Honestly... I didn't have a plan going into this chapter. I just kind of let if flow. So it might suck. I was just trying to make it a bit on the weird side, I guess? O.o Especially when it gets to the end. You'll see.
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater, "Bat Country" by Avenged Sevenfold, or "One More Night" by Maroon 5.
"Bat Country"
"I've been sane too long my vision's so unclear
Now take a trip with me but don't be surprised when things aren't what they seem…"
Chapter 2—"One More Night"
"I'd be waking up in the morning probably hating myself
And I'd be waking up feeling satisfied but guilty as hell
But baby, there you go again making me love you
Yeah, I stopped using my head; let it all go…
And now I'm feeling stupid crawling back to you
So I cross my heart and I hope to die; that I'll only stay with you one more night…"
Maka hates when the phone rings in their home.
She's changed the number so many times—one for each time her father somehow found it. Soul asks why, and she just pouts in return. She can't explain her relationship with her father.
Sometimes she hates him, despises him with a burning passion.
Other times she wants to be in his arms again and feel his assuring fingers in her hair. Sometimes she wants him to read to her again like she was a little girl.
Today, however, she hates him. She hates the fact that the phone is ringing, because she can feel that it's him on the other line.
Soul, of course, reads her mind.
"Should I get it and tell the bastard to stop calling?"
Maka nods, brows furrowing as she sits on the couch, crossing her arms and legs tightly.
Soul picks up the phone after the third ring and immediately goes off on him. "Listen, you bastard, if you think you can just keep calling here, you're sorely mistaken—"
It stops there.
Soul's face slowly contorts from being angry to a flushed, embarrassed crimson. His knuckles are so white; he's clutching the phone so hard.
Maka looks over, blinking as she wonders just who is on the other line.
Suddenly, Soul starts stuttering and apologizing, which piques Maka's curiosity as to who's on the other line.
"N-no, of course I didn't mean it…! I-I thought… Well, I… It's just…"
Still blinking, Maka is on the verge of demanding to know who it is.
"Y-yes, Sir. She's right here."
Soul shakily hands her the phone, and Maka looks at it as if she's never seen it before.
"Professor Stein," Soul mouths, eyes widened in that same embarrassment.
At the mention of his name, Maka's eyes widen as well. What could he possibly want? She takes the phone in curious hands, timidly putting it to her ear. "Yes…?"
"I need to see you." His tone and voice are shaky and desperate. Maka knows something really isn't right if he's calling her. It's an unspoken rule they have. Calling only increases risk of being caught. And neither can afford for that to happen.
So the fact that he's calling means this is really an emergency.
"W-well, Professor, is this urgent…?" she asks softly, moving into her room so Soul can't hear this conversation.
He only speaks one word, because he can't articulate any other: "Please."
It sounds so needy and desperate. That's not who Stein is. Therefore, Maka knows that she has no choice in this matter. He really doesn't sound well.
"Okay," she replies timidly, unsure of what the remedy for this is. She doesn't even know what's wrong.
All she knows is that she has to find out.
With that, she hangs up, then hands Soul the phone so he can put it back where it belongs.
"What did he say?" Soul raises a curious eyebrow, seeing as their teacher has never called them before.
Maka tries to think of some excuse. "He wanted to congratulate me for scoring well on last week's test," she says quickly with a nod.
"Oh." Soul still seems confused. "Why would he call about that?"
Maka shrugs slowly, hesitantly. She isn't sure about this excuse now. She's about to go see Stein, after all. "Who knows?" She turns on her heel, grabbing a leather jacket.
"I'm going out," she tells Soul, pulling the jacket on as she opens the door.
A half-truth. Soul says nothing.
"Oh, and, make sure Blair doesn't go through my clothes again to throw them out and replace them with her own."
Stein is usually very calculated with his movements around Maka. He knows just how to position himself, how to hold himself around her and how to speak, using the most concise words for their brief conversations.
This is nothing like that.
When Maka arrives at his door he immediately pulls her in and is hugging her tight before the door is completely closed. Maka gasps, feeling the life getting squeezed out of her for a few moments before he quickly pulls away and turns on his heel.
She is utterly confused; she doesn't know how to deal with this. "Professor…?" she asks in a timid voice.
Maka reads his soul, trying to get a semblance of what he's feeling.
There's nothing more complicated.
There's that sense of lust, of course, his want for her. There are all his conflicting feelings. And something dark that Maka can't place.
It's all increased tenfold, and Maka is genuinely scared.
There is no escape, she knows. Not unless he stops himself.
"I made you tea," he announces, going into the kitchen for the first time since they started meeting like this.
Maka's heart skips a beat. She didn't know it would all end this soon.
Stein hands her a hot mug, his own hands shaking on top of hers for a moment before he pulls away.
Her voice is still timid. "Thank you." She puts the cup to her lips, preparing for the end. The end of all of this, this strange and twisted affair. After she politely finishes this cup she'll leave and never return.
"Professor… this is coffee."
Hopefully this means they are still on this roller coaster together. She wishes she wasn't so drawn into all of this; she hates and loves it…
"Ah. Yes. Right." He clears his throat. Maka sets the cup on a nearby surface.
She sits down in her usual spot on his couch, perched on the edge with her fists in her lap. This time they are shaking.
Stein stands this time. He's not on his rolling chair as usual.
Taking a deep breath, Maka decides to look into Stein's soul again. She has to read him more clearly.
After a moment of delving in, she can see that he's on the precipice of insanity.
She can see that she is both the remedy and the cause of Stein's mental demise.
"You should smoke," she suggests, though she hates it. But it's the only thing she knows that will calm him down.
"It won't help." Stein looks away and shakes his head. "Besides… I'm out."
There really must be something wrong with him. Maka's mouth opens slightly, wanting to say something but not finding the right words.
In this case, actions are necessary.
And they both know what the lesser of two evils is here.
Maka stands. Her hands do not shake as she removes her jacket and throws it to the floor. They do not shake as she rids herself of layers of clothing that he usually peels off. They do not shake as she lets her hair fall down her back after taking it down. But her breathing is labored and uneven; she fears what will happen.
It makes her feel alive.
Stein's eyes do not stray the entire time. He is finally focused on one thing: her.
She brings a hand behind her neck. He hasn't made a move and she's starting to feel uncomfortable though he has seen her like this many times.
Maybe he really did want to break this off…
Before she knows it he's carrying her. This time upstairs instead of down to his lab.
His bedroom.
Maka does not take in petty details like the type of bed he has or the color of his curtains. She does not care if the room is dark. She does not care about anything else but this.
Stein kisses her with animalistic need, sparing no time to be caring. Maka can tell he doesn't want to get this over with; he wants to just touch her roughly because he can and he knows she won't complain.
She does not fight back as Stein's slimy tongue ravages the inside her mouth, despite the fact that she doesn't react very much to the feeling. She just closes her eyes and swallows a moan, her arms slowly wrapping themselves around his neck because that just feels right at the moment. Holding him close, pressed to him like this… it's an intimacy that only they will know and understand.
Maka pulls away to lightly pant for air, emerald eyes slit. Her chest heaves up and down, and she can't help but notice Stein's eyes there. She says nothing.
He doesn't see developing breasts.
He sees her heart underneath layers of skin and tissue and muscle and bone.
He looks at it longingly, like he wants to eat it.
She knows if she ever lets her guard down, he probably will.
Maka has never put a label on this relationship, this level of intimacy. Is it sex, fucking…? She feels too young to really know. But she likes to think she's mature enough to understand.
In reality, deep down she knows she's just a baby when it comes to this complex act of familiarity.
When Stein buries his head in her chest, Maka's breath hitches. She knows he loves this position best, and he tries to encourage it though she presses for more experimental ways to express all these pent up feelings.
Today, though, he seems desperate for it in how close he holds the small of her back to his stomach. He grinds softly against her and she moans—she's already wet and he's getting hard.
"Why won't you see me…?" he asks against her skin, and she can decipher the question through the vibrations of his voice.
She sighs and tilts her head back slightly. "Because we don't love each other," she simply answers. It's brutal, but true.
He grunts in reply. One hand stops her hand from grinding a moment so they can really start this.
Maka refuses to see, touch, or taste it.
Stein doesn't really care; he just likes to tease her.
She gasps as she feels it bare right against her—oh, God, she needs it now; it's not just him.
Stein kisses her again, and Maka curls her toes, steeling herself for the pain and pleasure.
Her back arches and she breaks the kiss, her eyes closed as she lets a moan rip through her throat at the initial penetration. It never gets old. It never gets boring.
His mouth clamps to her left breast, sucking the sensitive flesh, licking and kissing the area just above her heart. It's what he wants to do underneath all those layers.
The thing about this position, Maka knows from previous experiences, is that she has to do most of the work. She soon lifts herself almost entirely off him before slamming back down.
Stein grunts.
And that's how it goes. Occasionally Stein gives Maka a hungry kiss, as if he'll eat her whole face off. Maka speeds up her pace over time, her moans becoming more high-pitched and needy. Stein's mouth seems permanently attached to her chest—not that Maka minds at all. She's too caught up in the pleasure.
The greatest thing to do is to just let go and focus on that desire—and that's just what Maka does. She lets Stein do as she pleases as her body starts to move instinctively. She doesn't notice, but she's starting to get better at this.
Stein's pants and intermittent moans begin to grow as well, and his hips rise to meet her downward thrusts. Maka sighs as she rides him, completely engrossed in how everything is blurred and imperfect.
Yes, that's the word to describe this.
Imperfect.
This realization brings her to clarity.
With a few more hard thrusts on both ends, release arrives almost prematurely, yet also at the perfect time. Maka is sure that any longer and she would have completely lost herself. Thank God.
Stein sighs and rests his chin where his lips just were, staring up at her through half-lidded eyes.
She stares back, panting softly. Her heart beats erratically and she tells it to shut up.
"I love you."
They're his words, not hers.
"No you don't," she ekes out softly.
"I wish I did," he confesses.
Maka gulps. "But you never will."
His soul seems quite content.
"I never will," he repeats. "I just like to imagine I do."
Maka can't help but smile softly at this. It's quite tragic, actually. She knows there's only one thing he loves.
And it's definitely not her.
With a sigh she lifts herself off him and lays down on the bed, closing her eyes a moment, content with the world as well.
She lets her guard down without realizing it.
It's her biggest mistake; she knows better.
Even still, that barrier is taken down.
Stein hovers over her and sighs, pressing his lips to her neck, right on the nape.
Her vertebrae.
Maka doesn't notice and allows the kisses, leaning slightly into those callused hands brushing lightly down her back.
For this moment, they are lovers. They are pretending they love each other. Like they are not imperfect.
Maka doesn't notice the light shaking of Stein's hands on her soft skin.
It's not sandpaper.
Not yet, at least.
"I love you," he lies, pressing her back to his chest, where they lock perfectly. His arms wrap protectively around her abdomen. Perhaps a bit too tightly.
"I love you, too," she fibs back.
Because she's never played pretend before this.
It's fun.
Thoughts? Anyone totally regretting reading this...? Give me your thoughts, because I'm getting lost.
Next chapter: Maka realizes that letting her guard down around Stein was probably the most dangerous thing she's ever done.