Just a Lick, or Two

"Switch with me," Maka more or less demanded. The park bench was hot on her bare legs, her plaid skirt not long enough to completely shield the insides of her thighs from the scorching plastic. She could see waves of heat radiating off the ground distorting images of couples sitting in the much desired shade across from them. Her untouched double scooped strawberry ice cream had already been compromised by the heat, the cherry sliding down one side. Soul gave her a sideways glance, his signature I-don't-feel-like-putting-up-with-your-bullshit-right-now look.

"Come on, you know I don't like strawberry," she added with a pout as she gazed longingly at his chocolate cone.

"Then why did you get it?" he asked sourly. He was still in a bad mood over their date she noticed. Maka batted her eyelashes and stuck out her lip like a child in mock beg, but he ignored her. She huffed and turned away, but tolerated the twinge of annoyance in his voice.

Maybe she wasn't being completely fair to Soul, she admitted inwardly. She had promised him a date and hardly delivered. It turns out an all day trip to the library storerooms was not what Soul had in mind, even if they were alone for most of the time. Frankly, she thought it was a wonderful way to spend a day, with the two things she held most dear in the world, Soul and books, though not necessarily in that order, Maka thought and almost snickered.

She turned back and tried again after a tentative lick of her own cone, scrunching her face in distaste. She sighed heavily and watched Soul's tongue circle around the top scoop. He worked it bottom to top, turning the cone in his left hand to keep it from dripping in the sweltering heat. He stopped and glared at her watchful eyes, and let out a defeated sigh. Though he may be an idiot some times, okay most times, he was good to her.

"Fine, take it," he said moodily and took her cone, "I'm not a fan of strawberry either, why'd you even get it?" Happy at last, Maka took a moment to swirl her tongue around the rapidly melting chocolate as Soul watched her somewhat attentively, just a hint of a smile on his lips.

"I asked for smores but that guy must be hearing impared or something," she paused to take another lick, well aware of Soul's constant gaze, "and by time I noticed, the line moved up." He nodded to show he heard her, "it was too hot to wait in that line again."

Despite not liking strawberry, Soul demolished the ice cream pretty quick. She threw gazes in his direction in between licks, watching his eyes searching the crowds that had gathered around the square. He was exceptionally handsome, Maka noted as a group of girls threw looks in their direction and giggled. She wondered what those girls liked, the curve of his nose, strong arms, dark eyes, fair hair- it made her wonder why he put up with her. Slightly guilty, Maka quickly leaned in and kissed his cheek after she made sure no one was looking, earning herself a toothed lopsided grin.

"You've got some," Soul said as he pointed to the side of his mouth. But before she could wipe off the spot of chocolate Soul leaned in and licked it off, kissing her in the process. Caught off guard, Maka just stared at him, a creeping blush warming her already sunburnt cheeks. The group of girls on the fringe of the square whispered quickly, eyebrows raised. Soul hadn't waited for them to turn away, giving them a pointed look afterwards as he placed an arm around her shoulders.

"Sweet," he remarked nonchalantly before stooping over her lap and taking a lick of the chocolate ice cream. She wasn't sure if anyone noticed this but Maka wasn't about to let strangers watch his little charade.

"Come on, we're going," she said in feigned annoyance, grabbing his hand and leading him away to a quieter place so to escape embarrassment. She held him by the wrist and led him along, hoping he was far enough behind that he wouldn't notice her persistent blush.

"Getting a bit feisty there," he murmured with his signature stupid grin as she led him away somewhere devoid of people. It was a nice place not too many knew about, complete with a little pond and a bench and shadowed by maples.

"Stop acting like an idiot," Maka said as she finished off her cone in two bites, licking stray chocolate off her fingers. Soul watched with an amused glimmer in his eyes.

"You know that's hard to do even with your daily reminders," he responded with dramatic false hurt, "I guess I just must have been born an idiot, too stupid to even realize the true extent of my imbecilic ways-"

"Oh, shut up already," she said before grabbing his collar with her now free hands and kissing him roughly under the speckled light coming through the tree leaves. She could feel the smile playing on his lips as real as the hands gently resting on her lower back. It was warm and sweet; she could taste the strawberry on his tongue. The blush crept back on her cheeks, and if one looked past the shadow of his hair, they would see twin splotches on Soul's as well.

After a few seconds of eternity they pulled away somewhat reluctantly, a satisfied and prideful smile on Maka's face and a dumb content grin on Soul's.

"Well, I guess the day wasn't completely wasted," he half snickered at Maka's joined eyebrows, but before she could vocalize her disapproval, he added, "it never is when I spend it with you." She rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep the smile off her lips.

"Nice save," she whispered as she slipped her hand into his and lead him to the road to their apartment. He exhaled a laugh as her squeezed her fingers and winked, so quickly she nearly thought she had imagined it.

It just seems that I just have less and less time to write nowadays! I figured a collection mini storied would be the best way to go with my weird schedule. I'll try to update this semi-regularly and I might work on something bigger later on. This being a collection of short SoulXMaka stories, I'll be accepting requests for scenes you may have always wanted to read about the two. PM me for requests! Thanks for reading! J