This story is based on the recent events in my life revolving around a dear friend of mine. We all deal with things certain ways and this was my way of dealing with the news, I wrote about it.

So, this is dedicated to her and her fiancé. I love you both.

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

The Stages of Life

by infidelityONcrank

Chapter 1

There are times in our lives when we wish we had never been born. And then there are those other times when we are so filled with bliss, we are happy we were able to exist our mother's womb. These are the days when everything seems to be perfect, nothing can bring us down from the euphoric high that we get.

However, for Soul Eater Evans the latter was not how he would describe how his day started.

He woke up, breathing in and breathing out, a compulsion that happened every morning. He shifted only so slightly, maybe a centimeter. This caused a chain reaction from the warm being that was draped across him to snuggle closer to him.

His eyes shot open. He looked down and immediately flushed when he laid his eyes on the person. Maka had fallen asleep in his bed. True they had shared beds before, true they had stripped down to their undergarments in order to keep warm that one time, true they accidentally walked into the bathroom while the other was bathing, and true they were quite comfortable around each other. These were quite normal circumstances for two people of the opposite gender who live together and who go on frequent missions together.

Soul was not blushing from the fact that he and Maka had fallen asleep together yet again. He was blushing because she was wearing nothing (and he was quite sure he himself was lacking any sort of garment).

He could feel her surprisingly soft and supple skin that was fairer than any porcelain against his own bare flesh. He could feel the hard press of the tips of her chest against his abdomen— which he was sure was searing and tingling from such intimate contact.

He was about to wake her when her lashes flutered open, tickling his flesh. She looked up at him with green eyes that were still glazed with sleep. After a few blinks, she began to comprehend her lack of clothing. A few more and she realized he too lack clothing. And a few more after that, she understood that they were in the same bed together. Naked.

Her round cheeks quickly reddened and she drew away from him, pulling the sheet with her.

They sat in silence, not commenting on the previous night nor meeting each other's eyes. Neither had been under the influence of anything, so there was no blame to place on any narcotics for their current situation.

The silence was long and awkward. What could either of them say to make it any less? Do they compliment the other? Do they joke about it? Do they even talk about it? What could they say?

"Did we really have...?" Maka asked, her voice cracking. Soul snapped his head to her. She carefully met his eyes through her lashes. He nodded.

"Yeah, we did." he answered, his own voice as rough and difficult to hear as his her own. They looked back away from each other, Maka to her hands that twisted around, Soul out the window to the waking world.

The silence began again.

"Fuck." Soul hissed.

Maka looked back at him.

They had really screwed up. They had really had sex.

"You did what?" Kid asked gaping at Soul when he told him and Black Star— who could only gawk— about the situation he and Maka were in. The white-haired young man had called them and told them to meet down at the café on Maple. "How could you deflower the Rose of Shibusen?"

"It just... happened." Soul exclaimed, trying to explain and failing. "One thing just led to another and before we knew it, we were having... relations."

"Do you know how cliché you sound? Geez, Soul, you would think you would learn something from all of those after school specials and teen dramas you used to watch with Maka."

"Well, because it's true. Neither one of us meant for it to happen. I need help right now, not a scolding and a slap on the back of the wrist from a Shinigami who has symmetry issues."

Kid sighed. Soul was absolutely right, he needed help. What do you do when you've had sex with your best friend of ten years?

"Talk to her." the Shinigami finally said.

"How?" Soul asked. "How do I start a conversation with her? What do we talk about? Can we joke about it in the near future or in five years? Do I ask her to marry me? If I should, then how should I propose? Will she think I'm obsessive if I do ask her? How will her father take it? How will my parents take it? Will either side really accept the engagement? Can we really make it work? Do I love her? I have a shit load of questions running through my freaking brain, Kid. What do I say?"

"Start out by just sitting down and going over what happened last light. It's a good place as any to start."

Soul huffed a sigh and leaned forward on the table. It would have to work.

Kid and Soul looked at Black Star, who had not said a thing this entire time. Their blue-haired friend was still gawking.

"What's wrong with him?" Soul asked, not really all that concerned with their strange friend.

"I have no idea." Kid said, sipping his coffee.

"Soul..." Black Star said. They both looked at him. "Soul has had more sex than I have."

"...Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,Are made already mothers: by my count,I was your mother much upon these yearsThat you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:The valiant Paris seeks you for his love."

"Thank you, Annelise-san." Maka said to the mousy-haired girl that had read Lady Capulet's lines from Romeo and Juliet. "What you think of these lines? Anyone? Someone has to have an opinion."

"I didn't understand it, Maka-sensei." one of the boys in the back of the classroom called, raising his hand.

"What part of is didn't you understand, Aleksander-kun?"

"All of it. I don't speak Shakespeare."

"Yes, the Victorian language is quite difficult to understand." Maka sighed. "But, Shakespeare was a master of it. Is there any specific part of it that you didn't understand?"

"Nope, I didn't understand any of it." the boy grinned devilishly.

"It was about Juliet marrying Paris."

"But she's only twelve!" one of the girls in the room Greek theatre styled room gasped. "Isn't that, like, illegal and stuff?"

"The time period in which Shakespeare set this play in, it was not illegal. There were girls as young as eight and nine being married off to men three times their age. Of course, that was if you were in rich or noble families. You were lucky if you came from a poor family, you at least would be able to marry that farmer's son that was only six years older than you were and at least you would have had the chance to fall in love. Nobility is over romanticized. It wasn't at all like you see in the movies. Marriage for women was a duty back then. It was what was expected, it was their social role."

"I feel lucky that I live now." Annelise said. "I don't have to put up with that."

Her weapon next to her nodded.

The bell rang, dismissing the class.

"I want all of you to finish reading this scene over the weekend. We'll have a test on it on Monday." Maka called over the noise. "If you need help you can email me or check Spark Notes."

Her students bid her farewell and left the room. It was the end of the day and the end of the week, which meant that they could pick a mission to complete over the weekend.

She smiled, remembering those days. She and Soul had paired up when she was thirteen and he was fourteen. A year later, they met Blair, Kid, Liz, and Patti. The next year and a half that followed were so adventure filled and packed with action that they now seemed a distant, hazy dream of a fictional novel she would sometimes pick up.

Everyone thought peace would be a wonderful thing, but it wasn't. They all secretly itched for the taste of adrenaline pumping through their veins as they literally fought to the death. Peace had been hardest of the weapons, who were used to being items of harm.

Which reminded her, she should probably call Soul to see what he would like for dinner tonight. checked her phone for service, saw that it was good, and pressed the "2," which was speed dial to Soul's cell. She was about to press the green call button when she stopped.

Visions of what happened last night played through her mind like scenes from a movie. All the sensations that had washed over her, all of the heat, all of the longing, all of the thrill... They all filled her trembling soul and her mind.

A knock on the doorframe jerked her from her dream-like state and caused her to jump. Liz, Patti, and Tsubaki stood there waiting for her. She quickly gathered her things and walked over to them.

"You look like you wanted to talk when you came in this morning." Liz said. "We figured some girl-time might be some good.

"Yes, girl-time." Maka muttered. "Can we go somewhere more private? It's a rather... embarrassing conversation."

"Denny's it is."

The four of them had ordered their drinks and had waited for them. After they did come out, Maka began the conversation rather bluntly.

"Soul and I did it." she said to them when the waitress was out of earshot.

Liz, who had been sipping a Coke Zero through a straw, sputtered it back out. Tsubaki dropped the silverware she had been taking out of the napkin, that she wanted to place on her lap, on the table with a clatter. Patti laughed, her usual reaction to everything.

"Don't do that when I'm drinking." Liz coughed, rubbing her nose to try and stop the burn the carbonated beverage had caused when it had decided to travel up through the nasal passages.

"'It?' As in 'intimate relations?'" Tsubaki whispered, her brow wrinkling in spite of herself.

"Wait, you were being serious?" Patti asked, wide eyed.

Maka nodded. The other three quieted and fidgeted, wanting to bombard her with questions.

"Well? How was it?" Liz asked boldly. "Was it worth it?"

The blonde gaped at her. How could she answer such a private question?

"I... I... I... don't really have anything to compare it to, so..." Maka managed to stutter out, her cheeks flushing.

"She liked it!" Patti accused with a wide grin.

"Weren't you going to wait until your honeymoon?" Tsubaki asked.

"How boring." Liz said, wrinkling her nose.

"Sorry that 'm a hopeless romantic." Maka muttered.

"Just... just tell me one thing." Tsubaki pleaded. "Please tell me you used a condom."

Maka blinked.

"You didn't, did you?"

The blonde shook her head shamefully. Neither of them had thought anything of it. They had both been so wrapped up in the moment.

"Maka, as a friend who honestly cares for you," Liz said, "you and Soul need to have a talk."

Maka wholeheartedly agreed.

As I said, this is based on recent events that revolve around my friend and her fiancé. And, again, this is my way to deal with what I have been told.

Anyway, I was seriously looking that the next CAFÉ EVANS chapter thinking: I should really post this up. I blame my laziness for not doing it... And yet I can do this. Funny how that works out. Well, I was too lazy to edit this, so... This is what something I didn't edit looks like.

I'll be getting back to everyone pretty soon. I'm really wiped out today. Expect thank you's and replies soon. I'm working on a new system and I'm hoping that it works.