Maka and soul have always been close, as partners that goes without saying, but one alcohol fuelled night, they both pretend to have forgotten about, leaves volumes of unspoken truths hanging in the air between them. And getting around this 'tension' with her partner is just one of the struggles in a day in the life of Maka Albarn.
moderate suggestiveness and swearing also one count of guy/guy, rated M for future scenes
THIS IS IN MAKAS POINT OF VIEW THROUGHOUT
chapter one - it just hasn't been my day
The shrill ringing of a bell pierces the air, a sudden shock to my senses, I pop my eyes open to see professor steins classroom. The room is clearing as the bustling crowd of weapons and their miesters push through the door to lunch break, and as usual the professors latest dissection lays grotesque and unidentifiable on his desk.
I let out a sigh and stand groggily from my desk, I must of fallen asleep again. I can't keep doing this, thats the third time this week! I can't maintain my status as top of the class if I go on like this, I'll loose my much prized position to that smug bastard Ox. But no matter how hard I try or how many Internet methods I use I can't get a damn wink of sleep, not since about a month back.
"hay maka, earth to maka" I hear the familiar voice of soul, my weapon partner and closest friend, penetrate through my misty veil of exhaustion and daydream. I slowly turn to him, trying my hardest to push back the persistent memories of that night , "hay soul! uh, sorry I just woke up, as fascinating as dissections are and all." I breathe out shakily and remain cool, smiling my signature smile and holding up a peace sign, which is our thing.
"Cool, lets go to lunch then and meet the others" he says, soul lets his lips curve into a toothy grin as he returns the sign, his eyes lighting up as they bore into mine, the way they did, always have, but now there's something different something more, a secret between us, and I swear to god if he looks at me like that one more damn time im going to maka chop the life out of him.
We walk side by side down the narrow corridors, or at least they feel narrow, the space between us way too small for comfort but its been that way for a while now, students lean agains the walls conversing, the clamour of sounds melding as the exhaustion still grips me, I sigh ever so slightly, it's gonna be a long day. soul walks faster than I do, allowing me to glance at him without him noticing from time to time, a skill I'm well trained in, I know it's creepy but frankly I don't care. I notice his hair is a little more tousled than usual and his eyes are a slightly more muted red than is normal, perhaps he hasn't been sleeping either. the thought makes my stomach flip, stay cool maka, I scold myself, locking my eyes firmly ahead.
We're at the lunch hall now and just ahead I can see black star and tsubaki, who appear to be, yep they're making out. "Get a room, eh?" Soul chuckles, nudging me with his elbow slightly as we take our seats at a table near them, "aha, yeah but they look happy." I smile laughing a little. luckily he didn't notice the burning of my cheeks at the contact.
"PUDDING KID LOOK!" Someone screeches from across the dining hall, who else but patty. I turn to see liz and kid, arm in arm watching an over excited patty balancing a tray of about thirty pudding cups in her arms, a look of wonderment on her childlike features. "PATTY YOU'VE STACKED THEM ALL WRONG THERE'S ONE TOO MANY ON THE LEFT ITS ASYMMETRICAL ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU'RE GOING TO EAT ASYMMETRICAL PUDDING?" Kid gushes, waving his arms in frantic distress while liz stands with her palm to her face. "Oh brother" she mutters between her fingers.
"Hay maka, wanna share my ice cream?" what. what. what. I spin round to see soul, sat next to me, who had; while I was observing the circus that is my friends (but I love them for it), got a single scoop of mint ice cream in a cone. And he wants me to share it with him. Share ice cream. One cone. Couple thing. Couple. Help.
"Uhh..." I panic, trying desperately to not blush. "Sure!" I manage to squeak, giving in to the 'fuck it I'm too tired for this shit' outlook. "PATTY WHAT ARE YOU DOING WALLS ARE NOT DRAWING ON AND PUDDING IS NOT FOR DRAWING WITH!" I hear kid yell from behind me, but I couldn't care less if there was a kishen doing the cha cha behind me right now, because my eyes are locked onto the sight before me.
Soul brings the cone to his mouth and parts his lips, slipping his tongue between them and dragging it across the cool mint, his eyes are closed, a hum of appreciation resonates from within him and I think my eyes just lost their virginity. "Here you go maka, it's really good" he grins as he hands me the cone, which I take with a minutely shaking hand.
The rest of lunch is pretty much more of the same, patty being patty, kid having a breakdown over the symmetry of things whiles liz stands by with a look of exhaustion, I know the feeling, and black star and tsubaki continue to play tonsil tennis. The usual. The only difference being that soul had a new way of making me super uncomfortable, ice cream, yay. God I need to sleep. Get my head straight, but that night, it's left thoughts clouding in my head like heavy grey fog before thunder, accumulating until the storm takes hold.
we're walking home now, soul, black star, tsubaki and the trio, who as usual walk arms linked with kid in the middle, strange really, they're a lot closer than they seem at first glance, no one really knows fully how close they are but there's an unbreakable bond between their souls like an unintentional constant resonance, I can pick it up when I use soul perception. Pretty neat actually, a bit like me and soul.
"Soul..." I look to him as he walks beside me, the wind blowing his hair in a way that really makes him look amazing and- Stop it maka. Get a grip. "Yeah, what's up?" He replies casually, grinning at me, GAH I can't do this. "Are you okay?" I ask tentatively, testing the water before I dive head first later.
He quirks and eyebrow, clearly a little confused but smiles when he sees how serious I am. "Yeah, yeah I'm okay." He looks me up and down, before briefly waving the trio off as we pass their creepy mansion of symmetry and giraffe related things. "See ya tomorrow guys!" He shouts as we keep walking, black star and tsubaki keep a little further back, murmuring to each other, since they got officially together black stars been less well, obnoxious. Which is great all round, although he still has his moments. Of course, what else can a big star like him do?
My eyes watch the pavement intensely trying to shake the nervousness, we pass a stick, a patch of grass, an empty crisp packet, soul grabs my hand... wait- soul grabs my hand? "Wha-" I turn to see those eyes, once again boring into mine, like they did when we first met, when he played to me, that song so dark and mysterious, and the time with the little demon, we lived through it all, together.
My heart skips a beat. "when you asked if I was okay..." He begins, the sleep from my system has worn off almost completely by now and I'm missing it like a comfort Blanket. "Yeah?" I smile, "is everything okay soul?" I ask as we keep walking, his vision drags downwards to the concrete , he looks unsure. "To be honest, no." He sighs, a half hearted smile on his lips.
"Oh soul, what's bothering y- AHH CRAP!" My world tumbles and flips as I trip over my own feet, disoriented yet seemingly unharmed I open my eyes again to see soul directly above me, holding me in his arms. "Caught ya" he laughs, "you aught to be more careful maka, you can't go falling so easily" he trails off remembering the night he spoke words so similar. We both pretend not to remember, it was a drunken mistake, it didn't even happen. "Y-yeah" I laugh shakily breaking through the layer of awkward, he still has me held up in his arms, god help me.
he pulls me to my feet a little too hard, pulling me palms flat against his chest. Meep. "So... What were you s-saying soul?" I manage to stammer. His eyes lock onto mine, "I'm not okay, I haven't been for a while." He says cool and serious, the tone of his voice forming a lump in my throat I can't swallow.
"Tell me about it, I want to help" I whisper, we are super close, centimetres apart in fact, is he leaning down or is it just my imagination? with a final movement, we are both on the floor, having just been yanked apart by the neighbourhood nut job redhead. "WHAT THE HELL PAPA NOT NECISSARY!" I yell from the floor, looking over at soul who is dazed and rubbing at his head with the flat of his hand, "uhh... Ouch?" He groans groggily.
The redhead, turns out to be spirit, aka my weirdo father, a suit clad, emotional wreck who has some serious attatchment issues when it comes me. "I will not have you making kissy faces at my maka again Evans! I'm onto you and your ways, I'm a guy, I know what you want!" He wags a finger at soul exasperatedly who is now sat upright on the concrete looking confused.
"DUDE I WASN'T MAKING A MOVE ON YOUR DAUGHTER LAY OFF!" he yells in his defence. Despite all my best efforts to hide my disappointment it cuts me like a knife, he wasn't going to kiss me, we didn't just have a moment. stupid maka, you idiot, I scold myself for ever considering him feeling that way about plain, flat chested me; without the heavy influence of vodka and coke that is.
I shrug apologetically at soul, and decide now is a good time to get up. Dusting myself off I walkover to him, just moments ago I was in his strong arms, shit I'm such an idiot, maybe it's a good thing papas such an overprotective creeper, he saved me a hell of a disappointment. "You okay?" I finally ask, my hands instinctively grabbing fistfuls of my long black coat, giving me something to hold onto as I feel like I'm about to topple over again, the fatigue and the come down of adrenaline finally getting to me.
"Yeah I'm cool, you alright?" He asks me, smiling in a way that makes breathing for me a tad difficult. "I guess, I mean yeah" I nod, trying to be convincing; eager to just hurry up and get home, where I can loose myself in a book and forget this little hiccup in my usually so meticulous routine. I turn to say goodbye to papa, despite the fact he just flung me and soul across the concrete in a desperate attempt to stop him having his 'wicked way with me' (seriously papa get with the program that's never going to happen no matter how much I want it to), to see professor stein has joined him, and has proceeded to slip an arm round his waist and press his lips to his and- GAH. They may have been together a while now but I am never getting used to that shit. I hear soul chuckle from beside me, so I promptly elbow him in the ribs and we finished the walk home in silence.