Spotter

Bonus Baking

This made my heart incredibly happy to write. I hope you guys enjoy it just as much. 🥰

-Parks 🖤

Levi leaned his elbow on the long wooden table that reached across the center of the kitchen. It was just after midnight, and Levi had switched from tea to liquor. With his middle finger and thumb, he rubbed his eyes between sips.

"Why are you doing this, four eyes?" Levi huffed.

He flinched when Hange dropped an armful of ingredients, bowls, and measuring utensils next to him on the table. His usually bored eyes widened at the sight. He could feel the chaos emanating off Hange.

"To help the Commander, obviously," she said as she organized her supplies.

"And what do you plan on making?"

"Oh, just some pastries with fruit. Nothing crazy."

Levi rubbed his eyes again. "You do know he's capable of dating a woman, right? She's not his first partner. He doesn't need you and your patisseries to have sex."

"You and I both know that's not all this is," she cut her eyes at him. "You can see the difference in him. He has a real chance of being happy, and I just want it to work out for him."

She's so sensitive, Levi thought. However, now that he thought about it, he had noticed a slight change in Erwin's behavior. He was a little more energetic, and he was quicker to smile even if it was a small one. It was a minuscule change, but, of course, the astute Hange had noticed it.

"Fine, but why do I have to be here?" He asked.

Levi glared at Hange as she dumped a large clump of flour into the biggest of the three bowls. He noticed the recipe had been abandoned and was lying under the table. As Levi retrieved the paper, Hange sprinkled salt and sugar onto the pile of flour. She divided the butter into four parts and picked up one of the blocks.

"Wait!" Levi snapped. His eyes raced over the paper to read the recipe. "You're already messing it up."

He stood up and rolled up his sleeves. Hange smiled and dropped the butter onto the table. Her plan to rope Levi into doing the majority of the baking had worked.

He's too much of a perfectionist to let me ruin these.

She hid her smirk as Levi sifted the, perfectly measured, dry ingredients into the bowl.

"Go get some cold water," Levi instructed as he incorporated the butter into the flour.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Hange saluted then sped over to the sink.

Levi scoffed at her response. He wasn't a baker by any means, but he was capable of reading a recipe. His nimble fingers worked the butter as he thought about his friend's upcoming date. When Hange returned to the table, Levi resumed his string of questions.

"Was the picnic your idea as well?"

"Nope, that was all him. He said he wanted to get out of headquarters."

Levi snickered and picked the recipe up to confirm the amount of water needed.

"What?" Hange pried.

"It's not exactly surprising that he wanted to get away with her after lunch today."

A light blush spread on Hange's cheek. "I could've gone without you telling me about that. I didn't even notice."

"If I had to hear it, you had to know about it," Levi poured some of the water over the mixture. "Pour this when I say."

Hange took the small bowl of water and waited for Levi's signal. They fell into a quiet routine as Levi worked the ingredients into a dough. He pried the sticky dough from his fingers and palms when it was ready to be rolled out. Meanwhile, Hange sprinkled flour over the table and rolling pin.

She handed Levi the pin then asked, "Do you need a stool?"

"I will leave you to ruin these pastries by yourself right now."

Hange giggled and apologized. "Sorry, sorry. You're doing a great job."

Levi rolled his eyes, then he began rolling the dough. Hange didn't interrupt him while he rolled the dough into a rectangle, sprinkled clumps of butter across it, then folded it in thirds. When the folded dough was rolled out to a rectangle again, Levi repeated the folding and rolling two more times.

As the dough cooled in the ice box, Levi and Hange shared a drink. Even Hange was quiet as they contemplated the budding love life of their friend.

"Do you think they realize how serious it is yet?" Levi swirled his drink in his glass.

"Definitely not," Hange chuckled. "They'll get there eventually, but not yet. They're both pretty oblivious."

Levi laughed once, then brought his glass to his lips. Hange's smile faded, and she finished off her drink.

"Do you think there's someone out there for everyone?"

Levi couldn't tell if she was actually asking him. He poured her another glass instead of answering.

They're probably dead by now, Levi thought. Just statistically.

"Seems kind of pointless in the world we live in," Hange sighed. "Though Erwin was always the one to say that and look at him now! I suppose the fun is in the surprise of it."

Levi was impressed by her ability to talk herself out of a spiral. She made it look so easy.

"Besides, you always have Sawney and Bean."

That pulled a laugh out of the now buzzed Hange. Levi patted the top of Hange's head. He had considered hugging her but got uncomfortable. He settled on the head pat and shot back his drink. By the time the dough was ready to be shaped, Levi and Hange were sufficiently drunk.

"Hange," Levi blinked hard trying to read the recipe. "Hange, your recipe doesn't say anything about fruit."

Liquor dripped down Hange's chin as she chugged her drink. "Yeah, but we can just add it in, right?"

Hearing her less than logical thought process, Levi mimicked her motions and downed his drink as well. "Spose we can always just send them with the usual rolls when these fuck up."

Hange clapped her hand against Levi's back. "Have some faith, shorty. We can do this."

Levi huffed and went to work rolling out the dough yet again and cutting it into diamonds. Hange sat next to him and continued sipping on her drink. The silence was broken by her occasional giggles at Levi's less than straight cuts. When instructed by Levi, she got up and found the fruit preserves in the pantry.

As Levi scooped fruit preserves into his delicately shaped dough, Hange turned the bottle upside down over her open mouth. She sighed when only a drop slipped out.

"Leviiiii," Hange whined. "We're out."

He side-eyed her as he finished filling the last pastry. Preserves dripped across a few of them as he turned to her.

"I have a secret stash."

Hange's eyes got big as a smile spread across her flushed face.

"Put these in the oven. I'll be right back," Levi instructed

Hange swayed as she carried the tray to the oven. The pastries were jostled as she tried to figure out which oven rack was actually there and not a double. When the oven door slammed shut, Levi walked back into the kitchen with three bottles.

"Three?!" Hange gasped.

"Relax, only one is for us."

Hange smirked. "And the other two?"

Levi didn't answer. The mischievous smile spread across her face. He slipped the two bottles into the basket.

"You're just a big softy, huh?" Hange poked Levi's side.

"Quiet you." Levi opened their bottle. "If anyone asks, you stole them from me."

Hange wrapped her arms around Levi. It was a quick hug because she knew he would be uncomfortable, but she couldn't help herself.

"You got it."