The Royal Decree (Erwin x Levi)

Chapter 13

A:n Love you guys to death, so please don't kill me!

"You are not going. We talked about this."

"I know we did. And I am staying here. As I promised."

"Really?" Erwin raised a skeptical eyebrow as he looked down at his bonded. Levi stood in front of him, clad in his oversized shirt, which, despite the fact that it almost engulfed him around the shoulders, was quite tight around the middle, and Erwin's old white cotton pants which had been re-sewn to accommodate his belly. It was the day of the new mission – a brief one, this time, a simple back-and-forth reconnaissance deal that did not involve many of the Survey Corps' squads. Good riddance, too, as neither Levi (still Humanity's Strongest, whatever anyone said) nor Eren (still Humanity's Hope who had taken to waddling his way around the headquarters funnily) was able to join, for obvious reasons. Levi could barely get on a horse these days – not that Erwin ever let him do something as catastrophically dangerous as that. Most of the time, he spent reading in the library. He had never been a very passionate reader, given the fact that the first time he had even considered learning the alphabet had been after Erwin had rescued him from his predicament in that alleyway. He had never had the time, either; now, however, he had all the time in the world. He also thought it would be a good idea to become apt at reading and writing just to be able to teach the future child to do it as well. Whatever the reason, Erwin had been happy to provide Levi with all the books in his personal collection, and when the former Corporal had sped his way through those, he had given his bonded the key to the library – so that Levi could enter at any hour of the day and pick up whatever he wanted.

"Look, I may be stubborn, but I am not suicidal. I know that I'll probably get killed the second I set foot out there," Levi said grumpily. Even though he accepted the fact that he was no good as a soldier at this point, he was not happy. Fighting Titans had been his life. Now, his life consisted of running to the bathroom to pee all the time and pouring over old tomes filled with complex stories of the outside world. Naturally, the library was full of illegal materials, assimilated there over the years from contributions made by Hanji, Mike, several other Survey Corps higher-ups, and Erwin himself. A particular tome had caught Levi's attention on the very first day there – Family Relations, by T.T. Twist, a seemingly pseudo-scientific book on how to handle recalcitrant brats and annoying husbands. The book had clearly been written for women. However, Levi had found it enormously fascinating and kept referring back to it on an almost-daily basis.

Not that their family relations needed fixing much – both had come to terms with the fact that things were the way they were, with Levi grudgingly accepting impending childbirth and Erwin reducing his doting to a bare minimum for the sake of both their sanities. Levi was becoming more aware of the child; from time to time, he would feel something, a small push from within his stomach that he was quite sure had nothing to do with his digestive system. Erwin had been strangely overjoyed when Levi had told him the kid had moved, and now insisted on running his hands all over Levi's distended stomach to feel the child kicking. Either the kid took after Levi in his pissiness, or it just suddenly got tired (Levi wanted to be inclined towards the former), but whenever Erwin approached his spouse's stomach with his humongous paws, it went still, leaving the father-to-be disappointed. In a way, Levi was happy that happened, if only because he was becoming protective of the baby, in a weird, purely instinctual manner. After all, he was the one who sacrificed his health, his good mood (if any) and his time to act as an incubator for Erwin's spawn. It was only fair that the kid responded better to him than even his... donor.

"I am glad we see eye-to-eye," Erwin responded before placing a small kiss on Levi's cheek, a tiny, mechanical thing, and hopping onto his horse with ease Levi now envied. The Commander gave his bonded a last glance before turning around to announce the beginning of the mission. As the riders filed out of the gates, Levi was left standing alone in the courtyard, feeling strangely alone and pointless. He turned to go back to their quarters, only to see Eren stand propped up against the entranceway, his eyes wide and wet. With a sigh, he approached the young man.