A loud whining and clanging came from behind the door behind her. Maka groaned. Not again, she thought and sank lower into the cushions on the couch. Soul looked at her. "It's your turn"
"Yeah, I know" she said, reluctantly rising from the couch and walking into the other room. This was the fourth time in a month that the laundry machine had broken. Maka opened the door and walked into a puddle of sudsy water. The washer was shaking like its death was near. Suds were spilling out along with clothing parts. Maka quickly turned off all the buttons and opened the lid. She grabbed the basket on the floor in the corner and piled all the wet clothes inside. She held it against her hip and walked sideways into the living room.
"Soul, I'm going to go to the Academy to finish this up, ok?"
"Yeah, whatever" was the reply over the TV.
"Could you mop up the laundry room while I'm gone?" she said, standing in front of the television, blocking his view, "Soul?"
"Yeah, Maka, sure" he said, leaning far to the left in an attempt to see the TV, "I'll clean it up"
"Ok" she said, not entirely satisfied, "I'll be back soon"
Maka slipped on her black jacket and returned the basket to her hip, locking the front door behind her. It was dark out and the grinning crescent moon laughed at her as she walked down the cobblestone streets. She probably should have been worried without her weapon at her side, but she had grown a lot more confident about herself these past few months. It was a chilly day in October and the wind made her glad she had brought her jacket. Hopefully she could beat the rain and finish the laundry quick enough, but she doubted it.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard something move behind her. She turned around quickly, careful not to drop the laundry, "Who's there?" All she saw was an empty street, the wind blowing a few stray leaves. Then there was a flash of purple and Maka gasped, stepping back when a black cat in a curly witch's hat bounced on top of her.
"BLAIR!" she yelled when the clothes that had previously been in the basket, flew all over the street. Maka scrambled to pick them up so they didn't get swept away by the wind when the black cat pawed at was left in the basket.
"What are you doing, Maka? And why are you taking laundry?"
"The laundry machine broke, so I'm going to use the Academy's" Maka said, picking up the rest of the clothes and returning to her walk.
"Why not use Tsubaki's?" the cat asked curiously, padding next the young meister.
"They're out of town on a mission, remember?"
"I do now" Blaire said, the cat stopped and sat down, licking a paw, "I don't feel like walking that far. Bye, little girl"
Maka didn't reply, but scowled when she felt raindrops on the top of her hair. She started to run. The laundry was already wet enough, she didn't need some filthy water getting it dirty again.
Before she was truly wet from the rain she made it into the DWMA. The halls were empty at 11:30 at night. Maka assumed that most of the younger meisters and weapons were already in their dorm rooms asleep, and the older ones, well they were in their homes by now. More than likely curled up on the rainy night, watching TV. Like Soul was. And Maka was here, in the empty halls of the Academy, with their laundry.
Loud thunder broke into her thoughts and she wondered in the back of her mind if it was safe for it to be that loud. The lightning never scared her, but when it did flash, illuminating the hallways for a second at a time, it set an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She made her way as fast as she could to the laundry room near the center of the DWMA. The young students living in the dorms had to do their laundry somewhere; she might as well take advantage of it. She would've asked Kid to use his, but he was all the way on the opposite side of town and she did not feel like walking that far at night, or in the rain for that matter.
Another crack of thunder shook the walls as she found the door. She set down the basket she'd been carrying and fiddled with her keys. Why the Laundromat was always locked she did not know, but she had a key and that was all that mattered. She closed the door behind her and took off her jacket, laying it on top of the dryer. Maka dumped the clothes into the black washer. She dropped in some powder and started to pour some of the fragrant liquid detergent when a set of thunder made her start, spilling the blue liquid down the front of her shirt.
"Aaagh!" she set down the detergent, screwing on the cap with a peeved motion and stared down at her shirt. "Great" she said to herself. She looked at the door, nobody was going to come in…but she might as well lock it just in case. Maka could hear the rain beat down on the ceiling of the Academy as she turned the lock on the door.
She quickly removed her shirt and tossed it in with the rest of the laundry, turning some knobs with a flourish. Ridiculous, she thought when she leaned against the washer as it cleaned her clothes.
"I can't believe you did it again, Patti!" said a soaking wet Death the Kid, "Liz, I told you never to let her in the laundry room!"
"I was busy! It's not like I can watch her every second of the day ya know?" Liz said in protest, "You're the one that does all the laundry shouldn't you have been the one watching her?"
"There was a painting off kilter in the dining room"
"There's always a picture off kilter" Liz muttered under her breath.
Patti giggled.
"Alright, alright! I know!" Kid said, irritated. "Go do something else while you wait. I'll be out soon"
"Make sure you wash that shirt you've got on, Kid. It's soaked" Liz said, walking backwards down the hall with Patti skipping ahead.
He scowled and put down the laundry next to the door. He nearly dropped it when some thunder shook him off balance. Wow, it's a big storm tonight, he thought. He unbuttoned his shirt with one hand and fished for his keys with the other. Not finding it odd that the door was locked, he quickly turned the key and walked in.
This is so not cool, Soul thought as the power flickered then finally went dead. He stared at the blank TV and begged it to come back on. It didn't. He sighed and looked at the damp laundry room behind him. Until now, he had refused to touch it or even look at it.
"No way am I touching that" he said to the empty house. The rain beat louder on the roof and soul looked towards the front door. He sighed and stood up, reaching in the closet for his raincoat.
"Hey!" Maka jumped when the door opened. She hadn't heard a key tuned, had she? She turned around quickly and covered herself, "What's going on?"
"Whoa! Maka, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were in here" Kid stuttered, dropping his laundry on accident. He quickly grabbed her jacket from the counter and moved to hand it to her. Thunder shook the room and Kid lost his balance, pitching him forward. He hit Maka and they fell to the floor. Maka yelped in surprise when he landed on top of her.
She couldn't help but realize that his shirt was undone. A soaking wet, white shirt made it very easy to see the skin beneath it. She also couldn't help but blush when she noticed him looking at her and the position they were in. He was lying on top of her with his shirt and her shirt unbuttoned.
They both looked up in surprise when the door to the hall opened. "Hey, are you guys ok? We heard—" Soul stopped mid sentence when he realized what had happened.
Kid instantly felt his heart drop when the Grim Reaper came up behind Soul, "Oh my" the Shinigami said. Crap, Kid thought. Then Kid caught site of Spirit behind his meister and Kid really started to get worried. This cannot get any worse. Then Liz and Patti peeked around the corner.
"It's not what it looks like"