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Hanji was serving her last few customers for the night. As time flowed closer to the end of her shift, three men still lingered at the bar. She noticed they walked in together, but the blonde man decided to sit at the opposite end of the bar away from his companions. After about an hour of serving them, their condescending attitudes and ignorance made her take an extra long bathroom break.
They cursed her when she came back, and she was tempted to break the glass she held across their skulls. However, her manager gave her a stern look that pacified her. Eventually, her manager ended his shift and left the task of closing the bar to her. She annoyed she’d have to serve the remaining rude costumers on her own and hoped to drown them out as much as she could.
She was happy for a distraction when the blonde man sitting at the other end of the bar waved her over to order another scotch. But as she turned around to make his drink the comments from the other two men did not fall on death ears.
“Eldian bitch, a good sucker punch should teach her not to keep her superiors waiting.”
The other man drunk about half his glass of whiskey before even responding, “She’s irrelevant Gross. We’re celebrating right now, we can throw her to the dogs later.”
“What’s more celebratory than watching a sub-human whore get what she deserves?!” He barked out with a huge laugh
Hanji quietly served the Scotch to the man sitting at the end of the bar. She wasn’t aware the anger on her face was obvious, until he commented on it.
“You should just ignore them, they’d harass you even more if they saw your anger.”
It confused her, wasn’t he on their side? Shouting from the other side of the bar broke her train of thought.
“Damn you, slow wench, hurry up and bring us more Whiskey woman!” The Sergeant shouted
Hanji took the stranger’s advice to heart. She swallowed her pride and served the two men until they were drunk and stumbling their way out the door.
“Heyy Zeke, we are- we’re heading back to base, your comin’ with us?” The smaller man slurred while dragging his bigger friend around his shoulder.
The blonde man waved them off without turning around, “I’ll catch up with you two later.”
Hanji let out a sigh of relief once they left the bar. It was thirty minutes past the end of her shift and the bar needed to be closed. It slightly irritated her that the blonde man still sat in his seat smoking a cigarette.
“No smoking allowed in here.”
He chuckled in response, “Do you really care enough to stop me?”
“No, but I do need to close this bar, so if you could leave my night would be a bit better.”
He only inhaled another hit from his cigarette in response. Then finished his glass of scotch. Hanji quietly collected the glass and began cleaning it.
“You live in this ghetto right?”
Hanji was reluctant to actually respond to his question,”Sure”.
She wondered if him and his companions would come back to the bar sober, just to terrorize her.
“Then you probably know who that man was.”
Hanji rolled her eyes and began wiping tables. “Sergeant Major Gross, overseer of the Liberio Ghetto. I’m familiar with him and his...work.”
“Then why get angry at his comments. You know the consequences if you step out of line. Besides, You’ve probably been treated way worst by an even lower class Marleyan.” He calmly chastised.
Hanji unknowingly crushed the glass in the palm of her hand, “They degrade us, use us, and then say we are the demons. But I’d rather kiss a titan’s ass than sleep next to any of those bastards. Maybe if we’d take more time researching the Titans instead of weaponizing them, things would be better.”
Zeke had moved in front of the rambling woman and softly grabbed her bloody hand to pick out the shards of glass embedded in them. “You remind me of a man I admired. He would’ve definitely like you.”
Hanji didn’t meet his eyes and only stared at her bloody hand instead,” I wish I could say the same, but I’m not fond of the company you keep.”
Zeke only glanced at the woman before wrapping a small towel around her hand. “They’re not my company to keep.” He sighed,”I wanted a quiet time in an area I knew no one would recognize me, but I ran into them. They followed me and there wasn’t much I could do about it.”
Hanji scoffed, “Having a defeatist attitude is unattractive. You can always get something you want if you have the will to go after it.”
Zeke finished bandaging the woman’s hand, but didn’t let go of it. He met her gaze with a sarcastic smile. “What is it you want the most?”
“Freedom.” She said with no hesitation.
He chuckled and casually lit another cigarette. “They’ll never give you that.”
Hanji took the time to actually observe the man sitting in front of her. He was absurdly handsome with a good build. His smirks and smiles didn’t seem to reach his eyes. As a matter of fact, his eyes seemed dead. As if his affable demeanor is hiding a much crueler, angrier side to him.
Hanji looked away and began setting all the chairs upside down on the tables. “Maybe if we were the monsters they say we are, my people wouldn’t be abused as much.” The woman pondered to herself.
“Monsters? Demons?,” he laughed, “Eldians are cursed. I pity them. They’re just unlucky people.”
Hanji collected the last of her belongings and Zeke followed her out of the small bar. It almost stung when the cool air hit her skin. It was the middle of the night and most of the characters roaming the streets at this time were unsavory. She began to quickly walk towards the direction of her apartment building when she noticed the blonde man was still beside her.
“Why are you following me?”
He lightly scratched at his beard and then gave her a lopsided smile,” it wouldn’t be very gentlemanly of me to let a beautiful woman like yourself walk home alone.”
“I’ve done it many times before. Besides, I’m more worried about you knowing where I live.” She sighed
“Oh yeah, and why is that?” He inquired as he smoked one more hit from his cigarette before putting it out.
“I may not know a famous face, but I do recognize a famous name. Isn’t that right War-chief Zeke Yeagar.”
“Don’t judge a book by its title. You don’t know me.” He argued with apathy
Hanji stared at him thoughtfully for a second, before giving an answer,” Maybe not, but I know what you fight for.”
Zeke stopped at this, and grabbed her upper arm to stop her,”Do you?”he growled
Hanji met his glare with her own stubborn gaze. There was a slight edge to his demeanor. She felt he wouldn’t let her get away with breathing another contemptuous comment his way.
‘For most of the night he seemed indifferent towards most things. Is this a small glimpse of who he is on the battlefield?’
She snatched her arm away from him and instead made her way to her front door. “This is my place. Thanks for the walk, but you can leave now.”
Instead of leaving he walked towards her and stopped only a few inches away from her face. “I’m going to visit you at your bar tomorrow and the day after that. Whenever I have the time I’ll come by.” He firmly stated
Hanji was shocked. They obviously didn’t get along. And receiving daily visits from a war chief would definitely raise questions out of her peers.
“Wha- What for? We have very different values. But...I’ll argue with you anytime, anyplace,”Hanji declared with a smile laced with uncertainty
“I like you. And since I keep such terrible company. I suppose it’s time I find someone good to hang around.” Zeke sighed
Hanji narrowed her eyes in response. Any type of relationship between him and herself couldn’t result in anything good. “You’re just trying to get me killed.” She concluded as she opened her building door.
She closed the heavy door behind her, before he could give her another response. She made her way to her room and fell into her bed in exhaustion. Hanji turned her head to check the time, but instead the window caught her attention. She saw Zeke still standing there, when she peeked out of it. Her movement must’ve caught his attention, because he turned to look back at her.
A smirk grew on his face before he winked at her. She closed her curtains and laid back in bed. Any aggression she still had for him would have to be handled tomorrow.