Fact for future reference: Liz and Patty are cheapwads.

Thanks to all my readers and reviewers! I don't think I've ever had five reviews for one chapter before, you guys are amazing. I'm still shocked people care, actually...

Sorry this took so long, I decided to use my Thanksgiving break to start watching Doctor Who. Of course, this was a terrible idea and my heart is broken and I'm in the depths of depression.

Luckily for the two percent of me that cares about productivity, I finished the first season and it hurts too much to watch Doctor Who right now so I had time to write this. Yay! Also, if I'm writing this, I'm not crying over the Ninth Doctor. Truth.

Anyway, that's enough talking about British television on a Soul Eater fanfic. Read on, my fantastic friends.

Crona darted out of the subway station and down the three blocks to Heavenly Groceries.

She was late! She'd never been late before; she'd always been really careful about it. She hated her luck; honestly, the only time she was late was during her shift with Tsubaki? If she'd be with Black Star, she knew he wouldn't care ("You need to stop worrying, Crona! I'm Black Star, I can handle anything and everything!"), but she'd never seen Tsubaki angry before. Tsubaki was more her friend than her boss, but her boss nonetheless. What if she was disappointed in her? Or worse, what if she was one of those people who are sweet and happy all the time, but then fly off the handle when something bad happens?

…Well, maybe not… Black Star constantly screwed up, but she'd never seen Tsubaki mad at him… but, it was obvious there was history there. Crona was just a girl who popped in the store six months ago asking for a job. What did a measly half a year mean when an employee was five minutes late for their shift?

"What the hell is wrong with you? God, teenagers these days."

Did she just hit someone? What if she got in trouble? She really didn't know how to deal with getting in trouble; not now, not here.

She willed herself to run faster.

Oh, if only she hadn't gotten lost in thought and forgotten to make Ragnarok's dinner until last minute.

If only two gigantic and incredibly slow-walking men hadn't been in front of her on the stairs when her train came.

If only fate was kind.

It was a slow day.

It figured that his first day at work would be a slow day. Or, rather a slow night, but still, it was slow. Getting a job wasn't a smart idea in the first place.

But still, if it'd stop Liz and Patty for bothering him about buying groceries from the very place he stood in, it was worth it.

"What? $70 for groceries? I only gave you that much last month 'cause I'm nice! Let me see that receipt, Kid."

He'd explained his moral obligation. They laughed. Well, Patty laughed while Liz explained that his moral obligation was barely justified and that he'd have to start contributing to the grocery funds if he was so determined to keep to it, and then laughed.

So he took the job.

And if every night was as slow as this night was, he knew why all the groceries were overpriced.

He wasn't bored, per se, as beauty surrounded him (he'd finished arranging all the shelves a half hour before), but there was so little left to do. The grocery store wasn't even that big; he could probably recount every detail of the store for time he'd been staring at it.

He finished his rounds of the store (a bottle of rosé in aisle nine had moved almost ten millimeters off where it was supposed to be; he almost had a heart attack) and resolved to return to aisle eight. It was far by his favorite aisle; he'd worked especially hard on making it as symmetrical as possible and it was a joy to take in. From the beautiful sign bearing the wonderful eight hanging from the ceiling to the perfectly arranged shelves - it was things like aisle eight that made life worth living.

He sighed at the view, and he was happy, as he deserved to be.

And then he heard the sound of the door opening.

He cursed customers for interrupting his moment of bliss and abandoned aisle eight to do his job.

She pushed open the door and ran inside, panting. She stared at the ground while she caught her breath, trying to gather the courage to find Tsubaki and apologize for being late. I… I can handle this! I just have to… find her… and explain what happened… but what if-

A shadow appeared on the ground, approaching hers. Tsubaki had found her! She had to apologize right then; there was no time for building spirit!

"Can I help-"

"I'm sorry for being so late!" she said, slowly forcing herself to meet Tsubaki's gaze.

Except.

It wasn't Tsubaki's gaze.

But she remembered those familiar yellow eyes and their piercing gaze… the peculiar white stripes on his head… She couldn't doubt it.

It was the lunatic from a month before, the one who adored symmetry, the scary, intimidating one.

…Why was he wearing the green apron?

Did he work here? No, he couldn't work here! She didn't know how to deal with him! Working with him along with Black Star… she couldn't deal with it! She wouldn't!

"…Did you hear me?" the lunatic asked.

"…Eh?"

"I said, 'You're that girl that wanted me to work here.'"

"I-I am… And you're the lun- uh, th-the boy from a month ago," she said.

"Well, I work here now. I don't think I introduced myself; my name is Kid. I'm afraid I don't remember your name; it's been a while."

"C-Crona. I'm Crona," she forced out.

"Well, it's nice to meet you again, Crona," he said as he held his hand out to her.

Did he want her to shake his hand? But she'd never shaken anyone's hand before, let alone a stranger's! She didn't know how to deal with this!

But what he thought she was rude for not shaking his hand? Or what if he got angry? He was a stranger! She didn't know how he would act if he was angry!

She weakly clasped his hand and her arm was nearly limp as he shook it. "I-It's nice to meet you, too," she almost whispered.

He gave her a polite smile and sighed. "I'm afraid we're having a slow night tonight. No one's come in the past hour. Well, then, what was it you were saying before? You're late?"

"Y-Yes. Where's Tsubaki?" Crona asked, realizing that it was odd that no one was at the cashier.

"The manager? She had to leave. There was some kind of emergency. She said she was sorry she had to leave me on my first shift, but that another experienced coworker was coming soon - that's you, I suppose - and she could help me if I needed anything. Either way, no one's come, so it doesn't matter," Kid lamented. "I won't tell her you were late, so don't worry about it."

She stared at him. "R-really?"

No, it couldn't have been true. Fate hated her. It caused her horrible day to be horrible and it caused her to be late and it caused her to end up working with a second loose cannon. It wouldn't let her get off scot-free from the repercussions of its actions. She braced herself for the catch.

"It's not as if it's matters; there's no one here."

Well, maybe she'd misjudged him. Maybe it was a blessing rather than a curse that Kid had started working at Heavenly Groceries. She hoped, at least.

No, despite the oddity of the sudden bout of luck and relief in her terrible day, she would believe he was a good thing; she wasn't going to jinx it.

"How late are you, anyway?" Kid asked, ending her rare moment of determination.

Crona glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. "Eight minutes."

Kid's eyes sparkled. "Eight? Why, that's a fantastic amount of time to be late! The manager probably wouldn't care, not if you're eight minutes late!"

Crona was confused. She could have sworn he'd been a bit melancholy (though polite) just minutes before. What was with the sudden change of heart?

Right. He was a loose cannon, how had she forgotten? Subject to mood swings… and subjecting her to fear. Who knew what his next emotion would be?

Still, he was happy. Not angry, not mad, not passive-aggressive disappointed. No, he was happy. That was a good thing; perhaps she shouldn't be complaining at her good luck. But still, she had to wonder…

"W-What do you mean?"

"Eight is a magnificent number! You should know this! It can be cut eight ways symmetrically, it's an even number, and therefore symmetrical, and lots of other things the author doesn't remember!" he swooned.

"O-Oh!" He started to intimidate her now. His passion was a bit scary. And all for a number? Should she worry?

Well, anyway, it was a good thing she was eight minutes late. She threw a glance at her watch again, to beam it silent thank-yous.

"Well, Crona, we have absolutely no work to do! I've arranged the shelves to be perfect, and, well, there isn't much else to do in a grocery store without any customers. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do rounds again, would you like to come with me, and bask in the beauty of this store?"

"O-Okay."

Initially, he'd forgotten about her, which was strange, because she was the reason he was there. If she hadn't been so insistent on getting him to work there a month earlier, he wouldn't have had to get a job, period. But there was nothing he could do about it, so he let the thought go. He knew her now, anyway.

Crona was quiet, presumably the shy kind of quiet, not the "I'm better than you" sort of quiet (it would be quite the twist if she was) and she seemed nice enough. He couldn't judge her work ethic, as there was no work, but she didn't seem lazy. At the very least, she was obviously used to being punctual.

She had an androgynous look about her; he honestly wouldn't be sure if the blue-haired boy hadn't confirmed it. Still, she seemed female when you saw her; it was something about the way she moved.

He turned his head to look at her, just for a second, to see her staring openmouthed at the shelves. However, she must have felt his gaze, because her eyes darted to him, and then to the floor.

"I made everything on the shelves perfectly symmetrical," he pointed out. "I think you'll find this store is truly beautiful now. I admit I'm rather proud of myself."

"I-It's really nice," she said, and then mumbled, "B-Beautiful."

Kid stopped walking and turned around, eyes sparkling.

For a moment, he'd forgotten about why he even shopped at Heavenly Groceries. Why, it was because of her, because she also enjoyed things that were beautiful, things that were pretty! He'd forgotten he was working with a person that appreciated art!

"Why, we've spoken about art before, haven't we?" he asked enthusiastically.

Crona's eyes had widened, but Kid couldn't bring himself to notice. "M-mmhm," she said.

"Doesn't it make you happy? To see everything in perfect balance, to see the world in perfect balance? This kind of beauty… It must be heavenly!" Kid waxed.

And then, all of a sudden, something so rare and uncharacteristic happened that even Kid couldn't fail to notice it, despite his stupor.

Crona smiled at him - it was tiny, but it was a smile, and she said, "W-We're at Heavenly Groceries."

It was the first time he'd been in awe of something other than symmetry before.

Well, perhaps not the first time, but the first time in a long while. Her smile wasn't even particularly beautiful, not by his standards, at least, but to see her face light up like that, just so she could make a joke… It was something to behold.

It was like his happiness from the symmetry had been amped up a thousand-fold. He took her hand and clasped it in his, and said, "Crona, you are a joy to work with."

Her face grew red, her smile thinned back to her normal expression, and she looked to the floor. "T-Thank you."

He smiled at her, genuinely, not politely, and said, "It was no problem." He dropped her hand.

For a while, they stood and basked in silence, Crona not removing her gaze from the ground and Kid not removing his gaze from her.

"You know, I've wondered what you meant by 'pretty things' since you've said it to me," Kid said as he turned around and continued his rounds.

"W-Well, I-I mean… things… that are pretty."

"Yes, but-" The girl was remarkably shy, despite her sudden smile. It honestly didn't seem like she'd be elaborating anytime soon. He supposed it would be better to be happy with what he had. "Never mind."

"O-Okay."

Briefly, he wondered why the girl was so afraid of him. He hadn't exactly done anything to her.

Had he? He contemplated the thought.

Ah! He knew he had forgotten something. That moment, a month ago, the blue-haired boy had made a remark about her being "shaken up". He'd meant to apologize to her, but had to discard the thought and run home.

Well, there was no time like the present, he supposed.

"Crona," he began as he stopped walking abruptly and turned around, meeting her eyes, "a month ago, the blue-haired boy who works here told me that I made you uncomfortable when you talked to me. I want to apologize for that."

Crona's eyes had widened and she looked downright terrified by the time he finished speaking. Slowly, her eyes fell to the ground, and she stuttered, "I-it's fine."

Crona was confused. Kid had suddenly been so happy, and she hadn't brought up symmetry. All she did was tell a joke Maka had someone once. It seemed like the right thing to do. She guessed it was, but he was being so nice to her; it made her embarrassed. She'd barely said anything to him, and she was "a joy to work with"? What did that mean? He seemed like he had the best intentions, but he was so confusing.

And then he apologized for making her uncomfortable, a month before. That was strange; Black Star had never done it before. He'd only said things like, "You should stop worrying, Crona! You'll stress yourself out!" They were good things, but not apologies. Why did he feel the need to do it at all?

Her train of thought was interrupted by an opening door.

"Perhaps it's a customer," Kid said genially. "Let's check. We might have work to do for once."

Crona nodded and went with him.

"Crona!" she heard, and suddenly she was surrounded by the warm embrace of Maka Albarn.

I hoped you guys liked this chapter! I'm not really sure if it's as good as the last... Anyway, whether you liked it or you didn't, I'd forever be grateful if you reviewed, heheh! Feedback is like, cool.