CHAPTER TWO: September "The Way We Get By"

Maka had never expected to meet her match. It had been a widely known fact since middle school that Maka "The Reaper" Albarn was not a girl to be trifled with. She hadn't been a bully, exactly; she'd always considered herself more of a crusader. In high school, her terrifying methods and big heart had won her the captainship of both the cheer squad and the boys' lacrosse team. When the number of girls wanting to participate began to grow, the school board tried to start a girls' league, to protect their "delicate" femininity from the "rougher" way the boys played. One half hour meeting with Maka later, the boys' lacrosse team soon became mixed gender, and The Reaper got her own Wikipedia page. Her college experience, cut short as it was, had been a similar story. So no one, especially not Maka "The Reaper" Albarn could have expected someone, let alone the newest addition to the IT department, to start a feud with her.

He may have stopped stealing her food, but Soul the IT guy was more creative than his coffee order would suggest. It started small. Her whole lunch never disappeared again, but just enough would be missing that even Tsubaki thought she was being paranoid when she pointed it out. She fumed silently at her desk between phone calls, trying to orchestrate the perfect revenge. She didn't have easy access to the IT department like he did to the main office space and she had no legitimate reason to be there. She would have used his department head as an excuse to visit and wreak some havoc, but despite her managerial role, Elizabeth "Liz" Thompson, twenty-ambiguous and profiteer of nepotism, spent as little time in her department as possible. Even now, she was sitting on Tsubaki's desk, long legs prettily crossed in their snappy pant suit and manicured fingers flicking perfectly straightened blonde hair over her shoulder. Even dressed like a corporate clone, she managed to give off the air of that cool girl in the nightclub bathroom who compliments your dress and lets you cut in line. Maybe she could help after all.

Maka approached the pair, who were lost in giggles and scandalised shushing, "Please tell me you're not still gossiping about Bart and his hard drive."

In the past few weeks, Maka had heard enough sexual IT puns to last her a lifetime and while she was glad that her best friend was finally dating someone who could satisfy all her needs, she didn't necessarily want to hear about it every day.

Liz quirked an eyebrow. "Now Maka, that would be unprofessional. I am his boss after all." She managed to maintain a straight face for all of thirty seconds before both she and Tsubaki burst into giggles again.

Maka shook her head incredulously and waited for them to stop.

"Aww, Maka lighten up. Who'd you think set those two up in the first place?"

"I thought he just kept unplugging different parts of her system so she'd call him." Maka smirked; his intentions had been obvious from the start, really.

"And it worked, didn't it?" Liz and Tsubaki burst into another fit of giggles.

"Sorry, Maka, did you need something?" Tsubaki asked.

"Actually, I was wondering if Liz could help me out."

Liz smiled coyly. "This wouldn't have to do with a certain recent employee of mine would it?"

"Ugh yes! Thank you, no one else will take me seriously about this!"

"He's still sulking about your broken date, but I'm sure he'll get over it soon enough once he knows you're still interested."

Tsubaki mimed a finger running across her neck at Liz, but Liz ignored her and continued. "I can get him up here and in your path anytime you want."

"Still interested? Liz, no! I need to destroy that rude, vanilla latte drinking thief!"

"You're still angry about that?"

"Of course I am! Did you hear how two-faced he was!"

Liz blinked slowly, "Damn, you two are perfect for each other."

"Perfect!?" So much for Liz being intelligent and people savvy.

"This is some serious unspoken attraction."

Maka sputtered, "You're joking, right?!"

Liz shrugged. "He's still stealing part of your lunches right?"

Maka turned to Tsubaki, "I told you!"

"Exactly," Liz continued. "If he hated you, he'd just never have anything to do with you again, but he keeps making contact. Attraction, same as kindergarten."

Maka groaned. "This is just you trying to get more people visiting your department so you have someone to entertain you all day."

"Maka, this is me doing my civic duty. There is no worthier calling than setting your friends up, except maybe ripping off their boyfriends. Look at Tsubaki! She's happy, and Bart has been twice as productive lately so he can finish early to see her."

"It's true." Tsubaki nodded.

"And as talented as he is at a computer, that Soul could use some motivation to get more work done. If he put half as much effort into his work as he does portioning off the perfect amount of food from your lunch, I'd be able to fire the rest of them and save a ton of money!"

Maka shook her head, "Well you're going to have to pick someone else to, ah, boost that jerk's productivity. Because I am not interested in him and he's definitely not interested in me."

Liz didn't try to fight her, but there was something unsettling about the surety in her gaze. "Alright, but if you change your mind, you know where to find me."

"Sure, at Tsubaki's desk."

They all laughed at that and Liz lollygagged around for another ten minutes before begrudgingly descending to the basement, or the "nerd dungeon" as she called it.

Maka's phone had been ringing all day, but no one was ever on the other line. Even now, after five p.m. with no one left in the office except her, the phone would not stop ringing. She should have known something was wrong from the first call. Only a prank call would be an automated message saying "Sorry, no one is available to take your call right now" that promptly hung up on her. When she called the number back and was directed to a charity hotline, she had chalked it up to a mistake… until it happened again, and a third time. Finally, she found the charity's website and their contact phone number. It did not match the number in her call log. Unfortunately for her, the office phones fell under the domain of IT.

Maka sighed. She should probably take it as a sign to call it a day and head home. She had finished all her work hours ago anyway. She had just resorted to reorganising her computer files and crunching the numbers on her savings account since three. That had taken a nasty hit when her cat, Blair, had eaten something she shouldn't have and wound up needing surgery to remove it. Without Blair, the apartment was too quiet and as pathetic as it made her feel, Maka had been avoiding it. But there was nothing for it now. She needed to leave the office and face the silence sooner or later. Blair would be home from the vet in another day and everything would be back to normal. Maka was a grown woman; she could handle a night alone in her apartment for God's sake. Mind made up, she retrieved her keys from her purse and headed for the elevator. Technically she could walk to work, but with the evening temperature dropping she'd started opting for her car instead.

She approached her small red two-door without paying much attention to her surroundings. The night air was crisp and cool against her face, and not for the first time she was glad that the Grigori Solutions parking was open air. She slid into her car, quickly checked her mirrors, and backed out of her space and straight into something.

"Fuck!" Slamming on the breaks, Maka yanked the handbrake and leapt from the car, praying she hadn't hit a stray dog.

The figure lying on the ground behind her parking space and emitting a low moan was definitely not a stray dog. At least, not in the literal sense.

"Soul?" She knelt down beside him, afraid to touch or move him lest he was seriously injured.

"Albarn?" he sat up, wincing and clutching his head as he moved.

"I-"

"Are you really so pissed about your damn pasta that you'd hit me with your car?" He glared at her, somehow managing to look intimidating from the ground.

"It was an accident, I swear! I checked my mirrors, but-"

"Because I know you must have noticed that I've still been eating it." His glare settled into defiance.

"I didn't even see you. I'm so, so sorry."

"And I know you've been asking around for the best way to get back at me."

"I wasn't trying to murder you, Soul!" she snapped, all fears of potential lawsuits falling from her mind.

He studied her for a moment before shaking his head and muttering, "No, no, it's fine. You probably couldn't even see me." He offered up her cardigan. It must have fallen from where it was draped over her bag. "I was leaning down to pick this up."

"Oh." Maka took it from him and placed it awkwardly on her lap.

"What are you even doing here this late?" He touched his hairline gingerly as if he expected to find blood.

"Did I run into your head?"

"No, just the rest of me. The asphalt ran into my head." He glared at the ground.

"Oh."

"So what're you still doing here?" he asked as he continued to assess his extremities without standing up.

Maka sighed. "My phone won't stop ringing. It's some recording that hangs up on me."

"Weird."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"You just hit me with your car and you're accusing me of messing up your phone."

"I have very good reason to- well, it's not like you- and I didn't mean to-"

"S'alright Albarn, I'm just messing with you."

Maka sighed and lay down on the asphalt beside him. She couldn't afford to compensate him for any injuries, not after Blair and especially not if she wanted to have enough money to re-enroll for the fall semester next year.

Soul glanced down at her warily. "What are you doing?"

"Wondering if my insurance covers food thieving coworkers."

"You're not my coworker. We're different departments."

Maka rolled her eyes at him.

"Come on, get up, you're being weird."

Maka groaned and covered her face with her hands instead.

"You're gonna ruin your clothes."

"Now you're being weird."

Soul stood up and stretched, cracking his back with the precision of someone who had been doing it for years.

"C'mon, Albarn."

"What? Don't you want to run me over to make it even?" There was a harder edge to her sarcasm than was entirely fair, given the circumstances.

"That wouldn't be cool."

Maka sighed and sat up. Soul offered her a hand, but she stood up on her own. He leaned against the back of her car, gingerly running a hand over his ribs. He didn't look like he planned on going anywhere anytime soon. Maka sighed and leaned against the car next to him.

"What are you doing here late?"

Soul shrugged. "Trying to fix up the department's calendar. Ms. 'Lizbeth won't hire an assistant, so the new kid has to work it."

Maka tried not to laugh. "Ms. Lizbeth?"

Soul twitched. "What, it's respectful! She's my boss, what should I be calling her?"

Maka shook her head. At least he could be polite to someone.

"Let me take you to a hospital. It's the least I can do."

He shook his head. "I'm good, thanks. No desire to go back to one of those ever."

Maka quirked an eyebrow and glanced at him sidelong. "Afraid of needles?"

"Something like that," he answered the asphalt.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Don't tell me you're going soft, Albarn." There was a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Hey, don't get any ideas. I still don't like you!" Maka crossed her arms indignantly.

"Yeah that's probably fair." Soul deflated and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"It's more than fair," Maka corrected.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Hitting me with your car doesn't make us even?"

Blushing, Maka turned away from him. "That was an accident, and I've said I'm sorry."

"I'm just messing with you. We're cool. I mean, we're uh, things are fine with me if they're fine with you." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, further mussing his already messy hair.

Maka chewed the inside of her cheek. There was something about the way the dimming light hit his face that made it seem softer. Even his eyes, which had previously seemed hooded by boredom and apathy, looked sincere. Damn it all to hell if he didn't strike such an endearing figure. And she did need her phone fixed after all.

Maka extended her hand, "Yeah, we're cool. I still don't like you! But we're okay."

Soul took her offered hand, his grip firm and the pads of his fingers calloused. His hand was warm around hers. Maka blushed, despite having absolutely no reason to, and hoped desperately that in the fading light he wouldn't notice and think it meant more than it did. He let her hand go and turned to walk away, but hesitated. Without turning around he called back, "I'll come see about your phone next week." And with a casual wave disappeared into the fading light.

Maka wasn't present when Soul showed up to her desk Monday morning, but there was a soy vanilla latte.