It was a cold day during Christmas break. I woke up in the comfort of my own apartment, stretching and relishing the cozy warmth of being in bed. The excitement of Christmas break urged me out of bed faster than usual, and as I walked to the bathroom, I paused and stared out the window because holy shit that's a lot of snow. I mean, I heard there was snow on the way, but….wow.

Wait a minute.

This means…..

I grinned and ran into the bathroom hurrying through my shower and morning routine. Fifteen minutes later it's eleven AM and I'm grateful that I haven't slept in, for once. I took out my phone and just stared at it because aaaaany second now…..

I got a group text from Reiner.

Reiner: Snowball Showdown at uniquad at noon, be there or be a fucking loser

I grinned to myself and replied immediately.

Eren: u bet I'll be there

Everyone else must have been waiting by their phones too, because the replies from the others started pouring in just as quickly.

Connie: ur all gonna get REKD

Jean: u'll b the fucking loser cause im gonna win

Mikasa: If Eren is going, then I'll go, too.

Ymir: haha ur all gonna die

Sasha: WOOHOO I AM SO DOWN!11!1

Christa: I'll come. It sounds fun :)

Marco: I'm not really good at snowball fights, but I'll tag along.

Armin: Well, if everyone else is going…

Berthold: Sure, why not.

Ymir: Christa you fucking bet u'll be coming after im done

Jean: EW YMIR REALLY

Connie: HAHAH HOLY SHIT YMIR

Christa: omg you guys stopp

Ymir: ;)

It seems everyone RSVPD except for Annie, but no one really expected her to in the first place.

I put on my coat, scarf, and hat, and walked out the door.

When I got to the University Quad, Reiner, Berthold, Jean, Marco, and Annie were already there. Reiner waved as he saw me approach.

"Nice to see you could make it," he said, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Are you kidding? I'll never miss an opportunity to murder horseface over here with snowballs." I joked, jerking a thumb in said horseface's direction.

"Better watch yourself on the battlefield, Jaeger," Jean scoffed, shoving me. "Same could be said about me; I'll never miss a chance to murder you with snow."

"I'll never miss a chance to murder you period." I taunted, shoving him back.

He got up close and grabbed the front of my coat. "Yeah well-"

"Hey hey hey, let's calm down over here, yeah?" Marco said with a smile on his face, stepping forward and placing a hand on Jean's arm. He was probably used to intervening in these kind of things when Jean lets his temper get the best of him. Which, if we're being honest, happens at least ten times a day. I seriously don't understand how Jean got a nice guy like Marco.

And of course, at Marco's words, Jean immediately lightens up and let's go of my coat like it's on fire. "Whatever. Just keep an eye out, Jaeger, because you are so gonna get it."

I ignored his comment and instead turned to Annie. "So, you actually decided to participate?" I asked.

"Reiner forced me to," she replied, pushing her bangs back. I think everyone here knew that wasn't entirely true. Reiner would never make her do something she didn't want, and even if he did, she could kick his ass. She just didn't want to admit that she wanted to come and that she was friends with a group of losers like us.

"Oiiiii!" came a call from the distance. Sasha and Connie were running towards us, waving their arms. Mikasa and Armin were behind them, calmly walking instead of running. Mikasa was, to no one's surprise, wearing her signature red scarf under her coat.

"So, we gonna get started or what?" Connie said excitedly between breaths as he and Sasha reached us.

"We have to wait. Ymir and Christa aren't here yet." Marco frowned.

"Knowing those two, they're probably making o-OW! " Reiner started, but Annie kicked him in the leg to cut him off before he could finish the sentence. We all laughed as he grabbed his leg and hissed.

Armin and Mikasa joined the group. "Speak of the devil." Mikasa said, and pointed in the distance. We all turned to look, and sure enough, Ymir was approaching at a brisk pace with a smiling and waving Christa riding piggy back.

"Who's ready to get their ass handed to them at a snowball fight?" Ymir yelled as she approached. "I'm here, I'm Ymir, and I'm hella queer." Connie and Sasha fucking lost it.

"Ymir!" Christa squealed, blushing. "Do you have to say that whenever you arrive anywhere?"

"Yes," Ymir said, smirking. "It makes you blush and that's just too damn adorable." Christa's blush turned a darker shade at the words and she buried her head into Ymir's back.

"See?" Reiner said matter-of-factly, "What did I tell you? I was probably ri-FUCK" he was cut off as Annie kicked him again.

"All homosexuality aside-," Jean started, as Ymir lowered Christa to the ground.

I coughed and said "Except yours."

He gave me a glare but otherwise ignored the comment. "Everyone's here now, so let's get started."

"What are the rules?" I asked, turning to Reiner. "The usual?"

"Yep." He grinned." You get ten minutes to build your fort. No teams, no alliances. It's every man-"

"Or woman!" Ymir interjected.

"-for themselves." Reiner continued as if he wasn't interrupted. "You're out if you get hit ten times. Winner gets to pick the movie for the next three movie nights."

Reiner took out his phone to set the timer, and everyone immediately got poised into a running position.

"Alright, time for fort-building begins…NOW!"

Everyone instantly scrambled to different areas in the vicinity. I eyed a nice looking fort-building spot under a tree, and charged right for it. Jean saw it, too, and was trying to beat me there. I ran faster and dived, almost hitting my head in the bark.

"Fuck off, Seabiscuit, this spot's mine!" I exclaimed victoriously.

"Tch, I'll still beat your ass in this snowball fight!" he called over his shoulder as he was already running in a new direction to find a different spot.

I gathered up some snow with my arms to make a pile. There's not a second to lose. My plan was to make a curved snow-wall around the base of the tree on the side that was facing the battlefield, like a half-circle. In the end I did as well as I could have given the amount of time I had.

Reiner's timer went off and he called for everyone to stop building. My fort offered pretty good protection, but the end sides weren't as high as I'd like. I'd have to be careful to remain in the center of it. Other than that, it looked to be pretty reliable. Maybe this won't be a total failure.

I looked around at what everyone else managed to create. Reiner had a big pile of snow that covered most of his body if he crouched. Bertholdt's wasn't as tall as it was long. It would cover him well while lying down, but he wouldn't be able to throw very far without being in the open. Annie had two short walls of snow that met at a right angle for her to hide behind. It actually looked pretty good. Ymir didn't even build a fort, well, for her at least. She spent all of her time helping Christa build her fort, which was a great big mound that only showed the very top of her blonde hair if she kneeled behind it. Knowing her, she probably denied the extra help from Ymir. But also knowing Ymir, she probably helped anyway. Their relationship was so cute it was almost puke-inducing. Jean just had a pile of snow in front of him, but he had a bush on one side, so that helped protect him some. Armin found a reasonably sized rock to hide behind, and made a lot of snowballs instead of a fort.

Shit, I thought, I forgot to make ammo. Ah well, no time for it now.

Connie had a pitiful pile of snow in front of him, and focused most of his time of making snowballs, and wow he had a lot. Sasha didn't build a fort at all, and instead took off her outer coat, used it as a sling to carry snowballs, and climbed a tree. Was that even allowed?

Marco looked frazzled; I guess he ran out of time. His fort looked half-completed. I think he was trying to build curved walls all around himself. Mikasa's fort was rather impressive, though, like that was a surprise. Rather than just build a fort normally, she dug a little bit so she was in a snow ditch, with walls on three sides and an easy escape route.

After everyone had a few moments to observe each other's work, Reiner yelled "Alright! Everyone ready? Commence Snowball Showdown!"

Connie almost immediately stood up, a snowball in each hand. "Woohoo! Who's ready to get wre-"he was cut off from a snowball to the side of his face that was thrown by Annie.

"Hey!" Connie yelled, facing her fort. "What was that for?! The match just –"

Again he was cut off, a snowball hitting him square on the chest. I could hear Sasha laughing from her perch in the tree. Maybe her plan wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Ah, what the hell," I said to myself, and threw a hastily-made snowball at Connie. Everyone caught on by this point, and Connie quickly got eliminated, and then some. Everyone hit him at least twice. As he was lying on the ground in defeat, Jean sniggered "What was that about getting wrecked?"

"Ah shut up, horseface," he said, halfheartedly throwing a snowball at him and missing by a long shot as he stomped off the battlefield.

From that point on, it was a fast-paced snow massacre. Ymir was next to get eliminated, blocking Christa from snowballs (even though she had a fort to do that) and going on suicide missions to get revenge on anyone who actually managed to hit Christa. After Ymir was Bertholdt, who overestimated the protective abilities of his fort. Christa put up quite a fight, but without Ymir there to help her block snowballs while she was on the offensive, she succumbed to a snowy defeat. I got hit all of three times by this point, once from Jean, one from Sasha (damn her aerial attacks, that was actually a great idea), and once from Annie. My snowball output wasn't as high as I would've liked, since I forgot to freaking make snowballs. I had to go on the defensive frequently to make more.

Annie and Mikasa haven't even been hit once yet. They were mostly focusing their attacks on each other, and the area between their forts was a snowball death zone. Marco was eliminated when he paused to make more snowballs. As safe and effective as her location was, Sasha ran out of snowballs and had to climb down the tree to make more. She was promptly eliminated after that. I think Annie forgot about Armin, because he threw a snowball and it actually hit her. She looked almost as surprised as he did for all of one second, before she released her snowball fury on him, and he, too, was eliminated with snow all over his front. Now it was just Mikasa, Annie, Reiner, Jean, and myself. Reiner's arm was a cannon. One of his snowballs hit me in the shoulder and it fucking hurt. I swear he put ice in them. I had to crouch behind my fort to recover, but not before I saw Mikasa nail him on his own shoulder in revenge. At this point, everyone was out of ammo and the fighting momentarily came to a standstill as everyone hastily made more.

"Ah come ooon! I want to see more snowball action!" Sasha complained childishly from the sidelines. I surveyed who was left. Reiner had a strong arm, yes, but he was an easy target when he was out of cover, especially now when he was a little less wary because he had fewer opponents to deal with. I noticed Jean watching Reiner, too. We locked eyes, and he nodded. As much as I hated the horseface, desperate times call for desperate measures. I waited until Reiner came out of cover to throw a snowball at Mikasa, and then Jean and I double teamed him. We each hit him twice; my throws hit home on his chest and one on his head (I noted that with a fist-pump), and Jean's hit him once in the arm and one of the shoulder. It was enough, and Reiner was eliminated.

"Ah, damn," he sighed, and walked off to join the losers. I heard Connie whoop.

Alright, I thought, since Jean and I have an unspoken alliance now, if we can manage to get Annie out and then Mikasa, I should be able to handle-

I was cut out of my own thoughts as a snowball hit me directly in the face. I fell on my ass and wiped the snow out of my face, looking to see who threw it, and my eyes see Jean with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. I guess that answered my question.

"Oh, you fucking asshole!" I yelled at him, angrily mashing a snowball together. "I'm going to wipe that stupid fucking grin off your stupid fucking horseface!" I throw the snowball as hard as I can, and I hear the satisfying sound of impact…but Jean is unscathed. I blink, confused.

"What the fuck." I hear a gruff voice exclaim, sounding very pissed off. Uh oh.

A scary looking guy with black hair and an undercut steps around Jean's fort and right in the middle of the battlefield, where all snowball fighting has stopped. He has snow all over his hair and face, and it looks like there's coffee spilled on the front of his coat. If looks could kill, the whole area would be a crater.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck, stupid Jean, why did you build your fort right by the pathway, people walk there you stupid centaur now I'm going to die and –

"Who," his voice sounded strained, as if he was trying to sound calm but everyone knew he was most certainly not calm, "threw that snowball?"

Immediately everyone pointed at me, except for Mikasa who glares at the stranger menacingly, as if daring him try anything.

Gee, thanks for the backup, guys.

The scary guy looks right at me and starts walking towards me, and I scramble to straighten up and step out from behind me fort. He looks absolutely murderous.

The fucking grin on Jean's face as he struggles to hold back his laughter makes me want to punch him.

"So," the stranger says, having reached me, "you threw that snowball?" He's a lot shorter than I realized at first, at least a head shorter than me, but despite that, he was easily the most intimidating person I'd ever seen. I never thought I could be so afraid of someone shorter than me.

"Um, y- yes, I d-did, and I'm really, really, sorry!" I squeaked, bowing my head a little.

He moved his arms and I flinched slightly, but he just crossed them and said "Sorry won't get the stain off my coat."

"U-um…" I was very uncomfortable under that glare of his. Seriously, how can someone so short look so intimidating? The look on his face is….oh fuck…it's kind of hot. My face went scarlet.

If he noticed the sudden color change, he ignored it. "Stop with the fucking stuttering, brat."

No way could I have hid my flinch that time. I gulped. "If you want, I can-"

"What's your name, brat?" He cut me off.

"Um, Eren Jaeger, uh, sir." I stammered out, adding sir at the last second. He seemed like someone worthy of the title.

"Alright, Eren. Close your eyes and hold still." He said with less anger in his voice.

Oh shit.

I froze and squeezed my eyes shut bracing myself for a punch, or a kick to the stomach. I few seconds went by, and I heard the opening of a bag. Was he taking out a gun or something?

A few more seconds went by. What is he doing? I was tempted to open my eyes. "Um, what are yo-HOLY FUCK COLD!" I yelled, eyes going wide as I jumped back and fell down backwards on my fort. He had shoved an armful of snow down my coat!

I could vaguely hear Jean in the distance losing his shit from laughing so hard.

"Y-you –" I stammered, completely flustered and trying to get the snow out of my shirt. My fort was crushed beneath me.

The stranger just smirked. "Cute." He said, and my eyes widened and heat rose in my cheeks.

"What –"

"You owe me a coffee." He said, turning around suddenly. "See you some other time, brat." And then he was gone. I was still lying on my ruined fort, completely shocked, with just one thought running through my head. Holyshitholyshitholyshit he called ME CUTE HE CALLED ME CUTE

I was over the moon. I mean, yeah, he was an intimidating, scary-looking short guy, but he was an attractive intimidating, scary-looking short guy.

I started to sit up.

But wait a minute.

Shit.

I didn't get his number. How can I call him to pay him back for his coffee?

I groaned, covering my face with my hands, and laid back down again.

I heard the crunch of footsteps approaching in the snow.

"Hey, Eren, are you okay?" Of course, it was Mikasa. She offered a hand. I took it, standing up while brushing the remaining snow off of my body with my other hand. "Yeah, I'm fine…"

Everyone started making their way over, the snowball fight apparently discontinued. Jean, Connie, and Sasha were taking longer because they were wiping tears from their eyes after practically laughing nonstop for the last two minutes. I reminded myself to get them back for that later.

"Wait a minute," Marco said questioningly, "So who won?"

Reiner came up and slapped me on the back. "I'd say Eren did; he's the one who really scored!" He laughed while everyone else collectively groaned.

"Oh my God Reiner that was terrible." Ymir said, face-palming.

Before anyone else could comment, I pushed him away, blushing.

"Wh-what the hell are you talking about?" Damn, I have to stop stuttering.

Reiner's shit-eating grin almost rivaled Jean's from earlier. "Check your pockets, bro."

I shot my hands into my pockets. I hardly had to feel around before I grabbed a slip of paper from my left pocket that was definitely not in there earlier. I took it out and unfolded it, everyone around me temporarily forgotten. There, in neat scrawl, was a phone number and a message –

I'll be waiting on that coffee, brat. – Levi

So his name was Levi. He must have put the note in my pocket while my eyes were closed – that's why I heard him open his bag.

Apparently Reiner was reading over my shoulder, because he was laughing now. "Looks like Eren's got a date!" he snickered.

"Shut the fuck up, Reiner!" I said, turning to him. I'm sure my face was as red as a tomato. My words did nothing to quell his laughter, not that I expected them to.

"Hmm, boys are no fun, but congrats all the same. Maybe you can finally get laid and stop being angry at everything all the time." Ymir said nonchalantly.

"Ymir!" Christa scolded her, hitting her lightly on the arm while she just laughed.

Jean came up to me, still laughing a little, and said between his chuckles "Holy shit Jaeger, your face is so fucking red!" and he was sent into yet another fit of hysterics again with Connie and Sasha. Marco and Armin were trying to calm them down before they passed out from lack of air. I'd had just about enough of this.

"Eren," Mikasa said, looking at me and putting a hand on my arm gently. "Whatever happens, I want you to be careful."

"Oh my god, Mikasa!" I groaned, shaking her arm off. I can't remember the last time I blushed this much in one day. Seriously, will Jean ever stop laughing? I buried my face in my hands. I hated it when my friends got involved in my love life.

I think Annie was sympathetic to my distress, because she said "You guys are hopeless. Let's just go get some hot chocolate. I'm fucking freezing."

"Good idea, Annie." Bertholdt quickly replied. Judging by the uncomfortable look on his face, if it wasn't so cold he'd be sweating right now. I made a mental note to thank both of them later.

"Yeah, let's go, guys," Armin said, as anxious to move to a new topic as I was.

I shoved Levi's note back into my pocket as everyone calmed down and walked to the local coffee shop. Despite my prior embarrassment, I had a spring in my step. I was actually looking forward to seeing Levi again.

A/N: So, what'd you think? This is my first published fanfiction ever, so please any comments and feedback would be appreciated. ^-^