Whumpmas Day 1- Anaphylaxis
For @writing-heartbeats-tea Whumpmas challenge!
Warnings: Hornets, stings, struggling to breathe
Al extended a hand towards the bedroom window, offering Jegudiel assistance up onto the roof, which her girlfriend happily accepted.
“What is the big surprise? I have been on tenterhooks all day.” Jegudiel smiled goofily- she’d heard someone use the phrase earlier that week in the library, some pretentious kid, and she’d been absolutely taken with it.
Eligos grinned as she hauled Jegudiel onto the shingles. As soon as Jegudiel found her balance on the angled slate, Al pointed towards the flat area of the roof, and Jegudiel gasped.
Laid out on the roof was a large cotton blanket, and on the blanket, a zucchini pasta with garlic bread. Several candles in jars flickered in the middle of the blanket, and a small speaker set was already playing old opera music, strains of vibrato tenor hanging in the cool night air. Al excitedly tugged Jegudiel towards the picnic blanket as the spring stars glittered overhead.
Jegudiel sat down beside Al on the blanket, leaning against her comfortably, as she said, visibly touched, “Oh, schatz. This is lovely. This is simply so sweet. Is there an occasion?”
Al leaned to kiss Jegudiel’s cheek before teasing, “I don’t need an occasion to pamper my ladybird. But, it is the eve of the vernal equinox and I wanted to do something special. Maybe this isn’t traditional, exactly, but still.”
Jegudiel tilted her head to catch Al’s lips with her own for a moment before leaning back again, smiling softly. Al started to lean in again, eyes starting to close before she reeled backwards, jolting as she said, “The pasta! It’s gonna be cold if we don’t eat now. I planned this to the minute, but I forgot to add kissing time right now. I added it for later.”
Jegudiel laughed softly and leaned back. “Alright, schatz. We can eat first.”
Al grinned and said, “Great, ‘cause I worked real hard on this.” Jegudiel laughed slightly before starting to delicately eat her zucchini pasta. Al didn’t take her first bite until Jegudiel had assured her that it was, of course, fantastic.
It was a pretty simple dinner, but it was a good one. Jegudiel had eventually started to feel the chill, and Al had pulled out the spare blanket, this one made of fleece, and wrapped it around their shoulders. Eventually, the dishes sat empty, the candles start to burn low, and the pair just sat wrapped in their blanket, chatting, exchanging lazy kisses, and gazing up at the stars.
Jegudiel murmured fondly as the moon peaked overhead, “We should go inside. This has been absolutely lovely, schatz, but I think, if we are going to really celebrate the solstice, then I would rather do it in a bed than on the roof.”
Al blushed and nodded. “Alright. Let’s just get, ah, cleaned up out here, and then we can head in and ring in the springtime, as it were.” Jegudiel smiled and nodded, leaning down to blow out the candles. But, as she pressed her hand down onto the blanket for balance, she recoiled with a yelp, shaking her hand before drawing it to her chest, and a large and rather irritated hornet buzzed away from the roof.
“Jegudiel, are you okay?” Al asked, obviously concerned and quickly pulling Jegudiel’s hand out from where she had it cradled to look at it.
Jegudiel looked at her hand, though it was difficult for her to make out details in the dim light. Al had no such trouble, and she carefully took Jegudiel’s hand in her own, examining the sting as it swelled up.
“Oh, no. It’s okay, you’ll be okay. It’s just a sting. We’ll go inside and clean this up and get some ice for the swelling. I know it hurts, but you’ll be okay.”
Jegudiel nodded, pulling her hand back to her chest, glumly saying, “This is not a good ending for the evening. I am sorry.” Al hushed her and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.
“You have nothing to apologize for, ladybird. I’m gonna take care of you, promise. It’ll feel better once we’re inside.”
Jegudiel nodded again before blinking and muttering, “I feel strange. I feel not right. It should only hurt, yes? Not more than that?”
Al hesitated for a moment before saying, “How about we just get you inside, huh? You’ll be able to see what’s wrong, and maybe it won’t seem so strange then.”
Jegudiel nodded, but she blinked hard as the world began to swim before her eyes.
“Al, I do not- Al, I feel bad. What is- What is this? Why am I-“ Her voice was hoarse, and breath was rapidly becoming hard to come by.
Al, hearing Jegudiel’s panic, started to panic herself. “Oh, shit, Jegudiel, okay, just breathe with me, okay.” Her hand continued to swell. Al pulled her larger girlfriend so her back reclined against Al’s front as Al took exaggerated breaths, trying to help.
“Eligos!” Al shouted towards the window- Jegudiel flinched in her arms. She was shaking. Al could hear her heart rate picking up, more than it should while Jegudiel was resting, even in such a state of panic.
“Al, I do not-“ And the rest of her words were choked off by heaving breaths, a gasping need for air.
The world continued to swim before Jegudiel, but now she could see the stars. A grim, unfocused part of her reflected that, Well, at least I can die looking at something nice.
Al shouted again, desperate now, “Eligos! Get out here, now!” Jegudiel sputtered and gasped for breath. Her stomach seemed to twist itself within her, and she whined in pain, unable to get out anything more articulate.
Jegudiel saw the stars- they were moving, and there were more of them than there ought to be, but she could see them. A soprano came over the speakers now, voice high and tremulous. The stars blurred even more than they were before, and Jegudiel didn’t fight it when the darkness crashed down around her.
In Al’s arms, Jegudiel went limp. Al screamed for Eligos again, in tears with panic. And, behind it all, the soprano screamed as well.
