I hadn't realized that none of my italics carried over so I'm hoping to edit them in because I like to overuse them and it feels fake not to have them:')

Somehow, it'd been a year.

Undoubtedly the best year of his life - of anyone's, he'd be willing to argue.

Arms around his waist had him turning to face the owner, had him staring up at sparkling eyes and dimpled cheeks.

"You come around here often?" Eren smirked, already leaning in for a kiss.

"You're an idiot," he sighed fondly, resting their foreheads together and not caring even if someone did waltz into the gallery.

"Your idiot, at least," he defended.

"Yeah. My idiot," Levi confirmed with no hesitation, shifting away from his arms but letting their hands dangle together.

Eren's feet wandered over to that godawful (breathtaking) painting Rico had insisted on - the one with no color and trees and people - and he stood in front of it, eyes glazed and mouth parted.

"I never can decide if I love it or hate it," he at last spoke, voice soft - reverent even.

"I think it's fucking hideous," Levi groused, already tugging towards a different one.

"That's no way to talk about your boyfriend's artwork, but okay," Eren huffed, allowing himself to be moved.

And they'd taken maybe a step before Levi stopped, before his air stuttered in his throat and his feet jerked to a halt.

"My 'boyfriend's artwork'?" He repeated incredulously, eyes wide and lips slack.

Eren immediately turned red, rubbed the back of his neck and ducked his head.

"I mean, I know we've never bothered to really call each other boyfriends, but I kinda thought it was - "

"Not that, stupid. Of course we're boyfriends," Levi scolded, amazed at how easily the words slipped from him because they were so true - so true and he'd never confirmed it, had left Eren wondering and -

That wasn't the point.

"Your 'artwork'?" He all but spat, gesturing in accusation at both Eren and the piece.

"Oh. Yeah," he replied blankly, looking as though the thought had genuinely never occurred to him.

"Your artwork."

"Yeah."

"Your artwork."

"Yes!"

Levi shook his head, fingers coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes to block everything out.

"Two of your fucking paintings are in my goddamn museum and I didn't even know it?"

"I thought you did! I mean that first time I met you here, the first thing I did was say how much better it looked than I thought!" Eren rebutted, finger pointing at the original - the one with the water and the blues and purples and greens.

Levi peeked an eye open to stare dubiously at him, brain racing to process everything.

Okay, so maybe the brat had made some similar comment, but he had naturally assumed he had been referring to the museum - to the gallery Levi fucking supervised - and not his own painting.

"There's actually three of them," Eren whispered quietly, suddenly unsure.

Levi's heart thundered to rest on his tongue suddenly - or maybe his tongue swallowed to rest against his heart - and he tried to backtrack.

"Eren, you know I don't mean it when I say they're ugly. That I hate them. They're beautiful, really. I think they're so beautiful because they're so ugly," Levi explained, words jumbled and lacking any sense but he had no idea how else to make his point clear, found himself dragging Eren over to what had to be the third.

"This? This is the other one?" He breathed, praying that he recognized the strokes enough to be correct.

"Yeah," Eren's voice was just as small as it had been.

"Eren, I'm not actually mad you didn't tell me. It was a misunderstanding. And they're wonderful, you have so much talent that I - "

"It's not that," he was quick to interject, tone sharp in haste and not malice. "It's just now that I know you talked about them without knowing they were mine...There's just a lot more meaning, I guess."

"I know I can be an ass when I - "

"No, not even that," he tightened their hands, pulled him closer. "There were times when you'd confess how much you really loved them, how they made you think and dream and hate and love all at the same time. And I always thought you were trying to comfort me. Now that I know that was your raw opinion, that you - "

Eren decided actions would do better to relay his feelings, burrowed his nose into Levi's crown and pressed a gentle kiss against his scalp.

Several contented moments passed before Levi broke the silence.

"These things aren't exactly cheap. Does that mean you're loaded?"

Eren turned his shoulders so they were facing one another, mouth in a confident grin but eyes soft and twinkling.

"Would that change anything if I were?"

"That'd make you my sugar daddy, for one," Levi shrugged, feeling a smile trying to force its way.

"I don't have as much as I would. I used a lot to help pay back Mikasa's tuition. She got some really good scholarships and she makes some really good money with what she does, but still. She did more to raise me than my dad, so I felt like it was the least I could do."

Because of course he did.

"I also donate a lot to keep the shelters running, especially the one I volunteer at but even some of the soup kitchens around here."

Because of fucking course he did.

"You - You are a goddamn angel," Levi told him pointedly, standing on his toes so their noses brushed against each other.

That earned a blush, an averted gaze and a mumbled denial.

"But I, um, I've got a lot saved up. And I... Well, I - " he vomited a few more words out, eyes darting everywhere that wasn't Levi's.

"Spit it out, brat," tender despite the words.

He sucked in a giant inhale, apparently because there'd be no pause for breathing in the next sentence, "I was thinking we could get a place together."

It lingered in the air as Eren clearly held his breath, turquoise finally meeting steel in something so painfully unsure, so painfully hopeful Levi wanted to kiss him senseless right then and there.

"Yeah. Okay."

"Yeah?" Just as unsure.

"Yes," yanked him down for that senseless kissing, paused long enough to say,

"On one condition."

"Condition?"

"A cat. We have to get a cat."

"A cat?"

"What, are you a goddamn parrot?" He grumbled and Eren flashed a smile at far more than the insult.

"A little girl cat named Princess," Levi nodded firmly.

"I think I might love fucking love you," Eren whispered, expression painfully bare before breaking out into a grin and holding out a fist for a bump.

"I know I fucking love you," he whispered back, bypassing the proffered hand and hiding the truth in his eyes by closing them for another kiss.

I know the ending is cheesy af, and probably kind of random, but if you look back I really did try to hint about prodigy painter!Eren quite a bit (that's what I'll tell myself anyway).
It's so bittersweet to officially finish something that consumed my life for those few months:') Thank you all so much for the love and support; your feedback meant the world to me and if I ever get sad I'll just pull it up and encourage myself. If you want to stay in touch, my tumblr is "emmeri" too, though I admit I don't do much with it.