Hi!

This is my first fic, and I'm not a native English speaker so sorry for any mistakes!
My friend was kind enough to check it for me, so it should be ok :D

Enjoy!

It was nearly the end of her working hours when she took a last peek into her next day schedule and got surprised by the name of her boss at the end of it. Feeling a little confused, she put the list back on the desk and headed out to the other side of the studio. It was weird, she thought, he was one of the best tattoo artists she had a chance to meet and, as far as she knew, he was not fond of letting others put anything on his skin, especially something so permanent. So far, the only exceptions were her co-worker Gunther and a man who had worked here even before them, Erwin.

"Levi?" she said, raising her voice a bit to bring his attention to her.

He was dusting the shelves of his workplace at the moment while listening to something on his earphones. He took one out and looked at her over his shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"Are you-" she started but quickly went silent for a moment thinking how stupid this question will sound. Anyway, she was tired after the day, so she decided to just get it over with. "Are you the Levi Ackerman from my appointment list for tomorrow?"

"What" he asked, or said, it was hard to tell considering the tone of his voice. The look on his face was clearly confused and a bit irritated. She thought he looked adorable making that face, so she smiled, suddenly feeling silly.

"Your name is in my schedule" she corrected coming closer and stopped at his side.

"Of course it is, I wrote it there. How many Levi Ackermans do you think live in this city?" he responded and sighed, coming back to make sure that the shelf was spotless.

Petra felt a sudden rush of adrenaline at his simple statement. An excited blush rose on her face, but she composed herself not to let him know how big of a deal it was for her. After all, he was basically her idol, even the fact that she got to work at his studio was like a dream. But now he wanted her to tattoo him, and it was something she never even had the guts to think of.

"But we didn't even have a chance to talk about the project." she pointed out, raising a hand to fix the pin in her hair.

"Whatever, I just need to close the gap on the sleeve, it's pissing me off. Just pick something that will match."

Her eyes widened looking at his never changing expression. "But...are you sure? Why won't you just fill it yourself?"

The look he sent her made her smile awkwardly. It was like he was asking her why she made it difficult for no reason. Of course, he didn't care about the projects as much at this point. He had some sentimental tattoos, but the more he got, the less he cared about their meaning. He just wanted it to satisfy his artistic vision. It was actually pretty normal, she already was at that point as well, though it was still crazy for her that he'd let her pick.

Not waiting for him to answer, she continued. "I'll think about it." she assured with a big smile. "Maybe I should sign myself up for some new piercing to you too" she laughed lightly on her way back.

Levi looked after her as she disappeared behind the break room doors. He knew it was unusual. The last thing he would do was to acknowledge it out loud. Petra was still a very new addition to their group, working with them for only 6 months, considering that the rest of them were there for years now.

There was something about her art style that brought a completely new view and possibilities for their clients. It was sharp and confident. Always the perfect line.

But if he had to be really honest with himself, it wasn't the reason he had picked her. However, he was pushing that thought far far away in his mind.

It was an unusual day. Levi woke up feeling...pretty good. It was not normal, for sure. He grunted sitting up on his bed and looked through the window. The sun rays were giving him a full display on the little dust particles flowing in the air of his room. He frowned and looked away. As the blank spot on his forearm caught his attention, he raised his other hand and caressed it with his fingers. Most of his skin was covered with various designs, most of them tattooed by his own hands. It was the last free place that was visible for others during the day, excluding his face, of course, and a part of his neck.

The spot was surrounded by the images of silver blades and slashes, green flags with the symbol that became the logo of his tattoo parlor. He remembered that getting the idea of this design was weirdly exciting, inspiring. He couldn't recall what was the reason by now. At least it still looked good.

As he finally got up, he decided to get a quick shower and 15 minutes later he was heading downstairs to the studio in fresh clothes.

He stopped in his tracks hearing voices from the bottom of the stairs. What hour was it, anyway? He made his way into the break room to see Eld, who was their manager right now, and his old friend Hange.

"Didn't know you've become such a sleepyhead, shorty!" They welcomed him loudly.

"I think it's the first time I actually came here before you, captain" added Eld jokingly. His coworkers liked to call him that for some reason. Gunther once stated that it was because of his cold attitude.

They were sitting at the table, sipping coffee. The clock above the door showed 9AM.

Levi furrowed his brows for a moment. Was it a beginning of an illness making him sleep this long? He felt fine.

"What are you doing here, four-eyes?" was the only thing he said on his way to the counter. He needed some strong black tea.

Petra burst into the studio with coffee in her hand. It was half past 10 already. The weather went from a calm and sunny morning into heavy rain in a span of an hour, and she was definitely not prepared for that. Her clothes were soaking wet.

"I'm so sorry!" she said loudly seeing her first client sitting at the coffee table with Eld. She was late for her first session at 10AM.

Levi was watching her from behind the counter while the waiting girl was assuring Petra that it's ok, and that she understands.

"I see that the rain did not stop you from dropping by the coffee shop, hm?" he noticed when she was walking past him to the break room to get ready for work. She looked at him with a worried expression.

"I was hiding, I thought it would pass sooner" she said quickly looking away from him and disappearing behind the door.

It left him feeling a bit uneasy. Usually she was pretty unbothered by his comments and responded with one of her adorable smiles.

Petra heard that someone opened the door but when she looked back, it was already closed again. She brushed it off and came back to clipping pins into her hair.

Just when she was ready to go, her boss entered the room. Without a word he handed her a black shirt. She looked at him surprised and after a moment of hesitation took it from him.

"You're all wet, I don't want you to get sick." he only said and went back.

She stood there for a moment with a blush rising to her face.

It was late afternoon when Petra came back from her dinner break and started preparing her stuff for the tattoo session with Levi.

Gunther, Eld and Auruo already went home, but as she was late today, she had to stay longer. Fortunately Levi agreed to postpone his appointment to the end of the day, so she would be able to be on time with other clients.

To be honest, his session was the only thing in her head since the day started anyway. Wearing a shirt that smelled just like him didn't help either. It was hard to focus, and she knew exactly why, though she didn't want to admit it to herself since it felt...inappropriate.

She didn't really see much of him that day. He was spending most of his time at the other part of the studio. She sent him a welcoming smile as he finally emerged to sit on the chair next to her. She wondered if it was obvious how excited she was.

"Let's see what you've got." he sighed waiting for her to show him the project.

Petra reached for her iPad and showed him the drawing. She was proud of it, but still nervous if it met his standards. His expression didn't change, so she couldn't tell. He took the device from her hands to take a closer look.

It was a floral pattern painted in the colors of autumn. Shades of brown and orange that perfectly fit the greens and silvers of his own tattoos. Around it was a quick sketch of those as well. She hoped that he didn't find it creepy that she remembered them.

Levi looked up at her. "It isn't really what I expected, but it will do." he said and restrained a smile that was forming on his face at the sight of her joy. She must have had some crazy power to make him feel this way.

"Thanks, I thought something like this would be a good balance to all the harshness that's going on around here" she explained and took the device back to print the design.

A few moments later she came back with a single page of tracing paper and disinfectant. She sat on the stool next to him and started matching the pattern to his forearm.

Levi could tell she spared extra attention for this piece, as usually she was definitely more talkative with her clients. The silence never bothered him, so he just watched her work. He was so used to the feeling of the needles that he didn't even flinch when they met his skin.

Instead, he looked up at her face. Petra was frowning, an unusual sight for him. It was kind of amusing.

"So..." he started and her face relaxed at the sound of his voice. "What happened?"

She looked up at him surprised, stopping her work for a moment.

"What?"

"You're never late. You're always at least thirty minutes before your first session to make sure that everyone has a good mood in the morning."

Petra's face flushed a little. It was true, in fact, she liked taking care of them and their morning drinks from the nearest coffee shop. It was her ritual, making sure others are happy, so she could spend her day in a good atmosphere. It was embarrassing that he had noticed.

"Well…" she looked away and quickly moved her attention back to his arm. "I couldn't really sleep last night."

"And why is that?"

The frown was back on her face but only for a moment.

"I was...occupied. And before I even noticed it was almost 4 in the morning." she responded lightly.

"What were you doing?" he asked directly, and she could feel he was still observing her.

She closed her eyes for a moment. Well, it was at least less embarrassing than what it could have been.

"You know, I was working on some projects, I-"

"This project?"

"This project." she answered right away and put her lips in a thin line.

She looked at him startled when he leaned into her tilted head.

"Dark circles do not really suit you, Petra." he said looking her in the eyes.

After a short moment of silence she cleared her throat and she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"You're the one to talk." she said softer than she intended and caught a slight smirk on his face before he moved away.

They spent most of the session talking casually about the upcoming tattoo convention. Levi told her that Hange came this morning saying that one of the big names cancelled their participation, and they needed someone to cover for them ASAP. Petra was supposed to be that cover apparently. Lately she became their main person to handle the social part of the business as she was the only one who actually enjoyed it.

She straightened herself and looked at the swollen skin around the tattoo in progress. It was taking a lot of time to fill the whole part in colors. She noticed that his hand twitched a bit when she cleaned it with a firm wipe, though his face didn't show any sign of pain.

"Ok, I think we are done for today." she said with a smile.

"Are you tired?" he asked, sending her a questioning look.

"No, but your skin definitely is."

"It's not a problem."

"It's red and swollen, I don't want to hurt you." she stated with a frown, her smile disappearing.

"I can take it, Ral." he assured her and their eyes met. She narrowed her eyes.

"Ackerman." she responded with a pout on her face.

"Will you disobey your bosses orders?"

"Oh? What kind of abuse of power is it?" she asked barely restraining a smile, and he could tell.

He was looking at her a bit too long before he responded. "Ok." he finally said and raised his arm closer to his face to take a closer look at it. Spending another afternoon with her alone wasn't such a bad idea.

Thank you for reading!

After consulting the last part with my sister who is an actual tattoo artist, it looks like Levi has just a really low pain threshold...well, let's just pretend that's normal.

Here is my fan art that started the idea of the AU :D
post/643220601462521856/rivetra-modern-au-in-which-levi-owns-a