Sitting on her sofa with a book on her hand, Hange couldn't help but doze off for a moment. Levi just left an hour ago and she is once again all alone inside the hollow ambiance of her compartment. Since Moblit wasn't around, she had to close the library for the day. There was nothing else to do. She could go back and actually do some research but she had finished it weeks ago.
Lying on the sofa, she hugged her pillow.
A realization dawned in when a familiar smell came in her nose, staring at the pillow she had in her arms. It smelled of the familiar lavender fragrant that a certain someone always used. Be it with his detergent or his perfume.
Well... Levi did the laundry the day before. He must've used his own detergents.
This has shown how much the ravenette has been hanging around her place that even his own personal scent left a trace. The corners were literally spotless, even the once tainted marble floor turned back to its original plain white tiles because of a certain someone's intensive cleaning.
Her books were properly tucked in the bookshelves. No more crumpled papers could be seen anywhere. Even her clothes were neatly folded in her closet.
Her former dull place suddenly felt new.
Hange smiled to herself. The fact that he has been the one doing the household chores which was supposed to be her responsibility made a very vivid idea come into mind. A simple life where she could do all her shit as Levi would act like a funny wife, following her messes around. Giggling, Hange thinks how absurd her thoughts were. They're adults now. It isn't the time to indulge themselves in childish things such as playing house.
She snapped out from her trance upon the realization, embarrassed at herself. Why is she even thinking about such a thing?
The brunette continued to mull over herself, looking up the ceiling, thoughts somewhere else. Wondering what Levi must be doing right now.
Truth be told, there are still a lot of things she doesn't know about Levi. He is indeed a really mysterious man who always had such an unreadable expression on his face, rarely giving out hints that she could've used as a key element to know more about him. Usually, it'd just be his look of annoyance on whatever farces she would come up with or his eyes filled with so much mockery when teasing her.
Hange sighed. Looking back, Levi is either annoyed or irritated with her. These made her question why the raven-haired is still always after her.
Yet the time she had spent with him made her think otherwise. Every time they would be joking around with their shitty humor regarding poops and shit. Occasionally, there are even times where he would've such a soft look on his face, a thing which she never worded out and kept it to herself. All these interactions gave her a huge margin of what Levi really is beneath the surface.
Sighing, she puts the back of her hand over her eyes, hindering her eyesight from the blinding lights on the ceiling.
"I already miss him..." She unconsciously says to herself.
The familiar smell on her pillow and the silence surrounding her slowly tempted her to fall asleep. The pent-up exhaustion caused her eyelids to get heavy, obviously sleep deprived for a couple of days.
The only time Hange gets a good night's rest is when the raven-haired would come visit her. His non-stop reminder of her going to sleep early never ends.
Before her senses could surrender to sleep, a loud bang abruptly woke her system up. It was continuous and it honestly scared the crap out of Hange as she immediately sat up from where she laid down, turning to which door the banging came from.
Surprisingly, the sound was coming from the backdoor which was supposed to be impossible seeing how the way towards the area is filled with a lot of hurdles, especially those crawling roaches and how dim the pathway is at night.
Hange was still contemplating whether she would open the door or what. It might be a thief for all she knows.
Pulling out her phone, she planned to prepare for the worst and went to grab the broom near her door.
She was about to twist the doorknob open when the loud banging stopped in an instant.
"Hange! It's me!" A very familiar voice came from the outside and as if on impulse she immediately unlocked the door and twisted the doorknob open. "Hange!"
Before the brunette could react, she was crushed into a very tight hug by Levi.
"Levi?" she called out, still confused on why the heck Levi's hugging her.
The hug became tighter and the brunette decided to shut up for a minute. She could feel how his hands that were resting on the small space on her back, shivered ever slightly. Levi's other hand went up, shifting towards her head, ruffling through her brunette locks.
They stayed like that for a few minutes before Levi widened his eyes, impulsively released all his hold on her and stepped back.
"I...I'm sorry for doing that." He says, eyes cast downward.
Hange was still obviously confused but shook her head regardless. "It's fine. Why did you come back? Did you accidentally leave something? I'll go look---"
"Will you let me in first?"
This made her pause, the tone in Levi's voice was such a rarity. Thus, she immediately steps aside.
It prompted the raven-haired to finally step inside and Hange could only watch him as he finally closed the door behind and looked up to her. Levi was always serious and his face has always been devoid of any expression. But this time, she could feel how gravely he looked, something heavy in mind.
Filled with so much confusion, Hange began. "Levi? Is there something wrong?"
The way his grey irises pierced into hers says it all. The brunette was still mystified at whatever's happening at the moment.
"I need to fucking tell you something." Levi replied. "Very important."
"I'll listen."
The look on Levi's eyes felt so distant that even the brunette got hesitant to pry him about it any further. Levi was having a hard time forming his words, thinking on how to tell the brunette and where should he even start from.
Glancing at the teapot on the counter, an idea came into mind. "We should discuss it over a cup of tea."
He gestured for the brunette to take a seat on her dining table. Without further questions, the brunette obeyed silently and sat still. She continued to watch the raven-haired who had his back faced on her, preparing tea.
It was silent and she could feel the heaviness in the atmosphere.
"First of all..." He began, eyes straight to the cup. "I'm Levi Ackerman."
Hange continued to stare at him. Still clueless on whatever Levi's trying to attain. He's an... Ackerman? Is that supposed to be a huge thing?
She waited patiently for him to add something, definitely aware that even the ravenette is having a hard time voicing out what he wants.
"I am a celebrity."
Silence.
Levi feared that this might've overwhelmed the brunette thus he stole a glance to take a peek at her expression. Hazel brown eyes widened and her mouth agape. Hange was surprised to learn of the fact, words still processing in her mind.
With silent steps, he puts the teacup in front of her and pulled the chair across to take a seat.
His resolve wasn't backing down either, thinking of things to add. There was no time for him to shit around, now is the only time to tell her the truth. Hange deserved knowing it. He was an ass for hiding it in the first place.
She must be scared now. Especially for someone like her who only wanted the comfort of her research, peace of her books and a simple life to indulged into... dating someone who had all the lenses of the cameras directed into would create a devastating impact on her lifestyle.
Damn it. Hange still wasn't saying anything.
He was about to add something when he felt the brunette shifted in her seat, finally grabbing the teacup.
"Well..." She began, sipping on her tea before putting it back down once again. "Thank you for telling me, I guess?"
What the hell? Annoyance surged into Levi's mind. "Now's not the time to shit around, Hange. This is serious. The worst fucking thing is that I've been busted to have been fooling around with you!"
"You were just fooling around with me?" She asked innocently, wide eyes directed at him.
This only made Levi furrow his eyebrows in further frustration. Does she not get the point?
"They're going to fucking follow you around; harass and interfere with whatever farces you're doing at the moment. It's only a matter of time now before they'd trace whom I've been meeting up lately." His voice shook ever lightly, thoroughly frustrated with the situation. "This is my fucking fault. If only I'd have been more careful enough---"
"Levi." The firmness in the brunette's voice made him abruptly stop. "Now is not the time to put on blames. You see, we should discuss the matter at hand first."
He stared at her, looking over the small smile on her face. This slowly eased the rising tension inside him as he grabbed his tea, sipping on it to ease his nerves.
"So the urgent meeting you just referred to... is it about the news blowing up?"
Levi nodded. Upon reading the headline, he immediately bolted away from the office and even rashly tried to maneuver a fucking car. He did have some driving lessons from Mike a while ago but if the blond didn't catch up to him on time, he might've driven a car for the first time and might as well got into an accident.
The taller blond was considerate enough to not ask questions either.
Odd enough, the brunette smirked at Levi. "Right after you've heard of it, you immediately came back to me? That's so sweet of you, shorty."
"What are you stupidly implying?"
"You were that worried." She replied, a teasing look on her face.
There was a sudden lump on his throat at the bold statement. It was precisely correct and Hange definitely wasn't wrong. But there was something in him that made the truth harder to admit than he would've wanted to.
Averting his eyes away, Levi puts down the teacup. "I was worried shitless, Hange."
Silence loomed over once again. The brunette looked taken aback by the way Levi profoundly spoke his words.
"I got so fucking worried upon knowing the news. The media or those paparazzi were literally crowding the agency and I'm sure they'd soon found out the reasons and the locations I've been into. For all I fucking know, they've already barged here in your library. Creating a huge uproar and had fucking harassed you—"
Levi didn't even realize that he was already rambling. All his thoughts were in a mess and each of them rolled on his tongue in complete disarray. A soft touch hovered over his hand, already balled into a fist.
Looking up, he didn't even realize that Hange was already standing beside him, holding his hand.
With the same genuine smile on her face, she spat out. "Calm down, okay? I'm fine. You're fine. We're both fine."
"But still..."
"Levi," Hange reached for his cheek, her soft feathery touch slowly took away all the pent-up exasperation he kept within. "I don't really care if you're a celebrity or what. I liked you for being... you. I'm fine with the prospects those cameras, stalkers, your fans or the society itself would throw on me. All I need is to prepare some precautions, right? I've been into much more dangerous experiments in my life, you know?"
Levi was lost at words on what to say. Unconsciously, he brought a hand to hover over Hange's, silently mulling over her touch as he stared straight into her eyes. Trying to weigh the sincerity behind her words.
Her eyes were still as transparent as ever. The usual glint on her hazel irises, conveying nothing but complete honesty.
"Tch." He suddenly says, averting his eyes away from her. "This is why I fucking like you, damn it."
The words surprised Hange, her eyes widening in the process.
Embarrassed, she tried to retreat her hand away from him, awkwardly chuckling a little bit. "W-what are you talking about---"
However, Levi's hold on her hand went tight.
"Hange, listen..." Levi began, his free hand went to touch her cheek. "I'm serious."
"Huh?"
"I said I'm serious, shithead."
The way Levi looked at her with the same expression on his face, eyebrows furrowed and lips quivering as if clearly annoyed at how embarrassed he was in what he was saying. This tugged Hange to smile a little bit, surprise fading away from her system.
Batting her eyelashes at him, she smiled coyly. "Well then, Levi. This shithead likes you too. What are you gonna do about that?"
Levi was taken aback by this. "Are you challenging me?"
Hange suddenly leaned forward, kissing him right on the lips. It was too fast. She leaned away too fast that Levi didn't even manage to kiss her back despite wanting to. He glared at her as she steps away from him, a funny look on her face.
Crossing her arms, Hange snorted at him. "You know what, Levi? It took you too long to make a move on me. I was waiting for oh-so patiently too."
This caused a blush across Levi's cheeks. What Hange said hit him on the bullseye, flustered at the hard truth.
"Shut up, four eyes..." He mumbled under his breath, frustrated at himself.
"Well, I really honestly thought that you were like some serial killer or some agent going undercover, you know? It took me all I have to restrain myself to ask you further questions." Hange sighed, back leaning over the counter. "My mind was literally minutes away from exploding, my curiosity isn't really a good thing, you see."
Looking up at her. Levi finally asked, "What are you getting at?"
This earned a narrow look from Hange as she suddenly walked towards him once again, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.
"It means that you need to take responsibility for all my efforts, Levi!"
The way her lips pouted as she looked at him in shallow annoyance surprised the raven-haired. Hange whines all the time so Levi was pretty much used to this. However, this time, he couldn't fathom how cute she looked and he was annoyed at himself for even thinking of that.
As much as he hated to admit it but he had already fallen deep in her eyes.
He sighed, a mocking smile on his lips. The action only made Hange grew annoyed. What is the stupid midget smiling at? Before she could even express what she had in mind, the brunette got caught off-guard when she felt a hand tugging over her ponytail, pulling her closer towards the raven-haired.
Their lips met and the only thing Hange could do was widen her eyes, staring straight into Levi who had his shut close. His kisses were forceful, trying to gain more entrance into her mouth as he pulled her closer to himself.
This strong assertiveness made her eyelids fell, letting herself get drown in his kisses. The raven-haired on the other hand paused a little when he felt Hange kissing back at him. Damn it. Damn her. He could only curse at the fact that Hange is a god damn good kisser.
It was Hange who pulled away first, licking her lips. "Is that how taking responsibility is like, Levi?"
"Tch. Damn you."
The next thing Hange knew was that Levi pushed her, her back hitting the hard surface of the table. She could feel the empty teacup shifting at the thud of her body. Before she could say something, Levi suddenly hovered over her. Both his arms at either side of her head.
Hange was lost at words. Levi was staring at her with the same look on his face, nothing but vast seriousness. This made her embarrassed, feeling trapped in whatever spell he had cast on her.
She turned her head to the other side. "S-stop staring at me..."
"Look at me, Hange." It was a command.
"Stop staring at me first!" She countered back, still looking away, frustrated at how fast her heart was thumping.
Levi could only look at her in disbelief. Is she being serious?
"I can't kiss you if you do that. Are you stupid?"
Offended at this, the brunette finally turned her head to him. "You looked like you were going to devour me! Of course, I'd be scared—"
Her words stopped mid-sentence as Levi lunged forward, his lips meeting hers. These kisses were different. It was trying to claim every corner of her mouth, his tongue mingling with hers. It was an odd and funny sensation for Hange. She could feel herself heating up, silently enjoying the intense fervor the kisses gave.
Levi couldn't stop himself. It feels...so good. For fuck's sake, he had been wanting to do things like this for a while now.
His hands roamed all over her body and the way Hange lets out a squeal when his hand came in contact with her breast made him pause for a bit.
"Hey, why would you stop?" Hange whined, looking over him.
Hange's face was bat shit red. Sweat formed over her forehead and her messy locks twirled all around her, sticking on the hard surface. Yet the way her eyes glinted with adultered lust and her pink lips half opened as a drool got stuck at the corner of her mouth; the sight made Levi's inside flutter.
Furrowing her brows, she tried to pull Levi in. "Stop staring and kiss me—"
Hange did get what she wanted as Levi immediately continues his kisses. Things got so heated that Levi was about to pull her clothes, undressing her when a loud wailing sound suddenly filled the whole place, disrupting the tension between them.
This obviously startled Levi, eyes wary as he immediately turned his head around the place. Using her elbows as leverage, Hange mirrored Levi's action, also startled and still a little bit out of it.
Annoyed, Levi tried to push her back, trying to ignore the sound. However, the brunette refrained from doing so as she pushed his face away from her.
"What was that—"
"The security. Someone tried to break in, Levi." Hange suddenly sat up, prompting the raven-haired to detach himself away from her. Fixing her clothes unconsciously, the brunette headed towards the direction where the sound came from, walking towards her room. "Someone tried to barge into my library."
Dumbfounded, the raven-haired could only stare at her retreating figure.
Who the hell is it this time? Way to ruin the fucking mood, he groaned in frustration. Catching his reflection on a mirror, he could only stare at his disheveled appearance. Hange messed up his hair and he looked disgustingly sweaty.
"Levi! Come here and take a look at this." Hange called from another room.
He could only sigh, postponing the appearance matter for later. Walking in towards her room, only the light from the computer illuminated on her face. She had the usual serious look on her face as she clicked on her mouse, her glasses almost sliding off her nose.
Turning the lights on, Levi stood beside her, looking at the screen.
"You see that, Levi? My security is the best!" Hange looked so proud, pointing on her screen. "My door is really hard, you see. It wouldn't even budge even if you'd kick on it or whatever shit people come up with just to barge through. Hackers are also having a hard time to bug on it and literally every corner of my place has no loopholes!"
He continued to stare at her as Hange got so into her blabbering. She looked so happy, proud and pride was overwritten on her face as she continued to ramble. This is Hange Zoe. The loud and eccentric woman whom he had met out of an absurd coincidence.
She turned to him, a very bright smile on her lips.
With that, Levi came into a firm resolve in his mind. He's fixing all these tomorrow. Definitely.