Soul woke up to the sound of a clearing throat. He barely lifted his head, catching Star standing in his doorway. He huffed out a breath before he forced up onto his elbows and then to seated. After a toss of his hair and a hand rubbed against his cheek, Soul stood, taking slow, plodding steps towards Star. "Mornin'."
"Shut up," Star hissed as he followed him down the hallway. "And awful strange that Albarn sleeps in your bed."
"Sometimes," Soul tossed over his shoulder like a correction.
"Sometimes," Star scoffed back.
"Look," Soul started, his volume rising as they entered the safety of the kitchen.
"Nah," Star broke him off. "There's more going on. She's sleeping in your bed. What the hell happened? You make up after I fell asleep last night?"
Soul tried to force all of his attention into the coffee-making process, letting Star's questions flutter around his brain while the answers sat on his tongue. Why do you guard it? Why do you keep it quiet like it's something you're ashamed of? Because you're not, you're not at all, it's just-
There was a crack from the doorframe, Star's heavy hand slamming to the wood. "I'm fucking leaving."
"Wait," Soul snapped but his eyes stayed on the coffee pot, watching the first of the drip. "I love her, right?"
"Yeah, you do," Star sighed.
"And I haven't told her, can't," he murmured, "but we've been… it's fucked up. It's been this way since after high school."
There were a few ticks of the clock before Star bubbled out a laugh. "Thank fucking Death you're not a virgin. Shit, man, I really thought you were completely unfortunate."
"Shut the fuck up," Soul grumbled over his shoulder but he was met with Star's glum grin instead of his real amusement.
"That means you really should have told her," Star slipped through his decreasing smile.
"Not that she's done any different," he muttered.
Star snorted out a laugh as he shook his head. "Yeah, it sure as hell is a toss-up as to which one of you is more fucked up, but come on, Soul."
"Yeah," he sighed. "Once this shit is over, once I can get a good night's sleep…"
"Sounds like fucking excuses to me."
Soul filled the pause with liquid poured into a coffee cup, turning and offering it back to Star. "Yeah."
Star grabbed the cup just in time for Maka's steps to hit the hallway, his head darting from Soul to the noise. "Mornin', Albarn."
"Why are you still here?" she grumbled as she hit the doorway, pushing past him with no mercy and moving straight towards the coffee machine.
"You're welcome," Star crowed. "Kept you entertained all night with my fantastic presence-"
"You annoyed me incessantly," Maka spat as she poured liquid into another cup, "while you got drunk and proceeded to fall asleep on the couch."
Soul snorted a laugh.
"Which is more than you deserve," Star shot back haughtily. "Anyway, gotta take a shit." He clanked the cup against the granite before shooting one more look at Soul. He left the doorway and steps echoed from the hall.
Maka let out a twittering sound of disgust.
"Maka," his hand tentatively touched her elbow.
"So I'm going to guess it was Giriko last night?" She wasn't looking beyond her coffee cup.
"Yeah." Business talk meant his hand should fall back to his side but Soul left those testing fingers at the joint.
"What was he after, do you think?"
A gravely force of air came from his throat. "He just wanted to piss me off."
Her words trailed right on the end of his, "What did he say?"
Does she make a lot of noise when you fuck her? echoed in his ear again.
"Nothin' special, all bullshit," he muttered instead.
"But it gave you an idea?" Maka turned her eyes to him and while the gears were obviously working, reflecting clear as day in her eyes, her elbow tipped, tucking entirely into his hand.
Soul gripped it, an anchor. "Thought about our first visit. Not about Giriko, he's full of shit, but the first warehouse we were in. There was plenty of stuff, goods, so I looked into some of their permits. Looks like they were missing a couple, so while it's no big deal, probably just some fines as a slap on the wrist, thought you could look into it, maybe tell Arachne today how her boy Giriko has caused her some trouble. If we can just get her pissed off at him, even for a little somethin', it might give us an opening."
"You got paperwork on those permits?" A small grin started to pull at the corner of her mouth.
"What do you think I was doing until 3 in the morning?" Soul scoffed. "I tucked a file in your bag. You look at it today, get what we need to get, and we see Arachne by lunchtime."
The smile stuck but her head tilted slightly, making his eyes follow the line of her neck, the strands of her hair dancing against the skin. "Maybe you should just let me, Soul. You only got a few hours of sleep and-"
"Nah," he shook his head swiftly, tearing his eyes away from the temptation to settle back to the coffee maker. He took his hands away to start his own cup. "I got somethin' I gotta say to her."
"What does that mean?"
"Means what it means," he murmured back.
"Are you saying it's none of my business?" This time it was her hand, pressed into his bare back to burn a print in his skin.
"I'm saying it's between me and her." None of that felt steady like a foot sinking in sand. His heart wobbled with it as her fingers curled slightly to rest nails into his skin. He couldn't tell if it was a warning or a threat.
"You're keeping secrets."
"I always do," he answered back quickly.
Another flex of her fingers, not necessarily a scratch but feeling like an attempt to find purchase, to dig into him. "I thought… I thought you were stopping that."
"Told you, I'm trying," the words dripped weakly from his tongue with the bitterness of an excuse. Because you promised, didn't you? Next time you saw her you'd look her in the face and tell her. Instead, you're staring at a coffee cup and adding another brick to the fucking wall between you. Trying, my ass.
Maka spent all morning at her desk, pouring over the information Soul had given her and alternating between the phone and the page. She'd wrangled something together, Soul's hunch coming to a bit of fruition but it was entirely flimsy, tiny, nothing to combat those pictures that she still forced face-down on her desk. It was barely a slap on the wrist when Maka really wanted to take the whole hand.
She tried not to let that bleed into her smile as Soul held the door for her to the interview room. Arachne was there with her faithful steward, Mosquito, who was by no means looking pleased while the woman beside him was still so decidedly smug. "This charge is preposterous."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Mr. Arana," Maka chimed. "But I'd love to ask you a few more questions because maybe we could just clear a few things up." She arranged the paperwork in front of them, pouring over the tiny details that Soul had so carefully sewn together. It was a beautiful little melody he had created and Maka's voice was humming it out, bringing it to a pitch that seemed to both entrance and frighten Mosquito and Arachne simultaneously. "And all this brings us to the DA's decision to renew the petition for a thorough examination of your finances. With this little slip up in your licensures, we're all fairly sure that this time the judge will see fit to let us take a deeper look. We already gave the file to Judge Hoshi who's reviewing it for next week."
"But you want something," Arachne cooed evenly.
Maka's smile dipped at the corner but she caught it quickly. "I know information comes at a price." She quelled the trembling in her fingers before she slipped the photo out of the file folder and slid it face-down towards Arachne.
Arachne lifted the corner but her face remained unchanged as she stared at the deep red in the image. "That's not one of my projects."
"But you know whose it is," Maka pressed back. "And I'm not making some kind of deal, I'm not saying this investigation will go away and I won't find out what you're doing but that-" She snatched the photo back from between Arachne's fingers. "If you come clean now I can save you from prosecution for that. If you don't, I'll make sure you and whoever is responsible burn for it together."
"Hollow threats, Ms. Albarn," Mosquito snapped as he rose to his feet. "Come along, Miss Arachne, this is pointless."
"I want to talk to you," Soul's voice scraped over the sound of Arachne's chair as she stood.
"Oh, you can speak," Arachne grinned at him. "And what does the Sergeant have to add?"
"Alone," Soul sent a cold glance towards Mosquito.
"Oh," Arachne added a playful giggle. "Alone, how forward."
Mosquito attempted to grab at her elbow. "Miss Arachne-"
Arachne blithely pulled away, settling back in the seat as she leaned closer to Soul. "Just the two of us?"
"Ms. Albarn, see Mr. Arana out," the order felt strange on his tongue, even stranger that Maka stood swiftly at the sound of it and opened the door. Soul finally received what he expected as Maka sent him one last glance, all ice and daggers, before she shut the door behind her.
Arachne took a slow, languid look around the room before letting her eyes bore back into Soul. "Is that one of those two-way mirrors? Will that darling little girl just be watching in a few minutes?"
Soul eased back in his chair, sucking in a long breath before starting, "No, told her this was none of her business and while she's stubborn, she won't play dirty."
"So what is it you'd like to do while we're alone?" she purred.
"I have a warning," Soul gritted between his teeth. "You may say those pictures aren't your projects, but I can guess whose. He even paid me a little visit last night and played me like a fucking sap because both he and I know he's got an eye on Ms. Albarn or at least that's what he wants me to think."
Arachne simply smiled cooly.
"But I'm gonna warn you now that's where it ends," his voice sank low, baritone buzzing violently in his chest.
"Is that a threat?" Arachne asked with a cheer so shining that you'd assumed she just received a compliment.
"Like I said, a warning," Soul continued to thunder from his throat. "Because while I sure as hell know what you're capable of, what he's capable of, I don't think either of you knows what kind of bastard I can be. I don't suggest you find out."
Maka eyed the coffee cups in his hands, his favorite first act of forgiveness but she was definitely at the pinnacle already and was settling into the idea that he'd have no hopes of bringing her down.
"Maka-"
"You realize you told me to get the fuck out, right?" The curse hit him almost as hard as the shout, Maka usually leaving the vulgarities for the vulgar.
"I did what I told you I was gonna do," he muttered as he lessened the divide at least by steps, still feeling that icy wall rippling between them.
"Ms. Albarn, see Mr. Arana out. Do you know how you sounded?"
Soul shrugged and plopped the cup in front of her.
"Like an asshole," she struggled, the words disjointed, puzzle pieces with the wrong ends. "A complete and total asshole who just sent me off like- like-" A frustrated groan finished that and as he reached for her she swatted his hand away. "This is my job, Soul."
"I know," he murmured.
"And I'm good at it!"
"You are."
"But you make me feel like-" Maka cut off to press the heel of her palms to her eyes, trying to refuse the burn that was no longer sneaking up on her. "I told you how I feel about you protecting me."
The door slammed, making her hands jut away from her face as he was suddenly back at her desk, leaning over her with a stone face. "Finish your other sentence."
"What?" For a fleeting second, all of her guts turned to cold jelly, finding nothing in his eyes.
"I make you feel like what," he intoned coldly.
"Soul-"
"Tell me the truth," he shoved over his name, burying it deeply.
It felt like ice cubes clacking against her teeth but the words still eked from her throat, "It makes me feel like you don't think I can do it on my own."
A rough laugh left his throat, "That's not what I think."
"Then tell me the truth."
His jaw clenched through a breath before he let the words run evenly over his tongue. "If it hadn't been me that night with that kid in your office, I know you would have fought tooth and nail. I think I know now that you wouldn't have died - you wouldn't allow anyone to take anything from you like that." Soul leaned closer, still nothing coming to his eyes but a tight pull to his lips. "Kind of like how you were ready to take my mom for a spin. No one gets in Maka Albarn's way. The problem is you jump. You fight with the first gut reaction and while that works, that'll keep you alive, I want more than alive. So that's why I stick my nose where you don't think it belongs. Not because you can't take care of yourself, but because you do."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
He sighed, "You're not listenin' to me."
"I am," she urged back, "and I'm hearing is that I act like a fool, like I don't-"
"You denying that you act on impulse?" Soul narrowed his eyes at her.
She tried to raise her hackles, puff her feathers, but there was no momentum, against that strange fizzling sensation under this new glare of his.
"You can't," he finished for her as he finally leaned back, creating a sudden chasm between them.
"Yo, Albarn, you good?" The door was suddenly swinging open and Star was trouncing in. "Thought I heard the door slam and - oh, Soul, 'sup?"
"Nothing," Soul grumbled. "Just tellin' Maka I'm taking the rest of the day. Gonna get some sleep. Make sure she gets home, OK?"
"Since when am I her babysitter?" Star's gripe fell on deaf ears, Soul already halfway out the door and Maka's eyes simply staring at his exit with nothing else registering. "Yo, what the fuck was that?" He turned his eyes to her but found the vacancy, instantly unnerved by the way she dropped her eyes to her papers.
All of the things pulling at her she trapped with a few words, "I have work to do."