Not Arriving: A Two of Us Collection

by Professor Maka

This collection was created to consolidate all of the shorts I've written surrounding my ongoing longfic Two of Us in one place. Not all of them are canon to the fic. The newest short, "The End," is a false conclusion. IT IS NOT CANON TO THE FIC AND FULL OF SADNESS. You have been warned. Soul x Maka, Canonverse.

1. Fear and Loathing

A/N: I have enough little TOU drabbles that I decided to stick them together for ease of finding. Most, but not all of these, are canon to the main fic.

I had a couple of reverse POV tumblr prompts for my current project, and this first drabble was born. It's the first of three for Two of Us from Soul's POV. This is basically from the opening of chapter 1.

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He really, really didn't want to do this. It wasn't that he didn't want to go to his brother's wedding, exactly—he loved his brother and he really did want to see him again, to be there for him. It was more that he didn't want to deal with everything else that entailed, his family, his old life, his parents. He had left for a reason, and after so long, going back seemed awkward, uncomfortable, impossible.

But it was important to Wes. It was important to Wes, and he'd shut his brother out long enough, so he would do this thing because he should do this thing, but he didn't think he could do it alone, face it alone, which meant he wanted Maka with him. He knew it wasn't fair, to drag her into the mess he'd left behind, but he also knew that she wouldn't hesitate to be there if he asked because she was Maka, loyal and fearless, Maka, who would jump in headfirst if someone she cared about was involved. Somehow, that just made him feel even more guilty, made him feel like the ass he was in truth, and as he watched the microwavable popcorn spin and grow within the confines of the appliance, he wondered if he should ask her at all, if he shouldn't just face the cold ashes of his past on his own.

Then again, knowing Maka, she wouldn't let him if he tried.

All of this wouldn't be so bad, really, if it weren't for that other thing, the stupid thing his brother had unwittingly done. Everything else wouldn't make his fierce meister blink twice, but this, this would have her balking and steaming and yet, the whole mess would become far worse if they didn't play along. And, he could admit to himself and only to himself, the whole prospect of pretending to be married to the woman he had been secretly pining after for as long as he could remember wasn't exactly terrible.

Pulled from his thoughts by the harsh beeping of the microwave, he removed the popcorn to pour into a bowl, and taking up that and two sodas, made his way to the couch and the meister in question.

Time to face the music. Hopefully, it wouldn't be a death knell.