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writing-whump · 2 days ago

Text

Feeling cold today

Because I neglected the Hector x Olive pair something terrible. Hector with a cold and scratchy throat and Olive caretaker. Some emotional talk and emeto included.

"You should take vitamin c, vitamin d, omega three, this syrup for immunity-"

Hector rolled his eyes, although he couldn't deny that he found Olive robbing out the pharmacy for him super adorable. "Oli, I'm not dying."

"Oh, you mister, shut up." She flashed him an angry glare, dark gray eyes wide and burning like coals. "Why can't you take one thing regularly? When I say three times a day, you only take one-"

Hector sighed. He was perched on the sofa in her living room while she packed out all possible bottles and boxes on the small table.

Olive's apartment was a small thing, just a bedroom with a couch in one and something resembling a an electric stove and kettle in the entry hall. And a mini bathroom.

Hector always felt bad when they were here, because he was basically forcing her into this tiny place, when he had a huge apartment and a nice new building...but this was a lot less complicated than smuggling Olive over around the pack.

Christ, Hector couldn't even think about Olive and the pack in one sentence.

But it was still too soon, wasn't it? They were dating—or seeing each other or whatever the right word was—since the summer solar system exhibition. It was soon gonna be 6 months. Time sure flied.

Not that Hector was counting. He wasn't promising himself anything, cause how would he know how it worked? And it didn't make sense to stress about the future he didn't know if they would need.

He still woke up sometimes not believing how lucky he was to know her.

"I also got you magnesium and Chatgpt said-"

Now Hector had to laugh. "You are Chatgpt-ing my cold symptoms?"

Olive's round face grew cherry red under her black bangs. "How would I know what works best for wolves?"

Hector rolled his eyes again. Since she found out, she tried to study and be so considerate of him, but truly, he loved how ignorant and innocent she was.

The blond was quite proud that usually none of his shadow mannerism or wolf life bled over into his time with Olive. Yes, there was the shadow possessiveness, the obsession with her smell, the territoriality that felt seated only when he could find his scent on her things...

But otherwise he could be very human around her and her pixie artist interests he had no idea about. Going to her was always like a doorway to another world.

"Alright, that's enough." Hector didn't need to reach for to grab her around the waist and pull her into his lap, then flopped over the armrest to snuggle with her on the couch.

It creaked under the movement, reminding him to get her a new one. Maybe that's how he could start, by renovating her place when he couldn't share his.

Olive squeeled, but then melted against his chest, her plum scent filling his nostrils as she pouted at him. "I'm just so sorry I got you my cold-"

"Hey, it works for me. At least I don't have to worry about passing it over." He kissed her on the nose, shifting so she could lie on top of his chest. His throat was scratchy, but he thankfully didn't have sniffles, so he didn't feel too stupid. He could swallow whatever shit was pooling at the bottom of his throat just fine.

She buried her face against the inside of his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I really didn't know wolves could catch it so easily."

Hector huffed, wrapping his arms around her small frame, giving little pats on her back where his palm landed. The reminder wolves were more vulnerable to viruses irritated him more than any cold.

"Do you want some soup? I bet that will feel good."

Hector almost growled. "No. This is perfect as it is. No moving."

"O-okay," Olive said quietly, squirming in his hold so she could perch his chin on his chest and stare at his throat.

Her breath ticked againt his neck, causing a shiver of excitement and thrill. She was so clueless about these positions that gave all kinds of firework signals to his brain.

She loosed up a hand from his grip to trail a finger around his cheekbones. "My art profession must be going insane. You are the only thing I keep drawing in my sketchbook."

Hector gave her a smug smile, more than pleased. "Can't complain about that. I'm the most handsome model you could find."

"And so modest," she said teasingly. "As much as I love this view, I should get some work done. Social media posts need to be scheduled for work and I have a hand in at the end of the month."

"It's not even Valentine yet, why are you worrying about something so far away?"

"Because when I'm finished I'll be free for the semester holidays..." a new blush crept up her cheeks. "And I wanna be drawing some new places and..." and spend more time with you going there.

Hector grinned again, tipping his head back. He might have been clueless about art as much as Olive was about wolves, but he could take her to trips and places she could never afford alone.

Hector had always been rather territorial. As a pack with set places that were theirs, he didn't feel the need to travel, always locked to a specific location.

But there was nothing more beautiful than Olive's wonder in a cathedral or getting her to a nice view or her sketching a cityscape while on the steps with cheap coffee and fingers black from coal.

And since she was there with him, it never felt like he was not anchored. Her presence had a gravity to it, and to his surprise, he quite enjoyed being pulled in by her field. Like the moon around his sun.

Hector leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "Only if I can stay and watch you draw."

Her cheeks were crimson now. To hide her fluster, she kissed him, making him lean back again before slipping out of his grip.

They ended up in their usual position, his head on her lap, her elbows on his chest and the armrest as she worked on her laptop and took breaks to add something into her tablet or her sketches.

Though Hector was quickly finding out that lying down was not ideal. His throat was overflowing with something gooey.

The blond tried very hard not to cough and just clear his throat five times in a row, but it wasn't helping the drowning sensation. He curled up a little more against her tights, wishing he could fall asleep and forget about it.

His chest hitched with an aborted cough, almost involuntarily. He wheezed out a breath, a weird choking sensation-

"Get up." Olive threw her laptop to the side unceremoniously, grabbing his arm. "Come on, handsome. You can't be lying down like this, it makes it worse."

He sat up reluctantly, finally letting himself cough. It was all wet and didn't feel good at all, making him fold forward with the force of it rattling his chest.

Olive rubbed his back along his spine, those smoky grey eyes going all wide with worry. "I'm so sorry, Hex. What about some cough syrup? So it calms it down?"

Hector finished his stupid cough, sagging back in exhaustion. "I'm fine." He hated he was taking it worse than her.

"I'll get you tea," Olive said, ignoring him. "The warmth will help melt that stuff in your throat, I promise."

He hated the cold space left behind her when she got up. God, he was getting so whiny without her. The wolf threw an arm over his face, enjoying the little moments when his chest wasn't wheezing and his throat didn't feel full...except that lasted about five breaths and he could feel slime filling back in.

Fucking great.

Maybe he should just go home and cough this crap up on his own? But then he would have to face Arnie and he would be out of Olive's reach...ahh there was no compromise to this.

Olive returned five minutes later with a steaming transparent mug of black tea with lemon. "Drink this while it's hot like this. It will feel warm you up."

Hector wasn't cold, but didn't mind her sliding against his side as he took the mug from her. "It's really okay. Just keep being this concerned and cute, I really can't complain."

She shoved his arm, but the little frown between her eyebrows almost covered by her bangs didn't disappear. He would have to work on that.

"By the way, now that there are holidays, do you not want to spend some time with your family?" Olive brushed a strand away from her face. She leaned a bit away to have a look at him, but also couldn't meet his eyes. "Not that I don't love having you over, I'm just not sure if it's fair to steal you away like this."

Hector shook his head, taking a sip from the tea. "It's alright. My older brother is busy with work and my younger has like 10 exams for law school." First semester was truly intense.

"But he had been studying all semester...and you are here way more this week than before."

Hector clicked his tongue, looking through the window. He was surprised she picked up on that. Were they really getting to know each other to such a degree now?

"Arnie is...getting his stubborn ideas again. I think a little break from each other will do us some good."

Her eyebrows jumped up, as surprised he actually said something as he was. "Stubborn about what?"

Hector took a bit bigger sip of the tea, the warmth pleasantly spreading through his throat despite how much tighter it felt. "He got into his head he wants to move out and try a a hu-" he cut himself off with a gulp,"a dorm."

Olive watched him with a quizzical expression. "And isn't that good? He wants to meet new people, spend more time with his classmates, be more independent...as his main caretaker, it's good news, right? Spreading his wings and all."

"He is not even 20 and not a bird," Hector grumbled. A familiar spike of anxiety went through his lungs.

"I moved out when I was 18," Olive said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Isn't it about the right age? To experience student life and all."

Hector struggled to swallow over the lump in his throat, not sure if it was the phlegm or the anger.

How was he supposed to sum up years of concern, their pack name, his position and Arnie's special vulnerability as a perfect human hostage to two of the most influential powerful wolves in the city?

Olive might call him overbearing or Arnie spoiled. And he didn't want to sound like he came from a mafia movie or spook her with some danger talk. But this was a nuanced issue and...and it freaked him out something terrible that Arnie, of all people in the world, didn't see it the same way as Hector.

Cause that didn't make any sense. Cause Arnie was supposed to understand, on basic, instinctual level. He was supposed to know better, enough not to ask something like that in the first place.

A growl he tried to suppress shook inside him. He realised a bit late it wasn't a growl but a cough as he finished the rest of the tea in one big swing.

The cough and the liquid exploded in his throat. Now this was drowning. It reminded him of the moment in sea when he fell of his water scooter.

Hector coughed brutally, shaking and leaning over his legs and the sofa as he tried to get the offensive force and the liquid out. The cough turned into a gag and the tea, still burning hot, rushed out in a torrent all over his legs, the edge and the floor.

"Jesus christ, Hex!" Olive's voice was more concerned than angry though as she swatted his back with all her strength.

Hector gagged again, then kept gagging as little sprinkles of tea that got where they were not supposed to jumped out.

"Okay, you are okay. Shhh, shhh," Olive chanted, rubbing his arm up and down. "Can you breathe? Hex? Talk to me, hey-" She took his face into her hands, brushing away little stress tears that came out.

He nodded in her grip, then pushed his forehead against hers as he caught his breath. His chest was still heaving and the hot liquid on his pants was getting colder. "I'm sorry, drunk the tea too fast," he rasped.

"No, it's okay, I shouldn't have attacked you like that, I'm sorry. You are sick, I shouldn't-"

Hector scoffed. "I'm not that sick or upset, chill out. I'm sorry about the mess though."

She opened her eyes, their foreheads still touching, her whimpers huge from this close. "It's okay. You want a shower? Hot steam would probably help. I can wash these in the meantime."

Hector chuckled. He didn't exactly have a change of clothes here, but he didn't mind strolling around half-naked either.

He swabed his hand over his mouth, getting rid of the moisture and the rest of the conversation.

#whump #sickfic #cold #cough #emeto #scratchy throat #werewolf wip #my writing #Hector

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