A/N: My 2nd fan fiction! Thank you so much to everyone who read my first story. Doubly thanks to people who reviewed it because I honestly didn't get the hype about reviews until I got one. It really does make my day.
This is the "sequel" to Strange Condition. I actually wrote this story first, but kept it to myself and then went back and tweaked the crap out of it after posting that one.
I do not own Soul Eater or these characters. And again, I have named this story after a song that doesn't really have a ton to do with the story but it allows me to title my stuff without having to actually think of a title (which I hate doing) so yes it is Grand Theft Autumn as in the Fall Out Boy song. I don't own the song or Fall Out Boy either sadly.
Rated M because I'm a fan of throwing around a 4 letter word that starts with F in everyday vocabulary but that's about as naughty as it gets. Thanks for reading!
-A
He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her like this. She always pushed herself hard, in every fight they'd ever been in but this was different. She was running on pure rage. His admiration of her strength instantly turned to worry when it happened the first time. It was so slight but she had misjudged her next step and gotten herself hit. It was a minor hit and she recovered quickly but it happened none the less. She made a mistake. After years of battling together and Soul finally becoming a Death Scythe they just didn't make those kinds of mistakes anymore and yet she just did.
This should have been easy but it was becoming more difficult by the second as her anger grew. He had to say something, she was going to get hurt. "Maka you have to calm down. You're not thinking clearly."
Seconds after he screamed this at her, while she blatantly ignored him, the Kishin landed the blow. He screamed at her again as a long scar appeared across her side from her inner ribcage to her outer thigh. He couldn't tell immediately how deep the cut went but her clothes were shredded and she was starting to bleed.
The Kishin made what ended up being a fatal mistake by giving her a millisecond to recover. Maybe it thought she was going to collapse but Maka stood tall and took full advantage of that moment. She bit back her pain and swung Soul as hard as she could. He collided with the Kishin's body and that was it. Maka began to collapse.
He reverted to his human form just quick enough to grab her before she inevitably hit concrete. She staggered in his arms but stood back up quickly while mumbling an apology. He grabbed the Kishin soul and swallowed it quickly. His mind was only filled with Maka right now. He had to get her home and cleaned up. Fortunately they were only a few minutes walk away.
Maka was obviously too injured to walk but of course she wouldn't admit it. If possible, she had become more stubborn the older they got and even more stubborn than that in the last month where for reasons neither of them could manage to put into words the distance between them had been steadily growing.
Soul didn't care right now, she was hurt and he wasn't going to give her a chance to fight him on this. Without a word, he threw one arm under her knees and one around her back trying to be mindful of where her scar was before scooping her up and walking towards home.
Maka thought briefly about protesting but figured it wouldn't be of any use. He looked pissed and she knew he had every right to be. She had acted irrationally and it almost cost them the fight.
Maka thought over her "relationship" that had just ended 2 hours ago with her now ex- boyfriend Cody. She had about an hour and a half to think about it before her and Soul were called on this mission and it wasn't nearly enough time to clear her head obviously.
This is why she never wanted boyfriends in the first place. What was there to clear her head of? He had cheated on her. She guessed that was what she should call it, although it sounded strange in her head. It felt strange because if she was being honest with herself when she found out he'd been seeing other people despite promises of fidelity he made to her she wasn't even that upset. They'd only been dating a month and she didn't even know if she really liked him that much, much less if she actually saw it going anywhere long term. Her anger was 100% directed at the fact that she felt like she wasted her time and let someone make a fool of her.
Soul kept glancing down to check on Maka, expecting her to be passed out in his arms by now and was surprised to find her face scrunched up in confusion. They had barely been on speaking terms in the last couple days but he hoped she'd at least let things go back to normal for today so he could take care of her.
"What's wrong?"
She looked up at him, the angry expression from right after their battle had faded and now all she saw in his eyes was concern.
She was still bleeding and starting to feel a bit woozy but she answered him the best she could "Nothing…just thinking."
"About Cody?" he guessed. She sighed. He took that as a yes.
She continued mentally berating herself as she lay there trying to stay awake until they got home. Why'd she agree to go out with him in the first place? Why the hell was she being so reckless and putting herself in danger over someone she didn't even have that strong of feelings for in the first place? And not just herself, but Soul too. She put Soul in danger when she wasn't focused. She was glad at least he wasn't hurt. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him because she was screwing up and in the wrong mental state over some guy she barely knew.
Things had been off between them since the night she met Cody. That fucking night. Maybe she was being overdramatic but after today she was pretty sure she could rank that night among the worst in her life. Definitely the worst night of the year.
In the course of one night, she had finally admitted to herself she was in love with her best friend, got asked out by a complete stranger and accepted and ultimately came home to an empty house which lead her to one of the most depressing realizations of her teen years. That night Maka finally had to face up to a fact she had been avoiding acknowledging for years, Soul was doing what all teenage boys she knew were doing, he was sleeping with girls. Girls that weren't her.
And yet after that night it was like someone had flipped a switch and they seemed to trade places. Soul stayed in more while Maka started to go out. Cody had asked her out again, and again and she agreed. In the beginning she agreed out of anger. He seemed mad at her the morning after that night and what a fucking hypocrite he was for that. He went home with someone and she went on one date and he was mad? Fuck him for that.
Then of course there was the jealously reason. She agreed to keep seeing Cody because she was so fucking jealous of Soul and that girl he went home with she couldn't stand it. She knew how she felt now about Soul and she was fighting with some impulsive need to get a reaction out of him. It seemed like it was going to work after she agreed to go on a second date with Cody but from then on things began to shift dramatically.
Whatever reaction she expected to get out of him she got the exact opposite. The more she tried to rub her new life in his face the more withdrawn he'd become. She'd go out with Cody and come home late expecting Soul to be angry and waiting, or more likely she thought out with someone himself, but it never happened. He was always home nowadays.
She'd come in late to find him sleeping on the couch in front of the tv. Or in the daytime when she would return home to find him on the floor in the living room with the coffee table moved off to the side working out, a strange new habit for her usually very lazy weapon, no doubt a habit picked up with encouragement from his best friend Black Star.
Stranger still was when she would come home from a date and find herself unintentionally moving towards Soul's room only to peak through the crack in the door and find him on the floor leaning up against his bed with one knee propped playing his guitar. He'd been playing lately in a way that somehow managed to haunt her even more than the times when she'd heard him play the piano.
She didn't understand his behavior. It confused her and made her anxious and a part of her wanted to drop the game and just talk to him, but her mind kept roaming back to the morning after in the kitchen. The tension that was there. She had come to terms with the fact that she may never have Soul as more than a friend and after that morning it felt like she was losing him even as that. She hated it. She wished she wouldn't have let it go. She wished she would've talked to him. He was definitely angry with her that morning in the kitchen, but why? Maybe she could have at least fixed their friendship before they got to this point.
The months prior to that night they had felt closer than ever. Living with someone for years she guessed will do that, but she felt closer to him than she did to anyone else in the world. She supposed that's why she put off admitting what it really was for so long. She was beyond comfortable with him. Things that might've made her cringe with embarrassment in front of anyone else were never off the table with Soul. He'd taken care of her and dressed her wounds after battles, they had gotten into the habit of sleeping in each others rooms whenever nightmares hit or in Maka's case sometimes just because she needed to feel him there.
One night had managed to destroy it all. One night in which technically neither of them did anything wrong, but maybe they really had. She'd never told Soul how she felt. She had a hard enough time really admitting it to herself. She felt pretty confident Soul didn't feel the same way about her and yet something had snapped between them and the catalyst was that night.
The first time that both of them had separated from each other for other people. It felt wrong and she knew he had to be feeling it to. Even if he didn't love her, he felt something for her. Some kind of affection or admiration or hell, even possession. She didn't know what it was, but she was sure that something had happened between the two of them when they separated that night and whatever it was was pulling them apart the longer it went on.
Lying there while Soul walked them closer to their apartment she wanted to confront him. She was feeling weaker by the minute but she wanted to jump down and yell at him and find out why he was doing this. Why he felt he had the right to be mad at her for doing the same shit he'd been doing for years. Why he stopped holding her hand and started closing his door at night after she started seeing Cody. He was supposed to be her best friend. Whatever had been happening between them needed to be fixed. This wasn't a game, and if it was in the beginning she realized Soul stopped playing the moment she agreed to the second date with Cody.
She had made a mistake. She tried to play the game like it seemed everyone else did and failed. She tried to forget her feelings for Soul and in turn tried giving her heart away and it was useless. Her heart didn't come back broken like she'd feared her whole life. This breakup didn't feel like anything and she knew why, her heart never belonged to him.
The worst heartache she'd felt up to date aside from the pain from her parent's divorce was the morning she confronted Soul about where he had been all night and accepted that she might lose him forever. Where her heart went her soul had to go, and she knew she could only entrust her soul totally and completely to one person. It made sense that her heart wouldn't allow itself to belong to anyone else.
She was resolute, she needed to tell him this time. She was terrified and suddenly way too aware of how close he held her as he walked towards their apartment. She wanted to tell him she loved him. She wanted to say the words out loud.
She was about to test them when she heard Soul mumble "You're an idiot."
She shifted her eyes to his face that was still staring straight ahead. "Excuse me?"
He glanced down at her quickly before looking straight ahead again. "You heard me. You're an idiot, what the hell was that? I heard you earlier on the phone. I'm guessing you and Cody broke up and I'm sorry but jeez Maka it's barely been a month. Did you really love him that much?"
She was struggling between thoughts and with keeping her eyes open at this point but that snapped her back to the present conversation instantly. "Love?" The word felt strange when thrown into a conversation about her "ex."
Soul continued, "or whatever. I don't know Maka, you haven't exactly been sharing with me recently."
She shook her head. "You haven't either Soul, you've been flat out avoiding me."
Soul swallowed hard before setting his jaw again. "And I didn't, don't and never will love him."
Soul grumbled. 'Well then what the hell was that about Maka? You could've been killed."
"He cheated on me." Maka looked a little defeated when she said it out loud and damn it was breaking his heart.
"Fuck Maka, I'm sorry."
She scowled, "don't be. I didn't even really like him that much."
Soul looked down at her. "Well what have you been doing with him for the past month?"
Maka took a deep breath. Fuck it. She was tired and probably about to pass out and what did she have to lose anymore anyways? Things between them definitely couldn't get worse so between the fuzzy mess her mind was becoming and his smell surrounding her so completely she felt like she could drown in it she opted for the truth no matter what happened next.
Maka swallowed, "I've been being stubborn because I'm an idiot and was trying to make you jealous."
At this point Soul completely stopped walking. He was about 98% sure that she was delirious and he had imagined that last part. The other 2% that wasn't sure was praying this was really happening and was definitely going to run with this because damn if he hadn't spent the last whole month wishing that that was all this stupid boyfriend of hers was.
After an entire month of walking around each other on eggshells and not being able to get past that night he had a chance to turn things around. He hated himself after that night more than he ever had before and for a guy who had literally spent his whole life up until Maka hating himself that was saying something. He'd been a fuck up, more times than he wanted to remember but if this opportunity was really being given to him he wouldn't fuck this up.
Soul smirked, "Say that again?."
Maka just sighed angrily. "I know you heard me Soul, I'm not saying it again. I can walk the rest of the way home you know... probably." She closed her eyes, just for a minute.
"Things with us have been different for me for a while now and I wanted to tell you that night after the show but then you were talking to that girl and I started overthinking it and then Cody asked me out and-"
Maka stopped talking, mainly because she was starting to feel nauseous at this point. It was probably for the best because she was ready to go on a rant and she really didn't have the energy for it.
To her surprise Soul laughed a little. She cracked an eye open to look at him. "Well I'm an idiot too then. Every girl I've dated since we were 14 was an attempt to make you jealous. Clearly you were better at this than me though, I would've never made it a whole month with one of them."
Maka could feel herself drifting and it was quickly becoming hard to decipher real life from her hazy seemingly dream induced state.
"You're something else Maka. I love you, you know that right? I always have."
As she drifted she thought she said it back but she wasn't really sure. In her head she kept saying it over and over and over again.
When she woke up she was in her bed, all bandaged up and in pajamas. She already felt a lot better albeit a little sore down the side of her body. She stood up and went to the mirror turning slightly and lifting up her shirt to reveal Soul's work. Years of fighting together lead to them eventually taking it upon themselves to treat each other's non fatal wounds rather than running to the school for help every time. Maka's need for perfection in battle and therefore many acquired scars had made Soul basically an expert in cleaning her up. She nodded in approval at the job he had done.
She noticed the chair of her desk was pulled out a little, not where she left it. Soul had been sitting with her at some point. She was sure of that. Suddenly it all came back to her, the conversation earlier. She been fading in and out towards the end of it and it felt as if she'd been dreaming but she knew it was real.
She felt a wave of sudden self consciousness at the fact that he had taken care of her in a way that required changing her clothes but still it wasn't unfamiliar territory for them. It's just that now it felt different, more intimate. She had to believe their partnership and their friendship could survive if they took things a step further. They could survive anything. Soul wasn't Cody and he wasn't like her papa despite how she tried to paint him that way before.
Being with Soul was the only time in her life she felt totally comfortable. She was already his, completely. The fact that she had ever been with anyone else, regardless of how PG she might have kept her time with Cody seemed completely ridiculous to her now. She thought back to their conversation earlier and how casually he responded as if he'd just been waiting for her.
He said "always have," so why the hell was she just now finding out about it? She knew why she never told him but why would he never tell her? She got back into bed and looked at the clock. 3am. Damn it. She couldn't wait. She jumped out of bed and marched down the hall to his room.
When she got to his door she noticed it was cracked open slightly once again. He was fast asleep and she stood in his doorway for a minute realizing she didn't have the heart to wake him and would have to wait until the morning when his eyes flickered slightly.
"Maka? What're you doing up?" His voice was groggy with sleep and she felt stupid coming to his room at 3am to have this conversation.
"Nothing, I just wanted to talk. Never mind, you're sleeping" she turned to leave.
"Maka." She turned back around. He lifted the blanket up and scooted back creating an opening next to him as an invitation for her to get in. The boldness she felt on the way to his room was diminishing by the second. Get into bed with him?
Another wave of self consciousness rolled over her as she looked at him laying there in just a pair of boxers but she felt stupid. It's not like she hadn't slept with him like this before. They had done this many times especially in the last couple years but now it felt different, she was about to cross a line. Then again if she was honest, they'd probably crossed a line a long time ago. There was no going back, and trying to deny it only resulted in anger and distance between them.
Soul sighed snapping her out of her thoughts, "it's cold Maka, please just come here and talk to me."
She gave in and walked to the bed carefully sliding in next to him with her back facing him.
"How are you feeling?," his voice sounded concerned.
She thought about it. How was she feeling? Nervous, anxious, excited. She knew he was referring to her injury so she settled for "a lot better, thank you and thanks for taking care of me."
He took a deep breath. "No problem. You scared me today though."
"I know, sorry," she breathed quietly as Soul shifted himself closer to her.
"What did you want to talk about?" he murmured into her hair, so quietly that she wondered if he was falling back asleep.
She rolled around to face him. His eyes were closed again.
She took a deep breath. "About what you said earlier."
His eyes opened slightly. "What about what I said earlier?"
"You said "you always have."" He nodded, so she kept going.
"You meant that?"
He looked at her, eyes now wide open. "Of course." The sincerity in his eyes was making her heart beat too fast.
"What's "always"?" He snickered a bit, "basically since I met you."
Maka stared into his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me before now?"
He looked at her seriously. "What would you have said if I had told you that in the beginning, when we first paired up?"
"I don't know honestly. First of all, I never would've believed you. You teased me too much. Aside from that, I don't know. I might have not wanted to keep fighting with you. We're partners, it makes things complicated."
He smirked. "Exactly why I never told you, you like to overthink everything."
She thought that over…a few times actually and decided he had a point. Fair enough.
She was about to ask about that night when he took another breath, "and at this point I thought you already knew."
She shook her head to indicate that she definitely didn't.
His eyes widened, "Maka, seriously? The last couple years, you didn't know? You couldn't tell in the things I'd say to you? You didn't think it was weird how often we shared a bed or how I'd hold your hand?"
She frowned. "I didn't know you really meant those things like that."
Soul rolled his eyes, "because I act like that to so many other girls that you would be confused."
Maka dropped her eyes from his. "How would I know? There were other girls."
Damn. Soul guessed he deserved that but he still didn't want to hear it. "It's never been like that with anyone else Maka. I can promise you that."
She stared at him searching his eyes but she couldn't find any deception in them. "Well how could I know that, you should've told me now."
He didn't want to argue with her. Whatever it was they fought about she'd win, she'd always win with him. He didn't have anything else to say anyways. She was right. He should've manned up and told her a long time ago. If she rejected him at least he would've known and they could've avoided the fucked up game they'd been playing with each other.
"You're right, I'm sorry." Soul said simply before he leaned in and gently kissed her on the forehead. He pulled back and his eyes were closing like he was ready to drift off again at any second.
"Soul?"
He mumbled back quietly, "mhmm?" before his red eyes opened back up to hers.
"Do that again?" Soul easily picked up on the unspoken part of her request, he leaned in to kiss her again.
This time was new territory for them. A real kiss, as deep and full as he could possibly make it. This was a kiss intended to make sure she knew how he felt and that there would no more excuses for misunderstanding feelings. As far as first kisses go, this one was pretty damn perfect to both of them. Not that Maka had experienced many in her 17 years, and not that Soul really remembered many of his but this one easily topped them all. This one was warm and comfortable and shared between two people who loved each other more than they really knew how to express.
When he pulled away it was too soon but sleep was heavy on his eyes. "Maka, can we sleep now and I promise tomorrow we can talk about feelings and overanalyze this all you want?"
Maka smiled and nodded as Soul's arm slipped around her waist to pull her closer. There was no way in hell she was going to be able to sleep tonight she thought until she realized she was opening her eyes in the daylight and she was feeling like she'd slept better than she had in her entire life. With nothing much to do today she was in no rush to leave her place next to her warm, sleeping weapon. She leaned over and very carefully in an attempt to not wake him placed a soft kiss on his nose. It wasn't soft enough, sleepy red eyes opened to hers and Soul smiled. Her wavelength reached for his and her soul smiled in return.