A/N: I haven't put in disclaimers! I do not own Soul Eater, for I am not a Japanese man. I also do not own the song "Wild Ones," that belongs to Flo Rida. It was the inspiration for Eris, so I wanted it in here somewhere. Anywho, read and reveiw, darlings!

- Love, Maya

Chapter 3

"Where in Europe were you, anyway?" Maka asked.

Eris looked up from her lap, where she had been absently gazing while she rubbed her hair dry. She was spending a week at Maka and Soul's apartment while Stein got a room ready for her at his lab. He was surprisingly enthusiastic about fatherhood.

Eris's gaze dropped from Maka's again. "Venice," she answered in a flat, far-away voice.

Maka turned her chair away from her desk to look at her sister, who was sitting on her bed. "What's with the face?" she asked gently.

The redhead smiled with obviously false brightness. "What face?"

Maka snorted. "Oh, please."

Eris deflated a little. "Yeah, that was bad."

"A bit, yeah," the blonde chuckled. She sobered and asked, "What happened in Venice?"

Her sister rolled her eyes, but not at Maka. "My childhood ended inside a week, that's what."

Maka just looked at her with a quirked eyebrow, silently requesting elaboration.

Eris sighed in resignation and took the towel off her head. "There was a battle. I was defeated, and I lost my weapon partner."

"Oh, no." Maka reached out a sympathetic hand and clutched her sister's pale fingers. "That's awful," she murmured.

The other girl shook her head, her damp, scarlet waves swirling around her shoulders and down her back. "No, I had to wake up and smell the bloodshed sometime. It was just a bit… sudden."

"I see…" Maka looked down.

"No, you don't." The blonde looked up to see her sister smiling sadly at her. Eris patted her hand, almost maternally. "And that's good. I don't want you to ever understand what I went through, because that would mean that you went through it as well." She cast a glance at the wall Maka shared with Soul, then turned back to her with a genuine, lopsided grin. "You don't seem to be in any danger of that, though."

Maka blinked at her in confusion. "What do you mean? You're a stronger meister than me."

"Never you mind, darling." Eris hopped up from her seat, stretching her arms over her head. "What kinda music you got? I feel like rocking out with some hairbrush mics."

Maka gazed up at her thoughtfully, debating further pursuing their earlier topic, but decided against it. Eris seemed to be past her mood; why drag her back into it? "Dunno," she answered her sister's question, rising and pressing play on her iPod. Flo Rida's "Wild Ones" poured from the speakers. Eris snatched up a hairbrush, true to her word, and sang the intro, Maka joining in.

That's when Soul decided to burst in, singing Flo Rida's part right on beat, apparently having elected to join the girls in rocking out. So they had a small dance/karaoke party in Maka's room, Soul trying to catch his meister's eye at the suggestive bits.

Instead, Maka mostly watched her sister, who was an excellent dancer. Noticing Maka's "learning" gaze, Eris took her hands and dragged her through some steps, singing like there was no tomorrow. Soon Maka caught on and added her own moves, letting herself feel the music. Soul gave up trying to get her attention and watched her dance; she was pretty good when she let go, and just pretty when she wasn't paying attention.

When the song ended, Maka flopped heavily onto her bed. "Where'd you learn to dance like that?"

Eris grinned. "Talent." Her expression saddened almost imperceptibly. "My partner helped a bit, though."

The blonde sat up, her face falling as well. "Oh."

Soul's head whipped back and forth between the sisters. "Sudden mood death," he observed.

The redhead turned to him and explained, "I lost my weapon partner during a battle with Arachnophobia."

"Shit, I'm sorry 'bout that," the scythe said sincerely.

His meister looked incredulously at him. "You express condolences with profanity? Really?"

He grinned down at her, baring his sharp teeth. "Fuck yeah, I do." She rolled her olive eyes.

Eris giggled and plopped down next to Maka. "So, what was Death the Kid's deal today, anyway?" she asked, starting to braid her long hair.

Soul waved a dismissive hand. "Never mind him. He's got OCD something fierce and you show up, all asymmetrical—" he let out a low whistle. "Hell, I'm proud of him for not having a fucking stroke just looking at you."

The ginger giggled again. "He's so funny. Cute, too; I dig the suit."

The partners blinked at her, exchanged glances, then simultaneously quirked their brows at her. "Yeah, what was that, anyway, at the end of your battle with him?" Maka asked, while Soul continued to stare in disbelief.

"What was what?" Eris finished her braid and flipped it over her shoulder, meeting her sister's eyes with her own mismatched ones.

The blonde blushed a bit and looked away. "You k-kissed him," she all but whispered.

"Oh, that." Eris flapped her hand glibly. "That was a greeting; thought he'd appreciate it, it being so symmetrical."

"But… just out of the blue, it was kind of weird."

The redhead put her hands up in apology. "Sorry, I've been in Europe too long. No one really thinks anything of it over there, and I thought that that spread here."

Soul recovered and asked, "Where in Europe?"

"Venice, Italy, most recently," she answered, not quite sadly.

"Italy?" Soul drooled a bit, clearly thinking of pasta. "That's cool."

"I know, right?" She grinned at him and said to both of them, "But, seriously, I'll apologize at school tomorrow if he was that bothered."

"Nah," the scythe disagreed, "that'd hurt his manly pride."

His meister looked blankly at him. "Kid doesn't have manly pride."

"Sure, he does," Soul insisted. "He's a man, albeit a very clean one. That's OCD, though, so it doesn't count."

Maka looked thoughtfully past him, crossing her long legs; Eris watched her partner's red eyes hungrily follow the motion. She smiled a secret smile and crossed her legs as well, more deliberately and showily than her sister had. Soul didn't see, for he was altogether too busy drooling over his meister's legs. Eris's smile got wider.

She noisily cleared her throat for his attention, which he reluctantly gave her. "Will an apology make things any worse?" she asked.

He considered. "I guess not, probably."

"Provided you're wearing something symmetrical," Maka put in, only half-joking.

Eris looked down at what she was wearing: one of Soul's shirts and a pair of Maka's shorts. She cast a worried glance at her suitcase.

"You don't own anything symmetrical, do you," her sister said flatly, not really asking.

The redhead gave her a sheepish smile.

Maka gazed back at her consideringly, then glanced down at her not-small chest. "Well, my shirts are too small for you."

Soul snickered and coughed, "Ahem, Tiny-Tits, Ahurm."

His meister Maka-Chopped him expertly without looking away from her sister, who applauded. "You could wear one of Soul's shirts," she went on seamlessly. "He's got some symmetrical stuff, don't you, Soul?" She turned her innocent green gaze on her partner.

He rubbed his head, glancing up into her eyes. "Yeah, sure," he said. "Just don't, like, get your period on anything." Suddenly, he was groaning on the floor, felled by his second Maka-Chop of the minute,

Eris gazed serenely down at him, then at her sister, who held a sizeable hardcover book. "I think there's some smoke coming from the spine of your book, there," she said conversationally.

Maka held up the book and calmly examined it. "Oh, lookit that." She set the deadly thing aside and turned to the other girl. "So, yeah, just borrow a shirt from him tomorrow and it should be all good." She looked down at her unconscious weapon and nudged him with her foot. "You can't sleep here, Soul, go to your own damn room."

Her sister leaned over to get a better look at the boy on the floor. "Er, I think he's dead."

The blonde snorted. "He's fine."

"Am not," Soul groaned from the floor.

Maka pointed triumphantly at him. "See?"

A/N: I think Kid's pretty damn manly, Maka.