Turquoise Ribbons and Brown Paper Bags

Eren knew that this Christmas would be entirely different than any other Christmas in his short nineteen years. There were three main reasons for this. Reason Number One, also the most important reason, was that it was the first Christmas he'd be celebrating without his own family. Reason Number Two, important in a completely different way that Reason Number One, was that he'd be celebrating it instead with his older man of a boyfriend of 8 months. Reason Number Three, important in the same way, was that he was not only celebrating Christmas, but also his boyfriend's birthday.

Levi, of course, had no idea. He hadn't celebrated his own birthday since he was a child. As far as Eren was concerned, all Levi was aware of was a Christmas Celebration.

Eren went over to Levi's apartment next door early to help start cooking their dinner. In true Levi fashion, Eren was sent into the living room once everything simple was done. It gave him time to think over all of his plans for Levi's birthday plans and make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. The gift he had gotten for his smaller than average boyfriend still sat in his apartment. He didn't plan to go retrieve it until dinner was almost done, but he could see a parcel sitting under Levi's modest Christmas Tree that had to have been for him. It was the only one under there and as far as Eren knew, Levi wasn't exactly close enough with anyone else to get them any sort of gifts.

Eren heard a bang and a muffled swear as he reached for the remote to find something to watch on the television. He sat back slightly and turned his head to look at the kitchen door.

"Levi? You okay in there?" Eren called. There was silence for a moment that held nothing but a loud grunt from the kitchen and he laughed softly. "You need some help in there, baby?"

He didn't have to wait long for a response; Levi hated being called baby.

Eren heard something clang down onto the counter and then Levi was stomping into the Living room, pointing a dark red finger at him.

"I am not an infant!" he barked at the brat.

"Did you smash your finger?" Eren asked instead of responding.

"'Did I smash my finger,' the damned brat asks, 'Did I SMASH my FINGER,' he asks. What does it look like, brat?" Levi held his hand out closer, pointing his finger to the ceiling with his knuckles facing away from him. The corners of his mouth were pointed down in a grumpy frown and his eyes were slightly more narrow than usual.

Eren laughed softly and reached out to hold his hand gently and pull his aggravated man closer. He came with little resistance other than an annoyed grunt. The turquoise-eyed man lifted his man's injured finger up to his mouth and gave it a soft peck with a sweet smile. He could see Levi visibly deflate.

Levi pulled his hand away and sighed.

"You damned brat," he told Eren fondly. He leaned down and gave the younger man a kiss, smiling when he heard a happy hum come from the recipient. He pulled away and Eren watched him turn and go back into the kitchen to finish up making dinner.

Even without his mother, this would be a good Christmas.

He turned back to the television, hoping to find something decent to watch as he slowly starved to death until he could eat. Soon, Levi joined his as the final stage of Christmas food prep began. They could smell all the good smells as dinner cooked, occasionally lamenting the fact that they couldn't eat something that smelled so amazing.

As they waited Eren relished in this time he had with Levi. His smaller other half was nestled into his side. Eren had his left arm thrown over his shoulders, holding Levi's left hand with his own right hand. It was comfortable and made him feel at home. As dinner drew closer, though, he knew that his plan would be put into action soon. It made him nervous.

He did his best to hide this, but began to get strange looks as his leg started bouncing so fast it was almost vibrating. When Levi finally got up to start pulling everything out of the oven, he shot up from his seat.

"I'm going over to my apartment really quick, I'll be right back!" He called as he speed-walked out the door.

He grabbed The Bag from beside his sofa and ran into his room to grab the gift with the ribbon that matched his eyes. Before he could chicken out and toss The Bag into a corner, he ran right back over to Levi's. He walked back in right as Levi was coming back out of the kitchen.

"Just need to let the turkey rest for a bit," Eren was informed. He nodded, slightly out of breath from a combination of the nerves and running.

"Just had to go and grab your present." He held up the box and tossed The Bag over beside Levi's sofa. He smiled nervously as Levi lifted an eyebrow at the obvious lack of details about the bag. When the lacking details weren't forthcoming, he shook his head and gestured to the sofa.

"Let's watch something while we wait for the turkey, then."

Eren could do that.

They waited until later in the evening, once they didn't feel like human bowling balls, to open each others gifts. Levi had gotten Eren a book he had been eyeballing for the past three months. He hugged it to his chest with one arm and threw the other around his boyfriend in his happiness, babbling about his excitement at finally having this book and practically shoved his own gift into Levi's hands.

"Open yours now!" he demanded.

Levi gently pulled the ribbon that matched Eren's eyes off and tugged the wrapping paper away to reveal a simple black picture frame with several separate squares for several different pictures. Inside the picture frame was pictures they had taken together. There was one where Levi had a small smile while Eren had his long arms wrapped around his shoulders and his lips pressed to Levi's cheek. Another where Eren had his head thrown back while he laughed with Levi on his back looking mildly annoyed. A third one was much more serious. Levi and Eren held each other, looking serenely into each others eyes with small smiles on both of their faces. It was automatically his favorite in the entire frame.

Levi put the frame aside without looking at the other photos and leaned forward to pull Eren into a hug.

"I love it, thank you," he told him. He pulled back to look into Eren's eyes and give him a long, sweet kiss that took Eren's breath away.

"I have one more thing for you," Eren whispered as they pulled away from each other. He reached over the side of the sofa and grabbed The Bag. He held it up in front of him, smiling at Levi nervously.

Levi took it, opening it up looking inside. He snapped it shut and looked at Eren in shock.

"What -"

"I think we're ready," Eren interrupted. It was quiet as Levi stared at him in shock for a moment, and Eren began to fear the worst.

"Are you sure?" Levi finally asked softly, reaching out to pull Eren's hand up to his lips. Eren nodded.

"I want to be with you," he answered simply. And that was all it took.

Levi yanked him forward and pressed a hot kiss to his lips, earning a soft groan of want to slip from Eren's throat. They didn't spend long in the living room after that. Levi grabbed The Bag and pulled Eren to his bedroom, their lips never separating.

"Happy Birthday, Levi," Eren whispered as his eager other half pushed him down to lay down on his back. Levi stopped for a moment, before throwing his head back and laughed, bringing a smile to Eren's face. He leaned down to press open mouth kisses to Eren's neck when he finished laughing.

"Best Christmas and birthday I've had in years," he told him.

Eren laughed softly as he lifted up and flipped them over so that Levi was on bottom with his legs wrapped around his thin waist.

That was the first of many nights Eren would spend at Levi's apartment.

Well there's that, then! With several requests to continue, I decided write up a nice, extremely late, Christmas special for our two favorite SnK men. Zero proof reading, whatsoever! Currently, I'm thinking up a Valentine's Day onesie. Not completely sure as of yet, however.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think! Much Love,

Primary.