Levi did not enjoy being woken in the middle of a rare, full night of sleep.

Especially not by Hanji's maniacal, near-hysteria cackle and a cacophony of pots and pans that punched they're making a mess! down to the pits of Levi's stomach until he wrenched his blankets aside in fury.

And he definitely did not enjoy the sight of five adults—soldiers, for fuck's sake—prancing around the dining area at fucking one thirty-six in the fucking morning.

"Oh no did we wake you, Corporal?" Petra slid down from her perch on the edge of the table, her beaming expression quickly wilting to one of concern when she saw Levi, who made a grab for his annoyance before it could evaporate under her anxious, warm, buttery gaze. He allowed himself a second to immerse in how the candle lights spun her hair into strands of gold—before swallowing back the bitter sarcasm on the tip of his tongue, opting instead for a quick scan of the room:

Erd, leaning against the wall, eyed Levi with his usual nonchalance before raising the mug in his hand towards Levi—cheers, Corporal—and taking a sip, amusement pulling on one corner of his mouth.

Second-in-command, my ass, Levi spat in his mind.

Gunther stood beside Erd, arms crossed loosely and staring into space.

Auruo was standing at the corner of the table close to Petra, but leaned away slightly when Levi entered.

Eren Jaeger, who was barely on the edge of his chair and sanity, judging by the way the brunette all but sprung tears of relief at the sight of the man who had beaten him shitless just a few days ago.

(That beating had been necessary, but wasn't this team supposed to be protecting the brat now?)

And then there was Hanji, standing smack in the center of the open area of the room, straddling a broomstick.

"What the hell are you all do—"

"Levi!" Hanji shouted ecstatically, hopping around on her broom. "Finally decided to join the fun?"

Hanji had taken the liberty of skipping into Levi's room earlier in the evening, barraging him with things about "team initiation," to which, until now, he had not given a second thought.

"I would be delighted to see from your perspective how much more necessary this is than sleep, Hanji," Levi deadpanned, "but unfortunately I cannot shove my head that far up your a—"

"We'replayingcharadesyoushouldjoinus!" Petra's high-pitched interjection cut through Levi's low drawl, and she stepped in front of him with smiling eyes just slightly tinged with panic.

Levi almost smiled at her desperation to preserve what little innocence was left among those in the room.

Give it up, he almost wanted to say. None of us are pure anymore.

So why make it worse? She would retort.

Why indeed.

"Oh yeah!" Hanji turned to the others again. "Guess who!"

With this, she produced a feather duster from somewhere, waved it around, and mimed sticking the handle end of the broomstick up her backside.

"This is supposed to be a person we know?" Auruo smirked, scrunching up one side of his face. "You look like the Wicked Witch of the West in heat…"

Out of the corner of his eye, Levi saw Petra wince.

"…who developed a cleaning fetish—"

. . .

silence.

. . .

Levi watched as they laughed.

"Get it?!" Hanji gasped, neck-deep in mirth. "'Cuz Levi always has a stick up his as—"

Laughed as if their lives were so easy, as if there was nothing in the world to worry about, nothing worth worrying about—no blood and ashes to cloud their consciences, their memories. There was only now,

as Hanji continued humping the broomstick

as Gunther clamped his lips together but good-naturedly twinkled his dark eyes

as Erd almost spat a mouthful of water back into his mug

as Eren Jaeger brought a scar-riddled hand up to his mouth—not to inflict pain, not this time, but to half-heartedly suppress laughter that bubbled from a seventeen-year-old, not a soldier

as Auruo cursed with a bloodied lisp from snickering and shouting at the same time

as Petra let out a snort when laughing—

and immediately slapped two hands against her mouth.

Hanji dropped her broom with a dull clang on the stone floor as she stared at Petra unabashedly, who was still shaking from laughter but was now hiding her face.

Don't do that.

Hanji chucked the feather duster over her shoulder, where it hurtled toward Erd's face with uncanny precision.

"Did…did you just snort?!" Hanji cried. And that set everyone off again, until Petra peeled back her shielding fingers, wrapping them instead around her torso as she doubled over in laughter.

When he saw her face again, Levi let out a breath he did not know he had been holding.

[Petra snorts when she laughs too hard.]

He felt like he should write this down, the time and date of when he learned this about her and carry the note in his pocket as a reminder, a little piece of the candle-light and sunset-haired girl who had now turned her gaze upon him once more.

He would have liked to keep looking at her—but for now, he had appearances to keep up.

"All of you shut the hell up and go to bed!"

"All of you shut the hell u—"

If not for Petra's concern for their innocence, Levi would have strangled Hanji right then and there.


a/n: So somehow this chapter turned into more of a ramble on Levi and his squad, with not nearly enough Levi and Petra. But I had the plot idea and I was determined to update today, so here you are. I swear on my new Scouting Legion jacket (yupi'maspoiledbrat) to have more Rivetra next chapter. R&R? Love you all! :)