What Started Out as a Crack Ship, Turned into a Romance

Tea

Armin and Levi walked in silence until they came to Armin's house. He stopped in front of the door and turned to Levi, eyes meeting his. "Levi . . . ?" Once he was sure he had his attention, Armin continued, gripping his sleeve nervously. "If I didn't confess . . . do you think we would've ever gotten to this point?"

"There was a chance I'm sure."

"Is there . . . any other reason why you decided to say yes?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did say yes?"

"You seem like the type of person who deserves their chance. I've kept an eye on you for a while and it doesn't matter what you go through, you remain the same. That isn't easy to find."

"I try . . . Eren taught me to keep fighting. My dream in life is to just travel the world and I can't do that if I give up." Armin gave a slight smile, looking downwards a bit.

"Travel the world huh?" Levi thought to himself before pulling out a pamphlet from his backpack.

"My parents abandoned me as a child so I was left with my Grandfather . . . We were always poor so we never went anywhere. But, he was a pilot though so he always told stories of the world. It always fascinated me. All the rich history and sights."

Levi clutched the pamphlet, thinking about his 'sister' and 'family'. "I'm joining the military, special forces specifically. . . I'll be traveling the world but risking my life at the same time. . . it's the only thing I want."

"I could never join the military . . . call me a wimp but . . . I just can't. I admire you people like you."

"If we end up staying together you'll get to travel with me." He said aloud without realizing.

"I would like that."

Levi pulled him closer and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, Armin snuggled in. "Want to come in?" He pulled out his house key, smiling at him.

"If you'll let me."

"Of course." He unlocked the door and they go in together. "I'm sorry if it's messy."

After entering Levi looked around. The house is fairly clean and practically empty save for the few things laying around. It was emptier than Levi thought it would be. Armin did say that he lived with his grandpa, so why was it so empty? "Are you hungry? I could make something."

"I'm fine but I wouldn't mind having some tea."

Armin nods and starts making the tea for him. While waiting for the tea to warm up Levi spoke up, "Is your grandpa still at work."

Armin froze a bit, "U-um . . . He's um . . . Y-yeah, he comes home pretty late."

Levi didn't exactly believe him because of his reaction, but then he remembered him telling him about his grandpa's death earlier that day. He decided it was best to leave him alone because it seemed to still be a difficult topic for the boy and felt that it was too early. So instead, he went to a different topic. "So, when's your birthday?"

Armin seemed to flush a bit. "November 3rd . . ."

His heart softened a bit at the reaction. "Cute . . ."

"What about yours?"

"Christmas."

"Really?"

"Mhm so not many people remember."

"That's sad . . ."

Levi simply shrugged and Armin placed down their cups, full of tea. Levi took his and held it from the top, blowing on it. The blond tilted his head a bit at this, curious about why he held his cup like that but mostly found it cute. Levi glanced upwards at the younger boy, frowning a bit but the blond replies with a smile. Only the boy sitting right in front of him could make his heart melt like this.