A/N: I wrote this a while ago; because it's AU day of Rivetra Week I guess I'll post this along with my actual AU prompt haha.

When he sees her by the railing again for the fifth time that day, smiling and whispering with her friend, he has to ask.

"Do you like this ride a lot or something?" he wants to know as he tugs hard on the seatbelt, makes sure the safety bar is in place, and steps back to move on to the next row, but he pauses when she grins, waits to hear her answer.

"To be honest, this isn't my favorite roller coaster," she says with a shrug, "but I wanted to see you again."

Long after the cars have moved up the track, he remains staring after them, wondering if she was joking, wondering if he's being a fool, telling himself to stop hoping despite the way her hair caught his eye the first time around.

When she shows up the sixth time, half an hour before the park closes, she presses a piece of paper into his hands as he checks her straps, and before her car comes back he already has the numbers memorized.

.

"I cannot believe," Levi says as Petra turns right at the entrance to the amusement park, "you wanted to go here for your graduation celebration."

"Hey, the rides are fun. The employees are great. You should experience life on the other side." When he scowls, she reaches over and pats him on the shoulder. "Don't you like roller coasters?"

"I've never been on one before in my life."

"What?" She spins around to stare at him, eyes wide, and only when he pulls on the steering wheel to adjust their direction does she turn her gaze back to the road. "But you work at one—"

"I need money; fucking college leeched me dry. Not interested in rides."

She drags him to every single coaster that day, and by the end of the afternoon he decides that every single grubby little child he's ever scorned is a lot more worthy of respect than he ever imagined.

.

Her house is huge, at least twice the size of the one he grew up in, but it is empty and silent and cold and it makes him think of the park after hours.

"And that was my parents' room," she says, pointing down the last hallway at a large set of doors at the end. "I only moved back in after college, but my dad is staying with his brother right now on business and my mom… she passed away last year."

She doesn't seem to want comfort, she definitely doesn't want pity, and he knows this because when people tried to give him both he rejected them. But company is something others usually do not attempt to provide afterwards, so he sits with her and holds her in his lap and watches stupid sappy movies with her that make her cry.

After sniffling on his shoulder at length she laughs, wipes her eyes and starts to apologize, but he presses a finger to her lips and shakes his head.

"Thanks," she says quietly, and he knows she understands better than he does what he does not know how to say.

.

His coworkers get used to seeing her, the pretty girl with fiery hair who likes to surprise Levi by showing up on weekends and pecking him on the cheek as he bends over to adjust her seatbelt. "I still can't believe you have a girlfriend," Mike says as Levi returns to his spot by the edge of the platform, waiting for the next car to pull up, the next round of riders to get on. "You know, I thought you were gay or something. You don't ever look at girls."

"So that automatically means I like guys?"

"Well, you do talk to Erwin a lot—"

When Petra asks him later why his arm is bruised, his only explanation is, "I don't like Erwin."

She raises an eyebrow. "But you talk to him a lot—"

"Forget it."

.

When he wakes up, his first vision is of gold, gold and brown and red shining off her hair, spread across the white sheets, and he reaches for her waist, pulls her to him and kisses the soft skin of her bare shoulder.

"Mm," she sighs, fluttering her eyelashes at him. "Happy birthday."

"Merry Christmas," he answers, dropping another kiss on her neck, her collarbone, her jaw, moving up to her lips, and after a moment she leans away with a rueful smile.

"It's too bad you couldn't get those tickets, huh? I don't know what to do today until your party at six. I'd say the amusement park, but it's not open today, right?"

"Roller coasters again?" He smirks and tugs gently on a lock of her hair. "Why ride roller coasters when you can ride me?"

"Because roller coasters can actually make me scream?"

Before his expression can change she giggles, rolls over and throws one leg over his, reaching up to tangle her hands in his hair. "But since it's not open today, you can prove me wrong instead, how 'bout that?"

.

His first response to hearing that Isabel is getting married is apprehension, because he knows how long Isabel has been seeing the guy (not very long), and he can't stop thinking of her as a child, but when he sees them at the wedding, bright-eyed and glowing, he decides it doesn't matter and it's none of his business anyway.

"They look so happy," Petra whispers, and he has to agree.

"So when are you having a wedding?" Isabel asks later as he dances with the bride, trying hard not to step on her feet and even managing to twirl her once.

"What are you talking about—"

"I'm not stupid." She winks at him. "Besides, you're getting old, big brother."

Levi scowls and calls her a brat, but he doesn't fail to notice that Isabel aims the bouquet at Petra when she tosses it, and neither does he fail to notice the faint tinge of disappointment on Petra's face when she doesn't catch it.

.

It's strange to be free of student loans, it's even stranger to dress in a suit and a tie after so many months of working in a polo and khakis, but he scored the job and he managed to get the nice apartment and when he catches Petra staring at engagement rings in a store they pass in the mall, the thought does not frighten him like he thought it would.

"So when are you going to start working?" she says as he pulls up to her house, stops the car, but she does not get out right away.

"Next week. I'm going to work one last day at the park and then turn my resignation form in to the manager the day after."

"Well," she says, still lingering, "good luck."

When he kisses her good-bye, he thinks of his old job and how he met her there, thinks of his new one, of her graduate school two states away and her wistful gaze in the mall and he makes a decision.

.

"What are you doing here?"

She grins at him from where she sits on the ride, hands resting loosely on the safety bar. "I thought I'd come see you again on your last day here."

"We're still meeting for dinner, though?"

"Of course! Just wanted to drop by."

As the cars roll up the track, he fingers the box in his back pocket and wonders how he's going to do this. He's not an idiot, he knows he sucks at talking, and he knows Petra will be happy no matter how terribly he screws his words up, but he wants to do this well anyway. He wants to do at least one thing well.

He is still imagining the conversation at dinner tonight when he hears the screech.

.

As they roll the sheet-covered body away, he does not think of the red-stained fabric or lovely orange hair or a beaming smile; he does not think of the broken screws or the last seat in the fourth row or the diamond ring he spent hours and half his savings on; he stares at the large wooden beam splattered with blood and he cannot escape the thought that once again it is his fault.

A/N: The line about roller coasters was taken from a tumblr post I can't seem to find at the moment lol.