Chapter Text
“I have two nickels,” Erwin reaches his little hand into his pocket and shimmies around for his spare change. “It may not be enough for Snickers and Butterfinger, but these unbranded candies are really tasty, Levi.”
“I don't need one,” Levi tells Erwin because he knows Erwin has an insatiable sweet tooth and he doesn't. “Go ahead and get a Butterfinger.”
“You sure?” the 10-year-old boy asks. He is never selfish, whatever little he has, he always shares with Levi. “We can just-”
“No, I'm not hungry,” Levi is lying. He's always hungry, but he wants real food, not candy. That's what he's going to Erwin’s house for anyway. “Get yourself a Butterfinger from the vending machine, Erwin. It's okay.”
Erwin smiles, the indentions in his chubby cheeks are prominent and adorable, so much so that Levi is compelled to poke at his face, but kids at school do that enough already. They poke at him and laugh, calling him ugly names. When Erwin was littler, his roundness coupled with his brilliant hair and blue eyes made him everyone’s favorite little boy, but when the chubbiness didn't go away when he turned 7, it slowly stopped being so cute, and more often than not, Erwin’s father would be told to put the boy on a diet. Levi thinks people should mind their business.
“Let’s go,” Levi takes the other boy’s hand (the one without the candy) and together they walk to Erwin’s house, as if Levi is the one that can see colors the way Erwin does.
But Erwin doesn't mind, especially with his candy bar, he's so distracted that Levi has to make sure the boy doesn't walk straight into a light pole. The walk to and from Erwin’s house is short because he lives in an urban area. One step outside of the boy’s home and there is a diner on the other side of the street that serves coffees, teas, milkshakes, and sweet bread. Another favorite place of Erwin’s.
Erwin’s father is in the kitchen already when Erwin gets home.
“I’m home, dad,” the boy slips his shoes off by the door where there is a short line of shoes, and Levi follows him. “What are you making?”
“Dinner, but I already have your lunch ready,” The man turns around to find not only his son, but Levi too. He gives Erwin a sandwich that looks like it's made completely of vegetables. “Hello, Levi. I didn't expect to see you today, would you like to eat?”
“Yeah, I'll take anything,” Levi shrugs, he doesn't really know what Erwin has, but if he were to really request food, it'd be an entire chicken pot pie and 6 bowls of cherry ice cream. “I don't mind.”
“Ah...” Erwin’s father smiles kindly at the 9-year-old boy, and reaches into an almost-empty cabinet. “I’m sorry, I only made one sandwich. Sweetheart, please share your sandwich with Levi.”
Levi is just about to say forget it when he notices that Erwin has already eaten most of the sandwich. He also discarded the tomatoes. Levi hates tomatoes, not because they taste bad, but because he has no idea what they are supposed to look like and kids always taunt him with them, throw their leftovers at him and then ask what color it is. Supposedly, tomatoes are ‘red’ but Levi doesn't know what red is supposed to look like. To him, it looks almost as dull as swamp green, which he can't really see as it is either, so the vibrant fruit ends up on his shirt and face because he doesn't know what it looks like.
“Never mind,” Levi grabs a large apple from the fruit bowl on the counter and bites it without washing it. “Erwin, let's go to your room.”
“Don't you want to eat?” Erwin’s father asks. The tall man looks sad that he doesn't have much to offer Levi, cleaning his serrated knife off with a kitchen towel. “We have meatloaf leftovers. I can give you some on a plate.”
“No thanks, Mr. Smith,” Levi offers his best smile with big chunks of apple in his mouth. Erwin is already pulling the little hand behind him. They always read books in Erwin’s room or play with his toys. Erwin is a sweet boy.
“Which book would you like to read?” Erwin stands on his tip-toes to reach the books above his head, that's where all the good ones are on his bookshelf. The ones his father used to read to him when he was younger. “Father left this one, I think you would like it."
The book Erwin holds in his little chubby hands is a blue book called Wonder. Erwin begins to read with Levi on his left side, cross-legged on his bed, and Levi cannot help but zone out. Levi isn't terrible at reading, but reading on paper is always a bit of a difficulty because the colors blend in with each other and Levi needs a light above his head in order to read properly. Another thing he is made fun of for. It's different for Erwin, he is only a little on the pudgy side, whereas Levi has severe Protan color blindness that will never leave. When his mother explained it to him, he was so young that it didn't matter as long as he had lego Batman and blueberry juice, he never thought that color would mean so much to him as he got older. Why should it matter anyway? He doesn't know what purple, red, or green is supposed to look like and never will.
“Auggie is strange, right?” the little blonde boy with the starkest blue eyes Levi has ever seen asks. “He has a weird face, but I think he should stand up for himself. Julian is mean. Don't you think so?”
Levi was spacing out for most of the first chapter of the book feeling sorry for himself. And a little jealous. He doesn't really want to talk, not when Erwin can read so fluently and he needs to read with big ugly glasses and a light. He shrugs.
“You don't stand up for yourself either when kids tease you, " Levi looks down. The words and pages mesh together, but the blue cover of the book is plain to Levi’s weird eyes. “I think Julian is a prick, but maybe Auggie’s mom should keep him home anyway. It's not his fault that he's weird. Or maybe it is, I don't know, finish reading.”
Erwin looks mildly shocked for a moment, but by now, he's used to the vulgar language coming from Levi’s 9-year-old mouth.
“Prick is a bad word, Levi.”
“Finish reading the damn book.”
7 years later…