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2021-07-28
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April Fools

Summary:

Crona discovers what April Fools Day is and decides to participate with an enthusiastic Maka and reluctant Soul.

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For Crona, growing up with Medusa had not provided a lot of experience regarding the banalities of civilian living. They had to grow accustomed to homework, cooking, showers, parties, and today, Crona figured they had just stumbled upon yet another one of these facts of life. Throughout the day they had strange encounters with other students and even faculty at the school. It was so sudden, Crona figured there had to be a special reason for the strange chaos. They decided it would be best to ask Maka what the fuss was about.

It didn’t take much searching to find her and Soul sitting outside in the shade of the DWMA building. Maka was helping Soul with his studies again; as Crona drew near they could hear him struggle to take in the dense information from their shared textbook. Crona called out for their attention and Soul’s head snapped up, probably grateful for the distraction.

Maka closed the textbook with a beleaguered sigh. “I swear, Soul, it feels like I’m trying to teach a dog how to read. We really need to get in more study hours if you plan on passing this class with me.”

Soul snorted. “You’d probably have better luck with a dog.”

Maka decided to let it go, choosing to greet Crona as they sat down beside her. “Hey Crona! You just caught me torturing Soul.” He stuck out his tongue at her, which she returned playfully before carrying on. “What’s up?”

Crona picked at the weeds poking out of the dry, cracked ground. “Oh, sorry for interrupting your... torture. But, um, I’ve had a really weird day. Everyone keeps saying and doing weird stuff to me, then saying ‘April Fools’. Like, Blackstar gave me a can and said it was peanuts, but it definitely wasn’t peanuts. Not even the second can he gave me. Then in class, professor Sid scared me with fake eyes that popped out of his head! And what’s ‘April Fools’ mean anyway?” Crona immediately regretted asking; Maka and Soul gave them an incredulous look and barely-stifled laughter, which signaled it was a stupid question.

“What, have you been living under a rock?” Soul leered.

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

Maka came to their rescue thankfully, shoving Soul as she gave a proper answer. “It’s a day when people pull pranks and stuff, usually harmless ones. I’m guessing you’ve been pranked quite a bit today, huh?” She sounded sympathetic, knowing an unsuspecting Crona would be an easy target for hijinks.

Realization fell on Crona and they flushed. Of course it was all just pranks, how could they be so slow? They nodded, keeping their gaze down in shame. “Y-yeah. That makes sense, I can’t believe I missed that. I thought people were bullying me or something.”

“Speaking of bullying, does Ragnarok not know about April Fool’s day?”

“I tried asking but-” Just then, Ragnarok burst from Crona’s back, already laughing.

“Oh boy, I figured it out but, man! It was way funnier to let Crona take the piss every time. You should have seen how fucking gullible they were!”

“-he refused to tell me,” Crona finished through Ragnarok’s cackling. Another realization came to them and they looked up. “Oh, um, were you guys going to do anything special today too? Hopefully nothing aimed at me.”

Ragnarok bonked Crona on the head while snickering. “Don’t listen to them, if you got something juicy planned for Crona here, go all in! Hell, I’ll help!” Crona swatted at him, groaning out a half-hearted objection. Maybe a prank by Maka wouldn't be so bad.

“I wasn’t planning on anything.” Soul scratched at his nose. “Maybe I could screw with Blackstar later, he’s pretty easy to mess with.”

Maka nibbled at a gloved finger in thought. “Well, I was planning on tutoring Soul all day, but...”

Soul scrambled to sit up. “Er, actually, we should do pranks together! It’d be a good bonding experience.” He gave Maka a toothy smile. “Maybe it’ll help Crona come out of their shell too. Wouldn’t want to discourage them, right?”

Maka laughed. “Alright, I can take a hint! I think it’d be harmless to take a break, especially if it means Crona wants to hang out.” She took Crona’s hand in her own and squeezed, pointedly ignoring the smirk Soul was giving her. Maka’s eye twitched, wishing Soul wasn’t so inclined to draw attention to her already obvious feelings. Regardless, she refused to entertain him, opting instead to plot their prank. “Ahaha, uh, did either of you have any ideas?”

Mercifully, Soul seemed willing to move on. “We could put a ‘kick me’ sign on Blackstar,” he suggested with a shrug. “It’d be kinda funny.”

Maka waved away the idea. “Nah, I think he’d like the challenge. Probably wouldn’t change how his day usually goes anyway.”

While the two bounced ideas off each other, Crona looked to Maka, then Soul, then down at themself. A thought popped into their head and Crona fought back laughter at how absurd it was; they could only hope it wouldn’t be too ridiculous to propose. “Um,” Crona spoke up, grabbing both of their attention. “I don’t know if this is the right way to do a prank for April Fool’s, but I have an idea.” Crona fidgeted with their sleeve, leaning close to Maka and whispering into her ear. They quickly scooted back after explaining, looking away in embarrassment. “Is, um, is that okay?”

“It’s pretty stupid,” Ragnarok offered.

A scheming grin spread on Maka’s face, an expression Crona wasn’t quite accustomed to. “No, it’s perfect. I think I can even convince Soul to get on board.” All three turned to Soul, who immediately looked unsure.

“Hey, I’m ride or die, Maka, but this better be worth whatever you’re about to put me through.”

“It will be, promise! It’ll be less painful than studying at least. Let’s go back to our place to change, I’ll explain on the way.”

“Change…?” Soul muttered in confusion as they gathered their things and headed to their apartment.
_______

“I’ll admit, this isn’t the best idea.” Soul had grumbled and dragged his heels ever since Maka had explained their plan. Nonetheless, he complied. He would die for Maka, but this was testing his limits. “I feel silly.”

“That’s the goal, to be silly! Now come out of the bathroom already.” Maka rapped on the door. “We want to see how you look!”

“Ugh, fine, okay.” Soul carefully stepped out wearing Crona’s robe. Their plan of switching outfits with each other as a prank seemed more feasible, and comfortable, in concept. “The arms are kinda skinny, and it’s long on me. How does Crona run around in this thing?”

“No, no, you look good! I think everyone will get a kick out of this.”

“You’re biased,” Soul grinned. “You’d think anyone in Crona’s outfits would look nice. But thanks.” Maka turned pink, unable to argue. He might have had a point. “Anyway... you two are finished getting dressed, right?”

“Yeah!" Maka answered, a little too quickly. "Thankfully you always have a good sense of fashion, it makes me look way cool.” Maka turned, showing off the usual yellow jacket, headband, and red pants Soul wore. “But look at Crona, they-!” Maka turned to see they had disappeared. “Crona, come out, show him how cute you look.”

Crona poked their head out from around the corner where they hid. “C-cute? Oh, well, okay.” Crona stepped into view, sporting Maka’s long trench coat and skirt. "You really think I look cute?"

"Of course! Don't you agree?" She turned to Soul, who looked taken aback.

"I, ah... well, I'm not used to seeing you show any skin," Soul stammered out. Maka discreetly stomped on his foot with a quiet 'oops'. "Ow-! But! Uh, you do look cute." He shot Maka a look, grousing under his breath. “You didn’t let me finish.”

Crona rubbed their arm, unsure of Soul’s reception. “Um, thanks, I think. You look good in my robe though, Soul. I wasn’t sure if we’d fit in each other’s clothes, but I think this really could work.” They gave Maka a sidelong glance and the grip on their arm grew a little tighter. “You look really cute too, Maka,” Crona added quietly. It wasn’t uncommon for Maka to borrow Soul’s jacket, so her outfit swap wasn’t a complete novelty. But even still, Crona felt a need to compliment her.

“Oh! Ah, thank you." Maybe it was their imagination, but Crona could have sworn Maka blushed at their flattery.

Thick, black blood burst from Crona’s back. Ragnarok looked the three of them over before settling on Crona’s head with a shrug. “I think you all look stupid still.” His insult felt halfhearted, which Crona took as a good sign. “There’s way better, less boring pranks you could be doing. That ‘kick me’ sign was in the right direction if you ask me.”

“We didn’t ask.” Maka deadpanned. “Hey, wait,” she pointed accusingly at Ragnarok, “You’re not gonna stain my clothes, right?”

He gave Maka a rude gesture and retreated back into Crona without answering.

"Great.” Maka rolled her eyes. “Anyways, If you guys are ready, I think we can go back to the DWMA and see if anyone notices that we switched outfits."

"I'm pretty sure people will notice," Soul laughed. "But are you sure this is a good idea? For an April Fool’s thing— Ragnarok kinda had a point, it’s a bit weird, right?"

Crona pulled at their skirt self-consciously, knowing Soul would have second thoughts. They didn’t like the idea of any pranks that could potentially hurt someone’s feelings or cause drama, and figured this would be a nice compromise.

"This is cute!" Maka defended. "It's harmless, low effort, and it’s funny. We just gotta stay together so it makes sense."

"Well that’s not a problem, we hang out together all the time anyway. I guess it’ll at least make sense to our friends.”

“Exactly!” Crona jumped in, regaining confidence now that Soul seemed to be more on board. “If it makes you feel better, we can always just change back. No one is going to force us to keep it on.”

Soul waved a hand. “It’s cool. You convinced me enough. Besides...” He flashed them a confident smile. “If I agree to this, I don’t have to do homework.” Maka only groaned in response.

“That- that’s good enough for me I suppose,” Crona conceded.
_______

The trek back to their school was short, aided by Maka’s excitement and her physically pulling along the other two. Crona didn’t mind, they loved when Maka held their hand. Even with Crona wearing her gloves this time, it felt nice as always. Soul seemed to be equally amused by her enthusiasm, laughing along with her as she planned out their tour through the school. Soon enough they stood at the front doors of the DWMA.

“We should find someone we know first to see their reaction,” Maka said. “Maybe we can find Blackstar, you said he was going around pranking people, right?”

“Yeah, it shouldn’t be hard to find him. He was doing a lot of weird stuff and being loud.” Crona paused. “... Well, um, more than usual.” As soon as they entered the school building, Soul pointed out into the busy hall in front of them.

“Found him,” Soul said. Maka and Crona scanned the area until they landed where Soul gestured. Blackstar stood in a river of passing students, trying to get anyone nearby to open an unmarked tin. “Isn’t that the same prank he did on you Crona?”

“Oh, yes, it was. Won’t people know what he’s up to if he keeps doing it over and over in front of everyone?” The tired look Maka and Soul gave them was enough of an answer. Looking back at the scene, they noticed not a single person stopped to entertain Blackstar. Crona pulled a face; they were feeling even more embarrassed after realizing that they were probably Blackstar’s only successful victim.

“Don’t worry about it. I just can’t wait to see the look on his face!” Maka urged them through the oncoming traffic of students and then tapped Blackstar on his shoulder. “Hey! What’s up?” She held back laughter as he turned around to take in all three of them.

“Oh, hey guys, nothing much. Just trying to prank people but it’s not going too well.”

Maka tried to not look disappointed, egging him on further. “Oh, sorry about that. Notice anything funny though?”

Blackstar looked between them again and only offered a blank stare in return. “Uh, no. Anyway, do either of you have any tips on how to get people to open this? I know that people like free peanuts, unless they have an allergy I guess, but the whole school can’t possibly have an allergy-”

“What the hell?” Soul interrupted. “You don’t see anything we did different?”

“No, why would I? Wait, I get it…” Blackstar looked closer at Soul before snapping his fingers. “You got a haircut!”

"Wrong answer!" Maka grabbed a passing student’s textbook and slammed it into his face, sending Blackstar sailing to the ground.

Soul crouched next to him, poking his face to check if he was still alive. Blackstar swatted his hand away angrily and scrambled back up. "What is wrong with you guys?!"

"What's wrong with you? Didn't you see we switched outfits?" Maka gestured to herself angrily.

Blackstar stared between the three of them for a few seconds before registering their wardrobe exchange. "Oh, yeah. I guess you did." He dusted himself off, looking unimpressed. "Um, sorry, I didn't notice. You guys just kind of blend together I guess."

Maka wished she had let Soul put the 'kick me' sign on Blackstar. She sighed sharply. "It's fine, we'll let you keep trying to prank people with your fake nuts. Maybe someone else will notice." Crona barely managed to squeak out a goodbye before Maka grabbed their hand and stormed off.

Soul stood and patted Blackstar’s shoulder. "You might have better luck if you try to not be so obvious, dude," he offered. "Not everyone is as trusting as Crona." He gave a final wave before quickly following Maka.

Blackstar scratched his cheek absently. "What’s her problem?"
_______

Maka huffed as she pulled along Crona into a more empty hall off to the side, Soul catching up soon after. “I can’t believe Blackstar, we don’t ‘blend together’! Where does he get that idea from?”

Crona lagged behind, nibbling at their bottom lip. “Uh, well. Maybe he had a point.”

Maka rounded on them. “What? No he didn’t, he’s just being obtuse!”

Crona flinched, eyes darting from Maka to the floor nervously. “Well, I mean, didn’t you notice how no one stopped us to say something about our outfit swap? No one even pointed or laughed at us or anything.”

Ragnarok oozed out of Crona’s back, settling on their head. “Yeah, and Crona would notice that kinda behavior, they’re used to it.”

Crona whined out a reluctant agreement, cringing. “Yeah…”

“Oh no,” realization dawned on her, “You’re right. No one reacted.” Maka slunk to her knees in defeat, staring out at the busy hall across from them. “How could not a single person notice…” She turned to the others, nonplussed and eyes wide. “Do we really blur together?”

Soul wondered if they really did spend too much time with each other. He shoved his hands into his pockets with a weary sigh. “I mean, I guess we do a little, but everyone was too distracted to notice us. People were moving to their next class or leaving school. Blackstar was... busy. Maybe we should try with someone else.”

He held out a hand, lifting Maka back to her feet. “Yeah, you’re right, that’s probably the case.” She dusted off her pants, regaining her confidence. “Okay, no more whining! We just need to try again!” Maka looked around, taking stock of their location and who would be closest. “Oh, well, Stein’s office is down this hall, we could see him. He isn’t a friend exactly but he’d at least notice… I think.”

Soul shuddered. “I guess we could visit him quickly.” He wanted badly to suggest seeing anyone else, but the others were already walking down the disquieting hall. The fluorescent lights flickered and cast a sickly yellow haze around Stein’s office, which only added to the unsettling aura of his domain. “This is giving me the creeps. I didn’t even think Stein had an office, but it makes sense that it’d be here.”

“He’s hardly ever in this place, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. Wait, you didn’t know he had an office here?” She turned to him, grimacing. “This is why you’re failing his class, you didn’t even think to find him for help.”

Soul laughed, patting her on the back. “Well, I don’t need to when I have you. You’re like a personal library and tutor!” Maka shot him a look that made Crona pray for Soul’s safety.

“Boys,” she muttered grouchily, rolling her eyes as all of them peeked through the cloudy window in Stein’s door. A figure moved inside. “I think he’s here, great!”

“Great,” Soul sighed.

Maka pushed the door open, revealing Stein typing away at a computer. Without turning around he greeted them. “What brings you all here? Ah, I know. Is it Soul’s and Crona’s poor grades? I’d be willing to dole out extra credit with a little begging.”

Maka turned to Crona, looking scandalized. “Et tu, Brute?”

Crona held up their hands sheepishly, averting Maka’s betrayed gaze. “I- I was going to ask you for help, I swear! But then I saw how punished Soul looked so- uh…” Crona laughed nervously. “Haha, Stein! Did you, uh, notice anything different about us?”

Stein swiveled around his chair, giving them each a glance over. After a long pause of silence, he tilted his head. “No, I don’t believe so.”

Crona’s quiet, nervous laughter turned genuine. They hid their face behind gloved hands in an attempt to mask it. “Are you… sure?”

Another pause. “Oh, wait. Yes.” He rolled closer to Soul, flicking a spiky lock of hair. “You got a haircut, is that it?”

Soul and Maka collapsed to the ground in disbelief while Crona couldn’t help but laugh more openly. “No! We switched outfits,” they explained through their giggling. Crona’s eyes lit up, realizing they could deliver the final blow that was essential to their plan. “April fools!” Crona blurted out, looking at their professor triumphantly.

The corner of Stein’s mouth quirked up into a small smile. “Ah, darn. You got me.”

Crona looked down at the others, wondering why they weren’t celebrating the success of their prank. Before they could ask, Marie stepped in from a side room. She took one sweeping look at the students before dropping the papers she held. “Oh my goodness,” she gasped out in delight. “That is so adorable, did you all-?”

“April fools!” Maka exclaimed desperately, cutting Marie off. She blinked, confused at the wild look in Maka’s eyes.

“Um… right. For April Fool’s. You all switched outfits?” Marie tried again.

Maka slumped forward with relief while Soul pat her back. “Yeah, we did. Thanks for noticing.” She pointed to Crona wearily. “It was their idea.”

“This is the cutest thing I’ve seen all day, and of course it was Crona’s idea.” She smiled warmly at Crona, who blushed and looked down. They fidgeted with their skirt and mumbled out a very quiet ‘thank you’. Marie brightened, turning to Stein. “Don’t you have a camera lying around here somewhere? We need to take pictures!

Maka and Soul straightened, looking up in alarm. “Pictures?” Maka whispered to him fearfully. Crona looked at the two with confusion.

“Ah, yes, I do.” There was an ominous reflection in Stein’s glasses that hid his expression, but Maka and Soul could feel his wicked gaze upon them. “It’s under those graded essays over there. Go wild.”

Marie shuffled through a large stack of papers on the desk Stein pointed her towards. After a few moments, she successfully fished out a small digital camera. “Aha!” With a pivot she held it up proudly. “Alright, kids, I just need to snap a quick photo op. Why don't you all sit up together?” She gestured for Maka and Soul to stand, waggling her hand. Reluctantly, they obeyed.

Crona gently poked Maka, still confused with their shift in attitude. “It’s just pictures,” they said. “What’s the big deal?”

Maka looked to them in dismay. “You’ll see,” she said.

Crona furrowed their brow but turned to see Marie and Stein standing before them. She had a strange, foreboding glint in her eye as she brandished her camera. “Say cheese!”
_______

Two hours passed. Only crying and pleading could be heard from outside the office.
_______

Maka didn’t know how they survived. She knew Spirit could be bad about this kind of thing with his overcompensating nature as a father, so she had experience with overly drawn out cutesy photoshoots. It came as no surprise that Marie was possibly worse as she had a more genuine interest in her students. It felt like switching from one overbearing parent to another. Maka never wanted to have her picture taken again as long as she lived.

She and Soul burst from Stein’s office, crawling out as fast as they could.

“That was a nightmare!” Soul gasped. “I thought she was done but then she kept taking more, I didn’t think it would end. How could she take pictures for two hours?! When she brought up Christmas cards…” he shivered.

Maka comforted him. “It’s okay! She ran out of space on her camera, we’re safe for now.” Both their heads whipped around at the sound of crashing within the office. The door swung open and Crona skittered out shortly after, collapsing in front of them.

“I should have listened,” Crona moaned to Maka, “I should have listened to your warning from the start!” They rubbed at their reddened face, wincing. “She wouldn’t stop pinching my cheeks.”

Ragnarok poked out from behind Crona, eyes swiveling around. “Is that crazy woman and her crazier boyfriend gone?”

Crona frowned at him. “You were in me the whole time, you got to hide at least.”

“That doesn’t mean they won’t get ideas, we should get out of here before-” But it was too late. Ragnarok was interrupted by the clicking of Marie’s heels as she hurried outside.

“Oh, there you all are! Come back, I found another blank SD card. We can take more pictures!”

They all screamed and raced past her, down the hall and away from the office.
_______

Once the group had all reached a safe enough distance, they immediately located a bathroom to change back into their normal outfits. They didn’t want to run the risk of further impromptu photoshoots if Marie found them again. Maka and Soul waited outside as Crona was the last to get dressed.

Soul rubbed a hand down his face and gave a disgruntled groan. “Jeeze, that’s the last time I give Marie an excuse to turn me into scrapbooking and holiday card bait. Never gonna let you talk me into something like this again.”

“Okay, alright, I’m sorry about dragging you into that mess,” Maka sighed. “But give me some credit, we went the whole day with no one even noticing, how was I supposed to know that’d happen?”

Soul was about to launch into another argument on how Maka was always prepared and should have anticipated the disaster with Marie, but caught a glimpse of Sid walking past them. He waved their professor over with a grin. “Oh, hey, professor Sid. I heard about the prank you did with Crona today. Sounded a little morbid, but funny. Gotta give you props for that.”

Sid scratched at the back of his neck. “Pranks? I haven’t done any pranks today.”

A cold trickle of sweat traveled down Soul’s temple, his grin faltering. “You… haven’t?”

“When I was alive, Soul, I was an honest man. In regards to a holiday like April Fool’s day, that as much hasn’t changed; I've never really been one to do pranks. Besides, I’ve been a little too busy with classes to plan anything!” When they didn’t respond, Sid gave an awkward little wave. “Um, you kids have a good one then!” He walked off, leaving them in stunned silence.

Soul and Maka slowly turned to one another, terrified. Maka swallowed, finding her voice finally. “We can’t tell Crona.” Soul vehemently shook his head in agreement.

Just then the bathroom door creaked open, Crona peering outside. “Is the coast clear? I heard you guys talking to someone.”

Maka laughed nervously, “Y-yeah, don’t worry. It’s safe. Sid was just here.”

Crona crept out of the bathroom, still giving a nervous glance around. “Oh, well, okay then. What were you guys talking about?”

Soul quickly waved his hand, trying to look collected. “Nothing, don’t worry about it dude.”

Nodding, Crona sidled next to Maka and sat down. They hadn’t felt this fatigued in a while. Nervously, they looked over to the both of them, working up the courage to apologize. “I’m sorry for causing so much trouble,” they eventually said. “It’s funny, I wanted to do this specifically because I thought it’d cause the least conflict. I, uh, I guess I made the wrong call with that.” They grabbed their arm and rubbed at it absently. “You all aren’t mad at me, right?”

Maka smiled assuredly. “No way, not in the slightest. It was still fun to hang out with you and Soul and goof off all day. Even if it didn’t go as planned.”

“Exactly,” Soul gave Crona a thumbs up. “You’re cool with us. And you still held up your end of the bargain; I didn’t have to study all day.”

Crona returned with a wavering smile. “I- I don’t think I promised that, but I’m glad you both still enjoyed doing this with me.”

Soul and Crona felt a hand on their shoulders. “Well,” Maka said. “The day isn’t over yet. We aren’t gonna end things here.”

Crona tilted their head. “You… want to keep doing pranks?”

“Nope!” Her grip grew tighter. “We’re hitting the books!” Crona and Soul immediately tried to wiggle away but couldn’t escape. “You never told me that you were struggling in class, Crona. I won’t let you or Soul fall behind. But don’t worry, this is going to be fun, just you watch. It’ll be like a study group of our own!” Despite her assurances, they both silently hoped Marie would find them again as they were dragged out of the school by Maka.