They went to check on the progress on the set and it was bustling. There were big trucks and trailers of various sizes, scaffolding everywhere and cables laid out over the ground. A large number of scenes would be shot outside and around the town.

The cinematographer and the production manager were in their trailer going over plans when Hange and Levi arrived. The cinematographer and Hange began talking shop as soon as they arrived and the production manager took Levi aside.

"I found you a good local contractor."

"Great. When do I meet them?"

"He's here now. I'll introduce you." They walked out and across the street and between two tall trailers. On the other side was an enormous white pick-up truck and two very tall men. Levi actually slowed.

Fuck, they grow 'em big down here.

The one man, the taller of the two, was leaning casually against the truck, one elbow on the toolbox on the back and one tucked into the pocket of his jeans. He was incredibly handsome, sandy hair fell in an unkempt hank and into his eyes and he had a cute mustache and goatee under a large nose.

But absolutely nothing could have prepared him for the sight of the second man.

Almost as tall, over six feet, he was a god. Levi's breath caught in his throat and his dick stirred.

Dressed in casual slacks and a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his hair was pale blond and parted on the side and meticulously swept to the right.

Levi swallowed hard and made his feet keep moving. They approached the two and both men turned toward them. The taller man's eyes were warm and green and the other's were a bright Caribbean blue. Levi's heart almost stopped.

"Levi Ackerman, this is Mike Zacharias."

The taller man took his elbow off the toolbox and reached out with his hand, an easy grin stretching his lips. Levi offered his hand in a daze.

"Pleased to meet you, Levi."

"Levi is our Set designer. Mike is the new contractor."

Levi dimly registered that the name on the door of the truck said 'Zacharias Construction and fine carpentry.'

Levi's eyes flickered over to the other man. He seemed … uneasy. Levi immediately felt self-concious, something that hadn't plagued him much since he was a teen. Was the man put off by him? By his height? (At 5'3" Levi had to look steeply up at both men.) Was it his tats and piercings? Who was he? He didn't seem dressed to be a construction worker.

"I gotta run," the production manager said, "Sorry I can't stay."

Levi barely noticed as he left.

"Levi, I really look forward to working with you," Mike said enthusiastically. "I've never worked on a movie before."

Levi's mouth opened but nothing came out. Mike didn't seem to notice.

"Let me introduce you to my good friend, Erwin. Erwin Smith."

Levi stuck his hand out. For a guy who didn't like to touch people he seemed to be shaking hands with these gorgeous titans awfully easily.

The blond god took his hand. His grip was firm, his skin soft (so not a construction worker, then,) and his huge hand engulfed Levi's small one. He immediately regretted wearing his rings. What would Erwin think?

"A pleasure," he murmured. Levi nodded stupidly. Jesus, where was Hange when he needed them?

"Uhm … Mike … I need to head out as well. See you tonight?"

Mike nodded. Levi immediately wondered, a bit jealously, if they were dating.

Levi tried very very hard to concentrate for the rest of the conversation.

Erwin had never quite worked up the nerve to buy a pick-up truck. It was the norm for men there in South Carolina to get a huge ostentatious truck to show off their manhood even if they only used it to transport three bags of trash to the dump every two weeks.

Mike drove a truck because of his job, Erwin drove a very nice Mercedes sedan. He felt that it suited him.

What the absolute hell had that been? He'd been standing around the movie set with Mike, just chatting before he had to go into work and this … this amazing creature had shown up from out of the blue. And now his heart was racing in his chest like he'd just run a marathon.

Levi. His name had been Levi.

Erwin meticulously went over the man's features in his head as he drove. Pitch black hair, cut into an undercut with the long fringe falling in his pale gray eyes. Tight, muscular body. Small, but who gave a damn?! And tattoos! He had never ever been attracted to tattoos in particular before. He felt that a person should do whatever they wanted with their body and tats never bothered him but this … this was special. The man had had on a black tee with the sleeves rolled up like a 1950s greaser and had had full sleeves on each arm of gorgeous, colorful tats. He even had one on the side of his neck (just blackwork swirls and a single name; 'Kuchel'.) And piercings. He had two in one ear and at least four in the other, and two silver studs in his lower lip on either side. Gorgeous.

Erwin Smith had seen men like Levi before but none so striking. Levi was the most fascinating thing to have happened to Erwin in years.

Back at the motel, Levi drifted around, distracted. He sat on the bed, got up, went to smoke, came back in, and sat back on the bed again. He clicked through the TV channels. Hange had walked across the street to get snacks.

Finally, Levi got up and, grabbing the cleaning supplies they'd stopped and gotten at The Pig in town, he changed clothes and started cleaning the bathroom.

Finally satisfied that the tiny room was as clean as it was going to get, Levi, slouched back onto the bed. He went through the TV again, lingering on the skin channels.

Hange burst in, bringing a blast of hot air with her from the outside.

"Hoo! Too hot to walk anywhere!"

"I thought you'd gotten run down in the road."

"I stopped at the Mickey D's" She threw him a bag of food.

"Of course you did." He peered into the bag and extracted a few fries.

Hange observed his attire: gym shorts and a plain white tee and the smell of bleach. "Bathroom?"

"Clean, thank god. Now I can shower."

Hange nodded, well used to Levi's peculiarities. She gestured at the TV, "Anything good on?"

"Sure, if you want something with 'busty' or 'slick' or 'wet' in the title."

Hange bounced onto her own bed and dug into her bag of food, stuffing fries into her mouth. "There's a couple of bars in town. Right around here as a matter of fact." She glanced at Levi "Let's go get laid."

Levi eyeballed his friend soberly. He watched them extract a Big Mac from the bag, unbox it, and begin to messily eat all over the bedspread. He shuddered delicately.

"Is that gonna be easy around here?"

"Hmf?"

"Getting laid. This is the South."

Hange swallowed. "I'm pretty sure people are getting laid around here."

"But are queer folk?"

Levi was bi-sexual, a lot less problematic in difficult locations; he could simply limit his advances to women. Hange was non-binary, neither male nor female, and was attracted to people, not specific genders.

Hange shrugged. "Queer people are everywhere, we just have to find them.

Levi's mind wandered back to the movie set and Erwin Smith. He sighed.

"Let's go give it a try."

"Yeah! Let's go kiss all the pretty people," Hange said, raising a fist, "Hell, let's kiss the ugly ones, too!"