I like two very important things: food, and Ereri/riren fanfics. Putting the two together, I decided, would result in quite the interesting story.

this is my first fanfiction, so please don't be too harsh with me, but please review anyway because I really want to hear your thoughts!

As you might have guessed, my name is not Hajime Isayama, therefore I do not own Attack on Titan or any of the characters.

Enjoy!

Levi knew, as soon as he allowed that brat to sit next to him, that things would change drastically in his orderly, outlined lifestyle. Maybe it was those piercing green eyes. Maybe it was the way he stood, out of breath, soaked with mud and filthy water, almost begging him for a place to sit. Maybe it really was the shirt. Or maybe it was simply... curiosity. Well, curiosity had killed the cat, and in this case, it had most definitely thrown Levi's entire past way of living in the dump.

He never let anyone sit next to him in the train. Every morning, he would place his bag on the seat beside his (the aisle seat, since Levi absolutely loathed being in close proximity to people early in the day and always took the window side), then would neatly fold up his jacket and scarf and place them elegantly on top. Nobody seemed to mind, anyway, especially since Levi made it his priority to look constantly irritated, bothered, and quite unfriendly in order to gain a peaceful, quiet ride to Manhattan for work.

That is, until that day when a troublesome bundle of carelessness, pretty eyes and I-just-became-an-adult-so-I'm-still-trying-to-figure-out-what-the-hell-to-do-with-my-life naivety decided to make it his morning goal to find a way to sit next to him. Disgusting.

Levi had just opened his newspaper and taken the first sip of his tea when the dripping, muddy mess skidded into the train just as the automatic doors were sliding shut. Levi raised an eyebrow and looked up in an uninterested way at whatever had just interrupted his habitual silence, only to find out that this trash heap, who was in fact a young man, was staring intently at him with blindingly bright green eyes.

If certain types of eyes had the ability to blind people, this guy would certainly have impaired his sight completely by now. He could just picture it: Hello doctor, yes, I was blinded by some filthy stranger's flashy, Vegas casino-style green eyes. Fuck you if you don't believe me. Damn, he needed help.

"Excuse me." Oh, the mud-pile was talking to him.

"What do you want?"

"Well you see, I woke up really late this morning by accident thanks to my broken alarm clock, and then I had to run to the train station to catch my train, which was leaving in five minutes, and I was running next to this giant ocean of a puddle and some rich asshole of a Cadillac driver just plowed right through it and soaked me to the bone and just before I got onto the platform, it started pouring and all this shit was ruining my favorite Guns n' Roses t-shirt, but when I got in here, I saw that you were wearing the same amazing shirt and you know, I just felt a connection, and not to mention I really need to sit down and you seem to have, next to you, the only seat available."

"What you need is a shower, a towel, and a break from caffeine overdosing, because I seriously see no reason for you to be so excited so early in the goddamn morning, especially since you apparently just woke up about fifteen minutes ago." After pausing to look back at the New York Times for another minute, Levi realized that this kid was still standing there and apparently had absolutely no will to move until his bag and coat and scarf were placed in the overhead racks and he had made space for him.

What a brat. Is he made of duct tape or something? Why the hell isn't he trying to find another goddamn spot when my face and overall attitude are clearly signs that he should probably leave me alone and stop trying to steal my bag's personal space? Why does it matter that we're wearing the same shirt? It's not as if bands are astrological symbols or some shit.

Since the whole situation was a pain in the lower back region, Levi decided to just let the kid sit next to him for the time being and potentially ignore him for the entire ride, which, as he realized as soon as the brat opened his mouth again, was no simple task.

"Well, sit down, since you apparently lack the ability to do anything else, and don't sit too close or you'll get my stuff wet," Levi said, opting to hold his bag in between his legs and put his coat on his lap, because he had once seen some passenger's stupid chihuahua climb out of the purse it was in and piss on the overhead racks. This was why he preferred cats - ugh, what did the hyperactive idiot want now?!

"Thank you very much! So what do you do in the city, sir - ah, Mr. - umm..."

"It's Levi. Just Levi. None of that "sir" bullcrap."

"Okay, so what do you do in the city, Levi? I see you often in the mornings and I noticed you never sat with anyone and always sat in the same spot but I discovered that you actually do sit with people if they approach you and just ask when it's sort of an emergency like I did."

What was this to him, a science experiment? God, he was irritating. "I own a French restaurant," answered Levi, without looking up from the article he was reading about theories on life on other planets. Hypothesis: maybe this guy was an alien. It would explain the over-activeness and the eyes.

"Woah, cool! What's it called?"

"Le petit géant."

"Petit... little... géant... giant - Oh! So like, the little giant! That's such a cute name."

"Hn." In fact, Hanji had come up with it, thanks to the nickname she had given him when he was younger, in reference to his height and his strength, which seemed to fit a much bigger body.

"So is it any good?"

"Of course it's good, you brat; I own it! If the food isn't good, I fire people."

The young man laughed, and for some reason, the sound was so pure, so true, that Levi felt something - he wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was something completely... different.

"Hmph," he grunted, closing his eyes and taking a sip of his tea.

"So do you have any family living in New York also?" asked the green eyed young man.

Levi felt a sudden pang in his stomach as he processed the question. Exactly the type of question he loathed intensely and avoided as much as he could. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes softly, holding back a growing feeling of anger and annoyance, which hopefully was a sign for the young brat to quit his prying and nosiness.

"No," he replied curtly.

"Oh, okay, so where-"

"I'm not in the mood to talk about it, okay?!" snapped Levi. "It doesn't matter anyway, so please leave me alone!"

"Um, no, uh, I was just thinking, it's really cool that you have a restaurant, because I actually work at a bakery. I feel like we actually have so much in common!"

"We really don't, shithead," said Levi pointedly. "... So what, you make cakes and shit?"

"Well yeah, but I'm mostly in charge of pastries, like cream puffs, or croissants and stuff like that. Do you know Erwin's?"

Levi nearly choked on his Earl Grey. This guy is a hazard to my health and my life in general. First he blinds me, then I nearly choke to death with that comment... Holy fucking shit. He works at Erwin's.

"You work at Erwin's?!"

"Yeah!" replied the other, his face suddenly brightening up. Why was he so damn sparkly; who seriously was able to make a face like that at 7:30 a.m.? "So you do know the place!" he exclaimed.

"... Yeah, I know it pretty well," said Levi after a pause. More like he knew Erwin. Having been culinary school classmates, they had been close friends for a while, but then Erwin had decided to take the whole thing up a notch and ask him out. They had been together for only about three weeks before realizing that it really wasn't at all meant to be, since nothing really clicked like that between them, and they tried to just go back to being friends.

Which apparently gave Erwin the complete right to constantly pester him with relationship advice and other unnecessary information, sprinkled with comments about his height like "maybe you haven't found the right one yet because they just can't see you."

Levi wasn't sure whether or not this was on purpose, but he made it his own business to greet him with a light kick in his "special area" each time they met. They hadn't spoken or communicated in any form for about six months now, due to the fact that Levi had told him specifically that he was getting way to "all up in his personal business" and "was interfering with parts of his life that were not to be meddled with."

Erwin had proceeded to point out that perhaps the shorter man was sexually frustrated, to which Levi responded with the hardest kick in the groin he had ever given him, along with a quickly scribbled note reading: "Now you're the one who'll never again be able to properly make use of that sorry excuse of God's gift to the male gender. Love, Levi."

Well, maybe never again had been a bit of an exaggeration, but it had been a bad day, Erwin was making it worse, and the sight of the fit, handsome, tall blonde writhing in pain was too satisfying to pass up. Anyway, he had kept following Levi for about an hour even when he had told him to leave him alone, and was insulting him (supposedly teasing) more than usually. He hoped that Erwin had learned his lesson. An angry Levi was not to be messed with.

He had turned and walked away soon afterwards, and they hadn't spoken since. Although Erwin had tried to call him a couple times, he had obstinately refused to answer. And now this brat would probably go and blab all about this guy he met on the train named Levi who apparently liked the same band as him and who was most definitely alive and kicking and therefore perfectly capable of receiving Erwin's phone calls.

Throughout the remainder of the train ride to the city, the green-eyed idiot talked ceaselessly about his favorite singers, foods, artists, desserts, etc, taking breaks only to breathe and to fix up his messy brown hair, which apparently never lay the way he wanted it to. Since he seemed to have the full ability to entertain himself without Levi needing to respond in any way, shape or form, Levi decided to just close his eyes and pretend to sleep for the rest of the trip, which, for some reason, did not slow the other even a slight bit.

"How old even are you?"demanded Levi exasperatedly as they approached Grand Central Station.

"I'm 22, why?"

"Because you act ten years younger, like some kid on a permanent sugar high with the attention span of a squirrel."

"Oh come on, we're probably the same age, it's not as if -"

"I'm 27, you shitpile; don't just go guessing at people's ages, and even if we were the same age, you seem to lack the maturity that I possess."

"Oh."

Levi stiffened at this response. Why was he being sensitive about his age now when he hadn't been before? Probably because he was used to dealing with people either his age or older, and wasn't really one to socialize. Yeah, that was probably it. Well no, actually, not really, since a lot of the people at the restaurant were pretty young too. What's wrong with me? And I'm turning 28 in a month too, he thought to himself. Almost 30... shit.

"Oh hey, we're here!" said the younger man, and as Levi was reaching to fold up his newspaper, the other stuck out his hand, obviously expecting Levi to take it. He grasped it a bit reluctantly, and the brunette flashed him a bright grin.

"My name's Eren, by the way, Eren Jaeger," he said, firmly shaking Levi's hand with both of his own.

"Great."

"It was really nice to meet you Levi, and I hope we see each other again soon!"

"... Swell."

Eren gave Levi one last wave and got off the train, walking briskly to wherever he was headed. Levi sighed. Having to deal with someone like that so early in the day gave him a headache.