#she is so normal and adjusted in the brain guys dont even worry about it

[oneslimybastard]

Miss Dragon Tamer Champion Lisia :]

[jadedxrealityw]

-Betrayed- Draco Malfoy x Female Reader

♡~🐍~♡

  Request:  Hi Kody! Can you do a jealous/protectv Draco where you're dating but every boy likes you and thinks you're super pretty and cute even though you're a Slytherin and you're always getting stare from boys especially your childhood best friend Lorenzo who also has a crush on you. He like pulls you aside to Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom from Draco one day and touches you and you scream for Draco and that like the sectumsempra scene except as soon as Draco shows up and tries to help you, Enzo crucios you?

  Kody: Woke up and chose violence huh? 

  Year: 7th

  House: Slytherin

  Possible Triggers/Warnings: cursing, Draco being the badass protective boyfriend he is, attempted sexual assault, wack ass best friends, reader harm.

   ♡~🐍~♡

   saturday mornings were always the best. The weekend was starting and you were ready to just hang out with friends and spend some much loved quality time with Draco, your boyfriend. Yes. You, Y/n L/n were in a very loving relationship with the Slytherin prince himself.

   you remembered the day he asked you to be his girlfriend quite clearly. He was so surprised you said yes, saying things along the lines of “But your so out of my league” or “are you really sure” it took you a total of 15 minutes to convince him that you indeed wanted to be with him.

   now half a year later you both were the power couple of the school with people labeling you as the “hottest slytherin girl” which you found quite creepy. Boys always had there eyes on you and it wasn’t always the most pleasant feeling to be watched, unless it was Draco. Then you liked the attention.

   Draco especially didn’t like the looks guys gave you, calling them “horny bastards” and other insults. At least you had one normal guy friend (or so you thought). Lorenzo. He was your childhood best friend and couldn’t imagine your life without him.

   your boyfriend sure could. Draco knew Lorenzo was just like all the rest of the guys at Hogwarts. A horny bastard. He gave you the weirdest, lustful looks when you weren’t looking, but Draco was. He had tried to tell you about Lorenzo, but you always reassured him that it was just his jealousy getting to him.

   Draco would unfortunately be proven right today. 

    ♡~🐍~♡

   “Darling, it’s time to get up” Draco slowly shook your unconscious body. You start to stir, until your e/c eyes open up. As soon as you see Draco, you smile “Hi” you whisper in a tired morning voice. He cracks a smile and leans down to plant a chaste kiss to your lips.

   you had stayed in Draco’s dorm the night before because well- why not? “Do i have too?” you ask. not wanting to ruin the perfect position you were in at the moment. He lets out a quiet snicker before nodding his head “yes, my love. Now lets get ready. I’m sure you’ve left enough clothes here.”

   Draco pulls the black duvet off of his body and gets out of bed. You groan in frustration before getting up yourself. “Stupid mornings” you grumble, your boyfriend laughing at your childish behavior. “I know dear, so sad” he puts on a mock pout as he reaches down to pull his shirt off.

   you take a second glance at his toned chest. Hot damn. He raises a brow, a smirk plastered on his face “Eyes up here Y/n or i’ll give you something to look at” his tone was low and demanding. A shiver ran up your spine as you walk over to one of the drawers, face flushed.

   you dig out a dark green sweater, a light green plaid tennis skirt and black stockings. You began to put on your clothes and Draco did as well. The whole process only took about ten minutes. Once you slipped the skirt on, you felt a pair of hands grip your waist.

   a quick kiss was placed behind your ear “You look stunning. I wish no one else could see you this way” he whispers, his warm breath hitting the back of your neck. You let out a small whine “Can we hurry up and leave, so we can hurry up and get back” 

   he chuckles deeply and lets go of your waist, only to grip your hand. “I can agree with that” he opens his door and you both head out.

    ♡~🐍~♡

   walking down the hall, you feel Draco’s hand grip yours tighter “Honey, calm down before you break my ring finger” you spoke in a sickenly sweet tone. You tug your hand away and pout. He looks over at you and sighs deeply “I’m sorry, it’s just hard to not kill every male in this school”

   what a big baby “I know, but i’m all yours, remember that” you nod once. A smile graces his lips at your words as he looks forward. “Thank you Y/n. Sorry for overreacting again- Y/n?” he spoke, when he had turned to look at you once again. You were gone.

   as Draco spoke someone grabbed your arm and had pulled you into Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. You squealed loudly and hit whoever had dragged you in here. “Ouch! Y/n what the hell?!” wait- you knew that voice. You look behind yourself and saw Lorenzo. 

   you let out a small laugh “Enzo! i’m sorry! You scared me. Real funny by the way” you chuckle. “I need to talk to you about something” he speaks seriously, which catches you off guard. “Okay? Sure” you shrug your shoulders nonchalantly. 

   his eyes wander your body a little to long as he gulps. Strange. “We’ve been friends a long time Y/n” he starts, stepping forward towards you. You nod with a small smile “Of course we have silly” he cracks a smile. “and i know everything about you and vise versa”

   another step forward. You back up a bit. “Uh huh?” you say, a little unsure about where this conversation was going. He seemed to be at loss of words for a moment. Before you could say anything else he had pinned you against the bathroom wall.

   your eyes widened in shock and you instantly went to push him away “Enzo?! What the fuck!? Get off of me!” you shout, using your hands to shove his chest, but he was way stronger than you. His hand went to your thigh, running it over the stockings “You’re so beautiful Y/n” he whispered into your ear.

   a terrible feeling churned in your stomach. You felt sick. Why was he doing this? “Let me go!” you protest, tears forming in the corner of your eyes. His hand gets dangerously close to your- yeah. “Why can’t you love me the way you love-” “DRACO!” you shout, his eyes go wide. 

   not even a slip second later your Slytherin boyfriend busts through the door. His eyes scan the sight and he looks furious “Get the bloody hell off my girlfriend you sick fuck!” venom laced with each word. While Enzo is distracted you duck under his arm.

   Enzo pulls out his wand and points it at Draco “Crucio!” he yells. Draco dodges the spell and rushes over to you “Are you alright?” he asked, grabbing your hand. You nod, which relieves him in some way. “You don’t deserve her! I’ve known her longer!” Enzo shouts Crucio again.

   Draco went to reach for his wand, but it’s too late. You drop to the floor, letting out a blood curdling scream. One that makes his heart tug harshly. “Y/n!” he drops to the floor as your body spasmed violently. Enzo dropped his wand and went to walk over to you.

   before Enzo could take another step Draco protectively grabs your body and pulls you closer to him by your waist “Stay the fuck away you piece of fucking shit! Never show your face to me or Y/n again i will end you! Remember this, your only alive because your her friend! Now fucking go!”

   your friend looked hurt by his words, but Draco was right in every word he said. Enzo collected his wand and left the bathroom. The pain had started to subside, but small whines and whimpers left your mouth, body shivering. He held your held close to his chest.

   “Fuck. i’m so sorry darling. I promise the pain will go away just breathe” he tries to give you a reassuring smile, but tears spilled out instead. “Shit” he cursed and scooped your body in his arms. He stands up and makes his way out the bathroom.

    ♡~🐍~♡

   he walked out, gazing at your face. It was tear stained and your eyes were shut tightly. “Malfoy?” his head snapped to the direction of the voice. Great the golden trio. Just peachy. “Piss o..off” he hissed like second nature, but his voice was cracked and hoarse. Harry looked irritated by his choice of words.

   “What’s happened to Y/n? Why is she shivering?” Hermione spoke up, pushing past the two Gryffindor boys in front of her. Draco looked away from her and at your face. His brain couldn’t function at the moment, unable to form words. “Draco? What. Happened?”

   Hermione spoke in a calm tone. She could clearly tell Draco was distressed, which was the cause of his silence. He sniffles before answering “C..Cruciatus curse. I..i was to slow..” he started to sputter. Hermione nods, smiling lightly “We need to bring her to the hospital wing. Okay?”

   Draco looked back and forth between both girls before nodding “O..Okay.” he repeats. Ron and Harry were confused as all hell about what was going on, but followed Hermione as she led Draco to the hospital wing where you could be treated.

    ♡~🐍~♡

   your eyes slowly opened. You saw white all around you. Where the hell were you at right now? As your eyes adjusted, the room started to look familiar. The hospital wing. “Madam pomfrey?” you spoke, expecting her to be near enough to hear. “Love?” that was not a woman's voice.

   you turn your head slowly to the left and see a very disheveled Draco Malfoy sitting in a chair next to the bed you were occupying. “A small smile forms on your face “Draco? You look terrible” he laughs quietly, grabbing your hand “I know. It’s been a rough day”

   you nod slowly, the memories of the previous events flooding your head like a harsh tidal wave. Enzo. He had betrayed you in the worst way possible. “It has. I’m sorry i worried you so much” a pout replaced your smile. He shakes his head “No, dont say sorry. It’s that bastards fault. He hurt you”

   “What happened to Enzo by the way? Is he in trouble?” you asked. Even if he did hurt you, he was still somebody important to you. “Granger ended up reporting him to Dumbledore on her own accord. He was expelled two hours later.” you looked slightly confused.

   “Hermione? Since when were you friendly with a Gryffindor” you asked. He rolls his eyes with a small grin “Oh yes. Potter and Weasley as well. I was a bit out of sorts when they found me with you so they guided me here. Helped me” he explained, his eyes averting to your hand in his.

   “I’ll have to thank them later then” You say, a crash is heard outside the door “No need!” Hermione yelled through the door. You chuckled as Draco narrowed his eyes “Get away from the door! Come back later!” he shouts. Shuffling was heard and a array of footsteps running away.

   “Come back later? Is this friendship i smell?” you say with a smug smile. He rolls his grey eyes as he plants a quick kiss on your lips “Maybe” he spoke, making you smile brightly. 

   “I heard a maybe!”

   “Ron!”

   “Ron!”

    ♡~🐍~♡

   Kody: Boom done. Had to add a bit of funny hunny at the end. My scoliosis is kicking in so in fear that my spine is going to turn into a wet noodle. Drink some water, eat some food, touch some grass. yeah i see you reading smut.  Anyways, peace.

[wdwimagine]

dancing in my feelings

pairing: daniel x reader

requested: hells yeah

summary: may I request an imagine where the reader is best friends with Daniel and is a dancer? And he surprises her by showing up at a competition then they go to celebrate with the guys, who accidentally reveal Daniel has a crush on the reader? Cue a reveal that the feelings are mutual. Thank you so much in advance! 💙

warnings: a swear word & a suggestion of sex oopsie

Sorry it's so short!

I stared at the mirror, adjusting my outfit. The nerves had hit me. Tonight was my dance show, it was a whole production. There were thirty performances all together, I was going to be apart of ten of those and there's over sixty people who are apart of the company.

My dances were a mix of pretty much every style. I was excited for them, but knowing that my friends were going to be in the audience terrified me. I was so thankful that my family were coming to the show tomorrow night, so they didn't add on to my nerves today. I dont want to mess up in front of them, everyone knows how important this show is for me because there are talent scouts in the audience, ready to sign people to their management. I could get my big break.

I pulled my hair up into the ponytail that was required and made sure my makeup was perfect before I made my way out of the dressing room and towards the left wing of the stage.

The opening number is the biggest number as it's about five minutes long and shows all sixty dancers. To say that backstage was a little bit crowded was an understatement. However, I stayed focused and tried to calm my nerves and replace it with confidence.

The lights went down, the music started and all the dancers ran on stage to get in their position. All I could hear was my heart pumping in my chest, the audiences applauds were being drowned out as I tried to contain my nerves.

The show was halfway through and so far I was less nervous but more excited. All my dances had gone great, my hip hop dance is coming up next and it has to be my favourite. I got changed into the outfit for that dance, and made my way towards the stage were my friends were also waiting to go on.

When I made my way on stage I could see my friends in the audience. The spotlight was blinding me just a little bit but I could make out their figures in the crowd. It must've felt weird for the them because for once they're in the crowd and not on stage.

There's nothing I'm more passionate about than dancing. Ever since I could walk, I've been dancing. My family aren't performers so I definitely felt like the black sheep in a crowd of white growing up. But, my parents are so unbelievably proud of me and only want me to succeed in life. I knew from the age of eight that I wanted to be on Broadway, or tour the world as a backing dancer for singers. With the talent scouts in the audience I was hoping to catch soneones eye and make it big.

The show had finished. I was overwhelmed with emotions as to how well the show had gone. I was buzzing and couldn't stop the smile on my face. Every person who took part in the show took their bows and couldn't help but burst with joy when I saw my friends cheering for me with an overjoyed expression on their face.

I went back to the dressing room and got changed into my normal clothes. My phone buzzed and I looked to see that I had a text from one of my best friends, Christina. She simply informed me that my friends were waiting for me in the reception of the building.

I grabbed my bag and made my way to the reception where my friends were waiting for me. Immediately I was engulfed in a hug by Christina and Tatum who were congratulating me on my performance, saying that I was spectacular. A blush crept on my face when I looked at the boys who were also gushing over my dancing as I hugged each of them individually.

"Thank you guys for coming. It means a lot." I said to all of them. At the same time they all were saying how it was no bother, making me laugh.

"Um, these are for you." Daniel said quietly, he handed over a bouquet of flowers to me. "They're from everyone."

I smelt the flowers and smiled. "Thank you guys, honestly it means a lot."

"Can we get food now?" Zach asked, making everyone laugh. We all agreed and left the building to make our way towards a restaurant that wasn't a far walk away.

The eight of us were sat at a table in a steak restaurant, that was very fancy and probably extremely expensive. I looked at the menu and my eyes widened seeing the price of the the dishes.

"We're paying." Jonah said to me when he saw my expression. "It's our treat for showing us what it's like to be in the audience instead of on the stage."

"I can't -"

"Don't argue with us, y/n." Corbyn said. "You're our best friend who just spent the last two hours dancing, the least we can do is pay for your food."

I sighed, knowing that I wasn't going to win this argument. "Okay."

The food eventually came and I tucked in, it really was such a great dinner. Considering I hadn't eaten any food since eleven am and it was now about half past nine in the evening, I was starving.

We had all finished our meal and was waiting for our dessert, just chatting about our days and upcoming events the boys had.

Jack grabbed my attention when he pulled out his phone. "Hey y/n, I secretly took a video of your hip hop performance."

"Jack! You know that no phones are allowed during the performance." I said shocked. He shrugged his shoulders anyway and handed me his phone.

I pressed play on the video and watched the dance from their perspective. It was weird seeing me performing but I was oddly enjoying it. Not to float my own boat, but I look good.

"She's so good." I heard Jack whisper in the video.

"I know." Jonah agreed. A smiles formed on my face when I heard their compliments. The boys and the girls truly mean the world to me.

"She's so hot." I heard Daniel mumble in the video. My eyes widened at what he said, I was just about to look up when the phone was snatched from my hand by Jack. I looked over at him confused.

"My phones gonna die." Jack said putting his phone in his pocket. I couldn't even argue with him, my brain was in overdrive at what was just said. I thought everyone was staring at me but it turns out we were now all staring at Daniel.

"Shit." He mumbled to himself.

"I - I - what?" I asked confused. My heart was racing and my face was burning. I looked over at Daniel who couldn't look me in the eye, his face must've been as red as mine.

"Dude - I didn't mean to." Jack said to Daniel.

"Didn't mean to what?" I asked. "Daniel?"

"I didn't know you was recording!" Daniel said to Jack angrily. I felt like I wasn't going to get any answers because everyone was acting like I was invisible. Before I knew it, Daniel was storming out of the restaurant and towards the car.

Everyone turned to look at them but I ignored then, walking out of the restaurant in the hope of finding out some answers. I found Daniel sitting in one of the cars (since theres eight of us we had to get two cars). I opened the door to the passenger side and sat down.

"I don't want to talk." He murmured.

"Too bad." I replied. "We should talk about it."

"No way. I'm too embarrassed." He said.

I laughed slightly. "Why? Because you said I was hot? Thank you for the compliment. It's not embarrassing. I've called you hot before. Cos' guess what? You are hot."

I could see him smile ever so slightly, but he still wasn't acting one hundred percent like himself.

"I know I was shocked when I heard you say I was hot at first but really, I was flattered."

"You were?" He asked. I simply nodded my head at him in response. He grinned and finally turned to face me. "I like you, y/n."

My jaw dropped open, I wasn't expecting him to say that. "You like me? As in, like me like me?"

He laughed. "I like you, like you. I've really fallen for you."

"You like me?"

"How many more times do I need to say that yes, I like you. Why are you so shocked?"

"Because I like you too." I blurted out. I was surprised that I just admitted it. When I realised that I liked him, I pushed those feelings deep down because why would someone like Daniel Seavey, like me? Especially when he's a famous singer who could get any girl he wants.

"You like me?" He asked surprised.

I nodded my head at him. "I like you, like you."

"You actually like me?"

I laughed. "Now who's the one repeating themselves."

"Shut up, you idiot." He laughed. He lent towards me and held my face so that I was staring into his deep blue eyes. My breath hitched in my throat. "Is this okay?"

I nodded my head, unable to form an actual answer. He lent in even more and I closed the gap between us, connecting our lips. For a minute we just stayed there, eyes shut, lips touching but we both soon relaxed and began to move.

My hand reached up to grab his face and I realised that we were now making out and I wasn't nervous about it. I wasn't overthinking it, it felt natural and absolutely perfect. As cliche as it sounds, it was like the picture perfect kiss that it looks like in the movies.

We didn't realise how long we were kissing, but soon enough there was a knock on the car window. Daniel and I both pulled away, out of breath and with swollen lips. We both turned our heads and saw that Zach was knocking on the window, the other boys and the girls standing behind him.

I blushed and hid my face, especially when I saw Christina and Tatum pretending to make out behind the boys. Daniel simply turned the car on and rolled down the window.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"We were wondering where you two went." Zach said. "You missed dessert."

"Don't worry. While you two were out here about to make some babies, we paid for the dinner." Corbyn continued.

I rolled my eyes at his baby comment and sighed. I looked over to Daniel who was laughing.

"Let's just go home." Jonah laughed. Jack and Zach got in the back of the car Daniel and I were in so they could leave the two couples to be in their own car.

"I'm a bit of a matchmaker, aren't I?" Jack smiled.

"What?" The other three of us asked.

"Well, if it weren't for me recording when I shouldn't have then you two wouldn't be admitting that you're absolutely smitten for one another and you wouldn't be making out."

"Well, we've only just kissed." I said to Jack. "It's not like he's my boyfriend."

"Do you want me to be?" Daniel asked.

I could feel myself blush again when all three boys in the car stared at me. I shrugged my shoulders. "Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

"I wouldn't like you if I didn't want to be your boyfriend." He replied. "So, y/n, do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"You'll have to take me out first, Seavey."

[coeurdastronaute]

Either/Or: Dreams

dont know if youre taking prompts but if it appeals to you at all could you incorporate kara comforting lena after nightmares of her childhood with lilian and lex? i need some protective caring kara and an exploration of lena's psyche is always fascinating

It was the eighteenth time.

In two months.

That was almost four times per week, though it wasn’t the completely right number. There were sometimes that it was six nights in a row and then not again for ten. It was every other day sometimes, and then none for a week. It was irregular and it was scheduled and consistent, and it was perfect.

But the eighteenth time was different.

Nothing really changed. Not in the newly developing routine that seemed to flow naturally.

Still, Lena came over to Kara’s apartment after a business dinner. Still, she brought Kara the leftovers and dessert. And she earned a kiss  that tasted like tiramisu. Somewhere between telling about her day and making out against the wall in the bathroom with a bit of toothpaste in the corner of her mouth, the thunder cracked. Lena complained about a headache and being exhausted. That didn’t stop her from kissing her girlfriend’s neck.

Not one part of the night was terribly different than any other when one slept over. Somehow, as always, Lena ended up in one of Kara’s discarded DEO shirts and old pj pants that were much too long for her legs. She complained about it half-heartedly almost every morning, claiming them to be tripping hazards and a real problem when it came to dating the hero.

And Lena, in her oversized pants and shirt, as always, found herself hiding in Kara’s shoulder and neck as she finally allowed herself a satisfied, peaceful nights’ sleep. And Kara, in her old tank top and underwear, hid in Lena’s hair and fell asleep just as quickly.

It was textbook.

But deep into the night, well into her deepest sleep, Kara felt a tugging at her shirt and a jostling beside her. Immediately, she woke, tensing every muscle and using every extra sense she could to figure out if something was happening. But amidst the quiet and predictable noises of the night, the sloshing of tires outside in a stagnant puddle, the flickering of the streetlight a block down, the startled skatter of a stray cat-- nothing was out of place.

And then Lena shifted again, tossing and turning but holding onto Kara’s shirt so tightly that it made her nervous.

“Please…” the sleeping girl half sobbed.

“Hey, Lena, hey,” Kara whispered, pushing away the hair that stuck to her sweaty forehead. “Honey, wake up.”

Gentle as she could, Kara rubbed Lena’s back, talking her down from something she couldn’t understand. It seemed to work, until Lena shot up in bed, her hand moving to her own chest now, finally relinquishing Kara’s shirt. With a gasp, tried to catch her breath which seemed to sound like she’d just run a marathon.

“Hey, you okay, Lee?” Kara cooed.

“What? Yeah, of course. I’m sorry. I just.”

“You were having a nightmare.”

“No, no, I was just. It’s fine. Go back to sleep. I’m going to go grab some water.”

Before she could do anything, Lena was out of the bed, and Kara was left listening to the soft muffle of her pants dragging along the hallway toward the kitchen.

The clock blinked that it was just after four in the morning when the light in the kitchen clicked on and crept its way down toward the bedroom door. Kara listened to the sound of water running and Lena drinking. She gave her a few minutes to compose herself before following down the hall, squinting against the imposition into the dark.

“Want to talk about it?” Kara ventured.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine. I’m just a little worried.”

“Don’t be worried,” Lena smiled, composing herself in a short amount of time. A talent that she prided herself on, and that Kara hated.

“You can talk to me, you know?”

“Nothing to talk about.”

“Do you… want to go back to bed?” Kara offered, still unsatisfied with the answer.

“I think I’m going to check on emails and get started with the day,” the CEO decided. “But you should go back to sleep.”

Lena put the glass in the sink and tried not to look at Kara because she knew that Kara would be watching her, and that was too much for her still sleepy but wide-awake brain. She knew that those blue eyes would be sympathetic and warm and want to make her go to sleep, and so she avoided them at all costs.

But the fidgeting didn’t make Kara moved. Instead she stood there and eyed the girl in her kitchen and tried to figure out how to handle the situation. Lena Luthor was a minefield. It wasn’t that there were many mines, just that the few mines that existed, deep in the ground, were sensitive and extremely large.

“I should actually get started on some emails and rewriting that draft I owe Snapper,” Kara decided. “And I’m kind of hungry.”

“You should sleep.”

“Or,” Kara smiled, finally approaching, slow and steady, as one would approach a scared, bristling panther. “We could do some work, get ready, and have breakfast together.”

Despite herself, Lena melted into Kara’s hands as they ran along her arm.

“You can go back to bed. I’m fine.”

“I’m not fine. I’m starving.”

Right on cue, a stomach rumbled and Lena sighed, her nervous fingers working through their anxiety by playing with the her girlfriend’s stretched top.

“We should feed you then.”

With a smile, Kara accepted the hug that came after the words, contradicting their intention and instead rooting them in the kitchen. She felt Lena dig her nose into her shoulder and then her chest and close her eyes, and all Kara could do was wrap her arms around her shoulders and hold them there for just a moment.

It was a front.

On stage, in all of the interviews, before the crowds and employees, Lena Luthor stood tall and shrugged off the attempt on her life with a noble, endearing kind of strength that pervaded the thoughts and minds of those who weren’t so sure about her. She was the picture of resilience and she was the antithesis to her name.

To Kara, she kept the same kind of unfaltering façade. It wasn’t as vigorously maintained as it was in front of the entire world, but still, when just the two of them made it back to her penthouse, she spent more time reassuring Kara that she was alright than she did believing it, but it didn’t matter.

“Hey, put that ice back on your face,” Kara ordered as she made her way back into the bedroom. “I want a non-black and blue girlfriend as soon as possible.”

“I’m going to freeze my eyeball if I keep it on any longer,” Lena whined, letting her head droop back.

“You’re a literal genius. You know how ice and bruises work. Let me see.”

Tenderly, Kara hovered over Lena’s side of the bed and furrowed as she surveyed the damage caused by the attempted abduction and gun that’d been pointed at her girlfriend’s head not long enough ago for her heart to beat normally. Light fingertips moved along the bone of her cheek and the swelling near her eyebrow before the ice pack was gingerly placed back in its rightful place.

“How do I look, Doc?”

“Like you crawled into the ring with Joe Frazier and forgot how to float like a butterfly.”

“You should see the other guy.”

The bed went back to normal as Kara got up and continued moving around the bedroom. With one eye, Lena watched the tenseness in her girlfriend’s shoulders. She saw the antsy nerves that wouldn’t let her sit still. Instead, Kara plugged in their phones, and powered them down. She went out and double checked the locks on the doors despite being bulletproof. She turned off the lights and finally joined the bed.

“Did you want a pill?” Kara asked, almost ready to hop out of bed again. “Alex gave me some. To help you sleep.”

“Stop worrying. I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine. I know I’m not fine. I lasered a guys hand off that had a gun pointed at your head. If I could take a pill to sleep this all away, I sure would.”

The honesty in the words hung there in the quiet room, and Lena didn’t know how to fix that, so she put her ice pack on the nightstand and turned out her light before making her way back toward her girlfriend in the middle.

“I’m fine. You’re fine. Tomorrow we’ll start over, okay?” Lena whispered, kissing Kara’s jaw and cheek and finally her lips.

There wasn’t anymore energy left in her to do much more, but Lena wrapped her arms around her hero’s ribs and smelled the shower still on her skin. A warm hand slid under her shirt and rubbed the sore muscles of her ribs and back.

“I love you so much,” Kara whispered into the crown of Lena’s head. The words were full of more conviction than normal, as if they were a threat to the universe to try to do anything to mess it up. The fierceness was warm and slumbered in bed with them.

With a small grunt, Lena adjusted and slipped her leg over her girlfriend’s thigh.

“I know. Me too.”

“You sure you don’t want a pill?”

“Shh. I’m trying to sleep here.”

Her pillow snorted at the order and for the first time in a while, Lena felt that happiness sneak back into her bones. Nothing stopped Kara from rubbing her back, even after she fell asleep. Kara felt Lena relax and eventually slip off beside her, and refused to let herself sleep for a little while.

Inevitably, the combination of Lena’s soft breathing and the warmth of her body pressed against her side, the hero felt the heaviness of her eyelids. It wasn’t until she felt the jolt beside her that Kara realized she’d drifted off to sleep.

Tears stained her shirt, bled through to her skin, and she felt the moisture there as the body in her arms was wracked with sobs.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Kara murmured, close to Lena’s forehead. She rubbed her hand along her back again.

Nothing really did anything. Lena’s arms circled tighter around her ribs as her face dug into her shoulder and cried against it.

“Lena, wake up, love.”

Nothing.

“Baby, come on. It’s okay. Please, it’s just a dream. You’re safe,” she promised, moving a little more forcefully to wake up the nightmare-suffering girl.

With a final cry, Lena woke herself and shook her head, quickly opening her mouth to breathe as her nose was currently sniffling and running.

“Oh, Kara,” Lena shook her head and clung again, hiding there. “I thought you were dead. I dreamt it. Don’t die. Don’t die for me.”

“Hey, hey, hey, no one is dying. How many times do I have to keep telling everyone this?”

“Please don’t die,” she continued to mutter, her lungs fluttering frantically as the emotions overpowered her restraint. “I saw it. I watched it happen and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t and I saw you and oh, please don’t die.”

“I won’t. I won’t,” Kara promised. “Take a deep breath. It was just a silly dream. We’re safe.”

“But I saw you! I saw it and I couldn’t--”

Despite her soreness and the pain in her body, Lena sat up slightly and kissed Kara’s cheek. She cupped her neck and felt her everywhere she could before resting her forehead against her temple.

The hiccups of crying began to finally supside as Lena refused to let go. To her credit, Kara held back just as hard.

“It was just a dream,” Kara promised again.

“I know.”

“The universe isn’t done with us yet, Lena Luthor.” Lena scoffed and shook her head. “Don’t worry about dying. I’ll always save you. And you’ll save me. But I swear, fate doesn’t take away something like this. I have faith in it.”

“So many things want us dead.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t gotten enough of you, and it’s that simple. I refuse to die until I’ve had my fill of being near you, and I don’t see that happening ever.”

“So you’re immortal now?”

“I’m sure I’ll get sick of you in about eighty thousand years.”

“That soon?” Lena smiled, hear heartbeat returning to normal and her eyes growing even more sore from the outburst.

“Yeah well,” Kara shrugged, rolling towards he, careful to tuck her girlfriend’s wounded body under her chin. “You’re a lot of work, Luthor.”

“I’m so sorry. I thought you were dead. I hated it.”

“I know,” she nodded, kissing Lena’s face again. “Do you want a pill?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” she promised, a yawn coming, right on schedule.

“Okay. Let’s sleep then. No more nightmares.”

“Okay,” Lena nodded.

In some small way, Kara expected it. She skated around the issues as long as she could, coming home early and picking up Lena’s favorite dinner, lighting the candles, pouring the whiskey instead of the wine. Little ways to help her wife relax.

On the day that Lionel Luthor was found dead, Lena didn’t know what to feel, except that she had to feel something, and so when she arrived at home, she appreciated the dinner and the candles and the whiskey that was, in fact, not her first of the day, but rather her fourth. And Lena kissed Kara in that way that said to do anything other than talk about the elephant in the room.

Kara let her wife dig her nails into her shoulders. She let her cling to her so tightly she couldn’t move. She let Lena ache and clutch and not think but need to just feel Kara near her, on her, in her, everywhere. There was a bit of salvation in it, at least for a moment.

Sore and bruised and unable to think of anything else, Lena found herself sweating in the soft sheets and in dire need of another drink and a cigarette. She wanted to hurt herself, and that was how she could do it the easiest without raising any suspicions from her wife. Kara would let her hurt herself in small measures. Tiny, little ways like a cigarette and grabbing her thighs too tightly to leave bruises that would sour and grow painful the following day, and that Lena would push and tease all morning just to feel that dull anger beneath her skin, deep in her muscles.

“I love you, you know that, right?” Kara whispered, running her fingertips along the dip in her wife’s stomach, the little divot that formed between her ribs, just below her sternum.

“I know,” Lena nodded, running her nervous fingers through Kara’s matted hair.

The night was quiet and neither moved. Lena closed her eyes and fell asleep with Kara draped across her hips, anchoring there. She fell asleep with an ache in her bones and heart. She fell asleep despite her own aversion to it.

It wasn’t a surprise that she woke up with the fleeting visions of her father and this agonizing burning in her chest. Or that she couldn’t seem to forget the day that she scraped her knee on her fifth birthday when he taught her how to ride a big kid bike, and he cleaned her wound on the kitchen counter, kissing her knee sweetly when she was patched up. Or that before she woke, she dreamt of the day that he pointed a gun at her and tried to have her killed for where she was taking the company.

The sweat cooled and clung to her body, drying and chilling her to the bone. Tears streamed down her face, dribbling quietly into her hair toward her ears. Slowly, she removed her hand from where it was rooted in her wife’s hair to press it against her chest because she was afraid her heart was ready to hammer right through its cage.

For a few minutes, Lena caught her breath and tried to remain as quiet as possible. She almost thought herself successful in not waking up the slumbering hero on her hip, but there was this nagging feeling of never being able to sneak anything past Kara.

“A nightmare?” Kara whispered, lifting her head and wiping her cheek from the the drool that formed as she slept.

“Yeah,” Lena rasped.

“I’m right here.”

“I know.”

A sleepy Kara lumbered toward her wife and slid beside her in the bed, stretching some of the soreness from her bones from the awkward sleeping position.

“One day,” Kara murmured, kissing Lena’s neck and jaw. “I’m going to give you so many good memories, you won’t have room for any of these bad ones. Then you won’t have bad dreams.”

Despite her fear and her worry and her sadness, Lena smiled in the darkness and rolled to her side, deciding to hide in Kara’s neck this time. She’d sleep well if she felt her, if she could smell her.

“You’re my favorite.”

“I’m serious. Your brain won’t have enough room for the bad memories. I’m going to take all of them away and replace them.”

“I love you.”

“I know,” Kara grinned, her fingertips dragging along her wife’s back.

[ughthatimagineblog]

not your baby (part one)

steve harrington x reader | part two

requested:  Okay first off, "I'm Their Healer" is AMAZING and i loved the plot twist at the end!! You are extremely talented! Could you maybe do a Steve Harrington x Reader that involves the reader being a shy, but really sweet and caring new girl that accidently pisses off Billy somehow and Steve comes to the rescue? Id love for him to get revenge and kick his ass. Then the girl meets the Party (and loves Max cause they both have red hair?) WOW thats specific sorry so dont do it unless you want to!

warnings: cussing, slow burn steve, steve and reader fued, billy hargrove

word count: 2197

a/n: hey so this will come in two parts, it was a request from a super cool girl and i hope yall like it! its a slow burn btw

In Hawkins, there were distinct characters. Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, you and of course, Billy Hargrove. Five different personalities, all in one high school. You moved to Hawkins about a year ago and since then, befriended Nancy and Jonathan and in turn Steve Harrington, the King of Hawkins High. You tended to gravitate to more of Jonathan’s crowd and you befriended him first.   You were soon introduced to Nancy and you and her became study buddies and the best of friends. You spent months, an entire summer in fact spending the night with her, chatting and of course studying. She eventually trusted you with telling you the story of last Halloween when a girl from Hawkins lab went rogue and fell in love with her little brother. How there was a huge monster her and her boyfriend had to fight off with your friend from photography and yearbook. How she lost her old friend to the other dimension in which said monster came.    You, as would any sane person, didn’t believe her. Especially when she told you who her boyfriend was. Steve Harrington. You’d heard his name through whispers and shouts in the halls. You’d seen him in passing and with one look at his friend group, you decided you never wanted to be involved with a guy like him. He was arrogant, narcissistic and popular. All things you hated. 

 You never questioned Nancy’s attraction to him, however, seeing as you weren’t one to judge. In fact, you found yourself crushing on Jonathan. Why wouldn’t you? He was your friend, you had photography with him, you had similar music taste, you both were semi-outcasts. It made sense. And you liked things that made sense. As summer was coming to a close, you pushed the thought of the ‘Upside Down’ to the back of your brain, dismissing it as some local folk tale, but you never brought it up to anyone outside of Nancy and her room. This year, Nancy had completely different classes, and suddenly it was a new school again. You knew no one in your class and you realized you really only had two friends at your school.

Popularly known but not popular, you thought to yourself, taking a seat in your English class. You watched as people slowly trickled into class before the bell would ring and you nearly sunk halfway down your seat when you saw Steve walk into the classroom.    “Oh God.” You muttered to yourself and Steve stopped in his tracks. He had been on his way to the back of the room, but instead, plastered a smirk on his face and sat in the seat next to yours. He recognized you immediately. You were his girlfriends new best friend. Except you also hung out with Jonathan who made you uncool in Steve’s eyes. She’s kind of cute, what a shame. Steve thought to himself, taking a seat next to you.       Then and there, he heard you and knew it was going to be easy to get under your skin. “Nope, not God, just Steve Harrington.” He replied to you and smirked. You rolled your eyes. Great. You thought. “I’ve seen you hang around my girlfriend, though I never learned your name-”

“And you won’t.” You said, stacking your books on top of each other and moving to the back of the class. You were adamant on that. When the teacher came in, you rushed to the front of the class, introduced yourself quietly and told him it was imperative that he call you by your nickname for roll call everyday in class. It was just to get a rise out of Harrington and if you could do that just to make him even a little annoyed, you’d do it. Satisfied, you sat in the back of the room for the rest of class, a smirk planted on your face.

“What’s that new girls name, your friend?” Steve asked, climbing into the drivers side while Nancy, in the passenger. “She’s not new, Steve, she transferred here last year.” “Yeah her. It’s a wonder she didn’t get involved in everything, seeing as she showed up right in the middle of it.” Steve was staring blankly out the windshield window. “Yeah, well, I told her about it and-” “You told her?” Steve exclaimed. Nancy looked at him with wide eyes. “That could get us killed, Nance.” He scolded. “She’s safe. She promised not to tell, besides I don’t think she even believed me, okay? It’s over now, we can drop it. We won’t have to deal with it ever again.” Nancy reasoned and Steve sat back in his seat.      It was halfway through September. And a month later, Nancy would be proved terribly wrong.

If someone last year were to tell you there was a guy who you would hate more than Steve Harrington, you would laugh in their face and tell them it was impossible. But the 1979 Chevy Camaro pulled up to Hawkins High and it gave you a bad feeling.  You were correct. It was the beginning of October and a new family, the Hargrove family had moved into Hawkins. Billy Hargrove would be joining your English class, much to your, and surprisingly Steve’s horror and his younger sister, Maxine, would be joining Mike Wheeler, Nancy’s younger brother in his eighth grade science class.

 All was well and normal until the mullet-haired ass waltzed in the door. Now, over the past month, you and Steve had developed a frenemy type relationship. You were his girlfriend’s best friend and he was your best friend’s boyfriend. There was a silent truce amidst the silent jabs you two would make at each other.    And the both of you could recognize a threat when you saw one. When Billy stepped in, you and Steve exchanged looks. Worried looks. He walked in with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a smirk on his lip. His blue eyes found yours and you made a face. He feigned a sad one that was immediately replaced with his smirk again and you wanted to barf. “Um, sir. You can’t smoke in here.” The teacher informed. Billy’s eyes tore away from yours and looked at your teacher. “Right, right, my bad.” He reached up and took another long drag before removing the cigarette from his lips and flicking it into the trash can.   “Thank you. Now what’s your name?” Your teacher asked. “Billy. Billy Hargrove.” Even his name sounds ludicrous. You thought to yourself. “Okay, Billy, welcome to Hawkins and have a seat.” The teacher said happily, adjusting his role papers. You looked around, scanning the room for where he would sit. It came to your knowledge and dismay that there were no other seats. Except for the one next to your own. You looked to Steve who was still seated in the spot in the front. The place he mockingly took in the beginning of the year.  Assessing the situation, Steve stood up quickly, his books fumbling in his fingers as he tried to gather them. “Uh, Mr. Mitchell, Billy can have my spot and I’ll move to the back.” Steve stood up right as Billy was about to pass him. Billy had been staring straight at you with the same grin, no doubt happy he had scored a spot next to a girl. In the back of the class. Now, his head turned to look at Steve, grin nowhere to be seen. Behind the two boys, you heard Mr. Mitchell speak. “That’s very nice of you Steve. You can take a seat in the back, then. Billy, you can have Steve’s spot.” Your teacher said with a smile, unbeknownst to the current, testosterone filled drama that was playing out before your eyes. “Yeah, it was real nice of him.” Billy spat before taking a seat up front while Steve joined you in the back. “Wow, Steve, you really took one for the team. Be any nicer and I’ll think you actually like me.” You leaned closer to Steve and whispered. His head snapped to look at you, a glare crossing his features. “Don’t get too cocky. I don’t know who this guy is but he seems like an ass and I couldn’t do that to my girlfriend’s best friend. Don’t get it twisted.” You sat back in your seat, mulling over his response.   It was valid.

You would come to realize how valid it was in the next three weeks. You were invited, courtesy of Nancy, to the Halloween party that you and Jonathan were not so thrilled about. “I don’t know, Nance, that’s not really my kinda deal.” You explained, holding the flyer in one hand. “I agree. I’m probably going to watch some scary movies with my mom anyways.” Jonathan backed you up. You blushed. “C’mon! You both are single. It could be a really fun time. You could meet someone.” She pressed and upon realized she wasn’t going to let up, you agreed. “Okay. I’ll go.” You threw your hands up in mock surrender. “Y/N…” Jonathan tried. He looked defeated. “Sorry,” You said suddenly feeling guilty. “She’s right.” You fessed. Recently, you took note of the way Jonathan looked at Nancy. He liked her. There was no denying that. This party was a perfect excuse for you to try and move on from your crush. “We are single and maybe this could be good for us.” You pried.

 “I’ll think about it.” Jonathan said before walking to class.

The night of the party, you decided to go as Samantha Baker. Getting ready was easy, but preparing yourself for a high school party. Now that took some work. There would be dancing, drinking, sex in other rooms probably. Everyone who was officially cool was there. You would be out of place. You were starting to hope Jonathan did decide to come. Not just because you liked him, but also because you were hoping not to feel too alone. You pulled up to the house and you could already hear the music they were playing. Some guy was throwing up in the lawn outside and there were several couples making out on the porch. You wanted to turn around and go home. But you stayed, hoping you didn’t arrive too late for Nancy’s taste.

Just as you were opening the door to go inside, a figure opened it and walked briskly past you, almost knocking you over. “Hey, watch it-” You called out, turning around only to see it was Steve. With tears in his eyes. “Hey, Steve, wait up.” You called after him, now semi-concerned. It wasn’t every day you saw the King cry, and now that you had, it made you uncomfortable. And very concerned. You followed him.    “Steve, wait.” You called after him as he walked further from the house. The house the party was held at was at the end of a long dirt drive so you and him had walked far enough to where you could still see the residence, but the sound of the music was faint.  “What? What? What do you want?” Steve asked, sounding annoyed. “I want to know what’s wrong, damn.” You replied. “I saw you crying. Is everything okay?”    You asked, genuinely concerned. “Yeah, everything’s fine, Y/N. Just laugh it up, okay?” Steve replied, bitter.   Your stomach dropped. “What is your problem? I followed you out here because I was-”  “Jumping at the chance to see the guy you hate, the big bad King cry? Is that it? Want to get a good laugh? Well get a good look, Y/N because here I am. The whole popular guy facade down, you caught me. The rest is… The rest is bullshit.” He ranted and you felt taken aback. Offended.   “I wanted to see if you were okay, Steve. I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help because something is obviously wrong.” You replied, voice firm and almost hoarse from getting teary-eyed.    Steve put his hands on his hips and looked at you with a side-glare. “You don’t have to pretend, okay? You don’t have to pretend like you care. I know you hate me. So you can cut the bullshit and leave me alone.” Steve said, sounding hurt.   “It’s not bullshit, Steve. I was genuinely concerned because guess what? When push comes to shove I’m-”   “’You’re my girlfriend’s best friend’? Well, you don’t have to play that role anymore because Nancy isn’t my girlfriend anymore. So you no longer have to force yourself to be nice to me.” Steve said, turning from you, scraping his feet on the paved dirt.  You were astonished at his words. Him and Nancy broke up. The words rang out through your mind. “Steve, I had no idea-” “Save it. I don’t need your fake niceness. Like I said, you can cut the act. Just go.” He was pushing you away with his words and for the first time, something Steve Harrington said actually hurt you. “I wasn’t faking it.” Was the last thing you said before turning, and heading back to the party, leaving Steve to wonder what that really meant.

hope you liked it! this is part one!

@izzy-zzz

[sarah--writes-blog]

A Group Effort

Anon: I would love to see my boy Lance with a headcold!! Make him suffer :')

Anon: i'd like to see Lance with a headcold! and i dont care more than that. just as long as i can see my boy with a snuffly nose.

A/N: This is my first cold-based fic! I’m much more used to fever- and stomach-based things, so here we go with expanding horizons! Pray for me and spelling out sneezes. This had a lot of Lance and Keith still hating each other, it almost hurt my heart to write after all the Klance stuff.

It’s silent in space. It is a vacuum, there’s no medium for sound to travel through. Even while in their lions, practicing maneuvering through fodder the castleship threw at them, the paladins remained silent and focused. It didn’t last long. “Hh’ktCHhsx!” “Alright. That’s it. I’m done. I’m going back to the castle.” The other four paladins sounded off in Keith’s ear. “Wait, why?” “I don’t understand.” “What’s happening?” “What is it, Keith?” “I am done listening to Lance sneeze into the intercom.”

Lance ungracefully wiped his nose from under the helmet, “Listening to you is no walk in the park either.”

A green waveform popped up on Lance’s interface, “Keith’s right. You sound pretty awful. And...it is kind of gross to hear someone sneeze right in your ear.”

“It’s just the common cold, Pidge. Everyone gets them, I’ll be fine.”

A yellow waveform joined the green one, “Yeah, but you still sound pretty gross.”

And finally, a purple one, “Also, the ‘common cold’ doesn't exist in space. None of us had it that you could get it from. We should probably check this out more.”

When Shiro put it that way, Lance actually felt some concern. It didn’t feel any worse than a normal cold on Earth - one that everyone gets millions of times. He was still about to function like a normal person and only had to carry around some tissues and strange Altean cough drops. To the Alteans’ credit, their red and purple cough drops were way better than the ones on Earth. He could eat them like candy.

But Shiro’s comments planted worry in his head. It was just a head cold....right? It would pass in just a few more days...right?

Lance sighed and turned the Blue Lion around, “Alright, I’ll head back early. You guys finish the drill so Allura doesn’t tear us a new one.” “We’ll see you back there soon.”

When Lance docked his lion and stepped out, Coran was the first one to greet him.

“LANCE GET INTO THE HEALING POD!”

The Blue Paladin locked his joints, making a stiff barrier between him and the open healing pod. Coran was a lot stronger than he thought.

“I'm alright, Coran! It’s a just a head cold!”

“I don't care what it is, you're leaking brain fluid from your facial orifices! Get in the pod!”

“I told you, it's just snot! Mucus? And tears after sneezing so much? Stop it, I'm...hh... h’cckXTCHn! I’m fine!”

“There you go again! You’ll lose all your brain fluid! You didn’t tell me humans get diseases as drastic as this!”

“It’s not brain fluid!”

Coran wasn’t listening. In a final attempt to save the paladin from his early demise, he threw himself at Lance, toppling them both into the open healing pod. Before Coran could scramble up and hit the controls, Shiro stepped into the room.

“Lance, where did you-” he eyed the situation, “Um...”

Coran got to his feet, pinning Lance in the pod, “Shiro, hit the controls! We have to get Lance healing before his skull drains completely!”

Shiro made no movement towards the controls. Instead, he casually walked over to the Altean and tossed him to the side with little effort. 

“Coran, his skull isn’t draining. We think he just has a cold. It’s a human illness that’s very common and completely harmless,” Shiro offered a hand to help Lance up, “Were you able to use Pidge’s Diagnostic System, or whatever that thing is?”

Lance was hauled to his feet, and coughed a few times, “No, Coran got to me first.”

“And right I did! If you had actually been losing brain fluid, you would’ve perished by now!” Coran blushed a bit as he straightened his coat, “I may have been...a bit overhasty in my judgment, though.”

“Which is exactly why Pidge made that code. There are too many foreign space viruses to actually be sure of what we have.” Shiro said, leading the way to Pidge’s workshop.

Lance smiled at the Altean, “It’s alright, Coran. If I were actually leaking my brains out, you’d be the first person I’d go to.”

That seemed to make Coran stand a little taller.

Pidge’s device was something she made in her free time after what the team called “The Great Plague of Week 15”. After fifteen healthy weeks in space, they landed on a planet that showed them no mercy. Everyone seemed to catch some sort of alien virus, sending the team into a mass panic about what to do and if they were going to survive. Pidge was able to make her way through the castleship’s data logs, and find something of a Universal WebMD that the Altean doctors used as reference before the Galra attacked. Since the Alteans were a diplomatic race, they gathered information from other planets and species as well, creating the ultimate database of medical knowledge.

It was still a work in progress. The Altean files were, of course, in Altean, and Pidge had to upload what Earth knowledge she could. She was still working on a reasonable search engine, and the program still worked like WebMD, often citing space cancer as the cause to a simple twitch. But it was better than being completely in the dark about strange symptoms. Even though none of the diseases the paladins caught in Week 15 were fatal, they all claim that Pidge saved their lives. She didn’t say otherwise.

When Lance entered his data, a few options came up. One was the common cold, as everyone suspected. Another came up in a language Pidge hadn’t translated yet. The last one was the equivalent to Balmeran Sickle-Cell Disease, but Shiro immediately out ruled it. In earnest, there was a fraction of a chance that it was Balmeran Sickle-Cell, but the Black Paladin didn’t want to cause any more panic that already ensued. After his encounter with Slav, he didn’t want to waste any more time with minuscule percentages and alternate universes.

By then, the rest of the paladins caught up and joined the three in the workshop. Hunk burst in first, looking as if he was on the verge of tears.

“Is Lance gonna die?!”

Shiro frowned, “What? No, he’s perfectly fine. Why did-”

“Keith said something about a killer space flu.” Pidge sighed. She adjusted her glasses and looked at the lines of code on the screen, “Did it give you any kind of space cancer again?”

“Not this time. It’s just a head cold.”

Hunk ran up to the Blue Paladin and embraced him in a huge hug, “Oh thank God! I thought we were gonna have to find a new paladin! I’m so glad you just have a gross cold instead of something serious!” Hunk paused, then quickly peeled himself away from Lance, “Please don’t infect me.”

“I’m not going to-...to infect....ah-ktCHN!”

Everyone immediately took a step backward. At least he managed to cover his mouth this time.

“So now that we know it’s just a cold, how do we get him to stop sneezing?” Keith said, arms crossed as usual, “Or coughing? Or anything?”

“There’s not exactly a cure for the common cold, Keith,” Pidge replied from behind her computer, “That’s why we still have it. It keeps evolving different strands to resist our antibodies.”

“Bullshit, there's no cure!” Hunk took Lance by the hand and started dragging him to the kitchen, “My Mama used to make the best soup for colds, and me and my cousins would get over it within a day. C’mon, let's see what I can do.”

After hours of bowl clattering and scavenging, Hunk found what he deemed necessary. A half-hour after that, a bowl of steaming soup was placed before Lance. “Not exactly Mama Garrett’s recipe, but it's close enough for being in space if I do say so myself.” Hunk grinned. 

The other paladins looked on in awe. Despite all the Altean ingredients, the soup truly looked like something from Earth. Lance assumed that it smelled like home as well, but all sense of smell had been lost a long time ago. He hoped he could still taste it.

Because Hunk had made three pots of soup, he dished some up for everyone else. Shiro tried to reason with him, telling him only one pot of soup was probably enough for Lance, but no one wanted to step into Hunk’s kitchen and defy him. In the end, they were incredibly grateful Hunk made so much.

“Did you put cocaine in this?” Pidge asked between her second and third bowl, “I feel like I’ll go into withdrawal without it.”

Hunk seemed to actually consider it, “I’m pretty sure I didn’t, but all the ingredients are written in Altean.”

“You realize we can never go back to food goo again?” Keith had given up on using the spoon and settled for drinking it straight out of the bowl.

With all the compliments, Lance was disappointed that he couldn’t taste it. He could detect a hint of something, but couldn’t identify it from either his cloudy head or the fact that it was a completely foreign ingredient. Still, there was something about the way it soothed his throat and warmed his stomach that felt delicious.

Lance managed to eat an entire bowl without speaking or even looking up. He only paused to make sure he didn’t spit soup everywhere when he sneezed. When he finally did look up, he met Hunk’s eagerly awaiting eyes and grinned.

“This is the best soup I’ve ever had...”

Oh god. 

He sounded fine until that exact moment. Now his words were absolutely riddled with congestion as if he plugged his nose to speak. He couldn’t even take a full breath through his nose. Keith and Pidge’s giggles echoed in the distance as he tried to stifle a sneeze into his elbow.

“Ugh...I think it’s finally catching up to me...”

“It caught you two days ago when you started sneezing all the time!” Keith protested, still trying to hide his laughter.

“But now I actually feel sick...fuck....”

“The soup’s really good, Hunk. Your mother knew what she was doing,” Shiro smiled, “But it seems like Lance is really congested. Soup isn't very effective for a stuffed-up nose. I have an idea about something else.”

“...are you sure this works, Shiro?” Lance was staring down a bowl of almost boiling water, a large towel draped around his neck. Within the time it took for Shiro to heat the water and get a towel, Lance had completely ruined the sleeve of his jacket from wiping his nose. Pidge had absolutely none of it. She confiscated the jacket and replaced it with a large box of tissues, claiming they’d have to burn the jacket to get rid of all the germs. Lance may or may not have actually screeched at the idea.

The Black Paladin nodded to Lance’s skepticism about the steam bowl.

“It used to clear up my sinuses all the time in the Garrison. It's just like one of those sauna rooms, except just for your face. It can't hurt to try.”

A sauna sounded wonderful. Lance put that high on his mental list of what to do when they got home, next to showing Coran and Allura a museum. He sniffed and draped the town over his head, trapping the steam in a small bubble of warmth and humidity.

“So we're going to suffocate Lance instead?” Keith said. To Lance, his voice was muffled by the now-damp towel. Shiro was right - it felt like a hot sauna. If nothing else, this would at least open his pores up and help his skin.

“We're not suffocating him. The steam should open everything up in his nose and throat,” Shiro responded, “Doing alright under there?”

Lance gave a weak thumbs up.

“So we're going to make him produce more mucus? Which will make him sneeze more?” Hunk said through spoonfuls of soup.

“It doesn’t produce more, it just moves things around, I guess? It worked for me, I never questioned why.”

“I don’t think it’s working,” Lance muttered from under the towel, nose still completely clogged, “But it feels really good...”

“Uh-uh,” Keith pulled the towel off Lance’s head and took him by the arm, “If we’re going to solve this, we’re going to solve it with something I know will work.”

“You've got to be kidding me.”

“Do you want to stop sneezing or not?”

Lance eyed the contraption suspiciously.  He'd heard of this kind of treatment before but never saw himself doing it, much less Keith. He also never would’ve guessed Keith constructed a makeshift Neti Pot on the castleship.

When Keith explained how it worked, Hunk and Pidge decided that they didn’t need to see it in action. Shiro didn’t particularly want to see it either, but he figured he should stay to stop the two from strangling each other.

“Doesn't it...hurt? Like jumping into water the wrong way and it gets up your nose?” Lance asked. It was intimidating, to say the least. No one liked that feeling.

“No, the saline balances the pH in your sinuses. It just feels weird. Like water up your nose without the burning sensation.”

Lance looked at the Red Paladin with skepticism.

“What? It was really dusty out in the desert, this helped. I hate feeling like I can’t breathe.”

“This thing has your desert boogers on it?”

“You think I wouldn’t wash it?!” Keith took a breath, and tried not to facepalm, “It’ll work. Just keep your head down and don’t breathe in.”

It wasn’t exactly a traumatic experience, but it did leave Lance worse off than before. The warm solution did exactly what it was supposed to do, and cleared out most of Lance’s sinuses. Neither he nor Keith knew exactly what went wrong, but Lance was coughing and sputtering over the sink with fear in his eyes.

“You do this to yourself?!”

“No, I do it the right way! I told you not to breathe in!”

“I didn’t breathe in!”

Shiro stood from his seat and put a hand on Lance’s back, “Alright, that’s enough! Are you alright, Lance?”

“My nose was violated by the ocean! H’iKTsh!’tsh! H-’khSHt’NGsT! There’s water still up my fucking nose! N’gsCH!” 

Keith blinked slowly, sighed, and left the room. The thought that his fool-proof method made Lance worse had driven him to the brink. Lance didn’t see him until his cold had almost completely calmed down.

Shiro offered Lance a towel, “Try to blow it out of your nose. Does it hurt?”

Lance pressed the towel against his face and blew as hard as he could. It didn’t make a difference.

“It doesn’t hurt, but it feels really weird!” He even tried jumping up and down and shaking his head, as if to get water out of his ears. The Black Paladin sighed. At least Lance still had his energy.

“Okay. Whenever you feel...composed enough, we should see Pidge. She probably has something that’ll help you.”

“The others had good ideas for temporary relief of the symptoms. But they won't actually help get rid of the virus,” Pidge said, “Really, the best things that are gonna help are vitamins and sleep.”

Lance nodded. It was the most logical thing he had heard all day. The three were in Pidge’s workshop, watching her fiddle with codes on the computer and hand-translate Altean on a pad of paper at the same time. But she paused to pull out a bottle of pills and pour Lance a glass of water.

The sick paladin reached out for the glass but paused when he felt the familiar tickle in the back of his nose again.

“Ah'shkCH!“

Pidge responded without thinking about it, “Bless you,” and handed him the glass. She dropped the pills in his other hand and sat back at her desk.

“How did you get vitamins?” Shiro asked, “I was in charge of the second space mall trip, there weren’t any pills we bought.”

“Lance taught me a... creative way to get some money. I bought them myself. I figured they’d be good to have on hand.”

Lance smiled fondly at their fountain-diving adventures. He downed each pill with ease and chased them with water. Shiro ignored the comment about creative ways of obtaining money. They weren’t being hunted down, that was the only thing that mattered.

“I'm still wondering where this came from,” Pidge thought out loud, “It really is just the common cold. I'm pretty sure no one brought it on the Blue Lion when we first blasted off, but if someone did, no wonder you were the one to get it first.”

Lance put the glass back down on Pidge’s desk, “At this point, I don't care where the quiznak it came from. I want it gone.”

Shiro patted his back and stood up, “Well, you heard her. Go get some rest. I’ll wake you up before dinner.”

In the end, Lance wasn’t quite sure what cured him. All of his friends’ methods helped in their own way (excepting Coran). Or perhaps the cold just cleared up on its own. Regardless, Lance was happy he could breathe through his nose and not sneeze or cough up a lung every other sentence.

The other paladins were incredibly grateful too. It was a relief to hear Lance speak normally again and not have a wet sneeze in their intercom.

Until they tried to run the training again.

“hh’txCHH’uh!”

Lance immediately put his hands up in surrender, even though no one else could see him. “It wasn’t me! I’m sterile, I’m cured!”

For a few moments, there was silence in space again. Until a purple waveform popped up on everyone’s interface.

“Hunk...” Shiro sniffed, “You should probably make more soup...”