Head Trauma

Honestly, if he knew that this is what college was like, he never would've gone.

He would seriously like to be able sleep every once in a while, but with papers, and tests, and fifty-six page chapters to read, he really has no time.

Despite the workload, there are about a thousand other things that piss him off about college. The most important one is that his roommate is fucking disgusting.

Levi makes a face as he walks towards his side of the room. The side that is clean and doesn't reek of instant ramen and desperation.

The college he attends isn't anything special because he's not really anything special-unless you count his ass-kicking abilities. He was an average high school student-dreadfully lazy and unmotivated, maybe a little bit violent but still a pretty intelligent kid. Kinda like he is now but with less alcohol consumption.

Scratch that. Slightly less alcohol consumption.

The only thing that's he's carried from his hometown to this college are his bad habits...and Hanji.

Hanji can probably be considered a bad habit.

Levi sits heavily at his desk and blinks at his organic chemistry textbook and uncompleted homework. He stares for a long time before deciding not to open it at all. Fuck it.

Maybe tomorrow...

or fucking never.

He leans back in his chair and slides a cigarette out his pocket. It's a bad habit from his freshman year when he was a tinier little twat who wore leather jackets in eighty degree weather.

The memory is so embarrassing he almost opens his chemistry just to get the thought out of his head.

He just lights his cigarette and stares at his homework some more. He'd rather sniff his roommate's shoes than do his organic chemistry homework.

Okay, not really.

"It's never gonna get done if you just sit there staring at it!" A loud voice beats against his eardrums. He glances at the little digital clock on his desk and rolls his eyes. Hanji comes to bother him whenever, no matter how late it is.

"Hanji. It's late. What do you want?" He doesn't even turn around to look at her. "And take off your shoes."

"How do you know I haven't already?" She protests.

"You never do."

"I forget a lot."

"It's rude."

She pouts, but Levi still hasn't looked at sits heavily on her bed, grinning when she notices him twitch at the sound of the shrinking bedsprings-she knows he hates that-Her sitting on his bed where he's the most vulnerable, where he has closes his eyes and allows himself to dream-

Also, something about germs.

Hanji drums her fingers on the navy blue sheets, remembering the times they had made-out on this very same bed...it had happened once or twice or three times and then things had gotten weird. She winces. Things had been weird ever since their lips had first touched in the first place. She remembers Petra once telling her that a guy and a girl could never simply be best friends.

And she was wrong-for the most part. Hanji and Levi are doing just fine...not touching each other and making dramatic love declarations.

They had only made out once. Or twice. Or three times.

But that was in the past...like, three months ago.

Or three days ago.

Either way, Hanji and Levi are not together.

Even though everyone thinks they should be, and some even think they are. Something about them having all of that...chemistry.

Hanji snorts. Levi hates chemistry.

Speaking of chemistry...Hanji jumps off his bed and towards the desk. "Move your butt, I'll help you!"

Levi looks at her for the first time, taking in her frumpy high school 'A.P Bio' sweatshirt and simple black leggings, before frowning. "Does it look like I need help?"

"Well..." Hanji makes a face, "Not really but...I know you're terrible at it."

"Tch." Levi grimaces as Hanji begins to push herself into his chair, moving him out of the way. "I'm not terrible...just not good."

"Whatever." Hanji hums, picking up Levi's pencil and finally opening the chemistry textbook. "Oh! I remember this, okay so all you have to do is..."

Levi tunes her out. He hadn't wanted to listen to the professor when he was teaching, what makes Hanji think he'd want to listen to her? He'd much rather Hanji do the homework for him but the science freak would never condone cheating.

She is really, like, the biggest nerd.

He guesses he likes her. He'd been thinking about it for a long time now. He likes her passion for life and science. He likes how her ponytails are always a fucking disaster. He likes her glasses-but he likes how brown and pretty her eyes are underneath even more. He likes that she's a morning person and a night person all at the same time. He likes running his hands through her hair, and making her smile.

He guesses he likes her. He guesses.

That's why he's not going to do anything about it.

He's not good for her. He's not even a good enough friend to her. He just likes to smoke and ignore her calls. He doesn't do his homework and there's no way he can match the amount of passion for life that she has.

In the end, he just wants to see her smile, and he's sure he can't do that for her. Maybe some book freak at her university can-a guy way taller than him with shiny blonde hair, good personality, and loads of chemistry puns.

Man, Levi fucking hates chemistry puns.

But Hanji likes them-Levi nods to himself. Hanji needs a guy who knows chemistry puns. That guy is not him.

Hanji squints at him, "Hey Levi, are you listening?"

Levi stares back, smirking, "Not at all, shitty glasses."

She pouts at him and pushes his chair out from the desk, spinning a little bit before stopping in front of where he sits on his bed. "Don't blame me when you fail."

"I never have," He drawls lazily. He glances at the clock, reading 11 pm in glaring red numbers. "Shouldn't you be sleeping or something?"

"Who even sleeps anymore?"

"Sane people."

Hanji shrugs and gets up from the swivel chair, "Wanna get something to eat?"

Levi rolls his eyes, watching her move around his room, picking things up and putting them back down again like she's never been there before. But that's how Hanji is...annoying. "Sure." Levi replies, he throws a jacket over his T-shirt, "I want something with cheese and too much grease."

"How much grease?" Hanji humors him.

"Enough to give me a heart attack."

"So, dinning-hall pizza?" Hanji makes a face, "You're so cheap."

"I am not cheap. Just practical." Levi turns away to try and find a pair of shoes. He twitches as he hears Hanji continue to go through his stuff like a curious two-year-old.

"Whoa!"

Does he really want to know? "...what is it?" He doesn't even turn around when he hears his window slide open.

"Check out this bird nest!"

"How did you even see it in the dark?" Levi slides on a pair of loafers and pockets a couple dollar bills. "Don't mess with it."

"I'm not stupid, Levi. Of course I'm not going to touch it." He hears her muffled reply as she sticks her head out of his window.

"Good, it's probably filthy." He shivers and turns around, only to see Hanji hanging out of his window, her arms latching onto a tree next to his dorm. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait!" She moves her leg out like she's about to swing it over the window ledge. "I want to take a picture!"

"Don't fall." Levi turns away again, looking for his cellphone. "It's just a nest."

"It's cool!" Hanji says, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. "Better turn the flash on..."

"Better hurry up..." Levi counters, uninterested.

Hanji frowns, she can't get close enough to take a good picture. She swings one leg over the windowsill and raises her phone up, "Ah...oh. Shit."

"You dropped your phone, didn't you?"

"I..uh. Maybe?"

"Honestly, Hanji, that's the third one in two months..."

Hanji makes a face and looks down two stories at her sad looking iPhone. It really is her third phone in two months. Maybe she should invest in something less expensive and more durable. She tries to straighten herself out and plants both hands on the bark of the neighboring tree. The brown-haired girl then tries to swing her leg back into Levi's room.

Of course, with Hanji, anything can happen, so that's why as she's swinging her legs over, she accidentally lets go of the tree and falls down two stories to her death.

"You should invest in a Nokia. Those shits last for ages-"

Thud!

Levi almost doesn't want to turn around, but he does anyway. "Hanji?" Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me. "Hanji!" He takes three quick steps towards the window and swears. "I told you not to fall out of the window, dammit!"

There's not much of a reply from below. Levi feels his heart drop into his stomach and he releases an annoyed growl. This is the problem with having feelings for people, your body makes you respond to their own stupid actions. He feels his stomach twist nervously, and launches himself out the window after her.

He hadn't really...thought that part through, so it makes sense when pain jolts up his legs as he lands on the ground not too far from the probably-brain-damaged biology major. He crouches down next to her and take her bleeding head into his hands. He takes a deep breath hoping that she hasn't died or something.

"Leviiiiiiiiii."

"You're so fucking stupid."

Large tears pool out of the corner of her eyes, "You're so mean to me." She raises her arms and stares into his eyes, "I can see the light..."

"You are concussed."

"I am concussed." Hanji agrees, her head pounding. "Levi, the light...it's coming."

"Shut up." Levi sighs and picks her up bridal style, leaving her shattered iPhone on the ground. Her head is bleeding all over the place so he's forced to take off his jacket and presses it against her wound.

"What if! What if I injured my Broca's area! What if I can't talk anymore! I have Broca's aphasia!" Hanji buries her face into Levi's arm and sniffs. "Why~"

Levi just wishes she would stop squirming. It's hard trying to stop her head from bleeding and carry her at the same time. "You don't have Broca's aphasia." Whatever that is. "You're talking right now you lunatic."

"What are you saying?! I hope I don't have Wernicke's aphasia!" Hanji's faces scrunches up in such a cute way Levi looks away, "I need to understand you, Levi!"

"What the fuck are you even talking about?"

"Oh my god. I'm dying."

Levi dumps her in the backseat of his car and slams the door on her babbling. Levi slides into the drivers seat and sighs through his nose. His stomach still feels all jumbled up because he's worried that she'll pass out of something. "You're not dying, shitty glasses."

"I am so dying. I can see the light, it's coming closer..."

"Get away from it then, stupid." He glances at her through the rearview mirror and notices that her eyes are drooping heavily. "Don't go to sleep."

"Huh?"

"Tell me a biology fact." Levi scowls, talking about science always keeps her up for hours. He never thought he'd willingly ask her to talk about it.

"Uh.." Hanji peers at him, "I got one! The average office desk has, like, to 20,000 germs per square inch. It has 400 times more germs than the toilet."

"That's...that's really disgusting." He gets shivers just thinking about it. So much for ever doing his homework again.

Hanji stretches, "I'm really tired..." Hanji closes her eyes and then opens them wider than before. Levi eye's her in the rear view mirror. "Hey Levi..."

"What shitty glasses?"

"You know I love you right?"

Levi's heart stops beating for a second. She is concussed, He reminds himself, "Shut up."

"You're so mean to me." Hanji lays back, wincing a little. "I mean it, you know."

"Whatever." He sighs from relief as he pulls into the hospital parking lot. "Just don't fall out of any more windows."

-:- -:- -:-

"She has a concussion." The doctor says.

"...You don't say." Levi responds, annoyed. He shoves his hands into his pockets and waits for the doctor to tell him something he doesn't know.

"Uh." The taller man shifts in the face of annoyance, "Her symptoms are wearing off...you can go see her now."

The college student saunters into the hospital room, mentally complaining about how there are sick people everywhere. He really hates hospitals.

He enters the room to see Hanji sheepishly smiling at him. She has a bandaged wrapped around her head and her hair isn't in it's usual catastrophic ponytail. Still, she manages to look cute. She smiles widely, "I didn't die!"

"..."

Hanji pouts and pats the spot next to her as if she wants him to sit down too, "I'm sorry I fell out your window but..."

Levi stares. There's a "but" to being sorry about falling out a window? What nonsense is this?

Hanji sits up and smiles fully again, "I'm glad I got to tell you how I feel!"

Wait. She remembers that?

"I thought you were concussed."

"Stop using the word concussed!"

"..."

"Levi!" Hanji hops off the bed and wobbles towards him. Levi reaches for her arm and steadies her without thinking about it. "I said I love you."

"Oh."

Hanji's heart drops. She feels her eyes water, "Oh...?"

"I thought you wouldn't remember it." Levi feels himself hover awkwardly and drops his arm.

"Oh."

"Well." Levi shoves his hands in his pockets. "After you fell out a window...I realized I might love you too."

"Oh."

"Oh?" Levi raises his eyebrows, feeling confusion wash over him. That's not what she was supposed to say-

"Yay!" Hanji's body crashes against his. He wraps an arm around her and tugs her face closer to his. Levi presses his lips against hers, and this time, he is one hundred percent sure of what he feels for her.

"I love you. Don't fall out of anymore windows."

"I had to fall out of your window for you to realize that you love me?" Hanji pulls away.

"It sounds worse when you say it like that." Levi replies unblinkingly.

"But it's true."

"At least you didn't die."

"I could've died."

"If you died, I had a good chemistry pun." Levi says.

There is a pause. "Are you kidding me?"

"Yes...".

.

.

"Hey, four eyes, what do you do with a dead scientist?"

"..."

"Barium."

Hanji deserves a guy who knows chemistry puns, afterall.

.

An. Wow ok this is based off that one song Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes.

Yeah I don't know what I'm doing anymore bye