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It started on a hot day in Death City.
With the defeat of the Kishin and a return to what passed for normal at the DWMA, the hum-drum of hunting souls and witches became like anything else, routine. Months passed, the desert landscape around the city barely changing. Everything seemed like it had always been, to Maka at least. But she’d grown up in Death City, knew it’s hills and alleys like the pages of her favorite book. When something changed it the city it was like finding a page suddenly dog eared.
Morning classes had finished and Maka and Soul were headed for the assignment board. “Crona said they’d meet us over there,” she said. Crona was still taking remedial classes and had not been allowed to hunt alone yet. It had never occurred to Maka that Lord Death could hold onto a grudge. She had tried to explain Crona had made a mistake but he merely patted Maka on the head and said “that child needs to learn about consequences.” Maka disagreed but both Soul and Crona begged her to drop it.
Maka could admit that in some ways it worked out in her favor. She enjoyed having Crona with her. They worked well together, even if they couldn’t resonate due to the madness of the black blood that Crona would never fully be “cured” of. Crona’s speed and agility with Ragnarok matched Maka’s with Soul and she could rely on them not to do something dumb or unexpected like she would with Black Star. It was also nice to see Crona slowly coming out of their shell and Maka was able to talk to them freely about things she couldn’t with other meisters. Crona had even started joining her, Soul and Blair for dinner once a week.
Crona had a weird way of looking at things, a naivety and innocence that was strange coming from someone who could be so very vicious in the heat of battle, but still cringed away from their own weapon. Lately Maka had been giving Crona books to read, ones she’d read years ago, then asking them their opinions on the text. No one else had ever done that with her, not even Soul or Tsubaki.
“Where did you want to try and go this time?” She asked Soul, who strolled along next to her. In the months that had passed Soul had passed Maka in height, much to her annoyance. He still wasn’t as tall as Crona, Liz or Tsubaki but Maka did have to tilt her chin up now to look him in the face.
He shrugged. “What about somewhere cold? Anything in Scandinavia? Canada? That’d be good.”
Maka wrinkled her nose. She’d never understood his obsession with cold. Maybe it was just because she’d lived her whole life in Death City. “We’ll see.” She could see the Crona’s back near the board and grinned, quickening her pace. “Hey Crona!” She called out but then stopped suddenly.
Crona was speaking to Kid. But instead of their arms tightly crossed one over another, they were gesticulating, waving their hands through the air. Whatever they were saying was too quiet to hear over the chatter of the hallway but Maka saw Kid raise a hand to his mouth, grinning and his shoulders shaking with laughter. A cloud shifted outside and suddenly flooded the hallway with light. Crona and Kid were isolated in it, like a giant spotlight on just them.
Kid saw Maka and he dipped his chin, gesturing. Crona turned and Maka saw the smile they wore change. Still there, still pleased, but different. Less toothy and more gentle.
She hadn’t realized she’d frozen but Soul nudged her forward. “You’re standing in the middle of the hall,” he said. Maka cleared her throat and walked forward. Kid said something to Crona and Maka’s eyes zeroed in on the way he brushed a hand over their arm as he walked away.
“What was that?” Soul asked, voice nonchalant. Easy.
“Kid was telling me about a mission he, Patti and Liz just came back from,” Crona said. “I told him about the one we did last month, with the um, badger and the tree.” There was something almost cheerful in Crona’s tone.
Maks couldn’t find her voice. She was still starring at Kid’s back, watching his walk down the hall. She had the sudden bizarre to follow him and rabbit punch him in the back of the head. Her stomach was cold and tight.
“Maka?” She came back to the conversation with a jolt. Both Crona and Soul were staring at her. “Are you alright?” Crona asked, biting their lip and swaying anxiously. Maka mentally shook herself, took a breath and smiled.
“Yeah! Just thinking about where we want to go! Did you look?” She asked and tried to push away the tiny green flame of jealousy.
----
They did end up in Canada, in Vancouver. Which was not cold enough to snow but rained buckets. After an event with some vampires and either a kishin or the real actual Bloody Mary they were getting cleaned up in a restaurant bathroom.
“Ugh, I hate trying to get blood out of this shirt,” Maka groused. She pressed the cold water soaked paper towel harder to the stain. She glanced over at Crona, expecting them to agree. But Crona was staring into the mirror, clearly lost in thought. Maka watched at they slowly swiped the blood away from their face in long deliberate strokes. “Crona?”
Crona startled badly, jumping and banging the sink, making the whole thing shake. They looked over, eyes wide. “Sorry!”
“It’s okay Crona. You looked like you had something on your mind,” she fished for information. Something in her was tight and anxious. Crona flushed a dull grey, which was always creepy to see.
“Oh. Um. No, not really. Just tired,” they said. The door swung open and Crona ducked out before Maka could ask them anything else. She looked back into the mirror, green eyes large and worried. She didn’t like how this felt. Not at all.
----
Maka didn’t know what to do.
So she did what she always did. She read. The romance section of the library, a section she rarely used, was raided in an afternoon. She pulled out supernatural romance, queer romance, holiday, small town, sci-fi, enemies to lovers. Maka realized that most of it was distinctly medium and almost no help in helping her. The best friends in the books were almost always uncritically supportive, or if they weren’t it was based on reasonable suspicion. None of them mentioned the painful splinter of jealousy. It made her feel even worse when she thought about how Crona had never seemed at all jealous of Maka and Soul’s relationship.
She tossed her most recent one to the end of the bed and sighed heavily.
A knock on the door and Soul leaned in.
“You good?”
Maka looked away. “Fine.”
Soul sighed and walked in closer, picking up the book and looking at it. “Mister Night?” He said flipping it over to read the back, eyebrows raising higher. “Oh-kay. This is different.”
Maka flushed hotly and snatched it back. “Shut up, it’s for research!”
Soul stared at her. “Research?”
Maka groaned loudly and flopped back on her bed. She fought the childish impulse to kick her feet like a toddler throwing a fit. “I’m trying to- to-” she started and stuttered. “Trying to figure out what’s going on with Kid and Crona,” she mumbled.
Soul sat down on the bed, flipping through the book. “You mean Kid’s big fat crush on Crona?” he casually scooped up her legs and draped them over his lap, Soul’s go to move when he wanted to comfort her.
“His what?” Maka looked over. Soul had stopped on a page and was reading it with a dubious expression.
“Yeah. He basically never shuts up about it. At this point it’s like please just tell them and put the rest of us out of our misery.” He tilted his head. “Good use of the word turgid.” He squeezed one of her ankles gently.
Maka gaped at her partner. “What do you mean he talks about it all the time?”
Soul shrugged. “Like in the changing rooms and at practice. If you talk to Liz he’s been love sick for months and she’s about to tear her hair out about it. Have you really not noticed?”
Maka smacked him on the shoulder out of habit. “No! I though this was like, brand new?” She leaned forward, clutching his arm so she could press her face into his shirt.
“Brand new to you maybe, Maka. Did Crona tell you anything? Because that would put some of us out of our misery if they could make the first move on Kid.” Soul snorted. “Fess up, did they come to you asking how to confess?”
Maka’s stomach sank. She shook her head against his arm. “Not really. I didn’t know anything was going on,” she mumbled. Maka glanced up at him.
Soul looked puzzled. “At all?”
Maka shook her head. “Am I a bad person because I didn’t know?” She fretted. “Oh death what if Crona thinks I don’t care?”
“Nah. They think you hung the sun and moon personally. I think Crona could forgive you anything,” Soul said. Maka looked away and wiped a hand across her eyes, quickly. The romance book laid between them on the bed, the dark haired hero cradling a woman’s whose blouse was halfway down her chest.
“What do you think I should do?” She asked. “Should I try to help them, you know, get together?”
Soul hummed, “I don’t think so. Just let them figure it out together. But maybe don’t tell Liz I told you not to interfere.”
Maka giggled and let her partner pull her to her feet and herd her to the kitchen. Soul wrapped his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her temple.
---
The next few weeks Maka paid attention. Not just to Crona but also to Kid.
She began to realize that she must have been blind not to see how Kid’s eyes carefully tracked Crona when they were in class together. His stare was so embarrassingly blatant that she could see why it was driving Liz crazy. Several times she had to stop herself from poking Crona so they could see how the young Reaper was mooning over them. When they were in a group after classes or missions he seemed to find reasons to sit close to Crona or linger near them. He worked on drawing them into one on one conversations. Maka was pretty sure she even saw him shoulder check Black Star out of the way so he could take a seat next to Crona on the bench when they were all playing basketball.
But Maka also noticed something Kid was clearly missing.
Crona was stared just as badly. Especially when Kid was called on to do demonstrations at the front of class. They would lean forward, lip tucked between their teeth and eyes glowing. They would approach him (if Maka was already taken) to partner up in classes. She even glanced over at the right moment to see that Crona had absently drawn a tiny familiar looking skull in the corner of their notes.
Maka waited impatiently for one or the other to realize but as the weeks passed she slowly realized that both somehow had gotten so stuck in their heads about it that it was unlikely to happen. She realized she was bursting to want to talk about it with Crona, to see what exactly they thought made Kid so special, how they might want to ask him out, what to wear, where to go. That seemed like the sort of thing best friends would do, the sort of thing she couldn’t imagine doing with Soul.
So Maka, ignoring Soul’s advice, decided to meddle.
The first step in her plan was easy. She just needed to get Liz and Patti on board. Maka made her move at lunch, cutting Ox in line so she could stand behind Liz.
“Sooo I heard that Kid has a crush.”
Liz whipped her head around, eyebrows raised. “Yeah? Did you also hear water makes things wet and that you shouldn’t wear white past Labor day?”
Maka snorted. “He’s not very subtle is he?” She glanced over her shoulder. Kid was already sitting at their table. He never ate lunch from the cafeteria so he was looking at the entrance, puppy guarding the seat across from him.
“Oh my god tell me about it. If I need to hear one more thing about Cr-” Liz cut herself off, glancing at Maka. “Um. Do you know who he has a crush on?”
Maka raised her eyebrows. “Was I not supposed to know?”
Liz squinted down at her. “I don’t know. Are you gonna show up at the Gallows and fight him?”
“Is he planning on cheating on Crona?” She asked. Liz shook her head emphatically. “Then nope.”
“Oh thank the lord.” Liz sighed and whistled at Patti, who was sitting next to Kid already. “Pat, we’re sitting outside,” she called out. Patti looked at Maka, grinned widely and bounced to her feet. Kid seemed to barely notice as both his weapons left him alone.
“She knows,” Liz told her sister who fist pumped.
“Finally! Did you clue in Crona? Cause otherwise I think we’ll be waiting till we’re older than LD for Kid to move his ass,” Patti said.
Maka shook her head as they sat at a table, shaded by a broad white and black stripped umbrella. “Um no. I haven’t told Crona. But I did have another idea,” Maka said and both sisters leaned in with spookily eerie grins.
“Well don’t hold back Maka. Lay it on us,” Liz purred.
---
With Liz and Patti in the loop all Maka needed to do know was wait for the right mission to show up. She bribed Barbara to give her first dibs on a certain mission. Then she and Liz worked each of the independent angles.
“You get Kid,” Liz told her. “Frankly I think part of the reason he hasn’t said shit is because he’s terrified of you.”
Maka was flattered by this information, in a strange way. I can make even Lord Death’s own son tremble at the idea of the Maka Chop. I can live with that.
Meanwhile Liz and Patti were going to try to getting closer to Crona. Maka felt a little uneasy about letting them loose on her best friend but Liz insisted she “trust the process.”
Maka caught up with Kid outside of the Death Room, tucking her book away. She hated to admit it but she had started reading some of the books she’d checked out as research in earnest. Some of them were pretty good. Kid startled slightly when he saw her but covered smoothly.
“Maka. Did you need to see my Father?” he asked.
Maka smoothed down her skirt and smiled. “Nope. I actually need to talk to you so I thought I’d walk you home!” She could see Kid swallow but he nodded and actually offered her an arm. They walked out into evening light, the days warmth still radiating off the buildings.
Kid was quiet but Maka could feel the slight line of tension running through his body. “What did you want to speak to me about?” He asked as they started the long walk down the stairs. Neither of them needed to focus to keep their balance so Maka got a clear look at Kid’s profile when she responded.
“I know about your crush on Crona.”
Kid stopped so suddenly he almost made them both slip. In the sunset his golden eyes glowed but they were wide and alarmed.
“M-my what? On who?” He stuttered. “Who on Earth told-” Maka stared at him and it took only moment for Kid’s bluster to die out completely. He hung his head. “Yes. Yes, it’s all true, all the things I’ve said about C-Crona are true. I’m a pig, a louse! If only you knew the thoughts I’ve had-”
Maka winced and cut Kid off. “Ew! I don’t want to know, Kid. Like, ever.” She shuddered. “I just wanted to let you know I’m fine with it. You have my blessing. Unless you hurt them and then I’ll be forced to hunt you down and cut your hair with Soul.”
Kid raised his head, golden eyes glowing. “I would let you kill me, if I hurt Crona.”
Maka reeled back, eyes wide in surprise. She’d expected a protest, promises that always crumbled in the face of temptation. But looking into Kid’s eyes Maka couldn’t see anything except a crazed intensity. Oh. Well okay then. She smiled and helped Kid to his feet.
“Alright the thing you need to remember is that Crona, before they came here had never had anyone be affectionate with them, and they are easily overwhelmed. But you need to keep calm and just be honest with them. Be patient but you might need to lead them a little bit, so just be honest too, okay?” Maka started rattling off all of her knowledge about Crona as they walked down the stairs, Kid hanging on every word as though he was committing it to memory.
----
“Makin’ a chicken bake for tonight,” Soul said when Maka got home. He cast a smirk over his shoulder. “Liz and Patti kidnapped Crona. I’m sure you don’t know anything about that, eh?”
Maka shrugged and skipped into the kitchen. “Soul Evans I don’t know what you are accusing me of at all,” she chirped. She playfully tugged on the dangling strings of Soul’s apron. His shoulders hunched around his ears, blush luminous. Maka leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “How do you feel about a double date in the future?” She asked playfully.
----
“I um. I really don’t think I can deal with this,” Crona said to Liz. They felt as though they had swallowed live worms, full of a hot-cold squirming. Crona thought they might cry. They raised a hand to touch what Liz had done to their hair, carefully evening out their bangs and drawn slight black lines around their eyes. She’d also dabbed on some silvery powder on their cheeks and stiff ridge of their collar bone. Patti had watched with manic glee.
“Oh my god, Kid is gonna jizz in his pants,” she said.
“Ew! I don’t wanna think about that,” Liz said as Crona flushed grey. She sat back and cast a critical eye over them. “But I think you might be right Patti…”
Liz patted their shoulder and smiled encouragingly. “You got this, Crona.” She steered them into the Gallows incredibly intimidating and beautiful Gardens. “Just stand right here and wait for our signal, okay? Everything is gonna be great.”
Now alone in the backyard, Crona wanted to run away but the words Liz and Patti had repeated to them all afternoon echoed in their mind. Don’t worry. He likes you too.
Crona bit their lip and leaned back on their heels trying to find their courage. Maka wouldn’t want me to run away. She’d say I should stay and hear Kid out… Crona focused on that thought, chewing on their bottom lip and trying to ease the anxiety pulsing through them.
Crona was positioned at one end of a long shallow pound, shaped in a perfect rectangle that had Death’s mask inlaid at the bottom. Crona looked into it, the pound reflected the stars overhead. Perfect. Symmetrical. Crona looked out of place against it and they sighed. There was no way someone like Kid was harboring secret feelings for someone like them. Feelings of disgust maybe, they thought, morose. They sighed. I should leave.
“Crona?”
They whirled around. Kid was standing behind them. His golden eyes widen and blushed pink. He cleared his throat. “Ah. Um. Liz and Patti said you were out here, waiting for me.” Crona watched as he quickly glanced at them again. “You look-”
“This was Liz!” Crona said, thrusting their hands out to stop him. “I-I don’t know why but she said I should dress like this.”
Kid’s blush intensified. “I think you look nice,” he blurted out. “But if you don’t like it-”
“I-I like it if you like it-”
“I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable-”
“It’s no-not uncomfortable, just different and I can’t always handle different.”
“Handle different,” Kid finished in sync with Crona. They both feel silent, like a blade had cut off both their words. Crona relaxed slightly. They could see Kid was almost as nervous as they were. Kid smiled slightly and sighed. “I was hoping to make more of a sophisticated entrance.”
Crona giggled. “You’re always sophisticated, Kid.”
He offered them his arm. “Well I’m flattered you think so, Crona. Let’s sit. It’s not gentlemanly to let a visitor stand in the cold.” He guided them over to a well maintained but lonely looking gazebo that was set back from the pond. Crona sat on a wooden bench and watched as Kid found a lantern. He flipped the switch and it lit up, flooding the space with a pale silver light.
“There! Now I can see you properly,” Kid said. He glanced at them with a smile then stopped. His golden eyes widened. Crona looked down, flustered.
“What?” they mumbled. Crona nearly flinched back when there was a sudden touch under their chin. Crona’s eyes darted up only to be caught and held by Kid’s gaze. His finger was tucked under their chin, raising their face. His eyes were fixed on them, pupils dilated. This close and Crona could smell him. He smelled like pine and sunshine. It reminded Crona of days in the park with everyone and they relaxed again. He’s always making me do that.
“I’m sorry Crona. But I just needed to see you up close,” he murmured. His gaze darted all over their face. He brought his other hand up to cup their face. His fingers didn’t make Crona’s skin crawl like touch sometimes did. Kid’s skin was warm and soft. They raised their hands to cover his and noted how much bigger theirs were than his.
“Why?” Crona asked, voice breathy.
Kid let out a disbelieving chuckle. His eyes glowed. “Because you are perfect.”
“I’m not!” Crona said.
Kid nodded fervently, “Oh but you are. I’m looking at you and I can only see perfection.”
Crona tried to turn away again. “Then I-I think you need your eyes checked, Kid. I’m a mess, you know.” Kid turned them back to him.
“And you think I’m not?” Kid asked. “No, I mean I think you are perfect.”
Crona huffed. “Whats the difference?”
“It means I think you are perfect for me,” Kid said. He was smiling and Crona couldn’t help but smile back even as tears pricked at the back of their eyes. Kid leaned up. “I’ll prove it to you, Crona.”
“How?” they sniffed.
Kid leaned closer. “Close your eyes, please?”
Crona let out an uncomfortable hum and shut their eyes. In the darkness behind their lids, Crona could hear their pulse, the crickets in the grass and Kid’s breath. They resisted the urge draw away. Crona’s breath caught when a warm soft pressure landed on their lips. Crona’s eyes flew open. Oh!
Kid was kissing them. Kid was kissing them. His eyes were half open, the golden shine dimmed slightly. Crona timidly pressed back, their hands tightening over Kid’s, holding him in place, despite their misgivings. The kiss was warm like the sun and Kid tasted slightly of coffee. He drew back and Crona leaned down slightly, chasing the sensation.
Kid’s breath ghosted across Crona’s lips, warm and sweet like a summer breeze. They glimpsed hope shining in his eyes and something in them snapped, like that line in the sand being erased by Maka. Crona grabbed Kid’s shoulders, bringing their mouths back together. Kid gasped in delight, wrapping his hands around their waist. Crona tilted their head, chasing more of his mouth. Kid tilted his chin in the other way and suddenly his lips opened and Crona was falling, falling, falling, into him. His lips moved against theirs, the pressure going from uncertain and hesitant to firm and confident. Crona tried to copy his movements. They startled when his tongue tentatively ran along their lower lip. They opened their mouth farther and Kid’s tongue slipped in. Crona made a noise and they parted with a soft pop. Crona was panting and Kid looked stunned, eyes wide.
“Well. Do you believe me now?” He asked, voice soft. He was still holding onto Crona, as if he was worried they would try to escape him now.
Crona hesitated. “But why?” They shook their head. “You could have an-anyone and I’m strange. And broken.”
Kid fervently shook his head. “You aren’t broken and you aren’t any stranger than anyone else here. Most people think I’m strange.”
Crona frowned. That didn’t seem right. “You aren’t strange at all! You’re polite and kind and smart. I think you’re-” they cut themselves off and flushed because Kid was smiling in a knowing way.
“I think that we are seeing the same thing from the opposite perspective,” he said, stroking his thumbs over their cheeks. “Could we agree that perhaps we should know one another? As people?”
Crona bit their lip. “I don’t want to disappoint you,” they muttered.
Kid leaned up and kissed Crona again. “I just want you. Be that and you never will,” he insisted.
Crona looked into his eyes. The golden color reminded them of the desert around Death City with the sun reflecting on the landscape. It was the most beautiful thing Crona had ever seen when Maka took them up to the top of the DWMA. But now, Kid’s eyes were beyond beautiful. His gaze was the whole universe. Crona nodded faintly, flushing.
“Okay, Kid. I’ll be me and you’ll be you.”
Kid smiled and Crona felt like it was a spot light, just for them. He pulled them close and they embraced again. From the house where Liz and Patti were shamelessly trying to spy, it looked they shared one shadow.
- FIN