This was written for the Soul Eater Gift Exchange, for the incredible leslietendo. I hope you enjoy!
Soul had always enjoyed the holidays. His job, however, seemed to be doing its best to change that. If he had to listen to someone pitch yet another kitschy xylophone jingle, he was going to scream. Did they really need to have seasonal advertisements? No one listened to cheesy faux poetry accompanied by trite, supposedly-festive melodies and thought, "yes, I want to buy that product."
He glanced at the clock and groaned. 10:00 PM was for mindless video games, not trying to composite a Frankenstein's jingle from the pieces of other people's terrible ideas. He'd made better music hammering on a toy piano in kindergarten.
Okay, screw it, he was taking a break. He didn't think even coffee would be enough to make this torture tolerable, but he was sure as hell going to try.
He made his way to the marketing break room, humming idly to himself. He'd decided when he'd first taken the job that he was going to try to write something original for each soulless tune he churned out. It served as both a form of penance and a way to keep himself sane.
Admittedly, he wasn't doing very well on that front recently. It had been a while since he'd come up with anything he would be willing to put his name on.
He kept humming as he set the coffee to brewing, carefully avoiding whatever terrifying blend Patty had brought in this time. He wanted to be able to sleep sometime this week, thank you.
His mind wandered as he waited, but he was paying enough attention to claim his coffee as soon as it was ready. He added four sugars and a splash of cream, thanking the fact that he was past drinking it black in the name of being cool. That had been a rough phase.
At last, his coffee was doctored to his taste. He stopped humming to cradle the mug reverently. While working this late was objectively terrible, there was something to be said for the peace of an empty office.
"Hello?" said a voice from behind him.
"Ack!" Soul jolted, spilling coffee all down his front. Great, now his clothes were a mess and he still didn't have any coffee. God, he just wanted to go home. Black*Star could handle this, right?
He had a sudden mental image of electric guitar playing as Santa grabbed some shuriken and prepared to engage in a ninja duel over their product. He couldn't restrain his smirk.
His thought process was interrupted when a wad of napkins appeared under his nose. "Sorry!" said the person holding them.
Soul looked at them and was met with a pair of geen eyes, wide with worry. "Here, let me start another pot going…" the person said.
He looked at them for a little longer, taking in the fact that they appeared to be a short blonde woman. A cute short blonde woman, his brain supplied helpfully.
He hastily shifted his gaze back to the napkins, claiming them to clean off his shirt. Staring into girls' eyes was weird in romantic comedies, let alone in offices in the middle of the night. Besides, he was quickly remembering exactly how hot his coffee had been. "Shit," he muttered, scrubbing harder.
Behind him, he heard the coffee machine start up again. "So," the woman said after a moment. "I mean to ask, what were you humming earlier? It was really good."
Soul snorted. "Don't worry, I'm just a marketing goon. There's no need to try to suck up to me."
She huffed. "Yeah, that much was obvious. Excuse me for trying to be polite."
Great, now he felt like an asshole. Admittedly, he was something of an asshole, but normally he was more deliberate about it. This was just his own hang-ups about his music bursting out at the wrong time. It didn't help that the part of his brain that should be devoted to giving him a filter had apparently decided to produce weird mental images instead. At that moment, it was flooding him with glimpses of green eyes, which what the hell. It's not that late.
He was working on shoving down those images when the woman shoved a coffee at him. He stopped messing with the napkins to take it. His shirt was probably a lost cause anyway.
He grabbed some sugar and creamer, then stepped to the side to give her room to doctor her own coffee to her tastes. He sat down at the tiny breakroom table, and after a moment she joined him. They sat sipping their coffee in silence for a moment.
Eventually, Soul decided to risk it and start a conversation. Maybe when he had something to occupy him, he wouldn't have to keep reminding his brain not to stare. She wasn't even that attractive, he told his brain petulantly. "So, what brings to such a charming place at this time of night?"
She stared into her mug as if it held the answer to his question and possibly world hunger as well. "I'm supposed to be merging my code with one of the other engineer's. Unfortunately, his documentation system makes no sense to anyone but him. Each time I think I have it figured out, something else breaks in a new and exciting way."
"Fun," he said. "Why not just ask the guy?"
She went pink, which he definitely didn't find adorable. He was clearly just more tired than he thought, and it was messing with his brain. That was all.
"I know, I should," she said. "It's just that I only got hired a few months ago, and this is one of my first solo projects." She exhaled loudly. "I'll probably give in by next week, though."
Soul nodded. "Seems reasonable," he said, careful to keep his sarcasm contained. "But all that raises another question. If you're a programmer, what are you doing here in the wonderful world of marketing?"
She smiled wryly. "Black*Star is always boasting about how you guys' stuff is 'so much more awesome' than my 'lame nerd stuff'. I figured I'd come check it out when he wasn't around to gloat about it."
Soul snickered. "You know Black*Star? I'm so sorry."
"He was a childhood friend, and I had the misfortune to stay in touch with him as we grew up." She huffed a laugh. "If you think he's bad now, try knowing him in high school."
Soul's eyes widened. The thought of Black*Star, but with hormones driving him to be even more reckless and impulsive than normal was almost too horrible to contemplate. Oh god, he was probably one of those assholes who ran around wearing five gallons of Axe. "I didn't need that mental image. What did I ever do to you?"
"Yeah." She took a sip of her coffee, giving him time to reboot his brain. Sadly, this did not fix the bug that was giving him pop-ups about how unfairly good she looked for being trapped in an office for thirteen hours. "Anyway, what are you doing here?" she asked. "No offense, but you don't exactly seem the overtime type."
"No, I'm the sensible type," he said. "Sadly, some exec decided they wanted us to have a holiday ad at the last possible second, so I get to write an off-brand carol by tomorrow evening."
"Oh, are you a musician?" she asked.
"I mean, yes, but that's more in spite of this job than because of it."
She laughed. "What, you don't think that setting terrible rhyming couplets to music is the pinnacle of musical achievement?"
He leaned back in his chair. "Strangely enough, no."
"So then what would you consider to be good music?" She leaned forward and smiled encouragingly.
Great, he thought. Now we're back to talking about this. He was already barely holding up his end of the conversation, he didn't need to bore her by rambling about music for the next hour. "I mean, I'll listen to anything as long as it's got actual emotion behind it," he lied politely. "I'm not a fan of that pre-packaged pop crap, though."
She hummed thoughtfully. "I can see that," she said. "Honestly, I don't know that much about music. I'll listen to the radio when I'm driving somewhere with friends, but that's about it. I'm much more of an audiobook person."
Soul suppressed the urge to offer to teach her. There was no way that would come across as anything but creepy when coming from a near-stranger. Instead, he shook his head in mock disappointment. "And here I was thinking you might be an interesting person."
She picked up her empty mug and eyed it as if she was planning to hit him with it. He was both impressed and slightly concerned. Fortunately, she set it back down a moment later. "Shut up. I mean, I liked that song you were humming earlier."
He didn't respond by saying something insulting or condescending, so hey, progress. "Eh, I was just messing around," he said instead. "Nothing really interesting?"
"So that was actually something you wrote?" she asked. Her eyes were so wide they practically sparkled. "That's really cool!"
He rubbed the back of his neck. How was she so unapologetically earnest? It was weird. "I mean," he said. "Like I said, it's nothing in particular. I was just trying to get away from the festive sound of xylophones."
Mercifully, she let him drop the subject. "Yeah, I can see that. I wouldn't mind coding something else to get my mind off this mess, but I really don't want to stay here longer than I have to."
"Wow, you are a nerd." Soul started to stand. "Anyway, I won't keep you, then."
The woman reached forward, stopping herself before she actually touched him. Still, her intent was clear, so Soul stayed where he was. "No, this is good!" She smiled awkwardly. "I mean, if you want to leave then you can, obviously, but otherwise I'm actually enjoying this conversation."
Soul wasn't quite sure how, since he was just failing to make small talk, but it was kind of reassuring. He sat back down. "I'm in no rush to get back, trust me."
"Good." She looked at him for a moment, then started. "Right. Um, have you read any good books lately?"
Wow, she really was a nerd. But that didn't stop him from trying to remember the last book he'd read, or from listening to her enthuse about whatever series she was in the middle of. Then they somehow got around to swapping Black*Star stories, which expanded into coworker stories in general. Soul was glad to have confirmation of his suspicion that everyone who worked at this company was crazy. It was good to know that it wasn't just marketing, at least.
The next thing he knew, it was eleven thirty and he was barely able to keep his eyes open. He yawned, interrupting the woman's story about a mistake made by her self-proclaimed "archrival". ("He was hired at the same time as me, and apparently he thinks that means he has to outdo me. I don't even know how he focuses on his screen with those ridiculous glasses.)
She stopped mid-sentence, looking sheepish. "What time is it?"
He glanced at his phone screen as if he'd just read it wrong last time. "11:32, now." He sighed. "As great as this has been, I need to go home before I pass out in front of you. I don't trust you not to draw on my face."
She stuck her nose primly in the air. "That is a baseless accusation." The effect was ruined when she promptly yawned. "I don't even have a marker with me."
"Yeah, yeah." He stood up. "Good luck with your nerd work."
"The same to you," she said.
He was almost out the door when he heard her call out from behind him. "Wait!"
He turned to see her standing up, her face pink. "Sorry to keep doing this to you," she said. "But, well, I just realized I completely forgot to ask for your name."
Shit, Soul had forgotten too. He was glad one of them remembered. It would be nice to have a name to go with the face. Not that he would use it, since he doubted they'll ever see each other again and his brain was bound to stop fixating on her eventually. But still. "Soul," he said. "Nice to meet you."
"You too." She smiled. "I'm Maka."
Soul turned around, trying to hide what he was sure was a ridiculously dorky smile. "Good night, Maka."
His drive back to his apartment was thankfully uneventful. He got back just after midnight and fell into bed practically as soon as he was through the door. His last thought as he was drifting off was that Maka was a cute name.
The next morning, he began regretting every single decision that had led him to this point in his life. He'd barely gotten six hours of sleep. That may have been enough for certain obnoxious coworkers, but it took him at least eight to stop contemplating taking a scythe to anyone who so much as breathed near him.
It didn't help that he'd woken up with a head full of music. It had been forever since that had last happened, and all he wanted to do was get back to his keyboard and start working it out. Instead, he rushed through a shower and grabbed a granola bar before sitting in traffic for what felt like an eternity. His reward was being forced to listen to still more attempts to sound charmingly festive. Now that he had actually decent music going in the background of his brain, its complete lack of substance was even more maddening.
By ten, he had officially given up on making it sound good. He decided to just send the current draft to his boss. With any luck, by the time it cleared management it would be completely unrecognizable and he could take his name off of it.
He clicked send, then stared at his screen blankly. He had had other responsibilities before this project, probably. There had to be something he was supposed to be doing. He'd think of it any minute now.
He firmly ignored the part of his brain that suggested he should go walk down to the engineering department. One, that would be creepy. Two, he really needed more sleep if he wanted to hold a conversation. The last thing he needed was to start another interaction with Maka by unintentionally antagonizing her.
He was contemplating opening Facebook in an effort to distract himself when the door to his office swung open. His first thought was "oh good," which suggested he was far too used to this sort of thing happening. On the other hand, nothing good could ever come of checking Facebook, so for once the intrusion was welcome.
It didn't hurt that Black*Star wasn't the one bursting in this time, as was apparent from the fact that his door was still intact. Instead, Patty raced in, dragging a resigned-looking Kid behind her. "Soul!" she called in a sing-song voice. "Did you finally finish that song?"
Kid sighed. Soul noticed that despite his precarious position, he still managed to look almost dignified. "Hello, Soul," he said. "Patty has been greatly looking forward to writing these lyrics, and apparently that means I need to be around to celebrate."
Soul blinked. "Hooray?"
"Quite."
Patty dropped Kid's hand and ran to Soul's desk. "So, where's this new song?" She shoved Soul's chair to the side so she could click around on his computer. "I wanna hear it!"
Of course she did. He considered saying no to her for maybe half a second, then decided it wasn't worth it. Arguing with Patty rarely was, and he was too tired to really care. "Okay, okay, give me a second to pull it up." He nudged her aside and played the song.
She managed to keep still and quiet for the minute or so that the song ran. As soon as it was over, though, she jumped back up. Somehow, her trademark grin was still on her face, despite the auditory assault she'd been subjected to. "All right! I knew it was going to be good! But now I'm going to make it even better, okay?"
She started mumbling rhymes to herself, occasionally producing a phrase she deemed worthy of singing. Soul had to say, it did sound better when there were lyrics to distract from the terrible cliché melody. It probably helped that Patty had quickly wandered off-topic and was currently singing about how cool giraffes were and how much she was looking forward to the upcoming holiday party.
Soul watched her for a moment before he remembered that Kid was still standing there. Right. He should probably talk to him. It wasn't like Soul disliked him or anything; he was a pretty decent guy, if a bit uptight. In group settings, they got along perfectly well. But they had about one and half social skills between them on a good day, which this wasn't.
"So," Kid said. "How are you?"
Oh good, they were starting with the small talk. Always a good sign, Soul thought. "Tired, mostly. I didn't get home until midnight last night."
"Difficulty composing?"
"Yeah, and then I went to take a break and somehow got caught up in a conversation at like ten o'clock at night," Soul said. He winced internally. Shit, he hadn't meant to mention that. Not that he was embarrassed, but he knew what his friends were like. He didn't need to deal with well-intentioned matchmaking. And while Kid was probably fine, Patty was absolutely the sort of person who would set up a wacky "romantic" scheme if she thought he liked someone. This was why he didn't do small talk.
Fortunately, Kid didn't pry. He hummed thoughtfully. "Who else was around at that hour?"
Welp, now Soul was committed. "Some woman from engineering. Maka, she said her name was?"
Kid nodded. "I can see that. She does seem very driven."
"Yeah." The fact that Kid apparently knew her was no surprise. Maka hadn't mentioned him, but Kid seemed at least aware of everyone at the company. Honestly, Soul wasn't entirely sure what Kid's job was. He just seemed to hang around, anywhere and everywhere.
They looked at each other for a moment. In the silence, Soul noted that Patty was still going, mumble-singing something about whether a shark could beat a tiger in a fight.
Soul gave in first. He opened his mouth to say something inane about the holidays coming up, but was spared by the office door flying open once again. His immediate reaction was a mixture of relief and dismay. He was avoiding some short-term awkwardness, but at what cost? His office already had too many people in it.
"Okay, peasants, your god is here, so this party can officially begin!" Black*Star struck a pose, one arm extended and the other bent by his head.
"Goddammit," Soul muttered. He turned to address Black*Star. "Stop dabbing in my office! This place is subjected to enough terrible music without you exposing it to stupid dance fads."
Black*Star stayed in his pose for a moment longer, holding Soul's gaze. When he felt his point had been made, he lowered his arms. "I guess you just don't appreciate my genius."
Patty giggled. "Hey, Black*Star!" She bounced up from where she was sitting on Soul's desk to greet him.
"'Sup, Patty?" He raised a hand for a high-five. Soul was begrudgingly impressed. He'd been on the receiving end of one of Patty's high-fives exactly once, which was more than enough for him. The girl was scary strong. Black*Star showed no sign of pain, though.
Kid had wandered to the door, and was now hovering as if he wanted to join the conversation without getting caught up in their exuberance. He settled for nodding from where he stood. "Black*Star."
"Kid!" Black*Star raised a hand in greeting. "Good to see you, man. What brings you here today?"
"Patty," Kid said flatly.
Black*Star turned back to Patty. "Nice."
Patty in turn pointed to Soul, who had been perfectly happy staying out of this, thank you. "Soul finished writing the music for our next ad, so I'm giving it words!"
Black*Star swung around to face Soul. His smirk was worryingly wide. "Dude."
Soul was already moving back to his computer. "You just love to see me suffer, don't you?"
"Yup!" Patty chirped.
Soul didn't have a response for that, so he just let the song play. When it was finished, Black*Star nodded. "I can probably work with that," he said. "Better than last year, at least."
Everyone made faces at that. Last year had been the year one of the company executives decided he wanted to get involved in the marketing process. The man had been infuriating. He'd had strong opinions about absolutely everything, and didn't hesitate to brand those who disagreed with him as fools. He also had absolutely no marketing experience. No one had minded when he'd claimed all the credit for the project.
"So, were you just here to listen to soulless jingles and bring back terrible memories?" Soul asked.
Black*Star shrugged. "Pretty much."
Great. Why was his office the place everyone had decided to come waste time? There were perfectly good conference rooms for this sort of thing.
He closed his eyes and made what was probably a stupid decision. "You know what, I'm going to take a lunch break," he declared. "You guys have fun with your terrible taste."
"You're the one who wrote this song," Kid pointed out.
"And that's how I know it's terrible." Soul deliberately gathered his coat and made his way to the office door. "Bye."
He walked away, already denying any responsibility for what was inevitably going to happen to his office. He was pretty sure the computer wouldn't actually be broken, but someone would decide they didn't like the interior decorating or that they needed to play a hilarious prank or something. Then when he came back the room would be fully of glitter and all the furniture would have been shoved to opposite ends of the room.
The sad thing was, that wasn't even why he thought this was a stupid decision. He'd worked in an office with these people long enough that that barely registered as abnormal.
It wasn't even the fact that it wasn't yet noon, and that he was dooming himself to an eternity of boredom this afternoon.
The problem was that his feet were unmistakably leading him to the engineering department. The further problem was how little of a problem he had with that. He told himself that it was too late to back out, despite the fact that he could easily turn around and get lunch by himself. It was easier to pretend he was committed than to admit to himself that he just really wanted to talk to Maka again.
He kept making excuses until he got to the department, at which point he realize he didn't actually know where her office was. The company wasn't that large, but he still didn't like the idea of trying people's doors in the hopes that he'd find her eventually. If nothing else, word would almost certainly get back to Maka, and that would be just embarrassing.
He would probably have kept hovering in the hallway if he wasn't noticed by a woman with long black hair who had just come out of one of the offices. "Can I help you?" she asked.
"Yeah, I, uh…" Soul trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. He knew that there was no reason to be this nervous, which didn't help his mood any. "I was looking for Maka.
The woman nodded. "She's just back there, the third office on the right." She pointed to a door that looked no different from any of the others. "Have fun!"
She walked past Soul, who was frozen in place. He considered trying to clear up her obvious misconceptions about what he was there for, but by the time he could form words again she was already gone. He'd like to think that that had been his embarrassing interaction for the day, but there was no way the universe was that merciful.
He stood there for another moment. When he was sure his face was no longer bright red, he went to the door the woman had indicated and knocked. As he waited, he began rehearsing what he was going to say. He needed to make it clear that this was strictly casual. He wasn't asking her out or anything. Not yet, his brain supplied.
She opened the door, and he did his best to look like he hadn't been internally yelling at his stupid brain. He was a normal human being who wanted to have a casual conversation.
A normal human being who had forgotten to start said casual conversation, judging by her confused expression. Shit. "Hi," he said.
"Hi!" she said. She seemed far too put-together for being stuck at work again. "Soul right?"
"Uh, yeah." He looked down, hoping that not being able to see her stupid adorable face would make this easier. "I need a break from my coworkers, and from the sound of things, you could probably use a break from coding. So, do you want to get lunch together? There's this amazing Chinese place down the street…"
He trailed off, trying not to fidget. He was uncomfortably reminded of high school Soul and his complete inability to interact with other people. God, he hoped he wasn't sliding back into being that guy.
Maka looked back at her computer and bit her lip. "Well…" she said. "Okay, yeah, I could definitely use a break. Let me just log out."
"Cool." Soul couldn't suppress his smile as he watched Maka rush to grab her stuff and log out of her computer. This might have been a stupid decision, but he couldn't make himself regret it. He could already tell that he'd have a thousand new ideas for songs this evening.