Almost Want To Love You {Attack on Titan Fanfiction}

Chapter Five

    After the abnormal titan attack, things were uneventful. Hanji and Levi ate their small dinner while she told him wild stories. Over time, however, she noticed that he'd made no effort to silence her like he usually would. He was quiet. Well, quieter than usual. Something must have been on his mind.

    Hanji ripped off a piece of her jerky. "Sooo..." she began, trying to spark conversation between them. "Are you okay?"

    "Are you?"

    "Fair point." She frowned. Levi could end a conversation faster than anyone she'd met. She watched him sip his water. His light gray eyes skeptically gazed at the floor, almost as if checking it for any speck of dirt. He probably was.

    He'd combed his black hair—to keep it classy even in this situation—and had used some rags from a drawer he'd found to clean his gear. His eyebrows were ever so slightly furrowed, indicating he was lost in thought. The thin line people called his mouth was slanted downward at the ends. Without his jacket and cloak on, his white shirt alone made him look smaller than he already was. Hanji wondered how he hadn't been snapped in two yet.

    "Commander."

    Hanji's head shot up to see the man who'd spoken staring at her. Rather, at her leg. He pointed to it. "Can you move it?"

    "'It' being both legs or specifically my right one?"

   "Both."

    She shrugged and tried to lift the leg that felt less pained. That was a mistake. Her left knee instantly burned, and she could feel the thin layer of skin above it split apart.

    Setting his water down, Levi stood. "That's a no then," he stated. He walked to a cupboard, appearing to be searching for something. "We need to close your wounds, so they don't get infected. If it gets bad enough, you might not be able to walk."

    Hanji waved her hand nonchalantly. "That's not that bad," she reasoned. "I can't walk now, anyway."

    "I mean permanently."

    That set a different mood. Never being able to walk again? How would she be able to do experiments? And if she couldn't walk, she would be kicked out of the Scouting Legion! She couldn't afford that. They were her friends—no, her family. She couldn't leave them.

    She couldn't leave him.

    The brunette held her head. "What am I thinking..." she mumbled. Being stuck with Levi must have done something unnatural to her mind. At least he hadn't noticed any difference in her behavior yet.

    He walked to her side, some form of pointy object in his hand along with a lot of other first aid items. Pointing to the needle, Hanji asked, "Um, what's that for?"

    He met her gaze, the dark circles under his eyes even darker in the poorly lit room, and replied, "I'm stitching up your wounds. Got a problem with that?"

    Levi? Stitching up her legs while she was awake with some needle he'd found? If she'd been able to stand, she would've headed for the hills.

    Hanji laughed nervously. "U-Uh, are you sure that's the best idea?"

    "What, you afraid of a little pain?"

    "Not exactly. More the person inflicting it."

    "Well, Miss Zoë, what do you propose we do?"

    "I don't know. Just...not this."

    He kneeled beside her, grabbing her hair with his hand and forcing her to look him in the eye. "Would you rather wait for a doctor that won't come? Whether or not you want to admit it, you need help." Levi cleaned the needle with a rag, continuing with, "Just consider this as a new experiment. I'm testing your ability to handle pain."

    Ooh, he'd struck a nerve. An experiment? She was going to have a hard time saying no to that. Not that she was given a choice.

    Hanji pushed her glasses into place and smiled. "Then what are we waiting for, Shorty—"

    "Don't call me that."

    "—we have a lot of work to do."

    It would seem like the worst part of the procedure was having to wait for Levi as he cleaned out her wounds. But afterwards, the real torture began. Hanji bit her lip so hard it bled again, though the entirety of the time, she tried to smile.

    As Levi began on the right leg, Hanji let out a cry. She attempted to cover it up as it being from excitement. "Wow! Heh heh, this hurts a ton! I—" She winced. "—I hope I'm doing pretty well on this experiment because I bet being eaten by a titan wouldn't hurt this mu—"

    "Shut up. You're distracting me."

    Hanji was about to retort, saying he would do the exact same thing if she were stabbing a needle into his skin, but her voice died in her throat when she saw Levi's eyes.

    He was genuinely worried. His face read concern, which was a lot, considering normally his face held no expression. He was trying his hardest to make sure she was okay.

    For a moment, Hanji forgot the pain. She simply stared at him—sweat shining on his forehead in concentration—with a hopefully not too massive blush on her face.

    Then the needle drove into her leg again and she screamed.

    After a long while of pain and needles being shoved into her leg in a poor stitching attempt, it was over. Levi cleaned the supplies he'd used and returned them to the cupboard. Hanji guessed it was probably after midnight now. She was far beyond ready to sleep, though she forced herself to stay awake for Levi's sake. He would never admit it, but he would probably be disappointed if she selfishly said she'd sleep herself while leaving Levi to watch for titans.

    As if on cue, the black-haired captain ordered, "Go to sleep, Commander Hanji. You need it."

    "But what about you?"

    "I'll keep watch. Wouldn't want one of those filthy titans sneaking up on us now, would we?"

    Hanji smiled. "Yes, we wouldn't want that. I can't run tests on them without being able to stand."

    She watched him a moment as he washed the blood out of the rags he'd used in a bucket of water. Pieces of his hair fell in his eyes, which Hanji noticed was a tiny bit attractive. Well, for a man who wasn't quite five foot three and had a cleaning addiction.

    She removed her glasses and set them on the floor beside her. It probably wasn't good for her to keep looking at him like she was, or else she might not be able to stop.

    As she lay down, Levi spoke up. "Miss Zoë?"

    "Yeah?"

    His lips pursed, almost as though his next words would be like poison in his mouth. "That was brave of you to let me do that."

    "You didn't give me much choice, Scrub."

    Squeezing the water from a rag, he hung the cloth on thin rack next to his chair. "True. But it doesn't make sense to me." He paused. Leaning his elbows on his knees, he turned his narrowed eyes toward the girl. "Why were you smiling as I did it? I wouldn't have blamed you for showing more signs of pain."

    Hanji laughed. "Honestly Levi, you could use a little more smiling. And I did it because I wanted to ace my test. Speaking of which, how'd I do? Did the experiment go well?"

    Levi rolled his eyes. Just as corners of his lips had just begun to lessen from his usual frown, he turned his head away from Hanji. He stood to put the bucket in its original place, answering, "Yes, Four Eyes, you did well. Now sleep."

    That was the most of a compliment she'd ever gotten from Levi, so she grinned and lay down again. Maybe Shorty wasn't quite as heartless as he seemed to be.