AN: Yes, I'm pulling the old, "Love Potion No. 9" cliché. BUT WITH A TWIST! Read and find out what that twist is!
Title: Attempting Love Potions
Prompt: Magic
Disclaimer: Don't own
"C'mon, Maka. You know you waaaant to!" Kim tried to entice, wiggling the little pink vial of liquid in her hand.
The scythe meister scowled at the young witch. "No, Kim. I've told you a thousands times already: I do not want any part of a love potion!"
Maka ignored Kim's pout. Ever since Kim revealed a witch acquaintance of hers had brewed up a love potion guaranteed to make your—quote—"unrequited love requited"—unquote—she had been bugging Maka nonstop to use it on Soul.
The blonde didn't even understand why Kim was so insistent on it. It's not like she liked Soul or anything…
Okay, fine, she'll admit she may be developing feelings for him that may or may not be romantic. HOWEVER, she refused to play Kim's game and force her weapon to develop the same affections toward her.
It was practically inhumane! And probably illegal as Kid hadn't figured out all the details when it came to using forms of magic in this new DWMA/Witch alliance yet…
Kim groaned, "Maka! Everyone knows you and Soul are, like, endgame! Why don't you do every single one of us a favor and speed up the process a little?"
Maka pushed away the proffered drink, "No, Kim. Please stop pushing this. It's making me mad."
She was not above Maka Chopping a friend—ask Soul and Black Star.
Thankfully, the witch backed down, but Maka could tell she was displeased.
"Fine! See if I try helping you gain a love life in the future!"
Maka rolled her eyes, "I don't need anyone's help, thank you very much. If I want a boyfriend, I can get one."
Kim snorted, eyeing Maka up and down, "Not with that figure you ain't."
Maka felt a vein about to burst. Maybe she should go ahead and Maka Chop her. Sure, Kim might get revenge on her in some way, but it wouldn't be anything major considering she knew Kim somewhat feared the scythe meister. After all, Maka did kill Arachne and went toe-to-toe with Kishin Asura.
"Who cares what anyone thinks about my 'figure'?" Maka huffed, "If they were worth anything, they wouldn't care. Anyways, even if I did want to 'speed up' my relationship with Soul—which, by the way, is none of your business—I wouldn't use something as underhanded as a love potion. I want Soul to like me because he chooses to. It's really sleazy trying to force feelings onto somebody, and Soul would never forgive me if I did that to him."
Kim held up her hands in defense, "Okay, okay. I won't bother you about it anymore. Geez, no need to get all noble on me…"
Maka nodded, "Thank you for understanding. I gotta go meet up with Soul now, so I'll see you in Stein's class later today okay?"
Kim waved at her friend's retreating back, "Alright, see you then."
As she watched Maka round the corner, Kim turned her gaze back to the love potion in her hands. She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance. She spent a good amount of money for this bottle!
When her friend Winifred sent out that notice that she had brewed "the perfect love potion," Kim couldn't help but jump on the opportunity. All the students at the DWMA could tell that Maka and Soul were taken with each other, so this felt like the most logical thing to do.
Sure, it may be an…she'll say unorthodox way in getting the two together, but she figured that if Soul started acting desperately in love with his meister then it would kick start his actual real feelings for her.
All the romcoms with love potions ended in happily ever after, who's to say this wouldn't turn out favorably?
Putting the love potion in her pocket, Kim leaned against the wall, waiting for Jackie to meet up with her so they could go to their next class. Across from her she noticed a soda machine. As she stared at it, she felt an idea pop into her head.
Well…Maka did say she didn't want to use the love potion. She never said anything about Kim using it for her own goals.
Goals that happened to involve her two friends getting together, that was.
Letting out an almost sinister giggle, Kim reached into her pocket to locate some change.
Maka and Soul made themselves comfortable in their seats as they waited for Stein to enter the room to begin class. In the row below them, Maka noticed Jacqueline but not her meister.
"Jackie? Where's Kim?" Maka inquired.
The demon lantern shrugged, "I'm not sure. We were on our way here when she told me she had to do something really quick. I asked her if she wanted me to go with her, but she declined and told me to save her seat."
Maka hummed, feeling unease in the pit of her stomach. She hoped this didn't have anything to do with what the two discussed roughly an hour ago…
"Here I am! Sorry for making you wait, Jackie!" Maka was pulled out of her thoughts at the sound of the witch's voice.
She looked normal enough, a bright smile painted on her porcelain face. In each hand were bottles of Coke. Maka felt herself smile. She supposed she was being paranoid over nothing.
"I got us some drinks. Here!" Kim said, placing one bottle in front of her on the desk before offering the second to her weapon.
Jackie frowned, "Kim, you know that I cut out soda from my diet after I got that kidney stone last month. I can't drink that."
Kim's mouth formed an "o" as she dramatically smacked herself in the head, "Oh darn! I completely forgot! Oh well…"
She then turned around, eyeing Soul and Maka…particularly Soul.
"I don't want this to go to waste, so…Soul! Would you like this Coke?"
Soul gave a nonchalant shrug, reaching for the drink, "Sure, whatever."
It was when she saw Kim's triumphant smirk that it hit Maka what game the witch was playing at. Widening her eyes, she reached out to her weapon as he opened the bottle to take a sip.
"Wait, Soul, stop!"
"Yes, Soul, drink it!" Kim exclaimed, grabbing Maka's hand, so she could prevent her from stopping her weapon. She then used her grip on Maka's hand to pull her forward so Maka was the first person Soul saw.
Seeing the strange reaction in front of him, Soul stopped drinking the Coke to give his meister an incredulous stare. "What's the problem?"
Maka blinked at him, biting her lip in anticipation of something happening. But after a minute passed and the only reaction she got out of her weapon was his usual bored expression, Maka felt herself relax before breaking away from Kim's hold.
Kim, on the other hand, gaped at the scythe in shock. "Wait, what?! You look and act the same!"
Soul blinked, his lips turning downwards, "Am…I not supposed to?"
Kim forcefully grabbed the bottle from his hand and sniffed it. Humming in thought she turned back to Soul.
"Did this taste any different to you?"
Soul narrowed his eyes, "I admit, it's a lot sweeter than I thought it'd be. Why? Did you do something to it?"
Kim ignored his questions, chucking the Coke across the room as she ranted and raved about "scams" and how she was going to skin alive some person named Winifred for "making a fool out of her." All the while everyone in the class stared at the pink haired girl as if she had gone crazy.
Soul turned to Maka, confusion clearly written in his red eyes, "What the hell just happened?"
Maka frowned. She knew exactly what happened. However, like Kim, the outcome was not something she expected. The young witch obviously put the love potion in the drink she gave to Soul. Her plan was to trick him into drinking it so it would have the desired effect on him. Only it didn't work.
The question though, was why didn't it work?
Why wasn't Soul in love with Maka?
"Hey, earth to Maka. I asked you a question."
Maka returned Soul's gaze, searching his eyes. They were the same. He really wasn't affected by the magic of the potion.
Before she could explain, she heard the faint rolling of Stein's chair and the subsequent crash of him falling over, indicating the beginning of his class.
"I'll tell you later." She said, hoping by the time the lecture was over and they made it home she'd have come up with an explanation as to why her weapon wasn't head over heels in fake love with her.
An hour and a half later Maka still didn't know the answer.
She and Soul were walking back to their apartment after school was over (the weather was so nice, Maka had begged Soul to forgo using the bike for today). Maka was concentrating silently on her thoughts while Soul trudged afterwards, glancing at his meister every now and then.
"So you gonna tell me what was up with Kim or what?" he asked.
Maka furrowed her brow. In theory the love potion should have worked. Soul didn't love her, so therefore if he had drank the potion he should be acting out of character right now as his emotions were forced to recognize her as the object of his affections. Keyword should. The reality of the situation was that Soul was acting the same, indicating that there was a flaw somewhere in Kim's plan.
Maybe the potion was faulty? She couldn't imagine a witch selling Kim a product that wouldn't work, but witches were very crafty, so it couldn't be too off the mark.
"Hey, Maka! Are you listening to me?"
Maybe the ingredients of the soft drink messed with the composition of the potion? That seemed like a reach, and she didn't feel the urge to perform experiments in relation to whether carbonation affected your hormone levels or not…
"Maaaaaka!"
Maybe the potion didn't affect weapons? Or maybe Soul's Black Blood had something to do with it? Like maybe it protects him from magic and spells. But, wait, then all the magic the witches they've faced in the past wouldn't have affected him either… Ugh, she was getting a headache from all this analyzing.
"Maka Albarn is a scrawny, nerdy bookworm who definitely loves her Papa!"
"Excuse me?!" Maka cried out, halting in her stride. She glared at her partner, feeling the familiar urge to reach for a book.
Soul gave her an infuriating grin, holding his arms over his head in protection of a possible Maka Chop, "I had to get your attention somehow."
She pouted. "What do you want?"
"I want you to tell me what was up with Kim in class this afternoon. You told me you'd explain, so start explaining."
Oh, right. Of course. Even if Maka didn't know the full explanation as to why Kim's plan failed, the least she could do was tell Soul what said plan was.
"Alright, I'll tell you. But don't get mad at me about it because I specifically told her not to do it!"
Soul waved her off, "Yeah, sure. I got it. Now spill."
Maka took a deep breath. "Kim purchased a love potion from a witch friend of hers. She's been wanting to use it on you as a…prank."
She'd rather die than tell him the real reason for why Kim wanted to trick him into drinking the potion.
Soul blanched. "A…love potion?"
Maka nodded. "Yeah, she wanted to see if it would work and make you fall in love. I guess she thought it'd be even funnier if it were me you fell in love with…"
She averted her gaze away from his, unable to handle the look of disgust he must have on his face. She already knew he didn't have feelings for her, no need to rub salt into the wounds at his vehement protesting for why he would never fall for her, ever.
"I can't believe it…" he said, shock lacing his voice. Suddenly she heard him growl, "That meddling little bitch!"
While Maka didn't usually condone Soul's harsh language toward their comrades, she admitted he was justified in his name-calling. After all, she was thinking the same thing when she realized what Kim's plan had been with that Coke.
"I know. I told her it was a bad idea."
"A bad idea?! She was basically gonna drug me!"
"I know! It was definitely not cool!"
"Hell no, it wasn't! And she actually thought her stupid little plan was gonna work? As if!"
Maka felt herself wince. Okay, now she was hearing the part of his rant that she didn't feel inclined to listen to. Again, he was justified in his anger, but it didn't make it hurt any less that he didn't want to fall in love with her.
"I mean, of course I didn't fall in love with you after drinking it! I'm already—"
He immediately fell silent, his teeth audibly clicking together with how strongly he snapped his mouth shut. Maka blinked in shock.
"You're already…what?"
Sweat began to form on the Death Scythe's brow. "Nothing…"
Maka narrowed her eyes, "No, you were going to say something. What were you going to say?"
He began walking again, his pace picking up as he swiftly moved passed her, "I wasn't going to say anything, let's just drop it!"
"Hey, wait up Soul!" she called after him, practically running to catch up to him.
"I'm feeling pasta tonight, are you? What would you rather have, fettuccini or spaghetti?"
"Quit avoiding the subject, Soul!"
"What subject? The only subject I'm talking about is pasta!"
Maka screamed in frustration.
Why did she have to fall in love with this moron?
"Uh-huh… Yeah, okay… I get it now. Sorry for bitching at you earlier, Winnie. I'll see you at the next Witch Mass… Okay, bye!"
Kim sighed as she closed her cell phone. She and Jackie were sitting at Death Bucks, having a quick snack before heading back to the girls' dorm.
Jackie sipped her chai tea, "So what did she say?"
Kim stirred her iced mocha, "Winifred's potion wasn't a scam like I thought it was. Apparently, if the person drinking it lays eyes on the person they're already in love with it then there's no effect. Something about their love cancelling out the fake love or whatever."
Jackie nodded, "So it does work, you just have to be sure your target really doesn't love you."
"Yep…" she trailed off.
The two were silent for a second, sipping their respective drinks before Jacqueline spoke up again.
"Isn't this a good thing though? I mean, that means the reason Soul wasn't affected was because he already loves Maka. We now have concrete proof."
Kim nodded, but she still looked peeved, "Well, duh, of course I'm happy that the number one pair at the DWMA is practically one step closer to being a legit couple—fucking ecstatic actually!"
"But…?"
"But I was robbed of wacky hijinks!" Kim bellowed, "That emotionally constipated scythe was supposed to act stupidly in love with Maka! Think of the blackmail, Jackie! All the glorious blackmail!"
Jackie sighed. Sometimes she wished her meister didn't have such a devious side. "Well, maybe Maka will figure out why the potion didn't work and she and Soul can finally be together."
Before Kim could retort, they were distracted by the sudden appearance of Soul who was sprintingat impressively high speeds passed their table.
The two girls blinked, flabbergasted. Before either of them could comment on the strange occurrence, another figure barreled by.
"SOUL EATER EVANS!" Maka Albarn bellowed, "GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE! YOU CAN'T USE PASTA AS AN EXCUSE FOREVER!"
Once the scythe meister had disappeared from view, Kim turned back to Jackie. Her face was passive, as if what had just happened didn't even faze her.
"Please! It's gonna take those two a miracle to get their shit together!"
AN: Okay, a few days after I wrote this I remembered there's a drama CD that has this plot except it really DID work on both Soul and Maka and those two were totally in love with each other. I never heard the drama CD, just know the basic plot of it. Though I don't think it's actually canon so?
I swear I didn't think of the drama CD AT ALL when I wrote this! My inspiration came from the fact that I'm a sucker for the love potion cliché, so I wanted to try my hand at it. But instead of the typical reaction you'd get from a love potion trope, I went with the often underused, "If the first person you see is someone you're already in love with then you won't feel any different blah blah blah..." aspect of it.
Also, apologies if I didn't write Kim exactly in character. She's hard around the edges, and a bit of a schemer if Soul Eater Not! was any indication, so I tried to go by that for her characterization.
And extra bonus points if you can figure out where I got the name Winifred from.
Hopefully you all enjoyed it! Leave a review and tell me what you thought!