I don't own SNK
Years passed as Levi and Hanji made more and more trips out to the forrest and exploring the outside world and it honestly never ceased to amaze them. They discovered new places, waterfalls and hot springs that Levi discovered he enjoyed immensely and caves and caverns that Hanji found breathtakingly fascinating. With every trip they went on over the years, they always returned with more new information that always ended up being piled up in Hanji's room, to the point where it was fully transformed into a lab and she moved full time into Levi's room when they were at the village, but new data wasn't the only thing they were collecting, questions from the others were slowly piling up too.
"So when do you two plan on settling down?" Ben asked one of the few lazy mornings where everyone was gathered around the table and their old friends from the village had stopped by to visit.
"What do you mean?" Hanji hummed sipping on some of the tea made with leaves that she and Levi had discovered awhile back. She felt his hand gently stroking hers under the table.
"Well, you've been dating for what? Three years now?" Ben asked, eyes wide, "I thought by now you might be thinking about settling down, maybe starting a family?" Levi and Hanji both let out a laugh at the suggestion.
"Hey old man, you just focus on that lady you've been sneaking out to see. It's been a year already huh? You wanna see another marriage so bad, why don't you just get married yourself? I'm sure the pony won't mind."
"H-hey! No need to speak so loudly." Ben cut his eyes over to Jean who was sitting in the other room chatting at Mikasa more than with her.
"Why? You nervous cuz that brat doesn't know that you're seeing his mom? I doubt he'll care. Horses need direction too, I doubt that getting direction from a new man in the house would hurt the brat." Levi offered sipping his tea as Ben stared at him in shock as he tried to figure out just what any of what Levi just said meant.
"What Levi means is that Jean hasn't exactly had an easy life, he joined young hoping to look out for his mother but the stability of a normal family with a mom and dad in the house might be good for him. He's a little reckless, but you'd be a good influence on him." Hanji smiled gently and Levi nodded next to her.
"Something like that." Levi mumbled.
Ben turned with an exasperated look to face Penny and Erwin who were sitting next to him.
"They were always like that. I was convinced for awhile that they were dating when we worked together." Erwin chuckled, his fingers playing with the delicate ring that he'd made to fit perfectly on Penny's thin ring finger.
"Who asked you?" Levi grunted, squeezing Hanji's free hand, impressed as always with how well she understood him. He saw Hanji smile to herself at the gesture and he contentedly sipped at his tea again.
"Oh come on Levi, you always try and deflect the topic when we ask you, I'm not letting you do that today, do you plan on settling down with Miss Hanji or not?" Penny huffed, frustratedly.
"Well family life doesn't actually suit either of us, and we wouldn't be able to go on our expeditions any more if we did that." Hanji explained in Levi's place, "It might sound a little odd, but we like things the way that they are and it's not like we plan on leaving each other whether we got married or not."
"Changing shit up now would be a pain." Levi added , "We might build a house of our own here though, since you and Erwin are always making noise down the hall. It's not like I can tell you to get a room in your own house." Levi frowned.
"Ah, but the way the world was before, we all spent a lot of time, alone or suffering. I'm sure it's only natural to want to cling to happiness when you can finally have it." Erwin smiled patiently, his statement ringing true for all of them:
Ben had a very difficult time getting over the loss of his family, and often blamed himself for it even after so much time had passed, but since moving out here and meeting a pleasant middle aged woman who offered him dinner one night, he was slowly finding it in himself to move forward and forgive himself little by little with this woman's help. Of course at the time he had no idea that the woman had a son whom he was also aquatinted with, as this woman didn't have the same horselike features of her son, but he was slowly becoming more and more confident that she was willing to introduce him as her boyfriend to Jean once she was sure of Ben's feelings, and Ben was becoming more sure of his feelings for her everyday, he wouldn't mind having Jean around anyway.
Penny, on the other hand, had a hard time of her own when her family died, she was left alone and had no one to share her life with until she met Erwin that was, Erwin was a great listener, kind and patient, strong and enduring, more than she ever cold have even hoped for when her family was gone. Erwin had struggles of his own of course and couldn't bear the thought of getting married when he wasn't sure if he would be able to even survive long enough to have a family the way he wanted to, but now he had Penny and though he found her a bit suspicious when they first met, he had to admit even right off the bat he had wanted to believe in her and found her headstrong yet oddly gentle nature alluring. Now the two planned to have a family together and were hoping to start one day soon, with the hopes to keep their house filled with friends and family and the laughter they thought they'd never be able to have in their lives only 5 short years ago when the titans were around.
Levi and Hanji weren't too different from Erwin if they really took the time to think about it, they also enjoyed waking up to the same face every morning without having to worry about that face suddenly disappearing, they both carried the burden of their own mistakes and missteps that caused the loss of their comrades lives, but if either of them woke up in the night upset over it, they comforted each other, they both knew how horrible those nightmares were and comforted each other when needed, in anyway it might have been needed. All in all the two complimented each other well despite their vast differences and anyone who ever knew them could tell their relationship was strong, to the point of being unshakable… Even when Hanji got pissed when Levi moved her stuff around to make it 'orderly' or when Levi got angry at Hanji for sweeping through his room like a tornado, the two still adored each other in their own way and everyone knew that the two were inseparable at this point. Whether they actually married or not, didn't matter, no one had any doubts that they'd stay together for the rest of their lives regardless.
All of them sitting at that table had been through a lot in order to get to the point where they were now, and in the long moment of silence that followed Erwin's statement all reflecting on their losses and gains that they've been through since the disappearance of the titans. It was a bittersweet kind of feeling in the room, the silence felt like it might go on forever too, if someone hadn't spoken up.
"Well that's enough reflecting on our pasts for one day!" Hanji clapped her hands together getting to her feet, "I feel like going for a walk, anyone care to join me?" she asked, making sure that she was loud enough so that her invitation could be heard even by the people in the living room.
"I was going to go upstairs and clean up our room a bit, it's in quite the state of disarray right now." Penny folded her arms trying to make a big show of looking frustrated, but Erwin knew what she was really getting at and he smirked.
"I should help you then." Erwin got to his feet trailing after Penny, "Enjoy your walk Hanji." he called over his shoulder as Penny and himself went hastily up the stairs.
"Oh, okay, what about you Ben?"
"Ah! Well actually, since Jean is here I might just go pay his mother a visit.." Ben smirked sliding from the table and jumped to his feet, the prospect of being with his lady friend making him feel a good twenty years younger, "Have fun walking, Hanji." he winked gently closing the door behind him.
"I guess I'll go alone then." Hanji shrugged,
"I'll go with you if you're going alone!" Moblit's voice came from the kitchen entrance and his excited face peeked out from around the corner.
"Really? Well then let's go!" Hanji smiled brightly waiting for her friend to walk over and join her, but Moblit wasn't coming and she turned to see him looking petrified, "What's wrong?" She asked innocently.
"W-well I just remembered I have to clean the specimen jars upstairs, y-you should probably go with someone else!" Moblit called looking over at Levi a moment before suddenly slipping back around the corner… Moblit had to admit, he deeply regretted telling Levi that he used to like Hanji, now he watched Moblit like a hawk when he was anywhere near her. He was like a walking, talking, unasked for restraining order… Moblit smiled to himself though, he always had a hunch that his Buntaichou would end up with the Heichou, he was glad she was happy at least… Even if Levi wouldn't listen to him when he insisted he had a girlfriend already.
"Well, he sure ran off fast, guess I'll just go walk alone." Hanji shrugged turning to head towards the door when something tugged at her arm, "Huh?" she spun around in time to see Levi holding her wrist firmly.
"Oi, you didn't think to ask me?"
"Well I figured you'd just come along if you wanted to come along." she blinked, utter innocence on her face, "You looked comfortable drinking your tea so I thought-"
"No, I'll go." he opened the door for her, "If I don't, you might try and fight another damn bear." she snorted a laugh as she spun out of the door.
"Oh come on, how many times did that happen? Like three? Can't we just move past it?" she asked, ut he fussed about it as they walked into the canopy of the woods behind the house where a path had now been carved out.
"Tch! How many times does a person have to get attacked by a bear before they realize they're being a dumb ass?" He asked still going on about her recklessness "You think I'm just going to keep saving you ass even time you go and poke a damn bear? You need to stop poking every lump of damned fur you find in the woo-"
Her lips met his and he went quiet for a moment as they paused further down the path, she pulled away and stared affectionately down at him and he went quiet, his argument forgotten… Hanji smiled to herself wondering if he'd realized that she always did that when he got frustrated with her… He seemed to lose his train of thought when she did it and she got the bonus of a kiss, it was win win for her.
"Shitty Four eyes..." Levi mumbled to himself, going a few steps ahead of her now, but she didn't miss that he was red up to his ears.
"Aww, come back here short ass! The view is nice, but I'd rather see your face." She teased hooking her arms around his. She peeked down at him.
"You think I don't notice that you do that?" he grumbled looking up at her sourly.
"Do what?" she asked with the innocence of a child as he rolled his eyes.
"Whenever we fight or argue you try and kiss me to get me to shut up, I'm not going to let you keep winning."
"Aww, when'd you figure it out." She pouted.
"Last year."
"Last year!?" Her eyes went wide behind her glasses, "Why'd you wait so long before you said anything?" she asked suddenly confused as she stared at his unfazed face, until it hit her, "Ahhh! I get it, you must really like my kisses to let me win so much, Short ass." he glared up at her in response.
"I'm not letting you win anymore."
"Aww, come on, don't be a bitter old man, I'm just playing with you."
"You're just trying to win every argument!" he grumbled up at her as they walked in the shade of the trees, "I'm not gonna deal with that anymore, I'll punish you if you do it again."
"HAH!" She snorted, "I've seen how you punish people and if you think you'll get away with hitting me you'll find out the hard way that's not going to happen." she unhooked her arm from his, offended that he even said that, but he merely rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"I'd never hit you, idiot." he grumbled, "There are worst things I could do." he warned and she tensed looking down at the sneaky smirk on his face.
"Don't you dare mess with my lab!" she warned, well aware that he knew her weak spot, "If you try and mess with my lab I will dedicate my whole existence to making our place a mess." he rolled his eyes again and she realized she must have missed the mark once again… What else could he have threatened her with? She knew he wouldn't leave her because he'd told her at least a thousand times that unless she willingly wanted to leave him, he'd never let her go and she knew he meant it… So what could he-
"Four Eyes." he called, snapping her attention down to him and the moment she turned to face him, he moved quickly, pressing her up against a nearby tree. Caught off guard she was still for a moment, shocked by the action, but as the kiss deepened, she eased into it, unquestioningly wrapping her arms around his neck as his hands wandered over her torso, touching all of the places he knew all too well she liked. His fingertips found their way under the bottom of her shirt while his lips, gentle yet greedy, demanded her full attention. A sharp gasp of an inhalation came from her as his fingers brushed under her chest wrappings, she was beginning to see where this was going, she was about to warn him about doing it in the outdoors in the middle of the day where someone might pass wasn't a good idea, but as his free hand massaged his hipbones and wandered lower, towards the button of her pants she figured anyone who passed would know to look the other way. It was rare to see him so fired up, he was usually so gentle with her, but she was liking this. She urged him to keep going, pressing herself forward to be flush against him as his hand scathingly slowly wandered towards the button of her pants and she waited impatiently for him to do so, her head floating high on ideas of a good time that was to come, but then he just stopped. He literally stopped, pulled his lips away and started to keep walking down the path they were walking down.
"What?" Hanji asked breathlessly, pushing off of the tree, clothes and hair both disheveled as she moved to catch up to him, "Where do you think you're going after getting me all worked up?" she demanded catching up to him.
"I never planned to do shit. If you wanna try and win shitty arguments by kissing me, this is how you'll be punished." her jaw dropped…
"Oh come on!" she grabbed his hand, "Let's go back huh?" she smiled sweetly, if not desperately, "We can go back and finish up what you started."
"No."
"Leeeeviiiii." she pouted stomping here feet like a little kid.
"No."
"Please?" she flashed her big brown eyes at him from behind her glasses that shone warmly from the light that crept in from between the gaps in the leaves.
"…." He couldn't find it in his to say no, "Fine, after our walk." he sighed and she let out a little grin.
He rolled his eyes at that shit eating grin of hers knowing that so long as he was alive he'd do all he could to make sure he could keep seeing it every day… He might not have told her that out loud, but he was sure she knew it, he could see it in her eyes when she looked at him with more love than he'd ever received in his life… She wasn't his, he never wanted to make her his, he never wanted to crush her free spirit, he was contented by just having her by his side and she was thrilled to have him by hers. It wasn't like Hanji ever expected to meet a man who could handle her mind and boundless energy, especially not in such a small and grumpy looking package, but he was more than she could have asked for and as they continued their walk, hand in hand both of them were sure that there was no one else they'd rather be with.
"Hey Shitty Glasses." he squeezed her hand a little tighter as the feeling of being grossly happy washed over him.
"Hmm?" she called squeezing his hand back lightly.
"I uh… You know." He stammered, still too shy to say the words.
"Yeah yeah, I know." Hanji smiled knowing her lover all too well by now to be offended by how little he said those three words… He showed it all of the times anyway in the way he'd hold her hand or stroke her face, in the way he looked at her like he was doing right now. She showed it too, but she knew he liked to hear it as much as she liked to say it; "I love you too."
And that's it folks. Hope I wrapped it up neatly _