Chapter Text
The air smelled of diapers and animal crackers. The room echoed with the cries and laughter of children.
Levi was not supposed to be here.
At least that is what he kept telling himself as he was handed an obnoxiously yellow apron by his friend (as he sparingly called her), Hange.
Hange, a teenage girl with brown hair in a ponytail and square-rimmed glasses, suddenly called all the snot-nosed children to her side with the flick of her hand, as if they were her well-trained pets, which, knowing Hange, may not be so far-fetched. She turned to the kids, bending over slightly. Once all of their faces were all fully intrigued by what she was possibly about to tell them, the teenage girl sang, "We have a new friend today!"
The group immediately looked over to Levi with glimmering eyes full of excitement, but to their disappointment and terror, they were met with a glare so fierce that most quickly ran to hide behind Hange, save for a handful of older kids.
Hange giggled, "Now, now, Levi is just angry that I forced him to wear yellow!"
Levi hissed and turned away. He did hate yellow with a passion, but he was more pissed off by the fact that he had to start babysitting brats after school every day because of the last fight he had. He was pissed off that Hange's father, the vice principal, had talked the school board out of suspension or expulsion and into community service at his family's day care. He was pissed off that he had to deal with children who did not know any ounce of hygiene or respect. He was pissed off that he was not allowed to verbally explain how pissed off he was or he would be in even deeper shit with Hange. He was also pissed off that Hange being pissed off scared him at all.
Suddenly, he felt a tug on the hated apron. Levi shot his gaze down and into the blue eyes of a blond kid, who looked very frightened that he had just tugged on the scary older boy's apron. Despite the obvious fear in the little boy's eyes, he courageously said, "I don't like orange, but I had to wear my orange sweater today because it was cold."
The poor kid was obviously trying to relate to Levi to make him feel better, but Levi was more concerned with the fact that a little human was attached to his leg, and he had no idea whether the boy's hands were clean. If it had been someone his age touching him, they would no longer have fingers for them to touch anything with ever again. Instead, he was frozen in place by the realization that his life was becoming his germaphobic nightmare.
Thankfully, Hange quickly pried the kid off him and laughed dismissively, "Thank you, Armin, but Levi doesn't like to be touched much, so we are going to respect his personal space, okay, everyone? Remember when we learned about our personal space bubbles? Make sure you ask Levi if it is alright before you touch him."
Levi had already compiled all his possible responses to children asking if he wanted to be touched by them: No.
A boy with light brown hair spoke up, looking far too smug for his age, "But you weren't respecting Armin's personal space bubble just now!" He held up an accusatory finger at the teenage girl.
Hange sighed, before rushing at the kid and sweeping him off the ground, "Jean, Jean, Jean! I am the personal space bubble god! I control all the personal space bubbles on Earth! Are you saying that I shouldn't use my powers to keep everyone's space bubbles safe?" The boy, Jean, was obviously at a loss for words. "You see, I wasn't trying to invade Armin's bubble. I was protecting Levi's bubble." The boy did not look fully convinced.
"Okay, I will just have to ask Marco his opinion..." she started, but was stopped by the little kid yelling, "Fine! I get it!"
Levi was so far from caring about the situation that he zoned out after that exchange, watching unconsciously as Jean ran up to a freckled, brown-haired boy who was laughing softly at him. Jean simply pouted.
Then, like all good daydreaming ends, he was forcefully yanked back into reality by Hange introducing a little girl to him.
"This is a girl that I think you will like very much, Levi. Mikasa here will help you out with things while I am not here. She is very mature for her age and is very good with the younger kids. She won't stand for fights, so you won't have to deal with very many, right, Mikasa?"
The small girl with black hair and a large red scarf that was practically engulfing her little frame nodded.
With her air of respect and indifference, Levi decided that he indeed would probably like Mikasa a lot more than the other brats.
Suddenly, Hange was whipping her head side-to-side, searching for something. She leaned over and began to ask Mikasa, "Where is--"
She was interrupted by a shout, "Hey, guys!"
Hange looked over Levi's shoulder, and her face immediately dropped into the realm of "Oh, shit."
Slowly, Levi turned around only to see something jump onto him from the top of a bookshelf, bringing him and it to the ground, smacking Levi's head onto the carpeted, but hard floor. His vision swam for a moment, before two wide, turquoise eyes solidified in front of his face.
"Hey, you got in my way! I was going to show everyone I could fly!"
Levi stayed silent and on his back for a moment before asking the little boy for his name.
"I am Eren Yeager! Don't wear it out!"
As Levi sat up, the boy slid off his chest and into his lap.
Levi quietly asked, "You wanted to fly, right, Eren?"
"Yeah!"
Levi grabbed the top of the kid's head, further displacing the the messy brown hair there.
"How would you like to go flying out that window over there?"
Today, Levi started his time at the daycare, chasing down a brat named Eren and trying to throw him out the window.