tw: some references to systematic racism, puking (why is this a reoccurring theme in this fic?)
Maka was braiding her hair when he walked into the room, shutting the door softly behind him. The rest of the house was hushed in peaceful silence. Soul wasn't technically breaking it, but Maka could tell by the way his eyes ticked away from her and followed the carpet under his feet that his mind was anything but quiet. He walked to the opposite side of the bed and sat, the mattress protesting with a squeal under his weight. His hands clapped to his knees and worried into the fabric of his shorts.
"Is Reggie OK?"
Soul cleared his throat. "Time'll tell. It's his first time sleepin' outta his own room, but he seemed awful excited to be bunkin' with Kea, so…" He kept his eyes on the wall as the bed shifted.
Maka's voice was now directly behind him, the width of the mattress shrinking when she turned to him. "I'm going to bet fifteen minutes before he's in here."
That earned a chuckle from him. "He's a lil' more excited than that. Twenty."
"What's the wager?" Maka murmured.
A kiss. Blood rushed to his neck and cheeks, threatening the tips of his ears. We're alone, and this is my last chance, ain't it? If he ain't here in fifteen minutes, I'm gonna kiss you, Maka. It's so selfish, but… I don't think I ever wanted anythin' more. "Dunno, what do you want?" he managed to mutter.
"Whoever wins picks the costumes for next Halloween."
He tried to force a laugh but nothing other than a weak expulsion of air could manage to eke from his throat. There won't be a next. Won't be a next anythin' 'cause I can't choose you. No matter how much I want it, I can't choose you. "Meanin' next year it's face paint for you. That stuff was a bitch to get off."
"And here I thought you were just moping in the shower." The accusation was there, even if the softness of her voice tried to nurture it into something sweeter. "Not your dad, but maybe… you had a fight with your mother, didn't you?"
Soul bristled. "It was the same ol'."
"'Same old' can still hurt," Maka pressed.
His fingers dug lines into his knees until they closed into a fist. He watched the blood drain away from the skin, now white and painful with the stretch.
"Kilik told me something today."
Soul didn't attempt an answer, simply feeling the ice crack beneath him.
"He used to have a crush on you."
That finally encouraged a sharp laugh from him, making Soul twist to find her staring at him. "He tol' you that?"
"Yes," Maka answered tentatively.
Soul studied her for a moment as a glum smile pulled weakly at his lips. "That…" He produced a sluggish shrug of his shoulders. "Wasn't really 'bout me. He-" There was another second of hesitation, a chew of words and thoughts. "He had a thing for my brother. I was just a stand-in."
"What?"
He nodded as if that quelled the curiosity, but when her eyebrows furrowed he added, "Chi use'ta bartend at a joint outside'a town. Jus' so happens to be one'a the few places 'round here that is acceptin' of that sorta thing. Turns out Wes likes those kinda places."
"How long have you known?" Maka murmured.
His eyebrows raised at the question as he searched over the timeline of his life. "Dunno when I didn't know. Reggie said it: I hear jus' 'bout everythin'. Guess not talkin' so much earned me better ears so eavesdroppin' is what I've been good at for most'a my life. Whatever Wes thought his secrets were, they weren't. I knew. Unfortunately, Mama and Dad ended up knowin' too, which is why he married Viv to shut 'em up. Chi bein' Chi, she got close to Viv at church because she knew how hard it must be. And here we are." Soul motioned around them, the room full of the last dregs of Chi's life and personality.
"But you…" Maka's lips snapped over the rest.
"Ah- nah. Don't mind what they like, but it ain't for me." Soul offered another roll of his shoulders. "Took it as a compliment and made sure we were still friends. Though honestly, sometimes I wonder if Kilik still maybe feels that way 'bout Wes. None'a my business though."
"Trying to play matchmaker?" Maka attempted some playfulness even as the feeling withered away.
Soul snorted, "Again, none'a my business. Kilik usually goes for what he wants anyhow, so if Wes was still it, I assume he would. The two'a you are kinda alike that way. Usually do jus' what you wanna do."
"I do have some self-control," Maka chided.
"Sure." The laugh he produced after destroyed the thin veil of belief in that statement.
"I do!" she pressed again as she leaned closer. "Like tonight, I could have-"
The words caught in her throat as Soul's hand drifted over hers on the bedspread. "Coulda what?" he murmured the question.
When you were thanking me, I could have kissed you. The thought brought pink to her cheeks, worsened by the way his eyes instantly ticked to it, examining the color with deep interest. "When you were thanking me, I…"
His fingers flexed as his voice barely registered above a whisper, "You said you wanted tonight to be more than fine, so-"
The rumble of a little fist hit the door. "Uncle?"
Fifteen minutes. Soul let a sour smile stretch his lips. "Yeah, Reggie." He leaned away from her, eyes instantly darting to the door as he withdrew his hand.
The door clicked open and Reggie shuffled his feet shyly in the entryway. "I-"
"C'mon. You can sleep with us." Soul's grin was back for the boy which was all Reggie needed to press forward and hop onto the bed.
"You don't mind?" Reggie offered while already bouncing on the mattress and scooting between them. "It's alright, Ms. Albarn?"
"She was jus' sayin' how much she missed you," Soul cooed.
Maka smiled as she rolled her eyes at Soul.
"Plus, it'll keep 'er from kickin' me in the night." Soul flopped back against the mattress, hearing it groan again at his weight. Reggie was already curling into him and Soul's response came automatically as his arm flexed to bring the little boy against his chest.
Maka watched quietly, her own little green-eyed monster suddenly whispering in her ear. I want him to hold me. As if his touch could ever become reflexive like that- as if he would want to hold me that much, be comfortable with me.
"You sleep sittin' up?" Soul snickered.
"No," she huffed before sinking in next to them. Space was tight now with a third body, but with Reggie sinking into Soul, Maka had enough room to lay on her back and take in the ceiling.
"G'night," he murmured.
"Good night." That should have brought her eyes back to his but she couldn't stand the possibility of what she'd see.
Soul listened to the sleepy breaths, Maka's chasing after Reggie's in a tranquil, soft symphony. Rest hadn't pulled him in since his mind was anything but stationary, jumping along memories in hopes of solidifying each one. First time I touched her hand. That halo of light around her head on the porch. Po'boys and palmreadin'. Sayin' Viv's name to someone else. The way she looks in that dress. The way she looks in any dress. The way her forehead feels on my chest. He just barely captured the curses under his breath, only releasing a long, lengthy sigh.
It was within the thin veil of sleep that she heard that rustling again from just a foot away from her. "Soul, that's the eightieth time you've sighed."
He jumped slightly, arm flexing tighter around Reggie's peacefully sleeping body that curled comfortably into his chest.
Maka's eyes blinked open, focusing on his face in the low light of the moon leaking through the windows. "If you can't sleep…"
Soul barely quelled his first instinct- another sigh- before letting out his softest whisper possible, "Jus' go to bed. I'll end up wakin' Reggie." His hand hovered close to the raven hair in front of his chest, motioning towards the little ear tucked against him.
A glare wrinkled her eyebrows, that stubbornness shining through any amount of darkness. Her arms reached out, rolling the little boy from the safety of Soul's chest and bringing him to cuddle into her arms. There was only a brief hiccup in Reggie's breath, a soft groan before he nuzzled into the new safety. "You talk," she mouthed.
His mind drifted back to her sitting on the bed, her warm hand on his skin. What I really want- what I really think? It's wrong, Maka, but there's a part'a me that does wish you'd have some kinda expectation. That when I say this there'll be a look on your face, one that tells me-
"Talk," she mouthed again with a little extra fury in the curl of her brow.
"I was supposed to be with Clara tonight," he murmured with the weakness that sunk all the way to his bones. The way that her eyes stayed steady on him- no dip, no blush, no blink made the ache worse. "Delacroixs always have a Halloween party and I was supposed to… make a show of it; give her, Mama, and that witch exactly what they all want. I chose this instead." He faltered, eyes searching hers as all of him begged for even a hint from her, but Maka forced a stony reply.
"And now all I'm doin' is hidin' out. Once I get back to Mama in a few hours, I'm-" He tipped one shoulder in something close to a shrug before curling it towards the pillow to obscure his face into the fabric. A shallow breath was all his lungs would allow, and even less of it came as he felt her hand caress away the hair that had started to cover the only part of his cheek still left to the air.
Silence crept around them as her fingers moved with soft surety, trying to feed some kind of soothing into him that he had always been starved for.
He turned his head just enough to be released from the folds of the fabric. "I'm scared." The words fell with defeat from his lips to the cloth, just barely breaking the space between them. Soul squeezed his eyes shut tightly. "I never wanted anythin' much. I…" His hand moved to grab hers, reluctantly pulling the reassuring touch away and trapping its tenderness. "I jus' wanna keep Reggie. I never cared what happened to me. I only needed to make sure he was alright, and if I did whatever I wanted, I was riskin' that."
Selfish, came an ugly voice that was an amalgamation of all the bitter tones from his life.
"It feels like I'll risk ruinin' his happiness jus' so I can have mine."
Selfish, it hissed again.
He let that constrict around his heart as the next acrimonious thought struck him: Let me see you hatin' me. Soul finally turned his eyes from the pillow, bringing her face into his view blurred with threatening tears. As soon as he focused, the urge shriveled and died at the sight of hers coursing down her cheeks. "Don't do that," he murmured as he dropped her hand, freeing it to smear the lines on her face. It was a simple movement, one he'd done a million times for Reggie, but the contour under his fingers was overwhelming.
"You don't deserve that," she choked out as quietly as she could.
"Says you," he whispered back. Just as she opened her mouth to argue, his thumb fell over her lips and pressed the salt of her tears there to seal them. "It ain't somethin' I wanna argue with you, Ms. Albarn. Thanks for lis'enin' to what's on my mind, but I think it's time for you to close your eyes."
Her eyes stayed open in clear defiance.
Soul sighed before letting his finger slide over the dip of her lip to her chin while he pulled his hand away. He let it come back flatly to the sheet, trying to let the fabric cool what was now burning skin. "I ain't sayin' I give up- I give in. I hope it's obvious that I don't wanna live Mama's way, but… I hafta be careful. For him."
"Wes," Maka mouthed as her eyebrows curled that to a question.
He shrugged half-heartedly. "Maybe I could trust the Wes from before to stand up. This Wes… well, I dunno." A deplorable attempt at a laugh rattled across his lips. "I use'ta dream…" His teeth showed in more of a grimace than a smile. "At fourteen, I use'ta think that I'd move to the desert since I like it hot but this humidity ain't great, and I'd… be a musician or maybe I'd do somethin' with my hands and get a motorcycle and- and fuckin' live."
Her hand tightly clasped over his. The seering warmth urged him to pull away, but her eyes struck him motionless. "You deserve your life, Soul." The words barely changed from before but the vigor, the surety she said them with tossed his heart against his ribs.
"Tonight, I… I was doin' what you said to Reggie: I could be whatever I wanted, and I was."
"A dragon?" she murmured as a hint of a smile teased at her lip.
He turned his head again to catch his laugh in the pillow. I could be with you. The words formed on his lips and touched the fabric but no noise followed them. Forget the motorcycle, the job, the desert, all of it… He moved from his hiding space, bringing his eyes back to hers. If I could be whatever I wanted, I think I'd be yours. All the rest could come and go but bein' with you like this. Soul let the thought die just like the smile on his lips. "G'night, Ms. Albarn. No more excuses; close your eyes."
She hesitated, eyes searching over the lines of his face as she hugged Reggie tighter. "No more sighing."
"Not tonight," he finished with a chuckle. "Guess… right now I'll concentrate on bein' where I am since this seems like a pretty nice place to be."
It was obviously none of Kilik's business- a fact that he had reminded himself of a million times before he started the walk from his bedroom. None of the arguments his mind could come up with had dulled the curiosity so on his third or fourth nightly wake-up- since Chi died Kilik was never one to sleep through the night- Kilik headed out into the hallway. He was almost to Chi's room when he heard the tap swishing softly in the kitchen. He abandoned his intrusiveness about the sleeping arrangement to pad further down towards the kitchen.
I must still be asleep, came the desperate cry from his mind. The hand on the faucet was one he'd seen a million times; the one that had tied his shoes for him before he could himself, braided his hair with skilled fingers from practice with her own, and had first handed him her greatest treasures: his niece and then his nephew. "Chi?" The name choked from his throat.
She turned, tears instantly springing from her eyes at the sight of him. Her mouth moved, but nothing came out over the hum of the water. Chi reached for him, but her steps faltered as her knees knocked together at the edge of her yellow sundress.
"Chi!" Kilik called desperately, running to catch her but almost falling himself as he found flesh under his fingers. "This isn't- this can't be real," he murmured frantically but ran his hands against the sienna skin regardless. It was the same dip of those strong shoulders, still with that scar down the back of her right bicep from the barbed wire fence she'd tangled with in elementary school. It was his sister, and he was holding her up, watching as those eyes, identical to his mama's, blinked up tears at him. "I'm dreaming," he whispered to her mournfully.
Chi shook her head, her long locs tickling over the top of Kilik's hand. Her mouth opened again, desperately words shaping on her lips but no sound to accompany them.
Footsteps broke his concentration on that sweet face he never wanted to be torn from again, and he turned his head only momentarily to see Soul's confused face erupting into view at the doorway. "Holy shit," Soul borrowed Blake's phrase easily at the sight. "That's- that's your sister."
Tears warbled at the edge of Kilik's vision at the acknowledgment. He brought his attention back to his sister, watching as the frustration blossomed on her face as her lips still moved soundlessly. Instead of worrying about her silence, he let his needy fingers dig into her and pull her close, catching the jasmine perfume she always wore along with her warmth. "Even if I am dreaming-" His words cut off as she suddenly became limp in his arms. Kilik was losing his grip, sinew and bone suddenly changing underneath his hands.
"Shit!" Soul repeated the curse right at Kilik's ear just before he grabbed at both of them, keeping Maka's head from lulling.
"Maka?" The name barely fluttered from his lips as his eyes searched over the woman in his arms. Ash-blonde hair now flooded over his skin as he brought them down to the floor, letting Maka's collapsed body gently rest against the linoleum. "That's… Maka."
Soul was crawling on the floor, getting close enough to move her head against his thighs. "But for a second there I saw your sister- you saw your sister."
Kilik nodded as his throat bobbed desperately through a swallow.
"Hey." Soul put a steady hand on Kilik's shoulder, snapping his desperate gaze away from Maka's unconscious form. "You alright?"
"How alright am I supposed to be after that?" Kilik warbled.
"Not much," Soul sighed before squeezing his fingers comfortingly. "I dunno what that was, but I know it must've hurt. Jus'... if you're gonna be angry, I'm gonna ask you to do me a favor and-"
"I'm not," Kilik interrupted with an ounce more of strength. "And I- I honestly don't think she did that on purpose because, well- I mean, I thought I was dreaming. I remember that night, that dress- I came down and Chi was running the water, just watching it go down the drain. When I found her, she was babbling and kept doing it, making no sense and saying things a mile a minute and I got scared…"
Soul tried to shake him from the daydream, barely snapping Kilik's eyes back from the past. "When was that?"
"Uh," buzzed from Kilik's throat as his eyes desperately searched Maka's sleeping face as if it had the answer. "Had to be just a week or two before she was killed. That's why I guess I never thought about it again- too busy missing her."
"Did she- was she seein' a doctor?"
"Not like she should," Kilik sighed. "After the twins, I told her to go back to the GP but she didn't seem to care for Dr. Delacroix- not that I blame her. She used to joke that she'd just wait for me to start my practice." A glum smile hit his cheeks. "But Dr. Delacroix was who I took her to that night- guess I could have called Stein, but he wasn't exactly practicing then. I didn't think he even was a doctor until you approached him- until I met him at the lab."
"Didn't know Dr. Delacroix took house calls," Soul muttered before his jaw tightened.
"She just happened to be at her office. It was there or the hospital and I was afraid…" Kilik sighed heavily. "Black woman freaking out means drugs- means CPS and looking at how the twins are taken care of. I know Chi wasn't like that- she was a great mother- but you know how people are. How people look at us."
Soul sucked his teeth. "Better than a great mother."
"Yeah," Kilik heaved another breath at the tail end. "It had to be something else. I know she wasn't taking anything, and I'm not just saying that as her brother. So, I went to Dr. Delacroix and CPS never came. Dr. Delacroix just said she must have been slipped something…"
Soul shifted quietly as he moved his eyes to Maka's face. "Maybe you'll have somethin' to tell us," he whispered softly as he cleared the hair from her face. "Wake up, now, c'mon."
As if all it took was his order, her eyes started to flutter open. "Soul?"
"There we go," he murmured with a smirk. "Looks like you had another lil' spell, though this one was a bit more in'eresting, Ms. Albarn."
"I don't-" Maka clapped a hand to her mouth as her stomach turned.
"Kilik, trash can," Soul called.
Kilik scooted along the floor as Soul forced Maka up to sit. He quickly reached under the sink and slid the plastic bin from its hiding spot and right to Maka's front in time to catch the next wretch. With his other hand, Kilik steadied her shoulder while Soul did his best to get her hair out of the way. They both frowned at each other as her stomach rejected its contents into the bin.
The heaving slowed and Soul pulled her back, letting her comfortably rest against his chest. "That ever happen before?"
"No," she murmured back weakly as she let her head fall back against him. "I just- it was so disorienting. I swear it was like someone had my brain in a blender. Was I walking?"
"Dunno 'bout that," Soul whispered softly. "Let's get you up off the floor first. My legs're kinda fallin' asleep, and I think it's better to get you to the couch." Soul motioned at Kilik and the unsaid order passed, Kilik moving to help pull Maka to standing while Soul slowly followed.
"I feel like you two aren't telling me something…" Maka was still shaky on her feet as a cloud hung over the connections in her brain. There was a lingering taste in her mouth, not just the acrid bile but a strange mineral undertone that she couldn't get a handle on. She only moved when Soul's hand came to the small of her back, urging her into a step as Kilik came to her other side and steadied her elbow.
"Sit first, then we'll talk," Soul muttered back.
Maka allowed herself to be led to the comfort of the couch but neither man joined her, both standing on either end to mirror each other with arms crossed. "Well?" she prompted weakly.
"You-" Kilik started but it broke him, his sister still feeling so real in his arms.
Soul waited for Kilik to start again but when the silence ticked on he filled it. "Your grandma say anythin' 'bout doin' more than walkin'?"
"More than walking?" Maka echoed back, her brow furrowing.
"Both'a us saw Chi," Soul started slowly, gauging the confusion on her face. "But jus' Chi. You were her, looked jus' like 'er-"
"And felt like her," Kilik added sharply.
"Felt?" Maka looked down at her skin as if it would be any different, searching for any metamorphosis.
Kilik shook his head, trying to break the memory free and let it drift away but it clung to him just like he had to her. "Her hair, the scar on her arm, her smell. It wasn't you, Maka, it was her. I remember my sister and for a few minutes, you were her."
Maka blew a breath between her lips as she ran a shaky hand through her hair. "I…" She shook her head slowly. "I was asleep, but then suddenly I was sitting up. I knew I was walking because Soul and Reggie weren't there, just bassinets next to the bed- the twins." A smile sprung on her lips. "Oh, she loved them so much. Just when she looked at them, even for a second, there was such a wave of utter love."
Soul stepped towards Kilik to grab him by the elbow and pull the man closer. Kilik allowed himself to be moved so that Soul could get a solid hold on his shoulder, squeezing tenderness there.
"She got up, went to the kitchen and rummaged through her purse. There was a pill bottle in there- just aspirin or something, but when she opened it there was one green one mixed in with all the white. She took it out and used the water from the sink to swallow it." Maka paused, eyes searching between the two men as the words worked over on her tongue.
"A green pill?" Soul repeated and turned his glance back to Kilik.
He shook his head in reply.
"Did it seem like she knew what she was takin'?" Soul let the question fly but grimaced after the words left him. "Sorry, not like you can read her mind…"
"No, but…" Maka trailed off as she worried her fingers into her pajama pants. "It was like time bent. The world was spinning and I couldn't get a handle on anything and all I kept hearing was Chi begging and I-" She was suddenly painfully aware of the tears, the burn closing her throat.
Soul gave Kilik one more squeeze before releasing him, moving to Maka's side. His hand instantly searched for hers, a solid connection bringing her back from the brink of sobs. "Beggin' 'bout what?"
"She needed to see someone." Maka shook her head mournfully. "That's what she kept repeating: 'I need to see him, I need to tell him.' And I tried to say she could tell me and that's when I woke up."
"Him?" Kilik echoed. "Me or…?"
"I'm sorry, Kilik," Maka sighed out the words exhaustedly. "I don't know. It was just 'him' but it felt protective. Maybe a warning but I can't know for sure. The only thing I think I do know is… after the pill, it sort of felt like the day at the lake."
Soul's fingers tightened around hers.
Maka narrowed her focus to Kilik as she felt Soul silently storming beside her. "My muscles felt funny; I was disoriented. It wasn't at all like when I was walking with Suzume or Asuka. It's only been those two times that I've felt sick."
"Could be them takin' you over," Soul murmured weakly. Could be you were Viv. Could be you walked into the water 'cause for a lil' while you were her.
"I'm not sure." Maka withered, sinking back into the couch as she let her head fall back and her eyes linger on the ceiling. "I just don't get why Asuka and Suzume were so clear- so vivid, and the others weren't." She didn't dare say the name, still feeling Soul tightly wound next to her.
Soul released a long, slow breath before attempting to hypothesize, his brain still bucking at the lingering hint of Viv. "Maybe those two are stronger, these aren't."
"No," Maka pressed back as she shook their connected hands. "Because this isn't where Chi died. She was showing me when her fate was sealed. That means she should be just as strong-"
"Wait- what?" Kilik balked as he took an uneasy step forward. "'Fate was sealed?' What the fuck does that mean?"
Maka opened her mouth but Soul suddenly became her voice, arranging her thoughts into words better than she ever could with the cloud of exhaustion that was starting to come over her mind. "You said that reminded you of that night you found Chi and then ended up takin' 'er to Dr. Delacroix." His fingers tensed on Maka's, trying to suck out every last bit of her courage for the words. "Somethin' about that night put Chi in danger and I'm gonna place my bets on that pill. And the only people who knew about that night were you, Chi, and Dr. Delacroix."
"You can't be serious," Kilik twittered weakly, eyes searching Souls and only finding red glowing gravely. "Soul, she takes care of the entire town. She's taken care of Wes, Viv, and you."
"I know," he rasped back before dropping his eyes. It was his turn to shrivel, his spine curling as his head fell into his free hand. "And ain't it funny that it jus' so happens we're the ones who suffer? The cursed, the dead, the-"
"Soul," Maka cut him off with a sweet murmur as she unraveled her hand from his so she could drift it over his chest. She caught the beat of his heart in her palm, settling it. "I think we should wait, find out more. Maybe I can try Chi again, or… maybe the church." Maybe the lake. Instead of the memory of the glassy top of the lake through her web of hair, Maka chose the one of his face, of the smile she gave him as he offered Reggie's help. "Just no more tonight, alright?"
He lifted his head to look at her as he let his hand fall to the one pressing lovingly to his sternum. "Tired, huh?"
Maka nodded.
"'Course." The huff of air from his nose only slightly resembled a laugh.
"Maka," Kilik froze them both with his tone. Two sets of eyes stared at him, waiting with no breath between them. "If you're gonna do something about it, I want to be a part of it."
Maka bit into her lip, just stopping herself from shaking her head. "Kilik, I don't know. You heard Nana Rung, it's dangerous, and you shouldn't be getting involved if-"
"It's OK if Soul does it, but not me?" There wasn't a hint of playfulness, all teasing thrown aside as he looked between the two of them. "I thought you said it's better to know the truth- so I want to."
"Best jus' to let 'im." Soul smirked as he stood, starting to pull Maka up to her feet with him. "Tol' you: Kilik's gonna do what he wants to do." He brought Maka to standing, scooping her elbow up to keep her steady.
"Guess that means 'welcome to the team,'" Maka replied with a lengthy sigh. "Maybe you, Blake, and Soul can get t-shirts or something."
"Now I know you must be exhausted if you think I'm wearin' more foolishness for you," Soul muttered quickly as he started her forward a few steps. "See you in a few hours," he shot to Kilik as they passed.
Kilik's only reply was a quick pat to Soul's back as he left.
Maka slipped away from him, letting his fingers drift gentle lines over her skin in the release. "Give me a few minutes."
Soul hummed out an affirmative as he slipped into Chi's room. Reggie had monopolized the space in their absence, legs and arms askew in an uncomfortable display. He chuckled lightly as he got back into the bed, gathering the little body into his arms. Reggie easily tucked in when asleep, the boy always searching for warmth as soon as he hit the bed. For a second, Soul felt seventeen again, reliving the era when Reggie in his terrible twos refused to sleep any other way than covering Soul's chest.
That was the scene on display as Maka entered, a snoozing Reggie sprawled on a smirking Soul's chest as his hands delicately fixed the raven hair so it didn't tickle him.
Suddenly it was Crona's words twisting the sweet turn of Maka's stomach the other way.
"You don't know what he is, what he could do-"
Soul looked up from Reggie's sleeping face to lock eyes with her.
"Everyone thinks she wants him just for his money, his name, but he's something else."
The amusement that had been lining his lips slipped away, but his smile was still there, only slightly lopsided as he watched her in the doorway.
"She knows what he is and what's in his blood and she-"
She's wrong, Maka's mind forced over the echoing memories. Whatever she thinks he is- thinks is in him- it's because she doesn't know him. "Had to brush my teeth."
"Understandable," he murmured as he patted the spot next to him. "C'mon. Sleep for a lil' at least."
"What about you?" Maka didn't move with caution, just slinking tiredly to the bed to sprawl in the sheets.
"Keep watch." He shrugged off the comment and her worry. I jus' want more time to feel like I got all I want.
Maka snorted a laugh as she scooted closer, her forehead almost tapping to his side as he refused to settle back down into the bed. She reached for Reggie, placing a soft hand on the little boy's back. "He was happy today, Soul."
"Mhm," Soul hummed out.
"I'm-" she shut her eyes, trying to hold on to that smile in her memory. "I'm happy like this, too." Fear trapped her breath in her chest, the moment as fragile as a robin's egg in her hand. The air broke from her throat as his hand searched into her hair, clearing golden tresses across the pillow behind her.
"Tol' you," he murmured as he dared to let his fingers drift through the strands again. "I'm the closest I'm gonna get to happy. Now hush, sleep."
I know what he is. Maka let that surety ring in her heart as he smoothed her hair again. I know what he is and that's why I can't- I won't stay away from him.