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Valentine's day was quite an affair in the Ackerman-Smith household. Erwin had brought out his cheesy as hell heart shaped waffle maker, and Levi’s heart absolutely had not thumped a little harder when he saw a bleary eyed Erwin, up at the ass crack of dawn, pouring pink dyed waffle mix into it so waffles would be ready before their girls woke up. Levi padded over to his husband and wrapped his arms around him, kissing him between his shoulder blades. “Happy Valentine’s day, you lame bastard.”
Erwin twisted in his arms, leaning down to kiss Levi, cupping his cheek in one hand. “ ‘ppy Valentine’s day,” he mumbled against his husband’s lips.
Levi chuckled, Erwin was most definitely not a morning person. He put his hands on his hips and led him to a chair, pressing a kiss to the top of his bedhead. “Let me take care of breakfast. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if you fell asleep and burned that pretty face of yours on the waffle iron.” Erwin hummed a reply and Levi turned on the coffee maker, put a kettle on the stove and took the waffles out of the iron.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw his sleepy husband with his face resting on a hand, looking like Levi had hung the moon in the sky for him personally instead of just offered to make breakfast. “Sap,” he muttered with a smirk before turning back around to pour their drinks into a matching pair of ‘His’ and ‘His’ mugs. Levi had rolled his eyes when Erwin bought them, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to indulge him a bit. And it was definitely the right choice when Erwin gave him an incredibly fond look as he handed over his black coffee.
Levi was in the middle of putting the chocolate croissants he’d bought in a breadbasket when he heard little feet running down the stairs. “Waffles!” Historia yelled as she ran into the kitchen and started to make grabby hands towards the waffles up above her head on the counter.
“Woah there, cowgirl,” he said, crossing his arms. She stopped and looked up at him with her enormous blue eyes. “Hisu, did you wash your hands?” She looked down at the ground and shook her head. “Why don’t you go upstairs and get your sister, help her wash her hands and then we’ll all have your Papa’s waffles, ok?”
“Ok!” she said, nodding vigorously. Then she tore back up the stairs, yelling, “Mikasa!! Wake up! Papa made waffles!”
Levi winced. How could a five year old be so loud? He finished loading up the croissants and brought them over to the table. Erwin looked a little more lively now that he’d finished his first cup of coffee and kissed Levi on the cheek before getting up to set the table.
Before long Historia was walking into the kitchen with Mikasa in tow, dragging her blankie behind her. “We washed our hands!” Historia declared. “Can we have waffles now?”
“Wait until Papa and I have finished setting the table. Why don’t you sit down, Princess, and I’ll bring over some orange juice.”
Historia sat down at the table but Mikasa tottered over to where Erwin was at the counter and tugged on his sweatpants. He smiled as he picked her up and placed her on his hip, kissing the top of her head, “happy Valentine’s day, sweetheart.” Levi’s heart didn’t melt, it absolutely did not as he watched his husband move around the kitchen, toddler in one hand and helping to set the table with the other. Levi filled the glasses Erwin had put on the table with juice as Erwin put Mikasa in her booster seat.
Erwin had just helped the girls cut up their waffles and brought his own breakfast of overnight oatmeal and toast to the table when the doorbell rang. Levi threw a scathing look at the door. Who the hell had the nerve to disturb them so early on a Sunday? “Ugh! I’ll get them to go away,” he griped and trudged over to the front door, yanking it open.
Standing on his stoop was his coworker, Petra, and she was holding a little girl’s hand. “Levi! Thank god you’re home!”
The irritation from earlier was gone. Petra respected his personal life so this must be something serious. “Petra? What are you doing here?” he asked, then nodded his head at the child, “And who's the girl?”
“Levi.. There.. There was an accident.” She paused, looking nervous. Looking at the deep bags under her eyes, he could tell she had probably been up all night on this girl's case. He had a sinking suspicion about what the outcome of the accident was. Petra continued in a rush, “Gabi has no relatives to take her in and I just need somewhere to place her until I can find a foster parent for her.” She paused for a breath, “would you take her? I promise it will only be a day or two and then I’ll be able to find an appropriate home for her-”
Levi raised a hand to stop her, “Petra, it’s fine. I’m happy to take her for as long as it takes. Focus on finding a good home, not just a fast one.” Having been shuffled between foster families until he aged out of the system, he definitely knew the difference.
All at once the tension seemed to leave her, “Thank you so much, Levi! I can’t thank you enough!”
He waved his hand, “Yeah, whatever, it’s no problem,” he said as she handed over a bag with some of the girl's things. “And Petra? Get some sleep. You look like shit.”
Petra laughed and rolled her eyes, “Thanks, Levi. You’re a good friend.”
“Damn straight, I am.” He gently took the girl’s hand and started to bring her inside out from the cold.
As Petra started to walk back to her car she called back to him, “Happy Valentine's day, Levi! Spoil that husband of yours today, he’s a catch.”
Levi smiled to himself, “yeah. Yeah he is.” He knelt down and smiled at the little girl, Gabi, “Hey Kiddo, my name's Levi. Wanna meet my family?”
Levi led her inside and took her to the kitchen. The girls and Erwin didn’t notice him walk in as Erwin was preoccupied doling out croissants. "Erwin," Levi said, getting his husband's attention as he was about to take a bite of jellied toast. He picked up Gabi, holding her out in front of him, "Happy Valentine's Day. We have a new child."
Erwin's eyes went wide and he seemingly forgot about the toast in his open mouth. Mikasa clutched her blankie to her chest and Historia used the distraction to steal another waffle.
Erwin put the toast back onto his plate and raised a brow at his husband. "Levi?"
Levi shrugged, "that was Petra."
"Ah," Erwin said, he could put the pieces together enough until he could talk to Levi without the girls around.
Levi looked at his daughters, "girls, Gabi is going to be staying with us for a little while. I want you to be good hosts to her."
"Yes dad," Historia said around a large bite of waffle and Mikasa nodded vigorously.
"Good, I know you'll make her feel welcome." He put Gabi back down and ruffled Mikasa's hair as he walked past to grab an extra booster seat for Gabi.
'A little while' turned out a little longer than expected. By the time Petra had found a potential family, Gabi had just started to come out of her shell and Erwin thought it might be traumatic to shuffle her around just as she was starting to get comfortable. (Levi had a feeling his thoughts on the matter had more to do with his quick attachment to her, she had taken to following Erwin around the house and imitating everything he did, but Levi wasn't going to bring it up). And two years later the three girls were playing castle in the playroom while Erwin and Levi reclined together on the couch.
Levi was on his phone, back against the armrest and feet shoved under Erwin's thighs. Erwin's palms were clammy as he ran what he was going to say to his husband one more time in his mind. It was now or never. He took a deep breath, "Levi? I want to talk to you about something."
Levi didn't even look up from his phone, seemingly oblivious to Erwin's nerves, "yup?"
Erwin took a steadying breath, "I think we should adopt Gabi."
Without even pausing Levi said, "well yeah, of course we should. I already started the paperwork."
Erwin's brows shot up and he stared at his husband. "You what?!" Levi finally looked up from his phone. "You did that without even talking to me??"
Levi shrugged, " I know how much you love Gabi. And we can't just take her away from Hisu and Mikasa. Mikasa hit that Eren kid for trying to steal Gabi's GI Jane, they're sisters. "
Erwin should probably be upset, but it was awfully hard to be mad when Erwin felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest with how much love he felt for his incredibly perceptive husband. Instead, he grabbed Levi's arm and pulled him against his chest, drawing him into a deep kiss. "I love you so very much, Levi Ackerman-Smith."
Levi pushed his husband's face away, trying to bite back a smile. "You're such a dork."
He ducked back in to kiss Levi's nose, "but I'm your dork."
Levi kissed him back, "yeah. Yeah you are." He pushed a lock of golden hair behind Erwin's ear, "come to my office this week and we'll finish Gabi's paperwork together."
Erwin leaned forward again but was interrupted by a voice from the doorway. "Papa! Dad!" They turned to see Historia, Mikasa and Gabi in the doorway, Historia in the middle holding both of their hands. "Stop being gross! We're hungry!"
Erwin and Levi smiled at each other. "Ok girls," Erwin called, "We'll be right there." He gave Levi one last peck on the lips and they got up to cook for their daughters.