As it Was | Hange x Reader

Chapter 29: Lab Accidents

With Floch's revenge plan and clearing things up with Pieck out of the way, (Y/N) could focus completely on the symposium. The research symposium would be held that upcoming weekend, and would last for around five days. She just had to put some final touches on her report and board, and pack up her final samples, and she would be good to go. It felt relieving to not have other stressful things on her mind—she was ignoring her revelation about Hange for the current moment. Even if she was in love with them in the past, there was nothing she could do now, so there was no point ruminating over it.

Instead, (Y/N) was going down to the lab to finish up her final steps. Ah, it felt so good being so close to the finish line. She had made it. So close. Even if she didn't win, she would be proud enough to know that she had gotten this far in a nationally renowned game show. The hallway where the lab was located in was dark, as it was past university hours. Thankfully her swipe care allowed her to gain access to the room even when the university was technically closed.

As she approached the lab, she noticed light streaming out from under the lab door. That was strange—Hange didn't have this time block and neither did she since it was technically 1am. No one was supposed to be there.

(Y/N) tentatively pushed open the door, expecting to see Hange working on their project. As she saw the scene before her, she realized that she was only half right. Hange was there, but their project...

"What happened here?" The words rushed out of (Y/N)'s mouth immediately. The lab was in a disarray—the lab table had shattered beakers and glass all over the surface, and a strange pink liquid was dribbling down from the table and onto the ground. The cabinets were all flung open and all the materials were laying out and about. And in the center of it all was Hange.

Hange, hunched over their notebook, their cheek pressed against the lab table. Hange, whose eyes were closed even though (Y/N) was pretty sure they were awake.

"Hange?" (Y/N) approached them quickly. She noticed almost immediately the swollen and dark eye circles on Hange's face, along with their limp hair and dejected expression. She even realized that one of their hands was bleeding due to what looked like a...gash? Just what the hell happened?

"(Y/N)?" Hange blinked, slowly sitting up. They seemed tired and sluggish, the complete opposite of their usual enthusiastic self.

"What—how—are you okay?" (Y/N) sputtered, eyes wide. "The lab, your hand...and is that your project?"

Hange's tired expression immediately morphed into what looked like a mixture of sadness and annoyance. "It's fine. Did you need something? I'll try to clean up soon, maybe I'll be done within an hour."

Their curt tone reminded her of how they used to be. When they were cold and blocked her out. (Y/N) frowned. Now was not the time for them to regress into the person they were when the two had met again. It was clear that they were in distress of some sort.

"Hange," (Y/N) repeated. "What happened?"

Hange groaned and slid off their glasses, rubbing the bridge of their nose. "Can't you see," they gestured to the area around them. "A disaster. A complete and utter disaster and failure. My project fell through. At the last moment, I think I caused some sort of chemical imbalance which resulted in the acid bubbling up and exploding the glassware. I tried recreating my sample again with tweaks, but it just won't work," Hange exclaimed, frustrated. "Are you happy, now? I'm probably going to have to withdraw from this competition entirely if my samples don't work."

"Oh," (Y/N) surveyed the damage once more, noticing the line of failed samples. She was honestly surprised. Hange was usually so good at these things that they barely needed a third or fourth attempt. Yet, here they were with failures littering the lab tables.