So I'm not sure how long it's been since I last updated but I think it's been about a week. Regardless, let's all just take a moment to celebrate that I was able to get chapter four out for you guys! Anyway, I wanted to take a moment and thank all of you guys again for putting up with my moody updating schedule and an even bigger shout out goes to the people who took time to send me all the great reviews and follow/favorite me! It really means a lot and it certainly makes my day whenever I get emails from fanfiction about you guys!

Anyway without any more of my rambling here's the next chapter!

P.s. the idea for this chapter came to me during a looonnngggg car ride and it was originally in my head as a songfic one shot but I decided to adapt it to my story! For those of you wondering, the song that went with this was "the only exception" a song that I do not own,

just like everything else Soul Eater related!

Soul stood behind the counter in the kitchen feeling exceedingly agitated. He restlessly shifted his weight from foot to foot and had his index finger curled at his side constantly switching it from blade to flesh. The source of his agitation stood directly across from him in the living room staring forlornly out the window at the sun as it fought sleep on its way down to the horizon. Maka had been out of it all day and while at first she tried to keep her melancholy from seeping through the link, by the time she was finished picking at her breakfast she had given up and her emotions had poured through unchecked into Soul and he absolutely hated it. To be clear, he didn't hate the fact that she was allowing her emotions to seep through the link unchecked, he was furious that there was absolutely nothing he could do to make his meister feel better. As he stood constantly switching his finger to a blade and back, he wished more than anything there was a tangible thing he could get to and rip to shreds that would make his meister feel better. Wish as he might, he knew full well there was nothing he could do, this sort of thing happened every year and he thought he'd be able to handle it a little better this year but so far he had failed to.

Today was the anniversary of Maka's parents getting a divorce. While she didn't mourn the loss of her parents happiness, she did dwell on her lack of a normal family. Every year on this day Maka would be unusually quiet and somber and pretty much mope around all day and Soul absolutely hated seeing her like this and being unable to do anything. However that didn't stop him, just like he had been doing the previous years he was determined to do as many little things for her today to make it that much easier on her. He got up early much like he did earlier that week and fixed her coffee for her, only this time he also made her a nice hot breakfast consisting of eggs and bacon with wheat toast, buttered just the way she liked it. He would feel a twinge of guilt from the link every time he did something for her be it, fix her lunch or sit with her on the couch and sit through horrible girly television programs, but he would dismiss it immediately either through assurance via the link or a stern look informing her that resistance was futile. All day, he followed her around like an over protective dog, a likeness he was beginning to come to terms with, and would back off and give her space when he sensed she needed it, always checking in through the link to make sure she didn't need anything. Normally prodding this much would warrant him getting Maka chopped or worse but this wasn't the first anniversary they had spent together and Maka knew the drill just as much as Soul did.

And now he stood impatiently watching his meister, pleading with the sun to hurry up and vanish so she could go to bed and wake up tomorrow feeling better already. While he stood watching her he suddenly noticed a shift from the link in the back of his head. Rather than a constant trickle of sadness like he had been receiving from her end all day, the flow of emotions had suddenly stopped and Soul wondered why she was suddenly showing restraint. There was no point this late in the day, it had been going on all day and she knew he didn't mind so why the sudden change? Soul prodded at the link trying to figure out what was going on and as he did this he noticed Maka had suddenly gone very still and rigid. Not knowing what was wrong he quickly made his way around the counter and out into the living room. The closer he got to her the more results he was getting from his prodding of the link. He could feel something building up inside of her and it wasn't until he was only a few steps behind her that he realized just what she was feeling and trying to contain.

Fear.

As he came to this realization he didn't have any time to consider what it meant because Maka turned from the window to face him, her eyes wide with tears brimming the edges and for a moment she stood absolutely still simply looking at him and quivering. Soul tried to ask what was wrong but before he could form any words she crashed into him burying her head in his chest and began sobbing into him as she clutched at his shirt. Taken completely off guard Soul's eyes doubled in size and he had to stop himself from jumping back. For a few moments he stood absolutely still with his arms hanging from his sides debating what he should do until he heard her choke out between sobs,

"Please don't leave me too."

Suddenly Soul felt a twinge in his chest as he realized what was going on. She thought he was going to leave her like her mother did all those years ago. Without even thinking he wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair with one of his hands while leaning his head on top of hers.

"I'm not going anywhere stupid," he muttered, "I've got nowhere else to go." He couldn't tell if she had heard him or not but she had seemed to have quieted slightly. That's not to say she had stopped crying, Soul's shirt was continuing to get soaked but he didn't pay any mind to it. The only thing that mattered was that Maka had got it into her head that he would even consider leaving and that was a notion he simply had to get rid of, especially if this is how it made her feel. So he stood there with her, and let her get out all of her tears that she never allowed herself to shed, all the tears she refused to let anyone, even sometimes him see. He tightened his hold on her, pressing her slightly more against him, wanting all of her pain to just seep out of her and over into him so that he could take care of it. He just couldn't bear seeing her like this and his crazy possessive overprotective side of him was going into overdrive. However, he restrained himself and stayed right where he was, focusing instead on how soft her hair was, or how warm she was.

Maka was absolutely disgusted with herself, however she was too upset and terrified to pay much mind to what she was allowing herself to do. She rarely ever cried in front of her partner and even rarer had she allowed him to hold her when she did. However this time she was too upset, too scared of losing him to care and she continued to sob into his warm chest as she clutched his shirt. He had told her he wasn't going anywhere though, and that gave her such relief, and he would never know because she had carefully kept that hidden inside her. While somewhat relieved but still feeling upset and afraid of being alone Maka stopped sobbing, sniffed, and leaned back a little, Soul relaxing his arms enough for her to be able to see him but still holding on to her tightly enough to where she still felt that sense of protection. She looked into his crimson eyes, clearly full of concern as they studied her, and managed to softly say,

"Soul, I'm feeling a little tired." His eyes immediately softened and keeping a protective arm around her he led her from the living room to her bedroom, holding the door open and walking in with her, never once leaving her side. Once inside her room she realized if she went to sleep she would be alone again so Maka very softly said,

"I don't think I'm actually going to sleep yet, just," she paused, her cheeks turning a tinge of red as she looked away and continued, "sit with me?" She knew he wouldn't make fun of her at a time like this and was very glad when he slowly sat down next to her on her bed, keeping an arm around her and allowing her to lie back on his chest. He felt so warm and she felt even warmer when his hand that wasn't resting on her side found one of her free hands and tangled his fingers with hers. Normally something like this would be beyond awkward but Maka knew that Soul knew today was an exception, an anomaly that wouldn't be spoken of in the morning or any day following. He was her weapon, her protector, and would do whatever she needed him to do to pick her up when she was down and every year on this day he would prove it time and again.

No words were spoken, the two simply sat in complete silence and neither were bothered by it. Maka was beginning to doze off but didn't want Soul to leave. He was so warm and she felt so safe however, just as she predicted when her head began lolling to the side along his chest he gently began to get up and lay her down across her bed. As her head came to rest on her pillows her first thought was about how cold they were in comparison to Soul's chest and how lonely her bed seemed at that moment. As Soul began to untangle his hand from hers she squeezed onto it as tight as she could and turned to look at him. His eyes locked onto hers with a confused look on them and she could feel him prodding her from the link asking what was wrong but instead of trying to explain her hopeless situation and how uncomfortable her pillows suddenly felt she mumbled the one word she could form at the moment-

"Stay."

For the second time Soul's eyes doubled in size and he began to stammer something about her needing rest and something about the logistics of two people fitting on her bed and instead of hear him out Maka simply pulled his arm towards her and he let out a sigh, gently following after. She scooted over and made room for him on her tiny bed and as he awkwardly laid on his back doing his best to keep as much space between them as possible Maka mentally rolled her eyes and moved next to him laying her head back down on the crook of his neck, taking her hand that wasn't trapped between their bodies holding on to his and placed it on his torso, curling her body up against him. Were it not for her desperate need to not be alone she would have been mortified with herself but add lethargy to her state and the rational Maka was nowhere to be found. Once she was nestled onto him comfortably she let out a contented sigh, relishing his smell and letting a small tired smile splay across her face as he gently lifted her head and wrapped hiss free arm around her having his hand come to rest dangerously close to her hip. Maka didn't care, she was warm, and safe, and quite frankly, sleeping with Soul himself was much more reassuring than with one of his stolen shirts. Her last thoughts before she drifted off into slumber were about whether or not Soul would be there when she woke up.

She desperately hoped he would be.

As Soul lay completely still his mind was going into overdrive. Not only was he exercising a huge amount of self-control keeping his body from tensing up and bolting out the door, he was using an even more amount keeping his thoughts and feelings from slipping through the link. He knew today was rough on Maka and he would do whatever it takes to make her feel better even if it meant sleeping beside her but what had him worried was not only the promise of probably being Maka chopped in the morning when she woke up as her regular self but also how comfortable and okay he was with this. He was sleeping in his meister's bed with her curled up against him like a freaking cat and while he knew he should be anything but comfortable with this he couldn't stop himself from focusing on how warm she was, or how wonderful she smelled and how it completely filled his nose and how her hair would brush lightly against his next when she moved a bit. What he really couldn't help but dwell on was how comfortable she looked on top of him. He craned his next ever so slightly, as to not disturb her and had to ignoring the tickling sensation of her hair as he moved, but he was able to catch a glance of her face illuminated by the pale moonlight.

She had a small smile on her face and looked more peaceful than he had seen in a while. His original plan was to simply wait for her to fall asleep and quietly make an exit but with her practically on top of him like she was there was no way that was going to happen. Plus, somewhere deep down in a place Soul didn't want to acknowledge, he loved the feeling of lying next to her like this and as he leaned his head back, he tilted it to the side so that it rested atop hers and allowed himself a small smirk. He would suffer the abuse tomorrow morning, it would be well worth it and plus, today was Saturday so there would be no rush to get up in the morning. Giving into his rebellious thoughts of lounging in bed with his meister Soul slowly closed his eyes and gave his meister a small squeeze with his arm wrapped around her. She unconsciously nestled herself closer to him, gently tightening her grip on his shirt with her free hand. With that, Soul allowed himself to be enveloped by her warmth and her scent and drift peacefully to sleep.

Well there you have it! I hope yall enjoyed it! If you really liked it maybe leave a review? ^.^ Anyway I have some ideas for some upcoming chapters and much to my distaste I'll have other characters like blackstar and co. showing up in the next chapters. As much as I don't really care about writing about the rest of the crew, I can't really have that great of a storyline without them. So until next time- See ya!