Maka walked into the small café to start her last afternoon shift for the week. Soul was already there, busy serving customers from the afternoon rush. She put her apron on and got to work making coffees and heating up pastries. She found plenty of small tasks to keep her busy in the breaks between customers to avoid conversation Soul. It's not that she hated him or anything he was just incredibly annoying and often insulting, picking on her constantly, often focusing on her rather flat chest. She knew he wasn't being malicious about it but it got on her nerves, so instead she would pretend to be too busy cleaning or doing inventory of sometime. They had been working together for about a month now and still had not had a conversation longer than a couple of minutes consisting of small talk. Unfortunately for Maka Souls shifts had been changed so they were on the same time slot almost every day of the week. There were currently no patrons inside their cosy little café and hadn't been for some time. It was quite late at night and Maka honestly wasn't even sure why the owners kept it open so late into the night but they insisted it was worth it so Maka and Soul had a lot of time together with not much to do. She checked her phone and texted her friend a couple of times but she hadn't answered yet. Tsubaki had probably gone to bed early tired from dealing with Black Star all day.

"Watcha doing"

She turned and Soul was smiling his large pointed teeth at her and looking at her with his strange red eyes.

"Nothing"

That was the truth. She had absolutely nothing to do and was honestly getting really bored. She should have bought one of her many books with her at least she would have something to do.

Soul was equally bored with no customers and nothing to entertain him he was getting antsy. He looked over at Maka leaning on the counter staring at the empty tables. He liked Maka, sure she was a bit frigid and cold towards him but there was something about the way she held herself that drew her to him. He went over to talk to her, he just wanted to find out a little bit about her. He decided to ask her about school a topic he figured Maka was interested in. he had seen her with a mountain of large textbooks on numerous occasions and often on nights like this she would get out one of the massive books and study until closing time. Maka had graduated from Death Academy only a year ago, which surprised Soul she was older than she looked, he had just assumed she was still in school. He himself had only finished school three years ago. The reason she was carrying around all those textbooks was she had enrolled into the police academy. Maka actually wasn't as cold as he originally thought she was, she was funny and surprising quick witted.

Soul could actually be a pretty nice guy Maka found out. At least for a while. Soul had assumed she was about 3 years younger than she actually was, he wasn't the first and probably wouldn't be the last. School had been pretty bad with all the teasing and bullying. She wasn't as developed or outgoing as the other girls and her love for books and passion for learning had made her a bit of an outcast among her peers. That was okay with her. She didn't need a lot of friends she was at school to learn, to get good grades. She had two close friends anyway. Black star was a short, bright blue haired and incredibly vain boy she had been friends with since childhood. He was loud and got on just about everybody's nerves at some point, including hers occasionally. It was a great mystery how they managed to stay such close friends. Her other friend was a tall and incredibly shy girl named Tsubaki. She had to be one of the nicest people Maka had ever met and the only person who had never snapped at Black Star. She looked out for both of them and had always been there for Maka in her darkest of times and understood when Maka needed to be alone. Tsubaki worked in a florist in the centre of death city. She was hoping to open one of her own one day.

The conversation had been going so well until Soul had to open his big mouth on comment on Maka's rather small chest. If only she had a book on her he would be lying on the floor with a book sized lump on his head. Instead she opted to glare at him and began the final clean up so they could go home. They finished locking up at 11 pm and it was pretty dark outside. Maka only lived a couple of blocks away from the café and she didn't own a car so she opted to walk home. She was capable of defending herself if anything were to happen, she knew she could take a fully grown man down. She was a deadly fighter and deceptively strong despite her small size. She got ready to walk home when Soul called out to her.

"You're not thinking of walking home are you? What are you crazy?"

She did not need his input. She was an adult she could walk the couple of blocks herself. So what if she was, it was none of his business she informed him. Soul was having none of it. He had no doubt Maka was probably capable of defending herself but he was still not about to let her walk home alone in the dark. It wasn't uncommon for young women to be taken off the streets to be murdered or forced into other illicit activities. He knew he had been a bit of an asshole earlier but he hoped Maka would at least forgive him enough to let him drive her home. He pleaded with her and eventually she gave in, it was the fastest way to get rid of him. He led her over to his motorbike.

"No way, not a chance! I am not getting on that metal death trap."

"It's not that bad really and look I've even got a second helmet. Come on Maka you'll be fine"

Maka reluctantly took the helmet from Soul and climbed on behind him. She uncomfortably placed her hand around Souls middle. Soul looked back at Maka, she had her eyes shut tight and her eyebrows furrowed. He pulled out of the gutter and Maka instantly tightened her arms around him he looked back at her and smirked before slowly building up speed. He followed her directions until he was yelled at to stop in front of a large apartment complex and Maka cautiously unfurled herself from around him. He found himself missing the contact and the feeling of body against his. He had to shake himself this was Maka is co-worker and girl he had previously thought was High Schooler.

"Night bookworm"

"Goodnight ass and thanks for the ride"