He's an intensely familiar presence in her life, a constant pillar of support and family. It would be difficult to look back on any point in her life and not find him, and even more difficult to look into the future and not see him somewhere next to her, now more than ever.
But while he is in no way unfamiliar to her, that doesn't mean that there is nothing left to discover in their ever changing relationship.
For example, dating.
Dating is spectacularly unfamiliar and exciting. If she's being honest, both of them were a mess in the beginning. Blushing fools with no idea what to do with themselves now that they were free to bask in their mutual feelings together for the first time ever. They were the same, of course - just because their mutual pining had been revealed doesn't mean that they had really changed at all - but there was definitely a new level to their relationship, and new things to discover and enjoy.
Unexpectedly, the simple task of referring to him as boyfriend rather than best friend made her tummy do all sorts of weird things. Gross. It simultaneously made her giddy that she even got to call him that and also reminded her that, wow, he was in love with her. He teased her in the beginning when she would find herself giddy over it, and she would always pout and lightheartedly shove him and his grin away.
Kissing him, she finds, is an entirely new way to experience him.
She's a little clueless in the beginning, only knowing how to softly peck him and not quite how to angle her head for something deeper, something a little more heavy, so she begrudgingly lets him take the lead in the meantime. He's always liked taking the lead anyway, liked being being the center of attention and taking control in any situation he can. He shows it in all aspects of his life, and romance is no different apparently.
She sees it in the way he puts his hand on the small of her back to guide her closer to him, or how he holds her chin and angles her head better for him to kiss her. She sees it in the way he can press her up against a table in the library and cage her between him and the sturdy wood with arms with no trouble at all. It's fine, she supposes. For now.
Because she is learning how to welcome him home by grabbing the collar of his shirt to tug him towards the couch, pushing him down to the cushions below and 'rocking his world', as he so eloquently puts it. To which she rolls her eyes and tells him to stop being cheesy if he wants her to kiss him, the goof.
Long distance with him is different now, too. When they were just friends he would ruffle her hair and kiss her cheek, a hug if they were going to be apart for a while. He'd send her on her way with a "see ya later, Maks". That was fine, too. Regular texting and the occasional phone call always got them through long distance. Now she knows that that was all a lie.
As a couple, he's needy.
When she has to begin getting ready in the morning to make it to the airport, he whines. He circles his arms around her waist from the bed and buries his nose into the small of her back, preventing her from walking farther away and begging her to stay with him. She finds it harder and harder to leave.
He always bestows her with a sleepy kiss on the small of her back, almost always completely decimating her armor with such a simple gesture. Long distance might as well be considered treachery in his book, as if the universe is trying to wrong him personally. She never sees him more clingy than when he knows she'll be more than an quick drive's distance away.
Like now for example, nearly a year and a half later, as her phone buzzes to life and a familiar jingle tells her that it's time to awaken. It vibrates and chimes under her pillow from where she last left it in favor of dozing off to sleep, and it pulls her away from her slumber just enough for her to crack her eyes open.
Upon opening her eyes, she immediately sees and feels an arm, not her own, slide under her pillow and snatch her phone. It turns off the alarm in what almost looks like desperation. Still half asleep, Maka sighs and blearily tries to reach for the hand that has snatched her precious alarm.
"Staaar," she whines out into her pillow, "Give it back." She makes a grabby hand for his wrist in the darkness and weakly reaches over his chest for the phone, only for him to petulantly drop it on the floor next to his side of the bed and ignore her pleas.
She groans as she hears it drop, and groans even louder when she feels his arm instead return to curl around her waist and tug her closer, his other arm doing the same and only serving to lock her in tight for the long haul. He nuzzles his head into the crook of her neck and sleepily kisses her shoulder, burying his face there and exhaling in content at his victory to vanquish the alarm.
Maka fights the heaviness behind her eyes and forces herself to keep her eyes open, even if it's just a smidge. She allows herself to burrow her nose into the crook of his neck, however, and feels herself slipping when she breathes in his scent; the warm combination of him and the smell of his clean sleep shirt making her want to burrow into him closer and allow herself to drift back to sleep.
"Gimme the phone," she croaks, desperately trying not to nod off.
"Fuck the phone." He rumbles into her skin, childishly circling his arms around her tighter.
"But I need the phone." She's already at least three minutes behind on her schedule to get ready.
"Mmh," the arms around her waist start to inch under her shirt, their relationship matured enough to give him the confidence and ease at doing so, and the knowledge to know that she's less likely to leave if she's warm and cozy. "But what if I need you?" His arms chastely circle around her waist from under her shirt, his warmth seeping from his bare arms and into her skin. Maka feels herself frown at the cheesy line as well as the unwelcome temptation of warmth, her greedy heat leaching inner self craving to snuggle deeper into him.
He continues his mission of tempting her enough to stay with him, and slithers one hand farther up her back until he's reached that point in the center of her shoulder blades that makes her purr when rubbed just right. He sleepily smooches the crook of her neck, just under her jaw, and continues a path of soft kisses down her neck and hums when he's satisfied that he's got her attention. His fingers make quick work of applying just the right amount of pressure between her shoulder blades, and he slowly rubs up and down until he feels her go just a little bit more lax against his chest.
"Noooo," she moans in protest. "You're the worst, ughhh." She curses him and his tender fingers. She curses him for finding that spot that makes her all warm and fuzzy and gives her the urge to curl up and take a nap.
Black Star simply continues his attentions, and pays her no mind when she groans 'asshole' into his chest.
She feels him frown into her skin when she starts to weakly push at his chest in protest, desperate to relieve herself of his temptations. Mean, mean temptations. His arms crush her to him tighter in response, and he lovingly (read: sneakily, with an Agenda) loops one of his legs around hers, keeping her close and yet simultaneously firing her up enough to want to make her wiggle away from him harder. It's now or never and she's a desperate girl.
Aiming a well placed jab to his stomach, he's momentarily stunned enough with the small tickle that his arms loosen up around her, and she rolls out of his arms and away towards the edge of the bed.
The whine he lets out is both dramatic and pathetic, with him suffering the loss of his cuddle buddy and finally opening his eyes fully to give her the most withering, pleading stare she's ever seen. The only source of light in their room is the light from the hallway, seeping through the small crack in the doorway and illuminating his face just enough for her to get the full effect of his Puppy Eyes.
Maka purses her lips and steels herself before making the final roll out of bed and onto her feet, hoping he doesn't resort to getting up and chasing her down himself.
"You'll be fine, I promise," she tries to pacify, already knowing that today will be a long day. She begins searching the floor for her sleep shorts, keenly aware of his drifting eyes. He pouts even further when she tugs on the pair of soft, fleece shorts.
She tsks at the look he's giving her, and makes her way to the bathroom. She sees his eyes follow her until she shuts the door behind her, and hears him groan into a pillow on the other side of the door.
What a baby, she sighs to herself. She huffs and continues her morning routine, all the while feeling more and more like she should just stay in bed with him. She's getting cold out here.
Stupid useless school field trip. She's already gone to the destination once before, thank you very much, and not only that, her buddy partner (is she ten?), who has to stick with her for the whole trip is the most annoying, snobby, pretentious prick in her entire class. Her professor has not granted her a kindness.
Maka takes in a breath and steels herself. She can't start digging herself into a hole of distaste for the trip, not when warm covers and boyfriend cuddles are tempting her from beyond the bathroom door. Especially not when he would definitely try even harder to get her to stay if he knew even she didn't want to have to go.
Also, she already payed for it. She curses.
Maka squares her shoulders and heads back out into their shared bedroom, determined to not be swayed by any more of his antics. She makes a line straight to where he had dropped her phone, only to find it missing.
She narrows her eyes at the mush of a boy that's hiding under the covers, the obvious perpetrator. Maka flits her gaze over to the clock on her bedside table, and purses her lips upon reading 4:21, the glow just barely cutting through the early morning darkness. She should have just set her alarm on that.
She prays Star will give it up quick and easy.
A voice inside her immediately hisses that she's stupid for even having such a hope, cackling at her for daring to think that this would be easy. Ding dong, you are wrong.
"Just give it back, will you?" She tiredly calls out. He is most definitely not sleeping, and she is most definitely not going to be late. She pads over to his side of the bed and continues, "I'm leaving with or without it. Whether you want to be able to talk to me while I'm gone or not is completely in your hands at this point." She turns on his bedside lamp to further her point, paying no mind to his hiss at the sudden light. She really would like something to help her feel close to him, though. Be merciful.
Maka picks up a pair of her thigh highs lying across the back of her desk chair and sits herself down on the edge of the bed. Wary of grabby hands and petty boys, she idly pulls the socks of her legs.
She affectionately nudges the small of his back with her hip, and he grumpily rolls over to face her. His eyes are tired and droopy, and definitely displeased. His hair is an adorable mess of bedhead, soft curls adorning the tips of his hair where he usually supplies gel and a blow dryer for his ideal look. Such a sight is her own personal treat in the morning, and she's very proud of it.
She finds herself unable to hold back, reaching over to gently run her fingers through the tresses. She lovingly brushes his bangs out of his eyes and continues brushing through his hair.
Her back rests snugly against his middle, still perched on the edge of the bed and him nearly curled around her on his side. She momentarily basks in the warmth he emits even through their comforter.
His eyes droop a little more from her ministrations, and she hopes it helps appease him a bit. She can feel his deep sigh against her back, and it rumbles like a purr through her skin.
"Can I have my phone back?" She tries softly, not wanting to have to search their entire room for it. God knows where he's hidden it. He swerves her question with his own inquiry.
"Why do you have to leave this early in the morning? It's so stupid…" He trails off bitterly, his words muttered and almost completely muffled by his pillow.
"Are you saying you're actually going to let me leave?" Maka teases, smoothing out the crease in between his brows with her thumb.
He curls up around her even more in response, maneuvering his body so that he can scooch down the bed and effectively twine himself around her middle even more. His arms come back to circle around her waist once more as he buries his face in her side.
"I'm still deciding."
Maka rolls her eyes at his antics, but chooses to completely lay back against his belly, forcing him to release her and roll onto his own back instead. Although, she doesn't think he's complaining.
His voice cuts through the darkness of their room, the sound of him speaking rumbling against her back.
"It's four in the morning. Four. It's too early."
Indeed, she thinks to herself, but she's made her bed and she must lay in it. On the subway, though. And not here. In her comfy bed. With her warm boyfriend.
Star's hands find their own way to her head, returning the favor and tenderly running his fingers through her bangs. She hums quietly at the sensation and leans into his touch, liking how gently he musses up her hair. He doesn't mess up her pristine pigtails, just softly plays with the baby curls adorning her temples.
"I know, but I have to get to campus by five thirty because the drive is going to take all day." She thinks of the musty bus her class has surely rented for the drive. She thinks of being baked alive inside of a thirty-seater Dutch oven in the sun's heat. She dreads.
With that, Maka sits up and leaves the comfort of her human pillow and his gentle hands. Her mission to find her phone had almost completely slipped her mind.
As she stands up for what she hopes is the last time this morning, one of his hands reaches out and clasps around her wrist just as she takes a step away.
And there it is, that tug back to him and the kiss against the small of her back that has her weak in every sense of the word. He's lifted up the back of her shirt just slightly so that he can kiss her bare skin right where he wants.
His lips leave her after a moment, and his voice resonates deep in her chest just moments later.
"Babe," He quietly calls out, "don't go."
Her heart constricts inside her chest at his voice. In the early mornings, his voice takes on the quietest rasp that makes her knees go weak and her entire body melt.
He goes to kiss her again, soft presses of his lips against her spine that make her gasp and shiver. Her fingers clutch the hem of her shirt to ground herself, while he instead lifts up the back of her shirt even more to continue his journey up the graceful curve of her back.
He fully sits up for the first time that morning in order to have easier access, and slowly litters kisses across her skin. He slides his legs over the edge of the bed until he's sitting completely upright, and has both of his legs on either side of hers from where she stands. One hand still on her wrist, he rubs circles into the sensitive skin there. The other comes up to grasp her hip, taking the opportunity to move her to his liking and pull her closer.
Maka feels warmth begin to fill her cheeks, feels it slither all the way down her neck so that she's covered in a rosy hue.
Kissing farther up her back, Star finds himself halted by nothing other than her bra. Wrinkling his nose at the obstruction, it takes him no more than two seconds to undo it.
Maka gasps when she feels her bra go loose under her shirt, unaware that he had even been undoing it. She turns her neck to see what he's doing, but finds herself distracted when he returns to where he had left off, reveling in the patch of newly uncovered skin.
Finding the spot on her spine that her bra had been covering, Star takes to nuzzling the spot just before setting another kiss there. Resting his lips against her back for just a moment, he opens his mouth to languidly lick up the freshly revealed skin, just an inch. Just enough for her to let out that lovely squeak he's been waiting for.
Knowing he won't get any farther up his path without her shirt gone, he moves one of his hands until it rests on her lower belly, keeping his other firmly on her hip. He swiftly pulls her down to his level, sitting her between his legs and tugging her close.
Maka is caught off guard by the action, and squeaks even louder when she's plopped on the edge of the bed. She finally turns her neck all the way to face him, unsure of just how he's gotten her like this.
Continuing on his mission, Star replaces her hands with his at the hem of her shirt and cleanly lifts it up over her head. He tosses the piece of clothing onto the floor and moves his hands back to where they were.
Her stunned squawks are rather adorable, and she flails for a bit in her shock after her hands swiftly flew up to cup her bra to her chest. He snorts when he hears her squawk something about already having given him goodbye sex, and that she didn't have time, oh my god. She didn't even notice him take off his own shirt in the midst of her flails, which is fine for now, he guesses.
"Hey-"
He returns to kissing up the center of her back, pressing his lips against her over and over until he reaches just under her neck.
In response to her, he hums questioningly against her skin, noticing how it makes her shiver. A satisfied smile curls across his face, still pressed against her.
"What are you doing?" she asks, all soft breath and bright cheeks.
With no answer, he tugs her fully against him until her back is flush against his chest. She's suddenly very aware of how bare his torso is.
Pleased with how pink the slope of her neck has become from his attentions, he brushes his lips over her skin until his nose is just barely brushing past her hairline and his lips are skimming the back of her neck. One of his favorite spots.
Holding her close, he opens his mouth to boldly bite down on the soft skin of her neck, and he finally gets to hear her cry out the sweetest mewl. Goosebumps spread across her skin and she shivers against him.
He takes one of her hands in his, threading his fingers through hers and guiding her hand back to her lower stomach, content to simply hold her for now as he begins to suckle the spot he's bitten. Maka lets out a whine at his attentions, knowing exactly what he's trying to accomplish.
Releasing the back of her neck, he moves to her ear and kisses there, too. He slowly inches his hands up her sides towards her bra, eager to continue as much as she'll let him. She doesn't seem keen on stopping, he thinks with a smirk.
Just barely fingering the edge of her bra, he rasps into her ear, pleading with her.
"Stay," his breath puffs out against the heat of her skin, reducing her to a weak, trembling mess. One finger slips just under the bottom of her bra, testing the soft, smooth warmth there. Her voice comes out a whisper into the air around her, and he listens intently.
"I-"
Buzz buzz.
The bed underneath them vibrates. A muffled pa-ping! reveals that Maka's phone, hidden between the mattress and the box spring, has received a text message.
"Fuck." Star curses, leaning his forehead against the back of her neck in defeat.
Maka blinks, stunned at this turn of events. She feels her focus quickly come back to her, like a light has been turned on inside her head.
"I'm. I can't. Believe you." She quietly stutters her astonishment at him, shook. He scowls into the skin of her neck, incredibly displeased. After a moment he hooks her bra back together, definitely sulking.
Maka unlatches him from her waist and bends over, stuffing her hand between the mattress and the box spring to snatch her missing phone, forgotten in the midst of the heist he was trying to pull off.
She opens her phone to read whatever message she's gotten, ignoring his soft whines of babe please, I'm sorry babe and more kisses against her neck. The effect is lost, as they are more desperate than distracting this time. Poor boy.
He threads his fingers through hers and takes a peek at her face, trying to read her expression, only to find it blank. She's going to get up and really leave, any second now.
Star falls back against the bed, bouncing against the mattress and accepting his fate. He let's out the most bitter, petulant groan.
"I should have stuck my hand down your pants quicker," he mutters, his pout made of pure spite..
"Oh, thank god," she whispers out of nowhere, relief making her shoulders sag. Star blinks owlishly at her, unsure of what has just happened.
Maka completely turns around and falls into him, crawling across the bed until she can nuzzle into his neck and circle her arms around him in a cuddle. Star's arms hang uselessly above them, not sure what's going on or what he should do.
"Babe I'm. Confused?" He's not complaining, he really isn't. But this is. Surprising.
"I'm just relieved, is all," she mumbles against his throat, seemingly content now.
"You're... Relieved that I wanted to stick my hand down your pants-?"
"The museum my class was going to flooded because of some faulty pipes and it was so bad that they shut it down to clean it out and my professor canceled the trip. All of my class' money got refunded."
"O. Oh."
They are both silent for a bit, trying to soak up this new information. Finally, filled with indescribable relief, Star wraps his arms around her too and simply stares at the ceiling.
"Maka. God finally loves me."
Maka smooches his neck in response. What a silly boy.
Star heaves a great sigh and let all the tension leave his body. Keeping her secure in his arms, he rolls them both over so he can lift up onto his knees and lay them both back down on their pillows, having still been laying on the bed from the side.
Determined to get his morning back, Star forces himself to get out of bed to find the sleep shirt that he had removed from her torso. Hello, old friend. He tosses it to her and she gratefully accepts, feeling a little chilly being so bare.
While she blessfully, beautifully, removed her bra from under her shirt, he moves to shut off his lamp and completely shut the door that had previously let hall light stream into their room, covering them in wonderful, peaceful darkness. The sun still hasn't even come up yet.
No longer feeling the constraints of a time limit, he tiredly walks back to their bed, not able to keep up the previous tenacity he'd had when it was all about convincing her to stay. Now, all he wants to do was hold her and go back to sleep. And judging by the grabby hands she makes for him when he'd made it back to bed, she feels the exact same way.
He slides under the covers and bundled her up in his arms, finally feeling at peace again. Maka buries her face into the crook of his neck, and allows herself to completely melt into him for the first time that morning. She tangles her legs comfortably with his for maximum warmth and boyfriend cuddles.
She feels warmth bubble in her chest as he presses kisses to the top of her head, undoing her pigtails and briefly combing through the strands with his fingers.
Realizing that she really can go back to sleep with him, Maka feels herself completely droop. Her eyes feel heavy and slow, and she's so so warm and comfortable. She takes a deep breath, taking in his scent with great content and delight, knowing she doesn't have to hold back anymore. She's free to doze.
His fingers return under her shirt and continue their previous job of rubbing that wondrous spot between her shoulder blades in slow, steady motions, applying just the right amount of pressure that has her purring into him.
"Bless you," she gratefully mumbles to him, feeling herself start to doze off. He chuckles, that one silky, raspy voice unintentionally coming through once more.
There's a beat of silence, before-
"Wait, did you not even wanna go?"
"Hush."
- The End -