Levi's heavy brown boots padded up the stairs towards the scouting legion dorms. He moved swiftly as a cold draft from an ajar window ruffled his hair. He had spent the last twenty minutes searching for Petra as he had paperwork for her to sign. He really didn't enjoy having to run errands on his own. Perhaps he should recruit his own personal assistant, if Erwin would allow it. Then again, Levi was basically Erwin's personal assistant. When he reached the top of the staircase, Auruo and Hanji passed him.
"Where is she?" he inquired, papers still in hand.
"Who? Are you looking for Petra?" Auruo asked.
"What other 'she' is there?" Levi replied boredly while gruffly crossing his arms.
"She's not feeling well. She's in her room recovering from a cold, but she should be fine by tomorrow" Hanji piped up.
Silently, Levi turned on his heel and proceeded toward her dorm. Auruo and Hanji continued in the opposite direction, but not before Auruo practiced mimicking how Levi had crossed his arms and turned on his heel. Without hesitation, Levi knocked on the walnut colored door that guarded Petra's room. He waited for a response, but when none came he simply opened the door to look for her.
When his eyes fell on the room in front of him, he could see a desk, a bookcase, and a bed all made out of the same wood. Every chamber in the dorms had the same furniture but Petra had somehow found a way to make the room reflect her personality. It smelled of gingersnaps and the four foot book case that was normally filled with books was covered in things that she brought from her home. Amongst the cream-colored sheets was a feverishly warm head of tousled strawberry blonde hair .
Levi entered shamelessly. He was done acting flirtatiously and had already wasted too much of his day tracking down an insignificant signature. The matter of "privacy" didn't concern him right now. Clearing his throat, he watched her from afar to see if she would move. She reacted to the noise by slowly turning over to reveal her tired colorless face. Her eyes that were normally so full of energy were heavy and had bags underneath them. She managed a smile and sat up in bed while gesturing for him to come closer.
He slowly walked toward her somewhat taken aback by her appearance. This wasn't because he liked her for her looks. Its just that she was always so determined and a strong fighter that he wasn't used to seeing her vulnerable. He sat down at the desk that was near the foot of her bed and put the papers down, still intrigued by her condition.
Instead of asking about the paperwork, he said "What happened?"
As soon as the words escaped his mouth, he wanted to take them back. It wasn't a major slip up but he didn't sound like himself. Levi always got down to business, he didn't let anything get in the way of his goals, but this time his caring side took over him. Petra was shocked at Levi's sudden concern, but decided against commenting on it because she had always dreamed of it being so easy to tell him something.
"I was outside late last night" Petra replied while trying to tame her hair.
Not satisfied with her answer, Levi motioned for her to continue her story.
"I lost a bracelet yesterday while I was patrolling the quarters perimeter," she admitted. "its very sentimental. It belonged to my mother."
She continued to explain how she hadn't noticed its disappearance until after dinner that night and spent most of the night searching for it outside with only a lantern.
"It was raining hard last night. It was stupid to even try looking for it." Levi said bluntly when she had finished. He subtly smirked at how she was blindly driven to recover an inanimate object.
"I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't at least tried to look." Petra commented defiantly.
"Now you've gotten yourself a cold and you still don't have your bracelet." Levi said almost scornfully while getting up from his seat. Petra looked away and began to sink back into her covers.
Levi was out the door by the time she had adjusted her blankets. When he was gone, Petra felt ashamed and room felt cold and empty without someone to talk to and the thought of disappointing someone — let alone Levi—chilled her.
She remained still with only her thoughts and duvet to comfort her. A while later, the door opened without warning and there stood Levi with two cups of tea on a tray.
"It would be nice to knock." she said as he approached and set the tray down on the desk.
"Don't be so picky. Maybe next time I won't even come back" he said. Of course, he would never think of doing that. He was many things but inconsiderate was not one of them. Besides, the thought of not coming back to her was one that he wouldn't let stay in his mind for more than a second.
They sat in silence for a while, sipping their tea. He was perched on the foot of her bed and she sat up taking in the warm beverage. Petra tried to keep her eyes anywhere but on him because it seemed awkward to stare. Levi's kept his eyes focused on his cup of tea as if he stared at it long enough, he could make it change colors.
All of a sudden, two newly graduated cadets burst into her chamber waving around a bundled handkerchief.
"Heichou! Here it is." one of them announced as they presented it to him. He winced a little at the title before getting up and observing what the cadets had found. He gave a nod of approval and shooed them away before returning to his seat at the foot of her bed.
Wordlessly, he handed it to her and took away her cup so that she could unfold the bundle. She placed it on her lap and slowly unraveled the cloth. Beneath the folds she found a thin gold chain bracelet. Grinning widely, she allowed him to clasp it onto her wrist.
"Its amazing what cadets will agree to do when you threaten their career." he said while smirking.
Although she didn't agree with his slightly despicable ways of getting things done, Petra was still in love with his attentive side. As Levi began to clean up the empty cups, she sat and admired her newly discovered heirloom.
"It may not be worth much to a jeweler, but its rose-gold." Petra explained "both mine and my mother's favorite"
Hmmm rose gold? He'd have to remember that for when he bought a wedding ring.