The Choice We Make

Chapter 11

Eren cursed as he moved from the last bathroom on the top floor and downstairs into the half bath on the main floor. It was cleaning day in the Ackerman household, and Eren was growing increasingly more frustrated with the giant house he and his husband were living in. Every week Levi required a deep cleaning, which wasn't too bad most of the time, but every week the house started to feel a little bigger.

There were some definite advantages to having such a large house. They were able to host everyone in their house for holidays and the occasional get-together weekend. Both Eren and Levi could find a room to escape their spouse for a few hours if needed, and it was needed frequently, since neither of them worked away from the house, having careers that they could do from home. They also always had something to do. There were rooms for everything: a home gym, theater room, game room, lounge, library, and more.

However, with every upside, there were ten downsides to go with it. Every time they hosted a holiday with both of their families, they had to clean every room before they came, then clean them again once they left, minus Hanji's room (Levi had sworn off ever entering that disaster). Eren and Levi also couldn't just yell for each other in the house. The house was just too big, and they would never hear each other. If one of them didn't have their phone on them, they had to go on a man hunt to find their spouse. They were also in a bad location. They were so far away from Eren's parents, or Kenny, or any of their friends.

Eren's main issue, however, was the cleaning. Even their routine, weekly cleaning was an all day project because there were so many rooms and bathrooms. It usually ended with Eren cursing and refusing to even try to be in a good mood the entire day, and into the night as well. And because Levi was a clean freak, he refused to go more than a week without cleaning every room. Eren was finally becoming fed up with it.

Eren threw the toilet brush into the bowl and decided to go find Levi. He decided it was time to talk about the house, and maybe moving out of it. Not to mention, once they had kids, they would never be able to keep up with this size house, and there were just too many things for kids to get into.

Eren found Levi in the basement, dusting off the gaming systems in the game room. "Can we talk?" Eren asked, leaning against the doorframe.

Levi looked over at his husband, saw the serious look on his face, and straightened up, abandoning his dusting. "What's up?"

"I don't know what your thoughts are on this, but what would you think of moving out of this house and into a smaller one?"

Eren watched Levi deflate at the suggestion. He looked around the room and swallowed. "Reasoning?"

"There's a lot of reasons." Eren started, then launched into a quick overview of reasons. "Cleaning this place is so incredibly hard to keep up with, and it takes both of us an entire day to do the whole thing. It's just so big. Realistically, if we are going to welcome kids into our home one day in the next year or two, we will never be able to keep up with the cleaning, and taking care of a baby, and kids later. Maybe if we were closer to someone who could watch kids while we cleaned, but we're so far away from everyone, which is another problem in and of itself. Not to mention, having kids in this house just sounds kind of dangerous. It's not exactly a kid friendly house."

Levi took a deep breath. "And you think we need to start thinking about moving now, before we welcome a baby into the house."

Eren nodded. "Moving before we have a baby will be a hell of a lot easier than waiting until we have a baby to take care of."

"I don't know, Eren… This house is… it's Isabel and Farlan's house, too…" Levi looked down at the carpet and Eren moved forward to wrap his smaller husband into a warm embrace.

"I know, Levi. It's going to be hard to let go of this house. I love this house, too. We have a lot of memories here, but it's just too much to take care of, even now, and it's just the two of us. But hey," Eren pulled away to make Levi look at him. "The next house will be ours. This is your house, and I've been able to call it home, but it's still your house. A new house can be ours."

Levi looked up into Eren's kind, green eyes and sighed. "I hate to say it, but you're right. About all of it. I've also been irritated at how much upkeep there is to this house. And if we are going to have kids, we should be closer to the people we know. Everyone we know is at least three hours north of us. Maybe that's where we need to go."

Eren nodded. "Probably. Should we start looking at houses?"

Levi swallowed. "Yeah. Let's finish, then we can start looking."

The house hunt became a priority from then on for the next few months until Eren found what seemed to be the perfect place. "Look at this one. It's in Shiganshina, Six bed, four and a half baths. It's got a pool, and a deck for the hot tub. The kitchen is really nice, and there's a sitting room at the front of the house. Perfect for the piano. We could use this room" Eren pointed to one of the photos "for the library room, and just set up the game consoles in the living room with the main television. No theater room, game room, or home gym. Just the bedrooms, bathrooms, and two living rooms, plus the sitting room."

Levi nodded, looking at photos as Eren scrolled through them. "It's a really nice house. We should go look at it."

Eren nodded and picked up his phone to call the realtor's phone number listed on the ad. She answered after only a couple of rings. She worked out a day to see them, and they agreed to meet at the house on Friday.

Friday came and Eren and Levi left for Shiganshina with Scout in tow and plans to stay in town with Eren's parents for a couple of nights while they looked at a few other houses in person as well. Carla was excited to hear they were looking at houses in the area and kept bugging them about reasons for moving. They explained how hard it was to keep up on cleaning the other house, but she didn't seem to totally buy their explanation. It was only half true, and she could sense that.

After seeing the house on Friday afternoon, Levi and Eren put in an offer. It was the perfect house. They loved the size of it, and it was absolutely beautiful. There were kids running around the neighborhood, and it looked like a really safe area. It was also a fairly new house, and they would only be the second owners of the house. Of course, Levi couldn't have said no anyways, not after the way Eren's eyes sparkled while examining the house, barely able to contain his excitement.

They went to see a few other houses as well, but ultimately, they both hoped their offer would be taken on the first one.

As they walked into their own home on Monday morning, they received confirmation that their offer had been accepted, and they would start working out moving dates. Levi spent a good amount of time after that taking photos of his own house and getting in touch with a realtor to help him sell the house. Eren also knew he was taking the time to say goodbye to the house that had once belonged to his best friends.

Eren and Levi slowly started to pack things away into boxes and started moving some things they didn't need into storage in Shiganshina. They also sold a lot of extra furniture that wouldn't fit in the new house until they had just enough furniture for each room of the new house.

Their house sold after only a few weeks on the market for nearly 3 million, after some rich guys got into a bidding war over it until one of them backed out. Levi was then able to pay cash for their new house and the deal was done. They were moving to Shiganshina.

Pretty soon, the house was empty. Eren gave Levi some time to himself and went to direct the large group of family and friends that were loading furniture onto trucks and trailers.

Levi walked through each room, remembering everything he had been through in that house with Farlan and Isabel, and now with Eren. There were so many memories, good and bad, that made Levi sad to be leaving. He knew why they were doing it, and he was excited to start his new adventures, but saying goodbye had always been hard for Levi. Change had never come easily to him, and this was a big change.

Eren found him in the master bedroom and told him it was time to go. Levi nodded and followed Eren out of the house, turning off the lights as he went. He left the keys and garage door openers on the countertop. They walked out the front door, locked it, left the key in the keypad lock the realtor had on the door, and walked away. Levi climbed into his own car, and Eren into his. Both cars were filled with things like clothes and hampers, and other things that wouldn't fit in the trucks, or would fly away on the trailers.

Levi took one last look at the house in front of him, quietly said goodbye, then put his sunglasses on and backed out of the driveway. He refused to look back as he led the way out of the neighborhood and onto the highway, headed for Shiganshina and their new home.

With the army they had recruited for moving, it didn't take long to get everything off the trailers and out of vehicles once they arrived in Shiganshina. There were also more people available to help once they had arrived. Armin showed up as well as Jean and some other friends of Eren's that Levi hadn't seen since their wedding, like Sasha and Connie.

Before long, everything had been moved into the new house, and Eren and Levi directed everyone to put the boxes in the correct rooms. Once everything was in the house, most of the people left, and only Hanji, Erwin, Carla, Ella, and Grisha were left to help start unpacking.

Carla, Ella, and Grisha started in the Kitchen, Hanji and Erwin went to the living room, and Levi and Eren went upstairs to the master bedroom. That way the most important rooms would get done first. They all worked quickly, and Levi and Eren felt like they had a good start by the time everyone left.

Eren and Levi collapsed on the bed that night, barely climbing under the sheets before falling asleep, exhausted.

Eren found himself settling into the new house easily. He was back in Shiganshina, his hometown, and he had no trouble re-inserting himself into life in the small town. He also loved the house, and once everything was put away, quickly made himself feel at home. Levi, however, struggled. The house didn't feel like home, not after how many years he had spent in the old house, but he also knew he couldn't go back. A new family had already moved into that house, and he would have to get used to it. He also didn't know everyone in town like Eren did. Every time they went out anywhere, Eren knew someone. It made Levi feel a little left out, and he quickly decided he'd rather stay back at the house and work on setting up guest rooms one by one while Eren went to do all of the shopping and went to lunch with friends from his past.

Eren noticed something was wrong, of course, and decided it was time to pull Levi out of his shell. He knew Levi could thrive in Shiganshina if he wanted, he just had to decide he wanted that.

"Levi?" Eren said as he sat next to Levi on the living room floor. His older husband was setting up the game consoles in their new entertainment center. "Do you want to go to lunch with me and Grandma?"

"No thanks." Levi said.

"Why not? It's just Grandma. You haven't left the house in over a week. Please go with me?" Eren pleaded, giving Levi his puppy dog eyes that he knew Levi was weak to.

Levi looked over and sighed, knowing he couldn't say no to that face. "Alright."

Eren lit up and told Levi to go get changed. They were going to meet at Garrison, the café that Pixis owned and Eren worked at back in high school.

Levi and Eren walked into the café and spotted Ella already there in a corner booth. They slid into the other side of the table side by side after giving Ella hugs. Ella, being the amazing grandmother she was, was able to pull Levi out of his shell, and he started to relax more than he had been able to since moving there a few weeks earlier.

Levi went home finally starting to feel like he belonged in Shiganshina. The feeling only increased when they pulled into their driveway. They weren't able to park both cars in the garage just yet, because there were bedroom sets scattered around two of the three car spots. So, Levi's car stayed outside for now. They stepped out of the car, and someone came running across their lawn towards them.

The stranger introduced herself as Jennette. She lived next door, and she wanted to welcome them to the neighborhood. "I just saw you pulling in and figured it was the perfect opportunity to meet you both. I keep missing you, and I've been wanting to introduce myself since you moved in. I live in that house there with my husband and our two kids." She pointed at the house next to Eren and Levi's. "We are hosting a neighborhood barbecue tomorrow night, and we would love it if you guys would come. You could meet everyone. We try to do these barbecue parties a few times through the summer to let the kids all get together to run and play, and for everyone to get to know each other a little better. It starts at 6."

Eren agreed to go, speaking for both himself and Levi, and the lady gave them a giant grin. "Perfect! We will see you both tomorrow then." She walked away, and Eren looked at Levi. Levi actually looked fairly content with their situation.

"Feeling better?" Eren asked.

Levi nodded. "Much. The people are so nice."

Eren laughed and pulled Levi in for a quick kiss before they went back into the house to work on the next spare bedroom, hoping they could finally put the other car into the garage by the end of the evening.

The next evening, the pair made their way over to the barbecue next door, running about fifteen minutes late. There was a sign on the front door that told everyone to go around to the side of the house and let themselves in through the side gate into the backyard.

Levi and Eren entered the backyard to find about thirty people and kids, eating, running, playing, talking, and milling about. Jennette spotted them and came over to welcome them. "Hello, hello. Please, don't be shy. Come in, get something to eat. I'll introduce you to some folks."

Levi and Eren were introduced to so many people, and neither of them could remember even half of their names, but they smiled and got to know a few of them. Eren found them a couple of seats at a table, and Levi went to go fix each of them a plate of food.

When Levi came back, Eren's eyes almost fell out of his head. "That's an awful lot of food, Levi."

Sitting in front of Eren was a massive plate with at least four different kinds of salad, watermelon, cantaloupe, chips, and two hamburgers. Levi replied, taking his seat next to Eren. "I know, but it all looked so good, I thought we'd share a plate and get a little taste of everything."

Eren laughed and shook his head. "You still never fail to surprise me, babe." He kissed Levi quickly on the cheek and took a chip off the top to pop it in his mouth.

"How long have you two been together?" Asked one of the neighbors. They lived across the street and a few houses down from the Ackerman's.

Eren answered without even thinking about it. "We've been married almost two years. It'll be two years in just a couple of weeks, and we've been together for three and a half. I can't believe how quickly time is passing, though. Right?" Eren looked over at Levi expectantly.

Levi nodded at Eren in agreement, "Pretty crazy."

"So, what brings you to Shiganshina?" Another neighbor asked. Eren thought she said she lived directly across the street from them.

"We came from Karanes, which was so far away from any friends and family. We just wanted to be closer. My parents live here in town, and Levi's uncle lives only about a half hour from here. Not to mention all of our friends are between here and Trost."

"Why the need to live closer? Or is it a want?"

"Both a need and a want. Our house was also a lot bigger in Karanes. So big it was hard to keep up with cleaning. Our new house is much more cleaning friendly."

The questions continued while Levi and Eren ate their food and got to know some of the neighbors. Most of them had kids, some young, some older, and it only made Eren more excited to start having kids of their own. Every time he looked at Levi, the older male could tell he was starting to get really baby hungry. It didn't help when another neighbor came over to their table and sat down with her baby on the other side of Eren.

Eren practically squealed at the sight and asked if he could hold the little girl. The mom smiled and happily handed the baby over. She couldn't have been more than a month old, and Eren held her like he had been doing it his whole life.

"Have you had much experience with babies?" The mom asked. Julie, if Levi remembered correctly.

"Not much, actually. I'm an only child, except for my adopted sister, and I don't have any cousins closely related or anything. Just kids of friends, mostly. But I definitely want one or two of my own." Eren said, rocking the baby slightly. He looked at Levi with a giant grin on his face, and Levi melted. He started to really think. Maybe…

"You'd be a fantastic parent. You're a natural" Julie replied. "Do you want to hold her, Levi?"

Eren lit up even more at the thought. Levi didn't think that would have been possible. "Oh, I don't know. I've never held a baby before."

Before Levi could even finish speaking, Eren had turned to him and was already readjusting to hand the baby to him. "You'll do fine. I'll teach you."

After some teaching and everyone around him telling him to relax, Levi had the baby in his arms. She was asleep. He couldn't help but think how tiny she was, and how fragile. It made him a little scared to hold her, and he looked at Eren with fear in his eyes. His husband just chuckled and reassured him that he was doing great. Levi looked back down at the baby and swallowed, took a deep breath, and relaxed. The baby started to make noises as she woke up, and Levi panicked again.

Eren rubbed his back and reminded him to relax. She opened her eyes and stretched a little in Levi's hold. She looked at him curiously but didn't seem to mind the stranger holding her. Levi practically melted in his seat. The experience made him start to genuinely believe he would be okay becoming a dad. Until she started fussing, anyways. But her cry was so cute, he couldn't help but smile down at the baby.

Julie took the baby back, saying she was probably hungry, and Levi looked at Eren. Something inside of Levi had just changed forever, and he wasn't sure what, but he knew Eren could tell.