A/N: This fanfic is based on a suggestion by ChronaxMaka writer. In one of my previous fics, Shy, there is a part that mentions how it took Crona several times to grow accustomed to hir relationship with Maka (9 times to admit they were dating, 6 times to say "I love you too," and 4 times to kiss). Testing the Waters is inspired by that concept. There will be 7 chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater or any of its characters. They belong to Atsushi Ohkubo-sama.


My mornings usually began with a bird chirping outside my window and the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen—in other words, my mornings weren't very exciting. I'd wake up on my own, fix my bed, and get ready to face the day.

One morning was different. I woke up to the sound of a calm voice saying my name, a voice I recognized as Maka's. She wrapped her hand over my shoulder and shook it gently.

My eyes stayed shut, too tired to open. I could tell that the time was earlier than the one I usually got up at, so it was impossible that I had slept in. Besides, it was Saturday. There was nothing to be late for.

"Crona." She raised her voice a little louder, made it more firm. Her hand increased its pressure on my shoulder.

I sighed a quiet sigh and shrugged her off, turning my head to bury my face deeply into my pillow. I lay stretched out on my stomach with my arms hugging the pillow tightly. All was silent for a few brief moments. My body shifted, trying to get comfortable again.

"Alright, you asked for it."

The floor creaked as Maka's footsteps faded away.

When they vanished altogether, I knew she had left the room. I concentrated on lying still, on falling back to sleep. Then the sound of running feet appeared, growing louder with each step, drawing closer like a small stampede.

My eyes jerked themselves open, wide and fearful. I looked up just in time to see Maka spring from the floor, her body hovering in midair. Her pigtails flailed, defying gravity. The bed screeched as if in pain when she landed heavily on it with her feet.

I rolled onto my back, which quickly became a mistake. She started jumping up and down chanting, "Wake up! Wake up!" My limbs found themselves in danger of being crushed.

I shot my arms up. Each bounce knocked more and more of my breath out. I had no way of shouting that I was awake. The tremors buried my attempts to sit upright.

Silky hair flapping about, Maka clearly enjoyed herself. She switched from hopping on both legs, to hopping from one leg to the other, to performing spins in midair, and she even succeeded in a back flip that I was sure shook the whole apartment.

At last she bounced once more and stopped, the mattress creaking one final time. Standing with hands planted on hips, she grinned down at me.

I lay there panting as if I was the one who just finished jumping on the bed like a child. It was a wonder we hadn't crashed straight down to the apartment's bottom floor.

"Crona." Maka moved to the head of the bed and crouched down to sit on her feet. She leaned in close to my face. "Do you know what day it is?"

I lifted a shaking arm to wipe my mouth and neck. When I answered that it was Saturday, she shook her head.

"Today is the day you moved in with us," she said, "exactly one year ago."

"It is?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Oh… I didn't know." I also didn't know what this had to do with her waking me up so early.

The confusion must've shown on my face because she went on, "Our friends will be here later so we can throw you a party. We're going to make this place spotless before then. I want to get breakfast out of the way first, so tell me what you'd like."

After a short pause to right myself, I told her I'd like an omelet. She stood up and offered to fix my bed for me before leaving to cook.

In the meantime I took a shower and got ready for the day as usual. Ragnarok, sensing that breakfast was nearly ready, emerged from my back and asked if it was just him, or did "those guys" find any excuse to have a party. I had to admit I didn't see much cause for celebration just for living with Maka, Soul, and Blair for a year. I appreciated it, though, because it was nice to be reminded that I mattered to them.

When we were all fed and watered, everyone began splitting up the cleaning duties. Maka insisted I didn't have to help, but I told her I wanted to. For one thing, it would get finished faster and for another, I lived here too. I wanted to help take care of the place I called home.

The next few hours bustled with activity; we vacuumed, swept, dusted, polished, and mopped until our arms felt like rubber. Then Soul and I laid out bowls of chips and salsa on the coffee table in the living room. The phone rang as Maka placed a pan of cake batter into the oven. Soul answered the call.

"Bad news," he said after hanging up. "Liz is really sick, so Kid and them aren't coming. But they send you their regards, Crona."

For a few moments the three of us stood in place, glancing at each other with worried eyes. Blair sat between Soul's legs, looking up at us and frowning, her whiskered nose twitching.

I felt bad about Liz, but I couldn't help thinking that the party wouldn't be the same if all of our friends weren't here. There had been times when our group hung out with a couple or a bunch of us missing, but whenever we planned a party, no one was left out. I had a feeling my roommates were thinking along the same lines.

"Should we… call it off?" Maka looked at me uncertainly. "What do you think, Crona?"

Well, it wasn't like we'd never have another party again, right? And since we were celebrating my living here for a year, it should be alright if it was just us. So I agreed that we should cancel.

"You mean we did all that cleaning for nothing?" Blair groaned, slumping forward. Her hat hid half of her face. "What a waste of time…"

"No it wasn't. We'll just have some snacks and watch TV until the cake's done." Maka turned toward the phone. "I'll call the others and tell them…"

"Wait, can I do that?" I stepped forward to get her attention.

She stopped and smiled, letting me pass.

While the cake was baking, we helped ourselves to chips and salsa as we relaxed in front of the TV. The channel we were watching was about to play a movie once the current show finished.

This show was old because the picture was in black and white. It seemed to be a comedy because of all the puns the characters constantly threw at one another.

I didn't care much for it and was glad it was almost over. For a show that was supposed to be funny, there was only one scene that made me laugh.

A character didn't notice the banana peel lying on the ground until he slipped on it. His arms and legs flapped ridiculously as he fell. Sprawled on the ground, his eyes and mouth retained their overly dramatic shocked expressions.

I laughed, my arms clutched to my sides in order to steady myself. Of all the things to trip over! Sometimes I would almost stumble over my own feet, but this was ridiculous.

The others were quiet; they were looking at me with surprised faces. I wished I hadn't laughed.

"Crona," said Soul, "that's the oldest gag in the book."

I blushed, unsure of what to say at first. Their stares made me want to turn invisible. My mind frantically searched for words, but it was hard to find the right ones. The silence was building, so I settled with, "I'm sorry."

Soul blinked and smirked, shaking his head. "Don't sweat it." He turned his attention back to the TV screen.

Maka continued staring at me. I bit my lip, wondering if I should ignore her and look away.

"Your laugh is really cute," she said slowly. "I can't remember the last time I heard it."

I had no idea what to say to that. My blush deepened from flattery, unease, and shame all at the same time. Flattery because she thought my laugh was cute, unease because of her fixed stare, and shame because I was sorry that I hardly ever laughed.

Breaking eye contact, I clumsy reached for the bowl of chips and picked up one that was way smaller than I would've liked. I focused on its salty flavor as I nibbled on it.

An announcer on the TV informed us viewers of what was coming up next. The movie was about to start, so I looked up, but I could still feel her eyes on me. I couldn't relax until the feeling went away.

During one of the commercials, Maka got up to take the cake out. She smothered it with frosting and used gelled icing to write "Happy Anniversary" on the top. She nearly dropped it trying to kick Soul when he jokingly asked me who I had gone off and married without them knowing.

She let me cut out the first piece. It tasted fluffy and creamy and I loved how it warmed my throat when I swallowed.

After the movie ended, Soul picked up our dishes to wash them. Maka told me to stay put because she had something for me.

I waited for her on the couch, not expecting anyone to have bought me a present. She quickly returned carrying a small wrapped box. It was light and rectangular.

I neatly tore off the wrapping and found a book lying in my hands. It was leather-bound and had no title. A strap on the side prevented the book from opening unless I unhooked it, which I did. The pages inside were blank.

"Is this a journal?" I asked, looking at her.

She sat beside me, nodding. "It can be. You can write whatever you want in it."

She glanced down at my lap, where my hands were busy fastening the strap back in place. The book lay still and she placed a hand over its cover.

Her brow was furrowed as if she was thinking of what to say next. I put one of my hands on top of hers and she spread her fingers so ours could interlock. They felt snug.

I liked holding her hand. I decided that should be the first thing to write in my new journal. I like holding hands with Maka.

She watched our hands for a while before looking back up at me. "I take that back," she said. "There are some things you can't write in this."

I raised my eyebrows at her, wondering what she meant.

She smiled. "You're allowed to write secrets and your own private thoughts, but if you ever think you aren't good enough or don't deserve something, then don't write it. Come straight to me so we can talk about how wrong that is."

Her words made my heart beat faster. It was as if she knew I still had thoughts like that every now and then. I used to think living with people who cared about me would put a stop to all my worries and doubts. When it didn't, I felt worse because it proved that I was ungrateful.

But Maka didn't seem to think I was ungrateful. She just wanted to help, as if having bothersome thoughts was normal no matter what.

"Thank you," I said, giving her a smile of my own. "I will."

"Good."

Her fingers loosened, so I let them go. She turned in her seat to face me but before I got a good look at her eyes, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

Her hug felt unusually stiff, not soft like the ones before it. Her face stayed hidden from view and her whole body was still until I carefully hugged her back. She pressed and kneaded my shoulders, holding me tighter.

"I'm really glad we're friends, Crona." Her voice sounded oddly thick, as if she were sad.

"I'm glad, too," I answered, emphasizing the meaning behind my words. Then I moved my arms lower to hug around her waist, matching the same level of tightness she provided me.

We sat together listening to the water running from the kitchen sink and the dishes clinking as Soul washed them. I waited for Maka to relax before letting go of her. To my relief her lips were smiling, but the brightness in her eyes had faded.

I asked, "What's wrong?"

She showed teeth, her smile now big and fake. "Nothing. I just like you, that's all."

"O-Oh." It didn't explain the dimness in her eyes, but a compliment was a compliment. I rubbed the back of my head, smiling shyly at the present in my lap.

That night, before I went to sleep, I pulled on my pajamas and sat at the tiny desk in my room. I switched on the desk lamp and wrote in my new journal for the first time.

At the top of the first page I wrote the day's date. Then I wrote I like holding hands with Maka as neatly as I could. As an afterthought, I wrote I like hugging her, too.

The journal entry seemed very short, even for someone who didn't plan on writing in it that much anyway. I went over what happened today in my head. One of the memories made me grin in amusement.

Soul called it the oldest gag in the book, but I still think slipping on a banana peel is funny.