*Extra notes: Sorry I made a few mistakes with the details in the story! Doc updated.*

As Petra and Armin entered the house, both of them were shocked to see how messy it was. There seem to be two floors here, and the first floor itself was absolutely wrecked. A huge block of wooden pole from the roof was vertically stuck on the middle of the house, blocking the way to enter the kitchen door behind it. Holes were seen everywhere on the rooftop, and of course, don't forget all the rubbles and dust within the first floor. Petra grimaced upon the thought of her visualization of the top floor.

"Woah, look at this mess... This is a lot to clean up, isn't it, Petra-san?" Armin asked.

"I couldn't agree more, Armin. Well, we do need to take responsibility for the mess we made during the operation. But don't worry though! As your senior, I'll make sure our group gets the job done! I'll help you with anything you need!" Petra replied, with a forced smile on her face. Helping her juniors clean was not a big deal, but it was—

"Petra. Could you come upstairs now?"

Speaking of the devil, and here he is. The beloved clean freak Corporal of the Special Operations Squad. His head was looming over the stairs on the top. Petra could see that he was prepared for this job beforehand, with the ridiculous headband and the apron over his petite build. God knows where he got his broom or extra cloth too.

With all the effort from her face muscles, she was able to face the Corporal with another extremely obvious forced smile. It was only during times like this that she had to force a smile for him. "What is it, Corporal?"

"I need you to give me a hand in cleaning over here." Levi ordered.

"Alright, Corporal. But I need to wait for Annie to bring in the cleaning supplies here..."

"What did I say?" He groaned. "Come upstairs now. Don't worry about the equipments, I have spare for you."

The Corporal's naggy attitude somehow startled Petra for a bit. She tried her best not to express that on her face. "Very well, Corporal. Uhh, Armin, I guess I'll go up for a bit. You can wait for Annie and start cleaning the bottom floor right away, okay?"

The male cadet nodded. "Okay, Petra-san. What do you want us to do about this pole in the middle though?"

"Mmm, I think you should just leave it be for a while. The Corporal and I will think about something later." She said, immediately rushing up the stairs. Nobody wants to see the Corporal mad, right?

Thankfully, the second floor was left in a 'better' state compared to the first. But, there were definitely much more holes in the floor. Petra suspected that the foreign objects might have came crushing down from the roof, and everything ended up stuck downstairs.

"Corporal, shouldn't we fix the holes in the floor first before cleaning them up?" She asked nervously. The Corporal immediately shot a glare at her.

"I told you, just Levi is fine. And no, the extra supplies are coming this afternoon. It'd be such a waste of time if we'd stay put. This house doesn't clean by itself, Petra. Besides..."

"Besides...?"

He replied, looking a bit embarassed. "You know I'm incapable of doing jobs like that."

Holy mother of cow. What did I just see. That's way too much emotions from the Corporal. Petra thought, somehow frightened that there might be a loose screw from the Corporal today. Nevertheless, she attempted to remain as her usual self.

She hesitantly said, "Ahahah, you have a point, Cor—umm, Levi. So uhh... I don't have the cloth and water to clean the floor."

"I have it there." Levi pointed at a spot right next to a door. "Ah, I have a proposition to make. You and I should just clean the rooms that are still intact first. That way we can save time better. And we can avoid cleaning the destroyed areas twice."

"That's a really good solution, Levi. Alright then, I'll be cleaning this room over here." Petra said. While she was picking up the bucket and the cloth, she noticed that Levi went inside the room she picked earlier.

"L-Levi? Shouldn't you be cleaning the other room? I think it'd be much more efficient if we split our jobs..."

"Who are you to order me, Petra?" Levi snapped back. "I have the rights to choose where I want to be. And I want to be here. Any problems?"

Petra shook her head groggily. "No, sir! No problems at all!"

"Hmph." Was the last thing he said, before vanishing into the room. Petra followed him into the room reluctantly, as she was left with no options.

The interior of this tiny room was left in mint condition, except for a few small holes on the floor. A single bed lies on the corner of the room, complemented by a small, wooden bedside table on the left. A small, simple photo frame rested on top of it. Inside it was a picture of a middle-aged woman and her three girls, all smiling gleefully. The picture left a bittersweet feeling within Petra. Most of her family members were already deceased way back before the titans reappeared. The only one alive was her dad at that point in time, and currently she knew nothing where he was after this chaos happened.

"Get back to your job." Levi ordered, snapping Petra out of her thoughts.

"A-ah, I apologize, Levi."

Petra knelt down and dragged the bucket filled with water towards her. She inserted a piece of cloth into it, squeezed the excess water and attempted to mop the broken floor with extreme caution. In her head, she had no idea why the Corporal would actually ask her to mop this battered up floor. Plus, this room did not belong to an emperor, and it'd be much more efficient if she cleaned another room by herself.

Well none of the reasons made sense... Could it be... The Corporal wanted to be with me...?

Upon this thought, Petra spontaneously flushed. This kind of idea never crossed her mind in a thousand years, and she shook her head in disagreement with her delirious mind. In the midst of her confusion, Petra's right hand accidentally reached for a hole on the floor. She almost plummeted to the first floor as gravity pulled her upper body down—but a strong force yanked her up back to safety.

She felt a tight grasp around her left wrist, so tight to the point that it hurts. A lot. Up she looked at, and Petra saw a terrified look reflected from the Corporal's face. Again, this was a first for her. Never did she saw the cold-hearted Corporal so terrified before. Even before the mightiest of the titans, he had never faltered and never given in to fear. But not this time. Nope.

"What on earth are you doing?! That was really stupid, Petra! Extremely stupid! That fall could've cost you your life!" He yelled at her, with a hint of shakiness between each words. Petra was petrified at the intensity of his voice, as this was another first for her. Perhaps the first out of many others to come. The Corporal was always thoughtful of his comrades, but does not show it literally.

"I'm sorry... I wasn't paying much attention." When she wanted to mouth an extra 'thank you for saving me', the Corporal yanked her up again with fulll force and she was brought back to safety. Petra was still petrified after the fall. The hole was actually not that big, but it somehow it was able to fit in her petite figure. She eyed the hole cautiously as she attempted to get back to work, and failed to notice that a pair of eyes were far more intense than hers. These were fully locked on her, watching her every move silently. Her realization upon this matter was slower than expected. Petra turned around and saw that the intensity she felt earlier belonged to obviously one individual—the Corporal's.

"Umm," She said groggily. "W-why are you looking at me like that, Corpo—uhh, Levi? Is there something that I'm doing wrong? Are my methods of cleaning not up to your standards?"

The Corporal shrugged. "Neither. Do I need a reason to do so, even after my childhood friend almost got severely injured?"

"Eh? You remembered?" The question was blurted out of nowhere. A gasp from Petra followed afterwards, and she instantly covered her mouth. A hint of shock from the Corporal's slightly enlarged pupils and twitched eyebrow was visible, albeit his efforts in using a different facade.

The Corporal led out a chuckle afterwards. "My memories are not that dull, y'know."

These two individuals used to be the bestest friends during the times of their youth. It was first initiated by the tight relationship of the heads of their families. Both of their fathers were really good friends, and Petra recalled visiting this huge mansion with a large garden maze within the inner wall. Of course, she did not forget making acquaintances with the boy with clean-cut hair and extremely stern eyes. As a kid, these facial features alone made little Petra terrified. Not to mention his serious facade. Petra told her dad that she would not become friends with Levi, but fate steered her into the other direction.

The first time she actually saw Levi's hidden side was when she was only 7 years old. The story's a bit cliche, but she will always treasure this memory. Back then, Petra loved riding horses. When Levi's family bought a beautiful, white horse, she sneaked off to their stable at night and tried riding it to the field nearby. What she did not know about this horse was that it's not tamed yet. It was fresh from the wild. After a few moments of riding, the horse went ballistic and threw Petra a few feet across the field. The pain across her ribs and legs were so excruciating for a child that she felt she was in the verge of dying. She tried not to scream though, because she was breaking in into someone else's house.

Petra slowly attempted to drag herself home, but her fragile body could not take the pain anymore. As she slowly lost conciousness in the middle of the field, she could her someone calling her name repeatedly.

In a flash, Petra could feel a pair of small arms around her waist. It immediately hoisted her up off the ground. The person who carried her started to walk slowly, as if the person was making sure that she does not experience any additional pain.

The small and frail Petra forced her eyes open to see who this person was. She could not believe her very own eyes. Yes, it was Levi carrying her. His eyes were fixated forward, and his mouth said no words.

She was astounded by this. The boy she thought of as a silent beast was actually out here in the field late at night, carrying her into safety. Yes, from this moment on Petra never saw Levi as his old self. She began to open up to him, and they became really close—until Levi moved out of their neighbourhood out of the blue. No goodbyes, no letters, not even a single word heard from the others about him. The Corporal showed up again in Petra's life after a decade or so, with a much colder attitude. This was the reason she tried not to bring back the past while he's around. She presumed that he had forgotten about their past together and moved on with life. That he changed into a totally different person. That was also why Petra decided to treat Levi as a new individual when they first reconciled again in the Recon Corps.

Then an awkward silence filled the air, before the Corporal asked her a question.

"How about you, Petra? Do you still remember about our past?"

"I always do, in every waking moment. Not trying sounding cheesy or anything, heheh..." She replied with a dry laugh, and continued on mopping the floor.

What Petra didn't see beyond her back was beyond compare. Across Corporal Levi's face was the kindest and most compassionate smile that a man could ever show to a woman.

Author's Comments

I'm sorry for the really slow update, guys! But here's the 2nd chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy it;; I'm pretty new to the romance genre so I hope this is okay for y'all D:

If things go accordingly, the next chapter should be the last one from this series! Please tune in for chapter 3 /o/