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Levi had endured a lot of things in his life—bloodshed, death, the weight of responsibility. But nothing tested his patience quite like watching Hange Zoë laugh a little too hard at some idiot’s joke.
“Ah, come on, Moblit! That was hilarious!” Hange wheezed, clutching her stomach as she leaned against the lab table.
Levi scowled from the corner, arms crossed, eyes narrowing at Moblit, who looked a little too pleased with himself.
There was nothing funny about whatever he had said. Levi had been in the room, and not once did he feel the urge to even smirk. But Hange? She was acting like it was the best joke in human history.
And that bothered him.
It wasn’t the first time, either. Lately, he had found himself irritated more often than not whenever Hange was too friendly with someone else—especially men.
“You’re staring,” came a voice from beside him.
Levi clicked his tongue and turned his head slightly to find Erwin giving him a knowing look.
“No, I’m not.”
“You are,” Erwin said, amused. “And you have been for the past five minutes.”
Levi grunted and looked away. He wasn’t going to sit here and have Erwin analyze him like some experiment.
“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, you know.”
Levi’s jaw tightened. “Tch. As if.”
But Erwin chuckled, and that only annoyed Levi more. He wasn’t jealous. He was just… irritated.
At the way Hange laughed. At the way Moblit looked at her. At the way she let her hand linger on his shoulder.
And at the way she never looked at Levi like that.
******
For the next few days, Levi did his best to ignore the growing irritation clawing at his chest. But Hange wasn’t making it easy.
She was always surrounded by people, always laughing, always touching someone’s arm or ruffling someone’s hair in that careless way of hers.
And Levi hated it.
“Oi, Four-Eyes,” he called one afternoon, catching her just as she was about to leave the meeting room.
She turned, grinning. “Yeah?”
He didn’t know what he wanted to say. He had just needed her attention.
“Quit being so annoying,” he said instead.
Hange blinked, then smirked. “Me? Annoying? Levi, you wound me.” She clutched her chest dramatically.
He clicked his tongue. “Just stop hanging all over people.”
Her grin faltered for half a second, but she recovered quickly. “Why? You jealous?”
Levi stiffened.
Hange tilted her head, stepping closer, invading his space the way only she could. “Wait. Are you?”
He scoffed, stepping back. “You wish.”
She grinned. “I do, actually.”
Levi froze.
Hange just laughed and patted his shoulder before walking away, leaving him standing there, heart hammering in his chest.
*******
Levi’s boots echoed coldly against the stone floor as he patrolled the dim corridors of the Survey Corps headquarters, his mind a tempest of unspoken words. It was late, the halls empty save for the flicker of torchlight casting jagged shadows. He shouldn’t have been lingering. He should have been in his quarters, sharpening blades or scrubbing nonexistent dust from his desk—anything to drown out the relentless buzz of thoughts about her.
But then he heard it.
Hange’s voice, warm and apologetic, drifting from the common room.
“—that’s sweet of you, but I don’t really see you that way.”
Levi froze, his pulse spiking. He recognized the cadence of a confession, the fragile hesitation in the unnamed soldier’s reply. His fists clenched instinctively, nails biting into his palms.
“I mean, I think you’re great, really,” Hange continued, her tone softer now, almost regretful. “But my heart’s kinda set on someone else.”
The silence that followed was suffocating. Levi leaned against the wall, his breath shallow, as footsteps retreated down the hall. He didn’t move, didn’t dare breathe, until he heard Hange sigh—a sound so weary, so uncharacteristically vulnerable, it clawed at him.
When he finally turned the corner, she was slumped against the wall, her goggles pushed haphazardly into her hair, fingers massaging her temples.
“Idiot,” she muttered to herself, a bitter laugh escaping her lips.
Levi’s chest tightened. He’d never seen her like this—defeated. The sight ignited something reckless in him. Before he could second-guess himself, he stepped into the dim light.
Hange’s head snapped up, her eyes widening behind her smudged lenses. “Levi? What are you—”
“Who?” The word scraped out of him, raw and urgent.
She blinked, then straightened, a faint smirk tugging at her lips. “Who… what?”
He took another step forward, close enough to see the faint flush on her cheeks, the way her breath hitched as he crowded her space. “The person you’re set on,” he growled, low and dangerous. “Who is it?”
For a heartbeat, Hange hesitated. Her gaze flickered over his face, searching, before her expression softened into something unbearably tender. Slowly, she reached up and removed her goggles, letting them dangle from her fingers. The vulnerability in her eyes pinned him in place.
“You,” she whispered.
The world stopped.
Levi’s restraint shattered.
He seized her wrist, pulling her against him with a force that knocked the air from her lungs. His other hand cradled the back of her neck, fingers tangling in her hair as he crashed his lips to hers.
It wasn’t gentle.
It was desperation, years of stifled longing erupting in a clash of teeth and breathless gasps. Hange’s hands fisted in his shirt, dragging him closer as if she’d drown without him. Levi swallowed her muffled laugh, her sigh, every sound she’d ever teased him with now his to claim.
When they finally broke apart, foreheads pressed together, Levi’s hands trembled against her skin. Hange’s thumb brushed the scar on his cheek, her voice a husky murmur.
“Took you long enough.”
He scowled, but there was no heat in it. “You could’ve said something sooner, shitty glasses.”
“And ruin your brooding aesthetic?” She grinned, though her eyes glistened. “Watching you seethe was way more fun.”
Levi huffed, but his arms tightened around her waist, anchoring her to him. The fear of letting go—of this moment slipping through his fingers—clutched at his throat.
Hange’s smile faded. She pressed her palm to his chest, over the frantic beat of his heart. “Levi… how long?”
He turned his face into her hair, inhaling the scent of ink and smoke. “Too damn long.”
Her breath caught. When she spoke again, her voice wavered. “I thought you’d never see me. Not like… this.”
Levi pulled back just enough to meet her gaze. “I’ve always seen you,” he said quietly. “I just didn’t know how to…” To want. To need. To risk losing you.
Hange’s fingers traced his jaw, her touch featherlight. “You’re such a hypocrite. All that scowling whenever I talked to Moblit—”
“Tch. That guy’s a clown.”
“Jealousy’s cute on you.”
“Shut up.”
She laughed, bright and unfiltered, and Levi’s chest ached. He’d walk through fire to keep that sound alive.
Hange’s expression sobered as she toyed with the collar of his shirt. “What now?”
Levi hesitated. Relationships in their world were fragile, fleeting—a luxury they couldn’t afford. But as her thumb brushed the pulse point in his neck, he knew he’d burn the world down before letting her go.
“We keep this quiet,” he said finally. “No distractions for the squad.”
Hange arched a brow. “So, secret rendezvous? Stealing kisses in dark corners?” Her smirk returned, edged with mischief. “How scandalous, Captain.”
Levi rolled his eyes but couldn’t suppress the faint curl of his lips. “Annoying as ever.”
“You love it.”
This time, he didn’t deny it.
*****
They didn’t part until dawn.
In the hazy glow of morning, Levi found himself in Hange’s cluttered quarters, her head resting on his chest as she traced idle patterns over his heartbeat. The room smelled of parchment and her—wild and warm, like a storm he never wanted to escape.
“You know,” she murmured, “I used to dream about this. Pathetic, right?”
Levi’s fingers stilled in her hair. “Why?”
She shrugged, but her voice cracked. “Because you’re… you. And I’m just—”
He silenced her with a kiss, slow and deliberate, pouring every unspoken word into it. When he pulled away, her eyes were wide, vulnerable.
“You’re Hange,” he said roughly. “The only person I’ve ever met who’s more stubborn than me. The one who sees solutions in chaos. Who never gives up, even when you should.” His thumb brushed her lip. “You’re… mine.”
Hange’s breath hitched. For once, she had no witty retort, no deflection—just a quiet, trembling smile as she nestled closer.
Levi held her, the weight of her trust settling into his bones. Outside these walls, the world was cruel and uncertain. But here, in this fragile space between breaths, they had this.
And it was enough.
******
The next morning, Erwin caught Levi scrubbing the common room floor with unusual vigor.
“You’re here early,” the commander remarked, sipping his tea.
Levi grunted.
Erwin’s gaze lingered on the fresh bite mark peeking above Levi’s collar. “Good talk with Hange last night?”
The scrub brush halted. Levi shot him a glare that could curdle milk.
Erwin chuckled, walking away. “Try not to break any furniture.”
Somewhere down the hall, Hange’s laughter echoed, bright and knowing.
Levi’s lips twitched.
Damn idiots, all of them.
But for the first time, the thought didn’t irritate him.