You Know You Trust Your Partner...
by.
Poisoned Scarlett


... when he holds your hair back as you throw up your dinner.


She shouldn't have eaten those BBQ ribs.

She had known, from the first bite she had taken, that something was going to give in her stomach once the digestion process began, but she continued eating them for the sake of not letting the plate go to waste.

Black Star had devoured two whole racks of ribs and she wondered if he, too, was getting these bouts of terrible nausea.

Everyone else had eaten burgers or fries and had come out fine but she just had to get the BBQ ribs!

Maka clutched her stomach, as she rolled on her side on her bed. She had been subdued for most of the period spent hanging out with her friends due to the on-off stomach cramps. Tsubaki had been worried enough to go buy her some stomach medication, but the box of pills sat untouched on her desk. Maka was very tempted to strand up and swallow two of those pills to get rid of the abdominal cramps, but she feared such a radical movement would result in her dinner coming out of her mouth.

And she was wrong - shifting to her side had resulted in that.

She slapped a hand over her mouth and shot up in bed, her stomach unable to take any more of the awful food. She threw the sheets off and just about sprinted to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her and throwing up her dinner.

She always hated this part.

It was strange: she usually had a resilient stomach and, at most, she'd have a stomach ache that would go away with time. But, she knew, when she got sick, she got sick.

Her mother used to humor herself by saying that Maka always went full-out on everything she did – that, sadly, also included puking her guts out.

She heard the bathroom door creak open but it was lost to her in another retch, her throat burning with acid. Hands pulled her hair back and Maka was briefly grateful before another gurgle ran up her throat and into the bowl.

She hated getting sick.

Especially from the stomach.

Actually, she hated getting sick in general – it always delayed her plans and was, frankly, a nuisance to deal with.

Maka weakly slammed the lid down and flushed the toilet, resting her forehead against the rim of the lid to catch her breath. Her head was swimming and her stomach felt empty but she was feeling immensely better.

Not surprisingly, this was her favourite part of the whole process.

"Do you feel any better?" She heard Soul softly ask from behind her.

Maka nodded, not trusting her voice, and inhaled slowly through her mouth to quell whatever malicious illness still dwelled in her stomach. She was starting to feel bad again and Maka dreaded having another episode. She hadn't eaten that much, just how much more did she have to throw up before she finally felt better?

"C'mon, let's get you to bed so you could rest—!"

"Nngh!" Maka shook her head, flipping the toilet lid back up and starting the cycle all over again.

She would never listen to Black Star ever again when it came to food – ever.

And, from this day forward, she hated ribs – BBQ one's especially.

And that restaurant needed to get sued or closed down or something; forget it, she just wasn't going to visit it even for a bottle of soda ever again!

She spat and flushed the toilet once more, her hands grasping for toilet paper to wipe her mouth. Soul handed her a strip silently and she shifted to lean her back against the bowl, holding the folded up squares against her mouth without a word.

She closed her eyes and hoped she wouldn't throw up again – her stomach had a faint ache that Maka knew would get worse if she didn't do something about it now.

"Where'd you put the medicine Tsubaki bought you?" Soul asked, kneeling in front of her. Maka miserably looked at him to find concerned red eyes staring back.

"Desk." She mumbled, dropping her head. She felt lightheaded. She heard him quickly leave and come back a few seconds later, shuffling out the white pills. She heard him faintly curse something under his breath before he left again, returning with a glass of water. He tossed the box of pills in the sink carelessly.

"Here, take them before you throw up again."

Maka looked up to see a glass of water and two pills on his hand. Her face paled but she took the glass and capsules. She stared at them for a few seconds, not wanting to drink anything at all, but she tossed a pill into her mouth and swallowed it with a mouthful of water.

"Nngghh...Oh, god..." Maka groaned, the water not going down well. She resisted a heave. This wasn't helping at all. She was probably going to vomit the first pill before she even got the second one down.

"Just one more to go, Maka, c'mon." Soul coaxed, helping her with the second dreadful pill until she swallowed it. She bit her lip to keep everything inside and tossed her head back against the lid, her arm over her eyes to keep the bright light of the bathroom from bothering her. "Better?"

"Hmm..." Maka hummed, drowsily. She wouldn't count her blessings just yet – her stomach had a nasty habit of deceiving her when she was this sick.

"Think you can walk back to your room or are you gonna' throw up again?"

Maka sat forward and slowly picked herself up off the cold tile of the bathroom, using Soul as leverage to keep her from toppling over. She didn't say anything as she made her way back to her room, the bathroom light going out behind her as Soul quietly herded her to her bed.

She fell on her bed, clutching her pillow to her face as he pulled the comforter from under her and covered her properly.

"You're not eating ribs again."

"No kidding." Maka muttered, shifting on her side carefully as her partner sat on the edge of her bed. She was starting to feel better, thankfully. "I wonder if Black Star's also sick..."

Soul smirked. "Food isn't gonna' bring that idiot down – he's way too divine for that."

Maka smiled at his remark, mumbling: "Five bucks he won't be at school tomorrow because he's too stubborn to take the medicine."

"You're on, Maka."