This is my favorite prompt!

As always, I don't own SNK or any of its characters.

"More gifts?" Eren scowled as he saw a bag of cookies on Armin's desk. The blonde ignored him and took the cookies with a fond smile. "Seriously, aren't you sick of this already?"

It was Thursday. For the past week, Armin had been getting little gifts like cookies or notes with bad puns on them. The sender was known only as "your secret santa". That meant is had to be either Eren, Mikasa, Connie, Sasha, Jean, Marco, Reiner, or Bertotl because they had all decided to do secret santa that year. The requirements were only to get a present on Christmas for the person who's name you got, but Armin's person had decided to go quite beyond that.

Armin knew it wasn't Eren because of the boy's reactions to each present (Eren was terrible at hiding his emotions so he knew he wasn't pretending either). He also knew it wasn't Mikasa because the girl had told him she got Sasha and had asked for advice on her present. That still left quite a few people, but the truth was that Armin didn't want to know; at least not yet. He thought the anonymity was half the fun.

"Of course not, Eren! It's so thoughtful." The brunette muttered under his breath and Armin chuckled. "You should get into the holiday spirit! Here!" Armin opened the bag of cookies, which were decorated like snowmen. "Want one?" Eren gaged.

"Whatever those cookies are intended for, it's definitely not me." The blonde rolled his eyes.

"Grinch." He teased, taking a bite off a cookie. The class began, but all Armin could think about was his secret santa. They truly had put a lot of effort into their actions. Armin found it adorable, but he was the only one getting these gifts and he couldn't help wonder if there was another purpose to them.

It's still really sweet. I shouldn't think too much of it.

After class, Armin went to his locker to get a textbook. He smiled as he saw a note taped to it. Eren rolled his eyes. The blonde took the note, which had a funny drawing of a reindeer and the words:

What does a reindeer say before telling a joke? This one will sleigh you!

"I can't believe whoever this person is hasn't run out of puns yet." The brunette groaned. Armin elbowed him.

"Come on, let's go." He pressed the note tightly to his chest as they walked.

Mikasa was in his next class. He showed her the note to which she just raised an eyebrow.

"At least it's better than the last one."

"It wasn't so bad!"

"The pepper one?"

"Wait, I think I have it in my backpack." Armin opened the front pocket of his backpack where he had been placing all of his "gifts". He passed the requested note to Mikasa. It had the drawing of a salt shaker with a santa hat on and the words:

What did the salt say to the pepper? Season's Greetings.

The black haired girl just stared at the note. Armin laughed at her blank expression.

"It's the thought that counts." Armin explained as he took the note back and put it away with the others, also adding the newest one.

"Have you figured out who it is yet?"

"I haven't."

"You could if you wanted to."

"Why is it that people never seem to get the "secret" part?"

When the bell rang, they made their way to leave the room but were stopped by the teacher.

"Arlert! Hold on a second; someone left something for you." The blonde walked to the teacher, who handed him a giant candy cane.

"Nice." Mikasa said. Armin couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

When Eren saw it, he commented on how the blonde was going to get fat if all the person gave him was food.

"Don't forget about those Christmas themed pencils from yesterday! Or the mittens from Monday!"

"Yeah but what about the red velvet cupcake from yesterday! Or the candied walnuts from Monday!" Eren rubbed his temples. "And those ridiculous notes! I will never be able to forget the garden one."

Armin feigned ignorance.

"Which one was that one?" Eren seemed to snap.

"WHY DOES SANTA HAVE 3 GARDENS? SO HE CAN HO HO HO!"

Armin laughed as the brunette seethed with rage.

"You have to accept that being able to come up with those is a skill in itself."

"Why are you my friend?"

Armin was slightly sad on Friday. It would be the last day of the little gifts because they would be having the presents exchange on Saturday at Connie's house.

At least I will find out who it is and I can finally thank them properly.

The truth was that the past week had been one of the happiest he could remember. It felt nice to know that someone was thinking so much about him and going through so much trouble to make him feel special.

I don't think I've ever been so excited about Christmas before.

His slight sadness went away the moment he laid eyes on his locker. He laughed out loud. There were lights hanging all around it, badly cut snowflakes taped on, and a small wreath with a bright red bow.

Armin was touched. Figuring out how to connect the lights must have been very complicated. He could imagine the person who did this staying late after school or early in the morning to do it.

He stared at his locker for a long time before actually opening it and taking the books he would need for his next class. People walking by praised him about his locker and Armin would say "A friend did it for me."

He chuckled as he thought of what Eren's reaction would be when he saw it. Giving it one last glance, Armin made his way to the area where he always met up with his friends before class.

Many people walked past him as he made his way there. He suddenly felt someone's hand on his back for a fleeting second. The blonde turned around and tried to see who it had been but there was no way to tell.

He smiled as he pulled a note from off his back. It had the drawing of a snowman with fangs.

What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? Frostbite

Armin shook his head with a small chuckle and put the note in his backpack.

"Ugh thank heavens it Friday; I don't think I could take any more of that." Eren huffed as Armin showed him the newest note. "I can't even be relieved though! If today's the last day then it's probably going to be the most intense one!"

"Probably. Wait till you see my locker." Eren's face twitched.

"What did they do?"

"They decorated it!" The brunette sighed.

"This day can't end soon enough. When we find out who this person is I'm going to have a serious talk with them."

"Stop being annoying, Eren. I really appreciate everything they've done."

"Well you are you! And it is because it is you we are talking about that I'm so pissed off. What's with this person anyway? Why are they even going out of their way to do all this?"

"Do you have something against people doing nice things for others?"

"You know that's not what I meant!"

Armin gave him an innocent smile. The bell rang to signify the start of the school day. They walked to their first class and, of course, there was a gift waiting on Armin's desk. The blonde's eyes lit up with interest and fondness when he saw what it was.

"A candle?" Eren said slightly confused.

"A book scented candle." Armin corrected. He took the small object into his hands.

"Your room already smells of books." Eren muttered annoyed.

"Shush I'm actually really curious." The blonde knew that the candle wasn't common and he wondered if the person had ordered it from the Internet or something just for him.

During lunch someone brought him some churros and Armin couldn't be happier. He found gifts in each class but no notes. It wasn't until his last period that he found one taped to his desk.

Armin felt his heartbeat accelerate as he read the final note.

This one's the best one!

What do you call a group of chess nerds bragging about their games in a hotel lobby?

Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer!

Armin actually dropped his head against his desk with a load thud.

You are so ridiculous!

He didn't lift his head again until the bell rang. All he could think about was how maybe he was a little bit in love with this person.

"I want to eat already!" Sasha yelled. The 8 friends were sitting in Connie's living room chatting amiably when Sasha made her declaration.

"We're doing the secret santa thing first! We're just waiting for Reiner cause we sent him to buy more chips!" Connie yelled back.

"Lets just do it without him!"

"Sasha you damn glutton! I'm back already!" The blonde called out from the door. Armin laughed at his friend's antics.

"Lets get this started! I want to eat too!" Eren called out.

"How should we start?" Armin asked. Connie grinned.

"Why don't we start with you? Here." He took a piece of paper out from his pocket and gave it to Armin. For a second the blonde wondered if Connie was his secret santa but something told him that wasn't the case. His heartbeat quickened as he read the note.

What did the horse say when it fell? I've fallen and I can't giddyup!

The blonde was slightly confused. That hadn't been Christmas related. Horses? Horse…

Armin gasps as realization hit him. He looked up.

"Jean!"

Of course

Now it seemed obvious. Of course it had been Jean who had come up with all those ridiculous one liners. Jean, who came off as selfish and blunt but was actually really caring and funny.

The boy in question nodded, blushing. He gave a nervous laugh. The blonde smiled warmly.

"Thank you so much for all your gifts." He wanted to say more, but the tone of his voice seemed enough to convey his emotions. The other boy looked all flustered as he looked away from the blonde. He quickly made his way to the Christmas tree under which everyone had put their presents. He took a package and walked to Armin.

"H-here. M-merry Christmas." The moment Armin took the package in his hands Jean sat back down and stared at the ground, red on the face.

Armin began to open his present. His chest swelled when he saw what it was. It was a limited edition of his favorite book. He remembered telling Jean about it a long time ago. He couldn't believe the boy still remembered.

"I want to go next!" Eren called out. Armin tuned everyone out. He noticed there was a note taped to the back of the book. He read it.

Armin,

This week you got 22 gifts. Hope you liked them.

The blonde smiled but he felt something was off. There was not joke or drawing on this note. Only the number 22 was bolded and highlighted… 22…

Armin hesitated before opening his new book to page 22.

There. Another note.

Merry Christmas! Don't freak out!

I like you. Go out with me?

The blonde stared at the note with the silliest grin stuck on his face. His breath had caught in his throat. He re-read the note a few times before closing the book and putting it down. He stood up, interrupting Connie and Eren's gift exchange, and walked towards Jean who was still looking at the ground with an embarrassed look on his face. Armin bent down and kissed Jean on the cheek.

"Yes." He answered.