Chapter Text
Levi is an idiot. An absolute fucking idiot.
He’s also maybe sort of starting to panic just a bit.
It’s hard not to, with the way he’s damn near stopped dead in the middle of the road - because he can’t even see out his damn window anymore, even with the wipers going as quick as they can. Can barely bring himself to press the gas, at all, with how badly his car keeps wanting to fishtail all over; but the snow’s piled up on the roadsides, too. It’s not like he has anywhere to pull over.
This was a horrible idea.
All he’d wanted was to get back to the city in time for Erwin’s birthday. To be able to keep him company while Mike’s out of town, so that Erwin didn’t have to spend his damn birthday alone.
Nature, it seems, doesn’t give a shit about what Levi wants. If it did, he wouldn’t be crawling along in a blinding blizzard, his fucking phone long since gone dead; and he’s pretty sure that he’s maybe definitely a bit lost. Pretty sure he missed a turn somewhere back there; because his gas is a lot lower than it should be, and he’s not even sure how long he’s been driving, at this point.
“Son of a bitch.”
And, yeah, that’s definitely a low wave of panic.
Realizes that he’s clutching the wheel a bit too tight, and eases off.
Focuses ahead, as best he can, and concentrates on staying on the road.
He just needs to keep driving. Eventually, he’ll pass a house. Find a phone. Figure something out. He just needs to – only realizes he’s heading for the ditch when he’s already half way in it.
Barely has time to go limp before – he doesn’t hit that hard, really, but it’s enough.
Enough that he can’t quite move, at first, his chest aching and his hands shaking.
Kills the ignition, then, and just – feels a shiver sneak down his spine, and squeezes his eyes shut. Realizes he’s got his hands wrapped back around the wheel, and slowly unlocks his fingers.
He literally hasn’t seen another car for hours.
He’s ditched it in a snowstorm with nobody around –
It’s just past six. He literally has to make it all the way until morning – and then for however long it takes after that for someone to drive by. If the roads are even open in the morning. He could – with how low his tank is already running, he could run out of gas and freeze before then.
Christ.
Feels another shudder sneak down his spine.
Is it even safe to leave the car running right now?
Beside him, his dead cellphone is lying on the car floor, mocking him. Levi barely has the energy to glare at it, before he puts his head down on the wheel, a wave of panic stealing his breath.
What if he nicked something when he ditched it, and the car catches fire with him in it?
He only realizes he’s opened the door and climbed out when he’s knee-deep in snow. Watches as some of it tumbles into the car, and – he’s being irrational. He knows he is. He’s panicking. He – he’s fucking freezing, now, the wind cutting through his sweater; and he needs to get back in the car. Needs to – feels like he's been punched in the chest when he looks up and sees a mailbox.
He’s crashed pretty much right in front of it.
Faint, barely there through the snow – but it’s there.
Feels his knees maybe wobble, a bit, under the crushing wave of gratitude.
Because if there’s mailbox, then – through all that snow – there must be a driveway.
Reaching down, he picks up his keys, closes the door, and starts to walk.
- - -
By the time Levi reaches the house – the driveway seems endless – he’s got tears in his eyes.
It’s a physiological response to his body just being way too fucking too cold. A response to the way the wind is scraping across his face. It’s got nothing to do with how utterly miserable he is.
Doesn’t make him feel any less pathetic, though.
He can’t curl his fingers to knock on the door, so he settles for hitting it with his palm, as hard as he can. If there’s a doorbell, it’s not lit up, and he can’t see it. Hell, he can barely see the house, and –
The door slowly creaks open, and light spills out.
Levi’s not sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t someone stupidly attractive.
Knows that he’s probably gaping, a bit, which – god, he’s half-frozen, what is wrong with him.
Watches as the guy watches him, wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open; and then he’s yanking the door back, and Levi stumbles inside. He can’t feel his feet. Can’t feel his hands. His cheeks are on fire. And he still has tears in his eyes. And his rescuer still looks shocked, which – yeah, Levi should probably explain himself, now that he’s just fucking barged in.
“Ditched m-my –”
“Come with me, alright?”
And – what?
Apparently he’s not moving fast enough, though, because the kid's tugging on his fucking arm – and maybe Levi’s brain is as frozen as the rest of him, because he lets himself be tugged. Knows he’s tracking snow all across the clean floor. Ends up standing in the kitchen with his eyes closed against how much it fucking burns, his hands underneath the tap and the boy standing beside him.
“Lukewarm. It should –”
“Mother f-fucking –”
“Yeah, I know. Um, I’ll find you some dry clothes, too, if –”
“I-I –”
“Um, warm shower first, or –”
“What are y-you doing?”
It would probably sound more convincing, if his voice didn’t sound so shredded.
His hands really fucking hurt.
Watches as his rescuer stares at him, and then scowls in a way that could actually do Levi proud, and - even through the pain in his hands, Levi knows that he's just kind of shamelessly staring at his host, now, which is just horrible. This boy's got to be well past legal - got to be in his twenties, at least - but that still doesn't mean that Levi should be staring at him. Especially given that he basically just invaded this guy's house.
“Well, excuse me, then, for trying to help.”
Levi knows that his mouth is hanging open, now. Watches as the kid scowls even harder at him.
“You’re basically an ice block. So sue me if I’d rather you didn’t die in my kitchen.”
“I –”
“But if you’d rather I didn’t –”
“I – I-I show up on y-your doorstep in the middle of nowhere –”
“This isn’t nowhere –”
“– and you just let me in and offer me basically free range of your house?”
“Would you have preferred I let you freeze to death?”
He’s still scowling. Levi opens his mouth, and then closes it again. What is this boy thinking.
“You got anyone else here, then?”
And – alright, maybe that wasn’t the best question; because the kid goes tense just about everywhere. Doesn’t take a step back, but it looks a bit like he wants to; and Levi takes a breath.
“Look, I just meant – I-I was expecting a phone through t-the door, maybe. Or some kindly little farmer family with many people . Not someone w-who lets strangers in without any kind of back-up –”
“Try anything and I’ll turn you into a pretzel.”
“That – that’s so not the –”
“Now, do you want that shower or not?”
There’s still a scowl to go with the words; and, holy christ, this boy is one hell of a spitfire.
A beautiful snarky spitfire who rescues frozen idiots who crash their cars, apparently.
Levi knows that he’s gaping, again, and makes himself close his mouth. Stares right back, for a moment; and then he closes his eyes, because – shit. He’s really fucked everything up, hasn’t he.
“What I want is a tow truck so I can get back to the city.”
He still doesn’t quite sound like himself. Feels his hands clench under the burning water.
“Nobody’s gonna drive out here in this weather.”
“I need to –”
“Look, you’re stuck here for tonight, stranger, so you might as well make the best of –”
“No, I have to – tomorrow, I need to be in –”
“What’s the rush?”
Levi keeps his eyes closed. Uncurls and curls his fingers under the water. Thinks of Erwin sitting alone in his and Mike’s apartment, spending his birthday with the TV and some bad take-out.
“Because unless this is a life-or-death situation, man –”
“It’s my best friend’s birthday.”
And – alright, that came out a hell of a lot more pathetic-sounding than he wanted it to.
Maybe his brain’s still a bit frozen.
Realizes the room’s too quiet, and opens his eyes to find the kid suddenly looking a bit more sympathetic than Levi can really deal with. Swallows, and takes his hands out of the water. Doesn’t have anywhere to dry them, though, so they just hang awkwardly until his host sighs and hands him a towel. Levi doesn’t manage to look at him as he dries his hands, and then hands it back.
“Look, I’m sorry about your friend’s birthday –”
“No, it’s – it’s fine, I didn’t mean –”
“It sucks, is what it is. But you’re – look, alright, I’m sorry, but you are gonna be stuck here, so – why don’t you snag a shower, and I’ll find you some clothes, okay?”
And – his host is smiling at him, now. A small smile, sure, but still a smile, which –
Oh, god.
Levi has butterflies.
Actual honest-to-god butterflies.
What the hell is wrong with him.
“And then we can – I dunno, either awkwardly ignore each other all evening, or –”
“I-I –”
“Or, option two, I’ve – well, I’ve got a fuck ton of TV on my hard drive, if you’d rather –”
“Why are you doing this?”
He probably shouldn’t ask. Should just take this boy’s hospitality and be grateful for it.
In his experience, though, people are rarely this nice. Especially not to strangers. Watches as his host frowns at him, again, before he smiles, a bit, in a way that almost looks a bit shy, and – oh, christ , the kid’s kind of blushing, suddenly; and Levi is pretty sure he's going straight to hell.
“Well, maybe I just don’t want you leaving puddles on my kitchen floor.”
And – right.
Levi looks down. He hasn’t even taken his boots off.
“I –”
“Come on, then.”
“But –”
“Let’s get you dry. And then we can call the tow truck companies, just in case, okay?”
The guy’s cheeks are still a bit pink, and, wow, that’s one hell of a wave of gratitude; and, yeah, Levi’s absolutely fucked, it seems. Manages a nod, at least, and follows the kid out of the room.
- - -
It isn’t until he’s halfway through his shower – warm, gloriously warm, water – when he realizes that he doesn’t even know his host’s name.
Stands there for a second, head against the wall, and the shower pounding on his back; but naked and soaking wet really isn’t the best time to be thinking about his host. Squeezes his eyes shut.
He’s not living in a porno.
In real life, you don’t crash your car and then end the night in your rescuer’s bed. You just – and especially don’t go there when there’s such an age difference. God, he’s such an idiot.
- - -
By the time he’s out of the shower and in new clothes, he’s not doing much better.
Might be doing worse, actually; because apparently the kid’s even left him a belt, to hold his baggy jeans up properly, which – christ, why couldn’t his host just be really conventionally attractive but also a massive jerk on top of it. Why did he have to go and be so fucking nice.
Because Levi’s in warm, dry clothes, now – the sweater’s too big, just like the pants, but he’d expected all of that – and he’s even been given a new toothbrush and some floss and toothpaste; and he’s got a new package of simple black underwear, still wrapped. Levi had maybe blushed like an idiot putting them on, and had maybe been trying to not imagine his host wearing the same damn ones, and – why did this boy have to go and be nice and considerate? And why did he have to go and be a sarcastic little spitfire, too, in the same way that Levi is?
It’s only when Levi realizes that he’s kind of been staring at nothing for a bit that he sighs and rubs his hands across his face, and then wraps his arms around himself, pulling the sweater tighter around him.
The situation’s getting to him. That’s what it is.
He’s stranded, and the kid’s taken care of him, and given him shelter; and just because he feels like something out of some torrid whirlwind romance novel, that doesn’t give him the right to be such an idiot about this. He’ll spend the night, and then get the hell out of here coming morning.
- - -
The living room is roaring hot from the fireplace, and it looks like something right out of any farm cliché. An old TV, dark wooden walls, a bunch of couches and some old sofa chairs, and –
There’s hot chocolate waiting for him, too.
Hot chocolate and a hot water bottle, even, all sitting on a table by the couch.
And there’s a mountain of blankets on the couch, too.
And his rescuer is somehow managing to look defiant and embarrassed at the same time, which has somehow resulted in him being so fucking cute that Levi can feel his teeth grind together.
God, he’s so fucked.
“Figured you, um. Might still be cold. I –”
“How are you even real?”
And – alright.
He didn’t mean to say that.
And now the kid’s blushing so bad Levi’s pretty sure he can warm up from the heat on his face.
“Hey, you’re the one who came in here half-frozen. Forgive me if I want to make sure –”
“You really okay with me spending the night here?”
“Don’t see what choice I have.”
He doesn’t sound that pissed about it, but, well – it’s true. Levi’s really put this boy in a shitty situation. There’s nowhere else for Levi to go. And Levi swallows through the wave of guilt.
“Could, um. Always put me in the barn, or something.”
It’s the best he has. Not much of a joke, but –
“Hey, hang on, no, that was a joke.”
Because he might not know this kid, but it looks like he’s actually considering it – and then his host shrugs, not looking at all guilty about it, and, holy shit, no, Levi doesn’t want to sleep in a barn.
“I was kidding –”
“I’ve done it before. Dead of winter, even. Cows keep ya plenty warm.”
“Cows?”
His voice cracks. Actually fucking cracks.
But he can’t sleep in a barn with a bunch of cows, oh, god, he can’t, that would be disgusting –
The kid is laughing at him. Full-on bright-eyed, hands on his knees, laughing at him.
Levi should probably be offended.
Probably shouldn’t be thinking about how that’s the nicest sound he’s heard in a long time.
“Holy shit, man, your face –”
“Shut up.”
“That was beautiful –”
“Piss off. What’s your name, anyway?”
“Eren. And, dude, I swear, I have never seen someone look that terrified over the idea of –”
“Anyone ever told you, Eren, that you’re a jerk and that your sense of humour sucks?”
“I wasn’t joking. And did anyone ever tell you it’s rude to tell your saviour to shut up?”
“Saviour? You gotta be –”
“Damn right. And if you don’t prove by lights-out that you’re not a sketchy douchbag, maybe I really will make you sleep in the barn –”
“Please don’t.”
And –
Okay. That came out a lot more honest than he had intended.
And now he’s made things awkward. A second ago, Eren was laughing. Now, he’s frowning. Staring at Levi like he’s trying to figure him out. Levi just barely manages to not look away.
“Hey, um – what’s your name, anyway?”
It’s soft, and a little too sincere; and Levi swallows. Why is his stomach fluttering like this?
God, it’s been years since someone gave him butterflies.
And this someone might still make him sleep outside with the cows.
It’s probably marginally better than trying to sleep in his car, at least.
“Levi. My name’s – look, I swear I’m not sketchy, I just –”
Eren holds out of his hand, and it takes Levi a second to realize why.
Takes him even longer to make his legs work enough to step forward.
Eren’s palm is warm and soft, when Levi shakes his hand. It doesn’t last long, but Levi can feel the warmth spreading all the way up his arm. Can see the way Eren’s blushing, too, even though he still looks concerned; and to hell with the pile of blankets. Levi’s warm all the way through.
“Levi. It’s – good, to meet you. Despite the, um – odd circumstances.”
Levi has no idea what to say. Stares like an idiot, even as Eren’s frown deepens a bit.
“You, um – really hate that barn idea, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Could I lock you in a closet?”
“No.”
“Maybe I have a room that locks from the outside?”
“I can always go back to my car if –”
“And leave me to deal with a frozen corpse in the morning? Hardly.”
Eren’s smile looks a little strained, suddenly. Levi feels like an idiot, again.
For all that Eren was laughing a second ago, yeah, Levi’s still a stranger. And Levi doesn’t know if he’d be able to sleep if he was put in a situation where he had to give shelter to a stranger.
“Look, you seem pretty chill – I don’t think we’ll have to resort to such drastic measures. Why don’t you make a nest out of those blankets, or something, and I’ll see what I have on my hard drive, if we wanna –”
“I’m OCD as fuck and the thought of all the germs in a cow stall makes my skin crawl.”
It feels like almost a relief, saying it out loud. It’s not like he talks about this shit often.
And Eren’s mouth is hanging a bit open, too. He looks a bit shocked, and maybe a bit puzzled.
“Um –”
“My name’s Levi. I’m thirty-four. I work for a publishing company in downtown Vancouver, close to Granville and Pender. My best friend’s name is Erwin, and Mike – his boyfriend – is out of town, which is why I’m trying so hard to get home. I was in Saskatoon for a conference and I physically cannot make myself get on a plane so that’s why I was trying to drive home instead –”
“Levi –”
“I have two goldfish. Their names are Frodo and Sam, ’cause I’m a giant fucking nerd. I also –”
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to prove that I’m not some creepy sketchbag.”
“By telling me your life story?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
His heart’s slamming way too hard, suddenly.
He really wants to just curl up into the pile of blankets and disappear forever.
Shit, that’s got to be the most honest he’s been with someone new in years.
“My name’s Eren. I'm twenty-one. I’m a second-year at a university not too far from here.”
Eren’s voice has softened, a bit. Levi knows that he’s staring, but he can’t seem to look away.
“I’m, um. Majoring in political science, and minoring in gender studies. I’ve got two best friends – Armin and Mikasa – and the person who owns this place is one of my TAs from last year. Hanji. I – I was going through some shit, and Hanji helped me out, and we became friends once I wasn’t their student anymore. I grew up on a farm, too, so I know what I’m doing around here.”
Eren’s eyes are fixed somewhere on the floor, and there’s silence save for the crackle of the fireplace.
What the hell are they doing?
“I’m, uh – OCD about numbers, though – germs, and stuff, don’t really get to me. Just, um. Numbers. And I’m a big fucking nerd, too. Anime, mostly, but plenty of sci-fi and fantasy, as well. I, uh – I even cosplay, sometimes. Nothing too fancy, ’cause I’m still just kind of learning –”
“I went to last year’s Fan Expo as Ed Elric.”
There’s something really, really wrong with his voice.
And the expression on Eren’s face looks almost a little lost, suddenly.
Lost, and maybe something else, though Levi doesn’t know him well enough to tell. Just kind of stares like an idiot, helpless, his mind blank, until Eren maybe blushes a bit, and his lips curve up.
“So, um, do you wanna maybe teach me some cosplay stuff, then?”
“Happily.”
His voice still sounds hoarse, and they’re still staring at each other.
Shit, this boy is beautiful.
Beautiful, and funny, and – based on how kind he’s been to Levi – a genuinely good person, too.
Levi is so fucked.
“Hey, and, uh – actually, do you have facebook, by chance? If I could see your profile –”
Levi’s voice still isn’t quite working, but he manages a nod, at least; and Eren’s smile, this time, looks genuine. Levi’s pretty sure he could get used to being on the receiving end of that smile.
“Awesome! Perfect. Just, don’t go far, ka? I’ll go find my laptop.”
Eren’s gone all bright-eyed again, and Levi somehow manages another nod. Watches as Eren grins some more, and then leaves the room, Levi leaving with nothing but the fireplace; and Levi doesn’t bother to stop a groan as he sinks down onto the couch and puts his face into his hands.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Of all the deserted farms in the middle of goddamn nowhere, he just had to go and land on the doorstep of the cutest fucking twenty-one-year-old in probably the entire damn Canadian west.
He is so fucking screwed.