A/N: This chapter is monstrous and fluffy and goofy and fairly smutty in the middle-ish. I couldn't pry them apart with a crowbar, so. They're like FIRST TO THIRD BASE IN A FEW HOURS YOLO LET'S DO IT. More actual plot next chapter. Mandatory lemons warning. It's a pretty fluffy dorkvirgin lemon though. If you'd prefer to skip it, just scan ahead for the next section after they get in the shower *cough*.
Kissing had always been nice - the scant handful of times he'd tried it, anyway - but it had never been this nice.
Scratch that. This wasn't nice. This was amazing. Stellar. Megawatt blow-his-mind wobbly-kneed awesomeness. If this is what kissing was supposed to be like, he could see why people wanted to do it more than once.
Somewhere in the haze, he knew it was less the act of kissing and more the who he was kissing. Maka. Makamakamaka. Maka tasted like rain and breath. Her lips worked at his as they twisted their heads back and forth, breaking and meeting over and over. Her arms were locked around his neck, never letting him get more than a few inches away. It felt beyond, but more importantly, it felt intimate, like sharing a secret with the only person in the world you trust. Which, he supposed, he kind of was.
Was that what he'd been missing? This intimacy, this sense of really knowing the person behind the lips and the tongue oh gods the tongue that ran slowly along the seam of his mouth and made him crack open like an eggshell. If she kept doing that with her tongue, her tongue could do whatever the fuck it wanted. It could talk him half to death so long as it also did thisthisthisthisthis.
After about a thousand years, they came up for air and looked at each other. He wondered if he wore her same dumbstruck expression. Then she smiled and he felt his whole face pull back into the sort of grin her rarely showed the world. She giggled and leaned in, her mouth going to his jaw and trailing kisses down his neck, and that was good. Very good. Most goodest.
She moved back a bit and spoke breathlessly into his skin. "You weren't being weird because I was freaking you out?"
"Uh-uh." He leaned down and rubbed his face on her hair.
She placed another kiss on the spot where his neck met shoulder. "This whole time, you...?"
"Uh-huh."
"Are you capable of multisyllabic words?"
"Uh-uh."
He didn't know where to put his hands. Could he put them everywhere? He was going to put them everywhere. Oh, that place made her squeak. In retaliation, she found a place that made him squeak, which he tried to pass off as some sort of sexy murmur and failed spectacularly.
This was the longest he'd ever kissed someone before. He figured they'd probably tipped over into The Makeout Zone, and that made his insides tingle. Making Out Achievement Unlocked. In the back of his head, insecurity tugged on his shirttail and he shoved it away. He didn't want to hear that this might not be a good idea. He'd felt Maka's soul, and there was no question that she was completely on board. He was tired of fighting it. It felt too good to stop.
Maka's fingers twisted into his shirt, bringing him closer. Their kisses deepened until there was so much more tongue, and the flush that had been creeping up his neck all week was back, but this time it was welcome. When Maka ran her lips over the column of his throat and tentatively flicked her tongue along the length of his windpipe, it sent an ache down low and he swallowed hard.
He could get used to this.
Soul was repaying her in kind with kisses behind her ear when a shout rang through the blissful quiet, sending a flurry of jewel-colored birds into the sky from the nearby trees.
"You spotlight stealing plebeians!" The voice echoed from several hundred yards out. "I'm gonna beat both of you until you're senseless and compliant and remember who the real star is!"
"Nooooooooooooo," Soul and Maka groaned into one another.
"How did he fucking find us?" Soul said, scowling over his shoulder.
Maka leaned around him to give the foliage her own dagger eyes. "The giant flash of light probably tipped him off."
Soul grabbed her hand and dragged her in the opposite direction of the resounding crashes coming their way.
"Where're we going?" she said.
"Anywhere but here." He pushed through the low-hanging branches and dodged a group of wild chickens. "I'm not done."
When the thickest undergrowth cleared up, they ran full-tilt through the trees until they came upon a small waterfall spilling into pool before it flowed down several more rocks to the branch of river below. Behind the waterfall was a little hollow that was deeper than a nook and not quite deep enough to be a cave. Perfect.
Maka followed as they balanced precariously on wet rocks and slipped behind the tumbling water. Once they were inside, he wrapped his arms around her and brought her to the back wall, where they peered between the breaks in the fall until they spotted a blue-haired ninja with a sword hopping with a nimbleness he didn't especially embody. Their eyes followed him as he climbed up, up, and out of sight.
"You two had better be broken in a ditch somewhere," Black Star called, his voice fading into the crash of the water.
Soul snorted. "Is it wrong to murder someone in the face if they're a god by their own admission?"
"No jury would convict you," Maka said.
"I'm saying." He turned his head and realized he was inches from her. Her eyes were practically glowing in the dark as they smiled up at him.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he answered.
"You were saying something about not being done?"
It was hard to keep the smile off his face long enough to catch her mouth with his again. He put his palms flat on the wet rock on either side of her head, pressing the length of his body to hers while he backed her against the wall. She made little noises against his lips and wrapped her hands around his waist, bringing him in even closer. When her hand slipped down and into his back pocket, he jerked in surprise.
"Maka," he said. "Are you grabbing my ass?"
"A little," she said. "That okay?"
"I'll deal."
He leaned against her forehead and looked down the length of her body, running his fingers experimentally along the strip of skin between the hem of her shirt and the top of her skirt. She shivered and gave him an encouraging smile, so he snuck up and under the material so he could press his palm flush to the bare skin of her upper hip, then her belly, then the lower reaches of her rib cage. He gulped, not quite sure where the line was. There were rules, right? Some kind of equation about time that should pass and milestones that should be reached before you were supposed to-
Maka interrupted his internal waffling by taking his hand and moving it directly to second base, which made him immediately choke. Her breast fit perfectly in his palm. It felt very soft and very smooth and very much like skin.
"You're not wearing a bra," he accused, his voice cracking in the middle in a way it hadn't done since he was about thirteen.
For the first time since they'd started doing this thing they were doing, her cheeks colored. "I kind of forgot to pack one in the overnight bag."
"You haven't been wearing a bra since yesterday?"
She shrugged. "I was wearing so many layers that I didn't exactly need one."
"Huh." He stared at the shape of his hand outlined under her shirt, right on top of her... oh gods. His brain was going to short circuit.
She kissed him on the corner of the mouth. "You can, um. Move your hand. If you want."
"I don't want," he said, shaking his head. "I like it where it is."
A laugh bubbled out of her. "I meant that you can..." She put her hand over his again and squeezed.
"Oh my gods," he said as he leaned into her for a renewed round of kissing. Carefully, he started to massage her, still boggling over how any part of her body could be so soft when he knew so much of her was lean muscle and power. Her pleased hums vibrated in his mouth and he was really starting to feel some kind of way.
Horny, he admitted to himself. He was pretty sure he hadn't been this horned up since the week Blair moved in and he'd spent a lot of time locked in the bathroom to get a handle on himself in the most literal way. His entire body was in overdrive with a combination of new sensations and an almost-week's worth of pent-up denial. When he felt Maka's nipple starting to harden under his touch, he nearly blew a blood vessel.
The spray from the waterfall had been nice at first, but it was starting to make it hard to breathe. Well, harder to breathe.
"Hhhnnnnnggg," he groaned as he reluctantly stood and withdrew his hand. "I think the coast is clear. Do you want to, I don't know, take this out from under the giant water spout?"
"Okay," she agreed, following as he guided them both back onto the wet rocks.
"Soul, be caref-"
Too late. He hit a particularly slippery patch on one of the rocks and full-body crashed into the pool below. The chill of it shocked him out of the lusty daze he'd been caught in and he scrambled to find purchase on the bottom. Luckily, it was pretty shallow. It only came up to mid-rib on him when he stood up, tossing a wide ribbon of water out of his hair.
"FUCK."
Maka was already on the side closest to him, crouching down with worry painted plainly on her face. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, it's just cold as the ninth circle of hell," he said as he waded over to her.
Now that she knew he wasn't hurt, Maka laughed, standing and balancing on the rocks above him, her arms stretched out on either side of her. "Probably has something to do with it being snow water," she said. "I told you to be careful."
"I'll show you careful," he said, grabbing for her leg. She twirled out of his reach, still laughing, and sat herself up on a higher perch.
"Down, boy," she said.
He put on a demon grin. "Be mindful what you wish for."
She rolled her eyes at him and shifted down to a lower rock. He was close enough to grab her now, but he didn't. He just looked up at her, admiring the way her legs dangled over the edge and her head tilted to watch him.
"Gods, you are such a dumbass sometimes," she said.
She slid off the rock and into the water, catching his torso between her powerful legs and lowering herself over him with her hands on his shoulders. He didn't even have time to take a breath before her mouth was on his, hot and sweet. Automatically, his arms wrapped around her, holding her in place. Her fingers twined into the dripping hair at the back of his head.
Maka was no passive, tranquil sea. She was a force, a stretching expanse of unfathomable depth and beauty. He was helpless against her undertow. She could break him into the finest sand. Her waters could turn his fire to solid rock in an instant.
Very, very solid rock, as it turned out. Cold water be damned.
It was a good thing the water helped hold them up, because he had completely forgotten how his legs even worked. Her hair was backlit and glowing around her like a halo, and if she wanted him to call her an angel, he would do it. She twisted a little to the side and took his earlobe in her teeth.
Words failed him and he let go with one hand to lean on the nearby stone for support. "Mmmmuh mah gah."
Laughter lilted her voice. "Like I said. Dumbass."
Her lips where close to his again, playing, teasing, not quite touching.
"Fuuuuuuck me," he mumbled against her mouth, completely captivated.
"Not here," she answered.
That time, his legs did give out under him.
When they surfaced, they were both shivering from the chill and the rush. Her legs where still wrapped around his waist and he rubbed his palms into her lower back, bringing her close and loving the heat of her against his lower belly.
From somewhere above, a familiar voice bellowed, "SHOW YOURSELVES. YOUR GOD IS MOST DISPLEASED."
"Godsdamnit," Soul said. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him until he's dead and then I'm going to kill him some more."
Maka threw her head back in frustration. "I'm going to kill him so hard that Kid won't be able to find his soul for a month."
They glanced at each other and sighed.
"Help me up," she said, and he put his hands on her waist and lifted her until she could scramble back up onto the rocks. She was just leaning down to help him out when Black Star and Tsubaki bounded down the side of the falls.
"Where. The fuck. Have you been?" Black Star said. "And why. The fuck. Didn't you call us. You assjackets."
"Don't mind him," Tsubaki said. "He worries about you. I'm glad you're okay."
Black Star shot her a look. "I do not worry. My emotional range is hungry, happy, horny, sleepy, and apoplectic godsmash. There is no room for worry."
Tsubaki hid her face from her meister with her hand and mouthed he was really worried at them. Maka chuckled.
"We got lost," Soul offered.
"And then Soul fell into this pool," Maka added.
"And then Maka fell in, too," he finished.
Black Star threw his hands up, delight on his face. "Oh my golly gosh, Tsu, come here and sit down!" He bounded over and sat on a nearby log, elbows on his knees. "We get to witness the dorktacular mating ritual of the bony-assed virgin otters! This is so exciting. We can write an exposé for National Geographic. Quick, quick!"
Maka finished helping Soul up out of the water and turned to glare at Star. "Would you stop-"
"Wait, wait, hold on," Black Star said, tilting his head to the side. "I just remembered that I don't actually care. Lezzgo, losers."
After the assassin turned his back on them and started gallivanting through the forest toward town, Tsubaki came into step beside them.
She leaned in. "He cares so much."
"Yeah, we know," Soul said.
He reached automatically for Maka's hand and their knuckles brushed before they stopped themselves, pulling back. Tsubaki noticed, but she just smiled and looked away.
After swinging by to pick up their things from the locker, they went back to their motel. They'd managed to reestablish their typical meister-weapon routine pretty convincingly - or at least convincingly enough that Black Star didn't give them any more shit about it. They even stopped to chat in the hallway outside their rooms, Soul regaling the assassin with the incredible fight he'd missed out on while Maka made dinner plans with Tsubaki. It all felt perfectly normal.
Internally, Soul was itching to herd his meister inside and do the kissing thing again. Maybe the boob thing, too. That had been excellent. Maintaining his disinterested slouch against the wall was becoming tedious.
When Black Star finally decided to go blow off steam at the on-site gym, Tsubaki said her farewells, too, mentioning meeting Jinah for coffee. Maka took her time with the key to their room while Soul watched their friends disappear down the hall.
The door clicked open and he dropped their stuff inside before tackling her from behind and burying his face in the side of her neck while she squealed. He kicked the door shut with his heel and she turned to face him, their mouths smashing together and their feet tangling. They overbalanced and he tripped and fell flat on his back, Maka landing on top of him.
"Ow," he said before she plied him with kisses again. He shifted and accidentally kneed her in the ribs.
"Ow," she said.
"We're bad at this," he said.
"Really?" She put her palms on either side of his head and adjusted herself until she straddled his hips. "I think we're pretty good at it."
"I think we need practice."
"Yeah?"
"Mmmm-hm."
He lifted his knees, slowly this time, and tilted her forward, inclining his head to meet her kiss. They turned the fever pitch down a notch and felt each other out, and it made the heat spread softly and pleasantly through the length of his torso.
Things were getting really good when a tinny "Hello? Please respond." came from the direction of the bathroom.
"Are you shitting me," Soul said. It was a statement, not a question.
Maka groaned. "It's Kid. We have to."
"Are you shitting me."
She sat up on her elbows and looked him in the eye. "We're technically still on duty."
"I can hear you out there," Kid said.
Soul kicked his feet against the floor. "I am going to take all of my thwarted libido and I'm going to hone it into a shiv and I am going to stab a motherfucker in the throat."
"Who got stabbed in the throat?" Kid said. "That sounds serious."
Maka leaned down close to his ear. "Look, I'm getting blue tubes over here, too, but we have responsibilities."
"Responsibilities are stupiiiiiiiiiid."
"Quick report. Come on." She got off of him and stood up.
"Makaaaaaaaaa." He reached up for her and made grabby hands. "I'll do that thing to your neck again."
"Seriously, does someone have a neck injury? Answer me." Kid was starting to sound mightily annoyed.
Soul got up. "Ugh fine." He stalked into the bathroom and slammed his hands on the counter. "What? What? For the love of all the gods on all four corners of the freakin' Earth, what?"
Kid blanched and jerked back. "Great Eight, what's happened to you?"
Liz, who'd been leaning on Kid's shoulder, slammed a hand over her mouth to muffle her cackle as she walked out of sight.
"Be more specific," Soul said.
Kid covered his eyes. "You're a mess."
Soul was about to tear him a new one when Maka grabbed him by the belt loop and turned him around. Her hands went to his shirt, pulling it straight and doing up a few buttons that had come undone. Then she reached up and finger-combed his hair and popped his collar to hide the blooming red mark on the side of his neck.
"He's better now, Kid," she said.
The Death God peeked through his fingers and though he clearly wasn't thrilled, he at least found Soul acceptable enough to look at again. "Will one of you tell me what's happening over there?"
Patty tugged on Kid's sleeve and he leaned down into her whisper. His eyes narrowed as he looked sidelong at Soul and crossed his arms. "I seem to recall you telling me nothing was going on."
Maka shot Soul a questioning look and he scratched the back of his head.
"Dunno what you mean," he said.
"Mm-hm," Kid said. "Report, please."
Maka took the lead on recanting their recent exploits, leaving out the bit where they ran off to hide and make out behind a waterfall. Soul fidgeted and huffed, earning a stomped foot for his trouble.
"That leaves us with one to go," Maka said. "With any luck, we'll be wrapped in a few days."
"Perfect," Kid nodded. "I suppose that'll give us just enough time to make it out there to meet with Pele and reestablish ties."
Liz appeared back in the mirror with a gasp, fists clenched to her mouth and eyes wide. "We get to go? We get to go?"
Kid sighed. "Yes. We've finished up negotiations here, and it's important to keep up relations. Please don't get too-"
The Thompson sisters both screeched and jumped up and down around Kid. He rolled his eyes skyward and waited them out, even when they both stripped off their tops to reveal bikinis underneath.
"Going to Hawaaaaaa-ii, going to Hawaaaaaa-ii," they chanted as they ran off somewhere, presumably to pack.
"-too excited," Kid finished, raising a finger to his temple. "It's impossible to keep those two on task."
"I know the feeling," Maka said, planting a hand on her hip and glaring pointedly at Soul. He smirked back at her.
"Anyway, we should be there tomorrow morning. We'll likely be out of contact until then," Kid said.
Soul waved. "Okaycoolbye."
Kid made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat and signed off without his usual goodbye. As soon as he disappeared, Soul's hands were all over Maka again. He couldn't stop touching her. They always touched anyway, but this was so much more fun.
He planted kisses on the side of her face while she squawked at him and backed him toward the bedroom. With a firm-but-gentle shove to the chest, she pushed him through the doorway.
"Shower time," she said as she closed the door.
He stood just outside and gaped. "Buh wha?"
When she didn't respond, he slumped and went to go sink onto his bed, pouting. He must've pissed her off. But really, did she suddenly expect him to be a consummate professional when there were makeouts to do?
Gods, he hoped she wasn't too annoyed. He didn't much care for being denied something he'd only just gotten to taste.
The shower went on and then the door opened again. He jerked his head up to find her standing there in her pale blue bikini from the other night, arm stretched up the doorframe and hip popped.
"Do you, um. Want to join me?" Her chest flushed a little, which made his neck flush a lot.
He was on his feet in an instant, pulling off his shoes and socks. "Gonna go with hell yeah."
As soon as he reached her, his hands were on the bare skin of her waist, herding her inside. She made soft little laughs along his neck as she unbuttoned his shirt, and man, there was something special about those nimble little fingers brushing down the length of his torso and then reaching inside to push the cloth off his shoulders. It fell over his arms and crumpled onto the floor.
She stared openly at his bare chest, running her fingertips gently across the scar tissue puckering it in the middle.
"Still think it's nice?" he breathed.
With a slightly self-conscious smirk, she leaned forward and placed an open-mouthed kiss on his right pec and he went light-headed. Familiarity born of years together and constantly handling him in one way or another kept her fingers steady as she trailed them down his sides, playing every rib like the keys of a xylophone.
She backed up, pulling him toward the shower as she stepped over the edge. Before he followed, he dropped his pants with shaking hands, leaving his boxers on. Seemed fair, since she still wore her bikini.
The water hit him in the middle of the back as they kissed. After a few minutes, she reached for the shower gel and they washed, her fingers guiding him to turn so she could get his back. She was especially careful with the cut he'd received while protecting her. He returned the favor, twisting her wet hair over her shoulder and running soapy fingers over her shoulder blades and underneath the string of her bikini. This time, he let himself unashamedly admire her back, curving and dipping like a string instrument. He didn't hesitate the press wet kisses to the place where her shoulder met her neck. She tasted a little like soap, but that was okay.
After they washed their hair and filled the room with that mango-or-maybe-papaya smell that had been driving him nuts for the past several days, they were content to press close and kiss. Their skin slid together like silk in the water.
It seemed like this was becoming a running theme for them. Soul wondered if he'd ever be able to hear the sound of falling water again without getting a boner.
Speaking of which.
He shifted his hips back a bit even though his body begged him to get closer. After being in a state of mild-to-supermega arousal for most of the day, he felt like letting Soul Jr. anywhere near her would result in a quick and untimely end. Which he'd be perfectly cool with if it wouldn't be embarrassing as shit. But fuck, he ached for release. Badly. Maybe he could convince her to let him have a few minutes (or like, a single minute, if he was being real) of shower time to himself.
With a small pop, Maka released his mouth, her chest heaving. That didn't help.
"Everything okay?" she asked, and godsdamn if she wasn't beautiful with her wet hair and wet lips and wet everything.
"More than okay," he said. "I just, ah. Need to finish up."
Confusion flitted across her face. "Did I miss a spot or something?"
He ran his hand over his forehead and tried to think of a not-horrible way to say I need to jerk it like you wouldn't believe and it's not gonna be pretty.
"Guy stuff. Just need a few minutes. Alone."
She blinked and pursed her lips. And then she got a look on her face.
Oh no.
"Guy stuff," she repeated.
Oh no.
"Does guy stuff involve... this?"
Her fingers reached out and gently, softly, carefully stroked over his wet-cloth-covered erection and he nearly fell over.
"Oh Jesus fuck," he said as he slammed a hand to the tiled wall to keep himself upright. He'd gone beyond hypersensitive and straight into might-come-at-the-touch-of-a-feather.
The way she grinned shouldn't be legal. "I can help with that."
"I... I... I..."
She placed her hands on either side of his torso and turned him around, backing him into the far side of the shower away from the water.
"M-Maka, you shouldn't... I can..."
Her hands were running down his stomach muscles and he twitched under her touch.
"It's okay, I want to," she said. "Besides, I'm pretty good at handling your shaft."
Choked, nervous laughter spilled out of him. "I can't believe you just fucking said that, you dirty nerd."
She shrugged. "You knew what you were signing up for."
Then she ducked down low and his eyes went wide. Whatever he'd expected, it hadn't been that. Her hands were fumbling with the flap of his boxers, making his breath catch every time she touched him.
"I- dunno- if that's the- bessssst- uhbluh ubbah wuh." He went blurry-eyed, the green-and-white patterned tiles in front of him running together. Her mouth was somewhere he never in a zillion years imagined it would be and his palms were pressed so tightly to the wall that he thought it might crumble. He had to... this would not... oh gods, that was a tongue, that was definitely a tongue. Hot and wet and soft and firm and swirling and things were happening, they were happening right now.
"Ooooooooh no oh no whOA NO."
Despite the fog in his head, he instinctively put his hands her under her arms and lifted her up and away before grabbing hold of the spit-slick head of his cock for dear life and sputtering a variety of half-formed expletives as he spilled over, and over, and over, every pulse making the muscles in his legs shake. His jaw eventually went slack and he tried to remember how to breathe like a thing that needed oxygen to live. It was kind of a miracle he was still standing.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw she held both her hands over her mouth, her eyes huge and horrified. From behind her fingers, he could hear mumbled versions of "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, what was I thinking, I wasn't..."
He sucked in a breath and managed, "Haah?"
"I didn't mean to hurt you. I know it's sensitive. Oh gods, I should have..."
He tried desperately to focus his eyes. "Hurt me?"
"You... you looked like you were in pain."
A bewildered, bubbling guffaw rose straight from his belly. "For future reference, whatever face I just made -" he gestured with his free hand "- not a pain face. Opposite of a pain face."
"Oh," she breathed. Then she comprehended. "OH."
"Yeah. 'O' is right. I think I just O'd my brain out."
She smacked his arm. "Now who's dirty?" The water still pounded her back as a blush flared her face. "You didn't have to pull me up, you know."
"Oh yes I did. Trust me."
Her eyes darted down to his hand, where things were... dripping. Well, that was nasty.
"Um." She fiddled with her hair. "Is there always that... much of it?"
Now his face felt hot. "Not always. It's been a while."
They both fidgeted as the water continued to hiss against the tile.
"I'd like to clean up now," he mumbled. He felt like such a turkey.
"Okay," she said. She started to get out of the shower, but paused, leaning in to kiss him one more time. He accepted.
When she pulled away, he said, "That felt fucking amazing. All twenty seconds of it."
She giggled. "I'll see you when you get out."
As the door clicked shut behind her, he stepped back into the water and washed himself off again. He turned down the heat and let it cool his warm face. Christ, he was a dork. He'd last longer next time.
Next time.
Possibilities swirled through his head and he shook it violently. He'd just gotten rid of his hard-on. Didn't need a new one.
Yet.
SHUT UP, BRAIN.
He turned off the water and dried himself, peeling off his wet boxers and trading them for a towel. When he reached for the doorknob, he paused for a second. He'd walked out on her in just a towel before, but the context had changed. Was everything they did from now on going to be laced with sexy undertones? He kind of hoped so.
SHUT UP, BRAIN.
Fuck it.
The air in their room was significantly cooler than the humid bathroom. It made his skin prickle. Maka had changed into shorts and a tank top and was busying herself folding clothes at the foot of her bed. She turned to him and unashamedly raked her eyes over his body. He felt a twinge at his center and a smile quirked his mouth.
"Stop that," he said.
"Nope," she said, looking him up and down again.
He clicked his tongue and went to dig boxers and shorts out of his own bag. She was still looking.
"For chrissakes, you closet pervert, turn around!"
"I've seen it," she said, showing him her most innocent, candy-sweet smile.
He glared at her, but there was no annoyance in him anywhere. "You would throw a book at my head if this were the other way around."
"Fine, fine," she said, putting her hands up and turning back to her task.
While he yanked his boxers on under his towel, he kept an eye on her. A barely-there tinge of pink colored her cheeks, but she didn't look. As he was buttoning up his shorts, a thought occurred to him and he went to her. She leaned toward him automatically as he approached.
"Hey." He nudged the side of her head with his nose. "I wanna do you."
"What?" she squawked, gaping up at him.
He realized what he'd said. "Oh shi- wait. That came out wrong. I meant I want to take care of you."
She raised an eyebrow and he sighed. His palm spread over her belly and he ran his pinky finger along the band of her shorts.
"I want to take care of you," he said.
"Use your words, goofball."
"Aaargh, I am!" He nipped her ear and leaned in close, mumbling as embarrassment and excitement flitted in his chest. "Iwanageyuoff."
She snickered and ran a hand down his arm. "What language is that?"
Soul spun her around to face him. "I would like. To get. You off. Sexually."
Her smile turned from amused to sultry. "I'd be up for that, I think."
With a growl, he scooped her up and tossed her on the bed, scattering the clothes she'd been folding everywhere as he crawled after her. She didn't seem to mind as he lowered himself over her body, molding his lips to hers. He ran the tip of his tongue along her bottom lip and sucked on it, just a little. She moaned and arched, and he realized she must still be pretty keyed up from earlier.
His hand slid under her tank top to find she was, once again, braless, and that was still really fucking great. He brought his knees up, straddling her and putting his weight on his legs so he could reach in to cup her with his other hand, and now his hands were full of boobs. For a day that had started out incredibly poorly, it had sure turned out well. He rubbed circles into the soft flesh and she wriggled beneath him. When his thumbs brushed over her nipples, he found them already standing at attention. She gasped.
Kisses everywhere. He was a kiss machine. Mouth, face, neck, collarbone.
"Please touch me," she whispered in his ear. "I want you to touch me."
He pulled his hands free and shifted to lay alongside her, trailing his fingers down the line in the center of her abdominal muscles until he reached the snap of her shorts. He flicked it open and swallowed. This was brand new territory, but her eyes were so dark, so pleading. He kissed her hard and slid his fingers under the band of her underwear.
Everything was soft. Soft skin, soft hair, soft folds of flesh. He brushed against something that made her buck, rolling her head back and gasping. He'd have to remember that. That was a good look on her.
He explored deeper and discovered the physical version of that slick arousal he'd felt from her during the fight that morning. It was silky and wet and it was for him and he felt a burst of electricity work its way down below his belt. So much for going fifteen fucking minutes without a boner.
"What do you want me to do?" he said next to her ear, voice shaking a little. "What feels good?"
In answer, she lifted her hips and reached to shimmy her shorts down her thighs, giving him more room to move. She put her hand over his, finding his first two fingers and making them into a V. She guided him over her until the point of the V rested over something swollen and hard - her clit, he realized with a gulp - and the length of his fingers settled along either side of her folds. Then she started to move him in little circles.
"Like this," she whisper-gasped. Fuck, that was hot.
He curled in closer to her as he worked his hand, watching her face as her brows knit together and her chest heaved up and down. He went fast and tight, then mixed it up with slower and wider. She was starting to make little noises, tiny mewls and cries that made something carnal and ancient stir at the base of his brain.
"Gods, Maka, you're going to kill me."
With a great deal of effort, she cracked an eye open and looked at him. "Tell me what I'm doing to you," she breathed.
"Uuuuunnnnggg." He buried his face in her shoulder. She wanted him to talk dirty? He didn't know if he could do it.
"Tell me," she begged.
"You're m-making me h-hard again," he attempted.
She responded with a breathy little "ah-ah."
He licked her shoulder. "You get me hot as hell. I want you so bad I can't think straight. You're so w-wet, and it makes me wanna... wanna..."
"Wanna what," she cried.
His brain sifted through a thesaurus full of words for something that didn't sound straight out of amateur porn. In the end, he went with simple, straightforward, and 100% true.
"I want to be inside you," he said, quiet and shy.
Her breathing went erratic and he picked up speed, pushing her toward what he hoped was the edge of her cliff. She sucked in air, her thighs twitched, her toes curled.
The sounds that flowed out of her as she came were nonsensical and perfect. He drank her in, watching her face as she lost herself, all pretense and poise erased in favor of pure ecstasy. A dozen things flooded over him - amazement, pleasure, pride, bewilderment. He'd done this to her. He wanted to do it to her again, and again, and again.
She rolled her body like waves into his hand for several long seconds before she stilled. Once her breathing settled, she opened her eyes and found his. He leaned down, and kissing her felt so normal, so right, like they'd been doing it forever. He pulled his hand out of her shorts so he could reach up and cup her face, but stopped in midair.
"Uh," he said, looking at his sticky, shiny fingers.
"Here." She reached down to the floor between their beds and managed to grab one of his socks. "Guess you leaving these things laying around everywhere comes in handy sometimes."
He rolled onto his back and cleaned his hand off, trying not to think about how it smelled - a combination of skin and heady, salty musk that could only really be described as sex. When he was done, he flopped his arm to the side and felt her take his hand. He held it back and squeezed while they both stared up at the ceiling.
"This has been the weirdest day," she said.
"Tell me about it," he agreed. "I think we crammed several dates' worth of bases into four hours."
She turned her head and he did the same.
"Is that bad?" she asked. "Are we being sluts?"
"I dunno, can you be a slut for one person?"
She rolled onto her side and traced her fingers down his arm. "I think I'd probably be okay with being a slut for you. Just you, though."
He laughed. "Pair of monogamous slutty virgins, we are."
"About that." She flicked her eyes up at him. "What you said, before. Did you mean it? Do you want to h-have sex?"
There his body went, doing the haywire thing again. He gulped. Have sex. Have sex. Have sex.
"Like, now?" he croaked.
She buried her face in her pillow and squeaked. "Not right now, but you know. Sometime? In the future?"
"Do I want to have sex with you at some point? Yes. One million yes."
Her smile was giddy and shy. "Me too. But maybe not yet."
"Yeah," he agreed, rolling onto his side to face her. "That feels pretty big. We should do it right."
She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know how to do it right? Do I need to get you a diagram?"
With a growl, he leaned in and nipped at her neck. "You know what I meant."
The door of the room next to them slammed open and shut again. Black Star was back, and that probably meant they should cool it. Funnily, Soul was okay with that. Now that they'd gotten the worst of the tension out of their systems, it was actually kind of nice just to lounge casually together.
It wasn't cuddling. It totally wasn't cuddling.
Okay, it was cuddling.
Dinner went quickly, considering Soul hadn't eaten a single damn thing for the entirety of the day, and after the day he'd had, he was in dire need of sustenance. He wolfed down his food so quickly he barely tasted it, which was unfortunate because he was sure it was good. Maka held up most of the conversation with Black Star and Tsubaki while he supplemented with noncommittal grunts and affirmations. It apparently matched his usual MO closely enough that no one commented.
Afterward, as they walked back in the twilight, Black Star tried to convince him to go for a night swim. He declined.
"What's with you?" Star said, examining him suspiciously. "You're different, like you finally pulled the stick out of your ass. Did you actually get laid?"
Soul maintained his bored expression - barely - and tilted his head to glare at his friend with half-lidded eyes. Maka and Tsubaki were walking well ahead and out of earshot, thankfully.
"Maybe not," Star shrugged. "Fighting that pre-kishen must've gotten your frustration out, I guess."
"Something like that," Soul said.
"You're still a freakin' turbotaint for taking it on without me there."
Soul shoved him to the side. "There will be other fights, dude. Enjoy your day off."
The assassin rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms. "No rest for the godly. All right, if you're not coming with, I'm out." True to his word, he tore off for the water.
"Black Star, really?" Tsubaki called after him. "There's a jellyfish warning and a riptide warning right now. Black Star!"
The breeze carried a fading cry back to them. "Gods fear no mortal oceaaaaaaaaan."
"Except this ocean isn't mortal," Tsubaki huffed. "I'd better make sure he doesn't kill himself."
"What else is new," Maka said. "Catch you in the morning?"
"Yeah." She swayed off with a sigh.
Soul and Maka strolled together for several yards before she reached out and laced her fingers through his. He glanced down at their clasped hands and let his mask fall, just a little. They held hands all the time, really, but this felt new. This wasn't emotional support, or prepping for a fight. This was just... holding hands. Then Maka lifted his hand to her mouth and pressed her lips against his knuckles.
It made him feel inexplicably, weirdly, stupidly giddy, which was the damndest thing.
He stopped beneath a Royal Poinciana tree, letting Maka walk ahead until she noticed she was weighted back. She turned to glance at him and he tried to give her his best "come hither" look. It did the trick. Red blossoms bright as his eyes swayed in the dark above as she came close and tilted her head up for a kiss.
Later, after a movie and a not-insufficient amount of banter punctuated by kisses, he brushed his teeth and got ready for bed. Like usual. He came out to find her sitting up against her pillows, reading. Like usual. He walked toward his own bed. Like usual.
He paused and peered over at her.
When she felt his gaze, she glanced up. A smile played at her lips as she tugged her sheet open.
"Do you want to-" she started, but he was already sliding in and snuggling down next to her.
She chuckled and turned out her light, and he heard her book sliding onto the side table just before she laid down on her back. One of his arms crept over her ribs and hugged her tighter. They found one another's lips in the dark, once, twice, and tangled together sleepily, heads to pillows, eyes drifting closed.
Not like usual at all. Usual was overrated.