A/N: This bit of complete fluff eater was written to cheer up the lovely and talented lueurdelaube. If you've never read her fic, you should, because it is utterly fantastic. It is set in my resbangverse, the canonverse UA of World Without End, between that story and the (as yet unwritten) sequel. It could be canon to that universe, though I'm not sure it is.

Date Night:

"A date?" Maka furrowed her brow at this as he sat across from her at their small kitchen table. Her confusion was cute, and he couldn't help the soft smile he gave her. She generally managed to elicit such smiles.

"Uh huh," Soul managed around a mouthful of chicken. Real, fresh chicken. The farms were producing and it was like heaven.

"But, I thought we were dating?" He nodded his reply before he swallowed.

"Well, yeah. We're together," he ran a hand through his hair, a bad habit he knew, "but a date isn't the same thing, you know? On a date, people do date things. Come on, Maka, you've seen it in some of the movies we've watched."

"I know—but—where would we even go? It's not like the dining halls or whatever are anything like the movies…"

"Just trust me, it'll be fun. You do trust me, don't you Maka?" He smiled hopefully. This was something he'd always wanted to do, to experience, ever since he was a kid, and now that he knew she was the one he wanted to experience it with, he could do something about it.

"Okay, if it's important to you," she said after a moment of thought. "When do you want to do this—date—thing?"

"We don't patrol for a few days, so I was thinking tomorrow."

"Alright, then," she agreed as she picked at the rest of her dinner. She seemed almost nervous suddenly, though that was absurd. They were partners. They had been through hell together, saved each other, lived together. A scant few weeks ago they had figured out that through it all, they had come to love each other as well, and while that part of their relationship was new and amazing, they had been together in every other way for months upon months. They shared their Soul's for Shinigami's sake! And now—now they would have a date, just like the movies. He felt almost giddy at the thought, uncool as that might be, yet he would make this the coolest date Boulder had ever seen.

As they finished eating and washed the dishes, he plotted it out in his head. Yeah, this would be perfect, just like a movie—he'd make sure of it.

It was afternoon by the time he returned. He'd gone out early that morning with assurances that he would be back, just wanted to make sure everything was ready, and Maka had played along. She wasn't entirely sure why this was so important to him, but it was. She supposed all those movies really had shaped his dreams. Well, if she could help one make one a reality, why not?

A date. Such a strange concept. People didn't date. They came together, they struggled together, but dating? How could you date when you hardly had space to breathe? But things were different in Boulder. Things were stable, and while they spent plenty of time fighting and patrolling, they also spent time reading and playing games and watching movies. So maybe, in this new world they were building, there could be such a thing as a date. She'd give it a shot. For him, she would give anything a shot.

So here she was, in a dress she'd scrounged at the Warehouse, one that Tsubaki and Liz had insisted would suit her, short and black and sleeveless, her hair curled and loose, wearing lip gloss also scrounged at the Warehouse—lipgloss of all things She felt like some strange, extinct animal, out of place and out of her element, but for him, she would try. She was waiting in their living room, her high heeled foot bouncing nervously from the other side of her knee, waiting for him to get home and whisk her off to—well—wherever it was in Boulder he thought was suitable for such a thing as a "date." She had no idea, really.

When she heard the roar of his motorcycle outside, she decided she had waited long enough and made her way to the door, opening it before he had the chance to park and standing in the door frame. He had just put down the kickstand in their driveway and was striding towards the door with purpose when he stopped, seemingly stunned by her presence, before looking her up and down with a pleased, almost predatory smile. That smile, his too sharp teeth peeking out menacingly, sent shivers down her spine. She supposed it wasn't just the smile. He was wearing a pinstriped suit he had procured, she could only guess, at the Warehouse, and held a bouquet of flowers.

As he strode forward and presented the flowers with a flourish of the wrist, she frowned.

"Where did you…?"

"Marie is growing some in the old horticulture greenhouse at the university. Stein is helping, I guess, something about trying to increase food supply. But she let me have some."

"Oh—Oh…!" she said as she took them. She knew she was blushing, could feel the heat on her cheeks. They were a beautiful array of different flowers whose name she could only guess at, a strange enough thing to find at all, let alone in winter, yet he had found them.

"I should…" she bit her lip, trying to remember what people did with flowers other than look at them. "…put them in water?" At Soul's nod, she moved back inside and filled a large cup (they didn't actually own a vase,) placing the flowers in the middle of the kitchen table and admiring them for a moment. They really were beautiful and she said as much as she thanked him.

"Like you," he said with a soft smile, holding out his hand. She took it, surprising him by moving in for a soft kiss on the cheek and reveling in his own blush heating the flesh beneath her lips, before tugging at his hand to lead him out the door.

An hour later, as they finished their repast, eaten on the rooftop of the college library, she realized that he really had been busy. He had managed to put together a picnic meal, an old bottle of wine, some of the cheese they had started making at one of the farms, some winter vegetables and cold chicken, along with some cans of the precious pudding he liked so much. They talked about Boulder as they ate, how much it was growing, how surprising it was, avoiding any discussion of the shadow of Asura still looming over it all. They talked about their friends, the other members of Spartoi, the likelihood that Black*Star and Tsubaki were actually a couple, the idea that Kid would ever return the obvious feelings Liz had for him, then whether or not a Shinigami was actually capable of such things.

From their place, they had a perfect view of the mountains, and once they finished the last of their pudding they watched the sunset, bright and beautiful, painting the sky in pinks and oranges and soft blues as it sank below the mountains. It was cold, but Soul had somehow procured a space heater he set near them and, curled up together, neither felt the cold of the brisk winter air. As the sun finally sank below the last peak, Soul surprised Maka by getting up and tugging her along with him.

"Over already?" she cocked her head, smiling sadly. This really had been wonderful and she wasn't ready for it to end.

"Of course not. Just getting started." He squeezed her hand and dragged her back down through the darkened library. The university was just being reclaimed and while a few were slowly trying to make the library ready for public use, it was far from there just yet. How Soul had gained access, she could not guess. One of the council, certainly, and most definitely not her father, who had blown a gasket of three when he'd figured out they were together. Marie, probably, since she had been the source of the flowers. Marie did seem to have a soft heart.

He held a flashlight out ahead of him, though she knew the building should have power, leading her first down several flights of stairs and then through dusty stacks of old books, shelf after shelf creating a shadowy maze in the darkened building. He finally reached a small hall and a door and opened it, reaching to the side to flip a switch with a ceremonious flourish.

"Let there be light!" And there was light. And odd, standing, folded chairs, row after row of them. And a huge white screen.

"Soul…" she gasped. "Is this?"

"The college film screening room? Sure is." His wide grin was contagious and she grinned back with similar enthusiasm. It was a theater. Just like they'd seen in movies!

He pulled her forward, shuffling her to a seat in the center of the room, center row. There was already a bag of popcorn there (where that had come from she could only guess,) along with a bucket of ice holding a few cans of soda and a box of some candy or other, which would be stale as most of what they ate was stale, but still sweet and yummy. She sat down, working the strange folding seat awkwardly as he moved up to a little desk/podium combination at the front of the room and started fiddling with controls. A projector in the ceiling suddenly flared to life, she could hear the mechanical sounds of a DVD player opening and closing, and watched in fascination as the start up menu projected onto the screen. He selected play movie, flipped down the lights, and sprinted over to take a seat next to her.

"So, um, what are we watching?" she asked, squeezing his hand as he reached for hers.

"Shhh!" he said with a smile. "Watch, you'll see." When she heard the music she knew instantly. Star Wars. They were going to watch Star Wars. In a theater, just like in the movies! She leaned her head onto his shoulder, just like she'd seen in movies, and he yawned and stretched and put an arm around her, also like they'd seen in movies. They watched the film curled together, sharing popcorn and candy and soda and each other. It really was a date.

It turned out he intended to watch the whole original trilogy. When Han and Leia shared their first kiss, Maka surprised him by kissing him, and they ended up missing most of the rest of the second movie in favor of continuing that kiss, complete with hesitantly exploring hands. By the time they both decided the make out session had gone far enough, panting and heated and out of breath, the second movie was almost over and they decided that was probably enough for tonight. Soul offered his hand, Maka took it, and he led her out of the library and onto his bike for the ride home.

Soul walked her to the door, just like a real date. They shared another kiss on the porch, just like a real date. Then there was a shriek, impossibly loud, impossibly real, and Soul was ripped from her arms. She saw a blur of red, white, and black, and a too familiar voice shrieking.

"I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU YOU OCTOPUS HEADED MOTHER FUCKER!" Maka groaned, rubbing her hand down her face, before striding forward. Producing a book out of the small purse she'd brought along, she slammed the spine down on the head of the red-headed menace currently pinning her boyfriend, who collapsed in a heap atop said boyfriend, and then, helped to free poor Soul from underneath the sobbing mass that was Spirit Albarn. The man looked up at her, pleading.

"Makaaaah! I only want to make sure you are not defiled by this—this—"

"Just stop, Papa. You aren't wanted here, he isn't defiling anything, and if you don't leave now, I will never speak to you again. Got it?" He looked utterly dejected but nodded, peeling himself from the ground, rubbing the new born lump on his head, and glaring at Soul, who was now holding Maka's hand with a blank look at her father.

As the death scythe shuffled away, she turned to Soul, holding both hands and smiling up at him.

"Guess it wouldn't be a real date without an overprotective dad, either, would it? Just like the movies right?"

"Yeah," he ran a hand through his hair with a sheepish smile. "Just like the movies."

Hand in hand, they returned to the house and went to bed. It really had been a good date, warts and all.