A/N: I saw this in post somewhere on tumblr, but I don't remember where and my tag for SE is too much to look for it. If you know, let me know so I can give credit. Also, I have like 4 more short stories I've written and I'm really impatient so that's I've been updating so fast this week.

Intimidation is Key

Soul Evans was working with the FBI for a year when he received his first partner, a gangly blonde girl named Maka Albarn who had just been transferred from another unit. He wasn't completely sure how he felt about having a partner at first, but she seemed to be alright. She definitely made things more interesting when they were out on the field, and she knew her shit pretty well, better than him. They had been working together for about six months now, and Soul had developed more intimate feelings for her. He knew it was bad to get with a colleague, so he never really acted on it. But that didn't stop him from flirting with her on occasion. His favorite thing was teasing her about her looks, the poor girl did not look intimidating in the slightest.

"Just admit it, Maka, you can't intimidate any of these crooks for nothing." They were sitting at their desks, face to face, looking over the files for the case they were working on.

"I can be scary, you just never give me the chance." Maka pouted.

Soul bowed his head to hide the smirk. "Sure you can. I'll believe that when I see it."

One of the suspects for their case was waiting in the interrogation room to be questioned by them. They were currently looking over his file that was given to them by their department head. Soul noticed that he wasn't as bad as the past criminals they had seen together, so a thought came to mind.

"Hey Maka."

"Hmmm."

"We need to go question this guy, how bout you do it this time? Let's see if you can be as frightening as you think you can."

"Really?" Maka perked up from her slump, her dazzling smile giving him that all too familiar warm feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Yea. I don't think you can do it, but we'll see." Maka fell back in her chair and glared at him.

"How did I get partnered with a grouch like you?"

"Because I was the only who didn't have one already. Plus it can't be that bad. You have a very handsome partner, if I don't say so myself."

"Yea, who's completely full of himself and conceited and rude and irritating and-"

"Do you really want to have a discussion of each others faults? I have a whole list for you." Maka looked back at her case work, mumbling something incoherent under her breath. Soul did notice, however, that she didn't disagree with him being good looking. "Alright, let's go do this."

The walk to the interrogation room wasn't long, it was just down the hall from their office. They did see some other agents and greeted them as they passed by. When they arrived, Soul let Maka go in first since she was going to do the questioning this time around. She puffed out her chest and attempted her best menacing glare. Honestly, she could be scary but that was only when Soul did something to really piss her off. When she was actually trying to be scary, however, she reminded him of a kitten attempting to claim dominance over a dog.

"Mr. Rhodes do you know why you're here today?" Maka was standing in front of the suspect, opting to ignore the chair for her, with her hands behind her back and glaring down at him. Soul watched Rhodes' facial expression and noted that he kept looking between the two of them, most likely wondering why Soul wasn't the one in her place.

"Because you idiots think I'm the one who murdered those girls."

"Don't try and talk down to me. You're the one whose ass is on the line for being arrested." She slammed her hands on the table, making both Rhodes and Soul jump a little. "Now, where were you on March 17th?"

"I already told your buddies that I was at home. I swear I didn't kill those girls."

"That's a likely story and I bet you expect me to believe that, huh?" Was she really using lines from stupid detective movies? Had she not watched Soul for the last six months? He had hoped she would pick up at least something from him.

Maka was really trying her best to be intimidating, but the suspect's facial expression never changed nor his body language. All of her attempts were failing, and Soul was feeling a little sorry for her. A small part of him did want her to succeed in this, to give her a small confidence boost. She was getting nowhere, unless he helped out. So the next time the guy looked over at Soul, he gave him his famous menacing look that worked every time. This time was no different. Soul watched as Maka's demeanor changed, noticing that the crook was a little scared of her.

"See, I told you I could do it. You just needed to give me a chance." Maka said as she sat down in her desk chair.

"That's because this guy was easy. If you can be intimidating to a more threatening criminal, maybe I'll let you off."

"You'll never let me win, will you?"

Soul rolled his eyes. "I'll give you this one. But I doubt it'll happen again."

"Thank you." Maka watched him carefully as he sorted through the paper work that was scattered on his desk. "By the way, thanks for giving him that little scary look of yours. It really helped to loosen him."

Soul looked up at her smiling face, eyes bulging. She had seen what he did with the reflection from the two way mirror. He thought he was careful in tracking her movements so that she wouldn't see it. Soul felt his checks warm up and his hands went instinctively to hide the blush. But Maka had caught it and she giggled at his reaction. It was going to be really hard keeping their relationship strictly work related.