Death the kid, being such a lover of symmetry, never turned down an opportunity to cut someone's hair to be perfectly symmetrical (though no-one tended to keep it that way, they were just happy for a free, well done haircut). However there was one person in the group who had never asked for such; Crona, who just as ze awoke was greeted by Maka taking a moment out of preparing breakfast to talk "Your hair's starting to look all scruffy, Crona," she mentioned playfully to hir "When's the last time you got a haircut?" she asked turning back to the breakfast. Crona stood there, arm across chest to grip hir other arm out of nervousness "Well..." ze started before looking down at hir feet and continuing "...I've... never really had a proper haircut..." Maka stopped once more to show her shocked face "Then how come you're hair looks like it was at least kind of styled?"
"Well, part of it was Ragnarok pulling out my hair when he'd get mad at me... and then I, I kind of just straightened it out sometimes... But Lady Medusa would have never let me do something like get my hair cut properly."
"In that case you should let Kid cut it," Soul interrupted slightly yawning "He always cuts your hair if you ask 'I would never deny anyone of sharing the joy that is symmetry'" he mocked "Something along those lines. But no-one actually bothers to keep it the way he cuts it." He explained trailing off into a laugh, Crona thought about what Soul and Maka had said respectively over breakfast before coming to the conclusion that "If you're sure he won't mind... I... I guess I could ask him to...as long as he doesn't mind..."
Around an hour had passed and Death the Kid was walking around the corridors alone, for once; Liz and Patty being preoccupied with something that he didn't really care to know about, so long as they weren't getting into trouble or anything. A few strides later and he heard a somewhat faint Maka "There he is, go ask him now!" Kid stopped upon hearing her and looked in the direction of the voice only to be met with Crona about half a meter away from him. Kid, shocked, jumped at the sudden androgyne before him; slightly out of breath he regained his composure "You scared the life out of me, Crona." He said with a weak smile. Crona now panicking tried to apologise "I'm sorry, I only meant to- and then you- because I- and then... I'm sorry I'll just leave." Ze headed back before feeling a hand on hir shoulder, which promptly had hir turned around looking at Kid again "Don't worry about it" he reassured hir "What did you want to ask me?"
"Well you see... Soul said you cut hair..."
"That I do, I would never deny anyone-" He paused a moment realising he was getting carried away "Sorry, go on."
"And well, Maka said that I... kinda had scruffy looking hair... s-so, I was wondering if you w-would maybe cut it for me. If you don't mind... but if you do that's fine..." before ze could ramble anymore Kid interjected "I'd love to... but I already have plans for after school today, sorry." Crona half-heartedly accepted this (mainly just because ze wasn't inconveniencing him) and simply replied with "Oh... okay then." Crona then headed back over to Maka and Soul "So? What'd he say?" Crona moping looked at the two of them and explained that he said he was busy. "Oh, I see..." Maka said, "Well we could always go to a proper hairdressers?"
"Yeah..." Soul added "But we could just ask if Liz and Patty know what Kid's supposed to be doing, we might be able to help him out or something."
"That's... actually a good idea Soul" Maka returned "Let's ask at Lunch."
"Don't sound so surprised when I come up with a good idea." Soul said disgruntled "I will as soon as it's not surprising."
It was Lunch now, and the Trio were looking for Liz and Patty. After a few minutes of looking they eventually saw them along with Kid himself eating on one of the balconies, Liz was first to notice them approach "Oh hey!"
"Hi," Maka returned "We're glad we found you guys, Crona might not have asked; but I was interested in what it was you were busy doing so that you couldn't cut hir hair?"
"Well I was going to help Liz and Patty with whatever took them all morning to do, I figured they might want help"
"Oh really?" Patty asked "Didn't we tell that we finished it all in the morning, that's why we took so long." Kid, somewhat surprised to hear this simply replied "Oh."
"Well, this is great news then," Maka said getting the attention of Kid "This means you can cut Crona's hair for hir then."
"I guess it does... did you want to come by the Manor and have it done there or?..."
"That's sounds good, Soul and I will drop hir off at yours later. Five-ish?"
"Sure, that sounds great." Kid said, setting it in stone.
It was just going half four and Kid was still pacing, unsure as to why he was so nervous "I cut peoples hair all the time, why now? Ze's just like anybody else... well maybe a bit more meek... but still." He prattled on. Before he knew it they'd turned up at ten to five "They're early." he said thinking aloud, partially ravaged with anxiety for a non-apparent reason... and also simply pleased that they were punctual. Regardless of his discontent he mandatorily headed towards the door, seeing Maka and Crona standing on his porch "Sorry that we're early," Maka told him "Crona really couldn't wait to get hir first haircut." Upon hearing that Kid visibly became stiff from yet another shock caused by Crona today. Maka, noticing the quite astonished face of Kid's commented "Didn't ze tell you this was hir first haircut?" He simply shook his head side to side before she chuckled slightly "Oh well, at least you know now. Anyway, I'll leave hir in your care for now," she turned to Crona, still shyly looking towards hir feet, "Do you want me to come get you or would you rather walk back yourself?"
"I can make my own way back..." ze spoke with a slight whisper "If your sure." She added "Well, I'll see you back at the flat then!" She said starting to walk away. Kid was beginning to panic in his head a little as he had his already overbearing nervousness (for an unbeknownst to him reason) and now he also had the worry that he could screw up Crona's first haircut "U-um..." he heard hir voice softly speak up breaking him out of his stupor "I'm so sorry Crona I spaced out for a moment there. Please, come in."
"Thank you." Ze said entering the manor. Concluding that there was nothing he could do about an unknown problem, after closing the door Kid decided to bite the bullet "Shall we get started then?"
They entered Kid's room, making the love of symmetry he had all the more obvious as everything in the room met the definition of the word itself, only being broken as he got out the scissors and such for hir haircut and got a slightly larger mirror from his closet. He sat Crona down and put the cutting cape and collar on hir "Is that all comfortably on you? Please let me know if it isn't before we start." Taking as much time as he could to try and calm himself "Yeah, it's fine." After getting conformation he reached for the scissors and brush. But before he could start he noticed that Crona had his eyes scrunched up, closed; unsure if ze was completely comfortable after all Kid decided to ask "Are you sure you're comfortable with this?"
"Mm-hm, why do ask?" Crona said, eyes still closed "Well... it looked like you were... well, almost in pain over it because you're eyes were so tightly closed."
"Oh!" Ze exclaimed realising the source of confusion "That's just because I don't want to see it until it's all finished, like a before and after." Feeling somewhat foolish for misunderstanding hir sweet childishness he simply laughed slightly continuing with "Okay then." Now it was time to truly cut hir hair 'Okay just cut the split ends first.' He thought to himself 'There may be an unreasonable amount of pressure for no reason on you right now, but you should still be able to do at least that much.' As he continued on he started to cut off slightly more hair at a time, as he got into the flow of it more and more, before eventually finishing. It was at this point that Kid realised he had simply made it look more like how ze used to look, essentially making hir look the same way only simply more kempt. He tried looking for breaks in symmetry but for some reason couldn't bring himself to change it's current state. After a few minutes of standing there doing nothing he removed the cape and collar and managed to get out "Th-there, done." still not sure if he really meant that. Crona waiting for around half an hour opened up his eyes to see his freshly cut hair "I'll grab the smaller mirror so you can see the back," He let hir know grabbing the aforementioned mirror "And... that's the back." He said rotating the mirror to get a good angle of his left side before doing the same on the right. Waiting for some kind of input Kid decided to speak up "So? What do you think, be honest?"
"It- it looks nice." Ze said with a slight croak in hir throat "It definitely looks a lot better..."
"You're sure?" Kid asked, being told a different story from hir voice. "I'm sure, thank you." Ze said standing up "I should probably head back home now, it's getting late..."
"It's not even half five yet, is it?" Kid, confused, questioned "Well, still I think I'll go; thank you again..." ze said with a slight mumble as ze headed towards the door. Kid left the room after hir but by the time he'd gotten out of his room he heard the front door close.
It was genuinely late by now, but Kid still couldn't shake the feeling that he'd ruined Crona's hair from hir reaction. Still not quite sure why he couldn't bring himself to make it symmetrical at the time he got up out of bed thinking that if he wasn't going to sleep he could at least grab a snack or something. Heading towards the kitchen he was met by Liz "What are you doing up Kid?" opening the fridge he explained "I couldn't get to sleep, and you?"
"I'm always up around this time, I usually sleep about..." she paused looking at the laptop she had on the table, which Kid (sleep deprived) had only noticed himself at this point "Ten, twenty minutes from now? But going back to you," she said as he sat down after fruitlessly looking through the fridge "It's unlike you to be kept awake, something on your mind?" playing with his fingers he attempted to reply before being cut off "And don't even try to lie and say there isn't." much to the surprise of Kid "What do you mean?"
"You always do that with your fingers when you don't want to talk about something, and lie about nothing being on your mind; you learn things being someone's weapon for a while." She said with a sly smile on her face. Getting over the embarrassment of having that pointed out to him, he decided there wasn't really any point in hiding it "Well you know how I cut Crona's hair earlier today?"
"Yeah, what did you mess it up or something?"
"Well... not quite. I did hir split ends first of course and tried to style it..."
"Tried to? You didn't then?"
"Well, I cut it to how it used to look before it looked anywhere near as scruffy..." he stopped trying to make the words come out "And?" Liz asked unsure of what was to come "...I couldn't bring myself to make it symmetrical, it was as if... as if..."
"It already looked perfect as it was?"
"Exactly!" He shouted before remembering it was the dead of the night "I see... do you know why you felt that way?" Kid puzzled by the implication returned "No... should I?"
"Maybe not," Liz teased "But don't worry, you're not a freak of nature for thinking that way. Also if you're really that worried just ask hir tomorrow, maybe ze just found it difficult to get used to having less hair than before." Kid, now feeling a little better – if slightly confused still – stood up "Yeah, I guess so... well that's made me feel a bit better actually, I think I'll try going back to sleep. Thank you, Liz." He said pushing his chair back towards the table "Don't sweat it, after all it's not your fault you like how ze looks." She said with a slight snigger "Well I'd hardly put it that way." Kid said retiring to his bedroom.
It was the next day and it felt all too soon for Kid, still only getting a few hours as opposed to his usual sleep "Did you not sleep well?" Patty asked as they walked up to the school "No, not really. Is it that obvious?"
"Not really, your eyes just looked a little tired was all." She smiled "Well, I guess that's not too bad then." He said still hoping that yesterday was all but a misunderstanding that was sorted out by now.
As they got to the school they met by Maka seemingly waiting there "Hey Maka who are you wait-" was as far as Kid got before the chop met his head, making him all but unconscious "That's what get you get!" She almost screamed at him. Being helped up by Liz and Patty, he coughed feeling as if his inside had all been moved down a few inches ending up to only be able to get out "F-for what... exactly?..."
"For upsetting Crona!" She stated as if plain as day "Why would you-"
"I upset hir? How-" he stopped again to have a small fit of coughs "How did I do that?"
"Ze said that ze'd bothered you and that because of that you didn't bother to finish and make it symmetrical like you do with everyone else. And I can't exactly say ze's lying when hir hair looks like it does." She explained still louder than usual "Even if Crona maybe decided to change it after the way you did it orignially, ze was still looking forward to receiving what you give to everyone else."
"It isn't like that at all," Kid argued "Please, where is ze? If that's what ze thinks I need to explain to hir the truth!" Maka, taken aback, thought for a moment. "Okay I'll let you talk to hir... but if I hear that you upset hir again-"
"I know, I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing on purpose never mind by accident. Now where is ze?"
"Ah..." she said looking away slightly "Because I didn't stay with hir waiting for you here... I kinda don't know..." Kid thought for a moment, taking into account the time "Well, it may be too late to start looking now... We'll all search at Lunch if we don't see hir before then, agreed?" The three girls nodded "I would get Soul to help but he's behind on work again, so he'll be preoccupied for today... maybe tomorrow at this rate..." Maka sighed.
Lunch came around and true to their plan they met in the courtyard before setting off in a direction, with the instruction to call one another if they find hir and to meet up regardless on a predetermined balcony. They trekked through the halls looking in rooms ze have might be in, before reaching the time they'd agreed on "Anything?" Maka asked Liz and Patty, to which they each (respectively) shook their heads "Well we did agree to have Lunch at this time..." Kid commented "But I can't eat knowing ze's more than likely hiding somewhere because of me... I'm going to keep looking"
"Then we'll join-"
"No," Kid interrupted "You should all eat, it's my fault so I'll continue looking." He said before taking off to try and find the androgyne once more. Maka sat down still surprised by his adamancy that he was responsible as well as his attitude towards feeling he had to continue searching "What's up with him today?"
"Well, he was actually pretty worried that he might have done something wrong yesterday" Patty mentioned "So to have his fears confirmed... I mean he ended up losing sleep over a 'maybe' so it's not weird to see him freaking out now."
"I see," Maka replied trying to take it all in "So do you know why he didn't do it how he usually does? I was really surprised that Kid didn't make something symmetrical." Liz snickered slightly making Patty and Maka turn towards her "I happened to catch him up, going to the kitchen, while I was still awake. From what I gathered he may have found something which managed to take his mind off symmetry, because he genuinely couldn't bring himself to 'ruin' how 'perfect' his hair looked as it was... But I could be wrong, I guess up to them to see where this goes." The two other girls looked at her only half sure they understood what she was on about before Maka had a eureka moment "I think I might know where Crona is!" She said packing her lunch and getting ready to leave "I might be a little while, if anyone asks say I went home ill or something along those lines." her voice trailing off as she went down the corridors.
Kid was still worried, having to sit through his classes without knowing where ze was; it made him nigh on terrified. And he still had no idea why. "It doesn't make sense, sure I don't want any of my friends to be missing, but somehow I'm worrying so much. I just don't get it!" he said raising his voice and making his fist meet the wall beside him "Well if you're that angry I'll take Crona home till you've calmed down." Maka teased surprising Kid whilst simultaneously making him turn to see her with a timid Crona behind her "You found hir! Where-"
"If you want to know ask hir yourself." She said before looking at Crona once more to reassure hir that it would all be fine, before leaving Kid to explain it all. "Crona I'm so sorry." He said travelling down the corridor to talk to hir properly "You don't have to apologise... I said I liked it didn't I?..." croaky throat audible once more "Maka already told me you were upset by how I did it."
"That's just me being an idiot..." ze said with a slight sniffle "I just shouldn't have bothered-"
"That's not it at all!" Kid very nearly shouted, surprising Crona showing hir face. Hir eyes were teary and hir face red "I'm sorry was it me shouting? Please don't cry, here take these tissues."
"It wasn't you..." ze said taking the tissues and making hirself slightly more presentable "Like I say it's my fault..."
"You don't understand Crona," Kid began to explain "When you first asked me I was genuinely planning to help Liz and Patty, but after not needing to I fully intended to cut your hair... but when I was waiting for you to turn up I was a little nervous (in fact I still don't really know why), and then I found out it was your first haircut. It was a lot of pressure to me."
"I'm sorry for causing you so much annoyance."
"Again it's not your fault," Kid assured hir "It's something I needed to deal with and I started to by managing to cut your hair."
"Then why didn't you-" ze was cut off by the boy once more "I don't know... I looked at your hair and when I saw any breaks in symmetry... it was as if it was already symmetrical; already..." he stopped, realising what he was about to say, but told himself if he didn't explain then it would be a worse outcome than the embarrassment. And so with his somewhat blushing face he continued "...as if it was already perfect how it is now... I hope you accept that explanation as well as this apology for making you feel as bad as I have. I'm sorry." A second or two had passed before he could seemingly hear Crona crying again rushing over to hir he raised up hir face to apologise once more but instead of the expected tearful face, he saw a smiling, lightly laughing face; which he felt ended all too soon as Crona moved his hand from hir face, breaking him out of his daze. "If that's how you say it is..." Crona mumbled, still sniffling here and there "Then I believe you, Kid."
"If you want I can try and cut it again and make symmetrical this time?"
"That's okay, if you say it's fine the way it is I think I can deal with it... so..." ze stopped and squirmed a little before almost tackling Kid with a hug "Thank you..." a few moments passed and Crona realising Kid wasn't returning the hug backed away quickly unsure if ze'd accidentally crossed a line ze didn't know about. Looking up to the, still frozen, Kid ze noticed his face was almost pure red "Are you okay Kid? I'm sorry if I accidentally upset you. Are you ill? You're face is all red!" He finally gained consciousness and returned with "Well, if that's all sorted I guess I'll see you tomorrow shall I? At school I mean... because we both come here, to school. And... yeah... so, see you." He dashed off slightly, wondering what had come over him: why was he so happy; why was his heart beating so fast; why could he not get hir face out of his head. 'It must be the surprise of it all,' he told himself 'Yes that must be it, ze doesn't smile a lot so it took me by surprise. Plus I'm very seldom hugged, so it was simply the shock and embarrassment of receiving one in general.' By the time he'd reached these conclusions he was back at the manor, where he was met by Liz "Oh hey! Did it all go well?" He turned face still red as can be and slightly out of breath only replying with "I think so, it was a bit of a blur..." before going to his room. "It looks like my guess might have been right after all. Especially with how clueless he is." Liz said to herself laughing about his 'cluelessness'.
