Chapter 10
Levi stared into Eren's eyes a while longer. Their soft warmth kept him steady and grounded.
He finally noticed the music that had begun, and reluctantly tore his eyes away, instead moving them to look at the stage beneath his feet so that he could concentrate. Bringing his microphone close to his lips, he began to sing softly.
He didn't dare look into those beautiful eyes again; the last thing he needed was to be distracted and miss his cues.
In the end…
As we fade into the night…
Oh woah oh oh…
He sang along to the voices of the backing track, feeling a sense of relief when the audience also began to sing along, their varied tones creating more depth.
This was one of the best things about performing live; the crowd always joined in.
He kept quiet during the "oh woah" parts; it not only gave the short teen time to catch his breath, but also allowed the crowd's voice to not be overwhelmed by his own.
Who will tell the story of your life?
He paused and looked up as the music began playing for a short interval.
The guitar's clear cries cut through the silence of the enamoured crowd. The blast of the drums became more rapid, as Mike kept up with the pace of the guitar.
After a few moments, they both diminished. The drums slowly beat, accentuating Levi's gravelly voice which poured out from the speakers behind them.
In the end…
As my soul's laid to rest,
What is left of my body.
Or am I just,
A shell?
The music began to pick up again. Levi gripped the microphone tightly in his hand, tapping his foot along to the beat to keep himself in tune.
And I have fought,
And with flesh and blood I commanded an army,
Through it all,
I have given my heart for a moment of glory!
(I gave it all)
He took a short breath as the music paused momentarily, and prepared himself for the next onslaught of lyrics.
In the end,
As we fade into the night,
Ooh whoa oh oh,
Who will tell the story of your life?
Ooh whoa oh oh,
And who will remember…
your last goodbye?
Ooh whoa oh oh,
'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid,
I'm not afraid to die!
The pace of the beat slowed down again and his pre-recorded voice filtered out from the speakers, repeating the phrase "I'm not afraid" a couple of times. Levi loosened his hold and gathered himself for the second verse.
As he briefly scanned the room again, his eyes were instantly drawn to the far end of the small crowd where Eren had once been, but he wasn't there.
Born a saint,
Though with every sin I still wanna be holy,
I will live…
Again.
Momentum gathered again as Hanji and Mike began feverishly playing their respective instruments.
Who we are,
Isn't how we live, we are more than our bodies.
If I fall…
I will rise back up and relive my glory!
He finally found him. Eren had managed to manoeuvre his way to the front of the crowd and was looking up at him with his hands clutched together at his chest. Levi smirked softly as they locked eyes yet again, and he saw Eren's breath hitch.
In the end,
As we fade into the night,
Ooh whoa oh oh,
Who will tell the story of your life?
Ooh whoa oh oh,
And who will remember…
your last goodbye?
Ooh whoa oh oh,
'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid,
I'm not afraid to die!
Another music solo began, Hanji's guitar taking over. This time, Levi didn't dare avert his eyes. The radiant orbs were shyly peering at him through thick lashes, his soft mouth slightly parted.
He's even more beautiful now, here with me, than he was in my dream.
The beat slowed—Hanji's guitar letting up completely—and Levi decided to initiate some crowd participation, remembering how well it had gone down last time.
Without breaking eye contact with Eren, he held the microphone out towards them as the chorus began again, they all immediately responded when he pointed to them.
In the end,
As we fade into the night...
Oh whoa oh oh,
He brought it back to himself for the continuation of the chorus, unable to stop his grin when they started jumping in time to the music, Eren included.
Levi was instantly enraptured by his bright eyed companion's dancing, nearly missing his cue to start singing again.
He stumbled over the first few words, causing his bandmate's eyes to widen behind their bandages. Levi never made mistakes while performing.
Who will tell the story of your life?
Oh whoa oh oh,
And who will remember…
your last goodbye?
Oh whoa oh oh,
'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid,
I'm not afraid to die!
He quickly recovered and sang as if though nothing had happened; it didn't seem as though the crowd had noticed.
Hanji's second guitar interlude began once his voice had trailed off. Instead of looking at Eren this time, he decided to make up for his mishap.
He did this by swaying his hips from side-to-side, bringing the hand not holding the microphone up and grasping his hair as sexily as he could, tilting his head back and revealing his throat, moving his head to each side in time with his hips, almost dancing but not quite.
He kept his eyes closed as he sang the very last verse, all eyes trained on him.
Who will remember…
this last goodbye?
Ooh whoa oh oh,
'Cause it's the end and I'm not afraid,
I'm not afraid to die!
He panted quietly, catching his breath as his pre-recorded voice piped up to finish the last few background lyrics.
(I'm not afraid)
(I'm not afraid to die)
(I'm not afraid)
(I'm not afraid to die)
The song abruptly stopped and the audience went wild, yelling and cheering.
Levi gave them a small bow to thank them for their support. They were the reason that there was adrenaline currently pumping throughout his body, giving him that euphoric high he got after every performance.
They quickly moved onto the next song in the set; the second of the three that their allotted time slot allowed.
No matter how hard he tried to avert them, his eyes always ended up drifting back to Eren's; his incandescent teal gemstones glistened back at him, giving him more of a high than any adrenaline could ever hope to achieve.
The whole band was practically gasping for air as they thanked everyone for coming and shuffled quickly off stage, the curtain dropping back down not long after.
Levi went straight for the water bottle that Petra was holding out, unscrewing the lid with shaking hands before gulping it down his parched throat. He could feel their eyes on him.
Please don't ask me. Please don't ask me. Please don't fucking-
"Are you alright? What happened?" Came Petra's soft voice from beside him, tinged with worry.
Fuck.
"Nothing. I forgot the lyrics, I'm only fucking human, you can't expect me to be perfect all of the time." He barked back at her, his voice cracking in a few places because of how dry his throat still felt.
He saw her flinch at his scathing tone and immediately felt bad.
"Look, I just got caught up in the moment and panicked. But I'm fine, really." Levi made sure to soften his tone, nodding with certainty afterwards to reassure her.
He could tell that she was still a little unsure, sighing in relief when she backed down and decided it was best to just let it go.
"Okay... just... if you need to talk, I'll listen." She paused before continuing, moving on to compliment him instead.
"You sounded a lot better today than in practice. That's not me saying that you usually don't sound good, it's just that today... It sounded as though you actually meant what you were saying; you put emotion into your voice, and it drastically improved the whole song."
Levi thanked her and bent down so that she could remove his bandages for him.
He needed to hurry before Eren got suspicious. He grimaced, his suit sticking to him in varied places due to perspiration.
"That goes for you too, Hanji, Mike! You were great out there!" She called over to his bandmates, who were helping each other out of their bandages.
"I need to go, I promised the boss that I'd work the bar again after I performed." It wasn't a lie, he really had done so.
"Oh, alright. Take it easy and don't push yourself too hard, you don't want to pass out like you did that time back in August." Petra replied, and Hanji snickered at the memory.
"Fuck off, you four-eyed shit. At least I haven't pissed myself on stage before." He snapped at the brunette, eyes narrowing, wordlessly challenging her to fight him.
She pouted and put her slender hands on her hips.
"It's not my fault I got scared! It wasn't in front of the fans anyway, so stop bringing it up!" She whined, her screechy voice causing Levi to recoil in disgust.
"Don't laugh at me then, you fucking idiot." He retorted, crossing his arms and gritting his teeth.
"Now now, children." Petra's soothing voice interrupted what Hanji was about to say, and she patted Levi's shoulder in a comforting manner.
"You need to go and get changed, don't you Levi? You don't want to be late." She smiled up at him, her tone soft, without a trace of superiority.
"Fine." He huffed.
As he stormed out, he flipped his middle finger at Hanji for good measure.
Note to self: take Shitty Glasses off of my Christmas shopping list.
Once he reached the staff room again, he got undressed and wiped himself down with towel, refusing to feel sweaty.
Fucking gross.
He slipped his tongue and lip piercings back in, re-dressing into the plain black t-shirt and ripped black skinny jeans that he'd had on before in record time, and strolled back out into the bar area whilst tying his apron back on.
"Hey! Did you see them performing? It was so amazing!" Eren squealed as Levi approached.
The bar assistant, that had taken over when he'd left, giggled, and gave Levi a knowing look. He replied with a finger over his lips and a wink, when Eren wasn't looking.
"Yeah, I saw, pretty awesome." He said nonchalantly, leaning his side up against the bar as he listened intently to Eren rave about how great the band had been.
"I think the lead singer was looking at me...he's so hot." Eren sighed dreamily, a dopey look crossing his face.
Yeah, he is pretty fucking hot, Levi thought to himself amusedly.
"Uh-oh, do I have competition for your affections?" Levi smirked, raising his eyebrows, feigning a worried look.
"What?!" Eren squeaked, his eyes becoming comically wide and his cheeks flushing to their usual bright pink. "No way! I mean, he's great and all... but I'd never stand a chance with him."
"So you're saying that I'm just your back up date?" Levi loved teasing him, the way he flustered warmed Levi's heart. As well as his crotch.
Clean thoughts. Clean thoughts. Clean thoughts.
He glanced away as he tried to compose himself, clicking his tongue piercing against the back of his teeth; Eren mistook this as a sign that he was mad at him.
"N-No! Definitely not!" He exclaimed, reaching over and taking Levi's hand in his own, looking up at him with a desperate look.
"I just meant that...while it would be great to date a rock star like him... he wouldn't ever notice me. I'd much rather be with someone who does notice me... like y-you." He blushed and looked down at their hands as he fiddled nervously with the plain silver ring on Levi's middle finger.
Levi's smirk broadened. He was enjoying every second of this.
"But I thought you said that he looked at you, doesn't that mean he noticed you?" He followed Eren's embarrassed gaze down to their hands.
"Yeah… b-but... he's not you." That simple statement had Levi suppressing laughter while simultaneously suppressing a blush.
I should just tell him now otherwise this could backfire and end badly...
Just as Levi was about to admit that he was, in fact, that very singer, he stopped himself.
But... now just doesn't feel right... I'll think of a way to tell him later. A more elaborate way.
"So, does that mean that you like me more than him?" Was what he murmured instead, sending Eren a heat filled look.
"Yes..." Was his whispered reply.
Levi's eyes flitted between Eren's eyes and his lips, unable to look away as Eren bit his lip in an unintentionally sexy way, his jeans becoming somewhat tight in response.
It felt as though Eren's hand was burning his own as it caressed his palm. The tension and silence between them was deafening, despite the music that was playing all around them.
"Oi, stop flirting with the customers and do your job, Ackerman." This came suddenly from a light-hearted voice to their left, breaking Levi out of his hypnotized state.
Levi's gaze wandered in the general direction that the voice had come from. There stood his boss with a large, shit-eating grin on his face.
Levi cleared his throat and pulled back sharply, sending Eren an apologetic glance before collecting himself, attaining his usual emotionless expression.
"Sorry sir, it won't happen again." He replied coldly, picking up a glass and cleaning it, not really sure what else to do.
Most of the customers that had left after No Name's performance, and it had quietened down considerably. He watched as his boss nodded, before his gaze swept the room.
"You can go now if you'd like, your shift was over a while ago. I'm sure that Hannah can manage from here on." He gestured to the girl standing next to Levi who was pouring a glass of water for their boss. She smiled sweetly and nodded in reply.
"You sure?" He asked, but was already removing his apron.
"Sure, I think I can handle eight people, Levi. Good work tonight." She placed the water on the bar.
After thanking them both, he told Eren that he'd be right back, and went into the door behind the bar once again. He jogged through the storage room to the staff room.
He disposed of his apron in his locker, slipped on his leather jacket, grabbed his backpack, and came back out in under a minute.
Ducking under the counter, he walked up to Eren, who was waiting patiently by the door. He waved to his boss and guided Eren out by placing his hand on the small of his back.
"I don't mind giving you a ride home. It'll save your dad the fuel money." Levi offered, shrugging effortlessly.
"I don't know..."
Eren wanted so badly to say yes. It meant more time with Levi. But it also ran the risk of his mother actually meeting said punk.
His eyes glided over the leather jacket and ripped jeans; two things his mother had refused to let him own himself.
The only way he'd gotten away with the leather pants he was wearing currently was due to the fact that they had been a gift from Armin; his mother adored Armin.
"If you're worried about me meeting your parents, I can just drop you off and go, I don't plan on stopping for very long unless you want me to."
Eren chewed on his lip before finally nodding, surrendering to his logic. He followed him into the staff car park to the side of the club, staying close to his side for warmth in the bitter early October air.
It wasn't until they'd stopped that Eren looked up from the ground, his mouth falling open in shock.
No fucking way.
"Um... Levi... please tell me that that isn't yours..." The colour had drained from Eren's face, and his tanned skin looked almost pale in the luminous moonlight.
"Of course it is, you got a problem with it?" The shorter teen snorted cheerfully and got out his keys.
"Well..."
"It's fine, Eren, honestly, I'll keep you safe."
Eren stared at him doubtfully before his eyes slid over to the sleek looking black motorbike parked in the space in front of him.
"You had better..."
My mom is going to kill me.
Notes:
Hello Minna!
As promised, here is Chapter 10 ^^
It's a lot longer than the last chapter, we hope you liked it.
Song: "In The End" by Black Veil Brides - BVB Army unite! xD
Until Next Time!
P.S: We're gonna be posting chapters on every Saturday and Wednesday...Hopefully haha!