Ice Cream in Winter
Chapter 3
xXx
Ever since he'd graduated from high school, Levi knew that he was going to dedicate his life to dancing. He was always good at sports – any sport, really – so there were no doubts while choosing the Faculty of Kinesiology over everything else. Levi wanted to dance as long as he could, and then pass it on to others.
He'd met Petra in the dancing school when they were seven. They were paired up as partners by the age of ten. They did have short breaks, but in the end, their trainers concluded that they worked the best together. Levi knew that one of the reasons was his under-average height (and Petra always remained slightly shorter than him), but no one ever said that aloud.
At the age of fifteen, he and Petra got into the same high school, where they'd met Hanji, Eldo and Gunther, as well as a few upperclassmen – Erwin, Mike and Nile. They hung out together even when the older guys finished high school. Levi thought it to be so cool when he got to hang out with university students while he was still underage.
There was another break between him and Petra, which almost ended their friendship for good.
When they were seniors, Petra confessed her feelings and it made Levi almost sick to his stomach. He loved her. He loved her so much, but not even close to the way she wanted him to. She'd told him that she'd been waiting for him all that time, thinking that maybe he was too shy. He offered no explanation, only that he didn't feel the same.
At the time, she couldn't handle it. Over the summer before the university had started, Levi hadn't heard from Petra, not even once. In that autumn though, he'd ran into her at their dancing school. She was trying to get transferred and hearing that made Levi's heart break. So he did what needed to be done.
He'd grabbed her hand before she even noticed him and dragged her out and into the nearest café.
They sat and talked there for hours, Petra cried from time to time while Levi did his best to soothe her.
In the end, Petra had met Auruo in her classes, while Levi finally got into the relationship he'd been pining over for years. But that's a story for some other time.
xXx
He'd been looking at Eren for nearly twenty minutes into the class, trying to decide between feeling amused or exasperated. The kid was such a slow learner that it was painful for Levi to watch.
It had been three weeks since the beginner group was formed and everyone was getting better, kind of. Except for Eren. Well, okay, he was getting better as well, but sloooowly.
Levi sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was becoming his most used gesture whenever he had to deal with Eren. Figures.
"Oi, Eren," he approached the brunet.
"I know, I know... I don't know!" Eren flailed about, causing Annie to roll her eyes in embarrassment. Levi chuckled, though. There was some kind of boyish charm in his clumsiness, Levi had to admit.
"What did I say about stomping?"
"No stomping," Eren muttered.
"Right. So why do that? Look," Levi stood next to the kid. "Rumba is just like cha-cha, only without the cha-cha."
"Eh."
"Don't you 'eh' me," he poked Eren's shoulder with his index finger.
"Can I 'ow'?"
Levi snorted. "Sure you can. But look here now. You have your one-two's, but when you'd do cha-cha-cha, you make one slow step. It has to be romantic and sad."
"Oh my god..."
"He's not very romantic, is he," Levi asked Annie, who in turn shrugged, as if to say 'not really'.
"Could you two like, stop messing with me? I'm having a hard time as it is," Eren certainly got irritated. He stopped trying the steps altogether and marched over to the small table where everyone put their water bottles and phones. He angrily twisted the cap and gulped down half of his water.
Levi guessed it was time to apologize.
"Hey kid," he began as he approached Eren. "I know you're having a rough time, okay? I shouldn't have teased you like that. But, come on. Try some more. You'll get it in time."
"It's fine," Eren sighed and gestured towards Annie. "It's just that... She wants me to dance so much and I suck so bad... It's not that much about disappointing her anymore, but... I just see this as a huge homework I don't wanna have."
"Oh." Ow. That sucked. He looked at Eren. "Dancing should be about joy."
"Not exactly feeling joy right now," the kid answered with a bitter smile.
Levi actually felt sorry for him. He couldn't recall a single moment when dancing wasn't bringing him happiness. Hell, he danced around his apartment all the time, even while cleaning it.
"What makes you happy, Eren?"
"I..." Eren seemed confused by the question. "Hanging out with my friends?"
"You're asking me or telling me?" Levi teased. When Eren rolled his eyes, he poked him again. "Chin up. I'm gonna make you enjoy dancing even if it kills me... Even if you just end up dancing like a monkey in a club, but enjoying it."
Eren actually giggled and snorted at that. "I actually like goofing around in clubs..."
"Well then, all you have to do is join us on Friday nights at club 'Mambo'. It's been a tradition for years now and that club practically lives from our Fridays out."
Remembering he always carried a bunch of free-pass flyers in his bag, he hurried over to it and fished out a dozen of flyers for the club.
"Here," he shoved them into Eren's hands. "For you and your friends. Just show these to the bouncer and he'll let you in."
"Thanks!" Eren's face lit up and Levi had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling like an idiot.
He noticed other people looking his way and eyeing the flyers he just gave to Eren. Whoops. Right. The whole class was invited, of course. He just felt extra sorry for Eren, that's all.
Levi cleared his throat and shooed Eren to his spot on the dance floor. "Take a short break everyone. When the class is over, I'll give out these flyers. They're free-passes for club 'Mambo' where we're going every Friday night. The music is normal, no electronic crap, and you can dance whichever way you want."
He smirked.
"They're mostly playing discofox, but there'll be some Latin in between, I'll make sure of that."
People laughed a bit and Levi's gaze automatically drifted to Eren, just to see if he made him smile as well.
Wait, what the hell?
As their eyes met, Levi scowled unintentionally, which in turn made Eren's smile drop and made him resemble a sad puppy.
Wonderful.
xXx
What's with the scowl? Eren really couldn't decipher the guy. Levi was first weird, then intimidating, then nice, then he was scowling... In the past three weeks, Eren wasn't sure if Levi secretly hated his guts, or he was just quirky like that.
He stayed in a weird mood for the rest of the class, not even stressing over the rumba steps. Whatever. It was like he'd said – he really didn't enjoy it. When he got to dance with Annie, it improved his mood a tiny bit because he managed not to step on her feet, and they didn't stumble, not even once.
He had to keep it basic, even without the turns because when Annie did turn once, he froze before he'd end up stepping on her.
xXx
"I'm gonna get killed, I'm telling you," Eren whined over the web-cam call. And Armin had the nerve to laugh at him.
"You could've said no, you know? But I'm sure that there are far worse things than dancing."
"Even when you have two left feet?"
"Did Annie tell you that?"
"No, I said that. She's probably thinking it, though. And you know, this Levi guy? The instructor? I think he hates my guts."
Armin looked at the camera with a questioning gaze. "Something happened?"
"Not really... He's just weird. He sees that I'm struggling and then he helps me out, but he has these remarks all the time... He's being rude and nice at the same time. It freaks me the fuck out."
"So why do you think he hates you?"
"I don't know," Eren sighed. "Today he gave me these flyers for a club and said that we should come this Friday. And then he was all smiles, but when I looked at him the next time, he was scowling, like it wasn't even funny."
"He could've been scowling because of something else?"
"He was looking right at me!"
"Eren. You're obsessing. Calm down." Armin rolled his eyes at him. "Why in the world would he hate you?"
"Because I suck at dancing?"
"Yeah, that's a legitimate reason alright," Armin giggled and the sound got to Eren, making him smile as well.
"So, will you go with me on Friday? I have a bunch of these," he raised the flyers for Armin to see.
"Sure, if you show me some of your new moves," the petit blond teased and Eren groaned.
"I'll show you the monkey dance."
"The what?"
"Levi called it that way. It's that usual goofing off that we do."
"Oh," Armin laughed, "then monkey dance it is!"
"Great! So... Wanna shoot someone?"
"Sure, give me a minute."
Eren grinned and launched 'Battlefield', his bad mood erased by his best friend.
xXx
To be continued...
