AN: Wow guys, I'm sorry this update took so long. I just got back from Disney World and progress was kinda slow on vacation. But this is the longest update yet! They just keep getting longer... Oh and look at all of the follows I got! Thank you all so much for keeping up with this story I really appreciate it~
"So, do you really like him?" Tsubaki prodded Maka as they made their way down the hill and onto the stone path that led to the university's cafeteria. The amazon woman was relentless. From the time before they left the building and for the entire walk, Tsubaki bombarded the poor blonde with deep emotional questions that Maka honestly didn't have a clear answer for. Maka repeatedly told Tsubaki this, but she continued to pry, thinking that Maka was keeping something from her. That wasn't the case, but Maka was forced to repeat the same answer she'd given to Tsubaki for what felt like the hundredth time already .
"Tsubaki, Soul is very nice and I enjoy his company, but I can't say I have feelings for him at this point. I only learned his name three hours ago, for crying out loud!"
"Sure, you can. What's your heart telling you?" Maka sighed and rolled her eyes, not wanting to humor Tsubaki's cheesy, romantic 'follow-your-heart' bullshit. Maka didn't know what her heart was telling her. She knew exactly what her body was telling her and it was screaming at her to jump Soul's bones. But Maka refused to act on those unusual inward commands, not wanting to be a slave to her hormones for some meaningless weekend fling. Maka was much too responsible for something like that.
"I don't know, Tsubaki! God, I don't know why you're so obsessed with this!" She raised her voice at her. Maka's patience was wearing thin. Realizing she was louder than she intended, she looked to the two boys who trailed behind them. Black*Star and Soul had been carrying on their own separate conversation for a while now. Well, a mostly one sided conversation where Black*Star did all the talking with Soul nodding and replying with one-word answers. Soul had changed into dark wash jeans with a black t-shirt. Over that, he wore a blue plaid flannel jacket under this thick dark leather one. It was probably his riding jacket, the one he wore while riding that bike of his. Glancing over at Maka, Soul met her gaze with a look of sympathy. She wondered if he was getting a spiel similar to hers.
"Well, do you think he's attractive at least?" Her attention was yanked back to Tsubaki. Maka sputtered at her question and Tsubaki gave her a knowing smirk.
"Ah ha! You do, don't you!" Maka had to act quickly putting her hand over Tsubaki's mouth and shushing her so the guys wouldn't overhear them.
"Tsubaki! Don't be so loud..." Maka whispered. "And, so what if I do? It doesn't mean anything, for all I know Soul's just another player." She lowered her hand to allow her friend to speak. It didn't matter Soul never gave Maka a reason to doubt his intentions. He never gave her a reason to trust him, either. All she knew about him were the things Soul told her. Maka was very attracted to Soul, but she also didn't want to get hurt.
"Come on, Maka-chan. That's not fair. You can't just assume things like that."
"I'm not assuming; I'm just not ruling out the possibility." Tsubaki shook her head, Maka simply shrugged in return.
"But, one has to be charismatic to be a ladies man. I'm actually surprised Soul-kun is so friendly towards you. He's not really anti-social but he's not that much of a people person either. Black*Star is surprised too, he says he's never seen Soul-kun being so sweet on a girl before."
"I wonder why that is..."
"Black*Star says Soul-kun's very picky when it comes to things like that. Something about unrealistic expectations." Maka did her best to not let her flattery show. She simply nodded with a small smile and Tsubaki squealed, excited for her friend.
The area they were currently in, the lower quad, was the most decked-out for halloween than anywhere else on campus. Jack-'o-lanterns rested at the bottom of every tree and all the lampposts were wrapped with pumpkin lights. Artificial ghosts swayed from branches and cotton cobwebs attached to every adherable surface. Maka had been told Shibusen paid special attention to this holiday mainly because, the university hosted the annual Deaths City All Hallows Eve Festival. This holiday was also of great importance to the entire university for it was the one time of year, the headmaster of the college came out for a public appearance to address the student body. Apparently, this head master was quite eccentric; he always wore a Grim Reaper-type outfit when attending these events; no one knew what the headmaster looked like.
It all seemed a bit sketchy to Maka, but the festival sounded like fun and she was excited about attending, even if she didn't have a costume. According to Tsubaki, she already had something for Maka to wear, however, she was somewhat frightened of what Tsubaki had planned. If Tsubaki puts Maka in a sexy maid outfit, Stradivarius would claim its second victim. She was so lost in her reverie, she didn't notice Soul, who had come up to walk with her. Maka snapped out of it when he, once again, took her hand in his.
"Oh! Soul..."
"Sup?" Maka smiled and adjusted her hand so their fingers would lace together. Hand-holding seemed kind of childish, but it was nice.
"I'm fine, how are you?"
"I'm alright." he smiled back. "You seemed awfully deep in thought, is something wrong?"
She sighed, feeling somewhat silly.
"I'm just wondering what Tsubaki was planning on dressing me up as for Halloween..."
"You left it up to her? That's trusting."
"Yes, well... She said that she had something for me to wear and I didn't want to spend money on a costume, anyway. That's money I could spend on books." She defended half-heartedly. He just shook his head in mock disapproval.
"I feel like modesty and public decency should come before books, personally. Maybe that's just because I'm not a bookworm like you." She hit him on the arm, huffing at his teasing. He just laughed.
"Seriously though Maka, what if she dresses you up like a sexy maid or something?" Wow, Soul really hit the nail on the head there.
"Ugh. That's, like, my worst fear. Bet you wouldn't mind seeing that, though." Soul took a moment to answer when he smirked and shot her an easy smile.
"I'd like to see you no matter what you're wearing." Maka blushed at his blatant flirting as Soul went on.
"But if you did, maybe you could clean my room." She hit him again, but didn't let go of his hand for the rest of the walk. They arrived at the cafeteria, a little after dusk. When they entered the wide brick building, Maka was confronted with the aromas of various foods and the sounds of chatter. They waited in line for the register, and upon reaching the front Maka attempted to fish her wallet out of her pocket when Soul stopped her.
"It's cool, Maka." Soul looked to the cashier and handed her his student ID. "One student and one guest, please." He let Maka know afterward that his meal plan came with free guest passes. Maka thought it was sweet that Soul used one for her. After Tsubaki let them know where they were sitting, the pairs went their separate ways to find food that appealed to them. The cafeteria was a buffet, where students could pick and choose what they wanted from the various stands.
Maka went to the side where they laid out the entrees; mostly everything looked watery, dried out, or burnt. It wasn't much better than the cafeteria food at her own high school, but she supposed that one couldn't expect much from institutional food. Maka was about to give up and grab some french fries when a menu item caught her eye. They were serving fried plantains and absolutely Maka loved those. They looked like they were prepared correctly, so Maka scooped some onto her plate, along with a slice of pizza from another stand and made her way to the place Tsubaki said they would sit. They had chosen a long table in the back that was completely filled up except for one chair, the one next to Soul. She recognized a few of the faces at the table apart from the ones in the party she came with.
The long haired blonde from the night before, named Liz, and Tsubaki's roommate were there, but there were a lot of people she didn't know. There was a boy with alarmingly gold eyes sitting next to Liz who was painstakingly attempting to shape a pile of salt into a perfectly straight line in front of him. His hair was strange, as it was black with three white rectangular stripes on one side. It was funny, Maka was from LA; the eccentric capital of America and yet in one day, she saw more weird looking people on this campus than she saw in a month on the streets of her city. Next to the strangely striped-haired boy sat a girl with short blond hair and blue eyes. Her pigmentations weren't as vibrant and artificial looking as Hiro's though, in fact, she looked like she could be related to Liz.
Next to her was the boy sitting next to Kim; his brunette hair was mostly short, except for two locks that were gelled into spikes on both sides of his head. She couldn't see his eye color through the poindexter glasses he wore. Maka thought he looked utterly stupid. Next to Kim was a stoic looking fellow, with his long hair tied back in a ponytail. He wore shades; Maka felt that was sort of silly, considering they were inside and it was in the evening. Across from him was a pink haired... Well, Maka wasn't really sure of that person's gender. Next to um... Them, sat a dark skinned boy who wore glasses. After him, was the empty seat next to Soul. She was approaching the table when Soul looked her way. He smiled and pulled the chair out for her. As she sat down, Tsubaki introduced Maka to all the new faces.
"Okay guys, this is Maka, my friend from high school. Maka, this is Kid, Patty, Ox, Harvar, Chrona, and Kilik." Maka greeted everyone and they did the same; all, except for Kid who was still obsessing over his task at hand. He was actually using a credit card to shape the line of salt.
"Don't mind him, he's neurotic." Soul told her in a hushed tone. He must've noticed her observing Kid's behavior questioningly.
"I heard that, Soul." Kid said, without looking up. "I'm not neurotic; I'm just trying to get this symmetrical."
"Why does it have to be symmetrical?" Maka asked. It was then that Kid looked up to make eye contact with her.
"Because symmetry is everything" was Kid's simple reply to her queries.
Soul cupped his hand to whisper into Maka's ear.
"Just go with it, if you point out the stripes in his hair, he might start crying." Maka tried to suppress her giggles but ultimately failed. Kid gave the two one more suspicious look before resuming his task. As she calmed down, Maka began to munch on her plantains, when she noticed Soul looking at her plate.
"Ew... What is that?"
"Awesome." She replied flatly. "What, you've never had fried plantains before?"
"They look disgusting..."
"Here, try one!" He opened his mouth to object, but she took the opportunity to shove one of the plantain chips into his mouth. He reflexively chewed, and his eyes widened. He proceeded to swap her plate for his own.
"Hey, eat your own food!"
"Nah, I think I'll just eat yours. Here, you can have mine."
"I don't want your nasty-ass fish sandwich! I hate fish!" She pushed his food away and attempted to reach for hers, but Soul put his hand on her shoulder and kept her at arm's length. Just to be more of a jerk, he continued to munch on her plantains, while she watched in annoyance.
"What you don't like fish?" She raised her book in a threatening fashion.
"Somethin' wrong with you." he said and pushed her plate back to her, but not before stealing one more chip. He was about to take his food back before Maka took it and pushed it aside to keep his food away from him now. She gave him a challenging smirk, and he just chuckled lowly at her... It was kinda hot.
"Heh, you do not wanna play this game with me."
"Well, you started it. Finish it like a man!" She teased him. He reached for the plate both in front of her as well as around her, but she dodged him like a pro. She laughed in her hubris. He just sighed.
"Maka, seriously, you don't..."
"I am serious!" she cut him off.
"Fine." Before she had time to react, he pounced. Soul quickly wrapped his arms around her to keep hers pinned. He pressed his lips to her lower cheek... Oh god, he was so close to her mouth. It wouldn't matter if her arms were pinned or not, Maka was frozen. He was doing something while his lips lingered there, she couldn't be bothered to wonder what though. She was too preoccupied with the fact that SOUL WAS KISSING HER FACE.
Well, his half baked plan had worked... A little too well. He got his food back, but even after he pulled away, she still didn't move. Soul hadn't really known what he had in mind when he threatened not to play 'that game' with her.
"Uh.. Maka, you okay?" She dimly registered the sound of voices, but her mind was miles away. He didn't blame her for being shocked... Soul was shocked himself. He was very impressed with how cool he was acting. He chalked it up to the years of practice. Without them, he would have probably babbled on like an idiot. Little did he know, his face was just as rosy as Maka's, blushing together for all his friends to see.
"Maka... hello?" He took a bite of his sandwich as Maka continued to stare off into space. There was giggling coming from the female spectators at the table, and knowing glances coming from the males; all directed at Soul's little stunt of course.
"I think you broke her." Liz teased. It was when Soul snapped his fingers in front of her face that Maka finally stirred.
"Huh, what?" Soul was afraid that once she came-to, he'd fall victim to one her dreaded hardcover Maka-chops, but it didn't come. Instead, she played it off as if nothing had happened. As he continued to eat his sandwich, Maka scoffed.
"Heh, enjoy that food, because I let you have it. You know, because I'm a nice person."
"Hmmm. I'm pretty sure I got my sandwich back because you were distracted." He'd hoped he hadn't endangered his own safety with that last comment. He could've walked away from this head trauma free before he opened his big mouth. But once again,Maka brushed it off. She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head.
"You keep thinking that, Soul, if it makes you feel better." Soul sighed in relief and let his guard down, only to have the broad side of a book collide with the back of his skull moments later. He could see why Maka prefered books. It was scary how much force she could drive in one of those things. He clutched the back of his head and peeked over to see what she was so mad-pissed about. There she was, glaring down at her plate and then back at him. Oh... There were only two slices of plantains on her plate, and one was bitten into.
"Soul, what the hell! You ate all the chips!"
"Uhh. Sorry I guess..." She ate the last of the chips and got up from her chair. He couldn't help but notice that she had no reservations about eating things his mouth has been on.
"I'm getting more."
After she left, all of the eyes of his peers at the table were promptly on Soul. They were all smiling at him and it was making him uncomfortable. Black*Star had been unusually quiet during the meal, and Soul just realized it was because Tsubaki had her hand over his mouth the entire time. As soon as she removed it, it was as if she had opened a jar filled with a cacophony of obnoxious laughing and snorting sounds.
"Bahahahahahahahaha! What the hell was that? That wasn't smooth at all and you still managed to pull that off? Ha, she must be really into you or something!"
"Fuck off, Black*Star." Soul muttered under his breath, staring at the table with his head propped up by his hands. He felt someone pat his shoulder. He didn't acknowledge them because he knew they were just being mockingly sympathetic.
"I think Soul-kun did a good job." He could tell from the suffixes that it was Tsubaki. "His face gave him away, though."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your face, it's very red." He couldn't hear the sound of giggles that followed Tsubaki's comment over the sound of his own internal despair. It sounded like a toddler trying to play an out of tune piano. Great, this had to be one of the most uncool moments of his life. When he came back to reality; it was the Thompson sisters and their neurotic main squeeze who were speaking.
"Heh, since when do you flirt Soul?" Liz teased, poking him with one manicured nail in the arm. "We were beginning to think you didn't like girls."
"Yay, Soul's not asexual!" Patty chimed in, humming the wedding march.
"Yes Soul, when is the wedding?" Soul looked up to address the three stooges,noticing Kid had shaped his salt line into a symmetrical heart.
"I'm not even going to dignify any of that with a response." Soul sighed. "Remind me again why I hang out with you people?"
"Because you're a masochist!" Patty proclaimed throwing her hands into the air. It was scary how precise she could be sometimes.
"Anyway," Liz said. "Have you asked her out yet?"
"Of course I haven't. We only met a few hours ago for Christ sake!" Soul took a moment before correcting himself. "Well… Technically last night, on the train, but I'm not sure that counts."
"That's not an excuse!" Black*Star punched Soul in the arm. He just glared at him in return.
"Just take her to that Haunted house thing near the cemetery downtown. It's cheap admission, it's easy, and an excuse to hold her when she's scared." Soul just shook his head at the ridiculousness of his last proposal. Maka? Scared? Please, she was too violent to be the timid type. Speaking of which, shouldn't her violence bother him more? For whatever reason he couldn't bring himself to be deterred by it. His 'masochism' he supposed was the culprit.
"I think it's a good idea, Soul-kun. I wasn't really able to talk Maka-chan into it. Maybe you can."
"Wait, what? Don't tell me she's actually scared." Tsubaki took a moment to ponder how to answer that. Although she was very fluent, English wasn't her first language. She needed to find the right words to make sure there were no misunderstandings.
"Not scared exactly… She's hesitant about going… Maka-chan doesn't want anyone to get hurt."
"…What?"
"You'll see."
"Hey guys, what I miss?" It was then that Maka returned with a plate in each hand. She set one down in front of Soul and one in front of herself. There before him, was a plate of plantain chips.
"…Thank you. You didn't have to do that." She shrugged as she began to munch.
"Call it a precautionary measure to insure I actually get to eat. Besides, that fish looked really gross... And so did that pizza."
"Sorry, forgot to mention the food here sucks." It was then that Liz coughed in order to get the pair's attention.
"Ahem, Soul, didn't you want to ask Maka a question?"
"I uh…."
"What Soul-kun wanted to ask," Tsubaki interrupted, "Was if you wanted to go to that
Haunted House the city is putting on with us?"
"Oh, um… Who all is going?" Maka inquired. Soul ate his food and shrugged. His face was feeling warm. He prayed to every deity in existence that his blush wasn't deepening. It probably was regardless.
"You, Soul-kun, myself, Black*Star, Kid-kun, Liz-chan, and Patty-chan."
"How are we all going to fit in your car Tsubaki?"
"We're not. You and Soul-kun are going on his motorcycle."
"...What? Why can't any of you go with him?" Well, that plan backfired. He was internally facepalming himself as Tsubaki attempted to rectify the situation.
"We can't." She began. "You see, I'm going with Black*Star and Liz and Patty are going with Kid. It would be silly to mix up the groups like that, and you and Soul are going together." Maka looked nervous and Soul couldn't help but feel a little hurt by how reluctant she was to go with him. Of course he'd never admit to that; instead he maintained his facade of cool indifference.
"What's your problem? Have you even rode a bike before?" She pouted and looked away. It was weird how her stubbornness was both annoying and endearing at the same time.
"I don't need to ride one to know how dangerous it is." She huffed. Soul rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair.
"It's only dangerous if you're with a reckless driver, and I'm not. So, we're good."
"Yeah, as long as we don't see a cat, we'll be fine." Soul took a moment to decide whether or not to be insulted; in the end, he just laughed. Yes, that was a bit of a low blow, because that accident wasn't really his fault. Even Maka realized realized that to some extent. But he was a good sport about it because either way, he figured she'd come around.
"Nah, cats outrank humans, so you're fine." All of these simple conclusions Soul was coming up with weren't really putting Maka's fears at ease. It really wasn't the idea of riding the motorcycle that bothered her, it was the haunted house. Maka wasn't afraid of the ghost and ghoul actors that jumped out at people in attempts to scare them. Maka was afraid that when one tried to scare her, someone would end up with blunt forced trauma via hardcover book, and the idea of Maka attacking a complete stranger didn't sit well with her... People got arrested for doing things like that. Maka also had nothing against the motorcycle. In fact, she was very curious about riding one. Sure it was dangerous, but what was life without a little risk? It just seemed like a convenient excuse to not go to that Haunted House, so she defended her reason, since no one would believe the real reason she was reluctant to go.
"What if it's too windy?"
"We're in a city surrounded by buildings. Wind isn't a real issue here."
"What if I get bugs caught in my teeth?"
"Thats what breathing through your nose is for."
"What if I fall?"
"I won't let you. You done yet?" She sighed defeated. Maka was probably coming off as a real buzzkill. She regretted this especially because all of her efforts seemed to have been in vain. Now she'd be seen as the violent buzzkill who gets all of her friends arrested. Soul was frustrated with how difficult Maka was being, but he really liked her and was determined to show her a good time.
"...Fine, but if we die in a fiery crash, I'm gonna say I told you so."
"Pfft. Alright then. Ready to go?" Maka finished the last of her food and drink as did Soul. She shrugged back into her hoodie as they waved their friends goodbye after confirming to meet them at the haunted house and after that, they exited the cafeteria.
AN: Blah~ a lot of scene setting in this chapter. So I feel like not a whole bunch happened, and yet there are so many werds... I promise the next chapter will be much more eventful. Again thank you for following! I'll update as soon as I can.
