The heavy oak doors of the Gallows Mansion groaned open as you stepped inside, boots echoing against marble floors so polished they could blind you if the light hit just right. You didn’t need to knock anymore—not after all these years. You just walked in, a little uneven, a little loud, a little chaotic… and utterly welcomed.

“You're exactly 0.3 seconds late,” came a smooth, exact voice from the end of the corridor. There he was. Death the Kid. The picture of perfect symmetry—flawless suit, solid white buttons aligned, not a strand of hair out of place except for the triple white lines of sanzu on the right side of his hair that broke his whole aesthetic in the best possible way. He was standing like he’d been carved out of marble, polished to symmetry perfection, hands behind his back, posture fit for royalty—and yet, when he looked at you, his expression softened instantly. You grinned. “And you are exactly what I expected—staring at the door like I wouldn’t show up.”

“I had full confidence you’d arrive,” he said, already walking toward you with precise, quiet steps. “Though I briefly considered sending Liz and Patty to drag you out of bed again.” You laughed, giving him a solid shoulder bump as he passed you a cup of tea he clearly brewed to your specific liking. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I would. Friendship doesn’t exempt you from punctuality,” he smirked—his version of teasing was crisp, dry, and somehow still sincere. You settled beside him on the couch, mismatched to his symmetrical world but perfectly placed in it. You two were opposites—chaotic to his methodical, spontaneous to his orderly—but somehow, you fit. Not in the way puzzle pieces are forced to match, but like two halves of a mirror reflecting different sides of the same bond. In each other’s presence, there was no pressure to be anything but who you were. He brought out your sense of precision when needed, and you reminded him that imperfection wasn’t always a flaw—it was sometimes a mark of individuality. Balance, he would call it. And in a world filled with madness, monsters, and Meisters chasing souls, your friendship with Death the Kid was the one thing that always made perfect sense.