Okay, so I don't even really ship this anymore, but... I couldn't sleep so a couple weeks ago at three AM I wrote 2000 words of Kid standing around feeling sexually frustrated and edited it a bit, and never got around to deciding to publish it, and this is it. I'd love for you to read it and I feel like it could actually be something and maybe have a plot at some point, I just...would like to know it's not utter bullsh t, and if it is, please review and/or message me to say why, or if you have an idea for the next chapter, some changes to be made to this one, or anything. Anyone who even wants to beta this would be welcome, too. Whatever. If you read this I applaud you. I'm not sure about the end of this chapter, but nothing really happens, at all. I just wanted to get it up. Maybe I'll leave it as a one shot or take it down out of embarrassment. Bleagh.
I don't own Soul Eater or any of these characters, so yeah.
Kid has a problem.
Everyone except Black Star and Tsubaki, gone to visit her family, are in the park, waiting for Professor Stein so that resonance practice can start. It has been a week since their first time completing the resonance link (barely), and though he'd never admit to taking sides if someone asked, he still blames their difficulties on Black Star. Back then, Kid tried to step in and break it up, even if only help Maka, but looks from Soul stopped him, and he's resentful because he knows it wasn't really his place anyway. The fight between the other two meisters on his team didn't involve him, but there's still a guilty, unfinished-business feeling to the memory whenever he thinks back on it. Maybe it's because Kid's always known Maka is the group's leader, though he's known Black Star longer than her.
Kid's aware on some level that he will be more powerful than either of them when he achieves his full potential, that he's by definition a higher power, a god who none of them will probably ever truly "surpass." But it's not really in his nature to be arrogant. He attends Shibusen. His team consists of Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Liz, Patty, and himself, and now Crona and Ragnarok. This is how it is. For most of them, this has been the order of things since the party at Maka's home - that was when they first all really gathered together as friends, if he's being reasonable. But it feels like it's been since the beginning of everything. It's hard to think clearly about anymore, and it pisses him off. None of them had fought all together until the fight to keep the Kishin sealed under the school, and even then, they hadn't won.
But Kid knows, feels like everyone should know by now, that things are the way they are and shouldn't be changed, and that includes Maka's leadership. That's how it should be. She keeps things balanced in an unusual sort of way, he thinks, keeps him on his toes. So maybe that's why he gets a deep-down, gut-wrenching feeling when someone challenges that, and it's so maddening to not be able to help her while he watches people blame her. Because it's an established order - but dwelling on that, finding a reason, doesn't make it better, Kid knows.
Since then, Stein had told them to rest a bit, but not to get too used to the peace. He would be meeting them for another practice session the following Saturday. He wanted Crona to join their team, maybe to help deal with the guy's anxiety. Which is fine by Kid. He has no problems with the swordsman, or putting aside harsh resentment towards Black Star to resonate with him, or doing the same with the fierce protectiveness for Maka.
Dealing with the kind of problem he has currently...is more difficult, though. He'd had it a little back then, too.
Sometimes he finds himself blaming Maka, like she can help being the only person he hasn't had to force into a nearly-symmetrical appearance. It's true, he can occasionally catch a direct glimpse of her diagonally striped tie or her plaid, pleated skirt, a hideous pattern he can't make right no matter which way he turns it in his head, and he'll cringe, face distorting into an expression reminiscent of a fairy in Excalibur's cave. But other times, Kid's breathing becomes irregular as he stares at Maka's olive green eyes, and her perfectly placed pigtails, when she can't see of course, and he thinks of how wonderfully they move with her animated speech, always in time with her nods, lovely laughs, the way she walks. The symmetry itself isn't a turn-on, but somehow when he's reminded of how close to perfect she is in that respect, Kid can't help but let his mind get away from him.
He's disgusting, he thinks.
Once, he accidentally got an unchewed bite of a sushi roll stuck in his throat, coughing violently after he looked blankly at her green tie and red miniskirt, imagining how it would feel to go to the liberty of removing those disgraceful garments himself, relishing her startled look, her blush. Just thinking back to the fantasy, his pulse races and he quietly gulps down an excessive amount of oxygen, trying to rid himself of the idea before Stein shows and he has to match wavelengths with Maka. Kid knows her soul perception has improved, surpassed his own. He doesn't want to think what might happen if he were to feel her prod at his soul again right now, like he had in the back of his mind when they first met. He doesn't know what she might find.
But his pleasurable thoughts, though he hates himself for them, are hard to dispel with the sight in front of him.
It's hot out, though Kid's Shinigami body doesn't let him feel it as intensely as his friends can. Death City's scorching and bone-dry almost year-round, and summer is approaching. In recent days, if they're outside when Liz and Patty transform, their metal is hot to the touch, almost burning Kid's palms, enough for him to jokingly question if their wavelengths are matched or not.
He knows Maka is perhaps the most human team member. So she probably feels the worst, especially with her all-black coat. But the sight of her perfect hands, now glove-less, removing her tie (thank Death), unbuttoning the top of her shirt and exposing her slender pale neck, just might be too much for him.
He doesn't get why it's bothering him like this. She still even has her black coat on, though apparently not her vest. Maybe it's just that he feels like he's seeing her undress. But plenty of times they'd been able to see the lower part of Maka's panties under her skirt, when she wasn't paying much attention or was too caught up in battle, and her very soft-looking bottom (another of her symmetrical qualities, he notices) and Kid is now used to that, sort of. There is absolutely no reason for him to be feeling this way over her exposing a little neck. This is not the nineteenth century.
It's simply hormones.
Just hormones.
Although, she does look better without that tie.
It really did affect her symmetry...
Right now is one of those moments when his love/hate feeling towards her for looking so completely delicious is growing exponentially. He has to distract himself, now.
Actually, Kid thinks, grateful for a completely unrelated train of thought, Crona is pretty human. All the weapons can't feel too much of the sun's rays while they're transformed and lying in the shade. But the demon swordsman sitting on the wooden bench next to their bento boxes is definitely overdressed, has very pale skin and even black blood. Shouldn't Crona be sweltering in this heat?
Glancing over at him, Kid gets a sick feeling. He definitely seems too warm. It looks almost painful. Crona's clutching one arm with the other, occasionally wiping a sweat drop away from his forehead with the back of his hand, his breathing is slightly more shallow than usual, and his gaze is shifting in a way that is decidedly uncomfortable. But what does he keep looking at with such an intense, hazy, confused...almost scared expression? Kid follows Crona's eyes and finds himself ogling Maka again. She fans herself with her hand and taps her foot, seeming to grow more impatient for Stein's arrival by the minute. He's right back where he started. Now she's undoing another button, removing her jacket when that doesn't help enough and tossing it almost angrily onto the grass.
Oh. That would be why Crona looks so uncomfortable.
But why does Kid now feel something he instantly recognizes as jealousy? Maka isn't his. Not in any sense of the term. He's just as disgusting as Crona for staring at her so hungrily, perhaps more so, because with some thought given to his upbringing, the pinkette might not even quite realize what he's doing. He's barely spent any time around anyone but his mother all his life, not without the intention of killing them anyway, and said mother hadn't really taught him anything but killing. Does Crona even know what he's feeling right now? Does he see that Kid's the same, that it's even remotely okay? A small whimper escapes his lips, making Kid wonder.
But now, looking back at Maka, it would be hard not to feel that rush of blood, or his pants tightening below his waist.
Suddenly, Kid and Crona's eyes meet, as if they both at once recognize what's happening. The look only lasts a split second as they both look down, embarrassed beyond belief; Kid is blushing crimson down to his neck and Crona is a more intense, ashy hue, affected by his blood's color. He goes into a more hunched position that hides more of his body. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Kid is now certain that he goes both ways, trying not to let on that Crona's cute, unique blush, coupled with the fact that Kid knows the other is aroused, is only making him more excited. He's never noticed those things before, and he'll probably be asking himself all sorts of awkward questions when he can think properly again. What's wrong with him? Since when has he been so depraved?
Kid has to sit down, or the entire group might become aware of his predicament, and the only bench in this particular clearing is the one where Crona is currently resting. He coughs uncomfortably and walks briskly over, hands in his pockets to move the fabric of his inconveniently formal pants away from his body, trying to hold in any noises that might slip out as he lowers himself into a seating position. These pants are really much too tight.
He has no clue what to say. There's no way he could bring himself to resonate with any of them now. As Maka sighs and sits back down on the grass with her legs curled under her, letting her skirt spread around her with her face growing red from the heat, the silence starts to feel awkward, to Kid and Crona at least. Stein is at least fifteen minutes late.
At precisely the wrong time, a compact mirror with a skull emblem in his front pocket chimes for Kid's attention, signaling that he's getting a call and vibrating just enough for him to let the tiniest uncharacteristic whimper, or maybe moan, escape his mouth. He clamps a hand over it before the others can respond and snatches the mirror as quick as he can, flipping it open all in one movement. "Yes?" He's certain he's still blushing as he meets the gaze of the very professor who should have been on his way very long ago.
Stein, sitting in his unique spinning chair, doesn't look quite right, somehow. His hair is more tousled than usual, and it gets on Kid's nerves almost as much as the top of the large screw sticking out of one side of his head always does. The professor doesn't look right to him in just a stitched-up t shirt, and his eyes seem to be avoiding looking at the mirror directly - he's looking a little downward. "Uh, hello, Kid. I apologize for running so late and not - not getting in touch with you sooner." Kid raises his eyebrows at the normally completely calm professor's almost imperceptible hitched gasp in the middle of that sentence. "But something - has come up. I can't make it. You guys just - just go out and have fun somewhere. Get out of the h-heat. Bye."
The young reaper is certain he catches a brief glimpse of blood-red hair as Stein's mirror is tossed carelessly to the side - or maybe swatted away - and flips shut.
Maka's heard most of the exchange, and she stands back up and looks over at Kid with an exasperated look. "Well?" She says it as though he might give her an answer different from what she already knows to be true.
He tries to keep his thoughts decent and not to blush again as she looks directly at him. "Stein can't make it, apparently."
She groans and smacks her palm to her forehead. "We've been waiting for him for twenty minutes straight in this heat! Couldn't he have maybe called us sooner?"
Kid shrugs as Soul returns to his human form, shortly followed by the rest of the weapons, and lands on his feet next to Maka. He's hunched over in his usual 'cool' look and looks and her with one eye open. "And now we have nothing to do... It's really freaking hot," Soul grumbles with a sigh. "I hate this weather. Can't you just buy us all some ice cream or something?"
She grabs her coat off the ground and puts a hand on her hip, looking at him angrily. "Soul, you idiot! If you want us to go get ice cream then say so! Going for ice cream with the gang sounds great, but it's not my fault you're lazy and broke and it's not my responsibility to pay for you!"
Ice cream? Kid thinks idly, still sitting on the bench and looking at Maka. Maka, eating ice cream... An idea seems to hit him and his eyes widen. He covers his significantly reddened face with his hand and looks away. She notices and looks at him curiously. Isn't Kid supposed to be immune to this heat? She's kind of jealous.
"Kid? Are you okay?"
He jumps at the sound of her saying his name and nods quickly. "Y-yes, I'm perfectly fine. However, if we're going for ice cream, I don't think I can make it. I'm rather busy, I've got things to do at home - "
Patty starts to whine. "Awww, but Kid! You have to come! We haven't gone out to do something fun in AAAGES!" Before he can protest, Liz jumps in too, and they each grab one of his elbows, pulling him to a standing position.
"Yeah, come on. It'll be great. You have to get us ice cream, anyway. I'm dying in this heat."
Me too.
"F-fine, fine," he grumbles, wrenching his arms out of their grip and pulling the front of his jacket as far down as it'll go. "If everyone wants ice cream so much, we'll go get ice cream."
Maka's expression softens as she turns to Crona with the gentle, almost motherly smile she reserves for only him. "You should come too, Crona! There's a great ice cream parlor by our apartment. Have you ever had mint chocolate chip?"
The boy seems to melt under her gaze, glancing up at Maka and blushing before looking back at the ground. "Uh-uhm...I've never had...ice cream..."
It's silent, and her eyes seem so full of sadness and worry for a second, Soul thinks she might cry. But it's gone as soon as it appeared, replaced by an even warmer smile than before. Maka grasps Crona's hand, pulls him up and gives it a light squeeze, and begins to lead him out of the park, followed by the rest of the group.
"Well then, there's a first time for everything!"
Soul's keeping pace a few feet from Maka, and Kid walks behind them with his hands in his pockets and a concerned expression on his face. He really has been through a lot, hasn't he? It's odd to be reminded slightly of Crona's extremely sheltered and abnormal childhood he still doesn't know the details of. He's deep in thought and it's totally off-topic, but Kid's eyes still start to drift to the blonde and pink-haired meister in front of him, lingering on the edge of her skirt where her long, smooth legs start to show, and the lovely curves Crona's dress clings to. He sighs.
It's turning out to be a very frustrating day, isn't it...