Eremin One Shots!!!

Father, Part One

Armin was highly intelligent. He hit all of his developmental milestones early—standing, walking, talking, potty-training. Hange became affectionately nicknamed "Han-zee," as that was the way Armin pronounced it. He was a very curious toddler, especially when I was writing. He would tug on my leg and ask to go up, and I would sit him on my lap while he watched attentively as new words continually appeared on the screen.

We didn't enforce any rules on how he expressed himself. Armin played with both dolls and toy trucks, liked the color pink and the color blue, and so on. Erwin and I thought it important not to place a gender on any of the things he liked.

By age three, Armin had a good enough sense of who he was, having adopted the skill of reading quickly. We wanted to enroll him in kindergarten at a young age since he was so advanced, but the administrators insisted that he be socialized with other children first. Admittedly, that was the one thing we hadn't done the greatest job on, having no other friends who were young parents with a young child or children.

We enrolled him in preschool instead, and he was not particularly delighted about leaving the comforts of home each day to interact with kids for a couple of hours. He cried when Erwin and I dropped him off that first day, clutching Erwin's leg and sobbing. "No, Papa, don't leave," he begged, but the taller man coaxed him off of his leg, saying that he needed to go to work, and that I would be back to get him later. We left the boy in a Miss Petra's care, and she smiled and waved and assured us that he would be fine.

After a few days, Armin was suspiciously excited to go to preschool one morning, tugging at my hand to get me out to the car, and bouncing in his carseat as I strapped him in.

"What is it?" I quizzed, as I pulled out of the driveway and started down the street. "You're happy, huh?"

"I see Ewen today," he replied, clapping his hands together and smiling brightly.

"Eren?" I quirked an eyebrow. "Who's Eren?"

"Ewen's my fwend."

When I unstrapped the boy from his carseat, he took off running towards the playground, and I assumed he had spotted his friend. The friend in question was a small, unruly brunette with angry, almond-shaped eyes and dark tan skin. His mother was almost his mirror image, in female form, but with soft, hazel eyes and a kind smile. Upon seeing Armin, Eren's scowl faded, and he displayed a toothy grin. I headed over to where the two boys were chattering, Armin waving his arms animatedly about, deciding to introduce myself to Eren's mother.

"Hi, I'm Levi, and that's my son," I said awkwardly, pointing to Armin on the ground, playing in the sandbox with Eren.

"Nice to meet you!" The woman smiled, clutching my hand briefly before proceeding to introduce herself. "My name is Carla. I noticed these two together and just thought it was the cutest! Eren hasn't made any friends here, since he has such a temper. But Armin seemed to be drawn to him."

I watched the boy, with his tiny blue overalls and wavy blonde hair, showing Eren how to build something in the sandbox. Seeing Armin so happy was my weakness, I admit, and I couldn't help the small smile that bloomed on my lips upon watching the two play together.

"Well, they'll have each other," I remarked, just pleased to see Armin socializing so well with someone his own age. Little did I know then, this new friendship would bloom into something much, much more.

•     •     •

Being the parent that worked from home, I was the one who was dragged as a chaperone on field trips and who primarily attended silly parent-teacher conferences where all they did was praise Armin's abilities. This was no exception at the beginning of Armin's year in second grade, when his class decided to take a trip to the science museum. Armin loved science, and was delighted. Hange had nurtured this love well over the years, so it had only grown with his enthusiasm. Of course, Armin implored Hange to attend, but she was very busy at work and wasn't able to. In his disappointment, he turned to me, and I agreed.