Chapter 7: Paul's Night Out
Two hours have past since Paul had cleaned his now filled up room. The stacks on the floor were arranged properly, any books from the floor were put on their new shelves, and he made sure to clean up his weapon rack. Paul's weapons were only there for show, they were all made up of weapons that Paul had created using his brand and in order to preserve them he took out their sharpness meaning while they were blunt and could still hurt, they were non lethal, and were just about as powerful as baseball bats. He took off his black chestpiece to get something more casual. He searched through his drawers for something more comfortable to wear until finding a nice, blue, flannel jacket. Paul left his room and noticed a concentrated Margaret playing video games with her headset. He could hear loud sounds of chips being eaten from a half full bowl, sounds of her cracking a new can of soda, and her trash talking somebody online. When he headed into the kitchen, Paul had noticed the only things that were on the pantry were bags of potato chips, and liter bottles of soda.
"Hey asshole, you need to stop feeding the enemy team and start being useful!" Margaret yelled at the TV.
"Yo, I'm heading out to get groceries, you need anything?"
Margaret simply placed an empty can of Dr. Pepper and went back to playing her game. Paul rolled his eyes and headed outside. It was around noon time that Paul went out to the streets of Death City. Paul went east to his direction to try and find a good general direction of where he was heading. After 20 minutes of straight walking Paul came to a realization, he was lost.
The buildings were near identical to the ones Paul was walking by before and the only reason why he was able to find his apartment was because of Margaret being there to guide him, now Paul was by himself and looking for a place he wasn't even sure was in the same part of the city he lived in. He seriously contemplated going back to his apartment and asking Margaret if she knew where the grocery store was, until he noticed someone was coming in his direction. Paul took a closer look to find Maka was there, in an orange jacket and shorts, reading a book while walking. Maka glanced up and saw Paul as well and waved right at him.
"Hey, Paul! What are you doing here so late?"
Paul was screwed, he didn't whether or not he should have answered back with "Oh I'm lost" or make some lame excuse that Maka will surely not believe in.
"Um, uh, I was, uggghh- exploring! Yeah um exploring the city to try and find the grocery store."
"Well if you mind I help you, all you need do to find the grocery store is head left from our place and go right. Here let me show you."
A wave of annoyance hit Paul like a bullet as he was forced to swallow his pride and accept Maka's help. As the two went to the direction Maka had told Paul, they eventually arrived in what looked to be this huge supermarket with what looked like Lord Death's head on the top part of the store.
"Is that-"
"This is Deathgreens, this is where you can find pretty much anything you want. Most people usually like to go to the local marketplace, it's where you can find fresher stuff, but all their good stuff is during the day."
"-a giant skull on…"
Paul whispered the last part as Maka had seemingly ignored his initial question about the store as they both entered. Aside from the giant skull, the supermarket looked like any other, there were certainly an adequate amount of people shopping for food supplies. Checkout scanners could be heard along with loud music coming from the radio speakers.
"So Paul, what exactly do you need?"
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. The refrigerator is completely empty at my place, and apparently seven bags of chips is what constitutes as dinner according to Margaret."
Maka laughed at Paul's snarky remark.
"Well if you want to get set up for this week you should start buying some food that isn't pure junk."
Maka and Paul spent an hour at the store, going through the food items and picking out food for Paul, after Paul was satisfied with the amount that they got. They both checked out and left the supermarket. It was getting late by the time the two returned to their shared apartment.
"Thanks for helping me out Maka, I would've gotten really lost without your help."
"No problem, we are technically roommates after all." Maka giggled.
"Yeah, I guess..."
Paul looked up to the sky, the grinning moon meeting his wondrous gaze up towards the stars.
"This place is weird, my first day as a student, I'm already fighting students here and being sent to the infirmary. I haven't taken a seat in any of my classes yet. I wonder how dad and my friends are doing."
Maka replied with a grin back to Paul.
"You'll get used to it, Death City seems weird but I believe that you'll grow to like living here, who knows, maybe you might wanna stay here for good and be a full-time meister."
"Tch, like that's gonna happen, you really see Paul Begtse, the demon meister in the future?"
"Hey it could happen, I mean you never know."
"By the way, you mentioned this earlier, how exactly have your friends been dealing with your sudden transfer? Even if it's only a year, it must have been a shock."
"They were pretty pissed off at our headmaster for the decision. I was able to calm them down after explaining it was for the good of the school myself. Demon Hunters do a lot of traveling anyways, so we usually keep in touch with our phones."
"Hey you mind if we share contact information?"
"Sure."
As the two both begin sharing their phone numbers to each other. The butterflies in Paul's stomach were slowly fading away, it really felt like he was starting to form a relationship with Maka. Whether or not it would be romantic, Paul knew that at least he had started to form a bond in this new place. As the two both said their goodbyes on their way to their respective apartment rooms. Paul had found a sleeping Margaret on top of the couch. Not wanting to wake her up, he decided to use his recently bought goods to make dinner for himself. After cooking his meal, a rather simple looking red curry dish, Paul went to the living room and turned on the TV. Paul was about halfway through his food when the smell of it started getting into Margaret's nose. The smell of hot spicy curry awoke the weapon, now in a hungered frenzied state, she immediately tried to pounce on Paul and his food.
"Curry, me want now! Gimmie gimmie gimmie gimmie!"
Paul immediately plants his palm over his partner's face. As Margaret starts wailing her arms but to no avail.
"Nah ah ah, you're not going to get anything for dinner unless you help me with the cleaning of this place."
"No fair, I want food now!"
"And you're going to get food soon, if you can help me."
"Fine! So unfair!"
Satisfied, Paul put his away curry in the microwave to keep it warm and had now ordered Margaret to help dust the living room and clean up her mess that she left on the table. Once that was over, Paul cooked up a nice plate of curry for her as well. Margaret gnawed at the food, scarfing it down to the point of almost chocking it, thankfully there were two glasses of water on standby.
"In other news, Witch activity seems to have gone in an all time low as Witch sightings have all but been untraceable ever since the destruction of the Kishin Asura."
Paul and Margaret were both finished with their food as they were watching TV. Paul was the first to get up and grabbed both plates to start cleaning the dishes. By the time he was done, he found that Margaret was sleeping on the couch. Not wanting to awaken his weapon partner, Paul just grabbed a blanket and placed it over Margaret. After turning off the TV and the lights, Paul headed back to his room. This would usually be the time for Paul to start reflecting on the day but he was do tired from his fight with Black Star, his demon side almost taking control, and of course the most exhausting one of all, buying groceries, that he was absolutely drained of energy. Paul simply took a quick shower and changed to something comfortable to sleep and rested through the night…
Maka could take pride in that she was able to wake earlier than most people of her age. It was needed after all, she had to go make breakfast for her, Soul and maybe Blair if she felt like it. Speaking of Blair, Maka noticed that the black cat wasn't around. She probably was taking a walk, Maka assumed and began making breakfast for her and Soul. While cooking she noticed that her phone was ringing. It was Paul, why he was calling early confused Maka as she answered the call.
"Hello"
"Maka, both you and Stein told me that I'll get used to being here but I feel like it's getting harder for me to do so."
"Really, what makes you say that."
"Well I'm dealing with something personal right now and I don't know if you can really help me on this. It involves being here."
"Paul, you have Margaret, she's your weapon and your partner. You should start relying on her more often. It's best that the two of you get closer, it'll help improve your guys relationship more if you two can rely on each other."
"Well if you say so, thanks for the advice Maka. I really appreciate it."
"No problem."
As the two meisters hanged up their phones they both went ahead and continued their activities. While Maka continued her cooking, Paul was ready to start asking for Margaret's help for his "problem". That "problem" being Blair, who was on his bed, sleeping right next to him, making meow sounds, while spooning the meister so tightly that he could barely move, naked…
"MARGARET I NEED YOUR HELP!"
