Chapter Text
Levi never really had anything against Mondays, not like his friend Hange, who deemed them the worst day to ever exist, but today was definitely a hard day. He received deliveries from three different suppliers, and with both Isabel and Furlan requesting a day off, he had to juggle between customers and arranging the newly delivered goods all by himself.
He let out a tired sigh as he closed the front door of his tea shop, the Wings, and with his keys safely tucked away in his pocket he started the short walk to his apartment located only a few blocks away. Levi was glad the weather eased up in the past couple of weeks because the slight spring breeze of the night felt way nicer than the harsh cold he had to endure for months.
He looked back one last time at the shop to make sure he turned off all the lights before rounding the next corner. It never happened, but he couldn’t help the small strike of paranoia that resided in the back of his mind every time he left the Wings.
He opened the tea shop four years ago, after his uncle Kenny left all his monetary possessions to him in his will, and he decided to leave his boring office job - the one he got his degree for, - and it was his pride and joy ever since. At first, it wasn’t easy to manage the business alone, but his two best friends, Hange and Erwin, whom he met at university, came by often enough to help him out.
He met Isabel and Furlan a year into the business, both of them high school seniors with a rough background, and he offered them a part-time job at his store. The two teenagers took his offer easy enough, and after graduation, with no other plans in sight, he provided them with full-time contracts. They were good kids, and Levi was glad he could help them start their adult life in a stable environment and with a stable income.
Levi almost reached his apartment when his phone suddenly chimed with a new text alert. He frowned as he wrestled out the device from his pocket. He never really received any notifications except work and his two best friends. He was the one who closed the store, so obviously it couldn’t be a work text, and he knew for a fact that Erwin was currently on a 24-hour shift at the hospital he worked at.
That left only Hange, but it was still weird since they rarely used the normal messaging format, preferring to communicate exclusively in memes on various social media apps, and random FaceTime calls.
As he finally unlocked his phone, forgoing checking the text in his notifications and tapping on the messaging app to open it. Levi stopped in his tracks, eyebrows raising in confusion, as soon as his brain processed the words written on his screen.
[Unknown number] Ahhhhhh my date sucked. He was boring AND an asshole. I told him I have a stomachache, and I’m omw home. But now I’m sad and horny 🙁 I really hoped to get laid today
Well, what the fuck? He read funny stories about accidental text messages and wrong numbers, but he never thought that one day he’d be the victim of such thing. He contemplated ignoring it, but he’d lie if he said his curiosity wasn’t piqued.
[Levi] Sorry, but who is this?
The reply came withing seconds.
[Unknown number] Armin… don’t tell me you don’t have my number saved
Levi thought for a moment before answering. He knew an Armin, the tiny blond boy his cousin hung out with since elementary school, but could it be…?
[Levi] Arlert?
[Unknown number] Yes??? MIKASA??? 🤨
Oh, okay. He was right, and the message was definitely sent to him by mistake.
[Levi] No, the other Ackerman
[Armin] OMG LEVI??? I’M SO SORRY, I WAS SUPPOSED TO TEXT MIKASA BUT I RAN OUT OF DATA AND OMSDFGHKERHAJ I ACTUALLY TEXTED YOU THAT PLS FORGET IT!!! 💀
Levi couldn’t help but let out a small snort at the frantic, all capital letters apology. He could only imagine how red the boy would be right now at the other end of the screen, but of course he knew that Armin wasn’t actually hitting on him with the horny comment at the end of his message, so he opted for a neutral answer.
[Levi] No problem
He pocketed his phone after that, and started to walk again. Such an interesting interaction, he thought. He must have been terrible at comforting, though, because he could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket a few more times. Probably more apologies from Armin about his text.
Levi rounded the next corner with his legs moving on autopilot, and still lost in his thoughts, and he arrived at his apartment shortly. His hand, for an inexplicable reason, kept itching to check on the text exchange again. Levi hold himself back, though. It felt weird.
He had a light late night dinner, then cleaned up the kitchen while sending curious glances towards his phone sitting on the tabletop, screen down. There were three more buzzes while he ate. He left to the bathroom to finish his nightly routine, but his restraint broke as soon as he got to bed.
As he was plucking his phone to the charger situated next to his nightstand, the screen of his phone lit up, and he couldn’t hold back anymore. He skimmed through his notifications curiously. There were 8 more texts from Armin, but the ones he got during his dinner were actually some Instagram notifications from Hange.
He opened Armin’s messages first.
[Armin] I am seriously sorry!!!!!
[Armin] It was really inappropriate of me to write that
[Armin] To you, I men
[Armin] *mean
[Armin] I hope a didn’t creep you out with that text
[Armin] It must’ve come off as really forward, and I didn’t mean to come onto you
[Armin] Not that you wouldn’t be someone I’d hit on
[Armin] Shit, I’m gonna stop now. But I’m really REALLY SORRY 😭
Levi thought for a moment about how he should respond to that. It was clear Armin felt really embarrassed by his text, but in retrospect, it wasn’t that bad at all. Well yes, it felt odd coming from the cute blond, but he didn’t feel neither creeped out nor as if he was hit on - even if Armin, in a twisted way, insinuated that he’d might be someone the younger man would come onto.
Putting the task aside for a moment, he exited the texting app and tapped on the Instagram icon to check what Hange sent him. As he assumed before, it was a meme about how introverted people don’t make friends, they get adopted by an extrovert, accompanied by two messages laughing about Levi getting adopted by Hange and Erwin during their time at university.
Levi sent back the appropriate emojis he was sure Hange would deem as enough response for now. He was about to close the app entirely, but then he got a sudden idea. Instagram wasn’t really a social media platform he used regularly, or at all to be honest. He only followed a handful of people and almost never checked what others posted, but thinking back at the still unanswered apology thread from Armin, his interest was unquestionably piqued.
He opened the search bar and started to type in Armin’s name, but nothing came up. Okay, not everybody used their official name on social media, so it wasn’t actually that surprising. Take Hange for one, they changed their username every other week when a new obsession of theirs came up.
The next logical option was to search up his cousin, Mikasa, but the woman’s account was private, so he couldn’t access her profile immediately. He then typed in Eren’s name, the man that was the core part of the little friend group of three ever since they were in diapers. With Eren’s profile, he hit the jackpot.
Not only was his profile public, but scrolling down, he found that the young man posted almost daily. It didn’t take long for him to find the first group photo where Armin was present as well. He stared at the picture for a while.
He had vague memories of the blond, but what he saw on that picture wasn’t anything close to what he remembered of him. The Armin in his mind was small, had long blond hair, and a chubby, cute baby face. Picture Armin’s hair was shorter, and the baby fat from his face gone almost entirely.
Too curious for his own good, he tapped the picture once - a feat Hange taught him, - and as he saw the people tags appear on the picture, he clicked the one situated over Armin’s head.
Not afraid of turtles @aarlrt
21 | INFJ | 83 protons | Biology major
55 Posts 126 Followers 71 Following
This account is private
Follow this account to see their photos and videos.
Well, okay, that didn’t help. Armin’s profile was private, so he couldn’t see anything. Levi contemplated who he should ask about the customs of social media following. Erwin was similar to him in regards of these things, he barely used anything, so Hange was it…
leviackerman: I need your opinion on something. If someone’s profile is private on instagram, and you’ve known them for most of their life, but the two of you exchanged some misunderstandable messages recently, would it be weird to follow them?
While he waited for an answer, he scrolled back to Armin’s profile. His bio contained some basic information only, but it was a good starting point for Levi, even though he had no idea what the 4-letter combination or the 83 protons meant. Armin was currently 21 years old, so that would put their last face to face meeting four years from now.
Levi just opened the tea shop not long before, and the trio - Armin, Mikasa and Eren, - were still in high school when they came to visit his store. If he remembered correctly, it was only the blond who made a purchase, buying some medical tea leafs for his grandfather when he fell ill and couldn’t come himself.
Armin being a biology major was understandable as well - he still remembered Armin’s childhood fascination with marine life, and the younger man also helped out at his grandfather’s farm from a young age, something Levi himself did a few times during his own high school days. His sole caregiver, uncle Kenny, used to go on a bender from time to time, and he had to earn his own money to be able to afford food without relying on Mikasa’s side of the family.
Levi hated every second of the farm work, but it paid enough for him to get by while he waited for Kenny to come back. He was also convinced that coming home all sweaty and dirty to an even dirtier apartment affected his occasional OCD episodes.
Fifteen minutes passed, and there was still no answer from Hange. Levi debated to drop the topic, turn off his phone and try to sleep, but there was an unfamiliar, curious buzz in the back of his mind that didn’t let him give up so easily.
Fed up with the waiting, Levi took a deep breath and tapped the Follow back button on Armin’s profile.
Wait, follow back? Did that mean Armin was already following him? Why would he, when Levi never posted anything - his profile contained a few group photos Hange posted from his account, and another few of the tea shop, which was Isabel’s handiwork.
As it was already pretty late, Levi wasn’t sure how fast the younger man would accept his follow request. He glanced at the time, - almost midnight, - and decided to lay down and try not to overthink what he just did. Should he message Erwin and ask his opinion as well? Was he being stupid?
Levi’s eyes already started to droop when he felt the buzz of a notification from his phone that he put on the pillow next to his head. He tried to stay calm, it could easily be an answer from Hange, but he knew that his friends was too enthusiastic to send only one message back.
He checked his notifications with an excited flutter in his stomach.
aarlrt accepted your request
The first thing Levi noticed when he clicked Armin’s profile was the colorful circle that appeared around the blond’s profile picture, - a story, - and so he decided to tap it. Why wouldn’t he just start his journey across the profile with the most recent update.
The story update signaled three pictures in a row. The first one showed the landscape of the farm with the caption ‘no place like home’ . It was beautiful indeed, but as the photo disappeared and jumped to the next one, Levi seriously debated in his head whether he should redefine the meaning of that word. The second story was a selfie, showing Armin in a nice dress-shirt, one hand shielding half of his face while he smirked up at the camera. The shiny sticker in the corner read datenight .
Levi put his finger on the screen to stop the timer. He leaned closer to his phone, wishing he could just zoom in on the picture, so he'd be able to catch every detail of it. Armin’s shorter hair was styled nicely, and his ocean blue eyes shone with barely concealed mirth.
For a moment, the fact that Armin got ready to get laid that night ran through Levi’s mind, but he dismissed the thought just as fast as it appeared. Well, only for a second though, because as soon as he lifted his finger and the pictured switched to the last one, his thoughts instantly jumped back in the gutter.
His breath hitched, and he tapped on the screen hastily - a tiny red heart appeared in the bottom right corner, but he didn’t pay too much attention to it, because his brain had to take a moment to fully process what he was seeing.
Levi looked over the figure on the picture with curious eyes. Armin, - cute, innocent Armin, - stood in front of the bathroom mirror clad only in a loose white shirt and dark blue boxer briefs. Levi tried to gulp down the sudden tightness in his throat as he raked his eyes over the sight in front of him.
Armin’s hair was still wet, probably from an earlier shower. One of his hands was holding the phone, while the other clutched around the toothbrush in his mouth. The shirt he was wearing slid down on one of his shoulders, showing off slight arm muscles and a sharp collarbone.
The shirt ended only a few centimeters below the waistline of his underwear, long enough to hide his crotch, but not long enough to cover his thighs. Said thighs - strong and startlingly inviting, - contrasted the blue material wrapped around them perfectly, and Levi had to take a deep, shuddering breath just by looking at the picture.
Shit, what was wrong with him? Salivating over Armin fucking Arlert?
But still, from just this last picture, Levi had to face the fact, that the ever cute, and literal walking sunshine of a boy he remembered from the past grew up nicely. If he really wanted to be honest with himself, which he was fairly reluctant to do in this situation, he could say that grown up Armin Arlert had successfully turned into someone who was exactly Levi’s type.
With this surprising realization, he lifted his finger still pressed onto the screen, and the picture disappeared within seconds. Okay, Levi took a deep breath, and decided to check out what other content Armin has posted on his profile - casually, of course.
Then, basically out of nowhere, a notification badge appeared on the top of his screen with Armin’s username. Levi looked over the time again, - quarter past midnight, - and braced himself for the inevitable before tapping the little arrow in the top right corner of his homepage. Armin might’ve just shared his insomniac nature and wanted to chat.
aarlrt: Random follow and like in the middle of the night? 😀 I take that we are okay after my earlier text then.
Oh yeah, Armin’s apologetic texts Levi forgot to respond to because he got too immersed in stalking the blond on Instagram.
leviackerman: Yes, sorry, I forgot to reply. But we are good.
leviackerman: Did I like something accidentally?
Levi tried to remember what he might have liked on accident, but he never really got to check Armin’s posts, so it must have happened while he was looking at his stories. His very… nice stories.
aarlrt: Don’t worry, I’d do the same, so we could be even, but I already liked all your posts 🤭
So he was right, the blond has been following him for some time, and he didn’t even know about it.
leviackerman: Oh, yes. Sorry about that too. I never realized that you are following me, I’m not a big social media user to be honest.
aarlrt: Haha I assumed as much
aarlrt: I can help you out in the future if you have any questions 👀
That was a nice offer from Armin, and Levi recognized his opening. Armin threw him a bone with not ending their conversation there, so he latched onto the opportunity to talk some more with the other man.
leviackerman: I appreciate that. On that note, what do the letters mean in your bio?
aarlrt: Have you ever heard of MBTI? 🤔
leviackerman: No?
Levi felt kind of confused - these youngsters nowadays came up with the weirdest combinations and abbreviations of some words.
aarlrt: It’s a personality test thing. I find it rather fascinating tbh
aarlrt: You know how some people believe in astrology signs? It’s similar, but with actual scientific background, so if I must put some socially expected label on myself, I’d rather choose the science way to do it 😋
Levi had nothing to say to that. He felt repulsed by the whole label-obsessed part of society, and never really believed in any of these personality defining things; he found astrology a straight out scam, but he might just give this test thing a chance. Doing it may give him another opportunity to talk to the blond in the future.
leviackerman: Understandable. And what does the 83 protons mean?
aarlrt: Easy, 83 is the atomic number of Bismuth, which has the elemental symbol of Bi, so It’s a fun way to say that I’m bisexual ✨
Oh. Levi contemplated his answer for a second. He remembered Armin dating some blonde girl in high school, but it’s true that his earlier text clearly said his failed date was a he. Well, it seemed the younger boy explored his sexuality after they lost contact.
He didn’t come to the other man’s profile to hit on him, but it was nice knowing that he could have had a chance if it was a different kind of conversation.
And to be fair, Levi also dated a girl while he was a teenager, only to came out as gay during his university years. Did Armin know that about him? He decided to shoot his shot regardless.
leviackerman: I never realized that there are stuff like that. Is there a fun way to put gay in someone’s bio?
He watched as his message became seen, then Armin started to type several times only to backtrack. Levi wondered what did that mean. Did he catch Armin off guard with his not so subtle coming out?
aarlrt: Idk, never checked.
That was a rather vague response, so Levi decided to back away from the topic.
leviackerman: Never mind, it would feel weird to put something like that in my bio.
aarlrt: Because you are too old to be fun on social media? 😏
leviackerman: I’m only 32
aarlrt: I know 😀
leviackerman: Brat
The remark came as an instinct, and Levi didn’t even have time to overthink it before Armin answered.
aarlrt: 😇
leviackerman: You’ve changed a lot, you know? What happened to the shy boy that used to trail after Eren and Mikasa
aarlrt: He grew up 🤫
leviackerman: Yeah, I can see that 👀
Was that too much? He already sent it, so why not go even bigger, and bring up the ominous text that started it all.
leviackerman: I kind of already deducted that from your earlier message.
aarlrt: Are you teasing me right now? 🥺
leviackerman: I might be
aarlrt: Well, congrats then, bc I’m still blushing from the embarrassment lol
And the problem was that Levi could imagine Armin, the grownup version that he just got to learn about not long before, with his cheeks dusted pink even from the thought of what he wrote to Levi earlier.
leviackerman: You don’t have to, though. I know it was only an accident, and you are not actually into me…
Well, way to go, Levi Ackerman. At least after being rejected in a backwards way, he could forget about his weird newly developed fascination with the blond.
aarlrt: Levi, don’t play dumb… I’m sure you knew about it.
That answer was not the one Levi expected, and he stared down at his phone with a confused frown. He had no idea what Armin meant by that.
leviackerman: I’m sorry, but what are you talking about?
He watched as the three little dots appeared and disappeared a couple of times before Armin finally responded.
aarlrt: I had a huge crush on you all through my high school years
Levi’s stomach flipped at that, but he couldn’t ignore how the message was clearly using past tense in its wording. Shit, how did he, the guy who was notorious for never really showing any interest in anyone, get so deep so fast.
leviackerman: I didn’t know…
aarlrt: Well, it might be better this way, I didn’t stand a chance
leviackerman: Yeah, back then I never looked at you that way
aarlrt: Lol it was just natural. I was a high school kid, and you were an adult.
It was true, and Levi felt sick for a moment just thinking about their age gap, then he pushed that thought away. Armin was an adult, has been for years now, and as he stated before, this crush happened ages ago. Hell, the blond just went on a date today with another guy.
leviackerman: If it helps, I think you look very attractive now
As soon as Levi hit send, he regretted the message. Why on earth would he use the word attractive. It implied a certain level of sexuality. He should’ve just go for handsome, or simply say that Armin looked good now.
aarlrt: You really think so, or you just want to make me feel better about my embarrassing day? 😳
Armin gave him an out, and Levi felt tempted to take it. This whole, borderline flirty conversation was confusing, and made him feel things he wasn’t familiar with. He really should've taken that out - say that he was just trying to make Armin feel better, write something friendly, joke around. Levi should've most definitely turn off his phone and try to sleep.
But sometimes, Levi Ackerman wasn’t the smartest, so he typed out his response and hit send accompanied by a deep sigh. It wasn’t as flirty as he intended it to be, he was too awkward of a texter for that, but Levi hoped that the other man would get the message behind his not even subtle wording.
leviackerman: I really think so, I find you very attractive
His message was seen a few minutes ago, but Armin didn’t start writing yet. Levi was just about to start worrying and try to draft out a new message to save himself from the embarrassment when suddenly a new reply arrived.
aarlrt: > Photo
Levi clicked on the photo, and as his screen finally loaded the image, he almost dropped his phone. Fuck. He wasn’t fast enough, and the picture disappeared within seconds. To his surprise, as he tried to bring it back, the icon re-loaded, and the photo opened again. He touched his finger to the screen immediately and froze the timer.
On the picture, Armin laid on his bed in the same loose shirt he was wearing before. His shoulder and collarbone visible just the same, but the bottom part of it was rolled up, showing off the blond’s subtly muscled abdomen until the photo cut off just a little under his navel.
Levi licked his dry lips as he raked his eyes over Armin’s body, then he moved his gaze up and realized that the man on the picture was smirking back at him teasingly, his eyes shiny with mischief in the low light of his room, and one finger was touching the corner of his mouth as if he was taunting Levi.
The whole picture gave off a subtle, but unmistakable sexual vibe - Armin was seducing him by giving him just a glimpse, and Levi could feel himself stir in his boxers with interest.
He felt tempted to take a screenshot, but it didn’t feel right without Armin’s consent, so he decided to let it go. The picture was already branded in his mind anyway. Levi almost lifted his finger and let the photo disappear forever when he saw the text in the bottom right corner and his heart missed a beat as he read it.
And what are you gonna do about it, Mr. Ackerman? 😇