The next morning, Soul woke to a knock on the door. He glanced at Maka's still-sleeping face and once more gently extracted himself from her limbs. He paused at the doorway of his room to look back at his Meister, so peaceful and innocent in her sleep. "Damn, Maka, why you gotta be so cute?" He muttered to himself.
He quietly made his way to the door and opened it to find Miss Marie and Tsubaki. "Miss Marie? Tsubaki? Is everything okay?" Soul asked as he pulled the door closed behind him. Automatically he searched out Maka's soul wavelength with his own so he would know if she needed him. Miss Marie chuckled and replied, "That's what we came to ask you. I was worried about you and Maka when you missed afternoon classes yesterday so I asked Tsubaki about it. She told me about Maka's break down and wanted to come check on her immediately 'cause that's so unlike her. Tsubaki convinced me she'd be fine with you here looking out for her."
"Thank you Miss Marie, that's very cool of you. Unfortunately Maka and I are going to miss morning classes again, but unless something else happens we should be back after lunch. And don't you have a class to teach in five minutes?" Soul and Tsubaki laughed as she hurried through farewells and waddled towards the elevator. "Tsubaki, you're excused from your first class but I expect you there for the second!" She called just before the elevator doors closed.
"Um, Soul, may I please see Maka?" Tsubaki asked tentatively. "Yeah, but she's still asleep so try not to wake her up, 'kay? I'd appreciate it," Soul replied, quietly opening the door. When Tsubaki started towards Maka's room Soul called to her in a low voice, "She's in my room, she kept having nightmares and crying and I didn't want her to have to wake up alone." Tsubaki smiled, "How sweet of you."
Soul kept ahold of Maka's soul wavelength to continue monitoring it while he quietly began to prepare breakfast for her. He had the eggs in the skillet, the toast in the toaster, and the bacon sizzling in the pan when Tsubaki returned to the kitchen. She sniffed the air appreciatively and mentioned what a fine cook he was becoming. Soul just shrugged and stirred the eggs with his left hand and flipped bacon strips with his right. "It seems becoming a death scythe has improved your multi-tasking skills and coordination," Tsubaki observed. Soul shrugged again and flipped the toast down. He turned the heat off the eggs and put the bacon strips onto paper towels to soak up the grease. "Crap," he muttered as he felt Maka's soul wavelengths begin to awaken. "Not yet, not yet." He hurried to the fridge and grabbed the jelly and a knife on his way back. He set them down on the counter and grabbed the bed-tray to arrange the plates on.
He forced his soul to send comforting wavelengths to keep her asleep a little bit longer. Soul scooped two spoonfuls of scrambled eggs onto the plate, laid three slices of bacon along the edge, and quickly spread jelly on a piece of toast. After adding that to the plate, he found a little fruit bowl and filled it with blackberries, her favorite. The finishing touch were two small glasses, one full of apple juice and one of water. Very carefully, he backed off his soul wavelengths and carried the tray to his bedroom, just in time for her to open her eyes.
Maka's eyes had always done funny things to Soul, and he was amazed she hadn't seemed to notice yet. Now that I'm a death scythe, he thought, our soul resonance is so much stronger and we can constantly sense each other's soul wavelengths. It's so hard for me to control these new emotions. Get a grip Soul, this is not cool.
He grinned at her as she looked around and blushed. "How did I end up in your room again?" She asked before uncurling her body and stretching like a kitten. Soul swallowed and barely remembered to breathe. He forced his feet forward to his bed and set the tray down for her. Maka's face lit up as her stomach grumbled and she giggled.
"Thank you, Soul." He grinned and turned to the door, saying he'd be right back. In the kitchen, he cleaned everything up and made himself a sandwich of eggs and bacon. Taking the plate back to his room, he sat down next to Maka and took a bite. They ate together in comfortable silence, enjoying the pleasure of each other's souls.
Soul finished first, leaning back and sighing contentedly. He waited for Maka to finish and took the dishes and tray back to the kitchen. Setting them in the sink, he returned to his bedroom and sat next to her again. She smiled at him, her eyes shining brightly in thanks. Soul chuckled and pulled her closer with one arm, making her giggle. He couldn't resist placing a kiss on top of her head, to which she hmmed happily. "Do you feel better today, Angel-chan?" He asked, using her nickname from their flying lessons.
"Yeah, I think I just needed sleep," she answered sheepishly, face turning bright red. "Sorry I flipped out like I did. I didn't mean to worry anyone. Especially you," she added the last part in a whisper. "Maka? Why especially me?" Soul asked in confusion, searching her gaze. She frantically tried to blink back tears as she whispered, "Because you always end up hurt because of me and I hate that. I hate being the reason you're suffering and in pain."
Soul chuckled and pulled her into his arms. "You idiot. You think it's because of you that I get hurt? It's because I'm a weapon completely devoted to his Meister. It's in the job description to bleed every now and then. I may be a death scythe now but I'm still human." Soul finished his speech and pulled back to look in her awed face. Those eyes, he thought as he grinned. His inner voice was screaming at him to keep his mouth shut but he didn't seem to notice as the next words left his mouth.
"Believe it or not Maka, you're more than a little beautiful and any guy with eyes would jump in front of you to save you." Crap! He immediately froze and wanted to swallow the words he hadn't mean to say. Soul ducked his head in her hair to cover his embarrassment at the slip. He heard Maka gasp lightly as his words finally made sense in her head. Internally braced for her rebuke, he was unprepared for her to ask, "You really love me, don't you? 'Cause Tsubaki and Liz and Patti are beautiful too but you wouldn't almost die for them. No...you love me."
She said the words softly, wonderingly. MAKA BOOK CHOP! "You idiot! Why didn't you tell me any of this before now?! Do you know how much trouble you could have saved me?" Soul had stared at her open-mouthed during her rant and was completely not prepared for her to launch herself at him. He fell back on his bed with Maka on top of him and had barely blinked when suddenly she was kissing him.
His eyes closed and he began to return the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her to him. She let out a shaky gasp as his tongue traced her full lips. In one smooth movement Soul had flipped them over. He propped himself on his elbows so his weight wouldn't settle on her and cupped her cheek in his hand. Soul continued kissing Maka and tentatively reached out his soul wavelength to hers. She whimpered as his soul embraced hers. "Soul," she whispered.
They both broke the kiss when they heard a knock at the door. "Dammit," Soul muttered. "Don't move Maka," he said after placing a quick kiss to her lips. He ran his fingers through his hair and went to answer the door.