It was bitterly cold. The wind was 'thin' as Kuchel Ackerman would have described it; so thin it blew right through you. The trees, dusted white, that ringed the frozen pond, bent and lifted and bent again under the gusting wind. The whole world was painted in pale greys.

Skaters moved around on the ice, looking ethereal in the swirling, windswept snow and punctuating the grey world with muted splotches of color.

Levi shivered as that thin wind whispered across the ice and the sidewalk and felt like it went straight through him. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and huddled down into his scarf. "I can't believe we're getting ice cream today. Who the fuck even sells ice cream in winter?"

"This guy" Eren jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the classic red and white ice cream truck that was, inexplicably in the chilling cold, overrun with customers—most of them under four feet tall and many with ice skates over their shoulders.

Eren, as usual, ran hot and didn't feel the cold at all.

The pond in the park froze every winter and was a popular location for young lovers and young parents and kids of all ages to socialize, and flirt, and skate. The ice cream truck which sold ice cream and hot dogs and burritos had been a staple for years. One year, the owner had discovered that if he started offering hot chocolate, coffee, and hot soup when the weather turned cold that he could keep selling his ice cream and hot dogs and burritos year 'round.

They were standing in line, Levi leaning dangerously close to one of the two propane heaters the ice cream truck owner had put out.

Eren was watching the skaters. "I'm glad you came," he said.

Levi, his hands outstretched toward the heater, nodded. "Me too."

"It's like our second date!"

"You just never give up, do you?" Levi asked, shaking his head.

Eren grinned. "Nope," he said, popping the 'P'.

Levi glared at him. "Never, ever, do that again in front of me."

Eren's grin widened.

"And if you ever do it in front of Mikasa, I'll eat your eyeballs. That's just what I need is for her to learn such foolishness."

The line moved a foot or so and they shuffled forward.

"Eat my eyeballs?"

"Yep," Levi said, popping the 'P'.

Eren laughed out loud.

Their turn came and Eren hung on the chin-height counter like a little kid, "Two scoops of Tutti Frutti, please."

"One scoop of vanilla," Levi said, behind him.

Eren smirked, "Really? Vanilla?"

Levi shrugged, "I'm a boring guy."

Well that wasn't true.

They paid for their ice cream (after a brief spat over who was going to pay. Eren ended the argument by slapping down his dad's credit card before Levi could count out his pocket change.) Circling around behind the truck to a low brick wall they sat comfortably side by side, Levi grumbling that there were no heaters back there. Despite the chilly air, the ice cream was melting slowly.

Eren quickly licked his cone, then, cutting his eyes at Levi, licked again rather sensuously. Levi stared.

The effect was exactly what Eren was going for. He licked again, oh-so-slowly.

Levi fidgeted and chewed his lip. "Jesus, Eren, quit. You're gonna give me a hard-on."

Eren licked again. "That's the plan."

"Fuck me," Levi muttered.

"OK!" Eren said brightly.

"Eren … for Christ's sake ..."

"What? It's just some innocent flirting."

"There's nothing innocent about it." Levi shifted uncomfortably. He needed to adjust his trousers.

Eren's good mood evaporated. "What's up with you? We've been flirting!"

"You've been flirting. I've been suffering."

Eren looked so hurt that Levi immediately regretted what he'd said.

"Have you really hated it that much?" Eren asked in a very small voice.

Levi would have liked to have taken Eren's free hand with his free hand and squeezed reassuringly, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Of course I didn't hate it … but I thought we were just going for 'just friends' here." His cone dripped sticky vanilla onto his hand.

"That makes no sense, Levi!" Eren burst out. "You don't want to be with me but you don't have a problem with my flirting! What exactly do you want?"

Eren was angry. Suddenly and seriously angry. Levi was well familiar with his volatile mood swings but he didn't know exactly what to do. He knew how he should answer but he couldn't seem to make his mouth say it.

Eren stood, his ice cream forgotten, his free hand clenched. "What the hell do you want, Levi?!"

"I want to kiss you!"

They both froze. Eren sat slowly back down. "What?"

Levi was breathing hard. His mouth moved but no sound came out.

"What did you just say?" Eren asked in a whisper.

"I … I want to kiss you."

Eren glanced around. Nobody was close by and the ice cream truck shielded them from any potential lookers on. "You want to kiss me? For real?"

Levi nodded, staring at Eren's mouth, pupils wide and black. Eren licked his lips and figited. "Well, yeah, of course you can kiss me!"

Levi came in hot, grasping Eren's shoulders and pressing his mouth urgently to the other man's, leaving Eren breathless. Levi's ice cream cone hit the frozen ground with a splat.

Eren's eyes drifted shut in bliss.

Levi flicked his tongue along the seam of Eren's lips, requesting entrance. He opened up and Levi plunged his tongue in.

Eren tasted like cherries and pineapple, like sunshine and summer on that chilly day.

Levi pulled back slowly. Eren still had his eyes closed and, amazingly, still had a grip on his ice cream. Levi looked around on the ground till he found his and picked it up, with a grimace of distaste, standing to toss it into a nearby trash can and use the napkin to wipe off his hand.

"OK, we've got a problem," Levi said, returning to where Eren sat.

"That was amazing," Eren said dreamily.

"Eren … " Levi stared at him desperately, "can we do that and … and still be just friends?"

"Yes," Eren said, grinning. He'd take what he could get. "Yes, absolutely."