AN: Day 2 is here! I had another idea for this prompt, but then I thought of this instead. I still have the other one in my WIPs, so you guys may or may not see it in the future.
Hope you all enjoy it!
Title: Can You Hear Me I'm Expressing My Love
Prompt: Flowers
Disclaimer: Don't own
Maka blinked.
Taped to the front of her locker was a single rose.
She didn't know what to make of it, wasn't really sure what to do with it. She had never been gifted with anything like this before. Sure, she had the occasional partnership request or fanmail, but this was something more…intimate maybe?
Beside her Soul snorted. "A rose, huh? How cliché."
Maka nodded, "Yeah, but it is a sweet gesture. And at least it's not red."
The color surprised Maka. Instead of a typical rose color like red or pink, the flower was yellow with red tips.
Maka examined the flower, "There's no card though… I wonder who sent it?"
Soul gave a noncommittal noise, "Probably some coward not cool enough to give it to you in person."
Maka frowned at her weapon, "That's a little harsh. Maybe they're just shy."
Soul shrugged, "Whatever. C'mon, we're gonna be late."
The two walked to class, Maka admiring her flower and giving it a sniff occasionally. Around her, she heard various whispers from some of the other girls in the hallway.
"Maka's so lucky!"
"I know! I wish someone gave me a rose!"
"Who do you think gave it to her?"
"Who knows… Could be this guy who's in my class. He likes to talk about how pretty Maka is."
"Geez, all this fuss over some dumb flower," Soul muttered.
"It's considered romantic, Soul," Maka defended. "Everyone wants to feel admired every once in a while."
"I guess." He simply said.
Maka scoffed. Boys just didn't get it. Smiling at her rose, she proclaimed, "Well, I like it. It's pretty."
Soul nodded. He barely gave her a glance but she saw a tiny smile adorning his face. In his usual nonchalant tone he said, "If you like it, that's all that matters."
They made it to Stein's classroom and sat down at their seats. Once Maka got settled in, Tsubaki leaned over to speak to her.
"Oh, Maka, that rose is lovely! Where did you get it?"
Maka smiled at her friend, "It was just taped to my locker. I guess someone put it there during last period."
Tsubaki cooed, "How nice! Do you know who sent it?"
Maka shook her head, "No, they didn't leave a card. It doesn't matter though, it's the thought that counts."
Patty giggled from the row above as she began to sing, "Maka's got a boyfriend! Maka's got a boyfriend!"
Maka flushed, "No I don't! I don't even know who it's from! I-It could just be from someone who's a fan of my skills."
Liz snorted, "As if. You, my friend, have a secret admirer."
Maka scoffed, "Just because it's a rose doesn't mean anything. It's not even pink or red."
Liz leaned down to poke at the flower, "Think again, Maka. The tips of the rose are red. Everyone knows a yellow rose with red tips symbolizes falling in love. Therefore…"
"Maka's got a boyfriend! Maka's got a boyfriend!" Patty was practically squealing at this point, trying and failing to hold in her laughter.
Maka blushed, setting the rose down to hold her hands to her burning cheeks. Tsubaki gave her a sympathetic pat on the back.
"Don't be embarrassed, Maka. It's nice to know that someone loves you."
Maka nodded, staring at the rose some more, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
She felt someone's eyes on her and turned around to face her weapon. He had a strange look on his face, almost as if he were in deep thought about something. Maka tilted her head to the side.
"Is something wrong, Soul?"
Soul must not have realized he was staring because he jolted a little in his seat before turning around to face the blackboard. "No. Just spaced out a little is all."
Maka frowned at him but decided to brush it off when Stein's lecture began.
Back at the apartment, Maka was sitting at her desk as she stared at her rose—which was now in one of their (few) crystal vases.
She hummed in thought. Was Liz right? Was this secret admirer of the romantic kind? Were they really too shy to confess in person and thus decided to profess their feelings via a beautiful flower?
It seemed like something out of her cheesy romance novels. While a sweet gesture, she couldn't help but feel incredulous that someone would actually tell her they were falling in love with her through flower symbolism.
What's more is she wasn't sure who would actually like her enough to go through with the gesture. She didn't know a lot of people, and everyone she did know didn't give her any indication it was from them. If it was from one of her few fans, she wasn't sure she could accept them. For one thing, they really didn't know her that well, how could they assume they loved her?
And another thing…she knew for a fact she didn't love them because there was someone else in her life who held her heart.
"Hey, I'm feeling Chinese takeout tonight. That okay with you?"
Maka jumped at the voice of her weapon. She swiveled around in her chair to reply, "Uh, yeah. That's fine with me."
Soul raised an eyebrow at her before flicking his eyes to the rose. Slowly, he walked over to where she sat at her desk.
"Ever since Liz told you about that rose you've done nothing but space out and stare at it. What's up? Thinking hard about the poor sap who couldn't tell you they like you in person?"
He said it in his usual teasing manner, yet Maka noticed his tense body language. She didn't know why Soul was so wound up. It was making her worry a little…
Deciding to come back to his behavior later, she answered his earlier question, "Kind of. It's just strange…"
"What's strange?" Soul asked, making himself comfortable on her bed.
Maka hummed, turning her gaze back to the rose. "That there's someone at school who's so infatuated with me that they're under the impression that it's love. They don't know me at all, yet they've decided they've fallen in love with me."
"What makes you think they don't know you?"
Maka looked to him, "There's only so many people who actually know me. Whoever sent this has to be someone from another class. Someone who probably only knows me through my reputation as one of the better meisters of the DWMA. Who else could it be?"
It looked as if Soul was contemplating what to say before he shrugged, "You never know, maybe it is somebody who actually knows you."
Maka snorted, "As if. I only have a small circle of friends. It can't be any of you guys. Any one of you would have told me to my face, right?"
She expected Soul to agree with her, to laugh along with her and make a crude joke or two. Instead she was met with silence. She chanced a glance at her partner and saw that he had a frown on his face, a far-off look in his eyes. She wished he would tell her what his deal was already.
Finally he said, "Have you considered that maybe they couldn't?"
Maka tilted her head to the side, confused, "What do you mean?"
Soul sighed, as if explaining to Maka why this would be was such a drag!
"I mean, maybe they don't have the courage to tell you in person how they feel. Maybe all they could do was find some fancy flower that had some cheesy meaning and hope you would like it."
"But why not sign it? Wouldn't they want me to know it was from them?"
Soul turned his red eyes to her green ones and Maka was almost taken aback when she saw pure, raw emotion in them.
"Being rejected isn't cool, Maka."
It was such a cryptic phrase. She knew her weapon was trying to tell her something; she just needed to piece together the clues to figure it out. Before she could question him further, he suddenly stood up.
It was as if a flip was switched. Gone was that ounce of vulnerability he allowed her to see, and in its place was his usual no-care attitude. Soul stretched his arms over his head as he said, "Alright, I'm gonna call in the Chinese. You want the usual?"
Maka blinked at him. He was purposely avoiding looking at her now. She fought off a scowl. She had to think his previous words over before she started tackling this.
"Yeah, the usual is good." She said.
"Cool." With that he left.
Maka sighed as she watch him leave. She leaned back in her chair.
Should she be reading too much into their conversation? Were Soul's words implying what she thought it was?
She didn't want to get her hopes up, but it was hard to when he had looked at her like that. Like he was trying to tell her something but refused to outright say it. It was like he was practically pleading for her to figure him out.
And that slightly frustrated her because she had been trying to figure out Soul Eater Evans for years now and no matter how many times she broke down his carefully built walls, the boy managed to build more up in an attempt to keep her at arm's length.
It was exasperating. More so if her wild thoughts were right about him and his possible connection to her secret admirer…
She must have been sitting there lost in her thoughts for longer than she realized because soon she heard a knock on her door.
"Hey, takeout's here."
Maka nodded in reply, "Coming."
She walked out of her room, stopping in the doorway of the kitchen to stare at her weapon who was munching on a spring roll. He must have felt her eyes on him because he stopped mid-bite to acknowledge her.
"What?" he scowled, as if ready for her to reprimand him for something or another.
"You're being messy." She told him, not wanting him to figure out what she had been pondering on the last few minutes.
The Death Scythe snorted, continuing to attack his food with his teeth, "Who cares? I got nobody to impress."
Maka rolled her eyes and giggled a little. Sitting down in the chair, she took her portion of the food and began to dig in.
After a few minutes she ventured to speak, "For the record…"
Soul stopped his eating, raising a quizzical brow at her. Maka continued, carefully choosing her words.
"If my secret admirer were to come to me in person and suddenly confess to me, I probably wouldn't turn them down completely." She then gave him a pointed look. If her theory proved right, he would understand the message she was trying to convey to him. Hopefully she wasn't making an awkward fool of herself, "I mean, they went through all the trouble to show me how much they liked me. It'd be awful to reject them so cruelly, wouldn't you say?"
For the longest time Soul didn't say anything, just stared at her, his red eyes searching her own. She saw that same trace of emotion from before and it gave her confidence that she wasn't making a mistake in her assumptions. Maka hoped he could see her emotions in her eyes as well. She hoped he saw what she wanted him to see. That she saw him and that she would never refuse him, ever.
Finally, her weapon broke their gaze and went back to playing with his food, "Alright. Do whatever you want, Maka. But if he turns out to be a lame creep don't come crying to me."
Maka giggled. "Nah. I'm sure he's cool."
Her secret admirer didn't leave another rose for her, nor did he confront her.
Her girl friends were somewhat disappointed in the lack of development, but Maka didn't mind. She knew her secret admirer wasn't so secret to her anymore, and she was content to wait for him.
Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Even still, she didn't complain. She knew he was waiting as well. Either for the perfect moment or to actually gain his courage, she couldn't say. All she knew was that neither one of them were going anywhere.
It wouldn't be until six months later that Maka would wake up bright and early one day and come face to face with a large bouquet of roses. All yellow with red tips.
And the holder of this bouquet was the one she was waiting for.
"H-Here…" Soul said, face a lovely shade of red and his gaze bashfully turned away.
Maka gently took the flowers, pressing her face to them to smell their lovely aroma. Afterwards, she looked to the boy who held her heart and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I love them."
I love you.
AN: I've written some cheesy things in my time and I think this was the cheesiness LMAO
It's intentionally vague in the first half, but just so you all know, Soul is being self-deprecating when he comments on how Maka's secret admirer is a coward. He's pretty much verbally giving himself the smackdown for being really uncool for not telling the girl he loves that he...well, loves her. He's an awkward, insecure baby and I'm evil for wanting to exploit that.
Hope you guys like this! Please review!
