"Sasha, I am not sitting next to you if you are going to eat the potato chips in the van," Connie said and broke into a throaty laugh. "You will get the salty grease on everything."

Sasha grinned at him, and with a shrug of her shoulders, stuffed another handful of chips into her mouth.

"Levi is not allowing any food in the car, anyway," said Jean, looking up to Eren, who was kneeling on the roof of the van, waist-deep in the surfboards that had already been fixed on the roof rack.

"Pass me the next," he said to Jean, who reached up towards the van's roof, lifting a small board with flying birds painted on the nose and tail. Isabel's board.

"Careful with that one," she said, watching intently as Eren fixed it on top of the pile.

"Except that's Historia's van," said Sasha, "I want to see Levi bossing her around in her car."

"Right, like she will let you leave a mess all over the backseat," Jean said with a huff, "good luck with that."

"Hi, Eren," said Armin, lifting one of his old boards towards the roof.

"Don't you take your new deck?"

"No, what if she gets scratched with all the other boards squeezed up there," Armin said with a scowl, "or worse, fall down…"

"Thanks for the trust, dude…" Eren snorted. "I think I know how to fix boards on the rack by now." Armin laughed heartily.

"And Armin, you know, they invented surf socks for a reason," Jean hissed, "or just go for the bag."

"I'll just play it safe," Armin said, shaking his head, "by the way, Sasha, did I just see you shoving a bag of chips into your bag already?"

"Nah, that's definitely not what you saw…"

"Give me that bag Sasha," said Connie, reaching out for her, and she scooted to the other side of the car.

"Give that back…"

"Sasha, what did I just tell you."

"I am not sitting next to you…"

"What's with all the commotion?" Levi's voice cut into their banter. He, Mikasa, and Historia just walked out of the house. "Eren? Are all the boards fixed up there?" Levi lifted his head, inspecting Eren's work. He ran his fingers over the boards, tied neatly at the roof rack. "Good, pile in," he paused, "Sasha… you know the drill, no snacks in the backseat."

"We will stop on the way, and you will be able to snack. But save some space for Rockaway's tacos or one dollar pizza," Historia said with amusement and tossed Levi her pair of car keys. He squinted his eyes and threw it back at her.

"Oh no, your car, you're driving," he said, "I've planned on having a beer with those tacos."

She pouted her mouth at him, twirling the keys with her fingers.

"All right. But one comment about my driving, and you—"

"You've got it," Levi said with a nasal grunt, climbing into the shotgun seat.


"So guys, before we actually go to the beach, we will go to Manhattan for some time," Historia said, "Levi and Mikasa have a meeting they'll be attending to, and we'll have a couple of hours to kill…"

"Wait, are we going to visit real New York?" said Isabel with hype in her voice, "I haven't been to the city for sooo… long."

"We are," said Historia, "now let's see what our options are. We'll be parking somewhere in Midtown, right?" She twisted her neck to look at Levi.

"Right. Bless Hange's lawyer friend for offering us a parking spot in the same building as his firm's office and validating the ticket, otherwise…" he said, grunting, "I swear I don't know how people are living in that city. Anyway, yes, you will be in the middle of it all."

"So the option we have is to go to Times Square, if you want, or to Central Park. I want to hit either MoMa or Met. Jean, are you in? I'd rather we all stick together…"

"Yes, please, agree on something to do together. I don't want to chase you all around Manhattan later," Levi said, grunting under his nose.

"Right." Historia giggled.

"But I wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty, at least by the ferry," said Eren.

"Haven't we done it like three times in the past already," said Jean with a hint of condescension. "Have you ever been to an art museum, Eren?"

"Fuck off, Jean."

"Yeah, lay off him, Jean," Armin cut into their exchange with a faint voice. "I thought we could go to the High Line, though; it's so cool. And there is art there too."

"And I want the original gelato from Little Italy."

"Sasha?!"

"What, Connie?"

Levi sighed, and with a desperate gesture, pulled his hoodie deeper into his face, pressing the inner-side of his wrist to his forehead.

"Good luck with them today," he muttered under his nose, and Historia chuckled again. The flush of the rising sun reflected in the windshield, and she hid her face behind her sunglasses. She cast a brief look at the interior of the van before fixing her eyes on the road and speaking again.

"I suggest we hit the Central Park, and those of you who want to join me, we go either to MoMa or the Met. Those who don't, I am sure you will find something cool to do in the Park," she said calmly but with a bossy undertone in her voice. "And I bet we will have time to do one more thing after Levi and Mikasa join us again. Right, Levi?"

She punched him lightly in the arm, and he growled. Then he turned back to the kids.

"Right. We could either go to the High Line or take the Staten Island ferry, but it will be a bitch to find parking down there," he grunted, "But just vote. High Line or… the Statue."

"Sorry, Eren," Armin mumbled under his nose as the High Line got upvoted almost unanimously. "The High Line is cool, and we've never been to it before."

"No, I get it, it's fine," said Eren, but his voice was tinted with disappointment when he turned to look at the tangerine streaks of the sun dancing over the gloomy morning sky.

"Good. High Line it is," said Levi. "And Sasha, we will find you some decent gelato."

He yawned and buried himself deeper in the shotgun seat. He fished out his mobile out of his pocket and swiped to the only unread message left there from the day before, blinking at him from the incoming box. The ID of the sender was Erwin. Levi stared at "So what about that drink? Tonight? Erwin." He sighed and typed fast. "Can't do. Off to NYC for the day. Another time." Levi hesitated before hitting the send button. He sighed and added "Soon" at the end of the text.


Erwin opened his eyes abruptly as the buzzing of his mobile, resting close to his head, just next to his pillow, woke him up. He reached for it, untangling from the mess of his silk sheets hastily, and unlocked it with a touch of his finger. The sender's ID—Levi's—on the new incoming message brought a smile to his face, but it soon faded away when he'd read the content.

"Huh," Erwin thought. He scrolled back to the message he'd received from Historia before the other day.

"A rain check on the dinner. Going to New York for a quick trip. XO."

Erwin huffed. He suddenly felt very lonely, with both of his romantic interests, Historia and Levi occupied with their own lives. Another solitary day and evening ahead of him. He snuggled deeper into his sheets, trying to coax back the sleep; it was so damn early, the morning sun peeking coyly through a thick canopy of clouds and the light raindrops drumming on the wooden deck just outside his floor-to-ceiling windows.

The sleep hadn't come. Erwin tossed and turned on the silky sheets for another forty-five minutes, but it was pointless. He wrapped himself in a thick, plushy bathrobe and dragged his ass to the kitchen to put on some coffee, passing on the big floor mirror on his way. His own disheveled and unshaven reflection caught his attention, and he stood in front of himself, studying his red eyes, loose, greasy strands of his hair falling over his forehead, stubble he already got tired to look at. Throaty noise faintly resembling a lough ripped out from his mouth as he turned away from the mirror and waddled his way down the hall.


Historia turned from the Montauk Highway into a gas station and pulled up behind a grimy truck, waiting for her turn at the gas pump.

"Okey, pile out," said Levi, with his usual growl before the side door rolled open, and the kids managed to spill out of the car. "Line up to the restroom and do your business here. No matter if you need to or not, Eren." He squinted his eyes.

"Why me?" Eren shrugged in response.

"I know you. We are not stopping again. It's a two-hour drive. Do it here. Isabel, you too, maybe do it as the last one." She laughed at him in response.

"Whether you decide to spend your pocket money on any food here, you either have to drink it or eat it or just take it with you unpacked. No eating in the car, Sasha. No chewing gum, Connie."

"Hey, when was the last time—" Connie protested, but Levi didn't let him finish.

"I just warn you. Preemptively."

He barely finished when they ran pell-mell towards the convenience store and the restrooms, and Levi sighed heavily.

"What are the chances that Sasha won't buy something sticky or greasy and eat it in the car?" Historia chuckled.

"Wanna bet I can stop her?"

"What's the wager?" She winked at him.

"You know what."

She laughed and punched him in the arm.

"You perv."

"You in or not?" He narrowed his eyes, and a boyish grin danced on his lips.

"You know I don't walk away from bets, don't you?" she said, her eyes appraising him.

"Cool." Levi opened his door. "Will you be alright here, or do you need help?"

"I'll be fine. Go knock yourself out on their cheap tea."

He jumped out of the car, and she pulled the van closer to the gas pump.

After gassing up the van and leaving it in a parking lot, she entered the store. Levi was at the counter, and she joined him briefly.

"Oh, I see you have plans already." He was paying for a tea, a pack of wet wipes, and a rather large box of condoms, and she couldn't help but tease him. "A shopping list 'Levi' style."

He grunted, but a very loud rustle of a chip bag being opened reverberated in the air, and suddenly everybody went silent.

"Sasha, have you just—?" asked Jean, but he hadn't finished when Connie cut in.

"You already have one opened in your bag. Why you needed another one?"

"Different flavor… perhaps?" She snapped at him.

"Jesus, do you ever think about anything other than eating?"

"Right, I will go to… hm, refresh myself…" said Historia, "can't risk having to stop another time."

"I will be in the car," Levi said, passing his credit card to the station employee behind the counter. "Do you want something?"

"I am fine. Ooh, and does that mean I won?" She beamed at him, sending a long look over her shoulder.

"What?! She is not in the car just yet.." Levi scoffed.

"Right." She sniggered, amused, and raised her eyebrows at him.


Eren stepped out of the restroom, and his eyes searched for Armin. He found him hidden between the racks filled with junk food, canned drinks, sunglasses, newspapers, and magazines. As he got closer, the realization dawned on him. Armin was looking at the adult magazines— gay adult magazines.

"What's up, Armin?" Eren asked, pretending it was just an innocent question.

"Eren!" Armin exclaimed, his face blushing bright red, as he tried to put the magazine down without raising too much attention, but it was too late for that.

"A dirty sexy men's magazine?" Eren felt his cheeks grew warm, even though he tried to play it cool. A wave of confused feelings washed over him. Armin was looking at gay magazines. Did it mean…?

"It's got stuff about, you know, in it… I was just…" Armin muttered, flustered, rolling the magazine up in his hands. Then he composed himself. "Have you ever seen gay magazines at the gas station before?"

"I wasn't exactly looking…" Eren said, but then he winced. He didn't want to be misunderstood, now when he caught Armin interested in men. "At printed magazines. With all the online stuff you could search for…"

"Online stuff? That's against the rules…" Armin's eyes widened.

"Oh, and looking at magazines isn't?" Eren shrugged and grinned. "Put that down before Levi sees it; it might get us in trouble now… I will show you later where to look." He added with a whisper.

"Guys, are you ready?" Historia called them out from the other side of the convenience store, "Hurry! Let's get going."

Armin put the magazine back on the rack, then turned. Their eyes met for a moment, and he smiled at Eren in his most cute, boyish, Armin's only way. Eren's heart nearly stopped. Gosh, what was that smile doing to him? He slowly returned the smile back to Armin.

"It's cool we have our own secrets," he whispered to Armin when they were walking back to the van through the parking lot.


A shrill, bing sound announced that the elevator reached the thirty-second floor, and the metal door slid open silently. Levi and Mikasa walked out into the brightness of the reception of a law firm, plain white wall with the golden engraved partners' names lighted strategically for the dramatic effect and impeccably designed waiting area. They didn't even make it to the receptionist when a tall, handsome man wearing a slim-fitting three-piece suit in an elegant navy color showed up and invited them in.

"You must be Levi," the man said with the hint of friendliness in his formal tone. "And you are, Mikasa," he offered her a comforting smile. "Moblit Berner. Nice to meet you. Hange briefed me already. Let's see what we can do about your situation."