Dedicated to ICanSeeYourFace: Pure fluff is good for the soul & meant to help you get better
Whenever Lilly got sick, she'd crawl under her bed with her thick heavy blanket and cocoon herself until her sickness left. Her mother stopped panicking after the third time it happened. It was a strange form of comfort - this need to feel secure and safe - that her family tried to substitute with books and blankets and toys. But nothing else worked.
Instead, her mother and grandmother catered to this odd behaviour with relative ease. They'd coax her out to drink her soups and teas when she was too young to feed herself. And when she was older slid the food to her.
Her father hung Christmas lights underneath so that she could see in the dark. Her brother sometimes crawling next to her. It wasn't for very long because her mother didn't want him to get sick too. Or learn this odd habit.
Freshman year was particularly strange for Lilly. Her bed too small to fit her body underneath it. And she hated lying on top with her bloodshot eyes, runny nose and hacking cough. It felt unusual and it only increased her distaste for this unfamiliar place.
Eventually she learned to cope.
It wasn't pleasant, but Lilly forced herself out of the habit at least for her first year away from home.
Sophomore year was a different story when she moved into her own studio apartment. The first piece of furniture was a bed tall enough to fit her underneath it. Sure enough when she was sick, she crawled underneath her bed and slept soundly for the first time in a year while her body ached and her chest was congested.
But when she started dating Donald, her soulmate, she didn't know how to explain this strange habit. One that she'd been laughed at for. One that people didn't seem to understand or accept.
So she kept it to herself because she had only just found him, she didn't want to lose him too.
It worked for three months when her body seemed to fight any illness. But luck finally ran out on a rainy summer afternoon. Lilly woke up with a hacking cough as if her lung wanted to escape and a fever that made her body shiver underneath the covers.
Lilly wasted no time wrapping her body in her duvet and crawling below her bed. Dim lights hung throughout the frame of her bed. She fell into a dreamless fitful sleep forgetting about any of her engagements for the day. Forgetting that she was supposed to meet Donald for lunch.
Donald arrived at the coffee shop just down the street from the college minutes before their scheduled time. But when fifteen minutes passed and he didn't see her, Donald called Stacey in a panic.
"Is Lilly with you? She's late and I don't think she's ever been late before and it seems weird and unlike her and tell me you know where she is." He rambled checking the door every second. They didn't know each other for very long, but Donald understood Lilly - it was an instant connection.
"No, she's not with me, and she doesn't tend to run off without telling someone. Hmm, she's probably sick."
Donald breathed a sigh of relief before he leaped up from his seat and rattled off rapid questions, "What does she eat when she's sick? Do I get her anything specific? What cold medicine do I get? Wait is it a cold? What if it's -" he put down the phone accidentally as he rushed out the cafe internally freaking out.
After stopping off at the nearest drug store - buying anything and everything he thought necessary to cure a cold or the flu - he hurried to Lilly's apartment. He fished out the spare key from underneath the welcome mat and let himself in. The apartment was mostly dark except for a dim light coming from the area sectioned off as her bedroom. Donald put his bags onto the kitchen counter before creeping over to her bedroom.
He expected to see her curled up on her bed, body and encased in duvet, but he found the bed empty.
Donald almost had another fit of panic when he noticed the dim light emitting from beneath the bed. He dropped down to his knees and peered underneath; he smiled affectionately when he saw her curled up, like he thought she would. He had only one thought in his mind: she was adorable.
Lilly shifted in her sleep and letting out a soft whine from the fever. Donald frowned at the sound before rushing over to the bags and grabbing Advil and a glass of water. He placed the water and Advil on the floor, "Lilly? Babes?"
He kept his voice soft and soothing as he called her until she stirred awake. Lilly lifted her head from beneath the covers and blinked at him, "Ducky?"
"Hey Lils, drink some water and take this ok?"
She mumbled something and shifted towards him, but Donald stopped her with a smile. He pushed the water gently underneath the bed before following suit with the Advil, "Don't move babes, just stay there for as long as you need. Drink the water and I'm gonna make you some food."
"I can come out Donald, I know this is weird."
"Come on Tiger Lilly, you know I don't think anything you do is weird. Just adorable." He fixed her with a look, "So do what you need to do. I'll be here when you get better."
Lilly blinked back tears as she nodded her agreement before mumbling to herself, "I love that Ducky."
When she got better and finally crawled out from underneath the bed, Donald was waiting for her with a kiss and a warm hug. She didn't tell him the hazy thought she had when he stayed when most people wouldn't have. But she figured that eventually he'd find out her secret. That she loved him, not because he was her soulmate, simply for him.
A/N: Unbeted so all mistakes are mine. Thanks for reading and if you like it enough, a review would be loved :)