Chapter Text
Levi wonders what he did in a past life to deserve this.
'This' being his incredibly annoying coworkers, who have decided that today is the day that racing their chairs around the office is absolutely necessary for the success and prosperity of their work.
Right by his desk. Fuck's sake, he's requesting a relocation from Erwin.
"And Mike overtakes Eld to make it to the finals!" Oluo announces, and he's met with cheers. "On the other side- Nanaba against me!"
"Easy," Nanaba boasts, rolling her chair to the far side of the room. "Bring it on, Oluo."
"You only beat me in the quarters because you sabotaged my chair," Gunther protests. "Hange, can we budget for new chairs in the next quarter?"
Hange flashes a thumbs up from their desk in the corner. "Yep!"
Levi groans. "You won't let me get a new kettle, but we can get new chairs?"
"You don't need a new kettle!"
"And you wouldn't need new chairs if you didn't do these damn races twice a month."
"Ah, but then how would we know who would be the recipient of the..." there's a dramatic pause from Hange before they pop up from their spot, raising a tiny card in their hands. "The ten dollar gift card to Scouts!" they shout proudly.
They're met with cheers. Levi wants to stab a pen into his ears.
"Which can be used as soon as tonight," Hange continues, "when we go out to celebrate the one and only Uri's retirement!"
Another cheer, this time directed at the poor man in the corner of the room that waves a weak hand before he goes back to typing with one finger at a time on his laptop. Levi thinks that he probably should've retired years ago, the second Erwin upgraded everyone's tech, but he's impressed (and annoyed) he's held out as long as he has.
A door opens and the noise dies comically quickly as Erwin steps out of his office. "Please, don't stop celebrating Uri on my account," Erwin says. His eyes skim the office. "Chair races again?"
Levi wonders how soundproof Erwin's office is and how he can get promoted to one of those. "Again," he grumbles.
"And how are we for our quarterly targets?"
Everyone turns to Levi. He sighs. "Behind."
"By how much?"
"Two weeks, give or take."
Erwin smiles. "Then we're right on track. Carry on." There's a cheer; Levi despises him. Next time, he'll lie. "Uri, with me for a moment."
The soon-to-be retiree pushes himself up from his desk and heads over to Erwin's office, closing the door behind him. Chatter resumes, and Nanaba and Oluo start wheeling themselves to the starting line made out of a strip of masking tape on the floor.
Hange wheels their chair into the middle of the raceway- which also means they're right next to Levi's desk, so when they shout, Levi winces. "Wait!"
Everyone pauses. Mike's in the middle of fashioning some sort of weapon out of a ruler, tape, and a stapler.
"After this has concluded," Hange says, pausing for dramatic effect, "...I need someone to go next door and pick up flowers."
No one, for once, responds. "Flowers?" Petra questions.
"For Uri, for his retirement celebration tonight. What, I thought it'd be a nice touch!" Hange defends, crossing their arms. "And that new shop just opened up where that liquor shop used to be-"
There's a collective groan. "The liquor shop closed?" Oluo asks, horrified.
"Like, nine months ago," Eld scolds. "Where have you been?"
"We support local in this house!" Hange demands, banging their fist on the desk. "So we're getting the local flowers! Besides, then we don't have to pay for shipping, because someone can just walk down the street and get them."
"Are you taking volunteers?" Nanaba asks, spinning around in her seat.
"Sure!"
Every single hand in the office goes up. Levi wants to sigh out loud, but he keeps it to himself; how his coworkers manage to get anything done, he'll never know. None of them seem to actually want to do any work.
Hange makes a show of humming, then points. "Levi!"
A chorus of groans, including his own. "He's the only one that didn't raise his hand," Gunther protests.
"Exactly. So he'll actually just go and do it and take ten minutes, instead of the rest of you guys turning it into an hour long break!"
Hange's met with protests, but also some mutters of acceptance, because everyone knows they're right. "Fuck off, Hange," Levi says. "I'm swamped with meetings. I don't have time to run your damn errands."
There's a loud thump as Hange accidentally smacks their chair off a desk as they wheel their way towards him. "No way," they say, leaning over his shoulder. "Surely, you've got a fifteen minute window on your calendar."
"No." He pulls up his calendar. He'd only loosely glanced at it this morning, but he knows he's full from 1pm onwards. "Look."
Hange squints. "What's that?"
Levi narrows his eyes at his schedule. Then, he turns to Hange. "I hate you."
"Could that possibly be a fifteen minute block with HR?" Hange says with a loud, dramatic gasp. "My goodness! You've planned ahead! I'm so proud, I knew you wanted to do this for me-"
"I hate you," Levi echoes again, because there's no way Hange made an appointment in the last available slot of his afternoon so that he could go run their errand. "Why can't you do it?"
"Booked and busy, baby. That, and I'm lazy."
"It's a two minute walk."
"Exactly why you'll be fine! Besides, you need to get out more."
"I get out plenty."
"You walk to work and back. That's it."
"It's a walk."
"It's a twelve minute walk!"
Levi glares. "How the fuck do you know that?"
Hange waves him off. "Thank you kindly, my favorite coworker, for doing this for me," they gush, slowly wheeling away from him. Levi gives them the finger. "I love you too!~"
Levi glares at them some more, contemplates adding kill Hange to his calendar, and tucks himself as tightly into his desk as he can as Nanaba and Oluo whiz by on their chairs.
.
Mike beats Nanaba by a photo finish, and while Petra has to wear a birthday hat where birthday has been scratched out for loser as her punishment for finishing last, Levi thinks he's the real loser here.
Because here he is, standing on the sidewalk, glaring at a green sign that reads Vines and Vases.
Well. It's not a horrible name.
Still. Flowers?
Hange gave him a decent rundown: just opened a few weeks ago, already doing good business, decently priced. "But you'll need to pay," Hange had added when he was halfway out the door. "Just expense it!"
Admittedly, the break is nice. The office is still pretty rowdy and while it's not exactly quiet outside- the office building is on a fairly busy stretch- it feels like there's more space for the sound to travel to compared to the workspace.
Alright. Picking up flowers. How hard can it be?
Levi pushes the door open and a tiny bell jingles to indicate his arrival. "One moment!" he hears a voice call.
It's small. He can't remember what this shop used to be before it was a flower shop (someone mentioned a liquor store?), but it's clear that it's been designed to maximize the natural light. The windows are large and have flowers painted on the glass. There's thin curtains, but they're hooked out of the way. Vines that he thinks are fake are woven around the curtain rods and hang down for effect.
The shop itself is small. There's not much room for him- it's smaller than some of the meeting rooms in the office. The small waiting area has two comfy chairs with yellow flower pillows, and a long counter separates the waiting area from the rest of the shop. Behind the counter is a massive wall with buckets and buckets of flowers, all different styles and colors. Levi hadn't realized how much variety there was.
There's motion in the back; Levi pulls his eyes away right as someone enters his vision, coming up to the counter. "Sorry," he hears you say. "How can I help you?"
Levi blinks.
You're like something out of a magazine.
It's the look on your face, he thinks. You're smiling slightly, eyes wide, shoulders back, like you're relaxed and happy. You're wearing a light blue, floral print dress and have a matching headband in your hair. You match the overall atmosphere of the flower shop quite well- like this is your home.
"Hi," he says stupidly.
You're smiling at him. "Hi."
You've got a nametag on. Levi stares at it for a second before he realizes how awkward he's being and he gets out, "pick up. I'm here for pick up."
"Oh, perfect. What name is it under?"
Fuck, he's got no idea. "Either- fuck." Shit. Why the hell is he swearing? "Either Hange Zoe or Eldian Enterprises," he tries.
You hum. "Yes, I've got one of those. Our summer holiday bouquet, yes?"
"No idea."
"Didn't place the order?"
"No. You could give me weeds for all I care and I'd still walk out of here with them."
Your lips twitch. "Sorry to disappoint, but you won't be getting weeds. I've got it set up in the back, let me get it for you."
You spin, the skirt of your dress swishing as you go, and Levi stares at the back of your head as you leave. He's still staring when you come back, a massive bouquet in your hands. "Jesus, Hange," Levi mutters to himself.
"A far cry from weeds," you say. "What's the occasion? Would you like a vase?"
He waves a hand. "Retirement party. I- no. Whatever."
"I have some nice paper I can set them in."
"Sure. Do that."
You're still smiling as you gently set the egregiously sized bouquet on the counter and reach under the ledge to grab some nice white paper. "I can tell you're not the one that did the ordering," you say lightly, grabbing some ribbon.
Levi can't help it; he snorts. "What gave it away?"
"Not a fan of flowers?"
He feels like he shouldn't answer that in a damn flower shop. "You- you just opened," he says, more as a statement than a question.
You take it in stride anyways. "Yep," you agree, folding the paper around the stems. "Not even two weeks ago."
"Just hired?"
"I own it, actually."
"You own this?" Levi asks, slightly surprised. You seem young- or maybe it's just that you still seem quite happy, which is a trait he usually associates with a younger crowd. "You bought the old liquor store? Willingly?"
You laugh. "That explains the stench when I was cleaning it out."
You didn't even know what the place used to be. Are you crazy? "Bold move," he says. He leans back slightly- he hadn't realized how close he'd gotten to the counter. You're fastening a bow to the front now. "Especially for a flower shop."
"What can I say?" you muse, pulling gently at one of the weirdly fluffy things in the bouquet. "It was my calling."
Levi can't say he confidently knew what he wanted to do with his life, but if he were to ever have a calling or whatever the hell it is, it definitely wouldn't be about anything in nature. "This is your calling," he deadpans, realizing only a millisecond after the words leave his mouth that you might be offended.
But you're not. You look amused. "What's so bad about that?"
"Well, they're..." he trails off. Why are words so difficult to come by? "They're just flowers," Levi manages.
Your expression doesn't change. If anything, you're smiling slightly wider. "So?"
"They're..." he feels like he's walking into a trap. "I think I've said enough," he says gruffly.
"It's alright," you say, and your voice is like honey. Sweet and smooth. "I've heard it all," you admit, straightening yourself up. "There's nothing you could say that I haven't heard before."
"That almost feels like a challenge."
"Maybe."
"Is it?"
"Do you want it to be?"
Levi has no idea what you're asking or what he's thinking. He leans his forearms onto the counter. "I think they're useless."
Your smile widens. "Boring."
"Ugly."
"Unoriginal."
"A waste of money."
"Boring and unoriginal. I was hoping for a bit more creativity."
You look completely unfazed. For some reason, that bothers him. "So this is your calling," he says, echoing what you said before. "Your passion. And you're going to let me come in here and insult the hell out of flowers."
Your eyes meet his. "I have the feeling I'll be getting your money either way," you say casually, turning the card machine towards him. "Will that be cash or card?"
Levi stares at you.
You smile back at him.
"Card," he musters out.
You beam. "Excellent. The machine is ready whenever you are."
Levi leaves the flower shop with a bouquet of (in all fairness) nicely complementary flowers in one arm, a newfound respect for florists, and your smile etched into the forefront of his brain.
He takes a few steps in the direction of the office, then pauses. He turns around, and he stares at your little shop.
That's all he does. Stare.
Levi stands there and stares for another full minute or so before he realizes he's got a meeting in one minute and he races back towards the building, hurls himself up the stairs, and shoves his card against the access pad for the office.
It beeps and Levi throws himself through the door, glancing at his watch. Fuck, he's going to be late. "Flowers," he says bluntly, and he drops the bouquet on Hange's desk as he strides by.
"Wow! You took longer than I thought you would," Hange says brightly. "Long line? Oooh, these are beautiful!"
"Long line," Levi mutters. "I'm late."
"Thank you!~" Hange trills as Levi grabs his laptop and heads straight to one of the meeting rooms, wondering what he's even walking into.
He never finds out. He spends the entire meeting thinking about you and your smile.