Levi straightened and began carefully cleaning his knife with a smooth efficiency born of repeated action.
The pristine white handkerchief moved slowly over the blade, sopping up blood, wiping down steel. Levi carried two handkerchiefs with him always, both the same bright white, both embroidered with three pale-yellow evening primroses in one corner; his mother's favorite wildflower.
When his knife was clean enough he primly wiped his hands and dropped the handkerchief onto the ground next to the man on the floor with the cut hand. Levi's calling card. Levi's "don't fuck with me," message.
Nobody was dead but the four men in the barbershop-more precisely on the floor of the barbershop-were wishing they were and wishing they'd never met Levi Ackerman.
"And if you ever, ever disrespect my family again …" he murmured, letting the threat hang while he stepped delicately over men. He exited the barbershop casually, like a late customer leaving and, turning right at the next corner, he strode down the narrow alley.
Levi had texted for a car now all he had to do was stay in the shadows and get as far away from the barbershop as possible. He followed the trestle of the elevated train for two blocks then turned onto a busier road.
That was no good. He ducked back into a convenient alley as soon as he saw one.
The alleyway was dark, cluttered with garbage and the flotsam and jetsam of human habitation, whatever hadn't made it out to the curb; a broken dresser, a sodden pillow, a plastic trash can with the bottom busted out, slats off of a bed. Levi stumbled over a broken clock and into a soft mass of something-it felt like a bag of clothes. He withdrew with a noise of disgust. The mound, however, huffed out a whine and Levi started, stumbling back. There was something alive there.
Levi approached slowly. He contemplated drawing his gun but then decided against it. If it was a homeless person they were not a threat, if it was someone who meant him harm, they wouldn't have made a noise. He poked cautiously with one toe. When the leather of his shoe contacted something soft he paused. The something soft made another sound-a low grunt.
It wasn't human. It was an animal.
Curious now, Levi poked at the mass which appeared to be grey or particolored. Without warning an eye opened, warm and brown, and Levi stepped back, startled. A head rose and another eye, this one icy blue, joined the first.
It was a dog. Some sort of furry dog. The two disparate eyes blinked and newspaper rustled at the other end which Levi took to mean it was wagging its tail.
"Hey, buddy," Levi said and sure enough the newspaper rustled faster. "Are you OK? Where's your master, boy?" Levi wasn't sure the dog was male but figured that it wouldn't mind.
Levi was not a dog guy. He wasn't much on animals, period. He didn't dislike them but had never had a pet and always wondered if the amount of trouble and mess was worth it. If he had to choose though he'd go for a cat; quiet, tidy, not as demanding. Or so he thought.
Levi really needed to get out of there. The car that he'd called was probably cruising around looking for him and the driver getting more and more worried. Levi just couldn't leave the dog, though. What if it was lost? He searched the thickly furred neck for a collar. None.
At that moment the dog sat up slightly and coughed. Blood laced phlegm splashed Levi's jacket sleeve.
Normally this would send Levi into a fit of repulsion and disgust but not this time. The dog was hurt.
Levi acted fast, gently rolling the large dog over onto his side. The dog went willingly with a slight whine. When he was laid out Levi recoiled with a hiss. Whether the dog had been abused by a human or hit by a car, a foot-long slash cut through the mottled fur from hip-bone, down his right rear leg almost to his foot.
Without a second thought, Levi gathered the dog up and lifted him with a grunt. Belatedly he realized that he couldn't use his phone with his arm full of dog. He'd have to hope that he spotted his car. As he staggered out of the alley he looked the dog over in the better light. His fur was long and thick, but matted and dirty, and had patches of black white and grey. If this dog was owned, it was a shitty owner. Aside from the mismatched eyes, his only odd feature was a naturally bobbed tail.
A name tugged at the back of his mind. Some kind of shepherd. The kind of dog who belonged out in open green fields amongst cows or horses or some other country shit. Suddenly it popped into his brain: Australian Shepherd. Yep, that was it. He turned the fine pointed nose towards himself and felt the stub of a tail try to wag against his wrist. Shit, he had to find help.
He headed down the sidewalk at a slow jog-the dog was heavy-keeping an eye out for his car
He was looking for anything, any kind of medical facility. He had no qualms about holding a human doctor at gunpoint if they'd take care of the dog. It was late, past working hours; most shops were closed. Desperately Levi headed toward downtown.
He came to a doctor's office and, gently laying the dog at his feet, pounded on the door. No response. He cursed fluently, hefted the dog, and went on.
Two more blocks and he-thank the powers that be-came upon a tiny veterinary clinic. Just as he put the dog down, a silver SUV pulled up beside him. It was his driver, Connie Springer.
"What is that? Is that a dog? Boss, what are you doing with a dog?"
"He's hurt, found him in an alley now shut the fuck up and get whoever's in this place out here. I don't care if it's the cleaning lady! What took you so fucking long?"
Levi crouched down over the dog, resting. The dog's abbreviated tail wagged in perfect trust and acceptance of this human who had bumped him painfully along for 10 blocks and now loomed over him, shouting at the other human.
Connie in the meantime pounded on the door of the vet clinic
Someone came to the door, Levi could see a shadow under the door, but they didn't speak. Probably scared to death-it was a bad neighborhood. Connie hammered on the door again. Finally, it opened a crack.
Expecting a cleaning person, Levi was shocked to see a young man with unruly chocolate brown hair and huge greeny-blue eyes.
Levi sucked in a breath.
"We're closed," the teal eyed man said.
"Open up," Connie said, "We gotta emergency."
"There's an emergency clinic open 24 hou-"
"Please," Levi said.
He had no idea why he was going for reason and not violence. Something about this kid.
"Please," he said again, "This dog needs help. I don't think he'll last long enough to get to the emergency clinic." The brown-haired man opened the door wider and regarded the dog who was flat out on his side, eyes closed, panting. Blood was pooling under his leg.
To Levi's shock, the young man flung the door open.
"Bring him in quick!"
Connie helped Levi haul the dog up into Levi's arms again and they followed the man into the clinic.
The place was tiny. A little window above a desk for the receptionist and five chairs plus a tired-looking potted plant for the customers. They hurried past the waiting area and into the first room on the right.
"Put him up on the table!"
Levi complied and the dog whined low, almost a groan.
The young man reappeared with a vial and a syringe and Levi noticed his white coat for the first time. It was clean but frayed at the cuffs and collar.
The man punched a button on a box next to the table and Levi realized that the table must double as a scale. When he got the weight he wrote it on his hand and began to draw liquid out of the vial and into the syringe.
"Hey, whatcha doin' doc?" Connie asked, grabbing the man's arm, "Is that for the dog? What is it?"
Levi knew Connie had a soft heart and would be immediately invested in the dog. He laid a hand over Connies'.
"Go wait in the car, Con. It'll be ok. I got this."
"You sure Boss?"
"Yeah, go."
Levi nodded at the white-coated man who finished drawing up the fluid, double-checked his hand and his calculations and injected the dog. The dog relaxed onto the steel table, not out, but definitely out of it.
The veterinarian stroked the dog's head, flattening his ears back and cooing sweet nothings to him. "Beautiful dog. What's his name?"
"His name?" Levi's mind fumbled. What to call the dog? Spot? Rover? Petey? He was showing his age. What did people call dogs, nowadays? He was the boss of his gang. He could call his dog "Boss". No that sounded shitty and weird. It needed to be a name name. Inexplicably his brain wandered to a recent meeting with the south side boss and Levi drinking a whisky drink-a RobRoy-and the boss drinking Bailey's Irish Cream. Rob? Roy? Bailey? Boss?
"Uh … R … oss!"
The young veterinarian smiled like the sun coming out from behind clouds.
"Ross! I like it!"
The newly christened Ross wagged his tail stub weakly.
"Will you or your … cohort, companion …?" the vet said.
Levi frowned for a moment then caught up. "Oh, Connie? He's my uh … my driver." Connie was actually his bodyguard as well as driver and was armed to the teeth but Levi wasn't telling this sweet kid that. "Will we what?"
"Well, I'll need an assistant to operate on this dog. My assistant is long gone for the night."
Levi demurred "I dunno doc why don't you call him? Wake him up. I … I can't …"
"I just need you to hold the dog and hand me things, that's all."
Levi looked dubious.
"Look," the handsome young vet said, "You've already seen the worst of it. Surely you're used to blood."
Levi chewed his lip. The kid was on to him, he was sure of it. He knew he was just some low life thug. Somehow Levi didn't want this man thinking poorly of him.
"Yeah, yeah … I can do that. I can hold the dog."
It turns out the young man's name was Eren-Dr. Yeager to be precise-and it was his practice. Eren made Levi scrub up and don a gown and gloves. Levi felt like part clown and part fraud in the outfit but he gritted his teeth and kept on. It was for the dog after all.
The surgery was simple, Eren shaved the area and cleaned out the long cut. Fortunately, it was mostly skin deep and very little muscle was involved. Levi found himself fascinated at the careful and tiny needlework Eren was capable of and suddenly was very very glad that fate had led him to Eren's clinic door.
"How long have you owned Ross?" Eren asked midway through stitching. Levi stared at him. They both wore masks so it was Levi's pale grey eyes and Eren's almost turquoise ones.
"Uh, not long."
"How did he get hurt so badly?"
There was no doubt nor accusation in Eren's voice. He didn't think for a heartbeat that Levi, despite clearly being a member of the underworld, had hurt this dog.
"Uh, he got past me and got out. I found him this way."
"Well, it was good that you were so passionate about getting him help. He could have died from blood loss."
Levi's eyes flickered up to Eren's and then back down to the dog in concern. He'd never actually thought of that, of Ross dying.
The concept hit him hard. He had known the dog approximately two hours but there was already a bond there.
"Yeah well, you take good care of him doc."
Levi had a hard time concentrating during the operation. He anxiously watched the young vet work out of concern for Ross but he was also very, very distracted by the man himself. Big tan hands that gripped the instruments almost delicately, chestnut brown hair that tumbled around his too-young-to-be-a-professional face. And those eyes. Those greenish-blue eyes like the ocean at the shores of some faraway place that Levi had never even hoped to be able to visit.
For Eren's part, he was just being terribly proud of himself that his hands weren't shaking. What a night. It was bad enough being a business in such a run-down neighborhood (Poor people's pets needed vet care, too,) but to have a local crime boss bust into his practice in the middle of the night? He was pretty sure he was stitching up a dog opposite Levi Ackerman, henchman for Kenny Ackerman's gang. He was positive he saw a gun under the man's jacket and that driver of his looked positively scary for all that both hoods were shorter than Eren. He wondered about the dog. It clearly wasn't his dog. Kenny's maybe? No. He'd heard about Kenny Ackerman and couldn't imagine the man owning a pet. Maybe Levi's girlfriend's dog or his lover's? He couldn't have just found him, could he have? He seemed to genuinely care about the dog. He'd walked a long way carrying him.
Eren was obsessed with how incredibly handsome the small crime lord was. He'd expected him to be seedy and greasy and crude but he was none of those things. He was neat and clean and impeccably dressed. And his looks, oh god just watching him made Eren get embarrassingly flustered. The little man was gorgeous; pitch-black hair, pale grey eyes, broad shoulders and a trim waist, mouthwateringly thick thighs that strained against his trousers …
"Hey, doc? You OK?"
Eren realized he's just stopped stitching. "Oh … OH! Oh, yes I just … uhm … have sweat in my eyes."
Without hesitating, Levi produced a snowy white handkerchief with yellow flowers embroidered on it and gently and carefully patted Eren's brow dry. The big turquoise eyes kept their gaze glued on Levi's the whole time.
"Th-thank you."
"Keep it, Doc," Levi said pushing the handkerchief into the pocket of the young man's scrub top.
Both men blushed and Eren bent quickly back to his stitching.
Levi was sweating now. Why was this fucking vet who was barely out of his teens so cute? Levi had never seen anyone so cute and had never seen such gorgeous hair and eyes, oh my god the eyes, in his life. What was happening to him? First, he picks up this shitty dog then he starts drooling over this shitty vet. Levi swallowed. He didn't mean either of those things. Neither Eren nor Ross was 'shitty', his emotions were just all over the place. What the fuck?
Finally, the last stitch was in place and Eren was carefully and efficiently putting a light dressing over the wound. Ross was beginning to stir and Eren dosed him up again to keep him from thrashing and opening his stitches.
"Now some pain killer and a cone and he can go into recovery"
"A cone?"
"An Elizabethan collar to keep him from licking his stitches."
"Oh, yeah."
"Can you carry him?"
"Sure"
Lugging the dog as completely deadweight was harder than when he was conscious and Levi grunted under the effort.
"You OK?"
"Sure, Boss," Levi said,
Eren blushed at being called Boss and fastened the cone around Ross's neck before Levi laid him into a large crate.
The room they were in was tiny and smelled like disinfectant. There were several crates of different sizes stacked on top of one another two or three high.
"What is this?" Levi asked peering into a crate where a black cat lay sleeping, breathing fast, with white bandages on her leg and around her ribs.
"This is the recovery room," Eren explained in a hushed tone so as not to disturb the animals. "This is Sybil. She was hit by a car. Broken leg, broken ribs and multiple lacerations."
Levi threaded his fingers through the bars and watched the cat in her uneasy sleep. He mentally wished for her to be OK.
"I wish I could have a talk with the fucker who hit her," Levi said
When he pulled back Eren was staring at him.
"Sorry about the language," he mumbled but Eren was secretly touched. This was a big scary mob boss?
There was another cat, a big grey tabby.
"Oh that's Church-short for Churchill, like in Pet Semetary?-he is just in and got neutered." Eren laughed, "All the lady cats a few blocks over are breathing collective sighs of relief as we speak."
The tabby, seemingly none the worse for his surgery, came up to the bars of the crate and rubbed enthusiastically on Levi's fingers.
"You run this place by yourself? No, you said you had a guy who helped with the operations."
"A gal, actually. Sasha and I take turns cleaning and feeding and taking the dogs out and then she acts as my receptionist slash surgical assistant."
Levi frowned and cursed at himself for even thinking what he was automatically thinking. "Is she cute?" he asked, assuming that she and Eren were an item.
Eren opened his mouth to reply when Levi's phone buzzed. He struggled to get it out of his trousers as he still had the stupid paper gown on from surgery but he finally got it. It was Connie. Levi held up one finger to Eren and turned away.
"Say, Levi, there's a really cute girl coming in the door right now!"
"What?! Come in behind her Con, I want as few witnesses as possible."
When Levi put his phone away and turned he found Eren had shrunk back against the empty bank of cages and was looking terrified. "That's Sasha, what do you mean no witnesses?!"
"Calm down Doc. I just mean that we've got, shall we say, some unfriendly folk in this neighborhood who would love to find us holed up in a small space. I mean you and your assistant no harm."
At that moment there was a shriek, a crash, and a yell. Both Levi and Eren went tearing out into the waiting room to find a pretty brown haired girl sat on top of Connie and the potted plant turned over on top of both of them.
It took both Levi and Eren grabbing a combatant each to separate the two and stand the plant back up.
"You … you dimwit!" Sasha screamed at Connie
"Pain in my ass!" he screamed back
Levi shook Connie where he held him by his shirt, "Calm down you two and make nice. We got no beef here."
"She jumped me, Levi!"
"If I recall correctly I told you to just follow her in."
"I did and she jumped me!"
"He looks like a thug! They both do! Eren what's going on? Are you OK?"
Eren laughed. "What I was about to say was. 'pretty and fierce'"
The morning sun was shining in the glass front of the clinic warming everything up and while Connie grumblingly swept up the dirt and returned it to the potted plant, Sasha got Levi's info and Ross's info and Levi promised to be back that evening. Eren had been standing there awkwardly the whole time but when Levi laid down five crisp one hundred dollar bills on the counter Eren leaped up to intercept.
"No! We can't take your money." Eren insisted.
"We can't?" Sasha asked.
"It's OK, Doc," Levi said, "I know what you're worried about, but it's clean. I promise."
"It's … it's way too much,"
"Think of it as a donation to the clinic."
Eren frowned, an expression that looked out of place on his lovely face, Levi thought. Levi put his strong pale hand over Eren's tan one.
"You saved my dog's life, Doc. Take it."