#sasha has chronic migraines and marcy has bad chronic pain days

[kaseyskat]

i started this a couple days ago after being struck with the world's worst migraine and decided spontaneously to finish it as a way of Procrastinating on other fics so anyways take this projection fic <3

~~~

while sasha’s headaches are predictable - she can usually feel them coming from a mile away - marcy’s are sporadic and intense, and it’s not very frequently that they’re both knocked out with one at the same time.

not frequently is not never, though, so when sasha wakes from a bad dream to find marcy snuggled into her side and a throbbing pain in her temples, she knows today is going to be a bad day.

anne must already be awake, sasha thinks, as she lifts the blankets to her face, pressing them against her eyes. the pressure relieves some of the pain, but not all of it, and she really should drag herself out of bed to get painkillers- except marcy has all but wrapped herself around sasha like the world’s clingliest octopus. her breathing is pained and she releases little whimpers and whines as she sleeps, and sasha absent-mindedly runs hands through her hair, careful not to disturb her.

the door opens and closes, and then anne is peering at them. between the darkness of the room and the way her sight blurs, sasha can hardly make her out, but there’s only one other person living with them.

“migraine?” anne asks quietly, her voice a mere whisper. “should i bring you the usual?”

“marcy too,” sasha whispers back. “she doesn’t usually cling to me this much.”

anne, sasha knows, enjoys these types of mornings more than she’d like to admit. of course she’s upset that her partners are in pain, but she loves taking care of them, proving her love for them over and over again through every sleepless night and agonizing day. she only lingers to press the lightest of kisses against sasha’s forehead, give marcy’s hair a little ruffle, and then she leaves again.

marcy makes another whimpering sound, and sasha closes her eyes against the throbbing in her temples. she, on the other hand, hates these mornings more than anything. it’s not that she doesn’t love it when her beloveds take care of her, but she doesn’t like the feeling of being useless any more than she did when she was younger. coupled with the way the headaches leave her cooped up in bed unable to do anything… no, she doesn’t like this, and she makes that frustration known with the way she shifts restlessly in bed, digging one hand into her eye while the other continues to pet marcy’s hair.

“...sashy?” marcy croaks, her voice raspy. she’s awake then, sasha realizes. “you ‘kay?”

“just peachy,” sasha whispers, though the way her voice shakes and the way she winces at even the sound of her own voice betrays the true pain she’s in. “what ‘bout you, marsh? you okay?”

marcy makes a bleary sound in the back of her throat, and she curls further into sasha’s chest. “no,” she admits, startlingly sincere. “my everything hurts.”

“i’ll tell your everything to shove off, will that help?” sasha tries to joke, but it falls flat when she winces again. “fuck. ow.”

“you should-” marcy cuts herself off, and she makes a frustrated noise as her voice fails her. “-you, you should take it easy, kay? is anne…?”

“she’s coming back in a bit,” sasha nods, and she shivers when marcy reaches upwards to gently caress her cheek. the action obviously hurts her, though, so after allowing it for a few seconds, sasha bats her hand away.

sure enough, anne slips back into the room a few minutes later. she sits on the edge of the bed, staring down at them with a fond look even as she gently nudges both sasha and marcy into a seated position. only sasha obeys her- marcy looks like she’d rather die than move her body out of a flat position, so she stays firmly rooted to sasha’s lap, laying on her stomach sprawled across sasha’s lower torso and legs as sasha sits upright enough to take the glass of water anne’s offered her.

“what’s the scale?” anne asks, as she hands sasha painkillers. she has a couple of other things in her lap, but sasha can’t make them out with how blurry her eyesight has become.

“four,” sasha answers with a wince. “i can manage it, it’s not that bad yet.”

anne nods very seriously, before she worriedly looks down at marcy. “what about you, marbles?”

marcy lifts herself up on shaky arms before she groans and flops back into sasha's lap. "six, but only if i move around a lot," she says, sniffling. "anna-banana, can I have the bye bye pain stuff?"

"only if you sit up- i don't want you to choke," anne chides, and she carefully drapes a heat pad over sasha's face. sasha makes a muffled noise of surprise, but she reaches up to readjust the pad, sighing in relief.

marcy whimpers, but she drags herself upright. there's a haunted look in her eyes, and she clutches at her chest with a grimace. "okay, o-okay, i'm up, annie-"

anne hands her a glass of water and her own prescribed painkillers, and marcy takes them dutifully. sasha watches her through half-lidded eyes, fighting through the pain to do so- it hurts behind her eyes so badly she can hardly keep them open, but she refuses to give in.

as soon as marcy's finished her water, she's flopping back down into sasha's lap, a sickly dazed look in her eyes. anne carefully places a cold pack on her back, and then pulls the covers up over them both.

“text me when you’re feeling okay enough for food, okay?” she says, so quietly, and she’s brushing over marcy’s hair again. she still looks so worried, but sasha gives her a big thumbs up, and she finally stands, leaving them in peace.

well, relative peace. sasha’s head still hurts, and marcy’s still making little pained noises in the back of her throat even as she seemingly falls into a restless sleep, and it’s going to be a long day.

she doesn’t know how much time has passed in darkness and complete silence, but eventually, the pain ebbs away. there’s a dull pressure in sasha’s head, but it’s not overbearing and she’s able to peel away the now-cool heat pack from her forehead, groaning in exhaustion and frustration. she has a hand threaded through marcy’s hair again, and she gently scratches at her partner’s scalp.

her headaches, after all, go away easily most of the time. marcy’s pain tends to last much longer, stretching for the waking hours even with the use of painkillers.

“hey, marshmallow,” sasha whispers, and the sound of her own voice isn’t grating to her ears anymore, which is a plus. “how are you feeling?”

there’s silence for a few moments, and sasha very nearly assumes that her beloved is asleep– except that marcy shifts a bit, curls her arms a little bit tighter from where they’re now tucked around sasha’s middle, and she buries her nose a bit further into sasha’s chest. “...still hurts,” she admits, her voice nearly breaking on each syllable, “too much to sleep. i’m bored.”

“my headache’s all but gone,” sasha says, raising her voice a little to test that. sure enough, she doesn’t feel the ache as heavy, and she can keep her eyes open for longer without throbbing pain behind them. “wanna turn the tv on? i can text anne for food, it might help.”

“okay,” marcy whispers, and her voice dips into a whine. “but i gotta get up and do homework soon.”

“you do your work so quickly, it won’t hurt to take a day off for once and just relax, marce,” sasha says, and she carefully readjusts them so she can reach for the tv remote. marcy snuggled into her side is a bliss, and once the remote is in her grasp, she settles back down, loosely wrapping an arm around her. “now, what should we watch?”

“something silly,” marcy mumbles, “and animated.”

“wow, so descriptive,” sasha teases, and yet she scrolls through netflix anyways, settling on some animated movie she’s sure they’ve both seen at least five times now. neither one of them are really watching it, but it captures marcy’s attention enough so that she’s not super bored anymore, and as the last of the pain ebbs away, sasha’s breathing much easier now.

she doesn’t text anne, but anne must hear the sounds of the tv, because she’s peeking her head in after a little while, her hair tied back in a messy bun and eyes wide with concern. “feeling better?” she asks amusedly, glancing between sasha and the tv.

“my head doesn’t hurt so bad anymore,” sasha explains, “and marcy’s bored. care to join us, sugar cube?”

anne huffs, but she’s slipping inside the bedroom anyways, hesitantly taking a seat in the bed next to sasha. marcy immediately reaches one arm out to her - despite the way her face screws up in pain at the motion - and anne takes it, bringing it up to her cheek in an intimately sweet gesture.

“how’s my darling marmalade doing?” anne asks, nuzzling marcy’s hand still. it’s enough to make marcy giggle a little, and sasha would be jealous if she weren’t so happy seeing marcy perk up finally.

“better now that you’re both here,” marcy answers, shyly, and she yawns, her hand flopping bonelessly out of anne’s grip. “i’ll-i’ll be okay. you know me.”

“that’s our princess,” sasha nods, and she curls her own arm around marcy almost protectively, “always bouncing back. get some rest, sweetheart- anne and i will still be here later.”

anne is giving sasha the most incredulous of looks - probably due to sasha’s own migraine and suffering - but sasha ignores her to comb through marcy’s hair, guiding her back into a more restful slumber. the movie they’ve put on is now rendered pointless, but as anne sighs and scoots closer so that she can cuddle with them both, sasha figures it might not be so bad to have something to watch while she’s stuck in bed.

“you sure you’re okay?” anne asks, quietly.

“i’m good, promise- the pain’s pretty much gone now,” sasha smiles, and she nudges anne very carefully. “what- you worried about me?”

“always,” anne murmurs, and it’s painfully sincere, enough to have sasha’s chest ache. she swallows past it, and extends her free hand outwards to curl around anne, tucking her into her side.

“we’ll be okay,” sasha promises, and she means it. “we always will.”