Author's Note: I dreamt of an image that might be really cool illustrated. I love dreaming about stuff I like and getting ideas from them, so I figured if not drawing, I could write a story around Levi and Kuchel.

Written on paper and with several inspirations that I hadn't thought I'd have.

Also, I am used to Portuguese baby talk, but I can't quickly come up with the equivalent expressions in English, so I'm sorry if it's odd. The advantage of baby talk is that, well, it's adorable either way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin, obviously.

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No brothel in the Underground was a place for a child to be born and raised. Arguably, the Underground was no place for a child to be born, period. But they were, and brothels were also places that had far more children than they should ever have.

Many prostitutes, being forced one way or the other to be in those circumstances, prefered to mind their own business or to gossip about the others, while the other half favoured bonds of convinience between them. Rarely friendship, but convinience was the appropriate and expected reaction in such places, and children tended to be the easiest and most natural reason for these bonds.

Kuchel was more than eager for the client to go away so she could quickly go to the room at the end of the corridor, where Sophia was. The man hadn't been too rough until the end, when he had hit her across the face because Kuchel said he had to leave. He hadn't taken it too happily, but he was dressing up and preparing to leave, so there was hardly anything she would mind him to do now if it meant he was gone.

When the door banged behind him, Kuchel sighed in relief and immediately pulled back the bedsheets, a small effort to hide the remains of what had taken place, and sprinted to open the door again and get as much air in the room as she could. Not minding the people that might catch a glimpse of her, she splattered her face and quickly scrubbed herself with a small pot of water. She didn't use a sponge, as she always saved it for Levi's baths. When she was finished, she exited and went across the corridor, the only thing on her mind right now. Some meters before, she could already listen to the muffled delicious baby voice through the door, her lips curling up instinctively, and she tap the door and opened it, her smile turned into a wide squeal of happiness.

"Hi, mommy!" the baby with black hair said and ran to her in a still uncertain pace, throwing himself around her legs and hugging her tight.

"Hello, baby, wow, so much love! It looks as if you haven't seen me in years!" Kuchel said giggling while Levi just hugged tighter. The two year old barely reached her knees, and was the delight between the prostitutes, even amongst the older and tougher ones, with his unbalaced pace in which he ran through corridors and avoided customers' legs, long and thin black bangs falling over his eyes and his adorably baby voice mumbling and mimicking all sounds and words he heard.

Sophia, the young prostitute that had looked over him, smiled at the child's spontaneous and cute reaction, her hands over her bloated belly.

"He was completely distracted, don't worry. We barely felt the time pass."

Kuchel did.

"Thank you, Sophia, I'll help you out too."

"Of course ya will, I'm expecting it," the other woman said playfully. A small frown fell over her plain face, fingers tapping on her belly. "I just hope she likes me as much as your kid likes you."

"You're set it's a girl?" Kuchel asked, picking up Levi from the floor to her lap. The baby curled his arms around her neck and rested his head on her shoulder.

"With my luck? Of course it is."

"Everything will work out, if it's a girl or not" Kuchel smilled reassuringly. "Levi, say thanks to Sophia."

"Tanks, Sofi," Levi imitated, taking a squeal and an 'aww' out of Sophia as well. He waved her goodbye while the two women exchanged smiles and kept his eyes wide and open, always looking at all the men and women that might be in the corridors or climbing up the stairs. He had the habit of entertaining himself by looking at everyone.

"Hey, Levi, you want a sweet?" Kuchel asked him, and the baby nodded vigoursly. Kuchel put up a big smile for him to interpret and copy. "Look!"

She took some coins the client had forgot to snatch up after slapping her and showed them to Levi, his eyes opening and he gasped, a similar expression to Kuchel's on his face and soft hands clapping.

"Look, money! We have money, Levi."

"Good, mommy!"

"It is, isn't it? Come on, let's buy something nice for you." It wouldn't be a sweet, of course. A piece of bread and butter was what Levi considered the most delicious 'sweet' he had ever tasted.

Kuchel wanted to avoid the pimp so he wouldn't complain about the small tip she had got, but calmly stepped down the stairs to not make it too much of the deal. A couple of prostitutes casually greeted Levi as they passed and he waved at them while talking in his own language.

"Mommy, boo boo," eventually, those words came out when Kuchel turned her hair over one shoulder, and he pocked a finger at her cheek. He couldn't pronounce the word correctly, as well as other words he caught from time to time, and Kuchel didn't mind it.

"It's alright, Levi, it doesn't hurt."

"Boo boo hurt."

"Don't worry. We're gonna eat! And don't forget to say 'please'!", she said enthusiastically, driving the baby's mind away from the subject. Levi nodded again, brushing clumsly the hair that fell over his eyes with his small hands.

It was a calm afternoon. As soon as they returned to their room, Levi squealed and ran to his toy, throwing it to the floor and himself after it. The bread was still on his hand, and soon he was licking dust and butter without minding. He called Kuchel loudly, showing her the glove Kuchel had handsewed each finger in a different color to make finger puppets, small black dots as eyes and curved line as a smile. It was his only toy, but he didn't complain.

"Akap!" he comanded the finger puppets, patting each one of them on the 'head'. "Akap pwease, food!"

"Let me help you waking them up," Kuchel put the glove on, each finger bringing a different simple character to life. She changed her tone as she spoke as one of them. "Hello, Levi! What is that you got there?"

"Eat!" He placed the bread over the finger puppet for Kuchel to pretend.

"Mmmmm yummy! Thank you, Levi!" The baby giggled and hugged the glove and all five friends tightly, squeezing Kuchel's hand inside.

They carried on the play for a little longer, each puppet with a different voice and character, and after Levi asked to pee (shouting 'Out!' to the pot immediately after and making Kuchel laugh under her breath. It was the only cleaning habit he had, but he fiercely imposed it. He didn't mind bitting the bread he had forgotten on the floor for a while, though), he tried to climb up the bed, grunting from the hard task. Kuchel beat him playfully on the butt and helped him up, laying next to him. She just sat there for a moment, looking at Levi playing with some dust he had found on the mattress, her mind both at peace and struggling in worry at his beautiful features. He was a very small child, very light too even though she tried to feed him every chance she got, and there was nothing to be done to the paleness, but he was a healthy child. And he knew he had to keep quiet at times, while still being lively all the other times.

"Levi," she called to pick up his attention. She had to call twice for his to lift his head, again hair over his face. She gently tucked the bangs behind one ear. She would have to trim the hair a bit, but she liked him with long hair. She never saw any foreign feature that might come from his father on his face, just hers. "Levi, remember what I told you about the sky?"

"Sky," he repeated.

"Yes, sky. The sky is uuup, up up there, very up there," she pointed up, and Levi turned his eyes to the ceiling. She giggled softly. "We can't see it, though, but it's veeeery big and blue. You remember what blue is?"

He took a moment where he was still focused on the ceiling before turning around, looking for the color. He pouted quickly, before turning to her and pointing to her face.

"Ha ha, yes, my eyes are blue. Levi's eyes too," He touched his face, groping in search of his eyes, which weren't really as blue as they were grey, but he didn't know. "The sky is very big and very blue. Up there, people have a sky, and sun, and clouds! And there's wind," she blew over his face, making him giggle when he hair waved over his nose.

Levi looked up again to the dark grey ceiling and lift his arm up. "Big."

"Yes, very big. The world is very big, you'll see it one day."

"Sky big."

"Yes, very well, Levi!" Kuchel clapped and incentived him to join her, but his eyes were locked in place.

It took her a moment to realize there was a knock on her door. She hadn't locked it, so an older prostitute peeked in.

"Olympia, oh, you have the kid here. There's a client coming, hurry up."

"Oh, yes, okay," Kuchel breathed out without even noticing. Levi looked down from the ceiling and the sky in his mind back at her. "Levi, you need to go now, alright?"

He pouted again. "No, sky."

"Levi, you know how it is, go on, you know where Sophia is, go to her."

The older prostitute had already left and the door was opened by a man this time. He wasn't very tall, and didn't seem like he had been drinking in the last couple of hours. At least he didn't reek like some.

Kuchel always tried to avoid having Levi nearby when she had clients - she never knew what type of person it would be - and didn't like to call him by name. "Go on now, please."

Levi stared at the man who had entered and kept the door opened behind him, and slowly climbed off the bed while Kuchel pulled the sheets back up and straightened them to keep the mattress protected.

"Hey, kid," he said nicely as Levi walked to him - the door, not him - in his uneven pace. "You go now, mommy has to work."

Levi stared back at him, and the man patted him on the head, ruffling his bangs while Levi complained. "Cute kid, you need to work that pace."

"He's going."

"He? You sure it's a boy?"

"I'm sure."

Kuchel pushed Levi gently outside and waved him. "Bye baby."

"Bye mommy," he waved too. His eyes turned to the man who was unfastening his seatbelt, the man made a quick gesture back at him. Kuchel closed the door as fast as she could, suddenly anxious, but heard her baby's voice right before she clicked the door shut. "Bye sky".

Sophia was standing nearby the door of her room, and noticed Levi standing in front of his. She called him and the baby turned his head around looking for the familiar sound.

"Hey, love, come here." Levi did as he was told and rested next to her leg. He was uncombed, and she quickly fixed his hair while the child's eyes fixed up, tiny mouth opened up. Sophia looked up as well, trying to see if there was a spider web or something that he had seen. "What is it, Levi?"

"Sky, big," and he followed to retale a whole story in a language that Sophia nor anyone else could made sense of, but it distracted him for the next couple of minutes.

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to be continued

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Author's Note: If I had more time, I would make this a single chapter but it's easier for everyone if I make it in chapters. There will be 3 and this one turned actually bigger than I wanted.

Please point out the typos and mistakes, I have little time to type and it may escape me.
Thank you for reading, feedback is appreciated and hope to see you in the next chapter.