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It was the beginning of a long, chilly sunday afternoon. The strong wind howled outside and took over any ambient society noise. These were Death the Kid’s favorite days. He loved the cold temperature — something they didn’t have very often in their city — against his skin (he hated hot temperatures and sweating, even if it had to be really hot for him to really feel it), the fact that he had nothing to do — also something quite rare —, being alone and away from everyone in his little bubble and indulging in his favorite secret hobbies. His dad was away (as always) and the sisters were hanging out with Maka, Crona and Tsubaki at the movies. He remembered Liz saying something about it being ‘girls- and non binary folk only!’ as if Kid was going to beg her to invite him. He also forgot to mention that he was technically on the non-binary spectrum too.
He was sat in the middle of his bed — which was in the exact middle of his room, between the two symmetrical doors — flipping through the sixth volume of his favorite manga of all time when his phone (laid parallel to the edges of his nightstand) started vibrating and disrupting the song currently playing on his vinyl record. Kid panicked, jumping to hide the manga and stop the record before looking at the contact name he didn’t choose but did correct the spelling mistakes to; ‘Black☆Star!! (Stronger Than God) (Text Me)’. He fought back a fond smile and set his face straight before answering.
“Hello?”
“Kid!! Whatchu up to?” shouted the familiar voice on the other side of the line. He seemed to be outside, the wind blowing into his phone’s microphone.
Kid panicked again. He almost stuttered as he looked at the poorly hidden evidence. “Nothing,” he answered too quickly before realizing he should ask something back. "What about you?”
Black☆Star snickered “Man, you’re so weird. So you’re just telling me you’re sitting around doing a bunch of nothin’ on a weekend? Nevermind, uh, I’m low key at your doorstep right now so can you come open the door?”
“What?!” Kid lost his composure for a second. “What are you- what are you doing here? Are you in trouble? Or hurt?” he asked as he looked around, hastily got up and looked for a more decent outfit than a Metallica t-shirt and black pants. He settled on a black sweater that was too big and hung more on one side than the other (he didn’t even know why he owned something to asymmetrical and unprofessional but for some reason he couldn’t find anything else that didn’t scream ‘work' or ‘nerd’) and his usual black loafers.
“Noo, not at all, nothing to worry your prett- uhh, overly symmetric head over, I was just, um, around the corner, and since it’s so cold out here I thought ‘hey, maybe I’ll go say a quick hi’. Also Tsubaki isn’t home ‘cause- I don’t know, actually, and I’m super hungry and can’t cook for shit and it was kinda my turn to go to the supermarket two days ago already but I forgot,” Star replied as Kid made his way downstairs, counting his steps to eight, then restarting until he got to the door. He hung up on his friend and opened it.
“I’m confused. You can’t just ‘be around the corner’ for no reason, the Gallows Manor is, as you know, at the very edge of the city. You have to intentionally walk at least fifteen minutes to get here,” Kid greeted as he stepped to the side to let his friend in.
“Ugh, okay, I wanted to hang out with you. Can you maybe not blow up my excuse next time?” Star admited as he walked in. “Has anyone ever told you your house is very symmetric? Also the ‘I’m hungry’ part wasn’t an excuse I really am starving.”
“Yes, I take a lot of pride in it. You have said ‘symmetric’ twice now. You do know it’s said ‘symmetrical’, right?” Kid closed the door behind his friend and led him to the kitchen. Remembering everything Star said in one go and answering to each point was hard at first, but he was used to it by now and didn’t mind it at all.
“Of course I know that! I’m smarter than everyone at Shibusen combined! I’m just inventing my own word because I’m so much better. Ooh, you have cookies!”
“Those are Patty’s. I can suggest a part of left-over cake from Liz’s birthday. It’s chocolate-flavored, a bit too much for my taste but I think you’d enjoy it."
Star jumped to the fridge and his eyes sparkled when they landed on the cake. “Yummy!!”
He sat down on the kitchen island and started wolfing down the big part he took. Kid took a Caprisun from the fridge and settled it in front of his friend before sitting next to him, maybe a little too close.
“Thanks man!” Star grinned at him with chocolate on his lips as he tried to open the juice. “Didn’t know you liked these too, they’re my favorite.”
“I’m not a fan, actually, I bought it for you,” Kid admitted before realizing how that sounded. He felt his already warm-ish cheeks heat up more. “I mean, we were running errands with the girls the other day and I remembered you liked it.”
“Don’t sweat it, dude, if you think about me so much all the time just say it.”
Kid felt his face get even pinker. Star finished his meal relatively fast, but it felt like an eternity to Kid. Their thighs were touching under the table, and the blue haired boy’s forearm would occasionally brush against his when he reached for his juice. He felt the urge to make sure his appearence was symmetrical and the table clean. He pulled on the side of his sweater that didn’t hang to the side, only for it to hang to the other side. He really wanted to take it off, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know what was worse, actually.
Star turned to him as if deciding on something, chocolate still clinging to the corner of his lips. “Can we go to your room? Pretty please? You never let me see it, and I’ve been over like a hundred times already.”
“Actually, you have been to my house seven times, this would be the eighth,” Kid corrected.
“So can we go to your room?”
Kid sighed. He was grateful Star was at least asking instead of just bolting to his room. He really liked that in his friend, the fact that he always respected his restrictive boundaries even though he was a very impulsive person. He looked away and nodded before getting up to lead him to his room. Star grinned again and skipped behind him, almost falling when they got to the fancy stairs. Star noticed a door left ajar (how could Kid forget to close it? He scratched the left side of his hair eight times) and bolted to it, assuming it was his friend’s room. As long as he doesn’t see-
“Wait! Black☆Star!” Kid practically flew to the door, but it was too late. Star had gotten inside and he was looking around in awe. He was touching to everything around too before pulling back as he heard Kid.
“Oh, yeah, no touching, sorry. Your room is so cool man! Sometimes I wonder if you can see colors or if you still live in the- uh, like 70s, back when they didn’t have colors. Literally everything here is black or white or gray. Ooh, you got a- big disc player? That’s so cool. It’s so you, too. What do you listen to?” Star leaned forward to read what was written on the vinyl. “‘Prince and the Revolution’? Man, for a second I thought it’d be rap or something, but I guess that wouldn’t fit you at all.”
Star kept looking around as Kid panicked (again). Okay, everyone listens to music, it wasn’t the weirdest thing to do, and Star didn’t know what he was listening to, so it should be fine. Kid slowly stepped towards the bed to hide the manga better before his friend noticed it-
“What’s that?” Star asked over Kid’s shoulder, his chest against his back, way too close all of a sudden. “You read manga?! ’The Summer Hikaru Died’?” he read out loud. "That sounds sad.”
Yup, he was going to die. He didn’t know how exactly but now that someone knew he liked manga, his life was definitely over. Star looked at him and noticed his frozen and stressful expression. “Man, I love manga too! I mean I’m more into like english comics but manga are great too! Do you know Dr. Stone? It’s so unpopular but I really like it.”
Does he know Dr. Stone? Of course he does, he owns every single volume and three Gen figurines, but he couldn’t admit that.
“Um. No, I’m not really a manga fan, I just read occasionally. To expand my culture.”
It was just one volume. It’s not like he saw his 20-square-meter room with five thousand dollars worth of manga and figurines. He just had to make him not notice the second door-
“Why do you got two doors? Is it just for it to be symmetric- symmetrical or is there something there? Oh, is it a pissroom? ‘Cause I low key gotta pee,” he ranted as he looked at the door before opening it, too fast for Kid to do anything. Now he was definitely going to die. He was serious. Could he arrange something for Star to lose his memory? “Woww, no way!! ‘Not a manga fan’ my ass! You’re a nerd! A huuge nerd!” Star shouted, not in a negative way, more admiring than anything.
Kid felt his face go red from humiliation. He pulled on his sweater again. He couldn’t believe this was happening. What had he done to deserve this? Star walked through the small library’s shelves and stared at everything in awe. He got to the Dr. Stone section and audibly gasped.
“I can’t believe you lied to me, Kid! You got like the whole ass collection here. I think your favorite character might be Gen.” He turned to Kid, who was still standing frozen at the door, sweating bullets despite the weather, staring at nothing and scratching his head. “Hey, hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Star rushed to him. “I don’t actually mind that you lied to me. I mean, I kind of do- but it’s not a big deal! Just- um, why? Like this is such a weird topic to lie about? Everyone likes manga, at least I do.”
“But it’s- it’s not the same. You’re- you. And I’m-“
“I don’t get how we’re any different, honestly. Everyone can have hobbies and interests?”
“The rules aren’t the same for the others and for me,” Kid vaguely explained. Having to detail how his mind worked to other people was so hard.
“There are no rules, Kid. I know this is ‘cause of your OTD or ‘cause you think you need to be so professional and you have to be above childish stuff or whatever but you need to realize you’re just a kid — ahaha, Kid, get it — like any of us. The rules actually are the same for all of us. You started getting weird ever since I got into your room and I was like okay maybe he’s just uncomfortable with people being in his space but then you started stressing out when I saw you listen to music?? Like any other human being?? Like I’m sure even your dad listens to music. You know your life can’t revolve about just your job and school, right?”
That was… Pretty spot on, actually. Scarily so. It made Kid realize how much Star actually paid attention to him and how thoughtful he was. It made his stomach feel weird, but like good weird, and his face go pink again. He felt seen and, death forbid, loved. People never saw him as human, and even though he wasn’t, not fully, he liked being recognized as one for some reason, and Star didn’t hesitate a second before calling him a human being. He realized he stopped scratching his head.
"The point is, I’m not judging you, no one ever will and if they do who cares, there are no set rules, you’re just a kid like anyone else and reading manga is cool.” Star let Kid process it all. “So, what’s your favorite manga? I couldn’t really guess since you got so much merch of so many different manga in here.”
Kid couldn’t stop himself. “My favorite is The Summer Hikaru Died. It’s a seinen manga that started in 2021 about horror, psychological horror and queer relationships and metaphors. It follows Yoshiki and Hikaru-“
Kid ranted and ranted about the story, the characters, the metaphors, the relationships, his opinion on the main duo. He felt himself calm down and talk like never before, probably more than he had ever talked in his whole childhood. Somewhere along the speech they both sat down on Kid’s bed, their whole sides touching again. He was a bit embarrassed by his nerdy ranting but Star never showed any disinterest and didn’t interrupt him once, even though he looked like he didn’t understand everything Kid said.
“I really find the themes interesting and well addressed,” he finished, and then realized how much he’d actually talked. "Ah, uh, I apologize for talking so much. I don’t usually do that, I don’t know what happened.”
“Noo, no don’t worry at all, I loved listening to you! I love learning more about you and getting to know you. I liIIK- care. I care about you so much and I want you to feel comfortable with me, you know?” He chuckled, a bit bashful.
Kid stayed hung up on the word Star didn’t finish. Maybe it was wishful thinking and Star was just mixing up his words again. Maybe he was going to say ´liked listening to you’ again. But Kid couldn’t convince himself it was nothing. He was scared to ask, of course, but in that moment he felt so understood and safe he couldn’t hold himself back.
“You what?” he asked, his face unreadable and blunt.
Star laughed nervously. He distanced himself a little, sitting sideways on the edge of the bed with one leg crossed on top of it. Kid missed the warmth instantly. “I care about you, Kid, of course!”
“But you. You were going to say something else. You can say it. I won’t judge you either,” Kid insisted.
Star muttered encouragements to himself along the lines of ‘I’m not scared, I’m better than God, this is nothing, I’m so incredible he can’t-‘ before inhaling a deep breath.
“I like you,” he blurted out. Kid had never really seen him blush before. “I love you, actually. You- you don’t have to say it back or anything, I know this is so sudden and I’m totally not your type and you’re probably not even gay, I mean. Nothing wrong if you are, ‘course, it’d be great actually. I really don’t want to make things weird or anything like I’m not gonna do anything that makes you uncomfy."
Kid was stunned into shock and pure silence. He stayed frozen for a few moments before he started shaking and blushing bright red. When he started forming thoughts again, he realised he should say something. He didn’t want Star to think he didn’t like him back. Wait, he likes him back? That was a dumb question, actually. He just had to choose the perfect words for that moment.
“Hello?” Star called sheepishly, making Kid remember normal people respond in the span of a few seconds, not minutes. “If you want me to go I can-“
“No! Um. I. I like- like you too. Love you too. Uh. Don’t leave,” Kid stuttered out very eloquently. Screw finding the perfect words. He pursed his lips and looked everywhere but at Star. He did notice the giant hopeful grin on his friend’s(?) face in his peripheral vision.
“Really?! I mean, I knew you would say that, who wouldn’t anyway, haha, but um, can I, y’know. Ki- kiss you or whatever? I’m just so so happy but maybe you wouldn’t be into that actually ‘cause of the germs and shit. Uh, hugging is also great. I’ll try to make it as symmetrical as poss-“ Star noticed Kid leaning in. “Oookay.”
Star met Kid halfway and pecked him shyly on the lips before looking at him and seeing the look in his eyes and deciding that was definitely not enough, so he put both his hands on Kid’s waist and kissed him again. This kiss lasted longer, long enough for Kid to settle his hands on Star’s cheeks.
They separated briefly again, Star chuckling lightly at the sight of Kid’s face.
"Damn, why do you got so many layers on?" Star asked, reffering to the big sweater on him.
"I can always take it off. If you want." Star nodded exitedly and Kid finally took off that annoying sweater, not caring at all about the whole shirt dilemma anymore.
Star noticed it, though. "You’re so cool," he mumbled before giving him another peck.
Kid was so damn cute, so embarrassed by it all, but so desiring too. Star kissed both his cheeks before kissing him square on the lips again, hungrier and more intensely than before. Kid whined and Star felt his stomach go all warm and fuzzy. He definitely wanted to hear that again, during each and every waking moment of his life, and in his sleep too.
He quickly thought of how he would pull that noise from him again and darted out his tongue to run it through Kid’s lower lip before he could stop himself, successfully pulling another lower whine from him again. He pulled away and started kissing every patch of skin he could see. From his nose, to his cheek, passing by his jaw, and finally to the spot below his ear. He sucked lightly and was graced with a shy moan. Star’s head was spinning, not really thinking at all anymore. He went lower, kissing his neck, then sucking another hickey in the spot above his collarbone. Then he switched sides, taking one hand from Kid’s waist to lift his face so he had more space and tried to make the last two hickeys symmetrical to the first ones before pulling away and admiring his work.
“You,” Star started, amazed by everything that just happened, “make the cutest sounds I’ve ever heard in my whole life. I really fucking love you. Will you mar- be my boyfriend? Pretty please?”
Kid acted like he didn’t hear what he was going to say at first to save them both the embarrassment of going way too fast. “Yes. I’ll be your boyfriend.”
“Great, so now you can’t be mad at me ‘cause of the four hickeys on your neck, right?”
Kid realised that those were in fact hickeys that would very much become purple and visible. And that they had school tomorrow. And that his father was actually coming home for once. And he remembered the rest of the world.
“Black☆Star-“ he started to scold him before his boyfriend panicked and shut him up with another kiss to the lips, so intense they fell on the bed. They ended up lying down, Star on top of Kid, and kept kissing for a long time.
Kid decided that was a problem for the future and enjoyed the warmth of it all, of Star’s cheeks, of the chest near his own, of the hands on his waist, of the legs around his hips, of the lips against his. Star was a warm person, completely opposite to himself, like an actual star. He wished he could stay close to him until death took them both. Death the Kid might not hate warmth that much, actually.