Chapter 29: Reality
Everything is as it should be.
The city lights are dim but neon flares at the edges of his vision as he continues down the street. Occasionally he passes another soul or a couple or a group of friends, laughing loudly and intoxicated by the night air and festivities to be had all around. The nights in this city prove more exciting than the days, but he's never been one for rambunctious occasions. Even birthdays grow to be a bit much.
The young man sidesteps two friends who are having a mock argument, shoving each other back and forth. The indignant cries remind him of that morning's dilemma, and he can't help it when his lips curl into a soft grin.
"Well, look who's out enjoying a night on the town."
The voice is smooth, yet holds some level of disbelief, and he glances over to where it originated. He hadn't realized he'd been passing by Psychedelic Souljam, or that the owners of the cozy shop were closing up for the night, pulling in folding chairs and small tables.
"Don't get the wrong idea," the young man laughs, gesturing to the bag in his right hand. "Just running some errands, that's all."
Soul Evans glances at the bag's logo, nodding in understanding at the cartoon cupcake centered within a camellia blossom.
"Oh, one of Tsubaki's bagels sounds really good right now," Maka Albarn chimes in, lifting in a petite shelf with a few novels on it. "Soul, once we're done, we're totally going."
"Hey, no arguments here," the young man responds, grabbing two chairs and making for the shop's open door. Without glancing back, he says, "Hey, Kid. How about a little help, hm? Faster we clear up here, the faster I get one of those sesame bagels."
"Soul!" Maka cries indignantly, shaking her head. "Don't listen to this idiot, Kid. We'll get all this taken care of in no time."
"Easy for her to say when it's her mess," Soul grouses, placing the tables into the shop's entrance. "I finished up my stuff ages ago. Sort a few records, wipe down some tables, count the till… But no! Let's turn the rest of this place into a book store and then suggest people read outside. Maybe I'll turn the downstairs into a speakeasy, how's that?"
"You will not!" There's laughter between the two, despite their bickering, and Kid smiles. Their ability to joke around yet continue to work together efficiently is admirable. It's what makes them such great business partners.
"Do you need any assistance?" the young man asks, motioning to the remaining tables outside the shop. "I'm in no hurry, I could—"
"Nah, man." Soul waves a hand in dismissal. "It's finals week, so you'd better get back home. Come to think of it, don't we have some studying to get done?"
"I got up early since I knew today would be busy and read over a few of Mr. Barret's lectures then. We can read at the Red Camellia until Tsubaki closes up shop, how's that?"
"A delicious bagel tainted by the saltiness of my tears as I break down sobbing at the thought of failing his class? Sure, why not?"
Kid bids them a quick farewell and good-night before they get too absorbed in their conversation. They wish him well (and, more ominously, 'luck') as he continues on his way. He supposes they're right. He'll need luck if he's going to make it through this next week. Every time he walks through the front door, he can almost feel the walls humming with determination and anxiety.
He turns off the main street and begins walking down the block towards his apartment complex, looking up to the top floor windows and finding them illuminated. A few streets over, he hears the obnoxious revving of an engine, followed by a slew of curses and irate voices. He stops to listen to the commotion with a curious frown. A few moments later, the scream of car tires on the street cut through the city's once peaceful quiet, and over that, he can hear the delighted cackling of the city's demons.
Kid shakes his head with a smirk and continues on his way. Contrary to popular belief, both Elizabeth and Patricia Thompson are not the worst people. They'd attempted to rob him a few times, yet he had ways of talking them out of it that neither sister could understand. When their attempts ceased, Kid assumed it was due to a begrudging respect if anything else.
As Kid ascends the stairs to the front door of the apartment building, he turns back to the city just in time to see a blur of taillights a few streets down from the Thompson sisters' steal. In all honesty, the young man wishes to speak with both of them about potential work in the city. A job associating with people and having patience would be a good influence on both of them, like in a bakery or café. He's unsure if Tsubaki would be willing, but it's always worth asking, especially since the girl is ridiculously gentle and sweet.
He ponders this idea for awhile as he takes the elevator up towards the apartment, wondering how best he'd be able to run the idea by his friend. He supposes he'd better determine the sisters' thoughts on the matter, as well, but this will have to be for another time. For now, he needs to deal with the can of worms he'd left since that morning.
Continuing down the hall, Kid pulls the silver key from his pocket and stops at door 564. With a sigh, he sets the key into the lock and turns it with an almost menacing click and swings the door open. Just like the days prior, the tension that greets him hangs in the air like soup and Kid grimaces. He hates finals week. Oh, how he hates finals week.
Closing the door behind him, Kid discards his jacket to the back of an armchair and approaches the kitchen counter to empty the contents of the Red Camellia bag. From it, he pulls a glass jar of instant coffee and turns to the stovetop, switching on the burner beneath the battered kettle.
The kitchen sink is empty, save for one mug with a damp teabag plastered to the bottom. Aside from that, Kid doesn't believe any food was made for the entire day, and he'd been gone since late morning.
With a sigh, Kid exits the kitchen and returns back to the living room, the Red Camellia bag in hand. He's met with silence, the same as when he'd first returned home, as his roommate blatantly ignores him from the couch. That, or there's something really interesting on one particular page in his Aircraft Systems book.
Not waiting for acknowledgement, Kid crosses his arms, careful not to crinkle the bag and says, "I admit it, the lack of coffee this morning was definitely my fault. I finished the rest of it yesterday morning and thought we'd get by till the weekend, but clearly I was mistaken."
"Clearly," his roommate scoffs, not looking up from his book. "It's Tuesday, you idiot. I have exams all week, and you thought we'd 'get by' until the weekend."
"Black Star…" Kid begins with a scowl but his friend interrupts anything he's about to say with a pointed look.
"Exams," the other boy stresses, running his fingers through hair that's become overly disheveled. He also hasn't colored it for awhile, Kid notices, so it has long since faded into a pale teal, not the brilliant blue it once was. "How am I supposed to be this big star if I can't even study for exams and beat that nerd Oxford, huh? Seriously. Oxford. How do I compete with a name like that? It's like his parents conceived for the sole purpose of turning this guy into a straight-A, money-grubbing, flaunt-success-in-your-face, teacher's pet!"
Black Star's face has become a few shades darker following his rant, so Kid isn't going to bother mentioning how 'Black Star' isn't the most usual of nicknames. Clearly, his friend is stressed enough as it is, so the black-haired boy offers a brief shrug and sits down across from his seething roommate.
"Look…" Kid begins quietly, searching for words that can both help calm his friend yet motivate him to the point he'll continue to study and not start off on another declaration of war against his classmate. "This isn't my area of expertise, clearly. I don't have any exams to worry about, so I can't say I understand the stress you're going through."
"You not only drank all the coffee, but you had another OCD fit over the state of the kitchen this morning," Black Star grumbled. "Imagine that stress, would you? Your OCD-ness compared to my study-my-ass-off-ness. That's why I didn't cook today. Well, that, and I was too busy studying."
"Fine," Kid agrees, willing himself not to roll his eyes. "If I look at things like that, I see where you're coming from. However, you've been stuck in your books for hours every day! I saw Maka and Soul today, and even they're taking time off to work! It seems they're also worried about you."
"They have different exams to worry about," Black Star replies. "That's the difference right there."
"Okay, how about this?" Kid leans forward, tapping the tabletop to gain his friend's attention. "Like you said, it's Tuesday. If you burn yourself out now, how can you possibly hope to make it through the rest of the week? I'm not trying to discourage you, I just don't want you to stress yourself out too much and get sick or something, because that would suck, for both of us."
"I'm not that bad when I'm sick."
"All you ever want to eat is mayonnaise!"
"Well who doesn't know how to make cream of broccoli soup? I wouldn't have to eat mayo all the time if you could boil some damn water for once in your life!"
The two scowl at each other and that's when Kid remembers the pot of water on the stove and he quickly retreats to tend to the whistling kettle. As he turns off the burner, he hears Black Star's call from the living room, wondering what's in the Red Camellia bag he's left on the coffee table.
"Go ahead, open it," Kid responds, spooning some instant coffee into a mug. "Thought you'd appreciate it."
It only takes a few seconds, but soon he hears a crow of delight, followed by, "Hell yeah, one of Tsubaki's chocolate chip bagels!"
"Yeah," Kid says, returning back to the living room and placing the cup of coffee in front of his friend. "Since apparently I can't cook worth a damn."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Black Star replies through a mouthful of bagel as he gestures to the coffee. "You boiled water, after all."
This time, Kid does roll his eyes, sitting back down in the armchair and crossing his arms. A few seconds later, much to his surprise, Black Star closes the textbook and pushes it aside in favor of the coffee and bagel.
"You sure you're feeling all right?" Kid asks incredulously. "You realize you just closed your book? I haven't seen that book's cover in four days."'
"Shut up," Black Star retorts, but he's smirking at his friend. "I'm just… taking a coffee and bagel break. I don't want to spill on anything. But as soon as I finish this bagel and coffee… I'm going to finish another cup of coffee, and then it's right back to the books for me!"
"Fine."
"Whatever." Black Star tears off another bite of the bakery treat to cram into his mouth, but not before offering a begrudging, "Thanks, idiot."
Kid shakes his head with an exasperated smile. "You're welcome, nerd."
It's the smell of coffee that rouses him from a deep sleep, and Death the Kid opens his eyes, frowning as the last details of a dream fade. Sunlight intrudes upon his room, a direct attack from the cackling sun and for once, Kid rolls onto his side and squeezes his eyes shut with an exasperated sigh.
His mind is reeling, desperately trying to hang on to a reality he is quickly forgetting. A life in another city, a simpler city, with regular students and shop owners and delinquents. Early morning coffee followed up with walks to regular classes about mundane topics, taught by normal professors who aren't blue or patchwork. Weekdays are spent wrapped in stress, studying for exams while blame is assigned to who drank the last of the coffee. Taunts fly back and forth about cleaning OCD and crappy cooking, but they're nothing a chocolate chip bagel won't remedy, at least a little bit.
Kid rolls onto his back to squint at the ceiling, speculating the mundane lives of the nerd and idiot and begins to think maybe Black Star's drunken musings are rubbing off on him.
"An alternate reality," he says quietly, and the shinigami smirks.
So he was still an idiot after all. What a boring life.
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A/N: Just a little continuation for Chapter 20. I had to Google how to make instant coffee for this one...