Multifandom Oneshots

euphoria ~ chronic pain (hurt/comfort) ~ rue/jules

Jules knew it was gonna be a bad day when she woke up at four in the morning (three hours before the alarm she had set) with an ache in her legs and shoulders.

A part of her wanted to roll over and wake up Rue, but another part of her didn't want to bother the poor girl. Lord knows she had a tough enough time as is, even if she was sober now. The panic attacks, obsessions, compulsions, bipolar episodes, and brain fog- While medicated and therefore manageable- Were exhausting, and Jules didn't want to add to that. She knew that Rue probably wouldn't mind all that much, and she knew that she had to learn how to depend on her girlfriend sometimes, but still... It was four in the fucking morning. She could wait until at least the alarm went off, surely.

An hour passed, and the pain was to the point where she was on the verge of tears from the waves of pure burning she felt in her shoulders, and she couldn't even move out of bed to go take a shower or anything because the thought of walking made her want to vomit. As much as she hadn't wanted to wake her girlfriend, she didn't have a whole lot of options at this point, and five in the morning was still more reasonable than four.

"Hey" she said in a strained tone as she shook the sleeping girl next to her, tears forming in her eyes from how the motion agitated her shoulder. "Rue, can you wake up please?" she asked, hoping her voice didn't sound as desperate as she felt, especially as she saw Rue's eyes flutter open in the dark as she turned towards the blonde with a confused groan. "Rue, I'm in..."

"What's wrong?" Rue asked, sleep slowly leaving her as she processed that something was clearly wrong. Jules took a shaky breath, feeling her ribs ache a bit as she did so as another wave of burning shot through her back. She couldn't even give a response as she winced, unable to fight back tears at the intense pain she was in. It was enough for Rue to figure out what was happening, though. After all, this wasn't the first time she'd seen Jules have a flare-up.

"Oh, damn" she muttered to herself before reaching over to brush some of the tears out of Jules' eyes. "This is a bad one, huh?" she asked, a bit of sympathy bleeding through her tone in a way she hoped wasn't too obvious. She didn't want Jules to think she pitied her, because she actually didn't for the most part. It was just also hard not to feel pity for someone crying from the excruciating pain they were in. Jules nodded in confirmation with another pained groan. "I thought so"

"I'm sorry to wake you up like this, I just..." Jules trailed off, reaching over her own back to try and massage her shoulder to no avail. If anything, it just made the pain worse. "Fuck" she whispered. "I'm in a lot of fucking pain right now, Rue"

"That's okay" Rue assured her with a small smile. Jules couldn't help but chuckle at how weird the situation was. Here she was, writhing in pain like a bug that got stomped on, and Rue was still looking at her like she was the most beautiful person on the planet... How on Earth was she so lucky? Sure, things hadn't ever been perfect between them, what with Rue's addiction and Jules kind of being an overall mess herself, but she never thought she'd get to a point with anyone (let alone someone she loved so much) where she could be reduced to a crying mess because of some pain and the other would still see her as a goddess. "Want to get in a bath?" Rue asked. "It might help with the pain"

"I don't think I can walk right now"

"I can carry you"

"...Rue, I'm like half a foot taller than you"

"I can do it!"

----------

It had admittedly been a struggle that resulted in Rue helping the other girl walk as opposed to carrying her, but they were able to make their way across the room and into the small bathroom that they had in their apartment. Jules laughed at how much of a fiasco that had been while Rue ran a hot bath, and Rue would be a liar if she said she didn't also find it mildly amusing, but the mood was still a little down. Rue was worried, and Jules was in pain.

"Sorry I woke you up so early" Jules apologized again. Rue glanced back at her but said nothing. "I woke up at four and was gonna wait till breakfast or something but it just kept getting worse" she continued, wincing as her legs ached like a growing pain. Rue looked at her in concern at this new information. "You've been up for an hour!?" she asked, exasperated. She was under the impression that the blonde had only just woken up in crippling pain. She wasn't aware that Jules had already been up for an extended period of time. "Yeah" Jules replied with a weak chuckle. "I didn't want to annoy you or anything"

"Jules, that's fuckin' stupid" Rue responded flatly, turning off the water as the bath was now full. She helped Jules undress- The girl didn't care about Rue seeing her naked but she normally undressed herself. However, she was in far too much pain to do that at the moment- Before continuing. "You could've just woken me up at four, you know" she continued, voice a bit stern but still gentle as to let the other girl know she wasn't mad at her. Just concerned. "Worst case scenario, I would've been grumpy for like five minutes before I realized what was going on"

"I know, I just... I don't know" Jules replied with a shaky sigh as Rue helped her into the bathtub. The warmth helped to slightly ease her burning muscles and provided a good distraction from the intense pain she was in. "I feel like it's kind of annoying to like, deal with my pain and- 'Cause like..." she continued. Rue listened patiently. "Like, it can't be easy seeing your girlfriend have these fuckin'... Flare-ups of pain and shit. And like, it never stops too. Like even if it's chill for a while or whatever, it still comes back"

"Jules, I have woken you up with my nightmares more times than I can count" Rue replied bluntly. "It goes both ways" she continued. "We both have problems and shit. Fuck, Jules. For the first while that you knew me, I was a fucking drug addict. You cannot be more of a stressor than I have been. It's literally fucking impossible" Jules chuckled at that. "It's not a contest, but I fucking win"

"You stole my words!"

"And you stole my heart" Rue replied, not caring how sappy that came out. "Fuckin' deal with it"