Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Maka always figured Soul was a bit of a weirdo.

Now don’t get her wrong, she’s not one to judge, she wouldn’t classify herself as completely normal either. Nevertheless, she’d consider herself more..normal than others (Said others would disagree, but nobody asked them did they?). 

With that said however, Soul was werid. Not in that creepy, hooded alley figure type of way, but something more tame.

For all the “cool guy” act he seemed to put on—thought calling it an act would be a stretch considering how bad he was at it—he didn’t look or act like he had many thoughts going through his head. At all.

She doesn’t really expect him to act all studious or disciplined, not with how he breezes through school with high C’s and low B’s. That doesn’t mean however, she managed to understand his odd behavior and comprehension—or in some case, lack thereof.

How Maka even got to this point starts the same way every one of her problems (besides collecting souls and what not) appeared to be caused by these days.

Black Star, of course.

•••

The bustling movement and boisterous sounds swarming throughout the cafeteria, unsurprisingly, did little to cure her very recent and present migraine. The ragtag group she found herself sitting with didn’t contribute much either with…whatever they were chatting about.

Concentrating a bit more on their conversation, she could vaguely identify an increasingly heated argument between Black Star (expected)—and oddly enough—Kid (unexpected) on Coke vs Pepsi.

When Maka first met Kid, honestly, she expected more of the nonchalant, snobbish type of vibes just based off his general demeanor. In the worst way possible, she was so incredibly wrong. For someone who seemed so above petty arguments, he was so not. Other than his odd symmetry fixation, he was a smarter Black Star, who was just as easily agitated. The proof was in front of her bickering in why Pepsi is better than Coke, and on second thought, just maybe she wishes he was that snobbish person she originally thought him out to be. (Somewhere in the very far back of her brain kindly informed her of the firm fact she wouldn’t give them up for the world. She willingly ignores it.)

It’s then at the climax of this argument, split between two for Coke—Black Star and Liz—two for Pepsi—Kid and Patty—and two for neither—Maka who could care less, and Tsubaki who was out running errands—that they turn to Soul.

It’s at this moment that Maka is only now seeing Soul throughout the entire argument, and he has by far the most contemplative look she’s ever seen him with, and even (which he denies at a later date) flinched slightly when they turn to him so suddenly.

“What about you Soul, which do you think is better?” Black Star all but investigates Soul, and Maka can confidently say it’s the most serious she’s seen him. Ever.

Soul on the other hand is utterly lost. He seems to contemplate his next sentence for a second, before mostly wisely decides on answering: “What?”

“Y’know,” Liz says crossing her arms, “Which soda do you prefer  more?”

This, only causes Soul to squint more. “Uhuh…but what is that?”

Maka swear she heard something break in Black Star who sat there, mortified. Patty is nearly copying him in action, though she seems more stupefied. Liz’s looks on with pity as Kid looks at him as if he doesn’t believe a word he said.

The liveliness of the cafeteria wasn’t loud enough to drown out the silence that fell upon their table.

A silence that Maka—shockingly enough—was the one to break.

“You don’t know what soda is? Like at all?”

Patty stares straight into his soul (pun unintended) at disbelief. “You really don’t know what is it? Like actually?”

Even Liz jumps in on it. “Resident  ‘Mr. Cool Guy’ hasn’t ever had a single sip of soda? Not even at like, a sleepover or something?”

Soul, noticeably more embarrassed than before, even exhibiting a slight pink tint on his cheeks, seems to get slightly aggravated at his now very apparent lack of knowledge on what they were talking about.

“Sleepover? What the hell are you all saying? Well I don’t even care anymore, it all sounds lame anyway.”

Maka wasn’t sure if he was joking or was just idiotic, but he appeared pretty serious. Either way, a second round of silence only made him turn shades pinker by the second.

“What is it!? Whatever you have to say, just say it!”

Black Star apparently snapped out of his trance, grabbing Soul’s shoulder, and looked at him dead in the eyes.

“Dude..we have so much to do,” he said as he grabbed Soul by the collar and dashed out of the cafeteria full speed.

Kid blanks at their disappearing figures within the crowd for a moment. “One can only wonder what kind of life he must’ve experienced to be so ignorant of such things.”

On at other say, maybe Maka would’ve thought more about it, and made a mental note to ask later, but as her head pulsed with every sound and light, a simple, Huh, I wonder, was all she could afford before setting her head down on the cool table and letting slumber overcome her.

•••

It’s only later after meeting back up, when poor Tsubaki is asked the fated question to break their stalemate, that the thought even comes back up again. Maka having to forcefully shut down another another fight took priority of said thought when, “I personally prefer Sprite,” was not an acceptable answer.

Chapter Text

He was fraud. A complete fraud. That’s what Soul was, and she has proof. Weeks worth of proof, actually.

It started about a month after they started the collection—or recollection—of souls again. Honestly, she’s not sure how she didn’t notice earlier, but maybe she started paying more attention to Soul after what Black Star dubbed the “Soda Incident”.

It actually starts on a Wednesday evening in which Maka burst into Soul’s room. In hindsight, that was fairly rude and a complete invasion of privacy, but in her defense, the chances of him doing anything worthwhile or worth mention in that moment were incredibly low. So with not much thought, she barged In him room.

“Hey Soul, have you seen my—“ pausing immediately at his hurried scuffle, pushing things off his desk and quickly standing up before walking, speed walking even, over to where she was standing. And while Maka couldn’t’ quite catch what he was doing beforehand, whatever it was, he was clearly not as good of hiding it, not with an entrance so sudden anyway.

“Haven’t you heard of privacy? It’s this neat thing, you could respect it more often.” He snapped, while attempting to push her out of his room. Attempting. He got her a few inches towards the door, but both of them knew he was fighting a losing battle. Anybody who knew or even looked at the two of them could easily tell Maka was definitely more fit than Soul, it made sense considering their occupations and roles. It’s not exactly that Soul was out of shape, quite the opposite actually, he was just..small? Okay, not like, height-wise of anything, she’d like to think they’re pretty evenly matched but he was skinner in a way. A bit too much so if you asked her, maybe she’ll ask him about it later.

To put it simply, Maka was for sure more physically capable than Soul, and he wasn’t gonna get far on this endeavor of pushing her out. Now without some help anyway. Sighing, she walks herself out and suppresses a laugh at Soul nearly tripping with the sudden upset of balance. Composing herself before she forgets what she came for she turns around and leans on the hallway wall, facing Soul who was now standing between his doorway, slightly out of breath.

“So..wanna explain what that was-“

“What do you want,” he hissed, interrupting her near immediately. Feisty much.

“Jeez, did you wake up on the wrong side of bed or something?” She asked, eyeing him up and down. Now that she was getting a good look at him, it's not that far off of a possibility.

“So you don’t need anything? Great.” He replied, ignoring her and slowly starting to close the door.

“C’mon,” she nagged as she placed her foot between the door so he couldn’t close it completely. “Lighten up a bit! I was wondering if you’d seen my green hair tie. I had two, but I can only find one now.”

“No, I haven’t. Is that all? Wonderful.” With a simple kick, he moved her foot from the doorway, shutting and locking his door. Wow. She seriously doesn’t know what he’s up to in there, but after that ordeal she’s not sure if she wasn’t to know or not. (She does.)

•••

It happens a couple more time before she catches him. Over the next month, whenever she’d enter unannounced, occasionally he’d quickly hide something and start pushing her out his room, failing, and Maka eventually relenting and leaving. Other times he’d be and act completely normal.

At one point she thought that he was possibly hiding something inappropriate or illegal, but she quickly dismissed it. He’s not that slick.

It’s a Friday night when she finally catches him. Not that he knows it.

It’s their monthly movie marathon and she’s been sitting on the couch the past 5 minutes waiting for him to head down to start. It’s at the 10 minute mark she reaches her limit. Harshly sitting up, she all but stomps her way to his room, she almost busts his room door open when she hears a very quiet, low breathing coming from his room. Almost like…he’s sleeping.

Opening the door, it reveals he is sleeping. Sleeping with a completely sat up posture and a pencil in hand. For a moment, she’s tempted to take a picture, maybe store a little blackmail while she’s at it. Maka has never seen Soul with an upright posture awake, she surely never expected to him with one sleeping. Matter of fact, anytime before she had seen him sleeping, it was hunched or thrown over anything comfortable enough to slump on though Maka doubts it’s comfortable with some of the positions she had found him in. As softly as she can manage, she attempts to sneak into his room, going back to their living room area to retrieve a light blanket, to lay on him. She’s fairly surprised he’s stayed sleeping throughout the whole ordeal. While they’re both pretty light sleepers, Soul is most definitely the lighter sleeper of the two.

Wondering what could make him so tired in the first place, she peeks over his shoulder to see…books.

He was studying. Her brain comes to a hard stop.

Double checking, she confirm, he is indeed reading. “‘DWMA Lesson Book: Unit 1-8’” she mumbled to herself, scanning across the various books splayed across his desk. That resulted in Soul himself grumbling until he falls onto his desk, head down.

There goes her blackmail. She holds back a laugh, briefly looking for injuries encase he may have hurt himself from his tumble, and leaves his room, completely forgetting about their movie night as 'Tangled' stays a frozen image in the background and heads to her own bed a bit giddier than usual.

•••

He asks about it the next morning. If she went into his room, she denies it wholeheartedly. She manages to catch him quite a few more times across the following weeks, continuing to deny entering his room and feigning ignorance. Mr. Cool Guy wants to hide he’s a bit more proper than he lets on? Who is she to stop him? Besides, he’s studying while he’s at it.

Her giddy feeling keeps up until exam season and he scores across the board Cs. She’s incurably annoyed the rest of the week. “What was the point of studying then!” She huffs as she thinks to herself. “That was completely useless.” Despite her annoyance, she doesn’t think of it much or at all. Maybe she should have. (Strike 2)

Chapter Text

“Tell me you’re joking.” She orders.

In the comfort of their own apartment, what seemed like such a warm atmosphere moments ago was destroyed with not much effort. A few words. A single word to be exact. That’s all it took, a single word. She could feel her fist clenching, she wouldn’t be surprised if she was near to drawing blood. Silence fills the room, not a single response or explanation drifts the air, not that it’d matter. Even if one was given, she most definitely wouldn’t hear it. The once loud chatter of their TV can now only be described as distant murmuring. The controllers lays on the ground, fallen from her grip. He stands in front of her, eyes averted, almost ashamed. He should be anyway.

“Go on,” she states once more. “I’m waiting.”

She finds herself walking closer, willingly however? She isn’t sure. She doesn’t feel in control of her own body, yet she marches forward anyway. She stops just close enough that she finds new sounds filling her ears past the murmurs. Another heartbeat, maybe one as loud as her own. Breathing, soft, if not stilled. If she takes the chance to listen even closer, she surely will be able to hear the turning of the rusted cogs in her brain attempting to talk his way out of this one. She sees his mouth open to omit some sort of excuse, but she quickly cuts him off.

“Now, what exactly did you mean by ‘who?' when I asked if you wanted to watch Moana?”

                                                                                                       •••

“This is dumb and quite frankly irresponsible, even for you if you ask me,” Soul chides, sprawled out across their couch. He watches as Maka scours through her Netflix page, movie after movie, looking for the “right one” to start off their “Disney Movie Marathon”.

“First of all, that’s why I didn’t ask.” Maka retorts, pausing a moment to process what he said before continuing to scroll for the right movie once more. It’s only moments later her scrolling seizes to glare at him, twisting her torso to grab ahold a pillow that makes contact with his face only a few moments after.

“Secondly, what do you mean ‘even for you’!? I’m perfectly responsible, thank you very much!” She places her hand on her chest in mock shock, before turning back to the screen once more. “Now stop talking to me, you’re disturbing me. If you’re really worried about being up that late on a school night, you’d let me have the peace and quiet needed to pick out a good movie,” she insisted.

“Of course your majesty, anytime your majesty.” He mock bows, or at least tries to from his position, the pillow sliding off his face and into his lap. As much as she’d just love to banter back and forth, he is slightly and surprisingly right. It’s already late and they do have classes the next morning. It’d be smarter to head to bed now and wake up refreshed for the next morning, but after their previous conversation, she doubt she’d be able to sleep peacefully either way. To put the situation into context, it was approximately 5 minutes ago Maka discovered Soul has not only never seen a single Disney princess movie, but also that he hasn’t seen a single Disney movie. At all.

“There!” She turns Soul and watches him slightly perk up, appearing to be on the verge of sleeping. She nudges him a bit as she gestures towards the screen. “How about Cinderella?”

“Sure, I guess. Why’d it take you so long anyway? We could have started from the movie you asked about earlier, ‘Muna’ or something like that anyway,” he yawns out.

“And that’s where you’re wrong again!” She jeered, poking him once more. “You can’t start with the best of the best, you gotta work you way up! Cinderella isn’t bad, but it’s personally far from the greatest. If I were to give a fair rating—”

“Yeah that’s enough from you,” he interjected, covering her mouth with his hand. It didn’t stay there long, his hand quickly withdrawing  with a yelp when she sinks her teeth into one of his fingers. He glanced up, firmly glaring at her from across the couch where she briefly sticks her tongue out at him.

“Well if you think this movie’s bad, it must be pretty good,” he grumbles, slightly blowing on the area he was bit.

“I didn’t say it was bad!” She accused as she starts the movie. “I just said it wasn’t my favorite, now pay attention! We have a bunch of movie to get through before the morning,” she states. She turns her focus towards the screen, and as the screen starts to fade into colors, she’s sure that it’s gonna be a fun night.

“Before morning?” He groans. “What happen to a good ol’ bedti- ouch!” He clutched his stomach and took the jab as a sign to close his mouth. She’s sure it’ll still be a fun night. Probably.

                                                                                                       •••

Maka doesn’t think she can handle another movie with Soul, forget a movie night. It takes him less than half of one movie to turn into the world’s greatest movie critic. Not a single movie they’ve gone through has been a silent watch, a comment always has to leave his mouth every other second. She thinks she just might be going mental.

“Why is she just leaving with a bunch of animals?”

“That has to be a health concern.”

“That’s not realistic in the slightest.”

She’s not sure how much longer she could take this. Mentally she decided she was done for the night, and put on the last movie for the night, Tangled. Physically, her body decided that the last movie was her final one, and not even 5 minutes into the movie, Maka let her exhaustion drag her into a light snooze.

                                                                                                       •••

Barely jolting awake, Maka opens her eyes to the movie still playing. She must’ve not slept for long considering the fact they were still on the very first song, though it was near the end of it. Prepared to face the harsh judgement of apparent movie critic, Soul..Eater? Huh, she never really thought much about his name, but it matches his “job description” perfectly. It was pretty coincidental if you asked her. But is that really his name? Real name or not, Soul himself was uncharacteristically quiet.

Maka wouldn’t necessarily describe Soul as a loud person per se, but he definitely wasn’t quiet. Reserved, would be the better term. He was very reactive, and could usually be found or, heard in most cases, clicking his tongue in derision at something said in passing or just at mild annoyance or discomfort. Now, however, he’s just silent. Starting at the screen, eyes widened slightly.

‘Huh’ is the best could think of before her previous nap came back to capture her as she sunk once more into a peaceful slumber.

                                                                                                       •••

Opening her eyes felt heavy. This time she slept a bit too long seeing as she opened her eyes to a black screen and names upon names moving on and off the screen too fast for her to read. Credits. Oh well, she had seen the movie a couple of times before, missing it just this once wouldn’t hurt anybody. She glances over to gauge Soul’s reaction to the movie, though she doesn’t have much gauging to do. He’s face looks just like it does normally, grumpy and uninterested. His face depicts a general uncaring attitude. Or at least it would if not for the tear streaks running down his face creating stains. The only clue beside the tears that even indicate any sort of emotion is a barely audible sniffs heard occasionally.

‘He’s crying,’ Maka registers. ‘He’s crying’, Maka acknowledges.

It’s a delayed acknowledgement and Maka doesn’t think it matters, because she doesn’t know what to do. Maka has never seen or even heard him cry. Even now, less than 5ft away from him on the couch, she can barely hear him. She’s not even sure if she can convince herself he really is crying.

But he really is crying, and right now Maka is useless. She doubts attempting to comfort him would work. He seems like the type to embarrassed about those sorts of things. Talking it out is also out of the question. He’d probably try to deflect or start an argument that Maka would surely fall into and get mad at him, making it impossible to even bring the original topic back up. So she does the only thing she can do right now. She closes her eyes and waits until she drifts once more. Silently listening, waiting. If he really feels like he needs to talk about it, She's sure he’ll bring it up tomorrow, she doubt he believes she’s still sleeping anyway. She has never really been good at faking sleep. She doesn’t have to for long though before she falls and stays asleep for the rest of the night.

                                                                                                       •••

She doesn’t wake up to a slightly hard couch under her and soreness anywhere and everywhere one could be sore like she expected. Instead she wakes up to the comforting firmness and warmth her bed brings. She definitely didn’t fall asleep here, yet she’s waking up here now. Unless the world’s kindest robber broke in and brought her to her bed, that left one culprit.

“What a gentleman,” she thinks, somewhat sarcastically. She’s truly grateful though. Getting out of bed, she enters the bathroom and gets ready before walking to the kitchen where she finds Soul attempting to make sense of a cookbook and make breakfast. It doesn’t look like it’s going so well considering that she has now stood between her doorway for nearly 5 minutes and has watched him do absolutely nothing but stare. She guesses she could lend a hand or two.

“Good morning,” she greets.

“Mornin’” he replies, not turning around but moving a bit so she could enter the kitchen. She quickly gets to work with a decent amount of assistance from Soul as she settles on pancakes for breakfast. At last, an hour and a few mishaps later, they sit at their dining table and eat in silence.

“So how was the last movie? I feel asleep so I wasn’t blessed with hearing your criticism.” She attempts to make light-hearted banter, but she’s genuinely curious of his rating.

“Har har, very funny,” he deadpans, but she can’t sense any ire in his voice so she should be in the clear. Seconds pass with her question unanswered that. He takes so long she almost thinks he forgot about it.

“It was okay, I guess.”

She slowly looks up, shocked. She stares a bit too hard as he glances up from his food and gives her a sort of look.

“What?” He blurted out, though she continued staring in disbelief.

“Nothing, nothing at all!” Giddily, she went back to her food, at least one of her recommendations were a success. “What about it did you like?”

“Reminded me of someone..”

“Hm? Did you say something, Soul?”

“No. No particular reason.”