Day 8 - Be Mine: "Crashed the wrong wedding and now the best man/maid of honor is on my ass, but hey they're kinda hot so?" AU

"This is crazy," Maka said out loud. She blended in beautifully with the other wedding guests on the shuttle bus and even though she had been muttering to herself the whole ride from NYC to Long Island, no one suspected her true intentions. "I'm going to get killed. Or worse, arrested. This is bad. This is so not like me!"

An elderly woman with a visible hearing aid smiled kindly at her. "Dear, are you a guest of the bride or the groom?"

"I'm in love with the groom," Maka said quietly.

"You're a guest of the groom?" the woman asked. "That's nice, dear."

This was all her fault, Maka thought as she politely declined the apple that the nice old woman– Soul's relative?– offered her. She had gone off to study in Japan for a year without confirming her relationship status and now Soul was getting married to some random. His parents were connected and it was a political marriage, Liz told her, but it didn't make things better.

Maka loved Soul and she was frantic to tell him before her took the plunge.

"This is really selfish. What if he really loves her? What am I doing?" Maka whispered to herself but her feet kept moving towards the outdoor area where the ceremony was being held. There had to be at least a hundred people already seated and Maka's heart was close to detonation. "I should just leave now before I embarrass myself. I really should leave."

She blamed her lack of sleep. She blamed her erratic emotions. She blamed her inherently romantic, never say die nature. She mostly blamed Liz for telling her about this goddamn wedding in the first place.

Maka closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Soul! You can't get married! I mean you can, it's a free country," she babbled, "but I just need to tell you– I was stupid not to let you know how I felt earlier. I love you!"

Silence. Maka cracked open one eye to find everyone turned around in their chairs to look at her. Soul, who was standing somewhere off to the side and looking delicious in his tuxedo, had been rendered completely speechless. The bride and groom– some beautiful blond and Soul's older brother, Wes– also stared in shock. Wes was the first to recover. He laughed so hard that he started choking. Soul's mother turned completely white, no doubt thinking of how this would be all over the internet tomorrow.

"Iamsosorry!" Maka managed to get out before turning tail, picking up the skirt of her gown, and running like her life depended on it.

The first thing she did was dial Liz's number. "I hope you have a will because I am going to murder you."

"I didn't say it was Soul's wedding, technically," her friend laughed. "I said it was a typical Evans political wedding. I didn't lie, did I? Did you get to tell him how you feel finally? It only took you six hundred years."

"LIZ, I SWEAR TO GOD, IF I MAKE IT OUT OF THIS ALIVE YOU BETTER START THINKING OF YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION ALIAS BECAUSE I AM GOING TO–"

"Maka?" the voice of the one person Maka didn't want to see right now came from behind her.

She tried to blend in with the expensive painting on the wall. "I'm so sorry," Maka said tearfully. She was so embarrassed. Death could not come soon enough. "I'm so, so sorry."

"You always did know how to make an entrance," Soul scoffed. "When did you get back? I would have picked you up at the airport."

How could he talk to her so normally? She had just dropped the l-bomb in front of a million people while simultaneously interrupting his brother's wedding ceremony. She was trash. "Soul. I'm sorry I made such a horrible mistake. I'm so mortified–"

Soul took her hand and pulled her towards him. "Forget it. So TMZ will talk about us tomorrow. Whatever. What was this all about, anyway?"

"B-because," Maka sniffled. "I thought you were the one getting married so I had to…" It all sounded so ridiculous. "This is the worst."

"Why would I be getting married?" Soul was mystified. He tugged her closer and Maka buried her face in the crook of his neck. "You're my girlfriend."

Wait.

Wait.

Huh?

He scowled at her confused expression. "Don't tell me you didn't realize."

"No! I totally knew." Since when? Maka wanted to ask but now didn't seem to be the right time.

"Liar."

Ugh. When did this happen? Sure they spent copious amounts of time together before she went abroad. Sure they held hands and hugged and shared the same bed sometimes. Sure they made out and did everything together and Skyped every night… "Oh."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Yeah, I've been yours pretty much since the day you yelled at me for playing my music too loudly in the dorms. I've loved you for years, Maka."

"Oh," she said, this time more quietly.

"Wedding ceremonies are so boring," Soul laced their fingers together. "Let's ditch."

"Soul! Is that really okay?" So much for trying to get on good terms with his mother.

"We have a lot of time to make up for," he grinned that infuriating grin that she loved so much, "and I've got a hotel suite all to myself."

Maka laughed as they ran towards the exit. She was his and he was hers. She liked the sound of that. "Lead the way."