0o0o0o0o0
"Eren!"
Levi barged into his own bedroom, hair held back by a bandana and a scowl on his lips as he stared at a sleeping ten-year old Eren. He was all but sprawled on Levi's bed, comforter only covering up parts of his body. It was seven in the morning and Erwin was coming to pick Eren up in thirty minutes. Yet, there he was sleeping the minutes away. He walked over to the side Eren was peacefully sleeping on, like he hadn't had a care in the world.
"Eren." He said again. Nothing. Levi sighed and sat on the bed. He grabbed the boys shoulder and started to shake him. "I'm going to give Armin your lunch if you don't wake up."
"…I'm sick." Eren said, eyes still closed but very obviously awake.
"Eren, Erwin's going to be here in thirty minutes. Get ready." He stood up. "Unless you really are sick then I'll have to call the doctor and make sure they stick you with the biggest needle they got."
Eren bolted upright. "I think I'll go get ready now!" He shouted, scrambling off Levi's bed to the bathroom.
"Damn, brat." He mumbled, heading back out to the kitchen to finish fixing Eren's lunch.
This was the routine morning every weekday. Some days, like today, Eren needed more than a push to get out of Levi's bed but it didn't happen enough times to be a problem. What worried Levi the most of Eren's sleeping was that he knew, had an inkling suspicion, that Eren would definitely not be a morning person when he would eventually be a teen. He wasn't looking forward to that.
If worse came to worse though, he had ways of waking people up thanks to Hanji.
"Levi, I can't find my shoes!" Eren scrambled out of his room, tugging his clothes into place with everything but his shoes. Levi stepped out the kitchen.
"Did you check in my room?" He asked, looking down at him. Eren scrambled back into Levi's room.
"Found it!" He shouted.
"Eren, you need to start sleeping in your own room." Levi said, returning to the kitchen.
"I don't wanna." Eren said as he walked into the kitchen, fully dressed. Levi walked over to his side and ran his fingers through the mess of bed hair, trying to tame most of it. Levi had long given up on normalizing Eren's bed hair. It usual settled down by the afternoon. "Your bed is a lot more comfortable."
"We have the same bed." Levi replied, passing Eren's breakfast on to the counter that jutted out from the wall. Eren grabbed a bar stool and sat.
"Your bed is better." Eren replied.
"Still the same bed." Levi said, putting the final touches in Eren's lunch. Levi's phone began to vibrate on the counter and Eren was off.
"See you later, Levi!" Eren grabbed his backpack and ran off, bounding down the stairs. Levi walked over to the windows, pulling back the curtain as he saw Eren run up to Erwin's car. He slide into the back seat, rolled down the window, and waved goodbye towards the 2nd floor windows, knowing that Levi was watching.
The car pulled off and then he was alone to start his day. He grabbed the cup of coffee he set aside, the keys, and set out downstairs.
Levi's mornings all started the same. He opened up the shop, propping open the door with a door stopper. Walking inside, he flicked on the lights by the counter and grabbed a green apron Eren bought him for his birthday because the wings design on the front reminded Eren of Levi's own wings on his back.
He started with watering the flowers in front of the windows. Then with flowers set up on the table in the middle of the room. Levi checked on the flowers in the cooler; making sure they were all at the right temperature and that any of them weren't withering. He walked around, watering the flowers on the display shelf along the walls and checked the card display.
This was Levi's mornings.
Over the past three years, Levi had steadily gained back all the regular customers Carla used to do business with; most being other small stores in the area. The best part of the shops location was that it was right in the middle of a moderately lively part of Trost. His shop has done well since its re-opening. And remembering Carla's advice on when seasons were the busiest helped me get prepared.
Valentines was only a week away and he had orders upon orders of bouquets of roses and lilies, most of the orders specifying to have them arranged together in a heart shape.
Before he set out to work on his orders, Levi went to one of the coolers and grabbed a large arrangement he had design specifically for Valentines. The idea came from Eren, when he asked Levi that he wanted the huge bear Hanji had given him to watch the store. Rather than getting a bear, Levi created a floral bear in a small basket.
When Eren first saw it, he'd very adamantly demanded that the bear always watch the shop. So, for the past three years, Levi always had a floral bear set right in the middle of table in the room. Sometimes just plain and other times, like Valentines, the bear was accompanied by another bear with a rose.
Levi went towards the back room and grabbed the arrangements that needed to be finished and set them on the counter out in the front room to start work.
0o0o0o0o0o
"Levi, I'm back!"
Eren barged into the flower shop, Armin and Mikasa trailing behind.
"Good afternoon, ." Armin greeted. Mikasa remained quiet, walking over to the display in the middle of the room to stare at the floral bears.
"Eren, you're too loud." Levi replied. "And Armin, I've told you to call me Levi. I'm not old enough for you to start adding in a Mr."
"Yeah, Erwin's the one who's really old." Eren replied, walking up to the counter. "Can Armin and Mikasa come upstairs to do homework?" He asked, leaning against the counter.
"That's not all you want, is it?" Levi peered at Eren, leaning towards the small boy. Eren fidgeted, suddenly nervous. He wanted something and Levi could tell.
"Eren wants to sleepover my house after my party." Mikasa spoke up, pulling down her plain scarf from her face.
"And you couldn't tell me yourself?" Levi asked. Eren turned red, cheeks puffing out a bit. "Were you embarrassed?"
"No…" Eren tethered on the heels of feet. "I… I'm going to Mikasa's party this weekend!" Levi tried very hard to suppress the grin, managing a smirk as he leaned away. It was very easy to rile Eren up and Levi found it far too amusing some days. Today was one of those days.
"And now you're demanding it?"
Eren stuttered, at a loss of words. Levi finally grinned and decided to give Eren a break, patting Eren's head to save him the trouble of speaking. "It's okay, you can go. Now go upstairs and do your homework. Let me close up the shop so I can start dinner." Eren grinned and headed for the door.
"Mikasa, Armin, are you two staying for dinner?" Levi asked.
"Yes, sir." Armin said while Mikasa nodded, following behind Eren as they left the shop and rounded the corner to the alleyway that led to their apartment upstairs.
"At this point, you should always assume that Mikasa and Armin are going to stay for dinner."
Levi looked up from his transaction notebook, seeing Erwin by the door. "They're like ducks, Eren included." He recorded the last transaction and put the notebook back in the drawer. "Go put the bear in the cooler."
As Erwin did as he was told, Eren ran back into the shop, past Erwin and into the back room.
"Levi!" He whispered loudly, standing by the threshold of the door. Levi looked over his shoulder, noticing Eren leaning in. "I forgot to do the thing."
"And you couldn't do it when you first barged into the shop?"
"Mikasa and Armin were there." He whispered very loudly again. Eren's definition of whispering was a bit skewed. He walked towards Eren and leaned over, Eren leaning towards him to give him a kiss.
"Now, that wasn't embarrassing, was it?" Erwin spoke. Eren squeaked, quickly turning around to face the giant man.
"It-It is when my friends are there." Eren blushed, stubbornly staring at Erwin, daring him challenge his statement.
"I'm sure Mikasa and Armin don't care if they see you greeting me with a kiss. I bet they do that with their family too." Levi said, guiding Eren out the back room. "Now get back upstairs." Eren nodded and ran ahead of them.
"Where's my kiss?" Erwin asked, standing aside as Levi locked the door to the shop. Levi frowned and threw the rag he was carrying at Erwin's face, walking away.
0o0o0o0o0
That Saturday, Eren bounced around in the passenger seat, Mikasa's gift on his lap. Armin was in the backseat, just as excited but more calmed than the tanned-skinned Eren. Erwin sat in the back seat with Armin, having lost passenger privilege due to Eren calling shotgun. As Levi pulled up to Mikasa's house, Levi held Eren's shoulder before he could bolt out the door.
"Call me tomorrow when you're ready to be picked up," Levi said. "Armin, the same goes for you. I told your grandfather I'll be dropping you off as well."
"Okay." He said as he got out the car. This time, before leaving the car, Eren leaned towards Levi and gave him a kiss goodbye. Erwin switched over to the passenger seat and Levi waited until they were both inside Mikasa's house before he drove off.
"When did Eren start kissing you?" Erwin asked, abruptly enough to startle Levi. The younger man blinked, taking a few seconds to answer Erwin's sudden question.
"I think last year around the start of his 2nd year?" Levi nodded to himself, recalling back that memory. If he remembered correctly, Eren came home particularly upset. "Oh, they were talking about family and traditions. I never knew kissing was a thing between a parent and their kid."
"It's perfectly normal, and I'm sure Eren did that with Carla before the fire."
"I know I've never wanted to kiss my mother." Levi replied, a scowl shaping his lips. Even the thought of it disgusted him.
"That's 'cause you never loved her." Erwin said. "Hugs and kisses are all signs of love." Levi merely shrugged. He couldn't even remember if there was a time his mother ever gave him kisses or even held him. Even his imagination couldn't pull together an image of Levi's mother acting as an actual mother.
"Well, it cheered Eren up so I don't mind at all."
"You know, I'm still waiting for my kiss." Erwin said. Levi ignored the blond until he stopped at a red light.
"You need to stop being jealous of a damn 10-year old." Levi said, grabbing Erwin by his shirt and pulling him close to give him his so awaited kiss.
0o0o0o0o0o
The flower shop had the usual weekend hours. On Saturdays, he kept the shop open for shorter hours and Sundays he just kept it closed. Eren's birthday fell on that Saturday and he normally would've closed the shop for the day but Levi had an order to fulfill by noon; two floral sculpture of a swan for a sweet sixteen to be picked up. Luckily, the party for Eren was going to be held at Hanji's place and wouldn't start till much later in the afternoon.
Eren himself was hanging out by the front counter, entertaining himself with a 3DS while he waited for Levi. The man himself had cleared the display in the middle of the room, the swans themselves both ready to be picked up. He sat on a stool, back to the front door as he touched it up and made sure the wireframe structure underneath was secure. He was tying a teal ribbon around the neck of one of the swans when he heard the bell ring as the door opened.
"Your order is just about ready, ma'am." Levi said, tying the same color ribbon to the other swan. He began to wrap the swans in a protective wrapping.
"Levi."
His hands stopped what they were doing, recognizing the voice behind him. He turned around and, sure enough, there was his mother. He stared at her, a bit lost for words. She usually called beforehand to announce when she would be arriving to drop of his checks. And even then, it was always the butler who dropped them off. He hadn't actually seen his mother with his own eyes for well over 5 years.
She looked around the shop, eyes taking in the pastel yellow of the walls to Eren, who had stopped playing his game, to eventually, Levi himself. He could see the limo through the shops' window, her butler waiting by the car. What was even more surprising was the toddler in her arms, a little girl holding on to a pink bunny.
"I'm going to move out of the country." She said, voice curt.
Levi simply nodded, still a bit lost for words. It was strange, seeing her look like an actual mother.
"It's early but here is your check for next month." She set the girl on the floor and stepped closer to Levi, handing him an envelope from her purse as well as another envelope.
"What's the other one?" He asked, having found his voice again. He had an idea as to what it could be.
"The check for the rest of the amount I owe you. I won't be returning to see you again." Levi nodded, placing the envelopes on the table behind him. She looked over him once more, with an expression Levi couldn't decipher. "Goodbye, Levi."
"Right… Bye."
"Isabel." She called, turning towards the toddler. The little girl, who had wondered off to look at the flowers, ran back to her mother. This time, Levi was able to see how her expression softened as she lifted the little girl into her arms. He didn't need to know anything else to realize that the toddler was her natural born daughter. They walked out the shop, his mother leaving his life without a second glance.
"Levi?"
Levi looked to Eren whom was now standing beside him with a worried expression. "Stop looking so worried." Levi said.
"But you look sad."
Levi had to think about it and he couldn't deny it that he did feel a small tinge of sadness. It was more about the fact that she could love, if that expression was anything to go by. He knew for damn sure she never showed him as much as a smile in his direction. It only confirmed what he always knew; that she never loved him.
"Thank you for your concern, Eren, but I'm okay." Levi said. Eren stared at him, that same stubborn expression he wore when he knew he something was definitely not okay.
Eren grabbed Levi's hand and stared up at him with very determined and concerned eyes. "Was that your mom who doesn't love you?"
Levi's eyes widened a fraction. Eren quickly replied, "I sometimes hear you and Erwin talk at night."
"Yeah, that was her." Levi said. No use hiding it now if Eren already knew that much.
"I love you, Levi. Is that enough?" He asked.
He found himself at a loss for words again. He kneeled down in front of Eren, those startling expressive teal-eyes still looking at Levi with much concern. Eren grabbed Levi's hands.
"Ma loved you too, right?"
"Yeah," He replied, finally finding his words again. "Your love is more than enough." Eren gave him a bright, dazzling smile and firmly shook Levi's hand, as if they were sealing a deal.
0o0o0o0o0o
"Eren, what are you getting Levi?" Armin asked. He sat beside Eren on a table outside the school, in a quad that was used for their lunch breaks. A pamphlet of flowers for Mother's day was laid out on the table in front of them. Eren idly looked it over, not really interested in the selections.
"We already have all these flowers in our shop." He replied, skipping through some pages. "And Levi makes much prettier arrangements than these."
He pushed the thin booklet away and rested his head on his forearms.
Mother's day was celebrated different in his household. Eren and Levi left for the cemetery in the afternoon, with a bundle of sunflowers to place on her and his dad's grave. Sometimes Erwin or Hanji joined afterwards but it was usually the two of them.
Eren vaguely remembered his mother. Rather than memories, it was the emotions he remembered the clearest. They were warm and pleasant emotions and he remembered her smile and his dad's strong smell of oak. But most of all, he remembered Levi as well. As a constant presence in his life; calming and warm and reassuring.
Then he remembered vivid strikes of red and orange and black as the fire took his home. It was hectic and terrifying but he remembered Levi that night as something solid and steady in the bright hot storm.
Eren sighed, burying his face against the inner crook of his elbow. He heard rustling beside him then felt gentle hands playing through his hair.
"Mikasa?" Eren tilted his head to the side. Armin had his hair done up in messy pigtails held with light blue ribbons.
"Eren, sit up." Mikasa said, patting his head. She held a pair of emerald ribbons in one hand, her face set as her usual calm expression but her dark eyes were lit up.
"Give me that one." Eren said, picking a ribbon with a stripe of pastel green down the middle. He straightened up and turned his back as Mikasa went to work on giving him a pony tail.
"What did you give Levi last year?" She asked, pulling back and gathering Eren's long hair in one hand.
"Hanji helped me pick out a vase to put the sunflowers in." He said. Eren winced when Mikasa accidently pulled at his hair. Mikasa apologized and rub the spot before she continued to fashion him his new hairstyle.
"What about a book? Like a diary?" Armin offered.
Eren scrunched up his nose in thought. Before he had a chance to rebut that idea, Armin spoke again. "I know! My grandpa has this really old camera that prints out the pictures instantly. It's called a Polaroid camera and it's kinda weird but it's really cool too."
"You can take pictures and put them in a book for Levi." Mikasa said. She patted Eren's shoulder, done with styling his hair. Eren ran his hand over his hair, feeling the ponytail on the side of his head. He looked to Armin, with his pigtails, and they grinned at each other.
"Mikasa, your turn!" They both said. Mikasa smiled, handing the boys each a red ribbon as she turned her back towards them. They parted her long, dark hair into two, each attempting a pigtail.
They spent the rest of their lunch break, failing and giggling at their styled hair. When the teacher started to give the five minute warning before they had to return to their classes, the trio ran towards a large reflective window that looked into the cafeteria. When they finally saw how they looked like, the three fell into another fit of giggles.
"Eren, shut up, you're annoying."
The laughter stop and Eren looked at the reflection, seeing Jean stand behind him. He turned around, glaring at the boy in front of him. For whatever reason, Eren never liked Jean and the same was true vice versa. They just rubbed each other the wrong way.
"Jean, go away." He said. "No one was even talking to you." He muttered, reaching for Armin and Mikasa's hand.
"Kinda hard when you're being obnoxious." Jean said, standing firm. Eren stopped, glaring back at the boy.
"Eren, stop," Armin tugged at Eren's hand. "He's just trying to get back at you for last week."
"…I know." He said and started to ignore the brown-ash-haired pre-teen when he opened his mouth again.
"Is that weird guy still taking care of you?" He asked, his tone taunting. Eren's entire body stiffened. He clenched his hand around Armin and Mikasa's. Armin quickly looked to Eren and stepped up, putting himself in front of Eren and Jean.
"Jean, stop. Levi isn't weird." He said, staring down the other boy.
"But he's scary and a lot of people talk badly about him."
Eren immediately turned back around, side stepping around Armin and came face to face with Jean.
"These people better stop talking about Levi like they know him." He muttered, intensely glaring at Je
"It's weird that he's not even related to you and they said he used to get into lots of fights-" Before Jean could finish his sentence, Eren's fist came flying towards his face.
0o0o0o0o0o
Levi brought Eren back from school early, after having the situation explained to him by the secretary. He'd taken Eren upstairs, keeping the flower shop closed, and made Eren sit by the counter in the kitchen.
"Tell me what happened?"
"…Jean wouldn't shut up and he started to annoy me." Eren mumbled.
"Eren." Levi spoke his name clearly. Eren flinched and he looked up from the floor.
"He was starting to talk badly about you!" Eren spoke louder. "Stupid, horse-faced Jean doesn't even know you!" He gazed steadily at Levi, refusing to look away. Levi stared back until he sighed.
"I don't need you to get into fights for me." He said. He took in Eren's face, his right eye sporting a nasty looking black eye. He had a few more bruises along his jaw and a scarped knee but the nurse has assured Levi they were all surface wounds. Levi kept his gaze on Eren until the boy began to fidget in his seat.
"I'm sorry, Levi." He said. He could see Eren scrunch up his face with a concentrated expression, trying his best not to let his tears spill over his eyes.
"I'm not disappointed in you, Eren." Levi said. He walked over to the freezer and grabbed a small cooling pack he kept in there. Wrapping it in a dry cloth, he walked back to Eren, tilted his face up, and pressed the pack to the side of Eren's bruised face. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say because Eren looked up to Levi and started to cry, pressing his face to Levi's chest.
"Jean wouldn't shut up and he was annoying and I don't know what to get you for mother's day and I'm glad Levi didn't leave me alone." Eren gripped Levi's shirt, saying all of that in one breath. Levi ran his hands through Eren's hair, gently patting his head. He waited until Eren cried himself out to just the occasional sniffle. He sat down on the bar stool next to Eren, swiveling Eren around on his chair until they faced each other.
"Why would you think I would leave you?"
"Because we're not related." He said, rubbing at his eyes. As much as Eren tried not to let Jean words get to him during the fight, they made him curious and anxious. "I was thinking about the fire and I remember you being there and you're still here."
"Of course I'm still here." Levi said. "I wouldn't have left you alone to the system after that accident. Not if I had to say anything about it. Even then, if the fire never happened, your mother would've made sure I never left her or your side."
"…why?" Eren asked, sniffling again but considerably more calm than he was a few seconds ago. A smile shaped Levi's lips and Eren's curiosity grew. Levi never talked about himself before. He was too young to remember Levi well and he really wanted to know more.
"I used to get into a lot of trouble when I was younger but I started to change when I met Carla. She helped me a lot but secretly I think she was trying to find a free babysitter for when you were born." Eren smiled, letting a chuckle slip by. "She was one of the few people who saw past my scary face and gave me a chance."
"…Your face isn't scary." Eren said. "Not at all."
"I'm glad you think that." Levi said. "Carla thought so too. So I wouldn't have left. You were a problematic baby to take care of so Carla and I didn't trust you with any other sitter than me."
"Was I bad?" Eren asked.
Levi shook his head. "You used to get high fevers as a baby." Remembering the ice pack, Levi pressed it again to Eren's bruised part of his face. Eren shivered but held still. The cold felt good against his skin.
"Do you regret me?" Eren asked, flicking his eyes towards Levi. "I hear the other moms talk about you sometimes when you come pick me up, saying that it's a shame that you're taking care of a kid when you're young too-"
Levi bopped him on the head, cutting off his sentence. "Stop that thinking right now." He said with a stern tone. "Eren, I've never once thought you were a regret. Letting Hanji plan my birthday last year was a regret but never you. I want to make this understood."
Eren nodded, pulling the ice pack away from his face. He always trusted Levi's words. If Levi said so, he believed him. Levi set the ice pack aside and held Eren's face by his chin, tilting his head to the side, gingerly pressing his fingertips around Eren's eye. "Does it still hurt?"
"No."
"You're still gonna to be punished." Levi said. "I can't have you thinking you'll go free after getting into a fight."
"But I-"
"I know," Levi said. "Which is why you're helping out downstairs. And I'm taking your phone until Friday."
Eren blinked. That wasn't much of a punishment. He always helped out with the shop and he could live without his phone for two days. He mostly used it to talk with Armin and Mikasa. It really wasn't much of a good punishment. But one look at Levi and Eren knew he was letting him off easy this time. Levi wasn't one to hold back his punishments.
"Let's go," Levi said, leading Eren towards the door. "I have a customer coming by to pick up an order."
Eren nodded and he placed the ice pack back on the counter, following the man whom was his ever steady family downstairs to the shop. "Levi, can you tell me more about my Ma?"
Levi was only slightly taken aback but he nodded. Eren was definitely old enough now. "Carla was very strong-headed..."
0o0o0o0o0
I love Mikasa, Armin, and Eren so much.
I don't know what to do with for the ending do, which I already know how I'm gonna end this story.
which is vastly different from what i had originally planned
...
ooops