Summary: Erwin's back and Levi isn't alone in raising three wolf children.

Arms bruised, face red with scratch marks, and clothes torn. This was the state in which Armin came through the door while Levi and Erwin were having afternoon tea in the kitchen. "Daddy, Papa," he whimpers as he tries to hold back his tears. Levi gapes at Armin with his tea cup hovering inches from his face while Erwin gets up calmly to carry the child and sit him on the counter. "Armin, what happened?" Levi hears Erwin inquire gently as he's leaving the room to fetch the first-aid kit. He comes back to Erwin stroking Armin's little blonde head and Mikasa and Eren standing by the kitchen door.

"It was a mountain lion cub! And Armin was too small to defend himself. Good thing we got there in time to chase the stupid cat away!" Eren boasts loudly and ever so proudly from the kitchen door. His clothes also torn and red scratch marks cover his arms. Standing beside him is Mikasa, also looking ragged but somehow with less injuries.

Levi's face darkens as he walks over to Armin and moves Erwin over with a slight swing of his hips. "And why exactly was your little brother alone that you had to get there in the first place?" He asks slowly and gravely while softly dabbing at the scratches on Armin.

Sensing their Daddy's tone, the twins quickly looked down and away. And Mikasa reaches for Eren's hand, looking for support as she replies quietly, "Eren and I wanted to go see the cliff side but Armin couldn't jump the gap in the rocks, so we thought it was okay to leave him alone for a little while. But when we got back he was being bullied by the mountain lion cub."

"But we chased her away, Daddy! Mikasa and I were really strong. We were stronger than that stupid mountain cat and we made her run away!" Eren adds, heartily defending his case.

Hearing this, Levi thins his lips in frustration, trying to think of something to say that will make them understand that leaving one's little brother behind is just not okay and more importantly that they shouldn't have gone that far from the house. Upon seeing Levi's struggle, Erwin sighs quietly to himself and moves to stand in front of the twins. And he takes a knee to be closer to their eye level when he realizes that Eren had paled when he towered over them. He places his larger hands gently on both of their shoulders as he reproaches their actions that day. "Eren, Mikasa. I'm sure you realize now that it wasn't okay to leave your brother behind, right?" Two tiny nods, "Yes, Papa."

"And that you shouldn't have gone that far without me or your Daddy, right?" Eren opens his mouth, a retort on his lips, but quickly closes it at the squeeze of Mikasa's hands. "Yes, Papa." They both say quietly.

"Then go apologize to your little brother and clean yourselves up." He says finally and stands with a soft pat on both dark little heads. He watches as Levi finishes up cleaning Armin's injuries. And the twins slowly amble toward their little brother as he is being put down on the floor by Levi. "Sorry, Armin." Eren says meaningfully as he warps his arms around the smaller boy. "I'm sorry we left you behind." Mikasa adds quietly and joins in the hug. Armin shakes his head with a gracious smile on his lips to signal his forgiveness as they break their embrace, "Let's go get cleaned up."

Levi nudges Erwin's side as they watch the three leave the kitchen, "You're getting better with them, old man." His voice is teasing but his face is masked in seriousness. Erwin takes that for what it is and places an arm around the smaller man. "It's because you've done so well yourself." He teases seriously back with a soft kiss to Levi's temple.

They've cleared a space in the living room and Erwin is teaching them how to partially shift their bodies to something that resembles wolf and human at the same time. "You can start from your hands. Transform your hands into semi-paws," as he's saying this, his hands slowly become covered in golden-white fur, similar to Armin's, and his fingernails become hardened claws. The kids all gaze in amazement at their father's hands before trying for themselves. At their first attempt, although they stopped their hands from forming into complete paws, their whole bodies were covered in fur. But after a couple more tries, Mikasa seemed to have almost perfected it. And though it takes Eren and Armin a few more attempts, they seem to get the hang of it as well. Laughing together as they show each other their half-shifted paws. "Very good. Now, let's add our heads," pointed, furry ears slowly crop up from his head and his face slowly gets longer to form a wolf's muzzle.

And during all of this, Levi folds their laundry in neat piles by the sofa and he remembers the moment that Erwin showed him this form on one rainy evening. Seeing it the first time was baffling and amazing. Levi comes back to the present with a fond quirk of the lips at the memory, though it's quickly replaced with slight scowl at the thought of the scruff marks on the floor from the wolves' paws. But as he watches the four of them, the furrow in his brows gradually evens out and the downturn of his lips is slowly replaced by a small smile because above his irritation is warmth and joy in knowing that his family is whole again.

He stands from his seat on the couch as he carries a pile of neatly folded clothing to put away. "Very good Mikasa! You've got the hang of it!" he hears Erwin exclaim proudly and he turns his head in their direction. He witnesses Mikasa, partially shifted more perfectly than when they were playing tag in park near their previous apartment. Levi quirks a smile in pride before suddenly releasing a quiet "Umf!" sound in pain. He had stubbed a toe on the column. And as he feels the throbbing pain, he belatedly realised that he should've stopped walking when he turned his head. So, Levi stands very still for a moment, enduring the agony, with the knowledge that it'll go away soon as comfort. What seemed like a very long moment later, he opens his clenched eyes and glances at his toe and he releases a quiet sigh when he sees that it wasn't bleeding or too badly hurt. Just a regular agonizing stubbing of the toe.

He adjusts the pile of clothes in his arms as he moves to continue to the children's bedroom. But pauses in his movement when something catches his eyes. He carefully places his burden on the floor and inspects the cause of his pain a moment ago. Odd markings on one side of the column. He feels the carving on the dark wood and he comes to realize that they are measurements. Dashed lines that continuously rise up to just above his knees with a matching name and year beside. He smirks to himself as he stands to finish putting the laundry away.

After the kids tire themselves out from so much shifting, they eat a snack in the kitchen together to recover energy as Armin points out smartly. When they're finished, Erwin and children excitedly move to go play outside. Levi clears his throat loudly, "Ahem," stopping them mid-motion. And he orders them with a hand on one hip, the other arm stretched and finger pointed, "Living room." Meaning: go back to the living room and put everything back in its place. Erwin smiles soothingly and sheepishly at Levi as he follows his children to the living room. As he finishes clearing up the table, Levi winces and clicks his tongue against his teeth when he hears the tell-tale grating sound of furniture being dragged across the floor. Should've done it myself, he thought.

He enters the living room a few minutes later to see the children working together to place a blanket on top of their father who was lying on the sofa. Sniggering softly to themselves as they do so. Raising one dark brow, he calls their attention, "Hey kids. What are you doing to the poor man?"

"Shhh!" All three kids hush him, matched with a pointer finger to their lips. "What are you doing?" he repeats, more softly this time.

"Papa fell asleep." Armin says as they walk quietly toward him. Eren and Mikasa release a quiet giggle as they come to stand in front of him. Levi pats their heads proudly, "Good job." He means their very considerate action of covering the man with a blanket. But he doesn't bother to clear up his point as he turns away and motions for them to follow, "I have something to show you." He leads them to his discovery from earlier that day as he reaches for the pen in his pocket. Levi motions for Armin to stand with his back to an unmarked side of the column, "It's a height chart. To keep track on how fast you're growing," he tells them while he marks a line for Armin's height. After he's done, the little blonde moves away again and a grin forms on his face as he watches Levi write his name and age. Eren moves excitedly to stand by the column when it came his turn. Grinning widely when he sees his own marking. And while Levi is doing Mikasa's height, Erwin comes into their view looking curiously at what they were doing. "Papa, come look. It's a height chart so that we'll know how tall we're growing," Armin says excitedly as he takes his father's hand and pulls him along.

After he's done, Levi stands back and smiles wide as they all gaze at his handiwork.

Erwin's grin matches the children's.

Well, there it is. I know it's not much, but I just wanted to share what I had so far.

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