Hey Guys! From here on out, time is going to pass pretty quickly in each chapter. There's a lot I want to get to, and not a whole lot happening between major life events for our lovebirds. So, I'll mainly just be covering the big stuff from here on out. Don't be surprised if you see a six month to two-year time skip between chapters. I also don't want this story to be 50 chapters long, because that just sounds like too much for a sequel. Anyways, I'll let you read now. I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to leave a review. ~HeartQueenVivaldi

The Choice We Make

Chapter 10

Levi's mood over the next six months only soured more as Eren went right back to his old habits of talking about future kids. By spring, Levi had started avoiding Eren altogether whenever possible. When Levi would practice the piano, Eren had always made a habit of joining him to sit on the couch and draw while Levi played, but Levi would get up and leave the room, making some excuse for something he had to do. He also spent a lot of time in the basement, playing video games, or watching TV in the theater room.

Eren didn't really notice at first, but he caught on fairly quickly after it became consistent over a few weeks after Eren's birthday. He realized that he and Levi had barely exchanged a few sentences in over two weeks, and he became concerned for his husband. He decided to let Levi have the time to himself, thinking he needed it for some reason or another, though Eren couldn't figure out why.

When Levi didn't pull out of it on his own a week later, Eren decided it was time for a talk. He found himself walking down the stairs with purpose in his steps and determination to not let Levi run until they had had a decent conversation about something, preferably whatever was on Levi's mind.

Eren found Levi in the game room, sitting on Farlan's bean bag, playing Halo, though Eren wasn't totally sure which one. He didn't really care though. Eren stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, watching Levi play for a while to see if Levi would start any kind of conversation.

Levi glanced at Eren, but made no move to say anything, so Eren huffed and walked farther into the room. He knelt on the floor by the bean bag and watched Levi strain to continue ignoring Eren. When Eren didn't walk away, Levi turned off the Xbox and tried to make some excuse to leave the room.

He was blocked from leaving by Eren standing in the doorway. "What, I can't go do laundry?"

"I already did laundry yesterday. Sheets and everything. There isn't any." Eren said, effectively eliminating Levi's excuse to leave the room.

"Well, I need to..."

"Just stop." Eren said, not wanting to hear another excuse. "Levi, what on earth is going on with you? You've been avoiding me a lot lately, and I would like to know why. What did I do?"

"Nothing. I'm not avoiding you." Levi said.

"Yes, you are. What's going on? Please talk to me, Levi."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because there's nothing to talk about." Levi said, punctuating his sentence with a glare tacked on the end. "Now can I go?"

Eren scanned Levi's face and shook his head in disbelief. "You're scaring me. If I've done something you don't like, just tell me. Remember that thing called communication? It's what makes relationships work, you know, and there's been none of that lately."

"What do you want me to say, Eren?" Levi's voice was raising in volume.

"I want you to say what's on your mind, dammit!" Eren shouted back. He had originally wanted to keep things calm, but Levi's stubbornness was starting to grate on his nerves.

"Don't shout at me!" Levi yelled back.

"You shouted first!"

Eren watched Levi grind his teeth. "I'm not going to fight with you. Get out of my way."

"Why can't you just tell me what's wrong?" Levi opened his mouth to reply, but Eren beat him to the punch. "And don't you dare say that nothing's wrong. I'm not an idiot, and I know my husband well enough to know when something is bothering him. Please just talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about. Now, move." Levi said, but when Eren didn't move, he pushed past him anyways, dodging Eren's hands making a grab at him. Then he was gone.

Eren couldn't help it. He felt rejected and alone, and so he slid down the wall behind him, already sobbing and grasping at his hair. Scout came running down the stairs and sat next to Eren, resting his blond head on Eren's knee to comfort his human. Scout's presence helped Eren calm down enough to pull his phone from his pocket and call his mom.

He cried to his mom, telling her what had happened and asking what he should do. She didn't really have an answer for him but offered him his old bedroom for a few nights if he needed it. That just made him cry harder. He didn't want to have to go that far, but his mom suggested that if Levi needed some time alone to think something over, then Eren being gone for a few days might help.

Eren relented after a few minutes and went to his and Levi's bedroom to pack a small duffle bag with enough things to last him a few days. He didn't see Levi, so he went down to the kitchen to gather some food and other things for Scout to take the dog with him. He went out to the garage to load his and scout's things into the trunk of his car, then went to look for Levi.

He found Levi in the back yard, checking the chemical composition of the hot tub. "I'm leaving." He stated.

Levi looked at him. "What?"

"I'm going to my parents' house for a few days. You clearly need some time to think things through on your own, so I'm going to give you space to do that. When you're ready to talk to me, give me a call."

"Eren..."

"If I don't hear from you in a week or so, I guess I'll assume the worst and that you don't want me around anymore. I'd hate that, but if that's what you need..." Eren stopped. He didn't want to think about that possibility. He had to wipe a tear away with his sleeve. He took a sharp breath in. "I won't wait for you forever, Levi. You know where to find me."

With that, Eren turned on his heel and walked quickly to the garage, calling scout to him. The excitable dog bounded after him and jumped in the car before Eren, taking up residence in the back seat as usual. Eren pushed the button to open the garage door and looked up to the entrance to the house. Levi was standing in the doorway, watching Eren go with a frown on his face.

Eren looked away and backed out of the garage and out onto the road. When Levi was out of view, Eren let himself break down again.

Levi watched the blue jaguar pull out onto the road and when it was out of sight, he broke down. He had no idea that the situation would escalate as quickly as it did, and he cried on the steps in the garage until he couldn't anymore. He felt hollow and so incredibly alone.

The feeling only got worse as the night went on. Eren texted him once to let him know he had made it safely. Levi responded with a simple "good" then threw his phone away from him. He sat on the couch all night in the same, curled up position. He didn't even flinch when Hanji appeared in front of him late the next morning.

"Levi? Come on, honey. What's going on?" Hanji asked with concern.

"What are you doing here?" Levi asked.

"Eren asked me to come check on you. He's worried about you. He said you had gotten in a fight, and he thought I might be able to help with whatever is going on. Can you talk to me? What was the fight about?"

It took a little more coaxing, but Hanji did eventually get Levi to tell her what had happened yesterday. Then she eventually convinced him to tell her what he wasn't telling Eren. Levi told her everything, starting with their conversation when they got back from their honeymoon and ending with their fight the day before. She made tea for them while he told his story.

They were back on the couch when Levi finished, nursing cups of tea in silence while Hanji digested the information. She spoke again after a few minutes. "And why can't you talk to Eren about this?"

"I don't..." Levi stopped, collecting his thoughts before responding. "Eren wants kids so badly, and it would mean everything to him. The problem is that if he were to ask, I wouldn't be able to tell him no, regardless of what I want. I want to know what I want before he asks, so that when he does, I already know my answer, or I can tell him before he even asks. I also don't want to crush him by saying no, but at the same time, why would I say yes if I'm just going to end up hating being a parent. I don't want to hurt either of us, and I feel like no matter what I do, one of us is going to end up getting hurt."

"Do you want kids?" Hanji asked.

"I just said..." Levi started in confusion.

"Levi." Hanji interrupted. "Really think about this for a minute. Forget about Eren's feelings for now. You're making it complicated. We already know Eren's answer. I want to know yours. Do you want kids?"

"But how can I do that?"

"Pretend you don't even know Eren. Be selfish for once."

Levi watched her in silence. He didn't have an answer.

"Think about it for a while. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to make you food, and yes, you're going to eat it. I want an answer from you by tomorrow evening. We are absolutely not going to let Eren sit at his parents' house for a week, wondering what the hell is going on. Forget about Eren for the next 36 hours and think about yourself. If you want me to help you figure that out, let me know. But try to do it on your own first."

Levi nodded and looked away. She ruffled his hair as she walked away to make his food.

The pair of them spent the next 36 hours debating all the ins and outs of parenthood and examining every angle before Levi finally had his answer. His answer scared the hell out of him, but he decided it was time to tell Eren.

In Shiganshina, however, Eren had spent 48 hours wondering what would happen to him and Levi while his mom doted on him with sweet treats and hot cocoa. She let him know over and over again, that whatever Levi decided, she would be right beside him to help him and support him.

Grisha had simply hummed in agreement with his wife and ruffled Eren's hair. Eren had tried distracting himself with the tv and was quite a way into an anime he hadn't seen yet when his phone started vibrating. He picked it up to see Levi's name on the screen. He nodded to his mom, who looked at him in question, before he answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey Eren. Before you say anything, I'm going to apologize. I'm really sorry for dismissing you the way I did. I was wrong. And I do have something I want to talk to you about, but I want to do it in person. Can you come home?"

Eren looked at the clock. It was getting quite late in the day. "It's kind of late, so I think I'll stay here tonight. I'll come home in the morning. Is that okay?"

"Yes. I want you to be safe. I'll see you in the morning. And Eren, I love you."

Eren smiled, "I love you too. I'll see you in the morning."

They hung up, and Eren already felt better. He still didn't sleep great, but at least he knew Levi was willing to talk now instead of just ignore him.

Eren walked in the house just before noon the next day and went to let Scout outside before going to find Levi. He found his husband in the piano room, going through some music in the bench. "I'm home."

Levi looked up over the rim of his reading glasses and sighed in relief. He abandoned his music and went to pull Eren into a tight embrace. "Where's Scout?"

"Outside. He should be back inside in just a second, then we can talk."

"Okay. I'm really sorry, Eren."

"I know. Let's just solve this so that we don't have to do that again."

Levi nodded, then Eren went to close the door when he heard Scout's claws on the hardwood. The pair of them retreated to the couch in the piano room to talk. Levi launched into a lengthy explanation of everything that had been going through his mind for nearly a year, and Eren listened intently. Levi ended his story quite some time later with Hanji coming over to help him solve the issues in his troubled mind, then he waited for Eren to answer.

Eren leaned back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling, processing everything Levi had told him and trying to wrap his head around it. He figured he had done something Levi didn't like, but he just didn't know what, and he definitely didn't think it would be his occasional talk of having kids.

After a few minutes of processing the information, Eren sat up again and faced Levi. "You know you could have told me to stop, right? I would have. All you had to do was tell me you needed time to figure that out, and I would have given you that time. Do you still need some time to think this through?"

Levi shook his head. "Thanks to Hanji, I think I know what I want now. It scares the hell out of me, but I want to give it a try. I want to have kids." Eren's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and Levi kept talking before Eren could start. "Don't get too excited, I have some conditions."

Eren's face morphed from excitement to confusion, then settled on curiosity. "Like?"

"I don't want kids just yet. I want another year or two of just us. I like where we are, and I'm not ready to give it up just yet. Also, I think it would make it easier on me if it was our own kids. I don't want to adopt. I would rather we went with a surrogate. Are you okay with that?"

Eren beamed at Levi. "I'm good with that, as long as you're the sperm donor. And I can wait until you're ready. Just don't take too long."

"I won't... And why do I have to jizz in a cup? Why not you?" Levi protested.

"Because mini Levis running around here will be so much fun. I can see it now." Eren's eyes grew distant, imagining their future kids with black hair and blue eyes. "I'm so excited."

"I think mini Erens would be much cuter." Levi complained.

"Well, maybe we will have more than one. The first one can be yours, and I'll do the second. Fair?" Eren looked to Levi hopefully.

Levi just sighed. "Unfortunately for me, I don't know how to tell you no. So, I guess so."

Eren just laughed at his husband and leaned in to steal a sweet kiss. He pulled away just enough to change their positions and rest his head on Levi's chest. Levi leaned back on the couch so that they were laying against the arm rest.

T hey sat in silence for a long time, both of them simply happy that they were together again and content to just lay there together. When they had both calmed down, Eren called his mom to let her know that all was well again in the Ackerman household. She congratulated them and hung up to go make dinner for herself and Grisha. Levi and Eren decided to follow her example and went to get started on a dinner of parmesan chicken and spaghetti.

They decided to keep the news to themselves for now. Neither of them was sure of exactly when they would start the surrogate process, or anything else. There was no reason to get everyone else excited about something that still wasn't solid. They would just have to see what the next year would bring.