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It was getting to be past midnight, Levi glanced down at his watch, his anxiety building. In the distance, lightning danced across the clouds sending waves of thunder over the camp. She said she would be researching late into the night, but no one, not even obsessed scientists, should be working into what was looking to be a hurricane. Levi shook his head. He knew better than to interrupt Hanji while she was working. She would return eventually.
One hour passed, then two, three. . . Levi was not only becoming more anxious, but increasingly tired. If only Hanji would hurry up and return to the camp, so that he could get some sleep. The only thing keeping him awake was sheer. . . well, he wasn’t sure what it was. He had no idea why he was so determined, and he was confident he didn’t want to think about it too much. He knew it would only bring about some weird, twisted feeling deep down in his stomach. So, he chalked it up to his duty as corporal. Yet more time passed. It was nearing four in the morning. He couldn’t keep his worrying in check any longer, and he walked silently to the stables. No one else needed to be so concerned, his soldiers needed to rest. Every night could be their last chance to dream.
Getting to the research lab was a pain. Of course, as it turned out, Levi’s horse was afraid of thunder. Every few minutes, the damned beast would balk at the thunder rolling across the sky. By this point, it was pouring, and the gusts of wind were strong enough to force the horse to take a few sideways steps. Eventually he saw a shape in the distance, and the brightness of a close lightning strike illuminated that it was, indeed, Hanji’s lab. A few more moments and he was there. He apologized to the muddy, scared horse while tying it to a fence post, and slid open the door to the lab.
“Tch.” Of course Hanji wouldn’t be in the shelter of the lab. Naturally, she would be outside with their current titans. Making sure they remained safe throughout the storm, maybe even taking notes on their reaction to the forces of nature. Sighing, he walked to the back door of the lab, which would take him to the large arena where the titans were kept. Once he was outside, Levi scanned the area, his eyes quickly finding Hanji close to the center of the arena, staring at the titans. His mind ignored the double flip his heart just did in his chest.
As he sat next to her, he realized she was shaking from having sat in the still pouring rain for so long. Hanji hadn’t even made any movement as he sat down next to her in the first place. Levi took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. There was still no reaction. Hanji remained silent, unmoving, her eyes glued to the two titans in front of her. The titans were also unmoving, it was already known, thanks to Hanji’s research, that they weren’t as active in the night due to the lack of sunlight. They were sleeping, if titans are even capable of sleeping. Levi gently pushed Hanji’s shoulder, and she snapped back into focus.
“Corporal!” Hanji jumped. “Your uniform is so dirty! What are you doing out here, sitting in the rain?!” Levi raised his eyebrow, and looked down at his uniform. It was dirty but, how strange, he wasn’t even bothered by it in this moment.
“The uniform? No worries, it can be washed. But why are YOU out here? Did you just think this storm was the perfect research opportunity? Do you even realize how long I wai-” Levi hushed himself. He quickly composed himself. Just because he was tired, didn’t instantly mean that he could spout out nonsense. “Why don’t we go inside to discuss this?” He stood up, and glancing at the sky, realized this storm would not be over anytime soon.
“But, this IS a perfect research opportunity. Don’t you see, they are even MORE restless now than during any other clear night! This is a huge breakthrough!” Hanji hopped in excitement.
Hanji would spend hours discussing to Levi the most intimate details of her discovery, whether she was outside in the hell storm or not.
“Do you want to tell me about this discovery inside?” Levi tilted his heads toward the lab. Hanji, excited to tell all of the facts, leaped at the chance and suddenly pushed past Levi. In the end, she beat him to the dry warmth of the lab.
“. . .So, because the storm blocks off any light, the titans are forced to shut down! Their bodies just go into hibernation mode! This time, even more so, since this storm is happening during the night, and their circadian rhythm was already preparing for a lack of energy available it means they were doubly vulnerable! The poor things!” Hanji rambled.
Levi was only half listening. He was fully aware that this was an important discovery, if he could only train the soldiers to fight in inclement weather, that was. He glanced up, and without realizing it, studied Hanji. She had laid her glasses and both of their jackets on an empty desk, and was sitting in a chair. She was obviously physically exhausted, but allowed none of it to show through her enthusiasm.
“I’ll have to test how they fare underwater next...do they even need air?” Hanji paused, obviously considering how to test out her latest theory.
Listen, listen, listen. . .Levi chanted in his mind. He was mesmerized. The way Hanji’s eyes glimmered with passion, how her eyebrows crinkled together when she was thinking, her giant smile. She was quirky, bright, and intelligent. She hated cruelty, and treasured every little bit of new information. In a lot of ways, she was like a puppy. Hyper excited, and passionate for life. There was so much to appreciate about Hanji. . .
“If only their flesh didn’t evaporate, I could test their cells for chloroplast. . .but obviously it wouldn’t be on the epidermis, the colossal titan and the armored titan don’t even have the same type of epidermis as the others, which means any chloroplast would need to be housed in some other cells. . .”
The way the leather straps of her maneuvering gear were too tight against her chest, and her messy hair that made it look like she just got out of bed. . .Levi had completely given up on listening. Titans, whatever. He wanted his hands in her hair, on her waist, on her thighs, he wanted himself wherever there was Hanji. Her breathing was melodically timed with her endless speech, and it seemed wrong. He wanted her breathing to be as erratic and reckless as her personality, and he wanted her talk about titans and science to come to a stop. If only for one night.
“Hanji. . .” Levi tried to speak, but his voice came out too quietly. His mind said this was crazy, unnecessary. That he was corporal, and he needed to be more responsible than this. This was one mess he wasn’t sure he knew how to clean up.
Levi stood up, and walked over to where Hanji was discussing all sorts of details on how the typical photosynthesizing plant and titans could be similar. Instead of trying to speak, Levi made some sort of rash decision to just show her how to shut up for the moment. He twisted his hands underneath the leather straps by her shoulders, and pulled her up to him. He forgot that she was taller than he was, but at the moment, that wasn’t important. Leaning up, Levi thought to himself: I might just love this crazy woman, and he kissed her. Maybe a little too roughly, but Hanji was someone who almost got herself massacred by titans on a daily basis while trying to talk to them.
Finally. She was quiet. She also wasn’t pushing Levi away and so, while it was still storming, Levi decided to shed himself of his responsibilities and kiss her some more.