Author's Note: Don't own a thing, except for this horribly cruel continuation of Soul's embarrassment. Ah well, he can take it! Plus, the torture's only begun :) Enjoy~
The path to hell was tedious and slow-moving.
They staggered down the hall, Soul's grip like a vice on Black*Star's shoulder while Black*Star chortled, stopping every few feet to double over in laughter. Soul was torn. He could stop every time and let this continue, thereby delaying one of the more undesirable conversations of his life, or he could get the loudmouth as far the hell away from that classroom door as possible in case his guffawing evolved into actual coherent mocking. He dragged Black*Star down the hallway with renewed enthusiasm.
He didn't even want to think about going back to class. Shit, he'd just walked out on Stein in the middle of a lesson. Not to mention the rest of the class. Maka was probably taking mental inventory on the heaviest books in the apartment. The chops he could handle, though he was glad he'd just hidden her encyclopedia set. Stein would punish him too, that was obvious; Soul just hoped it ended up being a detention rather than a dissection, since he seemed to be so fond of those lately.
But he had more pressing matters to worry about at the moment, like how he was going to get this loose-lipped son of a bitch to keep mum.
He finally found an empty classroom and yanked Black*Star inside. He shut the door, preparing for the worst and turning to glare at his best friend. He wouldn't back down, damnit. No matter how much Black*Star milked this, he wouldn't react.
Silence descended. They regarded each other for a moment as Black*Star's laughter faded into a stupidly irritating grin. The seconds stretched between them.
"… All the gold in Shinigami's vault, huh?" Black*Star finally said, leering.
Soul felt his face heat up. Shit, this would be harder than he thought. Fighting the urge to crawl into the deepest, darkest hole he could find, he tried to keep his expression blank. Black*Star, on the other hand, propped his feet up on a desk and put his hands behind his head with a greedy smile, reveling in the torment.
"So, Soul's got the hots for Maka," he said conversationally, looking around the room as though this information wasn't the least bit interesting to him. The glint in his eye couldn't be hidden, however. "The Amazing Black*Star already knew this, but it's good to have confirmation."
Soul threw on his best aloof face; he knew this was the only thing that might save him.
"I don't know why you're so worked up about this; it was just the resonance talking. Come on man, you know this happens. That primal shit comes out sometimes, it has nothing to do with her," he said, folding his arms. "It's not a big deal."
Exactly, it had nothing to do with her, except for the fact that it wasn't like he walked around thinking about biting people's lips all of the time, though maybe Black*Star didn't know that. Sort of like how maybe he didn't know that his own hair was blue, or that kishins are evil, or that Soul was very clearly lying through his extra-pointed, extra-dishonest teeth.
"Oh of course, it's not a big deal," Black*Star agreed smoothly. "It's such a small deal, actually, that you dragged me halfway across the school and threw me in a dark room so I wouldn't talk." He raised a skeptical eyebrow, shaking his head. "And you cut off resonance so I wouldn't hear the rest of your thou-"
Soul didn't think it was possible, but the ninja's smirk grew even more pronounced. Soul gulped. Black*Star was a few souls short of a death scythe, as it were, but he wasn't a total idiot.
"That's why your resonance is in the shitter?! 'Cause you can't even help yourself! And if you don't stop it, she'll hear you! Oh shit, that's hilarious!"
Black*Star leaned further back in his chair, seized by another round of barking laughter. So much for that plan. Soul's back tightened, torn between embarrassment and anger at himself, but he waited while Black*Star caught his breath again, trying desperately to figure another way out of this and coming up completely dry.
Suddenly, it hit him. He scratched his head, thinking frantically that it couldn't possibly be that easy. He weighed the options in his mind. Maybe he didn't need to get out of it! Resonance had worked, hadn't it? The thought made him balk for a moment. Actually, hybrid resonance with Black*Star had worked much better than it had ever worked with Tsubaki, even if he'd had to endure Black*Star's One-Sided-Boxing-Match Wavelength from Hell. He smiled slowly; maybe telling the truth was actually a solution. Not like he hadn't already figured out everything on his own, the bastard. But if the cat's out of the bag, may as well buy it a collar. He'd just have to get Black*Star to cooperate. That would be another game entirely. He turned to Black*Star, who was regarding Soul curiously, confused about the sudden change in his expression.
"Fine, Black*Star. You know. You knew all along. You're the greatest. All hail to your glory," Soul rolled his eyes. "But this means-"
"About damn time you figured it out," Black*Star chortled.
Nope, he wasn't taking this seriously. Soul put his hands on the table in front of Black*Star, trying to press his case. If flattery didn't work, maybe reason would. That was unlikely. Black*Star had never been one to listen to logic before, but it was worth a try.
"Listen. The point is, this whole thing could actually work if Maka and I need to resonate. Now that you know, there's no reason to hold back. Crona's in trouble and we can save him, Black*Star. That's the only thing that matters. There's bigger shit going on right now, and we have enough to worry about. So… it would be cool if you kept this whole thing quiet," he said, rather impressed at the way he hid the desperation in his voice.
Black*Star smiled and took his feet off of the table, sitting up straight and lacing his fingers together, letting them drop delicately against the table surface. And then he dropped the ball.
"Of course I can keep it quiet, Soul…" He stretched his arms out, pushing his hands away from him and cracking his knuckles with resounding finality. "… For a price."
Soul groaned, resting his back against the wall and slouching slightly. He should have expected this. His mind was immediately filled with all of the hair-raising worship possibilities that Black*Star was capable of concocting. Too bad he didn't have a choice.
"All right, what do you want, Black*Star?" Soul muttered.
Black*Star paused. For all of his bravado, the ninja seemed to mentally stutter, unsure of what Soul's punishment should actually be. Soul pounced.
"Uhh, how about I give you the next five missions we get assigned." There, that was safe.
"Hell no, we get enough missions without your help," Black*Star said. "Do my homework for a month."
"You really want me doing your homework?" Soul said without thinking. What the hell was he saying? Take the homework! It was better than following Black*Star around with a goddamned palm branch until he died.
"I'm not sure you're really in a position to negotiate, golden boy," Black*Star said slyly, but he must have privately agreed because his thinking face – the one that looks like he's in mild physical pain – had replaced his smirk. The deliberation continued while Soul tried to worm his way out of any permanently damaging embarrassment.
"Carry your shit to class."
"Nope."
"Clean your fucking house."
"What do you think I keep Tsubaki around for?"
"You're a terrible human being."
"Hey, it's not me that wants into my partner's panties, is it?"
After what felt like hours of Black*Star making suggestions – mostly lewd ones – and Soul trying not to splutter, the bickering finally ceased and Black*Star's eyes were filled with a sickening triumph despite Soul's best attempts to control his fate.
"Alright," Soul said, resigned. "Can we go get this over with?"
Black*Star surveyed him smugly. "Oh no. Not now. I get to choose when," he said ominously, relishing every last second of this exceedingly painful experience.
Actually, Soul realized with a sigh, this entire endeavor was only just beginning. He pushed himself off from the table, ambling towards the door. At the very least, Soul knew Black*Star. As long as Soul carried out his task, his secret was safe. That wouldn't stop him from making sure that they had an accord. He turned around swiftly, pointing a threatening finger at Black*Star.
"Okay. I do it and you promise you won't–"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I know nothing about your love of all things short-skirted and nerdy," Black*Star cut in.
Except for every time we resonate, Soul thought. Then you'll know way too much. Oh well, that couldn't be helped.
It was an uneasy bargain, to be sure, but once he felt resonance surging once more, taking his body captive as the ribbon of Maka's resonance twined enticingly around him, he struggled to find a downside to the situation. He was free, they were free, after so long, to resonate without any barrier. Despite Maka's flickers of annoyance that Black*Star kept relaying through their resonance – Soul knew he was so dead later – he could feel a newly forged potency to their power, and it intoxicated him. The closeness of her soul, the beckon of her resonance and of her essence that swept around him… it felt like the most sublime perfection, and he no longer had to resist it. He focused on the constant charge of her amplified energy as it passed through his heart. Yeah, this was perfect.
Hey Maka, he heard Black*Star say, Soul thinks this resonance is pretty sexy.
Oh, there's the downside. Soul bristled.
Regardless, he could feel the damage that months of isolation and resonance breaks had inflicted on their wavelengths begin to mend. Their connection had remained strong on the surface, always a functional link, but there had been something else, a distance between them that he had hated and resented the hell out of but hadn't been able to fix, considering the consequences. He'd take Black*Star's taunts if it meant he could feel closer to his meister than he had in far too long. He could get back to knowing her better than anyone, just the way he liked it. He'd long taken pride in being able to process the inner workings of Maka's nerd-brain.
Which was why, when he arrived at the apartment that evening, hung up his keys and was greeted by a certain kitchen dictionary hurtling dangerously close to his face, he probably should have been less surprised.
A couple more things: Yes, don't worry, the nature of Soul's eventual *payment* is supposed to stay a mystery for awhile. xD Also, on the subject of updates... I'm leaving in a week for MADAGASCAR (so stoked) so I'll be on a little bitty hiatus until mid-January. Regardless, I'm gonna try my best to get out one more update before I leave. As you may have discerned from the end of this one, next chapter will be super SoMa-esque, because it's been far too long since I threw them in a room alone together. Look for that by Friday! :)