Knock First

Summary: In hindsight, Soul really wished he would've knocked before entering Maka's room. It really would have saved a lot of awkwardness. My first attempt at anything resembling a romance. There's not a whole lot of romance really, it's more of a strong friendship which I really think is the basis of their relationship.

Eh. It's a one shot. It's Maka x Soul. What more do you want? Oh and the time frame for this would be shortly after fighting Free for the first time. Just thought I'd mention that seeing as it is important… Also, I'm sorry for any OOCness in this story.

Soul wondered how such an average morning could end up like this; with him standing just outside of Maka's door, trying to sort out what he had just seen before his meister had ordered him out upon the threat of death. And despite this, he was still debating whether or not he should go back in, or just peek in to make sure he had seen correctly. And it had been such a cool morning until now… He lamented.

Glad to be waking up to the sound of his alarm clock and not in the suffocating cleavage of a certain magical cat, Soul yawned, stretching his arm to hit the off button on the alarm. Pushing his mop of messy white hair from his face, Soul swung his feet over the edge of the bed, also grateful aforementioned cat was not lying in wait, ready to pounce on him the second he let his guard down. Trudging sleepily to the bathroom to attend to the pressing matter of his rather full bladder, he was surprised to see Maka's door was still closed. She was usually the first one awake in the morning. Originally they had agreed to swap making breakfast and doing the dishes every morning, but seeing as Maka was always awake first she usually took care of breakfast while Soul did the morning dishes. Maybe she's already making breakfast…? He thought about checking, but his bladder was demanding his full attention at the moment so he decided to attend to his morning business first. After emptying the persistent organ of fluid, Soul washed his face, brushing his hair out of face and securing it with a headband. Leaving the bathroom, he was disappointed to find no delicious smells wafting from the kitchen. That meant a breakfast of Pop-Tarts. Quickly slipping on a change of clothes for the morning he sighed, taking out the rather dusty box and unwrapping the pastry from the silver cellophane wrapper. After popping it in the toaster and pouring himself a glass of milk he glanced curiously at Maka's door. His usually punctual technician still hadn't shown herself this morning. He walked over to her door, with the intention of simply tapping on the wood and waiting for a response, but the toaster picked that moment to pop up, filling the room with the smell of blueberry. And while the smell didn't hold a candle to the smell of Maka's fresh-cooked bacon and eggs in the morning, they young scythe was hungry enough to forget about his partner for the time being in favour of food. He plucked the breakfast from the toast gingerly, quickly transferring it to the waiting plate, managing to keep from burning his fingers. Soul slouched into a kitchen chair, picking apart a Pop-Tart, waiting for it to cool and all the while keeping one eye on the door that had yet to budge this morning. The weapon finished off his breakfast and drained the last of the milk in one gulp. He glanced at the time, noting it was already 8:30. In order to make it to school on time they would have to leave on his bike in 15 minutes. They could get away with 20 minutes if he pushed the speed limits. Soul waited impatiently, drumming his fingers on the table for five long minutes before he stood up, determined to see what was holding up Maka this morning. Striding to the door he reached for the doorknob calling out to his partner.

"Oi, Maka! If you don't get up now we're going to be late for school!" In hindsight, Soul really wished he would've knocked before entering Maka's room. It really would have saved a lot of awkwardness.

"Maka-" Soul stopped mid-sentence to see his normally strong, stubborn and generally cheerful technician curled on her bed, silently crying. Tears streaked down her face and her red eyes hinted at the fact that she had probably been like this for some time.

"Uh…" Soul was at a loss for words and could feel the awkwardness of the situation growing. Maka's head snapped up, red-rimmed eyes fiery.

"Idiot!" She yelled, "You're supposed to knock! Get out!"

"Uh, s-sorry…" He muttered averting his eyes and backing quickly back into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind him.

And here he was, part of him knowing he should probably go back into her room and try to talk with her and part of him, a big part of him, really not wanting to. Geez, I don't know how to deal with this kind of stuff…I should just call Tsubaki or Liz…hell even Patty would be better… With a big sigh, Soul knocked lightly on the now closed door.

"Hey…uh, Maka? Can I come in?" He waited in vain for an answer. Okay, guess I'll just be going then… And yet he stayed rooted to the spot. "Maka…?" Pushing the door open just a crack and not getting his head bitten off for it, Soul bravely opened the door the rest of the way. Maka still didn't yell at him so he cautiously ventured into the room. Maka was still curled on her bed, head buried in her bony knees.

"Hey…Maka, are you okay?" Well that was a stupid question! He chided himself. She's sitting on her bed, crying. Clearly, she's not okay. "I mean…uh, what's wrong?"

"Nothin'." The muffled response came.

"Then why the hell are you crying?" Soul could've kicked himself for allowing the irritation for slipping into his voice. It figured that he was so preoccupied with not saying the wrong thing that he was making everything worse.

"I'm not crying!" The blond snapped, lifting her head to glare at her partner. Contrary to her words however, the red eyes and cheeks still wet with tears gave her away.

"Uh…okay…so…um…" Suddenly the poster on her wall became far more interesting than her red-rimmed green eyes. Soul scratched the back of his head, really wishing he would have called Tsubaki. Maka reburied her head in her knees.

"Just go 'way." She snuffled in a voice that would have made Soul chuckle in a different set of circumstances. This is your chance! Just make a run for it! And yet his stupid feet refused to comply.

"If you want to talk…" Is that really the best you can do? You should have left when you had the chance! Maka didn't say anything for a while before finally mumbling in a voice that Soul barely caught:

"It's stupid…" Curiosity was getting the better of even the berating voice in his head now.

"No it's not. Just tell me." Soul coaxed, glad his voice didn't come out impatient this time. Maka glanced up again, not looking at Soul this time, but at the full-length mirror at the end of her bed.

"I just…" She hesitated a moment and Soul waited, knowing she would continue. "I…Why can't I be like the other girls? Like Liz and Patty and Tsubaki and Kim and…everyone? Instead I'm flat-chested and thick ankles and gloomy and puzzles…" Her sentence had stopped making sense by this point, not that it would have been easy to understand what she was saying anyway through the crying.

"Oh crap…" Soul knew very well what she meant though. How did this end up being my fault? He wondered, Maybe because I'm a jerk who never should have said all those things?

"Now let's begin." Professor Stein told the two students. "Face each other." Soul and Maka complied, both ready for whatever insane, dangerous, might-ruin-their-soul-resonance training the slightly mad professor would throw at them. "Name each other's personal faults."

"…stubborn, foolhardy, gloomy-natured because her hobbies are reading and puzzles, thick ankles…"

"Maka…" He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say exactly. Somehow, he just thought that stupid words like that didn't bother her. And yet, obviously they did as his meister now sat here crying. "You…you don't have thick ankles…" Wow, that was brilliant. He thought sarcastically. I really wish I had knocked… "Maka," he tried again, "I'm sorry about all that stuff, you know it was all just lies…"

"No it wasn't." She accused through her sobs.

"Yeah it…well not all of it…okay, well you do read a lot and do a lot of puzzles and flat-chested too I guess, but…" It occurred to Soul that he really wasn't making anything better. "But the thick ankles thing was definitely a lie." Maka actually snorted, shaking her head.

"You know, you really suck at this." She sniffled. Soul threw his hands in the air.

"Yeah, I know. But at least I'm trying."

"Got anything that might actually work?"

"Well, you're not usually gloomy-natured either. That was also a lie." Soul shrugged, grasping at straws now. It was unlikely he would get himself out of this grave he'd dug now.

"Better." Maka said, wiping her nose on the back of her hand.

"Stubborn and foolhardy aren't always bad traits either. Neither are puzzles and reading." Soul tried, hopefully.

"Okay." His meister conceded, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"And…well, if you had an awesome body like Blair, I would probably be too distracted to work."

"Jerk!" Maka glared daggers at her partner. Damn…I was doing so well too…

"Maka…I… I don't know what to say…I'm sorry about all those things I said, you are awesome and really smart…" and beautiful "…and so determined…" and perfect "…and brave and…" He suddenly realized that even though he might be saying the right thing, he was saying way too much of it, "…and great just the way you are." Aw man, that was totally uncool…

"Soul?" Maka said, looking up at him.

"Yeah?"

"That was…kind of cheesy, did you steal it from a Hallmark card?"

"Uh…yeah…sure…" I am so calling Tsubaki next time.

"…thanks…" Without warning the scythe master wrapped her arms around her partner in a tight embrace that lasted only a moment.

"Oh damn it! It's already 9:15! Why didn't you tell me we were going to be late?" Soul gaped at his technician.

"What? Why do you think I came into your room in the first place? It wasn't to spy on you, that's for sure!" Then there was a small moment where Soul's eyes widened slightly, realizing what he'd said. Maka didn't hesitate though.

"Makaaaaa-Chop!" The book came crashing down on his head with the same amount of force he remembered. So things were back to normal then. Rubbing his aching head as Maka practically kicked him out of her room he couldn't suppress a small grin for a moment.

"I can't believe I'm going to be late!" Maka wailed.

"Well it is your fault…"

"My fault? You were the one who said all those mean things in the first place…"

"But they were all lies, remember?"

"Then what was the point in saying them if they were lies? Why didn't you just say the truth?" Soul chewed on that thought as he shouted back some mindless comeback. Because you didn't believe it anyways. He sighed as their usual bickering continued. Maybe one day.

So there you go. There;s my hot and heavy romance fic for you lol. All you perverts were thinking something else too, weren't you? Haha, it's only T for language :)