A/N: There will be a few omakes for this so be on the lookout for them. I hope y'all enjoy this little story! And remember reviews/comments are greatly appreciated.

Day 7: Coming of Age

Get the Girl

Soul's footsteps are calm and quiet as he finally pushes out of the crowd on the dancefloor, but his nerves are frayed. There's only one last obstacle standing in his way now: him.

He watches as she laughs at a joke Liz tells, her laughter filling the night air. It's a sound he has come to miss so much in the time he's been away from her. A chill crawls down his spine. His body heats up with love and desire. The tips of his fingers tingle with the need to lightly brush her cheek. He wants nothing more than to to wrap his hands on her waist, spin her around, and kiss her as if they've done it forever.

But he can't.

Especially not in front of all these people. That isn't them, even if they were together, and he knows it. Whether his feelings for her are returned or not, it isn't fair to pull a cheap move like that. To put her on the spot was something he'd never do to her in a million years. No, it's better if he waits for the kissing to happen, to see if she love him like he loves her before doing things like that. It's fair to both of them, and saves him the embarrassment of rejection.

Swallowing his pride and willing his nerves to calm down, Soul takes a cautious step onto the grass, and continues closing the distance between them. The air around him buzzes with a mixture of anxiety and want. The techno music that he despises but Maka adores dies down for a brief second before picking up again as another song plays. Liz's gaze lands on him and she gives a small, knowing smile before looking back at Maka. His heart pounds in his ears.

Soul releases a quiet sigh as he stops behind her, and gently places his hand on her shoulder. She whips around, annoyance clear on her face, but it quickly makes way for shock as she sees who it is.

"Soul!" He catches her smile before his vision is blurred with a mass of blonde as she throws her arms around his neck. "I thought you weren't coming."

He feels a few of his nerves escape as he laughs. "I wanted to surprise you."

Her elation is short lived as she moves away and glares at him. "But what about your test on Monday?"

Of course she'd be worried about something as trivial as grades at a moment like this.

"I lied. I don't have a test. Like I said, I wanted to surprise you for your birthday so I had to come up with some excuse."

She playfully hits him in the shoulder. "You could have come up with a better lie than that. Tests aren't something to joke about."

"Only nerds think that."

"I guess I'm a nerd then," she beamed.

"You two are absolutely cute. It's a wonder why you aren't together yet," Liz cuts in.

His heart leaps at the thought of being together, but also sinks because they aren't. He feels heat creep up his throat and chest as he quickly becomes aware that his arms are still around Maka's waist, and her own around his.

Maka cheeks turn scarlet as she unravels herself from him, and stands bashfully beside him as she mumbles, "We're just friends."

"Uh-huh." Liz smacks her lips together and twines her arm with Patti's. "Let's leave these two friends alone, Patti. Give them some time to catch up or do friend things."

"Liz," Maka growls. Soul stares between the two girls, and gets the feeling he missed something. "You promised."

"And I kept with my promise, right? I haven't said anything. If anyone's giving anything away its you. Now if you'll excuse use, we're gonna go mingle with everyone else. Give you two some privacy."

And with that, Soul and Maka are left alone in her backyard as the rest of the partygoers continue dancing to the shitty ass music. He stuffs his hands in his pockets as he quickly realizes that this is his chance, his time to tell Maka everything he's been burning to say for over a month. He feels his nerves coming back as he stares down at her. Her fingers twirl a few strands of hair in her pigtail as she kicks at the ground, a nervous habit she had picked up through the years. Soul isn't sure if he's relieved or nauseous at the thought of her feeling the same as him.

His gaze turns from her to the treehouse that still remains before focusing back on her.

"Can we maybe go up to the treehouse? Give us some real privacy to talk and catch up." He pauses and licks his lips, his heart feeling heavier. "I really did miss you."

And he honest to God did.

Seeing her in the flesh again is like a dream come true. It had been far too long since they last saw each other in person, since the last time he heard her voice that wasn't over a speaker. She's exactly how he remembers her. The same freckles grace her cheeks and the brim of her nose, her lips are the same light pink, and her gaze is just as vibrant and full of life.

"I'd like that. I missed you, too."

Her smile reaches her eyes, and he knows her words are genuine. His heart slows down as warmth spreads across his chest, and he's completely taken away by her beauty. There's no doubt in his mind. He wants to be with her more than anything else in the world, and he isn't going to fuck this up.

Maka climbs into the treehouse first, her long legs taking one step at a time as he watches from below before he makes his own ascent. Inside, she stands in the middle looking around at the memories that remain from the childhood. The books and board games are still scattered around along with old photographs. Even the shaggy, worn out rug still sits in the middle of the floor. Nothing has decayed or rotten over the years; someone has clearly made it their goal to keep everything in perfect condition after they grew out of the place.

"I haven't been in here for so long," she says. "I can't believe everything still looks the same."

"It was always a good treehouse."

And it was. Their parents had chipped in to buy them one of the best treehouses on the market at the time, the exterior of it being made in the finest wood available. It isn't some cheap material built by parents who wanted to please their kids quickly. The little house was built with care and the expectation that it was going to last for years.

But he didn't come here to talk about the treehouse.

"So what did you wanna talk to me about that was so private?" she asks. Her eyes sparkle a little as she gives him a sly smile, the one he knows always meant she was up to something. That she had her own ulterior motives for certain things.

Soul smiles and licks his lips. His hand slides into his back pocket, his fingertips touching the edges of the card that's there, and his nerves begin to pick up.

He can do this.

But he didn't really think beyond the idea of coming up to the treehouse to do it.

Soul glances from Maka to the floor as he tries to collect his thoughts, encourage himself to come out and say it. The trick, though, is how does he do it? Does he come out with the confession immediately? Or does he beat around the bush, and hope she hints that she loves him too? God this is more difficult than he had anticipated. His heart starts to pick up again, the beat echoing in his ears, and he feels a wave of nausea roll over his body.

"Are you okay? You look pale," Maka says.

Turning his attention back on her, he focuses on how much he's missed her, how much he loves her, and reminds himself that doing this will calm him down. Knowing her answer will help him move on from the nervous feelings he's had for the last month.

"Yeah, I'm fine." His hand slips over the card and slides it out to offer it to her. "I actually brought you up here because I was wondering if you still felt the same way about what you wrote in this card."

The ends of it are frayed from him opening it over and over throughout the years, but the message inside can still be read clear as day. The feelings that a younger, smaller version of Maka can still be felt and understood. The simple question of asking him to marry is still there.

Her eyes bulge at the sight of it, the familiar heart with a puppy inside clicking in her head immediately as she snatches the card away. He tries not to chuckle at the blush creeping up her throat as she hides behind it. She stares at the shaggy rug when she speaks to him.

"I can't believe you still have this."

"You don't really throw away a card with a marriage proposal inside," he defends.

Maka's cheeks suck in as she purses her lips. "I was a kid, Soul. I didn't know what marriage really meant back then."

He bounces back on his toes, stuffs his hands back in his front pockets, and flicks his tongue out. "So is that a no?"

She looks conflicted as she pulls her gaze back on him. Uncertainty and want swarm around a green background as she drops the card and folds her arms in front of her chest.

"Do you want me to still mean it?"

It's a challenge.

Butterflies flutter around his stomach, his heart goes warm, and it takes everything in him not jump and scream around the small space at the implications of her words.

Soul smirks as he says, "Why? Do you want me to want you to mean it?"

That didn't even makes sense.

But Maka throws her arms down in frustration instead of chiding him for avoiding her question completely.

"I can't do this anymore. I need to know in order to calm myself down and stop imagining all these crazy scenarios in my head about you and me. I can't keep loving someone if they don't love me back." His heart stops at her words, and heat crawls up his body. "I know you and I are best friends, that we've been best friends for years, but I need to know because I…"

She glares at the wall as her mind tries to form the words before turning back to him. "I love you, and I don't mean as a friend. I mean I've been in love with you for the past three years, Soul. I want to be with you, and these last few months without you have proven that." She pauses and shakes her head. "I know we're just friends, and that you might only think of me as a friend. Or even a little sister. But I need to know. I need to hear it from you."

There's another wave of tension between them as she takes a step forward, her shoulders back and her chin raised a little. He knows what she's doing. She's preparing herself for his rejection, but God is she wrong.

"Do you love me?"

Soul takes a step forward, smiles down at her, and wraps his arm around her waist to pull her forward. He hears her breath get caught in her throat at the small gesture, and her body melts in his embrace. Slowly, he leans toward her, not trusting his voice to answer properly because his throat is closed up. If he speaks, he fears he'll say the wrong thing, or fuck up and ruin the moment. Instead, he grows steadily closer to her, noting how her breathing has stopped, until their inches apart and he can clearly see every feature on her beautiful face the he loves so much.

He raises his other hand to cup her chin, pulling her toward him as he does so, and her breath warms his face.

"May I kiss you?" he simply asks, hoping that's enough for his answer.

Maka quickly licks her lips as she nods and whispers, "Please."

The gap between them closes, and his world starts to spin as his lips touch hers, they're soft and sweet as he melts against them. Her hands feel up his chest before winding themselves around his neck. His entire body warms at her touch, his toes curling in his shoes as she gently sucks on his bottom lip, and his stomach clenches as hot liquid forms there. She does things to his body that the last girl he kissed was never able to do, and he loves it. He loves everything about her; from her pigtails to her small chest to her ass to her legs to her angelic personality, he loves all of it.

Their noses mush together as they learn how to move with the other, breathing is difficult, but it feels so right being with her like this. Like this is how it was meant to be for them. Standing in a treehouse that they had shared as kids, where they had spent their nights sleeping beside each other. It had been their special place when they were kids, and now it's the first place that they have their first kiss.

He breaks away from her, his eyes half lidded as he stares down at her. Maka's lips look fuller than before, and he finds himself wanting to see them like that all the time. Leaning his forehead on hers, he gently kisses the tip of her nose, relishing in the fact that he can do that now, and sighs contently.

"Is that a yes?" she asks, and he hears the smile in her voice without having to see it.

"That's a fuck yes." They both laugh, and Maka moves slightly to gently kiss him again. "How many times are you gonna kiss me?"

"As much as I want," she says before kissing him again.

Resting his forehead on top of hers, they stand in the treehouse in complete content as the party continues to go on outside without the birthday girl there. Minutes pass by with them staring at the other, smiles gracing their faces as they move to kiss every now and then. They're all small pecks, brushes of her lips against his, but his body still reacts the same way as it did before. The same heat crawls up his body, his fingers grip her hips a little harder, and he feels like he'd float away if she weren't holding him still. No amount of dreaming can live up to this moment or could have prepared him for it. It's everything he ever wanted and then some.

After a while, he decides it's time for her to reappear at her party before anyone grows curious to where she's run off to – namely Spirit. He moves away from her with a small protest from her as she grunts out and her arms tighten around his neck.

"We need to go back down to the party, Maka."

"No we don't," she says with a little head shake, "We can stay up here together."

Soul sighs, draws his hands up her arms to twine his fingers with hers, and removes them from around his neck. Maka pouts as if she's a child being told not to touch him anymore, and his skips a beat.

"Don't make that face." He raises her hands up to his mouth and gently kisses both of them. "We'll have plenty of time to kiss later. Besides, I still owe someone a dance."

"Ten years later and you finally remember."

"And now it's my time to fulfill it. Come on."

She reluctantly follows him as he lead them to the entrance of the treehouse. Glancing down at the rug, Maka scrunches up her nose. "You know Black Star and Tsubaki had sex up here once."

He stares at her. "That just ruined the entire mood."

Giggling as he turns to climb down, she yells "I'm kidding!" before following him down.

Out on the dance floor, they find a space big enough for them just as the DJ started to play a slow song. Soul places both his hands on her hips while Maka wraps her arms around his neck and rests her head on his chest. They sway together, him taking the lead as he allows the music to flow through his body. It's a nice rock ballad that's actually one of his favorites, and he lowly hums the music so only she can hear.

The people around them slowly start to disappear from his consciousness, and it's only him and Maka on the dance floor. The gentle beating of her heart against his chest plays a song he knows far too well. The heat from her body is nice and comfortable as it soothes his soul, and he falls into a contentment he hasn't felt in years. Moving his head slightly to look down at her, he smiles as she mimics him, and leans down to gently kiss her for the hundredth time that night.

Everything feels right about it, them, and after wanting this for so long, he's ecstatic about the whole ordeal. He's elated that he can kiss her anytime he wants now, tell her he loves her anytime, and maybe in the future take another step in their relationship to deepen the bond they have. What started as a complicated day, has turned into the most perfect night of his life, and for the first time in a long time, his heart can beat steadily in a rhythm that matches her own.