Chapter Text
This time the braid looked straight-up terrible.
Erwin tentatively reached for her hair again, but paused when his eyes met with the familiar blue ones in the mirror.
“I’m sorry, princess, but I can’t hold this much hair in my hands at the same time and-”
They were standing in front of the mirror, Historia on the little bathroom stool, Erwin on his knees behind her.
“It’s okay, papa. Next time,” Historia looked up at him with a too wide grin, but before Erwin could open his mouth to argue, an impatient voice yelled from downstairs.
“Papa, if we don’t hurry up, we’ll be late from school! On the first day of the year!”
Erwin sighed. You’ll succeed next time, Historia had been telling him after every failing attempt since she could form sentences. And Erwin loathed the fact that he couldn’t improve after all these years.
Braiding shouldn’t have to be this troublesome. Erwin didn’t even try the complicated stuff, like the french or dutch braid; he just kept trying with the most simple one, but still couldn’t achieve anything.
And now Armin was mad at them for taking their sweet time getting Historia ready.
Sometimes, Erwin wished for time to stop for a few minutes. Just long enough to take a deep breath and to let his mind rest for a while. Just for a few minutes. To imitate a few seconds of silent comfort, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and imagined he was somewhere warm and calm, content.
When he reopened his eyes, Historia eyed him through the mirror thoughtfully.
“Look, sweetness when we get home, I’ll watch more videos on Youtube, so tomorrow I can make you a pretty braid, okay?”
Historia turned around, and put her arms around Erwin’s neck. “Thanks papa, but let’s go before Armin completely loses it.” Erwin knew what the motion indicated, so he picked his daughter up, so she could cling to him like a baby chimpanzee to its mother.
She was so much heavier than a year ago. Erwin often noticed how fast his children were growing and every time, it was a rather scary realization. “I don’t want his boring lectures about punctuality when I have my own struggles,” Historia sighed dramatically into his neck, and Erwin chuckled.
They went downstairs, where a rather angry Armin waited for them, arms crossed over his chest, his shoed foot tapping the floor impatiently. Erwin barely suppressed a smile at the precious sight.
He let Historia go by the door where all of their shoes laid in a neat line, and told her to get dressed, while he went back to the kitchen to get the kids’ lunch from the counter where he put it earlier.
Erwin halted in front of the coffee machine for a brief second, contemplating another presso. His earlier attempt (and fail) in braiding had already exhausted him to the point where his eyes were stinging from exhaustion.
It’s not like he hadn’t tried improving his braiding skills during all these years, but he still painfully failed at it all the time. He had an eight-year-old daughter for God’s sake and he still had no idea how to do her hair in the morning, except for a ponytail or sometimes a passable bun.
Erwin felt like a failure as a father.
He sighed, but this time from real annoyance, and decided against that third cup, because then they would be actually late from school, and then he’d managed to anger two of his kids in the same morning. It was too early for two angry eight-year-olds, so he decided to buy a coffee on his way to work.
“Alright, have you guys packed everything for today?” Erwin asked as he left the kitchen. Armin looked at him with a “Have you met me,” look on his face, and Historia chirped an “Of course, papa!” before she tucked a lock of stray hair behind her ear to get it out of the zipper’s way.
Erwin probably looked crestfallen at the unconscious movement, because Historia looked up at him with a reassuring beam. “I’m ready,” she sang with a happy voice then she reached for her lunch box. Erwin gave one to her and Armin the other.
“Papa, you haven’t forgotten about the book club, have you? It’s on Friday,” Armin asked.
“No, I still remember. Don’t worry, I’ll bring you there,”
“I know, just wanted to make sure.”
Historia suddenly gasped and both Armin and Erwin looked at her, spooked. “What is it?” asked her brother.
“I forgot the letter for Ymir!” she dropped her school bag and lunch box to the hardwood floor and fleeted upstairs to her room. With shoes still on.
“Since when do we wear shoes in the house?” asked Erwin with a wearied voice, but he knew his question fell on deaf ears.
Armin huffed out his cheeks in displeasure.
“Don’t worry, honey, we’re still on time.” Erwin had an inkling what was the reason behind Armin being so on edge this morning, so he crouched down to his level, knees creaking. “Hey, baby, everything good?” he asked, cupping his face in his hand.
Armin nodded, but his eyes said otherwise.
“Look, I have a feeling why you’re so tense right now, but I assure you, nothing bad’s gonna happen, okay? Nobody will pick on you. But if they did, don’t forget to tell your teacher about it.” Armin nodded again, but didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry last year was so awful,” continued Erwin in a calm voice, even though his inner self was seething at the mere thought.
In first grade everything had seemed so fine and so promising for his children’s social life and academic skills that he couldn’t have felt happier. However, in second grade, two new kids got in Armin and Historia’s grade who, for some reason, always picked on the quiet and introverted Armin.
Erwin had to deal with tons of parent-teacher meetings and phone calls with the newcomers’ parents, as well. They tried to come up with a solution together for the seemingly random bullying, but nothing really helped. At first.
Then around March, Reiner and Bertolt suddenly stopped picking on Armin, leaving the rest of the school year perfectly bearable for him. At first, Erwin was too suspicious and regularly waited for his kids in front of the school instead of in the car, to keep an eye on the two troublemakers, but they truly ceased the abuse.
And now, as a third grader, Armin probably had his concerns about his two classmates.
“We have a new teacher,” murmured Armin, overt worry plain on his face, “what if this new teacher will take their side?”
“I’m sure that’s not going to happen,” said Erwin. “Otherwise, I’ll pay a not so pleasant visit to this new teacher.” He opened his arms, and Armin hugged him without another word. Erwin tightly closed him in his embrace. “Everything’s going to be fine, Armin.”
Hurried footsteps drew their attention, and when Historia joined them again, she grinned brightly. “Everything’s set, I’m ready to take off.”
Erwin let his son go after a few more seconds, and when everybody had their belongings with them, they left the house.
Once in the car, the conversation between the three of them was light, mostly Historia chatted about how excited she was about the new school year, and how much she had missed her classmates, especially Ymir.
Erwin asked a few questions here and there, taking interest in his children’s rambling about school stuff, but his eyes were mostly on the road.
New York traffic sucked in the morning.
It sucked so much that Erwin often had to count back from five to prevent cursing at people that couldn’t even hear him through the closed windows. Sometimes, counting didn’t help, though and on those rare occasions, his twins always scolded him immediately.
Erwin hated traffic, but he was more sick of public transportation, so he didn’t leave himself much choice.
For a few seconds, silence took over the car, while he took a left turn.
“Papa, can I ask Ymir over for a sleepover this weekend?” asked Historia. “It’s been forever since we had one.”
Erwin scoffed. “You two had one not even two weeks ago.”
“Yeah, like I said, forever,” she repeated. “Armin, we could watch that movie you’ve been so excited about. You and Ymiry usually like the same stuff.” She looked at her brother then, pleading for backup with her eyes.
“The Incredibles?” asked Armin, face brightening for the first time that day.
“Yes, that,” nodded Historia. “So, Papa? Can I?”
“Sure, sweetie, I’ll call Farida tonight and ask her if it’s okay with her, too.”
Another matter postponed for later today. Erwin dutifully wrote it on his mental to-do list.
“Thanks, papa!” said Historia eagerly, her legs excitedly kicking the seat in front of her.
“You’re welcome.”
“Promise we’ll watch The Incredibles? You won’t change your mind in the last minute like last time, right?” asked Armin, a hint of doubt on his face.
“When did I ever do that?” asked Historia with a little pique in her voice, arms across her chest. She turned her head to the window.
They were currently waiting at a red light, so Erwin and Armin’s gaze met in the rear-view mirror for a long, telling second. They both started chuckling at the same time.
Historia gasped, betrayed, and turned her head back to scold them. “Hey, it’s not fair!” she yelled.
The father and son laughed harder at that, until the lights turned green, then Erwin moved his leg to the gas pedal again, focus shifting back on the road.
They arrived at the school building ten minutes before the first period. Not their greatest record, but not a terrible achievement. At least, Armin didn’t have to be in distress from being late.
Erwin helped the twins out of he car, holding both of their bags, while Armin and Historia struggled out of the car seats in the narrow parking place (Erwin couldn’t find a better one that was this close to the building), and they both followed him to the stairs that led up to the entrance.
Historia was light on her feet, almost gamboling in overexcitement, but Armin dragged himself forward with heavy steps, far behind his family. Erwin’s heart was heavy for him.
He crouched down right beside the fence and faced his children to say a proper goodbye.
Historia collided with him immediately, nearly knocking him over, but before he could scold her for it, she started snickering. She wrapped her arms around his neck again, laying her head on his shoulder, and he embraced her in return.
Erwin looked up at Armin who was still far behind, hands in his pockets, steps uncertain.
“Hey, baby, can you do me a favour?” he whispered to Historia . She nodded vehemently, face rubbing into his shirt. “Make sure your brother is safe, while you’re in school.”
“Sure, papa. Always,” said Historia with a serious voice. “We’ll take care of it again, if something happens.”
A brief, tense silence followed that statement. Erwin tried to gently unwrap her arms, to properly look at her, when he asked, “What do you mean, Historia?”
Historia tightened her embrace, pressing herself to him more steadily “Nothing!” she answered, a little too high-pitched.
Erwin opened his mouth to repeat the question, more firmly, when Armin suddenly towered over the hugging duo. He looked at them for a split second and he joined in the group hug without saying anything. Erwin clasped his arm around him immediately.
They hugged for a few more minutes, while Erwin still pondered over Historia’s slip-up. The truth was yet to be revealed behind her sentence, but he had to delay the conversation for a few more hours, because he had a feeling what it would be about.
“Alright, let’s get inside, you two or else you'll truly be late.” Erwin drew back, breaking the silence between them. “And try not to scare off the new teacher, okay?”
Historia snorted. “We’re the most well-behaved class in the grade.”
“Take care, and don’t forget to eat all the vegetables I packed.” said Erwin, looking at Historia, who suddenly found the asphalt very interesting, lips poking out. “Yes, Historia, I’m looking at you, especially.”
Historia promised to at least try to eat most of them. Erwin sighed, but agreed to the terms.
“Love you, papa!” The twins said almost in unison.
They set out to the building, bags bulging on their backs. Historia leaned into Armin and told him something, but Erwin didn’t catch the words.
He hoped that whatever Historia did last year (How did this escape his attention, anyway?) would still have effect for the entire third year, too.
“I love you, too. Have a great day!” He waved after his twins, who were already in the middle of the stairs, climbing the steps two at a time.
“Good luck with the lectures!” yelled back Historia, not turning back.
“Yeah, thanks,” he murmured, but this time only for himself, Armin and Historia were already out of earshot.
Erwin stayed for a few more seconds, for what reason, he couldn’t tell, but when nothing seemed out of place, he went back to the car and drove straight to the university.
The traffic didn’t seem to loosen up much, not even after rush hour, so once he arrived at the university and successfully found a parking place, it was quarter to ten. Fortunately, his first class started at ten fifteen, thus he still had enough time to buy coffee before entering the campus.
The September morning was warm on his skin, when he got out of his vehicle for the second time. He grabbed his briefcase from the passenger seat, locked the car and walked across the street to his most frequented café shop.
The city roamed around him, cars honked, people hurried across the sidewalks, chatting or completely silent, one of them almost knocking into him by accident. Somewhere in the distance, a siren could be heard, rushing to some unknown place.
New York never stayed still, it was always a whirlwind of events and that was what gave it so much color. Erwin loved the city with all of its noiziness and crowdedness.
In the café, he ordered an americano and a cinnamon roll for his sweet tooth and with his purchased goods in hand, he went to the Architecture Department of the university.
On the first day of the semester, the number of people attending classes or the campus in general was much higher than it would be in the future. By the end of the semester, surely, only half of his lecture hall will be occupied. Erwin already anticipated it, because this was his fifth year as a professor and it was something that happened every semester of every year.
He walked by the St. Paul’s Chapel and went across the huge campus, loitered by a large number of students, and Erwin mentally pointed out the first-years in the crowd almost immediately, with a smile on his face. They were always so obvious with the overly joyous, but utterly lost look on their faces.
Erwin knew that feeling. When he had first attended university here, he felt exactly like that.
In the architect building, Erwin took a left and marched straight for his office. He had a nice coffee break in mind, then he planned to revise the syllabus and the topic of the first lecture. However, his plan seemed to be suspended, since he had a visitor standing right in front of his office door.
His eyebrows went a little higher in surprise, because he usually didn’t have people waiting for him here. If one of his students needed some help or had questions regarding the lectures, they always spoke to him right after class.
But it seemed to be different this time.
“Can I help you?” he asked when he got within earshot.
“Oh, hi.” Erwin was met with big, curious eyes behind thick glasses and a huge grin lighting up the stranger’s face. “Oh,” breathed the person this time, when their eyes seemed to really register the man in front of them. “Hi,” they said again, with an odd tone this time.
“Hi,” said Erwin. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, please! I was looking for the Biology Department, but I was clearly unsuccessful,” the stranger jabbered. “I’m Hange, by the way. Hange Zoe. Nice to meet you,” they reached out a right hand.
Though, Hange seemed really straightforward and chattery, Erwin saw the barely noticable signs of nervousness. For example, they constantly reached up to adjust their glasses and repeatedly grasped at the bag hanging from their shoulder.
Tha latter movement drew Erwin’s attention for half a second and he almost immediately noticed the non-binary pin placed on the strap.
Hange chuckled a little embarrassed. “This is my first day here, so that’s why I’m so lost. I’m the new biochemistry professor.”
“Oh, I see. Well, welcome to Columbia University then. I teach architecture here, and this is my office, actually.” Erwin pointed at the door by their right.
Hange’s gaze followed his finger. “Figured. It says your name on the door.” If possible, Hange’s smile widened further.
Hange looked fairly handsome. The sunrays shining through the floor to ceiling windows caught in their auburn hair in a messy ponytail. Hange’s suit was casual, but elegant in a sense, Erwin couldn’t word properly due to his lack of fashion sense.
Their face was beautiful in a unique kind of way, and their hooked nose and dark irises completed their appearance perfectly.
“If you have a moment, I’ll get rid of my stuff and accompany you to the right building.”
“Yes, please! That’d be awesome.” Hange actually clapped his hands together. “So how long have you been teaching here? Wait, no, let me guess! Four years? Five? You look too young, but comfortable enough here.”
Erwin chuckled, while he fished for his keys in his briefcase. “Five years, yes.”
“Hah, cool!” cheered Hange, a proud glint in their owlish eyes. “Then if you have any good advice for a new professor, now’s your chance to share it.”
“This is your first day teaching in general?” asked Erwin, interested. He found the keys jingling in the front pocket, and took it out.
Hange nodded. “Yeah, I did my PhD two years ago, but I moved to Athens to do some research right after graduation,” said Hange. “I’ve been back in the US since August and yeah, this is my first year teaching.”
He reached for his door, while he looked at them again. “That sounds really interesting. What did you research?”
“The impact of climate change on the ecosystem, coastal erosion and pollution. I basically studied water.”
Erwin hummed appreciatively. “Did you publish anything?”
“Sure, but only in Greek. I wanna do an English translation one day, but for now, teaching will take up most of my time.”
Erwin managed to open the door then, and he stepped into his small office to put his briefcase on the desk, and with coffee in hand, he stepped right back into the corridor, where Hange waited for him.
Hange peeked into the small room, and smiled again. “Cute kids,” they commented, eyes on the picture at the right corner of Erwin’s desk.
It was a picture from last year. They had gone to Upstate New York to spend a week at Erwin’s mother’s and on the way there, they had stopped for a brief lunch at a restaurant. Historia had taken the picture in selfie mode with a huge grin on her face, behind her sat Erwin hugging the timidly smiling Armin to his chest.
“Thank you. They’re my children, Historia and Armin,” Erwin smiled fondly at the picture.
“Tell Armin I love the bob cut”.
Erwin giggled. “He’ll appreciate that.”
The conversation continued, while they were walking across the campus, passing by students idling around the buildings.
Erwin found out more about Hange’s research and a brief summary of their life. Hange told him about Athen and their two years there, and when Erwin asked, why they had chosen the Greek capital from all places, Hange just laughed and explained that they’re from Greece originally, even though they had lived in the United States since they were five.
“My mom left my father and moved to the US when I was five. I decided to do my research in Athens, because of nostalgia, I guess. It’s not like the university there had much to offer, but Greece is pretty and has the Mediterranean Sea, so it sounded like a good idea and granted me the excuse to visit my family.”
After Hange’s inquiry regarding Erwin’s life, he provided a brief description of how he got the job at the university.
It wasn’t a fascinating story by any means, he just happened to apply for a vacancy after Marie and him got divorced five years ago. He had worked for an architect firm back then, but the salary was much higher and the working hours were lesser here, so he just went for it.
“And so this is your department, right there,” he pointed his arm out, after they stopped right in front of it. “And right there is the Business and Economics Department.” Now his finger was pointing at the building on the right.
Hange hummed. “That’s great. Thank you for the help and the little chat, Erwin. It was really nice to meet you.” Hange turned in his direction, a genuine smile on their lips.
“No problem at all.” Erwin clasped his hands behind his back, reciprocating the smile. “And it was nice to meet you, too.”
They parted ways then, Hange hurrying up to their building, and Erwin back to his. However, when he turned around to go back the way they had come, he was met with two familiar faces by the smoking area in front of the econ department.
“How chivalrous our Erwin Smith is.” The familiar, deep female tone cooed, before she sucked on her cigarette’s end. “Helping out those in need, tending to the weak,” she continued on an exhale.
Onyankopon sighed resignedly. “Yelena, why are you always trying to pick a fight with Erwin?” he turned to him then with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, man. Good morning.”
Erwin waved it off, and closed the distance between the three of them with a few steps. “Yeah, good morning to you, too. Why the sudden insolent tone, Yelena?” he asked with a faint smirk.
Yelena had been like this since forever, her behavior wasn’t news at all. She had nothing against Erwin, really, she just didn’t like him for some unknown reason since they had met each other, or she did, but presented it in a really unusual way. Erwin still couldn't figure out which one applied between them, even though they'd known each other for three years now.
“Oh, c’mon, don’t act like I’m not your favorite coworker.” Her jacket that was gracefully thrown over her shoulders, slipped a little and she grabbed before it could fall completely, and put it right back on.
One of Erwin’s eyebrows rose a little. “Aren’t you adorable when you’re all jealous?”
Yelena laughed. “Only in your dreams, old man.”
“Don’t worry, I just helped the new biochemistry professor, I’m not about to revoke your favorite coworker title. You’ll always be my treasured one.”
Yelena scoffed.
“So what are they like?” asked Onyankopon, probably to put an end to the seemingly endless bickering.
Also, the question made perfect sense, since he worked in the university’s biology lab as a laboratory technician so he was most likely going to work with Hange in the future.
“They’re like a clasp of buzzing positive energy and intelligence,” said Erwin without really thinking about it.
“Good. I was getting really tired of Mrs. Hoskins’ old lady atmosphere.” He took a drag from his cigarette, face relieved. “I heard, Hange is some big shot in their field. Can’t wait to meet them.”
“Yes, I was lucky enough to hear about some of their accomplishments in Athens.”
Onyankopon hummed, face revealing his admiration for his future colleague.
A short but pleasant chat later, Erwin said his goodbye and went back to his office to finish the rest of his coffee break. While nibbling on the cinnamon roll he had grabbed earlier, he quickly swept through that day’s lecture topic. Finally, around ten, he set out to the huge lecture hall, locking the office behind him.
After his class, around twelve, he had lunch in the cafeteria, meanwhile chatting with Mike on the phone. His best friend got married in July, and Nanaba and him just arrived back from their honeymoon a few days ago.
Mike enthusiastically talked about the places they had seen, the people living there, the delicious food and the beautiful nature.
“I’m not saying New York is a shitty place,” said Mike, “but it truly is a shitty place.”
Erwin laughed, while mixing the dressing with his salad. “Yeah, it must be shitty compared to Bali. I mean, I’ve never been there, but the pictures you showed me were enough to get me to that conclusion.”
“Yes, and our landlord there was so fucking nice, I can’t believe we actually came back home,” scoffed Mike through the phone. “The first thing that welcomed us here was our New York landlady screaming at me because I transferred the money two hours late. Man, I was jetlagged as fuck, I couldn’t even tell my name, of course I accindetally missed the time. ”
“And how’s Nanaba?”
“Oh, she’s perfectly fine, she had to go to the restaurant already,” said Mike. “She told me she’d buy a house by the beach in Bali if she didn’t like her job so much here. And honestly? Same.”
“Well, I’m sure there’s Vouge in Indonesia, too. You can transfer there, if you two really consider moving out.”
“You’re probably right, but it’s not like I’d really leave. My family and friends are all here. Nanaba’s, too. It was just a nice daydream, that’s all.”
Mike then asked him about the kids and his first day of the semester.
When they hung up, Erwin went to give his second and, at the same time, last class for the day. The topic there was more advanced than before because now third-years sat in front of him, listening to him with curious (or rather bored) expressions.
After wrapping up with everything, he left the university not long after two.
He decided to do grocery shopping near the elementary school, so if the traffic decided to turn against him, he wouldn’t have to be late picking up the kids. He left the car not far from the spot he had this morning and went on foot to the nearest Trader Joe’s.
Erwin usually had the time for grocery shopping only on the weekend, but fall semester’s schedule promised a lot more free time on his weekdays as well. Thus, he could spend a lot more time with his family.
With everything purchased and packed into two string bags, he left the supermarket, and walked back to his car to discard the groceries.
He arrived back at the school just in time to hear the school bell ringing.
The twins attended a small public school in the Upper West Side, only a ten minutes drive from their home. However, even though they lived in one of New York’s least frequented boroughs, the drive was always two or three times more than that.
They lived in a relatively sizable townhouse that Erwin inherited from his great-grandparents twenty years ago. With the help of his parents, they’d done a huge renovation fifteen years ago and, once again, five years ago.
The final result was a cozy family home for the three of them that Erwin couldn’t be more grateful for. Living as comfortably as they were in a prizy neighborhood wasn’t something a lot of people could allow themselves and he wouldn’t be able to either, if it hadn’t been for his great-grandparents.
“Hey, papaaa!” A shriek shocked him out of his thoughts and before he could register it, two small bodies collided into him and Erwin let out a surprised ‘oof’.
“Papa, look, we made a map with colored papers of the US,” Armin announced excitedly, while still hugging one of his legs. On his other leg, Historia was hanging off like a baby monkey. They both had a huge smile on their faces. “We tried to use different colors for every state, but obviously, we didn’t have fifty different colors, so I tried to seperate them more, and look,” he held up the A3-sized paper in his hands, “I chose green for New York. My favorite color.”
“That’s fantastic, honey, let me take a closer look.” Armin put the paper in his hand, while Historia shifted a little, accidentally stepping on Erwin’s shoes. He looked over the paper in hand and said, “I see, you used blue for California. That’s smart.” Armin nodded in agreement.
“I used pink for New York, because that’s my favorite and yellow for California,” chirruped Historia. “I tried to tell Armin that yellow made more sense, because, you know, it’s a sunny state and everything, but he didn’t listen to me at all,” jibbered his daughter.
“Yes, because, in my opinion, blue makes more sense.”
Erwin chortled. “I think both make sense, so stop arguing about it,” he chided gently. “Are you guys hungry?” He planned to make chicken casserole for dinner tonight.
With the papermaps in hand, he took the offered school bag from Historia’s hand and they started walking to the car. Historia galloped at the front, and Armin and Erwin followed her hand in hand.
Historia answered without a beat. “No, Mr. Ackerman brought homemade cookies to surprise us, and I ate a lot.”
Armin added then, “It was really good.”
“Is this Mr. Ackerman the new teacher?” asked Erwin.
The twins nodded in unison.
“Yes, he looks like a model. When I grow up, I definitely want to dress like him,” said Historia with a wishful sigh.
Erwin hummed in answer.
“At first, he’s all grumpy and annoyed and he looks like he hates every last bit of atom around himself, but he’s actually super nice and funny,” added Armin. “And he drank like two gallons of black tea throughout the day.”
Erwin snorted softly.
“He’s the perfect example of a tsundere,” said Historia.
Erwin looked at her in confusion. “A what now?”
“Papaaa, you don’t know what a tsundere is?” gasped Historia, turning so suddenly that she almost fell over from the force of it.
“No?”
“When a person is cold on the outside, but a big softie on the inside,” explained Armin in an even voice, after he let go of Erwin’s hand to point one finger up in front of himself, and put his other hand behind his back. He looked like he was reciting a poem from heart.
Erwin was far behind with new trends and phrases around the world and this was a prime example of that. He sometimes considered making a dictionary to understand more of what his kids were babbling about.
After Erwin expressed his understanding of the matter, he jumped to a new topic and asked about whether Ymir was okay with the sleepover this weekend. After Historia said yes she started talking about her long awaited meeting with their classmates.
She chatted about Mikasa getting a new, pretty scarf from one of their other classmates, Eren and Historia had the feeling, those two would get married one day, but Erwin said they’re a little too young for thinking about love and marriage yet. Historia told him off, with a “So you mean to tell me, I’m not going to marry Ymir either when we’re all grown up?” Erwin just smiled, but didn’t say another word.
It’s true that Historia and Ymir had been best friends since the first day of school, but that didn’t mean they would still be in contact with each other in five or ten years. He hoped they would be, though. Historia really took a huge liking to the other girl.
Arriving home, they changed into more comfortable clothes and Erwin started cooking dinner. The kids sat down at the kitchen table, Historia with her math homework and Armin with his current book about Ancient Rome.
Erwin, while cutting up chicken and broccoli, helped out with the math examples here and there, and listened to Armin’s explanation of the military equipment under one of the emperor's reign. He told Erwin about a commander and his loyal right-hand man’s rumored romance.
In short, this commander led a suicide mission against their enemy. The mission’s purpose was to get enough time for this aforementioned right-hand man to defeat the enemy by himself, because he was that powerful, but the mission failed and the commander died and their enemies lived. This loyal right-hand man lived a few more years, but he was just the shell of himself. Records stated that the losing of the commander caused such a heartbreak that after finally defeating the same forces a few years later, he collapsed on the battlefield and never woke up again.
His only drive until then was avenging his beloved commander, nothing else.
“That’s so gay and tragic,” stated Erwin after Armin finished speaking.
“Yeah, it’s really depressing, but if you think about it more, it’s so beautiful.”
Erwin had to agree.
During dinner, Historia asked for an hour on the PS, and after getting the go ahead, she disappeared into the living room after eating all of her food. Armin went after her, with his book still in hand.
Erwin was left alone to do the tidy up in the kitchen; he put the leftovers in the fridge, packed the dishwasher full and washed manually the ones that couldn’t withstand the machine.
Peeking into the living room, he watched Historia and Armin sitting on the couch for a few moments; his daughter leaning forward, controller in hand, eyes never leaving the game on the television and Armin in the corner of the sofa, legs bent at the knees, eyes moving fast over the words of the book.
He announced he had some work left to do, so he went upstairs to the study, turning on his computer and while the machine came to life, he wrote a quick message to Farida about the promised sleepover, She confirmed she was fine with it.
After almost an hour of web searching and preparation for tomorrow’s class, he sent the twins to take turns in showering and washing their teeth.
“Papaaa, can you buy me new toothpaste tomorrow, I’m almost out,” Historia walked out the bathroom with his toothbrush and the aforementioned toothpaste in hand. She wore a fresh set of pjs with aliens on it and her fluffy purple robe. “You know how I only wash my teeth with the one that has the dinosaurus on it.”
Like Erwin wouldn’t know that. “Sure, I’ll buy you a new one tomorrow,” he said. “By the way, Farida said she’s okay with Ymir sleeping over on Saturday, so it’s all settled.”
Historia whooped in excitement.
“Papa, can we watch some Miraculous on Netlix before bed?” asked Armin, emerging from the bathroom in pjs and his blue robe on.
“Sure, but only until nine, because you have school tomorrow.”
They snuggled on the couch together, after Historia brought her toothbrush and paste back to the bathroom. Erwin put on the silly cartoon for the kids and he himself turned on his phone to engage in something else. As much as he loved his kids, he just couldn’t stand some of the shows they willingly watched.
To his biggest surprise, a ton of Instagram and Facebook notifications waited for him on the lock screen. Erwin wasn’t the type of parent to share every segment of their lives on social media, but from time to time, he shared a picture of them whenever they visited the zoo or carved a pumpkin for Halloween or took a trip to a nearby park or forest.
So he was fairly surprised to find sixteen new notifications from Instagram and one friend request on Facebook. It was all from the same person.
Hange Zoe sent you a friend request
@hzoephotography liked 15 of your pictures
@hzoephotography followed you
Erwin smiled at the first one and arched an eyebrow at the second one. Photography? That sounded interesting.
He opened the latter app only to be met with Hange’s profile. The profile picture was obviously of Hange in an oversized white suit, hair hanging loose and a large, professional DSLR in hand, smiling widely into the camera.
Their bio said:
fashion photographer
for commissions contact:
[email protected]
they/them
please donate to the planet:
climateemergencyfund.org
Their followers count was over three thousand, but Hange only followed twenty-two people back.
Erwin pressed Follow back, and scrolled down to the shared content. The pictures appeared rather tasteful and good quality, even from afar. Erwin opened the latest picture and was met with two pretty women looking back into the camera.
The picture’s quality was almost sharper than Erwin’s eyesight.
The two women stood in the middle of a crosswalk somewhere in the city. One of them in a huge white dress that contrasted with her dark skin perfectly while the other woman wore a huge red one. The wind puffed up both of the clothes, creating an eternal look to the photography.
There was another one in the same post, so Erwin swiped left to see it. It was a short video of the two models walking on a crosswalk (probably on the one the picture was taken) in slomo, not taking their eyes off the camera until they couldn’t look into it anymore. Then the video cut off.
Aesthetic, was the first thing that came to Erwin’s mind.
The next picture was of a tall man by a streetlamp in Chinatown. He wore a beige shirt with weird patterns on it. He was bent forward a little, looking into the camera on his right, one of his hands was in his pocket and the other held a cigarette to his lips, but not quite reaching it.
Erwin left a like there, too. He scrolled down further, appreciating all of Hange’s work.
Then his eye caught on something.
More like on someone.
The picture was taken on the subway. The man was standing in the back of the car, one hand holding onto the handrail, the other hanging by his side. He wore a black jacket over a shirt and black dress treasures that cut off right above his ankles.
He was looking at the floor with a faint smile curving at his mouth.
He was so good-looking that Erwin had to pause for a long moment to admire the model.
He had black hair, bangs parted right in the middle - now those bangs fell an inch forward as his head was tipped down. The angle from which he was photographed let a small peek at the undercut the man had.
He had a deceptively youthful face, but taking a closer look, he could point out the sharp chin and jaws and the five o'clock shadow faintly dusting his face.
He was gorgeous to the extent that Erwin had to physically drag himself forward to the next post…
Which was about the same man.
And the next one.
And the next one as well.
After the sixth occurrence, Erwin had to stop to read the caption and find out why this particular man was so favoured by Hange. Their boyfriend, maybe?
The caption said: watch where you’re going bestie
Erwin looked at the picture where Levi wore a loose white dress with black boots on his feet. He lifted the cloth on one side to reveal some of the white muscular skin of his thigh.
The photo took place in the corner of a rooftop, the skyscrapers and neighboring buildings towering over him. Above him a snow-white set of clouds were drifting off the picture, the sky otherwise clear and bright.
He stood near the edge of the rooftop, seemingly moving forward to the corner, but looking back into the camera, kissable lips slightly open, steely eyes inviting.
Erwin’s eyes roamed over the picture over and over again, drinking the sight in.
He looked ethereal.
Bestie.
So Hange and this guy wasn’t a thing. He felt relief wash over him at the realization. At least, he hadn’t been thirsting for his new coworker's significant other.
The man looked exactly like someone he had only seen in movies and magazines. He looked so wondrous and so out of reach that it almost made Erwin’s heart clench.
“Oh, that’s Mr. Ackerman. I told you he looks like a model, although he’s really short” Historia shook him out of his trance. “Apparently, he is one,” she added with a hushed voice.
Erwin’s eyes went wide. “What?”
“Hm, he wore a turtleneck and slacks for today, though” said Armin.
Jesus, this is unbelievable. What were the chances? So he wasn’t as unattainable as Erwin originally thought, and not only that, but Erwin was probably going to meet with this good-looking stranger in the near future at the parent-teacher meeting, too.
Jesus. Was he ready for that? His heart sped up with excitement.
“Well, he really is like a model,” murmured Erwin.
“But he’s so short, I don’t get it,”whined Historia. “Papa, I wanna be a model, too.”
Erwin reassured her that she could be a model when she will be over eighteen.
He turned back to the picture.
Damn, this guy looked so good.
Erwin double-tapped the white-dress photo to leave a like there, too after his kids turned back to the television.
He put his phone away, trying to get the lean body, the muscular thighs peeking from the dress, the delicate hands and that beautiful face out of his mind.
Erwin didn’t date. Not because he didn’t want to, but more like due to poor time management. He had tasks to do from early morning to late night, every day. Even on the weekends.
Erwin didn’t have the time for a relationship.
He had had flings here and there since the divorce, five years ago, but he didn’t actively seek a partner.
In addition, he had spent more than a year in the unbearable dry spell that he had to endure at every conscious moment.
So Erwin Smith was suddenly very interested in this man and his captivating presence.
This is the famous Mr. Ackerman then. Erwin could particularly smell trouble in the air, just thinking about the upcoming quarterly parent-teacher meeting in October. It certainly wasn’t a good thing that he found his children’s teacher really hot, right? Yeah, it certainly wasn’t. It could end up in a horrible disaster, and he wasn’t sure it would be very thoughtful of him to go and find it out.
Erwin was so lost in his thoughts for the remainder of the evening, that only after he had tucked the kids in bed and had turned the lights off around the house, remembered that he completely forgot to watch Youtube tutorials about braiding.