Hanji wanted to have fun.
They didn't.
But of course, her incessant whining managed to drag Isanna, Levi, Mike, and even Erwin out of their offices and into the inner streets of Wall Maria where an annual street festival was being held. Levi was grumbling all the way because Hanji had interrupted him while he was scrubbing the roof (don't ask how he got there), Isanna was cussing at her because she had been in the middle of a nap, whereas Mike and Erwin didn't really complain outwardly despite being pulled out of their daily errands against their will.
"I don't do well with crowds," Isanna mumbled in a disgruntled tone as her eyes landed on the crowded streets filled with adults, children, and the elderly all wandering about while strips of festive banners hung above; rambunctious laughter and mirthful smiles washing the citizens' expressions.
"Come on, Isa!" Hanji beamed at her with her usual wide grin, "we don't get to de-stress like this!"
The brunette left Isanna no room for further rebuttal as she pulled her by the wrist deeper through the winding horde of people, with the other three men trailing behind them but with more laggard pace.
Isanna glared at the younger woman and was about to snap at her when Hanji leaned to her and tauntingly whispered.
"You sure you want to pass this chance of seeing Erwin in casual clothes?" She wiggled her eyebrows as the raven glanced behind her.
After much persuasion from Hanji, all of them were wearing casual clothing because according to her logic, wearing casual clothing was more effective when trying to 'get into the off-day mood'.
As usual, Isanna had rummaged through Erwin's wardrobe and decided to put on one of his grey shirts as she paired it with tight leggings, while Hanji wore a brown polo with casual jeans.
Levi was wearing a simple black long-sleeved v-neck, Mike decided to go with a plain grey t-shirt that tightly hugged his torso and outlined his abs and majestic biceps, and Erwin was donning his usual white dress shirt and rolled up his sleeves up until his elbow, with three buttons unclasped from the top.
As simple as they all appeared, they looked like they jumped straight out of a vogue magazine; it was a fresh change from their usual Survey Corps uniform.
The surrounding women oggled at the trio of men who seemed to be literally dazzling, because it wasn't everyday you got to see three hot and fit men strutting around in broad daylight.
"I don't care about that," Isanna snapped at Hanji with a scowl, "what do you plan to accomplish by bringing us all here, anyway?"
The brunette widely smiled as she shot a fist into the air with an excited squeal, continuing to drag Isanna with her.
"To have fun!"
Behind the two girls, Mike observed the festive mood around them. The sweet aroma of street food from the stands situated near them wafted into the air, causing his sensitive nose to twitch at the delicious scent.
"Tch, this is a waste of time."
The blond glanced at Levi, who was flanking Erwin's other side as they strolled down the street. The raven man was clearly not enjoying the crowd, seeing the way he was crossing his arms across his chest with a glower directed at no one in particular.
Mike lightly smiled. He wasn't one to go out of the headquarters and spoil himself on his off days like this, but he figured it wouldn't be too bad to spend at least one day away from his responsibilities. Besides, he wasn't alone, so he didn't find the need to complain.
"I'm surprised you agreed to come," Mike said to Erwin. Levi coming along was already shocking enough, but the fact that even Erwin himself had taken the time to step out of his office considering his heavy paperwork was mind blowing for Mike, since he knew the guy wasn't fond of places like this.
Erwin didn't look at him, but Mike heard him lightly hum in response, his eyes focused ahead of them. He followed his gaze and saw Isanna and Hanji a few steps ahead of them, the two girls stopping in front of a stand and engaged in a heated conversation about something he couldn't hear.
I see, Mike smirked with a chuckle, giving a glance back at Erwin.
Once the trio of men reached the stand where Isanna and Hanji was, they were finally able to hear their argument. Apparently, Hanji wanted Isanna to play the game and shoot down the line of fish cardboards at the back to win a plushie.
"Do it yourself!" Isanna groaned, shrugging Hanji's hand off her shoulder.
"No~," the younger girl whined in reply, prolonging the vowel as she leaned closer to her, "I didn't take you here just so I could enjoy myself! Besides, I already paid for it!"
"Hanji, no!"
"HANJI YES!"
Isanna clicked her tongue with a curse at the loud volume piercing her ear. Why did she have to put up with this 26-year-old woman who had the mind of a 5-year-old? Shoving the brunette's face away, the older girl decided to get this over with and snatched the slingshot from the guy who was handling the booth, the man flinching at the rather dark face she was making.
I didn't sign up for this shit.
Raising the slingshot to her eye-level, Isanna aimed at leftmost fish cardboard with one eye shut.
THWACK!
She took another plastic pellet from the counter and aimed at the next one.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
In successive shots, Isanna managed to bring down all the targets in swift movements, causing the man who was behind the counter to widen his eyes in amazement at the rapid shots she made without wasting a beat.
"Woohoo!" Hanji cheered with fists raised into the air, because she was just a big supporter that way, "that's our War Goddess for ya!"
Isanna glared at her as she slammed the slingshot hard down on the counter. The booth guy told her she could now pick from the collection of plushies that were hanging beside the counter, with the raven scanning the toys with a hard gaze. In the end, she grasped the pink-colored bear that had a red heart stitched in the center of its chest and turned around without a word.
She stopped in her tracks when she noticed Mike, Erwin and Levi staring at her amusedly.
"I never knew you had a thing for cute objects," Mike smirked, eyeing the pink bear in her hand.
As a blush crept in her cheeks, Isanna chucked the plushie at him, the blond catching it with both hands with a chuckle that caused the other two to smirk at her embarrassment.
Isanna's eye twitched. "Erwin! Not you too!"
She saw the way the said blond's eyes twinkled in mild amusement, realizing that such a look on his face was a rarity considering how much he liked to drown himself in work back at the headquarters.
Since she got to see that face, maybe following Hanji's day-off schedule wasn't so bad.
Isanna had decided to let Mike carry the pink bear around (out of embarrassment) which they had named as Levi Junior or LJ for short because Hanji said it was a good way to pull Levi from his moody personality and influence him for the greater good. Obviously, Levi wasn't pleased in the slightest.
The group continued to stroll around the streets, trying different kinds of snacks together from vendors and overall enjoying themselves.
"Isanna."
Said girl turned to the direction of the voice and visibly froze when she felt a thin stem being tucked behind her ear, fingers lightly grazing the skin of her ear as Isanna stared at Erwin.
".. What's this?" She lifted a dainty finger and felt the texture of the stemmed flower. In her peripheral view, she could make out a color of red.
Erwin studied the flower he had placed on her ear and softly smiled. "According to the lady who was selling it, it's a red Salvia."
Isanna wasn't an expert when it came to flowers, and this was the first time she had heard of such a name. The only flowers she were familiar with were lilies, daisies, sunflowers, roses, and... that was pretty much it. But what she did know, was that each type carried a meaning of their own.
"Salvia..." She allowed the name to roll off her tongue as her finger touched the flower petals. She looked at Erwin. "What does it mean?"
There was short pause, the blond's blue eyes boring into her dark ones.
"Forever thine."
Blinking, Isanna swore her heart skipped a beat after his answer. But who wouldn't? He literally said that while staring intently at her right in the eyes - like he was looking at her soul. Damn him for that, did he want her to have a seizure with all the butterflies he had been planting inside her stomach?
She hastily broke eye contact. "Oh.. is that... so.." A pause. "Thanks." Isanna probably realized how off that sounded and shook her head in mild panic, looking back at Erwin. "I mean - I was talking about the flower. Thanks for the flower."
Fuck. That was embarrassing.
Erwin smiled at her and gently ruffled her hair, only causing Isanna to blow a redder fuse from her cheeks.
"Cute."
It was like the saying 'cat got your tongue', because Isanna was suddenly thrown in a mode of speechlessness with the only thing lacking was a loading sign hovering above her head; the girl was legit malfunctioning.
Before Isanna's brain could process what he just said, Hanji had called the both of them over, causing Erwin to look and see that the brunette was gesturing for them to hurry up before they would be left behind and get lost in the crowd.
"We should go."
The only thing that broke her from her stupor was when Erwin grasped her hand into his large, calloused one and tugged her along through the crushing crowd.
Isanna glanced down at their intertwined fingers, noting how small her hand was compared to Erwin's, yet how well they seemed to fit together; like the spaces between her fingers were meant to hold his.
Back when they were kids, Erwin used to hold her hand because she would sometimes run too fast on the way back home and stumble down, resulting in a few knee scrapes. The girl remembered how she would sniff back the tears as the blond tugged her along gingerly as they walked by the side of the river, gently chastising her recklessness.
It never changed, Isanna thought as she stared at their hands together with a wistful smile. Years after, he still held her hand the same way; like she was some fragile flower and he needed to treat her with the greatest care else he'd break it. And mind you, Isanna was far from a fragile flower. You'd think that a hunk like him who had muscles for days would have a strong grip, but his unexpected delicacy made it all the more endearing.
"Forever thine."
Isanna lifted her eyes from their hands; and as she stared at Erwin's back, she knew she was going to dedicate herself to this man forever.