"Leeeeviiii…!"

"...Ugh… What..?" He slowly opened his eyes, giving you a somewhat annoyed look. "How you can be that energetic..? It's like 7 a.m or something..."

"Today is the day, you silly sleepyhead!"

"I am aware of that, but does that mean you necessarily have to— Uagh!" Levi squealed in surprise when you dove under his blanket, laying your upper half on top of him so you you could pop your head out from his side of the bed. "What are you doing?" He asked in confusion, now somewhat amused by your strange behavior.

"Just… a second… Nnngghh..!" You had to stretch your body to its limit to reach the item you had hidden under the bed last night. "Ha~! There we go..!" You chanted as you snatched the package into your hands and flopped next to Levi, handing the neatly wrapped gift to him. "Merry Christmas, Levi~!"

"I have to open this right away? You don't have a patient bone in your body." He snickered, giving a gentle flick onto the tip of your nose. "But alright then—" Levi examined the gift carefully before opening it, weighing it in his hands as if trying to guess what was in it. "A book?" He raised his brow when he saw what revealed from the wrapper.

"Not just any book! Take a look inside..!"

"Titans 101?" Levi read the title from the inner page. "Wait a minute… You did all this?" He was seemingly impressed by what he saw, flipping through the pages as he took a quick look at the titan guidebook.

"It's pretty much a compressed version of Hange's research notes— Translated to a language common people can understand, that is." You chuckled a bit nervously. "But I didn't do it all by myself— Sasha helped me with the transcribing and Moblit kindly provided the illustrations. And, of course, Hange gave me a permission to use her notes in the first place."

"It's all in here? No wonder you acted all secretive the past week— You must have worked hard to get this done in time..!" Levi placed a soft kiss on your forehead and wrapped his arm around you. "You don't even know how grateful I'm for this; Hange's theories are interesting— And even though I hate to admit it, she knows what she is talking about— But her ramblings tend to give me a headache. A big one. And… ... ...Why this titan is wearing a vest and a top hat?"

"I added some artistic details." You couldn't help but giggle at the Levi's reaction; He looked equally confused and amused, but soon just laughed at the image as well.

"This is great. Thank you." He chuckled, still busy flipping through the pages.

"You don't have to read it right away, you know." You gave him a stoic look after watching him fiddle with the book for a good few minutes in silence.

"Sorry." Levi gave you an apologizing look, finally putting the book away. "You shouldn't give me so distracting gifts." He added with a wink. "And of course, I have something for you too." Levi got up from the bed and made his way to another side of the room— He took something from the chest of drawers, but didn't return to you right away; Instead, Levi took a short moment to carefully examine the mystery item in his hands, deepened into his own thoughts. You had tried to wait patiently, but every passing second fed your curiosity. His somewhat strange behaviour didn't help, all the opposite! After a short moment that felt like an eternity, Levi finally returned to you. "Here. Sorry that it's not wrapped, but..." He handed you a small pendant as he sat next to you on the bed.

"Oh wow..!" You gasped. "It's really beautiful!"

"It was my mother's."

"What?" You looked at Levi in disbelief— This really took you by surprise. Levi rarely spoke about his mother, so you knew how touchy the subject was. It was clear that losing his mother such a young age had left Levi emotionally scarred, also being the reason of his usually cold and distant demeanor.

"I don't remember much about her, but…" Levi said quietly, turning his gaze down to his lap. "I remember that against all odds, she was a good, loving mother. I doubt that pendant itself has too much value— Still, it's the only thing I have left of her."

"B-but… I can't take this..!" You stuttered, still amazed by the gift he had given you. Even if the pendant wasn't valuable, the personal value was something that couldn't be counted in money. "I mean… Are you sure you want me to have it?"

"I'm sure." Levi pulled you into his embrace again, resting his chin against your head. "I thought about it for a long time— Sometimes you just need to learn to let go, and I've clung onto it for too long already... Even though you never got to meet her, I know she'd want you to have it."

"I don't know what to say… Thank you, Levi."

"Silly you, no need to get all emotional..." Levi jested a bit when he saw how touched you were by the gesture, but you could tell he wasn't that calm and collected himself. "I love you... Merry Christmas."

"Wow, it looks great in here!" You almost couldn't believe your eyes when you and Levi walked to the main hall— While you had been busy working on the transcript, your friends had taken the decoration disaster to their own hands; Whole hall had been decorated from top to bottom with self-made decorations.

"Awesome, right?" Krista gave you a warm smile when she saw you enter the room. "And it doesn't stop here… Take a look at there..!" She said and pointed at the table across the room.

"What the..?!" Now you were sure you were dreaming— Table was full of christmas food, and it sure enough wasn't from the canteen. "Where did all this food came from?"

"Jean-boy! Jean-boy, help me with these, will you?"

Your question was answered immediately when you heard a familiar voice from the other side of the room— You turned around to see no-one else but Ms. Kirstein making her way down the hall, hands full of food and decorations.

"If the mountain won't come to you…" Krista snickered, giggling to herself as she rushed to help Jean's mother.

"Well isn't it lively in here…" Levi muttered under his breath— He was expressionless as usually, making it difficult for you to decide if he was more happy or annoyed about the situation. "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing." He added after you gave him an asking look.

"Ah, Captain Shorty and [f/n]..! Merry Christmas~!"

You couldn't even glance over your shoulder when Hange had already squeezed between you and Levi, abruptly wrapping her arms over both of your shoulders.

"It's great that both of you decided to join us~!" Hange chanted, giving Levi a meaningful look before turning her attention to you. "You sure are a miracle worker, [f/n]; All these years I've been working with Levi, this is probably the first time I see him step his foot in this room on christmas! Or step his foot outside his office, that is..!"

"And it probably will be the last time too if you won't turn it down a notch soon…" Although you made it sound like a joke, you hoped that the overly-excited section commander would take the hint— Levi said nothing, staring into nothingness with a glassy look in his eyes. By the first look he looked so calm it was almost scary, but the vein throbbing in his forehead told you the truth about his current mindset.

"Aw come on! And hey, I definitely want to see the cutest couple of the regiment under the mistletoe later in the evening..!" Hange laughed, not taking the hint until you elbowed her below the ribs. "But… Eh… I'm just happy to see you here. Both of you!" Finally releasing her grip, she gave a pat on your shoulder before skittering away.

"So… Ehem… Alright, then." You cleared your throat, trying to come up with something comforting to say about the encounter with the section commander.

"It's fine." Levi read your mind. "It's fine. Happy thoughts…" He sighed, giving you a slight smile as he took your hand in his.

"I'm proud of you." You smirked, entwining your fingers with his. "How about if we'd go get a mugs of eggnog? Extra strong one for you."

"Sounds like a plan."

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year~!