Female lucretia gets sick and doesn't know what to do with herself (The Adventure Zone, F)

[Ignis]

wow? me? posting??? a wild concept and here i return with somewhat obscure fic LMAO

cross posting from my tumblr (which u should give a follow maybe), i don't intend on writing a continuation but hey. you never know.

also also one last thing before i get to the goods but this can be lupcretia if you squint a little? your decision whether they're gal pals or girlfriends ;00 anyway here's the thing

 

***

 

Lucretia is having a furious, silent debate with herself. On one hand, she wants to go to work tomorrow because, you know, she wants to make sure everything is okay. She needs to make sure everyone has a place, everything is settled, everyone is alright. But gods, she just feels so awful.

Her head’s been aching something terrible since yesterday. Even so, she’d decided to have an extra mug of coffee and power through. Which seemed to work fine until she woke this morning with a runny nose from hell and a stinging pain in her throat whenever she swallowed. She’s sprawled out on her bed, trying to gather up the willpower to get up and make something that can pass for food. She sniffles and groans in harmony with the growling of her stomach. She’ll just perish here. The end is in sight. Her consciousness is slipping away and she remembers she hasn’t even bothered to take her shoes off…

Her stone of farspeech notifies her of an incoming call. Saved by the bell, if she could really call it that. Taking a slow breath in, she clears her throat and answers in the most energized voice she can muster at the moment. “Hello?”

“Luu—ucretia,” sings out a warm, familiar voice on the other end. Lucretia can’t stop the smile that appears on her face, even if it hurts her chapped lips.

“Lup.”

“Hey, so I’m in the area— Work stuff’s over, y'know, and I ended up here— and Barry’s busy right now, so I thought I’d swing by. That sound good to you?”

Lucretia hesitates. Which is something she usually doesn’t do when Lup calls. On any other occasion, she’d be thrilled to have her over. But this… She’s so drained. And she barely has the energy to get up and make anything, not that Lup would actually mind, but still… Her hair is a mess, the place is a mess… She looks awful…

“Lu? You there?”

“Oh—! Um, that sounds great.”

“Sweet. I’ll be right over, then.”

“See you.”

“Mhmm!” The stone clicks off into silence, and Lucretia stuffs her face into her pillow with a muffled groan. Dammit. She loves Lup, she really does, and she cherishes every moment spent with her, but… Dammit. She sniffles, and the congestion shifts, which prompts another groan and a hitching breath. This again. She lifts her head, raising her arm lazily towards her face and ducking forward with a half-stifled “HiHH'Chshhu!” that does absolutely nothing to quell the itch in her nose. She sniffles once more as she gets to her feet, pressing the back of the wrist to her nose and shuffling into the kitchen.

She’s set the kettle to boil (because, tea, right?) when there’s an equally welcome and dreaded knock at the door. Lucretia plasters a somewhat enthusiastic expression on her face and opens the door.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hi,” Lup parrots right back. She offers an award-winning grin and it’s contagious (just like Lucretia, probably); Lucretia steps back to let Lup inside.

“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” Lup asks. Lucretia gestures at the stove.

“Like, literally, or…?”

“Well, no, but also, yes.”

“Nothing really, I—” She has to pause to clear her throat. “I got home maybe half an hour ago. And I was just boiling water, I thought maybe I’d have tea.”

“You mind if I occupy your kitchen for a hot second? I’m starving.” Lucretia smiles again.

“Be my guest.” Lup practically floats over to the fridge as Lucretia plops down at the table. She’s long since gotten her body back, yet she’s so light on her feet sometimes Lucretia has to double check to make sure they’re actually on the ground.

“In the mood for anything specific?”

“Soup,” Lucretia’s lips say without permission from her brain. Her mouth waters and her stomach growls loudly at the very thought of it. She flushes and Lup laughs. Lup has her back turned, but her affectionate smile is audible.

“Soup it is, then.”

Lucretia watches her for a moment before taking to massaging the bridge of her nose all the way out to her temples and back. She applies a steady amount of pressure and exhales as quietly as possible. Lup is going off about work (the entire reaper deal is so WILD, Lucretia), and Lucretia feels a twinge of guilt for completely and utterly spacing out until she hears her name.

“Gods, Lulu, do I need to take you grocery shopping? There’s barely enough here for a meal.”

Is there really? She was sure she’d just gone shopping this past weekend— No, wait a moment, she was busy and didn’t have time. So the week before, then—? Hm. When was the last time? She hopes Lup has what she needs, and, as she looks up into a somewhat concerned face, she realizes she hasn’t responded to Lup at all.

“Are you okay there, babe? You look exhausted.”

Lucretia sniffles and pushes her nose up with the heel of her hand. “I’m alright. It’s just been… a very long day.”

“Wanna talk about it?” What she wants is a double dose of fantasy Nyquil, but she’s not exactly ready to admit that yet. She doesn’t want Lup to worry, and it’s just… It’s been so long.

“I guess I’m still, a-ah… hhh… adjusting to changes.” She sniffles again, rubbing at her nose a bit harder, and Lup fixes her with an odd gaze for a moment.

“I get that. You’re doing great, though.” Lucretia smiles despite herself.

“Thanks.”

The pot behind Lup is simmering, and she turns back to her cooking as Lucretia rests her head on folded arms. In lieu of picking up where they left off, Lup begins to hum. Whether or not it’s on purpose is unclear to Lucretia, but drowsiness begins to claw at her, linking up with her headache and throwing a party. Maybe she can just let her eyes rest for a moment…

What jostles her awake this time isn’t Lup, but her nose; the itch has returned with a vengeance and she silently curses herself, curses this damn headcold and curses the fact that it’s ruining her highly cherished and (honestly?) well deserved bonding time with her friend. Her breath catches and she presses the back of her wrist under her nose with a few quiet sniffles.

“Hhh… Hihh'CHshhu! Hh'KCHshh! Hih, hhh… Hh'EISHHu!” Through watery eyes she sees Lup’s ears twitch in her direction as that last one gets away from her, but she’s already ducking into the cover of two cupped hands.

“Hh'EIISHhu! Ghih… Hihh… HEIISChhu!” She groans softly, lifting her reluctant gaze to meet Lup’s, who has a hand on her hip.

“Shit, Creesh, bless you.”

“Thank you,” Lucretia murmurs from behind her hands, cheeks burning.

“Are you feeling okay?” As if seeing her for the first time, Lup tilts her head. “I know you said you’re tired, but you really don’t look so good.” She presses the back of her hand to Lucretia’s forehead. Lup usually runs warm, Lucretia thinks vaguely, though this seems irrelevant now that her hands are providing cool relief.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be this warm, hon.” Lucretia sniffles, forcing herself to sit up.

“I think I may be coming down with a cold,” she says, and wow, saying that out loud really drives home how terrible she feels. Everything aches, and her nose is stuffed, and her throat is burning, and… The frustration must show in her face because Lup tuts softly and pulls Lucretia into a hug.

“Hey, hey,” Lup murmurs as Lucretia presses her face to Lup’s chest.

“Sorry,” she manages around the lump in her throat.

“Don’t be.” Her hand finds the small of Lucretia’s back, and that really does it for her. Tears well up in her eyes because it’s been a while since someone just held her like this. She doesn’t mean to isolate herself, really, she’s been working hard on that since her family was truly brought back to her. Yet she still finds herself all too suddenly craving comfort and contact that she’s still unsure of how to ask for.

So she’s feeling awful. But this is nice. Sue her.

“You’re working real hard, Lulu,” Lup continues as Lucretia cries half in appreciation and half in overwhelming gross feverishness. “Which is great, y'know, but you gotta take breaks sometimes. Promise me you’ll take tomorrow off?”

It takes Lucretia a moment to compose herself enough, but eventually she does nod and palm at her eyes (and then her nose). “I will.”

Lup smiles. “Okay, good. Now lemme fill you up with the greatest fuckin’ soup you’ve ever had in your life…”

[SexyGodlikeHair]

OOOF I have absolutely no familiarity with this fandom whatsoever but I adored this story nonetheless . Super well written, and enjoyable

[Ignis]

3 hours ago, SexyGodlikeHair said:

OOOF I have absolutely no familiarity with this fandom whatsoever but I adored this story nonetheless . Super well written, and enjoyable

thank you !!!

[ohlala8]

Aww, I've definitely been on a TAZ kick recently, so it's fun to see fic here. And Lucretia always needs more love--I just want to wrap her up in a blanket and put her to bed.

[Ignis]

On 4/3/2018 at 3:43 PM, ohlala8 said:

Aww, I've definitely been on a TAZ kick recently, so it's fun to see fic here. And Lucretia always needs more love--I just want to wrap her up in a blanket and put her to bed.

i've been keeping an eye out for it since i started listening and was bummed not to find any, so i figured if no one else was gonna do it, why not contribute, right? and so do i! she deserves it

[BardwithaBlade]

Oh man! I got so excited to see a TAZ fic and this definitely didn't disappoint. Lovely, lovely, lovely

[san kyu]

Aahhhh, this is so cute!!!!!

[ellwren]

Just found this, and it’s so cute! I don’t think I’ve ever seen TAZ fic before... now I’m tempted to go write some Taako/Kravitz

[Chiller, a sneezy skeleton]

On 8/6/2018 at 10:44 PM, ellwren said:

Just found this, and it’s so cute! I don’t think I’ve ever seen TAZ fic before... now I’m tempted to go write some Taako/Kravitz

Please do!

[ellwren]

On 8/20/2018 at 9:33 PM, Chiller, a sneezy skeleton said:

Please do!

Based on my average speed, I'll post it in about ten years. I think I posted one story ever and never got around to part 2. It was so long ago I can't find it in the search, and I don't quite remember if it was on this forum.