It was hot, the sky was blue and cloudless, and Mikasa choose the wrong day to wear a long sleeved shirt. Mikasa promised Izumi that she'd take her to the park today, while promising uncle Eren a day off of babysitting, with work taking up most of her time she owed it to her. So here she was, watching her daughter run around the park and playing with random kids.
Izumi had been graced by the same long ebony black hair; her eyes had been gifted to her by her father, same deep blue color and everything. She was a little tall for her age but so was Mikasa when she was younger. Izumi was wearing a red top with some black shorts and some sneakers, but hey just cause she was a kid didn't mean Mikasa couldn't make her fashionable.
Mikasa long black hair was kissed by the wind as she watched her daughter talking to this little boy; he could've been her double to be honest if was not a couple years younger than her daughter. He had short scruffy black hair, a little button nose, his eyes were a familiar shade of grey and he was maybe an inch or two shorter than Izumi. He was dressed in a green t-shirt and some black shorts also; thankfully his shoes matched the whole thing. At least his mother knows how to dress him.
She smiled softly as she watched her grab the boy's hand. Mikasa watched Izumi drag the poor boy over to the swing set and motioned to have him sit down. Izumi then started to push the child and started to laugh. The two were having such fun together, first the swings, then the monkey bars and she even got him to climb the rock wall.
Mikasa was so enraptured by her daughter's new friendship she didn't notice the man that had sat next to her on the park bench. "You're daughter looks just like you." A deep, melodious voice said. Mikasa snatched her eyes off her daughter to turn towards the man. He looked to be a little bit older than her maybe his early 30's, while Mikasa hitting the 25 benchmark a couple months ago. He had black short hair styled in an undercut, his grey eyes matched her own, he was shorter from that she could tell, and his body was dressed in casual shirt and blue jeans.
Mikasa gave a short light laugh, "I could say the same about you and your son." She said lightly smiling, "He is your son right?" Mikasa had made this mistake quite a few times before, at other adventures to the park. One day a woman's daughter looked more like her aunt and she had gotten very upset at Mikasa and the three left the park. She did not want to revisit that adventure now.
"Yeah that's boy, your daughter is the one with the red shirt right?" He asked double checking also, a smirk on his face.
"Yeah that's her. I'm Mikasa, you are?" She asked and held out her hand to be shaken.
Levi gave her a nice light, but still neat hand shake. He also noticed no wedding band on her left ring finger. "Levi, nice to meet you Mikasa." He said as they both watched their children play together on the slides. Izumi as pushing Levi's son down the slide then going down afterwards.
"So what's your son's name?" Mikasa asked as she continued to watch the two children.
"His name is Hiroomi; his mother was very into the Asian culture and decided on that name." Levi said, as he crossed his arms, looking at his very happy son.
"That's actually a really nice name, if I had a son first I would have name him something like that too." Mikasa said smiling a bit.
"It's a nice name I agree, what's your little girls name?" He asked as she looked back at him. He stood up and stretched Mikasa watching curiously. Levi extended his hand, rough and calloused, to the young woman, offering her assistance while being courteous.
Mikasa gladly took his hand; she noticed that it was somewhat smaller than her own, and she stretched. "Her name is Izumi. I named her after my grandmother." Mikasa said a melancholy look in her eye. Levi could understand the lorn feeling.
Just then another snag of wind rippled through the air, causing Mikasa's tresses of hair to fly around, and Levi's cologne to blissfully intrude her nose. It was a pleasant smell; it was the same smell of her ex-husband, the one he wore all the time. It almost brought tears to her eyes. But it didn't she knew where he was now, and he was better, happier and that's all she wished for.
Levi watched the young woman, in her dreamy reminiscent state of her overflowing memories, intrigued by the young woman. The secrets she held, the kindness shown within the minutes, or maybe even hours… they lost track of time by now. What else could he possibly be able to receive, and even give, to this young woman that could make such an impact on his life? If he was given shot at least.
"Would you care to walk around the playground with me Mikasa?" Levi offered somewhat awkwardly, but never less confidently. Mikasa nodded her head and they started off. "So what do you do for work?" Levi started off with casual conversation.
"I'm currently a full time lifestyle and physical trainer at the cities gym and at nights I'm a full time mom." Mikasa said shoving her hands in her pockets. "What about you?"
"I'm a teacher at the University of SC and I teach Anatomy and Physiology, plus at night I take care of Hiroomi." Levi answered, walking lazily, matching Mikasa's footsteps.
"That's lovely, I had to take that course in college, but of course I didn't get the luck of having you as a teacher." Mikasa said as she chuckled a bit. Levi smirked at the young woman. "So what does Hiroomi's mom do if you take care of him and work?" Mikasa asked in an innocent manner, not meaning to cause any harm.
Levi's body went frozen for a moment, hoping Mikasa didn't notice, but unfortunately for him she did. "I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to." She clarified, not wanting to hurt anyone.
"No, no…It's okay." He paused and took a breath, the both of them still walking side by side. "She was a wonder, but she left me. She died giving birth to Hiroomi. I still miss her but I know she's happier up there anyway." Levi said very cryptically, "Maybe I'll tell you more about it another day."
Mikasa nodded and a soft smile was panted on her soft pink lips. "Yeah, I'd like that."
"What about you? I mean. What happened to your…" He drifted off, not knowing what to place there.
"My ex-husband." She pointed out to him. "And he…he left me and Izumi, when she was 3. He was cheating on me and then he left." She said slowly, sadly. "He was cheating on me with another dude." She chuckled sadly and even somewhat darkly. "But, it's fine. As long as he's happy, I'm happy. That's all I ever wished for. So that's why we're cool, ha ha somewhat." She said and then chuckled. "But we're fine. He left and pay child support and Izumi's happy, so I'm happy." Mikasa ended with another smile. Levi wondered why she could smile like that all the time without her face hurting.
After a few more questions were exchanged with answers and laughs, they had made it back to their bench. That was until the two of them heard a screaming little girls voice, which Mikasa distinctly knew, and threw her into protective mother mode.
"Mom! Mom! Can Hiroomi come over tonight?" Izumi exclaimed to the two of them running up to the duo. Mikasa visibly and mentally relaxed and smiled.
"It's fine with me Izumi, he can come over for dinner tonight, but you have to see if he is allowed to." Mikasa said bending down to Izumi's height.
"Okay! Hiroomi's dad can Hiroomi come over to our house and eat dinner with us too." She paused as Mikasa also whispered something in her ear and then stood back up. "And you too of course, I mean that'd be rude if we didn't invite you too and all…" Izumi finished looking down at her feet.
Levi smiled at the little girl bending down to her level, like Mikasa did moments earlier, and said to her "I We would love to come over later to have dinner, wouldn't we Hiroomi." Levi paused and looked over at Hiroomi who vigorously shook his head up and down. "Then we'll be over later tonight, just let me talk to your mom about everything." Izumi nodded her head and then ran up to Hiroomi and they were jumping around in happiness, also making the two adults share a smile.
"So where would the address of the wonderful hostess be at?" Levi asked while shooting a crooked smirk at Mikasa.
"I'll text you all the details when Izumi and I get home. That is if the wonderful guests would give me their numbers to be able to contact them with." Mikasa said then held out her phone for him.
Levi smirked even more, was that even possible, and took Mikasa's phone and inputted his number. When Mikasa got her phone back, she sent him a quick text for him to save her number. "Alright then," Mikasa started, gaining the two children's attention. "Izumi and I should probably go now that way we can make a delicious dinner for our two very special guests tonight." She said and Izumi jumped up and down in excitement again. How did that girl still have energy after playing all afternoon?
Hiroomi nodded his head and said a quiet goodbye and walked Izumi to the car, Levi following along with Mikasa.
"So I guess I'll see you later then." Mikasa said after loading Izumi in the car.
Levi smiled. "I guess I will. Well goodbye…for now."
"Goodbye." She said as she gave a little wave to Hiroomi and Levi, got in her car and hurried home so she and Izumi could get started on dinner.