Chapter Text
After a second or so of their mini staring contest, Hange broke the silence. "Levi is this true?" She gestured at the paper.
Feeling suddenly conscious under the brunette's gaze, he struggled to find an answer.
"I- what- no, yes! No, I mean- what is?" Levi managed to mutter.
Hange giggled at the mess Levi had become. In Hange's point of view, at the door, there stood a Levi, who now had traces of sweat running down his forehead, his hair freshly out of a blow of air from running, out of breath, and can't complete a meaningful sentence. But in Levi's point of view, despite having his life wrecked by a simple piece of paper, he found Hange's giggle quite differently. Now that he knows that Hange knows that he might have something more than friendship for her, her giggle sounded rather lovely, something laced with romantic shit that his mind can't process.
"Calm down shorty, let's try not to decrease your life span because of this. Your height is already short as it is." Hange grinned teasingly.
Feeling a sense of familiarity with Hange's teasing, he was able to gather himself quite a bit. He was able to complete a sentence but the other messiness he had been still remained. "Stop that, shitty four-eyes." He spouted.
"But be honest though, what did you mean by this?" Hange asked, now with seriousness while holding the piece of paper higher.
"It's a thought." Levi answered shortly. Hange raised both of her eyebrows, urging Levi to continue his explanation. "I was wondering whether you wanted to experience it first-hand." Levi said while having a hard time keeping eye contact with Hange.
"The love confession during the love confession season?" Hange said to clarify, although she already knows the answer.
"Yes, if that's what you think." Levi answered, acting as if he was just brushing it off.
Hange gigged once again because of how the ravenette was acting. Meanwhile, it sent the butterflies in Levi's stomach into utter chaos.
Before the two could immerse themselves into their deeper feelings, their classmates started to go back inside their room, indicating that the lunch break will soon come to an end. As if on cue, Hange grabbed one of Levi's arm and pulled him to wherever they were going.
They ended up on the school's back garden, where no one would see them. Knowing this, Levi's heart started to beat a little louder and faster than he would have wanted to.
When they reached a spot that is quite at the end of the garden, Hange stopped. She never let Levi's hand go, and instead grabbed the other one as she turned to face him.
"Now, Levi. You can confess to me to your hearts content." Hange said, showing him an excited smile.
"Are you serious?" Levi said, doubting whether this is a part of her silly experiment. Upon hearing this, Hange's upbeat face changed into in denial.
"No! I would never take your feelings for games, Levi." Hange consoled.
Levi studied Hange's face, and he knew she wasn't kidding. But who would blame him anyway, he wasn't ready for this. If he had planned this all along, he would have planned for months, heck even for a whole year. Now, he was doing this impromptu, and he sucked with words.
"I-" Levi took a deep breath and averted his eyes to their interwined hands. "You always make my day less irritating." He continued.
He slowly rubbed his thumb at Hange's forehand, thinking of what to say. While the latter watched him as he brainstormed what he was about to say.
"I don't know. I guess without you in my life, it will be an absolute hell." This time, he managed to make eye contact with the brunette. What he saw shocked him to the core. Hange was staring into him, almost staring into his soul. Her eyes carried a different kind of passion. Not the passion when she was scrutinizing an experiment or when she was slicing open a frog, her stare right now is so much more than that. Even without her saying it out loud, he already knew Hange's response.
"I’m not quite sure whether that was a confession, but I like you too, Levi!" Hange almost shouted. She then wrapped her arms around Levi's neck, getting him into a tight embrace.
When she pulled away slightly, bringing their faces inches apart. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Levi broke the silence.
"Can I?" Levi asked, bringing his gaze to Hange's lips. Hange nodded, giving Levi the consent. He noticed the blush that Hange was starting to wear, and in turn he felt his blood reach his cheeks.
Levi placed his hand on Hange's waist, bringing her closer. Then he removed the space between their lips. The first thing that Levi though of was how soft Hange's lips are. It also tasted like cherries, but Hange didn't ate cherries a while back. He ended up brushing that mystery off of his shoulders. Shutting down his thoughts, he focused on their kiss. As far as he knows it was the first time for both of them.
Hange's lips started to move, caressing his. That seems to have fueled Levi more, so he placed both of his hands on Hange's cheeks. He pulled Hange closer to him, letting him feel more of her warmth. This, in turn, made Hange initiate more. She brushed her tongue to Levi's lips, asking for entrance.
What started to be a gentle first kiss tunred into a rough, passionate one. Both parties didn't mind the change, they were joyous even. They only parted when both of them needed to take a breather.
Hange smiled lovingly to Levi, and that made the corner of his lips tug upwards.
"Hange." Levi called out to her. She hummed in response, not quite out of the euphoria that they experienced.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked. Hange made a confusing look, asking what he meant by that. She opened her mouth to answer, but was cut of by the school bell ring.
"NO!" Hange exclaimed, quite startled by the set back.
Levi reacted as fast as that word could reach his ears. Was he hearing it right? Did Hange not want this, and did it only because he liked her? Levi's mind sank deeper and deeper into the abyss.
Noticing his reaction, Hange continued, "I mean no, the bell shouldn't ring yet."
"I haven't gotten a bite of my yakisoba yet!" She explained.
Before Levi could reply, Hange grabbed his hand once again, dragging hin back to their room running.
"Four-eyes, my question-"
"Oh shorty, I'm a hundred percent sure about us." Hange turned to look at him. "I liked you longer than you've think.” She smiled.
The butterflies in his stomach be damned.
A week had passed since their fateful get together and Levi was quite frustrated. They did get an official label for their relationship, but they did nothing in accordance to that label. They still acted the way they did before, when they were still the best of friends. That thought made him sigh, loud enough for Shadis to hear admist his discussion of boringness. The professor eyed Levi for a moment before moving back unto what he was saying.
After about an hour, Shadis already finished and went out of their classroom. They have about a few minutes of break time before the next teacher starts their class. He glanced to his side, where Hange was supposed to be seated, but he found it empty. His eyes scanned the room and found that she was already chatting with Nanaba, a close friend of hers. He scanned the room once again, looking for possible things to entertain him.
He found Erwin seating on the front row, busy with what he was writing about. He decided to pester him for the mean time. He stood up from his chair, and pushed it back under his table. He then went to the front row, and leaned his back against the wall facing Erwin.
"Eyebrows." Levi called out.
"Oh, Levi. It's rare for you to get out of your corner during class breaks." Erwin faced him.
Levi disregarded the blonde's comment and proceeded to his objective for his mini adventure out of his seat.
"What do couples do normally?" He asked quite shyly.
Erwin studied him for a moment, shocked by his question. It was rare for Levi to ask him anything, and it was rarer for him to talk about romance. Then, it clicked in his mind.
"Oh, you and Hange are finally official?" Erwin replied.
Levi was quite surprised that he came into that conclusion. Was his mind running for a hundred kilometers per hour?
He didn't know what happened but he supposed that Nanaba had heard Erwin even when they were at the opposite end of the room. Because the next thing that happened was Nanaba asking Hange if they already got together. Quite loudly if he may add. Now, the whole classroom got the news. They celebrated for yet another couple added to the love season.
Levi swore he would never talk to Erwin about relationships ever again.
The revelation of their relationship made Hange think about their current status. They were already officially a couple but when she thought about it, they never really did any romantic things apart from their first kiss. With that resolve, she made a list of things she would like to do with Levi.
Two weeks into their relationship, they already made quite the progress. Hange got to know that Levi's love language was physical touch, so she upgraded her interactions with him. She made sure to get into contact with Levi whenever appropriate, and she even gives him pecks every now and then. Not only did Levi's heart made a backflip whenever Hange did it, it also made him think he might die because of it. He wouldn't mind dying for Hange's kiss anyway.
Levi also changed drastically in Hange's eyes. Levi became a part of her daily routine. Often times, he brings her bento lunches that he cooked himself. He also made sure she ate on time and stayed hydrated. Without fail, he also made sure that Hange had taken a bath. It all started when Levi began to walk with her to school. He would wait for her in her house, and inspects her whether she was bathed. When he noticed that she didn't, all hell breaks loose. It's almost as if Levi knew that her love language was acts of service even if she hadn't told him herself. But maybe she knew, and she loved him more because of it.
Their first date happened at the end of their second week. They ate a fancy restaurant near both of their houses. It was very enjoyable to say the least. Levi wished he could place the memory in a bottle.
Both were absolutely happy in their relationship. Both striving to be the more loving one. They may have fights every now and then, but they were mostly about petty things. At the end of the day, they never sleep with the other mad at them. Before they knew it, their graduation was becoming near. With only two weeks before the school year ends, they both started to think of the future.
It was on the first day of their last school week when they began to talk about their futures. They sat in their usual seat in the school rooftop, eating their bento which was cooked by the ravenette himself.
"Hey, Levi." Hange called out. Levi glanced at her, indicating for her to go on.
"You know it's funny that we're already nearing our first year anniversary but we only got to the second base." Hange continued.
Levi choked on his food upon hearing the brunette. If only Hange knew the resistance he had to go through whenever they had a sleepover on each other's houses.
Hange patted his back and offered him her water while giggling. Levi took it quite bashfully and gulped down half of the bottle in one go.
"We'll..." Levi hesitated. "We'll get to that four-eyes." He replied.
"Sooner rather than later, right honey?" Hange teased.
Levi frowned at her tease, finding the nickname quite cringey, but lovable nevertheless. Hange began to organize her lunch box, placing it back to the lunch bag they share.
"Oh, before I forget." Hange started. "How's your application going?"
Levi knew what Hange was referring to. A month before, he had applied for a scholarship in Kyoto University, the school where he'll be going into college. He wanted to offload his school tuition from his mother's back so he applied for an exemption of all of the tuition fee at the university. He always helps his mother when it comes to their living expenses, being a single mother was not easy.
"The acceptance letter came this morning." Levi said monotonously.
"Really Levi?" Hange said excitedly. Then, she wrapped her arms around Levi's neck and gave him a peck on the lips.
Levi thought that receiving a kiss from his eccentric girlfriend was more rewarding than his acceptance to the university.
Wanting more, Levi stole a kiss from Hange as well. Not once, but twice. Hange giggled at Levi's initiative.
It was Levi's turn to ask. "How about you? Where will you be applying at?"
Hange removed her arms from the ravenette. A dark aura clouding her eyes. Levi started to get nervous.
"My parents are still persistent on moving back to Tokyo, but I'll convince them to let me stay here, with you." Hange stated.
Levi remembered what Hange said when they were still second-years. Back when her parents still haven't had her, they originally lived in Tokyo. They only moved here for her Dad's extensively long work. They were supposed to go back go the city at the middle of their first-year, but since Hange had already started high school, they figured it will be fine to let her graduate here. Now that graduation is already around the corner, her parents were bent on going back.
After that talk, Hange and Levi never talked about their future once again, afraid of what the future has for them. Just like that, graduation day came.
Levi and Hange weren't able to walk together, as Hange will be riding their car with her parents. During his walk to school, his mind was preoccupied with their current problem, their switch to a possible long distance relationship. He brushed it off of his mind at least after the ceremony.
The ceremony was an absolute pillar of boredom, only because Levi wasn't seated near Hange. Instead, he was seated next to a blonde with a too big of an eyebrow.
"You seem....preoccupied." Erwin started. "It's Hange isn't."
"Yeah." Levi simply answered.
Before the conversation could continue, Erwin was called out by the principal for his speech as a graduating student council president. As he stood up, he patted Levi's shoulder. "I'm sure the both of you would figure it out." He stated as he left.
Levi didn't listen to his speech at all, quite hanged from his advice to him. All his ears caught was something about 'dedicate your hearts'. Then, his eyes darted to the stage when Hange began her speech, as a vice president this time. He watched her as she passionately gave her speech, blurring out the words. How much he loved this girl.
After the ceremony, the graduating student council officers, namely him, Erwin, Hange, Mike, and Nanaba, decided to have their last hangout session. Although Levi was adamant from going because he wanted to spend with Hange alone, he still came since Hange would be going with them.
Their first stop was at a karaoke bar. It was here when he noticed that there was something bothering Hange. When he asked about what it was, Hange instead suggested that they go to Levi's house after this. Not knowing they would be hanging out to their heart's content until almost midnight.
When they arrived Levi's house, they were beyond exhausted. They decided to have that talk the next morning. Hange made a call to her parents saying she'll be staying over at Levi's. She made the call outside the house, which is quite unsual since she was comfortable talking to her parents in front of him before. When she walked back in, she was upset. But when Levi came to her view, she quickly changed it into her usual grinny self.
They washed up for a few minutes before laying down on Levi's bed. Neither of them said anything, and only held hands while staring into each other. Hange hugged him and began to doze off. Feeling the warmth of his girlfriend, he soon followed to sleep.
Levi woke up to Hange's peck at his cheek. In turn, he returned it to a long kiss. He glanced at the time, and it was only half past five.
"Levi," Hange started. "Wanna watch the sunset?" She continued enthusiastically, but Levi didn't failed to notice the sadness behind it.
Hange stood up and offered her hand to Levi. He took it and they both proceeded to go to the house's roof.
Hange sat in the middle of it nonethelessly, while Levi hesitated.
"Come on shorty, it's not that dirty." Hange giggled.
Giving into Hange, Levi sat down closely beside her. They stayed like that for a few minutes and the sun started to rise.
"Levi." Hange said, her voice full of sadness.
Levi did not turn his head to look at her and instead squeezed her hand.
"I'm leaving." Hange continued, barely managing to hide the crack at her voice. Levi turned his head to face her rather too quickly. "And I'm breaking up with you."
Tears trailed down the brunette's cheeks.