With the school day ending and the sound of screeching children coming to a halt, Erwin closed the windows in his class to leave. He planned on going home as soon as possible in order to begin setting his living quarters to a more or less presentable and less embarrassing state for when Levi would visit him. 

After his time at a new place with a completely different living standard, he decided he should at least acknowledge the effort and create a comfortable environment. Unfortunately, his schedule was held back by none other than Hanji.

“Hey, Erwin!”

Turning in the direction of the voice, there he spotted Hanji talking to Mr William with pure enthusiasm.

“Hello, Hanji, Mr. William,” Erwin greeted.

Mr. William nodded his head at Erwin in return, not a word in response.

“You know, William here is quite good at the anatomy of the human body!” Hanji exclaimed. “We’ve had a nice conversation if I do say so myself.”

“How interesting,” Erwin commented, really wanting to go home. “I’d really like to stay back and chat but I really need to get going.”

Hanji looked at him in disbelief, squinting their eyes with an accusing look.

“Why? You don’t have anything to do on Tuesdays,” Hanji said, poking his arm. “Don’t forget, I’ve known you since childhood and you never have anything to do on Tuesdays and Sundays.”

“Well, today I have something to do,” Erwin said, inching away slowly.

“It better be something important,” Hanji stated with a huff.

“Oh it is,” Erwin reassured. “I just need to clean and-”

“AHAHA!!!” Hanji burst out in laughter. “You what? Oh Erwin, I never thought you would do something like that! Did your stay at Levi’s change you?”

Erwin noticed a shift in Mr William’s attention, seeming to subtly get more interested in what they were talking about but Hanji was there and that made all the more sense.

“And? So what if it did?” Erwin argued. “Levi is a nice person and he likes cleanliness so if he’s gonna visit me next week shouldn’t I respect that preference?”

“He’s not nice. He literally threw me to the ground the second I met him,” Hanji said, crossing their arms.

“That’s because you were being loud and you called him short.”

William chuckled quietly, holding back a full blown guffaw at the amusing words but caught Erwin’s attention in the progress of trying to be subtle.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine. It’s just that this Levi you speak of reminds me of someone I know,” he explained. “Anyway, I should be leaving. I have to get back home now. It was nice talking to both of you.”

“It was nice talking to you as well, Mr William. Have a safe trip,” Erwin bid, feeling glad that he now had a chance to escape.

“It was a nice conversation, William. I hope we can have one just as interesting if we ever cross paths again.”

“I hope we do.”

Mr. William walked away from the both of them, Erwin taking that opportunity to escape from Hanji with the dramatic waving they were doing.

“Guess what, Kuchel?” Mr. William said, walking away from the school. “I’ve met the man your son seems to have a crush on and he seems like a good guy. Don’t you worry. If he hurts your precious Levi, I’ll make sure he won’t see the light of day again.”

“Talking to yourself again, boss?” a female asked.

“Shut up, Traute. I already told you before I’m speaking to my little sister.”

“Whatever. You going home now?”

“Yes. I need to get some things together and go to the castle sometime soon. I’m not sure if Levi already knows but I need to clean out the dungeons in that place.”

“Why?”

“Because that place is where the Ackerman’s kept all their victims.”

Mr. William, or rather, Kenny, didn’t discuss the topic anymore and headed home to get equipment ready to remove the skeletons from the dungeon in the basement. The only problem with him doing that is the fact that he may have set his mind to do it but that didn’t mean he’d actually do it as soon as possible. He’d probably do it sometime later.

But finding the right time to actually do what he said was just another problem he'd have to deal with later.

._._.

“Food tastes disgusting after you eat it too much so in conclusion, I don’t like food,” Levi mumbled, eating a piece of cake he had angrily baked that morning. 

Long story short, he had been happily dancing away to classical music playing on an old phonograph found in a random box when his favourite flowy dress hooked on the ledge of a chair, essentially ripping one of the seams and causing him to bake in anger.

“Erwin says I need to eat. Well he can’t see me so that means I don't have to listen.” 

He was proud of his conclusion, putting away the monstrosity they called cake and stretching.

“I can live off of tea and the occasional cup of milk,” he said, starting on another piece of cake he had put on a plate during his mind churning thought process. “Tch. Erwin doesn’t need to tell me what to do. I can decide for myself and I choose not eating,” he announced to no one in particular.

The moment someone or something consumes an individual's every thought, isn’t that when it normally starts being called an obsession or in some cases, a crush? Or is it just deep, friendly infatuation, taking your friends' words into consideration for what is best? Erwin was just a friend. A friend with good words meant for the best.

Levi headed outside, sitting on the front steps to await the arrival of the grocery person that would be arriving in a few minutes. It was kind of strange, the same man had been bringing him groceries for several years yet he had never spoken a word to him except the standard ‘Thank you's’ and ‘goodbyes.’ Maybe that was the reason he only knew two people. 

He never put effort to expand and socialize which resulted with a quiet life. 

As expected, the man arrived less than five minutes later with his groceries and pair of shoes Levi had told Kenny to get him. He signed the paper as usual and that was it. Monotonous, lack of effort to make small talk and that was fine for now. 

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The man turned to leave and that's when the pattern they normally had shifted. Levi himself decided to ask a question.

“Sorry, but how often do you speak to my Uncle?” Levi asked, uncertain if this person even knew his Uncle or was just instructed to bring him his shit for years on end.

“As a matter of fact, I’m going to him right now. Why do you ask?”

“Well can you ask him to please send in the next delivery, a blue empire dress that flares out at the bottom? Can you remember that?”

“No problem. I’ll make sure I won’t forget and it’ll be here next week,” the man said with a nod and kind smile.

“Thanks. Oh, and it’s size small.”

"No problem.”

The man left and Levi was left to put away the groceries. His first attempt to hold a conversation with the man and it was about dresses. Laughable. But hey, it was a start from the pattern they carried out.

As he worked, it was noticeable that his Uncle really did send him quite a bit more groceries than he normally did.

“What should I do, what should I do, what should I do now? Take a walk in the forest?” Levi asked himself once he was done, running a dampened cloth over the area where all the bags had been resting to rid of the outside germs.

Putting on a pair of shoes and walking around the forest in one of his suits, he hummed to himself in the way he always did. It had become something he did subconsciously but the more he did it, he wondered if it was something he did to remind himself that he was alive and surrounded by the big wide world. Albeit alone, he still had the gift of voice to remind him that his mind wasn't alone. A single voice could be alone but never would it be as alone as the mind if never occupied.

The ground was moist and muddy but if he so happened to mess up the suit, it wouldn’t matter. He preferred dresses but his suits needed to be worn and finding an excuse to ruin them was always welcome. He wouldn't find himself anger baking for that. 

Dresses were for times when he couldn’t take the feeling of a suit anymore or if he just felt like ignoring his other very few clothes. Which was nearly always.

The wind was nice and chilly but the last streaks of sun kept him warm enough to go without a warm cover up. He made his way to the little stream he had met Erwin at, instantly filled with happiness, something he had been feeling in large amounts recently. It was strange to be feeling these emotions out of the blue and he questioned himself why but the only logical reason was because of Erwin.

“Why would Erwin make me so happy all of a sudden? I haven’t even known him for three days," Levi scolded himself. "Whatever, if I’m happy because of his existence, then so be it. I don’t care right now.”

As said, he lay on some grass beside the creek and let his hand fall in the water. He made ripples with his fingers as he watched the sun sink down until it was completely dark. He stayed by the creek and watched the stars come out. 

His favourite night decoration always made him feel calm and now was no different.

A rustle of leaves brought him to focus, making him turn to see a small fox on the other side of the water cautiously inching forward to drink.  

And the longer he stared, he suddenly felt upset because the only way he could see was because of the moonlight that shone through. 

The fox lay in the grass, rolling around friskily. It didn't stay long, creeping off into the bushes but the short visit brought memories to Levi.

"Levi! What are you doing?!"

"Nothing Mama!" A six year old Levi giggled loudly as he stood confidently in place, covered in colourful leaves.

"I've told you over and over, don't roll in the leaves with the dogs!" Kuchel sighed in exasperation. "You're gonna get sick! Do you want to be sick? You don't."

"But it's fun!" Levi insisted, heading inside anyway where his Mother awaited to dust him off.

His memory went foggy after that but the gentle hands removing all the twigs and leaves still felt fresh in the mind. Blinking to focus, he noticed the night had fully set in and he was left out in the wilderness to fend for himself.

“I guess Erwin was right. I really need Vitamin A or whatever it was.”

Levi got up and dusted himself off. He listened to the sound of crunching twigs under his feet with every step he took.

“How did Erwin manage to sneak up on me the day we met? It makes no sense. I should have been able to hear a thousand add pounds of crunching.”

The closer Levi got to the castle, the more he realized he really had been alone for years. He didn’t really care that he hadn’t spoken to anyone in all that time but he was glad he had met Erwin. But the one encounter made him crave presence more.

“Only a week left and I can go to town for the first time in years. Mayhaps I can finally see where Uncle Kenny lives and go shopping for clothes,” Levi said to himself.

It was a comforting thought that propelled the days that came and went, leaving Levi to keep himself busy at his mind's own pace. It didn't matter. Going out for an actual purpose was exciting. Going out because of someone he met out of nowhere made it even more thrilling.

The days crept, the seconds lagged and yet, simultaneously, everything went by in a flash. So when Monday evening rolled around, Levi found himself in the sitting room suddenly remembering he didn’t have a horse of his own to get to town.