SoMa: A Collection Of Oneshots

Bikini

Hey, Ma, you and Soul down for a weekend at the beach?" Static jumped across Liz's voice, barely muffling her excitement. Maka curled a finger around a lock of hair, biting her lip with a distinct air of discomfort.

"I'll...ask."

"Right now?" Maka yanked, hard, and yelped at the sting. "I, uh, I don't know where he is. Probably in the bathroom.Or Rwanda. I bet he's in Rwanda. We can just wait until he gets back.You know, they have really bad call service there. Considering it's, you know, in Africa. Which is really far from Nevada. Which means we can't go. Um. Because he's in Rwanda."

Liz hung up without a word. Seconds later, Maka heard a distant rendition of Goner. It was cut off in the middle of the first verse by a low, mildly aggressive greeting that could be loosely translated as "fuck off". After a surprisingly short amount of gut-wrenching time, Soul's defeat was announced.

"Okay. Okay, fine. We'll go. We're going."

Doomsday had arrived. She, Maka Albarn, EAT graduate and the meister of the Last Death Scythe, was not ready to greet it.

She vaulted over the couch and slid neatly into the hallway, taking care to make as little noise as possible so as to make it to her nice,cozy, easily locked room before-

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off by cotton-induced strangulation as Soul yanked her back by the neck of her shirt. She backed up a few inches and turned to smile at Soul with wide, guilty eyes.

"If I have to go, you have to go, too." He let go of her shirt. She rubbed at her neck and screwed up her face in a poor imitation of The Thinker. "I'm sure we could think of something to pass. We could have a cold. Or the flu. Ebola!" He joined in. "Flesh eating virus!" She pursed her lips. He shrugged back, grinning.

"I'll go call Kid and see about meeting him and Blackstar somewhere. You get to go hang out with the sisters and Tsubaki and the entire bathing suit section of Nevada." He patted her cheek in mock sympathy, pinching gently when she started to pout.

"Are you sure I can't fake that flesh eating virus?" She asked desperately. He only laughed, turning away, phone already ringing in his hand. She smiled after him and resigned herself to her fate, sliding her feet into sneakers and locking the door on the way out of the apartment.

The walk there was short, crowded with vendor carts and sweating tourists wandering aimlessly through the desert heat. Maka plucked at her shirt and reconsidered her intense dislike of the day's plans. After all, it was still young, a healthy 96 degrees at eleven in the morning. It was bound to get worse by tomorrow. Maybe swimming wouldn't be so bad?

Neon, sparkling swimsuits twinkled tauntingly at her as she passed their summery storefronts, and she quickly threw out everything she'd considered. This was going to be... trying.

She was greeted at the door by Tsubaki. The older girl took her hand and raced up the stairs, talking even faster about swimsuit colors and cute decorations. She nearly mowed down the sisters' door in her haste.

"You know, for being in Rwanda, Soul was pretty chill about visiting the beach." laughter colored Liz's voice. Maka mumbled something under her breath that sounded more like "Dina ava goose issues" than "I didn't have a good excuse". Her cheek was mercilessly pinched for her trouble. She sulked, palm to stinging skin, and silently decided that she liked it a whole lot more when Soul did it in good spirits.

Liz's gaze dissuaded Maka from bargaining for her freedom. There were dark,dark threats in those bright baby blues. Threats she didn't want to fathom. Fear smoothed away thoughts of escape and scribbled incomplete horror at the sheer number of both swimsuits and stores she endured in three hours.

She left with sore feet and wounded dignity, she complained to her amused roommate. Never again, she vowed. She'd call in sick, say she broke her legs, really break her legs, run away to Peru and change her name to Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya De La Rosa Ramirez. Anything but this. Soul just tugged on a pigtail,an unreadable expression in those dark eyes, and laughed in a way that made her mouth ache from grinning.

She wasn't so happy the day after, however.

She was normally a perfectly pleasant person in the morning – not overly cheery, like morning people can be, not a dick like not morning people are – just a person, doing person things. But today she was just short of being an absolute tit. Soul took up the mantle of pleasantry. It was a strange sight – a sweet girl with eyes like fairy rings and a tongue the likes of which would make a sailor blush, and a scary boy with a soulful of disrespect and a voice like a businessman.

Liz snatched her up the moment she slid off Soul's motorcycle, a smile splitting her face. "You're gonna wear that really cute simple one. You know, the black one with the little soul cartoon on it." She laughed, her hand hard as iron around Maka's wrist. "Don't worry,"She said, which obviously didn't help ease her worrying at all. "No one's going to come on to you. Not with Soul around." She laughed again and swung Maka into a seemingly abandoned cabana. Slippery fabric was immediately shoved into her hands by Tsubaki,and she was directed towards the back with vaguely threatening instructions. Another, sturdier material had been wadded into her fist as well - she shook it out, and her heart warmed as she processed the sight before her. 

She returned wearing an overlarge shirt and a bitten lip, exchanging short smiles with Tsubaki. Liz only blew a strand of hair out of her face and patted Maka's cheek lazily.

"You know you can't swim with a shirt on. That's just weird." Her words curled incredulously on her tongue. Maka's answer was swift and sarcastic, true to form:
"But I sure can try."

One quick gesture and Patty was upon her, bright eyes flashing crazily. Maka took off like a gunshot, feet reddening from contact with seashell infested sand. Why couldn't she just sit and read, she moaned, was it really so important that she soak herself in salt water thousands of animals had lived in, did she have to endure rhythmic beat downs by the waves, was it too late to break her legs?

Soul, on the other hand, was pleasantly situated on a nearby wave breaker, watching his best friend climb up an insanely large rock in order to throw himself off of it. Kid lounged on the sand nearby, a wide umbrella covering all but the very top of the book he was reading. "C'mon, do a flip!" Blackstar flipped him off with an easy grin. His eyes narrowed at something behind Soul, and he turned to find out the cause of it.

Maka was practically flying across the beach, hair dancing behind her. Patty was closing in, maniac laughter biting at Maka's heels. It was like watching a gazelle being taken down by a lion. Patty grabbed her by the neck of - was that his shirt? - and pulled, knocking the air out of her lungs. The shirt was then forcibly removed. Once this task was complete, Patty bounced off into the direction from whence she came, humming merrily and swinging the shirt like a yo-yo. 

Maka remained eagle spread on the hot, hot sand, vacant eyes staring unblinkingly into the cloudless sky. Soul climbed gingerly back over the rocks, ignoring Blackstar's complaints, and picked his way across the sand to see his meister. 

She shaded her eyes with one hand when he approached, a scowl tightening her face. He stood over her, hands in pockets, just looking. She looked back, relaxing minutely. His hands tightened against his thighs, and he focused more on the dull sting of nail splitting skin through cloth than the fact that she was practically naked and looked - well. Well. He shouldn't think about that. Wouldn't.

He offered his hand to her after what felt like an eternity. Her hand was sturdy and warm in his, and he jolted at the contact. They pulled her to her feet and she promptly dusted herself off, shaking out her hair with inexperienced hands. Sand settled like glitter on her shoulders. He turned away and led her silently to the sea.

There wasn't much of a better way to handle this.