Author's note: As in the manga, Hange uses they/them pronouns, despite being portrayed with more feminine characteristics in the anime. It's definitely confusing as a reader since English has no gender-neutral pronouns, but I tried my best to differentiate when they/them is meant to refer to Hange as a singular person vs. plural they/them. This is also my first time writing a fanfic for AoT and I'd love to hear with the fans think!


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Levi Ackerman, as Hange quickly came to realize, was a terrible patient.

He squirmed and moaned relentlessly as they sutured his face, weakly trying to push their hands away even as they begged him to remain still. Hange doubted he was fully conscious, but that didn't stop them from seriously considering delivering a concussion-inducing blow to the head to shut him up on more than one occasion.

His right eye had been completely seared by the thunder spear, its remnants now an opulent white scar. They decided there was nothing else they could do there. But at least they managed to remove most of the wood shrapnel peppering his face.

Levi's mangled hand was meticulously bandaged to the best of their ability. Hange tried not to think about just how screwed humanity was, now that Levi lost the two fingers needed to pilot his ODM gear. Fuck.

Finally, after copious hours of warring with their patient, Hange leaned back against a nearby tree and emitted a long, exhausted sigh. Their patient was tucked away as neatly as possible under several cloaks they had managed to salvage from dead Corps members, his face wrapped in so many bandages that he bore a strong resemblance to a mummified corpse. He was finally resting, albeit somewhat fitfully.

When he wakes up, he'll complain that I didn't bathe him, they moaned inwardly. Should I try to scavenge some shampoo now, before he wakes up?

But where the actual hell were they supposed to find shampoo, stranded as they were in the middle of god fuck nowhere?

At the very least, they could start a fire to warm up some water for his bath.

He better appreciate me more, Hange grumbled to themselves as they gathered firewood. I can't believe I'm thinking of his personal hygiene while the world is on the brink of annihilation.

"If I don't get to bathe you every day, that's not my fault," they suddenly said out loud. "Your neuroticism will have to wait while the fate of the world is at stake here."

Nearby, Levi's figure remained motionless on the ground. Hange rolled their eyes and continued foraging.

Several hours later, the flickering flames danced merrily in the darkness of night. The sun had long set, and Hange sat curled underneath their cloak, fighting against the chill.

"Where can we go, Levi?" they said sadly. "The military has fallen, Eren has gone berserk, and his lackeys are rounding up military personnel."

They chuckled darkly. "Maybe it's better to just stay here, in the woods. Hide out. Wait for it to pass over." Hange threw another glance at Levi's still form. "That wouldn't be so bad, would it? The two of us rough necking it out here. It'll be just like old times in the Survey Corps."

The stars shone brightly overhead. Hange emitted another long, sad sigh. "I promise I'll keep clean this time around…"

"You better, moron." The voice came out muffled underneath the swath of bandages, but it was enough to make Hange jump a foot in the air.

"Shit, Levi! You were awake this whole time?" They threw an incredulous glance at Levi, who had cracked open his only visible eye to glare disdainfully towards them. Despite his cantankerous mood, joy welled up inside Hange—only to turn to alarm as Levi immediately pushed himself up to sitting with a painful groan.

"How can I get any rest, when you're sitting there talking up a storm?" The acrid tone was marred by barely concealed pain.

"Good god, you shouldn't even be moving!" Hange snapped, laying him back down on the makeshift cot. "If you burst the beautiful stitches I spent hours suturing, I'll personally kill you myself." Levi rolled his eye and Hange was suddenly seized by an urge to slap him silly. "What the hell happened between you and Zeke anyways?" Almost immediately, they regretted asking. A spasm of pain so deep crossed the little of Levi's face still visible that Hange knew had nothing to do with his injuries, but rather was an indication of the insult carved into his pride.

He was silent for a beat.

"The bastard escaped," he said at last. "Turned my men into titans. I caught up with him, I had him under my control." He ground out the last sentence with spiteful venom. "I stuck a thunder spear into his abdomen, but I didn't count on him actually detonating it…"

Hange was appalled. "What in the living fuck made you think sticking a thunder spear into his abdomen was a good idea?" Levi avoided their gaze.

"Dunno. Wasn't counting on him being a betting man."

"Of all the stupid ideas…"

"Where is that filthy oaf anyways?"

Hange shrugged helplessly. "Floch and his men took him back to Eren I assume. I barely managed to escape with you at the time."

"Was it your intention to drown me?" Levi asked sarcastically. "Did the thunder spear not do enough damage to your liking?"

"How did you know about that?" Hange yelped. "You were completely out…"

"My throat hurts like a bitch and I reek of river water." Levi's glare was murderous. "You didn't even think to clean me up?"

They held up a wet rag defensively as proof. "I bathed you as best as I could, okay? It might surprise you when I say that it's quite hard to find soap in the middle of a goddamn forest…"

"Tch. Idiot."

While Levi simmered in annoyance, Hange bustled about, warming a bowl of soupy rations. "Just shut up and eat." Bowl in hand, they turned around, only to find Levi completely asleep and oblivious. Smiling slightly at the sight, they grabbed their cloak to settle down beside him for the night.

Under the light of a new day, Levi's condition looked even more hideous than Hange had anticipated. The skin around the sutures had become swollen and inflamed whereas the stumps of his fingers had begun to emit a serous discharge but didn't seem to indicate infection. Yet. Regardless, Hange wasn't taking any chances with the life of humanity's greatest soldier hanging by a thread on their shoulders. They readied their horse and with great effort managed to haul Levi onto the saddle before planting themselves behind him and binding the two of them tightly together with rope.

The journey proved painful for Levi, and despite his usually stoic nature, was groaning with pain throughout the ride back to his abandoned forest camp. When he finally passed out from exhaustion and had slumped listlessly forward on the saddle, Hange exhaled a sigh of relief despite the dead weight pulling painfully on them. It was a small mercy, and Levi had suffered enough as it were.

Levi proved to be as meticulous as always. Some of the supply boxes had escaped the destruction of the sudden rainfall of titans and he had not neglected to pack enough first aid for the entire brigade.

As Hange busied themselves with setting up camp before tending to Levi's injuries with antiseptic, a strong dose of antibiotics, and some liberal amounts of painkillers, their eyes fell on another crate that lay discarded in the grass. It was filled with empty wine bottles.

"You didn't drink any," It wasn't a question.

"Course not," he grunted. "I'm perfectly happy with tea." He sipped some from his mug as he spoke, Hange having prepared some with their evening meal in the campfire.

They sighed. "Thank god for small mercies."

Both lapsed into comfortable silence as the two of them watched the gentle flickering of the flames. Hange had thought Levi had since long passed out from exhaustion and was therefore surprised when his soft voice interrupted their wayward thoughts.

"I…thought about what you said last night."

They smirked. "Told you soap's hard to find around here."

"Shut up you idiot," Levi snapped. "Not about the soap…about us. Running away together."

Hange sat, stunned. They couldn't find any words to muster up in response to this bizarre conversation.

"We're the last two out of the original Survey Corps. With Erwin. Everyone else is either dead or a Titan by now. We don't even know of Armin, Mikasa, and the rest are still alive." He paused before asking quietly, "Aren't you tired of fighting?"

"Yes," they admitted reluctantly before biting their lip to mull silently over the thought.

And then suddenly, the answer sprang up effortlessly from the recesses of their mind. "But what about Erwin's sacrifice?" Hange ventured softly. "And everyone else, who gave up their lives and dedicated their hearts to the cause?"

Levi's features twisted into a bitter smile. "Yes, that thought weighs on me too." He heaved a long, dejected sigh. "I would never forgive myself if they all had died in vain."

"Neither would I."

"We keep fighting then." His tone rang with finality. "Until the very end."

"Dedicate your heart!" Hange punched the air enthusiastically with their salute. Levi rolled his remaining eye sardonically at their fervor but bit back his usual scathing retort.

"I'll take first watch," he said, much to Hange's surprise.

They regarded him critically. "The painkillers haven't kicked in, eh?"

"Paink—? …Hange, what the fuck."

"Two birds with one stone, Levi," Hange said smugly. Levi looked livid. "Cures your pain and insomnia."

"I'll pay you back in spades for this."

"Shut up and go to sleep."

Within the hour, Levi's eyelid was drooping ominously and he didn't even bother mustering up a fight as Hange laid him down to rest on the cot. As they looked down upon his slumbering features, Hange was suddenly seized by a bizarre combination of sadness and longing. A single stroke of his dark hair was all they allowed themselves before also turning in for the night.

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Hinted not so subtly that I totally stan the Levi/Hange ship because of how they end things in the manga, but ultimately I think they would be really discreet about their feelings. They already radiate old married couple vibes as it were. Why not make it official. Reviews are welcome and much appreciated, as always!