Chapter Text
Levi leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other as he steepled his fingers, tapping the tips against each other lazily. He hated that it had come to this, he really did. With a sigh he loosened his tie a bit, tugging it left and right. There was no better part of the day than when he got out of his suit, and it seemed like an eternity away at this point. Most of his underlings had gone home, leaving only his sister and his right hand man, Jean. Along with the green eyed brunet on his knees at Levi's feet, hands tied behind his back with a gag in his mouth. Christ, the kid was fucking beautiful. It would be a shame if he had to beat that pretty face in. His gut clenched at the mere thought.
"Take that fucking gag out of his mouth, Mikasa. Cut those ropes off, too. Did you have to tie him up? Are we savages? He doesn't look particularly threatening to me." He looked terrified, actually. Bright eyes wide and full of tears that had not yet spilled down his face, darting around the room desperately. Jean spoke up, cracking his knuckles from where he leaned against the desk behind Levi.
"He wouldn't shut the fuck up, boss. Kept begging for his life and all that. Gets pretty old when we haven't done anything. He still has his fingernails, right? Just give it a rest, Jesus."
The kid was shaking as Levi's sister moved forward, and when she pulled out a blade he made a strangled noise in his throat. Flinched hard when Mikasa slid the knife down into the ropes that held his wrists and sliced them free before tugging his gag out and tossing it in the trash. Levi couldn't help but cringe at the sight of the slobbery rag in his wastebasket. Fucking disgusting. He waited for the kid to start babbling, please don't kill me, I'll do anything, let me go, blah blah blah... As a drug lord and high ranking mafia boss, Levi had heard it all. But he remained silent, and Levi realized he wasn't a complete idiot. All that begging pissed Levi off, honestly. Made him less inclined to be nice. Although those gemstone eyes and that messy hair... this kid was god damned adorable. Innocent, in some strange way, and Levi wanted to corrupt him. Take the white canvas of this boys life and taint it with lust and heat and darkness....
He shook himself, crossing his legs in the other direction and clearing his throat.
"All right, kid. What's your name?" They already knew his name, or at least his assumed one, but it was always good to get them talking.
"E-Eren Jaeger." Levi nodded, as though he was learning something.
"Okay, Eren Jaeger. Spit it out. You been nosing around me for weeks and weeks now. Who do you work for?" Those brows furrowed, and he looked at Mikasa and Jean as if for some kind of help. Turned back to Levi, confusion written over his features.
"I work at the music shop over on fourth street. Rose Records." Levi let out a bark of laughter, scratching at his undercut before continuing, rocking his chair back and forth.
"We know what your cover job is, you dumb shit. Who are you informing for? The cops? The Reiss family? The cartel? We're not going to kill you, if we killed every lackey that made eyes at us we'd be in fucking jail instead of sitting here talking. You can keep taking your notes on where I go and what I do, I don't give a shit, but I need to know who's writing your paychecks. So who do you work for?" The Reiss group hadn't sent any fresh meat to keep tabs on the Ackermans for quite some time, so Levi was betting on their competition, but you never could tell. Maybe the cartels had gotten brave and decided to send this pretty boy their way. This pretty boy who was stuttering over his words, looking even more frightened.
"I-I-I don't work for anyone like that, I... I repair instruments! I sell shitty old records! I'm not an informant, I fucking swear!"
The brunet was good, Levi would give him that. He could almost believe it was true, except it never, ever was. Two decades of this shit, and the first story Levi got was never the right one. He could tell this might take awhile, and if he had to make this kid bleed, he didn't want Mikasa watching. Not that she wasn't just as vicious, but whenever his knuckles were covered in blood, little flecks of it on his clothes, his face... If he looked at his sister all he could picture was her as a toddler in little footsy pajamas. A sippy cup in one hand and a teddy bear in the other as she wobbled over to him with a smile. So he sighed again, for the hundredth time that day, before waving his hands dismissively at the pair.
"You two fuck off, go home. I can handle this on my own." Mikasa shrugged, knowing why she was being sent away. She resented being 'looked down on', as she put it, but knew there was no use arguing. Jean hesitated in the doorway, glancing between the kid and Levi.
"You sure 'bout this, boss? Marco's still out on that drop off, ain't nobody at home anyway. I can stay. 's no trouble." Levi shot him a look and he put his hands up. "All right, all right. See ya tomorrow morning."
"See ya." The door shut behind them with a click, and Levi watched the brunet rub out the soreness in his wrists. Eren eyed him warily, more nervous now that the others were gone. Smart.
"All right, let's try this one more time, shall we? You are at Cafe Sina every Tuesday and Thursday at the same time I am without fail. So I thought, maybe you go there everyday, no big deal. But when I had my boys check it out, they said you're not. Only when I'm there, and if I skip a day you're looking around like someone kicked your puppy. You go past this place twice a day on your way to your 'job', even though you have to walk an extra mile to do so. And when I go meet with people in the park at lunch time, I almost always see you. Pretending not to look, but I know your looking. I see you more than I see some of the people who work for me, kid. So once more with feeling and we can all go home without broken bones. Who. Do. You. Work. For." Eren was frantic, gesticulating wildly, eyes blinking too fast.
"No one! Just the record store! I swear! I don't know anything a-about... about drugs or cartels or any of that! I mean, I smoked pot once, but I had an asthma attack! You gotta believe me!" Fuck, and Levi really didn't want to do this. He wanted to break this boy, yes, but not with his fists. Levi wanted to break Eren with soft words and heated touches, until he fell apart underneath him. But if he didn't get some answers, he'd pull them out by any means necessary.
"Please, kid. I don't wanna hurt ya', okay? Just give me a name. The right name, because if you lie I will find out."
"I-I-I-" Levi stood up, leaning down to shout in the boys face.
"SPIT IT THE FUCK OUT!"
"I LIKE YOU!" Levi blinked, standing back up to his full height and letting those words sink in.
"You.... you fuckin' what?" Eren cringed, a blush painting his cheeks and fuck, that wasn't fair at all. He backed up a little bit, wrenching his eyes shut before speaking.
"I like you. I kept seeing you around here, at the cafe and on my way to work. You came in the record store once. I thought you were really attractive, and I didn't mean to be creepy but I found myself trying to see you whenever I could. I wanted to talk to you, but I'm not really good with words and there's just... so much of you somehow, you're... larger than life, or something and-" Levi cut him off, scowling.
"Wait, wait, wait. Time out. You don't even know me. What, it's love at first sight or some stupid shit like that? Are you a twelve year old girl?" Eren was shaking his head, biting that lip of his and if he didn't stop, Levi would bite it for him instead.
"No! I mean, kind of. Not the twelve year old girl thing... uhh.. You're always so polite to the waitresses at the cafe, and you pet every dog you pass even if you sanitize your hands afterwards. I saw you save a stray from getting run over once, and when a guy honked his horn at you, you jumped on the hood of his car and spit on his windshield before cussing him out. And another time you helped some old lady pick up all her groceries that spilled on the sidewalk. I play the violin, and when you climb into your car there's always violin music playing. I hear you listening to Ave Maria a lot, and I practiced forever trying to get that piece right. I thought my shoulders were going to fall off my body, but I can play it perfectly now. Maybe I don't know you, but no one who's that polite and saves stray dogs and helps old ladies and likes violin music can be that bad, right?"
Oh, God. This little brat had been watching Levi for even longer than he thought if he'd seen him do all those things. He'd never really thought of himself as a nice guy. Pushing kilos of drugs and running brothels and laundering money tended to skew his viewpoint a little, perhaps. But the way this kid described him, Levi was a regular boy scout. It was almost funny, really.
"Stand up, Eren." He obeyed, and Levi stepped in close, walking around him in a slow circle. Eren didn't turn to watch him, just stood frozen and followed Levi with his eyes. "So, you think I'm a good guy, eh? Helping old ladies, petting dogs. Saving buses full of orphans and nuns and orphaned nuns and shit." The brunet shrugged.
"I didn't know you were a... a mafia boss, or whatever it is you are, but I still can't really think you're a bad guy. Maybe you do some illegal shit, but assholes don't do all the little kind things I've seen you do for months now. You might technically be a bad guy, but I don't think you're a bad person." Levi stopped in front of Eren, brushing the hair back from the kid's face and watching it flush impossibly brighter.
"Hmm. You play the violin, Eren?" He ran his thumb over the brunet's bottom lip, and he could feel the boy shiver as he nodded. "You think I could play you?" Eren's brows furrowed again and he remained silent, not sure what Levi meant. The shorter man leaned in until his mouth was right next to Eren's ear and whispered into it, letting his hand trail down the boy's chest. "If I pluck your strings, will you make pretty sounds, Eren?" The brunet panted, and Levi eased his fingers around Eren's belt, tugging them tight against each other. Levi licked the shell of his ear, and his next words were made of silk.
"If I use my hands just right will you sing for me?"