Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gabi Braun has blood on her hands. 

She could have sworn it’s not her fault her playmate and classmate is lying on his back, head lolled to the side, with a cut on his chin, blood dripping down to his neck and onto the tiled floor. She’s kneeling next to him, hands flailing to wherever in an attempt to wake the boy up. Her heart is beating extremely fast. She bites her lower lip to stop her chattering teeth, clicking on their own as she gets eaten by apprehension. Her stomach churns at the sight of the boy with pale blond hair flat on the ground. 

He’s breathing… right? 

Right?

“Falco,” she calls out. 

There’s no response. 

“Falco?” she repeats. 

Falco slowly blinks, slowly refocusing from the cloudiness of his vision. Meanwhile, Gabi’s eyes flicker like they’ve seen miracle on earth. 

“Falco!” she exclaims. 

Falco, who was just called in three different ways, finally speaks, “Gabi? What—ah!” He taps his chin with the tips of his fingers. “Why does this sting?” he groans, pain so evident in the way he hisses. Then, he yells, “Gabi!”

Gabi flinches at the sudden burst of energy coming from someone who, a few seconds ago, looked lifeless on the ground. Wide-eyed, she stares back. 

“Blood!” he cried out. 

Gabi is still shaken, unaware of what’s going on and what to do now. 

“Gabi!” Falco calls loudly, pointing at the dark red tainting Gabi’s tiny hands. “Blood!” he repeats. “You’re bleeding! Gabi, we should get you to the clinic.”

He finally stands from where he rested, and there’s also so much blood on the floor. Clearly, he’s scared; Gabi notices from the way his eyes almost bulged out at the sight of the ominous liquid splayed on the floor. It’s a crime-scene material. 

Not really. 

But it is bloody. 

“Gabi, get it together! Your hand! It’s bleeding! We’ll get you to the nurse!” Falco says, panicked. 

When she feels his hands cage her blood-stained fist, she’s finally pulled back to reality. “No! Falco! I’m not hurt; you are!” She jabs a finger to his chest before pulling her hand away from him. 

“I am?!”

“You are!” Gabi turns slightly, preparing to run. She’s still trembling. “S-Stay here! I’ll go ask for help! We’ll get you to the clinic!”

Falco nods dumbfoundedly. “Okay.” 

Gabi nods confidently but her whole body shakes. “Okay!” 

She runs as fast as she can.

Only for Falco to follow and run right behind her. 

“Why didn’t you ask one of the guards to get him a wheelchair?” Pieck, the elementary school nurse, asks, carefully dabbing a now-brownish red cotton ball on Falco’s chin. The little boy winces. “Sorry, sweetie. Just a little bit more.”

“I was going to!” Gabi protest. She points at Falco. “He followed me!” 

Pieck laughs as she places the cotton tweezers to her tray. She smiles fondly at Falco. “What a brave boy,” she coos. “But remember, when you’re hurt, you don’t have to force yourself to keep moving. Your wound is quite deep, it’ll scar for sure. Does it hurt anywhere else?”

The blond boy steals a glance at Gabi. He wants to lie and tell the nurse that he’s completely comfortable and fine but there’s a stabbing pain on his back that he can’t really ignore. 

“I’m sure your back must hurt,” Pieck concludes for him. “Care to help me take your shirt off?” 

Falco shyly obliges, unbuttoning his smart collared baby blue polo, and Pieck helps him peel it off his body. Her slender fingers run across his back through feather-like contacts at the blossoming purplish bruises. She hides her grimace. 

She tsks. “You’re gonna get your brother all worried again.” 

Falco frowns, feeling guilty. “Is Colt going to pick me up?” 

The nurse nods. “Yes, we’ve called him.” Then, she turns to the little girl. “And you,” she sighs empathetically, “you’re going to have to talk to the principal again. Gabi, what happened?”

“We were just playing,” Falco gets defensive. 

“I’d like to hear from Gabi, Falco,” Pieck silences. “Now, Gabi.”

Now, it’s Gabi’s turn to sigh. Pieck could tell she’s still unsure and still contemplating on whether to tell her or not, but her mouth has a life of its own. “He...” she starts before glancing at Falco, now glowing like a tomato. “We were talking and I accidentally punched him.” 

“You can’t ‘accidentally’ punch people.” 

“We were talking and I slipped!” Falco interjects. 

Pieck bites. “Okay. Say, you did slip. Were you two really just talking, or were you two fighting?” 

“No!” Falco answers quickly. “We—I—she and I—but she was—so I—”

Gabi starts to feel the heat upping her body temperature. She suddenly feels hot in her thin long-sleeved blouse and floral jumper dress. She looks to her side, at the very animated Falco rambling as he tries to save whatever this situation was.

“Falco, I can’t understand you,” Pieck says with a questioning gaze, brows raised and forehead wrinkled.

Then, he shuts up, only to mumble in an exceptionally low voice. 

“What was that?” Pieck asks.

“I said,” Falco sighs, and the tips of his ears flare, “I called her pretty.” 

Gabi’s entire body crumples tightly. Her hands and shoulders are tucked in as she darts her eyes to the clean white tiles of the clinic, not able to bear the blooming roses in her cheeks that spread throughout the entirety of her being. 

“So she… punched you?” 

He nods shyly. “Yeah.”

Pieck giggles and the two kids stiffen at the unexpected reaction. Gabi raises her hand to check if what she’s hearing is truly a laugh and not a sob, although highly unlikely. 

“Oh, you sweet children,” Pieck laughs heartily, even covering her mouth for decency. “You kids are adorable.” 

Gabi forces a smile at her lighthearted reaction, masking the guilt swallowing her whole. She questions: am I no longer in trouble? But the way her lips twitch upwards only makes Falco even redder, a sharp cupid’s arrow shoots and buries itself further into the center of his chest.

She’s really… adorable, he thinks. 

“But that doesn’t mean I can excuse this behavior,” Pieck answers the young one’s unspoken query, eyes drooping slightly in an effort to a sympathetic smile to Gabi. “Let me just grab some cream for your chin before I log this in.” 

Peick stands up to leave them, sitting side by side despite the space of the other ends of the couch. Gabi inches to her side, moving slightly away from Falco. 

“Are you mad at me?” Falco asks silently, sullenly brushing the back of his finger on his chin—an attempt to tend the pain it’s sporting.

The brunette young girl shoots him a glare. “Are you stupid, Falco…” she whispers before looking away. “I should be the one being apologetic right now.”

“But I’m not apologizing though—”

“But you are apologetic, though,” Gabi bites, sinking her fingers to the edge of the couch. “I should be the one saying ‘sorry’ right now,” she repeats and awkwardly adds, “I keep giving you wounds… and hurting you over… stuff…” 

Falco stays silent. He’s wondering if the ‘stuff’ meant everything other than physical pain. Was she saying her sorry because she can’t and doesn’t accept his feelings? That earns a tug on his heart. 

“I’m not mad at you,” Falco clears up.

Gabi swallows. “I know,” she bites her cheek, “you should be though.” 

“I… I meant what I said…” 

Gabi nearly jumps at the turn of conversation. “I… you… you’re very weird, Falco,” she answers and she watches the way the boy’s shoulders drop at her words. “It’s—it’s not nearly… bad.” 

The blonde’s eyes glimmer at that. 

Gabi finally peeks up to look at his wound from where she’s seated, to what extent her eyes could reach which is really not much because his injury is on the other side of his face, on his other cheek. “Do you think your brother will be mad?” 

“At… you?” he slowly asks. 

She nods. “At you too.”

“I think he’ll get upset at the both of us.” 

Gabi sighs at that. 

“Do you think Mr. Levi will be mad at you?” Falco then asks. 

Gabi cringes. She doesn’t even want to think about it. 

“You brat, what did you do now?”

Levi towers Gabi as his palm presses the top of her head, a trite squeeze she’s very familiar with. Gabi winces. She’s just glad neither Falco nor Colt could see this. They’ve long gone home, and much to her surprise—although not very surprised considering how nice the Grice brothers are—Colt wasn’t mad at her. Only a little disappointed which still stung Gabi quite a bit as she waved them goodbye a few minutes ago. 

“We were just playing!” Gabi whines, over defensive with no defense, pushing Levi’s hand away from her crown. Once free, she looks up at Levi with furrowed eyebrows. 

“What’s that look?” he asks, narrowing his eyes. “This is the fourth time, Gabi.” 

“I’m sorry,” she grumbles, anything but sincere. 

“Should I be worried?” Levi asks instead.

Gabi remains quiet, not really knowing if she should tell the truth or not. 

“You’re not rebelling, are you?” he questions. “Wait—how old are you?” 

“I’m 12!” 

“Ah,” he winces, giving her a concerned look, “you’re in that phase.”

One of her brows raises. “I’m not going through a phase!” 

As Gabi starts her advances on trying to bully her temporary guardian, Levi, the principal door opens, spewing the principal’s assistant who takes in the image of a very odd parent-child relationship. Gabi being put to stop with one of Levi’s hands on her forehead with a bored, nonchalant expression, as he watches her punch the air between the two of them with all her might repeatedly. 

It looks like a daily occurrence.

The associate’s face dims. 

“Mr. Braun, you can enter now.”

Levi releases Gabi’s head. “It’s Mr. Ackerman,” he corrects. “Her parents are out of the country for a while, but I’m her appointed guardian for now.” 

“Yes, for now. He’s our neighbor,” Gabi adds. 

“I’ve been here before for her previous assaults,” Levi continues.

The young girl immediately rages at that. “It’s not an assault!” 

“Whatever you say.” 

The sun’s about to set now, and he entered the office a little over an hour ago. Throughout that entire time, Gabi can’t help but let anxiety seep through her veins and get to her skull. Her legs shake involuntarily, heels tapping the coarse floor each second. Every once in a while, her fingernails scrap at the straps of her backpack. She’s been thinking about whether she should spend her time in the clinic to talk to Pieck for a while and have herself occupied, but she’s still scared that Pieck was still disappointed in her.  So no.

She values what Pieck thinks of her, especially since she’s guided her so much ever since she started going to this school, which was about three or four years ago. 

Much to her luck, Levi finally comes out of the office with a bored look on his face. Was he bored? She wondered because he always seems to look like that to her anyway. 

“I…” Gabi starts, her mouth already making its way on how to defend herself from whatever Levi is going to tell her. She can’t disappoint yet another grown-up. 

Pieck, Colt, and… now Levi?

“You punched a little boy?” Levi asks. 

Gabi nods, not finding it in herself to actually make a verbal answer.

He raises his hand and Gabi closes her eyes because she knows he’s going to squeeze her head again no matter how gentle. But what surprises her was that Levi’s palm just rests on top of her hair, just calmly without any hint of strength. He ruffles it a few times. 

Gabi slowly opens her eyes to meet his gaze.

“Not bad,” he says, dropping his hand to her shoulder. 

Her eyes shine. 

“You’re not mad?” 

“No,” he says, “boys are bad news. Just look at Mikasa.” 

Gabi sets loose an honest giggle. She’s very much aware of the entire situation with Levi’s younger cousin, Mikasa, and that boy she likes from work with the name Eren. Although, he isn’t all that bad, anyway, from what she’s heard from Mikasa herself, but Levi’s really just a tad protective.  

“Wait. Does this mean you won’t tell my mom—”

“I still will,” he flatly says. 

“No fair!” Gabi pouts. 

Levi shakes his head. “Don’t be annoying,” he mutters. “Give me your backpack.” 

Gabi obliges without a complaint. Her back is starting to hurt at the weight of the books shelled inside her pink backpack. Levi slungs it over his shoulder and takes Gabi’s wrist with his other hand. 

“Let’s go home,” he lets out sternly. 

Levi sighs as he’s clad in a nice black suit only to sport a little girl’s backpack. 

Silent yet again, Gabi merely follows his footsteps, not really given much of a choice now that his hand is clasped around her wrist. 

“I better not come back here,” Levi adds. 

“Not anytime soon,” is Gabi’s reply.

“No. I mean ever,” he affirms, glaring at her. 

She releases a tight laugh. Then, she simply asks, “Is Mikasa at home?” 

“Don’t change the topic, you runt.” 

Chapter Text

“I’m leaving. I have to pick up Gabi.”

Mikasa only stares up at her cousin who towers over the wooden partition of her cubicle. She gives him an empty look, hands still on the keyboard of her computer. 

“Take a cab home,” Levi continues. 

“Alright.” She doesn’t miss the slight sigh from Levi’s mouth. “Is there something wrong? Is Gabi okay?”

He crosses his arms. “Oh, she’s okay, alright. It’s her classmate that’s the problem.”

She finally retracts her fingers from the keyboard, pushing the balls of her feet on the floor to pull her swivel chair backwards. “Is it anything serious? Are you sure Gabi’s fine?”

“She punched someone—oi, don’t smile.” 

The raven-haired woman narrows her eyes and makes a face instead, mocking him for not finding it at the slightest bit of funny before going back to her usual straight-faced and impassive expression. 

“Is this one of your lessons to her? If so, stop it right now or I’m kicking you out of my place and you find yourself a very nice place to rent. Live in the streets.” Then, Levi grimaces when he remembers something about both the dangerous and triumphant wonders of her childhood, adding, “It’s those judo classes you took when you were five.” 

Her face dims. “That’s a lot of accusations and a very uncalled for punishment.” She reads his expression and registers no satisfaction from her answer. “No, I didn’t teach her anything if that’s what you really wanna know.” 

“Good.” Levi is convinced, uncrossing his arms and checks his wrist watch. “I’m leaving.” 

Mikasa nods.

When he turns around to leave, she drags herself back into her cubicle, hands back to hovering over the consoles of her computer. She sighs at the amount of work she still has to do for the day, but there’s really no choice but to do them. Just as she relaxes, contrary to the slight grit of her teeth, Levi’s voice sounds from a few meters away.

“Also,” he turns around meagerly, “be careful at work today.” 

Be careful?

“Are you ill?” she asks plainly.

He departs finally, leaving her question unanswered. 

She brings her eyes back to her painfully beaming screen. She starts typing, pondering over a question raised in her head: what even is that about?

When Levi told her to be careful at work today, this isn’t what she had in mind. To be honest, no thought really weighed in her mind. 

“We have a new colleague! Apparently, he really was supposed to be in our department but the files all got messed up. Really bad management this one we’re in, huh?” Hange jokes. “Anyway,” they lightly elbow the man beside her, “you can introduce yourself now.” 

He blinks and sets his eyes to the small crowd of an awkward mix of workers. Some tired, some visibly highly energetic, and some bored-looking fellows, like the one whose cubicle is inside a separate, glassed workspace, who looks calm and at ease with jet black hair framing her face… wait… that’s…

“Mikasa?” he mutters silently, more to himself but undeniably heard by the rest of the people within his radius.

Even Mikasa herself reads his lips easily. She earns a nudge on the waist from Sasha who’s next to her, asking something about knowing him, which she only weakly confirms with a confused nod. 

The tips of his ears turn red in an instant.

“Mikasa?” Hange repeats. “Oh, do you know her? That’s good, then! She’ll guide you through the office and all.” 

He withdraws his eyes from Mikasa whose eyes are still on him. He drops his chin down to meet his superior’s gaze instead. 

“Yeah… I do know her,” he affirms. He gulps too, a bit too obviously to ignore.

“Now, now, too early for office drama,” they say silently so no one hears. “Oh! You turned even redder. Sorry ‘bout that. Go ahead and introduce yourself. I’m sure you’ll blend in here well.” 

He nods and looks straight ahead.

“My name is Eren Jaeger. I look forward to working with you all.” 

Much to his luck, he doesn’t get to interact with Mikasa on his first day after all. 

Mikasa comes home at about 8PM, exhausted and partially distressed. She had to attend a four-hour long conference and left the office that sheltered a scarce amount of over-timers as well.

Eren wasn’t among them. 

With slumped shoulders and a bothered sigh, she hooks her keys on the rack behind the door and allows the strap of her bag to slide from her body, dropping to the coffee table that welcomes the entrance. Barely picking up her feet to proceed to the kitchen for some dinner, she finds Gabi and Levi jammed to the corner of the kitchen counter where the coffee maker and tea bags are, their backs facing Mikasa, and she’s sure they didn’t hear her enter. 

And if they did, they’re too occupied to care. 

“No, you brat, you place that here,” she hears Levi say. 

“But you said—” Gabi accuses. 

“No, I didn’t. I said this goes here. And that goes here.” 

“Why are you making this so complicated?” Gabi nags. “They’re tea bags!”

“Exactly,” he attests, “why can’t you get it right?”

“But I do get it right,” Gabi presses. “Chamomile goes here. Peppermint goes here. Oolong goes here, greenteagoeshereblackteahere—”

“No, black tea—”

“What are you two… doing?” Mikasa asks, utterly baffled at the sight, but even more so at the bickering. 

Gabi turns and Mikasa could have sworn she saw tears brimming her eyes. “Mikasa!” She runs to her, quickly grasping both sides of her waist with the expanse of her arms as she ignores Levi’s stoic “hey!” from behind her. Mikasa can’t help but place a hand over her head. 

“I was teaching her proper arrangements,” Levi answers. 

Mikasa looks at the stockpile of teabags. Some arranged, some laid flat on the counter. She only nods. “What is she doing here so late?” she asks, gesturing to Gabi.

“Her parents are out again, so she’s having dinner with us,” he explains. 

“And what’s with… all the tea stuff?” 

“I told you. She punched a kid in school.” 

Mikasa still doesn’t fully understand, so she asks, “And this is… her punishment?” 

Levi crosses his arms over his chest. “Yes. Is that a problem?”

“I never said anything,” Mikasa mumbles in a low voice, deadpanning the incredulity that’s lacing this current conversation. She drops her gaze to the small girl, still attached to her hip. “She’s a quick learner, I’m sure she already gets your instructions. They’re tea bags and containers, Levi.” 

He stares at her blankly. “I believe a training as small as this is a fine punishment.” He picks up one small bag and raises it. “Little stuff matters.” 

This is ridiculous, she wants to say. 

Instead, she mirrors his stare, point and blank. 

“What?” 

“Nothing. I’m going to go and get changed,” Mikasa mutters, grasping Gabi’s hands to peel them off her gently. 

There’s not much to the dinner with the Ackermans except that there are decent meals where sodas are forbidden (for Gabi’s sake) and a surprisingly easy-to-get-used-to silence. Both Mikasa and Levi take solace in that. Gabi was easily comfortable with it but she doesn’t refrain herself from speaking. Tons. 

But instead of the bubbly blabbers and random quips, she finds herself in a tight spot. 

“Did I get suspended?” Gabi asks silently, her embarrassment showing. She tucks her shoulders in before taking a spoonful of her food. 

“Of course you were,” Levi answers with no hesitance. He raises two fingers. “For two days, starting Monday.” 

“But I didn’t mean to do it!” is her retaliation. 

The spoon that’s about to meet his mouth pauses mid-air. He cocks his head to the side to face Gabi, raising the utensil to point it at her direction. “You punched a boy and I got called in by the school for the fourth time in less than seven months. Fourth time. And that’s only when your parents aren’t available. How many times have either of your parents visited the school for the troubles you made?” 

Gabi doesn’t answer. 

“More than enough,” he answers for her, tone leaving no room for jokes. “That’s a behavioral issue. It’s your childish and violent choices that caused your suspension, Gabi. It’s time you fix that.” 

That shuts Gabi up. She pouts and even manages to look smaller than she is on her seat. The guilt is so apparent to her appearance. And she’s clearly not in the place to debunk anything, and she never was from the very beginning. 

“Is the boy okay?” Mikasa asks, mostly out of concern, slightly out of curiosity. 

“Got a couple of stitches,” Levi answers.

Mikasa’s forehead scrunches in worry. 

“Stitches?!” Gabi asks loudly in pure shock, dropping her utensils and they make a high-pitched shrill against the stoneware plate. “But—but Miss Pieck never mentioned anything like that! He was okay when we left… the bleeding stopped…”

“Yes, it did, and it required further treatment,” he bluntly points out. 

Then, not only the stainless spoon and fork fell to her plate but her gaze as well. She bites her lower lip to suppress herself from the cue of sobbing. If earlier, she was in depthless solace for being forgiven by both Falco and Colt, this time, with this knowledge newly ingested in her, as heavy as it weighed, is making her stomach lurch in anxiety, fear, and guilt. 

She barely hears Levi’s “tch” before he draws a careful lecture. 

“Don’t punish yourself by not eating.”

Gabi is the one to wash the dishes, after eating and showering. Not part of her punishment but she concludes it herself that she has to do it, in an effort of trying to make herself change. 

She doesn’t want to be inherently violent. In all honesty, she wants to be tough and strong without the need for it. She wants to be confident with the idea that she knows how to settle things without needing to get heated and punch. 

But she just doesn’t understand many things, that’s what she discovers in all of these. One of which is why Falco was and is so kind to her, complimenting her even if it meant his heart rate has to pick up at dangerous rates, saying sorry even when he’s the receiving end of both her physical and emotional jabs. She doesn’t get it.

“You’re going to destroy my dishes,” Levi warns from behind her. 

“S-Sorry!” she quickly blurts, and only realizes she’s been making a whole lot of noise with her dishwashing. “I didn’t mean to, I swear!”

“It’s fine. Finish up,” he orders. “I’m going to blow-dry your hair. It’s dripping to your shirt.” He clicks his tongue. “So lousy.” 

Gabi, once again, can’t help but frown and balloon her left cheek with empty air. 

A man of his words Levi is, he does sit Gabi in front of him. With a blow dryer in his hand, his other ruffles Gabi’s hair softly. Usually, it’s Mikasa who dries her hair, but she’s probably already asleep in her room, it’s safe to assume she’s too tired of today’s events. 

Gabi thinks of a conversation piece, one that won’t annoy Levi. She’s caused him enough trouble for the day. And in the end, she even accidentally broke one of his mugs earlier when she was washing, earning a scowl from the man. She has no idea she can get this clumsy in one day. She blames it on the entire ruckus with Falco. 

Falco.

She has no idea how she’s going to meet him on Monday. Although, sometimes, Falco visits her place to come and play with her. She wonders if he’s going to visit this weekend, or if it’s even possible for him to physically do that. 

She’s sure Colt won’t allow it. 

Maybe… she can visit him instead. Her eyes light up at the thought, and Levi notices the way her body, at the smallest movement, jumps. 

“What is it?” he asks. “Is the blower too hot?”

“No, it’s fine,” she says. 

How is she going to ask Levi to allow her to go out this weekend to visit Falco when she’s grounded to leave? She has no more strings to pull. It’s even worse now that she’s learned he had to pay for Falco’s stitches. Her parents are going to be livid and so disappointed once they return home.

“What are you thinking about?” Levi asks.

Always so receptive, Gabi almost mutters.

“Uhh,” she contemplates, biting her cheek, “h-how was work today, Levi?” 

Even without turning back to see Levi’s face, she knows he’s cringing. She’s never asked him about his work, never even asked about how his day was, ever. Gabi herself cringes at her poor attempt of a conversation, a not-so-sly tool to convince him to allow her out this weekend.

When Levi doesn’t answer, she probes, “Well…?”

“Spit it out.”

“What?” she asks.

“What do you want?” Levi asks, turning off the hairdryer.

She scratches her temple. “If I tell you, promise me you’ll give me permission for whatever I request.” She grins. 

“I’m not stupid,” he says instead. 

“Why are you so difficult to negotiate with?”

He ignores her question, posing another one instead. “Negotiate me with what? Spit it out.”

Gabi lets out a heavy sigh, turning on her stool to face Levi, opting that he might soften at the sight of her being sad and guilty. “I want to visit Falco tomorrow… would it be okay if I go out…?”

“Visit? What are you going to do? Punch him again?”

“What—no! I wanted to apologize to him for doing that,” she reluctantly answers, playing with her fingers in all sorts. “I don’t even know why I punched him, really.”

“Your principal told me it’s because he called you pretty.”

“Why did he have to tell you—I am so sick of that school! Not another word from you! Shut up, oldie!” is her torrential complaints. Gabi’s face flares up; she could not, for the life of her, help it. “Y-Yeah, b-but I don’t know! Why did he even have to say that? Why did he even—? We were just playing and he suddenly called me that. I-It’s weird!”

Levi simply places a hand over her head, a signature act of affection if you will. 

“You can ask him that tomorrow, then.”