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Contiguous
—used to describe things that touch each other; touch, contact
Levi doesn't know when he becomes part of a proper noun instead of his own, but he likes the way people say Levi and Petra, or Petra and Levi. It meshes so well together in a way he never thought he'd be able to appreciate but, surprisingly enough, he loves being part of Levi and Petra, or Petra and Levi. He knows it's mostly thanks to Petra. It's almost unsettling how well he gets used to it.
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It was completely random. They were off to meet Petra's parents for the first time and although they had already heard a lot about Levi and were fully aware the two were dating, Petra was still a nervous wreck.
It was that moment in between dressing up, fixing her hair and straightening her dress that the words slipped out of her mouth— easy and smooth— without hesitation or second thought. "Do you think they'll like us?"
It was the way she asked. It wasn't do you think they'll like you because Petra was their daughter, they would obviously like her, regardless. Instead though, she'd said, do you think they'll like us— us— as if it was a package and you couldn't have one without the other. It was the first time Levi had truly understand what people meant when they said that couples were two halves to a whole.
xxx
Their friend Auruo usually speaks too much and too fast for his own good. Levi can't even begin to count the number of times they'd had to bring him to the emergency room for almost biting his tongue off. Most days, Levi is the most annoyed with their friend, despite Petra listening intently to everything Auruo has to say.
It isn't that Levi doesn't like him— he does. Levi just has no patience for idle babble. It irks him and irritates him to no end, so when Auruo introduces them to his friends, he starts to tune him out the way he always does, when his focus is suddenly caught in a singular moment.
"So I'd like you to meet my friends— this is Petra and Levi. We've known each other since the first year of college—" he prattles on and Levi swears he says it all in one breath. His words are so fast that they practically mesh together, but for once, Levi kind of likes it.
Petra and Levi. Petra-and-Levi. PetraandLevi. Petra'ndLevi. Say it fast enough and it had become almost one word. Somehow, Levi found he liked being Petra'ndLevi. He liked having Petra's name so close to his, he could practically touch her. So close that no one even had to say they were a couple. You could already tell by the way they said Petra'ndLevi.
xxx
When Isabel and Farlan's death anniversaries come up, they don't get out of bed. Levi doesn't know if Petra has class, but he doesn't bother to ask. She doesn't know if he wants her company right now, but she doesn't bother to ask either.
At 8am, between the sheets, the stillness and the grief, it wasn't the time for questions or doubts. Levi turns away from Petra, his naked back facing her and she just turns on her side, facing him and wraps her arms around his torso. There was only room for reassurances, and as Petra breathed— inhaling and exhaling— the rise and fall of her chest, pushing against his back, he could feel it. It was silent and subtle, but he could feel her 'It's going to be okay' in her touch.
Somehow, that was enough.
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When they come back home from meeting Petra's parents and Levi has no one to introduce her to because Levi literally has no one, she knows it bothers him. She doesn't say anything, but later that evening, as Levi is sulking in front of the TV, pretending to be watching, she curls up next to him. Her hands find his and her head fits perfectly in the space between his neck and his shoulder and he immediately feels better.
Somehow, she fills the loneliness with her presence and Levi loves her for that.
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When Petra's father dies, there are tears and there's sobbing. There's so much denial and screaming in the middle and Petra's a wreck because she doesn't understand. How could this have happened?
Levi doesn't have any answers for her. Instead, he kisses her in the middle of one of her sob-slash-screams and Petra doesn't know how or why, but it's the most comforting thing.
He kisses her at her worst. He kisses her mid scream and mid sob as if saying, give your pain to me, I'll take it— I'll swallow it all for you, because I love you. The rest of the night is spent in bed, his arms wrapped so tightly around her that Petra's sure it's the only thing that keeps her together.
Somehow, with Levi's help, she makes it through.
xxx
There's no such thing as love at first sight, but he believes that if there were, this would be the closest. Although he doesn't remember— neither of them really do— how they met, where, or even under what circumstance, he knows that Petra and he are not a result of something as uncertain and simple as chance.
Even if he can't remember how they met, Levi knows the exact moment he knew— they both knew.
It happened like a click; like one of a door being shut, slowly and quietly and gently yet deliberately all at the same time. It was the same kind of click that echoed in a quiet room from a door being locked or the kind of click when things are just perfect in that moment.
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When Petra walks over to him, her hair in somewhat of a tiny side braid, her eyes gleaming with the same anticipation his heart was thumping with and her form clad in a simply black dress that fell flawlessly on her the way waterfalls fall off a cliff— Levi too falls.
In that moment, he feels it— they both do. On the very first date, when they make eye-contact, their souls touch and from there they know.