“ERWIN! I THOUGHT YOU DIED OR SOMETHING! ARE YOU OKAY?!” Hanji yelled, full of enthusiasm while the other male that tagged along pulled them off of Erwin.

“Yes, I’m fine Hanji. Although you have no manners whatsoever,” Erwin replied, glancing at Levi who stood leaning against the wall with distaste clear on his face. Who gave a shit if he looked disgusted?

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Hanji said looking at Levi. A sudden brightness appeared in their eyes and they rushed to stand in front of him. “Hi! My name is Hanji Zoë but you can call me Hanji!” They exclaimed, sticking out their hand in a show of attempted solidarity.

Levi cautiously took her hand and shook it without a smile on his face.

“The name’s Levi.”

“Aww, a small name for a small person!”

Erwin just froze and watched as Hanji was thrown to the ground in an instant, no remorse as they hit the ground unexpectedly.

“Hanji! This is why you better watch your mouth!” The man scolded. “I’m sorry about them. My name’s Mike. Thank you for taking in Erwin. I hope he didn’t bother you.”

“It’s fine and Erwin was no bother at all,” Levi said, glancing at Erwin. “It's them that seems like a bother.”

“You’re talking about us as if we’re children,” Erwin commented, pulling Hanji up from the ground easily.

“OH MY GOSH! How did you learn to do that!?” Hanji asked, getting excited and interrupting the conversation. “Will you teach me?!”

“Hanji, will you stay quiet? I should have brought Moblit instead of you,” Mike sighed, grabbing their arm to keep them in place but having it yanked out due to hyperness seconds after.

“Sorry, sorry.”

While Mike was busy scolding Hanji, Erwin walked over to Levi to check if Hanji had been too hyper for him, peering down closely at his face and making sure the shorter’s clothes didn't have any obvious markings of a sudden Hanji attack.

“You alright? They didn’t hurt you or anything right?” Erwin asked quietly, ensuring the other two wouldn't hear them lest he suffer weeks of continuous poking.

“It’s fine. If they would’ve hurt me, I would have broken their arm. The only problem with that is, you’re their friend and you might crush me with your stupidly big hands so I have to refrain from doing so,” Levi answered, leaning back against a wall and looking up at Erwin who was way too dangerously close.

“I wouldn’t have minded. It would calm them down significantly but they’re a teacher as well so there’d be a big mess in their science lab and that’d be bad.”

“So everyone here’s smart? How nice. I wonder what it’s like to have a brain that actually does its damn job.”

Erwin let out a laugh at the honest yet serious comment and shook his head. As he had mentioned to himself before, Levi was interesting and he liked that.

“Remember what you said, your brain works better on different topics so it‘s okay. By the way, do you still want them to stick around for lunch even though Hanji might be dreadful? We can leave if you’d like.”

“It’s fine. As long as they don’t make a mess then I’m alright.”

Erwin nodded in understanding and turned to find Hanji staring at him with a suspicious smile. He hated that smile already. He just prayed that everything would remain upright and calm with Hanji’s energy levels bouncing balls high at that moment.

“What’s wrong with you?” Erwin asked with a raised brow.

“Nothing~” they sang, slinging their arm around Mike’s shoulder. “So, are we going now?”

“No. Levi asked if we would like to stay for lunch and I agreed for all of us. So we'll be sticking around.”

“Oh, fun!”

“Hanji, you can only be here if you wipe your feet before entering, don’t dirty anything, and don’t touch anything,” Erwin warned, giving instructions before Levi would and by the looks of it, Levi wouldn’t go easy on instructing.

“Hey! I’m not a little kid!” Hanji insisted, wiping their feet at the entrance anyway and slinging off their shoes sloppily

“I could be mistaken,” Mike muttered under his breath.

Hanji ignored him and followed Erwin and Levi who were now walking side by side into the castle. They really had to restrain themselves from prodding into their quiet conversation but even someone like Hanji could tell when they should let it be for a moment. The four arrived at the kitchen where Levi walked to one side of the counter located in the middle of the room while the guests stood on the other side.

“Now, you can all sit by the table and I can get you tea or you can go to the sitting room,” Levi suggested, hoping that they’d decide to be elsewhere. He didn’t mind people and he didn’t mind having them there but Hanji was another species he wasn’t good at handling. “I believe Erwin hasn’t forgotten where it is so you can decide.”

“Wait, you’ll make lunch?” Hanji asked, surprised. “Can I help? I can-!”

“Hanji, No!” Erwin and Mike both yelled, shutting them up instantly.

“You will kill us if you even consider trying to help,” Mike said, dragging Hanji farther away from the counter.

“But I’m a science teacher, I know how to mix things!” They countered, determined to prove that they could do anything.

“There’s a huge difference between mixing chemicals and mixing our food,” Erwin explained to Hanji, patting their shoulder reassuringly.

“I wasn’t gonna let shitty glasses help anyway,” Levi spoke up.

Erwin chuckled at Levi’s comment and Hanji just threw a rather unimpressive stink eye at everyone. Levi could honestly have fun if he let himself poke and prod at the wild species but the remembrance of their energetic nature shut down the idea almost instantly.

“Well Erwin, since you’ve become an expert at finding your way in this place, please show us where the sitting room is so that I can keep Hanji from making a mess.”

Without a word, Erwin ushered the two others away from the kitchen, leaving Levi to sigh in happiness to himself with the much needed quiet. Who knew having a conversation was so damn tiring? Especially a conversation he didn't join nor have any intent on carrying out.

Boy was the feeling he had as if he were on cloud fucking nine now that Hanji was out of the way for the time being. 

He took out some meat and other ingredients to make the best meal he knew how. Not any part of cooking was easy and although he was a very collected person, burning it was still a high possibility. He hadn’t gotten groceries in a while which was a down factor so that meant he had to use what he had.

Seasonings there, his ears elsewhere, eyes not really seeing what he was doing, Levi felt okay. Guests in the house, cooking properly for the first time in a long time, ornaments at risk, Levi just hoped his belongings wouldn't break. He reassured himself. Told himself that Mike and Erwin were responsible enough and that it'd all be okay so he took a breath and carried on what he had been doing.

It didn’t take long to prepare the food. Roughly forty-five minutes, give or take, until he had the meal prepared along with his signature tea. Upon completion of his task, Levi walked to the sitting room where he expected to find the others and was mortified to see the sight before him. 

The two males were desperately attempting to pry Hanji away from a cabinet where they had obviously been digging in, leaving everything scattered about and unorganized. Levi swore he saw colours for a second before he took in a breath and watched how it’d carry out.

“Hanji if you do NOT stop right now I will knock you out,” Mike hissed under his breath.

“Hanji, Levi will kill you if he finds you touching his belongings if he sees this mess you’ve created!”

“Shut up, you guys. And how do you know so much about Levi? Isn’t this your first time meeting him? Had some deep quality time like that, didn’t you?” Hanji laughed, pushing some things to the side. What the hell were they even rummaging for?

“Hanji! Stop! What are you looking for?” Erwin whisper-yelled at them, pulling their leg while Mike grabbed around their abdomen.

“I don’t know. Just looking. Besides, he won’t even notice anything is moved.”

“Hanji, I shit you not that he knows this house inch by inch and not to mention you suddenly think you can go through people’s belongings?”

Levi didn’t say a word from where he leaned against the door frame. He just watched as Erwin and Mike begged them to stop and tried pulling them away just to have them get away and go back to poking around once more. At least he knew he could trust Erwin and Mike to some extent with the house but Hanji would be something he wouldn’t be able to deal with.

“I think the food is cold already. Any time now would be nice,” Levi drawled from the doorway.

He watched with amusement as Hanji froze in place and frantically slammed the cabinet doors shut, pretending to examine the wooden exterior in fascination while Mike pulled them away with force and Erwin just stood with his back towards Levi. 

“Right this way if you will,” Levi said motioning out the door.

Hanji bounced right past Levi as if they had been doing nothing and Mike whispered sorry as he passed by. Levi gave him a nod to show he wasn’t mad at him, hearing Mike let out a sigh of relief right after. Erwin hadn’t moved from the wall yet, which Levi took as a sign of disappointment or shame, making him walk over to the blond to check on him.

“What’re you doing?” Levi asked, placing a hand on the small of Erwin’s back and peering up at him. 

“I’m sorry Levi. I shouldn’t have decided to stay. I knew Hanji would be trouble but I was hoping they would calm down just for today. Now they have all your belongings mixed up.”

“It’s alright, I can fix them later.”

Levi knew it wasn’t alright but he didn’t feel like making Erwin feel more guilty than he already was. Besides, what else was he supposed to do when Erwin was gone? Lay on the ground all day and pretend he was busy? Busy doing what? Daydreaming?

“No. I can’t let you organize the things right after they were mixed up by someone I brought into your house. I’ll help you organize everything as soon as you like,” Erwin said looking down at Levi.

“In that case, let’s go have lunch first. Boy will you be having fun organizing to my liking, Blondie.”

And all Erwin could do was laugh as Levi grabbed onto his hand and gently pulled him towards the kitchen. Erwin smiled at Levi’s smaller hand in his but didn’t pull away for whatever reason until they were about to arrive where the other two were waiting. 

He hoped the meal would go smoothly.