"What did I let you talk me into?" Kidd groaned—or, rather, tried to groan. It came out as a horrific, monstrous wheeze.

"Translation: 'Thank you so much, O Great Maka, for helping me get through the day since I've lost my voice.' You're welcome, by the way."

Soul snorted. "I'd ask what she said to persuade you, but, well—"

Kidd shot a glare his way.

"Translation: 'My sore throat is no laughing matter, fine sir.' I agree, Kidd," Maka grinned, resting her chin in her hands.

"Class should be fun. I'll ask Miss Marie to tell Professor Stein to call on Kidd a lot," Liz said.

At this, the sick boy in question gave up with a wheeze, fell back so that he laid down, and turned his head to look at Maka. He grunted. Make sure the grass stains aren't asymmetrical.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll check when we get up for class."

A satisfied nod, a sigh, and he closed his eyes.

"Poor guy. Shoulda stayed home," Soul smirked. "You probably coulda gotten a ton of sleep without O Great Maka yapping in your ear."

A half-hearted whine. Be quiet.

"I'm not yapping." She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "And shut up, he's trying to rest."

"So can you actually, like, read his mind or something? 'Cause you're getting a lot more out of those animal noises than me or Patti ever could." Liz leaned in toward Maka and hushed her voice.

She shrugged. "I'm intuitive."

The bell sounded. Kidd groaned, displeased with only a brief nap. Five more minutes.

"You're such a baby when you're sick. Get up so I can check your back for stains." Maka stood and walked to him, then pulled him to his feet and dusted off his back as he swayed on his feet. "You're good. Let's go. Last class, then you get to go home and sleep all weekend and keep your perfect attendance record."

He stared at her, and she slid a hand under his bangs to rest on his forehead.

"You've still got a fever. Want me to bring you some medicine after school?"

He shrugged, which Maka interpreted as 'If your gentle grace would be so kind'.

Off to class they went.

Liz had forgotten to ask Marie to tell Stein to call on Kidd, and it was a rather uneventful lecture, much to Kidd's relief. With twenty minutes left in class and Stein still informing the class that it is, in fact, perfectly ethical to import rare animals for experimentation, he dozed off, chin in hand. When class dismissed, and Kidd remained slumped over in his seat, Maka maneuvered up the stairs and crouched down to see him. The air conditioning, at this precise moment, decided to kick up a notch and blew some of her bangs into his face.

He sneezed himself awake.

Maka staggered backwards—"Gross, ack!"—and tripped over the desk behind her, falling and wedging herself in the row below Kidd.

By the time she'd managed to get to her feet and give herself carpetburn from rubbing Kidd's spit off her face, he'd fully awaken and gone into a panic.

Oh, ew, I'm sorry! My nose is ticklish! I've got disinfectant somewhere in here—

He ruffled through his bag, eventually pulling out a small bottle of hand sanitizer, and winced. It's the best I've got right now.

She grumbled unintelligibly, snatched it from his hand, and massaged a generous dollop of it into her face. "It is so your fault if I get sick. Let's go."

She escorted him home, sat him up in his bed with a thick blanket, frozen peas for his head, a movie, and a glass of water, and left to get medicine.

Already she felt a little woozy in the head—but she knew she couldn't be getting sick that fast, and dismissed it as hypochondria. Twenty minutes later and she was letting herself back into Kidd's house, marching up the stairs, and administering two tablespoons of Sore Throat Relief. She assumed it did not taste good; her assumption was proved correct when he groped around his nightstand for the water and downed the entire glass.

"Gross," he forced. It sounded almost human.

"Yup," she smiled, and climbed up next to him. "I'll stay here 'til the movie's over."

He grunted in approval.

They both fell asleep within an hour.

The following Monday:

"I brought this on myself," Maka groaned—or rather, tried to groan.

"Translation: 'I'm so lucky to have such a good friend to help me all day. Thank you, O Glorious Kidd.' You're welcome."

a/n: i swear i'm alive

this is less shippy than the other ones, but hey, the second genre tag is friendship. and i think this ship is build on a solid friendship.