Ordinary Hero (Attack on Titan // LeviHan)

Chapter Eighteen

Luckily, for Hanji’s sake, Grace didn’t choose the fluffy hot pink dress.

The ceremony was held on May 28th. It was an outdoor wedding, held in the clearing of trees at the largest park in town. Since Grace wanted the ceremony to be nature themed, the entire wedding party was to go barefoot. I was extremely paranoid about it, since we’d be walking down a grassy aisle, where there would be dirt and bugs and God knows what else. Disgusting, just disgusting. Not to mention, the groomsmen wore white slacks, and the legs of my pants were far too long for me. I was kind of surprised I didn’t trip over them when I tried them on. I tried to roll them up to my ankles, but it just looked stupid. I considered objecting the idea of a barefoot service, but this was Grace and Eld’s special day, I knew how important it was to them. Everything had to be just perfect, and I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin it for them. In a sense, it was a special day for me, too; I was finally going to confess to Hanji.

There were two gigantic yellow tents set up outside of the tree clearing, one for the groom and his men, one for the bride and her maids. The wedding colors were the typical white and black, with tones of yellow thrown in, so everything had to be color coordinated. Eld stood in front of the long mirror someone had set up, tweaking his appearance. If someone was walking by and hadn’t known which tent belonged to who, they may have thought the bride was in here, fussing about her look. Gunther attempted to ease Eld’s nerves, but at the same time I could tell he was trying his best not to laugh at the groom. Oluo was off in the corner, tying and untying his tie over and over. His tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth, and I fretted that he might end up biting it off, the way he clenched his jaw tighter each time he messed up. Meanwhile, I paced around the tent like a madman, trying to figure out exactly how to approach Hanji with the matter at hand.

I ran through countless methods on how to talk to Hanji through my mind, none of which seemed acceptable. Each time my thoughts came across something that wouldn’t work out, I’d mutter and mumble to myself, earning some strange looks from the other three in the tent. It wasn’t my fault that I had to go through everything, fine-tuning things to absolute perfection. Moreover, there were so many things that could go wrong. We could get interrupted, I accidentally say something cruel or cold, or worst of all, Hanji might not feel the same. There was so much to account for. Sure, I had a girlfriend a few years back, Petra, but that was a completely different situation. We were both so naïve and infatuated with each other that we couldn’t focus on anything but the other person.

I had become so lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t even noticed Eld, Gunther, and Oluo beckoning me over. “Come on, Levi,” Gunther stated, waving me over. He wore all white with a yellow tie, just like Oluo and I. Eld dressed in a black suit with a black tie and a yellow vest underneath. “Ceremony’s about to start, we need to get prepared.”

“Alright,” I said with a nod, following the three men out of the tent. Grace’s three bridesmaids already waited outside, eagerly waiting to begin the ceremony. Eld darted on ahead to the archway, joining the Officiant. Gunther linked arms with one of Grace’s younger sisters,the two preparing to lead the bridesmaids and groomsmen down the aisle. Oluo took arms with Petra, who stood directed before me. Of course, that left me with four-eyes. I looked over to Hanji, who was beaming from ear to ear. Her brown hair was done up in a messy bun at the back of her head, a yellow calla lily tucked behind her ear. Like always, her glasses were slipping down her nose. She was beaming from ear to ear, bouncing with excitement. Her dress, which matched the bridesmaids, was a strapless yellow dress that fell to her knees with a sweetheart neckline. It was simple, but beautiful on her. “You look great,” I complimented, glancing up at the brunette.

Hanji looked down to me, her grin somehow growing even larger. “You look pretty handsome yourself, O Short One,” she commented with a chuckle. Just then, we could hear the faint playing of an acoustic guitar. One of Eld’s cousins would be providing the purely instrumental music for the ceremony. I can’t even count how many times I dropped hints for him to have Hanji sing for the wedding, but he never picked them up. I was slightly disappointed, but I respected his opinion. Hanji elbowed me, grabbing my attention. “Looks like we’re about to start,” she whispered to me.