SoMa Four Seasons Challenge

Fall

🍁🍂Fall🍂🍁

"Soul Eater Evans, I swear to Lord Death, if you-"

She trails off with a whimper as the dives into the freshly raked pile of leaves, grunting slightly at his impact with the earth.

"What did you think would happen, you idiot?" she mumbles, trying to contain her laughter while keeping a stern face.

"You didn't have enough leaves," he groans as he sits up, rubbing his forehead.

"Well, I'm sorry I wasn't trying to make a pile for you to jump into. I was trying to make a pile so that there aren't leaves all over the yard!" she shouts, stomping towards him.

"Chill, isn't my broken spine enough for you?" he grumbles as he slowly, grimacing, stands up. "Let me see that."

He takes the rake from her before she can protest and sets off toward the corner of the yard, one of the places she hadn't managed to rake yet.

She watches his white hair flutter with the wind, grinning as a cluster of leaves flies into his face. Oh yes. This is what she had been dealing with all afternoon.

"How's it coming, oh Soul the Determined?" she calls as he takes a short break to lean on the handle of the rake.

"Keep taunting and I won't let you jump in the pile," he retorts as he resumes his work.

"You're doing this to jump into? Not because it needs to be clean?" she yelps as he rakes the huge pile of leaves onto the pile she had already made.

"Why would it need to be cleaned? It's outside," he mutters as he hands her the rake. He takes a few steps back and vaults onto the pile of leaves, grinning up at her as they crunch under him but manage to offset enough of his weight enough that he doesn't make a hard impact like he had before.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, it was very tempting to drop the rake and do exactly as he had done. Still, she held back her desire and began to take up the half of the yard that he hadn't gotten to yet.

"Hey! I was joking about not letting you jump!" he calls, sitting upright and looking to her. "Come on!"

"Soul, the yard needs to be cleaned," she returns, frowning. Oh, it looked so fun...

No, Maka. Cleaning is more important right now...

She huffs and continues raking up the red and yellow leaves, crunching some under her boots in the process.

A set of hands around her waist makes her tense up, and the mouth by the edge of her ear gives her goosebumps.

"Come on, Maka. Be a teenager for once," he coaxes, reaching out with one hand to take the rake from her. He shoves it to the side and takes her hand, pulling her towards the leaf pile. "Act like a kid. It's good for you."

"How do I..." she trails off with apprehension while staring at the pile. Oh, it would make such a mess and she'd have so much more to clean up...

"Just run and jump, like this," he releases her and takes off, plopping into the pile once more. "Come on!"

She sighs and takes off, her feet pounding under her before leaving her as she lands stomach first on the pile of leaves.

She can't help it; a laugh bubbles through her throat when she looks to Soul, a knowing smirk plastered on his face. He leans forward and catches her cheek, pulling her in and pressing his lips to hers in a sudden, albeit not unwanted, kiss.

"Again?" she asks when he pulls away, and he grins at her.

"Maybe in a minute. I'm all out of breath," he says.

"Yeah, I can see why. It's exhilarating, that wonder if the leaves will catch you..." she trails off with a sigh, leaning her head back onto his arm in the pile of leaves.

"No, because you take my breath away," he retorts, and her cheeks flush pink.

"Oh shut up! That's so cheesy!" she gasps, turning to send him a half-glare.

"So is jumping into a pile of leaves with your girlfriend, but you don't see me complaining," he cuts back, flashing her some teeth before standing up.

She scrambles after him, taking his offered hand.

"So lame," she mutters as they take off, this time together. She lands easily, and he curls his arms around her, pulling her into a quick embrace.

"Cheesy, huh? Cheesy but cute, at least?" he asks, leaning his forehead to hers. She grins, cheeks pink from being so close to him and the brisk air they had been playing in.

"Yeah, definitely cute," she agrees, leaning up to kiss him. This one is a little less innocent than before, but nonetheless, it's over within a few moments. "Again?"

"As many times as you want to," he offers, taking her hand as she rose to her feet.

"I haven't had this much fun in years," she says with a laugh. "I've been missing a lot."

"It's good to hear your laugh," he admits, following her once more toward the pile of now-crumpled and sad looking leaves. They'd have to rerake it soon...

But no matter how many times he had to redo it, as long as she kept asking, he would.

He'd do anything to hear her laugh.