"I just don't understand why you can't grow a pair and ask them." Isabel's hands were on her waist, one hip popped out. She gave Levi a look - no, the look - the one she'd given him every once and awhile throughout the past semester. Recently, though, she started giving them to him almost daily, eyebrows wiggling and thin lips twitching.

Farlan leaned against the kitchen bar, arms crossed over his chest. He glanced between them and smirked. Levi scowled, jamming his hands down his skinny jeans pockets.

"Oh, I don't know," Levi nearly spat out, "maybe because it's a matter of life and death."

Isabel only rolled her eyes.

"Aniki, you're being ridiculously dramatic. You've really got nothing to fear by just asking them, and you know it."

Fuck, Isabel was right.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Pale pink petals floated on lazy spring breezes. Hange insisted they take the route through the park back to their apartment instead of their usual walk down twisting Tokyo streets just so they could admire everything a little longer. Trees lined the bustling path. Everybody and their mother seemed to be out and about. Levi watched a father scold his daughter for trying to climb up one of the cherry blossom trees.

His stomach growled.

"Earth to Shorty," Hange punched his shoulder, "are you even listening to me?"

"You telling me you're still bitching about Dr. Sommers' grammar assignment?" He smacked their wrist away.

"Dr. Sommers is just an awful teacher, really. Independent clauses and hyperbole fun facts are beyond my pay grade." Hange pouted and stared at their feet.

Something inside of Levi's chest twisted when he saw Hange sink into themself, crest-fallen.

"Hey," he pinched their elbow, grabbing their attention. "That's why you've got me."

Their head shot up. Bangs fell across their face, framed their cheeks. Loose locks dusted their shoulders and wrinkled hoodie. They smiled at him. A blush crept up his throat, and he quickly looked at the ducks in the pond.

"I'll help you study all that crap and edit your papers."

"You really are the best."

"I know."

By the time they got to Hange's apartment, his ears were red. Hange burst through the front door and bustled into their studio. Following close behind them, Levi carefully brushed ivy vines out of the threshold as the door quietly clicked closed behind him. Pots and pans banged about the kitchen while Hange tore through their cabinets for their watering can. Levi shouldered his backpack onto the folded up futon, narrowly missing Hange's plethora of pillows.

The kitchen sink spluttered to life. Hange didn't turn the faucet off before they were bustling towards Levi. Their foot pushed dirty plates and used cups around the coffee table. A bowl slipped from its edge, and Levi darted forward to catch it. Then Hange teetered on the table, stretching long to water the other hanging plants that were draped about the studio walls.

"Do you want anything to snack on while we study?" The hem of Hange's button down came out of their jeans, flashing Levi a hint of warm skin. He was surprised to see a smattering of freckles along the seam of their hip. Transfixed, he stared at the smooth expanse of their stomach until his mouth watered.

Hange hopped off the coffee table and looked at him with a brow quirked. Guilt flooded his chest as he shook his head. He turned to his backpack and rifled through it, searching for his binder while Hange rushed away to turn the sink off. Then they plopped down beside him with a melon pan and an unopened Pretz box in hand.

"You good Smalls?"

He nodded so fast his teeth clacked together.

"Yes. Yep. Yup, I'm good. Fine, never been better." Levi nervously scratched his undercut while he flipped through his Japanese Language Skills papers, scrambling to move the conversation away from himself. "So, uh, how's working for your uncle going?"

Hange pulled out their binder as well, biting back a secret smile. For the past couple of weeks, it hadn't escaped their notice that Levi had been acting a bit strangely around them. From all of their friend's recent blushing, they couldn't help but hope that - maybe, just maybe - they knew why Levi was being weird. They wanted him to ask them on a date, but, sooner or later, Hange would just have to ask him themself.

"Oh, it's so much fun! Being at the funeral home, helping my uncle prep the bodies - it's only reassuring me that mortuary science is the right career path for me."

"I just don't know who wakes up and says, 'yes, today I want to spend all of my time around rotting bodies' -"

"- You know me!"

Levi's eyes narrowed at Hange before he returned to organizing his papers for their homework.

"Unfortunately."

"Rude!" Hange smacked the back of his head.

"Ow." Levi smashed his shoulder against theirs. "Fuck off, Four Eyes. Do you want me to help you with this grammar bullshit or not?"

Evening waltzed through the cracks between Hange's balcony blinds faster than Levi would've liked. Before he knew it, they had finished all of that week's Japanese assignments.

Hange played YouTube videos on their laptop. They hugged a pillow to their chest. Their arms were wrapped around their shins, chin resting on the tops of their knees. Levi couldn't concentrate on the stupid anime. Instead, he kept glancing at Hange out of the corner of his eye.

"Alright." Hange sat up. Their pillow slumped onto the floor as they leaned forward, pausing the video. Then they turned towards Levi. "What's up with you?"

Swallowing, he sat up.

"So, I'm not even gonna deny it. Yeah, you're right. I've gotta tell you something but -" his hands wrung together "- I'm pretty fucking scared to tell you."

Their brows furrowed.

"Levi, you can tell me anything." Their hand fell onto his bouncing knee. His leg stilled. "I'm your friend. I've got your back through thick and thin."

"Yeah, I'm not so sure you'll still feel like that after you hear what I've got to say."

They rolled their eyes. Giddiness flooded their stomach.

"Just spit it out, Smalls. You'll feel a lot better after you get whatever it is off your chest."

He nodded, and his leg started bouncing again. Hange sat back.

"O.K., so I've got a lot of shit to explain. So, um, just let me finish before you bombard me with questions."

Hange nodded and folded their arms over their chest. Levi cleared his throat.

"Fuck, I'm not even sure where to start, so I'm just gonna spit it out." Sighing, he held their gaze. "Hange, I'm a ghoul, and I need your help."

Their jaw dropped, eyes wide.

"No way," they breathed as Levi started talking fast.

"My family and I - we, we don't kill people, though. I swear to you, we don't. We go up to the Aokigahara forest, and, and - fuck - we take the bodies left over from the suicides." He paused. A trembling hand ran through his hair. His bangs fell across his flushed face

"You're a ghoul. . ." Hange's voice trailed off as they looked him up and down, chewing their cheek.

He nodded once.

". . . And you need my help?"

"Uh yeah. So we can't always get to the forest since it's, like, two hours away, you know? Things come up. I, um, wanted to ask you if you could help me steal bodies from your uncle's funeral home."

Hange's brows shot into their hairline.

"So you want me to be your accomplice for how many crimes?"

Levi turned white. Hange threw their head back and laughed, shoulders shaking.

"I'm just teasing you—"

"— Hange, how the absolute fuck could you tease me after what I just told you? Fuck, do you even know what ghouls are?"

Hange grabbed the pillow off the floor and put it behind their back before they leaned against the futon.

"Yes, actually, I'm well aware of what ghouls are. You of all people know how obsessed I am with them."

"Yeah, but reading about ghouls versus committing third degree felonies with a ghoul are two very different things."

"You make it sound like this information — knowing what you are — changes the fact that we're friends."

Levi slumped against the couch. He couldn't look at Hange. Instead, his fingers picked at his nails.

"Doesn't it?" He mumbled.

Hange grabbed Levi's hands and squeezed. He looked at them.

"No, it doesn't, Levi."

He tried to swallow past the sudden thickness in his throat, but all he could do was nod.

"So you'll help me?"

A shit-eating grin lit up Hange's face. Their freckles stood out against their tan skin. When they blinked, Levi noticed freckles dusted their lids. It churned his growling stomach into knots.

"I'll help you on one condition."

Levi's brows furrowed.

"You go on a date with me."