The scent of frying batter was the first thing to register after Levi had opened his eyes to the sun-filled room, still lying on his left side that'd fallen numb after hours of being laid on. Something warm remained pressed to his back, and still lying beneath the sheets, he could feel himself sweating.

Before he had time to sit up and wake Eren, a soft knock was sounding at the door.

"Yeah," he called tiredly, pushing himself up on an elbow.

"Oh, you're awake," Hannah said as her chestnut colored head poked through the opening of the doorway. "Franz is making pancakes. I figured I should wake you before they get cold."

"Hmm...thanks," he said, attempting to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Hey...can I shower after breakfast?"

"Of course. Meet us in the kitchen whenever you're ready." She left with her classic smile.

Yawning, Levi turned to find Eren still sound asleep, his face completely relaxed. He almost hated having to wake him up. Even so, he reached over and gently shook the kid's shoulder.

Beneath their lids, his eyes flicked; Levi shook him only once more before his long lashes were fluttering open, his arms stretching out like a cat's.

"Hey, kid," Levi said. "Breakfast is ready."

Eren's sleepy eyes found Levi quickly. The raven couldn't help but notice they were still tinged pink near the corners.

"Pancakes?" Eren mumbled, wrinkling his nose a bit.

"Yeah."

The other smiled a bit. "I love pancakes."

"Then get up and let's go eat."

The brunet sighed before sitting up. A cowlick stuck out on the side of his head, and running a hand through his hair as he yawned did nothing to tame it, but in fact made it worse. As he stood up, Levi let out an amused snort.

"What?" Eren asked.

"Take it you slept well."

"Um...well yeah, actually. How'd you know?"

In answer, Levi reached for his hand and tugged him out of bed to pull him over to the mirror above the dresser. As Eren took in his appearance, he had a hand up his shirt scratching his stomach.

"Oh," he said with a giggle. "Water will fix that."

Levi only rolled his eyes before going for the door. "C'mon. I'm starving."

Eren didn't hesitate to follow Levi to the kitchen. Once there, as they thanked Franz and Hannah for the food, filled their plates and sat down to in turn fill their stomachs, Levi felt Eren's presence to be close again. In fact, he stayed quite close the entire morning, save for when Levi excused himself for a quick shower, after which he found the kid in their room, only half dressed, the shirt he planned to wear draped across his lap with his eyes fixed on it, a blank look on his face.

As soon as Levi walked back in, his head snapped up and he fumbled to pull the shirt over his head, but it wasn't before Levi saw the scars. A breath caught in his throat at the sight but he refrained from letting his internal reaction be known outwardly.

"Hannah said we'll be leaving soon," said the younger quietly as he stood up, retrieving his night shirt from the floor to stuff carelessly into his bag.

"Mkay." Levi worked on folding his own pajamas and tucking them away in his suitcase before picking up the violin case and strapping it across his chest. "Let's take our stuff to the living room so it'll be ready to go."

Eren merely nodded and followed in his lead, meeting Franz and Hannah in the living room. Only minutes later they were out the door, the brunet bearing a heavy heart.

~

Eren clutched a bouquet of flowers to his chest as the car bumped over the uneven dirt surface of the parking lot located at the edge of a vast green field dotted with various trees and hundreds of different gravestones. He hadn't spoken a word since leaving the flower shop, since he'd asked the florist for violet peonies. An odd request in Levi's mind, but he held himself back from asking for a reason.

Franz swung into an unmarked parking space beside one of the only other cars in the lot and cut the engine. For the first time since departing the florist's, Eren swiveled his head away from the window.

"Take all the time you need, hon," Hannah said from the passenger's seat, twisted around to see him. "Just meet us back here when you're finished."

The brunet nodded a bit wearily before his eyes found Levi, who gave him a nod as well. "Ready?" he asked.

Eren merely gave another nod, cuing Levi to push open his door and step out into the warm mid morning sun. Franz and Hannah also stepped out, sending them smiles before meeting up at the front of the car and trailing away slowly, looking for the headstone of a friend of theirs they said also rested there.

Levi circled around the car where Eren was still standing timidly beside his door, the flowers still cradled to his chest. His eyes gazed uneasily across the field, his teeth absently chewing on his lower lip.

The older said nothing. He simply reached for Eren's hand, gently pulling it away from the flowers, and tugged him along toward the grass. Though he had no idea where he was going, he kept walking between the headstones, eyes scoping over the names to find 'Jaeger'. He came to the realization that he'd yet to learn Eren's mother's first name.

The two had walked maybe five minutes before Eren was tugging back on Levi's hand. Just as he turned around to reassure him, he found Eren not to be hesitating, but nodding in another direction. So he let the kid lead, squeezing between the stones until they reached a large, blossoming cherry tree. Pink petals decorated the grass, littered the top of a few of the headstones, and continued gently spiraling to the ground one by one every so often. Eren stopped beneath it, looking around.

"She's somewhere around here," he said quietly. His hand tightened around Levi's as his eyes searched about the stones.

"What's her name?" Levi asked gently, eyes on one stone in particular.

"C-Carla," Eren stammered.

Humming, Levi coaxed him in the direction of a stone, a rectangular shape with flowers engraved around its edges. In the center, it read:

In Loving Memory

Carla Jaeger

1973-2005

Eren pressed closely to the other. Levi could feel him shaking just slightly, his fingers in a vice grip between Levi's own, but he couldn't bring himself to mind too much. He could only imagine what Eren was feeling at that moment, not having lost a parent to death himself, but it was almost as if he could feel secondhand all of the grief and guilt the younger bore inside of himself.

A light breeze picked up, lifting their hair, ruffling the tree and causing a few of the petals to swirl around them. One landed delicately near Eren's hand where he still held the bouquet of peonies. He glanced down at them and, with shaking hands, laid them gently in front of the headstone. When he stood back up, he folded his arm across his stomach, his lips pressed firmly together as if he were doing everything he could to keep his emotions at bay.

After a moment of consideration, Levi pulled tenderly on the boy's hand to coax him to the ground and sit, crossing his legs right next to him. Eren pressed even closer, his whole frame timid and trembling - subtly, but it was.

"Would it...?" Levi began, and then second guessed himself, unsure.

"Hm?"

The raven pulled in a deep breath. "Would it be wrong of me to ask you to tell me about it?"

"A-about what?"

Levi clenched his jaw, mildly regretting bringing it up. Still, his ever growing curiosity nagged at him not to back down. "About you. I mean...about your life." Internally he cringed at how awkwardly he worded the sentence.

"You mean...from the...the beginning?"

A hand ran through dark hair, another small sigh escaping parted lips. "Yeah, I guess. But it's fine...you don't have to tell me." His teeth snapped shut, his jaw flexing as he tried to mask his growing embarrassment.

Eren's eyes descended to their hands and he twisted them a bit, resting them on his knee. "I-I didn't say no," he said quietly.

"Yeah. But it was probably too personal of a question. Forget I asked."

Eren was so close that Levi could hear him swallow. "Well m-maybe..."

"What?"

"I...I don't know," he sighed.

"Spit it out, kid."

"...Maybe it's time I told someone."

Levi swiveled his head and had to strain his eyes to make out Eren's face; his big green eyes remained on the headstone, but when he felt the other turn, they lifted to meet Levi's. A galaxy of emotion swirled through those saturated irises - grief being prominent, accompanied by a deeply ingrained sadness that clearly hadn't manifested within the last few moments, or even days; and something else Levi couldn't quite place (though he'd never been good at reading feelings, especially those of others).

"It's up to you," Levi muttered, averting his eyes once more.

Eren straightened up, not letting go of Levi's hand, but distancing himself just a fraction. "It's a long story," he uttered quietly. "And it's not very pleasant." His eyes flicked up to his companion and then back down in hesitation. "Are you absolutely sure you wanna know?"

And once again Levi's eyes found Eren's innocent face. With complete and utter certainty he said a firm, "Yes."

---

I'm sorry, guys, that this chapter is super weak and short. I've been writing it through a block; it seems to be letting up a little so hopefully the next chapter will be better. Get ready for backstory! :3