Work Text:
Lizzie poked her tongue out between her lips as she focused on the hooks and yarn in her hands. This was the last granny square tile she had to craft before she could arrange all the pieces to stitch them together to create a cohesive and decently-sized blanket.
“Andddd,” Lizzie drew out her words as she finished the last few stitches. Her fairy wings fluttered a little with excitement, recognizing that she was so close to finishing the project she had been working on the past month at least. She tied off the yarn and raised the decorated square up to present– one of a much higher quality than the first squares crafted for this project. Lizzie liked to think the gradual improvement would be charming in blanket form, at the very least. “Done! Look: it’s a strawberry!”
“Cute,” Joel commented, raising his head to appreciate her work. “It looks nice, babe. You’ve gotten good at that.”
“Thanks!” Lizzie beamed as she set the strawberry themed granny square amongst the other finished patterns filling the wicker basket she utilized as storage throughout the duration of this project. She blinked as she noticed something different about her surroundings. “Where did Etho go? Weren’t they just here?”
“Uhhh,” Joel hesitated, gaze promptly dancing around the room trying to spot their shared spouse. He sniffed in sharply as he tapped his digital pencil against the side of the tablet case. Lizzie had been worried he was coming down with a cold all morning, but he insisted he was fine– he wasn’t fine. She reluctantly let him wiggle his way out of resting in his room for now, partly for selfish reasons. “They left a bit ago, I think. Sometime after you went on a ramble about strawberry fields and chocolate-covered strawberries and whatnot. Made me hungry enough that I almost got my sense of taste back, but, alas, not even you are magic enough for that.”
Lizzie pouted, jutting out her bottom lip. She supposed she did remember that. She was known to go on rambly tangents while she worked, whether that be to her spouses, or to her friends, or to a stuffed animal audience. Working in silence had never been her foretay– at least, at her happiest and healthiest. It was never a good sign when she was quiet for too long. “They’re skipping out on craft time!”
“We have been here for several hours,” Joel reminded her with a shrug, his green bug antenna twitching. “They probably got some idea that is best conducted in their workshop rather than out here. There will be other craft times.”
Etho was a lot more tech-focused in their hobbies than Lizzie and Joel were, and so she and Joel decided to dedicate part of the garage to Etho’s fiddling as a gift of sorts. The other section was for storage, of course. The storage bins were covered with this giant dark green tarp as a protective barrier in case something went awry. Lizzie painted it with flowers once several years ago and they were still there, albeit chipped.
“I suppose that’s true,” Lizzie hummed, though a little disappointed. It wouldn’t keep her down long, though. They were all adults, they were their own people, and they were free to do as they wished. They didn’t have to stay attached at the hip! She just enjoyed her spouses’ company, that’s all.
Lizzie had been getting better about letting Joel and Etho leave her sight the last few years, thanks to countless therapy sessions and self meditation– not that she wanted to admit that anxiety that came with their prolonged absence. That was too vulnerable for her to voice very often.
Before she could say more, Joel pounded a fist harshly against his chest as a series of coughs crawled up his throat. Tears began to accent his face as he sniffed in sharply once more, leading to a congested cross between a cry of pain and the sound of water being sucked up.
Safe to say, it wasn’t exactly pretty.
Lizzie set her yarn aside and rose to meet Joel where he sat. She gently took his drawing tablet from him and set them aside. “Come on, love, let’s get you to bed.”
“But I
don't wanna,”
Joel whined as he stumbled to his feet with Lizzie’s help. Lizzie gave him A Look™, but Joel didn’t stop grumbling. “I’ve lived through hero work and being infected by a purple sludge parasite, and my skin regularly molts, and yet you still act like I have to be blummin’ bed bound for the
common cold.
I’m tougher than that!”
Lizzie huffed to herself as she shoved her husband up the stairs toward his room despite his protests. She reminded herself to make Joel take more medicine stashed in the upstairs bathroom before prescribing him bedrest. It would help him feel better, and help ensure this common cold of his didn’t grow worse. He had the unfortunate mindset of thinking he was invincible, even though he very much wasn’t.
She had never been one to mess around when it came to her spouses’ health, which was part of the reason she helped manage Etho’s visits to the Traffic City Hero Lab when they didn’t seem keen to manage it themself. It worked for them, and just… being lax about her spouses and their health just wasn’t something she could bring herself to do. Especially not with the hazardous occupations they held!
Lizzie realized there was some dramatic irony to be found there, considering she and her spouses were heroes, with danger and harm being a part of the job description, but– ough. She had struggled before the whole Boogey plague, but ever since she lost them for potentially forever, her fears about their health and safety had only heightened. Which was perfectly rational, by the way!
She simply didn’t want to lose them– either of them– again! Especially not to something that could be prevented… Lizzie cared too much about her spouses to let that happen. She was a hero to protect people, to rescue civilians… to ensure that– or, well, to try her best to make sure that– everyone could make it home to their families and loved ones at the end of the day. What kind of hero would she be if she couldn’t even keep her own spouses safe?
What kind of hero am I? A whisper of her fears slipped past her defences, cracking her resolve ever slightly. Keeping them safe is something I’ve failed to do before… am I a hero, even by my own standards?
She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to quiet an uncomfortable whine rumbling in her chest. Never mind that!
Lizzie refused to be sorry about caring like she did, even if it meant playing mother to her husband and spouse.
It’s fine, Lizzie attempted to comfort herself as her body moved without conscious thought. We all take on caretaking roles for each other at times. It’s not a bad thing.
Joel must have seen her internal conflict written all over her face– or perhaps she hadn’t succeeded in taming her distressed cries as well as she thought she was– for he rested his hands on her shoulders. His caring brown gaze bore into her ocean blue hues, and Lizzie felt extremely vulnerable– like he was peering right into her soul.
Eyes were the window to one’s soul, or something like that, so maybe he was?
“I will be okay, love. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.” Joel pressed a kiss against her forehead. He hadn’t totally picked up everything spiraling within her, but he got just enough for Lizzie to feel touched. “I’m fine, I just feel like rubbish.”
Warmth spread throughout Lizzie’s torso, and she wished she could kiss him on the lips, but that was not wise for the amount of germs that would spread. She didn’t have Etho’s spit ability, which had the side effect of preventing them from getting sick as easily. He sneezed into his elbow, the snot that came out killing the romantic vibe just enough for Lizzie to giggle at its unexpected nature.
Joel groaned to himself as he wandered toward the nearby bathroom to clean the snot off his arm, waving Lizzie’s concerns away with his free hand. “This is nothin’ that won’t go away with time. I’ll take that medicine, and rest, and hopefully sleep this all off. How about you go watch
Rapunzel
or whatever that film is called on the telly, finish your blanket by stitching it all together, and don’t fret about me, okay?”
Lizzie wanted to argue, but she didn’t have any real argument in her arsenal that stood a chance against him, so she gave in, “Fine, okay… but… call me if you need anything.”
“Will do,” Joel promised, poking his fingernail through the medicine packaging to free the horse pill– the kind of pill Lizzie gagged on when trying to swallow– from its slot. He had always been good about making sure she got all the reassurance she needed and more. Lizzie didn’t even have to ask anymore; he just did it! “But I won’t need to. I’m going to ride the rest of this out in my room like I had been before craft time. I just didn’t want to skip out on craft time.”
Lizzie averted her gaze as Joel tossed the pill into his mouth and brought a water cup to his lips. “Well… thanks. I appreciate it.”
Before Joel finished swallowing the medication, freeing him to respond, Lizzie had retreated down the stairs. She was being irrational. She was fine. Her spouses were safe; they were okay. The Boogey wasn’t even The Boogey anymore! She hadn’t had an issue in a while, she–
Lizzie forced herself to take a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time to get so worked up, it just…
Her phone weighed heavy in her pocket. She had made the mistake of reading the local online newspaper earlier that day. Five years ago to the day had been a terrifying time for their city… and for Lizzie. She had mostly gotten over it, mostly gotten better… Lizzie even saw a therapist to help her work through her feelings, taking a page out of Etho’s book in an attempt to get better. She had thought she was over it all, thought she had healed completely from that trauma, but the worry was creeping back like an unwanted plague.
Maybe all she needed was to finish her blanket and watch a film, like Joel had suggested. Maybe he was right, smarter than Lizzie was currently giving him credit for. Maybe all would be right in the world with a happily ever after and a sense of accomplishment blooming within her at a job well done.
Lizzie wasn’t sure how long it had been later when she was gently shaken from her slumber. She yawned softly, rubbing at her eyes. She must have passed out sometime after finishing assembling her blanket, for she had curled the completed product around her. Her brain was just hazy enough that she couldn’t currently recall if she finished the film or not, though– pause for a long yawn– she hadn’t thought too hard about it.
Based on the tactile input her body was giving her of her surroundings, she had slept on the sofa instead of one of their beds. “What time is it?”
“Nineteen hundred hours,” Etho answered, the cheeky grin that must be behind their mask reaching their eyes enough for Lizzie to tell.
They were messing with her, knowing that twenty-four time was still a struggle to convert even after all these years! She had gotten better at it, but that improvement was not something anyone should expect from her when just waking up.
“Etho,” Lizzie complained, reaching out haphazardly to weakly slapping their arm.
“Seven PM,” Etho allowed. There was a sparkle in their eyes that only really came to the surface after they achieved something they were proud about, though their expression indicated that they weren’t willing to tell Lizzie a thing. “Are you hungry? How about we go on a picnic?”
“This late?” Lizzie squinted, turning to look through the windows to gauge the weather conditions before promptly giving up to close her eyes instead. The light shining down from the ceiling was still a bit too much for her sensitive irises. “What about Joel?”
“Joel texted me, and he’s okay with us going just the two of us, by the way,” Etho informed her, rubbing gentle circles on her back as she leaned against them to avoid flopping back asleep. The comfort of the couch pillows were calling her… “He encouraged it, even. Said something about us spoiling him on a later date to make it up to him, which shouldn’t be an issue. Anyways, I got picnic supplies already packed and ready to go, like food and plates and stuff.”
A smile crept onto Lizzie’s lips as she sat back up on her own accord. She peered up at her spouse lovingly, reaching up to cup their face. Her thumb plucked the band of their face mask.
“Thank you,” Lizzie breathed out. “That sounds absolutely splendid.”
A picnic did sound rather lovely, and it was never very difficult to convince Lizzie to go on cutesy dates. In fact, she adored them, and she always felt all giddy inside when her spouses put in the effort to take her on these little romantic dates without any input from her. The combination of thought and execution reminded Lizzie how much Joel and Etho adored and cared for her in return.
“Are you sure you want to use that as our picnic blanket?” Etho checked in, worried about yarn creation somehow getting damaged being outside. Lizzie doubted that existing for an hour or two in nature would ruin months upon months worth of work in one go, especially since it wasn’t storming or muddy.
“I do!” Lizzie chimed as she fanned out the crocheted tapestry over the grass, using the artificial breeze from her flapping wings to aid her efforts. “I didn’t put all this work in just for us to never use it! Besides, this way it has positive memories associated with it. Plus, we’ll be careful and use plates. You said you brought those, right?”
“Right,” Etho confirmed, kicking off their shoes before stepping onto the blanket. Lizzie followed their lead, removing her shoes before joining them. The yarn was soft against her bare skin, encouraging her to spread out against the crocheted tiles.
The sun was dipping below the horizon on the warm summer evening, making now the perfect time for a late-in-the-day picnic. A few small lanterns Lizzie recognized as Etho’s handiwork from previous summers were removed from the picnic basket first to help brighten the surrounding area even as the natural colors in the sky dimmed with each passing moment.
Before Lizzie could offer to help, Etho surprised her by pulling out a… she blinked at him in astonishment. “Is that a mini fountain?”
“Uh, huh. That it is! It’s a chocolate fountain.” The mischievous gleam sprakled just that much brighter. “I’ve been working on it all day, ever since you mentioned loving warm and fresh chocolate strawberries compared to the cold ones most places offer earlier. I figured I could make it just as easily as buying one, and the ideas were already spinning in my head, and I had to take a crack at it. It
did
take me a few more hours than I initially guessed, to be honest, but, uh, yeah.”
Lizzie stumbled over her words, anything she could possibly say evading her as tears of joy swelled in her eyes. Instead of anything intelligible, she rubbed at her face with a delighted “
Etho, I–
I don’t know what to say. You didn’t have to do all this for me.”
“I wanted to.” Etho unlooped their face mask from around their ears, setting the black fabric aside. They took Lizzie’s hand in theirs and raised it up to press a kiss against their knuckles. “I love you. I… I know I don’t say it as much as I should, but I want you to know I do.”
“I never questioned it for a moment,” Lizzie assured, wings very responsive behind her as her cheeks blushed a darker pink than her hair. “I love you too. So much.”
She crawled forward on her knees to close the space between them, resting only once they reached their lap. Once upon a time, such closeness to Etho’s face without their mask would have sent them packing, but now… well, now Etho beamed at her without restraining themself to conceal their pointed teeth or longer-than-average tongue.
It was a sweet moment. They were sweet person. Everything about this moment of serenity was better than something as simple as sweet could even begin to describe.
Lizzie cupped their spouse’s face, and Etho promptly leaned into her hold. She would have been alright with staying like they were for a little longer, just peacefully content, but Lizzie didn’t want to waste an opportunity she hadn’t always been allowed to have. Lizzie leaned in, closing the gap between them and sealing their affection for one another with a kiss.
Perhaps sweet serenity didn’t perfectly describe all that Lizzie felt, but it was as good enough of a start as any, and that was more than enough for her.