Chagara - Chaos in the Darkness (Levi x OC Fanfic / AttackOnTitan)

86. "Is that really Levi Heichou?"

Natsuki opened the shop door for her mother. As Ayumi walked past her daughter with her bread under her arm, they heard the church bells. "Two o'clock." Natsuki's eyes snapped open. "If I'm leaving now, I could go to ... " She hadn't even finished her thought when she was already running up the stairs with the two baskets - without even noticing the people in the tea shop.

"What?" Ayumi looked after her daughter. To be sure, she had seen a spark of life in her daughter's eyes for the first time in days. But just running away without saying a word was not Natsuki's style. Shaking her head, she glanced at the tables. At one sat Naoki. Reading. And opposite him, Josefine.

"Josy!," said Ayumi cheerfully. For the past few weeks, Josefine had been coming over regularly to study with Naoki.

Nile's daughter looked up from her maths task with a smile. "Hello, Mrs Ackerman."

"Don't disturb her," Naoki grumbled and turned a page of his book.

"But ..." Irritated, Ayumi eyed her son's expression. It was Levi's reproachful look coming out of her eyes. "Don't let her die of thirst," Ayumi murmured, pointing at Josy's empty water glass and quietly walking up the stairs where Natsuki was already meeting her again.

"Where are you going?," asked Ayumi, confused.

"To the pharmacy! I have to pick up uncle Steve's orders." Natsuki avoided eye contact. It was only half of the truth.

"But remember to be back in time. You have to help -"

"Yes," Natsuki interrupted her mother hastily and kept running.

"Okay." Shaking her head, Ayumi continued her way. "Should I bake myself in the future?," she pondered as she looked at the bread again. "It might be cheaper if we offer sandwiches in the shop."

Natsuki had placed both baskets on the table. After the birth of the youngest Ackerman twins, the family had slightly rearranged the furniture in their large kitchen and living room at Ayumi's request. The large dining table was now no longer in a corner behind the sofa, but in the middle of the room. The sofa had moved back a bit and the space between the wall and the back of the sofa was supposed to be a little crawling and playing corner for Nobuki and Nori. But the fluffy carpet in the play corner - where all the Ackermans regularly lay with the babies and cuddled with them or read stories for them - was missing. And the cradle that always stood in front of the carpet was not there either. Ayumi frowned. Actually, she had put her youngest children in it before she had gone to the market with Natsuki. And there was no trace of her husband on the sofa. He had made himself comfortable there with a blanket. Only the blanket - folded neatly and without wrinkles - still gave a hint of the nap he had taken together with the babies.

"Levi?" Ayumi noticed a faint scent of lavender soap. "Did he clean?" As she placed her bread on the table, the bedroom door opened and Levi stepped out with a duster. "What are you doing?," his wife asked as she unpacked the tomatoes and cucumbers.

"We're cleaning," Levi replied, patting his daughter's little head with his free hand. Recognising only one of her babies in the wraparound in front of Levi's chest, Ayumi asked anxiously, "And where is Nobuki?"

In answer, Levi turned around. He had tied Nobuki to his back. As soon as Nobuki heard his mother's voice, however, he happily made a few sounds.

"Hey, sweetheart," Ayumi called with a smile, throwing several kisses at him, whereupon Nobuki's little arms and legs moved more.

"Oi," Levi grumbled at his wife. "Don't do that. No sooner are you here than he starts fidgeting again."

Shaking her head, Ayumi went back to her work. "And what did you do while I was away?," she wanted to know as she packed away the sliced cheese.