Short tease, sorry!
It started with the way he bit into his apple at lunch. The flash of teeth reminding her of what she was hiding under the button-up collar today.
Then she may have caught him shirtless for just a second, only getting to see the rippled muscles of his back when he changed his t-shirt in the yard after weapon's practice.
Finally, as she was peering carefully at book titles in the library, he'd snuck up on her and let a ghost of a hand, just fleeting fingertips, etch a soft line against the small of her back before barely having the nerve to give her a cool glare with a warm blush haunting high on his cheeks and catching to his ears.
That was why as soon as the door closed behind them at the apartment she was pressing into him, her lips blunderous in their aggression. Soul caught her like he'd done a million times before but with not as much grace since his hands struggled against imaginary offenses that his mind still tried to whisper. Stumbling steps brought the two of them to the living room, Maka practically throwing him to sit on the couch. His face was desperately flushed, catching a little crimson at his throat where his Adam's apple bobbed with the dry swallow that he barely managed when her fingers came to the buttons of her shirt. "Maka," came his throaty, baritone whisper.
How did he not realize that was just going to spur her fingers forward? Because Maka could practically melt into that voice and when she locked eyes with him, that gentle concern still hinting at the edges, any last ounce of hesitation started to blow away. "I want to," she offered honestly which brought a sort of clumsy nod from him as he studied those buttons like hieroglyphics. That was until last night's handy-work was freely displayed and while there was a fleeting second's worth of shame as his eyes darted along the cup of her bra he couldn't help but feel the thrill again.
That spurred his hands forward, touching tentatively at her waist as she tossed the rest of her shirt off. His grip tightened as she stepped forward and practically clutched as she moved to straddle him on the couch. "Maka," he cautioned again but the way she nipped at his lips left him with nothing else but a trembling sigh.
Maka left him breathless before she settled back in his lap. Her fingers drifted to the bottom of his shirt but her eyes never left his. She didn't need soul perception to read the fear that gripped him, just the way those red eyes that had been smoldering like coals with want a second ago had now fizzled with the addition of a little too much liquid pooling at the rims. Maka knew she was pressing a line, that this was most certainly one of those opportunities for her to be pushed away, but what would happen if she never took risks? They wouldn't be here if she hadn't.
Taking off his shirt left Soul lifeless, immobile in the crashing wave of his emotions. His mouth refused to move either way, too weak to tighten in a grimace or let any of those old questions he once said to a screen sound again. They were all resounding in his head, creating a clattering cacophony that just spurred the burn in his eyes.
Maka tossed the shirt on the couch next to them and instantly settled a hand on his cheek and the other pressing fingers into the tip of his scar. Her touch elicited a painful sigh from his mouth, full of absolutely none of the sweetness of the day before. His eyes threatened to look away so her hand slipped into his hair, moving his head to be intent on her face as her finger trailed along the whitish tissue. "Listen to me."
While his lips still couldn't produce any motion, his hands inched up her sides, tenderly roaming skin.
"I look at this and… all it does is make me want to kiss you." She punctuated this by proving her statement and planting a tender kiss on his lips before letting her green eyes lock with the scarlet again. "For a lot of reasons. Mostly because this was you loving me, wasn't it?"
Soul nodded slowly as he leaned into her hand. She allowed for the shift, for him to hide his face there as the tears started to threaten.
"But don't think that's all it is," Maka murmured softly as she took the hand away, putting it on his shoulder to give her the leverage to dip her lips to his skin. This wasn't about leaving marks of love but cherishing one that already existed as Maka left a soft kiss on his chest. It was an awkward stretch and she almost laughed at herself and the way he had to slip his hands down to support her at the hips and keep her from falling off his lap and the couch.
There was no humor in it for Soul, his breath hitching as her lips met skin, his eyes still unable to watch her and looking blankly out into the hallway.
She raised her head and leaned in close to his ear, serving each word as a gentle whisper. "You…" Maka swallowed the hesitation, urging forward with her fingers pressed into his skin. "I looked, look at you all the time and there's not a moment I feel sorry for you except maybe when you spill your coffee on your shirt or you get picked first for a question in class." She paused to let her hand drift, following the scar by memory and reveling in the way his skin broke out into goosebumps under her fingers. "Maybe when it happened I couldn't, but now… I want to look at it. I want you to be able to look at me seeing it and know that your body is perfect to me, that all I think about is… how much I want this."
Soul's hands moved from her waist to grab her, forcing his face into the crux of her neck. For a second she was waiting for another round of teasing from lips and teeth but instead, the liquid started to dot along her shoulder. It was a vise grip she was in, his hands digging into their hold on her, and Maka easily sunk into it. She let her fingers play in his hair, listening to unsteady breaths that hitched and coughed out against her neck. You idiot, holding that agony for so long. Oh, please, please, please tell me this is you letting go. This is a start, not a finish. "And I want this, too," she murmured out with a sigh. "I want to be selfish. I feel like I have your soul most days but I want your body, and more importantly, I want this, your heart. And you said you'd give me what I asked for. So let me have you. You can keep making those videos, I know that's easier for you, but give me this sometimes, too."
His breath came back to even and she felt it as he moved his lips towards her ear. "I…" his voice was husky, broken, but it thrummed in his chest that hers was pressed so tightly to. "Maybe I forgot that you protect me just as much as I protect you."
"Protect you from what?" she murmured.
A rough laugh tangled against her ear and it sent a chill down her spine. "Myself, Maka. You always protect me from myself."
A happy hum purred from her chest to his, easing out the last of twined anxiety clinging to his ribs. "Hey," she chirped quickly as she arched her back, forcing his head from its hiding spot. "You know what I think we should do?"
He lifted his eyebrows in a silent but thorough answer.
She offered him a glowing smile before the answer quickly snapped from her mouth, "A nap."
There was no fighting the grin as it echoed hers. "Together?"
Maka nodded swiftly but before she should start to ease out of his lap Soul was getting her airborne, proving that he hadn't been wasting training hours. His hands had slipped easily under her thighs, leaving her no hope but to wrap her legs around his waist with a gleeful laugh. "Your bedroom."
"Why?" The question didn't slow his steps and he moved as ordered.
"It…" Somehow, even though her shirtless body was pressed against his, the idea brought a blush to her cheeks. "It smells like you."
He grunted a laugh, "Weirdo." Before she could berate him he was tossing her on the bed, forcing another laugh from her instead.
"Grab me a t-shirt," she ordered as she laid out, watching him immediately go to fiddling through his drawers to find an acceptable one out of the millions of choices. He tossed it at her and waited, his brain barely processing the motions. Maka was in the middle of unclasping her bra as the t-shirt hit her and just as the cups popped away from her breasts she slipped her arms out of the straps, just letting it fall away before quickly slipping the shirt overhead. When her face popped through the hole her cheeks were bright red and her eyes were diligently focused on discarding the bra over the edge of the bed.
And while that reptile part of his brain was trying to perseverate on the sweet but fleeting snapshot of her breasts, the rest of him was entranced by the way she flopped into his pillow, her hair somehow arranging in a perfect splay like streaks of sunshine against the white case and those green eyes beckoning him closer. He slid in next to her and she forcefully arranged him, moving his arm behind her so the pillow didn't matter anymore, her cheek pressing against the scar that her lips had caressed. She eagerly pulled the comforter around them but Soul was sure the warmth wouldn't be necessary, her body radiating against him.
His hand had come to rest on her shoulder but he let it drift up, weaving his fingers through her hair as he stared at the ceiling. "I, uh… I ruined the mood." It was a trembling apology as much as it was an observation.
Maka snorted a laugh, "Well, you would have if you called it that."
"Maka," he complained.
There was a distinct pause as her fingers danced along his chest, picking up the white line and following the jagged edge. "We have plenty of time, don't we?"
His breath hitched as she hit just above his belly button and he used his other hand to trap her fingers, tangling them with his. "Yeah, we have forever, if that's what you want."
She angled her head, gently pressing her lips to his chest again so his fingers tightened around hers. "And you'll always give me what I ask for."