𝕠𝕣𝕡𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕤 ➸ 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧

3 - A Winter To Remember

Months had passed, and Levi's eighteenth birthday had come around. It was Christmas evening and Levi was cleaning his bedroom. 
"Happy Birthday, shorty!" Hange had flung open his bedroom door, clothed in an orange scarf and a coat, with a rucksack on her back. 
"Still sucks that you turned eighteen before me," he mumbled, as he combed his hair then  played with the sleeve of his rust-orange jumper. 
"I'm only older than you by like...three months. And anyway, come on. I've got something to show you."
"Wait, Hange -

Before he could protest, she had him in her grasp and was dragging him out into the street. "Hange, we didn't even sign out." 
"It's Christmas, what do they care?" 

Levi found himself sitting on a train, next to his best friend who was beaming with joy. 
"Why are we here?" 
"We're going somewhere." 
"No shit, Sherlock. I meant where are we going?" 
"You'll see. For now, enjoy the ride." 

They talked all the way, about their past Christmas memories.  Every Christmas was the same - spent with their friends and a sloppy Christmas meal on the side. But they were different in their own way. There was the time when Levi lost at 21 dares, and had to wear one of Hange's old dresses for the rest of the day. And the time when Hange drank the staff eggnog, without knowing it was an alcoholic drink, and was tipsy for the rest of the day (she had been rather put off by the idea of drinking alcohol, from her minor experience of a hangover). There was also the time when the pair slid down one of the water pipes along the wall to get out of the orphanage. They had snuck out of the window, with a couple of other kids they knew, and been to the local town square - notably where they had one of the most epic snowball fights. 

Hange gasped. "This is our stop, shorty!"
"Tsk. It's my birthday stop bullying me, shitty glasses." 
"Come on, get up!" 

She ran out of the station, onto the street. Levi had no idea where he was, but he knew that the urban landscape looked beautiful. The Christmas lights that had been put up shimmered against the night sky and the empty branches of trees rattled in rhythm with the wind. The modern buildings towered high and lit up the dark sky.
Levi shivered. 
"Jesus, four-eyes, I'm gonna die because of you..." 
"Don't die on me yet. I haven't even given you your gift." 
"Gift?" 
"I couldn't afford a Christmas slash birthday present for you, so I just made one. You can accept it as both." 

She delved into her bag and pulled out a bright red scarf. It was visibly handmade - let's just say Hange had not done the best job at knitting. She was better at intellectual subjects than she was at artsy stuff anyway, in her defence. Levi stared at it, then looked up at Hange. 
"You...you made this? For me?"
She nodded.
"...Thank you," he said, looking down at the concrete below him. He had never been great at thanking people. One secret about Levi Ackerman, that very few people knew about him, was that he was in fact a bit shy. 
"Hey it's all good. I couldn't find green wool anywhere, so I just used red. It's like a bright, messy rip-off of your cousin's scarf," she said with a chuckle, rubbing her neck. 

He fumbled around with the woolly material. 
"Here," Hange said, as she straightened out the rich fabric on his neck. 
"Four-eyes." 
"What?" 
"I'm still gonna die of hypothermia." 
"Oh you didn't bring a jacket did you? Sucks to be you I guess." 
"You're an asshole." 
"But you love me."
"You wish." 
"We could go warm up if you want. I have some money for coffee." 
"Where are we, four-eyes?" 
"Shinjuku, Tokyo. I came here on a school trip once. You were sick that day." 

The two of them wandered the district, Levi now wearing Hange's coat, even if it did look a bit big on him. Hange held a creased map in her hands. She studied it, then headed towards a brightly lit coffee shop. They pushed the door open and sat at a window booth. Levi's nose and ears were red - Hange photographed this with an old Polaroid that she had dug out of her rucksack. 
"Hange, I hate pictures!" 
"It was a cute one! Your ears and nose were red~."
"How is that cute?"
"Hey don't ask me. One day your future wife will look at that picture and die of a cuteness overload." 
"What makes you think I'm getting married?" he scoffed. 
"Why not?" 
"Maybe I'll just wander around for the rest of my days with your sorry ass."

Hange laughed heartily, before going to the counter to give their orders. Of course, for Levi, she ordered black tea and for herself a cappuccino. She took their drinks to the table, the tray wobbling. 
"Careful you don't drop it," Levi warned. She set the tray down in the middle.
"Relax, shorty. You have such little faith in me." 
"Yeah, 'cause you're an idiot." 

Levi gripped the cup in his usual creative manner, Hange taking it normally by its handle. 
"You got a bit over there," Levi instructed. 
"Hmm? Where?" 
The creamy foam from her cappuccino was now on her upper lip. 
"Hold on." Levi set his cup down, then reached over the table to wipe her lips with a napkin. 
"Thanks, shorty." 
"You're such a baby sometimes, you can't even wipe your own mouth." 
"Well, that's why I have you," she said with a giggle. 

They drank silently for a minute, before Hange piped up. 
"Levi, do you remember last summer, when you took me out for peach iced-tea after cleaning duty?" 
"I took you for that many times during summer, which time are we talking about specifically?" 
"When I said that I didn't wanna stay at the orphanage slash boarding school any longer. You following?" 
"Yeah..."
"I'm serious about it now. I don't wanna be stuck there anymore." 
"I told you then and I'll tell you now, we can't just up and leave," he said, lowering his voice. 
"We can. I have some saved money from my summer job and the allowance from our chores. It's not much but it's enough to get us out of there." 
"...I have some saved money as well...but...we don't even have a plan." 
"See, Levi, that's where you are wrong. I've been thinking up a plan for us ever since that day." 

***** 
A/N: Ooo they wanna leave~~
Also, the part about Levi's birthday being on Christmas isn't made up, Isayama confirmed that Levi's birthday was 25th December, though in the anime he's older than Hange by two years. But technically if Levi and Hange were born in the same year, Hange would be older because she's born on September 5th. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk xD