After defeating Asura, things got pretty crazy in Soul's life. Well, maybe not quite as stressful as the events leading up to the final battle with the kishin, but this was a different kind of crazy. So many things were going on that Soul could barely keep track of it all. Things were quickly being rebuilt and re-established, what felt like hundreds of people were always up in his face with questions about what really happened during Asura's last moments, his and his friends' training had all been switched around to accommodate their now extremely well-developed skills (this also came with a significant pay raise, which was pretty nice), and of course, Maka had been given a new schedule with extra classes to help her gain better control of her new-found weapon blood, so she was around less and less often, and left Soul to his own devices regularly. Basically… it sucked.

Fortunately, Soul's time wasn't spread out as thin as his meister's. He found he still had lots of freedom and time to waste. Of course, without Maka around him all the time, Soul did get a little bored every so often. Okay, make that really fucking bored… and pretty fucking often. Like right now, for example. Soul groaned and rolled over on the couch so that he was lying on his stomach with his face smushed into the pillows. Maka was at another training session, yet again, and Soul had by now exhausted every method he could think of to keep his boredom at bay. If he was honest with himself, it was pretty ridiculous how much he missed Maka. He missed her non-stop chattering, how they bickered, how she would try to force him to do his homework or get annoyed when he chose to get on her nerves instead. Nowadays she came home tired, hungry, and most of all, not in the mood to deal with Soul's bullshit.

It didn't really help that everything that had happened to them in the past few months had made Soul realize that his feelings towards Maka might not be as platonic as he had thought.

"Ugh."

Soul turned his head and gazed in the direction of the TV. The clock on the DVD player read 8:32, which mean that Maka wouldn't be back for another hour at the very least.

Soul sighed deeply. What the hell was he supposed to do to entertain himself? He had run out of movies, grown sick of all of his video games, and god forbid he even consider touching one of Maka's books. While on one hand he was curious to read something of hers, and the idea of not lying on the couch for another two hours was quite compelling, facing her unavoidable excitement about him showing the tiniest shred of interest in her hobby would be exhausting.

Then again, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Soul made a half-assed attempt at standing up. His body slid down off of the couch and onto the ground, taking the couch seat he had been lying on with him. A few throw pillows bounced off his head and onto the hardwood floor.

Soul stared at the ceiling, unwilling to get up despite his mind-numbing boredom. He re-adjusted some of the throw pillows to create a kind of thrown-like pile and laid back on it, glancing at the clock again.

8:35.

"Oh my gooooood."

Soul grabbed his face with his hands and rubbed at his eyes. Fuck, maybe he really should read a book.

Another unsuccessful attempt at getting his ass up off the ground, and the rest of the couch seats were lying on the floor around him, along with at least fifteen more pillows.

"Holy shit, why do we even have so many pillows in the house?"

Soul punched the one nearest to him in frustration and watched it slide across the floor and into the kitchen. Sighing, he got up to go fetch it. He threw the pillow back into the living room and observed the mess.

"Might as well make myself comfortable, right? I mean, I'm already talking to myself," Soul said. He jogged over to a closet in the hallway and grabbed all the blankets that he could find. He slipped into his room to grab his own pillow, and found eight more on Maka's bed (how had he not noticed how many she had before?). Soul made his way back into the living room and quickly set to work on what was going to be the sweetest fort ever created.

Twenty minutes later, Soul was arranging a bed for himself inside the structure of the fort itself. He didn't hear the door open, or Maka calling out to him until she had reached the living room.

"Soul, I said I'm home. Why didn't… what are you doing?"

Soul froze at the sound of his meister's voice. He quickly shuffled around in his fort, being careful not to jostle the pillow walls. He popped his head out from behind a blanket and gazed at Maka, who had a look of complete bewilderment on her face.

"Um…" Soul scratched the back of his neck, suddenly very self conscious. Stay cool, dude. "Well. Um. You see, you're gone so often and… I finished my movies? And I was bored out of my fucking mind, you know, and there wasn't anything to do, and your books are all boring anyway so I could barely even make myself get up to make the trip to your room and so I was just lying here, on the ground, and you weren't going to be back for hours and I'm sick of all of my video games, and it was just so boring and I… Maka, why do we even have so many pillows, anyway?"

"Oh my god, Soul."

Soul shifted his weight, unsure of himself. Maka looked like she was trying her absolute hardest not to laugh. Great, as if he wasn't already embarrassed.

Maka tossed her bag next to the couch and got down onto her knees in front of him.

"Can I come in?" she asked, her voice cracking a little bit with the strain of trying not to laugh.

"Uh, yeah, of course," Soul retreated back into his fort and sat down on his pillow bed. Maka followed him in, sitting cross legged on the floor beside him. Soul offered her a few pillows, which she accepted with a smile. He tried his best not to blush at how close she was to him in the tight space.

"Soul, I can't say I'm not amused with how you've occupied your time, but I really am sorry about how much I've been gone. I promise that I'm making a lot of progress with my weapon classes and I'll probably be spending less time in training soon," Maka took Soul's hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "I really miss hanging out with you, you know." She was staring at him with such intensity that Soul's cheeks reddened slightly, and it took a moment for his mouth to start shaping words correctly again.

"Thank you, Maka. That's good to hear. I'm glad you'll be back soon," He smiled at her, and Maka beamed back.

"You've gotta admit this is a pretty kickass fort, though, right?" Soul gestured at the walls with his free hand.

"It's pretty kickass," Maka agreed. There was a slight blush to her face, probably from the body heat that was trapped inside by the pillow walls and blankets.

Fuck, she was cute.

Soul shook his head, annoyed with himself.

"What are you even doing back now? I thought you had class until nine."

Maka shrugged. "Teacher let me out early."

Soul nodded. He leaned back into his nest of pillows, pulling her down with him until they were lying with side by side, staring up at the blanket ceiling.

"Soul, is that my blanket? From my bed?"

"Uh, yeah. I had to use everything we had in order to make the best fort possible."

Maka laughed.

"Of course you did."

Soul turned his head and found Maka facing him. She was suddenly very, very close.

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Turn back around, dumbass, she'll see what you're thinking. Fuck, is she blushing? No, she must just be hot, they were basically suffocating in the pillow fort… except, there was no way her cheeks should be that red, and what are you even thinking, you idiot, stop getting your hopes up.

Of course, telling himself not to didn't stop Soul from wrapping his arms around Maka's back and pulling her in closer. He tucked his head into the crook of her neck. He could almost feel the heat radiating off of her face now.

"Soul?" Maka asked cautiously.

"Mm."

Maka didn't say anything, but hugged him back tightly. They lay there like that for a few moments.

"Get better real quick, Maka. I miss you lots," Soul murmured.

Maka pulled him away just far enough to see his face.

"Of course, Soul. You know I'm doing my best."

"Yeah, I know," Soul said, quietly. "I know."

Maka gazed back at him, her eyes bright and shining.

"Well, I still haven't had dinner, and knowing you, you probably haven't either, huh?" she said suddenly.

"Huh? What, oh, no, I haven't," Soul replied.

"Of course. I come home late a few times a week and you can't even feed yourself in my absence. Is it my job to take care of you, or something? What am I, your mother?" Maka scolded him. "Come on, let's get to the kitchen," she said, turning to crawl out of the fort.

"Coming," Soul called after her. He lay there for a few moments, smiling to himself.

Extreme heat or not, Maka had definitely blushed harder when Soul hugged her. Maybe (though he told himself not to get his hopes up, dammit!) there was hope for him yet.