A/N:
Warning: Infidelity
You know what for; angst for angst's sake

"Hey, Soul?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's pretend for a moment."

Soul looked down at the top of Maka's head with curiosity. The movie had just started and there was nothing else to say except for "stop hogging all the popcorn." Playing pretend? At a time like this? When he didn't answer, she squirmed.

"Alright, about what?" he sighed. The opening credits were already rolling.

"Let's say you cheated."

"Veto'd. That was fun. Movie time."

She turned towards him for that with a pout on her lips and a finger on the pause button. "But–"

He hushed her, leaning over to hit the play button and settling back into the cushions. "Case closed. Moving on."

After a few minutes of an upbeat theme song, Maka started to shove her popcorn into her mouth several ones at a time. It was a never a good sign. The TV illuminated her face and cast shadows on her brow. She wasn't watching the characters, and he knew that look.

"Fine."

Maka didn't begin until she chewed everything in her mouth, but she still continued to eat them one by one. "What if for a second we weren't on the couch watching netflix and chilling, like maybe at a bar or something downtown."

"Are you paying for my drinks?" he teased, but she slapped his arm before continuing.

"What if we didn't come together, like I would be with the girls on a girls night out and you told me you were going to play games at someone else's house. We wouldn't know that the other one was there and not either of our friends knew of us either– shh, it's a big new place.

I would be in a dress you picked out for me for another event but I thought it would be fine to take it out for the night, and you would be in your lazy clothes. And by that, I mean you're in your dress shirt and tie with ironed slacks. Maybe uncuffed. Or I don't know, just something!

Anyway, I would separate from my friends first to make my way across the floor. At one of the stools though, I would see your hand on another girl's thigh and her hand in your hair. You would be messy as always with your kisses, but aren't the same as the one you gave me just before I was leaving, and they aren't the same as the ones you've given me before. It's different, and I could tell you were seasoned– like it wasn't the first time you were lip locked with a pretty brunette you didn't even know the name of.

I would stay like that for a long while, hoping that as time passed, it would all just be an illusion set off by the heat of the room. That is until someone shoves me from behind, tripping me while a bright purple drink spilled over my back. At the clamor, you would break away from her and look over to me with wide eyes and guilt written over your face. You stand up and push her away immediately, but I've already seen what I needed to.

I scream at you to not follow me as I walk with a storm at my feet and rain dripping from my dress. You were smart enough not to as I left the place, walking back to the apartment we shared for the longest time. I would text a mutual friend of ours to ask them to relay a message to you, that I'm safely back in my room, door locked. Obviously, you didn't come home that night.

Not that I expected you to, but it would have been nice to see you pounding at my door with the same amount of tears in your eyes as in mine. I would have liked it if I heard you slide down against the wood and onto the floor as you buried your head in between your legs, repeating that you knew exactly what you did and how wrong it was. And maybe, just maybe, I would crack open the door just enough to wiggle my fingers out to wrap around yours.

But you weren't there, nor the day after that, nor the day after that. Then one day, you would come back with a scowl on your face and vicious words, as if there wasn't enough damage between us already.

Hey, Soul? What would happen next?"

He tilted his neck back to look at the ceiling, processing the scene Maka had laid out for him. "This wouldn't happen to be modeled after something real, would it?"

No answer.

"Well, you know I wouldn't be caught in one of those places anyway without you, so there goes that whole scenario. Secondly, I wouldn't be wearing something like that. No one would be caught dead at a bar in formal attire, Maka, please. Next, I'm not sloppy." And just to prove it, he peppered the back of her head with kisses, eliciting soft giggles as she shook her head to ward him off. "I have a thing for blondes, and I like to keep my mouth moving– yo, don't hit me–"

Maka let out a groan, sitting up to move away from him, but she was trapped in a cocoon of limbs.

"I would follow you to the ends of the earth; don't think I would stop when you're upset just because you don't want me to. That's an insult and don't ever think of that ever again, ok? I wouldn't need someone to send me a report on you because I'd be locking the front door behind us. Your bedroom door wouldn't slam, and even if you managed to, I would beg you to come out pass the break of dawn. Once you open the door, it would open all the way and I wouldn't let you go until we're cried everything out. And why would I yell at you when you have every reason to be upset at me?"

He sighed.

"But Maka, why would I cheat in the first place?"

He already felt drained from his little schmoo, but he had one more thing to add before he was going to let her speak.

"I'm not your old man, and we aren't like them."

"But you don't know that, and I don't know that," she whispered. "Things can happen down the road and maybe we might."

"But it won't, I know."

"That's what they thought, too."

"Maka, be reasonable. It won't–"

"–but just maybe it might!"

He leaned over to steal the remote from her side, stopping the movie just as the boy on the screen was leaving the girl of his dreams alone on her porch steps. Soul then plucked the bowl of kernels out of her hands and replaced it with his arms, holding her in a cross armed embrace and feeling her stiffen under him.

"Hey, it's just me. Hey, it's ok."

The girl under him started to shiver, reaching to tug him and his warmth closer. No words exchanged between them, but they were connected by something stronger than that. She relaxed at his touch and from the nuzzle of his chin against her crown. He rocked her slowly, back and forth, back and forth. They fell back into silence as her eyes dried and as his hands rubbed along the side of her cheeks.

The movie resumed once more, the couple laying back onto the couch together both tired. Very tired.

"But just maybe, Soul. What if it happens?"

He leaned in, kissing her gently with a promise to her. His body arched further into her back and he brushed the stray hairs from her face. Maka held onto him as long as she could and until they were left breathless, the remnants of a smirk faint on his lips.

"I won't."

And with that vow, she buried herself deeper into him, letting a sigh graze his chest and promising to reply next time with

"I know."