Red fir trees nearly scraped the snow from the gray sky. Fog haunted their rough trunks. Ice hung from their evergreen needles and tinkled like chimes in the biting wind that whipped Levi's red pickup truck left and right on the truck's bald tires skidded over every patch of black ice and ate all of the pot holes in the damn road no matter how Levi tried to maneuver around them. He grumbled about how his shocks were shot to shit while one corner of his folded up packing boxes half-hazardly shoved into the cab jabbed him in his ribs. Each time the card board tried to gouge his lungs out, he twisted his stereo knob up, swearing again and again whenever it popped off into his hand. Somehow, he managed to crank up his radio volume to ear-bleeding levels. By the time his truck finally crawled up his gravel driveway, he all but peeled out of the driver's seat.
Keys jammed in his skinny jeans' pocket and boxes shoved into his arm pit, he crunched through the unshoveled snow to his shack of a house. Levi kicked his boots against the swollen front deck. Teeth chattering, his numb fingers fumbled with the house key and the frosted lock before he was finally able to kick the door open and hurry inside. The door screamed as it slammed shut behind his back. He ignored the house's rattling while he carefully rested his moving boxes against the corduroy couch's armrest. Then he crouched on his haunches to remove his boots and brushed chunks of ice from the pants folds round his ankles. Levi kept his fluffy socks on.
Tip toeing around the melting snow on his door mat, he made his way around his thrift shop coffee table to the wood burning stove in the corner of the tiny living room. He shivered while he stuffed the stove full of the wood he had chopped a few weeks ago and sighed when he struck a match to light it. His hands wrung together, trying to bring some blood black into his stiff fingers. He lingered in front of the growing fire for another moment before closing it.
"Tea," Levi murmured to himself indulgently, his breath fogging in front of his face.
He spun on his heel and strode into the cozy kitchen. Dented skillets and warped pots hung from cabinet rings over the narrow counters. Unpackaged boxes of tea (Earl Grey, Darjeeling, and Nilgiri were his favorites) lined the top of the gas stove. Polaroids of Farlan and Isabel from their cross-country travels were pinned to the fridge with his mother's old magnet collection. Beside their photos were Erwin's postcards from London, Paris, Rome, and Budapest. Levi only glanced at them before he went to rummage through the cabinets for his tea set.
The kitchen tap shuddered before water hissed through its thawing pipes to fill his banged up kettle. With a clink, he set it on the stove. The burner spluttered to life. Levi tucked his hands into his armpits while he danced from foot to foot, glowering at his scratched table and its scuffed stools, his couch and its dumpy pillows - all for being so unforgivably cold.
Then, nestled on the bookshelf, his landline's red light caught his eye. The scuffed floors creaked when he padded across the kitchen to the phone. He brought it to his ear as the one button blinked up at him, and he pressed it. His hand twisted the coiled cord around and around his fingers while he waited for the answering machine to play the voicemail waiting for him.
"Levi -" Hanji's voice screeched. Wincing, Levi pulled the phone away from his ear
"- I did it! I finally did it!" She paused before becoming mockingly serious. "Call me as soon as you get my message."
Then the recording clicked when Hanji had set her phone back on the receiver. Levi looked at his kettle over his shoulder wantingly.
"What the fuck did she do now," he grumbled under his breath while he dialed Hanji's number.
She picked up the call mid first ring.
"Le -
"- Don't scream my name," Levi held the phone away from his face, scowling.
"- vi, you'll never believe what I did," she kept screaming.
Levi groaned.
"What did you do?"
"You're going to be so proud of me."
"Yeah?"
"Uh huh," she practically sang.
"You obviously haven't figured out what an inside voice is yet, so I doubt I'll be that proud of whatever bullshit you're about to spew."
She huffed.
"You're so mean to me."
"You make it sound like I was any nicer in our last life."
Levi fought back a smirk.
"Well, unlike our last life, I actually took you and Erwin's advice."
"Wow, Four Eyes, you sure you're feeling alright?"
Levi could almost hear Hanji rolling her eyes.
"Despite the fact that it's the middle of flu season, I'm more than fine," she scoffed.
"I'm sure Moblit would agree with that."
"Oh, he does - don't you worry - but that's not the only thing he agreed to."
Levi raised a brow.
"What do you mean?"
"Drum roll please -" Hanji's tongue trilled.
"- I think the fuck not -"
"- I proposed to Moblit!"
Levi's jaw dropped.
"What?"
"I proposed to Moblit," Hanji's voice rose to levels that rivaled his truck's stereo, "and he said yes!"
"Wha - Hanji! Congrats, man. That's awesome!"
Hanji shrieked with laughter.
"Thank you. Thank you. I'm so happy Smalls."
Levi bit his tongue from chewing her ass out over that stupid nickname.
"You should be. It's been a long time coming."
"I know. I'm just happy we got a second chance like this."
Levi's face fell ever so slightly as he leaned against the side of the bookshelf.
"Yeah -" he nodded.
"- I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
Hanji was quiet for a moment.
"I'm sure you'll find her again, Levi."
"Cut the crap, Shitty Glasses. This phone call is about you, not me."
"Well," she perked up a bit, "Moblit and I are going to throw an engagement party here in Ohio, and we wanted to invite all of the old Scouts."
"Oh," Levi straightened. "What day will it be?"
"We're thinking November 2nd. I'd really like it if you could come. I know you're busy with the move out to Flagstaff -"
"I can be there November 1st. I'll call Farlan and Isabel to give them a heads up before I finish packing up. Then I'll shove everything into the bed of my truck and leave on the 31st."
"Levi, that's, like, a three day drive!"
"I'll do it in two."
"You have to sleep."
"I will."
"Levi," Hanji growled. "More than four hours."
"Sleep is for the weak."
The kettle shrilled, and Levi nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Holy shit," he seethed. "Hang on a minute."
"We're not done with this conversation!"
Levi rushed to prepare his cup of tea, and he set it on the counter to steep before returning to the call.
"Sorry about that. Forgot my kettle was on the stove."
"Figures that tea would interrupt the most important phone call of our lives."
"Shut up," Levi clicked his tongue.
"Well, anyways," Hanji changed the subject, "I'll tell you and the other Scouts all about how the proposal went down once you guys get here."
"Who's all gonna be there?"
"I, uh, I actually haven't called anyone else yet."
Levi felt his cheeks color.
"Oh," he mumbled, touched that Hanji would call him first.
"You've, just, um, have always been my best friend and -"
"- Can it," he barked. "Don't make this any weirder than it has to be!"
Unspoken words hung between them. They bound their friendship to their hearts and tied their lives together.
"Yeah," Hanji chuckled awkwardly. "You're right. But Moblit and I will invite Erwin and Nanaba."
"Still no Mike then, huh?"
Hanji sighed.
"No, nothing yet. But we won't give up looking for him and the others!"
Levi nodded, throat too tight to speak when he thought of how much he related to Nanaba's loneliness, but Hanji knew him well enough that he didn't need to say anything else.
"Well, I've gotta get going, Levi. Do you need my address?"