I lied. I thought I would have it finished tomorrow. Nope, I finished it one day early. Enjoy~

(Author's Note: Modern-ish, but still Attack on Titan universe)

When she says it's nothing...

Bullets spray down from the top of the giant wall, aiming for the giant beings running towards it. The overly dramatic heroin shouts in victory when one of the many giants falls dead to the ground. Her partner, the 'handsome' hero, claims there are too many. Somewhere along the wall, someone cries out and-

The television shuts off with a blink and Levi sets the remote down on the coffee table. "Levi!" [Name] shouts in anger, despite the amusement behind her exclamation. She does not look nearly as angry as he expected by turning off the movie she insisted on them watching for their date night.

"The movie was boring," he replies bluntly.

[Name] shakes her head as she hides a smile by sitting up. However, the arm around her shoulder only pulls her back into Levi's embrace. "You never know. I heard the ending was pretty good," she argues, looking into his face as she speaks.

Levi stares right back at her as he once again says, "The movie was boring."

She rolls her eyes. "It was pretty cheesy," [Name] finally admits and he nods in silent agreement.

"Who recommended the movie?" He asks, thinking through the long list of people he knows. Very few of them would ever be caught watching something like this, so that leaves Petra and...

"Hanji," [Name] answers, seemingly unaware of the despair her reply gives him. If it had been Petra, she would have asked what he thought, but would let it go if he did not answer her question. Hanji would not.

He sighs, "I see."

"You don't sound very happy," she mutters as she leans her head against his shoulder.

Levi shakes his head, "I rarely sound happy."

[Name] says nothing after that, merely relaxing into their position. He stares at the top of her head and kisses her hair. Levi is grateful to her for accepting his confession – if you can even call it that – all that time ago. A year ago, he was still watching her from afar, unwilling to tell her of his interest. He might be blunt, but he is not crazy. At the time, he had no idea she liked him back.

Petra, however, did. She made it very clear that if he did not confess, she would leave the squad. He was not happy to hear that, but he knew she was just trying to help. With no other choice, he confessed to [Name] later that day and, to his surprise, she accepted. While they have only been on a handful of official dates, they have had countless 'date nights' and never really fight. [Name] keeps him calm even when others try to annoy him. They are the perfect couple.

Just when Levi thinks her to have fallen asleep, [Name] frowns, leading him to frown as well. "Is something wrong?" He asks, worried she might be uncomfortable.

[Name] looks up in surprise, not realizing that she had made a face. "It's nothing," she says as she looks up at her boyfriend's face with a smile. "Ready for dessert?"

~0900 Hours~

"So, what did you think of the movie?" Hanji asks the moment Levi enters the squad building. He immediately turns his glare on her.

"It was terrible," he replies, not caring to express his opinion in a nicer way.

Hanji snorts, "I know, isn't it great?"

Levi scowls at her before walking a little faster, wanting to reach his office before she has time to tell him more about the movie he did not enjoy. However, to his surprise, she leads the conversation off of the movie. "How did date night go?" She asks, earning another glare from the captain. Though, it is more of a hard stare. He can never truly be angry when his girlfriend is the subject of their conversation.

"It was fine, Hanji," he replies as they draw closer to his office. Much to his disappointment, Hanji easily keeps up with Levi's speed walk, her longer legs giving her a speed boost.

"What? No details? What did you talk about after the movie?" She asks, her questions beginning to annoy him.

He shakes his head, "We didn't finish the movie. I turned it off and then we talked about how stupid it was."

Hanji grins at him, earning another scowl. "What about after that?"

"I asked her if something was wrong when she looked unhappy, but she said it was nothing, so we spent the rest of the night in relative silent," Levi replies, hoping that will stop any further questions from being asked.

She abruptly stops walking when he finishes. He takes another few steps, fully intending to leave her behind. However, the curiosity hits him and he sighs as he, too, stops in the hallway. Levi turns to face his companion. "What?" He demands.

"When a girl says it's nothing, it is usually something," Hanji answers. However, her answer only confuses him.

"What?"

Hanji sighs in apparent exasperation, despite Levi being the annoyed one. "'Nothing' means 'something'," she replies as if he should already know this.

"You are not making any sense," he says before turning to continue on his path to his office. Much to his annoyance, Hanji runs in front of him, forcing him to stop yet again.

"[Name] said nothing was wrong, right?" She asks, annoying him further by not answering his question. When he nods, she continues, "Then something is wrong. When girls say it is nothing, that means they don't want to discuss it, but something is wrong."

He frowns, "That is stupid. And how do you know this?"

"I'm a girl, duh," she replies. Levi stares at her for a moment before raising an eyebrow. That is still up for debate...

He continues to stare at her as he considers his options. Hanji is likely wrong, but it is possible she is right. Knowing he will regret this decision, he decides to ask a question, "What do you propose I do about it, then?"

Her eyes light up in excitement and he is tempted to turn around and walk away before she pulls him into one of her crazy ideas. However, it is too late. "A stakeout!" She shouts enthusiastically.

Levi blinks, "A what?"

"You know, a stakeout. Remember how Major Heartthrob stakes out the giants' den in the movie?" She asks, the excitement clearly building up inside her.

"Are you suggesting that we stakeout the Titans?" Levi asks, completely lost. The moment Hanji starts using movie references is the moment Levi blanks on her plan.

She laughs, "No. We stakeout your girlfriend and see if her actions reveal what's on her mind."

"Can't I just ask her?" He asks, not liking that the plan involves a lot of time wasting.

Hanji reels back as if offended by the idea, "Of course you can't! Absolutely not! I will not let you ruin your relationship with [Name] because of your blunt words."

Levi stares at his companion in exasperation. Of all the people he had to encounter today, it just had to be the crazy one. However, he might as well let this play out. It is his relationship on the line, after all.

~1000 Hours~

"Hanji, remind me how you dragged them into this?" Levi asks when he eyes the members of his squad sitting around the table. A large chalk board has been set up at one end of the table with the words 'Operation: Nothing Means Something' written in bold white letters at the top.

"I told them you were having girlfriend problems and they all volunteered," she replies cheerfully. Levi stares at each individual around the table until they one-by-one look away, unwilling to hold his gaze.

His attention freezes on Eld, "Why are you really doing this?"

For a moment, the man hesitates, most likely considering his options. For someone usually classified as blunt, he seems to be doing a lot of considering for such a simple answer. "If [Name]-san breaks up with you, it is a concern that you might become more like your old self," Eld finally replies.

Everyone around the table has the sense to not meet his gaze this time around. "And how exactly did have I changed?" Levi asks after a long moment of daring anyone to say something.

However, before Eld can comment, Hanji cuts in. "Levi, stop scaring your squad," she scolds teasingly, earning a scowl from the small captain. But with no real grounds to argue, he sighs before taking a seat, hoping that she will actually start talking about the reason they are here.

"Alright, you all know where to go. Levi and I will be staking out the restaurant from the coffee shop across the street," Hanji suddenly say, confusing the captain. He arrived at the same time as they all did, so how do they already know where to go? Before he can ask, everyone leaves the room in a hurry and Hanji pulls him to his feet, despite having only just sat down. "C'mon, let's go."

"Go where, you shitty four-eyes?" He demands, pulling his arm free from Hanji's grip. However, she merely catches his wrist and drags him along as she leaves the room at a speed walk, which forces Levi to focus on keeping up and not tripping on his own feet.

Hanji, instead of answer, giggles at his question and keeps pulling him along. A few people stop in the hallways to salute and any higher-ranking officers turn to look, but do not stop them. Many people think Hanji is crazy, so they never really try to get in her way. And not for the first time, he finds this to not fall in his favor. Nevertheless, he does not attempt to break the crazy girl's hold under after they have left the military building and are traveling through the busy streets.

He manages to yank his wrist free. However, instead of making his escape to get back to his duties like he would much rather be doing, Levi continues to follow Hanji – at his own pace – until they reach their destination, a small coffee shop across from where his girlfriend works. [Name] recently started working at the hospital's administration desk. From what he can tell, she is quite good at her job, as her smile can brighten anyone's day, Levi's included.

"What are we doing here?" Levi asks as Hanji makes him sit down in at one of the outside tables. The strange girl then buys two newspapers while they wait for the server to approach them.

Since he has already eaten his fill during this morning's breakfast, he sees no reason to order anything filling and instead orders a small cup of black tea. Hanji, however, gives the poor server a very specific list of the items she wants and the boy tries to keep up with her words, practically scribbling at the end. When she finishes, the boy practically stumbles over himself to get inside, probably wanting to repeat the order while the parts he failed to write down are still fresh in his memory.

Levi raises an eyebrow at his companion, but she neglects to notice, her attention focused on the hospital's glass doors. He follows her attention and finds that he is able to see [Name] easily from this vantage point. She is currently filing away some papers.

As he is watching her, Levi notices someone entering the hospital and nearly rises from his seat in annoyance when he realizes it is Oluo who is trying to sneak inside. However, the man fails to do so and [Name] seems to call out a greeting to the man. This catches the soldier off-guard and he immediately runs out of the hospital waiting room. Levi releases a long sigh and Hanji proceeds to laugh until she is unable to breathe, and continues even then.

[Name] stands up and draws closer to the doors, probably concerned about Oluo and his sudden flight from the hospital. She puts her hands on her hips, her face clouded with confusion. Levi smiles internally at her posture, remembering all the times that he left her baffled before he finally confessed. As her arms drop to her sides, she spots Levi and smiles at him before waving.

He raises his hand to wave, but Hanji blocks his face with a newspaper before covering her own with the second newspaper. Levi shakes his head at her attempt to hide him. [Name] clearly saw them and now they look suspicious. However, [Name] is on her shift and cannot leave so she does not approach them, despite her curiosity. Well, not yet, anyway.

~1300 Hours~

Because of their vantage point being spotted, Hanji forced Levi to get up when [Name]'s back was turned and forced him to sit down at an empty table two tables away. The server was confused and thought they left until Hanji had called him over. They ended up spending most of their morning there. It is clear from how [Name] kept glancing their way that she knew they were there, but she also knows how odd Hanji can be and did not send someone out to make sure they were okay.

Hanji insisted that they hold up the newspapers every time [Name] stood up, slapping him with hers every time he was to slow to open it. By the third slap, he had enough and stood up. "That is enough, you shitty four-eyes," he growls, thoroughly ticked off by his companion's show of power. "This is foolish. I am going to talk to her and we can clear this whole thing up."

"You can't!" Hanji shouts, but he is already walking across the street towards the hospital doors. He reaches for the door and is about to push it open when he is suddenly being tackled sideways into a bush by Hanji, his only warning being the sound of running feet.

[Name] looks up from the files on her desk when she sees a flash of something outside the hospital doors. When she sees nothing out of the ordinary, she returns her attention to the papers. Little does she know, Hanji is currently being shoved out of the bush by the very angry captain with twigs in his hair acting as hair decorations.

He is about to scold her when she puts a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. He is of half the mind to bite that hand, but that hardly seems like a civilized action and silently fumes as he waits for her to remove the hand. When she does, Hanji gives him no time to talk before dragging him back to their table, which the server is currently cleaning for them.

"This must stop," Levi says as she forces him to sit down again, shoving down rather harshly on his shoulders. She lingers for a moment to make sure he does not intend to stand up again before seating herself.

"Not yet. She hasn't gone on her lunch break yet," Hanji replies simply, her eyes glued to the hospital doors.

As if on cue, [Name] stands up from her desk and grabs her purse before leaving the hospital. She looks both ways down the street and then starts crossing it, heading in their direction. Hanji panics and hits him with her newspaper, signaling that he needs to use his. However, he ignores her. Distressed, but unable to change his mind, she hides behind her own newspaper.

"Hello, Levi, Hanji-san," [Name] greets them with a smile. Her face is a mixture of amusement and confusion and he just shrugs in response to the questioning look she sends him.

Levi leans back a little in his chair, relaxed in her presence, "How is your-"

His words are cut off by a newspaper slapping against his face. Hanji then realizes that she is exposing herself and retracts the newspaper to hide behind before using her other hand to grab the newspaper on the table and slapping it in front of Levi's face. It takes all of his willpower not to take the newspaper and hit Hanji with it.

"I do not know who you are referring to, but I am not Hanji and this is not Levi," the crazy girl says in a fake deep voice.

Levi sighs in exasperation, "Hanji, enough."

"Aww, c'mon, Levi-I mean, person who is not Levi," she whines, having dropped the fake voice until she remembered her 'role'.

"No, it ends here," Levi replies before looking at his girlfriend, his eyes softening slightly. "[Name], do you remember our conversation from last night?"

[Name] nods, her confusion clear, "Yeah...is everything alright?"

"I relayed parts of our conversation to Hanji – at her insistence – and she insists that everything is not alright," Levi explains before sighing for the umpteenth time today. "When I asked you if something was wrong and you said 'nothing', did you mean it was nothing?"

A knowing smiling crosses [Name]'s face. "That's what this is all about?" She asks. When Levi nods, she continues, "It isn't anything to worry about. I was just trying to remember if I closed my refrigerator before I left. Apparently, I did."

"I see..." Levi says as he trails off, secretly relieved to hear that nothing bad is going through her mind. With that concern now out of the way, he turns to glare at his companion, "Hanji..."

The Titan-lover wisely chooses that moment to stand up and look at her watch, "Would you look at the time? I'm late for my meeting! Give the others my regards."

With that, she rushes off, leaving Levi and [Name] alone. "I should probably find the others before they make a mess of things," Levi says after a moment.

"That'd be best," [Name] giggles before giving him a light kiss on the lips. "My break ends in a half hour, but if you find me before then..."

She leaves that open for interpretation before smiling and entering the café to find something to eat. A faint smile works its way onto Levi's face before he squashes it. Time to have a serious chat with his squad about personal boundaries...

...it might just be nothing.