Christmas Tradition – a Soul Eater fic

Disclaimer: I do not know Atsushi Okubo, nor do I intend to profit off of the Soul Eater manga or anime. This is for fun and amusement only.
Warnings/description: Fluff, holiday theme, fem!Chrona, a weensy bit of implied yaoi.
Pairings: SoMa, very lightly implied (bearable for yaoi haters) Stein x Spirit.
Author's Notes:
Christmas gift fic for StandingOnTheRooftops! This is to thank you for all your help and companionship! Merry Christmas, girlie! *huggles* Got this posted right at midnight on Christmas! ^^ Yay!

Another holiday season had arrived, and the apartment home to Maka Albarn and Soul Eater Evans was teeming with the Christmas spirit.

The time had come for Maka's favorite Christmas tradition: Every year, she took on the task of inviting everyone over for a holiday gathering. Originally it had started out so simple; but over the years, it had expanded into quite the elaborate occasion. And so, after nearly a solid day's worth of toiling, the ash blonde scythe-meister—along with help from her friend Tsubaki-had adorned her home in festive decorations and prepared a bountiful holiday feast.

Tsubaki, Black*Star and Soul had since all made themselves comfortable on the other couch as Blair, meanwhile, had found a rather cozy spot on Patty's lap. And, much to the feline's chagrin, the weapon had taken a liking to petting her—rather harshly—from head to tail, giggling with every emphatic rising of the cat's rump.

Kid sat between his two weapons on the sofa with his legs crossed. Who knew the son of Shinigami owned a tacky Christmas sweater? Then again it was, of course, perfectly symmetrical.

…As were the decorations on the tree, and the presents gathered underneath it, once he finished with them.

Capping off the holiday scene, a warm fire crackled in the hearth behind them. It was almost picture perfect. Almost. There was just one thing missing…but hopefully not for too much longer.

"We're not waiting on that creepy Papa of yours, are we?" Soul questioned with an expression of distaste.

"No," Maka answered confidently, "I picked this day because he's usually helping Shinigami-sama put up Christmas decorations."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Black*Star snapped. "I'm here and I'm hungry, so let's eat!"

The nimble ninja was on his feet and in the kitchen before anyone could stop him. As he honed in on the bountiful feast his partner and the scythe-meister had worked dutifully to prepare, Maka deftly retrieved a wooden cutting board and halted him instantaneously with a Maka Chop. As he nursed his wound, she dusted her hands casually.

"If you don't mind me asking, who are we waiting for?" Kid inquired, peering at her from over the back of the sofa.

Maka smiled warmly. "You'll see."

…

Inching down the street, a pale-haired figure dressed all in white nervously trekked through the snow, repeatedly checking an invitation card in one hand.

It took tremendous courage just to make an appearance. But, being that Maka was the best—and pretty much only—friend they had, there was no way they could decline such a gracious invitation.

As they approached a door, the figure again checked the address on inside of the card.

"I hope this is the right place," they wondered aloud, "I don't know if I could deal with knocking on the wrong door..."

…

At last there was a knock, so soft that most of the guests didn't even register it. Maka, however, immediately bounded over to answer it, throwing open the door to reveal a bashful-looking Chrona, staring at her feet. Deep blue eyes lifted to meet sparking emerald green, demon sword-meister raised the invitation she held.

"Merry Christmas," she offered meekly.

"Merry Christmas, Chrona," Maka smiled, "Please, come in!"

As she stepped inside, Chrona's gaze discreetly passed over the room. A modest fir tree stood along the wall, piled with presents beneath it; in the kitchen, a bountiful feast awaited. Although everyone had arrived, none of the food looked as though it had been so much as sniffed. Had everyone been waiting for them?

Maka confirmed the suspicion when she knelt before the tree and retrieved a modest square box lovingly adorned with metallic green wrapping paper and a bright red bow.

Her expression was warmer than the fireplace as she handed the item over. "Here, it's from all of us."

Chrona blinked. No one had ever given her anything before.

"A p-present..?" she stuttered, taking hold of the gift delicately. "I don't know how to deal with presents!"

It was then that the demon sword Ragnarok emerged, and began swiping for the box with both clubbed white hands. "Give it to me, then! I can deal with it just fine!"

Maka giggled as the two struggled for the gift, the demon sword's pale-haired meister somehow managing to keep it out of her partner's reach.

"Actually, Ragnarok, we got something just for you," the scythe technician informed, and produced a smaller, rectangular box wrapped in a similar manner. Despite having relatively feeble hands, the weapon had the paper torn off in a single swipe to reveal a box of chocolates.

"Hey! Maybe you're not so bad, after all!" the demon sword applauded.

The scythe-meister smiled, patting the boisterous weapon on the head. "Merry Christmas to you too, Ragnarok."

Chrona meekly eyed her present, and then her gracious host. "Do you…want me to open it now?"

The emerald-eyed meister shrugged and neatly folded her hands before her, another bright, shining smile curving her lips. "You can open it any time you like."

Just as her guest began to pull on the gift's bright red bow, Black*Star emerged from his Maka Chop-induced stupor.

"Now can we eat?" he queried weakly.

Maka's eyes shot green daggers at the ninja, but at the same time she realized he did have a point. The food was only getting colder, after all.

While everyone munched happily on the meal so painstakingly prepared for the holiday gathering, Maka knelt before the Christmas tree. As she began to sort the presents for her company Soul approached, taking a seat across from her and assisting in the task. She smiled at him for a brief moment, and he returned it.

Together, they continued to disassemble the once perfectly symmetrical arrangement of gifts until another weapon's comment broke their concentration.

"Hey, you're under the mistletoe!" Patty cheered. "Now ya gotta kiss him!"

Emerald eyes rose to see that, indeed, the weapon was correct. A small sprig of green dangled over she and her weapon partner, hanging from a beam in the ceiling. Maka didn't recall putting it there, though. That was certainly odd. When did that get there?

Standing side-by-side in the Death room, Professor Stein and his former weapon partner Spirit Albarn stared up at a massive—and completely bare-seven foot Christmas tree. Settled beside it were two equally gargantuan cardboard boxes, one overflowing with matted strings of lights, and the other brimming with various tree trimmings.

The Professor pushed his round glasses up on the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. The display before them could only mean one thing: The holidays were here again.

Every year they did this. It was their Christmas tradition. Every year Spirit donned the same obnoxious reindeer antlers that he'd somehow hung onto for easily over a decade, and dug into the same box full of Christmas lights.

And every year Stein eventually had to dig him out, and unravel them from him.

Every year the scientist faced his arch-nemesis: the seven foot tree that Shinigami inevitably placed in the Death Room each holiday season. The very same one he stood before. Having a longer reach than Spirit, every year he was charged with the task of decorating the tree.

And every year he was always just a few inches short, ultimately resorting to a step ladder to settle the star upon the top.

He fished around in the pockets of his lab coat until he retrieved a cigarette, placing it in one corner of his mouth. Not this year, he vowed. This year, he would find a way to do without the ladder.

The two men turned to face Shinigami, who gave them a single wave with one gigantic white hand. "Okay, you two have fun!" he chirped, and began to bound off before abruptly turning back. "Oh, and one last thing: Stein-kun? …No smoking."

Stein's face fell. Still, he gave a nod, and stuffed the unlit cigarette back into his coat pocket.

Again, his sights turned to bare tree. Normally, the lights would come first. However, with Death Scythe charged with the task, he would have the massive fir completely finished before Spirit could even untangle them. Since there was no way he was going to wait that long to begin decorating, he dove into the massive box of trimmings.

…A little more literally than he'd intended to, he found. Why was it that Shinigami-sama insisted upon keeping the decoration hooks at the bottom of this box? Grumbling silently, he immersed himself further, burrowing down until he felt as though he was being swallowed up by the mass of decorations.

…

Meanwhile, Spirit was deploying his own strategic plan of action for his task. This year he'd decided he'd sort all the various strings of lights into piles, and untangle them one pile at a time. It was a foolproof plan! Why hadn't he thought of it sooner?

Digging in with both hands, he grabbed fistfuls of the lights and began pulling them out.

Only, it seemed they weren't caught in themselves any less than they were caught in each other; the entire content of the box was one giant tangled mass. Spirit sighed to himself. So his original plan wasn't going to work. So what? He'd still figure it all out somehow. He was a Deathscythe, after all! It couldn't be that hard…

…

At last, Stein emerged from the box with his prize in hand: a packet of bendable hooks. In the vain hope that his companion might somehow have at least one strand of lights untangled, Stein glanced over to him.

On the contrary, Spirit looked like an overzealous cat who had accidentally hogtied itself with a ball of yarn far too large to handle. Stein shook his head at him. Every year he had to untangle Spirit from the Christmas lights. It was only a matter of time before the weapon admitted that he was trapped and asked for help.

While Spirit found himself miraculously waist-deep and swimming in a tangled mess, Stein appeared to be having complications of his own. He, who had lost nary a fight in his lifetime, seemed to be losing his present battle with the box of trimmings.

Somewhere along the line Stein had acquired some "decorations" of his own: A few strands of tinsel had gathered randomly on his head and shoulders, nearly matching the color of his pale hair. While that was mildly amusing, on the other end, however, was something quite riotous: Somehow, someway, the scientist had managed to get a bright red glass ornament hooked on the end of the screw.

And somehow, someway, he was completely unaware of it.

The weapon only needed a single glance at the sight to break into a fit of laughter.

Stein turned, perking a brow at his tangled former partner, who was nearly in tears with amusement for no apparent reason whatsoever. And people thought he was mad!

Shrugging off the weapon's peculiar amusement, he went back about his business. If Spirit was too busy cackling to ask for help then he obviously didn't need it that badly.

Crimson met clover as Soul's red eyes glistened back at Maka's. The meister forgot to breathe.

"So, are you gonna kiss him, or what?" Ragnarok interjected.

Chrona not-so-subtly reached up and placed a candy cane in the weapon's mouth. Pacified, the demon sword hummed in satisfaction.

Maka was frozen in place. She expected Soul to back away, dismissing the idea as 'uncool', but he never moved. She expected Black*Star to make some sort of obscene comment, but he never spoke.

Or perhaps she just didn't hear him.

All there was in the world at that moment was the bright, sparkling ruby of his eyes staring back at her, patient and waiting.

Soul smiled impassively at her with a mouthful of pointed white teeth. "If you don't want to, Maka, why don't you just say-"

But before he could finish his statement, she interrupted him…in the most wonderful of ways. For one bright, beautiful moment, their lips met.

As she pulled away Maka stared at her hands, neatly folded before her, for a time before returning her eyes to Soul's. She could nearly feel the heat radiating off of her cheeks.

Kid scoffed softly at the pair, the smallest of smiles on his lips. "Now honestly, who didn't see that coming? Those two together…they're perfect symmetry."

Looking on from the arm of the couch, Blair purred to herself. Sometimes it didn't take money to give the best present of all…just a little bit of magic.

After several attempts at freeing himself, Death Scythe finally realized he was only making matters worse for himself. Damn the lights, he thought with a scowl. Stupid overrated decorations! Who needed them, anyway?

Meanwhile, having the tree completely trimmed, all that remained for Stein was the finishing touch: A bright, golden star that went upon the top.

This was it: The moment of truth.

Making sure to avoid knocking any of the other ornaments off in the process, he reached for the top of the tree. Just the same as every year, he came up just a few inches short. Defeated, but not discouraged, he tried again, rising up onto his toes in an effort to give himself added reach. Again, it was all for naught.

He grumbled silently to himself. There was no way he was going to give in and get the step ladder. Not a chance.

But there was another option; one he hadn't thought of before. All it would require was untangling his companion from the ties the bound him. His eyes turned to his former partner to see Spirit casually dusting off his black clothing with both hands, strands of Christmas lights pooled around his feet.

Wait…how did he get free?

As he examined the strings of lights more closely, he could see that they had all been severed. Stein scoffed softly at the human weapon, which called his attention.

Sapphire eyes shifted to the scientist, who stood silently with the massive golden star in hand.

"Mind giving me a hand, senpai?" he finally conceded, admitting defeat to the tree for yet another season.

Spirit chuckled. "So you finally gave up," he commented with a smirk, "Same as every year."

Stein scowled half-heartedly at him.

The Deathscythe's grin merely widened. "Where would you be without me, ne?"

He obliged his former partner, shifting his body to take the form of a bladeless cross-shaped staff.

As Stein took hold of him, the weapon's head and shoulders emerged from the top, and the meister passed the final decoration to him. Lifting the staff in his grip only slightly, it was a simple task for Spirit to reach out and settle the bright, golden star atop the massive tree's highest bough.

With the task finished, his body resumed its previous state. Stein's hands still rest on his hips from where he'd held his companion in weapon form.

Amazingly enough, the scientist's own "decorations" still remained undiscovered. Chuckling again, Spirit pulled the bright red bulb from the end of the massive screw, holding it in an upturned palm. A warm smile spread across his face as his gaze moved from the item to his former meister's jade green eyes. "Merry Christmas, Stein."

He could see the hint of a returned expression creep upon Stein's lips as well.

"Merry Christmas, senpai."

OWARI

Merry Christmas, everyone~! ^_^ Especially to my close friend and faithful muse and beta, StandingOnTheRooftops! Thanks again for all you've done, and all you continue to do!