Info:
Originally written Mid-Feburary of 2022; revised late July of the same year.
A Soul Eater fanfiction, focusing on the friendship between Death the Kid and Soul Eater Evans.
Generally lighthearted, though if misunderstandings and some arguing bother you, this might not be for you.
DISCLAIMER: Soul Eater and all of its characters are created by Atsushi Ohkubo; I'm just borrowing them for fun.
Words: 3,941
How the hell do I always end up in these situations?
Soul was being dramatic, of course. Things could have been worse (he'd been through worse), and he knew that. But still, in that moment, all he could think of was how awkward it was and how much he wished he had put his foot down and just told Maka NO.
(He knew that he never could have. That girl could be utterly terrifying when she wanted to be.)
Stein had asked that someone stay behind and help tidy up the classroom after a particularly messy lesson. Maka had volunteered on Soul’s behalf (something about how he needed to start taking on more responsibilities and how a change of pace would be good for him - he’d felt too betrayed to properly listen to her reasoning). The idea of not only cleaning but also spending time alone with Stein... wasn’t exactly appealing. But, while the guy was creepy as all hell, he wasn’t really that bad; plus, how long could it actually take? It was just one classroom.
So, he had rationalized, while the situation wasn’t ideal, it was survivable. And, hey, maybe Maka was right; a change of pace might not be half bad.
...Until Kid had shown up. He hadn’t even realized anyone else had volunteered; Maka would say it served him right for not paying attention to his surroundings.
And, sure, the guy could be annoying, but they were still friends. On any other day, that would have been fine, too. Welcome, even. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the two hadn’t exactly been getting along as of late; Soul had to stop himself from cringing when he looked at the other boy and remembered all of the things they had said to each other just a few days before.
He couldn’t even remember who had started it, or what it was supposed to be about - but, if he was honest, he didn’t really care anymore. He wished he had never said any of the things he had said to Kid. He wished that the things Kid had said hadn’t gotten to him so much, or that he had at least been able to remain level-headed enough to not respond in kind.
The whole argument had been kind of a blur; escalating quickly, with the two of them feeding off of each other's anger. He could remember with clarity, though, how it ended. He almost wished he had forgotten it entirely.
They had been mere centimeters away from each other, gradually increasing in volume but still not quite yelling. Kid had jabbed a finger into his chest, had said something stupid about how he couldn’t believe an organized person like Maka ended up with a partner like him (neither cared to remember the exact wording). Soul had seen red. He had pushed Kid away from him and had asked what that was supposed to mean. Then, before he even had a chance to respond, Soul had yelled something even stupider about feeling bad for Liz and Patty, having to deal with a weirdo like Kid all the time. Yeah, not either of their best moments.
After that, Kid had spluttered, seemingly debating with himself whether to be shocked or angry. He seemed to settle on angry, before saying he didn’t want to speak to him anymore and slamming the door behind him. Soul had stood there for a second, not really processing what had happened yet. At the time, he had only scoffed and hadn’t thought about the lasting impact that argument might have had on his relationship with Kid.
He hadn’t started to feel guilty until a few hours later. After his anger had simmered down and the dust had settled, he had lain awake thinking it over. Thinking back to how it had ended, he had hoped Kid had only been speaking in the heat of the moment, and that he would get a chance to apologize for his own bullheadedness.
Several days later, things weren’t looking so good for him. They had barely looked at each other since then, and their partners had noticed. Almost everyone had noticed, actually. Not a word had been exchanged between them, and whenever one of their friends had proposed they all hung out together, one of them always ended up making some lame excuse before hurrying away.
Despite all of that and the awkward tension in the air, when he looked at Kid’s face, it revealed no discomfort (or any feelings at all, really) at their situation.
Instead of mentioning anything that had happened the other day, Kid just glanced up at the wallclock and cleared his throat.
“It’s about 4 o’clock. We should probably get going.”
Soul nodded, looking at the clock himself before detaching himself from the wall.
They walked through the halls for a little while, looking at the different room numbers. The clicking of their shoes against the smooth floor was the only sound to be heard. It was more than a little awkward, but if he was honest, Soul was a bit worried about what would happen if they actually tried to have a conversation. Less than eager to accidentally spark another argument, he let the near-silence settle itself between them.
After a while, Soul spoke up, pointing to the door to their left.
“I think this is it.”
Kid nodded and turned the handle, the door coming open with a soft creak that was amplified by the building’s near-emptiness.
After Soul had followed him in, the door closed with a soft click. Kid glanced at the entryway for a moment before turning back around and glancing about the classroom. Spotless. Crap.
“...This is the wrong room. Let’s head back.”
No shit.
“‘Kay.”
Soul turned around and tried to open the door, but the handle barely budged, no matter how much he tried to twist or shake it.
“Uhh... Kid?”
“Hm?”
“The knob’s stuck.”
Kid walked over, his mouth twisted downwards and his brows furrowed. It was hard to tell with him sometimes, but Soul was pretty sure it was only one part irritation and two parts confusion.
“Let me try.”
"Go right ahead, man.”
To their collective surprise, though, he didn’t have any more luck.
“Soul, this isn't funny.”
"Hey, what'd I do?!"
Kid turned around to reveal that his expression had shifted to all irritation that was set to change to genuine anger at a moment's notice. Crap, this was exactly what he had wanted to avoid! Why do these things always happen to him?
"The door!”
"Uh, yeah, what about it? Are you saying it's my fault it got stuck?"
"No, I'm saying it's locked!"
"Wait, really?"
"Wh- yes, really! Aren't you the one who locked it?"
"What?! No! Why would I do that?"
"I don't know, Soul, but it would have had to be you since you were the last one to walk through it!"
"Well I didn't, okay? Either way, why are you freaking out over it? We can just unlock it, can't we?"
Kid seemed to be a bit sobered at that, and muttered something he couldn't quite catch.
“Huh?”
He rolled his eyes a little and spoke again, louder this time.
”You need a key for both sides of the classroom doors. Though, I’m admittedly unsure of where you’d get one."
”I’m telling you, it wasn’t me! Also, what’s that supposed to mean?!”
”Nothing! Whatever! Just forget about it.”
”...Wait, we need a what to what?”
”A key. Weren’t you listening?”
Great. Just great. Okay. Fine. Alright. This was fine. As long as they didn’t freak out, everything would be perfectly fine.
“Oh.”
As long as they just stayed calm, they could figure out what to do and get out just fine.
“What the hell kind of door doesn’t unlock from the inside?!”
Or not.
Kid sighed, although he couldn’t help but feel the same.
“I’m not entirely sure either, although I believe it has something to do with making sure no students try to leave in the middle of class. But, if you really didn’t lock it, then maybe we should try it one more time, just to be sure.”
“Sure, yeah.” Soul was only half-listening, still just confused as to why anyone thought a lock like that was a good idea. Seriously, no disrespect (all disrespect), but there’s no way that not a single person saw something like this coming.
Kid motioned for him to come forward. They both tried another time, putting all their strength into it. Still, though, their efforts were fruitless.
“Damn it...! This sucks!”
...Wait. There was an obvious solution here. Soul rubbed at his eyes. God, he was a real idiot sometimes.
“Actually, what are we even doing? I can just use my scythe form to cut through-”
“No!”
You have got to be kidding me.
“What? Why?! It would be so easy!” Soul tried not to raise his voice (if they were going to get anywhere they had to stop bickering), but he was starting to get frustrated; there was a simple solution right in front of them. Why the hell shouldn’t they use it?
“It’s destruction of property! Plus, it’s entirely unnecessary! There are several staff members still left in the building. If we just make enough sound to get their attention, they can unlock the door for us.”
Soul still felt that his plan was easier, but he had to admit that Kid had a point. Plus, he really didn’t want to start another argument. So, he just sighed and let the tension slip out of his stance.
“Fine, fine, whatever you say.”
Kid just huffed and turned away. He started banging on the door and yelling that they got stuck and needed help. Soul joined in after a moment. It looked ridiculous just watching, but cool guys don’t leave their friends to do embarrassing things on their own (even if they’re still kind of pissed off at them).
Thinking back on it, Soul wasn’t really sure when he had started thinking of Kid as his friend. They just sort of ended up spending a lot of time around each other, so he supposed it was some sort of friendship osmosis. Or something. Ugh, Maka was rubbing off on him.
He wondered if that was why they struggled to get along when it was just the two of them. They usually only hung out with each other when the rest of the group was there, too.
In any case, he had wanted to apologize to Kid for the things that he had said ever since they had fought, but he just couldn’t find a good time to bring it up or even the courage to do so. Even if they hadn’t been avoiding each other like the plague, it was hard to admit when you were wrong. Why did being a good friend have to be so damn hard?
It didn’t take too long for Ms. Marie to hear them, bringing Soul out of his thoughts.
“Oh my! What happened?”
Kid took initiative.
“We were going to meet up with Stein, but we ended up in the wrong classroom. It seems that the door locked behind us.”
“Alright, well, don’t you worry - I’ll just unlock it for you and, uh...”
As she trailed off, Soul began to feel nervous.
“Uh... Ms. Marie...?”
“...Um, I’m sorry, boys... I don’t have my keys with me. But I’ll go get them and be right back, so just sit tight!”
Soul internally cried. The universe seemed determined to make him suffer that day.
“Okay...”
He tried not to sound too upset. After all, it wasn’t her fault. Plus, she said she’d be right back. It’d be fine. It would.
He heard her footsteps get progressively quieter as she once more said “wait right there!”
Both boys resisted the urge to point out the fact that they couldn't exactly go anywhere else.
They waited in awkward silence for a little while. Usually, Soul would have broken it, but he still couldn’t tell if Kid wanted to talk to him at all. Their previous mini-arguments certainly didn’t make things any less awkward. Neither had said anything in the way of casual conversation the whole time that they were there.
Kid himself didn’t seem too keen on chatting, either, although he had always seemed to give off this “do not approach” vibe when Soul first met him. He had since realized that he just had the worst case of resting bitch face he had ever seen. So, for all he knew, the opposite could be true.
He glanced at the clock to see how much time had passed. He couldn’t remember when exactly Ms. Marie had left, but he was starting to get the sense that, however long it had been, it was approaching “too long.”
Of course, his perception of time wasn’t the best, especially when he was bored; his brain was sometimes funny like that. So, he gave her the benefit of the doubt.
Just as he was starting to wonder how much trouble he’d get himself into for breaking the door open anyway, a tentative knock made both him and Kid jump.
“So, uh…”
Well, that didn’t sound good. Soul felt his shoulders involuntarily slump.
What now?
“I’m really sorry about this, but it seems I’ve lost my keys... I can’t find them anywhere... Don’t worry, though! I’ll find them as soon as I can! I’m so sorry to make you wait again... But I’m sure it won’t be too much longer!”
After a moment of subdued silence, Kid spoke up.
“It’s quite alright, Ms. Marie. I’m sure they couldn’t have gone far.”
They heard her breathe a relieved sigh.
“Yeah... yeah, you’re right, Kid. I won’t be long, I swear! Just trust me, okay?”
For some reason, it didn’t really feel like she was just talking about the keys anymore.
Soul decided that he’d better say something too. Ms. Marie couldn’t see his face, but he didn’t want her to think that he was upset at her or anything. She was nice; he doubted there was much of anything she could do to make him genuinely upset with her.
“Yeah, sure thing.”
Once more, Ms. Marie’s retreating footsteps echoed through the hallway before an uncomfortable silence blanketed the room like a thick sheet of snow.
After a few minutes of just sitting around and stewing in the awkwardness, Soul coughed into his fist to catch Kid’s attention. He got a jump in response, making him feel momentarily guilty, before Kid turned around to face him, seemingly unaffected.
“Um... so. It might be a while until Ms. Marie gets back.”
“Yes, most likely,” Kid assented, raising an eyebrow in question of where exactly Soul was going with this.
“Uh, so we should probably find something to do. I guess.”
Kid blinked a few times before offering a simple “alright.”
“Right. So…” Soul looked around the room, trying to find anything that they could possibly use to entertain themselves. After a few seconds, his eyes halted as they landed on the chalkboard. Soul turned back to Kid.
“You, uh... you ever played tic-tac-toe?”
Usually, that wouldn't be a question that needed asking. But Soul could never really be sure what things Kid had or hadn't experienced, as his upbringing hadn't exactly been... normal. It could be hard to remember that Kid was much different from the rest of them sometimes, but other times the fact that some thing seemed so foreign to him reminded him of that difference.
Kid’s eyebrows went slightly up, as if surprised that he actually found something, which absolutely did not make his blood boil just a little. Really. His head tilted a little to the side, as if he had to think about it for a moment.
“Yes, a few times, with Patty.”
Soul nodded and questioningly gestured to the chalkboard. Kid shrugged and walked up to it. Cool.
The only times they spoke for a good while were when they asked if the other wanted to go first. Otherwise, the only sound in the room was that of chalk being dragged across the board.
It didn’t take long for them to run out of room. The wins were split pretty evenly, with most of them ending in ties. Soul yawned and stretched, his shoulders and back popping with the motion. Kid glanced over at him and set his chalk down.
“Should we erase the board and continue, or did you want to stop and do something else?”
Soul thought for a moment, eyeing the board. He was getting kind of bored of this. Plus, the near-silence was killing him.
“How about we do something else? Have you ever played 20 Questions?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. I’ll go first...”
They went back and forth for a good while before it finally started to get boring. Soul had initially suggested it because it was the first thing to pop into his head. He hadn’t expected to actually enjoy it that much.
Kid had laughed, too, when Soul had stumped him with ‘door hinge.’ Actually, full-out laughed. Either Kid was going insane from being stuck in here, or he was actually having fun, because Soul couldn’t recall ever hearing him laugh like that before (granted, he hadn’t actually known him for all that long, but they did spend a fair amount of time around each other).
After that, they played ‘I-Spy’ for a grand total of 3 rounds before getting bored again. There wasn’t a lot of diversity in the scenery around them.
After that, they sat in silence for a few minutes, with Soul bouncing his leg and Kid staring intently at the ceiling tiles. Soul wasn’t quite sure what he was doing or thinking - maybe he was counting them.
It was super lame. What kind of guy couldn’t just talk to someone that he thought of as a friend?
Come to think of it, though, even if they hadn’t been fighting earlier, Soul wasn’t entirely sure that they would have had all that much to talk about. They didn’t exactly have too many things in common. The thought bummed him out a little.
Surprisingly, it was Kid who broke the silence, tearing his eyes away from the ceiling but not facing Soul directly just yet.
“So... Soul?”
“Yeah? What’s up?”
“What, uh…” Kid fidgeted with his hands for a moment. Were they finally going to talk about it? Soul braced himself. He was never good at emotional stuff, but he felt an obligation to try.
“What are you… doing this weekend?”
Soul blinked. Oh. Okay.
“Uh… I dunno. Laundry, mostly. Maka was talking about grocery shopping and maybe going to the bookstore if she has some extra cash. She might drag me along. What about you?”
Kid seemed surprised that he got an actual answer. Youch.
“Oh, um… I’m not sure either. I’ll probably do some cleaning.”
Soul nodded, unsure of what else to say. They both looked away, things quickly growing even more awkward. Soul huffed an annoyed sigh. He was tired of this. They should be able to work out their problems instead of awkwardly dancing around each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Time to be the bigger man. Eugh.
“Alright, I think it’s high time we cut the crap.”
Kid flinched a little, turning towards him with a shocked expression. It always surprised Soul how Kid always looked so bored and deadpan, yet he was so intensely expressive whenever his emotions actually ended up showing.
“What, uh, what do you mean…?”
“Kid, I... Ugh, I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry. About the other day. ...And for being so testy earlier. That was really uncool of me. I got too caught up in myself to realize how shitty I was being.”
Kid blinked, then glanced away, rubbing at his shoulder. He turned back to Soul, folding his arms and resting them on the desk.
“I’m sorry too, Soul. The things I said were uncalled for. You’re very talented, and Maka is lucky to have you as her weapon. And I shouldn’t have been so quick to accuse you. I hope you can forgive me.”
Soul let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t really expected anything in particular, but still, that went better than he had thought it would.
“Consider yourself forgiven.”
Kid smiled at him, visibly relaxing.
After that, they were able to talk a little less awkwardly. At times they struggled to find a good topic. But, for the most part, Soul was pleasantly surprised to find that Kid was actually a really good conversation partner. It was almost funny how simple it was; the both of them had been so worried over nothing.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. The boys were quick to rush over. Salvation!
“Ms. Marie?”
“Guess again,” giggled Patty.
Kid and Soul looked at each other, seeing their own confusion reflected in the other’s expression.
“I came to ask if you guys made up yet.”
What?
“What?”
Kid took the words right out of Soul’s mouth. He blinked, dumbfounded, before speaking up.
“Hey, wait a minute. You mean to tell me you planned this?”
Another girl, one he knew very well, said, “You’re just now figuring that out?”
Maka. Who all was involved in this? Before he could wonder about that for too long, she spoke again.
“Anyway. Did you or did you not?” she asked impatiently.
For a moment, Soul deliberated asking Kid to act like they hadn’t, just to spite her. Hmm… tempting. Instead, he just sighed.
“Yeah.”
Her tone became accusatory. “And you’re not just saying that?”
“No! Jeez, Maka, give me a little credit.”
“Okay, okay. Just making sure…”
They heard the door unlock and watched as it swung open and into the hallway. Patty was still giggling without restraint and Liz looked to be holding back some chuckles of her own. Meanwhile, Maka stood with a hand on her hip, although she looked more relieved than anything. Ms. Marie stood to the side, looking slightly apologetic, but glad.
Kid stood next to Soul, still looking confused and now a little annoyed. Soul was about to ask if he was okay, but then he just started laughing. Completely unrestrained, not unlike earlier.
Soul soon joined in after he got over his initial surprise. Kid’s laugh was the kind that was funny just on its own. Inexperienced, loud, and utterly undignified. In other words, it didn’t fit his image at all, but that was part of its charm. Soul couldn’t help but laugh right along with him, thinking of how nice it was to be able to see Kid so loose.
He really did have an ugly laugh, like insanely ugly. Soul had never heard anything like it. He couldn’t help but hope that he would get to hear it many more times.
They both griped to their partners about how annoying and unnecessary what they had done was. But once they were in private, they quietly thanked them.
It was relieving, to say the least. Plus, they both felt like they got to know each other much better.
It was nice.
...They also hoped the girls had spent the time they were stuck helping Stein clean up that classroom.
Eh, I’m sure it’s fine.
(It was not fine; it had completely slipped their minds. They all had to help with janitorial duties for the next two weeks to make it up. Still, though, a small price to pay. ...But that still didn’t mean Soul would ever let Maka live it down.)