„ The mutual watchers ”
Notes :
— Fanfiction : Aot / Levihan [Sorry, nothing intellectual or business stuff here !]
— Modern English AU OS. [Alternate Universe One Shot]
— Contain spoilers, symbols, quotes and errors.
— Hange’s pronounces used is They/Them/She/Her
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ𝒕͟𝒉͟𝒆͟ 𝒎͟𝒖͟𝒕͟𝒖͟𝒂͟𝒍͟ 𝒘͟𝒂͟𝒕͟𝒄͟𝒉͟𝒆͟𝒓͟𝒔͟.
With his three valid fingers, the dark-haired man readjusted his black trench coat and placed the Viennese coffee in front of his colleague.
“What a gentleman. We should be assigned more business trips, it suits you.” she smiles.
“You’re already exploiting me, three-eyes. I may not be a Zoologist, but I think the way everyone stares at us might convince you to treat me as your equal.”
The binocular woman’s laughter bursts through the tea room, forcing a wink from her one uncovered eye. Her colleague, also one-eyed, nods as he sips his black tea.
They comfort each other in their personal silence but lulled by the background radio.
The black-haired man looks through the shop window. His colleague follows the trajectory of his curiosity. Complementary as two Jians, he notices this mimicry out of the corner of his eye. In his husky voice, he whispers, “It is not that obvious, around our place.”
Hange nods slowly and accosts the waiter to pay and stands up, emerging their colleague from his thoughts.
“I am watching you, I know what is in your head. Let’s go, Levi. Let’s get some air!” they says, placing their hand on his sturdy shoulder.
As they walk down the shopping street, Levi stops repeatedly. He assembles what little German vocabulary he knows, and addresses the various groups of people lining the ground. Some have tents, others just a mattress. He fiddles with his wallet.
Hange moves slowly forward, a smirk on their face, their eyes fixed on the sky. A helicopter breaks the picture of celestial water. Birds dress the lampposts in purloined straw. Entire encyclopaedias scroll through their head, in order to be able to put down the name and the specificities of this species. The brown feathers, the beak…
“Hey, three-eyes.” The brunette startled and stared at her companion who had lined up beside her, then softly, she smiled tenderly at him.
“Is Mini-Levi light-hearted about his alms?” He thinks, and finally nods positively. He tucks an adventurous lock of his colleague’s braid behind his ear “We should enjoy our free time, fool. You’ll have time to worry about your bird later.”
Their laughter bangs against the man’s stoic heart.
“That’s the first time you’ve ever said that, Shorty. But you’re right, let’s enjoy it together. I want to get a closer look at the biodiversity of this place!”
He sighs, and already regrets finishing his tea, the rare comforting element of his trip. “…In your good company, of course, and discussing something other than Science.” completes the brunette as they raises their glasses, offering an apologetic look.
Levi steps forward, leading the way on this absolutely friendly excursion, between friendly people.
“Hange, do you smell that?”
“Ackermann, you know I don’t. Your heightened senses betray me — apart from our sight.”
“Only when it is convenient for you. Don’t you smell that… seaweed?” a beaming smile appears on the zoologist’s face. He clears his throat: “Zoe, would you like to accompany me along the North Sea coast? It is, of course, a completely professional invitation.”
“Like the chocolates you cooked me for Valentine’s Day ?” They answers in a matter-of-fact way.
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After a few seconds of silence, their two laughs join, harmonizing their joy. Hange wraps their arm around their colleague’s gently, remembering his recent accident.
“For once Ackerman opens his heart, it’s like a train or flight you can’t miss.”
Along the gravelled path surrounded by trees, they did not let go each other. Hange watched every living thing that crossed his path. A group of Monarch butterflies, then a machaon, and they landed on the beautiful forget-me-not flowers. A sparrow would whistle, land on the ground, and then fly away. This biological spectacle amazed Hange, but thoughts burned in their mind. The smell of seaweed was becoming clearer, with a beach in sight.
“Levi, I know your words can be harsh. But I also know they don’t reflect how you really feel. So, I acknowledge the effort you made today!”
The young man pauses as he pulls away, forcing his partner to face him. “But, I’m afraid it sucks a little.” He raises his eyebrows. She continues, “You know everything about me. I know everything about you. I don’t need your sparks, and your pretense. On the contrary. Everything we’ve been through can prove it.” At these words, she places her fist on the hard chest of the man who was staring at her with his deep blue eyes. “Mhm… I’ll definitely have another tea, there.” he mumbles, after a long gulp.
Hange smiled. “Yeah. You don’t do well for long, pretending. I understand. How boring and dull we’re getting without Erwin !”
“Did your threesome fetish just suddenly wake up?” A chuckle emerges.
“No, wait until I mention Moblit, who’s certainly been flooding you with messages by the way, right? Oh, are we talking about a foursome then…” their gaze rambles, pensive, as Levi throws knives from his one eye.
“And then who else, Onyankopon too? You bespectacled fool, let’s stop right there. Is your unrequited love of the species making you that febrile? You know… Hey, uh… Zoe, are you listening to me, damn it? I know I said stop, but…”
He follows the gaze of his interlocutor who obviously wasn’t listening to him anymore. Their gaze was hypnotised by what looked like a seagull, in Levi’s language, but with grey feathers. She pointed at it and let out a few groans of wonder.
“Really, silly? You left -”
DOo-oOM!
As soon as a thud pierces the young couple’s eardrums, Levi grabs Hange by her waist with one hand, shields her skull with the other and pushes her body with his torso, dragging them both to the ground.
“HANS! Are you alright?!” Levi screams, his body on top of hers, running his hand over her entire face. The eye patch having shifted with all the action, Levi could see as her partner’s eyes widened in incomprehension. A cloud of dust engulfed them, and they coughed in chorus. “Levi…? What was that? And the bird! Wait-!”
No sooner had he been able to answer them than they was trying to struggle from the weight of the young man.
“Hans! Don’t you realize!”
“Levi, it’s that bird! And we were trying to shoot it! We have to-”
“YMIR !”
A male howl rumbles through the forest. Suddenly, a young boy emerges from between the bushes, runs to the beach, almost tripping over the young couple.
“GO AHEAD YMIR, RUN! RUN AWAY!”
“Eren!!! Come back!” A young girl screams back, following closely behind the young boy who had just screamed. How could she wear that red scarf, in this heat? Levi and Hange watched the scene silently, helping each other up. They then approached the beach, and the young people.
“But wait for me, damn it! Seriously, Ymir, as a name for a birdie? HEY ”
A blond youth stumbles out of the bush he just came from, leaves in his hair and his face scratched. He apologizes to the couple for the shouting, and runs back.
“YMIR, TAKE YOURSELF AWAY! FLY TO YOUR FREEDOM!” The first oceans-eyed boy is still screaming, almost in euphoria. He jumps up and down, gesturing with his arms towards the sea. In the distance, a bird flies away. He is finally joined by a group.
“Mikasa…” The young blond catches his breath “Do you understand anything? Why were we eating ice cream, Eren got faint, and ALL OF A SUDDEN we were chasing a pigeon?”
Hange sighs in shame, despite the distance. “You little brat, that’s a Jaeg-”
“It’s not just any bird! He spoke to me, I swear! And it’s no coincidence at all. We wanted to shoot it. That bird was beautiful, it was there to bring a message.” The dark-haired young man blathers on and launches into a delirious monologue of visions, time loops, Path world, titans, and rumbling, which the young couple did not listen to.
Levi, annoyed, takes his colleague by the shoulders, forcing them to face him, again.
“Hange, I may not be a Zoologist, and even less of a scientist to measure up to you.” Levi pauses for a breath and calms himself.
“I was afraid for your life. And your fascination with the living is not congruent with your neglect of your own life.” The young scientist frowns.
“Levi, it’s okay, it’s not the war. And I’m fine. It was just a little shot.” The young man takes a step closer.
“Understanding your obsession is beyond my skill set. It will get you one day, I’m sure. But understand something, Hans. You’re not the only who’s watching me. It’s mutual. I need you to imprint that in your head.”
He grabs them by the collar. Bewildered by this sudden admission, Hange nods gently, miming a soft yes. Levi puts his partner’s eye patch back in place, and after a few seconds of hesitation, he embraced them.
“It’s just that… It’s the bird we’ve been assigned to survey, you understand. This group got lost, this freedom thing is ridiculous, by the way. Its presence here, at this time of year, is a very bad omen and…”
“Please, three eyes, shut up. For once, let’s enjoy this moment of intimacy.”
A little frozen, Hange finally softens in his arms, and finally, mutually, they tighten in their embrace.
