It's already 11 chapters, but I'm including a new bunch of characters in this story! Looks like Levi has another relative, and I'm not even going to ask if anybody wants to guess who since, you know, it's pretty pointless at this point.

Anyway, are any of you just watching the anime or just reading the manga or you've watched and read the manga? If so, are any of you updated? If yes, then omg the recent chapters have been torturing my poor heart with frustration and wonder and sadness. Geez.

Anyway, thank you for reading this story! :D

Chapter Eleven: Twenty (Part Two) – Family

Levi woke up to the scent of burnt bacon and pancake batter fluttering in the kitchen as he trudged downstairs to prepare his breakfast. He guessed his uncle might've arrived extremely late last night while he was asleep and had to be up early today. It was kind of alienating, though; they hardly ate pancakes for breakfast. Just what was Kenny up to?

What greeted him was Kenny in an apron, (trying his hand at) cooking breakfast for three with his back facing him, and a little girl seated on one of the chairs in the dining room. The girl looked at him as she munched on her toast. Levi wouldn't say it, but the kid was actually cute. She'd definitely be cuter if she wouldn't be your usual whiny and bratty kid.

"Good morning," she greeted as she removed the toast from her mouth. The kid had manners, too, apparently. Levi nodded in acknowledgement.

Kenny turned around to glance at his back and saw Levi standing on the doorway of the kitchen. "Oh, you're awake now. How long have you been standing there with that puzzled look on your face?"

Instead of answering immediately, Levi strode to where his uncle stood and whispered. "Who is that kid? Don't tell me that the reason why you've been away from home most of the time is because you're into some sick shit involving kids."

"Language, Levi. Not in front of the kid," his uncle chided jokingly as he poured more pancake batter on the pan. "Anyway, I'm not into that 'sick shit' you're talking about. That kid is your cousin, something like that."

Cousin? So he still had relatives left, and not just Kenny?

"During our recent filming, we shot inside an orphanage down south and that's where I met her." He explained as he continued cooking the pancakes. "We asked for the names of the kids who took part in the shoot to include them in the credits, stuff like that, when I stumbled upon our surname."

"So you decided to keep her because she's also an Ackerman?" Levi finished the statement for his uncle. "How noble of you, old man."

The older man snorted. "Hey, you're pretty much like her, mind you. I took custody of you when your mom died."

Levi glanced tentatively at the kid on their dining room. She was smiling a little as she generously applied butter and jam on her bread, completely immersed in her world of breakfast food at the moment. She might've sensed that he was staring when she looked up from what she was doing and smiled shyly at him.

For an Ackerman, she was actually cute. Of course he wouldn't admit it openly.

"There'll be court hearings pretty soon, so she and I will be out of the house most of the time, but only in the mornings."

"And in the afternoons, who's going to take care of her?"

Kenny smirked knowingly. Levi already knew how this conversation was going to end, of course. It was utterly unnecessary to ask.

Her name was Mikasa, and Kenny was right when he said that they'd be mostly out in the mornings for court hearings, or daycare for Mikasa when there weren't any sessions. Mikasa was surprisingly anything but whiny and bratty for her age. Levi was left amazed each time he'd ask her to clean up after playing and after eating because she did so without complaining. Not even an exasperated sigh, he noted.

He decided having Mikasa here wasn't so bad. She would sometimes help him wash Zoe so all was well.

'Oh, Levi, she's so cute!' Hange replied after receiving the picture of his cousin he quickly snapped when he called her attention, after much convincing on Levi's end. The boy snorted as he started typing his reply.

"Who's that?" the kid asked as she glanced up at him from reading her picture books.

He raised an eyebrow. "A friend." 'She's asking me who you are.'

His phone rang once. 'What did you tell her, then?'

'None of her business.'

'Levi...'

He let out a sigh. 'I was kidding, okay. It's not like I can talk to her that way. She's a kid.'

Mikasa closed her picture book and kneeled on the couch, placing her hands on his arm for support. "Hey, that's me." She pointed at her picture on the conversation thread.

"Yes, it's you. She wanted to know how you look like." He confirmed without looking up from his phone.

She giggled. "And she said I was cute."

The young man shot his cousin an incredulous look. "You can read?"

Mikasa nodded. "They teach us how to read in daycare."

Before the little girl could even read the rest of their conversation, Levi closed his phone and pocketed it, safe from the prying eyes of this five-year-old.

Levi vowed he wouldn't talk to Hange until he was in the safety of his room.

It had been a while since the three of them sat and ate dinner together. This time, Levi volunteered to cook because no matter how long Kenny had been cooking for the both of them, he was still a better cook than his uncle would ever be. Plus he'd been observing how little Mikasa's face would scrunch each time she forced herself to finish what was on her plate. Seriously, the kid needed to taste something decent for a change.

"I don't remember buying you a scarf." Kenny commented before eating his spoonful of mashed potatoes.

Mikasa didn't reply until she had finished chewing everything in her mouth. "Someone at daycare gave it to me."

Levi never really contributed much in conversations unless it was interesting to him or he was the one people were directly talking to, so he was pretty much silent the whole dinner.

"And who might this someone be?" The tone Kenny used in his question reminded Levi so much of the first time they talked about Hange. He knew where this was heading.

Levi glanced the little kid seated opposite to him and saw a hint of pink on her cheeks even underneath that scarf. Looking at it, it sort of matched the hue of her cheeks since it was deep red and all. He allowed himself a little smirk.

Mikasa shrunk in her seat as she clutched on the scarf wrapped around her neck. "Eren."

Kenny raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Have we met this Eren boy before?"

She shook her head slowly as she picked on her food.

Since Levi was usually the one who picked Mikasa up at daycare after his classes, he searched in his memory the faces of the kids who was always around the little girl whenever he arrived. "Who? The blond one or the brunet kid?"

Mikasa's eyes lit up. "The brunet one. That's Eren. He gave me this."

Levi remembered now. It was that brat who seemed to have high energy all throughout the day. He was a pretty congenial kid, too, or he deemed so since he usually saw him being crowded around by other kids besides Mikasa. Quite a storyteller, too, it seemed; though Mikasa told him one time that most of Eren's stories came from Armin, the other kid who was good friends with her.

"It seems like this kid is moving too fast, eh?" Kenny murmured, though Levi was actually able to catch what he said. He snorted.

"Chill the f—" oh wait, language—Levi nearly forgot about that, "chill, old man. It's not like the kid asked Mikasa's hand for marriage or something. He just gave her a sh—scarf."

Mikasa casted him a look of confusion. "Eren wants my hand? Does that mean he has to cut it off?"

Kenny chortled at the innocent question. Levi cringed in disgust.

"I think what your cousin meant is Eren wants to marry you. When someone wants your hand in marriage, it means that person wants to marry you, not to cut your hand." The older man expounded.

"Oh," she mumbled, nodding slowly. "So can I marry Eren then?"

"No." Both men chorused. Both were taken aback at their unanimous reply.

Kenny cleared his throat. "Well, not yet."

Or maybe not ever, Levi wanted to add.

Levi learned something about himself that time: he could be that overprotective authoritative figure if he wanted to. He had no idea if that was going to be a good or bad thing for Mikasa.

"A sleepover? That's cute," Hange said over the phone, "you know, we never had a sleepover when we were younger."

"Don't even think about it, Hange." Levi hissed as he massaged his temples. The kids have been nothing but noisy since they all came here. "I don't even know what has gotten into Kenny's head that he would allow all this... pandemonium to happen."

"Pandemonium, huh? Wow, Levi that's such a big word," she teased. "I'm so proud that you're learning something new!"

He scowled. "Even you know I'm not stupid, four-eyes."

"Of course you aren't, silly boy!" Hange cackled from the other line. Seriously, this girl needed to check her volume every now and then. "Well, I guess I better leave you with those kids before they start thrashing the house. Talk to you tomorrow, Levi."

"That's unnecessary, but sure, whatever helps you sleep at night."

And with a click of her phone, Hange's line was dead.

His senses instantly picked up what was going on at the moment: little girls rolling on the carpeted floor (which he forgot to vacuum yesterday) while shrieking/screaming/screeching, whatever seemed appropriate to whoever was listening. They had long abandoned watching the evening cartoons and have turned the television off in favour of horsing around the living room, which was totally within Levi's sight since he stood by the window, watching and willing for them not to burst into crying or get into a fight. He was so not ready for this.

Kenny was the one who picked up Mikasa from her daycare earlier before going back to work. When Levi had arrived from the study sessions, he was greeted by five little girls eating their snacks on the dining table with his uncle serving them the orange juice he squeezed yesterday. Apparently, Mikasa had already sought the old man's permission a week ago without his knowledge. And since Kenny wouldn't be able to help him out because they were still in the middle of a shoot, he promised Levi he'd pay him back with something, although he never knew what that something could be because his uncle left after serving snacks to the kids. Oh well, guess they'd have to talk about it when Kenny wasn't busy.

So far he had survived the rest of the evening (the girls played outside with Zoe so he had some time to gather his bearings) and dinner (Mikasa made an innocent mistake of announcing that her cousin cooked a mean mashed potato, much to the delight of the brunette brat he recalled as Sasha, as she squealed in excitement. The young man had no choice but to relent after much pleading from the girls—and he wasn't exactly the evil cousin he tried to paint himself to be. Since then, that Sasha kid never left his side until he managed to distract them with cartoons). Levi looked at the clock. The night was young, too young for these kids to even be asleep. They probably stayed a little later than nine or something since there was no school the following day. Until then, Levi hoped he'd be able to keep awake and look after each and every little girl in the house.

He didn't really dislike kids; what he disliked was the mess they left and the noises they made. If Hange were here, she'd probably berate him for thinking such because the reasons why he was a little apprehensive about brats were the very reasons that made them the brats that they were.

At the back of his head, Levi told himself that he should've considered asking Hange to come over, and help him deal with these balls of energy (save for the really quiet one. Was that Annie?).

But then again, that might not be a good idea. Riot might ensue.

He felt someone tugged at the hem of his shirt. Sasha, of course. Who else would it be? Strangely enough, this kid reminded him of Hange—brown hair, big brown eyes, and a little weird—but a cleaner kid version of the lady. He should snap a photo of this kid sometime and show it to Hange.

"Come join us play!" she cried, jumping up and down like the energetic brat that she was.

Kenny had to make sure he'd pay him for this, Levi thought.

She was then joined by this incredibly tiny blonde whose name reminded him of social studies. Historia, was it? "Yes, come join us, please!"

Levi made a mistake of looking up from the kids by his feet to the kids looking expectantly on him from where they were still on their stomachs. Even Mikasa showed the same expression that her friends sported at the moment. His eyes searched for the only girl who was seated on the couch, only to be betrayed when the girl only stared at him blankly then looked away. And to think he thought she'd be his favourite.

Yup. Inviting Hange over tonight would be a terrible idea.

The night ended with all five girls asleep on Mikasa's bed, all cuddled up with each other. Levi straightened up the sheets to cover everyone's feet. Mikasa was right smack in the middle, sandwiched between Sasha and Historia. Ymir was snuggled a little too close to the tiny blonde that he hoped she could still breath despite having her face covered with golden locks. That Annie kid was the only one facing the wall. He wondered how Mikasa even ended up friends with this girl to begin with. She practically spent the entire evening only watching them, occasionally joining them in their banter. Well, not really his problem.

Eventually, Levi humoured the little kids but mostly due to the fact that four girls dragged him with them to the carpet and decided to make a Levi sandwich with each kid pounding their whole bodies on his back like some mini-pro wrestlers. He stretched his back. The ache had subsided long ago.

Levi yawned. The girls were finally out of fuel, thank God. He made a mental note of washing up before he slept (just because he made contact with the dirty carpet), but he wanted so much to crash in bed and surrender to the arms of slumber. It could probably wait until tomorrow morning. He guessed he'd just have to sleep shirtless to keep the dirt from getting to his bed.

Just as he was about to take the whole shirt off, though, he heard heavy footsteps coming from the hall. He quickly shook his shirt back and opened his bedroom door. His cousin was in the middle of running when he peered from his room. The little girl stopped in her tracks.

"Thank you for being nice to my friends, Levi." Mikasa said, a small smile on her face. Then she ran back to her room again like nothing happened.

If he wasn't so dumbfounded with Mikasa's thanking him, Levi might've smiled slightly at the gesture.