Hey guys. This fic is literally overdue. I was supposed to have this published BEFORE the school fic. But I really jumped the gun. This takes place before the events that occur in 'I will not'. So Ina hash't met her besty yet. I'm still breaking this story into chapters and lol its not going well. But this is pretty short. Strap in and enjoy!
"Happy Birthday?"
Ina's been hearing it all day now. What does it mean?
Well, everyone is smiling when they say it to armin. And he always turns a little red while thanking them. Ina just barely recalls hearing people say it to Uncle Erwin a few weeks ago. He didn't seem as embarrassed as big brother, but Ina never really sees his expression change. He'd respond the same though, with a polite thank you. Ina didn't ask then, because the next day everything was back to normal. But here they are again with this… Happy Birthday.
"Big brother? What does-"
"Hey! Happy birthday, big guy!" Yet another person walks past. Armin just smiles at his comrade.
"What were you saying?"
"What is that?"
"What's what, babe?" His eyes drift back to the book he's reading.
"That thing that everyone keeps saying to you? What's… A happy birthday?"
Armin closes the book and turns all of his attention to Ina.
"You don't know what a birthday is?" Armin asks.
Ina just shakes her head.
"Ina, do you know how old you are?"
Another shake of her head. "Miss Hange asked and when I didn't know she guessed and I just said yes. I don't really know. Is that bad?" She doesn't sound upset, just confused.
"No, Sunflower, it's not bad." Armin smiles at her. "So, your birthday is just the day you were born. Sometimes people have parties or eat good food. And when other people remember, they might wish you a happy birthday, which is just to be nice I guess. Like saying congratulations."
"But… What if you don't know the day you were born? Does that mean I don't have a birthday?" Now it seems the sadness is catching up to her.
"Of course not, Ina. Everybody has a birthday. You're here aren't you? That means with every year that passes you get older, like the rest of us." Armin reassures her and puts his arm around her shoulders.
Armin drops Ina off at the girls barracks where she'll spend most of her time with Mikasa and the other girls until dinner. He finds eren, Jean and Connie near the stables. Looks like they've just come back from one of Hange's experiment sessions. Though eren doesn't look as tired as usual. That's a good sign.
"Hey, Armin where've you been?" Connie removes his horses saddle.
"Hanging out with Ina. I forgot about the experiments today." Armin shrugs.
"No you didn't." Jean scoffs. "Hange gave you the day off since it's your birthday."
"Huh…" Armin hadn't realized that's why they never called him out. He just took it as a blessing in disguise and offered to look after Ina for the afternoon.
"Yeah you're the only one of us that would ever get a day off, honestly. They like your brain too much to let it burn out." Eren takes a long drink from his canteen.
"Sure it's not just you who never gets a day off, jaeger?" Jean teases.
"Um, yes I'm sure." Eren retorts with a roll of his eyes.
"Well I got to sleep in on my birthday, I don't know about you."
"No you didn't." Eren laughs. "We were up in the mountains that whole week."
Connie and Armin just exchange a look. Armin knows Eren. So he knows how this conversation is going to go.
Jean glares at Eren. "How would you even remember that? When is my birthday, punk?"
"April 7th. Next." Eren doesn't even bother looking up.
"Jean you should prob-" Connie starts but is cut off by Armin. "No wait I want to hear this." He tries to hold back his laugh.
Jean doesn't heed the slight warning. This is a fight they all know he'll lose. Eren's memory works in mysterious ways.
"What about Mikasa?"
"February 10th. Come on, it's cold as shit out here." Eren wants nothing more than a hot shower and something to eat.
"Wait wait, that was an easy one. What about him?" Jean points to Connie.
"May 2nd. Fuck it I'm going inside." Eren groans. Even with his elevated body temperature, he can't say he's content with standing in the cold rainy November weather.
"What about the squad leader?" Jean doesn't stop, even once they're inside.
"September 5th. Can somebody turn him off please?!" Eren whines. "I don't have enough food in me to put up with him right now."
Armin shrugs. "Looks like he's gotta learn the hard way."
"Learn what? That this freak is a telepath?"
"No, you horse lord motherfucker, I just don't forget birthdays." Eren rolls his eyes and sits down near the fireplace in the common meeting room.
"Fine, fine just one more then, you sensitive child." Jean sneers. The more irritated Eren becomes the more Jean enjoys this. Although part of him is pretty impressed. He honestly can hardly remember his own birthday, let alone everyone he's ever met.
"Fine you get one more." Eren groans. "Do your worst Jean Boy." He mocks.
"Fucking hilarious." Jean doesn't take to the sarcastic use of his mothers corny nickname kindly. "Last one, who's up next after Arlert?"
"The captain." Eren doesn't miss a beat. "December 25th." He stands. "I'm going to shower now. Jean if you want some dinner, I gave the horses a little extra of the real juicy hay bales. Have at it."
"You're going to hell." Jean yells at the exhausted scout as he leaves the room.
"I will see you there." Eren waves without turning back.
"You're friends with that pain in the ass because?" Jean looks to Armin.
Armin glares at Jean. "I'm not dignifying that with an answer."
Connie lightly punches Jean in the arm. "That's uncalled for, Jean. Let it go, man. I think it's pretty damn cool that Eren can remember all those dates like that."
"Of course it is!" Jean breaks out laughing. "I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to mess with him about it though."
"You're both going to kill each other." Armin massages his temple.
Jean just shakes his head. "Naw, we would have once upon a time but believe it or not Ina has grown so much on me, I don't think I'd ever be able to upset her that much." He admits.
"She kinda forced us to be nicer to each other with those big stupidly cute eyes of hers." He laughs cynically. "Damn kid."
"Jean Boy has a heart after all." Connie pinches jean's cheek.
"I will break your fingers, don't touch me." Jean swats Connie away. "Besides anyone that says they don't love that kid is a fucking liar."
Connie just laughs and nods in agreement.
"Happy Birthday, Arlert."
"All this talk of birthdays is reminding me of something." Armin turns back to his friends, all of whom are focused on eating their dinner. "I was talking to Ina today and it would seem that she has no idea what a birthday is. I think she was going insane hearing it all day."
"So when she said she was 8 that was a guess?" Krista tries to do the math in her head. It seemed about right to her. None of them really thought very long on Ina's age.
Mikasa scoffs. "She's been homeless her entire life. Of course it was a guess."
"Well, that aside, it gave me an idea." Armin continues. "A birthday doesn't have to be the exact day you were born right?"
Eren smiles. "I see where you're going."
Sasha finally looks up from her heaping plate of mashed potatoes. "Wait I don't, where's he going?"
Krista spells it out for Sasha. "We can celebrate her birthday any time, is what he means."
"Hey, didn't you say the captain's birthday is coming up?" Jean recalls. Although he was for the most part trying to annoy Eren, Jean did try to keep some of the dates in mind.
"Oh! oh! I get it now!" Sasha exclaims. "They can have a father daughter party!"
"Would you keep it down?" Connie smacks her on the back of her neck. "First off, we need to run this by Captain Levi before he we just commandeer his birthday. Second, ever heard of something called the element of surprise?"
"Sorry, I just got excited. This is a really good idea guys!"
Armin tries to keep them on task before they get too excited. "Connie's right. We do have to run this by Captain Levi to see what he thinks. I mean, like most of us he probably doesn't celebrate his own birthday but if we try to surprise both him and Ina he might actually kill us. So… Any volunteers?" He asks right before bringing his pointer finger to the tip of his nose.
"Hell no." Jean follows suit. All the other eventually catch on, except for poor Krista.
"Come on guys, he hates me!" Krista pouts.
"Last we checked he doesn't like any of us. Tough luck, sweetness." Sasha teases. "Next time be a little faster." She taps Krista's nose for emphasis.
"Traitors." Krista crosses her arms. "You know, I think I'll talk to him while Ina is in training. And I'll be sure to remind him who's fantastic idea this was." She smiles.
Armin, Eren and Jean all grow pale. This was a collaborative effort after all. Levi is always extremely tense during and right after Ina trains.
"You beautiful witch, how could you?" Jean whines.
Krista just winks. "See you later, boys." She takes her plate to the kitchen.
"Captain, would it be alright if we talked for a second?" Krista is true to her word and approaches Levi on his way to drop Ina off to train with Eren.
"About what?" Levi doesn't sound particularly interested, which is what she expected.
Krista pauses, careful not to give anything away in front of Ina, who has always been extremely attentive.
"After the munchkin goes to training I'll tell you."
Levi finally turns to look at her. More like scowl.
"What is it. Spit it out."
"I'll let you know in due time." Krista's smile drips sweetness. Levi wants to punch her in the face, but refrains. He tries to keep the violence against Lenz to a minimum when Ina is around. She'd never let him hear the end of it if she caught him smacking her around.
"Jaeger."
"Captain."
"Remember, what-"
"Whatever I do to her you do to me. Yes, I understand."
"No you don't." Levi glances at his daughter, then back at Eren. "Anything happens to her and I will kill you."
"Time for you to go, Papa. I'll see you later, bye!" Ina tries to push her father away from the green eyed teen who has gone white as a sheet. "Stop doing that, papa, before you break him. That's not nice." She whispers.
"I'm not trying to be nice."
"Come on. Do you want me to learn or don't you?! T his is Eren, he's not going to hurt me. I can handle this!" Ina exclaims.
Levi sighs. "Of course I do. It's just a reflex." He admits while still letting Ina push him back to the hallway. Even when he puts up resistance she's still able to shove him all the way back to the edge of the courtyard. Levi can't get over how incredibly strong this child is.
"Reflex or not Papa, you really need to calm down. I'm fine! You know I'd tell you if something was wrong."
"I know he won't hurt you and I know how strong you are, Ina."
"Then stop scaring my teacher away!" Ina all but yells at him once they stop in the middle of the hallway. "I thought it was funny at first but every time you say something scary, Eren makes it an "easy" day and I never learn anything!"
"Alright, alright. I'll tone it down. But don't expect me to stand by while some idiots fists are coming at you all the time. I don't care who it is, I care about you. So just understand that some things won't change."
He can't just turn it off. So he's overprotective. Big fucking deal. Ina will have to live with it because there's literally nothing that will change his mind. This child is his entire world. He can't even help it when the threats pour from his mouth. It's quite simple though. Don't hurt his child, and he won't have to hurt you. Eren understands well enough.
"You're impossible!" Ina groans.
"I know that. You'll get used to it. Now go beat up that kid so I don't have to, and call that other brat over." He refers to Krista who is consoling Eren. The young man appears frozen. After being knocked out cold by Levi too many times to count, Eren probably took Levi's death threat very seriously.
Maybe Levi could tone it down just a smidge. No more death threats. Maybe just maiming.
Yeah, that sounds like a good trade.
"I have work to do so this had better be important." Levi walks at a brisk pace to his office. A mountain of paperwork is calling his name. Joy.
"Well it's concerning Ina, I'd hope that's important enough."
Levi slows down enough for Krista to match his pace and with absolutely no warning grabs her ear. Her hands reflexively fly up to his wrist to try and pry his fingers from her ear but all it does is cause him to twist it further. She cries out in pain.
"Anymore smart ass comments in that empty head of yours?"
"Maybe, a few, sir."
Levi just continues walking, dragging the smaller scout behind him. She doesn't let go of his wrist, out of fear that if she does he'll just walk the hell away with her damn ear.
He releases her once they reach his office and all but shoves her into a chair. Krista's eyes have started to water from the intense and uncomfortable pain she just experienced.
"Oh calm down, you've been shot before." Levi sneers. "Now, what is it?"
Krista doesn't respond at first, taking time to massage her sore appendage. What on earth made him think to do that. She would rather he just kicked her in the stomach like he has on occasion with her other friends.
"I'm waiting." He practically feels himself vibrating with impatience.
"We wanted to throw Ina a surprise birthday party. I came to ask if you would be okay if we did it on your birthday as a sort of, joint celebration."
"Don't you little shits have anything better to talk about?" Levi wonders.
"As it would seem, no sir, we don't." She shrugs. "But we recently learned that not only does Ina not know how old she is, but she's never even heard of a birthday. I guess we just wanted to spoil her even more and throw a little party. It just so happened that your birthday was the one to follow Armin's, which is what brought on this idea."
"How do you even know my birthday?" He doesn't keep it a secret perse but he's never told anyone either. Levi has never in his life done anything to celebrate his birthday. It's just a day to him. Another way to mark the passage of time. Nothing more.
"Well, Eren has a pretty good memory. He knows the birthday of nearly everyone on base. It was Armin who suggested we use your birthday."
Levi sighs impatiently. "When did this turn into a funhouse. Do you guys ever actually do any work around here?"
"Of course we do! We all still train daily, you know that, sir. But we have Ina and it wouldn't be fair if we never did anything with her every now and then. She deserves to have some fun."
Levi just leans back with a heavy sigh. Of course he wants Ina to have fun. And it's true that with her recovery going so well everyone is back to their daily routines. So that means that Ina doesn't see much of anyone throughout the day unless they have the time to spare. For Levi that is not very often. He usually just sees Ina at mealtimes and right before bed.
"We'll take care of everything, sir. We just thought it'd be proper to let you know before-"
"Alright, fine. Go ahead. Don't let this get in the way of your responsibilities. This is the military not a leisure center."
"Of course, sir. We'll keep you updated, and remember not a word to the munchkin." She brings a finger to her lips.
"I know what a surprise is, brat. Dismissed."
So I'm sure you guys noticed that this is much lighter in tone. I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you guys have fun reading it! I won't make anyone wait long for the next few chapters. And just an fyi, this definitely won't be very long.