Levihan Family Fluff

Silence

More family fluff, though sort of a little angsty this time. Remy is 6/7-ish, Ava is 2, Hanji is having a bad night, and Levi wants to make it better.

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Hanji hadn't moved in an hour.

Levi wasn't even pretending that he wasn't watching her at this point. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by research notes and a few sketches, but she wasn't writing anything or reading. She wasn't making a pretense at it, either. Her pencil was laying idle on the floor. Those brown eyes of hers were unfocused, looking off at the wall instead of the notebooks.

The worst part was the silence.

Normally he couldn't get her to shut up, no one could, but now she was quiet. Even her movements were subdued, lacking her normal energy. The last expedition she had been on hadn't gone well. Two of her own squad had been cornered by an abnormal titan and lost their lives before she could get to them. While she hadn't talked about it yet, he knew Hanji blamed herself. She always did when she lost someone.

It was two in the morning, and she needed to rest. He had stayed up with her last night and the night before that, keeping an eye on her as she worked furiously to get down all the information she had gathered out in the field, distracting herself, avoiding nightmares. But now she was out of data, and the shadows around her eyes were getting darker.

He couldn't stand it any longer.

Getting up from his chair, Levi reached down and took her hand, pulling her to her feet. She moved mechanically, without the hint of a smile, as he guided her down the hallway and up the stairs to their bedroom, his hand on the small of her back.

He pushed her toward the bed, and she sat down on the edge, her hands sinking into the mattress. He loosed her disheveled ponytail from its leather holder and ran his fingers through her hair before letting his palms resting against her cheeks. Slowly, she glanced back at him, her eyes still dull.

"Lay down," he said, pulling down the top of the covers. They were both already in pajamas, having changed after they put the kids to bed. There had been intentions of them going to bed then, too, but they had ended up in the study, yet again.

Leaving her there, he headed back down the hallway and stopped at the room closest to the stairs. There was a set of wooden soldiers standing on the rug, left behind from a last minute game that hadn't been cleaned up. A collection of rocks was lined up across the windowsill, and a stack of storybooks was piled on the nightstand.

Remy was sprawled out across the bed, one arm hanging off the mattress, hand brushing the floor. Moonlight cut through the window, making it easy to tell when he cracked his eyes open.

"It's all right," Levi said as he picked him up.

"Mm...'kay." Remy flopped against his shoulder, looping his arms around his neck. Messy black hair brushed against Levi's neck as his son's head rested against him.

He carried the lanky six-year-old back to his bedroom, where Hanji was curled up tight, her face pressed into a pillow. She lifted her head when he set Remy down beside her, the sleepy boy rubbing his eyes before laying down and pressing in against Hanji's side. In automatic response, she rolled over and pulled him close, snuggling him to her.

Halfway satisfied, Levi left again, this time going to the room closest to his and Hanji's. Ava's door was cracked open already, making it easier to slip inside without waking her. The toddler was hunkered down beneath the blankets, a little lump halfway down the bed with just the top of her silky brunette head poking out.

Levi pulled the blanket away and scooped her up, holding her close. She didn't even wake up when he put her down on the bed on Hanji's other side, hedging her in with her soft, warm, comforting kids.

He pulled off his socks and got into bed beside Ava, letting the toddler stay between him and Hanji. Still, he tangled his legs up with Hanji's and reached across the pillows to smooth her hair, knuckles trailing across her temple and her damp cheek. He kept stroking her hair, her cheek, her neck, as she finally relaxed and cried.

After a while, long, elegant fingers caught his hand as Hanji threaded their fingers together on top of the pillow. He could feel her breath become slow and steady against the back of his hand as she finally dropped off to sleep.

Sometimes it was necessary to be reminded of what the Survey Corps fought for, why people died in the field, why they continued to go out on expeditions. A better future for humanity, for their children. For them. It didn't make up for all the death that they faced, all the people they lost, but it gave them more purpose, more meaning. No death in the Survey Corps was forgotten.

The Corps would always remember.