blond chuckles. "I won't, I promise. Now let's go find the director. I'm not your agent just to have that title, and I'm not here just to watch you bump into people and spill their drinks."
After only a few days, the director, the award-winning Zoe Hange, takes a liking to her and always gets excited when they cross paths. Her makeup artist, Krista, is really sweet, and Eren's quite certain that Armin has a bit of a crush on her. One of her costars, Marco, has the most amazing smile that Eren has ever seen and a polite and bubbly personality to match it. She meets Mike himself, who is well mannered and compliments her perfume choice of Tease by Victoria's Secret (and she doesn't fangirl until she's back at her and Mikasa's apartment and holding one of her pillows to her face).
To put it simply, she gets along well with everyone.
Except Levi.
He doesn't get along with anyone, really, but he treats everyone with respect.
Except Eren.
He always glares at her, ignores her when she tries to talk to him, and he purposely calls her "Irene" because he knows it irritates her since that isn't actually her name. She really wants to be rude in return, but her infatuation that refuses to go away prevents her from doing anything other than hate herself for wanting him.
It sucks that they're going to have to kiss.
They get to recording after about a month or so of script memorization, set up, and Hange's version of team-building, which was really just her excuse to put off any real work, order a lot of pizza, and talk everyone's ears off.
Felicity is about a teenage girl named, of course, Felicity whose mother and stepfather abuse her (and Mike, as per usual did a magnificent job at capturing both the physical and emotional aspects of it without shoving anything down the viewer's throat). No one knows about it. Not her best friend Alex, played by Marco. Not her lover, the august AP English teacher Mister Miles Henderson, played by Levi. Unlike Eren, Felicity is good at keeping secrets and hiding her emotions.
It starts off in the midst of the action, Oluo Bozado in 'abusive asshole mode', as the man called it at the read-through, yelling at Felicity about waking up ten minutes too late. Eren can't help but appreciate how well he's doing, and she worries that she won't be able to meet the high standard he's setting.
Apparently she does, because after all of their lines are said and Hange cuts the scene, he tells her, "You're doing a really good job so far. You know, for your first real role and all."
After a few changes of wardrobe, hair, and makeup (she still can't believe she's wearing a Charlotte Tilbury product on her face), they film a few more 'action' scenes in the decently-sized urban house (with cold ceramic tiles that never fail to send a chill through Eren's skin when she forces herself down onto them) rented out for the movie. The process is tedious, black, blue, purple, and reddish special effects makeup sometimes having to be added to her face and arms between everything Oluo or Petra throw at her and having to do retakes when one of them fucks up (which happened quite frequently because Petra kept getting worried that she was being either too mean or not mean enough).
Though annoying, it feels amazing.
The next scene, chronologically, is with Levi.
Felicity walks into Mister Henderson's empty classroom, and instead of greeting her with a "Good morning" like a decent human being, he says "You don't look like Felicity."
"Excuse me?"
"Cut," Hange sighs from her chair. "Levi, come on. Don't do this."
"You look like you're pretending to be the character. You need to look like you are the character. No one is going to view you as a proper actress if your performance makes sub par seem like perfection. Stop being Irene trying to be Felicity and start being Felicity."
Usually she'd protest, but she can't gather the courage to challenge the steely gaze of those silver eyes. So she instead mumbles, "My name is Eren."
"No, your name is Felicity. You're a seventeen year old girl with a horrible living situation. You're dating your English teacher for some fucking reason, and your best friend's name is Alex. You make great grades and you work as a waitress at a local diner. The rest of your character depth is up to you, and you need to fucking develop it quick or this is going to turn into a shit show. We can't have a weak lead. Now, we're starting over."
"Hey, I'm the director here!" Hange whines. "I dictate this stuff, not you."
He waves a dismissive hand at her.
It takes them two days and twenty-three takes to get that scene done because Levi keeps interrupting and giving harsh critiques.
Eren takes Levi's words to heart. She spends hours re-reading the script to try and analyze who Felicity is. Her communications with minor characters and her parents show that she has an exceptional amount of respect and shows it to even those who don't deserve it. The way she speaks to Alex shows confidence and compassion; it's clear that he means a lot to her, and she'd do anything for him. Interactions with Miles reveal a big heart - she genuinely loves him dearly, but she isn't clingy about it. She's kind and caring, and she portrays herself as if she doesn't have any problems.
But her internal monologues... If you read between the lines, you'll see that they strip her of her facade and expose her insecurity.
But there's no context, damn it! Mike's convolution doesn't say what she's insecure about! You can barely even tell it's there! How the hell is she supposed to develop her character if there's nothing to work off?
She slams the script onto the kitchen table - her head following - and groans.
"Krista?" Eren asks as the blonde dots foundation on her face. "Do you think I'm a bad actress?"
The petite girl looks a bit startled by the question. "No. Why would I think that? Not just anyone can make it into a Zacharias movie, you know. You're very talented, and you're very pretty, too. You've got everything it takes to make it in Hollywood."
"You think so? Then why does Levi hate me so much?"
Krista covers her mouth with her fingertips and she giggles. "You're seriously worried about what that stick in the mud thinks?"
"He's my idol and coworker, of course I do."
"Eren, he's like that to everyone. I've heard he's always been like that. If no one meets his standards, he'll either reshape them so that they do or just ignore their existence completely. You should be glad he didn't walk out immediately, especially because you spilled his coffee on him on the first day."
"Please don't remind me of that."
Krista smiles and starts blending the foundation with a dampened sponge. "Sorry, but it's true. He clearly sees your potential."
"My acting potential is different from me as a person."
"Not entirely, but I know what you're saying. Maybe he doesn't like you as a person, I don't know, but he can see that you have what it takes to be great, so he's helping you improve to make sure it happens. And even if Levi doesn't like your skill, Mike does, and that's really what matters. It isn't Levi's movie. And really, it isn't Mike's either. You're Felicity, after all."
Marco sits down in the chair next to Eren, slinging a backpack down onto the ground between them. "Hey, can I come over after school? My brother's gonna have his weirdo band mates over, and I don't want to smell whatever plant they wind up setting ablaze."
"You don't have to be so formal about it, idiot, of course you can."
"That sounded too forced," Levi speaks up from outside the classroom where he's supposed to be waiting for his cue instead of criticizing Eren. "Try again."
"Cut," Hange sighs, "Damn it, Levi. She sounded fine."
The raven's face appears in the doorway. "No, she didn't. She sounded like a fucking robot. Irene, your lines should flow smoothly; Alex is Felicity's closest friend, so talk to Marco as if you've known him forever. You aren't being forced to say those lines, they're coming naturally. Do over, now."
Hange mumbles to herself before telling everyone to get back into starting position, and Eren wonders why Mike isn't speaking up on Levi's bossiness.
"Marco?" Eren asks, approaching the boy trying to decide between a salad of star-shaped fruits or a perfectly-wrapped chicken sandwich.
"Polo." he responds, looking at her with a bright grin on his face that Eren can't help but return.
"Um, can I ask you something?"
The boy slightly furrows his brows in both concern and curiosity. "Sure, what's up?"
"Do you, uh.. think that I'm.. bad at acting..?"
"Of course not. You're really talented. Why, do you think you're a bad actress?"
"I mean, I didn't, at first.."
"Are you letting Levi get to you?"
Damn it.
"Maybe..?"
Marco laughs; it'd be contagious any other time. "You shouldn't. I think he just likes being a jerk to people. For someone with so little experience, you're so good at what you do. No one's perfect, you know? You'll get even better down the road, once you land more roles and all. Don't worry too much about it. But if you're so concerned about what he thinks, why not just ask him?"
Eren ponders this for a moment, watching Marco finally choose the fruit salad. "I think I'll do that, yeah. Thanks, Marco."
She joins Marco for lunch, taking his idea of a fruit salad, but replacing his choice of vitamin water for a diet cola. After eating, she looks to where Levi is seated next to Mike and across from Hange, the latter's mouth moving seemingly nonstop, only stopping to take a large bite of her double cheeseburger. Levi's slumped shoulders seem to be an indication of annoyance, so Eren concludes that now probably isn't the best time to potentially bother him further, since he seems to hate her so much already.
Felicity sits on the edge of Miles' desk, watching as he grades a student's paper (and they actually went through the effort of making a real test).
"You're too tense," Levi says in his not-Miles voice, making Hange groan dramatically and throw her head back (also dramatically).
"Cut! Levi. Seriously. Why haven't I fired you yet?"
He ignores her. "I'm not entirely sure why you're uncomfortable or how you managed to make such a natural position look forced, but I suggest you loosen up unless you want this to look like shit."
"She looks fine, Levi."
"No, she doesn't."
"Okay," Eren says slowly so that she doesn't set herself - or worse, Levi - off. "since I'm such a poor actress in your eyes, why don't you coach me? Teach me how to get in touch with my character better. Help me with whatever you think needs improvement."
Levi looks her up and down, going from her emerald eyes to the pink gloss on her lips, the chocolate-brown loose curls framing her face, the red long-sleeved shirt on her torso, her arms folded across her chest, the white jeans on her legs, and the red and white Kevin Durant's on her feet and back again. He's trying to read her, she realizes. It makes Eren uncomfortable, and Levi knows it, too, because his bored eyes get some weird flicker in them.
He hums and looks to Hange. "Another take. Now."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Changed into navy jean shorts and a black Kid Cudi t-shirt turned muscle shirt and face freshly cleansed, Eren exits her trailer to be greeted by Levi.
"You have nice skin." he says after quietly examining her for the second time today, but his monotonousness refuses to show if he means it or not.
"Um..., thanks?" He has nice skin, too, but she wasn't going to say that to him.
The man holds out a piece of paper. "This is a monologue I had my friend Gunther whip up for you. He's a mystery and science fiction author, so I expected confusion and subterfuge, and he of course gave. You're to analyze this and find out what it means and what kind of person the speaker is. I expect annotations in the margins and a summary on the other side of the page. Your handwriting better be neat. I'm aware that everyone interprets things differently, so don't worry too much about being correct. Your answer will determine whether or not you're worth my time. Give it back next time we see each other. Have a nice weekend."
He walks away. Eren stares at the printing on the page. She really has to analyze a monologue? Since when did Levi become a high-school English teacher? And does he really think she has nice skin?
Later that evening, Eren makes Mikasa and Armin read the paper, grumpily munching on perfectly salted greasy fries as she waits for their inputs.
"He's really making you study this?" the raven-haired girls asks as she looks up, picking up her Coke and taking a sip after speaking.
"Yeah. I feel like I'm back in school. Last time I checked, I have a high school diploma."
"That's weird." Mikasa looks over at the man next to her. "What do you think, Armin?"
"I do think the idea is ridiculous," he says, handing the paper back to Eren. "but he knows what he's doing."
"What do you think it means?" Eren asks.
"The meaning is subjective. You'll have to write what you personally think. Levi said that himself, didn't he?"
Eren is tempted to throw her chicken nuggets across the room.
She spends all day Saturday taking down notes with a blue pen in her neatest possible penmanship, and she writes the summary Sunday morning. Her and Mikasa then spend the rest of the day playing Smash.
On Monday, she cautiously approaches Levi's trailer with the paper in hand. She stares at the door for a moment before knocking. Levi definitely doesn't seem like a morning person, and she's horrified her presence will ruin his mood.
A tall man with silky blond hair pulled back by a silver claw clip opens the door. Eren assumes him to be Levi's manager, and she thinks she recognizes him from the gaming tourney she went to last year.
"Um, I was told to give this to Levi.." she slowly holds out the paper.
The man takes the paper, confusion written all over his face. He then scans over it and the puzzlement turns into a smile. "Right, this. I'll give it to him, you go get ready."
"Thanks."
Her and Marco are seated on a very comfortable mattress, textbooks, papers, bottles of Sprite, and open bags of non-specific-brand potato chips (because you can't have too much product placement in one scene) before them.
Marco groans and dramatically throws his pencil onto the lavender comforter. "Why the fuck is this shit so fucking hard?" Hearing Marco curse is odd, since he never uses profanities when talking as Marco. Yet somehow the foul words roll off his tongue so smoothly. His acting is truly marvelous.
"It's AP Biology. Did you expect it to be easy?"
"Normal biology was easy."
"Because it wasn't a college course. What question are you on? I might be able to help out."
"Felicity Anne!" The door opens, revealing Petra in a nice-looking tan pantsuit. Her usually kind eyes have a small gleam of irritation in them that quickly vanishes once she sees Marco. "Oh, hello, Alexander."
"Ma'am." Marco says politely.
"Felicity, dear," Petra sounds sweet, but there's an edge in her voice that screams pure annoyance. Her skills are also very admirable. "you were supposed to make dinner tonight. Kyle and I were working late, remember?"
Eren looks at the digital clock across the room. "Crap. I'm sorry, Mom, we were so caught up in homework.."
"It's perfectly fine," the ginger smiles. "We can just order something. Will you be joining us, Alex?"
"Please. 'Kaleidoscopic Junkyard' has infiltrated home base and are probably poisoning the air supply."
Petra giggles at the statement and nods. "All right then. Dinner for four. Pizza or Chinese?"
Marco and Eren shrug.
"I'll surprise you then." She closes the door and walks away.
"Dude," Marco says once the footsteps are out of earshot. "What the hell happened to your mom? She used to be so cool. Now she seems like she needs to get the pole out of her ass. Who the fuck cares that you didn't cook dinner? Isn't your education important? They can cook it themselves, can't they?"
"The new job is just stressing her out. There's a lot of pressure on her." Eren says quickly, going back to filling out the assignment sheet with bullshit answers.
Marco silently stares at her for a moment before taking her lead.
"I took your advice," Eren says after unwrapping a BLT. "I asked Levi if he'd help me improve my acting, since he seems to hate it so much."
The freckled boy looks up from his cell phone. "Yeah? How'd it go?"
"He gave me a monologue to analyze."
Marco arches a brow. "He.. what?"
"Yeah, I know. It's crazy."
"Why did he make you do something so.. so.. inane?"
"I don't know, he's weird. Super hot and talented, but weird. I gave it to the guy in his trailer earlier, and I haven't seen him yet today, so I haven't gotten answer. He just said that it'll let him see if I'm worth his time."
"Huh."
On her way to her trailer, she runs into Levi (not literally this time - thankfully, because he is holding a drink again).
"Ah, Irene," he says. "Eld gave me your analysis."
She doesn't correct him. "Oh, I'm glad. I was a little worried he may have forgotten or just threw it away."
"No, no, I did the good deed of throwing it away."
"Excuse me? Why the hell would you do that?"
"It was shit. You really do need my help, so I will coach you. We can talk about it after we film. Go get ready. You look really nice when you're wearing that stuff on your lips. Brings out your eyes."
He walks away.
Eren then asks Krista what lip gloss she's been putting on her to find out that it's Laura Mercier. She's going to have to splurge a little next time she goes shopping. Mikasa probably isn't going to be happy.
Levi tells Eren to read over the script again and write about what she thinks about Felicity, similar to what she did with the monologue. He gives her a week to complete it.
One week definitely isn't enough time, though, because Eren has been reading over the script for months and still has no idea what type of person Felicity truly is. When she tells Levi this, he bluntly says "There's your problem." and puts an end to the conversation.
She asks Marco first.
"Hm.. Well, I think Felicity is like the living version of the phrase 'The saddest people smile the brightest', you know?"
She then becomes concerned, since Marco has the most brilliant smile to ever grace the earth, so she asks if the 'Jean' person he's always talking so fondly about is his abusive boyfriend. Marco's face and neck turn a cherry color and he starts sputtering. Eren asks if she said something wrong.
Then she asks Hange, who just laughs at her and then starts talking about her pet mice.
Krista just shrugs and begins cleaning Eren's face, and Mike just smiles at her.
She asks Armin in the car.
"She seems kind of like Cinderella to me, but that isn't what's important. You're Felicity, so you decide what type of person she is."
She asks Mikasa during dinner.
"Eat your lasagna, Eren."
The first 'kissing scene' is in Miles' apartment. It isn't the basis of the scene; in fact, the scene is relatively short, so it shouldn't have too many takes, maybe only three at most (but with Levi there, it could very well take up to ten times to do something so small).
Felicity first knocks on the burgundy door, and Miles answers after a moment. Eren is supposed to immediately pull Levi down into a kiss (Hange made sure the ground was leveled to where Levi would seem taller - "Fuck you." Levi had courteously said when Hange giggled at how small he is), but she felt far too much fear when looking into those stunning grey eyes.
Hange cuts the scene. "Eren! What the hell?"
"I'm sorry, I.. I just.. I won't do it again, promise."
She does it the second time, and she frankly can't believe how soft Levi's lips are.
The rest of the scene flows very smoothly, the taste of Levi mixing with the vanilla of her gloss and creating a small buzzing feeling on her lips (and there are a whole lot of butterflies in her stomach).
Eren starts writing about Felicity that evening. The paper starts with what she'd first thought: she's an extremely kindhearted person, but she's hurt on the inside. She mentions how intelligent Felicity is, and how she's also very hardworking.
But she has to stop there, because that's all she can figure out.
It's no wonder Levi doesn't like her acting.
They film more scenes of Felicity and her parents. In the first one, she and her mother are talking about school. It seems totally normal until she brings up making a 'B' on an important exam. Then the shit hits the fan.
The next one is just Kyle yelling at her (and they have to re-do it a few times because Oluo keeps stopping and laughing at how ridiculous he sounds (Eren joins him the first couple of times, mainly because his laughter is quite contagious) and because he bit his tongue in one of the takes).
The third one is probably the most important to the plot. Felicity decides to sass back Kyle (which Eren totally applauds her for). He of course gets super pissed off, so he roughly grabs her waist (except the way Oluo was actually holding her hurt less than that time Reiner threw a marshmallow at her to get her attention, which didn't really hurt at all), then he leans in really close (he's supposed to smell like alcohol, but he actually smells like peppermint and blood) and says some shit about him being the authority in that tone that sounds nice but it's clearly rude and condescending. The importance of that scene comes in later in the movie, in a scene not yet filmed where Alex notices the bruises on Felicity's hips. Then the plot begins approaching its conclusion.
After filming the scenes, she asks Oluo and Petra what they think.
"I think she's very strong," Petra says. "It takes a lot to put up with everything that happens to her. I can't really say much else. You're the one who gets to decide what kind of person she is, since you are her."
Oluo nods in agreement.
Eren is half-naked in another scene, and boy is she glad Mikasa makes her work out. Felicity stares at herself in the full-body mirror, paying attention to the bruises on her face, arms, and torso. Krista's makeup skills are amazing; everything looks so real. Everything is quiet. There's going to be an internal monologue about what she sees added over the scene in post-production.
She runs a hand over one of the bruises, her fingertips grazing it ever so gently. A silent sigh escapes her as she looks lower at her breasts. At first she was a bit skeptical of that shade of blue, but now she realizes that the royal color is definitely good on her skin tone.
She briefly wonders what Levi would think about the sight, sans the faux marks on her body.
Nerves overtake her as Levi reads what she wrote about Felicity. There was very little written on the page, and she's pretty sure he's read it at least seven times over now. He finally looks up at her, and he doesn't seem impressed. Granted, he always looks unimpressed.
"Give me your phone." he says.
"What? Why?"
"Just give it."
She confusedly pulls her phone out of her bag, unlocks it, and hands it to him. Thankfully she'd just recently switched her background from a picture of Levi shirtless to one of her, Armin, and Mikasa at the beach or else the man would have a lot of questions and probably dislike her even more.
Eren quietly watches as Levi does something (hopefully not looking through her pictures because she has so many of him and wow that'd be embarrassing). After what feels like forever, he hands it back to her.
"You have a pretty smile." he says before walking off.
She's in Heaven for a moment before she realizes that Levi Ackerman just went through her phone. An alert pops up that says to text Levi. She's extra confused now, so she goes to her contacts to see that there is now one simply named 'Levi' (now he probably thinks she's weird because she has Bertholdt named 'Big Teddy Bear' and his name is the third one in her list so it's pretty hard to miss).
Suppressing a scream, she sends the number a quick '?' and puts the phone back in her bag.
She has Levi Ackerman's number.
After filming on Friday, she gets a text from Levi.
This is my address. Be there tomorrow by one exactly. Bring your script.
Then his address is listed.
"Holy shit."
"What?" Armin asks, glancing over from the driver's seat.
"He gave me his address."
"Who..?"
"Levi!" she squeals. "Oh my gosh, Armin, can you believe this? I have Levi Ackerman's address!"
"I don't think Mikasa is going to like that.." the man mumbles.
He's right, as per usual.
"He may just want to get into your pants. You're either not going or I'm going with you."
"Damn it, Mikasa, stop babying me! I'm an adult, I can take care of myself."
"Eren, he could hurt you."
"He hasn't done it yet, so I'm pretty sure he isn't going to, ever. Besides, he hates me, why would he want to sleep with me? Plus you have work! Rent needs to get paid, and we've got to eat. I'll be fine, seriously."
"...Fine, but at least take Armin with you."
"Are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?' Armin asks as Eren gets out of the car.
"Yes, I'm sure. And if Mikasa asks, just say I'm too busy to talk. It'll be the truth anyway. I doubt he invited me over for nothing."
Armin is silent for a moment. "Alright. Call me when you want me to pick you up."
She nods and walks up to the black door of the apartment. The engine of Armin's car is still close; he's probably waiting until she's inside to leave. Slowly, she raises her fist and knocks on the wood.
The door opens brief moments later, and Eren has to remember to breathe when she sees Levi in nothing but black skinny jeans, socks to match, and a contrasting white muscle shirt. She'd never before seen him dress so casually on purpose.
"There's a bell, you know."
Eren glances over to the button a few centimeters away from the door frame. She hadn't noticed it.
"Excuse me for being old fashioned."
He stares at her for a bit, clearly seeing right through her, before letting her inside (and out of the corner of her eye she sees him give Armin a small wave before closing the door).
"Shoes off."
She'd like to keep her sandals on, but she obliges and takes them off anyway, leaving them by the door.
"What kind of tea do you like?" he asks, walking into what is most likely the kitchen.
"Uh.. the normal kind..?"
Levi turns his head, giving her a blank stare that sends her nerves the largest wave of anxiety she's felt in a long while.
"I'll make vanilla." he says bluntly before continuing his venture into the room.
Usually she just buys a bottle of Red Diamond; she had no idea there was more variations of tea than sweetened and unsweetened. Vanilla tea? That sounds... interesting. Vanilla is tasty, and tea is tasty, so she's sure she'll like it.
Being the gallant man he is, Levi doesn't ask how much sugar she'd like (which would truthfully be a lot, please) and brings her the ivory porcelain teacup once the tea is prepared.
Eren thanks him and takes a sip, pretending that the scolding hot water isn't setting her tongue on fire. It tastes absolutely magnificent, and she's almost tempted to close her eyes to help savor the rich flavor.
"You brought your script, right?" Levi asks, sitting next to her on the couch and setting his cup on a coaster on the coffee table.
She nods and says "It's in my bag." before also placing her cup on a black knit coaster and picking up the pink-red cordovan hobo bag that was at her feet. Levi watches as she does this, so she makes sure her multiple Subway and Taco Bell receipts, tube of the lip gloss he said he liked on her, and emergency tampons don't make contact with his line of vision when she pulls out the script. Those aren't the only things in the bag, they're just the ones that would traumatize her if he saw them.
He holds out a hand, and Eren reluctantly places the papers in it. It's silent for a few moments as he flips through the pages.
"No wonder you don't know your character," he says when he's about halfway through the script - it looks around when Felicity and her mother are actually somewhat enjoying each other's company as they make strawberry-banana smoothies. "You're not even trying to."
"Excuse me? I have too been trying. I've been trying non-fucking-stop!"
Cool and collected as ever, Levi just arches a brow. "Doesn't look like it. You haven't written any notes or accented anything important. The monologue I gave you was a warm up, a hint that that's what needs to be done."
"You don't seriously expect me to actually do that, do you?"
The look in his eyes tells her that he does.
Fuck him.
"That's what you'll be doing today, then," he states. "I can help you if you'd like, but you have to do most of the thinking yourself. My perception doesn't really matter, since you are Felicity," He turns the pages back to the beginning and hands her the script back. "Let's get to it."
Eren gives up after an hour. They're only five pages in. The two of them have analyzed each line and even discussed potential background meanings.
She still doesn't really get it.
"It's only difficult because you're making it difficult." Levi says in a bored tone that's laced with subtle aggravation.
"I'm not the one who wrote the damn thing."
"You don't have to be an artist to understand art, Irene. Yes, artists understand art better than those who aren't artists, but you can still comprehend and appreciate a creation without being the creator. How about instead of focusing on Felicity herself, we look at those she cares about and work from there?"
Eren has no idea what that would do to help her situation, but she nods anyway because she trusts him wholeheartedly.
Levi flips a few pages and stops on the scene of Alex and Felicity talking about him escaping Kaleidoscopic Junkyard's antics. "What kind of person is Alex?" he asks.
"That's for Marco to decide, isn't it?"
"Yes, but what kind of person do you think Alex is?"
She thinks for a moment. "Well.. He seems really cool, like someone who'll go down with Felicity no matter what, but not because he's in love with her. Sweet, but he has an attitude. And.. he's really nerdy?" Very similar to Marco himself, she realizes.
"And what kind of person do you think would hang out with someone like that?"
"Um.. One who's relatively similar? Or maybe someone manipulative who'd want to take advantage of his loyalty?"
"Which one of those is Felicity?"
"The first one for sure."
"Okay," he flips a page further to an interaction between Felicity and Miles. "and what kind of person do you think Miles is?"
"You won't yell at me if I think differently than you?"
He rolls his eyes. "No."
"I think he seems like someone who's too good to be true, and I don't think that needs elaboration."
If Levi feels anything about that, he doesn't show it. "All right, and what kind of person would someone like that be in love with?"
"I don't know. Maybe he falls in love easily. Maybe she manipulated him."
"You don't know much about love do you?"
Eren shakes her head and Levi hums. Then he quietly flips over a few pages.
"Her parents?"
"They're shitty, ungrateful assholes, and because Felicity hasn't been convicted of third-degree murder, she definitely doesn't deserve what they're doing to her."
Levi breathes out something that sounds like it's supposed to be a chuckle. "Okay, and with everything you've just told me, plus everything you already know and initially decided about her, what kind of person do you think Felicity is?"
Eren didn't know how to answer, so Levi told her to think about it and they'll discuss it again next week.
"You don't need to act depressing about this, Eren." Armin says once they reach a stoplight.
"Yes I do, Armin. How am I supposed to play my character when I don't even know her? He's trying to help me, but he can't because I'm such a fucking lost cause."
"Well... how about instead of trying to understand Felicity, you don't try at all?"
She's on the soft purple bed again, pretending to read a textbook about the government. Marco is sitting on the floor, digging through one of Felicity's drawers for no reason like a true friend.
The drawer is a large white one with stickers of lipstick tubes and puppies on it reserved for Felicity's makeup collection, which is a lot larger than Eren's. The most important things in the drawer are the multiple things of Tarte foundations and concealers, which are clearly her most used and important items.
"Why the hell do you have so many of these things?" Marco asks, causing Eren to look up at him. He's holding a tube of the Amazonian Clay foundation.
She hesitates. "It's a good foundation." The coverage is really full.
"Okay, but why so many? You don't even wear makeup that often, why do you need so much of it?"
She hesitates again, this time longer. "You wouldn't understand."
Marco sighs and rolls his eyes. "Girls."
"I just don't get it. How am I supposed to understand my character by not trying to understand her?" Eren mumbles, poking at the foil wrapping of the ham and cheese wrap.
"I don't know," Marco says thoughtfully after taking a drink of his water. "Maybe you aren't supposed to understand how to understand her by not trying to understanding her."
"That literally makes no fucking sense."
"I know."
She groans. "This is so hopeless."
"How about instead of thinking about who Felicity is, you think about who you are? Maybe you're having so much trouble with this because you're focusing too much on the character and not enough on the actress. You have to figure out who you are as an actress before doing all that other stuff, you know?"
"Who is Eren?", she has to ask herself.
It's a dumb question.
She's herself. She is a nineteen year old female actress who likes Nintendo games, clay face masks, pulpy orange juice, rice cakes, spider rolls, and rock and hip-hop music. Her best friends were fellow misfits back in school, and now they're all slowly gaining success in life: Armin was a huge target for jackass bullies, and now he's both Eren's agent and working on a business degree; Mikasa has always been quiet, judgmental, and intimidating, so she was branded an outcast and never really had many friends, and now she's set to be in the next Olympic games for judo.
Her 'regular' friends consist of Reiner and Bertholdt, two football players whose sexual tension is so thick an axe couldn't even cut it; Annie, whom she has a 'love-hate' type relationship with; Daz, former head of the school's photography club, now studying AV to join the movie industry; and more recently Krista and Marco.
She has a huge crush on Levi, which is very unfortunate for her considering how much he despises her.
Her favorite animals are horses, and her favorite color is burgundy.
"Who is Eren as an actress?" she asks next.
Here's where the obstacle is. She has no idea who she is as an actress.
Her first 'role' was in the school play in the fourth grade. They were doing a play called Shuffling, and she was cast as Song 12, the sassy and forthcoming female empowerment song. She really enjoyed that role; being bouncy and energetic was the only way she was back then.
The second one was a year later, in a citywide production of Annie. She was one of the fellow orphans. She didn't really mind being a background character. Perhaps her skills are versatile?
That same year, she did a commercial for 'Swirly Sam's Ice Cream', a local brand that makes the greatest French Vanilla ice cream in Shinganshina, and Eren, Armin, and Mikasa are sure to pick up a few pints of it every time they go and visit their families. Being a spokesperson was boring, but she actually really likes the ice cream, so she wouldn't mind doing it again.
Number four was in the seventh grade when the school did The Wizard of Oz. She played the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. She doesn't think lime green is a good lip color for her, but other than that, messing with her vocals, making weird gestures and body movements, and being a crap person for no reason was extremely fun.
They did Romeo and Juliet the next year, and Eren was Juliet's nurse. Her humor is on the verge of dry and sarcastic, so playing someone whose entire role revolved around that was nice.
In ninth grade, she was Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Being a princess wasn't exactly her dream at that time, but she did like the classy sass Belle had (and she must admit that she looks pretty good in the golden yellow of the well-known ballroom dress).
She did a commercial for acne care the same year. Showing the world her gross hormonal pimples was most certainly not her idea of fun. Then the next year, she did a commercial for a mouth wash, and she didn't like the idea of close ups on her mouth either.
After she graduated, she landed a background role in a sitcom. She'd served tea, Greek salad, beef wellingtons, and slices of chocolate pie to the awkward main character named Tyler and his attractive yet bitchy date named Barbara. As the waitress, she had to deal with both Tyler's gawkiness and Barbara's rude remarks. She had to be patient and remain cool-headed, something she's slowly working on actually doing as a person (and so far, it's kind of working a little).
So, who exactly is Eren as an actress?
Not the most talented one. However, her record is pretty diverse, a sign that she does have some at least decent skill. She's never been scared to take a role, and she's never been disappointed when given a minor one.
...This information doesn't help her case at all.
When Levi opens the apartment door Saturday afternoon, the first words out of her mouth are "I was told to not worry about my character, so I'm going to do just that."
The man just looks at her silently for a moment before his lips slightly curve into something that's probably supposed to be a smile. "You're learning quickly."
This statement takes Eren aback. "Weren't you the one who told me-"
"I know what I told you to do. I also know how you did what I told you."
"You aren't making any sense."
"Perhaps that will help your case," he lets her inside and gives a wave to Armin like he did last week. "Today we'll focus on your skill itself. Choose a scene from the script to work on." he disappears into the kitchen.
Eren sits on the couch and takes out her script. Considering how lacking Levi thinks her skill is, this session is probably going to be extremely long and painful. After flipping through the script, she settles on a scene between Felicity and Miles, since that may be the most comfortable for Levi to work with.
He comes out of the kitchen with two mugs, a strong sweet scent surrounding him. Eren sips the liquid once the cup is handed to her, and she instantly recognizes it as regular sweet tea.
"All right, what'd you pick?" he asks, sitting next to her and setting his cup on a coaster.
"The 'future scene'. It's full of emotion, so I think it'd help me indirectly figure her out."
Levi nods. "Good. That's what I'd like for you to focus on. Emotions aren't just felt, they're expressed. It can be hard finding emotion from a few pointless words on a piece of paper, but they are there, and you need to make sure they're portrayed the way you feel they should be. So far, Felicity sounds monotonous and robotic. She shouldn't: she's a teenage girl. Teenage girls are nothing but emotions and hormones. You should know that, right?"
Eren just stares at him.
Levi either doesn't notice or chooses to ignore the offense Eren took from his question. "Okay, start reciting."
"Just reciting?"
"I said we're working on emotion, didn't I? Recite. Now."
The irritation that was in Levi's voice bothers her, but she doesn't let it show.
"Miles? Can I ask you something?"
"You don't sound conflicted."
"Am I supposed to..?"
"You're unsure of your future. Of course you're supposed to sound conflicted. Try again."
Eren sighs. "Miles? Can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can." Levi says, and Eren really doesn't understand how he can go from sounding so grumpy to sounding so gentle in two seconds, and that may mostly be because it's a little hard to believe the idea of Levi having a nice bone is his body.
"When did you figure out what you wanted to do with your life?"
Miles is supposed to look at Felicity now, but Levi instead stares at the tea in his cup. "I was around fourteen. Why do you ask?"
Eren sighs heavily.
"What's wrong?" Levi asks before sipping the liquid he apparently finds so interesting.
"It's just not fair. You were fourteen, Alex was sixteen, my mom was twelve. I'm eighteen and I still have no idea what the hell I want to do with myself."
"You still have time to figure that out."
"Not that much. I graduate in six months. Aren't you supposed to use high school to figure yourself out? Shouldn't I go into college knowing that I want to do this specific thing?"
"Six months is plenty of time. What do you think is holding you back?"
Eren hesitates, as the script instructs her to. "Life."
Back in grumpy-mode, Levi says "You sound too guilty. You're supposed to be effectively lying to me, not making me suspicious."
"I'm not great at lying. Not everyone here is an emotionless asshole, you know."
Levi finally looks at her, his eyes bored as ever but a smirk is tugging at his lips. "Maybe not, but you're still an actress. You should be able to at least pretend to be good at lying."
"Teach me then."
"I can't teach you something like that. You aren't actually lying."
"Levi, please?"
He sighs, but he doesn't seem to be annoyed. "I can't teach you because it's not a real lie you're telling. It's a line from the script. Say it like any other line from the script. Act as if it's the truth, and because it's written down, it technically is in fact the truth."
Eren ponders this information briefly before nodding. "I think get it. Yeah."
"Good. What do you think is holding you back?"
She hesitates again, then says "Life." as realistically as she can.
"There we go." Levi says, and Eren feels her heart swell with pride.
After completing that scene, they work on another, longer one. Levi gives pointers every few lines, his critiques growing less harsh and nitpicky each time. Eren's confidence grows more, and even she starts to notice her progression. Neither of them notice how much time has passed until Eren gets a text from Armin saying that he's waiting for her outside.
"Shit," Eren says while reading the message. "Armin's here, I gotta go."
Levi nods. "You did good today, Irene. Have a good evening."
"You too," Eren says while picking up her bag. "And it's 'Eren'."
The man doesn't say anything. He just quietly gets up and lets her out.
"I think I've figured it out." Eren says as soon as she and Armin walk into the kitchen where Mikasa is taking a delicious-smelling three meat pizza out of the oven.
"Figured what out?" the blond asks curiously.
"It, Armin. My problem with this whole acting thing."
"You've figured out how to portray Felicity?" Mikasa looks at her, setting the pan of pizza on the counter and taking off her floral oven-mitts.
She nods eagerly. "Yes! And I think I'm starting to figure out myself, too!" A squeal escapes her throat and she tackles Armin into a hug, causing him to laugh a little.
"Eren, that's great!" he says.
"Isn't it? And to think it's all thanks to Levi. I told you he isn't that bad a guy, Mikasa."
Mikasa sighs a little, and then smiles softly. "Okay, I guess you were right. I'm proud of you. Come have some celebratory pizza. We can even make milkshakes if you want."
Eren takes a seat at the desk next to the one Marco is at, and he flashes her a smile.
"Heeeyyyyy, Felicity."
"Forget your notes?"
"Yes, but that's not what I'm going to ask for. Kaleidoscopic Junkyard is practicing for their next gig at our house tonight, and-"
"You can come over, Alex."
A wave of relief washes over Marco's face. "You're a life saver."
The school's bell rings and Levi walks into the classroom, looking very dapper in black slacks and a matching black button-up with the sleeves rolled up above his elbow.
"Good afternoon, everyone," he says as he closes the door. "I've graded your narrative essays, and I'm very glad to say that the majority of you did awesome," he grabs a stack of papers. "Alex, hand these out."
Marco gets up and takes the papers from Levi and distributes them while Levi goes on some boring English teacher lecture that Eren has to pretend to listen to. She looks at the grade upon "her essay" once it's set on the excuse for wood before her. It's a B+, because Miles grades Felicity's essays harsher than he does everyone else's. Higher expectations since they're dating, Eren assumes.
Once Marco sets Alex's essay on his desk, Eren not-so-surreptitiously looks over at the grade on that. She smiles when she sees an A written in bold red ink, but it quickly fades when she sees a "SEE ME AFTER SCHOOL" written underneath it. She leans over a little further to try and grab the papers, but Marco's hand quickly snatches it as he sits down.
"Why does Mister Henderson want to see you after school? What the hell did you write about? Is something wrong?" Eren whisper-yells, but mostly whispers.
"It's nothing."
"It's clearly something. Give me the paper."
"No."
Eren lunges for the paper, which causes Marco to say a quite loud "Felicity! I said no!" as he tries to get it out of her reach.
This leads to Levi turning around from writing something about sentence structure on the board. "Is there a problem?" His gaze is locked directly on Eren, and she might just be going crazy, but the gentleness that's somehow mixed with the sternness in his eyes looks a lot more genuine than it used to.
"Um.. No sir." She sits back in her set. Levi glances at Marco, who's clutching his essay to his chest, before going back to his lecture. After a few seconds of boring-ness, Hange speaks - and jumps - up from her seat.
"And cut! That was amazing!" Her happiness then dulls down and she puts a hand on her hip and looks at Levi. "Any comments from the peanut gallery?"
Instead of the critique or insult of Eren everyone's expecting, Levi looks at Hange and nonchalantly says, "Your fly is down."
"I can't believe he didn't insult me," Eren says as she picks at her salad with a fork. "I was expecting something like 'You aren't acting naive enough' or 'Your whispering isn't good enough'."
Marco nods. "I can't believe it either. He does it all the time, and then now he doesn't."
"It might be because I've gotten better. In his eyes. And mine. But, like, I still expected something, you know?"
Marco nods again before sipping his mango and pineapple smoothie with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Tell me what's in the damn essay, Alex!" Eren says as soon as she and Marco walk into Felicity's house.
"I told you no. It's personal, Felicity."
"So personal that you can't tell your best friend? We tell each other everything, Alex. Everything. What happened to that? How come I have to tell you that I'm dating a teacher, but you don't have to tell me something as simple as why Miles wanted to see you after school?"
Marco stares at her, the expression on his face perfectly portraying the conflict supposed to be going on in Alex's mind. "I wrote it about you." he says after a few seconds.
"What?"
"I said I wrote it about you. And he wanted to see me after school to talk about what I said."
"Did you say that you were in love with me or something and he yelled at you? Why would he need to keep you after school for twenty minutes?"
"What? No, I didn't, what? I'm not in love with you, Felicity, you're like a sister to me."
"Then what did you say?"
Marco hesitates by gnawing on his bottom lip for a bit. "I really don't want to tell you.."
"Lex.. Please?" Eren says sadly.
The boy's eyes go from Eren's to the floor. His words come out quietly. "I saw them, Felicity. I saw the bruises on your hips."
Eren inhales sharply, but not loudly. "You.."
"I told him that I saw them. And I told him about how weird your mom's been acting since she married Kyle, and how weird Kyle is, and how you get defensive and try hiding so much from me. I.. I told him that I think someone's hurting you. But I don't want him to make a big deal out of it. Or, no, I do, but..," Marco looks up at her, his eyes full of both sadness and anger, and he pounds his fist against the wall. "Goddammit, Felicity, what the hell do they do to you?"
"They.. They don't.."
"Don't fucking lie to me. I saw the proof with my own eyes. One or both of them hurts you. And I'm pretty sure it's that asshole. Is this why you keep putting off sex with Mister Henderson? Because Kyle-"
"No, Alex, he doesn't-"
"I said don't lie to me!"
"I'm not lying! Nothing sexually violating has ever happened to me, I promise!"
Marco lowers his chin and he looks up at Eren with a pissed-off glare that's actually kind of scary. "Then what the fuck does that bastard do to you? Remember that you're the one who just went on a tangent about telling each other everything."
Eren keeps Marco's gaze and remains quiet.
He gives up after a while and pulls out his cell phone. "Fuck this petty bullshit, I'm calling the police on their sorry asses."
She grabs his hand to prevent him from dialing. "Alex, wait. Please don't do that."
"Why shouldn't I?"
"...Come upstairs with me. I need to show you a few things."
Marco looks into her eyes for a moment before nodding. Eren leads him up the stairs and into Felicity's bedroom, where she then grabs a makeup wipe and removes the foundation from her face, neck, and arms, revealing a few purple splotches. Marco quietly watches as she takes off her t-shirt and insecurely covers her breasts with her arms.
"They.. They beat me. Not frequently. But.. also not not frequently. It's mostly my mom. Kyle turned her into an always-angry alcoholic... bitch. Sometimes me not being the perfect child triggers them. Other times it's just my existence."
Marco silently observes her body for a while before speaking up. "Yep. I'm calling the cops on those pieces of garbage."
"Alex, please don't. I don't have anywhere else to go. My dad is overseas and I can't afford to live alone."
"You can live with me. My parents definitely won't mind. Nor will they punch you if you make their brownies incorrectly."
"What about Dan?"
"It'll only be until we go off to college, you won't have to deal with kinda-talented potheads for too long."
Felicity has to ponder this for a moment before nodding. "All right. But at least wait until they're both home."
Marco nods. "Okay. Now put your shirt back on, this is weird."
Eren lays on her bed, eating coconut cream pie and watching Shot Through the Head, a Shadis film and Levi's second-ever movie where he plays an assassin. The day's filming session was extremely intense. One scene required a lot of yelling and arguing, which has led to Eren's throat feeling like complete shit - and that happens to be the reason why she has a large cup of tea with honey next to her plate. She's probably going to have to have a lot of lozenges tomorrow so that she still has a voice to use.
As she watches the movie, paying plenty of barely-divided attention to Levi's perfect, god-like features, she realizes something. The way Nikolas, Levi's broody character who he has very much in common with, looks at photographs of his deceased fiancee is similar to how Levi looks at Eren. His eyes are dull and emotionless, and they don't really tell you what he's feeling, yet there's this small glimmer in them that speaks volumes.
Her heart races. Maybe she's just being too hopeful. This is a very nasty crush, one that's lasted for a long time, so of course she'd read into things too much.
She stops the movie and finishes her food in silence, the black television screen staring at her like a predator contemplating its prey.
The next day, her interactions with Levi are back to the square one awkwardness they were when she first met him. She stumbles over her words. She tries her best to avoid him like the plague. And, probably worst of all, her performance doesn't radiate the natural confidence it did before. Of course, she didn't do horribly at all; she just didn't meet up to Levi's incredulously high standards.
He confronts her during lunch.
"Eren," he says sternly as he lays his palms on the edge of the table. "your performance today has been lacking."
Eren exchanges a glance with Marco before saying, "Um, sorry?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No."
"So you're just being lazy."
"...Okay, maybe something is wrong. But I'm not going to talk about it. I think I'm doing totally fine, and I'm sorry you don't agree."
Levi's lips form an even tighter line and he walks away without another word. Marco seems concerned.
"Are you okay?" he asks.
"Yeah. I'm just... confused. Over-thinking. A little nervous."
"Which means you aren't actually okay at all, right?"
Eren sighs.
"What's wrong?"
"I have this... crush," she makes sure her voice is very low so that only the boy in front of her can hear what she's saying. "And it's been eating me alive for a long while now. I realized something last night, and I don't know how to feel about it."
"What did you realize?"
"That he might, maybe, possibly, like me back..? Ugh, I feel like such a teenage girl saying this. But it's true! I realized the way he looks at me is different from how he looks at other people, and I just... I don't know, Marco."
The freckled boy thinks for a moment. "You're talking about Levi, aren't you?"
Eren blushes and overs her face with her hands. Marco takes this as a cue to continue.
"Well, I can't say I've ever seen any emotion on that guy's face. But I have noticed that his behavior when he's around you is different from how it is when he's around everyone else. I can't really explain how, but it is. He seems just a tiny bit softer, I guess. So I will join you in sounding like a teenage girl and say that I agree."
Eren groans.
"I guess that didn't help your situation much.."
She shakes her head in response.
Marco's opinion is very appreciated, but it only makes her case even worse.
Having to film a one-on-one scene with Levi doesn't help, either. Maybe there are still other people with them, but not anyone she can use to distract herself from the man who's been contaminating her thoughts for the past twelve hours or so.
The scene is an emotional one: Felicity talks with Miles about her then-past situation. It's one of the few scenes where she opens herself up and verbally expresses her thoughts. Hopefully Eren will be able to express all of this emotion and convey how everyone's reactions are just adding salt to the wounds. She's mostly worried about living up to Levi's standards, of course. If her performance isn't good, she very well may completely blow every shred of a chance she has with him.
Perhaps she's worrying too much.
"Places, everyone!" Hange says, chipper as always.
Eren holds back a sigh. She's so not ready for this.
"Don't fuck up." she hears Levi say.
"Thanks for the kind words of motivation. They're very inspiring."
It starts with Felicity walking into Miles' classroom, radiating a false confidence in attempt to hide her nervousness (or, that's how Eren perceives it, at least).
"You wanted to see me, Mister Henderson?"
"Close the door." he says monotonously, not looking up from his papers.
Eren closes the door, and Levi looks up at her with a conflicted look in his eyes.
She sighs. "I was afraid of this."
"These past few weeks have been hard for you. You've been speaking with your counselor, right?"
"Yes, Miles."
"And she's been helping, right?"
"Yes."
"How long did it go on for, Felicity?"
"Not even going to try and rip the bandage off slowly, are we?" Eren's gaze moves to the floor. "It's been quite a few years."
"You don't sound genuine."
"Jesus Christ," Hange groans dramatically. "not this shit again. Cut. I thought we were done with this, Levi."
"I did, too." he says monotonously, still looking at Eren.
Eren stops herself from rolling her eyes. "Can we take a break?"
"Fine. Five minutes, and then back to it."
Probably acting like a diva, Eren storms away from Levi and grabs a water bottle.
He, apparently, follows her. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?" He doesn't sound like he actually cares.
"Of course I'm sure. I think I would know if I have problems going on."
"You're really bad at hiding your emotions."
"And you're the ten millionth person to tell me that."
"I don't want to play any games, Eren. I'd like to know what's bothering you."
Levi calling her by her real name causes her to finally look at him. His face matches his voice and lacks any sign of sincerity. This irritates her further.
"You, okay?"
He arches one of his stupidly perfect eyebrows. "I'm your problem?"
"Yes! And you have been for a long time! I don't know what to make of you! One second you hate me, and then the next second you hate me a little less, but then two seconds later you go back to hating me again. Sometimes you look at me weird. Marco says you act different around me. I don't understand you, Levi! You're all over the fucking place! I don't like not being able to read you, dude! And the fact that I have this huge-ass crush on you doesn't-" Eren's anger quickly evaporates as she realizes what she's just said. "Damn it. Damn it. I'm.. I'm going to.. go.. this way.."
She quickly walks away, leaving behind a still stoic Levi.
As somewhat expected of him, Levi doesn't seem affected by Eren's words. He doesn't bring it up when they see each other again before the shoot starts. Nothing about him seems different, as if he didn't even hear what she'd said to him. Eren hates him for that.
"You wanted to see me, Mister Henderson?"
"Close the door."
Eren closes the door, again. Levi looks up at her, again; somehow, his eyes seem a lot more true to their emotion this time around.
She sighs, again. "I was afraid of this."
"These past few weeks have been hard for you. You've been speaking with your counselor, right?"
"Yes, Miles."
"And she's been helping, right?"
"Yes."
"How long did it go on for, Felicity?"
"Not even going to try and rip the bandage off slowly, are we?" Eren's gaze moves to the floor, again. "It's been quite a few years."
There's no interruption this time. Levi sighs heavily. "No one noticed for that long."
Eren looks up at him, making sure her glossy lips are set in a frown. "Miles..."
"I apologize. This isn't about me."
"I don't exactly want this to be about me, either."
There's a beat of silence. In that short time, Eren wonders if Levi has actually ever looked this vulnerable before. The mixture of emotion on his face - hurt, sadness, anger - just doesn't seem right for him.
"Would you.. mind telling me what it was like? Walk me through this. I want to feel everything you did."
"No, I don't think you do. I get that you're upset, Miles, I really do. I know you wish you could have been there for me," she approaches Levi and takes his hands, and then she pretends that the touch doesn't send sparks throughout her body. "but you don't need to feel this way. None of this is your fault. I'm not some damsel in distress. I've never been. No one knew about this because I didn't want them to. I do feel bad that this is hurting you and Alex so much, and I don't even want to think about what's going to happen when I next see my dad. But you guys are going to have to eventually realize that there's nothing you could have done anyway. It'd been happening for while. After my dad got deployed, before I met you, before I met Alex. There'd still be damage no matter how early either of you would have discovered it. The only thing you guys can do is help me grow. I don't want this to define me or hold me down, and I don't want that for you guys, either. Just keep being here. Keep supporting me. That's all I ask."
Levi stares at her for a moment before standing up. Eren doesn't let the confusion she feels show on her face as he kisses her. His lips feel even nicer than they did the other times they'd been against hers.
The rest of the scene goes by well, despite Eren being totally dumbstruck throughout.
Hange ends the take with a squeal as she animatedly jumps out of her chair in excitement. "And cut! That was so good you guys! Soo, is anyone else down for some celebratory tacos?, because I am starvin'!"
"That wasn't in the script." Eren says stupidly as Levi is walking away.
He turns around and looks at her, a hint of confusion gracing upon his features. Eren is sure this is because he's well aware that all of his lines were presented precisely as the script says they should be.
"You kissed me. That wasn't in the script."
Levi's face softens into normalcy, the only difference from how it usually looks being that there's a very attractive smirk on his lips.
A deep chuckle is heard and Eren looks over at Mike, who has a polite yet humored smile on his face.
"That doesn't mean it shouldn't have happened, Eren. Sometimes an actor's interpretation of their script can spark a completely new idea that can still retain the performance's original beauty. And sometimes it's impulse; whatever the actor feels they should do while performing in that moment is what they do. That's the magic of the show business."