February
Soul, who was ten minutes away from being done with his shift, was not googling "how to know if a girl likes you." Nope, no way. He was a cool dude, and cool dudes understood what it meant when a girl spends her Christmas with them. Cool dudes understood what it meant when said girl spent Christmas watching horror movies. And cool dudes definitely didn't buy said girl a smoothie as a Christmas gift. Soul was a cool dude.
So when Sid Barrett, head mechanic, yelled, "Evans! What the hell are you doing?"
He did not exclaim in a panicky voice, "Research."
Sid Barrett was an intimidating man, whose police background was enough to make his garage one of the most efficient in the area. He was also Black*Star's godfather. Soul had no idea that he was until Black*Star came in and tried putting Sid in a chokehold after dropping off his car for maintenance. He could only watch in terror as his boss punched his best friend in the stomach and then proceeded to pin him to the ground.
"You've gotten slower, old man." Black*Star rasped.
"Show some respect for the workplace, Blake." Sid said as he released 'Star and helped him up.
"Yeah, yeah. How's Phoebe?"
It turns out that Sid had been on the force with Black*Star's adoptive dad and was usually the one who caught him whenever he tried ditching school. Sid had also been there during the aftermath of the shootout that killed most of Black*Star's family. When his wife, Mira Nygus, had gotten pregnant, they had moved out to California a few months after the delivery to be closer to her family.
During the little catching up, Black*Star noticed Soul in the corner, slightly paler than usual.
"Broski!" He crowed, "I didn't know you worked here. How's the old man been treating you?"
"You're friends with Blake?" Sid asked, addressing him for the first time.
"Uh, yes?" Soul answered uncertainly. "I mean we're roommates and we hang out a lot so, yeah."
"Hmmm. Not that many people can handle a pest like Blake, maybe I underestimated you."
"Who you calling pest, Grandpa? I could pummel you right now. And the name's BLACK*STAR!"
With that exclamation, Black*Star launched himself at Sid again and the two went at it. It wasn't until Nygus, who came to drop off Sid's lunch, punched both of them, grabbed them by the ear, and made them apologize to Soul for disturbing his work.
Afterwards, Black*Star made plans to stop by for dinner, promising to bring Maka too, and Sid had taken a special interest in Soul. Which lead to Soul's current predicament.
"What kind of research?" Sid asked, trying to look at the tab Soul had opened.
"The school kind?"
"I see, and this research wouldn't be anything that would give my computer any viruses right?"
Soul visibly blanched and internally barfed.
"What?! No! I'm not Black*Star and besides Maka would—"
"Maka? Who said anything about Maka?"
"No one, no one said anything about Maka. I was just saying how she would—"
"Kill you if she caught you thinking about someone else?"
"First of all, Black*Star would kill me if I was thinking about her. Second of all, that's putting words in my mouth. Third of all, no. Maka and I are just friends."
"I'm not the type of man who would let his employee embarrass himself, so let me give you some advice," Sid said, leaning on the desk.
"Wow, thanks," Soul said sarcastically. "And I don't need advice. I told you, we're only friends."
"Yeah, and Black*Star is a mellow kind of guy. Don't think I haven't noticed the way you two stare at each other when she comes to visit. Now shut up and pay attention. First of all, you're never gonna have a chance to tell her how you feel if you don't hang out."
"We hang out!" Soul protested.
"No, you go watch Black*Star pull pranks or play video games. Or, if you're feeling feisty, you'll stay in your dorm all day with her watching Netflix while she does her homework."
"Okay, who squealed, was it Black*Star? I knew he couldn't be trusted. And it's not like it's either of your businesses."
"Watch your tone. The point is, she likes you and you like her. For Death's sake, Evans, just invite her out for smoothies, or something."
"It's-It's not like that." Soul said defeated. "She's not in anyone. She's still really sore about what happened with her parents."
"Maybe." He agreed. "But Maka's a smart girl, and she has to accept that she's not either of her parents at one point. The fact that you know what happened with her parents alone shows how much she trusts you."
"Trust doesn't mean interested." He argued.
"Well you're never gonna know if she's interested if you keep avoiding talking about it. Now get out of here; your shift ended ten minutes ago."
With that, Soul was kicked out of the garage, and sullenly made his way towards his bike. He got a text from Maka, asking him to pick up Thai before coming over to play video games with Spartoi.
Sid didn't know what he was talking about, he told himself as he revved up his bike. They were just friends.
It was the Wednesday before the three day weekend, and Soul was trying (and failing) to find a way to hang out with Maka that wasn't video games, pranks, or Black*Star related. Traditionally, Soul spent all free days (holiday or not) in his room with his Xbox, but Sid's words were bouncing in his head.
"So, any plans for the weekend?" Soul asked, feigning nonchalance.
They were alone in his dorm again, the rest of Spartoi off shooting a video. Normally they would join the others, but Soul, having just finished a shift, had had enough social interaction for the day and Maka was busy with homework. They were lounging on the couch, Maka with her laptop and Soul with his Xbox. As Soul continued to blast off the heads of zombies, Maka was determinedly not looking at how his shirt had ridden up enough for her to see his stomach.
"Nothing, I think." Maka answered, still staring at her screen.
"Wait, what do you mean nothing? Doesn't Black*Star usually love huge celebrations for holidays, especially long weekends? I thought he would have plans to drag you to some bar again."
"Oh, you mean Valentine's?" she asked, finally understanding his confusion. "Usually he would be going all out, trying to get as much chocolate as possible, but this year it falls on the second saturday of February."
"So?" he asked, pausing his game.
"So," Maka said pointedly. "it's Death Day."
"Death Day? Wait is this one of those weird Death Child things?"
Soul knew that Black*Star and Maka had come from an obscure city in Nevada called Death City, and that their town traditions were more than a little eccentric.
"Yup. A long time ago rogues tried to take over Death City, then known as Smithville. Bandits and criminals were killing people in the streets and destroying everything they could. It was still a small town then, with only a couple hundred people, and heavily isolated. At the head of the insurgents was Asura, the exiled brother of the first elected mayor. According to the legend, he rose up and was able to defeat his brother by becoming a death god. After that, every mayor was given the title Lord Death and we celebrate every second Saturday of February."
"So they named the city after a death god? Sounds like a cult." He was getting better at accepting Death Children and their macabre town history.
"Actually, we did have a cult there for a while, and they were called the Death Children, but eventually the town commercialized all death related things and it died out."
"So you're part of a cult?" Soul grinned.
Maka responded by pushing him off the couch.
"Okay, okay I get it, but why would this prevent Black*Star from celebrating? If anything wouldn't it make him party harder?" He said, turning his attention back to the game.
"Mmm, the day is a pretty big deal for most Death Children, it's the day we remember our roots. Black*Star gets kinda weird because of it. He usually spends the day training."
Soul hmphed thoughtfully. Most people in Spartoi knew about Black*Star's biological family, how they had been part of a vicious gang that lived in Death City. Most of his family had died during a shootout with a rival gang and the all survivors were imprisoned. Black*Star, who was ten months and barely learning to walk, was left without a soul to care for him, The police officer on duty, Spirit Albarn, had a wife eight months pregnant but couldn't bear the thought of leaving the child alone, The adoption papers were somewhat difficult to take care of but soon enough Blake Aster became Blake Sheldon Albarn (and eventually Black*Star).
He knew that family and roots was a sore subject for Maka, so he let it drop. If anyone understood a want for privacy, it was him. He thought about Black*Star, how his exuberance had been forced lately.
"What about you?" Maka asked, not looking him in the eyes. "Have any plans?"
"Not really, crowds aren't my thing and I'm allergic to bad decision making."
Tell that to your wardrobe, Maka thought.
"You know, I'm probably not going to get a chance to do my homework for my class until this weekend, do you think I could hang out here?" Maka asked.
"I, um, sure? I mean, what about your dorm?" Soul asked, surprised that his plans to hang out with her actually succeeded.
"They're checking all the gas pipes on our floor this weekend, so it's off limits during the day."
"Oh, yeah I forgot about that. Should we order pizza or something?"
"That's okay, I'm probably going to be here for an hour tops." She told him, resolute in her plans to not spend Valentine's Day with him.
She was only here because it felt strange to be in a mostly empty library, Maka told herself on Saturday. It was Valentine's Day and everyone else had plans. Jackie had gone with Kim to Montana to be introduced to her sister, Liz was out with a coworker, and Tsubaki had gone home for the weekend. Soul didn't mind; he preferred solitude, but he had gotten used to having Maka around. Still, it felt a little strange being with Maka on Valentine's Day, even more so on a Death Day which was was supposed to be spent with family.
"Hey, what do you want for lunch?" Soul asked, looking through his empty cabinets.
"Lunch? What time is it anyways?" Maka asked, looking up from her book.
"6 o'clock." He answered. "Shit. It's dinner then."
"Oh, Death. Did we just sit here and do nothing for the last eight hours?" So much for only an hour.
"Looks like." He answered, digging through the drawer where they kept their take out menus.
"You're rubbing off on me. Soon I'll be wearing paisley headbands and obscure hipster-branded jeans," She complained.
"First of all, they're amoebas. Second of all, shut up and tell me what kind of take out you want." He protested, trying his best to not picture her in his clothes.
"We had take out yesterday though."
"Your point?"
"My point is we need to go out, breath fresh air."
"That's a good point. Counter-point: we stay here and watch shitty anime on Netflix."
Half an hour later, Soul found himself tipping the pizza delivery boy while Maka picked what to watch next.
"You're a horrible influence." Maka said as she took a bite out of her pizza.
"Or an amazing one. I just saved you from having to fight through the last minute shopper traffic."
"Shut up, and eat, Eater."
"Ugh, not you too!" Soul complained.
It had been a couple of weeks ago when Soul had, for the umpteenth time challenged Black*Star to an eating contest. This time they had been eating chicken wings and both were drunk. So drunk that Soul had proclaimed, "I'll eat anything. I'll eat these wings, I'll eat that pizza, I'll eat your frickin' soul. Call me Soul Eater," and promptly fell over in a fit of laughing.
Patti, who of course had everything on tape, had posted the video on Black*Star's channel and it had been rising in views ever since. Fans of the channel had started called him Soul Eater, some being so bold as to say that they wondered what else he would be willing to eat.
"It's not my fault that you dug your own grave buddy. Although, I am surprised SharkStoner turned out to be such a lightweight."
"Oh and I suppose you could do much better." Soul drawled.
"Of course I can. Black*Star's my brother You don't think I've been challenged to drinking contest with him before?"
"Please, I've seen Black*Star drink. There's no way someone your size could top that."
"Okay, that's it." She said standing up.
She made her way to the kitchen where she took out two glasses and a green bottle.
"Is that?"
"Yup, Death Juice. Black*Star keeps a bottle in his emergency, 'get rekted' stash."
"Maka." Soul warned, looking at her seriously. "That thing has enough alcohol content to be illegal anywhere but Nevada."
"I know, and it smells horrible, but it does have a nice aftertaste."
"How did 'Star even get a bottle. The last time he had one, he spent three days in lockup after waking up in a tree naked."
"Dunno, but it is pretty heavy stuff. It should do the trick."
Maka sat down and explained the rules. It was truth or dare, only for every dare, they would drink some Death Juice and for every truth they would drink some water (to keep the chances of liver poisoning to a minimal). They went four more rounds before they were both a giggling mess.
"Okay, okay, dare." Maka laughed reaching for more Death Juice.
"Nuh, uh. You've done nothing but dares. Drink some water."
"Okay, Eater, have it your way. What do you want to know?"
Soul stared at her for a moment, her cheeks were flushed and lips rosy, making it hard for him to focus.
"I got one. Why does 'Star call you Butterstick."
"Nahhhh you don't want to know about that. You would much rather hear about the time 'Star almost got his nuts eaten by a squirrel."
"His peanuts?"
"Nope." Maka giggled.
"Okay, that sounds very interesting and you are definitely telling me about that next but no skipping questions."
"Ugh, fine. I was like six or seven and Black*Star had just muddied my favorite book and wasn't apologizing. I was really mad, Mama had come to visit for once and I wanted to show her how good I got at reading. I decided, because I was six, to run away so that people would blame Blake and take him away and I would get Mama all to myself."
Maka's voice got softer as she went on with her story, forgetting why she was telling it in the first place.
"I knew I couldn't run away for real because I didn't know how to ride the bus, and Mama had told me to not talk to strangers so I decided to hide out in the cupboards in the basement. I was a lot bigger than I realized and I got stuck in them. I started to cry and Black*Star was the one to find me." She smiled at the memory.
"Black*Star saw how scared I was, so he promised to get me out and went to get some butter. Later, when Mama came home, he told her that we got into a food fight and even splashed his favorite shirt with tomato juice so she would believe it. It was the first time I ever saw him do something selfless."
They sat in silence for a moment before Maka let out a snort.
"He's called me Butterstick ever since, but he's never told anyone why."
"Well at least he didn't call you Butterbutt." Soul said.
Maka laughed and the game continued, sometimes going into darker territory (Do you hate your mother? Sometimes. Do you miss your brother? Yes.) and other times being more lighthearted (What is the most embarrassing moment you've ever had? I sneezed while giving my ex a blowjob. Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Once, when Black*Star dared me.) Until they were nearly done with the bottle.
"Alright, Eater. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
Maka was quiet for a moment, building up her courage.
"Would you kiss the prettiest girl in the room?" She asked, cheeks blushing.
"Yes." He answered, meeting her eyes as best he could. It was hard to lie, his head was fuzzy and she just looked so damn beautiful with her lips like that.
"Truth or dare?" He asked.
"Truth."
"Would you call yourself the prettiest girl in the room?"
"Maybe, if I got a kiss." She smiled.
Her voice did not just get ten times breathier nope, Soul was just imagining it.
"Truth or dare?" Maka asked.
"Dare." He said, drinking the rest of Death Juice.
"I dare you to kiss the prettiest girl in the room."
"I wonder where she is." He joked, moving close enough that he could smell her breath.
"Right here." She said, closing the distance between their lips.
Kissing Soul was nothing like she imagined. For one thing, there was no angels singing or electric feeling running down her spine. What there was was an awkward clanking of teeth and an after taste of alcohol. Maka laughed lightly as Soul tried to introduce his tongue before realizing that that required a certain level of finesse reserved for sober people. Still, she thought, his lips felt nice against hers, even if they were chapped.
As they broke apart, slightly breathless, they both realized how much this changed things.
They fell asleep, figuring they would deal with it in the morning.