Levi's POV
"This is what you dragged me to town for?" He tutted and glared at his bespectacled friend. He hated town with a passion. The ridiculously long car ride was bad enough as it is but paired with the huge swarms of people and it was just Levi's nightmare. She smiled innocently. "I want to get a tattoo and I want my best friend to be there with me while I do it!" He tsk'd and angrily muttered under his breath which Hanji took as a sign of defeat and dragged Levi into the "Titan Tattoo's" shop which they'd been arguing in front of. He loved tattoos but had never thought highly of actual tattoo shops. He knew how stupid it sounded but he'd seen people with fucked up tattoos because of poor hygiene standards and he'd told himself time and time again that it just wasn't worth it. But as soon as they walked in Levi was taken aback, sure the music was loud but it was the sort of pop punk he liked, it seemed extremely clean and not at all what he was expecting. He glanced around and admired the work of art on the walls. Levi had always admired tattoo artists, they had a skill and patience that Levi had never possessed.
He walked up to the counter where Hanji was vibrating with excitement. "Calm down shitty glasses, you'll scare them off." She just playfully glared at him but couldn't keep it up for long. A tall figure walked out of what seemed to be the staff room and Levi felt his eyes widen a little bit but he quickly narrowed them into his usual glare. Hanji obviously recognised the boy as well "Eren! Hi! Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?" Levi had thought that she couldn't of gotten anymore excited... but he was proven wrong. Eren flushed slightly and looked a bit out of his depth. It was only then that Levi realised how tight Eren's t-shirt was and how his tattooed arms seemed to suit him perfectly and how- he shook his head and cut his dangerous thoughts off. "I, er, I'm going to be the one tattooing you if that's ok?" Eren timidly asked his question. Neither Levi nor Hanji could control their shock. "You?" Levi sneered, not believing that this kid - who was younger than him may he add- was good enough to tattoo anyone let alone Levi's friend. Eren's back straightened and he raised his chin defiantly. "Yes me. I have an album of my work if you want me to prove my worth?" Eren cocked an eyebrow and his voice was just dripping with sarcasm. Levi admired this kids balls. Hanji giggled breaking the little staring contest Levi was having with Eren. "It's not that I don't believe you but can I see your work anyway? I'm just really intrigued about you." Eren's glare softened as he looked at the crazy woman standing next to Levi "Sure! Follow me to my work station and I'll dig it out. Do you think you'd wanna make a start on your tattoo today" He walked through a door which was just to the right of the one he had just come out of and gestured for the odd pair to follow him through it. Hanji squealed "Of course Eren! That would be amazing!" Levi shook his head at her over enthusiasm. They walked through a small hallway with even more drawings littered over them, but instead of being on paper they were drawn straight on to it. Levi forced himself to keep walking because he found himself transfixed by them all.
He caught up with Hanji and Eren's bounding strides while cursing their stupidly long legs as he did so. They emerged into a wide brightly lit room which had about six work stations set up through out. Each seemed to have different drawings and colours in the area surrounding it. "Oi brat! What's with the different colours?" Eren glanced over his shoulder at Levi who was still staring round the room. He was one for organisation, he wouldn't be caught dead without his planner but he could appreciate this organised mess. It was... quirky. "Everyone has a different work station so they're allowed to do what they want with it. The apprentices aren't usually allowed to 'coz they have to share work stations with the senior members." Levi accepted that answer and fell back into his normal silence. Eren gestured to a sofa in the back corner next to a chair and a desk. "Take a seat, I'll find those pictures for you." Hanji happily sat down but Levi fully inspected the leather seat but seeing nothing wrong with it, as well as the faint smell of disinfectant lingering in the air, he decided to trust it and hesitantly sat down besides Hanji. "This is fate Levi! You're meant to be!" She loudly whispered. All through lunch, Hanji (and occasionally Erwin but he soon took pity on him) had been saying how 'perfect Levi and Eren were going to be together' and 'how it was just meant to be'. She had only stopped after Levi had launched across the table to shove two bread sticks up her nostrils. Levi's glare deepened and he elbowed his shitty friend in the ribs. She just brushed it off and cackled, her eyes twinkling in a way that Levi knew couldn't mean anything good. Eren soon came back plonked a huge photo album on the table in front of them. Hanji quickly grabbed it and flicked through them all with a manic grin on her face. From what Levi could see, this kid was good. Talented even. "How long have you been working here?" Hanji asked. Eren quickly worked it out "Er about eight months or so?" It seemed that everything this kid said came out as a question, maybe he was just easily made nervous. "Eight months and you've tattooed all of these people?" Hanji sounded impressed and that rarely happened now that Levi thought about it. Eren nodded, seemingly becoming more relaxed the more they chatted. "Ok I trust you Eren!" She suddenly exclaimed slamming the book shut, making Levi jump. 'Shitty glasses' he thought to himself, his glare deepening but he let go some of his anger when he heard Eren giggle. "I'm glad to hear that Hanji, do you know what you want to have done?" He got up and put the album back on the shelf above the desk. She launched into the elaborate speech of what she wanted to have done and Eren listened intently, asking questions when necessary. "Ok so I'm gonna draw out the basics of what you want but I usually like to freehand the detail, is that ok?" Hanji nodded gleefully and clapped her hands in delight. "If either of you two want a drink or anything, the kitchen is trough the hallway we walked through and to the right... just please don't tell my boss." He let out a nervous giggle and rearranged his notebook on his lap so it was more comfy and he got to work. "I'm going to get some water, do you want anything Levi? Of course you don't, stupid question, my bad." with her outburst she flounced off and left Levi and Eren alone. Levi found himself studying the full sleeve tattoo the younger male had on his right arm. It was a space scene and he begrudgingly admitted to himself that it was magnificent. There was so much detail in it that Levi couldn't believe it was on someones skin, there was some sort of wrap round it so he could only assume that it was finished recently. "Is she always like that?" Erens voice startled him and Levi head whipped up but to his relief Eren was too focused on his drawing to of seen Levi checking his arms out. "Who shitty glasses? Yeah she's actually being quite tame around you." Levi snorted and Erens eyebrows shot up but his eyes never left the page. "I thought you said apprentices didn't get their own work station?" Eren smiled modestly and his face flushed slightly. "My boss... my boss says I'm the best artist he has on his team. He wants me to take over the business someday." Eren looked almost embarrassed to say it and although Levi wouldn't show it, he was impressed with what the kid had achieved at such a young age. But he just stuck with making a non-committal noise in the back of his throat in response. Hanji finally came bustling back into the room with two glasses of water and a knowing smirk on her face. "I didn't know if you wanted anything Eren so I just got you some water!" He smiled up at her and analysed his drawing before holding it up for her inspection. She gently took the sketchbook out of his hands and ran a hand over it lightly. "Eren... I love it!" She said in a moment of sober happiness. Levi tried to crane his neck to see what he had drawn but she held it out of his sight before he could get a good look. "Nah uh uh, not until it's done!" She sung at the shorter man pissing him off again. "You drag me all the way out here and won't even let me see if it was worth it?" he said, his voice dangerously level. Eren decided to intervene with a nervous chuckle, seeing the terror growing on Hanji's face. He faced Levi and looked him in the eyes. "Trust me, if it's one of my tattoos it will be worth it." He said with the most confidence Levi had heard from him. "You sound pretty sure of yourself kid." Eren shrugged as he walked over to the chair and motioned for Hanji to sit down. She practically flew over to the seat and made herself comfy. "Tattooing is the one thing I know how to do well." Eren said honestly but there was still a hint of sadness in his voice. Levi thought that had some hidden meaning or something but he really wasn't about to delve into this kids traumas. It was nothing to do with him anyway.
"Shit!" Eren stopped as he was transferring the trace onto Hanji's lower stomach. Of all the places to get a first tattoo, Hanji had picked on of the most painful but it's what she wanted and even though Eren was unsure he had to go along with it. "What's the matter Eren? Did you mess up? It's ok if you did, I forgive you!" Hanji said earnestly which lead to a grateful smile on Eren's part. "No, it's all fine but I'm really sorry do you mind if I quickly call my friend, I was meant to ages ago and-" Levi cut him mumbling off with a wave of his hand "Shut up stammering, kid. Shitty glasses can wait.". Eren looked relieved and took off one of his plastic gloves to get him phone out of his pocket. Levi looked down at his friend and saw her suggestively wiggling her eyebrows at him. He pinched her on the arm causing her to yelp and giggle. 'fucking crazy' Levi thought to himself. He didn't meant to but he listened to Eren's conversation who was on one of the other chairs in the room. "Hi Armin? Yes I'm fine... Yeah Eld finished my sleeve and it's amazing! Mum would love it." He sounded sad when he said this and Levi couldn't help but wonder about the kids mum. But the tone of the conversation suddenly shifted and Eren sounded angry. "I don't give a crap if Mikasa's sorry! You either Armin! I actually did something responsible for a change and you both shit all over it!... Yeah I thought we were past it too... Later... No I'm not staying out on purpose, I actually have a customer then I might meet up with Connie." A strange feeling raced through Levi's gut when he heard the kid think about hanging out with someone else. Levi just put it down to needing a shit. "Armin, I'm hanging up, don't wait up for me... Bye!... Jesus, yes I love you guys too Armin, honestly I'm fine ok?... ok?... bye." Eren finally hung up the phone and sighed into his hands before putting a smile back onto his face and making his way over to the very intrigued pair. Levi knew that he could keep his mouth shut about hearing the phone call but he wasn't sure that his nosy friend would be able to.
It took exactly twenty seven minutes and fifteen seconds into having the tattoo done before Hanji brought up the subject of the phone call. "Who's Armin?" she asked, wincing from the pain slightly. Levi was sat the opposite side to Eren and the tattoo and was unfortunately within arms reach of Hanji so when something really hurt, his arm was the first to be squeezed. "He's one of my best friends, more like a brother actually, we basically grew up together." He mumbled it, clearly not wanting to break his air of concentration. "and Mikasa? A girlfriend?" Hanji said, curiosity filled eyes slid to Levi and back towards Eren again causing the raven haired man to tut and roll his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Eren scoffed "God no! She's my sister... well, adopted sister, She came into my life around the same time Armin did so we're all very close." He nodded to himself happy with the work he was doing on Hanjis tattoo. "You said home? Do you all live together?" Levi growled his annoyance under his breath, knowing that poking Hanji now could potentially lead to a very messy death (well... maybe not but his worry was still there). He didn't want Hanji's questions to make Eren angry again, that didn't seem right. "Yeah we do, after... certain events, They thought it'd be financially and, well, emotionally beneficial if we all moved in together." Hanji nodded, seemingly done with her questions. But Levi knew that wouldn't last long.
Three hours later and the damned tattoo was finally finished. Levi was so bored it was unbelievable. Eren was wiping it over with some sort of disinfectant Levi assumed. He wasn't exactly an expert with tattoos. "I'm done. If you want to go over to the mirror and take a look?" The shitty brat was back to being all nervous again now that the tattoo was over. He really was out of his comfort zone without a needle in his hand. Levi smirked at the thought. Hanji gasped and Levi was very curious to see if that was a good or bad gasp. "Holy shit." He muttered when he caught sight of the tattoo - no scratch that- masterpiece that was now inked into his best friends (but don't tell Hanji that) skin. It was a small arrangement of highly detailed red roses with purple pansy dotted around. He saw the delicate scribe of 'Maria' in between all of the flowers and he instantly knew how much this tattoo signified to his crappy friend. Besides the meanings and colours of the flowers (something Hanji had taught him and he didn't exactly hate) the fact Hanji had her mothers name tattooed onto her showed Levi that the visit was completely worth it. "Oh my god Eren. Thank you! It's even better then I could have ever hoped for!" She walked back over to Eren and pulled him into a tight hug, but was still mindful of the art on her stomach. "You are now officially one of my best friends Eren!" She exclaimed, pulling him tighter into her. Levi rolled his eyes at the kids obviously mortified expression. She pulled back and looked Eren dead in the eyes "I have a very serious question for you Eren." Her voice had dropped from wavy and emotional to deadly serious in a matter of moments and even Levi didn't know what his friend was going to ask. He was ready to hurl his phone at the back of her head to shut her up if it had anything to do with him. Eren looked like he was going to shit himself though. "Would you like to come and get Chinese food with us?" Levi let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. The kid seemed relieved too, it clearly wasn't the question they were both expecting. "Errr, sure? If that's ok with both of you?" The last question was directly aimed at Levi so of course he had to roll his eyes and make a big deal out of seeming reluctant but when Eren grinned at Levi's muttered 'sure'. Levi almost felt like grinning himself... and that scared him shitless.