AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT LOVE

CHAPTER 55 - HALAH by MAZZY STAR

SPOTIFY LINK: https://open.spotify.com/track/6JuEshIRliNXRU1LXctRjZ?si=92d6a25db5bf43d9

As Levi was packing his things up for the night, he heard a crash, followed by Mina yelling, "God dammit!"

He moved to the door and called out, "Are you alright?"

Before he could reach her, a kid was on his hands and knees picking up the large stack of files she'd knocked off of the counter. He was straightening as he went, and telling her it was fine, to not worry about it.

Mina cooed over him. "Thank you, oh my goodness, thank you!" She took smaller stacks from him as he lifted them to her. "I can't believe I was that clumsy."

"Everything all right here?" Levi asked. He shifted so that he could see the boy better. He wore a light gray jumpsuit and a baseball hat. His brown hair was pulled neatly back in a ponytail. Levi glanced down to his embroidered name tag and saw what he suspected - Javvy - the boy that Eren always talked about. "Well, he said, it looks like this young man has your nightly mess under control, Mina."

"Oh whatever, Levi," Mina said. "It's just nice to have someone around who can help me without giving me a hard time." She took another stack from the boy. "Oh! You alphabetized them so fast! That's my kind of janitor!"

Javvy picked up the last stack and turned it over to Mina. He glanced at Levi and looked at him from head to toe. Levi saw that he was being appraised and stuck his hand out. "Hey, I'm Levi Ackerman. Are you our new night man?"

Javvy glanced quickly at Levi's hand, then took it firmly. "Yeah, my name is Javvy. I, uh, just started last night." He looked around at the door to Levi's office and back to Mina who was smiling at him.

"Eren has told me a lot about you, Javvy. He says you're perfect to work here."

"Yeah, that's right. You're Eren's boyfriend, right?"

Levi's lips twitched. "He's not my boyfriend."

Javvy huffed a laugh. "Yeah, you two just keep saying that."

Levi's eyebrow went up and Mina coughed a laugh behind her hand. "You're going to do just fine around here, Javvy. We're glad you're here."

The kid smiled and said goodnight, as he wheeled his cart towards Levi's office door.

Mina and Levi watched him. She giggled quietly. "Finally someone with as much of a smartass mouth as you!"

Narrowing his eyes, Levi pointed at her and said, "That's enough out of you." He followed Javvy into his office to finish packing up for the night. He couldn't wait to tell Eren how his kid did going up against him on his second night.

*****

Eren lined the two framing tables with brown and black heavy weight card stock. All of his pictures would be life size so each of the mattes would have to be hand cut. The gallery show was a couple weeks away, and he only had his daytime hours to get them done. He was grateful that he could use one of the college art rooms to prep for the show. He'd been working for a couple of hours when a knock on the door and a familiar raspy voice announced Kenny's presence from the hall.

"Well, well, look who decided to show his face around these parts. How are you, kid?"

Eren looked up with a grin. "Hey, Kenny. It's good to see you."

Kenny pushed his broom into the room and came to a stop, resting his hand on its top. "You got another show going?"

"Yeah, I'm excited about this one." He gestured to another counter with various black and whites. "You can take a peek, but you have to keep the secret."