„Absolutely not!", Levi said visibly upset and jumped up from the couch. "I won't discuss this. No!"
Hanji sighed as she watched him walk towards the kitchen. So fucking stubborn! "Get back here and at least hear me out!", she called after him, before he could leave the room.
Levi turned around. His lips were pressed to a thin line, his look had some disbelief to it. "No, I won't discuss this." He then turned around and walked into the kitchen, slamming the door behind him. Hanji felt like screaming. It annoyed her that he didn't even want to sit down to talk.
They both had a day off, which hadn't been a new occurrence for Hanji – she had had nothing to do ever since Erwin had ordered to relocate the lab. She had spent the days doing random stuff, meeting some old friends and searching for a new hobby, but truth was, she had been bored to death. She felt agitated because she missed work. She missed the hectic hustle in the lab, the feeling of triumph when something went really well, and she even missed the frustration when it didn't. She missed the banter with her teammates, who had accepted her as their friend. In the last few days, however, Hanji had a flash of inspiration – she knew what she could do. She had waited for Levi to sort out the new problems with his squad and Sasha and when his first day off came, she decided to tell him her idea. But instead of hearing her out, Levi had voiced that he was dead against it, storming off to the kitchen.
Hanji got up from the couch and went to the kitchen as well. She was determined to get him to actually talk to her. It couldn't be that difficult to have a conversation like adults, could it? She opened the door and found Levi furiously rubbing the kitchen counter.
"We're going to talk now. Like adults do," she announced, emphasizing the 'adults' part, and sat down at the table. She could hear him suck in air through his gritted teeth, but he let of go of the rag and took a seat across from her.
"Are you now going to tell me what your problem with it is?", she asked him, annoyed.
Levi's lips were a thin line again and his left foot was tapping up and down. He looked through the room, as if he looked for a way out, but eventually he gave in. "I don't like the idea of you teaching again."
"Why? I'm bored senseless and I really liked teaching."
Levi still didn't look at her directly.
"Nothing will happen to me on the campus and I'll wear my watch," Hanji offered after he didn't say anything. She referred to the wristwatch that some of the members got, which would let Rico's team track one down in case of emergency.
"It's not about the watch. What will you do once we get back to business?", he asked. "We saw that both at the same time didn't work for you and it would be so complicated to set everything up just to give it up a month later."
He had a point, Hanji thought to her displeasure. It's not like she had fixed working hours at the lab, sometimes she'd stay down there for twenty hours at once, depending how much work they got. But on the other hand, she did not only teach back then, but she had also worked as researcher at the University. When she had joined the Corps, she had practically had three jobs, so no wonder that it had been too much.
"I could take just one class. This won't be more than ten hours a week, so I'd still have plenty of time left", she offered. It sounded reasonable, didn't it? Plus, she wouldn't be the only member to have a "normal" job on the side, like she had found out. Admittedly, all the other jobs benefited the Corps in some way or another, but she was only asking for one class here!
Levi still looked annoyed and his face didn't show whether he liked Hanji's idea or not.
"Just one class," she repeated with a hopeful tone in her voice.
Levi still didn't answer right away.
"One class. I'll make sure to pick a time where Nanaba won't need me and I'll keep the watch on, so that you'll have my location."
She could hear Levi inhaling deeply, before he finally looked at her. "It's not just about the watch." And with a really low voice he added after a pause; "Your ex will be there."
Hanji looked at him with her mouth agape. That, she hadn't expected. "Are … Are you jealous?"
"No, I don't care about that," Levi mumbled with a scowl. "But I don't trust him not to run to the police. Maybe he won't do it to you, but I'm sure that he won't hesitate to call the MP when he sees me there." He paused and his expression changed to concern. "I won't be able to protect you there."
Oh, so that's what it's about. Hanji sighed. The incident with the Leader seemed to have taken a greater toll on Levi than it had done on her. "You don't always have to protect me, love. I'm not the same person I was back then," she said and offered him a smile. "I can take care of myself."
Levi looked at her, not certain what to say, but the doorbell saved him.
"That's probably Nanaba," Hanji announced at got up to go open the door.
"Are we alright, though?" Levi called after her and she stopped in the door.
"We're fine," she said. "But I'm angry at you that we couldn't have talked like normal people in the first place." Then, Hanji disappeared towards the door and Levi was left in the kitchen, sulking.
/
Levi sunk further into the chair, crossing his arm, pressing his lips together. He hated the thought of Hanji going back to her teaching job. He was afraid that something could happen to her. Both her ex-boyfriend and that one friend of theirs knew that she was a member of the Corps now, ever since they had visited that time Hanji had been in hospital. Who was to tell, that they hadn't already said something to someone? What, if the whole campus already knew about Hanji? He couldn't let her risk it to go back there, only to get arrested, because what then? Erwin did let Levi get away with a lot of stuff, but the Don probably wouldn't endorse a prison-break. And now, Hanji was pissed at him, because he hadn't been able to voice those concerns like a normal person, but instead fled from any discussion.
"Heeey, Leeeviii," Nanaba's voice suddenly echoed through the flat. "I'd come to say hello, but I don't want to take off my boots.", he heard her shout.
Levi rolled his eyes and thought for a second about just staying in the kitchen, but then he decided against it. If he went to the door, he'd at least catch Hanji before she went out. He went through the living room to the corridor and saw Nanaba waiting by the door.
She smiled, when she saw him. "You look grumpy."
"Well, you came in a very bad moment," he answered. Nanaba gave him a questioning glance, which meant 'Do you want to talk about it', but Levi only shook his head.
When Hanji came out of the bedroom – where she had changed clothes, as Levi noticed – Nanaba grabbed his arm with one hand and then put her other hand over her heart in a dramatic gesture. "Can you believe it," she said, a little too theatrical; "our girl is getting her first tattoo today."
Hanji smiled nervously at them and Levi shook off Nanaba's hand.
"There's no coming back after the first one," he said with a wink and Nanaba agreed next to him. He knew that Hanji couldn't care less for tattoos, but she had voiced a couple of weeks ago, that she also wanted to get the "wings of freedom" tattooed on her, like almost all other members of the Corps had. Of course, as soon as she had voiced that, Nanaba had been insisting that she wanted to take her to get it done and they had finally managed to find a day.
"Let's see," Hanji said, and it seemed to Levi like she was a little less angry. Who knew, maybe the day out with Nanaba would distract her a bit from her anger towards him.
"Do you already know, where you want it?" Nanaba asked. "Because its position will literally determine the rest of your life for you."
It sounded dramatic, but Nanaba was probably right, Levi thought. If Hanji had been thinking about going back to University, she couldn't have it anywhere visible. "Just make sure that it's somewhere no one can see it, if you really want to get back to campus," he for once said directly what he thought.
Hanji looked at him in surprise and then a big grin appeared on her face. "I will," she said.
"Let's talk tonight?", he offered as reconciliation. Maybe he could get his thoughts together until then.
Hanji agreed, visibly happier than she had been before.
After the two women left, Levi returned to the kitchen and picked up the rug. He wanted to finish the cleaning before he'd make dinner. Scrubbing the counters helped him calm down and gave him time to think.
/
Hanji:
Hey … I hope you're doing well … This is probably a little weird, but I just wanted to give you a heads up that I'll be back at the campus again and I hope that it won't be too weird between us ?