invidia 『Hange Zoë』

18: "my office, ten minutes"

"That's great Theo! Remember to keep your legs as tight as possible, but bend your knees for less impact!" You shout out the encouragement to your squad member as he flies between the mock up houses and trees in the training area.

He adjusts his stance a little and glides a lot faster through the air, and pride swells in your chest. It's always a nice reminder of how happily the others take your orders and can somehow improve still despite their already impressive skill when doing so.

Finnegan finishes strapping himself up properly after running late this morning. You could tell he'd been crying by the red rings around his eyes and the tremble in his hands, but you knew better than to point it out in front of everyone. Best to do that when you were alone with him. If you were to guess, it'd probably be about Emmeline, her death still replaying in your own nightmares often enough that you too woke up crying more often than not. But clearly it was something more too, if it made him late. Finnegan is never late.

You smile at him warmly anyway, and feel slightly comforted by the shaky one he returns to you. He'll be okay. "Up next, Finn, that okay?"

He just nods, waiting for Theo to land next to you before shooting off his wires and flying onto the practice field. "I was so awesome." Theo exclaims jokingly, taking the punch to his upper arm from Pyotr at the brag.

"You were okay," you correct him, smirking at the annoyed glare he sends you. "But rusty, Theo. What was that with the tree?"

He flushes a little with embarrassment when you point out a small blunder he'd made, grappling onto a tree trunk a little too high up and almost face planting it. "Well…"

"Don't worry, you did perfectly fine. That's why we do this, to iron out the kinks." You try to make your voice sound both still jokey but also subtly reassuring at the same time, but at the sound of Alice's scoff, you regret saying anything at all.

"Does that work with people too? I'd try with you first," she starts, walking over and ghosting her fingertips over your neck. You'd stopped wearing the scarf after helping Hange with their paperwork, and your entire squad had had a field day with the visual proof that they were right about the two of you (disregarding the fact you’d already vocally confirmed it for them multiple times). Walls did you resent Hange for it. "Too many kinks here."

"Don't let the Section Commander see you touching (Y/N) like that, they'll go ballistic," Pyotr warns, for once being the voice of reason here. Distantly, you hear Finnegan's ODM gear swishing again as he races between the houses, your eyes fixed on his body in an attempt to not throttle your second in command. "Did you not see the glare they gave me when I dared to put a hand on her shoulder at breakfast yesterday? I can still feel it on me now." The man visibly shudders in your peripheral vision, making you scoff.

Alice's hand pulls away, apparently the thought of Hange being angry at her makes her second guess her actions. "Good point. But my statement still stands, further bolstered by that little tidbit of info. Aren't they a little too… Protective?…"

"Enough, what happens between me and Hange is not really training discussion material." Honestly, you’d think your soldiers were schoolchildren from the way they enjoy gossip (not that you don’t participate when the subject isn’t you, but that’s beside the point).

Finnegan doesn't need any reminders, form perfect and not a single puff of gas wasted. Pride swells in your chest again, and your mind easily switches from Hange-mode back to Captain-mode.

It's been a few days since you've had some alone time with Hange, but you don't mind too much. The space has given you a chance to finally start sorting through your thoughts and feelings, specifically about the big three problems you'd identified a while ago. And since then, it's been a lot easier to quarantine any undesirable thoughts until you had the time to process them, and it's made your job much easier.