Credit of inspiration goes to "The Great Gatsby" ; that first party scene pushed me over the edge to write this.
The house was huge.
No. That's not right at all.
The mansion was immaculate. Maka looked around in awe as just about everyone from the DWMA rode up in one mode of transportation or another, all whooping and screaming at each other, acting absolute fools. Ignoring the ruckus, the blonde meister focused on the palace before her, completely decked out in what advertized to be the party of the century; only these festivities happen weekly. Balloons the sized of the girl's apartment flew high over head, streamers and confetti already littered the ground and she could feel the deep rumbling bass bellowing the most popular songs of the radio. Soul, her white haired, sharp toothed weapon grinned widely as she took in the wild fiasco with wide green eyes; the pair ducked just in time to miss a rogue plastic beach ball coming at their faces. "Maka!" A familiar voice jeer from a crowd just before recognizable spikes of blue hair made its way through the crowd with a tall, black hair woman hot in pursuit. "So you finally got the worm's nose out of the books!" He cackled, giving a signature hand shake to the white haired scythe.
"Yeah, took everything I had to persuade her." Soul chuckled, patting his meister on the shoulder playfully, who in return shot him a death glare through squinted eyes.
"Oh, come on Maka, it's really pretty fun! Everyone from the academy is here." Tsubaki tried.
"Thanks, Tsubaki. Parties just aren't my-"
"Pool fight!" The blue haired assassin screeched, running off in some direction behind the house. The black haired woman offered an apologetic smile then hurried off after her meister in hopes of keeping him in check.
"C'mon, I'll show you around." Soul grinned, opening the door to the house as if he owned the place.
"Shouldn't we knock?"
"Tsk. Get with the program, Maka! It's a party." He laughed, entering the colossal house. The inside of the residence was just as extravagant, if not more so, than the outside. The overall lights were dimmed in favor of various neon lasers and disco balls, the tables were filled with half drunken soda cans and Styrofoam cups and the rooms were busting at the seams with hyped up, teenage academy students.
"Who throws these parties anyways? I can't imagine someone so willing to clean up after this every weekend…"
"Well, supposedly this is Lord Death's son, Death The Kidd's, house." Soul shrugged, helping himself to a soda from a nearby cooler.
"I didn't know Lord Death had a son."
"Yeah, well, like I said, supposedly. If you ask me, I think this put on by Lord Death himself for us to wind down after missions. I think the 'Lord Death's son' part is just a cover up for his crazy antics." Soul took a long sip from a drink he had picked up, high-fiving several people in the process.
"So no one's ever seen this Death The Kidd?" Maka questioned, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the loud music and thrashing bodies around her.
"Not that I know of. Which further proves my point." He nodded with a sharky grin to a few girls giggling at him, then turned back to his meister who rolled her eyes. "People try to say he's a bit of a shut in, but I mean really. Lord Death having a son? I'm not exactly sure if that's possible. But hey, whoever it is, they sure throw a hell of a party. C'mon Maka, live a little. Have some fun, let loose." And with that, her white haired weapon disappeared into a 'whoop'-ing crowd of frenzied teens.
"Wait Sou- uhg…" Maka rolled her eyes as the music was turned up impossibly louder. What was this odd obsession with bone-rattling loud music? Maka would never know. She looked for an out, some sort of sanctuary through all the smoke and neon lights, but found nothing. Desperate, a long buried innate sense of claustrophobia filled her mind as she pushed through seas of bodies, running her hand along the walls until she found an extravagant staircase. Fighting her way past a kishin with moves she had been training with almost since birth? No problem. Making it through a tightly knit crowd of over stimulated teenagers? Nearly impossible. Finding only a few people chit-chatting and hanging around the steps, she strode up the stairs two at a time and over looked the writhing mass of dancing teens in confusion. They did this every weekend? How could someone stand such reckless behavior on such a regular basis? She sighed as she looked the hallways of the upstairs. Fairly barren, save for the few couples that had decided to straggle away from the festivities for a little privacy. Rolling her eyes, she maneuvered her way down the slightly darkened hallways of the handsome mansion; taking in its beauty without all the wild distractions. It really was quite beautiful once clear of people, Maka observed. Someone obviously took care of the place or, perhaps no one ever really lived here. The walls were white, spotless and pure, they held nothing but uniformity while the black baseboards seemed lively with fancy engravings of the Death God insignia, encircled in swirls and twists, but, again, there was some a unique homogeny to it. Every once and a while, Maka would slowly walk past a strange painting, each mysterious black and white inkblot-styled art the same yet somehow different to the next. Finally, the blonde meister came to a large door, different from all of the other plain black ones, at the end of the hall. The closer she seemed to get, the more intrigued she became; for every step close brought a new, astounding feature to light. Whether it be the intricate details of the insignia, or the tiny black stones set into the stained wood or the ever so slightly gold tinged outline of the skull, Maka's curiosity was piqued. It was then that she realized her hand was in the process of curling itself around the cool metal knob. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and gently opened the door.
The room, just like the rest of the mansion, was astoundingly beautiful, but it wasn't the detailed architecture that caught her attention. Straight ahead, bookshelves climbed the 15 foot walls and reached the ceiling, each one of them all but overflowing with a mindboggling number of books neatly arranged by color, height and thickness. "Liz?" Maka almost squeaked as a deep voice that was not her own softly bounced off the walls. "Patty?"
"N-no…" Maka responded, her face heating in embarrassment as her eyes shifted to find the source of the voice; then she saw him. A boy that looked to be around her age was sitting, faced away from her, on a silky red couch in a sitting area. After a deep sigh and a little bit of rustling he finally spoke with a sigh.
"How many times do I have to tell you people? This room is off limits to the party." He grumbled turning around with an irritated look, but his expression lightened as he saw the blonde. Her emerald eyes widened as he looked at her; he was definitely… Unusual looking. His hair was neat, tidy and black up until three horizontal white lines interrupted the otherwise inky color and his eyes were two different shades of yellow, both very unnaturally bright and vibrant. "You don't exactly look like the party type," he observed, his head tilted slightly as he spoke.
"I'm not…" She mumbled, her face slowly recovering to its original color. "Soul, my weapon, drug me here. I would've been perfectly fine to stay home with a nice book." She shrugged, almost laughing at the irony. "I'm not too big on all the noise. But if I'm bothering you, that's fine, I'll just-"
"No, no! You're fine, please, by all means, stay. I just wasn't particularly in the mood to indulge myself in any type of over the top activities. But you seem harmless enough." He grinned, standing and giving her a small, kind bow. She smiled back, but couldn't keep her eyes from the rows of books that adorned the mahogany shelves. "I know, a bit extensive, isn't?" He chuckled, gesturing for her to join him in the room, "I'm still thankful for it, all the same. Maybe one day I can finish them all." He paused, letting the both of them admire the collection. "If these parties continue, I'm sure that won't be a problem." The boy's words became background noise as Maka let curiosity take over, deftly running a finger over the spines of the books. She had to hold back a gasp before she came across one book in particular, it's spine new, un-creased and seemingly unopened. Gently, as if she were brushing hair off a young child's face, she took the book from the shelf and admired the cover art, careful to memorize its place on the shelf. "You should read it. Unless, of course, you'd rather return to the party..."
"N-no I couldn't… It's not mine, I was just looking." Maka frowned slightly, making a move to replace the literature to its home.
The boy chuckled again, returning to his previous place on the couch showing her his own book. "I can assure you, the owner won't mind." To her surprise, he had the exact same book she had previously picked up off the shelf. "There's two copies of everything." He informed, his golden eyes shifting from the page he was on to the girl in front of him. "Please don't take this in the wrong way, I mean it as innocently as possible, but as much as I don't enjoy parties, I would enjoy the company of a fellow reader." And with that, he let his eyes rest finally on the book at hand.
She wringed her hands nervously as she examined her choices; but her decision was pretty clear once she heard the word 'food fight' being yelled from the labyrinth of party-goers below. She let out a small breath and plucked the book from the shelf and took her place on the couch next to the boy. He didn't turn to look at her as the blonde sat, but she could've sworn he cracked a small smile.
"Miss? Excuse me, miss?" Maka's eyes fluttered open, only to be assaulted by artificial light. "Sorry for waking you… It's just a little late, and I wouldn't want you're peers to be worried for your well being…" His voice seemed a little too close as she screwed her eyes shut then forced them open. The room was sideways, or at least her head was, and it was only then that she realized she had not only fallen asleep but, embarrassingly enough, was now leaning her head on this strangers shoulder.
She sat up with a jolt, moving to fix her hair and clothes, all the while still feeling deaden from sleep. "I'm so sorry!" She squeaked. "How long was I asleep?"
"Don't worry about it; you were only asleep for a few moments." He shrugged, but if the numbness in her cheek that was pressed against his shoulder was anything to go by, he was lying. She stood and once again straightened out her clothes, her cheeks burning with embarrassment, and went to return the book to its proper place on the shelf.
"Thank you for the company, and it was really nice to have someone to read with, but I really do have to go, Soul's probably worried." She grumbled the last part knowing it wasn't true; he probably figured she snuck out and went back home during the middle of all the ruckus. "I do hope to meet you again sometime!" She called over her shoulder. She couldn't believe she had just done that! She hadn't even really been that tired, she had just gotten so comfortable… Could she have possibly laid in that position before actually falling asleep?
The boy grinned at the flustered girl and sudden realization hit him just as she reached the door. "Miss!" He called, jumping up from his seat and rushing to the door, desperate to catch the blonde before she left. She jumped at the sudden urgency in his voice.
Was she indecent to go out? Were there embarrassing red marks left on her face from sleep? "I don't think I ever caught you're name…"
Her face visibly reddened. She had spent all evening with this boy, passing casual conversations with him in between chapters, and they hadn't even exchanged names. "M-Maka." She smiled.
He grinned back and held out his shinigami-ringed hand. "Pleased to meet you, Maka." She took is hand, shocked at the softness of his impossibly alabaster skin. "I'm Death The Kidd."