"Soul, I said no." Maka Albarn tried to talk over the cacophony of electric guitars, violins, piano, and chorus of singers.
Soul showed no sign of him hearing her, so Maka decided to go to a last resort. She walked over to the stereo that was blaring the music and hit the stop button.
"Hey, Maka! What the hell? I was listening to that." Maka ignored his protests as she took the CD out of the stereo, along with all the other CDs splayed across the table.
"I already told you, no Christmas music yet," she told him sternly as she made her way over to her bedroom, where she planned to keep the CDs hostage until it was actually time for Christmas music.
"Why not? It's November already. We can listen to Christmas music now." Maka didn't acknowledge a word he said as she strolled into her bedroom, her expression smug. "Maaaa-kaaaaa," he whined as he followed her through the door.
Maka set all of the CDs down on the desk before she felt a hand grasp her wrist and Soul tugged her arm in a way to spin her around. Soul gently pushed her down onto the bed, placing his hands on either side of her, and looked down, his deep red eyes meeting hers, his expression showing clear discontent with Maka's act of taking away his jolly Christmas tunes.
"Why can't I listen to it?" Soul asked.
Maka looked up at him. She thought for a moment, realising just how much she enjoyed the position they were in, and debated keeping up an argument just so they could stay like this.
"I already told you why." She tried rolling over, but Soul put a gentle, but firm hand on her shoulder to hold her in place.
"Stupid reason. Give me a better one."
"No, it's perfectly reasonable. No Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. The holidays are Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. You can't just skip over a holiday like that." Maka eyed his hand, and she could feel his fingers tense up on her shoulder. Less intending to tighten the grip, more trying hard not to caress her arm.
"Come on, Maka, department stores do that all the time. Hell, they put out Christmas decorations even before Halloween is over."
"Yeah, but we aren't a department store. And we agreed on no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. Okay?" She looked up at him with a stern expression.
Soul's face softened into a smile before he dipped down and planted a small kiss on Maka's cheek.
"You can't stop me from listening to it with headphones!" he spouted quickly as he ran off towards his room, not bothering to close her door behind him.
Maka just shook her head disapprovingly at her weapon partner. She got up from the bed and started arranging all the CDs on her desk.
"As long as you don't sing it and get it stuck in my head!" Maka called to him through the wall.
She was responded to by a swift and simple bang on the wall.
Maka shuffled around the room looking for something to successfully hide the temporarily forbidden Christmas music. She went to her closet and found the show box that her normal combat boots originally came in. A box she kept specifically for hiding things from Soul. After she had packed all of it into the box and slid it under her bed, she went to her laptop on her desk to look up some decorations to suit Thanksgiving.
*pling!*
She looked down at her phone and saw a text from Soul, "Hey, what are we doing for Thanksgiving this year, anyway?"
She smiled at the message and shook her head. "Get in here and we'll discuss it," she replied.
*pling!* "You're just trying to get me in the bedroom ;)"
"Just get in here, you idiot!"
A moment later, Soul knocked on the door frame announcing his presence. Maka spun around in her desk chair as Soul sat down on her bed and picked up a yo-yo from her bedside table, starting to flick it up and down.
"So, what were you thinking of doing for Thanksgiving, Soul?"
"How about we hang out here. Just the two of us. You and me," he said slowly inching his way to the edge of the bed closest to the desk.
"Hold up there, Scythe boy." She stopped him from getting any closer by grabbing his shoulder and holding him at arm's length. "Now you know Thanksgiving is a family event, so we should spend it with family." She was spinning back and forth in her desk chair before pausing abruptly, "We could invite Wes!"
She could see the hesitation and clear discomfort he showed at the thought of inviting his older brother.
"I don't think so," he said, clearly trying not to let his feelings show through his words.
"Oh come on, you said yourself that your family doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, which means that he might not have plans. And besides, I've been dying to meet him in person."
It was true, Maka had been wanting to meet Soul's brother ever since Soul had first told her about Wes, and explained to her that the two of them had reconciled. Soul had introduced him to Maka over the phone, and the three of them held a conversation on speaker phone. Maka tried to keep in touch with Wes after that, sometimes talking on the phone or texting him, (something they both agreed never to tell Soul about.) But to actually meet him in person, Maka got excited at just the thought of it!
"I don't know. He probably has plans going to some fancy schmancy party. I wouldn't want him to miss that." Soul spat acidly, words filled with sarcasm and disdain.
"Come on, Soul. Please?" Maka looked at him trying her best to drown him in her big green puppy dog eyes.
Soul's face remained as emotionless as ever staring into her eyes. He sat like that for a moment before finally giving in. "Fine."
"Yay!" Maka squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Only if," Soul spoke out, and Maka pulled away from Soul looking him in the eye, her excitement not a bit diminished, "I get to choose what we do for New Year's."
Without a second's hesitation, Maka exclaimed "Deal!" as she held her hand out to seal the agreement.
"You're allowing me to choose whatever I want for it?"
Maka nodded.
"No matter what you say, we have to do what I've got planned?"
"I do get a say in the matter. But yes." she said.
"Fair enough." he took up her hand to shake. "Deal."
"Alright, you invite Wes, I'll call up the gang and invite them. Sound good?" Maka looked at him expectantly as he stood up and started making his way toward the door.
"Actually, how about we just have a small gathering of just the three of us? You, me, and Wes." Soul paused in the doorway.
Maka peered at him, slightly confused. "Okay, if that's what you want. But you have to insist that Wes stay for at least the weekend after Thanksgiving, and he should stay here."
Soul nearly flinched at the thought. He was frozen in his tracks for what seemed to Maka only a few seconds, but she could only imagine how long an eternity it must have seemed to be for Soul.
"Fine." He suppressed a slight growl as he walked out the door.
"Thank you, Soul. I love you!" she called out casually.
She had said that plenty of times before. It was a mere declaration of friendship, platonic love, and he knew that. They both knew that. They both loved each other on so many levels. They loved each other like family, like friends, as weapon and meister, and they had been dating for quite a while, yet they hadn't said they loved each other in that way. It almost seemed unnecessary for it to be said. They both loved each other in that way, and it seemed like they both knew that. But for some reason, neither could find the courage to say it out loud to each other. Who knows? Maybe the holiday season filled with cheesy Christmas music and classic Christmas specials would give at least one of them the courage to say it with the feeling they both felt, though have yet to fully express. Maybe.