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Soul, Maka, Black*Star and Tsubaki were wandering through a bookstore one weekend, a few months after their second semester with partners started, when Maka startled them with the question "Why is it that none of you like to read?" The answers were automatic.
Black*Star: "The words are too difficult."
Tsubaki: "Keeping up with Black*Star is like a full time job. I don't really have time for anything else."
Soul: "I can't find one that sounds the least bit interesting."
Black*Star, Maka, and Tsubaki gaped at Soul. Black*Star started laughing. "Seriously? Dude, that is so lame. Only nerds read." Tsubaki slapped him on the back of the head.
Soul rolled his eyes. How does Maka ever get along with this douchebag? He insults her more than I do. "You just say that, Black*Star, because you're illiterate." Soul was expecting Maka to hit him, but instead she giggled.
"What does 'illiterate' mean?" Black*Star asked Tsubaki. Tsubaki just shook her head, promising to tell him when they got home.
Maka tossed Soul a book. "It's not Shakespeare, but it's not boring either." Soul grazed over the back, Black*Star attempting to read over his shoulder. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone? What is that, a picture book?"
"No dipshit, if it were it wouldn't have taken you ten minutes to read the title." Black*Star shrugged.
"It sounds like a kids' book."
"Should be perfect for you then" Soul retorted, slapping Black*Star's face with the paperback.
"I don't understand why you'd wanna read that, Soul. Only geeks read that series."
Soul turned red in the face. He knew he shouldn't have cared what someone he wasn't even friends with thought of him, but he couldn't help it. He set the book on a shelf, shrugging in Maka's direction. He couldn't look her in the eyes in case she was hurt, so he slouched, making his hair fall in his eyes.
And bought the book anyway when he thought nobody was looking.
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Soul couldn't exactly say that he disliked the book, but he had a hard time sitting still. He felt too energetic and too anxious. He was afraid of someone walking in on him. It would have been somewhat embarrassing, in an 'I-told-you-so' kind of way if Maka walked in on him. It would have been mortifying in an 'I'm going to tell the entire school that you read a geek book' kind of way if Black*Star burst in on him – something he insisted on doing, no matter how many times Soul demanded he respect his privacy.
He couldn't help but draw parallels to his own life. Although he couldn't place the main character, he imagined the brainy one as Maka, the snobby one as his brother Wes, the headmaster of the school as Lord Death (which, strangely, fit pretty well), and the snarky one as himself. He couldn't think of a character to place Black*Star as, but for some reason, he could still hear Black*Star laughing at him. Only geeks read that series…
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Maka came around the corner to ask Soul what he wanted to dinner, only to find that he wasn't sprawled on the couch watching TV. She skipped to his room, knocking lightly on the door before peeking her head around. "Hey Soul, what do you wanna eat?"
She smiled, but pretended to be busy with her nails so that Soul could keep his "cool persona". She also pretended that his mumbling made sense.
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About a year later, Maka, Soul, Kid, Liz, Patti, Black*Star and Tsubaki stood in line outside a movie theatre, waiting to get tickets for a showing of one of the last Harry Potter movies. Black*Star was, of course, pretending to have been a fan all along. Maka was impressed with his costume. There wasn't even a competition for it, they just thought it might be fun, since everyone else from Shibusen was doing it. And Black*Star had really gone all out.
"I WILL SURPASS GOD! AND BY 'GOD', I MEAN YOU!" Black*Star pointed a sharpened stick at Kid, who was dressed as Harry (with two lightning scars, because one would just not be symmetrical).
Kid rolled his eyes and turned to Liz. "Why did we let him dress up as the most obnoxious and egotistical character from the series?"
Liz shrugged. "Don't ask me. In fact, don't even talk to me. If anyone asks, I don't even know you people."
Soul scratched at his wig, wondering how on Earth Maka convinced him to dress up. He was with Liz, this was beyond embarrassing. But Maka got so incredibly excited when Kid suggested the idea that he couldn't say no to her. "Besides," she'd muttered to him as she finished pinning the wig to his hair on the way over, "you don't really want Black*Star dressing up as your favourite character, do you?"
Soul had no idea how, exactly, Maka found out that Ron was his favourite. He didn't even know himself why he was, although he supposed it was because he felt a connection to him. Soul was a weapon. He was a tool. Without a meister, he couldn't do much of anything. He wasn't powerful like Kid, strong like Black*Star or smart like Maka. What would happen to him if he broke an arm? If he became injured, he would be rendered completely useless. Maka could always find a way to work with someone else.
It made him angry that Shibusen taught meisters to treat their weapons as weapons and nothing else. Maka was allowed to make her own choices and it didn't really matter what Soul wanted or thought. If Maka wanted something different, Soul got thrown away. It was like it didn't even matter or occur to her that Soul cared about her well-being. He was the sidekick, and sidekicks never got anything. They didn't get the awards, the recognition, or the girl in the end.
So as he heard people ooh-ing and aah-ing over the sweet moments Harry and Hermione shared together, Soul dug his fingernails farther and farther into the seat. Maka looked at him curiously, wondering what on Earth could be agitating Soul much.
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Once everyone got out of the theatre (and, Soul noticed, gushing about how cute Harry and Hermione would look together, saying how she just shouldn't bother with Ron since he useless and not smart enough for her in the first place), Maka placed a hand on Soul's shoulder, making sure he didn't run off. "Hey Soul, what's wrong?"
"Nothing" he snapped. He tugged the wig off his head harshly, growling when it pulled tufts of his own hair out. He attempted to yank away from her, but Maka only slid her hand down to his wrist, trying to make him stop and talk to her. Without thinking, his arm transformed into a blade and he shoved her away.
Maka didn't have her gloves on, but the cut he left wasn't very deep. It was bleeding somewhat though, like a bad paper cut. Maka had tears forming out of the corner of her eyes. But she looked more emotionally than physically hurt.
"I'm sorry Maka, I just –"
"It's okay, Soul." She tried to wipe her hands off on her knees, but just wound up spreading the blood on her legs. "It's just, it stings" but Soul knew that wasn't what the tears were about.
Soul walked to Maka. He felt bad when she flinched at his touch. He hated that he made her scared.
He put his hands on her waist, moving them slowly to the small of her back. He rested his head on her shoulder. Maka refused to hug him back, so he let go, staring agitatedly at the ground. He nervously rubbed the back of his head "let's just…let's go home."
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"It pisses me off sidekick doesn't get the girl" he said quietly. "Or much of anything." He wrapped her hands up with bandage, surprised she even let him touch her. The look in her eyes was so betrayed…
"What?"
He finished wrapping up her hand, holding it in both of his. "Why do all of those people want Hermoine to get together with Harry?"
"You're pissed off because…because some people think Hermione would be better off with Harry than Ron?"
"Yes!" he yelled, throwing her hand down. Maka tried her hardest not to giggle. This was what made him so upset he unintentionally turned into a blade? "Why does Harry have to get the girl in the end? He's already more powerful than Ron, more popular than Ron, more athletic, he wins more often, he gets all the luck, and all because some dumbass tried to kill him when he was younger! Why doesn't Ron get anything? It's unfair! He's a third of the main group! Harry would be dead if it wasn't for him!" And Hermione, Maka added silently. She listened to him ranting, wondering what on Earth had prompted this. Soul never got so upset about any other movie, book, TV show or video game.
"Soul?" she interrupted. "What is this really about?"
Soul bowed his head. "You know how Ron never really contributes anything?" he didn't wait for her answer. He looked up at her. "Why don't you ever listen to anything I say?"
Maka opened her mouth to protest.
"No, shut up for a moment, please. Does it ever even occur to you that I might have ideas that work just as well as yours? Or when you do dumbass reckless stuff like when we were fighting Free and you just threw me like I was some inanimate object – God, did you ever even think that maybe you'd scared me? Or Tsubaki? Or Black*Star? What the Hell would I have done if you'd been killed? Don't even bother bringing up Crona. You could always work with any other weapon. You're like Tsubaki, you're just compatible with anybody! I'm not. Do you have any idea how hard it would be to find another partner who wasn't lame or a dumbass? All the other kids in Spartoi are taken. Do you ever stop to think about the other people, the ones around you, and how your actions might affect me?"
Soul didn't even notice his slip up, nor did Maka give him time to. She slapped him hard on the face, looking ready to eat his head off. "Don't you ever say that to me." Soul felt his cheek, looking to his side instead of at her face. "Listen to me! Please, just look at me!" He looked up at her, and she was crying. "Don't you ever even suggest that I could go on without you."
It seemed that Maka couldn't continue, and instead launched herself onto Soul. The stood, embracing each other fearfully, for ten or so minutes. Maka laughed at Soul's puffy face, much like a blowfish. She laughed. As if he read her mind, he commented, giving her his signature grin that to anyone else would have looked like a sneer, "yeah, because you look any better."
Soul started off toward his bedroom when Maka stopped him. "Just so you know, they're wrong."
"Hm? Who is?"
"Everybody else." She kissed Soul on the cheek. "Ron gets Hermione in the end." Soul suddenly felt very glad that he was just the sidekick.
Especially since it meant he didn't get kidnapped by weirdoes.