since your eruri headcanons were /so/ good, would you like to spend some words over levi's life with kuchel as well? as in, some hc for them as well?
Hi darling! Sorry it took a bit to get back to you, but I am always down for Ackerfam headcanons. I’m assuming you want canon compliant, so I’ll give it my best go! ☆=(ゝω･)
- As much as I’d like to believe that Kuchel made good connections down in the underground, the fact that Kenny found Levi alone in the dark without any aid at all says otherwise. This leads me to believe that Kuchel gave birth to him completely alone.
- When she finally gives birth to Levi, she doesn’t get a wink of sleep out of fear that he’ll slip away from her and die if she doesn’t keep both eyes on him.
- When she smells him for the first time, she feels like she’s finally come home.
- Kuchel is undecided whether the amount that Levi cries and wails is a blessing or curse yet. A sign of a healthy baby with a good set of lungs, but at the cost of her sanity and limited patience.
- She doesn’t coo or talk to the baby like you would a newborn. She has full blown conversations with him. She’s not sure if it’s a sign of insanity or loneliness but she swears he understands everything. He’s a smart baby after all.
- She’s proven so wrong when she finds him dusted in flour one day.
- The first time Levi asks what his last name is, her heart sinks. She has no right to take away such a powerful and meaningful lineage from him, but she also knows it’s for the best.
- When Levi gets sick one day, she’s frantic and irrational. She’s at a loss at what to do because this is her baby BOY and she refuses to see him wither away like the rest of the underground kids. She feeds him her own rations, and finds as much clean water as possible to hydrate him with. She lays with him and doesn’t sleep. Sometimes holds her breath to listen to his heartbeat and make sure he’s still here. Prays to whatever most people believe in these days, just in case. When it all subsides and he’s recovered, she lets her walls fall just this once and cries in his tiny shoulder.
- One morning Kuchel finds she’s bled onto the sheets overnight, and Levi starts to cry out of fear for her. She huffs a small laugh before she’s about to explain that’s it’s completely natural and normal, but he interrupts with a small “Is it my fault?”. She’s at a loss for words. She has never blamed him for anything and doesn’t understand where he learns to ask something so disturbing. She holds him tight then and reassures him countless times that nothing has ever been his fault.
- Kuchel likes to entertain Levi with hypothetical questions a lot. His answers are either super thought provoking or just plain comedy gold.
- Kuchel loves to play with Levi’s hair so often that he has to scramble and try to run away like a kid who’s getting threatened with tickles.
- When Kuchel learns she’s dying, she doesn’t tell Levi. Instead she tries to teach him to survive. It’s not much, but it’s all she can do.
- One day he really wants to help mama and decides to clean the washroom but can’t reach the vinegar or the baking soda. He uses a whole tube of toothpaste instead. Kuchel asks where it’s gone later that night and that’s the first time he sees her laugh that hard. He wonders why she doesn’t laugh more because she looks so much more beautiful that way.
- Levi likes to watch his mother clean and cook. He doesn’t know how to label it at the time, but she’s very graceful and hypnotic in her routine.
- Levi asks if he’ll ever be as beautiful as mama one day. Kuchel doesn’t humor him with an answer, just bursts out laughing
- He gets really good at making her laugh completely unintentionally.
- Levi likes to pull feathers out of his pillow and watch them float to the ground, only to be berated by his mother for making messes later. He likes to watch them dance as they fall. They remind him of his mother’s graceful demeanor.
- Levi likes to hide his face in mama’s hair. It’s his version of pee-ka-boo, except he just pushes his face through her hair instead.
- Levi finds a stray dog clawing at his front door one day while mama is gone out. He’d been warned not to get too close to any stray animals, but his heart wins out and he rolls tiny pieces of bread from out under the door just in case it’s starving. One night Levi finds that mama isn’t eating what little food they have and he asks why? She tells him not to worry. He stops feeding the dog after that and cries the next time the dog comes clawing and whining at their door.
- One night Levi overhears mama and the ugly mean man (brothel owner) yelling at each other on the floor below. Somewhere he hears the ugly man say that Levi is the reason she’s not able to support herself the way she used to and that it’s not his problem. Levi starts to quietly blame himself for a lot of things after that.
- Levi likes to compare his hand size to mama’s when she’s asleep
- He tries to grow his hair out as long as mama’s but she won’t let him. “But I want to be beautiful like you Mama!”
- Every time they take a bath, Levi questions why his bits by his waist look so different from mama’s. He figures he just needs to grow more before he starts looking like her.
- One day she comes home looking really pale. He asks her what’s wrong but instead she holds him tighter than ever before. “I love you, Levi” She says. He doesn’t know it at the time, but it’s the day she realises she’s going to die without seeing him grow.
- He starts to notice strange things about mama. She’s leaving more strands of hair around the house. She’s not eating or drinking as much. The circles around her eyes are darker. During this time she always reminds Levi to be strong, to live a long life. He doesn’t understand why.
- He doesn’t cry immediately after her death, he just thinks she’s taking a really long nap.
- Levi pulls on one of his mother’s shirts after she passes. He clings onto her smell for as long as he can
