Work Text:
There wasn't a lot that actually affected a reaper, besides apparently OCD and paranoia (in Asuras case). It took a lot for them to die, to put in perspective, whilst with witches, he'd been sentenced to die a million times. Though he didn't know by what method those million times would be, he doubted it'd do much to change the long process. They also didn't get sick with human germs, Kid liked to steer clear of them when he could, especially to avoid getting Liz or Patty sick by carrying germs on him. Even oddly specific things like hair dye couldn't affect him. Unfortunately, that is.
With that, it was safe to say anytime Kid felt ill then it was his body having a physical reaction to some sort of asymmetry. So when he woke up and started to feel weird, he was concerned. He quadruple check the house, much to Liz's dismay, yet nothing was out of place, so he didn't understand what he was feeling. Being three hours late to school, they decided to carry on with their day, Liz just assuming Kid was having a bad day as he kept quiet about the oddness. He was too much in his own head trying to figure out what was going on to confide in his weapons.
Maybe it was some sort of witch spell, maybe one with soul protect.. but that didn't seem right. Asymmetry wouldn't explain his sore throat or sleepiness. He's a Shinigami, he doesn't get sleepy. Usually an abomination- asymmetry caused him to spew blood, nothing like this. He itched his head in frustration, noticing the faint ache from the movements.
His condition had only worsened as the day progressed. By the time it was lunch Kid had barely spoken and was resting his head on his arms on the table, asleep next to Patty, not even minding that Liz wasn't on his other side. The loud lunchroom should've made his headache worse, should've made it impossible to get rest, but his tiredness overpowered. Patty cooed at his sleeping figure when she noticed, which got the attention of the small group of friends. Liz looked mildly concerned.
"Yo, Kid? You dead? Why are you sleeping?" She seemed skeptical but was worrying on the inside. Maka didn't seem very fazed, offering a suggestion as Black★Star tried to poke the reaper's cheek but got smacked away by a defensive Patty.
"Maybe he's just tired? You guys always seem busy, the work might be catching up" it was a fair suggestion, for most people like Kid and Maka, overworking oneself would definitely cause extreme sleepiness, and Kid was overworked. Always insisting on doing something and even not wanting to, having missions that a mortal couldn't do yet neither Lord Death, those were left to him, and surprisingly were a lot of them. But that was the thing. Most people like them. People, average, everyday humans. Something Kid wasn't, it was easy to forget, the boy looked human and acted so, it always gave her a heart attack when she saw him get impaled only to realize his wounds had already healed.
"He doesn't get sleepy though, that's one of the weird Shinigami things, and he can't get sick either. I don't know why he's sleeping now.. it's unlike him" Patty bit Black★Stars hand after the fifth attempt of a poke. They dropped the conversation after that, when Kid hadn't woken up by the time lunch was over, Liz shook him until he did. He seemed surprised with himself that he'd fallen asleep, which dismissed one of her theories that maybe he purposely did so. Kid could fall asleep but only if he wanted.
"Hey, what's up with you? I thought it was just your OCD stuff but you seem seriously not like yourself" Liz said while walking with her sister and meister, the others either ahead or behind, Kid rubbed both of his eyes, getting a good look before to make sure he didn't run into anything or one while blinded.
"I.. don't know.. I just don't feel well for some reason. I'm not sure what's wrong, I thought it was nothing but it feels.. maybe like a sickness, I seem to have the symptoms as Patty did when she had the flu last winter"
"Should we go to Lord Death? You're not supposed to get sick"
"No. I'd like to deal with this by myself, besides, father has been busy, I don't want to bother him with this. I should be capable of handing it by myself" what kind of Shinigami would he be if he couldn't? As much as he acted like one, he wasn't mortal, he didn't need to go to school, he didn't need to eat or drink, he didn't need to have parental figures to take care of him. He'd be fine, anyway, whatever it was, it will be dealt with eventually.
Kid somehow managed through the day, everyone tried to bother him as little as possible. Even if he only fell asleep during one class, he looked bad. His resting expression could be passed off as his usual bored one if someone didn't know better, but his friends could tell he was out of it. Despite knowing all the answers he always tried to pay attention, clearly that wasn't being done this time. Stein looked like he had questions about this, looked intrigued, he probably would've tried to dissect him if he didn't see Patty glare at Kilik and Black★Star, the latter getting roped in. Her glare scared off both boys, leaving Kid clueless to the situation. He'd been out of it for the rest of the day, which was why he hadn't remembered plans.
"You sure? I'm sure Tsu wouldn't mind rescheduling, I don't think I trust Black★Star enough to take care of you like this" Liz said. She and Patty were supposed to have a girl's night at Tsubaki and Black★Stars place, which would mean Black★Star needed to leave the house. He probably would've spent the night with Soul as Maka had been invited, but she politely declined their offers in order to study. Kid had offered the teen to stay with him for the night, having plenty of spare rooms and not minding the company. One Black★Star would make up for the absence of two, maybe even more. But now with this illness Liz wasn't sure, Kid hadn't even remembered that was planned and he loved schedules and being on time. (When it was convenient, but hey, he's been getting better at arriving at school on time).
"I'm fine, I'll manage. Please, you and Patty go have fun, you both deserve a break" Kid insisted, sneezing into his sleeve but while holding his breath as to not make an obnoxious sound. Liz sighed but relented, leaving Black★Star to accompany Kid home from school. The girls already had a change of clothes in their bags, which Kid had quadruple checked the night before.
Black★Star was clearly trying to cut back on the conversation. He didn't want to bother Kid too much when he looked so sickly, he was a better man than that. But it was a given that it would only last so long, so at least when he did start talking about easy, pointless things, he didn't expect much of a response.
"Tsu didn't let me cook after that, she wouldn't even let me use the toaster. Like, you make one mistake and cook cake for seven hours instead of twenty minutes and all of a sudden you're banned from- .. Kid?" The reaper had stopped suddenly, looking but not seemingly seeing, he looked a bit sweaty too, which now that he was thinking about it, Black★Star didn't think he ever saw, even during PE.
"Feel…" he was breathing heavily and his voice wasn't very loud, if Black★Star wasn't as awesome and quick as he was, then he wouldn't have caught Kid before he hit the ground. But due to his assassin skills, he did, and carried Kid bridal as he ran the rest of the way to Gallows Manor. Content with not answering any questions on how he knew where to go.
Once arrived, he placed Kid on the couch and dashed through every room to find a mirror. For a house whose owner could walk and talk through mirrors, there weren't many of them. Mostly in the bathrooms, Black★Star didn't know if Lord Death could fit through any mirror, or just human sized ones, so he tried to find a bigger one. Which he eventually did. He realized it was probably Liz's room if the baseball bat by the bed and the story Kid told where he woke her up to then get hit by one was anything to go by. The mirror was probably for outfits or something, but he huffed on it and wrote the number and recited the chant.
Lord Death seemed surprised when it wasn't Liz or Patty, but greeted Black★Star unwaveringly all the same.
"What's up?" Black★Star explained the situation, how Kid was sick with something unknown and passed out on the way. Lord Death hummed, radiating contemplative despite his facial expression being unshown (did L.D even have a face?) "That is odd.. he shouldn't be able to get sick, he hasn't before either.. reapers can't have passion fruit though, it won't kill him but it causes symptoms much like the ones being described. He knows this, I'm not sure why he would eat it etill, but that seems to be the only plausible explanation. Well then, if that's the case then he'll be a-okay! He'll need a day or two, there isn't much else to do but let the sickness run its course."
As if. Black★Star was going to extra heal him, whether with medicine or his Star power, the little reaper will get fixed. Preferably within a few hours because he didn't really want to be dealing with a sick Kid the whole rest of the evening. Saying goodbyes, Black★Star scavenged the house for medicines, finding one, it was of course organized symmetrically, the smallest bottles meeting in the middle with evening largest on either side. He took out a few for colds, not sure of which one would work. He never got sick, so he wouldn't know. He found a pot and boiled some water too. Lord Death seemed to like tea, he assumed Kid did too, and Tsubaki always drank it when she got sick so obviously it was good.
Good for sicknesses, that is, personally he found tea to taste like nothing but hot water.
Kid didn't wake up yet so Black★Star just watched him sleep. Fine with sitting still and doing that, he surprisingly didn't get bored of it. It was impossible to get tired of looking at Kid, his usual sharp features now soft and squish-able, the way his hair fell over his face, Black★Star indulged himself and put his fingers through the hair, finding them a lot softer than he expected. Too bad his pretty, exotic, eyes weren't visible, but it was still nice to see his curled form resting, now free of tension. There seemed to be a slight shiver moving the motionless body, so like any good friend, he got a blanket from a room that was clearly Kids. Then he resumed his position.
At that point, he hadn't noticed what part of Kid he was staring at, but he was taken out of it by the movement, Kid slept so still he may as well have been dead. So the sudden movement made his eyes refocus.
"Something's burning" Kid said, not even questioning why he was being looked at or fretting over his asymmetrical position on the couch. Black★Star jumped when he started to smell it too, running to turn off what used to be the water. Kid had apparently wobbled after him,
"Shit! Shit, I'll have to boil more. My bad, I was gonna make you tea" he explained, refilling the pan with more water, all of it had completely evaporated before. At least the pot was already hot so it should cook faster. "Should you be standing?"
Kid shrugged, leaning against him with his arms wrapped around. "Not sure. Don't wanna any longer though. Carry me" he sounded so sleepy and raspy, Black★Star almost had a reaction. He definitely couldn't say no, he easily let Kid onto his back, the boy weighed nothing anyway. Along the trip back to the couch, which felt excruciatingly long for some reason, stupid long rich mansions, Kid slipped his icy hands under the others shirt, getting him to jolt.
And blush.
"You think now's a good time to tease me? I could drop you, y'know" but Kid didn't stop running his hands along the slim skin,
" 'm cold.. can't feel temperature, just human heat and fabric.. you're hot" in any other case, Black★Star would've made an innuendo. Kid seemed too out of it to appreciate it though so he didn't bother. Just fighting back the blush and laying Kid back down.
"I'll… I'll get more blankets and we can make you a lil nest or something so you can be warm, we can cuddle and everything" Kid didn't roll his eyes like he'd normally would, just laid back against the couch, waiting for Black★Star to act on his declaration. He ran off and came back with what he said, dumping two more thick blankets on Kid and tucking him in a way that he'll be able to join later while still making Kid feel cozy for now. He had found a thermometer too so he decided to check his temperature before hot tea went into his mouth.
Not like a fever would've been a problem though, he gapped at the negative number on the device. It wasn't decided, even out of Kid's mouth the device was moving up and down, up,up, down, up being further negative and down being warmer. "Liz wasn't lying about the cold blooded jokes.. you broke the thermometer" he tossed it to the side when it didn't turn off or stop moving. Kid mumbled something about water which was probably a reminder about the tea, something that definitely wasn't forgotten again… ..
Not trusting himself to make it good enough, he looked up an average recipe. He recognized some of the ingredients like sugar and milk, it seemed weird to him to add milk to a water based drink but he wouldn't know, he followed one and brought sugar and honey just in case Kid wanted it more sweet, even though Black★Star was ready to bet Kid liked his things bitter. Because that was stupidly fitting for his all black, death, edgy, aesthetic.
Kid added four more sugars wordlessly. Spilling some due to his sickly state, Black★Star knew it was bad when he didn't fuss over the mess or even clean it. He didn't join the cocoon that was made due to his tendency to overheat, but he sat touching-close and watched a movie together. It was sometime mid way when Kid yawned and Black★Star stretched,
"Hey, got anything sweet? I know we need to eat dinner soon but I'm craving candy" Kid took a minute to process his words and hummed,
"Cabinet above the third counter, there's a box of suckable candies. Patty bought them, there good, you may like them" he saluted and went to find the treats. He was no mathematician, he didn't know what system in Kids head were the counters numbered, so he just looked in all the cabinets till he found what was described. He read the box, curious, and that was where he found the culprit for Kids sickness.
Passion fruit hard candy. The reaper had been making himself sick by the sweets, so he brought the box to show him, after putting one in his own mouth. He could see why they were worth getting sick over.
"I talked to Lord Death earlier while you were knocked out. Apparently you're basically allergic to passion fruit?" Kid nodded, knowing the second part of the information then, "did ya know these candies are passion fruit flavor?" Kids brow furrowed, no then. He took the box and read it over, then once again, sighing he finally spoke.
"I never actually looked at it. Patty bought it, usually she'd just give me some whenever she eats it, I saw her put it away which was how I knew where it was. Ah, I should've known they must've been passion fruit, I only started feeling weird after they were bought" Black★Star rubbed his shoulder as a means of comfort. Even while he sounded slightly slurred, he could tell he was bothered by his failure to notice, though Black★Star didn't see why. It wasn't like Kid had passion fruit before to know what it tastes like to avoid.
"It's okay, he said you'll be better quickly, he didn't seem very worried. So you'll be fine, just let yourself be taken care of by the greatest" without really thinking about it, Black★Star gave him a kiss on the cheek. Kid glanced at him,
"You're eating one of those candies. Are you trying to get me more sick?"
He shrugged, "if it means I can take care of you longer"
"Do the other cheek then, it's the least you could do for trying to further poison me" Black★Star laughed and did as he was told, giving the other cheek a soft kiss. Kid happily went to sleep, resting most of his bodyweight (or just body, because even for someone who didn't eat, there was hardly any weight), on Black★Star.