Here is chapter two! I always have extremely long introductions for some reason, hopefully this story doesn't bore you. TT^TT I promise to speed up the pace from the next chapter and onwards! It's also very late now, so I will go sleep first. I will check for any mistakes tomorrow so if you want to point out a part that confused you, please let me know! As always, for a beginner writer like me, I would very much appreciate a review or two, thank you for reading Snow Daisy!
EDIT : FUUU. I got the characters mixed up! I fixed it, so sorry if this caused anyone any confusions!
-Shiragami
"Ughhhh…" Eren let out another sigh.
It was Friday afternoon, a time when all the brats got off school and bombarded coffee shops…all but the one Eren was working at. Why, you ask? Apart from having an expensive menu, the shop's atmosphere was too classy to attract any teenagers nowadays. Sometimes you would get a few rich kids who liked to show off their wealth by entering this cafe, but even rich kids had better things to do than to hangout here on a nice, sunny but cold, Friday afternoon.
Missing his free youth already, Eren moped the marble floor near the washrooms with an obvious deflated frown. Mind wandering off again, the washroom door suddenly kissed Eren's forehead with immense power and knocked him down on the slightly wet, but very shiny floor (courtesy to the boy). Holding his head as his entire body curled up in pain, Eren tried to bite back an agonizing scream, but it wasn't very successful.
"My, my, Jaeger, you've got to watch where you're standing." tsked Oluo, wiping his hands with a handkerchief. His hair now black.
Eren's eyes shot up and yelled furiously at the older male, but the other just ignored Eren's painfully red forehead and walked towards the reception by the entrance. Unable to get an apology from the other, Eren yapped after him just to get on his nerves. Oluo didn't want to get in trouble for creating a commotion, he was about to smack Eren when both of them stiffed up and froze as the entrance door opened with a chime.
"Welco-" both of them blurted out awkwardly at the same time, but halted simultaneously when the customers came in. Oluo's face brightened up like the sun, while Eren was simply lost for words.
How short.
Fascinated by the height of the person standing in front, he dismissed the icy glares the subject of his thoughts was giving. A painful silence was born between the four, and it took all of Oluo's courage to break it.
"A-A table for t-two?" A cold sweat rolled down his jaw.
"Yes, please." Replied a very tall and well-built blonde with thick eyebrows.
Oluo was about to lead them towards their table, but got interrupted by the raven-haired man. Pointing his index finger elegantly at Eren, his icy grey eyes locked with bright green ones, he spoke coldly.
"I want him to serve as our waiter for the day."
Neither Oluo nor Eren expected such a demand. Since when did anyone request a specific waiter? We are not that kind of business! And even if we were, why Eren? WHY NOT ME? As Oluo was having a fit internally, Eren stiffly walked over and in front of them, leading the two elites to a table by the window corner. Grabbing two menus from a nearby counter as they seated themselves, Eren placed them on the table with as little shaking as possible. They look like important people, so don't screw this up now!
Eren took out his note and pen to get ready for their order, but he was so nervous that he dropped his pen on the floor. Weilman would have his head if he knew how unprofessional he was acting right now. Cursing in his head, he bent down to pick it up, only to come into contact with the raven's pale hand. Eren immediately jerked his hand back along with the pen, shocked by how cold the other's skin was. The shorter of the two just glared at Eren with an annoyed and offended face.
"Umm…w-what can I get for both of you?"
He straightened up and put on his best business smile, but it wasn't working too well when Oluo was drilling a hole at the back of his head, clearly jealous and depressed to be told off.
Without even flipping the menus, the blonde ordered. "Just simple black coffee for us, thank you."
"Of course. It'll be ready in ten minutes." Eren gathered the unopened menus, bowed, and hurried off towards the kitchen. The sound of Oluo yelling at Eren could be heard. Turning his attention to the man sitting across, the blond spoke.
"Well... this place certainly have the right atmosphere. Not too casual, yet not too serious. The waiter was quite cute too, don't you think so, Levi?"
"Cut the crap, Erwin. Just focus on what I told you to do."
The two stared down at each other silently, it was a meaningless battle yet neither of them were surrendering.
"Can you explain to me again why you wanted me to take charge of this place?"
"For the last time, can't you just focus on what you have to do? I made you in charge because I trusted you, there!" Fumed Levi. "You were the one who said you needed to come here and see for yourself, so stop wasting my time actually observe like you said you would."
Erwin only raised an eyebrow at his superior, he was definitely pushing his buttons. He knew Levi had a short temper, but any topic related to this specific cafe can get him worked up even faster than usual. In all honesty, the only reason why Erwin took on Levi's proposal of managing this cafe and helping it expands its branch, was because Levi specifically requested him...and Levi wasn't someone who 'requests'. Or would 'beg' be a more fitting term?
Erwin knew Levi from a long time ago, they were both business partners for a while before Levi left and started his own company. Erwin always admired the elite's attitude and quality towards his work, so naturally he followed him. Under the Survey Corporation, Erwin was previously another branch's manager, but he specifically got requested from Levi a week ago to take care of this new project. Once again, Levi doesn't just 'requests', so this piqued his curiosity and decided to come on terms with Levi under one condition: he got to decide whether or not he wanted to take care of this branch, based on how worthy this place was after an evaluation.
First and most important of all, the quality of the product.
Eren hurried back to the two with freshly brewed coffee and placed them carefully on the table.
"Can I get you anything else?" The waiter politely asked.
"That's all for us now, thank you." Replied Erwin as he brought the coffee mug to his lips. He carefully blew air against the surface of the aromatic drink and took a sip, Levi followed. He closed his eyes as he focused on the taste of the coffee for a bit before reopening them again.
"Not bad, I can see why you would recommend this place and actually take it over." He chuckled and proceeded to prepare for another sip. "It's definitely something worth coming back for."
Levi, on the other hand, just frowned. Clearly unsatisfied with the coffee, the blonde only looked at him with a questioning look on his face.
"Something wrong? I thought you liked their coffee?"
"No. The coffee's fine, however…"
"Yes?"
"It doesn't taste as amazing as the other time I had it…"
Erwin couldn't read the emotions in Levi's eyes, but he knew the shorter man was disappointed.
"Maybe they changed the barista? When did you last come here?"
"Maybe two months ago." Replied Levi, monotone.
Erwin just sighed. Neither of them were coffee experts, how could they be the judges of something like this? Not understanding what was the deal with his superior at all, he just sat back and relaxed for the first time in weeks.
...
It was near closing time, the clock read 9:48. Eren prayed that it would hit 10:00 faster and go back home, as he felt pressured the entire day. The source of that pressure was him, the raven-haired man who just wouldn't stop looking his way. At first he thought it was just his imagination, but after numerous stare backs, the older man's eyes wouldn't even avert.
Erwin, on the opposite side, typed away on his computer. Since he was already there, and Levi didn't seem to want to leave anytime soon, he figured he could at least get some work done. Gathering datas from various sources as well as in-person reports, he filed a document to Levi's email, fully knowing how well the other already knew about this place. Though it had to be done either way, as this was a legal procedure, as well as a condition they had both agreed on. Judging from this pace, he was almost certain he would take on this project regardless if Levi would pester him about it later on or not. It would be a nice change, and surrounded by coffee aroma everyday wouldn't be too bad either.
The clock's needle ticked ever so slowly, but when it finally reached 10:00, Eren fist pumped the air and spun around way too cheerfully at the only remaining two customers in the shop.
"Thank you for your stay, but our shop has hit closing time. Have a safe trip home and come back again!" Waved Eren, smile still as big as ever as he lied about the last part.
Levi just hmphed at that reaction and beckoned Erwin to pack up and leave. Existing the glass doors with the ever so melodious ring, Eren let out a huge sigh that he didn't know he was holding back the entire time.
"Eren, you lucky bastard, do you know how often he was looking at you?" Oluo didn't want to admit that the dark haired elite was looking at Eren, and not at him, despite many attempts at getting in the older's field of view. Eren just looked at his co-worker, dumbfounded.
"Are you alright in the head, Oluo? You are not even gay, why would you be so concerned about that?" asked Eren. "And why would you even want to be stared down like that? I felt like a piece of meat the entire time."
Tiding up his equipments, he went to the locker rooms to change out of his uniform. Only Oluo, Mike, and Eren himself worked until the later night shift. Even Weilman, the owner, left the store at 2pm because he could just do his job at home.
As he pulled a white shirt over his head, Mike walked in to change out of his barista uniform. Mike was never a talker, but surprisingly he initiated a conversation with Eren for the first time in a while.
"Eren, did those two liked my brew?"
"Huh? Which two?"
"The two that stood out the most, black suits, tidy hairstyles, and they smelled very good."
Again, it was one of Mike's weird habits that Eren never understood. Shaking off the last comment, Eren replied.
"I don't know, I didn't look over there too often because I think one of them wanted to kill me." He joked, but he wasn't even sure anymore if that was really a joke.
"I always like watching customers drinking my coffee, and since the two gentlemen ordered pure brews, I wanted to see if they liked my skills." The big-built man said. "I think my skills weren't good enough to one's standards though."
Eren knew Mike was a great barista, he even learned a few tricks from the experienced hands to help around when times were busy. Which is why he didn't understand why the big guy would feel insecure over a small remark now, out of all times. Was it because the man who drank it had a special aura around him? Eren still doesn't know anything about the raven-haired man, but now that he thought about it, maybe he did saw him somewhere before, he seemed a little familiar.
...
The two stood side by side near the black Rolls-Royce Phantom, having another stare down. Erwin was slightly pissed off at his superior's demand, but he couldn't do anything about it because it was his own problem for not taking his own car over here.
"Don't make me repeat shit, Erwin. Just get a cab and go home, it won't kill you." Levi's tone sounded impatient, he was getting annoyed to the max. He obviously had a goal in mind, and it definitely wasn't giving Erwin a ride home in his luxurious car on a cold, winter evening.
Erwin said nothing, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed for a cab. Not long after, a yellow car stopped by and took Erwin away. Levi glanced at his silver watch once again, it read 10:30. God damn it all. How long does this kid take to close a fucking store? Tired from a long day and denied from Eren's attention, he leaned against his vehicle and breathed hot air against his leather gloved hands.
Small chatters approached Levi's ears an he looked up towards the building's main entrance, it seem like the workers finally decided to go home. Eren was the last to come out, he had the duty to turn off the lights and lock up the store every night. Finally, after anxiously waiting for this moment, Levi slowly walked towards Eren, who was still oblivious to the man approaching him.
"Hey."
Eren froze upon hearing that same icy, cold voice. No way! He turned to his left and saw the same raven-haired man, who looked like he was about to kill him the entire time at the store, standing right next to him. Eren gulped, not wanting to offend a potentially very important customer, he pulled on his business smile once more.
"Good evening, Sir, why are you still out here in the middle of the night? Did you forget something back in the shop?
Levi didn't speak, instead, he extended his hand out and grabbed Eren's arm. Rendering the younger terrified with his sudden behaviour, he tried to pull away but the shorter man was surprisingly strong, to Eren's horror.
"Please, stop this. What do you think you're doing?" He struggle. "I don't have anything you'd want!" Shouted Eren, eyes shut tightly as he was afraid of what's about to come next.
Yes you do.
The brunette couldn't see, but Levi's expression softened by a notch at Eren's terror. He didn't mean to scare the kid, let alone make him feel uncomfortable and threatened. Levi knew he didn't have the best ability to talk to normal people, he could never express himself properly. Trying his best to remain composed and gentle to calm the other, he pressed his free hand on top of Eren's brown locks that were slightly stiff from the harsh winter air.
Eren slowly let his eyes open when he felt a hand on his head, it was oddly comforting.
"It's late, I was here until closing time anyways so I thought I'd give you a ride back home. It's dangerous at night."
Maybe it was just the thrill of the moment, or the dim lights on the streets, but the elite looked very handsome and alluring. His pale skin glowed warmly under the lamppost. For the first time today, the brunette wasn't afraid to properly look into those ice grey eyes.
You are the only dangerous one here. Eren's mind protested, but his body moved along Levi's pace towards the car. Levi opened the passenger's door for him, just like the gentleman he aimed to be. Without even the time to have second thoughts, the door was shut and Levi made his way towards the other side of his car. Eren watched the whole situation is shock, not comprehending why he didn't protest against the man's offer, and not knowing what might happen next made him extra anxious. Oh Eren, what are you doing, stepping inside a grown man's car late at night? He desperately wanted to flee.
Once inside, Levi buckled up and glanced at the younger's seatbelt, still untouched. He clicked his tongue and reached over to buckle it for the brat, but Eren was too self-counscious and wary of Levi, that he jumped at the sudden loss of distance and a blush spread across his face. Levi froze at the other's reaction, but his face soon turned into a smirk, which made Eren redden even more. Wanting to push some more positive reactions out of him, Levi decided to tease him a little.
"Your seatbelt, kid. Didn't your mommy teach you?"
It was Eren's turn to freeze. It was a topic that no one dared brush upon. It wasn't even something he'd discuss with Armin more than once. A sudden bitterness washed over all his nervousness, and his face turned dark. Levi was about to start the car before he noticed that the other was awfully quiet. Did I say something wrong?
Eren shook his head, it was an old event now, and the older male couldn't possibly knew. Yes, I should just let go of this, I should face this by telling him the truth, even if he is just a stranger. That's right, I am not going to be kept chained down by my past. Didn't I decide this a long time ago? Raising his head up to look out the windshield, he broke the silence by trying his best to look natural and uncaring.
"My mother died when I was ten, and in case you keep on asking, my dad disappeared right before my mother's death."
Levi could only stare at the other's profile. The atmosphere was heavy, even someone as cold as the President of Survey Corporation knew to let go of this topic before losing the younger's company. Starting up the car, he did a few adjustments to the gears before skillfully driving away from the cafe. The last conversation shared between the two for the night was about addresses. Needless to say, the rest of the ride was completely silent.
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