There isn't a feeling quite like waking up on Christmas morning, knowing that Santa Claus and his reindeer have visited the house while you were sleeping. If you were good that year, chances are he left you some super cool presents beneath the tree that you and your family took hours to decorate. That plate of cookies and that cup of milk that was left for him? Yup, all gone. Just the excitement of waking up well before the sun has even risen, the thrill of running into your parents' room and jumping onto their bed, demanding for them to wake up, wake up, wake up, there really is nothing that can compare to it. As years come to pass, however, the joy in Christmas begins to fade. You learn that the man in the big red suit was just a fairy tale, and the amount of "cool" presents that you receive begins to dwindle. Like all childish things in life, over time, the enthusiasm fades away, becomes simple. But sometimes, simple isn't so bad.

That morning, I woke up to something simple.

Just as always, Levi was tucked against my wing and surrounded by my comforting hold. He was safe, sound, and under my constant watch. It was certain that, because of my gifted nature, his body was completely warm. The heat must have been a contributor to that fact that the highest points of his cheeks were dusted with a soft shade of pink.

I wouldn't have wanted to wake up any other way, honestly. Even if Levi's feelings for me were still mildly confusing and only defined by the word "exclusive", for just a moment, I liked to pretend that we were lovers, present-life lovers, and that this was how we would wake up for many more mornings to come. I would gently coax Levi into consciousness - which he would be very upset about, of course - but after his anger had subsided and all grudges had been placed behind us, we would cuddle and kiss and share any of the dreams that we had seen the night prior, if only we could remember them. Such a silly imagination I have, I know.

I turned slightly, trying to get a glance at Levi's alarm clock from just over the arch of my wing. It was a bit of a struggle, but when 8:54AM came into view, I had to chuckle. Was it really that late already? Granted, Levi and I usually woke up around noon every day, but this wasn't any ordinary day. This was Christmas morning, and waking up past 6AM was highly unacceptable.

When I turned back to face him, I began to stroke the thin hairs that had fallen over Levi's eyes. It was kind of strange for me to want to rouse him out of his slumber; it wasn't like there were any presents that needed unwrapping. Still, if I was going to wake him up, I was going to do it carefully. "Hey..." I whispered. "Are you awake?"

A displeased groan that was followed by an angered pout gave me my answer.

"Levi," I tried again, gentler this time, "don't you know what today is?"

That must have been the ticket to waking him up, because after I'd prompted him with a question, Levi inhaled sharply and squeezed his eyelids together. Rubbing a hand over his forehead and up into the fine follicles of his hairline, he cleared his throat and emitted another grunt before amusedly saying, "My birthday?" I couldn't momentarily respond, because those words had really taken me by surprise. That was when Levi had opened his sleep-heavy eyes and repeated, "It's my birthday, right?"

Was he being funny with me, or was he actually under the assumption that today was his legitimate birthday? I felt stupid for wanting to ask him, to clear up any misconceptions that I was having, but my confusions were soon remedied. Levi had already beaten me to the chase.

"It was a joke, Eren. I'm only kidding," he sighed, as he stretched his limbs into awareness. "I really didn't mean to startle you like that. Although, I can't say that I'm entirely apologetic for the reaction that it received. I can't even begin to describe your face right now. It's...kind of priceless."

The second he began to snicker, I immediately shook my head free from my more than embarrassing expression. Had my eyes changed in color? Probably. I wonder what pigment they acquired when I was feeling absolutely and utterly perplexed.

After my head stopped spinning and I felt my face return to what I liked to think of as normal, I half muttered, "I...totally knew that you were telling a joke." At the time, I definitely didn't know if he had been joking or not.

Catching me right in the midst of my lie, Levi scoffed and proceeded to raise an eyebrow at me. "Oh, really?" he said. "Then why such a face? Eren, I know your body language like I know hair care products. You clearly just lied to me."

I was glad that Levi took my lies with amusement rather than with aggression. Had it been the latter, I probably wouldn't have felt as inclined to say, "Yeah, I kinda I did. Sorry..."

Levi shifted himself against my wing for yet another, sleepy stretch. When he quieted a yawn that had rudely interrupted his intention to speak, he offered, "I mean, hey, if you tell me why you didn't find my joke funny, then all is forgiven. Just be honest about it."

Honest was what I should have been from the beginning. I should have realized by now that lying to Levi, even if it was to cover up my own awkwardness, was a dead end trap to fessing up the truth. It just felt really weird to admit to what I'd been thinking, though. "When you said that it was your birthday," I began, taking my sweet time to pronounce every word, "it was like, for a minute there, I almost thought that..."

"...Thought that?" Levi encouraged, after I had paused for a bit too long. I sighed.

"It's weird, but...I thought that I had the old you back with me. I mean, no, not like old. That wasn't a reference to your age. You were older, but that's, it's not like - that's not what I meant." Well, I totally just screwed that statement up. Maybe I'd finally discover those time-traveling powers that I'd been searching for before, because I desperately wanted to take back everything I'd just said.

Nope. Still no powers.

At first, I thought Levi would be offended. He and I had agreed that we wouldn't let the past loom over us and that we would continue to live in the present. Sure, he still had some questions about things that only I could give the answers to, and I still had nostalgic feelings towards some of his actions, but those were both very natural occurrences with our sort of situation. And besides, the only thing that should have mattered was that I loved him. In more ways than one, in fact. Not wanting to give Levi the wrong impression, I started to say, "Levi, I-" but was suddenly cut short by the feeling of fingertips against my lips.

Eyeing my silencer, I noted that Levi wore a pleasantly plain look on his face, as he said, "I understand what you meant, Eren." I allowed myself to feel somewhat relieved, when there was no lingering bitterness in his tone. He actually still sounded kind of entertained. "That was supposed to be the joke. In hindsight, it wasn't thought out very well, so let's forget about it. It's Christmas morning. Let's take it easy and try not to think too hard." Yeah, not thinking too hard sounded like a good plan to me.

After we'd reached our comparative conclusion, Levi demanded that I wrap my opposing wing around his shoulders and let him lounge for five more minutes. Although I acted like it sometimes, I wasn't his mother. I had no right to tell him what he could or could not do. The only time I had any say in the matter of anything was if his life was in danger. Resting for a couple more minutes wasn't going to kill him.

As we laid there, I tried my best not to think, but the harder I tried, the more I realized that not thinking about anything at all was actually a lot more effort than, you know, thinking about something. My default thought was out of the question. I knew that if I thought about Levi for too long, my mind would start to wander to unknown places, so I decided to think about something simpler. I thought of Christmas morning. As I began to recall all of the years where Dad was actually present in my life, I had to let myself crack a smile. Even though he and Mom would argue about literally everything - from whether or not we would go to church, right down to what we did with the used wrapping paper - nothing could put a damper on my Christmas spirit. They were some of my very best memories as a child.

Even though our deal had been that we both wouldn't put too much into our thoughts, it was clear from what Levi said next that he had been doing some thinking of his own. "I get the feeling that you and I used to lay like this a lot. Uh, minus the wings, though." Hearing that made me feel guilty that I hadn't given into my temptation of thinking about Levi, as well.

Minus the wings, he said. I couldn't help myself from seeing the irony in that. Little did Levi know that, back then, we both bore wings on our backs. They were the wings of hope, the wings of humanity, the wings of freedom. "We did," I murmured, "when we got the chance to, that is. What made you think of that, Levi?"

He shrugged against me. "I don't know. It was just a feeling I had. I have the same feeling about a dream that I had last night."

A dream? Wait, was Levi trying to tell me that he had actually remembered one of his dreams? That sort of thing never happened before! Why didn't he tell me sooner? I needed to know more. "Levi, you had a dream? You remember it?" I questioned eagerly.

It was a tad upsetting, when Levi slowly sat up and began to mess with his hair. Now I was the one that wanted to beg him for five more minutes of rest. It was always so calming just being able to cuddle with him. There wasn't any other time where I felt like his life was absolutely secure, except for when he was in my arms.

"Not really," Levi answered, speaking between his fingers. His hands had moved down from his hair to his face, as they tried to smudge the sleep out of his eyes. "I know I dreamt about something, but for the life of me, I can't remember what. One thing that I actually do remember is that it left me with a good feeling when I woke up, so I know that it couldn't have been a nightmare. How cruel would that have been, right?"

I sat up with him and poked his shoulder. "I guess you could have called it...the nightmare before Christmas."

"Okay, now we're even," Levi chuckled. I began to laugh as well, as I dodged his playful shove. "I told a bad joke, you told a bad joke. I think it's time to get out of bed."

Still giggling, I stated, "I'm surprised you're actually willing to. You're usually against all things that require an actual amount of effort in the morning."

Just as he was pushing his way out of his bedsheets, Levi shot me a sideways glance that I read as somewhat mischievous. "Not when it's Christmas morning."

I wasn't the only one, huh? Even Levi got excited over the idea of Christmas morning. Why was that? Did he have plans to visit with his family? Now that I thought about it, it was a rare occurrence when Levi would mention his parents. I was under the impression that maybe they weren't all that close. With that in mind, I decided to keep my thoughts to myself. I went with another question. "Do you think Santa Claus paid you guys a visit?"

"You know that you're referring to just you and me, right?"

Levi was already making his side of our bed - uh, his bed. His side of his own bed. Yeah. He was making the bed, when I had to wonder, "What do you mean? Hange and Erwin-?"

He fluffed up one of the pillows. "They aren't here. Hange is on a plane to Australia right now, and Erwin probably left to go visit with his parents already."

"...And you?" Had he not mentioned everyone else's plans, I would have stuck to my gut and not pried into his own. But considering that both Erwin and Hange were going to be spending the holiday with their families, I felt the need to ask, "You don't have anything planned for the day?"

Levi bribed me out of bed and began to make the other side. For good reason, I'm sure, he opted against eye contact when he said, "Well, I was kind of planning on spending it with you."

I was touched. Actually, I was well beyond touched. I was practically swooning at the fact that he wanted to spend his Christmas with me, but I had to wonder if he'd broken any pre-made arrangements to make it happen. "Levi, that's..." I could physically feel my face turning red. "That's really sweet of you to say, but what about your family? Did you have any plans to spend the day with them?"

When he exhaled a deep breath, I immediately regretted the fact that I'd brought up anything regarding his family. I should have just kept the moment simple and sweet. God, I was such an idiot.

I tried to redeem the conversation as quickly as possible, by adding, "I-I didn't mean to make you upset, Levi! Of course I'd love to spend this Christmas with you! I shouldn't have been so curious about your family, I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it, Eren." Levi sat down on the edge of his freshly made bed. I saw him run his hands over his knees, before he looked up to me. "You didn't do anything wrong by asking. The only reason why I responded so dramatically is because it's exhausting just to even think about doing anything with my parents. They been divorced and remarried to different people for a while now, so they've got a couple of new kids and stuff like that. The whole idea of spending a holiday with two families that don't even feel like my own just doesn't seem appealing to me. But they understand how I feel. They send me a card, I send them a card. Merry Christmas, and that's about it."

Hearing that Levi had family problems of his own made me feel so much closer to him. It wasn't necessarily a good thing to bond over, but having that mutual understanding of an imperfect family brought us to a common ground. "I'm sorry things had to turn out that way for you, Levi."

He gave me another shrug and stood up again. "Like I said, don't worry about it. When I was younger, it totally sucked having to move from home to home on weekdays and weekends, but I'm over it. I have a new home now, and sometimes I hate living here, too, but at least I know that I have a place to call my own."

I nodded. What Levi had just said, it made sense to me. Having that one place in the world where you could wake up in and come back to every night, where you could kick off your shoes and just relax, it was a nice feeling. And even as an angel, it was reasonably obvious that I'd begun feeling like the apartment was becoming my home, too.

Levi didn't even bother getting dressed that morning. He stated that it was Christmas, and on Christmas, no one should be forced to wear uncomfortable clothes unless they are leaving the house, which he had absolutely no intentions of doing. Following him into the bathroom as he met nature's call and brushed his teeth, I was actually taken aback when he looked at me from within the mirror, spit out his toothpaste, and said, "Remember how you mentioned something about Santa paying us a visit earlier?"

I remembered it, of course, but I hadn't a clue as to why he was bringing it up. I'd meant it as a joke, so in actuality, our joke score had tallied up to two for me and one really complex one for him. I still felt like we were pretty even. "Yes, I remember," I said. "What about it?"

Even as he was swishing mouthwash from cheek to cheek, I was able to detect a sly grin in the way that he was narrowing his gaze and lifting his eyebrows. Another squish, another spit, another statement. "I think I heard some reindeer hooves on the roof last night," was his answer. "We should probably go and see if there's anything underneath the Christmas tree."

It was evident that I was confused. Was Levi trying to make another joke? Had our tallies gone up two-to-two? There was no way that Santa Claus could have brought anything for us. First of all, I'm pretty sure angels were excluded from the mix of gift giving, and secondly, he wasn't even real. I knew all of this, and yet, my wings began to flutter with childish exhilaration.

We made our way out of the bathroom, and as I tagged along behind Levi, my excitement only continued to grow. Would there actually be presents underneath the tree? Even if they were empty boxes, just seeing the colorful wrapping paper and decorative bows would be enough to make me smile for weeks. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. It would still get me pretty pumped, though.

Down the hall and around the corner, we entered the main room of the apartment. When the haphazardly decorated Christmas tree came into view, my wings slowly stopped their flapping. There were no bright boxes like I had been imagining, and quite frankly, even Levi was beginning to look slightly baffled by the sight. It was silly of me to get my hopes up.

"Huh," Levi breathed, stepping closer to the tree. He circled the thing maybe three or four times, before making a sound that suggested he'd found what he had been looking for. "'Beneath the tree.' Haha. Very clever, Santa."

If I thought that I was confused before, I had a whole new definition for the word now. "Levi, what are you doing?" I asked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Turning to me and beckoning for me to come closer, Levi offered the single command of, "Look beneath the tree, Eren. I think Santa may have left something for you."

Beneath the tree, beneath the tree. I was looking beneath it, but all I could see were wooden floorboards, fallen tree needles, the tiny stand that held it up, and - oh. Oh! All at once, my wings had started to flutter again. Literally beneath the Christmas tree, right underneath the tree stand, sat a small box that was wrapped in wrinkled newspaper. I could tell that it must have been read through a good number of times to get it to look that way. However, the newspaper wasn't what had attracted me to the present. As far as I was concerned, a present wasn't a present unless it had a bow on the top of it. Stuck to the surface of the newspaper was a big, blue bow, almost as big as the box itself. Was this gift...really for me?

"Go on, Eren," Levi prompted me again. "See if it's got your name written on it."

Not one to argue about such a thing, I approached the Christmas tree with caution. Standing in front of it felt like I was standing in front of myself, or just my wings, at least. Still very careful in doing so, I bent at the knee and reached for the tiny present. I wanted to yell at my fingers to shaking so violently, but I couldn't blame them. They were busily processing two emotions at once: both excitement and anxiety.

When my hand finally grabbed a hold of the small gift, Levi told me to check for a name again. Following his order, I flipped the present onto its side and began to look. Labeled there, right beneath the big header story, in big blocky letters, was my name. "It...it says 'EREN' on it," I said in disbelief. None of this made any sense. Never once had I seen Levi purchase anything at any store other than a few shampoos and lipsticks for his job, but that was it. There was no way that he could have been the one who bought this for me. Did Santa Claus really...?

"Of course it does," Levi nodded, as he took a seat on the sofa. "It's your present, so go ahead and open it."

I was beyond shocked. Opening presents was a big deal, there was no doubt about that, but opening mystery presents was even bigger. What could have been inside? I had no idea! It would be best for me to just listen to what Levi had said and open it up right away.

Instead of sitting next to Levi on the sofa, I decided to sit on the floor. I wasn't sure how other people did it in their houses, but as far as opening Christmas presents went in my house, they were always opened on the floor. Criss-crossing my legs, I gave the gift another once over before I began to take it apart.

By law, one must always start with the bow. It's the most important part of the present, other than the present itself, and should be treated like royalty. Plucking the blue thing off of the newspaper and settling it aside eloquently, I looked at Levi for his permission before I began to do anything else. When he sent me a shooing wave to keep going, I turned my attention back to the present and dug my fingers underneath the newspaper. After the remnants of the makeshift wrapping paper were tossed aside, I was left with a small, white covered box.

I was afraid to open it.

By my knowledge of holiday box sizes, there were only two types of gifts that could fit in a container so small: a gift card or jewelry. Seeing as I had absolutely no use for a gift card, that could only leave...

"Eren, you're seriously killing me here," Levi groaned. It sounded to me like he was just as anxious for my reaction as I was anxious to discover what was inside. "Just open the box."

The suspense was making me feel sick to my stomach. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to open it.

I lifted the lid of the box with utmost care, which revealed to me a stack of red tissue paper. I appreciated the festivity, before I set the lid down and began to peel away at the paper. Before long, my eyes had finally been graced with the sight of my gift, and boy, had they gone wide. Laying within the bed of bundled up tissue paper was a long, sturdy key made out of brass, fashioned to look just like...

"Do you like it, Eren?" Levi's voice was a distant sound to the roar of my raging heart. This key, it resembled the very same key that had once held so many mysteries, so many memories, so much purpose. I knew that Levi had just finished asking me a question, but I had one of my own that needed to be answered first.

"Levi, did you...how did you...?" Well, it would have been fantastic if words would have actually cooperated with me.

I half expected Levi to keep up with the whole "Santa brought it" facade, but was grateful when he responded to me truthfully. "Thank Hange. He did most of the hard work." That was an explanation I was more than eager to hear. "Remember that one night when you were so exhausted after landing practice that you took a nap with me on the couch?" I nodded. "Well, I didn't actually take a nap with you. All the while you were sleeping, I was trying to think up ideas of what I should get you for Christmas. Obviously I wouldn't be able to buy it for you in secret, because you would be there with me. When I finally thought of something that I remembered seeing just a few weeks before you came here, I sent Hange to go out and buy it. I kind of thought that it would be the perfect fit, and when Hange had seen what I was talking about for himself, he agreed with me."

Of course Hange had agreed. He'd seen that key around my neck almost as much as I had. If only Levi knew how much he had seen it, too. I didn't know what to say.

"Hey, you got kind of quiet," Levi noted. "Do you not like it?"

Hearing that made me gasp. "No, no!" How rude of me. Levi had gone through all of this trouble to buy me a Christmas present that he was clearly very proud of, and what was my response? Silence. Not only that, but I didn't even have anything for him in return. "I like it, I'm just...a little shocked. A key, I mean, that's quite an interesting idea. Why did you pick it?"

Something in the way that Levi had closed his eyes and smiled made me think that he was happy that I had asked. "It's supposed to be symbolic, Eren. That key doesn't actually open anything, but it's supposed to represent the fact that this right here, this is your home." He paused. "Um, okay, that actually sounds a lot cheesier when I say it out loud. You should probably forget everything that I just said."

No, there was no way that such a thing was going to happen. If anything, I wanted Levi to say those words to me over and over again. They weren't as good as "I love you", that was for sure, but to me, they were the next best thing. I had a home. This was where I belonged, and it was right by Levi's side.

Going from being utterly bewildered by the gift to wanting to treasure it for all of eternity, I delicately ran my fingers along the smooth brass of its base and looked back up to Levi. Wanting to be honest, I said the first thing that came to mind. "That's just...I could kiss you right now." And it just had to be that.

I didn't know what had surprised me more; the fact that I had really just said that, or the fact that Levi didn't seemed fazed in the slightest by it. Actually, no. I know what surprised me the most. It was when he brought up a finger to lure me closer to him. With his voice dropping to a tone that was smoother than the brass of the key itself, he whispered, "Then come over here and do it."

I couldn't tell you even if I had tried, but something within my normally skittish behavior had shifted. Before I could even properly digest my movements, Levi's calling finger had called me right into his arms.

After that, there was no warning. As his lips collided with mine, it was like nothing had ever changed. A human being and his guardian angel? No, we were a soldier and his superior.

His hands were like magic, touching all of the places that felt familiar. My hair, my neck, my shoulders; each spot yearned for his touch and welcomed him graciously.

Levi wasn't the only one who knew how to get handsy while kissing. Trailing my fingers down the side of his face as our lips reunited, this time with an astonishing sense of confidence, I had to remind myself that this could end up being very dangerous. Whenever Levi and I used to kiss this feverishly, we always ended up, well...yeah.

It was funny how we'd both subconsciously timed ourselves just right that we pulled our lips apart for the very same reason: a much needed breath of air. Huffing and puffing like we'd just finished a marathon, Levi's hands were still making their course around the upper half of my body, as he panted, "I'm guessing...I'm guessing you like your gift, Eren?"

The outer appearance may have caught me off guard, but oh, the meaning behind it was far greater than any unsettled memory. Not only that, but kissing Levi just now had reminded me of the good things about my key, like the way that he used to have a regular habit of holding onto it as we locked lips. He never told me the reason why he would do it, but I had a feeling that it must have been to keep me as close to him as possible. To keep me safe. To keep me home.

"Yes," I breathed, already leaning in for more. "Yes, Levi, I love it. I love it so much, I love-"

Levi didn't need to hear anymore. My answer had been far more than what he was expecting, and it was rewarded with the sensual sensation of having his lips on mine once again.

This time, we took things a little slower. There was no need to kiss each other like it was our last five minutes on Earth. We had the whole apartment to ourselves. We could relax and just enjoy the feeling of being kissed, because damn, it was a good feeling to be felt. But shamefully, it was an act that eluded us to our surroundings.

With Levi's hands in my hair, we didn't hear the front door unlock. With my fingers feeling their way down the length of his toned forearms, we didn't notice the sound of footsteps. With our lips just barely giving way to our tongues, we didn't realize that we were being watched.

"What the Hell do you think that you two are doing?"

Just like the tone that had spoken the inquiry, my wings went as stiff as ice blocks. I could feel it in Levi, too. His muscles had tightened in a way that suggested danger, which all together put me on higher alert.

"Why are you back so soon?" Appalled was the only word that could describe how I was feeling. I was appalled that Levi had the nerve to speak so frankly, when the rest of his body suggested otherwise. "I thought you were staying at your parents' house for the whole day."

"That was the plan, until they both got called in for a medical emergency. I hardly got two words in, before they were already rushing out the door."

Levi didn't know what to say to that, and neither did I. There was still a meter of malice in Erwin's voice that made me wonder what he was going to do to the both of us. Clearly, we'd just broken about fifty house rules that I had not been aware of.

"Get your hands off of him." It was a demand that was directed at no one in particular, but I was the one who followed it. Levi, on the other hand...

"Erwin, what the Hell? What gives you a damn right to tell Eren what do to?" I noticed that Erwin had tried to speak, but he was instantly silenced by Levi's continuing rant. "No, I'm not finished. Ever since Eren became my angel, you've been treating him like absolute trash. Do you know how many times this kid has saved me from getting myself injured? Do you even realize that he saved my life and got hurt himself in the process? I am so fed up with your attitude and your authority. Just why the Hell do you hate Eren so much?"

It was almost crazy to think that Erwin's answer had managed to be news to not just Levi, but to me, as well.

"Why wouldn't I feel hatred towards the person responsible for so many unnecessary deaths? Deaths that include your own, Levi."

Hi there! Chappy here! :D

I really, really apologize for the delay on this chapter, everyone! It would have been published last night, had been working with me. If you're not aware of this, I actually post "Feathers and Follies" to two websites, and AO3, with links to both of them on my tumblr account ( .com). I always post the chapter to FF first so that I can get all of the formatting correct and ready for AO3, but with FF being uncooperative with me, it was just a formatting disaster. orz

Again, I'm super sorry for the delay!

With those explanations out of the way, I hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter! It was worth the wait, right? I sure hope so! And look at that right there! You see that? That's a cliffhanger! Hadn't had one of those in a while! Well, guess what. We're back in business. ;D

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read! I hope that you enjoyed!

- Chappy