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It was the day before Christmas, but most importantly Levi's birthday. Both you and Levi weren't really religious enough to celebrate the birth of Christ, thus leaving you excited mainly for Levi's special day.
Everything was pretty much prepared already, thanks to his mother Kuchel. Both you and her spent weeks planning the surprise. You wanted to throw a surprise party, but not too big of a party to make Levi uncomfortable.
A small party with his close loved ones and a small vanilla cake which you'll mostly be eating. The party was going to happen at night, leaving you enough alone time to spend with Levi and distract him from what's coming.
As of now though, both you and Levi were getting ready for bed. Well, you were already under the covers, just waiting for Levi to finish with his skincare before joining you.
"Are you getting ready for a beauty pageant?" You teased, watching him put on a pink face mask from the reflection of the mirror. He had already put on a face mask on you and prepped your skin before sending you off.
"Wouldn't be taking this much time if you weren't lazy to do your own one," he retorted playfully.
"You would've done it for me anyways, saying 'you're not doing this right, oh you're not doing that right, blah blah'", you mocked him and he just scoffed, finally finishing with his work and starting to clean.
He made sure there were no traces of messiness left on the vanity before turning off the big, bright lights and turning on the soft, orange light instead and joining you under the covers.
You giggled as you spooned him into your embrace, earning a confused look. "Do you know what day it is tomorrow?" You ask to clear his confusion as to why you were acting weird.
"Thursday?"
"Come on, don't act dumb. You know it's your birthday!" You said, quite excitedly. "Aren't you excited?"
"It's just another regular day.." Levi mutters nonchalantly. He really doesn't care much about this particular day, he doesn't see any reason for celebrating it.
"You know it's not just another regular day Levi, what did I tell you?" You scold him lightly.
"That I deserve to celebrate for turning into another age," he repeats what you had said earlier this week.
"And that it's an achievement that you've survived everything you've endured from this year! Meaning you're the strongest soldier there is!" You finished off the last remaining words you had also told him.
Your eyes met with Levi's and for a second you could see them soften. He really adored your enthusiasm for everything, even the smallest things. It really balanced out his—according to him—boring life.
"You deserve to be happy, Levi." You say with nothing but love and truth in your eyes.
He muttered a soft 'tch' hearing your words before telling you to knock it off and to finally sleep. You happily let yourself relax in his arms, letting the drowsiness come over you. Only you knew what was planned for the next day.
☆☆☆
One of the biggest challenges in life was to do any work without waking Levi up. But a bigger challenge was firstly getting out of bed without startling him.
You had to unwrap his strong hand that was around your waist, then you had to tippy toe all the way to the bathroom to freshen up before starting breakfast.
You had successfully done all the tasks required but you were 99.9% sure Levi was already up, just laying in bed waiting to see what you were actually scheming.
You lifted the tray up from the counter and made your way to the bedroom. You guys lived in a small yet comfy apartment, figuring a big house with two floors wasn't needed. It was just you two and you both hope it stays like that forever.
You had made him a simple breakfast, knowing his appetite wasn't that strong in the morning. On the bigger plate you made egg fried rice, his comfort food since he was a kid. On the smaller plate was a fruit salad you made with apples, grapes, bananas, all sliced together. And of course, his black coffee was there in his usual mug.
You opened the door, steadying the food with one hand, and slamming it shut with your foot. You found Levi already sat up on the bed, his glasses perked over his nose as he's reading a book.
"Happy Birthday love!" You announced your arrival even though Levi's attention was already on you the moment you entered the room.
You walked towards his side, placing the tray on top of his lap. "Made something special for you," you said, sitting next to him in the small, available space, planting a small kiss on his cheek.
Levi let out a huge sigh, picking up the spoon to dig in. "You didn't have to do all this.." he said, taking a spoonful before holding the utensil in front of you. "Eat," he ordered.
"Levi, I made this for you, not for- mmh!" Levi simply cut you off by shoving the spoon into your mouth, earning a glare from you as he let out a soft chuckle before taking a bite as well.
You softened seeing his happy face and eventually ate his breakfast with him where he gave you the bigger bites while he was contempt with his black tea.
When breakfast was finally complete, you told Levi you were picking his outfit with no questions asked. Not arguing with you, you picked out a black trench coat with a black turtle neck and trousers. You wrapped his outfit up with a white scarf to go with his all black aesthetic.
Meanwhile you were the complete opposite. You wore a white trench coat with a pink turtle neck with small flower patterns and and white trousers. You also wrapped your outfit up with a pink scarf. At least your outfit added some colours into Levi's dark aesthetic.
After getting all dressed up with matching outfits, you both headed out following with a small disagreement whether you should walk or take the car. You told him you wanted to walk while holding his hand while Levi was against it and wanted to take his car for practicality.
In the end, you won with your pouty face and held Levi's hand tight, leading him to your plans for the day.
You took him to many designer stores, showing him the variety of clothing options. Levi just wouldn't make up his mind on which one he wanted and after an hour later you finally realised that these stores weren't the ones Levi wanted to be in. He wanted to visit the antique store which sold old fashioned China tea cup sets.
You mentally face palmed yourself, scolding him for not telling you earlier before going to the small shop with him. You could tell Levi eagerly wanted to visit the shop from the way he kept glancing at it from afar. When you had asked him to confirm, he just nodded shyly.
Levi took his time, like you had told him to, looking around all the collections that were on sale. He inspected each and every one, taking a great, long time to figure out which one he should buy. After deeming which one was the most beautiful and functional, he decided on this white tea cup set which he usually chooses, but this time was a bit different. Normally he'd pick the ones with colourful flowers on it, this time he picked the one with gold flowers on it instead. The rims of the cup were also layered with gold, gleaming softly in the sunlight.
You both continued shopping for a little bit longer with you persisting that he buys some boots you saw on display. You convinced him that he'd look amazing in them and that it totally matched his style before heading to his favourite cafe for lunch.
Time really did fly by so fast..
Arriving at the cafè, Levi decided to try and order something new for once—you had forced him to do so—and ordered a rose tea with a small brownie which was mainly for you. You didn't order any beverages, but rather ordered more pastries which you couldn't finish and had to ask to take home.
You both talked while eating, reminiscing about your entire relationship, pretty much getting deep into the conversation. Though you'd tease one another in between, then going back to expressing your love for each other. You both kept bringing up memories that you both shareed before Levi decided he had enough of this sappy shit (he was lowkey getting emotional).
After the cozy cafè date, you both decided to spend the rest of the evening taking a walk at the park before heading home for the day. Walking hand to hand intertwined together, you turned to see Levi admiring the beautiful nature you guys were surrounded in.
You let out a smile, appreciating the time you're spending with him. You kept adoring Levi when suddenly he let go of your hand and crouched down, plucking a small flower from the grass nearby. He stood back up and faced to you, showing what he grabbed. With his other free hand, he moved strands of your hair behind your ear before placing the flower on top of your head. "There, you look even more pretty." He says so casually, not knowing it warmed your heart even more. You giggled loudly and jumped on him to embrace him in your arms while he stumbled trying to stabilize you both.
The walk continued with you begging Levi for ice cream in between after seeing an ice cream truck pass by. You resumed afterwards with your chocolate ice cream cone in your hand sharing with Levi every minute.
Eventually though, all great times end, and just like that you guys came to a stop. The sun was setting, meaning it was time to go home. Levi told you to quickly finish your ice cream before walking back.
You sat on a bench nearby, eating your ice cream as fast— and messy—as you can. You heard Levi let out a sigh beside you as you turned to him. "What?" You ask.
Levi said nothing, he just leaned closer and wiped the corner of your mouth which was covered with sticky cream with his thumb. You both stared into each other's eyes for a moment, just silent.
Without thinking or caring about anything around him, Levi leaned even closer to you and softly planted his lips onto yours. You both shared a soft kiss for a minute as he caressed your cheek with his thumb before deciding to pull back.
You grinned happily while Levi's cheeks visibly turned red. He turned around to hide his embarrassment as you started laughing. "Levi, are you stupid?! You literally rubbed the same thumb you used to wipe the ice cream on my cheek!"
You laughed even louder while Levi just grumbled out an embarrassed, incoherent response before pulling out a tissue and finally cleaning your face properly.
☆☆☆
Finally reaching home, you pressed the number 13 before the elevator doors closed and started ascending upwards. You leaned against Levi as his arms instinctively wrapped around your waist.
"So.. how was today?" You ask, looking at him.
Levi thought for a moment before responding, "It was good, I.. enjoyed a lot today. Thank you for spending time with me.." Levi said, lowly muttering the last line. You just chuckled, giving him a small peck before hearing the elevator let out a 'ding' as your cue to exit.
Reaching the door to your apartment, Levi brought out the keys from his pocket and twisted the lock. He took one step in, confused by the dark home even though he swore he turned on one of the lights before leaving.
He entered fully and turned on the lights again, only to be met with Hange brutally attacking him with some foamy spray cans she bought. Unfortunately, you were a victim of the attack too.
You both could hear people in the background laughing, and once Hange was finally done, Levi wiped his face to take a good view of the people who broke into his house. His friends, Hange, Erwin, Miche, Nanaba, and his mother.
Oh.. his mother was here too. Levi immediately rushed towards her as Kuchel pulled him into her embrace. "Happy birthday baby," she smiled heartily, rubbing his back comfortably. She slightly pulled back, wiping the remaining foam that was on his hair.
The joy shown on Levi's face was just.. undescribable. His entire facade softened, and he was surrounded by the people he loved the most. He broke the hug with his mother and turned to you, also pulling you into a tight, warm hug.
So this is what you were planning all day, he thinks to himself as he hugs you tight, muttering thank you and I love you repeatedly.
The rest of the night was spent well with everyone wishing Levi a happy birthday, enjoying the variety of food his mother made, and the vanilla cake you had ordered in advance. Drinks were being filled with Hange and Miche being the most drunk and having to be tamed down.
Conversations kept going and going till it was late at night and all the guests had to leave. Kuchel stayed in the guest bedroom while you and Levi were getting ready for bed. Once you both were done with the usual skincare and were under the covers, Levi pulled you closer to him like always and caressed your face, admiring you.
"Thank you, once again, for today. I love you.." he muttered once more before sharing a small kiss with you and dozing off safely in your embrace.