Author Notes: Alternative title: gratuitous cuddling. This chapter is equal parts crack, fluff, travel advice, and general abuse of the English language, so read, review, enjoy; I certainly enjoyed writing it enough. Also I'm on tumblr now, or I always was but now I'm just on the fandom side, link is in my bio.

March 15th

Maka wakes up with a horrible crick in her neck; sleeping semi-upright was not for the faint of heart, and certainly not for the faint of shoulder muscles. She hears a groan from next to her and figures Soul has suffered the same fate.

"Sleeping in the car was the worst idea ever," he complains, rolling his shoulders.

"You could have slept in the tent," she counters, "just because I fell asleep in here, doesn't mean you had to."

"Oh yeah, blame it all on me," he sighs, "it was warm in here, it would have been cold in the tent."

She cracks her neck and the pain subsides considerably.

"God, my shoulders are killing me," she looks over; he's still trying to work out some kink in his back with his own hands stretched ridiculously over his shoulders.

"Get out of the car."

"What?"

"Get out of the car," she repeats, "and lie down on the picnic table; I'll fix it."

He complies with only a faint complaint about the cold and clambers awkwardly onto the picnic table.

She promptly straddles the small of his back with most of her weight propped on her knees on the picnic table.

"What are you doing?" he squawks and almost balks her off of him.

"I have to get better leverage," she huffs. She leans over and digs her knuckles into his shoulders and he instantly goes limp.

"Ohh," he sighs out, half in realization and half in relief.

Maka smirks; she knew he'd quit his griping once she started really leaning her elbows into his back. "I told you, I needed leverage."

"Good morning!" Black Star bursts from the tent with a gigantic yawn, "what's going on over here?"

"We're having super crazy table sex," Soul dead pans, "obviously I'm getting a massage."

"Oh, can I be next? Your God was not meant to sleep on the ground."

"Why can't Tsubaki do it?" Maka grumbles.

"Tsubaki has the hands of a weakling, I need your manly elbow strength."

"Don't call my elbows manly!"

"It was a compliment!"

"I will do you next, if-"

"Yahoo!" Black Star cheers.

"IF!" She continues, "you cook breakfast, and clean up."

"I can't cook," Black Star shoots back.

"Liar, Tsubaki already let the cat out of the bag."

"Hey," Soul flips his head around on the table, "are you telling me, I've been making instant macaroni for you this whole time for nothing?"

"Guys, we can work this out!" Black Star says.

"We can work it out if you cook breakfast," Maka laughs.

Black Star gives in and makes some pretty spot-on scrambled eggs and she relents to giving his shoulders a solid pummeling but draws the line when the other boys come out of their tent.

They start out on the next leg of the journey with a brief stop in Newport where Maka sneaks into a drug store to get some dramamine for Soul.

He looks so reluctant to get back in the car but when she leans in, whispers that his secret is safe, and slips him the anti-nausea medication, relief washes over his face.

There's a weird part of her that finds it endearing.

She starts out the trip reading her book, but steals glances over at Soul who is lolling drowsily, but contentedly against the window.

Black Star is asleep in the front seat.

"You can lie down if you want," she says quietly.

"Huh?" he jerks back awake.

She folds up her fleece and drapes it over her legs. He doesn't need another invitation. He wraps part of his seat-belt behind him, in a way that she knows is definitely not safe, and collapses, curled up on the seat. She leans against the window and watches the scenery while running her fingers through his snowy hair. She is surprised by how soft it is without the usual product in it. He lets out a satisfied sigh.

"Don't drool on me."

"I won't."

His face relaxes and a lot of the harness slides away. She heart skips a little weirdly and she gets the urge to touch his face, but she dismisses it. No feelings here.

"Hey, wake up," she shakes Soul lightly, "we're getting out for a hike."

"Are we at the campsite?" he asks groggily.

"No, I guess it's just some spot Kirikou mentioned."

"Can I just wait in the car," he nuzzles back into her fleece and she gets another palpitation.

"It actually looks really cool out there, you might want to take a look."

He sits up and peeks out the window. She watches a slight look of awe cross his face before it sinks back into resting perma-scowl crossed with boredom. "Where are we?"

"Cape Sebastien, my friend," Kirikou opens Soul's door and drags him out by the collar, "we have some rocks to explore." They're parked at the top of a hill but she can see the water down below and the whole coast line in either direction. "We have to hike down a ways though."

She puts on her fleece and snags her camera from the trunk of Tsubaki's car.

"Planning on more sneak attack photos?" Soul yawns.

"Or you could just let me take your picture," she grumbles and adjusts the settings to the lighting.

Soul just yanks his headband down to his eyebrows and his collar up to his nose.

They climb down a series of switch back trails until the path cuts off at a cliff facing an out cropping of rocks are getting a serious beating from the incoming waves.

"Dude, can we get out there?" Black Star looks all too excited at the prospect.

"Yeah, the path continues over here," Kirikou points to a trail only wide enough to put one foot in front of the other. Maka is a little skeptical but Black Star and Kirikou seem to navigate it fairly easily.

"Hey, be careful Maka," Soul calls, having taken a seat at the cliff edge.

"It's actually a lot easier to walk on than it looks, and the bushes hold you in so it's actually pretty secure," she calls back. "You should come out here!"

"Dude, don't be a chicken!" Black Star yells from the front of their line.

Never one to be insulted, Soul gets off his feet and onto the narrow trail to the little peninsula.

The whole area was a lot larger, flatter, and easier to climb than it had appeared from the cliff side. And while the waves are torrential, and slightly terrifying, it's easy to keep a safe distance.

Tsubaki's long hair blows wildly in the wind and Maka takes her picture as she turns around. She's glad that her friend will cooperate for her photography practice even if some stupid, slobbery boys won't.

"Hey, Maka, take our picture!" Black Star and Kirikou pose ridiculously. She doesn't click the shutter down all the way, her limited film is much to precious for that. She does however, snap a picture of them with their backs turned to her with the waves crashing up on either side of them.

"Wow," Soul finally makes his way out to the rocks, "wouldn't want to fall in that water."

The waves are crash into one another as the backwards wash of one collides with the next. Soul's hair whips around in the spray and Maka tries to focus her lense.

"Quit that," he snaps, glaring at her.

"Can you just let me take your dumb picture?"

"My hair looks stupid."

"It looks fine," she laughs, "you vain idiot."

"Why does it have to be me?" he asks glumly.

The waves crash again.

"I like your face!"

Maybe not the right way to put it.

"What did you say?" he yells over the wind.

"Your face... is good... for the camera that is."

He furrows white eyebrows into a frown but she takes the picture anyways.

"We should head back soon," Tsubaki waves them over, "I think it's going to rain soon."

"Fuck," Soul swears under his breath but Maka watches the word pass his lips.

It takes longer hiking up the hill that it had coming down, but they still make it back to the cars and to the next campground with the weather still on their side.

"Where do we put the tent?" Maka looks up from her book to see that they're in a parking lot.

"I think this one is a walk-in site," Tsubaki glances over the meticulously planned itinerary. "It's just a quarter mile up from that trail head."

"So we have to carry all of our stuff up there?" Maka asks.

"Not all of it, just the tents, sleeping bags, and the food for tonight."

"Can't forget the beer!" Black Star chimes in.

"We should probably leave the rest of the food in the van and come get it in the morning though," Tsubaki continues, "we don't need any raccoons hanging out."

It's a bit of a pain, but between the seven of them, they manage to pack their supplies in in one trip.

"I guess no sleeping in the van tonight," Maka comments to Soul.

"I think I'd prefer sleeping on the ground than sitting like that again," he grits his teeth, trying to balance a rather precarious stack of stuff.

"I just hope it doesn't rain."

"We'll put the rain-fly up in just in case, and find a spot that won't end up as a puddle."

Despite being tucked away in the woods, the campsite is nicer than Maka expected; there's still a picnic table, and a water spigot, and the rest of the place is deserted so they can station themselves wherever they please.

"Let's get as far away from Black Star and Tsubaki as possible," Soul whispers in her ear.

She nods solemnly and they seek out a patch of higher ground for the tent.

They manage to get a small fire going and are all sitting on the ground listening to Harvar tell some horror story. It may be Harvar's stoicism that makes the whole setting creepy, or the fact that they're in the woods, but Maka is mildly spooked. She doesn't scare easily, and she certainly doesn't believe in the paranormal, but just the concept of the story is a little terrifying. She wraps her fleece blanket around her shoulders and bumps her knee into Soul's.

"At the dawn of time, there was a demon Asura, who was filled with madness. Such was Asura's madness, that he turned to cannibalism, eating people where ever he went," Harvar speaks calmly, a flashlight held under his chin, casting a creepy glow on his face.

"And his madness was such, that he even ate the heart of the woman he loved, as well as his best friend. He was afraid, you see, of anyone over powering him, so he ate those who came into his path, believing that he could absorb their strength. Eventually, the God of death, seeking to bring order to the world, sought to subdue him. So death skinned him, and sealed his evil inside a bag of his own skin, deep underground. But, if he ever escapes, he could appear at any moment to eat any one of us." He clicks off the flash light and Tsubaki screams.

"That was uncalled for dude!" Black Star groans, "that is some seriously creepy shit."

"Good thing it's not real," Soul drones.

"Or is it?" Harvar asks, Ox makes a spooky noise behind him and they all laugh.

"Hey, I think I just felt a rain drop," Tsubaki says cautiously, and as the rain turns into a downpour, they scurry into their tents.

"Your blanket didn't get wet did it?" Soul asks, turning on the flashlight in their tent.

"No, it's fine," Maka spreads it out on the floor of the tent and wraps herself up in it. Soul unrolls his sleeping bag and crawls in before turning the light out. The cold ground sucks most of the heat out of her body almost immediately, even through her sweatshirt and fleece, and she shakes a little.

"You're not scared from the story are you?"

"Of course not," she stills herself, "it's obviously not real."

"Goodnight then."

"Goodnight Soul."

He rolls over and she listens to his breathing as she tries to fall asleep herself. She hates to admit it that he was right, but it actually is freezing sleeping on the ground. She draws her hands up to her face and tries to breathe some heat into them but it only works momentarily. She listens to the pouring rain outside, prays that the rain-fly doesn't blow away, and prepares herself for a long night of lying flat on her back and wishing she had taken the advice to get a dumb sleeping bag.

She turns on her phone briefly to check the time and is partly horrified and partly relieved to see that it's already midnight.

"You're cold, aren't you," Soul mumbles.

"No, of course not," she turns her phone off again, "sorry if I woke you up."

"Maka, I can feel you shivering over there."

"I'm fine."

"It's keeping me up too."

"Well there isn't much I can do about it," she snaps, "just say 'I told you so' already."

She hears a zipper, "get in the sleeping bag."

"You don't have to-"

He cuts her off, "I already said you're keeping me up, you'll be doing me a favor."

She hesitates.

"Besides, I'm cold too."

"Black Star will make fun of us," she says.

"Black Star is off in the woods doing God knows what."

"I won't fit in there."

"You weigh what, ninety five pounds? Of course you will, just get in the dumb sleeping bag." He sounds exasperated, and Soul is not one to be short of temper. Maka worms her way over, still wrapped up in her blanket. "The blanket isn't going to fit, you dope, you should put it on top."

"Soul."

"What?"

"I don't know if I can get out of the blanket," she whimpers, "my hands are kind of numb."

"Here," he reaches out and grabs the edge of her blanket, "roll that way, and I'll pull on this end." She comes rolling out like the least graceful possible butterfly coming out of cocoon and she's insanely grateful for the darkness so Soul doesn't see her flailing around with a section that's twisted around her leg. "C'mere" She scrambles into the sleeping bag with him and he hastily zips it up behind her. Her face is planted just below his neck and she wraps an arm around his waist because there's certainly nowhere else to put it.

"Bet you're glad I have t-t-tiny tits now," she stutters, teeth chattering.

Soul rubs her arms and her back vigorously, trying to build up some heat via friction, "what makes you say that?" he scoffs.

"If I had honkers like Tsubaki, they wouldn't fit in here."

He laughs and she can hear it at his throat where her face is pressed, "are you getting warm?"

"Starting to," she mumbles, her heart galloping along like a horse. She hopes he can't hear it, but she's almost certain he can. It's certainly loud enough in her own head. She leans her forehead against his throat and feels a pulse as steady as any. Probably because he isn't the one who may or may not be developing a crush on their best friend.

"Go to sleep then, I'm tired," he hums into her hair and wraps a solid arm around her.

"You napped in the car!"

"Shh."

She didn't think it was possible, but she gets warm enough to kick her socks off and miraculously falls asleep, even within such close proximity of Soul snoring quietly and breathing humidly on the top of her head.