Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater or They. I do think they're both pretty schweet though, and recommend them to anyone looking for fun supernatural animes and/or movies. (They is a supernatural horror movie directed by Wes Craven.)

AN: This was originally written as just one piece of a Halloween mini-series. Unfortunately, I never got around to writing the rest, and probably never will.

Edited 17 August 2012.

Soul looked at his alarm clock for what was probably the hundredth time that night and sighed. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning and—as much as he hated to think about it—he had school in the morning; he needed to get some sleep. So why then was he lying in bed, staring at the ceiling wide-awake? Because of some stupid movie.

This is so not cool, man… he chastised himself for what was also probably the hundredth time that night. It wasn't even that scary a movie… I mean, come on, They? What a lame name for a movie. And the girls weren't even hot… And yet, nearly two hours after the movie had ended and everyone else had gone home, he was lying in bed unable to sleep for reasons even he didn't quite understand.

Out of the corner of his eye, Soul caught a flash of movement. His head turned to the side immediately, so that he could glare at his open closet door. For a long moment he stared into the dark space, waiting for something to move again. When nothing did, he laughed softly to himself and shook his head. Come on, man, this is just sad. Cool guys aren't afraid of their closets. Still, every time he looked away he could swear he saw something move. He looked at the clock—glowing in the darkness of his room—and noticed that another five minutes had gone by and he was no closer to sleep. Another movement from the closet caught his attention. This time, he cursed under his breath and climbed out of bed. Knowing that Black*Star would never let him live it down if he knew about this, Soul shamefully turned on his closet light, blinking against the sudden brightness as yellow light filled his room. Satisfied that there was nothing lurking amongst his clothes, he returned to bed without turning the light back off.

Surprisingly, Soul found that he was slightly more comfortable than he had been five minutes ago. This realization bothered him tremendously; after all, cool guys aren't afraid of the dark no matter how many cheesy, ridiculous, 'scary' movies they watch. With an angry sigh, he flopped back onto the bed and put his hands behind his head. Surely, if he just stared at the ceiling long enough he could fall asleep…

Just down the hall, his meister was having a similar problem. Maka lay awake with every light in her room on, including the desk lamp, and her blankets pulled up to her chin. She knew she was being ridiculous, but she just couldn't make herself turn out the lights and go to sleep. She tried everything she could think of—even counting sheep!—but nothing was working. Currently, she was watching her alarm, following the second hand's boring path. Unfortunately, she kept seeing things move in the corner of her vision and every tiny sound from outside her window made her jump nervously. She'd almost screamed when she heard her neighbors in the apartment above them start walking around.

In the corner of her room, a book that had been haphazardly thrown onto the shelf fell to the ground with such a loud bang that she jumped several inches into the air before scrambling back to the corner between her headboard and the wall, her green eyes wide. For several long moments she simply stared at the book and breathed heavily as the adrenaline burst made its way through her veins. Oh, come on Maka! She told herself, it was only a book! What would Soul think if he could see you like this?

The thought surprised her, and brought a slight tinge of pink to her cheeks. Why on earth would she care what he thought about her being scared by some ridiculous movie? He would probably just laugh at her like he usually did when he thought she was being "uncool". On the other hand, now that she thought about it, Maka couldn't hear the sound of Soul's snoring like she usually could. Was he still awake as well? She literally shook her head as she chased the thought away; of course he wasn't. There was no way he would let a silly movie get to him…

Maka nearly screamed as something hit the window behind her. Acting on instinct, Maka leapt out of bed and ran across the room to her door; her hand was wrapped around the cool handle when her mind caught up with her and she stopped. It was probably just a bird or something. she reasoned. With a deep breath meant to calm her, she forced herself to look over her shoulder at the dark window. As expected, there was nothing there but her own reflection on the glass. Maka chewed her lip as she debated returning to bed.

She had almost convinced herself to when she heard footsteps above her again. Despite knowing exactly what they were, Maka jumped at the sudden sound. I can't take this anymore! she thought defeatedly. Trying to ignore how much crap he would give her for this later, Maka turned the handle and exited her room.

The soft sound of knocking made Soul jump, despite himself. Before he could answer, however, she was quietly opening the door, unable to stay in the darkness of the hallway.

"Soul?" she whispered, her hand still on the doorknob. "Are you awake?" He grunted in response, and she could see his surprise even in the dim light of his bedroom. She paused to let him say something but quickly realized that he wasn't going to. He simply turned his head toward her with an implacable expression. "Uhm, don't laugh, okay? But… I can't sleep." For a moment, he continued to stare at her. Then, slowly, his lips pulled back in his signature grin.

"You too, huh?" Soul wasn't surprised by the look of mild disbelief in her eyes. What he was surprised by was himself. Did he seriously just admit to being too afraid to sleep? That was so uncool… And yet, he didn't really regret it, because (he would never admit to this either, of course) he was somewhat relieved to see Maka standing there in the doorway. He wasn't sure he could have handled spending all night staring at the ceiling trying to ignore the way his mind was playing tricks on him with subtle movements in the dark. At least, not alone.

"Come on," he scooted over in bed and lifted the edge of the blanket for her. Maka swallowed and stayed in the doorway. Truthfully, she wasn't sure what she had expected when she had sought out her partner but it certainly wasn't this. "What? I thought you couldn't sleep?"

"Well yeah, but…" she trailed off, unsure of what she was really objecting to. It may be unexpected, but the offer from Soul seemed quite appealing in all honesty. She certainly didn't want to return to her room, or spend the rest of the night alone, driving herself crazy with paranoia. Seeing her indecision, Soul rolled his eyes and tugged lightly at the edge of the blanket again. The second invitation was enough to convince her, and she stepped lightly into the room and shut the door behind her.

Soul rolled onto his side as she slipped into his bed. It was small, so they were quite close to each other; he could feel every breath she took and he was sure she could hear the strange, suddenly uneven rhythm of his heartbeat. What the hell? he thought to himself, it's just Maka… 'Just Maka' rolled onto her side as well so they were facing each other, her green eyes boring into his scarlet ones.

"Since when do you sleep without a shirt?" she asked, a tinge of pink on her cheeks that she hoped he couldn't see in the dim light. He scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"We're not thirteen anymore, Maka."

"I know that, it's just... I don't know, I—"

"Shh, Maka." He put his hand on her hair and gently pulled her head to his chest. "Sleep now." He murmured softly, the late hour finally beginning to weigh down his eyelids.

For a brief moment, Maka felt her entire body tense up at his touch. Her cheeks were burning, but there was something that felt undeniably right about this. Her fears and hesitancies began to melt away as she felt his chest rising and falling rhythmically, his breath ghosting across the top of her head. She snuggled up to him.

"Hey, Soul?" Her voice was barely a whisper as she tipped her head back to look at him.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you." Acting quickly before she lost her nerve, Maka leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his cheek. Soul's eyes shot open again, finding hers instantly.

"F-for what?"

"This. And not laughing at me." Unbidden, his lips curved back in a smile as he carefully maneuvered his arms around her shoulders and wrapped her in a tight hug.

"Just wait until tomorrow." He chuckled in her ear. She felt his arms relax around her, but he didn't move them.

Strangely, a peaceful night's sleep didn't seem so impossible now.