Disclaimer: This is going to be a shock to some of you, but I don't own Soul Eater or any of the characters within. It's true. It's fanfiction.
It was two o'clock in the morning. Two hours into Thanksgiving day. Maka heard the front door opening, and then some shuffling. Urgh, didn't Blair already come home about five hours ago? Maka rolled over to go back to sleep before her eyes shot open. Yes, Blair was already home, curled up at the foot of her bed.
This could be Soul more than six hours early...or it could be an intruder. Of course, she wanted it to be Soul. She missed him when he was gone. She knew flight times were switched around on occasion, but it was uncommon for anything to ever happen earlier. Her heart pounded as she slipped out of bed. She couldn't sleep now until she knew what that sound was; she felt more vulnerable without her weapon at her side. Blair cracked an eye open, watched for a moment, and chose to fall back asleep.
Maka narrowed her eyes at the cat and tiptoed forward, opening her bedroom door a crack. Thankfully, it didn't make a sound as it opened.
As the front door came into view, Maka felt a mixture of relief and sheer joy flood her veins. There stood Soul, adjusting the luggage he was trying to drag through the door. His white hair stood out distinctly in the darkness, and the streetlights lit him from behind.
"Soul! You're home early!" Maka said, grinning from ear to ear as she ran to the doorway. His head snapped up to look at her and his face also broke into a huge grin.
"You're awfully happy to see me," he smirked.
"You're normally not gone for that long." Then Maka had a chance to stop and think. She realized she really had been kind of overenthusiastic, so she added, "Hey! And you woke me up! What are you doing here at two o'clock in the morning?"
"They actually called and asked if I would accept an earlier flight this time," he said, slouching through the door. "I guess there was a big mix-up with the flights or something. The bad news is it got me here at 1 AM, but hey, I'm glad to be home."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Maka asked. "I would have been expecting you! Instead I thought you were a burglar or something." (She really meant that she would have been waiting with hot chocolate and a snack and a single lit lamp that might set up a cozy bonding experience as the two of them discussed life into the wee hours of the morning.)
"Ahah, well," Soul said nervously. "I figured I'd, uh. Surprise you."
"That's nice," Maka said uncertainly, "but...why?"
Soul shrugged. "I dunno. It seemed like a good idea at the time."
She frowned, but couldn't maintain the facade of anger and it turned into a smile. "Yeah, Soul. I have to admit it was."
He yawned; his pearly white, sharp teeth glinted in what little light the moon cast through the window. "I am really tired, though."
"You're not going to tell me how your visit went? Come on, I'm curious." Maka pouted.
"Make me a snack and I'll tell you."
"Jerk." She turned away as he plopped down on the couch, intending to make him think she would stomp off to bed. But instead she was making hot chocolate for two - cinnamon in his, peppermint in hers - and they stayed up another hour, chatting and bantering about anything that came to mind as Soul unwound from his visit with his family.
Maka considered telling him what she was thinking about...them. This would be a good moment; they were alone, relaxed, uninterrupted. Even her fantasies about the bonding moments were coming true. But as she looked at his deep, thoughtful, strangely compassionate red eyes and thought about how loyal and down-to-Earth he was and how even his bad habits were kind of charming, really, and how he had no idea how much she loved his piano playing, she lost her nerve.
Inwardly, Soul was thanking Wes for the idea. It had been fortuitous that the airline had asked Soul if he wouldn't mind flying out a few hours early; he had been about to call and tell Maka when Wes suggested that he keep it a surprise. Soul thought it sounded silly at first, but eventually bought in after a discussion about how much "women love surprises." In fact, he continued to think it sounded silly, but despite her grousing Maka seemed genuinely pleased by it.
At bedtime, he wondered whether he should have done something else. Like held her hand or hugged her when he walked in. Too late, though. He stood in his room staring at his door, wondering if he should just go knock on hers and tell her all his thoughts about how he actually liked her tiny tits and green eyes and thought she was funny when she was angry even if she gave him a concussion and admired how smart and hardworking she was even though he called her "bookworm" all the time and don't even get him started on how incredibly kind she could be, but...the moment had gone. He was once again reduced to shyness.
They got up after only a few hours of sleep to start cooking; it was their year to prepare the Thanksgiving meal. For the morning Soul and Maka struggled with cleaning the turkey, cooking the turkey, and tidying up the apartment; at noon guests started arriving. Tsubaki kindly offered to help cook, which Liz and Patty joined in on. Soon even Black Star was lending a hand, though Maka was a little worried about letting him anywhere near any mashed potatoes. Kid set the table. He had been doing a good job lately of keeping the OCD under control; the place settings were flawless, but he resisted the urge to take out a ruler and make sure everything was equidistant from the center.
Dinner went surprisingly well. Food only got on two of the walls, and nobody complained about anyone else's cooking. The friends talked about the usual absurdities, until the conversation wandered to things they were grateful for - at first, it was a silly, mocking conversation fueled mostly by Soul and Black Star. But then it got deeper. Tsubaki sweetly mentioned that she was thankful for her meister (he blushed) and that they had stayed safe so far in their dangerous line of work. Maka said she was glad her mother stayed in touch more lately. Liz gave a heartwarming explanation of why she was so grateful that Kid had come into her life; the shinigami looked humbled and gave Patty and Liz the softest, warmest look Maka had seen on him in a long, long time.
And yet perhaps the biggest surprise of the afternoon was that, given a little bit of direction, Black Star happened to be really good at making mashed potatoes.
Usually Maka was very disciplined about doing the dishes. They'd normally be done right after dinner. Not today, though. They had been worried about cooking all freaking day, and neither she nor Soul had any plans to do any dishes until tomorrow morning.
They did clean up and put the leftovers away, though. She noticed the wishbone, still on the plate after dinner.
Maka was never much of a wish-making person. But today - today she was in that silly, holiday-induced giddy mood that made her want to indulge such a ridiculous old tradition.
Anyway, she wanted to wish for a kiss from Soul.
"Soul! Let's break the wishbone!"
"Oh. Sure, whatever," Soul answered, turning to face her. "Don't you have to let it dry first, though?"
"Wait," Kid growled. The entire room turned to him, confused.
"Why would you do that? It's already symmetrical. If you break it, the odds are extremely low that it will actually break evenly, too! You'll be left with one half bigger than the other. Wait - I have an idea! How about you let me cut it in half. I can get all the measurements right," he continued, holding up a ruler from his pocket, "and that way you can both have an evenly-sized half."
"But that defeats the point because..." Maka started.
"Please," Kid said, eyes wide. "I haven't asked for you to indulge me this whole time but right now, please. Let me make it even."
"But the whole point is that one half of the wishbone comes off bigger," Soul said. "That's the entire reason you play the game. The person who gets the bigger part has their wish granted. Supposedly."
"Okay. Well, what if," Kid continued, looking extremely intense, "you think of it this way? Let me cut it in half and I'll give you both the halves as long as you promise not to ruin them and then maybe you'll both get your wishes."
"But it's just a tradition," Maka sighed in exasperation. "We don't actually believe it's a magic bone that makes wishes come true when you break it. We're just doing it for fun."
Poor Kid looked so desperate. "W...what if you don't break it at all?" he asked lamely. "Just leave it whole."
Soul frowned. He'd been wanting to wish for a kiss from Maka.
They put the wishbone aside for now and moved on to dessert. Or, to put it more accurately, the lack thereof.
"Seriously, guys?" Black Star demanded. "How do you have Thanksgiving without dessert?"
"Hey, in case you hadn't noticed, we've been pretty busy," Maka snapped. "I've had family stuff going on earlier this week and Soul's been away for five days."
"Oh. Whoa, chill," Black Star answered, raising his hands as though surrendering. Maka put her hands on her hips and lifted a single eyebrow. "No offense or anything," he added. "Um...sorry?"
"We've been working on his sensitivity," Tsubaki said helpfully, giving her meister a thumbs-up when he turned to look at her.
"I don't know, Tsubaki. You're a bit late. I'm not sure he can change at this point."
"Hey!" Black Star whined. "I don't need to change anything! I just need to...make a few adjustments in my conversational style, yeah."
Maka grinned and let out a puff of air in amusement. "Aha. Fine. Whatever. You're obviously trying. I'll go to Death-Mart and pick something up. I'm in the mood for a walk. How does pie sound to everyone?"
It was a mistake to ask any opinions. She should have just left. The group debated for fifteen minutes on a filling before finally choosing chocolate cream.
"Hey, come with me," she said to Soul.
"Maka." Soul glanced nervously at Black Star, Patty, and Kid. "We're going to leave them alone in the apartment?"
Tsubaki smiled and waved encouragingly from across the room as she met their eyes.
"It'll be fine," Maka answered. "I think Tsubaki and Liz can keep them under control as well as one of us could, honestly."
"Well, whatever," Soul said airily. "It's up to you - I just hope no one burns down the apartment. We can take the bike."
"How lazy are you, anyway? We can walk the four blocks," Maka said stubbornly, because there was something she wanted to say.
Soul and Maka got all the way down the stairs leading away from the apartment before anyone spoke again.
"Listen to me, Soul." Her voice started out shy, but gained strength with each word. "It is Thanksgiving. I know it's really uncool," she continued, using an unflattering imitation of his voice, "but I should say that I'm thankful for you. Thanks for being my weapon and everything." Maka smiled up at him, eyes all big and shiny in the streetlights, and took his hand. "You're the best weapon anyone could ever ask for."
"Oi, Maka. Where'd that come from?" he chuckled. "You never go all soft on me like that."
"Ah. I just heard people talking about the holiday, and it made me think. And then with you being gone for a few days..." she let the end of that sentence hang.
"Huh. Well, I guess...you're welcome?"
Maka hummed in response.
"Pfft. Why didn't you say that before?" he asked. "Everyone was listing all the corny shit they could think of to be thankful for back there after Black Star and I started joking around."
"I just felt like I should keep it between us," she said. Soul looked down at her.
She was blushing.
"Yeah, well. I'm thankful you're my meister and stuff," he mumbled as softly as he could manage while still hoping she would hear.
Maka beamed. Evidently this was what she'd been waiting for. "Aww, thank you, Soul." She grabbed him in a bone-crushing hug.
He pushed her away and grabbed both of her hands. At first she scowled, thinking he was being a jerk again. But he kept holding them and stared right into her eyes.
"I mean it," he said softly. He took a deep breath.
Maybe now would be a good time.
"S-Soul?"
"Maka. I'm really thankful for you as a person, too."
Her heart skipped a beat, because here he was staring into her eyes so close she could almost taste him. "Thanks?" she said in shock.
"Um, shit. I don't know how to do this," he continued while she cocked an eyebrow. "I just want you to know that I...admire things about you other than your skills as a meister."
Maka squeezed his hands. "Soul, I admire things about you other than your skills as a weapon," she said slowly.
"You're a bookworm, but then, that means you're smart," he continued, apparently determined to say these things. "I can't even think of how much trouble I'd be in at school if you weren't there to whip me into shape. And - and you don't know when to give up. Makes me not want to give up."
"Um. Thank you," she said, becoming a little breathless. Her brain wasn't really working properly. Should she return his compliments? Probably. "You're - you're very loyal. I love that about you."
Soul's eyes widened at the four-letter L word.
Maka blinked. "Soul, I'm not really sure what we're doing here..."
He sighed. "Am I going to lose your trust if I tell you something personal?"
"No!" Maka said emphatically. She loved it when Soul told her about his life. "I trust you more than anyone else."
"I'm not really sure I should. It might change things between us."
"If you say something like that, you're already changing things between us!"
"Okay. Fine. I...Maka, I really like you. Not," he added quickly, "just as a friend or a meister. More than that."
She remained still for a moment before smiling. Her expression filled Soul with relief, and she leaned into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. All good signs so far.
"Soul, I feel the same way. I just didn't know you'd ever go for me," she murmured. She felt him breathe, felt his heartbeat.
"What?!" He wrapped her in a warm embrace, too. "Maka, I...no! That's...of course I want you. How did you not know? I thought you wouldn't want me."
Maka snorted. "You're an idiot."
Soul pulled back briefly to look into her eyes. "If we go anywhere with this...we can go as slow as you want," he said. "I just want to be with you. We don't even have to put a label on it if you don't want to. I didn't know if you wanted to do this kind of thing..."
Maka's answer was to lean forward slowly and plant a chaste kiss on his lips. He returned it, keeping his lips firmly shut despite every cell in his body screaming at him to start making out with her.
She did that for him, though. Before he knew it, Maka was timidly running her tongue across his lips, and he let her in. He circled her tongue with his own, and worked his lips against hers in a way he hadn't known he knew how to do.
And then her hands were in his hair and he hadn't been prepared for how good it would feel. He wasn't a dog; how could he possibly know he liked head scratches?! He did the same, gently running his fingers through her silky, soft locks and trying to relish the feeling of kissing her at the same time he savored the texture of her hair against his fingertips while simultaneously feeling the strength of her frame in his arms. Even though he was taller, even though he thought he was the one holding her, he felt surrounded by her. Everything that was beautiful about Maka-the-nerdy-bookworm was overwhelming him.
Meanwhile, Maka had never been intoxicated on anything, but she was pretty sure Soul had that effect on her. She could feel him bolstering her own inner strength with his quiet faith in her; his steadfastness enveloped her. She tried to melt into his chest and managed to feel both of their hearts beating at once. She breathed him in, and for the first time in a long time, her guard was completely down. She felt the thrills running through her body as she remembered her younger self wondering whether this kind of love could really exist; now the question was answered. That answer was "yes" and it was right in front of her with white hair and a black jacket.
A few times, they took a break for air. He was intending to remind her they were on an errand, but he could not possibly resist going in for another kiss. And another. And another.
He remembered something he saw once. He hoped she would think it was cute. And he decided to try it. He took her lower lip between his teeth - as gently as he possibly could - and tugged at it playfully. She smiled and held still for him, then leaned in and kissed him some more. She pulled on his lip, too.
What a quick learner.
They kept this up for quite some time, eventually leaning against the side of a building to continue their passionate rendezvous. Soul had to focus to keep his hands above the waist, but he managed, holding her as close as he could, reveling in the smell of her hair and clothes and skin and her whole being. She felt him all over, too, rubbing his back in circles and moving back up to his hair before returning to his back and repeating everything all over again. Both felt tempted to go further; both kept their passion relatively chaste.
As chaste as a moment like this could be, anyway.
"Wait a minute," Maka said after quite a long time, sounding suddenly terrified.
"Oh no - what's wrong?" Soul asked, pulling away and glancing around anxiously.
"Soul, I forgot we still need to get the pie."
The scythe let out a bark of laughter. "I didn't forget. I just didn't really care." He let go and she missed him terribly.
"Argh! Now everyone's gonna ask where we've been!" She tore at her own hair.
Soul shrugged. "Oh well. We'll just tell them we went for a walk and lost track of time."
"I don't think they're gonna stop asking us where we've been with that answer..."
He watched her uncertainly for a moment. "Do you not want to tell them?"
"I don't know how to do it without getting picked on," Maka admitted. "I do want to tell them. But I don't really want to tell a room full of people all at once."
"Then we'll tell them that because it's Thanksgiving there was a really long line for pie."
When Maka and Soul finally returned to the apartment, they were pleasantly surprised to discover that their friends had already done the dishes. The potatoes and yams had even been cleaned off of the walls, and everyone was patiently waiting in front of the television.
And when everyone asked, they told their friends there was a really long line for pie.
Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, Kid, and Black Star looked highly skeptical, but merely glanced at each other knowingly without further comment.
Maka and Soul remembered the wishbone the next day. They'd had their wishes fulfilled without breaking it, though.
Dedicated to LadyTora because she came up with the wishbone idea. I modified it a bit. Also, stupidest ASEiaPT shout-out ever in Soul's cinnamon hot chocolate.