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It was 32°C hot and about 4 in the afternoon when Eren decided that enough was enough.
He sat on the balcony of his parents’ beach house in which he had spent most summers during his childhood. They had been so kind and offered him to stay there on their vacation when their trip to Greece got suddenly cancelled, so instead of flying off to somewhere foreign, he and his boyfriend of 7 years drove to the south of France.
His boyfriend spoke perfect French, so it was fairly easy for them to spend a few weeks there, as Eren had forgotten almost all of his knowledge about the French language from school, except for “Je ne comprends pas” and “Est-ce que vous voulez coucher avec moi?”
A gentle breeze ruffled his brown, slightly curly hair that he had cut short before their trip, because he figured his long hair would only get really dry from the salt water. His red lemonade was starting to warm up as the ice cubes melted and he sighed, before taking a sip through a drinking straw.
Eren Jaeger was 28 years old and he finally wanted to marry his lover. They had talked about marriage a few times already, the first time was two years ago, and he found himself getting more impatient with each passing day. It had always seemed like Levi would initiate a proposal, but maybe he interpreted his boyfriend wrong. Maybe he did indeed not get Eren’s very obvious hints?
And then he called him a dumbass. Who was the real dumbass? Not Eren.
The umbrella saved him from lethal sunshine and insufferable heat, but nevertheless the cold shower he had taken earlier had been a much more pleasant place than the shadowy balcony. His white, baggy shirt and the booty shorts provided just enough air to tickle his skin while he tried his best to pass some time doing crossword puzzles in one of those magazines that usually were lying around at the hairdresser.
“Ugh… ‘Star’ in French… Dang it”, Eren mumbled and scratched his neck with the pen. He was about to pull out his phone, when he suddenly felt strong arms hug him from behind, caging him around his shoulders.
Levi massaged Eren lightly through the fabric of his clothes, when he said, “Étoile.”
“Hey, no cheating. I knew it”, Eren argued quietly and proceeded to write the word down, letter by letter. “Like this? É-T-O-I-L-E?”
“I thought you knew it,” his boyfriend teased and tapped around on his shoulders, as he watched Eren’s ears turn red.
“You’re distracting me.”
“Oh, am I? How? I thought I was oh so silent all the time.”
“You’re awfully handsy today,” Eren suddenly remarked as he felt Levi brush through his hair and play with it, and just as suddenly the sensation stopped. “Hey, it’s not a bad thing. I’m just not used to it. You’re only this handsy when you shagged my brains out before.”
When he turned his head to get a better look at Levi, his pupils dilated as usual when he examined his boyfriend. He could never get enough of the sight.
How could he have gotten so lucky?
Levi was everything he had ever wanted, even if he was an ass sometimes. But that definitely added to his charm.
“I don’t know. You looked adorable sitting there,” Levi explained, but before he gave Eren enough time to appreciate it, he continued. “Smoke coming from your ears because you’re overworking your poor little brain.”
“Hey, it can’t be that little. I wrote ‘étoile’ perfectly, without a single flaw.”
Softness spread over Levi’s expression while he stared at his lover, not caring to answer.
Eren raised a brow. “Speechless, Ackerman?”
“What? No, uh, nothing. Do you need something from the store? I gotta buy some groceries if we want to eat breakfast tomorrow.”
What a weird answer. However Eren paid no more attention to it than needed.
“Maybe… Some chocolate? Nutella, maybe?”
“Gross. But okay. Don’t stay out too long and drink enough. Don’t wanna go to the ER again with you, idiot.”
Levi leaned down and they shared a chaste kiss, before he went to get dressed for the store.
They were still very much in love after all these years, and Eren felt like a teenager all over again, although he had not even known Levi when he was a teen.
-x-
“Jaeger, take this.” Two pizza boxes were shoved in his hold, before he could react. “This is the address. Be back in twenty minutes.”
“‘kay.”
It had been a shitty job, but a job that supported his education nevertheless.
The way to the address he was given had been a pain in the butt, because it had been raining cats and dogs and his bike offered no protection against the dripping wetness.
So when he was finally standing in front of the apartment door, he resembled a puddle come alive.
The door opened soon after and revealed a short man in his mid twenties whose appearance suddenly warmed Eren’s core, making him feel hot in the cheeks.
“H-Hi. Here is your food, Sir… You are… Mr. Zoe?”
“No- yes. I mean, that’s my friend. But they are taking a piss. But that’s our food, yes. How much is it?”
“Eh, it’s… two pizzas.”
The man’s lips twitched into a transparent smirk. “No, kid. How much it costs.”
Oh god, Eren wanted to disappear.
This man had him weak in the knees, shy like a schoolgirl and as clumsy as an elephant in the pottery.
“Y-Yes, costs, of course…” He pulled out the receipt. “9.90 it is.”
“Alright.”
The man vanished and came back with an obnoxiously bright yellow portemonnaie. “9.90, huh.” His eyes went up and down the tragic figure that was Eren, before he pulled out a $10 bill, and then a $20 bill. “Keep the change. Buy yourself a pair of pants without holes, kid.” He took the food out of Eren’s hands, traded it for the money and then he shut the door with a slam.
Standing there dumbfounded, he stared at the door and then the money.
Dull and quiet, he heard two voices coming from the apartment.
“Oh, the delivery guy was there?”
“What are you looking so damn sly for?”
“Was he a cutie?”
“The fuck you’re talking about?”
“I told the guy on the telephone to send their cutest delivery boy.”
“...”
“Are you speechless?”
“I’m plotting your murder.”
“So you did find him adorable? Is he still there?”
Eren ran down the stairs, face as red as the tomato sauce on the pizzas.
The next Friday rolled around and Eren once again had to drive to the same address, two pizzas in his bag.
He knocked against the hard wooden door and soon he heard footsteps coming closer.
Eventually the door opened and Eren swallowed thickly, because the man from before was standing in the frame once again. A subtle stubble grazed the sharp jaw. And he was wearing these grey sweatpants.
Yes. Those sweatpants. Eren was officially fucked.
“Hi. Your pizzas, sir.”
“Thanks.” The man let his eyes roam over him, taking in every inch of the delivery boy. “You bought yourself new pants. Look good on you.”
Eren blushed once again. What was he, a schoolgirl? He was 20 for fucks sake.
“Thanks. That would be $9.90,” he stuttered out and stared at the man, while he was handed a $10 bill.
“Keep the change.”
With a shy smile, Eren rubbed the back of his head. “Ah, thanks…”
And then, awkward silence. Nobody moved, only their gazes travelled.
“Levi! Do you have the pizzas?”, a voice from inside the apartment called and the man, whose name was apparently Levi, sighed.
“Yeah, yeah.” He nodded in Eren’s direction. “See ya, kid.”
Then he closed the door, balancing pizza boxes on his palm and giving Eren a short second to stare at his backside.
What a treat. That one view felt more like a tip than the 10 cents.
And after a while, it was a habit that Eren rode on this bike to the apartment every Friday at 8 p.m with two pizzas.
One day, he gathered all the romantic courage he had hidden in his room over the past years and decided to write down his number in one of the pizza boxes, and beneath that his name. Finally, he added, “Let’s eat pizza together some time.”
So when Levi opened the door, he was probably looking frightened instead of smooth.
“Are you constipated?”, his crush asked and raised a brow at Eren’s nervous smile.
“No, uh. I’m just… Nevermind. Here’s your food,” Eren answered quickly and handed him what he had ordered. “Enjoy… You might wanna take a closer look. In case something is wrong.”
Levi expressed his confusion, but did not voice it. “So your boss will beat your ass if it’s cold? It took you awfully long today,” he teased him and Eren died internally, but quickly caught his soul again when he was handed the money.
“Might wanna take a look at the money,” was all Levi said, before he closed the door shut.
Eren stared down at the $10 bill in his hand, but he found something else beneath it. A piece of paper. A sticky note.
The green eyes widened upon reading what had been written on it.
A number.
A mobile phone number.
And a ‘L’.
Eren felt like calling an ambulance, because his heart was racing way too fast. It was probably gonna break through his ribcage and knock on the apartment door.
As soon as he got on his bike, he got a message on his phone.
WazzUp now
Unknown number : “I hate pizza, yknow. But I won’t say no to the together part.”
And seconds later, he got another message, just when he was about to answer.
Unknown number : “Who knew that these street lamps can actually provide decent light. I see your red face from above.”
Ever since that day, Eren had a little tomato in his instagraph bio.
-x-
Waking up from the sweet trip down memory lane, Eren had made a decision.
He would propose to Levi on this trip when the right moment came.
So when he left the jewelry shop, ring in a little, dark blue box in his trousers’ pocket, he felt nervous and confident at the same time.
Eren could see it, the future that would soon take place, him kneeling down in front of his boyfriend, his handsome, wonderful boyfriend Levi, whose hair already greyed in some areas, and he would tell him how much he loved him, and how much he wanted him to be his, to make him family, to grow old with him and watch him go bald.
The ring was beautiful, a silver band of promise and appreciation, a physical vow to love and cherish him forever, an expensive representation for something priceless.
“Levi will like this one…”, Eren mumbled to himself when he imagined his boyfriend wearing the jewelry as he walked on the pavement on his way back to their house, but his train of thoughts was interrupted, when a man behind him cleared his throat.
“What will I like?”, Levi asked and Eren shrieked in surprise, before he turned around and his heart dropped.
His boyfriend carried two bags of groceries and raised a brow at him. “And where have you been? I thought you wanted to stay inside today.”
“Yes. I, uh, went for a walk,” Eren lied quickly, smiled brightly and looked at the bags. “Do you want me to carry one, my love?”
Levi shrugged and handed him one, but as always it was the lighter one. Not because Eren was not as muscular as Levi, but he would never give Eren more than himself to carry.
“Thanks.”
“Of course.”
Then, they walked home together, where Eren pulled Levi close to him, hugging him tightly and breathing in the scent of him and the sea salt in his hair. “I love you,” he whispered to his scalp and nuzzled into the ticklish dark grey with his nose.
“I love you, too,” Levi answered and reached up to scratch his boyfriend’s neck, ruffle his hair and finally tickle him at his jaw. “Come on, we gotta put your Nutella in the fridge, sweet stuff.”
The pet name made Eren’s heart flutter and he pressed a kiss to Levi’s temple before they packed away the food.
-x-
In the evening, when Eren was laying on his belly on the sofa and watching TV, Levi came out of the bathroom with a shaved face.
“Whatcha doing?”, he asked and strolled over to the living area, observing the flashing screen.
“Zapping,” his boyfriend answered in a bored tone and lifted his gaze to meet Levi’s. “You’re shaved.”
“Yeah. We’re going out today. Let’s get dressed.”
They were going out? Where to?
Eren figured that they would probably decide spontaneously where they would dine, so he did not question his lover. Instead he turned off the little entertaining device, got up and vanished into the bedroom with Levi.
The men chose rather fancy, but still casual clothes, as Levi went for his usual white button-up and Eren for his short-sleeved dress-shirt in black.
A few minutes later, they left the house and held hands as they walked on the pavement away from their quiet beach house to the more vivid town with a bay.
The town was still rather sleepy, although more people were already on the streets than during daytime, and the couple went with the flow of the tourists, as they made their way to one of the fancy restaurants.
It was Eren’s favourite and you could only dine in there with a reservation, which was a difficult thing to get, as it was also one of the most popular restaurants in the whole area.
“Wait… Are we gonna… eat at DaVinci’s?”, the man asked his lover, who nodded and led him to the entrance.
They got in without any trouble as Levi had apparently planned it all ahead, and they got a table on the beautiful balcony.It was truly the most gorgeous view one could perceive, as it was built above the shoreline and the waves crashed against the black rocks the restaurant was based on.
“This is wonderful,” Eren whispered in awe as he and Levi were seated, and he stared at the ocean. “Thank you, my love… What a beautiful surprise.”
When he sat down, he suddenly felt the little box in his pants’ back pocket.
The proposal.
He could do it today.
“Is something wrong?”, Levi wondered when he caught the strange look on his loved one’s face, but Eren reassured him that everything was fine.
They held hands during the dinner. It was so precious, it reminded Eren of the days when they had started their relationship, when the puppy love was still so much more present. And now they had aged and were still so in love he could cry in happiness.
After dinner, Levi suggested that they could take a walk on the beach instead of using the pavement as usual.
Eren agreed, because the sunset was beautiful, and he wanted to propose to Levi right there, right when the sun kissed the horizon.
So when the time came, the sun’s bright orange tinted the sky in the colors of love, Eren stopped Levi and cradled his face in his hands.
“My love… We have been together for more than seven years, through sunny times as well as rough times… and uh... I hope that we will spend the rest of our lives this way, and maybe start a family one day… as a family. And I want it to be that way, I want you to be by my side and I want to be by your side, want you to be mine as I am yours…” Eren’s throat tightened as he stared into his boyfriend’s eyes, who stared back at him with a surprised and soft expression. “I- You are so precious to me, Levi. I will always take care of you. I want to grow old with you and one day spend my life’s evening with you… And I promise to love you forever, so please…”
His own eyes were filled with tears, as Eren got down on one knee and with shaky hands grabbed the box out of his pocket, only to reveal the silver ring.
“Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
The waves crashed upon meeting land and seagulls flew over their heads. In the distance they could hear the people chatter about god knows what, but they didn’t really hear any of it at all.
Levi’s silence was too loud and overwhelmed him in a new way, the anxiety in him dared to burst as his sweaty hands continued to shake.
His expression was unreadable, until it finally cracked, and the corner’s of his lips twitched upward.
“You…,” he started in a low tone, and Eren suddenly feared that he made a fool of himself.
“Only if you answer my question for you,” Levi spoke up again and let his hand disappear behind his back. And when this very hand appeared again in front of Eren’s face, the green eyes widened in shock.
“Will you marry me as well, Eren?” Levi’s smooth voice rang in his ears, as he got down on one knee as well, finally connecting their gaze again on an eye-level.
Eren nodded like a maniac, before he threw himself in Levi’s arms and kissed him hard.
“Yes… Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times, yes…”, he sobbed quietly in joy, hiding his face in his now-fiance’s neck. “I thought you would never ask… I love you.”
“I love you, too, Eren.”
The couple rested on the beach, taking in this surreal moment.
And sometimes a relationship ends the way it started, only to blossom in a new facette, in an everlasting promise of love and loyalty, in marriage and family life.