The Bridge Between Life and Death (Levihan)

9) calm before the storm

Hange POV:

"So what are we doing today then, since we're off?" I ask, sat on my bed while Levi leans against my closed door. We are back in my room.

"Well I am cleaning" Levi said

"Oh come on shorty, you always clean, why don't we do something?

He looks over at the clock, 9am. He sighs softly "Meet me at 11am by the stables, give me 2 hours to clean" He says.

"Okay fine, you clean freak, get on with what you need to do. I may as well catch up with some paperwork" I say sighing, thinking about the daunting pile, collecting on my desk.

"Okay, see you then Four Eyes" He says, then he taps my nose and walks out, leaving me all flustered.

"Ah well done!" I say shouting after him sarcastically "Ill get you back for that, just you wait!"

I hear him do a little scoff and a "tsk" as if he were challenging me 

After he leaves, I sit down at my desk and start scribbling my signature what feels like 1000 times over, throwing every finished sheet over my shoulder. Levi would kill me right now if he saw the mess id made. Who needs this much paperwork for only a few objects?! its ridiculous! I start doodling on my hand like I sometimes do subconsciously while I'm thinking and before I know it I've drawn a human skeleton on my hand where the bones would be. I must admit im quite proud of it. I scribble some more signatures and before I know it, I get my riding boots on and leave my room. 

My head is so deep into my book that I read as I walk I don't notice a little Armin coming round the corner until we have both collided. We both fall to the floor with a little humph.

"I-I am so sorry Squad Leader Hange"

"Its perfectly fine Armin, its my fault, I had my nose too deep in my book"

"What are you reading?" He asks curiously. I tell him the name of my book and his eyes light up.

"Thats one of my favourites Squad Leader" he declares beaming

"Finally someone who has a good taste in books and an interest in reading, Ill bring you some of my favourites and you can have a read of them" I say enthusiastically 

"Wow! Thank you Squad Leader, have a nice day!" he helps me up and then says goodbye

"Bye Armin!" I shout back

I decide it would be smart to put my book back in my satchel while I walk so I do so. By the time I get to the stable I'm a few minutes late and Levi looks positively on fire.

"Sorry I'm a bit late" I say "I just had a little collision"

He opens his mouth to Start speaking, probably to interrogate be about who it was but I put my fingers over his lips.

"Shhh, its nothing to worry about" I whisper and I see his cheeks dust a light shade of pink. Oh you asked for this earlier. "Come on, lets go" 

without another word, we saddle out horses, get on and take off.

"Where are we going Captain" I say as I salute, the wind in my hair

"Just you wait and see"

we gallop over multitudes of hills, sun beaming onto the little pure daisies growing on the side of them. The sky the type of blue you normally only see in children's books, a bright, dazzling blue, the bright yellow strands of sunlight contrasting it beautifully. as a scout, you learn to appreciate the smaller things in life because you never know when they might be taken from you in an instant. at last as we go over another hill, I see a huge willow tree and a barn, completely isolated, its so beautiful. Levi starts to slow down and in the end we stop outside of the barn. I get off my horse and stand in awe at the tree, it looks like it could've been standing for 100s of years, like its seen one million different sights. I lead the shaggy brown horse of mine into the barn and tie it up with enough room to move about and have freedom and Levi does the same. we both walk back outside and go sit under the willow tree.

"What is this place?" I ask, still in awe

"I used to come here with Isabel and Farlan, look" He points to a spot in the tree and I see and I, S and L all carved into the tree "We carved our names in here so people would never forget us no matter what happened."

He puts his hand over the initials in the tree and I put my hand on top of his and squeeze it.

He looks over to me "I couldn't protect them Hange" he says

"Levi, it wasn't your fault at all" I say, putting the emphasis on the last two words. He rests his head on my shoulder and I hole him tight. 

Levi POV:

Was it bad of me bringing her to our place? Am I trying to steal it off you guys? Is what I've done wrong? I want this place to be happy again, not a place where I come to cry over you, or if it still has to be that way, I don't want to be alone. I love Hange, and we will survive because we need to. I can feel tears spill from my eyes and soak up into Hange's white shirt but she doesn't mind. we both slump down against the tall tree trunk and she keeps hold of me the whole time, the warmth from her body radiating through mine. After a while, I gently pull away and she looks at me with concerned eyes, I grab the bag I brought with me and I pull out a small basket.

"I thought maybe we could have a picnic?" I ask

"Awww Levi that's so cute yes yes yes yes yes" she exclaims "Im super hungry too because we didn't get breakfast" 

I open the picnic basket and there isn't much as I couldn't bring much but its enough for the two of us. Hange starts shovelling food into her mouth straight away, giving little, inaudible, phrases of joy.

"Tch" I mutter

"What?" she exclaims, quickly swallowing the mouthful so she can speak.

"You eat so messily"

"Oh" she says with an evil glint in her eye "You don't like it?" 

Oh great, she is plotting something "No" I say back

she leans forward, over the picnic basket until she is inches away from my face and then she pops another grape in her mouth, still maintaining the distance. I sit, deciding to not give her the reaction, as messy as it is. She carries on doing it, the same evil gleam in her eyes, until I can't take it anymore. when she is about to grab another grape I quickly grab her by the waist and tackle her side ways and she screams. She ends up laying on her back, me leaning slightly over her, laughing.

"I finally got a reaction!" she whoops

"Tch you pest" I say still looking down at her

"hehe" she did that cute little giggle and I let a little smile curve onto my lips and I truly mean it.

This is what you would want, right Isabel and Farlan? you'd want me to make new memories here and everywhere, you would want me to be happy. 

Instead of getting off her I position my hands on either side of her and one of legs in-between hers and the other one in the same position (I can picture where I think he would be, but you guys can decide in your head what would work). She smiled at me wholesomely as I looked down at her. I then leaned down and kissed her slightly parted lips passionately.

AN: Im going to make a part 2 of this chapter because for some reason in my head, I can't do more than 2000 words in one chapter so yeah, more love next chapter.

Word Count: 1336