"Yep, I'm finished here, Levi!" Petra said, stretching her arms after what seemed like the longest cleaning session of her life. Every muscle of hers was in pain, especially in her back because she was always bending down most of the time. She got up on her legs and placed her arms on her hips, inspecting the results of her hard work. Her face beamed with radiance. She believed she had achieved a satisfactory result, enough to make her Corporal happy.

Too bad for her, though. Her 'inspector' was the meticulous clean-freak Levi. Not even a single speck of dust will escape his sight. Levi frowned as he set his eyes upon a corner of the room, and glared at Petra afterwards. "Tsk, Petra. This is way too early to be satisfied. Look at that of dust on the corner there near the bed. You missed that. Every single speck counts, get it?"

"Y-yes, but…" Petra replied hesitantly, lowering her head in guilt. "This room is going to be patched up again by the other teams, right? It's going to be dirty again and—"

"Do I hear objections from my subordinate?" He snapped at her, and shot another malicious glare at her. Unable to see this coming, every spine in Petra's bones quivered. He was so nice earlier and all…

"N-no, sir, no! I'll clean that up right away!" She said, and scrambled to pick up her cleaning equipment again. Petra squatted at the corner of the room, mopping off what seemed as a non-existent speck of dust to her bare eyes. Truthfully, the pains within her were getting worse. The overstretched back. The feeling of numbness on both of her thighs and calves. The splitting sensation inside her head. To top it off, she was just off to an excruciating and gruesome mission yesterday. It lasted for almost a whole day, and it's safe to say Petra had barely any sleep at all. At most, she only slept for 3 hours. Her body was still exhausted, both physically and mentally. For the first couple of hours of today, Petra was still in tip-top shape due to the adrenaline that's left in her. But as time creeps on towards noon, her body could not withstand the constant pressure from this task. Slowly but surely, Petra gave up to the fatigue. She fainted on spot, and the last thing she saw was the cloth dropping from her hands.

"Petra-san! You're awake! Can you hear me?"

As Petra pried her eyes open, a blurry figure of what seemed to be a female with short, blonde hair with a hint of blue eyes loomed over her. The voice does not give off the figure's identity too, making her slightly puzzled. "Yes I can… W-who are you anyways? And where am I?"

"It's Arlert. Armin Arlert. Don't worry, you're still in the same house we're assigned to. It's just that the Corporal carried you downstairs."

"Huh? Lev—The Corporal carried me?!" She exclaimed in shock. "That's impossible... I'm s-sure that's someone else he instructed to carry me here, to this room, right? I-I mean I don't think the Corporal wants his hands dirty—"

"I killed titans with my bare hands, Petra. Of course I don't mind getting my hands 'dirty'." The Corporal stood behind Armin, eyes cold as ice. He dismissed Armin with a hand gesture and the cadet nodded, walking away from the two.

When the door closed with a soft 'thud', Levi's expression soften after he confirmed that he had full privacy with Petra. Petra averted her eyes away from him, trying her best to avoid an awkward situation. She fear that if she smiled, he'll take that as a sign of mockery. So it's best to pretend that I'm not seeing anything, right?

"Petra." Only a word came out from his mouth to end the silence. It was her name. Even though he had call her by name countless times, both during and off combat—something seemed different now. There was depth in his voice, with a slight hint of tenderness in his tone. It left quite an impression within her, but that was kept to herself. Her simple and little secret. Perhaps, it could be her new source of happiness.

He then resumed with a simple question. "Are you alright now?"

"Yes I am, Levi. Thank you for asking. Oh, and I think I'm ready to continue working now!" Petra pushed herself to a sitting position. She took a deep breath and made an attempt to jump down the bed—before she was gently pushed down against the bed by a pair of slender, but strong and steady arms. "It's okay, you should rest. I'll take care of the rest."

"But I don't want to abandon my work... Besides, I can't make you do all the cleaning. Please let me go, Levi!" She yelped, attempting to wriggle free from the clutches of the Corporal. Her resistance backfired on her, as Levi pinned her down even harder. He lowered down his head in front of Petra with a grimaced expression. The intensity was undeniable. His face was now really close to hers, until she could feel his breath against her face.

"I beg you, Petra. Please, don't be reckless. I know how hard you fought yesterday. I know how fatigued you are right now. Please, please, I beg you, next time don't force yourself. I don't want that incident in the past to repeat itself again."

Petra could clearly hear how shaky his voice was. Hell, it seemed like he was really serious about it. He was absolutely terrified. This caught her off-guard, as she never expected Levi to actually care about her. To show her this level of affection. She was left speecheless. She finally gave in to his persistence and obediently let her body relax. The Corporal slowly released his grip, hands trembling as he did. He took a deep breath before quickly regaining his composure again.

"I apologize, that was unusual of me. Very well then, I'll take my leave."

She shook her head weakly. "It's okay, Levi. Thank you for actually worrying about me, it's been a while since someone did..."

"I see. It's natural for a leader to at least take notice of the well-being of his subordinates. And by the way..." His words trailed off. Then he knelt beside Petra, whispering in her ear.

"..."

"!"

Levi stood up and left as Petra reacted to his statement with a blush across her face. He feigned a smirk, but somehow she didn't notice it. She was too occupied on her afterthoughts of his words, after all.

"I don't mind getting my hands dirty for you, Petra."

The chain of words still echoed in her head, loud and clear. Out of embarassment, she ducked her face under the covers.

"How can Levi say something like that... Nnggh..."

The only female member of the Special Corps drifted off to sleep again, until Armin woke her up with the smell of fresh baked sweet potatoes and a few updates on the current situation.

"So while you're asleep, the Corporal and Annie went to the houses in this block to clean up. So far they cleaned up 3 houses already, and there are around 2 more to go. I helped out for a bit at first too, before the Corporal asked me to give you something to eat for lunch. There's not much left in our emergency provisions, so this is the best I could find for you, Petra-san. Eat these while it's still hot!"

"Thank you, Armin. I appreciate it." Petra replied. The sweet potatoes wrapped in a dull, grey cloth felt warm against her palms. She blew the steam away off them, hoping that it will cool down after a while. When the temperature felt right, Petra dunked her teeth in the soft and mushy potato, not hesitating to rip off a huge chunk of it. Armin seemed astonished at how much this petite girl could swallow at once. He did not try to hide it, in fact, he made a comment on it.

"You sure eat quite a lot, Petra-san. I'm not trying to be rude but...uhhh... Never mind."

"Dwnt hyshiteyt, shaeieet!" She replied, mouth full of potatoes. Quickly, she swallowed all of them and repeated herself in a more understandable language. "Uhh, I was going to say to don't hesitate, just say it!"

There was doubt in Armin's eyes, and his hands fidgeted nervously. "I'm sure this is going to make me display disrespectful behavior... Forgive me first, Petra-san!"

She downed another helping and cocked her head sideways. "Apology accepted... I guess?"

"Uh-um! So I was about to say... How someone... like you... Uhh with your... 'size' can eat that much, and so fast too... Argghh I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! I-I wasn't trying to be rude or anything!"

Petra froze for a second, trying to process his words. Finally, she burst out laughing—and a few chunks of potatoes flew in every direction. She did not budge to clean up her mess, and said to Armin, "Hahahaha, of course someone my size can eat a lot! It's because I'm so short, I secretly still hope I can grow taller by eating much more. Not like that's going to happen though..."

Armin sighed in relief as he swiftly cleaned up the potato chunks in her stead. He knelt down to collect more pieces with a dirty and patched handkerchief. Without looking up, he said, "Phew, I-I'm glad you're not mad at me, Petra-san. I thought you'd get offended if I touch this topic..."

She giggled at the innocence of her junior. "It's okay, I'm quite okay with my height, actually. But I warn you, don't mention anything about heights in front of Corporal Levi. This is just between you and me but... He seriously has an extreme case of Napoleon Syndrome. Remember this, and you'll avoid from unecessary death glares. That man can get scary when offended, you see."

Not sure how to react, Armin remained silent for a minute or so. He did notice that Petra was rather knowledgable on the Corporal, but he was too timid to point that out. Even though Petra was one of the kindest and most considerate seniors of all, it was not enough of a reason for him to make unecessary comments. He was very conscious of his attitude towards his seniors. Being respectful is number one in his syllabus. In the end, he answered her with a simple nod.

"Just relax, Armin. Don't be so stiff." She said, re-assuring the cadet. "Trivial talks like this won't offend me in any way, in fact—I enjoy it a lot. At least it helps me realize there's still a bright side in living at this age."

"I-I see... Very well then... I-I guess—"

"Arlert. I need to talk." The muffled voice of a deep and mature female behind the door cut his sentence mid-way, and Armin immediately scurried off to identify this person. As the door slowly creaked open, it revealed the identity of the third person. A petite yet fierce-looking female with ash blonde hair and icy blue eyes glared at him, gesturing him to go outside. She bowed once at Petra before conversing with Armin outside. Petra could listen to a few words they were saying, but could not capture the whole conversation.

"Arlert, is Petra-san alright now? We're a bit short on manpower now, so you're going to help us once she's back on her feet."

"I guess she is, she looks healthier now. Should I leave her here or let her come with us?"

Annie Leondhart shrugged. "It's not up to me to decide. You can just ask her. The Corporal didn't say anything about this."

"Alright then, I'll go tell her now. Now excuse me, Annie." Armin said, disappearing into the room. A confused looking Petra was waiting for an explanation for him anytime now.

"What is it, Armin?"

"Aah, Annie said our group is short on manpower... So I'll go with Annie and let you rest here if you want to. Is it okay?"

"No no, let me come along!" Petra replied, instantly jumping off the bed. Her footing felt firm now and her body was in tip-top condition after resting for quite some time. "I feel fine now, so let me help! I can't slack off all day long. I'll go with you, Armin."

"Well, if you say so, Petra-san. Let's head out now. Don't hesitate to tell me if you feel fatigued, okay? I-I'll always be ready to help!"

Petra nodded, and she followed the lead of her slightly taller junior out of the house. The outside air for her was warmer than expected. She took of her Recon Corps jacket and tied the sleeves on her waist, before rolling up the sleeves of her blouse up to her elbow. She could feel the wind brushing against her arms, tickling the pores of her skin.

I can't believe today's weather is really nice! – She thought to herself, as she passed by a few houses. The houses in this block had the same exterior, except some were severely destroyed and some were still in mint condition. The direction she's heading to had houses in better conditions. She spaced out for a bit, enjoying the weather and the better side of the block—before Armin abruptly stopped in front of her.

"Woah!" She exclaimed, bumping the junior's back. His lean figure didn't handle the bump quite well, and Armin almost lost his balance.

"I-I'm sorry, Petra-san!" He turned around, bowing down to her a few times. "I didn't mean to do it!"

"It's okay! It's my fault for spacing out. So... Are we here?" She asked, gazing upwards. Outside, the two-storied house looked brand new. But who knew what the inside could look like. Petra winced at the thought of falling down from the hole earlier. Not going to happen again, nope.

"Yes, we are. U-uh so let's go then, the Corporal is waiting."

When the two entered the house, Annie and Levi were cleaning seperate areas in the house. Levi with the windows and Annie with the floors. Of course, Petra took notice of her childhood friend first and his obnoxious cleaning attire. Currently he's using a red bandana with mini flower prints on his head, and his mouth was covered using a radiant yellow cloth tied to the back of his head. What seemed to be a bright green apron also hung from his neck. The apron had small patchworks all over the place. This clearly made Petra ponder on his sense of fashion. This remained as a life long mystery for her. He's good with titans, cleaning, but definitely not with what he's wearing... And not with me. Nope nope nope.

"Hey cadet, why did you bring Petra here?" Levi asked, finally taking notice of the pair entering the house. He shot a death glare at Armin, which clearly made him shiver down to his pants.

"I-I'm sorry sir! I-I thought...Uhh... U-uhhh..."

"It's not his fault, Corporal. I'm the one who asked to come here. Now that my body's back to normal again, I can't make excuses and slack off."

The Corporal seem to have wanted to argue, but he decided to take it back and stopped his lips from moving. He just grunted and gave the two a disapproving look. "Suit yourself."

Without further ado, Petra grabbed spare cleaning equipments and resumed with her 'duties' as an officer. The Corporal and her did not exchange words at all, except if he was to order the group to move into a different room or on to the next house. Time passed by as the group continued their cleaning and later in the evening, cooperate with the soldiers allocated to fixing physical damages within the houses. Their jobs was halted when dusk finally came, hiding their main source of illumination beyond the dark clouds. It's rather difficult to clean corners and only relying on the small, flickering lights from candles to see. Commander Pixis decided to resume this task tomorrow and let the soldiers rest for the night.

All the Recon Corps reconciliated in the spacious city center, where the supply team had prepared food on a rug extending from a corner to the other. On the rug was an array of freshly cooked meal, ranging from baked potatoes, roasted chicken and venison, to sauteed vegetables of all sorts. There were desserts on the further end of the rug, but most of them were fresh fruits and fruit cocktails.

The landscape ahead of them, filled with an abundance of food stimulated the hunger of all soldiers. Most of them went wild and even some led out war cries as they dashed towards their only source of happiness now. In the other hand, Petra was quite calm and stood at the sidelines as her fellow juniors scrambled towards the sight of food. Nothing else matters to them now, not even courtesy during meals with their seniors. Some of these people almost knocked her over, before a powerful arm slung over her shoulders and supported her weight. The sensation of it felt quite familiar. As Petra glanced sideways to see who it was, she was not suprised.

"Be careful, Petra. These midgets can be quite crazy."

Aren't you shorter than most of them... Petra commented, but kept it to herself. It'd be best not to let the lion out of the cage. "Thanks, Levi. I'm going to be careful next time."

Levi snorted. "Good. Let's go. I'm famished." He kept on walking without releasing his arms from her. She was rather reluctant and embarassed, but did not have enough courage to tell him that. At some point, she finally gave in to him and enjoyed warmth of the Corporal. People were looking at their direction, chattering and whispering as they do so. Despite his strict attitude and petite physique, this man was quite popular with the girls. Especially the ones that saw him engange in combat with the unruly titans. Indeed, his charm lies in his style of combat. Very swift and fierce. Not to mention he had excellent accuracy in pinpointing the enemies' weak spots in split seconds. Petra herself could not count the number of times she marvelled upon the skills of her team leader. It was of true brilliance in her eyes.

Petra stole a furtive glance at the Corporal, who did not have that much of a height difference compared to her—remained unfazed despite all these comments and gossips surrounding him. As if there was a wall to bounce off all these nonsense away.

She felt stupid for worrying about something as trivial as this. Instead of having too much negative thoughts, she let herself enjoy the Corporal's unsaid feelings and attention for her. After all these years of thinking her affection for him was only one way—it was proven wrong at this very day. Maybe the Corporal didn't have time for his emotions from hindering his duty as a soldier. Maybe today was the only day he had time to finally come clean. Not as the Corporal of the Special Operations Squad, but as a person named Levi.

The two found a spot quite far from the desserts section, and Levi went to grab some main course. He came back minutes later with two plates filled with seasoned tomatoes, baked potatoes and four roasted chicken thighs. Petra had always loved chicken thighs, especially the ones cooked by their own supply team. They can always get humongous chicken meat and they always had this tender texture.

"Thanks! I always loved their chicken thighs. Glad you could take some of them, Levi." Petra said, accepting a plate from him. Levi smiled and sat down beside her, legs crossed.

"I know you always liked it. That's why I took them for you." He said, without looking at Petra. It was weird to see him without any cover-ups on being kind. Really. She was not one to say anything flattering in return, so in the end she did not know what to reply. Any of them didn't seem to initiate a conversation, until the two finished their meals. Trying to muster her courage, Petra went for the first move first.

"So, Levi... Umm. I-I want to thank you on what you did earlier. For helping and taking care of me when I pass out. W-well I may have said this already and I don't think it's a big deal for you, but I just have to. So I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Levi."

"It's natural to help your subordinates, Petra. And especially if that subordinate is you." He replied without looking at her. In split seconds, her face turned cherry red and buried her blushing face inside her cupped hands.

"D-don't say that kind of thing so easily with such a straight face! It's embarassing, you know! Especially when you've always been cold to me and to everyone all these years! How should I know that y-you...Y-you!"

She expected another reply using his usual cold and flat tone, but what came out from his mouth was unexpected. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I come across as a cold person to you for the past couple of years we were in the Special Ops Squad. I had to keep it professional. To be honest, I've been trying to reach you ever since my family suddenly moved out from our old neighbourhood."

"Then why? Why didn't you try to find me? I was the one who indirectly came to you after years!" Petra's voice came out muffled. But the shakiness of it was evident. The Corporal glanced at the sight of his childhood friend quivering, and could not take it anymore. He brought her under his arms. Levi stroked her back softly, as if he was trying to re-assure her on this matter. "I did. I did try to find you. That's the first thing I did when I moved to this new place—is to find my way back to where I belonged. No, where we belonged. But somehow my parents played every cards possible in order to stop me from seeing you. And you know why, right?"

Releasing her hands off her face, Petra decided to rest on Levi's chest. She could listen to his rapid heartbeat thumping against her ear, loud and clear. "I'm glad that you're telling me this, and yes, I do. That dispute between our fathers. Isn't the issue on my dad thinking that your dad is stealing money from him?"

Levi nodded. "Yes. Even though it was a fraud. Trust me, it was."

"I know, I know." She chuckled dryly. "By the way, I wanted to confirm something with you. Is it true that before Erwin recruited you, you were a famous thug in the underworld?"

The Corporal had this sour look for a second, before replying, "What if I was?"

"Then I'll have to accept that part of you. Whatever happens in the past stays in the past. Right, Levi?" She flashed a smile at him. That took every inch of courage I have left. Oh boy.

Instead of a silent reply, Levi ruffled her hair and said, "Well, that's something you would typically say back then. Glad to know you haven't changed, Petra."

Her heart skipped a beat. A thousand beats, even. This level of affection was way too much for her to handle. Nevertheless, she was trying to accept this completely different side of Levi. A side that was specially reserved for her. Petra gave him a suprise cheeky look, and he immediately averted his eyes away. Levi apparently did not want her to see his flustered face, which she found extremely adorable.

"I wish I could say the same for you but... I don't remember you being like this back then. You were nice, but nowhere near this. And don't mention your attitude towards me when I just joined the Recon Corps... Ahahaha! What's with the sudden change, Levi?"

"Do I need to have a reason?" He grunted.

What was about to follow after this was definitely the highlight of her evening—no, of her life. The Corporal bent down and abruptly pressed his lips against hers. It was warm and somehow tender at the same time. Petra wanted to reach out for more as their lips parted, but she held herself back. Let's just leave it at this. Let's.

"Corporal," She said. "You have just slashed through the nape of my neck. You make me fall for you, Corporal Levi."

"That's a really lame pun, Petra. And I won't compare you with those ugly creatures." He smiled dryly at her. "But well, I can take that as a compliment."

The female with short, copper brown hair couldn't help it but laugh at the sight of her leader in this state. Him taking the initiative, him being flustered, him trying to blurt out some cheesy lines—simply adorable. Nothing on this planet can compare with this man.

"By the way Levi... That was my first, you know."

"I'm not suprised. It was mine too."

"Eh? Really?!"

"What do you expect?" He shrugged. "Can you see me as that person who goes around to flirt with girls?"

Petra pondered for a split second. "No, I guess not..."

Levi pulled her in even tighter and whispered, "As your Corporal, I order you to remain by my side as long as I am still alive. Do you copy me?"

"Roger, sir. You don't have to ask—I'd be glad to."

-THE END-

Author's Comments

FINALLLYY THIS SERIES IS OVER! Thank you all for the support so far from people who helped me in making this possible, I appreciate it so much! To Miru, Picchan, Utsu, Risa, ilu all ;^;

Since episode 22 was still fresh in everyone's mind, I thought I'd finish this quickly to relieve y'all from your grief. So here's a relief story for you Rivetra fans (including me;;) who will never get to see your OTP become canon orz ;_;

Umm so I thank you all once more for reading this fic, and tune in for more stuff from me! Cheers /o/