happy friday once more :D this one-shot is a request for JotatoKujosWife, who asked for a levi spending time with his & your daughter! not much else to say here, but thank you so much for requesting, i hope you enjoy and all of you have a great weekend!!
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As much as you hated to admit it, the volume in your own house has spiked to an all-time, possibly record breaking level. And you hate to admit it even more, but you know why. The problem could be spelled out with two words and five letters, no spaces in between.
Heidi. AKA your daughter, along with Levi's.
You would think that living a life with the captain would be relaxed and fun going, but no. It couldn't. Yet you wouldn't say that Heidi had shipwrecked your relationship with him, as some of the best memories had been when she was around: the time where he first held her, when she said her first words...all that cute child jazz that would make any titan's heart melt.
Unfortunately, the best moments had clearly passed. Heidi was a six year old now. And a spoiled, bratty six year old at best.
"Papa, why can't I have another cup of tea?" Her voice could be heard from the kitchen, a few rooms down from hers.
"I didn't say you couldn't," you heard your husband argue with a barely audible sigh of distress. "It's just that you're putting too much sugar in yours. I know this is, like, an imaginary tea party or whatever you kids call it, but if you put too much sweetness in, it makes the flavor-"
"But I like the sugar!"
"Okay, fine. Only because this is pretend. But when we get to the real thing..."
You could tell by his tone alone that he was practically pleading for you to come in and save the day. Heidi could take one parental figure with ease, but with two, she would be much easier to handle. At least, you hoped - lately, the strategy of forming a tag team against her has proved to be nothing but fruitless.
You stopped chopping up carrots and put your knife down. Dinner was now a second priority.
"Heidi," you said, turning around and striding over to the gremlin's room. "Why are you making so much-"
The door swung open to something that couldn't even be recognized as a room, with Levi not even being recognizable as a military captain but a toddler held hostage at a child's tea party. Of course, Heidi was identifiable as what she was - a six year old girl.
Around a cramped wooden table and a pair of equally tiny chairs was the home of what looked to be a thousand dresses. Piled up on each other, some folded, some barely hanging on from Heidi's bed and shelf set - if it was a location in the room, there was a good chance of an accessory being stuck there. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty.
If you weren't in such an awkward situation, you could describe her as pretty, though.
As any spoiled little girl would, she wore a pink, frilly dress that stretched its way down to her ankles. Her socks met at the same distance, and her shoes were a polished, inky black. In her head was a small but glimmering tiara, encrusted to the brim with fake rhinestones and glitter and ridiculous globs of glue melting down and almost touching the several bows put around her hair.
"What's going on?" You slumped against the door frame, watching as Heidi kicked her feet back and forth under the table.
"He won't let me have sugar in my tea. And he doesn't want to get me another dress," she pointed at her father.
"Help," Levi mouthed.
"I think I've got this," you mouthed back, leaning into the room with a tired yet reassuring grin.
"Hey," Heidi called out, spinning her finger around until it suddenly pointed at you, "can we go on another trip to the store nearby? I want another dress. And tea. I want lots of tea so I can be like Papa."
"Okay," you sighed. "I know you want to have a lot of fun and all that, but we can't always go out on shopping sprees. We need money so we can buy things for you. Right now, we don't have much money, and you have plenty of dresses." You eyed around the room, realizing that most of the outfits laying around were not only expensive but brand new. "Why are all these dresses hanging out here?"
"Well," she started, "I wanted-"
"She made me do it," it was Levi's turn to point a finger at his daughter. "It was her. She forced me to play dress up."
"I didn't force you to!" Heidi crossed her arms, her lips turning into a frown. Tears started to trinkle down her cheeks as quick as rain fell from the clouds of a thunderstorm - which you understood this situation was going to turn into if things couldn't be put right within the span of...say, three minutes?
"Either way, you need to clean your room up," you said. "And have more respect for your father. He works hard to provide for us and the rest of humanity, too."
"Papa's going to clean my room up!"
"Heidi! What did I say about respect? Apologize right now or-"
"If you want me to say sorry, then you have to take me to the boutique again!" Her voice started to crack up like radio static, her words getting lost in a total flood of nothing but tears and spit coming from her mouth. The Survey Corps Captain quickly scooted his chair back.
"NO!" You and Levi screamed in unison.
"When you act like this-" you could barely hear your own voice, "it makes us angry, too! Heidi, you can't just expect everything to go your way! Sweetheart-"
"Stop it," Levi deepened his tone, scooting his chair forward again and grabbing one of his daughter's hands. He gave her a look. His eyes widened, and his brow furrowed.
She stopped crying.
The two of you stared at each other, wide-eyed from sheer surprise. Your mouth was wide open - you didn't and could probably never expect something like that to come from him to his own daughter.
"If you don't clean your room and apologize," he spoke with the same tone, "then you're going to bed five hours early. No story time or stuffed animals."
"Not even a goodnight kiss?" She squeaked.
"No."
He was of course, joking - there was no way on God's green earth that he would let his kid rest their head without giving them the traditional peck on the forehead. But you knew that he was getting serious now. Force, while most likely not the best solution, was probably the only one that was going to work long term.
"Okay," Heidi said, wiping a tear from her cheek as if this scenario had never even occurred to her. "I'm sorry, Papa."
He reclined in his chair. "It's fine, dear. Now," he turned to you, "Y/N, dear, would you like to join us in our little tea party for the time being?