Day 1: Tomfoolery
Maka startles awake with a gasp, clutching at her blankets as the school's fire alarms go off. They screech at her, laughing at the fact that she has club meetings and separate RA duties tomorrow. Sleep? You? Sad.
Maka groans loudly, dead inside, right into her pillow. She pushes up onto her elbows and blindly reaches around on her bedside table for her glasses, knowing that she won't be able to see absolute shit tonight without them.
She sits up in her bed, starting to feel jitters as the actual fire alarm goes off. No faculty had informed her of an upcoming drill, so maybe this one is real. She slides her glasses onto her face, quick to stand up once she can see clearly again and find her slippers as well as she can in the dark. Maka grabs a stray scrunchie (who doesn't like scrunchies? Maka likes scrunchies and doesn't understand why they ever went out of style) from her bedside table as well and works her hair into a semi presentable bun as quickly as she can.
Somebody slams their fist on her door.
"Maka, are you dead?" the voice shouts. Kilik, her RA partner. "Get up, we have to direct our dorms!" he finishes.
"Hold. ON." The girl grits back, bobby pins poised between her lips. She finishes up her hair and grabs her phone in a flash, finally opening up her door for her frazzled partner.
"Did you get a notice about this?" he says immediately once she steps out. Kilik's appearance is less than tidy tonight, and she would find it funny if she weren't half asleep. His hair is his saving grace, though he is without a shirt. Some sort of innate curiosity has been sated with the knowledge that the rest of his body does, in fact, have the same type of elemental tattoos that his arms have. She'll give Liz the details she wanted about that later, though.
"Does it look like I got a notice about this?" she asks, already wanting her peace and quiet back. Students rush past them and down the dormitory halls, flooding the stairwells with shouts and other commotions. A group of guys walk past her in only their spandex briefs, and she thinks she needs a shot. Kilik looks her up and down.
"Uh, no. No, not really." he grins cheekily, but quickly continues on after she flashes him a deadly look. "Anyways, I think we should do a headcount for the faculty and to make sure everybody in our area is out of the building, yada yada. You down?" Kilik explains. He miraculously already has two clipboards with lists of names on them, and she thinks he must have been made for this job. Maka blinks as he gives her one of the boards and a plain number two pencil.
"Wow, I owe you."
"No worries. You saved my ass at the last meeting, anyways." Maka snorts at that, but then looks down the halls at the thinning number of students.
"We should… probably get out of here?" she asks, only because the whole situation is still not clicking in her coffee deprived Sophomore brain. Kilik hums.
"That might be wise."
Maka does what she can to keep the students corralled while Kilik does a last sweep through of the dorms to make sure no heavy sleepers slept through the alarms. Fire trucks had arrived at their school a while ago, and the flashing lights lit up the entire street a few miles away. The sidewalks around the dorms were flooded with students huddled in blankets in hoodies, some unbothered by their surroundings and instead working on their laptops or phones. Others lay passed out in the grass. She envied them.
Maka looked through her list of names and check marks to see if everything was in order one last time, and then allowed herself to doodle a little star at the top corner of her page. She then drew another small star. And then another.
Maka dug out her phone for the umpteenth time and scrolled through her texts and messages for any sign of a response from the one person who hadn't answered yet, starting to get worried. What is he doing?
Hey, did you hear the alarms? Crazy right?
I bet it was some dumbass in the chem building again
Honestly you better not be sleeping through this
Star, I'm serious
Seriously, are you okay?
Maka fidgeted, wondering what was keeping him so long when he's usually so eager to answer her. She ran through the possibilities of what her boyfriend could be doing right now, hoping to the gods that he wasn't somehow close to whatever happened.
"Maka!" she heard from afar. Looking up, she saw Kilik exit their dorm building for what would probably be the final time. She walked over to him and stuffed her phone back in her shorts pocket, trying to push aside her worries for the time being.
"Was there anybody left?" she asked once he was close enough.
"There was like, a couple dudes who seemed a little slow, if you catch my drift. And by a little I mean a lot- god, they were high as fuck." Kilik said, scrubbing his hands up and down his face. "It took a while, but I honestly just pushed them out of the building and gave them a blanket. They'll be fine." Maka whistled and patted his shoulder.
"Thank you for your sacrifices." she said.
"Thank me when we don't get reprimanded for having bongs in our building." he replied back, chuckling as she let a snicker slip out. They both started walking forward with no destination in mind, checking that students were okay and that nobody was getting out of hand.
"It's fine, we'll just tell them we'll confiscate their hot plate if they don't get rid of the bongs." she said, grinning mischievously.
"Oh my god, that's evil," Kilik laughed. "A hot plate is a college student's life, Maka."
"Would it be a bad joke if I said we only allow one kind of baking within dorm walls?"
"Absolutely terrible. I've been wounded just thinking about it."
"Then my job is done." she cackles, feeling a little better as she chats with her partner. "Besides, we're the one who gave it to them anyways- we have a right to confiscate. Eggs only." Maka finished. They had gifted that room a hot plate that had been left behind by the previous tenants who hadn't wanted it, and the group of boys had looked like they had bestowed a bounty of riches upon them.
"What, no flapjacks?" Kilik said, rummaging through his pockets when his phone buzzed, tapping and fiddling with the screen idly once he got it out.
Maka snorts, but at that moment her own phone buzzes in her pocket. As she was unlocking it, Kilik looks up from his and turns fully to her.
"Uh, you should go to the office in building B?" Her partner says, sounding unsure himself.
"Oh god, what for." she immediately groans. Her head becomes numb as she thinks of the reasons why she could be needed at a time like this. If it's more RA work, she might actually perish. Kilik locks his phone and puts it back in his basketball shorts pocket, letting out a sigh as he does.
"I don't think you wanna know."
"That's… so ominous. Like, more than it needs to be." She says, getting more worried by the second. "Okay, well at least tell me if it's paperwork or something cuz I actually need coffee beforehand if it's paperwork." Maka pleads, hoping he would understand her peril. Kilik chuckles, as if laughing at a joke to himself.
"It's not paperwork, but I might still recommend coffee."
Maka frowns at this, but waves goodbye and heads on her way anyways. While walking to her destination, she remembers her phone and flicks through her notifications. Her eyes widen as she realized who the message is from. She feels herself slow down in her relief, maneuvering around people as she taps out a reply.
- did u miss me?
Where have you been?
- nowhere, just thinkin about u ;)))
I asked where, not what
- somebody is cranky tonight o33o
Because somebody else wasn't answering their phone!
- im sorrh babe
- i'll make it up to u l8er _(:3」∠)_
Maka makes a face at that, scrunching up her nose and feeling a flush crawl up her cheeks. She's too tired for his antics, honestly. Maka only texts back a single reply as she heads inside the building where she's needed.
Gross.
"I tried to stop him, Maka, I really did." Soul says, looking more haggard than usual. He stands outside the office where her duties await in nothing but a tee, sweats, and flip flops. Darker bags than usual rest under his eyes, and she thinks about how he really needs to get some sleep. She resists the urge to mother him.
Maka instead makes a confused face as she takes in his words, tilting her head to the side. Soul scowls deeper, looking immensely annoyed with the night's results.
"Stop who from what?" she asks, and Soul can practically see the gears trying to turn in her head. "Wait, was all of this a prank?" Maka suddenly asks, becoming increasingly shaken. "Oh my god, do I know them or something then? Because-" she begins to say, but then cuts herself off. Maka becomes eerily quiet.
Soul looks at her in pity, already knowing that her lightbulb is beginning to flicker. Poor girl.
"Please." is all she says, somehow still hoping that this isn't what she thinks it is. Soul's tired look is all she needs to let the pieces lock into place.
"Nooooo?" Maka moans, all hope for a peaceful night leaving her. Once she looks at Soul again, it's not her he pities anymore. "He. I'm. I'm gonna." she stutters, already feeling flames flicker up her body.
"Please do." Soul says. "I mean, not too much though, cuz he gets really whiny when you're mad at him and I can't get any sleep like that." Maka flashes him a dry look at that, letting her hands fall to her sides as she looks at the office door.
"He's in there?"
"Yup."
"Did somebody already talk to him?" she asks, becoming fretful once again as she thinks about the possible consequences.
"Ya, some firefighters really chewed him out. Said that if he did it again he could get a fine or whatever, but they let him off this time." Soul explains, yawning half way through his sentence. "Don't think he got any marks on his school record or anything though."
Maka breathes out a sigh, thankful he didn't get any real consequences for this absolutely stupid stunt. She looks away from Soul and back towards the office door, feeling the urge to roll up her sleeves in some way but also feeling too lazy to mess with her comfy hoodie.
"Ugh. I'm gonna kill him." Maka says, nearly glaring holes through the door. She glances to her friend, eyes softening as she takes in his tired features once more. "Thanks for staying with him, Soul. You should head back and get some sleep if you can."
"Don't worry about it." he says back to her, and shoots her a two finger mock salute with a tired grin, disappearing around a corner in five seconds. Maka returns her focus to the matter at hand once he's gone, and pushes open to the door to the office.
She's prepared to scold him, to chastise him for such a childish prank, but something in her heart melts when she sees her boyfriend look up at the door like he'd been waiting for her for days. He flashes her a warm smile, like the only thing he's thinking about is how happy he is to see her. Her ire dampens, slowly, pitifully, to a withering pile of ashes.
"There's my favorite girl." he says, and Maka immediately has to steal herself against a flurry of feelings that begin to gather in her stomach. Star sits in an office chair in front of the desk, spinning from side to side casually as he sets down a foam football in his lap, no doubt stolen from whosoever desk is in this room. She shuts the door behind her and makes her way to him.
"What did you do-"
"What, no hello?" he interrupts, still grinning that stellar smile at her. "I don't get to see you for nearly two days, and when I do, you don't even say hi first? That's so cold, babe." he teases. He scoots his chair closer to her, paying no mind to her narrowing eyes. His eyes are soft as he looks up at her, now only a foot away from where she stands. Maka feels herself frown, brows knitting together into a torn expression. She lets out a huff through her nose, already knowing in her heart that she is happy to see him despite the circumstances.
She crosses her arms in front of her chest in defiance, but soon gives in and closes the distance between them when he gives an innocent tug to her hoodie, still grinning warmly at her. Maka lets herself lean down to peck the corner of his mouth, settling one knee between his on the chair so she can sit back on his leg.
"Hi." is all she says, very nearly pouting at how he's managed to cool her flames so quickly. He seems pleased with this response though, and loops his arms around her waist to better hold her. It somehow triggers the smallest spark of fury inside her, rekindling her earlier flames. "Wait, no, no- don't try to act cute!" she starts, feeling a rant start to gain steam within her chest once more. Her boyfriend watches, amused, as she tries to put together the words to express how utterly dumbfounded she is. "Star, what were you thinking?" she finally asks. Her boyfriend leans back in his chair, not bothered by her increasing temper in the least as her expression turns back to something more scathing. Instead, he plucks her glasses from her nose and closes them carefully before sliding them into his pocket. She wrinkles her nose at him.
"Didn't I say before? About you." is all he says, grin stretching wider across his cheeks. He sets his foam football back on the room's desk, making sure to put his arms back where they belong once he's done.
"I- what. You can't just." she warbles out, not understanding how he still seemed so pleased with tonight's events. "Can you just, be serious for like five seconds and tell me what exactly was going on inside your head when you decided to pull the fire alarm?" Maka says, gesturing to a random place behind her.
"I am serious though," he continues, hugging her closer to him in his lap. "You've been so busy lately, and so I was like, how can I snag some time with my beautiful babe, while also fulfilling my yearly April Fool's duty?" he explains, completely and thoroughly pleased with their current positions, as well as his prank. He idly rubs her back through her shirt, happy to just be near her for a while. Maka looks at him, absolutely shook.
"Star. You did not pull the fire alarm just so you could talk to me."
"I mean. You were so busy, though."
"Blake." she says, letting nearly all her breath leave her at once. She falls forward onto his chest and leans her forehead against his shoulder for support, not knowing how to respond to his admission. His hand slips under the back of her shirt to rub against her skin, not trying to start anything, just wanting to feel closer to her. She won't admit that his hand is warm and it feels nicer than she wants it to.
"Look, you're an RA. I knew that if I caused some shit, there was a good chance somebody would be like, 'ugh, let an RA deal with him,' you know?" he explains, as if his agenda were some sort of master plan. "Like, ya, they sent Ox in here first, but I purposefully pissed him off enough that he just gave in and got you instead like I told him to." Star cackles, remembering how flustered and messy the usually pristine RA had looked.
"Oh my god," is all Maka says, continuing to digest these confessions of his. "So, does that mean I'm here to punish you or something?" Maka tiredly asks. She moves away from his shoulder in order to lean her forehead against his.
"I can dig that image." Star grins, all mischief and tease. Maka groans and smacks at his shoulder.
"You're literally insufferable right now. I should just leave and go back to sleep." Maka deadpans, knowing that she doesn't have the heart to leave in that moment at all. Star chuckles at that but fake whines anyways, closing his arms tighter around her until there's almost no room left between them.
"Come on, not when I just got you here," he grins, rubbing his forehead against hers a little playfully. "And you have to admit, my plan worked. It was awesome."
"No, not awesome. What happens when some idiot actually does burn down the chem lab and nobody comes?"
"I fucking hate chem, so like? No more chem lab, I guess." he responds, grinning wryly at the look she throws him. Maka shakes her head at him, too tired to refute his response.
"Even though you shouldn't have done it," Maka begins, shooting him one last scolding look. "I guess it worked a little bit." she finishes, softening her gaze to something more relaxed and loving. She moves her hands to clasp around the back of his neck, working her fingers through the soft hair there gently.
"Ya?" he asks, smiling and raising a single brow at her. "Can I make it work a little more?" Star finishes, speaking a little softer than before.
"God, that's cheesy." she sighs, smiling and drooping her eyes a bit more anyways despite herself.
"You like it."
With that, he closed the gap between with a soft kiss. His hands came up to gently hold just under her jaw, feeling how warm her skin is beneath his fingers. Her pulse flutters under her skin, a lovely reminder of just how much he could compromise her. She leans into his touch instinctively, already feeling comforted by his presence. She curls own fingers deeper into his hair while she relaxed more against him, tilting her head opposite of his. They pull apart slowly once they finish, soft and a little bit tired.
"I missed you." Maka sighs into his shoulder. She really did miss him this week. They hadn't gotten to see a lot of each other due to an increase in workload for her. The end of a semester is always hectic; people are moving, finals are coming up, and there was simply too much to be done in a day. He also had is own exams to worry about.
"Me too." he says back, just as softly as her. He lays a kiss on the side of her throat.
They stay like that for a while, basking in each other's presence before they knew they really had to leave. By this point, Maka had moved to straddle his hips more fully and comfortably, letting her feet dangle beside his legs freely.
"Babe, I was thinking…" Star suddenly started. Maka lays on her cheek to look at him clearly, catching a bit of nervousness in his voice. "Like, we don't get to see as much of each other because the dorms are so strict about shit like that, and so, I was just thinking."
"About what?" she tries gently. He fiddles a bit with the back of her shirt, uncharacteristically shy.
"I was thinking, what if we didn't live in the dorms anymore. Or something." he finishes, a soft flush crawling up his neck. Maka's eyes widen at his suggestion, feeling her heart warm at what he's proposing. She sits up in order to face him fully.
"Are you. Seriously asking me to live with you after you set off a fire alarm- no, wait, did you set off the fire alarm so you could talk to me in order to ask me to live with you? Blake."
Her boyfriend groans fantastically, and she soaks up this rather adorable nervousness of his carefully. He lets his head fall over the back of the chair they're sitting on, his blush becoming brighter as seconds pass.
"You were busy!" he argues once more, and Maka can't help but lean closer in order to kiss his cheeks a couple of times. His ensuing groans only make her giggle, her heart warming more and more as she watches him flounder.
"You're- impossible." she breathes, soft wafts of laughter still escaping her. "You're adorable, too." she says, feeling her own cheeks warm with the same color on his, no doubt.
"Is that even a yes or are you rejecting me nicely?" he replies, still partially flopped over the back of their chair. He peeks up at her with nearly crossed eyes because they're still so close. Such a dramatic boy. She can't help but grasp his cheeks to pull him back up, squishing her forehead back against his and smiling widely.
"Of course it's a yes, dummy."
His resulting smile is nothing short of pure and wholesome glee.
welcome to my compilation of fics I'm going to be doing for Mastar Week this year! I will be updating and posting new chapters to this story as I finish prompts and as the week continues, but I won't be doing all 8 prompts presented by the official blog. I have 5 or so prompts I'd like to work on and get done, and I'm excited to post them! go check out the rest of the fandom's awesome work at the mastar-week tumblr!
