SoMa "Chem Lab"
Walking into class, Maka couldn't help being excited. Although being a Meiser was a huge part of her life, she couldn't deny her love of science, despite her teacher. Stein wasn't exactly the model for "scientific", but they were doing a lab today. He couldn't possibly find something to try and kill and dissect.
However, that excitement quickly deflated when she saw the board. Your lab partner is your Mieser. Great. That meant she would be working with Soul. While her best friend was a great person, he wasn't academic in the slightest, and she just knew he'd destroy the lab.
"You'd better not mess this up, Soul!" She grumbled as she sat down next to her lounging weapon partner. He shot her that infuriating (but secretly cute) smirk. She just sighed. What would happen, would happen. There wasn't really anything she could do to temper Soul more than she already did, short of forcing him to not participate, and she wasn't strong enough to force Soul to do anything.
As they began, Maka was constantly nervous. And sure enough, not 5 minutes into the lab, Soul had managed to somehow create a chemical explosion. How he'd done that with non-reactive chemicals, Maka would never know, but he'd done it, and now they were all standing in the hallway, waiting for Stein to declare the "all-clear", which, from experience with Soul's fuck ups, wouldn't come for the rest of the period. Goodbye, lab.
"Way to go, Soul! Now we can't do the lab!" Maka yelled at her partner, who just smirked again.
"Why's it such a big deal? Chill, Maka." He said, attempting to pacify his irate meiser. Suddenly an evil look came over her face, and Soul began to sweat.
"MakaChop!" She screamed, bringing a book down on his skull. He collapsed, holding his head and groaning.
"Geez, Maka! Why's it matter so much to you, anyways?" Maka sighed.
"You know I love science, and with Stein as our teacher, we don't get many days to do actual science, instead of trying to keep him from dissecting an endangered animal! I was really excited for this." She sighed. Soul sat up, feeling guilty.
"I'm sorry I messed it up. Let me make it up to you; I know you wanted to try that new ramen place down the street. Let's go after class." Soul offered. Maka brightened a little.
"Really?" She asked, helping him to stand up. He smiled.
"Yeah. Cool guys fix their mistakes." Maka smiled brightly, and Soul grinned back at her.
"Ok, I think this is the best ramen I've ever tasted." Maka beamed at Soul, sending a ripple through him that he had long since learned how to ignore. He wasn't going to push Maka into something she wasn't ready for or didn't want. He understood her issues with trust, and he just wanted to be there for the girl-no, woman, he cared for.
"Soul? Sooooouuuull?" Soul snapped back to attention to find Maka's hand waving in front of his face.
"Yeah, sorry. It is pretty good, although kishin eggs taste better." She stuck her tongue out, laughing. He smiled again with his "signature" grin and noticed her cheeks color. He couldn't help but notice how similar this was to a date. A strange look came over Maka's face, causing Soul to frown.
"Soul?" She asked before he could say anything. There was a strange note to her voice that he couldn't decipher.
"Yeah?" He asked. He was unsure of what was about to happen, and that made him nervous. He'd joked nearly endlessly about how he'd never go for Maka, but that wasn't really ever true.
"...Never mind." Soul was confused, but he let it go. If she didn't want to say what was on her mind, he wasn't going to force her.
"Soul, am I anything more than a friend to you?" Maka asked suddenly, hiding her face behind her hair.
"Well, you're my meiser, too. But…" Soul hesitated. If he was reading her correctly, now was the perfect time to confess his feelings, but he didn't want to take that risk and ruin their friendship.
Soul knew he loved Maka, but he wasn't going to risk losing her.
Maka sighed. Sitting across the table from Soul, laughing and eating, felt so much like a date it hurt. But he was a "cool" guy. She rolled her eyes just thinking about it, but to a certain degree, it was true. He'd said it repeatedly, hadn't he? He'd never go for a girl like her.
Taking a risk, she took a deep breath and spoke. "Soul?" She asked.
"Yeah?" He responded, his voice unusually serious. It made Maka's heart speed up, and she forced herself to be calm as she uttered her next words.
"Soul, am I anything more than a friend to you?" She ducked behind her hair, heart beating wildly, every ounce of her tuned to the answer.
"Well, you're my meiser, too. But…" Maka was crushed. She stopped listening after hearing the word "meiser". Of course that was the only way he saw her. She was too normal, too uptight, too flat, too everything for him. And if she told him how she felt, he'd run the other way. She almost laughed out loud. Of course the only man she trusted, and in turn loved, wouldn't have any feelings for her.
Maka knew she loved Soul, but she wasn't going to risk losing him.
Waaaahhhhh! I wanted them to kiss, but let's be real; neither of them would confess to the other. *cries*
-Maka
