Chapter 10
Goddess
Hehe, So I got a few messages that people dislike the nature of the Levi I've created in this story, he is harsher towards Hanji than he should be, he hurt Hanji, he can't get over Petra and used her, he feels bad about it a lot, he's kinda bitter, but I've written him this way for a reason. Please have faith in me and read on, I won't let you dear readers down, it will be worth it, I promise.
I do not own SNK
"You sure have a lot of bags, Hanji." Erwin looked over at her with a skeptical glance as he took in her little balancing act of carrying her bags full of shop supplies. Hanji laughed, it could have been worse. They'd picked out the furniture and the woman who ran the stall was so taken by Erwin, that not only did they get everything for a fourth of the price but she'd sent for her son, just so that he could carry the stuff to Hanji's shop for them. It was pretty nice of the lady, sucked for her son though.
"Hahaha, it takes a lot to run the shop!" Hanji laughed heartily as she struggled to keep a bag that was sliding down her arm up on her shoulder.
"I can help yo-"
"No! It's okay!" Hanji replied before he could finish speaking. She knew Erwin was capable, but asking the man who gave the orders that kept her alive up to now to carry some stupid bags felt wrong. Erwin's face didn't change expressions at all as he stared at her. It made her squirm, why was he looking at her like that?
"If you insist." Erwin smiled a polite smile before taking his gaze off of her. Hanji let out a sigh as he did so. Having an important guest like Erwin was harder than looking after titans… Sure she enjoyed having Erwin around, but the last two days she'd been running around trying to make sure he was comfortable while he stayed as a small thanks for helping her out all of those years, but it was draining her energy to do that and look after the shop. To make matters worse, while Erwin was here, Levi who usually ended up helping her out, was scarce lately, so she really had to take on more work.
"I just have a few more things to get and then we can go back." Hanji grunted, as she continued trying to hold tight to her ever falling bag. She spun around to walk towards the shop when-
"Oi! It's the feisty girl from the bar!" A voice called as a large man with a large scar on his face walked towards her with a twisted smirk, "Where's Short Stack today?" he asked.
Hanji stared dumbly at the man for a moment before it clicked who this man was. He was one of the men from the bar that Ben took Levi and herself to when they'd first opened the shop. Even though they flirted with her that night, by the end of it all, she left with the feeling that they were a lot like Levi, so even if they were a little rough around the edges, they weren't bad people. She smiled and opened her mouth to reply when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Are these men bothering you?" A calm measured voice asked from behind her. Turning her head now, she saw Erwin behind her, his face void of all emotion, his body language indicating that he was ready to take action any moment, but she shook her head.
"Oooh, you traded up from Short Stack? That's not very nice, you seemed so into him when you stood up on that barstool to defend him." One of the men joked, "But you traded up for a taller blonder model." he mumbled looking at Erwin whose only response was to look at Hanji with a twinge of disbelief in his eyes.
"Short Stack?" He asked, blue eyes full of questions.
"Ahhh! They mean Levi!" Hanji clapped her hands together, "That Shorty and I went to a bar and uhm, I got a little too drunk."
"Oh man you should have seen her, like a goddess she was, that dress, her whole attitude, amazing!" the man laughed holding out his hand for a high-five, Hanji shrugged before smacking her hand against his. She'd never been called a goddess before, that was different, she'd accept it.
"A goddess?" Erwin smirked, eyes wide and a smile playing on his lips as he took in the man's words.
"Yeah! She was wild! Climbing on barstools, yelling defending her Short Stack and that dress, wow," the man nudged a thumb in Hanji's direction, "That was the most memorable night that bar has had in years."
"I didn't know you had a side like that to you Hanji, it sounds very exciting, perhaps one day we should go drinking." Erwin looked at her, brows raised in a teasing manner, but it shook her. Was he asking her to go drinking with him? Somehow the idea of drinking with Erwin was far more intimidating than drinking with Levi, and another question, was Erwin joking with her? Both ideas were so shocking, her hand slipped and one of her bags fell, "Careful!" Erwin exclaimed, his hand shooting out to catch the bag before it hit the dirty market ground.
"Oh, sorry." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly with a small smile.
"Let me help you." Erwin's voice was as gentle as his hands as he lifted some of her bags from her shoulders, "These are heavier than they look Hanji." Erwin commented frowning at her, "You carry this often?"
"Sometimes." Hanji shrugged, "Usually Levi or one of the others who work at the shop helps me carry all of this but every now and then I carry them alone." The look of concern on Erwin's face was endlessly confusing to her. She'd carried far heavier things to her lab when they'd worked together alone, she'd done more dangerous things in the army under his orders, so why was he so worried about her carrying some furniture and supplies for the shop? "What?" She heard herself groan in response to his gaze.
Erwin opened his mouth to answer, but as he eyes flickered over to the now very curious gazes of the men from the bar, he seemed to think better of it and shut his mouth again.
"Oi! Don't get all quiet on our account, go on and talk Pretty Boy!" One of the men chortled.
"Pretty boy?" Erwin exclaimed, looking quite shocked by his new nickname. It seemed like these guys quite liked nicknames, now that Hanji thought about it….
"Yeah, Pretty Boy. That's what you are! You pretty much got the face, only your eyebrows kinda ruin it, I feel like they might attack me." The man shuddered as he stared up at Erwin's brows in terror, Erwin merely frowned in response, "Anyway, Short Stack is Short Stack, this lady here is a Goddess and you are now Pretty Boy." the man went on proudly.
"Our names are-" Erwin started, but was quickly interrupted.
"Ah! Your names are unimportant. With us, you have to accept our nicknames, right Goddess?" The men laughed heartily and Hanji joined in. Even when she was sober, she found their wholehearted laughter infectious, as she looked over at Erwin however she could tell he didn't share the same notion. Erwin stood upright and unamused as they laughed, and his rigidness killed the laughter pretty quickly.
"Actually guys, we were on the way back to the teashop I own, you guys can come along if you like. I kind of remember inviting you before." she squinted her eyes as she thought back, she very vaguely remembered inviting them, but they seemed okay to her so she'd invite them again anyway. She expected them to say yes, but they shook their heads.
"No, no! You two go on ahead, we'll drop by another day." one of the men laughed, eying Erwin as he spoke.
"Oh.. Okay." Hanji shrugged, before turning to take off after Erwin who was already a few steps away.
"But, Goddess?" One of the men called her back a moment, with Erwin now out of earshot, "You sure you like Pretty Boy over here more than Short Stack? Short tack seemed more your type." The man frowned scratching his con while his friends nodded behind him, "This guy is so stuffy."
"Aww, come on, Erwin's not a bad guy if you give him a chance." Hanji smiled patting the man on the shoulder, "And besides they're both my friends, I like them equally."
"Oh?" he man's brows shot up, "I thought for sure you were taken by Short Stack or Pretty Boy, but if that's not the case," the man licked the palm of his hand and smoothed back his hair, and Hanji early laughed thinking how Levi would have reacted if he'd seen that. She just knew he'd make that disgusted deadpan glare of his, "You wanna go on a date with me, Miss Goddess?"
"I'm not really the dating type, but thanks anyway." She pat his arm with a smile before turning and walking off.
"Ooohhh, the boss was rejected!" she heard one of the men call from behind her.
"S-shut up! I'm not giving up so easily! You'll like me eventually Goddess! I'm not quitting on you yet!" The man yelled, but Hanji merely laughed and ran to catch up with Erwin who only seemed to realize that she was missing from his side when the man from before started yelling.
"Ahh, sorry, was I walking to fast?" Erwin asked looking down at Hanji. His eyes flickered over to the men they'd just been speaking to with concern and back down at her, his eyes asking the silent question of 'Were they bothering you?'
"Hah! You know I can keep up." She smirked walking a few steps ahead of him now. Her eyes were unite fixed on the path in front of them now, taking in the sights and sounds of the market with a smile. She loved the feeling of life and energy around her, it was proving to be quite addicting, she had no idea before these last few weeks that she could enjoy human companionship so much. She was deep in thought about why she'd never noticed how interesting people could be when she heard the deep throaty sound of Erwin's laugh close behind her, "What?" She asked turning around to meet Ewin's laughing blue eyes.
"Nothing," Erwin smirked, moving his eyes from her to the path ahead, "I was just thinking how amazing you are."
"Uhm," her feet stopped moving immediately as she jammed her pinky in her ear checking for extra wax because she was sure she'd misheard that, "Come again?" she stammered.
"I said, you're amazing." Erwin had also stopped walking now, and turned to face her, "Everyone you've ever worked with adores you, finds you easy to talk with. It's an amazing talent." Erwin smiled so gently it made her want to reach out and touch that smile to see if it was real, but Hanji merely blinked up at him as he took a step closer to her, leaving only a few inches of space between them, "It's something very few people can possess." As he looked down at her, she froze in a panic, he was very close, his eyes felt like they were swallowing her, she was hyper aware that everyone was staring at them and it was making her feel a bit dizzy.
"It's nothing." She laughed, somehow managing to tear her eyes from his and take a step away. She couldn't handle that gaze on her for too long, it was too intense. His eyes had always been intense when he had something important on his mind, she knew that, but she'd over ever seen them intense over missions, over the sake of humanity. Why would his eyes look at her with that intensity?
"It's not nothing, Hanji, it's something, you have the kind of talent that can get through to anyone." Erwin's voice came gently, and Hanji dared to look up at him again. She was relieved that he was no longer looking in her direction, but now his gaze was somewhere far off, someplace she would never know.
"Erwin?"
"A lot of people see how special you are Hanji." he said suddenly and she did a double take. She'd forgotten the breakneck speeds conversations with Erwin could be, he was very to the point.
"What do you-?"
"I mean your new title as most desirable woman, the people around you, a lot of them truly want you, and some really care for you." Hanji stared up at him dumbly, she knew that already, "This ball that's coming up… there's something strange about it." Erwin turned away from her and started walking again.
"How so?" She asked trailing after him.
"Why are they honoring you? It's not as humanity's brightest, it's as the desirable woman, but there is no obligation to that title, so what exactly are they planning this huge of a party for, so suddenly? Is it because they care for you? Or because they want you?" his voice dropped into a raspy tone as he said 'want' and she caught his drift… Now that he mentioned it, it really hadn't made any sense, but the last 2 years of her life had made so little sense that she didn't even realize it.
"Well, it seems like I have to go according to Levi." She sighed. Whether it was fishy or not, she didn't want to go, but she wasn't gonna make Levi's life any more complicated than it was. She could tell he was having a hard time lately anyway.
Erwin's brows raised and a smile played on his lips as he turned to face her again, his blue eyes surprisingly playful.
"What?" She stammered in shock, jumping back. A playful Erwin was too strange for her.
"Levi. huh? You two have always been close, perhaps you've gotten closer in the time myself and the others have been away."
"Huh?" She asked dumbly, "I mean, I don't know if we got closer really." she couldn't put her finger on it, but though she and Levi agreed to be friends, she still felt there was a gap between them, maybe she was just too strange to be a good friend?
"Well the dynamic between you two has certainly changed." Erwin smirked as he remembered Levi's face when he'd walked into the office and seen himself and Hanji. It was quite clear what Levi thought was going on between the two of them, and obvious to him that Levi felt some kind of way about it. Looking down at Hanji's scrunched up and confused face as she repeated 'Changed dynamic?' he was fairly sure that Hanji didn't see it at all, but Erwin saw it. Levi acted cold to her, but he always had an eye on her. Back in the days of the Survey Corps Levi had still been like that, scolding her for being reckless in his own way, forcing her to take care of herself, Erwin had thought nothing of it but camaraderie, but the war was over and he still did it, and Erwin saw it, the struggle in Levi's eyes when they fell on Hanji. He wasn't sure why Levi was holding himself back with her, but-
"Erwin?" Hanji called as he realized he'd been spacing off in his own thoughts.
"Oh, sorry, I suppose I was a bit lost in thought." Erwn smiled turning back to her. "By the way." Erwin stared looking a bit uncomfortable as he spoke, "I actually did come back to the city for you… to ask you a favor actually, something I probably should have asked before I left for two years." He smiled a timid kind of smile, turning to look at Hanji. "It's a science related favor I suppose." Hanji's eyes shot wide open, her heart skipped a beat, her blood boiled, her face flushed at the word, "I realize it's terrible for me to leave two years just to return and ask a fav-"
"What is it?!" she asked eagerly, grabbing at his arm in desperation, "What do you need me to research? Ooooh god, its been so damn long." She tossed her head back, her voice came out as a moan, her mouth was watering, all ideas of personal space flew out of the window as she pressed herself to him, desperate to hear what she would be researching. Passerby's stared at them in distaste clearly misunderstanding what was happening between the two of them but he merely smiled down at her with a patient smile, ignoring the glances they were getting. If there was one thing he knew, it was that research was probably more enticing than sex to this woman, and it had been a long time since she really researched anything, her reaction was not shocking to him in the slightest.
"Well, I was wondering if there was anyway you could fabricate an arm for me."
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This chapter is lacking of Levi, there's a reason… He will soon return, and he will return with a vengeance :D okay well maybe not a vengeance but he will have a breakthrough kinda. Erwin seems to have a pretty good grip on what's going on between these two emotional wrecks though, more of an idea than the both of them, i wonder what he will do with that information? See you next chapter :)
