Early April 1999

Levi and Hanji are working on her dad's new to him truck in the garage. Her father asks her about the upcoming dance at school. "Is that dance you mentioned coming up soon?" He asks her as he hands Levi bolts to bag as they take apart the carburetor.

"Yeah two weeks." Hanji said, spinning on the rolling chair watching them work. How Levi got stuck getting his hands dirty and she didn't was beyond him. He didn't really like cars and he certainly didn't like all the grime that came with them even just putting the bolts into a bag his fingers already had god knows what kind of shit on them. "I'm actually going shopping this weekend with Nifa and Cenzie for it."

"Are you going Levi?"

"No." He snorted.

"Oh come on!"

He scowled at her. He couldn't think of anything worse than a loud claustrophobic school dance with people he despised. He'd rather bathe in motor oil. "Can't anyway. Got into too many fights. Can't do any sport or dances or clubs." He explained briefly, privately happy for a real reason why she couldn't drag him with her like she did to the shitty house party a few months ago.

"That sucks, you haven't gotten into a fight since you beat up Floch." Hanji sighed disappointedly.

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Fought plenty of times before that."

She perked up as an idea came to her, "You should come hang out with us after!"

"Why?" Levi sighed. "I didn't want to go to the dance, why would I want to hang out with everyone afterwards."

Hanji rolled her eyes. "It's not everyone, just my friends!"

"Exactly." Levi said dryly.

"I bet Furlan will come so you'll have one other person there you're friends with." She argued.

"Yeah I'll have one person there I'm friends with."

She kicked him in the leg. "Rude."

"Pain in the ass." He shot back. "This is why you're not my friend."

Levi's not sure why he finally agreed to come over after the dance or how Hanji convinced her parents to let them all come over to her house. But Hanji had made him promise over and over, so here he was. Furlan had convinced him to bring him his backpack full of booze with him. Her parents had agreed that Hanji's friends could come over if they stayed in the basement. It was a ugly room with wood paneling and a green carpet over the linoleum floor. There was an old couch and TV down there and it was big enough for all of them comfortably.

He descended the stairs and he finally sees her and he can't breathe or think or speak. She got a bright blue blazer and white flared pants with a heeled boot that makes her nearly a full head taller than him, but he could not care less the way they make her legs go on her miles– they make his brain go to mush. He forces himself to look away at anything else.

Furlan is smirking at him and he scowls. "Here's your shitty bag." He said curtly as he shoved the backpack into his friend's stomach. He realized there were a lot of people here; Moblit, Nifa, Kenji, Abel Cenzie and Nanaba were here as well. He didn't like any of them and they didn't like him. He sighed, why did he agree to be here.

"Levi!" Hanji cried and threw her arm over his shoulder with enough force to cause them both to stumble.

"Oi!" He grunted, trying to ignore the tingling and the heat that was crawling across his skin where she was touching him. "Get off me." he protested for protested sake, but he didn't try to shrug her off.

"Come here, I want to show you my pictures!" She pulled him over to look at the polaroids she had taken at the dance. There was one of her and Nifa making finger guns at the camera, them all in a group and one of her and Moblit with his arm around which made him feel queasy. He finally tore away from her grip and went back to hang on the periphery as they all laughed and chatted. Furlan had no issue fitting in with the group like Hanji he'd always been a social butterfly meanwhile just being around this amount of people put him on edge even if two of them were the closest people in the world to him.

Cenzie and Nanaba were sitting at the small folding table sipping the beers Furlan made him bring and gossiping by the sounds of it as the others eventually put on an old VHS horror movie. He leaned against the concrete pole and watched the others laugh and joke. Hanji was laughing so hard she was leaning hard into Moblit and he was smiling at her. He looked away idly listening to whatever drama happened with Nanaba's date during the dance and stared blankly at the shitty movie on the shitty TV.

Eventually Cenzie joined her boyfriend on the couch. Kenji and Nifa on a bean bag chair. Hanji was sitting on the floor next to Moblit and Furlan. Levi was stiff sitting against the pole so he took her chair. Nanaba down the rest of her beer, her third. "Don't judge me." She scoffed at him.

He huffed dismissively in response. He didn't give a shit about it and to prove it pushed another beer Cenzie had left in front of her. "Cheers to the asshole then." He deadpanned.

"Cheers to Mike." She agreed, raising the beer and downing it.

The movie credits roll he and Nanaba were the only one still awake; it must have been well past 2 am by now. Levi stretches. "Her sister's room is free, unless you rather sleep on the floor." He told Nanaba.

She looks at him surprised. "Will she mind?"

He shakes his head, his gaze on Hanji. "Piecks not going to be home until the summer. Hanji would have offered it to you anyway if she'd stay awake."

"Uh sure yeah that'd be nice."

He nods and He moved to kick Furlan. "Hey, go sleep on the couch." He hissed at his best friend. Furlan only rolled over. He sighs, giving up, turning back to her. "Turn off the TV and then follow me I'll show you." His eyes are on Hanji now.

She does so as he scoops Hanji up easily into his arms. She shifts her head more onto his shoulder but doesn't wake. Nanaba follows Levi up the two flights up stairs. "Mind opening Hanji's door for me?" He nodded at said door.

She does and watches him walk in, easily kicking a backpack out of the way and lays her on her bed. He walks back over to her. His eyes linger on Hanji as he shut the door. He walks a little further down the hall. "Bathroom the door in between the rooms." He tells her as he opens Pieck's door. "I'll be on the couch in the living room. Her mom's got work in the morning so her parents are going to be up early." He told her.

She wondered why he knew so much about Hanji's parents schedule. "Good night." He nods and disappears down stairs.

Levi was right the next morning the combination of sleeping in a strange place and the noise of Hanji's parents moving around and getting ready woke her up. She lay in bed for a little longer before giving up and trying to pull herself together as much as she could. She was glad she had taken the change of clothes from Hanji last night when they had gotten here. She went down stairs cautiously. She found Levi already up and having breakfast with Hanji's father. The two talked about cars over their food. She awkwardly introduced herself and accepted the box of cereal they offered her. Hanji's dad tried to ask her a little about the dance but it was clear neither knew what to say so he went back to talking to Levi who was speaking more than she ever knew he was capable of. Furlan came up the stairs, his hair so messy it looked like a bad wig.

"Man sleeping on the floors is awful." He complained.

"It's your own fault I tried to wake you up." Levi told him with a shrug.

Hanji comes down stairs not too long after that. "Good morning." She says with a smile that Nanaba has no idea how it can be produced with so few hours of sleep. If she was surprised to wake up in her own bed she doesn't show it as she leans her elbow against Levi's shoulder and steals the other half of his breakfast sandwich.

"Tch shithead." Levi glared at her, grabbing it back from her. "Make your own." He cuts off the area she bit.

"Afraid of my germs?" She teases him lightly, still leaning over his shoulder.

"Afraid your craziness is infectious." He corrected her back.

"You wish! You're just boring, you need a little craziness." She picks up the piece he cut off and eats it as he scowls at her. No one bats an eye at this Furlan and her father don't break the conversation they're having about the 76ers chances in the playoffs but Nanaba is taken aback at how easy and in sync with each other they are.

Furlan isn't surprised to see Levi get jealous again as soon as Hanji transitioned into talking about the dance with her father and gushing about her 'date'–Moblit. The shift in his mood was barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it. But he gripped the glasses of orange juice with white knuckles and he became unresponsive for the first time that morning. The little he did say had just a hint of bite to it toward Hanji, which was rare for him.

"I should get home. Check on Isabel." Furlan said. "Thanks for having me and breakfast."

"I'll go too." Levi said.

Hanji hugged Levi from behind, her cheek resting against his shoulder. "Thanks for coming!" Then hugged Furlan.

On the way home Furlan can't resist teasing Levi. "So you didn't want to spend the day with Hanji and Moblit."

"Fuck off."

"What? Thought they were your friends."

"More like your friends you're the one that went the shitty dance with them."

"Please, you would have gone if you could have."

"Yes because I love socializing with loud sweaty groups of people I don't know." he said sarcastically.

"Even if it would stop Hanji from spending all night with Moblit?"

"I don't give a shit about how either of them spend their night."

"Sure you do."

A stranger bumped into him as he came out of a store. "Watch where your fucking going!" Levi shoved the man roughly.

"Hey!" Furlan jogged to catch up with his friends. "Look, don't get worked up about it. She's not dating him anyways."

"Doesn't matter."

"Yes it does if you just talked to her–"

"Why? She likes him, didn't she tell you that?"

"What?"

"That day at the mall when I got ice cream with Isabel. Isn't that what she told you when we were gone?"

Furlan starts laughing uncontrollably. "That's what you've been all sulky about?"

"Fuck off." Levi starts walking away from him again.

"No wait!" Furlan grabs his best friend's arm. "That's not what happened Levi, it's actually the opposite.

"Do you want to start dating again?"

She scrunched up her nose. "I don't know. It's never been a big thing for me like it is for other girls."

"What about Moblit? Doesn't he have a crush on you?"

She laughs. "God no, he's got a massive crush on Nifa but she's dating Kenji right now."

"Really? Man, usually I'm better at picking up on those things." He shook his head.

"Hey, maybe I'm completely off here but I don't like you or anything. I just don't want anything to be weird or maybe this is making it weird so just ignore me if I am." She said awkwardly.

"No no, I get it. It's okay. I don't see you as anything more than a friend." He agreed. "Besides Levi wouldn't like it and Levi doesn't like that we're friends with you in the first place."

"What, I thought we moved past that?"

"Oh I never had an issue with it, he's just got it in his head you're too good for us. He's probably right." He said just as awkwardly.

"Talk to her, Levi. Please." Furlan told him. "I know you're socially inept when it comes to girls but she likes you too literally everyone else knows it."

"She doesn't."

Furlan rolled his eyes so far back in his head he thought they'd get stuck. "Bro she is so much more touchy with you. She always hangs out with you. Even if you're not there she talks about you." He lists.

"She is touchy with everyone and will tell everyone every thought that enters her head." Levi argued stubbornly.

"Dude…" He sighs. "Come on, even you gotta admit that you guys hang out alot. Levi, how often are you at her house now? Do you see Moblit there? Or Nifa? Or any of her other friends?"

"You're reading too much into this." He brushed his friend off.

"You're more blind than she is!"

Spring 1994

"Pieck, Hanji, we have something to tell you." Her dad said one night at dinner.

"What is it Dad?" Pieck asked.

"Well I've been offered a new job that's a lot better than my current one."

"Congratulations dad!" Hanji smiled at him. Both of her parents weren't smiling.

"It's out of the state. So we're moving next month." He said bluntly.

"Wait, what!" Pieck said. "Where?"

"Boston." 500 miles away.

"We know this is a big change." Her mother began.

"But I'm a sophomore in high school! Mom, I just made friends!" Pieck exclaimed. "I'd have to leave all my friends!"

"I don't want to leave. I like our house here. And school and my friends. Levi's here!" Hanji protested too.

"I know it's a big change." Her mother said. "We're going to be a lot further away from everyone we know but it truly is for the best."

"How?" Pieck asked.

"It's nearly double my current salary and your mom can find work easily in Boston. It is a much better school system than here." her father ticked off. "It's not a debate. This is happening." He told them firmly.

Hanji felt awful about it. She hated leaving her life here and she felt sick over telling Levi. She didn't want to move to a new place with a new room, new school, and new friends. "I have something to tell you." Hanji began nervously.

"What is it now, Glasses?" Levi groaned from his back staring up at the clouds as they relaxed at recess.

"Did you know starfish can grow back their arms?" She chickened out and asked instead.

"Too bad you can't regrow your common sense." He teased her.

"Levi?" She said, biting her lip.

"What?" He half whined.

"I'm moving."

"What?" he sat up and stared over at her next to him.

She nodded, biting her lip. "My dad's got a new job in Boston."

"But that's like five states away."

"Yeah…." She trailed off, not sure what to say.

"You're leaving." He said it harshly. She looked at him hurt by his tone and already hurt by the fact that she was moving away from her home. "I guess I'll see you later maybe." He muttered getting up and heading back inside for his next class.

The next day in school he's sitting next to her at lunch like he always does. "I'm sorry I left yesterday. I was mad you're leaving."

"I don't want to leave."

"I know."

"It sucks."

"Yeah."
"We're going to hang out as much as possible until you leave."

Hanji smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

It was the last week that Hanji was going to be here. He had been at her house all weekend. Her parents had let him sleepover even though there were moving boxes everywhere. His mother had threatened him that he was to be on his best behavior because they were very busy with moving. Hanji's mother had assured her that it was easier if he was there to occupy Hanji. It had been normal on Friday and Saturday but now it was Sunday afternoon. His mother was coming to pick him up in a few hours and there was a sinking feeling in his gut about it all. The house was practically empty; everything up the mattresses and couch were boxed up ready to be picked up on Tuesday when they left. This was the last time he was going to see her.

"I'm going to write to you." She said breaking the silence they had been in.

Levi wrinkled his nose. "Why?"

"So we can stay friends."

"But it's not going to be the same."

"Yeah but your life is boring with no friends."

"My life will be fine."

"I'm still going to write to you."

"Whatever glasses."

Summer 1994

Hey Shorty!

It's Hanji! But I guess you already knew that. Anyway, we just got settled in Boston and I wanted to write to you like I promised. It would be easier if we could do it by email, but you don't have a computer and we don't have ethernet yet. It is a lot like home here. We're further away from the city than my last house (It feels weird saying that still haha) I have a bigger backyard with a lot of trees that we could totally climb and make a fort if you were here. I miss you and everyone at school. I wish I didn't have to come here, but tell me everything that's happened since I left!

Your best friend,

Hanji