Chapter Text
“See you later, Hange.”
Levi could feel her heart beating rapidly against her chest as he held her.
Alive.
If this was later , he didn’t mind waiting.
Hange’s back hit the couch’s armchair when she received Levi’s weight, her eyes wide as she felt the man wrap his arms around her shoulders. Levi knew she had been taken aback by his sudden movements, but Hange was quick to respond as she shifted the position of her palm from his cheek to return his hug, leaning her chin on his shoulder.
Levi hadn’t cried in a long time. Ever since he reached the age of eleven, he felt as if he had complete control over his emotions. He didn’t cry when his mother was suddenly rushed to the hospital due to a heart attack. He didn’t shed a single tear when his aunt, Mikasa’s mother, died, even though she had been a constant presence in his life.
But here, in the presence of Hange— who he had not seen since the day she sacrificed herself for their safety—he felt as though every wall he’s ever built, every ounce of self-control he had, dissipated into nothingness, and he was a dam ready to burst.
Hange was warm and smelled like his covers, but none of those were the reasons why he thought Hange felt like home .
She could lighten the room with a single smile, allowing even the most closed-off individuals to receive her care. She had been both a mother and a leader to the 104th, and he could still remember the way they shouted her name as she descended into her own death, her head held up high.
Amidst all loneliness and uncertainty, in a world without 13th Corps Commander Erwin Smith, Hange Zoë had been the constant in his life. She was more than just his superior. Hange was a confidant, a best friend, a counselor. She could read him like an open book. If he were honest, Levi could go on and on because his presence in her life necessitated utmost patience that she was willing to provide.
But Hange chose to die. She chose to leave him behind for the sake of humanity.
In a way, Levi thought that he was cursed. It was as if every single person he came to love were sentenced with a death flag over their heads, guaranteed to leave him. Levi should’ve known that like everyone else in his life, Hange would die. He’d known this since the moment he made the mistake of falling in love with her.
“You’re alive,” he repeated into her ears, his voice barely above a whisper.
He knew this because he could feel Hange’s breath against the nape of his neck, her lips pressed against his shoulder. He could sense her warmth spreading across his body as she enveloped him in a hug.
She chuckled, the sound vibrating in her throat. “Don’t worry Levi, I’m not going to let alcohol be the cause of my death.”
Ah. He’d almost forgotten.
Hange doesn’t remember anything.
“Good to have you back, captain.”
Levi glared at Mikasa’s deadpan statement, and she shrugged nonchalantly, effectively brushing him off. The young girl was dressed in a hoodie much too large for her frame (Levi suspected it belonged to Eren, given the length of the thing), sitting cross-legged beside the coffee table. Her freshly-washed scarf was lazily wrapped around her neck as usual. In her hands was a thick book with several pictures of plants.
“How do you know?” Levi asked her sharply, raising an eyebrow.
The expression on Mikasa’s face—or lack thereof—didn’t change. “I could see it in your eyes. And by the way you hugged Hange.”
He instantly felt warmth growing on the back of his neck. “You sneaky, snooping little brat . Not a word to anyone,” Levi hissed. He placed his car keys on the top of the dinner table before sitting down on the couch beside the young girl.
Mikasa saluted him mockingly, but she couldn’t help the sly smile that was emerging on the edges of her lips. “Sure, captain.” Levi waved her off, rolling his eyes. “How’d the trip go?”
Levi had taken it upon himself to ensure that Hange would arrive home safely. He had attempted to tell her about what had happened, ask her if she remembered anything, but words couldn’t escape his mouth no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he accepted that Hange didn’t have a single clue on the effect she had on him. And there was something preventing him from mentioning his memories to her.
He knew that she was also polite enough not to mention his moment of weakness to anyone else, so at least he had that going for him.
“Uneventful,” Levi said shortly, tossing his head back on the couch to stare at the ceiling. The dorm she was residing in was dilapidated and desolate. Hange had fallen asleep for a second time in his car, but had waved at him maniacally at him when he was about to leave. It was endearing, to say the least. She still had the energy and spunk that she possessed back when she had been a young officer.
“You can’t tell them that you remember anything, huh.” Levi muttered off-handedly, phrasing it more as a statement than as a question.
He remembered wanting to ask her why she had the audacity to leave him. He tried to will himself to talk about the night she had saved his life in the middle of the woods. He aimed to understand why she had made the proposal to run away with him, and if she would’ve gone through with it if the world wasn’t in such . . . danger.
Mikasa hummed in response, closing her book. “It’s like no matter how coherent your thoughts are, the words won’t form in your mouth.” Levi grunted in annoyance, and Mikasa chuckled. “How much do you remember, anyway?”
“A lot,” Levi answered, and he is once again reminded of the murky smell of a river and a voice determined to save his life. “But not everything. I can’t remember how I died—if I died, which is very likely—and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
“That’s okay, I don’t remember either,” Mikasa said. “Commander Erwin remembers his death though.”
Levi shot up. Erwin. For two years, that stupid, stupid blonde had been dropping hints that could possibly trigger his memory. He finally understood where all the dumb, random “dEdIcAtE yOuR hEaRt”s stemmed from.
He pulled out his phone. Erwin’s last message was from when they had first encountered Hange, staring at him mockingly. You’ll understand someday, he had said. Levi sighed.
“I take it Armin also knows?” he told Mikasa, and she nodded at him. “Who else knows?”
“Just us.”
“Eren doesn’t remember?”
“Eren doesn’t remember.”
“Should I give him a beating like old times?”
Levi flashed Mikasa a smirk as she glared at him menacingly. He had already anticipated the reaction. “You still like him.”
“This Eren’s different” was Mikasa’s clipped response. She pushed her scarf higher over her nose, a habit Levi realized had become more prominent lately.
He scoffed. “Yeah, but you still ignored him.”
“His past sins were a lot to handle,” Mikasa admitted, sighing sadly. “But I know this Eren is his own person now. He’s a lot more free. He doesn’t have anger inside of him. He’s finally at peace.” She chuckled, but her eyes were dead. “Sometimes, it’s as if our roles were reversed.”
Levi looked back on the additional memories that had piled on top of his recent ones. Mikasa had always been the one chasing after Eren, making sure he was okay. She cared for him a lot and treated him like family. Now, it was Eren who was constantly going out of his way for her. He would scold her for walking home alone in the dark when he knew that the girl was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Eren would take the liberty of walking all the way to her house before going home, something Carla Jaeger was immensely proud of.
“I want to give him another chance,” Mikasa said, breaking the silence. “I hope he never gets his memories back.”
“For his sake, I hope so too.”
A warm feeling in Levi’s chest bloomed as he saw his special operations squad file in and out throughout the day. They were wearing the standard apron over their own uniforms, which consisted of a simple tan shirt with black pants, a practical design he had allowed Marco Bolt to choose. His former squad members were attentively doing their tasks, and Levi watched as they applied the same precise movements to their modern day duties in a manner that resembled their own valiance back in the battle field.
Levi now understood why it had been incredibly easy for him to hire them on the spot.
There are a lot of things in his past life that Levi wanted to change. He regretted being weak as he watched his mother succumb to illness. He hated himself for not being strong enough to protect Isabel and Farlan.
Briefly, he wondered if the two had been reincarnated in the modern world.
Levi couldn’t remember if he had done them justice, but the image of a mountain range of bodies haunted him in his sleep, a reminder of the amount of lives lost in the name of humanity. He despised the fact that all he could do was sit idly by as his comrades disappeared one by one, leaving him to convince himself that no, their deaths were not in vain, but it became increasingly hard as the years went on and their enemy shifted from mindless cannibals to hateful humans.
“You get used to it,” Erwin had said hauntingly, and Levi shuddered at the thought. “You live with what you’ve done.”
Erwin clapped Levi on the back harshly when he found out that the latter had finally, after two pain-staking years, acquired his memories. Levi maintained his deadpan gaze, but was mostly relieved because having Erwin by his side meant that he wouldn’t have to carry the burden of knowledge alone.
“You can finally stop repeating ‘ dedicate your heart’ every time you come here,” Levi said pointedly, glaring at the blonde. Erwin chuckled, unfazed.
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?”
“No, Erwin,” Levi replied blankly. “It didn’t.” He resumed sipping his tea placidly, his fingertips carrying the cup through its rim. “How long have you had yours?”
“Ever since I was a young boy,” Erwin admitted, running a hand through his blonde hair. “Arlert’s had his since he was fifteen.”
“Wonder why,” Levi commented. The older blonde hummed.
From the distance, Erwin and Levi watched Eren and Armin talking animatedly with each other as Mikasa looked on, reserved as usual. The dark-haired boy would drag her into the conversation once in a while as she had finally resumed talking to him again. Levi watched as Eren stood up to request for a water refill for all of them, a task that he had once vehemently shoved towards Armin out of laziness.
“A lot of things are different here,” Levi said offhandedly. “Mikasa isn’t simping over Eren, for one.”
“I didn’t think an old man like you would be familiar with such . . . updated terminology,” Erwin teased, shaking his head. “I suppose Armin’s been of help?”
Levi gave a noncommittal shrug before sipping his tea. “Languages are different here as well, you boomer. ”
“Perhaps it was Mikasa who taught you after all,” Erwin said, laughing. “There’s a lot more languages here,” he continued, before his lips shifted to a wry smirk. “However, no words in all the languages in the world would be enough for you to say how infatuated you are with Hange.”
The dark-haired man instantly flashed him a glare, but Erwin could see the way his fingers clenched around the rim of his cup. “You know,” the former commander started, ready to provide his own brand of unsolicited advice. “I think it’s important to allow yourself more freedom, especially in a world where it’s taken for granted.”
“And you should mind your own business,” Levi retorted, shaking his head.
“I would love to, if my friends could handle their business on their own,” Erwin shot back easily. “Look, Levi. I’ve known you since my past life, and I could see how much you loved her even without you telling me.”
Levi didn’t respond. Silence fell upon the two of them, and Eren’s cheerful (exaggerated) laughter at Mikasa saying a boring joke echoed in the background. Erwin allowed Levi to contemplate on his own, considering the fact that he may have gone too far in probing the dark-haired man.
He didn’t have to worry at all, as Levi broke the silence with a voice void of any emotion in its tone. “Hange doesn’t remember anything.”
“I don’t remember what exactly?”
The two men visibly flinched at the sound of her voice, and Hange looked at both Erwin and Levi with a confused expression on her face. “Did I do something while I was passed out drunk? I didn’t hurt you, did I, Levi?”
Erwin willed himself not to laugh at the sheer irony of the situation.
“No,” Levi said shortly. The dark-haired man looked calm on the outside, but he wanted nothing more than to be eaten alive at that particular point in time. “You didn’t.”
Internally, Levi wondered how she had managed to sneak up on both him and Erwin. His senses weren’t as heightened as they were back in his past life, but he could’ve at least noticed that she was in the cafe. Had he been so immersed in the conversation that he didn’t even see that the devil he was speaking of was already in his vicinity?
Hange sighed in relief, before hanging her bag on one of the chair’s armrests and taking a seat beside Erwin. “That’s good. I thought I did something embarrassing. So,” Hange leaned her elbows on the table, placing her chin on the palm of her left hand, “what do I not remember then?”
Levi glanced at Erwin, who coughed and looked away, detaching himself from the situation. Instantly, Levi knew that he was on his own.
“Taking a bath,” Levi said, as decisively as he could. Unfortunately, one look at Hange and he knew he wasn’t fooling anyone.
“You two are being very odd,” Hange declared, laughing at the duo. “But as usual, boring answers from equally boring men. I’ll find out someday.” She gave Levi a wink, and he looked away, shrugging off the weird sense of deja vu.
“What are you doing here, Hange?” Erwin said politely, trying to divert the conversation in an attempt to save Levi from the slightly awkward situation. “Shouldn’t you be in university at this time?”
“Some of the students in my current class looked tired so I decided to cut the period short and go here for coffee,” Hange explained. “As much as I love teaching, I understand that there are just some days where you gotta let the kids go and do their own thing.” She gave a sly grin, her glasses glinting as she clapped her hands together. “No matter, in the next class, I will be making the lesson more fun so that they’re enticed to go!”
Levi listened to her talk animatedly with Erwin, noting the familiar quirks in the way she talked, the jovial tone of her voice, and her incessant passion for doing what she loved. Being the commander of the Survey Corps had taught Hange that brute-forcing her way to get people to listen to her wasn’t always going to work out, especially if said people didn’t care about titans.
It seemed as if the current Hange was well-aware of this, as she had just willingly allowed her students the opportunity to rest and relax amidst their finals season. Levi watched as Erwin nodded in approval, occasionally smiling politely whenever necessary.
“Hey, Levi!” Hange called happily, and Levi grunted in response. “What do you have planned on Christmas?”
“Stuff,” Levi replied, which was sort of an honest answer. Traditionally, the cafe would be open on Christmas day, with Mikasa helping out. After that, the two siblings would go home to his mother and eat Christmas cake and other delicacies that Levi would prepare the day before. Sometimes, Eren would drop by with his mother and father in tow, tanned cheeks lightly dashed with red from the cold, all of them armed with mashed potatoes and warm gravy.
His mother would invite them readily, and Eren and Mikasa would huddle together in front of the fireplace, video-calling Armin and talking as if they hadn’t seen each other a few days prior. Levi would be sitting with his traditional cup of tea on the couch beside them, rewatching whatever Netflix series he could find. The adults would be talking amongst themselves, with Carla Jaeger’s laughter filling the background.
“Maybe you’d like to spend Christmas with me, Hange,” Erwin said, chuckling. “You mentioned that your roommate wouldn’t be with you. My father is out of town, so maybe we can spend it together.” Erwin turned to him, and Levi could see the blond’s eyes glinting mischievously. “Levi, you want to come?”
Levi remembered his mother urging him to spend Christmas with a girlfriend or at least his workmates just the week prior. It would be good for you, she had said, patting his head as if he were a young child. She had been badgering him for some grandkids, and although Levi would’ve loved to indulge her, the feat was impossible given that he didn’t even have any romantic prospects of any kind.
Given his impolite attitude and below-average height, Levi had doubts as to whether or not someone would understand his quirks and intricacies. Unless . . .
Hange’s expectant gaze met his own when he raised his head, contemplating Erwin’s question. In a time before he was considered to be humanity’s strongest, before people sung praises to his heroics, before his fellow scouts even trusted him—Hange chose to befriend him. One of the first to accept him.
“Come on Levi,” Hange urged. “Unless, of course, you have plans with your family. Then we completely understand, bec—”
“Sure,” he interrupted her blabbering, placing his teacup on the saucer laid out in front of him. He did have family stuff, but he was sure his mother would be delighted if she found out that he chose to be more sociable during that time of the year.
Hange’s lips broke into a smile.
Slowly, the empty part of him was starting to feel less like a void.
“Why can’t you just invite Hange and Commander Erwin to our place?” Mikasa chided, crossing her arms. From the back seat, Armin chuckled, choosing to ignore Mikasa’s error. “It’d be a good way to introduce her to Aunt Kuchel.”
It was either Mikasa was a really good eavesdropper or Hange had gone and informed the trio of their Christmas plans. Levi suspected that the latter was more likely, considering that Hange had walked back to university with Armin and Mikasa.
He had picked up Armin and Mikasa from the university to give Armin a ride home, as per Mikasa’s request. As a result, Levi chose to leave the cafe a little earlier, entrusting Jean with managerial duties. The tall boy had gladly accepted, with Connie and Sasha—both of whom were not employees, but were the shop’s most loyal customers, given that they came there nearly everyday—cheering him on from the background.
“You know he isn’t your commander anymore, right?” Levi replied snarkily, and Mikasa rolled her eyes. She adjusted her seatbelt and glared at the traffic in front of them, her cheeks tinted a light shade of red at her minute error. “And besides,” the dark-haired man continued, “Stop giving my mother false hope. Also, inviting more people means that I have to make more food.”
“That’s your problem.”
“And you’re the one who’s going to be helping out in the kitchen.”
Armin laughed politely before inserting himself in the conversation. “I think that’s a good idea, though, Mikasa,” he told younger Ackerman. Levi glanced at him from the rearview mirror, meeting the blonde’s gaze. Before he could respond, however, Mikasa smoothly interrupted him.
“You should spend Christmas at our house also, since your grandfather is out of town.”
“How about we invite the entire corps instead,” Levi said sarcastically as he stepped on the gas gently, the vehicle moving forward by a tiny bit. “That’ll be neat.”
“That’s a great idea!” Armin responded excitedly, his blue eyes immediately sparkling in delight. “I can even make the invitations, and Mikasa can help make the guest list! And of course, Eren will help out. We can all just chip in and order food so that you won’t have to cook, Levi. You don’t even have to worry about anything, just be there! Oh this is going to be so much fun—”
As the conversation continued, Levi realized that there was going to be no way to convince the blond no without risking disappointment. Mikasa flashed him a triumphant smirk but he chose to keep his eyes on the road, contemplating the number of people who would be in his house. He wondered if Hange would agree to the change of plans, given that she was new in town and didn’t really know a lot of the previous survey corps members. Except Moblit and Nanaba, apparently.
Nevertheless, Hange wasn’t the type of person who was content with just sitting still and allowing others to control the conversation. Levi began to remember the moments wherein her intense laughter contrasted his monotonous remarks; the way she willingly urged him into conversation when he had been to reluctant to get participate; her comforting smile on days wherein he felt as if the weight of lives was on his shoulders, carrying the burden of defeat and grief to the point that he couldn’t move his own body anymore.
His train of thought is interrupted by his own doing, as the car stopped when he hit the brakes as if he was on autopilot. Armin’s house was large and inviting already, decorated with Christmas ornaments he was sure the blond had chosen himself. The young boy thanked Levi profusely for going out of his way to give him a ride.
Levi nodded, not really seeing why it was such a big deal. It was just a quick detour and it wasn’t like he was doing anything special anyway.
“You’ll consider it, right Levi?” Armin said after he had gotten out of the car, peering into Mikasa’s open window. “I’d really like to spend Christmas with our old friends. It would mean a lot to me . . .” the boy looked away, lowering his voice to barely above a whisper. “And perhaps Hange also . . . you know, even though she doesn’t remember anything. She’ll like anything you give her, captain, so please do consider it!”
Mikasa looked at Levi pointedly, as if daring him to reject the boy’s offer.
If he were honest, Levi wasn’t entirely against it. His face would’ve said otherwise, however, which made Armin a lot more nervous than he needed to be.
“Okay,” Levi replied, and Mikasa gave Armin a small smile. The boy’s face instantly lit up, and Levi continued. “Don’t order. We’ll cook.” Mikasa whipped her head so fast at him, her eyes already set in a glare, but Levi paid her no attention. “ Mikasa and I will cook,” he clarified, as if his point wasn’t made already.
Armin gave Mikasa a comforting pat on the back as Levi smirked triumphantly at the girl in retaliation for her jab at him prior. Soon, Mikasa waved goodbye to Armin and closed her window, muttering under her breath about how unfair it was that she was stuck with an annoying midget for a cousin.
“I’m going to get Historia to punch you again,” the dark-haired girl said darkly.
“She can punch me as many times as she wants, you’re still going to help cook the food, you lazy brat.”
“I’ll tell Hange that you’re bullying me.”
“Aren’t you a little snitch?”
The ride was quiet after that. Autumn had tinted the city a nice shade of orange, and the occasional fallen leaves would brush past the car as they drove back to their home. The journey was smooth, as the flow was against the rush hour traffic.
“She was like a mother to you, wasn't she," Levi said, phrasing his thoughts as a statement more than a question.
Mikasa nodded, relaxing in her seat. “She was." The dark-haired girl closed her eyes, her mind fleeting off to remnants of the other world, crammed into the recesses of her mind. "Hange held Sasha once when she had a nightmare. She was the only one who could get through to Sasha, since Connie went back home to his village during that time. I didn't know what to do."
"Ah."
"She was also the one who stopped me from killing you," Mikasa continued, and Levi scoffed. "I was this close. It would've been satisfying at that time."
"All for your boyfriend, huh?"
"He's not my—oh forget it, you annoying midget."
Levi didn't respond to that, choosing to keep his eyes on the road with an amused smirk.
Mikasa broke the silence. "Do you think Hange will get her memories back?”
“Maybe,” he replied as he maneuvered the car to turn right. “Maybe not.”
Levi thought that would've been the end of it, but Mikasa wasn't finished yet. "She always thought that she was never enough as a commander. Hange did what she could with what she had, right? I mean . . . not even Commander—I mean, Erwin—could have fathomed what was beyond the walls."
He was fully-aware of the sacrifices Hange had made once she became Commander. Her fascination with learning became necessary, as she embraced the world of politics and international relations with an open mind. At that time, Levi wasn't certain if she had made the right call. But he knew her enough to know that Hange understood him, in ways that he didn't realize. Even though he kept his mouth shut unless necessary. She grew to despise senseless violence and treasured his opinion on trying to minimize civilian casualties as much as possible.
That was just the kind of person Hange was. She was kind, and had treated the 104th kids like they were her own children. Levi could remember the amount of broken chairs, the screams and the shouts, the many tears that escaped her eyes and streaked her cheeks the night Sasha had died. Hange had only stopped when he took her bleeding fingers into his hands and held them to his chest. Even with no words leaving his lips, she breathed, dropping her forehead into the crook of his neck.
No matter how smart Hange was, she couldn't bring back the dead, and she hated it with every fiber of her being.
He hated seeing her like that, angry and vulnerable because of the consequences war had brought upon them. Levi could remember the way he held her in his arms, placating a person as broken as he was because he couldn't bear to see her hurt.
It must've destroyed her heart a million times over to see Eren, a boy she had taken care of for five years, turn out the way he did.
"She did good" was all Levi said, and Mikasa huffed in response.
“Oi, shitty-glasses, you look like you’re fuckin’ constipated.”
“You caught me, Levi. I haven’t had a shit in two days,” Hange said seriously, placing a tentative hand under her chin. “Thank you for your concern, though.”
He rolled his eyes but remained silent, knowing that she was (hopefully) most likely lying. It was easy for him to fall back to his rhythmic banter with Hange. Three in the morning was when Levi would normally see her, so he officially took over part of Eld’s shift recklessly. Eld had nodded profusely, giving him a thumbs up and cheering him on. Petra (supportive girl that she was) made sure to take care of random errands, so Levi had no choice but to take over the counter.
Levi was well-aware that the way his heart skipped a beat was remnants of his feelings for her, and was something that (much to his chagrin) the others had noticed as well. Mikasa wouldn’t say anything, but the small smirk on her lips and the glint in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. Erwin was much more vocal about his sentiments, and it had annoyed him that the former commander had noticed his silent devotion to the hyper scientist without Levi even mentioning it.
Nonetheless, there was something Levi was sure of, and it was his decision to never tell Hange his feelings. No matter how much Erwin pushed, or Mikasa and Armin may tease, he was perfectly content watching her from the sidelines and supporting her whenever necessary.
Just like he had willingly done before, when he chose the fate of humanity over a possible future with her. Seeing her alive and safe in the new world was enough for him.
“I think it’s important to allow yourself more freedom especially in a world where it’s taken for granted.”
Levi wiped the counter clean as he shook the intruding thoughts away. He decided to allow Hange the time to think about her order for about another minute before he whips up the same thing she normally got in the cafe.
“Levi, can I have something with ten shots of espresso?”
He looked at her incredulously. “No,” he answered. Hange opened her mouth to speak, but Levi cut her off immediately. “It’s still a no.”
“You didn’t even know what I was going to say,” the professor said, a hint of a pout on her lips and disappointment written all over her face.
“You were gonna ask if eight shots was okay, right?” Levi retorted smoothly. He knew her too well. She nodded slowly. “It’s three shots or nothing for you, Hange.”
Hange sighed, slumping on the counter. “Pleaaaaase, Levi,” she whined, pushing her glasses up her nose. “I need the energy.”
“Oi, I just cleaned that,” Levi muttered. He hit her head lightly with the menu in his hand. She looked up at him, pleading. He ignored her. “Stand up, shitty-glasses. Why can’t you just order the same thing you always do?”
“Because,” Hange started, standing straight up and looking Levi in the eye. He raised an eyebrow, ignoring the way his heart skipped a beat for a split second. “It’s not enough. If I want to finish this research proposal I need caffeine in my system to keep me alive.”
“Can’t you just submit it after the holidays or something?” Levi asked. He watched suspiciously as Hange started fiddling with her thumbs, looking away to avoid his gaze. “Hange.” Her name left his lips firmly.
“I wanted to finish it early so that I wouldn’t have to work on the holidays,” Hange replied, her voice barely above a whisper. “This is the first time someone’s invited me to a Christmas party.”
She had looked so vulnerable with the way she said it, and Levi wondered for a brief moment if this new world had been kind to Hange the way it had been to him. She still avoided his scrutiny, refusing to look in his eyes even when he sighed, giving in to understanding.
“You get four shots.”
“Five.”
“Four or nothing, four-eyes.”
“ Fine .”
“Same order?”
“Same order. Four shots.”
He got to work quickly, practiced hands going through the assortment of drinks with ease. From the corner of his eye, he could see Hange flipping through the menu, as if contemplating a second order. Briefly, Levi wondered if she had already eaten.
“Have you even had something to eat , shitty-glasses?” he asked offhandedly, slightly startling Hange.
Hange nodded her head, gesturing to her backpack. “Moblit made me sandwiches a while ago. I couldn’t finish the entire pack so I thought I’d just have them for breakfast!”
Levi remembered Moblit. He only had one personal conversation with the guy: when he told Moblit (in the most Levi way possible, which meant that it was bound to be misconstrued or misinterpreted, especially if Hange wasn’t around) to always take care of Hange. Moblit followed that promise, until the very end, it seemed. While most people would’ve assumed that Moblit vexed Levi, the dark-haired man was actually glad that the two friends had found each other again because he knew Moblit was dear to Hange’s heart.
He hummed in acknowledgement before placing Hange’s order on the counter. “Here, shitty-glasses,” he said, and Hange perked up immediately.
“Aaww, Levi, you didn’t say my name,” she groaned teasingly.
“Really? I think Shitty-glasses suits you just fine.”
“Okay then, keep your nicknames and I keep my coffee,” Hange retaliated weakly as she stuck her tongue out immaturely. “How much do I owe you?”
Levi shook his head. “On the house.”
“Eh? But Levi, you added like four shots of espresso, how much—”
“Just shut up and take it,” Levi interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. “Finish your research or whatever.”
“This is the third time this week you’ve treated me! It’s unfair, Levi. I’m a friend, and I should support your establishment!” Hange flailed her arms around animatedly, her money in her hand.
Levi ignored her panicked rambling, choosing to focus on wiping the counter clean for a second time that morning. He didn’t respond to her antics and the way she drawled his name, her voice enunciating every possible syllable, “Leeeevaaaaaiiii.”
It was only when she stopped that he looked at her, smirking triumphantly. What he didn’t expect was to be met with Hange’s own winning smile. She winked at him and took her cup of cold brew nitro before turning around and heading over to her usual spot in the cafe, the sound of her heels clicking on the floor as she walked.
Levi’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, and he wondered what had gotten her to cave so quickly this time. He watched her set down her drink and pull out her sandwiches. She took out her laptop and iPad and created a haven of her own, in a secluded area at the opposite end of the room. Levi sighed in satisfaction, allowing a small smile to grace his lips as he returned to work.
He walked towards the counter and was about to ring the tiny bell twice to call Petra, but something caught his eye. That was when he realized why Hange had willingly left as easily as she did.
Levi noticed a ten dollar bill folded inside the tip jar with a note attached to it. He squinted his eyes to read what was written on it.
To Levi,
I win this round.
- Shitty-Glasses