"You have mermaid eyes."
The words were out before he could stop them. Damn it, what did I just say? For Death's sake, don't let her hear me…
No such luck. The petite blonde sitting on the other side of the couch looked up from her book and frowned. "Huh? Soul, are you talking to me?"
The red-eyed boy sprawled next to her sighed and shifted. No getting out of this now. "Uh, yeah. You do have mermaid eyes. 'Cause they're really green and kinda sparkly, like something you'd see on Ariel or some shit like that. Not that I was staring at you or anything!"
Goddammit, this was turning out to be the most uncool thing he's ever done. Of all the times he's secretly watched her out of his peripheral vision, pondering those magnificent mermaid eyes, he'd had to choose now to vocalize his admirations. Just great. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her, she probably thought he was some kind of psycho perv or something. He had already braced himself for a Maka chop of epic proportions and was certainly not expecting the next words that came out of her mouth.
"Really?" she squeaked. "You think my eyes are pretty?" When he glanced back at her, he saw she was staring at the floor, book forgotten in her lap, and was that a- a faint pink blush dusting her cheeks?
No. Definitely not. It was probably due to the heat or a rash or something, because tough-as-nails Maka Albarn, slayer of the Kishin, straight-laced top student, did not blush. But against all odds, her cheeks were even now turning a deeper shade of red.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I like the color. Definitely not something you see every day." he mumbled. "But not in a creepy way or anything! I don't have some kinda eye fetish-" he heard a snort come from the other side of the couch. "Are you laughing at me?"
Her giggles turned into a full-out guffaw, bubbling out from her mouth even as she tried to hold it in. "Sorry, sorry. I really shouldn't be laughing-" she bit her lip, but a smile still threatened at the corners- "It's just I never would have thought I'd hear the great Soul Eater Evans, Master of Cool, using the words 'mermaid,' 'sparkly', and 'Ariel' in the same sentence." Her eyes were dancing. "I didn't even think you liked The Little Mermaid!"
"Yeah, well, cool guys don't exactly broadcast the fact they watch cartoons, okay?" he sharply retorted.
She wiped a few stray tears from the corners of her eyes and grinned. "Yeah, I'll give you that. But anyway Soul, thanks for the compliment, even if it's only flattery."
Surprised, he turned around. "What do you mean?"
She pulled on a few strands of her bangs like she did when she was anxious and gave a nervous laugh. "Well, the color's really more of an olive, and too saturated to be pretty or even normal."
"You want to talk about normal?" he raised an eyebrow, pointing to his eyes, the color of fresh blood.
A smile quirked at the corners of her face. "I guess so."
"But Maka-" Soul looked her straight in the eyes this time- "You really do have mermaid eyes. Prettiest I've ever seen. Come on, would your super-cool partner lie to you?" He flashed his signature shark-tooth grin.
"Mhmm," she mumbled as she reached for her book again and hid her face behind the pages. But Soul knew better when he saw that the tips of her ears had turned a pleasing shade of fire-engine red.
