Chapter Text
Levi did not know why he let himself be goaded into joining the office Christmas Party. He’d been working for Scout First Bank for over a decade now and had never felt the need to socialize with his colleagues in his tenure. His assistant, Petra, knew it. Hange, the business operations manager, knew it. Hell, even his boss, Erwin, knew it.
No one talked to Levi when he stepped out of his desk at lunchtime, or when he stood alone and apart from everyone else in the smoking area off the building parking lot. Levi liked it that way. He liked the neat order of only ever having to deal with machines and never having to talk to people. Machines, code, and the thousands of pages of technical documentation of the bank’s systems were easy. Predictable. If, then, else. Even with the introduction of variables, code was easy to understand. Commands failed to execute because you didn’t use the right syntax or referenced the incorrect variable. And when all else failed, man [command] -v was there to save you with a verbose description of the command structure and which variables from which databases to input.
People were not even half as predictable. People needed to talk. They needed to engage in small talk at the start of meetings, ask about the weather at the water cooler, or talk about their girlfriends’ smelly cooches at the urinals. People needed entertainment and downtime and fun, and Levi, as a team lead, was the enemy of fun. Not that he was a tyrant of a boss or a dickwad to work with, because Levi understood that all these other people needed socialization with their peers in order to survive the daily rat race. It was that he didn’t need it, so what was the point in making him take part in these social events serving only a drain to his energy? He despised the chaos of parties, and he still had that UAT issue to puzzle through. So why the hell did he agree to go?
He was sure it had to do with those puppy eyes of that new business analyst who knocked on his door and timidly asked him if he wanted to join the party.
Every year, Hange liked to gather all the new hires to handle the party planning, and to badger all the managers and team leads into parting with a bit of cash to fund the venue and drinks. Mostly, the new hires of previous years had stayed away from Levi’s door, mostly because they were all hired into the Change Management Team that Miche headed and Miche was the primary source of water cooler gossip. He would’ve told his revolving door of employees never to try approaching Levi because he was a snot.
This year, Hange finally got their budget for building a team of business analysts to manage compiling the BRDs used by Levi’s team of developers. They’d hired six new people whose major work experience thus far was having Levi email them terse notes about the deficiencies in their documentation, especially in the sector budget commitments. Usually, he sent them scurrying back to meet with the business section heads to refine their requirements into something quantifiable, something that one could build rules and algorithms, and eventually, code on.
Levi hadn’t met many of the BAs face to face, though he knew Eld, Gunther, Oluo and Petra from his team had a standing Friday morning coffee date with them. He was sure the four of them would have warned the hapless green-eyed fool who’d darkened his door while he was in the middle of a SIT review that Levi Ackerman did not attend Christmas parties, or any sort of non-work gatherings.
He’d waved at the BA to get lost but the man hung around at his door, looking clueless, so Levi sighed and asked him what he wanted. Then he made the mistake of looking at him when he introduced himself. Fuck, what right did Hange Zoë had, siccing this gorgeously hot specimen on Levi when they knew the most action he’d had in the last half decade was a morning shower date with his right hand?
Eren Jaeger was tall, tan, dark-haired, green-eyed and looked like he was shaped by Levi’s strictly pornographic subconscious. Before Levi knew it, he was nodding his assent and pulling out his wallet, parting with a significant portion of his weekly allowance to contribute to the party’s budget.
Eren had smiled at him—fuck, he had a dimple on the left corner of his mouth, and Levi was weak for men with dimples. He thanked Levi profusely and reminded him that there was a Secret Santa app they’d developed for the party-goers, if Levi wanted to join.
Levi nodded, dumbstruck and red-cheeked. Once Eren left, he promptly looked up the app, hacked into it from his phone, and made sure the algorithm would assign him the lovely Mr Jaeger as recipient of his Secret Santa gift. For good measure, he messed up a few other variables, not to be a dipshit so much as covering his tracks, and corrected some of the clunky code. Whoever had written the app was an amateur and sloppy with their coding, but he supposed this was just for shits and giggles, so people had a bit of fun with the gift-giving aspect of the party.
Then he messaged Hange on the office Skype and told them that if they made a big deal about his attending the party, he would blacklist them from his email so they’d never wheedle rush jobs out of him ever again.
In the few weeks leading up to the party, there were low priority emails from Eren and his cohort, reminding everyone that the party started at five o’clock, that Erwin generously allowed the staff to clock out a half-hour early. It was customary for the site team to hie off to the party venue and enjoy themselves before the office closed down for the holidays, with only a skeleton crew to keep the lights on.
Levi was a punctual man, but today was his last official working day for the year. He wanted to get the SIT review he’d been doing out to the infrastructure team so they could make resource adjustments to the test app before he went on leave. Instead of leaving early, he ended up spending another two hours compiling the adjustments, both to code and infra resourcing, sent the email out to his team to cascade to Nanaba’s server and database support teams, before logging off.
It was dark outside already and his phone had a dozen messages from Hange, Erwin and Miche, demanding to know when he would be there, and did he know he’d just missed the service awards portion of the party’s program. Levi didn’t even know the party had a program. He always thought it was just people from the office gathering at some event venue or karaoke place to drink and make merry. Hange’s text had several smiley emoji about how Levi’s Secret Santa baby would be so disappointed if he didn’t show up and the hapless recipient didn’t get a gift. As if Levi would leave the tall, tan and gorgeous in the lurch when he went through all the trouble to make sure he’d get Eren’s name in the Secret Santa ballot.
He packed up his laptop and went down to parking, taking the time to remove his tie and jacket, and loosen a few buttons of his shirt. He liked being primly dressed and buttoned tightly for work, but there was no way he would walk into a party looking like an office-dwelling penguin, even though that was exactly what he was.
Traffic had eased since it was already past the evening rush hour, though it was a bit of an effort to find a parking spot at Centerstage, the karaoke place that Hange liked renting for these types of socials. He folded his sleeves up patiently while he waited for the hostess to find the function hall-sized room that their cohort booked for the night and tried to exude chill and calm and like he absolutely belonged there when he walked in.
It looked like the cheesy program was over because people were milling at the buffet tables and ordering beer that the hostesses brought in by the bucket. Someone was singing an off-key version of an Ariana Grande song, and a quick glance at who had the mic told Levi that Nanaba and Miche were well into their cups. No wonder Ariana’s vocals sounded like it was sung by a toad.
People in the room had taken the time to change out of their Friday business casuals and into straight-up casual or party clothing. Nifa waltzed in wearing a sequin-studded ballgown and laughed at anyone who tried to make fun of her being overdressed for karaoke night, and Oluo was dedicated in his attempts at wearing the most what the fuck? costumes n these gatherings, with his wet suit and pink inflatable lifesaver. Everyone else had changed into jeans and t-shirts, and some of the girls wore shorts with tights or legwarmers.
Hange was the first to spot him, because Levi was just that unlucky, and they grabbed the mic from Nanaba and yelled that the evening’s prime entertainment had just arrived. Erwin shot him a look from where he sat at the bar. He grinned at Levi, raising a solo cup at him and downing his round, before throwing his cards at the round table of poker players. Levi rolled his eyes and shrugged before Hange pulled him from the door, hooking an arm around his neck so he didn’t make off to the smoking area to hide out from the merriment.
“Everyone, everyone! Shut up, Levi Ackerman is in the house!” Hange screeched into the mic. “Most of you have no idea, but Levi has never once joined any of our parties. So you all need to acknowledge the hard work the Business Operations team put into not only getting Levi to move his shapely little ass out of his office chair to join us today, but in getting him to contribute the money for all the booze we’re getting tonight!”
A round of scattered applause and some whooped yells of “Cheers, Levi!” erupted from the crowd, and Levi hoped they would all move on from his arrival. Levi scanned the room, hoping to get a glimpse of Eren and how he’d dressed up for the event. When Levi attempted to be around the common areas in the office, or that one time he’d treated everyone in that Friday morning breakfast meeting just so he could check out Eren, the other man was always impeccably buttoned, tie neat and pinned, long hair brushed back and tied at his nape. Levi wanted to see if he was the sort who would let his hair down, and how messy the man would look. If he was scruffy, Levi was noping out early.
When he didn’t find him, he had to slither out of Hange’s grasp to excuse himself to the smoking area. He’d been to this karaoke place before, of course, but just with Erwin, Hange and Miche, and only when he didn’t respect himself and wanted to engage in a spirited bout of self-flagellation. So he knew where the smoking area was and high-tailed it there before anyone felt the need to shove a mic and the song selection remote to his face.
He’d been walking with his head down so none of the other partygoers milling about in the corridor, flirting with the hostesses, and didn’t see there was someone heading back from the fire escape stairs where Centerstage allowed smokers to blow their cancer. He walked right into someone’s broad, firm chest clad in an ancient-looking Soundgarden band t-shirt.
“Sorry,” he muttered, fumbling into his trouser pocket for his cigarette packet so he didn’t have to look up at the person he bumped into, but the other person’s voice made his head whip up.
“Mr Ackerman! I’m so glad you made it! Petra told me you never go to these things and that we shouldn’t get our hopes up.”
Okay, well, that changed things.
Levi had to blink and take a step back, half-afraid Eren’s razor sharp jawline might cut him if idled staring down at his chest like an idiot. Of course, looking up to his face, eyes glittering with undisguised surprised mixed with—what was that? Pleasure? Was this kid really that happy to see him?—incited a minor riot in Levi’s pulse. Fuck, he could feel heat licking up his neck. Unbuttoning and unclenching had been a terrible idea.
“Er, yeah,” Levi said, then cleared his throat. Why was his voice hoarse? And why was he stammering? Eren Jaeger was a newbie. Levi ate newbies for breakfast. “I had some time on my hands and I’m on leave after today, anyway.”
“Huh,” Eren said, turning so he could follow him back out to the stairs. “Armin and Mikasa were thrilled with your pledge. Hange wanted us to book at a different place since we ended up having more people RSVP and that would’ve been too small for the size of the party. I kind of like it better here; the acoustics at Rockstar don’t work half as well as Centerstage. You end up hearing all the terrible singing from the other rooms.”
Levi kept his eyes on the empty street below as he lit up so he didn’t hurl himself off the fire escape in his effort to smack some sense into himself. The way Eren leaned against the sun-bleached brick exterior of the building made him look like some Vogue model, with the legs that went on forever, the broad shoulders, the firm chest… Levi wondered what the abs he imagined must be under that Soundgarden t-shirt must feel like and shivered.
Fuck, leaving his jacket in his car was another terrible idea. This night just seemed like it was full of them.
Eren lit up and casually offered a light to Levi, whose eyes flickered to the way the firelight lit Eren’s eyes incandescent and made the curve of his mouth look softer when he smiled. Levi was vaguely aware he’d ditched the low ponytail and put his hair up in a messy half-bun that should have been scruffy, but only looked unbearably sexy.
He turned away so he could blow out the smoke and shivered again. It wasn’t that cold, but Levi was a small man who had little body fat in his build.
“Sir, are you cold?” Eren asked. And then, without prompting, he shrugged out of his coat and wrapped it around Levi’s shoulders. “There.”
Of all the presumptuous little… oh god, the coat smelled like him—white musk and pine and vetiver—and Levi wanted to melt.
“Thanks,” Levi said, tugging the coat around his shoulders more closely.
He scolded himself mentally for feeling like a swooning maiden at being offered a jacket (it was a sexy smelling jacket, yes, but still!), and made himself look up at Eren’s face. Jesus, he needed to get over this whole shy maiden jitters when faced with a hot, young subordinate. Think unsexy thoughts.
This guy was a coworker and probably a good fifteen years younger than him. Levi should not be thinking less than dignified thoughts of this kid. Whether he had a six-pack was not relevant to his job as a business analyst. Besides, Levi had a personal rule of never hooking up with anyone he worked with, after the last shitstorm of a relationship with the internal auditor who shall not be named. Even if Eren had a six-pack (which Levi did not need to know!), and he was hot and supremely good-looking and—fuck, he’s just really Levi’s type, okay?—it didn’t mean that Levi would ever pursue a relationship with him. He didn’t even know if Eren swung his way.
He scrambled around for whatever safe topic of small talk he could make so he wouldn’t blurt out the one burning question in his mind. “So, how have you found the last eight months of your employment with Scouts?”
Eren took a deep drag of his cigarette, the glow of the cherry reflected in the green of his eyes, and let the smoke waft out in smoke rings from his mouth. “It’s been… you know, it’s going. I mean, I appreciate the notes you sent on how we should’ve setup the BRD budget sheets. Hange doesn’t really have a system for the budgets, and Moblit doesn’t have a lot of time to review our work. Lucky you sent us some of the sample BRDs you’d done when you were doing the business analyst work yourself. I mean, Mikasa had to make sense of the financial plans for us, since she’s the only one with a business degree but…” He trailed off and grinned. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”
“No, no, go on,” Levi said. “I don’t get a chance to look into some of the newer staff that come onboard, and with the year-end tech freeze looming, there’s a lot for my team to catch up on. I want to know what everyone’s working on, especially when the work you do has a direct impact on my team’s output.”
What a crock of shit. Levi had never been interested in the BA work, only that he no longer had to do it. But it would have been rude to cut Eren off. Besides, if the kid learned something from him, then it made his life better not having to ask for rework of the BRDs, right?
Eren nodded and shifted to lean against the stairway railing so he was facing Levi. “Yeah? That’s really nice of you, sir. I guess I’m just overwhelmed. Armin, Mika, and the rest have worked this kind of job before, but it’s a first for me. I think I’m the only one fresh out of college in the whole batch, and I guess I’m kinda lucky I even got the offer when I did. My dad says the big banks don’t really hire fresh graduates for analyst positions. I kinda had a couple personal problems that delayed my graduation. Finding the work I wanted to do wasn’t really easy, but Hange’s team is great and… well, I thought it might’ve been a good starting point if I wanted to get into development.” He flushed, and the minute darkening of his cheeks was lovely to see against the dim light streaming from the half-open door. “I mean, when your team has an opening…”
Levi cocked an eyebrow, surprised. “Hange’s team is not your first career choice?”
Eren shrugged. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, and Hange said during my interview there’d be opportunities to move to different departments, including app dev. Business operations seemed close enough that I’d get some idea on the job so I can decide what I really wanted to do. Just that the past eight months have solidified I’m definitely more the coding and operations support sort than the talk-to-people sort.”
Levi opened his mouth, whether to assure the other man that there would definitely be opportunities, Levi would make sure there were. But the light from inside darkened and Hange’s cheery face, flushed with inebriation, poked out.
“So that’s where you two’re hiding! Come on back, we’re doing the Secret Santa next!”
Eren smiled politely at Levi and shrugged, stubbing his cigarette in the ashtray stand. Levi followed suit and held the door open, gesturing for Eren to precede him.
The two of them parted to join their respective friend groups. Levi went to sit with Erwin and the poker players, and Eren joined a blond boy that looked like he belonged more in a kindergarten than in the smoky karaoke room, drinking cheap beer, and a pretty dark-haired girl who looked quizzically up at Eren, then at Levi. Her eyes narrowed when she realized Levi was wearing Eren’s coat.
Well, shit. Now he’d really put his foot in it. So Eren was dating his teammate. Levi would have to remember who she was and avoid her for some time after today’s party.
Erwin cocked a thick blond brow at Levi when he turned away slightly, huddling close in Eren’s coat, but Levi shook his head. He couldn’t very well tell his boss that he’d spent the last twenty minutes trying to get cozy with the newbie, who turned out to be straight and dating the pretty new girl in Hange’s team.
Nifa and her sequined gown were the host for the night, and she announced some inane game of saying something nice to describe the person they’d picked for their Secret Santa baby, and Levi started to sweat.
Fuck, what was he going to say about Eren? He was sure waxing poetic about how he saw a kaleidoscope of heaven’s gates in the glimmer of Eren’s eyes, or frothing at the mouth over how thirsty he was to touch what looked like very firm, very lean biceps would earn him more than a few odd looks.
Most everyone in the room was well and properly soused now, so the little speeches were jokey, idiotic things, like Eld telling Ness he admired how Ness fell off his skateboard on the ramp up to the office building’s driveway every time he encountered a speed bump. Or Henning asking Lynne out and getting turned down… again. It was a little funny and a little cheesy and Levi relaxed, but then Nifa called his name, and panic spiked up his throat.
Fuck, fuck. He shouldn’t have listened to everyone else’s inane and drunken pronouncements and prepared a speech…!
Nifa made everyone take a turn, walking to the center and taking the floor with their speech and their gift. Levi was sure he would spontaneously combust if his ears grew and hotter as he stumped to Nifa, all hunched in Eren’s coat. He scanned the room and found Eren sitting on the carpeted floor, leaning on the blond boy’s shoulder, one arm around the dark-haired girl.
“Uh.” Fucking hell, really articulate there, Ackerman. “Well, just give me your CV… Eren?”
Eren’s eyes widened, then sparkled, before he leapt to his feet and jogged to the front. His fellow rank-and-file new hires jeered at him getting picked by one of the senior-most and best-paid managers in the department. His smile at Levi threatened to blind him as he accepted the wrapped box of expensive Apple Airpods Pro. Eren didn’t know that, of course. His Secret Santa wishlist just had some generic earbuds that cost less than ten bucks. Levi had always been over-the-top with his gift-giving, even to his friends, so he supposed giving some kid at work Airpods that cost twenty-five times more than what he originally wanted wasn’t out of character for him.
“Sir, you really mean it?”
He nodded, biting the inside of his cheek. “Yeah, kid.”
When he went back to his bar stool next to Erwin, his friend and boss was looking at him with a sly, knowing smile. “That wasn’t what I thought it was, was it?”
Levi scowled. “I do not know what you mean.”
Erwin laughed delightedly, clapping him on the shoulder. “You’re wearing his jacket, and you ask him for his CV… Should I be worried about Hange complaining that you’re poaching their staff?”
“I’m just giving the kid some options.”
Erwin shook his head. “Well, just remember if he reported to you, you’d be obligated to report to HR any funky things happening between you two outside of work.”
Levi managed to get his rapidly thudding heart under control enough to give Erwin a derisive snort. “I don’t fuck coworkers, Erwin. You know that.”
“That I do, my friend, that I do.” He squeezed Levi’s shoulder in silent commiseration. “Still, you can’t deny that kid’s very much your ty—“
“Personal rules, Smith,” Levi grunted, folding his arms.
Erwin gave him that knowing smile once more. “If you say so.”
Levi wanted to grab him by his bushy eyebrows and bash his head into the bar. Ugh. Why did he even have to do that in front of everyone? This night was a fucking disaster.