The next two weeks practically flew by- each day, Levi spent almost every waking hour cleaning or researching his own name, also bothering to look up every name he knew from back in his reality. His own name was the only one with conclusive results, though.
(Y/N), though interested in his plight, found herself more inclined to relax and listen to his summarized conclusions by the end of his day of research. Sometimes it felt more like she was with Hange rather than Levi.
She still couldn't get over how funny it was that he was a captain in this reality as well. Though it may not matter, since he can't remember any of it.
How fitting for him to choose to labor in the sky, up where he couldn't have ever dreamed of being before. It was also a nice detail how he affectionately nicknamed his most-used aircraft the "Wings of Freedom." It was just like Levi to do something unorthodox, not fearing what anyone else thought, not bound by the limitations of social norms.
This morning, Levi was thoroughly invested in an article about different types of landing gear when (Y/N) cleared her throat.
He glanced up from the screen, then straightened up after noticing how badly his back had been hunched over. "Yes?"
"Today's Thursday."
"Ah." He leaned back in his chair.
"So..."
"Do you want me to finish your sentence or wait for you to find your brains?"
"Very funny, Levi. I wanted to say I think you should come with me tonight. We can spend this morning straightening out everything that's okay to talk about, and then hopefully things will go over well." She said, tapping her finger with her chin.
He glared at her. "What is this, an interview?"
Suddenly she felt a bit guilty. "Kind of..."
He sighed and slapped his hands onto his thighs before standing up. "Look. I'm not gonna lie- if your parents don't like me, I don't give a damn." He closed his eyes. "That said, since they're your parents and they care about you, I will respect their opinions of me. From the way you talk about them, I can tell they'd only do something if they believed it was in your best interest. But when it comes down to it, the most important opinions to me are yours and mine. Anything else is secondary."
He stared into her eyes, waiting for a response. When there was none, he continued. "I'm not going to hide myself to please someone. I'm sure you understand that about me."
Finally, she spoke. "I'm so sorry, Levi, I didn't mean to make it sound like I wanted you to hide yourself... I just don't want to freak out my parents. I don't know how they'll react to all of this. But I believe with everything that once we get over that uncomfortable first meeting that they're going to love you."
He looked into her eyes. "Okay. Then let's figure it all out."
They spent the remainder of the morning deciding what information they should and should not divulge to (Y/N)'s parents. There would be no mention of Attack on Titan, no mention of Levi's backstory other than what one can look up on the internet, and definitely no mention of their jumping between realities.
The one thing they could talk about was Levi's apparent memory loss and previous occupation. If (Y/N)'s parents were up on the news, they may notice his identity.
Every few minutes (Y/N)'s guilt had eaten too far into her, and she needed to ask Levi if he was okay with everything. His constant reassurance gave her confidence.
Then it was time for the dreaded phone call. The one where (Y/N) would have to tell her parents she's bringing a man home. She hasn't had any kind of romantic relationship since high school- and that's so far away now it felt like it barely counted. Now that she's an adult with a job and a life of her own, she has no idea how her parents will react.
She clicked each button with slowed action, Levi watching over her shoulder before moving to sit opposite her. She pressed call and put the phone up to her ear, but changed her mind and switched it to speaker mode, setting the device on the table so Levi could hear. She lifted a finger to her mouth and he nodded.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mom." (Y/N) said.
"What's up, dear?" She said, her voice sounding cheery as always.
"I... was wondering if I could bring someone home with me to dinner tonight."
All of the sudden, she heard a little muffled squeal come from the phone. She looked up at Levi, who was resting his chin on his hand, looking bored.
"Is this someone a special someone?" Her mother asked after a few seconds.
(Y/N) felt the blush rise to her cheeks. "Possibly."
"Oooh! Does this special someone have a favorite dinner??"
(Y/N) looked up at Levi again, who shrugged.
"No, make whatever you want, Mom."
"Wonderful!! Okay, tell me about this person. Details, sweetie."
Now, Levi was interested. He cocked his head confidently and lifted his eyebrows. (Y/N) had to avert her eyes from him in order to keep her composure while speaking. "Well, his name is Levi... he's strong, he's smart, and... he's really short."
Levi's hand slipped from under his chin, and his smug expression was replaced by an annoyed one. He got up from his chair and started to pace around the apartment.
"Aw, so he's fun-sized! That's nice."
"I'll save the rest for when you meet him, okay?"
"I can't wait! I'll see you later, then! Goodbye!"
"Bye, Mom."
click
(Y/N)'s state of elation was interrupted by a pair of strong hands slamming down on her shoulders from behind.
"Fun-sized? What does that even mean?" Levi seethed through his teeth.
"It's a description for candy bars that they make smaller on purpose."
Levi shifted his arms so that he was now holding (Y/N) in a loose choke-hold shape. "I could kill you so easily right now."
(Y/N) smiled. "But you won't, because you love me too much."
He let go of her and sauntered away. "Debatable."
She laughed. The phone call had gone well, now all that was left was to actually meet up. That would probably be more uncomfortable. What would her parents think of him? His attitude is pretty off-putting for most people. She'd tell him that he should make sure he's being respectful to her parents, but she wanted him to be himself. They'd better like him.
~
They stood on the doorstep of (Y/N)'s childhood home, having not yet rung the doorbell or knocked.
Despite Levi's apparent indifference before, his nervousness was starting to come through his exterior. This was nothing compared to coming to terms with his inner feelings towards (Y/N) for the first time, but he was still a bit concerned about how the night would go.
(Y/N) lifted a finger and rung the doorbell. In the second before the door flung open, Levi took a deep breath.
Just inside the doorway stood one of the largest men Levi had ever seen. His height and build rivaled Erwin and Miche. The man looked Levi up and down, which didn't take very long, and then extended his hand.
Levi met him in the middle and the two men engaged in a silent, firm handshake, (Y/N) standing awkwardly by the side. Suddenly her mother's hand had made its way to her husband's shoulder, pulling him away from the door.
"Nice to meet you, I'm (D/N/L/N)." He said in his burly, manly voice.
"Levi Ackerman. Likewise."
(Y/N)'s mother soon clasped his lingering hand in hers. "Hello! I'm (Y/N)'s mom, (M/N). It's so good to see you, Levi! Please, come in!"
The two of them stepped inside the house, and (M/N) scurried over to the table, making sure everything was in place. (D/N) lingered a bit and looked at Levi.
"You look familiar."
Levi opened his mouth. "I-"
"Let's eat, I'm starving!" (Y/N) yelled, walking over to the table, pulling Levi by the arm along with her.
(M/N) cheerily portioned off the food while (D/N) continued his stare-down of Levi.
It was Levi who spoke first. "Thank you for having us over, Mr. and Mrs. (L/N)." He was really stretching himself tonight- a preemptive thanks was rare for him.
"It's a pleasure!" (M/N) replied.
Desperate to cut the tension that had grown, (Y/N) spoke. "I love this dish, mom. You know, I can't remember the last time we had this."
"It's been a while hasn't it? It had to have been more than three years ago, right?" She said, glancing at her husband.
He shrugged. "Beats me." He started to dig into his dinner.
(M/N) leaned her elbows on the table, and rested her chin on her interlaced fingers. "So, Levi, what do you do?"
Levi was a bit relieved to have been asked one of the things he had actually prepared for during their little powwow this morning. "I was recently hired to work with (Y/N) at the buildings downtown."
"Aw, so that's how you met?"
"Not exactly." (Y/N) blurted. Her parents locked their eyes on her. "You remember a little while ago on the news... there was a pilot who went missing."
(M/N)'s eyes grew wide. (D/N) looked right at Levi. "Ah, I suppose that's why you looked familiar to me."
"I didn't know you had been found! That's good news." (M/N) beamed.
"Technically, I'm still missing." Levi remarked. They looked at him quizzically.
(Y/N) continued for him. "He has no memory of being a pilot or really any of his life before that. I found him standing in the middle of the street a few weeks ago and... I brought him to my apartment where I've been taking care of him."
(Y/N) knew they'd have to get to the meat of the problem eventually, but it still felt way too early in the dinner to be talking about all of this. Though, she would expect nothing else. She thought maybe that her parents would be upset she had brought a man into her home without telling anyone, but to her delight, they didn't seem angry.
"Wow!" was all (M/N) had to say, which was interesting because (Y/N) expected her to say a lot.
(D/N) continued for her. "That's certainly an interesting story. So, you really have no memory of being a pilot or anything?"
"I don't." Levi felt hesitant. Now that his information was out in the open, it was like he was waiting for an approval of some kind.
The silence had grown. (Y/N) wondered if maybe taking Levi home might have been a bad idea- it was more believable than his real story, but this one about memory loss was still a bit crazy. Suddenly, she thought of something that might work to cut the awkward tension in the air.
"Dad, you know how you don't like it when I'm all out on my own walking home from work?" (Y/N) said.
"Yes?"
"Well, Levi can fight off anyone who comes at me with bad intentions. Right?" She looked to the smaller man. He nodded.
"That's great!" (M/N) cheered. "And our (Y/N) won't be so lonely anymore, oh, I like this already. You two are so cute."
It took all of Levi's willpower to not physically cringe at her mother's use of cute to describe him, but he contained himself. After that, (D/N) softened up a bit, starting to get comfortable with his daughter's newfound partner.
The rest of the night went off without a hitch, save for a few awkward encounters, but that was to be expected. Levi handled himself expertly well, even participating in a board game.
At 10:30, it was time for their departure.
Levi outstretched his hand to (D/N), but instead of that, the larger man pulled him in for a firm embrace. Levi would have (and could have) pushed away anyone else, but he allowed it to happen. (D/N) said something into his ear that neither of the women noticed. Levi nodded at the man with a sincere look on his face once they had pulled away from each other.
After more goodbyes, (Y/N) and Levi left for home.
~
Their trip was silent because (Y/N) could tell that Levi needed to process everything, but once they had slipped into the door, kicked off their shoes, and slumped onto the couch, everything needed to come out.
"Well, that went a lot better than I expected it to." (Y/N) sighed.
Levi groaned, leaned his head back, and dramatically dragged his hands down his face. "That was the most exhausting thing I've ever done. And I fight titans for a living."
(Y/N) laughed. "Well, it paid off. I didn't think you were being fake, though. You were just being respectful."
"Mm." He grunted.
"What did my dad say to you before we left?"
His eyes widened. "Nothing."
"Oh, come on. Tell me."
He folded his hands together. "It's confidential information. He asked me not to tell you, so I will respect that wish. Or would you rather me go behind your father's back?"
He had caught her between a rock and a hard place. "You got me. I guess I just won't know."
It was late and the two of them were both tired, so they lazily went through their nightly routines and settled down in bed. Things had gone well. Despite all the stress, this day gave (Y/N) some hope that maybe her life could be normal, and that it didn't need to be crazy and scary.
She always felt safe in the embrace of Levi.
~