The Experiment (Attack on Titan // LeviHan) (Part 1)

Hotel "To the Merry Widow"

The first thing Zoë became aware of after the world had stilled was the sound of Levi's heartbeat at her ear. Lub dub, lub dub, lub dub...

She took a deep breath. They were no longer falling. And he still held her pressed against his body like... pfft. The weird fluttering in her heart stopped when she realized how futile - no, stupid! - that would be in case of real danger. A Titan would just get a bonus, two tasty humans for the cost of one.

Idiot.

The next thought that took root in her head was we're rid of our hats after all which was accompanied by the strongest need to giggle.

Then she realized that they had landed on something extremely malodorous.

Which revealed itself to be a garbage dump when she opened her eyes. Remarkable. Their buddies would howl with laughter if she told them.

Levi groaned, stopping her strange train of thought.

"Are you hurt?" Zoë asked, pushing herself up so she could have a look at him. His eyes were closed. His cheek showed a coloring bruise from where she had hit him earlier. But no blood was dripping from his mouth. That was generally a good sign.

She touched his face. He groaned some more and his eyelids fluttered.

"Say something!" she demanded and slapped him gently, left and right, suddenly a bit worried. He had amazing reflexes but she had fallen on top of him both times and even though he had stuffed his fake belly with clothes and other soft things, broken bones was the least she expected him to have.

"Can't... move...," he pressed out.

Oh shit.

"Is it your spine?" she spluttered, starting to run through scenarios in your head what that meant - humanity was fucked! - how to get him to a hospital above grounds without causing too much of a problem for him - incognito? She could lie about his identity and...

"No, you are sitting on my legs, you stupid cow," Levi growled and opened his eyes to give her a signature death stare.

Oups.

Zoë scrambled to the side, which instantly caused the pile they were on to become unstable, shift and...

... they were sliding again. More gently and slowly this time, but down a stinky, sticky heap of rotting waste, which carried them to a narrow alley between two tall houses, where three scrawny children stood awaiting the end of their descent.

"Hi!" Zoë smiled at them and tried to get up, slipped in the muck and fell back down hard. There were broken roof tiles scattered everywhere, she noticed. And their hats! They were waiting for them too. The urge to laugh was back. It was too comical.

"I don't believe this," Levi muttered, his nostrils flaring in anger and disgust. "Oh wait, no, I do. It's exactly what I should have expected."

He was pointedly not looking in her direction when he got to his feet. So he was fine? All the better.

"What were you doing on the garbage heap?" the smallest boy wanted to know, scrunching up his dirty face into a suspicious grimace.

"That stuff grown-ups do, of course," the tallest girl knew. She wore a tattered skirt with at least twenty pockets and had two thin, long braids. Hair color indeterminable.

"They fell from the roof, I saw them!" the third boy was picking his nose. The three heads looked up, then back down, eyes narrowing on them suspiciously.

Grumbling something, Levi pulled a coin from his pocket.

"Here," he dropped it into the girl's ready hand, "give this to the owner of this house. It will cover the cost for repairing the roof with some extra for you."