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Today, like most days, it seemed, was a training day.
Eren had started the day off poorly. He was rooted in his big headspace when he woke up in his bed, and he hadn't been able to really regress for almost three weeks. It wasn't that he didn't want to, either; the issue was that the unit had been so busy and stressed out lately that all he could do was try to push through each day, and then pass out upon getting back to his private room.
That particular morning, Eren woke up and just felt that it would be a bad day. He was stressed, and it made him a ticking time bomb. Knowing this, he dragged himself out of bed and prolonged his morning routine for as long as he could. He really didn't want to face anyone.
No matter how hard Eren tried, he couldn't delay seeing people all day. He had already skipped breakfast, and now it was time for him to face everyone—even Levi.
Eren was looking forward to seeing Levi least of all.
He loved Levi, and he would never say that he didn't to anyone other than his friends lest they make fun of him, but he was not at all excited to see the look of sympathy and—even worse—care in his Daddy's eyes as he watched over the boy during training. Eren was certain that he wouldn't be able to handle it.
Nonetheless, he trudged out to the field and greeted his friends. He was oddly quiet, and everyone noticed his sour expression and crossed arms. To them, he was reminiscent of a pouting child.
He was the last one onto the field, which earned him a look of disapproval from both Erwin and Levi, but he couldn't be bothered to care. He was feeling unfocused, and even though he swore to himself that he was going to stay big all day, he felt that nagging sensation of littleness pulling at the back of his mind.
He pushed it away as Erwin began shouting orders into the open air.
Eren was still unfocused, no matter how hard he tried to pay attention. He didn't catch a good majority of what his superior had said, but he hoped that he could copy his pupils and get through training with minimal issues.
He followed his friends' leads as they began their training like normal: laps around the field until they were told to stop. As they ran, Eren couldn't help but to feel trapped in his thoughts. Every problem that had presented itself over the past few weeks flew through his mind, each one fighting for dominance in his brain. The young man began to feel overwhelmed by it all, and without noticing it, he slowed his pace.
He continued along slowly as his friends turned to stare back at him woth concern. Their friend's lips were pulled into a frown and his eyebrows were pinched tightly. He looked like he would burst into tears at any moment.
Eren's thoughts were interrupted by Levi calling out to him.
"Pick up the pace, Yeager! Your friends can't carry you through this!" The words stabbed into Eren's already abused mind and tears welled up in his eyes. He pushed them back and continued moving.
Soon enough, they were told to stop running and line up along the back edge of the field that ran parallel to the start of a dense forest.
Their instructions were simple enough: to test their physical endurance and strength, each cadet would have to do burpees, sit-ups, and other similar exercises until they had to tap out. There would be no punishment for tapping out, but Erwin announced that the last one to do so would be rewarded with an extra helping at dinner that night.
Chatter quickly filled the field as everyone placed bets on who would be the first and last ones to quit. The talking ceased with Levi's shout to begin with a round of burpees.
Only five minutes in, a few of Eren's peers looked about ready to pass out. Eren wasn't faring much better; he was fatigued from skipping breakfast, and he could feel himself getting closer to the edge of snapping with each burpee he did.
A few moments later, they were told to switch to push ups. Eren half-assed all of his, and he couldn't push away the scowl that overcame his face as he lowered himself to a not-quite-ninety-degree-angle with his arms.
They continued on for another ten minutes before Eren stood and tapped out. He had really wanted to continue if only to prove that he could beat everyone else, but he knew that with no food in his stomach, and with how physically and mentally exhausted he was from having no time to unwind over the past three weeks, he would not have been able to continue without going over the edge of the cliff.
Everyone watched as he walked to the sidelines and frowned, getting lost in thought again. Eren glanced over at Levi and noticed him already staring back, brows furrowed and looking somewhat disappointed. Eren's lip wobbled as he saw the disappointment in his caregiver's eyes. He forced himself to look away.
Levi, however, wasn't having any of that. He marched over to where Eren was sitting and cleared his throat.
"Eren," his voice was stern as he spoke. "I don't know what has gotten happened to you this morning, but I need you to look at me and explain why you seem so upset."
Eren refused to make eye contact with the older man as he grumbled out a response.
"Nothing happened, Captain; everything is fine." His voice held a definite attitude and Levi raised a thin eyebrow at Eren's words.
"Eren. That is not how you speak to me, and you know it. Look at me right now and tell me why you're acting so grumpy." Eren noted the tone Levi had just used with him; it was the same one he used on the rare occasion that little Eren misbehaved.
In that moment, it made him angrier than anything else.
"I said nothing happened! I'm fine, okay?" He snapped at Levi, and everyone around them went quiet.
Levi's face hardened as he turned back towards Erwin, giving him a brief gesture that meant 'I'm taking him inside to deal with this', and Erwin nodded curtly as he commanded the rest of the troops to get back to their prior activity.
Levi gently took hold of Eren's arm and stood him up, leading him back to the barracks and into Levi's own room. He sits the younger down on the bed and crouches down in front of him. Everything is silent for a few long, drawn out moments, until Eren breaks it with a soft sniffle. Levi sighed quietly and put his finger under Eren's chin to make the younger look at him.
The raven-haired man spoke quietly to the young, fragile boy as he softened his features.
"Eren, sweetheart, everything is okay. I'm not angry with you... but I need you to understand that shouting at me like you did back there is not okay, especially not when I am trying to help you talk through your problems. Do you understand what you did wrong?" Eren nodded as he looked into Levi's eyes.
"You won't do it again, will you?" The young boy sniffles once again, a couple of stray tears falling down his cheeks this time.
"No, dada... won't do 'gain."
Levi nodded and petted the now regressed boy's hair.
"That's my good boy. Can I get a smile from you?" Eren gave a small smile, to which Levi tutted and shook his head playfully.
"I don't think that was quite a genuine smile, little one. I think I know how to get a smile out of you..."
Suddenly, fingers started attacking Eren's sides, and the boy laughed as Levi tickled him.
"Dada, stop!" He cried through his giggles, wiggling around on the bed.
Levi reluctantly listened and offered a wide smile to his baby.
"You're so cute when you smile, little one! That little laugh of yours is so very precious!" Eren squirmed around some more, flustered, before putting his arms up for a hug.
Levi went one step further and picked the boy up entirely, cooing as Eren squeaked and nuzzled into his caregiver's shoulder. He carried his baby into the nursery across the hall, and settled him down in his crib.
"Would you like the bars on the crib, or do you want your big boy bed today, hm?" Eren bounced excitedly as he stood with his hands wrapped around the bars of the crib.
"Big boy bed, Dada! P'ease!" Levi chuckled and complied, telling his baby to sit down so that he could take off the siding.
Once that was finished, Levi moved the removable sides over to the toy chest and leaned them again the wall before he turned back to his baby.
"What would you like to do with the day, Eren? It's been a while since you've gotten to be small."
"Wanna play and watch cartoons! Can we, Daddy? And can we invite Uncle Erwin too?" The regressed brunette boy hopped down from his bed and toddled over to his caregiver hopefully, tugging gently on his sleeve with wide eyes.
Levi nodded his head, but spoke up.
"Of course we can do that, little guy, but we have to wait until Uncle Erwin is done with training, okay?"
"'Kay, Dada!"
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A while later, Eren had been changed into more appropriate clothing, and the pair were cuddled up to one another in Eren's "big boy bed" as they watched a show about three bear brothers and their silly antics. Eren had refused to play with any of his toys until Erwin was able to come in and play, too, so they had begrudgingly turned on the television in the corner of Eren's nursery and found something to watch.
Eren had become immediately entranced by the show, babbling on after each episode about his favorite characters and his favorite parts of the episode. He giggled sweetly at the funny parts and pointed at the screen, looking up to make sure his daddy saw it, too.
Levi had to admit that the show was rather entertaining—certainly more so than the other mind-numbing cartoons Eren has enjoyed before. He found himself chuckling along with his baby at certain parts, but mostly he focused on how adorably sweet Eren was being. Compared to how he had been that morning, Levi thought Eren seemed like an entirely separate person.
Their show was interrupted by a knock on the nursery door, and Levi detached Eren from him as he stood and walked over to the door. Upon opening it, he saw Erwin standing there with a gentle smile on his face.
"I figured you two would end up in here." Erwin spoke, a certain airiness in his tone.
"Ah, great! Eren has actually been waiting all morning for you to get here. He wants you to come in with us and play while cartoons run in the background. You up for it?"
A loud whine from behind the two men causes them to turn around. Levi opens the door further for Erwin to step in and then closes the bedroom door behind him.
The whining boy had moved from the bed to the floor, where a cushioned puzzle mat lied under Eren's toy chest. He pouted up at the two men in the room, looking at his toy box and then back at them pleadingly. The two men cooed and walked over to him, settling down on the mat next to him.
Levi opened the top of Eren's toy chest and let his little one dig through it, searching for the perfect toys to play with. He settled on a large set of legos, and handed some to Uncle Erwin and Daddy. They quietly built for almost two hours.
Eren had, at some point, snuggled into the two older men as he built, and they both took turns petting his hair. Around two in the afternoon, Eren's stomach growled and caused him to whimper and pout up at his caregiver.
"Dada, I have food..?" Levi nodded an stood up; he promised to be right back and told his baby to behave for Erwin before he left the room and made his way to the kitchen.
When he reached the kitchen, he wasn't at all surprised to find somewhat slim pickings. That wasn't to say that there's wasn't enough food, because they had to keep it stocked up to feed an entire troop, but the options were limited. In the end, Levi settled for some fruits cut up in a bowl and some juice in a bottle—he had noticed by now that even when Eren was feeling older in his headspace, he still enjoyed the intimacy that came from being bottle-fed by his caregiver.
With that decision out of the way, Levi set about slicing up a couple of bananas, and mixing them into a bowl with some raspberries, pineapple, melon, apple slices, and strawberries. He wasn't sure that Eren would be able to eat all of it, but he figured it was better to have too much than not enough. Besides, if worse came to worse, Levi or Erwin could eat the leftovers.
Before leaving the kitchen, he grabbed a pint of apple juice. Then, he made his way back to the nursery.
His hands were full when he got there, so he attempted to knock with his elbow. Thankfully, Erwin opened the door and let him in a few seconds later. Levi immediately had a regressed boy attached to his waist, and he chuckled as he set the bowl of fruit and jug of juice down on Eren's changing table.
He hugged his baby tightly before prying him off. The boy gave a prolonged whine, but Levi promised that they could cuddle again once he finished getting his food ready. This seemed to calm the boy enough for the time being, and he scampered off towards Erwin again as his caregiver got a baby spoon, fork, and a bottle out. He filled the bottle with juice and put the spoon and fork in the bowl before sitting on Eren's play mat. Erwin brough the boy over and placed him in Levi's lap.
The younger automatically latched onto his daddy's shirt as the raven-haired man spooned a slice of banana into Eren's mouth with one hand. The baby in his arms grinned around the spoon, and when he finished with the banana, he opened his mouth for more fruit.
Levi found it difficult to maneuver the fruit into Eren's mouth with the angle they were sitting at, so he quietly asked if Erwin could take over feeding him while they cuddled. The bushy-browed man agreed enthusiastically. He loved looking after the regressed boy.
"Okay, little buddy, open up! Here comes some more yummy fruit!" Erwin cooed lightly as the boy flushed and opened his mouth again, messily eating and getting fruit juice all around his mouth.
Eren could feel himself slipping further the longer he was fed; Erwin's cooing and Levi's gentle, barely-there caresses on his back had him sinking rapidly. In between spoonfuls, Eren babbled mindlessly to the two older men as they continued their duties.
By the time Eren had finished the bowl of fruit, his entire face had somehow managed to get sticky and dirty. Erwin had the forethought to bring over some baby wipes that were gentle on the skin, and he cleaned the boy up using a couple of them. Once he was clean, Eren was passed to Erwin so that Levi could settle himself with a bottle into Eren's big boy bed—he really would have to reattach the sidings, if Eren's behavior was any indicator of how the rest of the night would progress.
Eren whimpered and sleepily reached out to Levi.
"Dada..." He rubbed his eyes with his fists, which made him look incredibly small.
"Oh I know, tiny one, dada's right here. It's time for your baba now, isn't it?" Levi crooned to the baby that was now being handed over to him again.
The boy's hair was adorably messy from him having nuzzled his head into Levi's shirt earlier, and it fell into his face as he pouted up at his caregiver. Levi brushed the hair behind the baby's ears with a gentle hand. He was supporting the boy's head with an arm that was rested on one of Eren's pillows, and the brunette relaxed into him once again, feeling vulnerable and safe in his caregiver's arms as he took in the man's unique scent.
Levi looked over to his friend and offered a carefree smile. He quietly requested that the man would put on some lullabies for his baby, and Erwin did. The caregiver nodded appreciatively at his colleague. Erwin smiled back at the pair for a moment, then bid a quiet farewell before exiting.
Levi lifted the bottle to Eren’s mouth, and Eren latched on instinctually, suckling until he established a rhythm. The repetitive motion lf suckling mixed with the peaceful music playing through the speakers of the small radio in the corner of the room were enough to make the already drowsy boy slip further away from awareness, but he forced his eyes to stay open as he suckled and stared at his dada.
The caregiver stared back at him with wide, adoring eyes. He felt so lucky to have found out about this side of Eren, and he knew how privileged he was to have gained enough of Eren’s trust to be allowed to care for him in this vulnerable state. He was proud of himself, oddly enough.
He loved his baby more than words could express, and he wished for more opportunities to spend days like this, comfortable and content with his little one wrapped safely in his arms.