Maka found he was feeling very unlucky to have a partner who could easily hide her emotions. The next morning he had woken up to fix breakfast like he usually did and as usual he had to wake up Soul again. Breakfast was a quiet event with neither of them daring to bring up what they had spoken about last night. Instead Maka had taken to studying his partner's face but hadn't got any hint at whatever emotion she was feeling. Unfortunately his partner was too good at keeping calm and Maka hadn't gotten anywhere. In the end they had gone to school and acted like nothing had happened.
It was like that for a week. They would still be seen together and act like they normally did but Maka felt the distance Soul was putting in between their souls. He had hurt her badly with his assumption. He had to fix it somehow but he had no clue where to start.
That's exactly what he was thinking about one school morning when suddenly he heard a wild scream coming from Soul's room. Without thinking he immediately ran to her and barged in to see Soul still in her sleepwear going from her closet to her chest of drawers. Maka had woken her up, only a few minutes ago, on this particular morning so they could train before school. It explained why she was still in her sleepwear but why she hadn't changed.
"Soul! What's wrong?" he asked watching as the girl frantically opened every drawer including the top one.
"I'll tell you what's wrong!" Soul shouted spinning around to face him. Her face was red with her sharp teeth bared and her eyes shining brightly in rage.
"I'm going to kill our fucking cat is what's wrong!" She ran past him and Maka followed in the living room where she was flipping over furniture to look for their elusive cat. "Blair! Where the fuck are you!" she shouted when it became apparent that she wasn't anywhere in the living room.
"Nyah...," came the sleepy reply. Maka and Soul turned to see Blair come out of Maka's room in cat form. "What's wrong? Why's it so loud?"
Maka barely had enough to stop Soul from lunging at the cat with two blades coming out of both of her arms. He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist as she flailed to escape his grasp and kill Blair.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO WITH MY CLOTHES BLAIR!" she shouted. The cat stared back at her innocently, her head tilted in the side as if confused before a lightbulb turned on.
"Oh Bu-tan threw all those clothes out!"
At that Soul stopped struggling and looked at the cat with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, a similar face to what Maka was making. Had Blair gone insane?
"Wh-what do you mean you threw them out!" Soul asked still too flabbergasted to move. Blair transformed into a human and approached the both of them.
"Nyah, Soul-chan needs to get new clothes. But she wouldn't have agreed to shop with us cause she already had clothes so Bu-tan threw them all out so she would go shopping with the girls after school today!"
There was a moment of silence that filled the room before Soul let out an angered yell and launched herself at Blair again causing the cat to scream and transform back into a cat before running off. Maka once again wrapped his arms around Soul's waist tightly and hoisting her off the ground to take her back to her room. "That didn't give a right to throw out my underwear too you bitch!" Soul yelled trying to escape to go after Blair. Maka wasn't going to have any of that and held onto her tighter until they were in the safety of her room.
It was only then he let her go, pushing her further inside and closing the door and locking it. He was tense, ready for anything that Soul threw at him at this moment because she looked very much like a wild animal ready to tear someone apart.
"Soul... you need to calm down."
"Calm down! CALM DOWN! How the hell do you expect me to calm down when our stupid bitch of a cat threw all my clothes away!" Soul shrieked, her scythe blades poking out here and there before going back in her body. "Just so I would go shopping with the girls!"
Knowing that if he didn't do something soon Soul would do something stupid, Maka carefully approached her. Soul stood perfectly still, meeting his gaze, daring him to try something. Tentatively he reached out and placed both hands on her shoulders. "Sorry..." was on the warning he gave before forcibly pushing his soul onto Soul's.
Soul let out a wild scream as she tried to struggle away but Maka wouldn't have it and pulled her tightly against his chest. Anger and sadness mixed together in a whirlwind causing bile to rise in Maka's throats. 'What ugly emotions...,'he thought wishing his partner would never feel these kind of things. He hated it when she did.
To relieve her pain he sent out soothing waves encasing her soul within his. He was gentle with her, cherished her, and slowly he felt her ugly emotions ebbing away. She slumped against his chest, breathing deeply, her arms wrapped loosely around his waist. "Better?" he asked, resting his head on top of hers, breathing in her scent. God he missed this contact, missed having her soul near his. This was home.
"Yeah," he heard Soul mumble almost sleepily. "Thanks."
"No problem." Neither of them pulled away for a while, basking in each others warmth but after awhile Maka pulled away but kept their souls connected. "So about the clothes..."
Soul's eyes darkened a little. "And the underwear," she added.
"And the underwear," Maka agreed with a little blush on his face. "We need to go shopping today."
"If you actually expect me to go shopping with the girls after the stunt Blair pulled-"
"No!" Maka quickly said. "Certainly not. I mean we-" he motioned between the two of them. "need to go shopping for you after school."
Soul studied him carefully. "You sure?" she asked quietly. "I mean it may take a couple of hours-"
"If not me then who?" Maka said interrupting her. "If you went with the girls they would try to make you buy girly things, well maybe not Tsubaki but you know Liz and Patti..." Maka watched Soul grimace as if in pain at the thought.
"...I guess your right."
"Of course I am," Maka laughed, placing their foreheads together. "But do you need clothes for today? At least until we can go shopping?"
Soul blushed as she shook her head. "No Blair left me one outfit..." Disentangling herself from Maka she walked over to her closet and pulled out a hanger. At seeing the outfit Maka didn't know whether to thank or kill Blair.
Maka kept glancing behind him as he and Soul steadily climbed the steps to DWMA. Soul was fiddling with her too short of a skirt, the dark blue pleated material falling mid-thigh, trying to pull it down even more without it having fall off her completely. It hung low on her hips, showing off how wide they actually were. There was a small space between her skirt and her shirt, revealing a toned stomach and navel, with small indication of her scar, that Maka just wanted to lick. The shirt, if it could be called that, was an equally dark blue, snap button, strapless, bustier top, as Soul had explained to Maka, that wrapped sinfully around Soul's curves, the built in bra shoving her breasts up more and barely covering them. The only thing that was considered normal on the girl was her motorcycle boots, her signature black leather jacket she was using to try and cover herself, and her loose bangs pushed back by her thin black headband.
Maka couldn't believe Soul had something that revealing in her closet and she had explained to him that Blair had forced her to buy it a few months ago, though she never wore it. Maka was very grateful that they hadn't taken Soul's bike to school, instead driving the car that Maka's mother, Spirit, had bought him on his sixteenth birthday. They needed that space for the shopping bags and Maka wasn't sure he would have been able to keep his hands to himself if they had ridden on the motorcycle together.
"This sucks," Soul cursed, giving up on her skirt and shoving her hands in her jacket pockets. "I fucking hate this."
"I know," Maka replied soothingly. And honestly he did. Right now he wanted to kill Blair for basically forcing Soul to wear that outfit out in public, cause damn it, he should be the only one to see that much skin! He didn't even want to imagine what kind underwear she was wearing today.
With that sudden thought he had to turn away to hide the sudden nosebleed because he did imagine it. 'Bad Maka! Bad!'
Luckily the nosebleed had gone away by the time the two of them had gotten to the top of the stairs. Both of them walked together as they usually did but this time as they passed fellow students, people would stop and stare at Soul. For her part she ignored them, acting like nothing was wrong and she wasn't wearing such revealing clothing. Maka had to force himself not to shoot glares at any of the boys that got any bright ideas to approach Soul. Soul was his, maybe not in the romantic sense, but still his.
When they entered the classroom, people stopped everything they were doing and watched as they climbed the stairs to seat in their usual seats. Kid and Black*Star were both looking at Soul as if she were some alien, their eyes wide and jaw dropping. Liz and Patti looked particularly gleeful and had started whispering to each other the moment the two of them had walked in the room and their eyes had landed on Soul. Tsubaki was looking at Soul sympathetically making Maka think that the girls had been on this plan from the beginning.
Taking their seats, Maka got the usual supplies from his bag to set it on the desk while Soul leaned back in her chair though not putting her feet on the desk like she usually did. She closed her eyes for a moment but then opened one of them to look at their friends. "What?"
"Oh my God you're a girl!" Black*Star shouted pointing a finger at her as he put one of his feet on his desk to lean towards her. That seemed to be the words that had everybody going back to what they were doing though discreetly taking glances over at the group.
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious Black*Star," Soul said neutrally. Maka still felt the sting over their soul connection and sent her a soothing wave causing her to look over at him. He smiled at her and she smiled back sending back a grateful vibe to him. Soon after class started and everything was forgotten.
It wasn't until lunch that the topic of Soul's new attire was brought back up again. The boys had offered to get the girls lunches and as they returned to their usual spot in the lunchroom did they hear Liz practical yell, "What do you mean you're not going shopping with us!"
Maka looked away from his conversation with Kid to see Soul making a sour face as she looked at Liz. "It's your fault I got in this mess and you really think I want to hang out with you after this?"
"Oh come on! Just because I made the comment-"
"That Blair took to heart!"
"Doesn't mean I should be blamed for this!"
Tsubaki tried to keep the two from going at each other's throats as the boys passed around the food.
"So how exactly did this happen?" Kid asked as he took a seat between his two weapons.
"Blair threw away my clothes last night while I was asleep," Soul mumbled as she took her fork. "Because this one here-" she pointed her fork at Liz. "Made a comment that my clothes were outdated and that they needed to be thrown away."
"I see," Kid said, taking a bite of his food. Maka sent Liz a glare, not at all surprised but still equally angry at the weapon.
"I made the comment, so what?" Liz said after taking a drink. "I'm trying to help you now by offering to go shopping with you after school today."
"Like hell I'll go shopping with you!"
"And besides," Maka said, interrupting Liz before she made things worse. "I already said Soul and I would already go shopping." There was a pause.
Then Black*Star and Patti busted out laughing and pointing at the two of them while Liz was giving them a 'I-can't-believe-you-guys' look.
"Really Soul?" she said. "You're willing to go shopping with your meister, who is a guy, but not with us girls!"
"At least I know he didn't try to throw my clothes out!" Soul shot back. "And for your information I trust his opinion, yes even in clothing, cause I know he will be honest with me."
A warm feeling encompassed Maka at Soul's words, so he completely ignored Liz as she continued to argue. He liked the fact that Soul trusted him that way and was confident enough to say it outloud to everyone. It didn't make him feel like a total loser and nerd.
"But what about your underwear!" Liz said. "Are you going to take him underwear shopping too?" There was another pause again, this one more tense than the last.
"Wait...," Kid began. "So not only did Blair throw out your clothes but she also threw out your-"
"UNDERWEAR!" Black*Star shouted in laughter. Many people around them looked over at the table to see what the commotion was all about.
"Black*Star!" Soul, Maka, and Tsubaki shouted. Black*Star continued to laugh along with Patti as Soul looked down at her food, her face red.
"Shut up Black*Star!" Soul growled, sending a glare the ninja's way. Black*Star settled down and was able to sit down properly in his seat, though he was still snickering.
"So I have to ask," he started, looking quite casual leaning on one arm with a wide smirk on his face. Tsubaki looked at him, pleading for him not to say anything which, of course, he ignored. "If Blair threw out all of your undies... are you wearing any today?"
"Maka Chop!" Black*Star landed face first on the table, with large indent on the top of his head from the hardback book Maka had pulled from his bag. Maka felt his eye and hand twitch, wanting to hit the annoying ninja again. Instead he took to looking at his partner who had bowed her head more and was gripping her fork in a death like vice. "Soul...?"
"You know what Black*Star if you're going to act like a fucking child about this I am leaving," Soul said darkly. Grabbing her tray, she stood and moved past Maka who was sitting at the end of the table. Black*Star had sat across from him and had recovered from his head wound by the time Soul was walking past him.
Just as she almost walked away Black*Star suddenly turned in his seat, surprising everyone, and grabbed the end of Soul's skirt and flipped it up.
Soul let out the girliest shriek Maka had ever heard from her and dropped her food as she tried to bring down the back to cover her ass again. Everyone in the group sat there, shocked and stunned, that no one could have stopped what Black*Star said next in his loudest voice. "WOAH! Who knew you had such sexy undies Soul? Black, lacy, and see-through? Why don't you wear those whenever we play basketball?"
"MAKA CHOP!" This time Maka didn't hold back as he crashed book onto Black*Star's skull. How dare he do that to his partner!
Black*Star fell to the ground with a resounding thug, blood pouring out of his head and onto the linoleum floor. Tsubaki was at his side trying to stop the bleeding and apologizing profusely to Soul and Maka for her meister's stupidity.
The room had suddenly gotten quiet and Maka looked to see ever everyone was staring at them or more specifically Soul, whose blades were out and looking ready to kill someone, mostly the ninja whom she was glaring at now. Without thinking, Maka quickly grabbed his school bag and stood. As he walked past the incapacitated ninja he 'accidentally' slipped in the blood and his right foot came out from under him and he ended up kicking the ninja in the head rather harshly. It was sickly satisfying to hear the ninja groan in pain as he grabbed Soul by the arm and dragged her out of the cafeteria.
He decided to bypass the usual areas they hung out when they wanted to get away from everyone, leading her out onto the front steps of the school. When he was sure no one was around, he let go of her arm, blades now gone, and looked at her. "Soul," he asked cautiously. "Are you ok?"
"...Is it everyone's fucking intention just to piss me off today!" she hissed, meeting his gaze. "Cause I swear I will kill someone." Maka looked down at his partner sympathetically before bringing her into a hug.
"It's going to be ok Soul," he whispered, trying to calm her frazzled nerves.
"Ok? OK! Hell Maka nothing is going to be 'ok'?" Soul growled but none the less wrapped her arms around his waist. "No thanks to that stupid Black*Star. God this is so uncool..."
Maka could feel his partner's pain and tried to calm her down by sending soothing waves. Clearly it was not the best idea to come to school today. They should have skipped and just went shopping instead. Now Soul was even more upset and Maka couldn't help but feel he was part of the cause because of his need for perfect attendance.
Then an idea struck him.
Pulling back, he looked down at Soul with a soft smile. "You know what? Why don't we head out early today and go shopping."
"Huh?" Soul asked with a look of disbelief on her face. Clearly, she couldn't believe what he was saying and honestly, neither could he, but he would do anything to keep his partner happy.
"I said, why don't we head out and go shopping now." Soul stared at him for a few moments, dumbfounded.
"What about your perfect attendance?" she asked.
"Well technically," Maka said sheepishly, with a small grin on his face. "Since we've already been here for half a day I have the attendance credit. So my record is still safe."
Soul stared at him for a couple of more seconds before a slow smile crept across her face. "Heh, have I told you lately that you are the coolest partner ever?"
"No, not really. But I would love to hear it more," Maka teased. They broke apart to walk back inside but instantly their hands reached out and wrapped around each other.
"Hey now, can't have that or else you might get too cocky bookworm."
"Hey I'm skipping class for you! Don't call me a bookworm."
"What cause you know it's true? And besides how was I supposed to know you had a bad boy side underneath all that nerdy-ness?"
Maka smirked. "Don't you know? It's the nerds that you have to look out for," he said with a wink. Soul stared at him for a moment before busting out laughing that was contagiously caught by Maka as the two of them went inside the school.
Hours and many stores later, the two of them were hauling around many bags full of clothing. Both of their arms hurt terribly but both of them were very happy with the purchases mainly because Soul finally had clothes now. There was only one place left to go and that was the underwear store...
Maka was kind of dreading it but wanted to keep his partner happy and she had made the offer that she could go later by herself but Maka wasn't hearing it...
Maka walked behind Soul, a load of shopping bags in his hands, as they walked around the J.C. Penny in Death Mall. It had been at least three hours since they had started their shopping and it certainly was an experience for Maka. They had already been in three stores previously, finding a lot of things for Soul but still not getting it all. It's what led them to the store they were in now.
Maka had to be honest with himself, it was entertaining to watch Soul shop. He always thought she was the type of girl to grab clothes then walk on but she actually took the time to study her clothes, deciding which outfits would look good together. Secretly he kind of enjoyed it cause when she came out to model her clothes it gave him the opportunity to ogle at her openly.
Maka followed Soul and was kind of surprised to find her heading towards the underwear section. She bypassed what he thought she would be looking at, all the bras and panties hanging on the racks, instead going for the pack of six underwear one would usually get.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Soul looked at him with a bored expression. "What's it look like I'm doing? Getting undies."
"I mean aren't you going to get underwear like those." He pointed with his chin to the underwear on the racks and very glad his voice was steady when he talked about such things. Soul made a face.
"No. Honestly I don't buy underwear like that except from one store and that isn't in the mall. I'll just get these until I can head there sometime this week. I mean, you've already done so much for me today, I don't need to take you underwear shopping and make things more awkward."
Maka caught the end and knew Soul was referring back to last week. He huffed and decided it was time for him to man up.
"Put the underwear back Soul," he said. "Look last week... I'm sorry. It's just that when I saw your drawer... it reminded me of my mom. I know you would never do that I just... let my thoughts get ahead of me before I could stop them. I'm sorry can you forgive me?"
Soul stared at him wide-eyed at his confession. It was starting to make Maka a little uncomfortable when she didn't say anything but finally Soul broke eye contact, looking down at her shoes. "...I'm not like your mom, idiot."
"I know," Maka said quietly as he approached her, happy that she hadn't gone into a neutral voice. It meant she wasn't mad, at least not extremely mad, at him. "It's just... insecurities I guess."
Soul laughed a little as she placed her head on his chest. "Insecurities aren't cool Maka. And also having a conversation like this in the middle of a store isn't cool either."
"Yeah well, it had to happen sometime," Maka said as he smiled down at her. Soul lifted her head to look at him.
"I guess your right... And you don't have to worry, I already forgave you, cause it's not cool to hold a grudge, especially if it's your partner."
Maka laughed at that. "You're right it isn't. And as an apology I want you to get the clothes you want, that includes the underwear."
Soul gave him a skeptical look. "You sure? Even if I have to model it off for you?"
Maka knew she was teasing him now and he had to force the image of her modeling off sexy underwear. God he would love that. He wouldn't tell her that though.
"It's cool," he said with a soft smile, swallowing to try and wet his suddenly dry throat. Soul stared at him for a bit more before she nodded slowly and placed the underwear pack back in it's place.
"If you say so..."
"Shit!" Maka heard Soul say bringing him back to the present. Looking over at his partner he saw she wasn't walking with him anymore, instead she was looking at the bags in her hands.
"What's wrong Soul?"
"I think I left a shopping bag in the last store we were in." Maka was about to scold Soul for her carelessness when she said, "You know what? I'll go back and see if it's there. You can take a rest from carrying all those heavy bags."
With a heavy sigh, Maka agreed and the two of them found a wooden bench that Maka could sit on while Soul ran back to the store. Left alone, Maka let his thoughts wander on various subjects; school, kishin-hunting, what they needed from the grocery store to make dinner tonight, and most importantly Soul. He tried to keep his thoughts PG and was mostly successful.
Looking around finally he noticed that the bench he was on sat in front of jewelry store. The glittery items shined at him as if inviting him to come inside. A man and a woman were at one of the counters looking at rings. They were laughing with one of the sellers as the woman tried on rings of various cuts. "So what are you shopping for? Wedding rings?" Maka heard the seller ask.
"No," the man laughed. "I'm being deployed next week and I'm buying her a promise ring." The man went on but Maka didn't pay attention as the gears in his head started turning.
'A promise ring?'He let the idea mull over in his head before he smiled. He liked the idea. Then he frowned, he couldn't exactly leave their bags here, what if someone came by and stole them? Thinking it over he decided that the promise ring was more important, after all clothes could be replaced, and left the bags there.
Heading inside, he headed over to the first counter that had rings and peered down inside. The gold and silver bands stood out against the tan fabric. He looked at all of them closely but decided none of them matched his partner. They were all too shiny and had big diamonds or other gems. His partner had once told him that she didn't like all those gems. They were pretty but she liked things simple.
"Can I help you?" Looking up, Maka saw one of the sellers, an older gentleman, standing by peering at him closely and with a guarded expression. 'Guess he's not used to kids my age coming in here a lot.'
Maka quickly explained his idea to the man, whose face quickly calmed and he smiled brightly at Maka. "I just might have the thing you are looking for," he said. "Follow me." Maka followed the seller to another case that had matching ring sets. The man pulled out the boxes they were on and began showing them to Maka. Maka studied each one of them but kept turning them down, it wasn't until the third box was pulled out that Maka found the perfect set of rings. They were silver and gold wrapping around each other in a flat pattern. While one was plain, though larger, the other one was had a small diamond inlaid in the smaller band. It was quite a stunning set and it matched Soul and him perfectly.
"How much for that set?" he asked pointing to the rings. The man looked at the set and smiled.
"That might be out of your price range," he said but told Maka the price anyway. Price wasn't really an issue for Maka, after all he was the meister to a Death Scythe and that paid very well and if it came to worse he could use his mother's credit card.
He surprised the man when he told him that he could pay and quickly they were able to find a band that would fit Maka's right ring finger. When asked about Soul's ring sizes, Maka didn't hesitate to answer, knowing without having to ask. Once that was done and the rings purchased, Maka walked out of the store, a happier man, just as Soul was coming back with the missing shopping bag.
Soul raised an eyebrow before looking at the bags. "You left the bags," she stated, looking back at him.
Maka did a quick count and was even happier to see that all of the bags were there. "I did," he finally replied.
"That's not like you to leave stuff to in a store especially a jewelry store," Soul continued as she gathered her bags. Maka came up and stopped her making her put everything down.
"I wanted to get you something," he said with a smile as he fished out the ring box from his bag.
He handed the red velvet box to Soul who took it with a confused expression. Opening the box she stared at the ring for a couple of moments before looking at Maka with an even more confused expression. "I don't... understand..."
"It's a promise ring," Maka said raising his right hand that had the plainer one resting on his ring finger. "It's just a physical manifestation of what we promised each other years ago. Yours is my promise to never leave you no matter what, just like the one I am wearing means the same."
Soul looked down at the ring again and Maka wondered if perhaps he got ahead of himself when he saw her smile slowly before bowing her head. "...It's so uncool Maka," she said but Maka was happy to see when she took the ring out of the box and place it on her right ring finger. "But if it makes you happy then I'll wear it." Soul looked up at him and Maka could tell her eyes were a little moist. He smiled. She liked the idea as much as he did she was just being stubborn about admitting it.
Maka reached out to Soul and the girl came to his arms without hesitation. They wrapped each other in a hug, both of them smiling like no tomorrow. When they finally broke apart, Soul quickly gathered her bags saying, "Come on. I think we're done here for the day. Let's head to that one shop that I told you about and then we can head home."
Maka smiled to himself as he gathered the rest of the bags and followed Soul, feeling like the best person in the world because he had made his partner happy.
An hour later, the both of them were walking down the streets of a little shopping center. The area was tucked back in the far corner of Death City and one had to park their car before walking up numerous steps in order to reach it. Maka wondered how Soul would even find a place located this far back but then he guessed since she drove around on her bike a lot she could make it through the tiny streets.
They walked together side-by-side, Soul's hands shoved in her jacket pockets while Maka's were folded behind his back. They stood close together, not exactly touching but not far that people passing would think they were strangers. In fact they looked like any other teens walking down the street had it not been for their destination.
Suddenly Soul turned and started heading to one of the many glass doors. Maka looked up to look at the store's name:Pretty Inside and Out. Kind of made sense since it was an underwear store. Snapping out of his reverie Maka quickly followed his partner inside.
Once through the door, Maka abruptly stopped and forced himself not to let his jaw drop and to keep the blood from coming out of nose. The place reminded him of Soul's former underwear drawer except in a wider selection and more prints and colors. The center of the store had various racks and shelves dedicated to two things: bras and underwear. Here and there were headless models showing off some of the collections. But the thing that really caught Maka's attention was along the walls, it wasn't just underwear but also showed off some very sexyand revealing lingerie, with the more risqué items located in the back. Suddenly Soul's underwear seemed rather tame to what he was seeing now.
"I'm sorry but we're closing soon!" someone called out from the back. A young blue haired woman seemed to pop up from nowhere from behind one of the racks. Her equally blue eyes landed on them and flashed brightly. "Oh Soul! Didn't know it was you that came in!" Turning, she made a circle of over her mouth calling, "Kassy! Soul's here! Come on out!"
Maka looked down at his partner with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" Soul said, a little blush on her cheeks, not daring to meet her partner's gaze. "I come here a lot so they know me by name."
"Oh don't be so modest Soul," the woman said bounding up to them. "You're one of our most loyal customers!" The woman pounced on Soul, making the demon weapon almost fall to the ground, her overly large breasts crushing against Soul's head in a way that reminded Maka of what Blair did to him, but not really since this woman wore a grey sleeveless turtleneck that covered the area.
"Ack! Heather! Let go!" Soul muttered as she struggled to get out of the other woman's grasp. "Not cool Heather!"
The woman giggled but let go of Soul anyway. "But your reactions are so funny!" Finally Heather seemed to notice Maka standing there because she blinked rapidly, looking slightly confused, as she took in his appearance. "Who's this?"
"This is my meister, Maka," Soul muttered as she tried to straighten her clothing. Maka watched as Heather's face morphed from surprised into something more secretive, a coy smile on her face as she sent a sly look to Soul.
"So this is your famous meister huh?" Soul suddenly stopped fiddling with her clothes, eyes wide, before looking up at Heather and glaring at her, daring the woman to say another word.
"Heather, stop that," another voice said. All three of them looked to see a brown haired woman coming of from the back. She looked like a no nonsense woman with glasses perched on her nose and her arms crossed over her white conservative blouse. Her brown eyes narrowed as she looked at her partner. "What have I told you about teasing the customers?"
"But it's so much fun Kassy!" Heather laughed, smiling cheesily.
Kassy sighed before turning her eyes to the pair by the door and raised an eyebrow. "Interesting... outfit Soul."
Soul blushed darkly, dropping her gaze a little. "I had no choice," she said. "My other roommate, Blair, decided that my clothes were outdated and threw them all out and left only this one... along with my underwear..." At that both Kassy and Heather's jaw dropped.
"She... what?" Kassy asked her arms dropping to her sides.
"She threw my clothes and underwear out. We went shopping today that's why we came here rather late."
"Oh Honey!" Heather wailed grabbing both of Soul's hands in her own. "Why did you say something sooner! No woman should go without underwear!" She reached behind the two of them and flipped the open sign to closed. "Now come on!" she said dragging Soul further into the store. "Since no one will bother us we have plenty of time to shop for you!"
Maka watched with a weary smile as both woman walked around the store and wondered how long they were going to be here for. Hearing a sigh, he looked to see Kassy had come to stand next to him also watching the pair. "Sorry about my partner," she said looking at him. "She can be... how do say it... easily excited?"
"Passionate might be the better word," he said as he looked back at his partner to see she now had a handful of underwear in her arms. She looked slightly distraught but Maka could see the laughing light behind her eyes and knew she was enjoying herself.
"Hmmmm agreed," Kassy said, making him focus his attention back on her. "Oh by the way, sorry about not introducing myself, names Kassandra Molton, one owner of Pretty Inside and Outand three-star meister."
Maka blinked in surprise. "Meister?" he said.
Kassy smirked down at him. "Yep."
"So does that make-"
"Heather my weapon? Yes. She is also is the second owner of this store... and my life-partner."
It took him a moment to catch the implication on what she was saying but when he finally did instead of feeling awkward he was even more at ease with this woman.
"She must be a handful."
"Somedays," Kassy laughed, before a small smile came across her face and her eyes grew distant. "But I love her."
"So what type of weapon is she?"
"Trident."
"Huh." Maka looked back at the two weapons, somehow finding it kind appropriate that Heather was a trident.
"Anyway," Kassy said, snapping out of her thoughts. "I better get going to the back. Got to go back to counting the money. Do you need anything?"
"Um, no thanks," Maka said. "I'll be fine."
Nodding Kassy went back through the door behind the counter, leaving Maka to watch his partner and Heather collecting various underwears and bras. It wasn't long before the both of them had gone to the back where the changing rooms were leaving him alone in the empty store. Having nothing better to do Maka began to wonder around the store, looking at all the lingerie that lined the wall.
He couldn't help himself when he started imagining Soul wearing some of the outfits, sometimes in sexual positions. He was rather proud of himself for keeping his cool when he did, not getting a nosebleed or popping a boner.
As he gazed at one particular outfit, perhaps a little too long because of who he was imagining in it, he was surprised when a teasing voice said behind him, "Imagining a certain someone?"
Spinning around, Maka saw Kassy leaning against the countertop with a teasing smile on her lips. "N-no," he stuttered, cursing himself at being caught. "J-just looking."
"Hmmmm," was all she said as she stood up straight. "Well since you looked, found one you particularly liked?"
The question sounded innocent enough but the smile on her face made Maka think it wasn't as innocent as he thought. Looking around the store Maka quickly tried to pick out the simplest thing not wanting to seem like a pervert. "That one," he finally said pointing to one high up on the wall near the cash register. The outfit he pointed to was red with a black lace design around the chest, with a bow that sat in the center, that traveled up to the top and onto the strings that held the dress-like lingerie up. The bottom looked like it would fall just at the top of the thigh and also had a small lace pattern that wrapped around the end of the dress with a thin layer of tulle that flared out at the hem. It would cover everything but still remain sexy at the same time because it stuck somewhat close to the body.
"Hmmm nice," Kassy said studying the piece. "It's even better because it comes with a crotchless thong."
Maka's brain froze as he tried to catch up with out she said. 'Crotchless... thong?'Suddenly the image of Soul in said outfit, flashing him said underwear with a teasing and seductive smile, came to his mind and he quickly turned his head to cover his sudden nosebleed and to hide the lower half of his body. How was it possible to have a nosebleed and a boner at the same time?
He heard Kassy laughing behind him and tried to recover enough that he was able to face her again. Feeling he accomplished his goal, he looked to see her leaning on the counter her laughter down to chuckle. "Don't worry," she said with a wink. "I won't tell Soul that you imagined her in that outfit."
Maka sputtered, trying to deny the claim but Kassy just laughed him off, coming around the counter to stand in front of him. "It's alright," she said. "I know you like her. You have that same look that have when I look at Heather. It's nothing to be ashamed of. And besides-" she placed a friendly pat on Maka's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure that Soul feels the same way."
That stopped Maka in his tracks. "Sh-She does?" he asked not believing what he had heard.
"Yep," Kassy nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. "She talks about you all the time whenever she's in here. Also gets that funny look too."
An inexplicable warmth filled Maka's entire. She liked him, not like him but liked in a romantic sense if he heard correctly. Suddenly there was a sudden yell of alarm from the changing rooms. "I better go see what that is about," Kassy said.
As she started to walk away Maka had the sudden urge to ask her a question. "Ms. Molton?" The woman stopped and looked back at him. "Do you... do you ever regret it? Asking Ms. Heather out I mean?"
Kassy tilted her head to the side and studied him for a moment. Finally her eyes softened and she asked, "No I don't. We may have our fights but I would have regretted it more if I haven't asked her though... I think the question youshould be asking yourself though is if you love Soul that much are you willing to take that risk?"
Maka thought about it. Did he love Soul that much that he would risk his heart? He thought about his parents relationship and how that had failed but then thought how they were different from him and Soul. He trusted Soul with all his heart, proved that every day when they were together. Why was he questioning now that he loved her when it was so obvious to him in the past?
He smiled. "Yes. I am willing to take that risk."
Kassy smiled before turning around and walking away. "Then don't let her go," she called back as she disappeared behind the changing room doors, leaving Maka alone again to now try and figure how he was going to ask Soul to date him.
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