Remembering You

Distance

Eren could feel it the moment he saw Levi and Eirian again. Eirian was just as happy as ever to see him, but the dark-haired man was gradually pulling away from him. It was subtle, but somehow he had become strangely attuned to reading Levi over the last few weeks. Levi had never outright refused him when it involved Eirian or denied entry to the shop, unless he was really being a bother, but he turned down invitations for grabbing a drink and any offers for help. The older man's amusing stories of crazy customers had also stopped. There had been a party to celebrate Hange's birthday last week – even if that date changed every year and no one was certain when Hange's birthday actually was – and he had invited Levi and Eirian to attend, thinking it might help expand their circle, but the man had adamantly refused. His plan had been to visit the market with the father-son pair and pick out a present for the commander, but in the end, he had gone with one of the other members in his squad.

Eren had honestly believed they had made significant inroads in their relationship. He genuinely liked the man. There definitely were instances when Levi's crass humor was off-putting and unfit for polite company, but Eren also found a good amount of it amusing. The dark-haired man did not hold back when it came to his criticisms and the monotone voice only made it that much funnier. Even if all he did was sit and drink tea with Levi or entertain Eirian with stories of his expeditions, Eren had treasured the time he had spent with the father-son pair.

The brunet had no idea what he had done or what might have caused this distance between them. Nor did he know Levi so well he could simply ask what was wrong without being shut out. Eren knew that he sometimes rubbed people wrong without knowing it, but there was no way of knowing whether that had been the case without asking Levi.

Hearing footsteps approach, he looked up to see a familiar blonde walking towards him.

"Hey Armin." Although Armin also worked in the Scouting Legion, it felt like Eren had not seen his best friend in over a week. here was some talk of a new mission to explore the area outside the southern wall, which meant that Armin was predictably the one handling logistics and planning for it. Since his promotion, the blonde was constantly buried in maps, books, and behind closed doors. Sometimes summons from the military higher-ups came for Armin to meet them in the capital, since he was essentially the brains behind the Legion now. T "You look tired."

"Hey Eren. Yeah, well you know how things are."

"Want a cup of tea?" He motioned with his own cup.

"No, I'm good." Armin shook his head and Eren shrugged, bringing the cup to his mouth. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Ugh, this needs some milk." The brunet blanched at the mild bitter tang in the black tea.

"Why are you drinking it then?"

"I don't know. It just felt... right."

Armin shot him a strange look and honestly, Eren felt the same way. He did not know where the habit of drinking a cup of black tea in the evenings had come from, or how it had begun. The brunet supposed he might have drunk it once with someone and continued to do so. Yet the funniest thing was that he did not enjoy black tea that much. Eren was okay with herbal and fruity varieties, but the faint bitterness in black tea was off-putting. Even so, there was something comforting in the activity.

However, his tea drinking provided one major benefit he had not foreseen. Not only was Eren able to make an excellent cup of tea, it also gave him an excuse to visit the small teashop and its two dark-haired occupants more often than he would otherwise be able to. Even Levi had seemed mildly surprised at his skill, though a hint of sorrow on his face had also been there.