"So this is what the ocean is like…" Levi let his words be blown away by the gentle sea breeze. The soft crashing of waves overlapped with Hanji's excited exclamations of how marvelous some grainy shit she called "sand" was. Still, it was peaceful, as it was ever since the Titans were exterminated from the world.
Levi's mind was not as calm as the sea, however.
How could it be? Eren wasn't there. It just wasn't right to enjoy the ocean alone when he had promised to see it with him. It still hurt, remembering Eren. And it still hurt, not being able to say how much he loved him.
Lost in his thought, he didn't notice the evident lack of overjoyed shouting as Hanji respectfully silenced herself to allow Levi a peaceful time to think. Hanji was eccentric, yes, but she was perceptive enough to know when to act as such and when to remain solemn.
The wide sky reminded him of Eren's eyes, filled with passion. The soft sand reminded him of Eren's smooth skin, although coarse at the same time. (His thoughts conflicted one another, Levi felt, but ignored it because Eren was a conflicting person himself. He wished to exterminate all titans when he himself was one.) The vast ocean reminded him of the depth of Eren's entire being. "You would've liked to see this, brat… You should've been able to see this," Levi whispered to himself, because Eren, of all people, didn't deserve to die.
A blaring alarm clock jarred Levi from his recollection of the first time he saw the ocean. He glared at the interrupting object, irritably slamming his hand on it to silence it. "Fucking clocks. Which shitty fucker invented it anyways?"
He got up and walked to the bathroom. Staring at himself in the mirror, he muttered grumpily, "Fuck, couldn't I at least have been reborn taller?"
Levi, much to his horror, was still shitty 160 cm tall (or should I say short).
And he still worked a shitty job (albeit much, much less life-endangering) under Erwin's massive 188 cm stature ("Fuck, couldn't he have been reborn shorter?"). At least Petra, Gunter, Erd and Auruo were all there (in one piece, thankfully). It must've been some retarded excuse of "fate" deciding to fuck with him and shuck him with those idiots for another lifetime (not that he wasn't glad to see them, but Levi wouldn't admit that out loud).
But still, it was peaceful here, something foreign to him. It was hard at first, getting used to life where you didn't have to worry about dying at the hands (or mouth) of some oversized giant with no genitals. Yet even in such a relaxing change of environment, Levi still managed to worry.
Because he hasn't seen Eren yet.
Or any of the 104th Trainee Squad for the matter.
He didn't know if any of them were reborn or if it was just those originally in the Scouting Legion.
Shaking those thoughts from his head, Levi decided that he really needed his coffee. The stick which was perpetually stuck up his ass was even larger before his daily espresso from the Starbucks down the lane.
His lack-of-coffee-induced journey to Starbucks was nothing out of the ordinary. He shrugged on the exact same coat as every other work day, trudged out of his shitty apartment (given to him by Erwin, claiming it was so he "wouldn't be living on a park bench"- the bastard), shuffled to Starbucks, got greeted no less cheerily than any other day by Hanji (whose eccentricity was not helped by the heaps of coffee surrounding her as she worked as a barista) and glared at her for purposely writing "Ravioli" on his espresso cup.
Do note, however, that Levi had hence made it a habit to scribble off his misspelled name and write "Shitty four-eyes" on the cup once he finished drinking, throwing it at Hanji's head with more force than necessary(not that she minded that much, opting to laugh at Levi's annoyed expression instead).
But that day was different. As Levi was about to scribble on his empty cup, the sound of the shop door opening interrupted him. He heard awfully familiar footsteps (There's only one brat who walks everywhere that loudly.), and looked up.
His empty espresso cup fell to the table before rolling off the edge.
And then Levi saw him, eyes as beautiful as ever and hair just as perfectly messy and skin just as flawless. He let the name slip from his lips, unable to tear his gaze from the teenager's face. "Eren…"
He brisk walked towards Eren, who obliviously didn't notice. Next to him (unsurprisingly) were none other than Mikasa and Armin, whose eyes widened the second the short (ex?) corporal came into view. Mikasa quickly stepped in between him and Eren. As protective as ever, huh, Levi thought to himself.
But Mikasa looked more apologetic than anything else, which both confused and frightened Levi. She lightly shook her head, trying to send some kind of message, which Levi didn't get. "Oi, Mikasa, if you have something to say, speak up. Geez," Levi grumbled, irritated at having being stalled by Eren's stepsister.
Eren looked up, hearing Levi's voice. But seeing Levi's hopeful expression for a reaction, he merely shrugged. Levi's eyes widened. So fucking long, and he doesn't have a damn thing to say to me?
"Eren, this is my, uh, old history teacher, Mr. Levi," Mikasa interjected quickly, face scrunching up slightly as she thought up a lie.
History teacher?
Levi forced himself not to laugh drily at the irony of him being a history teacher, of all else. I mean, he was pretty sure that most history teachers weren't part of the history they were teaching. Either way, he was pretty sure Eren paid too little attention in history class to notice Levi's pictures (or pictures of himself, for the matter) in his textbook.
"Ah, okay. Hi, I suppose. I'm Eren. Hope to see you around sometime or whatever," Eren replied, shrugging again.
I love you. I missed you. How've you been? Are the others there too? Do you know how long I've waited? Why don't you look happy to see me? Are you still angry? I'm sorry. Look at me. Talk to me. I love you.
"Uh, yeah, hi."
As Eren prepared to leave, Levi quickly grabbed his arm. He flinched, and shook the hand off. Levi tried not to appear hurt. Instead, he spoke, trying not to appear desperate, although he could already guess how worry-laced his voice was, "…Eren…"
"Yeah?"
Prompting Eren to actually react to them meeting again, Levi said, "It's been a really long time…"
"…brat." He added the last word unconsciously.
"Brat?" Eren's voice was quiet at first, expression unreadable, as if he was remembering something. But that expression soon faded and his voice rose a couple of notches as he processed what Levi had just referred to him as. "I'm not a fucki-" he paused, remembering that Levi was a teacher and that they were in a coffee shop, before correcting himself, "uh, brat. I would appreciate it if you didn't call me that, Mr. Levi."
Levi smiled to himself. How Eren-like. The uncharacteristic formality was, however, starting to weird him out.
"But I think you're mistaken. We've never met before."
What?
Then it dawned on Levi, realisation sending a jolt down his spine, that Eren didn't remember him.
"Oh. Oh, uh, never mind then. Must've mistaken you for someone else. Sorry to bother you. I'll be going now," Levi frantically struggled to organise his thoughts coherently, trying not to show his true emotions on his face and swiftly left the shop.
Closing the shop door and sprinting to the nearest alleyway, Levi pressed himself against one of the brick walls and rubbed his fingers against his temples.
Fuck, what now?
Mikasa walked out of the shop, glancing around for any sign of Levi before spotting him by the alley and walking towards him. "You know, shorty-" A sharp glare from Levi. "I used to be pretty pissed at Eren and your relation-"
"That's hardly surprising. And evidently, Eren doesn't remember me, so he's all yours. I won't force him to be with me. I won't force him to do anything." Not after I let him die before telling him I loved him.
Mikasa glared at Levi for interrupting her and rolled her eyes at his (futile) attempt at denying the pain he felt.
"-ship, but I don't care anymore. I suppose it's because of Armin's lectures, but even so, I was happy for him. The look on his face whenever he was with you was of pure joy. I couldn't give him that, so in a way, I'm glad for you. And by the way, it's not just his memory of you that's missing. All his memories of his past life is gone, somehow. I'm not sure why. The rest of the 104th squad are here, too. Even Marco, Jean's best friend (and boyfriend, now), who'd died during the battle of Trost. Jean looked like he was going to piss himself when they met."
Mikasa chuckled, remembering Jean and Marco's reunion (there was a lot of crying and spazzing out as well as a confused Eren who didn't know what was happening and wondered who Marco was). However, she soon sobered up and continued, "The thing is, he feels like he's missing something. That's what he told me. Sometimes, I'd see him staring out of the window for no reason. He said he didn't know why, but he was just waiting for something. He just doesn't know what. Did you see the way he looked at you earlier on?"
"Yeah, with unfamiliarity," Levi replied sarcastically.
Mikasa rolled her eyes again and fought the urge to punch the man for being so difficult. "No, I meant when you called him a brat. For a second, he looked like he remembered you."
And then he threw a fit over being called a brat, Levi thought to himself, but kept quiet.
As Levi remained silent, Mikasa continued speaking, "I think, subconsciously, he knows he's connected to you."
"And just what do you hope to achieve from telling me this?" Levi muttered, thinking that Mikasa only told him all that to make him feel worse.
"I think that, if you do it correctly, Eren could remember you."
And that was it. From that one sentence, Mikasa could see all hint of resistance fade from Levi's face. Without any more words, Levi walked back into Starbucks. Mikasa followed after.
Author note:
Okay so I didn't intent to continue the one-shot, but I've been meaning to try my hand at a reincarnation AU anyway and many of you wonderful people follow this story, so I decided to go for it~
And so, somehow, I think this one-shot will become a three or four chapter long thing (and I'll hopefully update regularly because I'm awful). Thank you all for reading and hope you enjoy~
To Misakiiiiiii-san (hopefully I got the number of 'i's correct), I hope the way this story will go is up to your "happy ending" standards since I haven't written that many stories that end happily. ^^
-Midnight dream-catcher