Soul never was the best when it came to being sensitive to other people's feelings. Usually, if he had something to say, he said it. That's just how Soul was. Unfortunately, this pertained to his partnership, as well.
So, when his partner came home and knocked on his door, he didn't think anything of it when he told her to go away. He'd been listening to his music and soaking up the tiny sliver of solitude he got during the day when Maka was at a class he didn't have to attend. He rarely got the opportunity to be by himself, and though he didn't hate Maka – quite the contrary, much to his dismay - they spent every second of the day together. He needed his space. She occupied his mind most of the time, even when they weren't together. He tried to tell himself it was just because they were so used to being around each other, but people who were only partners didn't think of what it would feel like to touch the other's skin. Slide their fingers through their hair. Whisper into their just exactly what they thought of doing to -
"Soul? Please, open up."
He groaned, yanking his headphones off and tossing them on his bed unceremoniously.
"What is it?" His question came out a little sharper than he'd intended, but he didn't particularly care. He finally had a quiet moment and she had to go barging in like she always did.
It took a few seconds for Maka to formulate a reply, and in that time, Soul had thought - hoped, rather - that she decided to leave him be and curl up somewhere with one of those book she was always reading.
"Can I - Can I come in?"
Something was off about her voice. She sounded almost... dejected. Definitely not the normal Maka that was bitching at him about his dinner duties earlier that morning. Prior to going to class, Maka had been pretty cheerful all day. This didn't sound like that Maka.
"... Fine." He grumbled, leaning back on his bed and throwing his arms behind his head.
She opened the door, and when her eyes met his, he knew something was wrong. She looked tired. An angry red color ringed her eyes, and her mouth was drawn in a tight, resigned line. For a moment, she looked as if she was going to speak, but said nothing, and sat down in the chair at his desk.
"So... are you gonna tell me what's up, or am I gonna have to play this freaky chick mind game you girls are all crazy about?"
He cocked his head to the side, studying her.
"Soul, save it." She mumbled. That was a first. Maka didn't mumble. Usually when he said something like that to her, he was on the receiving end of a sharp, poisonous remark, or at the most, a blow to the head with one of her gigantic nerd books.
He sighed.
"If you didn't want anything, then why did you come bug me?" Tact wasn't really Soul's forte.
She bit her lip, then stood.
"You're right, I don't know what I was thinking. You're obviously busy. Apologies for the intrusion."
Her sarcasm couldn't be missed, so she wasn't completely gone. Soul leaned forward and closed his hand around her slim, pale wrist. He pulled her forward as lightly as he could without hurting her, and she ended up losing her footing and falling face-first onto his bed.
"I'm not a mind reader, Maka. I know we share a bond, and all that resonance shit, but unless you tell me what's bothering you, I'm not going to know. Simple as."
She collected herself and fisted her hands into her shirt. She looked like she was almost on the verge of tears. This woke Soul up a bit.
"Woah - Woah, Maka, I didn't mean to make you cry or anythin-"
"I'm a failure."
"Haaah? What do you mean, you're a failure?"
She looked him in the eyes, wiping away the remnants of the traitorous tears threatening to spill from her ducts.
"I failed our test," She explained, her voice shaking. "I don't know what went wrong, I studied so hard for it! I should have done so much better -"
She was cut off by Soul's loud, obnoxious bark of laughter. She blinked several times, unsure if she should be angry or confused. She settled for the latter and reached out to swat him on the arm.
"This isn't funny, Soul!"
He was holding his sides and his head was thrown back.
"No, it's fucking hilarious!"
"Soul!"
Maka almost forgot that she was sad, mostly due to the fact that her anger at the white-haired idiot before was bubbling in her throat and threatening to burst out if he didn't shut the hell up.
"Maka - Maka, please. You're not gonna be perfect all the time. Sometimes, you gotta take the stick out of your - "
"I swear, if you finish that sentence, I'm going to kill you." She seethed, her eyes narrowing to slits.
"What I meant was that's not so uncommon. Besides, haven't you aced every other test in that class? What grade did you get on it, anyways?"
Maka looked down at the hands grasping her shirt tightly.
"I got... a C."
It was Soul's turn to be taken aback.
"Maka, a C is a passing grade."
"Not by my standards!" She protested, her eyes watering up a bit.
"MAKA. You have got to be shittin' me." He said in disbelief. "I'd trade a C for some of the crap I've failed in my classes. Take it and be happy you didn't fail!"
"Not failing doesn't mean I did well, Soul! It's a lot like failure to me. I should have gotten an A!"
"Okaaaaaaay, but you didn't," He stated. "Move on."
"Ugh, you're no help at all."
"Did you really expect to get sympathy when you decided to come to me?"
"Fair point," She conceded, her voice steadily returning back to normal. "Actually... I came in here to ask you a favor."
"Might as well, I've already been robbed of my private time."
When he saw the flash of hurt dart across her delicate features, he held his hands up.
"Joking."
She glared.
"Your jokes suck."
"Are you gonna ask me what you had to ask me, or not?"
She shifted in her place and moved her hands from her shirt to her hair, allowing the tendrils to slip through her fingers. Though Soul wasn't the greatest at picking up on when people were upset, he did notice her habits. After living together for so long, it would have been impossible not to. She always played with her hair when she was nervous. He'd noted that the same day they took one of their most difficult exams along with the day they went on their first mission. He knew her better than he knew himself.
"I just wanted to see if I could listen to music with you." She rushed out.
Soul barked out a laugh.
"YOU want to listen to MY music? Thought you weren't into any of that."
She looked up at him, her eyes displaying a different emotion; one he wasn't accustomed to seeing.
"I just wanted to ... hang out with you. Be with you, I guess. Nevermind - "
Soul grabbed her hand before she could get up again and smirked.
"If you wanted to spend time with me, you could have said so in the first place."
"I thought you didn't want me here? I thought I was intruding on your precious private time." She mocked.
"Eh, this is the kind of private time I don't really mind you walking in on. If it had been the other kind, I might have been a little more put off."
Maka raised her eyebrow, clearly confused. Poor Maka. Soul shook his head and made a mental note to never make a blatant masturbation joke in front of her again.
"What do you want to listen to?" He asked, changing the subject before she could start asking questions.
"I don't care." She laid her head down on one of his pillows and closed her eyes. "You choose."
Soul was perfectly fine with that. He delved into his collection of some soft rock songs he thought she wouldn't dislike and set the volume on low. After all, she wasn't so much here for the music as she was for the company. He lay his head down next to her, though with a considerable amount of distance put between them. He turned to her, his eyebrows knit together.
"Was that really all you were upset about? Really, it's just one test, Maka."
Without looking at him, she answered.
"It's... It's mama, too. I just... miss her, I guess."
Ah. So the truth finally comes out.
"Maka, you can tell me if you're feeling sad, you know. I'm pretty cool about that kind of thing, and besides, you're my partner. Partners are supposed to be there for each other, right?" Christ, how cliché could he fucking get.
She snorted, then gave him a smile.
"You're not cool at all, I don't know where you get that idea from." She sighed. "Yeah, I know. I just didn't want to bother you with it, I guess. I've been kind of sad about it for a couple of days. I know it's nothing I can change, but - "
"She's your mom. I get it, Maka. I'm not that dense."
"Could have fooled me."
A low chuckle issued from somewhere deep in his throat. Maka always did like his laugh. She liked a lot of things about Soul. Sure, he was a pain in the ass 90% of the time, but there were a lot of good qualities about him. Like now, for instance. He could have turned her away, but good partner that he was, he wanted to make sure she was okay.
Maka gave a little jolt when something touched her side. She looked over to see Soul's hand reaching for hers. Timidly, she took it and slid their fingers together. Partners did this, right? She'd held him plenty of times before in battle. Somehow, this felt a little different, though.
"Maka?" Though he'd only said her name, his voice was thick with implications.
"Hm?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, Soul. It's the least I can do."
There was a pause before he said anything.
"What do you think about us?"
Okay. That was out of the blue. What did she think about them? Loaded question. She swallowed and did her best to answer vaguely.
"What do I think about us? Um, I guess I think we're two losers who sometimes fight as weapon and meister."
"Not what I meant. You know that's not what I meant."
She felt like her heart dropped into her stomach.
"What did you mean, then?"
Without warning, he pulled her closer to him so their noses were only a few inches apart.
"And you say I'm dense."
Maka's entire face must've been bright red.
"What I meant was... do you like me?"
She avoided his gaze and hoped that he didn't feel the sweat forming on her clammy palm.
"Of course, I like you, Soul. I mean, you're a pain in the -"
Before she could finish her thought, he'd cut her off with a kiss. His lips were gentle at first and clearly inexperienced. Maka was still for a moment, but soon, his tongue was prying her lips open, and she couldn't just freeze. She began responding, her kisses unsure and cautious. She could feel his mouth twitch, a smirk against her own lips, before sliding his tongue further in and stroking hers with it. Had he done this before? Maka's head was completely clouded and every thought she had was hazy.
Soul was kissing her.
Soul was kissing her.
SOUL was kissing HER.
That in mind, she immediately stilled before him.
"Maka?" He asked, his voice filled with alarm. So not cool.
"I -"
Soul pulled away, trying to hide the embarrassment. Before he could go too far, he heard her speak up in a small voice.
"Do that again."
Didn't have to tell him twice. He lunged forward, placing both of his hands on either side of her face and capturing her lips in another kiss. This time, his lips were a little less sloppy; more precise. She was less cautious. She melted into his kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingers caught in his hair and he winced.
"Sorry." She breathed against his lips, face coloring bright red.
"S'ok," He smiled and kissed her again, this time pressing his body into hers.
She pulled him down directly on top of her and hesitantly wrapped her legs around his waist.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
What the hell was he going to do now? This girl was the main star in nearly all of his spank bank material, and here she was, pressing her crotch directly against his and raising all kinds of hell in the confines of his jeans. Leave it to Soul to get hard not a minute after kissing her. It was no use trying to hide the prominent bulge. He briefly said his goodbyes, making his peace with the fact that if he were to die at the hand of her Maka-Chop now, it would be a really fucking good way to go.
Instead of freaking out like he assumed she would, Maka pulled her lips from his, a string of saliva connecting both of their mouths. She seemed to be at war with herself for some reason. Before Soul could ask what was wrong, or if he should apologize for having a boner, Maka's hand slid from the back of his neck and to the front of his shirt. Slowly, her soft, pale hand drifted down to the front of his jeans. The look on his face was fucking priceless when she started rubbing him through his jeans.
His eyes screwed shut and his head fell slack against her shoulder. Where the hell did she learn to do that? What had she been reading about? Why was he questioning her motives?
"M-Maka -" He choked out.
"It's okay, Soul." She breathed, pressing her palm harder against him, causing a low groan to issue from the back of his throat.
Her voice was low and shaky, like she was scared but ... excited. He preferred this voice to the numb one he'd heard not ten minutes prior. If someone were to tell Soul he'd be making out with a girl he'd been lusting after since he was fourteen, he'd laugh. If they told him she'd have his hand on his dick, he would have laughed harder, then gone off to jerk it and wallow in how pathetic he was.
Her movements were completely inexperienced, but then again, neither one of them really had much practice with the opposite sex. They spent literally all of their time together, and at DWMA, there weren't really any other people they were interested in. He'd often wondered what this would be like. They did live together, and he had caught glimpses of her changing now and then. The reality of it was so much better than any fantasy his pervy little mind could conjure. So. Much. Fucking. Better.
Though the movement of her hand did feel nice, his jeans were becoming a tad too tight for his liking. His dick was straining against the denim, and the fact that his jeans were tight and skinny wasn't really helping the situation. He reached down to pull her hand away. A flash of panic crossed her face, and when she opened her mouth to apologize, his chuckled.
"Don't overthink anything, these are just killing me."
She was about to ask what the hell he was talking about, but when he gestured to his pants, she smiled.
"Want me to take them off?" She asked, unsure and a little self-conscious.
"Who the fuck are you and what have you done with my sweet, innocent Maka?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Soul, I'm hardly that naive. I may have never done this before, but I'm old enough to know the basics."
Soul took the opportunity of them being apart and rolled them over, pulling her on top of him. She flushed brighter than he think he'd ever seen.
"Soooo," He drawled. "Just what are you planning on doing when you take them off?"
His words caused her to look down. Fuck, was he a giant pervert for thinking her shy innocence was a huge turn on? Ah, whatever. The entire situation was incredibly fucking hot. He was a guy and she was touching his dick. Sue him.
She timidly reached forward to the zipper of his pants and tugged it down.
"Maka, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do, you -"
She held out her free hand to signal him to stop talking.
"If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't. I -" She bit her lip. "I've thought about this a lot..."
Okay, what?
"You've thought about whata lot, huh?"
She flushed. Fuck, she was so cute.
"Um... well... Soul, I've liked you for a while, and I just always wondered what it would be like."
"What what would be like?" He pressed, shit-eating grin stretched across his face.
"Sex. With you." She said bluntly, meeting his gaze.
The grin fell from his face as quickly as it had come. He hadn't expected her to answer so quickly, and he hadn't expected THAT to be her answer.
"You - You want to have sex?"
"I - I didn't mean -" She stammered, looking frightened at what she'd said.
"Maka. Words. Use them."
She groaned and hid her face in his neck, her crotch directly on top of his when their bodies met. Shit.
"I wanna have sex with you, too - so don't go gettin' all embarrassed. I just wanted to hear you say it."
"You're such an ass, Soul." Her voice came out muffled as she spoke against his skin.
"Shame you're stuck with me."
At that, he cupped her face and pulled her in for another kiss. When she'd relaxed against him, he slid one of his hands along her side and up her shirt. She jolted, the contact of his cold hand against her skin shocking her. She shifted her weight so that she'd adapted a position similar to the one Soul assumed earlier. Her hands were on either side of his head, and her tongue was in his mouth. Now, both of his hands were in her shirt, and slowly inching upward. She shivered.
"Soul," she breathed.
His name had never sounded that good. Deciding that he wanted to hear her say it more, he pushed her off of him and sat up, tugging her shirt upward with a question in his eyes. She turned her head away from him, but held her arms up so he could remove her shirt. He shucked it off of her, way too eager to be considered cool. Then, there they were. He'd thought about Maka's breasts waaaaaaaay too much, and despite teasing her about them, he wanted his hands all over them – wanted to lick and suck and reduce her to a writhing mess. They weren't large, but they swelled slightly over the cups of her modest, cream-colored bra. He was staring. He knew it. She knew it. They were both silent for a moment, and before Maka could spit out some self-conscious stutter, Soul reached behind her back and fumbled with the hooks. They weren't as difficult to free as he'd expected. It took a little bit of work, but he was rewarded greatly.
Maka squeaked, trying to shield her chest from him, but he grasped her wrists gently.
"Maka. I'm not going to do anything you don't want to do, but why are you hiding yourself?"
She looked away from him, arms still pressed against her small chest.
"I – I don't know, Soul! I've never done this before – I'm embarrassed."
He snorted.
"Maka. Neither one of us have done this before. I'm just as clueless as you are. Why are you embarrassed, anyways?"
She glared at him.
"Oh, I dunno, maybe because I'm constantly being ridiculed for the size of my chest by my idiot roommate?"
Fair point.
"You're right, I'm an idiot. You have nothing to be embarrassed about."
"Take off your pants." She ordered, not really listening to him.
"Wah?"
"If you take off your pants, the bra can stay off."
"I don't get your logic, but okaaaaaaaay."
He pulled away from her and slid his jeans down his legs, cursing himself for wearing them so tight. It took him more time than it should've to remove them, and once he'd peeled them off of his ankles, he suddenly felt just as self conscious as Maka. He looked up at her only to see her eyes trailing down to the risen fabric of his boxers. Okay, now he completely understood her.
"Quit starin', you perv!" He attempted, his voice shaking despite the jovial intentions.
Maka laughed.
"Oh, shy?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Fair is fair."
He reached forward, using her temporary moment of distraction to his advantage, and pried the bra completely away from her chest. Holy shit. She was so surprised, she didn't have time to cover herself again before his hands were all over her. His hands traveled directly to her breasts and he massaged them.
His touch was light, and Maka chalked this up to him having absolutely no idea of what to do and not wanting to hurt her at the same time. Despite his rough, 'I don't give one single fuck' appearance, he was always gentle with his partner when the situation called for it. This situation had never been one they had to deal with before, though. She didn't push him away, and he turned his attention from her breasts to her face. He did not meet her eyes, because her head lolled back and her eyes were tightly shut. He smirked. He pulled her under him again, gave her a shit-eating grin, and ducked to catch her right nipple in his mouth. The gasps that came from her mouth were better than anything his fantasies could come up with. He swirled his tongue around, gauging her reactions to see if what he was doing felt good. She seemed to like it, judging from the redness of her face and the way her knuckles turned white as she gripped the comforter.
Maka would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about his mouth a lot. While his thoughts were mostly preoccupied with her curves, or charming lack-there-of, she thought about his mouth. Mostly his tongue. She wouldn't have given it any thought at all had she not seen him practically make love to an ice cream cone about a year ago. Since then, she'd often fantasized about what that mouth would be like on her – on her lips, on her breasts, on her –
"Soul!"
He popped up, looking alarmed.
"What?"
"Be careful with your teeth!"
He flushed and grinned sheepishly.
"My bad."
"I'm really bad at this." Maka said, feeling her face split into an identical embarrassed grin.
"No, you're not. It's impossible for you to be bad at this. Besides, I can't think of anyone else I'd rather do it with."
"M-Me, too. Soul?"
"Hm?"
"Can I – Er, try something?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"You have me mostly naked and in a bed, there's not much I'm opposed to right now. Try whatever you want."
She swatted his arm lovingly and leaned in for a kiss. Their tongues clashed together, and it took every bit of his will to not melt on top of her. Just as he was taking her bottom lip between his teeth, he felt her small hand slip beneath the waistband of his boxers. His mouth fell slack against hers as he felt her fingers close around him. She gave an experimental stroke – much too soft for him to handle, and he shuddered almost violently.
"Oh my fucking Christ, fuck –" His words came out in a garbled, husky mess, and Maka felt a throb between her legs as she watched his face contort.
She delighted in the control she had over him. Usually he was so arrogant and so SOUL, but now she had him completely at her disposal, and from the look on his face, he wasn't complaining. She pumped him a few more times before he groaned.
"Fa-Faster. Harder. You don't have to be so gentle." He managed, his eyes opening to meet hers.
Before she could open her mouth to chide him on bossing her around, she shook the thought from her mind. He wanted rougher? She could do that. An uncharacteristic smirk painted her features and she took his advice. Her hand was aching, and it wasn't the ideal position to be jerking him off, but she didn't care. She stroked up and down, stopping at the tip to tease the head of his cock. He whimpered pitifully and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at him.
"M-Maka –" He warned. "I'm – fuck – I'm gonna –"
She sped up her hand, twisting it at the base, and she swore the look on his face would be forever burned into her mind.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck –" The filth spewing from his lips in any other circumstance would have caused Maka to swat his arm and chide him for his language, but it turned her on way more than she cared to admit. His voice was raspy and low, sending tremors through her and arousing her even further.
His hips were thrusting of their own accord, and a few moments later, he jerked against her, his come spilling out over her hand. Maka's face felt hot and she was panting along with him, even though she hadn't been on the receiving end. He slumped against the pillows, trying not to put his weight on her.
"So not cool." He mumbled, the sound barely audible.
"Excuse me?" Maka asked in a dangerous voice.
He pulled his head up so he could look at her.
"No, no – Not you. Me. I couldn't have lasted longer than two minutes."
"Oh." She smiled. "Sad because the 'cool guy' came way too early?"
"Oh my God, you did not just say 'came'."
He laughed, the sound pleasant as it rang in her ears.
"Soul, my hand was just on your dick, I hardly think you should be surprised by me saying 'came'." She pointed out.
"Oh my GOD, you did not just say 'dick'." He teased. "Fuck, your hand was just on my dick. That happened. That was a thing."
She rolled her eyes and pushed him off her. She spotted a box of tissues on his desk and yanked a few out to clean herself, then tossed the box in his direction. She plopped back on the bed, the fact that she and Soul had just done something she never expected to happen registering only then in her mind. She grinned goofily.
"What's that look for?" He asked, tossing the tissues in the waste bin next to his bed.
"Nothing. I'm … I'm just happy, I guess."
He grinned.
"You should make shitty grades more often."
"Soul!"
"Geez, kidding, Maka, kidding!"
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back so that his chest was firmly pressed against her back. He pressed hot kisses along her neck and she squeaked.
"Soul, what are you doing?"
"Hey, fair's fair. It's your turn."
And before she could protest, he somehow got her pinned underneath him and was pressing kisses down her chest to the waistband of her skirt. She didn't have to wonder about that tongue of his for very long.
Soul was never the best when it came to being sensitive to other people's feelings, but sometimes that wasn't what Maka needed. What Maka needed was a partner who could call her out, even when she didn't think she was wrong. Someone who could be there for her when she just needed someone.
That's what Soul was best at.