Chapter 21:

Only You Can Set My Heart on Fire

-x-

Hanji was not present beside Levi when Erwin scolded Georges for his misbehavior.

That's right, scolded is the proper term. Who would have thought that the commander himself is capable of scolding his own soldiers like they are his damn kids? It even goes well with his hand gestures which most of them didn't thought that he liked scolding with hand gestures.

It was like a symphony of a great orchestra to Levi and he is enjoying every minute of it but the tune changed when Georges suddenly had it quits and busted out from his chair and started to pull the sleeves of Erwin which made Mike instantly pulled the curly haired man off Erwin while Levi instantly kicked him on the balls which made him fall immediately on the floor, making him curl and twist around. Levi managed a tiny laugh under his breath when he saw Georges struggling like that on the floor. He thought that he deserves more than just a kick on the balls but he figures he could have his time to avenge Hanji.

Fortunately enough they were able to made it discreet and had the situation down only within the four walls of Erwin's office so that there would be less commotion and less chaotic. Erwin took that chance to lower himself down on Georges and grab his shirt and brought it closer to his face.

"I won't be tolerating such behavior, soldier. I guess I have to send you back to where you belong." Erwin said with full force and disgust. Georges was the only soldier who is not disciplined enough to properly give time towards his unwanted attitude and lifestyle, most importantly of what he did to Hanji. Levi managed to explain about it to the other veterans and he too as the commander had valued Hanji that much and wanted to avenge her as well, even though his little possible ways.

"I don't think that's going to happen since the MP did told me that they are not welcoming him back, that they don't need a person like him." Mike explained as he watched in enthusiasm over Erwin.

"Well that's too bad, looks like I'll give you to Rico then, to the Garrison. Maybe she would like to have you around in there I suppose." Erwin retorts back but Levi's clearing of throat caught his attention.

"Erwin, before you hand him there, could I at least give him a proper goodbye?" he said with a smirk and Erwin and Mike couldn't do anything better but to just agreed to what Levi had said, knowing what he really means.

As for Levi, he would make this son of a bitch pay for what he did to his four-eyes.

-x-

Hanji may not be present during the moment of Georges execution by Erwin but Levi did ask her if she is interested to at least slap his face off or throw punches and or kicks at him just so that she could have the revenge that she deserves. But for Hanji, she had enough of shit for the mean time. She still doesn't have any guts to tell Levi about it but she still feels a bit sad and distraught whenever she is to see Georges because it was her first time to let herself fall in love officially but she chose the wrong decision it seemed and had her heart broken even if her decision was wrong.

If only she had chosen Levi all along, she wouldn't feel this bad.

Still, she guesses that Levi knows about her thoughts because when he asked her to tag along with him and butcher the hell out of Georges after what he did to her but she only managed to swallow down a choke and showed of a bothered smile. Levi saw the meaning behind that expression of hers and he only nodded in return, give her a sweet kiss on her cheek which really made her feel warm to her toes. He gave her hand a squeeze before he reluctantly gave it a kiss as well.

Hanji felt bad about it and as she sees Levi goes off, understanding her shit, she can't help but feel horrible to herself. She perfectly knows that Erwin is about to slaughter Georges' ass for being an asshole to the corps but she also knows that Levi wanted nothing to beat Georges off as well to avenge her for breaking her heart.

She sighed deeply, Levi was truly taking her heart out into another level she had never thought it would be at and has been making a mark into her heart. Instead of slapping her face with his words that she should be regretful for not choosing him first and all kind of shit, he never did and had only been nothing but be as understanding towards her and even became more patient to her as well.

Hanji could now see Levi being more into a romantic kind of man and that he is different towards her and how he treats her. She figures that it might be of her confession towards him and how he treated her before where she feels that it was already becoming too much and already below the line. She didn't want him to stop teasing him either but recently, he had learned to tease her in most proper times.

She couldn't be even happier with that, she is way too glad that Levi knows her too well.

After Levi left Hanji to have a talk with Georges about his behavior in the corps together with Mike and Erwin, Hanji felt the urge to catch up some time with Nanaba. They had always been so very busy that it has been months since they had to spend some quality time together but when Hanji was finally able to find Nanaba in the entire morning, she finally found her inside the hq's kitchen, cooking for Mike.

"Hey Nana!" Hanji exclaimed, pitched-high and waved a hand. She was honestly too shy of seeing her since she doesn't know how to tell her about her failed attempt to Georges and that she finally learned that it was Levi all along who was always been there all the time and she had been literally blind.

"What's up Hanji?" Nanaba asked and giving her a few short glances, focusing gradually on her whisking.

Hanji looked on Nanaba's hands filled with ingredients and busily working. "Ahm, I was wondering if I could get to talk to you."

"Really? About what?" she asked, enthusiasm still on her voice.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to hang out. I kinda missed you, you know?" Hanji confesses and gave her tiny friend a hug from the behind.

"Levi might get jealous!" Nanaba playfully exclaims while Hanji suddenly halted and moved beside her friend. She was honestly surprised how Nanaba found out but there could be a thousand reason how she had found out about her and Levi's confirmed relationship.

"Yeah, about that, I'd like to apologize for not being honest with you."

"really, about you?" Nanaba asked as she was halted by what she is doing and looking at her dear friend quizzically.

"Yeah, about me and that guy." Hanji said awkwardly and moved beside her, eyeing the endless utensils and ingredients present before them. "what are these for Nana? And what are you doing anyway?" she asked, hopefully to lighten the tension building up.

"I'm making a berry tart and a pie for Mike since it is our anniversary today. I am hoping that I could finish this have it given to him after their talk with Erwin." She replied as she continues to beat, work then places the dirty dishes on the sink. For Hanji, it sounds like Nanaba definitely knows about the conversation of their beloved men.

"Sounds delicious, can I help?" Nanaba's head suddenly turned towards her direction with a face that is quite unconvinced and worried. Hanji in return could only look back to her friend with bothered eyes.

"Yes you do, as long as you plan to tell that story of yours to me yourself, Hanji." Nanaba's voice isn't that daring since she herself knows that her friend would definitely tell her what she really wants to anyway.

"Of course I would." A faint smile was the last thing that Nanaba saw that formed on Hanji's face after telling her what she could do to help and before she even started with her story.

-x-

Hanji managed to cut the story in a tolerable and nice pace while helping Nanaba finish her baking for Mike. She fortunately didn't said anything at first and waited for her to finish telling her story, before she makes a rude or shitty answer even though she is not yet finished. She is beyond grateful to Nanaba for being like that, hearing her out first.

Hanji was able to complete her story telling to Nanaba as they work and by the time they finished baking was also the moment when Hanji realized that she had told everything to her. From the moment that Hanji decided to choose Georges instead of Levi to the part where she felt disrespected and hideous to the night they had spent together unexpectedly and started blurting out her true and confirmed feelings towards Levi to his big surprise for her during their latest expedition.

When Nanaba places the baked products that they have done inside the oven was when she then first ought to say a word to what she said. She arches her arms to her hips and turned to face and look Hanji directly into her eyes. Hanji in the other hand was already getting anxious in the inside, wondering of what her friend would be telling her about her decision that she recently made in her life.

But then a tiny smirk crawled on Nanaba's face that made Hanji also do the same. Nanaba made some tea in a fast pace to drink after some hard and longtime baking for Mike and hands one to Hanji. As they sat together on a table was when Nanaba started to do the talking.

"So are you really sure about Levi now?" she asked as she sipped her tea.

Hanji too, sipped on her tea before answering her. "Yeah. You know about choosing the wrong decisions in life? I guess that's the worst mistake that I have ever done."

"But you mentioned that you were just 'testing' out if you could have the ideal relationship with Georges, right?"

"Yeah I did"

"Well, I guess that's the only thing I needed to point out, that love is not science all the time and that people are not like titans that you could just experiment with." Nanaba tried her best not to sound like a hypocrite or some crazy love guru. She is just purely concerned with her friend and would want anything but to help her and not to suffer the same thing again.

Hanji sighed but beamed at her right after what she had said. "Right, that even made me feel really bad about what I did to Levi and after he even made that big surprise for me? I really wanted to make it up to him."

She immediately thought of something, anything to make up for Levi's thoughtfulness towards her. She remembered how she and Nanaba had baked hard for Mike so she thought of something she could make herself to give to Levi. Problem is that she doesn't know anything she is good extremely good at that could be used for producing anything. Nanaba is no doubt good in cooking and having it compared to her cooking skills was basically making her heart and brain ache. She tapped her head even further for more ideas for Levi which she didn't even thought that it'll be that hard in the first place.

While Hanji was thinking her heart out, Nanaba sighed in relief. She is very much happy for her friend for having a life aside from her research and soldier life though she really felt bad of what she had to face and experience in order for her to understand her true feelings for the man she is spending most of the time with.

So it is true then, Nanaba thought, that highly intelligent people are naïve when it comes to love. Though at lease, Hanji was still able to realize her feelings and love for Levi. Now looking at her friend, she could figure that Levi is the one on her mind right now.

Nanaba clasped her hands and placed it under her chin, her eyes sticking only to her friend. "You're planning to do something with him tonight I figure?" Nanaba teasingly asked. It was a success though as she sees Hanji's cheeks turn into pinkish rose.

"For him actually. I really feel bad that since after he gave me that extra sweet surprise and I don't even have anything to give back to him, even just for as a sign of gratitude for that." She exclaims, eyes still wondering around for ideas. "I wonder what I could get him."

"Try inventing something, it's where you're good at." Hanji had her head automatically turned to Nanaba who is sipping her cup of tea. Not breaking the stare that they are sharing, Hanji tried to smile and thought of the possible things that she could probably invent and give to Levi as a gift but no matter how much she tries, she can't think of anything at all.

"I can't even think of anything." She helplessly confessed, face falling from her palms.

"You're just stressed out. Try taking a break for a while then sooner or later, you'd be able to think of a proper gift for your man." Nanaba pats Hanji's hands on her face and gave her warm chuckle.

"but what if he doesn't like it?" she worriedly asked.

"He will, trust me." She assures her.

"How sure are you that he's going to like it?" Hanji's face is turning even more hopeless than ever.

"He will, if he really loves you he will."

"I guess you'd base that from experience, I suppose?"

"Yes maybe. Just like if either me or Mike will give each other a gift or something, we could find the right time for it to be used or if not, we would just keep it to remind ourselves of the thoughtfulness that we had for each other. You don't need to give him something that he actually wanted or needed but give him something that will show your love towards him. Besides, if it came from you and if he really does love you that much, he will appreciate it at whatever cost because he knows that you even bothered yourself just to give him something, most especially if you really worked hard for it." Nanaba even added another reassuring smile just so she could really convince her friend.

Nanaba stood up and took Hanji's almost empty cup. She assumes that she is already done with it and that if ever she is not even really done and she took it, she would hesitate to let her take her cup. But she didn't argue so it means that it's okay for her to take it already.

When Nanaba places the cup away and returns to Hanji, she gave her friend a slight squeeze on the shoulder. "Don't forget, it's the thought that counts."

Nanaba left Hanji alone on the table and when she gave a quick glance to her, she could swear that she's going to be okay.

-x-

Hanji thought hard and even thought more as she walks on the hallway, taking Nanaba's advice and take some nap to rest her overworking brain. She knows that she has work to do but she already managed to do half of it already and could finish the rest within the day and giving herself a break and thinking for a gift for the man she loves isn't that bad. She even rarely does that so she believes that what she's doing isn't that bad at all.

She was too submerged on her thoughts that she didn't realized that she suddenly bumped to the main reason of her endless thoughts on her head.

"What the fuck? You alright?" Levi caught her as she almost bumped into the bricked wall. He gently gripped on her shoulders as he caught her but all she had to give her was a confused face.

"What's wrong?" he asked again to bring her back to reality. All he could see is her surprised face, eyes wide and mouth slightly opened.

It took a few seconds for Hanji to realize of what is happening and tried on focusing on the person who have her. As she tried to focus, it was the man she could now declare hers.

"Levi" she murmured, slightly panicking on the inside all of a sudden. She should not tell and blurt out that she wanted to give him something and that she is currently having a hard time because of that.

"What the hell happened to you?" Levi asks again and Hanji straightened herself up and give him a smile.

"I was off to my room, I feel sleepy I wanted to take some nap." She did said not lying.

Levi just gave her a hard stern look before he nodded and took her hand and drag her along the corridor on the way to her room.

"Levi?" she blurts out, looking at the strong hand holding hers and dragging her towards her room.

"I saw you working your ass in your laboratory and going from one place to another after I last saw you." He exclaims and continued to drag her. "It was nice to have you remember yourself once for a while and give yourself a break."

Hanji was not able to say anything after that and the moment that they reached her room, he carries her surprisingly making her surprised, placing her in the middle of the bed, removing her shoes as he also removes her ponytail and places a glass of water on her bedside table. Levi places himself beside her and combs her hair with his fingers as she looked at him in complete surprise.

"Go to sleep. You need to rest, I don't want you throwing your guts out again." Hanji had her mouth hanged when he said that but wanted to die laughing to see Levi looking all so flushed. So he too is also adjusting with this kind of relationship that they have and as she observe him more, she couldn't feel but be more grateful for having him and feel so happy seeing him so cute.

"Thank you, Levi." She whispers as she settles her head on his stomach, letting his strong but magical fingers to drive her to sleep.

As she prepares to sleep, she vows that she wouldn't just let this rest that she would be getting to go to waste. She promises herself that she will work her ass off to give Levi a gift of love and appreciation.

And at that very last moment before she sleeps and rest in the middle of the day, on her lover's arms, she thought of the perfect gift that she could give him.

-x-

It was one hectic day to kick some ass of an asshole who had made his Four Eyes cry and feel bad like that so once Levi finally get back inside of his room to sleep directly without telling about what he had done to Georges to his beloved Hanji, wanting it to be a surprise and all, was in turn surprised of what he had seen inside of his room.

On top of his bed is a newly made black crochet glove potholder with his name on it in elegant silver color. Levi was caught surprised by it and immediately traced his fingers along its depths. Wondering who made it as he twirled it around his hands, he suddenly heard a very much familiar snore.

It was Hanji, head tightly sleeping on top of her arms as she was sitting uncomfortably on a chair beside it. Levi then made his move towards her as the newly made glove potholder were tightly held by his hand and then lightly shook Hanji.

Hanji made a gurgling noise from her mouth and slowly opened her eyes, slowly met those familiar strong grey eyes of Levi's. She tried to smile but her sleepiness in preventing her to do so and Levi noticed it so he scooped her up, carried her and placed her on his bed. He took off her shoes, her brown jacket uniform, slightly opened her white shirt, combed her hair with his fingers and places a small kiss on her forehead.

"Idiot, you shouldn't had bothered." He whispers to her, not knowing that she is still awake.

Hanji opened one eye to look at him and poke his nose, awkwardly grabbing his attention and holding it himself. "I thought you were asleep?"

"Yeah I am, but I heard you and felt you carrying me and it woke me up a bit." She said and let out a yawn.

"I guess I'm sorry about that" Levi exclaims and places a finger on her nose. "But seriously, you really shouldn't had. And why this?" He held the newly made potholder glove right in front of her and dangled it a bit.

She smiled at first and laughed a bit before replying to his question. "To protect your hand when you're making tea."

Levi can't help but smile at her answer. She awfully looks cute with her hair down and spread all over. He gave it a try and wore it, his fingers perfectly settling on it. It felt really warm and perfect on his hands, giving his fingers a close-open exercise. After checking how it is made and felt even more of it, he figures that she really made an effort and exerted all time just to make a beautiful one as like it.

"Besides, that would remind you that I am capable of doing girly doings." She added and closes her eyes, tucking her hands under her chin.

Levi looked at her direction and watched her breathe in. It's true that she is not fond of doing domestic activities unlike him. He even excels better in cooking and cleaning compared to her, and she even finds herself having oddly difficult time in simply preparing tea for him. And doing a crochet definitely put her into a heavy and huge deal, maybe that's why she seems too tired and sleepy already.

"Yeah, I can see that you have already proven that." He tells her and she only smiled, without even opening her eyes. "You can also use that to protect your knuckles when you punch people on the face." She exclaims and breathed in.

That caught Levi surprised, did she knew how he badly tore the face of Geogres? Looking at his knuckles made him realized it's a yes. His knuckles were all red and torn, but he still can't wonder how she knew where in fact that she just saw him the very first time right after he had butchered the asshole.

"Am I right with that?" she asks and Levi could only just kiss her cheek softly.

"Yeah Four Eyes. Can't help it, I don't like seeing you crying and wetting your pants after." He joked and it made Hanji choke a laugh.

"Fucker."

"I'm a greatest fucker you could ever have, don't you even dare deny it."

"I'm not saying you aren't."

They both shared a laugh but Hanji let out a bigger and longer yawn and that made Levi realized that his darling four eyes is already yearning for some goodnight sleep.

-x-

It started with a little bit of doubt, even though everybody were all used seeing the two of them together and basically doing things together at the same time as well. From eating to trainings, it would be very unusual if they could be seen together far from one another.

And that's how things started to get strange.

After Georges has been banned from joining both the Military Police and the Survey Corps for his crappy and irresponsible behavior, Hanji and Levi had both been more open and obvious of their new confirmed relationship. The hand holding that they do in public, Levi suddenly placing his arm around Hanji whenever he would see her talking to a man that they both know or not, Hanji placing a few sneaky kisses on his cheeks, Levi's constant hair shuffling of Hanji and the two of them giving one another a few little squeezes when together.

The other soldiers felt confused and surprised but as for those who are close to them and knows them better, were not surprised at all if they would be seeing them ending up with each other eventually. No one even dared to bring up or mention the name of Georges to Hanji because it makes her have her emotional imbalance, making her sad then later regretful into finally being liberated. Levi didn't like it and is definitely up into a killing spree if they make her feel that bad again, and he just really hate that name, making him giddy with anger and ready for battle if needed be.

Not long after, the young soldiers started to move their asses like taking a peak to each of their leaders' rooms, hoping to witness some action or something worth gossiping for. The other veterans no longer cared to ask since just seeing the two being too carefree locking lips or giving each other a kiss on the lips right before their very eyes. Quite surprising really but in the other hand, really nice to see that the man that most people know to have such a hardened heart was able to love a woman of intellect but together, they were able to share one heart of compassion and love.

Whether true or not for their comrades, they are still too happy for the new found love for their little captain, hoping that he will soften up a little as well for everyone and that their squad leader will somehow lessen her obsession with her research and be given a new reason to be obsessed with.

Little do they know is that they have been too obsessed already with one another long before they could even tell.

And as for Levi, he still couldn't believe such thing happening to him. He never knew that he could love someone such way with great vigor like a drug. It might be a little uncomfortable at first but as he get along with this new profound relationship with Hanji, he couldn't deny that he is the happiest. He definitely feels not alone anymore and that someone admires him for who he really is, seeing not in the way that most people do and most importantly, a new home, someone to share build dreams with.

He is most certainly sure that Hanji feels the same way towards him, from the new way her smile curls in her face whenever he is beside her, her touches and her more sincere kisses. He feels really shy about it but he feels really blessed to fight for him as well and together, they could do any with each other. He is only hoping that she could pull it through her family about him, since they both know that he has nothing to be proud of except for his useless title.

But as they share the moment of the night, curled to one another's body, they are more definitely sure that they don't want anywhere else but to be with each other's arms.

"Levi?" Hanji suddenly spoke into his ear, her hands crawling to caress and trace his chest and neck. Levi turns his face on her head, his lips placed on top of her head.

"What is it?" he asked back.

"I love you." She tells him.

"You perfectly know that my feelings are way bigger than your, Four Eyes." He snorted and she laughs and smacks him slightly, a laugh comforting in all sort of way. They both continued to envelope on each other's embrace and kisses before falling asleep.

Levi couldn't feel even more blessed.

-x-

Since Nanaba is a great cook in the Chuggakou series, I decided to have the ladies to have cooking as their quality time together. J

Seriously, endings are always the hardest parts for me to do -,-'' I don't really know why but it's like I am running out ideas or some shit. So yeah, sorry for the ending. I kinda don't want to make it overdramatic or some shit. Nevertheless, I am so happy that it's finally done! I mean, it took one whole year to finish this fic (including some new added chapters that I see and believe to be necessary to be added, final editing). Even though sometimes I really feel that this is not much but you guys managed to convince me that this is fine and okay!

Finishing this fic for that timeframe was really memorable, fun and just exciting. I really did grew while I did this while facing a few bumps along the way but I never gave up not to finish this fic. One of them is when I started this fic I was still a student and an intern, looking and applying for a position for my chose profession and finished updating it as a professional already working so it really meant a lot. I even had trouble updating this due to my work, kinda never knew that it'll affect that much to me.

And yeah, like I have said, IT IS UP TO YOU whether you would want to connect this fic to my other fics as well or not. If you do, the time line is as follow so you won't be lost:

I.Serious Pranks to Wrestlings to Love Making

II.Why Can't I Get Over You?

III.Because Proposing is Fucking Hard and Complicated

IV.I Never Wanted to Live Without You

Don't worry, I'll be adding them as a series in my AO3 account so you won't get confused.

I also would really like to thank all of your support, comments and reviews regarding my work and it was really fun having you guys to read my hard work :D With this work, I finally knew more people across the globe who are fun to talk with and exchange ideas, you guys rock!

Some people that I'd really like to give my thanks to:

ü Trisha (colonelmags) I love thee my dear! :*

ü Rokusasu

ü Drinkyourfuckingmilk for always being an inspiration for me, your works motivates me to write most especially if I am losing the will to do so and with that I am eternally grateful.

ü Someone stole my socks, for your fics really touches my heart like hell.

ü Pixie

ü Claire Chevalier

ü Miruna

ü hairdryer

ü And all the anonymous peeps for your comment, reviews and love!

Since I have finished this one, I have another one in coming, one is about Hworang and Julia Chang of the Tekken Games Series and another is of course, LeviHan but in an alternate universe and most probably would be released early next year since I already have completed two long fics within this year so maybe next year sounds nice, yes? I really do hope you guys will give out the same support for that incoming fic as well! :D It will be totally new and of course, long with a weird 'ol title as usual.

Thanks for all the kudos, follows and favorites!

I had this last chapter uploaded exactly on Christmas day so also at the exact day of our Levi's birthday! :D

Until next time and see yah on my next fic!