v. 3pm, statue of reiss, not a date


"I saw your man lurking around your faculty building this morning," Auruo yawned as he dragged his feet towards the coffee machine. "Looked like he was on a mission or something."

Petra let out an audible sigh from the kitchen table. "First of all, he's not my 'man'."

"Not yet," Erd chirped from the sofa, smirking at Petra's exasperated expression.

She continued, making a face at the blond's unnecessary interruption. "And secondly, he could easily have been meeting up with his friend since my fac building is also Gunther's fac building."

Auruo snorted, sipping at his newly-brewed coffee. "Do you even hear yourself? You're already making excuses and you haven't even apologised for breaking his nose."

"I have!" Petra interjected defiantly. "Just…not to his face…"

"Hanji told me he's been asking a lot about you," said Erd casually.

Auruo almost spit out his drink. "For real?! How?"

Petra's face paled as Erd waved his phone in the air, opening his messages to a conversation with one Hanji Zoe. "We exchanged numbers some time in the hospital, along with their friend Erwin."

It took everything for the sandy-haired chemistry student to not burst into hysterical laughter. "What'd she say? Oh my god this is golden."

"Erd…" Petra muttered darkly, daring him to speak or else waking up with more than a few scratches on his face in the morning.

Fortunately, he knew better than to deny her wishes. "She messaged me this morning, asking if I'd seen Levi around since he missed a lecture. Erwin said he left early. I guess…he went to our faculty building, but what for, I wonder?"

"Well," Petra snapped, shaking her head at the possibilities running through her mind at lightning speed. "It's two in the afternoon. I doubt he'd still be there and anyway, we've got a Semantics lecture to try and de-philosophise."


You could imagine the surprise on the redhead's face when she saw him turn up to her lecture precisely 2:30 pm that afternoon, eyebrows furrowed and scanning the room with a death glare. He had his hands in his coat pockets as he wandered around aimlessly, trying to catch a glimpse of that familiar shade of copper.

Petra could hardly stop the sharp increase in her heart rate as she watched him with a pained smile, earning a nudge from Erd to her side.

"He's looking for you," he teased. "Should I wave him over?"

Her eyes widened. "He's probably going to punch me".

Erd scoffed. "That wouldn't even hurt you one bit, Pet. And besides, I don't think he's the type to do that."

"Are you seeing the expression on his face right now?" Petra whispered back in a hiss. "It literally screams 'murder'."

"Oh, I never noticed a difference from his normal face."

Petra rolled her eyes. "Go ahead then," she exhaled in resignation, "Lead me to my death."

Erd chuckled under his breath. "Looks like I won't even need to."

Just as he said those words, Petra felt a tap on her shoulder, generating a bolt of electricity which jolted her heart rate into a wild frenzy. She sat up, spine stiff and still tingling from the ghost of his touch.

Levi hid his smile when the girl sat in front of him shut her eyes in embarrassment and winced upon noticing the large bruise she had inflicted on his face. He cleared his throat. "I need to talk to you." His gaze shifted back and forth from her wide, golden eyes to the laminated floor.

"O-oh… Me?" Petra stammered, nervously meeting his eyes. Levi nodded. She paused before slowly rise to her feet. "Um…okay…"

She followed him outside the lecture hall, choosing to stop right by the doors. The blood was rushing to her head as he turned to face her with those intense grey eyes. "Listen, about Friday night, I'm really ̶"

He interrupted her with a sharp, inhaled breath. "Are you free tomorrow?" he said, so quickly Petra barely had time to process his words.

She blinked twice, looking away shyly. "Yes, I think so..."

"3pm, statue of Reiss. Don't be late," Levi brusquely replied before turning his heel to exit the suddenly stifling corridor. "And it's not a date." He creased his eyebrows at the floor after making his clarification, as if in disbelief that he actually had to make a clarification in the first place.

He all but jogged straight out of the unfamiliar building.

Petra stood frozen at the exact spot where he left her, staring after his disappearing form. She could feel her elevated heartbeat pounding in her ears, threatening to jump out of her chest. Did that really happen? Did he just…?

It wasn't a date. He'd said so.

But why is her heart beating this fast over something that was supposed to fill her with dread? He's going to come with questions, and giving the answers ̶ the honest answers ̶ mortified Petra more than it would him, no doubt.

Still. There was still time to mull over what she would say, and she could go over something like a scripted explanation with Erd, who definitely would have some enlightening advice over this matter, since he'd probably had to do it with Elsa at some point in their relationship.

Petra turned to the wall nearest to her and placed her forehead on its cool surface. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply and exhaled the breath she'd been holding ever since he asked to speak with her. Or demanded, more like.

She hadn't known it but Erd was right. She had wanted to see him again, even if it was to drown in her embarrassment at the massive wound she had imprinted on his face. There was something about him…

It's nature, Petra. Just nature, she told herself repeatedly, shaking her head.

But even nature couldn't stop the victorious smile that crept upon her lips.


"Hey, Erd, did something happen to Petra?" Gunther asked, plopping himself down on the couch and reaching for the remote next to the dazed copper-haired she-wolf. He observed her cautiously as he switched channels a few times before settling on a replay of Madagascar, hoping it would make her snap out of her trance and tell him what a stupid choice it was. "Did Auruo accidentally fill her room with laughing gas?"

Erd looked up from washing the dishes. "Levi asked her on a date."

At this, the redhead straightened in her seat. "It's not a date," she stressed, pursing her lips. "He specifically said that."

"Then why were you so hyper when you got back to the lecture room? If you hadn't told me, I'd have thought he proposed or something," Erd chuckled. He slipped off his gloves and made his way over to the couch, shooting Gunther a weird look at his choice of entertainment. Gunther only shrugged in response, switching the channel again to some animal documentary.

Petra groaned as she sunk into her seat, covering her eyes. "I don't know. Nature. I blame nature."

"You can't keep blaming nature, you know. At one point, you're going to have to turn to yourself," Erd sighed, boredly fixing his gaze towards the TV. A gazelle was being chased and mauled by a cheetah. "Gunther, what the heck are you watching?"

"Hell if I know," he laughed, absent-minded. "Just listening in on your wolf talk before Auruo comes back and makes a ruckus about going to the Old Hannes again tonight."

"I can't go," Erd gave an apologetic shrug. "Got to counsel this woman into believing she's actually going on a date tomorrow."

"It's not a date, for heaven's sake."

Gunther turned to look at the redhead pensively. She had come back to their shared home with a bounce in her step and a cheerful glow to her skin, and while he always knew her to be a generally cheery girl, it had been an unusual sight for him to see her that happy. Perhaps she was right – it was just nature taking over her rational mindset. "So…what if Levi asks about all the weird things that've been happening to him ever since meeting you? What would you say?"

Petra remained silent for a few moments, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling as she contemplated her answer.

Finally, she settled on a meek "I don't know."

Erd sighed once more. "Just tell him the truth: you're part-human, part-wolf and for some reason you and him are bound together in the grand scheme of things and if he can't accept that, guilt-trip him with the fact that you'll die prematurely if you don't mate with him."

"What?" Petra almost screamed. "Wait," she waved her hands in front of her as if trying to grasp at anything that actually made sense. "Repeat that? I couldn't quite hear the last part."

Erd burst into a cackle. "I'm only joking, Pet. But you can pull that trump card if need be."

Gunther shook his head disapprovingly at the blond. "That was a tactless joke, Erd. Poor girl looks like she's about to faint any second now."

"She'll be fine," he reassured him. "Worst-case scenario, he'll freak out and move to another country."

"Very funny," Petra managed to sputter.

God knows how she'll get through waking up in time after what would mostly like be a restless night.


Levi stared at the barrage of messages that had possessed his phone. It had vibrated continuously for the last eleven or so minutes before he resorted to adjusting the settings, which only led to Hanji calling him tirelessly for the past half hour.

He already knew what she would pester him about. Some lackey of hers had probably spied him in the Linguistics fac building and witnessed his terse exchange with one ginger-haired girl. He scowled when 'Shitty Glasses' appeared spelled out on his phone screen for the seventh time in two minutes.

Even Erwin had popped his rich bastard head into his room to ask why he hadn't been responding to Hanji's messages. Hanji had been on loudspeaker on the phone with him too, prompting Levi to shut the door in his rich bastard face and locking it to prevent further intrusions.

He needed to think. To ruminate on his actions, his words. To think about her, the root of all his misery. Petra.

Suddenly, a different name flashed on his phone screen. Mikasa.

He knew the most likely reason she would be calling but still, he pressed the green button and clicked the speaker button, lying back down on the bed.

"Why aren't you answering Hanji's messages?" came the familiar, monotone voice of his younger sister.

Well, at least he'd been correct on his assumptions.

"When have I ever voluntarily answered one of Shitty Glasses' calls?" he rolled his eyes at the question.

There was a crackling noise from the other line before Mikasa's voice came back, clearer this time. "True. But when it entails her blowing up my notifications asking if you spontaneously combusted after asking a girl out, I admit I get slightly concerned too."

He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Why?" he grumbled.

"Because I thought you already had a girlfriend and I called to prepare you for an intervention. I thought you knew better than to two-time."

For the love of – he mentally cursed the bespectacled brunette. "Hanji's been lying. I don't have a girlfriend, nor did ask a girl out," he replied through gritted teeth.

"So what's been happening?" More shuffling. "Sorry, Eren's fallen asleep on my lap."

Levi grunted in displeasure. Like he needed to know that necessary detail of her life.

"You still there?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

Silence ensued between them, broken sporadically by sounds reminiscent of snores coming from the other line.

"Well, if you aren't going to tell me, I might as well give you some advice. Just be yourself. Not your grouchy, asshat 'normal' self but your snarky, shitty joker self. That's a sure-fire way to make sure you won't see her again if it goes badly."

After hanging up without giving her thanks, Levi added one more thing on his list of ruminations.

Just why the fuck were Ackermans so shit at making and following their own advice?


She'd have to buy a new alarm clock today it seemed, after crushing the previous one under her half-transformed clawed hand.

Erd had burst into her room in a flurry of concern, his blue-and-red striped apron still untied around his waist. Even still, it was him who ended up bursting into laughter at the state of his fellow werewolf sprawled on her bed, squinting up at the streaks of sunrise that adorned the ceiling.

"You look like that lion in the animal documentary Gunther was watching yesterday."

"And you look like Gordon Ramsay finally found his lamb sauce after thirty years," she groaned as she rolled back onto her side to avoid the incoming light from the curtains.

But it was true. Her redheaded mane twined around her neck and stray strands had spiralled into a semi-halo above her head. Erd was mildly impressed that bed-hair could be this intricate. He moved to push the curtains fully open, eliciting a low growl from the waking lion.

"It's almost lunch time, you know," he warned. "You did say he said to not be late."

"You're not my dad," came the muffled reply.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm not. If I were, I wouldn't be this excited for my pseudo-daughter's second date."

Of course he had to allude to that awkward double date with Elsa and Auruo. God, that made her even more unmotivated to get up. She was never good at social events. At some point, she'd mess up by saying something completely out of line.

Or accidentally giving away that she wasn't completely human, as per said first date.

She cringed at the image of Auruo's petrified face at the golde-brown fur that covered her arms and legs. And her tail.

Though, she was certain that she was more in control of her wolf form than she was before. The sheer nervousness of embarking on something as unknown to her as a romantic outing (even if it had been with slimy fifteen-year-old Auruo) had most likely triggered an adrenaline rush, which ended up with her looking like a Yeti midway through mains, and leading to her and Erd chasing down Auruo once he fled the scene to explain to him what was really happening.

Cue formation of annoying, parasitic friendship.

"At least Auruo wasn't destined to be my mate." She choked on the last word, emphasising her distaste at even voicing the proposition.

"Well, I can guarantee the same thing would have happened if Levi had taken his place," the taller man chuckled. "You'd probably have undergone a full transformation."

"Fuck off."

"Come have brunch, then. The others are almost finished and dressed."

Petra sat up at that, albeit groggily. She rubbed her eyes slowly as she yawned. "What for? No-one has lectures or supervisions today."

"Think of us like agents set to protect the President's daughter," he winked.

"Over my dead body are you guys going to follow me around the whole day making a fool of myself," she deadpanned.

"Well, then. You better get out of here stat before we can find out where you've gone."

"You're such a mutt!"


242 unread messages, 67 missed calls from Shitty Glasses. What the actual fuck.

Levi's eye twitched as he scrolled through Hanji's caps-locked frenzy.

Shitty Glasses 8h ago

PICK UP THE PHONE!

Shitty Glasses 8h ago

ERWINS FETCHING MIKE

Shitty Glasses 8h ago

MIKASA ELOPED WITH EREN!

Shitty Glasses 8h ago

SHES PREGGERS WTH HIS CHILD HOW C…

slide to reply

It truly amazed and baffled him how this woman's mind worked. He shook his head when he put the phone down, reaching instead for a shirt in his bedside drawer. He had woken with a cold sweat in the morning, mind flashing with images of the same wolf from what seemed like eons ago. They had increased in their frequency and intensity ever since he started using stronger painkillers for his broken nose, and last night was no exception.

His dreams were strange yet monotonous. It was just him mindlessly chasing after the wolf in an open meadow. Starting out slow, he'd break into a run once the wolf padded its way further into the field.

The field was vast. Stubbles of grass stretched for miles around on all sides, but the wolf always seemed to be heading straight towards the looming shadow of a forest right ahead. A forest filled with trees like 50-foot titans.

At the entrance of the forest, he'd run out of breath, stop awhile to catch it, then set off again in search of copper fur and soft golden eyes.

But the further he ventured into the forest, the shallower his breathing got, to the point where his wheezes eventually became elongated and raspy.

The last thing he sees is the wolf with its two bright eyes watching him drop to his knees in a breathless thud.

And his first thought in the morning is always that sense of déjà vu. He's seen those eyes before.

But before his sleep-clouded brain could even start to dwell on it, the chime of his alarm clock caught his attention: 10:00. He had four and a half hours to calm his shit down. For what? he grouched internally. It's not even a date.

He soundlessly slipped on his shirt before making his way to the kitchen, where Erwin sat statuesque at the dining table, smiling creepily right at him.

Levi quickly composed himself. "Jesus, Erwin. How long have you been sitting there?"

"Since Hanji decided to break the door down at six in the morning, demanding to speak with you," he replied, devoid of emotion. His blue eyes continued to gaze intently at the raven-haired man.

"Where is she now?" Levi asked as he took out an English Breakfast teabag from the jar.

Erwin tilted his head towards the living room. "On the sofa."

"Really? I didn't hear her sn ̶"

Suddenly, a volcano erupted.

Levi deadpanned. "Yep. It seems she is."

A thin silence stretched out between them, only interrupted occasionally by Hanji's reverberating snores and the whistle of the kettle.

Levi continued to brew his tea, doing his best to ignore the holes Erwin was drilling with his eyes on his back.

That was one of his annoying mannerisms. Whenever Erwin wanted answers, his brilliant logic told him that the best way of getting them was to keep staring at the person most likely to have them and not say a word until they do.

He would definitely make a deadly CEO in the future, but this morning? Levi was having none of it.

"I'll be back late. Don't you two fucking dare try and follow me around." He scampered back to his room with a scowl, the steaming mug of tea dangling from his fingertips. He paid no heed to the hurt-puppy look on Erwin's face as he watched the short man disappear down the hallway.


Hanji told him that turning up early to anything was not fashionable at all. As he observed the green-skirted girl leaning against the stone column detailing the life story of the First King Reiss, he imagined himself strangling the chemist to death for her bullshit advice. Why he ever followed it in the first place was beyond him. Now Petra must think he was an unpunctual douche who turned up ten minutes late to his own arrangement.

He had gotten out of the house only fifteen minutes before, not even stopping to say goodbye to Erwin, who still sat at the dining table, and Hanji, who had woken like a hurricane, hurling her phone at the back of his head (which missed him by centimetres, that crazy bitch!) and yelling "My baby's all grown up!" excitedly and loudly enough to wake even the Martians.

But he wasn't going to lie, being late had its perks. Like watching her expression, even marginally, brighten at his approach. She straightened her posture, waving with one hand towards him while the other tucked a stray strand of copper hair behind an ear.

"I'm late," he muttered in apology.

Petra shrugged. "So was I, don't worry."

Lie, he frowned. He'd seen her wait the whole time before he decided that ten minutes was unfashionable enough for him to stop procrastinating by hiding behind a wall, feeling like a stalker.

"So…" Petra smiled, clasping her hands behind her back. "Where shall we go?"

Levi cleared his throat. "Braus'?"

She winced, and mentally he winced too. "I'd just come from there."

Oh. Well, there goes his fool-proof plan. Seemed it only worked if the planner wasn't the aforementioned fool. Fuck, where should they go now? He struggled to find appropriate places to go for not-dates in this shitty-ass town.

She must've noticed his discomfort from the almost squeamish silence that followed her statement. She hummed in consideration. "How about…a museum? I haven't been to the Natural History one yet, and we can always get dinner later."

To Levi, it sounded awfully like a date, but he supposed it was leagues better than him standing there, hands in his pocket, eyes focused on her pink Mary-Janes. Not saying a fucking word.

"Yeah," he managed to reply. He should've specified to meet at Braus'. The scenario he imagined in his head was skyrocketing into the realm of bloody awry, and it had only been three minutes.

Petra clapped once then, forcing his eyes to snap to hers. She beamed; he felt an unfamiliar and unwelcome heat creeping into his cheeks. "It's decided! Do you know where it is?"

Why was it that his larynx seemed to sow itself shut whenever he was around her? He jerked his thumb behind him. "It's at the end of Sina High Street."

"Let's go!"


They walked in a comfortable silence, at least in Petra's mind.

She felt an odd sort of satisfaction when she could hear his heart beating as heavily as hers was, though she had to berate herself yet again for almost succumbing to nature's will.

Truth be told, she had already been to Trost Natural History museum, multiple times in fact. It had a hallway dedicated to wolves, and even included a small section about the myth of werewolves, though clearly it was no myth at all.

Petra thought if she could show him how the wolves evolved and eased him into believing that werewolves were real, her revelation about her true nature wouldn't be so…freaky, and scare him away. Well, at least not to another country.

Levi picked a good day to walk around Trost, she thought, even if it hadn't been his original plan. The February sun peeked sporadically from behind the clouds on a light winter blue sky, offering warmth when the breeze became slightly chillier. The High Street was buzzing with shoppers too, so the noise of their hustle and bustle did well to drown out any awkward silence between them.

When they got to the museum, it was pleasantly deserted. The few people who had come to wander around its halls were predictably fixated on the enormous skeleton of the diplodocus quaintly situated at the back of the entrance hall.

The museum had changed from the last time she'd visited. Instead of two spiralling staircases leading to the second floor, only one appeared to be intact, the other embedded in construction. The roof seemed to be shallower too, with its previously translucent ceiling now completely opaque. She silently prayed that the wolf exhibit hadn't been taken down. It had been while since she last walked through it.

They wandered around, leaving short comments on certain things as they did, like the butterfly collection displayed on the walls of the botanic exhibit, and the remains of mammoth tusks in the prehistoric section.

It was a while, hours, before Petra managed to swerve them in the direction of the wolves, and even then she could feel him tensing up as they neared a statue of one at the entrance of the wing.

His silver eyes flickered over to hers. "Know anything about wolves?"

Petra smiled back, hoping her nervousness hadn't seeped through to her face. "I find them fascinating."

It was a long corridor dedicated to canines in history, both modern and prehistoric. Glass displays of Eskimo tools and arctic fur adorned the sides of the hallway while several statues of foxes, wolves, and hunting dogs littered the centre. Levi stopped at the picture of a certain wolf, right next to the small glass display for werewolves. Petra couldn't try hard enough to calm the erratic pounding in her chest.

She watched as his eyes scanned over the text, expressionless. "Do you believe it?"

Levi raised his head to look at her in question. "Believe what?"

"That they exist," she pointed to the display. "Werewolves."

He snorted in response, the sound disheartening to her ears. "As much as I believe in vampires."

Petra rolled her eyes. "Strange, I'd almost convinced myself I was already talking to one," she muttered.

Even he couldn't mask his amusement as a small smirk vanished from his face as soon as it had appeared. "I take that you do, then." She nodded, the hint of playful defiance shining through her eyes. "It doesn't make sense, evolution-wise."

"A lot of things don't make sense when you're restricting yourself to thinking only in terms of evolution," she pouted. "I think the existence of werewolves is an entirely natural, plausible thing."

"Have you ever seen one?"

Petra's mind stilled. This was it. This was the moment. Hopefully, he wouldn't hear the tremor in her voice.

"Y-Yeah."

She could feel his curiosity piquing. Suddenly, the air became suffocating. "Where?"

She's speaking right in front of you! she wanted to scream. She panicked, "I don't know."

"Then I'm not convinced," he shrugged, smug.

Petra fumed at herself. The opportunity had been perfect. There was room in the hallway for either or both parties to run away and escape at a moment's notice if the revelation proved disastrous. Where and when could she find another chance to show him the truth? If only Erd was here... scratch that, she was relieved he wasn't. Otherwise, he would've said it the moment he finally came out of his hiding ten minutes after she arrived at the statue on time. She'd rolled her eyes at the sentiment, giggling internally when she realised it was him behind that wall.

But what could she do now? She'd blown it. She'd ̶

"It's closing time, ladies and gents," an officer shouted down from the other end of the hallway. "Gift shop shuts in half an hour."

Petra nodded back at him, acknowledging his announcement. She turned to Levi with a determined look set on her brow. "Are you hungry?"

She would tell him today, no matter what.


Christ, she thought he looked like a vampire. A bloody vampire.

Levi sulked in his thoughts. It wasn't like he chose to be born with pale skin, or bruised his own face.

"Are you okay?" Petra asked, munching down a slice of steak. She looked at him with intent concern.

He nodded, cursing his muteness.

After she'd swallowed her bite, she continued. "I'm…really sorry for breaking your nose," she said, almost in a whisper. "And for…kissing you without warning."

Just the mention of the memory was enough for heat to prickle at the tips of his ears. "It's fine. I've had worse." A hurt expression passed over her face and he realised with embarrassment her misunderstanding. "Wait – not…the kiss, I meant…my nose." Fuck.

"Oh," she smiled in obvious relief.

He decided he loathed this constant hammering on the left side of his ribcage, more than he loathed the regret of not listening to Hanji's advice on how to talk to the opposite sex.

Because as shitty as it could be, it was better than being reduced to a bumbling idiot who lost his appetite for lasagne the minute after ordering it.

He picked at his food lightly, trying not to notice her probing gaze.

"Why did you ask me to meet you today?"

He almost dropped his fork.

Right. The plan. To ask her all those questions he'd been mulling over in his head for the past week.

He took a deep breath. "That night. In the Old Hannes. You were drunk, and you…broke my nose," he said. "And before that, when you ran away when I saw you leaving your accommodation with Erd, I think. It all feels strange, more than coincidental. I had to ask you about them."

She sighed then, her shoulders sagging with each puncturing question. "The truth is, Levi, I… You wouldn't even believe the truth."

"Try me," he replied, sipping his wine.

She stared at him for a long time, her amber eyes gleaming under the dim lighting of the restaurant. It was like time pausing at that moment while everything else in their surroundings continued.

He held her gaze, that feeling of déjà vu returning to him for no apparent reason.

Finally, she said, "I'll show you", and time resumed. They put their money on the table, then she got up and beckoned him to follow her.

It felt like a chase, trying to catch up to her quickened pace along the cobbled streets of Trost. She twisted and turned directions several times, winding her way past the oldest buildings in town before finally stopping at the entrance of an empty park.

She whirled around to face him suddenly, catching him off-guard as he stumbled back a few paces, trying to mask his frustration.

"As you can see, it's not a full moon."

Levi frowned, disquiet bubbled within him.

"Close your eyes," she said, barely more than a whisper.

Reluctantly, he did. His skin chilled as a gust of winter wind blew past them.

Something pointed brushed against his palm and immediately his eyes flung open, an unmasked horror settling in on the sight that had appeared right before him.

Golden eyes blinked once at his widened stare. He was paralysed.

Where Petra had stood moments before, sat a wolf, poised and serene.

Moonlight shone through the clouds, illuminating its fur. Cinnamon red, copper, amber, ginger…the colour of her hair.

The same wolf he'd been chasing in his dreams for the past week.


A/N: Sorry this took so long, but I'm now on a three month vacation. I realised that the best way to get over writer's block is to just keep writing whatever comes to your head no matter how shit it reads back to you, so hopefully my writing will improve in the future. The next chapter will be out sooner than a year hehehe