Maka and Soul sprang apart, flushing a brilliant scarlet to rival the scythe's eyes.

"Liz! What are you—" Maka started, but Liz cut across her.

"Oh my Death!" she shouted, jumping around in a way reminiscent of her little sister. "I knew it! I knew this would happen! Why the hell didn't you guys tell me before?"

She grabbed Soul by the shoulders, and he flinched, although her grip was not yet hurting him. Her dark blue eyes, just for a moment, turned hard and intense.

"You'd better be damn awesome to our little Maka, Soul Eater, you hear?" she threatened. He swallowed and nodded. Instantly Liz switched back to her excited happy dance. Maka muttered something about bipolar syndrome, and Soul was slowly easing back, toward the kitchen window. He took Maka's hand, and they were almost to the window without the pistol noticing when a voice behind them made the pair jump into the air, the tips of Soul's wild hair brushing the ceiling.

"Yahoo! I couldn't believe it when I saw you two making out!" Blackstar hooted, gliding through the open window. "I couldn't run fast enough to tell the others, and once I did, I couldn't even…keep up…with…"

Blackstar's voice trailed off to nothing at the murderous look on the young scythe meister's face.

"Blackstar…" Maka growled, advancing on the blue-haired ninja.

Now, Blackstar was a lot of things—oblivious, arrogant, self-centered, wild, arrogant, egotistic, arrogant—but he was not a total idiot. Even he could tell when Maka was planning something horribly, unbelievably painful. And so he immediately began to edge backwards, toward the window.

"Hey, now, Maka, don't do anything stupid," he made an attempt at bravado, but his voice shook slightly. There were few who didn't fear an angry Maka, especially in her home, where she had a large supply of hardcover books just begging to be jammed into somebody's poor skull.

"Uh, Blackstar?" said Soul, smirking. "You might wanna get moving. There's a bookcase right over—"

"MAKA-CHOP!"

…

"Hey, Kid?" said Liz quietly, sparing a glance to see if Stein would notice any side conversations. Nope, he was engrossed in dissecting some weird thing that looked like a scarlet raccoon. A red panda, that's what he'd called it.

"Yes?" he said distractedly. He was trying to get the 'k' in his name just right on his paper. It was a means of distraction from the pair right in front of him, playfully nudging one another and tugging on each other's hair.

"What's been eating at you?" she wondered, also aware of Soul and Maka and their outrageous flirting, but finding it rather cute. "You've been really quiet lately."

He waved off her concerns with his free hand. Kid was sweating now, trying to get just the right angle to draw the 'k'.

"It's nothing. Now hush, I'm trying to concentrate."

Liz frowned and sighed, leaning back in her chair. Kid never talked about what was bothering him. She didn't understand why, but she knew better than to push him. He would just use a lot of big words she didn't know in an explanation that wouldn't make any sense to her, and then she'd storm out in a huff and head for the library to look up the words he used, piecing together his lecture and still not quite getting it.

She glanced surreptitiously at him from the corner of her eye. Liz had become quite familiar with the sight of him; she could tell you exactly what color his eyes were, how they changed when he was upset, what the tautness of his shoulders meant, and even what he was probably thinking when he bit his lip. Right then, his amber eyes were darting from the paper on his desk, to the picture of Soul and Maka pinching each other when Stein wasn't paying attention, and back again. His lips were pressed together in a thin line as he tried to focus on drawing that 'k'. But he wasn't focusing. His attention kept flicking to where Maka sat, bright red, swatting Soul's hand away as it slid suggestively up her thigh.

Why was he so interested in that scene? In a seemingly negative manner, too; his knuckles shouldn't be threatening to break through his skin, and he shouldn't be biting his lip so hard that it bled. Why did it bother him that those two had finally worked it all out?

The answer was so obvious, Liz wanted to slap herself. Then she had to wonder how she'd never noticed it before. She was a master at reading people; how could she have missed such a crucial piece of Kid's life? Again, the answer was blatant. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to believe that she had a chance with the young reaper.

And she didn't have the slightest chance, if he was gay.

He liked Soul. That must be why he was scowling at the happy couple. What other reason could there be? After all, Maka was lucky to have even one guy after her. It wasn't like she had that perfect body, or the perfect personality. Liz loved her like a sister, which was why she had no qualms about admitting that that girl, while nice enough on occasion, and way tough on her missions, did not have much going for her. She was a violent, boring, play-it-safe bookworm with little to show in the physical aspects department. That didn't mean that Liz didn't like her; she did. Maka was one of her best friends. But a girl like that would never attract many guys.

Soul on the other hand, well, everyone knew that he attracted both girls and guys. He was reasonably good-looking, he was funny, he wasn't overzealous for school, he liked to kick back and relax. He was cool. Why shouldn't Kid like that?

Because having a gay meister is just awkward, thought Liz sourly. Then she shook it off. Oh, well, maybe she could get Kid to talk about it when they got home. She snorted quietly; she could just imagine starting that conversation.

Hey, so, Kid, I saw you staring at Soul and Maka, and I just realized that you're gay and all…

Ugh, she'd have to work on that opener.

…

"What?" Maka exclaimed, leaping to her feet in utter disbelief. Liz though her meister was what?

"I told you, I think Kid is gay," said Liz wearily.

"I really don't think so, Liz," said Maka, fighting for calm. "Kid doesn't strike me as the type to swing that way."

"Well, I saw him watching you and Soul, and I just thought…maybe…" Liz trailed off, a little embarrassed now that she'd voiced her thoughts. Once she had spoken her suspicion out loud, it sounded as ridiculous as Maka described it.

"Wait, you think he has a crush on Soul? Liz, that's insane! Completely and totally crazy!" Maka laughed, falling back into her chair just as the front door opened.

"Crazy?" repeated the newcomer. Liz suppressed a grimace; Maka grinned like it was Christmas come early. "Not talking about me, are you?"

"Not exactly," said Maka brightly as Soul slouched in, laden with grocery bags.

"You can explain what you just said while you help me put this stuff away," he said, continuing into the kitchen.

Liz and Maka both rose to their feet, traipsing after Soul and unpacking the various shopping bags.

"So, how were you not exactly talking about me?" Soul said, tossing a package of two-minute noodles carelessly into a cupboard. Maka rolled her eyes and straightened up his haphazard stacking of the foods.

"Well, Liz said some real weird stuff, about you and Kid, but we were talking more about him than you, so…"

"Why were you talking about me and Kid?" he asked, pausing with the refrigerator door open and a carton of milk halfway onto a shelf. Maka barely hid a smile at his thinly veiled suspicion. Liz was right with her; when a guy was jealous, it was pretty damn cute.

"Well…Uhm, I'll let Liz explain it to you," Maka laughed, taking the milk from him and setting it on a shelf in the fridge, shutting the door.

Soul straightened up and looked expectantly at the oldest Thompson sister, who suddenly looked fascinated with the nutrition facts on a bottle of Ramune. Her cheeks were dusted with pink from chagrin.

"Liz?" he prompted, when she continued to studiously ignore him.

She jumped a little, looked at him, looked at Maka, who just winked and laughed, and back to the bottle.

"Well, I was trying to figure out what was wrong with Kid; I told you he's been really quiet lately. I saw him watching you guys in class, and he looked a bit like you just did, when you heard that me and Maka had been talking about Kid. My first assumption was that he was jealous of you over Maka, but he's never acted like he felt anything like that for our little meister." Maka stuck her tongue out at Liz when she said this. "And then I figured that…maybe…maybe he was gay, and he was jealous of Maka over you."

She flushed a brilliant red at Soul's resounding laugh, and Maka smacked the side of his head, chastising him for being such a jerk.

"Sorry," Soul said, unabashed, not sounding sorry at all.

"Shut up," grumbled Liz. "Why else would he have been staring?"

"Well, maybe he does like her, Liz," said Soul, not looking at all happy with the possibility.

"But—"

"Or," Maka cut across her, shooting Soul an exasperated look. "He's jealous because we're together, and he isn't with whatever girl he actually does like."

"But why do you care, anyway, Liz?" asked Soul. Before she could come up with a reason, Soul smacked his hand against his forehead. "Of course. You like Kid!"

"Shut up, Soul!" she huffed. "I do not!"

"You totally do, Liz!" he laughed.

Liz threw Maka a pleading look, and her friend gave a sympathetic smile. Her hand drifted behind her. An agonized shout later, Soul was twitching feebly on the ground, Pride and Prejudice stuck in the back of his head.

"C'mon, Liz," said Maka, taking her friend's hand. "We'll figure something out."

Liz nodded meekly, and the two girls left the apartment, and the unconscious Soul Eater, in favor of a place to plan.