Two Lines

At first, he was convinced that it was the day-old leftovers that had him hugging the toilet bowl the next morning. When one of those animal rescue commercials had successfully reduced him to a sobbing mess, he told himself that those damn things were getting sadder and sadder with each release. When pants that he had owned for years had started feeling a little more snug than usual, he figured that he better lay off the caramel macchiatos for a while. It wasn't until he started having the urge to eat certain kinds of foods that he knew he absolutely loathed that he took a much-needed trip to the drug store.

"This damn thing better only have one line."

One line, not pregnant. Two lines, pregnant.

He began to pace, frustrated with himself for letting something like this happen. He and Eren were always careful. They always took the proper precautions before having any kind of intimate love-making session. But with Levi's luck, it would have the be the one time that they weren't careful, the one time that they forgot to follow the simple steps of prevention, that he would end up in the bathroom with five bottles of water, a kitchen timer to clock the passing minutes, and four pregnancy tests - one of them already emptied and in use.

He cursed.

A baby was the last thing that either of them needed right now. Sure they'd talked about having a family in the future, but it was just that. The future. Not right now. With Eren's work hours being totally unpredictable, and with Levi's recent promotion giving him more problems than he could handle, the both of them already had more than enough on either of their plates. Adding a baby would only make a mess of things.

When the kitchen timer began to rattle, signaling that his fifteen minutes were up, Levi felt like he was going to be sick. It's only going to have one line, he reassured himself. You're going to look at it, see that it only has one line, and then you're going to be so relieved that you're not even going to care that you wasted your money on three more of these stupid things.

That's what he told himself, but he was still too nervous to check.

Instead of owning up to his fears, he left the bathroom. Maybe if he could find a way to distract himself, the anxiety behind reading his results wouldn't be so bad anymore. Yeah, that seemed like pretty good logic to him.

Neglecting the test for a good thirty minutes or so, Levi washed the dishes, swept the kitchen floor, folded some laundry, and dusted off the TV stand before he was reminded that his pregnancy test was still waiting for him. Enough was enough. No more procrastinating. He had to know.

When Levi took a tablespoon of courage and re-entered the bathroom, this time, he locked the door behind him. Eren wasn't due to be home for another hour and a half, but it was that added sense of security, the knowledge that no one would be able to walk in on him during a moment like this that carried him over to the bathroom counter. That was where, on a small hand towel, his single pregnancy test lay.

Two lines. Pregnant.

Before he could even digest his diagnosis, Levi was ripping open the second package, twisting off a bottle cap, and guzzling down one of the waters that he had left for himself. Ten minutes later, he took another test.

This time, he didn't pace. He sat on the edge of the bathtub and waited out every agonizing minute, listening to the kitchen timer tick. Fifteen minutes felt like forever. Tick, tick, tick. Fifteen minutes never felt this long before. Tick, tick, tick. Had it been fifteen minutes yet? Tick, tick - ding!

He didn't leave the bathroom. He didn't dry the dishes or sweep the dining room floor. He didn't throw in another load of laundry or dust off the coffee table. Instead, he got up, walked over to where his second test sat proudly next to his first, and looked.

Four lines. Two lines plus two lines. Pregnant and pregnant.

"Levi, I'm home!" Eren called out, kicking off his sneakers and hanging his work bag up onto its hanger. When a couple of seconds had passed and there was still no response, he began to feel a bit concerned. "Levi? Are you home?"

Hearing a door slam - the bathroom? - Eren curiously made his way over to the source of the sound, ultimately meeting Levi in the middle of his trek. "Oh, there you are," he said with a smile. "I was calling for you, but I guess you didn't hear me. How was your day?"

"How was yours?"

Eren was a bit taken aback, when Levi hadn't given him an answer. In fact, the spotlight had been directed over to him. While rubbing the back of his neck, Eren felt a tidbit of self-consciousness as he responded, "Mine was pretty good. My boss told me that I could take the day off on Thursday, so that was kind of neat."

"Hm, that is neat," Levi agreed. "My day sucked."

"Wait, what?" Eren was confused. Levi didn't have to go into work today, so how could his day have sucked? He loved getting to spend time around the house. From the looks of it, he'd even done some cleaning. "Why did it-?"

Before Eren could even finish his question, Levi had thrown something at him. Being caught by such unawares, he hadn't been able to react properly and dropped it. When Levi threw another thing at him, he had learned from his prior mistake and was actually able catch the darn thing. What was it, a box? He flipped it over and read the front label. His eyes doubled in size.

"Levi," he whispered in disbelief, "a pregnancy test?" He looked down at the floor. "Two pregnancy tests?"

"Four, actually," Levi said, and bending over, he picked up the fallen box and shoved it into Eren's hands. "Four pregnancy tests, Eren. Four of them."

At a loss of all words other than the obvious, the only thing that Eren could justify enough to say was, "Levi, what does this mean? Are you...?"

"Sleeping alone tonight? Yeah, I am."

"What?"

Eren may have been confused, but Levi was more than livid. All because of one stupid night, when they'd let their impatience get the better of them, this had been the result. Case closed. Lesson learned. Never again.

"Go into our bedroom, take your pillow, and park yourself on the couch before I decide to throw one of my positive pee sticks at you, Eren."

Positive. Pregnant.

He wanted to ask Levi so many questions - "How are you feeling? What do the other tests say? Are you really pregnant?" - but with the threat of having urine thrown at him, he backed down from the battle and retreated. After Levi had calmed down, then he would ask him his questions.

But for now, as he traveled over to their bedroom to shamefully retrieve his pillow, Eren couldn't help the feeling of excitement that began to bubble inside of him. He and Levi had talked about having a family in the future, but it looked like the future ended up being sooner than they'd originally thought.

Propping his pillow onto the sofa, Eren laid himself down and lifted his gaze to the ceiling. In a matter of moments, he was closing his eyes and letting sleep carry him away. Just before he was knocking on dreamland's door, a small smile came to his lips. And with a gentle voice, so quiet that no one other than himself would be able to hear it, he uttered the words that he'd never thought he would be saying.

"We're going to have a baby."

Hi there! Chappy here! :D

Today is Day 8 - the last day - of Ereri Week, and today's prompt was...well, there wasn't one! It was a bonus day, so we were able to choose anything we wanted! (:

And so, here you have it, my guilty pleasure: m-preg.

Before I get off topic, I have to say that this drabble is dedicated to two very lovely people: babies-for-ereri and artist-eren (formerly mitsucchi) of tumblr! Without babies-for-ereri's response to my comment on her drawing for Day 4 (you can view it on her blog under the hashtag "mpreg ereri"!), this drabble would have never came to be! Plus, if it wasn't because of artist-eren's Kise/Kuroko fanart, I would have never found a love for m-preg in the first place! To the both of you, thank you so much, and I hope you've enjoyed this. (:

And as for everyone else, I'm sad to say it, but Ereri Week is officially over. orz Have no fear, though! Like I mentioned earlier, I have every intention to keep writing frequent drabbles (maybe not as frequent as this, but definitely more frequently than I have been).

Okay, enough with my ramblings! I know this is a little different from what I normally post, but I hope you enjoyed!

And as always, thank you for taking the time to read! (:

- Chappy