A/N: I saw a headcanon on Tumblr about Soul being dyslexic, so here's a fic to go along with it. Enjoy!
Soul hates it.
He doesn't like doing homework. Period. It's bad enough he has to go to school, and do hours of countless work and classes there. Bringing textbooks, notes, and assignments into his apartment where he's supposed to be able to unwind and relax after all that is just cruel. This is his home; he shouldn't even have a desk in his room! Desks were for school and offices, not bedrooms.
He's been sitting at the hard wooden surface, trying to focus on the pages sprawled out across it. Little things start to bug him when he gets bored though. They drive his attention away until he's almost so pissed off he feels like just chucking his damn books in the trash. First it is that damn bird chirping to the high heavens right outside his window. He wishes Blair was a hunting cat and could get rid of the thing, but he knows that there are just some things in this world that will never be. Besides, it's not the bird's fault that birds are made to be naturally loud and annoying. He still wants it to shut the hell up though.
Then it's the sound of Blair crashing and banging in the bathroom. He hears Maka question if the grown cat is ok, and Blair shouts out her usual reply.
"Nyah!"
Nyah my ass, Soul thinks as he presses his pencil into the page a bit too hard and breaks the damn thing.
Soul rummages through the pencil bag Maka let him burrow, searching for a mechanical one to use while discreetly listening in on Maka and Blair's conversation outside. Anything beats science homework, even listening to those two communicate about cleaning up the shampoo from the bathroom floor.
Someone slips, and he's out the door before he even hears Maka groan. They've must of resonated again if he can feel her pain this clearly.
"Hey, what's going on here," He asks as he helps pull Maka up to her feet.
"Blair knocked over the shampoo and split it everywhere," Maka responds as her arms circle around his neck, allowing him to pick her up.
"I'm so sorry Maka," Blair says.
Maka tilts her head back so she can meet Blair's eyes, "It's ok Blair, just please clean this mess up."
Blair nods before she runs out of the bathroom to grab more towels. Soul shrugs and decides to leave Blair be before turning back to his open door, and laying Maka down on his bed.
"You sure you're ok?"
Maka nods, laughing a bit.
"Yeah I'm fine. You should have seen Blair's face when I fell though."
Soul chuckles a bit before pulling out his desk chair and sitting by her side.
"Wish I could have seen it. Too much damn homework though," He grunts as he traces lazy circles along her calf.
Maka sits up abruptly, drawing his face up from his elbow that was resting on the back of his chair to Maka's face.
"Do you need help," She asks.
He shrugs, "Nah, I mean, I get the stuff they're saying. It's pretty basic to me, kind of like fixing up the bike ya know? The only thing is ... It's just ..."
He turns from her to his desk, and he runs a hand through the back of his hair, exhaling deeply. Maka wraps her arms around his neck once more, but this time so that she's sitting with him on the chair. His arms find their way around her waist without him even thinking about it, and he puts his chin in the crock of her neck.
"Is it the reading," Maka asks softly.
He nods into her shoulder, goosebumps rising on her exposed skin after he sighs again.
"Soul, you need to tell someone about this."
"I already told you."
"Yeah, and you've improved since we started reading together, but to get up to speed you need to tell a teacher so they understand and they can help you. Right now they probably think you're just slacking off since you haven't told anyone. They don't know what's going on."
He sits there, holding her, thinking about it. Maybe it would help a little. Damn it, why did Maka have to be so right about this?
"I just ... I don't want people to see me differently if they find out. Dyslexia is so not cool," He mumbles.
"It may not be cool Soul, but no one is going to treat you differently because they found out you have dyslexia. It's a flaw in your reading, not in your character. Lots of great people who are successful and looked up to have dyslexia. You know that little boy who watched you the other day playing basketball with Black*Star?"
"The short kid with the glasses," He asks and she nods.
"He has dyslexia. And he looks up to you very, very much. Maybe if he found out that you had dyslexia like him, and you were still a kick ass death scythe, he'd look up to you even more."
"You think so?"
"I know I do."
Soul laughs a little, before he kisses her softly. They're about to deepen the kiss when there's a knock at the door and they pull apart.
"Maka! The bathroom is sort of covered in bubbles. Can you help me clean it up?"
Maka groans, and Soul laughs a bit again.
"Not funny. That cat is going to be the death of me."
"I know. Sorry. Just make sure to not slip again."
"I won't," She says as she slides off his lap and makes her way towards the door before throwing him a look over her shoulder, "Maybe if you get your homework done by the time I get back I can maybe, give you a reward."
She exits the room, and Soul makes sure to finish his homework in the next hour.