This is a day late because my days are all screwed up and yeah I don't even know what happened whoops.

Also sorry about the abrupt ending idek about this chapter ._.

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-A few weeks later-

"This is her house?" Levi was mumbling in disbelief as Eren pulled the car to a stop and shifted it into park.

"Uh, yeah. Christa's family is kinda rich," he said with a casual shrug.

Levi stared at the window at the mansion-like building across a totally landscaped yard - complete with a stone walkway, tall bushes, and a fountain.

"Sure you still wanna do this?" asked the brunet, noting the mild nervousness in Levi's features. He merely nodded before stepping out of the vehicle and meeting Eren on the other side, automatically taking his hand. He could already smell the smoky scent of burning wood. They were at Eren's friend Christa's for a Saturday night bonfire. The younger had said they wanted to meet Levi, and from the sound of it this entire thing was orchestrated for just that. That wasn't something he could really say no to no matter how uneasy social situations, particularly with people he'd yet to meet, made him. That, and it seemed to make Eren happy; he was doing everything he could to keep that smile on his face, to not hurt him anymore.

"Let's go," he responded.

They were halfway up the stone pathway when the front door practically burst open to reveal a very excited looking brunette with big, happy eyes and a ponytail, followed by a much smaller blonde with innocent blue orbs.

"Eren!" exclaimed the taller female, trotting down to meet them with the blonde in tow.

"Hey, Sasha," Eren greeted with a friendly smile. He gestured to the man on his right. "This is Levi."

Levi didn't smile, but he didn't scowl either as he shook the girl's hand. She gave him a big, dopey smile and said, "I'm Sasha." She, too, gestured in the blonde's direction. "This is Christa."

Christa cast him a sweet, girlish smile but refrained from shaking his hand. She could tell he was mildly uncomfortable. "Everyone else is already out back," she articulated in a soprano that sounded more like it should've come from a little kid. "Shall we?"

Eren and Levi followed the girls into the house. It smelled of cinnamon apple, like a candle, mixed with another type of homey scent. The interior was even more impressive than the exterior with sleek wood floors, softly painted green walls, and high ceilings. From the ceilings hung chandeliers or soft gaslights, illuminating the place and making it feel more like a model home rather than an actual home. The furniture was clearly designer and the place was impeccably clean, much to Levi's pleasure and approval. The only thing that really made the place seem like an actual family lived there were the family pictures on the walls. It was so big it seemed to take a good two minutes for them to walk through just to the backyard, and Levi was sure this was only a fraction of the house.

The backyard itself, of course, was huge as well. There were decorations everywhere, landscaped neatly with rocks and a few fountains, a stone path that went around in a circle and a gazebo right in the middle. Several trees sprouted out of the ground and there was a small pond in the corner adjacent to a thriving garden. Light poles lined the walk and softly illuminated the yard. It looked more like a small park than a backyard.

Off to the left sat a chattering circle of people, comfortable in cushioned lawn chairs encircling a wood-burning fire pit that crackled and gave off the smoke he'd been smelling since stepping out of the car. Across the fire, two guys shared a chair - one with silvery hair and a long face, the other (in his lap, arm slung casually around his neck) had freckles and baby-ish features. Next to them was another masculine-looking female, her cheeks also dusted with freckles and eyes that appeared black in the firelight. On the opposite side of her was a short kid (though not as short as Levi himself) with a buzz cut, and next to him was Armin. Sasha skipped over to the empty chair between them and scooted it closer to the buzz cut, who made googly eyes at her. Levi took this all in in a split second.

"Feel free to sit anywhere," said Christa, gesturing to an abundance of different kinds of lawn chairs a ways away in the corner of the yard.

Upon sitting, it left Eren to start introductions. Starting with the one Christa joined on the swing, Eren said their names. Ymir, Marco, Jean, Connie, Sasha, and of course, Armin. They each nodded or said a soft hello. He then introduced Levi despite all of them knowing his name.

The whole thing felt suffocatingly awkward; it was just the type of situation Levi's mind screamed at him to avoid. He kept hold of Eren's hand almost like a vice, absently running his tongue along the backsides of his teeth, a habit he'd picked up from having had his tongue pierced for almost ten years. Just before it got overwhelmingly uncomfortable, Marco spoke up.

"So, Levi, you're a tattoo artist?"

The raven could only nod, meeting the kid's soft eyes from across the dwindling flames.

"How long have you been at it?" Connie asked.

"Professionally or overall?"

"Both."

"I didn't get my license to do it professionally until about four years ago. Overall...I picked it up about ten years ago."

"How'd you get into it?"

Levi swallowed moderately hard and directed his attention to the flames as he launched into the brief story of finding his grandfather's old tattoo machine among his mother's old things.

"So then you taught yourself," Marco commented.

"Not exactly." Even Eren perked a brow at him. "My uncle was a tattoo artist," he said beginning to work around the details in his mind for Eren's friends, while he internally remembered it in more detail.

Levi, a mere fifteen years old, sat at his desk in his room, fiddling with the wires of this old, complicated machine that may has well have taken rocket science to fix for all the progress he was making with it. Even with the mild assistance of the internet (that was much too slow), he couldn't figure out which end went into which slot or the way the cables connected or even where it plugged into the wall, really. After nearly two weeks spent trying to figure it out with little progress, he was ready to give up and find something else to do with his time, like perhaps continuing to mark up his own arms with the blade he hid in-

A sharp knock sounded at his bedroom door and before he could ask who it was, it was opening to reveal someone he hadn't seen since he was probably still running around in pull-ups. Because of this, he didn't recognize the tall, scruffy man in the cowboy hat with wrinkled skin and cold eyes, carrying with him the scent of a pipe and must.

"Who are you?" he asked, quickly moving to his feet and moving toward the man, suspicion rising.

"Aw c'mon, Levi, you don't remember your own uncle?"

"What?"

"Your Uncle Kenny, idiot." Kenny had never been the most pleasant person on Earth; in fact, Levi knew he'd gotten many of his own traits from that man. "I came to see why the hell you're skipping out on your own sister's eighteenth birthday party."

"I'm busy," Levi retorted coldly, eyes narrowing at the man whose boots had left a trail of mud on the once clean carpet behind him. He took the knob and attempted to push the man out of his room, but to no avail. Kenny was much stronger.

"With what?" he inquired, peering over Levi's head at his desk. He didn't wait for an answer before pushing the teenager to the side and sauntering over to the mostly broken tattoo machine, trailing mud into Levi's room as well, to which the teen gave an irritated scowl. "Where in the hells did you find this?" he asked, picking up a few of the mangled parts.

"The garage," muttered Levi, crossing his arms. He remembered feeling annoyed that this guy, who he'd technically barely met, had barged right into his room without permission and was touching his things.

Kenny further inspected the parts, shaking his head in disapproval. "What'd ya do to it, kid?" he scoffed. "It's all beat up...sure as hell not in the condition it was the last time I seen it."

"Nothing. I was fixing it. Now leave me alone so I can," he said, trying to take the supplies from Kenny's rough, calloused hands.

The man let out a rough, sarcastic laugh. "Looks more like you were shredding it to pieces." He then started picking things apart. To Levi at the time, he was ruining weeks of hard work.

"Stop!" he said, trying to bat Kenny's hands away. "You're gonna fuck it up!"

Kenny's brows shot up in surprise. "Damn, Shiori sure didn't discipline you very well if you've got that kind of vocab at your age." The kid rolled his eyes at that and Kenny continued, "I think you already almost ruined it, idiot," he mumbled, inspecting the wires. "I know what I'm doing."

"Oh yeah?" Levi drawled sarcastically.

"You sure got an attitude," Kenny chuckled. His eyes started roaming around the walls, clearly taking in the art Levi had hanging around. "Tell you what, if you're that interested in fixin' this thing up, I'll help you, and I'll even teach you how to use it, if you're serious about it."

Levi sat back on his heels, sizing the man up suspiciously. "What's the catch?" he asked, skeptical.

"No catch," Kenny promised. "You just have to promise to stay committed to it and actually use the skill every once in a while."

"And if I don't?"

"I'll break your thumbs beyond total repair." At first Levi thought he was joking, but looking into those hard hazel eyes, he could tell he was dead serious. "You'll be able to eat, drink, and wipe yourself after you shit, but hell if you'll ever be able to draw again." He gestured to some of the artwork. "You can refuse, a'course, but you'd be a fool to let such talent go to waste."

Levi had taken a minute to answer. He figured he wouldn't have any better opportunities to get that godforsaken machine fixed, and part of him yearned for a distraction from that razor. So he'd made the deal with Kenny, who wasn't the best or most patient teacher, but kept his promise to teach Levi everything he knew about tattooing. It was something Levi found he enjoyed.

Still, it couldn't keep his crushing depression away, couldn't keep his memories at bay, nor could it distract him from drugs and Farlan, who'd walked into his life only half a year after Kenny.

And then Kenny disappeared, leaving a note saying something along the lines of 'you know enough to do this yourself'. He left no trace other than that, and Levi had not seen him since.

Levi merely told Eren and his friends that Kenny had moved away, and he kept everything out about Farlan or anyone else in his family. Of course, the green-eyed one next to him knew there was more to it, but fortunately the rest of the group was content with the story. Impressed, even, and they asked to see some of his work. This resulted in Eren's phone being passed around the circle. Unbeknownst to Levi, he'd been keeping a digital copy of Levi's portfolio on his phone.

"Why?" Levi inquired, raising a brow at Eren, who shrugged.

"I thought it might come in handy. And it has." Typically, he answered with a smile, giving Levi that fluttery feeling he just couldn't seem to get used to.

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Idek, sorry. I might have the next chapter up sooner to make up for this .~.