#levihan childhood friends

[sayonarasanity]

Alteirkay Masterpost (Levihan)

Multi-chaptered Fics

Reverberation (AO3) 9/9 (Childhood friends to lovers.)

Summary: “Levi, come on,” Hanji urged his side until she made him lie on his back again. “Look,” she took the hand resting on his chest and enlaced their fingers. “You don’t need to be jealous. You know why?” “I am not jealous. For fuck’s sake—” “Because we are soulmates,” she cut in as if he never made a single word. “Which means there is nobody in the world who can understand you better than me,” she went on. “And there is nobody in the world who can understand me better than you.”

The Moon is Dark (AO3) 10/10 (Reincarnation)

Summary: His face was wet. “What the hell?” He murmured touching his face to see if he was mistaken. He was not. His hair was damp with sweat. There was an uneasiness invading his whole body. He was filled with it like he had drunk it straight from a bottle. His chest was heavy, his breaths were uneven, and his right eye was throbbing like a hammer was hitting at it continuously. He was feeling like he had just lost someone.

Sense of Home (AO3) 3/3 (College AU)

Summary: Levi sighs. He wants to say something back. He really does. But he makes the mistake of looking into her eyes and decides to just let this one go. Because looking at Hange Zoe is never a good idea. It hasn’t been a good idea from the very beginning. Yet he looks despite himself. He stares into her deep, brown eyes which are nothing but two endless wells and thinks that maybe just maybe he will eventually find a rope to climb back to the surface.

The Laurel Crown (AO3) 2/2 (Levihan Parents AU)

Summary: “Listen to me brat,” Levi says, holding the tiny body of the wailing baby at eye level under her arms. “I am not your enemy. I am your goddamn father.”

One Shots

Dandelion(AO3)(Office AU Erwin's POV)

Summary: Maybe, it was the fact that Levi was being a lesser bitch than usual recently, for almost four months actually and hell when he thought about it, Erwin was in fact relatively late to see the signs. But the signs were, to his credit, so transparent no one could blame him for not noticing them any sooner. For at first, he had believed that the reason why Levi was acting just a slightly bit kinder towards the people in the office, was perhaps the tea machine he had bought himself which was excellent at steeping tea and good tea always brought his spirits up. But now he suspects the reason might not be something that simple.

Keep Me(AO3)(Office AU, Part II of Dandelion, Levi's POV)

Summary: To say that he wasn’t, at least even the tiniest bit, looking forward to these short encounters would be a lie. But each morning when he opened his eyes and realized that getting up from bed didn’t feel like labour he rushed his breakfast to not miss the bus and walked faster to the bus stop so that he would have a few more minutes for a cigarette and perhaps a couple of words he told himself that it wasn’t because of her. But he had never been good at lying.

Chance With You (AO3) (Alternate Universe - Reincarnation)

Summary: It is hard to see beauty in everything. Especially after a life as a soldier who had witnessed so many of his fellow comrades’ and thousands of people’s deaths. But Hanji wears that word as an outfit every day. It is drawn aesthetically in the way her eye lights up despite everything, in the way she examines each living being she finds in the garden, and in the way her curiosity never leaving her mind. She is neither a tree nor a bird. She is a forest; she has a universe and a variety of colours in her land. Beauty is a butterfly that has perched upon her shoulder and it never leaves her side.

Windmill (AO3) (Modern AU)

Summary: The next day she brings a propeller, almost the same size as the windmill and places it next to it. When she turns it on, the vanes of the scale model twirl slowly. Then she looks at Levi who is standing still and astonished. The wind howls in his ears, and his heart beats unsteady because it faces the same storm again. Vicious, wild and free. And she smiles because she knows.

come tell me I'm wrong (and please don't be gone) (AO3) (Canon Comp.)

Summary: “We are not going to survive this war,” he says to her. Wind blowing his hair slightly, the shades of the late night and early morning mixed on the horizon. Stars are nowhere to be seen even on top of the walls. They should be closer to the sky, but they are not. Not at all. “Which war are you talking about?” she asks back. One knee is propped up and an elbow rests on top of it. The wind blows her hair too. Her green cloak rustles, and the sign on her back makes itself visible. The Wings of Freedom. What a fucking lie.

Say You Won't Let GO (AO3)(Alternate Universe - College AU)

They were friends for nearly six years, six months and maybe six or seven days when one evening, in senior year of college and after drink after drink Hanji told him, “I wanna ruin our friendship.”

Summary:

Survivors (AO3) (Canon Comp.)

Summary: When the night settles over the sky, and the people of the city go to a restless slumber, Hanji writes under the weak, yellow light of a single candle. Outside of her window the wind whistles, creating a secret harmony with the sound of her pen over the paper. She writes and writes while the candle melts, while the papers pile up above her desk, while the dark shadow of death hovers above her head, she writes without ever stopping a moment to think.

when the evening is spread out against the sky (AO3) (Modern AU)

Summary: She laughs and smiles and she does that so easily, so effortlessly that it is like she is the fucking goddess of mirth or something. Because it is the fact that she affects even a man like him who frowns every second like his damn life depends on it and hasn’t known the meaning of laughter until, well, until Hanji Zoe entered his life about two months ago, that makes him question the very existence of his own self.

behind the wall, under the cave (AO3) (Modern AU)

Summary: This must be what love is, she thinks. A stray traveller who likes the stop by the places it deems it is needed. To settle in that one room that is yet to be claimed. It is weird to witness how it affects even the most conventional, the most inherent traits one has. It is weird to witness how one is almost willing to let it do so because however unexpected of a guest it is they want it to stay.

[dreamingon-forever]

AoT Pairs that lost their Significant Halves and their Love Tropes

Levi Ackerman and Hange Zoe- [Levihan]

-Enemies to best friends to lovers

-The one that got away

-Opposites attract

Eren Yeager and Mikasa Ackerman- [Eremika]

-First love

-Childhood friends

Marlo Freudenberg and Hitch Dreyse

-Opposites attract

-Hate to love

Historia Reiss and Ymir- [YumiHisu]

-Right person, wrong time -Different worlds

Sasha Blouse and Niccolo- [Niccosasha]

-Forbidden love

[whatupcherry]

Levihan Fics that will change your brain chemistry

134340 by JamJamho (I believe their tumblr has been deleted)

THE. METAPHORS. OMG. This fic had me starting to space for 15 mins out of pure awe. Its space,levihan, slow burn(?), idiots in love what else would you want from a fic? Jam has some other amazing works and make sure to read some of their other works!

Reverberation by alteirkay (her lovely tumblr @sayonarasanit )

oh my god this fic. once again had me stunning at like 3 am. Childhood best friends, coming of age and WITH ANGST AND MORE ANGST. Watching levi and hanges characters grow was smth else. I was crying by the end but i don't know if they were tears of joy or sadness. Is definitely in my top 5 maybe even top 3. Once again pls go read some of her other works they are all amazing.

Somewhere Only We Know by someonestolemyshoe (their amazing tumblr @someonestolemyshoes)

Gosh this fic was mind blowing rlly. also Noticing a pattern? I'm a sucker for coming of age. Probably on of the most creative fics I've read. A summer falling love teenager fic for sure. Spent a whole day reading it. Levis development this fic was smth else rlly. Def in my top 3.

Worth A Thousand Words again by someonestolemyshoes

Short (depends on ur definition of short it is like 7k) and Sweat. Again a coming of age! Levi takes photos of Hange their whole lifes dasicaly and it is just adorable. Soft with a tad bit of angst.

Rager Teenager by smallblip (her stunning tumblr @smallblip)

I always try to call this fic binary stars More Space and more Levihan! Meet Cute to a developing relationships has one of my fav lines in fanfiction. Was one of my first fics on ao3. I'm gonna call it a coming of age cause its a college AU.

Catch Me If You Can by fanmoose12 (her beautiful tumblr @fanmoose12)

A Friends to Lovers ish to Enemies to Lovers Fic, The banter with the characters (and not just levihan) are the my favorite thing about this fic. Had me SCREAMING. A good crime/detective fics.

Happy by Little Lasagne (Her brilliant tumblr @littlelasagne)

This fic is so adorable. Levi becomes less emotionally constipated and is a fire fighter who gets in the hospital for the smallest thing. Has my heart had me giggling the whole time.

Please support these amazing works and authors!!!

Enjoy!!!

[littlelasagne]

Levihan Fic List

BMO Series

Beginning, Middle and Overture - ongoing, modern AU, slowburn romance in which former childhood friends Levi and Hange meet as adults. 196,684 words

The Little Life of Hange - ongoing, Hange's childhood diary mentioned in BMO chronicling her woes, worries and best friend Levi. 11,088 words.

Modern AUs

Happy - completed, modern Christmas AU in which Hange is a geriatric doctor and their boyfriend Levi is a firefighter with an injury. 5,344 words.

Paint and Progress - completed, modern AU flicking between present day Levi's Valentine struggles and Hange's past memories. 18,040 words.

[this-is-krikkit]

LH x skating AU when? 🤭

anon, whoever you are, i'm a little bit in love with you right now. i was initially going to reply that i love yuuri and victor so much i haven't really thought about levihan while watching yoi, but....... as always, everything is levihan to my sick obsessed little mind, and that would have been a big fat lie.

i do genuinely love these new characters, so much more than i expected.

but since you insist... here we go for not just levihan skating AU, but actual, full on levi on ice headcanons:

first off, and you guessed it from that title, Hange = Victor. i know this is not the most popular hc in the snk fandom, but i'm convinced Hange's is at least as old, if not older than Levi is, and they perfectly fit the part of being a nearly retiring athlete whose sole purpose in life is to surprise their audience

so yeah, they've had a crush on Levi and his late-blooming but impressive ice skating abilities since they were up against each other in international competitions, and it did culminate at that banquet where he got black out drunk and openly flirted with them

but Levi's dog Hanjo (named after his idol, and of the same breed as their own dog Moblit (i mean that as a compliment, guys)) died during the season and the pressure was too much and Kenny is a useless fucking coach.... and so Levi fucked up his finale, and gets back home all defeated and unsure of his future

until his childhood friends Petra and Oluo's kids film and post him imitating Hange's years old dance on the local ice ring!!

can i add smth real quick btw? i just love the idea of Levi having a family, and him being Yuuri in this AU provides that. he deserves to be surrounded and supported by living loved ones (his sister Isabel, the childhood friends i mentioned before, and his alive and well mom Kuchel who's running the onsen), and i love that for him here

anyway back to the plot and come on, my guys. what's more Hange-like than spontaneously jumping on a plane and moving to another country/into a near stranger's family just because of a video that went viral and the memories of their crush on this very cute, very short, very intoxicated guy showing amazing dance moves (including pole dance!!! like what) and asking them to coach him bc he's such a fan??

you know the "fell first/fell hard(er)" ship meme? i go back and forth on it for levihan because there are so many ways to interpret their relationship in snk. but in this AU, i have no doubts: Hange fell first (no, i am not counting Levi's childhood crush on them here, bc that ain't love bitch) and planned the whole thing. and okay, it was chaotic planning and they had no clue what they were doing and mostly just jumped at the chance to train this rough diamond and maybe try and seduce him if he let them along the way.... but still, they're the one who went it and gave it a shot. Levi, on the other hand, thinks he just has a childhood crush, and he is absolutely the one who ends up falling hard, head over... skates (shut up, i'm hilarious), which he shows by having Yuuri-level Gay Panics anytime Hange's too close to him or by, yk, dedicating his heart WAIT NO THIS ISN'T SNK whole performance of the season to his new coach (but iT'S jUsT bC hE adMiRes tHem riGHt?? (wrong, Levi, you're so wrong. you idiot, ily so much aaaaah))

also, i dare anyone to tell me that flaunting their nakedness around complete strangers and then foregoing all societal bounderies by harrassing Levi so he'll let them into his secrets and life isn't the most Hange thing ever. yeah, you can't, because that is practically their canon relationship in snk, minus snk-Hange's aversion for baths and with an emphasis on just how clueless they are about wooing someone (and just bulldoze right into it so violently everyone mistakes their insane lovestruck behavior for Hange-usual eccentric behavior. what a romantic disaster they are, they desperately need help. i love them!!!!)

i was initially going to say that Zeke is Levi's biggest rival through all this, but something felt off, and you know what? Yurio is actually a dead ringer for the other insufferable jeager brother!! and so, lo and behold: Eren = Yurio! he's young, talented, ANGRY ALL THE TIME, wants to annihilate his competitors... really the only difference here, besides hair color (and the ability to turn into a giant monster, i mean), is that he becomes a decent human being and not a genocidial maniac in this AU. good for you, yoi-au-Eren, it's what you deserved.

i haven't decided yet if Zeke is more Christophe Giacometti or JJ Leroy material. i will have to think on it, anon, my apologies.

anyway, of course, in this AU (just as in my hc of snk, but don't tell anyone) Levi's a blushing virgin. and of course, Hange steals his first kiss after his stunning performance during China's tournament, as a way to surprise him back after he blew their brains out with his dancing (spoiler alert: it's Hange's first kiss too, even though everyone thinks they're a player who fucked their way through the competitions they've won before -nope. they're both ridiculous I LOVE THEM DEARLY)

oh but whatever you do, anon, don't think about yoi-Levihan using snk-Levi's final salute to snk-Hange as a way to support each other every time Levi gets on the ice (well, Hange used to do the simple salute on their own chest before hugging Levi, until the Russia tournament when he grabbed them by the tie, delivered That Iconic Yuuri Line and then transformed the salute into this much more intimate gesture for the first time). and especially don't think about these two fucking assholes choosing to put the hand that wears these ridiculously closeted romantic identical """""lucky charm""""" rings on each other's chest, right before Levi launches himself on the ice and towards breaking Hange's free skate world record. don't, okay? it's dangerous territory.

right. i'm going to stop here (and i've deleted a big chunk of other stuff actually), but i could go on and on and on...

the point is, anon

you win

there is now a "levi on ice ugggh fuck my life" titled document in my precious, already full fics folder

jesus.

[youre-ackermine]

Hello there Val! As a fellow Levihan shipper I absolutely adore your blog.💜

What is your favorite Levihan hc that you have?

Hello Sweet Anon 💜

You "adore" my blog ?? Wow thank you so much frjskfrjsk 😳

I don't create much content but I try to share the most beautiful Levihan fanart & content I can find & I'm happy if you appreciate it Sweet Anon & all of you guys out there ! I love Levihan so so much !! They live rent free in my mind 24/7 ngl 💚💜

***The following is only my humble opinion & I don't claim it's the truth, only the way I see Levihan***

My favorite Levihan hc is that it's a "friends to lovers" trope.

When they first talk to each other (ACWNR), Hange's genuine praise takes Levi off guard but this first impression will remain in his mind. They're the first person trying to be friendly & to get to know the Underground trio. I think Hange helped Levi get over his grief when Farlan & Isabel died, just being around & acting friendly, not even expecting him to reciprocate. As years went by, Levi became more & more comfortable around Hange, maybe because they're both out of the ordinary people, they understand one another better. I think Levi told Hange about his childhood, his life in the Underground, as Hange is not the type to judge their peers in any way.

Levi would not only listen to Hange's theories, ideas, plans, but also remember what they told him about those topics. Levi is also the one taking care of Hange's health, the one spending time with them on a daily basis, the one helping them figure things out & supporting them no matter what. I think that at some point, they became more intimate & developped romantic feelings for each other. The painful loss of Erwin also brought them closer.

For me they're soulmates, either you see their relationship as platonic or romantic. They trust each other, understand each other without even speaking, they support each other's decisions... I wish we could have had a glimpse at what happened during the 4 years gap between S3 & S4. In my imagination, Levi & Hange's relationship strengthens during those years, as they are constantly together, working, making & discussing plans, raising the kids, spending time off riding outside the walls...

I see IFKK & the "dedicate your heart" scenes as love confessions. Everything they've been through together increased their unique bond, but makes the end even more painful. They could not escape their fate, but they deserved to live together peacefully after war, nothing can change my mind about that.

Thanks for your ask & your support, Sweet Anon !

Have the nicest of days 💚💜

[jumpinguptothesky]

Voilà, I'm late again, but here is my participation for the Levihanweek2021 -> DAY 4 : Childhood . This will probably be my last participation because I didn't have time to participate during the 7 days... I got a little caught up in my IRL activities (and DAY 2 took me much longer than expected... I was a little bit overwhelmed! I need to learn to keep it simple!) But I would have made 4/7, that's not bad! Congratulations to the artists and writers who managed to post all seven days! You guys are amazing, and my admiration for you is matched only by my respect for you! Thanks also to all of you who amazed our eyes and minds with your works ! And of course, thanks to @levihanweek for organizing this fantastic event!!!

Reference here

[nerdynuala]

Levihan week 2021

Day four: childhood

Wild kid and tidy kid being best of friends.

[justshipsandstuff]

Hange the little cecaelia

[sayonarasanity]

Reverberation 

Chapter III

Link to chapter I and chapter II

Link to AO3

-

By the time they were in seventh grade, she was obsessed with Shakespeare. 

Levi found it out one day towards the dusk when he was watching the sunset on the rooftop. There was a quiet chill in the air, only visible when a breeze swept past him occasionally and his body trembled instinctively. The sky was pastel pink, clouds were shadowy and reflected the soft colour of a day slowly coming to an end. The sun’s last rays enlightened the horizon and Hanji, gasping and sweaty, threw herself next to him, leaning on his shoulder for support.

“Did you bring it?” She asked, extending her hand towards him. She was acting like they were exchanging drugs, and he was the dramatic one of the two. How was that even fair? Without a word Levi put the chocolate milk and the sandwich, he had brought from home in her hand. 

She looked at him like she was going to cry. Good acting. “Oh, thank God for Levi Ackerman. I was starving.”

“You should stop wasting your money on books.”

“I am not wasting money, Levi. I am investing it.”

“What did you buy this time?”

She made a gesture with her hand to indicate ‘wait a minute’ as she quickly started to eat her sandwich and drank her milk. 

“Slow the fuck down,” he said, feeling a need to warn her when she patted her chest to ease the process of the food going down. Then she drank the milk furiously and squeezed it between her fingers until she sucked the last drop, and the inside of the cartoon packet was as dry as the Sahara Desert. 

After that, she sighed, content and happily rubbed her now full stomach. The sandwich was half-eaten though, she rewrapped it with the cling film and put it aside. Then she opened her bag, buried her hands inside, searching. “I found an old book shop today,” she said with a goofy grin on her face. “And bought these babies with the last money I had.” At that, she took out two books, worn, yellow and smelled ancient. 

Levi squinted his eyes as he took the books from her hand and read the titles. One was Macbeth and the other was Romeo and Juliet. 

“Cliché,” he commented.

“Shakespeare is not cliché, grumpy. He is a classic.”

She was apparently annoyed. It was so easy to work her up through her books. “I thought you had read them already?”

“I did but I read my dad’s copies and he won’t let me keep them on my shelf. So, I bought my own,” she grinned ear to ear. 

“Good for you,” he pushed the books on her hands, unimpressed. 

“I marked my favourite quotes while I was on my way here,” she tossed and replaced herself next to him. Shoulder to shoulder. “And I have a question for you.”

He didn’t have a chance to say no. “Shoot.”

“Are you a Macbeth like sky lover or a Juliet like sky lover?”

His face crumpled in confusion, and he blinked his eyes at her. Hanji was looking at him expectantly. She was actually waiting for an answer. Oh boy. He hadn’t understood shit. “Hanji you know I don’t understand your nerd shit without having you explain it to me.”

“Oh,” she said, extending the h. “Right, sorry. My bad. What I mean is…” She opened Macbeth, and searched the pages until she found the one she was looking for. “For example, in Act I Scene IV, Macbeth says, “Stars, hide your fires! / Let not light see my black and deep desires,” and,” she dropped it to open the other book. “In Act III Scene II, Juliet says “Take him and cut him out in little stars, / And he will make the face of heaven so fine / That all the world will be in love with the night/”

She turned her gaze again on him afterwards, adjusting her glasses. “So?”

“Hanji, what the hell are you trying to do?”

She rolled her eyes and closed the book. “Levi, I am just saying that obviously these two quotes,” she quoted the air while saying, “although out of context, are more or less about the sky so pick one.”

“But they don’t even make sense!” he objected.  

“They don’t have to. It’s literature. If you take the lines of the context, you can use them however you like.”

“For example?” Levi pressed, still waiting for a reasonable enough explanation.

Hanji, like the nerd that she was, started to explain, “Macbeth is about revenge, ambition and remorse, at least superficially, and Romeo and Juliet is about love, old-grudges and misunderstandings, again superficially. But if you take the lines out of those concepts…” she shrugged. 

“I can use them however I like?” Levi said, trying to come to her point. 

“Exactly.” 

“Like I don’t have any “black and dark desires”, but I can choose Macbeth?”

Hanji nodded. 

“Because he talked about stars?”

She nodded again.

“But what do they have to do with loving the sky?” Levi asked, having been unable to make the connection. 

Hanji paused, her eyes moved upwards to the sky, considering his question. She hummed thoughtfully. “Well, nothing.” Then her gaze turned back at him. “But don’t look for logic, Levi. Just pick one.”

“I said Macbeth already. Leave me alone.”

“Uh, you said that seriously?” She tapped her chin. “Why him though?”

“No specific reason.” Levi looked away to the town, observed the intermittent, weak lights of the houses underneath. “Juliet sounded way too sappy.”

Hanji snorted, and about a minute later she went on, “Literature doesn’t always make sense,” she said. “It’s like eating cotton candy. I mean, do you think it makes sense?”

Levi raised a brow at her. “Yes?”

“But—” Hanji made a stupid hand gesture. “It melts the second it touches your tongue. It doesn’t make sense. But you enjoy eating it because it melts the second it touches your tongue.”

Levi blinked hollowly. “I am not following.”

“Wait,” she said, excitedly. “I’ll show you.”

Then she thrust one of the books into his hands, shuffled the pages and pointed with her finger to the lines she had clearly underlined with a pencil. “Read it aloud.”

Levi was feeling like he had given up on whatever will power he had as he observed the lines. He could feel Hanji’s curious, and expectant gaze burning the side of his face. There was no escape from this. 

He cleared his throat before starting. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player 

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.”

When he finished, he realized the goosebumps that crept upon his skin, the way the words flew out of his mouth as if they were notes from an old, forgotten ballad, and the way they melted on his tongue, slowly but deliciously like pink cotton candy—

“Damn,” he breathed.

“Right?” Hanji exclaimed excitedly. 

“I don’t know what the hell he is talking about,” he said honestly. Just like how he didn’t necessarily like cotton candy because it was too sweet yet, the pleasure while eating it every now and then was undeniable. “But like—”

“It tastes good.”

“Yeah,” he stared at her.

Hanji laughed, cheerfully. Levi felt a slight twitch in his mouth as he watched her. “Do you have more?”

“Of course I do.” She then showed him a snippet from Romeo and Juliet. Levi took the book in his hands and read it aloud.

“My only love sprung from my only hate!

Too early seen unknown and known too late!

Prodigious birth of love it is to me,

That I must love a loathed enemy.”

The chance to make a reference was too good and too obvious to ignore so Levi whistled, looking at the pages. “That’s rough body.”

Hanji burst into laughter.

-

Afterwards, they watched the way the clouds move slowly blocking and revealing the moon, hiding the stars behind, and giving the night an almost otherworldly view. Hanji kept talking, of course, whenever something came to her mind. Levi never quite understood half the things she had told him, but he always paid attention. Because watching her like this was like watching the flowing of a cascade. It was endless and it was loud and for that it was fascinating, and it was addicting. 

And he couldn’t look away. 

“Levi,” she said when the air started to become colder, and he was about to tell her that they should go back now. “I want to be a rocket scientist.”

“Huh?” 

“I want to help people explore the universe,” she went on. She didn’t look at her confused expression, instead, she watched the stars with the slightest of smiles on her face. “I want to build rockets and I want to learn more about everything out there.”

She held up her hand, closed one of her eyes and looked at the sky through the holes between her fingers. “And I want you to be with me.”

Levi thought about cascades again and remembered a class in the school in which they learned how they created a pothole on the ground it fell. It was mere water, he had thought then, but it was strong enough to bore through the hard rocks. And Hanji was only a thirteen-year-old girl with a dream bigger than even the two of them, but she was a cascade, and as he watched her face which carried no doubt or insecurity, he believed at that moment that she could do whatever she ever wanted.

“I don’t think I can be a rocket scientist,” he said. Even the term itself sounded so weird in his ears when he tried to picture it on himself.

“You can be an engineer,” Hanji said, presenting another option. “You are smart enough to be. And then we can work together. Don’t you think it would be nice? Exploring the universe and other worlds behind the walls of the Earth? I mean we can even go to the same university. If you’d like to, of course.”

They were only thirteen. And those dreams seemed too big, too far away, and so out of reach and quite insolent for their age. But Hanji’s eyes were full of hope like she had no doubt about each of them achieving those seemingly distant dreams. And Levi wished he could be as hopeful as her and believe that they could go to the same university, then work together and explore the mysteries of the universe and maybe even more. Yet at the moment no matter how he tried, they still seemed so strange and so unlikely. Future was the furthest point of the ocean, a mirage in a desert, and they were merely kids with nothing but unformed, tender dreams in their hands. 

How daring, he thought. 

But then again, before he met Hanji, he had also thought that the sky was unapproachable, and the stars were just a view he enjoyed watching from time to time. Now, he touched them in an attic, underneath a makeshift sky and with a girl who had stardust in her eyes.

“Okay,” he said.

She smiled so big, she almost outran the sun. “Okay,” she repeated. “We have a dream then.”

-

“Good morning, Mrs Zoe.”

Hanji’s mother was a nice and kind woman with a height slightly over the middle, brown hair tied up neatly, and a pair of gentle brown eyes which were radiating warmth as they looked at him. She was dressed in clean and fresh attire and smelled like daisies. Levi would never understand how a girl, untidy, messy and dirty, like Hanji came out of this civilized woman.

“Good morning, Levi,” she smiled. “Come on in.”

Levi stepped inside and removed his shoes, then his jacket. “Is she—”

“She is in her room,” Mrs Zoe sighed, shaking her head. “She is being overly dramatic about it, boy. Be careful.”

Levi snorted. He had expected nothing less. “Sure.” 

Hanji’s room was upstairs, and Levi prepared himself for a war scene as he knocked and opened the door. He was right of fucking course. Books, clothes, empty water bottles, and old, stuffed toys were covering the ground. Levi wrinkled his face in disgust and put the bag in his hand aside next to the dresser. Then set in to tidy up the room; folded the clothes, piled the books on her library and shelves, threw away the empty bottles and some eaten chocolate packages. Then he opened the curtains and left the window ajar for some fresh air to fill inside the room. 

The figure buried under the blankets in her bed groaned and tossed. Levi watched as the bed creaked under her movements, and a puddle of messy brown hair showed itself on the head of the bed, setting free from the blockade of the blanket. He walked closer, reached down and pulled the blanket off. 

She yelped, eyes wide in shock, and her body stayed frigid on her bed. “What the hell, Levi?”

“Language,” he warned, smiling slyly. She frowned and attempted to take the blanket back, but Levi had already lied it over her again. It only covered her from the belly down this time rather than her whole body like a damn shroud.

Then he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Heard you were sick.”

Just then she sneezed and cleaned her nose with a tissue that was already in her hands. Then she groaned. “I’m dying.”

Levi rolled his eyes. Dramatic indeed. “Do you have a fever?”

“No,” she sniffed. “I am not sick actually. It is an allergy, because of the weather.” She coughed and sneezed again. “And by the everything holy out there, it’s killing me.”

It was early Spring, so it made sense. “I don’t think a spring allergy will kill you, four-eyes.”

“Actually, some allergies are deadly,” she cleaned her nose again. 

“But not this one.”

“Yeah, not this one I guess.” She stared at the ceiling, her eyes were watery, nose red and somewhat wounded, her oval-shaped glasses were slightly inclined, her hair was dishevelled, and her mouth was dry.

“You look like shit,” he said.

“Thanks.”

He got up from where he was sitting and took the bag he had left by the dresser. When he sat back down again, he handed her over two packets of chocolate milk. “Here you go, drama queen.”

She blinked at the items at first, until her vision became clear and when she found out what they were, finally a smile so big bloomed on her face that Levi felt relaxed. “Hero,” she uttered before she snatched the milk off from his hand and immediately opened one of them to drink with utmost appetite. 

They leaned their backs to the head of the bed as Hanji drank empty both of the chocolate milk. After that, she slipped down a little and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Levi,” she said, lazily and sniffed. “Quick wordplay.”

“Go.”

“Virginia Woolf?”

It was a stupid game they had played one day when they got so bored, they had started to dangle head down from Levi’s bed. Basically, they were trying to make fun of artists’ names in general. Trying to get as creative as possible. And failing a lot. “A she-wolf?”

“That’s sexist, Levi.” 

“How is that sexist?”

“I don’t know it sounded sexist,” she sneezed and cleared her nose, groaning miserably. “Okay, Shakespeare?”

He considered for a moment, eyes up to the ceiling. “A man who enjoys shaking pears?” The words almost made him flinch. So much for being creative.

“Levi,” she chuckled first, then started to giggle. “That was disgusting. Oh my God, you’re so bad at this.”

Levi scowled while Hanji’s laughter got out of control. At some point, her coughs joined the symphony but that didn’t stop her from laughing her heart out. She leaned into him more, almost making him fall from the bed. Fortunately, he balanced himself at the last minute with the help of the bedside table.

“Oi!”

“What is she laughing at?” Hanji’s mother asked from the door, smiling at her still laughing daughter, with confused eyes which held the understanding of a mother who was so used to her daughter’s antics. She was holding a tray in her hands and there were two bowls on top of it which Levi guessed to be soups probably. 

“She has lost her mind, finally,” Levi replied, blatantly. 

“No!” Hanji exclaimed, suddenly. Then there was a pair of hands grabbing his collar, then her wide, brown eyes were staring at him. 

“What?”

“Levi, you know what to say to that!” She shook him. “We’ve rehearsed this before!”

It took him merely two seconds to understand what she was talking about. “No.”

“Please,” she pleaded, even had the audacity to pout. “You have to say it!”

He sighed, looked away, then saw her mother still in the threshold, now appearing to be obviously confused. On the other side, there was Hanji, continuing to look at him with those big, pleading eyes. 

“O what a noble mind is here o’erthrown,” he said, with a tone so flat Shakespeare would possibly erase the line from the text if he were to hear it. 

“Oh my God, Levi!” Hanji giggled breathlessly. “Your face!” Then she started to laugh drastically again, she even had to lay down on her side, her body shaking with the intensity of her laughter. Hanji’s mother on the other hand merely sighed and left the tray on top of the bedside table. There was also a pill on it, Levi realized. “Make sure she drinks it okay?” she told Levi.

He nodded in response and she left closing the door behind her. 

Levi had to almost force the spoon down her throat for the soup to reach her stomach. She whined and tried to dodge from him like a four-year-old. Levi didn’t let her though until the bowl was empty. Then he drank his own.

“You’re gonna be a terrible father,” she said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

“Use a goddamn tissue, you uncivilized moron.”

“That’s none of your business.” She slipped down to lay on her bed after she drank the pill and pulled the blanket to her face. 

“My job here is done, I guess,” Levi murmured and stood up, putting the bowl on the tray. 

“You’re leaving?” Hanji watched him through the space left from the blanket which was covering half of her face.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “You get some rest.”

“But I’ve been resting the whole day, Levi. I am bored.”

“What do you want me to do?” He raised a brow.

“Stay?” She asked, blinking her eyes innocently. 

When Levi didn’t directly object her, she moved a little to create space for him, then opened the blanket and looked at Levi expectantly, and with a sheepish smile on her lips. 

Why can’t I say no to her? Levi mused and scowled at himself inside as he lay down on the bed. Her smile remained in its place as she pulled the blanket over their heads, and they laid face to face in the dark, the only sound was their even and quiet breaths. This close he could smell her shampoo and the odour which only belonged to her, a mix of ancient books, ink and something soft like vanilla-scented candles. 

“You smell very nice,” she whispered.

Levi was taken aback at the fact that they had been seemingly thinking the same thing. “I smell clean. Nothing you are used to.”

She snickered and sniffed. “So cruel, Levi.”

And he smiled only because she couldn’t see.

-

There was a marble pool near her school. It was round, bygone and had a small amount of water in it. In the water there were tokens of different sizes, some were new some were old enough to become rusty. Hanji enjoyed walking past and stopped by that pool every now and then. If she were lucky enough, she could find thirsty birds or sometimes protrude eyed green frogs. Today was one of those lucky days. 

“Hello, little bud,” she smiled at the frog, reaching out with her index finger to touch its wet, and sleek skin. The frog croaked and responded to her stare with its big, rounded black eyes. “Would you like to come with me?”

She smirked when she imagined Levi’s disgusted, and horrified face if he were to see it. The frog croaked again, and as if it had understood what was going to happen to it if it agreed to come with her, it turned its speckled back to Hanji and jumped into the pool.

Hanji sighed wearily. “Alright.”

“What’s that weirdo doin’?” A voice belonged to a boy near her age spoke and Hanji froze where she had kneeled. She folded her fist and waited quietly for them to just walk away. 

“Her weirdo shit,” his friend answered. What a sharp mind for his age! “Maybe she hopes if she kisses a frog it will turn into a Prince Charming and fall in love with her.” The three boys came walking behind her, two of them roaring with laughter while one of them made disgusting kissing sounds.

“I don’t think even a frog would fall in love with her,” Jack, the one who had talked first said and their laughter doubled up.

Hanji had recognized them, how could she not, they were unfortunately classmates. They had been messing with her since the first day they had started middle school. She had been ignoring them quite successfully since then. It was going to be almost three years and she was going to graduate anyway. She only needed to bear it for a little while longer.

Hanji slowly rose. She was going to meet Levi and she was already running late. Levi wasn’t a fan of waiting for her and each time she somehow managed to be late to their meetings. It wasn’t her fault that nature held so many things ready to be discovered by her. And Levi always chided her for being tardy, but Hanji knew he was never actually angry at her. Just slightly annoyed, but that was his nature.

She must’ve been incredibly tense because after thinking about him she felt her body relaxing. Even her jaw which was tightly shut eased, and she breathed then shook her head. No need to be so stressed over a bunch of good-for-nothings, Hanji.

She was about to be fully stood up when another body crashed against her and she stumbled forward. Her eyes widened, her world lost focus as she blinked her eyes and tried to understand the reason why she was seeing the things which were merely an inch away from her blurry. It didn’t take her much to understand. Her glasses were absent. 

“Ups, sorry. Didn’t see you there.” The boy who crashed against her said. Was it Jack or one of the others she didn’t know. She was busy looking for her glasses on the ground. Calm down, calm down, she repeated inside. If you panic now, you’ll give them what they want. 

“Watch out, Sammy, you’ll break her glasses.” 

Sammy, so it was Sam. Then the third was probably Daniel. Didn’t matter. She had to find her glasses. Right now. Or else she couldn’t go to the roof; she couldn’t meet Levi. Everything was so damn blurry. Where the hell were her glasses?

“What an ugly pair of things,” Jack said. He walked in front of her and pushed something with the toe of his shoe. That thing shone when it moved, a short moment of reflecting the light of the sun but Hanji had understood what it was. 

Calm down, calm down, Hanji, she remembered herself over and over again. Don’t panic. 

“Move,” she said to the boy finally raising her eyes to meet his stare. There was a smug look on his pale face. His hands in his pockets. 

“She can talk!” He exclaimed, laughing. 

“Move away, Jack,” she repeated. “I don’t have time for this.”

“For what?” He asked lazily. “You should be thankful that we are talking to you. I am sure you haven’t communicated with an opposite-sex all your life.”

That one was easy to let slide. The fact that her best friend was the so-called opposite sex was none of their business anyway. Thus, she stepped forward, ignoring his words. She didn’t want to kneel down to take her glasses. He had to move.

Yet, he didn’t. Instead, he stood where he was, his stare, cocky and priggish never leaving her eyes. As if he was challenging her to do something to him. What can you do? It was saying. You are a slim, feeble girl. You are nothing. 

A weirdo. 

Another step forward.

Loser. Lunatic. 

Hanji put her hand on his shoulder to push him back at the same time Jack took a step towards her. She hadn’t put much pressure to keep him in his place for she was only aiming at pushing him slightly back. So, when he moved, the hand on his shoulder was useless to stop him. Hence something cracked under his foot and Hanji froze.

“Oh, damn,” Jack said, faking a regretful voice looking down at what he had done. “I broke her dear glasses. How reckless of me!” He and the other two laughed together while Hanji stared at the broken piece of glass on the ground unable to move her body.

“But don’t worry. It was so ugly anyway.”

Calm down, calm down, the voice inside of her head proceeded to repeat in her head as if it were afraid of her losing control. Take deep breaths, let it go. You’re going to get rid of them in—

“Yeah, just like its owner.”

It was nothing she wasn’t used to. Ugly, dirty, messy. Are you sure she is a girl? She never even wears skirts. Maybe it is a guy under disguise. It happens in movies. Hahaha, maybe we’ll catch her in the boys’ restroom someday!

She was used to it and she always ignored them. Always let it past. They were just a bunch of teenage boys, silly and ignorant. And despite everything, she had been fully aware of the fact that she was much much smarter than them all. Coming from the same country, going through the same education but not each apple on a tree was fresh. Some were rotten and some were green. And there was already a boy in her life who was the direct opposite of everyone she had ever met. A boy who watched the stars with her, a boy who smelled like leaves, soap and the wind and a boy who memorized lines from an old, English poet not because he was so fond of them but because he knew that she was. 

The boy who was waiting for her now, and she was getting late.

It was that thought that single reality that had finally moved her body. The voice inside of her head silenced, and for once in her life, she let the wheels in her brain stand motionless. Her hand reached forward and grab the collar of the boy and with power mostly coming from her anger she turned and held the boy just above the pool and supported herself by putting her foot on the marble edge of it. Jack who had been caught off guard for he hadn’t been waiting for a launch from Hanji could do nothing but gasp in shock.

“What the hell are you doing, you lunatic?” he yelled and grabbed her hand which was gripping the collar of his t-shirt.

“Let Jack go, you goddamn weirdo!” One of the other boys exclaimed. 

“Don’t come close!” Hanji warned. “Or I’ll let him fall. I am sure it won’t be a soft fall, don’t you think, Jack?”

Jack’s eyes flared up with rage and vague fear. He took sharp breaths, as he tried to balance himself only with his folded legs. “Don’t come close,” he warned his friends without breaking eye contact with Hanji. “You’re going to pay for this.”

Hanji almost snorted at his words. For God’s sake, who was he? A mafia boss in the disguise of a teenage boy? She smirked, whatever. “I’ll be waiting.” 

Then she pushed him slightly backwards, causing him to yelp in panic and held her hand tighter. Her smile widened to the extent of becoming almost wicked. “Having fun?”

“You’re crazy,” he said, between thick, fast breaths.

“Maybe,” Hanji whispered. 

Jack was only a slim, teenage boy with no muscle or fat whatsoever in his system, so he wasn’t that heavy to hold. But even though her anger was feeding her at the moment, her arm had started to shiver, because she didn’t necessarily use her arm muscles for anything that required physical strength and she didn’t want him to realize it. Hence, she pulled Jack upwards, turned him around and threw his body to the ground. He hissed as he landed on the hard, stone ground. Sam and Daniel quickly reached and kneeled on either side of him, helping him get up. 

Her side was blurry, and it was coming back as nausea. She was still angry, her body was trembling with the force of it, her fingertips were numb. But they were three and she was one. If they decided to attack her altogether, she held a very little chance against them. Especially now that her vision was the least clear, she was at a disadvantage. The wisest thing to do was to run away now that their attention was not focused on her. And she readied herself to do so, a foot behind the other, her hands gripping the handles of her bag on her shoulder, she checked the direction she was going to follow, and she prepared to run—

And then, she couldn’t.

A hand grabbed her collar tightly, tight enough to almost choke her. She glanced before her in shock, with her eyes as wide as a pair of big, round rocks and saw Sam.

“You little bitch,” he whispered, drawing her close by the collar. His eyes were black as coal, burning with fever. “You think you can run just like that after what you’ve done?”

Oh, well, she thought woefully. That was bad.

“I have done nothing,” she said, blinking her eyes in ignorance.

Deep breaths, the voice talked again, keep your heart steady. 

He clenched his teeth, his jaw moved in a way that almost made her laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No,” she said, calmly and smiled nervously. “But maybe you should—”

“Get,” a voice, so dark and smelled like ice, said. A voice so familiar, like the backs of the books on her library. “Your hands-off.”

If she was surprised before, now she was startled. Because it was Levi, in all his Darkling glory, standing right beside them, and with an aura as black as the shadow of death. He was glaring at the boy who was holding her collar. When had he come so close? She had never noticed. And also, why had he come anyway? He was supposed to wait for her—

“Who the hell are you?” Sam asked, frowning. 

“You’re going to find out if you don’t take your fucking hands off of her.”

Surprisingly, Sam did let go of her, but he didn’t seem the least frightened by Levi as he turned to face him. 

“Levi,” she started, but he didn’t separate his gaze from Sam. “Levi, it’s okay. Let’s go.”

“Don’t tell me,” Sam laughed, deridingly. “Are you her boyfriend?”

Hanji winced at the word in shock, but Levi was tranquil like the sky right before a catastrophe. 

“What if I am?” 

Sam whistled and glanced at Hanji from the corner of his eye. “Nothing, I guess.” He snorted. “Just surprised to see this weirdo having a boyfriend—”

It was a bad day for collars in general it seemed, when Levi grabbed Sam’s furiously, pulling his face close and a little down to him.

“Call her weirdo again,” he said in a low voice. “Or lay your hands on her and I will show you then who I really am.”

Hanji was impressed, to say the least. She felt like she was stuck in the middle of a low-budget film adopted from a best-selling but dabster romance-action novel. It was strangely exciting though but also becoming slightly dangerous too. 

“Levi,” she tried again. She didn’t want him to get into any trouble because of her. She caught the arm of his jacket. “Drop it. Let’s go.” 

“Where the hell you think you’re goin',” Jack came near them, his face twisted in a wicked way. “You little slut—”

The term that “everything happened so fast” mostly used in novels, was quite accurate as Hanji herself found it out first-hand when Levi’s fist landed the side of Jack’s face so fast, she only had time for a quick inhale. 

“Son of a bitch,” he snarled, voice full of such hatred it was almost like it belonged to somebody else.

After overcoming the first wave of shock, Jack straightened up, his teeth greeted and eyes aglow with anger, and wasted no time in punching Levi right back on his cheekbone. Levi’s body stumbled to the side; his hair black like the midnight ocean winnowing with the force of the blow. 

Then all hell broke loose.

“Levi!” she yelled and rushed forward. A yellow light, luminous like a streak of lightning flashed before her eyes, and within a moment the blood in her veins consisted more of raw fury than of platelets. However, she couldn’t make it that far for she was held back by a pair of hands on her arms. “Let go!” she screamed, struggling to free herself of those hands.

“You stay here, while Jack takes care of your boyfriend.” Hanji heard Sam’s sly voice behind her, and she grunted in frustration, still floundering to get rid of his iron hold. The word felt too weird and for some reason wrong because Levi wasn’t her boyfriend. He was more than that. He was her best friend. 

Her best friend, being beaten because of his best friend. “Let him go, Jack. You ignorant bastard!” She exclaimed, feeling guilty and incredibly useless.  

The two boys continued striking each other with punches and kicks. Gruff voices, and painful whines which Hanji couldn’t always decipher to whom they belonged filled her ears. She couldn’t even get a clear view of the two as they stumbled away from her, and because of her murky vision, she didn’t even know if the little, red spots on the ground were actually droplets of blood. And it terrified her to even think about whose blood they might be.

“Levi!” She screamed then grunted and kicked Sam’s leg and stepped on his foot while at the same time struggling to get rid of his hold. Sam hissed, and swore but didn’t let her go. Unlike Jack, he was taller and a little muscular in his arms. And she had nausea, also there was a stable pound right on her temple like a vein there decided to take the role of her heart. 

One of the two boys spitted and Hanji saw, albeit quite blurrily, that the colour of the spit was red.

“Oi, oi, oi oi!” 

An older, and rougher voice joined the chaos, and it sounded familiar, too familiar even, but Hanji couldn’t focus enough to think about who it belonged to. She realized Sam going solid behind her though, and someone shouted, “Kenny! Fuck, it’s Kenny the Ripper, Jack!” It was Daniel, Hanji found out when she looked around squinting. Kenny the Ripper?  The hell was that? 

“Shit,” Sam swore and released her arms. “Jack, come on! We need to go!”

Jack must have taken their warnings seriously for within seconds, she heard someone else, probably Jack, saying, “Fuck!” and the sound of three footsteps quickly running away. Levi, on the other hand, she knew because he was the only one left now, let out a hostile, muffled growl and took two quick steps forward, “Where the fuck are you running, you goddamn cowards?”

However, he couldn’t make it further away, for Hanji who dizzily stumbled to where he was, stopped him with her hands on his shoulders. “Let them go,” she said. “That’s enough.”

Levi was close, close so close for her to hear his sharp, quick breaths, and their cold touch on her cheeks, and feel the way his shoulders and chest moving up and down under her hands, his scent; fresh leaves, soap, sweat and blood—

And the bruises on his face.

“Levi!” She gasped, and without thinking, she took his face in between her hands. “Levi, your face…” 

There was blood on his lower lip and his nose, his right cheekbone was already taking the colour of a mix of purple, red, and blue another bruise was forming on his chin. There was also a little cut on his forehead, bleeding ever so slightly, but it was there. And it was there because of her.

Guilt punched her in the gut much harder than an actual, real punch would and it hurt a thousand times more than a simple blow of a fist would cause. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice trembled vaguely, and her eyes burned like ashes were splashed over them. “I am so sorry, Levi. My fault, it was my fault. I started it—”

“How the hell those brats knew about that ancient nickname,” Kenny muttered, coming to stand beside them. When Hanji looked up, she saw him face shadowed, and brows knitted. He seemed to be somewhat, just a little bit, terrifying. “Oi,” he said, coldly, staring down at both of them. “What the fuck is going on here?”

“Nothing,” Levi said, severely and pushed her hands away. He turned his bruised face to the other side, hiding his gaze and the expression that was placed in them from her. 

“Your face says the opposite,” Kenny said, squinting and turned his gaze to Hanji. “Care to explain?”

“I—” she forced out, but she didn’t even know where to start. 

“We can talk at home, Kenny.” Levi walked past them, without sparing a look at either Kenny or Hanji. “Leave her alone.” 

He was mad, and he was right to be. Confirming it only made her feel even more shitty, and she bit her lip as to set a barricade to prevent herself from weeping like a baby just where she stood. She bent her head down when she started to walk behind him, both because of the guilt that weighed down on her and because looking ahead made her even dizzier and increased her headache along with her nausea. 

Kenny sighed but kept quiet as he too joined them. The three walked in silence, Hanji kept on chewing her lower lip as she traced the lines of her shoes and the cracks, holes on the pavement. A hurricane roared; a whirlwind grabbed the submerged emotions and relentless thoughts inside of her and twirled them wildly. The harder she fought the easier she lost against them. Conscience was a prison one had to visit from time to time. And currently, she was stuck within, the key was missing, and the guard was cold-blooded and unsparing.

A hand, steady and warm grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to the side. Hanji looked up in surprise to see she was about to crash against a lamppost had Levi not drawn her aside. 

“Careful,” he said.   

And it was his voice, low, smooth and gentle, and his hand which still held her not too tight but not too light either, or the way he moved his thumb on her shoulder, soothing, caring. It was all of them combined that in the end made her tear up.

She turned her blurry gaze to his face, he was staring ahead, his eyes were shining blue with the last rays of the sun and the blood on his lip and nose was almost dry now. She separated her lips to say thank you or I’m sorry, again, I’m so sorry. 

It was all my fault.

But the words died on her tongue, they never received a voice to come out alive, and he didn’t look back at her eyes. Instead, he squeezed her shoulder slightly as if to say, it’s okay.

She wasn’t necessarily convinced but for now, she chose to believe in him.

-

They were sitting in the living room of Levi’s house. Kenny was placed on a chair across from them, arms folded on his chest. She and Levi sat side by side on the couch. She was playing with her hands anxiously, her lip started to hurt from constantly chewing. Thankfully, her headache and nausea were better now.

They had arrived here about twenty minutes ago. Hanji couldn’t erase the look on Kuchel’s face when she saw Levi, blood and bruises all over his face, from her mind. Her face had turned white as the paint on the ceiling, making the guilt boil hotter and burn severely inside. 

There was no escape now. Kuchel deserved to learn what had happened to her son. So, Hanji told them while she treated the wounds on her son’s face, albeit reluctantly and when she was finished the room was silent for a while. 

Levi hissed as Kuchel cleaned the cleft on his lip. “Don’t tsk at me, boy,” Kuchel scolded him and attached a band-aid just under his lip. “You brought this upon yourself.”

“He didn’t,” Hanji objected. “Please don’t be mad at him, Kuchel. It was all my fault. I—”

“Shut up,” Levi snarled, suddenly.

“What?” Hanji asked, blinking.

“I said shut up!” Levi raised his voice, and when he looked at her at last, she saw the flames of his emotions rising up, up and up in his eyes.

“Levi,” Kuchel interrupted. “Calm down.”

Levi acted like she had never talked. “None of this was your fault!”

“But I started it,” Hanji attempted to say yet, he was too angry to listen.

“You didn’t start anything, Hanji! You protected yourself. You don’t walk around bullying people. You did what you did because they made you to.”

“But—”

“Stop blaming yourself for things you weren’t responsible for!”

He was breathing heavily, eyes wide and bright. Hanji was quite taken aback, lips parted slightly in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to yell at her like that. From his earlier reaction, she had thought that he was angry at her because she was the reason for what had happened to him. But now she saw, with a startling realization, that that wasn’t the reason at all.

“They deserved what happened to them,” he went on, then looked away. “I would do the same for ten times more if necessary.”

Words rolled left and right on her tongue, her voice lingered on her throat, sentences shaped before her eyes but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t let a sound out of her mouth. Levi was like a river, she thought then as she watched the tempest in his eyes, with canals and meanders, sometimes he was as tranquil as the leaves on summer trees and sometimes he was wild enough to overflow over the edges.

“We are going to talk about it later, young man,” Kuchel said, looking straight at Levi. 

“What?” Levi asked, sharply.

“You can’t go around picking up a fight with strangers.”

“But they deserved it,” Levi pressed, jaw tightening stubbornly. 

“I can understand the reason why you think that they did,” Kuchel went on with a softer voice. “But violence is not the answer. You know that.”

Levi turned his face away, his jaw moved as he pressed his lips together, and he folded his arms. “Whatever.”

“You should be thankful to that old lady who saw you getting your ass beaten,” Kenny told him, leaning back on his chair. As it turned out the reason why Kenny had found them was an old lady who had recognized Levi and informed Kenny about the situation. Hanji genuinely wanted to find and kiss her hands for being the nicest person alive.

“I learned from the best,” Levi snapped.

Kenny squinted and looked at Kuchel. “Permission to beat your brat as punishment?”

“Declined,” Kuchel said, rolling her eyes. 

Levi smirked, and Kenny clicked his tongue, clearly irritated. 

“Hanji,” Kuchel turned her attention to her, kneeling in front of Hanji and she pushed a stray hair behind her ear. “I need to talk to your parents about this, honey, okay? They need to know. This is serious.” She held her hand and squeezed lightly. “You don’t have to face this alone, alright?” Kuchel smiled. 

Hanji bit her lower lip again when tears started sinking behind her eyes. She couldn’t find the strength to say anything, so she merely nodded in response. 

“Don’t worry,” Kenny said then, crackling his fingers. “If a verbal warning doesn’t work, I can always teach them a more permanent lesson.”

“Kenny, they are only children. Don’t be ridiculous,” Kuchel rolled her eyes and shook her head. “And it will work. We will make sure of it.” She raised her brows. “Right?”

“Yes,” she managed to whisper at last. “Thank you.”

Oh, no. She was near the edge of crying, only needed one more push and then she would fall and get drown in her own, salty tears. For some reason, she didn’t want to cry in front of Kuchel. There was nothing wrong with crying, she knew that, but still…

Then, a hand, the same one from earlier, grabbed her own and pulled her up. Hanji let him, despite the unexpected movement, and as Levi guided her out of the room, she merely followed without saying a word. 

“I am gonna take her home,” he informed Kuchel and Kenny shortly before they exited the room.  

The air was somewhat chilly outside, and the light of day was long lost but neither Levi nor Hanji were quite aware of it. Levi didn’t let go of her hand as he kept on pulling her, his steps were fast and determined, hand firm and warm around her fingers. She followed for a handful of seconds, trying to match his steps. She couldn’t get a clear view of the road, nor could she make out the lines of his figure from behind quite clearly. It took her several minutes before she pulled at his hand to make him listen, “Levi,” she called. “Levi, I don’t want to go home.”

He didn’t look back, he didn’t slow down, he didn’t even wait for her to reach him. “I know,” he said merely. 

With those two simple words, the final push came at last, and tears let loose without a warning. She sobbed and covered her eyes with the inside of her elbow, tears wetted her thin raincoat. And Levi squeezed her fingers as if to say, it’s okay, and this time she really, truly believed that it was. 

--

“Wait here for a second,” Levi stopped them minutes later. She didn’t know where they were. Now that it was darker, there were artificial, neon lights everywhere and they made her head throb. “Okay?”

She nodded and sniffed. Her face was wet with tears and very embarrassingly snot, however, she had no tissue with her or anything to clean her face with. 

Levi sighed and stepped closer. Hanji wondered why he was still there while he had just told her to wait. Then he lifted his left hand, and she saw that he had pulled his t-shirt over his palm. His right hand held her shoulder and as Hanji blinked her eyes confused, he brought his hand over her face then cleaned each wet spot with his t-shirt. 

She gawked at him in shock. “Levi!”

“Don’t.” He folded the fabric up after he was finished. “I don’t want to hear anything about this. Ever. Understood?”

She was still in awe; the great clean freak Levi Ackerman had just cleaned the snot in her face with his cloth! “You—”

“Understood, Hanji?”

It took much too effort to close her jaw, and say, “Yeah.”

“Good.”

Then he walked away, leaving Hanji astonished and very much impressed. She felt her heart fluttering a little, and her lips curled upwards. “Softie,” she whispered to herself. 

When he got back a few minutes later there was a bag in his hand and inside a couple of chocolate milk and her favourite snacks. “You hadn’t eaten anything,” he explained, and when they settled on their road to the roof, she smiled, looking at his side profile. Softie, indeed. 

-

Hanji drank her milk, and they ate together with the snacks he had brought. It eased her headache and appeased her nausea a little bit. She couldn’t look up at the stars though, what a shame.

“We should go to the same high school,” Levi said after they finished eating and were watching the view ahead.

Hanji beamed at him and shoved his shoulder with her own slightly. “Yeah, it would be great.”

She leaned on his shoulder afterwards and enjoyed the breeze, and his warmth she borrowed through the fabrics of their clothes. When minutes started to chase the hours slowly, the night got colder, and clouds started to gather up above. “We should—” 

“I don’t want to see you getting hurt again,” he said, suddenly. 

Hanji looked at him and saw it again. Levi was a river, high and low, wild and calm, complicated and wide. He flew through rocks, valleys and lands. Just like a river, she thought, he carried his emotions in an endless stream. And once she let herself be carried away with it, there was no way to escape. And it wasn’t like she looked for one in the first place.

“Can I hug you?” she asked, with a voice so low, it was as if she was afraid of hearing the word no.

“Idiot,” he said, and she saw the waters calming down in his eyes, and his voice was tender like the petal of a violet. “You never need to ask.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, and as he hugged her back, arms tight around her waist she wasn’t quite surprised to realize that her vision was yet again blurry with hot tears. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For being there.”

“I always will be,” he replied without hesitation. And then a heartbeat later he added, “To the last syllable of recorded time.”

A tear escaped her eye, she laughed hoarsely and breathed in. He smelled like leaves, soap and the wind.

He smelled like home. 

[dreamingon-forever]

Current WIP Levihan Fics

Just wanted to give a little update on the fanfics and drabbles I'm currently working on. I don't have a set date on when to release them, but I do have them mostly done so I should at least release a few in the next couple of days or weeks.

I've been finding it difficult to put a timeline to my writing as it makes me feel rushed and as if my work is more of a deadline instead of something I enjoy for myself. Sorry if I let anyone down or disappointed anyone because of that. I'll try to make up for it with the works I'm working on.

Here's a list and small description of the works I'm writing currently:

Royalty AU: Levi and Hange are the crown royals of their respective nations. But because of a treaty set by their ancestors, they're forced to marry each other as a sign of peace. Only problem being, they absolutely hate each other.

Tea Shop AU: Levi is a co-owner of a tea shop with his friend Erwin. Thanks to Erwin, Hange had been hired to work with them due to her financial strains as she awaits a research position at the nearby university. It becomes a daily thing where Hange flirts up Levi, trying to get him to accept a date from her, but Levi thinks it's just Hange trying to annoy him and rejects her every time. And it becomes too late when he realizes Hange had been honest about her feelings the whole time.

Childhood Friends Turned Strangers: Where neighborhood best friends Levi and Hange become estranged after Hange overhears Levi saying he wished he didn't become friends with Hange.

Memory Loss: After a fight between Levi and Hange, and a very bad expedition outside the walls, Hange ends up losing her memories, and specially those revolving around Levi, who she doesn't recall meeting at all. Levi tries to figure out his new place in Hange's life when she doesn't hold the same sentiments towards him as before.

Marley Suits: The origin story of Hange's suit worn in Marley. The idea that Levi was actually the one who chose it for her, and their backstory revolving his choice.

Writing Lessons: After Levi came into the Survey Corps, Hange was tasked with teaching him to read and write. They start communicating through diaries and develop a deep connection through them.

Tea Company: Levi is the vice president of a tea company. He hires Hange as a researcher to further their tea leaves production but can't seem to get along with the brunette. Hange eventually teaches him that his methods of treating employees and prioritizing monetary gains is not the best way to live life.

Black Tea is Fine Chapter 14: Hange and Levi finally express their feelings for each other. Only problem is, not everyone agrees with their happiness.

Truth be told, I have so many ideas but neither my schedule nor my my mind have the capacity to sit down and work through it all. I'm really hoping to at least put some out soon. Thank you for all the love and hope you'll enjoy the stories once they're out.

[veramitar]

Probably in an another life and world, we met earlier than on our own...

[lady-eny]

Levihanween Day 1: Candy/sweet - tooth @levihan-drabbles

Some tags: Fluff, Childhood Friends, Destiny, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Halloween, Costumes, Circus, Magic Summary:

To Levi, tonight will be the worst night of his life… or will it?

Levi and Hange are best friends with a trick-or-treat night ahead, but when they make a stop at the Circus of Paradis, they ask themselves what the future has in store for them.

In the end, is destiny really that important?

Maybe, if unaware of its mysteries, what matters are our choices…

[fanmoose12]

so what if Hange as a kid had spent time in the underground on occasion (maybe one of her parents was a doctor where they did charity work in the underground and she was brought along), and she had run into Levi while exploring, and they would actually play cards or little games together, but then suddenly she stopped coming because her parent died. However, when they met as scouts, neither of them knew it was each other, until one late night they talked about that kid they played with long ago

levi comes to hange one night, because he couldn't sleep, and, of course, hange doesn't sleep too. since they both don't want to sleep, hange offers to play a game to kill some time. she starts explaining the rules, but levi almost immediately interrupts her because he knows that game! there was a weird kid he sort of befriended back in the underground and she was the one, who taught him. even after so many years, levi still remembers that kid. she used to visit underground with her parents and while they were busy, she always sought levi out, so they could play together. and while levi's childhood wasn't a happy one, his weird bespectacled friend was the one of the few good memories he had. levi always waited for her to come back, but then she stopped, and, even though, he looked for her, he couldn't find her. and now levi looks at hange and realises that she is his childhood friend. her hair is a bit longer and, of course, she looks much different now, but that grin is unmistakable. meanwhile, hange is very confused because? levi agreed to play the game, but he didn't let her finish explaining the rules? and now he looks at her with a weird look in his eyes? after a moment, levi returns his composure and asks hange where did she learn this game. he still stares at her so intently and hange feels unusually nervous, as she tells him that she once knew a kid from underground and they came up with this game together. "you know, for a kid, he was really gloomy," hange chuckles and then it hits her. the gloomy kid from underground. he was sitting right in front of her. her chuckle turns into a merry laughter, as hange reaches out to embrace levi. "sorry for leaving you back then," she apologizes. levi just wraps his arms around, feeling warm and content. he finally got his friend back

[dontatmethanks]

Fanfiction Master-list (With Links)

- Multichapters-

• I Will Always Find You: Modern Zombie Apocalypse AU, TWD inspired (Ongoing) Chapters 15/?

• Out Of Nowhere: Modern AU, Farm raised Hange/City boy Levi (Completed) In collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3 Chapters 14/14

• Of Swords and Sparrows: Royal AU, Arraigned Marriage, Fem!Levi/Masc!Hange (Completed) In collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3 Chapters 12/12

• Always You: College AU, Friends with benefits, mutual pining, Fem!Levi/Masc!Hange (Completed) In collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3 Chapters 18/18

• The Pledge: College AU, Fake dating, Fem!Levi/Masc!Hange (Ongoing) In collaboration with zoes_eyepatch on Ao3 Chapters 1/?

• Vertigo and The Silver Shadow: Vigilantes AU, super powers (ongoing) in collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3 Chapters 2/?

• Winter’s Fang: Canon Divergent, Survival, Semi Levi centric (Ongoing) Chapters 1/?

• Hidden In Plain Sight: Modern AU, Sci-Fi, Aliens (Ongoing) Chapters 2/3

• The Thing About Us Abnormals: Canon Divergent, Pregnancy/baby (In Hiatus) Chapters 5/?

• A Thousand bad times…Makes Something Irreplaceable: Modern AU, Family fluff, 104th & levihan (In Hiatus) Chapters 2/?

• Part Of Your World: Modern AU, Mermaid!Levi/Scientist-Dr!Hange (In Hiatus) Chapters 7/?

• Damaged Freaks: Modern AU, High School, heavy themes/TWs (Incomplete) Chapters 3/?

• Hard As Nails: Zombie Apocalypse AU, Ittosara (Genshin Impact) No Visions, Modern Teyvat (Ongoing) Chapters 1/?

-Oneshots-

• Budding: Modern AU, Florist! Hange & Tattoo Artist! Levi, Valentine’s Day fluff, childhood friends, reconnecting

• All The Way Home I’ll Be Warm: Modern AU, Businessman! Levi & Scientist! Hange, christmas fluff, sick Levi

• Caught In Your Web: Spider-Man! Hange, Journalist! Levi (Part 1 of the Spider-Hange series) In collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3

• Stuck On You: Spider-Man! Hange, Journalist! Levi (Part 2 of the Spider-Hange series) In collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3

• Noisy: Modern AU, Neighbors, Firefighter Levi

• Anytime: Ittosara, canon divergent, hurt Sara (Genshin Impact)

• Reminders: Spider-Dad Miguel O’Hara, Spider Kids, Found Family, grief/mourning, fluff (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse)

• Claw and Order: Spider-Dad Miguel O’Hara, Spider Kids, Found Family, spider-gang hijinks, fluff (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse)

• The Kids Will Be Alright: Spider-Dad Miguel O’Hara, Spider Kids, Found Family, Blood and Injury, hurt/comfort (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse)

• Not So Artificial: Modern cyberpunk-ish AU, Scientist Hange/Android Levi

• Bang: Modern AU, Bank Heist, Criminal Veterans

• Teeny Tiny Widdle Basbsbsby Kiss Kiss Love That Widdle Tiny: Modern AU, Racecar Driver!Levi/Pit Crew Member!Hange (Part 1 of the NASCAR Racing AU series) In collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3

• Crash: Modern AU, Racecar Driver!Levi/Pit Crew Member!Hange (Part 2 of the NASCAR Racing AU series) In collaboration with Hamandcheesebaguette on Ao3

• Goodnight: Canon Divergent, Found Family, 104th & Levihan

• And Many More: Canon Divergent, Post-Rumbling, Hange’s Birthday

• The Sun Goes With You: Modern AU, Tragedy

• Fifth Time’s The Charm: Modern AU, Getting together, First Kiss

• Baby Fever: Modern Gangster AU, Semi-Domestic

• Bring You Home: Modern AU, Homicide Detective!Levi/Forensic Scientist!Hange, Criminal Minds Inspired

• Companion: Modern AU, Cat Shifter!Levi/College student!Hange

• Staying Alive: Modern Zombie Apocalypse AU

• Darling I’m Right Here: Canon Divergent, Hurt/Comfort

• Precarious Acquaintances: 1920’s AU, Mob Boss!Levi/Journalist!Hange, Meet-Cute

• I Love You: Modern AU, Song-fic

• Love, I’ll Serve It To You: Modern AU, Businessman!Levi/ Restaurant Server & Manager!Hange, Meet-Cute (Part 1 of the Eat Your Heart Out series)

• And Later We’ll Have Dessert: Modern AU, Businessman!Levi/ Restaurant Server & Manager!Hange (Part 2 of the Eat Your Heart Out series)

• 1/4 Teaspoon Of Your Love And Affection: Modern AU, Businessman!Levi/ Restaurant Server & Manager!Hange (Part 3 of the Eat Your Heart Out series)

• The Flavors That Make You: Modern AU, Businessman!Levi/ Restaurant Server & Manager!Hange (Part 4 of the Eat Your Heart Out series)

• Brain On Fire: Modern AU, Erurihan, Epileptic Hange, College AU-ish

• Tongue And Cheek: Modern AU, High School setting

Will be updated frequently, happy reading!💜

[moonpetrichors-blog]

Masterlist

Started: 11/01/22

Last Updated: 18/08/24

Total Works: 46

Attack On Titan

General

Headcanons

Songs That Remind Me Of Attack On Titan

Ship

LeviHan

Sanguis Effusus - Levi x Hange, Angst

Headcanons

Eren

Mutual Pining w AOT Boys

Jean

Mutual Pining w AOT Boys

Armin

Mutual Pining w AOT Boys

Oneshot

Levi Ackerman

Sanguis Effusus - Levi x Hange, Angst

Blood in The Wind - Prince!Levi x Princess!Reader, Enemies

Hange Zoe

Sanguis Effusus - Levi x Hange, Angst

Eren Yeagar

First Time? - College!Eren x Reader, Shotgunning, Uni AU

I’m Low On Gas And You Need A Jacket - Eren x Reader, Angst

Obey Me

Oneshot

Mammon

Your Loveable Troublemaker - Birthday!Mammon x Reader, Angst

Fanfic

Mammon

Mammon’s Wonderful Lamp - Mammon x Reader, Aladdin/Royalty AU

Genshin Impact

Headcanons

Diluc Ragnvindr

Diluc As Your Lover - Diluc x Reader, Fluff

Genshin Men And Their Weddings - Headcanons

Xiao

Piercings Genshin Men Would Have

Genshin Men in Highschool

Festival With Xiao - Xiao x Reader, Slight Fluff

Who is He? - Nerd!Xiao x Cheerleader!Reader, Tutoring, Lowkey Enemies To Lovers

Scaramouche

Idol -  Fan!Scaramouche x Singer!Reader, Modern AU, Mean x Mean

Kaedehara Kazuha

Piercings Genshin Men Would Have

Genshin Men in Highschool

Kaeya Alberich

Piercings Genshin Men Would Have

Genshin Men in Highschool

Only One Bed

Arataki Itto

Piercings Genshin Men Would Have

Thoma

Piercings Genshin Men Would Have

Genshin Men in Highschool

Living With Thoma - Headcanons

Ayato

Genshin Men in Highschool

Genshin Men And Their Weddings - Headcanons

Albedo

Genshin Men And Their Weddings - Headcanons

Only One Bed

Childe

Only One Bed

Oneshot

Xiao

Invidia - Uni!Xiao x Uni!Reader, Jealousy, Good Ending

Scaramouche

Prince Scaramouche - Prince!Scara x Princess!Reader, Slight Enemies To Lovers

Kazuha

Palm Lector - Kazuha x Witch!Reader, Palmistry

Kaeya Alberich

You Left Your Diary At My House - Kaeya x Knight!Reader

Fanfic

Xiao

Cloaked Heart - Xiao x Reader x Albedo, Highschool AU

Albedo

Cloaked Heart - Xiao x Reader x Albedo, Highschool AU

Mystic Messenger

Headcanons

Zen

RFA + Saeran On Halloween - Headcanons

Yoosung

RFA + Saeran On Halloween - Headcanons

Jumin

RFA + Saeran On Halloween - Headcanons

Seven

RFA + Saeran On Halloween - Headcanons

Saeran

RFA + Saeran On Halloween - Headcanons

Jaehee

RFA + Saeran On Halloween - Headcanons

Avatar

Headcanons

Neteyam

Dating Neteyam Includes...

First Impressions - Enemies To Lovers, Anguished Declarations of Love, Forced Proximity

Sully Boys Relationship Alphabet

What Do The Sully Family Smell Like?

Lo’ak

Dating Lo’ak Includes...

Sully Boys Relationship Alphabet

Stick By You - Childhood Best Friends To Lovers, Friends To Lovers

Queen Of The Waves - Lo’ak x Metkayina!Reader, Surfing, Fluff, Pining

What Do The Sully Family Smell Like?

Jake Sully

Sully Boys Relationship Alphabet

What Do The Sully Family Smell Like?

Neytiri

What Do The Sully Family Smell Like?

Kiri

What Do The Sully Family Smell Like?

Oneshot

Neteyam

Forest Rendezvous - Fluff, Sneaking Out, Idiots in Love, Strict Parents

Something About You -  Fluff, Crush Blush, Longing Look, Good With Kids

Spiritualis Conceptio - Neteyam x Human!Reader, Spiritual Pregnancy, Dad Neteyam

All Mine - Childhood Friend Romance, Friends To Lovers, Jealousy, Anguished Declarations Of Love

Death Won’t Do Us Part - Neteyam x Omaticaya!Reader, Fluff, Married Life, Domesticity

Not A Responsibility -  Neteyam x Omaticaya!Reader, Angst

Lo’ak

Cuts and Bruises - Fluff, After-Action Patch-Up

Believe in Me - Fluff, Power of Trust, They Fell First But He Fell Harder

Gilded Lily - Angst, Father Son Feels, Parental Issues

Teach Me -  Lo'ak x Metkayina!Reader, Fluff, Private Tutor, Crush Blush

Confess Already - Fluff

Jake Sully

Gilded Lily - Angst, Father Son Feels, Parental Issues

Sharing A Bed With Jake - Sharing a Bed, Jake is a Hot Sleeper, Size Difference

Neytiri

Hunting Gone Wrong -  Neytiri x Omaticaya!Reader, Fluff, After-Action Patch-Up

The Arcana

Oneshot

Asra Alnazar

Look At Me -  Asra x Apprentice!Reader, Fluff, Caught Staring

Spiderverse

Oneshot

Miguel O’Hara

My Mistake -  Miguel x Spidey!Reader, Close Proximity, Crush Blush

Personal

Other

Writing Practice

Nighttime Writing - For Fun/Practice