Work Text:
The Day Before Valentine's Day
Eren
"It's stupid day," Levi grumbled from his place on Eren's chest. They had woken up to the sound of their alarm not to long ago and were still laying in bed. "If I wanted to show you how much I love you, it shouldn't matter what day of the year it is."
While there was some truth to his words, Eren grimaced to himself. He had already made the reservations and Armin had already picked up the ring for him yesterday.
Shit, shit, shit, Jaeger. You couldn’t have picked a better day.
He couldn't do it now - well, actually there was no way in hell he was doing it tomorrow at least.
"I agree," he forced out. "Completely and utterly agree."
"Glad to see I'm not the only one," Levi smiled and hugged Eren's side.
They lazed around for about another thirty minutes, Levi didn't work on Friday's and Eren didn't start work for another two hours. The two talked of anything that really came to mind, meanwhile Eren tried his best to hide what was really on his.
Levi
"Thanks, babe," Eren said as he grabbed his breakfast from Levi and planted a kiss on the shorter man's forehead. He had made him his favorite - scrambled eggs with jelly on toast.
"Mhmm," Levi mumbled with a faint smirk on his face. Eren didn't suspect a thing and he wanted to keep it that way. He was a bit slighted by his agreement with Levi's completely false opinion. After all the planning, all the days with him just sitting with Hanji drawing up ideas he finally managed to settle on one and it just happened to fall on one of the most romantic days of the year. Now what was he to do?
Levi sat across from the younger man as he thought, watching him practically devour his food the way he usually does. At first Levi found it to be kind of gross, but slowly it became an endearing thing - just another one of Eren's many quirks.
When Eren left to work Levi immediately picked up the phone to call Hanji.
"Levi?" Hanji's spoke in an excited tone.
Levi paced, something he always did when he was on the phone. Eren hated it, but it couldn't be helped. He was a pacer. "You've picked up the ring, right?" There was only silence on the other end of the line. "Hanji, you didn't forget to pick up the ring, did you?"
"Levi, I’m-"
"It's fine." he sighed as he ran a hand through his raven hair. "I'll just pick you up and we'll go together."
Her cheery attitude was back in almost an instance. "Sounds good, I'll go get ready!"
They walked through the mall together, Hanji talked excitedly about how excited she was about the whole ordeal, Levi just bore it, but couldn't help but crack the occasional smile at his best friend’s ravings. The Tiffany & Co store was on the second floor, so they had to take the escalator up.
"I don't understand why this place doesn't have stairs. I mean, not everyone is fucking lazy." Hanji nodded in agreement, her attention drifting off to something the distance.
"Hanji, what is it?" Levi asked at his friend's spaced out state.
"Nothing..." her speech drifted.
"Hanji," he warned.
As they reached the top, she suddenly snapped into attention. "Oh...nothing. I just saw a sign for free ice cream. I thought maybe I'd go get some."
Levi gave her a questioning look, but settled on believing her. "Okay, just get me some while you're at it."
"Okay," she replied, taking the escalator back down as Levi made his way into Tiffany's.
Eren
"It's beautiful." Eren said, admiring the ring as he twirled between his two fingers. It was simple - a platinum band with a multifaceted diamond that changed colors as he turned it. They were at the mall, in the packed food court sitting at a table across from one another. The pair had taken time off work to pick up the ring and grab a quick bite to eat, though once they had gotten the ring, they were too anxious to eat.
Armin nodded in agreement. "It is." He looked behind him, his eyes going wide. Quickly, he plucked the ring from his hand which earned a surprise yelp from his best friend. Eren turned around to find out the source of Armin's outburst.
Hanji was strolling over, a mischievous smile played on her lips. "So, you want to tell about why you're not at work?"
Eren looked back at his friend for an answer.
"W-we decided to plan a s-surprise - erm - birthday party for Jean." Armin lied, it was no where near Jean’s birthday, but it’s not like Hanji would even notice.
"Y-yeah," Eren agreed.
Hanji, looked back and forth between the two of them, not completely buying it. Eventually, she shrugged.
"Hey, Eren. If you don't mind, could you buy my ice cream for me: one rocky road cone and a mint chocolate chip cone? I want to talk to Armin."
Eren's expression was one of confusion. "Sure, no problem." He took off slowly towards Dairy Queen.
He had to admit - he got nervous at the thought of Hanji finding out. What if she accidentally lets it slip to Levi?
I mean, it's not like Levi was clueless or anything. Eren was pretty sure they both wanted to get married...it's just neither knew exactly what to do about it. So, Eren stepped up.
When he reached the front of the queue, Eren was stared down by a familiar blonde employee. "Fancy ring ya got there, Jaeger," Reiner said smugly. "I'm flattered, but I'm going to have to say no."
Eren rolled eyes not unkindly. "It's not for you, asshat."
"Levi then, I assume?" He asked.
One corner of Eren's mouth twitched upwards into a smirk he couldn't help. "Maybe," he attempted to play it off.
"You are such a shitty liar, y'know that?" Eren chuckled.
After a sharp glare from his manager, Bertolt, Reiner finally took his order.
Hanji took his seat across from Armin at the table, but jumped up suddenly when she noticed him returning. Armin too, stopped talking abruptly.
"What?" Eren asked as he handed the ice cream to Hanji.
"Nothing," the two responded in unison.
Eren narrowed his eyes at their suspicious behavior. "By the way ,Hanji, is Levi here? Or do you usually eat two cones of ice cream, one which just happens to be my boyfriends favorite?"
"No - actually, yes, I do occasionally enjoy two different cones of ice cream at the same time." Nervously, she licked licked both cones and laughed. "I'm going to go now. Later." She skittered off before Eren could stop her.
He turned back to his best friend with raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell her, did you?"
Armin shook his head. "I just...elaborated on the lie and said I was going to propose to Jean. Boy, is he going to be freaked out when he gets congratulatory calls. Oh, well.” Armin shrugged.
"Sorry, bud."
"It's fine, I'll explain. He’ll get over it. It’s the natural order of things."
Eren smiled at his best friend as he took his seat across from him.
Valentine’s Day
Levi
It was finally the day. He was going to do it. The one thing he never thought he would even attempt to do - he was, in fact, going to go do an hour from now (then again, he never thought he would fall in love either).
Eren was going to meet him at the park in about an hour, so he had to leave now and make sure everything was set up and ready. Petra said she would have it all handled with the help of Gunther, Oluo and Eld, but he really wanted this to be perfect.
He was just about to head out the door when he received a text from none other than Hanji.
Come quick!!! Eren got hurt at the store, bookcase fell on him!!!
Levi didn't even bother to text back a reply. He just ran: suit, ring and all.
Out of all days, this one.
It was just bad luck.
Eren
Eren practically sped to the bookstore as fast as he could in the city. Hanji texted him minutes ago that Levi had gotten hurt while at the bookstore. He couldn't believe his terrible luck today, but nonetheless he left the florist in a hurry
When he parked (in which he was thankful for the luck of finding a parking spot in New York City), he noticed the lack of an ambulance. Had they taken Levi already? Quickly, Eren got out of the car slamming the door before running to the front of the store.
He only stopped when he noticed a familiar form running down the street. It was Levi, in a suit, running like his life depended on it.
"Levi," he yelled.
"Eren, are you okay?" Levi yelled back.
Eren raised an eyebrow at the shorter man. "I think I should be asking you that. According to Hanji a bookshelf fell on top of you."
"That's funny because she told me the same thing about you." Levi looked pretty miffed and bothered. The older man led their way into the store, angrily swinging the door open and revealing - what looked nothing like Hanji's bookstore.
All the bookshelves and the comfy loveseats were gone and replaced by white Christmas lights and a mixture of red and white roses covering everything. Violinists in formal clothing played Beethoven’s Violin Romance No.2. A candlelit dinner awaited them in the middle of the room. The pair looked at one another and it everything just clicked.
Eren was surprised when Levi just laughed one of his rare, sweet laughs. "Come on." He led Eren over to the table with a light grip on his wrist.
Levi politely took Eren’s peacoat off revealing his embarrassingly casual clothing - a light blue v-neck with faded jeans - and ushered him into his seat, gently planting a light kiss on his forehead. Eren was so nervous all he could do was smile stupidly at his lover.
The wine on the table was a vintage bottle, from the year Levi was born. He poured some and drank slowly, occasionally peering over at Eren.
Eren couldn't believe this was happening right now. He was going to do it. He was going to propose to Levi.
"Eren - " Levi started, but was cut off.
"No," Eren said aloud, jumping out of his seat so fast it made Levi flinch. "Levi, I love you. I know you hear that everyday from me, but I do. I love you so much. Everyday with you is like a dream I never want to wake up from. And I just want you to know that even if you say no today, tomorrow or even ten years from now, I will still love you." Eren got down on one knee in front of Levi and dug out the ring box from his back pocket. "Levi Ackerman, will you marry me?"
Instead of saying yes, Levi just dropped onto his knees in front of him. He pulled his own ring box from his own pocket. It was intertwined golden rope with a round diamond that shone brilliantly in the light. Eren gasped with tears in his eyes that he never noticed before. Levi too, was crying as well as laughing. "You know my answer will always be yes. Now, would you do me the honor of marrying me, Eren Jaeger? Because I love you, more than anything in this world - hell more than anything in this fucking universe. I can't even think about what life would be like without you. I look forward to waking up to you everyday and sharing everything there is with you," he caressed Eren's face with his slender fingers, wiping the younger man's tears.
"Of course." Levi slipped the golden ring onto his finger and Eren did the same as well. The two hugged tightly for a moment. Suddenly, backdoor of Hanji's store busted open. Everyone, including a very smug looking Hanji and Armin stood at the door, smiling at the couple.
"Kiss already, damn it," yelled Reiner with his usual smirk.
"Yeah," Petra chimed. "We've been waiting out there forever."
Levi and Eren looked at their friends with red eyes, then back at one another.
They kissed, holding each other as if neither would ever let go.
"I thought you hated Valentine's Day?" Eren whispered as they touched foreheads.
"And I thought you did too?" Levi said, a smirk playing on his lip.
Everything may not have gone as planned, but it was more than perfect.