Maka had family issues. Her father was a player and a cheater, he had cheated on her mother time and time again, saying he was sorry only to do it again. He had the gall to say he was sorry to Maka. He was brave enough to call himself her father.
Her mother abandoned her at a young age, and although Maka would never agree, was too much of a coward to apologize to her daughter. She had the gall to send only a postcard, maybe once a year if Maka was lucky. She was brave enough to pretend she did nothing wrong. Maka had heard them tell one another they loved each other every day before things got complicated. After Spirit cheated, and after Kami left, those words were dead to her. Her parents had obliterated any familiarity or happiness she might've previously associated with those words. When it came to love, she was an empty shell, a mere shadow of what she had been in the past. But then He came along, with his white hair and red eyes, his extraordinary musical talent, his own family issues, his snarky sense of humor and the shark-toothed grin down sent shivers down her spine. Slowly but surely, she was learning to love again, his mere existence filling her with happiness and eventually, love. She was in love with her partner, and unbeknownst to her, he had felt that way from the moment heir eyes met for the first time.
When he finally told her he was in love with her, and always would be, she grew frightened. Frightened of these foreign and scary emotions, frightened to death that the relationship they wanted to have with each other would end up a perfect replica of the one her parents had discarded like last month's garbage. She couldn't have said it back to him. As if he had read her mind, he smiled unchracteristically gently and told her that he knew she felt the same way and if she couldn't say it back now, he would wait for her until the end of time until she could. She let him pull her into his chest, letting loose a few soft cries and an abundance of tears, softly asking how she managed to find such a partner. He just grinned and replied,
"Easy. I found you."