A/N: I've used the generic masculine pronoun (by default) to refer to Crona, even though I prefer the character's gender to be ambiguous. (Sadly, there isn't a gender-neutral pronoun in English that I like using, and the singular 'they' just feels weird to me.)

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Crona didn't really fight it as Maka took his hands and dragged him outside, even though the sun was too bright, and the sky was too big, and it was too warm, and there were too many people AND it was just generally a bad idea all around, because the universe was not made for Crona's convenience. If the universe had been made for Crona's convenience, there would have been more corners.

All the same, he resisted his natural inclination to complain, because Maka's hands were warm, and her voice was gentle.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go get some ice cream."

Crona had no idea what that was, but it seemed prudent to humor her.

They walked through the city together, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Crona stuck close to Maka's side, and she didn't seem to mind. It was okay.

They didn't talk to each other, and that was okay, too.

When they found the ice cream stand, Crona hung back, and let Maka walk slightly ahead. Despite this, she seemed unwilling to leave him.

"What kind do you want?" Maka asked - but, when she saw his expression, she simply added, "I'll get you the same as what I'm having, alright?"

Crona nodded obediently and dared to offer her a small smile. He was just about to let him self relax slightly when he felt something move underneath his skin, and there was suddenly a familiar weight on his back as Ragnarok seeped out of him, soaking through his clothing to solidify somewhere just behind his left shoulder. Like a tumor with a grudge, really. Or maybe more of a giant talking scab.

"You better get me one, pigtail-face," squeaked Ragnarok.

Maka paused, and looked back at them both. "Sure."

"For the record, this still doesn't make us friends!"

"Whatever, Ragnarok."

And lo, three minutes later, the three of them were sitting on a park bench, eating strawberry ice cream together.

"Where's Soul?" Crona said, as it occurred to him that it might be polite to ask.

Maka stuck out her bottom lip. "I've disassociated myself from him. The moron is in hiding ever since he convinced Black Star to shave Kid's left eyebrow off."

"...Oh."

"I thought it was cruel. Kid was really upset, until Liz convinced him that he could fix it by shaving off his other eyebrow."

"Oh. Um. Okay."

They lapsed back in to another comfortable silence, and watched a young couple stroll by. Maka seemed content to just observe people. Crona could tell that she was always thinking.

"Is this a date?" Ragnarok asked, suspiciously.

Crona froze.

"Crona can eat ice cream with girls, if he wants to," Maka primly replied, and left it at that. Crona sneakily over glanced at her when he thought she wouldn't notice.

She was smiling.

Crona found that a little frightening, and not in such a bad way.

The sun was warm on his face; being outdoors wasn't so bad after all.

He decided that he could get used to it.

Of course, it was daylight, and he knew that things would be quite different once he was back inside his room again, with night approaching, bringing with it the endless wait for the morning, and the abject hope that he wouldn't get a surprise visit from Eruka.

That, however, felt like it was a million miles away.

And the ice cream was pretty good.

...Or at least it was until Ragnarok thought that it'd be funny to eat half of his, then drop the rest down Crona's neck.