Never Tell
A/N: Ughgod, this has been lying around in my folder for like forever and I finally finished it after a few months or even half a year. Enjoy!
Maka had never expected to fall in love.
Men were drinking, cheating bastards only looking for pleasure and her father was by far the worst of them all. Even when she gradually rewrote her opinion of guys, this much was clearly ingrained in her head: Love hurt. Love could break. She didn't have any use for love, although she wouldn't have condemned it if other people thought they felt it.
That was why the realization that of all the people she could have made the mistake of falling for, she had fallen for Soul, her idiotic, sarcastic weapon, her lazy, annoying roommate, her protective, loyal partner, had been more than just a little shock to her. She might hate it when he called her names, she got annoyed whenever he cheated on a test or conveniently didn't do his homework, she was livid when he forgot to do his chores, but none of that could have stopped the tiny bud of affection for her partner from blossoming.
It almost seemed inevitable, now that she thought about it. He cared about her in an unexpectedly uncool way, he'd protect her with his life, he knew her soul, just like she knew his and truth be told, she didn't mind his stupid attitude. It was just part of who he was and he was Soul and she loved him.
Aside from that, she was pretty sure he didn't hold the same feelings. He had made clear he wouldn't go for her because of her her figure, taunts of tiny-tits and fat ankles still his favourite names for her when they were fighting or when he just wanted to piss her off. Nothing hurts as much as the truth after all, although her ankles were definitely not fat, Tsubaki and Liz had agreed with her there. As for the lack of bust, well, there was nothing to do about that, nature was just cruel sometimes. She was also convinced that guys in general, Soul too, wouldn't go for girls with her temper, especially not when her company entailed many Maka-chops for idiocy.
If she didn't have a chance anyway, she wouldn't risk ruining their partnership because of something stupid like feelings and her inability to keep them to herself. So, no matter how much she loved Soul, she chose to remain silent. After all, she was happy with just being by his side, and romantic aspects of their relationship would be nice, more than nice, but his friendship was the one thing in her life she would never want to lose, less even willingly destroy it and she wouldn't dare change something about the situation at hand.
As long as she didn't lose him, she was fine with that.
Soul always thought he wouldn't fall in love.
In his home, love had always been secondary to fame and appearances, something unneeded for great success. Even when he slowly started to see things differently after coming to Shibusen, he knew this much: Love wasn't necessary. Love was bothersome. He didn't need love, but would never have laughed at Black Star or Kid for feeling it.
That was the reason why he first didn't want to believe it when he realized that the feelings he held for Maka might exceed the normal emotions in a platonic friendship by far. It was a big shocker to think he had fallen for Maka, his violent, short-tempered meister, his bookwormy, flat-chested roommate, his strong-willed, caring partner. Sure, he didn't like books smashed into his head, he got annoyed whenever she was nagging about homework or school in general and he was human too, he could forget his chores sometimes, that was nothing to get so worked up about, but not one of these things could have prevented his feelings for her to grow.
It was like fate if he thought about it. She was always there, his safe haven, his confidant, she liked him for who he was, he knew for a fact that she beat herself up every time he got seriously hurt and she was the only one he'd ever allow access to the black room, to his soul. And if he looked at the whole picture, he didn't really care that much about her Maka-chops and temper-tantrums. They were her and she was Maka and he loved her.
Still, he was positive she didn't like him that way. She made that much clear with every book she hit him with, with phrases of "Men are all cheating bastards" and again, books in his head. It was almost like she was telling him to not get too close to her, like she was an iron wall he could never hope to tear down. She also didn't seem to take a general liking to sarcastic, cynic, lazy weapons with a dark humour that called her tiny-tits or fat ankles, although many girls apparently did, looking at the sea of love letters in his locker. But Maka wasn't like the rest and he was convinced that she wouldn't go for him, especially since she was so prejudiced about relationships between partners.
If it was a one-way-street for him anyway, he wouldn't risk ruining their partnership because of something stupid like not being able to keep his feelings away from her. So, no matter how much he loved Maka, he would keep quiet about it. After all, only being with her was enough for him and if she was ever up for it, romantic parts of their relationship would be welcome, more than welcome, but her friendship was the one thing he could not lose and if he couldn't keep a lid on his feelings, he was going to. He would not, under any circumstances, destroy this by trying to change what was already there.
As long as he didn't lose her, he was fine with that.
Out of all their friends, Liz was the first to notice. Yes, over nail-polish and plucking eyebrows she had noticed that Soul loved Maka and Maka loved Soul. Believe what you want, she could be exceptionally perceptive when it came to love and juicy gossip and if there ever was a romantic thing in this school, it was the way they were looking at each other, the way their faces lit up when they saw the other as if all of their happiness just came into the room. Which it probably did, she noted dryly.
She did, however, also notice the longing in their subtle touches and the flashing guilt whenever they lasted too long. She noticed the way Maka would look sad every time a girl approached Soul with one of those letters and she noticed the way Soul's look would turn desperate when he looked at her interacting with other boys as if he didn't have a chance of his own and could only watch.
Soon after, she came to a conclusion: Her two friends were oblivious idiots with inferiority-complexes. How in the world were they able to so perfectly ignore all the obvious signs the other subconsciously sent out? She wanted to push them in the right direction with a few small words, but she knew that it would make everything worse if she meddled, so she decided to let them be. For now at least.
Because even if their relationship seemed complicated at first, everything fell into place easily and they would just have to wake up and see the truth already.