Maka knew she was very lucky to have the partner she did. Sure, Soul could be blunt to the point of being mean and prickly and antisocial but he was also unerringly loyal and sweet.
Nowadays she often found herself feeling incredibly grateful she had approached the sullen looking albino boy at the back of the room all those years ago. At the time it had been entirely mercenary, she had been looking for a scythe, Sid said the boy at the back was a scythe and that was all she cared about. But as the years passed, she was glad she had picked him, glad she had the chance to get to know him, fall in love with him.
Soul really was something else.
She was pulled out of her reverie by the sound of the front door slamming. She rolled her eyes and sniffled as she felt her partner come towards her room. There was a knock at her door and she grinned, coughing a little before telling him to come in.
Soul stuck his head round the door to look at her, somewhat sheepish. "Did you get some more sleep today?" he asked.
The bed sheets rustled as she moved. "A little." She pouted and sniffed again. "I hate being sick."
He scoffed as he came into the room, walking to her bed to sit on the edge, balancing his back-pack on his lap. "Well, you insisted on chasing that pre-kishin through the storm without a proper jacket."
"Gee, thanks mama," she teased, but the effect was lost when she started coughing again.
Soul sighed and picked up the glass by her bedside. "Drink."
She did and her coughing subsided. She cleared her throat and looked at him expectantly.
He rolled his eyes and opened his bag, pulling out a series of sheets. "Here's the homework as well as Ox's notes, you freaking bookworm." The nickname was too affectionate to really be teasing. "Even when you're sick you still do all this shit."
"Well, I don't wanna fall behind," she murmured, taking the packet of sheets and leafing through it. "Then it'll be harder to catch up later, I'm already gonna have to do extra training to make up for the bed-rest."
He sighed again and muttered about stupid nerds making themselves even sicker because they wouldn't let themselves rest, which she pointedly ignored. Then he pulled something else out of his bag, a small paper bag that was slightly scrunched up. Her attention moved from the school papers to what he was holding and he grinned.
He turned the bag around dramatically to reveal the name of the shop it was from, grinning wider when she squealed and ripped the bag from his hand.
"Ahhh, thank you, Soul!" she exclaimed, reaching out for a hug for a moment before remembering the diseased nature of her current existence. She opened the bag reverently, looking through its contents. "What'd you get?"
"Uh, mostly hard candies because those are better for colds. You like the peach flavour right? It was like, five for the price of four but I could only think of four you liked," he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Mmm, yeah," she said, unwrapping one of the plastic bags in the paper bag and pulling out a hard candy, popping it straight into her mouth, moaning slightly at the taste. "Thank you."
He snickered a little and ruffled her hair. "It's cool, figured I should get you something to make up for leaving you alone."
"I'm fine, it's just a cold," she said, rolling the candy around in her mouth.
"I know, but I know you get lonely, so, uh, yeah."
She giggled a little as he flushed. "Aww," she teased. "Sweets from a sweetie."
He blushed a little darker and glared weakly. "Shut up," he mumbled.
She grinned. "I'd give you a kiss but I'm gross at the moment, so maybe not."
He scoffed again, still blushing. "Well, I guess I'll just have to settle for this." Then he leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Get better soon, Maka," he whispered. "I wanna have a proper kiss soon."
Then he reached into the paper bag and pulled out a couple of candies, making a break for it before she could react and smack him. Unfortunately, he forgot she always kept a book with her and she nailed him in the back of the head just before he could make it round the door.
