The Hero Complex. (Levihan)

Chapter 5

'I knew I should have brought the mace.' Levi muttered sardonically, as he narrowly avoided a painful crack on the nose as Hange threw their head back.

'I'll mace you alright!' They snapped, feeling their back pressed against Levi's solid chest.

'Sure you will.' Levi opened his arms, so Hange dropped down into the water with a splash.

As he predicated, Hange reacted like a cat would, suddenly exploding into a feline frenzy, clawing and scrambling to get away.

But Hange was quelled with a quick shove by the captain, raising his eyebrows in signal to them to say that there was no point trying to escape. He reached forward and whipped their glasses over their head, and everything now turned fuzzy and indistinguishable to them.

Hange sat miserably in the mounting bubbles, the smell of lavender assaulting their nostrils and the water soaking their nightshirt which they still wore.

After pulling on his yellow cleaning gloves, Levi yanked the sopping nightshirt over Hange's head, smearing their face with further suds as the soaking material slithered off of them.

He checked his measurements had been right, and confirmed that Hange's body was indeed covered by the snowy bubbles. It wasn't as such for Hange's decency, it was more for his own sake. There was something about the notion of seeing Hange fully exposed  that sent an odd shiver down his spine.
Even with the most of their anatomy covered, Levi still felt goosebumps along his arms as he touched their skin.

He shook his head and ignored it.

'First things first.' Levi took the clay jug by his knees as he knelt down next to the tub, and dumped the water straight over Hange's scalp, their hair instantly flattening to their head and sticking all over their face, so only their nose poked out of the glistening brown curtain comically.

Wielding his rough-bristle comb like a sword, Levi peeled back Hange's hair into one fist, preparing for the laborious task of de-tangling the notorious birds-nest.

But to Hange's surprise, instead of feeling like a seven-taloned eagle was attacking their cranium, they felt Levi actually take great care to ease out each knot gently. He didn't tug nearly as much as usual, and they didn't see Levi's concentration as he held each lock like it was the finest silk braid.

He didn't speak as he worked though each section of hair, too focused on eradicating any imperfection in it, before lathering her skull thickly with soap.

'You're getting it in my eyes!' Hange wailed childishly, screwing up their eyelids and knuckling them fiercely with their shackled fists.

'Stop bellyaching, you toddler.' Levi scolded them as he kneaded Hange's hair until it ran clean, rinsing it thoroughly. 

'Right, it's clean, now let me out!' Hange demanded, trying to worm their way out of the tub again.

'I'm not done yet, the rest of you is still filthy.' Levi gripped them firmly by the shoulders and pushed them back down into the water.

'I don't care, I like my filth!' Hange objected, trying to twist away from Levi's sponge.

'I will never understand you or your pig-like ways.' Levi sighed, taking Hange into a headlock and scrubbing their upper body sternly, but averting his eyes delicately from their chest.