Chapter 22:

You Look So Proud

-x-

The smell and sound of crispy leaves came rushing through his ear, and he instantly knew what season it was already.

The abundant rain falling of those golden leaves from every tree along the street was already making him drown. Levi finds it a bit difficult to have a stroll and walk on the street if the continuous falling of the dry leaves will keep on going.

And that is his purpose for his liberty Sunday, all about dry leaves and his passion, cleaning.

He made his way towards the bridge that usually separates the way towards their school and the village but is also the way towards the Hanji household. With a khaki pants and plain dark blue polo shirt and black sneakers, he hoped that he looks appropriate for the day's need.

Once he stepped right in front of the steel bronze gate of the Hanji's, he pressed the doorbell and a random screaming of panic and agony was heard from the house behind the huge gate. Levi cleared his throat and anxiously waited for the gate to be opened after a few seconds after he rang the doorbell.

"Good morning Levi" was the cheery but soft voice of Hanji's mother welcoming towards Levi. "Come on in" she tells him and gestures on their lovely humble abode.

"You're just in time for breakfast, we hope you're hungry." She tells him as she leads the way.

"I'm okay, I'm not really hungry." He tells the older woman but in truth, he did not had breakfast and just ignored the usual morning meal, had some tea and went directly to his destination.

"Oh but we cooked for you so please eat." Hanji's mother tells him jokingly forceful and slightly pushed him towards the dining area, where the father and daughter were laughing and talking about some recent news that they were reading in the newspaper.

"Levi's here!" Hanji's mother cheerfully acclaimed and pulled a chair and had him sat. He no longer wanted to argue so he took a sit and nodded at the older man and greeted him.

"Good morning sir" his respects still lingers and could not be removed, even if the older man insists that it is okay to drop the formalities.

"Have some breakfast with us. My darling wife had already prepared some tea for you and me and Zoe had made something to eat for us all." Levi eyed Hanji as Hanji only smiled at him while her father had already shoved a still hot pancake for him, pushed some fruit jam and assorted syrup for him to choose. Hanji then stood up and pushed a bowl of fresh cut fruits towards him as well.

"Do you want some whip cream?" Hanji's father asked and had already directed his daughter to get some from the fridge.

"Zoe, why did you already keep the whip cream inside the fridge? You know we're all not yet done eating." He said while Hanji only apologized and joked.

"I don't want to give him some of my whip cream daddy." She then hugs the whip cream and the laughs and handed it to her father.

"Don't be so rude to Levi."

"Yeah don't be." Levi said while Hanji's father laughed and patted Levi's back gently.

"You might get wrestled Zoe, Levi's a strong one!" Her father had watched the videos that Hanji took during his practice and his recent competition and he was in no second, amazed by what the small man can do.

"I always wanted to join the wrestling club before or gymnastics and be a soldier but I ended up being a where I am now instead." His tone was then filled with a bit of sadness and his face looked there was some hint of regret when he sighed but he automatically recovered and gave him a smile.

"Maybe you can be the one to do reach that dream for me instead, kiddo." The older man said and gave his shoulder a light squeeze. Damn, all he wanted was just to fill his empty stomach and eat since the food in front of him was already really tempting and no drama as much as possible but this is the Hanji's and everyone is surprisingly talkative. Levi still felt the seriousness on the older man's voice and the slight sadness on his face made him want to say something but doesn't know what to say.

"He always wanted to be a cop* dad, that's what he told me." Hanji said and smiled at Levi after they met their eyes. That statement from his daughter made him smile like he had won a jackpot made him a millionaire.

"There's no doubt you'll be accepted there Levi, and you'll be a great cop* for the country and for the world to see." His tone was so encouraging that Levi's inside churned and turned and felt something different that he doesn't usually feel.

"Thank you sir" was all he could say and smiled softly to him. No one had ever expressed such support on his idea of being a cop*.

"Just remember to give us a call every level promotion and accomplishments that you will have." Levi looked at Hanji to get some mental help but all she did was just to give him a reassuring smile, which he guesses did not helped at all.

"Of course" was his only response but then fortunately Hanji's mother came to save him from all of the sudden drama that was suddenly going on. He eyed the fresh cut fruits and was hoping to even get a bite and wishing that Hanji's mother will not end up elaborating another story that will hinder him from eating, most of all, wasting their time.

"Let him eat already sweetheart." Came Hanji's mother holding a plate of bacon and chicken. The smell suddenly hit Levi's nose and he felt his stomach grumble. He then looked at Hanji who was staring badly at the food as well and did not paid him any much attention any more.

"Go eat son" Hanji's father tells him. He looked up to give the older man a grateful nod and was then given a plate and utensils by Hanji's mother. Levi carefully places a part of a chicken, some pieces of bacon, speared a pair of pancakes and poured some butter and honey and chocolate syrup on it. He completes his meal by adding a few chopped fruits by his plate. When he realized that he is done preparing his food, he first thought that he might act like some kind of coyote in front of the Hanji's and decided to look at the family.

He saw how the older man of the family ate soundly as he eats while his wife watched him appreciatively. Hanji in turn was also like her father but just a bit worse since she ate with no decorum at all. Seeing how they ate, he thought that it will be okay to eat a lot as well. Besides, from his past experience in the household before, Hanji's mother almost broke down when he didn't want to eat and complained why he is not in the mood to eat. He may get a bit confused but he do knows that he should big time just like them. He cannot even help but wonder if all families eat together with tons of food.

Somehow, he fees privileged enough to see and be part of a family who eats a lot.

-x-

He swears that he could hear the crunchy sounds that each leaves create with their every contact and movement with their every fall.

Levi was already under the trees of the garden of the Hanji's for half an hour already and no matter how neat he do his job, the leaves would fall again like mad. Seeing the place, there is no way that it would be clean and neat for even a single day without those pesky leaves falling everywhere in the garden. If only that Hanji's father is not around, he would have given those pile of leaves on the other foot of the tree a big suplex and rest for a while.

"You alright boy?" the older man asked and Levi then started to move as he give the older man a nod.

"Alright then, just tell me if you feel tired and want to take a break." The older man told Levi with a sincere smile which made Levi feel even more determine not to complain and do his job well. This family had helped him and had showed generosity and concern towards him that he knows he can never repay and by some little acts of kindness like this is the only thing that he could offer back to them.

"Have some break boys" exclaimed the sudden entrance of Hanji's mother and approach the two gentleman cleaning the yard. "Have some drink and snacks" she said, her voice invitingly sweet and stretched the tray on her hands with sandwiches on it and two glasses of what seemed like lemonade.

All of them had decided to settle down their broomsticks and sit on the table and chairs that they have in their garden. Levi told himself that he doesn't think that he is hungry but he can't afford to tell that to Hanji's mother and just decided to take some bite. But when he did so, he realized that his stomach is hungry but he didn't seemed to have felt it earlier. He guesses that the cleanup of the dry leaves on the yard made him hungry.

"Drink some cold lemonade Levi" Hanji's father encouraged him and gave him the cold drink. Levi did so and gulped down the glass of water to the bottom while Hanji's other watched him eagerly.

"Thank you" Levi murmured and suddenly felt a slight feeling of tense when he realized that Hanji's mother was watching him drink with the same smile that Hanji shares with her mother.

"Do you want some more drink, Levi?" asked Hanji's mother with her very motherly voice.

"No thank you, I guess that's enough." He responded with much respect towards the older woman.

"Alright then." She said and excused herself and let the older and younger man alone again as they finished their meal and started working once again. After a series of collecting and throwing the leaves into the piled ones under the tree, the older man had decided to talk.

"You tired son?" Levi had always a hard time hearing that because he never got used being called a 'son' before since he never had any family or anyone to call him that way. He is still adjusting a d getting used to the different mixture of feelings that it is emitting into him whenever he is being called by that.

"Not really sir." He said, his eyes focused on the leaves not running away from what he is doing.

"No doubt about that, coming from an athlete like you, I believe you don't get tired that easily now aren't you?" the older man asked curiously.

"Not really sir, unless it's a pretty long difficult time." He responded carefully, always trying to be careful not to spill any uneducated and barbaric words from his mouth.

He watched Hanji's father and for many uncounted days, he could not deny that he had gotten closer to the older man and that he doesn't find it too awkward as much as before since his cheery aura like his daughter made the awkward barrier between them lessen. The last time he had spent some time with an older man was with his own uncle who had taught him with knife and self-defense until he had abandoned him and was left in an orphanage. He had observed and watched him carefully, somehow wondering if he is a bit the same like his uncle but so far, all he could feel that he is not. To think that Hanji had always been happy and was given a good life provided with everything she needed in life, he guesses that her father really is someone special.

While the younger man was busy on his thought, the older man is as well. Hanji's father has been curious asking about Levi's family but as his daughter had already told them, he is a working student whose uncle was the serving as his legal guardian. He guesses it was enough to know about him but sometimes, he just can't help but ask a few more. Looking at him and getting to know him more, he seemed really nice though looked withdrawn and as Zoe mentions, always performing good at school and has high scores and still forcing himself to attend class even he is tired of training. Besides, he had made his daughter happy and seemed to be enjoying the friendship that they have to think Zoe merely makes lots of friends, which he can't understand much and when he asks her why, she will just shrug her shoulders and say that she doesn't know.

Looking at Levi and observing how he takes the favor helping his family clean their home sparked more of his interest towards the younger man. The older man even tried to hold his laugh as Levi seemed upset for checking the surrounding for more of those leaves to clean that made him funnier to look due to his cleaning chosen attire, with matching white face mask even if his face look always serious made him want to chuckle for no reason at all. When the younger man looked at him, Hanji's father suddenly found himself fixing his composure and hid the last evidence of chuckle or any sort of fun written in his face hidden.

"It's nothing son" he waved his hand and Levi turned away and collected the last bit of the fallen leaves, leaving the older man into his thoughts. Whatever it could be, it's not his business anymore and had decided to finish the job.

After a few more minutes of gathering all of the fallen leaves visible in the garden, the two men sat opposite each other by the available table and chairs within the garden of the Hanji household. The two of them had allowed the wind to hit the near bald trees be the only source of sound as a very few set of leaves came to fall on the ground. Levi hissed and went to clean up right immediately, in which the older man did not see it coming. As Levi went back to his chair, the older man gave him a chuckle and playful pat on his shoulder, giving Levi an uneasy tense of his body.

"You don't really need to do that Levi" Hanji's father jokingly said as he kept on chuckling. "you really keep me young you know." The older man happily exclaimed while the younger one was not really sure of what he is talking about, but is somehow, at least, happy to be able to keep Hanji's father happy and young, as what he had said.

"I am very grateful to have you as my daughter's very close friend." Hanji's father said as the tone of his voice inched down a few notches, becoming serious. He looked closely deep into Levi's stormy gray eyes and kept the same tone of voice. "And I am grateful that you are always ready to be with us and share our happiness and help us out if we need you."

"It was nothing sir, and I am always ready to do so since it is the only way to repay for your family's kindness to me."

Hanji's father could only smile as he sees deep within the eyes of the young boy in front of him being grateful towards his families' kindness. He suddenly saw a soft spot on the young man, always knowing that behind his strong and angry gaze, he is like any sweet and appreciative kid with a soft spot like anybody else, but he generally wished that he would more often show his soft side.

"Come now and let us tell the ladies inside the house that we are done with our work here outside." The older man said cheerfully and squeezed the shoulder of the young man as they stood and walked back inside the place they could call home.

-x-

The days are going on fast as they have their classes with autumn leaves falling down endlessly for Levi to cherish seeing by the windows in his classroom.

He is partly happy that he is beside the window as seeing dry leaves fall live right in front of him and if he needs to keep himself away or think of other things, the leaves and the view outside is one good way to distract himself from time to time. The golden brown leaves also reminds him of Hanji's sparkling eyes as he recalled how beautifully they twinkle at him.

"What the fuck?" he suddenly blurted out of nowhere and all eyes were on him.

"Excuse me?" his teacher responded. "Your language Mr. Ackerman. I wonder if the reason is the story I asked you to read or the activity you needed to do."

"No ma'am, just remembered something." He heard the muffled laughs of his classmates and he could only groan to himself. He knows what they are thinking and he does not want to hear it from them at this moment since he never liked letting his teachers crawl over his filthy job.

"Then I hope you remember to see the guidance counselor later after class." Was his teacher's final remark before going back into writing to the board once again.

With a heavy sigh, he went back to work on his paper activity.

-x-

"I heard you did not had a good time yesterday in your English class"

Hanji remarked as they both settled in the dry leaves on the Hanji's on a Saturday morning. Levi volunteered to help Hanji to clean off their garden as he vowed the brothel owner he will earn a lot in the afternoon for sure even until evening.

"What happened anyway?" Hanji asked curiously and eyed Levi carefully. Levi felt the heaviness of her stare and decided not to look at her, most especially that she is the reason why he got careless and got in trouble. They never had the chance to see or talk about it afterwards so he decided to make it up to her by helping her clean the house.

"Accidentally voiced out what was inside my mind."

"And that is?"

"Well I said the F word then I got fucked."

"Why did you say it then?" damn she is persistent as usual, pressing on him as she always does.

"I broke my pencil and suddenly cursed." That ended Hanji pressing on him despite knowing that she is just concerned and curious of what happened to him.

"Pretty cool to be thrown in the guidance for the last day and before our short break." Hanji cooly remarked, earning a smirk from Levi instead of a glare.

"You going to be busy in the Halloween? Or you're going to do trick or treating like a kid?" Levi asked curiously.

"Nah, I might have Nanaba stay here and watch horror flicks with me." Hanji looked at Levi and held into his gaze at her. "She told me Mike is going to have be a bit busy that time and to cheer her up a bit and to distract her from her worries, we decided to scare ourselves together."

Levi watched the concern at Hanji's face and can't help but feel at awe of her kindness and concern towards her friend. He suddenly thought of what Mike told him and yes, he was indeed hired for an all-girl Halloween Party wearing nothing but a mask and an underwear. He can't help but smirk and laugh internally at the thought.

"How about you, are you going to work at that time?" Hanji asked wide eye, reflecting the hazel color of her eyes that locks in his steel blue-gray ones as they talk.

"I suppose so. I don't have anything to do in that day anyway." With honesty, he was somehow hoping that he could get to spend it with her since he has little number of clients usually on that day and when he does, he somehow gets annoyed as to how they appear to try to wear costume which are sexy to entice him.

Somehow, he kind of wanted to feel and experience to celebrate a Halloween normally like other teens does like him and spending it with Hanji is definitely the definition of 'normal' celebration although she makes it abnormal, most especially if he is with her. He sighed, maybe he could get to spend it with Hanji next year. Besides, Nanaba needs her right now and he does not want to interfere.

Afterwards, they sat on the piled leaves until Hanji slumps her body unto the pile and closes her eyes. She breathed out and let the autumn vibe get into her. If she keep on doing this, she will fall asleep. She surely even got tired of raking all the leaves as well as feeding the birds.

"Sleep in your bed, not there. You might end up having worms eat your fucking brain." He omitted Four Eyes, careful not to use their nicknames on one another that her parents might not understand.

"Maybe later." She tells him, not sitting up and smiled at him.

He liked seeing her smile that way, the way her eyes compliment the leaves in her background and makes everything sweet with her smile.

"You sure you still want to stay for lunch? Your boss might look for you." Hanji worriedly asked, concerned towards her friend as always.

"Yeah" he answered and looked down at her, meeting her eyes. "I promised your mom after we clean here, I will help her in cooking and preparing for lunch."

Hanji smiled brighter this time, knowing she is going to have one great lunch for the day.

-x-

As promised, Levi helped in cooking as well as cleaning the dishes.

He did not asked for anything in return as he is already thankful for the food that he had for the day. Surely it will keep him full until night time, no need for dinner to be taken since he even had a take home meal with him with some tea leaves as Hanji's mother told him that whenever she buys, she added extra more for him.

By afternoon, he at least had a lined customers to fuck which is typical for a Saturday afternoon and had him even busy until late at night. Once he was left alone past midnight, he was still waiting in hope for another or more customers to come. While waiting which is already taking a little bit long, he decided to grab his phone and keep himself busy.

Although, his fingers seemed to have its own mind as it click the screen.

What are you doing that makes you fucking awake tonight?

Levi texted Hanji as he saw her 'online' in the middle of the night. Unknown to anyone except Hanji and Mike, he does have one social media account with very heavy privacy.

Can't sleep so I am reading the latest researches on transplants and stem cells J How about you? Have some fun fucks tonight? J

Hanji asked as she in turn can't help but smile at the sudden message that she received from Levi in the middle of the night. She does not know why or how he believes or knows that she is aware but she absolutely appreciated the concern. So far as time passes by, their friendship seemed to be going pretty well. They have been learning more and more about each other, likes and dislikes, backgrounds, how they blend together whether bad or good, each other's fond activities and most especially, how they find themselves comfortable on each other's sides. She could easily laugh things off between them and as she observes Levi, he too seemed to be adapting into her cheery-crazy personality.

Somehow, she hopes he does not mind her being friends with him.

They don't find themselves awkward with each other anymore and easily enjoys things together, mostly. Even discussing about his job does not seem to be an off topic for the two of them anymore, and Levi was happy that there is someone who he could talk about the type of job he has without hindrances, even if it took time for him to do.

At least he finally knew that there is someone capable of accepting him and his job.

Levi: Not in the mood to watch anything tonight?

Levi messaged her, curious if she is watching something scary so he could try to tease her about it.

Levi: Aren't you supposed to be sleeping and resting?

He followed another.

Hanji: You know I sleep late at night and no, I haven't been able to read lately and I missed it.

Levi could tell that she is still very much awake and in the mood to tire herself out. SO he decided to help her out a bit while he is waiting for another customer to come.

Levi: Care to tell me?

He asked curiously and he knows she is going to be crazy about it. She tends to have a habit of overly enjoying herself when teaching others of the things she fascinates about.

Hanji: REALLY!? OF COURSE!?

Replied Hanji and followed by series of other messages that she placed enough effort to type and explain to him the current discoveries and news and even stories of lives helped by the use of stem cells. They even talked about its personal application on them whether they are interested or not. Their conversation lasted for two hours and they did not even know about it.

Levi: We could just video chat or talked about it instead of having you type it, too much effort.

Hanji: But I am also using my phone to search more while explaining to you and I cannot do that if I am talking to you right?

Hanji: Besides, it's all worth it. ;)

Levi: 2 fucking hours passed, are you sleepy now?

Hanji: A bit :O How about you? No more clients?

Levi: I don't think so. I guess I can rest for a while now. I'd go brush my teeth and take a quick shower.

Hanji: Alrighty! J

Levi: Don't alrighty me! You better take a shower and brush your teeth as well!

Levi was left without any more response and mumbled within himself an internal debate whether Hanji really did or not. Not so long after, he was alarmed because of a message or rather a photo sent to him by Hanji showing her pearly white teeth. Underneath says DONE in bold. He could only smirk to what she did.

Levi: Go to sleep now Four Eyes, you have a long day tomorrow with Nanaba.

It was his only statement although he is saying the truth that he already wanted her to rest even if he still wanted to keep their conversation up. But then despite having very short sleeping patterns, her also felt his body also already in need of sleep.

Hanji: Goodmornight, Levi (:

Levi no longer responded although Hanji could already see that he had seen her message. He must have feel awkward to say good night or even good mornight as well, typical Levi she thought. Although, she did felt happy with their shared conversation. With a fulfilled smile on her face, she hit her pillows hard and slumbered into a deep sleep right away although her thoughts kept on bugging her brain.

Surely tomorrow or its night, she would get to talk to Levi about her Halloween with Nanaba.

With that, she can't help but feel excited for their next conversation on phone and hope he won't be busy as he claimed it to be.

-x-

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

DAMN. This part should go first before the previous chapter (which was first uploaded as chapter 21) huhu. I AM SO FUCKING SORRY. I promise to make it up to you so I will upload another one within the hopefully tomorrow before I fly to Japan.

I'll answer your comments as well soon too! J

ladyinblack