This one should have been out sooner, but my beta reader took FOREVER to get back to me. Aw well, she always does a good job. This was inspired by My-name-is-foxglove's story "As They Dance". So go read it! The parts that inspired this fic were Balcony and Quirks. I hope I did a good job, My-name-is-foxglove! I don't own Soul Eater.
Soul and Maka walked down the guillotine hallway to the Death Room, staying as far away from each other as possible. Each blamed the other for Lord Death's summons, and it caused them to fight again that morning. They looked in opposite directions as they made their way to the door. Maka knocked. "Hello, Lord Death? Meister Maka and weapon Soul reporting. Papa told us you wanted to see us?"
"Yes, yes, do come in!" The pair walked in to find Lord Death drinking tea at a small coffee table. "Do sit down. I've been meaning to talk to you two for some time now!"
"Can you make this quick? I'd like to spend as much time away from Maka as possible," Soul said lazily. He received a Reaper Chop. "I'm sick of fighting with her, so staying far away from her is best!" he explained.
"You're arguments are precisely the reason I have summoned you here. I've watched you during your battles and you're doing rather well. But your souls are constantly at odds due to your arguments. And quite frankly, hearing about your arguments is starting to get rather annoying," the Grim Reaper said irritably.
"Well, what would you have us do?" Maka asked. "This guy's so stubborn! He doesn't let me know what's bothering him and then blows up in my face about something that's bothering him without really telling me what it is!"
"Yeah, 'cause everything is always my fault!" Soul yelled at his partner. "You're the stubborn one! Everything is 'my way or the highway' with you! I'm not allowed to have an opinion on anything 'cause if you don't like it you hit me!"
"MAKA CHOP!"
"Ow! See what I mean?"
Lord Death gave each of them a Reaper Chop. "Do you see what I mean?" he asked. "You two are quick to argue. I have decided on an exercise that might help. I want you… to list all the things that you know about the other person that no one else knows about them."
"How the hell is that supposed to help?" Soul yelled.
"There are things about you that are only noticed by those that spend a lot of time with you. Things that no one else knows that are kind of like a secret between you and the other person. Why does this other person know those secrets? Because you trust them. You two have difficulties believing in the other. So let's see what exactly you trust each other with that you yourselves don't even know."
Both sat there in silence for a moment, thinking about what they knew about their partner. Suddenly, Soul blurted out, "I know that the order Maka ties her pigtails in is left then right." Maka stared at him in confusion. She never tied her hair back in front of him… or had she? But even her father didn't know the order. She didn't even know that she tied them in a specific order.
"Um… I know that Soul likes to sleep with the lights on. I always have to turn off the lights in his room before I go to bed," she said. After that, it all became easy.
"You sleep on the couch when you're upset. You absolutely hate the color purple and will never, ever wear it. And you have to have the leaves cut off of your strawberries before you eat them," Soul said to Maka instead of Lord Death.
"Your favorite music is smooth jazz. Your favorite food is cheeseburgers. You always go sit on the steps at the front of the school when you're upset," Maka said to him.
"You know all that about me?" he asked in amazement.
"Well, yeah… I am your partner. I am aware of these things…" she answered. "I didn't think you noticed me at all, so I'm surprised you knew those things, too."
"Heh, I'm gonna be so uncool and say the same thing you did. I'm your partner, course I know these things," he replied.
Lord Death was rather pleased with their progress. He didn't foresee them fighting anytime soon.