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“Oh wow. You look terrible” Carmine looked at her partner sitting in bed.
Her hair was a mess, dark bags under her eyes, and somehow looked even paler than usual.
“Just say you hate me.” Penny grumbled, sniffling and wiping her nose against her sleeve, followed by several coughs into her arm.
Carmine rolled her eyes at the dramatic words and dropped the bag she had over her shoulder with a thud against the wooden floor, and approached the clearly sick girl, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to them.
Penny's eyes softened when Carmine showed concern for the shorter of the two and kept her focus on her girlfriend as Carmine pressed a hand against their forehead and another against her own.
Yep, she was burning up and probably had a nasty fever on top of their already existing cold.
Penny's hand found Carmine's sleeve to tug at, scooting closer as soon Carmine had dropped her hand that Penny quickly found, intertwining their fingers together, cuddling into the crook of her neck and relaxing, she was so warm.
But… Carmine pulled away gently, still holding her hand, however. “Baby, I'd love to cuddle you but I can't afford to get sick and I need to leave soon for a class”
“Tsk…” Penny clicked her tongue and let go of her hand and instead lied down in their bed, back facing Carmine and the taller felt just a little bit bad for rejecting cuddles from her sick partner, she always got lot more needier when sick.
Carmine ran a hand through the red and blue hair, pushing their bangs away from their sweaty forehead as she leaned over them.
“I be back before you know it, so be a good girl and get some sleep, ok?” Carmine sighed and stood up again to walk out of her room, Penny peeked over her shoulder to watch her girlfriend leave and with a sigh, Penny mumbled a low “Whatever.”
Carmine shut the bedroom door after her as she slung her bag over her shoulder once again and walked towards the entrance of their friend group's shared apartment. (Or rather Nemona's. Since it was her wealth who got it for them in the first place and there was no way in hell that 6 college students could afford that big of housing if it weren't for one of them just happened to be filthy rich and happily provided the initial cost of it)
Speaking of Nemona.
The champion-ranked trainer stood by the front door, waiting patiently for Carmine, and when the taller of the two got close to the other.
Carmine saw how her other significant didn't look much better than the first one she had just visited.
“How is she?” Nemona sniffled, her voice just as hoarse if not hoarser than Penny's had been, and looked exhausted. More so than the time she had stayed up for two days straight studying for a test combined with several battles on behalf of the league.
“Better question, how are you? You sound sick”
“I’m fine”
A sigh
“Can you say that again without sounding like my grandpa?”
“I'm fine, I promise it's just a bit of a cold…” Nemona mumbled, clearing her voice but it was followed up with a serious couple of coughs and sweat visibly running down her forehead and the girl did not look well in the slightest. Was she shaking as well? Yeah, she's definitely shaking a bit.
Carmine thought and with a sigh She let her bag fall to the floor once again as she took her girlfriend's hand and dragged her back to her bedroom “C’mon, let's go”
“go where? Carmine, we got class” Nemona groaned but let herself get pulled to her bedroom, she had no strength to fight back anyway.
“Nope, not anymore. You're sick”
“I'm fineeee”
“Ok, prove it, if you can push past me, then sure. I let you go” Carmine said but as soon Nemona tried it, it only took Carmine holding her arm out to stop her from passing, which said a lot, since Nemona should be a lot stronger than she was from all the working out she had been doing last couple of years.
Nemona dramatically collapsed into her girlfriend's arms, hugging her tight and already giving up from having 0 strength, and whined that she really needed to go and couldn't miss out on a single class.
“Too bad, you're staying home. But you're in luck since both of my two adorable girls are home sick. I decided I might as well stay back and nurse you back to health ~”
“Yay” Nemona weakly smiled as she let Carmine unbutton her shirt revealing her black tank top underneath it, while Nemona decided to rest her forehead against her shoulder, nuzzling into it more, stroking Carmine's arm to then sneak it to Carmine's shirt to start unbuttoning it and leaned in for a kiss.
But Carmine slapped her hand away and dodged the kiss by pressing a hand against her mouth.
“No kisses, sheesh you both are so clingy when you get sick. I don't want your germs right now, can you finish this by yourself?”
“Fine” Nemona pouted with a sigh as Carmine pulled away, taking her hands and making her sit on the bed before leaving.
“I will be back soon, I'm going to change into something more comfortable, ok? “
“Kay…”
Carmine started to exit the room but then remembered something and stopped at the door opening and turned to Nemona.
“Ah, also, leave Penny alone, got it? You two are already sick, so don’t go make it worse, that goes for both of you”
“...”
Nemona said nothing and when Carmine shut the door behind her she instead leaned back in her bed, glancing at the shared wall she had with Penny.
Meanwhile, Carmine had gone to find something more comfortable and cozy to put on, finding a nice sweater and some shorts that were perfect for a lazy day at home and as soon she was done changing, she finished it up with a ponytail and shuffled over to the kitchen as she Scrolled through her phone to find a recipe she had written down.
She was going to make the best soup they ever tasted, which also had plenty of nutrients all while delicious and Arceus did one of them need it more than the other.
It was her grandmother's famous soup recipe and something she had always made for her and Kieran when they got sick, So this would be a perfect opportunity to make it for her sick girls and share something she always ate when growing up, with them.
She had actually asked her grandmother to teach her some of her recipes the last time she had visited her home in Kitakami, for moments like this. Plus She knew if she didn’t start to learn to cook some more, her grandparents would scold her for not feeding her partner and girlfriend enough and being lazy.
But Carmine had taken her own initiative, to begin with. Because she wanted to, not because she had to, and… maybe slightly because one of them was fine living their whole life on cup noodles and takeout while the other didn’t know how to cook and they couldn’t rely on Arven cooking for them forever.
So out of the three, she definitely was the one who would cook for them more often than not, she was used to it too with helping her grandparents in the first place.
As Carmine was cooking, however, Juliana had entered the kitchen to grab something from the fridge before heading out herself, looking a bit surprised that Carmine hadn't left yet for the day and furrowed her brows when she saw she was cooking, out of all things.
“You're still here? And you’re cooking..?”
“Yeah, Penny and Nemona are sick so I decided I will take care of them until they get better”
“My, aren't you the sweetest girlfriend they could ask for?”
“Right? Aren't I the greatest? “ Carmine smirked at the praise, even if it had been said sarcastically or not.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Anyway, I will be home late today” Juliana said, brushing off Carmine’s usual comment about how great she is.
“ Arven’s probably be back first, so don't let those two die ok? Bye.” Juliana added, waving goodbye after taking out a sandwich from the full-to-the-brim fridge of food and Carmine waved back with a smile as she got back to stirring the soup.
It took her longer than she had anticipated to finish but she had finally gotten it right and was quite proud of herself, it tasted perfect. The girls would love this. She was sure of it.
She had even called out her sinistcha to help make some refreshing and healing tea for the two and after thanking and giving her companion a tiny high five with her fingertip for the help, she recalled it back to its ball.
However… when she had gone to drop off the first set of food for Nemona, the girl had mysteriously vanished from her bed. She had told her to stay put but of course, she hadn't listened and Carmine promptly sat down the tray with food on the nearby desk in her room.
She knew exactly where that girl had disappeared to and turned her heel and shuffled over to the next door with haste and when she flung it open…
She saw Nemona on top of Penny and the two were sharing a passionate and intense kiss,
a hand firmly placed just beneath the hem of her girlfriend's t-shirt as their other hands were locked together, they almost hadn't noticed their third girlfriend bargain in but Their hazy eyes landed on Carmine instead of each other when they felt a third presence and the two separated, breaths slightly heavy.
“Funs over…” Nemona pouted and let her body flop on top of Penny who grunted from the fall but would just as quickly adapt and wrap herself around Nemona, nuzzling into the crook of her neck, ignoring the obvious sweat trickling down.
The sight was almost enough to make Carmine blush but just almost, her red cheeks were not that of embarrassment but rather a frustration that the two had no regard for their health and how sick they were and Instead of resting she finds them making out.
“What did I tell you two not even twenty minutes ago??” Carmine raised her voice at the two,
who both flinched from her voice, due to their hearing being a lot more sensitive from their cold.
“you said we can't cuddle you, so we found a solution” Penny mumbled into Nemona's neck.
“This is not a solution!” Carmine growled
“Waugh so scary, she's mad at us, Penny. “
“She hates us, for real, for real.”
“I don't hate you! In fact, I made you soup to show how much I care for you! and how much of an amazing and sweet girlfriend I am.” Carmine huffed, crossing her arms.
“She didn't even say I love you…”
“I know right, she didn't even want us to cuddle and instead suffer all alone “ the two whispered among themselves, not even bothering to hide it from Carmine.
Were they trying to piss her off?
“That was NOT Cuddling!”
“Bet you're just jealous…”
“Ooh, she jealous”
“No. I don't want to go anywhere near the disgusting germs you so happily share with each other. However, I don't want you sicker than you already are, so please just go to your own beds. You're going to overheat each other like this.” Carmine rubbed her temple with a sigh.
“No…” the two simultaneously said, latching onto each other more but when Nemona suddenly sneezed all over Penny the room went dead silent and The three waited for anyone to say something but when no one did, Penny eventually spoke up.
“Gross…” Penny mumbled but did nothing to move away from the sick girl and just wiped her face off.
“Soreey…” Nemona mumbled and laid down her head on top of Penny's chest, the latter instincty started to massage her hair, and Nemona sniffled once more.
“Seriously? You're not even a little bothered?”
“Nuh..”
“you two are actually giant babies when sick, you know that?”
Carmine sighed deeply as she bounced her leg slightly in irritation, standing with crossed arms as she mulled the situation over.
She knew that the two were dead set on being together, both were incredibly needy when sick, is this just a youngest sibling trait? Kiki also got a lot more whiney whenever he is sick. Anyway, their minds seemed to have decided the best form of action to cope with it was to spend their sick days together, even if it would possibly make them worse.
Guess this way, they would combat whatever virus they caught together and not make each other sick a second time around, so there was a silver lining to it at the very least.
“fine.” Carmine sighed and her two girlfriends slipped out a low “Yay” and “Woo”
“I'm going to bring you guys some soup, alright? I Be right back” Carmine said and went to go grab it again but of course, by the short amount of time she had been gone, the two had managed to fall asleep sprawled all over each other and Carmine was in disbelief at how they even managed that.
But seeing their faces sound asleep made her lips tug upwards in a smile in fondness of the two and would turn around to go place the food in the fridge while they slept, arceus knew they sure needed a lot of it.
And while Carmine had forbidden any cuddles, she still wanted to be near her two lovers,
She in all honesty was no better than the two when it came to wanting to be around each other, so when she returned, she grabbed Penny's gamer chair and sat down in it, opening up a book she had been meaning to read, while her two girls slept.
About two hours later, Penny was first to wake up, and from the groan and throwing Nemona's arm off herself, probably from being way too hot. Carmine could already tell they were already feeling a lot worse compared to the first time she had woken up.
That's what you get for sharing spit with your other sick girlfriend.
“Carrie…”
“Hmm?” Carmine put away her book with a click and uncrossed her legs to rest her elbows against them instead and put her face in her hands upon hearing her girlfriend wanting her attention.
“What is it? Why are you using that nickname, that's so unlike you” Carmine said as she watched her partner wake up and fight off their sickness.
“Do we have ice cream?”
“Hmm, nope. There's soup for you though “
“Ugh…I feel awful” Penny mumbled and reached out for Carmine's hand that Carmine swiftly took with one of her own to hold.
(“Wish I could tell you I told you so but… I told you so”)
“You're acting quite cute, are you trying to get me to go buy ice cream?”
“Please…?”
“C’mon, where's your usual bite? Also no, not until you've eaten the soup”
“Screw you…” Penny mumbled and tried to let go but Carmine grasped their hand tighter.
“There's my girl” Carmine smiled gently at Penny, reaching for her phone and quickly typed something on it before putting it down again.
“Ugh.”
Penny looked at Carmine for a bit and then grimaced and diverted eye contact.
“What's wrong?”
“Binder…”
“You have it on?”
“Yeah... it's getting hot and annoying, I want to shower”
“do you need help getting it off?”
“...”
Carmine sighed and stood up and ushered Penny to follow, something she did and followed after Carmine, both still holding hands, and when they got to the bathroom, Penny threw their hoodie off immediately, it had caused her sensory issue and unnecessary heat enough.
Her back faced Carmine, and with a sigh, she let Carmine help get the binder off, since she felt too exhausted to wriggle and fight herself out from it alone, getting in was one thing but if it was getting out from a pullover binder… that was a whole different story, so two sets off hands was always a great help.
“You really outa get one of those with a zipper” Carmine said when they had gotten it off and threw it to the side for the meantime, Penny instincty covering their chest.
“I know…”
“...bad day?”
“Yeah..” a cough.
“But you're sick, you shoulde-”
“Carmine…” Penny sighed
“Sorry”
Carmine placed a hand on their back, drawing circles on top of it, they were burning up but could still feel the cold sweat on top of the hot skin from the fever.
“I know you’re only looking out for me and I know it’s silly that I use it for days like this but it's just…” Penny paused, trying to find words to describe how it felt.
“I get it, don't worry, you get anxious and just feel worse about yourself if you don’t.”
Carmine said and placed a kiss against their back making Penny blush and glance back at Carmine over her shoulder. “H-hey…”
“You're beautiful, no matter what “
Penny didn't answer but Carmine perked up when she saw what kind of reaction that had caused.
“Ah, did that get you flustered? Your ears are red” Carmine teased smirking and Penny groaned.
“Ok, ok, I get it- o-out, I want to shower.”
“Will you eat your soup after?” Carmine grabbed her hips and pulled her close to herself, wrapping an arm around her stomach to keep her in place, Penny’s hand landing on Carmine's arm.
“Y-yes! Let me go, you didn't want my germs, right? So shoo! Thanks for the help, I got it from here!”
“You sure? I could always-”
“Out! Out! Out! Out!’ Penny started to push her girlfriend out of the door while Carmine had a laugh about it but let herself get pushed regardless and willingly walked out from there.
And soon Penny had slammed the door behind her, red face and all…
Carmine went over to the kitchen once again to reheat the soup and tea, but it wasn’t long until she felt gentle arms wrap around her stomach and a body pressing against her back.
“Nemo?”
“you guys left me all alone…” Nemona mumbled, nuzzling her nose against the back of Carmine’s neck, Carmine found her arm to hug with hers, and settled into the back hug in front of the stove.
“We were barely gone for five minutes, go back to bed”
“let me help”
“It's just reheating the soup, It’s fine”
“is.. there anything I can do?”
“c’mon, let your girlfriend spoil you a bit, aren’t you the one that’s supposed to be used to being pampered?~”
Carmine then felt a light bonk against her back, had Nemona just headbutted her?
“ah- did that get you annoyed?” Carmine smirked and glanced behind her ever so slightly, feeling Nemona’s head pressing against her back.
“a little…”
And with a sigh from Carmine, she turned around in Nemona’s arms and wrapped her arms around her neck.
“It’s fine Baby, really. You don't have to do anything, I’m used to this sorta thing, I may not act like it but I used to help take care of Kiki whenever he got sick and oh boy, did that brat get sick a lot when we were younger” Carmine comforted and kissed Nemona’s forehead but her expression still looked unconvinced and bothered.
“I don’t like feeling like I’m useless”
“and you’re not, you’re the most responsible out of all of us so let your awesome girlfriend take care of you for once, okay?” Carmine said but she could see how Nemona was eyeing her lips and she really had to control herself to not lean in for the kiss and give her what she wanted, what they both wanted, but no. Instead, she turned around in her arms once again.
“T-The soup is almost ready again, go sit on the couch, Penny will soon be out from their shower, then you’re getting ice cream, as soon Arven’s home.” Carmine said and after a few seconds, she felt the arms around her loosen and a low “kaayy” followed by a sigh and footsteps shuffling away.
And when she was gone, Carmine released a breath as she felt her cheeks grow warm.
These girls were killing her, why do they have to be so cute and so damn kissable even when they were sick like this, she’s already letting too much touch happen in the first place.
A short while later, Carmine arrived in the living room, and sure enough, found her two favorite people already cuddled up, softly kissing… again. Letting whatever was playing on the TV, go unwatched.
Carmine cleared her throat, causing them to separate as Carmine set down the tray, placing each bowl and teacup in front of the two sick girls, and then went to go sit in the chair next to the couch with a sigh.
Nemona and Penny glanced at the food, then each other, and lastly Carmine…
“what..?”
“nothing” Penny mumbled.
“What is it??”
“We had hoped you also sit here…” Nemona said and leaned forward to eat some of her soup, while Penny mumbled something about Mc’donphan that Carmine promptly ignored.
“Oh for the love of-” Carmine said and got up again, walking away from the two but came back just as quick with a duvet from her bed and sat down in the middle of them and wrapped it over themselves and it wouldn't take long at all for the two to finish their food and to then cuddle up against Carmine, taking comfort in her presence and what she was doing for them.
The next three days would contain of this, be it her cooking for them (despite Arven offering he could do it for them), tending to their needs, bringing them stuff, or trying to get them to separate and go sleep in their own bed but even She managed to get one of them into their bed, the other would soon follow, she lost track on how often she had found them kissing despite being exhausted themselves but at some point, Carmine had given up and let them do whatever they want, she knew she couldn't stop them, at the very least it was easy to find them if they were together.
and on the fourth day… Nemona and Penny stood side by side, watching Carmine sniffling and blowing her nose in bed, heavy bags under her tired eyes and looking feverish.
“...”
“...”
“Think we made her sick?”
“Obviously.”
Carmine groaned and threw the covers over her head, her head felt like it was exploding and she had to blow her nose.
“just go away…” Carmine mumbled she wanted to be alone, and as much she loved her partners, she really could need some time by herself and suffer alone.
“But…” Nemona started, rubbing the back of her neck unsure.
“It’s fine, Nemo. Just go to class. I got her” Penny said and sat down on the side of Carmine’s bed “Hey, princess do you need something? “ her voice teased, knowing Carmine would both hate and love such a nickname coming from her so suddenly.
“Hey! I want to stay home too! After all she has done for us” nemona chipped in, dropping her bag on the floor, and sitting down on the other side of the bed.
“yeah but… it’s more practical that I stay since I don't have any classes to begin with”
“tssk, what's one more day? It be fineee” Nemona grinned and laid on her stomach next to Carmine, who was hiding away.
“Hey, do u need something? Perhaps a glass of water? tea?”
Penny lied down on her back on the other side of Carmine, phone in hand.
“I can order your favorite food for you, want to borrow some of my veevees? They are a great comfort”
Carmine shot up from under the covers, annoyed. “Can you two pipe it down?? I'm perfectly fine taking care of myself!”
But.. her annoyance wouldn't last long before her two girlfriends would force her into a cuddlepile, kissing her face and the tallest of the three sighed in defeat.
How they were not concerned about getting sick again was beyond her but ah well.. this sort of attention was nice.