So I've been wanting to write something cute like this for a while because I miss Levi interacting more with Riren. Levi won't be home anytime soon in 'No Name for the Rogue,' so this was created! You could say this is the prequel.
"It just doesn't sound right!" argued Levi, skin paler than usual and bags more prominent under his eyes. Around him in the recording studio, Erwin, Isabel, Farlan, Hanji and Mike all had darker bags under their eyes and desperation for sleep. It was two in the morning and they had been working nonstop since lunch ended.
"So what's the problem, Big Bro?" asked Isabel, her voice straining and her body heavy with exhaustion. Around her, everyone was trying to catch a few minutes of sleep while Levi stewed.
Levi ran a hand through his hair, frustrated and unable to pinpoint what was the exact problem. He wasn't frustrated with just work. This night counted just another night that he couldn't be the one to put Riren to bed. He was going to lose it one of these days. He was going to go on a fucking hiatus and take his family out vacationing until he felt like coming back. Which could be never.
"I don't know. I need a break for like an hour." Isabel groaned.
"Can't we just go home for the night?! We can work on it tomorrow!" At this, Erwin rose from his dead sleep. His zombie-like features played well into the seriousness of their situation.
"This single needs to be done soon." In response, everyone except Mike groaned, who was still in a deep sleep. Levi got up from his chair and walked out towards his office, stopped by Petra along the way. She looked better rested, but still tired.
"Eren's on the phone," she announced, smiling sympathetically. "He's wondering when you'll be home."
Levi's heart lurched. Guilt ate at his core and he couldn't point fingers at work. He had always been this way before he and Eren met. It was about time to make a change, but it didn't seem like tonight would be the night to do it.
"I'll talk to him." She nodded and let him pass onto his office where his phone was waiting with Eren and Riren's smiling picture glowing on the screen.
"Another night again, huh?" began Eren, sounding just as tired as Levi. Levi sighed, a dull headache settling in and a sense of homesickness making its way as he heard Eren talk.
"Yeah." He could see Eren frowning on the other side.
"Come home and sleep. I know you've been only sleeping like three hours a night. It's hard to juggle being a hot model while taking care of a half-dead husband and a fussy baby." At the mention of Riren, the weight on Levi's shoulders lifted just a bit.
"He had a hard time falling asleep?" Eren hummed, thinking about how adamant Riren was about play time.
"There was no hard time if there was no mood to sleep. He crawls really fast, you know." Levi had to smirk.
"This weekend, we can go to the beach." Eren cringed audibly, sucking air between his teeth.
"Can we? You work so much and there's always some type of emergency that needs you. I'm going to go psycho if our plans get ruined." It happened, whether or not Levi wanted to acknowledge it.
"I'll make sure these don't get interrupted."
"Okay, then. Now come home and sleep. I don't like it when you stay overnight at work. Riren doesn't sleep well if we both aren't there." Levi knew that well. When Eren had to do Fashion Week in another country, Riren would have a hard time sleeping. He would sob and bury himself in Levi's chest to sleep and couldn't be put into his crib without waking.
"I don't know when we'll be done. We're on a break right now and we're going back to fixing it." Eren whined loudly, prompting Levi to hiss at him to be quiet otherwise he could wake Riren.
"What's the point of having a break this late when you can just go home and work on it tomorrow?! Come. Home. Now." Levi sighed. It's not that he didn't want to go home, but he wanted to finish now when he could.
"I'll be home soon. After I'm done," he added. Eren grumbled something and hung up. Levi leaned back and rested his head on the chair. Eren was upset and Levi couldn't fault him for that.
But he promised to make it up to him and he had never gone back on promises he made to Eren or Riren. For now, he needed to give himself a break and sleep just enough for energy to finish the single.
After a dreamless nap, he was awakened when Hanji came into the room with a grin on her face.
"You need to come to the studio right now." Levi rolled his eyes, groaning as he got up. He had a little more energy now. He still couldn't figure out what he wanted from the single yet, but might as well head to the studio.
He was going to have a fucking meltdown. When he walked into the studio, he first heard laughter and the sounds of the piano inside of the recording room being assaulted by untrained hands. The way the piano was being played was awfully familiar. Kind of like the time he showed Riren the piano…
"Dyah dyah puuuu!" yelled the player at the piano. Levi ran to the studio window and peered in. There Riren and Eren were at the piano. Riren in Eren's lap while the baby banged on the keys. Everyone except Levi was having a good time. Eren cuddled his son from behind.
"Play a new song, Riren!" Riren thought for a moment, puffing out his cheeks in thought, then grinned brightly and banged on the piano in the same beat as before. To Riren, it was a song about how much he loved his mama and papa.
"Mapa dyah pah!" Truly the makings of a great musician.
Levi couldn't even enjoy how cute Riren looked because it was a crisis that they were both here. He charged into the room, enraged at his husband. Eren and Riren both jumped up when someone entered, simply staring at Levi.
"Eren. Riren's. Awake." All Levi could see was red. Only sweet Riren was safe from his wrath. Eren wasn't even fazed.
"Like I said, he has a hard time sleeping when both of us aren't there." That wasn't an excuse. That didn't mean driving to Daddy's work where all they did was play noisy ass instruments.
"Eren. It's. Three. A. M."
"And yet he's all awake and excited." Riren squealed and banged on the piano some more, than reached out for Levi.
"Mapa!" Levi didn't hesitate to pick him up, wiping his son's drool with his cravat before hugging him. Hugging Riren was never going to be exhausting. He welcomed it every time. Riren sighed dreamily and hugged his papa, yawning and squeaking softly into his ear. Levi grit his teeth, glaring silently at Eren. Eren shrugged.
"Now he seems sleepy. He woke up right after I hung up and fussed. He couldn't keep still and kept waking up asking for 'Mapa.' Ma," he pointed to himself, "pa."
He pointed to Levi. "Riren's a good boy, but we both know he has a tantrum when it comes to bedtime."
"Mapa," muttered Riren, taking Levi's attention. Levi looked over at him, grunting a little when Riren grabbed his cheeks and pouted with his own chubby ones. Their son kept looking at the bags under his papa's eyes. He reached out and touched them, then tried to lift them up.
It didn't make them go away. Papa didn't look so happy with them. They made him look so sad. So Papa was sad? That…that made Riren sad too…
He began to sniff, tears threatening to fall and little sobs popping out of his mouth. Levi quickly sensed him about to cry and hugged him, bouncing him continuously to get him to calm down.
"Don't cry, Riren. Papa's not sad, just tired," he said gently, not caring everyone was watching. This was a rare occurrence to see Levi so gentle at work, but it was just because Riren was in the studio for the first time. Eren crossed his arms over his chest as he approached them.
"Hmm, if Papa's tired, that means he should come home and sleep, right Riren?" Riren grinned, tears gone and happily agreeing with Mama. Levi glared at him.
"Did you seriously come here with Riren to guilt me into coming home?" Eren's eyes matched his.
"I don't know, Levi, did I?" Levi sighed, cuddling Riren for a second more before handing him back to Eren.
"Head home. Riren needs sleep too." He gestured to how the baby was rubbing his eyes to fight sleep. Eren looked like he wanted to argue. Levi slept a lot better with Eren and Riren in his life, but he still had his bouts of no sleep and Eren worried. He joked that Levi's lack of sleep probably contributed to his short height, but he would have headaches. Riren would worry about Papa too.
After tonight, he was gonna have a long talk with Levi about this.
He gave Levi a kiss and started towards the door, but Riren saw that Papa wasn't going with them.
"Mapa!" he cried, reaching for Levi over Eren's shoulder. He fussed and wanted to be put down, prompting Eren to place him gently on the floor to stop his fussing. Riren immediately crawled back to Levi and grabbed his pant leg, staring up at him tearfully.
"Mapa…" he sobbed, shaking him. He let go and crawled towards Eren, but stopped to look back at Levi. They weren't sure what Riren wanted, but Riren crawled back to Levi and grabbed his leg again.
"Mapa!" he said a little more forcefully. Levi had only a few threads holding him back and reminding him of his job, but they were loose and coming apart. Erwin cut in through the studio's speakers.
"Go home, Levi. I'm going home because Armin wants ice cream and Goldfish. Don't you always say family first before work?" Yup, that sealed it. The verbal reminder of the oath he made when he and Eren found out they were expecting. He was officially saying 'fuck work.'
Without another word, Levi scooped up Riren and took Eren's hand, taking them out of the studio. Everyone else cheered and went to pack up to go home. Once they saw Eren and Riren come in, they knew that this was their chance for sleep.
At home after a good shower, Levi found Eren and Riren in bed. The co-sleeper was set up on Eren's side, but Riren wasn't laying in it. Levi clicked his tongue.
"Shouldn't Riren be in his crib now that Papa came home?" he asked to his son. Riren got excited that Levi was there and attempted to crawl towards him, but was quickly stopped before he reached the edge by his papa. Eren giggled.
"I changed his diaper before bed, but I think he wants to sleep here with us tonight. And-" he reached for their nightstand and picked up a colorful little book they would read to him occasionally. The Treasures of Sandy Beach. What a lame title. Ah, but Riren probably wanted them to read him a story before bed. It almost five in the morning, but Levi wasn't going to argue if it meant Riren would sleep now.
He reached for the book, but Riren intercepted it and hugged the book to his body with a scrunched up face that was supposed to be a glare. He let Eren help him open the book to a random page and quickly laid on Levi so he was lying in bed.
"Dyah dyah puu, puu buu dyah," read Riren, then flipped the page to a different page and repeated his baby talk. He did the exact same for several pages. It was cute, Levi noted as he grabbed his phone and took a picture, but was he really reading? Eren nuzzled Riren as the baby shrieked, then assumed his reading mode.
"Reading Mama and Papa a bedtime story to help them sleep. Isn't our baby so caring?" Levi had to agree. He tried to take the book from Riren to help him, but was stopped when Riren fussed and put his hands on Papa's chest. Eren laughed and clutched his stomach.
"He's making sure Papa's not working too hard!" Levi could see that now, with Riren pushing him down on the bed and resuming his reading.
"It's time to sleep now, Riren. Papa's sleepy." Riren looked pleased with himself. He read Papa a bedtime story! Levi plucked the book out of his hands and set it back on the nightstand. Eren picked Riren up and laid him in the co-sleeper, the baby quickly falling asleep and snoring quietly.
Eren turned and went into Levi's embrace.
"Thank you for coming home," he whispered. Levi grunted.
"I'm sorry you two had to come for me to remember that." Eren curled deeper into his hug.
"Keep your promise and make it up to us. Then I will forgive you." Eren was pretty tired too, falling asleep just as fast as Riren. Those two were so similar besides the looks. Levi hummed quietly, feeling more relaxed than he had been in hours. Now he could think about making it up to his family and ruining Riren's sleep schedule.
The sooner, the better.
Eren was much more energized when he woke, but damn was the sun brighter than usual. When he realized why, he had sat in place for a solid five minutes taking everything in and already being sick of Levi's shit before his day began. Levi was lying beside him, arms propped up and fully relaxing while keeping an eye on Riren.
"Levi, we need to work on our communication," Eren deadpanned, staring out into the distance.
"We communicate just fine. I tell you I love you every so often, don't I?" asked Levi, not once taking his eyes off Riren. Eren rolled his eyes.
"I love you too, but that's not what I mean. How the hell did we end up at the beach?" The sound of seagulls ramped up against the waves crashing against the shore. Riren was happily squealing in the shade, wearing his baby swim trunks and sunglasses. He was still too young to put on sunscreen, so Levi made sure he was in the shade at all times.
"I drove us," Levi replied simply. Eren drew in a breath, appreciating the sea breeze but still a little confused.
"And was I conscious when you drove?"
"I carried you into the car. I carried Riren too. Riren, don't eat the sand," warned Levi as Riren went digging for treasure. Riren babbled back and went to digging. Eren clenched his fist.
"And weren't you supposed to be resting?" He was happy they were at the beach, sure, but what time did they technically go and where were all the people?
"I slept for five hours, then I packed up some of our things for the weekend. We're staying at a beach house I rented from Survey Corps. This is a private beach so we won't be bothered." He held his hand out and accepted the seashell Riren found in the sand. Eren finally smiled.
"Won't Erwin throw a fit once he realizes you abandoned work for a whole weekend? One night is one thing because he wanted to go home too." Levi snorted.
"He wants more time off than we know. Armin being pregnant has made Erwin work from home a lot." Besides, Riren looked like he wanted to make a sandcastle and Levi was much more interested in helping him rather than think about that massive blonde tree.
"By the way, Levi-" Eren scooted in front of Levi's view and kissed him gently, pulling back with a confident smile.
"I already forgave you as soon as Riren was reading you a story." Levi's blush didn't show on his cheeks. Luckily, Riren decided it was the best time to crawl towards his parents and ask for milk.
After the weekend with everyone well-rested, their single they had been slaving over for a month was now finished in a matter of hours.
I just wanted to write something cute really quick! I'll be working on the other stories now…