It was no secret that Maka Albarn wanted to be the best Meister. And being the best meant presenting to the newbies. Which was exactly what Soul Eater, her partner, did not want.
Year one.
Soul watched the duo from the higher up classes move in sync with each other, blades flashing. It was graceful, practiced. It was kinda cool, he would admit it, they had guts to present like this. He would never do it. Never.
Soul looked over at his Meister. She was a skinny looking girl, but one that could pack quite a punch, and her eyes were shinning as she followed the movements of their senpai's around the room. Her muscles tensing and relaxing as if she was the one wielding a weapon, her fingers twitching. That was not good.
Shit.
Year two.
"Come on, please Soul," Maka begged for the millionth time (nowhere near last with how it had gone so far!) since they had been offered the opportunity to present their skill to a lower level class and Soul was adamant about not doing it.
"For the thousandth time, No!" Soul yelled, annoyed that she had not dropped this yet, because damn it! He did not want to present. Ever.
"Please Soul?" Maka asked again, this time utilizing her puppy dog eyes.
"NO. Death damn it, woman. Stop asking me,I don't want to, ever," Soul snapped out between his razor sharp teeth.
Maka visibly wilted. Shit. That was bad.
"Oh, ok. Maybe next year," Maka said, eyes cast to the floor as she got up off their red couch and walked to her room, shutting the door behind her.
Was it his turn to cook today? He thinks it might be... Well. To late now wasn't it?
Soul had been playing basketball with Blackstar and Kid for a long time and had stayed out much longer than he had originally intended. Maka would probably be angry. And very possibly hungry. Not a good combination.
By now he had reached the apartment. Ah, the moment of truth, he held his breath as the key slid into the lock and the door swung open. Soul was immediately hit by the smell of cooking dinner. He relaxed, a foolish mistake.
"I'm home!" He called to his blonde roommate.
"Welcome home," she replied sweetly. Since when was Maka sweet? Something was up...
"Did you know, I made supper tonight?"
Crap. It was his turn.
"I also did the laundry, and vacuumed," she stepped out if the kitchen, her hands planted on her hips, glaring at him. Her cute, flowery apron doing very, very little to make her less scary.
"So. I was thinking. 'Hmmm, Soul needs a punishment for not doing his work'," Maka said drumming her fingers against her chin in mock thought. "Than I thought of the perfect one," Maka said, her face breaking out into an evil grin.
"We could present our skills to the NOT class!" She stated enthusiastically, evil grin still plastered across her face.
Soul paled.
"No, I refuse," Soul indignantly crossed his arms across his chest.
"But, I did all your work for you! And we are getting really good! And Professor Sid recommend us!". She looked sad. "Please?" She begged.
"No,".
"I'll do all your chores for a week,".
"No,".
"I will do all your cooking,".
"No,".
"Death, Soul. Please I really want to do this. Please?" She was using her puppy eyes. That was ok, cool guys did b not b/ fall for puppy eyes.
"No,".
Her face crumbled. Shit, now he felt bad again. He watched her shoulders slump as she walked towards the kitchen.
"Suppers in the oven, warm it up yourself," Maka stated coldly as she walked away.
"What about you?" He called after her questioningly, "don't you need to eat?".
"I already did," Maka said as she closed her door.
Soul walked over to the oven and pulled out the plate from inside. Pasta, his favourite. Now he really did feel bad.
"Please, Soul," his Meister asked for the fifth time that day and he had been up for half an hour.
"No,".
"Listen here Soul Eater," Maka started out, her face now threatening. Her book waved close to his face.
"You will present with me to the NOT class, and you will like it, got it?" Maka stated, moving to stand very close to him, using her slightly taller hight to her advantage.
"No," he replied.
"Yes," Maka ground out. "Or else I will chop you. Hard,".
"No," Soul said (he did not cover his head, pfft, of course not).
"Maka chop!" She yelled as she beat him over the head, causing him to crumple to the floor.
Ouch.
"Hey, Soul?" Maka asked. Soul, thought he knew what this conversation was all about.
"Do you wanna make a bet?" Maka asked innocently.
Soul raised an eyebrow, not wanting to agree with anything that would cause him pain later. Maka, who was oblivious to his thought process was just smiled at him, her false innocence alarming.
"About what?" He asked cautiously, like she was going to sprout claws and rake them down his face or slice him on half or something.
"Nothing serious," she said lightly, "just a little bet on Blackstar's next fight with that jerk the demon mace Meister, if Blackstar wins you present with me and if the other guy wins, I will stop bothering you about it forever,".
"What the- fuck no! No way, there is no way 'Star would would lose to some lame-ass freshman shit," he exclaimed staring at her like she was an idiot.
"Aw, come on Soul! It's a good bet!"
"No, no it is not,"
"Yes, yes it is,"
"I refuse to get involved in your stupid bet,"
Soul saw 'Star walking towards them grinning. That was possibly a good sign, a sign that could save him.
"'Sup bitches! Guess who just won a fight?" The self proclaimed god asked his friends as he wrapped an arm around each of their necks. Soul shot Maka a look before untangling Blackstar's arm from his neck.
"That's great," Soul grinned and crossed his arms across his chest and walked away, down the hallway.
Maka had been begging non stop for days. She had tried threatening him, doing chores for him, asking nicely, betting with him and asking at all hours of the day (and a few in the night). She was, quite frankly, wearing Soul thin. He was grumpy, annoyed and just plain done.
"Please Soul?" Maka begged for the hundred trillionth time.
He snapped.
"Fine, we can do the damn presentation, but will you just I shut the hell up I/ please?" He snapped fists balled at his sides, his posture ridged.
Surrendering was almost worth the look on his Meister's face. She was positively glowing with happiness, a smile stretched across her face as she wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug.
"Thanks Soul!" She exclaimed, "you won't regret this, I promise!". With that she let go of him and skipped off.
"Where are you going?" The weapon called after her.
Maka shot him a look over her shoulder, "To write out what we have to say, of course!".
They had to speak as well!? Fuck.
Maka had told Sid they could present the very next day. That was last week. Their presentation was tomorrow at first block and Soul was already regretting it. This was not gonna be fun.
He did not regret it when he say how happy it made Maka though. She had taken to smiling more and made all his favourite meals. She even let him off the hook for a few chops.
But still, he would have to speak in front of a lot of people and then perform for them. Something he always hated to do as a child. Urg, bad memories.
Well, it was to late to back down now... The presentation would be over with soon.
It was the big day. Soul thought hazily as he sluggishly woke up on the dreaded Thursday morning to the smell of bacon. Bacon? His day just looked a whole lot better! Had Maka made bacon? He hoped it was Maka, they did not have another roommate (Soul did not want another roommate, a pet though and he would consider it).
The albino weapon shuffled down the hallway after expelling a very large amount of effort to leave his warm, cozy, soft bed to find that yes, his Meister was in fact making bacon.
"Hey, Soul," she had glanced over her shoulder and caught sight if him standing behind her. Smiling she gestured to the stack if pancakes sitting on the counter.
"Help yourself, the bacon is almost done,".
"Thanks," he replied, reaching over and taking a large stack of pancakes and covering them with maple syrup before digging in. About two minutes later Maka joined him, taking a pile of pancakes even bigger that his and adding bacon to both their plates.
"So," Maka started innocently (Soul had quickly grown cautious of her innocent voice in the past few week, it was never good). "What are you going to be wearing for the presentation?"
Soul froze. So, she was not only going to make him present (something he hates) but she was also going to try to pick out his outfit? Hell no. His Meister, as cute as she was had horrible fashion sense.
"I think you should wear the uniform you have hidden in you closet for 'special occasions'," Maka suggested putting air quotes around 'special occasions'.
"No," was all Soul replied with.
"Yes," Maka shot back, her voice filled with venom.
"No, Maka I refuse to dress like a nerd for a presentation,"
"But Soul!" Maka said sounding very distressed, "We need to make a good impression for the new students!". Sensing that Maka was not going to drop it Soul reluctantly agreed, finished his breakfast and walked to his room to get ready.
In his room Soul sighed. Cool guys did not wear dorky uniforms, yet here he was. He pulled the uniform from the back of his closet and held it up with a look of disgust. He really did not want to do this. But Maka wanted him to, so he could try. But he would not like it.
When he had the constricting uniform on and all buttoned up, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He looked really stupid. In a last ditch attempt to salvage his reputation he unbuttoned the jacket and the top few buttons of his shirt as well as switching his dress pants for loose fitting jeans. There. He looked better now.
As he slipped on his red converse he had an idea. What annoyed Maka the most about his appearance? His paisley headband. Personally, Soul liked his headbands. Maka on the other hand, hated the paisley one with a passion. Perfect. It was a small revenge, but a revenge none the less and if he was being frank, she was lucky she even got him in the uniform at all.
Grinning like the demon he was he slipped the head band on his hair and left his room.
"No," Maka stated.
"What?" He asked innocently (ha! their roles were reversed this time, take that Maka!) "what's wrong?"
"You are not wearing that headband, ever,".
"What's wrong with it?" Soul asked.
"It's, it's- Urg. Just, get a different one, ok?"
"Nope," Soul said,lips twitching as a smirk threatened to spread across his face.
"Fine," Maka said. "I will make you a deal. You don't wear the headband and I will do all the talking during our presentation,".
"All of it?" Soul repeated.
"All of it," She confirmed. Yes, this had definitely gone better than planned.
"Ok, sounds good," Soul confirmed removing the offending article off his head and flinging it in the general direction of his room. Grinning, he held the door out of their apartment open for her.
"After you,".
"Let's thank Maka and Soul again for demonstrating," Sid Barrett said as he walked them to the door.
"It's no problem, professor," Maka said smiling.
"Alright, we will talk to you again about demonstrating next year," Sid said. Maka grinned, Soul paled.
Shit.