A/N: I love basically all the usual Soul Eater pairings but CroMa is perhaps my favourite. This is very fluffy! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed fangirling over it in my head.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater. Soul Eater is the property of Atsushi Ohkubo and Square Enix, and is not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

The You Who Knows Me

I don't know how to deal with ice cream.

"Do you not like mint flavour?" Maka asks me. I have no idea what mint ice cream tastes like, but if she likes it, surely I will too. She offers her cone to me. There are grooves in the ice cream where her tongue licked it. I try licking it too.

I try not to grimace as the flavour settles on my tongue, "I think you're right."

"You should've said, silly."

"Sorry. I didn't know that I didn't like it."

Is she mad? Did I make her mad? She's smiling. I think that's a normal smile. I think that's a Good smile.

"Maka, sweetie!"

Maka's dad comes rushing over to us from the other side of the beach. He's wearing extremely tight swimming shorts. I must be the only one covered up this much. The sun doesn't like me. I don't know how to deal with it and so it burns my skin whenever it sees me.

"Having fun with your new friend, Maka?"

"Papa, I already told you we're dating."

"Don't say such cruel things to Papa, sweetie, you'll make me collapse on the spot in sadness."

"Do you promise to be washed away by the ocean afterwards?"

"Papa's just looking out for your best interests. I won't let anything get between our (familial) love!"

"You really are disgusting, you know that?"

I don't know how to deal with her dad but I'm glad she does because he's scary and he makes my head dizzy and

Now we're standing in front of a net in front of Soul and Black Star and I have a beach ball in my hand. Maka grins at me,

"You do the first serve, Crona!"

"You don't stand a chance against us!" Black Star taunts.

"Yeah," Soul agrees, "when Black Star and I get together, nothing can stop us!"

"If you guys are so into each other you should just get a room, rather than come here to lose to me and Crona!"

"Uh, Maka... I, how do I serve... this, uh-"

"Just throw it in the air, then smack it into Soul's Face."

"Oi, Maka, what are you telling-"

I throw the ball in the air, pull my arm back, then swing forward with all my might. I smack the ball. It flies forward at a ferocious pace, tearing through the air, making my heavy clothes ruffle against my skin. Then it thumps dead into the net. As it hits the sand it rolls back to my feet.

Maka offers a consolatory smile, "I'll serve next time."

I don't know how to deal with beach balls.

After losing to Soul and Black Star twice, Liz and Patty step in for us, coordinated by Death The Kid. I hear him shouting out orders as Maka and I head towards the pier, but the noise of the rides and arcades and happy beach-goers soon drowns them all out before I can hear who's winning.

The pier is full of people. I'm not good with people. I'm especially not good with large crowds of people. As we walk through the chaos, Maka spots a photo spot where you can poke your head through a wooden board and look like a beer-bellied pirate.

"Oooo Crona take my photo!"

She hands me her phone. I hold it up, trying to keep it steady. She pulls a silly grin.

"Say cheese!"

I push the photo button and the phone makes a shutter sound, then I give her a thumbs up. She comes over and takes her phone back.

"I bet I look like a total idiot."

She brings up the photo. It's blurry. It looks like she was smudged all over the screen.

"I'm sorry Maka, I thought I kept my hands steady..."

"Don't worry, it's not your fault, we can just take another one."

She looks over at the photo spot but it's already occupied by another couple. She takes my hand again, "Or... we can go try something else!"

Upon hearing this, Ragnarok bursts out of my back, "Oi! We were using that! Get off it! It's ours, ours!"

"Ragnarok!" I yell, "You promised you'd keep quiet today!"

The couple at the photo spot back away, their faces stiff in terror. Maka starts dragging me off by my arm, Ragnarok in tow.

"Go back there Crona!" he growls, "I wanna be in the picture!"

"No! This is my date with Maka! Go away!"

"I would if I could you little runt!" Ragnarok punches my head, "You're an idiot, a coward, you suck at volleyball and you're boring!"

"Stop it!"

Then suddenly,

"MAKA~ CHOP!"

and before I know what's going on, Maka's hand smacks into my skull and I'm on my back, staring up at the clouds.

"Oh my god Crona are you all right? I meant to hit Ragnarok."

I feel him pop out of my chest, "You missed me, you sow!"

She tries to kick him but before it can connect he ducks back into my chest. A small crowd has formed around us now. I should've known Ragnarok would do something like this. Maka deserves someone better than me. I close my eyes. Maybe I can imagine myself away, so that I'm not bothering her any more. Up into the sky, away from all the staring eyes.

Footsteps clack towards me, stopping near my left arm.

"Maka?" comes a familiar voice, "I knew that yelling was you! Are you all right? Did your date try and lift up your skirt? Papa is here to protect you now."

"Papa!? What are you doing here? This has nothing to do with you - and who are these women? Every time I see you it's a new woman around your arm. In this case, arms. You were alone when we arrived so I assume you found them on the beach somewhere."

"Now Maka, in the adult world, things get a bit-"

"No, I'm not even interested, I don't wanna hear a word of it."

"Let me help you-"

"No."

I'm lifted up. Someone's carrying me.

"Crona and I are going to enjoy the rest of this pier without you."

I open my eyes. Maka is staring dead ahead. She has such strong arms. I knew she was strong when she beat the crap out of me that one time, but it's different when someone carries you. You never imagine that you're gonna be carried around but then you are and it's so good because you can just let everything go and

No, wait. This is bad. I just created a massive scene because I couldn't control Ragnarok. How is she supposed to love someone she can't even take out on a simple date? I'm so broken. There's a reason I've always been so alone. I need to apologise. I need to apologise right now.

"I'm so-"

We enter a buzzing, beeping, bleeping, screeching arcade. Maka lowers me back to my feet and I see that the carpet is as gaudy as the ceiling. She smiles at me, "What do you wanna try first?"

We spend hours in there. We shoot down zombie hordes and race each other on motorbikes, insert coins into slot machines and even try an Angry Birds cabinet sitting in-between two basketball games. In the technicolour rainbow soup of flashing lights and blurry game cabinet screens, pushing through the throng of people in the arcade together, the only thing I see is her face, glowing warmly, brighter even than the orange sunlight flooding in from the pier outside. So this is what being in a relationship feels like. I had no idea. I had no idea arcades could be this good, either. They're so much better with someone else, so much better with Maka.

We walk out of the arcade laughing.

"That was great!" Maka says, the wind blowing her hair in a way that somehow makes her look even more beautiful. I thought I'd let her down with my awkwardness today, but maybe it's not gonna be such a bad day after all.

As I think these words, the wooden planks under my feet buckle and fall apart beneath me. I look up. Maka's eyes are the widest I've ever seen them. She doesn't look very far up. I fall down, down, down. Now she does look far away. How far up was I?

THUD!

"It's a good thing your blood is black, or that fall might've killed you."

I open my eyes. Leaning over me is none other than Professor Stein.

"S-Stein!"

"It's a shame, really. If you'd died I could've done all kinds of interesting things with your body..."

His eyes are like dark pits in his face, voids sucking in all the light around them.

"...just kidding!"

Water rushes over my body, climbing up the beach, drenching my clothes.

"Crona!"

Maka's voice. I turn my head and see her running towards us. I get to my feet,

"Sorry about-"

She hugs me for a moment, then holds me at arm's length.

"You're okay?"

"Yeah, I think I'm fine. It's my black blood - nothing can cut through it. You don't need to worry about me."

People are staring down at us through the hole I fell through. I've created a scene yet again.

"It's a very old pier," Stein comments, "very old. That spot in particular looked like it could collapse any minute. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Really, it could've been anyone... anyone at all..."

Somehow he looks disappointed it was me.

"Thank you Professor," Maka says.

"Oh there's no need for 'thank you's. I was just waiting around here, relaxing, enjoying the ocean breeze. I think I'll move on now though. I've got other matters to attend to."

"Other matters?" she asks.

He taps his nose with his finger, "I'll be off now. Enjoy the rest of your day."

I don't know how to deal with that man. Judging by the look on Maka's face, I don't think she does either.

Walking back along the beach together, listening to the waves whisper against the sand, I try my best to keep my waterlogged sandals on my feet. They're actually Soul's sandals, because I have none of my own, because I never ever go to the beach. The feeling of wet sand clinging to my feet is a sensation that I, unfortunately, will probably never forget. Wait... Maka's talking. How long has she been talking for? I should've been listening rather than thinking about my feet. I should've known my feet would be a problem when Maka had to ask Soul to let me use his sandals. I should've known I'd be a problem when Maka invited me to the beach.

Suddenly she kisses me on the cheek and runs off. I panic that I've missed something important, but then I see her dash into the public toilets and realise she was probably just telling me that she was gonna do that. Public toilets... another thing I can't deal with.

The setting sun bronzes the horizon. This is the first relationship I've ever been in, but even so, I know that sunsets are meant to be romantic. If I knew how to deal with them I could make this really romantic for Maka, but I just... I...

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Maka says, coming up behind me and wrapping her arms around my waist. I was so focused on worrying about the sunset that I forgot she'd even left.

"I was just thinking that the sunset... it's really... orange."

I can't see her expression but she must be thinking that I'm weird right now.

"Yeah," she replies, humouring me, "this one is pretty orange, isn't it? I don't often get to see it set on the ocean like this."

She unwraps her arms and walks forward till the foam from the waves whirls around her pale feet. I join her. The water is colder than I expected it to be.

Looking into the distance, I hear Maka's voice beside me, quieter than usual, "I'm sorry if you haven't had such a good day."

I look over at Maka. Her eyes are in the ocean. She's not smiling.

"I kinda forced you to come..." she continues, "I knew you didn't like beaches but I kept talking about it, so you came in the end, and I shouldn't have made-"

I take her hand. I didn't realise she'd been worrying about me like that. I say,

"I've really enjoyed spending today with you."

Her eyes meet mine. The sunset ripples in them. I can feel myself getting nervous. I always get nervous when I need to say something important, but I force myself to continue,

"There are a lot of things I'm not very good at. I'm not very good at dealing with beaches. I'm not good at dealing with the sun, or with beach balls, or ice cream, and I'm not good at dealing with piers either, apparently, but..."

She smiles. It's only small, but it's there. She's smiling. I want her to smile. I don't want her to feel sad today.

"But when I'm with you, none of that matters. You never judge me for how I am. When I'm with you I can always be me. I'm very bad at being me, but I try. And... and... you're the only person who I...who I can be that way with. You're the only one, Maka-"

She pulls me against her. Her hair is in my nose. She smells of mint ice cream even now. She doesn't say anything. Nor do I. Neither of us say anything. The only noise is the hiss of the waves and wind rushing past us. On the horizon the sun is purpling, falling into sleep. We've already missed most of the sunset, but I don't mind. I'll stand here embracing her, being embraced by her, as long as she wants. There are many things I can't deal with in life, but making Maka smile... that seems to be the one thing, and maybe it's the only thing, I know how to do properly.