Just something I came up with a while ago because of a silly misreading of a sign I saw on a walk once.
I hope you enjoy!
"Eren? Eren? Where aaaaare you?" Hanji kept her hands behind her back and trotted around the Survey Corps base. She needed Eren's help with something but for the life of her she couldn't find him anywhere. "Eren? Yooooooo-hoooooo! Come out, come out, where ever you are!" Eventually, she came across the dining hall, where she found Levi, Armin, and Erwin sitting together, talking quietly.
Levi was the first to notice her presence, so he said, "What do you want, Four-eyes?"
"Ah! Levi!" Hanji skipped over to her friend and grinned at him, "Do you know where Eren is? I've been looking for him but haven't seen him anywhere!"
Armin looked up from his cup of steaming tea (or coffee, Hanji couldn't tell what it was) and said, "Eren is helping Petra-san with the laundry. His turn came and went while we were on a mission, so Petra is showing him the ropes and making sure he actually does something."
Levi snorted behind his glass of whisky and rolled his eyes with a slight smile, "She deserves a medal for that."
Erwin chuckled and raised his own glass, "Here, here!"
The glasses-wearing-titan-geek bit back a laugh and thanked the trio, "All right. I'll go see if I can find them. Thanks!" She made sure to back out of the room and get the door closed before she turned around and dashed off to save Eren from his soapy, bubbly doom.
I suppose a little explanation is in order. You see, Petra takes the chore of doing laundry very seriously. She might even be worse than Levi when it comes to fiercely scrubbing every inch of every article of clothing that came into her possession. So when Eren had been scolded by Captain Levi on how dirty and gross his clothes were and ordered to go change and have Petra show him how to clean them, Levi was basically sending the boy to his doom.
Anyway, when Hanji reached the clearing where the Corps' 'washing machine' (i.e.: a waterfall near two trees perfect for hanging clotheslines on) was waiting for its next victim, she found Eren himself being scrubbed viciously by the petite blonde.
"HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ONE CHILD TO BE SO GRIMY!?" Petra screamed with an angry fire burning in her eyes, "YOU'RE GETTING ALL THE OTHER CLOTHES DIRTY AND EVEN HAD THE NERVE TO TOUCH CAPTAIN LEVI'S! Granted it was mostly by accident, BUT STILL!" She rubbed his face so hard he started to look like he had a rash or chicken-pox. After she deemed him to be clean enough (Hanji did nothing this whole time, by the way, she was simply enjoying the show), she began to dunk him underwater to get the soap off him.
At this point, Hanji decided the poor teen had been through enough. She skipped over to Petra and placed a calming hand on her shoulder, saying in a sing-song voice, "Petra-chaaan! Don't you think Eren has learned his lesson? Besides, I need to talk to him and I can't do that if he's drowning…or dead."
Petra looked up at Hanji and huffed irritably, "Fine." She yanked the boy out of the water and dropped the sopping mass of muscle, bones, and fat on the ground at Hanji's feet. The brunette laughed good-naturedly before thanking Petra, hoisting Eren onto her shoulder and high-tailing it away from the still fuming blonde.
When they were in the clear, Hanji dumped Eren on the ground and gave him a few good swats to wake him up. The titan-shifter shot into a sitting position and yelped, "SORRY PETRA-SAN! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"
Hanji gave him another smack and chirped merrily, "Shut up, Eren. I have a really important mission for you. Are you willing to accept this dangerous assignment?"
Eren shot to his feet and said in a ridiculous stage whisper, "I accept!"
"Good," Hanji rubbed her hands together and snickered happily, "Let's get started then…"
[-[-[
Eren waited for Hanji to signal him. He had to admit, this really was a dangerous op. If something went wrong, both of them would most likely be cut to ribbons and the precious cargo he was escorting would be left for the crows. He finally saw Hanji raise her hand and wave at him. That was his cue.
He slowly rose to his feet and dashed to follow his dark-haired friend. He made it across the courtyard and was just barely able to pass off the box he was holding when Armin walked out of the base.
"Hey, Eren!" Armin waved at his friend, "Did you meet up with Ha-"
"SHHH!" Both Hanji and Eren shushed the blonde fiercely.
"Do you want to get us killed?" Eren hissed quietly, "Get down and shut up!" When Armin complied, the titan-shifter nodded at Hanji and they took off in the direction of the dining room.
"Quick! Put up the ribbons!"
"Don't forget the banner!"
"Be careful with those cups!"
The dining hall was abuzz with people. Somehow the word had got around that something was up and everyone in the Survey Corps (except for Levi) ended up helping put things in order. Even Erwin pitched in.
Finally, everything was done. The soldiers stood back and surveyed (pun intended) their work. The dining hall was decked out with various Christmas/Birthday decorations. It was Captain Levi's thirty-fifth birthday and Hanji had decided to make a big deal out of it. She ordered the cupcakes a week in advance. The décor, a month. And his present (a very expensive bottle of Bourbon), a year. All her planning was coming to an end now. Levi was on his way, everyone was waiting for him, and she was really, really happy. She grinned as she looked at all the people wanting to help her celebrate Levi's birthday. It brought tears to her eyes to see such a full house. Petra, Oluo, Mike, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Jean, Erwin, Ymir, Christa, Berthold, Reiner…. Everyone was gathered to celebrate the birth of humanity's strongest soldier.
When said soldier finally arrived, everyone popped their firecrackers and shouted, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEVI!"
…
…
…
"Uh, Captain Levi?" Eren leaned down a little and waved a hand in front of the clearly startled captain's face, "Are you okay?"
Levi blinked at him. Then he frowned and said, "What's going on here?"
Hanji leapt forward with a cupcake, "It's December 25th! Your birthday, remember?" She offered him the sweet and grinned, "Happy birthday!"
The captain tilted his head and thought for a bit. "Oh, I suppose you're right…"
"Of course I'm right! Now come on, let's party!" Hanji waved the hand holding the cupcake in the air, motioning for him to take it.
Levi sighed resignedly before rewarding everyone with a very quiet chuckle. He took the small cake and said with a nod, "Thanks…" At that, Hanji tossed some confetti into the air and the party officially started.
All in all, the party went quite well and everyone had a great time. Even Levi enjoyed himself, especially after Hanji gave him his present. That he loved. Truly, truly loved.
At the end of the day, Eren and Jean were semi-drunk and singing old tunes together. Mikasa, Armin, and a few others were sitting at a table chatting and laughing happily. Everyone else was either singing along with Eren and Jean or laughing at them heartily.
Hanji and Levi, on the other hand, were outside standing on the base's front porch quietly enjoying each other's company, with a help from the bottle of Bourbon, of course.
Hanji leaned against one of the castle's walls and said, "Well, Levi? Have you had a good birthday?"
Levi chuckled freely, the alcohol loosening him up a bit, before responding, "I did actually. Thank you for arranging it, Hanji," he swirled his drink and took a swig, "I know you must have put a lot of effort into all this. It means more to me than you think…" He trailed off, staring into the starry night sky.
"I'm glad you
had fun, Levi," Hanji pushed off the wall and walked over to her friend, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "After all you've done for this group and humanity as a whole, you deserve so much more than I can give you. But I hope that at least this sort of makes up for some of it."
Levi, in a completely uncharacteristic fit of affection, kissed Hanji on the cheek and gently yanked on her bangs, "I don't deserve anything, but thanks for thinking of me. I appreciate it."
After getting over her amazement, Hanji giggled joyfully and gave her friend an equally affectionate peck on his left temple, singing sweetly, "No problem, Levi!"
The two of them stood there for a long time, simply enjoying each other's company and looking at the stars.
Please review!
Love,
VGirl