Iris - A message

[T]

This is based on an AU that I have in my head, but have never really managed to write. It's sort of a Castle AU.

it's a chess game

They're staring at her. They're gorgeous and they are staring at her. Fuck.

How had he even figured out that she loved them? When had he seen that she loved them!? How did he even know? She had never once mentioned it!

And yet there they were on her kitchen table.

Gorgeous chocolate orchids offset by white irises in the absolute most elegant arrangement she had ever seen. It was contemporary and fresh and she hated how much she loved it. She had never seen anything like it before, it was just stunning. It put her nice little apartment to shame!

And then the card. The fucking card. That asshole has just a god damn way with words it made her so mad!

Maka let loose a growl that Black Star had dubbed her "kitten growl" back in college. She was tempted to call Tsubaki but she couldn't remember the time difference. The flowers were taunting her, she was sure of it.

Never in a million years had she expected that damn author to be such a pain in her ass and yet here she was, curled up in her reading chair, glaring at flowers that must have cost a small fortune. He was such an infuriating, cocky, self important-

The door bell rang.

She stood and walked over to the door, taking a quick peek to see who it could be, it was nearly ten at night and she hadn't ordered take out (she'd been thinking about it admittedly).

When she saw who it was she considered not opening the door.

"I know you're in there Maka."

Fucker.

She cracked the door open to glare at him instead of the flowers, she didn't really want to make them wilt, but if she could deflate his ego even just a little. Well that'd be nice.

"Did you like them?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said as haughtily as she could.

He just grinned at her, "You purse your lips when you lie, it's kinda really cute."

Maka slammed the door in his face, but even then she could hear him laughing from outside. "Aw come on, Maka, we're gonna miss our reservation and you aren't even dressed!"

"I'm not going!"

"It's at La Place and I know you've wanted to go there."

Not even Kid, the visiting dignitary she was translating for could get reservations there. How in the hell did Soul manage these things!?

She cracked the door open again after undoing the chain and looked him over, he was in a crisp black suit and red undershirt, and from the shit eating grin he was wearing, he knew he was in.

"I don't have anything to wear." She tried.

"Have you looked in your closet yet?"

Her eyes went wide, "You didn't..." When Soul grinned even wider she let go of the door, not even caring if he came in, and went to her bedroom. When she had been walking from one hotel to the next and Soul had been following her (as he tended to do, saying she was his muse and he needed to shadow her) they had ended up walking past a window of beautifully simple designer dresses.

There was a garment bag on her bed from the store. Her front door clicked shut and she could hear Soul moving around in her apartment. "You find it?"

"I'm going to kill you if this is what I think it is."

"You wouldn't want to get blood on a dress like that, it'd stain. Or the flowers actually. Damn they out did themselves on this. Worth every penny. You don't want to know how many places I had to call to find chocolate orchids."

"How did you even know that I liked them?" Maka called from her bedroom, fingers itching to unzip the garment bag.

"Saw you looking at them at the press conference. You lingered, you never lingered unless you like something."

"I could have lingered because they were ugly!"

"Naw, you did the little smile."

Sometimes she hated how observant he could be. With a sigh she finally gave in and unzipped the black bag. God, it was as gorgeous as she remembered it. Fading from solid black to pure white, strapless, hitting just above her knees and flaring out from her natural waist. She checked the tag and it was even her size. Asshole.

She quickly shimmied out of her work clothing and decided to forgo a bar all together, her breasts were small enough that it wouldn't matter and really, strapless bras were just unflattering and awful. The material felt divine, the fade between the colors was just so beautiful, and it fit like it was made for her. Maka barely recognized herself when she glanced in the mirror, it was just too beautiful.

"You decent?" Soul asked.

"Yes."

He opened her bedroom door and his grin was less shit eating and just...soft. "Knew that was made for you. Do you still like it?"

"I love it."

"Now can I take you out for dinner? Please?"

"Soul...Did you mean it?" She watched him, gaze lingering on his eyes.

"Yeah, really do." He wasn't the cocky, arrogant, asshole author she was used to, this was the man who she kept seeing and could feel herself falling in love with against her better judgement.

"Fine. Take me to dinner."