Remembering You

The Innocence of Children

Eren could smell the scent of onions and some kind of meat the moment the door opened. Whatever Levi and Mikasa were making for Eirian's birthday lunch smelled amazing. Even with the upgraded budget and meat prices dropping, it was rare to have anything in the Legion's kitchen smell so good. Taking a step inside, he felt the small dark-haired boy who had let him in tackle his legs.

"Uncle Eren! You came!"

"Hello Eirian! How are you doing?" Putting his bag down on the ground, Eren picked up the small dark-haired boy and swung him around for a big hug. The brunet was not weak by any stretch, but Eirian was surprisingly heavy. Then turning so he could face Eirian, he scolded the child. "And what did I say about calling me 'Uncle' Eren?"

"To not say it?" There was a toothy smile as Eirian beamed innocently at him. Sometimes Eren could easily see the resemblance between father and son. Like his father, the birthday boy was too much of a smartass for his own good.

"Then why are you still calling me that?" He used his fiercest glare on the child as he placed Eirian back on the ground. Although he was technically Eirian's uncle by way of his relation to Mikasa, Eren did not like it when the boy addressed him as such. . He felt too young to be someone's uncle, and the brunet didn't really think of Levi as Mikasa's cousin. It was difficult to put into words what the relationship between him and Levi was. They were friends, but at the same time not really friends. Family, but it did not feel like that either. And there had been the weird distance between them for a while too.

"I'unno." Eirian seemed unfazed from the scolding as he shrugged. Levi's reprimands were likely harsher than the brunet's, which was why the boy had ignored it. The dark-haired boy ran a few steps back inside the house and then cupped his hands to his mouth. "Papa! Eren's here!"

"What did I say about yelling, brat?" A scowling Levi came into view dressed in a white button-down shirt and dark well-fitting pants. Eren had to refrain from staring. There was something about Levi dressed semi-formally with the top few buttons of his shirt undone and sleeves rolled up his forearms that seemed to grab his attention. His style of dress seemed at odds with what Eren had seen of him before, yet it was oddly fitting. However, it was the dark-haired man's uncovered forearms, which grabbed most of his attention.

Eren was surprised to see a smattering of long-faded scars on that pale skin. A few crosswise lines seemed like they were from Levi using his forearm to block a knife and were barely visible. One particularly nasty jagged scar caught his attention though. Compared to the other scars, it was lighter and more distinctive. The scar seemed to start somewhere in the middle of Levi's forearm and continued under the clothing to god knows where. Eren wondered what had caused the scarring. It looked like someone or something had gouged right into the muscle. Given the jaggedness and its distinctiveness, Eren could only imagine how much a wound like that must have hurt. He was also surprised that the man had survived such an injury; losing that much muscle would have taken a long time to heal and might have caused irreparable damage.

"Oi, where are you staring at, brat?"

Eren jerked his head up, face flaming, at Levi's demanding tone. His eyes inadvertently caught onto serious grey eyes, which appeared more silvery in the lighting. Embarrassed at being caught staring, he turned away to stare at some insignificant pattern on the wall while keeping an eye on Levi and Eirian.

"I'm not staring at anything, papa!" Eirian puffed his cheeks and cried out.

"I'm not speaking to you, Eirian. I was talking about Eren."

"Oh." He could feel the pairs of bright green eyes and blasé grey eyes bore a curious hole into him. The brunet wished he could disappear into thin air. "Why were you staring at papa, Eren?"