"Find your true love today!"
"In just minutes, our team of relationship experts will find your perfect match!"
"Your soul mate is just a click away!"
"Tch." Maka Albarn grunted as she slammed the lid of her laptop closed, a disgusted grimace imprinted upon her features. "Find your 'true love'. What a load." She grumbled bitterly to herself. "Love like that only exists in overly embellished fairy tales and romance novels."
"What?"
Glancing over to the sofa, Maka found that her weapon partner had finally awoken. Soul Eater shot her a questioning glance and rubbed at his eyes, trying to expel the foggy remnants of sleep that dulled their ruby hues.
"It's about time you woke up." She stated as the sleepy-eyed youth slowly pushed himself up and stretched his bones like a slothful feline. "How are we supposed to get any work done if you're sleeping all the time, Lazy Bones?" The meister questioned, a hint of good-natured jest peppering her tone.
Shooting her an irked glance, the weapon reclined onto the cushions and countered, "I wouldn't have to sleep all the time if you didn't keep me up 'til ungodly hours training for this stupid test that you know we're gonna pass!"
Maka's face instantly heated up and her voice rose to a defensive squeak.
"But we have to!" She cried indignantly. "You and I both know that our technique is nowhere near perfect yet, and we're going to have to be perfect if we want to beat Ox and Harvar!"
"Why do you care about beating Ox and being the top student so much?" Soul tossed back, trying to push down his rising aggravation. "There's nothing wrong with being in second, especially if you give it your best without nearly killing yourself in the process!"
"Augh, you're worthless!" Maka suddenly erupted, jumping up from her seat and nearly dropping the computer to the floor in the process. "You'll just never understand it will you? There is something wrong with being second: you're not the best if you're second. And what's wrong with wanting to be the best?!" She rapidly implored as he cracked his lips to retort. Turning sharply from him, she grabbed the messenger bag hanging from the back of her kitchen chair and stormed out the front door, not bothering to look back as he called after her.
"Leave me alone, Soul. I'll be back in plenty of time to make dinner."She ground out, ignoring the questioning look of a neighbor as she stormed down the stairs.
Sighing and sinking deeper into the cushions, Soul watched her disappear around the corner at the end of their hall, weakly assuring himself that she'd be back soon.
Once she cleared the threshold of their apartment building, Maka took a sharp left and headed straight for the only place that could calm her overactive emotions: the Crescent Moon Book Store. Thankfully for the disgruntled teen, the Grimm 's storybook-themed establishment was less than a block away. Turning the delightfully rustic doorknob, Maka breathed in the refreshing scent of new books and freshly brewed coffee as she stepped inside her sanctuary.
Four new purchases and a fresh espresso later, Maka found that the tension knotted within her belly had melted away, but now she felt guilty as she realized how explosive she had been toward Soul. She hadn't meant to blow up on him like that, but his apathetic attitude toward their training had unnerved her. That and those ridiculous online advertisements... She blinked and shook her head as she found herself gazing at the cover of a romance novel. Love like that didn't, and wouldn't, exist, she had often told herself. "Prince Charmings" and "happily ever afters" only exist in the minds of naive, over imaginative day dreamers. She gasped when she discovered that tears had welled in her eyes, and she rubbed at them viciously until she found that the chair in front of her was being pulled back by a familiar pale hand.
"Hello, Maka." Kid's courteous tone greeted. "Mind if I join you?" He asked, a hint of hesitation lacing his words when he noted her swollen eyes.
"O-of course you can!" Maka sputtered, forcing a friendly smile as the Shinigami perched across from her. A moment of silence passed before Kid worked up the courage to speak.
"How are you?" He asked gently, trying to meet her eyes. "Are things...alright with you and Soul?" Maka searched her mind, scouring its walls for some kind of lie, but it was all in vain. She couldn't deceive Kid; he could read her soul, for crying out loud!
"No." She replied earnestly. "We um...kind of had a little fight earlier."
"Oh my. I'm very sorry to hear that." Kid's eyes turned down a bit at the corners. "What, might I ask, caused this disagreement?"
Sighing, Maka folded her arms and confessed, "It really wasn't Soul's fault. I...I blew up on him. I don't know why I did it. I just got so mad at him all of a sudden... I couldn't control myself." Thinking for a minute, she continued, a slight rosy tint rising to her cheeks, "I...I was going through my emails, trying to erase some of the garbage in my inbox. A lot of them were stupid ads for dating sites, encouraging me to 'find my perfect match,' and they just..." She bit her lip. "They made me so mad!" She finally exclaimed. "It's so unbelievably stupid! 'Find the love of your life,' 'meet your soul mate,' 'your perfect match is waiting for you.' It's all just a load of bull!" She declared a bit louder than she'd intended. "There's no such thing as a 'knight in shining armor,' or 'Prince Charming' or true love, or...or..." She gasped lightly. "Or happily ever after." A choked sob stumbled past her lips as these bitter musings spilled out of her. Kid's thin fingers wrapped around hers, squeezing them lightly as a knowing glint flickered across his golden eyes.
"I'm so sorry about your parents." He muttered, ripping his eyes from her now that his secret knowledge of her past was laid bare before them. When he finally decided to meet her gaze once more, Kid noted with alarm that a fresh stream of tears was threatening to spill down Maka's cheeks, and he quickly assured her, "But not all of what you said has to be true. Perhaps actual knights in armor are not a common occurrence these days, but love and happy endings can be real if you make them so." Kid smiled kindly into her glistening jade eyes.
Sniffling, Maka sighed and choked out, "E-ever since my mom left, and my parents' marriage fell apart, I just... I can't believe that real, honest love exists."
"But..."Kid started, pausing to consider his words.
"But what?"
"But what about you and Soul?" The youth implored softly.
Maka's eyes widened; she was completely taken aback at such a suggestion. She and Soul... She shook her head. No. That wasn't even an option. There was no way she'd risk their friendship and partnership over something so temperamental.
"I can't, Kid." She murmured. "I promised myself I'd never risk a friendship, relationship, partnership... Anything over something as ridiculous as love."
Sighing a bit dejectedly, Kid muttered, "Prince Charmings and knights in shining armor may not exist by name, but..."
"What?" Maka demanded as the door to the shop flew open, revealing a panting and obviously distressed Soul. His eyes roved the inside of the book store, widening when they finally settled on Maka.
"Thank Death you're okay." He breathed as he approached the seated pair. "When you didn't come back after a little while I really thought..." He trailed off, realizing how ridiculous his paranoid scenario sounded.
Rising slowly, Maka suddenly threw her arms around him, smiling into his shoulder as she murmured, "Thanks for coming for me." Soul merely gaped for a minute, throwing Kid a questioning glance before he wrapped his arms around his meister.
"Of course I came for you, stupid." He grumbled. "Don't I always?"
"Yeah..." Maka responded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you do. You really are my knight..."
"What?" Soul cut into her oral musings, a wicked grin crossing his lips. "I'm your knight now, huh?" He chuckled tauntingly. Without warning, Soul bent over and scooped Maka into his arms, laughing raucously as the irate girl flailed in his grip.
"Soul!" Maka squealed. "Put me down you-" Suddenly, even amid her weapon's boisterous guffaws, and under the disapproving stares of the other customers, the meister was driven to silence, the shadow of a smile playing on her lips. She allowed herself to relax in his arms, snuggling into his chest as his outbursts faded into beet red cheeks.
"Take me home, Prince Charming." Maka teased, throwing a sly wink in Kid's direction.
"Prince Charming, huh?" The albino snickered. "Alright, then. See ya, Kid." Soul shrugged, allowing that toothy grin to spread across his cheeks once more. "Apparently I have a princess to take care of."
Chuckling with his friend, Kid beamed and agreed, "You do indeed, Soul."
"Bye, Kid!" Maka called over Soul's shoulder, immediately settling into Soul's arms as he carried her away.
"Thank you for helping me find my one exception; my Prince Charming and knight in shining armor." She mused to herself as Soul proudly paraded his meister out of the little shop and back to their apartment.