Friend-Zone

Soul knew the kiss would ruin everything. But he just couldn't stop himself from leaning over after Maka said she had always had a crush on him...

Two sentences were all it took.

Two sentences are what caused a chain of events to be set in place—making everything so… complicated.

And not all the words in the sentences had even been spelled fully, yet they made so much confusion.

Two sentences…

Maka: Can we tlk? Its imprtnt…
6/2/13 12:45 P.M.

…was all it needed.

Me: Sure Lets meet at central
Sent 6/2/13 12:52 P.M.

I've known Maka for as long as I can remember. And since we're both 16 now, that's a pretty long time.

I met her all the way back in Kindergarten. It was the first day. I was standing up, searching for someone to be friends with, but no one seemed to be the right one. I didn't know what I was looking for in my friend, but I just couldn't find it, whatever it was.

I then noticed Maka when she first walked in. She looked just like any other girl. She was short, had blonde hair, and was extremely shy. She was wearing the uniform a lot neater than any other student was, but that wasn't anything to gawk over. There was nothing else to see there. Just as I was about to turn my head to look for someone else who might be interested in playing, I caught a small glance of her eyes.

They were so much different from everyone else's. Her eyes—they were green. But it wasn't just the color of them that made them different—it was that they were only green. She didn't have any pupils.

That's when I knew I felt sort of drawn to her.

You don't see that every day. I have red eyes, and I have never seen anything like mine, either. Subconsciously, I knew we were alike, in some way.

"You have really cool eyes!" I walked up to her and complimented her.

I guess I must've caught her off guard because she jumped a little, then spotted me and lowered her head a little. "Uh… T-thank you."

"How come they're all covered in green but don't have any p… p…?" I couldn't remember the word "pupil", so I struggled for a while, thinking of what word to use.

She got what I meant, though. She just shrugged and said, "I'on know. My mommy told me before but… I forgot."

"Oh…" I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to find out the mystery behind her eyes. But, you know, at that age, you can't stay sad at something for very long. "It's okay! Can you ask her again and tell me what she says?"

Her face fell, and she stayed quiet for a moment. Then I could barely hear her mumble when she said, "No…"

I wanted to ask, "Why not?" but something inside the look of her big, sad, marble-like eyes told me no and kept me quiet. I just smiled up at her and put my hand on her shoulder, hoping to make her make her happier. After a while, she lifted her head back up and she didn't look as sad anymore. After a few moments I said to her, "If you ever remember can you tell me?"

She smiled and nodded her head. "Sure!"

I scratched the back of my head laughed, excited to know that there was hope that I could learn about her eyes.

We stuck close by each other after that, since we already were comfortable with each other.

And somehow, we made it through the day without even finding out each other's names.

Present

There she is. Maka's wearing a white skirt, a black button-up blazer over a white-collared shirt with a black and white striped tie. She's always wearing some type of a school uniform. It kinda bugs me sometimes.

"Hey, Flat Chest. How've you been?" I greet her, smiling once I see her leaning on a directory board right in front of the entrance to the Central Subway Station. We meet here time to time when we want to hang out, because surrounding this station there's also an outdoor shopping mall. We usually go eat and just walk around to enjoy the city air.

Maka's eye twitches as she grumbles curses at me. When I finally get close enough in her reach, I notice a book in her hand. Where did she get…?

*Donk!*

Before I can finish my thought, the book she has in her hand hits me in my head. Hard.

I feel a lump start to form on my head and a little dizzy. I stagger a bit backwards and groan from the pain.

I know she hates it when I call her "Flat Chest", but she didn't have to hit me so hard.

She smiles slightly as she ruffles my hair, the book that appeared in her hand now gone again. "Hey, Toothy. I've been alright. You?"

I rub my aching head. "'Toothy', huh?" She never was good at coming up with nicknames. "I'm the same as always," I answer her question. "So, where do you wanna go eat today?"

"Anywhere is fine." She shrugs. "Actually, you know what? I think they just opened up a new barbeque restaurant on 16th. Let's go there."

I nod, loving the sound of getting my hands on some delicious barbeque. "Lead the way."

We walk side by side with each other, sometimes stopping at random places to check out all the cool stuff inside.

We finally make it to "RiBS Я US", the new barbeque restaurant in town. We sit down in seats across from each other.

When a waiter gets to our table, I order a rack of ribs with a side of curly fries while Maka orders a burger with normal French fries. We both just get glasses of water to drink.

Usually, we would have a conversation while we wait for our food, like normal people do, but for some reason, Maka only stares down at the crushed ice in her water and stirs it around, not even taking a sip. I'm no good at doing all that small talk stuff to start a conversation, and Maka knows that, which is why she always starts 'em.

Once our food arrives, we start off eating in what seems as a dead silence, even though there's loud rock music playing on the speakers and people having loud conversations.

Her silence starts to bug me enough to say, "You've been really quiet, Maka. Didn't you wanna talk to me about somethin'?" then take a bite into a rib.

She looks down in her lap and chuckles slightly and smiles. "Oh, yeah… That is why we're here, isn't it?"

I give her a blank stare as I start working on my next rib. "Uh… Yeah." I swallow my mouthful. "What? Did you forget?"

She laughs nervously and scratches the back of her head. "Um… No…"

I squint my eyes and lean my head a little forward so I can get a better view of her. "Are you feeling alright, Maka? You're acting really strange."

"Well, uh, no, I'm fine… I just—I have something to tell you, is all…" She isn't acting as strange as before, but she's getting all quiet again.

"So? What is it?" I ask, picking up my last rib.

"Uh… Well…" she starts off, mumbling. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason, she picks up a fry and takes a bite. "Isn't this food just absolutely delicious?"

"Mhmm." I nod, un-curling one of my curly fries, bored with all of Maka's stalling. "Maka, stop changing the subject and tell me why you wanted to talk."

Maka sighs. "Alright…" It looks like she has to gather all of her courage before she speaks again. "The truth is, Soul…. Ever since the day we met, I…" Maka bites her lip, closes her eyes, and clenches the fabric on her white skirt. She hasn't looked this nervous since that day I found out about her eyes… "It's just that I…"

It's hard to believe that, even though that was the reason I was first interested in Maka, I never even knew the secret about her eyes until we were 11 years old. The topic never seemed to come up until then. I guess we were just having too much fun with each other to even care about that one small fact that I asked about, so long ago…

We were doing one of our weekly "Sun Watches", as we liked to call them, where we went to a hill close by our houses, ate some snacks, and sat and watched the sun set. At this particular Sun Watch, we started thinking and talking about the first time we met. It was then when I remembered that I never got to really ask her about her eyes back then, so then I popped the question.

"Maka, did you ever remember why your eyes are fully green like that?" I asked her. I found out long ago that her mother had died, about a half a year before we met. So maybe that's another reason why I never asked her about it. I thought she might be done grieving by now, though, so I thought it was finally good to ask her.

Maka sighed, bit her lip, closed her eyes, and clenched the fabric on her white skirt. I guessed it was still a little hard for her to remember.

I started to panic because I hated it when Maka was sad. I waved my hands frantically. "Look, if y-you don't wanna answer, it's fine, r-really—!"

"My mother always told me that my eyes are a rare part of my genes," she interrupted me. "She said that the Albarn family always had one in a few generation of people who only had eyes completely covered in green. Those people were the most special and important of the family. Like royalty." Maka stops for a moment and stares blankly into the sky. "Now that I think about it, it was probably a lie. Maybe she didn't know why my eyes were like that—I don't know. But she always told me it every night. Since I was so young, that was the one main thing I remembered about her. So that's why I said I forgot back then, because… It was just too painful to say what she told me every night." She turned on her side to face me. "So… Sorry for lying to you."

I almost laughed at her for apologizing to me for something that happened forever ago. But, just like forever ago, the look in her eyes stopped me and I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "It's okay, Maka."

We lied like that for a while. Just enjoying each other's company and the slight breeze that was blowing our way.

Maka broke the silence eventually by sitting up and asking, "So what's up with your eyes, Soul? Why are they red?"

I scrunched my nose a little bit, dreading the question. It was years since I actually answered it. I sat up and rested my elbow on one of my knees but kept the one closest to Maka stretched outward. "Well, I guess since you told me about your eyes, even though it was hard for you, I'll tell you I'm adopted."

Her eyes opened wide. "Really? Soul, you're serious?" I nodded, answering her question. She never knew. "So, wait… Mr. & Mrs. Evans…"

"Aren't my real parents," I finished her sentence.

"Whoa. Soul, I'm so s—"

"Don't say, 'Sorry'." I sighed and scratched my head. "Look, it's not your fault…" I ran my fingers through my hair, looking up at the falling sun. "Heh, the only reason I even told you is so you'll know why they don't know why my eyes are red and so neither do I. That's really all."

"Oh… Okay, I guess…" Maka said.

It's funny. All these years we had been close friends and didn't even know these simple secrets about each other.

Present

"I've… um… liked you."

…That's… that's it?

I laugh so hard, I almost feel like tears were coming out of my eyes. She made it seem like she was about to drop a bomb on me! "Of course you liked me, Maka. If it makes you feel better, I've liked you too—"

"No! Not just 'liked' you like that, but…" she almost yells, hitting the table, obviously frustrated. I almost jump out of my seat. She can be pretty scary sometimes, you know. But even though I'm sort of scared right now, there's only one more bite left rib, so I take it.

Maka takes a deep breath before she says, "…I've… like liked you."

Like liked? What the hell does she mean by—?

Oh.

Oh.

Ooohhhhhh.

I drop the rib I just finished when I finally get what she says. I inhale sharply, causing the food in my mouth to go down the wrong tube and makes me cough loudly and make an even louder commotion that goes over the loud conversations of others in the restaurant while I try to make myself stop. I hit my chest, trying to calm down my coughing, then grab my drink and take a big gulp.

She like likes me. And she has ever since we met.

I mean, sure I've had some thoughts, and hell, maybe even full-on dreams about if we ever… you know, got together. But I just keep on going with my day just as normally as I always would. Like nothing happened. We're best friends, after all. It's not really right to feel any different. We've known each other for ages. Shouldn't any of those fluttery feelings have been abandoned years ago?

But… should I tell her that? The last thing I want to do is hurt Maka.

I mean, I guess we could make it work. Giving Maka a kiss or two wouldn't be too bad. In fact, it might even be pretty good.

But then again… what if it doesn't work out? I know a relationship is more than just a few kisses. If it doesn't work out, will our friendship be ruined forever?

…I'm sure she's thought about that already, though. She knows that it may not work out like a fairy tale, but she still wanted to take the risk.

And…I know if I say I don't have as extreme feelings as her, it will hurt her.

But what if I do? I just haven't uncovered them yet. And maybe I will if we have a relationship?

But what if that's what will be the cause of the relationship to fail? My feelings for her don't develop and that just ruins everything!

Argh .Why do feelings have to make everything so damn complicated?!

"I figured you'd react this way…" Maka says, laughing to herself solemnly. "And that's okay—I was prepared for this… I'm just glad to have gotten it off my chest…" Maka's face fell, just like it always does when she gets sad. Damn it, I hate that.

I quickly grab her hand, in response to her reaction. "No, Maka," I almost yell, but then calm down a little, "it's… it's not that. It's just…"

Before I say anything else, I begin to lean over the table, taking in slow and shaky breaths. My hand that isn't entwined with Maka's reaches behind her head as I keep leaning in closer.

It's going to ruin everything about our friendship, but… I guess I won't mind seeing how much our relationship works out from here…

As our lips connect my heart races faster. When I see that Maka is enjoying the kiss, I lean in deeper.

This is my first Soul Eater fanfic, so I hope you enjoyed it! (Even if Maka was out of character...)

So did you like it? Love it? Absolutely hate it? Or do you not care either way?

Either way, I'm glad you read it all the way to this Author's Note.

See you around!

xxxHikari-Kuraixxx (xxxLight-Darkxxx)