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“O-oi! Eren!”
“What?” Eren calls from the other side of the storage display.
“Look at this, it has compartments.” Levi mumbles, chewing his lip as the drawer opens so smoothly he goes weak kneed.
“Only you could get this excited about a drawer with compartments.” Eren says as he walks over, hand landing softly on Levi’s waist.
“I love it.” Levi says as he pushes the drawer as hard as he can, barely holding in his excitement as the soft close feature kicks in. “I want this one.”
“Will it even fit in that spot?” Eren asks, protesting half-heartedly because of the price.
“I already measured it. It’ll fit.” Levi says, bouncing up onto the balls of his feet to look down the back of the storage set.
“Alright, I’ll write it down then.” Eren says with a pained sigh, scribbling with the shitty little pencil they provide you with. Levi can feel heat high on his cheeks, is genuinely giddy. But as a thirty seven year old who just bought his first home this is as exciting as life gets. “Such a dork.” Eren mutters, not that Levi has the heart to be mad about it.
“I’m about to be one of those annoying people that goes backwards to the beginning so I can piss.” He says instead. “Wait for me here?”
“Yep, see you in a minute babe.” Eren plants a kiss into Levi’s hair, not even looking up from where he’s still trying to get the pencil to cooperate.
Levi makes his trip quick, zipping up and washing his hands at record speed to escape the public bathroom. He shudders at the thought before wandering back down the winding path, eyeing up the desk he had already convinced Eren to buy for them on his way past. The sound of a toddler squealing and running around catches Levi’s attention before he realises that Eren is the one chasing her.
“No! Bad, Eren!” The small girl accuses from where she’s having a stand off against his husband with a piece of miscellaneous furniture between them.
“You’re the one who stole my pencil.” Eren retorts with a childish grin. The girl fiddles with one of her dark auburn pigtails, appearing to mull over Eren’s accusation carefully before running off again.
Levi’s feet are frozen to the floor, watching her bomb around the furniture displays with Eren hot on her heels, never quite catching up because his husband is just too good to upset a kid that way. Her amber eyes are too big for her face in the most adorable way and her laugh is much too loud for her tiny body. The nostalgia has a lump forming in Levi’s throat. She looks just like her.
“You’ll never catch me!” She shouts, looking over her shoulder as she runs straight towards Levi. He can’t step away in time. She slams into his legs and ricochets back onto her bum with a yelp.
“A-are you okay?” Levi stutters, waiting for the waterworks but only receiving a murderous glare. She acts just like her.
“You got in my way.” She snarks. She talks just like her.
“Maybe you should’ve been looking where you were going.” Levi points out, giving her a sharp look that she only returns tenfold. “You’ve got guts, kid.”
“Levi.” Eren says warily.
“I’m not a kid. I’m a lady, right Eren?” She demands turning to fix Eren with the same threatening gaze.
“A lady that bumped into Levi’s legs and should probably apologise for that.” Eren reasons, licking his lips nervously. Not that anyone who doesn’t know him well would be able to tell that’s a nervous tick. The little girl turns back around, looking Levi up and down skeptically.
“Sorry, Mr Levi.” She concedes reluctantly. He can’t help his smile.
“Sorry I got in the way of your game.”
“I guess I forgiven you.” She huffs. Eren snorts loudly at the mistake and her haughty posture.
“What’s your name?” Levi asks.
“Amelie.”
“That’s a pretty name.”
“That’s what Eren said. Eren is my friend. How do you know Eren?” Amelie huddles in closer now, like she’s waiting to hear a secret. Levi holds up his hand, wagging his ring finger adorned with a silver band.
“I married him.”
“Huh?” She responds with a frown.
“What?”
“I didn’t know boys could marry boys but it makes sense.” She says with a satisfied nod.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Auntie Zoe has a wife.” She says with a beaming smile. “She curls my hair!” Levi glances up at Eren, who’s staring down at them with the most domestic smile, like some proud father. Levi rolls his eyes, there’s a piece missing from this story.
“And where are you parents?” He asks gently.
“I lost them!”
“You lost them?” He says with mock horror.
“Yeah, I was playing and then I didn’t know where they were.” She answers, as though this is the most obvious and common turn of events.
“Well I’m sure they’re very worried about you.” Levi says, shooting an accusing glare at Eren, whose smile has been replaced with a sheepish lip nibble. “Shouldn’t we go and find them?”
“Okay but you’ll play with me on the way.” Amelie orders, grabbing his hand and tugging him along the path. Eren is grabbed too, Levi shoots him a demanding glare.
“I- I got distracted. It was an accident. I was going to take her to the customer services desk and then-”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Levi snaps.
“I want to keep her so bad.” Eren whines quietly as she releases their hands to run ahead, somehow managing to stay in their line of sight. “We’ve been waiting so long, I want my own tiny person.” Levi watches as she decides to try and roly poly her way across the floor.
“I want to keep her too. She looks just like Isabel, acts like her too.” Eren hums in agreement.
“She can stand up to your scary old man face, no problem.” Eren teases, earning himself a punch to the shoulder.
“I want to swing!” Amelie squawks as she runs back towards them, grabbing onto their hands again. “1 2 3 NOW!” They haul her up into the air as they walk, obviously higher than her parents do because she squeals in terrified delight. “Again, again!” This goes on for half of their journey before she gets tired. But of course, she decelerates at a hundred miles an hour, wobbling on her little legs until she’s making grabby motions to be picked up. “Don’t wanna walk no more.” Levi scoops her up quickly while Eren flails at the sight of unshed tears.
“You’re hopeless.” Levi whispers over Amelie’s head, glaring meaningfully when Eren shrugs. Although Levi supposes he should’ve known Eren would be out of his depth with anything other than play time, he never had any younger siblings like Levi did. Once Amelie is conveniently positioned on his hip, Eren’s path subtly curves closer until he can slip an arm around Levi’s waist. Amelie must be clutching his fingers because Eren is looking at her with the most sickeningly love struck expression.
Levi’s heart thunders, stumbling over itself to try and keep up with his stomach as it swoops, giddy with delight. He takes a deep breath, letting it out with the reminder that this is pure luck and will be over any minute now.
“I want to keep her.” Eren repeats, voice low as they both watch her head loll against Levi’s shoulder. Her mouth is wide open, cheek smushed in the least flattering but most heart wrenchingly adorable way.
“Yeah.”
“We’ll have one of our own soon.” Eren says smoothly. “We have the house, we passed the medical exams and our application was accepted.”
“Can we not just kidnap her?” Levi asks, pushing some of Amelie’s stray hair away from her open mouth. Eren chuckles, planting a kiss on top of Levi’s head.
“Her parents would go insane.” Levi grimaces, giving a reluctant nod. The customer services desk is in sight, he really shouldn’t feel so disappointed. Amelie stirs in his arms, apparently a three minute power nap is enough for her for the moment. Her heavy lidded eyes drift toward the restaurant and loud clacking of cutlery.
“Hungry.” She mumbles, head still wobbly on her shoulders.
“I’m sure your mum and dad will have something for you when they get here.” Eren says with a smile, tone reassuring in a way that seems to melt Levi as much as it does Amelie.
“How can I help you, gentlemen?” The blonde behind the counter asks, service voice making Levi want to shudder.
“We found a lost child.” Eren points to Amelie, who’s taken it upon herself to start re-styling Levi’s hair. The girl behind the counter falters.
“She’s not yours?” She asks, eyes wide but wide smile still set firmly in place.
“Uhm, no. Unfortunately,” Eren says with a laugh. “Isn’t she adorable?”
“Absolutely. I’ll make an announcement.” She turns away quickly, scrabbling with the mic and dropping it.
“Are mummy and daddy coming?” Amelie asks, tugging particularly hard at a strand of Levi’s hair. Eren holds in a snort at Levi’s unimpressed passivity at the absolute state his hair has become.
“They’ll be here soon.” He says instead.
“Aw.” Amelie groans, disappointed and flopping backwards over Levi’s arm to demonstrate her distress.
“You don’t want to see them?” Levi asks, raising an eyebrow when Amelie shrugs.
“I don’t wanna see Leo.”
“Who’s Leo?” Eren interjects, jumping when an announcement about a lost child starts but ignoring it all the same.
“My brother. He never stops crying. It’s so annoying.” She says with indignation, letting out a dramatic sigh.
“Is he little?”
“He’s like this big.” Amelie gestures less than the width of Levi’s chest.
“He’s still a baby, huh?” Levi says with understanding.
“He’ll cry less when he gets bigger, right Levi?”
“Of course.”
“Are you sure? Because he cries all the time. It never stops!”
“Amelie!” A woman shouts from the direction Levi and Eren had just come from, obviously on their way to the same place when she had heard the announcement. Then she’s sprinting across the floor and Amelie is squealing and struggling to get out of Levi’s arms. He sets her down quickly, watching as she runs with just as much enthusiasm towards her mother. When they collide in the middle, her mother bursting into tears on the floor with her little girl in her arms, Eren slips his hand back around Levi’s waist. Levi leans into him, resisting the urge to smile despite wanting her to come back.
“Sasha!” A bald man comes running around the corner, panting loudly from tugging a pram and a protective hand around the baby in the sling on his chest. “Oh Amelie, oh we found you.” He says with relief, abandoning his pram and running the last few steps so he can ruffle her hair affectionately. “Come on Sash, pull it together.” He says with a smile, nudging the brunette still sniffling and clinging to Amelie.
“I’m so happy for them.” Eren says, Levi glances up at him only to be blindsided by his smile.
“Yeah, I know.” Levi agrees, shoving his hand into Eren’s back pocket. “It’s just-” He trails of with a sigh.
“Green with envy, right?”
“Absolutely livid with it.” Levi agrees. Amelie is talking rapidly with her parents, gesturing wildly and recounting her adventures. Levi is struck again by just how much she looks like Isabel. That wild excitement burning so bright that she looks like she might explode with energy.
“-and then I met Eren and Levi and we played swing!”
“Eren and Levi?” Sasha asks from where she’s on the floor.
“Over there!” Amelie says, waving from her mother’s arms. Eren gives a small wave back.
“You found her?”
“I’m pretty sure she found us.” Eren jokes, shaking hands firmly with the man in front of them. Levi finds himself satisfied that they’re almost the same height. “I’m Eren,” he elaborates. “This is Levi.”
“Hey.” Levi introduces himself reluctantly.
“Thank you so much for doing this. I’m Connie and this is my wife Sasha.” He says gesturing behind him before offering his hand to Levi, who shakes it with a pained smile. Eren rewards him with a squeeze. “I don’t know how we could ever repay you-”
“Oh no, please,” Eren says, holding his free hand up to stop Connie in his tracks. “We don’t need repayment. She was a dream the entire time, it was no trouble.”
“Amelie? A dream?” Connie asks, eyebrows raised before sniggering. “You’re serious?”
“Uh, yeah.” Eren says hesitantly.
“I never thought I’d see the day.” Connie says, turning around to where Amelie is being scooped up into her mother’s arms.
“Eren! Levi!” She squirms, trying to escape Sasha desperately like she hasn’t seen them in a year.
“Amelie.” Sasha scolds, struggling not to drop her as she decides it’s a better idea to release her daughter than risk her falling. She bombs towards them, slamming into Eren’s leg with a loud whumpf.
“This is my Mummy and Daddy. And that’s Leo.” She points. “He’s not crying right now but he will be soon.” Eren consoles her with heartfelt sympathy.
“Let us take you out for a meal some time to repay you.” Sasha demands of Levi with a smile, scaring the shit out of him. When did she get so close?
“What? No, really it was no trouble.” Levi echoes Eren, a little taken aback at the warmth radiating from the woman in front of him.
“We insist.” She says, pulling out her phone and pushing it into Levi’s hand. He separates from Eren, chewing his lip before typing his number in anyway. Can’t hurt. Probably.
“Here.” He says, handing the phone back and earning a beaming smile from Sasha.
“We should get going.” Connie mutters to Sasha, eyeing Amelie warily where she’s bouncing around Eren’s feet.
“Alright,” Sasha says quietly. “Thank you again Levi, so much.” She steps away towards her daughter, scooping her up with soothing words. “Time to go home, little one.”
“With Eren and Levi?” She asks, grinning happily. Connie cringes, shielding Leo with his free hand and grabbing the pram he had left in the middle of the floor.
“No sweetie, they have to finish their shopping,” Sasha says firmly, despite the aura of dread surrounding her and her husband. “Say bye bye!” She encourages, waving a hand at Eren, where he’s migrated to grab Levi’s hand. Like clockwork they both raise a hand to wave.
“Bye bye, Amelie.” Eren says, knock-out smile set in place. Amelie looks between them for a terrifying moment before her face crumples.
“Oh fuck.” Levi mutters.
They barely escape with their eardrums in tact. Eren looks like he just stared death in the face where he’s pulling different flat packs off the shelves for Levi’s beloved new storage set.
“She was so sweet,” Eren says to himself “What even was that?”
“She didn’t want to leave.” Levi sighs from where he’s leaning against the weird metal cart.
“But she wouldn’t even say goodbye. I thought we were friends.” He says, staring with a forlorn pout at a bag of hinges.
“That’s why she didn’t say anything. Kids think that if they don’t acknowledge it then it won’t happen. We need to go to aisle 32 ne- Eren?” Levi squawks unattractively at Eren’s watery eyes.
“She- She just didn’t want us to leave? She doesn’t hate me for letting her go?”
“Of course not! Eren please do not cry in the middle of IKEA.” Levi pulls him closer so he can plant a kiss on his cheek. Luckily, that seems to pacify Eren, who smiles bashfully down at his feet.
“I thought maybe I was just terrible with kids.”
“Are you kidding?” Levi scoffs. “She thought you were fantastic, otherwise why would she have been so upset?”
“You really think so?” Eren says, eyeing Levi through thick eyelashes. Levi hums his assent, pressing into Eren’s side with a smirk.
“More than adequate,” he lowers his voice to a fond purr “in fact it’s pretty attractive watching you take control, Daddy.” Eren gulps.
“Let’s hurry this up, which aisle was next?”
“32- Eren! Ugh, section 15 A!” Levi shouts across the warehouse at Eren’s back.