The morning brings Maka nothing but more confusion and exhaustion.

After her dream, she had stayed up all night, trying to analyze every aspect of her current situation with Soul. Forging pros and cons lists, lengthy journal entries and even meditating had only brought her to one conclusion: it's just weird. Nice weird.

Look, Maka doesn't trust, like or even notice men unless it's absolutely necessary. So how had it happened? She's on her way to school now, almost dragging herself towards the DWMA, but her brain still doesn't stop overworking itself, so she retraces all her steps during the party.

She had gone in with Tsubaki, who was whisked away by friends in an instant and Maka had opted to sit at the bar instead. It was already a couple hours into the party when they had arrived, and she just didn't like the idea of dancing in an already sweaty and drunk crowd, without being sweaty and drunk herself.

So drink she would. Ordering a beer to start herself off easy, she had pulled out her phone to read an e-book she had downloaded before. First sip of the beer, first sentence of the book, and that was exactly when he had shown up to order a beer himself, and had sat next to her. The conversation was flowing as easily as the drinks even over the loud music. He had no mercy with his teasings, calling her a bookworm for sitting and reading at a party instead of actually joining it. After some debate about how to enjoy a party like this, she was pulled to the dance floor. It was such an obvious challenge, there was no way she could have said no.

The dancing was too much, too fast. Maka was drunk, she was fairly certain that Soul was, too. They had created a little bubble for the two of them that no one else was allowed in; she hadn't even noticed the people crowding them, or how bad the music was. They were dancing so close, and she was so aware of any move he made. His hands running up and down her arms before pulling her towards his own body, giving her goosebumps. His breath on her ear whenever he tried to tell her something. Her hands still trembled when she recalled how he undid her pigtails, and she just had to take his hand to lead him off the dance floor.

She still doesn't know why he enticed her so much. She has some ideas, maybe they are intertwined, but they don't explain the attraction she felt towards him either way. She was drunk, loaded with overheard locker room stories about him, and there is no denying his charms. But all these reasons still fell short, until she considered the possibility that she had already held some kind of dormant attraction towards him before the party.

Looking back, she probably had a crush on him when they were younger. First day at the DWMA, he had played the piano for her, and she had loved it. They had shaken hands, and that was it. They rarely spoke to each other afterwards, and the only communication she had with Soul had turned into the rumors she heard through his fan club, and the facts she heard through Tsubaki, his best friend's weapon partner, who just happens to be her best friend.

Why was it him? Why was it her? She knows he could take his pick from any of the girls at DWMA, he has a huge fan club who asked him out daily already, but any other girl with a good set of eyes and an average mind would probably agree that they'd jump him the first chance they got.

Not Maka, though. It's not that she doesn't find him attractive—handsome, talented, charismatic. It's just… men in general. Because she had seen men in motion her whole life. They are stupid, disloyal, dirty, loud… everything she stands against in her life. So what set him apart? What had set her apart from any other girl at the party, for him?

Just as she starts contemplating her place in this system of attraction towards power, looks and money, she sees Tsubaki waving at her below the steps of DWMA. Maka quickly shuns the thoughts, though the word is probably already spreading like wildfire, she doesn't want to act weird around her friend because of a man, so she shows her a small smile, takes her arm, and leans on her a little to support her tired body as they walk up the stairs.

Sadly, Tsubaki is none-the-wiser about her struggles, and goes straight for the kill as they start walking up the stairs. "A little birdie told me you had some fun at the party after I left you." She shoots her a knowing grin, and Maka knows there is no escaping her now.

She groans inwardly, at least they don't have time before class. At least they don't share this class with Tsubaki, so she can get ready for the questioning. She needs to prep, Tsubaki can be relentless when she wants to.

A genuine, reassuring smile is all it takes for her to promise to tell her everything that happened during PE later, and Maka realizes how easy it is to fall prey to her traps with how good-natured she usually is. But she knows its going to be this brutal round of questioning when her friend's smile turns crooked in a mischievous way.

There's nothing she can do to escape now, so she sighs as her friend skips towards her own class, and drags herself inside.

Look, Soul loves his best friend. But damn, is Black*Star loud.

That's why he is also the worst person to see first thing in the morning after waking up with the headache of the century. If you could even call it 'waking up,' considering he'd spent almost the whole night ruminating about the training session he and Maka had agreed on after school that evening. Stein had pulled them aside yesterday after they went back inside and told them it was the most awful attempt at resonance with a Death Scythe that he has ever witnessed.

Maka, being the number one nerd the DWMA has ever seen, had taken it to heart, of course, of course, and forced him to agree to train with her after school that day so that they might achieve resonance the next time Stein revisits this topic with the class. How could he possibly say no?

It's definitely anxiety inducing, though, what with the idea of practicing quite literally sharing his soul with the girl that he's had an on-and-off crush on since forever.

Soul thinks the crush began when he saw her fight the first time and just never completely went away. He couldn't remember the name of her weapon partner for the life of him, as his memory of that day consists solely of how graceful Maka looked swinging that huge scythe around like it weighed nothing.

After that, he would always watch her whenever he could, doing just whatever. Walking around, hanging out with her friends, eating, fighting was especially one of his favorites. One time he had even spent a couple hours in the library under the pretense of research to watch her study. And of course, being the god that he is, Black*Star took notice of his worshipper's troubles, and decided that teasing his friend about this would be so funny. That teasing is actually what got Soul to accept that yes, he's very much into Maka.

Now, Soul has grown up a lot since then. He is 20 now and has mastered the art of the poker face. His control over his facial cues is so well that he can keep all emotions under a well-crafted mask of 'unbothered'. Hiding her crush on Maka had been top of his list when building this mask, and the fact that he's been with some girls after defeating the Kishin had been supporting his claim of not having a crush on Maka anymore.

The truth is that he always came back to Maka, somehow. It seems that all the failed relationships he's been in or the week-long crushes he's had were nothing compared to what he feels for the little nerdling. Though he's been trying with all his might and succeeding in hiding this fact from Black*Star, as he had stopped teasing him over this a couple of years ago.

Sadly though, his god is all-seeing, and he had seen the little kiss he had shared with Maka, as well as the terrible resonance attempt. Suddenly, Soul is 13 years old again and his crush is the most exciting and funny thing in Black*Star's life.

"Man, you are absolutely WHIPPED!"

Soul wonders how satisfying it would be to smack Black*Star on the head. He imagines and briefly considers doing it, but decides to just shush him instead because damn it, he's loud. And everyone's already been staring at them, and the last thing he needs is for the whole DWMA to find out that he's 'whipped' for the local teacher's pet (even though he very much is, he'll accept that). That he'd very publicly made out with the other day, and she ran away from him for reasons he can't even comprehend. Ugh.

"Shut up, you moron! You can tease me however you want when it's the two of us, okay? Just shut up right now!" he hisses under his breath, which motivates Black*Star to laugh even louder, if that's possible.

"You can't tell me what to do! I'll tease you anywhere I want!" The only reply Soul could give that is the loudest sigh he could manage. "For real though, Soul, what now? Is your crush back? You gonna ask her to be your girlfriend or something?" Black*Star is looking at his friend with what seems like genuine interest and… concern? Soul can never really tell what's going on inside that huge, spiky blue head of his.

Soul rubs his face and kicks a stone, these are the exact questions he's been asking himself since the party, but he isn't any close to an answer after having had stomachaches while overthinking about this for three days now.

"I don't know, Star. I don't know why she left. She didn't tell me when I asked and it's confusing. My crush never really went away, anyway, but—"

Black*Star cuts him off with a bup-bup-BUP and a hand on each of his shoulders to stop him from walking. "Excuse you, WHAT? Bro, what do you mean your crush never went away? YOU KEPT THIS FROM ME? FROM YOUR GOD?" They're at the end of the stairs leading up to the DWMA, and he's yelling again. And people are staring, again.

The loudest groan ever rumbles from Soul's chest as they walk through the front doors. "I mean, yeah dude. You're not good company when you're aware of my crushes."

"You mean your all-consuming, burning love towards that tiny blonde badass? You've been pining over that girl for years, Soul. Either make your move or get over it." Somehow, Soul's day just got a little bit worse as there's now two annoying friends instead of one weighing in on his decision. And Soul knows that with the combination of Black*Star, Liz, and this topic, the range of 'shitty' that his day can get has just expanded to twice its size.

"Oh he made his move alright. Didn't you see them sucking face at the party last Friday? It was crazy!" Black*Star lets out a loud laugh as he lets his friend's shoulders go, and pats him on the back to start walking again.

They are going up the one million stairs to get to the door, and Soul's already breathless at the tenth one. Liz whistles long at the new information and pats Soul on the back, like Black*Star had a second ago. "Good for you! Finally putting the moves on Maka. Are you guys dating now?"

He shakes his head before nervously running his hands through his hair. Basically panting, he manages to answer her. "No, um… We made out for a while, and I asked her if she wanted to go somewhere, uh, quiet? And she freaked out on me and basically ran out of the party." Lifting his head back up, he looks at Liz to catch her first reaction. He needs a girl's opinion, an honest one, and it's not looking good at all.

Black*Star doubles over, laughing, while Liz grimaces and mutters a damn under her breath. She places a hand on his arm for support, most probably upon seeing the lost puppy look on Soul's face. "Look, I'm not gonna lie to you, Eater, it's not looking good if she ran out. How was the making out itself? Good?"

"It was amazing and that's making everything so much worse!" He whines, like a child complaining to his mother that his favorite toy is broken. Black*Star is laying on the stairs now, and If I hear his laugh for a second longer, I'm kicking him down.

"Shut the fuck up, Black*Star! It's 8 AM, you're so annoying!" Someone yells from afar, Soul doesn't even turn to look at them as Black*Star answers: "Go fuck yourself, Ox!"

"Well, was it also amazing for her?" Liz's eyebrows are raised so high that they almost touch her hairline. At the top of the stairs, he places his hand on the door handle. The smirk he puts on his face isn't at full force, but he was sure it was still annoying as fuck. Especially when he followed it with, "She said, and I quote: 'the kiss was great'. So." Before opening the door.

"So, what's the problem? Why did she leave?"

"That's the question, Liz. I guess I'm gonna have to ask her tonight. Hopefully I won't somehow fuck that up as well."

They go inside, and Black*Star is still laying on the stairs when the doors close behind them.

Getting ready for PE is even worse than it usually is with her body so fatigued. Maka has always hated PE, thinks it's unnecessary at the DWMA, given that the students are already active with the nature of their job. Relaxing is something they desperately need, but there are so many better ways of relaxing than running after a ball for two whole hours.

Also, there is just no way she will relax with everything that's going on inside her head, especially with the upcoming chat she has with Tsubaki looming over her head.

"Hey, Albarn!" hearing her name called is what brings her out of her inward complaint session, and she turns around to find Elizabeth Thompson.

"Hey Liz, how's it going?"

Liz is one of the weapons of the current God of Death, Kid. Maka gets along with Kid on an intellectual level, and they hang out frequently out of school or work. Her relationship with Liz, is also good, though a little awkward. They chat when they see each other in the halls, help each other during class, even go out with the other girls in their year from time to time, but they have always been very different. Maka is always a little envious of how confident and energetic Liz is, and it's disappointing that she can almost never match her energy out of a fight. But Liz is always fun to hang out with, and she has come to appreciate that over the years.

"I'm good, Maka but I'll be way better once you dish! Heard about your new activity at the party the other day."

Now, the conversation is not surprising, it might even be considered a little mundane. But the topic and the timing are fishy, considering Liz and Soul are very close friends. Maka's knows the blush is instant, and only gets redder as multiple heads turn towards her to stare with a mixture of envy and raw hate. She hates the looks she's getting, that she's being forced to talk about this before she is ready, and it overall contributes to her hate of PE.

"It was fine." she answers, understatement of the year, hoping that Liz will get the hint and drop the topic, at least until they're out of earshot from the obvious Soul 'Eater' Evans fan club members. Liz shoots the girls some dirty looks, making them turn their heads away and getting closer to Maka, so the conversation is a little more private. Maka keeps looking inside her locker, only looking at Liz briefly as she asks her next question.

"Liz, why are you asking me this instead of asking him? Did he ask you to try to get something out of me because I didn't say yesterday?" Her eyes are just slits now, and she crosses her arms over her chest as she hunts for any excuse to pound a book to Soul's head the next time she sees him.

"Look, he was just worried that he did something wrong. I'm trying to make sure he didn't. If he was anything other than a gentleman, tell me. I'll smack some sense right into his stupid face." The taller blond says, as she hits her palm with her fist, looking a little terrifying as she smiles warmly.

Maka feels stupid with the way her heart clenches and stomach churns. He kept asking her about what went wrong, but the fact that he asked Liz about that to get advice is… Kind of adorable, if she's honest. If that's what really happened; the possibility that it's not makes her stomach do this disgusting flip.

"Thanks, Liz. But he was perfectly nice." she smiles at Liz as they start walking towards the door.

"Nice? Oof, sorry, Eater." Liz grimaces, and Maka tilts her head in confusion before closing her locker door. Nice is supposed to be a positive adjective, right? Why the 'sorry'?

Liz catches her confused stare, and answers her silent question before she can ask it. "I- well, he said it was amazing. With the goofiest smile on his face and everything, but you only said it was nice, so. It's a bad day to be Soul, I guess."

Oh. Amazing? He called it amazing?

Her heart must be working overtime along with her brain today because it starts beating rapidly at the word, and she turns her head towards Liz so fast her neck hurts. She doesn't correct Liz, though the grin on Liz's face tells her she's been figured out either way. It's enough interrogation for her until Tsubaki, she decides, and asks her own question that's been eating at her instead as they leave the changing rooms, to the corridors.

"Liz, are the rumors true?" They're already inside the gym before she gathers enough courage to ask, and the sound of plastic shoes on the rubber floors that fills her ears instantly make it hard to hear Liz's answer, but at least she has an excuse to not be looking at her friend, her eyes searching for Tsubaki and maybe a certain man with white hair. The smell of rubber and the sounds of students going feral over a ball is driving her crazy instantly, but she tries her best to ignore it all.

"I mean, most of them aren't, there's only a couple that are partly true. We even made a drinking game to make fun of them, you take a shot if you think it's not true, and don't if you think it is. Then he reveals the answer and if you're wrong, you take two shots. We get so wasted each time we play. You should join us sometime." She giggled, and immediately sent Maka an apologetical smile after. "But try not to worry too much about those, okay? Whatever he says to you is true, he might be stupid, or an ass, but Soul is an honest guy. Thinks lying is uncool or whatever."

Maka nods and thanks Liz sincerely, starting to walk towards Tsubaki, who she finds waving at her enthusiastically next to the volleyball net. Dreading the upcoming conversation that will no doubt include topics like her feelings, traumas and physical reactions, she makes a point of walking over as slowly as she can.

When she hears her name being called from right next to her, she almost shrieks with shock. She turns to find Soul just staring at her, smiling timidly. It's not a full smile, a grin, or anything close to his signature smirk, and she feels the need to wipe it off his face somehow. Such a meek smile doesn't suit him at all.

"Hey, we still on for after school?" he asks, his voice low with the same shyness that his smile carries.

"Of course! We have to be able to achieve resonance before the next time Stein tries that in front of the class!" She answers, placing both her hands on her hips as if to emphasize her point.

"You are such a nerd. Okay, I'll see you at 5, then." Soul replies with a snort, before starting to walk away. He's barely taken two steps before Maka yells, "Hey, take that back!"

He turns back towards her with what's now turned into an amused grin. "Can't lie to you, Maka." She's rooted in her place with his line, and huffs when she feels herself flush red yet again, this time not from excitement but from embarrassment and anger instead. She steams in her anger for a moment there, until Tsubaki comes up to her and manages to win her attention with hands placed on her shoulders.

"I need details, as soon as possible, Maka." She demands, with saucers for eyes.

"Oh, Tsubaki," Maka sighs, before pulling her friend by her hands to start walking, and explaining everything that happened.

The two hours of PE class that day was spent taking laps around the gym and chatting for the two girls. Maka recounts everything that happened between them since the party, while occasionally taking peeks at Soul playing basketball. Delightful view when he shoots and his shirt rides up, by the way. One time she watches him for so long, she hears Tsubaki snickering behind her. She has to physically force herself out of the stupor by shaking her head, and groans when she finds her friend with the biggest grin ever.

Tsubaki is not shocked at all by anything she hears, and Maka's a little disappointed with the lack of reaction from her best friend. This situation has been driving her nuts over the past couple of days, and it just seems to be no big deal. So, she asks Tsubaki why she isn't more surprised.

"Well, Maka, believe it or not I have been guessing that you had a little crush on him for a while now. I would like to think that I know you well, and from what I hear about him through Black*Star, the whole situation seems befitting you two. It's cute," She hides a giggle behind her hand at Maka's scowl, and continues. "Why exactly did you run away, though? It's not out of character at all, but I also wouldn't be shocked if you took the lead. What made you choose to run instead?"

That is the question, and Maka doesn't have an answer she would like to say out loud, so she shakes her head, choosing to ignore that one instead.

Soul's feelings of impending doom that followed him around through the day prove to be useless as Maka's been swinging him around for around four hours now. Though he's been exhausted and anxious, he's feeling great now after being around her for a couple hours in a very comfortable, almost completely silent environment doing something they're both very good at. Still inside the gym, with their gym clothes, after hours, with the lights dim. This is probably what she thinks is a romantic environment, he thinks to himself, and almost gives himself away with his giggles.

He had been almost dreading meeting her today for this training session, and especially after teasing her and, he thinks, genuinely annoying her a little, he was definitely scared to face her now. Thankfully he had underestimated just how focused she'd be when studying is imminent, and she had even skipped small talk to jump right into work.

So they had been training for hours with onlya couple of brief conversations about strategy and how to practise resonating without being thrown towards the trees, and everything feels more light now, Maka doesn't seem to be obsessing over what happened like he has been, and it has calmed him down a little.

"I think we can stop now. What time is it?" She asks, and lets him transform back while checking her watch. "It's 8:30. Time flies when you're having fun, right?"

She's giggling while walking towards her bag, but he's mortified with realization. Maka hasn't been stressing over this training session as he was. She was light, happy and seems satisfied with their time, too. Had he been the only one affected by the kiss? Were her reactions yesterday just the embarrassment of having done that with him instead of shyness like he had assumed?

His stress is back, and how. He even forgets to answer her as he sits down on the floor by her feet. She's sitting on one of the benches, panting and drinking water, somehow at the same time. Soul would have laughed at that if he wasn't so deep in panic.

"Soul?" she questions after not getting an answer for a while, and her tone holds genuine concern, he thinks. It sounds so sweet, and for some reason that sweetness is the trigger to his flooding questions.

"Why'd you leave, Maka?" he turns around to look at her face. She is shocked, and silence reigns the gym for a while, nothing making any sound except the echoes of their panting breaths.

She looks into his eyes for only a second before averting them, choosing instead to just stare straight ahead. "Can we talk about this after shower?"

"Are you promising me the conversation?" he's still looking directly into her eyes, so he catches them when she turns her head back towards him and gives him just the tiniest of nods.

"Okay, then. Let's go take showers, and then we'll grab something to eat, yeah? I don't know about you, but I could eat a horse. We'll talk while we eat." He tries to settle the tension between them a little, but it flies over Maka's head as she plays with her fingers in obvious nervousness.

He gets up, his shoes making that god awful sound on the rubber floors, and grabs his bag before offering her his hand. She just looks at it for a moment, so he gently directs her, "Come on, I'll even let you choose what we're having." And smirks despite himself.

Fifteen minutes later, he's waiting in front of the girls' changing rooms, leaning into the lockers with staring at his phone. His shower took way too long, in his opinion, he wanted to be here when she's done just in case she tries to take an escape route.

It's another five minutes before she's out of the room with damp hair, purple sweatpants and white t-shirt and no pigtails. It is a struggle to not just kiss her right then and there, but he pulls through and takes her hand to lead her through the now-empty halls of their school, and doesn't let go until they're well down the stairs.

"How does pizza sound?" one of them finally makes a sound, and it's her with the suggestion. "Yeah, I'm down." He answers as he starts walking towards the parking lot.

"Where are you going, the pizza place is this way?" She's just adorable with the way she tilts her head in question. He hates that they have to have this conversation instead of just picking up where they left off, but he needs the reassurance that no, he didn't do anything wrong that time, and yes, she's into him too and they can get married and have the cutest, smartest babies together. Maybe the last part comes later, though.

"We're not walking." He grins and keeps walking, with her following closely behind.

When they get to his bike, and she connects the dots she's yelling at him. "No way I'm going on that! Bikes are such death traps, Soul!" He's laughing as he takes the helmet out of the case and placing it on her head.

"It's perfectly safe, and we're having precautions like this." He explains as he latches it, and moves to take off his jacket. "I promise I will drive really slowly during the five minutes that will take for us to get to the pizza place." Still giggling, he holds out his jacket for her so she can place her arms in. His heart leaps a little when she turns back towards him, looking so fucking tiny in his jacket.

She makes a point of not hugging him too hard, and while its probably a show of pride and not at all related to him, he still feels somewhat disappointed. It actually takes them 8 minutes to get there, only because he drove the slowest he probably had since getting his license.

The place is fairly empty since it's already 9 PM, and they order swiftly without exchanging any words beforehand. It's an anxious wait until their pizzas and drinks are in front of them, and they each take a bite before Soul asks, "Well?" silently, with lifted brows. Since there was only like, two tables other than them, he didn't want anyone overhearing their conversation.

Maka takes in a deep breath, lets it out while putting her slice down, and takes another breath before giving him the briefest answer ever. "I was scared."

He just keeps staring at her until she talks a bit more. "I was scared because I've never felt like that before, ever."

"Like what?" He answers with his mouth full, regretting his suggestion of doing this over dinner. But having a full stomach will probably help him navigate this better, so he lets it go.

"So… Out of control. You know. I've never felt that way." She sighs and takes another bite before speaking again, also with a full mouth which kind of amuses Soul. Who would've thought she'd do that? "I've never been attracted by a person so much that I lost myself that much. It was scary." She shrugs before meeting his eyes for the first time since they left the school grounds. "I'm sorry for running. You really had nothing to do with my reaction."

"Except have devastating good looks, right?" He wears his signature shit-eating grin as his teasing does what he had hoped it would, and she blushes all the way down to her neck. The confidence he felt yesterday was back with her explanation, and the anxiety had left his body the second she had used the word 'attraction' when talking about him. At that moment he is basically the king of the world, a god that could even rival Black*Star.

"I guess… Shut up." She mumbles as a reply before taking a huge bit out of her pizza, probably to avoid talking, and it only fuels the flame inside him, and inflates his pride even more, if that's even possible.

"Look, I think it's very natural to feel scared in this situation, especially given that you're a little bit of a control freak," he nudges her with his foot as he says that, hoping to convey that he's still just teasing. "But maybe it'll help you relax a bit knowing that I'm very attracted to you too. And I was also very scared when you left like that. I thought I had crossed a boundary and hurt you somehow." He lets out a dry laugh as he rans his fingers through his hair, pulling a little to ease his tension. "I have been very panicky and uncool about it, too. Sorry if I pushed you."

She offers him a small smile as she answers. "You didn't push me at all, Soul. You've been very kind. Thank you for that." He smiles back, a genuine one instead of the grin he usually wears, and they finish their food in silence.

This time, as they're driving back to her house so he can drop her off, she hugs him tighter and he drives a little faster. He takes the routes he knows will lengthen their time, once knowingly taking a wrong turn even though she warned him beforehand, with an "oops" as his only apology, and she pinches his side. It's honestly heartwarming.

She gets off the bike the second he parks, though, but he reaches for her hand before she can move completely away from him. He turns her towards him as he gets off the bike himself, uses one hand on her cheek to pull her face towards his, and places his forehead on hers. Both their eyes close for a second, and his hand abandons hers to move to her waist and pull her a little more towards his chest.

They stay like that for a moment, reveling in their closeness and how cozy the moment is with the wind rustling around them combined with the dim lights of the street. She's still wearing his jacket, he notices as he's slowly rubbing her lower back, and she finally hugs him back as tight as she can, pulling them flush to each other.

Their lips are almost touching anyway, but he figures after that conversation, it's best to ask, just to make sure they're on the same page. His voice is a little breatless, his heart is beating a little faster as he whispers, "Can I kiss you?" on her lips.

First she lets out a small breath, but then it's the bookworm talking. "It's 'may I kiss you'." She corrects him with a giggle, and he lets out a groan, but he's grinning anyway. She's lucky she's cute.

"Yes, you may." He replies, and she gasps and swats his arm, admonishing him for trapping her like that, before leaning into him extremely slowly to give him a chaste kiss.

The kiss is not chaste for long, though, as he gives into the urge to kiss her that he's been battling for days and deepens the kiss. Once again it feels completely right to be kissing her, and he already misses her when she breaks away for breath.

"May I take you out on a date this weekend?" He asks, his heart beating rapidly, emphasizing the 'may'. When she pulls away to look him clearly in the eyes, her face is completely red, and oh Death, he doesn't know why he's so obsessed with it but that blush is going to be the death of him. Her chest is heaving, and she's squeezing his sides when she tells him that yes, he may.

Hi again, everyone!

Thank you all for the kudos and the reviews and feedback and the PM's, it has motivated me so much to write this through the week, I have been writing and reading this chapter over and over every break I had at work. I have changed the whole thing at least three times lol

I'm trying to keep the pacing a little faster than I would because I really want this story to be on the shorter side, but please feel free to tell me if it feels rushed or anything, because I'm honestly not so sure about that :')

See you guys next time!