Hello Readers!
Once upon a time, Midnight decided that she would go on a float trip with her husband and thought with it being such lovely fall weather, that she would not require sun block – regardless her past history of burning to a crisp many, many times during her childhood. After six hours on the river, she was as red as a lobster with painful blisters all over her arms and legs. No one could approach her without being reprimanded with a loud, 'NO TOUCH!'
Weeks slowly past by and she peeled twice; many nights previous had been filled with itchy skin and many bottles of aloe were lost to the cause. She vowed to herself that never again would she forget sun block.
That is the end of my tale.
*clears throat* Well, mini tale of woe aside, during this time a thought hit me – what if Levi got sunburnt? With him living his life in the Underground, until he joined the Scouts such a thing wouldn't even be a concept to him.
(For Coffee with the Captain readers, you are not forgotten. Next chapter is in the works, I just have to bite at inspiration as it comes. Hope you understand!)
In the mean time, you'll find the story below. We recommended this read with a nice cherry tart, adequate fall breeze, and a piping hot cup of Jasmine tea. We believe this will heighten your reading experience. Please, enjoy.
...
"Hey Levi, you finished mucking out those stalls yet? Commander says you're taking too long."
"Of fucking course..." Levi muttered to himself, giving a long sigh as he stood up from the ground, wiping sweat off his forehead and rolling his shoulders tensely. He rubbed his bare skin in circular motions, having removed his shirt hours ago due to the unbearable heat of the summer day.
He moved his attention over toward the man, someone he recognized as one of his previous commanding officers.
"No. With how shitty this stable is, it would take a year to get it cleaned properly. If Erwin doesn't like it, he can drag his sorry ass out here and do it his own damn self."
Levi had been ordered to clean the stable; punishment for assaulting a Military Police Squad Leader the day before. He had been cleaning the stalls since dawn and to make matters worse, he was not permitted to leave until they were completely finished. Considering it was now well into the afternoon, to say he was irritable was an understatement. He was tired, he was hungry, it was hot as hell outside, and the fact he was being punished at all only made matters worse.
The officer sighed, giving Levi a reproving look, "You know if Erwin heard you talking like that, you'd only make him angrier with you."
Levi's eyes narrowed into thin slits and he quirked an eyebrow in irritation, "Well bring him out here and I'll tell him exactly what I think about it."
"Honestly Levi." Another sigh was given in response and the Officer shook his head and continued, "Look, I'll tell Erwin you need a bit more time, and as a favor I'll even tell him you seemed apologetic. Still though, I don't think you'll have much longer before Erwin comes out here to chew you out, so I suggest you change your attitude before then. "
Levi crossed his arms across his chest and grumbled, "Don't count on it."
The officer shrugged as he held his hands up defensively, symbolizing his washing the hands of the matter before walking away and giving a chuckle that Levi was certain was at his expense.
Watching him go and growling at no one in particular, Levi rolled his eyes as he moved back to the ground, again grabbing the scrub brush and setting back to work on the walls of the dingy stable.
'Let Erwin come out', Levi thought bitterly, mumbling curses to himself in frustration as he continued scrubbing off the years of caked on dirt.
It had been about two years since he had joined the Scouts give or take, and while he was mostly adjusted to military life, his rough past still got him into trouble from time to time. Just yesterday Erwin had insisted he attend the monthly collaboration meeting with the other factions, a first for Levi, and as the Military Police's representative came into the room, he had stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed the notorious thug, in full Scout regalia. The rep had given a huff of laughter, snidely remarking that he wasn't aware sewer rats were permitted to join the military before leaning down in his face, stating that he should have just stayed in the sewers as no Titan would ever willingly eat shit.
In a moment Levi retaliated, pulling him down even further and forcefully kneeing him in face. Reports said the action resulted in a broken nose, though if Levi had his way he would have broken his slandering fucking jaw. Even now, Levi felt his actions were more than justified, but Erwin had been less than impressed.
Thus, Levi found himself mucking out the stalls today – an exhaustive task usually assigned to entire teams on a rotation basis – to teach him a thing or two about 'self control'.
Levi gave a forced exhale through his nose, trying to refocus his attention and just get the job done. It wasn't that he was afraid of Erwin, hell Erwin should be afraid of him right now, but he was hoping to get done before Erwin came out here so he wouldn't have to sit through the Commander barking more orders at him and giving him more tasks as further punishment.
Time passed by, slowly and agonizingly, and as Levi finally stood up at the job's completion his joints cracked and popped and his body seemed to ache as a whole. It had taken all day. All fucking day. Considering the Scouts had all returned to their barracks and were cleaning up for dinner, Levi knew it was well past six o'clock.
He would murder Erwin.
"About time you finished up, Levi."
Levi stayed facing where he was, muscles tensing as he heard that familiar voice, reminding himself that it was not worth it. Whatever he wanted to say, it was not worth getting into it with Erwin, because while he hated to admit it, he would undoubtedly lose.
Levi clicked his tongue, "How long have you been standing there?"
He slowly turned around and looked over toward the taller man, leaning back against the wooden frame of the stall. He stood there for a moment as he waited for a response, though the rough grain of the wood against his skin was irritating so he stood back up, crossing his arms and fixing Erwin with an expectant stare.
"Not long." Erwin confirmed, continuing to speak as he looked around the long hallway of the stable, "I was coming out to tell you that if you were so set on dragging your feet then you'd be skipping dinner tonight as well, however it seems that won't be necessary. Everything looks to be in order and you did the job thoroughly – even if it did take you the entire day."
Erwin fixed him with an accusatory stare, and Levi scoffed, "Well it wouldn't have taken so damn long if the other teams would stop half-assing everything and do their fucking job right. Next damn time-"
"I am not in the mood for this Levi so you'd be wise to keep that mouth of yours in check." Erwin snapped back, looking down at Levi and pursing his lips, "You're lucky all you had to do was clean out the stables today. Your act of insubordination caused a lot more trouble than you can even imagine; as we speak Hanji is up to her ears in reports trying to justify why we aren't discharging you from the Regiment entirely." Erwin shook his head, glaring across the stable toward him, "You're a diplomatic nightmare, you know that? The Military Police have always wanted your head and now you've just added more fuel to the fire, but to top it off you don't even care."
Continuing, Erwin crossed his arms, "Do you want to be kicked out of the military? By definition you'd go right back to the Underground, but we both know the Military Police wouldn't let you live, not for long anyway. Damn it all Levi, you know better – what in Maria's name were you thinking?"
Levi looked toward the ground, not feeling as strong after hearing all details that Erwin had laid out for him. Levi shrugged, his voice less sharp, "That filthy pig, he said... but…" Levi looked up toward Erwin desperately, "How can you expect me to just sit there and do nothing? He got what he deserved, I just-"
"Levi." Erwin called out, silencing his weak excuse and shrugging, "What do you want me to say? He's a higher rank from what's considered a higher faction of the military – and you, a general ranking Scout with no authority and no title - assaulted him. They won't care what he did to start it, you were outranked from the start."
A tense pause fell over the pair and once it became evident Levi had nothing to add to the matter, Erwin cleared his throat, speaking deeply with authority, "Levi. This cannot happen again; better yet, it will not happen again, are we understood? I want an affirmative answer from you."
Levi huffed and threw his arms up for a moment, rolling his eyes as he responded, "Yeah, yes sir…"
"Levi!" Erwin demanded belligerently, livid at the seemingly sarcastic response.
Levi looked toward him with wide eyes, shrugging and trying to explain, "I get it Erwin. I do. And I'll… I'll try harder I guess. You're asking a lot is all and I won't promise something like that. I can't."
Erwin quirked an eyebrow, his expression grave and unsympathetic, "Well, tough. As a person, I understand your reaction and why you feel your actions were justified. As your Commanding Officer however, I insist that you change your behavior immediately. Because of your previous lifestyle, you've burned way too many bridges to keep living like this, and at this point protecting you is not remotely worth the trouble it brings."
Levi frowned, looking to the ground and feeling rather uncomfortable, his voice a quiet sort of mumble, "I understand sir."
The Commander sighed, another pause falling over the pair, "I already told Hanji that you would be there for morning drills tomorrow and I don't want to cancel on that, but I need you to take some time to reevaluate your choices Levi. After morning drills tomorrow, take the day off. Don't report for duty again until you're ready to start acting like a Scout through and through - either shape up, or get out. That's an order."
Levi looked up at Erwin, eyes wide as he was about to insist further discussion on the matter, but after seeing Erwin's firm expression, Levi exhaled slowly and gave the smallest nod, "…Yes sir."
Erwin exhaled as well after a moment, turning slightly toward the mess hall before pausing in step and giving the distressed cadet a small nod, his voice more relaxed, "Alright then. Clean yourself up and get some food. Also…make sure you drink some water Levi, you're looking really red."
Red?
Levi felt his eyebrows pull down at his words, watching Erwin walk away and wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean.
Shaking his head for a moment and disregarding the odd comment, Levi moved down the stalls one by one, reaching the end of the hall and grabbing his shirt and button up he had discarded so long ago.
Grabbing the tank first and pulling it over his head, Levi made a face at feeling the skin across his back pull taut, finding the sensation of both the cloth being pulled over his front and the movement needed to complete the action surprisingly irritating.
Levi frowned as he rolled his shoulders within the thin material, a dull pain resulting from the movement and bringing him to rub his shoulder in wonder, his skin feeling hot to the touch even now.
…Perhaps the task was more of a workout than he had thought?
While it was a different sort of pain than the traditional muscle soreness he was used to, there was no doubt that his back and arms were achingly sore. Either way, his body was used to manual labor so he was certain he'd feel normal soon enough. Until then, he'd just go about his evening like usual because after the day's aggravating line of menial grunt work, Levi just wanted to get some food, take a shower, and go to bed.
Nodding in resolve, he put an arm through one sleeve of the white pressed button up, followed by the other. When Levi tugged the fabric on and attempted to button it in a smooth motion, his eyes went wide and he instantly froze in place. A sharp pain shot down his spine as the shirt's seams slid slightly over his sensitive shoulders and Levi could only grind his teeth, regretting that he had ever thought the second shirt had even mattered to begin with.
What the hell...?
Levi tried to crane his neck around to look over his arm and shoulder, wondering if there had been a cut or scratch or something to cause the stinging sensation that plagued him, however with the sun setting and most of the light being blocked by the walls, nothing looked out of place – confounding Levi all the more. With the utmost care and gentleness, Levi ever so carefully, carefully, carefully - pulled the cotton fabric back off his back, softly slid it down his arms in a way that did not further distress his skin, and decided it would be best to just carry the shirt back to the mess hall and forgo wearing it at all.
Other things became evident to Levi once he moved into the mess hall. The first thing he had noticed occurred while he was standing in line for dinner; being near any heat source was inexplicably excruciating. As if his skin had a sudden sense or innate awareness of heat, his body utterly burned and itched if he was anywhere close to fire or any other heat bearing unit. The second thing he had noticed, rather quickly after the first in fact, was that while his skin was miserably itchy, responding by scratching his skin had been an absolute mistake, and one he swore to himself he would never in Maria's name repeat again. The third thing he had noticed, after being so paranoid and so certain that there was something clearly wrong with him, had occurred after he had finished dinner. He received his food and practically wolfed it down, half way because he was extremely hungry and halfway because while he didn't know what, he was certain that there was something wrong with him and was determined to find out what. After returning his tray and drinking a large cup of water, Levi left the mess hall in search of a bathroom mirror.
While he didn't understand it, had no idea if he was even seeing things right as he observed himself in the sink's mirror, there was no denying that he was red. Physically red. Just… red. Everywhere. Red. His face, his shoulders – Levi turned slightly so his back was facing the mirror and he raised the bottom of his tank upward, horrified that the entirety of his back was also a blazing, glowing and angry red.
Levi was thoroughly puzzled.
What did this mean?
Was he having an allergic reaction to something perhaps? Or maybe it was hives?
Never in his life had Levi suffered from allergies of any kind; however he supposed there was a first time for everything? What could it have been? Would it just go away on its own or…?
Levi had slowly placed his shirt back down, continuing to stare into his reflection for a long moment, his brows pulling down as his eyes swept over his form, not sure if it was serious, or just a fluke, or what in the world was causing this phenomenon.
After a few more moments of brooding and no logical answer coming to mind, he left the bathroom and decided that while his… condition… was irritating, as a whole it only seemed to affect him minimally. Granted he was tired and his skin burned like the fires of hell, but other than that he felt fine. Perhaps it wasn't nearly as bad as he was making it out to be. Levi was certain that in the morning he would be fine and this odd happening would just be a memory.
Moving back to his barracks without incident and being careful to avoid the mess hall, bright lights, and anything else that may cause his skin further irritation, Levi was able to successfully gather his shower necessities, thinking ahead this time and draping the scratchy towel down his forearm and not across his back, remembering the button up incident before.
He moved out of the barracks and headed outside towards the men's shower house, hoping to himself that the line wouldn't be too long as he would kill to wash the dust, grime, sweat, and who knows what else off his aching skin. Thinking further on the matter, perhaps all the built up grime was the underlying cause of his sensitive skin, and the shower would cure him entirely.
He could only hope at least.
Opening the door and stepping inside, Levi's eyes widened and he blinked a few times, the steam of the room instantly setting his skin on fire with the heightened temperature, and Levi questioned within himself how badly he wanted that shower after all.
Frowning as he decided to stick it out - his desire for cleanliness greater than his desire to appease his flaming hide - Levi mumbled another curse under his breath and stepped further into the walkway, finding the line of waiting Scouts and standing behind the man at the end; miserably waiting for his turn for a shower as his skin burned and throbbed continually under the blanket of constant steam.
Shifting his weight from one foot to another for a few moments, Levi took a step to the side to see how many people were in line in front of him. Surprisingly enough, the number was very few, just three people, four including himself – and Levi was grateful for that one small thing that had played out in his favor. While the short line was a pleasant surprise, there was an ever greater surprise that had grabbed his immediate attention, causing him to blink and frown in confusion.
The man in front of him… was that...?
"…Hanji?" Levi asked with a surprised expression, his voice a dubious whisper as there was no way that it was actually Hanji there in front of him. Maybe he was just seeing things wrong or – Levi took another look around the shower room, praying to Maria that in his belligerent state he hadn't wandered into the women's shower room by mistake - Hanji would never let him hear the end of it – but after seeing various men walking around with towels around their hips, Levi gave a relieved exhale, turning his attention back toward the Scientist.
He took another step closer just to make sure that he was seeing things correctly, because while yes he knew Hanji and could never mistake her as someone else, the complete absurdity of the situation made him question his eyes because even Hanji, as fucking weird as she was, knew better than to use the men's shower house, right?
…Right?
To his relief, or perhaps horror, Hanji turned around and she gave a surprised expression, followed by a causal wave like she would give if she saw him across the hall, or in a meeting, or any other normal circumstance. Levi couldn't help but think this was a far from normal circumstance and stared at her in wonder, trying to wrap his mind around how she could be so calm about something so… so scandalous.
"Oh Levi, hey! Did you enjoy dinner? Was your meatloaf dry? Mine was dry, really dry. Had to drink a lot of water to choke it down, but hey, no one said being a Scout meant living the good life right?"
Levi took a moment to assess her words, then shook his head and reminded himself that nothing she said ever made sense, to not take the bait, to not go down that rabbit hole and just redirect the conversation to the more pressing matter at hand.
"Hanji." Levi deadpanned, leaning closer and dropping his voice down low so as to not embarrass her, "This is the men's shower room. The fuck are you doing here?"
While it was hard to miss the various men walking around in a half dressed state, Hanji had missed more obvious details in the past, so Levi felt the need to point it out in a way that would hopefully not be too embarrassing for her.
Hanji looked around, eyes widening and she nodded, "Your observational skills are as sharp as ever cadet; it's no wonder Erwin selected you."
Levi waited for a further response, expecting her to turn red in embarrassment and run out shrieking, however she turned her attention back toward him, her expression gravely serious, "Now about that meatloaf, I was thinking that the next time-"
Levi cut her off, bringing a hand to his nose and feeling a headache coming on – an interesting phenomenon that often resulted from dealing with the Scientist, "The fuck Hanji, why do I even have to ask you; what the fuck are you doing in the men's shower house, you little shit?"
She merely shrugged, pulling her bag and towel closer to herself and waiving a hand again, casual as ever, "Who me? I always shower here."
"…Always?"
Levi blinked at the information, and Hanji continued, "Of course! The girl's shower line is just so long, and considering the stalls are private here it really doesn't matter to me."
He was about to ask how Erwin felt about it, certain that the Commander would have something to say if he heard that she was consistently making use of the men's shower house, but found that he didn't want to try and understand or debate social norms with the Titan's Expert. He would rather let Erwin deal with it if it was an actual problem because he was tired, his skin was still burning thanks to the abundant levels of steam in the area, and he was not in the mood to entertain the likes of Hanji.
He held up a hand, hoping to signify that he didn't want to know, that he was done talking with her about it, and exhaled, his voice having a tone of finality to it, "Fine."
Hanji watched him for a moment, a silence falling between them and she cleared her throat, adjusting her glasses and catching the light with the movement. She leaned forward toward him, "So Levi, about the meatloaf-"
Levi felt his patience snap, and he scowled at her darkly, "Why do you fucking need to know? Yes it was dry, but it's just fucking meatloaf!" Levi glared at Hanji heatedly, taking a breath and scowling all the more as he continued, "I don't give a Titan's ass about the damned meatloaf so just… just fuck off Hanji!"
Hanji merely blinked, looking only further curious and not put off in the least by his behavior as she was rather used to this sort of reaction from him. She watched him evenly, "Levi, you seem strangely upset suddenly. Is everything alright?"
Levi gave a loud sigh, wondering why he was even talking to Hanji about it because he'd only live to regret it, though he wasn't able to stop the impulse and found himself actually responding to her, "No. It's my skin. It hurts like a bitch and for whatever reason it's all red. Well, you can see that I'm sure."
He paused as Hanji looked him over and nodded in confirmation.
Levi continued and grumbled bitterly, "I don't have allergies and it wasn't something I ate cause I was out in the sun all day doing Erwin's dirty work. So yeah. I'm not having a peachy ass day. All I want to do is take a shower and get some damned sleep. Just not in the mood for your shit Hanji."
Hanji gave yet another nod, taking a few steps further as the line moved upward, "No, I understand Levi." She looked back toward him, "But you really don't know what it is?"
It was evident she was waiting for a response and Levi looked around, dumbfounded and all the more irritated that she even had to ask.
"…No."
"I see."
She paused and looked up toward the ceiling in thought, "But you're from the Underground right? I guess that makes sense then."
Levi furrowed his eyebrows, cocking his head slightly and looking at Hanji in confusion, not sure what that had to do with it, but considering she was asking at all then…
"Wait. You know what this is then?"
The Scientist had looked lost in thought for a moment, the sound of Levi's voice causing her to blink and redirect her focus back down toward him. She smiled brightly, looking across the room for a moment at a stall that had opened up before looking back toward him again.
It seemed the line was moving rather quickly this evening because it was already her turn to go next.
"Sure do." She confirmed, "But don't worry Levi, not everyone dies from it. At least, not usually anyways."
Not everyone dies from it…?
The color drained from Levi's face and Hanji pointed across the room, "Stall's open. I've gotta go."
"Whoa, whoa, Hanji wait."
He had tried to reach out for her, set on demanding she tell him what she knew about his skin condition and exactly how fatal it was. With her being a scientist, she certainly knew more about diseases than most people in the Regiment so she would be the best person to ask anyway. How did he contract it? Was there some kind of medicine he should be taking? And did everyone die? If they did die… was it a painful way to go that was slow and agonizing? Or was it quick and simple?
As he extended out his arm to stop her from leaving, the jerky movement caused the towel to slide harshly across his very red forearm, and the words died on his tongue as a fiery pain ran down his spine instantly, causing his toes to curl and his spine to ache.
Well, so much for that.
Hanji gave him one last look as she moved toward the shower stall, "Don't worry Levi, you'll know soon enough either way; try not to worry about it."
Try not to worry?
You'll know soon enough?
Know what soon enough?
…What hell-hole disease had he miraculously contracted?
Levi was only further filled with questions, each thought worse than the last, but with Hanji gone he had nothing to do but ponder quietly to himself.
When the next stall opened up, he moved toward it mechanically, still lost in thought and not consciously aware of his movements, still questioning all the details that Hanji wasn't able to lay out for him before.
He undressed quietly and carefully, turned on the water and waited for it to heat up as he continued mulling over thoughts in his head.
After surviving all those battles, taking on titans head on, all those years of scrimping and fighting down in the Underground in a never ending turf war, it would be some nameless skin condition that would finally do him in.
That would be his luck.
While he certainly didn't want to die between the jaws of a titan, dying from some irritating skin disease seemed like a rather inglorious way to go, and Levi puzzled over which was the shittiest way to die.
Trying to bring the matter to a close – if it really was that serious then obsessing over it wouldn't help one way or another – Levi stepped into the shower, and in that moment, knew with certainty the goddess' hated him.
"Fucking shit!" his voice was loud and echoed across the walls, though that was the least of his worries.
Hot water rained down on his delicate skin like molten lava – Levi hadn't thought about the water temperature and just set the water on high like normal – and his eyes went wide and mouth agape as red hot pain shot across his entire being, worse than anything previous he had experienced; so, so much worse.
He immediately left the stream of water, not caring if the towel was itchy or not, just knowing that he had to get that hot water off him now. He carefully patted the clinging water droplets off as gently as possible, while clenching his teeth and giving a slight hiss as the too firm towel made contact with his sensitive back, face and arms.
There was a chuckle that echoed across the walls in response, and Levi recognized the voice as Hanji's.
"The hell is so funny?" Levi called out after he had sufficiently patted water off his body, though even still painful waves of agony swept over his spine whilst causing him to shiver from the drastic temperature changes from the hot water to the cold air in such a short amount of time.
"You'll need to take a cold shower if you don't want to upset your skin anymore." came her simple response, and Levi's eyes narrowed.
Well wouldn't that have been helpful five minutes ago…
He grumbled over the sound of falling water, "Thanks for the tip."
He moved back toward the shower head, adjusting the nozzle toward the colder setting and giving it yet more time to alter the water temperature once again.
Carefully stepping into the shower again, Levi wasn't sure if he loved, or hated the result.
On the one hand, the cold water actually felt great against his pounding skin. While the pressure of the water he could do without, it was a wonderful change of pace as the coolness of the water seemed to have a soothing effect to some extent. On the other hand however, not all of his skin had been affected by his skin condition, so standing in a stream of ice cold water was rather unpleasant in its own way, and Levi found that he preferred the shower be done with regardless the cooling effect it had.
He went about his showering ritual as quickly as possible, only having difficulty come the time of actually washing his body. He had paused for an extended moment, looking at the washcloth and knowing how horrible it would feel being scrubbed against his skin, and sighed. He was determined to clean the grime and sweat off himself and with a breath, forced the washcloth across his skin, tensing and gritting his teeth as it became excruciatingly irritating, moving with purpose to end the miserable shower as soon as possible.
Teeth chattering and head pounding at the sheer coldness of the water, a freckling of goose bumps rose across his skin and Levi turned the water off, standing for a moment to recollect himself and retreated back toward his towel, completely miserable.
His red skin still ached and throbbed even after the cold shower that Hanji suggested and the rest of him was freezing fucking cold, but at the very least, he was clean.
Shivering as he once again gently patted the water off himself; Levi ran the towel through his hair and began to get dressed, desperate to be rid of the cold that had seeped into his bones. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants, feeling somewhat better with the thick material over his legs and continued to towel through his hair some more, sorting through his things and grabbing his shirt next.
He frowned for a moment, noting to himself that it looked heavy and more importantly, hot. Levi shook his head and mentally kicked himself, wishing he had thought ahead better. Why did he have to grab that shirt?
Deciding instantly that it wasn't worth it and he would just walk back to the barracks without it, Levi folded the heavy woolen sweater back into his bag, collected his things and gently draped the towel around his arm before moving to the stall door and unlocking it.
As he opened the door, he was surprised to see Hanji already there, hair wet and falling over her shoulders, and a big green towel wrapped around her body.
Levi blinked as he closed the door behind him, looking around the room and seeing if anyone was at all concerned that she was clearly a female merely wrapped in a towel and parading in the men's shower house, but after seeing little response or even basic acknowledgement that she was there at all, Levi stood in complete bewilderment.
As if to add more confusion to the matter, a man moved toward them, addressing Hanji directly, "Hey Hanji. If you don't mind, can I get behind you both? You're sort of blocking the door."
Levi looked at the man, then at Hanji, then back at the man, even more dumbfounded.
"Of course, sorry about that Tom."
Tom? They were on first name basis?
What the actual hell?
How could he be the only one who was concerned about it? How had he never noticed before? Had she really been doing this for years now? One would think that someone would have said something after all this time, right?
"Levi, move – you're blocking the way!" came Hanji's voice again, and Levi took an uncertain step to the side, then mentally reminded himself – as he had done countless times before – that this was Hanji. Due to the simple fact alone that it was Hanji, it was best to not ask questions, not try to understand the absurd set of rules she lived with, and just let her be. He would only regret it, as he always had before.
He shook his head, "Whatever."
He moved away from the stalls and moved to the other side of the room, curious to see if the shower had helped his skin at all like he had hoped. Granted considering the entire experience had been awful and getting dry had been just as painful as before, he highly doubted it, but still, he wanted to at least check.
As he moved, he heard the light footsteps of Hanji following after him, amusement evident in her voice, "Still worried?"
He debated not answering her, not sparing her a glance as he moved to the wide mirror, "What do you think, four eyes? And why are you following me? Shouldn't you be getting dressed, or at the very least, getting out of the Men's shower house?"
"I will," Hanji confirmed as she looked at herself, then back at Levi through the mirror's reflection, "But I want to make sure you're okay before I leave. Seems like you were having a difficult time in there."
He rolled his eyes; looking over toward her through the reflection as well, then back to himself as his eyes swept over his skin, turning every which way and frowning as he observed himself further.
As if reading his thoughts, Hanji gave a long sigh as she spoke, "Still as red as ever. I'd say even more so right now, but that's just temporary cause the shower irritated your skin a bit."
Levi looked toward her, and she waved a hand as she continued, "Don't get me wrong, you'll still be red like that in the morning, but it won't be practically glowing like it is right now. Eesh. That does look bad Levi, I don't envy you at all."
"Hanji, what the hell is it?" Levi pressed as he looked back into the mirror, turning around and looking at his red back, confusion gripping at him again, "You said not everyone dies, but still. How serious is it? Does it heal in time, or should I see the doctor?"
He continued observing his skin, pressing his palm over his shoulder, surprised to see that a white handprint was left in its wake, before it slowly faded back to red.
"To see a doctor you'd have to get a pass from your commanding officer so you can set an appointment. Maybe the pharmacy will have something stocked for you? Either way, you've got to start through your commanding officer so I'd start by talking to them first." Hanji added in, and Levi nodded absently.
It took a moment for Levi to remember who his actual commanding officer was. Though he technically had a Squad Leader, it was just on paper - a mere formality for audit and documentation purposes as no current division leader dared to try and command him. After Isabel and Farlan's death years ago, Levi had been passed from Officer to Officer, not once able to effectively work in a team setting and causing quite a ruckus wherever he went. After a large majority of the Scout Regiment refused to work with the dangerous reformed criminal, Erwin decided it was best that Levi report directly to him and save the headache.
While it was Erwin he physically reported to, on paper it was another matter entirely as there was no reason for a basic, unpromoted Scout, to report directly to the Commander from an outsider's perspective. Levi had stopped caring what name was printed at the top of his file and stopped paying attention to that sort of thing a long time ago, considering it was just solely Erwin he had to work with. Normally such a thing didn't matter, but every once in a while…
He gave a long exhale.
Who did he technically report to at this point..?
Wait.
"Aren't you my Commanding Officer Hanji?"
If memory served, he had been moved under Hanji's team a number of months back, as she was possibly the only person aside from Erwin himself who wasn't afraid of being in the same room with him. It was an ironic placement as her team was more for research purposes then field work, but no auditor would actually know the difference and the matter was settled.
"Huh." She responded after a moment, laughing at the thought, "Wow, I guess I am – on paper at least. Funny, I completely forgot about that. Either way though, that should be enough for the medical staff, so I'll see what I can do. I think Erwin told you about drills in the morning, but after that I'll reach out to them. Sound good?"
Levi blinked, then shrugged, finally turning to look at Hanji, "Well, I mean, I guess, sure. It's just, what the hell am I supposed to do till then? What if this thing spreads? Am I even going to live till morning? You said it was pretty bad right?"
Hanji gave a slight laugh, moving a step toward him and smiling simply.
The scientist grabbed his shoulder with one hand, causing him to wince, and without warning, her other arm slapped, hard, against the expanse of his bare back, her hand landing with a final sharp slap across his other shoulder, and Levi's mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide as a wave of torrential pain swept across his being, feeling as though his skin had just been ripped off his bones entirely.
He coughed as the breath left his lungs, and he placed an arm down on the counter for support as pain wracked across his body.
Before he could even form a single coherent thought, he could feel Hanji leaning down near the side of his face; her voice was gentle, but almost impossible to make out through the overwhelming pain coursing through his body, "Relax Levi. It's just a sunburn."
Waiting for just a moment, she stood back up fully as Levi attempted to recover from the firm slap across his burnt skin. She continued, "Put simply, you were out under the sun so long that the heat of its rays burned you. It's just like any other burn you've given yourself in the past, just a lot more skin was impacted than normal so that's why you're so miserable."
Giving another cough and slowly standing up, Levi glared at Hanji, still breathing harshly as the blinding pain began to slowly subside.
He hissed venomously, "If you ever-"
She shook her head, "Oh don't be so dramatic Levi, I couldn't resist. Besides, if you think that was bad, just think about how you're going to get through drills tomorrow. I imagine the 3DM harness won't feel too great rubbing across your back. Food for thought at least."
Levi hadn't thought about that, and a growing sense of dread churned his stomach.
Hanji adjusted her glasses and a more serious look fell across her face, "On the whole Levi, you're actually fine, but I'm afraid your skin is legitimately burnt so you're going to be severely uncomfortable until new healthy skin grows in to replace it. A sunburn is actually a common thing for people that work out in the sun, but I'll admit that you burned yourself pretty good here. As I told you before, I will talk to the pharmacy tomorrow and see if they have anything that will make you more comfortable – I wasn't kidding about that much at least. In the mean time, the best thing you can do to help yourself is to keep out of the sun, drink lots of water, and try to get a good rest each night."
Levi shook his head at her words, continuing to glare at her, "That's it? I should kill you Hanji. You had me thinking it was some horrible condition and that I had like a week to live."
Hanji smiled widely, "Oh that? Yeah, no – you're fine. Just sun burnt."
Levi looked back into the mirror, mentally accepting her words and deciding that they made perfect sense and accounted for all his symptoms, as well as why for the most part he did feel fine. It was just his skin.
His burnt skin, apparently.
"Besides," Hanji continued a teasing quality to her voice, "You wouldn't actually hurt me Levi. You care about me too much, what with me being your upmost respected Commanding Officer and all."
Levi scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Don't push it four eyes. Just be happy you're in a towel, or I would have knocked you out for pulling shit like that. I'll have you know that fucking hurt."
He tried to fix her with a serious look, however both of them knew that he would never actually hit her, towel or not, and Hanji merely gave a wide toothy grin, causing Levi to groan and regret speaking at all. There was never any winning against a girl like that, and Levi could only blame himself for even speaking with her at all to start with.
"Well then I'll just count myself lucky in that case." Hanji grinned good naturedly, then looked back to the other end of the shower house and nodded, "I'll leave you to get some rest Levi, and don't forget about the water okay? I'll see you in the morning by the training grounds. Don't be late!"
Giving a single nod as the scientist disappeared into a changing room; Levi redirected his attention back to the mirror, giving himself another long appraising look before giving an accepting sigh and deciding it was best to just do as she said.
He left the shower room not long after, breathing a sigh of relief as the cooler air hit his skin, a welcome change from the generous amount of steam that blanketed the shower house.
He moved into the walkway of the grounds, feeling utterly exhausted and knowing with certainty it was only going to get worse. All he had to do was get through drills, and he would have the day off duty to 'think things over'.
Visions of the harness pulling tight against his skin, moving him every which way as he flew through the air came to mind, and Levi frowned to himself, cursing his bad luck. Of course the one thing Erwin had scheduled for him involved use of the 3DM gear. Maria forbid it be paperwork, or lectures of some sort, no, just the 3DM gear.
Levi sighed as he rolled his shoulders again, his skin burning and throbbing from the simple movement.
Tomorrow was going to be a long, long day.
...
End of Chapter One
...
*shakes head*
And here I told myself this would just be a one shot! Well as I have continued to write this out, it (as usual) just gets longer and longer, past the length what any normal one shot should be, so I've decided to split it in half and post the last chapter in a week or so. What started as just the inspiration of a sunburn turned into a hybrid sort of Beginnings story, though I can't pretend I dislike it. Levi in the early years, before rank and before he was fully settled into the Scout life must have been a real riot! (Or terror, depending on who you were I suppose!)
Thanks for the reviews and support! I'm planning on posting the remaining half of this story come next week around this time, so I'll see yall very shortly! Thanks again!
~Midnight