The rest of the expedition had went by surprisingly smoothly compared to past ventures. With the help of the new formation, the Scouts did not yield heavy casualties aside from their rear ranks; and they managed to reach the supply point and set up bases using the materials they had brought.
When the remainder of the Survey Corps retreated back to Wall Maria from their 23rd expedition, there was a noticeable higher amount of survivors compared to previous scouting missions. Needless to say, it came as a shock for both the citizens and other military branches.
By the time dinner came, the mess hall was sparingly filled with soldiers who were eating their meals while the injured were in the medical bay and were being tended to by their doctors.
Isanna entered the hall, her eyes immediately zeroing on a certain lone undercut raven who was by himself in one of the empty picnic tables. She worriedly frowned, feeling rather apologetic for his loss, before she took a tray, filled it with her dinner and walked over to the man's table.
His back was facing her so Isanna balanced her tray with a hand as she casually slapped Levi on the back, before seating herself beside him and ignored the light glare from him.
"What do you want?"
"What? Can't I eat with my comrade?" Isanna shrugged her shoulders as she fixed her attention on her meal and began eating. After all, Levi had just completed his first expedition and lost.. his only friends. She was lucky she still had Erwin and Mike to comfort her the day after her own first expedition, but Levi had no one to lean on. This was the least she could do for him.
Levi clicked his tongue and returned his attention to his food, a comfortable silence tricking in their table following their brief conversation.
The quietude of their table was only shattered when Hanji came barreling towards them with her usual shriek.
"Isa! Hey - " she stopped herself when her eyes landed on Levi, "oh, Levi! Good to see you came back alive!"
The brunette cheerily grinned as she pulled the seat in front of Levi and sat down, bringing her tray of food with her. There was a flowery aura surrounding the woman, so bright and friendly that was so contrasting to the otherwise gloomy mess hall.
"So noisy," Levi grumbled with a scowl at the girl in front of him.
Unfazed, Hanji let out a hearty laugh. She had somehow got herself acquainted with the grumpy man during the night of their rest back at the expedition, so she was unbothered at his reaction. "So how was your first expedition?"
Isanna, who had just opted to ignore the talkative girl because she had gotten used to it, finally flickered her eyes over to her after the question. "Hanji, captured any titans yet?"
Her inquiry automatically caused a switch in Hanji's mind, the brunette looking at Isanna as she began to ramble about her titan encounters during the expedition like she was relaying a fun experience in a carnival.
Isanna glanced at Levi in the corner of her eye and saw the man return his attention on his meal quietly. She never shared Hanji's enthusiasm concerning titan nature, but the girl figured having Levi recount his first expedition wasn't good for his wellbeing. But.. she had to admit that the man was pretty good in masking his feelings. If he was on the verge of a breakdown, even Isanna couldn't tell.
A few minutes after (Hanji was still rambling on and on and on, with both Levi and Isanna ignoring her), Mike had come over and joined their table, asking where Erwin was and if he had dinner.
"He's with Commander Shadis," Isanna replied after swallowing the food in her mouth, "they still need to report to the higher-ups." She made a mental reminder to bring some food with her later to Erwin's office. Gods forbid, the man was going to meet an early death not because of titans but because of starvation.
"Erwin's really busy lately, huh?" Hanji grinned at Isanna cheekily, pointing a spoon in her direction. "At this rate, your lovey-dovey time together will dwindle down when he becomes Commander."
Isanna glared at her. "Shut up, Hanji."
"No it won't," Mike swiftly joined in the conversation as he lifted a spoonful of rice, "they sleep together every night. They have plenty of time."
The raven woman parted her lips to retort when Hanji cut her off, the brunette woman nodding excitedly at Mike as she patted him by the shoulder.
"You're right! Gosh, with the amount of times they sleep together, you'd think we'd have hundreds of babies crawling around these halls already!"
Isanna slammed her fists on the table, the impact rattling the plates and utensils as she fumed at her two friends. "You guys make it sound like we fuck in bed."
Hanji arched an amused brow. "Don't you?"
"No!" Isanna didn't even want to think about it. Whenever she crashed into Erwin's bed for the night, such ludicrous thoughts never greeted her mind. The only reason why she likes sleeping there was because of the blond's company that reassured her every time her nightmares would haunt her.
Meanwhile, Levi was silently observing the trio as Hanji and Mike continued to tease Isanna while the latter was throwing threat after threat - but the blush on her cheeks was erasing any fearful intention she wanted to instill in them.
They were so fucking loud.
Levi just wanted to finish his dinner and retire back to his room for the day, but the continuous banging of Isanna's fists on the table ruined his appetite because his tray kept on bouncing, spilling some of the food.
An irked vein popped on his forehead as he directed a glare at them. "Shut up."
Silence dropped on their table after Levi's hostile tone, all three pairs of eyes now on him.
And just like that, Levi continued eating.
•
Months passed by since the 23rd expedition, and normal activity within the Survey Corps had eventually resumed.
Isanna walked across the training grounds and supervised the soldiers as they went about their usual training and exercises. Her attention flew over towards Levi, who was currently sparring with a cadet. The fight lasted for a good five seconds before he threw his body away like a ragged doll. The next soldier stepped forward and was Levi's next sparring partner, but he lasted no more than three seconds.
The raven woman hummed in satisfaction with crossed arms. At this rate, the shortie was going to rise up in ranks in a considerably fast rate. Normally, one would need more experience to even be promoted, but Isanna was sure that with Levi, no one would complain if he was suddenly given his own squad. Granted, his performance in his first expedition was exemplary - to the point that despite his losses, he was still able to focus on their task and slayed as much titans as he could.
After they had returned from their expedition, rumors had started spreading around that Levi was the next holder of "Humanity's Strongest Soldier"; the fact that he was previously a notorious thug in the Underground City even added more to his fame.
Isanna had to admit, her pride as the Scouts' War Goddess and being their strongest soldier along with Mike had taken a blow (her taking it deeper than Mike), but she got over it pretty quickly.
As the months passed by, Levi had stopped ignoring the friendly conversations some of the soldiers would strike with him and even begun nodding in reply at the small talk. If you were lucky, he would even grunt a response occasionally.
Some hours after morning training, Isanna was peacefully returning from a light snack in the kitchen hall when out of nowhere, a loud shrill voice bursted from outside their courtyard, rebounding throughout the whole campus.
"NOOOOO!"
The raven woman quirked a brow at the shout, recognizing the voice to be Hanji's. With the way she was yelling, it sounded like she was forced in a torture of some sorts. Walking out of the second building in their barracks, she stepped down the front porch and saw the scene unfolding right across the yard.
Levi was currently dragging a struggling Hanji towards a large basin that was filled with water. He had an unbothered gaze while the brunette tried to escape his strong grip, thrashing and kicking her legs all around while screaming incoherently.
So, he was trying to get Hanji to take a bath.
Good luck with that, Isanna snickered at the thought. Hanji and the term 'bath' were as compatible as a dog and a cat; bathing was her archenemy, because apparently, Hanji found it an inconvenience and a waste of her time.
It seemed that Levi and his tendency to keep things neat and tidy was certainly disgusted by this fact.
Interested as to how things would play out, Isanna stepped beside and leaned against the wall of the building, crossing her arms with an amused grin.
"What.. are they doing?"
Isanna looked to her side and saw Mike peering at the scene through one of the windows on the first floor, confusion evident on his features as he watched Levi knock Hanji out unconscious, her movements turning still as her body went limp. With an unchanging straight face, Levi continued to drag a body that was 10 centimeters taller than him, before he finally reached the large basin. Then, he roughly shoved her unconscious body into the water with a splash.
"Levi's going to bathe her," Isanna informed him with a grin.
She then saw the man pick up a mop that was leaning beside him and furiously began scrubbing Hanji's unconscious body like there was no tomorrow. Of course, she still had her clothes on, too. What made it even funnier was that he kept a straight, unbothered face through it all.
Isanna stiffled a laughter when Levi's rigorous scrubbing started to form bubbles around the basin, to the point that the only thing she could make out of it was Hanji's face protruding from the clouds of bubbles.
A low chuckle escaped from Mike's lips, prompting Isanna to release her laughter with no restraint together with him at the comical scene of 'Humanity's Strongest' bathing a woman, right in the middle of the Survey Corps' headquarters in broad daylight, to boot.
Isanna stared at Levi. It hadn't been that long since he had lost Isabel and Farlan, but she noticed he didn't looked as gloomy now as he was back then anymore; it was relieving to know that he wasn't disheartened, and the girl had an inkling it was mostly because of Erwin's words to him back then.
She knew that the best course of action left for them now was to not regret the choices they had made and continue to push on forward; and it seemed that Levi had also decided to do the same, since he was starting to warm up to the rest of the Scouts.
Now, as she and Mike humorously observed both Levi and Hanji, Isanna found herself basking in relaxation at the tranquility surrounding the nuances of their regular days just lazing about in their headquarters, and for a moment, felt that they were just ordinary people in this not-so mundane world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: i read somewhere that during erwin, levi and hanji's character interviews, it was stated that levi literally has to knock hanji out in order to bathe her xD so i wanted to write it out once
and wow! 5k reads :> u guys are the best ♡