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Hanji rushed towards Floch in the hallways, furiously calling him.
“Floch Forster!”
“Wha-”
She pushed him to the wall, gripping his jacket tightly.
“You took a water bottle from my lab yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes. To the kitchen” He admitted.
“You dumbass! Do you know what happened?” She yelled, dragging him with her to the dorms.
She opened the door for them to be greeted by loud, high-pitched noises.
Children noises.
“Oh shit!” He cursed under his breath, looking at how the 104th veterans he met not so long ago were now goddamn toddlerss.
Jean, the one he first talked to, and Eren, the titan shifter, were fighting like some naughty kids.
Armin, the new colossal titan, was crying in front of them, trying to pull Eren away.
Meanwhile Sasha and Connie were screaming in the back, watching as they fought.
The only calm one was Mikasa, that strong cadet, who was just standing in front of Captain Levi,who just caught up on them, trying to pull him inside.
“Who the fuck told you to pick up anything from her lab? Do you even know that’s not allowed?” Levi, pulled his ear.
“O-Ow! I’m sorry!”
“Too late, asshole” Levi said “Cleaning duties are all on you for a week. Toilets included”
He pushed him as he ran towards the bathrooms, cursing under his breath.
With a sigh, Hanji explained: “The staff must’ve thought the chemicals in the bottle were just water so they probably used them to make dinner. But the heat must’ve changed some complications in the product. And I guess this is the final result......shit”
Levi muttered “And why the fuck would you put such thing in a water bottle?”
“They gave it to me because they didn’t use it anymore! And that nest-haired idiot thought it was water and took it!”
Lightly chucking at the nickname, he got in the room to stop Eren and Jean from pulling each other’s hair.
“Oi, cut it off, brats”
Hanji joined in, picking up a crying Armin.
“There there, Armin. It’s okay” She said rocking him around and patting his back “Calm down, you two!” She continued, looking at Sasha and Connie.
“Levi!”
“What?”
“I guess we’re gonna be parents for a while”
“Thank god we don’t have duties for now”
“I don’t know how much this will last, maybe for......a few days?”
“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that now we have kids to take care of and we need to do it now”
Sounds of grumbling stomachs approved what Levi said.
“I’ll cook, you try to find some clothes for them” Hanji suggested.
“You’re saying it like we’ve been taking care of children so much that we have fucking clothes.” Levi replied, annoyed.
“Ask the queen, or make some yourself!” She said heading towards the kitchen.
“Goddammit” Levi sighed, picking up Eren and Jean and putting them on the bed along with the rest of the cadets, while also trying to cover each one of them with their big, loose shirts.
He still can’t believe that these kids were fighting titans and even humans a few weeks ago.
Getting out of the room, he told them: “You guys wait here for me. I hope I won’t find a mess when I come back or it won’t end well for you.”
They probably didn’t understand much, but his voice was enough for them to understand and stay calm.
He locked the door, ensuring that no one escapes or gets lost, then he went to his room.
But before he entered, he realised that the situation was too hopeless and making clothes would take very long, so he headed to the exit.
Towards Historia’s orphanage.
It wasn’t that far, and Hanji had the keys for the room.
His room....She had the keys for it.
....Right?
Wrong, and he realised that halfway on the road.
“Fuck!” He cursed, heading back again to drop the key on the kitchen before going to the queen.
Finally, he reached the destination, greeted by kids staring at him in amazement, knowing that Humaity’s trongest soldier was in front of them.
“What did I say about staring at people, you naughty kiddos!” Historia surprised them from behind a tree, as they ran away laughing.
“It’s been a while, Historia” Levi said.
“Welcome, captain! Is something wrong?”
“......It’s a long story.”
...
“Oh!.... Well that’s weird” She exclaimed after Levi told her about what happened “But I can help you. I don’t think I can take care of them myself, but I’ll be sure to give you a hand from time to time.”
“Some fitting clothes would be more than enough.”
“Sure thing!” She answered with a smile, heading towards the dorms as Levi followed her.
“Thanks a lot, Historia” he told her as she searched in the closets.
“Oh don’t mention it...... Here!” she answered, handing him different clothes “These may be fitting. Also, I’ll probably pay a visit soon to see them.”
“You’re welcome anytime.”
“Send my greeting to Hanji-san!” She yelled, waving at him as he went back to the survey corps HQs.
When he finally arrived, he headed straight towards his room.
Opening the door, he was greeted by Hanji pointing her finger to his mouth.
“Shhhh,” She whispered, “they’re all asleep. Look.”
He looked from behind her, to find all of the kids laying on the bed.
Much to his surprise, his room wasn’t as messy as he expected it to be.
“If you’re wondering about the mess, believe me, it was worse.”
“Such surprising to know that you out of anyone else cleaned a mess.”
“Hey!”
“Shut up, they’re sleeping!”
...
Armin slowly opened his eyes, greeted by Levi and Hanji sitting on a couch, drinking tea.
Levi noticed him getting up.
“Armin’s awake.”
“Why hello there!” Hanji said with a smile as she put the teacup on the table to pick him up.
He opened his arms wide and hugged her while she lifted him.
“Oh, you’re such a cutie!” She cooed, nuzzling her cheeks against his face.
“M...ma....” He muttered.
“Huh? What is it?”
“Oh boy, don’t say it” Levi half-yelled.
“M...mama” Armin finally blurted.
hanji stared at him in awkward silence before embracing him in a hug again.
“Awww, you think I’m your mama? Then I’ll be your mama.”
“Haven’t you already been?” Levi suddenly noted.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Hanji asked.
“Haven’t you already been a mother figure to the cadets? You’ve always taken care of them. You’ve been nice to everyone of them, you’ve looked after them when no one else did, you’ve cared for their emotions and supported them. I’m not even surprised he called you that.” Levi aswered.
She looked into his eyes, searching for any signs of lying, but failing.
With a faint blush, she looked away and muttered: “It’s not like you’re not being a father to them too, you know?”
“Me? Being their father? Stop talking nonesense, four-eyes.”
She gave him one of her smirks, the one that means he’s in for some tough shit.
“Oi...what’s that for?”
“Aww look, Armin!” She held the kid towards him, “It’s dada!”
Armin moved his arms around yelling “Dada! Dada!”
Levi reluctantly grabbed him, knowing that she’d toss the boy on his face if he didn’t.
“Screw you, Hanji”
“I love how you switched from the F word to something else.”
He ignored her and held Armin up, tickling him and making him laugh.
Hanji admired the cute interaction, but got interrupted by something pulling her pants.
Eren was awake, and it seemed like othere were too.
She sighed: “We’re in for a big duty.”
...
After a few hours of showering the kids and clothing them, not to mention trying to catch a naked running Connie, they were finally ready to go for a walk in the garden nearby.
Hanji and Levi layed under a tree as the kids were playing around in the soft grass.
“I never thought my duty as a commander would start ith me taking care of children.” Hanji stated.
“Neither did I imagine Erwin would miss out such thing.”
“He would’ve loved them.”
The conversation stopped as they noticed Jean heading towards them.
“Mama!” He called, running towards Hanji.
“Oh, Jeanie!” She held him as he sat on her lap.
“You don’t want to play with the other kiddos?”
Jean shook his head.
“You just want to stay with us here?” She asked, to which he nodded.
“Aww, you’re so sweet.....huh?” She was about to nuzzle him but he stopped her by holding her face with his small hands.
“Jean....what is it?”
He looked at her with worry.
“Mama......ow?” He asked, putting his hand on her patched eye.
He tried to remove the patch but she stopped him.
“M-mama....” He started crying, “Ow?”
“Shhh....no no it’s fine.” She hugged him, patting his back. “Mama’s fine.... There’s no ow.... don’t..... worry..”
Levi, who was surprised by jean’s action, noticed how even Hanji was about to cry along.
He held her hand from behind the boy’s back, comforting her. She smiled at him in thankfulness.
Pulling back, Jean tried to remove her eye patch; This time she allowed it.
Looking scaredly at the scar, he pulled her head closer and kissed her injury.
Hanji’s other eye widen as he pulled himself away, smiling as he asked “No ow?”
She smiled back and hugged him tighter “Yeah....No ow for mama now....you really helped me....thank you so much”
She really meant it when she said it helped her ease the pain.
Levi ruffled his head in affection saying “Great job, Jean. You helped your mama well”
The happy smile just grew wider on Jean’s face.
They spent the rest of the day outside before going back home with the setting sun.
...
“Aww! You guys are so cute!” Historia teased as the kids ran towards her when she entered the room.
“Welcome to Levi’s dorm! We apologize for the mess we greeted you with.” Hanji told her while feeding Sasha.
“Oh it’s fine. You better not see the mess i always find with the kids in the orphanage”
“Levi wouldn’t be amused” Hanji teased as they laughed.
“I’m still here, you know?”
Getting off of Hanji’s lap, Sasha followed along with the others who were looking at the queen.
“Thay all look so different!”
“I know right? I’m still not used to their small faces.”
“Armin looks even cuter!”
“And I never expected Jean to have kinda chubby cheeks like these.”
“Neither did I. Mikasa still has her dark aura though..”
“Haha, true. She does look cute, too.”
“And I guess Sasha and Connie are naughtier.”
“You’re right! I had to stop him from trying to steal biscuits that were on the table yesterday, he almost broke Levi’s favorite cup.”
Ignoring all of the blabber, Levi served tea for the three of them.
“You haven’t tried his tea yet, have you, Historia?” Hanji asked, taking a sip;
“No...but it smells so good.”
“Trust me, it tastes even better!”
Her eyes widening as she drank it were a proof of Hanji’s statement.
Levi hates to admit it, but seeing their pleased expression pleased him too.
“Here she comes” Hanji noted, pointing at Sasha coming towards them on the table.
She was looking at the cookies next to her.
“No, Sasha, you already had lunch.” Levi alerted.
She looked down in sadness.
“Here!” Historia said, handing her a cookie. Her eyes lit up in joy as she took it from her and started chewing on it.
“You’ll regret that, Historia.” Hanji warned, right before all the other toddlers looked at her with begging eyes.
“Well, it can’t be helped;” She said, handing each one of them a cookie, drawing happy smiles on their faces.
Sasha suddely tried to pull her down.
Historia surrendered to her delicate touch and sat besides her on the floor, to be greeted with a small kiss.
Just like last time, the others followed along, attacking her with kisses.
“Haha, thank you guys!” She gave them a group hug.
Hanji and Levi just sat there, enjoying the cute moments from afar.
“Seems like that experiment wasn’t that bad, eh?”
“......I guess”
...
The routine continued for a few more days, and so many memorable interactions happened.
Hanji once found Levi asleep with Eren on his chest as they were reading a book given to them by Historia.
He found her in the same way, except all of them were sleeping on one bed, all tangled around each other. Jean hugging her head, Armin and Mikasa laying on her chest, Sasha holding her arm, Eren holding the other arm and Connie nuzzling on her stomach.
The kids always jumped in happiness whenever Historia visited them.
Not to mention the mess they had to clean on an hourly basis, they both cringed by remembering that.
And the cycle just continued, cooking, cleaning up, eating, more cleaning, playing, and even more cleaning before they have dinner and sleep.
Yet on the sixth day...
“I FOUND IT!” Hanji shouted as she entered the room, scaring the kids.
“Oi, you’re too loud!” Levi warned, annoyed .The kids stared at her in surprise.
“Oops, sorry..”
He sighed, “What did you find?”
“A cure for the cadets!”
Levi stopped washing the dishes and looked at her. “You did? How?”
“I just had to recreate the product they ate by using the same chemicals and heating them. Then I did some research on it until I found and created an opposite product!”
“...and how are you sure that it works?”
“I tried mixing a sample of both and it turned to just plain water. The opposites canceled each other and only water remained. It should work!”
“And what if it doesn’t?” He asked, furious, “What if it only gets worse?”
“Then I’ll try again!” She answered with confidence, “ If this time fails, another one won’t. I’ll keep trying until it works and everything gets back to how it was.”
Levi stood silent, looking at her.
Admiring her high spirit. Her hopeful stare. Her immense curiosity.
He saw Erwin in her. And he knew that his old commander made the right choice in choosing her as his successor.
With a sigh, he asked again: “How should we feed it to them?”
“Cookies?”
“And the heat?”
“It doesn’t affect it, I tested that.”
“Fine then. Prepare the batter.”
And so, they started making the cookies with the chemicals, along with some tea for themselves.
They later sat on the couch, watching as the kids ate, well, devoured their treat.
“It should work overnight.” Hanji noted.
“So they’ll be back tomorrow?”
“Yup.... I’m gonna miss them to be honest. They’re too adorable.”
“I think I will too. Excluding all the cleaning we did.”
“Definitely!”
Not so long after, it was night time.
They changed the kids’ clothes to some bigger ones, considering they’d grow in the night, and took each one to their own bed instead of Levi’s.
Hanji gave them all one final head kiss before tucking them in their huge blankets.
“Goodnight, kiddos!”
After putting Connie and Mikasa into bed, Hanji and Levi met again in his room.
Throwing themselves on the couch, exhaustion took over them as they closed their eyes and fell in a deep sleep.
...
Upon opening his eyes, Levi noticed how they were laying on each other.
Hanji woke up shortly after him.
She looked at him with a smile.
“Shall we check?”
He nodded as they got up.
But before they opened the door, sounds of footsteps were in front of the room.
When they did, they were greeted by the tall guys they missed.
“Hanji-san?” Sasha exclaimed.
“So it worked”
“What worked?” Connie asked, “Also, do you know why our clothes are kinda....mixed? I woke up wearing Eren’s shirt, who was wearing Jean’s pants. Do you know what happened?”
Hanji tried to hold a chuckle, as she secretly fist-bumped Levi behind her back.
“It’s a long story.”