Visiting Eren's family for the first time since Eren's come out (only have Titan).

Eren was fidgeting in his seat next to Levi even though he had already told him several times to calm down.

"We're halfway there already," Levi stated.

"I can jump out the car, I read the jump and roll is a good method,"

"We're in the highway. You'll break something,"

"That's fine, it's a risk I'm willing to take. Or! Better idea, we've only been driving for two hours, we can turn back now and get home before it gets dark. That's a good plan, let's do that," he leaned to look into the back seat where Titan was sitting in the back seat a leash attached to him, "right Titan? You'd like that right? Going back home,"

Titan barked back at him and Eren turned to Levi.

"See! Even Titan thinks it's a good idea!"

"Eren, just take a nap, I'll wake you up when we get there,"

Eren huffed but he pulled the passenger seat down and threw his arm over his eyes, "my dad probably won't even let us in," he mumbled.

"Go to sleep,"

Eren felt Levi's fingers slip in his hand and he squeezed them.

While Eren was sleeping, Levi continued to drive and think about how meeting Eren's parents will go. He had spoken to Carla on the phone a couple times already, Levi wasn't really worried about meeting her. He was more worried about meeting Grisha. He had refused to speak to Eren after he had come out and said him and Levi were in a romantic relationship. It took months for him to even agree to let Eren and Levi visit. They lived too far to just go for a couple hours, so Carla had kindly invited them to stay the weekend.

Levi had agreed to it, but he had also looked up hotels nearby that allowed pets in case things got sour, which Levi expected them to.

He had been worried about coming down this weekend. He had kept his worries from Eren, of course, Eren had been stressing about this enough. The last thing Eren needed was for Levi to tell him he was afraid of meeting his parents.

Meeting your significant other's parents for the first time is stressful as it is, but meeting then when you know that one of them disapproves of your relationship is even worse. Levi didn't want to create a problem for Eren and his father, and he had been contemplating on whether or not he should break things off with Eren if today didn't go well. He didn't want to, Eren and Titan were very important to him, he didn't want to have to leave them.

Levi pulled into the drive way of Eren's childhood home and shook him awake.

"We're here," he said.

"Home?" Eren's voice still had traces of sleep in as he rubbed his eyes.

"Your parents' house,"

"Fuck," Eren pulled the seat up and undid his seatbelt, "do we really have to do this,"

"Yes," Levi kissed Eren, "now come on,"

"Eren!"

Eren groaned and opened the door, "hey, mom!" he said. Carla was hugging him in seconds, "welcome home, sweetie,"

"Thanks mom," he heard another car door and let go of his mom, "this is Levi,"

Levi rounded the car and was hugged by Carla as soon as he was next to Eren.

"Well I know who you are! Eren called me all excited when he finished reading your book!"

"Mom," Eren whined. Levi smiled at her, he never got tired of remembering how Eren was so starstruck when they first met.

"And then when he found out you were his neighbor! I wish I could have recorded that call, he was practically screaming,"

"The walls are thin," Levi commented and ignored Eren groaning next to him.

"If you guys are done embarrassing me, I think Titan would like to be out now,"

Once the three were inside and their suitcases were situated in Eren's old bedroom, Eren asked the dreaded question,

"Where's dad,"

"I sent him to get some ice," she said nervously

"And how long ago was that?"

"An hour ago,"

Eren stood up from where he was sitting on the island and grabbed Levi's hand, "well obviously he isn't coming back, so I guess we'll be going now. Titan!"

Titan ran into the kitchen and wagged his tail at Eren's feet.

Levi stayed put where he was standing, "Eren, you're going to have to face your father eventually,"

"Levi's right, sweetie. He'll be home soon, and then you guys can talk,"

Eren was still grabbing onto Levi's hand but he was no longer pulling, instead he was just holding it, "we were never ones to actually talk, ma," he said to his feet.

"Oh, sweetie," Carla put her hand on Eren's shoulder and squeezed, "it'll be alright," Eren nodded but didn't look up.

"Dinner will be ready soon, why don't we go upstairs for a little bit?" Levi offered.

"Yeah, ok," Eren said, he let Levi guide them up the stairs while Titan followed behind them.

As soon as the three of them were on the bed, Eren let himself be hugged by Levi while he held Titan close to his chest.

"I'm afraid he's going to hate me," Eren confessed.

Levi hugged him even tighter, "I'm afraid their both going to hate me,"

Eren looked up at Levi, how could anyone hate him?

"They won't hate you. It's obvious my mom already loves you, and at least your profession isn't one my dad would consider to be one of the 'only jobs fags did.' So if he hates you, at least he'll respect you,"

Titan was squirming in his tight hold and Eren let him go in favor of returning Levi's hug.

"Was I wrong to insist on us coming here?" Levi asked.

"No, you were right, we'd have to do this eventually. And I'm glad you're here with me. If it weren't for you I probably would have jumped out the car on the highway,"

"I would've kicked your ass and then dragged you back into the car if you did," Levi joked.

Just then a slamming door was heard from downstairs followed by something falling and breaking. The two jumped out the bed and ran down the stairs. When they reached the foyer they saw a very drunk Grisha on the floor, the table next to the door was now on its side next to him and a bunch of broken picture frames around him.

Carla was trying to help Grisha up but he was too heavy for her to lift by herself. She looked at the pair for help, but only Levi made his way over to them to grab Grisha from his other side. They moved him to the living room and dumped him on the couch.

"I can't do this right now," Eren said, "not if he's going to be drunk,"

"Eren," Carla started.

"Look at him mom!" Eren pointed to his unconscious father, "he got so wasted in the middle of the day just because he couldn't deal with the fact that I'm gay!" he knew he was yelling and he took a couple breaths to try to calm himself, "look, we'll come back tomorrow, okay? And if he's sober enough then, then we'll talk. But I can't be in the same house as him right now,"

Levi was driving towards the closest hotel when he heard Eren sniffle. Was Eren crying?

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Eren's voice cracked and Levi knew he was definitely crying. They were still in the small streets surrounding the neighborhood so Levi pulled over and unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled Eren close to him.

"He never drinks," Eren sobbed into Levi's shirt, "he hates me," he kept repeating.

The next morning wasn't much better either, Levi had called Carla last night while Eren was in the shower and told her what hotel they were staying in. He asked her to call her when Grisha was sober enough to talk to Eren.

Eren and Levi spent most of the day in bed, ordered room service and watched tv. Titan started getting antsy being in an unknown place so they took him out for a walk and Eren pointed out to Levi where he used to hang out as a teenager.

Levi was glad to see Eren smiling while he told him stories of his teenage adventures.

It wasn't until they were about to order dinner that Carla finally called. But her call was to tell them that Grisha was too hangover to have a proper conversation. When Levi told Eren, Eren got furious and started crying a mix of angry and sad tears. They made the decision to wait until the next day and if Grisha didn't see them then, they would go back home and forget this whole weekend.

Levi wasn't particularly too happy about this decision, but he also wasn't going to try and force them to talk if Grisha was going to be under the influence. So Levi found himself once again driving a very nervous Eren to his parents' house.

As soon as he stopped the car, he took Eren's face in his hands and ran his thumb over his lower lip, effectively tugging it out of its confines under Eren's teeth.

"You're biting your lip," Levi said.

"I'm nervous,"

"I know, and no matter what happens, I'm right here, and Carla will be there too,"

Eren nodded his head and leaned into Levi's hand, placing his own on top of it, "thank you,"

Levi kissed his lips and the two parted to get out the car. They had left Titan back at the hotel after paying the manager a good amount of cash to watch him. But not before Levi had told him a very graphic and detailed threat if he returned Titan to them in less than perfect condition.

Grisha's voice made it to their ears as soon as they opened the doors, "I'm guessing the fags are here,"

"Grisha!" Carla's voice followed, "don't call them that! Eren is your son and Levi is a wonderful person!"

Levi followed closely as Eren stomped his way into the living room. Grisha was sitting on the very same couch where they had dumped his drunken and unconscious body a couple days ago.

"Look," Eren started, as he walked up to his father, "you can call me whatever the fuck you want, but don't call Levi names,"

"So what?" Grisha stood up, he was only a couple feet away from Eren, "you're going to pick some fag over you family?"

Eren took another step towards his father and Levi took a step towards them, he was about to reach his hand out to tug Eren back. He wasn't sure how this could escalate and the last thing he wanted was for the two to have a physical fight, which seemed likely with the way the two were sizing each other up. But Carla was standing next to Levi now, and she grabbed his arm, keeping him in place.

"I'm not 'choosing' him. And I'm not putting him above my family either. Mom accepts who I am, and I haven't been trying to hide myself from her!" Levi could tell Eren was on the verge of tears, but that didn't stop him from continuing to yell at his father, "Mikasa accepts me, Armin accepts me, hell, even the cashier at the gas station accepts me. You're the only person who doesn't!" Eren pokes at his father's chest. Levi expected Grisha to respond to that, but instead, he just looked at Eren with an unreadable look on his face, "and that's funny, because your parents are supposed to love you for who are, and they're supposed to love you unconditionally. Except you don't,"

At Eren's words, Grisha's face changed and he became angry, "I was a great father to you, Eren! I provided for this family to make sure you had everything you needed,"

"You gave me material things, nothing I actually needed, you gave us just enough things so we wouldn't realize you were never around! And whenever I tried to talk to you, you were always too busy,"

"I was working!"

"Too busy to ask your son how school was? That's a two minute conversation that could have made my entire day if you would have just walked through that door and said "hey, Eren how was school today?" or "hey son, wanna listen to something that happened at work?" all very simple things that could have helped our relationship. But you were always too busy with your patients to ever talk to me,"

"What did you want me to go into gorey details about surgeries I did? Is that what you wanted?"

"I was seven! You could have told me you spent your entire days picking coins out of a leprechaun's ear for all I cared! All I wanted to do was talk to you!"

"Then talk to me now!"

"Umm! Ok! Hey dad! Guess what? I'm gay!"

Grisha took a deep breath and spoke through clenched teeth, "I already knew that, I had to find out by reading a goddamn magazine,"

"You had to? You had to? Dad, I could've told you when I told mom, when I told Mikasa. But our relationship was crap, I couldn't even ask you to teach me how to ride a bike because I knew you'd just tell me to leave. So why on earth did you ever think that I would ever actually be able to come out to you? Especially when all you do is talk shit about celebrities when they come out. You talked shit about the neighbors 'cause they were gay," Grisha stayed silent and that only seemed to fuel Eren more, "the only thing you ever taught me was that being gay was wrong. You made me feel like complete shit because of who I am. It wasn't until I was finally able to leave this house and live in my own that I realized, 'hey, maybe it's alright for me to be who I am,' because strangers were more accepting than you,"

By the time Eren was finished, he had tears rolling down his face, he was staring at his father, waiting for him to say something.

"Well? Aren't you going to say something?!" Eren yelled, "goddamn it, dad, say something!"

But Grisha only stared back at Eren. Levi saw Eren's entire body tense up and his fists ball up. Afraid Eren would punch Grisha, he grabbed Eren's wrist, this seemed to calmed him down since his hand opened up to take Levi's.

After a couple more seconds of Eren and Grisha just staring at each other, Eren abruptly turned around and dragged Levi our the door. The last thing Eren said before they got into the car was a request for Levi to slam the front door behind him.

Levi took the elevator back up to their room with Titan in his arms. He had left a napping Eren in the room ten minutes ago to get Titan.

"Listen, Titan," Levi told their dog, "Eren's had a pretty crappy weekend. So we both need to work extra hard to make him happy, okay?" Titan barked in response, and Levi smiled, the elevator dinged and he got off on their floor "good. So when we go in there, I want you to jump on the bed and lick his face till he wakes up," he easily slid the key card and opened the door.

Titan jumped out of his arms and ran towards the bed, and did exactly as Levi had asked him to.

"Levi," Eren whined, "too much tongue," Eren started to push Titan away and Levi laughed at the faces he was making, especially when he realized it was Titan and not Levi, "Titan! Eww," Eren pushes him away more, but then Titan whimpered and Eren threw his arms around him.

"Aww, baby. I'm sorry," Eren apologized, "I just thought it was Levi. But I'm glad you're back," Eren kissed Titan's head and rubbed his arms up and down Titan's back.

"I should've taken advantage of when Titan wasn't here to ferociously make out with you," Levi said, petting Titan's head so he could distract him as he kissed Eren.

"Well too late now, because Titan is the biggest cockblocker ever," Eren changed his voice to a baby voice, "isn't that right, Titan?"

Titan immediately wagged his tail and stuck his tongue out, getting happy at the praise.

There was a knock at the door, "who's that?" Eren asked.

"I ordered you some food for when you woke up,"

Eren smiled and kissed Levi, "you're the best,"

Levi returned the smile and went to open the door. He immediately closed it.

"What is it?" Eren asked, worried.

Levi didn't say anything.

"Eren," the voice called out.

Eren immediately stood up, "go away, dad!"

"I just want to talk to you,"

"Oh, now you want to talk?" Eren stood a bit behind Levi.

"I do, so please let me in," he sounded desperate.

Levi looked behind to Eren, Eren bit his lower lip and hesitantly nodded.

"You sure?" Levi whispered.

"Yeah," he said, "open the door before I change my mind,"

Levi sighed and opened the door. Grisha was on the other side, he looked surprised they actually opened the door.

He cleared his throat, "I would like to speak to my son in private, please, Levi,"

Levi was about to protest when Eren put his hand on his arm, "it's okay Levi. Can you take Titan for a walk?"

At the mention of a walk, Titan was all over their feet, already hyper.

Levi didn't want to leave Eren alone but this is what he wanted. Levi nodded, grabbed the leash from the counter nearby and hooked it up to Titan's collar. He made sure to kiss Eren, "I have my phone on me if you need anything okay?"

Eren smiled sadly at him and nodded.

Levi tries to make the walk longer, but he couldn't be away from Eren for too long, especially not now. Which is why him and Titan were back at the hotel twenty minutes later. Eren was on the bed, watching tv.

"Hey," Levi said, taking Titan off the leash, "everything okay?"

Eren looked over at him, "yeah," he opened his arms towards Levi, who didn't hesitate to walk right into them and make himself comfortable on top of Eren, "dad left just a little while ago,"

"How did it go?"

He felt Eren take a deep breathe, "it went okay," he sighed, rubbing circles into Levi's back like he knew he liked. "he said he just needed time to adjust. He asked if we could come down for Thanksgivings,"

"That's good," Levi said, "it's a step forward right?"

"Yeah," Eren kissed the top of Levi's head, "do you think we can make it home before dark if we leave soon?"