Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan or any of its characters.
Title: Built On Tomorrow and Forevermore
Summary: The five times Levi was mistaken as Mikasa's father. And one time Mikasa called him her father.
Characters: Levi Ackerman, Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Jaeger, Armin Arlet, Kenny Ackerman and mentions of others
Rating: K+
Warnings: None
Author's Note: I was toiling with the idea of Levi adopting Mikasa for some time now. And thankfully I've finally had the time to finish it.

1.

Levi had a habit of standing in the distance as he came for her in the park, never calling out to her, never calling any attention to himself. He would wait until she looked up and spotted him and ran over to his side before he lectured her for making him wait so long.

Armin generally left first when his grandfather picked up. But on this day, his grandfather was delayed and Levi arrived first. " Mikasa," Armin called to her from below the monkey bars. " Your father is here."

She was slightly confused by his words. Before she could recover, Eren was quicker to answer, having spotted the man himself. " You mean Levi? He's not Mikasa's father."

To her surprise, the words stung. But she reasonably thought it shouldn't. After all, Levi by definition was not her father. He was a distant relative, the only one in record who they could find. And in a decision between him and the Jaegers, Mikasa found herself choosing Levi (to her surprise and to Levi's surprise too).

She could hardly blame Armin for making the assumption. Levi and she shared the same dark hair and eyes and similar features. It would have been almost erroneous to say they weren't father and daughter at first glance.

Armin stammered an apology, a dull flush rising against the skin of his neck, afraid he had said something wrong.

" It's fine," Mikasa heard herself say, despite the uncomfortable squirm in her stomach.

~.~.~

2.

The moment Levi entered the room, several heads were raised to look at him. That was something that Mikasa admired about Levi. Despite his smaller stature, Levi had a way of commanding attention and respect in any room he strolled into.

He made no acknowledgement of the others, heading straight for Mikasa. His expressionless eyes bore into hers, wordlessly demanding an explanation.

She ducked her head, unable to hide her reddened knuckles. A part of her wanted to explain. Eren started the fight to stop a group of bullies from hurting Armin. And she only joined because Eren wouldn't be able to handle three boys ganging up on him. She almost wanted to say with some pride and dignity that at least she didn't receive any hits from the other boys.

Levi glanced towards Eren's split lip and Armin's black eye. He took note of three mothers and their respective bruised whimpering sons standing away with accusatory glares.

" Next time brat," he suddenly said. " Kick lower."

She raised her head, a small smile forming. Armin stared at Levi as if he never saw Levi before, jaw slack in shock. Eren looked like he could worship the ground Levi was standing on. The other mothers were appalled. " What kind of father would say such thing to their daughter?" they asked in a shrill voice.

There was a tense silence. Mikasa clenched her bruised knuckles, feeling the pain sizzle in her bones and settle underneath her skin. Levi's lips curled in a thin humourless smile.

" Good thing I'm not her father then," he drawled.

~.~.~

3.

Her hands clenched tightly as she tried to stop their trembling. Carla noticed and gently took Mikasa's hands in her own lest her nails started digging into her skin. " I'm sure Levi is fine," she gently reassured.

But Carla could not promise that Levi would be fine. Mikasa had seen it herself. She cursed herself for being so short-sighted that the second she saw Eren running out into the road to grab his soccer ball and not noticing the demon of a car speeding maniacally towards them. She sprinted out to grab Eren and shove him out of harm's way because she could not bear the thought of losing another person that she loved.

She simply did not consider the fact that Levi would do the same.

The doctor arriving in a frightfully familiar bone-white uniform snapped Mikasa out of her thoughts and suddenly, everything was pressing against her tightly, the walls started closing in against her and she suddenly forgot how to breath.

" How is he, doctor?" Carla asked for all of them.

" Bruised ribs. Some cuts to his face. The worst he's got is a broken ankle. He will be on crutches and will need physiotherapy for the next few months, but he's relatively lucky considering what had happened."

Carla exhaled, not realizing she released the breath she was holding in. Eren sagged against the wall, relief evident across his face.

Mikasa was still frozen, trying to take in the information. Levi was alive. He was hurt but he would make it. He wasn't going to die like her mother and father. He wasn't going to leave her alone behind in this world.

" Your father will be all right," the doctor kindly said, startling Mikasa from her thoughts. " You can go in and see him. He's been asking for you."

It wasn't until long after he left and Mikasa had thrown herself over Levi who grumbled and complained about tears and snot staining his bedsheets all the while patting her head in his oddly affectionate way that she realized the doctor had called Levi her father.

~.~.~

4.

" Mikasa! What a nice surprise to see you at the mall." Mikasa's homeroom teacher smiled pleasantly at them. " And you must be Mr. Ackerman."

Levi made a non-committal grunt. Levi always did have a natural talent for expressing himself through sounds rather than words in an uninterested manner while appearing entirely captivated by his audience, leaving them flummoxed and uncertain what to say. Mikasa hoped one day she could replicate that manner of speech.

" You are a hard man to meet. I have yet to see you at one of our parent-teacher gatherings," the teacher continued benignly.

" Is that so?" Levi said in a bored tone. As if the teacher didn't realize that Levi was notorious for disliking social meetings with large groups of people or with people in general.

Finally sensing that Levi was far more unapproachable than expected, the teacher turned to Mikasa instead. " Mikasa always had the prettiest ribbon in her hair," the teacher kindly said. " Did your papa pick it out for you?"

Levi frowned and for a moment, Mikasa had nothing but hate for her teacher. " Her father bought that for her. Not me," he said flatly.

The teacher flushed pink, confused but realizing she touched upon a sensitive topic and quickly apologized. Mikasa said nothing. What Levi had said was the truth. But it didn't hurt any less.

~.~.~

5.

It was a rare day when Levi's work would call him in on his day off. His boss Erwin had strictly forbid Levi from doing "on field work" for a period of time due to his previous injuries. Mikasa still wasn't quite sure what Levi did for a living and Levi wasn't the type of person to elaborate anyways.

The Jaegars were out of town and Armin's grandfather was busy helping with renovations to Armin's house so Levi allowed her to tag along with him. She didn't mind; she was always curious about Levi's work and what he did.

(she peeked into his room one day and saw him gingerly shrugging out of a dirtied, bedraggled suit that she knew was once impossibly pristine to Levi's standards and she managed to spy a scatter of old scars on his back and a tattoo of black and white wings across his shoulder blade before Levi moved out of her sight)

But she did not expect to get bombarded by several of Levi's coworkers when Levi told her to wait in his office while he spoke with Erwin.

" Who is this?" the man called Olou scowled at Mikasa. She returned a frown of her own at him. " Kids aren't allowed here."

" I thought I saw Levi bring her in," another man Gunther peered at her. Mikasa distinctly felt like some animal on display. She partially wished that Levi's other coworker Hanji – a frequent visitor at Levi's apartment despite his attempts to stop her from barging into their home once in a while to borrow food from the refrigerator and leave muddy footprints all over Levi's impeccably clean floor – was there because she was at least familiar with someone.

" Didn't Levi say something about looking after a kid?" the third man Eld shrugged. " She's probably his."

" L-Levi is a father?!" The girl Petra's face strangely turned a darker shade of crimson rather quickly. Olou's frown deepened, also for reasons unknown to Mikasa. " How and when did that happen?!"

" Well, when a man and woman love each other very much ..."

" You idiot! I wasn't asking about that!"

" I'm still trying to wrap my head around Levi having a kid."

" Haha, I know. Who would have thought?"

Mikasa remained silent during their exchange. The logical part of her argued she should have spoken up and explained that no, she was adopted and Levi really wasn't her father and that would be the end of it. But the selfish part of her clung to that moment where she really wished their assumptions were the truth.

~.~.~

+1

" So I heard you picked up a stray?" There was a man, lanky and tall with a scruffy beard, leaning against the rusty old jungle gym. It was just her, Levi and him in the park. She thought it was suspiciously convenient that he found them just as Eren and Armin already left with their families just seconds earlier.

Levi's hand tightened over her shoulder and she wondered who exactly was this man who was able to make Levi so uneasy. " It's none of your business," he coldly replied.

The man grinned, teeth sharp like a predator. " Of course it's my business. That makes the girl my great-niece or something."

Mikasa never knew that Levi had a uncle. Levi barely talked about his own family so she always assumed that he had lost them just like her. From the way Levi narrowed his eyes, he would have wanted her to keep believing in that false assumption.

" Come, we are leaving." He gave Mikasa a harsh yank on her hand and began to drag her as far as away from that man – his own uncle.

" Careful not to screw that girl up like I did to you!" the man called after them. His tone was light and almost smug, as if he was pitying Mikasa.

Something tight found its way to Mikasa's throat. She shook off Levi's hand to his surprise and drew herself up as tall as she could, pinching her mouth to make the kind of frown that made Levi's mouth twitch at the corners in amusement and caused other adults to tut in horror that such a pretty girl like her was making such a face.

" You're wrong." Her voice rang out, loud and clear.

The man didn't know how she caught Levi glancing over videos on the Internet to learn how to do braids and ponytails, even if the first few (or maybe first few dozen) times looked more like a tangled bird's nest and she proudly wore her hair like that to school because Levi tried his best. He didn't know whenever she got nightmares about That Day and she ran into Levi's bedroom, he let her curl next to him to hear his soft breathing and he never said a word if her hand found its way to grab his during the middle of the night. Levi's uncle didn't know about the time he tried to make a cake for her birthday and he ended up burning half of it but she loved every bite of it because it was rare to see Levi willingly allowing himself to be covered in flour and cream and even rarer to see him smiling a little because she said it was the best birthday ever.

" Levi's a good father."

Her words surprised even her. Levi had a strange yet comical expression on his face. The man's lip curled in amusement. " Oho? Ain't that so?"

She jutted her chin out. " Yes," she said as solemnly as a young girl could and smartly marched back to Levi's side, proud that she was able to get the final word.

Levi blinked, as if still processing what she had said. Finally, he shook his head. " Brat," he said in response, taking her hand again, more gentler this time.

She smiled. They would be just fine.