A/N: Written for Rim/songtofly's birthday; happy birthday, dear! Hope you have a good one :D

Also thanks to Pauline/sun-summoning (ohwhatsherface) for listening to me ramble about this fic, answering my stupid questions, and giving me the idea for something in this :)

1.

She's in the middle of restocking the shelves in aisle six when she sees him standing by the checkout counter, a black leather wallet in one hand and a red dog collar in the other. Hurrying behind the cash register with a smile and a quick apology, she rings up his purchase, wondering when he came in—the store was empty just a moment ago.

"We're about to close soon and I'm the last one in the shop," she explains as he hands her his credit card—Levi Ackerman is printed on the front in small letters. "I didn't hear you come in."

"The animals aren't exactly quiet," the guy says with a shrug, accepting his card when she returns it to him. "It's fine."

She eyes him curiously as she waits for the receipt to print—working at the only pet store in town, right opposite the main entrance to the local mall, she's met pretty much every single pet owner in the ten-mile radius and she's never seen this guy before. "Are you new?" she asks.

He shakes his head. "Helping a friend buy something. I don't have a dog."

She hands him the receipt and a pen and watches him sign; his cursive is big and loopy, almost girly. "What kind of dog does your friend have?"

"Dunno. Something big and brown."

Her lips must be quirking despite her attempt to stop them because after he slides the paper and pen back to her, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. She thinks it's an iPhone but the case is so bulky it's kind of hard to tell. "This is the dog," he says, turning the screen around to face her.

It's a picture of a guy in his early twenties, sandy blond and handsome, a bit of scruff on his chin. He is kneeling next to a large bloodhound, his arm on its back, the dog licking his cheek, tail mid-wag.

"That's such a cute picture!" Petra exclaims; her hands reach for the phone automatically and he lets her take it.

"It's a bloodhound," she tells him as she double taps on the picture; looking at the guy's face up close, she recognizes him: he's one of the really friendly customers, one who likes to talk about his dog and ask about her day along with thanking her before leaving. She tries to recall his name but her mind draws a blank.

"Right. Good nose, like his." Levi takes his phone when she hands it back to him, their fingers accidentally brushing, and she pretends not to notice his jerk of surprise.

"Have a good day, Levi," she says as he turns to leave. She doesn't realize she used his name until he pauses to give her a sidelong glance, and then she has to will a blush away.

"You too," he finally says. His eyes flicker down to the name tag pinned on her chest. "Petra."

Ten minutes later, she's finished her last checkup on the animals, is stuffing her things into her bag in the back room, and for some reason is in an oddly good mood.

2.

She's admiring the colors and variety of the fish in the aquarium in the front corner of the shop as she scatters fish food in the water, so she doesn't notice the footsteps approach until a familiar voice says nearly in her ear, "Excuse me, can I pay for this?"

She jumps a little and nearly bumps Levi Ackerman in the nose; he takes a step back, blinking rapidly, and she laughs, her cheeks beginning to burn.

"Sorry," she says. "You startled me."

Erd and Gunter are on break, and Auruo—he said he'd be right back fifteen minutes ago but her Instagram homepage showed a picture he posted five minutes previously and she has no idea where he is. It's a slow day in the shop, only the occasional person wandering in to coo at the bunnies or the guinea pigs, but that doesn't mean the employees shouldn't be here anyway.

She sets the fish food down and wipes her hands on her jeans; she thinks she sees Levi wince slightly at that but she tells herself she doesn't care. There's nothing dirty about fish food.

"So you have a cat?" she asks, because he's buying a litter box this time.

"No, doing a friend a favor," he says. "A different friend." His hands are in his pockets, his eyes wary and shoulders hunched like they can protect him from all the animal eyes staring in his direction.

"Do you have any pets?"

"No."

"Don't want any?"

"I hate animals."

She frowns at him because one: he's in a pet store talking to a pet store employee and two… "You're standing next to a horse in your Facebook picture."

She only realizes how stalkerish that sounds after saying it and bites her lip, trying to look perfectly nonchalant when his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. "We have a mutual friend," she explains. "Rico Brzenska? She was my roommate in college. Probably still will be when school starts again."

"Oh. Yeah, I knew Rico in high school." From the tone of his voice, it sounds like he actually knows her, not just recognizes the name, but she doesn't pry. "I'm a counselor at Camp Legion—that local kids' summer camp—right now. It's got horseback riding."

"You usually work with kids?" He pushes a hundred dollar bill across the counter this time and she starts counting change.

"Nah, I hate kids." Her expression must be skeptical because he adds, "I need a job though. Fucking student loans."

Fair enough. "You can't be that bad with kids if they haven't fired you yet," she points out, and he shrugs noncommittally.

"They're a bunch of brats but they're okay."

She drops his change into his palm and he folds the bills neatly before putting them in his wallet, stacking the coins carefully. He doesn't count his change, she notes; he's halfway to the door when he stops, turns back around to face her, and says, "So you looked me up on Facebook?"

It's a normal thing to do, but the way he says it makes her feel like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar. "I was bored," she says, and something like a smirk twitches at the corners of his lips.

"So you look your customers up. That's kind of creepy, don't you think?"

It takes her five full seconds to realize he's joking, and when she does she glares—at her glower, he practically hightails it out of there, but when she sees his friend request on Facebook later that night, she accepts it.

3.

He has a list this time, a piece of crumpled paper he digs out of his pocket after a pack of Orbit, two Ticonderoga pencils, and a Swiss Army knife. "Birdseed. Fish flakes. The smallest cans of both the cheapest and most expensive cat and dog food brands sold here… what the fuck."

"I take it you're here for yet another friend," Petra says, though last time he visited was with a high school girl in tow, both of them carrying ice cream cones—"Isabel," he introduced her as, "my dumbass neighbor who thinks I'm her older brother or something," but the way he let her coerce him into petting the rabbits with her suggested he thought so too.

"Hanji has a bunch of snakes and tarantulas; this might be for an experiment or some shit." Levi looks vaguely disturbed as he glances back at Petra and says, "Could you look up the most and least expensive cat and dog food brands for me?"

"No problem." A few taps of the keyboard and a quick search of the store inventory later, she has the items he wants listed on the computer screen, but before she can read them to him he cranes his head over the counter to look.

"Got it," he says; his hair brushes the side of her face as he leans back and she takes a breath. He smells like Head & Shoulders ocean breeze shampoo.

He goes off to fetch his items and she checks the schedule; animal feeding time isn't for another half hour and she can switch shifts with Gunter afterwards. She opens Instagram on her phone to find a sneak shot of herself posted on Erd's account with his customary twenty or so obnoxious hashtags. (Somehow he went from trolling to doing it all the time: #funtimes #friends #funtimeswithfriends #funtimeswithfriendsatwork #nofilter #followforfollow are things she sees all too often.)

If you post one more sneak shot of me I'm going to send your girlfriend that recording of you singing in the shower, she types in the comments section, and then Levi is back, arms full of small bags and cans.

"Fucking Hanji," he curses, dropping his load onto the counter with a heavy thud. "They owe me. All three of them."

"What, you going to make them pay for your Frozen DVD?" she teases, and she could swear a tinge of pink appears in his cheeks.

"That's not the only movie I watch," he protests, and she grins, remembering his Facebook status and his friends' comments on it: you've seen that movie like five times since last year levi wtf you don't need to own it and please don't let this make you think you have a singing voice again and you have a crush on princess anna, ADMIT IT.

"I didn't really like it," she confesses as she starts scanning his items. She pauses when she sees him staring at her in something like shock.

"You didn't really—well, you're not the first person I met who doesn't," he says with the air of an enlightened one unable to understand why everyone else is in the dark. "What didn't you like about it though?"

"There wasn't much development in terms of the characters?" She shrugs. "I didn't hate the movie; I just didn't really like it. I didn't particularly like any of the characters in general. Except the snowman. The snowman was cute."

"Isabel loves the snowman too," Levi says, not quite hiding his distaste, and Petra grins.

"You didn't?"

His eyes are an interesting color, a shade not quite blue and not quite gray, and gazing at them, she almost doesn't hear his answer. "Anything that can have its head separated from its body and still function is disturbing."

He has a point, but still, it was a snowman. She leaves the movie discussion at that but before he exits the store, she can't help stopping him with one last question: "Do you have a crush on Princess Anna?"

"Nah." His eyes travel up the length of her upper body over the checkout counter, stopping at the bangs falling over the side of her forehead. "Her hair's a pretty color though."

It's been a while since she saw the movie, so only after Googling images of the Frozen characters does Petra begin to let herself feel somewhat flustered.

4.

"You're more efficient than the other guy," someone says behind her, and she looks up from her cup of froyo to see Levi standing in front of her, a cup of coffee in one hand and a shopping bag in the other. A shopping bag from the pet store, she notices after looking more closely.

"Sit down," she suggests, kicking the chair opposite her out from under the table, and he seats himself, placing his bag on the floor and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Who's at the cash register right now?" Petra wants to know. "Auruo or Erd?"

"He's got… brownish-blond hair? Haircut looks kinda like mine? The guy who looks thirty but you said he's your age."

"Auruo." She scoops a spoonful of yogurt and presents it to him with a big smile. "This was expensive but that's for telling me I'm more efficient than Auruo."

"You don't like him?" Levi takes the spoon from her, places it gingerly in his mouth like it's cough medicine, and makes a face when he swallows. "This tastes exactly like ice cream—did you put sprinkles in it? I hate sprinkles."

"How on earth can anyone hate sprinkles?" Petra shakes her head as she offers him another scoop, this one sprinkle-free. "Don't tell me you've never had froyo before. And no, Auruo's like my brother—my annoying-as-hell twin brother I need to beat at everything."

"Fair enough," Levi says. He holds out his cup of coffee. "First time trying frozen yogurt."

She raises it to her lips and grimaces when the taste settles in. "Blech. You hate sprinkles and you drink your coffee black."

"Sugar and cream ruin the taste of the coffee."

As a coffee lover, she has to disagree, but he did pay for her smoothie last time she bumped into him at the food court, so she lets it slide. She nods at his shopping bag instead. "Which friend this time?"

"Mike. Leash for his dog." Levi taps his fingers against the table, frowning. "I swear they've never needed so much crap for their pets before. I don't run errands for people but suddenly I'm their pet shop errand guy, like what the fuck."

"If you don't run errands for people then why are you doing it anyway?" Petra asks, and he suddenly becomes busy with the lid of his coffee cup.

"Hey, I nearly forgot, what's up with this?" He slips his phone out of his pocket to display the last picture she posted on Instagram—Levi near the entrance to the pet store, half-sprawled across the floor, one arm on the ground and the other thrown up to fend off an overexcited golden retriever, its paws on his chest, tongue in his face. "So when you were laughing and not helping you were also taking a picture."

"The owner got Flora off you eventually," Petra points out, picking up her froyo cup to hide a giggle. "No harm done."

"I just showered after a day at camp and then I had to wash all my clothes again to get all the drool off—"

"Hey, you weren't even there to help buy something for someone that day. You just dropped by to say hi. You only have yourself to blame."

Levi scowls. "Did you know one of the kids at camp follows you on Instagram? He followed you because of your animal pictures. The kid loves animals. Wouldn't stop bugging me about this picture yesterday."

"Does he have a pet?"

"Eren Jaeger?"

"Oh!" Petra nods. "He has a cocker spaniel puppy. He's a cute kid. I see him and his mom around the store sometimes."

"Yeah, he wouldn't stop bugging me. Do you have a dog? Do you know petxral314 in real life? Is she your girlfriend? God."

"And what did you say to that?" She tries not to look too interested in the answer, and he huffs.

"I told him to shut up, leave me alone, and ask you if he really wanted to know."

"And what should I say if he asks me?"

Levi gulps down the remains of his coffee before answering, tone too careless to be completely genuine. "Whatever you like."

She waits to catch his eye before allowing herself a smirk. Whatever you like. She can work with that.

5.

"Hey, I was thinking."

That's something she's noticed about Levi: he's terrible with greetings and farewells. He just opens his mouth and talks like they're in the middle of a conversation and often leaves without saying good-bye, whether in real life or online messaging. She doesn't think she's ever heard the words "thank you" come out of his mouth before or seen them displayed on her computer or cell phone screen when talking to him.

It's kind of endearing, in a weird way.

"What's up?" She's cleaning the hamster cages, hands gloved and hair tied back, and she continues her work as he speaks behind her.

"I talked to Isabel's parents and I want to get her a puppy for her birthday."

"That's so cute!" She whips around to smile her approval and he falters, blinking nervously and hunching his shoulders before continuing.

"So… I was thinking of finding an animal shelter? I mean, this store doesn't sell puppies or kittens anyway."

"Yeah, most pet stores don't anymore," Petra says. "Long story short, they usually don't come from good places."

"Yeah." Levi rubs the back of his neck. "So… uh, I don't know anything about animals and shelters so I was wondering if you could… come with me to help pick?"

"When? Today? When's Isabel's birthday?"

"In two weeks." His hands are in his pockets now, his eyes fixed on some point over her shoulder, and she wonders why he looks so fidgety as he continues, "So… whenever you're free… at night? Over the weekend?"

"I'll have to check, but—" She hasn't finished speaking yet when he barrels on.

"I know you're busy, so I can… take you to dinner. Or whatever. As a thank you."

At that, Petra sets down the spray bottle of water she's holding and cocks her head at him, fighting the grin threatening to spill over her face. "Levi? Are you trying to ask me out?"

He meets her gaze; his eyes are cool but she's definitely not imagining the red in his cheeks as he shrugs and responds, "Well, if you have time, I can drive but you'll have to tell me where to go because I don't know where the animal shelter is."

There's something called Google maps and you could just ask your friend with the dog for help, especially since you've been helping him a lot lately, she thinks, but she's totally not complaining about the fact that Levi's asking her. Out. She must be taking too long to answer though because he adds, "You'd be doing me a favor."

Petra picks up the spray bottle again and returns to her work, but she throws one last smile over her shoulder at him before pretending to be absorbed by the hamster cage. "Well, you have been doing your friends a lot of favors recently," she says casually, like she hasn't pretty much decided by their second encounter that she wanted this. "Sure, why not. I can do you a favor."

6.

Three figures stand by the entrance to the GameStop next to the pet store, occasionally stepping forward to peer through the glass at the two people visible inside.

"He's turning red. He's doing it. He's asking her out."

"You can't be sure. Maybe he's trying to compliment her."

"Which would basically lead to asking her out?"

"She's smiling. She's—she's going back to cleaning that cage."

"And he's still there? He's definitely in love then. If he's standing that close to someone dealing with animal crap—"

"I told you he liked her. I've been waiting for years to hear him—well, to not hear him say no whenever I asked him if a girl was pretty. He only saw her through the shop window and he already thought she was pretty. For him that's like. Freaking commitment."

"You think he suspects anything?"

"Maybe a little when I asked him to get me birdseed and dog food and all that. But he just thought I was doing experiments."

"What the hell are you going to do with all that stuff anyway?"

"Return it. I have another week before I can't anymore. But he asked her out already, so it doesn't matter."

"It was obvious after he started talking to her on Facebook. The only people he talks to on Facebook are us. And he has his phone out right now—probably exchanging numbers—he hates giving people his number."

"It was obvious because he never complained. He doesn't let people make him do things but he let us, and he hates animals but he kept going back to the pet store anyway. Because he wanted to see her again."

"I don't need the new leash though. The one I bought last month still works perfectly fine."

"You bought it to help a friend, Mike. That's more important."

"I could've asked him to buy me dog food—"

"I already did last time. Dog food's boring. Dog food's not sexy. Neither are litter boxes. Leash, collar… that might give him ideas, you know?"

"I don't think his mind works that way, Hanji."

"Isn't that kind of farfetched?"

"Well, he is getting Isabel a puppy, so he did get ideas. If not the ones I was thinking of."

"You think he'll be mad when he finds out? He'll definitely find out. He's not stupid."

"Why would he be mad? We did him a favor."

A/N: If it's not obvious, I know absolutely nothing about pet shops. Like I have only been in one and that was because I had to walk through it to get to the mall it was in lol. Feel free to point out any inaccuracies you see :)

And yes, Petra's birthday is on Pi Day because I feel like she'd have a spring or autumn birthday and that was the first date that came to mind. Also I have never watched Frozen; some of my friends loved it and some of them hated it so idk.