Work Text:
Eid Al-Adha
Gabby slowly rose from her sleep, realizing that the warmth her girlfriend, Ellie, provided for her in bed, wasn’t there anymore. Gabby, still trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes, looked around the cabin that she and her girlfriend stayed in. After letting out a yawn, Gabby slowly pulled herself out of bed and decided to leave the cabin so that she could look for Ellie. When Gabby left the cabin, she looked around the camp, wondering if she could see her freckled girlfriend walking down from the bathrooms or being sat by the lake. However, neither happened, and Gabby began getting worried, but then she noticed the light in the mess hall was turned on. Gabby raised an eyebrow, knowing that the mess hall should be closed around this time, so she went inside. When she did, Gabby saw Ellie, her eyes half-closed, with a couple of bottles of water in front of her while she was eating some hash browns and cereal.
“Ellie? What are you doing, eating so late?” Gabby asked as she walked over to Ellie. Ellie looked over to Gabby, putting her spoon down and rubbing the sleep from her eyes before responding.
“Oh, hi, Gabby. I’m just eating so that I can fast today,” Ellie responded before taking a sip of water and shrugging.
“…fasting? Why?”
“Tomorrow is Eid Al-Adha, and the day before, we have to fast,” Ellie explained as Gabby’s eyes almost bulged out, which Ellie responded to by turning her head around so that she could try and suppress her laugh.
“You’re a Muslim, Ellie?”
“Yeah, my parents are from Syria. I’m not surprised you couldn’t tell though, people genuinely thought that I’m a Caucasian because I don’t have the traditional black hair and brown eyes,” Ellie said with a chuckle and a nod before putting a couple more forkfuls of hash browns in her mouth. Gabby, who still had a lot of questions for her girlfriend, sat down next to Ellie, which Ellie didn’t seem to mind as she continued eating.
“How come you never told me?”
“It never came up,” Ellie said, shrugging.
“So…why do you fast?” Gabby asked. Ellie looked at Gabby with a raised eyebrow, putting her fork down before stroking her chin in thought.
“Well, when I was about 7 years old, my father sat me down and told me the reason that we fast is so that we can begin to understand what it feels like to be less fortunate. Basically, when we go without food and water, we’re putting ourselves in the shoes of people who don’t have what we do,” Ellie explained with Gabby nodding intently. “I’d love to talk more, Gabby, but I have about 30 minutes to finish eating before I have to pray Fajr,” Ellie explained before turning back to her food and taking another big bite of her hash browns. However, out of the corner of her eyes, Ellie saw Gabby sit down next to her, grab a bowl, and put some Lucky Charms cereal in the bowl. “What’re you doing, Gabby?”
“I’m joining you,” Gabby stated before getting some milk from the refrigerator and putting some of it in the bowl and on her cereal. Ellie looked at her with a raised eyebrow as Gabby sat down next to her, grabbing a spoon and putting it in the cereal bowl.
“Oh! Gabby, you don’t have to do that,” Ellie responded, patting Gabby on the shoulder, but Gabby simply smiled at her girlfriend before beginning to eat her cereal.
“It’s OK, Ellie. I want to do this with you. I don’t want you to have to do this all alone, especially since you’re away from your family,” Gabby explained before eating a couple of spoonfuls of her cereal. Ellie looked at her girlfriend in surprise, but her look of surprise turned into an appreciative smile before she leaned in, and kissed Gabby on the cheek, slightly chuckling at the feeling of Gabby chewing while Ellie’s lips pecked her cheek.
“Thanks, Gabby. And hey, do you want to celebrate Eid with me? I mean, I’m not sure what exactly I’m going to do since there’s not a lot to do at this cra—camp, but with you around, I’m sure it’ll be fun,” Ellie asked with a blush on her face, trying to make sure she didn’t curse while she was in the process of fasting.
“Of course! That sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun!” Gabby exclaimed, clapping in excitement, prompting Ellie to pat her on the head to try and quiet her so that nobody would wake up. Ellie, despite still feeling like she was about to fall asleep in a second, couldn’t help by feel ecstatic that she wasn’t going to be alone in fasting, and that her girlfriend was going to be the one joining her. Ellie grabbed one of the water bottles and handed it to Gabby, who looked at Ellie in confusion.
“You should make sure you drink as much water as you can. You’re going to get a major headache if you’re not properly hydrated. It always happens when you fast for the first time,” Ellie explained. Gabby took the water bottle with gusto, and guzzled it down in seconds, surprising and amusing Ellie, who simply handed her another one. After the two finished Suhur, Ellie went over to the bathroom to clean herself (Wudhu) before she went to pray Fajr, and after praying Fajr, she said a Dua for Gabby, asking Allah to make Gabby’s first time fasting easy on her before she walked back to the tent with her girlfriend. Ellie drifted off to sleep the second her head touched the pillow, excited about fasting for the first time since she was in elementary school now that she knew that her girlfriend would be joining her.