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Feb. 8th
“Hey, eyebrows why the hell is everyone talking about the 14th?” He blurts out as he walks into the office.
“Good morning to you too.” Erwin holds out his hand and takes the captain’s report. “February 14th, it’s a romantic holiday, everyone calls it Valentine’s day.”
“Never heard of it. A whole day for romance, disgusting.”
“I recommend avoiding town for a couple of days. All the restaurants & bars will be packed on the 14th.”
Miche sneaks up behind Levi and places his hands on his shoulder. Levi Jumps and Erwin laughs.
“Oh man, I wish I knew that earlier. Hey, Levi didn’t see you down there.”
Levi shakes Miche off of him. Miche stands next to him “I can still shave that shit off your face.”
He brings a hand up and rubs the beard. “Nana wouldn’t like that. I need to keep it until the 15th but after that’s it yours. If you can reach.” He smirks. Levi scowls.
“What do you want Miche?” Erwin pipes in.
“Oh yeah, you’re still here. Nanaba and I need the 14th off.”
“Best I can do is the evening for dinner.”
“Sweet, I’ll let her know.”
“Okay celebrate elsewhere, I have a meeting at 9:45.”
They leave together and Levi waits until they’re far enough from the office to ask his question.
“What do you get people?”
“Well, it depends on the person and how well you know them. Chocolate is the typical gift, but Nana is more of a baked goods girl, so I don’t worry about that.”
“Where do you find that shit?”
“Any candy store in town should have them. But you need to hurry if you want them for the 14th.”
“I don’t get paid until the 11th.”
“We can go into town together if you want. I pick up the cookies on the 12th.”
Levi nobs in agreement.
“Just make sure they really want chocolate, don’t want to get them the wrong thing.”
Feb. 9th
“Hanji.” He leans against the door lab, scaring her. She looks up from her notes
“Hey Levi, what can I do for you?”
“You have time for a break?”
“Sure.” He grabs a tray in from the hallway and sets one down in front of her. “Thanks.”
He sits on the stool next to her.
“So um… February 14th is coming up.”
“Oh yeah Valentine’s day.”
“Yeah, Valentine day.”
She smiles “Valentine’s.”
“Valentine’s?”
She chuckles and widens her smile. “Do you have plans?”
“No. Do you?” The question jumps from his lips, unable to hide the panic and desperation.
“No, I usually go through my notes and old research.”
“Do you get gifts?”
“Just chocolate, which is good.”
“Okay, anything else?”
“No just that, I don’t care about the other stuff.” He sips his tea & she stares at him. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
“Nobody, I’ve never celebrated it before, I’m just asking questions.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Shut up and drink your tea.”
Feb.10th
“Erwin I know I get paid tomorrow but I need a raise.”
“You are not getting a raise before me.”
Miche walks in with two cups of coffee and sets them on the desk.
“We’re getting raises?”
“No, I don’t why you’re asking.”
“I need to get,” he mumbles, then speaks normally “chocolate for Valentine’s day.”
“Sorry, what was that?”
They both stare at him and he feels heat rise in his cheeks.
“Hanji, I want to get her chocolate.”
Levi looks down as Miche and Erwin both smirk.
“Ah shorties in love.” Miche places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes it. Levi shakes it off.
“Am not. I’m doing this as a friend.”
Feb. 11th
The meeting concludes and everyone stands up. “Levi, Miche, stay behind.” They walk back to the table while the room empties out. After everyone leaves and the door shuts.
“What’s going on?”
“Chill Levi, I have your paychecks for both of you.”
He hands them two envelopes and they open them, there’s a small bonus inside. They look at him.
“Is this enough to get chocolate?”
“Should be.”
"Where do I get them?”
Erwin walks over to his desk and pulls out and unrolls a detailed map of the city. Miche and Levi stand over the map.
“This shop is good for a tight budget.” He points to a candy store.
"Yeah but it tastes cheap & Moblit gets her a box from there.”
“What?!”
Erwin eyes Miche, who smirks and mouths ‘trust me.’
“Yeah, I saw it last year. Everyone knows it’s cheap.”
“It’s an appropriate gift for an assistant to give their boss but I’m sure she wants something personal.” Erwin pipes in, getting the just of Miche’s game.
Levi looks up, desperation and panic replacing his typical grumpy look.
“She doesn’t want anything else, just this.”
He places his elbows on the table and both hairs through his hair.
“Make it yourself.”
“Huh?” He looks up a hand still in his hair.
“Yeah get the ingredients and do it yourself. I can get a recipe from Nana.”
“Really?”
Feb. 12th
A long day of training and meetings melts away as he sips his tea in the comfort of his room. He closes his eyes and releases a long sigh. He hears someone walk past his room and opens his eyes, an old underground habit. He watches as paper is slipped under his door and the shoes walk by. He walks over ,picks it up, and unfolds it. A chocolate recipe with a smiley face drawn at the bottom and a handwritten note 'Ingredients are in the kitchen.Good luck - N’
Feb.13th
Headquarters is buzzing with excitement as people prepare for Valentine’s day. For some weird reason Hange decided to spend every second of the day with Levi, normally he
doesn’t mind but today it makes the anxiety of making chocolate worse. The more time they spent together the worse he could feel it getting.
After everyone is dismissed for the night he sneaks off to the kitchen to make her gift. He gathers the ingredients,washes his hands and begins making them. He reflects back on the day with Hange and how she talked mostly about titans. However after lunch the conversation took a different turn when she asked about his plans for tomorrow. He hated when he felt himself blush at the question.
“It was just a question.” He tells himself as he places them in the icebox
Feb.14
When the timer goes off he pulls them out and waits until they won’t break his teeth to eat. As he takes the first bite her face comes to mind, if they’re bad she might cut off their friendship. He places them in a box with the number one on it. Paranoid about the state of their friendship he makes three more batches. He stares at four boxes filled with chocolate, all tasting the same. He sighs and places his forehead on the counter. The clock strikes three am and her words come to mind. “Like any real scientist I always run three tests.” He picks the 3rd box and heads to his room.
He puts the chosen sweets in a neat box and ties it off. He grabs his cleaning supplies and heads to her lab, another surprise for her.
He cleans carefully avoiding the items that usually get him in trouble. He finishes two hours before she comes in and heads back. He’ll give them to her when he’s clean and nicer smelling.
He avoids Hange until later that night when most everyone has gone out and hq is empty enough.
After a shower he grabs the box, takes one last look in the mirror and heads out.
“Four eyes.” He stands in the doorway box behind his hand.
“Levi!” She throws her arms around his neck and heat instantly rises to his cheeks. “Happy Valentines day!” She pecks his cheek and pulls back now seeing the blushing.
“Oh I’m sorry, I forgot about your Valentine. Did they like it?”
“I haven’t done it yet.”
“What? You had all day.”
“I had to wait till now.” She stares at him unsure of what he means. It’s then he sees the light highlights her brown eyes.
“It’s you,Hanji. You’re my Valentines.” his face becomes a deeper shade of red. He holds out the box of chocolates and she takes it. She pulls out a piece, they’re little hearts with glasses.
Now it’s her turn to blush, “Levi thank you.” She eats it “It tastes amazing.” She slides him a wrapped box. He opens it and pulls out a royal blue teacup and saucer.
“I wanted to get it earlier but money and pay cuts and then you cleaned my lab and made chocolate and I-”
She is silenced by his lips on hers and after a minute everything fades away. She wraps a hand around his waist pulling him closer. He places a hand on her upper back. Her hand moves to the back of his head and his waist hits the table. They break for air, foreheads against each other.
“I love you, Zoe.”
“I know,Levi. I love you too.”