Prose

Growing Pains

Y/N's POV

Upon returning, I noticed someone had joined Armin in the library. Their brown hair was lazily tossed into a bun, with two pencils sticking out of it, while their square shaped glasses sat balanced on their nose. Armin smiled at me over the stranger's shoulder, alerting them to my arrival.

"Hange, have you met Y/N yet?" Armin gestured to me. This "Hange" immediately enveloped me in their arms and shrieked.

"It's so nice to meet you! Man, it's just been Armin in here for ages. Tell me everything! How old are you? Where are you from? What do your parents do? How many siblings do you have? Ooh let me guess their names..." they rambled, their hands gripping my arms and their eyes full of excitement and curiosity. I couldn't help smiling at their genuine enthusiasm. Nice to know that most of the staff isn't made up of short douchebags.

"How do I keep the mystery alive if I tell you everything right now?" I giggled, adjusting my sweater after their manhandling. "I'll give you just one. I have an older brother named Marco."

"Hange, you haven't exactly introduced yourself to Y/N yet." Armin said cautiously. He was clearly nervous around them, and I don't blame him. His gentle and shy nature was certainly mismatched with their intense zest.

"Got a little ahead of myself there." they chuckled. "Zoë Hange, but everyone just calls me Hange. I teach chem and bio so if you're ever interested in playing around with some liquid nitrogen, come by my classroom!"

I might have to stop in then." I smiled. Armin's blue eyes went wide, and he subtly shook his head in warning; however, Hange, being as perceptive as they, are noticed.

"Whatever Armin. You're just upset that I set a textbook on fire last year and tried to bring it back to the library." they huffed, giving his chest a gentle slap.

"You set a textbook on fire." Armin said incredulously. "I sure hope there'll be less accidents now that you have a student teacher supervising you."

"Now now, I'm Moblit's supervisor. And I'll have you know, I've only had one mishap today." they said, their voice dripping with unearned confidence.

"Hange, it's not even noon on the first day back."

"Which is much better than how last year started!"

I couldn't help laughing at their back and forth, eventually having to shush them since, you know, we're in a library.

"Sorry. Anyways, we're getting staff drinks on Friday. New school year tradition. I'll buy you a drink! Gotta stay in your good graces since Armin's for sure gonna feed you all sorts of lies about me." Hange winked, pulling out their phone and handing it to me. "Put your number in so I can add you to the group chat!"

"I've hardly met everyone yet." I scoffed, adding my contact information to their phone. "Who's in it?"

"Pretty much everyone; me, Erwin, Armin and his little gang, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Levi, Zeke..." they trailed off, counting people on their fingers.

"Levi's in it?" I scoffed. "He doesn't seem like the type for group activities. Now, making a fur coat out of puppies, that I can see him doing."

"Y/N had a bad experience with Levi this morning." Armin sighed, explaining my contempt to Hange.

"Hah! What's new. But yeah, Levi's all over the group chat. He spams the chat with his favourite tiktoks!" Hange laughed. I stared at them, my eyes going wide in disbelief as I handed them their phone. 

"Kidding!" Hange said, punching me in the shoulder. "Levi almost never texts back. Plus, I don't think he even knows what tiktok is. And I think he still has a first gen iPhone. Hates tech, that man."