Phobia

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

Summary: Petra gets a hysterical call in the middle of the night. [One-Shot]

Buzz!

Buzz! Buzz!

Petra opened her eyes tiredly. She groaned at the bright red digits reading 2:13. Scooting closer to the table, she grabbed her phone. She'd barely registered the white letters and many exclamation marks before the screen changed from her lock screen to the image of a bored looking man. "Hello?"

"Didn't you get my texts?!" The loud voice on the other end had her moving the white object away from her head. "I need you to come over right now! It's an emergency!"

Once the volume had lowered, she brought the phone to her ear again. "What's wrong?" She sat up, turning on her bedside lamp. He began speaking in a rush and she interrupted, "Slow down, Levi, I can't understand what you're saying."

Tossing the comforter aside, she started toward her closet before the explanation began. There was only one reason the usually apathetic man would sound so hysterical. "I—there's—it's...it's in my apartment and it's just fucking sitting there and staring at me with its disgusting little eyes!"

"Okay, I understand, I'll be right there," Petra said calmly.

"You have to get rid of it!"

"Take a deep breath and calm down."

"Maybe I should move out, it's the second time in three months!" Levi said frantically.

"Levi—"

"This is getting ridiculous! I can't stay here anymore! What if there's a whole fucking family or something?" He kept babbling.

She rolled her eyes while yanking on a pair of socks. "The more you talk, the longer it will take for me to get there."

There was silence on the other end before: "Hurry up!" And then the line went dead.

Petra threw on a sweatshirt and grabbed her shoes and keys. A few minutes later, she found herself before a cream door, fist poised. The door flew open before her knuckles could connect with the wooden surface.

"Finally!" Levi said, face unusually white. He grabbed her hand and dragged her in.

"Wait." Petra resisted and leaned down to remove her shoes. He was so hyped up he had almost brought her through his pristine apartment with her dirty shoes still on. "Where is it?"

"In there, the left corner." He stopped before his bedroom door, eyeing it warily. After taking a tissue from the kitchen, she entered his room and quickly snatched up the tiny, eight-legged creature and moved to the bathroom. Levi gave her a wide berth as she passed by, muscles easing only when he heard the toilet flush.

"There, you're good now."

"Are you sure?" His tone was heavy with unease.

She went in again and he followed her hesitantly to the edge of the room. After a quick scan, she said to him. "It's clear."

His face relaxed, finally regaining some color. "Thanks," Levi mumbled, ducking his head. Now that the incident was over, embarrassment was starting to set in. He couldn't have called his family, they lived too far away. His other friends would have mocked him. A shiver went down his spine at the thought of Hange chasing him around the apartment with the tissue.

"It's okay," she assured.

"No, really, I..." Levi didn't want to admit he'd have spent a restless night on the couch, plagued by images of the spider wrecking havoc in his room, until morning finally came and he could call in the building manager to get rid of it.

"Don't worry about it, Levi," Pera said. Levi was such a stoic and seemingly fearless person, it was quite eye-opening how serious phobias were when she'd seen him freak out when he first saw an arachnid in her presence.

She hadn't understood how damaging it could be until then. They'd been sitting in a quiet area when the spider was spotted on the desk, a mere foot from him. His face had drained of color, goosebumps breaking out across his skin, breathing audible and shaky. He'd been on the verge of a full-on panic attack. Quickly she'd used the edge of her notebook to swipe it off and watched it scuttle away.

It had taken him a good twenty minutes to calm down before explaining about a childhood incident that had led to the phobia. For the rest of the day, he had kept glancing at her notebook like it was going to bite him Petra had kept that incident to herself. She knew their friends wouldn't really understand the seriousness and poke fun at him.

"Thanks," he repeated, shuffling awkwardly.

Petra yawned, covering her mouth. "Well, alright then."

"Wait, you, um, you can stay if you want. You don't have to drive all the way back."

She almost rejected him until she saw the look of hopefulness he was trying hard to disguise at the casual offer. "Yeah, I'm too lazy to."

"Okay, you can sleep in the—" Levi stopped, watching her take off her jacket and socks and tossing them carelessly. "W-wha—" He cleared his throat. "What're you doing?"

Petra pulled up the covers. "The guest room's too far away. Well? Are you going to stand there all night?" Petra said when he didn't reply in the next few seconds.

"Yeah," he said, then quickly added, "I mean—hold on." He quickly folded her sweatshirt and socks and placed them on the chair before joining her.

"How'd you know it was there at this time of night anyway?"

Levi glanced at the corner and cringed. "I was thirsty and went to get a glass of water and saw it when I came back."

As soon as he turned off the light and was settled in, Petra wrapped herself around him. "I like to cuddle," she explained before he could ask. "You owe me that much. If you don't mind, that is."

"No." Levi held her tightly, burying his nose in her hair, finally fully at ease. "I don't mind." Not one bit.

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