The Ereri Project (#2)

Growing (Werewolf)

Sometimes Levi is woken up in the middle of the night by sad whimpers.

Usually because of Eren's restless tossing and turning, he ends up too far from Levi to curl up with him when he has a nightmare. So Levi always sits up, gently pulls the child back over to his side, and pets his hair and wipes tears off his cheeks until he just sounds like he's sleeping again.

On nights when he doesn't get to far away, Levi is woken up by Eren crawling under his shirt in his sleep, not whimpering like on other nights but usually still shaking. Levi usually pulls his shirt up so Eren doesn't suffocate and holds him until he stops crying and shaking.

This happens so often Levi starts keeping track in a notebook by his bed which nights Eren has nightmares. After a month of keeping track, Levi can't find a pattern. So, he starts paying closer attention to what happens every day.

Unfortunately, the day he was going to start he got called into work early because they needed him to work a double shift. When Levi tells Eren this, Eren's expression gives Levi the first tingles of an idea why the nightmares are happening, but he hasn't quite connected the dots yet.

He gets out of work late because of a fire at an orphanage. If he would've left on time they wouldn't have had enough staff in the pediatric ward for all the kids. When he finally gets to Isabel's house to pick up Eren, the child is so excited he's nearly bouncing.

"Master! Master!" he shouts excitedly.

Isabel crosses her arms and shakes her head. "This is the happiest I've seen him all day," she tells Levi. "He wouldn't even share some ice cream with me after lunch."

"You turned down ice cream?" Levi asks, petting the brunette who has wrapped himself around Levi's leg.

Eren nods sadly.

"Why?"

"Cause I missed you and it made my belly feel funny."

Both adults look at each other in confusion but Levi makes Eren thanks Isabel fore watching him all day and they leave. "Are you hungry, kiddo?" Levi asks, looking in the refrigerator.

"Nope, I'm just sleepy," Eren replies, seating himself on the couch, resting his tail on his lap so he can pet it.

"Well, go get in bed then, I'll be in as soon as I'm done eating."

Eren shakes his head. "I wanna wait for you."

"Okay," Levi shrugs and heats up a microwave dinner so the only thing his has to clean is his fork.

Eren has turns into a puppy so he can sit on Levi's lap while he eats. "You're getting big, kid, I don't know how much longer you'll be able to lay on my lap like this," he says and he means it jokingly but-

Eren turns back into a child, with a very worried look on his face.

"What's the matter?" Levi asks.

Eren tries to fight a frown but his chin shakes as the corners of his mouth turn down. The boy jumps off Levi's lap and runs to bed. Levi, confused, throws out the rest of his dinner and leaves his fork in the sink to clean later.

He goes to his bedroom and changes clothes quickly before crawling in bed beside the bundle of blankets he knows Eren has wadded himself up in.

"Talk to me," he says gently. "What's the matter?"

Eren peeks his head out of the blankets, his ears nearly flat against his head with worry. Levi can see the remnants of tear tracks on his cheeks. "I'm scared," Eren mutters.

"Of what?" Levi asks, scratching him between his ears.

Eren frowns, sniffling. "I dunno," he replies quietly.

"Well it must be something important if you're wasting your precious little tears over it."

"I'm getting big," he says.

"Yes, everyone does eventually."

"But I'm getting big fast," Eren replies. "I asked big sis Izzy to keep track of my height for me and I'm already a whole head taller than when I met her."

"That's okay," Levi says. "That's just your wolf blood. Hanji thinks you'll slow down a lot once you're adult size."

"It's not okay!" Eren says, sitting up, his entire tiny form shaking with tension. "You're not my dad so once I'm a grown up, I'll have to leave, won't I?"

Levi honestly hadn't thought about it. Some part of him wanted to draw out Eren's childhood as long as possible but he could see too, in the pile of the clothes that it had only taken a couple months for Eren outgrown and how the two of them seem to breeze through food faster because Eren is eating more.

Levi pulls the boy back down and into his arms. "You don't have to go anywhere," he says. "You can stay right here with me as long as you want."

Eren clutches Levi's shirt and cries. "I don't wanna lose you too," he says. "I love you."

Levi thinks Eren loves him like he loved his parent so he replies, "I love you too."

Eren bolts up. "Do you mean it?!"

"Of course I do."

Those words would eventually get Levi in trouble.

But at least Eren's nightmares stopped.