So, here's the third installation of my pride and joy. Thanks to K for looking it over and to sweetprincesspeach for RUINING EVERYTHING. Dedicated to makapedia, the salty angel she is.


That one time Wes dropped by to embarrass Soul because he missedtheir bi-weekly call. He brings family photo albums. Maka learns that Soul was a very chubby baby thanks to Nan's cannolis.

After the most embarrassing visit of the century (and Soul wondered why Maka always called him a drama queen) and the Evans family reunion from hell, Soul didn't really want to speak to any of his family for a while. So, he didn't call Wes for their bi-weekly talk. For one, Soul was still upset with him for tricking him to going to the reunion and two, he had already seen his brother and talked to him, in person, barely a week ago. He saw no need to call him.

Soul was understandably pissed the fuck off when his beloved older brother decided to "pop" in at seven o'clock in the morning on a Saturday.

The annoying pittering on the door was what woke him and as he grumbled "what the fuck do you want?", the young Evans brother had to restrain himself from slamming the door shut, if only for the sake of his sleeping meister ,whose warm embrace he was forced to leave.

"Hello, little brother!" Wes said cheerfully, his blue eyes bright and awake.

"No, no, no, please why. Why are you heereee?" Soul whined weakly while leaning heavily against the door, unwillingly giving Wes an opening to enter the apartment.

"What?" The slightly shorter man asked innocently. "A man can't visit his kid brother?"

"Not a kid anymore, bro," Soul grumbled as he closed the door, silently accepting the fact that he would just have to deal with his asshat of a brother for the rest of his life.

"Ah, yes," Wes sighed dramatically as he made his way to the kitchen. "Eighteen, the tender age of manhood. You're growing up so fast, my little brother."

"You literally have to look up at me."

"Only slightly."

Soul moved away from the door, glad that at least Wes didn't come over with any luggage. He didn't know if he could handle having his brother live with him… for however long he decided to stay in Death City. What the hell was he doing in Nevada, anyway?

...Wait...

"How did you even find me?" Soul asked suddenly, because, really how had he found him? This kind of took Wes from being annoying, older brother to creepy, stalkerish brother that he might have to file a restraining order against.

"Are you kidding me?" His creepy brother asked incredulously. "Remember when you used to only send letters to me?"

This was true. Though his family knew where Shibusen was located, he definitely did not want any unwanted guests at his apartment during his training. So, he only communicated with Wes through the U.S. Postal system.

"I never put a return address," Soul stated bluntly.

"Didn't have to," Wes said simply, rummaging through the cabinets for a coffee mug. It was quite early in the morning, a man needed his white chocolate mocha cappuccino drizzled in caramel.

Soul stared silently at the lunatic that he reluctantly called his brother. "You tracked me?!"

"Well, how else did you think Nan knew where you lived?"

Soul could only groan. It was official. His brother was bat-shit crazy and Soul had no way of escape.

"Soooo…" his annoying nuisance of a brother began, "Why didn't you tell me you and Maka were a thing?"

Okay. Yup. That's it. Nope. He couldn't do this. Wes needed to go, or Soul needed to get away from him. Why did his brother have to be such a little shit?

"We're not!" The quickly reddening man shrieked.

"Yeah." Wes chuckled, cooling off his some how already made cappuccino. 'When the hell did he do that?' "Uh-huh. Suuuuure."

It was only seven in the morning. Why did God hate him and why had death evaded him so? Soul walked over to the kitchen area, abandoning his space at the door when he realized that his wish for this to be a short, quick visit was not going to come true.

"Would you just tell me what the hell you are doing here?" Soul asked bluntly as he settled himself on the round table directly across from the kitchen counter, more than sick of his older brother's twisted games.

"Oh…" Wes began, sounding offended, raising himself from his seated position on the counter (Great, Now Soul had to bleach the area to get his brother's ass germs off of it). "So, Nan can stop by at anytime but I can't?"

"Yes!" Soul exclaimed "She's Nan!"

"And what am I?" Wes asked, sounding very hurt for someone who decided that seven am was an appropriate time to visit anyone, ever.

"Not Nan," Soul retorted dryly.

The two bickering siblings hadn't noticed the growing volume of their spat and were caught unaware when they heard a certain meister open the door.

Soul's bedroom door.

People really needed to stop dropping by when they were asleep, especially when they were sleeping in the same bed (which was almost all the time). It gave off the wrong impression.

Wes threw a smug look at Soul before arranging his face into a charming smile.

"What's going on out here?" Maka grumbled. She was usually a morning person, but really? It was a Saturday and she had to deal with Soul's family and a shitty mission earlier last week; she more than deserved the rest. It didn't help that Blair had returned from her trip with the Chupa Cabra witches last night and found it necessary to go over every detail of her vacation. Maka's not even sure what time she went to bed.

"Oh, hello, Maka!" Wes waved happily. "It's so nice to see you again!"

"Wes?" Maka questioned, before walking into the kitchen where the two siblings were. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, Wes. What are you doing here?" Soul growled.

Maka punched him in the arm."Don't be rude, Soul."

Wes chuckled, earning the blonde man a dark glare from his younger brother. "Oh, I just came in to check on my brother." Wes could barely contain himself when he caught sight of Soul's bewildered look. It was way too much fun messing with him. "I'm actually here for a little business as well! My flight landed earlier than expected and I just wanted to pop in before going to a meeting." The older man explained pleasantly.

"Oh, will you be staying long?" Maka asked innocently.

Say no. Say no. Please, Death for the love of everything sane and good please let him be leaving today.

"I'm actually staying for about a week. Five days to be exact!"

Why did God hate him?

"Oh, good! Well, hopefully you can stop by for lunch or dinner sometime!" Maka replied, happily.

"Oh, certainly! That would be a treat, I would love to taste your cooking, Maka," Wes said charmingly.

Maka blushed.

God must abhor Soul.

"Well, I don't really do most of the cooking around here." The tiny blonde looked up at her weapon and lightly elbowed his ribs teasingly. "That's really more of Soul's department."

Dear, Death just take him now.

"Oh, really?" The suited man looked at his sibling, surprised, before his face broke out into a grin. "Well, he did always spend a considerable amount of time in the kitchen with Mom and Nan, who would've known anything would stick?"

Soul wanted to melt into the ground, why were there so many people hell bent on embarrassing him?

"He's quite good!" Maka tittered. "I really hate when it's my turn to cook. I really like seeing him in his frilly apron and baking lasagna.~"

"MAKA!" The already blushing boy shrieked."What the hell?!"

"What?" The meister argued. "It's true!"

Wes couldn't help but to laugh loudly, doubled over and barely able to support himself on the counter due to the power of his giggles.

This was going to be a long five days.


Soul was going to lose his fucking mind.

One more day.

One more fucking day and Wes would be on a plane and far away from both him and Maka.

Thank Jesus fuck.

Soul loved his brother. Wes was his rock when his parents were on his case about his progress in piano classes. Wes was the one who helped him make friends as a kid, because Soul was an anxious little fuck who desperately wanted to connect to the people around him. Wes helped him sneak snacks back to his room, because Wes was taller and could actually reach the snack cabinet. He was the best big brother a little Soul could ask for.

But now? Wes was just an annoying shithead who didn't know how to mind his own damn business.

During his stay, Soul's older brother became very acquainted with the apartment, coming by almost everyday to eat lunch and/or dinner and sometimes he dropped by to make himself some coffee. And if that wasn't annoying enough, Wes and Maka were becoming very familiar with each other.

A chorus of laughter erupted from the living room.

They were in there right now, laughing at pictures of Soul as a baby, while grown up Soul sulked in his room because he was pathetic and had a crush on his meister who might have the hots for his brother.

But, really, what else was he supposed to expect?

And he knew he was blowing things out of proportion as Billie Holiday croons in his ear about a gloomy Sunday, he knew Maka and he knew his brother would never try to intentionally take Maka away from him. Soul also knew that Maka wasn't his to keep and he couldn't help thinking, 'What if?'

What if Maka finally realized that despite all the work that they've put in together, he would never be good enough for her?

Even worse, What if Wes was?

As Soul's stomach turned in turmoil and his head fogged up with the possibilities of Wes and Maka, the scythe meister knocked politely on his door.

"What?" He grumbled grumpily as he removed one earplug, the sound muffled by his pillow. Death, he was such a fucking loser.

"Hey, Soul?" Maka called through the door. "Can I come in?"

Soul sunk himself deeper into his pillows before answering, "Yeah. Sure. If you want."

Maka opened the door enough to slip through and closed it behind her.

"You feeling okay?"

"Yeah," Soul answered quietly, his back facing towards her. "I'm fine."

Maka looked at him with concern, noticing the depressed tone of his voice.

"Are you sure?" She asked, trying to see if he would want her help in anyway.

"Yeah," he answered bluntly.

"Okay." She reached for the doorknob, opening slightly before stopping. She turned around, her hand still on the door. "Everyone's going over to hang out at Black*Star and Tsubaki's place, wanna come?" Maka asked innocently, in a last ditch effort to brighten her partner's mood which seemed to sour by the minute, or rather the longer his brother was in town.

"All of us cramped up in that tiny ass apartment?" Soul replied snarkily. "No, thanks."

Maka's figure deflated. She wanted her partner to be happy but she didn't want to push him away from her, not when they had worked so hard for the past six years to be as close as they were.

"Do you want me to stay here with you or-?"

Yes. "Nah." He cut her off. Why the fuck did he always do this why did he always push her away at the times he wanted her closest? He thought he was doing so well. "You go on. Tell me all about it later."

She tried hard not to sound disappointed, he could tell. "Okay," she sighed. "Feel better."

He only furrowed deeper into himself, the click of the door shutting echoed throughout the small room.

Well, at least he wouldn't have to deal with his brother if he was locked up in his room.

Not even two minutes later, Soul heard a series of annoying knocking at his door and his meister shriek, "I don't think you should-!" before his door bursted open, presenting his older brother, a look of worry written all over his face.

"Soul?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

Soul groaned. He didn't need this shit, especially not from him. "Could you just leave me the fuck alone?"

"Wes, I think-" Maka interluded.

"Don't worry, Maka. I got this. He used to act like this all the time at home."

Yes, but this wasn't Connecticut, or New York City, or Maine, where he had no friends and a suffering social life. He just wanted to be left alone for fuck's sake.

But this was Wes.

"C'mon little bro." The blonde man nudged his shoulder. "Why don't you keep Maka some company?"

"She's literally going over to see our friends."

Wes paused, surprised at the caustic tone of his little brother's voice, but continued to push on.

"What if I went with you? Would you go then?" This always helped Soul when he was younger. Yes, he missed quite a chunk of his brother's life both due to boarding school and Soul attending Shibusen, but they were still brothers. They still knew each other.

"You're not gunna leave me alone about this are you?" Soul grumbled and rolled over into a seated position.

"Nope." Wes smiled brightly, popping the "p".

"Fine."

Soul grabbed his jacket, shoved past both his brother and Maka, and sulkily walked out of the apartment.

Wes always got what he wanted.


His friends loved him.

Of course they would. He was Wes. Everyone loved him.

Though Tsubaki and Black*Star had clearly outgrown their apartment (especially since Black*Star's growth spurt and puberty in general), the two had still decided to live together and continue partnership.

But, that didn't mean that this place was in any way shape or form able to hold twelve full grown bodies. Soul was smushed up against his brother on one of the teeny couches in the living space, and clearly, the older blonde still hadn't learn what personal boundaries were. The deathscythe couldn't complain too much though, because he had Maka at his side and she was almost in his lap. The closeness between weapon and meister seemed to balm the crippling insecurities about being his brother's lesser half. Soul began to think that he might just be able to survive the evening.

"I'm having such a great time with you all!" Wes exclaimed loudly, followed by cheers from most of Spartoi (Kid had to stay behind, being a Death God was a full time job.). Wes then laughed boisterously while gesturing towards his brother, "Can you believe that Soul didn't even want to come here, tonight?" The blonde man ruffled through his sibling's white hair, "Guess you still need your big brother to make friends, huh?" Wes asked teasingly.

Fuck him.

Soul was furious. Where the fuck did Wes come off saying shit like that? Where was he his first day at the school for weapons and meisters? Where was he when he met Maka? Became partners with Maka? Hell, someone explain to him how the most introverted soul in this school became close friends with an idiot that always yelled and challenged God? Fuck Wes. This, this friendship, the life he made here in Death City? That was Soul. Not Wes. If there was one person he would thank for hammering down his walls, it would be, was, and always will be, Maka.

The rest of the group laughed awkwardly (Wes's comment was more than a bit insensitive.), sensing the tension between Soul and his brother.

"I gotta take a piss."

The white haired teen got up suddenly, abruptly removing his arm from around Maka, causing her to thud into the seat of the couch. Wes lightly grabbed his elbow, laughing at him to take a joke, little brother.

"Get the fuck off me," Soul hissed. Wes released his grip immediately. The older Evans brother had never heard him talk to him like that before. Soul always acted like Wes was a nuisance but this was the first time that Wes began to think that maybe he had gone too far.


When they got home, it took everything in Soul to not slam the door in his brother's face.

Soul stood as far away from Wes as possible, making it very clear just how pissed he was. He barreled into the kitchen, flung the refrigerator door open and forcefully took out the milk carton, drinking straight out of it. He slammed the fridge door as he crushed the now empty half gallon. Maka, the poor girl, was too surprised to scold Soul for his behavior, both because he abandoned doing things like that a long time ago and it was very rare for Soul to show his anger so blatantly. Obviously, the two Evans brothers had some talking to do.

"Well," Maka's words cut through the palpable silence. "Since, Soul drank the rest of the milk, I'll go get some more." With that and a stern "Behave." Maka walked out the door, the sound of the door closing echoed throughout the apartment.

The silence was unbearable and charged with negativity.

Wes, for the first time in his life, had fucked up.

And Soul was going to let him have it.

"Um," The older man began nervously, keeping his space and standing by the door. The look his brother threw at him was almost unrecognizable, his red eyes swirling with anger and hurt and it was all just too much at once. "Did I do something wrong?"

Soul chuckled lowly, "Did you do something wrong?" The taller man huffed and steadied his breathing, trying his hardest to stay calm. "What the fuck? Did you really just fucking ask me that?"

So much for trying to stay calm.

"Is everything alright?" Wes asked wearily.

"Is everything alright?" Soul could feel himself losing it, his brother was just so fucking dense. "Is everything alright? What the fuck is your problem?!"

"What? Soul, I'm not understa-" and Soul erupted, cutting off his brother, years of bottled up insecurities and five days of his brother just shitting on everything he worked so hard for, finally rushing from Soul like a bursting dam.

"You fucking show up at people's doorstep and just expect them to drop every little single thing for you."

"Now, that is not true Soul-"

"And fucking eat up all our food, you get all cozy with my meister!"

"I was just trying to be nice!" Wes argued.

"Would you just shut up for once?!" Soul shrieked incredulously. He was so over this shit, so over his brother. Why couldn't things just work out for him?

Another tense silence fell between the two siblings. Wes was on the verge of tears. He had never argued with his brother before, never. He always tried his best to accommodate Soul and Soul never questioned his actions, it was always the two of them against the world.

Had that changed?

Soul took a deep breath, several actually. Fuck this, fuck this in every way possible.

"I've had to live my whole entire life in your shadow up until a few years ago." Fuck. This was hard. Soul gripped the counter, his knuckles a pale white in comparison to his tan skin.

"What?" Wes began, barely stepping away from the door space, "Soul, I never wanted-"

"I know you never wanted me to feel that way, but you can't always help what you feel." Soul removed himself from the counter, staring directly at his brother. "And I know you can't always help how you are but Jesus, Wes."

"I'm sorry."

Soul paused for the barest of seconds. Wes never had to apologize to him because Wes was never at fault. Death, it had to be hard growing up as the literal embodiment of perfection. "You gotta respect my boundaries if this thing is gonna work out. I know you want me to get back in touch with the family, I know you want our relationship to get better but, fuck you're coming at it from all the wrong angles." Soul sighed exasperated, the memories of this week returning anew.

Wes nodded jerkily. Soul really hoped his brother wouldn't cry. The scythe remembered the summer before Wes left for boarding school and how he cried for days on end because a junior boy at the local high school had rejected him.

"This isn't going to be instantaneous," Soul continued. "I'm not just gonna hop back into the 'norm' of things just to have my self-esteem fucked over. I've worked too hard and Maka worked way too hard with me." She still is.

"I mean fuck, Wes." The white-haired man sighed. "You tricked me into going to a family reunion. You made me think someone died," he finished somberly, trying to emphasize the shittyness of it all.

"I never said anyone died, per-" Wes tried to defend, weakly.

"It was still fucked up."

Wes's blue eyes filled with water, his tears spilling over. Even when Wes cried he looked perfect.

"Fuck," Soul groaned. "I didn't fucking sign up for this shit."

Soul moved over to his brother, who still stood by the door. The deathscythe rubbed his back as his brother sobbed silently. Wes grabbed onto the material of his younger brother's jacket, and weeped openly onto his shoulder.

"Fuck." Soul muttered, as his own eyes misted over.

His jacket was going to get ruined.


"Remind me before I leave to thank Maka." The two siblings had now gravitated towards one of the couches in the living room area and Wes was leaning against Soul. A lot of talking had happened and a lot of tears were involved. Soul was a whole new person, a blooming adult with preferences that Wes was going to have to learn to respect. Wes loved his brother and would do anything for him, including giving him the space that he needed. "I don't know what she did, but she did a great job."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Soul waved him off, shoving Wes off with a laugh. Getting along with his brother was nice, he liked it.

"And bro, seriously," Wes began, a mischievous glint in his striking blue eyes. "You need to get on that. Maka's a great girl but-"

"Wes." Soul cut him off dryly. "Boundaries."

"Right." Wes nodded. "Boundaries." A slight pause came between the two before Wes poked his younger brother in the ribs, an annoying habit he used to do when he wanted Soul to confess to something. "But still-"

"I'm working on it!" Soul exclaimed. The two fell into an easy laughter.

No, this process wouldn't be easy, but he was going through it with his brother, the one who accepted him from the beginning.


When Maka returned from the supermarket in town (even though they lived right next to a convenience store), she found the two brothers in the kitchen, making some of the best smelling coffee her nose had the pleasure of sniffing.

The tiny blonde meister smiled.

If it took Soul and Wes bonding over their love of ridiculously made lattes to fix their relationship, so be it. At least this way, she'd have no need for a Keurig.

After Wes' visit Soul put a reminder on his phone to call his Nan and his brother, weekly and bi-weekly respectively. This was an emotional roller coaster he definitely did not want to ride again.