Yes, this is exactly why I didn't want Death Scythe to come over yesterday either… – Soul frowned to himself as he kept kneading the skin on Maka's head to try and ease her headache.

He was way too warm with his meister wrapped around him under the blanket given her raging fever, but he wouldn't move even if his life depended on it.

After maybe a half an hour – probably as the meds kicked in – Maka seemed less uncomfortable but her fever still wasn't breaking yet.

Meanwhile she was dreaming of Soul, annoying fathers and mischievous cats. None of it made really sense. At one point her partner was dressed in a full suit of armor battling an evil mage – who was the splitting image of her father I might add – riding on a giant purple cat in a witch head; using a sword (Excalibur?) – why Soul wouldn't just transform his arm to a scythe was beyond Maka. Her dream-self was watching the whole thing from a high vantage point and when she finally looked at herself she realized that she had been trapped in a tall tower, wearing nothing but a very skanky lingerie or bikini made out of some kind of brown-gold metal. It looked somewhat familiar. Maybe from a movie Soul had once shown her once but for the life of her she couldn't recall which.

Then the whole thing shifted and she found herself in her childhood home, but she was the same age she was now, all dressed up pretty, her father doting on her, giving her advice on what she should wear for a date. The doorbell rang and the murderous face that Spirit made alarmed Maka. She wanted to get to the door before him, but for some reason the air around her felt like some kind of viscous liquid and she could barely move. Her father opened the door and there stood Soul, in his black suit and red shirt, his white hair gelled to perfection, his wry smile inviting her to join him. Before she could get to him, Spirit transformed his blades and cut Soul up across chest in the exact same way Crona had done.

Just as she was getting ready to scream, Maka felt like a cold glass of water was poured over her and her eyes flew open. She realized as she reached up that she wasn't on Soul anymore, lying on her back and a cold wet washcloth was placed on her forehead.

"Shh. It's okay, sorry I disturbed you." – her partner's soothing, worried voice caught her ears. He was sitting by her side on the bed.

"What time is it?" – the delirious ash-blonde asked groggily.

"Just after 3 PM." – he informed her as she glanced at him. – "Feeling any better?"

"A little." – Maka replied as she noticed that her head wasn't pounding anymore, reaching for his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. – "How about you?"

"Don't worry about me." – Soul smirked with amusement. Even in her current state she was more occupied with her weapon's well-being. Stubborn, reckless meister of mine…

Maka glared back at him pointedly, less than pleased with that answer.

"Wanna go back to sleep?" – he inquired, still ignoring her attempts to get him to cave.

"Nah, dreamland is a bit weird of a place right now." – the ash-blonde girl replied humorlessly.

"Bad dreams?" – Soul asked, lowering himself on his elbow.

"Sort of. But more like weird." – she sighed, rubbing her face with her unoccupied hand.

"Dream of me?" – the red-eyed boy smirked at her toothily. In this household weird was almost a synonym with Soul.

"Yes, but not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter, please." – Maka couldn't help but blush as she swatted at his arm playfully.

"Then what?" – Soul asked curiously.

"Ugh. I can't really recall it well. Something about my dad wanting to kill you and locking me up. And I was in a very weird metal bikini with these swirly patterns on it?" – she groaned frustratedly. Her statement sounded more like a question.

"You were dressed up as slave Princess Leia from the Return of the Jedi in your dream?" – her partner snickered at the image. – "And you say I should get my mind out of the gutter."

"I dunno. Have I seen that movie?" – the green-eyed girl looked at him confusedly.

"Of course you have, we watched the whole original Star Wars trilogy just three weeks ago." – Soul glanced at her unimpressed, pouting at her a little for either not paying attention or forgetting about one of the most epic set of movies of all time.

"Oh. That one. Yes, I guess I was in something like that." – she shrugged. Once the mental image was confirmed, her partner's nose started to bleed a little as he dreamily fantasized about it. – "Geez, you are such a pervert." – Maka rolled her eyes and swatted at him again.

"Your pervert." – he grinned at her after blowing his nose and wiping away the blood.

From the surprise of that statement Maka started to cough. – "That's… true." – she whispered once the fit ended.

"Wanna eat something?" – her partner changed the subject before he could earn a Maka-chop if he kept pushing his luck.

"You are hungry?" – she glanced up at him. Well, it was way past lunch time. She realized that probably he only left her side to fetch the towel for her forehead this whole time.

"Aren't you?" – Soul looked at her with concern. Although it should be expected with the fever she is running.

"Not really. And I don't really have the energy to cook something anyway." – Maka shook her head.

"We have that soup Spirit brought over." – he offered. Food was food wherever it came from, and since he meant to give that to Maka it surely wasn't poisoned.

"Right." – the ash-blond girl frowned as she considered that option. She had to stay hydrated, so it actually wasn't a bad thing to eat. She was just surprised that Spirit had the brains to actually think of something useful.

"Or we could just order something." – Soul commented distantly as if it didn't matter to him either way. Which was actually true.

"No… the soup will be fine." – she agreed reluctantly. Money wasn't tight but they couldn't afford to waste any if free food was available.

"Be right back." – he patted her on the back of her hand as he untangled himself from her death grip that she didn't realize she was doing to him. She had such a bad relationship with her father that even the thought of him made her tense up.

Being sick sucked big time. Soul could feel it in his own sluggish body too, that screamed at him to just lie down and not move for like the next week. And he wasn't even that bad off. A mild-fever of 100.5, a little stuffed up nose and sore throat wasn't exactly that much pain in the ass. He just sent his prayers to Shinigami or whoever was willing to listen that it stayed that way because if he had to suffer through what Maka was experiencing he was surely going to die, whereas she wasn't even whining about it that much, just when she was really unwell, being more concerned with his well-being most of the time.

In the kitchen Blair was licking her paws merrily, not having a care in the world.

"Hey." – Soul greeted her when he went to the fridge to get the soup out that he wanted to reheat. She just looked at him with a questioning stare, tilting her head towards the bedroom door.

"Don't even ask." – he commented flatly with a shake of his head, sniffling and coughing a bit into the sleeve of his sweater.

"That's just gross. This place should be quarantined off with the look of things." – Blair scrunched her cat face together in disgust.

"You are free to leave whenever." – the white-haired boy snapped at her offhandedly.

"Nah, it's too fun to watch you two lovebirds go at it." – the kitty kept cleaning her fur then began humming and singing to herself.

Maka and Soul sitting in the tree

K-i-s-s-i-n-g!

First comes love.

Then comes marriage.

Then comes baby in the baby carriage,

Sucking his thumb,

Wetting his pants,

Doing the hula, hula dance!

Soul just clicked his tongue irritatedly.

He was starting feel like a damn waiter with all the trays he has been carrying back and forth from their appointed sickroom. Not that he minded taking care of his meister, she had done plenty of her own too. And besides the grateful look on Maka's face when he entered made up for everything.

"Thanks." – she sat up and smiled tiredly at his partner as he set their food down.

"Want help?" – Soul teased earning himself a pointed glare.

"This is not half bad." – he commented after a few spoonfuls. – "Do you think he made this?"

"Could be." – Maka pondered between sips. – "Papa did use to cook when I was younger."

"Do you think you should call him?" – the red-eyed weapon endeavored.

"Why would I?" – his meister huffed like a petulant child.

"Okay, I get it, he is a player, cheated on your mom, multiple times, had a nasty divorce. And he is annoying and obnoxious as fuck. But has he done anything specifically against you?" – he summarized the enigma that was Death Scythe.

"You do realize that I haven't seen my mom in years because she won't come anywhere near Death City since he is here, right? I mean she is also busy with her missions from Lord Death, but he is the reason that she doesn't come back even to report in." – the ash-blonde girl put her sorrow into words regarding her family situation.

"That's totally on her, abandoning her daughter like that. If she wanted to see you so badly she would have found a way to do it." – Soul exclaimed. This had actually been bugging him for a while now. The way Maka idolized her mom to no end, yet Rika was utterly absent from her life and made no attempt to change that.

"Can we just not do this right now?" – Maka sighed tiredly, having no energy whatsoever to delve into the topic right now.

"As you wish." – he turned silent again and just concentrated on eating instead.

"It's not that I don't know how my mom isn't exactly the mother of the year with only sending a postcard or two once in a while. But it's much easier to just hate on Papa instead the both of them." – she whispered almost inaudibly after she finished her soup.

"I'm really not one to talk with the way my family is. So forget I said anything." – Soul backed off, already regretting opening this particular can of worms.

"Are all men untrustworthy pigs like that?" – the ash-blond girl mused pessimistically going back to her fears that were instilled in her by her father.

"I told you this before. Cool men don't cheat on their partners." – her weapon smirked at her, ruffling her hair on the top of her head.

"Yeah, I guess you are right." – Maka laughed out, snuggling up to him. – "You are pretty cool tho."

He only replied with a pleased grin of his own as he enveloped his partner in a big hug.

The rest of the day went rather uneventfully – thank Lord Death for that! Probably neither of them could have handled another meltdown like the one brought forth by a certain insufferable redhead.

They slept and cuddled, talked and kissed a bit, and even got themselves upgraded to the living room by early evening when finally Maka's fever decreased to 101.1. And watched a movie or two, just to keep this good habit up.

Just to change things up they decided to sleep in Soul's room together that night. Maka of course snatched his blanket again for herself. Even though she couldn't really smell anything at the moment it was somehow comforting to use his.

A good night's sleep could really do wonders to one's health. On Sunday morning both of them woke up with a goofy smile on their faces, feeling much better, both of their fevers between the 100-101 range. They took turns with using the bathroom, washing away the stickiness that their fever left them with.

As they just finished their late breakfast there was a polite knock on the door then someone practically stepped in the doorbell. Maka and Soul exchanged a glance.

"You don't think?" – Soul asked first.

"Open up you lazy bastards, your god is here!" – came the shout that was distinctively their blue-haired friend's, although he was just as loud and obnoxious as the person they feared it might be.

Both of them sighed in relief as Maka made her way there to open the door.

"Black*Star knock it off! Maka could be sleeping…" – Tsubaki tried to rein in her errant meister just at moment. – "Oh, hi!" – she smiled at her friend once she realized that the door had opened. It was only now that the assassin finally let up on the doorbell.

"Hey guys, come on in." – Maka chuckled at the scene.

"Sorry to drop in like this, unannounced, but Black*Star insisted that nothing could get in the way of gaming Sunday." – the tall raven-haired girl shot an admonishing glare at the guilty party, setting a package of some sort on the kitchen counter.

"It's fine, although you might want to keep your distance. I don't want you guys catching it too." – she offered them a seat on the couch were the white-haired boy was already eagerly setting up everything.

"What? Don't tell me you are such a pussy that you went and got sick too!" – Black*Star hollered in disbelief.

"Tone it down a notch, will ya?" – Soul winced at the volume his friend was capable of emitting through his mouth.

"What have you been doing? Smooching all day that you managed to catch her cold?" – the way they averted their gazes and blushed told more than a hundred words. – "YOU ACTUALLY DID KISS DIDN'T YOU?"

"Shut up already!" – the pair insisted since their heads were starting to hurt.

"I deeply apologize for him." – the shadow weapon bowed in her partner's stead. – "Black*Star! Learn to be silent already!" – she turned to him.

"But did you?" – the blue-haired meister pushed on unrelenting, ignoring his partner's words.

"That was after I came down with it, but… yeah…" – Soul finally admitted, scratching the back of his head.

At the scrutinizing glance of Tsubaki, Maka motioned for her to join her in the kitchen to talk while she made some tea, leaving the boys to their own devices, Black*Star was already giving a high-five to his pal.

"Do tell." – the shadow weapon nudged her. And Maka spilled the beans on what had happened since their phone call the day before, giggling furiously at some of the more embarrassing moments.

"What are you girls up to?" – Soul called over to them suspiciously.

"Nothing!" – they replied in perfect unison, ending up giggling again but stopped when it sent Maka coughing.

"So are you officially going out now that you have confessed to each other?" – Tsubaki whispered to her.

"I… don't know… we haven't really talked about that yet." – the ash-blonde girl admitted dejectedly.

"Don't worry, you will get around to it." – she comforted her friend, then they decided to join the boys again before they set the house on fire or something.

Soul eyed Maka questioningly but she just shook her head at him to indicate that they will talk about it later.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I found that box outside your door." – Tsubaki exclaimed pointing to said object on the counter. Maka raised her eye-brow questioningly, since neither of them had ordered anything recently.

She got up to inspect it, Soul abandoning his game and close on her tail. There was a card attached to it.

"Dear Maka, Hope you get well soon. Death the Kid, Liz and Patti." – Maka read the card. Typical Kid, she rolled her eyes. Opening the package she found a small fruit basket in it with oranges and apples, all carefully selected to be symmetrical it seemed.

"Should I be jealous?" – Soul teased as he saw the contents of it too. His meister shoved him playfully.

"That wouldn't be cool, would it?" – she teased right back.

"Touché." – he agreed.

They shared and snacked on the fruit till around lunch time, the girls chatting and watching the boys play, who were going at it with great vehemence.

"Okay, I'm beat!" – Soul exclaimed suddenly, leaning back against the couch exhausted from trying to overpower Black*Star's reflexes in the game.

"Come on, Soul, don't be such a wuss!" – the blue-haired meister taunted him on, wanting to continue gaming.

"I'm sick, man, have mercy on me." – the scythe boy groaned as he rubbed his tired eyes.

"That's no excuse, you are just weak and pathetic!"

"You would feel weak and pathetic with a fever too!"

"I don't get sick, I'm too big of a star for that!"

The bantering back and forth was interrupted when Soul felt a sneeze coming on and just to spite his obnoxious friend he let it loose in his direction without covering.

"Let's see about that…" – he muttered under his breath.

Within a few minutes Tsubaki dragged her errant partner out of the apartment to leave while she kept continuously apologizing for his behavior.

Monday morning Maka tried to sneak off to school while she wasn't entirely well yet, Soul having to drag her back in and tell her off that she needed to rest until she got all better.

Just as they wrestled their way back into the apartment the phone went off.

It was Tsubaki informing them that they weren't going to school either because Black*Star came down with a fever – very mild at that – but he kept insisting that he was dying…

A/N: I have no idea why but Rika is the name that keeps coming to my mind regarding the name of Maka's mom. She was supposed to have some sort Japanese heritage from her mom right? I know it's not Kami, like many people think. That's a mistranslation of a Japanese etiquette - motokamisan which means ex-wife.

Thank you animedancer14 for the unintentional idea with the playground song XD

Anyway, this is the end of this little (or maybe not even that little) fic of mine. I just love these cuties. It's such a shame that in the anime nothing happens between them.