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"We can't go on with the show as it is without more people for crew," Eren said pulling out random objects from the prop closet. "It takes too much time for scene changes. You and Annie can't be the only ones working."
Mikasa, the stage manager and his best friend, took only the props they'd be needing and set the others aside. "I asked two kids in my effective speech class if they'd want to help and they said they'd come in today. I'm not sure what time, hopefully they won't bail."
"That's the last thing we need, more flakes," Eren mumbled.
The two left the prop room and reentered the wings beside the stage. This would be the fourth time they'd be working together on a play, the second time together in college. Mikasa had always had a preference for working backstage, but Eren's passion was acting. This was Mikasa's fifth time being stage manager, so the responsibilities were familiar, but this was Eren's first time having a lead role. His character was cocky, outgoing and striking out with a lovely lady. None of which he could relate to, but he was having fun.
Mikasa began placing props on the prop table and labeling the scenes they'd be appearing in while Eren went back on stage, joining the other actors in stretching.
"Find everything you need?" Christa asked, stretching an arm behind her head. She would be sharing some props with Eren, seeing as she not only had a lead role beside him, but also played his romantic interest.
"Most everything," Eren replied, matching her movements. "We just need to unlock the other room and find the bouquet and the pocket watch."
"Any news on if we're getting help or if we have to move set pieces ourselves?"
"Mikasa said she's expecting two people, but here we are... and here they aren't."
"Mm." Christa nodded.
The director instructed them to get into places for the first act, starting with Eren when he first lays eyes on Christa. He'd been struggling with delivering the line, and now that he'd gotten the words right, he had to put all the motions with it.
"And if they would just arrive on time," Eren projected to an empty house, "then maybe we could— wow, she's beautiful..."
"No, no. Take it back and try again," the director demanded. "Christa, you don't have to come out yet, we're just going to go over this part until we get it." He faced the other actor. "Eren. You have the line down now. But I don't hear amazement in your voice. Can you try it again?"
Eren did as told, never being one to argue. "Maybe we could... wow, she's beautiful..." He said, annunciating the "wow" a little more.
"I don't need to hear more emphasis on the words, I need you to show the emotion, okay?" The director asked.
Eren nodded. "Got it." He cleared his throat, "Wow, she's—"
"Oh my god, get it together Eren."
In all honesty, he had no idea what more was needed of him, but he was trying his damn best. The door of the theater opened, but doing his part as an actor and trying to ignore distractions, he continued.
Two people walked down into the house, watching the rehearsal silently. Eren took the line back. "And if they would just arrive on time, maybe we could—" he glanced at the two students and his eyes landed on the shorter of the two. A pale boy with evenly combed, inky black hair and a stoic expression. "Wow..." He breathed, taken with the sight before him.
"Yes! Right there!" The director interjected, clapping his hands together. "Let's keep going this time."
Eren blinked a few times, trying to refocus. Damn, at least he knew what to think of to get into character now.
~
During a break, Eren went backstage and found Mikasa giving the two other students a run down on when the props would be needed. She saw him coming and cut off the conversation. "Eren, these are the people I was talking about," she said gesturing to the boy from before and a taller person with a messy ponytail and glasses. "This is Levi and Hanji."
Hanji stuck out their hand to shake Eren's. "Nice to meet you, sorry we're late. Our last class didn't end until a couple minutes before we came."
"That's fine, it's nice to meet you too." Eren directed his hand towards Levi, his heart racing a little bit. "I'm Eren."
Levi accepted his hand and mumbled a quick and quiet "hi."
Mikasa ushered Hanji to the other side of the stage to get the familiar with the other set pieces, giving them the responsibility of that side of the stage with Annie, while she and Levi had stage right to take care of. With their absence, Levi and Eren were more or less left to themselves.
Eren couldn't deny that he was more than a little attracted to Levi. He hoped he wasn't making a bad first impression. "So... have you done stage crew for a play before?"
Levi looked at him and simply nodded. His stare wasn't irritated or indifferent, just blank. Reading his expression was difficult.
"Nice... so..." Eren bit his lip, not wanting to let the conversation drop. "Um... do you like doing stage crew?" He internally cringed at his inability to find something more interesting or thoughtful to say.
Levi only nodded again.
Eren put his hands in his pockets, feeling awkward. "...Cool."
Levi tucked in his lips, nodding. Again.
'Not much of a talker,' Eren thought. "This show isn't really hard to run the props for. And scene changes aren't too bad, in case you were wondering."
"Kay," Levi whispered, barely any noise leaving his mouth.
The director called everyone back on stage, making Eren's heart sink. "Well... I'll be... seeing you." He slowly walked off.
Levi waved politely. Eren prayed that he wasn't just annoying the poor guy.
~
With a couple more people volunteering for stage crew, the show ran much more smoothly. And with everything going for the most part as it should, Eren thought he could put some more focus on trying to get Levi's attention.
While Levi was resetting the prop table to start the show again, Eren shuffled by his side. "Hey... need some help?"
Levi looked up at him to acknowledge him, but shook his head.
"How's managing everything?"
Levi looked down, away from Eren. "Not so bad, I've had to work with worse."
"That's good. Are you having fun?"
Levi, ever a man of few words, nodded.
"Awesome. You... you're doing a good job." Eren wanted to punch himself for being so bad at conversing with this guy.
Levi scratched the side of his mouth, mumbling "thanks."
~
Eren caught Levi another time testing the curtains. "You know, after the show on Saturday, we're all going out to dinner and having an after party. Are you gonna join us?"
"Sure," Levi answered, facing away from him.
"Great... it's going to be a good time."
"Mhm," Levi hummed.
"Hanji's invited too. Everyone's invited really," Eren tried.
"I'll let them know," Levi murmured.
"Cool." Eren shuffled away, feeling like he was bothering him.
Mikasa was checking the light settings in the booth, so Eren came in to talk to her. "Well, you're consistent," she noted.
Eren raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"You're striking out on stage and off stage. You gotta turn up your game."
Eren sighed, slinking into the chair beside her. "I don't know what else to do. He just doesn't seem interested. Should I back off?"
"Are you making it obvious that you like him?"
Eren thought about it. He hadn't started flirting particularly, just trying to gain Levi's attention. "Maybe not."
"He doesn't seem bothered by you, so just try harder. Tell him he's hot," Mikasa suggested, playing with the spotlight.
"I don't wanna be too forward." Eren rested his chin in his hand, watching Mikasa work. "I just feel like I'm annoying him, he doesn't really carry on a conversation. Is he like that in class?"
"Kinda. He used to participate like everyone else, then a month ago, he just got real quiet. So, it's not just you. Hanji might know more than me, those two are good friends from what I know... What do you think—" She looked over to ask his opinion on the lighting, but saw an empty chair in his place.
~
"Hanji!" Eren found them relaxing on stage left. "Can I ask you something?"
Hanji looked up from their phone at him. "Sure, what's up?"
"Do you think I annoy Levi?"
"You? Definitely not, he thinks you're cool."
Eren tried not to show how excited he was. "Oh, he does? Did he tell you that?"
Hanji chuckled at his eager tone. "Yeah, why? Do you think you annoy him?"
Eren scratched the back of his head. "I wasn't sure. He just doesn't really seem like he wants to talk to me. Like, ever. I don't want to annoy him. I want to talk to him more, but not if I'm bothering him, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it. But you're definitely not annoying him. He just hasn't been talking much lately."
Eren furrowed his brows. "Why not?"
Hanji shrugged. "He's a little self conscious."
"About what?"
"All actors back on stage!" The director shouted. "Eren, that means you!"
Eren groaned, turning on his heel.
~
Eren hadn't gotten any closer to getting to know Levi. It was opening night, and on top of all his nerves, he'd been having less than impressive moments with the shorter boy. Levi needed to worn Eren about a change in where a prop was being kept and accidentally walked in on him in the dressing room, shirtless and getting changed. Eren wasn't embarrassed, but there was no reaction on Levi's part, which killed any ego he had. Later, Eren tried impressing him by going off and doing all his monologues straight through without hesitation or flaws. Levi only watched with a straight face. Right before curtain call, Eren tried complimenting Levi by telling him he had nice eyes, which Levi replied with a meek "thanks, I see with them," then rushed away. Eren thought it was funny but felt bad, seeing as Levi obviously hadn't meant to say that and left to spare his dignity.
During the show, Eren left the stage and waited until the next scene with Levi. He gave Levi the plastic bouquet in his hand. "Here..." After realizing how that looked, he tried to distract himself from it. "Um... I'm... done with these."
"I know," Levi said quietly, not wanting the audience to hear them. He took the prop and placed it where it needed to go, like he always did.
It was so dark backstage, only the red light from the emergency exit barely lighting the wings. The lights only went off like this during performances. It was terribly difficult to see another person's features, only their silhouette being vaguely clear.
Levi handed Eren a flask, knowing he'd be needing it for the next scene. "Here you go."
"Thanks, is it full this time?" Eren joked.
"If it was, I'd finish it off before you ever got to it."
Eren laughed silently. That was the most response he'd ever gotten from Levi, the most emotion too. He thought it was strange that he was more responsive now of all times during a performance.
"Damn, and here I was thinking you'd share. What a fake friend."
Levi snickered at that, and Eren cursed the lack of lighting, wishing he could've seen that laugh.
"You're funny," Levi whispered.
Eren was now thanking the darkness for hiding the heat that rose to his cheeks. He heard the line that prompted him back on stage. "G-Gotta go," he squeaked, rushing back to where he belonged, Levi smirking at him from the shadows.
~
The two had several conversations in the wings throughout the show, confusing the hell out of Eren, yet simultaneously leaving him eager. After the show was finished and the actors were meeting the audience, Levi went back to his reserved state, being curt and blunt with Eren.
The stage crew joined the actors in the crowd of people leaving the show. Levi gravitated towards Eren, waiting until he wasn't caught up in conversation. "Good job," he mumbled.
Eren grinned uncontrollably. "Thanks! You did good too."
Levi looked down at his feet. "I'm just stage crew."
"Levi, we literally couldn't have done it without you. Crew is just as important as the cast."
Levi's lips twitched upward.
"Were you nervous tonight?"
"'Little," Levi was getting slightly hard to understand, his mouth nearly closed as he spoke.
"Well, even though you were nervous, it was a great show. No one ran into any problems and the audience loved it."
Levi nodded, a ghost of a smile showing.
Eren had to ask, it was getting to him. "Why don't you talk much?"
Any trace of emotion Levi had disappeared as he shrugged. "Dunno."
"Is it because you got a lot of shit talking to do but you're too nice to say anything?" Eren joked, nudging Levi's arm.
Levi let out a laugh and for the first time, Eren saw him genuinely smile. It all made sense now.
When Levi laughed, he smiled so widely Eren could see that behind his amused lips were shiny, chrome braces lining up his teeth. Catching his error, Levi almost immediately covered his mouth with his hand, his expression changing to one of horror and his cheeks turning scarlet red.
Eren's complexion matched the other's, as such a beautiful sight caught him off guard. "Wow..."
Levi made a move to leave, but was stopped when Eren's hand grabbed his arm. He refused to look at him, humiliated over letting himself slip up like that.
"You have a..." Eren started. "You have... a nice smile. And a really nice laugh."
Levi shook his head, keeping his mouth practically shut as he spoke again. "I don't. It's terrible."
"No," Eren loosened his grip. "It's not. And your braces are cute."
Levi looked back, surprised. Slowly, his lips spread again into an appreciative grin.