Miss United States

"I am not the beauty queen type, Soul!"

"Please, Maka, you're the only one left to take this!"

She whirled around to glare at him. "The answer is no. Stop asking me about it!" Maka walked in the direction of her desk, finalizing their argument. This was Soul's last chance to convince her to be their pageant girl. The FBI needed someone on the inside to help them catch the criminal, or else they were going to have another death on their hands. He had to do something.

"If you do this, I'll buy you all the books and coffee you want for a whole year!" Maka stopped in her tracks at his words and slowly turned around to look at him. Books and coffee were Maka's weakness. She had to agree now.

"And I really need to do the whole glitz and glam thing for this?"

"The whole thing. We need those girls to think you're one of them or else you wouldn't be our undercover agent, right?"

"I don't do heels."

"You kind of have to for this."

"I'm not the girly type. Shouldn't Liz be the one to do this?"

"Liz isn't available right now."

Maka pursed her lips. "Fine. You owe me coffee and books for this. Don't forget."

Don't worry, I won't." Soul smiled. "Now, let's get you to a beauty consultant. They're going to have their work cut out on you."

Five different makeup counters, six dress shops, three shoe stores, and one trip to the salon later, and Maka was decent enough to be a believable pageant winner. The only thing left to do was training with the beauty pageant coach the FBI hired. Soul drove over to Maka's apartment where she was meant to be dressed up and ready to go so she could learn the basics, which is why he took the company car instead of his motorcycle. He stood by the car, waiting for her to come downstairs, and when the door to the apartment building opened, Soul was taken aback by what he saw. He knew how she looked with the makeup and new hair since he was with her when they went, but he never actually saw the look complete with the dress and heels. Maka was gorgeous, not that she wasn't before.

Soul let out a low whistle. "Well look at you. They really went to town, didn't they?"

"Would you just shut up! It isn't easy walking in these sho-" Maka's words were cut short due to losing her balance as she walked. Soul reached out to grab her, but she caught herself before falling to the ground. "I'm good. I just need a little more practice."

"Well you have the beauty down. Now you just need to work on the grace and Miss United States bit."

A faint blush tinted Maka's cheeks before she lightly pushed him. "Shut up! Don't forget I'm armed and I can still drop kick you even in these heels."

"I'd like to see you try that. You almost tripped just walking." Good thing she didn't catch that compliment, or else Maka would never let him live it down. There was no way Soul would admit he liked her. At least not until after she won the Miss United States, of course.