Theater is difficult.

As much as the sports department loves to tease the theater department because, well, "That's just not useful." "What do they even do?" "All the guys there are obviously gay." "They think they're better than everyone!"

Everyone in Theater knew, very, very, well, that it was difficult. They knew they weren't stuck up. And oh boy, did the term difficult happen to be an understatement.

Especially when hell week rolls around.

Levi was crouched next to the mannequin, pins holding in place pieces of loose fabric, and extras being held between his teeth. He was adding the last minute details to Blind Mag's dress. He'll never know how Erwin convinced the staff to let them do Repo!, and he'll never understand why Blind Mag's dress during Chromaggia was so damn detailed.

Mikasa painted the last bit of the sky on the drop, smiling when she set the paint brush down. Set making was tedious, and boy did this one give her hell. The girls stood up to start carrying the paint bucket away from the stage and back to the art room, since they'd been so nice as to let them borrow the paints.

Erwin stood, watching everyone and directing who would be doing who, scolding Connie for goofing off behind the curtains by dancing. Connie gave a whining 'Mommy!' before Erwin cut him off and go made him help Petra practice her lines for Blind Mag.

Eren checked over the microphones once more, making sure they were all in perfect condition. For some reason, without fail, every year a mic would suddenly not work anymore. So far there hadn't been any problems, and the boy was ecstatic. Armin stood, pointing where people needed to place the glow tape. "God, no, Reiner! I mean to the stage left, not your left!" He yells out, rubbing his eyes.

Levi stood up, narrowly avoiding Bertholdt carrying a ladder, and set the pins down on his desk. He glances in the mirror, and noticed he looked exhausted. The night wasn't even half over, they were probably staying until midnight. Huffing, he slipped into the costume closet, pulling out Graverobber's coat. He needed one more layer under it, and was gonna have Erwin try it on again for a once over. He knew Erwin could hit low notes, but damn, the first time they went over 21st Century Cure, everyone had been floored.

"Levi! Can you help me with mic tests?" Eren yelled out, when Levi exited the closet with the extra fabric. The Junior looked at his classmate, glaring.

"Can I have a moment to put the coat on the mannequin and set my fabric down, Eren?" He shouted, trying to stand over the moving props Reiner was carrying now. "We have five days until opening night, I need to finish three costumes still!" He muttered, throwing the coat on the statue and straightening it out. Eren rolled his eyes, strolling over and handing the headset to the shorter man. Levi put it on with one hand, attempting to pin fabrics with the other.

Eren had chuckled a little when Levi put it on completely wrong, crouching down and fixing it for him. Levi's ears went warm, and he knew he was blushing. No break, apparently, from an overwhelming crush. Not even during the shittiest week before performance.

"Alright, I'll hand over the rest of the sets to the others who can multi task. You're mic four, so when I call for you to answer, just call out testing!" Eren said, patting his shoulder and pacing to Mikasa to ask of the same.

'Wonderful,' he though. 'I'm almost out of thread, I should check if the sewing club has more…' That would have to be later, since he had to wait for the mic test. Giving a millionth sigh for the third hour, he stood up and decided he might as well do a makeup test.

"Yo, Hanji, come here. I'm gonna test Pavi's makeup really quick," He called out to the assistant stage manager, and she gladly skipped over. Sitting down in the chair, she waited patiently for Levi to get the fake face ready. "So, Costume Captain, your face is red."

"Shut up or I'll make sure you're never playing Pavi again," He glared, adding the 'hooks' to the face and adding touch-ups. "But Levi! It's so adorable!"

"I'm sweating, I am covered in glitter, and dammit Hanji Zoe shut up and let me apply your scars," He says, grabbing the necessities and dabbing them on her face. She huffed and let him work, giving small complaints when 'you're rubbing to hard."

After a good twenty minutes of still working on the scars, Levi began to hum. It was subconscious by now, everyone was doing it. They'd heard the songs from the musical so much it just stuck. At one point during the Spring production during Sophomore year, everyone had gotten so tired of 'Defying Gravity' because Ymir and Christa would just burst out singing it when it wasn't necessary.

Levi had begun with Come Up and Try My New Parts since he enjoyed that song the most. Not for the content of the lyrics, he actually just enjoyed the sound of it. They cut it from this production, since both parties would have felt uncomfortable with that scene. Hanji snickered when she heard "I want a hit of Z, and we're not talkin' for free…" and Levi shot a glare.

Applying the face after letting the scarred latex dry, he was already midway through the song when he heard snickers coming from the rest of the crew, and he was confused. Hanji coughed a little and whispered, "Pst, Captain, your mic is on."

Levi shot up, mortified, and took the headset off before rushing to find Eren. God dammit, Eren, at least be louder if you're calling for mic tests! When he'd entered the control booth, Armin and Eren had been cracking up and Armin hiding his face with wheezing laughter.

"Eren fucking Jaeger," Levi growled, slamming the door. Armin shot up, horrified, and made way out the second door in a haste, yelling behind him, "I have to go fix a bulb really quick!"

Eren leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, cracking a smile. "I think maybe they should've casted you as Amber instead of Ymir!" He boasts, proudly. Levi slams his hand down on the arm rests of Eren's chair, leaning in closely.

"Do not joke with me about this. I've got more shit on you than you can imagine. I mean, I could tell Erwin that we can do Grease next semester, and I can always have you get casted as Sandy, since you seem to know all her parts by heart." He growled out, inching towards the teen's face. "Hell, I've got no shame in the fact I've memorized Amber's lines. But maybe we can even do Legally Blonde, would you prefer that?" Levi was dangerously close now, and Eren was maintaining eye contact.

"Hey, you promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that," Eren points out, visibly more frustrated.

"Then don't try to embarrass me when I'm simply enjoying the music from the performance we happen to be in."

"We were having fun, Levi. No one was teasing you. Get that stick from your ass, Captain fashion," Eren smirks, regaining ground in this argument.

"Alright, fine. Let's make a deal," Levi begins, sitting in Eren's lap and noticing the boy's face growing red. "Until the end of this production, I will personally be the friendliest as possible. I won't go off on anyone, I'll be calm about fixing costumes and make up, and I won't ride your ass for turning on the microphones without my notice."

"And?"

"You have to be my dummy for makeup tests. I need to test how I want the scars for certain faces, you'll be the first for it. You also have to come out with me to buy more makeup and sewing items with me whenever I need, since I prefer more than one person's input. If you protest even once, you lose."

"What happens if one of us loses?" Eren inquired, ignoring the man on his lap.

"If I lose, we'll do Legally Blonde next production. If you lose, we'll do Hairspray," Levi only had say in this because he knew that the department would have no problem doing either. Eren held out his hand and Levi took it, giving a firm shake. "Deal," Eren replied, shoving Levi off his lap. "If you don't mind now, I have to go fix one of the mics."

Levi rolled his eyes and Eren turned to grab a headset, and left the booth, walking down to head backstage once again, he sat next to Hanji, with the unfinished Pavi mask.

"Well, Costume Captain?"

"Hell week is about to become much more entertaining," He remarked, picking up the lipstick.

a/n: well guys. i've done it. i've made the au that lacks in most of my fandoms, a motherfucking theater au. my girlfriend and i were discussing this and everything, and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. this will be multi chapter, and yes, levi/eren based (is that all i write for? next one-shot i may do some of my brotp which is hanji and levi.)

i really hope you guys are excited for it! i'm making sure to check with my girlfriend for typical traditions and stuff, but any other theater kids are free to contact me at my tumblr which is gaymakeout. follow my girlfriend (lordtwink) too because she's helping me a lot with this! reviews are welcomed!