"So," I mused, mindlessly scribbling on a piece of paper laid flat on the table before me, "you know your uncle." Levi's unamused gaze found me quickly, a sidelong look that expressed his distaste of the topic at hand with not even so much as a word uttered from him. "Do you know anything about the rest of your family?"

It was quiet, then. With his hand still, and my voice now silent, it was far too easy to hear what was going on outside. It was a cool fall day, yet late in the season. The leaves had finally all fallen from their branches, and earlier Levi and I had been sent out to rake them up.

So now here we sat, with blistered hands, flushed cheeks, and cold fingers, listening to the other kids ruin the fruits of our labor. Our hard work ruined, because they wanted to jump in the leaf piles. Ah, well. It wasn't our fault that there hadn't been enough bags for them.

All it meant was that we would be told to do it again, likely getting out of doing our chores after dinner. So that was fine, for me at least. We at least worked well together.

Levi's voice pulled me from my thoughts. "Do you?"

"Know anything about my family?"

"Yeah. That."

"No," I answered truthfully. "Just my name, and that I was left here when I was a baby. Technically, I could find my family if I wanted to, but... I'm not really sure if I..."

"I get it," he responded quietly. "You don't need to explain it."

"And you don't need to answer if you don't want to," I said to him, scribbling over a doodle. "I was just thinking about it, and maybe you can find your family too, if you wanted. But don't feel pressured to answer or anything."

"I want to," he said quietly. But then he went quiet, and I stayed quiet as well, to offer him the time and space he needed to work up to his answer. I knew how personal things tended to be delicate matters to discuss with him, and I wasn't about to make him feel obligated to answer.

I kept my eyes on the paper as I doodled more and more, just mindless little things that gave my hand something to do while I waited for him to speak. And after another silent moment, he did.

"I only know his name," Levi responded finally. "Kenny."

I put the pencil down and gave him my full attention. Honestly, I hadn't expected him to answer, after how long it took him to find his words, few though there were. Usually he brushed aside my pestering. If he was willing to be more open with me, whether overall or just in this one instance because he felt generous, I wasn't about to waste this chance. 

And I certainly wasn't going to badger him to say more, or dare complain about how little he did say, because even those few words were precious enough.

"So when you get adopted, can you even find him again? There are probably a lot of people named Kenny out there."

Levi's focus shifted from me, landing instead on the table. "Ackerman. That's his last name."

"That narrows it down, then. Ackerman," I tested the name out on my tongue. It sounded good. It was a strong name, it fit him. Sounded... formal, almost. Important. It was a strong family name, and one to be proud of. Only... he didn't seem to be.

"It's not mine," Levi said before I could speak again, as if knowing exactly what I was thinking. "He's my uncle but all I know is that he knew my mother. So... it might not..."

"He might be your uncle on your dad's side, you mean," I said, "so it might not be your mother's surname. Or maybe it's the other way around, so it's not your formal family name, right? Oh, or he might even be completely unrelated, like a close family friend you only call your uncle?"

"Yeah," he said. "Exactly. I don't know anything other than that he is an Ackerman."

"Well, still," I said with a shrug, "at least you know it. That means you can find him later. Maybe he can tell you more about why he left, or about your family. If he knew your mother and took care of you for a while for her, she must have been special to him."

He nodded slowly. I briefly wondered what else I could say, what he might appreciate hearing. Maybe silence was the answer. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe he needed the comfort. Or maybe...

"(L/n)."

His eyes found mine again, found my smile. "What?"

"(L/n)," I repeated, "that's my last name."

---

I had expected my first day of school to be full of new things: new faces, new names, new things, new rules. I hadn't anticipated the most shocking bit of news to be what it was... nor was I expecting it to actually happen at all.

In the excitement and nerves that had encompassed me all day, I hadn't really thought about Levi. Not at all. I'd just been so caught up in everything going on that I hadn't anticipated the possibility of him going to this school. Hell, I hadn't even considered the chance of him living even in this district, in this city, in this county.

I mean, when we had that plan to meet up, he hadn't been able to. I'm sure that even the world's most advanced security systems couldn't have kept him from sneaking out. The only thing that would keep him from coming was... well... if he'd lived too far away.

But there was also another possibility, and that was that he'd simply forgotten about it. Not that I thought this was the case, no. He was only human, yes, but he was Levi. If something was important to him, he made that fact known through only the most subtle of signs – signs anyone other than those close to him would miss, easy as they were to overlook.

But me... I knew that it was important to him, to meet me if he could, because I was important to him. He made that clear. So he wouldn't just forget about what he'd said, because it was important. So that left only the possibility of him now living much too far away.

That was, at least, the hope I clung to. Choosing to believe anything else was too hard, too painful – that I wasn't important to him, that I wasn't worth the effort to make it there, that he had forgot because I wasn't as important to him as I had thought.

So, I chose to believe what I did. Every other possibility hurt too much to consider. But I had figured that if he was too far to visit, then there was realistically the entire rest of the world as a possibility for where he lived.

"(Y/n)?" Hange asked, leaning now into my line of sight, far closer than I was expecting. "(Y/n)? You alright?"

"Yeah," I said breathlessly, my body still reeling from the realization that Levi – well, a Levi – went here. "Um... This Levi... what does he look like?"

"Huh? What, you into his name or something? Or do you know one? 'Cause I assure you, he's really not-"

"I know a Levi," I interrupted her. "The one in our class, what does he look like?"

"Uh..." It appeared that I caught her off-guard, or that she was thinking real hard about her answer. "Short. Shorter than I am."

Good start. He wasn't exactly vertically inclined.

"He's got dark hair, he's super pale, and he looks angry all the time."

Oh, my god.

Well, there were very few people who I figured would fit that description. It could have only been my Levi.

"...And he's got this real pointy nose, right, and I think his eyes are blue? Can't really tell, he's always glaring at me when he looks at me. And-"

I hadn't realized Hange had still been prattling on, but they had, and yet, I couldn't answer. I couldn't find it in me to even so much as cut them off, to tell them that it was alright, that I had the information that I needed.

I couldn't find it in me, not with the way that my heart was suddenly pounding in my ears. Not with the way that all my thoughts were an indecipherable wave of noise, all rushing to the front of my mind yet swarming, so much so that I couldn't pick a single one out.

I might see Levi today. Our long-awaited reunion, short though it really had been since we were torn apart... it was finally happening. I found myself suddenly wanting to go prepare, yet how exactly I would do that, I didn't know.

"Only, he's out today, I think," Hange continued, those words in particular yanking me from the train of thought my mind had boarded. "Something about a doctor's appointment? I don't know. Ask Erwin, they're close. You know what though, maybe he's going to remove one of those sticks from his-"

"Hange," I cut in, downright beaming now, "I think it's the Levi I know."

"Are you sure? You seem too excited about-"

"I'm positive," I assured them. My heart fluttered now, at the thought of seeing him. But then it stopped. Doctor's appointment? "Wait, did you say he won't be here today?"

"I don't think so," Hange replied, shrugging. "On Friday he mentioned something about an appointment, so he'd be missing at least the first half of the day."

"Oh," I said, shoulders deflating slightly. "I see."

"It's alright though," Hange assured me, grinning, likely seeing the way that I grew immediately upset upon receiving that information, "because he'll be in tomorrow for sure! I still don't think you should be all that excited about seeing this Levi, but him being out today will mean you can meet everyone else too!"

Still coming down from that high, I nodded slowly. "Yeah," I said through a sigh, "I guess you're right."

"Now come on," Hange said, "let's go find your locker, yeah? There's still time before the first bell."

I allowed myself to smile then. "Yeah. Let's do that."

---

Our homeroom class was full of... quite the interesting cast of characters. Of course, Hange alone accounted for much of that quirkiness. In the short time that it took for us to return to the office and retrieve my locker information, I'd learned a lot about them.

First off, they loved science. So much so that they always arrived early to the school to visit with the science teachers to conduct extra experiments that they would otherwise never do under the school's curriculum, and they even stayed late after school for extra lessons and for the science Olympiad team. They were certainly busy.

Moblit was what I would call Hange's caretaker, or perhaps their chaperone. He tended to follow Hange around, cleaning up their messes and apologizing in their wake. He was also pretty smart himself, working right alongside Hange as an assistant sometimes but other times as their intellectual equal, working through theories right alongside them. He was a nice guy too, if only constantly frazzled and stressed from having to watch over Hange.

Erwin Smith, when I met him, was... rather formal, which I hadn't been expecting. But then again, maybe I should have expected formality from the son of a professor, nephew of a schoolteacher, and kid with a first name like Erwin. But he was nice, already offering to help me catch up with the material for whatever classes we shared.

There was also Mike, who was... strange, in his own right. And by strange, I meant that he sniffed people. Really. On the way back to the classroom, Hange had warned me about him, and I was grateful that they did, because upon entering the classroom and I met the few students who had by then filed into the room, I'd heard a loud sniff from one side and there he was.

He was tall, taller than Erwin, and blond too, with a big old nose that he'd used to sniff me. But then he apologized and told me he meant no harm by it, so that was that, I supposed. I only wish I knew why he'd done it.

And then there was Nanaba and Gelgar. Apparently they were a close-knit duo, just like Hange and Moblit. Nanaba was blond, very sweet, yet very strong too. Had a kind of... no-nonsense attitude, which was strange considering Gelgar was very much inclined towards nonsense, from what I could tell. And Gelgar had this really weird haircut but he was nice enough, always stuck at Nanaba's side as he was.

Nanaba was the typical Grade-A student, or at least that's what Hange told me, because I didn't know how to pick that out in a student, anyway, while Gelgar was as pretty close to a dropout as you could get while still staying in school. He just... didn't care. Yet Nanaba always ensured he at least met the bare minimum.

There were others too, ones that Hange didn't get to tell me about before they introduced themselves to me. There was a pretty tight group of friends, four of them. 

They were Petra, a pretty girl who was super sweet and smart; Olou, a guy who was rather full of himself and had a tendency to make himself seem cooler than he really was; Eld, a blond boy who was extremely kind, earnest, and smart; and Gunther, Eld's best friend, with a funny haircut and a good sense of humor.

The class was otherwise full of other students, but there were far too many names and there was no possibly way for me to learn and remember them all at once. And Hange had been right about Ms. Smith being old and crabby.

But the point of homeroom was to take attendance and hear the announcements. There were a lot of them, and I looked over at Hange while the secretary went on a long tirade about the upcoming events for homecoming – there was a dance, a pep rally, several sport events... it was a lot. 

Towards the end of the announcements, the phone set on the wall by Smith's desk started to ring and she picked it up. It was a call for me to head to the office once more, with nothing more than a Number Two pencil, to be brought in to do my placement tests.

Well, it's a good thing Hange and I managed to find my locker to put the rest of my stuff away.

Let's get this out of the way, then.

---

The day, surprisingly enough, went by rather quickly. I hadn't expected it to, but it did. And it was probably because it was actually kind of fun. Never had I been around so many people my own age.

While overwhelming at times – I mean, the cafeteria alone had housed more kids at once than the orphanage ever had at full capacity at any given time – but Hange helped me through it as best they could. Moblit helped too, though he was far shier about it, and he mostly told Hange not to mistakenly overwhelm me more.

I didn't get to know too many people more than just surface-level, but that would come with time. All I knew was that I was grateful to Hange, and to Moblit, and with the patience and kindness they treated me with.

And at the end of the day, when the final bell rang, Hange grabbed my arm once all my things were packed away and dragged me off towards the direction of our lockers. We were only just across the hall from each other anyway, and it offered Hange a time to chat my ear off once again, like they had all day whenever they got the chance.

I couldn't help but smile as Hange dragged me along, talking about the way that they were actually excited to skip their usual after-school lecture with the high-school physics teacher to walk home with me.

"You don't need to skip it," I told them. "I'm fine walking back alone. It's not a long walk."

"It's just more fun this way," Hange assured me. "Besides, we were just going to review vectors today. They're easy so I don't really need to go anyway. And I already told him that I wasn't going, so it's too late now!"

We'd realized earlier that we lived in the same neighborhood, only a few streets away from each other. And somewhere else in that neighborhood resided Levi.

Honestly, as I opened my locker, I was still reeling from the realization that for the first time, Lady Luck had graced us with her presence. Not only that, but after cursing us with almost impossible odds, she blessed us with this one chance to make it count.

I mean, I'd all but given up home once Levi hadn't made it to the park that night. He hadn't lived in an area close enough to still visit. And that left, of course, everywhere else as a possibility for him to live. So when I was adopted, I only assumed that I'd been moved in no less than the complete opposite direction of him.

Life usually adhered to patterns, and I didn't exactly think to guess that it would be kind enough to us to let us meet and then let us meet again. But here I was, learning that not only did he live close by, but we now attended the same school. And not only that, but we would see each other as soon as tomorrow.

And that... that was nothing short of incredible.

I just couldn't wait. So I packed my things quickly, eager to get started on my walk with Hange. It would give me something to focus on, something to think about, other than my mounting excitement in seeing Levi tomorrow.

Just as I finished putting my things in my bag and hefted it up onto my shoulder, there were two arms thrown around my neck and a sudden weight pressed against my side. I grinned, knowing exactly who it was. Because really, I only knew so many people, and really, only one was this touchy-feely.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Mm-hm," came my answer in a happy hum.

"Great! Let's go!"

Hange looped my arm with hers, hugging it close as we started to walk along. I hardly had the time or instinct to reach back and slam my locker closed as we joined the steady stream of students all excited to get home.

There were a few teachers in the mix, likely headed to the office or to other rooms to get things ready for their clubs or teams, and even a janitor was leaning against the wall, waiting to start cleaning the halls.

Everything was still so new, and yet... I felt this like this had always been my routine. Walking home with a friend after a long day at school, meeting with them between classes, keeping a running list in my mind of just how much homework I had to do... It just made sense. And this was my first day doing it, and yet it just felt natural, like I'd always done it.

"So, your schedule got fixed, right?"

"Yeah," I answered, slipping it from my back pocket. I'd kept it there, just for quick access to it between classes when I needed to get to my locker and then worry about finding my next room.

"So we're in mostly the same classes," Hange mused. "Oh, no, never-mind. Your math placement is lower than mine by a level. But that's alright, cause you're where you should be. I think... no, wait. Is Levi in that one? He's not in my class, I know that. Oh, we're in the same literature class. That's good, maybe you'll be better at writing essays than I am."

"Maybe," I said, shrugging. "I haven't really written one before."

Hange let out a groan. "They're awful. But if you ever need help writing a lab report, you know who to ask."

"Oh, who?" I asked teasingly. "Moblit?"

Hange gasped, though a wide smile broke through almost immediately after. "Me, of course! You wound me, (Y/n)!"

I laughed lightly as we finally made it to the main atrium. We passed right through, splitting from the main herd of students only once we passed through the main double doors and down the steps. Most of the students headed towards the bus lane, while a few others made their way to the parking lot where their parents were waiting to pick them up. Hange and I joined the few students beginning their walks home.

"Where's Moblit?"

"Staying after with a teacher," they answered. "He's getting a bit of extra help with history, I think."

"Oh," I said, "I think we're in the same history class, too."

"You have Smith for that class?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, perfect," Hange chimed. "Finally, I can have someone keep me company in that class. It's perfect for Ms. Smith because she's a dinosaur herself."

"You were right about her," I said. "She is crabby."

"Right? She's awful. Honestly, I'm surprised she's even still a teacher here. She always gets bad comments at the end of each year when students get to evaluate them."

We continued on our way out of the school grounds, making our way down the street towards our neighborhood. It wasn't far, and it was a nice afternoon out.

It was one of those picture-perfect September afternoons, where the leaves were still green, the air was warm but coming with it was a pleasant breeze, and the sky was that light, pretty shade of blue and dotted with lazy clouds, carried on the wind.

The fields were lined with wildflowers, people were driving by with their windows down and music pouring from them, and somewhere far off was the song of an ice cream truck, its light tune faint yet recognizable. A pair of birds flew far above our heads, chirping to each other as they perched in a nearby tree.

It was... a beautiful afternoon. Absolutely gorgeous.

And it made it so much better walking alongside a friend. I could see us becoming close already. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, this whole school thing. But every single book and show I've ever read or seen has said school is awful. Is it only because it was my first day?

Well, now I was nervous. Did it actually get worse from here? Shit.

I certainly didn't want that.

"Say," said Hange, "how about we stop for some ice cream?"

"I don't have any money," I told them.

"Don't worry about it," Hange replied, waving their free hand in a lazy, carefree kind of way, as though to physically wave my worries away. "It's my treat. I wouldn't invite you if I wasn't willing to pay for you. Besides, it's only ice cream. Unless you get like... three of the large cups, it still won't be that expensive!"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," they sang, echoing back to my words from earlier. "Now come on, I know just the place!"

Hange led the way to a cute little ice cream parlor not too far from a park. So we went right up to the counter, ordered our cones, then took the quick walk while enjoying our treats to that park. And we continued to talk, about nothing of substance but things that very quickly allowed us to grow closer.

It was strange, how I already felt at ease around them. They weren't what I would really call a people-person, not really, not with the way that from their peers they seemed somewhat isolated. People were friendly enough with them, but unless it was with Moblit or Erwin, not many people let them just... talk.

But all too soon, our ice cream was gone, but our conversation continued. We did decide to get going again though, to finally continue our walk home. The words flowed easily between us as we traveled from topic to topic.

I'd never realized I had just so much to talk about, before. But apparently, I did.

And then... we reached the street corner where we had to part ways. While I still needed to walk further down this road before my street came, Hange had reached their street, so they had to leave.

We said our goodbyes, but after about probably only thirty seconds, Hange came running back, yelling their head off. They'd wanted to exchange numbers, so... we did. And when Hange finally went running back towards their home, I looked down at my phone, smiling stupidly to myself because this was the first number in my phone that didn't belong to either of my parents.

Wow. I'd made a friend. A real friend. Been a while since I'd done that.

---

"Welcome home," came Mrs. Williams' voice from the other room. "I'm in the living room, come tell me about your day!"

"Ok," I responded, hurrying to pull my shoes off and put them away.

Then I made my way into the living room, downright beaming at Mrs. Williams. She was smiling too, already having paused her show on the TV. It looked as though she'd been grading work. She'd been sitting back against the arm of the couch, her feet up and the thick stack of papers in her lap settled on a binder and a red pen in her other hand.

"So," she said, "tell me about it! How was your first day?"

I sat down on the loveseat facing her after slipping my bag from my shoulders and gently onto the floor. "Where do I begin?"

---

The still unfamiliar sound of my alarm clock startled me from my sleep, and my groggy eyes slowly opened as my heavy head lifted from the pillow. I turned the alarm off and sighed, dropping my head back to the pillow.

Tuesday. That means... Yeah, it's another school day. Damn it.

I allowed myself another quiet moment in bed before pulling the blanket back. I heaved myself up and out of bed, each limb involved protesting the movements.

"Is it too early to say I'm tired of this?" I muttered to no one in particular as I stood from the bed.

I stretched my arms upward, my eyes squeezing shut as I heard the usual creaks and pops of my joints. I let out a relieved sort of sigh as a particularly thick wad of tension was released from my shoulder from the way that I'd slept.

I readied what I needed to, got ready like I needed to, and checked my phone as I wanted to, only to find several messages from Hange telling me when they were going to leave their house so I could meet with them to walk to school.

They also mentioned that we'd probably be able to catch Levi on the walk there if our timing was lucky.

And that... that woke me up. All the grogginess left my body, the lingering sleep in my eyes blinked away, and the usual heaviness in my limbs that found me every morning lifted away. How could it slip my mind?

I'd completely forgotten that Levi... that he... that we... Oh, my god. Holy shit. Holy shit! I ran back into the bathroom, checking how I looked in the mirror. How do I look? Tired, sure, but... Wait, why do I care? He saw me day in and day out, on my worst days back then and on my best.

Even on days where I did little to care for myself, he was there. He saw me like that. So why does it matter now...? Was it because...?

Oh, goodness, I'd forgotten about seeing him today so soon, but how in hell had I forgotten about the kiss?! He'd kissed me! I'd kissed him too, before that, sure. But... but that was different! And now... what was different?

Another text from Hange. Shit! I don't want to be late!

I hurried to finish getting ready, eating the fastest breakfast I'd ever had before. I grabbed my bag, threw it over my shoulder, hastily put my shoes on, then hurried out the door, uttering a quick goodbye to the family before closing the front door behind me.

I tried to feign an air of nonchalance, that I wasn't rushed and that I wasn't nervous. But as it was, my heart was pounding in my chest, echoing in my ears, slamming itself against my ribcage, in anticipation of what was to happen.

I just couldn't believe my luck. Never had I been too reliant on it. Luck was a fickle mistress, of course, and it was unwise to rely on her for anything like this. But now... this was a gift. One I wasn't going to squander.

The walk this morning was quiet, just like it was yesterday. There was still the persistent morning dew clinging to the blades of grass, refusing to burn away in the early morning sun. The air was cool, the scent of the air fresh. There was hardly a better way to describe it. It was simply fresh.

The limited nature I passed by as I walked – the regularly planted trees along the sidewalk, the dirt still moist with last night's brief rain shower, and the flowers grown along the edge of yards – was happy, what with the warm sun easing away the chill of night rain.

It was late summer, but it smelled of spring. It was a beautiful morning.

And to think, not too long ago, I spent mornings like this sitting on the cool stone steps outside the home, up early for the brief respite from being surrounded by loud kids. Now... I found that same serenity, only I was free.

I had a family, a real one, and I was going to school. It was something most kids I'm sure dreaded but me... this was more than I'd ever seen myself doing. It was just incredible.

This walk was quite like the one from the previous morning, especially with the thick wad of nerves that came to settle in the pit of my belly, but today they were for a different reason. Yesterday, I'd been so nervous about just coming to school. And today...

"(Y/n)!"

"Hange," I said happily. "Good morning!"

"'Morning," they replied cheerily. Like yesterday, there was no hesitation in the way they looped their arm with mine. "Ooh, look at you. I can tell already: you're excited, aren't you? Does Levi really mean that much to you?"

"He means a lot to me," I answered, somewhat sheepishly. How would I even begin to explain it? "When we were younger, we... spent a lot of time together."

"Childhood sweethearts, huh? Kinda makes me gag, but it's also kinda cute. I mean, it's you, so I can allow it! But then again, it's Levi, so-"

"He's really not that bad," I said through a laugh. "Just... you have to learn to deal with him."

Hange snickered. "I'm sure my way of handling him is far different from your way of handling him."

I swatted their arm gently. "Shut up."

That only made Hange laugh more, which in turn made the smile on my face grow. But by then, we reached a crosswalk and slowed at the edge of the sidewalk just before the road began. Hange stopped, letting go of my arm.

"What's up, Hange? Why did you..."

Their pointed gaze aimed across the street clued me into what I needed to know.

I turned, looking across the street.

There, waiting on the street corner, dressed warmly to combat the cool weather of the morning, was Levi.

I couldn't stop the smile from erupting onto my face even if I tried. And I didn't want to try.

It was almost too good to be true. But he was here. Levi... he was here.