Ok, I'm gonna be honest, I've only ever seen the show so I might have the properties of black blood wrong. If I do disregard it. As long as the story makes sense we're gravy baby. Chrona is also a bit OOC, but there's a reason for it, I think. Also, I made Chrona non-binary because their gender is never really disclosed and why not? We're all gay here. This is my first time using an OC and I hope you like him, enjoy.

Poor Chrona, couldn't see it coming. It all started when Chrona had been on their way to go hang out with their friends. They were merely walking across the street when they heard a fast approaching engine. Chrona looked to their right to see a motorcycle heading straight for them; they became paralyzed with fear. A literal deer in headlights; they fell to their knees. The biker couldn't get out of the way in time. Chrona was hit. The guy flew from his bike, his head smacking right into a stop sign. Chrona's head was fuzzy, they were bleeding, it hurt really bad, but the blood quickly resealed the wounds and just like that Chrona was collected, but not quite calm as they ran to the biker. They took off his helmet and felt around for a pulse in his neck. He was alive, but just barely. The impact hadn't seemed so bad, but he was bleeding profusely. Chrona ran their hand through the guy's raven locks looking for the wound. When they found it, they began to lose even more of their cool as the blood puddle grew.

"Oh no! What do I do?! I don't know what to do!" Chrona panicked.

"Shut up! Who gives a fuck about this bastard? He ran you over, just let him die!" snarled Ragnarök.

"No, I can't! I can't just let him die!" his breath becoming even more labored.

"Fine then take him to a hospital or something," Ragnarök suggested.

"But I don't know where a hospital is!"

"If you're worth a damn, you'd figure it out!"

"Yelling at me isn't making this any better!"

"Fine, then try using your black blood to heal him." his partner chuckled mischievously.

Chrona choked on their saliva at the thought.

"Are you crazy? I can't do that!"

"Can't you? No one's around to help. How much do you want to save him?"

It was true, Chrona looked around and realized they were on an abandoned street; no one could help them. Chrona didn't know what to do. Did they try and move him? Did they leave him alone and look for someone? This guy was going to die and they didn't know how to fix it, it was all too much for them. Chrona observed him, moving the hair sticking to the sides of his face, realizing the guy didn't look much older than them. He was too young to die. Chrona thought about Ragnarök's suggestion and, even though they didn't want to do it, decided that it was the only option. They looked around, making sure no one was there to see them do it and began doing their best.

"I'm so sorry, but it's the only way to save you."

As if on cue, a groan passed the man's lips, "What?"

"You're awake! Try not to move I'm still healing your wound!" Chrona demanded.

"Ok…" the guy replied confused.

They were there for a couple more seconds before Chrona thought it was ok to stop. They helped the guy sit up and examined him for any other wounds. Once Chrona were sure he didn't have any other life-threatening wounds they helped him move to the sidewalk and leaned him against a building. He seemed like he could move and function just fine for the most part; that was a promising sign. However, they began to panic when they noticed the guy was starting to doze off. If he fell asleep now, the black blood would only agitate his condition.

"You can't go to sleep!" Chrona blurted out.

"Why?"

"Because if you sleep you'll have nightmares and they'll stress your condition. The wound needs to heal first." Chrona explained.

"Nightmares?" he asked

"Yes," Chrona hesitates "because of my black blood."

"Black blood? You know what, my apartment is around here so how about we go there and you can explain this to me on the way." the guy suggested.

"Oh ok, that's lucky. I honestly didn't know where I was going to take you." Chrona sighed.

Chrona slung the stranger's arm over their shoulder so they could support him while Ragnarök grabbed his motorcycle. Once Chrona gained a stable grip on him they started telling the guy all about their black blood. He listened intently while giving Chrona directions to his place. Not once did the guy seem uncomfortable, scared, or even disgusted with Chrona for what they did. Throughout Chrona's whole speech his face stayed neutral and he never once interrupted. It made Chrona feel at ease around the stranger. It was baffling. Even those close to Chrona on occasion still made them jumpy, no matter how hard everyone tried not to. Chrona didn't want to take this as a bad sign though. Someone who made them this calm surely couldn't be that bad. Before Chrona could even begin to question it, they realized they had finally reached his apartment and just in the nick of time. The biker could hardly hold off on sleeping any longer. Chrona opened the door and immediately sat him on his bed so they could check the wound.

"I think your wound is healed enough, so you can sleep. I'm really sorry about all of this! I'll stay for a while longer, to check on your condition." Chrona explained.

"So, it's gonna give me nightmares and a dark side? That's what you said, right? I'm not so worried about the nightmares, everyone gets them. I have them more often than not. As for this dark side though, how do you know I'm not already evil? And if I'm already evil does that mean I get a good side instead?" The guy questioned.

"I don't know, it's never been tested, or at least I don't think it has." Chrona replied, pondering if such a thing could really happen.

Chrona watched the guy as he began to fall over, clearly ready to fall asleep, when they suddenly realized something.

"My name's Chrona by the way, sleep well."

"Darren and I'll try." he replied finally nodding off.

"It's nice to meet you, Darren." Chrona said even though Darren was already asleep.

Chrona wasn't quite sure what to do so they ended up sitting there and watching Darren sleep the whole time. They ran their hand through Darren's hair as if to placate some sense of guilt from within. They really wish things hadn't turned out like this, even if some sick part of them was happy to make a new friend. After forty-five minutes of watching him, Darren started to groan, the nightmares had begun. Another ten minutes and he was thrashing around. After twelve minutes more he had finally woken up in a mild panic. Chrona went and wandered around the apartment a bit to find Darren some water. They brought it to him and waited for him to finish drinking it to start asking questions.

"So, how do you feel?"

"Well, normal. Not good, but not bad, just how I normally feel after nightmares." Darren casually replied.

Chrona was surprised at how well he was taking this. They wondered why this situation didn't bother him. Either way Darren was a special guy. Chrona wished they could have his bravery and tranquility.

"How long did I sleep for anyway?" he asked.

"An hour and or so I think." Chrona replied.

"I see, I lasted longer than I thought!" he smiled.

Chrona felt a shock of emotions go through them. Surprise, relief, irritation, and something else they couldn't really identify. What was with this guy? It seemed as if nothing affected him. It kind of made Chrona upset, but they would never admit it. Chrona still felt guilty for doing this to Darren and Darren was just blowing it off as if it were normal! Then there was that little sick twist of happiness. They were actually glad that Darren wasn't mad at them and that he was coping well enough. It made Chrona feel as if, maybe when this all settled down, he could have someone to really talk to about it. Of course, he had Maka and Soul, but they felt too much like a third wheel to really go to the couple too often. Darren, however, could be, well, their go to person and maybe they could be Darren's. It was all really messed up and quite complicated, but once again before he could really analyze much further Darren started moving about. He abruptly got off the bed and walked over to the bathroom, then stopped in the doorway and turned back to Chrona.

"Hey, if you don't mind I'm gonna take a shower. I'm sweating, a lot, so, if you want to stay and wait for me you can. Or if you have somewhere you have to be or just wanna go that's ok too. Just if you decide to stay I'll probably be like fifteen minutes ok?"

"Ok." Chrona nodded.

Chrona took a moment to think about whether they should stay or not. They did have somewhere they were supposed to be and their friends were probably worried sick. Still, for some reason, the way Darren spoke to them made him sound kind of lonely. To Chrona, it sounded like a guy not ready to be on his own again. So, they thought maybe they should stay, just in case. Chrona also found they didn't really want to leave despite knowing they should. It was an endless cycle and they continued to argue with themself for some time. Before they knew it, Darren had already come out of the shower. Chrona stiffened when the boy came back into the room, knowing they had, had the choice made for them. However, when Darren saw them still sitting there, a look of pure happiness swept across his face. It made Chrona's heart beat faster. They were happy they had decided, sort of, to stay.

"So, since you're still here, would you like to join me for dinner? I mean I'm not the best cook, but I'm pretty decent so I think it'll be ok for eating." He asked nervously.

Chrona cheeks flushed and they smiled, "Sure, that sounds nice."

The look of joy that swept over Darren's face made Chrona's heart beat even faster. They couldn't understand why Darren made them so nervous yet calm at the same time. Nevertheless, they didn't find it unpleasant, so, they decided not to delve too deeply into it and just tried to enjoy the feelings while they lasted. Turning off the last of his conscience, Chrona followed Darren into the small kitchen where they had gotten the glass of water earlier. It was a quaint little kitchen and Chrona liked it. The overall apartment gave them a calming feeling, they could see themself living in such a place. It was set with nice wooden floors and covered in warm, floral wallpaper. The furniture was sparse because he had just moved in, but it had lots of potential. Potential they realized they wanted to explore with Darren. What a thought. Eventually, however, Chrona came back to reality and took a seat in one of the two chairs at the table, hoping Darren wouldn't notice their sudden shift in emotion.

"So, what are we going to eat?" Chrona asked.

"Honestly one of the only things I know I can really make is spaghetti. Is that ok?"

"Sure, I think I can handle that."

Darren went and brought out a pot filled it with water and put it on the stove to heat up. Then he went through the cupboards looking for the ingredients. Once he gathered them all he threw the spaghetti into the boiling water and brought out another pot to cook the sauce.

"Looks like I'm gonna use Alfredo sauce tonight. Do you mind if I put shrimp in it?"

"Sure…wait, what's shrimp?"

Darren stared at Chrona with his mouth gaping open. No way he had heard Chrona right.

"You're kidding, right? If you're not I'm going to stick my head in this pot and I really don't wanna do that cause it'll ruin the food obviously. But, if you seriously don't know what shrimp is..."

Chrona panicked, "W-well…u-u-uh… you s-see..." They didn't know what to say!

Darren started moving towards the pot as if he was really going to stick his head into the boiling water. On instinct, Chrona grabbed a hold of Darren's shirt and pulled him away from the pot. Unfortunately, Chrona pulled too hard and they both went tumbling down. Chrona had the air knocked out of them when Darren landed on top of them, but recovered quickly as always. They tried to calm their racing heartbeat, which was going fast, a little too fast, and…out of sync? Suddenly Chrona realized that it wasn't only their heart that was beating fast. They were surprised to feel just how fast Darren's heart beat was. It was faster than their own, but then again, that could have to do with his partially unstable condition. Concern coming back to them, Chrona turned to face Darren at the same time that Darren decided to turn and face Chrona. They both stopped a couple inches short of a kiss. Their faces turned beet red and they quickly moved away from each other. Trying to break the tension, Darren began to chuckle nervously. He quickly got up off the floor then helped Chrona.

"You seriously thought I was going to do it didn't you?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, you were leaning towards the pot. Of course I thought you were!" Chrona explained frantically.

"Chill Chrona, of course I wasn't really going to do it. I was just joking with you."

"Well don't joke with me like that! I don't like it at all!"

"You've got a low distress tolerance, don't you, Chrona?" Darren asked.

"I don't know, yes, maybe?" Chrona angrily replied.

"Look I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean to scare you like that. Will you forgive me?" he asked

Chrona didn't say anything for a while. They pondered whether to forgive him or not. Then, disturbing their train of thought, the guy traps them in a bear hug from behind.

"Please?" Darren whispers in their ear.

Chrona flinched as the word sent a shiver down their spine. They felt weird, but not a bad kind of weird. It was the good kind of weird that they had felt earlier that day for the first time. After a couple more seconds of silence Chrona tried to speak, but words wouldn't come out. Their heart was beating fast again. In the end, they just nodded their response to show that they did forgive him for whatever they were fighting about. Wait, what were they fighting about? Chrona couldn't remember. They were too aware of Darren's physical presence to be able to think of anything else. Seeing that Chrona was clearly overwhelmed, Darren reluctantly let them out of the hug despite his internal wishes. He wanted to keep holding Chrona in that serene state forever, but he knew better than to push. Chrona, however, was pretty disappointed. They had almost grabbed Darren to force him back into the hug, but restrained themself. After all, what kind of message would they be sending if they prolonged the contact. No, Chrona didn't want to make things weird, that they knew that for sure. Even if Darren had been the one to initiate the hug they still didn't want to take the chance of misreading the situation. Not to mention, that they had just met that day.

Once they both had time to put themselves together Darren continued cooking and the awkward silence eventually faded as they began to have conversations about random topics. Chrona learned a couple of interesting things that night. For one, Chrona found out Darren's favorite color is pink, which they found oddly endearing. For another, Darren didn't really have family or friends, much like Chrona; he was a traveler and spent most of his time alone. Overall, they found Darren terribly relatable and realized they liked the idea of them being alone together. Chrona also discovered that they did indeed like shrimp. After they finished eating Darren offered to take Chrona back home and they accepted until they got outside. They suddenly realized that Darren had meant to take them back on the motorcycle; the one they were hit with. He had thought that Darren meant walk them back. Darren mounted himself back on it while putting his helmet on then he held one out for Chrona which Chrona gazed at fearfully.

"What?"

"I'm not getting on that." Chrona stated flatly.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because, if you don't remember, you hit me with that thing."

"Come on it was an accident!" Darren exclaimed.

"Still, I don't trust being on it." Chrona pouted.

"Just get on the damn bike."

Chrona was surprised at the sudden demand, Darren was being too forceful, it scared them... Scared? No, that wasn't it, they felt something welling up in their chest, but it wasn't quite fear.

"Do you trust me?"

"What?" Chrona blinked, snapping out of their thoughts.

"Do you trust me?"

Surprised by the question, Chrona expected hesitation to assault their heart which would make them stand there for a few minutes while trying to decide what to say. The hesitation never came though, in fact their response was almost instantaneous.

"Yes."

Chrona took the out stretched helmet, put it on, and climbed onto the back of the bike where they held onto Darren for dear life.

"So where to?" Darren asked before revving up the engine.

Chrona remembered how they were supposed to meet up with everyone today and thought it was best that they advise someone of what happened to them before all of his friends started freaking out.

"To my friend Maka's house." he shouted over the growl of the engine.

'I was supposed to meet up with her today' was what they were going to say but for some reason they stopped themself short of saying it. It was unnecessary information.

"Ok, onward, just tell me where this chick Maka's house is!" Darren exclaimed.

Chrona pointed out where to go while they rode. He felt surprisingly safe despite all of today's previous events. 'As long as I'm with Darren' they thought. Just like that Chrona's conscience came back with a vengeance. What were they thinking? It almost sounded as if they were infatuated with the guy, which was completely ridiculous. They were literally just thinking about how they had only met Darren a couple of hours ago! Yeah, he could be a great new friend, but all these feelings felt like so much more. Just who was this guy to come in and completely ruin the status quo Chrona had created from themself. Who was he to make Chrona feel all these emotions that they had no experience with? They couldn't handle it. Their mind continued to be a mess of indecision until they made it to their destination.

"Alrighty! This is the place, right?" Darren asked.

"Yep, this is it." Chrona sighed "Thank you."

"No problem," he paused, "will I see you again?"

Chrona noticed the blush creeping across Darren's face. At first it was subtle, but it became more noticeable as the silence grew. Chrona could even feel their own face getting hot. They hadn't thought of what would happen to the both of them after today. They were still barely processing the emotions the guy made them feel let alone whether they were ready to form some kind of relationship with him, platonic or otherwise. They were so caught up in the time they spent together, they didn't stop to think of how or even if they would meet again. They felt the answer was pretty obvious though. In the end, they had become so close in such a short amount of time that it would be counterintuitive to not see where this could go. The black blood might have played a factor in the decision as well. He couldn't just leave Darren to face it alone.

"Yes, if you ever need to find me you can probably find me here. Even if I'm not here, Maka can help you find me. Does that work for you?" Chrona asked.

"Yeah that's fine, well, till next time?"

"Till next time."

"Goodbye Chrona."

Then Darren did something unexpected. He took Chrona's left hand and kissed his palm.

"Try not to miss me too much, ok?" he smirked, "I'll be back before you know it."

Then with a wink, he got back on his bike and took off before Chrona could come out of his shock and say anything.

"Was that flirting? Was he flirting with me?" Chrona whispered to themself.

Chrona's mind was too busy buzzing in thought, to hear a door open behind them. However, a voice soon alerted them of their presence.

"Chrona? Is that you? Where have you been?! We've been looking for you all day!" They turned to find a fuming Maka.

'Uh-oh', they thought. 'How am I supposed to explain what happened? Would she even believe me?' The gears in their mind working overtime to put the story together. Maka saw the distressed look on Chrona's face and began to worry again, but she was always worried about them.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'd try to explain it to you, but it's complicated."

She gave them a stern look, "Chrona."

"Ok, I'll try, but don't get too mad, ok?" they asked meekly.

Her face softens, "Don't worry Chrona, I'm sure whatever you did can't be that bad." she said trying to reassure them.

"That's what you think now. Wait till I actually tell you the story." they mumbled.

Fixed