Like Branches On a Tree
The boughs of the gnarled oak tree stretched over the backyard. Pastel pinks and reds of sunset filtered through gently swaying leaves, painting the lawn in soft light.
On the grass, a group had gathered to play a game involving boards and beanbags. Armin tossed a bag. Sasha and Connie cheered him on, while Mikasa and Jean prepared rebuttal throws.
Beyond, a bonfire had been lit in the fire pit, and Erwin, Mike, Nanaba, and Moblit were seated around it, sipping beers and laughingly reminiscing.
Others milled about, chatting and drinking and eating.
On a bench beneath the stoic, towering oak, Hanji sat, watching.
“You look bored.”
Hanji glance up.
Levi, who’d somehow managed to sneak up on her, leaned against the tree, sipping at a half finished beer.
“Which is pretty sad. Considering this is your party.”
A hand drawn birthday banner fluttered in the breeze.
“I’m not bored,” Hanji replied, reaching up and stealing his beer. “Just thinking.” She took a sip.
“Do I want to know?”
Hanji shrugged, passing the beer back, and said, “probably not. But I’ll tell you anyway.”
Levi took a long drink.
“I was helping Armin with his psychics dissertation and ended up going down a rabbit hole researching the multiverse theory.”
Levi didn’t reply, but lowered the beer and made a noise in his throat that Hanji interpreted as encouragement to continue.
“There are a wide range of variances in the multiverse speculations and theories, but a handful consider the likelihood of parallel universes or realities,” Hanji said, then paused, expectant.
“Right,” Levi replied, slow.
“So it got me thinking - there could be infinite versions of us out there, scattered amidst the universes, living out untold lives.”
“And…?”
“I,” Hanji hesitated. “I don’t know,” she said and sighed. “If that’s the case this all feels...rather tenuous I suppose.” She looked out over the lawn.
Levi crossed his arms, adjusting his position against the tree. “You’re worried that some of the infinite Hanji’s out in all the multiverses might be having shitty lives?”
“Yes - I mean no, I mean. Not exactly. Just. What gets to decide?”
“Nothing. Just pure dumb luck.”
“I don’t like that.”
“Well by your logic, there’s also a bunch of Hanji’s out there having fucking amazing lives.”
“Am I one of them?” Hanji asked, stealing the last of his beer.
Levi shifted to lean on the bench. He followed her gaze across the yard, at their friends talking and laughing together.
“Depends on your definition of amazing,” he finally answered.
“Then yes. I’d like to think so.” Setting the bottle beneath the bench, she added, “what about you? Think you landed yourself in one of the good Levi universes?”
“It’s got you in it, so it can’t be all bad.”
Scooting across the bench, Hanji leaned against his side. “That was shockingly sweet.”
“Though this universe could be better. Like if you stopped brooding about goddamn multiverses at your birthday parties.”
“Well that’s absolutely not going to happen, so we’ll just have to settle for a mediocre existence, I suppose.”
“Fine by me.”
Levi was warm where he pressed against her side. Cheek brushing against the soft fabric of his jacket, she turned her head up and watched as the sky shifted from pink to dusky purples and grays. The breeze carried the voices and laughter of their friends, and the leaves shivered with it.
“I could stay here forever,” Hanji murmured, her glasses reflecting the mosaic sky.
“Okay,” Levi replied.
- - - -
I don’t read snk anymore, but I saw the spoilers and felt the need to write something meandering and soft.
