There was a flush and a groan as Kid pushed the door open from the stall he had been occuping. The reaper looked a bit pale and seemed to sway for a moment on his feet, though that quickly passed. "Okay. I think… I think I might be done. For now."

"That's great because I want to get the hell out of here." Black Star looked around and made a face. "I think girls smell more than boys. This is just nasty." And Soul nodded emphatically in agreement.

Kid nodded as he walked over to the sinks. He leaned against one of the cleaner bowls and sighed. "In a few minutes. Let me just make sure I'm okay, all right?" The reaper waved his hand at Black Star. "Just continue telling the story."

Kid didn't have a car ready. The concert hall, or stadium or auditorium or whatever the hell it was they were going to, was only a short walk away. Something about the exercise being good for them (like they really needed it) and, more importantly, about how this would lower the chance of them getting in a wreck. The implications went well over Black Star's head and all he felt was a bit of relief that he wasn't going to be stuck in a cramped car with Kid and his weapons.

"Did you remember to take it?"

"Yes, already. For what, the eighth time?"

"Are you obsessing over numbers again?"

"No, I've just been counting and you have actually reminded me eight times."

"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure you don't forget. You're supposed to be keeping on a schedule, remember?"

"Yes, mother."

There was a muffled 'whap' followed by laughter and swearing. Black Star blinked and looked over to the side. He had arrived at the Manor with Tsubaki and Liz had told them that it was going to be a few minutes before they were ready. The pistol had then stolen his partner away, saying that she could be helpful while he could not. Considering they were probably getting ridiculously dressed up as well she was probably right, and the assassin really hadn't felt like dealing with the Thompsons. He had no idea how Kid did either, especially considering how uptight and rigid the reaper acted.

The conversation he had just overheard, however, sounded anything but uptight and rigid. The voices were definitely Kid's and Liz's and they were coming from the next room over (Black Star had been left waiting in the entry way). What is Liz reminding Kid about…? More importantly, really – Did Kid really just call her 'mother'? Kid, son of Lord Death, crazy uptight jerk who wouldn't know a joke or sarcasm if it bit him in the ass – was he actually joking around with someone?

Black Star was more than tempted to go see what was going on and impulse control had never been his strongest trait. Before he had a chance to, though, both the reaper and the pistol appeared. Liz was dressed up like Tsubaki – band shirt and black jeans and her hair was pulled back into a messy half-ponytail, something a little different from her normal hairstyle. It was nothing really out of the ordinary for the blonde, though. If anyone of their 'merry' little crew was fashion happy then it was definitely Liz.

Kid, however… A white t-shirt over a black long-sleeved tee (again with the band logo emblazed on the front, which just made Black Star wonder again just what made this group so great) along with loose-fitting khaki pants. It didn't have the same casual feel as the girls but for the reaper it was incredibly laid back. The assassin brushed it off as Liz just taking over, the same way Tsubaki had insisted on dressing him, but the dark-haired teen seemed far too comfortable for that to be the case. Why do I feel like I've entered the twilight zone?

"Hey Black Star." Kid smiled warmly when he saw the blue-haired teen and Black Star just arched a brow before glancing back at Liz. "I'm glad you could make it. I think we're all going then. Well, except for Crona but I hadn't really expected that he would agree."

"Yeah Tsuba- wait, Crona?" Black Star blinked and looked back at Kid (Liz had just been rolling her eyes at him anyway), looking more than perplexed. "You invited Crona along?"

Kid just nodded and shrugged a little. "Why not? It's been awhile since he's come out with us for something. I figured it would have been good for him… if he had actually agreed to come." Which was more than true enough but that sounded like something that Maka would have worked out, not Kid.

"Oh… that's too bad for him…?" The reaper's response was to shrug again.

"Eh. Honestly I wasn't all that excited to have him come along; he would have probably just lost it completely with so many people around and that's pretty much the last thing I wanted to deal with. And Maka already said she would swing by after the show to check up on him or whatever so it's fine. We can drag him out of his shell on another day."

That sounded more like Kid, though the language did seem a little off. Black Star pushed any of the worries or concerns that might have been forming out of his mind as he just nodded and looked back when he heard more footsteps. Tsubaki and Patti came clattering down the hall, both grinning widely and looking far too excited for whatever was going on. "Are we all ready? Can we go? Where are Soul and Maka?"

"They're not here," Liz started to say, and she was interrupted by a rather plaintive 'whaaat' from her younger sister. The older Thompson just paused and looked over at her, expression torn between amusement and exasperation. "If you would let me finish-"

"But we've been waiting for forever and the show's gonna start before we even get there now!" Patti's tone was taking on more than a touch of whining and Black Star looked away to hide his grin of amusement. "Can't we just go now and have them meet us there?"

"… Maka already sent me a message saying that we should go on ahead and that they would meet us there," Liz said calmly, holding up her phone, and Patti at least had the decency to flush before giggling. "Apparently Soul… distracted her with something and they lost track of the time so they're just gonna take his motorcycle there."

Everyone had to have been thinking the same thing, but it was Kid who muttered: "I bet I know what was so distracting." There was a moment of silence before everyone just burst out laughing save for the reaper, who just shrugged. "What? It's true."

Soul pressed his hand up against his face as he leaned back against the cracked bathroom wall. "Oh, god… first, please tell me that Maka didn't actually send that message."

Black Star grinned. "She did. Were you pre-gaming or something?" Behind them Kid laughed, then coughed and hacked and then groaned. The assassin smiled sympathetically and patted a hand against the reaper's back. "Sorry. I'll try not to make you laugh anymore." Kid just grumbled out some form of 'thanks' as a response.

"Are you serious? No way. It's bad enough that Liz got her to drink some tonight. The last thing I would have done was get her drunk before going out in public." The scythe shook his head as he moved his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "No. Damnit."

"So…" Black Star smirked as he looked at the embarrassed weapon. "What were you two doing?"

"… I think you're the one telling the story here, not me." And the assassin just snorted as Soul flushed red. "Just- whatever! So, so what happened next?"

So the band – General Causality, and much to his displeasure Black Star was probably going to remember the name even to his grave – was a big deal. Tsubaki had tried to tell him that earlier but of course he hadn't listened because he was Black Star. No one and nothing was a bigger deal than him so if he didn't know what it was then it didn't matter.

None of the people gathered around the still-closed concert hall seemed to share in his opinion, though. The crowd seemed to be fairly evenly split between men and women and there was a wide range in ages. Parents were walking around with their toddlers along with half-dressed teenagers and obviously inebriated college-aged men and women. All seemed equally excited to see the band – too excited, really, in Black Star's opinion. Getting bumped and jostled about the first five times hadn't been that bad, but when it started happening every other minute he found himself starting to become more and more annoyed.

Black Star had always envisioned himself surrounded by hordes of screaming females and, in his fantasies, this had always been a good thing. They had always been screaming his name and demanding his attention, clawing and fighting one another for a chance to be one step closer to him. Tsubaki would be by his side, of course, and the shadow weapon would steal furtive glances over in his direction and would flush when she thought he wasn't looking. He would be, though, and he would let her continue to think he wasn't because he was that big.

Reality was far, far different from the fantasy and the assassin was finding himself hating people with every passing second.

"If one more person steps on my foot I swear I'm just gonna lose it." He grumbled the words angrily after two girls abruptly slammed into his back, causing Black Star to pinwheel forward against Kid. The reaper just laughed, looking completely unbothered by what was going on, and for some reason that made something in the assassin's stomach turn and flip in a way that was almost pleasant. "Haven't these people ever heard of personal space?"

"Have you?" Kid shot back teasingly. "You're the most 'in your face' person I know and you're bothered by getting a little up close and personal with some strangers? Isn't this part of your greatest dream or something?"

It was absolutely weird hearing Kid say things like that. The sarcastic comments and quips normally came from Soul or Liz (but only if Liz wasn't worrying herself sick over something inconsequential like her hair or some monster) and Black Star found himself just gaping in response. It took a moment or two for his brain to really process what he been said and when he did he stuttered back something about how waiting to see someone wasn't part of his dream, it was that people were supposed to be lined up like this to see him. It was totally different.

The reaper just rolled his eyes before turning his attention to Liz. The older pistol was saying something to him and her body language read off as being completely excited. Even though they were close Black Star couldn't make out a thing she was saying – everyone around them was making far too much noise for that – but he did see her slip out something metallic from her bag and hand it to Kid. He uncapped it and sniffed it, wrinkling his nose when he did, but after a short pause Kid placed it to his lips and drank some.

"Wait," Soul said, holding his hands up in the 'time out' position. "Wait, hold on a second. Liz carries a flask on her person?"

Black Star shrugged and put his hands up – 'I give up.' "Does that honestly surprise you? Liz?"

"… no, but, Kid? You drank from it?" Soul glanced around the assassin to stare at the reaper, and Kid just raised his hand to weakly flip the scythe the finger.

"Fuck off Soul. I wasn't thinking straight."

"Yeah, I'm getting that idea. Just, why…?"

"Hey." Black Star shook his head and pointed at Soul. "I'm telling the story, okay? We're gonna get to that. I'm just setting the scene or whatever." And behind him Kid snorted. "You won't appreciate it if I don't let you know what happened before hand."

"Well I kind of know what happened after that…"

"Hey!"

Black Star nearly jumped out of his skin when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. He twisted about, fully expecting to see another giggly fan girl, and while that was what he saw the fan girl in question also happened to be Maka. The brunette giggled as she stepped back, bumping up against Soul, and the scythe just looked down at her and grinned.

Yeah, it was obvious what those two had been doing to be 'late.'

"Goddamnit Black Star no it wasn't!"

"Hey," the blue-haired teen said at first, looking a little askance, but after a moment he just grinned. "We were starting to wonder if you two were gonna show up. Looks like your, uh, distraction didn't take that long."

"Yeah." Maka glanced back at Soul and smirked. "It never does."

"Kill you." Soul glared at the assassin while Kid laughed, one hand held up against his mouth in case the laughter happened to turn on him. "I swear I will kill you. I know where you live."

Soul shifted uncomfortably behind her and the meister just reached back to squeeze his hand comfortingly. "It's okay. It was longer than a minute this time. I'm sure you'll-"

"That is not even close to the conversation we had!" Soul's face was rapidly turning a rather brilliant shade of red and Kid had lost it completely; he was holding onto the sink tightly with both hands as he just laughed, far too amused by how irate the scythe was getting. "If- if you're gonna make shit up at least make the stuff that I don't already know up! Maka would never say something like that! I mean, we- we haven't even-! Damnit Black Star!"

"Someone certainly seems to be protesting too much," the assassin said idly. He was only smirking, but it was obvious he was fighting against laughing himself. "It's entirely natural-"

"Seriously, I will murder you."

Kid straightened and wiped at his mouth before starting to run some water. "Can you hold off on doing that? I think I'm ready to leave and I would rather you didn't commit the murder in the women's room. The crime scene would be here then and I would hate to have to come back here for the investigation."

"Glad to see you care so much about me," Black Star muttered, and Kid just rolled his eyes as the three males exited the room. For all his complaining, though, the assassin did take in a deep breath of 'fresh' air once they were out. "Oh, this is better. Okay."

Soul looked over at him. "Okay, so Maka and I arrived and we made some completely appropriate conversation. I know the doors opened a little after that… what happened next?"

"Well, you were there for a bit of this, but…"