The next morning saw Black Star waking up to his phone alarm; groggily, he shut it off, flopping back on his bed. No way he'd slept 8 hours; he felt dead. He hadn't slept well, he supposed; Kilik had gone home around nine, and Black Star had gotten to sleep about ten, having nothing else better to do. His phone went off again and he picked it up, squinting at the screen through the darkness. Why was Soul calling him?

"H'lo," he grumbled, flopping back down on his bed and closing his eyes.

"Dude, did you just reject my call?"

"Huh?" Black Star sat up, yawning and checking the time. 1 AM. "Soul, what the fuck. It's one in the morning."

"It's seven PM, assho- What, Maka?" A pause. "Oh. Shit, timezones. Sorry, dude." Black Star just grunted, standing and putting on a shirt before walking to the kitchen.

"Whaddaya want?" He reached into the fridge, rummaging around. May as well eat something.

"Tsubaki asked me to see how you're doing 'cause she's been so busy." He straightened, drinking out of the milk carton and then burping into the phone. "Dude, nasty! So uncool."

"I'm good," Black Star said, putting the milk back and taking out leftover pizza, leaning against the counter. "Been hanging with Kilik and them at lunch and stuff. Having a grand ol' time without you guys." Soul snorted and Black Star took a bite of cold pizza, hopping up on to the counter. He hadn't even bothered to turn a light on.

"You sound like you're having so much fun without us," Soul said; there was a thump and Soul cursing. No doubt he was Maka chopped.

"Oh, trust me, Soul, I am." He'd never noticed how quiet the city was at night; it was sort of lonely. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, Black Star steadily working through the pizza.

"Hey, Soul. You think Kid sees us as dudes?" Soul was quiet on the other line. "Dude?"

"Why're you asking?" He sounded weird; Black Star brushed it off.

"I dunno, just something I was talking with Kilik about today. I don't really know Kid's stance on trans people. Or gay people. Or any people, I guess, except for like. You know. Himself? Liz? Patty? I can't really explain what I mean, like I know he's a good guy, but-"

"I get it, Star," Soul said flatly; there was a weird, tense silence that lasted a few seconds. "Just ask him if you're that worried about it. I should go, dude, you need to go back to bed." Black Star hummed in agreement, hopping down from the counter and putting the pizza box back in the fridge. He was tired; that must be why Soul seemed to be so weird tonight. "Maka says to call if your binder tears again, she'll walk you through how to fix it. She's doing mine right now."

"'Kay. Tell Tsubaki I'm fine," he reminded, walking to his room and flopping down in bed again. "Night, Soul."

"Night, Star."

** A/N: To whoever unfollowed and unfavorited ASAS because I'm writing Black Star as trans: fuck you but also thanks for giving me the motivation to a) write a previously unneeded chapter and b) do a double update. In other news: if you haven't voted in the update poll, please do! You can find it on my profile page or in my forum here:

(fanfiction dot net)/topic/197580/156666787/1/ASaS-Updates-Poll