Her room was dark. Every corner was inhabited by a soft toy of some type, and there was a shelf above her bed adorned by creepy Victorian Era porcelain dolls. In their moth-eaten miniature dresses they stared down at the pair with painted,soulless eyes. Soul wondered how she slept at night with those creepy things above her.

The room she had spent her childhood in was a far cry from their apartment. It was so childlike,impractical. The only thing in the room that could have belonged to Maka was the broad study table. But even that was littered with stickers of the most juvenile kind.

She had been a tiny,little girl. She had her own life, and now he was part of it.

Soul smirked.

He had asked her out a couple weeks ago. Things had moved pretty slowly from that point. There was little to distinguish Life Before He Asked Her Out to Life After He Had Asked Her Out - except that he was undeniably happier. That was good.

He was still very unsure of what to expect. Everything was unsure. They hadn't really done anything as a couple, up till this little sojourn to her old home. They hadn't even really spoken about it either. It was just shared knowledge that he liked her, and she liked Spirit's credit, he had kept her room just as she left it, and immaculately clean,too. Maka wouldn't notice that sentiment though. Still, it was there.

She walked ahead of him and turned to face him, as if to observe his reaction to the room and in turn, her childhood. "You really were a dorky kid, weren't you?"

She blushed "Not everyone has the good fortune to be aristocratic like you,Soul". She flitted over to the bed, sat down and immediately began fussing over one of the numerous teddy bears scattered on the sheets. Soul grinned. That was just pretence to sit on the bed. It was transparent. He could read her like a book. She had sat towards the head, leaving a large swathe of the rolling bedspread empty. She wanted him to sit beside her.

And it was with this realisation that Soul, the eternal cool guy, suave,always grinning - got nervous.A month ago,that would have been impossible. In desperate attempt to salvage his calm demeanour, he sat down.

She smiled,and then her eyes were on the teddy bear again. Fumbling at its fur. He threw a furtive glance around him to regain awareness of his surroundings. His coherency was drowning in a ever-rising sea of panic. Damn it, he thought as he spotted the awkward little distance between them. No wonder she looked away. He was sitting a little too close for Cool Guy Soul's taste but not far enough to fling Awkward Romantic Soul out of the picture. The result was an embarrassing mix of indecisiveness and feigned slickness. She was still looking away. Was she laughing?

Marshalling his errant fears into haphazard energy, he edged closer and cursed himself instantly. There was still ground to be covered to make it out of awkward territory, and she still wasn't looking at him. Maybe that was a good thing. She wouldn't see his nascent blush. Fuck it he thought, and closed the gap with one movement. At least that was smooth of him.

"Um."
She turned to look at him, giving him a smile. He reached behind her neck and pushed her hair off her shoulders. That was the first thing you do before you kiss,right? In the movies I've seen at least. She didn't seem to react,but he guessed she knew he wanted to kiss her. It'd be their first kiss, in very same room she grew up in.

If it ever happened,that is.

After what seemed like an eternity waiting for some sort of signal from her, he moved his face closer to hers. She responded by turning her head slightly, angling herself better for it.

Cool Guy Soul broke.

"I d-don't know w-" he began,stammering. She was taken aback. "Are you okay,Soul?"
"I can't do it" he murmured

"Yes,you can Soul."
He looked away. He had bragged about his prowess in these areas. To his meister, long ago - it seemed like it was another life. But it was embarrassingly stupid now.

"I can't, look, I'll just turn" He shifted position. She waited.

"No,no I just. I can't. It's not going to work."
"Maybe if you turn, maybe if - this is not going to work this is not going to work this is not going to w-"

And then she kissed him.

Years later, when they remembered that day together - their first kiss, she'd always tease him about his awkward attempt, his chickening-out, hid god-forsaken newsfeed even when he had made good on his boasts of skill with every day since. he would always answer with mild annoyance. Whatever. Nobody is always cool. More than compensated for it later on, didn't I?

But he was glad,in any case. Better that way.