The sun was high in the sky, the cicadas were singing their summer melody - annoyingly according to Levi, but Eren thought that it was just the music of summer - and Eren's frozen drink has all but water now after only 30 seconds out of the freezer.
"It's crazy hot in here." Eren complained to Armin as he sat on the wooden stair of the beach restaurant they were working at. He was waving his fan to produce a little relief but it was not enough.
"You… tell… me…" Armin replied, breathing heavily like if he had ran 10 kilometers but it was really just the sun. Armin never did well with the heat, and Eren kept a watchful eye on the blond, making sure that he didn't faint. Not on my watch, he thought to himself.
"Go inside Armin, they put the big fan on. It's way better than out here. I feel like it's 50C under the shadow out here, I'm melting like a block of ice in the middle of the Sahara." Eren whined. He was better with the sun, his skin was already all dark, no thanks to his genes, compared to Armin's who was beginning to turn alarmingly red.
Eren stood up and pulled his friend to do so.
"Inside." He ordered while pushing Armin in the cottage house. "We don't have clients anyway, you should rest."
After forcing Armin to sit down far from the sun, Eren went back out.
"And ask Okami-san for some water. And maybe some sunscreen too" he shouted over his shoulder before walking back out to return to his "sit" outside.
Why was he outside while he could be inside, you ask? Well, he was waiting for customers, more precisely, a particular customer. This customer hated the sun, didn't really like the sea but like to watch it and listen to the waves. This customer loved walking along the beach at night when the sun was not burning their skin and the sea mist was cooling their sweaty skin. This customer liked to just sit in the cottage house and have a cold beer while their friends were out and running around having fun. This customer's definition of "having fun" itself seemed a bit different from his friends'. And this customer was Eren's most awaited customer, his favorite one. It didn't help that this favorite customer in question was also his boyfriend.
"Phew, it's hot. OKAMI, TWO BEERS PLEASE!" A client called as they entered the small beach restaurant, completely ignoring Eren on the stairs.
With a sigh, Eren stood up and went about serving the two clients that just entered: a buff blond man that looked like he came straight out of a bara manga and a tall lanky one that was sweating way too much even under this heat. Armin stood up from his seat as well and went straight to them with a menu in hand.
After bringing them their beers, Eren glanced at the wall watch: Noon. Shit, it's peak time now. Noon was the time when clients came in mass. What if he missed his most favored patron? Eren blamed this on them who didn't come earlier, regardless of the reasons.
Just like Eren suspected, clients began to come and the little cottage house was full my 12:30PM. The bar was full of lively older men and women, the tables of families or couples. Food were out, courtesy of Sasha, the daughter of the owner of the beach restaurant. Eren almost kissed Annie and Connie when they came to help them considering how busy him and Armin were.
The restaurant emptied out around 2PM, leaving just a few families behind and maybe one or two clients at the bar. But there was no sign of his favorite client.
Eren felt disappointment fill his heart. His shift was almost over but they were still not there.
"To think that he called me last night because he couldn't calm down and wanted to hear my voice no matter what. That bastard won't even spare some time to come and see me at work like promise." He mumbled to himself while floppily cleaning the tables.
After finishing his round of cleaning, he took a look at the wall watch again: 15 minutes before the end of his shift. Eren felt like crying. He didn't care that he was being childish or irrational, he was mad and sad and felt betrayed by his lover. Asshole, he thought to himself, he's gonna have an earful. Just watch me pick you up from a bar again.
He was ripped out of his vengeful thoughts when Connie whistled and called him, "Eren! It's your booty call! Go give him the best service of the house!"
He turned around, and there he was with his raven hair undercut, a white shirt open to give Eren a delectable view on those abdominal muscles and those clavicules, red shorts that reached above his knees, those leg muscles and those calves. All thoughts of revenge and disappointment disappeared and a huge smile invaded Eren's face. He felt elevated, happy - no, happy was too weak of a word - ecstatic.
"Hey," the raven greeted with an apologetic look, "I know it's like… - he checked his watch for the time - 10 minutes from the end of your shift but I couldn't get out early from work."
Eren suddenly remembered his previous disappointment but his feeling of happiness was too overwhelming to be replaced. He nonetheless playfully slapped Levi's arm with the back of his hand while pouting.
"I was tired of waiting." But his smile returned soon after and he dragged his lover to a table and gave him a menu. "Here the menu, sir. And what would you like to drink?"
Levi feigned looking at the menu, like if he really didn't know what he wanted but he already decided on drinking, "water 's fine."
"Water? No beers?"
"No, not today. I've had enough drinks yesterday to last me for a few days."
Eren chuckled and went to the back to get Levi's drink. The latter's eyes were stuck on Eren's receding form.
"Can't look away from our golden skin mermaid, I see." Connie teased him from behind the bar.
"Golden skin mermaid?" Levi asked confusedly, he'd never heard of that one.
"Yep. That's how our clients call him. You need to be careful Levi, there are a lot of clients who'd like to tap that. But the rejected them all because… well, he is taken. Right?" the young barman winked at him and Levi scoffed.
Of course he knew that Eren was pleasing to the eye, that's what attracted him to begin with and it was true that it was hard to keep his eyes away from the brunet. Said boy came back with Levi's water and waited his order, a beautiful smile on his face. But he only had eyes for me, Levi reminded himself pridefully.
Eren's shift ended a little bit before Levi's order came in but Eren still served him diligently, and then sat on the chair opposite to him while Levi ate.
"You should have come earlier and see me work."
"Sorry, I really wanted to. I wanted to come early this morning and watch you all day but work suddenly came in and an incapable at work messed up with the datas…" Levi sighed, "it was a mess."
Eren hummed, he didn't really understand how his boyfriend's line of work functioned but he could feel Levi's frustration and tiredness through his voice and body language. Eren stretched his hand and intertwined his finger his Levi's, then rested his head on his other arm, his eyes trained on Levi.
"And are you free now?" He asked.
"Yes. I'm all yours for the night and of course tomorrow as well."
"I'm working tomorrow during the day, same time."
Levi nodded in acknowledgement but didn't comment further. Eren didn't need words to understand what that nod meant and that warmed his heart like a thousand suns.
"I'll come tomorrow as well."
