A/N: I received a PM from moonrose221 asking me to expand my headcanon of Soul's fear of needles from my one-shot "Worried Sick," so here it is! Thank you for the suggestion and sorry this is like two months late. So here's a little something taking place when Soul and Maka are still little twelve-year-old babies.

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater. I don't own Call of Duty. Mushrooms are disgusting.

Soul's afternoon ritual of playing Call of Duty for hours on end was suddenly interrupted when an envelope was thrown unceremoniously at him. He huffed and paused his game to look at the offending piece of mail in his lap. The bolded red letters stamped on the front told him that it probably wasn't going to be good news.

"This is the third notice you've gotten, Soul." Maka never bothered to hide her annoyance. She came around to the other side of the couch to fix him with a hard stare.

He glanced at the envelope again. The last couple letters in 'Eater' were covered by the 'URGENT' stamped over the top.

"Are you going to explain to me why you haven't gotten your physical yet?"

The silence that stretched out between them grew uncomfortable. Soul kept forgetting that Maka wasn't like his family; she wasn't going to leave unless she got an answer. She curled her fingers into fists and rested them on her hips, fixing him with a frown as she waited for a response. He looked away.

"Forgot."

Satisfied with his own response, he picked up his controller and went back to his game. The envelope fell off his lap as he leaned forward towards the tv, and he was surprised at the growl he heard from his meister. Maka marched forward and mashed the 'power' button on the tv, and when she turned to face him she didn't look disappointed anymore, she looked mad.

Her voice was heated a she planted herself firmly in front of the tv, hands still on her hips.

"We're not going to be able to go on missions out of the country unless Nurse Medusa clears us, Soul. You need to go get your check-up soon or we're going to have to wait til next semester to get our international badges."

"Okay," he muttered, drawing out the 'a' sound. "I'll get my check-up tomorrow, alright?"

Maka didn't move. "That's what you said the last two times, and yet you still haven't gone."

"It just slipped my mind, okay? No big deal. I'll take care of it."

"Do you have something against going to the doctor?"

He stared at her coldly. "No."

After a moment, she spoke again, her voice much quieter.

"Do you not want to be my partner anymore?" Her brow was furrowed doubtfully.

His eyes widened. "What? No!"

"Then why don't you want to get cleared to go on missions with me? Listen, if you want a different partner, you can just say. The partnership cancellation forms are in the main office—"

"Maka," Soul said sternly, stopping her from saying anything more. Sure, she could be annoyingly overbearing sometimes, but he didn't want to stop partnering with her. He didn't want to be the cause for that sad look on her face either. "I'm not switching partners. You're my meister, okay?" She nodded, but her troubled expression didn't change. "I'll get the physical tomorrow. Promise."

"'Kay," she answered, looking more assured now that he promised her. She turned the television back on and left him to his video game, off to go study, probably.

Soul looked at the envelope on the floor and swallowed thickly.

He was avoiding the nurse's office. Maka was sure of it. Every time they walked anywhere near the infirmary Soul would remember something he had left in class or in his locker and would rush from her side to go retrieve it. Eventually Maka grew sick of waiting for Soul to make the move on his own; she would have to take matters into her own hands.

"Do you think they're gonna have something better for lunch than the nasty spaghetti they've been serving for the past two Tuesdays?" Soul asked Maka as they walked to the cafeteria for lunch.

"I hope so," she responded as they turned a corner and entered the main hallway. Maka could see the infirmary's sign hanging further down the hall, and she saw Soul stiffen in response to it. He jumped back into their conversation with renewed vigor, probably hoping that Maka would be too distracted by what they were saying to notice that they were passing right by Nurse Medusa's office.

"Right? I mean I love Italian food, but do they have to chop up a bunch of mushrooms and throw them in the sauce with the meat? It makes it taste like feet. I could barely choke it down last week."

Maka nodded, and when they came upon the infirmary she watched with muted anger as Soul continued to walk past, blabbering on about meat sauce and breaking his promise to her yet again.

"But at least that means we might have garlic bread," he continued. "It doesn't make up for the gross mushrooms, but I guess it's a small consolation—OW! What the—!"

Before Soul could continue towards the cafeteria, Maka had grabbed him roughly by the arm and dragged him back to the infirmary. If he was going to be stubborn about this, she was going to deal with it herself. She wasn't going to let her slacker partner stop her from getting her international meister badge.

She finally released him once they had entered the infirmary, and Maka even took extra care to shut the door behind her lest Soul try to make a break for it.

"What's the matter with you!" he yelled at as his hand reached up to rub the arm she had so roughly grabbed him by. "Are you trying to dismember me?"

Maka crossed her arms. "I knew you weren't going to come to the infirmary. You are avoiding it."

"No I'm not! God, I was gonna get my physical after classes today, you psycho! You didn't need to rip my arm out of its socket!"

She frowned slightly, her resolve wavering at his words, but then her eyes hardened again.

"Well, now you don't have to wait. You can get it done now and then we won't have to worry about it anymore."

"Maka, I'll do it after school. Right now I just wanna—"

"Soul? Maka?"

Soul and Maka turned around to see Nurse Medusa standing behind them with a clipboard in hand.

"Nurse Medusa!" Maka said with a cordial smile. "Soul is finally here to get his check-up!"

"Is that so?" Nurse Medusa looked down at her clipboard. "Ah, there he is. Soul Eater. It's a good thing you came when you did, too. Not much longer and you would have missed the window to get your international badges."

Maka shot a pointed look at Soul, but he didn't seem to be paying attention. In fact, he looked slightly pale.

"Soul?" she asked, but before he could respond to her Nurse Medusa was leading him to a room in the back to get his routine check-up.

"Right this way, young man. I don't have much time before my break, so I'd like to get this done as quickly as possible, if you don't mind."

Soul swallowed. "Uh, sure thing." He turned back to Maka. "Look, you can go to lunch and I'll meet you there. Save me a piece of garlic bread, okay?"

"Ooooh no you don't, Soul Eater!" Maka said haughtily. "I know what game you're playing. I'm not leaving you alone and giving you the chance to escape! I'm coming in with you!"

And with that declaration, she took Soul's wrist in her hand and marched to the back room after Nurse Medusa, not giving Soul a chance to tell her no.

The procedure was exactly as Maka remembered it when she got her check-up the month before. Maka watched from a chair in the corner while Nurse Medusa measured Soul's height, weighed him, gave him an eye test, and checked his spine for scoliosis. It was after she was finishing up his blood pressure test and recording his results on her clipboard that she noticed that there was one thing Soul still had to get taken care of.

"It says here that you're not caught up on your vaccinations yet," she informed the weapon as he reached down to grab one of his sneakers from the floor. Maka watched as Soul's actions slowed as Nurse Medusa kept talking. "I'm going to have to ask you to stay for a couple more minutes while I go get the vaccines. It looks like you only have three today, and you'll have to come back in six months to get one more. But these should clear you to go out of the country, and then both of you can officially get your one-star licenses." Medusa smiled at the pair like she was congratulating them, and while Maka beamed back at her, Soul could only look away and take a deep breath.

Medusa left the room to go prepare the needles, which left Soul and Maka alone. She watched in curiosity as Soul slowly sat back down on the padded counter in the center of the room, the parchment paper crumbling beneath him as he squirmed and fidgeted. His eyes scanned the room warily, and he kept brushing the palms of his hands on his jeans like he was trying to dry them off.

"Soul, are you okay?" Maka asked after watching him for a few moments.

"'m fine," he muttered, but he certainly didn't sound fine. In fact, his voice had a slight waver in it.

She stood up and moved closer to him trying to look into his eyes. He studiously avoided looking into her gaze, glancing at the sterile room they were in and casting worried looks at the door.

"I have a thing about needles," he finally said.

He didn't elaborate, and it took Maka a moment for her mind to connect the dots.

"Wait, so you're afraid of getting shots?" He didn't answer, just continued to rubs his hands against his legs. "That's why you wouldn't get your check-up? Not because you didn't want to go on missions with me?"

Soul finally looked at her. "I told you that wasn't it. I never said I didn't want to be your partner. I—I'm just not a huge fan of shots."

Maka let out a sigh of relief. "Gosh, Soul! You scared me! Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?"

"Passing out at the sight of needles isn't really a fact about myself I like to share with the world, Maka," he said crossly. "Sorry, next time I'll know to type out a list of my fears for you."

She tried her best not to get offended at his tone. She was hopefully going to be partnered with Soul for a long time, so it would be beneficial to learn not to take everything he said personally. He seemed more annoyed at himself than her, and was probably projecting his frustration onto her.

"You've really passed out getting a shot before?" she asked, trying to keep her tone from sounding judgmental.

Soul's eyes were practically burning a hole in the floor as he nodded. She had never seen a person look so embarrassed while simultaneously looking so terrified. As much as Maka wanted to make a comment about how absurd it seemed for a boy who turned into a scythe to be afraid of needles, she held her tongue. While she certainly didn't understand it, it was clear that this fear was something Soul took seriously, especially if he almost cost them their international badges because of it.

Nurse Medusa walked in with a handful of syringes, and Maka watched Soul's entire body tense up at the sight of them.

"Well, here we are. Let's get these out of the way, Soul."

Maka looked to her partner, whose breathing had gone shallow, and back to Nurse Medusa who was dutifully gathering some cotton balls from a counter behind her.

"Um, Nurse Medusa?" Maka asked politely. "Could Soul and I have another minute? Please?"

Maka didn't miss the way that Nurse Medusa glared at her before quickly covering it up with a tired smile. "Maka, I'd really like to take my lunch. I'd appreciate if we could finish this physical quickly."

"Please, Nurse Medusa? It'll only be a minute."

The nurse looked at her for a moment before commenting with a terse, "Fine." She set the syringes back in her jacket pocket and once again left the room.

"You didn't have to do that," Soul said, though he still looked extremely pale.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but you don't look so good right now, Soul." Maka took a step closer to him. "Is there anything your doctor back home used to do to, uh, make you less scared?"

Soul still looked ill, but he closed his eyes and snorted humorlessly. "No. Doctor Rogers was a dick. I'm probably freaked out so much because of him. He didn't care if you like needles or not. He came in, did his job, and got out. Didn't matter if I stayed conscious for the shot or not."

That sounded to Maka like it could count as some kind of malpractice, but she couldn't dwell on it much. Nurse Medusa didn't seem particularly patient today, and soon she would be back to treat Soul the exact same way his old doctor apparently did.

"Sometimes Wes would stay with me, though." Wes was Soul's older brother. He rarely ever mentioned his family to Maka, but the few times Soul brought up a positive memory from his past, it involved Wes in some way. He seemed to be the only one from back home who truly cared about Soul. "He'd try and distract me from the shot. It didn't always work, but it was nice that he tried."

"Well, I can try that!" Maka said hopefully.

Soul eyed her warily. "I doubt it will do much good. She's got three needles in her pocket, Maka."

"Hey," Maka said, putting a hand on Soul's shoulder. "What kind of partner would I be if I wasn't there for you when you needed me?"

A peculiar look passed across Soul's face, but before she could dwell on it, Nurse Medusa was re-entering the room.

"Are we ready yet?" she asked, and again, Maka noted a hint of impatience in her voice. Maka felt her temper start to flare at the ignorant nurse. How dare she rush someone who is so clearly afraid of this procedure?

"Yeah," Soul said sullenly, though his eyes widened when he felt Maka thread her fingers through his. "What are you—"

Maka tugged him a bit so he was facing her more directly, his upper body twisted away from Medusa. "Don't focus on her," Maka told him, though she noticed the way he tensed up when Nurse Medusa began pushing up his sleeve. "Look at me."

Soul did as he was told, but from the look on his face she could tell that he didn't have much confidence in this method of distraction. Once he held her gaze, she continued talking.

"So where do you want to go for our first mission out of the country?" she asked with a smile.

Nurse Medusa swiped his forearm with a wet cotton ball, causing Soul to flinch. Maka clutched both of Soul's hands gently and waited for an answer.

"Somewhere warm," he said through gritted teeth.

Maka tilted her head to the side and let out a laugh. Soul's face lost a bit of tension as he looked at her in confusion.

"Sorry," she said. "I just think it's funny that the guy who's always complaining about how hot it is in the desert wants to go on a mission to a place that's warm. I would have figured you want to get as far away from warm places as possible."

"Well, not another desert," he clarified. "Someplace tropical."

"You really think there's gonna be a ton of kishin eggs wandering around the Pacific Islands?"

"I don't know. Maybe there's a bunch of tiki monsters out there just waiting for us to cATCH them—" Soul's voice went up an octave when Nurse Medusa gave him his first injection. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed through his nose while Maka rubbed her thumbs slowly over his knuckles.

"You're doing fine, Soul. Can you keep looking at me?"

It took Soul a moment, but he eventually cracked one eye open to peer at her.

"Good!" She said with a grin. "Now, you know that if we do manage to get assigned to someplace tropical, you're not allowed to make fun of me in a bathing suit when we go swimming."

"And why is that?" he asked incredulously, though he had the gall to look pointedly for a moment at her chest.

Maka's brow furrowed in frustration, and it was the irritated way she tightly gripped Soul's hands that distracted him from the second shot. He still flinched, but it was hard to tell if it was the needle or his popping knuckles that caused the reaction.

"Because," she said to him pointedly, seeing Nurse Medusa prep the third needle over Soul's shoulder. "I figure that I should get a free pass considering it will be our first mission outside of America."

Soul snorted slightly, though Maka could tell by the distracted look on his face that he was waiting for the third shot as well. "And that earns you a free pass? Does that mean you won't be spending the entire trip nagging me? I feel like this should go both ways."

She looked at him thoughtfully. "Hm. I don't think so."

"What?" Clearly this wasn't the answer Soul anticipated out of her, as he looked genuinely shocked by her response. "How is that fair? I can't make fun of your boobs, but you can still treat me like a little kid the entire mission?"

"Well," Maka said with a sneaky grin, "I also think you owe me one, considering you're finished with your shots."

"Huh?" Soul looked down, and saw that Nurse Medusa was indeed finished, already applying a Band-Aid to his arm and turning around to dispose of the needles. Nurse Medusa had injected the third shot while Soul was busy criticizing Maka's hypocrisy. He didn't even notice her sticking him.

Maka's smile only grew as she dropped her hands to her sides. "Nice job, Soul. Now we can go fight tiki monsters."

Soul still looked baffled that he had managed to make it through all three shots without losing consciousness. He looked back to Nurse Medusa.

"So that's really it?"

"Yes," Nurse Medusa said tiredly. "That's all you have to do today. As I said, in six months you'll have to return for another shot, but after that you should be set for a while." She looked down at her watch. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go on my break. Please see yourselves out and shut the door behind you."

"Well, that was rude," Maka said as she watched the school nurse leave. "Lord Death should really talk to her about being kinder to the students. There's no need to act like such a witch just because she wants to get to lunch."

Soul didn't seem to be paying much attention to the nurse. He was too busy staring at his bandaged arm in awe.

"That was the first time in years that I've gotten a shot without blacking out," he said.

Maka waved him over to the door. "Well, now it's time to get some food in me before I black out. Come on, Soul. Let's go eat some crappy spaghetti before lunch ends."

Soul nodded and put his shoes on in a hurry before meeting his meister at the door. They left in silence, and while Maka was content with it, Soul kept looking at her from the corner of his eye, looking very determined to say something.

"Hey, Maka?" he asked seriously.

"Hm?"

"Thanks. For helping me back there. And for, well, not making fun of me." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's not really cool to be afraid of something as dumb as a stupid needle, but you didn't say anything about it, which was nice."

Maka nudged him playfully in his uninjured shoulder. "Aw, don't get all sentimental on me now, Soul Eater. It was no big deal." She laughed and added a skip in her step as they began approaching the cafeteria. "Besides, I'm sure you'll make it up to me by keeping the tiny tits comments to yourself when we fight kishins in Tahiti."

Soul barked out a laugh (which Maka inwardly took as a sign of agreement) and picked up his pace to catch up with her. As they entered the DWMA cafeteria they were greeted by the scent of mushrooms and marinara sauce, and soon the weapon-meister pair was too busy groaning about nasty lunch options to dwell on injections any longer.

Besides, Maka was sure she would be dragging Soul to the nurse's office in another six months to start the process all over again.