The snow started in earnest as they drove home but Carla's Cadillac didn't hesitate. Visibility was almost zero when they pulled up to Levi's apartment, though.

They trudged up the walk; the snow was already getting deep.

When they got in, Moblit was watching the weather on TV and Hange was heating cider on the stove. Mikasa was working on a puzzle on the table.

"Back already?" Hange said, "It's a good thing. They say we're in for some weather! Hot cider? I even brought whipped creeeeam!"

"God, yes," Levi said, shedding his coat and boots and hurrying over.

Eren, a hot chocolate man, inspected the cider curiously. "What's in it? It smells great!"

Hange grinned. "Kosher cider, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, orange slice. Even the whipped cream is kosher. Try it!"

"I will, thank you."

"Whipped cream? You look like a whipped cream kinda guy."

"You know it!"

Levi wandered over to the back of the couch with his cider and watched the weather. "It looks bad, like really bad. Hange, you and Mobes should stay here tonight."

"What about me?" Eren asked, staring at the TV.

"Well you too, of course."

"Where will we all sleep?" Eren asked.

"You and I could camp out on the floor," Moblit said. "Give Hange the couch. "I don't mind."

"Nah, the floor is too uncomfy!" Hange said. "I can crash with Mikasa—we've napped together in her bed a billion times—right, 'Kasa?"

"Right! And we can build a fort!"

"Yay for forts!" Hange said, grinning.

"That'll work," Levi said. "Then Moblit can take the couch."

"Where'll I sleep?" Eren asked nervously.

"You sleep in the tub," Levi said.

"OK … uh ..."

"Oh my god, asshole, I'm kidding! My bed is a double. You can sleep there."

Eren noticed that Levi carefully didn't say "with me."

"Fort time!" Hange cried. She brought over one of Levi's often re-washed Ziploc bags and she and Mikasa began putting up the loose puzzle pieces.

Levi made up the couch with Moblit's help and Moblit, who had had a long day, turned off the TV and pretty much crashed immediately.

"Anybody want the last of the cider?" Hange asked.

"I'll take some," Levi said.

"Me too," Eren said.

Levi was putting the last of the whipped cream on top of their cider and Eren sat down at the table (careful not to sit in 'Papa's chair'.) Hange and Mikasa thundered upstairs and they could hear them thumping around, apparently building their fort. Moblit snored quietly. In the front window, the snow fell thickly and silently in the darkness on the other side of the glass.

The whole situation was warm and homey and made Eren happy. Levi brought their cider over and sat at the table with Eren. For several minutes they just sat in companionable silence and sipped their drinks.

"This is nice," Eren said.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"I love winter."

"I fucking hate it, but it is pretty." Levi took a drink of his cider. "If you don't have to be out in it."

Eren remembered that Levi didn't have a car and that he and Mikasa had to walk everywhere or take the bus. He immediately felt bad.

"Do you think you'll ever get married?"

"Eren …"

"I don't necessarily mean to me! I'm just asking. Although the offer still stands." Eren ran his fingers through his chestnut hair, trying to tame the locks. "Y'know … if you ever get the urge." He smiled winningly.

"Tch. Yes, I've thought about it. It would have to be a really good person though. Not just someone that I get on with but someone who loved Mikasa."

"I adore Mikasa!"

"I thought we weren't talking about you."

"Just presenting the facts, your honor."

"Tiresome brat."

Eren grinned. "Crabby old man."

Eren had never been upstairs before and it was as tiny as he'd expected. It consisted of just the two small bedrooms, a hall closet, and nothing else. If you had to piss in the night you had to go downstairs.

Hange's and Mikasa's fort was massive. It covered the entire room. Made of sheets and blankets it draped over the lamp, the bed, the toy box, the open closet door. Everything was affixed with wooden clothespins which Levi immediately noticed. "Make sure ALL of my clothespins come back to me, people of the fort."

Eren got down on all fours immediately and crawled in and Mikasa screamed shrilly. "UGH! No boys!"

"'Kasa, volume," Levi murmured.

"Sorry."

"I'm just a friendly elf who just wants to see your fort!" Eren said.

"He looks like a friendly elf to me," Hange said.

"Papa, is Eren a good elf?"

"Yes, love, he's very good."

Eren went further in till he was in the center. Between the lamp and the fairy lights that Hange and Mikasa had strung up it was wonderful. "Levi, you should come in here."

"I've been in many of Mikasa's creations before."

"Grumpy pants."

That tickled Mikasa no end. "Grump pants! Grumpy pants!"

"You'd better come out here and kiss Mr. Grumpy Pants or go to bed with no kiss."

Mikasa hurried out.

"Mwah! I love you, papa."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Do I get a kiss?" Hange asked.

"From 'Kasa, maybe."

"Mwah, I love you, Hange! Papa, can I kiss Eren goodnight?"

Levi looked at Eren who had crawled back out of the fort. "Sorry but you are now morally obligated to kiss the kid."

Eren grinned and kissed her, catching her up in a brief hug. "Night 'Kasa. Don't let the bedbugs bite your butt."

"Papa! Eren said 'butt'!" Mikasa said, giggling madly.

"Goodnight, you two," Levi said, stepping to the door with a smile.

Eren stepped through and just as Levi was closing it they heard Mikasa asking Hange if bedbugs really bit your butt.

Levi shook his head. "Teaching my kid bad stuff."

"Hey, it's just what my mom always said!" Eren laughed. "Thanks for calling me a good elf."

"Well, you are. Mostly."

"Hey!"

Levi chuckled.

In Levi's bedroom, identical to Mikasas—minus the fort—Eren got noticeably more unsure. Levi got undressed to his boxers while Eren nervously looked anywhere but at his lean, pale body. He was surprisingly well-muscled. Eren wondered if he worked out. "So … how's this gonna work?"

Levi shrugged. "We sleep, we get up, we hope the storm's blown over and the snowplows have run."

"I've never slept in a bed with someone I wasn't, well, fucking."

"You are tonight."

"The bed's not that big."

Levi looked at him. "Wait … do you not trust me?"

Eren fidgeted and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just … I mean … what if we touch, or … it could be kinda ..."

"Jesus Eren, I'm not gonna bone you in your sleep for chrissakes! You've been flirting with me all this time and now you suddenly are afraid that I'm gonna poke you in the night?"

Levi didn't understand. Hoping would be a more accurate word.

"Nah, nah, nevermind, It'll be fine," Eren said.

He sat on the edge of the bed, one leg drawn up on the duvet. Levi carefully folded his clothes and put them on a chair. He rummaged in a drawer for socks and boxers for the morning. Eren admired his defined back.

"Ya know, we could, uh ... try that again," Eren said suddenly.

"What?"

"What we did behind the ice cream truck."

Levi looked at him. "You make it sound like we murdered someone back there. Look, we're alone. We're about to sleep in the same bed. Do you think that's really a good idea right now?"

Eren blushed and studied his hands. He did think it was a good idea. He thought it was the best idea but he couldn't tell Levi that.

Levi walked around to what Eren assumed was his side of the bed and took off his watch. "Fuck, one minute you think I'm gonna attack you in your sleep—"

Hoping. Hoping you would.

"—and the next you're like, 'let's make out before we sleep together platonically in the same bed.'" He shook his head and put his watch down on the bedside table.

"Sorry. I guess I'm just nervous."

"Well don't be. We're just friends. Friends can sleep in the same bed."

That phrase echoed in Eren's mind. Just friends, just friends, just friends ...