Freefall
by. Poisoned Scarlet

13a

She hadn't felt him arrive.

She had sleepily dragged herself back to her apartment and crashed on her bed with a happy sigh somewhere around midnight. The day off had been just what she needed: tea with a friend matched along with a good drama, some good laughs, and a long conversation about her relationship with Soul.

But she realized he had returned from the concert when she felt the sheets on her bed lift. A cold draft made her curl into herself but it was quickly replaced by a gust of hot air; a blow of his minty breath. His body was burning and she realized why when she caught a whiff of refreshing body wash: he had even managed to shower before climbing into bed with her!

She must have been very deep in sleep to not notice that.

She wondered what time it was for a moment before speaking:

"How was it?" Maka mumbled, shifting to face him.

Soul stilled, sounding apologetic: "Uh, sorry. Did I wake you up?"

"S'okay." Maka yawned and stretched out in her bed, able to make out his faint outline with the aid of the fading moonlight. "How was the concert?"

"It was awesome! You should have gone – you have no idea what you missed out on!" Soul grinned, pulling the pillow from under her slightly so he could rest his head on it, too. "Except it got a little crazy around midnight with the mosh pits – Black Star got socked in the cheek for jumping in!" And he continued to relay all of the interesting events that took place at the concert; from the bands to their songs to the people to the rude employees at the food stands.

And Maka listened, smiling softly at his boyish enthusiasm.

It wasn't often she saw him this excited but she had noticed it mainly happened when it was something music-orientated. She remembered how enthusiastic he got when he gave her a little background on the CD's he brought to her. She also remembered being more interested in his glimmering eyes, his smiling lips, than the words he said...

"It sounds like you had a..." She stifled a yawn, "...really good time."

"Yeah, it was so cool. I wanna' go to another one." Soul sighed, contently. He glanced at her, sternly. "You're coming with me next time!"

"No, thanks! Concerts are too noisy!" Maka complained with a shake of her head. She stretched out again and rolled on her side, snuggling into her pillow. "I'd rather stay at home reading a book – !"

"Please tell me that's not what you did all day?" Soul cringed.

Maka cracked one eye open to glare at him. "NO! I spent the day with Tsubaki, for your information!"

"Better than nothing." Soul muttered, and placated her rising temper by cradling her in his arms. His breath on the crook of her neck, his eye lashes brushing against her cheek, Maka felt her anger ebb away as silence reigned in her bedroom once more. Her arms snaked around his neck to bring him closer, fingers tangling with his moist hair.

How strange, Maka drowsily thought, it was to feel lonesome after being with him for so long. It had roughly been half a year since she had first met Soul and she could not longer remember those long days of solitude. It was as if they had been washed away, like footprints in the sand, because now a subtle loneliness stalked her whenever he was away.

She wondered if it was the same for him, as sleep threatened to overtake her.

"Maka?"

"Mm?"

"What would you do..." Soul began, cautiously. His voice was very low; she had to struggle to hear him. Maka was too busy struggling to stay awake to notice his growing trepidation as he said: "...if I told you I cared about you a lot?"

"It's okay, Soul." Maka drowsily slurred, a faint smile clinging to her lips. She wasn't fully conscious of the significance of his question, nor the strength of her words. She was simply too fatigued to keep her eyes open any longer. She said the first thing that came to mind: "I care about you a lot, too..."

"Do you..." He paused and said nothing for the longest time. In the time it took him to muster up enough motivation and courage to finish his sentence, she was already half-way into a dreamless sleep. "...love me?"

"Yeah..." She mumbled, and decided she didn't mind it when Soul pulled her into his arms for a crushing embrace.

"Nng, Soul, c'mon, wanna' sleep." Maka groaned, but he merely tightened his arms around her; whispered something that vaguely sounded like her name but she could be wrong. He was still speaking in that hoarse, low, tone of his.

For a delirious moment, she wondered what sparked such a strong reaction out of him.

Then she decided that could be answered in the morning and she let her consciousness go; unaware that she had just confirmed the intensity of Soul's emotions towards her with that simple word.

13b

She didn't quite know what was wrong with him but that morning he had forgotten his wallet on the kitchen table, and she knew for a fact that without his wallet, he would not eat lunch.

And if he did not eat lunch, he would arrive home with a ravenous hunger and be forever in a horrible mood until he got something in that black hole he called a stomach. But before that, his irate mood would influence her own mood and they would likely clash in a battle of scathing words and dark looks. The last thing they needed was another argument, Maka had thought when she picked up his wallet.

So now, a few hours later, she stood before a tall skyscraper, holding a bag of fast food in her hand and a drink in the other, staring up at the gigantic sign that read Death Jam Studios in fancy script. It was a tall building, shooting straight up past the clouds with hundreds upon hundreds of window panes that revealed nothing to what was happening inside.

She faintly wondered just how she would be able to find him before she swallowed her unease and strode inside to the lobby area. There was a woman at the information desk, with curling scarlet hair and hazel eyes that seemed to laugh as she spoke into the phone. But when she approached, she muttered something into the receiver and greeted her with a beaming smile.

"Hello! How may I help you?"

"Um, yes, I'd like to know what floor Soul Evans is located at." Maka asked, then held up the bag of fast food. "He forgot his wallet so I bought him lunch instead."

The woman instantly looked uneasy at her request. "Oh. Name, please? I'll ring him up right now."

"Maka Albarn." Maka rose a brow, slightly annoyed by the delay. Now, why would she need her name? All she had to do was give her the floor and the studio number and she would be on her merry way. But the woman rang him up, waited, and relayed the information in a tired sort of voice.

Then she sat ramrod straight, wide-eyed in disbelief.

"O-okay! I'll send her up immediately, Mr. Evans!" She rushed, hanging up. She looked at her rather mystified but eagerness soon overshadowed her twinge of jealousy. "Are you his girlfriend?" She demanded in a hush. Maka startled at the bold question.

"Ah...yes."

"Oh, my God! No way!" She squealed, with a burst of giddy laughter. She leaned over, as if scrutinizing her for any flaws. But whatever flaws she did find were left unsaid as she cooed: "You're the cutest thing ever! I never would have thought he'd go for cutesy girls like you!"

"Thanks?" Maka answered, puzzled.

"I get a lot of girls that want to bring him lunch, y'know!" The woman rambled, and Maka's small smile instantly left her face. "But they never get farther than here! He's a little famous, mostly because of his brother. You know his brother, right? Wes Evans? Almost as hot as him, if not more, I swear! And he's still single right now! Can you believe that? Too bad Soul isn't single anymore!" She sighed, dreamily. "If only I managed to score one date with him..."

"Right. Of course." Maka grit out, forcing on smile for the sake of being polite. Her fist threatened to crush the cup of soda but she would do more than that if that woman didn't shut up now while she was ahead. "Can I get the floor number now, please? Before his lunch goes cold?"

"Oh, right!" The woman giggled, pointing down the hall to the elevators. She cheerfully told her the floor number and gave her quick instructions on how to reach his studio – and before she could delve into another rant, Maka crisply said her goodbyes and just barely held herself back from running to the elevators.

Famous, huh? Maka seethed, breathing in controlled breaths. Even the mellow music within the elevator could not soothe her annoyance. She got off the elevator on the tenth floor, storming down the hall. She nearly got lost once in her angry march but soon she found herself standing before a single door, staring at its dark paint finish and the plaque Soul E. Evans that was nailed firmly under the room number.

She knocked on the door a few times, shifting her weight to her other foot as she waited.

"Doors open!" She heard his muffled shout, and Maka turned the lever with her elbow and pushed inside awkwardly with her hip. She glared at him, watching him twist a dial and remove the headphones from his ears. She caught it before he could hide it: a flash of nervousness in his eyes, a swallow and a quick intake of breath as if preparing himself for something unpleasant. The look made her gut wrench but she shook the ominous feelings off to speak.

"You forgot your wallet at home, you idiot." Maka deadpanned, tossing him his wallet without another word. He caught it, sensing her bad mood, but unable to help himself:

"Black Star burn a book in front of you or something?" He asked with that infuriatingly even tone of his, and she instantly turned with a snarl, taking out a thick textbook from within her book bag.

He should have really seen that coming.

But, as usual, he never did.

"MAKA CHOP!"

"OW! Shit, damn it...!" Soul groaned, holding his aching head. He was lucky the band had left for lunch a few minutes ago or it would have been embarrassing to have them watch his ass being handed to him by his girlfriend – who was, for the record, half his size and looked half her age. "What the hell, Maka? I was kidding!"

"I just came here to drop off your lunch." Maka calmly told him although he knew she was anything but calm. She was more frightening when she feigned serenity than when she expressed her anger, in Soul's opinion. "Bye."

"Hold up – you don't have anything to do right now, right?" Soul asked, rubbing his head. He added, in a much smoother voice: "You don't have another lecture until tomorrow...so why don't you just kick it here until I get off?"

She considered it for a moment, clenching the doorknob beneath her hand a few times, before she nodded and dropped her hand from the knob. "Alright."

Soul breathed easy. So far, so good. "So...who pissed you off? My fan club?" He joked, but he had unknowingly hit the nail on the head.

"MAKA CHOP!"

"UGH!"

The rest of his lunch break was spent with Maka calmly reading a novel and Soul eating his burger broodingly, shooting her looks ever so often and making sure to look away when she rose to meet his glare with one of equal – if not more – ferocity.

A/N: I'm double-updating because I'm cool like that.

And because this story is technically coming to a close.

But I have been diligently working on other multi-chaptered stories, so you all have nothing to worry about! :D

Scarlett.