Chapter 7: Winter Months. Colder Days and Warmer Feelings?

Ethan was hanging decorations and smiling as Patty crunched on a candy cane. Logan had made his soup for everyone that had gathered at his modest apartment. The friends had spent about three months together and only grown closer. The holiday break had been as fun as anyone could hope. Ethan had received a little handheld silent talk pad he could use to express himself. Patty was concerned with all the trees that he had killed with his notebook. She had saved all the adorable notes that he had made for her. She had a shoebox under her bed that had all of them in it. Ethan sat down next to Patty as she swallowed the rest of her candy cane. She kissed him full on the mouth and then pulled back and said,

"How was that?"

He typed on his new device,

'Min-ty'

She giggled and kissed him again pushing him onto his back. Logan giggled with the rest of the group at the cute little couple. Logan sat between Liz and Maka with a grin spread across his face. They both had eggnog in their hands. What the group didn't know is that Blackstar added a special ingredient. With a snicker he added alcohol to the eggnog. Several hours after everyone had their fill of their drinks and their holiday meal, everyone besides Blackstar was feeling the effects of the ingredient. Even the chivalrous Logan was slurring his words and not making any sort of sense. Ethan had Patty passed out on top of him. Logan stood up and went into the kitchen were Maka was standing. She turned and looked up at his face. She backed up into a wall and Logan braced himself over her and stared into her eyes. She got nervous and said,

"What are you doing? Logan I-"

"Don't worry. I'll be gentle. Just kidding, I think you are sweet, but I….."

He yawned and said,

"What was I saying?"

"I don't know. Don't worry."

Maka touched his face with her left hand then lowered her arm. Logan rubbed his eyes and retreated into his room. Maka slid to the floor and passed out, her dream was sweet but strange,

Maka was lying in the grass in a bright white dress. She had her eyes closed and she was breathing deeply. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Logan sitting next to her. He was in a black suit that was a brand Maka particularly liked. As she tried to sit up, he lightly pinned her to the ground. His voice was smooth and sweet just like it always was,

"Don't get up."

He shifted his body over her and moved his face close to hers and continued,

"I know how to wake a sleeping princess. With this…"

He got closer to her so her lips were just about to touch.

She woke up in her own bed with Logan passed out in a chair in the corner of the room. She sat up and smiled at him. She felt her lips and started to blush. She wondered why she dreamt of him, why she would dream of him like that. Her favorite hoodie was wrapped around her delicate skin even though it was a size fit for a boy. Logan's old hoodie was especially comfortable when she wore it. She held her head as she shook Logan awake. His body twitched and he opened his eyes. He grabbed ahold of her shoulder and said,

"How did you sleep? Well I hope. I thought I should guard you since Blackstar spiked our drinks last night."

"He did what?"

"Yeah, he thought it would be funny to get us all drunk. Well I think I kicked his ass, for you guys. I don't really remember."

"Oh. Sorry for making you worry about me. You are so nice."

"Don't worry, that's what I'm here for. You are kinda cute when you sleep. You were talking about being a princess when I brought you in here. I giggled then sat down to protect you from Blackstar's pranks. You were the most vulnerable so I decided to help as best I could."

A scream came from the other apartment and Maka and Logan leapt up and ran to the source of the scream. They entered Logan's apartment to see Kid punching Blackstar in the face. His hair was dyed completely white. He was screaming,

"What the hell Blackstar? I am completely asymmetrical now. My outfit is black and my hair is white. How could you do this?"

Logan grabbed Kid and pulled him off of Blackstar as Patty laughed at Kid freaking out. The whole room started to laugh at Kid's dilemma. The son of Death wasn't laughing at his problem. Maka was still a bit wobbly from being sloshed all night and her knees buckled forcing her to grab Logan's shoulder to brace her body. He held her up and Liz saw Maka blush just from Logan being near her. She had worn that hoodie almost every day since she had gotten it. She was oblivious to where she had gotten the warm fabrics from, but she intended to ask a few questions. She stayed behind claiming that she was going to help Maka clean up. When Logan said he wanted to join them, Liz had kicked him out of his own apartment. Logan shrugged and left with Ethan to get a few gifts for the holidays.

Liz sat on the comfy couch and watched everyone else leave besides Maka and her. She frowned while she looked at Maka. She finally spoke up,

"So Logan… He is pretty great right?"

Maka swirled her right pigtail with her finger and her face was bright red,

"Y-yeah. I mean, he's um, well…."

Liz got up and stood in front of Maka. She grabbed Maka's face and looked into her eyes. With a sigh she said,

"Damn. You have the look. How did this happen? I always thought you would have that look for Soul. But for him of all people. I wish you would have seen him when I had that look for him. He was different then. Nothing could stop him."

"What do you mean?"

"That glimmer in your eyes tells me everything you feel. It is actually a thing Patty told me. She read me like a book and made me realize all the feelings I had for him. She taught me to read people just as well as she does. I want to tell you the story on how I came to have these feelings."

Maka sat down to listen to Liz's story.