Venus as a Boy (~a KiMa Soul Eater story~)

Undeniable

"Shit!" Soul swore again. "Aren't you supposed to have like ninja senses man? How come Patti always sneaks up on you?"

"I dunno, she's like a demon or something, always springing up when my godlike mind is on bigger matters."

Patti giggled, and Soul gave up on the conversation with Black Star for the moment. He joined Liz, Maka, and Kid at the table and sat down next to Liz, who was frantically typing something on her phone.

"No hot burrito guy?" Soul asked.

"Nope," said Maka. "But the food is really good!"

It must have been, because even Kid was eating like a normal human being, picking the burrito up and everything. Usually he got into these weird patterns with a knife and fork, needing to eat things evenly from both sides. For some reason it really irritated Soul when he did stuff like that. Other than putting his napkin in his lap, Kid seemed to have let go of all of his prissy and obsessive table manners today.

Patti and Black Star joined them with their food, a truly massive number of enchiladas, and Tsubaki joined them a couple of minutes later with her own taco salad. Everyone was shoveling food down happily, though Liz was picking at her plate of tamales.

"I thought he worked on Tuesdays!" she groaned. "But I guess I must have got it wrong."

"Well," said Soul, "what did the girl at the counter say?"

Liz colored. "I was going to ask her when he'd be in, but I kind of, well, l-forgot-what-his-name-was." She muttered this last part into her sweet tea, but Soul heard it and snorted.

Maka must have heard it too.

"Wait, you hauled us all the way over to this side of town-making us all late for class-for a guy whose name you can't even remember?" she asked incredulously. Maka looked at Kid and gestured to Liz as if to ask if he could believe it.

Kid just rolled his eyes and shrugged. Liz at least had the grace to look a little sheepish.

Patti giggled. "The food is good though!" She took a hearty bite of enchilada. "Mmmm."

"Damn straight," agreed Black Star around a mouthful of the same.

Liz gave Maka a coy look, "Besides, going with me to check out that guy wasn't the only reason you came, right?"

Maka raised her eyebrow in confusion. "I guess I didn't mind skipping Marie-sensei's class since I didn't really want to listen to another lecture on infant and toddler nutrition."

Patti swallowed another bite. "Say Kid, whatever happened to that coat you wore for a while?"

Maka narrowed her eyes. Hadn't Patti mentioned that earlier? She shifted her gaze to Liz, who was looking at Patti with a brow raised in question.

"Oh. Well, I decided that it was too inconvenient for daily use. And if I'm wearing a cloak anyway, it's pretty much redundant."

Kid didn't seem phased by Patti's random question. In fact, she asked random questions all the time. He turned back to his food and Patti leered at Maka over Kid's shoulder.

"So can ya get it? I wanna see it!"

Kid sat up and looked back at Patti. Everyone was eating their food except for Maka and Liz who were still wondering what Patti was up to.

"What? Now?" he asked. Kid looked thoughtful for a minute. "I could probably get it." His eyes narrowed skeptically. "Are you asking to borrow it? You know what I've told you about using my things Patti."

"Nah! I just want you to put it on, jeez!"

"I don't-"

Patti leaned way too far into Kid's personal space and growled, "Just. Do. It."

"Okay, okay." Kid set down his food and stood up. Everyone looked at him, but Kid seemed to be responding to Liz's look of inquiry when he said, "Patti wants me to do that thing, so I have to stand or it might not. . .be good."

Maka caught on to what was happening. "Wait, when she asked if you could get it, she meant right now? Wow, can you really do that?"

Kid took a breath to respond but Maka was already answering her own question.

"Well I guess it must be the same principle as summoning your skateboard, and we've all seen you do that before. Does the item already have to be in a certain alternate dimension for you to get it? I mean, is your coat sitting at home right now or is it in some alternate pocket of space and time?"

Kid once again started to respond, but Patti held up a hand. "Maka, shut up and let Kid get the coat."

Maka glared at Patti but closed her mouth. Patti smiled.

Kid shrugged, and closed his eyes. A slight breeze ruffled his high contrast bangs though they were inside a draftless space. Maka shivered. Kid's eyes snapped open at the same moment as he stood straight up, and Maka could have sworn his gold irises pulsed for a beat. His serious expression bored straight into her though Maka knew he was not seeing her. His Soul expanded. Maka sucked in an involuntary breath. A wave of something crashed over her. Her pulse was racing and she licked her lips. Then he was wearing his long dark coat, pulling at the cuffs to make sure they were even, and Maka realized that she was staring with her mouth open in a little "o" of amazement. She shut her mouth but knew that a crimson blush must be staining her cheeks. Patti was smirking at her, completely uninterested in Kid's coat now that he'd gotten it. Oh. So much that hadn't made sense to Maka before was undeniable now.

Black Star went back to eating his lunch.

"Cool trick," said Soul, and did the same.

Kid sat back down, carefully arranging the coat so that it hung symmetrically on his chair. He started tugging at each side a few too many times before Patti elbowed him and hissed, "Didn't you have something you wanted to say to Maka?"

"Ouch," he grumbled, but when he looked across the table at the blonde meister he couldn't remember which of her questions to answer first.

"Do you want to come over tonight?" he asked, and all noise at the table ceased. Even Black Star stopped, mid-scarf, and looked incredulously around at the others. Tsubaki shook her head at him, misty-eyed with happiness for her friend.

"-to look at that Greek text on Grigori souls," he said hurriedly, though he got the feeling that it didn't matter what he said, only what Maka's answer would be.

She blushed even brighter, and said, "I'd love to."

-o-o-o-

On the way out of the burrito shop Kid and Maka left first, deep in conversation about Kid's summoning powers. Liz and Patti watched them go and high-fived in self-congratulations. Soul shook his head, but held out his hand for a high-five as well. Liz smirkingly obliged him. Tsubaki sighed and laced her fingers together behind her back. That had gone so well!

"What the fuck was that?" asked Black Star, pointing his thumb back toward their lunch spot.

Everyone looked at one another, not sure how best to answer, but Tsubaki charged ahead. "Shut up Black Star," she said, "You'll understand when you're older." She mussed his hair as she went past, and she smiled as he chased after her to punish her for her impudence. Patti took off after them with a laugh and Soul and Liz sauntered leisurely back toward Shibusen. It was a beautiful day, and after all, hurrying wasn't cool.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed my story, please leave a vote if you are so inclined! Thank you!