Three weeks earlier

The radio in Levi's room played a little low, and Hanji was humming along to Get Lucky while pressing various buttons on the Playstation controller. It was almost four a.m. on a Friday, and they all decided to just crash at Levi's house after a long day. Levi and Hanji stayed awake talking and playing video games while the others were strewn around two rooms, sleeping and not waking up anytime soon.

"Hey, Levi," Hanji began, pressing the buttons to get a combo.

"Shit, what?" He muttered, narrowly dodging the attack.

"How long has it been?" She asked, backing him into a corner and repeatedly pressing various buttons.

"I'm not telling you," He replied simply, jumping over to get out of the way. "That's nothing of your concern."

"Levi, we've been friends since we were in diapers! Come on!" She pleaded, hitting him with a combo, giving a win to her. Levi cursed under his breath and began the next round.

"Uh…we're in junior year, now. I was about thirteen…so since seventh grade? Four years?" Levi sighed, opening the round with a string of moves, knocking Hanji's character down.

"You didn't tell me until freshman year. Has it seriously been that long? You've never bothered giving up?" Hanji paused the game to look at him, a sad look gracing her eyes.

"Never found a reason to. He may never come around, and if he doesn't, then I'll probably still be in too deep to leave," He stated simply, setting the controller down and flexing his fingers. The radio's music slowly faded to Judas and Hanji was bobbing her head to the beat.

"You're dedicated. I just don't wanna see you get hurt, Levi. Eren may not come around ever, as much as you wish. It sucks, but it's just a fact," She replied, frowning.

Levi stopped flexing his fingers and looked her, disappointed. "You think I don't know this? He hasn't in four years, he probably never will. I'm fine with that. If he's happy, I'm happy."

Hanji stared at Levi for a few moments, then picked her controller back up. "You really do love him, huh."

Eren lied next to Armin and Mikasa, eyes half open and listening to the conversation and radio that softly filled the room. He didn't fall back asleep, that night.

Days until opening night: 2

Eren spun in the swivel chair, having the control room to himself. Armin and Ymir were on dinner duty tonight, so they'd left about five minutes ago. He finally had time to collect his own thoughts without being bugged much, and boy did he have a lot to think about.

So, Levi loves him. Then he kissed him. On top of that, he has a movie night with him that Armin has implied has dirtier intentions.

How the fuck, Eren.

He ran his hands through his hair, groaning loudly. The plan to avoid Levi at all costs today was actually working well, since Levi seemed to be doing the same. No one has bothered asking, and he wasn't even sure if anyone noticed it at all. If Levi came anywhere near him, he'd suddenly have an excuse to be in a completely different area. Even during lunch they hadn't spoken, just avoiding any interaction.

Eren stood up and rummaged in his backpack for a pack of cigarettes. "Shit," He muttered, realizing he owed Levi a new pack and was probably going to be caught sneaking out to go smoke. It was worth the risk, though. He quietly left the control booth and exited from the back entrance, quickling walking out to the smoking area and sighing. He lit a cigarette and brought it to his mouth, inhaling the toxins and shutting his eyes to enjoy the feeling.

What a disgusting habit, he thought.

Eren didn't even smoke often, just when his stress levels were awful and he had no other way of relieving that. He knew it was messing with his lungs, and it was gonna catch up with him. He never cared, though. It was a stress reliever and he turned eighteen next year anyways, there's no point in caring. Exhaling the smoke and sliding down to the cement, his head hit the brick wall and he groaned again. Eren wasn't sure what he felt for Levi, they'd been friends since maybe kindergarten. Eren found out he was pansexual around eighth grade, but never bothered to tell anyone. Besides, it's not like that mattered much. They could find out if he ever decided to get a boyfriend. When that thought crossed his mind, so did the memory of kissing Levi and tasting the smoke on his lips. His cheeks flushed and he quickly threw his cigarette down in annoyance, stomping it out.

"This is shit," Eren said to no one in particular.

"You mean the fact you wasted a good three quarters of that smoke?" A female voice called to Eren. His head snapped over to see Annie, standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Erwin's been calling for you for five minutes, Eren. You should tell us when you're gonna sneak out," She said, sitting down next to him.

"I needed to be alone for a few minutes," Eren stated simply, hands on his knees.

Annie looked at him, raising an eyebrow and scoffing. Eren was a shit liar, and had been for the time she's known him.

"You're an awful liar, Eren. You can't run from your problems," Annie stated, taking the smoke pack from him and slipping it into her pocket. "You don't need these, and neither does Levi. They're awful for you."

"You don't dictate my health Annie, I paid for those!" He yelled, grabbing them from him and putting them in his back pocket. "They calm me down and it's better than beating the ever loving shit out of people."

"They're poisonous, and so are keeping your problems in. I can get Mikasa or Levi if you need," She replied, pushing her bangs from her face.

"Don't get Levi," Eren said too quickly, then retracting away when she rolled her eyes.

"So it's about shorty, alright. Listen here, you can't avoid him. We've all noticed that you two have yet to speak to each other all day, and by now at least one argument would have happened and you two would be smoking together."

Eren kept his head down when Annie spoke, and finally he stood up. "I'm going inside," He said simply, walking away. Annie followed about a minute later, satisfied with the little amount of motivation she had to give Eren.

Erwin noticed the teen come inside, and he made a 'come hither' motion with his hand to him. Eren sighed, ready for the motherly lecture that was about to be bestowed on him. He stepped over to Erwin and looked up, making eye contact.

"You shouldn't be smoking this much," He commented, clicking his pen.

"Well you see, mommy, I wanted to avoid punching someone," he said, sighing.

"Eren, we've been calling for you for a few minutes now. Some of us were nervous, so please don't do it again. Also, since Mikasa was about to throw a fit, she wants you to sort screws," Erwin continued, done clicking the pen. Eren groaned and looked at his sister, who had the buckets ready and was pointing to them.

Trudging to the screws, he picked up the bucket and went to go sit somewhere quiet where no one would bother him. Yes, this was acceptable, he guessed. He sighed and plopped down, ready to take action.

"Hey, let me help," a figure appeared behind him.

"You have makeup to do—" Eren began, but was cut off.

"The freshmen can handle it for once, let me help, and talk to you," Levi said, sitting across from him. "We need to talk, anyways."

"There's nothing to talk about," He replied simply, picking up and observing a screw.

"Jaeger, there's everything to talk about. For example, you've been avoiding me," Levi began, taking a few buckets for himself.

"I haven't been avoiding you," He replied simply, shrugging. "We just haven't spoken."

"Bull shit, I'd approach you and you'd disappear in two seconds flat. Is this about yesterday?" Levi snapped, looking straight at him.

"Why would yesterday matter? It didn't mean anything; we both just wanted a bit of contact," Eren replied, gripping each screw a bit tighter.

"Oh, so that's why you've been awkward. You thought I thought the kiss meant something more," Levi snapped, bitterly. "Well, I can't deny it was a nice kiss and I wouldn't mind doing it again. You, however, probably aren't lying that you're just 'desperate for contact.'"

"I haven't had a girlfriend since the beginning of Sophomore year, so yeah, I'd say I am," He snapped back, looking straight at Levi.

"Uh-huh, so if I just repeated yesterday right now you'd probably kiss back?"

"That's not what I fucking meant, Levi. Not at all," Eren snapped. "What—What the fuck is this?" He gestured to the two of them. "You jokingly flirt with me, but sometimes it doesn't feel like that! Like, am I supposed to suddenly reciprocate those feelings you have for me? Is that what that kiss was for? Is that what all of this is for?" He yelled, standing up and drawing the attention of the other crew members. Levi sat and kept eye contact with Eren the entire time, not budging.

Eren panted, trying his hardest to to yell more. He would regret everything he said, but it doesn't matter. He wanted answers, and dammit he was gonna get some. Levi finally stood up, about to answer Eren, but shut his mouth. He stepped back a few steps and turned around, briskly walking away.

Ymir simply walked past Eren, handing him a box from Thai Cottage. He could distantly hear a "Now you fucked up," come from her, but he just stared at the box. He heard a door slam, probably Levi locking himself in the costume loft, and the theater was actually completely silent for once.

Yeah, Eren concluded, no shit.

Levi and Hanji drove in silence that night.

It was raining, and the radio was turned up to the song Sweater Weather. Levi sang along quietly, voice breaking at some points. Hanji honestly didn't have the heart to talk to him about the outburst earlier. She did however, have the heart to take out the cravat from the glove department and wipe off the tears that sometimes trailed down Levi's face.

She didn't see him like this except for one other time, and she felt awful.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, looking straight at the road.

"It's not your fault, Zoe," he answered, turning the radio down a little. "It's not even his, I was the one who kissed him yesterday."

"That was a bit uncalled for, though," she answered, clutching the cravat. "I'm sure it's the stress of Tech week, though. Everything'll be fine, tomorrow!" She tried to respond, in a more cheery manner. Levi shrugged, and clutched the steering wheel tighter.

"Do you wanna drive down to parking lot where six-flags used to be?" Levi asked. The Six Flags had been torn down back around 2005, and Levi usually went there now to relax and observe the little amount of stars you could observe.

"Yeah, that'll be fine."

So they drove. They drove in silence, accompanied by the radio and the hum of the engine. Sometimes they'd sing together, but the drive was mostly silent. When the two pulled up in the parking lot, Levi stepped out and climbed to the roof of the car. He didn't bother pulling out his cigarettes, and Hanji didn't want to grab them for him.

Hanji sat next to her old friend, and looked at the sky. It was cold that night, and the moon was nice and bright. She smiled a little when she noticed Levi relaxing a bit and finally calming down.

"Everything will be okay, Levi," she said quietly, rubbing his back.

Mikasa didn't bother to pry at Eren and instead left him alone in his room. Eren sat at his laptop, scrolling through various websites and barely touching any homework he had. No one but Armin and Christa were online, and he didn't want to bug either of them. Exiting Skype, he sighed and shut the laptop.

He walked over to his bed and turned off the lamp, crawling into bed. He felt guilty about everything he said earlier, and didn't know what to do. In fact, he wasn't sure if Levi even wanted to speak to him after today. He groaned and rolled over, curling up more in his sheets. He got on his phone and pulled up a book his was reading, returning back to reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and slowly drifting to sleep.

When his fun buzzed he jumped a little and pulled down the menu to read the text he'd gotten. It was about 2 a.m. and he hadn't realized it, having crawled to his bed at around midnight.

'Meet me in the part in ten minutes.' It read, from Levi. His eyes widened a bit, but he sat up, replying to the text.

'Fine.' He wrote back, hitting send.

A/N: I'm trying to make up for the almost two weeks I didn't update, so here's chapter five! this was a bitch to write, and ended up kind of long. my back hurts. i need to pee too. thanks for the reviews and favorites, it means a lot to me! you can track my progress on tumblr gaymakeout, and even talk to me because im lonely. thank you so much!