Quick update that is hopefully better than the last. Please enjoy, sexual content ahead!

Soul was never good at waiting, never been equipped with the patience for it. That was why he was outside of her dorm first thing in the morning, coffees in hand and smirk on his face. "Hello, beautiful."

"You're too much," she laughed before grasping the cup from his hand. "What happened to seeing each other tonight?"

"We will," he shrugged. It was a skillful dance to pull her in without displacing any of the coffees in play, but he did it artfully, not a missed drop but a smooth glide to the first kiss of the day. "Plus, one thing's a little time-sensitive."

"Oh?" She blinked her eyes out of the daze that usually came with one of his lingering kisses.

"Found a place." The beam of his smile blew her away, especially since it was nowhere near the lopsided smirk he usually adopted.

Maka took a second to recover from the way it made her stomach flip before taking his phone that he had been holding out to her. She started flipping through the pictures, the blank canvas sprawled out in front of her that they could paint their lives on. There was nothing necessarily special about it, the bland white walls, the general cramped spaces made just for college students, but it was the hope there, especially the shining example of it plastered all across his face. Maka barely needed to look at the pictures. "You found our place."

That statement stole away his breath as his mouth started to ache from the stretch of his smile. "If you like it, yeah."

She handed him back the phone, giving him a quick peck on the cheek along with it. "As long as it has a laundry and you, I'm set."

"Check and check." He was hopeless, letting a goofy, contented sigh break his lips as he pocketed his phone. Once that hand was free it came back to her, grabbing at her hip.

"Soul," she chided as she tried to pry his fingers away. "What else do we need to do?"

"I need to pick you up after class, we'll sign the lease, and then I'll drop you at work." His fingers refused to be pried and pulled her a little closer in the playful struggle. "And then I'll pick you up again, take you back to the house, and we'll celebrate."

"OK, but first I actually have to go to class." She pushed at his chest, finally getting him to relinquish what little hold he had left. "I'll see you later." Maka waved playfully over her shoulder before letting their paths diverge, her towards the English building while he took a turn towards the music hall.

Soul should have just studied to kill time, but there was a surprising urge cultivating in his heart to see his brother, a whim he'd never actually embraced on campus, so he followed it. The Marryott Music Building seemed right out of a college brochure, with bright brick and colonial columns to add to the splendor of the entry. None of it really hit Soul since he was entirely entranced by the thought that he was in search of Wes. He waltzed in, realized he had no idea where his brother's office actually was and proceeded to check the letter board signage that held the names and room numbers. Evans 122.

Each door in the hallway must have been its own tree at one time, the thickness trapping the sound and keeping the walkways only populated with the patter of footsteps. Soul concentrated on his own as he watched the numbers increase. A sliver of anxiety washed over him as he touched the knob, thinking about knocking, about how he could be intruding, how there was a minute chance that Wes wouldn't be happy to see him and the pain of that. He turned it anyway, trying to swallow away the doubt with a dry throat.

Wes's eyes lazily flicked from the morning paper to the door before his mouth split in a smile that one would definitely say resembled the goofy one Soul had adopted not that long before. "Soul! What a pleasant surprise. Come in," Wes was trying but failing on reining himself in, each of those sentences punctuated with affability.

"Hope I'm not interrupting." All of that nervousness was melting away as his brother's warmth seemed to hit him in waves. Soul moved towards the seat across from him, glancing around the office and seeing the tendency to live in general disarray that he and his brother seemed to share.

"Not at all," Wes glanced quickly at his watch, "You have thirty minutes of my undivided attention."

"I won't take all of it," Soul laughed as he leaned back into the seat, hearing the old wooden chair protest. The next sentence seemed to stick behind his teeth, the precious information of the apartment still seeming too newborn to relinquish. "Just thought I'd see how things were going, you know, with the wedding."

"Ah," Wes sighed protractedly as he leaned back in the chair. "Well, you know we set the venue, the flowers are ordered to mother's specifications, the linens to her mother's specifications, and the outfits, thankfully, to Lizzie's specifications. I'm almost sure mother wanted me in tails but Lizzie decided that dressing us was where she was going to put her foot down."

"Lucky for you," Soul chuckled.

Wes ran his fingers through his hair before smiling a little wider. "And I hear Maka was instrumental in narrowing down the bridesmaid's dress since she was one of the few bridesmaids not bickering."

"Don't ruin the story for me." Soul smiled between a sip of his coffee. "Maka's supposed to tell me tonight after work." His finger touched along the plastic rim of the lid, playing with the indents as he played with the words in his mouth. "I, uh, forgot to ask, with the best man thing… did you want a bachelor party?"

"Oh," Wes blinked before setting a thoughtful finger to his lips. "I'm not exactly one for strip clubs and drunken debauchery."

Soul's reply was partially a sigh of relief while at the same time laughing at his brother's choice of words. "I didn't really think that's what you wanted but… maybe we should go out. I'd just need the info on your other groomsmen."

For the first time since he walked in the room, Wes's genial disposition faltered, his eyebrows furrowing for just a moment as he took in a long breath. "Soul, I don't want to ask too much of you."

"What?" Soul tried to shrug it off, the affable laugh he attempted struggling from his throat. "It's your wedding, I'm your best man. I'm supposed to do what you need."

"Then…" Wes sighed, "Could it just be you and me?"

"You want… just us?" He couldn't help but feel as the emotion caught in his throat.

Wes's eyes were watching him closely as one watches their feet in a minefield. "My other groomsmen were obligations, spaces that needed to be filled, and that's fine since we'll both agree that is what weddings are for the most part. The real memory I'd like to have here is more time with my brother."

"OK," Soul barely choked out, feeling the burn in his eyes. He took a moment to force another few gulps of coffee, trying to use the bitterness to talk himself out of crying. After the time and liquid cleared the emotion from his throat he started again. "I'll plan something, just you and me. Tell me a weekend that's good."

Wes fell back into his usual smile. "I'll text you a few."

"Sure." Soul pressed the coffee to his lips again to keep a secondary wave from taking him. "You know, Wes…" The absence of rejection, both by other people and by himself, was starting to feel like the norm and his new easiness was hard for him to handle. "You can ask for that whenever you want, OK? It doesn't have to be just for this."

Wes cleared his throat, "Good to know."

That was enough borderline crying for the day, those complex feelings compelling him to rise to his feet. "I'm going to go. So text me and I'll figure something out."

"Thank you, Soul," Wes's voice was nothing more than a murmur.

"Yeah, anytime, like I said." He tried to shrug it off but as he turned for the door he could feel that swell again. He had to tell himself it wasn't anything bad, it was just the old residuals of hurt finally becoming useless, finally drifting away so that nothing clouded their relationship anymore. Wes is my brother.

Soul hadn't even waited for them to be in the room before his hand had snaked up the front of Maka's shirt, pulling her against his chest to make walking an awkward but still enjoyable task, at least for him.

"Soul, we've got a full house." She started the protest but as his fingers slipped under the cup of her bra it had mostly fizzled out of her mind.

"I'm not going to make any noise." His voice almost sounded innocent but that devious smirk on his face saturated his tone. At this point he'd gotten her through the door, kicking it shut behind them before shuffling her towards the direction of the bed. "And you're the only one embarrassed when you do."

"Soul…" Maka couldn't formulate any come back, any quip as her back met the mattress. Her legs were still dangling over the side and before she could push herself up she felt him grasp at her thighs before sliding up her dress to get his hands on her panties.

"Stay right there," he murmured as he grabbed the thin bit of fabric and began pulling it down to her knees.

Maka preemptively slapped a hand over her mouth only to let a sigh escape through her fingers as her panties disappeared and he spread her legs. The next sound she clamped in, the gasp as his tongue traced the line between her legs. Normally, there should be embarrassing worrying here about what she must taste like, why he would even want to be that close but with the way his mouth hungrily lapped at her there was no possible way it could even form. He was engrossed, licking at her as if he was starving and she was the only sustenance he'd ever need. Just when she thought that was enough he sucked on her clit and she caught his eyes darting up to her to enjoy the look on her face, that prideful grin spreading between her legs.

That's why it was always so easy, so immediate when he was touching her, that feeling of her legs turning to Jell-O and a fire about to ignite deep in her belly. It was the way that his mind never seemed to be anywhere else but on her in these moments, obsessed with watching her being overtaken with ecstasy. She felt it in that moment and the many before it, his devotion to being only hers and letting the rest of the world fall away. Maka couldn't keep that out of her mind even as his fingers entered her, massaging that spot inside her that made her toes tingle. Partially because of the physical manipulation but also because of the emotional, Maka had to close those fingers firmly over her mouth, leaving the guttural groan to grumble in her throat before throwing her hand to the side and sucking in air.

"See? Quiet," he chuckled as he joyfully wiped at his mouth, leaving behind that roguish smile.

"Barely," she murmured after another deep inhale, trying to will function rather than euphoria to her limbs.

"Stay right there," he repeated with a chuckle.

"As if I can do anything else." But she made herself a liar, pulling the rest of her dress up and over her head and ditching her bra before falling back to the bed, hair spilling across the comforter.

Soul was fiddling with the condom, feeling the strain of the anticipation. He should be over this, that incessant, pure need that he felt for her, especially as months were slowing tipping more towards a year than away from it. He was keenly aware that they would hit six months together at the end of April which was two weeks away and that only seemed to drive him deeper in love as if that were possible. He could almost hear Black Star stay it was pure bullshit but to be honest, it was pure bliss.

Properly protected, his guiding hands moved to her hips, bringing her to roll over onto her stomach with her feet still firmly planted on the ground. Soul both loved and hated this position, being out of view of her expressions was a special kind of torture, but the supple run of her spine, the curve of her ass was enough to drive him wild. He claimed he reserved this for the times when a squeaky bed was involved, but really, it was a way to sneak all those emotions out without her necessarily seeing. He was thinking about the time, all the want, and the fact that he'd be putting it all on the line, that they would soon become something a little more than just boyfriend and girlfriend but cohabitors as he plunged deep inside her.

A rough sigh, not exactly quiet and not exactly cool, broke his lips. It was contentment and agitation rolled all into one, loving the way she felt but needing to feel more of it. He picked a slower rhythm than usual, his fingers digging into her hips as he moved her with each thrust. Maka moaned into the comforter, fingers grabbing into the fabric as he continued to grind against her. The build was making his legs ache and start to tremble underneath him. As he brought her back to him, delving deep as he felt that lightning strike all the way down to his toes, Soul couldn't stop himself from bending forward and letting the words loose, "I love you."

Maka awkwardly brought a hand behind her, grazing his side. "I love you, too."

At least that was enough to settle him, the release of himself and the words doing what he needed. He pulled away from her, giving one last lingering touch from her hip to her thigh before starting to clean himself.

"That was different." She stood up from the bed and snuck up behind him, hands snaking up to his chest. "You OK?"

Soul couldn't stop himself from bristling. "Was it bad?"

"Definitely not what I said," Maka corrected quickly with a kiss to his shoulder. "Reminded me of the first time I asked you to have sex and you said no. You've got something on your mind."

"I didn't say no." Her hands tightening their grip was the message not to get sidetracked and he sighed before taking another long breath. "Just scared, Maka. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of great moments, but a lot of terrifying ones at the same time."

"The move?"

"Yeah," he grumbled as he brought a hand over one of hers and squeezed. "I don't want to lose you."

Maka pressed another kiss into his skin, letting a sigh heat the spot further. "Is there something you're not telling me about how you behave at home?"

"No." Again his better judgment he turned around, letting her see the battle playing across his face. "But-"

"Stop," she set a finger to his lips. "You're just overwhelmed, and you probably will be until we move in. You're going to try to overthink it, try to tell yourself that there are a million ways it could go wrong, but I'm going to ask you to just jump with me. I'll be brave enough for both of us."

Soul let a weak breath escape his lips, his fingers coming up to run through her hair. With his touch came her smile and all he could do was give one back. "Alright. You be the courageous one."