Eventually, their moment was broken. Soul knew that it would come sooner or later and yet, he found himself surprised when Maka pulled away, sporting a lopsided smile. He was so tempted to follow after her and pull her closer once more- to spill every single dirty secret he'd pieced together just moments before, but he has some self control and he refrains.
Instead, he clears the now forming lump in his throat. "It means a lot that you think that way. I appreciate you too, and i-"
Everything stops when there's a small knock at the door. This time, the moment is entirely shattered. Both of their heads snap to the door as if they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing. Through distorted glass, Soul can make out a figure standing there, holding something in his arms.
"Your highness?" A familiar voice calls out. "Are you there?"
Both of them are scrambling off the bed in a blink of an eye. Maka grabs her cloak, pulling it back on with haste as Soul follows her lead, dropping to the floor to pull his armor back on.
"Yes, I am. Is everything okay, Hero?" Maka questions, her voice wavering as she adjusts her cloak, taking a confident step towards the door.
"Everything is fine, your highness!" Hero calls back. "Is Soul in there with you?"
There's a moment of silence as Maka turns her head over her shoulder. Thankfully, Soul is used to putting his armor on fast and he's almost done as he pulls his arm pieces back on. With a labored breath, Maka grabs his cloak off the bed and throws it at his chest.
"He's here. We were just talking," The Princess explains, turning back to the door. "Are you here for something important?"
"Sort of!" The advisor calls back. "May I come in?"
As Maka makes it to the door, Soul ties his cloak back on sloppily. With a little more care, he pulls his hair from its bun and lets it fall back into his face. He gets to his feet just in time as Maka opens the door, allowing the royal advisor to come in.
"Good afternoon, your highness." Hero bowed. When he stood again, his eyes landed on Soul with a smile. "Good afternoon to you as well, Soul,"
"Good afternoon," He replied a little stiffly.
"What has brought you here, Hero?" Maka opts to ask. It doesn't sound unkind, but she truely does sound confused. "I thought that there was nothing left to do today?"
"That is where you are wrong, your highness!" Hero pulls his clipboard up, clearing his throat. "The King and Queen have set up a dinner party for tonight, to celebrate all the hard work that was put into your party. You, Soul, and Blackstar have all been invited. Some of the caterers, cooks and tailors will be there, as well as the other personal guards Liz and Patty. I came to inform you both to get ready and dress in something nice."
Soul turns to his Princess, a little taken back. A dinner party? Dinner parties were usually for the royal and high-class people that resided in the castle- some dinner parties happened when other kingdoms were visiting, too. Soul couldn't say he ever recalled a kingdom holding a casual dinner party with such 'low class' people.
"Ah, I see." Maka clicked her tongue, making her way to Hero. She stood at her advisor's side, eyes trailing over the paper in front of him. "My parents will be attending?"
"Why would they not be, your highness?"
"No reason, I was just surprised. They haven't set up a dinner party so… casually before," Maka sughs, taking a step back from Hero.
"I suppose you are right there," He hums back in thought. "I think they are just a little more gracious this year, especially with all the hard work their staff has put in this year."
Maka's eyes land on Soul, but she cant make out the expression on his face.
"Thank you for informing us. We'll get ready as soon as possible. You can be dismissed now, Hero."
With another bow, the royal advisor is seeing himself out, Maka closing the bedroom door behind her. With another sigh, she turns back to Soul, looking a little worse for wear. Her eyebrows are pinched together, her lips pressed together in a firm line.
It's a much different expression than the one she had when it was just the two of them.
"This is weird," She states, walking towards her wardrobe. "I can't say they've ever had a dinner party with the staff before."
"Do you think something is up, then?" Soul finds himself asking, curious.
"Mmm, probably not. It's just weird. They haven't had parties like this for my other birthdays before."
Behind her, Maka digs through her wardrobe, grabbing a change of clothes from it. "You can go wait on the other side of the door. I'll only be a moment unless you want to stay and watch?"
Heat rises in Soul's cheeks in an instant, his heart clambering to his throat. There was no way the Princess was actually being serious. "I- I am good, I will go wait outside-"
"I was joking, Soul, " Maka says, shaking her head slightly. When she turns again, there's a small and hopeful smile on his face. "I'll be right out. I just want to get out of these sweaty clothes."
With a nod, Soul sees himself out too, shutting the door softly behind him. He ignored the way his heart has started racing as his fingertips left the doorknob.
A lot had happened in just one day.
A lot he was unable to process.
When they make it to the guard's quarters, they spot Blackstar being escorted back by a well-dressed servant who was holding a cold expression at his side. The moment the guard notices the two, his eyes widen a little more as he waved them down. "Soul, Maka," Blackstar greets as they all make it to the front door. He seems a little frantic, his pupils blown and his hair tousled. "What's going on? They just pulled me off my post without any explanation."
At his side, Soul doesn't miss the way Maka glares at the servant behind them. "You may be dismissed. We'll be back at the castle soon." The servant bows before scurrying off down the path. With a breath of relief, Maka turns to Blackstar. "Sometimes I forget how bad these servants can be about putting things, my apologies. We're all being invited to a dinner party, in the castle." She explains. "We didn't know about this until half an hour ago."
A soft 'oh' escapes Blackstar. "Look, I am all for parties, but why was I invited?" He questions timidly. "Arent dinner parties supposed to be for highly respected people?"
"The party is to celebrate everything for my birthday celebration finally being finished. I am guessing you were invited since you will be taking Soul's spot as my personal guard for the party."
"That would make sense, I guess. Does this mean we get to dress up?" A mischievous smile plays on Blackstar's face and Soul cant help but groan, pushing himself past Blackstar to open the door to their home.
"No, it means we're wearing nothing but tarps."
"Oh, sick!" Blackstar jokes from behind him. "Does that mean i get to watch you str-"
"Dont-Dont finish that thought," Soul scolds him as they all file into the main room. Blackstar only cuckles from behind him, insisting he wasn't going to say anything bad, but Soul knew him. The three of them make it down the hallway in silence, receiving a few odd glares from the lingering guards. It wasn't anything new though, every time Maka paid a visit all eyes were on them carefully.
When Soul pushes open the door to their bedroom, he is greeted with yet another frantic looking guard. Kilik sat up from his cot, his cloak having been discarded on the floor as well as his armor. His normal guard attire had been traded for a frilly looking white shirt, a leather tunic, and black slacks- a particularly fancy set of clothes that Soul had barely ever seen the other wear before.
"Hey," He greets, seemingly out of breath. "Were you guys taken off your post too? Some servant came to fetch Kim and I about an hour ago. They told us to leave and get dressed in something nice."
Soul can't help the way he automatically turns to Maka, looking for some explanation. It made sense for Blackstar to have been invited to the dinner, but Kilik? He was just a guard who worked in the kitchen area, helping to move supplies and make sure there were no castaways in the loading carts. How would the King and Queen have known about him?
"Oh?" Maka steps into the room from his side, Blackstar following after her. "You're Kilik, right? The guard that helps in the kitchen with deliveries?" Kilik simply nods as he runs a hand through his hair, a somewhat nervous habit he picked up on. "You work with Kim frequently, don't you? Did she not explain anything to you?"
"No, not really," Kilik answers, "all she said when the servant told us to get ready was to meet her in the dining hall before the sunset."
"There's going to be a dinner party for the staff who helped set everything up for the party coming up. If you helped the cooks in the kitchen with all the food deliveries coming in, that is probably why you got invited," Maka explains, her tone delicate. "I heard you guys were under immense pressure to make sure everything came in. I bet there were a lot of carts to look over."
"Oh, you have no idea." With a sigh, Kilik sat back down on the edge of his bed. "So we're all attending this… party?"
"This is going to be fun," Blackstar comments as he makes it to his cot. "The last time we all attended a party together was the inaugural ceremony for the incoming guards, and Soul, oh my god, you were so wasted-"
"Don't remember- didn't happen," Soul hissed through clenched teeth. "That definitely is not the reason I do not drink anymore."
At his side, Maka giggles. "Never thought of you as a drinker, Soul," She hums, almost suggestively, into his ear.
"Yeah, well, i don't drink anymore," He grumbled before pushing the Princess more into the room, closing the bedroom door behind them. Taking the action as 'welcome' into the room, Maka happily made her way over to Soul's cot and sat on it as if it were her own, a pleasant firm grin pulling on her face.
"I can't even remember the last time we had to dress up." Already working the fastens of his armor, Blackstar sighs. "We must have all been teenagers still."
"You say that as if being 24 is old," Soul comments as he makes his way over to where their dressers stand, his hands already working to remove his cloak. "Whatever. Anyway, Mak's, who else is attending this party, and what should we expect? I can't say I have ever attended such a fancy event before."
"Mak's?" Maka parrots. "That's the first time I've ever heard someone use that nickname."
"Oh, do you like it? I thought it was nice!"
Rolling his eyes, Soul turned his back to the trio as he undid his armor and put it back into its proper place. He made sure to put his cloak on the top of his dresser as well, allowing the broach that Maka had bought him to shine in front of him.
"I- I guess? Um, anyway. You really haven't been to a dinner party?"
"Not a royal one. I've attended some of the dinner parties down in the village with some friends but they haven't been anything spectacular!"
"I doubt they're much different, honestly," Maka insists, "People just stand around and talk for a while, some awful band comes and plays, and then we eat, have a few drinks, and go off on our merry ways. They're pretty boring."
Soul can't help the slight huff that leaves him. Pretty boring was an understatement. Dinner parties sucked. He'd be lying if he said he was excited for tonight. He was just glad he'd be attending as Maka's guard and nothing more.
Princesses always had to deal with formalities.
He decides to drown out the trio behind them as he finishes putting his armor away. He dug through his dresser, looking for a suitable outfit to wear that didn't have noticeable crease lines engraved into it. Eventually, he decided on a shirt that looked similar to Killiks, accompanied with sleeveless leather tunic that he is sure he stole from Stein at some point.
At some point, Blackstar makes it to his side, bumping elbows as he invades his personal space.
"I hope you made up your mind and told Hero that you were going to keep your hair for Maka's party, by the way." he'd whispered into his ear as he opened his own dresser. "I know its not my place to press, and I never would, but i know there's a reason you're so adamant about keeping your appearance as vague as possible and i doubt that you want to throw five years of being careful down the drain."
Soul can only gawk at his friend, watching as he carefully sorts through his clothes.
"You did tell him, right?"
"I-I didn't, actually," he replies earnestly. "I don't know. I think that maybe I don't need to be as careful anymore."
"Did something change your mind about it- keeping your identity a secret, that is?"
With a shrug, he leaned up against his dresser, his eyes flickering across the room to where Maka sat on the edge of his cot, waving her hands about as she spoke to Kilik. He willed his heart to beat again when he felt it still for just a moment at the sight.
"I guess," he answers, "I just realized, you know, it's been five years. I doubt I look like the same person I did when I left my previous village. I don't think I have anything to really be scared about anymore."
"Interesting view," Blackstar hummed, closing his dresser. "Well, if you think that you don't have anything to worry about, I trust you. Just know I'll always be here for you, if something were to happen, of course."
"That sounds very… ominous," Soul can't help but comment, turning his full attention to Blackstar who was openly looking up at him with a grin.
"You've always struck me as like a thief on the run or something. I'm just saying, if anyone were to ever come for your ass, I'd be your backup. You're my best friend." A grin spreads across his friend's face mischievously. "I'd fight on your behalf."
"Wow, so reassuring," he can't help but joke back, feeling the conversation may have gotten a bit too deep. "Is this a promise?"
"Oh, it's a promise," Blackstar laughed. "God, man, I would kill for you if I had to."
"I'd do the same for you too," he ends up saying.
He feels like this conversation should just be a joke, that they were just two friends joking around like they normally would- but there's weight behind the words Blackstar speaks, whether he realizes it or not.
And he hates it.
"Are you two goig to get ready? We don't have all the time in the world, your know!" Kilik shouts from behind them, dropping onto his cot with a huff.
"Oh, shut up! You just want to go and see Kim again. Give us a minute, God!" Blackstar shouts back, turning around to stick out his tongue.
From the corner of the room, Maka just laughs, shaking her head as she drops it into her hands.
They weren't even ready yet, and for some reason, Soul just knew it was going to be a long night.
