Author's Note
This should be rated E, but I wanted to use the Profanity tag for a few moments in this, so I had to rate it T!
Sci-Twi's Sick Slump
Twilight groaned quietly to herself, throwing a hand over her face. It was dark save for Christmas lights wrapped around a railing, and it took Twilight a few minutes to remember where she was.
She remembered going to sleep the night before in Sunset’s apartment, up in her loft with the fiery-haired girl right next to her. Twilight rolled over and scooted closer to Sunset. Her whole body ached, but she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe she had just slept wrong.
Sunset was snoring lightly as Twilight tried to figure out what time it was. Everything was dark and Twilight’s vision was fuzzier than normal. She reached behind her to the bedside table and felt around for her glasses. She grabbed them then knocked them off onto the floor. Twilight rolled her eyes and decided to just leave them.
She laid her head back down on the pillows, turning her face into Sunset’s shoulder.
It was a Saturday, so it didn’t really matter what time it was. At least Spike wasn’t scratching at the door to be fed. Now that he could talk, there was no ignoring him.
Twilight’s head pounded as she tried to fall back asleep. She sniffed, finding her nose slightly blocked. Her stomach hurt and her whole body felt fatigued. Twilight just scooted closer to Sunset, breathing in her vanilla shampoo. The smell comforted her a little bit, and soon she fell into an uneasy sleep.
When she woke up again Sunset was gone from the bed, and the lamp underneath the loft was turned on, letting warm light flow through the apartment. Her ears were ringing and the light was blinding -despite how soft it was- to Twilight. She took a deep breath and rolled over, feeling around the floor for where she had knocked off her glasses last night.
She guessed she hadn’t been all that quiet when Sunset appeared next to her, holding her glasses.
“These were on the floor this morning. I picked them up so they wouldn’t get stepped on.” Sunset slid them onto her face, letting Twilight blink a few times to adjust her vision. Now the world was slightly less blurry.
“You okay Twi? You never sleep this late.” Sunset ran a hand through Twilight’s messy hair, smoothing it out.
“What time is it?” Twilight dodged Sunset’s question.
“Almost noon,” Sunset replied, sitting down next to her. Twilight almost let out a whimper.
“Oh,” she said instead. Sunset began to play with her hair, twirling it around her fingers and untangling it.
“Are you okay?” Sunset asked again.
Twilight wasn’t okay. She was 95% sure she was sick with something and all she wanted was for Sunset to take care of her. But she knew that Sunset would worry if she told her she was sick, so she decided against it. Twilight had pushed through sickness before, and she could do it again.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just peachy.” Twilight mustered a small smile, shooting Sunset her best ‘I’m okay’ look. Sunset raised an eyebrow, not buying it.
Maybe Sunset saw the pleading look in her eyes, or maybe she just had that much trust in Twilight, but she dropped the topic.
“Want anything to eat?” Sunset took one hand out of Twilight’s hair, moving it down and clasping Twilight’s shaking hand in hers.
“Do you?” Twilight laid back against the pillows, trying to remain cool but needing to try and calm the pounding in her skull.
“I mean, if you’re hungry we can get whatever you want. I don’t really care.” Sunset squeezed Twilight’s hand, providing the comfort Twilight needed to stay level-headed and not just breakdown she felt so sick.
Her stomach made a noise of protest at the thought of food and she shook her head.
“No, I’m not hungry.” Twilight shook her head but instantly regretted the action. Pain flashed through her eyes.
Sunset bit her lip the way she did when she was worried. She rubbed her thumb over Twilight’s knuckles, trying to calm both girls' nerves.
She took her hand from Twilight’s arm, where it had moved from her hair after Twilight leaned away from her. She placed the back of her hand on Twilight’s forehead.
“You can’t hide things from me Twily, you know that.” There was a small smile on her face as she had caught Twilight red-handed. Twilight gave her a look that was somewhere between pained and sheepish.
“I’m sorry, I-I just didn’t want you to worry.” Twilight let her eyes fill with tears as Sunset enveloped her in a hug. Twilight rested her chin on Sunset’s shoulder, trying to slow her breathing so she wouldn’t throw up.
“It’s okay Twi. I’m not mad. What hurts?” She pulled away from the sick girl, letting Twilight cling to her arm.
“Everything. My head, a lot. It’s hard to breathe, my stomach hurts, I feel nauseous.” Twilight laid back down as Sunset contemplated her symptoms.
“Let me get some stuff and we’ll get you feeling better in no time.” Sunset flashed her that smile that said it was all going to be okay, the same one she gave her after the Friendship Games when they were safely on the ground and it was all over. Twilight smiled back.
Sunset left the loft, digging through the cabinet in the kitchenette and bathroom until she returned.
She set a blue Powerade on the bedside table and laid down a thermometer next to a cold compress onto the bedspread. She turned on the digital thermometer, lifting it to Twilight’s mouth.
“Under your tongue,” she instructed as Twilight opened her mouth and closed it again around the thermometer. They waited for it to go off, Sunset removing it and sighing at the number displayed on the small screen.
“102.4,” Sunset told Twilight, setting the thermometer out of the way on the side table.
“Could be higher,” Twilight mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Sunset set the cold compress on her forehead, pushing her hair out of her face.
“Here.” Sunset grabbed the Powerade and opened it, lifting the drink to Twilight’s lips and helping her down a few sips.
“Do you need anything else? I can go out and find some medicine if you think you need it.” Sunset took Twilight’s hands into her own again.
“No. I’m okay. Could you just-” Twilight bit her lip, trying to find the right words. “-stay here with me?” Sunset smiled.
“Of course. Always.” Sunset let go of Twilight, climbing over to sit next to her. She leaned back against the pillows and opened her arms for Twilight. A small smile fell on Twilight’s lips as she settled into Sunset’s embrace.
“Fuck,” Twilight jumped up from Sunset’s bed, running down the stairs as fast as she could. She tripped on the final step, falling down onto the carpet of the living room. Twilight’s retched, accepting her fate as last night's dinner resurfaced on Sunset’s floor.
She heard Sunset rustling around under her desk. The ringing in her ears was loud as she tried to hold back the vomit. Sunset came back over, shoving the trash can under her face. She kneeled down behind Twilight, one hand holding the trash can and the other rolling the hair tie off her wrist and into Twilight’s hair.
“It’s okay Twily, let it out, I’ve got you.” Sunset helped Twilight sit up, holding the trash can in her lap as she leaned back against Sunset as they sat on the bottom step of the stairs. There was only a small amount of throw up on the carpet, but Sunset wasn’t worried about that as Twilight cried.
“I-I think I’m done.” Twilight’s voice was shaky as she collapsed back against Sunset’s chest. Her hands slipped around the brim of the trashcan and Sunset rushed to hold it upright again. She slowly moved it away from Twilight and picked her up into her arm.
“Come on, let’s get you back to bed,” Sunset said, not really talking to Twilight as she younger girl began to drift off as she rested her forehead on Sunset’s shoulder.
Sunset tucked Twilight back into her bed, placing the long-forgotten cold compress back onto her forehead. She leaned down and gently kissed the top of her head. Twilight let her eyes droop closed.
“Sweetheart, you need to drink.” Sunset lifted the Powerade bottle to Twilight’s lips. Twilight weakly tried to push it away.
“You need to get fluids in you. You have to replace what you threw up.” Sunset applied more force with the bottle against Twilight’s mouth. Reluctantly, Twilight accepted the drink.
Once Sunset had deemed Twilight had gotten enough fluids, she put the bottle down on the nightstand. She crawled over to the other side of the bed.
She wrapped her arms around Twilight’s waist and started stroking her hair again.
“I’m sorry about the carpet,” Twilight mumbled. Sunset shook her head.
“It’s okay. I’ll clean it later.”
“It’ll stain if you don’t do it now.”
“Don’t worry about it. Go to sleep. You need it.”
Twilight sighed.
“I’ll be here when you wake up, just get some rest. And next time, just tell me you don’t feel well. I’m never going to be mad at you.” Sunset buried her face into Twilight hair.
“Okay. I will, I promise,” Twilight rolled over, resting her head on Sunset’s shoulder and tucking her head into the crook of Sunset’s neck, pressing the cold ice pack against her skin. Sunset quietly hissed but pushed through for Twilight.
She wrapped her arms all the way around Twilight’s torso. She reached down to take the glasses off of Twilight’s face, carefully setting them behind her.
As Twilight’s breathing slowed and evened out, Sunset closed her eyes.
“Weren’t we supposed to meet the girls at the mall today?” Sunset suddenly remembered, almost jumping out of bed if it weren’t for Twilight who was holding onto Sunset for dear life.
“That’s tomorrow,” Twilight whispered, barely opening her lips.
“Oh, sorry Twi.” Sunset laid back down.
“It’s okay.” Twilight’s words slurred together as she drifted off to sleep.
“Feel better soon, Twily.”
