A/N: Written for SoMa week 2016 on tumblr for the prompt ink. Takes place in ch 6 of Bare Feet & Cowboy Boots.

Another strip of paper found itself rolled up and tossed over Soul's shoulder only for him to pull another in front of him. For the last hour he had been trying to write down his true feelings toward Maka. After his uncalled actions in the kitchen, the lame attempt at being mysterious during the camp fire, he needed to do this. Maka hadn't taken his other hints of how he felt toward her; they had all gone over her head. Which meant she was either the densest woman ever, or didn't care about him.

Either way, Soul knew one thing for sure: he was utterly smitten.

Which was why he needed to make this note perfect.

"Dammit," he muttered under his breath.

Soul scratched the pen across the words in an angry flurry, balled up the paper, and threw it onto the ground. It must have bounced against the floor because he heard the sound of jangling dog tags not a second later. Turning around in his chair, he saw Oglesby sit up from his nap and stare up at him. His big brown eyes were rimmed with red due to how late it was, and Soul felt as if the dog was annoyed at him for keeping him up passed midnight.

"You can go to your own bed, you know," Soul told him. "You don't have to stay here."

Oglesby only yawned, stood up, and walked over to where his dog bed laid in the study. He circled the red and brown bed before flopping down, half his body hanging off it with plenty of room on the other side. Soul shook his head and smiled to himself.

"Dumb dog."

Turning back around, Soul went back to the task at hand. So far his notes had either been too detailed or didn't convey his feelings well enough. He wanted Maka to know that his conversation with Marie had been about him wanting to things naturally with her. It hadn't been about him not finding a potential partner amongst the girls. Truth be told, he hated going on dates with multiple women he didn't care about. Especially when he already knew who he wanted to be with.

Her.

Maka.

She was the one he had fallen for in such a short amount of time, as cliché as it seemed. And he wanted to fall even harder for her naturally. He wanted to take her out on proper dates that didn't call for cameras, hold her in his arms as they watched the sunset, and kiss her - really kiss her - with the passion and adoration he felt toward her. He didn't want America to be a part of their love story or put on a show for entertainment.

He wanted something real and authentic.

With her.

It wasn't like Marie couldn't have gone off to find another bachelor for the show. There were bound to be plenty of other illegible men who would jump at the opportunity to date a group of women at once. She didn't need someone who had been forced into it because his brother couldn't control his need to interfere with Soul's love life.

A month wasn't long enough to know if he loved her or not. Two months weren't enough to know that. There were still things he wanted to know about her before he determined if his emotions toward her did aim at love or not. What he did know was that he definitely liked her. A lot. He knew that his palms became sweaty when she was near, that his chest warmed when they touched, that her laugh made him feel lighter, and that her smile set his skin on fire. Those were facts strong enough for him to give her the final rose.

Groaning, Soul scrunched up the slip of paper he had been writing on and tossed it over his shoulder with the others.

"How do I say 'I wanna kiss you away from the cameras and maybe hold your hand forever' without it bein' creepy?" he asked to no one in particular.

Though, he did receive a snort from Oglesby that he concluded was from sleepiness and not from Soul sounding sappy and pathetic.

Minutes passed by with him staring up at the ceiling before an idea crossed his mind. He sat upright in his chair again, grabbed a slip of paper, and scribbled down five words. They weren't much, but they would do. Hopefully Maka understand the meaning behind them and was able to decipher that yes, he did indeed like her.

On the slip of paper he wrote, 'I LIKED THE CHEEK KISS'.