Chapter title inspired by Crush by Tessa Violet
Chapter 2: Crush
Ava, Jeremiah, and Josiah walked up the steps of the DWMA. Ava clenched her fists, bringing them up to her chest. "We're in it now, boys." She says, continuing to walk. Josiah throws his hands in the air and shouted in excitement. Jeremiah watches his brother with a smile on his face. Ava's arms drop and she can see Maka and Soul walking down the steps. She smiles at the blonde. "Hey Maka."
"Good morning, Ava." The two continue to walk down the steps, the trio stopping. Ava turns, watching as they continue to walk past her.
She gestures to the Academy, "Classes are this way, right?"
Maka stops and turns around to look up at the trio. "Soul and I have been sent to Italy on a supplementary lesson. I'm sorry Ava."
Ava brushes Maka off and smiles down at her. "It's all good. I'll bother someone else to show us around." Maka smiles and nods, each girl turning back and walking in their respective directions. "Or, ya know," Ava says with a shrug as the twins listen to her. "We'll wander and get lost."
"Sounds more accurate." Jeremiah speaks, hands going into the pockets of his jacket. They reach the top of the steps, Ava turning around once they were all in the open space before the entrance to the Academy.
Ava starts to walk backwards, "We'll just think of it as an adventure so when we get lost, it's really not that bad." Ava continued to speak as she walked twins stopped walking, Jeremiah pointing behind her while Josiah called out her name. It was pointless as she ignored them, continuing to walk backwards. She continued until she bumped into someone, she body bristling before she looked up to see who it was.
Her eyes land on Kid, his eyes looking down at her. Her eyes go wide for a moment, Kid speaking, "Are you going to bump into me every time we see one another? Because if that's the case, I need to prepare myself for that every day." As he spoke, Ava jumped back, standing closer to the twins.
"Hey, not fair!" She points at Kid. He turns to fully face her. "I wasn't ready for a fight."
Kid puts his hands up in surrender. "I'm not going to fight you."
"Oh, yeah, sure." Ava says, giving him a pointed look. "Are we actually going to class today?"
"I'm here to walk you to my father's room."
"Yeah, a likely story."
Kid can't stop the smirk from crossing his face. "My father wanted to talk to you before you started. Did you want to find his room by yourself or have a guide?"
Ava pauses, the twins looking at one another. Her eyes narrow at Lord Death's son. She starts to walk over to him, the twins following. Kid pulls the door open for them. Ava points at Kid as she walks by him. "You're off the hook this time."
Kid holds the door for all three of them, closing the door once they're all inside. Ava steps in, looking around for a moment before she turns to look back at Kid. He begins to walk, Ava falling in step next to him while the twins followed behind them. "So, how long have you lived in Death City?"
"Oh, I've lived here my entire life." Ava states, giving Kid a glance before they continue down the hallway. Kid looks Ava up and down. She wore a simple, long sleeved, black shirt with the sleeves pulled up slightly. It was paired with a white skirt with cherries scattered around, stopping at her knees. Kid could hear the clicks she made as she walked and saw black heeled boots. He smiled slightly but quickly dropped it, attention turning back down the hallway. His hands slide into his pockets. He could feel them starting to sweat.
"Strange, I feel like I would have seen you before."
"Maybe I didn't want to deal with you and avoided you." Ava glances up at Kid and he stops walking for a second. He begins to walk again, shaking his head slightly at Ava's comment.
"You're so kind to your guide."
"You could be walking me to my death for all I know."
"You think so highly of me." Ava merely laughed at Kid's statement. He smiled at her for a moment before he turned his head to the left and stopped walking. Josiah looked up at his brother and smiled at him. Jeremiah gave his brother a wink before they looked back at the two before them. Kid gestures to the door they stopped in front of. "Lord Death's room." He looks back at Ava. She takes the edges of her skirt and holds them out, giving a dramatic curtsey to Kid.
"Thank you, kind sir." She stands up straight, letting go of her skirt. "Is that what you were looking for?" She asks Kid, an eyebrow raising. Kid's eyes narrow at the girl, her lips betraying her and curling into a smile. "Thank you for walking us here." Ava says, genuine this time. Kid nods, Ava opening the door and walking in, the twins following her. Kid gives a nod to Jeremiah and smiles as Josiah waves at him as he walks passed.
He goes to leave, but feels a hand on his arm. He turns around, face to face with a smiling Ava. One hand was on his arm, the other kept the door open. His heart starts to beat faster.
"Hey," She starts. "Thank you. I mean it."
Kid returns the smile, "You're welcome." Ava smiles and starts to turn back around, but Kid catches himself speaking. "Maka is on a supplementary lesson today." Ava stops, putting her hand back up to keep the door open. "I can… show you around today, if you'd like."
Ava smiles and nods. "I'd really appreciate that." Kid returns the smile and nod, watching as Ava turns back around, the door closing behind her. Kid turns away from the door, letting out a held breath. When did he start holding his breath? He stands up straight, hands coming out of his pockets to run through his hair, making sure it was perfect. After he does so, his hands return to his pockets with a small sigh. He takes a glance at the door before he walks away from it.
Ava caught up to the twins quickly, walking side by side with them. Josiah looked around the hallway, seeing the red guillotines that created archways for the path. As they walked closer to meet Lord Death, Ava herself looked around as well. She could see wisps of clouds that hung low to the ground. The closer they got, she could see skinny, black crosses scattered around the room and surrounding the platform that Lord Death stood upon.
Ava's eyes lit up as they reached the stairs. Her hands gripped onto her skirt as she took the stairs, the twins following her. Lord Death turned around, head tilting as the students stood before him.
"Hello, hello Ava, Jeremiah, Josiah!"
"Hi Lord Death." Ava said, smile wide across her lips.
"You seem excited to be starting classes."
Ava's hands clasp together, coming up to her chest. "Very excited, sir."
"I can imagine! Your father is the meister Timothy Martin, yes?"
Her hands drop, fingers still intertwined. She smiles and nods. "Yes, sir."
"I bet he's proud of you for following in his footsteps!" Ava's smile falls for a moment, eyes looking down before she looks back up and smiles at Lord Death. "He's stationed over in Turkey, right?"
Ava nods. "Yes, sir. That's actually why it took us so long to start at the Academy." She shrugs. "Getting all the paperwork together is kinda hard when Dad is overseas."
"No worries!" Lord Death says, pulling the trio's attention back up to him. "We're happy to have you here!"
"Happy to be here." Ava responds with a large smile.
Lord Death looks among the three, "Classes have already started for the day and I'd hate for you three to go in blind to your classes. I can have someone show you around the Academy if you'd like."
Ava smiles and waves a hand in the air. "Actually, sir, Kid offered to show us around for the day, if that's alright with you."
"Did he now?" Lord Death asks, eyes drifting to the twins. They stood a step or two behind Ava so they were out of her line of sight. Josiah gave him two thumbs up while he mouthed the word "yes." Jeremiah nodded and Lord Death tilted his head happily at the trio. "That's perfect! How awfully kind of him." Ava merely nodded while the twins exchanged smiles with one another. "Well, go, go!" Lord Death spoke, hands coming up to gesture them out the room. "Go see the Academy! Start classes tomorrow!"
Ava nodded and thanked Lord Death before she turned and followed the twins down the stairs. Lord Death waved at the group, Josiah waving for a moment.
"Hey, hey, Ava!" Josiah says, jumping in front of her and walking backwards. "Jeremiah and I are gonna go home and train a bit before tomorrow. Can't have anyone underestimating us." As they walked, Josiah broke out into different martial arts poses.
Ava laughed slightly, "Well, I can join you guys,"
Jeremiah shifted to his left, bumping shoulders with his meister. "Nah, you go see the Academy."
An eyebrow raised, Ava looking between her weapons. "Are… are you sure? Cause I can totally-"
"Yes, I'm sure." Jeremiah said, looking down at Ava. "You care about this stuff more than us anyway."
Josiah stepped in front of the two again, grabbing onto his brother's arm, halting the group. "Yeah, what Jerry said! You learn all about the Academy and we'll go home and get everything ready for tomorrow." Before Ava could protest or even say anything, Josiah dragged his brother out the door. They both practically ran out.
Ava stood in place for a moment, staring at the door. All she could do was shrug and grabbed the doorknob, twisting and opening the door. She closed the door behind her, turning around and seeing Kid leaning against the opposite wall. He looks up at the sound of the door closing and smiles, pushing himself off of the wall.
The two stare at each other for a moment before Ava places her hands on her hips. "I was wondering if you were going to forget about me."
"How could I ever forget you, Ava?" Kid walked over to Ava as he spoke.
Ava shrugged, beginning to walk down the hallway, away from Kid. "I don't know your mental capacity, man, we just met." She turns around, locking eyes with Kid again. He simply raises an eyebrow at her. "Come on guide!" She speaks, gesturing down the hallway. "Guide."
Kid's hands come out of his pocket as he fails to keep a small smile under wraps. He begins to take her around the Academy, showing her where the infirmary was, the classrooms - his in particular, though it appeared she would also be in that class. They continued to walk along, Kid eventually making it to the last place he wanted to show Ava. "And this," He starts, pushing open the door to show Ava the library. "Is the Academy's library."
Kid looked over his shoulder and looked at Ava's face. Her mouth dropped open as she stared into the room. She appeared frozen in place as she marveled at the sight. Kid felt the corner of his lips turn up and moved out of the way. Immediately, Ava ran inside. Kid watched her turn and look around. The library was huge, from floor to ceiling it was covered in books. She brushed a rogue strand of hair out of her face and turned to face him, the smile on her face wide and her face bright.
"Shut up,"
"You seemed like the type to like books." Kid starts to walk inside the library, hands behind his back.
"Oh, for sure." She looks around again before she looks back over at Kid, pointing behind her as she does. "You think they have picture books?" Kid couldn't stop the laugh from escaping his throat. Ava held her hands out, looking around again as she does. "This is beautiful." Her hands drop, looking up at the ceiling. "I might just cry."
Immediately, a handkerchief was in front of Ava's face. Blinking, she looked down at it before she followed the arm that held it out to her. She looked into the smiling face of Death the Kid. She looks back down at the handkerchief before she looks back at Kid. "I will use that thing to wave at passing ships, don't test me."
Kid laughs as Ava smiles. He folded the handkerchief back up and puts it back into his pocket. He gestures to the door of the library and Ava heads towards it, Kid following her. He closes the door behind himself and the two begin to head back to the entrance of the Academy.
"I appreciate you showing me around Kid, I really do." Ava looks out one of the many windows in the hall as they walk by. "This place is huge. I for sure would have gotten lost."
"I'm sure you would've figured it out."
"Yeah but only after being lost for five hours." She looks at Kid and grins. They near the front door and Kid's steps quicken. He gets to the door first, pulling it open for Ava. She smiles at his gesture as she exits the Academy.
Ava turns around once she's down the steps, looking up at Kid. One hand is on her hip as the other is against her forehead in a salute. "Well, soldier, we part ways here."
Kid laughs, hands going to his hips as he looks down at her, still standing at the top of the few steps. "You think I'm a mere soldier?"
Her hands drop, coming up in a shrug. "We started the Academy at the same time, so," She looks up at him and grins, Kid merely letting out another chuckle.
"I suppose you're right."
"See, you're catching on."
An eyebrow raises, "Catching on to what?"
Ava grins, beginning to walk backwards. "I'm right." Kid's hands drop from his hips, eyes rolling slightly. He really should have expected that from Ava by now. Kid looked up, noticing that Ava continued to walk backwards. She waves at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kid,"
She turns around, heading towards the large staircase that would take her away from the Academy. Away from Kid. "Ava," He calls out before he could stop himself.
She looks over her shoulder and waves again. "I'll kick your ass tomorrow!" She starts to descend the staircase before Kid can say anything else. He can only let out a sigh as he watches her disappear from view again.
