A/N: So this is reverb 2.5 for 2016, a SoMa Star Trek AU inspired by the adorable art of chaoticlivi on tumblr. You can find it on her page or linked to mine. The cover image is also hers. Thanks go to bendandcurl, therewithasmile, ilarual, and my awesome artist partner livi again for being clutch with the betaing and helping make this so much better.

She feels nervous, which is both strange and undeniable. Why should she be nervous? Taking a shuttle craft is nothing new-she had toured the ship months ago as it was being worked on-she's about to be reunited with her closest friend. That part gives her butterflies, though, fluttering wildly in her middle like she's ten again and watching her mama go off on yet another mission, which is just silly. She's a fully vested member of Starfleet now, top of her class out of the academy, assistant to the Chief Tactical Officer of the new fleet flagship Resonance. She is Ensign Maka Albarn and she does not get butterflies.

Except today, apparently, she does.

And why, because of Soul? Soul of all people? Soul, who she's known since they started together at the academy years ago? Soul, who she had loathed for months on sheer principle before getting stuck as his partner? Soul, who had managed to worm his way underneath her unrelenting drive to become her closest friend? Soul, who she knows better than she knows herself? Soul, who she has missed like a phantom limb these past months, desperately and achingly?

Soul.

Such questions do nothing to quell the rampant butterflies.

The characteristic clang and jolt of the craft docking pulls Maka from her thoughts. As she collects herself to disembark, she idly wonders how long it will take to see the Concensio. It is a question as silly as her increasing butterflies; Maka might have known that she would see an unmistakable mop of white amidst the crowd, might have predicted the wide grin he quickly, futilely tries to stifle.

She throws herself into his arms before she even knows she means to, protocol be damned, basking in his warmth as he returns the hug.

They both back off a few moments later. Maka coughs awkwardly. "So, um, hi." She offers a little wave and smile.

"Welcome to Resonance," Soul responds with his own smile, only a little sheepish.

"It's not like I haven't been on the ship before, Soul. We saw it together months ago, remember?"

"Well, yeaaaah, but it wasn't finished then." He rakes a hand through the back of his stark hair. "So I figured it's time for a new tour. Backstage pass and everything."

Before she can respond, Maka hears a loud cry of her name. The voice is all too familiar, making her cringe visibly. From the expression of mild disgust that suddenly flashes on Soul's face, she guesses he recognizes the voice as well.

"Makaaaaaa!"

There is a flash of red and she's enveloped in her second hug that day, this one far less welcome.

"Captain Albarn, sir," she says stiffly, pushing out of his grasp. "Ensign Maka Albarn, reporting."

His pout is epic, and she shakes her head as he soldiers on. "Is that any way to greet your own Papa?" he whines.

"I thank you for the welcome, Captain. Now, if you'll excuse me, sir, Ensign Evans was about to show me to my quarters."

Grabbing Soul's elbow, she steers him away from the dock and her papa and into the adjoining hallway, leaving the tall First Officer of the Starship Resonance gaping after them like a fish.

She still can't believe her papa pulled rank to get the position, had given up his own command to play second fiddle to Admiral Thane Mortimer just to lord it over her on her first assignment. Maka's blood begins to boil at the thought so she stifles it. She'll seldom be assigned bridge duty at this point and the ship is enormous. She should hardly see him. Hopefully.

In any case, Maka refuses to let him ruin her first day on board, so as they reach the turbolift doors and step inside, she cocks her head towards the Divergent and asks, "So, where to?"

"Uhhh-well-" he scratches the back of his neck. He's grown his hair out since the strict grooming rules of the academy days, so there's hair there now that he ruffles nervously. She likes the new look, likes it a lot. "Your quarters are on deck 42, so we could start there. Pretty sure the things you sent ahead made it, and you probably want to get settled."

"Sounds good," she says, commanding the lift to deck 42 before turning back his way. "I'll just make sure Blair is settled, then we can get something to eat-I'm famished!"

"Commissary is pretty questionable-the staff is still figuring shit out. Might be better sticking to the replicator, unless you want to blow a few credits at the Starscape. Guy named Masters got the contract to run the place and it's pretty damn good." Soul snaps his fingers with a grin. "Actually, what the hell, we'll go to the 'Scape-my treat."

"Soul, you don't have to-"

"Nah, but I want to." There's something in his gaze that positively heats her blood. "It's been too damn long."

"Alright," Maka smiles back. "But only if you let me get the next time."

"When have I ever passed up free food?"

"When it might involve losing a bet to Black Star?"

They both chuckle, memories of bets at the Academy involving their mutual friend Blake "Black Star" Barrett and his bottomless stomach dancing through their heads. But as the laughter dies away, Soul looks thoughtful. "You okay, by the way? I know your dad-"

"I'm fine!" Her voice is too bright. "Just fine." The doors open and she steps out of the lift before he can press. "So? Where to now?"

"Uh." The neck scratch is back. "Follow me. It's down a few hallways."

"So how has the conduit construction gone, anyway?" Maka asks after a minute of awkward silence.

"It's gone." He shrugs. "Not as exciting as advanced tactical training, Miss Junior Tactical Officer." Soul bumps her shoulder with his lightly as they walk.

"But far more important, Mister Chief Conduit Officer," she says with a laugh and a bump back. "So? How's she looking?"

"Honestly?" He's thoughtful, as he always is when it comes to his work. "Good. Really good. The layout is solid, and I made sure the key conduits were reinforced myself. All of the overlay is state of the art. This whole ship is like nothing we've ever seen, conduits included."

"That's what I like to hear!"

"Though Kid would freak if he saw. Good thing he's been assigned to the Enterprise and not Resonance. Conduits are solid, yeah, but symmetrical? Nah."

"How is Kid?" she asks as they continue moving down a new hall. "I haven't seen him since graduation! I didn't even know he'd been assigned." Thane Mortimer, Jr., better known to the masses as Admiral Mortimer's kid, and to his friends as simply Kid, was a mutual school friend. When they'd met, just as with Soul, Maka had made assumptions based on his parentage she shouldn't have and learned better. Maka had gained a lot of knowledge in the Academy she hadn't even realized she lacked. Not judging based on reputation alone was only a part of that.

"Kid's good. Had dinner with him a few weeks ago just before he left. Like I said, he's on the Enterprise, Junior Science Officer. I'm sure he's driving the Chief nuts, but he's also so meticulous they're lucky to have him. Last I heard, he managed to discover a parasite that was eating at the inner workings of the ship and figure out how to eradicate it. Probably gonna get a promotion over it."

"Huh," Maka says, and though there's a pang of jealousy that he's already done so well, she's also proud of her friend. "Typical Kid-he'll be Captain of his own ship before you know it!"

"Sounds like someone else I know." His smile is small and fond and she doesn't get a chance to respond as he suddenly stops. "Well, this is you."

There's a door, ubiquitous in the hallway full of such doors, with a small placard next to it that reads: M. Albarn.

"Oh, great!" she puts a hand to the small panel next to the door and it wooshes open. "You wanna come in while I-"

"Nah." Soul shakes his head. "Gonna settle a few things. I'll be back in a bit." He walks only a few steps and puts his hand on the panel of the door across from hers; it opens with a rush of air.

Maka can't help it-her eyes go to the placard by the door-S. Evans-and she gapes.

"You-across from me-how?"

The shit eating grin might be endearing if it weren't at her expense. "Made friends with the Quartermaster. You can thank me later."

The wink shouldn't make her blush but it does. Flustered, she touches the panel to close her own door behind her with a huffed, "Whatever."

Her quarters are as sparse as one might expect on a new starship, but she has brought a few things to make them more homey. There's no time for that yet, though, so she scans the room until she finds the small animal carrier and swipes the top to open it. Blair doesn't emerge at first, though Maka hears a sleepy cat yawn, but she eventually walks out of the cozy pressurized carrier and arches her back in a stretch before rubbing on Maka's pant leg.

"I missed you, too, but it's been less than a day. Now let's get you some food and water so I can get out of here."

Replicating cat kibble, water, and a small bit of salmon by way of apology is the work of a few moments, leaving Maka plenty of time to shower her cat with attention and freshen up. Deciding she'd rather not wear her uniform to a civilian ship's restaurant, she changes into a skirt and sweater and puts her hair down. She even smooths on lip gloss, which feels both silly and necessary because it's just dinner with Soul, like she's had a thousand times before, and yet, it's also dinner with Soul, who she's missed so much she feels sick just thinking about it, who she's sure she has feelings for that run deeper than their friendship even if she's afraid his are less intense. With that line of thought, the flutter in her tummy is back in force.

She quashes the feeling and leaves her quarters to find the man in question waiting there, casually leaning against the wall. Soul has also changed out of uniform, and it's been so long since she's seen him in jeans and a button up that she's almost forgotten how good he looks when he's in less formal attire. Though, in truth, he looks good in anything.

Dinner is nice. The place is decent, as Soul said it would be, with a large window looking down to the Earth, and she enjoys her baked chicken immensely. She enjoys his presence more, though, as he tells her about the mundanity of installing and inspecting the entire conduit system. Maka also shares what she's been up to, her advanced tactical training having encompassed a wide array of skills, everything from hand to hand combat to photon trajectory to micro warfare. Post graduate training is no joke, and she admits it had made their academy classes look like child's play.

"Even Stein's seminars?" he scoffs.

"Okay," she admits. "Maybe not worse than Stein's seminars. Just remember, Stein was a guest lecturer on numerous occasions. So I got all that and Stein."

His laughter is amused and companionable, but her head drifts to a different time and place as he reminisces about their numerous disastrous dates with Kobayashi-Maru.

That had been after they were friends and partners and she trusted him, but it wasn't always the case, not even close.

Her first day at the Academy, sitting in the orientation room with giddy anticipation, she'd somehow ended up next to him. She recognized him as a Divergent immediately, that odd formerly human race that was negotiating for official admittance into the Federation. They were the result of an old experiment; an ancient, long extinct people stealing a large group of humans away from Earth millennia ago to watch them develop, to track the evolutionary process in an entirely new environment. The experiment had long since ended, but the Divergent-or Concensio as they called themselves-lived on. Mostly, they appeared human, but their hair color ranged from silver to white; their eyes tended towards shades of red, brown, and burgundy; and then their teeth-it was their teeth that were the dead giveaway, sharp, nearly feral. Sitting next to him, she'd worked very hard not to stare at his mouth as she held out her hand and introduced herself as Maka Arakawa.

"Soul Evans," he held out his own hand uncertainly, and her reaction was immediate.

That was why he looked familiar. "Evans-as in Westilian Evans, the Concensio ambassador, son of one of the Royal Nine of that planet?"

He was shaking his head violently at that, face red. "Noooo-I'm not Wes Evans, I-"

"But you're a relative?"

He was still shaking his head.

"You have to be. There aren't many Divergent on Earth who aren't part of his entourage. Wait-" she frowned, a memory surfacing "-you're his brother! I remember seeing footage of you together last month. No wonder you got in here. Well, I hope-"

She'd cut herself off as the orientation began, sitting primly and stiffly in the chair next to him. Soul tried to talk to her several more times that day, but she wouldn't have it. She had used a false name to get into the Academy on her merits, had refused to take the easy way, and she couldn't stand people like him who used their names to get ahead, people like her papa who had ridden the coattails of his own father and of her mama. She was better than that, and she'd prove it by being better than him, this Divergent who thought he could ride his brother's position into the Academy, by being better than them all.

Maka had been wrong about him, of course, but she hadn't known it then. If it weren't for Stein forcing them together, she likely never would have known it at all. She owes the professor a lot. A lot. Maybe they both do.

His voice drags her out of the memory.

"But I think," Soul continues his reminiscence about their experiences tackling the Kobayashi-Maru simulation she's only half heard, "the best part was when you told Dr. Law that the great cheating incident wasn't cheating at all-that it was out of the box thinking and should have been praised at the time, since in retrospect, it exhibited James Kirk's propensity for creative thinking." He offers her a fond smile. "I thought Law's head was going to explode, he turned so red, but you just kept hammering your point."

"Hey, it's the truth, isn't it? Law's a windbag and we both know it. James Kirk was one of the greatest commanders in Starfleet history precisely because he could approach problems unconventionally, could find solutions that didn't fit neatly in the box of protocol, and the cheating incident showed that early. And anyway, Kirk was right; no-win scenarios are bunk."

"Never said Law isn't full of shit." He puts his head in one palm thoughtfully. "Just always enjoyed watching you make him squirm."

Her laugh is genuine as she shakes her head. "Squirm is a bit of an overstatement, but he really didn't like me much." She smiles widely, adding, "Couldn't find an excuse not to give me an A, though."

"He wouldn't have dared." Soul grins back. "Nobody crosses the Academy combat champion and lives to tell the tale."

They laugh together, and their evening continues like that, just reminiscing until they finally part ways at their doors. Tomorrow, they will tour the ship before it launches in the afternoon. Tomorrow, the rest of their lives will finally begin.

Maka is just glad that they are beginning this leg of their journey together.