Partners
Restless
He found himself tossing and turning through most of his nights after the incident with Chrona and the Black Blood. Soul rested a hand against his chest as if it could relieve the pain he felt deep within himself and maybe it could lull him to sleep if he closed his eyes and thought about what he did with Maka that day. He told himself, whenever he stressed over the scar and the foreign blood running through his system, that if weren't for his sacrifice, Maka would be dead.
Maka was in the other room, sound asleep, probably dreaming about books with wings, and it was all because he protected her.
Normally, thinking about that helped ease the nonexistent pain, but this particular night, he'd gotten up to chug down the rest of the milk they had in the fridge. He tossed the empty carton into the garbage beneath their sink and leaned against the counter, still feeling that deep burning sensation in the very pit of his core. The demon danced offbeat to the pounding of his heart within his chest and Soul couldn't help but grumble under his breath. It was annoying as fuck.
"Can't sleep?" Her voice was more soothing than it should have been. It served as an easing embrace that pushed the pain away so he could relax again. "Don't tell me you drank all the milk again."
"Sorry." Soul turned away from the sink and shot his Meister a tired grin. "I was thirsty."
He felt her fist collide with the side of his arm, but it was lacking in strength because of her fatigue. "Whatever, I'll just grab a glass of water." Standing on her toes, Maka pried open one of the cupboards and pulled out a glass to hold it under the faucet. As she filled it, she eyed him carefully and noticed that his hand was still pressed against his chest. "Nightmares?"
Soul dropped his hand and scoffed. "As if. Cool guys don't get nightmares." He turned his nose into the air as she let out a soft sigh and brought the glass to her lips. "What's your case then? Did your flying books get shot down?"
Her eyebrows shot up to her hair line and she looked at him quite bewilderingly. "What are you talking about?"
Soul shook his head, a hand reaching up to pat down her pale hair, and then he turned to head back to his room. "Never mind. I'm going to lie down again." Instead of getting his door open, however, her voice stopped him and he whipped his head around to look at her with wide eyes.
"Want to watch some TV with me for a little while?"
"S-Seriously?"
Maka puffed her cheeks out stubbornly as she held the glass up to hide her lips. "Yeah, seriously. I can't sleep and it's too dark to read a book." He would have told her to just turn on a light, but he figured it would be best if he left that out. He gave a small lopsided smile and followed her over to the couch to sit and turn the TV on to one of the late showings of some show they both hadn't seen before. He grabbed the remote when she mentioned he could choose, and as he flipped through the channels, he just barely missed the content smile that played at her lips when she leaned against his shoulder.