Okay, people kept telling me that I'm hurting Maka too much in my fics so far...which is true ^^;; (sorry Maka! I love you!!) So I've decided to change it up a little. This is for Kashii Ai and all the others who wanted to see the fluff reversed a bit. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater :[

Always Together

Early snow was falling over Death City as white as the hair of a certain scythe-boy.

Said boy was lying in his bed with a bored expression on his face and he sniffed, staring out the window with dull, crimson eyes.

"Soul, I brought your soup." Came a familiar voice from the doorway. Maka was holding a tray with a bowl of hot soup on it, trying to squeeze through the door to his room that kept trying to close on her. She pressed against the door with her back, since her hands were occupied, and finally got into the room. She let out a breath as though she had just quarreled with a mangy dog and proceeded to Soul's bedside.

Two nights ago, when the two partners had been called out on a mission, they had stayed out late into the snowy night and Soul had gone a caught himself a cold. Maka, on the other hand, was driving herself crazy trying to take care of him, stay on top of her schoolwork and keep taking notes for him as well.

Maka almost wished that she was the sick one, but she knew that Soul would never take notes for her. Or he would force her to sleep if she attempted to study.

Thankfully, today was Saturday, and there was a minimum of work to be done so she was a bit more carefree and perky today. She was about to set the tray down on the table by his bed, when she felt something brush against her leg. With a squeal of surprise, she nearly dropped the tray as blazing hot soup spilled onto her torso. She put the tray down and gritted her teeth. "Ow, ow, ow! Hot!" She cried.

"Oi, you okay?" Soul sat up.

"I didn't get any on you did I?" Maka asked, worriedly.

"I'm fine. What about you, idiot?"

Maka was glad she was wearing oven mitts but her shirt had seen better days.

"I think I'm okay." She concluded. Then, she glared down at the ground at the culprit who had startled her. "Blair!"

"Sorry, Maka-chan!" The cat mewed. "Blair's sorry! Blair didn't know! Blair's tail is gonna fall off, nya!" She licked the tip of her tail that was wet with the hot broth that had missed landing on Maka.

"What am I going to do with you?" Maka groaned. "Well, eat what's left of your soup, Soul." She ordered. "I'm gonna go change my shirt." She announced as she left his room. Then he heard her call out from the hallway, "Blair! Behave yourself!" Soul smirked and the cat sniffed, lifted her chin and stalked out of the room.

"So far it's a pretty uncool morning…" Soul murmured to himself, reaching for his soup. He finished it quite quickly, even though it was a large bowl. "She sure can make a good meal for a sick person." He slurped it dry and placed the empty bowl back onto the tray. He sneezed and grabbed what must have been the thousandth tissue that morning alone. "Being sick is so not cool!" He complained.

He had said that so many times in the first day he was sick that Maka told him she would Chop him with a dictionary if she heard him say it again. So Soul had learned to complain on his own time by the second day.

He did not feel like sleeping so he just stared out the window again, wishing there was a TV in his room instead of the living room. But Maka re-entered a few moments later, wearing her usual outfit, her school uniform, minus the black cape.

"Well at least you've still got your appetite." She commented, taking the tray from the table.

"Oi, you don't have to clean it right away you know. You'll work yourself sick."

"No, it's okay. I've got nothing else to do today anyway. Unless you need something."

"No, I'm cool." Soul stated as Maka left his room again. While she was gone, he used up the last of his tissues and cursed. Maka reappeared with a book in one hand and a box of tissues in the other.

"You're my savior." He grinned, showing off his shark-like teeth as she tossed it over to him.

"The snow is so early this year." She observed, pulling out a chair and taking a seat next to his bed.

"Yeah, it's so great." Soul agreed. "I like the snow. It's so cool…wait…"

"Yeah and that joke was so not cool." Maka laughed.

"Shut it, you flat-chested girl." He scoffed, thinking that she would not Maka-Chop a sick person.

He was wrong.

"You should've known better." She scolded. He groaned.

For the majority of the remainder of the day, Maka stayed in Soul's room with him and they just chatted, as Maka tidied up his room a bit, organizing papers on his desk. She made him soup again for dinner and he did not complain; she made the best damn soup in all of Death City, in his opinion.

"Hey, did you even eat anything today?" He asked since she had been in his room and he had not seen her so much as touch and ounce of food.

"I had a little something before." She answered simply with a shrug. Soul looked at her suspiciously but shrugged as well.

"Fine. Don't blame me when you get sick too." Maka rolled her eyes as she opened up her book and sat down at his bedside again. There was a moment of silence as she opened her book and began to read. "You know, Maka, you don't have to stay with me like this." He told her. "I'm not gonna die from a cold."

"Well…yeah but, I know if I was sick, I wouldn't want to be left all by myself either." She smiled at him. "Besides, we're partners. We look out for each other." A slight blush crossed her cheeks, but she hoped that the dimmed lights hid it from him.

"Well I'm getting kinda tired, so I'll be going to sleep soon." He announced.

"Oh, okay, sorry I'll leave." Maka started to get up but Soul stopped her.

"No, idiot, you don't have to leave this second, you know." He avoided her eyes.

"Okay." She smiled. If it was me, I wouldn't want him to leave either. She sat back down and made herself comfortable, leaning back against the chair and crossing her legs, her book in her lap. "Good night, Soul." She said softly.

"Yeah, night." He replied. He pulled the blankets up and closed his eyes.

Maka told herself she would just finish the chapter she was reading and then leave. But it just turned out being one of those books that she could not put down. So she wound up staying almost until midnight.

Soul coughed and sneezed multiple times throughout the night and she was always there to offer him a tissue when he needed one. Maka was so frantic worrying about him that she had to force herself to go to bed. She closed her book and was about to leave his room when Soul sneezed again. He woke up and groaned.

"Man, this is so not cool. Every time I sneeze I freaking wake up!" He complained.

"Here." She handed him yet another tissue.

"Thanks." He took it and blew his nose loudly before disposing of it in the trash bin near his bed.

"Anytime." She gave him a smile that shown in her olive-green eyes. Then, she gasped as a huge sneeze escaped her own body. She covered her nose with both hands, embarrassed.

"Oh, great." They sighed in unison.

"Get into your own room before you get even sicker." Soul suggested as she took a tissue for herself.

"I'll stay with you a little while longer, just in case you need me." She took her seat again and opened her book.

"I give up." Soul grumbled. "Catch your death, go ahead, you idiot." He closed his crimson eyes again and was snoring within a few moments, mumbling about eating souls in his sleep.

Maka cracked open her book again; she had just started it a few hours ago and was now almost finished.

Soul was not woken up by any more sneezes but his partner was a different story. Now she was grabbing tissues for herself to use, as if he was passing off the cold directly to her. But still, she did not want to leave him yet.

Somewhere around 1AM, she finished her book, closing it with a slight thud and sighing with accomplishment. Only once her eyes had been lifted from the small font on the pages did she realize her vision was extremely blurry. The dim light from the lamp at Soul's bedside against the dark shadows of the room only made her eyes hurt even more. She kept blinking in the hopes that she would be able to see better, but every time she closed her eyelids, it was harder and harder to open them again. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands, but when she opened them again all she could see were black and red spots.

She reached for the lamp to turn it off, but a wave of dizziness overcame her. She coughed once and slumped forward, lying her head on Soul's bed.

I'll just close my eyes for a second…

The next morning was white with snow when Soul blinked his crimson eyes open.

He was still lying on his back, the same position he had been in when he had went to sleep. He sniffed, and though he felt a bit better, his nose was still stuffy. He reached for a tissue when he heard a small cough and blinked. Turning his head, he saw Maka asleep on his bed with her head on her arms and the rest of her still on the chair. Her breathing was ragged and he knew she had caught his cold, just like he had predicted.

"Falling asleep in my room and getting sick. Not cool." He mumbled. Maka coughed again before sleepily pushed herself up.

"Morning, Soul." She sniffed with a helpless smile on her face that said, 'well, I tried'.

"Morning." He replied, rolling his eyes.

Then, their hands collided as they both reached for the tissues. They both blushed a bit and pulled back.

"You go first," Maka offered. "You're sicker than I am."

"Not anymore!" He said triumphantly. "Now you're the sick one."

"You're not all better yet, though!" she argued. Soul grabbed two tissues and tossed one over to her.

"Here. Just try to get rid of it before it gets too bad."

They blew their noses simultaneously, as fun as that sounds, before slowly getting up and getting out of bed.

"Well at least there's no school today." Maka pointed out. "So we'll have the rest of today to get better."

"Yeah, I guess that's good." He agreed.

Maka temporarily retreated to her room to change clothes. Soul changed into the black shorts and white T-Shirt he usually slept in and she changed into her long-sleeved, pale pink shirt with long matching pants. She untied her pigtails too; somehow, wearing those loose pajamas and having her hair down made her feel comfortably at home and relaxed.

They met each other in the kitchen and helped one another in making some breakfast and in the end, they both ended up with fluffy, golden waffles. When she looked at the clock at the end of their meal, it was only 10AM, and they had slept in for once too.

"I guess I'll go change again and go out to get some groceries." Maka suggested.

"Idiot! You think I'm gonna let you go outside in the freezing snow in the condition you're in?" Soul growled. "You're staying here." He told her firmly.

"I'm not that sick!" She contradicted, but a sneezing fit a second later put that smug grin on Soul's face.

"I rest my case."

"I guess I'll clean or something. Or read. I've finished all my schoolwork already…"

"Maka, you already cleaned the whole freaking house yesterday!" He reminded her. "Why don't we both just sit back and chill today?"

"Why? Cause it would be 'cool'?" She asked sarcastically.

"Shut up! That wasn't funny, idiot." He mumbled and she giggled.

But Maka knew she would feel too useless if she just lay in bed for the remainder of the day. So she contented herself with brushing Blair in the living room. Even though the cat could do it anytime with magic, it still felt nice to be able to relax while someone else did all the work. By the time she was finished, Maka was covered in purple cat fur which earned her a laugh from Soul which earned him a Maka-Chop.

By noontime, they both seemed to realize that, with all the reading and sneezing and coughing and waking up every 15 minutes from the night before, they both only got a few hours of sleep. Maka decided to add to the relaxing day that they only got once in a blue moon, by making hot chocolate. When she presented his mug to him, Soul gulped it all down in one go. Maka's lasted a bit longer, but not much.

Around 2PM, they both really started to get weary, because snowy, cold winter afternoons always made one sleepiest when they were in soft pajamas, and the rooms smelt of hot chocolate. It was one of those rare, tranquil days where one just wanted to sleep sit back and sleep.

Soul went back to his bed around 3, slid under the blankets, and folded his hands behind his head on his pillow, as though he were tanning on a beach. Maka, obviously still concerned more about Soul's health than her own, insisted on taking the chair in his room again, with a new book in her lap. "Maka, just don't stay up until midnight, you bookworm." He warned.

"I know, Soul, I'm not that stupid." She sighed.

Her posture was not as straight as it usually was when she read, and her longish, pale hair pooled over her shoulders a bit. Soul caught himself watching her, only because there was nothing else to look at, but he turned his head anyway. He closed his eyes and tried to get an early start on his sleep while Maka continued reading.

It did not take her long to realize that Soul could not keep still as he tried to sleep. Concerned, she put her book down and placed the back of her hand on his forehead. He was warm and she was taken aback. "Soul, you have a fever." She murmured softly because she guessed he was still awake. "Hold on, I'll be right back." She got up and went into the bathroom. She grabbed a washcloth, ran it under cold water and raced back into his room, stumbling on her own tired feet as she did so.

"Whoa, calm down, don't hurt yourself." Soul croaked from his bed.

"Don't worry about me." Maka said sternly, placing the washcloth on his forehead. "Does that feel better?" She asked, fretfully.

"Yeah, a lot. Thanks, Maka."

"No problem." She said softly. Then, she broke out into a series of coughs and grabbed a tissue to cover her mouth.

"Man, we just can't win, can we?" Soul chuckled.

"I guess you're right." She rasped, sitting back down. She had been planning on going to sleep soon, but now that Soul had a fever she needed to stay longer. She turned on the lamp, since the weak sunlight was getting even weaker. Her vision was getting fuzzy so she abandoned her book, placing it on the floor under her chair. She lifted her hands to rub her temples and coughed again with a moan.

"Oi, go get some sleep. I feel better already." Soul told her truthfully. "You must've stopped it before it even got a chance to really start." He gave her his trademark smirk.

"Well that's good." Her eyes closed without her consent and she fell forward.

"Oi!" Soul sat up and steadied her before she slumped onto the bed.

"S-Sorry, Soul, my head's hurting." She apologized. "I'm getting really tired…"

"O-Oi," he stammered as she fell forward limply. Soul managed to drag her up onto his bed. "You're sleeping here tonight, Maka. There's no way you'll make it back to your room on your own anyway." He laid her on her back and pulled the blankets up to her shoulders. Then, he leaned over and flicked off the lamp, and with a grunt, he fell back down onto his bed beside his barely conscious partner. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing hard through her mouth until a painful-sounding coughing fit shook her body. "Maka…" he murmured hopelessly, unsure of what to do and silently admiring her for knowing exactly how to take care of him.

He felt her forehead to find that he was not the only one with a fever. She was burning up and it looked as though every breath was getting more and more difficult for her. Soul found the damp washcloth and placed it on her forehead instead, since he felt much better himself.

He waited a few moments, watching her closely, her uneven breathing getting shallower and her body began to shiver from the cold. Soul shifted and moved closer to her, and he slowly wrapped his arms around her small form. Finally, she stopped shaking and her breathing grew deeper and slower until it was normal. A few moments later, Maka lifted her head and looked up at him in the darkness.

"S…Soul…Thank you…" She gave him a small smile. "Are you feeling better?"

"Awesome." He told her. "Just a bit tired, but besides that, I'll be 100% tomorrow." He promised.

"That's good…" she breathed on the exhale as the washcloth slid off of her forehead.

"How 'bout you? You okay?" He asked.

"Mm, yeah…I'll be fine tomorrow too. I'm just a little tired and cold."

Soul squeezed her tighter and her heart skipped twice.

"Well then, that's cool." He murmured. "Let's just get some sleep."

"Yeah…" just this once, she thought it would be okay to press closer against him. "It's kind of funny, how we both got sick like that." She whispered.

"Well yeah," Soul agreed. "We're partners," he said closing his eyes and she did the same. "Fighting, going to school even getting sick. We do everything together."

"Right." Maka breathed softly as she slipped into the unconsciousness of sleep. "Always Together."

A/N: Awww! Cute, neh? Well I thought so! A little something for the upcoming Winter months :3 Again Happy Holidays to all!

For all the other Soul Eater fics I've posted, I've gotten like, 1 review for every 10 favs. ^^;;

So please review! Thanks!