So recently, I discovered I really like RivaMika. But I made Mikasa 19, and Levi at least 23. Eren is 17.
SnK isn't mine. Enjoy.
The only thing you could hear was the page turnings of the newspaper, and the small gulps taken between drinking his tea.
Eren could only stare at the way he held his cups. It was peculiar to him. In fact so peculiar, he couldn't finish the rest of his English assignment.
Mikasa had been busy fixing a rib dinner for their parents' get together, celebrating his father's big promotion as assistant head of the hospital, and since Eren hadn't really got to meet Levi, she thought it would be nice for the two to converse.
They were at the apartment him and his sister shared together, which faced an ocean. This brought noise, and sometimes traffic but in the afternoons, when everyone went home to their families, it was a beautiful time.
"Can I help you?" Levi asked with a harsh tone of voice, breaking the teen's stare.
"No, no. I can't help but question your cup holding…" he questioned.
He then realized how wrong that came out. "Not that I have a problem with it or anything, I mean…" he began to sound nervous. "It's nice you know, it's nice to see something different…"
A part of him wanted to stop himself from continuing, but he also really wanted to leave a rather remarkable first impression for himself.
Levi just nodded, and continued reading his paper. The silence arose.
"So….how long have you, and my ….sister have been together," Eren asked, trying to forget what happened a few minutes ago. "I mean of course she isn't really my sister, but, she's like one to me…."
Oh god no, I'm doing it again, He thought, trying to look out the window.
"A month," he said, still looking at the newspaper.
"Wow, that's quite a while…." He said, trying to continue the conversation. He wasn't really sure how relationships worked, considering he had never been in one himself, but he wanted to keep the conversation going, so he began to play shuffle in the back of his mind, trying to find questions.
"What do you guys do in your free time…?" he asked trying to keep the flow.
Instead of an answer, he received a rather odd, questionable look from the older gentleman. He then realized not only was the question wrong, but it sounded very personal.
"No, I mean….eh….."
Just as Eren opened his mouth to rephrase himself, Mikasa appeared from behind with a bowl of only red skittles.
Without a word, she sat herself in the chair next to Levi, and gave him a peck on the cheek.
Thank god, Eren thought, letting out a sigh of relief. Someone needed to interrupt before his talking got weird.
"How is he?" she said, turning to Eren.
"He's cool…." Eren said, trying to find the right reply. Yeah, if speaking few words counted as cool, Eren thought.
"Just cool?" she questioned, chuckling. That was one of the few times he had ever actually seen her smile a bit.
Levi lowered the newspaper, and began locking his eyes with Eren's. The teenage boy could feel shivers down his spine, as his mouth dried up.
"He's a fine, young man, but he needs to learn how to learn how to speak."
Eren froze slightly at that comment. Aside from his last statement, he was surprised to hear that come from Levi's mouth. They had only ever talked for 3 seconds about how his day was, and a quick hi, but he had never really sat, and been with him long enough to know how he was.
"Oh, be nice," Mikasa said, popping another red skittle into her mouth. "You're intimidating. I won't blame him for not being able to speak up," she said, turning to Eren. "He's frightening, right?"
"W….well…" Eren began to speak, choosing his words wisely, but nothing came to mind. "I have to use the restroom," he said, scurrying out of his seat. To avoid any conflict, he went without disturbance.
"Kid sure does walk loud," Levi said, as Eren disappeared into the hallway.
"You seriously need to learn how to speak with feeling," Mikasa said, looking ahead.
"And you're one to talk?" He said, lowering his newspaper. "He's a teenager; I don't expect anything in return from him, really."
"You don't need to expect anything from him. Lighten up, and just try," Mikasa said, wrapping her hands around him, as he got up. Before heading off to remove the ribs out of the oven, she gave him a peck. "Besides, I give reasons for people to get intimidated," she said, as she disappeared back into the kitchen.
"Tch," he said, continuing his newspaper reading.
A flustered Eren emerged from the bathroom, wiping his wet hands, and took his seat across from the man returning to his English homework.
Once again, the silence returned, until Levi decided to take Mikasa's advice.
"Can you believe people these days? Breaking into pet stores, and stealing dogs," he said, slightly lowering his newspaper.
"Oh, yeah...I'm actually writing about that right now, for English," Eren replied, looking up with a slight smile. For once, he managed to sound confident in reply. "In fact, I think they caught the perps. They were caught at the park today, I think."
"They weren't even decent enough to cover up their tracks...Criminals these days have it so easy, yet they leave some of the smallest things behind."
It felt weird hearing that from him, as if he was once one in the past. Though it worried Eren, he disregarded it, and went back to his English assignment.
"How much news do you watch, kid?" Levi said, finally managing to remove his newspaper from his face, making eye contact. Eren could feel chills down his spine, as he locked eyes with him.
"Enough to know that this city's having a water shortage that might last for a while," he said, thinking about his class discussion. "They actually made some athletes cut back on the showers they took, and the amount of water the gardeners use to keep the grass green..."
"If only most youth knew as much as you did nowadays, we'd already have the answers to some of the world's problems before the next generation."
"Well...Yeah, I guess. I discuss most of this with my friend, Armin, which is why I know so much about this. I owe it to him, sort of," Eren chuckled. Levi may have spoken with lack of expression, but his tone of voice made up for his deadpan expressions.
"Those are the kind of friends you should have, kid. Trust me. You'll get far with him, you know."
"Yeah...we've been friends for a long time, in fact...I would consider him one of my only friends..." Eren replied with an unsure tone of voice. He then began to think about it as he looked out the window.
"You got a girlfriend?" Levi asked, with eyes still locked onto the teenage boy's eyes.
Eren almost spat out air, trying to catch his breath.
"Uh...uh no sir," he said, trying to formulate words. It seemed like a personal question, very abrupt. "But there is one girl in my algebra class...I see her at lunch occasionally, but that's it..." he said remembering the blonde female who sat next to the two jocks near the oak tree. He hadn't caught her name, but he knew Armin had spoken to her every now, and then.
"And you don't know her name," Levi said, neatly folding his newspaper, sipping his last few drops of tea. He chuckled a little. "Teenage crushes never really bring good luck...but they're impossible to avoid."
"Ha...yeah..."
He couldn't help but chuckle at that statement, now that he had thought about it. He hadn't had a crush in a long time, being oblivious to many, many hints, and not understanding how crushes worked. It dawned on him that he was a rather awkward teenage boy, with lack of social skills, and it was showing when he spoke to Levi.
Mikasa came around again, this time with empty hands.
"Are you aware that your step brother is crushing on a young woman at school?" He said, returning a peck on her cheek.
Eren quickly looked up in panic. He didn't want Mikasa to know, other
"Really now?" she said, raising a brow. "This is news to me...the last time I remember him having a crush was in the 3rd grade...He actually mistook his best friend, Armin as a girl..."
Eren, despite not drinking any liquids, almost did a spit take, nearly choking on his saliva. This was something in his youth he had forgotten, and he had hoped Mikasa had forgotten.
"Oh my god, Eren, are you okay?" Mikasa said shooting out of her chair to get water. "Levi, don't just sit there!" she shouted rushing to the kitchen.
Levi pushed some of his tea forward, offering the choking boy a sip. "It helps tremendously."
He normally didn't drink after other people, but despite the life, and death situation, he quickly grabbed the warm cup of tea, and took 4 sips. He felt the last cough form, and then disappear.
"It's warm, so it opens your throat, and keeps it moist," Levi told the young boy.
"Thank you..." he replied, looking over at the young man.
"Here," Mikasa said, finally arriving with a small cup of water. "I couldn't find the larger cups."
Eren politely rejected, telling Mikasa he had already had some of Levi's tea.
A faint knock on the door was heard.
"I believe that's him," Eren said, heading towards the door.
"Hm?" Levi said, looking up.
"Armin?" he said, to make sure it was him.
"Hi, Eren!" said the blonde back.
"Don't forget to check the peephole," Mikasa added.
"I did, don't worry," Eren said, before removing the locks, and opening the door. "Oi, Armin!" he said, doing a fist bump, and putting his arm around this blonde.
He waved gleefully towards Mikasa's direction, and started to speak.
"Hello, Mikasa."
"Hello, Armin," she said, reaching for Levi's hand. He gripped rather tightly, for someone. "You doing alright with your Grandfather?"
"Yep," he nodded. "He's been asleep most of today, since he did nothing but run errands yesterday. It wore him out."
"So you're Armin..." Levi chuckled, lightly remembering the story Mikasa had told him earlier. He quickly scanned the sun blonde, who was still in his "Nice to meet you."
"You too..."
"Mr. Ackerman," Eren corrected.
"Just call me Levi, kid," he said
"Nice to meet you, Levi," Armin said,, reaching out for a handshake.
"Oh, he doesn't like shaking hands," Mikasa said. "He actually makes me wash mine more than 3 times just to hold it," she joked, holding his hand up.
"Don't you guys have somewhere to be?" He said, trying quickly to change subject.
"Oh yeah! I have something to show you, Eren," Armin said, walking towards the door. "Bye Mikasa! It was nice meeting you, Mr. Ack...Levi!"
"Yeah, I'll see you guys later," Eren said, trailing behind Armin, as he grabbed his light, teal colored jacket.
"Don't stay out late, you two, Eren still has homework to finish!" Mikasa reminded, as they closed the door on their way out. She got up to go lock the door and returned to her seat, slouching in a fashion that was rather improper to Levi.
"You need to sit straight," he said, getting up for some water.
"You need to shake hands," she shot back.
"Yeah, that reminds me," he said, making his way back to the table. "Try not to mention my cleaning habits to others, would you, hun?"
Mikasa just shrugged, slugging more into her seat. "You seemed to have no problem gripping my hands, when we were talking.."
"Cause I knew you washed at least twice, before coming back out to join us," he said, taking his seat, and setting his cup down.
Mikasa just shrugged, laying her head against his shoulder, with her hand set against his forearm.
"Anyway, he's a nice boy...he just needs to expand his social skill."
"I actually encouraged him to join the soccer team after school to let some of his steam out, and make some friends..."
"Man, what active youngsters. I don't even have half the energy they have," he said, throwing his head back. "But man, am I exhausted."
"Oh, I'm sure I can change that," Mikasa said, trailing her fingers up his chest, and pulling his tie.
"Oh, you wanna do this again?" he said, sharply.
"First one to the bedroom tops!" she shouted coldly, as she started to the bedroom, laughing darkly.
"I'm not doing this again with you!" he said starting after her.
