"Stupid Stein," Black*Star complains, "Doesn't he know Gods don't need homework?"
He's off again. They all think, rolling their eyes at the stupid comment.
"Look Black*Star- the only one who'll ever be a God here is Kidd, okay? So pipe down! It's annoying." Kidd looks up from his magazine, hearing his name making him curious. He always blushes inside when Maka says his name. And he's not comfortable with that. He ponders on consulting Crona for help dealing with things, but then rules it out, as he's sure that Crona doesn't know how to deal with teasing. And when Crona's upset so is Maka. And when Maka's upset, well- let's just say Kidd doesn't know how to deal with that. Fluff aside, Kidd returns to his magazine.
Grunting, he throws it at the wall.
"What is that anyway Kidd?" Maka asks, looking up at Kidd with those large green eyes that make his stomach turn. He composes himself quickly and reaches down for the magazine, still loathing its lack of productivity.
"It's a collection of weapon applicants." He sighs. Dusting off the page he was looking at.
"What?!" the group chorus.
"Why?" Crona chimes in, appearing out of nowhere beside Kidd.
"Gah!" Kidd jumps, much to Soul's amusement. Regaining his breath, he adds, "Liz and Patty are taking leave shortly, as it seems those asymmetrical goons have managed to get scars all over their faces from brawling with some nasty fellows in a poker game last night. Both of them were arrested."
"What?! Liz and Patty got some guys arrested?" Soul asks, concerned, his usual sombre mask melting away.
"No." Kidd replies, leading all the group to sigh in relief, "Patty and Liz got arrested."
Gasps originate from the teens, who are all sub-consciously leaning in closer to hear the gossip.
"They almost killed two men because they were drunk stupid. They tarnished the name of The Death family, so I have sadly had to terminate their work."
"That's a shame."
"So sad,"
"Less competition for the Great Black*Star!"
"LIZ!"
"W-why would they do that?"
"They were drunk, Crona. Have you ever seen anyone drunk?"
"N-no..."
"Just hang around with Ragnorak for the night- you'll get the gist of it."
"SOUL!"
"Oh, yeah, sorry Crona..." Soul rubs his head. The off topic conversation about how fragile Crona's feelings are continues, and eventually develops into a heated philosophical debate about women's underwear. Kidd takes no notice. He's too busy freaking out about how asymmetrical all the weapons are, and how he'll never reach his ultimate goal of a perfectly symmetrical world.
Eventually, they all split off and decide to go to various different locations to amuse themselves. Kidd follows Maka to the library in an attempt to find a quiet place to review his gut-wrenching defeat, and to decide on one of the soon-to-be-death-scythes he'll have to deal with.
"Oh. Hey Kidd, didn't see you there." Maka blushes as she bumps into him, both their noses deep within their books.
"Gah! I just. Can't. I cannot have an asymmetrical weapon! That would be worse than if my bedroom walls were scribbled on by Soul's nasty handwriting!" Maka smiles acceptingly. She's been there, done that, and has thrown many a book in his face trying to get him to clean up the various graffiti marks such as "SOUL RULES" and "MAKA HAS NO BOOBS" all over her walls. She grimaces at the memory. Kidd raises an eyebrow, detecting the general direction of where her thoughts have fled. He then realises his face isn't symmetrical and returns to the neutral mask he so often has to wear in front of her. He hates it- but again, he doesn't know how to deal with a relationship, so he hides behind a mask just like his father.
Maka makes a face that Kidd recognises- it's the "I just met Excalibur face". In a desperate attempt to wipe it away, he grabs some books from the pile he's collected from various weapon packages (yes- they have those, Kidd was astonished too) and shoves them in Maka's direction, achieving the initial goal. A look of surprise springs to Maka's face, and Kidd almost melts when he sees her perfectly symmetrical 'determined look' that he loves.
"I thought you'd never ask," she grins, taking the books and leading Kidd to a table where she had already set up her homework that Black*Star was moaning about. She pushes it all to the very edge of the table, where it balances precariously, and she sets to work on the first mag.
"I didn't wanna do homework anyway," she smiles gratefully at Kidd, whose heart immediately starts to thump in response. This little crush is getting out of hand he thinks. Kidd knows that yet he still continues to trip on her big green eyes, and wobble when she grins at him. He still feels wanted when she includes him in a conversation, and he hasn't sought help in dealing with her blushing- which gets him the worst.
Hours later, neither Maka or Kidd have found anything, and their attention spans are beginning to suffer.
"Kay- that's enough." Maka sighs. Kidd nods in agreement. She's always right he thinks, then he realises that he must be moping because a person can't be always right- that's ludicrous. They both push their magazines to the centre of the table in unison, which makes Maka giggle.
She never knows why, but when she finds something she has in common with Kidd, she always smiles inside, and when it's just the two of them (which isn't often enough in her opinion) she lets her glee loose. Which she realises probably seems out of the blue to Kidd. Sometimes Maka forgets that she has to talk to people to say what she's feeling. It's Soul's fault- he always knows what she's thinking, so she doesn't have to communicate with him.
"Hey... Kidd?" she starts, not knowing exactly what to say.
"Yeah?" Kidd looks up, all attentive, ready to listen to whatever random comment she might have.
"Well, it's just-" she's cut off by her phone ringing.
*I'm falling, down into my shadow, iki o hisomete, matteiru deadly night*
Kidd recognises the ringtone and starts to scan his brain for any recollection of the lyrics or their translation. Nothing springs to mind.
"Oh- it's Soul. Sorry, I gotta take this." Maka stands and walks towards the door, answering the phone a few steps from the exit.
"Yellow- what's'up Soul?" Kidd sighs, knowing that whatever it was she wanted to say, was not going to be said anymore. He collects his Weapon applicants, puts them in neat piles of eight (when you've got OCD, you do things differently) and pushes them into his bag. He grabs the black leather strap and glances down. Maka's things are still splayed out everywhere.
"UGH. SOUL! YOU BURNED EVERYTHING?! Okay, okay. I'll be home in a minute. TRY not to hurt yourself more." Maka turns after swiftly hanging up her mobile phone and shoving it brutally in her pocket.
"Kidd, I'm so sorry, I have to-" she realises suddenly that Kidd is no longer in the library and that she is alone with the creepy librarian. She gulps, shutting up as she can feel the creep's gaze on her. She scurries hastily over to the table, ready to tidy up her mess. But there is none. Just her lonely little bag, crammed full of more books than she thought would fit in her crumbling excuse for a messenger bag. A note is discovered by the confused girl, and her big green eyes carefully scan the note. She folds it neatly in half, smiling contently. She had never seen those words written so beautifully before, and they almost make her tear up, just because of what they mean.
I'll see you tomorrow Maka
Kidd