Black-Star, Kid and Kenna returned to the apartment with bags filled to the brim with baby things from the house, seeing that they came in several minutes after Free's group. Free's run had gone alright except for a boy named Alex getting a cut from a kishin that had jumped him.
"Hey Kid." Tsubaki went up to the shinigami and took his bag. "I'm sorry for how I acted, I shouldn't be upset over this. Why you guys left is none of my business."
"I'll tell you, I'll tell all of you what happened, but not yet." Kid promised, not actually speaking the words out loud. Instead he said, "It's alright."
"Miriah!" Kenna squealed and rushed past the two adults, pulling something out of her bag. "Guess what I found!" Kenna handed Miriah a sketchbook. "I noticed that you were running out a pages." The girl rubbed her arm, suddenly shy. "I thought you might like it."
"I love it, thank you!" Miriah gave Kenna a quick hug before returning to her current drawing of Tommy and Timmy reading a book together.
"I'm going to the roof." Kid said to Black-Star softly.
"Want me to come with you?" The star asked.
"If I'm not back down in ten minutes." Kid stated before leaving the group.
The shinigami gave James a wave as he went through the door and climbed up the stairs to the roof. Kid closed the door behind and smirked at the sight that greeted him. He saw a pack of cigarettes, one of the cigarettes were out and a single match laid with it on the edge of the roof. Kid went up to the cigarette and placed it in his mouth, lighting it up with the match he had scraped against the ledge. The shinigami waved the match to make the flame go away and he dropped the wooden stick off of the roof and watched it fall as he took in a drag of the cigarette.
"So, when are you telling everyone about you and Black-Star?"
"The day you decide to come back." Kid answered Stein through a cloud of smoke. "When did you get on top of the door? I swear you weren't there five seconds ago."
"You need to work on your observation skills."
"You climbed up when my back was turned."
"Pretty much. Mind handing me the pack?"
"Why didn't you take them with you?" Kid asked as he picked up the cigarette pack.
"I thought this cigarette would last me longer."
"You're going to die young." The shinigami turned around and tossed the pack at the stitched-up man.
"I'm old enough." Stein caught the pack."So you and Black-Star? Care to explain how that happened?"
"You're not my teacher anymore, you don't need to worry about this." Kid said, tapping ash off of the tip of his cigarette.
"I may not be your teacher, but I am still your elder." Stein stated, putting a new cigarette between his lips.
"And how would me telling you about my relationship with Black-Star help anything?"
"Marie wants to know." Kid choked on his inhale, a puff of smoke was forced roughly out of his throat.
"Marie's alive! Where is she!?" Kid demanded.
"She's at our camp and no, she won't come back either...she doesn't want anyone to see her the way she is..." Stein pulled a box of matches out of his pocket.
"What's wrong with her?"
"She got attacked by a kishin demon and her face got ripped to shreds. I stitched her up and she's perfectly healthy. But she doesn't want to be seen by you guys, she thinks she's not pretty enough, no matter how many times I tell her she's beautiful." The ex-teacher lit his cigarette.
"That's why you won't come back, you won't leave Marie." Kid said in realization. "Didn't know you had a heart."
"Neither did I." Stein dropped his still burning match and it landed on the lower part of the roof, the flame still going.
"Having a heart sucks sometimes." Kid sighed and went over to the match, stepping on it and twisting his foot.
"How long till Black-Star shows up?"
"I give him five minutes." The shinigami answered and leaned against the wall next to Stein's feet.
"Long enough for a story?"
"Tell me what you know already."
"You and Black-Star got together and left, that's all we got, Lord Death nor Spirit would tell me why you guys left."
"You'd think you or Marie would know everything about us." Kid chuckled and took in a breath of smoke.
"We try, but you guys have been gone for five years."
"Don't remind me." Kid looked at his small cigarette and dropped it. "Hand me the pack." Kid caught the box as he rubbed the cigarette he dropped with the bottom of his foot.
"Marie called it you know." Stein stated and dropped the matches.
"Called what?" Kid asked, lighting his cigarette.
"You and Black-Star, she said that she saw the care in your guys' eyes even though all I saw was you two fighting all of the time. Now tell me so I have a proper story for Marie."
"I'll tell you if you promise to ask Marie to come back, she doesn't have to say yes, just ask her."
"Easy, I do it everyday anyways."
"Fine, I'll tell you. It'd be nice to get it off my chest."
"From the beginning."
"It officially started right after we defeated Asura, it was a simple kiss out of pure joy and we didn't discuss it for a good week." Kid glared up when he heard Stein chuckle. "I'm not telling the story if you laugh."
"You can't blame me, I'm a man."
"I'm one as well."
"Yeah but you're kind of the lady in the relationship."
"Fuck you."
"Black-Star can handle that for me. We both know what you two did at that one house, Kenna wouldn't stop squealing while you guys returned."
"Stalker."
"Queer."
"I will hurt you."
"I have no doubt of that." The men paused before laughing. "So what happened after the pure week of awkwardness. I need detail or Maire's gonna kill me."
"No one would believe this, but I went to Black-Star and asked him out on a simple date. Movie and dinner at my place, I had convinced Liz and Patty to go hang with Tsubaki so myself and Black-Star could be left alone and see if there were actually any feelings there and discover if the kiss had been on accident or not." Kid paused to take in another drag of his cigarette. "Turns out both of us had some...bundled up feelings for each other."
"You guys had sex on the first date?"
"No, not at all Stein. I'm not that easy." Kid chuckled. "We went out on several more dates and then we decided to tell everyone. We went to my father first. I was prepared for the embarrassment of him going 'That's so cute Kiddo' or 'Took you long enough to catch a man' or even 'Don't keep my little boy out too long Black-Star' but...that wasn't it."
"I can't imagine Lord Death saying anything different."
"After I announced that me and Black-Star were dating...he got mad. He got pissed off. I didn't understand, he told me that I was wrong, that it was a phase. He said to forget about it and that we were not allowed to be together. What right does he have to say who I am or not with!?" Kid crushed his cigarette and had to get himself a new one.
"There has to be a reason behind this. Lord Death is defiantly not homophobic, he loves everyone. He especially loves you Kid."
"He really didn't show that when he stated 'either break-up or leave'." Kid brought the flame of his burning match he had scratched against the box to the tip of his thrid cigarette.
"You should talk to him."
"He can come to me if it's that important."
"He can't."
"Why not?"
"He's-"
"Kid?" Black-Star's voice said behind the door.
"He's what Stein?" Kid looked up and saw that the other man was no longer there.
"Are you smoking again?" Black-Star asked with a smile.
"Yeah." Kid said softly and took another inhale of his cigarette. Black-Star pulled Kid's hand away and replaced the cigarette with his mouth. The star pulled away and a puff of smoke left through his lips.
"You look upset." He stated.
"I'm just tired."
"Sounds like I did a good job." Black-Star chuckled. Kid hummed and put the cigarette back in his mouth. The star gave the other man an annoyed look before taking the cigarette away, dropping it and stepping on it.
"I wasn't finished." Kid protested.
"Neither was I." Black-Star cupped the shinigami's cheek and pressed their lips together.
"Marie's still alive." Kid said when they parted.
"What? That's amazing!" Black-Star gave Kid another kiss. "Wait, how do you know this?"
"Stein told me."
"Stein?" The star sighed and held Kid's shoulders. "Kid, are you sure you've been talking to Stein?"
"Of course I've been."
"Maka told me about how you believe Stein is alive and...there's no way he could be. He went insane, ripping his stitches off as he ran away. Marie went after him and they never came back."
"I'm not talking to a ghost."
"Not at all, you're just talking to...yourself."
"I'm not crazy." Kid snapped and pushed Black-Star away.
"What about that moment you had in front of the store? When you heard that voice calling you to the academy?"
"I told you not to mention that."
"It would explain it, obviously the madness is getting to you and you're imagining Stein. That's why no one else has seen him or even heard him."
"He leaves by the time you guys show up." Kid snapped harshly.
"Kid." Black-Star said softly and stepped back up to his spouse, placing his hands on the other man's shoulders. "Let's just forget about this." The star rubbed Kid's arms.
"How can I forget about you and Maka thinking I'm crazy!?"
"Because we're all crazy." Black-Star gently kissed Kid. "And being here isn't helping anyone." Another kiss.
"We have to do something about the kishin demons. They're coming from the academy and we need to destroy them."
"Don't you think we all know this?"
"Yes, but do any of us know how to do so?"
"Stop making sence." Black-Star sighed and rested his forehead on Kid's shoulder.
"That's kind of my job." The shinigami chuckled.
"Hey!" Kid and Black-Star jumped from the sudden shout. "Hey, dudes on the roof! Over here!" The two men ran over to the ledge of the roof where the voice was coming from. "Are there more than just the two of you?" A man with brown hair asked from the roof of the building next door.
"What's wrong?" Kid asked the stranger, although he could swear that he'd seen him before.
"My friend's hurt, can you help him?" Black-Star saw the annoyance of the stranger having to admit about his friend, he must be desperate.
"Come on over." Black-Star told the man and grabbed Kid's wrist as he dragged the shinigami to the door.
"Shouldn't we ask Tsubaki or Free?" Kid asked as he ran down the stairs behind Black-Star, the other man had released his hand earlier.
"There's someone hurt, Tsubaki will not ignore that." Black-Star stated.
"What about Free?"
"Tsubaki can't ignore someone hurt." The star repeated, earning an eye roll from Kid as he threw open the door at the bottom of the stairway. "We have company." Black-Star said to the confused Tsubaki as he and Kid went to the front door.
"Kishin demons?" Tsubaki reached for her knife.
"Someone's hurt." Kid said before everyone started to panic.
"Oh dear. Miriah, get Nygus." Tsubaki ordered and the girl took off without hesitation. "Who is it?" She asked while putting her hair into a tight bun.
"We...don't know." Black-Star admitted.
"Are you gonna open the door!? My hands are a little full!" The stranger from earlier shouted from behind the door.
"Let him in, everyone, be ready." Tsubaki warned and Black-Star opened the door. The stranger rushed into the building with a blonde man resting in his arms. "Shit, what happened?" Tsubaki asked.
"His leg, it got fucked up and he won't wake up."
"Wait...that's Justin!" Kid exclaimed.
"Free grab him and take him to the table. Someone make sure the kids are no where near this area." Tsubaki went into leader mode and tossed out orders. Free went up to the stranger and Kid saw how the man hesitated, looking at the man in his arms before handing him over.
"There's something between those two." Black-Star said softly to Kid, showing that he had seen the same thing. Tommy and Timmy let out a squeal as they ran away from Talia. The twins ended up in front of the stranger.
"Who are you?" The two asked together.
"I'm-"
"What in the world is going on?" Maka asked as she walked out of her room with Soul behind her and Lance in her arms.
"Is that Justin?" Soul asked and ran over to the table.
"Is anyone going to tell me..." Maka saw the stranger and pure hatred filled her eyes. "Giriko."
I had to put them in the story, their my little babies.
Sorry for taking so long, life's been killing me.