#best rivetra fic ever | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pickalilywrites · 3 years

Note

Halu! I love reading your rivetra fics especially the heart skips a beat <3 you're such a great writer! was hoping if you can try to write rivetra modern au during the pandemic? :D

here you go~ ah, i always take a long time to write now, but at least it was out before the pandemic is over ^^" (as much as i would like it to be over ...) i hope you like it ~

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Love in the Time of COVID-19

Rivetra. COVID-19 Pandemic AU.

9543 words.

Read on Ao3!

Levi Ackerman is hugely germaphobic and antisocial. For him, the COVID-19 global pandemic is simultaneously the worst and best thing that has ever happened. People have finally begun to wash their filthy hands, cover their mouths with the crook of their elbows when they sneeze, and wear masks over their mouths to slow the spread of airborne contamination. All non-essential workers have stopped going outdoors, which makes Levi look less like a recluse and more like a normal person.

Of course, even these basic precautions couldn’t stop the coronavirus outbreak from growing into a full-blown pandemic. Maybe if everyone were more like Levi — washing their hands for a full five minutes rather than the CDC’s recommendation of a measly twenty seconds, bringing around a pack of disinfecting wipes and wiping down everything he touches, and rubbing his hands with hand sanitizer at least three times after he touches anything — the world wouldn’t be in this mess.

The worst thing about this pandemic, however, isn’t the fact that people are taking the bare minimum precautions, but the people who aren’t taking any precautions at all. For every person wearing a mask, there are at least ten people outside not wearing a mask. Hell, there are even people dying in the hospital of COVID that are convinced this whole pandemic is a hoax rather than a mess of their own making because they refuse to wash their own hands. It’s because of these people that Levi has to be especially careful on the few occasions he leaves his apartment, stripping off all his clothes as soon as he walks through his door and tossing them in the laundry basket before he takes a shower with scalding hot water to kill off all the germs he may have brought home with him.

For the most part though, Levi doesn’t mind pandemic life. It’s a lot like his life pre-pandemic, but he disinfects everything twice as much as he normally did before COVID. As a data analyst, he hardly went into the office anyway and he didn’t bat an eyelash when his company declared that everyone would be working from home until further notice. With delivery services becoming more popular, Levi found it was easier to get things delivered to his apartment. Even his neighbors are bearable. People are too busy working to be a bother during work hours and by the end of the day they’re too tired to do anything except turn on Netflix until they fall asleep on the couch. Really, Levi doesn’t have a problem with anyone except the woman living in the unit next to him.

Prior to COVID, Levi wasn’t even aware of her existence. He sometimes heard about her from the chatty woman in the unit across from him. The nosy woman somehow miraculously knew when Levi (or anyone, really) would be coming out of their apartments, popping out and ensnaring them in a conversation that always seemed fifteen minutes too long.

The gossipy woman loved the person who occupied the unit next to Levi’s. Levi’s next-door neighbor had moved in a few months before the pandemic started and was never at home, the talkative neighbor explained, because she was an actress.

“An actress in the theater. Musical theater, darling,” the woman emphasized, her eyes as wide as saucers like being in theater was the most magnificent thing anyone could ever do. “Poor dear is never home though. If she’s not rehearsing or on a show, she’s working part-time jobs at the diner downtown.”

Levi didn’t think very much of it after hearing about the woman next door for the first hundred times. It wasn’t his business what other people did. Anyway, if the woman was hardly ever home, that was even better. Except now that there’s a pandemic and everyone is required to stay home, the woman is home almost all the time and if Levi hadn’t believed the woman had a career in theater, he certainly does now.

The woman likes to sing on the balcony after work hours. It’s considerate of her but somehow also very infuriating to Levi because he can’t complain that he’s working. She also stops at an appropriate time (usually 8 or 9 at the latest), so it’s not as if Levi can send in a noise complaint without feeling like a dick. He just has to grit his teeth and listen to his neighbor belt out “If I Loved You” from Carousel while he cooks dinner.

She doesn’t have a bad voice either. It’s just that it’s incredibly loud. He supposes if she were any quieter, she wouldn’t be any good for musical theater. Maybe his other apartment neighbors are elated to have a living Disney princess sing for them for free every night, but it’s grating to the ears if you’re living right next door.

He probably should have said something when she started singing more dramatic songs, songs that crescendoed and built into a climax that Levi could probably hear if he were living on the other side of the apartment. It’s those goddamn musical ballads that Levi hates the most. If it’s upbeat, at least Levi knows what’s coming but those ballads always have to build and build until the woman is belting out to the heavens.

Levi thought he could bear it. Surely, the pandemic would only last for a few more weeks or even another month or two, but new coronavirus cases kept climbing and Levi knew he’d be listening to entire one-woman musicals for the next year if he didn’t say anything. One night when the woman begins yet another musical ballad, Levi finally throws open the sliding door to his balcony and is surprised when he sees his next-door neighbor sitting cross-legged on her balcony, a pink floral mask on her face, and a guitar in her lap.

The woman stops strumming her guitar and looks up, her amber eyes wide with surprise. “Hi,” she says, voice slightly muffled through her mask. She waves awkwardly at Levi even though he’s frozen in place on his balcony and hasn’t made any move to greet her.

“Why are you wearing a mask?” he asks her as if he’s not wearing one too. It makes sense that he’s wearing one. He always wears a mask when he steps outside even if there’s nobody around. He knows most people don’t because they don’t see the point if nobody else is around, so why is she wearing one?

The woman’s nose scrunches up from under her mask while her eyebrows are knit in confusion. “We’re in a pandemic. Isn’t that why you’re wearing one, too?” the woman asks, gesturing towards Levi and then her own mask. She pauses for a moment as if thinking about whether or not she should continue. “Also, I heard you’re a huge germaphobe.”

“Who told you that?” Levi snaps.

“The lady who lives across from you,” the woman replies.

Ah. That explains a lot.

“But I don’t even come out here that regularly,” Levi points out.

The woman shrugs. “Just in case. It’s better to be safe than sorry anyway,” the woman says. “And it’s not like it’s a big deal to wear a mask.”

Levi’s not sure if it’s because he’s been stuck in his house for months, but he’s just fallen a little bit in love with this woman and it’s all because she said wearing a mask isn’t that much of an inconvenience. He doesn’t even know her name. After meeting for five seconds and realizing that she’s considerate for wearing a mask on the off chance that Levi might go out on the balcony, Levi’s starting to feel like a dick for coming out here to yell at her for singing too loud. She’s a lovely singer, really, and he should probably be thankful she’s not a part of a screamo metal rock band or something.

Levi fights the urge to disappear in his apartment. He slides the glass door behind him, trapping himself outside on the balcony and forcing himself to speak more with the woman. He’s not exactly sure what he should say. Should he ask her name? Compliment her singing? Ask her about how she’s handling quarantine? He sits down cross-legged facing her.

“What song were you singing?” he ends up asking the woman.

“Oh,” the woman says as if she’s surprised Levi’s still speaking with her. She looks skyward, trying to recall the name. “‘Please Don’t Make Me Love You.’ It’s from the Dracula musical.”

“Oh.” Levi hadn’t been aware that there was even a musical adaptation of the Bram Stoker gothic novel.

“Yeah, I know,” the woman says with another nose scrunch, her mask shifting upward from the movement. “There’s a musical for everything nowadays.” She hums a few notes and strums a few chords across her guitar. “But what about you? How are you spending your quarantine?”

“Me?” Levi repeats. “I just … am hanging in there.”

“That’s good,” the woman says. Levi can’t see her smile behind her mask, but he does see the edge of her eyes crinkle. She sets her guitar beside her and leans back on her palms. Her head tilts to the side and her ginger hair falls away from her lithe neck. “I’m Petra, by the way. I don’t think we’ve ever formally met.”

That’s probably because Levi has never made the effort to be neighborly. In fact, the only reason they’re meeting right now is because Levi was going out here to complain about her singing, but he won’t mention that. Instead, he shrugs and says, “Levi.” It’s a lame introduction. Even he cringes at it, but Petra doesn’t seem to mind.

“I’ve never seen you out here, but maybe because I’m only on the balcony in the evenings,” Petra says. She picks idly at the guitar strings, letting their sound reverberate with every twang before she moves onto the next string. She stops suddenly and looks at Levi, eyebrow raised. “Oh, you didn’t come out here because it was too loud, did you? I know my voice is pretty … resonant, especially in a small space like this.” She winces apologetically.

Levi is thankful that his mask is able to cover the blush that is surely rising in his cheeks. “N-no,” he stammers. He sits up a little straighter as if this will somehow make him a less obvious liar. “I just … wanted some fresh air.”

“Mmm, makes sense,” Petra hums. Her eyes crinkle again and Levi’s heart does something weird in his chest. “Good to get some fresh air circulating in the apartment. I always have my air filter on nowadays too.”

Levi realizes with horror that she’s absolutely right. He usually keeps his apartment windows closed, opening them only in the early morning and the late evening for the fresh air. He hadn’t accounted for the lack of fresh air in the entire apartment complex. There’s no telling whose dirty air he’s been breathing these past months. Sure, he has at least one air filter in every room, but he can’t count on these machines to filter out every germ flying around the air. Why hadn’t he accounted for the poor air circulation through the building before this? He should have been keeping his windows open this entire time. The air outside is filled with germs as well, but the concentration of germs from other people who may or may not be spreading COVID within this apartment complex is much higher here than it is inside.

Levi stands up, grabbing the railing of his balcony for support. He feels a little dizzy right now and has the frantic urge to clean his entire apartment again even though he had cleaned it this morning. This time, he’ll be sure to deep clean the carpet.

“I have to go,” he tells Petra, but he doesn’t give her the reason. He doesn’t want her to think he’s an idiot for not thinking about air circulation sooner.

Petra raises her eyebrows as if she’s surprised and perhaps a little bit sorry to see him go. “Alright then,” she says. She picks up her guitar once more, strumming a few pleasant chords. “Have a good evening, Levi. It was nice meeting you.”

Levi pauses at the door. “You, too,” he says finally before he slips inside. He makes sure to leave the door open. The lack of barrier makes it easier for Petra’s voice to carry into his apartment. That’s not why he leaves his door open, of course. It's purely for the fresh air to come in, or at least that’s what Levi tells himself.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Levi does not know why the news of the woman next door intrigues his friends so much. He had casually mentioned her once on a video call with them and now they won’t stop asking him about her, constantly requesting updates on little tedious things like the songs she had sung the night before and if she still wears her mask. Even more surprising, Levi finds he can’t ignore their questions and answers each and every one. He tells himself it’s because he knows their curiosity will never be quenched until he answers their inquiries and it’s better to respond than to be bombarded with the same question a half dozen more times.

“So you guys talk to each other every night?” Isabel asks. She sits closer to her laptop and her face fills the little square with her name in the right-hand corner. Her hands sit in her hands and she has a thoughtful pout on her lips. “That’s a lot, Levi.”

“We talk to each other every night,” Levi points out.

“And you complained that it was a lot!” Isabel says, which is true. He would have been satisfied with weekly Zoom calls or even fortnightly, but Isabel had insisted that going so long without seeing Levi and Farlan onscreen would drive her mad. “But that doesn’t seem to be the case with this mysterious next-door neighbor.”

“She’s hardly mysterious,” Levi snorts.

“She’s right, though,” Farlan comments. He isn’t perched at the tip of his seat. Unlike Isabel, he’s less intrigued about Levi’s new relationship with his neighbor and more amused about the whole thing. “You’ve never been interested in people enough to have regular meetups with them even if it’s a ‘coincidental’ meeting on the balcony every night.” Levi despises the way Farlan uses air quotes.

“It’s very Romeo and Juliet,” Isabel says with a nod. There’s a silence at the other end and Isabel adds, “Because of the balcony. Except this time there are two balconies and nobody is dying. Hopefully.”

Levi rolls his eyes. “I just bump into her more often now that I go out to get fresh air now,” Levi explains. It’s a part of his routine now. Better to breathe good, clean (or at least cleaner) air than continue to breathe in apartment air that has been god knows where. “Which, by the way, you two should really consider as well. Who knows what germs are floating around in your apartment complexes?”

Isabel wrinkles her nose. “If that were a problem, I would have gotten COVID by now,” she points out, and Levi wants to groan. He doesn’t want to explain to her once more that, after exposure to the virus, contracting COVID is a game of chance and she’s just been lucky. There’s no telling how much luckier she can get as the pandemic continues.

“I’ll consider it,” Farlan says, and Levi is at least grateful for that. He taps his fingers on his desk. Farlan’s microphone is so sensitive that Levi can hear the tap, tap, tapping noise on the other end. “But that neighbor of yours … what do you guys even talk about every night?”

“I don’t know just … stuff, I guess,” Levi mumbles. He rubs at the back of his neck. He can’t quite recall what he and Petra talked about yesterday on their balconies. Their conversations always start out similarly with her asking Levi about his day and Petra asking about his, and by the time Levi retreats into his apartment he finds that an hour has already passed. After a moment, he says, “Well, she told me about how she was sewing face masks in her free time so that she could donate them.”

“Oooh,” Isabel coos. Her head is in her hands again and she looks starry-eyed. “This girl sure has everything, doesn’t she? Not only is she cute, but she takes COVID safety precautions seriously and she cares about other people? No wonder you’re so interested in her, Levi.”

Levi’s mind stutters for a moment. “When did I say she was cute?” he stammers.

“Is she not cute?” Farlan asks with a raised eyebrow.

Levi’s knee-jerk response is to say “no” just because he knows a “yes” will elicit more teasing from Isabel, but the question Farlan asks makes Levi realize that he’s never seen Petra without her mask off. Prior to this realization, Levi has never minded seeing Petra with a mask on. After all, they’re both still in a pandemic and, even if neither of them show visible symptoms of COVID, it’s possible that they could still transmit the virus from their minimal outings for groceries or other daily tasks that require them to leave the apartment. Now that he’s realized it though, he’s overcome with this strange desire to see Petra’s face behind the mask.

There’s only so much one can see of a person when they’re wearing a mask. Levi knows the top half of Petra’s face quite well: slender, expressive eyebrows, large eyes the color of amber, and even the dip of the bridge of her nose. Anything beyond that is a mystery to him, hidden behind the cloth of Petra’s mask. He doesn’t know what kind of nose she has, if it’s grand and shapely or sweet and button-shaped or adorably upturned. He doesn’t know the curve of her lips, if she has a well-defined cupid’s bow or thick, full lips the color of petals. Judging by the state of the pandemic right now, it’s unlikely that he’ll find out anytime soon and he can’t fathom requesting Petra take off her mask just to satisfy his newfound curiosity.

“I don’t know what she looks like,” Levi finally says.

Farlan snorts and Isabel erupts into peals of laughter.

“You’ve been talking to her for how long and you don’t know what she looks like?” Isabel titters. She’s even wiping tears from her eyes, although Levi doesn’t think the situation is that humorous. “It’s not like you guys are wearing hazmat suits when you sit on the balcony.”

“It’s not like I don’t know what she looks like at all,” Levi grumbles. “But we’ve been wearing masks this whole time whenever we’ve gone out on the balcony to talk to each other.”

“Aren’t your balconies, like, more than six feet apart? You guys could probably take your masks off and it’d be fine,” Isabel points out. She sees Levi open his mouth to speak and she rolls her eyes, giving him a dismissive wave of her hand. “Okay, fine, just wear your masks like the hypochondriacs you are! If it’ll make you feel better about the ‘sick game of roulette viruses play when infecting us,’ go right ahead!”

Levi scowls. He wishes he could kick Isabel out of the Zoom chat, but Farlan has forbidden Levi to do that after Levi cut short the first Zoom call he hosted and Farlan has been the host of their Zoom calls ever since. Thus, Levi has had to sit through various Zoom calls with Isabel mocking his informative lectures on infections and diseases. On the bright side, at least she remembers Levi’s lectures well enough to recite them back to him even if it is in a sarcastic tone.

In a tiny square on Levi’s screen, Farlan watches with an amused expression on his face.

“What?” Levi asks.

“You could ask her if she’s comfortable with taking her mask off,” Farlan suggests.

“I can’t just ask her that!” Levi splutters. He gets embarrassed at the idea of it — just outright asking Petra as if it’s as simple as asking her about the weather or what her favorite color is.

Isabel rolls her eyes. “It’s not like you’re asking her to take off her shirt or something,” she says.

If Levi’s face wasn’t red yet, it certainly is now.

“Ignore her,” Farlan says. “But, you know, it is just a mask and you keep yourself extremely safe and she adheres to the CDC guidelines pretty well from what you tell us. If you two are both comfortable with it, why not just ask?”

Because it’s exactly as they’re saying: it’s not like asking her to take off her shirt. In a way, asking her to take off her mask is infinitely more dangerous and intimate than asking her to take off any other article of clothing. COVID-19 is a virus that is spread through aerosol droplets from infected persons. By asking Petra to remove her mask, Levi would ultimately be asking Petra to lower her defenses to these droplets and increase her chances of getting infected. If Petra were to ask him to remove his mask, Levi isn’t sure he would be able to say ‘yes’ for these very same reasons.

It’s something Levi mulls over even after the call ends and Isabel and Farlan bid him adieu for the night. He thinks about it in bed, imagining a different COVID-infected universe in which he musters up the courage to ask Petra to lower her mask for him and she says yes, revealing a beaming smile behind her mask when she lowers it for the first time. For some reason, just thinking about her smile and how it might look — if she has bunny teeth that stick out, if she has a cute underbite, if her teeth are just a little bit crooked, if she bothers to put on lip balm under her mask or if she forgets and leaves her lips chapped — makes it difficult for Levi to sleep. He spends his night tossing and turning in bed, haunted by a smile he’s never seen.

The thought of Petra’s smile follows him into the morning and well into the day. It’s all he thinks about as he cleans his apartment in the morning, he writes line after line of code at work, and as he cleans it once more in the afternoon. It’s all he thinks about as he opens the door to his balcony for his evening chat with Petra. It’s all he’s thinking about as he sits across from her and she tells him about his day.

He’s not brave enough to ask her to take off her mask, but he keeps thinking of it. He watches the movement of Petra’s mask as her lips move beneath it. If he concentrates hard enough, he thinks he can see the trace of her mouth, can imagine the outline of her lips when she purses her mouth in a pout or when he thinks her lower lip sticks out as she ponders what to talk about next.

“When do you think we’ll be able to take off our masks?” Levi asks. He’s brave enough to ask this at least.

“Hmm,” Petra hums, and Levi swears he sees the shadow of her lips pressed in that thoughtful pout once more. It drives him crazy. “Maybe when enough people get vaccinated. It should be a few months? My friend mentioned it a little while ago. They said it’s amazing how quickly mRNA vaccines are being developed to treat COVID.”

Levi nods. He’s heard this as well when doing his own research, although the technical aspects of the vaccine and how it works to protect him against the virus are beyond him. Still, he trusts medical professionals more than he trusts random people on the internet swearing that vaccines are just a conspiracy theory.

“So if you were vaccinated and it was two weeks after your second dose … and you were only in the company of someone who also received their second dose two weeks ago … would you consider taking off your mask?” Levi asks. He doesn’t look at her, instead drawing circles on the floor of his balcony. He can feel the dust and grime coming off on his finger and makes a mental note to sweep and vacuum his balcony tomorrow morning.

“I’d consider it,” Petra says. When Levi looks up, Petra’s mask is shifted upward just the slightest bit and the corners of her eyes are crinkled. He wants to see her smile so much. “If the other person were okay with it, too, of course.”

“Of course,” Levi repeats, his voice a quiet murmur, and he leaves it at that because he’s afraid of asking more.

But he lets himself imagine that the vaccine will be out to the public soon and, once it is, he’ll finally have the courage to ask Petra if she’s willing to take her mask off. He lets himself imagine that she says yes. And he lets himself imagine that the first thing she does when she takes her mask off is smile.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Levi sits on the balcony with Petra at 1:58 AM. It’s the third night in a row that they’ve done this, sitting on their balconies with their masks on and the glow from their laptop screens illuminating their faces. Were Levi with anyone else, he would complain that this was an unreasonable hour to be up even if it is for the slim chance to snag a spot for a vaccine appointment, but because he’s up at this ungodly hour with Petra, Levi finds he doesn’t mind.

Technically, Levi doesn’t apply for a vaccine at this time. The rules are confusing, but he’s not supposed to schedule an appointment until certain other people have gotten their vaccines. People who are currently eligible are healthcare workers and essential workers. Petra, being a waitress in the food industry, is considered an essential worker and is thus eligible for the vaccine at this time. Is it irritating for Levi to watch other people get vaccinated before him? A little bit, but he’s glad Petra will soon get the vaccine. Unlike Petra, Levi works at home all day and is thus less likely to be exposed to the virus anyway. Even if he can’t book a vaccine appointment at this time, helping Petra book hers will help him prepare for scheduling his appointment when the time comes.

Petra yawns, using her elbow to cover her mouth even though she’s still wearing her mask. Levi feels horribly endeared watching her. She’s dressed in her pajamas — a cotton pajama set in black and white polka dot print and fuzzy cat slippers on her feet. Her hair is tied in a messy bun atop her head, stray locks of ginger falling around her face even though she wears a hairband meant to keep them away. Even as Petra continues to hit the refresh button, her eyelids droop and she looks as if she’s about to nod off to sleep soon.

“Abandoned slots tend to open up at 2 AM,” Petra murmurs to herself over and over. It’s like a mantra she keeps repeating, hoping that it’ll help her stay awake until she books herself an appointment. Levi doesn’t know how much it’s helping. “Abandoned slots tend to open up at 2 AM.”

“Should you really be staying up this late to book an appointment?” Levi asks. He hits the refresh button too, but the page remains the same. All appointments are full. “Don’t you have a morning shift tomorrow?”

Petra squints at him, concentrating as she fully registers his question. “Mmm, if I don’t get one at 2, then I’ll head right to bed.” Petra yawns again. As usual, she uses her elbow to cover her mouth. “I don’t know how people are booking their appointments so fast, but at least it seems like it’s a ‘first come, first serve’ type of thing. I heard it was worse at the hospital when they were first giving the vaccines out.”

Levi remembers hearing about it on the news and then hearing about it second-hand from Petra when she was talking about her doctor friend. There were some hospitals that determined vaccinations for their staff members by raffle, not even prioritizing doctors and nurses that were working first-hand with COVID patients. In the particular hospital that Petra’s friend worked at, COVID vaccinations were given out to higher-ranking doctors first regardless of whether or not they were working with COVID patients, which also caused a flurry of criticism from the hospital staff as well as media when the news broke out. The current system being used for front-line workers to get vaccinated certainly is inconvenient, but Levi doesn’t know what a better one would be.

“Just keep refreshing, just keep refreshing,” Petra says in a sing-song voice. She hits the refresh button robotically, but her eyelids are still drooping. Suddenly, she looks up, a little bit more awake than she was just a second ago. “Do you think my finger will fall off before I get an appointment?”

The mask hides the upward twitch of Levi’s lips. “I don’t think so,” he replies. He hits the refresh button and his eyes flicker to his screen. His eyes widen when he sees 10, 15, 20 spots open up at different pharmacies nearby. Quickly, he begins to turn his laptop around and points at the screen excitedly. “Wait, look!”

Petra takes one look at his screen and begins to tap around hers. She doesn’t even tell him that she sees them or thank him for alerting her because that would take a few extra seconds that might allow the appointments to fill up before she can claim a spot. Levi watches as Petra sits hunched over her laptop, the light from the screen allowing him to see how her brows are knit together in concentration as she types her information on the screen. She even has her insurance card ready beside her, filling in the necessary information easily. Levi doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone type that quickly in his life, and he normally hits 100+ wpm when he’s writing code.

Suddenly, Petra hits the enter key one last time and looks up. Her typing has halted entirely and she stares at Levi with a blank expression on her face. It’s difficult to tell whether she got the appointment or if all the available slots had filled up at the last minute. It’s just an appointment, one that Petra can probably book later this week if not tomorrow, but the anticipation is making Levi’s palms sweat.

“So?” Levi asks. He’s never felt like it was hard to breathe wearing his mask, but he’s feeling a little breathless now. “Did you get one?”

A beat passes. Then two. Then three.

Suddenly, Petra raises her arms, lifts her head, and lets out a yell that’s far too loud for 2 AM in the morning. It’s so sudden that Levi flinches, but he sees that Petra’s eyes are crinkled at the edges when she faces him again. “I got it!” she proudly announces. She’s swaying as she sits. She probably used all of her energy just booking that appointment. Considering how tired and sleep-deprived Petra has been for the past three days, Levi’s surprised that she hadn’t made a typo at the last moment and missed her chance.

He’s grinning from ear to ear, not that she can see. “That’s great. Good for you. When is it?”

“Tomorrow morning,” she says. Petra shoots him with an endearing finger gun and winks. It makes his heart flutter in the oddest way. She shuts the screen of her laptop and the blue light that was illuminating her face disappears. It makes it more difficult for Levi to see the lines and creases in her mask. It also makes it a little harder for him to imagine the smile hidden beneath the fabric covering her face. “I’m going to call in sick and come in for my appointment. I don’t care what my boss says. It’s better if I get the vaccine anyway even if I might get yelled at when I come in tomorrow.”

Levi furrows his brow. “Are you going to be okay the next day? The side effects …” His voice trails off.

“It should be okay,” Petra says with yet another yawn. She should really go to sleep, but Levi doesn’t have the heart to tell her to go just yet. “The side effects aren’t really an issue until the second dose, I hear. Although, some people who had COVID said the first dose kicked their butts. Since I haven’t had COVID, it probably won’t be a problem for me.”

“But you won’t go into work if you happen to feel adverse side effects?” Levi can’t help but ask.

Petra doesn’t answer for a moment, just looks at Levi for a moment before her eyes smile again. “You’re sweet,” Petra tells him, and Levi’s flustered. For some reason, he wants to deny it, to tell her that he’s just asking what any reasonably concerned friend would ask, but Petra speaks again before he gets a chance to. “Yeah, I’ll call in another sick day if I have to. Thanks for worrying.”

Levi is about to tell her that it’s not a problem. Of course, it’s not a problem because helping her doesn’t burden him in any way, but he bites his lip instead.

Petra stretches her arms above her head. She gives him another sleep smile, one that Levi can only see in her eyes again, and waves at him tiredly. “That was kind of fun in a hectic way. Thanks for staying up with me these past few nights.”

Levi fiddles with the sleeve of his shirt. “It’s so I know what to do when it’s my turn to make an appointment,” he mumbles. He cringes when he speaks. He doesn’t sound convincing at all.

“Then we’ll do it again when it’s your turn,” Petra says. She points her index finger at him. “It’s the least I can do after you stayed up with me. I should do the same for you.”

He tells her that she doesn’t have to, but Petra insists and won’t let him go back into his apartment until he agrees. They have an undecided date for when they book Levi’s appointment. Petra, ever the optimist, says that the system will probably be less hectic by the time Levi’s eligible, but Levi’s not so sure. Still, he feels quite content as he returns to his apartment.

Petra gets her vaccine tomorrow. Levi wonders if he should construct a care package for her when she comes back and leave it at her doorstep. Not anything fancy, he thinks, just the essentials just in case side effects hit: canned chicken noodle soup, tea and honey, Gatorade, and a small bottle of Tylenol just in case. That’s probably overkill though, Levi sighs. He can think about being nice and thoughtful all he wants, but he knows he’ll back out in the end because there’s a chance that he’s overstepping his boundaries. He should just play it cool. Play it safe. Just pop out on the balcony tomorrow night and ask her how it went, if she was nervous, if her arm hurts.

It’s fine. He doesn’t need to be her caretaker. It’s good enough that they’re neighbors, two people in a short-distance relationship of six feet (or more) apart, unlikely friends in this strange time. It’s too much for him to hope to find love in this time of COVID-19. It’s enough that they’re just two people helping each other stay safe from COVID and booking appointments together. Maybe in a month or two they can be friends who are fully vaccinated against the virus. Two people who still take precautions against the infectious disease but who can live life in a little less fear because their chances of contracting the virus are lowered to about 5%. Two people who can smile at each other without their masks on.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Levi gets his vaccine two months after Petra. Like many other people, he suffered few side effects from the first dose except for a sore arm the very next day. The effects of the second dose are far worse.

He was warned by Petra, who told him that the effects of the second dose were like getting hit by the flu virus and a truck at the same time. He was also warned by various anonymous persons on the internet that were kind enough to share their vaccine experiences on online forums as well as medical professionals that posted informative online videos on YouTube. No warning could have prepared him for how bad the side effects really were.

Levi feels the effects of the second dose ten hours after he returns home from his vaccine appointment. At first, his arm just aches and he feels slightly drowsy. He doesn’t think much of it, thinking that these effects are mild compared to what other people are experiencing. After a few more hours, his body feels terribly cold and his entire body is aching. Everything irritates him more than usual: the light streaming in from his balcony hurts his eyes, the rattle of the air vent is grating to his ears, and the pounding of his head makes him want to bang his head against the wall until he passes out. To put it lightly, he feels like shit.

Petra said she only felt some muscle pain and had a slight fever for a few hours, but Levi feels like he can barely walk. The night Petra had her second dose, she only came out for a few minutes to talk to Levi before leaving to sleep early, but Levi doesn’t think he can even manage that.

Lying on the couch with a blanket draped over his body and an ice pack on his head, Levi manages to reach for his phone on the coffee table and type out a brief text message.

Levi:

Staying in tonight. See you tomorrow if I feel better.

Petra:

🙁🙁🙁

I hope it’s not too bad.

Feel better soon!

I hope you feel better tomorrow 😊

Levi wonders what she means when she says she hopes he feels better tomorrow. Does that mean she hopes he feels better so that they can see each other tomorrow? Or maybe he’s overthinking it and she’s just being polite. It’s normal to say “hope you feel better” when someone is feeling awful, isn’t it?

He doesn’t want to think about this too much. He should just rest instead of mulling about what Petra’s messages really mean. With a sigh, Levi turns his phone screen off and leaves it face-down on the table so that he’s not tempted to check his texts every time he gets a new notification.

Levi settles down against the pillows on his couch and wraps his blankets around him. He’s already taken a Tylenol, but it has only managed to dull his headache and not get rid of it completely. His limbs still feel achy, although not in the unbearable way they did an hour ago. He wonders if he should eat something. He had downed a Gatorade when he first got home and then drank another bottle a few hours ago, but he hasn’t eaten much except for a slice of bread and half an apple. It would probably be best for him to eat something else, but he doesn’t have the energy to get up off the couch and prepare something. Even a packet of ramen feels like it would be too much for him to handle at the moment.

He tosses and turns on the couch until he finds a position that he doesn’t hate. He’s not sure how he’ll be able to sleep when he feels this uncomfortable. He thinks it’ll take him at least an hour or two, but he drifts off without realizing and doesn’t wake up until he hears the ringing of his doorbell.

Groggy with sleep and muscles still aching, Levi gets up from the couch, his blankets dragging behind him as he checks the door. When he looks through the peephole, he doesn’t see anything. He’s too tired to even be angry about someone ding-dong ditching his door and he’s too feverish to even wonder why somebody would ring his doorbell only to abandon his doorstep moments later. He’s about to walk back to his couch and collapse into another dreamless sleep, but the thought that he might have accidentally called for some takeout while in his post-vaccine delirium forces him to yank open the door.

There isn’t anybody in sight nor is there a bag of takeout. Instead, there’s a basket with a note on it. Levi bends down to read the neat script printed on the paper:

Hope you feel better soon! I made some food that might help since you’re probably not in the mood to cook for yourself. 😊

-Petra

Levi stands there and blinks at the basket of food, wondering if this is all part of his fever dream. Maybe he hasn’t woken up yet. Levi is sure he’s dreamed this all up, but his body hurts too much for him to be still dreaming. He’s about to go in and text Petra to ask her if she really had left the basket of food for him, but he looks up to see the apartment door across from him cracked open and his gossipy neighbor looking at him, only her eye visible. Startled, Levi quickly grabs the basket and shuts the door behind him with a slam.

He carries the basket with him to the couch, setting it on the table. When he picks up his phone, he sees he has over a dozen messages. Most of them, unsurprisingly, are from Isabel, but when he scrolls to the bottom he sees he also has one from Petra. He taps on that one first.

Petra:

Cooking post-vaccine sucks!! I know from personal experience 😥

Left you some goodies outside your door jic you don’t feel like cooking. I hope you enjoy!

If it’s from Petra, then it’s safe to inspect the package. Levi lifts the cloth covering the top of the basket and peers inside. He pulls out a colorful tumbler first. The container is a pretty and pastel peach color that fades to white at the bottom. On the side it has a label with the same neat handwriting the first note had. “Peach smoothie,” it says with the ingredients listed in smaller print at the bottom: peaches, banana, greek yogurt, almond milk, honey, vanilla & cinnamon. When Levi looks at the other containers, he finds that they’re labeled similarly.

It’s difficult to explain how Levi feels as he sits on the couch and eats the rice porridge Petra had packed. The porridge is still warm, steam escaping from the thermos when Levi had first unscrewed the cap. Earlier, he hadn’t been in the mood to eat, but now he finds he can’t stop as he shovels spoonful after spoonful of rich, hearty porridge in his mouth.

It’s warm, Levi thinks, and he continues to eat. He no longer feels the chills that had confined him to his couch and forced Levi to wrap himself in layers and layers of blankets. He just feels warm and content, the rich broth from the rice porridge filling his belly and warming him from the inside out. There are tender chunks of chicken breast that Levi devours hungrily and tiny pieces of julienned ginger that balance the porridge out with a kick of spice and just the tiniest bit of sweetness. Levi doesn’t remember the last time he’s eaten so well.

He feels … so content as he sits back against his couch, upright for the first time in hours. He nibbles on the apple slices had cut for him, making sure to admire the little rabbit-ears she had taken the time to carve into each one. In between sips of the peach smoothie, Levi ponders.

Is it normal for neighbors to make food for their neighbors when they’re feeling ill? Is it something good acquaintances do? Is it something friends do? The last one is possible, although Levi has yet to receive a care package from Isabel or Farlan. Then again, he wasn’t planning on sending them one for their second doses, although he’s seriously considering it after experiencing the second dose side effects firsthand. It could be that his post-vaccine delirium is causing him to imagine things that aren’t there: affection, fondness … love?

Levi downs the rest of his smoothie and decides to sleep it all away.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Levi does feel better the next morning, but he doesn’t feel entirely okay either. He feels … strange. While the symptoms he suffered from previously are now gone, Levi finds himself suffering from new ones. They aren’t as uncomfortable as everything he had yesterday — fever, body ache, chills, headache, to name a few — but they make him feel anxious nonetheless. He could be one of the few cases suffering from deadly side effects after the vaccine.

Like any person without a medical degree or a friend in the medical field, Levi takes to the Internet to find answers. He looks up all the uncomfortable symptoms he’s feeling: chest pain, heart palpitations, light-headedness. When he thinks he’s found a consistent answer among various medical sites, he immediately calls Farlan over Zoom.

“I think I’m dying,” he tells Farlan immediately after his friend picks up.

Farlan furrows his brow, his blue eyes filled with concern. “You mean … you didn’t manage to get COVID right before your second dose, did you?” Farlan runs a hand through his honey-blond hair, looking around his apartment for things he needs to drive over to Levi’s house: his wallet, keys, a first aid kit. “Are you okay? I’ll drive over there really quick.”

“No, no. Not COVID,” Levi says quickly. He rubs his hand over his chest. “It’s just … I’ve been feeling strange. I’ve been getting heart palpitations. Sometimes my chest hurts and I feel lightheaded. I think I might have myocarditis.”

Farlan blinks once. Twice. He takes a deep breath and then breathes out. Calmer now, he says, “I thought we talked about you self-diagnosing yourself with different diseases. Just because you’re a hypochondriac does not mean you’re qualified to make these types of calls about your health.”

“I’m serious this time!” Levi says. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? There are other people who have taken the vaccine and have developed pericarditis and myocarditis. I’m not being paranoid.” Levi admits to being quick to diagnosing himself with diseases in the past, many of which were probably impossible for him to contract in hindsight, but he doesn’t know why Farlan is scolding him for being careful about his health.

Farlan sighs. He leans back against his chair and rubs his eyes. “Alright,” Farlan says. He sits up. He doesn’t look angry anymore, just tired. “Tell me everything in detail this time and don’t leave anything out.”

“Well, I told you,” Levi says. “Chest pain and heart palpitations and dizziness -”

“And these all started right after you received your second vaccine?” Farlan asks.

“Yeah, I …,” Levi’s voice trails off. He pauses just a moment and realizes it’s not the first time he’s experienced these symptoms. He’s felt it once or twice before, these strange pangs in his chest and his heart fluttering oddly. “It happened before. When I was with Petra.”

Farlan smirks. “Well, congratulations. It looks like you’re not sick. You’re just an idiot,” he tells Levi and then adds, “and in love.” Before Levi can deny it, Farlan hangs up.

Levi is still spluttering at his screen when a message from Farlan pops up.

Farlan:

Ask her out.

Levi stares at the message even as a million little notifications from Isabel pop up asking him why he called Farlan without her. He thinks about the message. He thinks about asking Petra. He winces when the thought of it brings an odd, sharp pain to his chest, the same one he’s been feeling all morning.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Petra smiles when she sees him that night, her eyes crinkling the way they do when she smiles and her mask shifting upwards. Levi still doesn’t know what her smile looks like, but he’s imagined it every night for weeks on end.

“Feeling better?” she asks Levi. She leans against the railing, her arms resting on top. Levi stands his railing too, but he doesn’t lean against it the way Petra does. It’s perhaps the closest they’ve gotten in all the time they’ve spoken with each other. “The second dose is really something, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Levi mumbles. He wonders if he looks terrible, if his face is pale or cheeks flushed, if there are bags under his eyes, if he looks any thinner than he was the day before. He hopes he doesn’t look too horrible.

Petra rests her head on her arms, eyes looking up at Levi. “So what are you gonna do once your two weeks are up and you have the antibodies?” she asks. “I mean, don’t go crazy and crowd surf at an unmasked concert, of course, but maybe you could go out and eat at a restaurant if they have outdoor dining or something.”

“Actually, I was thinking of staying home,” Levi says. His palms are sweating already and his heart is doing that thing where it’s beating erratically against his chest. His head is feeling strange. There’s a chance that Levi might faint and fall off his balcony where he’ll fall four stories until he hits the ground. He almost doesn’t believe it when he hears himself say, “I was actually wondering if you wanted to eat dinner at my place once my two weeks are over.”

Petra’s eyebrows are lifted in surprise. Maybe if she weren’t wearing a mask right now, Levi would see her lips shaped in a perfect O. After a moment, she asks, “Are you really asking me to have dinner with you on your first night of being fully vaccinated?” Her tone is teasing. It makes Levi blush and he almost regrets asking her until Petra says, “I’d be honored. Do you want me to bring anything? I can cook pretty well.”

“If you really want to,” Levi says. He doesn’t know how he’s still standing. A part of him feels as if he’s still on his couch in a fever-filled haze, suffering from the effects of the second vaccine. There’s no way all of this isn’t a dream. Subtly, he wraps his arm around his torso and pinches himself in the ribs. It hurts too much to be a dream.

He’s two weeks closer to seeing Petra without a mask on.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The night of the dinner, Levi finds himself frantically running around his apartment. He took the day off work just to clean his apartment even though he cleans it at least twice daily already. This time, he’s taken the liberty of dusting off the corners of the ceiling and making sure to get all the dirt from behind the furniture. He’s even cleaned the inside of each and every cabinet, including the very top cabinets that are a bitch for him to clean.

It’s overkill, Isabel and Farlan told him. They told him to just treat it like a normal dinner, to just pretend as if they’re the ones coming over instead of Petra, but Levi can’t do that. The difference between Petra and his friends is just too vast. For one thing, he knows that Farlan and Isabel don’t mind a bit of dust, but he’s not sure the same can be said for Petra. Because is so careful in following COVID prevention guidelines, he’s sure she would appreciate the extra time he takes cleaning his apartment just for her arrival.

He couldn’t decide what to buy for dinner. He knows Petra had offered to bring some food over for tonight, but it feels rude to assume that she’ll provide a full-course meal. The problem with ordering food himself is that he doesn’t know what kind of food she likes. Mexican? Italian? Chinese? Indian? There are too many possibilities. He doesn’t know if she has any food preferences or allergies either, and he’s far too nervous to ask her. Levi doesn’t know how to cook for shit, so ordering takeout is the norm for him, but it’s different when you’re ordering for another person. In the end, he orders one dish from different restaurants hoping that at least one dish will be able to satisfy Petra.

Then there’s the question of what to wear.

“Just wear anything,” Farlan groans. He’s splayed out in his chair and looking up at the ceiling. He hasn’t looked at the past dozen outfits Levi has suggested. “Wear your all-black grunge number or a three-piece suit. I’m sure it doesn’t matter.”

“I can’t just wear anything,” Levi hisses. “What will she think of me?”

“You’ve seen each other at 2 AM with only pajamas on,” Farlan points out. He yawns, not bothering to cover his mouth. “I’m pretty sure you two know each other well enough not to mind the other person’s fashion choices.”

“You should wear those tight leather pants,” Isabel says. She leans forward in her seat, her head in her palm with her elbow resting on her knee. “With that see-through shirt. And put some hair gel in your hair. Also maybe put on some eyeliner.”

Levi blinks. “I don’t have any of those things.”

Isabel groans. “I know, your wardrobe is sooooo boring!”

He shouldn’t have asked Farlan and Isabel for their help. He ends up with a mask, a sky-blue button-down, his darkest pair of jeans, and more anxiety than he had this morning. Petra should be here any minute and he’s feeling strange again. The same symptoms as before plague him: dizziness, pains in his chest, heart palpitations. The chime of his doorbell is enough to make him jump out of his seat on the couch and almost fall on the floor.

Levi scrambles for the door, pulling it open. There Petra stands, mask on and a bag full of food she’s prepared for tonight. She looked nice more than six feet away when they were standing on their balconies, but she looks even nicer standing right in front of him. He’s about to say as much when he notices the door across from them open and his neighbor’s eye peep out from the crack. Startled, he pulls Petra in just as she’s saying hello and slams the door behind her.

He breathes a sigh of relief only for his breath to hitch in his throat when he realizes that he’s trapped Petra in between him and the door. They’re standing far closer than six feet apart. It’s closer than six inches apart. It’s even closer than six centimeters. He can count every strand of ginger hair on her head, every eyelash, every freckle sprinkled across her cheeks.

Startled, Levi stumbles backward and apologizes. “S-sorry,” he stammers. His cheeks are flushed red with embarrassment, the heat made worse with his mask on. “The woman in the apartment across from me was staring.”

“Oh, yeah,” Petra says. She looks behind her, although there’s no way for her to see the neighbor now that Levi’s door is closed. When she turns back, her eyes are crinkled. “She talks a lot, that one.”

“Yeah,” Levi mumbles. He stares at Petra. He can’t help it. There’s a smile hidden behind her mask. He can see it if he only asks. He’s closer to seeing it than he’s ever been. Soon, he’ll know what lies beneath. Cautiously, carefully, Levi asks, “Would you like to take off your mask?”

“Sure,” Petra says. She unhooks the elastics from her ears. She removes the mask from her face, looks at Levi, and smiles.

It’s more beautiful than Levi could have imagined: a dimple in her cheek, freckles sprinkled across her skin that her mask had always covered until today, and just the slightest overbite in her smile. It makes Levi’s heart do a weird flip in his chest, worse than he’s ever felt before. His palms are sweating and he’s feeling light-headed. He’s not sure he’s even breathing.

Breathlessly, Levi tears off his mask. “Can I kiss you?” The question falls from his mouth without him thinking. He’s about to take it back and apologize for being too forward, but Petra takes a step closer to him.

Her smile is dazzling, growing wider as Petra takes a step. Her eyes crinkle the way they always did on the balcony. “Sure,” she says and reaches to place one hand on the back of Levi’s neck before pulling him in for a kiss.

It’s perfect.

#rivetra #snk #covid 19 pandemic au #levi ackerman #petra ral #requests #asks #answered #anon #anonymous

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sleeperswakewriting · 3 years

Text

Kindred Spirits

Rating: E

Summary: Maine, 1966. Levi is a newly hired postman who delivers mail by boat and Petra is a resident of the island whom he delivers to. Expecting it to be an easy job, he's thrown off guard when she has a list of demands that must be met, in exchange for baked goods. And while under no uncertain terms will he ever agree to all of her demands, he finds himself intrigued by her slow way of living, and soon enough, her. Also known as, the cottagecore Rivetra AU.

Read it here

Huge shoutout and thank you to the AWESOME Rivetra shippers who have sent and tagged me in all of the cottagecore things. This fic wouldn't be here with you, and I did my best to include all of the nuggets that were sent my way :) <3

#rivetra #rivetra fanfiction #Levi x petra #petra x levi #petra ral

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sleepylevii · 3 years

Text

moon’s laugh

ship: rivetra word count: 1.9k warnings: one (1) bad word genre: canon | hurtcomfort/fluff

chile! here’s my first rivetra/first aot in general fic...i just lub them a lot...a lot of u guys asked for established relationship but i lich rally could not get this out of my head i just think it’s SO cute anyways here go:)

The warmth of the open flame that illuminated Petra’s face was the only source of light at the mess hall at this time of night. Even though she knew the moon was awake and based on Gunther’s ever accurate chats that it would be full, the orb had already passed by the sole window to her right side, leaving Petra alone with her pair of candles, one in front and one to her left so that her right hand would not cast a shadow on her work. She didn’t mind the dark, though–with the nighttime always came safety. A moment to herself away from Orou’s teasing and Eld’s chattering was perfectly welcome after a day as long as today has been.

It had started off as an expedition outside of the wall that was continued from the night prior. Due to an injury in her early teens, her lower back was home to lasting pain, and sleeping on the ground, hard–and cold, too, at this time of year–was no help. Without Hange’s specially crafted medicine for her, as she’d forgotten to take it with her before they left, Petra woke up in an uncharacteristically sour mood. Without a titan in sight, the group had traveled relatively far until they’d reached the chosen stopping point to turn around. The mission was only supposed to be a day and a half, a brief expedition to scour which land beyond the wall could be suitable for farming. It was nothing short of a normal expedition until Gunther’s horse spooked and tossed him, leaving Petra bringing his horse home as he rode on Eld’s during the journey home. Hange deduced it as a concussion, though not terribly bad, once they had made it back.

It wasn’t the worst report she’d ever had to write. Levi had begun to task her months ago with writing the reports that would be sent to the king as an update for what his branch of scouts was doing, as Titan activity had been relatively low recently. Really, it had been a general offer–Petra couldn’t yet figure out why Levi didn’t want to do it himself, as he typically liked to be in charge like that–but the others complained about the task, so she took it upon herself to complete it. It’s not like she would pass up on a chance to impress her captain.

For less naive reasons, Petra was very skilled in literary talents. Her older brother taught her to read at a young age, and words kept her company as he left to join the scouts. Now, books were both a painful reminder of what was and a hope to a more peaceful future. She’d scribbled notes in the margins of pages for as long as she could remember–an analysis there, a definition from Alec there, a letter to a friend, her grandmother–all were intertwined in language. Her handwriting was precise at the worst and not unlike a printed sheet of newspaper at the best, and her abilities to describe events and plans were unparalleled within the rest of the scouts, meaning Levi was more than happy to appoint her to accomplish the chore.

However, it did mean that there were nights–like tonight–that she was up far past the sun’s setting, pencil cramped in hand, a cup of tea by her side that has gone cold hours ago. As she finished up her report and scrawled her name at the bottom, Petra folded the sheet of paper in half and secured it with twine, laying it on the table for Erwin to pick up the next morning since he was visiting. She sipped the rest of her tea, blew out the candle, and with lidded eyes, made her way back to her small bedroom.

It was dark, and even though she was tired beyond belief, Petra was sure she knew the path to her own bedroom. Fairly sure.

She rustled around the room for a moment, fatigue exhaling from her quiet grunts as she attempted to cozy herself under the covers. But there was–something?–next to her leg–no, it couldn’t have been anything. Perhaps she’d left her pillows a mess before leaving two days ago. Besides, she wasn’t actively being hurt, so she supposed that whatever the problem was could wait until the next morning.

—

Just because a day was uneventful did not mean that Levi slept well. He wished it could be that way–after knowing all of his scouts were secure in their beds, titans slumbering under the safe eye of moonlight–there he would find peace. But it was not often so, and Levi found himself tossing and turning as per usual that evening.

But such trivialities shouldn’t have ever made their way into the mind of the captain, and he did his best not to entertain them. Covers pulled tight around his chest, Levi did his best to fight off any energy left inside of his busy brain and instead succumb to the sweet embrace of sleep, trying to keep the image of a certain ginger-haired girl out of his head.

Levi wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not by the time he felt a rustling near his back and a weight pull the covers off of him, but he was certainly awake by the time the ordeal in question was over. Normally, he wouldn't have hesitated to react–maybe he was asleep–but he had, and now it was silent.

Brows furrowed, Levi cautiously turned to his left, trying to figure out what had happened while making the least amount of noise and movement possible. To his complete surprise, he found ginger locks messily splayed on the pillow beside him, Petra’s chest gently rising and falling with her breaths. The moonlight cast a soft shadow across her face and for a moment…no. He had to have still been sleeping.

“…Petra?” he murmured, the faintest hint of a whisper leaving his lips. This had to have been a mistake. Petra was sensible, intelligent, and most important, focused on her work. Not him. Perhaps she’d notice in the morning and skirt off before he awoke, and he wouldn’t say a word about it. Still…sleep hung from his eyes and Levi found it difficult to make a decision. This was what he had wanted for weeks now, was it not? It would be selfish to not wake her, letting her know that she’d made a mistake. But Levi Ackerman was sometimes a selfish person.

He rolled back over, breaths steady, and tried not to think about the girl slumbering next to him, the way her warmth felt in his bed. Goddamn, his brain simmered. You’ll pay for this tomorrow.

—

Petra woke up to sunlight dusting her face, squinting her eyes as she cleared her throat. With the daylight came another exhausting day of trekking through the woods, eyes peeled for roaming titans, and–within moments of opening her eyes, Petra was sure that something was wrong. There was a weight pressed to her side, over her waist, and the morning seemed eerily calm. Slowly, as if a sudden movement could trigger a disaster, she rolled to her side, wincing from the ache in her back. A single night of good sleep would not fix the chronic pain that plagued her. And then–oh, God.

If it was a dream or a nightmare, Petra couldn’t tell which–just that she found herself face to face with none other than her captain, still fast asleep, his arm draped over her side. Petra thought he looked precious asleep, the ever-present scowl gone from his face–but she couldn’t pull herself away from the panic that enveloped her. What happened? Why was the captain in her bed? No…why was she in the captain’s bed? That was even worse. If she moved, would he wake up? Could she crawl out without him noticing? She wished she’d never begun having that silly little crush on him, knowing nothing would ever come of it.

“Petra?”

The captain’s eyes flashed open, squinting in the sunlight as she had just moments before. Frozen, there was nothing she could do except stare at him, his deep grey eyes piercing into hers. “Captain, I–”

“I didn’t think you’d still be here in the morning,” he murmured, face softening.

Lips parted in a semblance of fear, Petra glanced away from his gaze. “I–I’m so sorry, I was–” She pulled herself up with another wince, getting ready to scramble out of the–his–covers–“I was up so late last night; I just, I–” She felt the pressure of Levi’s fingers around her wrist. His grip wasn’t too tight, however, she was sure he could feel her pulse, beating fervently. And then–“You knew I was here last night?” The question seemed to surprise even her, as if she hadn’t quite pieced it together in her brain by the time it spilled out of her mouth.

“I–” Now it was the captain’s turn to flush, lips pursed. “You’d had a long day, I…I felt it would be rude to ask you to leave,” he said. Petra didn’t think he sounded genuine. But, he continued: “I was being an asshole. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

Petra couldn’t focus on anything except for his hands gently tracing patterns on hers, as if he was distracted as well. “You–I’m not, um, uncomfortable,” she forced out, trying to regain her composure. “I just…oh, Levi…I don’t know what to say.” She turned her head to the wall, sucking in a deep breath. After a moment’s silence, she looked at him again, still laying on his pillow. “I should go.”

It was strange to watch his face fall in such a real way. It was not like the grief that gripped him on the battlefield as a plan went wrong, nor the annoyance with his teammates when they argued too much for his liking. No–his face was soft, eyes gentle as they fell from hers to her waist, then the covers. “You don’t have to,” he suddenly said, voice barely louder than a whisper. “I–I hope I’m not being too forward. But it’s still early. You can stay.”

“Oh…” Petra licked her lips. Was this a good idea? She turned back to him, and for the first time noticed a new kind of fear in Levi’s eyes. She felt like she understood, then–he wasn’t upset at her, or embarrassed–just afraid of losing what could have been. Slowly, the faintest of smiles spread across her face, eyes fluttering. This can’t be real. “I…are you sure?”

“Five weeks sure,” Levi admitted, his cheeks coloring.

Petra slid back down under the covers, cozying up into Levi’s open arms with a hint of a giggle on her words. “I’ve got you beat,” she said slyly, eyes fluttering up at him. “Four months,” Petra said, laughing at Levi’s surprised face. “You didn’t know, did you.”

“I…I knew,” Levi said, smirking.

“You did not,” Petra chuckled. “Knowing you…you would have made a move if you did.”

Levi gasped quietly, the blunt of her words surprising him. “I…I suppose you’re right about that.” There was a brief silence between the pair before Levi rolled over, burying his nose into Petra’s hair. “I’m glad you were stubborn enough to stay up late to finish that report.”

#rivetra #petra #levi #aot #attack on titan #petra ral #levi ackerman #fluff #hurtcomfort #tw: language #julswrites #snk #shingeki no kyojin #fanfiction #aot fanfiction #levi x petra #i don't have a taglist yet but if ur interested just comment/rb/dm me :)#thank u this was so fun to write pls show me love

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petra-realsnk · 3 years

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48 and 50 for the ask game 💕

Hello there again! 🥺❤️

48) What’s your favorite trope to write?

Some of you know this already, but Rivetra in a bar is the best thing ever to me. I love both reading and writing it. I think I was deeply marked by one of the firsts fics I read of them. Nothing happened really between them, but their dynamic was so good and subtle I was obsessed with it for years! This fic inspired both “bar scenes” in my main series. I can’t explain what there is about this trope, but it makes me lose my mind every time.

50) If you could write angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your life, which would it be and why?

Smut! I guess no one is surprised 🤣. I can fit as much fluff and angst as I want in it since I can do whatever I want with that buildup. 👀

#rivetra #petra ral #levi ackerman #attack on titan #snk #shingeki no kyojin #asks #writing tag

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capitainelevi · 2 years

Text

Fic collaboration with @soarecreates ❤️

Life with the Ackermans

Levi Ackerman's life can only be described by using two words: domestic bliss. When a ghost from Levi's past visits him, his family's life takes an unexpected turn.

Postwar Rivetra in Marley with a pinch of Kenny Ackerman in their lives

CHAPTER 2 HERE

Snippet:

Their new lives with Kenny by their side lived up to Levi’s expectations: he was exhausted. He had missed his old man’s presence in his life over the years, but now he would laugh at his former self for having such feelings after getting a glimpse of how it could have turned out if Kenny had stuck by his side. Levi appreciated all the quiet years he had known before the present day, even with the war. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but even dealing with Eren seemed a simpler task nowadays. Fortunately for Kenny, Levi’s violent ways of discipline were a thing of the past, all thanks to his loving wife.

The disarray his life had turned into truly hit him when he woke one morning, and his day had already been ruined before it had even begun. He’d been looking forward to having Petra all to himself for yet another day before the children's return from Paradise, and he had even told Kenny not to show his face around there. Any joy he’d felt was quickly sucked out of him the moment he saw the junk in his garden- an old metal trailer, rusty and as gross-looking as his uncle sat in the middle of their yard. If his uncle could afford to live in a trailer, why was he bunking with them? The man stormed downstairs from the bathroom, or as best as he could storm when he had one crutch in hand, the other hand holding the handrail with a deathly grip. He needed some answers. But his oblivious wife just stood in the kitchen, cooking some breakfast for the two of them.

“Have you seen that shit in our garden?” He scoffed in disbelief.

“Oh, the trailer?” Petra responded, ignorant to the annoyance in her husband’s voice. And Petra, not being as clueless about the whole situation, only seemed to irritate Levi further when she casually spoke about it.

“Are you telling me you’re fine with it?!” Sometimes she made him wonder why they had gotten married in the first place. That was until he glimpsed at her warm, beautiful, amber eyes and forgot about it all, even his own name. Petra knew how dramatic Levi was with personal space and cleanliness, so she never took his harsh words to heart. She had expected this response when she’d agreed to let Kenny move the trailer into their yard, sure that Kenny knew what he was doing by asking her and not his nephew.

“Not even the whiskey can keep these old bones warm anymore,” Kenny had argued with her.

“He can’t sleep in a tent all winter, Levi,” was Petra’s final answer. She would not let Kenny freeze to death in the makeshift tent their kids had come up with during the summer, no matter what Levi had to say on the matter. Admittedly, she hadn’t been so keen on the idea at first, as that was less space for their children to play, but Kenny had swayed her.

“Sure he can. He lived in the Underground, remember? I’m sure he’s slept in worse places.” Even nowadays, he dreamt of the dump he and Kenny used to call home. An old, dirty mattress that Kenny dared to call a bed was all he offered Levi when he took him in.

“It’s that or our couch,” was all Petra had to say to put an end to the argument. Levi could just imagine it: Kenny laying on his couch, pants off, with a cigarette in his hand and a beer bottle in the other, spilling everything on his precious yellow suede. As always, Petra had won the battle.

“You’re playing a dirty game, Ral.”

#petra ral #rivetra #rivetra fanfiction #rivetra fanfic #my writing #rivetra drabble

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shreddedleopard · 4 years

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I remember looking for good Rivetra fics and stumbling upon yours by chance and now I can't imagine anyone else paired with Levi but Historia! Rivetra who?! It's a bummer there are only a handful of RivaHisu fics out there and personally for me, it's such a pet peeve when the author goes rogue and distorts everything we know and love about our favourite captain. OOC Levi is no fun to read. But your story could pass for chapters from the manga. It feels canon in every sense of the word and at no point did I think "Levi would never say that". Can't wait to read more from you and that canon-verse story about a young Historia and Levi resisting their feelings sounds like everything I've ever wanted!!!!! I'd be first in line if you were ever to post it.

Lastly, I'm someone who read AQR on Fanfiction. Will you still be posting there?

Hey Prachidas!

Oh man, your words have made me grin so hard - I am not worthy! You’re way too kind 🥰 Thank you!

I have to say, I’m a sucker for Rivetra fics too - check out SlingzArrowz stuff if you haven’t already! 😉

I’ll definitely be carrying on writing content for this ship - I love lots of other Levi ships too, like Rivetra and Levihan, but I always find myself coming back to our Captain and Queen with fondness.

I think the hardest thing about writing Rivahisu and trying to keep Levi in character as much as possible, is figuring out when to have him hold back and when you can have him yield a little ... my personal head canon, which comes from the way Historia challenges him in the manga, is that he finds her both infuriating and endearing ... or perhaps infuriating because she’s so endearing haha. She’s a young, beautiful and kind girl who takes up her role as Queen finally knowing her own mind and being determined to make her own choices in life, and with her new-found power over him in her elevated role, he’s not always sure how to handle that change in her from the submissive, agreeable girl he first met. She trips him up, but in the best ways. I love that reversal of power between them - it’s a refreshing scenario for Levi; he’s so used to the younger soldiers being intimidated by him and falling into line without much resistance. From his smile when Historia punched him back in the day, I think he sort of enjoys the challenge she presents. I just want to see more of that dynamic in the manga - not necessarily romantically, but even just as close allies.

Sorry, I got carried away and that all only semi-relates to your ask! 😂 I do this!

I will absolutely still be updating on fanfiction.net - that's always been my go-to. The story isn't completely updated on AO3 and Wattpad, although I’m getting there! But even when they are, newest chapters go on fan fiction.net first 😁

Thank you so much for your ask, and again for your lovely comments! I’m so grateful you took the time to send them.

SR x

#asks #snk #Rivahisu

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heybeybey · 3 years

Text

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Pairing: Rivetra | Levi x Petra

Summary: Forced to retire from the Scouts due to a major injury, Levi thinks he'll be spending the rest of his days in domestic solitude. Petra, however, has another idea.

Loosely based on The Way of the Househusband.

Or: Captain Petra x Househusband Levi canonverse AU

AO3 Link

A/N: Okay I've had this outlined for WEEKS (no ending in mind tho) but I never got around to actually drafting it. But....... I had some time this morning and the inspiration after seeing this post so yay.

Thanks to @sleeperswakewriting for introducing me to The Way of the Househusband. It's cute and funny and DEFINITELY RIVETRA in another universe.

This is going be a drabble series btw but no assurance on when I'll be updating each chapter (My Royalty AU draft is glaring at this fic rn tbh). Some chapters will be based on the Netflix show but Levi's condition is a bit different from Tatsu's so it'll probably be loosely based at best.

And yes, the title is from the song My Girl. But I like this version since I think it fits Petra the most :3

Also also, we all know deep down that Levi wants to be a househusband so here you go.

- - -

Chapter 1: The Ceremonies

There was a time when his mind wandered to how his career in the Scouts would end. Levi always thought he'd die on the battlefield, just as he witnessed among his comrades. He'd accepted that reality, sometimes even waiting for it despite his will to continue fighting on.

For some reason, retiring has never crossed his mind.

"Honorably discharged due to major leg injury, incomplete spinal cord injury, and loss of right eyesight."

He can still hear the pity and sadness from Erwin's voice from that day in the hospital when they talked over where he will go from there. The doctors mentioned that his spine will heal over time, but his leg is broken way beyond repair. It's worse enough that amputation was considered at one point. He'd be good as titan food should he retain his current position in the scouts.

At first, he wanted to scream. He wasn't the type to show some outwardly emotion (except for when he's beating down new recruits or the three males in his squad) but being a part of the Survey Corps is what gave this shit of a life some meaning after he was pulled out of the underground.

Frankly, he didn't know what's next.

"Hey, Captain." Petra's sweet voice snapped Levi out of his thoughts and he forces himself to get out of his bad mood. This was her day and he'd be damned if he ruins it for her.

Levi takes her in and the corner of his lip quirks up. He feels pride fill his chest as his eyes strays a bit on the insignia freshly pinned on her uniform.

"I think I should be the one calling you that, Ral." He replies. "Congratulations."

Wheelchair-bound for what may be the rest of his life, Levi and his squad had to sit down and talk over what's next for the Scout's elites. The obvious choice was Eld, but Levi and the rest of the team were surprised when the blonde man turned down the promotion. He says that while he had the leadership skills and the years of experience that makes him more than qualified, he knew that he didn't have the same burning dedication to the cause as much as he'd witnessed in others.

Eld said that he'd be glad to support the next team captain instead. Oluo, while skilled, had often been too focused on his kill count. Gunther has a strategic mind but didn't really have the charm to bring people together.

So they all turned their attention to Petra.

To be honest, Levi had always wanted to promote Petra as his second-in-command. However, Scout regulations demanded a certain number of years that she didn't have yet at the time he first chose his elite squad. He'd never had a problem with Eld, but his and Petra's ability to synchronise on the battlefield is the reason why he'd always turned to her when he needed a second hand.

It makes sense in his eyes and to the rest of the team, even when Erwin and the other soldiers were doubtful of his choice. They've seen how ferocious Petra is during expeditions, but still had the heart to cry alongside her dying comrades. She's kind and helpful, but knows when a hard decision is needed to be made. She'd pitched in her ideas and opinions every time she accidentally passed by the officers' meeting sessions (she always brought them tea so she sometimes hear the conversations). This was often met with a surprised look from her higher-ups but having worked with Petra for quite some time, Levi would just smirk at his fellow veterans.

She's still rough around the edges and she definitely still has more room to improve, but the potential is there. He wouldn't have chosen her as part of his team in the first place if he didn't see that fire.

He wasn't surprised that Eld, Gunther and Oluo supported her, even when Petra was terrified to accept such a responsibility. Levi was firm in his decision.

In the end, Erwin stamped on his approval.

Levi was the one who pinned the insignia on her signifying her new position during today's pinning-on ceremony.

- - -

"Hey, Captain!"

"I think you should stop calling me that, Petra."

"Sorry. Habit." The ginger blushes slightly as she steps closer inside the apartment, basket in hand. "I bought something for you."

She brings out a few fruits from the basket, laying it down on the dining table in his humble apartment. "The farmer's market was on sale today and I had the chance to pass by before they closed."

"You didn't have to buy me all these, Petra."

"I had to use my pay raise for something, Captain," she jests. He wheels himself towards her to assist her with unloading the basket and they both work in silent contentment.

"So, how's your first day?" Levi asks after washing the fruits. Petra's face lights up at his question and the whole room seems to come alive as she chatters on.

"Holy Maria, Captain. I didn't know the team can be this stupid. No wonder you had dark eyebags after training us for years!"

- - -

It's been three months since he resigned from the Scouts. The new captain never fails to come home to the apartment he's renting near the Scout HQ everyday.

Come home? Tch. How delusional can you get.

He'd welcome her back every expedition and every training day. A part of him feels a bit of guilt gnaw on him when he sees how tired Petra is whenever she comes home, thinking of the time when he was her direct commanding officer.

"Captain, can I sleep here tonight?"

Now, he sees the sorrow and fatigue in her eyes. "You're always welcome here, Petra."

He offers to give up his bed for the night but she declines, saying that she'll be fine on the couch. She's unnaturally quiet, but he knows that this is how she typically is after expeditions.

They're both on the couch right now and she snuggles closer to him. Levi motions for her to lay her head on his lap, their boundaries thinning with every single visit.

He's quiet when he sees the tears start to fall from her eyes. Soon, Petra's sobbing and she wraps her arms desperately around him. His hand starts to slowly run through her ginger locks, hoping it gives her some comfort.

"She was the last in my and Oluo's batch." She starts, voice shaking and he gives her space to talk and mourn her comrade. "I wanted to save her... but it was either her or compromise the mission. I had to give the order."

"I'm sorry." Because if someone understands her better, it's him.

- - -

"Levi?"

It's the scout's day off today and they're all allowed to leave the vicinity to visit friends and family, or simply just to fuck around if they wanted.

Petra, not surprisingly, decides to spend another weekend with him.

"Hmm?" He's currently preparing their lunch, wheeling himself around the kitchen area.

"Did you ever think about settling down when you were still in the scouts?"

He cocks an eyebrow at her question. "And leave a widow crying on my grave? I didn't even have the time to date, Petra."

And he didn't even want to date someone else. Not when he kept having wet dreams about his own subordinate at that time.

"Well, you have a chance now, right?" Petra starts to help with laying down the dishes on the table. He looks at her, eyes taking in her body language. She's doing that thing with her hands again where she tries to occupy it with things to do whenever she's nervous. She's too tense for this to be some absent chatter.

"Just spit it out, Petra."

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm always here. In this apartment. Whether I'm back from training or meetings or expeditions," she starts. Levi wheels himself forward to grab their food from the small kitchen but he attentively listens to each of her words. Seeing that he won't be replying, Petra decides to continue.

"I like coming home to you, Levi. And I'm still devoted to you." Petra nervously says, the redness on her cheeks intensifying. Levi feels his heart thump at her last sentence. He stops what he's doing and looks straight into her amber eyes, the same moment as she reaches out to delicately hold both of his hands. "I'd like to continue doing so... if you'll have me in another way."

Bold as ever is the first thing that fondly came to his mind. He feels emotion start to climb up his throat but he never wavers in staring back at her. The next thing that came to mind wasn't exactly a thought, and the answer leaves his mouth with a certainty he didn't know he had.

"Okay," he quietly replies. Not much of a talker, as usual. Still, his sure answer was quite a surprise to the both of them.

Was it loneliness? That fear that he'd most likely die alone because of his automatic ability to push people away? Maybe it's some deep hidden desire to live a domestic life with someone—something that he allowed himself to fleetingly dream of while he was still in that underground hellhole—that he has since accepted wouldn't be in his future.

Until now.

He and Petra decided to have a shotgun wedding that same afternoon.

#rivetra #rivetra fic #rivetra fanfic #levi ackerman #petra ral #rivapeto #levitra #shingeki no kyojin #aot levi #aot petra

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anya-grace · 3 years

Text

random rivetra actors au that i typed at 2am because my brain said so...

i know i said that i’m writing a rivetra fic but let’s pretrnd that didn’t happened so here’s some random rivetra actors au headcanons instead (thst no asked for but i’m still posting anyway) and it’s going to be looooooooooioong

actor!Levi headcanons:

- Levi came from a family of actors and big figures in the show business. Kenny is his real-life uncle and the young woman who played Kuchel in the show is actually Kenny’s eldest daughter.

- His first role ever is “Young Kenny”. When his uncle had an offer to play as an action star, it was hard for the staff to find a child actor who could play as young Kenny, the issue being “their eyes weren’t as sharp and piercing as Kenny’s”.

- But then little Levi visit Kenny on the set and the director saw him and just “HE IS THE ONE”.

- He didn’t act again after that and it was only when he’s fifteen that he started having a genuine interest in acting.

- His roles were mostly these cold-type characters, bad boy, thug, and leaning more on action genre. (Probably because of his looks)

- Levi won as the Best Actor when he was just seventeen. There was a particular scene in one of the first movies that he played as the lead. It was a heart-wrenching scene where he cried for the first time on-screen. The crowd is mesmerized by his eyes and his emotions. He is a natural.

- He has a lot of on-screen kisses though because he has a lot of roles as a bad boy/ chick boy. (And he was voted first as the “Actors that I want to kiss on-screen and off-screen).

- The real Levi is also very kind. He treats the crew every time they finished shooting a whole project. He is also active in charity works especially those for children. WE REALLY HAVE TO STAN.

- Contrary to popular belief, he isn’t the suave and bad boy character he always portrays in his roles. He never had a girlfriend before (at least from what the media outlet knows).

- He has more friends from the people behind the camera rather than actual celebrities.

- Levi is that celebrity whom you will rate 10/10 if you ever work as a waiter and had a chance to serve him. He gives big tips and is very kind to the staff.

actress!Petra headcanons:

- Petra’s childhood crush is Kenny in his younger years. She saw Kenny in this action movie when she was maybe 5 or 6 and she thought that he was so cool with his guns and stunts.

- That Kenny movie is the same movie where Levi first acted as child Kenny.

- Petra didn’t notice him though (Poor Levi).

- She wasn’t the movie type of actress; she is more on theatrical plays and opera. Petra also did ballet for fifteen years which is one of the factors why she is the best choice for her role (the team needed someone who can master the ODM gear at such a small amount of time after the og Petra actress backed out due to pregnancy).

- Since Levi is a big name in the industry, Petra already knew him (or at least heard of him) even before she got cast for her role.

- Petra thinks that Levi looks exactly the same as Kenny in his younger years. Although Levi didn’t have the tall build of his uncle, they both have these ‘camera-piercing eyes’.

- She thinks Levi’s eyes are more beautiful though.

- Speaking of Kenny, she was disappointed when she found out that he is cast for the third season of AoT and she missed the chance of working with him.

- Petra is also active in charity works and if she’s not rehearsing for a show, she volunteers in animal welfare groups.

- She also fosters cats and dogs.

- As a theater actress, she is gifted with a good voice, but she never considered being a full-time musician. Her passion is really for acting and performing on stage.

- Petra’s character song for the show was personally sung by her.

rivetra actors headcanons:

- Levi is one of the first ones to be cast for the show (along with Mikasa and Armin). Meanwhile, Petra is actually the second choice for her role because the original actress turned out to be preggy and obv, can’t do training for ODM gear as part of the preparation for the role.

- Despite the sudden change, Petra immediately clicked with the rest of the casts.

- The two of them first met five months before the actual shooting of the show. It was on the casts’ exclusive training grounds for ODM gear. Although Petra is cast two months late compared to the rest of the casts, she learned the concept of ODM immediately after two months (her experience as a ballet dancer helped her so much).

- They were pretty cool and casual around each other, although Pet admittedly blushes from time to time because Levi is literally the carbon copy of her ultimate childhood crush.

- The first scene they shoot together is the part where Eren accidentally transformed into a titan in the middle of the field. (Yeah, that part where Pet is talking to Levi while the others have their peaceful afternoon tea.)

- Levi’s surprised face in that explosion is authentic. It was not scripted. The director asked Petra to do an adlib, mainly because their conversation isn’t heard anyways. Plus the director thinks it would be funny.

- Petra isn’t really sure what to say so she just said a spur-of-the-moment thought.

- “I actually have a crush on your Uncle Kenny, Captain.”

- Which explains the genuine shock on Levi’s face.

- It was safe to say that things were a bit awkward after that.

- Then the rest of the casts started teasing them because the “adlib” sort of became an exclusive secret between them. Both don’t want the other casts to know what the Petra’s “adlib” is, mainly because Levi finds it, err, weird, I guess? And for Petra, it is embarrassing.

- It was Levi who messaged Petra first. (How he got her number? Petra doesn’t have an idea).

- Two days after that “adlib” incident, Levi invited Petra to his home. Levi arranged for Petra to meet Kenny, (not for a weird reason though, he just wants Petra to meet one of her idols), but something came up, so they just spent the day together instead.

- They even took a picture together.

- And they totally have a crush on each other at this point.

- The teasing of the casts became out of hand a week later because…

- It was lunch break and Petra is trying to find her corps jacket when she picked up one on the floor. Coincidentally, Levi also picked up the same jacket, and COINCIDENTALLY, the music director is checking on new OST’s and “Call Your Name” is playing on the background.

- It was like a scene from a romance movie lol.

- Hange took a picture of them. Send it to the casts’ GC and they became the official unofficial couple in the set.

- Which also explains why the scene with Petra, Eren, and Levi cleaning the castle took almost thirty takes because Eren kept laughing and blushing whenever he sees the two.

- Armin apparently saw Levi’s home screen wallpaper once and it was his and Petra’s picture together. It sparked more teasing from the casts.

- Eld, Gunther, and Oluo are the biggest tease. They sing “Call Your Name” to Levi and Petra whenever they have the chance.

- “She lost her jacket months ago, their picture on his phone, and it reminds me…”

- Great. Just great. They even changed the lyrics to tease them more.

- Once, they shared a room when the casts moved from one set to another. What happens inside, nobody knows.

- It was weird for Levi to see Petra’s dead appearance. It took them many takes to shoot the part where Levi found Petra’s body scene because Levi always becomes too teary-eyed. And his character wasn’t supposed to cry at that scene.

- He was sniffing when they finished shooting that scene. He just can’t bear the idea of Petra dying…

- *cue more teasing from the casts*

- When the special-ops squad finished shooting all of their scenes, there was this mini goodbye-party for the four of them. Levi gave Petra a bouquet of orange roses.

- *cue more and more teasing from the casts*

- Pet stays in-touch even after she’s done with all her shoots. Especially with Levi.

- After season one ended, there was an after-party to celebrate the success of the show. Levi and Pet came together (not as a couple, because they say so, but the other casts knew better lol).

- The teasing died down a bit because they knew that the two are already “together”. Although they insist on being friends, they were always in each other’s story on IG (only on the close friends feature of course).

- In between the long wait for season two, Levi took acting projects, one of them being an action-romance movie. In one of his movie promotion interviews, one of the reporters asked if he is currently in a relationship.

- He answered by saying, "I am seeing a special person right now."

- It was the headline of many showbiz articles for almost a month.

- Levi and Pet are good at hiding their blooming relationship. They value their privacy and besides, they weren't a couple. Yet.

- Before AoT season two, they are officially a couple. It just happened.

- Even if he's busy in shoots, Levi made it a point to call Petra every single day. He loves her voice and sometimes he falls asleep on breaks with Petra singing on the other side of the phone.

- Sometime during the air of AoT season two, a photo of them holding hands circulated on the internet.

- Fans have mixed reactions toward this (most of them being Levi's fans). Hange, Erwin, Eld, Oluo, Gunther, and Nifa are quick to show their support to Levi and Pet when they made their relationship public.

#what a long ass post #rivetra actors au #rivetra headcanon #rivetra #levi x petra #levi ackerman #petra ral #i am supposed to study for my law recitation but screw that #you can send me ask if you have question abt this headcanon #eld jin #Gunther Schultz #Oluo Bossard #special ops squad

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heybeybey · 3 years

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Hey there! I just read your newest story, your heart on the line, and even though I avoid nsfw like the plague, I read and loved it so much, it was so beautiful, i legit cried! If you are taking requests, could you write something short with slow dancing rivetra (no nsfw)? Slow dancing fics are my weakness. Once again, great job on your last work!

Helloooooo I'm so sorry this took a week! I'm glad you liked ‘and it was your heart on the line’. That means so much to me and I'm glad I made you cry 🧡 Anyway, I decided to also use this prompt for this Mother's Day. Hope that's alright and thanks for sending this over!

I was also listening to pov by Ariana Grande. I think this fits Levi's feelings for Petra so much.

I wanna trust me The way that you trust me Ooh, 'cause nobody ever loved me like you do I'd love to see me from your point of view

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to Petra because she did act as the mother to her team lol

Words: 1,307

Genre: Romance, Fluff

Rating: G

Canonverse, set around 7 to 8 years after the rumbling. Other than the slow dancing, this fic also features wheelchair Levi because I love him so much + a 6-year-old Ackerbaby.

When Izzy asked her father what their plans are for Mother's Day, Petra said that she'd be happy with just staying home and ordering something for the three of them. While they did have enough money to splurge once in awhile, their modest income from the tea shop she and Levi established four years after they left the military was only enough to support the basics.

It's been three years since they opened the store's doors and while the tea shop has been picking up, they still have to take into consideration their future savings for Izzy's university tuition years from now. Not to mention that they were trying for another child.

So, of course, Petra insists that she would be alright if they had a simple celebration instead.

But Levi, who has the tendency to dote on his family and often insists that they get the best of the best, took them to an establishment that's situated in the city's more upscale neighborhood. He said that there's a restaurant there with live music, and it passes his standards of cleanliness so he's sure that Izzy won't catch something.

And while he hates these kinds of establishments and would prefer if they just drink tea—

"Like an old man," Izzy huffs at his initial suggestion, way too blunt for her own good and not hesitating to call out her father on his tendency to be boring.

—both Petra and his daughter loved singing and dancing around their house that he thinks it doesn't really make much of a difference. He'd already resigned to his fate but hell, it's Mother's Day. Petra's excitement when he mentioned what they'll be doing for the day was more than enough to make up for the next few (probably chaotic) hours.

And now here they are, enjoying the last few plates of their dinner while Izzy bounces around along with the upbeat songs played by the band.

"Oi, don't stray too far." Levi scolds his daughter. Petra was quick to pull Izzy back so that she'll stay next to their table, while still being able to enjoy the music.

The band eventually shifted to a slower tune, urging couples in the room to grab their partners.

"I miss slow dancing," Petra fondly says. "Remember those balls we had to go to Levi? You hated those so much."

"Tch, yeah. Those parties were just a fancy way for the Survey Corps to beg for funds," Levi notes. "But I bet you and the three idiots loved getting dragged to those events."

"Who would've thought Gunther would be great on the dance floor," she laughs at the memory.

Their 6-year-old tugs on Levi's sleeve eagerly, eyes looking between Levi and the dancing couples. "Papa, dance with mama!"

Petra pats her daughter on the head. "That would be nice Izzy, but your father-"

"Sure."

Petra's brows shot up at that. She and Levi rarely danced. In fact, the only time they were even at a dance floor together was back when he had to save her from a creep of a noble who won't stop hitting on her.

"Are you sure Levi? You said your knee hurts if you stand for too long." Petra takes his hand, thumb grazing his. "We can just sit here and watch."

"It's the least I could do for the mother of my child," Levi says, shrugging. Deep down, he's already dreading the fact that he has to dance in public. But again, this is Petra's day. She'd always strived to make him happy and he'd want to do the same for her.

A corner of his lips tugs up slightly as his own unique way of smiling for her. He then places all his weight on his arms to push himself up using the arm rests, grabbing one crutch to support himself. Petra stands with him, ready to assist in case he needs her while Izzy claps in excitement.

"If you're sure..." Petra says, face starting to light up with a stupid smile. She starts to lead him to the dance floor with Izzy in tow, used to following her parents around whenever her father needs to stand and her mother needs her help in supporting her dad.

When they've found a spot not too far off where his wheelchair is, Petra directs her husband to put both his hands on her shoulders, grateful that they were almost the same height, while she wraps her arms up his back so that Petra would be the one supporting most of both of their weight together. They fumbled around awkwardly at first, especially since their form was different from the other couples around them. When they're both sure that Levi won't fall over, Petra takes the crutch from him and hands it over to Izzy, while the little girl enthusiastically takes it to watch her parents dance.

The band plays a slower song, same as the previous track. The mellow tune and heartfelt lyrics carries throughout the room and Levi can see how the couples all fall into step with the rhythm. He suddenly feels a little self-conscious, a bit bitter that he can't be the one guiding Petra on the dance floor. However, he softens at her smiling face, knowing that such a thought wouldn't even cross her mind. She did marry a retired soldier who now can't even stand properly and giggled the whole night after he proposed, despite people saying that she could've enjoyed her younger years with someone else.

What a peculiar woman.

They start to sway to the music, a little bit more sure with each step they took, and looking more like they're just hugging and rocking from side to side. He eventually leans his forehead down to press it against Petra's and he breathes in her vanilla perfume.

"Oi, Petra." Levi whispers. "Thank you."

Petra hums, eyes closed as she takes in this soft moment between her and her husband.

"What for?"

"For this. For sticking with me 'til the shitty end." Levi coughs as a way to cover his awkwardness. "For Izzy."

She opens her eyes at his words, eyes and heart melting at the fact that Levi was pushing himself to express his feelings vocally. Petra allows him to continue, knowing that he might shut up if she started talking.

"I never expected a family," Levi continues, voice starting to stutter and eyes starting to shift away from hers. "But I'm... grateful that I got the chance and that it's with you. Uhm... Happy Mother's Day, I guess?"

Petra starts to tear up, tilting her head slightly up to give him a kiss on the tip of his nose.

"Levi, I wasn't kidding when I said that I wanted to devote myself to you." She only gets a soft kiss from Levi in return with that statement. Petra smiles against his lips, cupping his cheek while still making sure she's supporting his side with the injured leg.

They eventually slow their swaying to a stop once the band starts playing a faster song, Izzy popping up once again next to their side and asking her parents to dance with her. Levi, whose knee was starting to ache at the time he had to stand and even dance, had to sit back down. He still urges Petra and their energetic daughter to enjoy the night.

He watches from his wheelchair as the two most special girls in his life light up on the dance floor, Petra spinning Izzy around in her arms as their daughter giggles out loud.

#rivetra #levi x petra #ackerbaby #rivetra baby #petra x levi #rivapet #mother's day fic #rivapeto

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capitainelevi · 3 years

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21 + a wittle rivetra??? 🥺🥺🥺

Thank you for your ask!! ❤️❤️ Drabble challenge: Followers send a number to your ask and you write a drabble using that sentence/prompt in your piece.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Hello!! Since I already did 21, I chose another one, I hope that`s alright!!

This is the first chapter of a fic I was planning to write and dropped, but I hope you`ll enjoy it as a one-shot!

Come what may

After her squad gave her a second chance at life, Petra made her decision: she would follow Levi until her last day.

Canon universe.

Word count: 2404

She killed them.

Gunther.

Eld.

Oluo.

Her squad.

Her family.

They were dead, and Petra did not understand why she was not. Maybe it was her way of tormenting her by leaving her alive, knowing the images of their mangled corpses would not leave her until the day she closed her eyes for good. She and the Female Titan stared at each other, and Petra dropped her blades to the ground. A roar from Eren`s transformation shook the forest, but Petra was unmoved. It got Annie`s attention as she moved away from Petra, determined to return and put an end to it once her mission was over. A mercy killing in her eyes.

Levi passed the tomb of his squad with grief painted on his face. He let them down. No regrets, Levi kept telling himself, and yet, Levi knew they would haunt his sleepless nights from that day on. He had been too late.

Gunther, the first member Levi recruited on his team. Their quiet nature made it so they always found solace in each other`s presence. Eld, always cheerful and ready to give someone a hand. Despite being complete opposites, he and Gunther had been childhood friends. Levi could just hope that wherever their souls went, they still got to be together. Loud Oluo, always ready to play the hero. The most skillful soldier Levi ever trained, but equally annoying. His obsession with always trying to imitate Levi always left him cold. And her. As much as he hated to admit it, his favorite subordinate. Skilled, kind, clean, cheerful, beautiful Petra. Levi closed his eyes, unprepared to have her mangled corpse in front of his eyes.

When he opened them again, Levi could have almost cried with relief. Petra was full of cuts and blood, but that was not the cause of Levi`s worry. It was the eyes. Her eyes were dead. Levi knew that look too well, as he was met with that image when he took a glimpse in the mirror on the day he realized his mother would not wake up again.

Levi landed next to her, but Petra paid his presence no mind. He sheathed his swords, worried about the reaction the girl could have at his sight, and he took her face in his hands, treating her as if she were a porcelain doll he was scared of breaking.

"Petra?"

But his words went unanswered. Petra did not even give him a glimpse. She was paralyzed with fear. She did not even flinch when Levi shook her by the shoulders.

"Ral, we have to go."

Her sight was fixated ahead of her, on the spot where the Female Titan used to be. Petra could not even feel her limbs anymore. She could not think. The only image in front of her eyes was of those big, blue, dead eyes.

"Ral!"

Levi shook her harder, and Petra flinched at the sudden intrusion. Her eyes focused on the warm liquid dripping down on her legs.

"Oh."

Levi took his cloak and wrapped it around her waist. Not that he cared what other people would think of Petra for soiling herself, but he attempted to make her as comfortable as he could. Seeing her in this state, Levi knew there were no chances of her continuing the mission. He wanted to yell in frustration, hit the tree with his bare knuckles over and over again until he drew blood. But the mission had to be completed. He had to save Eren. Or all the lives sacrificed would have all been in vain.

He took Petra in his arms, and her lack of reaction to it did not go unnoticed on his side. Levi felt like he was carrying a lifeless body in his arms, a doll, and he hoped it would not be her faith. No, he would make sure that she would not be lost.

Levi laid her down against a tree trunk- "I need to go, and I need you to wait for me here until I come back for you. I`ll take care of it."

Levi saw her face twist in fear as she grabbed his wrist painfully tight to keep him on the spot. He took her hand in his and rubbed her soft skin. He was close to breaking down alongside her, with anger and pain. But he cleared his mind and tried to find the best way to calm down his subordinate.

"You`re safe, I promise. Do you trust me?"

Petra nodded, and Levi shot his hooks in the tree trunk without taking another look behind him. He knew that another glance at her and he would make it a priority getting her to the medical cart. But he had wasted enough time already.

That bitch needed to pay. Levi poured all of his anger into his blades. He cut harder than he knew himself possible of doing. A slice for Gunther. One for Eld. One for Oluo. And another one for Petra. Over and over again. He would have cut her until there was not a piece of flesh left on her if that brat would have listened to him and stayed back.

Levi put Eren in Mikasa`s arms, and while his leg hurt like a bitch, he did not want to delay getting to Petra for one moment longer.

"He`s fine. Take him to the medical cart, and tell them to prepare themselves for my subordinate. And to come to meet me with three stretchers for the bodies."

Mikasa nodded, and Levi watched over her until she disappeared from his line of vision, making sure she was not being followed. Using his ODM with a broken ankle was excruciating, but he had been away for too long. Levi found her in the same position he left her in. Petra flinched when he heard him approach, and he grabbed her shoulders. The gesture calmed her down slightly, but Levi could still notice the terror in her eyes. His heart broke at the sight of her.

Using the ODM gear by himself was dangerous. With her in his arms, it was an impossible task. Levi took Petra up in his arms and started making his way back to the camp slowly. His leg was killing him, but he tried to pay it no mind, focusing on the girl in his arms instead. Watching her chest rise and fall softly, he assured himself that she was still alive in his arms. It did not take long until a couple of recruits noticed them and hurried to help them.

Levi passed Petra to one of the recruits while he struggled to get on his horse. One of Eren`s friends, Jean, if he could remember correctly. The young man`s face fell when he noted the state Petra was in. Over the weeks, she had gotten close to the brats, winning them over on the spot with her baking skills. Levi had to make sure to shoo away daily intruders from his kitchen, and by the end of the first week, they had all learned how skilled Levi was with a broom and not just at sweeping the floors. He called Petra into his office to ban baking, and he found a plate of freshly baked cookies on his desk the next morning- "For Cpt. L,", with a small heart drawn next to his name.

Levi signaled for Jean to give Petra back to him, but he hesitated- "You`re hurt, sir. I can help you take her back."

"Tsk, I can handle it. I need you to retrieve the rest of my squad. And make sure you don`t do a shitty job with wrapping them."

Jean nodded, not willing to disobey a direct order from a commanding officer. He helped Levi take Petra back into his arms, giving one last glance at the woman before joining Connie and Armin to take care of the men he looked up to no more than a day ago.

Petra put her head on Levi`s chest and closed her eyes, soothed by the sound of his heartbeat. She was still in shock, not grasping the full extent of that day`s events. Levi`s arms around her trembling form gave her a sense of safety, that maybe the Female Titan would not return to look for her.

"Levi! Petra!"

A loud yell pulled Petra out of her trance, and she almost fell off of Levi`s horse in her sudden panic. Levi pulled her back up and held onto her closer, trying to calm her down once again.

"Shitty glasses, the fuck were you thinking?"

Hange and Erwin came to join them and helped the hurt soldiers get off the horse. At the contact with the ground, his ankle almost gave up on him, and it did not go unnoticed by Erwin.

"You`re hurt."

Levi tried to brush it off. His injury was not a priority now, but getting Petra checked out by a doctor was.

"It`s fine. I need to get Petra to a medical cart."

"Did your squad-"

Levi shook his head, not wanting the conversation to go on in front of the girl. Hange got busy checking up on her, examining her pupils, and looking for any serious wounds.

"She seems fine, Levi. Just in shock. But you should still take her."

When he tried to get Petra from Erwin`s arms, he just shook his head- "I can carry her. You need to ease up the pressure on your ankle."

Levi was beginning to get annoyed with people assuming he was not in a position to care for his subordinate. It just twisted the knife in the wound to be reminded that indeed, he was not able to do so.

They laid Petra down on one of the carts and called over one of the doctors. Levi gripped the young man by his collar- "Oi, make sure you take good care of her. If you don`t wash her wounds properly and she gets an infection, I`m coming after you."

The doctor`s eyes widened in fear, and he just nodded fervently at Levi`s request. Erwin intervened, pulling Levi away from the man- "I`m sure they can handle it, Levi. Come with me."

Levi was walking away by Erwin`s side when he turned around abruptly- "And find her some spare pants."

"Your squad. That`s unfortunate. We will make sure they did not give their hearts in vain."

Levi just nodded and chose to stay quiet while Erwin laid out his theories and plans to him. His sight kept drifting to the medical cart, and his feet ached with the yearn to make his way back to her. A sudden question pulled Levi out of his thoughts- "Will she be alright?"

"I don`t know."

Levi had no answer to that question. But he knew he would do anything in his power to help her. It was his responsibility to take care of her now. Levi only left the side of the medical cart once and prayed that Petra did not see him give the order to throw their bodies off the cart.

On their way through the crowds, Levi barely acknowledged the roar of discontentment threatening to swallow them whole. The ungratefulness of those people, their belittling of the young dreamers who dared to sacrifice their lives in hope of a better future, always left Levi cold.

That night, Levi scrubbed his hands until he drew blood, trying to get the stains that were long gone out of his skin. He would never clean it. Their blood. With the image of their bodies floating in his vision, Levi failed to notice her presence in the room. He felt a pair of soft hands on him and he raised his eyes to her.

Petra`s hair was disheveled, her clothes were wrinkled, and her eyes were red and puffy from all the tears she shed. But she still tried to give a sad smile to him.

"That`s enough, captain."- Petra told him as she turned the water off. She took the towel from the counter and cleaned his wounds, but Levi did not miss the slight flinch she gave when she noticed her hands had gotten bloody as well.

Petra dropped the towel on the ground and sat down at the empty dinner table. Levi opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him before he could get a word out.

"We have to keep going. For them." Petra swallowed, aware of the lump constantly present in her throat. "We can`t allow their deaths to have been in vain."

Levi could only nod at her words.

Petra whispered so softly that he barely noticed it- "I don`t want to be alone tonight."

Levi did not have to give a second thought before giving his answer- "Me neither." It was the last thing he wanted. He had no one by his side to help him grieve when he lost Isabel and Farlan. He needed Petra.

He sat down next to her, and he could feel Petra`s hands around his, and he squeezed them back. He wished he knew how he could take some of her pain on his shoulders. He wondered if it would be inappropriate to embrace her again.

His train of thoughts was interrupted before he could muster the courage- "I trust you with my life, captain."

But Levi had no answer to her promise. He felt like he was not worthy of her devotion. Not after that day.

"I want to devote my life to you." Levi did not see any hesitation in Petra`s eyes, and it fascinated and scared him all the same. They stared into each other`s eyes for what felt like hours until Petra broke the spell, getting up abruptly to prepare tea for the two of them.

When Petra opened the cupboard, Levi could sense the storm coming when he noticed her getting five cups ready. He was on the verge of making his way to her when he heard Petra whisper to herself- "Just two cups... there will never be five cups again."

They drank their tea in silence, in the room both too empty and filled with the squad`s presence at the same time.

ao3

#sorry for the angst #rivetra #petra ral #rivetra fanficttion #rivetra fanfic #my writing

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sleeperswakewriting · 3 years

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i just thought of a new prompt omg rivetra skating partners au??? IMAGINE THE SEXUAL TENSION??? THE SLOWBURN FROM BEING SKATING PARTNERS TO FRIENDS TO LOVERS 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

saw this tweet and imagined them sm: https://twitter.com/oyimpian/status/1383173356774699012?s=21

Omg anon, thank you for showing me this. I have 0 knowledge about figure skating but I do love watching it! I was totally listening to the Yuri on Ice soundtrack writing this. I don’t think I would be the best person to write a full fic, but I hope this 2k ficlet works! Routine and outfits based on this performance!

They had kissed more times than she could count. It had always been the same in their five years of working together--orchestrated, chaste, but just enough acting to dazzle the crowd and judges.

And tonight would be their last.

Petra tightened the laces of her figure skates, making sure not to snag the nylon of her stockings from her freshly manicured nails. She checked herself in the mirror; ginger hair locked neatly into a bun for the maneuvers they would be pulling off later, and her deep red velvet dress twirled around her hips. It was one of the most daring outfits she had ever performed in, with the back almost completely exposed and and the front neck cut a deep v-neck with the mesh layer.

She took a deep breath as memories washed over her, wondering where the time had gone. It had only seemed like just yesterday when Petra met her grumpy skating partner, Levi, and she had wanted to knock him off the ice from their initial meeting to his brash attitude. However, they performed the tryouts at their coaches’ requests, and not only were they physically compatible, she had latched on to his crude sense of humor and found his company enjoyable.

Sure, it took them awhile, he would frequently get irritated at her when she would lose her footing or not stick a landing, and she would throw him a few choice words whenever he dropped her, which wasn’t often, but the minute his hands slipped and she came crashing down, tempers flared. They were both good at what they did, they were hand selected by the top coaches in their country, and with talent, came ego.

Unsurprisingly, their common work ethic served as a guidepost for their mutual partnership over the course of the five years they had been working together. Petra was relatively newer to the competitive figure skating scene, only doing some solo competitions but felt that she could accomplish more with a partner. Levi was in a similar boat, about to retire since he had gotten bored, but when his coach Erwin suggested a partner he said, why not?

Except it had been disastrous, with Levi mouthing off to each of his partners, and not to mention that they all commented on his height. It wasn’t a huge sore spot because he had been used to it, but the fact of the matter was, no woman wanted to be lifted by a man who was 5 inches shorter than her, so he resigned himself to retiring until Erwin suggested that he meet up with Petra Ral, a new, but talented skater who was 8 years his junior.

Not only was she shorter than him, but they were able to move in time with one another and were able to wordlessly read each other’s movements. It was an intimate type of connection, one that their mutual partners over the years had questioned time and time again, but they both reassured their partners and more importantly, themselves, that their feelings were completely platonic.

Or so had Petra thought until Levi told her that after this year, he would be retiring. He was getting older and he was looking at other career prospects, like possibly coaching, but valued their companionship over the years. He said the words with such a precise staccato that Petra even wondered if he cared at all since he took her out to dinner after practice to tell her.

It was then that her heart broke. She assumed it was just from losing her skating partner, that was a common occurrence in their field, but as the day of their last competition grew closer, Petra knew it was something more.

The way his hands pressed into her waist was no longer a section of choreography, but a gesture that made her heart flutter. His concentrated stormy look when they breathed in time with one another, preparing to execute a synchronized dance, was now filled with an electricity when their blades scraped their ice.

This routine in particular was special; it was from Moulin Rouge, one of her favorite movies and the first part of the routine was sensual and filled with lust. They had spent hours upon hours perfecting each and every single lift, and they had barely any time to see family and friends from the hours they put into their routine. Truth be told, they spent the most time with each other, and the action of hanging out after work wasn’t even strange, it was expected, as they alternated who picked the restaurant for the night.

There was a knock at the door, and Petra shouted, “Come in!” as she already knew who it was from the three steady raps.

Levi entered, looking handsome in his simple black outfit to compliment her own. He took her in and nodded appreciatively as the weight of the next hour hung heavy over them.

“You ready?” He asked, hand outstretched.

Petra smiled, used to the familiar words and routine they had as she took his hand and he led them out for their warm up lap around the rink with the other couples.

They had their routine down pat--they always kept their gazes locked on each other during warmups, not wanting to let the other couples distract them. Hands danced across each other’s bodies as muscle memory took over, going over their routine in bits and pieces and letting themselves become reacclimated to the ice for the day. Petra had often thought that she was becoming more used to skating than walking for the amount of time she spent dancing with Levi, and she flexed her back as they spun in time, hands locked onto each other.

Feeling satisfied with their warm up, they exited hand in hand to the waiting room as they were the third couple to go. It wasn’t unusual for them to be physically close during competitions, Petra was always nervous as hell, and even though Levi had a cool and fixated composure, competition day nerves also stirred inside him. Better to face them with each other, and they sat on the bench, looking absently at the TV as the announcer gave their routine opening speech.

Petra bit the corner of her lip. “Levi, I know we’ll have time for this later, but I wanted to let you know how much your partnership has meant to me over these last five years. I almost want to retire since you won’t be with me anymore,” she laughed airly, but fell silent at his narrowed gaze.

“Don’t do that, you have a whole future ahead of you,” he said in a clipped voice, eyes fixated on the television. He squeezed her hand a bit tighter as he diverted his expression to the floor. “But the same goes for you, Petra. I’ll miss you a lot.”

She nodded, feeling more reassured by his words as she moved to lean her head against his shoulder as they watched the other couples perform. They didn’t say a lot, usually keeping their opinions for post-competition hang outs and replays, but Petra didn’t know if there would be any of those anymore.

“Do you think the other couples are like us? I feel like we’re so in tune, like we get each other. Like them,” she said nodding to the current pair, “You can tell they don’t trust each other from the way her muscles are so stiff during her lifts.”

“There’s no one else like us,” Levi replied simply, raising himself from the bench to do a few stretches. Petra did the same and admired the way lean body looked in his current outfit, back sinewy and his hair gelled perfectly into place.

The speaker announced them, and Petra’s heart wrenched that that would be the last time she would hear Levi Ackerman and Petra Ral and as they moved onto the ice, holding hands, eyes locking. Petra took a deep breath, and all was lost as soon as the music started.

The routine started with her straddling him from behind, and she effortlessly jumped as he took her, arms locked at her thighs and hers around his neck. He lifted her as they danced, and she twirled, eyes fixated on him as her center as it always was. Then came the synchronized dancing and Levi’s hands were at her bare waist, hands hot and precise as they spared no moment in moving and darting between them. He lifted her again, and their foreheads touched while they circled around the rink, not caring for anyone but each other.

That was Petra’s favorite part about the way they skated together--nothing else in the world mattered besides them. She could drown out the crowd with him by her side, it was just the music, the ice, and them, moving and breathing in time. He held her from under her legs, the action sending a pleasurable shiver throughout her body despite being touched there by him thousands of times, and as she descended they locked eyes as they prepared for their next big moment.

They let go, red and black speeding and twirling around each other but not quite touching. As the music reached its crescendo, Petra leapt into the air as Levi caught her from around the waist, and they spun as each other's center of gravity. Legs wrapping around his, she straddled his waist as they leaned into each other and kissed as the music went softer and moved to a more sensual rhythm. Her hand laced through his hair, feeling his fresh undercut and inhaled his musk and their lips moved against one another, sending ripples of pleasure between them.

Breaths heavy, they released their lips as the crowd went wild, and Petra unhooked her legs as Levi took her hand and they moved in time, parallel to each other. Her heart beat fast as Levi’s lips still hung against her own, the kiss much more passionate than in their practice kisses or former routines, but tried to push it from her mind as the finale was coming up.

The music built and ended as they both stuck their landings and bowed as the crowd cheered. Petra was crying, just realizing the magnitude of their last competition as she saw her face on the large screen and Levi sped over to her, taking her hand, his eyes also filled with moisture as he kissed her cheek and led them away to watch for their scores.

It always took a few minutes for the judges to get the scores together, and before Petra could say anything, Levi moved her against their locker and pulled her in for a searing kiss. Legs weak from their routine and the adrenaline, her knees wobbled and he caught her, hands at her waist as he brushed his tongue against hers, deepening the kiss as she returned it with fervor.

Breaths heavy, Levi pressed his forehead to hers. “I’m not imagining things, right? This kiss was different.”

Petra smiled between tears as she nodded, threading her fingers through his hair as she continued kissing him the way she had wanted to for the past five years.

“Hey guys, what are you doing? They’re just about to announce the scores--” Erwin walked in and smirked at the partners as they held each other, but broke apart as they heard Erwin’s voice.

Both blushing from being caught, Levi held Petra’s waist as he guided them back outside, neither caring too much about their scores since they both had won the biggest prize that night.

#rivetra #Levi x petra #petra x levi #petra ral #ask prompt #my fics

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