Same, but Different

•Chapter X•

I hummed. "Has it been a long time since you've seen them?"

"Kind of. It's been about eight or so months," she responded.

"I wanna meet them!" Titan shouted, "I've never had an aunty!"

"I have two because Papa's sister is a lesbian."

"That's when it's two girls, right?" Titan asked for clarification.

"Yes," Levi clarified.

"Was it hard for her to come out at all?" I asked, intrigued. "Were your parents accepting?"

"My uncle was pretty... uh... harsh, but my mom was supportive..."

"No father...?"

"No. I don't have a grandpa," Aki hummed.

"Me neither," Titan said. "Well, I've never met him. Or grandma."

"We can share my grandma then."

Titan grinned. "I'd like that lots."

"Sound like a plan." Aki smiled at him before helping Levi put toppings on everyone's food and hand them out to Titan and me.

"Thank you," I said briefly. Sitting down and bundling up in my blanket.

"Food!" Titan buzzed, cutting off a large chunk and shoving it into his mouth before humming happily. "Mmm, good food."

I laughed, trying some myself. "Fair play, this food is freakin' amazing, Levi, Aki."

"Thank you." Aki smiled.

"I'm glad you enjoy it." Levi smiled, but it was kind of devoid of emotion. He looked almost hollow.

"Levi..." I muttered quietly, leaning over to talk to just him rather than have the kids overhear. "Is it because of Chelsea?"

"No..." Levi ate his food.

I cocked my head. "Then what is it?"

He stabbed his meal. "It's nothing."

"It doesn't feel like nothing."

"I'm fine."

"Liar."

"Whatever. I'm not going to argue." Levi got up and handed everyone their drinks.

I sighed, letting Titan finish off my crêpe after cutting off the bits I'd touched in case I infected him. "... I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, Eren. You've done nothing wrong."

"I got nosy." I replied, "It's not like I have any right to know how you're feeling, so I kinda did do something wrong."

"You were trying to help."

I shrugged. "Still."

Aki finished her food before scampering off with Titan and Levi crossed his arms over the table and rested his head on them. "I'm a mess."

I shuffled my seat over closer, nudging him slightly. "You're looking after Aki well, at least." I tried to pump him up. "I mean, you can't get much worse than me."

"There's more to everything than just that. Aki is ninety percent of me, but there's still ten percent for the other things." Levi kept his head down. "Hopefully Mikasa helps."

"So you're ninety percent fine and ten percent a freakin' mess?" I asked, my hand naturally threading through Levi's hair in an attempted soothing motion. It worked on Titan.

"In a way."

I hummed. "You sure you don't wanna talk about it? I give good advice."

Levi brought his head up and looked into my eyes. It was... I don't know, confusing? Like in those movies where you make eye contact with someone you like and your world just stops. I didn't want my world to stop, not with Levi at least, but it did. "I don't know if this is your area of expertise."