His knee was being a pain in the ass, and with his arms full of the stuff he bought a few hours earlier, he wouldn't be able to open the door.

Levi sighed and carefully bent down, putting down the two brown paper bags, before straightening again, his fingers fumbling for the keys in his pocket. He let himself in, stumbling into the hallway and making his way to the kitchen. Levi sighed again, now at the state of the kitchen. The messy condition he was facing was nothing unexpected, however.

He got to work.

It was probably around 30 minutes later when he heard a door open.

"Oh, Levi." Hange appeared in the doorway, hair, and clothes in disarray. "Hadn't heard you come in."

"Yeah," he huffed, putting down a cloth. "Knew you probably were too occupied."

Hange scratched her cheek a little sheepishly, "can I help?"

"No, I'm already done." He let himself sink on a chair, feeling the strain of his muscles. His knee would hate him tomorrow. And he tried not to feel irritated at that notion or the way Hange's gaze flitted over his leg in obvious worry. He knew he had probably exerted himself too much but couldn't care, and Levi pushed the gloomy thoughts away and down.

"I should cut your hair." He said instead.

"Oh, hm," Hange blinked and curled her fingers through the locks, studying the ends. "It's getting a bit long, no?"

000

The sound of the quiet snip of the scissors was something familiar. Levi had cut Hange's hair before, after all. If he didn't do it for her, and he silently shuddered at the thought, she did it herself, and the results from that- well, they were nothing good.

Handling scissors with two missing fingers had been irritating at first, though quickly, he had become accustomed to it. And if he had been able to use his blades with a fucked up hand, scissors should be no big problem, Levi mused while his fingers threaded through the brown locks. Hange wore her hair down more often these days. It looked good on her.

000

"And?"

"And what, Hange."

"Well, how do I look?"

Levi turned away from the papers he'd been staring at and promptly felt his throat dry up. Words like 'striking' and 'beautiful' bounced around in his head.

He opened his mouth. But instead, what came out was, "you look, um, alright, I guess."

Alright, I guess.

Well fuck.

He suddenly had the urge to bang his head against the table. He was so fucking pathetic sometimes.

However, Hange smiled at him, eyes twinkling.

He tried to swallow and get some moisture back into his mouth.

Hange looked more than good in the dark green dress she was currently wearing. And the way her hair fell over her shoulders-

Abruptly, his legs forced him from his chair, propelling him forward, and before his brain could catch up, his mouth found hers, teeth clashing in their rush, and an electrifying sensation coursed down his spine. When he pulled back, Hange was blushing, cheeks red, and she eyed him with a small smile, fingers gripping his side pleasantly. His own face felt heated too. Too hot. If he went on like this he-

Levi abruptly stepped away, breaking the contact between them, and turned around, his knee protesting in his haste.

"We should get going, or we will miss the sunset. Wouldn't want to upset Gabi, hm," he said over his shoulder, not looking back, grabbing the walking cane and jacket on his way to the front door.

And he left Hange to follow him while he stumbled over the doorstep and into the mild air of early evening, cheeks still blazing. And though he tried, he couldn't wholly push away the little smile playing on his lips, and that became nearly impossible when soft fingers found his and intertwined.