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Eren opens his eyes when he feels his wife shifting on the bed, her body turning and making him lose the warm heat that he was taking advantage of, her hands clawing against the blanket, pulling it until she was fully hugged by the soft fabric, and leaving Eren completely uncovered.
He blinks a couple of times, trying to adjust to the morning light as his eyes flutter open long enough to see a faint glow coming from the bedroom window. But his eyes or brain, or most likely his body were begging him to go back to sleep, and he obeys. He turns on the bed to wrap his arms around the blanket stealer, his hands sliding to grab her by the waist with the only purpose to gain back the warmth they were previously sharing. Some of her long hair was getting on his face but he still sighs contentedly as he snugs closer to dream once again.
And that's when he hears it.
“Daddy.”
If he pretends to be asleep she eventually will go away, right?
“Psss, daddy!"
The answer is always no.
"Come on, Daddy! Daddy, wake up."
His five-year-old daughter climbs the bed to get closer to him, her little hands tugging his shirt as she whispers for him to wake up.
“Psss, daddy, we have a mission.”
That’s true. Eren shifts slowly, barely moving his body to not wake up Historia until he is sitting at the edge of the bed. “Okay, I’m awake, I’m awake. Are you ready to-”
His daughter clamps a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. “Shh! Daddy, you are too loud.”
“Oh, sorry,” he whispers. “Come on, let’s get the mission started.”
He takes her into his arms, carrying her effortlessly around the bedroom, he makes sure to close the door before heading to the kitchen. She giggles all the way until he sits her on the kitchen cabinet.
“Are you ready to start, Ymir?”
She nods enthusiastically. “I always help mom with dinner so I’m a chef!”
“That’s very nice of you. Come on, head chef, turn around.” Eren kneels on the floor to tie her pink apron up. “Let’s wash our hands first, okay?” He gently takes Ymir’s small hands to the sink and using a generous amount of hand soap, he helps her wash them under the warm water to then dry them with a towel.
It is Historia’s birthday today and he had promised Ymir to bake her a cake. Does Eren know a single thing about baking? Absolutely not. But he has been preparing himself by watching thousands of youtube videos and asking his mom for help of course.
He will not ruin this!
Both do their best to stay quiet as he rummages through the kitchen cabinets, taking out all the necessary ingredients for the cake to place them on the counter. He sets the oven’s temperature on high to pre-heat it. Eren has to be careful, following his mother's recipe to the letter, measuring all the ingredients perfectly, so he weighs them out into a bowl. Something that he learned from all the videos is that dry ingredients come first. Okay, they got this!
“Flour first, daddy,” Ymir says after he stares for a couple of seconds at all the ingredients.
“Right, right.” He pours the flour onto the bigger bowl leaving a little so Ymir can help as well. She is sitting on top of the counter, her little feet hitting the bottom drawer. “It’s your turn now,” he says, looking at Ymir.
Her eyes light up when it is her turn to help, her blonde hair shines in the morning light through the kitchen window as her fingers try to hold the bowl that is a little bit too big for her. She carefully pours the remaining flour but some of it still falls to the floor.
“Oops.”
“Don’t worry, you did great, princess.”
Both start to mix the flour with the sugar, baking powder, and other ingredients. He notices that Ymir has some flour on her cheek so he gently brushes it with his thumb.
“Are we gonna put chocolate chips on it?”
“I don’t think they go on a cake but we can put sprinkles on top if you want.”
“Sprinkles!”
“Wanna grab the other ingredients for me?” Ymir nods and he puts her down so he can keep mixing with the spatula.
“Milk?”
“Very good, milk.”
“Butter!”
“Yes, we need butter.” He watches Ymir rummage through the fridge, searching for a stick of butter.
“Eggs?”
“Yes, four eggs. Be careful with that, princess.”
“One, two, three, four! I know how to count till twenty now, did you know?”
“Wow, you are so smart,” he answers, clearly amused by his daughter. “But twenty eggs sounds like a lot, we only need these four.”
“Sprinkles!"
“Yes, that too. Can you grab the cream for me, please?”
"Here, daddy. You know? We could make a rainbow cake! We just need all the colors to make it.”
Damn, a rainbow cake is definitely not on his recipe but his daughter’s eyes are twinkling in excitement. “That’s a great idea, sweety! What if the three of us make a rainbow cake for your birthday? Your mom would love to help too.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh,” he nods as he pours a glass of milk onto the bowl. “Of course, we will have so much fun baking it.”
“Okay, that’s a great idea.”
He begins to whip the buttercream for later as Ymir starts to slowly mix the cake batter next to him. She looks so focused on her task, carefully mixing the ingredients without spilling anything this time. Ymir was a literal ball of energy, ready to run and climb and jump, very adventurous and curious for just a little girl, but she was always obedient. She loves to help them and puts all her effort into doing so.
“Like this, daddy?”
“Exactly like that, you’re doing great!” Ymir smiles gleefully before giggling at his approval.
They should bake more often.
“You know what’s my favorite part of baking, princess?”
“What?” Ymir stops mixing, her green eyes now focusing on him.
“Licking the spoon.” He takes a small spoon to taste the cake batter and it’s amazing, the only way to mess this up is to burn it in the oven, but they are doing great so far. “Hmm, it’s so delicious, you wanna a taste?”
Ymir nods as she opens her mouth, waiting for him to feed her. He anxiously waits for a positive answer on her face, but she only licks her lips. “Yummy! Daddy, we are the best bakers ever.”
“We kinda are, right?”
They are extra careful pouring the cake batter onto the pan. He grabs a pair of oven mitts despite the pan not being hot yet but he does it so Ymir can learn a little bit about kitchen safety. He places the pan into the oven and both just stare at it for a couple of seconds.
"Daddy?" Ymir asks after peeking in the oven glass for the hundredth time.
"Yes, princess?"
“Is it ready yet?”
Eren chuckles. “Nope, only a minute has passed, it will be ready in half an hour.”
“Oh.”
“You want to get ready in the meantime?”
“But how will we know if it’s ready?”
“Don’t worry, I set a timer on my phone, and the alarm will go off in half an hour. So, let’s go fast so we can come back faster.”
“Alright!”
Small footsteps follow behind him until they get to her bedroom, Ymir helps make her own bed to later cover it with her favorite stuffed animals, dolls, and toys. He helps her wash her face and both try to find the perfect outfit for today, he takes out some of Ymir’s favorite clothes, and God, she has so many. Which is entirely Historia’s fault.
“You know what you want to wear?”
“Uh-huh,” she nods several times. “My princess dress!”
“I hope you are not talking about your Halloween costume.” They couldn’t take that thing off her for months.
“But… it is my favorite dress ever.” Ymir pouts and looks at him with those damn eyes, the ones she only uses when she wants something. She is clearly using her best weapons against him, the ones she learned from her mother.
“Okay, but you have to promise me that you will wear it only for today.”
“I promise, daddy.”
She is totally lying.
Eren crouches down to her level, helping her with the dress and smoothing the wrinkly fabric that was kept hidden in a bag. It was a pink fluffy dress and he has to admit that she looks very adorable in it, she was a real princess.
He leans over, pressing a loving kiss to her forehead. “You look amazing, my lady.”
Ymir giggles and starts twirling around to show her costume. “Thank you, daddy.”
“Come here, let me brush your hair.”
Eren brings the brush to her head and starts brushing her hair gently, it’s an easy task since her silky golden hair is always untangled. The house is starting to smell sweet and warm, so the cakes must be almost ready.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, princess?” He catches Ymir’s soft green eyes through the pink mirror in front of them.
“How old is mommy?”
“She is turning twenty-five years old.”
“Twenty-five?”
“Yes,” he nods, locking eyes with her through the mirror as he keeps brushing her hair.
“What? But, she didn’t turned twenty-five last year?”
“Mommy only turns twenty-five since now one, it’s a new rule, princess. But don’t tell her I told you that.”
Ymir nods enthusiastically. “It will be our secret!”
His phone starts beeping, signaling that half an hour has already passed. “Come on, let’s go see our cake!” He picks Ymir up into his arms, peppering a few kisses all over her face before walking to the kitchen.
It looks amazing and Eren really hopes for it to taste amazing as well. He puts the oven mitts and takes it out of the oven, leaving it on top of it to let it cool for a while. They clean the mess they left in the kitchen and both start helping with the rest of the breakfast for Historia as they wait for the cake to cool before decorating it.
“Let’s make your mom’s favorite! Eggs and bacon.”
“That’s your favorite! Mommy doesn’t like bacon.”
“Well, more bacon for me.”
He carefully pours two cups of black coffee for his wife and him, knowing they need it to start the day, he puts some milk on his wife’s coffee and he sees Ymir’s attentive eyes on him.
“You want some?”
“Eww, coffee.”
“What do you want? Milk or juice?”
“Hot chocolate!”
“Hot chocolate it is.”
The faint smell of eggs and bacon mixed with chocolate and cake fills the entire place, the morning sun's rays peek through the kitchen window, it was the beginning of a perfect day already. Eren puts everything on the big breakfast tray, placing a few rose petals all over just to give it a nicer touch.
They carefully decorate the birthday cake, frosting it with the soft pink buttercream and making a few designs with the frosting nozzles in the center. He tries to write “Happy Birthday” with it but it doesn’t end up looking that good, well, he will have to practice more in the future.
And yes, they definitely put too many sprinkles.
“We did a great job,” Eren places the frosting on the counter, taking a little bit with his finger and placing it on Ymir’s nose. “Boop.”
“Daddy!”
They finish frosting the cake and it looks really good, they take a couple of selfies with the first cake they ever made.
"Do you think mommy will like it?” Ymir’s excited voice makes his heart melt
"Of course, princess. She will love it."
Without making too much noise, both enter the bedroom where Historia is still sleeping, he leaves the tray on his side of the bed to try to wake the birthday girl. Historia's face is adorably smushed against his pillow, her golden hair falling over her face, he tenderly strokes her hair, leaving it out of her face.
Eren leans in to whisper for her to wake up and when it doesn’t work he places a swift kiss on her cheek. “Good morning, love.”
“Mommy, mommy, wake up, we bake a cake for you!” Ymir climbs the bed, moving her hands to wake Historia up.
She groans, shifting on the bed as she begins to wake up. Historia blinks her blue eyes open and smiles drowsily at Ymir next to her. “Good morning, sweaty!”
“Mommy, mommy, happy birthday!”
Historia gives their daughter that same cute, sleepy smile she gives him every morning. She leans over to hug Ymir and the little one clings to her neck, she laughs, stretching out her arms like a cat.
“Thank you so much, sweaty.” Her voice is a bit raspy with sleep. “Look at you! You look so cute.”
“We made you a cake, a pink cake!”
He sets the tray closer to them to show her the breakfast they make, but most importantly, the amazing cake they bake. “Happy birthday, Historia.”
“Wow, that’s for me? It looks delicious, thank you!”
“Daddy helped.”
Eren chuckles, “yeah, I did.”
“I have a gift for you, wait here!” Ymir announces as she runs out of the room.
“Did you bake this or Carla is hiding in the kitchen?”
“You wound me.” He leans in for a soft kiss and she kisses him back lazily. “I have a gift for you as well.”
“Could be the necklace in the red box you hid on one of your socks?”
“You seriously need to stop doing that.”
“You need to learn to hide things better.” Her ocean-blue eyes are sparkling and it’s so fucking irresistible so he steals another kiss out of Historia’s lips just when Ymir was running back into the bedroom.
"Eww, gross." Ymir sits between them, waving a folded piece of paper in front of Historia’s face
“What is this? Did you make it?”
“Yes!”
Historia unfolds the paper and glitter starts falling out of it, she looks at it for a few seconds with a huge smile on her face. “Wow! It’s so beautiful! I love it, Ymir.”
“Let me see,” he says and Ymir shows him the crayon drawing.
“That’s you and that’s mommy, and that’s me, and we are all wearing pink, oh! And that’s the little sister I want.”
Historia almost spits out her coffee.
“It’s so pretty, princess. You are so talented!”
“Thank you! Can we eat the cake now?”
“So impatient,” he laughs and leans over to place a kiss on Ymir’s forehead. He carefully cuts three slices of cake for each one of them. It did not only look beautiful, but the cake was also pretty great. It turns out so soft and fluffy, the frosting is creamy and maybe a little too sweet, but that is his favorite part of the cake.
"Do you like it, mommy?" Ymir asks with her mouth full of cake.
“This is the best cake I have ever tried in my entire life, thank you so much.” Historia reaches out her arms for a hug and Ymir happily complies.
Eren’s heart does a strange little leap in his chest at the sight of them, he loves them so much. His phone flashed at that second, taking a picture of his beautiful family.