A/N: Yada, yada, I do not own Soul Eater. All characters are property of Atsushi Okubo

Soul lazily traced his finger across the wooden desk in front of him, completely zoning out from anything Stein was saying...as usual. He fails to notice when Stein directs a question at him, fails to notice everyone staring at him, including his meister, and only looks up when Stein walks up next to him, loudly clearing his throat.

"You know, Soul, just because you're a Death Scythe now doesn't mean you can slack off. Quite the opposite, in fact. Now pay attention before I make you stay for extra lessons."

Soul had finally looked up, his face blanching at the thought of extra lessons, hell, extra time with Stein and he immediately sat up, muttering an apology. He stole a glance over to Maka, who rolled her eyes in annoyance and Stein smirked.

"Good, now, if we can continue..." he began, walking back down the steps and turning around when he got to the bottom.

Soul sighed, staring daggers at the clock, willing it to move faster than how painstakingly slow it was at present. He slumped a bit, not paying attention much to the chuckling Black*Star beside him, not really interested in what the idiot was doing now. The clock ticked by slowly until finally, the bell for the end of the day clanged. He bolted out of his seat, practically flying as he ran down the stairs towards the door. He actually beat Black*Star out of the classroom...and NO ONE ever gets out of class faster than Black*Star. His friends blink in surprise when he doesn't stop outside the door to wait, Tsubaki staring after him, still running.

"Is something wrong with Soul?" She asked, glancing at Maka confused. "He sure left awfully fast."

Maka looked up at Tsubaki, an unreadable expression on her face. "I'm not sure. He's been acting a bit odd ever since he became a Death Scythe. He won't talk about it, either, no matter how much prying I do. He just gets mad and huffs off to his room when I prod him too much."

Tsubaki nods, not sure what to make of the odd behavior. "Well, I suppose you can leave it be for now. Chances are he'll talk about it when he's ready."

Maka nods. She knows Tsubaki is right, but Soul has been a Death Scythe for a few weeks now and his sudden shift in attitude has started to affect their training. They had to endure more of it since he became a Death Scythe and Soul's weird attitude is making it hard for her to concentrate. She walks out of the school with her friends, bidding them goodbye as she walks towards her apartment she shares with Soul. She got about five minutes into the fifteen minute walk when she had made up her mind. She was going to confront Soul again about his odd behaviour and she would not back down this time, no matter how bad the argument got. She would not let him retreat. He was going to tell her what was wrong, whether he liked it or not.

Soul parks his motorcycle, getting off and dashing for his and Maka's apartment. 'Maybe I should just get back on the bike and drive somewhere. Maka will be home soon and I don't want to deal with this shit today. Not today.' He stood there for a good while, debating back and forth if he should stay or go, eventually deciding on going inside when his stomach rumbled. He quickly grabbed the first thing he saw in the kitchen, a slice of left over pizza from last night, and ate it in record time. Darting to his room, he slammed the door shut, happy to be in a place free of Maka. "Shit. I don't know how much longer I can take this. Before the extra training, it was hard enough but now, the flying lessons, the extra training...it's too much. She's just so dense sometimes, honestly." He flopped down on the bed, kicking his shoes off. They fall to the floor with a muted thump just in time for him to hear the front door open. Maka was home, the object of his...his what? Did he really even know? Sighing, he gets off the bed, tripping over one of his shoes slightly on the way to the door. He was reaching out to lock it when it opened, revealing Maka on the otherside. He nearly falls face first onto her boots, stopping himself just in time before smacking against them.

"Maka, what the hell? Don't you ever knock first?"

Maka, the same unreadable expression she wore earlier, knocks her knuckles against his door frame, raising an eyebrow. "Better?"

Soul sighs, noting the snarkiness of her tone. No doubt she was just as sick of this dance as he was. He releases the door knob and walks back into his room, sitting on his bed. Maka, of course, follows him in, closing the door lightly. He sits there, not sure what to say, or even where to start, the silence growing in akwardness and length simultaneously. When he still doesn't say anything, Maka breaks the silence.

"What is it, Soul? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Maka. We've been over this."

"You can say nothing's wrong all you want, Soul, but there obviously is something wrong. You know it, I know it, all our friends know it."

Soul doesn't respond. He sits there, seemingly staring at nothing. Maka sighs, sitting down cautiously at the very edge of the bed, giving him enough room.

"And besides, we can't resonate like we used to either, Soul."

"Maka...I.."

Maka waited for him to complete his sentence, a look of frustration crossing her features when he didn't continue. "You what, Soul? Do you not want to be partners anymore? Am I...not good enough?" Her tone became worried and he quickly jolted in surprise, turning towards her.

"No! No, that's not it at all, Maka."

"It's ok, Soul. I've seen all those notes if you'd rather partner with one of those girls..."

"No, dammit. I said that's not it. I don't give a shit about those other girls, Maka. They didn't make me a Death Scythe. They didn't work their ass off, helping me become one. Why the hell would I want to leave you for one of them? What did I say all those years ago, hmm? I said I wasn't one of those guys, and I'm not, Maka. You're my meister, nothing is going to change that, got it?"

Maka nodded, confidence returning after hearing those words. She was happy to hear that he still wanted to be her partner but if it wasn't that, then she wasn't sure what it was. She waited a few seconds, then started. "But if it's not that, then what is it?"

"It's...all the extra training, all the extra time I have to spend training with you, the flying the.." He was cut off by Maka, cheeks flushed, and a mixture of anger and hurt on her face.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize spending extra time with me was so taxing, Soul!"

"No, Maka that's not...shit."

"Then what the hell is it, Soul?"

"...it's just that, well, I..."

Maka crossed her arms, waiting for him to finish explaining. She was still angry, but the anger faded when she noticed Soul moving closer to her. "S-soul?"

"Fuck, Maka, you're so dense." He started, an uncontrolled blush crossing his face, making the whole thing even worse. "I..the extra training is just making it harder to hide how I feel." He blurted out the last part fast, feeling akward and blushing even redder. "Fuck I'm so uncool." He mutters, turning away from Maka.

Maka unfolded her arms as he spoke, slightly annoyed at being called dense but she was too focused on what he said afterwards to Maka Chop him. "H-how you f-feel?" Soul didn't look at her, but he nodded ever so slightly. She blushed slightly herself, mustering up the courage to say what she's wanted to say for a while. "Soul, are you..saying...do you...like me?"

Soul turned and gave her a 'no shit, Sherlock' look. "Of course, idiot. I wouldn't be partners with you if I didn't."

"No, Soul, I mean...do you...like me as more than...well, more than your meister?" Maka blushed bright red, hanging her head in her lap and glancing down, not looking at Soul. Soul was equally as bright red, though he was trying to fight it off.

'Fuck, stop blushing. I'm a cool guy and cool guys deal with this shit all the time..and...who the hell am I kidding? Shit I better say something before she starts to worry.' He mustered up all the courage he had left, shook off his nervousness and smirked his usual smirk. "Heh, yea." 'Really? That's all you can manage? Man you are SO uncool.'

Maka glanced up at him, relaxing when she saw the familiar smirk of his. "Soul, I..I don't know what to say. I..I mean, well...I...I've liked you for a long time now, Soul. I think I just started realizing how much when you started getting all those letters from those other girls. I realized I was jealous, that I didn't want you leaving me. That I NEEDED you near me."

Soul chuckled, pulling her close to him. "You just realized it then, huh?"

"Y-yea. Why? When did you...?"

"The day you got it in your head to protect me from Crona. Why the hell do you think I jumped in front of you like that, you idiot?"

Maka blushed. "But you always made fun of me."

"Yea, I know. That's just how I am, Maka. I love teasing you." He chuckles lightly, pulling her even closer, his cheek touching hers, his mouth right to her ear. "Besides, I know for a fact your tits aren't THAT tiny." He releases her, flinging his hands over his head in defense of the inevitable Maka Chop.

"Soul, how did you?"

He pokes his head out from under his arms. "You really should close the door all the way when changing after a shower, Maka. Still, I didn't know wrapping them like that could do that good of a job pressing them down." He ducks his head back under just in time before Maka swung down with her trusted book.

"You idiot!"

A/N: Ugh my first time back in a looong time, and my first Soul Eater fic. I love Soul and Maka and tried very hard to stay loyal to their character. I tried very hard to keep them in character and do hope I succeeded.