Levi was returning from the toilets, his bladder empty and feeling a bit steadier. He'd splashed his face with cold water and had drunk a double handful from the sink. He definitely felt better. The bar was a startling crush of people after the bathroom and was disconcertingly dark in comparison. The strobes bathed everyone intermittently in red, blue, and green light as they gyrated on the dance floor or lounged at the bar. Levi glanced along the crowded bar, noticing the disparate attire, casual jeans, business suits, business casual, even what appeared to be standard blue uniform pants and white shirts.

Levi froze. Shit. It was him. Erwin Smith along with his titan friend, Zacharias. Sitting at the bar. They were staring intently across the dance floor and sipping their beers. Levi followed their gazes, trying to see what they were so focused on.

It was that Moblit Berner guy and the girl he was with.

Levi felt a jolt of … what was it? Anger? Jealousy? Which one of them were they staring at? Berner or the woman? Shit, could be either. If one of them or both were gay it could be Berner. He was a cutie.

Please please let that gorgeous blond fucker be gay. Please.

Levi wasn't sure what to do. He didn't know the man. This wasn't New York for god's sake. You couldn't just walk up to a dude in the deep south and ask if he was gay. That was a good way to get the shit beat out of you. Or the shit beat out of him. Or worse.

What to do? What to do?

Well, he had to get back to Hange before she did something rash. His best friend was wild, loud, and rambunctious and so made a great, if exhausting, drinking partner. She also did not make the best social decisions at any point, much less when she'd been drinking. Shit.

He decided to just sit back down and hope he caught the man's eye later on. He smoothed his shirt (already perfect) and checked his nails (also perfect - he'd checked both in the bathroom) and straightened to make himself appear as tall as possible (not entirely possible. He knew he was short. Hange called him 'compact' and 'travel sized for your convenience.')

He shot Erwin one last glance and walked as steadily and confidently as he could back to the booth.

"Damn …" Erwin breathed, almost spilling his beer down the front of his shirt. "Oh, damn."

Mike reacted immediately, staring at his friend then twisting to look where he was looking. "What is it?" he spotted Levi. "Oh, hey, that's that Levi Ackerman guy from the movie."

He swung back around to eyeball Erwin. "Dude …"

Mike had known Erwin for ten years. He knew Erwin was bi. It had taken a while for him to let go of his ingrained prejudices but he had and had fully accepted his friend. Erwin tried to keep it under wraps though. This was the south and a small town, too. Folks were very resistant to change. Burley, manly, married factory workers would pay for a blow job from a local twink behind their truck in the parking lot of The Stockade but they still hated 'the gays.'

Erwin just stared. Levi walked with a natural swagger that made his mouth dry and other people (men and women) in the bar look and he was dressed so … interestingly. He had on a fresh black tee, sleeves rolled up as before showing as much of his tattooed arms as possible and thin leather trousers that fit like a glove displaying every muscle in his legs and his ass to its finest advantage.

"He's sitting with that loud woman. With the brown hair," said Mike, " I don't know her. I wonder if she works on the movie, too?"

Erwin was positively glaring.

"Fuck, man. You got it bad," Mike murmured, amused. He went back to staring at the blonde woman with Moblit.

Hange was halfway through her new pitcher of Gimlets and was happy as a clam. She smiled hugely at Levi. "Thought you fell in!"

"No such luck, shitty-glasses." Levi gestured for another whisky. He glanced up, casually, toward the bar. The way he was sitting, his side of the booth faced the bar so he could look around while stealthily scoping out Erwin. He threw back the last of his current whisky and almost choked. Erwin was staring straight at him.

No. Not at him … at ... Hange.

Levi cursed fluently under his breath. Really? He sighed gustily and grabbed his new drink from Jean and took a huge gulp.

"Another?" the young man asked patiently. He'd been waiting tables at this bar for a while now. Levi nodded.

When Jean brought his second drink Levi grabbed his wrist to keep him from leaving. "Do you know that blond guy at the bar?'

Jean looked and hesitated. Levi realized his mistake. There were a lot of blond guys at the bar. The area was predominantly of German descent.

"Which one?"

Levi took another gulp of whisky, relishing the burn down his throat. "Really tall guy. Light blond. With the even taller dark blond guy. Shit, don't stare at him."

Jean turned back to Levi with a thoughtful look on his face. "Mr. Smith? Erwin Smith?"

"Yeah, that's him." Levi swallowed. "I think that's his name." he amended quickly. "I met him the other day. On the set," he added easily.

"He's a nice guy. He's on the school board. I went to school with his son. He's one of my best friends."

Levi choked on his drink and tried his best to recover smoothly. Hange was watching him like a hawk, her eyes glittering behind her thick glasses.

"Son? So he's … he's married, then?"

Again Jean gave him that odd, speculative look. "His wife died years and years ago. Y'know, Mr. Smith owns the diner right outside of town? You could just go ask him yourself." Jean smiled at him and moved away, his tray tucked against his apron-covered hip.

"Smart-ass bastard," Levi muttered.

"Oh, give the kid a break, Levi," Hange said, "He's gotta work, not chat with you."

"Tch."

Erwin shamelessly watched the entire exchange between Levi and Jean (Erwin fully intended to quiz Jean on what Levi had said. Jean was his son, Eren's, best friend and he'd known him since Jean and Eren were in kindergarten together. He still had the trophies in his study that Jean and Eren had won as High Schoolers at various sporting events.)

What had they talked about? They'd spoken an awfully long time for Levi to have been just ordering drinks or food. Jean had looked around at him. Were they talking about him? A little thrill ran up Erwin's spine at the thought that the gorgeous, exotic man might have been talking to Jean about him.

As Erwin was watching Levi (and thinking about him) Levi was watching Erwin. Fuck the man was just fucking gorgeous, not just tall (Levi loved tall people) but built like a brick, leaning toward plump. Levi liked 'em thick. His hands were huge, a feature that made Levi squirm. He imagined those hands on his body, on his tattoos and his dick jerked.

Shit! He needed to batten that down. It would not do to pop a boner here in the middle of the bar. Jesus, what would that look like if he had to go piss again? He realized that Hange was quiet, a rarity in Hange, and Levi focussed, with some difficulty on her.

"What?"

Hange grinned wolfishly. "Nothing. Just you. You found someone you liiiike!"

"Oh shut up, Hans."

"Nope. How did you know the guy's name?"

Levi rubbed the back of his neck, two spots of color appearing high up on his cheekbones. "Met him on the set today."

"On the set? When?"

"You were talking with Matthews. The other guy, the one Smith is with, is our new contractor on the film."

Hange leaned forward sharply and the smell of gin hit Levi's nose. "Ohh! Then you might get to see him a lot! Is he in construction too? Our waiter said he owned a diner."

"He's not in construction that I know of …" Levi had a sudden, very vivid memory of shaking hands with Erwin and how soft those big mitts were. A tiny shudder went through him. "Now forget about it. Keep drinking."

Levi went back to his own drink, knocking it back. Shit, he needed to slow down.