Soul is awoken the following day by the feeling of a finger tracing the scar on the top of his hairline lightly. Out of instinct, he's slamming his hand over his face as he shoots up from his bed. Upon opening his eyes, he notices Blackstar blinking owlishly at him, their foreheads just a few centimeters from crashing into one another.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." Blackstar quickly greets him, still wearing his night clothes. "I was just looking at your scar. Has anyone ever told you how cute your nose is?"
"Shut up," Soul groans, pulling his hair forward and down over his forehead. "What time is it? And why are you waking me up?"
"The sun is just starting to rise," Blackstar replies as he sits on the edge of Souls rickety cot. "Someone's here to see you."
"What do you mean someone here to see me?" Soul's already pushing the covers off him and onto Blackstar. Turning to the cot beside him, he sees that Kilik is still dead asleep. Normally they were the first two awake, as they had the morning shift outside the gates. That shift wouldn't normally start for another hour or so.
Before Blackstar can even answer him, another guard is walking into the room with purpose in his steps.
"Why is the Princess looking for you, Soul. What did you do?"
There, standing in the doorway still in his night clothes is no other than Oxford, the head guard.
"I didn't do anything," He bites back, already standing from his cot. "Why is that nerd here?"
"She said she wants to see you, that's all," Oxford replies before crossing his arms against his chest like an angry father. "So I'm asking again, what did you do?"
"Again, I didn't do anything. My post got switched. I'm her personal guard now or whatever." Soul replies as he walks to the other end of the shared room with Kilik and Blackstar. He begins to pull his armor from its stand, changing carelessly in front of the other guards.
"What about Crona?"
"I don't know who that is, but from what I heard, they went awol."
"So… The Princess chose you of all people to be their replacement?"
Having got the chest piece of his armor on, he turns around, throwing his hands up in the air. "Wow, what a surprise, huh?"
"I'm not saying that's a bad thing," Oxford corrects himself, leaning onto the doorway with a yawn. "I am surprised. I didn't think you spent much time in the castle. How would she know who you are?"
"She's a stalker," Soul chuckles, getting the last pieces of his armor together. "Apparently she watches the gate guards and I caught her eye."
"Awe! That's kind of romantic!" Blackstar chuckles, and honestly, Soul is surprised Kilik hasn't woken up yet.
"Oh, shut up." Soul throws his nightshirt in Blackstars direction, only to have it land on the floor in front of his socked feet.
Turning back towards the armory, he makes sure to grab his gloves and cloak as he grabs his sword and secures it to his belt.
"Better go see what your lover wants," Blackstar snickers from Soul's bed.
"Don't make it weird. She's a stalker, not a lover." Soul is quick to correct as he slips past Oxford through the doorway.
Walking out into the main hallway, he already notices a good handful of the other guards awake. Most of them are standing in the doorways of their rooms, looking back and fourth down the hallway while some of them linger in the hall with one another in idle chat. Its busy for a Sunday morning.
When he makes it to the entry door of the guards quarters, the blue silk fabric of Maka's cape catches his eyes first and then the familiar gray hair of one of the other guards.
"You got a visitor finally, huh?" Stein smirks, having already been dressed in his armor. Maka stands in front of the fellow guard with what looks like a nervous smile, offering him a little wave.
"Looks like I do," Soul replies, pausing in front of the two. Stein looks him up and down for a moment before glancing back at Maka.
"Nice." Just like that, Stein is nudging shoulders with him, pushing him out of the way as he walks back down the hallway.
Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, Soul catches Maka's wrist carefully, pulling her out of the guards quarters with him in one quick motion.
"What are you doing here," he asks a little sharper than intended. They stop a few feet in front of the door and Soul forces Maka to look his way. The Princess pauses, mouth dropping slightly. She looks away from Soul, eyes settling on something in the horizon.
"I came to see you?"
"And the other guards in the castle just let you walk out like it was no big deal?" Soul's hand clutches Makas' wrist a little tighter after that. That wasn't the only question wracking his mind though. Why did Maka even want to see him? They had just met, and Soul was nothing but a guard to her; not a friend.
"Well, it was more of me sneaking out the bottom story window of my wing rather than asking if I could walk out the front door."
In that moment, Soul realizes he may actually have a lot more in common with Maka than he originally thought.
"I- Isnt that my job to keep you from sneaking out?"
"I don't know, Soul, you tell me."
They're silent for a moment, and Soul is all too aware of the contact between the two of them and how Maka is staring up at him with wide eyes. With a huff, he quickly lets go of Maka's wrist, shaking his head.
"Why did you come to the guards quarters instead of waiting for me to show up?" He settles on questioning.
"I was coming to ask if you wanted to have breakfast with me," She said, all too innocently. "I remember you telling me none of the guards really eat with you so i thought i would."
God damn it, Maka.
"Okay," he gets out before swallowing the lump that's formed in his throat. "Maybe from now on you should send a messenger to fetch me. The other guards might get the wrong idea if you just show up alone."
"Wrong idea?"
"The wrong idea as in them thinking i did something wrong and you're here to reprimand me," Soul answers, remembering Oxfords reaction just a few minutes ago. "Come on, let's get out of here before any more of them wake up and ask what this was all about."
Soul escorts Maka back to the castle only to hop through the same window she'd apparently escaped from in the first place. With an all too excited smile for so early in the morning, Maka leads him down to the kitchen, having him wait in the hallway.
"Kim, are you here?" Maka calls out before stepping into the kitchen. Souls attention is stuck on the echo of her shouts going down the hall.
A moment later, Maka is sticking her head out of the doorframe. "Do you like waffles?"
"Who doesn't like waffles?"
Maka seems to like the sound of that because she quickly hops back into the kitchen before returning with two platters in her hands.
"Thank you Kim! I'll see you later!"
"Have a good day Maka!"
Maka is quick to extend one of the covered platters to Soul, who takes it with care. The tray is warm and he thinks he's already about to burst into tears just at the thought of eating a warm breakfast.
"Where are we going?" Soul asks as Maka takes off in front of him, both hands wrapped around her platter like a child.
"The garden."
For the first time in a really long time, Soul has a hot breakfast with someone to keep him company. It's a meal that has him feeling full for the first time since he'd entered this kingdom.
Soul finds himself trudging back to the guard's quarters just a little after the sun has fully set, feeling more tired and relaxed than he'd normally feel after a shift. It wasn't like he'd done much; true to Maka's word, her life wasn't all that fun.
The two had spent another day sitting in Maka's room reading.
It didn't take Soul long to decide that Maka was good company to have around.
Maka is kind. During his time as a guard, he didn't meet a lot of nice figures. Maka was also funny, and she tended to make herself crack up over the smallest things. She also reminded Soul of himself in some way.
Altogether, it was just an extra bonus that Maka was also nice to look at, but that was something Soul would only admit to himself because of course, a Princess is going to be good-looking, that's part of the job description.
When he finally makes his way into the guard's quarters, he doesn't bother to make dinner out of scraps. On his way out, Maka had insisted he take a few rolls before he left, and he did.
He makes his way down the elongated hallway and to the last room on the hall that he'd called his bedroom for the past four years. Blackstar and Kilik were already situated at the ends of their cots, seemingly caught in conversation.
Not having the willpower to butt in, he made his way to the end of the room and changed out of his armor into his comfortable clothes, making a note in the back of his head to take a trip to the bathhouse tomorrow morning before his shift.
"So, did you get in trouble?" Blackstar questions first when he dives headfirst into his bed.
"No," He simply answers, pulling his sheets over him.
"Are you going to tell me what happened, or am i going to have to pull it out of you like pulling teeth?"
"She invited me to breakfast." Soul replied, his voice muffled by the stiff pillow in front of his face.
Both Kilik and Blackstar hum at that in interest and it has Soul pulling the pillow over his face.
"Seems like the Princess has a liking for you," Kilik points out.
"She was just being nice."
"I don't know about that," Blackstar laughs, "I don't recall her ever coming down here to fetch any of her other guards before."
That's the comment that causes Souls sleepless night. Its all Blackstars fault.
All together, Soul guesses he gets about two hours of sleep that night. It was still all Blackstars fault. He didn't have to make that comment. If he hadn't made that comment then Soul would have been able to sleep peacefully without second guessing the Princess's intentions with him.
Blackstar did have a point, he never recalled having one of the royals come to the guard's quarters to fetch their personal guard. It was unheard of.
Why did Maka even invite him to breakfast? She didn't have to, after all. They'd just met, Maka didn't owe him anything. Was it out of pity? Did she really feel that bad for Soul simply because he ate alone?
Or was she trying to be his friend? Did she try nestling up with her previous guards?
Word traveled fast around the guards. If she did try nestling up and being all buddy-buddy with any previous guards, Soul is almost one-hundred percent sure he would have heard about it by now.
Something wasn't adding up, and it was leaving a sour feeling in his stomach.
The Royals were not always that nice. He would know.
When the sun just begins to rise, Soul is the first guard to wake up. In a cold sweat, he gathers his belongings and finds himself sitting along in the bathhouse with his head feeling all too heavy.
An hour later, Soul is making his way through the castle with his arms tucked behind his back. He felt more on guard today than he had in a good few years and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to blame the lack of sleep or the anxiety bubbling in his stomach for it.
The halls were barren, he noted, as he made his way to Princess Maka's wing. It must have been too early for the castle servants to be awake.
It doesn't take long to make it to Maka's tower with how fast he's walking. He felt like he was running on clouds this morning. At least he could blame the lack of sleep on that. When he makes his way up the staircase, he's expecting Maka to still be asleep. He's already prepared himself to stand guard in front of her door for a few hours waiting.
He's not prepared for the sight he sees.
Through the tinted distorted glass of her bedroom door, Soul can make out Maka's slim figure standing in the middle of the room stretching her arms over her head. She pauses for a moment before she begins fumbling with strings on the front of her nightgown.
Her silhouette is sleek and fluid-like. For now, she moves as if only a flowing outline of black, but Soul can already picture what she looks like on the other side, and he hates himself for it.
He watches the way Maka shifts just slightly. Just when he notices her gown drop to the floor, he's quickly averting his eyes back down the staircase, choking out a breath he'd been holding.
He may be sleep-deprived but that was no excuse for him to be thinking the way he was right now.
God, get your head out of the gutter.
He takes a moment to compose himself- to steady his breathing and gets his mind on the right track before he's knocking on Maka's door with white knuckles.
There's a pause and out of the corner of his eye, Soul watches as Maka's silhouette perks up. "Who is it?"
"Its Soul." He answers in the most monotone tone he can muster.
There are a few shuffles on the other side of the door before the glass is being drawn back and Soul is engulfed in the morning light.
Maka peeks her head out of the door first, her body following suit. There was a softness to her appearance, a kind of warmth married to a shyness. It had Soul catching yet another breath in the back of his throat.
"Good morning, Soul!" Maka greets him merily, pulling back the doors more. "I'm surprised to see you awake so early."
"Good morning, your highness." Soul manages to get out, studying the open expression on Maka's face. She seemed happy and excited.
"Maka," The other is quick to correct before turning back into her room. "Just Maka, Soul. You don't need to continue on with the formalities."
Soul follows her into the room, noticing very quickly that the balcony doors were already open.
Whether it was the lack of sleep getting to him, or the fact that he could just barely pay attention to the other, Soul agreed to throwing the formalities with a hum of approval. With a smile, Maka just nods, returning to the edge of her bed to put her shoes on.
"Want to accompany me to the garden again?" Maka questions as she slips her right shoe on. "We can get breakfast in an hour or so."
"Sure."
Maka looks up quickly, eyebrows furrowed. "Is everything okay? You seem out of it."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Soul answers. He was fine, after all. There wasn't anything wrong other than the fact his head felt like it was twelve feet underwater and he couldn't think straight. "I'm just tired, that's all."
"Are you sure?" Maka stands, stepping in front of him in an instant, invading his personal space.
Too close. Too close. Way too close.
With a huff, he takes a step away from the Princess, ignoring the heat that rushes to his cheeks. "I'm sure, let's just go."
Maka doesn't believe him; he can tell. While she doesnt come out and call his bluff, Soul can see it all in the wary gaze she sends his way before ushering her out the door.
"Some fresh air will do you good, I promise."
Today, Maka was forcing Soul to walk ahead of her, her fingertips pressed against his elbow where the two pieces of armor covering his arm remained separated. He could feel the warmth that radiated off Maka through the thin layer of clothing he wore under his armor. It left his skin burning in an unpleasant way.
It doesn't take the two of them long to reach the small castle garden where they had shared breakfast just the other day.
It was surprisingly warm for an October morning. With the sun fully up now and not a single cloud in the sky, Soul basked in the heat, a content sigh leaving his lips.
"Already feeling better, I see." Maka chuckles from somewhere in front of him.
He nods back, opening his eyes just the slightest to see Maka standing in the middle of the garden, openly looking at him with a wide smile. "What's that look for?" Soul can't help but comment, his naturally flirtatious personality poking out through his tiredness. "You like what you see or something?"
"Stop it," Maka gasps. Her tone doesn't hold any malice- she's chuckling, that wide smile still plastered on her face.
Soul wishes Maka wasnt so damn perfect. He wishes he could jsut think right today and get out of the stupid funk he'd thrown himself into. He wishes that Blackstar never made that stupid comment last night pointing out the obvious.
He wishes Maka could just be some stuck up royal, but she wasn't. Instead, she was the sweet girl that was sitting with her legs to her side in the grass of the royal garden with a shit-eating grin plastered across her face in front of him.
