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Admittedly, Eren is terrible with surprises. He always has been. In high school, he was that kid that reacted to jumpscare pranks with an immediate, brutal right hook, usually followed by copious apologizing. Somehow, being eased into surprises doesn’t actually help; the buildup just makes him tense and anxious, which leads to him audibly grinding his teeth at best.
Marco’s always kept this in mind, but it became particularly relevant in college, when he and Eren started dating seriously.
At first, it was kind of weird. Marco had always been the type for spontaneous, surprise dates, but obviously, that wouldn’t be good for Eren. He trusts Marco implicitly, and Marco would never violate that trust, so he had to start thinking outside the box.
Certain surprises are okay, he’s found. Mostly the ones that happen within the safety of their apartment. (Particularly surprise blowjobs.)
Eren can do breakfast in bed, as long as Marco lets him promise to make lunch. He’s a little weird about small, surprise gifts, so Marco tries to keep those to a bare minimum, even though every time he’s out, he finds something that makes him think of his cute, neurotic boyfriend. Coming home from work early is definitely a doable surprise, as is bringing home their favorite takeout. Combining the two works even better.
Certain surprises are doable, as long as Eren knows what to expect.
This one, unfortunately, is not one of those kinds of surprises, and Marco has no idea how to approach it.
--
“I want it to be special,” Marco groans. He’s sprawled across Jean’s desk at work, mournfully poking at his friend’s droopy desk fern. “What if I take him out and tell him where we’re going, but not what I’m gonna ask him?”
Jean stares at him over his glasses, giving him a stern eyebrow. “Don’t you remember when I tried that in high school?” Marco winces, but Jean continues anyway, just to drive the point home. “He could sense a surprise coming, but knew I wasn’t gonna say anything, and ended up bawling before we ever got to his birthday party.”
“And we all accused you of fighting with him,” Marco grumbles. Jean’s never let them forget that part.
“Wrongfully accused,” Jean sniffs. “For once. Anyway, that kid’s an pro at expecting the worst, you know that.”
“Jeeean,” Marco wheedles, taking up yet more of his friend’s desk space.
“Christ, Marco, I don’t know,” the blonde groans. He sits back in his chair and pushes his glasses up to rub his eyes. “You know him better than any of us do. Have you asked Mikasa?”
Marco nods. “She said to throw it at his head and ask loudly and in as few words as possible.”
“Always the romantic.” Sighing loudly, Jean purses his lips in thought, pointedly ignoring the puppy eyes Marco’s trying to hit him with. “I mean, she has a point.”
“I know she has a point, but that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Jean just shrugs. “Work with what you’ve got, man.”
When Marco warbles at him again, Jean laughs and reaches over to ruffle his hair, mumbling something vaguely encouraging as he does.
--
Later that evening, Marco comes home and finds his pantsless boyfriend lying on the couch, lazily watching cartoons on Netflix. Not terribly unusual. In fact, it’s entirely normal for them, and the pure, wonderful domesticity of it makes Marco’s heart flutter wildly. Also normal.
“Hey, you,” Eren says, smiling up at his hopeless boyfriend.
“Hey.”
Sighing contently, Marco leaves his shoes and his bag at the door. As he makes his way to the couch, he sheds his pants and his tie too, and when he comes to kneel between Eren’s helpfully spread thighs, he pauses just to unbutton his shirt before he collapses onto his chest. Eren wheezes at the sudden weight, but he slings his arms comfortably around Marco’s shoulders nonetheless.
Once they’ve settled, Eren goes back to watching Adventure Time, and Marco takes a good few minutes to just breathe in Eren’s warmth, his cheek smushed against the brunette’s chest. Gentle fingers soothe through his hair, and between the slow petting and the steady rise and fall of Eren’s chest with his even breathing, Marco quickly finds himself reduced to a relaxed puddle.
He’s so goddamn happy.
He’s always been happy with Eren, that’s why he’s dating him, but still. Right at this moment, with the low vibrations of Eren’s chuckles humming against Marco’s ear, with his fingers catching on small tangles in his hair and rubbing in slow circles between his shoulder blades, with the comfortable warmth of Eren’s bare thighs loosely bracketing him, Marco finds himself adrift in one of those moments where he’s so happy he could cry.
There are more of those moments than Marco could ever hope to remember, too.
Learning how to be with Eren was nothing short of an adventure, even though they’d grown up together. It’s still an adventure sometimes. After so many years together, though, Marco likes to think he’s gotten the hang of it, even if he’s still getting the hang of how to love someone without surprising them.
Wiggling his arms under Eren’s waist so he can hold him closer, Marco turns to blink up at his boyfriend, staring quietly until Eren says, “Sharp chin you’ve got there.”
“Sorry,” Marco mumbles, shifting his chin a few inches over. Eren laughs and gently tugs his hair, then turns to look down at him, eyebrows raised in question.
“You okay?”
Marco exhales slowly, ducking to brush a few lazy kisses across his boyfriend’s shirt before he nods. “Yup.”
“Uh-huh...” Eren squirms under him, tugging and pulling at Marco until he’s within easy kissing distance. He rests his warm hands on Marco’s cheeks and does just that, too, content to savor the sweet press of their lips for a while. “You look occupied,” he murmurs between kisses, nudging their noses together.
“A little,” Marco admits. He sucks Eren’s lower lip between his with a thoughtful hum, then kisses him a few more times, aware of the way his boyfriend’s starting to tense slightly beneath him. Eren’s surprise radar is nothing if not hyperactive.
By now, Marco knows well enough how to soothe him, so he ducks into the brunette’s ear and whispers, “Love you,” and as he nuzzles into the angle of Eren’s jaw and drags one warm palm slowly up and down his side, he feels Eren slowly relaxing again. Eren hums softly and drapes his arms loosely over his boyfriend’s shoulders, his obvious comfort one of a thousand different expressions of his trust in Marco.
As he drags his lips across Eren’s cheek, up beside his eye, along his temple, Marco settles gratefully into that trust. Although he’s never quite been able to find the words to express just how thankful he is that Eren trusts him this much, he thinks Eren understands somehow. It’s trust that’s been built up over years, after all, trust carefully earned as he took the time to learn how Eren ticks, how to work with him and around him, how to let him feel safe and loved in ways that satisfy them both.
Learning to love someone without surprising them was a struggle, but when Eren knows Marco’s holding something behind his back and still trusts him enough to melt beneath him, Marco realizes he’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
“Got a question for you,” Marco mumbles against Eren’s temple, pressing another warm kiss there before he pulls back to look at him properly.
Eren blinks up at him, curving one hand over the back of his neck and squeezing, looking for reassurance. Eager to provide, Marco dips to brush their noses together, and just like always, the crooked smile Eren gives him leaves Marco almost dizzily lovestruck.
“Shoot,” Eren hums after a moment, his hands carding idly through Marco’s hair.
“Been thinking lately,” Marco starts, catching one of Eren’s wandering hands so he can press a soft kiss into his palm, then another for good measure. “I was wondering if you’d marry me.”
A beat passes before Eren’s eyes bug out, his face flushing so bright Marco swears he can feel the heat of it. He raises his eyebrows in question, still pressing soft kisses to his boyfriend’s now-trembling palm, only slightly worried when all Eren can do is choke on his own breath.
Finally untangling his tongue, Eren stammers, “A-are you asking me?”
“Yep,” Marco replies casually. He laces their fingers warmly and leans his chin in his other palm, watching Eren struggle to brain.
“I mean,” Eren wheezes, his voice cracking adorably and serving to fluster him further. He swallows heavily and tries again. “I mean, yeah, of course I would.”
Breathing a relieved sigh, Marco ducks to catch his lips again with a soft smile. “Awesome.”
Eren’s breath hitches, and the shaking from his fingers spreads to the rest of him, so Marco leans back up to look him over. His lip caught in his teeth, Eren’s eyes narrow and flood with tears before he plants his free hand firmly over Marco’s face with a tiny, breathy sob.
“E-Eren?”
“Stupid,” Eren blurts, followed by a watery-sounding laugh. “A-all this time, I’ve been waiting for you to drag me out in p-public somewhere and m-make a big thing of it—”
Marco blinks against Eren’s fingers, his voice muffled when he replies, “But you hate things like that.”
“I-I know, but you don’t.” Eren sniffles and laughs again, letting his hand fall away from Marco’s face so he can drop his elbow over his own streaming eyes. “Fuck, man.”
Eren’s crying, but he’s grinning too, his chest stuttering with his hitched breaths, and for once, Marco’s entirely unsure what to do. “A-are you okay?”
“Yes, god,” Eren snorts. “I’m just... surprised.”
“Oh.” Laughing somewhat breathlessly, Marco drops his forehead onto Eren’s chest again. “Dammit.”
“Hm?”
With a low hum, Marco shakes his head in response, but Eren jostles him with his knee, refusing to drop it. “I agonized for ages over how to ask because I didn’t wanna surprise you. I know you hate it.”
“Marco, you always surprise me.” Marco blinks back up at him, eyebrows raised, and Eren pulls his arm off his face so he can run his knuckles gently down Marco’s cheek instead, giving him a crooked, pretty smile. “Just because I usually know what to expect from you doesn’t mean you don’t surprise me. Just means I can trust you to do it.” Pressing his thumb against the corner of Marco’s lips, Eren hums thoughtfully and murmurs, “And even when I don’t know what to expect, you always manage to surprise me by not surprising me.”
Marco squints at that, then tilts his head. “That’s... confusing.”
“Yeah, I dunno either.” Eren laughs again and tugs Marco back onto his chest, wrapping all of his limbs around him. “I stopped questioning it. It’s easier to just trust you.”
Try as he might, Marco can’t quite come up with an adequate response to that, so he just kisses Eren instead, hoping that all the emotions surging through him translate in the bare spaces between their lips and the warmth of their shared breath.
He totally bought Eren a ring, but the little box is still sitting in his pants halfway between the couch and the door, and as much as he wants to see it, Eren’s not quite willing to let Marco leave his arms for long enough to get it just yet.
It’ll just have to be a surprise for later.