Chapter Text
It started as something minor.
At first, she didn’t say anything about it, thinking it was a one-off thing that wasn’t worth a second thought – it was a relatively common sight in this day and age, after all, so she shrugged it off.
But then it happened again but from the other person.
She still didn’t say anything about it, still thinking that it wasn’t much an issue – deeming it must be important if the other person did it as well.
But then it happened more and more often that it became a regular occurrence. A habit.
Mikasa’s lips twisted to a frown when she saw that both her dad and her anne were looking at their phones, typing away, not eating the dinner she had (painstakingly) prepared for them.
She tapped restlessly on her plate with her fork (something that she knew her dad hated with a passion), but no word of acknowledgment or even a head turn. They were so engrossed with their devices that Mikasa sighed loudly (again, nothing) and stood up.
“I’m done.”
For whatever reason, that seemed to gain her dad’s attention. Finally. “What’s wrong, Mikasa? You barely touched your plate.”
“You barely touched yours either,” she countered, gesturing the full plate of food with her chin.
Levi shook his head just as Eren put their phone away. “I had to respond to an email from one of the sponsors for the upcoming trip.”
“And I just got the photos from the last modeling shoot that I did,” Eren explained, “I had to upload a few teaser pictures on Twitter before I forget.” They gave Mikasa a smile. “But we’re good now. Come sit down, let’s eat.”
Mikasa spared them a wary look before sitting back down again and waited for her parents to start eating before she did, the frown still present on her face. They didn’t even apologize for their actions.
She discreetly watched the way they behaved next to each other. Their conversations have come to a strange lull, in which they don’t have much to say other than how much progress they were making on their respective projects or upcoming video ideas they wanted to share. Besides that, meals together tended to be a quiet affair – with her breaking the silence by telling them about her day and what homework she had and complaining about her school workload whenever she couldn’t stand the silence any longer. It soon became all too common for her to take lead during dinner conversations. Somewhere in the past few months, their conversations turned into a meeting, rather than enjoying each other’s company.
The sound of a phone buzzing snapped her out of her thoughts, eyes narrowing when her dad immediately grabbed hold of his phone and swiped the screen.
Levi’s eyes went back and forth as he read the new message. “Hey, Eren? Can you forward me the confirmation email for the flight? The organizer needs to know when we’ll arrive to have someone pick us up.”
“Hold on for a second.”
To Mikasa’s dismay, Eren had their phone in hand in an instance and was scrolling through to find what their husband was asking for. “It says that we’ll be there by 1:35, but we have a layover that’s only half an hour long. How much are you willing to bet that we’ll miss our connecting flight?”
Levi snorted. “It’s definitely going to happen. Just give me the flight number and I’ll send it to them. They can figure it out.”
At this point, Mikasa excused herself from dinner and walked out. She didn’t hear any protests from them, just their continued conversation about work.
She flopped on her bed in frustration. She knew she was being irrationally upset, but she couldn’t help but feel hopeless as she thought about her parents and how they were now compared to how they were at the beginning all those years ago. Their relationship turned… stagnant, if she was being honest with her observations. They weren’t necessarily on bad terms but they weren’t as close as they were either.
Sighing for the umpteenth time, she took out her own phone and messaged the two people she could always confide with.
Mikasa
I need help.
Annie
Don’t we all
Armin
Annie, please. What’s wrong, Mikasa?
Mikasa
Do you guys mind if we go on group chat?
Armin
I’ll be on in a second.
Annie
Same
Switching over to her tablet, she logged in and waited for her friends to be online. She made sure she locked the door beforehand and settled on the foot of her bed just as her tablet started ringing.
Accepting the call, she was immediately greeted with Armin’s worried voice.
“Are you okay, Mikasa?”
“Sort of… I was hoping you guys can help give me advice with something.”
“What’s up?” Annie chimed in.
Mikasa eyed her door before responding in a low voice, “You see, it’s about Dad and Anne.”
“What about your parents?”
“I’ve been noticing how distant they are lately.”
“To you?” Armin asked.
“A bit, but it’s more to each other. I don’t know, for the past couple of months, I’d noticed that they don’t talk to each other as much as they used to. They’re not fighting or anything, but they’re just… there. Like being with each other but also not really.”
“What makes you say that?” Even Annie, who was usually the stoic of the three, sounded concerned.
“For one, they’re always on their phones whenever we eat together. And I mean always. We made a rule of not using devices on the table a long, long time ago, but now, they both have their phones practically attached to their hands. And everything they talk about with each other is always related to work. I don’t even remember the last time they joked around and had fun together.”
There was a brief moment of silence before Annie mumbled, “That is kinda bad.”
Mikasa’s face settled into a frown. “So you don’t think I’m overreacting?”
“No,” Armin interjected, “If it’s something like this has been going for a while, I would be worried too.”
“When was the last time your parents went on a date? Just the two of them?” Annie asked.
She scrunched her brows together. “I honestly can’t remember… maybe around Valentine’s Day?”
“That was months ago.”
“I know, right?” Mikasa sighed in frustration. “I don’t know why or how it turned out like this.”
“I can kind of understand why it’s been such a long time,” Armin said, “Uncle Levi and Eren’s occupations are unusual compared to most parents. They’re public figures who need to make lots of content for their increasing fan base. I’m guessing their increasing workload means that they’re undertaking many projects at once which makes them constantly busy. Busy to the point that they’re not spending time together, even if they’re living and working under the same roof.”
Mikasa nodded slowly. Leave it to Armin to analyze the situation and understand it perfectly. “Exactly. And I can see that they’ve been stressing out from their work as well but not saying anything about it.”
“What they need is a vacation,” Annie suggested.
“That sounds good in theory, but they’re both workaholics. Taking a long break would probably stress them out even more considering that they create and edit their own content and feel pressured to still upload videos, even when they shouldn’t.”
“They’re going to another city for a convention as guest speakers, but it’s all going to be just work,” Mikasa agreed, “Eren told me that they also planned on meeting with their publisher for their upcoming book while they’re there while Dad is going to be testing some AR machine prototypes.”
“Man, Uncle Levi is so lucky…”
“Armin, focus.”
“Oh, right. Hm… I do think Annie’s right, though. Your parents need a break of some sort, but how about making it for a day at a time so they don’t miss as much?”
“And take away their phones so they won’t have it as a distraction,” Annie added.
“I guess it’s a worth a shot,” Mikasa said after thinking on it. A day without their phones wouldn’t kill them. “But how do I go on about doing that?”
“Ah, but what kind of friends would we be if we don’t help you trap your parents together like the good ol’ days?” Annie chuckled at Armin’s remark and Mikasa couldn’t help but smile, her mood perking up considerably.
“You definitely take after Uncle Erwin alright.” With a smile still on her face, reached for her pen and pad of paper, poised and ready to start taking notes. “Now, let’s get this plan started.”
Levi wearily eyed his daughter beside him. She was humming a happy tune as she drove the car, not noticing his blatant staring as she entered the intersection before making a left turn.
He glanced at the rear-view mirror and caught Eren’s eyes with his. Eren had a look of confusion on his face and he shared the same sentiment. Mikasa was behaving strangely all morning, demanding that he and Eren get dressed before leaving the house, not answering to any questions on where they were going before she literally pushed them outside and into the car. Any further questions about where she was taken them were met with silence so they eventually gave up and let her continue with her parent-napping.
Levi turned his attention to the window beside him, unsure of what else to do. Absentmindedly, he took out his phone and saw the notifications of unread emails. He internally sighed as he began to answer the emails, not noticing how Mikasa’s happy behavior dimmed down once he did.
After some time, the car came to a complete halt and Mikasa parked the car. “We’re here.”
He looked up and saw that they were at the entrance of a hotel. Finding the name scrawled on the side, he turned to look at her. “Santa Monica Beach? Is there a conference here or something?”
She scoffed and muttered, “Of course you would think of that,” before taking off her seatbelt, not answering his question. “Come on, get out.”
Levi and Eren got out of the car and followed her into the lavish lobby. Mikasa went straight to the front desk while her parents stood off to the side awkwardly as she started talking to the receptionist.
“What do you think she’s doing?” Eren asked.
“I don’t know. She’s been acting weird for the past couple of days.”
“Really?”
It was Levi’s turn to ask him a question, “You haven’t noticed?”
“Not really,” Eren replied back hesitantly, “I’ve been kind of busy lately.”
Levi hummed in agreement and their whispered conversation stopped once Mikasa came back with keycards in her hands. “These are for you,” she declared as she pushed the cards into his hands. “I arranged for an early check-in for your room. You guys will be staying on the second floor in room 216 with an ocean view. I’ll be right back.”
She fled out of the hotel before either Eren or Levi could utter out a sound. Levi looked at the shiny cards in his hands and before he knew it, Mikasa was back with his and Eren’s usual carry-on bags for flights and placed them on the floor. When did she pack those?
“Final thing, give me your phones.” Her arms were outstretched and she took the surrendered phones and pocketed them in her hoodie. “Perfect.”
“Mikasa, can you please tell us what’s going on now?” Eren asked.
The teenager crossed her arms and jutted her hip to the side. “You two are going to have a day off together. No phone, no work. Just a day for you two to catch up.”
“You can’t be serious, we have business to do,” Levi argued.
“Your work can survive without you for a day,” Mikasa said. “I’ll take any calls for you while you guys are having your day together.”
“But-”
“When was the last time you two went on a date? Just one day to enjoy each other’s company and not thinking about work?”
Eren and Levi looked at each other, trying to remember the last time they were alone together, looking ashamed as they did.
The few seconds of silence was all that Mikasa needed to hear. “See?” She had her smug, “I-told-you-so” voice and the two adults frowned on how right she was. “So take the day off. It’s not going to kill you.”
Backing away from them, she continued, “I’ll pick you up here around noon tomorrow for check-out. Oh, and don’t bother to call Uncle Erwin or Uncle Farlan to pick you up because they were the ones who booked the room for you.”
“Ta-ta for now. Have fun and always remember to use protection!” She practically skipped her way out of the lobby and smirked when her parents yelled after her.
They watched as she got back into the car and drove away. Eyeing the cards again, Levi turned to Eren with a sheepish look on his face. “Shall we?”
Eren beamed and Levi’s breath hitched for a moment. When was the last time he saw Eren smile at him like that? Thinking back on it, maybe Mikasa was right about having a day to themselves.
Returning the smile with his own, he reached for Eren’s hand and took hold of their bags with the other, wondering how the rest of the day would turn out like with just the two of them.