DISCLAIMER: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin. It belongs to Hajime Isayama.
title: Breaking Point
by: The Rose in Death's Garden
written for: The Caesar's Palace Your OTP and That Epic Unsexy Star Wars Dialogue Contest
prompt: dialogue - "My hands are dirty." / "So are mine."
pairings: Erurihan, Levihan
Cleaning with Levi was not a peaceful event, as both of his romantic partners soon found out. Everything happened so quickly that they weren't quite sure how the argument about how to properly dust the chandelier ended with the ladder falling on top of Levi and knocking him out.
They both looked at the tiny captain who was laying in unconscious heap on the floor.
After a long moment of awkward silence, Hanji suggested, "We should probably take him to infirmary."
"Yes," Erwin agreed. "And in order to do that one of us is going to have to pick him up and carry him there."
They both looked at each other expectantly.
Erwin was the first to speak up.
"My hands are dirty."
"So are mine."
More staring.
"You're not seriously refusing to pick him up because you think he'll be mad if you get dirt on his clothes?" Hanji asked incredulously.
"Well..." Erwin hedged, his discomfort clear in his expression.
"Fine!" she snapped. "If you don't want to be there when he wakes up because you're afraid of how pissed off he'll be about what happened, just-" She made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat as she knelt down to lift Levi onto her back.
Carrying him in her arms like she would a child wasn't really an option, since he weighed more than she did despite their difference in height, so she opted for a piggyback style for transporting the unconscious captain to the castle's infirmary.
She paused in the doorway and called back over her shoulder to Erwin, "Also you can go fuck yourself, because neither of us will be doing so anytime in the near future!"
When Levi regained consciousness, he found himself in the infirmary. The doctor didn't seem to be present but Hanji was pacing beside the bed where he was laying. She didn't immediately notice that he was awake.
"Oi, Hanji," he called out to her.
"Levi, you're awake!"
She sounded more worried than relieved about this turn of events, which didn't seem right to him.
"And you didn't call me Shitty Glasses," she said as she sat down on the edge of the bed beside him.
He groaned.
"You hate that nickname and it's not an indication of my health that I didn't call you it right now."
Some of the worry visibly faded from her expression as she reached out to brush his hair back from his face.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Hanji asked him.
"I was trying to tell you two idiots how to properly clean the chandelier, and Erwin knocked the fucking ladder over somehow," Levi answered.
"I'm completely fine, by the way, thanks for asking," she said.
Although her tone was lightly sarcastic and it was obviously meant as a joke, Levi looked at her sharply at this pronouncement. She'd been on the ladder when it had fallen; he remembered that clearly as well.
"I'm completely fine!" Hanji repeated, defensively this time. "The doctor even said so! He checked me over after he'd taken care of you."
"How'd I get knocked out, anyway? Did you land on top of me?"
Hanji laughed nervously.
"Well, I'm not quite sure exactly how everything went down, but the ladder landed on your head..."
"So then Erwin carried me here and then-"
"I carried you here," Hanji cut him off indignantly.
Levi scowled.
"It would have made more sense for him to be the one who carried me. What if you'd collapsed or dropped me?"
"I didn't, though! If you don't think I'm strong enough because I'm a woman-"
Hanji was startled into silence as Levi grabbed her roughly and pulled her into an embrace. She hugged him back, hanging onto him even as their argument grew more heated.
"That's not what I think and you know it. I said it would have made more sense for him to do it, not that you're not capable. And you could have been more injured than you realized."
"I'm completely fine!"
"You didn't know that at the time!"
"I'm fine! I was fine! Someone needed to take care of you and Erwin was being an asshole about it!"
The two of them had no idea that their yelling had attracted an audience from the hallway outside and now Erwin, who had been waiting anxiously outside in the corridor, was now observing from the infirmary doorway as the two of them vented their anger on one another while also taking comfort in each other's arms.
"Asshole how?" Levi asked.
Hanji sniffled. Shit, was she crying?
"He was more worried about how you'd react if he got dirt on your clothes than about whether you were ok or not!"
"Did he say that?"
"He didn't deny it!"
Deciding that he didn't need to hear any more of this, Erwin turned and walked away. He had been worried; the emotion had manifested itself as nervous indecision, which Hanji had misinterpreted (and continued to misinterpret) as him not caring. Meanwhile, those two seemed to be on the exact same emotional wavelength as each other.
Let them have each other, he thought bitterly to himself. Apparently I'm not needed in this relationship.