Chapter Text
It was a common fact to everyone at the Headquarters that Hange’s lab was a disaster. It was cluttered, disorganized, and generally filthy - a perfect breeding ground for pretty much anything ; bugs, mice, disease, or perhaps something even worse that couldn’t quite be comprehended or imagined. Because of that, Levi made a point to spend no more than a few minutes in Hange’s lab at a time.
He had tried to convince the scientist to clean up after themself, but that was just as impossible as convincing them to bathe. No matter how many times he had attempted to talk them into it, they had refused. Eventually, he had decided to clean up the lab himself; which led to his eardrums nearly busting from how loudly and shrilly the Section Commander had screamed upon discovering him in the process of dumping something completely unrecognizable into a bin.
“NOOOO! LEEEEVIIII! WHAT DID YOU DO?! THAT WASN’T FINISHED YET!”
“It’s been sitting there for weeks, Four-Eyes. It’s got dust and mold on it.”
“BUT WHAT IF IT WAS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING?!”
“You forgot about it. It wasn’t going to do anything.”
“BUT YOU DON’T KNOW THAT! AAAAARGH!”
Needless to say, Levi had been banned from cleaning the lab from that point onwards.
Since that incident (literally referred to by Hange as “The Incident''), the only times Levi came down to the lab were to drop off food and water, or to drag Hange upstairs to sleep or bathe. Any extended visits were rare, and usually caused by Hange starting up in a ramble before he was able to escape, trapping him in a chair until the Section Commander had run their course.
Today, however, Levi was willingly visiting. Hange had returned from being away for just over two weeks, and while he would never admit it out loud, he’d missed his friend. Headquarters was always quieter with them gone, but that quiet got old, fast. So, there he was: sitting in Hange’s lab, listening to them babble while he worked on a cup of tea.
Naturally, the lab was a disaster. There were dirty dishes everywhere, and much to his horror, most of them (with the exception of the two fresh cups of tea he had brought with him) were remnants from before their trip. Additionally, there were papers strewn across every surface (including the floor), muddy footprints on the cobbles (and some of the papers), and a concerningly large spider web forming in the corner of the room. Despite the mess, Levi did his best to ignore it all in order to focus on the time he had with his friend.
Hange themself was working on preparing microscope slides as they chattered. Slides of what, Levi couldn’t say. They had likely explained it at some point, but Levi had begun to only half-listen to their words, as he often did when they went on a ramble of any kind. Half of the stuff they talked about was beyond his understanding, anyways. The Captain was sitting in a chair at the end of their work table, watching his friend as they went about their task with so much ease it appeared to be automatic for them. While it was nice to spend time with Hange, he found that when it was just one-on-one like this, it was best taken in small doses. Visits like this couldn’t happen too often, or the two would likely drive each other crazy butting heads with their differences. That was his theory, at least.
“--even more possibilities! Don’t you think that’s just incredible, Levi?” Hange finished, and the man blinked as he returned his gaze to his friend’s face from where he had been watching their hands. They were beaming, and the glint in their eyes led him to believe that they had moved onto talking about titans again - no surprise there. All of their rambles always ended up circling back to titans one way or another. Hange looked closely at their friend, then sighed loudly as they seemed to realize what had happened.
“Were you even listening?” They asked in an exaggerated whine, and Levi felt the corner of his mouth lift up in a small smile at their theatrics.
“Got lost in thought.” He replied easily, looking around the lab once again. Even though he’d looked it over multiple times during his visit, his horror never waned every time he saw just how bad it was. Seriously, how could anyone work here, let alone live here like Hange practically did? How had they not fallen ill at any point?
“When are you going to let me clean this place, Hange?” He asked, and the Section Commander shot him a deadly look.
“Never! You know what you did!” They snapped, and Levi snorted softly.
“You’ll give in eventually. Even you can’t live in this filth forever.” He said, shaking his head.
“Nope! I think I’ll make it worse and thrive here.” They replied firmly, and he sighed tiredly as he shook his head. Of course they would double down. They were Hange, after all.
Sensing that their visit was likely coming to a close (the mess was starting to get to him even more than he’d expected, and Hange was likely to start whining about “The Incident” again), Levi decided that it was time to wrap things up. He picked up his teacup, taking a big gulp and finishing it off - only to grimace and shudder at the unexpectedly harsh taste that met his tongue.
That hadn’t been tea.
Immediately, he looked down at the table to see an identical teacup, his teacup, sitting on the table - right next to the one he had grabbed. Hange was on their feet and at his side in seconds, ripping the teacup from his hand. Levi’s gaze lifted to their face, and it was impossible to miss the horror in their eyes. Despite having fought countless titans, having lost more comrades than he could remember, nothing had ever made Levi’s stomach sink as quickly as their expression did in that moment. He was certain of it.
“No! No, nonono, Levi! Why the hell did you drink that?!” They exclaimed, already looking like they were on the verge of panicking. Between the horrible, acrid taste that lingered in his mouth and throat, as well as Hange’s reaction, it didn’t take long for him to put together what had happened: He had just gulped down a mysterious cocktail of chemicals.
Shit.
“What did I just drink?” He asked them, his voice calm - perhaps a little too calm. Hange gulped, looking down at the now-empty cup.
“Well, I…I… i-it’s–” They started to stammer nervously, and Levi groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“ Hange .” He said firmly. “ What the hell did I just drink?”
“I-I-I don’t know!” They admitted, their eyes wide and refusing to meet his. They appeared to be looking everywhere but Levi now, trying to wrap their brain around the situation. “Sometimes I just need to dump things out, and so I–”
“So you just dump chemicals into teacups ?” Levi asked in exasperation, stunned.
“Yes!” They replied, setting the empty teacup down on the table. They both stared at it for a long few moments, the silence nearly suffocating as both their minds worked.
“You have beakers for that shit, Hange! You don’t use teacups for your experiments!” The Captain finally snapped, shaking his head in frustration.
“They were full! I hadn’t emptied them out yet, and then the cup was there, so I… I…” They gestured helplessly at the teacup, and Levi sighed heavily again. Fuck.
“I swear, if you just killed me, Hange…” He muttered, moving to stand–
Only for his head to spin and his vision to swim. He wavered on the spot as the dizzying feeling suddenly took over, catching himself on the table with a quiet grunt. Hange immediately moved to steady him as well, making a worried noise.
“Okay… Okay, okay, okay… what are you feeling, Levi?” They asked, and Levi stared down at the table for a long pause as he tried to get his bearings, hoping to make the spinning stop.
“Dizzy.” He finally replied, and the Section Commander watched him nervously.
“Okay… what else?” They asked, but he only waved a hand to dismiss their question. He didn’t feel quite like playing a game of ‘Levi the Lab Rat’ at the moment. Not when he had a mystery mixture of whatever-the-hell in his stomach and he was possibly dying.
“Just get me to my room, Four-Eyes.” Levi muttered, slowly pushing himself off from the table and straightening up fully. The dizziness seemed to have settled down for the moment, and it seemed that as long as he didn’t move too quickly, it would stay that way. Still, the man looked more than a little annoyed with the whole situation as he began to walk. Of course this would happen. This was why he didn’t spend time in Hange’s lab.
Hange nodded, momentarily hovering their hands around them before deciding that he was steady enough to move on his own for now. Knowing Levi, he would only get more irritated if they attempted to help him walk.
“If I survive whatever the hell this is, I’m cleaning your lab. No complaints.” He said, giving them a sharp look as he walked. Hange still looked borderline terrified, but after a moment they nodded, causing Levi to nod a little as well. Good. There was no room for debate, after all.
It was only a few steps later that the dizziness returned, worse this time, and Levi immediately grabbed onto Hange’s arm for support as he took a slightly shaky breath. Fuck, he could barely tell which way was up and which way was down …
“Levi?” The Section Commander quickly moved to hold him steady as they saw him start to waver again, their voice tight with panic.
“I’m going to kill you if this kills me.” The Captain muttered weakly, his grip on them tightening. That didn’t quite make sense, now that he thought about it. Whatever. He just needed to make it to his room… at least he could lay down there, and be a little more comfortable if he was going to die from those stupid chemicals.
“You’re gonna be fine, Levi. You’re gonna be okay.” Hange said, shaking their head as the man started to walk again. It was clear to the both of them that Hange was trying to reassure themself just as much as they were trying to reassure him, but neither of them commented on that.
As it turned out, Levi wasn’t fine or okay.
The two of them had only just managed to make it to the door of the lab (about three meters in total from where they had started) when things took another turn. Levi had to stop again, but this time he held both their arm and the door frame with a white-knuckled grip as the spinning only worsened. He swallowed hard against the bile that threatened to rise in the back of his throat, feeling the room whirl almost violently around him, the very ground beneath him feeling as if it were heaving. He hoped that it would pass, but it didn’t seem as if that were in the cards for him.
Hange watched their friend closely, seeing how his jaw clenched and his eyes remained fixed on the floor as he tried to steady himself, and then…
“Shit! Shitshitshitshit!” Was all they could say as Levi suddenly went limp, his death grip on both his friend and the frame going slack and his legs giving out beneath him. Hange managed to catch him before he could hurt himself in the fall, their eyes wide as they felt his whole weight in their arms - not even the slightest bit of tension in his body.
“Levi?!” They called as they eased him to the floor, laying him on his back. The man’s face was completely blank, his eyes closed and his mouth hanging slightly open. No response came from him as they called his name.
“No, no, no… shit! Come on, Levi…” They gave the man a little shake, but still there was no response. This was it, wasn’t it? Levi was going to die… They had just killed Humanity’s Strongest Soldier with a teacup.
Erwin was going to kill them.