Solar Recharge (Runaways Nico/Karolina! F/F, superhero sniffles)

[wannablessedbe]

Hey guys. It feels like forever since I posted a new story! I guess I was busy being totally obsessed with this new show. It's not only an amazing show in general, but for us gay girls it's the elusive rainbow unicorn of legit canon gay ship. YAAASSS. Idk how many ppl have seen it...but if you haven't, for the love of God do yourself a favor and go watch it right this minute. There are only 10 eps, but they're an hour long each. It's on Hulu. It's based on a Marvel comic which is also friggin amazing, I went out and bought the entire series after watching the show and devoured it . If you haven't seen it, the whole premise is going to sound completely insane...but just go with it ok? Here are the very basics you need to know if you haven't seen the show or read the comic:

There are 6 characters; only 2 of the 6 are boys and only 2 of the 6 are white (from where I'm standing that's a major selling point alone!). They each have a different awesome superpower that they just recently discovered (except Alex, lol, his only superpower is his awesome nerd brain). They are on the run from their parents, who they recently discovered are evil--they always thought their parents were all just part of some charity group, turns out it's a secret murder cult. Karolina (whose name is pronounced karo-LEE-na, like karo + lena, like lena dunham, lena luthor; NOT karo-LIE-na, like caroline + ah) is the tall hot blonde who is not-so-secretly in love with her best friend Nico from the very beginning. Nico, the tiny Japanese Goth girl, is actually the biggest badass of all, she's the leader in the comics. She starts out with Alex but then (on the show at least) she ends up with Karolina once Karolina gets up the nerve to kiss her (see HERE y'all). And HERE is their second kiss. That's the end of the first season. I'm not going to bother explaining any more because hopefully if I've done my job, you'll know everything you need to know just by reading my story. Hehe.

This is a shorter-than-usual first chap, I just wanna know if ppl are into it since it's a show that really is probably gonna be hard to follow if you haven't seen it...there's just so much crazy shit going on. (Gert really does have a psychic dinosaur. Her name is Old Lace). So please tell me if you're down for more! Enjoy 

 

………………………………………………………………………..

Solar Recharge

A Runaways Fic for SFF starring Nico & Karolina

(Deanoru)—F/F

…………………………………………………………………………

 

            The others were piled into a booth at the lonesome roadside diner when Nico lead a woozy-looking Karolina in by the hand, trusting her girlfriend to lead her as she rubbed absently at her sleepy eyes. This was the third day in a row she’d been like this; they hadn’t actually expected her to wake up at all when they’d pulled off the highway, they’d planned to bring food back to the van for her and Nico like they had before. But now the lanky blonde alien girl was actually awake—technically, at least. Since their latest battle with Jonah three days before, she’d basically done nothing but sleep.

            “Hey! You’re up!” Gert beamed, getting up from her seat beside her sister and moving around to sit on the other side of the booth with Chase and Alex, so Nico and Karolina could slide in next to Molly. “How are you feeling today, Kar?”

            “Okay…sleepy,” Karolina yawned, absently accepting a nearly bone-crushing hug from the younger girl seated beside her.

            “You’re still super cold,” Molly frowned worriedly as she pulled away from the hug, rubbing her arm protectively.

            “Mmm,” the blonde girl mumbled in agreement, her eyes already closing again as she rested her head in her hand. Everyone looked to Nico with the same worried expression. The Japanese girl narrowed her eyes protectively and took Karolina’s free hand.

            “Shouldn’t she be resting still? Why’d you bring her in here at all?” Gert asked anxiously. “It’s not like we weren’t gonna bring back food for you guys.”

            “Nico didn’t bring me. I brought myself,” Karolina mumbled without opening her eyes. “I can’t just lie in the van forever…I was hungry. I’m allowed to get up.”

            “That’s why,” Nico smirked, her amused expression almost managing to cover how worried she was, too. “It’s okay, guys. It’s not like she’s dying, she just needs a solar recharge like last time. Anyway, it can’t rain forever…the sun will come back soon and she’ll be all charged up, back to her glowy rainbow self again.”

            “Mm-hmm. No worries, guys,” Karolina yawned again, finally opening her eyes and picking up her head from her hand to reach for a menu. Seeing the blonde girl awake and actually wanting food was encouraging, and no one was stupid enough to press the issue any further when Nico was right there, her tiny frame glowering with protectiveness. So no one pointed out that the last time Karolina had blown out her glowing rainbow powers, the effect had only lasted until sunrise; because there were no cloudy days in LA. This time, they were on the run somewhere in northern Washington state, with nothing but cold rain in sight. They just sat quietly for a minute while Nico and Karolina stared absently at their menus. Seeing the new additions at the table, the waitress came over to take Nico and Karolina’s orders; it was a very remote town on a very remote highway, the place wasn’t exactly packed.

            “So how much longer are we gonna drive tonight? Do we have any idea where we can stop?” Gert asked, warming her hands around her coffee cup.

            “We’re only four hours from the Canadian border. We should just drive straight through the night until the good ol’ US of A is in the rearview mirror,” Chase said soberly, his head bent forward over his own cup.

            “No. That’s stupid,” Alex frowned. “We’re only gonna get one chance to cross the border, we need a plan. We can’t just rush into it blind. All your special powers aren’t gonna help us here.” It was clear as he mentioned that last bit about “all your powers” that he was still feeling the sting of being literally the only one of them who couldn’t do anything special. Molly had her super-strength, Gert had her psychic link with her very own pet dinosaur, Nico had her mom’s magic staff, Karolina was a flat-out superhero with her alien glowy powers—flying, shooting energy beams, the whole package. Even Chase had his damn fistigons, even if they were just a hi-tech toy, he could still punch through a freaking wall.

            “Boys, don’t fight,” Gert sighed, a sarcastic little smirk curling the edge of her lip as she put a placating hand on her boyfriend’s arm before he could retort back. “We all get a say. And I hate to say it babe, but I think Alex is right this time.” She ignored the sarcastic gee, thanks that Alex muttered under his breath. “We can’t afford to screw this up, it’s the only reason we came all this way. We have to wait until we’re at our strongest.”

            “You mean me…right?” Karolina sighed guiltily. “I’m like dead weight right now. Sorry, guys.”

            “She didn’t mean it like that, K,” Nico said gently, lacing her fingers together with the blonde girl’s on the table.

            “Of course not. Karolina, you just saved all our asses. Again. You are not dead weight,” Gert shook her head firmly.

            “Totally,” Molly agreed. “It’s just like Nico said—the sun’ll come out soon, we just have to chill ‘till then. You’ll feel way better. And it’s not like anyone’s gonna try to mess with us way out here in the middle of nowhere, anyway.”

            “Thanks, guys,” the woozy blonde girl smiled shyly. Nico grinned, leaning up to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. Karolina sighed, a warm blush taking away some of the pallor that had settled across her face the last few days.

            The waitress came back with all their food then; and she had barely turned her back on them to go back to the kitchen when Karolina gave a soft gasp. Nico felt a thrill of horror when she saw the blonde girl’s glowy rainbow aura come fizzling faintly back to life for the first time in three days. In the middle of a diner.

            “Aah’txchOOoo!!” Karolina cupped her hands sleepily to her face as she bent forward and sneezed over her tomato soup, a short burst of her rainbow glow flaring briefly into the air around her like a strobe light.

            “Jesus!” Chase, Gert and Alex all whispered at once, while Nico put a protective hand on the taller girl’s back and Molly just gave a soft, incredulous chuckle.

            “W-what? *Snghf,*” The blonde girl mumbled obliviously, reaching for a napkin from the little dispenser. She wiped her nose and sniffled again.

            “Sorry. Bless you,” Nico grinned, caught between amusement and total panic as they all glanced quickly around the room. Thank God the waitress’s back was turned. Was it even possible that no one had seen that? “You have no idea what just happened, do you?”

            “What are you…talking about…” Karolina started to say; but then her tired, glazed eyes got narrow again, and she lifted the crumpled napkin closer to her face. Nico reacted on instinct, grabbing the napkin from the blonde girl’s hand and pinching it hard around the slightly damp underside of her nose, making her head tilt back slightly.

            “Don’t,” the Goth girl hissed in a quiet, urgent voice. Karolina huffed softly, with a little jerk of surprise, startled out of another sneeze. For now. She blinked dazedly and put her hand over Nico’s to take the napkin back from her, rubbing her nose roughly with another soft little sniffle.

            “What…is happedig right ndow? *Snf.*”

            “We’re leaving,” Nico murmured, her voice so commanding that Karolina didn’t stop to question it, even as the others all jumped up and abandoned their completely untouched food. (Chase and Molly both grabbed their burgers as they hurried from the booth). Alex hastily threw down a couple of twenties as they scurried out the door as quietly as they could, trying not to attract any more attention to themselves.

            In the rainy parking lot, Gert called for Old Lace, so quietly that it was impossible for anyone more than three feet away to have heard…but somehow the dinosaur was bolting back from the trees two seconds later, hopping obediently into the open back doors of the van as Chase held them open. Karolina shivered in the rain, her long hair already getting plastered to her back.

            “Hhuh…iiihshxxt!!!” The blonde girl bent forward again helplessly, stifling her sneeze as hard as she could into her elbow, very aware now of the fact that she wasn’t supposed to sneeze, though she still didn’t know why. Another faint puff of glowing rainbow lights wafted off her body. It may be faint, but it was still rainbow freaking light, and Nico whipped her head around nervously to assess the empty parking lot before shoving her confused, shivering girlfriend into the van ahead of her, and quickly climbing in after her.

           

           

Edited March 4, 2018 by wannablessedbe
Grammar

[SexyGodlikeHair]

This is super cute! Also, wow, can't believe a show like that exists, I definitely want to check it out. Poor Karolina...can't  wait for the next part!

[4000tacobells]

I haven't actually read this yet, but it's already made my day because 1. Runaways is one of my all-time faves and I somehow missed the memo about it getting a show, 2. holy shit, the trailer! and 3. I already have some sneezy stuff to read!!! As usual, the patron saint of sneezy f/f fics has delivered!! 

[wannablessedbe]

On 3/4/2018 at 5:15 AM, 4000tacobells said:

I haven't actually read this yet, but it's already made my day because 1. Runaways is one of my all-time faves and I somehow missed the memo about it getting a show, 2. holy shit, the trailer! and 3. I already have some sneezy stuff to read!!! As usual, the patron saint of sneezy f/f fics has delivered!! 

Aaahhh you are in for such a treat! The show is SO GOOD. Of course they make changes, it's an adaptation. But it's an excellent adaptation. They do a really good job of making the show its own thing even while totally preserving the integrity of the comics. I'm so glad I helped you stumble onto this

[20andsickfic]

I love this, it's so cute and well written, please continue! 

[FadedRose]

Aw, I don’t know the characters, but I love your sweet F/F stories! 

Actually, your stories were the main reason I decided to make an account here.

[wannablessedbe]

1 hour ago, FadedRose said:

Aw, I don’t know the characters, but I love your sweet F/F stories! 

Actually, your stories were the main reason I decided to make an account here.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Thank you. That is quite the compliment. 😙

(...but you should at least watch them kiss! Omg.) 

[heckyeahsneezes]

I absolutely adore this!!! I’m so happy to see a runaways fic and the fact that it’s deanoru *swoons* it’s so cute and fitting that karolina’s powers would get out of control when she sneezes. This is gold & I hope u continue! 

[wannablessedbe]

Hi! Yay! I'm so glad you guys are down with this! Here's another part...enjoy the rainbow!

……………………………

Solar Recharge

Part 2

…………………………….

 

            “Take off your coat, it’s all wet,” Nico fretted over a cold-numbed Karolina in the back of the van, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and using another one to dry off her damp hair a little. Karolina shivered and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

            “Thadks…*snghhf*…hh-hhh…” She hitched softly, huddled up in the blanket; and they all knew she was going to sneeze because her lights were already flaring, just barely, as she breathed in. It was oddly mesmerizing. “Hhiiisxhew!! *S-snf*…” A slightly brighter aura of colors glowed around her for a moment as she pitched forward and sneezed into the cuff of her sweatshirt cupped over her hand. Then just like that, the lights were gone again, and she was just a pale, shivering girl wrapped in a blanket.

            “Bless you,” five voices chorused at once. The blonde girl gave a soft whine of embarrassment, snuffling and wiping her nose in the already damp fabric of her sweatshirt cuff.

“Here,” Molly said gently, going into her bag and fetching a spare bandana.

“Thag you,” the exhausted girl murmured, closing her eyes and finally blowing her runny nose.

            “Do you think anyone saw?” Molly asked, looking nervously from Karolina, to Nico, then over to her sister. The boys were in the front, Alex behind the wheel and Chase in the passenger seat; Old Lace was curled up with her head in Gert’s lap, her tail gently wagging back and forth against Karolina’s side.

            “Incredibly, no. I don’t think anyone did,” the purple-haired girl reassured her anxious little sister. “I mean it sure didn’t seem like it…I think we would have noticed a reaction. People don’t just sit calmly eating their peas when Karolina does her light show.”

            “What are you talking about?” the blonde girl whined softly, sounding uncharacteristically grumpy. “I don’t have my lights right now, Gert. That’s kind of the point…that’s why we can’t make our next move yet. Isn’t that what we were just talking about?” She sniffled wetly, ducked her head and coughed in her blanket. Nico rubbed her back and played with her damp hair.

            “That is what we were just talking about…” Gert agreed placidly, being unusually gentle with the exhausted, grumpy alien girl. “But then you sneezed and lit up like a Christmas tree. Just for a second. I really don’t think anyone saw, though…don’t worry about it, okay? We’re just playing it safe.”

            “I did?” Karolina said in a small voice, looking to her girlfriend uncertainly.

            “You did,” Nico agreed, climbing into Karolina’s lap and wrapping the blanket around them both, stroking a lock of damp blonde hair back from the taller girl’s cheek and leaning in to kiss the spot. “I think having your rainbow juice tapped out for so long is starting to take a toll on your immune system, babe. But it is good to know you’ve still got a little bit of juice left, huh?” The Goth girl grinned teasingly and wiggled her eyebrows.

            “I’m sorry,” Karolina whispered shamefully, her exhausted blue eyes filling up with tears. “God, how much more could I suck right now…”

            “Stop it, it’s not your fault,” Molly interjected, looking almost angry. “You can’t stop yourself from getting sick. It’s just a thing that happened. How many times has Old Lace almost been spotted since we hit the road?”

            “Old Lace can’t help it that she’s a dinosaur,” Karolina grumbled, wiping her nose in the bandana again with a quiet snuffle.

            “And you can’t help it that you have a glowy-rainbow cold,” Nico said gently, still stroking her girlfriend’s cold cheek. It was unnerving seeing the normally sunny blonde girl so downtrodden, blaming herself for everything. “C’mon babe…please stop torturing yourself. You’re breaking my heart.”

            “Sorry,” Karolina mumbled again, hastily wiping a tear from her cheek as she hung her head in shame. The Japanese girl sighed in frustration.

            “What if it was me?” She finally asked gently. “Would you want me to be sorry?”

            “No,” Karolina whispered immediately, avoiding eye contact as more tears spilled down her face. Nico wiped them away this time, and kissed the damp spot on her cheek. “I just feel so guilty…and yucky…aahh…and…” She turned her head away from Nico in her lap and drew her arm preemptively across her face with another soft, glowy breath.

“Aahhchxew!! *Snf.*” She sneezed in her elbow again, with a little shiver as her colored lights flashed on.

“Bless you.” Nico cuddled her and pulled the blanket tighter around them both.

“Thags…*snghf!*…” Karolina trailed off into a cough, and wiped her nose in the bandana again with a thoroughly miserable sigh. The dark shadows under her eyes were more pronounced than ever, she was pale as a sheet, and now her nose was running.

“I think we should get off the highway at the next motel sign,” Nico said firmly, still managing to sound authoritative even while she was snuggled up in Karolina’s lap. “Just ride this out for a couple of days ‘till she feels better.”

“Yep.”

“No doubt.” The boys in the front seat agreed easily for once, on the lookout for any hotel/motel signs along the lonely stretch of highway now.

“No,” Karolina whined softly, her eyes brimming with embarrassed tears again. “We’re so close…I promise I’ll be b-better…” She pushed her nose into the fabric of Molly’s bandana again, her soft, breathy hitches made exponentially more noticeable by the way her skin lit up when she was about to sneeze. “Aah-ahtxchOOoo!! *snfl*…” She bowed forward into the bandana with another glowy, breathless sneeze, her hair brushing Nico’s lap.

“Bless you…poor thing,” Nico hummed gently, continuing to cuddle her shivery girlfriend inside the blankets, trailing her nails absently up and down Karolina’s arm. “You’re sick, K…it’s all right. Remember what I said, ‘kay? Pretend it was me. What would you be doing right now?”

“I’d be telling you…*snf*…not to worry,” the blonde girl whispered, her voice growing huskier than usual from her rapidly developing cold.

“Mm-hmm,” Nico agreed calmly, stroking her girlfriend’s icy-cold cheek. “Just a couple days to help you kick these sniffles…a hot shower, a warm bed. Doesn’t that sound good right now?” Karolina just nodded, her eyes drifting closed again in exhaustion.

“Is it okay if I go back to sleep now?” she murmured, already sounding more than halfway there. She rested her head against Nico’s shoulder, slumping forward so she was leaning more of her weight into her girlfriend’s smaller frame, still nestled snugly in her lap.

“Of course, babe…c’mere,” Nico hummed soothingly, her tenderness with the sick, sleepy blonde girl seeming oddly mismatched with her severe Goth makeup and angry black clothes. But it wasn’t out of place to the rest of their crew; they’d all seen firsthand how much gentleness Karolina drew from Nico without even trying. The smaller girl crawled across the floor of the van, grabbing a pillow and some more blankets from the corner, laying out a couple across the floor and then putting the pillow against her leg. Karolina didn’t need any more encouragement; she dropped straight down like a stone, and let Molly pull the blankets up over her shivery body without any more protests that they shouldn’t make a fuss over her.

“Thag you…” she whispered woozily, sighing when Nico’s hand started threading through her long hair.

“Do you need anything else, Kar?” Gert asked gently, not wanting Nico to move from her human-pillow-support position.

“Doe…*snghf*…I’b fide…” She shivered and glowed again, pressing the damp bandana in her hand back to her runny nose. “Hhk’shiiihx!!” This time, her aura of colored lights fizzled even more faintly than before, like a lightbulb being dimmed. Nico leaned down and kissed her cold, clammy forehead.

“Bless you baby,” the Goth girl whispered, continuing to play with Karolina’s hair until she was sure she blonde girl was asleep—which honestly took less than thirty seconds.

“How does she manage to still be so damn cute when she’s camped out in snot city?” Gert sighed, shaking her head with an affectionate little smirk. She used to make jabs about Karolina’s effortless beauty and charm all the time; but that was back when she thought the blonde girl was going to end up with Chase instead of her. Once Karolina’s sexuality was revealed, and Gert realized they would never, ever be in competition, she’d become much warmer and less guarded around the blonde girl.

“Gotta admit, those rainbow sneezes are freakin’ adorable,” Molly chuckled.

“They’d be more adorable if they didn’t risk blowing our cover every five minutes,” Alex grumbled from the front seat.

“Oh, can it Wilder. She’s giving you the perfect excuse for what you already wanted to do anyway,” Chase pointed out with a roll of his eyes. “Stop and take our time to make a good plan before we try to cross the border. We’ll find a motel and spend a couple of days strategizing, while Kar sleeps off this whole rainbow-alien-cold thing she’s got going. If we’re lucky, the sun will come back before we’re done, and she’ll be juiced up and back to being the biggest badass in this van.” There was a murmur of consensus, except for Alex, who said nothing. Which only meant he couldn’t think of a reason to argue. Nico just kept absently playing with Karolina’s hair…of all the scenarios she’d imagined for the first night the two of them would sleep together in a real bed, this was nowhere on the list. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to enjoy the hell out of it.

 

 

 

 

             

Edited March 8, 2018 by wannablessedbe

[SexyGodlikeHair]

I logged on just to see if this was updated--and lo and behold! I wasn't disappointed! This is awesome, as always, and I can't wait for more  (also the idea of nico saying 'sniffles' is hilarious and adorable)

[queenie]

I love this show and now, also, I love you. Those are the rules and I am sorry about them. 

[20andsickfic]

Please keep going this is getting so good!!! I would love some contagion!! 

[Y31]

Ooh, rainbow sneezes.  I must admit that that's a new one to me, and a very fun take on things.  

I don't watch much TV these days so I'm not familiar with the show at all but I just might go check it out now, thanks!