Hange was sitting on Lara's bed, unconsciously squeezing the stuffed horse as she watched the moon through the window. It was snowing heavily outside.
She tapped her foot repeatedly on the floor and looked at the open door every ten seconds. At one of the times she looked again, she saw Levi standing there, watching her.
"She hasn't arrived yet?" he asked, walking into the bedroom and sitting next to Hange.
"No... I'm starting to get worried..." Hange dried her hands on her pants.
"They must be coming more slowly to avoid any accidents."
"Do you think Lara is well dressed?" Hange turned to Levi, abruptly, her eyes wide open. "I'm absolutely sure I put two extra coats in her backpack... What if she catches a cold, or worse, gets a fever just like that day?!"
"Calm down," said Levi, putting the stuffed horse aside and holding Hange's hands. "I'm sure she'll arrive very soon."
The tone of his voice was so soothing, it made Hange's shoulders relax and her breathing normalize. She gently squeezed his hands.
"Only you to make me feel–LARA!!!"
Hange and Levi were so absorbed in themselves, they didn't notice that while they talked, Lara had already walked into the bedroom and silently closed the door.
As he watched Lara standing there, in front of the door, Levi made a sort of a guttural sound, that could be classified as a laugh, because that vision of his daughter was a little... Funny.
Basically, the only thing you could see was the white of her eyes, if that. Lara was fully dressed in warm clothes from head to toe. She was wearing a thick gray coat that reached almost to her feet, with fur on the hood. Half of her face was covered with a black cloth, and she was wearing goggles in her eyes, just like Hange's. Mittens covered her hands and she was also wearing heavy boots on her feet. Lara seemed a lot smaller than she already was, and there was a little bit of snow on top of her head.
With her little arms hanging on her sides, as she had so many layers of clothes on, Lara walked towards Hange and Levi with difficulty.
"Hey, there! I'm back!" she said, with her high-pitched voice muffled by the cloth, waving her arms up in the air.
Levi couldn't hold it any longer and started to laugh so hard, he slapped his knee. Hange tried her best to look like a worried and impassive mother in that situation, but she failed miserably, making Lara look from one to the other in confusion.
"Eh? What happened?"
"It's nothing, sweetie..." Hange dried a tear after her fit of laughter.
"Didn't you wanna know if Lara was well dressed?" asked Levi, composing himself, "There's your answer!"
"Mommy, help me?" Lara signaled for Hange to help her take off her coat.
Hange took off her coat, boots, mittens, the cloth that covered Lara's face, and her goggles, finally leaving her with only her Survey Corps pants and shirt, and a nice warm white pair of socks on her feet.
Now completely free, Lara gave a few little jumps to shake herself and literally flew at Levi and Hange's necks. She grabbed them so violently, they both fell backward.
"I missed you so much!!!"
Catching her breath, Hange also said she missed her daughter and showered Lara with kisses, while Levi ruffled her hair covered with snow.
Lara climbed onto the bed and laid down on her pillow.
"Come!" she said, asking for each of her parents to lay down by her side. "I'll tell you guys everything!"
Crawling on the bed to settle himself, Levi laid on the side of the wall, and Hange on the side of the writing desk between the two single beds. They both turned to lay on their sides so they could see Lara in the middle and, for a brief moment, they looked deeply at each other. Unintentionally, Hange let out a sigh, being awakened by Lara's voice, who was laying a little lower on the pillow.
"You have no idea how hard it is to get to the Winter Training quarters!" began Lara, turning over on her tummy and resting her chin on her hands, while she looked at her parents. "We had to climb up a huge mountain, with our backpacks and some provisions. Besides the fact that our instructor was a very strict man."
"Who was he?" asked Hange.
"A guy named Keith Shadis," answered Lara, making a face, "he's very severe, indeed."
At this moment, Levi clapped his hands and squirmed forward, having his second burst of laughter in less than five minutes.
"What is it?" asked Hange, curious.
"Lara..." began Levi, turning back to her again, "You almost have another father, instead of me."
"Gosh, no!" exclaimed Lara, making an expression of pure horror, "Why are you saying that?"
"Your mom," replied Levi, pointing at Hange with his head, "had a crush on Shadis."
Lara stared at Hange, perplexed.
"Mom?!!"
"Ahhhhh!" exclaimed Hange, covering her face, "Why did you bring this up, Levi?! That was a long time ago and it was just a phase. I'm completely over it!"
"I expected everything from you, mom," said Lara, shaking her head in denial, "but this..."
"Forget it!" Hange clicked her tongue and waved her hands, "Now, tell me more about the cadets from there. I read in the report that they're from the 104th Training Corps, right?"
"Yeah! They're amazing!" exclaimed Lara, with a smile, "Look, with all due respect to my fellow comrades from the Survey Corps, who I deeply love, sometimes I do miss hanging out with people close to my age."
"How did they react on knowing you're from the Survey Corps?" asked Levi.
"Oh, they were very surprised, indeed..." began Lara, "I told them my whole story in one of the nights, at dinner time. It was funny to see everyone gathering around me and gazing at me with wide eyes. But by the expression of some, it seemed that there were a few who didn't believe my words... I heard some of them saying I was exaggerating on the story."
"And you were?" asked Hange, raising an eyebrow.
"Mommy, you know I don't lie."
"Did any of them disrespect you?" Levi wrinkled his nose, looking a little annoyed.
"No, because on the following days, when they saw my performance in training," Lara pouted and rolled her eyes in a playful way, "if I say so myself, I'm pretty good at what I do. So, they soon started to change their behavior towards me and I ended up making friends with almost everyone! But let's be honest, I had the best tutors, didn't I?"
Lara gave such a beautiful and genuine smile to Hange and Levi, making their hearts melt in such a way that, together, they laid their daughter on the bed and filled her with kisses on her cheeks. Managing to free herself from her parents' burst of affection, Lara returned to the position she was in, her hair a little messy.
"Oh..." Lara changed her tone to something more serious, "I just didn't tell anyone about me being your daughter, because, you know..." she shrugged, "I didn't know if I could. Here I call you 'mom' and 'dad' freely, because everybody already knows us. But I'm aware that in places where people don't know us, it can cause them a certain... Confusion."
Hange and Levi looked at each other, blushing instantly. Lara was referring to the fact that whenever they were somewhere other than the Headquarters, like on the streets or even in a shop or grocery store, whenever she referred to them as 'mom' and 'dad', people around automatically thought that Hange and Levi were married, which already caused very embarrassing situations for both of them.
For example, on one occasion, when they were buying clothes for Lara, the salesman said to Levi: "Sir, why don't you take this opportunity and get something for your wife? They just love it, don't you, madam?" causing Levi and Hange didn't know where to hide their faces, and in the end, Levi had to leave the shop with a new pair of pants for Hange.
"But, tell me a bit more about these new friends of yours," said Hange, completely changing the subject.
"Well, as there were many cadets, I'm only gonna talk about the ones I got really close, okay?"
Lara opened her hand, as if to count something on her fingers.
"The girl I got closest to, because she was the funniest, is called Sasha," Lara laughed, "You guys can't imagine how a little crazy she is! Can you believe she brought food to the training when no one was looking?!"
"Didn't Shadis see she doing that?" asked Levi.
"If he did, he pretended not to. 'Cause Sasha did it until the last day of training, and he never said anything about it. As far as I could see, it's a typical behavior of hers, and I think Shadis is already used to it."
"If this girl were my cadet..." began Levi.
"C'mon, dad! Stop being so boring!" Lara laughed, "Every day you pause your training just to eat oranges with me at our tree!" she gave Levi a little push.
"That's because I can!"
Lara showed him her tongue in a playful way and continued:
"There was also this boy, who's a little baldy, named Connie. In the fighting classes, he was the funniest, because he'd always do the craziest positions with Sasha," Lara stood up on the mattress and imitated one of the positions, almost falling down, making Hange and Levi desperately grab her legs, "OOPSY!"
Lara sat back down, cross-legged.
"And there was another boy who I also befriended with, but I confess that I found him a little annoying sometimes. Dunno, he complained way too much about anything and he was always picking fights with Eren."
"Who's Eren?" asked Hange.
"Wait, mom. I'll get there. The boy I was talking about is called Jean, but there wasn't a living soul on that Squad that wouldn't call him 'Horse Face'. I felt a little pity for him in the beginning, but I also ended up joining in on the fun and he didn't seem to be bothered with it that much..."
Lara then took her stuffed horse that was on her bed.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, "I think I'll name my horsey 'Jean', what do you think? So I can always remember how much fun I had in the Winter Training with my new friends!"
"What a nice tribute..." Levi looked strangely at Hange.
"It's not a tribute, dad. It's to poke fun."
Hange and Levi looked at each other once more, asking themselves: "What have our daughter become?"
Lara placed the stuffed horse resting on the pillow, a little above Levi and Hange's head.
"Now, I'll talk about Eren," continued Lara, counting the fourth item on her hand, "He's a very charismatic boy, but sometimes he gets too annoyed by any little thing and takes almost everything personally. On the other hand, he's extremely talented on the ODM gear and we'd always share some ideas of maneuverings and fighting techniques. I've come to the conclusion that he's one of who works the hardest in his Squad, even losing miserably to Mikasa."
"Who's she?!" asked Hange.
Levi clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes.
"Gee, mom! Wait 'til I finish!"
"Uhh, sorry..." Hange pouted.
"It's alright," Lara caressed her mother's face, "After Eren, I became friends with someone whom I believe it's the kindest boy I've ever met in my life. No kidding. Everything I asked of him, he promptly did with the best possible will. It even hurt to see. His name's Armin and he has very blonde hair."
She clapped her hands and looked at Hange, now also pouting her lips.
"Now I'll talk about Mikasa," Lara turned to Levi, shaking him, "Daddy, I think I've found our greatest rival! I believe she even beats Mike!"
"I do not believe this," replied Levi, impassively.
"You're gonna regret this," Lara pointed at him, "I swear to you, dad. I've never seen a girl fight like Mikasa! I went desperately to her to ask her to teach me some moves, but she was embarrassed to be teaching someone who technically has a higher rank than her. But I said it didn't matter and in the end, I learned some pretty good moves," Lara poked Levi, "Hey, daddy! Our fighting plays will get much more exciting! You will lose them all from now on!"
"Oh, really?!" Levi raised an eyebrow.
"No doubt," Lara rubbed her hands together, "Oh! I also believe that Mikasa is really in love with Eren, but he doesn't pay much attention to her, poor thing..."
Lara then gave a big sigh and clapped her hands.
"There, I'm done!" she said, laying down on the bed and clinging to Hange.
"Huh, already?" asked Hange, looking at the top of her daughter's head. "Tell us more! How were the training classes, what exactly did you guys do there?!
"Oh, mommy..." mumbled her, while snuggling her face into Hange's chest, "I'm very tired, I'll tell you in another time, okay? Now I wanna sleep..."
Hange looked at Levi, as if to say, "Well, then... If she says so..."
A few seconds passed and with a caring expression, Levi and Hange watched their daughter laying there. But Hange was bothered by the stuffed horse's muzzle poking her head, so she looked at Levi.
"Hey, take Jean out of here," she said, signalizing that her hands were occupied, hugging her child.
"Who the heck is Jean?" asked Levi, confused.
"My God, man! The kid literally just told us! It's the horsey. Take it out of here, please."
"Oh, okay..."
After a few moments, Lara mumbled:
"Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"I know I'm gonna turn twelve only in a few months from now, but can I already choose my birthday cake theme?"
"Well... Yeah..." answered Hange, confused, "What will it be?"
"I wanna a cake with the face of the instructor Keith Shadis on it."
Levi covered his mouth in disbelief. Hange stared at the girl from above, completely astonished.
"Why is that, kiddo?!" asked her, "This is so random!"
"That's because when we slice the cake, daddy can slice that ugly face of Shadis, to show that only daddy can have you, mommy."
Hange and Levi stared at each other, mouths slightly open, doing what they did best: blushing. Without even thinking, Levi began to get up from the bed, but in a quick movement, which she probably learned from Mikasa, Lara reached her hand at him, making him lay down again.
Then, Lara took Levi's right arm and made him hug both her and Hange. The three of them just stood there, laying on that small bed, looking like a sandwich, with Hange and Levi being the slices of the bread, and Lara the filling. In less than two minutes, the girl's deep breathing could be heard, completely fallen asleep.
From Hange and Levi's position, it was practically impossible for the two of them to look in any other direction, other than the pair of eyes in front of them. With their cheeks red, they looked deeply at each other for a few seconds. Hange pressed her lips together, because suddenly, she felt an immense urge to laugh, seeing that Levi was almost trembling, so ashamed he felt for being there, with his hand around Hange's waist, still embarrassed by Lara's comment about the "Shadis flavored cake".
Then, Hange composed herself, and eventually, Levi also managed to control his shyness, and they remained looking at each other for a while, with a little smile. Their faces were so close, they could feel each other's breath. Levi looked at Hange's lips, who was also looking at his.
Instinctively, Levi gently squeezed Hange's waist, pulling her closer, making Lara snuggle a little more. In less than five minutes, they both also fell asleep, their foreheads and noses pressed together and their daughter between them, who was sleeping with a smile on her face.
I did this Fanart of Levi and Lara playing together ♥ Hope you like it!