"Injuries"|003

It had been a full day since Mimi's arrival in the Glade. Today, she was supposed to shadow every Keeper to find out her strengths and then assign her to a suitable job. She had already shadowed a few keepers; Reiner and Bertholt who were responsible for the blood house and Track-Hoes. She hated both of those jobs. Then Sasha the cook and Connie responsible for the Builders.

Reiner was more...abrasive than Bertholt, but they were both very kind people who answered all of her questions and then some. So why did she hate the jobs? Well, first of all, she hated the smell of death and blood. It was so putrid that it made her want to faint when she first entered the blood house section. also, given that it was called the blood house, Mimi just couldn't bring herself to do it. As for gardening, it's not that she wasn't good at it, she simply didn't like it. But she did prefer it over the blood house.

Her favorite job by far had been cooking with Sasha. She was such a sweetheart and was so welcoming. Not that the others weren't, but Sasha already felt like a best friend to her. Was she a girl with a strange addiction to potatoes, meat, and bread? Yes. Did she almost bite Mimi for almost eating a potato out of her stash? Also yes. Mimi never said the girl wasn't strange. She was plenty strange. But she was someone Mimi felt more connected to than anyone she had met. Hanji was nice and Mimi had already grown fond of them, but they gave more of an older sibling vibe than the bestie vibe Sasha was giving. So, she had made a mental note; for advice, go to Hanji. For food, water, and any potential gossip, go to Sasha.

It was through Sasha that Mimi learned there were more girls in the Glade which shocked her. She thought girls in the Glade were rare, which they were since there were still twice as many boys as there were girls, but still, it gave her a bit of relief. One of the girls, Mikasa, was a 'badass hottie' according to Sasha. She was a runner, along with another girl called Annie, who Sasha had described as quiet and brooding. Those two were the only girls in the Runner department. Mikasa had a tiny thing for Eren, the boy with the teal eyes. There was an ongoing bet to see who would make the first move and how long it would take. The loser had to kiss Levi's boots. Upon hearing the punishment, Mimi cringed. Whoever was unlucky enough to kiss that man's boots would probably be kicked in the nose before they could even get eye-level with the boots.

Mimi had given Sasha her bet before being whisked away by Connie, who she had learned was Sasha's comfort person. She had made sure to stress that it was just platonic, to which Mimi rolled her eyes and nodded. Upon working with the boy, she could now see why he was her comfort person. Connie was a funny boy. He had jokes for everything and had gossip not even Sasha had known about prior. He had made sure to share with both of them in the room, not wanting to leave his bestie out.

Despite Connie being a hilarious company, she didn't think the builders would be something she would see herself doing every day. So far, the only job she liked was Sasha's.

It was now time for her to shadow Hanji. They worked in a space that resembled a lab. It was very messy and that bothered Mimi.

"How on earth do you get anything done around here?", she asked them. There were papers everywhere; on the floor, on the ceiling, on the walls. Not to mention broken glasses and medicine bottles. Horrified, the girl made her way to carefully pick up the glass shards, not wanting anyone to hurt themselves, especially Hanji. They didn't look like the type to watch where they were going.

They waved her off, „There's beauty in chaos, Mimi."

The girl snorted in response.

„So, what do I have to do for you?", Mimi asked, already awaiting her task. She had the feeling nothing could be worse than beheading a cow with Reiner. She hadn't been the one to deliver that blow, thankfully, but it was enough that she was only a couple of feet away from him when that happened. She had thrown up on the poor man and that's when her lesson with him ended. She made a mental note to ask Sasha if she could help her cook something for him as an apology.

„Nothing. Just stand here and watch."

That seemed...suspicious. What did they mean by „stand there and watch"? Wasn't the whole point of this stupid orientation or whatever they called that around here to do some tasks? „I'm confused."

Hanji waved their hand at her dismissively, „It will all make sense later, Mimi."

———

Later had come and it did not make any sense. The whole time she was there, she was cleaning up after Hanji. The way they worked was dreadful enough to send Mimi into a coma. Hanji had no sense of order whatsoever. Herbs and medicine were in the same cupboard as rubbing alcohol and bandages. The glasses Mimi had carefully picked from the floor? Hanji had been able to break twice the amount.

That wasn't the worst part, however. The most frightening part of "Just Stand There and Watch", was when Mimi had to confiscate an injection needle from Hanji and inject a sick Glader who had been stuck with them this whole time herself. Why? Because Hanji claimed she couldn't find his vein. They had been injecting the poor boy over and over till Mimi couldn't take it anymore and decided she would do it herself. Nothing could be worse than what Hanji was doing to him.

"Hanji be careful you'll hurt him!"

They didn't care, however. Hanji had explained that the boy was a prisoner waiting for the council to sentence him. When asked why he was a prisoner and what he needed to be sentenced for, Hanji told her he had killed another Glader out of pure rage. His name was Floch, and he had been planning on overthrowing Erwin because he didn't agree with how he ran things. He had planned the Glade's first-ever coup attempt and had killed one person in the process. They were debating on whether to keep him a prisoner or take a life for a life. Most of the council members including Hanji and Levi were all for the latter. Erwin, however, was still contemplating.

"He could die, for all I care.", Hanji muttered.

Mimi eyed the boy, his hands and legs were tied to the chair and his mouth covered with a dirty handkerchief. He looked severely malnourished and just...tired. "You're the doctor of this place Hanji. Isn't there a moral code for attending to the sick that you have to stick to?", she asked, retrieving the needle from the boy's skin before giving him a nasty look and turning back.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, Mimi. Moral code doesn't mean shit here.", they scoffed, "besides, he's a killer. Where was his moral code?"

"Yes he's a nasty person, but what good would it do you if he died an anticlimactic death? At least treat him so that he can last for his sentencing.", she replied, disposing of the needle and washing her hands twice.

There was silence, and then loud, overexcited breathing.

"Congratulations! You're a Med-jack now, Mimi."

Huh?

Mimi blinked. Once, twice, thrice, and then a fourth time. Hanji was squealing with excitement as they jumped up and down on chairs and tables. Working with Hanji was almost like babysitting a kid unless this kid was a grown adult. They explained to her that the test had begun the moment she stepped foot into the lab. Her attentiveness despite being told to stay put and do nothing, her tidiness, and most importantly, helping Floch when even Hanji themselves wouldn't. Hanji explained that it was all part of her plan as she needed a new assistant for the job and couldn't trust any of the other Gladers to do it right.

It seemed she would be taking care to the injured now. To be honest, she would've loved to play it safe and stayed with the Cooks, but at the end of the day, it wasn't her choice to make. All the Keepers had written reports on her and it seemed apart from Sasha, none of the other Keepers saw potential in her for working in their field, to which she took no offence. She puked on Reiner, completely disregarded Bertholt, and told Connie she hoped she wouldn't land with the builders. Anything else would've disappointed her. As for the rest of the jobs, she already discussed with Erwin that she wasn't going to waste her time shadowing Levi, knowing that she was just going to be a hindrance, and quite frankly, the maze looked like it would be a dark place. Due to this information, Erwin had already decided that she would be better suited with Hanji and she had no choice but to comply.

Sighing, she decided she was going to clean the entire lab if she was supposed to be working here for the next...who knows how long. Hanji had run off to find Erwin. Even though he put her with Hanji, there was still some paperwork that had to be done. Deciding she was not in the mood to converse with anyone else for the rest of the day, she decided she was going to stay here and clean up. Hanji was very disorganized and the moment they got back, Mimi was going to tell her exactly that.

Everything was going well when she heard an aggravating voice call out; "Where's shitty glasses?"

Ama turned her head with speed, her neck cracking painfully at the sheer force. Behind her stood Levi, his hand clutching his side and blood dripping through his fingers. His hair was damp from sweat and some part of his white button-up had been ripped apart. It looked like a knife had done that. Mimi had to mentally brace herself for despite his rough appearance, the man looked absolutely breathtaking. His chest heaving from his heavy breathing, pupils dilated, and hair framing his face. Levi Ackerman was a gorgeous man.

"Hanji's out helping Erwin. I'll go get them.", she offered, already preparing herself to take a leave because the sheer presence of him was intoxicating. The whole room smelled like him now. He was overpowering her senses and he made her nervous and fidgety. She didn't like that.

He groaned, "You a Med-jack now?", he asked, to which the girl simply nodded a simple yes. "Great, then we don't need shitty glasses.", he stared at her, his eyes never leaving hers, "fix me."

Fix him? Had he lost his mind? She had been a Med-jack for what, twelve and a half minutes? It didn't matter. As a Keeper, he knew this was her first day doing anything Glade-related. She couldn't fix him! With her luck, she would end up killing him. That was a mistake she couldn't afford, or else it was guaranteed that they would never make it out of the Glade. As dramatic as it sounded, Levi, according to Hanji, was their best bet at making it out alive. They didn't call the man 'the Glade's strongest' for nothing.

"I don't think...I can't fix you. I've only had this job for twelve minutes I don't know what the hell I'm doing!"

The man rolled his eyes, taking off his white button-up that had now been soiled in his blood. Was it all his? Or was that someone else's too?
"Erwin gave you the job, which means you're not a complete imbecile."

Ama scoffed, "But you are if you expect me to fix whatever is wrong with you.". She paused, eyeing the wound that was now exposed to her, "what happened to you anyway?", she asked. She had started moving quickly to make sure he didn't lose any more blood than he already had. She gave him a chair, uttering a simple sit, before making her way to the cabinet that contained rubbing alcohol and bandages.

"I was stabbed."

Of course, even in pain, he offered nothing but sarcasm.

She sighed, "Really, and I thought you were trying to give yourself an obnoxiously large piercing. The more you know."

Aside from an annoyed tch, the man was silent, watching her as she put on some gloves she had found with the bandages. His eyes never left her, tracing every movement as she made her way towards him.

"This is going to sting a lot."

"Aren't you supposed to calm me down or some shit?"

"If everything goes right, you won't die!", she exclaimed in fake excitement, "does that calm you down enough?", she asked, pushing his chest back so that she could get a clear view of the injury.

The man dryly retorted, "A shit ton."

She rolled her eyes at him, not bothering to answer anymore. She just wanted to get this done as quickly as possible so that she wouldn't have to deal with the grumpy man for the rest of the day. She cleaned the bloodied area with a wet rug, making sure it was as clean as possible, before pouring the rubbing alcohol on it. The man inhaled sharply and Mimi apologized, making sure to be as gentle as possible. She wrapped the bandages around his torso, applying pressure to stop the bleeding temporarily. "You need stitches. I'm going to wrap you up and you're going to stay put. I'm going to get Hanji."

"And the reason you can't give me stitches is because...?"

"Hanji will take care of it. Sit and don't move, I'm going to get them."

"I don't want to wait for four eyes.", God, how many nicknames did this man have for Hanji? "Get a fucking needle and stitch me up, braids."

At the nickname she raised an eyebrow, "braids?", came her question, „Isn't that a microaggression or something?", she asked, removing herself from the door and searching for Hanji's sewing stash. Knowing them, it was probably somewhere it shouldn't be.

„Oh shit, is it actually?", the man asked, his face scrunching in concern.

„Nah, you're good.", she replied, to which he gave a cautious „Sure?"

With her back faced from him and her being preoccupied with searching for a damn needle, she gave a short „Mhm", before rejoicing, for she had finally found some thread and a needle hidden in a box that had been stuffed in one of Hanji's many drawers, „Finally! A fucking needle", she turned to Levi, „let's stitch you up then."

„You going to hurt me, idiot?", Levi asked.

The girl deadpanned, „Call me idiot again and I accidentally might."

„The horror.", he replied dryly.

Mimi groaned, „Do you ever shut up?"

„Why, do you want me to?", came his own question.

„Preferably, yes."

And then it was quiet. Mimi positioned herself beside the man, carefully undoing his bandages before disinfecting the wound once more. He didn't move as much as he did the first time, which was good. She hoped he would be this calm when the needle pierced his skin. But how wrong she was, because the moment the needle went through the first time, his hand shot up and captured her wrist in his hand, „If you hurt me more than necessary I can't promise to be nice."

She scoffed, „When have you ever been nice?"

She could've sworn she saw the corners of his lips lift a little before his face went back to being the emotionless one she had now grown used to, „be gentle with me and I just might award you with my niceness."

This was going to be a long session. And because of that, she decided she at least wanted to know where he got the wound from. „So are you going to tell me where the wound came from?", she asked.

„I told you, I was-„, she cut him off, „if you name the obvious I promise to make this session hell for you."

„As I was saying before you rudely interrupted", he scoffed, „I was stabbed by one of the boys in the maze. The idiot got himself turned and I noticed a bit too late. Next thing I know, he was pushing a knife into my side."

What did he mean when he said ‚turned'? Mimi hadn't bothered to ask Erwin or Hanji why exactly only the Runners were allowed into the maze. She had assumed the only reason was because they could get themselves lost and they needed people with experience and sharp memory who were fast as well. She remembered Connie telling her that the gate, which was open throughout the day, closed at a specific time every night. Any Runner that didn't make it back in time would spend the night in the Maze. Till this day, anyone who had spent the night in the Maze had never made it back. Mimi just assumed it was because the maze was complicated and they never really found their way back.

„What do you mean? Turned himself into what exactly?"

Levi stared at her for a moment, „The others didn't explain the maze to you?", she shook her head. „Only a bit, but to be fair I didn't really ask a lot of questions. Why are there monsters in there?", she asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

„We call them Titans, some of the other Runners call them Grievers, for whatever reason. The person who started with that shit never explained why. But yeah, monster will do too."