lovefool | eren x levi

nine years.

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eren started getting these extremely weird feelings for his classmates. two in particular, mostly.

he didn't bother about it much. he presumed that with puberty, came the longing to embrace one person until the sun falls and rises, regardless of gender.

in fourth grade, two kids from neighboring cities transferred to his school. they seemed close, but both friendly by themselves.

during lunch, the two kids approached eren, levi, and farlan. the three were easily the ones making the most noise, but it was mainly just eren and farlan making loud reactions to the story levi was telling them.

"so, what i'm gathering from this is that you came over my house at midnight and did not even bother to wake me up?"

"yeah! you should've spray-painted over his face or something," farlan added. levi scoffed.

"eren, you were snoring louder than anyone else in the house. when i was walking in, i thought a billion other kids were sleeping too."

"oh, shut up! i was having a deep sleep!"

"so, is marie your guardian now?" asked the girl who had sat herself right next to eren, while the boy sat across from him.

"who are you?"

"mikasa. we're new here," she said firmly.

"oh, that's cool," eren said with a smile. "who are you?"

"armin."

they stared at each other for five moments, before levi cleared his throat and said, "to answer your question, i don't know. my mom won't answer me whenever i ask about it, and marie is always like, 'we'll see what happens.'"

"maybe they're in a legal battle as we speak," armin said. "your mom's mad about the entire thing, and marie is just hoping for results. if your mom loses, well, you'll see the changes soon enough," he murmured.

"what does that mean?"

"when i was reading some of my grandfather's books, it said that legal guardians have custody over you and everything. so, if your mom loses the case, you'll probably not see her as much anymore."

levi groaned and rubbed his eyes. "what am i supposed to do?"

"nothing. it's not your battle, it's a battle for you. whatever you say won't really matter, unless you come out with something like child abuse. just sit back and relax for the most part."

levi kicked his feet under the table and took a bite of the cold grilled cheese sandwich. mikasa began idly chatting with eren, but all he could do was look at the two of them, and shrivel up inside.

the worst part about it was the fact that eren liked both of them. he couldn't decide which one he liked more.

that night, he had dreams of hugging mikasa and holding hands with armin. nothing more, nothing less.

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eren's feelings did not lose its touch after the modernity of armin and mikasa's arrival wore off. much to the contrary, they blossomed. eren recognized and acknowledged them.

with every movement mikasa made, or every time armin looked at him, eren felt like he was soaring. he was gliding over the mountains, over the clouds, to paradise. lavender roses bloomed at the pit of eren's stomach and were fed and watered by armin's smiles, and mikasa's sentences.

he loved the way that mikasa wrote. he wanted to make her handwriting his own. he wanted to directly copy every o she wrote, he wanted to put one of her written sentences in a frame. he wanted to mail her cursive letters to an art gallery.

his crush on mikasa was normalized. a girl crush. it's something that just about everyone has as they grow up, and even better yet, some people get married to their girl crushes.

yet, the thing that was bothering him the most was his unwavering affection for her best friend, as well. he had never heard of someone having two crushes at once.

armin had recently started wearing oval-shaped clear glasses whenever he read, and, as if eren did not already find every blurry thing about him breathtakingly stunning, it enhanced the experience. sometimes, eren found himself wishing that he could know the thousands of incoherent thoughts that ran in and out through armin's head in seconds, the little sentiments he had that passed like dandelion petals in the wind.

sometimes, eren wished he could run his hand through sections and rows of armin's honey-blond hair, to see the secrets that lied within.

he wanted to see armin's truth that slept peacefully behind those sleepy eyelids.

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"who wants to play the stage directions game?" asked their coach with a clap, whoops following her sound.

the crew followed her to the corner, where stage directions were all labeled.

"who wants to go first?"

levi raised his hand. he had practiced his stage directions at home, and was more than ready to blow everyone else out of his league.

"okay, you first, levi! you will enter center stage."

levi stood in the center, and a few clapped. "hold your applause!"

"now, stride to upstage left."

the acting coach loved using words like saunter and wander instead of 'walk,' which was basically her way of saying, "walk with expression."

"if you were on stage, and it's your cue to start walking to stage center, you can't just walk like how we normally walk. you have to do it dramatically, because this is a drama class, not a regular class!" she said once, 

so levi held his head up high and cat-walked to upstage left. she whooped.

"what a performer! loving those movements. okay, now, stumble to downstage center."

levi purposely made himself almost trip, walking with steady wariness. she cheered once more.

"work it, levi! okay, okay, now say your mantra to the wall. loud and clear."

he took a deep breath and focused on the wall, and spoke his mantra with a solid, yet squeaky, voice.

"i am an artist! when i am on stage, i am superhuman! my mind is sharp, my voice is clear, and my body is full with energy!"

claps surrounded the room, and he bowed.

"now exist downstage, performer."

walking downstage, he went to stand where the others were, and some of them gave him a high five.

"now that was exactly what we, as performers, should strive for! unwavering confidence that can change in seconds, the excitement that quickly turns into dullness. we should be able to portray our full emotions in minutes, moments, seconds! we should get our entire statement across with one strut."