"So you're staying, too?" You glanced over at Jean, who was helping you with sweeping the main hall— Rest of the day you'd be putting up the christmas decorations, but before that the whole area had to be cleaned from top to bottom. "I was sure your mom wouldn't let you stay—"

"Well excuse me, [f/n], but I'm a grown man." Jean rolled his eyes, not even bothering to glance at your direction. "I'll spend the holidays where-ever I want. It's not like she can force me to go home… And besides, almost everyone else are staying at the HQ, too. And it's not like I'm-"

"Found them!" Krista's cheery voice called from the hallway and not a moment later she and Ymir appeared to the doorway, both of them holding large boxes in their hands.

"We had to turn the whole storage room upside down in order to find these boxes… Better be worth it!" Ymir groaned as she threw her crate on the floor, proceeding on wiping dust from her clothes.

"Don't drop them on the floor like that!" Eren, who was mopping the other side of the hall, yelped. "Those crates are covered with dust! We were just finishing up in here, and-" Eren couldn't even finish his sentence when Connie dashed to the scene, curiosity immediately sparking into his eyes when he noticed the crates on the floor.

"Ah, are the decorations in here?" Without waiting for an answer, he vigorously tugged one of the crates open, sending a huge cloud of dust up in the air.

"Connie!" You squealed horrified, but the damage was already done. "We were just done cleaning! Now we need to do that area all over again or Captain will let us have it!"

"Sorry..!" Connie coughed, seemingly surprised about the mess he had just made. "How I was supposed to know..?"

"How about… Maybe thinking before acting, jockey?" Ymir stated sarcastically. "You should try it sometime."

"It's alright, we can clean it up together." Krista tried to calm the situation. "Let's just take a look at the decorations first; I want to see what everything they got stored for us..!"

"Fine." You sighed. "Just a quick peek, but that's it— We should be already done in here and Captain could be back at any minute..!"

"These look… eh… pretty old." Seemingly disappointed on what she saw, Krista pulled out a worn out christmas garland from the box. "These are almost falling apart..!"

"I guess the yearly budget doesn't include a new set of holiday decorations… Or am I right, [f/n]?" Jean asked as the two of you went to take a look at the decorations as well. You were trying to come up with something witty as a response, but couldn't even open your mouth when a piercing shriek of terror made all of you startle. Screamer was Krista, who grabbed the broom from Jean and bashed the decoration box with it.

"What the-?!" For a second you just stood there speechless as Krista continued smashing the hell out of the box, sending bits and pieces of ruined christmas decorations all over the place. "What the hell are you doing?!" You gasped in shock. "They can't be that bad! Stop that!"

"T-there…" Krista sobbed, giving up the racket only when Ymir grabbed a hold of her. "In the box..! Something touched me, it had to be a rat!"

"You're serious?" You stared at her in disbelief. "I mean… Just the fact that you can fight titans but you're scared of a rat..?! I… Argh, forget it!" Taking a moment to calm down, you took a deep breath and rubbed your temples. "There's no time to worry about the decorations; We need to get this shit cleaned up and then we'll figure out the rest. Levi could be back literally any second now, and I can only imagine what he has to say about this…" You lifted your gaze to receive a pleading looks from your friends— You could tell right away what they had in mind. "Damn with you guys… Fine!" You shoved your broom into Eren's hands and marched towards the hallway. "But I can buy you only… from 5 to 10 minutes? So chop-chop!" You commanded on your way out. This wasn't the first or definitely not a last time you were sent out to stall Heichou. "This is starting to become a habit..!" You muttered under your breath as you hustled towards the meeting room.

Only after a minute or so waiting in the hallway, the door finally opened and people poured out of the meeting room. Luckily for you, Levi exchanged few words with Erwin before heading out; Every minute spend gave your friends a teeny bit more time to fix the mess they had caused.

"How was the meeting~?" You chanted when Levi stepped to the hallway.

"Awfully long and boring." He smiled as he saw you, seemingly surprised but happy to find you there waiting for him. Usually you accompanied him in these meetings, but this time you had been left to supervise the cleaning task while Levi was away. "Too bad you couldn't be there— I know how you love those meetings." Levi jested, playfully pulling you into his arms.

"Yeah, I bet I would've enjoyed it." You sneered, gladly accepting the invite into his embrace. For a short moment neither of you said a word, simply enjoying being close to each other— When Levi held you in his arms like this, you always got that warm, fuzzy feeling down in your stomach; You purred like a kitten as his scent and warmth surrounded you, making you feel like there wasn't a single worry in the world.

"So…" He finally released you from his embrace when the very last people left from the meeting room. "What gives me this pleasure? I take that the cleaning job is done?"

"They were just finishing up when I left—" It wasn't a lie, since they were finishing up at the very moment you two spoke... There just happened to be a bit more finishing up to be done, but still. "I decided to sneak out a bit earlier so we could have a moment alone."

"Is that so?" Levi smirked mischievously. "Slacking off, you naughty girl… But I guess I can let it slide— Just this once." He placed a soft peck on your forehead as he gently took your hand in his, guiding you to follow him to the direction of the main hall.

"Hey, Levi…"

"What is it?"

"I'm pretty sure I already know the answer, but… Is there any possibility that the regiment budget would cover a new set of holiday decorations? Just asking..!"