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Adora woke up with a throbbing head, a throat like sandpaper, and a body that felt like it’d run over by a tank. All pretty standard signs of a cold.
And all things that faded into the background when she noticed the warm fluffy weight resting on her chest.
"Hhrm." Reaching up groggily she ran her fingers through Glimmer’s hair. “Did’ya get the snot out?”
Glimmer gave a feeble laughed. “Heh, yeah. Mom banned me from seeing you till I’d washed, so I stuck my head under the nearest waterfall and asked Swift Wind to help me dry it.”
Shifting she propped her chin on one hand, examining Adora carefully.
“… You’re eyes aren’t blurry anymore. And you can say ‘t’s again. You feeling less sick?”
“Kinda less.” Adora cleared her throat and suppressed a grimaced at how raw it felt.
There was a flash and the next thing Adora knew Glimmer propping her up, a glass of water in one hand. “Mom and the healer both said you need to drink as much as you can. Because of the, uh, fever? I think?” The uncertainly in Glimmer’s voice sounded a lot like fear. “You’ve been asleep all day and they said that was okay for now but…”
Taking the glass Adora forced down half of it, ignoring the pain of each swallow.
“Thanks.” She passed the glass back to a reassured looking Glimmer. “And yeah, staying hydrated is always a good idea when you’re sick, pretty much. That and staying warm.”
Just like she’d hoped Glimmer took the hint.
“Back under the covers.” Her girlfriend ordered as she helped ease Adora down. Another flash and the glass was returned to wherever it’d come from and Glimmer was in position again curled up at Adora’s side. Adora smiled as the fluffy weight returned. Glimmer’s head on her chest, hand on the rise and fall of her stomach, the warmth and contact- It was all a welcome distraction from how buzzy and achy the rest of Adora felt.
Reaching up again she found the familiar feathery fluff at the base of Glimmer’s neck, the short hair there so soft it could only be described as ‘downy’. Heck, with a mom who had wings maybe that’s what it actually was.
Either way it felt really great to play with and stroking the spot had the important side effect of melting some of stiffness from Glimmer’s shoulders. After a bit she felt Glimmer let out a shakily breath.
Adora’s sore throat tightened a bit more painfully. “Was it really that scary? Seeing me sick.”
Glimmer nodded against her shirt.
“Terrifying. But just because I was stupid and wouldn’t listen to Bow. I thought, ugh-” A puff of hot air seeped through Adora’s shirt, prickling the skin underneath.
“I thought a lot of stupid things. Like you’re nose running was your brain leaking out of your skull. Like covering you in bandages would help.”
A scratchy giggle made its way past the knot in Adora’s chest. “I guess snot looks a bit like brains, yeah. I can see it.”
Glimmer didn’t join in the fun.
“… I thought you might be dying.” The hand on Adora’s middle curled slowly, gathering her tank top into a fist. “I thought maybe it was my fault.”
Suddenly Adora felt like ice.
“Glimmer, no.” Gathering Glimmer up she tried to give her as much of a hug as she could when her muscles had been swapped for water. “If it's anyone's fault it's mine. I’ve been feeling off all week, should’ve noticed it, should’ve warned you I might be coming down with something.” Her free hand found her girlfriend’s fist and covered it, tried to rub some of tension out of her trembling fingers. “I'm sorry.”
A tremor ran up Glimmer’s spine. “It’s fine.” The tremor slipped into her voice too. “You’re okay, so everything’s fine.”
Adora smile turned bleak. “Like I could believe that when suddenly you’re the one who sounds like she’s got a cold.”
“I’m okay.”
“Right. And right now I’m the princess of good health.”
Glimmer shuddered. “I’m…”
Adora waited. She knew firsthand how hard it was to admit to any kind of weakness when it felt like a dam in your chest that’d burst if you so much as looked at it. She also knew now, thanks to Glimmer, that times like that were when you needed to let things out the most.
“I’m… I’m always doing something stupid and getting you into trouble.”
There it was.
“Not thinking things through. Never thinking at all once I’ve decided it’s something I want to do.” Glimmer’s shoulders shook, silent laughter or something else. Probably the something else. “Adora, what if you’d gotta really sick, what if you hadn’t gotten better, and it was just because of something as stupid as me wanting to impress you with a dumb rainbow-”
Adora willed her arms to squeeze Glimmer tighter.
“I liked that ‘dumb rainbow’.” She said, wishing her voice wouldn’t be so hoarse.
“I liked walking out in a rain that wouldn’t burn my skin. I liked getting to taste it on your lips when we kissed and I wouldn’t trade the memory of that for anything. And I just told you, I’ve been fighting something for days, it would have happened rain or shine.”
Brushing aside Glimmer’s bangs she pressed a kiss to her forehead, felt the worry wrinkles there and the dampness soaking through her tank top. Felt suddenly helpless.
She'd made Glimmer cry.
“...It was just a cold, nothing serious. It-" The words caught on the lump in her throat. "It wasn’t your fault and it’s almost gone now, okay? Glimmer…”
Glimmer curled in closer but stayed silent, unwilling or unable to answer.
Suddenly drained Adora laid back and stared up at the ceiling, one hand folding over Glimmer’s fist as the other tried to rub the tense shakes from her spine. It took a while to recognize the blur above her as the ceiling in her own room instead of Glimmer’s, which made sense but felt strange since Glimmer usually refused to try cuddling on the ‘rock bed’.
Adora squinted, trying to get her mind to focus past the foggy fuzziness stuffed between her ears.
She had to say something, do something.
Figuring out the right words wasn’t her strength at the best of times though. Being so warm and well-snuggled wasn’t really helping her powers of concentration either… Actually, if she was being honest…
“You know.” She heard herself say. “Being sick is actually kinda nice.”
Glimmer’s head shot up at once her pink eyes red-rimmed and irate.
“Excuse me it’s what?”
Adora shrugged. “It’s nice. I mean, this time it is anyway. Used to be the worst part of being sick was having to be more or less alone for a few days, curled up in a corner scared of falling asleep in case my fever spiked or someone came by and saw me. But this?”
She tickled the down at the back of Glimmer’s neck, grinning as Glimmer’s head drooped a little, glower falling half-shut.
“Yeah.” Adora hummed. “This is pretty nice.”
Rolling her eyes Glimmer let her head flop back down on Adora’s chest. “Well great. I’m glad someone’s enjoying themselves.”
There wasn’t any real bite to the grumble though and her fist finally relaxed enough for Adora to weave their fingers together. “I am. Makes me wish I could’ve done something like this for you back when you had the glitches.” Adora sighed. “Instead of just running off and vanishing for a few days like I actually did.”
Glimmer squeezed her hand gently. “You ran off to try and heal me, numbskull. Bed rest wouldn’t have made me feel better then anyway- Getting to beat up Horde soldiers though? THAT sure felt good.”
And feeling Glimmer’s laugh echo up through Adora's ribs felt good too, had to be the best medicine in the world.
“Guess I know what to do next time you get cursed.” She teased. “I’ll just airdrop us into the Fright Zone and we can kick butt until your battle fever burns the bad magic away.”
“Sounds good.” There was a smile in words now. “And next time you’re sick I’ll know to skip the bandages and go right to trapping you in a blanket and pinning you down until you stop trying to practice sword forms and finally fall asleep.”
“Aww- Is that the real reason I woke up being snuggled? Just to keep me from being trouble?”
“Trouble with no sense of balance and sword, Adora. So yeah, pretty much.”
Adora pouted up at the ceiling. Externally she was putting up a good show, internally she was cheering- Glimmer sounded better now. Glimmer sounded like she might be okay and the wave of relief that brought turned into exhaustion as it crashed over Adora.
“It’s a magic sword that’s supposed to heal stuff." She managed to mutter as her eyelids started to droop. "… S’not like I was that far off...”
“Suuure…”
Five minutes later Adora was fast asleep again and Glimmer was back to being wide awake.
With her ear pressed against Adora’s chest she could hear the rhythm of her heartbeat, steady but a bit faster than normal for when she was just resting. The sound unnerved Glimmer as much as it reassured her.
She couldn’t stop listening to it though. Couldn’t help the memories it brought up of finding Adora in the First One’s temple, laid out on a stone slab like a body in a tomb, breathing so slow and heartbeat so faint that for a moment there they’d all thought…
But she’d been fine then, in the end. And she’d be okay now.
This was nothing like that time anyway because this time Glimmer actually had things she could do to help. Keep Adora warm, make sure she got lots of water, keep her from dragging herself out of bed before she was really ready to. As long as Glimmer kept an eye on her, Adora would get better.
Lifting her head she double checked that the fever flush really was mostly gone from her girlfriend’s face. It was, and in its place was a small smile, a soft tug at the corners of Adora’s lips as she slept.
The sight made Glimmer’s heart pound. She’d missed that smile. The fever and the pained look that came with it had only lasted a few hours before fading out but it had still been a few hours too many. And Glimmer was a direct action kind of girl, so as much as she loved snuggling Adora, liked any chance to touch her and make sure she was there, it really did suck being stuck laying around when all she wanted to do was find whatever was hurting Adora and just punch it until it stopped.
Also…
“… I know you’re kinda enjoying this and that’s great.” She told the sleeping girl, grimacing as she wiggled the numb arm trapped between them. “But, get better soon okay? I swear your bed really DOES have rocks in it.”
Adora grunted in her sleep, somehow managing to sound indignant even without waking up.
Snorting Glimmer settled back down. The ‘bed’ might be no better than a hard stone floor, but the girl who owned it was more than enough to make up for that.