Ordinary Hero (Attack on Titan // LeviHan)

Chapter Nine

Hanji and I spent the rest of the afternoon packing – well, more accurately, Hanji spent the rest of the afternoon packing while she had me sit around and wait on her. After coming to her rescue and helping clean her up after the fight, she explained to me that she felt like I was doing too much for her. She wasn’t simply going to let me help her pack, too. Within two hours, Hanji had prepared a few boxes and two suitcases, each of the containers nearly overflowing with belongings. I asked about her bed and any other furniture that she had, but she said that it was no big deal. “I’m fine with your couch, it’s comfier than the bed I’ve got her,” she explained with a shrug, “he’ll sell anything I leave behind, and who knows? Maybe it’ll help me pay off my rent in the long run.”

It took us a long time, trying to get down the stairs with all of the things she had packed. Once again, Hanji insisted on not placing all of the responsibility on my shoulders, so she took the duty of carrying both suitcases and one of the boxes. She was probably overbearing herself, as she kept almost dropping the box, which she tried so hard to keep balanced in her hand. I offered up my help to her each time it nearly tumbled out of her reach, but every time she picked it up once again and continued down the stairs. While I was a bit irritated that she didn’t accept my help, I was a bit relived, too. I could barely even see over the stack on boxes I had been assigned, let along carry them and not fall down the stairs at the same time. After plenty of cooperating and inevitably dropping a few boxes, Hanji and I made it to the bottom floor of the apartment building.

Hanji dropped off Erwin’s set of keys at the front desk, sliding them towards the cigarette smoking manager. She told him that she’d get him the money to pay him back as soon as she could, but by the gleam in her eye, all three of us knew that it wouldn’t be any time in the near future. We proceeded out of the building, and Hanji and I piled up all of the boxes in the back portion of the cab of my truck.  Once everything was settled and situated so that nothing would fall over or spill if I had another road rage incident, Hanji and I returned to the front of the cab again. I jammed my key into the ignition, and the truck burst back to life.

The ride back home was nothing like the ride over to Hanji’s apartment. We were both silent for the entire trip, the only noise that kept us from sitting in complete silence was the buzzing of the engine. Hanji kept her eyes away from me, staring out of the windshield or the passenger seat window the entire time. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was scratching at the marks that lined her arms. I found myself glancing down at them whenever we came to a stop or when the traffic was slow. Those had to be from Erwin, I thought to myself. I didn’t dare say anything about the previous events. From handling her too harshly, probably. Hanji never reached out for the radio, and I refrained myself from yelling at the guy ahead of us, who’s car couldn’t keep a consistent speed. Even when we had returned back home, we still kept quite. It wasn’t until we had brought all of the boxes and Hanji’s suitcases up to my apartment that either of us said anything. I wasn’t going to break the promise I made to myself, I was going to be the one to speak up this time. “You okay?” I asked. It wasn’t much, but it was still starting a conversation.

Hanji shrugged and shook her head, leaning the left side of her body up against the wall. She was still scratching at her arm, which annoyed me a bit. I wished that she would stop, she was only going to irritate it and it would just continue to remind her – and me – of the events that just went down.  She glanced up and me and pursed her lips together. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, her eyes fluttering shut. “Yeah, I’m fine now. I’m still just a bit shook up, but otherwise, I’ll be fine.” she glanced over at her bags, furrowing her brows together. Hanji tilted her head up and looked at me again. “Where do you want me to put my stuff, anywhere specific?” she questioned.