Welcome to the Little Titan Caf '!

Today's special: Chai Tea

Eren 's eyebrow twitched. If he had a hundred dollars for every time he heard this, he 'd be a millionaire by now. 'What was that? '

'I saidI want a Tai Chi. ' The middle-aged, brunette woman shot him a withering glare, as if to say

are-you-deaf-or-something-you-daft-child

.

'A Chai Tea? '

'Did I say a Chai Tea? ' she snapped.

'It 's called a Chai Tea, ma 'am. Not a Tai Chi, ' Eren drawled. His tolerance for stupid customers was zero to none. It honestly made him wonder sometimes why his mother let him work at her store. She knew how short his temper could be.

'Just make me my Tai Chi. Hot. '

'What size would you like? Colossal Titan, Armored Titan or Dancing Titan? ' When all he received was a blank look in response, Eren continued, 'A Colossal Titan is a size large, whereas an Armored Titan is a medium and a Dancing Titan is a small. ' He pointed at a display case next to his register that had sample cups, each one having a doodle of strange looking monsters to represent the size of the cups. Yeah, the owner had an overactive imagination.

'A medium. God, this place is so weird ' ' She slammed a ten dollar bill next to the register. Eren stared blankly at both the money and her perfectly manicured nails. He rang up her order in silence before handing her the change. 'And make it to-go. '

'One

Tai Chi

coming up, ' he quipped, turning away with a roll of his eyes to make her drink.

The female patron 's face puffed, clearly indignant. 'This is terrible customer service. What kind of server rolls their eyes at their customer? Who in all their right mind would let someone as rude as you work here? Where is your manager? I would have a few words with them! '

Eren 's lips twitched as he struggled to keep a straight face, but a smile spread without much of a fight. 'Don 't you mean 'I would have words '? '

She furrowed her brows and blinked, taken aback. 'What? '

He shook his head, still smiling as he finished making her drink. There was no way this uppity woman would watch something like

Spartacus

. Eren handed her the steaming paper cup. 'Here you go. One Tai Chi. '

Any thought of talking to his manager ' not that there was one on duty ' was wiped from her head as she snatched the drink from Eren 's grasp, nails scratching the back of his hand as she did so. With a huff, she turned on her heels and stalked out of the shop. Eren sighed and rubbed his hand.

'You may want to disinfect that. Or see a doctor. She could have rabies. '

Eren turned his head towards Levi. He was sitting at the same barstool as he did two nights ago, except he was dressed slightly more casual. The sleeves of his navy knit shirt were rolled up to his elbows, Eren 's gaze lingering on his forearms, noting the faint line of a vein and the way muscles moved as he typed at his laptop. There was just something about those arms that he really,

really

liked. It made him wonder if Levi had toned biceps beneath the sleeves.

'Can people have rabies? ' Eren asked, tearing his gaze away from Levi 's arms to frown at the now angry red scratch.

'Sure. ' The clacking of keyboard stopped, gray eyes lifting to Eren 's. 'Do you feel an itching or prickling sensation from the scratch? '

Eren 's frown deepened. 'Well, now that you mention it ' '

'Discomfort? '

He shifted.

'A fever? '

Maybe he was starting to feel a little warm.

'A headache? '

Eren gulped. Was that a small pounding he felt in the back of his head?

'Already showing symptoms, huh? There 's no saving you. You 're going to die. '

Eren squeaked, eyes widening in horror. '

No

! '

Levi stared at him for three unnerving seconds. He turned his attention back to his laptop. 'Just kidding. It takes weeks for symptoms to start showing. You won 't die. Yet. '

'I-is there a cure? ' There had to be a cure, right? It was the year 2013, so there must be one. What kind of world did they live in if there wasn 't a cure for rabies? Eren raised both hands and grasped at his hair, panic freezing him in place.

Levi could practically feel green eyes bore at him imploringly. He

could

drag it out a little longer. There was something pleasantly entertaining about making the boy fidget and squirm; a twisted sense of satisfaction in the way Eren 's face contorted in fear. His fingers lingered over the letters of his keyboard before weaving them together, settling his elbows on the bar and his chin on the back of his palms, hiding his smirk. He let the barista sweat for a few, heavy moments. Eren 's hands fell away from his hair to twist at his apron as he bounced from one foot and to the next.

Levi waved a dismissive hand. 'Just kidding. '

Eren 's nose scrunched in confusion. Levi wanted to tell him not to do that because, well, he wasn 't sure why. 'You 're kidding about kidding? Or are you kidding about me having rabies? '

'Rabies are contracted through saliva. So unless she really did have rabies and you made out with her or something, you don 't have rabies. '

'This was my first time meeting her, so no way. ' And besides, Eren didn 't swing that way. His shoulders sagged with relief only to stiffen in anger. 'You were messing with me! '

'Congratulations, you finally caught on. But seriously, ' he ignored Eren 's muffled cry of outrage to reach into the front pocket of his messenger bag and tossed a mini bottle of Purell. Eren nearly dropped it, 'disinfect that cut. And wash your hands when you 're done. '

'Okay,

mom

. ' Levi glared at the jab, but Eren did as he was told. He returned the bottle to Levi when he was done. 'Thanks. But you 're still a jerk. '

If only they had a Wall of Shame like Eren wanted. He would take a picture of Levi, blow it up to epic proportions and pin it up in his roo 'er, on the Wall of Shame. Yeah. There. Where it belonged. This was only their second meeting and he was already yanking Eren 's chain.

'Do you get that a lot? '

'Customers throwing Purell bottles at me? '

Levi snorted. 'No. Customers asking for 'Tai Chi. ' '

It was hard to keep up with this man 's train of thought. Eren leaned against the counter. 'Yeah, sadly. It was funny the first three times, but now not so much. ' He leaned a little further, trying to get a glimpse of Levi 's laptop screen, but Levi tilted it inwards. 'What are you working on? '

'Work. '

'What kind of work do you do? '

'Work-related things. '

'Well

obviously

. ' Really, how aggravating could one man be? He was becoming less and less attractive to Eren. Levi could flash those forearms all he wanted and it wouldn 't change Eren 's feelings in the least. Nope. Not one bit. But then Levi shifted his sleeves further up past his elbows to resume his work and Eren 's arm slipped off the counter, banging his shoulder against it in the process. Levi quirked an eyebrow but didn 't say anything as Eren flushed and straightened himself out.

Seriously, Eren Jaeger? Of all things to get hot and bothered about:

arms

? He wasn 't some middle-schooler for crying out loud. Thankfully, the jingle of the bell distracted him from trying to figure out his own thoughts as he greeted the new customer with the usual, 'Welcome to the Little Titan Caf '! '

'You know, you still haven 't ordered anything, ' Eren pointed out, attention on his phone as he browsed Facebook and chewed away at his gum. 23:05. Fifty-five minutes until closing time. He sighed.

'Should you be playing with your phone while on the clock? ' Levi asked instead. 'And stop chewing with your mouth open. '

Eren blew out a bubble and sucked it in with a

pop

. 'There 's no one here to bitch at me. And most customers that come in at this time are either too stoned or too preoccupied with school work to care. So which one are you? '

'Neither. '

'You could totally pass as a student. ' The sharp look sent his way had him waving his hands in a pacifying gesture. 'It 's a compliment. I 'm saying you look young, not like some little old man. '

Levi didn 't bother to grace Eren with a response. He finished typing, clicked a few times with his mouse pad and closed his laptop. 'I 'll order something. '

Eren slid his cellphone into the pocket of his apron. 'Okay, shoot. '

In all honesty, Eren should have seen it coming from a thousand miles away. 'I 'll take a Colossal Tai Chi. '

Damn this man with his arms and good looks and smartass-ery.

'I hate you. '