Farlan spit on a man lying on the ground and stood up moving the knife away from his throat.

"If you ever decide to put your shoes in this city again, I'll cut you, bitch."

Levi was standing a few steps away, with his boot on another lying man's head. He was calm but had an eye on his friend in case he'd get too fired up.

The agonizing sound echoed in the narrow alley when Farlan pressed his trainer shoe harder on the wounded man's arm.

"Forget you ever knew about Isabel Magnolia's existence."


"You're such a drama king." Levi said when they got back to the car they rented. He was cleaning his hands in fast moves with wet wipes.

Farlan laughed and took one wipe from the box as well.

"They got on my nerves. And I can't let you always get the spotlight, please."

A short laugh that escaped Levi's mouth made Farlan smile. He started the car and rode out from the parking lot.

"It's nice to do those things together again, huh?"

Levi delayed his response.

"Yeah. It is." He agreed, putting his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.


"Hello!"

Petra turned from her workplace to greet her friend that just entered the parlor. Nifa was wearing a stylish raincoat; she just took the hood off her head. Lucky for them, the rain was light.

"Give me five minutes, and I'll be done here." She said when the strawberry haired woman looked around the room.

It was the first time she was there. She liked the industrial style, but it was overused in the last years, at least in her opinion. There was space for improvement. Nevertheless, she had to admit that shades of brown and green, joined with many plants, were composed with a good taste. She'd add flowers if someone would ask for her opinion.

After judging the interior design of the place, she approached the ginger and leaned towards her propping her hands on the back of the tattoo chair.

"So? How was it?" she asked in a low voice, even though they were the only ones in the room.

Petra perked her head up to send her a scolding look.

"Can't you wait with this until we'll be out of here?" she asked frowning but was unable to hide the smile that lurked on her lips.

Nifa propped her head on her hands, squeezing her cheeks. She was excited about the news.

"So it was good, huh." she judged based on her friend's behavior. The comment earned her a warning pat on the arm.

"You will wait for the tea until we get the tea." Petra joked and shook her head going back to cleaning up her stuff.

Nifa looked up hearing the sound of opening doors but couldn't find the source until she noticed a man going down the stairs on the back side of the parlor. He was absorbed in reading some papers he had in hand, and looked like he forgot to eat the sandwich he held in the other, since it stayed midair on its way to his mouth. A quick scan of his looks made her aware of who was the stranger. She moved in his direction before Petra even noticed he came down.

Levi looked up from the papers when he almost ran into a woman, who stood on his way to the office. He'd never seen her before, so she was greeted with one of his cold, irritated stares. The woman looked at him curious, then smiled.

"Hi, you must be Levi, right? The Ackerman?" she asked.

"Yes. Why are you in my way?" he asked, not raising his head even though she was taller than him. He took a bite of his sandwich.

"I'm Nifa, Petra's friend."

He stopped chewing and looked at the ginger that watched the scene. She sent him a nervous smile and got back to what she was doing.

Now he was the nervous one. It wasn't the best first impression. He had no idea how he should act towards her friends, normally it was her meeting his friends, but she was great at that. In his case, he'd rather not meet anyone new ever again.

"If you want tea or coffee there is a break room right there." he said awkwardly, gesturing with the papers to the right direction.

"I've heard a lot about you."

"Really…" he responded in a curious, yet sarcastic tone.

She laughed. Petra just finished wrapping up her equipment when she heard Nifa mentioning Rico, and she suddenly remembered that she'd never told him that she knew her. Looking back at her fresh to be boyfriend and best friend talking made her somewhat anxious. It was like her two words just collided. One of them knew everything about her while the other was blissfully unaware of, at least, most of her past problems. It felt like unstable ground. She panicked.

It took her a moment to approach them.

"...so if you'd want to refresh the place, here's my contact info." Nifa finished her monologue, by giving him her business card. He put the papers between his lips to reach for it and nodded to Petra before continuing his way to the office.


"He's kinda cute!"

"I'm glad you didn't say that to his face."

They were walking down the street to the city center. Rain stopped and even though the air was cold, the sun was compensating for it. Nifa reached for her friend's hand.

"I'm trying my best to not rush things." Petra started, looking at her shoes as they walked. "It just comes natural, somehow."

She sighed, raising her free hand to cover her eyes with it.

"I low-key told him I'm in love with him after sex."

"Petra, baby…" Nifa said softly and uncovered her face to make her look at her. "Don't worry it happens. You were probably full of emotions." she assured her with a small smile.

"It's...it's that I don't even know if that's true. He's just so good to me, I'm going crazy. I want to lock him in my house and never let him go." she sighed. Nifa was glad that she knew her friend enough to know she didn't mean that for real.

"Don't worry too much. If he's good to you, then it's good, and that's it. That's how it should be."


"Sometimes I worry that it's a matter of time until he will get bored."

Petra took a sip of her latte macchiato and sighed, visibly troubled.

"That would mean he has a tragic taste." Nifa said, confident of her words.

The ginger groaned.

They were sitting in their favorite coffee shop. They used to come here since high school. The beverages weren't even that good, but the sentimental value was too strong to drop it.

"Ok, let's say you're right, but still, I'd probably have to change the workplace then."

"Aren't you overthinking it?"

They exchanged doubtful looks, but for different reasons.

"They are right to say Never meet your heroes. They might break your heart." Petra sighed and received a warning glance from her friend, who laid hands on the table to lean to her.

"Stop being a dramatic poet. Embrace what life gives you and if you'll have doubts, call me. I will punch his ass."

Petra looked up at her and laughed loudly, imagining such a scenario.

"And what would you do then?" she teased her which made them both laugh.


A steel box laid on the floor in front of him. Levi was sitting in front of it for quite some time now. His room was getting dark, as the sun set a long time ago. He reached out his hand and opened the two locks on its sides. The Glock was old but perfectly preserved. It wasn't really anything special itself. For him, it signified the life before the parlor, before all his hard work to get to the somewhat safe point he was in now.

After a long moment staring at it, he closed the box in a rapid movement and slid it back under the closet.


A cold light lit the darkness of the kitchen as his phone buzzed on the counter. Levi ignored it for the first couple of seconds before grabbing the edge of the worktop to pull himself up. His hands were shaking when he reached for the phone. Just as he thought, it was her. If it were anyone else in this world he'd ignore it, but in that case, he couldn't bring himself to. He slowly dropped to the floor and leaned his back on the kitchen cabinet.

The call ended, so he picked her number again and took a deep breath.

"Hi! I thought you were asleep already. I didn't wake you up, did I?" Petra asked. Despite her excitement, her voice was soft and calming. He closed his eyes, so it could be the only thing for his mind to focus on.

"No, you didn't. I just couldn't pick up on time."

"You sound sleepy. Were you trying to fall asleep then?"

He laughed quietly in his deep voice.

"No. I'm tired, but my mind is too awake to sleep."

She hummed thoughtfully.

"I should try to cuddle you to sleep one day." She suggested sheepishly.

"I wonder if it would work. The word cuddle is so stupid, though. I don't like it." He said running his fingers through his hair. He stayed like that, propping his head on one hand.

"I will...embrace you with my arms until you fall into the land of Morpheus."

"Who the fuck is that?"

She laughed again, and he held back the tears that slowly gathered under his eyelids. As much as he liked to be in her presence, he couldn't imagine having her beside him every day. Damn woman would worry herself to death from seeing him like this. The worst part was that he couldn't do anything about it, aside from the meds that apparently didn't work as good as they should.

He let out a sigh instead.

"Where would you want to go on that date?" He asked.

"Anywhere with you is fine."

"This isn't really helping, Petra."

"Oh? What happened to Pet?"

"You're Pet in bed only."

"You're so silly, I can't…" she laughed again. He loved the sound of it.

"I've never been on a date." He shared, not bothered by this fact. "It's not really my thing."

"Really? We can just hang out if that's more comfortable for you." She proposed.

"No, I don't mind. I'll think of something, just don't expect too much. I don't want to disappoint you."

"Levi, you can't disappoint me." She said softly.

"Is that a challenge?"

"If I was there, I'd hit you on the arm, you know?"

"That's called physical abuse."

"So? I can go to jail if it will make you stop saying stupid things."

He sighed again, but there was a small smile audible in his voice.

"Pet, go to sleep."

"Fine. But you should try too."

"I will."

"Good... goodnight Levi."

"Goodnight."


Petra lowered the hand with her phone when the call ended. He was in a bad state, clearly. She knew him well enough to know that asking about it wouldn't work. As much as it will be hard, she had to wait for him to be ready to share it with her.


He was texting with Hange on his laptop when he heard a knock on the doors to his office.

"Come in."

Petra's peachy head appeared looking at him through the ajar door before the rest of her entered the room.

"Aren't you free today?" he asked, a bit surprised.

"I am. I came here for you." she said, approaching his desk to put a cup of tea in front of him. He looked at it for a longer moment.

"You should rest when you have free days." he said, moving the cup closer to himself.

Petra sat on the other side of the desk and put her folded arms on it.

"Are you going to tell me what I can and can't do?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm just saying."

"I thought we could finish coloring your tattoo today."

"That's work."

"It's not, I'll be spending my time with you."

He huffed and also leaned on the desk in her direction.

"You're so stubborn. Do you think you will always get what you want?"

"I think you won't resist me." she said, looking him deep in the eyes until he squinted his own.

"You're lucky I don't have much to do."


"So we're thinking of opening some kind of courses for young beginners." Levi said while she worked on filling the last empty spots on his forearm with orange ink. He was looking at the ceiling but then averted his eyes at her. "It was Eld's idea. At first, I thought it's fucking stupid, I hate teenagers, but apparently there are subsidies for that."

Petra hummed deep in thought, not taking her eyes off her work.

"I didn't know you wanted subsidies. Is there some trouble with the business?"

"No." he said without much emotion put into it. "Hange proposed that I should open more parlors and ride between them, especially since I barely take clients myself."

"Is that something you want to do?"

"I wouldn't mind getting money for managing spaces and guaranteeing good quality that comes with our name."

"And you think those youngsters would be good candidates?" she asked doubtfully.

"Hell no. But Eld says it's good for PR. Or whatever. I never thought I'd have to worry about shit like that."

"I get it. So, you want to become a Chairman."

Levi frowned but gave it a deeper thought.

"It sounds fucking weird, but I think so."

"Hm...you'll probably have some nice photo sessions if you'd get to be the face of the company." she shared what was in her mind.

"Are you imagining me in a suit or shirtless right now?"

She looked up at him, furrowing her brows.