#nicoxlevi

[idealuk]

And just like that ... Schmico sailed once again.

[swiftlythebest]

Au where Nico and Levi were already established in season 14. Maybe Levi is talking about this hot boyfriend he has and nobody believes him but then Nico comes and they're all shocked and Levi is just like i told you so. Nico's just confused lol.

Okay, this one took a bit. I was debating for a while whether I should rewatch Season 14, but I ultimately decided I was too busy to be able to commit to that. Therefore, if this differs from canon (beyond the obvious AU aspect), that’s all on me and my lack of rewatch. I could see myself continuing this because it does feel a little open-ended. I really like the prompt and hope the execution was as fun and fluffy as I wanted it to be. I wrote this in the wake of buying Lover Fest tickets, which was a nerve-wracking mess so I hope this fic is more coherent than I feel at the moment. It’s a bit longer so a lot is under a cut. I hope you enjoy! 

“...But then my boyfriend called so she had to calm down, at least for a bit,” Levi Schmitt took a bite of his sandwich as he finished the story chronicling his mother’s latest freakout. He expected some laughs or maybe a few understanding nods but was instead met with five confused expressions.

“I’m sorry, your what now?” Taryn Helm was the first to snap out of whatever trance the five other interns had fallen under.

“My mother. That was a story about my mother. Duh.” Levi rolled his eyes at Taryn’s question.

“I think she was asking about the boyfriend part.” The interns nodded at Sam Bello’s suggestion.

“Oh, have I not mentioned him? Huh. Yeah, my boyfriend.” Levi shrugged, focusing his attention back on his lunch.

“Is he hot?” Dahlia Qadri smacked Vik Roy’s arm at the question. “Ow! What, you were all wondering too!”

“Who, my boyfriend?”

“No, your fish.” Casey Parker was already getting fed up with this conversation and couldn’t suppress an eye roll at Levi’s expense.

“I think so.” Levi dug his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a photo of a tall Asian man with a chiseled face, swoopy hair, and magnificent muscles. He was smiling fondly at the camera, as though the photographer were his favorite person in the world. 

“Glasses, you can’t just Google ‘hot guy’ and use some image result. We’re not gonna believe that,” Roy scoffed.

“What? No! That’s Nico! That’s my boyfriend, Nico!” Levi turned the phone towards him as though checking he had the right picture.

“That’s the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. You’re telling me he’s not only real but your boyfriend?” Sam raised her eyebrows almost to her hairline as everyone else looked expectantly at Levi.

“I… he… we… we overlapped a bit when I was in college and he was in med school. When the pre-med students would visit the med school, he always sought me out. Wanted to show me whatever stuff he was working on. We became study buddies and then friends and then best friends.” Levi shrugged through the story, trying to downplay it.

“But you slept with Jo!” Taryn exclaimed.

“We got together after that. I was venting to him about the whole ‘Glasses’ thing and how I’d never get a job here. We stayed up all night on the phone, me freaking out and him listening. He flew out the next day and showed up on my doorstep. I guess he sort of proclaimed his love for me? He said he’d loved me since we first met and hearing me so upset on the phone made him realize he needed to step up and give me something good. I don’t know.” Levi fiddled with his fingers, looking down after baring his soul.

When he looked up, the other interns were all just staring at him. Roy broke the silence with a big laugh.

“Yeah, okay. Here’s a tip, if you want us to believe you, don’t make it seem like he was the one chasing you. It just makes no sense.”

Levi looked hurt and confused, “But… that’s what happened!”

“Okay, prove it. Call him,” Roy smirked.

“I can’t. He just got off a 48-hour shift and I like to let him sleep.” 

“Hm, convenient.” While Roy was still enjoying the teasing, the other interns started to look uncomfortable and guilty. Thankfully, Jo walked in just then to give out their assignments.

“Are you too hot for me?” Levi asked as soon as Nico answered his FaceTime.

“Well hello to you too, love.” Nico smiled, used to his boyfriend’s bluntness.

“Yeah, yeah, hey, what’s up? But are you too hot for me?”

“What does that even mean?”

“Like, you’re hot. That’s a known fact. But are you too hot for me? Are we horribly mismatched?” Levi fiddled with the hem of his t-shirt, suddenly more self-conscious than he usually was when speaking to Nico.

“You’ve literally been the object of my fantasies for years now, so I’d say you’re pretty hot.” Levi choked at this comment, eliciting a deep laugh from Nico.

“I’m serious though.” Levi’s voice was small, smaller than Nico had ever heard it. 

“What brought this on?” Nico did away with his teasing tone.

“I mentioned you to the other interns. They didn’t believe that you were my boyfriend after I showed them your picture. They said it made no sense and there’s no way you were the one pining for me all these years. They thought I got a picture off of Google.” Levi gave a sad smile and a soft sigh.

Nico furrowed his brow in annoyance and confusion, “They didn’t believe you?”

“No. Why would they? It is definitely illogical.”

“I love it when you talk Vulcan to me.” Levi gave him a put-upon look, “What does it matter? You know how I feel about you, right? You know you’re my guy.”

“I know. I know! It shouldn’t matter. But I never even thought about our mismatched looks until today.”

“Look, I know you’re way hotter than I am but please don’t rub it in.” Levi gave a watery, surprised laugh, “I’m serious! Screw what other people think. I’m blown away by you. Floored. Overwhelmed. Okay?”

Levi sighed, “Okay. Okay, yeah. I’m sorry for spiraling, love. How was your day?”

“You never have to apologize to me for something like this. Never, okay?” Levi nodded, causing Nico to smile wide. “But my day was good! I’m starting to look at fellowships and my old mentor may have a lead for me.” 

Levi and Nico spoke for another two hours, only stopping when Levi almost began snoring, promising to pick it back up the next night. Even though there was still a nagging in the back of Levi’s mind, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

A few weeks, and many failed attempts to prove his relationship, later found the Grey + Sloan interns huddled together by a nurses’ station, waiting for their assignments.

“Levi!” All six interns’ heads whipped around at the excited shout, eyes landing on a suited man rushing in their direction.

“Nico! Wh- you’re here! What are you doing here?!” The man swept Levi up into a hug, picking him up slightly, a dazzling smile taking over his handsome face.

“I wanted to surprise you! I had an interview here for my fellowship and I took a few days off so I could see you.” They gazed at each other, matching smiles on their faces, too caught up in their moment to pay any mind to the gaping interns next to them.

“Wait, you’re that guy! The one Glasses keeps trying to convince us is his boyfriend!” Sam Bello snapped her fingers as the pieces slid into place, the other interns nodding next to her at the realization.

Nico turned his head, giving the other five people his attention, arms still around Levi, “I am his boyfriend. Hi, Nico Kim. Current resident at the Mayo Clinic, but I’m hoping to get a fellowship here.”

Levi smacked his chest, drawing Nico’s attention back towards him, “Why didn’t you tell me?! I thought San Francisco was your first choice!”

“Nah, you’re here. Plus, my mentor may be getting an attending job here so I’d work with him. I wanted to surprise you, love.”

“So this is real? This is a real thing?” Helm had a small smile on her face. Having spent more time with Levi over the last few weeks, she’d grown quite fond of the clumsy man and liked seeing him so happy.

“It’s so real. The realest.” Nico grinned at Helm.

“Wow, okay. Sorry to have doubted you, Schmitt.” Casey patted Levi’s shoulder as Sam and Dahlia nodded in agreement, wide-eyed.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I stand by my disbelief.” Roy stood with his arms crossed as everyone rolled their eyes at his stubbornness, ignoring him in favor of getting to know Nico.

The interns (minus Roy) and Nico chatted for a few more minutes, Nico’s arm slung casually around Levi’s waist. Levi beamed as his coworkers got along so well with his boyfriend, glad they finally believed him. Not that he needed any sort of validation from them because he knew the man next to him loved him no matter what, which was all that really mattered. 

I’m (hopefully) back on my bullshit, so send in prompts, if you want!

[lazygeisha]

Perhaps I should apologise for this:

but I couldn’t resist slowing it down:

and slowing it down again:

And again:

and yeah, again:

Choose your poison/speed, I’ll see myself out.

[idealuk]

It’s been ~a month since the announcement ...

... and I still don’t know whether to side eye Krista for hiring Niko Terho after she botched what was once Schmico’s epic potential so badly or wink at her for possibly going for a sure thing as the chemistry and fanbase have already been established. We don’t know yet for sure (to my knowledge/correct me if I’m wrong) if Lucas, Niko’s character, will be Levi’s new love interest, but it would be a Choice™ move, and for all we know Levi’s new love interest could be Daniel A.K.A. Blue, Harry Shum Jr.’s character, as Harry also has a strong pre-established queer shipper fanbase. It easily could be neither.🤷🏻 All that I’m saying is that interesting casting choices have been made.

[idealuk]

Why try to turn the obvious in to a question?

I’ve seen a few people confused by the current standing of Levi and Nico’s relationship. Allow me to juxtapose (not directly compare) - by way of comparison (🙄, I know, I know) - it to how Gallavich got engaged for the last time to explain my take on it. Ian believed that Mickey couldn’t know that they were it for each other because Ian was all Mickey knew about being in a relationship despite the fact that things always felt right between them (even through the different forms of denial and multiple fights), that there were so many other kinds of men for Mickey to experience being with, and he should have felt free to do so, but, when Ian saw that other men would never see Mickey the way that he does, he swiftly beat Byron (Mickey’s date) up and proposed to Mickey for the final time that led to their actual marriage, which is why, during this time, Mickey punched Cole (Ian’s date) in to unconsciousness and accepted Ian’s proposal before he let Ian finish it (because that’s normal ... for them). Ian had to figure out what Mickey had known all along deep down: when it’s right, it’s right, and you don’t always have to look further. On the flip side, Nico sees that Levi can’t explore men right now who can give Levi what Nico believes he can’t because of the pandemic, so maybe Nico is realizing that trying to find that elusive “more” is a luxury the world doesn’t have any more. What if he’s starting to see what came so naturally to him (being attracted to Levi and simply being with him) is enough for them and that knowing precisely how to be what Levi needs in other ways is just some thing that he’ll have to grow in to and vise versa like Ian and Mickey continue to do so. Maybe I’m crazy, but I made the connection (as it were) because I’ve lived through witnessing the emotional growing pains of both Ian and Mickey for the last decade, and I know that Krista learned from John from inside of the “Shameless (US)” writers room and maybe she picked up on how to prompt a happy ending when the fans demand it due to the fact that the writers have messed up so horribly (I said what I said). I’m not saying that there definitely won’t be a rocky road ahead. I’m just pointing to possible rationales for solutions to underappreciated problems.

🤷🏻

Like/reblog if this made any sense whatsoever.

[idealuk]

... Am I really the only one who knows Krista from her “Shameless (US)” days and saw the COVID-19 sex partners thing from a mile away?

Side note: I suddenly am a little afraid to play poker with my mother because her face was stone when I told her that’s what I’ve been calling for as to what the writers are doing with Schmico at the start of the season during the interval time between her having seen the premiere already and my having hadn’t yet seen it.

I’m not too worried about their future either. They now have more time for feelings to get twisted in and honest conversations to be had (we already got some honesty from Nico in his proposal, Levi’s always honest, and who else cackled while Nico shook his head ‘no’ the whole time that he said “I’m fine”?), and, yes, a lot of actors are doing multiple shows at once lately, so I’m not bothered by Alex doing “Walker” (didn’t he do the second season of “Insatiable” and Jake do The Thing About Harry while “Grey’s Anatomy” was still filming?).

That being said, I don’t trust most writers as far as I can throw them, like I said above, I’m from the “Shameless (US)” fandom, so I hope, for her sake, that Krista learned how to not treat queer couples from her former boss and what resulted in all of the negative press and blow back he faced for his treatment of its fan-favourite queer couple, because I can still write articles ...

[idealuk]

To the Anon who just tried to troll me with “Nah Schmico are better off without each other,” ...

... I had originally deleted it with out too much thought, but I went back to it (which is how I can see it, but not actually reply to it, because Tumblr has weird publishing rules) because why not? It’s Saturday.

1. I want to know how people have so much time. Like, ... okay, why are you calling them Schmico if you don't want them to be Schmico? What a strange way to troll.

Which leads me to 2. While, yes, I am still pro-Schmico (for now), where in that post did I make that truly clear? I merely gave a suggestion for why certain writing decisions might have been made. I mean ... yeah, I did approach it from an affirmative standpoint, but from the presumptive writers stand-in position (not necessarily my own). I’d say “Go troll a more hardcore Schmico shipper with your vague disdain,” but that would be worse (for you or the shipper would be up the shipper), so, ... I don’t know, ... maybe don’t ...?

[swiftlythebest]

A Schmico prompt: pre-"serious relationship", Nico brings hot chocolate for all the interns ☕, Levi has the cliched "whip on the lip" after sipping. Kisses or just WANTING to kiss it off, your choice. It *must* be peppermint hot chocolate, Levi can love or hate it. I'm feeling very specific right now. Also, if you don't WANT to write it, don't feel like you HAVE to. Just tell me *privately* to stop annoying you. 😆

Hi yes okay, I actually loved writing this one. It was silly and cute and got a bit steamy? Not like ~steamy~ but it had its moments. I really wanted to write something short and fun. Also, I like this time in their “relationship.” I hope you enjoy!

Nico Kim had gotten into a weird sort of habit. It’s not a habit he was necessarily proud of, nor did he want to admit the true reason he started this habit. Almost every day for the past couple of weeks, Nico has purchased five hot chocolates from the cafe around the corner from the hospital and distributed four of them to the hospital interns. Well, not all of the hospital interns, just the one he had a crush on and those closely associated with his crush.

Was it just a crush at this point? He and Levi Schmitt had gotten pretty hot and heavy in the ambulance during the windstorm, as a result of Levi essentially baring his soul. While they frequently had romantic dalliances in on-call rooms, there had been no discussion of what exactly their relationship had become. Were they dating? Hooking up? Talking (whatever that meant)? All Nico knew was that he felt warm and fuzzy anytime Levi directed a smile his way and he wanted to be around him as much as possible.

Hence, the hot chocolate. The first time he had gifted him with the festive cup of peppermint hot chocolate (Levi’s absolute favorite, which he had mentioned once in passing), the smile with which Nico was rewarded was almost blinding. He made it through his whole 36-hour shift coasting on the high of that smile.

He also noticed the jealous glares thrown his way by Casey Parker, Taryn Helm, and Dahlia Qadri. The next day, he came prepared with a quintet of cocoas, one specially labeled to ensure Levi received his peppermint-flavored drink. The gratitude and nods of approval from Levi’s friends felt like another major win.

And then. The real catalyst for these gifts becoming a ritual was the aftermath of Levi’s first sip. He liked to take off the plastic lid to properly enjoy his beverage, whipped cream and all; he liked the see the steam and smell the rich, minty scent. Or so he told Nico, a serious expression underlining his sincerity, the first time he disposed of the lid. By not having the lid as a deterrent, Levi always came away from his first few sips with a small dab of whipped cream on his upper lip. Nico found himself staring at this dab, wanting to lick it off. Or maybe just kiss it off. Either way, he was mesmerized by it.

Eventually, Levi would always become aware of the whipped cream mustache and, while he often just wiped it off, a few times he had licked it off. Nico had followed the movement with his eyes, flushing slightly and wanting to just drag Levi into the nearest on-call room.

And now, here was Nico, a full-grown adult man with a willing partner. Getting all hot and bothered when said partner innocently licked his upper lip. Honestly, he couldn’t even be that ashamed. So what if he now spent close to $20 almost daily on what could very well be powdered hot chocolate? Levi was always grateful, as were his friends, and Nico got to watch that glorious dab of whipped cream.

Continue on AO3