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Their bed isn’t big enough, Levi thinks.
It’s a king, sure, but they could use bigger. And it’s not that he and Erwin can’t fit just fine on their own. On the contrary, it’s perfect for the two of them and their varying sleeping positions (all dependent on the weather and, thus, the temperature). However, it is never only the two of them anymore. It’s the two of them and their three growing toddlers.
It’s been a habit since they were babies that they all sleep in the same bed. Levi would blame Erwin; he’d been the one set on keeping them close the first few night after they were brought home. But Levi had contributed by not mentioning the fact that they’d spent money on three perfectly good cribs that were going unused. It resulted in their bundles of joy not caring much for them, either, and two out of three of them often made a fuss until they were in one of their fathers’ arms.
Levi wonders if there is a larger bed than this. Wall-to-wall would be ideal for their situation.
Erwin’s soft breaths are much farther from him now than they used to be. These days, Mikasa and Eren take up the space between them, side-by-side. They insist on the same spots every time—Mikasa in the circle of Erwin’s right arm, clinging to him like a koala, while Eren drools into Levi’s t-shirt. Sometimes chewing the fabric into his mouth like a suckling puppy.
Armin would be somewhere in their pile, one would think, but he fusses with big, pleading eyes to sleep on his stomach across Erwin’s chest every single night.
Erwin never complains, even though Armin’s a wiggler. It’s better than Eren, who’s a kicker. He and Levi have fights in their sleep most nights.
Mikasa never moves, thankfully. Even if Levi or Erwin move her, she remains asleep from the time she goes down until morning’s first light.
Levi complains about their arrangement sometimes. They have their own room now—with three, neatly-made beds in a row, colored in green, pink, and blue. He and Erwin made a whole week of picking out what was just right for their children, each of different personality and peculiarities. It was supposed to be a graduation of sorts for them since the year they turned two. An upgrade from the five-body pile-up they’ve been sleeping in since the three of them cried their way out of their respective wombs.
At the same time, it’s him who should know better, really. Levi knows they’re there, the beds, but he never says it’s time to use them. He never tells his kids they’re old enough to.
They won't be for a while yet, he swears.
That’s why, when three-year-old Eren decides one night that he's going to sleep all alone in his own room, Levi's offended by the notion.
Eren’s absence goes unnoticed at first. Levi’s exhausted when he crawls into bed that night, having spent the vast majority of his Sunday cleaning their home from top to bottom. It’s only when he drops into the pile of blankets beneath him and his head lands on Erwin’s shoulder that he realizes something isn’t right.
Because that never happens anymore.
Eren and Mikasa are usually between them. Eren’s usually drooling into his neck. Drooling in general.
Opening his eyes, Levi finds himself gazing at Armin’s soft, sleeping face, just barely visible in the dimness of the night. Shoving his hand between himself and Erwin’s side, he frowns.
Eren and Mikasa are gone.
Levi sits up quickly, taking a look around the plug-in-light-lit room just in time to see Mikasa padding through the cracked door. Wrestling himself from beneath the covers, Levi pulls up out of bed. A hand clamps around his wrist suddenly, and he huffs when he’s practically whiplashed into the edge of the mattress.
“Levi, where are you going?” comes Erwin’s sleep-thick voice.
Levi sighs and wraps his hand around Erwin’s, squeezing back and feeling only a little guilty for causing a commotion. “To wrangle up the runaways,” he says.
Erwin seems placated by that, letting Levi go and settling back into sleep, arms instantly rounding Armin like he’s a stuffed animal. It’s too bad there’s no time to coo at the sight; it’s something Levi’s gotten all too good at over the years. Instead, he makes his way out of the room and down the hall with purpose, catching up with Mikasa just as she gets the door to her bedroom open and slips inside.
Hand clamping over the edge of the door, Levi peeks in to see an Eren-sized lump under the covers of the bed closest to it. The flickering of a flashlight going on and off barely illuminates his curled up silhouette before he’s plunged into darkness.
The flashlight flickers on again just as Mikasa peeks her head under the covers.
"A TITAN!" Eren screams. His words are laced with a spit-stuck sob.
Levi sighs exasperatedly. He shouldn’t have let them watch that stupid Human Evolutionary Theory show with Erwin. They didn’t learn shit except how to be scared of every little unexpected thing.
Stepping into the room and turning the light on, Levi walks over to Eren’s green color-coded bed and pulls the blankets off of him in one fell swoop. Eren looks up at him, red-cheeked and tear-streaked—like the fearful little baby he is.
“What are you doing here, brat?” Levi asks, pleased that Eren relaxes when he notices it’s just his father and not a goddamn titan.
“S-S-Sleep-ping...”
“You don’t look like you’re sleeping.”
“I am, Dad! See?”
At lightspeed, Eren flops fully onto the bed—head on pillow, small form in fetal position—and closes his eyes tight. As if Levi is going to fall for his pretending. He’s not even doing a decent job at lying still. One of his tiny feet keeps wiggling restlessly every few seconds.
“Yeah, that’s not cutting it,” Levi tells him after a long thirty seconds. “Get up. We’re going back to the room.”
Eren sits up as quickly as he went down, face twisting in a way that’s all too familiar to Levi. It effectively triggers his exasperation.
“No!” Eren screams at the top of his lungs, the noise short, but infuriatingly silence-breaking. “I don’t wanna! I’m big! I can sleep in my own bed—it’s mine!”
What Levi wouldn’t give to be able to lock this kid up in the hallway closet for a month without any repercussions.
“Oi,” Levi begins, in what Erwin calls his ‘scary voice,’ “Your papa and brother are sleeping. And you should be, too. Get up and come with me and Mikasa to bed. Now.”
A whine breaks out from the back of Eren’s throat, and he lifts his small body from the bed only to throw himself down into the covers again with a sob. The kicking and screaming follows, marking the beginning of one of Eren’s ridiculous tantrums.
Levi reaches up and rubs at his eyes. Maybe if he digs through the sockets and into his brain, he can turn off all five of his senses.
“Eren...”
It takes all of three minutes for Eren to have tired himself out, and he resorts to grabbing his blanket from the edge of the bed and hiding underneath it like a spoiled-rotten lump. Green is suddenly the most befitting color Levi could’ve chosen for him.
The only sound coming from Eren is the petulant sound of sniveling, and he makes no move to do as Levi says. Really, Levi doesn't know how the hell he got stuck with two perfectly behaved kids and one actual monster.
It must be the world balancing itself out.
Praise Fucking Ymir.
“Fine. Stay in bed. But I’m closing the bedroom door, so good luck crawling back over when you’re scared,” Levi tells him. It’s a lie, just like the closet—he would never leave Eren in an enclosed room by himself, but it’s satisfying to hear him squeak in fear at the thought. Turning towards Mikasa, who’s been so quiet, he almost forgot she was there, Levi doesn’t even make it one step before he’s effectively locked in place.
Eren’s got a hold of his boxers, chubby arm sticking out from under the covers.
“Wait, Dad—don’t go!” his small, muffled voice shrieks from where his face is probably pressed down into the mattress. “You can’t leave me with the titans. They’ll eat me!”
Okay. He’s had enough.
“You’re lucky I don’t cook you up and eat you,” Levi tells him, grabbing Eren’s wrist with one hand and flipping back the covers with the other. His spine throbs with pain. Fuck, his back hurts. He shouldn’t have resorted to becoming a contortionist for the sake of sparkly-clean sink pipes. Levi huffs, tugging at Eren’s arm. “Come on, brat!”
Eren continues squealing, remaining a dead weight atop the mattress. Levi resorts to just picking him up and carrying him away, but the little jerk is quick to fight him on it.
“No! I wanna sleep here! I—” Small body wriggling this way and that, Eren shoves his snotty nose into Levi’s shoulder. “P-P-Please D-Daddy, s-sleep here.”
Levi, at this point, doesn’t give a flying fuck where they sleep as long as everyone sleeps. He sets Eren back down on the bed, a clear sign he’s won, and gives him a long, unimpressed look. Almost daring him to start another scene after he so graciously agreed. He also may or may not be giving his back a break, arms braced on either side of Eren’s tiny frame. But that’s neither here nor there.
Eren looks up at him with his big watery eyes, unsure and quiet now. “S-Stay here, please?”
Taking a deep breath, Levi nods.
“Fine, but I’m sleeping in Mikasa’s bed,” he says.
“What?!” Eren squeaks, looking utterly devastated even as Levi comes around and sits on his bed anyway. He sobs audibly, but quickly moves over to make room. “Oh m-my god, Dad. Y-You s-scared m-me. I thought y-you were g-gonna l-leave me-ee...”
“Come here, you big baby. I’m not gonna leave you.” Levi flops down onto the bed, exhaustion flooding every nook and cranny of his body the moment his back hits the pillow and his head hits the back wall.
This is going to kill my back even more, he thinks, but his brain swears he too comfortable to move. So he’s too comfortable to care. Especially once Eren and Mikasa pile onto either side of him, shoving their limbs into his ribs so hard, it’s like they’re trying to crawl inside him.
Despite how infuriating Eren can be, Levi feels an inexplicable peace when sleeping beside him. Eren is not easy to handle—he’s not easy to get along with, besides that—but it’s satisfying to know that at the end of the day, he wants to be next to Levi. Crying into his armpit and clinging to him for dear life.
Levi sighs, squeezing Eren close. He really is frustratingly adorable.
Part of him idly thinks he should’ve gone back to the room first and told Erwin that he’s not coming back to bed, but now that he’s lied down and Eren and Mikasa are comfortable, Levi knows he’s trapped. There’s no way he’ll get away with moving even an inch with the way Eren’s got his little velociraptor claws dug into him.
Shit, I forgot the lights, too. Levi takes another deep, audible breath, trying to convince himself that he can somehow get an adequate amount of rest in a fully illuminated room. He really doesn’t want to get up. Damn it.
But the issue of both the lights and lack of communication with Erwin is quickly remedied by the very man himself.
Erwin steps into the room, eyes bleary and the corners of his mouth weighed down heavy with sleep. Armin is effectively knocked out against his chest, his baby blond hair sticking up in all directions, looking safe and warm. Levi watches Erwin survey the room silently—half-surprised he didn’t come check in sooner when Eren was throwing a fit. His blue eyes blink slowly as they meet Levi’s own.
Inhaling softly and exhaling loud, Erwin pats along the wall and turns out the light, immediately navigating in the dark to flick on the nightlight plugged into the lower socket when he hears Mikasa gasp. Slowly, he makes his way over to the beds, obviously dead on his feet. He’s been out working tirelessly lately. At least he has a whole other twin-sized bed to himself.
Or he could’ve, but Erwin chooses to sit at the foot of Eren’s bed, nudging Levi’s legs over until he has room to sprawl his hilariously huge body across whatever room there is left. Armin is slid into the well between his arm and shoulder.
“Papa?” Eren calls out, sitting up slightly.
Erwin’s voice leaves no room for argument. “Go to sleep, Eren. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay... Goodnight.” It’s a little pathetic sounding—Eren’s reply—but it’s also irritating how easily he listens to Erwin. All it takes is a few stern words and Eren’s monstrous behavior curbs into near-complete compliance. Levi can’t get Eren to do anything without a fight.
Damn, it pisses him off. Mostly because he could’ve sent Erwin in to get the job done faster.
“Oi, there are other beds,” Levi grumbles, like he actually means it, poking at Erwin’s hip with his toes. Erwin hums, but makes no move to get up, stretching his legs out from where they’re hanging off the edge of the mattress.
Levi gets even more comfortable, easily relenting any protest as he curls his legs and warms his feet against Erwin’s side under his shirt. A hand finds his calf, wrapping around it awkwardly from beneath. With what little desire he has left to move, Levi pulls the bunched up green blanket from the other corner of the head of the bed and haphazardly wraps himself, Eren, and whatever he can reach of Erwin, Armin, and Mikasa up in its warmth.
It takes very little time for him to fall asleep after that.
.
.
.
“Levi?”
It’s pure aggravation Levi feels when he walks into his room and there’s an empty dip in his bed where two little brats should be. He’d spent more time working on his manuscript than usual (since he had to nurse his pain in the neck this morning) and time got away from him. But he still expected bedtime to run smoothly even without him there to get the kids ready for the night.
Eren and Mikasa, however, are nowhere to be found.
Levi doesn’t move from where he’s standing at the edge of the bed, glaring at the circle of wrinkled sheets they should be occupying. Erwin’s eyes blink open, probably because Levi had turned on the lights—or maybe Erwin felt him glaring, who knows?—and gives him a questioning look.
“We’re not doing this again,” he tells him, dangerously low.
Levi is sure he looks like a grump, but the crick in his neck begs him to sleep in a king-sized bed tonight.
“Ah.” If there was a sound that could convey Erwin’s complete disinterest in taking part in Levi’s toddler-chasing endeavor, it would be that one. He even has the audacity to pull the blankets further up over his chest where Armin is sleeping peacefully. “We will await your return.”
Another equivocation, loosely translated to: we are not following you this time because the twinge in my back is on fire, Levi.
To be fair, Erwin did wake up in just as bad—if not worse—shape than Levi did, what with all that folding he did just to fit in Eren’s bed. So Levi gets it, but still.
It was his own damn fault.
Levi huffs out an annoyed sigh, leaving the room and stalking down the hall. Stepping into the kids’ room, he finds a similar display to the night before. He marches over to the edge of the bed, Mikasa shifting out of the way silently, and snatches the blanket from over the Eren-sized lump in front of him in one swift movement.
Eren jumps in surprise before gasping excitedly at the sight of Levi.
“Dad!” he shouts with a grin. “Let’s sleep here again! I—”
“No,” Levi replies sternly.
Eren’s big green eyes somehow grow bigger, watering slightly. His bottom lip wobbles.
“But—B-But—”
Before that wavering mouth can turn into a frown showing gritted teeth, Levi knows he has to jump into action. Grabbing Eren by the back of his shirt, Levi lifts him out of bed like a sack of potatoes, unable to stop his lips from twitching and his eyes from rolling at Eren’s high-pitched whooping. Without so much as a warning, Levi shuts off the bedroom light and carries Eren back down the hall, Mikasa’s tiny padding footsteps close behind.
Eren’s a mess of delighted screams and disappointed sobs, his little baby brain torn between the joy of being carried superhero-style and the pain of not getting what he wants. Levi knows once Eren’s tucked into his side and asleep, both of those feelings will cease to matter by morning; and Levi’s sure when night comes tomorrow, he’ll have to deal with this exhausting new development all over again. But as much as Eren wants to go out on his own (with Mikasa so faithfully in tow), the fact of the matter is that Levi will always be there to bring him back.
And as much as Levi is glad that Eren wants to venture out into true toddlerhood and sleep in his own room, the fact of the matter is that he’s not ready.
Levi’s not ready.