Hello~ So once a week, as promised! This chapter is sort of short...sorry!
I'm sort of surprised at this Maka I've created... O_O
I have a big test soon, so please forgive me if I'm a bit late next week...s...sorry...TT_TT

Chrona and Maka locked eyes, neither sure what the appropriate reaction was. Should they laugh it off? Blush and look down?

Liz watched them with curious eyes, wondering what they would do. Chrona snuck a look at Kid, whose hands were clenched into tight fists that rested on his thighs. He was staring intensely at the scene, eyes holing very little recognizable emotion.

Soul was casting a disapproving glare on his meister. From the looks of it, he was the only who saw this coming. Soul was just cynical enough to predict it.

Black Star and Tsubaki stared at Maka; they didn't know Chrona very well, but they knew Maka, and if she was acting like herself, she would discount this entire thing and yell at Liz till her eardrums burst.

Chrona accidentally met Maka's eyes and looked down, cheeks flushed. Maka was furious at the entire situation. Chrona was obviously Kid's, not hers.

So why wasn't Kid intervening? Shouldn't he be yelling and getting up? Why was he just sitting there?

Maka gritted her teeth in annoyance. This was just like Kid! He was never there for Chrona like he should be, always coming up with excuses and opting out when things became uncomfortable. It took a near death situation for Kid to even consider letting Chrona explain himself! Sometimes she really thought that Chrona deserved better than Kid.

Maka became increasingly agitated as she recalled the several situations in which Kid had left Chrona sad, unsure, or confused. Finally, staring at her best friend, she knew what she had to do. If Kid only acted under extreme circumstances, maybe this would shock him into appreciating what he had.

Smirking, she pulled Chrona by his collar and kissed him. Chrona was clearly shocked, eyes widening in horror and surprise. Maka smiled despite herself, keeping him on her lips for longer than 3 seconds on purpose.

Maka wondered for a fleeting moment about Chrona. This wouldn't mess up their relationship, right? Nothing could break what they had. Was she crossing a line? No. No. She was just helping. It was for his own good. Her heart sped up; Chrona's lips were softer than she would have thought.

No! No, best friends didn't think about how soft best friends lips were. Well, it wasn't her fault, right? Just an observation...

Well, whatever! That was beside the point! The point was that she could see Kid's gaze darkening and feel his hostile aura getting larger, and this was what she wanted. Maybe that would teach him that just because he was dating Chrona, it didn't mean that no one else would try to steal him away.

She pulled away and fought not to grin. Chrona looked at the floor, terror filling his features. Clapping a hand on his mouth, he glanced at Maka and quickly averted his gaze in embarrassment. His heart pounded in his chest, and he was trying not to cry. Chrona's hands were trembling. What should he do? What would Kid say? Would Kid hate him?

Maybe he just wasn't good at anything.

Chrona was scared to look, but he turned his eyes slightly and looked at Kid. Kid suddenly stood up, startling him.

Kid grabbed Chrona's wrist and tugged him up. He pulled Chrona away from the group and looked over his shoulder once to glare at Liz. She looked at him and rolled her eyes, signaling that he was being overdramatic once again. Kid slammed the door behind him and stomped down the hallway with Chrona in tow.

Maka touched her lips, a bit surprised at herself. She never thought she would be the type to do something of this nature. But Kid deserved this, right? He needed to see, needed to know. Right? This was the right thing to do, right?

Suddenly, she realized that this may have been Kid's way of apologizing to Chrona. It wasn't like he had ignored Chrona because of something shallow or petty. Chrona had told a huge lie, about his gender, no less. Besides, it wasn't really any of Maka's business to begin with, was it? It wasn't like she was in love with Chrona or anything.

Right?

Maka suddenly felt a lot less pleased with herself.

"Kid?" Chrona looked at the back of Kid's head nervously. His shiny black shoes made dull noises on the carpeted hall.

"Um, Kid?" Chrona said it a bit louder, unsure if Kid had actually heard him or not. Kid's grip tightened on Chrona's sleeve as he tugged him along. Kid made no effort to let Chrona know if he was understood or not.

"Kid!" Chrona dug in his heels and refused to let Kid lead him away any longer.

"What?" Kid turned around and glared at Chrona. His eyes were angry, angrier than Chrona had ever seen them. His mouth was stretched in a thin line of annoyance, and his patience was dangerously thin.

"Are you upset?" Of course he was upset; how could he not be? Chrona realized that he wasn't quite sure what he had wanted to say to Kid.

"No, Chrona, I am just fine," Kid's voice was menacing and dangerous, subtle sarcasm lining his words. Chrona recoiled from him, worried about what he might do. Not that he thought Kid would hit him or something, but still...

Kid observed Chrona's reaction and his features softened a bit. He looked down and glanced at Chrona and delivered an unspoken apology.

"Um...okay, Kid? That is, um... just so you know...there's really nothing...between me and M-Maka..." Chrona hoped these words would comfort Kid some. Kid's face suddenly relaxed completely.

"Yeah, I know that," Kid smiled a bit and kissed Chrona on his forehead. "That doesn't make it any easier, though."

Chrona smiled pleasurably, glad that Kid had forgiven him. Kid put out his hand for Chrona to hold, and Chrona happily obliged. He vaguely wondered what Kid meant, but quickly decided that he didn't really care so long as Kid wasn't upset with him.

Later that night, when all the theatrics were done, everyone had passed out on the floor. Chrona and Kid had fallen asleep watching a movie in the hotel room.

Kid told him that they could have their own sleepover and pulled out his laptop and blasted music as they sang along (badly.) Dancing around the room stupidly, Chrona fell down a few times and laughed until he couldn't breathe. They wrestled and got distracted by a cool car commercial. Eventually, they started playing PC games and taking corny personality tests. They watched a reality show on low volume and filled in the dialogue themselves.

"Ahhh, Kelly I'm preggo!"

"Eeeeew, why would you tell me that?"

"You're that father~"

"The hell?"

The night passed slowly with them jumping on beds and roleplaying their favorite characters. They eventually got pizza and soda from room service, and ate and drank till they thought they would puke.

Then they ate popcorn! And then ice cream and raw cookie dough.

They fell asleep with the low hum of music between them and a laptop screen covered in a pictures for the powerpoint they were making about Yo Gabba Gabba.

In Liz and Patti's room, they did somewhat similar things. But neither Soul or Maka were able to fully enjoy the antics the sisters had come up with.

When everyone finally fell asleep, Maka turned over and over again, unable to get comfortable. She decided to go to her room to put on something more comfortable, but when she stood up to walk out, she felt a hand on her ankle.

"...Soul?" she asked, looking down at the boy. "What is it?"

"What you did was really stupid," he mumbled, looking up at her. She blushed.

"Shut up, Soul! You don't know my reasoning or my motives or anything!"

"I know you, Maka. And I know that you were sitting there justifying kissing Chrona when you knew that it was wrong and that no matter what happened between those two, it would never be okay," Soul sat up at stared at her, a slight quirk in his eyebrows indicating his anger.

"It's none of your business."

"None of yours either."

Maka looked down.

"I know what I did was wrong, okay? It was stupid of me to try to get back at Kid for something he did months ago. So could you please just cut me some slack? I'll apologize tomorrow," Maka said defiantly, avoiding Soul's gaze.

"Yeah, you do that. But it might not be so easy. Plus, you should think about if getting back at Kid was really the only reason you kissed Chrona," Soul stared at her, unflinching and unblinking.

"What? What do you mean by that?" Maka looked at Soul and he looked at her silently with that look that says, 'You know what I mean, so stop playing around and fix it instead of making me a part of all yer damn girl problems.'

Soul sighed and flopped back on the floor, tugging the blanket up. "This is so uncool..."

Maka frowned, unsure if he was talking about sleeping on the floor or about what they had been talking about.

Either way, she walked out of the room, mouth stretched in a frown. She wasn't sure what to think about what Soul had said.

Why had she kissed Chrona? Could there possibly be another reason?

No, that was stupid.

Stupid!

Right?

Soul, the voice of reason!

Haha, thanks for reading!

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