"This is not how it's supposed to be!" Maka vented to her roommate Soul, loudly groaning.

Soul seemed wholly unaffected by his best girl friend's obvious anger as he simply continued to lay sprawled out on their couch staring at the ceiling. "Are you really surprised?"

Plopping down on the couch with him she sighed noisily. "I guess not, but I always thought that I'd at least get engaged before Tusbaki."

"What's the big deal with Tusbaki getting engaged again?"

Maka paused, "It's just that all my life she gets to do everything before me. I know she's my best friend and all but," she stopped to take a deep breath, "for once I want to do something before her."

For the first time since Maka had stormed back into their apartment, Soul actually sat up and looked at the girl. "Isn't she older than you?"

Maka didn't even bother turning her head as she looked over at him, "That's beside the point."

"Look Maka," Soul said shifting his weight so that his right arm was draped over Maka's shoulders. "Is there anything that could possibly be good about this?"

"Of course!" Maka quickly exclaimed. "I'm super excited for her and Black Star and her really really deserve this."

"But-" Soul interjected slowly looking Maka squarely in the eyes.

Maka couldn't help but close her eyes slowly as the smile slowly faded from her face. She felt completely broken inside and even worse, she felt like a terrible friend for not being completely supportive of her best friend's engagement. "I always was hoping that some prince charming would come along for me and sweep me off my feet, and I'm just-" her voice cracked.

Soul slowly engulfed the tearful girl into his arms. Knowing he was the one person she could trust entirely, she let herself fall completely into his embrace. "I feel like I'm running out of time Soul."

He simply rubbed her back soothingly as he simply let her cry in his arms knowing that no amount of words would heal her, not that night.

2 weeks later

"Guess what!" Maka exclaimed running in the door

Soul jumped up and promptly fell to his ass on the floor harshly. "Geez Maka, give a guy some warning next time." Peering over his shoulder, he couldn't help but be amused at the sight of Maka practically jumping up and down in excitement.

"This is when you say what," she giggled to herself as she did a small twirl.

He couldn't remember the last time that he had seen Maka acting like this. She was practically glowing. Soul paused at that thought. She was glowing. That couldn't possibly mean… "What?"

"I have a date!"

Soul immediately felt his heart sink to his stomach, not that Maka would notice. Despite being pretty perceptive for a normal girl, she just didn't seem to have a clue when it came to him.

"This guy named Hiro just bumped into me this morning at the coffee shop before I had my first class and we hit it off." Maka was gushing at this point. "He even asked for my number and has been texting with me all day." As if to prove her point, Maka's phone just happened to buzz right at that moment causing her to jump and tear it out of her book bag as quickly as possible as she squealed with delight.

Soul was now having to force his grin from dropping from his face.

"He then asked me to lunch later this week via text, isn't it great Soul?" Maka exclaimed bouncing down next to him on the couch as she texted her new boy back.

Watching her be so happy. Be happier than she had been for weeks, Soul only felt depression. He had wanted to be the source of that happiness, but he just hadn't worked up the courage to ask the girl out. There was too much at stake. If things got awkward between them, he couldn't imagine losing her as his best friend, other than Black Star. Plus that would be awkward as well, them both having best friends who were about to married. No, he would simply sit back and watch Maka have complete happiness with someone else.

"Yeah, it's great Maka."

It was funny how his heart still felt like it was skipping a beat just for her when she looked up from her phone to flash him a quick smile.

2 weeks later

"Don't wait up Soul, Hiro's taking me out to somewhere really fancy tonight and I don't know how late we will be. Bye!"

And with that she was out the door again.

Soul groaned to himself. He thought he could get used to this overly cheery and ecstatic Maka, but obviously her dating someone regularly was making him feel pretty damn sorry for himself. Then again, no one could really blame him. After all, this was the girl he had been crushing on since high school. Just back then he didn't have any excuse not to ask her out.

After graduating, he didn't think he would ever see her again, until they were reintroduced by their best friends who had surprisingly just began to date. Seeing her again surprisingly had a larger impact on Soul than he would have liked to admit. The kind of impact that he'd never had before with any of the girls he had dated through high school and so far through college.

When Maka's old flat mate, Blair, had suddenly moved out because of her want for a change of scenery, Maka had been left with an empty room and the need for a roommate as soon as possible. Soul had jumped on the chance despite knowing it probably wasn't a good idea. He just couldn't stand to see her upset and had to do something about it.

Plus, it probably didn't help that he really just wanted her to view himself in some other way besides as the bully. After all, all through high school he had teased and tormented the poor girl for her grades and slightly smaller boobs. Gah, he had been such an idiot back then.

Then again, musing how she had basically just walked out of his life for the past two weeks, one could say he was still an idiot. He had moved from the title of the bastard, to the best friend, if even that. At this point, she probably thought of him simply as his roommate who was always so damn supportive of everything she did.

I mean, how many other guys practically stayed up all night to help you study your ass off for a class they weren't even in. Or did the dishes a couple extra times when you were feeling particularly stressed out one week. Sure, Soul wasn't the best person to live with, he didn't exactly like to clean up after himself, but he made up for it when Maka really needed his help.

Or at least he had thought so.

Then again, he would have hoped she'd notice that tonight was their annual movie marathon night, with it being the second Tuesday of the month. That's what they did every second Tuesday, watch some sort of themed movie group while eating a shit ton of junk food, until one or both of them passed out.

But he should have expected that Maka would forget about their plans. After all, she was out there with her prince charming, as she often referred to Hiro as when in private with Soul.

He hadn't known moving in with her that she had some sort of Prince Charming complex, but now he fully knew and understood it.

Having grown up in a household where her parents constantly fought which eventually got a divorce, Maka didn't believe in love. Not in the way most girls did. The only couple that she ever saw get together and stay that way was in the books she read all the time. Yeah, he'd made fun of her for that too, reading too much. She had always seemed to have her nose stuck in a book in high school.

No, Soul was far from the Prince Charming type. Therefore, he wasn't her type. Not that he could really blame her. At least, that's what he thought to himself before he popped in the first movie for the night. Tradition was tradition, even if Maka had dumped him for some shit head boyfriend of hers.

Much later that night

Maka stumbled through her door only slightly past midnight and looking completely flushed and wind-blown, but not for reasons one would expect to happen on a date.

Just twenty minutes before she had realized her mistake in what the day was and what she had forgotten about. Soul.

He may have gotten on her nerves all the time in high school and even more so now that they were living together, but he was still one of her best friends and there was no way she was going to just blow him off like some worthless shuck. At least, that was what she was trying to tell herself. Unfortunately, she already had blown him off earlier that evening.

Bursting into the apartment, Maka quickly took in her surroundings as her face fell.

The living room looked relatively untouched except for the small pile of movies on the edge of the coffee table and the few extra candy wrappers in the trashcan. She had missed it.

Maka felt a pit heavily rest in her stomach. She felt terrible. Not only had she forgotten all about Soul and her plans for the evening, but when she had forgotten he had simply gone on with their plans all the same and had even cleaned up after himself, something she was quite impressed with actually.

She was a terrible friend.

Looking over at Soul's open door, she couldn't help but take a peek in. Looking at him, she saw a disheveled young man wrapped up in his covers fast asleep. She couldn't help but frown. "I'm so sorry Soul," she whispered before slowly closing his door and heading to her own room to get ready for bed.

Little did she know that Soul was completely awake. "I'm sorry too," he whispered under his own breath.

Five weeks later.

"I want you to meet him."

Soul calmly looked over his shoulder at Maka. "Why?" he questioned not because he wanted an answer, but because if there wasn't a good one then perhaps he would never have to meet the dumbass who Maka had chosen to continue to date.

"What do you mean why?" Maka quickly shot back, quickly fed up. Soul idly wondered to himself if Maka was on her period at the moment with how moody she was being. "I want you to meet him because you're one of my best friends and I value your judgment."

Soul couldn't help but frown at her reasoning, because frankly he hated the fact that all she wanted from him was to be a good and supportive friend.

"Well, what if I don't like him, will you break up with him?" he asked defiantly.

Maka spluttered for a second, struggling with words. "Of course not idiot!"

Soul shrugged nonchalantly. Well it had been worth a try. "Then why does it matter what I think of him."

"GAHHH! You are so impossible Soul!" and with that, Maka left the apartment huffing.

Despite knowing he had just pushed Maka's buttons to the max, Soul couldn't help but grin at himself for a second. If only Maka could read the signs and realize he wasn't just being lazy this time when he said he didn't want to meet her boyfriend.

2 days later.

"Soul this is Hiro, and Hiro this is Soul one of my best friends and roommate," Maka quietly said introducing the two.

Maka may have not felt it, but Soul could easily ascertain the growing tension in the room as him and Hiro stared at one another. Soul was trying not to glare at the guy, but really he couldn't help it, especially when the guy was clearly trying to intimidate him. Not that it was working.

"Cool, it's nice to meet you," Soul said knowing full well that Maka wouldn't appreciate him starting something with this guy.

Hiro was not as smart.

"If I hear one thing from Maka about you doing something to hurt or harm her in any way-"

Soul was surprised and frankly quite pissed. Who was supposed to be the boyfriend here, him or this idiot? And more so, who could possibly think that he would ever harm Maka. He loved her damn it!

This wasn't some sort of revelation, it was something that he had known for a very long time and accepted, as well as the fact that he was never going to have the girl.

"Lookie here Mr.!" Soul quickly shot back as he jabbed Hiro in the chest with his pointer finger. But he damned well wasn't going to let someone accuse him of hurting Maka ever. "I would never hurt one hair on Maka's damn head, and you have some explaining to do if you are going to come in here making wild accusations in her defense which she doesn't even need. Have you ever been hit by one of her Maka Chops! Those things damned hurt!"

In the end, it became clear to Maka that Hiro and Soul were never going to get along, and it would probably just be for the best if she escorted her boyfriend out of the building before he said or did something that would entice her roommate to kill him.

One week later.

"So I think that you scared Hiro into not dating me Soul."

"Excuse me?" Soul asked startled by Maka's random accusation in the middle of the afternoon while she was doing homework all the less.

"You heard me, I think you scared my boyfriend off."

Soul couldn't help but smirk to himself slightly. "Good."

Maka quickly elbowed him in the ribs and Soul immediately realized that 'good' was probably not the best answer to that accusation. "I'm sorry?" he asked more than stated.

She sighed lightly, "Just please don't antagonize him any further if you see him again. I really like this guy."

Looking up into her big green eyes, Soul knew he couldn't say no to this girl. She was too important to refuse something as small as trying to get along with her boyfriend. When she left for her date that night with Hiro, for the first time ever Soul actually felt like he had permanently lost the girl of his dreams, and worst of all, he didn't feel like there was anything he could do to maybe get her back.

3 weeks later.

Maka came barreling through the door straight into Soul.

"Whoa whoa, you okay?"

When she looked up into his eyes, tears streaming down her face as she shook from her mangled sobs, Soul immediately canceled everything on his to do list for the rest of that day, hell for the rest of that week.

"He was cheating on me," she cried letting her head fall and her hands cover her face mortified.

"What?" was all that could come out of Soul's mouth.

"For the past month, ever since he met you!" she screamed into her hands, obviously not angry at him, but at the situation she was dealing with. Soul could easily tell the difference. Not that he knew what to do either way.

"He thought I was too much trouble after that night and the only reason he stayed with me was because he wanted to get into my pants!" she exclaimed looking back up at a overwhelmingly concerned Soul, whose features quickly hardened as anger began to ignite in his mind.

Cupping her face in his hands, he pulled her close and looked her so close in the eyes that their noses were almost touching. "Did he try anything with you? Are you okay physically?" he asked slowly and calmly. She couldn't help but shiver in anxiety. Something about Soul acting as such made her realize just how scary her roommate could be. Although she wasn't afraid in the least.

"No," she answered back before being reduced to another puddle of tears all over again.

To Soul's credit, he did exactly what she needed. He pulled her close and simply held her as she sobbed into his shirt overwhelmed with grief and mortification at being cheated on by someone that she had actually been hoping might be "the one."

The next morning when Maka woke up with a note by her head that read "I went to go beat the shit out of that motherfucker for what he did, can you have some breakfast ready when I get back?" she couldn't help but laugh and blush brighter than she ever had since high school when she'd had a small crush on Soul despite his constant insults to her. He'd been cute and she had fallen for the guy. Therefore, now sitting on her bed after being cheated on the previous night, she couldn't help but revel in that familiar old feeling.

2 weeks later.

The feeling wasn't going away.

"Bye Maka! I'll see you tonight for our movie marathon!"

She smiled and blushed lightly, "I wouldn't miss it for the world," she called back before listening as the door gently slammed shut behind her roommate. They had decided to do an extra movie night to make up for the one she had missed while dating Hiro The Bastard, as they now permanently referred to him as.

Feeling her cheeks burning, Maka couldn't help but realize how her and Soul's relationship was so much different from her and Hiro's. Of course it was different because of the big things like she didn't make out with Soul on a regular basis. Her cheeks lit up at the very idea of that.

But there were so many little things like Soul didn't open doors for her, because he fully well knew that she could do it for herself. He never hovered over her while she did homework because he knew she didn't want nor need his help. Sometimes when she forgot to cook on a particularly stressful night of studying, she would come out to the living room to apologize, only to find that he had simply heated up some instant noodles for both himself and her. And most importantly, she felt completely at ease with Soul. He was almost an extension of herself rather than a whole other human. It was weird to describe him as such, but she couldn't label it any other way.

All the same, she refused to fall for Soul or act on any of these feelings. After all, she had just went through a messy break up and the last thing she needed to do was act on some feeling that wasn't even real. Maybe the whole reason she was going for Soul in the first place was because he was safe for her, or because he was the first guy she had really talked to since the breakup. Actually, he was the first person. She hadn't even given a lot of details about what had progressed between her and Hiro to her best friend Tusbaki.

Still, she couldn't jeopardize her relationship with Soul by acting in some way that wouldn't be fixable afterwards. She needed a real rebound and then if she still wanted to go for Soul afterwards then she might consider it.

Then again, Maka knew an excuse when she came up with one.

She could just hope that nothing happened to make her do something stupid.

2 months later.

"What the hell was up with that!" Soul exclaimed as the two of them entered back into their apartment.

Maka simply rolled her eyes. "What was up with what?" she questioned fully knowing what Soul was talking about but refusing to answer him.

Soul spluttered trying to come out with a reply. "Don't talk stupid with me Maka!"

"I am not stupid," she immediately whipped around and jabbed him once in the chest with her pointer finger.

"Well you certainly are acting like it if you really didn't notice how you were flirting with everything that had two legs and a dick tonight!"

They had decided to go out and see a movie on this particular night, both not having a group of movies that interested them, while a new action adventure movie had just come out that had been reviewed fairly well. However, Maka hadn't realize just how freaked out it would make her feel.

Here she was a little over three months after her break up with Hiro, still wanting to date Soul, but knowing she needed to through a rebound first just in case, and what is she doing? She was practically on a date with Soul! That was not the plan!

So she might have flirted with a few guys in retaliation to the idea of Soul and her going on a date before she'd had her rebound. Still she probably shouldn't have done so right in front of Soul in retrospect.

"I wasn't that bad!"

"You batted your eyelashes, you fucking batted your eyelashes Maka!"

She frowned. "And what's wrong with that!"

The sad thing was that Soul didn't really have a good reason for being so pissed except for the fact that he, a perfectly good candidate to date, was standing and sitting right next to Maka the entire night and not once had she looked even remotely interested in him. It was damned frustrating!

"I thought tonight was about us!" he yelled back in retaliation, not knowing what else to say.

He was right. Tonight had been a chance for them to catch up after a particularly busy week of school for both of them, and instead she had wasted the night away flirting with any guy who would look her way. She actually felt rather disgusting for that, not that she was going to admit to it though.

She simply glared at him.

"Is this about that running out of time wedding thing again," he suddenly asked her out of far right field.

Maka was quickly thrown for a loop as she had to process what Soul was even saying before she could respond. "No, this is about me wanting to actually find someone who cares about me okay!" she yelled back furiously. How could he possibly think that she was still upset about her bestfriend's upcoming wedding?

"Are you sure, because it didn't look like you were looking so much for a good man as a good fuck!"

Soul knew it was below the belt, but he couldn't help but say it. All night he had felt so damn stupid and misguided for going out with her, he just couldn't help but want her to understand exactly how he felt watching her flirt with every single guy they ran into.

Maka gasped in response as tears began to prickle her eyes. "I- I- I-" she couldn't say anything, knowing no comeback for being called a whore.

The anger Soul felt just moments before, quickly resided as the impact of his words came back to bite him in the butt. "Maka I-"

"Save it Soul," she quickly cut him off. "I don't need to hear any lame ass excuse from you." She was really pissed if she was cursing, Soul mused knowing he had gone too far. "After all, you're not even my boyfriend."

And with that she began to push past him to her room.

"But I could be," he whispered lightly, barely loud enough for her to hear.

She immediately froze in place, unable to believe what she had just heard. "What?" she asked slowly looking over her shoulder.

Soul was facing away from her and had his head bowed down to the ground as his hands were clenched up into fists. She listened as he took a deep breath, letting his hands relax as he breathed out and turned around. The emotion in his eyes was overwhelming and she couldn't help but allow a hand to come up to her mouth in surprise as she gasped lightly.

"I said, that I could be."

She wasn't able to speak, and therefore he continued on. "Do you know how hard it is to watch the girl of your dreams flirt with every single guy you run into at a movie theater as you sit and watch from the sidelines?"

He took a step towards her. "It sucks! Some because you know none of those guys are good enough for her, some because she has no idea of the affect it has on you, and mostly because all you really want her to do is turn around and realize what's right in front of her."

Maka just stared at him in complete awe and shock as he took another step towards her, slowly closing the distance between the two of them.

And just like that, he was directly in front of her, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, looking like a sad lost puppy. "Please say something Maka," he pleaded in a smaller voice than she knew he had.

"I was looking for a rebound so that I'd know for sure that I could date you and not screw it up."

He blinked slowly. "What?" he asked confused.

Maka opened her mouth and tried so hard to explain, but the words were all jumbled and confused in her head. Soul liked her! That was all she could think of at the moment and it was honestly rather overwhelming.

"Since the moment me and Hiro broke up I've been wanting to date you. Just like I wanted to years ago," she admitted slowly. "But I didn't want you to just be some rebound that I screwed up with. I wanted the real deal, so I've been looking for a rebound so that after them I could date you," she explained rather lamely looking back up into Soul's unwavering eyes.

Both of them just stood there in silence for a moment staring back and forth at one another, processing and unsure of just what to do next.

"So, you like me, and I like you," Soul was suddenly clarifying as he inched forward with a small smile beginning to form on his face.

Maka could only nod in respose.

Soul grinned. "Okay."

And with that, he was kissing her. It was a slow and intense kiss, in which he tilted back her head as he ran his fingers through her hair and then down her body to bring it closer to his own. Maka couldn't resist him, nor did she really want to. Not when he was kissing her like this. She was lost in all senses of time and place. All she knew was that she never wanted him to stop.

Unfortunately though, they had to.

Her mind immediately caught back up with her body. "Soul, I don't want to screw this up and I can't have you be my rebou-"

She was silenced by his finger on her lips. He was grinning. "You said you liked me before right?"

Maka nodded, "Back in high school. I couldn't decide if I wanted to kick your butt or kiss you."

Soul chuckled pulling Maka back towards himself. "Me too, that's why I always made fun of you." Her mouth dropped open in surprise. "And all this time any girl I've looked at has just served as a distraction from the one who captured my heart all those years ago."

She was entirely red at this point, but she was still smiling. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked just in case, knowing she couldn't be mad if he backed out of this idea of them together as something more than just roommates and friends.

"Yeah, you?"

"Completely sure."

And with that, the two kissed again, getting lost in their own world.