Notes

Levi is staring into his cup of coffee and debating murder. It's not an abnormal practice from him, especially on Monday mornings as rainy as this one is, but it's usually because of work or his dog being an obnoxious asshole. Today, it's because of the people sitting at the table in front of him.

"Look, all I'm saying is that if aliens actually invaded, we'd have no chance against them," one of them says. Levi can only see the back of him, but he's slim and has a blond-and-brown undercut, not unlike Levi's. He also looks tall, but that may be because of the small, tow-headed boy sitting next to him. It's this boy who speaks next.

"Human ingenuity and perseverance can be surprising, though. Even we don't know what we're capable of. Plus, every science fiction work about aliens depicts us as being capable of handling an interstellar threat."

"Of course they do," Undercut says, scoffing. "They were written by people. It's not like they have any real basis for that, though. We've never had contact with aliens."

"That we know of," Blondie says.

"True," Undercut concedes. "But come on, if aliens really came to our planet, they'd definitely have superior technology. We haven't even managed to send people outside of our galaxy, let alone develop warships that can handle the vacuum of space."

There's one other person sitting across from them, a dark-haired young man with startlingly green eyes. He looks as done with their conversation as Levi feels, and Levi tries to send him sympathy. <em>I understand your pain.</em> As if he could actually hear Levi's thoughts, the man looks up then and locks eyes with Levi. Both of them blink, startled at the sudden, intense eye contact. Levi recovers first.

"I'm sorry," he says softly, flicking his eyes towards Undercut and Blondie. Green eyes light up with understanding, and the man's mouth curves up into a smirk. He picks up his coffee.

"I'm going to let you nerds discuss this by yourselves," he says. "This dude right here looks like a much better breakfast companion."

Levi is too miffed at being called a dude to fully comprehend what the man said, but he definitely notices it when the man sits down in the chair across from him. Undercut and Blondie both turn around and Levi sees that they're not as young as he assumed from their voices; they look to be at least the same age as the man with the green eyes.

"Classy, Eren," Undercut says wryly. The green-eyed man sticks his tongue out, and Levi lifts his coffee to his mouth to hide how he's whispering the name to himself to try it out. Eren. It's new and strange, like the man himself. It suits him.

"Don't let me keep you from your conversation," Eren says, grinning at Levi. "This dude and I will just sit and listen in companionable, tortured silence."

"Please stop calling me 'this dude'," Levi says. "My name is Levi."

"I'm Eren," Eren says, sticking out a hand for Levi to shake. His fingers are much warmer than Levi's but he has the same callouses that mark him as someone who works with his hands a lot. "And you probably don't care, but the asshole is Jean and the little blond guy is Armin."

Jean and Armin are too busy debating the probability of interstellar travel within this century to react to the descriptions. Levi doesn't say anything, because Eren was right when he said Levi wouldn't care.

"Are you always this spontaneous and friendly?" Levi asks. Eren grins again, and Levi is momentarily distracted by the dimple in the corner of his mouth and the flash of his white teeth.

"Not always," Eren says. "Sometimes I'm extremely pissy and moody, but that usually doesn't happen on Mondays."

"What's so special about Mondays?" Levi asks. He sounds disgruntled and rude even to his own ears, but Eren doesn't react to the tone at all.

"On Mondays," he says, "the lady at the pet shop down the street lets me come in and play with the puppies while she cleans the fish tanks."

Levi is somehow not surprised that Eren is the type of person to get up early on a Monday to play with puppies.

"That's ridiculous," Levi says, taking a sip of coffee.

"Isn't it?" Eren asks happily. Jean, the asshole, turns around in his seat and flicks Eren on the back of the head.

"Do you think Marco's awake?" he asks. "He knows more about aircraft than I do."

"Probably not," Eren says, reaching back to slap Jean's hand away without looking. "It's still kind of early."

Levi checks his watch. "It is," he agrees. "And as entertaining as this has been, I have to go."

Jean looks at him then, really, truly looks. His eyes flick up and down Levi's form when he stands, and then he cocks his head to the side a little curiously.

"You look really familiar," he says. "Have we met before?"

"I highly doubt it," Levi says. "I'm the exact opposite of a people person."

"No, we've definitely met before," Jean says. "Do you happen to have a tattoo of a horse on your shoulder?"

Levi's eyes narrow suspiciously. "How the hell do you know that?" he demands. Jean's eyes light up.

"No way," he says. "I thought it was you!"

"Who is he?" Armin asks.

"I don't know if I told you about this," Jean says. "I definitely told Marco. Do you know about that night I got drunk and decided to get a tattoo?" Eren and Armin shake their heads. "Well Marco and I went to this little tattoo place because neither of us has any self-control when we're drunk, and while we were there I saw this other drunk guy getting one done."

Levi's eyes widen, because he knows where this story is going. He wants to leave before Jean can get to the punchline, but he also wants to stay and hear how he remembers that night.

"His friends were egging him on and he was just sobbing--literally sobbing--about how horses are so much better than people," Jean says, his eyes bright with barely held-back laughter. "So he decides to get a tattoo of a horse on his arm, and after it was done he just looked down at his arm and whispers, 'I have exactly one regret'." Jean drops his voice to a low, raspy whisper for greater comical effect. Eren claps a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"And that's why you don't have a tattoo?" Armin asks, clearly amused.

"Yet," Jean says. "I don't have a tattoo yet. Even drunk me realized that I couldn't just go in and get some bullshit tattoo."

Levi closes his eyes, feeling his cheeks start to heat up from embarrassment.

"Oh my god, he's blushing," someone whispers. His eyes snap open and he scowls when he finds all three of them staring at him.

"So," Eren says with forced nonchalance. His question is left unsaid, but it lingers in the air like a bad smell.

"Yes, that was me," Levi says. "I still have the fucking tattoo."