A/N: Aha, spontaneous writing for the win! I have nothing else to say – and whatever I did want to say has been forgotten. Don't you hate it when that happens? I'll remember what I wanted to write after Lacrow posts the chapter, just you wait…
Babies Taking Naps
by. Poisoned Scarlett
Soul
"Stupid old man…" Soul muttered irately, shoving his keys in his jacket. He ruffled his wind-blown hair back to its normal, spiky, look and made his way to his apartment. He hadn't been in such a terrible mood until Spirit crashed he and Black Star's casual hang out by the track at Shibusen with threats of tearing his balls off if he so much as looked at Maka the wrong way.
Usually, Soul attended after school clubs on Wednesday's. It was something Maka had encouraged he do although he'd much rather be at home looking after a fifteen month old baby than dealing with the uncool members of the Music Club.
It wasn't so much a music club as it was a place to casually hook up.
Soul had lost count of how many of his friends had suddenly gotten girlfriends after joining the club. He wasn't sure if it was the cool image of guys rocking out on guitars or just a convenient way to get to know your crush that had caused such an increase in couples.
"Y'know, you should bring Maka over." Black Star grinned, nudging his arm with his elbow.
"What for? Music isn't her thing." Soul said, frowning. "She'd be bored. Hell, I'm bored."
"Just bring her over!" Black Star insisted, smirking at his skepticism. "Who knows? Maybe you'll hook up with her, too! Or maybe she'll hook up with some other nerd – like that one!" Black Star rudely pointed to the scrawny boy who pushed his glasses up his straight nose; muttering under his breath, hazel eyes glued to the music book in his hand.
Soul snorted. "Yeah, right. As if she'd go for someone as uncool as him."
But the thought bothered Soul. Black Star had meant it jokingly but the entire time – until Spirit decided to drop by and publicly humiliate him for the hundredth time – he had scrutinized the reserved boy Black Star had chosen out at random.
He wore straight, black, pants and a white, Oxford, button-up shirt that appeared to be ironed; the Shibusen logo patched neatly on his right breast. His skin wasn't splotchy with acne, it was a pale white, unlike Soul's healthy tan, which gave Soul the impression that the boy didn't go out very much. His eyes were a mixture of forest green and brown; specks of auburn giving them a brighter look. His thick, horn-rimmed, glasses perched on his nose completed his nerdy look perfectly.
In that boys hands, an AP Music Theory book. On his back, a backpack that bulged with books and other such things. Soul wouldn't be surprised if he had a graphing calculator somewhere in there – Maka had one, after all, as well as four back up pencils and pens , two highlighters , sticky notes, paperclips, and a stapler. Soul would swear he saw a stapler floating amongst her flood of school supplies.
But those details didn't matter – what did was the fact that, as the boy opened his mouth and a plethora of perfectly constructed sentences escaped his lips, that boy and Maka would make the perfect match. He was intelligent; she was intelligent. He likely liked to read; she did like to read. He probably thought taking leisure strolls in the park, or hanging out at bookstores, or even staying for the after-school study sessions, was fun… and so did Maka.
Soul slammed the door to the apartment in his rage. However, instead of Maka's snap to be careful, the apartment remained silent and his boiling rage was quickly drained by the soft blubbering that came from down the hall.
"Maka?" Soul called, carefully. "Yo, Maka!" When he heard nothing, Soul dropped his backpack by the couch and headed down the hall in search of the noise. He pushed her bedroom door open carefully, in case she was busy with something and did not want to be disturbed, but instead he was met with a sight that made him smile and completely forget his annoyance.
Kirin was on her back, clapping her hands joyously while Maka slept by her side. She must have fallen asleep accidentally because she was still in her uniform and she had not taken off her thick-soled boots.
"Hey, kid." Soul greeted, poking Kirin on the forehead. The little girl squealed and reached for his hand again; giggling when Soul shushed her. "Shh, Maka's sleeping. You don't wanna' wake up Maka – she's a beast when she's tired." He grinned when Kirin brightly smiled, as if understanding him, and he sat down on the edge of the mattress.
He lifted the baby off her back and placed her on his lap as he had seen Maka do so many times before. Kirin was immediately attracted to the metal buckles of his jacket, her small hands trying so very hard to grasp them and pull them into her mouth.
"Quit it – jeez, why do you always wanna' put stuff in your mouth? That's dangerous." Soul chuckled, poking her forehead again. Kirin seemed dazed for a moment before she laughed and tried to reach for the buckles of his jacket again. "Stubborn, huh? You've been hanging out with Maka too much. You need someone cool like me to chill you out." Soul grinned when Kirin looked up and laughed.
"Ugh…Soul?" Maka's drowsy voice interrupted their bonding moment.
"Finally awake, sleeping beauty?" Soul smirked when Maka shot him a haggard glare, rolling on her side. She stretched out, her back cracking with satisfaction, before she propped herself up on her elbows and gave him a drowsy look. "Stay up late last night?"
"Yeah," Maka yawned. "I had to finish my lit review for Professor Stein's class. Hopefully he won't give it back to me for revision this time around…"
"Lit review?" Soul repeated, apprehensively. Was this another homework assignment he had totally forgotten about? It wouldn't be the first time. Stein had stopped sending him cold looks for forgetting his work after the twenty second time: he seemed satisfied enough with the fact that Maka completed her assignments excellently and punished him with a fierce Maka Chop...
"It's for the Meister class."
"Sweet, no homework!" Soul grinned and fell back on the bed. Kirin babbled to herself, crawling on his stomach. Soul made sure not to allow her to fall off his torso – Kirin wasn't usually very mobile but when she wanted to crawl, she was unstoppable.
"That's not true – Professor Stein said we had to read chapters ten and eleven!"
Immediately, Soul asked: "Did he say anything about doing the chapter summaries?"
"No…"
"Then we don't have homework." Soul flatly decided. Maka rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm still going to read them. You should, too, Soul. It'd do you well to read sometime."
"Reading is so—!" Soul cut himself off. He felt a rush of unease settle in his gut again. He thought back to that nerdy guy at the Music Club today; how he and Maka would look so great together. Jealousy swelled in his chest like an angry beast. "…Audiobooks are better."
"You listen to audiobooks?" Maka asked, surprised.
Soul inwardly cringed but he felt smug from the hopeful twinkle in her eye. What had he gotten himself into, though? He lied through his teeth! If he couldn't even muster the motivation to pick up a novel, he doubted he could summon enough will to download an audiobook to take up memory which could be used to store other cool things like jazz or rock…
"…Yeah."
"I didn't know that! No way!" Maka laughed brightly. Soul turned away nervously. "What books have you listened to?"
"Er…" Now he was in deep shit. He had absolutely no idea what books had been converted into audiobooks. He struggled to remember the titles on display at the mall the last time he accompanied Maka to buy a book but everything was a blurred rush. All he remembered was leaning against a wall, bobbing his head to alternative rock, while Maka browsed the shelves inside the bookstore for an hour and a half.
"Because I really like The Chemical Garden trilogy!" Maka added, excitedly. "Although the voice of the narrator isn't that great, the story is wonderful! I love the entire concept of…" And Soul breathed easy because she had seemingly forgotten her own question. He was thankful she had that habit when she was speaking about her interests.
But just because she had seemingly forgotten her own question didn't erase the gigantic event that had taken place a few seconds ago. It was a big statement, to say he actually listened to audiobooks, because Maka felt passionately for books just as he felt passionately for music.
Soul knew it wouldn't be cool if he didn't take back his lie and the next day she asked him about it and he responded with a blank look. She'd be angry and hurt for days. That nerdy boy flashed behind the lids of his eyes and Soul's teeth dug into his tongue to stifle a scoff. The last thing he needed was to be in contempt for lying.
"Maka!" Soul stopped her mid-rant and shifted his eyes down to Kirin's wide ones. They bore into his own innocently and he took a deep breath as he devised a plan to get himself out of the hole he had idiotically fallen into. Maka was an avid reader and she kept grudges: she would never let him live down this false confession if he let it go. "I, uh, don't really listen to audiobooks anymore…"
He'd listened to one and that was only because he thought it was a song by a band he was looking for. He had instantly deleted the track and went back to his mission of hunting down that song within the tangled web of the internet.
Maka looked crestfallen. "You don't?"
"Uh, no." Soul coughed, looking away. His eyes landed on a bookshelf and he bitterly thought that boy at the Music Club must also own a bookcase. It was probably filled with novels and textbooks; a paradise for people like Maka. They would exchange book titles and debate the themes within the novels they had read and laugh and smile and draw closer and lean in and –!
"Ow – hey!" Maka squeaked, when she was roughly pulled down by her partner. "What was that for, Soul?" She furiously demanded but he merely grabbed her hand. Kirin fell between the both of them soundly, rolling on her back a tired look in her eyes. "Soul!"
"Relax, Maka, Mrs. Knightly won't be back until eight, right?" Soul cracked an eye open to look at her before closing it again. "Kirin's tired. Right, Kirin?" The baby, thankfully, responded by yawning. "See?"
Maka pursed her lips and tried to sit up again. "I've already slept enough! If I fall asleep again, I won't be able to sleep at night – !"
"Then just lay down." Soul suggested, and pulled her down again. His hand refused to leave her own and although this initially annoyed her, she decided wrenching her hand out of his would discourage him in the future, and gave in with a last glare thrown in his direction. "You need to learn how to take it cool, Maka, and just sit back and relax…"
"You mean slug around like a sloth?"
"Now you're getting it." He smirked.
Maka sighed but refrained from commenting. She traced the shadows that splayed across her bedroom ceiling absently while Kirin's soft baby noises quieted and she fell asleep again. Maka glanced sidelong at Soul, who had his eyes closed and appeared to be asleep as well. For a second, she considered standing up and heading into the kitchen to grab a banana and maybe continue from where she had left off at in her latest novel...
"Don't even think about it." Soul drawled, lacing their fingers together to ensure she would not leave.
Maka sourly said. "I wasn't going to leave."
"Uh huh, and I'm not cool."
"You're not..." Maka mumbled rebelliously. Soul turned to look at her blankly, not believing a single word she said. After a second or two, she blew out a breath and sunk deeper into the bed. "You're just a nice guy."
"Not that again." Soul groaned. "That cramps my style, Maka, seriously."
"But it's true!" Maka insisted.
For a moment, Maka thought he would clam up again and brush her off coldly; with a scoff, a roll of the eyes, or a simple 'so uncool'. But instead, he surprised her, and said: "Yeah, I guess. It's what makes me so cool."
With nothing to say, Maka fell on her back again.
Kirin continued to sleep peacefully.
And Soul didn't let her hand go for an instant.
Lacrow's Note
Yeah, we say about every four days for updates, but even writers have lives! I'll be sure to add my chapter fairly soon though...if I get around to it :P
In the meantime, guess what time it is? That's right, it's assignment time! Do opposites attract? Or are they doomed to repel? Just because two people act alike and have similar interests, does that necessarily mean they will get along? Give us your own take on the subject, answers need not be one or the other!
