#rivetra fic

He’d always considered himself a callous man, but seeing the heartbroken look on Petra’s face when she had no choice but to step down from his squad had been more than enough to break something inside him.

It was his very first time to sleep with a woman then and he’d already fucked it all up, and now he’d dragged his best subordinate down with him.

Levi had left the choice all up to her, not really knowing how to approach Petra when they weren’t even together. All he could do was promise to support her in whatever decision she’d take.

But Petra was insistent, her face fearful but voice filled with resolve when she announced that she’s keeping the child. Their child.

“Levi, you don’t have to,” Petra reasons, her hand now cradled on top of her rounding belly. “I’ve told you as much before.”

Levi gives a cursory glance at his surroundings, seeing both soldiers and the only civilians in on the plan buzz around preparing for the Scouts’ biggest mission yet. He hesitates for a moment, not used to showing any type of affection in public, but he still reaches out to tuck a stray copper hair behind her ear, his finger lingering and trailing down the back of her earlobe.

Petra visibly shivers, and it takes them both back to the night their child was conceived.

An accident, but to the both of them, not a mistake.

Not when he’d see Petra light up with the kid’s every kick after the initial discomfort on her face. Not when he’d enter the apartment he’s renting for her and how it always felt like he was coming home.

She used to stay back with her father in Karanese but after the Military Police started targeting her with rumors of Levi’s involvement in her pregnancy, he made sure to drop by and hide her away in the most secure spot he could find near the Scouts’ HQ before he went on the run.

Petra was not happy with being treated like a porcelain doll, and he’d had to buy her grilled chicken with goat cheese and a slice of cheesecake as she nagged him down. Damn woman had been too obsessed with cheese since they learned she’s pregnant, but he’d found it more endearing than annoying.

He knew then that he’s probably too far gone.

Fatherhood was never a part of his plan, but he’d be damned first before he allows this child to be fatherless and leave the woman who’d always stood by him hanging.

Levi had never defined his relationship with Petra. For so long, she was his subordinate and she’d been brave enough to push past the boundaries to offer friendship. She became his lover for a night, the next thing he knows, she’s the mother of his child.

He wants more of her. He wants it all. A family, a house he’d come home to after each mission, a kid eager to welcome him back and a wife who’d kiss him and ask about how his day went.

Was he in love? Who the hell knows. He’d never been in a relationship before to even have a direct comparison. His shitty childhood didn’t help at all. But one thing he’s sure of is that whatever Petra’s willing to give him, he’d gladly take it.

“Who says I feel like I have to?” Levi finally replies as he pulls out something from his pocket, placing it on her palm. “Here.”

The ring was a simple copper band, and a box couldn’t even be seen in sight. He’d bought it during Historia’s coronation and it was the only piece of quality jewelry he could find that won’t completely blow the budget he’d set out for her and the upcoming baby.

It’s a cheap-ass ring, but Petra cradles the band in her hand as if it’s worth a thousand gold coins.

“I don’t want to tie you down,” Petra argues, tears now welling in her eyes the more she gazes at the ring on her palm. “You willing to raise him is more than enough—”

“Oi, kid,” Levi said, kneeling down on one knee to level his face with her growing belly. Petra’s breath hitches, amber eyes blinking wide at how the captain was willing to show his soft side when he’d always hidden behind a stony demeanor. “Your mom’s being stubborn. Can you ask her if she can marry me? Maybe she’d listen to you. She’d been insubordinate since you popped up.”

Levi gives her a pointed look, although he spares her a playful quirk of his lip.

He notices that the other soldiers were sneaking glances at them now, while the 104th brats were full on staring at the scene. Levi throws them all a glare to mind their fucking business, which draws out a quiet chuckle from the woman before him when they see Eren and Jean scamper off.

“You’re going to be a great father,” Petra notes, before quietly adding, “And husband.”

He snaps up, eyes as soft as it’s intense as he looks at her, “Is that a yes?”

She bites her lip, the sunrise illuminating her cheek makes her blush all the more breathtaking. She carefully slips the copper ring on her finger, and Levi couldn’t help himself from raising her hand to give a soft kiss on the back of her palm.

“Maybe you can take me out on a date first when you get back from Shiganshina?” She asks as she straightens the cravat underneath his scout cape.

“Levi, time to go,” Erwin calls out from behind them. Hange was busy rambling to Moblit while the newer squad leaders herd all their new recruits for a final briefing of each team.

Petra looks at the horizon, at the way the green expanse meets the golden glow of the rising sun. He sees how the melancholy sparked in her eyes for a second when she takes a glance at all the other Scouts, and Levi felt that familiar tinge of guilt—the self-hatred that he’d done this to her even when both parties were consenting.

He leans down, giving her a kiss on her forehead and runs a thumb against her lower lip. He doesn’t know boundaries at this moment. They’d never fucked or even kissed since that night, but as she melts into his touch right now, he hopes to whoever deity’s out there that he’s doing something right.

“I’ll find a restaurant where you can eat all the cheese and chocolate that you want,” he promises instead.

“You better. You just proposed,” she teases him, but her voice betrays her as Levi hears the familiar nervous hitch in her tone. “I can’t be a widow when I’m not even married yet.”

It’s stupid to make such a promise, especially with how risky this mission is compared to all their previous attempts. But for the first time since he joined the scouts, Levi has this unwavering resolve that he is going to come back. Whatever it takes, he’ll come back.

He’d kill all the fucking titans if that meant his kid won’t grow up without a dad.

Fall had gone by rather uneventfully. There was a bit of a change in their usual routine, as Petra soon traded flower picking for mushroom gathering, much to Levi’s misery.

"I'm not putting that shit in my mouth."

Petra laughed as she pushed the mushroom further in his face, earning one of his infamous nose scrunches. He was adorable when he was acting so stubborn. Petra had been doing this all her life and had never made someone ill with the ones she chose. Her father had taught her well enough.

"I would never poison you, Levi."

He was not usually one to refuse food since he knew first-hand the effects of its scarcity, but mushrooms had always been a no-go for him. As delicious as people claimed they were, Levi could never carelessly eat something that could kill you so simply.  

"Not on purpose, at least," she whispered between giggles.

Levi rolled away from her, not paying any mind to her protests to return. The ones she got out between the laughing fits, that was.

"You're on your own if a bear comes," he yelled as he put more distance between them.

"Wait, there are bears in these forests?" He could sense the terror in her voice as she ran up by his side. Not that he could do much to help if a bear did actually come. But truthfully, he knew nothing about it, but she deserved it for mocking his fear of mushrooms.

"Maybe you could just stare at the bear until it goes away. I'm sure it'll be frightened."