My favorite OTP of the series.
Prompt: Write about a BAMF character defending something important to them.
…
"Heh! I've got a good feeling about today."
Liz looked at the smug Soul suspiciously, but shrugged. "So, you're placing you bet on today? Really?"
"Yep! Put me down for 20, Maka finds out by tonight."
Liz scoffed. "Please."
"Well, what's your bet?"
"Me and Patty are doing 30, by the middle of next week, Kid tells her. Right, Patty?"
"Yeah!" Patty shouted, punching her fist up towards the sky.
Black Star scoffed. "Ha! I think not! Kid may be impressive, but he's not a god, like me!"
The others silently agreed not to go there with him. It would just be a wasted effort.
"Well, then, what are you betting?" Patty inquired.
"Hmm… I bet 25 that it'll take poor Kid a whole month more to work up the courage to tell Maka."
"He's not that bad," Liz muttered, accepting the bet anyway.
"What about you, Tsubaki?" Soul asked, turning to the girl who hadn't yet spoken.
She frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know if we should be doing this, you guys. Betting on Kid's feelings for Maka just doesn't seem right."
"Come on, Tsubaki!" Black Star shouted, placing his hands on his hips. "There's nothing wrong with this!"
"Yeah," Liz affirmed. "As long as Kid's in love with her and she's oblivious to it, we should take advantage of the opportunity."
"As long as they don't find out," Soul added.
"Exactly."
They looked at her expectantly. She gave in.
"Oh, fine. Well, I think Maka's going to realize it sooner or later. Maybe… 10 on two or so weeks from now?"
Liz took her money and then closed the bag that all of the betting funds were in. "All right, so, if none of our bets come through, we'll try again. Got it?"
"Got it!" Patty shouted.
"How much is in there now?" Soul asked, eyeing the bulging sack.
"Nearly 1,000 by now, I think," she said casually.
"H-how long have you guys been doing this?" Tsubaki asked, startled.
No one was willing to give her a straight answer.
"Well," Liz began. "We should probably get to class before Maka or Kid comes around and asks what we're all doing."
There were murmurs of agreement as they broke up the circle and began walking to the classroom. Soul had only take a few steps before Black Star grabbed his arm to stop him. He looked back curiously.
"What is it?"
Black Star narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You seem really sure of your bet this time around."
Soul paled, wondering why Black Star had chosen now of all times to be observant. "I'm always sure."
"What do you know?" Black Star prodded.
Soul forced a scoff and a smirk, employing all of his usual cool guy methods to seem nonchalant. "Nothing. I just think I'm going to get lucky, that's all."
But Black Star wouldn't let it go. "But what-"
"What are the two of you doing, loitering outside? Class is going to start soon."
They both froze, mechanically turning around to face Maka, who had her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
"Uh…"
"Uh…"
Maka rolled her eyes. "Let's go!" she ordered, stomping past both of them and grabbing their arms on the way.
"Ow! You don't have to be so harsh!" Soul shouted, inwardly glad that she hadn't heard anything they had been saying. And that she had only grabbed their arms instead of Maka-chopping them with one of the huge books he could see sticking out of her bag.
"How dare you order your god around!" Black Star yelled, protesting loudly, but otherwise not fighting against her grip. He was more worried about Soul. He couldn't let the weapon win the money; he needed it for food!
…
Kid smiled at Maka as the two of them waited for the others to catch up.
"You look perfectly symmetrical today, Maka. As always."
She smiled back, looking more flattered than fazed. "Thanks, Kid!"
His smile widened just a small bit. On the inside, he was perfectly smug. And Liz had said that complimenting a girl on her symmetry wasn't a good way to show that he liked her. Of course it was. Symmetry was beautiful and perfect.
He looked at Maka out of the corner of his eye and smiled a bit more.
He cleared his throat and shifted his feet before straightening his shoulders. He didn't know why he was nervous. He just needed to tell her. He had practiced this in front of the mirror 88 times earlier this morning. He was perfectly prepared.
He opened his mouth to confess to her before he stopped. And then he started panicking.
"I practiced 88 times today," he muttered to himself, his eyebrow twitching spastically. "88 times! I should have practiced 87 times so that this time could be 88. Then it would be perfect! But now it's too late. Now it's 89 and that's such an asymmetrical number! How could I mess this up? How could I?"
Maka watched in slightly concerned confusion as Kid fell to his knees and started banging the ground.
"Kid! What happened? What is it?"
"How could I?" he shouted. "I'm a pig! I'm garbage and trash and I'll be a terrible shinigami if I can't even remember to do it 87 times before making the final time the 88th time! Just let me die here!"
Maka took an unsure step forward. He had never broken down like this in front of her without Liz and Patty around. She wasn't sure if she knew what to do. She looked around nervously, sighing in relief when she saw the others walking towards her.
"Liz! Patty! Kid just started freaking out!"
They looked at their meister. Patty was indifferent; Liz was exasperated.
"Oh, gee. We leave you alone for 5 minutes! Patty."
But Kid was off of the floor before Patty could even take a step. "I'm fine, Patty. No need, no need. I'll just go home and wallow in my misery. You can all study without me."
The group watched him slink off pitifully. Maka's brow furrowed, concerned.
"You know, I think I'll go after him, unless…"
"No! Go, go! Go on! Make sure he's okay, huh? We're rooting for you!" Liz encouraged.
Maka frowned at how enthusiastic she shouted, but shrugged and took off after Kid.
"Ha! Look at that," Liz said, turning to the others. "This is the perfect situation for him to confess. She comes to him, concerned, he realizes she cares, and boom!"
Soul scoffed. "I wouldn't be so sure."
"Oh yeah?" Patty drawled, getting up in his face and staring him down, making Soul back up nervously.
"Calm down, Patty. Save it for when Kid's acting up again."
…
"Hey, Kid! Wait up!"
Kid stopped and looked at her over his shoulder, a question in his eyes.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay," she volunteered. "I'm not sure what happened, but next time, tell me, okay? I'll try my best to help you out!"
She beamed at him.
Kid smiled and looked away, wondering if his face was as red as it felt. He straightened his shoulder and cleared his throat. And then he checked his tie to make sure it wasn't crooked. Perfect.
"Thank you, Maka. It really means a lot to me."
"I know. And that's why it means a lot to me."
She was blushing too. Did that mean she was embarrassed? Had she not meant to say that? Did she mean it as more than a friend? Did she like him too?
Kid stared at her, wondering if it was possible. He had hoped, of course, but he'd never actually believed that she could like him as much as he liked her. How could she? She was a perfectly symmetrical angel and he was so asymmetrical and imperfect with his stupid hair.
Was it possible?
"Maka…" he began.
"Hey!"
Kid's eyebrow twitched as she turned around to see who was calling. Kid looked up, frowning slightly. He recognized him. He was a meister in their class, but no one they had ever really talked to.
What did he want?
"Hey, Maka," he said with a smile. "Kid."
"Oh. Lial, right? You're in our class."
"Yeah."
Maka tilted her head in curiosity. Kid was struck by the fact that the gesture was adorable, even when he could only se the back of her head.
"Is there something we can do for you?"
"Uh… yeah. See, I've been noticing you for a while and-"
Lial stopped abruptly when he saw Kid's face. He backed up nervously at the dangerous and homicidal aura that Kid was emitting.
"What the…"
"Lial?" Maka asked, prompting him to continue speaking.
"Uh… I…" his voice went high and then trailed off as he took another step backwards. "Oh, forget this! He didn't pay me to deal with a bloodthirsty shinigami! I'm out of here!"
Maka stared in bemusement after the rapidly disappearing form of her fellow meister. She frowned at his parting words and turned back to Kid, who was smiling like he'd just seen 8 figure skaters perfectly accomplish 8 figure eights. Each. Simultaneously.
She shrugged. "What do you think that was about?"
"Ah… I'm not sure," Kid lied. "But I'm glad he's gone."
"Oh?"
"Uh… yes! So that we can get to studying!" he forced out.
"Oh. You're feeling up to it then?"
"Absolutely! Being in your perfectly symmetrical presence has helped me recover." He wasn't lying about that.
Maka laughed and smiled. "All right then. Let's get going. Oh- but, weren't you saying something before Lial interrupted?"
He didn't notice she sounded hopeful.
"No. Just- thank you," he said, forcing himself to smile.
"Oh. All right. Well, let's head back before Soul and Black Star do something stupid."
"It might be too late," he quipped, inwardly cursing himself, even as she smiled at him.
He had chickened out again. What sort of shinigami was he?
…
It was just a little while after their study session had ended. Kid and Maka were still seated at the booth they had been in, finishing up their drinks.
"I can't believe they left so fast," Maka commented, looking around the nearly deserted café.
"Yes. Soul and Liz seemed very insistent. Do you think they might be planning something?" he asked, shifting nervously, less worried about whatever Liz and Soul were up to and more worried about the fact that he was here. With Maka. Alone.
How could Liz have abandoned him like this? He expected this sort of behavior form Patty, perhaps, but not Liz!
Unless…
Was this her plan? Had she left him alone with Maka on purpose, so that he could have another chance to tell her? He smiled happily. How could he have ever doubted Liz?
"Kid? Did you hear me?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Maka. I got lost in thought. What did you say?"
"I said that we should probably get going. It's late and the café will be closing soon. Are you ready?"
"Oh, right. Of course. Just let me straighten up the table," he muttered.
She smiled, not bothering to tell him that someone would come around to clean up after the rather large mess that their group had made.
"Sure. I'll wait outside, okay?"
He nodded absent-mindedly, getting to work on ordering the plates and cups into symmetrical placement. Her shoulders shook with suppressed laughter as she walked out of the building and meandered a little ways away.
He was adorable.
She grinned to herself and stopped at the corner, waiting for him to catch up. Her shoulders stiffened.
"You're not thinking about running, are you?"
Maka cursed under her breath. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," she whispered to herself, turning around to face the group of men who had circled around her while she was distracted.
She cursed herself, she cursed her idiot friends for leaving ahead of them, she cursed the idiots who had cornered her, and then she cursed Kid for good measure. He was too cute for his own good. Or her good, in this case.
Maka rolled her shoulder, but didn't take a defensive stance just yet. Maybe if she acted confident enough they wouldn't giver her any trouble.
"Is there a problem?" she asked.
A few of them shared looks. One of them spoke.
"She's alone. Why-"
"Shut up!" the first man who had addressed her ordered.
He walked up to her and smirked. "I'm not sure who you think you're fooling with this act of yours," he muttered, shoving her.
Her reflexes were enough to keep her standing, but she still stumbled. She gritted her teeth.
"We're not supposed to hurt her!"
"I know! But we've got to make it look real, right?"
Maka's brow creased and her head tilted in confusion. "What?"
She never got her answer.
"What exactly is going on here?"
She balked as she saw Kid approach. She'd never heard him sound so lethal or look more dangerous.
"Exactly what it looks like," the apparent leader said, trying to appear unafraid.
Maka couldn't help thinking that that was a particularly bad move.
"Run," Kid whispered.
Only half of them listened.
The other half…
Maka cringed in sympathy. And hoped that they knew a good doctor. She never knew Kid could be that vicious and still manage not to kill. It was actually sort of impressive.
The cold fury in Kid's voice disappeared as soon as he had taken care of Maka's would-be attackers. Now, he looked frantic.
"Oh my- Maka, are you okay? They didn't hurt you, right? I know- of course you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself- I don't mean to offend- I just-"
"Thanks, Kid," Maka interrupted. "Really. I could have maybe taken on some of them, but there were a bit too many for me to handle by myself."
Kid's shoulders slumped in relief. "Good. Good. Then, I'll walk you home."
She almost protested. "Thanks. I'd appreciate that."
Neither of them heard the moaned, "We didn't get paid enough for this."
…
Soul was stunned. He shook his head furiously and groaned. "Seriously? Still? Even after all of that, she didn't manage to realize why he was so angry? Maka's supposed to be the smart one! I wasted 100 bucks!"
"Hmm?" Tsubaki questioned, looking over at him.
He blinked and straightened. "Nothing, just surprised is all," he muttered.
"Ha! Didn't I tell you! The great Black Star is never wrong! Ah… though I guess you really didn't know anything after all, Soul."
Black Star's goofy smile and boisterous laughter made Soul's shoulders slumped. "Really?" he whispered to himself.
"All right!" Liz said, calling order. "So that means that Soul's bet is invalid. Now it's just the rest of us. Does anyone want to raise their bets?"
Soul sighed as Black Star gave another 10 and Liz and Patty put in another 15.
He wondered if he could get a refund from those idiots he hired. Though they might need to money for hospital and therapy bills.
"Jeez," he muttered.
…
A surprisingly oblivious Maka and a jealous and BAMF Kid. What could be better? Except maybe fluff.
Darn. I should have added something.
T.N.T!