Work Text:
Spitfire was sick.
She didn’t know or why it had happened but one moment, Spitfire was perfectly healthy and the next…he was completely down.
The Village Medical Team had promised to take care of Spitfire as best as they could until he fully recovered. As much as she didn’t trust Quack Doctor Smurf, she trusted Liatris and the rest of the Medical Team with Spitfire’s health and getting him back to normal.
They said it would take a few weeks, at least, until Spitfire was fully recovered and ready to fly again.
A few weeks.
Fuck her life sometimes.
In the meantime…there wasn’t a lot she could do without completely changing how she did things.
She had to flypool with one of the others or borrow one of their Dragonflies, which was kind of hard to adjust to. She had to do solo missions and patrols without him. She had to start a fire by herself without any help from Spitfire.
It felt…really alone without Spitfire. She and Spitfire shared a bond unlike any other. Two halves of the same soul that Willow once called it. Brother and sister-in-arms. It had been that way for a long time since that day. Since everything changed.
Without Spitfire, her life had been thrown out of whack and she had struggled trying to adapt. Every time she flew another Dragonfly, she had to remind herself it wasn’t Spitfire. Every time she waited for Spitfire to show up or for him to start a fire, she had to remind herself that Spitfire wasn’t coming, and she had to escape or start a fire by herself.
Seeing how worried she had been and how much Spitfire’s absence had thrown her off-balance, Willow had encouraged (read; forced) her to take a brief vacation until Spitfire was better. Spend some time with her friends and sisters. With her boyfriends.
She had agreed to do so. She was desperate for anything to take her mind off Spitfire’s condition.
Sure, she knew that her brother would be alright but still, she worried. She tried to worry the healthy amount as she spent time with her friends and family. Sometimes, it worked. Other times, it didn’t.
Lily, Blossom, Clumsy and Hand were good sources of comfort. They were there to lend an ear and help her through it. Help make her feel better.
She was lucky to be around such wonderful people. So very lucky.
“And so are we,” Handy and Clumsy had both said while cuddling one late night when she said this. Storm hummed in agreement into Clumsy’s neck, reaching out her hands to hold both of her boys.
At this moment, she was hanging out at her inventor boyfriend’s house. It was a hot day, and they didn’t have anything to do so they were just lounging around while their boyfriend worked.
“…Hey, guys?” Handy suddenly spoke out of the blue, stopping what he was working on.
“Yeah?” They both asked, raising an eyebrow each.
“…Do you feel like having a barbeque?”
“Sure,” Storm shrugged, going to ask Spitfire before cutting herself off.
Oh. Right.
Damn it, why did she forget? Reflexes or instinct, she supposed.
She sighed, hanging her head, looking up at the feeling of Clumsy’s hand on her shoulder to give him giving a concerned look, “You alright?”
“Just remembered Spitfire again,” Storm sighed, “I was going to ask before I forgot.”
“He’ll be better soon,” Handy appeared on her other side, gently taking hold of her hand.
“Yeah…” Storm sighed before shaking her head and focusing on something else, “So…what are we gonna do? We can’t really have a barbeque with Spitfire, can we?”
“We can,” Handy said, giving her a reassuring smile and a kiss, “Wait, here.”
She turned to watch him disappear into his house with a tilted head of confusion before she turned to Clumsy who had a wide smile on his face, “What he’s doing?”
“He’s getting something!”
“Something what?”
“It’s a surprise, I think,” Clumsy chuckled, “I know but I’m not gonna say anything.”
“Not to your girlfriend?” Storm chuckled, turning fully to face Clumsy.
“I took an oath after…” Clumsy winced and so she did when she remembered why “…you know what happened.”
Oh right, that whole thing.
Yeah, she had a lot of apologies to make after that whole mess.
She shook her head to clear out those thoughts so she could focus on the present, leaning in to touch noses, “I think you can make an exception.”
“I don’t know…” Clumsy said, blushing from the close proximity. Even after all this time, he still blushed when she was close. Some things never changed.
“You two gonna kiss or something?” They turned to see Handy there, wheeling out some kind of machine, “Or are you waiting for me?”
“Just Stormy being a bit impatient,” Clumsy chuckled as Storm tried to figure out what the machine was.
“What is that?”
“It’s a barbeque grill!” Handy proudly declared, removing the lid, “You can use it for barbeques.”
“Really?” Storm asked, raising an impressed eyebrow as she made her way over.
“Just gotta turn it on and get it burning and then we can have a proper barbeque,” Handy grinned, spraying some liquid onto the grill. Storm’s eyes widened as she watched the flames shoot to life immediately.
“Aw, yeah,” Storm grinned as she shook her fists, unable to help being excited, “This is going to be sick.”
“Ow,” Handy chuckled, rubbing his arm in the spot where Storm punched it, “Now to bring out the meat.”
And soon she was watching the meat sizzle and darken as Handy got to work, flipping and pressing the meat down, cooking them to perfection. They were having hamburgers. One of her favourites.
Yeah, she couldn’t wait to get see more of this grill in action. She grinned, rubbing her hands at she stared at the hungry flames. They were so mesmerising.
…Wait, was she a pyromaniac?
…No, of course not….right?
Okay, there was another thing to figure out later. Right now, she wanted to watch Handy work the grill so she could use it for herself sometime. Handy caught onto her interest and began narrating his actions out loud. Clumsy just sat nearby, keeping his distance.
Soon the meat was ready, and they were digging in. Storm’s mouth let out a moan at the feeling of the meat in her mouth.
…Wait, that came out wrong.
She shook her head to clear her mind of those thoughts and focused on eating.
“This is really good!” Storm said between bites, “Good work, Handy!”
“Glad to hear it,” Handy grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her close, “Don’t make any jokes about it, though.”
“I wasn’t,” Storm held up her hands, “I’m not Blossom for Smurf’s sake.”
“Yeah, she’s a…handful, isn’t she?” Handy blushed, remembering Blossom’s reaction when Storm had announced she was dating both Handy and Clumsy.
“That’s putting it lightly,” Clumsy chimed in, causing the three of them to burst into laughter…