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Levi stirred when the bed dipped, drifting close to the surface of wakefulness, but the lull of warm blankets and the dark of the room dragged sticky against his consciousness. There were lips on his forehead and a murmured, “I got it,” and he registered the sound of their bedroom door opening, quiet bare feet treading down the hall. He hovered in the torturous realm between dreaming and some animal instinct that told him he couldn’t rest yet.
Their bedroom door creaked wider, dragging Levi out of that middle space. He cracked an eye to see Erwin standing by the bed with a tearful blond mess settled on his hip.
“See Armin,” he murmured. “Daddy’s right here. It was just a nightmare.”
Armin peered down from his perch in Erwin’s arms, like he didn’t quite believe Erwin. Moonlight illuminated both blond heads white. One set of blue eyes was squinted, puffy with tears, the other blinked away gritty sleep.
“Armin,” Levi mumbled. “Nightmares aren’t real. You know that.”
“I know,” Armin sniffed. His fists were clenched in Erwin’s shirt, though, and he wouldn’t look away from Levi even when Erwin pressed a kiss to his head.
“Ready to go back to bed?” Erwin asked in the soft tone he reserved for Armin. “You’ve got school tomorrow. So does Daddy.”
Armin pressed himself closer to Erwin’s chest, lips tight on a tiny, miserable frown. Levi sighed as Erwin offered him a rueful smile. Levi lost the battle before it even began, so he tugged the covers back and patted the space in the middle of the bed and then Erwin was sliding back under the covers, settling the weeping child between them. Armin latched onto Levi immediately, damp face to his collarbones, sticky fists grabbing at his shirt.
Levi looked at Erwin over the top of the boy’s head and raised an eyebrow. It had been months since Armin had a nightmare like this. Erwin frowned and lifted a shoulder. His face was scruffy and the bags under his eyes all the more livid for the shadows in the dark room. Thank you, Levi mouthed. Erwin’s mouth tugged up at the corner and he laid his head on the pillow, curling around Armin and Levi, lashes drifting low and heavy. His face was close enough to Levi’s that his heaving sigh ruffled Levi’s bangs.
“Armin,” Levi said. “You’re alright.”
“I know, Daddy.” Armin’s voice hitched. “I’m being stupid.”
Levi ran a hand through Armin’s hair, damp with sweat from his nightmare. The kid needed a bath. “I didn’t say you were stupid, I said you were alright. You’re very brave Armin. Sometimes you forget that.”
Armin nodded, smearing more tears and snot across Levi’s shirt. Levi winced. Erwin’s lips were still pulled up at the corner in an absent smile, like he’d forgotten the gentle fondness on his own face. He blinked, slow and tired, and reached out to ruffle Armin’s hair.
“Armin, tell Daddy about the book we read.”
Armin squirmed and looked up at Levi, eyebrows scrunched in a frown and then craned his neck to look at Erwin. At least he wasn’t crying anymore. “Papa and I are reading The Hobbit,” he told Levi, wavering voice tinged with a bit of pride.
Levi shot Erwin a look over Armin’s head, eyebrow raised. You’re letting him read that?
Erwin grinned and turned his attention back to Armin. “Where did we end up? Daddy read it a long time ago, so you’ll have to remind him.”
Armin’s hands worked in kneading motions against Levi’s chest. His eyes were wide as he forgot to be upset. “Papa and I read the part today where the giant spiders are going to eat the dwarves. Do you remember that part, Daddy?”
Levi blanched slightly, wondering what kinds of nightmares this was going to give Armin, but he’d speak to Erwin about that later. “I’m not sure,” he said. “What happens?”
“Bilbo saves them.” Armin smiled a very small smile, eyes bright in the dim light.
Ah, Levi realized. He looked over at Erwin, who was sleepy and smug. You clever bastard, Levi thought.
Levi cleared his throat, “That sounds scary,” he said and rubbed at Armin’s back, hearing his own strange, dull drawl. He hoped he sounded as gentle as he felt.
Armin was used to his tone, though, and nodded without missing a beat. “It was. I got the…hee. Um. Heebes.”
“Hee-bee jee-bees,” Erwin supplied in a low rumble.
“Yeah. So did Papa.”
“That so?” Levi’s mouth twitched.
“He pretended not to be scared.” Levi glanced at Erwin and tamped down his smirk. What a tiny savage Armin was.
“Do you think Bilbo was scared?” Levi asked in an obvious lead-in, hoping the kid didn’t notice. He wanted to kiss Erwin. The blond gazed at him over Armin’s head, lashes dipping low.
“Mhm.” Armin’s voice was fading, exhausted. He rested his cheek against Levi’s chest. “Bilbo’s really brave though.” The boy sighed. “Even when he’s scared. He’s my favorite.”
“So are you.” Levi was looking at Erwin when Armin pressed his face harder into Levi’s chest, embarrassed and pleased. “Don’t forget, okay?”
“’kay, Daddy.”
Levi had just started to drift off, chest still uncomfortably damp from Armin’s tears, when the bedroom door creaked open again. He raised his head to look over Erwin’s shoulder, placing a gentle hand on Armin’s hair. Erwin cracked an eye to look at Levi and did a terrible job of hiding a smile.
Eren and Mikasa stood in the doorway, Eren wearing a ferocious scowl and missing the pants he’d definitely gone to bed in, and Mikasa practically sleeping on her feet, tattered red blanket wrapped around her head so that just her dark eyes peered through.
Levi tried to be annoyed.
“You didn’t give Armin back,” Eren accused, voice clear as if it was mid-afternoon, not three in the morning.
Erwin rolled over with a grunt. “You’re right,” he said, voice hardly more than a rumble. “I fell asleep.”
Mikasa didn’t say a thing, just walked over to the bed and climbed up, crawling over Erwin’s body to burrow under the blankets, tugging him back around to face Levi so she could snuggle against his chest and immediately seemed to fall back asleep.
Eren let out a squawk of indignation at being abandoned and stumbled across the floor, still a little awkward in his haste with his growing limbs; Levi often wondered how much taller than him Eren would wind up. He launched himself onto the bed and clambered over Erwin, who emitted a soft oof of pain as Eren’s knees jammed into his ribs. Levi barely resisted dragging a hand down his face in mild exasperation. The kids were a constant clusterfuck.
“Eren, be careful,” he said as one of Eren’s feet kicked Mikasa before he managed to wedge himself between his siblings.
“I just needed to check on Armin,” he said, little face serious. Levi nodded.
“Apologize to Mikasa and Papa, though. You crushed them a little.”
Eren frowned at Levi and rolled, tangling himself in the covers and waking Armin, who yawned and kneaded Levi’s chest with his little hands. “Sorry, Mikasa,” Eren mumbled and patted her blanket covered-head awkwardly. “Sorry, Papa. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He leaned forward to press a smudgy kiss to Erwin’s deeply amused expression, squashing Mikasa in the process. She sounded like a stepped-on cat. “Sorry,” Eren told her again.
Jesus. Levi shot Erwin a glare; the blond looked like he was about to shake himself into deep laughter. Don’t you dare laugh. “Eren, that’s fine.”
“Eren, go to sleep,” Armin mumbled against Levi.
Eren flopped down, bangs hanging into his eyes. Levi would have to trim them soon. It was better if Erwin didn’t give haircuts.
“Fine,” the boy said. He managed to swing his legs over Mikasa, press his feet to Erwin’s chest, hold Levi’s hand, and smash his face against Armin’s hair all in one go. “Night Daddy.”
“Night, Eren. Go to sleep.”
“Night Armin.” Oh god. Armin just grunted.
“Night Mikasa.” Mikasa didn’t respond.
“Night Papa.”
Erwin was, by now, actually shaking with silent, exhausted laughter. “Good night, Eren.”
For fuck’s sake. “Eren, go to sleep.”
“’kay, night Daddy. Love you.”
Levi sighed, long-suffering, and ignored the squeeze his heart gave. “Love you, too.”
There was a beat of silence and then, “Papa,” Eren began again.
“Eren.”
“I just need to tell him I love him.” His eyes were closed, face serene as he argued with Levi.
Levi looked at Erwin with wide, pleading eyes.
“Eren.” Erwin’s voice was warm, laughter bubbling underneath the rich tones. “I know you love me, it’s fine, and I love you too, always. But you have to be quiet before Daddy loses his mind. Please.”
Eren was silent after that.
Levi wanted to kiss Erwin’s scruffy face.
They met three years prior, back when Levi still ran the daycare.
It started with a panicky phone-call while Levi was wrestling two four-year-olds into their chairs for breakfast.
“Mr. Ackerman. Is this Mr. Ackerman?”
“Yes. Who’s this?”
“Erwin Smith.” The man sounded frazzled.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Eren was determined to paint Mikasa’s face with jam and Mikasa seemed perfectly content to sit, placid as ever, munching her toast while Eren left red streaks across her face. Levi dragged a hand down his face and covered the mouthpiece.
“Eren, save that for finger-painting, please.”
Eren’s wiry body vibrated with excitement at the prospect of making a mess later and he promptly forgot about getting the sticky shit in Mikasa’s hair, cramming toast in his mouth, cheeks bulging like a chipmunk’s.
“No… Of course not,” the man was saying. “Are you busy?”
“Generally, yeah.”
“But you run a daycare.” He paused.
“Yes. I do.” Levi wanted this man to spit it the fuck out, whether he sounded like melting chocolate or not. He had to get the kids fed and jam-less, and the kitchen cleaned before the hoards arrived. So he said just that. “Spit it out, would you?”
“Are you speaking to me?” The man sounded harassed and bewildered. Someone cried pitifully in the background of the phone-call, warring for Levi’s already divided attention.
Eren stared up at Levi, little brows bearing an injured expression, and made to spit his toast out.
“Sorry, Eren, no not you. You can keep eating.” To the man on the phone, Levi growled, “Yes, you.”
“I need your help.”
“Clearly.”
When Erwin Smith arrived at the daycare an hour later with a tiny sniffling child tucked against his chest, Levi’s poor jaded heart went into acrobatic cardiac arrest. The voice on the phone had been silky, even with its tense undercurrents, and Levi had expected someone well-to-do, with a broad chest to house such a voice—not that he’d spent a terrible amount of time ruminating on it. He wasn’t disappointed. In fact, he was so far from disappointed, he was downright pissed when he caught sight of Erwin Smith through his living room window.
The man stepping out of his sleek black Audi was tall, with legs for miles, and hideously perfect thighs that pulled his fancy fucking slacks a hair too tight. Levi wanted to break his striking nose and pluck his thick, stupid eyebrows. Levi shoved a hand up through his hair and tried to wrangle Jean and Eren back under control where they were learning about “teamwork” on the floor of the living room. It was 50/50 between a fight to the death over a block tower, and the two terrors actually using said teamwork to coerce the other children to build for them.
The doorbell rang.
“Mikasa,” Levi said. Mikasa looked up from where she was reading a worn picture book on the couch, sitting primly above the chaos. “You’re in charge, okay? A new kid’s joining us today. I’ll be right back. Less than a minute.” He hesitated. “Use Marco on Jean if you need to.”
Mikasa gazed calmly in the direction of the front door and then at Eren and Jean and nodded once. Levi took a breath and prayed no one was bleeding when he returned.
The perfect gentleman on his doorstep looked like he had no idea what to do with the sobbing child in his arms.
Levi craned his neck to look up, for a moment blinking back surprise at how tall the man was and how shockingly blue his eyes were, then the bundle in the man’s arms whimpered and his attention immediately snapped to the child.
“Is this Armin?” he said, without any introduction.
Erwin Smith nodded, absurdly thick brows drawn together in horrified concern, and Levi found it hard to keep up the desire to shatter his nose.
“Fine. Come in.” He stepped aside and let the man into his house. Levi lead them through his kitchen, feeling a ripple of relief that it was spotless, and back into the living room. Krista was crying, but everyone else seemed unharmed. Not bad.
“Sit on the couch,” he barked to his guest before walking over to the crying girl.
Levi vaguely heard the man pardon himself to Mikasa as he sat beside her, but he was already kneeling to crouch by Krista. “What happened,” he asked, tugging a packet of tissues out of his pocket to offer her one.
Krista’s mouth quivered and Levi thought she wouldn’t speak for a moment, but then she whispered, “I don’t like it when they fight.” Her eyes shifted to Eren and Jean before she looked down at her hands, twisting the tissue in knots.
Ah. Levi sat on the carpet and nodded. “I see.” He knew why. But Krista was a clever little child, sensitive and intelligent, and belittling her was an insult. So he didn’t coddle her. “You’re safe here,” he said mildly and handed her another tissue. He tilted his head and tapped her hand with a finger, brief, to get her attention. “Chin up, yeah?” She was generally tougher than she let on. “You’re stronger than both those boys put together.” He meant it.
Krista hiccuped a sob and shook her head. Levi felt a hand on his shoulder. For a moment he thought it was Smith, but the hand was tiny, surprisingly strong. Krista’s eyes flickered to the girl standing beside Levi. She blinked, a few more tears spilling out, and then took a shivery breath and nodded.
“Ymir,” she said instead of answering Levi.
Ymir used Levi’s shoulder as a launching point and tackled the blond girl to the ground. “I go to the bathroom and when I come back you’re crying!” She scrubbed at Krista’s face with the tissue, rough, making the other girl shriek and flail until she broke into giggles. “I’ll never go pee again,” Ymir said, deadly serious.
“No,” Levi said. “Please, continue to use the restroom, Ymir.”
“Not if Krista needs me.”
“Krista needs you to pee, I promise.”
“Fine, but I won’t like it.”
Levi sighed and left the girls alone, mouth twitching as Ymir wrapped a blanket around Krista’s shoulders, expression set in a growl in case anyone came too close. Ymir was better with the little girl than he was, had been since she turned up at the daycare a year ago in a whirlwind of freckles, scabbed knees, and a voice too strong for a three-year-old.
He turned to find Smith watching him with a quiet expression. The crease between his brows had eased slightly and he looked younger without the frown. Levi wondered just how old he was. Levi’s eyes flickered to the kid in his lap. Armin watched Eren and Jean knock their building blocks together, grumbling at each other. Sasha gnawed on a block and Connie looked like he was tempted to try the same. Levi sighed again and moved to stand next to the couch, looking down at Smith with a height advantage.
“This is my daycare,” he said, waving a hand at the devastation the children had managed to unleash in the brief moments he was out of the room. “I have credentials I can show you, and references.” Smith stared up at him, painfully blue eyes still calm. The blond nodded.
“I would appreciate that.”
“Most people don’t just turn up an hour after calling.”
Smith nodded again, but didn’t flush. “I understand.” He turned to the boy in his lap. “Armin,” he said, voice deep and commanding. Armin looked up at him and his eyes welled with tears. Levi sighed. Smith cleared his throat and tried again, voice much softer this time. “I have to speak with Mr. Ackerman, okay?” He pointed to the doorway to the kitchen. “I’ll be right there. You’ll be able to see me.”
Well, he wasn’t completely inept, Levi thought with some relief.
Armin nodded.
Smith lifted the boy from his lap and placed him on the cushion next to Mikasa. Levi glanced at Mikasa and she nodded. He felt a rush of appreciation for her perceptiveness.
The little dark-haired girl looked at Armin and pointed to her book. “Wanna read with me?”
Armin scrubbed at his face with a fist and inched closer to her.
Levi lead Smith to the doorway, just out of earshot of the kids if they spoke low enough. He stared up at the man, irritated all over again by his height and perfectly combed hair. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
“You’re very good with the kids,” Smith said, somewhat surprised.
“It’s my job,” Levi said. “What’s your deal.” He dragged his eyes from the tips of Smith’s polished shoes, up the lines of his tailored suit to his neatly parted hair.
Smith’s fingers twitched, like he was about to shove a hand through his hair, but remembered he’d slicked it to the side and couldn’t. “I’m not Armin’s father,” he said, voice low enough to rumble.
“No shit. You his uncle?”
Smith shook his head. “Next of kin.”
Oh. Oh. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. I have no fucking clue what I’m doing.”
This time Levi’s voice was a shade more gentle when he said, “No shit.”
“Please, help me.”
After Smith left for work, Levi spent the morning with his arms full of Armin. The boy clung to him, weeping for a half-hour after Smith left, refusing to let go. Levi cut him a hell of a lot of slack, just keeping a hand at the back of his head while he herded the kids from one activity to the next. They were learning about birds today, passing Levi’s binoculars around to look through his window onto the backyard. Armin didn’t seem keen on participating. He kept his fists in Levi’s shirt and his ear pressed to his heart.
During nap time, after he’d managed to get all nine charges fed and somewhat clean, Levi sat on the couch, exhausted. The kids sprawled across the floor on pillows and blankets, half of them piled together because he just couldn’t get them to stay on their own make-shift beds no matter how hard he tried. Armin was asleep in his lap, still unwilling to let his grip on Levi’s shirt go, face smushed to Levi’s chest. Levi sighed, thinking back to what Smith had said.
Apparently the kid’s grandfather had died a week ago, leaving him in Smith’s care as his parents had already been dead for years. Jesus. The kid was only four. He looked down at Armin’s tear streaked face and decided he didn’t mind if the kid cried more than Levi usually allowed.
And then there was Erwin Smith. Erwin fucking Smith. The man was a thirty-year-old lawyer with no experience with kids and definitely not enough time for an orphan. Levi looked at Mikasa and Eren, resisting the urge to roll his eyes when he saw the way Eren was laying; he wondered if the kid could breathe.
That morning in the doorway to the kitchen, Levi had pointed to Mikasa and then Eren and said, “Those kids, they’re mine.”
Smith had blinked, surprised. “Yours?”
“They don’t look like me, do they?”
“No, the girl does.”
“That's ‘cause she’s related to me.”
“She’s your daughter…”
“Only legally speaking.”
Smith’s eyes had widened and understanding flickered through them. It was such a shockingly beautiful expression that Levi had looked away with a scowl.
“I see,” Smith said slowly. “They’re the same as Armin.”
Levi nodded, staring at the kids instead of looking up at whatever face Erwin fucking Smith was offering him with that gentle tone of voice. “Yeah. Eren’s parents died when they were two. In a car accident. And Mikasa’s were already dead." He swallowed. "Eren’s family had adopted her when she was a baby. So I got them, since I’m Mikasa’s relative and Eren’s are… I got them.” He was talking too much, a stilted, awkward babble, and he clicked his jaw shut, irritated. It felt so clinical to say it like that, like he was erasing the long, sleep deprived nights he spent learning how to care for the lost little children. All the tears and refused food, the scraped knees and panicked phone-calls to the pediatrician. The first time Mikasa trusted him enough to offer him a hug. Giving up his job to start this damned daycare because he couldn’t stand handing the kids over to someone else, even for the day. Absolutely none of that was Smith’s business.
Smith didn’t press it. “You’ll help me?”
“I’ll take Armin every weekday starting today, if that’s what you mean.” But when he exchanged numbers with Smith, he grudgingly told him to call at lunch if he was worried.
The phone in Levi’s pocket buzzed and he felt a rush of relief that he had remembered to silence it. He needed the forty minutes of nap-time more than the kids did. Armin shifted in his sleep so Levi tugged a blanket over them when he’d fished his phone out, tucking the edges around Armin’s shoulders.
—> How’s Armin holding up?
Levi glanced at the kid again. He seemed to still be asleep, thank fuck.
<— He’s fine. Sleeping.
—> I’m glad. I’ll be there at 5:30 to pick him up. Thank you again, Mr. Ackerman. I am more grateful thank you can imagine.
His response came quickly, like he cared about the kid, was really worried. Levi nearly rolled his eyes at his formal speech.
<— It’s fine. And Levi is fine.
—> Then Erwin is fine for me, Levi.
Levi did roll his eyes at that and put his phone away, bracing himself for the clusterfuck that finger-painting was going to be this afternoon.
When Erwin turned up that evening, the other kids had already been picked up.
“Am I late?” he said when Levi opened the door, probably fully aware that it was 5:30 on the dot. But he peered into the quiet house. “Where are the kids?”
“Some of them get picked up at five, some 5:15. Depends.” Levi shrugged. “It’s fine. There just weren’t any stragglers today.”
Erwin followed Levi to the living room, where Armin was wedged between Mikasa and Eren on the couch. He held a book on his lap and Mikasa read in a quiet monotone. Eren looked slightly restless, but intensely pleased to be included in story-time with his new friend. Whether Armin realized Eren was his new friend or not was up in the air, but the kid wasn’t crying and Levi counted that as a win.
So did Erwin, apparently, because he stopped and uttered a very quiet, “Oh.”
Levi turned to look at him. His eyes were wide, mouth open. His lips were full in a way that made Levi want to cover them; people shouldn’t have lips that vulnerable. He wanted to tell Erwin to shut his mouth. But Erwin beat him to the punch, brilliant gaze swinging to rest on Levi.
“Mr. Ackerman. Levi, you’re incredible.”
Heat flared across Levi’s face so fast he couldn’t see for a moment as the blood rushed to his head. He struggled to close his own lips. “No,” he said, in a voice that was pulled a bit too tight. “You’re just really bad at it.”
Instead of getting angry, Erwin’s eyes squinted with the force of the grin splitting his soft, distressingly plush mouth. Levi hated that, too. Some kind of rumble was bubbling out of Erwin’s chest, wheezing and a bit broken and Levi realized after a moment that he was laughing.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Levi hissed when tears gathered at the corners of Erwin’s eyes.
“Please, excuse me,” Erwin managed through his bizarre, shaken huffs. “This is the first time in a week I haven’t felt like I’m having a panic attack.” His eyes softened and he offered a smile so genuine that Levi shuddered. “Thank you, Levi.”
Armin cried when Erwin took him home, staring over Erwin’s shoulder at Levi with teary eyes that made Levi’s chest ache. He pressed a hand to his breastbone and looked down at the kids clinging to his knees. Eren looked on the verge of tears as well. Oh Jesus.
“Daddy,” Mikasa murmured.
“Yeah?”
“Is Armin coming back?”
Levi smiled down at her, aware his smiles were more a softening of his frown than anything else, but Mikasa never seemed bothered by his lack of expressions. He worried the kid was turning out like him sometimes. “Yeah.”
Eren tugged his jeans, too hard. Levi shoved a hand through his mop of hair, ruffling with rough affection. “What, Eren?”
“Every day?”
“Yeah, kid.”
His phone buzzed that night at nine. He was sprawled on his bed with a book, trying not to wonder how little Armin was faring or to think about the heartbroken, anxious expression on the kid’s face.
“Yeah?” he barked into the mouthpiece, gruff.
“Levi?” Erwin sounded harried again.
“Erwin?” He rolled his eyes at himself. Of course it was Erwin. He’d recognize that voice anywhere. “What’s wrong?” Because something was wrong. Unless Erwin wanted to chat, in which case he was hanging up immediately.
Erwin’s voice was hushed. “Armin’s crying.”
“He does that a lot.” Levi winced for some reason, hearing himself, and backtracked. “Do you know why?”
“He always does at bedtime. I don’t know what to do.” Erwin voice came a bit too fast. “Please help me. I hate it when he cries. I’m fucking useless.”
“Hey,” Levi snipped. He didn’t want to hear Erwin’s voice spilling faster and faster; it didn’t suit him. “You’re probably a fine lawyer and shit. You just haven’t had kids before.” That made him think. “Did you want kids, Erwin?”
“Yeah. I did.”
“Did?”
Erwin was quiet for a beat. “Well, I didn’t think I’d find anyone to have kids with.”
“Lucky for you, you didn’t have to.”
Erwin coughed out some more of those broken huffs. “Lucky me.”
Levi sighed, rubbed at his breastbone. “I don’t know why Armin’s crying, but I can guess.”
Erwin hummed for him to continue.
“It’s the dark, fewer distractions from his anxiety. He’s afraid you won’t be there when he wakes up. Does he have a nightlight?”
“Yeah. It’s got little fish on it. Throws cool shadows on the wall.” He sounded proud of himself.
Levi held back a huff. “Great… Good for you. Anyways, stay with him ’til he falls asleep. Read him a book or something. Tell him you’re not going anywhere. But only if you mean it.”
“I mean it.”
“Good.”
They made it work, somehow. Erwin dropped Armin off every morning at 7:45, the tiny boy shyly reaching down for Levi to take him from Erwin’s arms. He was teary both when Erwin left and again when it was time for him to go home, but little by little he cried less during the day and didn’t insist on being held, content to let Mikasa or Eren take his hand and lead him to play games. Armin was good for Eren, Levi thought, and told Erwin so over the phone one night, three weeks after Erwin had first turned up on his doorstep.
“Eren’s a little terror,” Levi was saying. “He’s over-enthusiastic and his heart is too big for his brain, it’s a deadly combination. Jesus, the kid’s a walking tornado.”
“You love him.”
“I’m obligated to.”
Erwin laughed, warm and low into the receiver. “That’s not true.”
“You shut your mouth.” Levi ignored his own grin, putting that acknowledgment in the box where he kept things like wondering why he and Erwin spoke on the phone nightly, and why his heart skipped a beat whenever his cell buzzed at nine on the dot. Erwin had stepped into his life and called him that first time and just never stopped. But now he didn’t call to ask how to cook for a four-year-old, or what to do if Armin wet the bed. Now he called to tell Levi about the books he’d picked up for the kid, and how much Armin had enjoyed reading them at night. Sometimes he called to tell Levi a show he liked was on television and Levi should watch it. Or he needed to ask Levi if brown could go with purple and if it was actually en vogue to mix pin-stripes with polk-a-dots—Levi told him to fuck off that time with a massive snort. Erwin had fallen silent and when Levi asked what was wrong, he said he’d never heard Levi laugh before. Levi blushed.
“Go on,” Erwin was still laughing, ripping Levi out of his flustered head and back to the present.
“I was gonna tell you how good your kid is for that tiny monster, but now I’m withholding.”
Erwin’s laugh was deep and loud now. Levi shivered. “Don’t hold back. Not where Armin’s concerned. The kid deserves all the love he can get.”
Levi grunted.
Erwin’s rumbling laughs subsided and he cleared his throat. “You’ve done an amazing job with him, Levi. I can’t believe how lucky I got, calling you. I—”
Levi coughed, loud, into the receiver, cutting off Erwin’s gentle praise. “It’s my job.”
“Levi—”
“It’s my job, Erwin.”
“Levi.” His voice was low and commanding, the tone he rarely used. Levi only ever heard him use it in such full-force when he took a work call one morning as he was dropping off Armin. Levi’s jaw snapped shut. “Let me thank you.”
Levi tried to snarl, but he barely managed to scrape out a sound. “Fine.”
“Thank you, so very much, Levi." His tone was so appreciative it made Levi's skin crawl. "I owe you so much.”
“Enough,” Levi growled, finding his voice. But he invited Erwin to stay for dinner the next night anyways.
One dinner turned into several, and Levi found himself forgetting what that meal had been like floundering alone with two kids. Erwin watched from the sidelines at first, quiet, unsure for what Levi thought might have been the first time in his life. But Eren found him endlessly fascinating, alternating between staring openly and demanding that Erwin come play, which Erwin did, allowing the boy to grab some of his fingers—his hands were too small to wrap around Erwin’s—and drag him to sit on the floor.
Levi wondered if Erwin knew what a big deal it was when Mikasa crawled into his lap one evening and pointed to the book she’d brought with her, silently asking to be read to. Levi thought he might, judging by the way he paused and the breathtaking smile that curved at his mouth before he started to read.
He was getting better with Armin, too, gentle and firm, seeming to know intuitively that’s what the kid needed; someone sturdy and calm and so very there for him. Levi thought, that if Erwin had found someone to have kids with, he would have been brilliant. Levi kept that to himself, along with the way his stomach twisted when he imagine Erwin having a family. All bright blond heads and beautiful little faces.
Tonight, he watched Erwin herd the trio into the kitchen, heaving Eren up to sit in his chair when the kid tried to crawl under the table to keep playing his army game. Erwin had his silk tie knotted around his head, perfect hair a perfect mess. Levi had heard the lawyer barking orders in the living room while Levi cooked, apparently content to play make-believe with a couple four-year-olds. It made that ache flare in Levi’s chest, and he’d gritted his teeth against it, avoided peaking into the living room to see what the enormous man looked like crawling across the carpet, flanked by kids that were barely taller than his knees. Levi thought it would make the ache split his chest wide.
Erwin padded across the kitchen in socks, suit rumpled and that fucking purple tie around his head, and began to help Levi spoon soup into bowls without being asked. Levi felt that old hatred spike sharp for a moment and he rubbed at his chest. He cleared his throat.
“You’re good with them,” Levi grunted, stilted, and turned on his heels to carry full bowls to the table. A hand touched his back, broad and warm, and Erwin was next to him, placing a bowl in front of Armin.
“Thank you,” he said.
When it happened, that pain in Levi’s chest threatened to finally, finally cleave him open. He should have seen it coming.
His phone buzzed, startling him awake in the pitch dark of his bedroom. His digital clock read midnight and his heart went into overdrive.
“Erwin,” he gasped into the phone because no one else would be calling him this late. “Erwin, what’s wrong.”
Erwin’s voice was tight. “I’m sorry to wake you.”
“You better have a good fucking reason.” Levi growled out his panic.
“Armin wants to talk to you.”
“What?”
“He had a nightmare.” Erwin paused. He sounded intensely uncomfortable. “About you.” At Levi’s squawk he said, quickly. “Oh no, no, not like that. Levi, not like that. It was like with his grandad.”
Oh. “Is he with you?”
“Yeah, he’s in my lap.”
“Let me talk to him?”
Erwin cleared his throat. “Yeah. He…” Levi had never heard the lawyer, so calm and assured, stumble quite like this. Not even the first week he had Armin. “Um.”
“Just let me talk to him,” Levi snapped, fear and confusion making his blood hot.
Erwin sighed. “Okay. I’m putting you on speaker.” There was some fumbling and Armin’s familiar hiccuping sobs reached his ear.
“Daddy?” Armin sobbed.
Oh. Oh no. Levi’s throat tightened so fast he couldn’t breathe and his eyes burned with hot, unexpected tears.
“Daddy?” Armin whimpered, louder.
“Armin,” Levi rasped.
Armin cried harder at the sound of his voice, those big wracking sobs he managed when he was relieved. “I had a nightmare, Daddy.”
Levi threw an arm across his eyes and tried to breathe, but there were tears leaking down the sides of his face and he couldn’t quite catch his breath. What the fuck was he supposed to do. “Hey,” he punched out, swallowing hard. “You’re fine, Armin. I’m right here and your Papa is there. He’ll take good care of you.”
Armin sobbed and Levi could hear Erwin murmuring to him over and over that he was okay. Levi wanted to say he’d never leave him, but Armin wasn’t his kid and he shouldn’t be calling him Daddy and this was so fucked.
“I miss you,” Armin whispered.
“Yeah, I miss you too, kid. But you’re stuck with me all day tomorrow, so hang tight. Okay?”
Armin sniffed. “’kay.”
“We’re doing volcanos tomorrow, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember.” His voice perked up slightly.
“Well, I’m gonna need your help.” Levi couldn’t seem to get the goddamn tears to stop rolling down his face. He wondered if Erwin could hear them in his voice. “Will you be my assistant tomorrow?”
“Okay.”
Erwin’s voice floated through the receiver, a bit muffled. “Ready to go back to bed, Armin? You’ll need to be rested to help Levi tomorrow.”
Armin whimpered some kind of assent.
“Say goodnight, Armin.”
“Night, Daddy,” Armin sighed.
“See you tomorrow, kid.” Levi pressed his hand to his eyes, hard.
There was more fumbling and Erwin’s voice came from closer. “Levi,” he breathed.
Levi’s chest broke and he hitched out a sob when he tried to breathe.
“Levi. I’m so sorry.” He was whispering.
“Not your fault,” Levi slurred. “It’s no one’s fault. Please shut the fuck up.”
He hung up the phone and curled into a ball, digging nails into his palms to stop himself from crying over a kid that wasn’t his and had eyes so brilliantly blue that he might as well have been Erwin’s own.
He looked like fucking shit the next morning. Mikasa regarded him carefully before offering a hug, patting his back and wrapping her disgusting red blanket around his shoulders. Eren chirped, bright as ever, launching himself into breakfast at breakneck speed, and Levi was glad for the perpetual distraction the kid caused.
Erwin texted him to ask if he could come over earlier than usual and Levi assented, swallowing nausea. When the doorbell rang and he tugged the door open, telling Mikasa and Eren to stay in the living room, he was still wearing Mikasa’s blanket as a cape. Erwin’s face had been a tight mask, but it crumpled into something soft when he caught sight of Levi.
“Daddy,” Armin murmured from his perch in Erwin arms. He looked so damn pleased to see Levi that Levi inhaled, sharp, and looked at Erwin with wide, pleading eyes.
“Armin,” Erwin said gently. “That’s Levi.”
“I know,” Armin said like Erwin had said something ridiculous.
Erwin cleared his throat and shot Levi his own pleading glance. “Armin, he’s not your daddy.”
Armin frowned, but he didn’t cry, for which Levi was immensely grateful. “Mikasa and Eren call him Daddy.”
“That’s because he is their dad.” Armin’s fists tightened in Erwin’s shirt, making a mess of his ironed suit. Erwin didn’t seem to give a fuck. “What don’t you understand?” Erwin asked, soft. “I’ll help you.” He pressed his lips to Armin’s hair in an unconscious gesture.
“I don’t know,” Armin said, resting his head on Erwin chest. He looked like he was gearing up to cry. “I just wanted to call him Daddy. Like Mikasa and Eren do.” His face screwed up a bit. “Am I in trouble?” Levi felt like he was gearing up to shatter as well.
“What?” Erwin looked startled. “No, Armin, no. Of course you aren’t.”
Levi was reaching for the kid before he realized what he was doing and Erwin was handing him over with a surprised expression and willing hands. “Armin,” Levi said, tucking the kid under his chin. “You have a Papa. He’s a good one.” He shot Erwin a wavering look trying to convey the phrase shockingly enough. Erwin’s lips twitched slightly in response. “You don’t need me to be your Daddy. Got it?”
Armin wrapped those steely fingers in the blanket around his shoulders. “I just wanted to,” he said again.
Levi closed his eyes, ignoring Erwin’s pained expression. “I know. But is ‘Levi’ good enough for you?”
Armin nodded.
“Well, c’mon then, little scientist. We’ve gotta get ready for the other kids, ‘kay?” Levi was looking at Erwin though, when he spoke and he wondered what expression he was making, if it was as bewildered and hurt as Erwin’s own.
“Stay for dinner?” he asked.
Erwin nodded.
Levi herded the three kids into Mikasa and Eren’s room after dinner, giving them crayons and paper and praying they didn’t use the walls as a canvas instead.
Erwin was on the couch, sprawled and exhausted, and he’d yanked his tie loose at some point. He cracked his eyes open when Levi returned, and patted the cushion next to him. Levi decided not to rib him about giving him permission to sit on his own furniture.
“Did he call you that anymore?” Erwin asked when Levi sat. He looked as worn as Levi felt.
Levi shook his head. “But he didn’t seem to happy about calling me Levi.”
Erwin heaved a sigh.
“You look forty today,” Levi told him.
Erwin smiled at that. “I feel it. Is this what it’s like to get old?”
“How should I know?” But there was a smile tugging at the corner of Levi’s mouth.
“Well, you know…” Erwin let his own mouth curl into a lazy grin. “You’re old.”
Levi reached out to shove at his face. Erwin let him, head lolling slightly with the force of Levi’s palm, and his grin didn’t abate in the slightest. “Thirty-four is not old.”
Erwin blinked. “That’s how old you are?”
“What?”
Erwin shook his head. “Nothing?”
Levi narrowed his eyes. “Did you think I was older?”
“…no.”
“You’re a piece of shit, Erwin Smith.” His mouth was tightening on amusement, though.
“Levi,” Erwin said. His eyes had gone devastatingly gentle. “I really am sorry. About Armin calling you 'Daddy.'”
Levi sighed and let his head roll back to rest on the couch. “It’s not your fault. I should have seen it coming.”
“He’s very fond of you.” Erwin’s voice was low and warm. It made Levi’s eyes slide shut even as he grunted in response.
“He’s a good kid.”
“I— Levi.” Something in Erwin’s tone made Levi open his eyes. Erwin was looking at him intently, mouth soft on a smile, though his cheeks were faintly flushed. “Levi—” he began again. There was an edge to his voice.
Levi’s heart-rate spiked. “Spit it out.”
“I want to kiss you.”
Levi’s brain shorted out and he sat frozen, staring at Erwin’s serious expression, those absurdly blue eyes and terribly full lips. “Why,” he blurted, unable to hear himself over his own heartbeat.
Erwin frowned and looked ready to launch into an actual goddamn explanation on the merits of kissing Levi, and Levi didn't think he could bear it so he said, “Shut up,” and launched himself across the space between them.
Erwin’s lips were as soft as they looked, thick and giving. He made a noise of surprise and then he was kissing Levi back, a hand coming to rest along his jaw, lips moving gently against Levi’s.
“Shut up,” Levi muttered again against his lips.
Erwin huffed. “I’m not saying anything.” He took Levi lower lip into his mouth, scraping his teeth across it, and Levi lost every battle, his veins flaring alight because it had been so damn long since he’d kissed anybody and now he didn’t want to be kissing anyone except Erwin fucking Smith.
The noise he made when he crawled into Erwin’s lap was embarrassing. It was a shivery, needy sound and he shoved his hand into Erwin’s hair, fucking it up rough to hide his own surprise. Erwin’s hands came to his waist, slipping up under his shirt, and the next time Levi moaned, Erwin responded with a low, bitten out sound of his own and Levi forgot to be ashamed. Erwin trailed his lips across the corner of Levi’s mouth, nipped across his jawline, scraped teeth down his neck when Levi threw his head back.
“Levi,” Erwin said, voice gone so deep Levi’s toes curled. He heard another pitiful whimper crawl out of his throat in response. “Levi. The kids could walk in.”
Realization shivered down Levi’s spine like ice and he leapt off Erwin’s lap, shuddering. Erwin snorted softly at his haste.
“Ugh,” Levi groaned. He was hard and drained and wanted to be fucked senseless by the father of a kid who called him “Daddy.” And, Jesus Christ, Levi wanted to be Armin’s dad. “I’m having a mid-life crisis,” he told Erwin, burying his face in his hands.
Erwin laughed and curled his arm around Levi’s shoulder, tugging him to his side. His ribs rose and fell, sturdy comfort. Levi let his hands fall away from his face and he made himself look up at Erwin. The blond smiled down at him, lopsided, and brushed hair back from Levi’s forehead in a gesture that made that crack in Levi’s chest split wider.
“Erwin, I can’t do this with you.”
Erwin face fell, hurt blooming in his eyes. “Oh. Did you not want that?”
“What? Don’t be an idiot. I’m the one that kissed you.”
“I don’t understand, then.” He looked devastatingly like Armin in that moment.
“Erwin,” Levi said slowly. “If we don’t work out, then what happens to Armin?”
The hurt in Erwin’s eyes turned to a slow kind of sadness, the deep, aching sort that Levi never wanted to see on his face again. “I see,” Erwin said, but he didn’t take his arm away from Levi’s shoulder and Levi was glad for the weight of it, holding him together. “You think we won’t work.”
“I didn’t say that.” Levi couldn’t breathe. He wanted Erwin more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. He wanted those slow smiles, to see the man sprawled on his floor with his kids reading a book, for that heavy hand at the small of his back when he cooked, to not have to be alone after he put Mikasa and Eren to bed. For Erwin to dip him low in the kitchen with an out of tune hum. Erwin was bright as sunshine and so steady he slowed Levi’s heart rate just by existing.
Erwin drew a breath against Levi’s side and said, slow and serious, “Levi. I want you. I want you so badly I ache.”
Levi shook his head and looked down at Erwin’s chest rather than his face. Wanting Erwin, he got. It made sense. Erwin was stunning. He was successful. He was good with kids and could cook and made small-talk like he was born to do it and, good god, the way he kissed.
Erwin’s fingers curled around Levi’s jaw, holding him still. “Levi, you don’t get to tell me what I want.” His tone was the commanding one, and Levi shivered. Erwin tilted his head up and made Levi look at him. “I’m not as old as you,” he teased gently, “but I’m old enough to know what I want. And I want to try. With you, Levi. I want you.”
Levi shivered again and nodded, slow, feeling like a mouse staring down a snake. “Okay,” he said. But he didn’t mean it. He didn’t want to try. There wasn’t a trial period for him. He wanted Erwin in a way that set his veins on fire, wanted the man under his skin, flooding into every corner of his life. He wanted Erwin to say it was fine for Armin to call him daddy and to scoop up Mikasa and Eren and say he was their papa. But Levi nodded again and said, “Let’s try.”
The next week was stolen kisses, pressed to Levi’s hair when Erwin handed Armin over, to his neck when he cooked. Erwin shoved Levi to the wall of the entryway when he came to get Armin one afternoon, unable to stay for dinner and slipped his tongue, wet and hot into Levi’s mouth until Levi couldn’t breathe, and shoved a thigh between Levi’s legs for him to grind on.
He watched Levi, eyes gentle and quiet, while Levi cleaned Armin’s face after dinner with a wet cloth and let the kid rest on his hip, sleeping against his shoulder while he helped Mikasa teach Eren to read. His expression was entirely too much for Levi’s heart.
“Erwin,” he said on Friday. “Stay.”
That night Armin had his first sleepover. Three months after the boy spent the first day clinging to Levi’s shirt, weeping, he was being tucked into bed between Mikasa and Eren, looking extremely pleased by the turn of events in his life.
Erwin leaned in the doorway while Levi pulled the covers up to their chins. “Armin,” he said. “You know where my room is, you know where the bathroom is, right?”
Armin nodded.
“There’s a nightlight right there.” Levi pointed. It didn’t have little fish on it. He thought he should get one that cast shadows of animals on the walls…
“Daddy,” Eren said, reaching out to grab Levi’s face and tug him down for a sloppy kiss to Levi’s forehead. Erwin snorted quietly. “Armin’s fine. Stop…” he fumbled, unsure of the word he wanted.
“Fussing,” Mikasa supplied, the little traitor.
“Yeah.” Eren curled his little body around Armin, half-squashing the boy. “I’ll protect him.”
Levi took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment. “Of course.” He looked at Mikasa.
“Daddy, I know what to do,” she said.
Thank fuck one of us does, Levi thought. Then there was that warm weight of a hand at his back and Erwin was leaning to press a kiss to Armin’s hair. “Sleep tight, ’kay?”
Armin nodded.
Levi heard Eren draw a breath and he sighed, resigned.
“Night Mikasa,” Eren said, as he did every night. “Love you.” That kid and his huge fucking heart. Mikasa already had her eyes closed, but then, Eren never really waited for a response.
“Night Daddy. I love you.” Eren blinked at him with the same massive eyes that had made Levi quit his job two years ago because he couldn’t bear leaving those trusting eyes to strangers.
“Love you too, kid.” He turned to go, tugging Erwin with him.
“Night, Armin,” Eren said. Oh. No. “Love you.”
Levi froze with his back to the bed.
Armin’s little voice seemed horrendously loud when he said, “Love you, too Eren.”
Levi had a moment to think, Please no, before Eren was saying, “Erwin.”
Erwin blinked, looked at Levi, and then over his shoulder at Eren. “Yes?”
“Good night.”
“Night, Eren. Sleep tight, okay?”
“I will. I love you.”
Levi’s grip on Erwin’s arm must have been painful, but he just smiled calmly down at Eren and said, “Yeah, love you back.”
Levi dragged him down the hallway and into his bedroom, closing the door behind them. “Fuck,” he said. “Fuck. Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be.” Erwin still looked infuriatingly calm. “Eren’s easy to love.”
“This is fucked.” Panic was creeping up into Levi’s chest, threatening to suffocate him.
Erwin’s hands slid to cup his face and he ducked to press kisses across Levi’s cheekbones. “Stop saying that,” he murmured between kisses. “It’s not fucked.” He pressed Levi towards the bed. “It’s only fucked if you make it so.”
“Stop being so goddamn calm,” Levi snarled, letting Erwin nudge him down and across the covers until he was lying in the middle of the bed.
Erwin grinned, wicked. “Okay.”
Levi sobbed through Erwin’s rolling thrusts, too full and certain he could never undo the feel of Erwin groaning against his neck. He bit Erwin’s shoulder to keep his voice down and hitched his legs high and tight.
“Levi,” Erwin groaned. “God. You feel incredible.” His voice broke and he pressed his forehead to Levi’s, eyes fluttering shut.
Levi shuddered. He made a broken sound when he came, that split in his chest cleaving just a bit wider, and he clung to Erwin desperately when the other man’s hips stuttered and he shivered through his own orgasm with a low moan, the feeling of his warm pulses inside of Levi’s body too intimate for Levi to bear.
But the worst of it was waking up. A heavy sensation on his chest dragged him from sleep before his alarm and he blinked his eyes open to blond hair, Erwin’s head cradled in his arms where he slept against Levi’s chest. Levi traced his nose with a fingertip before he could think and Erwin’s face scrunched. He opened lazy, tired eyes and smiled up at Levi.
“Morning,” he murmured before he was stretching up to kiss Levi, long and deep.
“I smell,” Levi said, pulling back with a wrinkled nose.
Erwin shrugged and mouthed at his neck. “I was in your ass last night. I don’t really mind.”
I love you, flickered through Levi’s brain so clearly he thought he said it out loud for a heart-stopping moment. “The kids,” he said when he could breathe again.
“Are sleeping.” Erwin was shifting down beneath the covers and Levi arched his back helplessly when Erwin took him in his mouth, warm and lazy as his sleepy eyes. All wet heat and sighing pleasure.
As with the dinners, one night turned into two, turned into Erwin having his own drawer. Until it was out of the ordinary for Armin to go home at all and Erwin bought all the groceries more than he paid Levi for daycare services.
“He thinks of this as home anyways,” Erwin said as they cleaned dishes. “He’s spent more time here since his grandad died than anywhere else.”
Levi winced.
“Don’t make that face.”
“What face?”
Erwin nosed at his cheek. “The one where you think this is going to end in flames and destruction and crying kids.”
“I wasn’t. This is my face.”
“Your face is beautiful.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Erwin got soap in Levi’s hair when he kissed him.
It was fine until Armin had a nightmare.
The kids had, by and large, taken the unofficial moving in of the Smith’s in stride, as little kids often did. As far as Eren was concerned, he got a permanent friend. Mikasa wasn’t fussed by much of anything, and she quietly doted on Armin. And the little blond absolutely bloomed under the attention.
The bedroom door creaked open one night, a month after the sleep-overs began and just didn’t end, and Levi was instantly awake, sitting up. Erwin sucked a sharp inhale as Levi startled him. Mikasa stood in the doorway like a tiny silent ghost.
“Daddy?”
Levi was out of bed and kneeling in front of her before Erwin could even sit up. “Is everything okay?”
Mikasa took Levi’s hand and led him down the hallway. Armin sat in the middle of the bed with Mikasa’s blanket wrapped around his head, sobbing. Eren looked distraught and sat miserably with his arms around Armin in an awkward hug. They made for quite a sight.
“Armin,” Levi said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Armin’s head shot up when he heard Levi’s voice and he launched himself into his lap. “Woah, easy,” Levi muttered. Mikasa and Eren looked on with wide eyes.
“Daddy,” Armin sobbed. He hiccuped between every word. “I—had—a dream—you—died.” The bed creaked and Erwin sat next to Levi, hair askew.
“Armin,” he rumbled, half-asleep. “Daddy’s right here.” Levi wondered if he realized his slip.
“I know,” Armin wailed.
Levi rubbed his frail back, completely lost. The kid was hyperventilating, hysterical. He wondered if this is what had happened all those months ago and he wondered how many times it had happened since. “Hey, easy,” he hushed. “I’m right here.” He looked at Erwin and then at Mikasa and Eren and hoped Erwin got the message. Erwin’s sleepy response was, apparently, to lie down on the bed, dragging Mikasa and Eren down with him and reaching out to place a hand on Levi’s back. It worked, miraculously enough. Levi’s kids seemed to if Erwin was relaxed enough to lay down, they could as well, and they borrowed against Erwin, exhausted from the scare. Eren shook with faint tremors.
Levi shifted until he was leaning back against the headboard and Erwin pressed his forehead to Levi’s thigh. Levi’s kids curled between the two of them and Levi experienced a brief burst of gratitude at not being alone before Armin started in on another wave of crying against his chest.
Levi closed his eyes. He was so tired. “Armin, nightmares aren’t real.”
“I know,” Armin sobbed.
“I’m here. That’s real.”
“I’m sorry,” the boy hiccuped.
Levi sighed and ducked his face to rest on Armin’s hair. “You don’t need to apologize. Just come get me next time.”
“You won’t be mad?”
“No, I won’t be mad.”
“Do you promise, Daddy.”
Levi kept his eyes closed, ignoring Erwin’s soft nuzzle against his leg, and said, “Yeah, kid, I promise.”
They fell asleep like that, Armin on Levi’s chest, Erwin’s head to Levi’s thigh, Levi’s hand buried in two sets of blond hair, and Eren and Mikasa sandwiched between them.
The next day was rough. Armin was weepy and it set off Eren, which made Jean grouchy, and Krista bawled. It was a chain reaction of tiny explosions and by the time the parents came to get their children, Levi felt like he’d been to hell and back several times over.
Erwin took one look at him when he walked through the door, looking shattered himself, and dragged Levi to the bedroom.
“I have to make dinner,” Levi muttered as Erwin stripped off his jeans.
“I’m making dinner.”
“You can’t cook.”
“That’s a lie!”
Levi huffed and let Erwin press him to the covers. “I’m a better cook.”
Erwin laughed into his hair. “That’s true.”
Levi didn’t know how Erwin managed three kids and dinner because he was out cold the moment Erwin shut the door to the bedroom, forbidding the curious kids from entering with a muffled, “Daddy’s sleeping.”
When he kissed Levi awake with the offering of a sandwich, the sun had set and the house was quiet. Levi blinked at him.
“You have…paint. On your face?”
“Oh yeah. I need to go shower.”
Levi crammed a massive bite of sandwich into his mouth, half-asleep and starving. “Why?”
“Well, Eren wanted to make you something because you weren’t feeling well. And then the other little monsters obviously wanted in on it. But it’s a surprise, so my lips are sealed.”
Levi dropped the sandwich onto the plate and stared long and hard at Erwin. He’d gotten paint all over his dress shirt and in his hair, and the streaks across his cheeks looked distinctively like he’d let the kids paint his face.
“Erwin, fuck. I love you,” he blurted. His hands shook.
Erwin grinned, lopsided and lazy. Utterly pleased. “I know.”
“You piece of shit!” Levi hissed. “What do you mean, ‘I know.’”
Erwin’s grin stretched wider. “I mean, I know you love me.”
Levi floundered and considered throwing his sandwich at Erwin’s perfect face, but Erwin leaned forward first and brushed his lips across Levi’s forehead, careful not to get paint on him. “I love you back, you grumpy old man.” He pressed his lips to Levi’s, hard and hot, and then he was padding back out the door, pausing to flash Levi a shit-eating grin.
Erwin leaned against the headboard that night, languid and purring praise, as Levi pressed down onto his cock and shook himself apart.
Armin called Levi “Daddy” again after the nightmare incident, just like Mikasa and Eren, and no one corrected him this time.
The months ticked over into a year and Erwin still hadn’t left by the time the kids were starting kindergarten. He’d rented out his fancy fucking apartment and helped Levi with his mortgage and at some point, Levi stopped telling him they were fucked.
Levi was a wreck when they got back from dropping the kids off for their first day of school and Erwin immediately called to say he’d be out of the office that day. Levi paced the house, cleaning and rearranging and snapping irritably. He didn’t know if he was worried or if he was jealous of the teachers. It felt disgusting. Erwin picked him up and carried him to bed.
“Levi,” he rumbled, stripping off Levi’s clothes.
“Shut the fuck up,” Levi snarled, rolling his hips. His body was a mess and his head was spinning.
Erwin spread his legs, rough, and sank his teeth into Levi’s thigh. “Listen to me.”
Levi arched his back and whimpered.
“They’re fine. The kids are fine.” He nosed at Levi’s balls and licked his hole in a long, hot swipe, fingers sinking into the meat of Levi’s ass. “What do you want to do.”
Levi tried to get air, grinding down against Erwin’s face. “What?” he gasped.
Erwin slicked his fingers and pressed one into Levi, watching him twitch with a predatory glint his eyes. “I mean,” he said, curling his finger, “What will you do now?” All the kids were in school and Levi’s daycare wasn’t needed anymore. He could take on new kids but…
It wasn’t until Erwin was pressed into him, hips flush against his body that Levi figured it out. “I wanna teach.” Erwin paused and looked down with hazy eyes. “Is that stupid?”
“No. You’d be great.” Erwin pressed kisses across his face. “You’d be perfect. God, you’re so fucking perfect.”
Levi whimpered. “I’m too old.” He rolled his hips into Erwin’s slow thrusts.
“You’re thirty-five. You can do whatever the fuck you want.” Erwin groaned and buried his fingers in Levi’s hair. “I love you so fucking much.”
Each heartbeat was a crystal clear moment in time. Of Erwin’s shivering muscles and the sunlight dappling his skin, turning his hair to brilliant gold. And how he sounded, open and raw, scattering praise like his kisses across Levi’s skin. And his face, unguarded, lips slack, eyes rolling and hazy and shuttering closed. His hips against Levi’s, the weight of him so hot and heavy in Levi’s body. Levi watched him come, bleary from his own orgasm, while Erwin pressed his forehead to Levi’s, eyes wide open when his hips bucked. Levi felt him spill warm and deep and he knew in that eternity-long span of his heartbeat that he’d never want anyone as much as he wanted Erwin Smith.
Levi woke in a tangled mess of limbs. All three of the kids had tried to crawl on top of him in their sleep and Erwin, not to be left out, threw a heavy arm over all of them in his sleep. Levi groaned. Seven-year-olds were not nearly as small as four-year-olds, and Eren was surprisingly heavy for his size. Erwin’s brows pulled together at the noise Levi made and then tired blue eyes were gazing at Levi. Erwin’s lips pulled up.
“Seems I’m not as popular,” he said, voice heavy with sleep and quiet so as not to wake the kids.
“Lucky me,” Levi deadpanned. He had school work to get done for his online classes and Erwin had to get to the office but for a moment he paused and remembered something Erwin had said a long time ago.
Lucky me.
Levi frowned, trying to place it.
Did you want kids, Erwin?
Yeah. I did.
Did?
Well, I didn’t think I’d find anyone to have kids with.
Lucky for you, you didn’t have to.
Lucky me.
“Erwin.”
“Mm?”
“Would you have kids with me?”
Erwin blinked. “More?” He looked at the drooling heap of kids on Levi’s chest and stomach. “Do you want more?” He sounded baffled and disturbingly intrigued enough that it was Levi’s turn to frown.
“No, you idiot. Hypothetically.”
“Oh. Well, I did have kids with you.”
Levi flushed, unable to help himself. “Don’t say things like that.”
Erwin smiled. “Then don’t ask questions that aren’t hypothetical.” He eyed the sleeping kids again. “So, do you want more kids?”
“God, no.”
“You’re going to get a whole bunch when you teach, you know.”
“Yeah, but I give them back at the end of the day.”
“Just a few more, Levi.”
“No.”