Drunken
"Liz, do I really have to do this?" Maka complained.
Her friend tugged her arm. "Yes! Now come on! You're 23 for god's sake, and you haven't had a boyfriend since freshmen year of college!"
"I just haven't had time for a boy! Besides, I don't wanna go barhopping tonight," she complained rather loudly as Liz dragged her into the bar named DWMA. What that stood for, Maka had no clue.
As she suspected, Liz just wanted someone to drag along until she found a guy to latch onto. Maka was left alone at the bar, not daring to order a drink since she had a low alcohol tolerance. As she was lost in self-pitying thought, someone sat next to her.
"Hey, um, you're Maka, right?" asked a male voice.
Maka looked up from the swirling patterns in the curated wood of the bar. "Yeah? Who's asking?"
He chuckled. "You don't have to act tough."
She looked him over. He was pretty tall, but had a bit of a slouch. He had unusual white hair, considering he must've been her age. He had pointed teeth—fangs, if you will—and ruby eyes. He seemed friendly enough, but she couldn't seem to recall ever meeting him.
"Sorry, do I know you?" Maka asked as politely as she could with the building annoyance of watching Liz throw herself at some guy.
"Oh, right. We never really spoke much, but we had calculus together two years ago."
Maka strained her memory. "Soul. Soul…Evans?"
He grinned, exposing his fangs, and he nodded. As scary as most people with fangs would look like when they smiled, Soul managed to look more…mischievous than anything. He was actually kind of cute, Maka decided after some consideration.
"Remember that time when Ox went up to the board…?" Soul prompted.
Maka remembered, smiling. "And he had a…little excitement going on? Yeah, I remember that."
Soul laughed, and a chill went down Maka's spine.
They reminisced for at least an hour. Liz, meanwhile, was making out with whatever guy she could get her lips on. It must've been only six in the evening, and the bar wasn't all that crowded. Maka found that she liked being around Soul. He could make her laugh, and when he laughed, her spine tingled every time.
Finally, Soul paused. He'd had a drink or two, but he must've had a higher tolerance than Maka, because he wasn't even tipsy. "Aren't you going to drink?"
"Ah, no, I don't really-" she started.
"C'mon, you have to drink something, right?" he laughed. There it was again. He grinned at her, and Maka caved.
He ordered her a shot of tequila. Reluctantly, Maka downed it. She tried to ignore the fiery feeling that exploded in her stomach.
Maka started to say something, and a cough interrupted her. "That's…intense."
Soul laughed again. Maybe he was affected by all the alcohol he had started to consume. "You don't drink much, do you?"
Maka, already tipsy from one drink, was feeling a little out of it. Tipsy Maka might just be up to the challenge. "What makes you say that? I can drink you under the table!" In an attempt to emphasize her point, Maka leaned toward him, nearly toppling off her stool. He gripped her arm to stop her. The contact made Maka's heart flutter.
"Oh really? Challenge accepted." He grinned evilly, knowing that he was going to win this in a second. He ordered her another tequila shot. After only one more, Maka was almost plastered.
"C'mon, takes more 'n that t' win against me," Maka slurred.
Soul was openly laughing. "You," he tried to catch his breath, "you can't even take one more shot!"
Maka sat up indignantly, causing her to wobble precariously. "Sure I can!"
Soul knew he had made a very bad mistake. Maka was plastered. No doubt in his mind. She was hanging out with Liz, and they both appeared pretty drunk and a bit "excited", as Maka had put it earlier. Soul wasn't sure what was going to happen to those two.
Luckily, one of the two problem girls was taken care of for him. Death the Kid burst into the bar and ran to Liz.
"What the hell are you doing barhopping at a time like this!?" he demanded.
"Kid!" Liz exclaimed cheerfully. She lurched from her seat on a couch. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Kid, meanwhile, was incredibly flustered and red-faced.
"Liz, w-what are you doing?" he asked.
"I don't know anymore," she said, slurring her words to the point where they were almost impossible to decipher.
"Your breath," Kid noticed. "It doesn't…"
Before he could finish his thought, Liz lurched forward again, kissing him on the lips. Even though he didn't smell her breath, Soul was able to put two and two together. Liz wasn't really drunk. She just needed an excuse to kiss the guy she'd fallen for a long time ago.
They left together, completely forgetting Maka. She seemed fine with that. She was busy telling some random guy that she had found the perfect man for her. Soul snorted. Maka clearly didn't have a boyfriend. He decided to extract her from the situation before she embarrassed herself more. As he approached, he picked up her conversation, and his heart skipped.
"—name is Soul! He's so sweet! You know, I could'n 'member his name till I saw 'em today, but I know he's the one!" Soul hoped she was just really drunk.
"Okay, Maka, time to go," Soul said, trying to keep his cool. He gently grabbed her arm and hoisted her to her feet. She giggled uncontrollably, falling into him. Soul desperately tried to convince himself that these actions were alcohol-induced.
He also tried to ignore the looks and sniggers from the group of other bar patrons as he led her away. Soul managed to get enough information from Maka to know where she lived. He lugged her onto his motorcycle. She would've fallen off if she sat behind him, so he had to place her in front of him.
As they rode down the empty street, Maka leaned against his chest. He had to keep one arm around her to keep her from sliding off. She sighed and interlaced their fingers. Soul blushed a little, but he distracted himself by focusing on the road. It wasn't cool to blush like a love-struck girl. A droplet of water hit him in the eye, and he knew a storm was brewing.
When they finally got to her apartment an eternity later, they were fully soaked. The water had stung to an outrageous degree, and Soul was sore enough without having to drag a half-conscious Maka up three flights of stairs (Stupid elevator. Out of order Soul's ass.). He rummaged through her pockets and found her key. He dragged her to her bedroom and she flopped face-first onto her pillow. He started to walk away when she tugged his jacket.
For having such dainty frame, Maka was surprisingly strong. She pulled him onto the bed with her.
"Waaah?" he asked as he fell. She slid across the covers and wrapped her arms around him.
"M-Maka? What are you doing?"
"'Member what I said at the bar?" she whispered in his ear. "I meant it."
She ran her little hands through his hair. She pulled him even closer to her, where he could feel her heartbeat against his back. His heart was racing. His breath sped up. What the fuck was happening? Was she seriously going to…? Soul shook his head.
"Maka, stop. You're drunk."
"Does that really matter right now?" she asked seductively.
Soul's mind was going foggy, and he was pretty sure that it had nothing to do with the small amount of alcohol he'd consumed. He tried to break away, but his willpower was starting to crumble. The sound of her breathing, still steady despite the circumstances, was calming. The way she ran her hands through his hair and along his chest made it hard to want to leave her side.
"Of course it matters!" he snapped, hoping his voice didn't crack. He gathered all of his will and pushed her away as gently as he could. He jumped off the bed before she could entangle them again, heading straight for the door. He switched off the light and started to shut the door. "Go to sleep. See you in the morning."
He collapsed onto her couch and passed out.
Maka woke up with a horrible headache. She rolled over on her bed, trying to get her bearings. She was at her apartment. That was good, but she had no idea how she'd gotten there. She sat up and nearly vomited, so she ran right to the bathroom.
After that was done, she wandered into the living room. Her apartment was quiet, thank goodness. That is, it was until she heard someone snore.
She crept as quietly as possible and peaked over the top of the couch. Her heart nearly stopped, then pounded relentlessly, matching the throb of her head.
Soul was asleep on her couch! Not only that, he was barely wearing any clothing. It was in a pile beside the couch. What the hell happened last night!?
"Uh wuh?" he grumbled, opening one eye.
She squeaked involuntarily.
"Oh, you're up, huh?" He yawned.
Maka indignantly put her hands on her hips. "Is that all you have to say? What the hell happened last night?"
He spaced out for a minute, like he was trying to remember. He made an evil smirk. "You don't remember?"
Oh god, was he implying what she thought he was? At her horrified expression, Soul snorted with amusement.
"Thanks. And no, nothing like that happened. Besides, you passed out before anything could happen, Little Miss Lightweight."
Maka flushed a little. "What do you mean, 'before anything could happen'? Were you planning to take advantage of me while I was drunk?!" She held her head as her shrill tone of voice made her ache worse.
Soul sat up and stretched. "More like the other way around."
She froze. "You mean…?"
He nodded, smirking at her. "I wasn't the one who started it. As a matter of fact, I stopped it."
For some reason, that kind of hurt to hear. "What, I'm not good enough for you?"
He stared at her for a minute. "It's not cool to sleep with someone who's drunk. It doesn't mean anything then."
Maka let that sink in for a minute. He was right. And she would've been furious with him if he had let her go through with it. But she didn't really understand. She tried to seduce him while she was drunk? That just seemed a little off to her.
"Then what happened to your clothes?" she asked.
He seemed to notice for the first time that he was only in his boxers. He covered himself with a borrowed blanket. "It started raining last night on the way here. I didn't want to sleep in wet clothes."
Maka realized that she was still wearing her clothing, and it was still slightly damp in places. That reaffirmed what he'd said, because if they had done something she wouldn't still be wearing clothing.
"Okay, I'll believe you, I suppose," she informed him.
"You will, huh? Fine by me." He stood up and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders like a cloak. It dipped down to the floor because he was slouching.
She huffed. "You shouldn't slouch like that. You'll ruin your spine."
He looked at her over his shoulder as he shuffled toward the fridge. "What do you care?"
"I don't. I'm just telling you."
"Whatever."
Maka wanted to argue more, but she needed to make a quick stop in the bathroom. Her hair came loose at the violent convulsions. Someone held it back for her. When she was finished, she found Soul holding her hair back. He handed her a glass of water. She accepted it and sipped it gratefully. She noted that the look in his eyes was genuine concern.
"Thanks," she said weakly.
"No problem. I've had plenty of these." Why was she not surprised?
They both started to leave the bathroom, and Maka slipped on the blanket trailing behind Soul. He turned just in time to stop her fall. Maka ended up in his arms, the blanket around her.
"You okay?" he asked. She could feel his chest rumble as he spoke.
"Yeah. Thanks." He released her, and she shuffled away from him. They left the bathroom, this time without incident. She put her hair back up to keep it out of the way.
Soul basically took care of her all day. She couldn't seem to get him to leave. Her weak attempt late in the morning to shoo him away was interrupted by another bout of queasiness. She eventually just accepted that he was going to stay until she was better. While he wasn't paying attention, she put his wet clothing in the dryer so that he'd stop walking around in her fluffy yellow blanket. It sort of bothered her that she couldn't stop staring at him, waiting for him to trip on it and it would slip open, exposing his chest beneath. She reflected that she now understood why her drunken self would try to seduce him.
Since it was a Saturday, neither one of them had to work, though she had no idea what his job was or if he was employed. Around two, his clothing was dry and he finally changed out of the blanket.
She could barely eat anything (or rather, she couldn't keep it down if she did), so she spent most of her time reading. Soul just sort of lingered, watching her TV and making frequent snack trips. Maka mustered her courage around four in the evening when he went to get his third bag of chips. She needed to ask him something. He plopped back down on the couch.
"Soul?" she asked timidly.
"Hmm?" he asked around a mouthful of chips.
"Why are you still here?"
He swallowed. "Because I don't like leaving you here by yourself in this condition."
"I haven't thrown up in hours. I'm pretty much fine now. You can go home, you know."
He wouldn't meet her eyes. "Well, maybe I like helping people."
Maka snorted. "Maybe you like helping yourself to my snack shelf."
"That's not why I'm here!"
"And why are you here?" she asked, satisfied that she had manipulated the conversation to this point.
He turned a little pink. "Because."
"Because why?"
"Because because."
"Soul, don't act like a three-year-old," she scolded.
His face was definitely getting redder. "Because…I…I care about you, okay?"
Maka looked down, blushing. "Okay." She decided to let the subject drop before he was forced to say something else or leave.
Soul pretended to be interested in the TV, but Maka knew he was just avoiding her eyes. She could feel the tenseness in the air, and it was making her uncomfortable. She risked glancing at him, and he glanced at her at the same time. They looked away, blushing.
What the hell are we doing? She thought angrily. We are adults. We can be attracted to each other and not be embarrassed about it, can't we? But should I make the first move?
It occurred to her that Soul had already made the first move. He'd confessed that he cared about her. That was a start, right?
He got up again, probably to exchange chip bags, and Maka followed him. She couldn't tell him with words. Those failed her more times then she could count. Plus, words could sound empty, a fact she was all too aware of. She had a feeling Soul knew that too, so she decided to let her actions speak louder than her words.
She recalled in a matter of seconds every moment they had ever really shared. Laughing at the bar, him taking care of her, and then on to older memories, memories of when they had calculus together. They'd spoken a few times but never really developed a friendship. Maka regretted never making more of an effort to get to know him. It was obvious he was a good person at heart. How had she never noticed it before?
Soul was actually putting away the chips, and that worried Maka. That meant that he was probably getting ready to bolt. He faced her.
"Look, I'd better be go—" His announcement was cut short by Maka. Taking a huge leap of faith, she stepped forward and kissed him. For a brief moment, she thought she'd made a horrible mistake. Soul froze, and she started to have a sinking feeling when he abruptly kissed back. He put his arms around her, pulling her close. She ran her hands through his hair, then fixed her arms around his neck. She pulled away slightly, breaking the kiss but still staying in his arms.
"What were you saying?" she asked innocently.
He smirked. "Doesn't matter what I was saying. I'm staying right here."
She giggled and leaned in for another kiss.
A/N: Should I continue? Please let me know!