Partners

Look

Normally when they did their spring cleaning, Maka discovered piles upon piles of scrapbooks and photo albums of when she was a child. Her Parents had literally made a living by taking pictures of her from the day she was born to the day she became a student at the DWMA. The pictures had come to an end around that time because of the divorce, so she tried not to look at the more recent photos to avoid the bitter feelings that poisoned her gut. Looking at the pictures of her reading her first book or sitting in her Papa's lap when she was barely even able to walk made her feel a lot better.

Soul had seen these pictures a few times throughout the years as well. When she would find them, she normally looked through them out on the couch and he would usually saunter on over to sit beside her and ask some questions every other page. She didn't mind that he looked at them with her; in fact she actually quite appreciated his curiosity. It lead her to believe that he actually wanted to learn more about her and thought of them as more than just Partners, but friends too.

There came a day when she found a photo album that was much smaller than the ones she owned. It belonged to Soul and had been stacked up on the top shelf of his closet, only to fall down on her when hanging up his clean laundry while he was out with Black*Star. It had landed on the top of her head and left her dazed for a brief moment. Then curiosity got the better of her and she was looking through the album without her Weapon's consent. If this had been any other situation, Maka would have asked him if she could look through it, but the second she picked it up, her fingers pried it open and her eyes scanned over first photo.

He had been an adorable child before he grew into his big kid shoes. She couldn't fight back the urge to grin like an idiot at his baby pictures and photos he'd taken alongside his Mother. However that smile immediately faded when she realized the carefree pictures of a child had come to an end when the pages began to flood with serious photographs of musicians standing near instruments, one after the other revealing a young Soul frowning uninterestingly or looking away into some far off distance. She had always wondered why he never showed her any pictures of himself when he was young, and now she understood why. He may not have wanted her to see him look so sad.

Maka let out a soft sigh and shut the album in her lap. They were very well done photos and they were nice, but she didn't want to look further into his past if he wasn't there to supervise or take the damn thing away from her. She set the album down on his desk when she returned to his room and proceeded to hang the rest of his shirts up in the closet. Later that evening when he questioned the book being out of its usual place, she told him it had fallen on her and she hadn't been sure where to put it. To her surprise, he actually offered to show her some of the photos he had stored inside. However, as much as she wanted to go through them with him, Maka just shook her head and told him that he didn't have to show her if he didn't want to. It was then when he showed signs of relief before ducking back into his room to put the album away for good.

The Scythe Meister was lucky she looked when she had the chance because she knew as long as Soul had his insecurities, there was never going to be an opportunity like that again. Then again, there was always the chance that he'd open up to her one day and maybe then she wouldn't feel so guilty for peering into the foreign ground of his past. Only then, Maka would be able to smile and thank him for letting her in and she would finally understand her Partner completely.

aw

you're welcome

xoxoxo