Author's note~ I'll tell you when to press play...

Levi quietly walked down the hall and slowly opened the door as quietly as he could. He peeked his head in to see Eren already laying in bed with the blankets pulled up over his head. That was an unusual sight until he heard a faint hitch in Eren's breath followed by a sniffle. Levi closed his eyes realizing something was really wrong. He opened his eyes and was about to knock on the already opened door when he heard Eren speak.

"I know you're there Levi," Eren said his voice shaking as he did, "I guess I wasn't strong enough to hide my emotions this time," he said with a sarcastic laugh that was drowned out by the crack in his voice.

Levi walked over to the bed and sat next to where Eren was huddled up in the blankets. "Hiding your emotions doesn't mean your strong, and showing emotion doesn't mean your weak," Levi said placing a hand on the lump of blankets where he knew Eren's back would be. "Now do you want to talk about what's happening?" Levi asked.

PRESS PLAY

"I promised myself I wouldn't cry," Eren whimpered as he failed to hold in a sob. "But here I am," Eren sniffled. "I told myself that it wasn't worth the tears, even though I had just felt like everything was as it should. Everything was falling into place, but now I feel like I'm spiraling out of control," Eren said turning over, though his head was still buried in the blankets, it was in Levi's lap.

"What was the call about," Levi asked petting his head through the blankets.

Eren opened his mouth, but when he went to speak all that came out were sobs. He bit his lip hard to try to stop the unwanted tears and whimpers. "It- it was- they called- gone- gone- he's- they- gone," Eren mumbled out an incoherent string of words as the lump in his throat grew cutting his sentences to pieces. He finally took a deep breath and muttered, "Dad's gone."

"Oh, hun I'm so sorry," Levi said realizing what Eren meant.

"I knew it was coming, I knew he didn't have much time left, and I told myself I was going to be ready to let him go when his time was up. Just like that no tears, no pain, but I couldn't follow through," Eren said bringing his knees closer into his chest causing the blankets around him to shift.

"Eren, no matter how many times you tell yourself you'll feel nothing, that you know it's coming, that you're ready for it, you will still feel something regardless if you want to or not. A death of someone close to you isn't something anyone can be ready for, despite how many times you tell yourself you are," Levi said rubbing Eren's back with one hand while his other hand had found its way under the blanket and held Eren's hand.

Eren sat up letting the blanket fall off his face. "I tried to just forget about it, but I can't. I tried to tell myself to forget that I actually cared about him hoping that would make it easier, but it didn't." Eren said rubbing his eyes with the hand that wasn't holding Levi's tightly. "I just started having a father. I wanted more time with him. Now all I have left is my memories of these last three months and it's not enough," Eren said wiping his eyes. "His last words to me were to tell me that he loves me," Eren said letting Levi pull him into a hug. Eren quickly hugged back holding onto Levi tight. "This wasn't how this was supposed to turn out," Eren mumbled.

"At least you got to spend these months with him," Levi said trying to help him look on the bright side of things.

"Yeah, but I wanted more time with him. I finally felt like I had a father, and as quickly as that feeling came it left. Why did it have to end so quickly?" Eren sniffled. "I'm going to miss him, Levi," Eren said taking a deep breath. Levi rubbed Eren's back as he just sat there and cried.

Levi didn't want Eren to hold these emotions in, he knew if he held it in then it would affect him longer and start to eat away at him. He let Eren cry on his shoulder for a while. He was sure over an hour had passed before Eren's breathing had started to level out again.

"Even though this wasn't how it was supposed to be, I'm really glad it turned out this way. I will never forget these happy times I got to spend with him." Eren said clearly his breath only hitching slightly.

He had stopped crying for a moment but knew that wasn't going to last long. He still felt like he needed to cry, but he needed to give his eyes a break even if it was just for a minute. Levi knew he was far from being done grieving, but he knew that he was going to be okay. Eren sat up and nodded before closing his sore eyes.

Levi leaned forward so that their foreheads were touching. They stayed like that for a second with there eyes closed before Eren lifted his head and opened his eyes looking straight into Levi's and giving him a smile. "I'm going to miss that sonovabitch," Eren said with a sad little laugh.

"Actually, so will I," Levi said with a sad nod. Eren had always come back from visiting his dad happy, and the few times Levi had gone with him Grisha was nothing but respectful and kind. He was really making an effort to change, and Levi was just starting to get used to visiting him.

"He was one tough sonovabitch," Eren let out a laugh as tears streamed down his cheeks again, "the last few times I visited him he didn't look so well, but that last time I visited him, I think that's why he finally was able to let go," Eren said with a sad smile as tears pricked at his eyes again. "I forgave him," Eren said before letting out a sob before taking a deep breath to try and get through what he was saying, "and I could tell that took a big weight off of him, It was his unfinished business. It was the one thing he needed to be able to let go," Eren said before breaking into tears again. "I'm going to miss him. Levi, I'm going to miss him so much," Eren said letting the tears fall again.

Levi sat there whispering to him quietly telling him things were going to be okay, and that he would stay by his side the whole time. Eren's sobs eventually faded out and his exhaustion took over. Eren drifted off to sleep right there in Levi's arms.

"Sleep well Eren," Levi said wiping away the last few tears that lingered in his eyes. "I'll be here until you wake up," Levi said playing with Eren's hair knowing that has always calmed him down.

Levi wiped at his face realizing some tears slipped out of his eyes. He always hated seeing Eren like this it, and he had a hard time holding back his tears as Eren's voice cracked with his sobs, or when he was so worked up that he couldn't even talk to explain what was wrong rather Levi would just hear the staining breaths as Eren tried to talk through the sobs.

Levi sat there but he made sure to keep an eye on the time so they would still pick up the kids on time. When Eren started stirring in his sleep Levi would run his fingers through his hair humming lightly hoping to calm him down, which actually worked.

When it was finally time for Levi to wake him so they could pick up the kids he did so gently. Normally he would let Eren sleep, but he didn't want to leave Eren alone, and he knew didn't want that either. He ran his fingers across Eren's cheek whispering lightly telling him it was time to wake up.

When Eren opened his eyes he could feel the damage that had been done to them from the crying. They felt really heavy and were still slightly blurry from the dried tears that stuck to his face. He could feel that they were swollen and red not only from the tears but where he rubbed them raw to try and rid himself of those tears. His face had tear tracks left on them from how much crying he had done. His nose felt sore as well. His cheeks had red blotches all over especially by his eyes, cheeks, and nose.

He sat up a little disoriented and noticed as a headache came over him. He wasn't sure if the prior events were just a horrible nightmare or if they were real until he looked at the sad and concerned expression on Levi's face, he knew it was real, all of it. He cleared his throat where he could feel his voice was a bit scratchy from all the crying, "is it time to pick up the kids?" he croaked out trying to forget about everything else for the moment.

Levi nodded. Eren sat up and nodded back clearing his throat, "Okay let me wash my face. Then we can go get them," He said before disappearing into the bathroom. To try and get rid of the evidence of his crying. Once he splashed some cold water on his face he felt a little better. He took a deep breath and came out of the bathroom. "Ready," he told Levi before they started heading to pick up the kids.

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Author's note~ Rest in peace Dorothy Barrett, I know you are dancing with the angels now. Thank you for putting up with my attitude and my stubbornness for all those years. You were an amazing dance teacher and I am sorry to see you go. 

Sorry everyone for the personal authors note here at the end, but since I wrote this chapter on Thursday which was the day my old dance teacher died I thought I should write a little thing here for her especially since when I wrote this I didn't even know she had passed until the day after it was written. 

Also before there are comments about this, yes I took dance, but I hated every minute of it. I was forced into it after my sister and cousin joined since they thought it would be a great family experience. Still, I am grateful to have met this amazing woman who loved her students so much.