Chapter Text
The problem with your feet being numb in the morning when you woke up wasn’t supposed to phase you as much as it currently did, but the weathering cold that had barged its way to your room silently begged to have you feel something other than the everlasting whirlpool of regret.
Which was -unsurpisingly- something you had been spiraling into a lot lately.
Your ringtone -or rather the caller that had caused it to go off- nontheless remained mercilessly unforgiving to your current condition. The brute vibrations that accompanied your once favorite song ripped through the air and bounced on every wall inside your room before it wooshed inside your eardrums.
You fucking finally had to change that ringtone, you thought.
Your feet, moist and heavy as they buzzed with the aftermath of the coma-like sleep you had just gone through, struggled to wiggle from underneath the comfort of your blankets. Your hands instinctively rubbed the underside of your nose as you sniffled all the cold of the room around you. Throwing the blanket off of you, you groaned at the non stop ringing of your phone.
The few steps to your desk felt like an eternity of having to walk with a badgy weight on your feet, but the faint feeling in your body didnt come to an halt even after you picked the device in your hands. Your eyes couldn’t really adjust well to make out the ID of the caller, of course, sleep hadn’t rubbed off your eye lids yet, but still you slid the emerald button to acceptance with no resistance.
“Hey” you sleepingly moaned.
“Hellooo! (Y/n)!” Hange called enthusiastically for the other line, her joyous voice piercing your eardrums “Where are you booo?”
“I just woke up why?” you yanwed.
Pacing your eyes around your room you noticed the dull daylight creeping in through your blinds, signaling the gloom of another potentially snowy day for Trost. You blinked as you took notice of the few articles of soon to reside in the laundry bin clothing as well as the dress that hung from your closet door.
And then, it all snapped.
“Oh. shit!”
Anxiety rushed through you like a bullet to the gut, gushing numbness and waves of cold sweat from the point of impact. Forcefully, you ripped your phone off your ear and double tapped at screen to make it light up. The date read December 25, and below it, laid numerous notifications of your alarm and even a pop up reminder from last night to not forget the food you had to take with you.
Thinking back to that, your head started spinning like crazy, the familiar, yet bizarre feeling of your stomach dropping overtaking you. You hadn’t cooked, rather, you had spent all night drinking and sulking on your own, cursing yourself for all your choices up to date.
“Yes, oh shit!” Hnge laughed “Oh! You forgot?”
"Hangeeee stop screaming oh my god no I didn’t forget, I’m on my way okay?”
A little yelp came out of your mouth as the cable of your charger prevented you from taking another step closer to your bedroom door; letting out a curse under your breath though you quickly unplugged your phone, and rushed over the mess of your room and out to your living room.
“But you said you just woke up.”
“Ahhh,” you scratched your head, feeling your loose t-shirt sliding down your shoulder “no!” You said, then in a sterner voice you repeated “No! I uhm, I was just-”
Your poor excuse to communicate after having just woken up didn’t startled Hange. If anything, she seemed to find it amusing because she burst into joyous, bubbling laughter at the sound of your despair. And you couldn’t blame her for it; were you under any other circumstance you would be laughing with yourself as well.
“It’s fine. Erwin and I are making a cake for shorty so if you want to cook here you have plenty of time yet. I’m going to say it though, we could really use your pastry skill.”
You let out a sigh as you took your phone off your ear and pressed on the speaker icon. Your hands worked fast to grip onto the hem of your shirt and then, even faster, they managed to pull it off of you in shift movements.
“I’m just going to have a shower, dress up and I’ll be on my way. It shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.”
Hange exhaled in utter relief through the phone and you could practically feel her sheepish smile as Erwin shouted a big fat ‘thank you’ from the depths of his kitchen. Bringing out a hand to grap your shower cap -the only shower product you loathed using- you ripped the cap off its place on your cabinet and messily shoved all of your hair in it in rushed movements.
“Got any questions before I hit the shower Hange?”
“Please ask her” Erwin was heard and you cocked your head to the side at the sound.
“No Erwiin, we got it under control okay?”
“No we don’t.”
Shaking your head to prevent yourself from zoning out, you clicked your tongue before opening your mouth to address your two friends. Asking as to what they were referring to was easy, although it was obvious that Hange felt confident in succeeding in the task Erwin was referring to. Knowing Hange though, you thought you could guess perhaps what exactly was going on.
“Please don’t mix food coloring with spinach juice to make the cake green like two years ago.”
Erwin’s laughter was pretty much evident through the other line as Hange went on blubbering about how she wasn’t going to do it again giving extreme emphasis as to why she couldn’t understand the reason it tasted bad in the first place but would go with what you said nevertheless. At that point Erwin was laughing hysterically, telling you how Hange was once again, indeed, thinking about it and the sound of his laughter grew even louder than Hange’s words.
“Do you have food coloring?”
“Yes Hange I have food coloring.”
“Plea-pleaee bring some. Dammit Erwin what’s gotten into you- gotta go (y/n) see you in a while.”
The beeping sound from the other line left you little to no time to properly reply to your friends with a much wanted greeting, though, you didn’t think much of it. You were going to spend the whole day with them, so getting upset over not getting the chance to say goodbye over the phone wasn’t something that should have caused guilt to spurt in you.
But surely, this wasn’t the only cause of your overly bubbling guilt. The actual cause of the knot in your gut laid to the fact that within the time span of two weeks you had managed to to drag Levi and yourself into a rather steep rabbit hole. There was going to be a serious impact of your relationship with your friends had the two of you made it known to them; everyone would scold you -and they’d be right at that- and maybe this time they’d pick sides as to what wrong or not. And you didn’t want that.
Although you secretly wished everyone went with Levi. Or at least you had come to the conclusion that that was what you deserved.
You had been feeling bothered and repulsed by what had caused you to make out with him that night, given the fact that you had been the one that initiated the kiss. And just as much, you had been feeling furious over Levi allowing this to ever happen. But looking back at it now, you couldn’t say you regretted getting close to him even in such way. And that was probably the most infuriating thing of all.
Nevertheless, there was also the fact that you would be seeing Levi today and frankly you didn’t know what to do with that. Should you act like everything was fine? Should you simply ignore him? Was Petra going to be with him?
Speaking of Petra it would be best if you straight up let her know of what had happened. Acting shady with another woman’s man behind her back was outrageous for anyone to do and you hated being in that position like the next person.
Your stomach twisted dangerously at your spiraling thoughts, but you chose to ignore the tight knot, attributing the loud growl you had heard to one caused by your excessive hunger.
Perhaps, your shower was going to help you sort out your thoughts and intentions.
With a twist of your wrist the water started sprinting out of the tap in your shower. Your eyes were fixated on your phone, your thumb roaming through Spotify in hopes to find the perfect song to company your bath with. You simply said good for a Christmas playlist that Spotify suggested, tapping on that, a list of numerous jolly songs popped up in your screen and you simply pressed the big shuffle button before putting your head on your cabinet.
..
The walk to Erwin’s house was very much and as previously expected, quiet. The sidewalks on your way were all covered in sugary white snow, decorating each different apartment complex in the non urban side of Trost along with the standard holiday decorations.
Taking a deep sigh you brought the back of your finger to the metallic button of Erwin’s doorbell. Blinking rationally, you looked around at the marble front door frame of his apartment complex, your blood subtly rushing to your feet. You dragged the tip of your combat boot over the snow, curling your toes on the fuzzy material that covered the inside of the shoe.
You were beginning to become impatient as you waited on the doorframe, Erwin was taking way too long to open the door and you were practically freezing out there; the dress you wore did almost nothing to keep you warm. Despite you taking precautions by wearing a cardigan and the leather coat that you had snatched from your brother, the cold still pierced through your sheer black pantyhose, as if your efforts to stay warm were ridiculous.
The sound of footsteps was what startled you next but still your head didn’t turn to the source of the buzzing noise. Your nose simply nuzzled to the scarf you had wrapped around yourself as you rubbed your face onto its warm fleece material.
“Uh, hi.”
This time you could help but turn around to check who had thrown a greeting at you.
A familiar puff of ginger hair greeted you as you snuck your nose out of the edge of your scarf, two big and round hazel eyes stared right at you as you blinked rapidly back at them.
Great. Just great.
“Hey.”
Petra wiggled her nostrils once to the left and then to the right, seemingly scratching the awkwardness in the atmosphere away. She blinked her eyes a few times into yours, her lips pursing together slightly as if she was coming up with a good comeback to your greeting, yet it never came.
“uhm, what’s up?”
Your fingers slightly clutched the edges of your coat, crossing over your chest as you felt your jaw start clattering. Your pupils gathered at the corners of your eyes, catching small glimpses of Petra as you eyed her up and down.
She too had opted for a cardigan and a dress. A very safe choice if you were in a place to express your opinion but hers, despite being adorned with numerous tiny and dainty coral and red flowers, looked so thin and tule like and it barely covered her thighs, so much that you felt a pinch of concern run through you that you were slow to decide on whether you wanted to brush off or not.
“I’m.. good.” She managed to let out, but you noticed how her lip trembled.
She was definitely shivering, if that wasn’t concerning enough you didn’t know what was, and she looked so frail and out of place that she could definitely beat you at it. Plus, the lack of a warm jacket struck somewhat of a nerve at you. Even feeling so much guilt over being in her presence you couldn’t help but feel your motherly friend instincts wash over you; why wasn’t she wearing something warmer? And why were you seconds away from taking off your jacket to offer it to her when you knew she wouldn’t even accept it.
“Damn, Erwin’s sure taking long, do you want my jacket?”
“Uh-”
Once again and mostly out of instinct, your finger tapped over the metallic button, covered by the edge of your sleeve. Suddenly, the familiar buzz of the intercom growled in your eardrum and you shook your head to its direction automatically.
“I’m so sorry!” Erwin said. “Come in!”
“Hey Erwin!” Petra spoke before you had a chance to say your wanted reply.
Even if you couldn’t see him, you knew how shocked of an expression he was wearing.
Taking the few steps into the apartment complex’s yard, you rushed to the next door and waited for the known buzz which signaled that Erwin had finally let you inside. With awkwardness spread over your face though, you pushed your lips into a thing line, holding the door back as you signaled to Petra that she should be the first to come inside.
“Thank you.” She muttered.
“No prob.”
You watched as Petra hesitated to push the elevator button; with a set of trembling fingers her palm rested only a few inches before the metallic button that was lit in a red arrow. With another smile you came closer to her and went to check in which floor the elevator was currently at. Whether she flinched intentionally or not, you didn’t know.
“Wanna share a lift? It’ll be a while till it comes down again.” You offered.
“Uhm, yeah okay.”
Once she responded, Petra tapped onto the elevator button with her thumb.
Petra looked at you and clung onto the edged of her cardigan once again. You took notice of how she looked a little more casual and unkept, despite being dressed on point; the lack of a jacket and her tousled naturally wavy bob betrayed an unwillingness to be present to today’s event and it’s was painfully obvious.
“I’d like to” Petra hesitated, “I’d like to talk to you about something.”
“Oh sure, what is it about?”
“It’s about Levi.”
Dead silence fell as Petra didn’t dare turn her gaze to your direction. The little screen over the elevator button still showed that your lift was taking long to come down as if it mocked you, but you couldn’t find it in you to tap into the button once again.
“Would you like to grab some coffee with me tomorrow?”
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
To say that you were panicked would be an exaggeration and probably a degradation to Petra’s feelings. Her breathing was heavier than your own, frankly because for her it must have been even more uncomfortable than it was for you. You couldn’t blame her for that.
Nonetheless you couldn’t help but be genuinely curious as to what she had wanted to tell you? It was evident that she knew something. What’s slipped you was whether or not she want to bash you for your actions.
She had every right to do so.
“Yeah. Of course, uhh, tomorrow sounds good.”
….
Christmas day wasn’t as bad as you had expected it to be when Hange had announced to you that Levi would be coming alone with Petra.
For starters, the food was in plehtora; Erwin had cooked your jolly favorite roasted chicken, Mike and Nanaba had brought an enormous plate of their creamiest, most mouth watering souffle, Levi had made some god tasty pumpkin soup and Hange had taken actually good care of fixing a custom non alcoholic cocktail to each one of you.
All of this drool worthy deliciousness had caused, and non surprisingly at that, your body to submit in that peaceful demi slumber that tagged along with the fullness of your tummy. Frankly, it had been so long since you had enjoyed such a good meal and you didn’t think you would be enjoying another one until Mikasa’s birthday.
Thus, the cool evening sir that entered the room when Erwin opened the window door to the balcony, found you laying on the floor right next to the tangerine fire that danced in the fireplace. You could faintly feel Nanaba’s hand scratch at the roots of your hair, her almond tipped nails slowly running in purringly mellow lines over your sculp that sent you to pure delight.
Levi’s eyes danced over your form more than he’d like to admit so. Ever so slightly his pupils would travel up and down your thighs and calfs, examining the material of your sheer back pantyhose but whatever emotion overcame him wasn’t the animalistic lust he had expected to feel.
He felt rather guilty. And not only for staring at your legs. For bringing himself upon the situation he was in.
It wasn’t easy to think with a throbbing head but in Levi’s world this poor condition was translated as a prompt to try to get out of whatever shithole he had found himself in. Maybe. Because there was also a certain part inside of him that bashed him to no end about his previous and degrading actions to both Petra’s and his person, which part he completely and rationally justified.
With a quick glance at Petra, Levi brought his hand to his face to hopefully wipe any of the numbness his guilt had got him feeling. Petra seemed to enjoy herself as per usual. With her soft smiles and the mellow sway of her hair over her shoulder, she’d often reach for the hem of her white wooly cardigan to cover her shoulder while cooing into the soft material and onto the side of the couch she was seating in.
It would be hard for anyone to guess that the two of them had broken up.
She was unsurprisingly sitting as far off him as she could; the fact that they hadn’t announced to anyone they had broken up because they didn’t want the Christmas party at Erwin’s to be ruined didn’t mean she owned Levi to act like his faithful and bubbly dog.
It happened that night after he had stood her up at the movies.
Levi had gathered all of his determination and had managed to push all thoughts aside from the back of his brain, as he was despairate to ignore that feeling your make out session had brushed on him. He had walked up to Petra, all dissolved and stoic, his chest swelling with anxiety. He had stared at her with an agape mouth, he had been muttering words so honest that he felt were fatally brute and Petra had digested them all without any difficulty.
And before he knew it, he was over and done.
Petra hadn’t cried, she hadn’t wept, she had only answered him with a smile that she’d rather just be friends with him if things weren’t going to work between them.
And to an extended it tortured the ravenette, mostly because he remembered the hurt look in her face before she had managed to hide it with her usual mellow smile.
Taking another sigh, Levi stared at Petra’s hand while she played silently with the lettuce hem of her dress. Her hazel orbs were fixed on you, who laid before the fireplace like a stray cat on the tire of car during a snowy day. Levi couldnt exactly place the exact emotion behind Petra’s expression, though it would be perceived by most as a saddened one. There were specs of regret gathering at the corners of her eyes, reluctance gathered at her slightly puckered lips and a hint of determination to the front tips of her eyebrows.
Maybe Petra’s inner strength was something that Levi deeply admired.
Levi made no effort whatsoever to reach out to her to ask what was going on, not even to show some seemingly convern. The more he looked at Petra, the more it felt utterly wrong for him to simply stand next to her, knowing what he had do behind her back. Whether he loved her or not, it wasn’t like him to be caught up in such stupid drama.
“Shorty!”
Levi looked up to an enthusiastic Hange with much tousled hair and a big grin on her face that spread from one ear to another. With another, more thorough glance, he quickly became aware of the cake in her hands; a cake covered in white frosting, decorated with soft pastel green letters that wrote a simple birthday wish to his person. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
“For you!” Hange smiled further “Erwiiin, come light up the candles!”
Looking around the room he noticed how all of his friends’ gazes were on him. Mike and Nanaba remained cuddled on the couch opposite to the one he was on, Petra was mellowy smiling at his eith her cherry lips pressed into a thin line and you were fiddling with what seating arrangement was most comfortable for you at the moment.
“We’re celebrating another year where you went up in age and down in height, how delightful.” Mike commented, causing laughter to spark between the small group of people around you.
After the spur of happiness died out your eyes met with Levi’s, briefly and then they traveled anywhere else in the room altogether.
“Let’s light up the candles!” Smiled Erwin as he flicked the small metallic button of his lighter.
“I don’t want too many, shit. The last time you took my lungs out.”
“Not our fault that you’re old Levi!” You spoke, earning a half smile by the ravenette.
“Very old!” Hange agreed.
“Tch, I’m only turning twenty six shut your shitty mouths!”
The warm light of the fire licked each waxed strip of wick that hung from the candles, illuminating Hange’s face in warm orange light. Once done with lighting up the candles, Erwin plopped himself in between Levi and Petra, crossing his hands over his knees as he shifted his bottom in the most uncomfortable seating on a couch you had ever witnessed.
You merely caught a glimpse of Hange kneeling before Levi as you dragged your gaze over to Petra, fixating it on her for the thousandth time this evening.
There only was one thing in your head that bounced between the crevices of your brain like crazy. Just one simple words that held so much behind it.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow you were going to apologize to Petra and try to make amends. Being the despicable toxic person you had turned into didn’t suit you. Owing up to your mistakes was the first step to redemption and you weren’t afraid to take it.
As you fell into a spiral of thoughts and guesses about tomorrow though, you couldn’t help but subtly ignore the cheerful sing alone to Levi’s birthday song.
…..
“Thank you for coming!”
Petra’s hair was messily swaying all over her face, falling a direct victim to the frozen December air, yet she smiled as if nothing was going on.
The park around you was covered in snow. White was primarily the color that was plastered on everything, save for the dry stems of trees that were once covered in forest green leaves.
Your peeping hot coffee did nothing to warm up your hands, despite your best wishes and in the moment you had called victim to some specs of jealousy over Petra’s gloved hands as they rubbed soothing over her own coffee.
“Of course, I had been meaning to talk to you as well.”
“Oh you did?” Petra spoke with her eyebrows following the little surprise that was masking her tone. “To be honest, I didn’t think you’d come.”
“Yeah about that-”
“Can I please go first?” Petra cut you off.
Her huge hazel eyes that blinked into yours from your left side left you little to no space to deny her wish. Thus, by taking a sigh, you pushed past the quick beating of your heart and gestured her to go first with a kind smile on your face.
“Okay oof, thanks!” Petra huffed “look. Levi and I broke up. Now I know that you’ll say it doesn’t concern you, and frankly it’d be ideal if it didn’t, but I know it does, because Levi explained to me what happened.”
At that Petra slightly paused.
Naturallye first thing that came to your mind was the need to express an apology. Although, you weren’t that sure if Petra would perceive the apology as sincere, you felt like you ought to give one to her. Yet her eyes blinked into yours further as she took another turn down the path you were walking on and you wordlessly followed asuit.
“I love Levi you know,” she sighed “but Levi loves you. You’re not over each other and it’s painfully obvious, I mean you did just collided to eachother quite literally, not giving a single care about whether you couldn’t have each other or not.”
A sheer red colored tint painted your cheeks at her words.
Your skin pricked you, burning up a stingingly painful path to all of the pores on your face as shame took the form of an earth shattering wave. Your heart started heaping beats, hollering into the depths of your chest and you could hear it bounce inside your eardrums as if your whole body was hollow save for the jolting organ and the echo of the sound it made was bouncing around each fleshy wall.
Petra was right and you couldn’t help but accept but stand the as she was lightning you with her words.
“It hurts to see that someone that I love doesn’t love me back but it hurts more to see that you two are very miserable without eachother. I really thought you were a bitch you know.”
At the sound of that, you let out a startled laugh.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you just gave us looks when we’d shoe up together somewhere or you’d simply leave, but I don’t like turning my back on people and judging them like that. I’m in no place to judge anyone a coping mechanism.”
Petra sighed. Her fingers curled strongly onto her cup, while her left palm went to support the cup by the bottom as she angled it on her lips. She made a tiny gulping noise as she drank a sip from her latte, her nose crinkling up as the hot beverage brushed over her sensitive tongue. In turn, you sipped similarly, mimicking Petra just hoping it would serve as a sign for her to go on with her speech.
“I might be hurt, but I vouch to help you and Levi resolve what’s going on and get back together.”
“You do?”
“Mhm”
“Petra I, I don’t know what to say you- you’re a literal angel.” You admit and the guilt in your stomach only growled in its awakening.
You and Levi had hurt a wonderful person. Petra didn’t need to be nice to you, she didn’t need to offer to help you with anything but once you made yourself step inside her shoes you were able to see why she had perceived you the way that she initially had.
“I’m sorry.”
Your voice was silent and stripped of any emotion other than shame yet Petra was beaming at you in response.
Her warm smile was elegant and comforting as she stared at you, taking another gulp of her drink with a soft giggle. Your eyes were locked with hers, saddened (e/c) irises staring into her hazel ones, as she smiled even more little by little.
It was strange.
There was a different kind of bubbling inside your chest and you knew because your heart wasn’t hammering anymore, not was your stomach trying to be ripped apart in tiny pieces after it vored into your other intestines. You felt serene, at peace even.
It clicked to you that this is what must feel to be forgiven.
“It’s fine, plus you guys kinda deserve each other.” Petra laughed at your chocked inhale, pressing a comforting, gloved palm to your shoulder. “I’d rather find my happiness when I’m not in between two people that struggle to find theirs.”
Petra nuzzled to the comfort of her jacket, giving you a scrunched up bunny smile. You knew it’s not that she hoped you could be best friends after this. She simply wanted to make sure that she could do her best to help two people find happiness. And it wasn’t all that bad, you figured. You didn’t know what you would do were you in her place.
In a way, you admired Petra for being so strong.
“Besides, girls shouldn’t bring down other girls.”
“Yeah, and I’m sorry about what I did behind your back. I own up to my mistake. I can’t take it back but I can promise that I won’t become this toxic ever again.”
You shot an apologetic side smile at her as you followed her tracks.
Taking a new look in your surroundings, you deeply inhaled the cold air, filling your lungs in shivering winter freshness. A few specs of snow were adorning Petra’s hair as the fell from the sky in a dainty manner, licking the stray threads that popped from her wooly gloves.
There definitely was a commotion a few blocks away. You could hear sirens go off not so far from your spot but you chose to ignore them, it was typical for a city person to filter out unnecessary noise, and having to live in Trost added tons to what you had to filter or not.
“It’s December twenty six and the two is back to being a Mayhem.” Petra sighed.
“It’s like we’re Gotham or some shit.”
“Gotham?” Petra blinked at you, earning a gasp from you.
“Step one to being the friend of someone who’s majoring in comics-”
“Oh, friends yay!”
Shaking your head, to ignore the child like enthusiasm, you continued, “Please know the most well known fictional city, it’s Batman’s city too.”
“OH!” Petra’s mouth fell agape as she took in the information, but she quickly giggled again as she saw that you easily took a gulp of your beverage “you’re right.”
For what seemed like a second you felt at peace once again. Petra bubbled about how she wanted to apologise to Levi about her rather cold behavior last night, and explained in the most non detailed way how it was the memory of the passing of her mother that had caused her to become this grumpy.
“Don’t worry Petra! But beware, you could be turning into Levi version two point oh and-”
A loud sound startled you, sending both you and Petra back a few steps. Dumbfounded, you stared at each other and around you, locking eyes with different by passers that were just as shocked as you.
“Maybe we should go back!” Petra suggested. You simply nodded, hearing a good amount of running footsteps coming to the direction of the block you were in. In any way, getting caught up with a manhunt wasn’t in your plans for today
“Yeah maybe we shou-”
Your words were cut off absurdly, harshly and shockingly all together. As gunmetal orbs locked with yours, your eyelids shot open, hour mouth dropping to the snow covered concrete.
“Levi?”
Wait, Levi? That was actually so random
Before you could manage to process what was going on around you, or why on earth Levi had just popped up from the alley right across you another head splitting sound filled the air.
Levi -yes, this was indeed Levi, you just didn’t really know how to process this- collapsed on his knees like a rag doll, his torso and head giving in to the exhaustion of his body. Once he fell, you stood frozen, shieldimg Petra with one hand as the two of you watched in horror while crimson started littering the sugary snow.
“Call an ambulance.” You spoke dryly, eyes still wide with horror.
The people who had seemed to be after Levi quickly fell onto the hands of the hands of a handful of police men who were on their tracks, but you couldn’t care to look at their faces. You just run towards Levi, always followed by a petrified Petra, your feet giving in as you kneeled right next to him, your fingers gingery ghosting over him just to inspect what was his condition.
You listened as Petra spoke with the emergency center in horror, explaining what was the scene before her eyes while struggling to keep herself from trembling.
“What’s going on?” She muttered once she detached the phone off her ear.
“I’m pretty sure now is not the right time for a story, but Levi used to be in a street gang in his teens.”
“Oh boy.”
Oh boy indeed.