SPOILER warning: Spoilers are up to around chapter 106 or 107, read with that in mind.
WARNING: This kind of contains talk about gender identity. If that is a sore subject for you, think twice before reading. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or the like that appear in this story.
Just Hanji
Hanji Zoe was an interesting person. A bit too loud, yes, but if Onyankopon could handle a battle field full of gun shots and sounds of cannons then surely his ears could handle the excitement of one woman… or man.
Now that was one thing that did bother Onyankopon, the fact that he didn't know if Hanji Zoe was a male or female. Not that he really cared about the commander's body itself. To him, a comrade was a comrade and worth the exact same regardless of their gender. What mattered was the person's abilities and personality. The only reasons he wanted to know was the fact that he hated not knowing something, of being unsure. Information was power, after all. So, he had to find out, but how?
Asking straight out wasn't an option; one can't just ask people their gender, it's offending… isn't it? Actually, he wasn't sure, not here on Paradis, but he wasn't about to risk it. That also ruled out the option of asking someone else about the commander's gender. Then again, with everyone referring to the said person as "commander" or "Hanji" or "shitty glasses", Onyankopon wasn't sure if even the soldiers of Paradis Island themselves knew their superior's gender. Not once had he heard anyone say "she" or "he" about the commander.
So really, the only option was to find out on his own. He had watched Hanji, eyed the commander's body as subtly as possible, trying to find some telltale signs. For someone in such a position, Hanji kind of lacked muscle, which was weird for a man but not so much for a woman, for gaining muscle was harder for women, so maybe Hanji was a woman? Then again, the commander was kind of lacking on the front… not that that meant anything; Hanji could've just been flat chested. Or the chest area could've been bound for one reason or other, he wouldn't put that past Hanji. So yes, Hanji's body said "woman."
However, the comrades around the eye batched person did not. He'd seen some of the female soldiers talking together sometimes and, from the little he'd heard, it seemed to be some kind of girl talk. And Hanji was among the women from time to time. Seeing this, Onyankopon had almost been satisfied with considering Hanji a woman, but then something else had caught his eye. Sometimes, the men had talks that wouldn't be fit for any woman to hear. This he knew for a fact, for he was half dragged to these talks too from time to time.
By Hanji.
None of the men minded the commander's presence, aside from sometimes fearing that their superior would come up with some crazy orders just for laughs, an understandable fear since it was Hanji they were talking about. None of them seemed to feel awkward because of the commander's presence. If the commander was indeed a she, would they not feel so? But if the commander was a he, wouldn't the women feel awkward, soldiers or not? Or did all the women assume Hanji to be a woman, while all the men assumed the commander to be a man?
Onyankopon was really going to get a headache from all this.
They, the sleeper agents from Marley's army and the soldiers of Paradis, sometimes trained together. And when people trained, they also sweated. And when they sweated, they had to wash up and change clothes often. During times like these, the dark-skinned man kept a sharp eye on his surroundings, trying to find Hanji.
The commander was never there.
For a while, this had led Onyankopon finally to believe that Hanji was a woman, for it'd make perfect sense why the usually so easy to spot person was never around at times like these. But then, purely by coincidence, he had once seen Hanji sneaking around when it was time to wash up, like the commander was trying to get away from something. Mentioning it to nearby Armin, the young man had just shrugged, saying that Hanji hated baths.
And that captain Levi tended to drag the commander to those once he decided the smell was bad enough.
This brought the man back to square one. Surely Levi wouldn't be allowed to do something like that if Hanji was a woman, unless they were a couple, but nothing implied such. So, Hanji had to be a man.
And then he just happened to see the commander in a dress once. He had pointed out, subtly and neutrally, that he had never seen the commander in a dress before, and the said person had just laughed, saying that dresses were inconvenient for a soldier, but that they felt nice when worn. And no one patted an eye at the commander's choice of clothes, not even a comment save for the captain's remark about how Shitty Glasses should be careful to not trip on the hems of the dress.
In other words, the commander had to be a woman. Personally, Onyankopon had nothing against the idea of a man wearing dresses, not that he himself would do so, but surely someone else would give a nasty comment or a look if they saw a man in a dress, right? Or was that perhaps considered normal on Paradis?
He'd come to the conclusion that it'd be okay to ask that from someone, just not from Hanji, so he'd settled on Levi. The captain had given him a blank look before asking: "Has Shitty Glasses made you eat some experiment or did the idiot finally drive you crazy?"
After that, Onyankopon didn't ask anyone anymore. He'd just make a fool of himself, he'd realized. Still, the matter just wouldn't leave his mind. And apparently, that was visible.
"Something's been bothering you lately" Yelena said. It was not a question, she was sure of what she was saying. From the tone of her voice, the man knew that it was also a demand. She wanted answers.
Knowing that if there was someone he could trust, it was Yelena, the dark-skinned man finally blurted out: "Do you think the commander is a man or a woman?"
Yelena raised an eyebrow, opening her mouth before closing it again. Hand to her chin, she thought about it.
"I… haven't thought about it, actually. Could be either" she finally said "I don't really care about genders among commanders after all… and I was under the impression that you didn't either."
"I don't" he said, crossing his arms "But knowing that there is something I don't know is frustrating."
Yelena gave him a blank look, and Onyankopon swore he knew what she was thinking.
"Sometimes you think too much" yes, that was definitely what he'd thought she'd say. Still, he didn't want to let this matter go just like this.
"Maybe" he said "And your opinion on the matter is?"
"Like I said, could be either way" Yelena said. Spotting the man's frown, she sighed, adding: "But since it clearly bothers you so much, I can find it out for you."
"What?" Onyankopon asked, glad that Yelena had already turned to walk away for he definitely had a rather dumb look on his face now "How?"
Wordlessly, the woman motioned for him to follow. Curious to what she had in mind, he followed without further question. Soon they came to a door that led to the engineer's working place, somewhere they really shouldn't be at without an escort he remembered, but before he could point it out Yelena led him to Hanji who was rapidly working on something. On the other end of the room sat Armin and Jean, the two looking up as they entered the room and greeting them but otherwise paying them no mind. Apparently, the rule wasn't nearly as strict as he had thought it was, and Yelena seemed to have knowns this.
"Hanji" Yelena said after a while, for the commander didn't seem to notice them. When that one eye under the glasses was finally aimed at them, Yelena said without missing a beat: "We were wondering if you were a man or a woman."
Hanji blinked, and Onyankopon gave the woman a look that pretty much said are-you-crazy before looking at Hanji, wondering what his/her reaction would be. Well, at least now he'd finally find out… unless the commander found the question insulting and shot them on the spot.
Hanji blinked again before asking: "Both of you? You sure you don't mean just Onyankopon?"
It took all the man had to maintain a poker face after that, but then Yelena raised an eyebrow before admitting: "Yes, mostly him. But I do admit that thanks to him I'm slightly curious myself."
Onyankopon couldn't stop himself from giving Yelena a heated glare, but at least she hadn't thrown him to the wolves completely on his own. They were in this together now.
Hanji stared at them for a while, making the man gulp, but Yelena was as calm as ever. However, both of them were startled as Hanji's head was thrown back, a booming laughter filling the silence.
"I knew it!" the commander exclaimed once getting in control again "I knew there had to be some reason for those weird looks and long stares you kept giving me!"
Yelena's eyebrows shot up as she looked at her companion, who was now a little red faced, having realized that he had not, in fact, been nearly as subtle as he had thought. That was embarrassing, but since he had gotten this far, he decided that it was time to get his answers. Clearing his throat, he asked: "If you don't mind us asking, which is it?"
Hanji's head was titled to the side, small, amused smile present as a question was asked: "Why do you want to know?"
Not expecting the question, Onyankopon couldn't answer in time and Yelena beat him to it: "He hates it when there are things he doesn't know."
"Oh, I know that feeling!" Hanji said excitedly, hands clasping together "It's just frustrating, isn't it?"
"Indeed, it is" the man answered, wondering if Hanji was stalling on purpose "So would you mind…?"
Shrugging, Hanji said: "If you really want to know then I don't mind telling you, but does it really matter?"
Before Onyankopon could say anything, the commander continued: "Both men and women can be equally strong, look at the Ackermans if you have doubts about that, and the biggest geniuses in our troops also include both men and women. The best comrades I've had and have now include both as well, and every life is equally important. The only actual difference between a man and a woman is that a woman can give birth while a man cannot, but I highly doubt you are asking because you have something like that in mind" head titled, Hanji saw it important to clarify "Or are you?"
Onyankopon spluttered, not expecting that. His face started to redden, and the fact that he could hear Jean and Armin snickering, those two had been listening in, and could see Yelena fighting down an amused smile from the corner of his eye certainly didn't help him.
"No!" he finally managed to tell "No, no of course not."
Hanji, not embarrassed at the slightest about the situation nor seeming like the intention had been to tease him, asked casually: "Then, does it matter? You have no use for that information, so I could just as well be just Hanji for you, just like I am for everyone else."
Onyankopon opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out as he didn't know what to say. He had wanted to know, simply for the sake of knowing, but if he really stopped to think about it, he couldn't come up with a reason why he should know, for Hanji was right. Hanji was Hanji, commander when on duty perhaps but otherwise just Hanji, no matter the gender. His respect for the person wouldn't change no matter what the answer was. Besides, Hanji was a very special type of person, that much he knew by now, and if someone tried to fit that person in to some stereotype, the commander would probably just bounce out, doing things in a Hanji like way that only Hanji could think about.
And that was the answer; Hanji was Hanji. Nothing more, nothing less, and everything else was irrelevant.
"No" Onyankopon finally managed to say, shaking his head with a small smile "It matters not."
With a grin, Hanji cheered: "Thought so!"
Getting up, the commander half danced over to Onyankopon, already starting to drag him away while asking: "You busy right now? I had a few things to ask about these "trains" that were mentioned earlier…"
Yelena watched them go, waiting until Hanji's voice faded away before turning to Jean and Armin.
"So" she said "Which exactly is it?"
The two looked at each other before looking at the woman again, shrugging in unison.
"No idea" Jean said "I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that no one knows."
"I never really even though of it to be honest" Armin admitted "The commander is enough of a mystery even without paying mind to something so trivial."
Trivial? Well, Yelena supposed, it probably was. After all, there was nothing she, or Onyankopon for that matter, could use the information for.
"Right, of course" she said "I'll go see what Hanji has in mind. Hopefully Onyankopon's ears haven't been talked off by now."
Yelena walked away as the two laughed, deciding to drop this matter for good like she believed her friend had also done.
After all, Hanji was Hanji. And that was that.
A.N: I think it's necessary to point out few things: one, while in the anime Hanji is made to be a woman rather clearly, the commander's gender is "left up to the readers" in the manga, with readers getting to decide which gender to associate the character with, or so the original author, Hajime Isayama, has said according to the SnK wiki. While I normally consider Hanji a female (because I watched anime first and that's the impression I got and also a little bit because I like the idea of the Survey Corps commander being a woman), I didn't do so in this fic because it would've ruined the idea of it. For the same reason I left the mystery unsolved in the end.
Two, I don't know if I got Onyankopon and Yelena's personalities right or not, which is natural since we know so little of them. However, from the little we know I've come to the conclusion that Onyankopon is a patient and calm man who respects Hanji for Hanji's abilities. As for Yelena, she seems rather calm and friendly, not to mention open, honest. These views might change as we learn more of them (if we do, I sure hope we will), but for now, this is my take on them.
That's about it.