Day 9 - Desire: "Accidentally handcuffed together and there is no key" AU
"We could kill Black*Star," Maka says casually. "No one would miss him. I mean, Tsubaki might, but we could just get her a pet monkey to take his place."
Soul entertains the thought of murdering his best friend and hiding the body somewhere in the desert for a few seconds before coming back to reality. "Homicide probably won't look good on your permanent record."
Maka holds up her right hand, which is currently connected to Soul's left via handcuffs. "I think it would be worth it."
"This is the last goddamn time I entertain his stupid hobbies," Soul mutters.
"You say that every time yet here we are again, the victims of Black*Star's dumb ideas! Remember when he burned off Ox's eyebrows because he wanted to practice putting out fires? It's amazing that he hasn't gotten arrested yet," Maka huffs.
This isn't terrible, Soul thinks, all things considering. He can think of worse ways to spend a Saturday night than sitting on his bed being handcuffed to the object of his affection. For a smart girl, Maka is one of the most oblivious people that Soul knows. They are literally handcuffed together and she still has no idea that he's been crushing on her for almost a year.
Soul was going through a tough time when they met: creatively blocked, running from responsibility, and battling crippling self esteem issues. He had been taking out his frustration on the keyboard in Black*Star's living room (bought because for about three days Black*Star swore he was going to become a rock god) during a housewarming party when Maka, Black*Star's friend from high school, waltzed in and innocently said that she liked his playing. He had been smitten ever since.
Black*Star and the rest of their friends had probably gotten tired of Soul's mooning and so physically forced them together until Soul grew enough balls to tell her how he felt. It had been entirely too suspicious and convenient that none of them had the key, even the ever responsible Tsubaki.
The desire and temptation to just let his fingers brush hers is strong, which is weird because Soul usually has such a good handle on his self control. He tries to just keep looking straight ahead because he knows that his self control will crumble once they lock eyes. Soul used to be such a cool guy, he thinks, before he fell stupidly in love.
As if reading his mind, her fingers shyly touch his palm. It sends an electric shock from his arm straight to his stomach and immediately his hand clasps hers. Finally he turns his head and sees Maka giving him a shy, unsure smile. They hold hands quietly, neither one willing to break the comfortable silence. This is progress, Soul thinks wryly. Maybe sometime in the next thousand years he would work up the nerve to ask her out.
"These handcuffs have an emergency release," Maka says suddenly.
"Nice. When did you–?"
"But," Maka's face is bright red and Soul feels that pesky electric shock of desire again, "could we stay like this a little longer?"
"… yeah. That'd be okay."