Chapter Text
1. Kid wakes up from a fight, dizzy and disoriented, and stumbles across the road to where he sees another person lying on the ground. He doesn’t remember what happened, where the witch they were fighting went, but his companion must have come through and defeated her because they’re still alive and he knows it wasn’t him. When he gets to him, his hair is so dark with dirt and soot that it’s almost unrecognizable, he’s in an awkward, curled fetal position, and there’s blood on his face and clothes, but it’s still him. It’s still Black Star, and he reaches out cautiously (because he’s not awake, he’s not breathing), and almost draws his hand back, but he swallows hard and gently touches his chest.
For a moment, there’s nothing, nothing at all, and he holds his breath until suddenly, faintly, he feels the distant beating of Black Star’s heart, and he knows he’s okay. The assassin, battered and bruised, sits up unexpectedly and starts coughing, his eyes still closed, and when he opens them Kid thinks they’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. He hesitates, but then darts forward and wraps his arms around his friend, burying his face in Black Star’s shoulder, and when he pulls back he swears that they’re both crying, but they’re both alright too, and that’s enough. And he’s just starting to lean closer when Black Star winces and looks down at the rapidly growing red stain on his side, and he tears off a piece of his shirt to stop the bleeding, and they go to find help.
2. Black Star and Tsubaki are repainting their apartment, and Kid wormed his way into the arrangement so it could be done properly (and he knows Black Star would find a way to screw up even something as simple as this). They’ve finished the kitchen, and Tsubaki’s gone to get lunch while Kid works on the living room and Black Star, his room. Kid is painting as meticulously as possible when a crash from the other room startles him and nearly causes him to make a mistake, so he sighs and goes to investigate.
He steps through Black Star’s door and hears a quiet, “Shit,” and he doesn’t even get a chance to wonder what happened before Black Star turns around and, oh god, he’s absolutely covered in paint, and it’s all over the floor, and he starts to think about how they’re going to clean this mess up when the blue-haired boy’s face breaks into a sheepish grin and they both start to laugh. Kid retrieves some paper towels and by the time he returns, Black Star is doubled over, and when he giggles the paint goes everywhere but Kid can hardly find it in him to care because of how damn endearing it is when he smiles like that. He walks carefully across the room, avoiding the blue that’s overtaken the floor, and starts to wipe the paint from Black Star’s face, feigning disgust every time he has to throw away a towel, but he’s sure it’s obvious what he’s feeling is anything but that. Black Star murmurs about how he’s sorry, it was an accident, and Kid tosses his relatively fresh towel and touches his neck. And later he thinks about what bad timing Tsubaki had when she burst in the front door at that exact moment with an exclamation of, “Who wants burgers?”
3. At eight in the morning on the first of April, Black Star starts his disastrous day. He sends out a group text claiming that he’s dropping out of the DWMA to pursue a career in accounting, and doesn’t even leave them a minute before sending the April Fools text confirming what was already obvious. For the rest of the day, everyone can see when “inspiration” strikes him and he can barely finish his sentence before he bursts out laughing at his own jokes. He tells Maka he’s eloping with Ox, he tells Soul he’s pregnant (and it’s Soul’s), and he spends a good half hour detailing to Tsubaki how he could’ve been a famous basketball player, if he hadn’t blown out his knee.
He lurks around in the hallway until Kid walks past, and he starts jogging backwards in front of the shinigami so he can see his reaction as he starts to talk about how there’s going to be a remake of Harry Potter in which Dumbledore doesn’t die but instead becomes a famous rapper. Kid would’ve told him to shut up, but Black Star backpedals right into a wall, and falls flat on his face. When Kid lends him a hand up, he knows he’s supposed to be irritated, but he sees Black Star’s cheeks go red and he can feel his doing the same.
4. They’re sitting in class, and it’s a day like any other, but Black Star is in the seat next to him and he wonders why he can’t tear his eyes away. Kid only half-listens to the lecture that day, but he hears every word out of Black Star’s mouth, and it doesn’t matter what is said because Kid has no real intention of responding, anyway. When they get out of class and Black Star asks if they all want to grab something to eat later, Kid tries to shake himself out of this state of uselessness and when he can’t he wonders what is wrong with him.
As they head down the hall, Kid notes that Black Star walks very quickly, but he’s always one step behind, so when the assassin stops to get a drink of water, he hovers nearby. And when Black Star wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and runs a hand through his hair (and Kid wishes he had a camera because the way the light is filtering in would make this the perfect candid shot), Kid thinks he might be in love. Black Star’s eyes dart to his lips, and he was going to lean forward, but he’s too unsure, and there’s too many people around, and too many variables.
Next time, for sure.
5. Kid was never unconscious, this time. He saw all his friends go down and get back up, but when he watched Black Star fall, he remained on the ground, and Kid resonates with Liz and Patty and ends the battle and oh shit, he wishes he had done that sooner. He’s sure they can feel his desperation, but they return to their human forms to help other wounded while he sprints to where he can see Black Star, in almost the same position as he was when they first went through this months ago.
That’s what he keeps thinking to himself as his steps falter, it’s okay, we’ve been here before, it’s okay, it’s okay. He stumbles forward and sees the old wound, the one he himself patched up all that time ago, has been reopened, and what a fool he’s been, to not insist that Black Star seek proper medical care. He crouches a few feet away for several moments, hot tears leaking down his cheeks, and he’s choking back sobs and it’s okay, it’s okay, he’s okay. He finally reaches out and touches his chest, and it feels more hollow than it did before, but then, so does his, and he can’t feel anything, so he checks his wrists, then his neck, and there’s no pulse, but there has to be, because this is Black Star, right? He always gets back up, he always fights back, he always makes it to the end.
Kid squeezes his hand, willing life back into it, and he doesn’t sit up and start coughing. Kid wraps his arms around him but this time there’s no response, and he closes his eyes tight in the hopes that maybe Black Star’ll be there, laughing, smiling again, his eyes shining like he knows his place in the world, and Kid will lean into him and stop hiding. And all of a sudden he’s back by the water fountain, back in the hallway of the DWMA, back in Black Star’s room and they’re both happy and free. But they’re not; they’re back on the battlefield instead, and if Black Star would just get up things would be different, but he’s not, and he won’t, and Kid knows that but he doesn’t want to believe it.
He tries to scream for help, but his voice fails him and he can barely manage a croak, and deep down he knows it won’t make a difference anyway. He wants a second chance, he wants to go back for real, but instead he clutches Black Star’s hand along with what could’ve been close to him and his tears slow, which he hates, because Black Star deserved more grief than he could give him.
Kid presses his lips to Black Star’s, and they’re already cold.