Hello and good morning everyone!

This week was great in terms of my writing, and I'm feeling pretty inspired so I think this week I'll be able to keep that momentum going! As always (and I hope yall don't get sick of hearing it) I really appreciate yall sticking around for after the break, and then being awesome for the random upload this past week as I brought something new to the table – it encourages me and helps me fight past the laziness and writer's block, which has been a real hurdle as of late. I really do love writing, so it was nice to finally have a week where I felt like I got it right haha. 2020 yall. What a year.

Either way, happy Sunday and I hope yall had an awesome week. Enjoy the upload!

…

...

Petra had stirred due to a slight tickle that ran up the expanse of her back – and she gave a soft sigh as the warm fingers of her Captain trailed up her skin in a whispering, lazy caress.

"…Levi? Mhn, ev'thing okay?"

His fingers stilled in momentary surprise and after a moment Petra felt him come closer toward her, his chest pressing against her back as he leaned closer to smell her hair, "Fuck, sorry. Didn't mean to wake you."

"No, is' fine." she whispered softly, turning off her side so she could rest on her back and look at him directly. She struggled to see him in the dark, and she almost frowned in sudden confusion because the room was almost pitch black, "It's really dark still; what time is it?"

"Early." Levi confirmed simply, "Earlier than I'd like in all honesty, but I'm awake and I may as well get a jump on some things while everyone else is still asleep." Levi sat up from his previous position, and Petra gave a halfhearted grumble at the loss of warmth as he continued, "Think I'll try to get more of the paperwork done, but I'll check in with Erwin first – make sure there's nothing else I need to see to before officially reporting in."

Petra gave a half-awake nod and blinked a few more times as she tried to collect her thoughts, not sure if she wanted to wake up for the day or just fall back asleep in attempts to get a few more hours of rest before training. She adjusted her head back onto the pillow, leaning more toward the center of the bed from where Levi's body heat was still radiating from the mattress, "…Is Erwin even awake?"

"He will be soon enough."

Had she been more awake, she would have found his statement amusing, however she only gave a tired nod and yawned softly. She watched in silence as Levi moved out of bed, blinking a few more times in attempts to clear the sleepy haze from her mind, "You want any help? If you give me another ten minutes, I can get up and-"

Levi was already starting the process of getting dressed for the day, starting with his pants and shirt, then moving to the closet to retrieve his harness, speaking as he did so, "No. This is your first day back and just like I told Erwin, I don't want you getting into the habit of getting stuck behind a desk. Granted, I am pretty behind so I won't reject whatever help you're willing to provide along the way – but not first thing in the morning like this when you should be sleeping." Levi sat down on the bed, working on arranging the straps of his harness across his legs as he continued, "Besides, I'm not even sure when I'll get back to my office. It's one thing to help, but another entirely for you to do it all alone."

Petra sat up from the bed and gave a yawn, watching Levi as he stood up and began pulling the harness up his back and chest, tightening the straps piece by piece so they were secured and in proper position. She eventually exhaled, "You seem to have thought about this a lot Captain."

The Ackerman merely nodded, "A bit, I suppose. It's a difficult balance, because in truth I appreciate the help and I don't plan on rejecting it any time soon but, at the end of the day it is my squad and it's my workload to balance. It's not fair for me to get onto Erwin about taking advantage of you, while doing the exact same thing myself."

Petra gave a hum, shifting back underneath the blankets and watching her Captain with a devilish smirk, "You think you take advantage of me?"

Levi was still bustling throughout his room, but her question made him pause in step and he watched her with a remorseful, even stare, "I don't mean to but…maybe sometimes, I just can't help it. I'm selfish and you make it too damn easy."

Petra paused from her sudden glee of having the entire bed to herself and she sighed at his oddly serious words, because she had only been teasing him, yet it seemed that he had taken her comment at face value and naturally was being far too hard on himself. She tried not to frown, "Levi, don't take this the wrong way but…sometimes you think too much, okay? For a guy who defaults to keeping people at a distance, I somewhat wonder if you can even tell the difference between taking advantage of someone, versus just acknowledging the fact that you don't have to go it alone all the time. Maybe you learning to accept help, maybe that's what you need to work on, you know?"

Levi smirked at her sudden assessment and he grabbed his tan jacket, slowly putting an arm through a sleeve as he nodded toward her, "Now who's thinking too much."

She gave a shrug, "If you should change your mind."

He moved toward the door and watched her as she slowly shifted back down across his bed, relaxing back into the sheets and Levi almost found himself trying to capture the moment, trying to take a mental picture that he could forever immortalize, because Petra staying with him, and him being able to wake up to her in his arms as they went about their morning, even a casual, simple morning like this – some part of him couldn't help but feel it was fleeting, or too perfect to be real.

"Try to get some sleep, Pet."

…

...

"Oh fuck, that's the stuff. Gods, I missed this." Eld all but moaned after taking a drink of his morning coffee, and Petra practically snorted from her side of the table, rolling her eyes at the blonde's dramatic reaction to, by all definitions, a simple cup of coffee.

"Should I leave you and the coffee pot alone for a little while, Eld?" she remarked dryly, and Eld shook his head, taking another long drink from his cup and giving one more dramatic, pleased and guttural sound of contentment.

"Don't tempt me, Petra. Oluo and I switched back and forth trying to make the coffee while you guys were away, but neither of us could really get the right ratios so it was okay at best. Man, it's been too long since I've had a proper cup of coffee – I almost forgot how it's supposed to taste."

Petra grinned at his summary and the blonde set his coffee down with a silent thud as his expression slightly sobered, "You sleep well last night? First night back in the Compound after, what, a month of being away? Bet it was weird."

Petra thought his words over and eventually nodded, "Yeah. I know we've got our own rooms and all, but while we were on vacation, he and I just shared a room, slept on the same bed, and I guess now I'm pretty used to it. Four weeks isn't all that long when compared to the five plus years from before, but even still, I adjusted to it all the same because going back to my own room last night and trying to fall asleep alone was a little…disheartening."

She paused and a slight smile pulled at her lips, a faint blush beginning to warm her cheeks as she continued speaking, "But it wasn't all bad. After an hour of tossing and turning, Captain showed up and asked if I wanted to stay in his room for the night instead. Levi can be really touchy about things, and I don't want to crowd him or be too needy or anything like that, but admittedly, I was pretty relieved when he came knocking. It was nice – a good way to end our vacation. He got up pretty early this morning, and even though he often dressed in uniform for the days he trained at the Garrison's Outpost, even still…there was something really special about waking up with him, watching him get ready for the day and getting to see the man that he is when he doesn't have to be Humanity's Strongest."

Eld was watching her with a knowing, pleased smile and she groaned at his smug stare, feeling her face burn an even deeper shade of red as she looked into the table and mumbled, "Yeah, I'll spare you from having to ask – I've got it pretty bad for him, Eld. He's…well, he's my future and I'm almost giddy about it, to the extent that it's borderline embarrassing."

Eld took another drink of his coffee and smiled warmly at her faint blush, "Nothing to be embarrassed about, Petra. I can tell you're happy, which is good, because before you left I told Captain that if you came back as anything less than, and I'd have to beat him up. We both know how damn hard it would be to actually take him on, so I'm glad I don't have to try to make good on that threat. Trying to beat the shit out of someone like Levi sounds exhausting."

Petra rolled her eyes at hearing that yet another person had threatened him regarding their relationship, and Eld nodded toward Petra curiously, "Honestly – and you don't have to answer, I'm just curious – have you guys considered moving your things in together? Captain's room is all alone on the end of the hall, pretty far away from ours, so it would give you a bit more privacy and you'd be able to see each other more than just during the day. You'd like that, right? I mean, you did a good job of making it work, but your so called 'bedroom' is just an emptied-out office, so you're due for an upgrade. Captain's room is pretty nice, much larger than any of ours, so I'm sure that you guys could just rearrange it to make it work out as a shared space for the both of you. Touchy or not, it kinda just makes more sense if you stop to think about it, I mean, you are married so one would think you'd be ready to start living together, right?"

Petra thought the question over, looking into her morning cup of coffee and eventually giving a sigh as she shook her head, "Honestly, no, we haven't talked about that but…I think he and I are both sort of planning to just stay in our own rooms for the time being. During vacation we took a lot of steps forward, considering all the alone time gave us the needed opportunity to finally talk about what we wanted, and – some of this is me guessing considering we haven't had that dialogue – while I don't think he'd be opposed to that outright, the dust needs to settle first, you know? There's no rush to us living together; I'm honestly really proud of where we are and I don't want to push it. Right now our focus is on the Expedition and then the end of year rankings are right around the corner, where I'll have some big decisions to make and the timing would just be all wrong."

Petra nodded to herself in sudden reflection, "Sometimes you just have to accept the victories as they come and not press your luck. As it stands, I kinda feel like I've already been riding that line for far too long."

Eld smirked and mumbled into his coffee cup, "Yeah, that ain't all you been riding. I'll bet that's bought you a bit of leeway."

Petra's eyes widened and she scoffed, "Eld! I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

"Lo, she doesn't deny it."

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Eld, but to be frank, it's been a long time coming and in some ways, it was a desperately needed escape for both of us. We made the most of our time, but the starting few weeks of vacation were long and miserable. The last half of the trip made up for it I suppose, but that first week and a half at my Dad's – that was rough. Especially for Captain."

"Ah, I was wondering about that. Dad didn't take too well to him, I presume?"

Petra shook her head and gave a miserable groan, "To put it lightly. Levi actually has a lot more self-control than I expected, which is good, because my Dad was really going for blood and really asking for a beating. Somehow Captain kept his cool through almost all of it, and after seeing that things were as good as they were going to get, we left. Took the last two weeks to ourselves and it was…really nice."

Eld watched her knowingly, "The trip did you a lot of good, I can tell. You and him feel better about your arrangement? You both went into it headfirst and there was nothing to be done but accept it and make the most of your situation so-"

Petra couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips and she looked into the table with an almost disbelieving laugh, "Actually Eld, about that. Back home, it's a little convoluted and I'll spare you the details, but the long and the short is…we could have separated. There was a document prepared and if I had signed it we would have been legally annulled so…not married anymore."

Eld almost choked on his coffee and he set the cup down as though afraid he'd drop it outright from the sudden shock of her words, "Wait, what?" He looked at Petra's expression and turned toward her directly, "What happened back home? You and him aren't married now? Petra, what happened on that trip?!"

At his dramatic words and considerably wide eyes, Petra's laugh grew louder still and she shook her hands mirthfully, "Eld, no. Calm down. Levi – at first it sounded like he wanted to go through with it where we would have separated and-"

"He didn't want to stay married to you? Why? I thought you both…" Eld's voice was clearly confused, and Petra shook her head.

"No, it wasn't anything like that at all. You know how sensitive something like this is to someone like Levi so I don't want to say too much but…" Petra tried to pick her words and a familiar heat began to creep up her neck as she allowed herself to replay the memory in her mind, "He said that if we got it annulled, then we could get married , he actually proposed to me. He wanted us to stay together, for real, and get married, for real. It was all his idea – he was…he was really going to do it all, just to make me happy."

Eld watched as her face began to glow red from her still intensifying blush, and he grinned as he watched Petra try to hide her large smile behind her coffee cup, as though outright struggling to hold back her sheer elation. Watching her and mentally trying to picture the scenario, Eld couldn't help the few chuckles that left his throat, because thinking of someone like Levi, a man of few words, having such a personal conversation with a gentle spirit like Petra - that would have been something to see. "Well I'll be, Petra – I'm so happy for you because I know how much that means to you, coming from someone like the Captain. So if I understand all of this properly, you guys are…" Eld recounted the details and made a face, "Uh…engaged? I guess?"

"No," she said simply, fiddling with the ring on her hand, "In the end we agreed to just leave everything as it is now and save the hassle. I know that's a little anticlimactic, but just knowing that we had the option, and chose each other anyway – I think that means more to me than some big, ridiculous event. It may have all started out a little forced, but at this point there's nothing forced about it. We had the choice to break it off and we didn't so…yeah. I guess it's the real deal from here on out."

Eld couldn't help the amused chuckle that left his lips and as he was about to speak, there was a familiar sound of boots tapping across the tile, and Levi walked into the room a few moments later. The blonde sighed and turned around over the back of his chair with a smug grin, "You know Captain, it's hard to gossip about you when you're right there. Pretty rude of you to interrupt us like that; I didn't even get to the good part to see how you ever worked it out with her Dad."

"Paid him off." Levi said flatly, his expression showing nothing more than a mere trace of irritation as he took his place at the table, and Petra chuckled at Levi's dry and sarcastic words, shaking her head as she looked between the two men in amusement.

As Eld watched Levi for a long moment, Petra gave a sigh and eventually explained, "Honestly Eld, it wasn't my Dad at all. I mean, it was, because my Dad signed off on everything and obviously caused us a lot of problems, but it was actually my ex."

Eld looked back toward Petra in surprise and groaned, "Ugh, Timmy? He's the guy that promised his undying love to you but then shipped off to school in the very next breath, right? Honestly, I'm surprised that after all this time he just resurfaced out of nowhere and-"

"I know!" Petra waved a hand dramatically, somewhat just happy that someone else was just as blindsided as she had been, but before Petra could speak further, there was a sudden scoff from the Captain, who was looking between Petra and Eld with suddenly wide eyes.

"Wait. How…how the hell does Eld know about Timmy? By name, no less; that and your guy's whole damn history about how he was in love with you and all that shit? You told him who knows how long ago, but telling me something like that just slipped your mind?"

Both Petra and Eld were watching the suddenly frustrated Ackerman with surprised expressions, and Levi rolled his eyes and almost grumbled, "You know how much time it would have saved me if you had thought to tell me those details? Could have kicked that bastard to the curb on that very first night; saved us all a week of irritation and bullshit."

Instead of getting frustrated or off put by the Captain's obvious annoyance, Eld only shrugged, "She tells me everything. Well, not everything everything, but a lot. Frankly Captain, she'd tell you too, but sometimes you have to know the right questions to ask. Did you ever ask for the guy's name? Ask how he broke her heart or why it took her so long to forget about him and move on?" The Captain's expression soured and Eld motioned toward him with a tilt of his head, speaking in a quiet chuckle before taking another drink of his coffee, "Next time do a little bit more digging, Captain – you might be surprised what you can find out if you just put the work in."

Levi mumbled a choice few words to himself and fell silent once again, and Petra gave a sort of laugh, "Sorry Captain. But yeah Eld, it was all Timmy just being a punk and making my life hell because that's what he's good at doing, I suppose. Either way, Dad met Levi, Dad didn't like Levi, Levi didn't like Dad, but on the plus side, I think he's done meddling because it kinda bit him in the ass. More than anything, I think it's as resolved as its ever going to be, so all's well that ends well, I guess."

Petra gave a sigh of finality then nodded towards the clock with a suspicious frown, "Eld, where are the guys at? I know I've been out of the loop for a while but if they don't get out here soon, they're going to miss out on coffee and I tried really hard to make sure it was a good blend. I was hoping I'd get to see everyone before we all went our separate ways for training. I got to bump into you last night, but I still haven't seen the other two yet and it would be nice to at least say hi. I really missed you guys, you know?"

It was the Captain that responded, "They went out to the bar last night and Oluo got wasted. Eld recommended that I give them a late start, and I figured that with the fact you were wanting to use the 3DM gear today-"

"Levi, you promised." Petra cut in with a serious expression, and Levi gave a conceding nod.

"I did. That's why the guys and I will have training after lunch break, and I'll have the morning to watch over your training specifically. Not that I'm happy Oluo's probably puking his guts out, but all things considered, we'll make it work in our favor for everyone."

Petra listened to Levi's explanation, giving a slow nod as she almost absently rose up from the table, wearing a rather strange expression that caused both men to watch her in growing concern and curiosity. She cleared her throat and nodded toward Levi, hesitantly backing away from the table step for step as though still lost in her thoughts and uncertain of what she was actually doing. "Hey uh Captain, I think I uh…I want to go check up on him. You guys are all really stubborn about things like this, and I want to make sure he's taking care of himself. I won't take long, you know? It's just…" She gave a dazed shake of her head and murmured to herself, "I kinda think that it would be the best if…well, I think he and I have some things to talk about."

Levi quirked a single eyebrow, admittedly surprised by her words, but he gave an accepting shrug, because it wasn't exactly like he could tell her no. He took a drink of his coffee and watched her move out of the room, "Don't be late."

"I won't be."

There was a long silence between the two men, and eventually, without even looking at him, Eld shook his head and spoke into his coffee cup with a passive, even tone, "You told her? Pretty heartless of you, Captain."

Levi frowned, admittedly feeling a slight twinge of guilt because at the time his desire for Petra, his frustrations with her father, and the absolute misery that had been learning about her past with Timmy – he had perhaps said a bit too much in the heat of the moment.

The Captain gave a nod, "Yeah."

He watched in irritation as Eld gave a slow, pleased smirk, and Levi felt a frown come to his face, "Oi, the hell are you smirking for, after calling me heartless?"

Eld only shrugged and his smirk grew all the more, "Oh it's nothing Captain – it's just not Gunther's day so it seems. Let's just say we all made a few wagers while you guys were gone, and at this rate, I'm gonna be set to retire before the week's up. You know Captain, if you ever want to have a little side hustle of your own, I'm sure there's a few deals you and I could make because-"

Levi scoffed, "Spare me. Anyone who's stupid enough to bet against you is bound to regret it, and I'll have you know that you're about to lose one of your avenues of profit because Petra is done – she just doesn't know it yet."

Eld scoffed and gave an overly dramatic shake of his head, "Oh Captain you wound me! I have gone out of my way to do you a favor and this is how you betray me."

Levi turned to one side to pour himself a cup of coffee, his expression blank as he responded, "Guess you lost that bet, huh?"

Eld chuckled as he fell back into his chair, a certain laxness to his posture as he spoke in a pensive sigh, "…I guess so. It really is good to have you back, Old man. And Captain…"

"Hm?"

"Petra told me that while you guys were out there, you had the option to split up for good, but you decided to stay together instead. She said that you actually proposed to her because you wanted to make it a real relationship, instead of just a contract – is that right?"

The Captain visibly paled, but after a long moment where Eld merely held his stare all the more, he gave a defeated, flustered mumble, "Uh…well yeah."

"I see." Eld looked back to his coffee cup and grinned, "…Congratulations, Captain."

Another silence fell across the room, and it didn't escape the blonde's notice that there was a small, but unmistakable smile on the Captain's face as well.

….

….

"Hey, Oluo, Gunther? Can I come in?"

Petra's voice came in from outside the doorway, and Oluo almost groaned at the sound and sat up from his bed with a grimace. He brought a hand up to his head and spoke up, "You can come in but it's just me. Gunther left a while ago, wanted to brush out his horse or something."

The door handle gave a metallic click and Petra slowly poked her head in, her eyebrows knit together in concern as her eyes scanned the dorm room for Oluo. She found him easily enough, having been in the guy's room a handful of times over the years – usually for drinking or board games or general shenanigans that were best kept out of the common room where a certain Captain wouldn't get annoyed.

Oluo was sitting up in his bed, a miserable frown on his face as he blinked slowly and rubbed his forehead. He looked up toward Petra and spoke through a groan, "Am I in trouble or something? Eld said that Captain was giving us a half day or whatever so I didn't think it'd be a big deal to stay in bed."

Petra moved further into the room and sat on the end of his bed, almost chuckling at the sad state her friend was in because even without being given the forewarning of his hungover state, she would have figured it out rather easily on her own. There was a sheen layer of sweat across his forehead, his eyes were blood shot, and based off the way he was glaring at the light that was filtering throughout the room, it was obvious that he was suffering from light sensitivity as well. "No Oluo, you're fine. I don't have a lot of time because I'm going to start training here in a bit, but I wanted to come in here and check on you, or at the very least say hi because I haven't seen you yet and we've been gone for a while. Captain told me that you were feeling pretty hungover, and no offense, but you look terrible."

Oluo gave a chuckle and adjusted himself upward against the head of the bed, pulling his legs in and rubbing his head with a passing sweep of his fingers, "Is that right? Well a night out with two bastards shoving endless drinks in your face will do that to ya; I feel awful. Honestly, half of the night I can't even remember. The guys assured me I didn't do anything stupid, but still. It's been a long time since I've gotten that shitfaced, so I guess I'm pretty lucky that Captain is allowing a half day instead."

"I'm sorry." Petra said in a soft voice, and she reached into her pocket and produced a packet of seltzer tablets, "Here, I actually brought you these. I had a few left over in my room and I thought that might help, at least a little." Her voice grew uncertain, and she looked back toward the door with a shake of her head, "I guess it's not that much good to you without a glass of water though. I'm sorry, I should have thought of that. If you want, I can go grab you a glass. It's no trouble, you know? I'm just…well, I'm really sorry."

Oluo blinked, his face contorting from sudden confusion at the odd string of apologies and he watched her for a long moment. When Petra seemed to grow all the more uneasy, her gaze nervously flitting from him, to the other end of the room as though she couldn't hold his stare for long, Oluo crossed his arms, "It's fine, Petra. I appreciate it and I'm sure they'll come in handy."

She nodded and handed the packet to him with an insincere, nervous smile, "Oh well it's no trouble; none at all. Uh, do you need anything else? Like headache medicine or maybe an extra blanket or something? If you're not comfortable then you won't relax, and I'd hate for you to feel miserable during training. You've still got time to sleep it off so…so just tell me what you need and I can-"

Oluo grimaced at just how quickly Petra was spitting words at him and he shook his head, watching her through slitted, suspicious eyes at her increasingly strange behavior, "Petra is…is everything okay? I get that you always play the mom role when one of us gets sick but…" the man tried to pick his words, but with his spinning head and aching stomach, he gave a groan and rather just spoke what was on his mind, "Since when have you been so worried about me? I'm not feeling great, but I'm just hung over and you're being completely ridiculous because I'm not even sick. For the most part, I'm fine but you're looking at me like you're pitying me or that you feel guilty for something."

Her eyes went wide and she found herself stammering, "Oh, no I just…well, I was thinking that maybe, well I know you were drinking and all things considered I realized that maybe I might…have something to do with why. And, well I just…I thought that maybe I could…"

Petra's sentence drew off as she found she was at a loss for words, and Oluo stared at her critically until the pieces slowly fell into place.

"Captain told you, didn't he?" Oluo mumbled out lowly, his eyes boring into hers for a long moment and he exhaled in aggravation, shaking his head in sudden frustration, "That fucking jackass."

Petra's eyes widened and she stammered, "Wait – I uh, well I mean, it could have been me! You know, I had a lot of time out there, you know, to like think things over and so it could have been that I just connected the dots and-"

Oluo scoffed and crossed his arms as he watched her with a knowing stare of disbelief, "Petra. You shitting me? You've had over five years to 'connect the dots' and even when I spelled it out for you that still wasn't enough."

Petra blinked at his words, almost mumbling a quiet 'spelled it out for me?' to herself, and then her eyes widened in realization, "Back in my room when I broke my ankle? Oh my god…Was that - you actually had meant-"

Oluo gave a laugh at the fact that just now, months later, she finally realized what he had been saying to her that night and he shrugged, "Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. I told you flat out that I cared for you, and that you didn't actually understand what I meant or why Captain was so mad at me that day, but…" he trailed off and eventually sighed, "It doesn't really matter at this point, you know? It's in the past and I know that…well, it's not hard to see that you've only had eyes for Levi for a long time now."

Oluo leaned back against the headboard with a stubborn expression and he rubbed his forehead lightly, "In all fairness, it sucks to know that Captain decided it was his right to just out me like that, but I'm not mad, not really anyway. I told myself that I would confess when the time felt right, but then you got married without warning. After that, I wasn't really sure if I even should say anything at all, but then seeing how Captain treated you at first, I couldn't bring myself to see you as actually married because he sure as hell wasn't acting like you were his wife or anything. I was really frustrated, seeing you with him and watching how coldly he treated you - I reasoned that I could have treated you so much better, or that it should have been me that stepped up and married you, and in a way it made it impossible to move on. As the months went by it all just became this complicated nightmare where it didn't matter what I did because in staying silent or speaking my mind, I was wrong either way."

Petra couldn't help the frown that came to her face, having had no clue the tight spot Oluo had been in for so long, and her teammate eventually waved a hand in acceptance, "Hell, at least one of us ended up having the balls to say something to you about it, and in some ways, this will make things a lot easier for everyone. It's been months of Eld and Gunther babying me or tiptoeing around the subject, but leave it to Captain to come in and break all social norms like that."

Petra frowned, wishing that she could find some sort of comforting words to offer, wishing she knew how to respond to the fact that Oluo had apparently had feelings for her for years, and she finally took a breath and looked toward him seriously, "Well now that I do know, I think it's time that we went ahead and-"

Oluo was suddenly laughing and he cut her off with a smug, knowing stare, "Alright honestly Petra, I'm flattered but frankly, it's a bit too late for you to ask me out now, don't you think? You're already married so you'll just have to live the rest of your life with the sting of rejection, knowing that you had your chance and you blew it."

There was a weak, insincere laugh from the ginger and she found herself fiddling with the ends of her sleeve nervously, "Yeah, I'll try to remember that."

After a long silence, Petra gave a sobering exhale and looked into the floor with a contemplative frown, "Oluo, I just…honestly I don't even know what to say. You apparently had feelings for me and…five years is a long time, you know? I really…well, more than anything I just wish you would have told me."

Oluo quirked a single brow, noting her more serious expression and nodded toward her with a smirk, "Yeah? Would you have gone out with me then?"

"No." Petra said, almost immediately, and Oluo's mouth dropped open at her callous words as he watched her in outright shock, "Well damn. Way to let me down easy there Petra. Hell, someone's been around Captain way too much; you're almost as blunt as he is. You could have at least lied or been a little more gentle or something. That was just brutal."

"That's not it." Petra stated in a whisper and she looked back toward Oluo with a concerned and lingering stare, "I wish you would have told me, because then I could have told you that I just don't feel that way about you. I may not have ever held those sort of feelings for you, but I still care about you, and I want to see you happy. Yeah you would have had to work through the rejection, but at least you would have had the peace of mind and moved on – not wasted five years in the shadows like this."

Petra shifted slightly on the bed and continued flatly, "I'm not trying to judge or be callous, but I can't help but feel that you could have put that time to better use. You may have found someone really nice, Oluo. Instead, all you have to show for that effort is five years down the drain and a hella nasty hang over, for someone that never even felt that way about you in the first place. That's just such a waste, you know?"

At her flat and weighty stare, Oluo groaned and eventually shook his head, "Alright, where the hell is all that sympathy you had just a moment ago? I could still use that glass of water or whatever. I felt like shit before, but now you're coming in here to proactively reject me. Is this your way of trying to cheer me up or something, because frankly, your methods could use some work. You've been gone for four weeks, and after all that time this is how you greet me? You really are a heart breaker Petra, damn."

She gave a sad smile and gave a bemused laugh, "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to ask this at all but do you still, you know, have those sort of feelings for me? I promise you that I'm not trying to be hurtful or insensitive, but to be perfectly transparent, I wish that you didn't. I haven't said this to Eld or anyone else but…I love him, Oluo, I do. I mean, you were the first person to ask me, right? I couldn't answer you back then, because then I really didn't know, but I do now and…that's why you've just got to move on, and the sooner the better. I'm in love with Levi, and it breaks my heart to know that you may be stuck on me when there's someone out there that will be much better for you, that can love you and stand by your side and make you feel special and wonderful. It's time that you find your own happiness Oluo, and I can only hope that you make her as happy as Captain makes me. Move on, for your sake and mine."

Oluo groaned, because the way she was watching him, the sadness in her eyes and the concern in her features, it actually was starting to make him feel worse. He gave a quiet, tempered shake of his head as he mumbled bitterly, "I'll try Petra. I've known for a while that we would never work out, but I suppose there was just this hope. I'll be honest, it hurts sometimes, seeing you with Captain when I know that he never even saw you like that in the first place but…I also watched as things slowly changed between the two of you, and at this point everyone can see how happy you are with him. I can respect that, and we're on the same page for that much at least because, yeah…I want you to be happy too, even if it means you're with Levi instead. It might take some time but, I really will try, okay?"

She nodded and stood up from his bed, "That's all that I ask. Thank you, Oluo. For whatever it's worth, I actually did miss you while I was gone. There were a few times that your sense of humor and random interjections could have gone a really long way back home, and at the very least, it's good to be back and finally see everyone. I've got to go and start training, but I'll make sure to get you that glass of water first. You want a cup of coffee too? Made it myself and you kinda look like you could use the boost."

Oluo nodded in exhaustion, "That would be really nice Petra, thank you."

...

End of Chapter

…

Yall – my heart. This chapter is slower paced, but I love all of the interactions and *deep breath* it really is great to have squad Levi back. Yall know I am a huge fan of the team and their dynamic as a whole, and so to be able to hit some of those first interactions now that Petra and Levi are 'official official' – once again my heart breaks for Oluo because this poor man just got the short end of the stick.

But, as for the next update, I told yall I'd have to sort of give you a week by week approach based off how my material is stacking out, and considering I had a good week for material, I feel comfortable posting the next chapter on Sunday. So yay, drinks all around. I'll see yall next week!