Umbrella

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

Summary: It's raining heavily and Petra doesn't have an umbrella.

Why? Why does it have to rain the one day I forget to bring my stupid umbrella? Petra eyed the furious cold showers unhappily. If it hadn't been as bad as it was, she would have simply walked through it.

She took a breath. There was nothing she could do except just get it over with. The only other option was waiting for the downpour to slow and risk missing her show. Petra checked the time and sighed. Can't wait any longer. She put her phone away, zipping up her jacket all the way and pulling her hood on. Petra adjusted the strap of her handbag on her shoulder and stuck her hands into her pockets.

"Here." The voice stopped her as she was about to move. Behind her, a familiar dark-haired man stood, hand outstretched, holding a black umbrella.

"I know you. We met at the party last week. It's Levi, right?"

"Yeah," he said, gesturing to the umbrella.

"Are you sure?"

"I have an extra one I keep in my office at all times."

"Thanks," she accepted it with a smile.

"Have a good evening then, Petra." Levi left with that.

"Okay," she said to his back, watching him disappear back into the building. The walk to the train and the ride home, she wondered what it meant. Was he just being a good person? Or did he have an ulterior motive? Was he expecting something in return? A favor? A date? Shaking her head, she entered her apartment. I'm overthinking things.

It was only an umbrella.

"Thanks for letting me borrow it."

"You're welcome."

Petra nodded and left at that. See? Idiot. She mentally shook her head. You spent too much time overthinking nothing.

They ran into each other several times during the week. Petra learned he was a neat-freak who loved tea and wasn't very good at socializing. Rather, he wasn't the type to sugarcoat things and tended to say whatever came to his mind, often offending people without meaning to. She found it refreshing to talk to someone who was straightforward and honest, though. She didn't like liars.

Petra's stomach growled. Okay, I'm done, I'm going now. She pushed her chair back and walked toward the kitchen to grab her lunch. She felt like eating at the fountain of a nearby park. Voices floated over from the kitchen. Looks like the office gossipers are holding a meeting in there today. Most of her co-workers were either having lunch at the cafeteria in the floor below or in one of the many restaurants around the office building.

"Levi does!"

"Hange," a feminine voice said, "you're looking too deeply into it."

"She's got a point, Nanaba." It was Mike.

Petra knew his voice, having worked with him. She would just grab her food and duck out as quickly as possible so she didn't get caught up.

"The umbrella means something!"

That made her halt in her tracks. Umbrella?

"I think you're overanalyzing things," Nanaba said.

"It's how I annoy him and amuse myself. But you have to admit it's so un-Levi-like."

"I can't deny that," Mike admitted. "He wouldn't give her his umbrella and walk in the rain if he didn't like her. Not necessarily like like but just like in general. And that's uncommon, too."

"Maybe," Nanaba said skeptically. "Just don't let him overhear you gossiping about his love life."

"We need to find out more about this Petra," Hange declared. Hearing the chairs scraping on the floor, Petra backed up, ready to bolt to the ladies room to hide. "He's so closed off, she might hurt him and we, as his friends can't let that happen. And if she turns out to be awesome, we have to help him. He's hopeless at romance."

"That is true," Mike agreed. "Levi'll need all the help he can get."

"I'm in," Nanaba said and added, "because someone needs to make sure you two don't go overboard and get yourselves killed when Levi finds out."

"We'll be like ninja, sneaking in the shadows!"

Sensing they were almost finished, Petra snuck off to the women's restroom, glad she had chosen to wear flats. She stared at her reflection. Were they right? Did Levi really have a crush on her? He wasn't bad to look at, she thought. A little awkward with a weird sense of humor but nice enough. She paced in deep thought. It had been a while since she was on the dating scene. Her primary focus had been her career. She was doing very well for herself. Maybe it was time to find someone, start off with something easy and casual.

They worked in the same building but in different departments. She was in marketing and he worked in cybersecurity. So there wouldn't be an ethics violation there. The door opened and she quickly turned on the tap, washing her hands.

"You're Petra, right?"

She looked up. "Yes."

"I'm Hange," she introduced herself cheerfully. "I work in cybersecurity. I was just visiting some friends."

To get them to look into me, she thought, amused. "Well, have a nice day, Hange." She exited before the woman started an interrogation.

"You can do this," Petra told her reflection. She took a deep breath. Is it too much?

It had been a while since she wore something that didn't rise higher than two inches above her knees. The dress was deep purple in color, a tight top with a mesh covering her revealed cleavage, and a pleated bottom that hovered above her mid-thighs. For once, she had taken the time to paint her toenails a deep red that matched her fingernails because of the strappy high heels.

While Mike and Nanaba had subtly begun engaging her to learn more about her, she had taken the chance to learn more about them in turn. The interactions with Levi had changed after eavesdropping on his friends and she was picking up some cues indicating his attraction to her. She had still been weighing the pros and cons of dating him when she'd overheard Mike and Nanaba.

Nanaba wasn't totally convinced of Levi's crush, so they had a plan to go to a local bar where Mike would play wingman and send women Levi's way. Nanaba didn't fully believe it would prove he was interested in Petra since he wasn't one to click with people easily, but it had sparked an odd feeling in Petra's chest that tipped that scales in favor of dating Levi.

To her surprise, Levi was the object of admiration of quite a few women around the office. It shouldn't have been a surprise, considering he was good-looking and smelled amazing, too. Although it was the aloofness, the prospect of the chase, that riled up the women the most.

Petra mentally went over what she would say and her facial expressions for when she "accidentally" ran into them. She'd asked a friend of hers to join her, knowing full well she couldn't make it and wouldn't be able to reply until Petra was already there, giving her an excuse to join them because she didn't want to hang out by herself. She knew they would jump at the chance. At least Hange would. One invitation was all she needed.

At the restaurant, her courage waned the closer she got to their table. You can do this! Petra moved before she chickened out, but turned away when they were less than ten feet from her, laughing and talking. Her feet steered her toward the bar. Gonna need some liquid courage first.

Petra drowned half her drink, then told herself to slow down. She needed to walk over to the table in her high heels and she did not want to fall face first. The mental image of it made her cringe as she twirled the green umbrella in her drink.

Hange let out a loud, merry laugh. It's now or never. Petra turned in her barstool and came face-to-face with a familiar face. "Oluo? What're you doing here?"

"It's a bar." He leaned against the countertop, trying to look cool and casual. "I came to drink." He continued before she could make her escape. "Are you here by yourself?"

On cue, her phone buzzed. The message was what she expected. "My friend can't make it."

"What a coincidence." His eyes lit up. "Mine can't either. We can keep each other company. You don't want to be all alone at a bar."

"Why?" She raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm a girl? I've met a lot of cool and interesting people that way."

"I mean it's not the best neighborhood—"

Petra tilted her head to the side. "I can walk you to your car if that'd make you feel safe?" His face flushed. He began to protest and she sighed internally. He was one of those guys who felt the need to be strong, wanted her to depend on him for protection and likely had a fragile ego. She just knew if they ever went out and she wanted to pay, it'd offend that weak masculine pride of his. One of the many reasons she didn't return his affections.

A casual survey of her surroundings revealed something that made her freeze. Disappointment and annoyance overcame her. "Sorry, Oluo, I have to go. I just remembered I needed to do something." She slapped cash on the counter and walked away, ignoring him calling after her.

I was so close! Petra wanted to stomp angrily as she walked, a difficult and uncomfortable task in high heels. Her chest constricted with sadness, bitterness, and frustration. If Oluo hadn't shown up and distracted her for thirty seconds she would have joined Levi and his friends and he would have been talking to her instead of the leggy brunette with the sexy smile.

"Hey, baby," a voice came from behind. The stench of cheap cologne flooded her olfactory senses. He put his arm around her shoulders. "Pretty girl like you shouldn't be walking alone. It's dan—"

Petra slipped under the arm, grabbing it as she did so, and twisted it painfully behind his back before placing one hand behind his head and shoving him into the brick building with all her strength. She smiled in satisfaction at the wet crush as the man cursed profoundly.

"Crazy bitcsh! You brocke my nosze!"

She lowered her small black purse on the ground, noting no one was immediately close to them. The largest group of people would be near the entrance of the bar. If she screamed loud and long enough, they would hear. He'd get away by the time someone reached. But it's alright.

"Good." She smiled, rotating her wrists. "I'm in a very bad mood right now and I could use a punching bag."

Blood gushed down his face. He stumbled back. "I whon't gorget thish. A'll ghat you bwack!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Petra snickered. "You'll goat me? Can you repeat that one more time?"

That seemed to make him angrier. "Bistch!"

She leveled him with a condescending look. "I beat you in a short dress and high heels and you want a rematch? You're not very smart, are you?" He opened his mouth under his hand. She waved her hand. "I've gotten bored of you, run along now." He swore profanities at her, walking backward, running into Levi as he turned, stumbling.

Levi silently dared him. The man wasn't a complete idiot since he left quickly.

"What're you doing here, Levi?"

He walked up to her, snatching her purse from the ground and holding it up to her. "I followed you." She accepted it, still confused. "Sorry, that sounded weird. I saw you with your friend, at the bar."

"He's just an acquaintance."

"Right, well, you stormed off and..." He stuck his hands in his pockets, trying to buy a few seconds. "Honestly, I've been meaning to talk to you since you walked into the bar." Petra tried to ignore the warmth in her chest at his words. "But before I could work up the courage, your acquaintance came up to you and I thought he was your boyfriend."

"He'd like to be," Petra snorted.

Levi tried to hold back his smile. "After you stormed out, I came after you." This time, the smile came out. "Saw you break that guy's nose."

She shrugged. "I was itching to punch someone."

"I'll be honest, it was pretty hot."

Petra turned away from him, slowly walking. He followed. "If we're being honest, I should admit I punched him half because I was pissed at Oluo."

"Why?" Levi asked curiously.

"Because I overheard Mike and Nanaba making plans to come here tonight. So I came up with this excuse about how my friend couldn't make it and I didn't want to hang out by myself so you guys would hopefully invite me to join you. I got all dressed up," she gestured to herself, "and Oluo ruined it in less than a minute." Petra tried not to get smug at the way his eyes took her in. Not like she hadn't been thinking impure thoughts about him all evening.

"And why did you do all that?" Levi could finally understand dancing around a subject instead of saying something outright. It was fun.

"You know why."

"No, I don't think I do. Do you wanna explain over ice-cream sometime?"

Petra laughed and said, "Smooth."

Levi's heart raced in excitement and nervousness. He wasn't sure if she was making fun of him or not. He knew from Nanaba that she loved ice-cream. "But just so you know, you'll be paying."

"Will I?"

"I ditched my friends to make sure you were okay. I deserve some ice-cream for that, don't I?" There was almost a shyness to his words. He wasn't used to flirting and it showed in his body language and his eyes.

"I do know this really great place not far from here. They're open until midnight for all your late night sweet-tooth cravings." She blushed prettily from the way he seemed to hang on her every word.

"I don't normally stay out too late, but I think I'm in safe hands," Levi said. "How did you learn how to fight?"

"Took a lot of self-defense classes and hours and hours of practice. I've always loved MMA."

"Really? Have you heard of Mikasa Ackerman?"

"Heard of? I love her! She's my favorite. I stayed up all night waiting for the tickets to go on sale and saw the match where she won the championship belt from Annie Leonhart. She's the best!"

"My cousin will be happy to hear that."

Petra stopped, wide-eyed. "Cousin? Wait, what?! Really?!" They both shared the family name Ackerman, but she never thought they could actually be related. What were the chances? "Do you think you can introduce me?"

"On one condition," Levi said in amusement.

"Condition?"

"You have to pay me. And I take payments in cookie dough, mint chocolate chip, or blackberry chocolate chip."

"It's a steep price, but I'll accept your condition."

The way she smiled at him flooded him with all the gooey emotions love songs promised.

"We can start today. I still owe you one for letting me borrow your umbrella."

"Well, if you insist."

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