Reflex

By vivalarapture

Authors note-Sometimes no matter how hard you try to tell your brain to write something, it decides to focus on Disney songs. Which then leads to really loud Disney karaoke, horrible dance moves and pissing off your neighbors at 1 in the morning. Hey, it's not my fault I can't listen to I'll Make a Man Outta You without going into full blown rock star mode.

Chapter 3, I won't Say I'm in Love

"Who you think you're kiddin'?

He's the Earth and Heaven to you.

Try to keep it hidden,

honey we can see right through you.

Girl, you can't conceal it,

we know how you feel and who you're thinking of."

-I Wont Say I'm in Love, Susan Egan

It had been quite some time since all the girls had gotten together to just hang out. Everyone was so busy lately, and with all of the stress of finals and graduation nearly upon them, no one was ever free on the same day.

Liz had called Maka up that evening, ecstatic that she, Patty and Tsubaki were all free that night, and hoping to have a sleepover at the mansion. Maka had agreed, after a quip that they were probably all a little too old for sleepover, which Liz promptly ignored and squealed in happiness before hanging up.

Maka sighed as she stared at the pile of papers and books stacking up on her desk. It was one night, she could put off studying for a few hours to hang out with her friends. She packed a bag of extra clothes and pajamas, throwing it over her shoulder and looking around the apartment for Soul.

She heard light jazz coming from under his door, so she knocked quickly, opening the door without waiting for an answer,

"Hey, I'm going to spend a night with the girls at Gallows mansion, are you okay letting me skip my night to cook dinner?"

Soul grunted from under a massive pile of blankets, only a tuft of white sticking up from under the dark comforter, "S'fine." He mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, "But you've got to cook my favorite tomorrow."

Maka chuckled and nodded, attempting not to get distracted by her partners shirtless form, "Deal. See you tomorrow."

She closed the door and shook her head viciously, flinging away any wandering fantasies she didn't want to delve into at the moment. Or any moment, for that matter. She tightened her grip on the backpack straps, heading out the door.

"MAKA! Get your cute butt over here, it's time for a makeover!"

She should have stayed at home and studied.

Maka groaned, trying to hide behind Tsubaki, "Liz, I don't want to! Makeup doesn't look good on me."

Liz crawled onto her bed, leaning over the shadow weapons shoulder and waggling her eyebrows, "That's because you've never let me try it!"

Maka shook her head sharply, grasping onto Tsubaki's back for protection, "Not going to happen. Last time you got drunk you tried and I ended up looking like a demented clown."

Patty giggled from her spot on the floor, smashing crayons happily into one of her many coloring books, "You did!"

Liz giggled and shrugged, "Well that's your own fault for listening to me when I was drunk. You're a smart girl, what good can come from letting a drunkard have an eyelash curler and lipstick?"

Tsubaki covered a giggle with the back of her hand, remembering how angry Maka had gotten after Liz had attacked her face with makeup products. She twisted her neck around, smiling at Maka, who was nervously pulling on one of her pigtails, "Come on, Maka-chan,we haven't been able to see each other all together for so long. Just humor her!"

Maka groaned and flopped back onto the bed, covering her face with her hands, "Why do you guys always gang up on me?"

Liz jumped over Tsubaki and tackled Maka into a hug, "Because we love you! And we know that lately you need to look extra special for a certain someone."

Maka pushed a hand into Liz's face, trying to wiggle out of the situation, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Patty stood up and threw her hands over her head, grinning gleefully, "Maka likes Soooooul!"

Maka threw a pillow with about the same force as a Maka Chop in Pattys direction, roaring under the weight Liz was putting on her sternum, "I do not like him!"

Patty stood back up, with a hand to her head, most likely aching from the pillow induced head injury, "Violence is Maka's way of denying things she doesn't want to talk about!"

Maka glared in her direction as she furiously tried to shove Liz off, who had apparently decided to play the "dead weight" game and was pretending to not hear her cries of, "I SWEAR TO DEATH LIZ, IF YOU DON'T GET OFF OF ME I'M GOING TO CUT YOU IN HALF!"

Tsubaki was frantically looking from girl to girl, her hands up in a pleading motion, quietly begging them to calm down. She managed to help Maka disengage Liz from the death grip she held on her torso, and Liz fell to the ground, holding her stomach in laughter.

Maka scowled at the blond in a tangled heap of pillows at her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. She huffed, and flung a pigtail over her shoulder, "I don't know why you guys won't drop that. I don't like Soul. We're partners, albeit great partners, but that is IT."

Liz sat up and clambered back onto the bed, keeping a fair distance from the seething scythe meister, "You keep saying that, but we all see it. Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki's eyes widened, and she felt the intense stare from her best friend on her, "Well.. I mean.. Maka-chan does deny it pretty passionately, but I definitely see a lot of chemistry between the two."

Patty jumped onto the bed, bouncing the other three girls nearly off the mattress with her enthusiasm, "You can deny it all you want, Maka, but we see it." She put two fingers up to her eyes and flung them towards Maka, "We see it all!"

Maka rolled her eyes, "Oh please. You see how much we argue, how could two people who like each other fight like that? That should be all the evidence you need."

Tsubaki smiled gently, patting her on the shoulder, "But we all know how much you care about each other. No matter how much you fight, your resonance stays so strong. It's mostly trivial, from what I hear, and it usually ends with you two cuddling on the couch, does it not?"

Maka's face turned a brilliant shade of red, "Tsubaki! I told you not to tell anyone that!"

Tsubaki chuckled, shrugging, "I'm trying to help you realize how you feel."

Maka scooted farther into the pillows, trying to disappear from the knowing grins on her friends faces, "Yeah, but that's no different from how you guys are with your partners."

Liz jabbed a finger towards Tsubaki, "Well that doesn't say much, this one's been in love with her wanna be ninja for almost as long as you've been pining over Soul."

It was Tsubaki's turn to have her face flush, "L-Liz-chan, that's not-"

Patty cut her off, sitting up and poking her in the chest, "Tsubaki likes Blaaaaaack*Star!"

Tsubaki buried her face in her hands, shaking her head, "Let's go back to Maka-chan, okay?"

Liz nodded, winking towards Maka, "Gladly! You need to realize how you feel or someday you're going to be a wrinkled old prune wishing you had the courage to face him."

Maka sighed, realizing her attempts at denial were futile around these girls, "Liz, you know how my last relationships went. I didn't trust men to begin with, but tried it out, and look how that ended!"

Liz groaned in annoyance, "That's because you went for the wrong person. Hiro was a huge jerk for cheating on you, but not all guys are like that. Especially Soul, and you know that!"

Patty and Tsubaki nodded knowingly, flashing sympathetic glances in Maka's direction. Tsubaki spoke up, a knowing look on her face, "You know, it's okay to fall in love, Maka-chan."

Maka flushed, her eyebrows furrowing, "I know that. I just.. It's scary, you know? Leaving myself vulnerable like that, especially since it's already happened to me. I don't want to go through that again."

The girls hummed thoughtfully for a moment until Patty bounced to her feet, crying, "I GOT IT!"

This time, the girls were thrown from the bed, which wasn't intended for four teenage girls to fit on anyway, all landing unceremoniously onto the carpet. Liz growled at her sister, rubbing her soon to be sore rump, "What was that for, Patty?!"

Patty jumped up and down on the bed, her short blond hair flipping up into her face, "Let's set Maka and Soul up on a date!"

Maka sprung up from her place on the floor, staring waringly at Patty, "No way, no way. That is not happening. He would never agree to go on a date with me anyway."

Liz smirked and nudged Maka with her foot, "So that's the only thing stopping you from going on a date with him?"

Maka rolled her eyes and got more comfortable on the floor, not willing to risk getting ejected from her seat on the bed again, "That's a pretty big reason." She pulled her knees up to her chest, letting her head rest against the wall, "Not the only reason, but the biggest. I mean, finals are coming up soon, and we have so much to do to get ready for graduation and-"

"Bookwoooorm!" Patty called out as she landed in a heap on the floor with the other girls, "You're just making excuses. You can get all your stuff done easy peasy and you know it! Just go for it."

Maka huffed, peeved at being called that nickname, "It's not that simple, Patty. We're partners. That never turns out well."

Liz patted Maka on top of her head as she stood up, "I don't know about that." She shook a finger at her, "Never say never, got it? Now let's go raid the fridge, I'm starving."

0-0-0-0-0-0

Maka curled up into a ball, pulling the covers to her makeshift bed up under her chin. She looked up at the dark ceiling, the soft snores of her friends and the whirl of the fan above her creating a soft hum that should have lulled her to sleep. She turned on her side, sighing quietly.

She didn't like to admit it, but that talk with the girls really got to her. She knew she had deeper feelings for her partner, she just didn't want to admit it yet. Those were treacherous waters to dive into, and she didn't know if she was ready yet.

She knew that anytime Soul wrapped his fingers around hers that her heart nearly stopped beating, only to start back up again at an erratic pace. She knew that when he snuggled next to her while they were watching a movie, she got butterflys. She knew that every time they resonated she got the fleeting sensation that she was whole again.

She chuckled to herself from the confines of the blanket she had herself wrapped in. She knew every time he smiled that lopsided grin at her, she felt deeper into something she didn't want to recognize.

She wrapped the blanket tighter around herself, nuzzling her face into her pillow. She loved him, but she wasn't going to let anyone else know that just yet.

Authors note- Silly chapter is silly. I was meaning to write something based on a suggestion, but my Disney playlist started playing and then this happened. Whelp. Maybe next time my brain will want to cooperate with me. At least this turned out cute.