Hanji closed the window of her office as the cool air started to chill her bones, it was a rainy evening and she had a lot of work to do.
She signed deeply as she sat on her chair, she glanced at the papers in her desk and her eyebrows twisted. It was still early, but she had so much to do…
She rested her head back on the chair, feeling a headache building up. she took her glasses, then she lifted the patch form her face and started to rub her eyes.
"Long day?" a voice snapped her out of her moment and she looked up to find Levi Ackerman
"Long day? More like long night ahead" she said chuckling while she covered her left eye with the patch
"I just came back from visiting Eren, the brat doesn't want to talk, it seems like his phase of only muttering to himself is back"
"I would have to pay him a visit tomorrow," she said, putting back her glasses and grabbing one of the papers from her desk
"Have you decided what to do with Yelena?" She signed heavily
"I'm on that, I will have to take some time to clarify their intentions" he didn't respond, instead he sat on the couch crossing his legs, lifting an eyebrow at the sight of the dusty coffee table in front of him.
"but I think we should be prepared, if what they are saying is true, the titans from Marley will come again sooner than we expect, we have to take any advantage we can" once again she took her glasses, this time she slipped a hand under the patch and rubbed her eye.
"does it hurt?" he asked suddenly, looking straight at her
"what?"
"your eye, does it still hurt?"
"not really, just when I try to open it, but sometimes it gets itchy, mostly when i'm stressed, it's really bothersome"
"You should take a break" he suggested. Hange rested her chin on her hand, still rubbing her eye and said
"I don't have time for that" she placed her glasses back on and proceeded to read the paper she started earlier. But the lights in the room were too dim and the letters on the paper were too small, she moved the paper closer to her face and she squinted her eyes to try to read the text, it only made her headache worse.
"have you been using the eye drops you got from the doctor?" Levi asked, looking at the scene, she chuckled sarcastically
"Who are you, my mother?" Levi only crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow. When he came to her office to inform the commander about Eren Jaeger, he wasn't prepared to find her in a weak spot.
She rolled her good eye in response and waving her arms she said
"I had forgotten about the damned eye drops"
"You moron" he muttered, Hanji stood up and walked to the medical kit in the office, then took out a little bottle, she sat across from him and took her patch of and left it on the coffee table. Levi stared at her, tilting his head to the side
"It's worse than I remembered it"
"well, thanks" she responded sarcastically, pushing her head back to put the eye drops. Levi only observed how her face twisted in what seemed like pain as she liquid got into her injured eye. Months have passed since that incident and in truth her eye looked way better than before, it was no longer bloody or swollen, but the injured skin around it was still ugly and her eyelids were permanently semi closed due to the scar, leaving just enough space to see her red eyeball.
When she was finished she reached to grab her eye patch but her hand ended up being slightly off and she missed. That's when she stood up and kicked the coffee table yelling
"God dammit, I'm so tired of this" papers were sent flying everywhere and the small table ended up upside down on the floor. Levi remain calm just observing the scene. Hanji sat back down on the chair closing her eyes rubbing her temples
"Im sorry, I lost my composure there" she commented, with that Levi stood up from his spot and walked to grab her eye patch, that was now laying on the floor by the severed coffee table. He walked closer to her deciding that it was his time to interfere.
"Just give it time, your doctor said it would get better once you are adapted"
"Time? That's the only thing I don't have" she angrily snatched the patch of his hand and placed it back on her eye.
"I never thought being a cyclops would be this difficult" she said laughing softly. he almost chuckled at the word cyclops, it seemed to be something she would tell people when they asked to get a good laugh out of them, but he didn't laugh, his brain telling him that this time it was not a joke.
His eyes met hers and he could almost see her good eye get glassy, as if she was about to cry. 'Damn it Hanji' he thought, her usual energy was gone and the grin she had on her face while working had vanished, she hated her new job but she assumed it without complaint.
"If you want to let it out I will listen" he offered. Hanji laughed again, a reaction he wasn't expecting
"thanks for worrying about me, but i'll be fine," she said, his cheeks turned a bit pink
"I'm not worried," he muttered, not wanting to admit his concern.
"It's just that, I get frustrated sometimes…"
'here she goes' he thought
"I thought that not having an eye was going to be easy, because well, you know, I still have my other eye, but damn was I wrong"
"your doctor said the pain will eventually go away"
She rolled her good eye
"Is not that Levi, it really doesn't hurt anymore, the problem is that when I lost my eye I also lost my depth perception. Now, I miscalculate my distance to everything, that's why I missed my grab earlier. I can't even serve my tea without missing the cup and spilling everywhere, and to top it all up my other eye is getting worse and I need a higher graduation on my glasses because I can no longer read the papers with small letters. It sucks because I don't even think I will be able to do a precise swing with the 3D maneuver gear, as for now I'm pretty much useless in battle"
Slowly Levi started to understand what was really going on. The situation was no different than when Erwin lost his arm. The same desperation was there, the feeling of being useless and the painful process of adapting to a new life. He grunted quietly, he had misjudged Hanji's injury as something relatively minor but things were proving to be more complicated than they appear.
"Take a break" he suggested again, Hanji grunted
"I told you, I have no time for that"
"I'll take care of it"
"Yeah right, leave me alone Levi, I have work to do" As she stood up to get back to her desk he grabbed her wrist
"I'm not joking, you're tired, if you keep working like this your job won't be efficient and you would turn in shittier papers than usual. Go to bed I finish for you"
She gave him an incredulous look, her good eye was still a bit glassy, but she wasn't allowing her tears to come.
"are you really that worried? Am I really that bad?" She asked looking down. He made an angry noise mounting
"Im not worried" Hanji was still unsure of the situation
"Are you sure? This is my job Levi, I have to do it"
"I'm sure, go rest, you'll feel better in the morning" he answered, Hanji smiled at him saying
"Thank you, you really are great emotional support"
And with that, she left the room. He turned around to see the mess in the office.
'Damn it Hanji, why do you always get me into shit like this?' he thought angrily.
He moved his way to the mountain of paperwork on the desk. As he sat on the large leather chair he couldn't help but look at an old photo of Hanji that rested on top of the desk. With her usual crazy smile, wearing a lab coat, and… with two working eyes.
He signed deeply. Sometimes he wished he could go back to simpler times...