More Than Tongue Can Tell (RIREN// ERERI)

Chapter 15 - Unexpected Arrangements

I stood and followed confusedly behind Rivaille Ackerman as he led me outside, into the chilly evening for Southern California. I was sure it was nothing to him, as he'd lived in New York most of his life, but I was well aware of the soft bite of the evening.

"Eren, I'm gonna start by asking what you know," he said, his words spoken like a stone wall, in a frigid hiss that rattled me to my bones.

"I- I know that something happened to your brother, and that you need to fly out of here tomorrow, and Levi's likely going with you."

"No, I need to know exactly what you know. What happened to my brother? Why are Levi and I required? I need specifics so that I know what I should and shouldn't say," he said quietly, his raspy voice like a block of ice on my chest.

"Dominic was shot non-fatally, but he was able to successfully defend himself and neutralize the two guys that came for him, and you and Levi need to go out and find whoever sent them, and potentially carry out retribution," I summarized in as few words as possible, speaking quickly and quietly in the case that anybody was within earshot.

"Close enough," Rivaille snorted, in a way that made me completely unsure which option it was close to, Levi being honest with me, or dishonest. "Anyway, we do actually need to take Levi. I'm sorry that it's turning out the way that it is, but I'm going to give you an option, alright?"

"What's that?" I asked, folding my arms and preparing myself for his proposal while he brushed off the surface of the small half wall sheltering our front doorstep.

"Now let me preface this a little bit by telling you something about my cousin. When it comes to things like this, he is very particular, and deliberately disobeying his direction can put you into some deep yogurt with that little maggot," Rivailled muttered, pulling out small bag of powder and dumping it into a pile on the half-wall he'd wiped down, coaxing it into thin lines with a business card and shooting it up his nose with a rolled up piece of what looked like South American tender. "Whoo!" he exhaled furrowing his brow and steadying himself on the column holding the roof over my front walk. "Good morning," he scoffed, shaking his head before continuing, "Anyway, so Levi's a shitstain about this kind of thing, because he gets these notions that he has to protect people from themselves, but I'm of the opinion that everybody in this world has autonomy, and thus have an offer for you," Rivaille said, speaking much quicker than before, as whatever he'd snorted was already having an effect. "So because he likes to make new rules for the people in his life for every day of the fucking week, if you take my offer, there's a high chance that he's gonna be fucking pissed. But I'm fairly certain it will mostly be directed at me. He'll say he's disappointed in you and ask you how he can trust you when you pull stunts like this, but other than that, it'll probably blow over. Depends on how seriously he's taking this."

"Okay what's the offer?" I asked, trying to keep his rapid idea producing brain on track.

"Right, right, right," he nodded, biting into the back of his knuckle and nodding, furrowing his slitted eyebrows, focusing hard on what exactly he'd been about to say. "I was saying that, if you wanna come early to the airport with me, I will, como se dice, "look the other way" while you board the plane. Hide in the bathroom until we take off, do you understand the words coming out of my mouth, maggot?"

I nodded in an attempt to display my comprehension. I was both thrilled and confused by his proposal. Thrilled because I had an opportunity to go with Levi to make sure he was alright after all was said and done, but confused as to why he would be so overtly kind to me. I remembered Levi telling me one time that nothing was free with the Ackermans, and so my logical next step was to ask, "So, what's the catch?"

"Smart kid," he scoffed, shaking his head at me and staring at the ground, blowing any remnants of powder off of the stucco wall before he continued to speak. He had a very distinct accent that sounded mostly like it was from New York, but his multilingual tendencies threw influence from at least a few other countries that I couldn't exactly place. "But, this time, I'm not asking much."

"This time?" I questioned, but he hesitated, biting his lip and considering his possible responses.

"Walk with me. Just a lap around the block. I'm not taking you to a secondary location, don't worry, maggot. That fiancee of yours is a fighter. If I brought you back in anything more than one piece, he'd probably systematically dismember me and throw me into a garbage disposal." I laughed while I walked with him, appreciating his dark sense of humor until he looked at me with a dead expression on his face, a grave seriousness in his eyes. "I wasn't kidding."

"Oh," I replied, not sure that Levi would be so extreme, but willing to bet that Rivaille knew his cousin enough not to completely bullshit me.

"So, here's the catch, so to speak," Rivaille said, speaking quietly. "I love my brother, and the last thing I need to hear about is drama between the two of you right now, do you understand?" I couldn't speak fast enough to do so before he started talking again. "I'll take that as a yes. If I let you come with us, that means that you're gonna make damn fucking sure that he's on top of his game, and not stressing him out by going and putting yourself into danger."

"Of course, of course," I exhaled, eternally grateful to Rivaille for letting me tag along, but rightfully worried about how Levi would handle it. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, wondering how I could do anything but slow them down.

"Well, because I don't know what's gonna happen out there, and I don't know how the said retribution is gonna go. It could be an easy in and out kind of operation, or a knock down, drag out firefight, and I think you deserve as much time as you can possibly get with him right now, because I have no idea the condition he'll be returned to you in."

"Are you serious?" I asked, already having trouble breathing while my eyes welled up with tears. I couldn't lose him now, not after he'd promised me forever.

"Yeah, I am," Rivaille said coldly, shaking his head and kicking the toe of his boot into a crack in the sidewalk. "I'm sorry, Eren, but we're the three most capable Ackermans."

"You, Dominic, and Levi?" I asked, looking hard at the man's moonlit profile. He nodded slowly while we continued walking in the dark.

"Well, usually. Until Dom's healed up, it'll be me, Levi, and Kenny, who says he's met you before. Heaven forbid if it was our sister. We'd spend more time clubbing than working, and the business would go under," he grumbled. "Rose, too. She's the aunt that raised me and my sister and my brother. She's nice enough. You'll probably like her. She's a total sweetheart. Taught me everything I know. She had us cutting oxys in her kitchen when we were eight years old. But, anyway, that's besides the point. Kenny, the rat bastard, says he's met you and likes your tenacity," Rivaille scoffed. "Any more questions?"

I paused for a long while, realizing that the contempt for the extended family members extended beyond just Levi. It almost seemed like Levi held the least resentment for the other Ackermans out of any of the ones I'd met. And so came my question, and Rivaille's concise, poised, perfectly nuanced answer. "If none of you like each other, then why do you do this kind of thing for each other?"

"We're family, Eren. That's just how it is."