"Can you please stop tapping?"

Soul stopped the steady rhythm of both his feet and his fingers. "I'm bored," he groaned back as he slid against the back of the chair. In a daring move, his forehead thunked exhaustedly to her shoulder.

"Here." Maka rummaged through her bag, taking out a second paperback and shoving it under his nose.

"No," he elongated the vowel in agony. "Reading sucks."

"Says you," she snapped back before tapping his cheek with the spine. "Why didn't you bring your headphones?"

'Cause I kinda wanted to listen to you… He let that thought drift by as he tilted his chin slightly. The closeness was a bit of bravery, but there was something about doing these homey things with her that always stirred the want. "Broke 'em."

"Another one?" Maka rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Soul, that's like the third this month. For a man who loves music…"

"Real music is better without headphones," he grumbled in return. He could see the goosebumps on her neck from his breath, and he paused, waiting for her to clear him away from his spot.

"Like this?" Maka wiggled a finger up at the busted boombox, one speaker settled askew on top of the line of dryers. It was spewing a piss-poor copycat of Kenny G.

"Oh, this is grade A." His smirk glowed, flashing those sharky teeth. "You don't like it?"

Maka snorted.

"C'mon." Soul nudged his cheek a little more firmly into her shoulder. "Dance with me."

"Here?" Maka glanced around the dilapidated laundromat incredulously.

There were two other late-night launderers, one with his face in his newspaper and the other scrolling through her phone in ennui. The rest of the scratched linoleum or half-broken chairs were empty of life.

"Save me here, Maks. I'm dyin' of boredom." He pulled out the big guns, that pleading stare that thankfully birthed a smidge of weakness in her. He latched on to it along with her hand, getting up from his seat to pull her with him. It was easy to slip her into position, just reliving that black room again.

Maka let him coax her into slow waltzing steps between the washer-dryer sets and the seats. Her smile blossomed almost immediately, but the giggle that followed took time, building as he twirled her until she couldn't hold it.

"What's funny?" The sweet sound broke Soul's concentration.

"It's weird," Maka paused to let another laugh flutter. "You get sort of happy when we're doing housework stuff."

"I feel like you're insinuating me being happy is weird…" Soul leveled a glare at her, promoting more giggles that pressed into his heart. "But yeah, sure, I like this stuff."

There was a tenuousness to their connection, a blip on the line from soul to soul as they revolved again. It was just long enough for Maka to nibble into her lip before asking simply, "Why?"

This was the spot for an obligatory shrug- the kind that killed conversation like a lightning strike. Except… that mood struck him again, the one that was starting to get undeniable every time he was near her. "Well, never did it back at home… had maids and stuff for that so when I got here it was kinda like I wanted to learn it in order to let go of all that Evans bullshit."

Maka was blinking up at him, absorbed with hearing another piece of his truth. It was always hard to tear them away from him and when he offered them, she always seemed entirely immersed, dying for the next word.

"'cept that stuff sorta sucks," he added with a throaty chuckle.

"But you like it," she corrected softly.

"Uh…" Soul let that rumble in his throat for a second. "Yeah, now. That didn't happen 'til you came along."

Her eyelashes fluttered wide, that deep green blooming in surprise.

"Sorta… I mean, alone, in the apartment, cooking or cleaning- it was just me. Just a chore." He couldn't stand the way she was staring so he broke the moment, forcing her into a twirl that urged a tender laugh from her but didn't ruin her concentration.

Her eyes snapped back to him mercilessly as soon as he had her back in his arms.

"When you moved in- us livin' together… guess I realized what I was really missin' about it in the first place."

Maka's eyebrows furrowed but she didn't speak, didn't offer him an out with interruption.

His fingers tensed in hers as his heart lost the tempo of their movement, a jagged beat reminding him that while it was unnaturally easy to love her, it was so hard for him to somehow piece together the idea of it into words. "Doin' it alone… just feels like somethin' you gotta get done. Doin' it together is just like everythin' else we do- life in harmony." It was no longer a smirk but a nervous smile as he searched her eyes. "'Cause when it's you and me it feels homey, like family."

While his grin faltered, Maka's blossomed. "That is the cheesiest thing you've ever said."

A withering laugh struggled from his throat. "Sorry."

Maka quickly shook her head as the glow on her face continued. "You're right though."

Soul could feel the color creeping up his neck to his ears.

"You are my family, Soul." The sweet lilt of her voice was saturated in such a contented joy that his heart was melting down to his shoes. "I like that you feel that way." The octave trembled just slightly, a little pink of her own dusting her cheeks.

"G-good." He swallowed the stutter as his fingers suddenly became entirely unsettled. The urge hit him to spin her again, but in the next breath, the idea of letting her out of his arms struck him as utter agony. While he sat on the precipice of entirely losing his mind, the dryer buzzed, forcing him a jittery step back.

"Looks like you're done," Maka chimed, letting her hands still drift over his arms in gentle reassurance that bled from her fingers to his soul.

Soul tried to push all his energy into the normalcy of opening the dryer, barely feeling the puff of hot air as it opened in his face because of his already burning blush. He managed to shove every sock and wayward piece of underwear into his laundry basket before shuffling it across the floor back to their chairs. His knees gave up, wobbling as he took a hard seat. She- she likes that I feel that way? Does that-?

Maka settled next to him in the seat. "Are you going back to the apartment?"

"No," he shot back immediately, vexed by the thought.

There was no annoyance on her end, just a soft hum of satisfaction. "Let's make cocoa tonight."

"Cocoa?" Soul snapped out of his headspace, finally losing focus on his spiraling thoughts.

"Yeah." Without hesitation, her fingers were wrapped in his. "Homey, right?"

"S-sure. Maka, I- uh-" Different sentence strings shouted in his head. Family- like, together?

"And a movie. Maybe two even though it's late."

"Uh, yeah, sure. Anythin' you want." Or, brother and sister?

"Anything?"

Soul was too deeply occupied with trying to rein in his mind to hear the playfulness in her voice. Or meister and weapon?

"I can sit however I want on the couch?"

"Yeah." Spit it out!

"And you won't complain when I use you as a pillow?"

"Whatever." Since you were so damn love-drunk that you spilled the other part but not the part that terrifies you!

"And if I ask you- you'll give me a goodnight kiss?"

"Listen, Maka-" He froze, hands already spread in a silent plea as he let her words filter into his head. "Wha-what did you just say?"

A bit of bashfulness caught up with her as her fingers kneaded into his. "A kiss, Soul. If I asked you to, would you?"

There was no foothold for his fear, not with that blush blaring on her cheeks and a tentative smile waited to boom with his answer. His lean was a little too quick, knocking noses with her at first until she tempered him with a soft hand to his cheek. The tempting touch only made it worse, his lips clumsily locking to hers as he tried to steal away every last ounce of the happiness in what she'd said.

"Hey, get a room!" The man had dropped his newspaper and was eyeing them with distaste.

Maka parted them with a twittering laugh, her hand coming over her face to finally give in to a second of the embarrassment.

Soul offered the man a sneer before letting out a quaking laugh of his own. "Maka, that was-"

"Nice," she murmured as she let her hand slip away to reveal a smile.

"Yeah," he sighed out desperately.

She squeezed his hand in hers again, "So, cocoa, a movie, and maybe a little more practice."