Chapter Text
The office was cold despite the roaring fire. Papers were strewn about, littering the floor. They used to be in distinct piles, Hange’s organization technique that only they and Moblit understood, but there was more paperwork than they could keep up with.
They’d originally started sorting through the papers that Commander Erwin had left behind, putting them into piles of To Do, To Do Later, and Ignore. Those had all gotten jumbled. At one point, they’d absentmindedly asked aloud for Moblit to help them, to grab the stack on the left side of the room, but he didn’t answer.
He was dead.
Sitting at the desk, the desk that used to be Erwin’s but was now somehow theirs, Hange put their head in their hands. They closed their eye. One eye, because that’s all they had left. One stupid eye. They wondered what the point of keeping it was if it meant they could never see Moblit again. He’d evaporated right in front of them as they fell into that well. Hange couldn’t help but think it should’ve been them; they should’ve pushed him in, he should be the person in this room right now with only one eye, helping Commander Erwin sort through his paperwork.
But Erwin was dead too.
Commander Hange Zoë. It didn’t feel right. They sighed, reaching for the bolo tie they’d received earlier that day. As Queen Historia bestowed it upon them, they couldn’t help but think they didn’t deserve it. Only nine Scouts had returned from Shiganshina. Hange wasn’t positive that the sacrifices were needed, that they meant something. They’d plugged the wall, stolen the Colossal Titan, retrieved the secrets from Yeager’s basement. Technically, they’d completed their mission. But now, they knew the truth — there wasn’t a wide open, uninhabited world out there for the citizens of the Walls to reclaim. It was occupied by people who wanted them dead.
Hange stood. They knew they wouldn’t be able to focus on all of the words on the papers anymore. They turned around and stared out the window. It was the middle of the night; if they had a normal sleep schedule, they’d be in bed. Their new bed. The one connected to this office. They hadn’t slept in it yet, opting for the couch instead. They couldn’t bring themself to even open the bedroom door.
There wasn’t much to see outside. Some candles lit up windows of the buildings. They saw two figures slowly making their way down the street. Not much else. The world was so quiet and still at this hour. Usually it helped them focus, knowing they weren’t missing anything going on; no conversations to join, all the drinking outings were over, all their fellow soldiers at rest. Now, though, it hurt. The quiet haunted them. Filled them with dread. Quiet meant death. They recalled pulling themself out of that well, taking in the devastation, briefly looking for any trace of a body to bring home.
Nothing was left. There was nothing to bring back. It was as though Moblit had been erased from existence entirely.
A knock on the door pulled them from their memories. Hange wiped the tears off their cheek they hadn’t realized they’d shed, straightened their bolo tie, tried to flatten the mess that was their hair. They turned to face the door, clearing their throat. “Come in.”
The door slowly opened, revealing the judge, juror, and executioner himself — Captain Levi. The one who’d chosen Armin over Commander Erwin. Armin, small, well-spoken, brilliant Armin, who now held the power of the Colossal. Hange always had a soft spot for that kid, though they knew if the choice had been left for them they would have given the serum to the other blonde. They wouldn’t be the Commander right now. Maybe they’d be asleep in their own, familiar bed.
That didn’t matter now. Levi made the impossible choice. He let go of Erwin, the love of his life, let him rest in peace. Didn’t bring that devil back to the horrors which he had a hand in creating. Didn’t allow him to fulfill his dream, prove his father right. Hange could still see the weight of the decision on Levi’s shoulders, could see it in the dark bags under his eyes, in the way he held himself.
The Captain slowly closed the door behind him. “What’re you still doing up, Shitty Glasses?”
Hange scoffed. “I could ask the same of you, Shorty.”
Neither of them answered the question. It was an obvious answer, anyway. Hange’s eye fell on Levi’s own bolo tie and wondered if it was strange for him to wear the artifact they’d associated with Erwin for so long. They walked away from the window, towards Levi, and leaned on the front of the desk, crossing their arms.
“What brings you to my office?” they asked, though it was still strange to refer to it as theirs.
He looked them up and down, studying them for a moment before answering. “I wanted to check in on you. Don’t let the attention go to your head, though.”
Hange laughed. They were pretty sure it was the first laugh they’d had since… everything. “I’m fine, as you can see,” they said. Levi looked around the office, eyes shifting from paper to paper. He frowned. “Don’t mind the mess.”
“I mind,” he said. He walked over to a small pile of discarded papers and began picking them up. Hange watched him carefully put them into a stack in his arm, inspecting them, making sure they were all upright and facing the same direction. Once he gathered all of the papers that had been in the makeshift pile, he brought the new stack to their desk and set it down carefully. “I know you don’t have your assistant, but try to keep his office clean.”
They stared down at him. He didn’t look up at them. Hange wanted to tell him to never mention Moblit again, that this was their office now, Erwin and everyone else was dead so he’d have to come to terms with their disorganization, they’d never recover, they’d never take care of themself, they’d never find anyone as helpful and kind and patient and wonderful and— And he just needed to shut his mouth.
But they didn’t say any of that. They knew he was hurting, too. So instead they simply said, “Okay.”
Levi didn’t say a word. He turned and began to gather more papers. Hange followed suit, not wanting him to have to clean up the entire office on his own. The two picked up papers in silence, delivering small stacks back to the desk, Levi’s piles straighter than theirs. Once all of the paperwork was piled on the Commander’s desk, Levi let out a sigh.
“Now go to sleep,” he said. He gestured to the bedroom door.
Hange turned to the couch. It was covered in their clothes. They walked over and began piling the clothes onto the floor.
“What the hell are you doing?” Levi asked. Hange turned around. He’d crossed the room over to them, began to pick the discarded clothes up and fold them.
“This is where I’ve been sleeping,” they confessed, watching him fold and gently set their clothes back onto the cushions. “I haven’t… I haven’t gone into the bedroom.”
He looked up at them, right into their lonely eye. “At all?” They shook their head. He sighed, setting a neatly folded yellow shirt down. Tentatively, he took their hand in his. Hange almost recoiled — Levi had never been one for physical contact. Sometimes he’d grab them playfully, but this touch felt different. It was soft. It was genuine.
Levi led them to the bedroom door, picking up a candle from the desk on the way. He opened the door slowly, revealing a tidy room. Someone had come in and cleaned it for Hange. The bed was made, the curtains drawn shut, the end table empty except for an unlit lantern and a book. Levi let go of their hand, crossing to the lantern, using the candle to light it. Hange had never been in here before. Levi looked at home as he carefully set the candle next to the lantern. He picked up the book, flipped through the pages.
“He was reading this before we left,” he said quietly. Hange reached out and placed their hand on his shoulder. They looked down at the book, too, reading the pages he had open. It was some novel about war from what they could tell; strategy, conflict, and the burden that came with it. Levi shut the book and set it back on the nightstand. Hange made a silent vow they’d read the book, finish what Erwin couldn’t. Levi’s fingernails dug into the cover.
“I’m sorry,” they whispered. Those words didn’t feel right. They didn’t encapsulate all of the emotions they felt, everything buzzing around their head, but they were the only words Hange could say.
Levi shook his head. “I’m the one who’s sorry,” he said. “Sorry to you, to those brats who lived and those who died, to Erwin. I failed.”
“You didn’t fail, Levi, you—”
“I let that beast get away,” he snarled through gritted teeth. Hange relaxed their grip on his shoulder for a moment before wrapping their arm around him, pulling him into a strange one armed embrace, his back to their chest. He stiffened.
“I failed, too. I had the Armored in my grasp, I almost killed him. I… I should’ve killed him. But I stuck to my morals.”
“You should abandon those now that you’re Commander. That’s what he did.”
Hange let go of him. They removed their jacket, turning to hang it up on a peg on the wall. They let out a sigh, turning back around to face Levi. He had turned around to face them, too. “I can’t,” they said. “That’s the difference between me and him, I suppose. I’d never have the strength to become what he did.”
Levi didn’t argue. He approached Hange, took their bolo tie in his hands. After taking a moment to inspect it, he loosened it, pulling it over their head and hanging it by their jacket. Slowly, painfully, one button at time, he undid their shirt. Goosebumps rose on their skin as it was exposed to the chilly night air.
“Go to bed,” he demanded, peeling the shirt over their shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. Hange reached out to him, lightly gripping his own bolo. They repeated his motions, loosening the tie and pulling it over his head. They leaned back, hanging it on the peg next to their own. They slid his coat off, undid his buttons. They weren’t entirely sure if they meant this, if they would go any further.
As his shirt hit the floor, pooling at his feet as theirs had, they watched the light of the flames dance on his pale skin. Hange had seen him shirtless before, of course, in the barracks and on overnight missions. Once they’d walked into Erwin’s office without knocking and found them in a compromising position — they weren’t sure how Levi let them live after witnessing that, but he did. This felt different. They reached out, tracing down his body, from his throat to his belly button. They moved their hand back up, running their thumb over the thick scars under his pecs.
“Hange,” he whispered. They looked up at his eyes, the perpetual pouty look on his face. Hange wanted to grab him and sob. Scream and cry about all of the loss that weighed heavy in their heart. They wanted to be near him, feel his warmth; despite everything, Levi was alive and Hange needed to prove that to themself. Instead of screaming or crying or stopping, they reached down to the waistband of his trousers, undoing the button.
“Hange,” he repeated. His voice was desperate, a tone they’d never heard from him before. They ran a hand through his hair and pulled him close, connecting their lips. Levi pulled them closer by the fabric of their bra straps, deepening their kiss. Their tongues pressed against each other and he let out a small moan. The noise that escaped Levi made Hange’s stomach twist; they could feel themself straining against the fabric of their pants.
With little kisses, Hange made their way to Levi’s ear. “I want to feel you,” they whispered, moving a hand to his boxers. They stroked him through the already damp fabric. He let out another moan as they touched him. They gritted their teeth, trying to hold back from immediately throwing him onto the bed and burying themself deep.
Hange focused all their attention on their fingers, how wet he felt. They tried to ignore Levi’s hand making its way to their button to undo it, then their zipper, tugging it down. When his hand grabbed their length, they bit his ear, groaning. They slipped their fingers into the fly of his boxers then between his folds.
“You’re so wet for me,” they said, kissing the side of his face.
“Yeah, and you’re hard already,” he muttered, groping them. Hange smirked, bringing their fingers to his clit. He squirmed at the sensation, biting his lip to hold in his noises.
“Don’t do that. Don’t hold back.” Hange grabbed his face, pulling his chin down to keep his mouth open, then squeezed his cheeks. Levi moaned as they stroked him harder, pressed onto the tip of his already swollen clit. He freed their cock from their underwear, moving his hand slowly up and down their length. They couldn’t stop themself from thrusting into his grasp. Hange desperately wanted to feel him, only him, ignore all of the other thoughts and feelings buzzing throughout their body. They rubbed him harder, listening to his delicious noises.
Levi stared up into their eye, face still squished by their hand. He was almost panting, a bit of drool falling from the corner of his mouth. Intoxicated by the sight, Hange dipped their fingers away from his clit and inside of him, easily sliding in because of how slick he was. He moaned loudly, pulling on their painfully hard cock, grasping at their bra for support with his other hand.
“You like that?” they asked. Levi managed to nod. Hange gripped his face tighter, thrusted their fingers deeper into him. “Fuck, you’re so tight. Feels good.” They could feel precum leaking out of their length as he stroked them, felt him tremble as they buried two fingers into him knuckle deep. Humanity’s strongest, reduced to a moaning, drooling mess melting into their touch. They shifted their hand that was squeezing his cheeks to his jaw so he could move his mouth. “Tell me how much you like it.”
He scowled instead of answering. Hange gripped his jaw tighter, thrusted their fingers as deep as they could, setting a harder pace. Levi let out loud, almost animalistic noises.
“Say it,” they growled through gritted teeth.
“I like it, Hange,” he moaned. “I like feeling you inside of me.”
“Good. I’m going to get inside you properly now, okay?”
“Please.” Hange smiled at the word, at the way it sounded more like a whine than speech. They removed their fingers from him, pulled down his boxers.
“Get on the bed,” they said. He nodded, turning and climbing onto the bed as they pulled their bra off, shimmied fully out of their pants and undergarments.
Levi was on his hands and knees. Hange kneeled behind him, running their hands up his back. His skin was soft and warm. They hummed at the feeling.
He groaned, looking over his shoulder. “Just fuck me already, Four Eyes.”
Hange let out a snort, gripping his hip with one hand, adjusting the angle of their cock with the other. “I only have three of those now, Levi.”
“Right. Sorry.” Levi looked away, facing forward again.
“It’s fine,” they said, pressing their tip against his warmth. It had just happened. Everything had just happened. They paused, taking a moment to breathe in deeply, push all of the events to the back of their mind.
Finally, they slid into Levi, taking it slow. He let out a loud moan as they pushed all the way in, only stopping once they reached the hilt, their hips connecting with his ass. Hange stayed still for a moment, allowing Levi to adjust. They carefully pulled out and he bucked back, as if challenging them to speed up. Hange let out a laugh, then gripped both of his hips, picking up the pace, thrusting in and out of him.
Again, Levi was soft and warm, wrapping around them like a sleeve. Hange clenched their jaw and gripped him harder, nails digging into his flesh. He moaned, arching his back more and balling the blanket in his fists. Their eye rested on the back of his head, wondering what his face looked like. They watched as he bit his fist, muffling his noises.
Hange leaned forward, grabbing a fistful of his black hair, pulling his mouth off his hand. “I said don’t do that,” they whispered into his ear. “I want to hear you, Levi.”
Their hand moved to his throat, holding his face up, projecting his noises into the room. They picked up their momentum, pressing deeper into him with each thrust. Their perky nipples grazed along his back as they moved, sending a shiver down their spine. Hange left small kisses on Levi’s shoulder.
His noises changed. It almost sounded like he was crying, though Levi and crying wasn’t something that Hange had ever put in the same sentence. They stopped fucking into him, removed their hand from his throat. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he replied, though the sob that shook through his body immediately after said otherwise. Hange removed themself from him and pushed him to the side, plopping his body onto the bed. He moved onto his back and they wiped his tears away. “Stop it. Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
His eyes were red and puffy, face twisted into a nasty scowl. Hange leaned down and kissed his nose. “Stop being all soft and just fuck me.”
“Levi.” They brushed some of his hair from his face. “You want me to keep fucking you, really?”
He nodded, putting his hands on their cheeks, pulling them down for a kiss. “I want you, yeah. That’s the reason I came to your office at this horrible hour. I don’t want to stop just because… just because this room reminds me of him.”
Hange kissed him hard. They’d take his grief away, even for just a fleeting moment. Reaching down, they lined themself up with his entrance again, pushing back in. Levi gasped like they’d punched him and took his breath away, moving his hand to their hair and grabbing at the strands. The pair moaned into each other’s mouths as Hange thrusted, building back to their previous pace, pushing in as deep as they could go.
They snaked a hand in between their bodies, reaching to his clit. They pressed on him hard, swirling around the sensitive nub. Levi let out those loud, beautiful moans, bucking his hips, pushing back into Hange’s thrusts. They kissed down his face to his neck, licking and suckling on the skin there. Hange could feel how close he was, his plush walls pulsing around their cock, tensing up every time they pounded into him.
Their lips made their way up to Levi’s ear, leaving a trail of kisses. “You feel so fucking good,” Hange whispered. They licked from his lobe to the top of his ear. “Are you going to cum for me?”
“Yes,” Levi whispered back. His grip on their hair tightened, his other hand moving to their back, clawing into their flesh. With a few more thrusts, their thumb stroking his puffy clit, nibbling on his ear, they felt it — Levi tensed, clenched his cunt around them hard. He wrapped his quivering legs around them, the nails digging into their back nearly drawing blood. “Hange, fuck! Hange!”
It was all too much. Levi was so fucking tight and wet they couldn’t hold back anymore. “I’m gonna— fuck, Levi, I’m— Where? Where should I?”
“Just do it inside,” he breathed. “Please, just do it inside.”
Hange didn’t ask why. They didn’t have the brain power to at that moment. Maybe they would later, once the foggy ecstasy had lifted, or maybe they weren’t meant to read into it too much. They pressed on, fucking into him as he came down from his climax, as they reached theirs. Hange could hear their own voice, barely realized they’d been babbling — “Fuck, Levi, you feel so good, you’re so tight, I’m going to fill you up, fuck, fuck—”
Levi kissed them as they came, buried as far as they could be. He swirled his tongue around their mouth, gently ran his fingers through their hair. Hange pulled back, looking at his face; they wanted to see how disheveled he was, the expression he wore as they filled him. He was so handsome beneath them.
They finally slowed their thrusts, came to a stop still inside of him, desperately trying to catch their breath. Levi caressed their cheek; the softest touch Hange had ever felt from him. His steel gray eyes traced their features.
“May I hold you?” they asked. Levi nodded. Hange carefully pulled out of him, an ache building in their chest as they were no longer surrounded by his plush warmth. The two adjusted their position, Hange getting behind him on the bed, wrapping their arm around him tight. They stared at the back of his head, waiting for him to say something, anything.
Hange had never seen him cry before. Through all of the pain, the hurt, the death, Levi had never shed a tear. Not in front of them, at least. They thought of Erwin; had he ever seen humanity’s strongest soldier cry? Moblit had seen Hange cry many times, either out of sadness or happiness or frustration. He’d always been there to wipe their tears, get them tea, keep them on track. They shifted closer to Levi, burying their face into the soft flesh that connected his neck to his shoulders.
They cried. Maybe the Captain could be stoic now, only let his true emotions show while vulnerable in the act of sex, but they couldn’t hold it in. They whimpered into him, shaking him with every sob, desperately pulling him closer and closer to feel his skin against theirs. His warmth, his beating heart, his breath. Levi was alive. Levi was the only one left alive.
After a while, their crying calmed. They sniffled, held in the urge to apologize. Hange knew that Levi wouldn’t be mad at them. He wouldn’t see it as a weakness. Still, they felt guilt. They were the Commander, afterall. There was no room for them to be such a mess anymore. Somehow, without their dear assistant, they’d have to keep it all together.
“I’ll do it,” Levi whispered. Hange lifted their head at the sound of his voice.
“Do what?” they asked softly into his ear.
“I’m going to slaughter that big, hairy bastard.”
Hange hummed in agreement. They knew by the conviction in his voice he meant it. If anyone could bring the Beast Titan down for good, it’d be Captain Levi. And they knew if he ever wanted to rest easy, he’d have to accomplish his mission. The last thing he told Erwin he’d do.
“I’ll be there when you do it,” they said. “I’ll be with you through it all. Whatever comes next.”
“We’ll see this to end. You and me, Hange.”
“You and me, Levi.”
Not long after that, he drifted off into sleep, still in their arms. Hange listened to his breathing, tried to follow him into slumber. They were tired from the day, from the sex, from not having a good night’s sleep since returning from Shiganshina. They wondered if Levi had slept well at all since returning. Probably not.
Their mind drifted to those kids. Hange was in charge of them now, each of their lives their responsibility. Any new recruits that came along would be their burden, too, each one looking up to their Commander for guidance, strength, direction. They weren’t sure they had the gall to be their leader. Compared to their predecessor, the man who embodied the strength of a grizzly, the wisdom of an owl… they were but a flea. Who were they to promise Levi they’d be with him through it all, when they weren’t even sure they could muster the courage to face their subordinates tomorrow?
Hange pulled him closer. They listened to his soft snores, felt his chest rise and fall in steady rhythm. They buried their nose into his hair, took in his scent. For him, they’d be strong. With him, they’d face anything.
For tonight, at least, they tried to forget about it all. In this bed, they weren’t Commander. They could simply be Hange. And he, just Levi.