Odds and Ends
This is Awkward?
Glancing at the clock that hung just above the stove, Maka had to refrain from screaming as she realized she had overslept and it was bordering closely to the time she liked to leave for school. Instead she sighed. Quickly making her way to the bathroom, she was halted by the sound of the shower and a locked door. She frowned. Not only was it unlike her to sleep it, but it was also unlike her partner to take such long showers. It had been the gentle patter of the falling water that had woken her up, and that had been at least 15 minutes ago. She tapped her foot impatiently debating her options before finally pounding on the door.
"Soul! Hurry up!" she snapped.
She didn't get a response, not that she was expecting one, but it still annoyed her. Sadly everything her partner did lately annoyed her. She was starting to think that it might have to do with the fact that she was leaving in a few days for a whole month. She kept her complaints to herself, because she knew how much this whole thing was bothering him. It wasn't like she was trying to replace him, but she knew he felt something like that. Keeping things bottled in normally wasn't a problem for her, but since she had partnered with Soul she had learned the value of communicating and she was surprised to find that she wanted to talk it out with him. At the same time though, she didn't want him swaying her from her decision. She needed this change of pace; it wasn't that long of a time frame and being away from Soul might help her tolerance with his antics go back up.
To be fair to Soul it wasn't just him. In many ways she just wanted to be away from Death City for a while, away from her father, away from her obligations, away from all the expectations. So wrapped up in her thoughts she pounded on the door again, only to whiff and fall forward seeing as the door was already opened.
"Damn, Maka," mumbled her partner. He was half naked, a towel wrapped around his waist and another in his hand as he rubbed his hair dry. "Over sleep much?"
He was teasing her, and again she was struck with a sense of frustration. Instead of answering him or his smirk with a Maka Chop she glowered for a moment.
"Move!" she snapped, shoving him aside and slamming the door behind her. She really had no tolerance for him right now, and while part of her felt guilty; another part was just relieved to finally have an option to escape him for a short while.
The water was cold as she switched it on and hurriedly showered. She took the first shower for a reason, seeing as she didn't spend forever doing god knows what under the running water, unlike her partner. Seething, and shivering, Maka quickly washed her hair and body, before bolting out of the shower to get dressed. Her normal put together appearance looked disheveled in the mirror, her pig tails were even a little lopsided, but she didn't have time to worry about that. She was officially going to be late at the rate she was going. Soul was calling for her from the kitchen.
"Looks like we forgot to pick up breakfast stuff…" he said sheepishly. "We'll have to stop somewhere along the way."
She really wanted to let out a scream of frustration, instead she sighed again. Knowing that she was already going to be late, she calmly picked up her bag and made her way towards the door.
"You're buying," she told Soul as calmly as possible. She could still feel a vein in her forehead throbbing in displeasure.
()()()()()()()()()()()
She never really paid much attention to her peers during class. On occasion Soul would bother her, or get her to pass a note back and forth, but very rarely did she let her mind wander.
Today though, was a day from hell and she was acutely aware of everyone around her. It might partly be that she was NEVER late, and today had gotten her lectured three times in front of the entire student body by three different teachers, or the fact that her appearance was less than immaculate. Today, her peers were buzzing with conversation, and it was rather hard to ignore when her name seemed to be like an annoying fly's hum in the background. It was during lecture, and still she had heard her name at least 3 times from different corners of the room. She clenched and unclenched her fist around her pencil, trying hard to focus on scribbling notes on Stein's lecture.
"You're uneven," Kid's smooth voice whispered behind her. He interrupted her vain attempt to try and actually focus. She felt her brow twitch, and dropped her head to peak at him from under her arm.
"Don't worry about it," she coolly replied, hoping that the ice in her voice would get through to the young Death Lord.
It didn't. His brows were twitching and his hands shook when he made eye contact with her.
Like her day could get any freaking worse. Her soon to be partner was having a melt down because her symmetry was off. Letting out a breath, she dug around in her bag and pulled out a mirror, quickly she fixed her hair before turning her attention back to lecture. She patted herself on the back, in her head, for mastering the art of symmetrical pig tails years ago. At least it would make working with Kid easier.
It seemed to shut Kid up at least.
When Stein dismissed class for the day, Maka took her time packing her bag. Soul looked like he wanted to wait for her, but she waved him off as Black* Star started calling for him impatiently.
"I'll meet up with you later," she promised at his skeptical look. She had already promised Tsubaki that she would team up with her when the gang all met up for basketball later and she wasn't one for breaking her word.
Soul knew she was having a lousy day, and more than once he had given someone a death glare for her when they whispered her name within his hearing range. She appreciated his concern but at the moment she just wanted a second to collect herself. The busy hallways that were sure to be silent when she walked through them, and that wasn't something she wanted to deal with at the end of the day. Soul gave her another glance that screamed he wanted to talk to her about something, or that he wanted her to open up…
"If my day gets any worse I'll gladly tell you later at home," she promised him with a smile. "But I—"
"I would like to talk to you, Maka," Kid interrupted.
Maka felt herself twirl around to face one of the few things that could possibly make this situation worse. Only to her surprise Soul seemed to relax and he gave Kid a small smile.
"I'll see you two at the court then. Later," Soul dismissed, shoving his hands into his pockets as he strolled out of the room with an impatient Black*Star. In the span of seconds the rest of the room emptied, including Stein.
"That was odd," she breathed before looking back at Kid. Liz and Patty had already walked off; the sisters' claimed that they had to get manicures or something… She hadn't really been too focused on them. Liz had been the only girl today that was actually kind (besides Tsubaki) and asked if she wanted to skip this class with her. An offer she politely refused for the sake of her dignity. Like hell she would let anyone else bother her today.
"Much like your behavior today. Are you alright?" Kid questioned, both of his brows raised in question, and Maka couldn't help but smile at his antics. His need for perfect symmetry was like her need for perfect grades.
"I'm just…" she paused letting out a deep breath before finishing, "a little off today."
"Anything you want to talk about?" Kid offered following up with a kind smile.
"I'm just stressed, honestly it is nothing," she chuckled and straightened her bag on her shoulder. Kid twitched slightly, before he jammed his hand roughly into his pocket.
"Mind if I adjust your bag?" he mumbled, his cheeks flushed and his eyes diverted to the floor.
"You do realize I'm not going to let you go completely crazy on me like you do with Liz and Patty right?"
"I have come to terms with that," he said letting out his own breezy chuckle, "but you have to come to terms with a few things as well Maka."
She let a small silence come between them. She was well aware that she would have to follow Kid in every decision he made, rather blindly. Although she could talk to him and offer her advice, she would no longer have the control she was used to. She couldn't just run off and take care of things by herself. She let out a sigh.
"Fine, fix my stupid bag," she groaned.
Kid's hands were instantly on her shoulders.
"Straighten your posture," he slightly commanded, but his tone wasn't really bossy. She relented, straightening her back and shoulders before Kid pulled out a ruler.
"I swear if you make me stand here for ten hours—"
"Ten is a horribly offensive number," Kid dismissed interrupting her. "I'll have this fixed in eight seconds," he promised. His hands quickly and deftly flitted to the strap. He mumbled incoherently under his breath while he worked. His eyes darted across her frame checking measurements until finally he straightened and took a proud step back. Maka was rather impressed that he was able to fix it so quickly.
"That was nine seconds," Maka teased watching Kid's color drain from his face.
"Are you sure? Because I am pretty sure I counted to eight perfectly in my head. I mean I guess it all started from when you counted. I don't know if I can handle this type of pressure—"
Maka laughed and readjusted her strap out of habit causing her friend to cringe and scoff at her before she gave Kid a good-natured pat on the shoulder.
"Chill out Kid. We'll have plenty of time to adjust to each other's quirks in a few days," she promised.
"You're right," he breathed out. "You just seemed distraught today. I wanted to make sure everything was alright," he told her. For some reason there was a slight tinge to his cheeks, just the faintest shade of red, but Maka dismissed it as remnants of his earlier blush.
"Well thank you," Maka said, her hand nervously shot out to grab her other arm. "I think that maybe we should go catch up with our friends. It is going to be a whole month that we don't see them."
"You know I think I am already starting to miss them," Kid said as they started to exit the room.
"What with Black*Star's random challenges and yelling all the time," Kid continued.
"Patty's obsession with breaking giraffe necks…" Maka shivered.
"Soul's cool guy act," he laughed, his eyes trained on their destination as they exited the building. Maka was suddenly amazed that she hadn't noticed that they had traversed the entire length of the school without her noticing, and even with the small crowd of students that were still buzzing she hadn't really paid attention to them. She smiled at Kid, knowing that he wasn't paying attention; she gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.
"Thank you," she whispered under her breath. She knew he caught it and she knew he knew what she was thanking him for. She was just glad that he had offered her the comfort of his friendship. It was a rare moment that the two of them were ever alone without their friends and for some reason he was the one that could cheer her up with the simplest of things. She and Kid just clicked, and their friendship was rather instant. Sometimes she forgot that, and she took it for granted.
Kid just grinned in response.
"Ah. I don't think I will miss Liz's manicure messes all over the bathroom," he said dully as they rounded a corner changing the topic back to their friends. They were just a few blocks away from the basketball court, and Maka could hear her friends' laughs and shouts.
"Tsubaki…" Maka trailed off. "Actually I think I'm going to not be sarcastic and just genuinely miss her," she chuckled.
"Ah I was being genuine," Kid chuckled.
The court came into view then, and they jogged to quickly catch up with their friends. After a few hours of playing basketball, Maka found herself sweaty and feeling completely normal. After a bad day of waking up on the wrong side of the bed, she needed this group time and normalcy her friends offered. The mini pep talk helped loads too not that she was about to voice that to everyone. The only one who knew was Soul, and she knew he wouldn't do anything to dampen her newly improved mood. It just proved that she was right. That she wasn't making a mistake going on this assignment with Kid. They could match wavelengths easily and they were both excellent Soul Perception users. They should knock this assignment out of the park.
"I'll see you Friday," she called happily to Kid as she and Soul started to leave. Tsubaki and Black*Star were throwing a party at her place for everyone to get a little farewell in then. Not that they would be gone very long, but still long enough to be missed by everyone. Kid nodded, returning her smile.
"I knew some basketball would help cheer you up," Soul said proudly as their apartment appeared on the horizon. Maka rolled her eyes at her friend and gave him a playful push.
"I think I just realized I needed to relax a little," she said knocking down his ego.
"A little?" he teased.
"Soul!" she mocked growled as he smiled at her deviously.
"Or was it that cute little talk you had with lover boy that helped?" his grin turned down right evil as he wiggled his brow at her.
"MAKA CHOP!"
A/N: Maka are you embarrassed? :p. Sorry about the long wait everyone. No excuses, but hey. The next chapter they finally depart on their mission. I wanted to show a little character building as well as their friendship before we start getting some fluff up in here. Yes I just phrased that like that. You may smack me over the internet. Ha! Until next time :)