This oneshot is based on a true story. I was in Saturn Girl's position a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't a pretty sight... I had to run for help at 3am, screaming and crying. My family weren't happy with me the next morning!
Sorry if this is terrible. I've literally written it in less than an hour. It just came out while I was attempting to write something else.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Legion of Superheroes.
The piercing scream awoke most of the Legionnaires, but the one who was running down the corridor faster than the others was Lightning Lad. Garth had been just getting ready for bed after a late night monitor duty and it just so happened that he hadn't gotten into his rather welcoming bed yet. He had immediately bolted out of his door in the direction of where the ear splitting noise had come from, knowing exactly who had made it. He could never mistake the sound of his girlfriend's voice, even if it was nothing more than a loud, horror-filled shriek.
The mental outburst in his head had helped him narrow down the suspects too. Him and Imra were telepathically linked at all times, so her thoughts flowed easily to him and vice versa. It helped enormously in battle, as well as making their intimate moments just that little bit more special. But this time it was alerting him that something was wrong, so he took off down the hall towards her bedroom. Punching in the emergency overwrite code that all the door locks came with, he burst into her room and stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw.
His girlfriend was crouched on top of her dresser, wearing nothing more than her pink and white flannel pajamas. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a braid, something Garth knew that she liked to do to give her hair a bit of a wave in the morning, and her face was devoid of make up. She had obviously just been getting into bed and for some reason was now too scared and upset to do so.
She was shaking and biting her quivering lip and her only other move was to reach out and point towards her bed. Her bed was directly under her window and her curtains were pulled to cover the glass. They were swaying slightly in the light breeze that fluttered through. It was then that Garth noticed the problem and Imra's mental voice confirmed everything to him.
"I was just climbing into bed… obviously I forgot to close my window earlier and now look! It came out of nowhere!"
Hanging on the light pink curtain was a large black spider. It was bigger than Garth's fist and had long spindly legs that seemed to go on forever. It crawled slowly up the fabric and Imra let out a quiet sob. While Garth himself wasn't scared of the spider, he knew that the blonde girl behind him was. It was one of the first things he had learned about when they had first met. Whilst forming the Legion, the founders had discussed weaknesses, just in case any should arise during a fight or something important. One of Imra's was her arachnophobia and while Garth had laughed at first, he now knew after several incidences that her fear wasn't something to laugh about.
"Ssh, breathe Im. I'll get it out."
This was something he loved, being able to play the hero. While he had to admit that the spider was certainly abnormally big for the time of year, he refused to let it phase him. Climbing onto her bed, he simply picked up a glass tumbler that sat empty on her bedside table and covered the eight-legged insect with it. He slipped a sheet of paper underneath and before she could blink he had the spider out of the window and locked out. The window was closed and the latch pulled down, refusing it entry once again. He put the tumbler and the sheet of paper down and walked over to the girl who was only just starting to climb down.
"Is it gone?"
Garth nodded with a smile, reaching out and wrapping his arms around her. She gladly buried herself against his chest and he tipped his head down and kissed the top of her hair.
"It's gone babe. Just breathe slow and we'll get some sleep, okay?"
She nodded in agreement before her mind probed his again, no effort involved on her part.
"Can I stay with you tonight? Just in case it comes back?"
Usually Imra would chide herself for acting so weak, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep at all if she was left in here alone. Garth simply murmured a quiet sound in agreement and walked with her back to his room. There was no one in the corridor and he raised an eyebrow. Everyone had woken up so where were they?
"I used a mental command to tell them it was nothing and to go back to sleep. I didn't want them to know."
His silent question answered, he responded with another kiss to the top of her blonde hair before opening his door and letting her inside. He watched as she quickly scanned the room for any other spiders, double checking every tiny corner and hidden space. Happy that there were no more, she crawled under his blue bedsheets, the bed oversized and more than comfortable.
Garth changed into his pajamas in the bathroom, after brushing his teeth and washing his face. Upon coming back out into the main bedroom, he smiled at the telepath who was passed out on his pillow. Crawling into the space beside her, his arms snaked around her petite waist and held her close. She automatically rolled over and huddled herself closer to him out of instinct, Garth drifting off happy, with both Legionnaires sleeping peacefully until morning.
There you go! I don't think it's my best, but it's not bad. My muse has suffered lately. I have another two oneshots in the works and then hopefully a feature story at some point. Let me know what you think!
