Nightmares and Daydreams

Chapter 2: Daydreams.

Sunlight slowly filled the room. Dust hung suspended in the rays of light like leftover stardust. As a faint ding! sounded from down the hall, Maka Albarn opened her eyes to the Saturday morning. Slowly, she sat up and stretched her tired arms and shoulders, breathing in the chill of the winter morning air. The ding must have been her cue courtesy microwave that breakfast was ready. Wow, Soul had actually remembered that it was his turn to cook? Shocking. She yawned.

Wait a moment.

All of the happenings of the night before resurfaced in the forefront of her memory. She would play it off as naught but a very, very strange dream, but the fact that half of her blankets resided on the wrong side of her bed told her that it was, in fact, very, very real. But, had Soul actually kissed her? Surely, she had been asleep for that part of it. She brought her fingers up to her lips, touching them as if she would know somehow if it had really happened or not just by feeling.

"Hey, sleepyhead, breakfast is ready!" Her attention snapped immediately to her doorway, where Soul stood in a strangely familiar T-shirt, grinning. She realized a second too late that her fingers were still at her mouth, and she quickly brought her hand back down to her side, trying to mask the embarrassment and shock from her face with a condescending smirk.

"I see you actually remembered…" she began, but Soul had already bounded down the hall. He was rather energetic despite the fact that he was definitely not a morning person. Go figure. Ah well, no need in prolonging her stomach's grumbling. It was time to eat.

The meister sat down at the table, cutting her syrup-soaked waffles into bite-sized bits before happily munching them down. Glancing to the side at her weapon, who was perched atop the piano bench, alternating between pressing two keys, she wondered who was going to speak first. Neither had seemed entirely comfortable with them both being in the room at the same time. They had made small talk, ranging from what assignments they might be sent out on this upcoming week to the frigid weather, but it was there that they both faltered for words, unsure of how to approach the obvious next subject.

Come on, scythe boy. It would be so uncool for her to have to be the one to bring it up, not to mention uncomfortable. Then again, she was thinking as if the room could get any more uncomfortable. It was only a matter of time before something was said…

A rather loud and chaotic assortment of notes reverberated from the piano, jerking Maka out of her thoughts. She looked over at him with wide green eyes, swallowing the last bite of her breakfast. He turned to face her, his cheeks ferociously fighting a blush. She had to bite back a smile, knowing what was coming.

"About last night…sorry."

Wait, what?

She didn't respond at first. The blonde stood up and rinsed off both of their dishes. She could feel Soul's gaze following her wherever she went. He was waiting for a response. He would get one, eventually. She had to find a way to put her thoughts into words first. He just needed to be patient.

She walked to the piano bench and sat adjacent to him, facing away from the piano. She would not make eye contact with him. His crimson eyes made her feel like she would blurt out something she would definitely regret. Where to start? Where, oh, where would she start…?

"This is my shirt," she observed, grabbing a corner of the fabric that made a sleeve over his arm. Kind of lame, she decreed, but a solid statement nonetheless. What would he make of it?

"Actually, it's mine. You stole it first. I'm stealing it back."

Oh, yeah. She scowled. He won that one. How stupid of her. "Okay, fine."

A few seconds of silence ensued. It seemed like an eternity. A thousand lifetimes could pass and there would still be silence between them. Why was this conversation so hard for them to have? Maybe because they were actually being forced to face a fact that they had been dancing around for so many years? Or perhaps it wasn't a fact. It could just be a figment of her imagination. It was very possible that he was not in love with her. That kiss could have been made up. She could have been dreaming. It was more likely that she had been dreaming. But why could she still remember how it felt? She was still very aware of the strange, alien sensation of lips tenderly touching lips. Was she really that desperate for love that she was dreaming up these circumstances? She hated to admit it, but she did have her papa in her. Perhaps this was the Albarn curse: the uncontrollable need to be loved.

"Are you going to say anything?" Soul asked quietly, beginning to tap his two keys again.

Maka took a deep breath, and then asked the question that she hoped would contain all of the answers. She needed this doubt to end or she would go mad. He either loved her or he didn't.

"Why are you so determined to die for me?"

His gentle caressing of the piano keys halted. Facing his meister, he tried to formulate words that would make sense. This was it, wasn't it? He was going to have to face her now. He had been avoiding this for so long. So not cool.

"You kissed me didn't you? Or was that just my imagination? I can't act like nothing happened last night, Soul," she continued, her voice shaking.

"I crossed a line, Maka. I'm sorry," he began. Damnit, so she hadn't been asleep for that little part. This really was it.

She dropped her head, slender shoulders slumping, defeated. He watched her pick herself up from the bench and make her way down the hall.

"Wait, Maka-" he panicked, following after her.

"I need to be alone, Soul. Just leave me alone," she growled, pushing him away as he reached for her.

"No, I'm not finished. I have a lot to say. I just…don't know how to say it."

"Then don't, and leave me alone like I asked," she snapped, turning around to make eye contact with him for the first time that morning. He looked pitiful and confused, which was exactly how she felt. How interesting. Not that it meant anything, of course.

"Maka, damnit, this is really not cool!" he said, reaching out to hold her shoulders. At this point, he might as well let it all out. She was completely silent, lips pursed in an expression that read clearly as 'unimpressed' and 'waiting.'

"Okay, look. It's not so much that I'm determined to die for you as it is that I don't really think I could ever handle being alive if you weren't. So if we're in a situation where one of us has to die, I'd gladly take the blow, just because I don't know how long I'd last here without you."

He pulled away from her and slumped against the wall. She held her gaze on him, unblinking. Was it just him, or did that hallway get a few degrees colder? She was really not making this easy…

"And yeah, I kissed you. I crossed a line, like I said…but I don't mean that in a bad way. I guess I…uh," he leant back and ran his hand through his hair. Damn this. "I'm just going to come out and say it okay? I love you."

Maka's expression changed instantaneously to one of shock. Did she actually hear that? Did he really just say that he loved her? Honestly, isn't it supposed to be more of an 'I like you' then a year or two of dating and then an 'I love you' and then eventually moving in with one another and— oh, wait. She realized that this was all backwards. By just agreeing to be partners they had practically gone past the "I like you' stage, in a way. Not to mention that they had been living under the same roof for years and spending nearly every waking moment with each other. Oh, wow, she was really stupid wasn't she?

"Come on Maka, aren't you going to say anything? I pretty much just made the biggest confession of my life two seconds ago and you're standing there like Black Star just told you that you are a bigger star than he is or something…"

"Even though I have tiny tits?" she squeaked, dumfounded.

Soul erupted in laughter, picking his meister up in a giant bear-hug and spinning her around the hall, "The soul's all that matters, Maka. Don't you know that? Plus, I must admit that I'm more of a legs kind of guy anyways."

This was completely mad. Soul didn't just say he loved her, but also that he found her attractive and he was hugging her and what in the world had just happened? Her thoughts were completely scrambled. After so long of doubting herself and preparing herself for the worst heartbreak she had ever been through (since her parent's divorce), this was the last thing she had expected. This was an untouchable daydream.

After Soul put her back down, he flashed a sharp-toothed grin in her direction and asked, "So, what do you want to do today? There are no upcoming tests to study for so you have no excuses to stay inside."

She looked up at him and smiled deviously. "Sure I do."

The ash blonde wrapped her arms around him, bringing his face close enough for her to reach. Even though this was new territory for them both, it felt right. Her lips met his and it was as if sparks flew. She could feel his smile, and he could feel hers. This was better than soul resonance. There was no violence here, no fighting to the death, just a mutual feeling of love blooming in the fresh winter air.

She loved him. She loved every bit of him. She loved his aloof attitude and his lazy grin and the troublemaker that he brought out in her every once in awhile. She loved his messy white hair and his mischievous red eyes. She found that she even loved the scar that he would forever wear as a mark of his devotion to her. Most of all, she loved that he loved her as much as she loved him.

Their lips danced upon one another as weapon backed meister against the wall of the hallway. His hands were tangled in her uncombed hair. She still tasted faintly of sweet syrup and strawberries. This was bliss, heaven, perfection, you name it. They had thirsted for each other for so long. They were lost teenagers who were not taught how love worked, and so they invented it for themselves.

Soul was the one to break them apart. He gazed at the ash blonde girl in front of him, who peeked back at him with wild emerald eyes.

"Okay, definitely staying inside today," he admitted, then grabbed her hand and led her back into the living room.

They sat on the couch and watched their favourite movies, closer than they had ever been before, but more comfortable than they had ever been as well. Bowls of popcorn and milkshake glasses were shared and emptied. Come afternoon, they napped, completely engulfed by one another's presence.

Maka awoke first. Waking up early to make breakfast must have taken its toll on poor Soul, she wondered thoughtfully. She removed herself from the couch to take a shower, only to turn back to him and lightly kiss him.

"Oh, and…I love you too, Soul."

A/N: Mehh I'm not satisfied, but I hope some of you kiddos will still enjoy this. I think this'll be all for this story.