He was suddenly woken up by an unfamiliar sound. As usual, he was fully awakened and ready for anything. It was a habit he got since childhood.

A shiver behind him caught his attention. Petra slept on her side, with her back turned to him. He sat up and looked at her, frowning as her body twitched again.

"Pet?" he said in a raspy voice. He tried to see her face, but he couldn't, it was too dark. Reaching his hand out, he slowly turned her to her back. A moonlight lightened her face, glowing in the tears on her cheeks.

"Petra." He tried a bit louder. Not sure if she was sleeping or just pretending to leave her alone. In any case, he wasn't about to.

Her expression was sad, and he couldn't stand to look at it. He wanted to delicately shake her arm but when he touched her again, she opened her eyes and grabbed his arm. He tensed at her sudden reaction, but didn't move.

He could see she was only grasping what was happening around her. Her breaths were heavy. When her eyes finally found his face she held her breath.

"You're…" she started in a weak voice, still not letting go of him.

"Another nightmare?"

"Nightmare…" she repeated after him, furrowing her eyebrows.

"You don't have to be scared, you're safe." He told her calmly and her face softened at the sound of his voice.

She lightened the grip on his arm and slid her fingers to his hand to pull it to her cheek while she closed her eyes.

"I don't want to wake up." she murmured.

Levi sighed and caressed her wet cheek with his thumb.

"You already did," he answered and waited for her response but nothing came even though he could see her blinking slowly. After a moment longer, he raised his arm and pulled her closer to his chest. It wasn't easy to guess what to say, so he imagined what he would want to hear in her place. "You're ok. I'm here."

Her hands gripped the front of his shirt as she tried not to cry again. After a longer moment, she moved her head to look up at him.

"Sorry for waking you up." She said softly as he caressed his hand up her back.

"It's nothing."

"I haven't had those nightmares since...the last time. I'm sorry, I always feel this...fear when I wake up."

"Am I in the nightmare?"

He was looking at her with a calm look on his face. Yes, he was tired, but aside from that he was at peace. Being there with her, he felt detached from reality.

"I... I'm not sure. It's more like a feeling. I need to know if you're ok. When I wake up, I feel like I'm mentally still...there." she tried to explain, but it was coming hard to her.

"But why me?"

She looked him in the eyes.

"I don't know."

He believed her words, yet it didn't stop to bother him. He was playing with the strand of her hair between his fingers. Petra smiled at him.

"I lied, you know. Before. I was crushing on you even before I met you in person."

Her smile got even wider at the sight of his confused frown.

"But you didn't even see my face."

"I saw your tattoos, and your shirtless body...AND the way you responded to hate comments." she said amused, but still keeping her voice low.

"What is with you and being into my worst traits?"

"It's not that. It was just funny and satisfying to watch. But honestly, it's good that Oulo took over the parlor's Instagram now. I feel like you swear even more in texting than in real life."

He grunted and laid down his hand on the mattress behind her back, embracing her loosely.

"You should go back to sleep."

"I... I'd prefer to wait a bit more." she replied and the worry in her voice slipped from her smile. He focused his eyes on her hearing this.

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?" he asked and was glad to see her smile looking more honest again.

"I want to know when you started to like me too." she replied.

"Uh... seriously?"

"You can tell me, I won't tell anyone," she laughed.

Levi rolled his eyes and looked away with a doubtful expression.

"I don't know. Probably somewhere when I got used to you being around and the fact that spending time with you wasn't a task. It was fine."

She watched his irritated expression as he spoke. It was clear it was hard for him to talk of anything like that. She didn't mind but also didn't want to push him too much.

"It took me sometime too, you know. You weren't like this perfect idol I've made up in my mind. But it turned out the short-tempered, grumpy, scary man was everything I wanted."

He looked her in the eyes when she started playing with his hair.

"What are you thinking about right now?"

"I'm going out of my mind."

Petra moved her head higher on the pillow to see him better.

"Why?"

He didn't respond right away, only looked at her trying to estimate if he should...no, if he could share what was going on in his head. Fuck it, he thought, he was tired enough to care less. Still, it was hard to verbalize it.

"I don't believe it will work. Us. I'm really fucked up, and I don't think you should deal with that." he said in a tired voice, but didn't take his eyes off her.

Her look softened at his words. She stopped stroking his hair and placed her hand behind his ear.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not the most mentally stable person myself. We all have our burdens," she said, caressing his cheek with her thumb. "That doesn't mean we are unlovable. You...you helped me when I needed it, I don't mind helping you too."

He averted his eyes from her and sighed.

"You don't believe me." she judged.

"I don't think you know what you are signing up to."

"Then let me see. I will decide if I want you or not. It's my decision, you know? And so far, I'm happy with you. Really."

He noticed she sent him a smile and closed his eyes. This time it was Petra who sighed and pulled his head to her chest in a hug.

"I won't let you go."


"Please, don't leave us again. Please..."

Listening to her sleep talk, he was convinced that it was nonsense. Still, he couldn't stop the feeling of uneasiness.

Something deep inside him felt guilty.


When Petra woke up in the morning, she wasn't surprised to not find him beside her. After turning off the alarm, she got out of bed and stretched. Even the rain couldn't ruin her mood. She felt good. Not especially happy, but at peace.

She found Levi cleaning the floor in the kitchen. It wouldn't be that weird, not for him, but he was on his knees with a kitchen towel.

"Good morning. What are you doing?" she asked, leaning on the door frame.

He looked at her, wrinkling his nose in a grimace.

"You need to raise your standards."

"Are you polishing my floor?"

"Yes, of course. Why else clean it if it isn't perfect?"

She laughed softly and made her way to crouch down next to him.

"You don't have to clean my house when you wake up early. Please, I feel bad." she said, taking the towel from his hand.

"I don't mind. But still, you should do that yourself."

After his words he earned a peck on the nose, which caused him to wrinkle it again.

"Please, I'm barely here lately. I spent like, half of my days in the Parlor, with you or going out."

They exchanged glances as the same thought went through their minds but none of them decided to share it.


Few weeks later, they were already checking the other apartment that was supposed to be the next parlor in the future. This one was bigger, but even with that, Petra was too nostalgic about their current one to want to move here.

Even with that in mind, she couldn't disagree that the place was beautiful. It was still a work in progress but the project that Nifa made for it, was coming together perfectly.

Petra recalled the day Nifa came to the parlor and, to her surprise, was there not for her but for Levi. It turned out that it was worth it to give him that business card.

"It's quite big," she said, approaching her boyfriend who looked around. "Do you want to make it the main parlor?"

"I don't know yet. The location is better, and the interior will be more modern. So maybe. But at the same time I don't want the new people in the future working below my home."

She hummed thoughtfully. He looked at her.

"What is it?"

"Hmm?"

"You do that when you're worrying but don't want to say anything."

She flushed, as even she was unaware of this trait of hers.

"Well, I was just thinking… I really liked our small parlor family. It will be weird when it becomes a company."

He was watching her, not really sure how to respond.

"Yeah, I like it too. I don't have it all planned yet, but still, if we're going to get those teenage interns, we need a bigger place."

"Ok, to be fair, I can't wait to teach them. It will be so much fun," she said with a big smile.

"I will be surprised if I won't become a drug addict from trying to deal with them."

He didn't react when Petra punched his arm.


Farlan smiled at him when he got out of the parlor. It was a cold night, which wasn't surprising by now, but at least it was not windy. Levi stopped a few steps in front of his friend, his hands buried in the pockets of his leather jacket.

"Ready?" the blonde asked, pushing himself away from the car he was leaning on. He opened the driver's door and only then noticed that his short friend didn't move. He looked at Levi puzzled.

"I don't want to do it anymore. It's not worth it." he said.

Farlan's smile died slowly, and he turned his head to the side for a moment before looking him in the eyes again.

"You said it was fun. Like, at least a few times. I know you like beating the shit out of people, so what? At least they pay you for it here."

Levi felt tired at the thought. Farlan was right but at the same time, the image of Petra worrying over him If he ended up being accused again, hurt more. She started to slowly make him believe that MAYBE, maybe even someone like him could have a normal life. Sooner or later.

"I'm done, that's it. And you better stop too because I'll have to save your ass, knowing you." he said, grumpy as always, but he didn't mean to insult him.

This is why he couldn't grasp where his serious face was coming from.

Farlan grit his teeth looking at him. Something in him felt heartbroken. It was like the situation was mirroring their past. Suddenly, the image of the furious face Levi sent him when he tried to stop him from killing Dieter came back to his mind.

"You know what? Fuck you. You were the one to show me this world. All of this is your fault. And now what? You're leaving me to live your new perfect life, right?"

"The fuck, are you talking about? I'm not leaving you, I'm leaving this job."

"Sure, just like you did three years ago."

A long silence fell between them and Farlan was the first one to break eye contact.

"I don't even care that you didn't apologize. Of course, not to me."

"What do you want from me? Going to my knees and beg for forgiveness? I told you I don't regret leaving you two, it was the best I could do," Levi responded, and a tense line appeared between his eyebrows.

Farlan lurched at him, but Levi stopped the fist from hitting his face. The tall man's expression was even angrier now.

"You didn't do shit, you ran, like the coward you are, you always run," he said and snatched his hand back.

Levi dodged another hit and in a fluid move grabbed his arm to knock him down.

"You need to calm down," he said looking down at his friend.

"Let go of me," Farlan demanded and Levi stepped back, freeing him. He slowly stood up. "You know what's bothering me? Even though I almost died, you were pitying only yourself. You focused only on the fact that it was your fault. Which isn't even true." he said angrily.

When Farlan moved to him again, Levi didn't stop his hand. The actual impact of his fist meeting his face surprised the blonde, but it didn't calm his emotions. Levi snatched his head back to him and kicked him in the stomach with his knee.

Farlan grunted but didn't fall.

"Do you think your sadness helped me in any way? I got a fucking trauma from that, and if that wasn't enough, you left me a 19-year-old to take care of alone. You're such a shit family," he continued between their kicks and punches. Suddenly, it felt like they were back in their teenage years. Beating the shit out of each other with every argument.

As he finished his last sentence, Levi let him push him down. He fell on his back and stayed there.

Farlan looked at him from above, but didn't do anything else.

Levi laid on the dirty pavement, though at this moment, he had bigger problems to worry about."

"I'm sorry."

Farlan blinked and moved closer to him.

"For real. I'm not good at any shit like that. I was never meant to be your or Isabel's caretaker or leader or whatever. But I don't regret it. I dead ass decided to leave you alone for your own sake."

The man above him tried to control his heavy breath from the fight and eventually leaned down to reach out his hand.

Levi grabbed it and got back up.

"You're such a shitty brother."

"Tsk. Give me a break. I'm trying," Levi responded grumpily and wiped the blood running from his nose with the back of his fingers.


Spinning the keys on her finger, Petra reached the entrance of the Parlor. She smiled at the sight of Eld when she went inside.

"Good morning!" she chirped and both him and his client responded to her greeting. She came closer to check what he was tattooing and after taking her coat off, she stayed there for a little chat before going upstairs.

When she entered Levi's apartment, she was surprised to hear a lighthearted tune echoing in there. She would never expect him to listen to music like that. She took off her shoes and went to investigate the living room only to find a blonde man spread on the couch. He held his phone above his head. The music was loud enough for him to not notice her until she came close to the side of the couch and bent to see his face.

"Hey," she said, startling him. The phone fell down, bouncing from his chin to his chest.

"Hey, Pe-"

"Oh my god, what happened to your face?!" she asked terrified and held the sides of his head, investigating the bruises.

"I fell down from the stairs?" he tried and was met with her angry look right away.

"Ugh. I'm so done with this, who will be next? What is this? Where is Levi?" she asked, straightening up and Farlan followed, sitting up, and turned, setting his feet on the floor. He was praying that she didn't notice the blush that appeared on his face from their closeness.

"Eh...from what you're saying, I don't think you want to see him." he said, and she looked at him in a way that got him low-key terrified. "He's in the bedroom. Sleeping. I think." he added quickly.

Petra took a deep breath and rushed to his room. She was mad but also scared of what happened this time. She opened the door, and stopped abruptly right after she went in. He was lying on his side, and he seemed to be in deep slumber. She closed the door silently and made her way to his single bed. After a moment of investigating his face with worry, she sat on the floor and laid her cheek on the mattress near his head. There was a bruise on his nose and left cheekbone.

It was too risky to touch him right now. Whatever happened, it was not worth taking away his rare chance to rest.