"... That's cool..." A SoulXMaka fan fic

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Soul Eater, smiley underwear, or the fly swatter.

((Oh dear, XD... I can't believe how intense this got... O_O'''' I just started writing and... It all just poured out... It took me about a day and a half to finish it... *shrugs* It is what it is... Please comment and any criticism is appreciated! Enjoy~ XP))

"........" Soul watched a fly buzz around the living room from his corner spot on the couch. It swirled around in annoying circles just out of his reach and he'd be damned if he was gonna get up and swat the stupid pest when he just woke up. The clocked ticked and chimed a little diddy to signal it was seven o'clock in the morning. The chuckling sun was just starting to peep into the window that led to the street below the comfy apartment he and Maka shared. It was summer. School was closed for a while and he was free to sleep in as late as he wanted... Or at least that's what he thought.

This morning was the first day of the long awaited summer vacation and Soul planned on sleeping through a great deal of it. Waking up to get ready at 5:30 (to do his hair coolly XD) to go to school at 7:00... wasn't cool. Waking up to a scantly clothed magical cat-girl every morning asking to be played with... wasn't cool. Getting knocked in the head with a frying pan by your pissed off partner because of said cat-girl every morning... really wasn't cool. And painful. Sleeping in until you woke up at 2:00 in the afternoon and relaxing without a care in the world for the rest of the day... now THAT was cool. That was pretty much the plan for this blissful day.

But, of course, something had to go wrong. It would've been okay if it was the smell of food that woke him up. Or the small noises Maka makes when she is getting ready to go out in the morning. Or even the flushing of a toilet. He could've just woken up, rolled over, and fallen back asleep. Alas, it was none of these minor disturbances that he could easily deal with. No. The real issue.... was the heat. The unbearable, sweat inducing heat.

See, Soul never noticed the heat. He was always out of the house before at least 8:00 everyday they had school and, out of habit, on the weekends, too. Since he didn't have to wake up, he didn't turn on his alarm and since it was a little chilly by the time he went to sleep, he had closed his window and pulled up his blankets. These.... were terrible mistakes. Apparently, closing ones window keeps all the stale, stuffy air locked inside the room. And what does that air do without circulation? Why, it grows hotter. Not to mention the heavy blankets adding to the growing heat. Soul had woken up that morning in a sauna.

Sweat pouring from every inch of his body, covered or no, he had stumbled exhaustedly into the equally sweltering living room and opened the windows, which hardly made it any better. Maka had shut all the windows the night before, being a little paranoid about burglars, such as Black*Star coming to raid the always well-stocked fridge...

Soul sighed as the fly filtered around the room, the buzzing seeming to grow louder the longer Soul sat there. Finally, Soul stood up and started waving his hands to try and get rid of the fly. "Shoo~! Shoo~!" he shooed. "Get outta here, you stupid fly..." The bold fly avoided his flailing hands and charged at Soul. The fly daintily landed smack dab in the middle of his nose. Soul froze. Going cross-eyed to stare at the little insect, he slowly raised his right hand and with speed to rival a cheetah, brought it down on his face.

This was, obviously, a bad move. With a very loud, and not to mention uncool, "YELP!", Soul covered his now stinging face with both his hands. While rubbing the sore spot that was his nose, he saw the fly float away, as if taunting him. "Ohh... You're gonna get it now, bastard..." Soul growled as he crouched down. No one got to make Soul look uncool unless it was himself, Maka, or someone he allowed to make him look uncool. In a quick motion, he pounced over the coffee table situated in front of him and soared through the air. The fly lazily moved out of the path of his aerial assault. Soul landed halfway on the chair across the other side of the room, his face buried in the seat. Slowly standing, he glanced about the room, scanning every surface for that damned fly.

He heard a click come from behind him and whipped around to see Maka standing in her open doorway, still in her pajama shorts and an extra large T-shirt that read 'I love Papa~!' that she had gotten as a present. ((Guess who from... -_-)) "What's going on, Soul...?" she asked tiredly, rubbing her eye.

"Maka! Quickly, close your door!" Soul commanded. She looked confused but did as she was told, shutting the door behind her and walking over to Soul. "Soul, what's going on?" she asked again with a little more conviction.

"We're under attack." he explained, point blank.

"What?!" Maka shouted, taking a fighting pose next to Soul and looking around. "Here? Why? From who?"

"From the demon fly from hell..." Soul stated, eying the room carefully again. "Don't let him catch you off guard, Maka. He's a tricky little-- HEY!" When Soul had turned to look at Maka, he found her in the kitchen that was connected to the living room. "Were you even listening to me?! We have a major problem here!"

"Soul. You said it's a fly. That's not a major problem. That's not even a tiny problem." Maka said in a monotone voice.

"It is SO a problem! He-- THERE HE IS!!" Soul nearly screamed. He pointed to the kitchen table and started to make his way over to the fly. Before he could reach the table, Maka had reached next to the trash can and grabbed a bright red tool. With a flick of her wrist and a "whoosh" of the red object, it landed on the fly, making a slapping noise on the table. Soul stopped and watched Maka remove the red thing from the table and stick it back next to the trash can. "There. No more fly." she said, nodding her head toward the smooshed remains of the devil fly and turning to get some bottled water from the fridge.

Maka came back over to the table, quickly wiped up the dead fly with a napkin and dumped it in the trash. "What'd you hit it with?" Soul asked confused.

Maka stopped on her way back to her room. "A fly-swatter. What else?" she answered sarcastically.

"A fly-swatter? They make things like that? Damn! I coulda used that instead of trying to catch it with my hands!" Soul said, smacking himself in the forehead, earning a shot of pain to return from his previous smack.

Maka looked blankly at him. "Are you alright? You seem more of a baka today than you usually are."

"I'M a baka? YOU'RE the baka!" he yelled, pointing a blaming finger at her. "It's all YOUR FAULT the house is so hot!"

"What?" Maka asked incredulously. "MY fault?! How could the affects of weather possibly have anything to do with me?!"

"You shut all the windows!"

"I always do!"

"Yeah, but it's summer! You need to open windows in the summer!"

"Well, sooorry!" she apologized in a sarcasm drenched voice. "Maybe next time I'll be cool and wake up at seven in the morning to do battle with a stupid fly!!"

"Maybe flies wouldn't hang around in here and people wouldn't be woken up if it wasn't so GODDAMN HOT!!" Soul shouted, slamming his fist on the table in anger, his face getting red and sweaty from the yelling and the heat of the room.

Maka had taken the accusations head on, but when Soul slammed his fist down, she flinched and stared wide-eyed at him. What were they doing? Fighting? Because of a fly and a fly-swatter?! He had lowered his head, refusing to meet her gaze.

".... Soul...." she started gently. Without saying anything, Soul turned around on the spot and walked to the door. "Soul! Wait!" Maka pleaded.

"I'm going out. Be back... whenever..." he said in a emotionless tone. He grabbed his favorite hoody hanging on a hook by the door and slid on his shoes. Quietly he opened the door and left the uncomfortable apartment...

~~~ Later that day ~~~

Soul couldn't believe it. He had lost against a fly. He had gotten in a heated fight with Maka. And he had stormed out of the house... All while only dressed in a plain white T-shirt and his boxers...

Man... Why did I fight with Maka? It's not her fault the weathers all screwy... And why didn't I grab any pants? he thought to himself as he hid in a deserted alleyway, behind a dumpster. He plopped his yellow, smiley face covered butt down on a empty crate. It had to be at least noon and he had walked out on his partner. What else was he supposed to do?

After he had left the apartment, everyone seemed to be looking at him as he meandered down the small market place. After a few minutes of people staring and blushing at him, he asked a woman, not more than 30 years old, what she was looking at. The woman only blushed and nodded. It was only then that Soul noticed he was devoid of pants. He gasped and ran away from the crowd that had started to form. Not being decent enough to walk through town, he removed himself from the wandering gazes on the street and buckled down in this smelly alleyway next to a pizza shop. The sweet aroma from the heavenly food flowed out relentlessly and attacked his nostrils. He hadn't eaten anything yet and boy was he starving. A fleeting thought crossed his mind. I wonder if the 'No Shirt. No Shoes. NO SERVICE.' rule applied to no pants? A loud and unexpectedly painful growl bellowed from his empty stomach. "Screw it..." Soul mumbled. "I don't care if they see me like this right now. I want food and they damn well better give it to me..." The crate squeaked as he made to stand. As he started to walk to the end of the alley, he reached to grab his wallet out of his back pocket... "No freakin' way...." He didn't have his pants on. Which meant no back pocket. Which meant no wallet. With a low growl, he clenched his teeth.

Calm down, Soul. Just stay cool... Stay mellow... he repeated to himself, returning to his previous seat. He sat and counted to 10 like Maka sometimes does when she gets really mad... Maka... He still couldn't believe he had said all that to her. YOU'RE the baka! It's all YOUR FAULT... The words bounced around in his skull like crickets locked inside of a glass jar. He lowered his head to rest in between his hands. .... Soul.... Maka's hurt voice reverberated in his muddled thoughts, pushing all other things out of the way. Soul! Wait! All he could hear was Maka's pained plea.

".... Dammit...." he whispered to himself. "... I'm making her sad again..."

~~~ That Evening ~~~

It was dark. The street lights hummed quietly, just barely lighting up a section of the street with their limited range. Perfect... Using his copied skills from watching Black*Star and old ninja movies, Soul ninja-ed his way down the barren street. He was almost home, just a few more buildings. He quickly did a tumble roll and hid behind a fire hydrant while a group of late night party goers passed noisily by. Waiting until the coast was clear, Soul sprinted across the street and ran as fast as his legs could carry him to his apartment complex. Hurrying up the stairs so that no one he knew saw him, he didn't stop until he was standing out of breath in front of the door.

Made it... Now... the hard part.... he sighed. Bracing himself to be smacked in the head with a frying pan or something, he grasped the knob. He closed his eyes and pushed the door open.

What hit him, he did not expect.

A dense wave of freezing air pushed against his body, shifting him back a step. He blinked as the cool air sucked the moisture out of his eyes and lips. He slowly stepped into the main room, leaving the door open. It was cold... and not just that... It was... refreshing... Soul toed off his shoes as if in a daze. The air felt so good after being outside all day. He started to make his way over to the couch to lie down when a spoon came out of nowhere and konked him in the noggin. Reaching up to hold the side of his head, he bent down to pick up the launched projectile. "What the heck...?" He turned his head to look in the direction the spoon came from.

Maka stood with her cooking apron on and a disappointed face. She was tapping her foot and took a glance at her wrist watch. "You're late for supper, Soul." she said in a motherly voice. "Go wash your hands and come eat. It's getting cold."

Soul, completely stupefied by this simple command, stayed glued to the spot. He swallowed roughly. "Maka, I--"

"Nope. Don't wanna hear it." she cut him off, making an 'X' shape with her arms. "Just go wash up. And hurry!"

Her voice sounded fine. Her face held no trace of the pain her voice had demonstrated earlier that morning. She was the usual, bossy, high maintenance Maka she always acted like. Soul knew it was an act though. He had hurt her. Hurt her more than he could ever know. Walking silently to the bathroom, he turned on the sink and washed his hands with the green apple scented soap. How could he ever make it up to her? There had to be some way...

He finished up and dried his hands. With a deep sigh, Soul walked slowly into the kitchen. "... What's with the coldness. You buy a glacier or something?" he questioned Maka, testing the waters of this charade.

"No. I went out and bought a air conditioner. You were right, it was really hot in here." she stated warmly. Maka was seated in her usual spot. The food had already been place on his plate. Spaghetti and meatballs with plenty of garlic bread... One of Soul's favorite meals.

The shock of this hit him like a baseball to the gut. The air. The nice act. The food. She was trying to apologize to him. Soul's eyes grew wide with the knowledge of this. It was his fault... all of this was his fault and she was trying to make up for it.

"......"

He quietly sat down at his spot opposite Maka at the table. He looked down at the food and then into Maka's smiling face. He picked up a piece of garlic bread and set it on the side of his plate, then placed his hand together. "Itadakimasu..." he thanked quietly. Maka blinked and smiled tenderly. "Itadakimasu~" she said as she dug into her own food.

Soul picked up his fork and pushed around one of the meatballs on his plate. He stabbed it and whipped some noodles around the fork. He opened his mouth wide and gulped it down. They ate in silence, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as he thought it would be. Maka was trying to calm the air between them... by giving him the gift of cold air. Soul smiled contently as he finished off his third helping of food. "Wow, Soul!" Maka gasped. "You really had an appetite, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Soul burped, leaning back in his chair. "I stayed in a smelly alley next to the pizza place a couple blocks up. I didn't have my money and I couldn't walk in there without pants, anyway."

Maka stared at the now relaxing Soul carefully. She lowered her head and started with the dishes. The rest of the night was spent with Maka doing the chores, since today was her day to do them, and Soul sitting on the couch, just staring at everything she did, waiting for his chance. When Maka finally finished putting the finishing touches on the kitchen, she made to go to the bathroom and get ready for bed. Soul got up and stood in her path, not letting her get by. She lifted her head and her eyes grew large. "... Soul?"

He reached up and scratched his head. Maka watched as an anxious Soul opened and closed his mouth more times than she could count. He sighed a heavy sigh and extended his hand in a shaking position. ".... We cool?" he asked awkwardly.

Maka blinked. Is Soul trying... to APOLOGIZE?! Regaining some of her mental functions, Maka looked at Souls outstretched hand and smiled. It was weird for him to apologize but since he was, he must really mean it. She nodded and took his hand. "We're cool~"

Soul smiled. He couldn't make it up to her. Not today. But he would. Maybe I could get her an extra large book for her birthday or something... He stuck his hands into his hoody pockets and walked back to the couch to turn on the TV. As he sat down, he saw the new air conditioner in the window. "Maka."

"Yeah, Soul?"

"THAT..." he said pointing to the air conditioner. "Now THAT's cool~"

Maka giggled a little. "Yeah. Especially since I paid for it with YOUR credit card since you left your pants here!"

"What?!"

"Oh and Soul? I really like those boxers~!" she laughed, talking in a really girly tone and running into the bathroom.

"Maka!!" Soul yelled, only just realizing he STILL didn't have any pants on. He ran over to the bathroom door. "Maka! You get out here and say you're sorry!"

"Nuh-uh. And I'm gonna tell everyone that you like to go around all day in your Mr. Smile-face boxers~!"

"MAKAAAAAAA~!"

((That's all folks.... Hope you liked it~! ^^''))