First Kiss
Attack on Titan One-Shot Characters: Hanji Zoe x F!OC Word Count: 2,191 Spoilers: Not really? Triggers: None I can think of The best place to sleep was always out in the grass, beneath a tree. Or so Shelley decided after a long overnight training. People used to think she was crazy for training at night. Titans weren’t active when the sun went down, but her other senses became better when the darkness crept in. She felt more confident with her gear because she honed her other senses. Of course, Hanji had seen her potential long ago and now Shelley was constantly trying to improve their gear. Another reason for nightly trainings.
“Eh, Hanji,” Levi broke the midday silence as he and the brown-haired section commander neared Shelley. “Wasn’t she sleeping under a table the other day?” Hanji followed the man’s gaze, unable to stop her slight laugh at the sight of Shelley sleeping in the partial shade. “It helps her sleep.” Most of the Scouts were known to have their quirks and rather large personalities, but Hanji found Shelley’s sleeping patterns curious. She couldn’t help but ask the cadet why she slept in random places—under trees, under tables, on the floor next to her bed, under a log fort. Shelley confessed it helped with her nightmares, with the memories of her first expeditions and watching so many of her friends get eaten by the titans. Levi let out a sigh and shook his head. He poked the sleeping woman with the tip of his boot, nudging her a few times until she stirred from her sleep. Her blue eyes stared back at the two before recognition struck. She scrambled to her feet. “C-Captain. Section commander,” she stuttered out, bringing a balled hand to her chest and the other to her back in a salute. “Sleeping on the job again, huh?” Hanji teased, a mischievous glint in her brown eyes. “What am I going to do with you?” Shelley stared at the other woman, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. Her mind registered the joke, but it failed to give her an adequate response. “I helped fix Jean’s gear, and did some training with Moblit,” she reported. “How is testing the new gear?” Levi asked. “Still waiting on a new part to keep the anchors from snapping,” she explained. “But I think the modifications to the original may work. I did some testing last night and it held. It limits the movement a little more than I like but…” she rolled her shoulders into a shrug, “It works.” Levi hummed with a small nod. Most of them used their gear in a similar fashion—straight forward, no frills, no tricks. But he and Mikasa tended to push theirs harder than others, because they could. They weren’t the best for nothing. Shelley, however, had her own style entirely. As a recruit, she nearly failed, until she tampered with her gear to make it more flexible. When it was discovered, instead of kicking her out, Hanji saw her worth and convinced Erwin to keep her on. He offered it to Shelley, with the warning that she would be a scout and, most likely, die. She blurted out yes so fast she almost questioned if she should have thought about it instead. But she was happy with the Scouts. And happy to be trusted by Hanji. “I can show you if you want,” she said. “That’s Hanji’s job,” Levi muttered. He started walking. “I have to check on the cleaning crew.” A grin spread across Hanji’s lips. She wrapped an arm around Shelley’s shoulders and pulled the other woman’s body close to hers, feeling the extra warmth the sun had given. “Looks like it’s just us,” she said with an oddly dark laugh. She turned them both around to head to the training ground. Shelley swore she could feel Hanji’s body shaking with excitement. “Has anyone else seen?” Shelley shook her head. “I don’t want people expecting them to work. Plus, the more work I do, the more temperamental they get. I don’t think these will do for mass use.” She didn’t notice the twinkle in her section commander’s eyes. “It’ll be our secret together!” Hanji exclaimed with all too much enthusiasm. “Ah. N-No. That’s…” “Aaaaah! I always knew I was your favorite! Wait until Moblit finds out! He’ll have to step it up to keep my attention.” Shelley couldn’t stop her giggle at the other woman’s excitement at some made up scenario. “I think he’ll be happy to have the break.” “What? No! He loves it. It’s his way of keeping control. ‘Hanji you’re working them too hard’. ‘Section commander, you’re being too loud’,” Hanji snickered. “What would he do if I behaved myself?” “Sleep,” Shelley joked. It only reminded her of how tired she was herself. After the fall of wall Maria, all of her nightmares resurfaced. If she wasn’t pushing her nightly trainings, she was tossing and turning in restless sleep despite her trick of finding a new sleeping spot. “Hey uh…” Hanji started; her tone more serious than usual. “You’re taking care of yourself, right?” Shelley looked to the woman as they entered the wooded training grounds and stopped walking. She nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine,” she lied. Hanji kept her eyes locked onto the woman’s. Levi had the kind of look that alerted people he could see through them, and he would call it out, but Hanji’s was more subtle. She could see the light in those blue eyes dimmed by sleep deprivation, feel a new leanness to the woman’s body, and see how her face slimmed some. It made her worry, and not in the way she did for everyone else. Hanji wanted to protect the woman. She tried to play it off as if she just saw herself in Shelley, but if she decided to be honest, it was something more. But a section commander with a cadet? And one from her own squad nonetheless? That wouldn’t end well… Hanji pushed the thoughts away and forced a carefree smile as well. She clasped her hands behind her head and glanced over the training field. “Well,” she started. “Show me your progress.” Shelley nodded with a small smile perched on her lips. Training with her gear was true freedom. In battle, there were dangers to worry about, but in the trees of the training ground, it was just her and her gear. From the moment the anchors hooked into a tree and she was pulled from the ground by the metal reel, she felt carefree. The gear became an extension of her body. She could feel the weight of the gas and so it became intuitive when it grew too low. When the wind kicked in, she knew just how much to push the speed and how to use her muscles to counteract it. Her original gear kept her movements linear, but her modifications continued to loosen up that movement. It wasn’t cleared for battle yet, but she hoped soon. As did Levi and Hanji. Hanji assumed it would help with long-term titan captures, the most dangerous of all the missions. Then again, she wondered if anyone else would be able to use it. Shelley had a way with the gear, like a dancer in the air. It was a different sort of mastery than Mikasa or Levi had. And just watching brought a smile to Hanji’s lips. Shelley had completely forgotten about Hanji’s presence as she flipped off from the trunk of a tree. She fired the anchors, feeling the pull as the coils retracted once attached to their mark. Something didn’t feel right. It felt like a snag, a small catch in something. Her feet landed against the new trunk, facing the same tree she had just launched from. The snag hadn’t been there last night. She fired the anchors again, knowing it was time to reinspect the gear. She pushed off from the tree, pulled again by the coils. Instead of the snag she anticipated, she felt a sudden loss. Her body began to shift to the side. Eyes widening, she realized that the right-side wire snapped entirely. She retracted the other anchor but it was too late. It only took seconds for her to slam into the trunk at an awkward angle. Pain radiated through her side and chest, but the sharpest of it came from her hip. Hanji’s eyes widened when she realized what was going on. The ODM gears weren’t without problems to begin with, but modifying them only amplified the possibilities of failure. They all knew the danger. Her heart caught in her throat as she realized the free fall the other woman was caught in without her gear. Hanji’s body kicked into action, pushing her forward and closing the distance. Shelley’s body tensed in anticipation of the solid ground. She watched as the tree seemed to grow before her eyes, knowing she could roll over and watch the ground instead. But that seemed a more dreadful sight. She closed her eyes, bracing for the impact. Something warm wrapped around her. She landed on something much softer than she expected. Her hip screamed in pain, blocking out the sound of a grunt. She opened her eyes, still dazed by the lack of added pain, before realizing why it had been a softer landing. “Hanji!” she exclaimed. She scrambled off of the other woman, ignoring the objection from her hip. Hanji pushed herself up, gasping to catch her breath. “Are you okay?” Shelley asked, eying the other woman for signs of serious injury. Hanji nodded. “You need to go to the infirmary,” she countered. Shelley shook her head, though she knew it to be true. She feared a fractured hip—or worse—which would keep her bedridden for a while. She wanted to know what happened before that came to be. Trying not to wince, she went to remove her gear. “You hit the tree hard,” Hanji pointed out. She ignored her own soreness. Catching someone mid-air was much easier than on the ground; her right ankle was sprained for sure. Maybe that was the trademark of a true Scout—better in the air than on the ground. Shelley’s blue eyes met Hanji’s brown. “You do too,” she insisted, but her hands were already fumbling with a small tool kit she always kept with her. “But… I need to know,” she looked down at her gear, “what happened first.” Hanji watched the woman’s fingers nimbly start taking apart the gear. If there was one thing Hanji knew, it was passion. Everyone knew her for being too excited by titans, too dedicated to understanding them. But now, watching those hands so expertly tearing metal pieces apart, she just wanted to hold them. And seeing that same passionate determination in the other woman’s face that she herself knew too well made her want to break boundaries she knew she shouldn’t. “Ah…” Shelley muttered. She stared down at the culprit. One of the holding clips had worn. As it attempted to hold and release, it wore down the wire until it had snapped. An easy fix, but it meant waiting on parts. Maybe they’d be in by the time her hip healed… She went to pull out the cut metal when Hanji grabbed her hand. Shelley’s attention snapped to her commanding officer. The brunette stared at Shelley with a soft look. Shelley found her heart racing. “Ha-Hanji?” she asked. She wondered if the fall had hurt her more than they thought, but the back of her mind told her something else was happening. Hanji’s free hand went to Shelley’s cheek as she leaned closer. Their lives were too short to worry about boundaries. She pressed her lips to Shelley’s, being careful to not give into her usual excitement. Not only had the woman slammed full force into a tree, but Hanji really knew little about her… Shelley froze with the feeling of Hanji’s lips. Had she hit her head? This wasn’t allowed. Hanji was section commander, after all. Besides, Shelley came from a respectable family. She was expected to marry a good man—preferably from the interior. But then, she was also supposed to follow her sister’s footsteps and join the Military Police, not the degenerate Scouts, as her parents put it. Hanji broke the kiss. “Wait,” Shelley whispered. Hanji paused. Shelley stared at the other woman. Expectations be damned. A sadness formed at the thought of rejecting her commander, at ignoring the flutter in her heart whenever Hanji was excited for or proud of her. She shifted, ignoring her hip, and put her lips back to Hanji’s. Hanji returned the affection without hesitation. The worry of titans, the stress of their role for humanity, the fear of inevitable losses, all slipped away for just the few minutes of their kiss. “I’m glad Levi didn’t come,” Hanji said, grinning as she so often did. “He’ll know,” Shelley responded. Hanji frowned. “I’m sure he already knows. He reads you like a book.” Hanji pouted a moment before grinning again. “I guess it’s fair. I know his secret too.” Shelley watched Hanji. Hanji got to her feet, favoring her right ankle. “Now, let’s get you to the infirmary.”