Eren knows he's an adopted child. He isn't dumb like the other kid in the orphanage whose name was horse-face. He had seen his own parents disappearing before his eyes and couldn't do a thing except cry his eyes out. Whenever potential adopters came by the house, he would always be caught in either scenario; during a fight or the aftermath of a fight, bruises and all on full display.

Which was why Eren was rather skeptical when this petite couple decided on him. He could chat a little with his new mother but his new dad was a whole different story; Petra was anything but Levi. She always wore her emotions on her sleeve. She always made it known whenever she's proud of his actions or disappointed when he does something she doesn't approve of – legal or not.

Even when he had flunked his exams rather badly, Petra didn't smack him for it. Instead, she coached him slowly, willing to spend time with him, time which could be used to watch the distasteful programs showing on TV or to rest after a hard day at work.

He may be rough on the edges – as told by Petra, saying he was a little like Levi which he vehemently denied – but he's not ungrateful. Which was why he's here, in the kitchen, surrounded by ingredients which he can't name half of them, empty bowls and clean utensils, and a recipe in front of him. Eren scratched his head, he has bought all the ingredients and extras in case he flopped but he has no idea how to fold an egg. Any twelve year old wouldn't know how to fold an egg, right?

By the time he's done with his experiments, his face looked just his science teacher's, grinning until his smile threatened to split his face into two.

"I guess it should be fine. It looks fine?" The boy was suddenly doubtful of his own baking skill. Slicing a small piece and putting the delicious-looking pastry into his mouth, it made an even faster exit, straight into the dustbin.

"Fuck! There's no way Petra would accept this… this horrible, horrible, disgusting… Yucks!" Eren was about to dispose of the evidence when Petra walked into the messy kitchen; since when did she came back?

Petra looked around curiously, careful not step on broken egg shells or spilt milk. "Baby, what were you doing in here?"

Eren could see a curious smile growing on her face and thinks maybe she wouldn't get angry; he did this for her after all. "Er… I tried to make something for you but I failed." He removed the atrocious evidence from behind his back and showed her the rather-burnt cake with whipped cream all over on one side, topped with a strawberry which looked more like a random glob of red.

Petra observed Eren's creation critically; she wasn't going to lie and say it does not look like a diarrhea-inducing food but she doesn't want to hurt her little boy's feelings. "Let me try."

"Are you sure you want to try it? Even I spitted this monstrosity out." He eyed the cake warily, as if it could devour him any moment.

"You made the effort to make this. I should give it a try no matter how high the possibility of me getting stuck in the toilet is." Petra forked a piece and placed it in her mouth. She tried not to her cringe show. Swallowing the thing took more effort than usual but she managed to do it.

"That wasn't… too bad. Although I recommend you to stick to sandwiches next time, it tastes better than Levi's." Petra tip-toed and placed a kiss on her son's cheek.

Eren smiled cheekily, "Anything tastes better than dad's cooking." And they high-fived each other.