"What 'cha reading?"

"Harry Potter fanfiction."

"Any good?"

"Not really."

He sighed tiredly. He'd finally been browbeaten into doing the substitute thing, and it sucked worse than he'd expected. Like, Jesus hentai motherfucking Christ, were they that bad back then too?

"Ah, let me guess; all the good ones turn out to be either slash or vanilla ships?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Ah." He leaned back into the couch, trying to physically expel his stress into it. Never again would he take that job. He'd rather fight a hundred Asuras. Well, not really but whatever.

"Hey Soul?"

"Hm?"

"When Maka gets here o-on Thursday... will-uh, will she be at your old apartment. O-or will s-she be um, y'know..."

"Here? Maybe. I mean, Kid'll probably give her the other spare key. So I wouldn't put it passed her to turn up." Soul rose from his spot, stretching. "And knowing her, she'll wake us up at some ungodly hour."

"O-oh. T-that... yeah. Probably." She half-smiled up at him, paler than usual. "R-right. Going to bed now?"

"Not right now. Gonna grab a shower, might get around to putting on a load of clothes." Her shoulders were tensing again. Anticipation from Maka coming back? Or was whatever from last night bothering her? Cool guys don't pry, but they also don't let their girlfriend be all like, uh, whatever, y'know?

"But, like, if you want, I can just do it in the morning." His hand rested on her shoulder, rubbing her lightly with his thumb. This almost always calmed her down, especially if he caught her before one of her episodes.

"I, uh, n-no. You go ahead, I kinda want to finish this first." She shrugged his hand away, leaning into her tablet's screen.

Soul nodded concernedly, and went off.


She shouldn't have done that. Now he was mad at her because she did that and now he'd hate her and leave her and she'd be alone again just like how she'd been before and then she'd be alone again just like how she deserved and lady Medusa was right about her all along and she deserved to be alone forever and she didn't wanna be alone forever because she liked not being alone and now she'd ruined it and it was all broken and all her fault and she didn't know how to deal with that because she loved Soul but didn't ever tell him and now he hated her and then she'd die and she didn't wanna die but-but she shouldn't have done that cause now he hated her and she didn't mean to but now she was going to be alone again and she had just gotten used to not and now she was and she couldn't deal with that.


She waited outside the bathroom door, shivering. She had to make sure he didn't hate her or else she'd be alone cause she ruined it like she ruined everything cause lady Medusa was right about her because-breathe in. Hold it. Out. And again. And-and, Ms Marie would be so proud of her right now. But then again, she'd rather Soul be proud of her. But he was in there. And probably hated her cause she ruined everything, and- oh look at that, the door clicked.

"Chrona?" He murmured. "I thought you were finishing your thingy?"

He paused, looking her over. His half-smirk melted into concern.

"You look rough, you good?"

She furiously shook her head, staring at her bare feet. She was shaking. And paler than usual. Her lip was quivering too. An anxiety attack. He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around her. This was probably on him. He knew not to leave her when she started showing symptoms.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I l-love you! I'm sorry I love you. I'm sorry I love you." She was repeating this over and over. Yeah. His fault.

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm not going anywhere, alright? Chrona, look at me. You have nothing to be sorry for, okay? I'm here now."

"B-but y-you. I-I mean. You h-hate-"

"Chrona, it's gonna be okay. I don't think I could ever really hate you, you got it? I love you too, okay? Now then, we're gonna sit down on the bed over there, okay?"

He lay there later that night, stressing to himself. Chrona's episodes, for lack of a better term, were never that sudden. Normally he was able to catch and diffuse them early enough so they wouldn't be a problem. A little grimace here, a slight hint of unease there, all her signs were second nature to him now. But this? Aside from last night, nothing. And that worried him.

He glanced down at the pink mop below his chin, she was sleeping peacefully now. She'd all but passed out once he'd managed to convince her that, no, he wasn't and never would leave her or hate her, no matter what. And that he did , in fact, love her too. Which was odd cause Chrona never was like that. She knew and that was always how it was. But now? Whatever had set her off this time was to be found and taken care of immediately.

Soul inhaled deeply, wishing desperately to fall asleep or at least to blink and morning be here already. But on a less worrying note, it seemed that Chrona had used his body wash as shampoo again.

He squeezed Chrona one more time, like some of her tiredness would rub off on him. It was going to be a long night, he thought as he continued his silent vigil over her.


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