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“You’re not dressed.”
Levi cocked a brow at the doorway where Hange stood, shoulder-leaning the frame with her arms folded over her chest.
“Well, you’re not wrong,” he said, eyes pinched in a scowl as he pulled his towel back around his bare hips. “I’m not in the mood to chat, four-eyes.”
Hange pushed from the door frame and stepped into the room. Levi’s clothes were piled neatly atop his pillows, boots and maneuver gear set at the foot of the bed, scrubbed clean and freshly polished and Hange could smell the acrid burn of bleach wafting up from the wood floors.
She brushed past him, scooping up his clothes and holding them out for him to take. He eyed the dirt on her fingernails with clear distaste and took the items from her grip, dusting them down and deepening his scowl.
“What do you want?”
Hange blinked at him and dropped down to sit on his mattress. The corner of Levi’s eye twitched and his spine snapped into place, shoulders bunched and fists clenched and he turned his back to her. He paused, eyes glassy and staring at one of the empty beds, and then he twisted away and dropped his clothes on top of the dresser, picking his underwear from the pile and slipping them on under his towel.
“To go on a trip,” said Hange. Levi’s body stiffened.
“A trip?” He asked, casting a glance over one shoulder. Hange nodded, beaming over at him.
“I have a couple of things to pick up from the market, and I want you to come with.”
Levi pulled his trousers up and loosened his towel, folding it over the back of his chair.
“And if I say no?”
Hange watched him slide the sleeves of his shirt up his arms and over his shoulders; watched his fingers deftly fasten the buttons and tuck the loose ends into his pants. She eyed the bleach-clean floors, the crease-free beds -every bed, not just his own, even though there were no recruits sleeping there anymore - and the polished leather of his boots. He was mechanical, methodical, following a familiar routine without thought or question and she wondered if this was the usual Levi, or the Levi trying desperately to cope with a loss too big to comprehend.
“As your superior,” Hange said, and Levi whipped a glower her way, “you’d be hard-pressed to ignore an order. But, I’m not interested in bossing you around. Come if you want, or don’t. It’s no skin off my back.” She stood, clapped him on the shoulder as she passed.
She was rounding the door frame and heading for the mess hall when Levi spoke up.
“When are you leaving?”
Hange leaned back and braced her fingers on the door jam to peer in at him. He was smoothing his bedspread where she’d sat, back to the door, and when he was done he spared another glance to the empty bunks.
“In about half an hour. Meet me in the stables, if you’re coming.”
**
He stepped up beside her with five minutes to spare, his horse saddled and ready, cape fastened around his neck and his eyes narrowed.
“You made it!” She said, smacking his arm and barking out a laugh when he stumbled a little under the unexpected blow. Hange pulled herself up atop her horse and Levi did the same, tugging the reins and turning to face her.
“What do you need from town?” Levi asked. Hange squeezed her legs and her horse set off at a walk. Levi followed; he still wasn’t used to riding and though he was perfectly good at it, he felt unsteady, pressing his weight onto the balls of his feet as Hange sped through a trot and into a canter.
“Just some supplies.” She threw the words over her shoulder as they passed through the main gates and out onto the city-bound road. She kicked a little harder and burst into a gallop. “Keep up, short stuff, we’re on a time-cap.”
Levi growled under his breath and snapped his reins, digging his heels into his horses flanks and tensing his thighs to hold his balance as he raced to catch up.
It was the petty, proud part of him that sent him sailing a few paces ahead of Hange before he eased his speed. Her laughter rang out behind him and for the first time since…well, since then, his lips cracked up into a smile.
And then she caught up to him, and he forced his features back into his usual dead-stare.
The ride past in silence from Levi and constant chatter from Hange. She had a lot to say about very little and any other time, Levi might have been annoyed, but things had been so painfully quiet lately and the company was almost nice.
They dismounted at the mouth of the market. A stable hand took their horses and Levi stood, silent and brooding, while Hange exchanged a few words with the man. He cast his eyes down the main street and passed his sight from stall to stall; some sold utensils, others sold fresh fruit and vegetables and one was stacked with raw meat and fish. He could see a baker cutting baked bread, a small, aged lady opening little glass bottles of all colours and holding them out for shoppers to smell.
“She sells perfumes,” Hange said, following Levi’s gaze and pointing. “They’re amazing. There’s one that smells like vanilla, and a couple of fruity ones and oh! There’s one you would like. Smells like that lavender soap you use.”
Levi curled his lip and side-eyed Hange.
“And you never thought to buy some for yourself? If you’re not going to shower you could at least try and mask the stench.”
He didn’t point out that he had no idea what vanilla smelled like. Lavender was cheap, the nicest scent he’d had access to in the underground. Vanilla, though, was expensive; he’d never even had the chance to steal it.
“Rude,” Hange said, but she was smiling and Levi found himself staring, for longer than he’d care to admit, at the light in her eyes. “There’s another stall you’ll like, a little further up.”
“Oh?” Levi followed Hange’s long strides into the marketplace.
“You like tea, right?”
Levi nodded, eyes lingering on a flower stall blooming with lilies and roses and plants he didn’t even know thename of and his chest ached; there was so much of this world he’d never seen, so much he had wanted to see, was going to see with his friends and their loss would forever weigh heavy on him.
“There’s a lady from Sina who comes out here and sells all kinds of tea,” Hange said. “I’m on strict orders to pick up some supplies for Erwin, but if you see any you like, we can squeeze it on the budget.”
Levi cocked a brow at Hange and she shrugged a shoulder, picking something supple and juicy from the fruit stand and handing over a few coins in return. Levi’s nose wrinkled as Hange bit into it, juice trailing between her fingers and over her wrist and he eyed the fuzzy fruit warily.
“The fuck is that?”
Hange paused mid-bite and crossed her eyes to glance at the fruit.
“A peach,” she said, frowning, “you’ve never had one?”
Levi toed at a pebble on the path and rolled his shoulders.
“We got apples and oranges,” Levi said, “and bananas, if we were lucky. Fruit isn’t cheap. What we ate, we stole.”
Hange stared for a minute more, then doubled back and grabbed another peach from the stand. She paid what she owed and held it out to him.
“You’ve gotta branch out,” she said, “apples and oranges are the bare minimum. There’s so much out there you’ve yet to try, Levi!”
He took the peach and squeezed it in his palm. Hange took another bite of her own and gestured back to the stall.
“What about berries? Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries?”
Levi shook his head, rubbed his thumb over the skin of the peach.
“I didn’t realise how much we withheld,” Hange mumbled, and teased her teeth over the stone in her peach. “And to think, they have twice as much as they need in Wall Sina.”
Levi stared at the fruit, then raised it to his lips and sank his teeth into the flesh.
Hange’s eyed bulged behind her glasses and she leaned close, hands clasped around the peach pit as she watched him chew and swallow.
“Good?” She said, and Levi stared at the bitten fruit for a moment longer before lifting his eyes to hers. He nodded. “Good!” She pulled her watch from the breast pocket of her jacket, whistled through her teeth, and grabbed the sleeve of Levi’s spare hand, tugging him along behind her.
“What’s the rush?” Levi asked. He took another bite of the peach and savoured the flavour against his tongue. It was new, refreshing.
“Time-cap.”
She dragged him up the main street, past the baker and the butcher and the lady selling perfumes, past another fruit stand with peaches twice the size of the one in his hand, all the way to the centre of the market where she paused, then pulled him through a gap between two stalls and out onto another street.
She lead him further from the market - up a side street between two rows of buildings, tall and angular on either side - until she stopped abruptly and turned again, this time through a doorway. Levi discarded what was left of his fruit and, with a frown, followed.
A bell jangled overhead as Levi let the door fall shut behind him, and several eyes flitted their way, eyeing the uniform with looks that varied from bitter to apprehensive to excited, and Levi found himself curling a little deeper into his cloak. He’d never been one to shine under watchful eyes.
Hange, on the other hand, beamed around her - completely unphased -and took a seat at a table for two by the window. Levi pulled out the other chair and sat, and Hange thrust a menu his way.
“You dragged me into town to bring me here?” Levi said, glancing around the room. “A cafe. I thought we were on a time-cap.”
Hange nodded, scanned her eyes over her own menu, then dropped it to the table and propped her chin on her palms.
“I did say I’d take you to lunch,” she said. “It won’t be lunch if we leave it much longer.” Levi stiffened and dropped his gaze to his menu.
If we make it back alive, I’ll buy you lunch some time.
“You don’t need to. We didn’t make it back alive,” Levi said, a sharp edge to his tone. Hange blinked.
“We did.”
“Not all of us,” Levi hissed. Hange reached across the table to squeeze his wrist, but Levi wrenched it from her grip and folded his arms over his chest.
“We never do,” Hange said. “We never all make it home. It sucks, yeah, but it happens. We lose people.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Levi snarled. Hange sat back in her chair and eyed him for a moment, and Levi fought not to squirm under her scrutiny.
“Because you need to hear it,” she said. “You’ve been moping for weeks now-”
“My friends died.”
“And I’m sorry about that. Really, I am. But we all lose people, Levi. And it never gets any easier.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I’m sure you do,” Hange said. “But in this line of work you have to know that, and accept it, and go on mission after mission with the solid knowledge that you can lose anyone at any time. It’s not an easy job.”
Levi huffed out a breath and glared at Hange over the table
“This is in no way encouraging, you know that?”
Hange grinned across the table, drummed her fingers over the menu.
“I’m still working on my pep-talking skills,” she said, “give me a few years, I’ll be golden.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Levi said. He opened the menu and scanned his options as Hange chuckled.
“I’ll remember you said that,” she said, smiling.
“Enough pep talks for one day,” said Levi. “Let’s just eat and leave.”
“Probably a good idea. What’re you having? Get what you like, I’m buying.”
“I can pay for my own,” Levi said, and Hange shrugged a shoulder, still grinning.
“You can get it next time.”