Maka pinches the bridge of her nose and throws her pencil down on her notebook.
The fucking has commenced.
She should have known better. Ever since she moved in next to the weird stoner guy's apartment, at the same time every night, the sounds of loud love making have been interrupting her studying. She's even got a study playlist at the ready but was too caught up in her assignment to play it in time to avoid the awkward thumping sound next door.
She has never actually met her neighbor officially. The only reason she knows he's her neighbor and not his girlfriend is the awkward wave they exchanged in the hallway the weekend his girlfriend was out of town. And the only reason she knows his name is because -
"Soul! Oh god yes, Soul, right there!" his girlfriend calls on the other side of the thin apartment wall.
Maka sighs and starts up her music on her phone, turning up the volume to max. The girlfriend's voice is finally drowned out, but the goddamn thumping! She's considered pounding on the wall to get them to stop, but the fear that it would just egg them on stops her. Humming along to her music, Maka tries to refocus on this week's reading response when she hears a cry of pleasure over the melody.
"This is hopeless!" she groans, pushing away her notebook and textbook before flopping backwards on her bed. College is hard enough without ridiculous distractions, how is she supposed to get any work done with all the recurring noise?
It's a bit quieter for a moment, and Maka is hopeful enough to turn down her music to see if they've stopped for the night. Sadly, the girlfriend's moans ramp back up, and Maka grimaces and turns back up the volume. At least he lasts a little while? Good for her?
Sure, a tiny part of her is jealous. Maybe it'd be nice to be the one screaming every night. Not with weird stoner guy, no! Just. In general screaming in pleasure. With some nice boy from one of her classes maybe. Maybe the dark haired guy who has the most thoughtful responses to the homework assigned. Yeah, that guy. So smart and handsome, and probably really good with his fingers…
Maka stops her train of thought and catches her hand in her pants. Mortified, she rips her hand out of the fabric, flips over onto her stomach, and screams into her pillow. God she is so much like her father, what is wrong with her? Listening to other people bone and trying to get herself off? How will she face her neighbor? Thinking back to the guy from her class, she blushes harder and screams into her pillow again. How will she face her classmate?!
Turning her face to the side to catch her breath, Maka sighs. "This is the last straw. I'm going over there." She sets her jaw and pushes herself up off the bed and down the hall to the apartment's front door.
She can do this. She has every right to do this. They are being inconsiderate, she just wants some peace and quiet during reasonable quiet hours. Walking out her front door, she pauses and stares at the "3C" on Soul's door. God, she can hear them even from out in the hallway. Taking a deep breath, she pounds a fist on the door.
The thumping and the moaning stops abruptly. It takes a few moments, but suddenly there's the sound of the deadbolt unlocking, and there he stands, a little sweaty, white hair tousled, and doing his best to hide his boner behind gym shorts and the door. "Uh, hi?" he greets.
"Hi," she replies firmly. "I'm Maka, I live next door."
He cocks an eyebrow at her. "Um, I guess I'm -"
"Yes, you're Soul, or so I've heard," she says, nodding her head towards the inside of the apartment. "See the hearing is what I'm here about. Your… activities are particularly loud, and it's getting late. So I would appreciate it if you could keep it down?"
"Activities…?" He thinks on it a second and has the decency to blush. "Ah. Got it. Didn't realize. We'll, uh, try to be quieter."
Maka smiles and gives a nod. "Thank you. Have a good night."
"Yeah, you too." Soul gives an awkward wave and closes the door.
She lets out a deep breath. Now to see if they will actually be quiet. She returns to her apartment, and before she can even sit down on her bed, she can hear them going at it again over the music she never turned off.
It's time to invest in some noise canceling headphones it seems.
…
The next two days go by with only a little blushing on Maka's part when she walks by her classmate on campus. No more weird urges to "take care of herself", just focusing on her school and house work. She can keep it in her pants, she's not some sex-crazed animal like the people around her.
In fact she finds herself enjoying a peaceful Friday evening, soaking in the bathtub with her phone in her hand, ready to start a relaxation playlist once 11pm hits. She's learned her lesson from the other night and luckily hasn't heard anything over her music. Apparently her neighbors learned their lesson too.
She closes her eyes a moment, breathing in the scent of lavender bubble bath, and before long she looks back to her phone to find it now past 11pm. She scrambles to start her music, nearly dropping her phone in the water, before realizing she should have heard something by now. Soul's girlfriend is usually very punctual, and the noises should have started, at least a little thump-thumping. But she hears… nothing.
"Oh. Maybe they just heard me out and are being extra quiet," she muses to herself before settling back into the bubbles and setting her phone on the toilet lid.
But as she bathes, she can't help but think over the last two days. How oddly quiet it had been then as well. No need to turn up the volume of her music all the way. Had she even seen either of them in the last couple of days? Heard the usual signs of life coming from other rooms of Soul's apartment?
A terrible thought crosses her mind and makes her shoot upright in the bathtub. What if they died…? Dead silence comes from something, right? But no, she shakes her head and settles back down. She's jumping to conclusions with admittedly zero reason to even think such a horrible thought. The two of them are fine, they have to be.
But the thought won't leave her brain. Even as she gets out and gets dressed, it nags at her, telling her that she has to go investigate, just to be sure. Something is just not right about the silence, and she will get to the bottom of it. Dressed in striped pajamas and hair dripping wet, Maka marches out to the hall and bangs on 3C's door with a fist.
No answer.
She's being ridiculous, she knows that, but better safe than sorry. She pounds again. "Soul? You okay in there?"
Still no answer.
One more time. "Soul, if you don't answer this door, I'm calling the police to do a wellness check! Just come talk to me, let me make sure everything is okay!"
Finally the deadbolt sounds again, and the door slowly opens. Same gym shorts (sans boner), tousled hair, and the scent of weed. But this time his bloodshot eyes are crying. Soul wipes his eyes with the palm of his hand. "I'm here, don't call the police, okay? Just… what do you want?"