Welcome to the Little Titan Caf '!

Today's special: Heart Problems

It was a Saturday night at the Little Titan Caf ', the shop somewhat crowded with students from SU. There 'd be no studying or working on homework tonight, simply because they were all in high spirits. Then again it was a

Saturday night

so homework was the last thing on their minds. 'But that didn 't explain to one particular patron why a bunch of college students were at a caf ', celebrating from the looks of it. Normal college students would be out at a bar, getting hammered, plastered, drunk ' whatever the hell kids called it ' not sipping a macchiato and pumpkin lattes.

Levi downed half of his black coffee in one go, relishing in the scorching heat. He was tempted to grab his things and leave. There was no way he 'd be getting any work done in this atmosphere. Truthfully, he should have turned around the moment he saw the amount of people inside of the store, but then he spotted the stupid brat 's face and his feet had brought him inside before he knew it.

As if on queue, said stupid brat suddenly appeared, looking haggard from all the orders he and his coworker had to deal with. Despite that, he grinned at Levi as he finally caught a break, 'Sorry about all the customers. '

'Is it normally like this on a Saturday? '

'For the most part, yeah, ' Eren nodded. 'But most of the people here are from SU 's women 's volleyball team. They 're celebrating making it through regionals. '

That would explain why most of the customers were women.

'One of my best friends is on the team. Oh, by the way, I haven 't finished the book yet, but, ' Eren paused in thought, 'I love it so far. It 's just that ' '

Levi quirked an eyebrow.

'Well, I don 't know how to explain it exactly, but it seemed like something changed for Rivaille halfway through? ' When all he received was Levi 's blank stare, Eren scratched his cheek, glancing away shyly, 'Almost like something good happened? '

'Who knows, ' Levi said.

'I 'm guessing you 're not very close with any of your friends. '

'Not really. '

'What 's he like? ' Eren asked with hero-worship in his eyes. It pissed Levi off, irrationally so, because he was worshipping a faceless man. Sort of. Faceless in the aspect that

Rivaille

didn 't exist, but Levi did. He 'd never felt the desire to confess to his alias before. Ever. Until now.

But he didn 't. 'Rivaille 's an old pervert. '

'I

highly

doubt that. '

'You 're not the one who knows him, ' Levi pointed out, taking another large gulp of his coffee, suddenly wishing he was at a bar instead. That was where old perverts like him belonged. At a bar. Drowning in alcohol. Not at a caf ' where an innocent-looking barista served you night after night with foolish optimism.

He could see the thoughts flashing across those eyes ' green, but not quite green; blue, but not quite blue; turquoise: a body of water without all of the impurities ' frustration, denial, the protest that formed in his mind that was caught behind pursed lips. Eren couldn 't argue against Levi because what he said was true. He only knew the words on paper, not the person who wrote them. But were they really that much different? The writer and the story? The artist and their drawings? Sure, you could draw and write something completely radical of who you were as a person, but if you looked close enough, you could usually find the little hints of the creator; footprints of their personality.

Eren wanted to say all of that to Levi, but what was the point? In the end, Levi was right. His shoulders sagged with the breath he released, 'Well, for an old pervert, he 's a great writer. '

Levi snorted into his cup. Eren ran off after someone called him, probably one of his friends, leaving the man alone to his thoughts,

almost like something good happened

, repeatedly crossing his mind. What the hell was that brat talking about? His writing hadn 't changed as far as he knew. Hanji, his editor, hadn 't said anything ' but then again, whenever he saw her she always had a silly smile on her face, sillier than usual. Erwin hadn 't said anything, either.

He gnawed on his thumbnail irritably.

Tch

. That brat was sprouting nonsense, that was all.

'Was it really necessary to invite everyone here? ' Eren asked once he joined Mikasa and Armin at their table. Five empty packets of sugar surrounded Mikasa 's drink as she stirred her tea. ' Not that I 'm not happy to see you guys, but this is a caf ', not a bar. '

Besides, it cut into quality time with Levi. But it was almost worth it seeing the man look so out of place amongst a crowd of people.

'It was Coach Rico 's idea, ' Mikasa said, soft-spoken as usual. Armin had to put a pacifying hand on her wrist to stop her from stirring her drink further, a habit she couldn 't break. 'You know how she is. She would never encourage alcohol. And it was her treat. '

Eren sighed. He didn 't think there was anyone in SU who

didn 't

know who or how Coach Rico was. She was known for her Spartan-training and her inability to tolerate failure (which was probably why the women 's volleyball team was headed to nationals, unlike their male brethren).

Mikasa went to grab another packet of sugar, but Eren 's pointed frown had her retracting her hand, 'Maybe you should cut back on all of the sugar. '

' 'If you think that is best. ' She wrapped her hands around the cup. 'Did you tell your mother about the attempted mugging? '

'Yeah. ' Eren made a face. He hated making his mother worry, but she would have found out one way or another. But mostly he hated the babying it involved. 'She said they 'll be back sometime next week. '

Every couple of years, Eren 's parents left close to their anniversary to take a month of vacation. One time they went backpacking through Europe. Another time they went to explore the African safaris. Another year was Australia. And another was a road trip through the United States. This year it was backpacking through South America. If his parents were one thing, it was definitely adventurous.

Eren glanced around the shop. He recognized some of the varsity team members from the times he 's been to Mikasa 's games, such as Mina, Hannah and Sasha, but he knew her better from working with her ' and Ymir, who both played on the team and did theater. He was surprised when spotting Annie, one of his regular customers. 'I didn 't know Annie was on the team. '

'You would know if you were able to make any of the games, ' Mikasa chided gently. Both of them knew he couldn 't help it when he was working a lot, 'She joined this year. '

'I always pictured volleyball players as ' tall. '

'She 's an excellent player, ' Armin injected, his gaze on Annie as well. Beanstalk and Macho Man were with her.

'Who are those guys with her? ' Eren asked. He 'd seen their SU IDs plenty of times in the past, but their names were always hard to remember.

'The blond one is Reiner Braun. He 's on the rugby team. And the tall one is Bertholdt Fubar. '

Eren nodded. Macho Man and Beanstalk were easier to remember. 'I have another question. '

Armin tilted his head. 'What 's that? '

Eren set his chin on his hand and narrowed his eyes, glancing sideways to the seat at his right. 'Why is

he

here? '

Jean paused mid-sip, looking offended, 'I can be here if I want to. Besides, I 'm here with Mikasa and Armin. They 're my friends, too, you know. '

'That doesn 't mean you have to be here, horseface. '

'Don 't forget you dated this horseface. '

Eren cringed. 'Ugh. Don 't remind me. '

'Rude. ' Jean took a sip of his drink, nearly spilling it when he burned his tongue. 'Damn it, Eren. '

'Hey, it 's not my fault you 're stupid. '

'It 's almost hard to believe you two even dated, ' Armin mused. 'All you two did was argue. And that hasn 't changed. '

'We did more than just

argue

, ' Jean leered, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Eren gave him a good shove.

'Shut up, dumbass. '

'What else did you two do other than argue? ' Mikasa asked, causing the boys to freeze. Her gaze moved from Jean to Eren, dark blue eyes giving away no emotion.

'We ' played video games, ' Jean said, voice squeaking at the end. Eren nodded a little too enthusiastically.

'Yeah. Video games. ' Well, that was

partially

true. Being confused, sexually frustrated teenagers left little to no time for video games, what-with their raging hormones and violent temperaments getting in the way of anything else.

'So, Eren, ' Jean said, quickly changing the topic to something less dangerous for himself, 'Armin was telling me you have a crush on an older man. '

'

Jean

, ' Armin hissed.

'Armin! ' Eren rounded furiously on his friend. 'You weren 't supposed to tell anyone. '

'It was a slip of the tongue, ' he looked guilty. 'He was asking about you and ' '

'I was not, ' Jean scoffed, but anyone could tell by the redness of his ears that he was lying. He 'd always been a terrible liar.

Eren covered his face with a frustrated groan. He had made Armin promise him he wouldn 't tell Mikasa about Levi, and that 'd been about it, so he couldn 't completely blame Armin.

Oh

shit, Mikasa

. He peeked through his fingers, noting the way she was stilled in her seat, a deadly calm of nothing plastered on her face. That was never a good sign. Maybe if he could sneak away under the pretense that he needed to get work done '

'An older man, Eren? ' Mikasa finally spoke. Her voice was steel. Ice cold steel. 'How

much

older? '

Eren scowled. 'I don 't know, and it 's not a big deal, okay? It 's just a crush. ' The word crush left a bitter taste in his mouth. For some reason, it was a lot harder to get that word out compared to when Armin first discovered his feelings. And now he was left feeling angry and frustrated with the three pairs of eyes staring at him ' one guilty, one cold and worried, and the other, well, Eren couldn 't understand Jean 's stare. Confusion, perhaps?

'I didn 't think it was serious, ' Jean commented, breaking the silence that had settled over their table. 'But it 's written all over your fa ' '

Eren abruptly stood up. 'I need to get back to work. '

'

Eren

, ' Mikasa said in one of those we-are-going-to-talk-about-this tones that normally would have had Eren sitting back down. But not tonight. Not with Jean there. A hand, however, grabbed his wrist. Eren turned his head towards Jean. 'What? '

Jean opened his mouth to say something, as to what Eren couldn 't even fathom. With a shake of his head, he released Eren 's wrist and turned away to glare at nothing in particular.

Eren walked off in a huff. He couldn 't bother to care what Jean wanted to say, or why he had that expression. If anything, Jean even bringing up his crush only reminded Eren why they didn 't last long and why they broke up to begin with. The damn horseface

never

knew how to filter what came out of his mouth. Granted, it wasn 't as if Eren knew how to, either, but that was beside the point. The point being that Jean was an insensitive asshole. Still was.

But none of that mattered, not when Levi was sitting at the counter, and that was enough for whatever tension that had built up in Eren to go away.

Coach Rico had kicked everyone out of the caf ' around 23:00 '

it 's late, stop loitering around this place like a bunch of hoodlums

' much to Eren 's relief. He sent his friends off with less hostility, seeing as how Armin had apologized for his slip of the tongue and Jean

looked

apologetic, and while Mikasa didn 't look happy, there was still acceptance.

'I 'm done, Eren, ' his freckled-faced coworker said as he came out of the back, apron off and jacket on.

'Thanks for all of the hard work today, Marco, ' Eren said. He had offered to help Marco clean up the dishes, but being the nice guy that he was, Marco had insisted he do it by himself. And Eren being who he was ' a slacker who did whatever he could to shirk his duties ' could only accept. Marco was the Little Titan Caf 's most recent hire, his mother having hired him before she left for vacation.

'Are you sure you don 't want me to stay until closing? ' Marco asked with a worried furrow between his brows.

'Yeah, I 'm sure. I 've closed plenty of nights by myself. ' Too many, really. But the closing shift was the most ideal one for him.

'Alright. I 'll see you around. Have a goodnight, Eren. '

Eren waved him off. He sat down on one of the barstools, too tired to stand. The shop had completely emptied out with the volleyball team 's and friends ' departure, so now it was just Eren and Levi. Just. Eren. And Levi. That thought had him sitting straight. It wasn 't the first time he 'd been alone with the man, but normally there was a lingering customer until close to closing time, so they were never truly alone until Eren closed up shop. There was still forty-five minutes left on the clock. Forty-five minutes of

just them

.

He never felt so self-conscious before.

'What do you keep looking at? '

Eren jumped. He hadn 't even realized he was repeatedly glancing at Levi. 'Oh, nothing. Just trying to figure out what you 're working on. '

'I 'm looking over something, ' Levi muttered, a hint of bewilderment in his tone. That was odd. Normally Levi sounded like Mikasa, now that Eren thought about it. Composed. Neutral. Minus the feminine voice.

Eren folded his arms over the counter and rested his head over them. The day felt unbearably long and his shift had gone by in a flurry. But now with the ticking clock and the little clicks of Levi 's laptop as he scrolled through something, time seemed to finally slow down. 'A detective? '

'No. '

'Mall cop? ' Right. Because a mall cop could afford the clothes Levi wore on a daily basis.

'No. '

'Janitor? '

'Now you 're just grasping at straws. '

'You 're an heir of a really rich family so you don 't do anything. I just think you do. '

'No. Good guess, though. ' Sarcasm oozed from every word. Eren couldn 't help but crack a smile.

'You visit orphanages during the day and spread cheer to all of the children, and by night you write novels and you use most of that money and donate it to charity. '

'I 'm no saint, Eren. '

He tightened his arms, his heart moving a mile per minute at the sound of his name. He hated his reactions. They only reminded him of Armin 's pitying look, Mikasa 's worried stare and Jean 's confused one. His name coming from Levi was power held over him, and the man didn 't even know it. 'Okay then. A hitman. '

'No. Explain what you meant earlier. ' Eren blinked at him in confusion. 'About Rivaille 's writing being different. '

'It 's not that his writing changed, ' Eren corrected, 'more like ' the emotions he put into it? '

'I see. ' Levi 's eyes narrowed at the screen of his laptop. No, he didn 't see. All he saw as he scoured his drafts was that he 'd turn into a total sap halfway through. Why hadn 't anyone

told

him? He was going to send Erwin and Hanji a few angry messages. When Eren stopped talking, he looked down to see the brat had closed his eyes. Levi reached over, intent on shaking him to get up and work, but his hand lingered over the mop of brown hair a little too long before he composed himself and pulled away. 'Stop sleeping on the job, brat. '

'I 'm sorry, ' he said, prying his eyes open with some effort. 'I was up later than usual reading the book. '

There was a strange pang and stutter in Levi 's heart. He wondered if he was at that age that he needed to be concerned about his health. Perhaps it was time to see a doctor. 'Sitting there isn 't going to keep you awake. '

'That 's true. ' Eren sat up, stretching his arms up high enough that his shirt lifted, exposing a bit of skin that had Levi enthralled and his heart doing a painful thump. This kid was going to be the death of him. 'Did you want a refill? '

'Yes, ' Levi pushed his empty cup towards him, unable to look Eren in the eye. He hopped off the barstool with the cup and returned to his post behind the register. As Eren made his drink, Levi considered coming to the caf ' less. That was the only solution to keeping his sanity, and his life.

But as Eren started to hum along to some shitty pop song that played from the speakers, Levi didn 't think it was possible to

not

come. He 'd probably suffer through caffeine withdrawals '

you could always go to a different coffee shop

, a voice chided. Like that popular chain, Star-something. All coffee shops were the same to him. So long as they made his drinks, that was all that mattered.

Except, not all coffee shops had a certain barista working there. There was only one caf ' in this city, only one coffee shop where he was served by a certain person. And something told Levi it wasn 't the caffeine he was addicted to.

'Here you go. ' Eren slid a drink towards Levi, a blush blooming across his cheeks when their fingers brushed in that clich ' way that wasn 't accidental on Levi 's part. The kid blushed. A lot. He wondered how far he could push Eren, how red Eren could turn, if he turned red anywhere else. If

just anyone

could make him blush like he did around Levi.

It was definitely not the caffeine he was addicted to.

OMAKE

'So what seems to be the problem? '

Levi took in deep breaths as the doctor instructed, moving the stethoscope here and there. 'My heart hurts and skips beats. '

'I see. Are you normally under a lot of stress when this happens? '

Levi thought about the brown-haired barista with his turquoise eyes. 'No. '

'How often do you feel the pain? '

'Mostly at night when I am at a caf ' drinking. '

'Hm ' ' The doctor moved the stethoscope to Levi 's back, encouraging him to repeat the deep inhales and exhales. 'I don 't hear anything out of the ordinary. '

'That 's because there 's no brat around. '

'I see. '

'Later '

Physician:

Dr. Hanji

Medical Condition: 'ur in love

Prescription:

get laid

Levi crumbled the paper. '

What the hell is this you shitty doctor?!

'