Two days of updating, holy cow. Please enjoy. I also really have fun changing Soul's parents' names every time I write a fic.
All the color was gone from Maka's face, her lips pressed in the thinnest line he'd ever seen on those usually pouty lips. Today, up until that moment, had been a day of triumphs - no puking, well-rested, and actually hungry for a mission. Now, as Maka stared Kid in the face, Soul was sure everything was about to crash and burn.
"It's not a desk position." Kid was trying to sandwich the bad between the good but finding her face unchanged making it all murky.
"It might as well be," she snapped before pressing her hand to her face.
"Maka…" Soul let his hand drift down her back.
"You'll still technically be hands-on," Kid added weakly. "The students can learn a lot from you, and you have the temperament for them. Consider how we grew up with Stein. You'd be a vast improvement."
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Maka frowned. "And how are they even going to respect me? I'm barely older than them, not to mention everyone is going to know I'm only there because I'm pregnant."
Kid let out a withering sigh, tenting his fingers as he leaned forward on the desk with his elbows. "Would you rather the desk then?"
"No," Maka grumbled.
"Then that is what I can offer you until, well…" Kid had struggled with this final idea since the initial meeting, since the first grumblings from Harvar. "I'm going to ask you to consider taking this as a permanent position."
"Permanently benched?" Maka tried to keep from screeching up another octave, her nails making crescent moon marks in her palm.
Kid glanced at Soul, finding him simply shaking his head. "Again, consider it. You'll have plenty of time before and after, especially since I expect you to recuperate, both of you, for at least six months after the baby is born."
"At least DWMA has decent parental leave," Soul grinned to himself, only to receive a huff from Maka.
She couldn't decide if it was kid tears or real ones threatening at her lids as her hands came down to rest at the tiny pudge that was starting to appear just below her waistband. It was all starting to be tangible, the change in her body and the change in her life. "I'll think about it. We'll think about it. But Soul, he's teaching, too?"
"Officially just a weapon's instructor. Still gets to keep his title, though," Kid grinned.
"It's too cool to let go," Soul let that feed into a gigantic smirk. To be honest his mind wasn't even concerned with any of that. Fighting, benched, hell, fucking expelled, it didn't matter. Maka's body was changing and there wasn't much he could do for her there, but he was picking up all the other slack, cleaning out the second bedroom, compiling a list of necessities, and most of all, staring at that stupid onesie every now and then. He sure as hell wasn't ready, but he was on track.
"Fine," Maka let out one more huff, that pouty lip finally back to greet Soul. "I want ice cream," she muttered to him, grasping at his wrist to start the walk out of Kid's office.
"See ya." Soul threw a wave over his shoulder before letting her drag him at a steady pace. "Ice cream? I thought it was fried chicken before we got into the meeting."
"And two minutes from now it'll be Chinese food," she groaned. "I just want to eat. I'm starving. Practically wasting away."
"From puking to gluttony in a week's time," Soul chuckled. He managed to get a hold of her, his hand clinging to her hip as he was about to make another quip in her ear when he paused, seeing Liz storming up. Except she looked ready to blow right past them, a situation Soul hadn't experienced since the pregnancy. He quickly side-stepped Maka, grabbing Liz instead. "Hey, where's the fire."
"Hey," Liz tried to drop the panic from her face, sending a sweet but truncated smile in Maka's direction. "Nothing, just, well, stuff that Kid needs to hear."
"Something going on?" Soul pressed, feeling Maka come up behind him and press against his side.
Liz let her eyes travel the hallway before bringing them back to Soul. "Look, we've got three student teams rushed to the dispensary this morning. It was supposed to be a low-rank mission, but those stupid cultists showed up again."
"Is everyone OK?" Maka couldn't stop herself from touching the minute swell again as if the motion created any kind of calm. It's a new enemy. Always a new enemy.
"Alive," Liz sighed. "But they seem to be targeting students more often, and-" Liz cut herself off, eyes drifting over to Maka. "How are you feeling?"
Maka narrowed her eyebrows, the transition too obvious for her to let go. "Fine. But what's the and, Liz?"
"And I should be getting to Kid now," Liz's smile was about as genuine as Soul's attempts at enjoying Maka's music tastes. "See you later."
"Yeah," Maka murmured in reply but it didn't matter, Liz was already out of earshot the moment the words were from her own mouth. "I don't like this."
"Nope." Soul was groping for her before he even turned, hand coming over hers on her belly. "But look at it this way, those kids are going to need you more than ever, teach."
She huffed before putting her hand on top of his. "Don't call me that."
"Professor?" Soul raised his eyebrows playfully. "Oh, sensei!"
"Stop." She tried to shove him but he grabbed her instead, pulling her a little closer by the waist.
"They need to know how to fight against the real stuff," Soul murmured. "We both know you know what that's like, looking death in the face. You're going to teach that to them because it sounds like they're going to need it. You're in the right spot."
Maka smoothed the front of his shirt, her finger stopping at the tip of his scar, hidden under the fabric but a spot she knew better than any on her own body. "And you're going to do the same thing."
"Eh," he shrugged before breaking into a gigantic grin. "Best I can do is tell them to get a hot meister, make her fall in love with you, and have her do most of the work."
Maka snorted a laugh. "You're despicable."
"Always my goal: to corrupt the youth." He patted her hips one more time before releasing her. "Food."
"Noodles," Maka cooed.
Soul started off again with a laugh, feeling her grab onto the back of his shirt, happily listing out her menu of wants. He'd never say it to her face, not wanting another pointless fight since Kid already decided it, but he was over the fucking moon that she was here, trapped in the safety of DWMA, a place thick with weapons and meisters enough to keep her safe. More and more these days he kept reliving Black Star's words, that there's people in this world that think you're the bad guy, Maka's the bad guy. He, unfortunately, didn't know how right that was.
White knuckled was an understatement and Soul was ninety percent sure he'd lost feeling in most of his arms from the tensing at the wheel. How he even managed to keep them on the road was a mystery, especially since he'd spent much of the drive just spewing every last bit of knowledge he'd held in about his parents and Wes since the inception of their partnership. By the time they pulled into the driveway, Maka knew everything from their favorite colors to the embarrassing summer right before he left when his mother tried to cook and ended up giving everyone food poisoning. The information was, she assumed, supposed to be comforting, but Maka was already feeling fairly flooded, not necessarily needing the extra inundation with all the thoughts that were already overwhelming her mind.
It wasn't until he pulled up to the house, his arms still stuck on the wheel as his eyes focused on the dull skin of his hands, that he finally let the last agonizing thought part his lips. "I want to give them a chance."
"What?" Maka was almost too overwhelmed with the house to even filter his words. She knew he came from money, the descriptions of family vacations sounding a little too lavish to be middle class, but this was ludicrous. The antebellum columns, the perfectly manicured lawn that was bigger than their local park, along with antique-looking Porsche sitting next to their busted Toyota in the driveway all painted a far more intense picture.
"I'm mad at them," he groaned as he shook at the unyielding wheel. "But I want them to have a chance with our kid."
Her gut reaction was a giant DUH! Since why else would they even be here in person? A phone call, a letter, a carrier pigeon would work just fine if it was just about notification. But she swallowed that down, trying to clear the extraneous thoughts that were cluttering this big deal moment. "So, just for today, let's put aside the Soul stuff. That doesn't mean we're forgetting it, letting it go, just shelving it for when it's manageable. Today we're telling them, offering them the opportunity to be as active as they'd like to be."
"OK." Soul finally released his grip, flexing his hands in this lap until the fuzzy feeling started to wear off. "Just that they're going to be grandparents."
Grandparents! Maka let the word titter around her head for a second. Spirit, a grandpa. That came with a kind of relished joy, Maka musing if the girls at the club would start calling him pops and how deliciously that would wear away at his vanity. "Grandparents," she let loose with an amused curl to her lip.
"Oh, fuck, my mom's at the window." Soul knocked his head on the steering wheel.
"We were going to have to go in anyway." Maka took a second to smooth his hair back, getting a sideways glance from those now stormy red orbs before she opened her car door and slipped out. "Let's go."
Soul let out one last low moan before following suit, having to jog to catch up with her confident stride to the door. He had barely caught up to her when it opened, the older version of Soul standing on the threshold. "Hey, Wes," Soul couldn't stop the croaking quality to his voice, the tightness in his chest refusing to dissipate.
"Hey, little brother." Wes held out a hand, his eyes wandering over Maka's face. "The partner, right? Maka is it?"
"Yes, Maka Albarn." Maka took his hand but felt strange in the formality of a shake.
"We met once before," Wes mused as he kept her hand to lead her into the entryway. "And while Soul's inconsistent with calling home when he does your name is usually involved."
Maka threw that amused smile over her shoulder, catching the last bit of blush on Soul's cheeks, making a mental note to torture him later when his heart rate wasn't through the roof. "We're not just partners, Wes," Soul corrected as he added that 'jump to your own conclusions' wave of his hand.
"Oh." Wes's smile had a much more catlike quality than Soul's, his teeth looking almost just as sharp.
Wes let go of Maka's hand as they reached the living room and she slowed her steps until she felt Soul next to her, his hand resting at the small of her back. "Names," she murmured to him.
A weak grunt escaped his lips before he rested on the face of his mother. "Maka, this is Lily and Henry. Mom, Dad, this is Maka Albarn, my," a weak puff of air left his mouth before he sucked in a new one. "My girlfriend."
Maka watched that word hit Lily in the face, her brown eyes popping open widely. She could see the resemblance, the pale hair and lithe frame, but she would have to wait to see the identical smirk until later since Lily was simply still all shock. Henry had the same cat-ate-the-canary grin as Wes, that descriptor bringing more amusement than anything else. "It's nice to meet you." Maka held out her hand and waited on Lily, finding that Henry was the first to recover instead, his grip much more aggressive than Wes's.
"Same," Henry's voice was a deep bass, elicited from a barrel of a chest, the kind his sons definitely didn't inherit. While Wes and Soul fit more the track star body type, Henry was through and through a linebacker. "Right, honey?" he prodded her and it finally sprung Lily into action, her two delicate hands surrounding Maka's.
"Yes, wonderful."
A wave of anxiety called through their joined hands and Maka blinked at the sensation. She's worried about meeting me? But Maka made herself shut it off, mute out the whispers.
"And Soul…" Those delicate hands left Maka's and moved to Soul, enveloping him in her arms. "I'm so happy to see you."
Every muscle corded, the sensation still strange unless it was Maka behind it. "Alright, Mom," he murmured, raising one arm to graze her back. Henry made no such moves, just planting a hand on Lily's shoulder to pull her back, to give his son the air he was already struggling for.
It was a silent moment of arrangement after Lily begrudgingly let go. Soul and Maka sat across from Lily and Henry as Wes lounged on the side, fully emerged in spectator mode, his eyes dancing from parent to sibling. "Are you still working together?" Wes mused.
"It's not hard to do both," Maka was trying on her award-winning smile, the one that made his stomach flip almost as much as the admission.
"And work's going well?" Lily offered, her eyes settling on Maka since Soul's were still focused on that smile, trying to let it thaw him out.
"Well, we've had to…" Maka pressed her lips together.
Soul reached his hand out, stealing Maka's from her lap and squeezing. "Right now we're teaching. No fieldwork for either of us for a while."
Lily was now on the edge of her seat, her eyes back to bugging again, "Is everything alright?"
"We're both fine, Mom, just…" Soul squeezed Maka's hand again, his eyes finally moving from her face to his mother. "Maka's pregnant."
"Oh!" Lily's hands flew to her face, keeping any more sound from her mouth. Another swell of fear hit Maka, ready for the explosion but the only thing to burst were the tears from Lily's eyes as she left her tenuous spot on the edge of the couch and started to move to Maka. "May I, please, would you mind if I hugged you?"
Any answer to that other than 'of course' seemed absurd, so Maka stood and met Lily halfway. Hugs weren't alien to her, but this kind of motherly embrace brought a swell of a painful mixture of despair and need, bringing tears to her own eyes. "Thank you, Lily." It was strange that the alienated, forgotten part of the family was the first to embrace this, to let it be exactly what it was instead of a devastating blow.
All of the men watched this with apprehension until the two released, each pausing to clear the tears from their own eyes. Lily finally broke the tension, hands clapping together in exhilaration. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you." It was a whirlwind for Maka then, hugs and hand holdings revolving around the room. Hugging Henry was like being blown over by a gale-force wind, even twirling her off her feet. The strange magical chairs of congratulations ended up with Maka next to Lily, their hands inseparable intertwined as she started the slow prod for information. "I'm almost five months," she offered the start of the rundown as her eyes shot over to Soul.
Soul was watching her as always, his eyes finding hers almost instantly even as his father poured a celebratory drink into the glass in his hand. He offered an anemic smile before focusing back on what his father was saying.
"So halfway!" Lily cooed. "And you're barely showing."
Maka touched at what she considered more than enough of a curve, letting the flowing shirt finally take the shape of it. "I wish it felt that way. But, I'd, um, I'd love it if you could compile me a list of people since my friends, they're throwing me a shower and of course, you should be there, but anyone else you'd like…"
"Oh, I'd love to, and you'll have to let me, us help." There was a begging quality to her voice that surprised Maka as if all of this was asking too much. "And names? Or do you even know the sex?"
"Not yet," Maka murmured, cautious to share her own practically positive intimations. "At my next check-up, we should know more."
"And I'm so glad you're not working," Lily patted at Maka's hands. "And even after the baby's born you could take some time, just be a mother. If you and Soul needed help, you could always rely on us."
Maka couldn't refuse it, the dip in her stomach at the idea. "Oh, Kid, I mean, our boss is allowing us some time after the baby's born but we have work to do. I'm sure Soul's told you-"
"I know, I know, you're practically saving the world," she nodded along with the words to add a seriousness that her voice was leaching away from it. "But you'll have a baby. You should really consider-"
"Mom," Soul snuck up behind her, hand falling flat on her shoulder. "Dad said you had some things put away. Baby stuff?"
"Oh, of course, we do!" Lily jumped to her feet. "Just give me a minute. And then the two of you will stay for dinner, won't you?"
Soul transferred his drink to the other hand so that he could now rest the free one on Maka's shoulder. "Sure, Mom, but just dinner."
"Of course, darling!" She rushed away as if those baby things were on fire rather than just waiting being found.
Maka raised her head, leaning close to Soul. "I'm apparently supposed to become a stay-at-home-mom."
Soul let out a long, lingering sigh as he leaned closer, lips to her ear. "They're happy because you, me, and a kid? Normal. They're happy that I've come home promising them something normal, something that any normal person would do." Each use of the word 'normal' took a deeper, more bitter tone. "Just wait until we don't get married, or you go back to work, or even worse the kid is a weapon or a meister and then you'll see the cracks."
"Soul…" Maka reached up, her fingers grazing his cheek. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" he grumbled back, fingers moving from her shoulder to tangle in her hair.
"For letting you feel that again," she murmured. "You might not be normal, but you're perfect."
Soul laughed sharply, pulling back his hand with the strands of her hair dancing through his fingers. "I must be since you wouldn't settle for any less."
