Hey, forgot to do this for the first chapter, but here it is: Soul Eater is not mine.
Not sure how I like this chapter... but let me know what you think!
The apartment they shared was small and not very well put together, though it gave them a place to sleep and a microwave, so she was satisfied. It had two tiny bedrooms connected by a bathroom, which then opened onto a compact kitchen and an area with their sofa and TV. Her only grievance was that if someone was using the bathroom, the other person had to wait to enter or exit their bedroom, since the bathroom door was the only way in or out. At times, it was frustrating.
She was currently browsing through the shelf of movies on the bookcase in their living room, pushing aside 'The Notebook' and 'Rear Window' to get to the Jason Bourne and James Bond movies. They'd already watched all the films on the shelf, but she didn't mind watching them again. As long as there was popcorn and candy, she was set. Extracting 'The Bourne Identity' from the row of DVD cases, she carried it into the kitchen where small gunshots could be heard from the microwave.
She saw Arch sitting on the kitchen's countertop, swinging pajama-clad legs back and forth against the cabinet below. His skin was pale, causing his dark hair to stand out contrastingly, and he regarded her with a smile, "What's it this time, Rain?" She walked across the kitchen floor to his side, her bare feet cold against the tile, holding up the movie for him to approve. He nodded, "The popcorn's almost done, did you get the rolos?" Peering into the microwave and watching the bag spin, the timer methodically counting down, she replied, "Yeah, they're on the couch, the twizzlers too." Arch was a bonafide candy snob, he wouldn't eat twizzlers or starbursts or lollipops or even skittles, only chocolate, and occasionally chocolate-caramel. She didn't mind, though, more for her. "Hey," Arch said, expression worried, "did you invite Ivet?" Rain sighed, "Yeah, but she said she had painting to do…" then, "do you think she's alright?" Arch frowned, creases appearing along his forehead and at the corners of his eyes like they did when he was deep in thought. His fingers tapped against the laminate counter, a background noise to the mini grenades of the popcorn kernels. "I don't know," he said quietly, "how 'alright' can you be after something like that?" She hummed in agreement, pulling the bag out of the microwave and ripping open the top, sticking a hand inside to 'taste-test.' "Hey!" Arch protested, reaching for the bag, "Wait until the movie's on!"
Arch finally managed to pry the bag from her grasp and she chased him into the living room where they settled onto the sofa. The movie had already started and they had missed the first ten minutes or so, but it was alright. They ate all the popcorn and splurged on rolos and twizzlers while Jason Bourne drove speeding cars in the background.
When the credits rolled onto the screen, they were both ready for bed, half-asleep already. Cutting off the TV and stuffing the empty popcorn bag and candy wrappers in the trash, they stumbled to the bathroom. Arch smiled, fingers drumming away on his thighs, and yawned. "Goodnight, Rain, I had fun." Grinning, she half turned to her own room, "Yeah," she agreed, "See you tomorrow." Both their doors shut, almost simultaneously, with distinct clicks, and not soon after, they were both asleep.
Rain couldn't remember the last time she'd had a dream or nightmare, only solid, uninterrupted sleep. She was at the same time mystified and grateful - after all the things she'd seen, she was surprised she didn't have nightmares, and she was very thankful to not have to deal with reliving them. She knew she'd had dreams when she was younger, but, apparently, she'd 'grown out of them,' as her mother explained. She wasn't really sure how someone could grow out of dreaming, but her mother was adamant that that was what had happened. 'Of course you grew out of them, dear, it runs in the family!'
Arch, though, wasn't so lucky. He never called out in his sleep, not so much as a whimper, but she could always tell the next morning if he'd had a nightmare. The circles under his eyes would be darker, and his fingers would bounce almost hysterically against his leg, or the tabletop, or any other available surface. Then he'd get this look, but only after the very worst ones, he'd get this terrible look. It could almost be described as haunted, or maybe even shocked, an air about him like all the most horrible things in the world had descended on him while he slept. He never wanted to talk about them, the nightmares. She was selfishly aware that she didn't want to talk about them either, didn't want his cracking voice telling her of all the twisted ways his subconscious tortured him, didn't want him reminding her of the memories.
If he did want to talk, though, she'd be there.
She'd always be there, no doubt about it. They were partners. So, she would always be there.
· ~ ·
They'd first met through Ivet. The red-head had introduced them during an accidental meeting on the streets of Death City, beyond pleased when her two friends got along. She invited them over to her place, and from there it was history. Their meeting and friendship grew in the months before school picked back up so, when it was time to 'pick your weapon, pick your meister,' they both agreed full heartedly.
She had also been relieved to have met them before school started, eager to recognize a familiar face at DWMA and avoid the awkward introductions she had been expecting. Ivet was a great help, smiling and initiating conversation with the other milling students, earning her a lot of friendly handshakes and acquaintances, for which she was grateful. Arch pretty much stayed glued to her elbow the entire time, happy to trail behind the girls and wait for the introductory tour to end. That was when she had first met Ant and Pawn, so obviously close, so obviously future partners, there was never one without the other, though that was the case with most pairs. It surprised her, after she'd gotten to know them better, that they fought constantly. They seemed to disagree on almost everything, never being able to come up with a unanimous decision. Despite this, they stuck together and were amazing on the battlefield – another surprising fact about the pair she had discovered about a year and a half ago. Arch was equally astonished, whispering to her under his breath that he had though they would be terrible fighting together. Though she guessed it made sense, their natural instinct to disagree focused in on the kishin and went nuh-uh, no way, not gonna cut it. It was just how they worked.
· ~ ·
They were all at the park.
Smiling.
Laughing.
Happy.
He was with them and everything was perfect.
Her pockets felt heavy, heavy, heavy with little round candies, their wrappers crinkling noisily every step she took.
Those little candies that he would suck, rolling them around his mouth. If you listened closely, you could hear the 'click-clack' of them knocking against his teeth and the swishing sound that meant he was passing them across his tongue, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and-
They were disgusting. Butter rum flavored and a wane yellow color.
He loved them.