Annoyance

They were fighting. It was obvious. Everyone had noticed that the titan expert and the corporal weren't talking. The reason, too, was obvious. Hansi had stayed up too late "playing" with Bean and had ignored Levi. She had refused dinner and just sat there outside under the tent admiring Bean's lethargic movements. What angered Levi the most was that she had refused to bathe before bed. That was definitely the last straw.

Hansi had spent the whole day in bed, exhausted from spending time with Bean and the other titans. She stank of sweat and hadn't changed her clothes in days. She admired her notes and rolled around on her sheets. Levi would surely approve of her new findings!

"Levi! Levi! Listen!" She saw him on the way to the mess hall and called out to him. Her outfit was ragged and her hair was in knots. There was dirt on her face and clothes, but she paid it no mind. "I've found out a new thing about titans and their behavior at night!"

Levi looked at her for a brief moment and then continued to walk away with his empty tray of food. She would be punished for ignoring him the past day. Two could play at that game. He could hear her footsteps approach him but he didn't bother turning around to look at her. He felt the urge to drop his tray, pull her by the hair, and just give her a long kiss. But he refrained from doing so.

He knew Hansi was peculiar. He knew that she hadn't been ignoring him on purpose. This had happened on more than one account, but it had started to become regular ever since they had titans in captivity. He was angry, and he would let her know by having her taste the same loneliness he felt.

"Levi?" Hansi's voice echoed in the hallway. She ran up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You stink."

"That doesn't matter! Okay, okay, are you ready to listen? After observing Bean for three hours and twenty-four minutes, I found out that..." Her voice trailed off. "Levi, are you listening?"

The corporal cleared his tray of dishes and paced away from Hansi.

"Levi are you mad?"

Hearing those words, Levi froze.

"Hey, c'mon what did I do wrong?"

Levi clenched his fists and left.

Hansi shrugged, unaware of the grief she caused. She walked over to grab a tray and eat for the first time in sixteen hours. While she was eating, she suddenly realized that Levi was indeed mad. She didn't know the reason, but if he wasn't going to talk to her, she might as well not talk to him either. She wanted him to cool down before attempting anything. Maybe, with a little time, he would come up to her himself! Hansi was pretty positive.

She spent every day after that with her captive titans. She remembered to wash her face once in a while and go to the outhouse. By the end of a week, she reeked. Everyone could smell her coming from a mile away, so to speak.

"Corporal!" Eren bravely spoke up. "C-could you please do something about Hansi?"

The smaller man raised an eyebrow. He hadn't seen Hansi in a while and wondered what the problem was.

"The thing is... She hasn't showered in a week and it seems to be bothering the whole squad. I tried to talk to the commander about it but he said to leave her be."

"And?"

"Since she listens to you the most..."

From there, Levi stopped paying attention to Eren. She did listen to him more than she listened to anyone else. To be fair, he never considered how Hansi treated others while she was fully concentrated on her titans. He thought back to the time Petra had tried to bring her food. Hansi misunderstood and nearly fed their teammate to the titans, wondering if their digestive system had any more peculiarities. A shriek from Petra summoned the other members of the squad. They tried to reason with Hansi but to no avail. Eventually, the noise reached the corporal's ears and once he told her to cut it out, she snapped out of her titan mode and complied. Strange woman.

Maybe it was a coincidence.

"Corporal?"

"Shut it, brat." Levi rushed out of the barracks.

Why was it that he was so attracted to that stupid titan-obsessed woman? Was it the way she smiled and said his name with enthusiasm? She was absolutely crazy. Swooping down a bit too low to feel the heat emitted by a titan before cutting the back of its neck, sticking her face too close to Bean's mouth to smell its breath and nearly having her nose ripped off...

He just loved her.

"Oi, shitty glasses!"

"Gimme a minute, I'm going to take a chunk of flesh out of-" she gasped when she recognized his voice. "Levi!"

"Shouldn't it be "corporal" to you?" He crossed his arms.

"Forget the formalities!" She pulled his arm and showed him towards her titans. "I found out that-"

"We can't talk when those things are watching." Levi nervously glanced at the monsters she had named.

"Huh? Haven't we always been able to talk when my babies are around?"

Levi grunted in displeasure. Her babies... Would she be an obsessive mother or ignore her children completely due to her love for titans? No. They would have kids after they reclaimed the territories lost to those giant monsters. What was he even daydreaming about? Hansi didn't even know about his feelings for her. He was a long way from that.

"Hansi, I..."

"Wow, wow, wow, back up, corporal. Did you just call me by my given name?"

"What's it to you," he paused. "Shitty glasses?"

"Ah, and it had made me a little happy that you called me Hansi," she laughed. "Oh well, I thought you had finally opened up to me! So, what did you want to talk about?"

Levi sighed. If only he hadn't added those extra words. Maybe it would have created a good enough mood for him to tell her how he felt.

"You see... I..." He stared up at her attentive face. She was smiling at him. "Go take a bath. You stink."

"So that's it! I can't believe you ignored me for a week because I was dirty. Clean freak!" Hansi laughed again. "I'll get cleaned up after I'm done with these guys. It might be messy work."

"Do it now. Titan research can be put off until tomorrow."

"But I-"

"It's an order, Hansi."

"Yes, sir!" She grinned and pulled out the rubber band holding her ponytail up. Her hair looked stiff and awful, but her eyes shined brightly. "Whatever you say, sir."

When she had left, Levi sat under her tent staring at Bean. He had forgotten to apologize.

"What's so good about you, huh?" He prodded the motionless titan in his frustration. "You're so... irritating. Taking all of her time... I could end you right here and now, but she'd make a fuss. You lucky scumbag."

"I wish Levi could be a little more honest with himself... and me." Hansi pouted. "I guess I'll never be able to tell him I like him at this rate," she shrugged. "He always ruins the timing by telling me I have to do this or that... Well, back to my titans!"