A/N: This is set after part 3 of the Rivetra music AU (Rhythms of the Heart). In case you have no idea what the Rivetra music AU is, it's just an AU in which Petra is a violinist and Levi a pianist, consisting of three fics posted on my profile: Perfect Harmony, Chords of Progression, and Rhythms of the Heart (in that order). Also I have a drabble collection for it called Counterpoint.

Sorry for the crappy title; I'm uncreative.

He is positive about his decision, has talked it through with Petra many times already, yet as the phone rings he finds himself going over his mental list of reasons why he should not accept the offer anyway: first and foremost, he does not need to live in a country populated by people who all speak like Erwin Smith—

"Good afternoon, Levi—well, I suppose it's morning there—"

"I'm going."

He can practically see the flutist's expression all the way across the ocean—a faint quirk of the lips, a slight twitch of the eyebrows, something almost smug shining in his eyes—bastard. "I thought you might say that."

"I'll tell Hanji to email you for details—"

"Congratulations," Erwin adds, and Levi pauses to frown at his phone, sure he heard wrong.

"What, on finally making up my damn mind?"

"No, on finally having a girlfriend for the first time in… how many years have I known you again?"

He should have expected this, really; there is nothing he can get past Erwin. "Lucky guess?"

"Something like that."

.

She wants this, she's 100% sure about it, but she can feel her heart starting to speed up as she dials Erd's number anyway, beating out uncertain rhythms of what about your father and do you really want to leave the city you've lived in your entire life over the constant steady pattern of you just got together and now you're splitting up already—

"Hey, what's up?"

"Erd." She releases a breath she didn't realize she was holding and forces the words past her lips. "I'm going to try."

He catches on instantly. "That's great, Petra! Man, it'd be great if you could come! They're going to love you—"

She interrupts before she can forget to tell him. "Erd?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

She doesn't expect him to understand—she thinks he'll assume she's talking about the Chicago auditions—but to her surprise and utter mortification, he chuckles and says, "So you guys finally banged, huh?"

"Erd!"

"You did, didn't you."

"Shut up!"

"You're not denying it."

.

Hanji picks up on the first ring, the sound of traffic coming through the speaker for a second before her voice croons, "Hey, shorty."

Levi scowls, wondering how on earth she can be so damn annoying only two words in. "I can call back later—"

"Nah, it's fine. What do you need from your manager now?"

He leans back in his chair, thinking he should have just emailed her instead, but since he's called her already he might as well continue. "Ask Erwin for details about the Birmingham audition; I don't think I have any appointments towards the end of the month but check just in case. And I'll need to book a plane ticket—"

"Erwin owes me twenty bucks," Hanji says distractedly as tires swerve and a car horn honks on her end of the line. "I mean, twenty pounds. Whoops, that's a big difference. He owes me a crisp twenty-pound bill."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You're with Petra now, aren't you? Well, you almost always are, but together together now. He bet it'd happen after you left for England and realized how much you missed her. I bet before. Twenty pounds, baby."

Levi's not sure which is more irritating, the fact that his friends were betting about his love life or the fact that they took his leaving for England as a given. "Did Erwin tell you?" he finally asks, voice flat.

"Of course not. I deduced from hearing you speak that your voice is now one of a man who's finally been laid—"

He hangs up and tosses his phone onto his desk with a clatter. He'll email her when he's feeling less homicidal.

.

"You're looking pretty good today," Anka says as Petra slides into their usual booth, shoving Rico further in with a light jab of her elbow. Rico jabs back but moves to give her more space and Nanaba pushes a cup of coffee across the table at her.

"I feel pretty good," she admits, setting her bag down and removing her gloves. "What have you guys been up to?"

She looks up from placing her gloves in her pocket to find her friends all staring at her, eyes wide and grins devious—even sweet Nanaba. "What?"

Anka shakes her head and clicks her tongue. "You think you can fool us that easily, Petra?"

"I have no idea what you're—"

"Come on," Rico says, patting her on the arm, "we're not dumb. You have a certain look about you—one that screams—"

"I just had awesome sex," Anka finishes, and the three girls burst into noisy laughter.

Petra looks on, vaguely dumbfounded, until Nanaba reaches across the table to pinch her hand gently. "Levi, right?"

"It better be," Anka snorts, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "He has to be good in bed if you put up with that—"

"Stop it," Petra says, finally finding her voice, and her friends grow quiet, pinning her with identical quizzical stares.

"It's about time," Rico says, her smile sly. "So is he?"

"Is he what?"

"Good in bed," Anka supplies.

Petra takes the cup of coffee Nanaba offered her and raises it to her lips, blowing on it before taking a careful sip. She draws the moment out as long as possible, knowing how much the other three want an answer, and waits until she can practically feel them bursting with impatience before smirking at them over the rim of her cup and answering.

"The piano's not the only thing he can play well."

.

He's in the middle of typing what he thinks is a rational, clearheaded response to some idiot on one of the synth forums (in reality his reply is scathing and likely tear-inducing to those weak of heart) when a new message pops up in his IM chat window: So you and Petra, huh?

It's Auruo—Levi hasn't spoken to him in a few days and he wonders if the younger man is angry. Auruo was Petra's friend first.

Levi waits a minute before responding. Yeah. He goes back to his forum reply but he finds the words no longer matter so much; three minute pass before Auruo's answer comes through.

I'm down with that… but you gotta respect the bro code, you know what I mean?

Levi breathes a quiet sigh of relief, feeling oddly lighter as he types. I won't hurt her.

I know you won't. If you do I'll have to kill you, which I'd rather not do.

Got it.

He returns to his forum response and discards it after realizing how drastically the tone of his message changed in the middle; Ilovebreadandpotatoes726 can be spared for today.

.

She knows she's no longer a child; she knows her father recognizes the fact that she's grown and can make her own decisions, but she can't help feeling nervous anyway as she waits for him to pick up—he's met Levi before and while he didn't seem to have any negative impressions of the pianist, he didn't seem to take any particular liking towards him either—

"Hello?"

Oh right, she's calling the landline, which has no caller ID. "Dad, it's me!"

"Petra!" She can hear the smile in his voice. "How are you? I just talked to you last night."

She takes a breath. Okay. She can do this. "I wanted to tell you in person, but I don't know when I'll get the chance to drive over soon so I thought I'd call you instead of emailing you about it—"

"What is it? Are you finally dating that young man, that piano player?"

She gapes for a moment, her brain not quite keeping up with her ears before she splutters into the phone, "Wait—how did you—did someone—"

"I'm not blind, Petra; I can tell when my little girl likes someone. You're old enough to make your own choices, but I want you to be careful, okay? Don't let him force you into anything you don't want or be anything you don't want to be."

"Thanks, Dad, but—Levi's not that kind of person; you've met him, you should know what he's like—"

"Don't forget to use protection. I'm not ready to be a grandfather just yet."

"Dad!"

.

"—he was just so nonchalant about it, and my friends just wanted details about the sex—"

Levi looks rather alarmed at that and she laughs, swatting him on the chest. "Don't worry, I didn't tell them anything too… explicit." He doesn't look appeased so she hurries on. "And my dad was just like, 'don't forget to use protection.' I told you, he wouldn't mind; he's met you before and he's perfectly fine with you. Everyone just took it in stride, like oh it's Petra, she plays violin, she's dating Levi, no big deal."

She sort of expects him to be relieved, to say that he's glad her friends don't mind or that he's no longer worried about her father's opinion, but to her surprise he just shakes his head and—is he snickering?

"Holy crap, are you laughing? What's so funny?"

He tugs on her sleeve and she steps closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist easily like she's been doing it for years. "Nothing," he says, his voice low and amused in her ear. "I got similar reactions, that's all. Erwin knew before I said anything—he and Hanji made a bet about when we'd get together, you know."

"Seems like everyone knew this was going to happen before we did." Petra sighs and pulls him closer, resting her head against his shoulder. "Guess we're just stupid."

"Yeah," he says, kissing her on the tip of the nose; her lips twitch into a smile against his skin. "We're real fucking stupid."

.

More like people figure it out themselves, but whatever.