Sunday couldn't come fast enough for Black Star, but as he woke up before the sunrise he decided that the day had come all too soon, leaving him with a twisting feeling in his stomach. Every attempt he'd made to talk to Soul and Maka about his upcoming date had been thwarted by something or another, and Tsubaki had been too busy to even pick up her phone- she must have had close to 50 voicemails from him by now, all several minutes long.

It wasn't like him to be nervous; unknown territory had never phased him. He pondered this as he laced up his sneakers, grabbing his water bottle from the fridge on his way out the door for his morning run. What was it about Kid that had him so up in knots, anyway? Not even Kid, really; just their date. He could talk about the date just fine without getting the heebie-jeebies (to Kid, even), but as soon as he thought about the date itself he felt a strong urge to find the nearest suitable place for vomiting, his heart up in his throat.

He waved hello to a few shopkeepers who were opening up for the day, their outside lights still on due to the lack of light outside. He glanced up at the sky distractedly; the moon was low, making way for the sun, but all that could be seen was a giant ball of black. Since Chrona's sacrifice to defeat the kishin, there had been considerably less unexplained madness in the world; people were no longer so easily turned to the path of the demon without such a strong outside source of evil. The students of Shibusen had become a bit docile, if he was being honest, and if the kishin hadn't been defeated he doubted that the trip his friends were on would even be something deemed necessary.

He stared up at where the moon should be as he ran, ducking through alleys and vaulting over fences. Was Chrona okay up there? Physically, he was sure the kid was fine- but they'd been up there alone with the kishin, the strongest source of madness in the world, for nearly three years now with no end in sight. None of them had given up searching for ways to free Chrona, least of all Maka, but Black Star wasn't sure if Chrona's psyche would be... For lack of better words, salvageable, after this long.

"But Maka wouldn't give up even if everyone else in the world did," he muttered, running in place as a food vendor passed slowly with their cart. He couldn't say that he would, either. He felt responsible, to a point. If he'd been strong enough then, if he'd tried harder, if they'd had a better strategy- could they have beat Asura, not just subdued him? Could they have saved Chrona? The kid had fucked up plenty of times, sure, but with a mother like Medusa who wouldn't? He thought Chrona's act of heroism had more than made up for past wrongs, even if he was sort of miffed that they'd stolen the spotlight.

"Yo, Black Star!" He waved to one of the city's many food vendors as they called out to him, heading over to where they were set up and already handing out breakfast sandwiches and mediocre coffee to the sleep deprived business workers of Death City.

"Yo, dude," he said, snagging a sandwich and putting his pay on the counter, helping to fill orders for a bit since the line was getting long. He couldn't remember the name of this dude, but he was in his mid 20s and he was pretty decent conversation in the morning. "Hey, you know any good places to eat dinner?"

"Ain't even 6 AM yet, ain't'cha kinda ahead of yourself?" He chuckled and Black Star snorted, putting more wrapped sandwiches on the display warmer as the line died out for a few minutes.

"I have a date tonight-" The guy wolf whistled and Black Star elbowed him; he'd thought it as gently, but the elbowee winced and rubbed his side.

"Drop by my dad's restaurant, yeah?" He scribbled out a name and address on a napkin as Black Star popped the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. "I'll save ya good seats. This date of yours pretty? I mean she's gotta be, right?"

"Eyes to yourself," Black Star warned, successfully evading the question as he took the napkin and shoved it in his pocket, taking a swig of his water. "Gotta go, see you later!"

"You better show up, man! I wanna meet this girl!" Black Star waved him off, deciding that now would be a good time to head home- preferably before he blew nervous chunks all over the sidewalk.

At 4:30 exactly, Black Star rung the doorbell to Gallows Manor; normally he'd just let himself in, but he thought that would be weird in this situation. Patty answered the door almost immediately, as if she'd been waiting for him, and giggled at his appearance before beckoning him in excitedly.

"Ki-ddo~! Your date is heeeere~!" Black Star heard Kid reply something about being right there, but his heart was pounding too loud in his ears for him to hear properly. His stomach twisted up again and he picked at nonexistent fuzz on his pants, the back of his neck heating up as Patty giggled again. Kid came out, in attire only a little less formal than usual, and Black Star felt his anxiety diminish. It was fine! Everything was totally okay; it was just him and Kid, and Kid was here in front of him, so obviously he wasn't going to back out-

Fuck, had that been what he was worried about? He was going to punch himself. Kid quickly looked him up and down and he grinned, holding out his arms.

"Do I pass inspection?" He teased; Kid walked toward him, fixing the placement of one of his shoulder seams before taking a step back and nodding.

"Perfect." He offered a smile, but Black Star knew it was a practiced one; he must have been distracted.

"You ready to go?" Kid nodded, looking to Patty.

"Dinner is in the fridge."

"Yes, sir!"

"Eat at five."

"Yes, sir!"

"I'll know if you didn't." She gave a slight pout, sticking her tongue out.

"Okay, okay! Just go! Have fun!" Kid eyed her for a critical moment before nodding again, allowing Black Star to open the front door for him.

"Phone? Keys? Wallet? Got everything?"

"You aren't my parent, Black Star." Kid eyed him from the side as he shut the front door, and Black Star just smiled.

"I want tonight to go perfectly! That's all."

The night didn't go perfectly.

The first hurdle came from almost the moment they tuned off of the street Gallows Manor was on. Kid's phone rang, and Black Star had no problem with Kid taking the call. One call tuned into two, three, ten, as well as numerous texts, all short and trivial. Kid continually muttered apologies to Black Star, who insisted he didn't mind; he was used to it, after all. It was a bit disappointing, sure, but Kid was the mayor, after all.

The second hurdle came at the restaurant; if Black Star had been thinking ahead, he would have made reservations somewhere that would have given them a bit of privacy, but he hadn't. Their meal was interrupted several times by people in awe of both he and Kid, questioning what kind of business they were here on, etc. etc. It wasn't until Black Star none-too-subtly took Kid's hand and laced their fingers on top of the table that people stopped approaching them and the waitress stopped flirting with Kid.

The third hurdle was, again, because of Kid's phone; they were at the restaurant finishing their meals when it rang, the tone different from the other calls. Kid frowned, picking it up and speaking in hushed tones to whomever was on the other line. After just a couple of minutes, he hung up and gave a little sigh, looking at Black Star. Black Star knew what was coming.

"You have somewhere to be, right?" He asked with a grin, not allowing his disappointment to show on his face. "It's alright, you can go."

"I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Hey, you don't have to apologize, Kiddo! You have responsibilities." Kid frowned a bit, waving for the waiter to bring their receipt.

"... Do you want to come with me? I know it's not a movie, obviously, but we were supposed to be together for longer than this and I don't want to break my word." Black Star grinned and Kid glanced away; they both knew Kid hadn't promised him anything. Did Kid want to spend more time with him, too?

"Yeah, of course I do! What a dumb question." Black Star paid for their meals and stood, stretching a moment before following Kid out of the restaurant. He took Kid's hand as they started down the street, fingers tingling when Kid squeezed them briefly.

Midnight found them on the doorstep of Gallows Manor again, both covered in dust and smears of blood that weren't their own.

"I'm sorry," Kid said in what Black Star had long ago dubbed his Diplomatic Voice. "Tonight was meant to be time I dedicated to you, but I still-"

"Kiddo," Black Star said, and Kid started a bit, blinking and looking down at Black Star. Black Star stood at the bottom, step, Kid three above him, and Kid's pupils were dilated, still high strung from the fight they'd just finished. "I don't mind. I don't care. You don't have to pretend with me, you know that."

"I'm not pretending, I truly am-" Kid started protesting immediately, but Black Star spoke over him.

"I know you are! I know. I'm not saying you aren't, I'm just saying- if you'd ignored your work, even for someone as big as me, you wouldn't be the dude I liked, you know?" He grinned, holding a hand up to Kid, who took it slowly. "I had fun tonight hanging out with you. I hope you did, too. It's been really long since we got to fight side by side like that." He gave Kid's fingers a squeeze, and Kid squeezed in return; Black Star saw him swallow.

"I just. You wanted tonight to be perfect, that's what you said."

"And it totally was! I can't think of a better first date than beating kishins into a pulp." That wasn't a lie. Black Star felt refreshed, buzzing with energy, and it was taking almost everything he had not to whoop and holler this late at night.

"... Take me on another date soon?" Black Star thought his face was going to split apart from how widely he grinned, and he stepped up a step to look at Kid more closely.

"Any time, Kiddo." He watched Kid turn and walk into his house before turning to go home himself; he made sure to wait until he was in his apartment to pump his fist in victory and let out a whoop, which earned him a few bangs on the wall from neighbors. Grinning, he went straight to take a shower, stripping as he went; he'd have to call Kilik later and tell him about the date, since he seemed like the only reliable friend unrelated to the situation Black Star had at this point.

** A/N: listen... listen. i don't know if you guys actually like this unless i get reviews or messages about it. hmu

ALSO i've been thinking about making a twitter or tumblr or maybe a forum topic dedicated to updates/discussion for asas? idk though what do y'all think