Caged Bird

8

It was near the end of the evening. Levi was impatiently waiting to see Hanji. After it felt like hours had passed, it was finally time. Levi quickly headed to the door. Zeke stopped him.

"Mr. Ackerman!" he called.

Levi grumbled but turned around.

"Yes?" he replied.

"I have a rather odd question for you," Zeke said.

"So uh...some man that says he's your uncle, got in contact with me and said you're a good singer. That true?"

"Tch, that man is an idiot I do not associate myself with," Levi replied.

"But...yes, I do sing a bit. Why?"

"Well I wanted to add a little something special to my line up next month," Zeke said.

"No of the other clients sing, they got awful voices. So, my question to you is, would you be willing to do a short show with my song-bird?"

Levi was a bit shocked by this ask. It was very strange to him that Zeke would even ask this.

"Uh, sure I guess," Levi said.

"Great! I'll have everything arranged for you, so don't worry about that," Zeke replied.

"You're one of my top customers so I wanted to extend this offer to you."

Levi nodded.

"Well uh, I hope to be able to keep up with your song-bird," he said.

"I'm sure you will," Zeke replied.

"I won't keep you any longer. Enjoy your evening!"

Levi headed up to Hanji's room. She was eagerly waiting for him and tackled him in a hug.

"Hey," Levi said with a small smile.

"Nice to see you."

Hanji smiled. The two sat down and had tea Levi made.

"So, I'll be singing with you soon," Levi said.

"What?" Hanji asked confused.

"Zeke stopped me downstairs and offered me to sing with you," Levi replied.

"I'll admit that I was shocked and a bit confused... But I agreed since it allows me to be close to you."

Hanji smiled.

"It could be fun," she said.

"Though, I didn't know you sing heh. Like you sing me lullabies to help me sleep but that's different than singing to a crowd."

"I'll be fine," Levi replied.

"I-I have a song idea we could sing, but it'll only be accepted if you recommend it to Zeke. Since he disregards everything I say..." Hanji said.

"Tell me what it is," Levi replied.

Hanji pulled out a small notebook.

"It's the one called 'Blue-Bird'," she said.

Levi read it over.

"It's perfect," he said.

A month passed-