#I do have allergies but it’s more of the sneeze itchy pollen kind

[taxitef]

Getting a horrible allergic reaction bcs of a sweet I’ve eaten my entire life was not in my 2024 bingo

[bitletsanddrabbles]

Tips For Portraying Allergies In Writing

There are all sorts of posts out there on how to portray things in writing. Emotions, action, dancing, being drunk, competitive ping pong, etc. And enough people have allergies that you'd think this doesn't need one...but I realized today that it kind of does. First off, there are different kinds of allergies. I can't speak to a lot of them - such as food allergies* - because I don't have that problem. Feel free to reblog this and expand. Second off, there are a lot of different symptoms for different allergies and they crop up differently in different people. For instance Mum and my cousin are both allergic to cottonwoods, but while they both have eye problems, Mum's itch and are accompanied by a scratchy throat while my cousin's just water like crazy.

So today at work as I was struggling to eat my last break snack in between breaths, I decided I'd make a post with some details of allergy suffering that are a bit more interesting than the usual 'the person with hay fever sneezed and looked through watery eyes'.

Here we go. Feel free to use any of this, to add to it, to provide medical reasoning, to commiserate, whatever.

You can develop allergies. I feel like most people know this, but it bears repeating because it can be an interesting detail. When I was younger, I went through a phase where orange juice made me break out in a rash, but that went away. I was first tested for actual allergies in my 20s and had nothing. I am now allergic to dust mites and grass pollen. I had a former coworker who developed an allergy to chocolate...which she loved. You can have lots of character angst with this! Also people who have known you for a long time frequently display a certain degree of surprise unless they've gone through a similar experience.

Everyone knows how to cure allergies. EVERYONE. The second you say you're suffering, you will be treated to an endless barrage of 'Oh, use this steroid spray! It fixes everything!", "You need X brand of saline nasal spray. It's the only thing that works!", "Have you tried Y brand antihistamine? I swear by it!" Never fails. Now, if you've developed your allergies, it's best to listen to all of this and look into it. I've tried all of the above except the nasal sprays because I am super leery of anything that might mess with my sense of smell. The saline sprays don't work for me, but I've found one brand of antihistamine that...helps. Usually. Depending on the day. Once you've been dealing with them for awhile, though, you've heard most everything and the whole things just gets very annoying.

Meds can stop working. This can be abrupt or gradual, but when there's only one thing that works for you, it sucks big time.

Symptoms are generally not consistent. They will be better or worse depending on the time of day. They will change over the course of the allergy attack. I'm not sure all of the reasons for this. A lot of people have problems in the morning, when allergens have managed to settle in their system overnight (and if your problem is dust mites, bedding is a huge place for them!). I also get them really bad at night, to the point that when I first started having problems a coworker was convinced I needed to dust my bedroom because nothing I said could convince her that 'night' meant 'after sunset regardless of location' and not 'in bed'.

Combining the last two points, the meds that work well on one set of symptoms may not do so well on later ones. Last Wednesday when the pollen level spiked and I woke up in the middle of the night unable to breathe, one pill had me back to normal. The next two and a half days were itchy eyes, low grade sinus pressure, and just enough post nasal drip to be uncomfortable and make my throat scratch, but it would have been So Much Worse without the meds! As we've moved past that stage and into the 'well, there's not much actual pressure, but my sinuses are packed with concrete and I sound like it', they've stopped doing anything, which is super annoying. Why? See the next point.

As stated above, it's quite common to have allergy laden characters sneeze every time they're near an open window, but somehow, unless it's a cartoon, they never pull out a handkerchief or grab a facial tissue to deal with the after math. I've four handkerchiefs that need washing from the past three days at work. People really don't address other issues. Having to sleep with your mouth open, which leads to bad tastes, dehydration, poor sleep, etc., for instance. Or, the one I alluded to in the intro - having to choose between breathing comfortably and eating. One of the reasons soup is such a good go to at this point is that you don't have to chew, so the fact you basically have to inhale, intake food, swallow, exhale, inhale again is a bit more doable. Actual chewy foods are terrible and eating neatly with your mouth closed is not happening, sorry. Brushing your teeth is also incredibly unpleasant.

Year round allergies can still have 'seasons'. Dust mites, for instance, see upswings in autumn, when everyone turns on their heating units and leaves are falling everywhere, etc., and spring...which I believe is mating season. I know my doctor told me why that one, but I can't quite remember. Pretty sure it was mating season.

While having people give you 'must use' remedies is annoying, there is still a certain comfort in other allergy sufferers, especially ones who show the same symptoms in much the same manner. One of my coworkers who also has grass allergy asked me a question today in a not-quite-so-nasally-but-still-congested voice and immediately responded with recognition and sympathy to the tone of my reply. We spent a good several minutes comparing notes and yup, same symptoms start to finish. Misery does indeed love company.

And that's all I'm being able to scrape out of my sinuses brain right now. I may add more later, as things progress, or other people say things that remind me of other things or...you know. Whatever. In the meantime, I hope someone finds this useful.

*it's worth noting that while I'm not actually allergic to food, I have a weird and annoyingly inconsistent sensitivity to tomato products. Pizza sauce has never bothered me, but tomato based spaghetti sauces run the gamut from 'fine' to 'my lips tingle' to 'I have a mouth full of fire ants that have flayed the skin off of my tongue'. The same product will give different results on different days, although fortunately the last one only happened twice when well meaning friends served me 'nice organic tomato sauce'. Best guess is it's something to do with the acidity.

[sneezydarliing]

OH MY GOD YOU KNOW WHAT HYPNOSIS MICROPHONE IS???

I need to know who your favorite unit/group is please (also any snz headcannons if you have them)

YESS!!! I love hypmic!! My favorite group is probably BAT or DH!! Just going to do some rapid fire h/cs of characters i have them for if you don't mind but I'll make a proper hc post soon!!

Also I would LOVE to talk about hypmic more with you if you'd like to dm or anything the brainworms are strong

Cw for sneezing content

Ichiro probably has loud sneezes that he tries SO hard to quiet down but fails every time. Singles or doubles and definitely excuses himself sheepishly. Covers with his elbow b/c he's actually polite. Perfume sensitivity

Samatokis sneezes are definitely kind of harsh but not super loud. He's the type of person you could go your whole life without seeing sneeze I think. Turns away or sneezes into his shoulder

Jyuto constantly pinch stifles. He's got a handkerchief because he's dramatic like that. Rapid doubles or triples. His natural snz is very quiet and breathy and sama makes fun of him for it lmao. Moderate pollen allergy

No f/p because I'm not very into them, sorry :')

Jakurai also tends to stifle for the sake of not spreading anything. His natural sneeze is probably medium volume, usually singles but if somethings irritating him he'll have drawn out fits for awhile. Also covers properly and I think he'd be allergic to animals + dust

Hifumis sneezes are actually on the louder side to the suprise of many. Pretty vocal as well. ALWAYS the type to talk about it and be like "whew that was a big one" or "my nose is soo itchy today" esp to Doppo. Perfume allergy lol

Doppo always stifles in public but will let them out at home. Not super quiet but definitely on that side of, about a 3~4/10 volume wise. Breathy and rapid fits of 3~5 that he absolutely hates. There's a panel in which he covers with his hand so I'm going with that. Cat and moderate pollen allergy

Rosho is the worst chronic stifler. Usually stifles into his wrist but will pinch stifle if necessary. His natural sneeze only ever comes out when he's drunk and it's suprisingly loud + messy for how he tends to be

[bigsnzstanacct]

I would love to hear more about the Slab and Tiny characters or the dad sneeze couple!

Wellllllll first off, randomly I stumbled across the tweet that inspired Dad Sneeze Dads (they gotta eventually become dads, right? I am sort of thinking they foster and eventually adopt older siblings, like maybe 4 and 8 when they come into each others lives, and also maybe one of them was in foster care and/or adopted at some point? But the non-horny story points are admittedly fuzzy).

Anyway, I saw someone tweet this:

and that has lived rent free in my head ever since until it eventually manifested as the Dad Sneezes (eventual) Dads. In the little drabble I wrote about them (“Nap”) I think I called them Paul and Marcus but in honor of this random poster who inspired this perhaps I will call them Paul and James. Definitely sticking with the idea that Paul has these horrible tormenting buildups and false starts that culminate into a sneeze well-worth all the preceding drama (and the worse allergies of the two) while James has these sudden eruption sneezes that are so vocal and harsh and almost yelled (like HEYYYY-SSHHHHAAAWW!!) and while he’s generally somewhat sneezy/sensitive nose, besides a few triggers and getting generally sneezier when he pollen count is high, he doesn’t have allergies like Paul’s that can have him sneezing in fits on and off until he gets away from whatever’s making him sneeze. He does however catch at least one or two horrendously sneezy colds a year, that feel like the tickle doesn’t leave his nose for three to four days straight, he feels like he’s on the verge of a sneeze the whole time but only occasionally does it sharpen to a red-hot point and instantly catapults two to five sneezes in a row from him (and his rare cold sneeze fits get louder and stronger and harsher with each sneeze, like he’s intentionally leaning into it to blast the sneeze out.) Haven’t settled on how they look yet but I imagine both are pretty big and stocky and hairy, James probably Black and more of a classic bear type with more fat all over and Paul somewhat more of an “otter” type. But all that is subject to change, just kind of what I’m loosely envisioning now.

I gotta think about more options for Tiny and Slab, I really do like their dynamic but I kind of haven’t fleshed out their world/setting yet so it’s tough to figure out their contexts. I do find the idea of them covering for each other’s allergies/sneezes VERY hot. Like Slab is having a bad allergy day and he’s barely holding it together and everywhere they go all day Tiny goes in first and does a sweep for anything that will set him off. Or like Tiny signals to Slab across the room he’s having nose troubles, maybe at some big fancy fundraiser (what if they throw fancy fundraisers?? Honestly what if Jamie and Paul do too??) and Slab just smoothly takes Tiny’s place in whatever conversation he was having while Tiny disappears to deal with his itchy nose that was ready to blow the whole party down… yeah. Something about the transfer of responsibility that is both eroticized in a d/s-ish way AND performed in a simple emotional caring way really gets to me. I may have exaggerated their d/s dynamic, or at least how common it is, a bit. But it’s definitely a game they play, and sometimes even on purpose on days when they know one or both of them in going to have an itchy, sneezy day. Also, haven’t decided what makes Tiny sneeze most often but slab DEFINITELY has pet allergies. The tinier and cuter the dog/cat/whatever, the more allergic Slab is to it, just because I loooooooove the idea of a huge man absolutely reduced to an itchy watery sneezy mess by the tiniest lil creature. Slab’s also the more sensitive to scents/perfumes of the too, while as I mentioned Tiny is pretty sensitive to spices, including pepper. Maybe he’s also one who sneezes when he eats spicy food (which, of course, he loves to eat).

[itchy-twitchy-sneezes]

🌡🤧🌸🕯👃✨🤝🍲 Bloody painter!! THEY ARE LITERALLY MY FAVORITE PASTA!!

🌈: would Hellen sneeze from the stench of a corpse he has yet to deal with properly?

so i dont know much about this character since i was out of the fandom for a few years (he was around but i was like 10 - 12 and was mainly interested in slenderman) but i just read the description of them in the wiki and will do my best

🌡: Do they tend to run hot or cold? When they have a fever, is it barely noticeable, or does their temperature skyrocket?

he tends to have more low to moderate fevers but they still make him feel very cold. he shivers a lot. if he does get a high fever, he gets hot flashes but is still primarily cold.

🤧: What does their sneeze sound like? (Description, spelling, or both!)

he has a quiet, sharp sneeze and usually stifles unless he is in a position where he cant or doesnt have the energy. they can get quite messy though and come with a lot of spray. ex (stifled then regular); "huH- huh'ptch! hIH'tshh!"

🌸: Are they allergic to any kind of plants? Flowers, weeds, trees? If yes, how bad are their allergies to those plants?

he's badly allergic to roses and morning bells, usually sneezing within close proximity of them and unable to stop until he's away from them. he'll continue to sneeze throughout the day because of it. he's also allergic to tree pollen but it doesn't make him sneeze as much unless he directly sniffs it. his face gets really itchy though and he gets a lot of stuck sneezes.

🕯: Are they allergic to other things? Dust, animals, perfumes, certain fragrances? Anything that might be considered “out of the ordinary” to be allergic to? How bad are those allergies?

he's allergic to a lot of perfumes/colognes and cats. it usually takes a while before he really starts to feel it, initially just making his nose tickle and causing a few sneezes. he also has a mold allergy that gets triggered a lot in the fall, especially mixed with all the tree pollen. this causes tons of fits and a constant itch in his nose.

👃: In general, how sensitive is their nose? Can something like a certain flower or smell make them sneeze even if they’re not allergic to it? Do they sneeze a lot on average, or not very much? Does their nose twitch a lot, or barely ever at all?

he's not terribly sensitive, usually only sneezing about once or twice on an average day. his nose doesn't twitch too often. he is sensitive to strong or sharp smells and they can cause him to sneeze quite a few times, especially if it's a very sudden hit of the smell.

✨: What would be the best way for someone to induce them? Feathers, rolled-up tissue, or something else? How much stimulation would it take for them to start sneezing? Would inducing produce just one or two sneezes from them, or multiples?

feathers usually get him sneezing if he's induced for a while. the sneeze will build for a minute though, making him hitch and his nostrils flare. it will eventually work if he doesnt bat it away first. spices are best for inducing because of the smell and can get him to sneeze almost immediately. both will cause quite a few sneezes, usually at least 5

🤝: Do they like to be taken care of when they’re not feeling well? Or do they hate it when people fuss over them? If they do, what’s their favorite thing about being taken care of? If not, why don’t they like being taken care of? How bad would they have to be before they’d let anyone take care of them in any capacity?

he doesn't dislike being taken care of but it's a bit awkward for him at first. he enjoys getting the things he wants and may overstretch this power a bit. he usually will allow himself to be cared for once it's offered but he won't ask anyone to take care of him unless he's unable to take care of himself. ex; vertigo/dizziness, nausea, excessive pain.

🍲: What do they like to eat while they’re sick? Do they like soup, or would they prefer something that isn’t “sick person food”? Do they lose their appetite when they’re sick, or are they hungrier than usual?

he gets a bit more of an appetite when he's hungry and likes to have ice cream despite already feeling cold. though, he likes soup too. his favorite soup is tomato basil.

🌈: WILD CARD!!! Make up your own question or just talk about the character!

it depends. if he's been there as it's rotting, he wont even really notice. but if the corpse has been sitting for a while and he walks into the room it's in, the smell will hit him suddenly and he probably will sneeze a few times

i hope i did alright! this person is super cool and i think more people should follow them

[perfectpaperbluebirds]

Seasonal/Pet Allergies

@sicktember 2022 Prompt #13

Fandom/OCs: MCU Avengers, Allergic!Clint Barton

Title: Like Snow in July 

Words: 789

Inspiration: This ask requesting allergic Clint and these allergy scenarios from @oh-no-my-hand-slipped (mainly the last two)

Author’s comments: This is my first attempt (I believe) at writing allergies. They’re not really my jam, but I’ll take any excuse to make Clint suffer. I ship both Clintasha and the canonical Clint/Laura, and I can’t really pick a favorite, so you’ll see both in Sicktember. Enjoy the latter here. 

The summer sun poured in through the open doors and windows, and Laura Barton basked in it happily as she chopped and prepped vegetables for dinner. The kids were staying overnight with their cousins, so it was peaceful. But more than that, it was peaceful because Clint was home. Of course he could be called away at any moment, but for now he was home, and now was all that mattered. 

As if she'd spoken his name aloud, Clint appeared just then. He had been out mowing but must have just finished; he was dusted with bits of grass and leaves, and sweat shone on his face. She saw him squinting and was about to ask if he was alright, when the cause for his strange face became clear:

"TzzZIHHH-SHUH! kzzzt-CHOOF! Hehht– KGZTCHOO!!"

"BLESS you! Laura laughed, moving to his side. "You okay, Sneezy?" She pressed a hand to his sweaty face, feeling for a fever, but if he had one it was undetectable under the perspiration.

"Ndo," Clint sniffled, gently pushing her hand away. "Mby allergies are killing mbe. The pollen and the dust and the grass… mby face is destroyed."

"Oh no, poor guy! You should've told me they were bad. I could've done the lawn."

"You already do too mbuch around here when I'mb gone. I wanted to take care of it for you." With a sigh he sat down at the counter. She handed him a cool rag, and he wiped down his face and arms before lying his head down, sniffling again and again. When Laura sat down beside him, he immediately leaned against her, burying his itchy nose in her shirt. 

"Have you taken anything for your allergies, hon?"

"Ndo. Didn't think that stuff worked."

"Well I'd beg to differ. It works for me and the kids."

"What kind do we have?"

"All of them," Laura laughed. "The kids and I all take different stuff. So we have Allegra, Claritin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec. Take your pick."

"Which one do you take?" 

"Allegra."

"Guess I'll try that one." He sighed as if he was being asked to eat a worm.

Laura just shook her head and fetched the medicine. She returned just in time to catch his next sneezing fit:

"hhIH'DZSSSHYUE! ISHHH'yuue!"

"Bless you. Why don't you stay inside for the rest of the night? I don't think your nose can take much more of that." She handed him a glass of water and the pills, both of which he quickly downed.

"I suppose," he sighed again.

He wandered away not long after, leaving her to return to dinner prep. In fact, she didn't see him again for a few hours as she got caught up in the pleasure of cooking and cleaning without constant interruptions from the kids. Just as she was wondering where he'd gotten to, she was alerted to his location by the faint sound of sneezing. She turned as he entered the kitchen from the outside door, gearing up to sneeze again:

“H'RRIISSHH! H'RRIIZSSHHyue!”

"Bless you. Allegra wasn't much help, huh?" Laura laughed.

"Ndot so mbuch," Clint replied. "Just kinda made me lightheaded."

"Ah. Well, there's three others to try."

"I guess," Clint said, unconvinced. 

Laura took in his appearance more fully. "Why are you covered in wood chips?"

"Oh… I was out choppi’g wood," Clint said, trying and failing to be nonchalant. "And I weeded your garden."

"What happened to staying inside?"

"Well… it's too ndice to stay inside. And I want to get stuff done… hihh!-- while I can… Hih’TSCHH! Huhh… Hihh’tTISCHH!"

The sneezes clearly burst out of him unexpectedly and Laura stifled a giggle. "Well I appreciate your effort, but I only warned you to stay inside for your own good. Although I don't know how I didn't hear you outside if you've been sneezing like that the whole time."

"Stifled 'em," Clint said with a hint of pride. "The damn cottonwood almost did mbe in, though. Looks like it's snowi’g out there."

"It'll do that," Laura nodded. "It gets me, too. Well, are you done being a masochist yet? Because dinner will be done soon and you might feel better if you shower. Get the pollen off your skin."

"Oh I'mb done," Clint groaned. "Mby head is killi’g mbe. Feels like a balloon. And a shower sounds wonderful. I'll go do that before we eat."

"Try one of those other medicines too while you're in there," Laura called. "One of them is bound to work."

"Yeah, yeah," Clint replied. "We'll see." He continued to mutter inaudibly to himself as he went into the bathroom and shut the door. Laura continued to smile at the veggies she was cooking. It was so good to have him home.

[valssecretshit]

🌸🕯💊🎤❤📝😭

j/eff

YAYAYAYYA MY BOY

🌸oh he’s absolutely fucking miserable during spring, esp towards the middle of april. everything from grass, to trees and flowers, leaves him waking up and going to sleep sooooo sniffly. tulips and dandelions though,,,that’s like nearly deathly for him. his severe hayfever was one of the biggest reasons he was bullied, which now makes him even more disgusted and angry about it.

🕯he’s not allergic to anything else really, the only other thing that actually sets him off is nose boops! his nose is sensitive to pressure of any kind since it’s been broken a lot, so nose boops will make him sneeze. go crazy if you see him y’all

💊he absolutely fucking HATES MEDICINE. of any kind. you HAVE to mix it with his food, and actually that’s the only way you’ll get him to take it cus when he eats he eats FAST and doesn’t think twice, so he won’t notice a hidden pill or two at all in his chocolate pudding

🎤 his voice gets very raspy when sick, and also very stuffy. his sneezes when he sounds like this sound a lot more like other worldly alien noises than sneezing. but his voice gets slightly higher and equally as congested when he’s experiencing allergies. he’s very silent when he’s sick so nobody can really tell by his voice unless they look at him.

❤️i love thinking of him waking up in the morning, his shirt, neck, pillow and face absolutely soaked and drenched in thick snot from his allergies, and then IMMEDIATELY having a huge fit when he first comes to. he doesn’t even get a chance to take his first breath of air or even get a chance to adjust to the sun light, he just goes straight to just super super snotty explosive stifles, in a fit of maybe 4-8. at that point there’s just snot and snot bubbles all over his nose, down his neck, all over his shirt and the inside of it on his chest, his pillow and some on his blanket and hair when it got in his face as he sneezed. god. my heart melts and my knees get WEAK. 💜💜

📝e/j coming in from a long walk with seedeater, he’s caked in pollen, flowers and grass and sticks. but it all spreads around the house and because pollen is airborne, jeff is minding his own business doing something like making a snack, and he just starts fucking absolutely dying from the pollen, his head shaking and his throat squeaking with every stifled sneeze for a good few minutes until his eyes are so itchy, watery and his nose is so clogged and his face is coated in snot, he just snuffles deeply and he sneezes it all back out one more time. he’s just so miserable and e/j feels so bad 💜💜💜

😭he def whines a lot but not in front of multiple people and not for no reason. if he has a fit, his nose starts running, he starts choking on phlegm or something like that he’ll whine but not in front of like ten people, mostly in front of slender, e/j, l/j or b/en

[whumpmatsus]

aaa if u want a double whammy request how about 6a and 22 from whump meme for choro?

Ultimate Whump Writing Meme! / ACCEPTING!

6. Broken bone/bone fracture

A: Broken rib

+

22. Sneezing fit

oh this is my jam, I love sneezy boys in pain

poor Choro!! gave this one a Nenchuu lean because Ichi tryna take care of his big bro is so cute uwu

I knowwww it's not, like, super realistic for someone who's young and healthy with no bone problems to break a rib by sneezing or coughing, but... it seems it could happen if you stifle a really forceful sneeze? and Choro is a serial stifler so I could see it happening to him, he tries to hold back the wrong one or too many in a row and BOOM fractured rib even if it's not a terribly bad break

regardless let me have my unrealistic fantasyyyyyy 😂😂

-

There’s really no denying that allergies have presented a myriad of different problems for Choromatsu over the years.

They’ve made his eyes itchy and watery, they’ve caused frustrating congestion and endless instances of a runny nose, they’ve made his asthma flare up, and perhaps most distressingly, they’ve made it insanely difficult to get a date. (After all, what person wants to go out with a guy who’s a sneezy, wheezy, snotty mess for at least half the year? And often more than that?)

In general, allergies just kind of suck. There are countless ways they can make his life miserable.

That said, breaking a fucking rib through an allergic sneezing fit is a new one.

Although, it’s not necessarily just the fault of his allergies. He knows by now that he shouldn’t be trying to stifle his sneezes, especially one right after another; it’s a lot of force that suddenly has nowhere to go except down into his chest. Breaking a rib by sneezing evidently falls under the ‘not unheard of, though it’s strange to happen in an adult without bone problems’ category. That’s just Choromatsu’s luck, it seems.

The doctor explained, after he sheepishly admitted that he often stifles sneezes in an effort to keep them from being so messy, that repeated stifling isn’t a good idea for a worse reason, because of the risk of rupturing his eardrums from the pressure.

It just so happens that he’s actually lucky he broke a rib doing it rather than the alternative. If he’d managed to perforate his eardrums by stifling, he could have lost some hearing, it would almost certainly cause a lot of ear infections (which could also cause hearing loss), and the doctor made the point that it would be incredibly painful. As much as a broken rib hurts, at least it’s a remote possibility that it’s damaged anything permanently.

The doctor told him that hopefully he’s learned his lesson to stop stifling his sneezes. And, especially, he isn’t supposed to stifle while his rib is recovering. Of course, it’s right in the middle of allergy season and a rib fracture can take up to three months to fully heal, so… that’s going fantastically.

Choromatsu is miserable at the moment. Not only is his hayfever as bad as ever, all the pollen has apparently made him more sensitive to other allergens, too. He can barely stand to be in the same room with any of Ichimatsu’s cats, and he has to make it a point to avoid his father when Matsuzo comes in the house after smoking.

Even though he’s supposed to get a little activity in while resting enough not to aggravate the fracture, that’s hard to do when it feels like he’s sneezing his brains out. All he really wants to do is go horizontal and nap as best he can, but the paper the doctor sent him home with says he’s not supposed to lie down for long periods.

The antihistamines he took this morning are barely even touching his allergies today. Everything is constantly tickling his nose, and it feels like he can’t go five minutes without sneezing, which is absolutely ridiculous. Despite that he’s a pretty easily set-off person where allergies are concerned, he doesn’t ever remember sneezing so much in his life.

And fuck, the pain. Each sneeze sends a violent spiderweb of agony through his chest and shoulders, as if someone is stabbing knives at every single nerve in his upper body. It’s one of the worst physical sensations he’s ever felt. If he had to use anything as a reference, he’d compare it to appendicitis pangs, just in a different place and pattern and not quite as white-hot.

He’s so tired. He’s been spending the last few days camped out on the couch, getting up in the early hours of the morning both because having to sleep upright means that he only rests for two or three hours at a time and because he’s trying to avoid lazing around. Not moving seems to make the pain worse.

Currently he’s sitting here, trying to watch TV, unable to truly focus on anything. The effort it’s taking to try and stave off another sneezing fit is about all he’s got left in him, but he knows he’s just delaying the inevitable.

His sinuses are prickling, and when he raises his arm to press a knuckle against the underside of his nose, the pain in his chest gets a little tighter. There’s only so much longer he can hold this stupid shit back, as uncomfortable as he knows it’s going to be.

His concentration breaks into nothing about the time he hears the door open. He can’t really see who’s there, though, because he’s ducking down into his handful of tissues as he hears them walk in. “HhhPSCHH! HuUPPSHhhoo! IhhHPSHHooo!”

Shit. Ugh. Shit. Shiiiiit. The pain shoots through him in an instant, like he can feel the crack in that one rib throughout his whole body. More than anything he wishes he could stifle.

Realistically, however, he knows that would only make things worse. The force that’s actually coming out through his sneezes would have nowhere to go except to his chest and ears, again, and he’d be in more trouble than he already is.

He tries to blow his nose a couple times, hoping that might clear out the irritation. If he does that, maybe he’ll stop sneezing so much and the pain will give him a break other than the one in his rib.

“Bless you,” comes a voice he registers as Ichimatsu’s. He sounds kind of congested and a little weary himself, expected since all the sextuplets have bad hayfever and it’s been a high pollen day. “Still sneezing your ass off, Choro-chan?”

Choromatsu sniffles as he comes up from the tissues, wincing at the pain. “Ow… yeah. It’s like a-all my allergies are ganging up on me today.”

Ichimatsu hums, sitting down before letting out a sound of realization. “Oh, fuck. I’ve probably got cat hair all over my clothes… you, uh. Want me to―”

“No, no, no… it’s okay.” He waves a hand. What does it really matter, honestly? It doesn’t seem like his allergies are kicking up his asthma today, and he’s been sneezing regardless, so it’s not a big deal. Besides… sleeping in such a weird position out of the futon… he’s been a little lonely lately. “I just… wish it didn’t hurt so bad, more than anything.”

The distorted expression he’s sporting must be pretty noticeable, because Ichimatsu speaks up again. “Uh. Did they teach you how to do the pillow thing for that?”

An eyebrow goes up, and Choromatsu reaches for a fresh handful of tissues. “For what? Pillow thing??”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it on medical documentaries when somebody breaks a rib and has to cough or sneeze. It’s supposed to make it hurt less.”

“― HuhUPPSHHoo! HhPPPSHH! Oh, fuck, ouch…” He looks over at his little brother, the fatigue and discomfort seeping into his expression. “Yeah… can you show me? Nobody at the doctor’s office mentioned it.”

Ichimatsu nods and grabs the pillow on his side of the sofa. “They probably just forgot. Here, so you just take this…” He scoots himself closer, tongue poking out of his mouth as he uses one hand to move Choromatsu’s arms. “Here, arms out of the way for a second. Okay, so you just…” He sets the pillow against Choromatsu’s chest, then moves his arms away. “Then hold it there with your hands. And when you feel like you’re gonna cough or sneeze, press it really firm against your chest, not so it hurts but… I dunno, kinda like the way you’d cuddle a stuffed animal if you were a scared little kid, you know?”

That… is very specific and yet he knows exactly what Ichimatsu is trying to describe. “Oh, like…” Choromatsu shifts himself around a bit so he can hold the pillow against his chest. It doesn’t feel too much different than a minute ago; there’s just something soft against his ribs now.

“Yeah. And hold it like that till you’re done coughing or sneezing. Or, I mean… laughing, actually, too, ‘cause I think I remember hearing it hurts to laugh with a broken rib. When you’re pressing it against your chest like that, it’s supposed to absorb some of the force… that way it doesn’t hurt as bad.”

“Oh… I-I guess that makes sense.” After all, it’s sort of like an airbag in a car, isn’t it? Or like putting a bandage on your finger over a papercut. It gives a kind of cushion to the injured area so it isn’t as painful when touching things.

Fuck. His nose scrunches up as he can feel the tickle start again. Time to put this to the test, obviously.

It’s a strange balancing act trying to keep everything just as he wants it. One arm stretches across the pillow, doing his best to hold it against his chest as tightly as he can. The other hand quickly raises the tissues up to his face in anticipation.

The maddening part, or one maddening part, is that he can feel his nose twitching several times before anything actually comes of it. His breath hitches only to ebb away in three false starts, then finally…

His whole body tenses when he snaps his face down into his collection of tissues. Some of his energy is focused on trying not to make too big a mess, and with the rest of it, his arm clenches against the pillow, pressing it lightly into his ribs to see if this trick works.

“Hhhh…fuhhh… hh ― hhPPSHHoo! IhhPSHHH! HihhPPTSCHhooo! HhPTSHHH! IhPSHHHoo! HiIPPTSHHooo! G-God… ughhh… uhHPPPSHHHHOOO! Fuck! Oh, my God…”

He can’t stop himself from whining a little when the fit finally tapers off. And, unfortunately, he thinks finally, but… the reality is that it was actually on the smaller side for one of his sneezing fits, especially during hayfever season.

The good news is that even though the pillow thing wasn’t perfect, it didn’t soak up all the pain… it worked wonders for taking the bitter edge off things. This time, the sneezes didn’t send an entire network of pain flooding through his top half, just a sharp achy feeling. It’s not nearly as excruciating as the way it was before.

Immediately he starts to blow his nose, only to find that the tissues he grabbed got… soggy… pretty fast. It seems that Ichimatsu is prepared, though, because a new set are nudged against Choromatsu’s shoulder. “Bless you. That last one sounded like you were gonna jump out of your fucking skin. You okay?”

“Y-yeah… I think so…” He grabs the tissues to try and clean himself up, tossing the used ones into the trashcan. Despite being a bit breathless now, he’s flooded with relief that this was the first time in a while that it didn’t hurt like hell to sneeze.

Ichimatsu gives a careful, slightly awkward pat to his big brother’s shoulder. “So, uh… did that… did that work okay? If it didn’t, uh, we could try another pillow… a stiffer one, or a softer one… it depends on the person, I think.”

He shakes his head. “A-ah, no… no, it worked great. I feel a lot better.” With that he lets himself lean back a little, rubbing at his nose with the wad of tissues. Ick. He can feel his nose starting to turn pink or red or some other lovely shade. “Thanks for showing me that, Ichimacchan. I’m probably gonna be sneezing a lot, and… the doctor said a broken rib can take up to three months to heal…”

“Uh. Yeah. I mean, all the sneezing from allergies is shitty as it is… it must be, like… extra shitty for your ribs to stage a fucking revolt every time, too.” He scratches the back of his head. “Is, uh… is there anything else I can do? Do you need, like… eyedrops or anything?”

“No… no, that’s okay.” At the mention, Choromatsu can feel his eyes starting to itch a little. He’s going to try to ignore it, though. Right now, he has the ideal opportunity to nap ― the pain is fading to tolerable levels, the tickle is his nose has died down to a low buzz, and one of his brothers is here. He might actually be able to get some sleep.

“Could you, um… just stay and sit with me for a while?” He lets out an anxious laugh, half thinking Ichimatsu might poke fun. “I… haven’t been sleeping that great since I can’t be in the futon with you guys. I’m tired.”

Surprisingly (or maybe not), Ichimatsu moves close again, bumping Choromatsu’s shoulder with his. “Yeah? Remember when my leg and wrist were broken, and I got all stupid upset because I couldn’t sleep in the futon? And you slept propped up against the couch so I wouldn’t be lonely. I get it.”

He lays his head against his older brother’s shoulder. “Payback time. Try to relax. Hopefully that pillow thing keeps working for you… just, let me know if you need more tissues or anything.”

… Aw. He’s trying kinda hard to make sure I’m comfortable.

Still feeling kind of drained, Choromatsu lets his head fall against Ichimatsu’s with as deep a sigh as he can manage right now. “Thanks. I’m… probably gonna hold it like this, just in case. Sometimes they hit me really fast.”

“Yeah, I know. Get some rest, okay, nii-san?”

At this point, he thinks he will.

[honeybee-babe]

Ficlet: Adam+Eric and Ruby+Otis on Another Double Date and Adam’s Allergies Act Up

(brief glimpse of Lily+Ola at the end)

Another cute/fluffy fic featuring sneezy Adam, this time with lots of cute Ruby bits! Canon compliant.

2,018 words

The second time Adam and Eric went on a double date with Otis and Ruby, they had decided to go to the park down the street from the Milburn residence for a picnic.

It was still September pollen count was manageable, so Adam thought he could handle it. He'd been meaning to stop taking his Claritin for the season and decided last night would be a good time. If he took them too much, he found that they became less effective.

What he hadn't been expecting was that Ruby would be wearing so much freaking perfume.

"You two excited to chat more about your terrible taste in reality TV?" Otis teased as he poured everyone a solo cup of pilfered red wine from his mom's pre-pregnancy stash.

"Most people like to stay updated on pop culture," Ruby said, flashing him a condescending little smile and taking a sip of wine.

"Plus, it's wicked funny!" Eric defended, elbowing Adam to get him to agree -- which he did, nodding before taking a long sip of his wine to try to cover up his nose twitching, indulging in a few scrunches in that time. He'd never had wine before. It was weird but oddly delicious. "We watch it together sometimes now. You should try watching it with Ruby, y'know it can't hurt to show some interest in the things your girlfriend likes.”

"I will watch the Kardashians when she plays Smash Bros."

"I am not playing a stupid video game, especially not one with a disgusting title like that."

"...what do you think Smash Bros is about?"

For some reason, the wine seemed to be making Adam’s nose more itchy. He set his cup down and rubbed at it a bit, while everyone else was thankfully too invested in the argument to notice.

He still hadn't sneezed in front of anyone except Eric, and even around him he still stifled, occasionally managing an half-stifle (well, more of a 3/4 stifle). This was just not an insecurity he could fully conquer overnight.

Unfortunately, the red wine was really setting him over the edge. Normally in this situation, he'd just excuse himself to the bathroom for a minute to go sneeze in peace and take his meds. Or if he really couldn't hold back in the middle of a class or something, he'd just find some time when the teacher wasn't looking to stifle into silence. He typically sat in the back so that wasn't an issue.

But unfortunately, he didn't have either of those luxuries at the moment. And it was a double allergen -- something he wasn't used to. Maybe now was the time for him to push his phobia a bit further.

Eric's explanation of the game and Ruby's unexpected curiosity and interest in it (maybe it was the wine talking?) proved another distraction, as he finally indulged in a silent stifle, turning away from Eric just in time.

As usual, the force rocked him to the side quite a bit, and his wine sloshed in his cup from the force, and Eric immediately grabbed it from him before it could actually spill, knowing there were at least two more coming (and Adam spilled shit on himself enough when he wasn't involuntarily and repeatedly convulsing). Thankfully, Adam managed to squash them both into silence too.

“Gesundheit,” Otis said casually as Eric and Ruby went on talking. Adam nodded his thanks to him as Eric handed him back his cup and squeezed his hand. He knew Adam was weird about sneezing around other people and he was glad that he was making steps to get over it.

The conversation dragged on, Adam offering little grunts and one word answers of agreement with Eric. Otis and Ruby (begrudgingly) agreed to try watching the show and playing the game, respectively.

Adam's nose was still itchy, but he could keep it at bay with occasional (and well-timed) rubs and sniffs -- and by avoiding the wine. 

All was well, until they started in on their pizza gluten free pizza. It really wasn’t that bad, and Ruby really appreciated that no one had made a fuss about it. Otis went to refill everyone's wine cups.

"Adam, you've barely touched your wine." he observed, seeming disappointed. “Usually you finish your drink before everyone else. Do you not like it?"

"No, uh. It's really good. It’s just, uh," Adam hesitated. “...wine gives me the shits sometimes, so. Probably shouldn’t risk it.”

Everyone exchanged a mutual look of disgust, Ruby in particular.

"Well, there goes my appetite.” She tossed down her pizza slice and went for another sip of wine. "TMI, much?"

"So, uh," Eric cleared his throat. "What about that assembly today, huh? Quite the disaster."

"I'd rather not bring Hope Hadden into my safe space, thanks.”

"This is your safe space?"

"Wherever there's wine and gluten free pizza, I feel safe." Just as Ruby said that, Adam took a rather large bite of his own slice, leaving a big splotch of sauce on his chin. Out of habit, Ruby went in with her napkin. It wasn’t her fault, she was used to cleaning up for her father, and he and Adam both radiated the same fuckwit energy.

"Uh... thanks?" Adam commented, a little bit embarrassed. Ruby's hand flew back down to her cup as soon as she realized her mistake, hiding her face in her cup.

"You trying to flirt with my boyfriend, Ruby?" Eric joked.

"No, it was just disgusting to look at!" she insisted, flushing a bit red, maybe not due to just the wine. "You should really invest in an etiquette class," she said rather condescendingly to Adam, who wasn't listening because he was gearing up for another sneeze. He’d been set off a second time, this time due to the unexpected proximity to Ruby’s heavily perfumed wrist.

He indulged in another triple, this time punctuating the first two silent ones with a more substantial half-stifle.

“hh’MPtsh! Fuck,” he vocalized on a heavy sigh in the aftermath. Eric rubbed his arm tenderly, which he’d been doing since the second sneeze in this set. Ruby and Otis shot each other a look.

"Babe," Eric started once he was sure that was it, removing his hand from Adam's arm to instead tilt the sniffling boy's face to him. He was clearly flushed and his eyes were a bit watery. "Did you forget to take your meds last night?"

"Uh, no. I didn't." Adam muttered, sniffling rather loudly. Sneezing in front of them was bad enough without Eric commenting on it, even though Adam knew it was from a place of love. "I stopped taking them last week, remember?"

"Why would you not take antihistamines before a picnic if you've got allergies?" Ruby asked, clearly unimpressed.

"The pollen count wasn't supposed to be high today."

"Well, clearly it is.”

"Actually, it’s not," Otis cut in, showing off his phone screen. "I just looked it up.”

"Are you getting sick, babe?" Eric asked, putting a hand to Adam's forehead. "You do look a little flushed."

"No," Adam backed away from him, swatting his hand away from him. He really did not do well with everyone staring at him. "It's, uh, I think it's the wine. It was, uh. It was kinda bothering my nose."

"Why wouldn't you just tell us that?" Ruby asked. "That's a much better image than you shitting yourself."

"I've heard wine can bother people with hayfever," Otis commented, taking the bottle and moving it away from Adam as if that was going to help. "But you haven't been drinking any. You sure you're not sick?" Otis asked, inching away from him a bit now. Eric had mentioned he could be a bit of a germaphobe.

"Uh, no. Not sick," Adam said, trying for an awkward little smile. "Just the wine... and I think Ruby's perfume, a bit.

There was a moment of silence, as if Adam had just said something highly offensive. Ruby tensed up the moment he said that.

"It is Ariana Grande," she defended. "And it's quite expensive!"

"Well," Eric said tentatively. "You are kind of wearing a lot of it.”

Otis shot Ruby a sympathetic little grin. Before Eric and Adam had gotten to his house, he had commented on it himself. Ruby embarrassedly admitted that they’d had to run in a mile in gym class today, and she hadn't had time to shower in the time between getting home from school and driving up to Otis’ house was because she had been literally bathing her own father instead. Hence, the perfume bath.

“It smells really good," Adam explained through a mouthful of pizza, “it just bothers my allergies.” He sniffled again for good measure and rubbed his eyes a bit.

"Your eyes are all red, love," Eric pointed out, rubbing his shoulder again. "Maybe we should go back to yours and get some meds in you."

"I've got some at my place, actually," Otis offered. "We could go back and watch a movie or something? Wine's almost done, and it is getting dark. Hey, maybe we could watch the Kardashians." He smiled at Ruby.

"And you can teach me Smash Bros," Ruby offered, returning his smile and then turning to Adam. "As long as Sneezy here is okay with it?"

"Y-yeah. I'm good with that," Adam offered, actually chuckling a bit at the silly name-calling, and turned to Eric. He was relieved that no one made a big deal about, and pleasantly surprised at how eager they were to accommodate him. You good with that, babe?"

"Of course.” Eric kissed him on the nose mischievously, thankfully not causing another fit. “My second and third favorite things."

And so they walked back to the house, Otis and Ruby chattering away and holding hands, passing the wine bottle between the two of them and taking swigs of it until it was finished, the latter getting increasingly less unpleasant to be around the tipsier she got.

Adam and Eric trailed behind, also holding hands, mostly quiet except for the latter occasionally commenting on how much of a lightweight the other couple in front of them both were. Adam sneezed silently a few more times as they walked. Eric, knowing how uncomfortable he still was about it, chose not to bless him and alert the others, but rather to squeeze his hand and shoot him a sympathetic smile each time, leaning his head on his sniffly boyfriend's shoulder as they made their way up the steps to the Milburn-Nyman residence.

Ruby showered, and put on one of Otis' t-shirts and a rolled-up, comically too long pair of his sweatpants. They'd never seen her without makeup before. She was somehow prettier this way. And also a lot more talkative.

Ola had Lily over, and they tentatively came downstairs to grab some crisps halfway into the group's chosen episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians (the Viagra one, of course -- what else would this group have chosen?). Surprisingly, Ruby was the one who asked if they wanted to join in, claiming she was getting “testosterone poisoning” from being around the three boys for so long. No one bothered to correct her and tell her what the term actually meant.

Adam got a little tense again when she explained to the two of them why they'd had to cut their picnic short and why she was wearing “loser clothes,” but he relaxed again when they didn't make a fuss about it either. Lily even said that perfumes bothered her too, sometimes. Who woulda thought?

But the party didn't really start until they started playing Smash Bros, which is how they spent the rest of the night -- boys vs girls, of course. Girls team reigned superior most rounds, mostly thanks to Ola's mad skills (and Otis and Adam letting them win -- Eric was way too competitive for that, of course).

All in all, it was a great night, and Adam walked Eric home feeling a little bit more comfortable with himself. That was a recurring theme with him, these days, after all.

[sneezyminniejo]

Here’s the allergic Chan fic

Hyung You’re an Idiot

"Ugh, Bless me again." Chan said after sneezing for the upteenth time during breakfast. He was getting rather fed up with nose, and wasn't at all sure why his allergies were so bad today.

"Guys I know what you're th-thinking, but I'm fi- heh-ighiew. Bless me. I'm fine to go in today. It's just allergies. I'm just g-going to be a bit sn-sneezy" As if on cue, Chan abruptly turned to the side and sneezed a harsh triple into his elbow. This time however, Chan kept his nose placed firmly in his elbow, and didn't say anything.

The others were waiting for another volley of sneezing to come, but when it didn't they all gave Chan a questioning look. The eldest was barely heard muttering 'tissues' into his elbow in English. Everyone heard Chan say something, but Felix being the only other one to fluently speak muffled and congested Australian, was the only one to make out what the eldest had said. He was quick to leave and come back with a box of tissues. The younger Aussie decided to keep an eye on the older just to be safe.

Chan graciously accepted the box of tissues, taking several to clean himself up before blowing his nose rather productively. The other members cringed slightly at the sound of it.

Chan also knew that with the near constant sneezing he had done during breakfast, he probably should stay back. But he has far too many responsibilities as the leader to take a sick day when he isn't genuinely sick.

Once breakfast had ended, the eight members needed to quickly get ready for the day, as their ride was going to arrive soon. Felix, knowing how Chan has a tendency to forget to properly care for himself when he's sick or his allergies are particularly bad, made sure to put several packs of tissues into his bag along with all of Chan's allergy meds and some extra water bottles. He had packed the elder's meds because he had probably forgotten to take them given how bad he was already.

When they arrived at the company Felix quickly pulled Chan aside. "Hyung, did you remember to take your allergy meds this morning? You’re really bad today for being medicated. If not, I brought them with me."

Chan thought for a moment, not quite being able to remember. His thoughts were interrupted however by an all too consuming itch in his nose. "Hih-nxtshh, heh-stishhh, HEH-ISTIEW. Sorry, bless me. I'm like ninety percent certain that I did.

Felix frowned at that statement as he handed the elder some tissues. With how bad his sneezing was, Felix highly doubted that Chan took his meds. But Chan's statement meant that they had to wait a few more hours before he could take more.

It became quickly apparent to everyone that Chan was not in any condition to do vocal practice. They tried, but Chan nearly deafened Changbin during recording, and nearly deleted a track on accident when he tried producing, so they decided to focus on dance today. The third song had just barely started when Chan interrupted again. "Heh-istiew, heh, hih-ktiew, huh-UGHIEW. Bless Me! Sorry guys, let's start over." Everyone went back into position except for Felix.

Felix gave Minho a pointed look that said don't start the music yet. He walked over to the eldest and began talking. "Chan-hyung, let's go back to the dorm. We won't be able to get anything done if we're stopping every five minutes because of a sneezing fit." 

"But Fe-"

"Don't you 'but' me Bang Christopher Chan. Now go get your things together to go back to the dorms." Chan gulped at the use of his full name and sulkily went to pack up his bag.

After Chan left the room, the others couldn’t help but ask Felix how he had managed to talk Chan into going home. Felix shrugged his shoulders then replied "Referring to one by their full name generally means they’re in big doo doo trouble. I'm going to head back with him to make sure he doesn't try to work or do something stupid." Felix grinned before grabbing his things and quickly followed the eldest out the door.

The ride back to the dorms was full of sniffling and occasional sneezing from the eldest. However he was secretly glad that someone put their foot down and made him go home. Chan was beginning to develop a sinus headache, and he was doubting his earlier statement on taking his meds. Chan was also glad that Felix had decided to follow him home, as listening to another Aussie accent brings him comfort when he isn't feeling good.

When the duo entered the dorm, Felix made Chan go take a shower to wash off whatever pollen was on his clothes and so he could hopefully break up some of the congestion. Felix got started on making lunch while his hyung was showering.

At one point Felix was able to hear a string of very itchy sounding sneezes followed by a crash coming from the bathroom. He immediately went to knock on the door. "Hyung, are you okay?" "I'm fine Lix, I dropped my shampoo. I'll be out in a minute." Felix sighed and went back to getting things ready.

Chan joined Felix in the kitchen feeling a little better. He noticed that the younger had gotten the ground beef out to make hamburgers. He decided to help out.

Shortly after Chan began making patties out of the ground beef, an all too familiar sensation began to take root in his sinuses. The only problem being he was in the middle of the kitchen and his hands were full of raw meat, so he couldn’t really cover.

"Fe-Felix" Felix turned to face Chan at the desperate sounding call of his name, only to be met with a pre-sneeze face that was mixed with a bit of panic. Felix also noticed Chan had his hands full with raw meat, so he stepped into action. He quickly grabbed a handful of tissues and put his tissue covered hand over Chan's mouth and nose.

It was only a split second later that Chan ducked into Felix' hand with two very lound and and harsh sneezes. "HEH-ISTIEW, HUH-UGHIEW". Felix did not immediately remove his hand from Chan's face, instead he said a word which embarrassed Chan more than he already was, "Blow."

Chan blew his nose quite productively and finished making the burger patties. As he handed the patties over to Felix to cook, he told the younger, "Thanks mate for you know" "It was no big deal, bless you by the way." Chan nodded in response and decided to go to the living room to watch tv, as he didn't want a repeat performance of earlier.

Lunch was mostly silent aside from the occasional sniffling, sneezing and nose blowing from the eldest. He was still feeling quite embarrassed about Felix catching his sneezes. If he didn't think he'd be scolded to oblivion, he'd go straight to his studio to hide for a couple of hours. But since he couldn't, Chan decided to do the next best thing, avoid Felix as much as possible for the next few hours.

It was painfully obvious to Felix that Chan was trying to avoid him. He figured it was because of what happened when they were making lunch, but he needed to talk to the elder. Mainly because it had now been long enough that Chan could safely take his allergy meds, so he grabbed the meds and went to the living room where the eldest was watching tv.

When Felix got to the living room Chan's face was buried in a tissue, blowing his nose again. This time however, it had triggered a couple of sneezes that were strong enough to propel him off the couch. Chan cleat hadn't been expecting it because he ended up on his butt. "Bless you hyung." Chan startled at the sudden appearance of Felix "Um thanks Lix."

"Hyung, I just came to give you your allergy meds. It's been long enough that if you did take them this morning, there won't be any adverse effects." Chan sighed in relief at this and happily accepted the pills and water. He noticed Felix was hovering next to the couch like he needed something. "Felix do you need something?" Felix made a curt nod before replying. 

"You've been avoiding me since lunch. And I know it's probably because you feel a bit embarrassed at what happened with the burgers.” Chan merely looked down at his hands, essentially confirming Felix’ suspicions. “I just should have been able to go to work and make lunch without incident. I’m the leader. I’m supposed to be able to keep it together.” Chan sniffled then grabbed a tissue and blew his nose.

“Hyung, you’re an idiot, you know that?” Chan stared at Felix with a little bit of shock at being called an idiot. “Yes you’re the leader, but you do not have to keep it together all the time. It’s okay if you need to take time off for your health, even if it is just allergies.”

Chan sighed because he knew the younger was right. He should have taken the day off from the beginning, but his stubbornness got in the way. “You’re right Felix. Can we watch Spirited Away?” Felix just nodded and got some popcorn ready.

By the end of the movie Chan had realized something. “Hey Lix, I don’t think I took my allergy meds this morning.” Felix kind of already knew this, but wanted to humor his hyung. “What makes you say that?” Chan shrank into himself a little as he responded “I took my meds about fifteen minutes before we started the movie, and I haven’t sneezed once since. Whereas my sneezing was almost uncontrollable beforehand. I should have listened to you.”

“It’s okay hyung. Everyone has a tendency of miscalculating when they’re not feeling well, brain fog and all that. Let’s watch another movie.”

That’s how the duo spent the rest of their day until the others returned. Having a Studio Ghibli marathon.

[lilbit-of-kizzy]

Hey so Ethan/@crankgameplays posted a video about his allergy scares last week and I just had a chance to watch it and I have things to say!! This is long but I urge you to read it (and call me out if I'm wrong!! I tried to look up things I wasn't sure about!!)

So here is a long/basic allergy tutorial from someone who has allergies and a mother who worked for an allergist for many years as a nurse!

Histamines: these are what cause your basic allergic reactions, they cause the swelling and the itching. Most people for example are allergic to mosquitoes, and have a histomic reaction to the mosquito bite. Mosquitoes release a substance to technically numb the pain of the bite and most people are allergic to that substance and therefore have an allergic reaction. Your histamines cause that reaction, an itch and swelling. Some people are highly allergic to mosquito bites and will have varying degrees of an histomic reaction, I'm sure there's some people out there who have anaphylactic reactions to mosquitoes.

Antihistamines: basically tell your histamines to chill out. They come in varying strengths from your daily pill (Zyrtec, Xyzal, Allegra, Claritin) to your emergency or once in a while pill (like Benadryl). For example some people who have bad reactions to poison ivy will take a Benadryl, while people with a dust or pollen allergy might take Zyrtec everyday.

Epinephrine: epinephrine is a type of adrenaline. The reason that Ethan said it doesn't cause a real problem if you don't need it, is because he's never had it when he didn't need it. You will have the racing heart and other symptoms that come with a rise in adrenaline. While you probably won't bleed out from an epi needle, because you or whoever will be able to put pressure on it and it's not that big of a hole, you can cause hypertension and death if it happens to go into a vein (which is hard to do but can happen, use it on the outter thigh). Ethan never had any symptoms when his was used when he "didn't really need it", because his heart rate was already slowed/sped up so the rise in heart rate and other symptoms of an adrenaline boost didn't register, because he did technically need it. He's right that if you accidentally give it you'll probably be fine, but you still want to call a doctor and make them aware of the situation and let them decide what you need to do.

Other types of allergic reactions: We all know the classic signs, itchy, throat/other kinds of swelling, eyes watering/itching etc. But you can also have: coughing, sneezing, sniffly nose, itchy palms/bottoms of your feet, nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhea, heartburn/indigestion/acid reflux, itchy mouth/insides (the weirdest one honestly) and others. None of these necessarily mean you're going into anaphylactic shock, in fact there are very few allergens that cause anaphylactic shock. Things like insect stings/bites, nut allergies, and dairy/egg allergies are some of the worst for anaphylaxis. Other things can cause it but those are your worst offenders. Most other allergies are just annoying, they can be debilitating sometimes but they're not necessarily going to cause death.

What to do if you experience allergies: go see an allergist! Even if you're like "well it's only for like a month I get a little sniffly" still go! You may think you just constantly have a heartburn when you eat one food, but you could be allergic to it and there are ways to avoid the heartburn so you can still eat your favorite foods! Don't be afraid of the allergy test, there are two, one where they prick your back and one where they test your blood. The blood test doesn't test as much as the prick test though, and most normal doctor's offices will go with the blood test, so be sure to see an allergist. They'll ask a lot of questions to try and figure out what you might be allergic to, to figure out what they ought to put in the test. Then they put little drops of the allergen onto itty bitty little needles and prick your back. There are going to be one or two places where it's going to "hurt" but for the most part it's like running your fingernail over a spot of skin. Make sure you bring some hydrocortisone with you to slather all over your back when they're done, but make sure they tell you they're done before you do that!! Tell them that's what you're going to do. They'll honestly probably do it for you. They then measure the size of each reaction to determine whether or not you are allergic to a substance and whether or not that's what's bothering you. (So if you put hydrocortisone on before they're done they won't get an accurate measure) It's actually kinda of neat to see yor back all splotchy lol. Some allergies can be fixed with shots, which are not as bad as they seem, some just need daily medication.

Different allergies: if someone tells you they are allergic to a food and then proceed to eat the food you don't necessarily need to panic. I, for example, am allergic to rice. But I don't have an anaphylactic response, it just upsets my stomach if I eat too much. Before I figured out what was wrong I was throwing up almost daily. While there's no specific shot or pills for rice, getting all my other allergies in check helped the rice not be so bad. I was also allergic to dust which there are shorts for, and once I got that under control, stopped eating rice all the time, and started taking an acid reflux medication, I was able to start eating rice again without any problems (again as long as I didn't eat it all the time) When it comes to environmental allergies there often are shots for those. These can also cause some pretty serious reactions but don't usually cause anaphylaxis. I said I was allergic to dust and if I've been off of my meds and shots for a long time and I touch a surface with dust on it my hands will actually burn. It's extremely painful but nothing I need to go to the hospital for.

Allergy shots: these are really not anywhere near as bad as you might think they would be. They're once weekly shots that are teeny teeny tiny needles, it's the medication that hurts and even that isn't that bad. Especially not if it keeps my hands from burning, or someone who has anaphylactic reactions to bee stings from dying. They also tend to "cure" you of your allergies, my dust allergy has been reduced from a 9+ on the scale all the way down to 5. So while I'm still allergic to dust, it doesn't burn me if I go off my meds, it's just very itchy and gives me headaches. (They're also in the testing phases for a peanut shot!! Still have a long way to go on that one though but at least they're working on one!)

One other thing to keep in mind, an epipen is not a solution to the problem, it's a slowdown on the timer to death. You still need to go to the hospital and you still need to get there as quickly as you can. Especially for things like peanuts and bee stings, which cause severe reactions and very quick death. If there's more than one person there you need to be calling 911 as you're giving the shot. Even if they just need to be watched as they come down off of the epi just in case. Ethan's right you can re-react the stuff up to 6 or more hours later. Whatever you ate/was injected into you has to make its way out of your body before you're reaction to it stops, all the emergency crew is doing is keeping you from dying while that happens. When they gave him so much Benadryl they were basically just trying to completely kill his histamines.

This is by no means a full course on allergy knowledge but it's what I have available from years of having allergies and living with a nurse, and I hope it helps any of you out there who aren't sure what's going on with you/need more knowledge!! Sorry it was so long 😅

TL;DR all allergies are different and need different care (also please read it lol)

(I did also post this in the comment section of that video! I just made it prettier here lol. This was made using the voice to text on my phone though so I apologize for any weirdness/grammar mistakes)

[dothwrites]

161 please??

---

google doth always taking prompts

161--Where did that cat come from?

---

The rainstorm starts when Dean pulls into the space outside the bunker’s door. It’ll be a pain in the ass to reverse and pull into the garage, plus he and Sam have a trunk full of groceries, so Dean just curses and puts the Impala into park before he gets out of the car. Water droplets start to pelt against the top of his head and the back of his neck as he loads as many bags on his wrists and arms as humanly possible. 

From there, it’s a quick trip down the bunker stairs. Sam follows behind, with a more modest amount of bags swinging from his hands. Dean walks quickly, cognizant of his struggling circulation, not to mention the unpleasant wind of a single bead of water down his spine. Their steps echo down the bunker stairs, which would alert Cas to their presence, even if the “Cas, we’re home!” didn’t. 

“Shut up,” Dean automatically says when he hears Sam’s poorly repressed snigger. 

“Needy much?” Sam does a faulty reproduction of Dean’s voice, making sure to give him a falsetto. “Cas, we’re home!” He continues to snicker as they make their way to the kitchen. “You’re about one step away from Lucy.” 

“Ok, first of all, it was Ricky Ricardo who said those lines and secondly--shut up.” Ok, so not the best comeback. Blame the rain and his screaming wrists and arms. Dean flushes and turns away from Sam as he lifts the groceries onto the counter with a quiet grunt. 

“Nice job, He-Man. Maybe next time you could try multiple trips?” 

“Go out? More than once? For groceries? Sam, it’s like you don’t even know me.” Dean starts unpacking the bags, pausing when he reaches a certain jar. “Cas! We’re in the kitchen!” 

On the opposite side of the kitchen, Sam starts to hum something that sounds like needy baby needy baby. Dean debates throwing a can of green beans at the back of his shaggy moose head. He settles for lobbing a poisonous glare at Sam’s head and not letting up until his brother turns around. 

“Hey, he dipped out on grocery shopping. The least he could do is come and help put the stuff away.” Plus Dean bought a jar of the good stuff for Cas, organic, comb in honey. It cost him an arm and a leg, but it’ll be worth it once he sees the pleased, shy smile spread across Cas’ face, which he can’t see until his boyfriend makes his way to the kitchen. 

Sam must catch sight of the honey because he lets out a very unflattering snort. Dean defensively scoops the honey out of sight. “It’s good for the environment,” he defends, despite the fact that he’s never recycled a day in his life. 

“Sure.” Sam really shouldn’t sound so smug, Mr. I Drink Kale Smoothies and Poop Compost. “Look, all I’m saying is that if my boyfriend had me that whipped, then I would at least own it.” 

“Your boyfriend would run away from your ugly face,” Dean snidely digs. Far from dissolving into a snotty mess, Sam just makes a very rude gesture involving use of a singular finger, and turns around to continue stocking the freezer with pizza rolls. 

The first sign of trouble is a singular sneeze. Dean shakes it off--it was raining outside, pollen is in the air, and the bunker that they live in was made by a bunch of old, dead guys, so there’s bound to be some dust. 

The second, third, and fourth sneezes come as more of a puzzle. 

Sam, ever the solicitous brother, raises an eyebrow. “You dying or what?” he asks. 

“Or what,” Dean wheezes, though his eyes are watery and itchy. A rattle starts in his throat as another sneeze rocks through his body. This is not normal. In fact, he only gets like this when...

Cas walks into the kitchen, wearing jeans and one of Dean’s hoodies that’s just a bit too big for him in the arms (though it stretches delightfully across his chest and shoulders). As soon as he crosses the threshold of the kitchen, as if on command, Dean sneezes. 

Through watery eyes, Dean squints at the suspicious bulge in the front of the hoodie pocket. Castiel casually shifts to the side to hide it, but it’s too late. Dean just saw something move. Cas might be happy to see him, but he’s nowhere near that happy. 

“Whatcha got there Cas?” He tries to make it clear from his tone that his question is not a polite request. 

It’s not every day that Dean gets to see a former angel of the Lord acting shifty, but that’s exactly what he gets to see as Cas tries to sidle his way out of the kitchen. “Cas,” Dean barks. Cas shuffles his feet as he plasters a very unconvincing look of innocence on his face. “What’s in your pocket?”

His facade of hardass suffers from the sneeze that rockets through his body, but it’s enough. Cas walks into the kitchen. Sam, intrigued by the drama, draws closer, but Dean’s eyes are focused on Cas’ hand as it dips into the hoodie pocket. 

Castiel withdraws his hand, holding his burden out for inspection. Out of the corner of his eye, Dean sees Sam’s mouth drop open in a paroxysm of delight (fucking softie). For his part, Dean greets the reveal with three consecutive sneezes, each one more violent than the last. 

“Cas,” Dean finally says, sniffling around his words, “where did that cat come from?” 

The cat in question can’t be much more than a kitten. It sits easily in Cas’ large hand. Luminous green eyes blink up slowly at him through a haze of black fur. As Dean watches, the kitten opens its mouth, revealing tiny sharp teeth and a pink tongue. A soft mew fills the space. 

Dean answers it with a sniffle. 

“I was out in the garden earlier today,” Cas begins. He doesn’t even have the good grace to look guilty as he pulls the kitten in close to his chest. Dean winces (that’s a hell of a lot of dander and fur that’s winding up on an article of clothing that still technically belongs to him) before he outright flinches as the kitten digs its claws into the fabric. Say goodbye to that particular hoodie. 

“It was just starting to rain and I found her.” Cas looks at him, all huge blue eyes and plaintive voice. “She was cold and shivering. I don’t think that she’d eaten for several days.” 

Great. Just great. Dean can already see where this is going and exactly what parts they’re all going to fall into. Cas, the crusader for justice and kindness, Sam, the well-intentioned supporter, and Dean, the cruel hand of logic. 

“Well, feed her, and then after the rain finishes we can take her to the shelter.” 

Next to him, Sam gasps. Cas’ mouth turns down in a stubborn frown. 

“Dean, the shelter is a kill shelter.” Sam’s voice sounds as scandalized as though Dean had suggested that they carpet bomb the whole town. 

“It’s a kitten. It’s cute. It’ll get adopted in like three seconds. I mean, it’s already got the two of you wrapped around its little dagger claws.” 

There’s something embarrassing about the soppy eyes that both Sam and Cas shoot towards the kitten. No angel should look that sickly sweet. 

“Dean, cats are fairly low maintenance,” Cas begins, which is exactly where Dean thought this talk was headed. 

“I have allergies!” Dean protests, to be met with unsympathetic looks from both his brother and his boyfriend. Traitors. “Plus, who’s going to take care of it when we go on hunts? We going to pay the neighbors to come over into our super secret bunker filled with satanic stuff?” 

Cas’ mouth flattens. “There are several establishments in town which cater to the boarding of pets.” Great. He’s already done research. “Also, many stores offer over the counter products designed to alleviate the symptoms of allergies.” 

Between Sam’s puppy eyes and Cas’ jutting lower lip, Dean feels his defenses wavering. “You’d better keep it away from my room. And if it starts pissing on the floors or tearing up the furniture, it’s out of here. And you’re,” he points to both Sam and Cas, “going to pay for my allergy meds. And you’re going to feed it and pay for all its stuff.” He’s never felt more like a dad than in that moment, lecturing his brother and boyfriend on the proper care of the cat. “This is your pet; I’m not going to take care of it!” 

Cas nods earnestly before he walks across the kitchen and kisses the bolt of his jaw, right in the sweet spot that always turns Dean weak in the knees. Bastard knows exactly how to play him. Dean turns his head to kiss Cas properly, ignoring Sam’s gagging noises in the background. Cas hums into the kiss, his teeth ghosting over Dean’s lower lip in a hint of a tease. 

Dean’s just ready to make it a proper kiss, Sam be damned, when he’s stabbed. Yelping in pain, he jumps backward, glaring at the tiny, cockblocking, ball of fluff still held in Cas’ hands. The kitten retracts the minuscule knives attached to its paws as it blinks innocently up at him.

“Oh, I think you must have squashed her,” Cas says, rubbing a finger underneath the kitten’s chin.

For its part, the kitten yawns at Dean before falling asleep. 

“Yeah,” Dean mutters, massaging at his wound (seriously, he’s bleeding and Sam is just laughing at him like an asshole). “Yeah, this is going to turn out swell.

(It comes to no one’s surprise, least of all Dean’s, when he goes to bed and finds not only Castiel, but the kitten curled up on his mattress. I said she’s not allowed on the bed, Dean tries, but the protest is weak at best, especially when Cas has decided to play dirty and is lying bare-chested with the sheet artfully draped over his waist. 

Well, I could take her back to my room, Cas murmurs, scooping up the kitten, and Dean’s going hellishly soft in his old age because he just says Over my dead body, before crawling over the mattress to where Cas waits. The kitten finds her way to the floor. 

In the morning, Dean wakes up with his nose running and his eyes gummy, due to the fucking cat who has decided to sleep less than a foot away from his face. The heated kiss that Cas gives him when he wakes up only partially helps to stop his bitching.)

[ive-got-ships-to-draw]

Legosi x Haru

All he could ever want

Legosi can't help but stare sometimes. It's a bad habit, especially with herbivores. It's safe to say he does this more often with Haru, his eyes are practically glued to her.

Today, as he's watching her talk about how her flowers have been doing, he notices her little sniffles between sentences. Two to three sniffs for each sentence. That's too much, isn't is? Is it allergies? Is she coming down with something? Is it rude to ask someone why they're sniffling so much? Well, he's sure she wouldn't mind. Right? It's worth a shot...

"Haru, are your allergies acting up?" Haru perks up at the sudden question.

"Huh? Oh, uh, probably. Lots of dust and pollen and stuff..."

"Are you sure? You aren't dizzy, or have a sore throat?" His tail smacks the ground a bit and he leans in closer. Haru crosses her arms on the small coffee table.

"Hmm, I guess my throat is a little itchy-"

"Are you getting sick?"

"Uhh I dunno, I can't really tell-"

"I know how to make miso soup at least! And I can go buy some medicine if you... if you want me to, that is!"

"Hey, hey, calm down! I'm fine. If it gets worse, I'll let you know, okay?"

Legosi shrinks back down a bit, and nods dismissively. Maybe that was a bit too much... It could just be the pollen, after all.

"Oh, yeah so! I think you could use a plant or two in here. Maybe some cacti... Or a fern? Or maybe you'd like some flowers? I know having plants around makes a house feel more like home."

"That sounds good!"

"Okay, I'll help you pick out something from my garden! Free of charge!"

The idea of having something to remind him of Haru when she's not around leaves Legosi excited for that day. He wonders what plant she'll pick for him...

His daydream of plants is interrupted, however, as Haru lets out a loud sneeze too big for her tiny body.

"Aaahhh... sorry! You got any tissues?"

"Here!!" Legosi hands her his handkerchief.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Phew! ... I think so. Look. If I get sick, I'll stop by and you can help me out, but I'm pretty sure its just allergies!"

"... Okay."

The next day, Legosi is anxiously waiting around. He can't help but worry about Haru. He hasn't heard from her yet. She could be right, that it was just allergies, but the wait is agonizing. Which is why he's practically flinging the door open when he hears the tiniest knock. He's greeted by Haru gazing up at him, a lazy smile on her face. He can't hide his excited tail at seeing her finally, it brushes against his legs.

"Hiii." She greets him with a small wave.

"How are you feeling?"

"Ahah... guess you were right. Its totally a cold. I'm all stuffed up. And man, is it hot! ...Agh this stinks!" She shakes her head in disappointment. "I could've just toughed it out, but, you know... You seemed like you wanted to help."

His tail droops as he really starts to notice the changes since yesterday. She's a bit unsteady, shifting her weight like she's trying to keep her balance under control. Her little sniffs are more persistent too. Snapping out of a worried haze, he holds the door open wider, moving aside.

"Uh, you can come in! Sorry, feel free to get comfortable..."

"Thanks." Haru drags her feet as she walks in and sits down at the table with a huff, her head resting in her hand. Legosi idles around the kitchen area.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Not really, I don't have much of an appetite right now."

"Oh... do you want some water?"

"Yeah, sure." Legosi waves a bottle in her direction and she takes a swig gratefully. Her gaze drifts into a distant corner, not really focusing on anything, fidgeting with the bottle in her hand. She let's out a sigh. The floor creaks as Legosi sits down at her side, leaning in closely. He places the back of his hand on her head carefully, the touch surprises her a bit. She weakly shoves him away. "Hey, hey! I don't want you getting sick, don't get so close!" Legosi shrinks back a bit, still very concerned. "Ah, sorry... I usually just hide out in my room when I'm sick. Never really liked all the fuss... But you're just trying to help. I shouldn't push you away."

As if to apologize, she grabs his hand and puts it against her face firmly. "Your hands are so big! They can cover my whole face!" She laughs, her breath feels very warm. Legosi can't help but enjoy her touch. Once Haru let's go, she tucks her hands into her lap. "You should wash your hands..."

Legosi hurriedly washes his hands in the kitchen sink as Haru stands up, her legs wobble under the weight. "I should probably lie down for a bit..." On her way to the futon, she stumbles over her feet. Before she can hit the floor, she's swiftly caught by Legosi, her weight supported by both his arms. He sets her down on the futon gently. Haru smiles up at him. "Thanks, I just got a bit dizzy is all."

"I should really go get you some medicine. Uhhh though maybe I'll make some tea first? So you'll have something while I'm away... Do you want some tea, Haru?"

"I guess tea would be nice..."

Legosi fills an old kettle with water and prepares the tea hastily. Haru smiles as she watches him pace around anxiously. The sight reminds her of how worried her mother would get when she was sick as a child. She would always complain, but she was glad someone cared.

Legosi can't help but pace and busy himself. Caring for someone so small and delicate feels like a very important duty. Especially since its Haru! That makes it even more crucial that he does this right! She had to be comfortable, she needs to be warm, she needs to eat, to stay hydrated, and-

Legosi jumps at the kettle's screeching whistle. He hurriedly prepares the tea, burning himself a few times in the process, but succeeding nonetheless. He hears Haru laugh at his clumsiness, and appreciates that she even has the energy to. When the cup is finally ready, he carefully brings it over to Haru. She takes the cup and breaths in the aroma. Legosi is already halfway out the door and fumbling with his jacket.

"Uh, so, I'll be back soon!! Enjoy the tea, and make sure you rest while I'm gone! I'm going to go get some medicine!" He swiftly closes the door, and his footsteps fade as he rushes out. The silence doesn't last, however, as those same footsteps shuffle back to the door and hurriedly lock it, a muffled apology is heard from the other side as they stomp off again. Haru sips at her tea, smiling warmly. As she finishes the cup, she plops over on the futon, feeling the tension slowly leave her body.

It sure is nice to be taken care of. Of course she would rather avoid worrying others, but when its Legosi, it feels... okay. It truly feels as though he'd like nothing more than to care for her. And that feeling is better than anything. She knows how nice it is to take care of others. When a flower is wilting, she always gets it to perk up again. She hopes Legosi will let her worry about him more often. But that guy is just so oblivious to that stuff... If he were sick, she is sure she'd have to practically tie him down to make him stay. The image of him collapsing from working himself too hard always sends a shiver down her spine. Though that could just be the cold... She burrows under the blanket as the shivering starts to get more intense. Maybe when he gets back, he'll let her hug him close.

The creaking from the front door wakes Haru. She sits up and rubs her eyes. Legosi hobbles into the room, kicking the door closed. He's carrying way too many bags. He piles them all on the counter.

"Sorry for waking you... I ran into Louis, and he bought a few things for you. Some tissues, pudding... Vegetable juice... Some ice packs... Oh, and I got some medicine!"

"How's he doing?"

"He's fine, more concerned about you, apparently. But I'm not surprised..."

"Mm-hm..."

Legosi holds out an ice pack. "Ooh, yes please." She takes it and holds it against her cheek, lovingly. "Aaaaahhh thank god..." She plops back down on the futon, hugging the ice pack to her face.

"Before you go back to sleep, you should take some medicine... here." She takes the pills from his hand.

"'Kay..." she swallows the pills with a swig of tea. "Thanks, Legosi."

"You're welcome. I'm glad you came to me before it got any worse..." Haru smiles, tracing her fingers around the large cup in her hands. After putting a few things away, Legosi kneels down at Haru's side. He gently feels her forehead. They linger in heavy silence, until Haru smirks a bit. Still maintaining eye contact, she quickly pecks Legosi on the nose. He flinches on contact, freezing up. Haru can't help but laugh at his priceless expression. This big wolf suddenly looks like he could float away at any second, his tail standing straight up and eyes wider than usual. She watches his expression slowly shift to something more firm, and kind, and she leans into him as he bends down and embraces her in an overwhelmingly warm hug. Her arms clutch his shirt and he wraps his long arms around her form, strong, but gentle. A hug that describes Legosi, wholeheartedly.

"Haru... I love you..."

"Mmhh..." she softly hums, burrowing her head into his neck. They stay there for a long while, until Haru completely relaxes in his grip. Legosi leans back, and lies her back down on the futon. She curls into the pillow with a content sigh. Spotting the ice pack nearby, he places it by Haru. She instinctively grabs it and holds it close. She's just... so small. And cute. He contemplates taking a picture for a bit too long, but decides against it. He'll just commit the image to memory...

He wonders if he should try to make soup. Some miso soup and rice? That should be easy enough... And now that she's taken some medicine, maybe she'll feel better when she wakes up. Good enough to eat something. With a determined nod, he gets to work, grateful that he can do this for someone he cares so deeply about.

This is really all he could ever want.

~~~~~

[marvelousstevetony]

That’s What Friends Are For

Set in a world where all the Avengers live happily together in Avengers Tower. Everyone gets along, no friendship-threatening arguments (Civil War who?). Pre-slash stevtony, the Avengers are good friends. 

This will (hopefully) have multiple parts :)

Part 1: 

————————

Spring in New York city is slowly setting in. The weather is getting warmer, the trees are coming into leaf, the flowers are blooming, and the birds are tweeting and chirping like their lives depend on it, so loud that you can hear it in spite of the noisy traffic in the busy city. Couples are going on walks and picnics in Central Park, children are eating ice cream, and people are wearing shorts and t-shirts, even though it is still slightly too chilly whenever the light breeze catches on. 

Even the Avengers love the transition from the cold and frosty winter, to the sunny and joyful spring-time.

All things considered, spring is lovely, and most of if not the entire team would argue that it is the best time of the year to spend in New York.

Well, that excludes Steve. Steve was not having any of it. 

“ehhTIISH’oo! Ugh.”

Because, for Steve, spring-time meant allergy-season. And Steve absolutely hated allergy-season.

Growing up, Steve probably had even possible seasonal allergy, and he had hoped they’d faded away as he got the serum. But just like Dr. Erskine had said. The serum amplifies everything that’s inside. Good becomes great. Bad becomes worse. 

Steve hadn’t considered that would also apply to his allergies. At least his asthma isn’t as bad, which he doesn’t quite understand why, but definitely doesn’t complain about. The allergies, though? Well, they don’t appear as frequent as they used to, at least not for longer time periods, but when do hit him. Oh God, that’s a whole different story.

“uh-huhTSCHusshh! SNFF! h’UHh… uhhISCHIEW!” 

He sneezes off to the side, his hair falling into his eyes as his waist snaps in half. Rubbing at his itchy eyes, he lets out a stuffy sigh and leans back in his chair.

He’s waiting for the rest of the team to turn up for the mandatory post-operation debrief and, as usual, Steve’s the first to show. Somehow, even when voluntarily coordinating search and rescue, he always manages to escape medical and get ready to close up for the day. Maybe it’s because he hates procrastinating, or maybe he’s just too exhausted and beat up to keep his head clear for long. Today, it’s definitely the latter. 

He wants nothing more than to just go to bed, but he has an important work meeting afterwards. As if fighting off an army of robotic aliens wasn’t enough for one day.

“SnffSNF! huhh- hutschhuh! he-uhh…” He brings up an arm, aiming the sneeze at his elbow, keeping it up as he feels another one coming on, but it’s stuck. Great, he thinks to himself and lets out a congested grunt.

“You hangin’ in there, Stevie?” 

Looking up with bleary eyes, Steve sees Bucky emerging from the door. He’s leaning against the door frame, his hair still damp from sweat and kept in a bun, a teasing smirk playing on his lips.

“uhh… yeeh- yeah, I’m fine. snf! Just wanna get this over with.”

“That makes two of us,” Bucky moves to sit down next to Steve, wincing slightly when he rolls his shoulder.

“Your arm okay?” Steve frowns a little, concern clear on his face. He knows not to worry too much, but he can’t help it.

“It’ll be okay,” Bucky shrugs. “Stark’s going to take a look at it after debrief. If he and the rest of them could speed the fuck up and actually get here,” he quips with a grin.

Steve huffs a laugh and gives a nod. “Yeah. Should be here soon enough, I hope. I have to be somewhere after this.”

Bucky cocks an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, in bed after a long shower. That’s where you should be. You look like shit.”

“Gee, thanks, Buck. Always so supportive,” Steve jokes, lightly nudging Bucky good shoulder. “Wish I could be going to bed, though. Have a meeting, can’t miss it.”

“Y’know, this is the worst time for you. You literally spent hours outside today. Pollen count’s ridiculous. You’re going to be a mess — a bigger mess — by tonight.”

“I know,” Steve sighs heavily and harshly scrubs at his face. Just hearing someone say the word pollen makes his face prickle and his nose twitch uncontrollably. Steve sniffles quickly, and Bucky notices it immediately and quickly grabs a tissue from the side table and hands it to Steve, who thankfully accepts it. 

“Bless ya, punk,” Bucky says preemptively, smiling sympathetically. 

Steve gives him a displeased glare before burying his face in the soft material. “tiisshh! ish! heIIiishh! Guhh.” He sniffles thickly, and groans annoyedly. He’s gotten to the point where the sneezes do nothing apart from making him even more sniffly. Ridding the itch, it definitely does not.

“Those didn’t sound helpful at all,” Bucky murmurs and gives Steve’s shoulder a squeeze. 

Steve just shakes his head and worries at his nose with the tissue. “They weren’t.” 

Bucky glances over his shoulder, hoping that the rest of the team will enter soon enough, but it seems unlikely. He grunts as he stands and walks towards the door. “I’ll go tell them to get their shit together and hurry.”

Steve doesn’t get to object before Bucky has left the room, and, somehow, everyone is gathered in the room less than five minutes later. (How Bucky did that is a mystery to Steve. He’ll have to ask him how to do that later.)

***

About halfway through the debrief, Steve is ready to die. He’s kept fairly composed so far; frequent sniffles and teary eyes, but no sneezing yet. They are just about to discuss the damage and decide how to clean up to city after the numerous destructions when Steve’s nose starts tickling.

“Casualties?” he hears someone ask, but he’s too busy trying to fight off the itch, rubbing his nostrils with his knuckles, to perceive who asked. 

“Still unclear… 300 confirmed so far. Could be more,” Fury answers seriously. “We’ll hopefully have exact numbers once the city’s cleared.”

Steve tries to focus, he really does, but the tickle is growing stronger and his breath starts catching in small, desperate gasps. He turns to stifle a quick double into his shoulder, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to him. 

“hehNGXTt! hii’YINgch!”

Bucky could recognize that withheld sound anywhere, but he knows Steve wouldn’t want everyone’s eyes staring at him so he refrains from blessing him. Natasha, who everyone knows is extremely observant, also seems to notice as she eyes Steve when his body jerks slightly. She catches Bucky’s eyes as they’re both watch their miserable friend, and the look they share doesn’t need any words. 

Steve doesn’t even get a chance to breathe before the tingling sensation comes back, more powerful than before, and Steve knows it’s a loosing battle.

“huh- HhhehISHhoo!”

As expected, the group turns to look at him and mumbles a chorus of blessings.

“Bless ya,” he hears Bucky mumble quietly, and Clint offers a gesundheit, which seems to be his standard reaction to anyone who sneezes. Natasha discretely reaches for a tissue, presses it into his hands under the table and nods demandingly at it. 

As he subtly wipes his nose with it, it seems to bring the tickle back and Steve cups his face and lets the sneezes slip out.

“h’tSCHHoo! Hih! Eh’hrushhoo!”

He sighs defeatedly and nods his thanks when a few people bless him. 

Tony, who’s been uncharacteristically quiet, narrows his eyes at Steve. He’s spent the better half of the debrief doing anything but pay attention to what Fury was saying, impatiently waiting for the meeting to finish. Noticing Steve’s bleary eyes and his pink nostrils, Tony figures Steve wants Fury to shut up even more than he does, which in itself in an accomplishment. 

As if Tony looking at him makes Steve’s nose twitch, Steve’s eyes flutter and his nose scrunches up. 

“tishh! ehhIIiishh’oo! heihhUushiew!” The fit is ticklish, makes his throat scratchy and Steve can feel the congestion pressing behind his eyes and sinuses. 

Tony is now on the verge of snapping, telling Fury to shut it and round up so Steve doesn’t have to suffer any more than he already is. The guy seriously needs something to help him breathe. Tony wonders if Claritin is strong enough or if he’s going to have to spend the entire night figuring out some kind of super-soldier-allergy-shot, because he just couldn’t take another look at Steve literally sneezing his brains out. So he figures he has to stop Fury before Steve’s going to die on them. Well, dying might be an exaggeration, but judging from Steve’s expression it’s not too far off. (If anyone asks, though, it’s because Steve’s constant sniffling is annoying as hell, but in reality, Tony can’t help but feel sympathetic for his friend. Nobody can know that. Tony doesn’t do sympathy.)

He considers making JARVIS send out some sort of emergency alarm to stop the meeting, but he figures getting on Fury’s wrong side is a bad call, so he bites tongue, and impressively so. He is Tony Stark, after all, and he’s not exactly known for keeping his mouth shut. Especially when he should. But this time, he does. He makes a mental note to tell that to Pepper. She would be so proud. 

***

When the debrief is finally over, Steve is half asleep, his head resting on his hand. The ten minutes of nearly  constant sniffling and sneezing in the middle of the meeting exhausted him deeply, even his nose seemed too tired to itch anymore.

He doesn’t even recall the debrief ending before Bucky nudges him and he jerks awake, sitting up straight. People are shuffling out of the room as he blinks the confusion away. 

Nat and Bucky are already standing up when he’s back to consciousness, both smiling solicitously at him. 

“You really should be going to bed, punk,” Bucky frowns a little and Steve responds with a shrug.

“I might actually agree with Barnes on this one. You look wiped out. I think you’ve earned some well deserved rest after today, soldier,” Natasha winks kindly. 

“Yeah, well, you tell Fury that,” Steve sighs. “Don’t worry ‘bout me, though. I’ll be going straight to sleep when I’m finished.” 

Natasha playfully ruffles his hair, Bucky gives him an affectionate pat on the arm, and with that, the two of them flees the room. 

Steve still hasn’t raised himself from the chair. His body feels heavy and drained, and for once, he might actually consider procrastinate going to the meeting. Pinching the bridge of his nose as he squeezes his eyes shut, he takes another moment to mentally prepare dealing with Fury, once again. 

“You getting attached to the chair there, Rudolph?” Tony teases with a perky smile as he walks towards Steve, who is surprised by the sudden voice. He hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t alone. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess so,” he chuckles lightly. “I have to be somewhere I definitely don’t want to be.”

“Meeting?”

Steve nods despairingly and Tony clicks his tongue.

“That sucks… You sound like someone who needs some time to relax. And to find some medicine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this. I mean, God, you’re pathetic,” Tony jokes and the corners of Steve’s mouth quirk upwards. 

“You probably haven’t. I can’t even remember the laahhst time I-I snf! felt like thiiihs. Huhh- huEEIishh’oo!” Steve says through hitchy breaths and rushes to finish the sentence before catching a quick single in the tissue he still has in his hand.

“Bless you.”

“Tha- thaahuhISHH! Sorry, thanks,” he snuffled into the crumpled piece of fabric. “h’ESHhihh! Oh, Lord have mercy on me.”

Tony hands him a fresh tissue and Steve gratefully accepts it, giving a quick, ineffective blow. By this point, he’s basically unable to breathe through his nose, but he doesn’t want to gross Tony out any more than he already is. 

Tony, however, doesn’t seem to mind. “Damn, Rogers, you’re on a roll, huh? Look. I can probably pull a few strings, get you out of whatever torture they’re sending you into.”

“Are you- really?” 

“Sure,” Tony shrugs.

“That- that would actually be really nice,” Steve admits shyly. He’s normally not one to ask for help, but Lord knows he needs it right now. “I owe you one.”

“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it,” Tony waves a hand. “You’ll just have to make me breakfast for the next three months, get me coffee whenever I want, babysit Clint-“

Steve laughs and elbows him.

“No, really. It’s nothing, Cap,” he says as he stands up and offers Steve a hand, which the soldier grabs and pulls himself to his feet. They exit the room together walking towards the elevator. 

“Do you normally sneeze this much, by the way? I mean, you’ve probably sneezed, like, 30 times in he last hour.”

“huUShh’oo! Uhh, I-I don’t think so. I gue-. Tony?” Steve interrupts himself as Tony stopped in his tracks.

“That was so weird. Did you just sneeze on command. Like, literally just as I said the word?”

“I think there’s just a pretty good chance of me sneezing at any second, Tony.” He chuckles and shakes his head fondly.

Tony follows up and the two of them walk in silence until they reach the elevator. 

“So. You go take a shower, and I’ll see to get you some meds after talking to Fury… If I’m not there in an hour or less, send out a search team, just in case Fury actually kills me,” Tony jokes.

Steve smiles tiredly at Tony as he presses the ‘up’  button on the elevator. “Thanks again, Tony. I really appreciate it.”

***

“Stark!”

Tony sighs at the sound of the recognizable voice and turns on his heels. He had to face it sooner or later.

“Nick! Always a pleasure,” Tony smiles overly wide at Fury, who rolls his eyes over someone using his first name, but ultimately decides to ignore it. It’s been a long day already, and Fury is not in the mood to deal with Tony and his sharp-witted tongue right now.

“Where’s Rogers?”

“Rogers? You mean Steve? Oh, um about that… He’s in his room,” Tony says innocently. 

“In his—? I hope he’s aware of the fact that we’re having a meeting in less than five minutes?” Fury cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah, so… He’s not going to be there. Sorry. He’s having some… trouble. You know, you saw him at debrief, I don’t think he’d be able to—“ 

“God damnit, Rogers,” Fury mutters under his breath, then scowls. “I’ll let this one slide. But only this once. It’s been a long day, anyways.”

Huh. That went a lot smoother than Tony had anticipated. Fury actually wasn’t completely heartless.

“I’ll be sure to pass on the message. Good talk, Director,” Tony claps Fury on the shoulder and is immediately out. As he walks, he gives his body a shake. He seriously hated biting his tongue, acting nice and actively trying to avoid pissing anyone off, and even a five sentence conversation with Fury was a stretch, but he thinks he did okay, all things considered. He makes another mental note to tell that to Pepper as well. She’d be even prouder. 

***

“Knock knock.” Tony calls. “Cap?”

“In heeh-here! Hur’ESHH!”

Strolling towards the bedroom where the response came from, Tony tries to balance all the remedies he’d picked up on his way. The door in ajar, and Tony pushes it open with his shoulder, both hands and arms occupied. As soon as he enters the room, he suddenly drops about half of the things he’d been carrying on the floor.

In front of him stands Steve. His hair is damp from the shower and falling into his eyes. He’s wearing a pair of oversized joggers that would look ridiculous if they were worn by anyone but Steve. His cheeks are flushed pink from the heat from the shower and his nose a similar shade but probably for entirely different reason. That, and he’s not wearing a shirt. 

He’s not wearing a shirt, Tony repeats in his mind. Damn. Tony has seen Steve shirtless before, but this is usually after a battle when Steve’s covered in blood and sweat, and definitely not coming straight out of a warm shower with glowing and clean skin.

And then he realizes that he’d just dropped everything on the floor and bends down to start picking the things up. “Would it have hurt to put on a shirt?” Tony mumbles lowly.

“Sorry, I was just getting dressed,” Steve smiles sheepishly as he helps Tony fetch the things. “You really went to town with the remedies, huh?” 

Tony shrugs. “You know me. Why choose one when you can have them all?”

“Because it’s unnecessary?” Steve teases. “Seriously, though, the tissues had been just fine.”

“Ugh, are you always this unappreciative? God, how rude of you, Rogers.”

Steve laughs and shakes his head fondly. “That’s not what I meant. I really do appreciate it, but you shouldn’t have gone out of your way to all get this.”

“Aaand he’s back to being good, old, righteous Captain America… should have known. I didn’t, by the way. I ran into Nat and Barnes. They were on their way to provide you with all of these different supplies and medicines. If I’m being honest, which, obviously, I always am, I don’t even know what half of these things are.”

“Probably won’t work on me anyways. Medicine usually doesn’t with my metabolism,” Steve says as he reaches for the box of tissues Tony had dropped. 

“Hm… You seem better, though?” Tony asks and Steve nods in agreement.

“Yeah, I think the shower did me good. I was probably covered in whatever is bothering m-me, huh— huhhISH’iew! Maybe not entirely, though” Steve comments after a sudden, strong sneeze crept up on him.

With a wry smile, Tony stands up and puts the stuff on Steve’s bedside table. He turns on the night light as Steve grabs the shirt he had laid out on the bed and pulls it over his head. 

“So.” 

“So,” Steve echoes.

“I’ll get going, and you, big guy, are heading straight to sleep,” Tony commands, eyeing the perfectly made bed, because of course Steve’s bed would be flawlessly made. Everything just has to be in order when it comes to Steve. He really is a hundred years old, Tony thinks. 

Steve chuckles and obeys, his bare feet making soft and quiet noises as he pads across the hard wood floor.

“Yessir,” Steve says, shuffling to get under the duvet. “Oh, and thanks again, Tony.”

“That’s what friends are for. See you tomorrow, Winghead,” Tony smiles and shuts off the ceiling light. The bedside lamp illuminates Steve’s face with golden beams. His expression is tired and gentle and thankful.

“See you tomorrow, Shellhead,” Steve returns. 

And with that, Tony closes the door to Steve’s bedroom. He stays outside for a few seconds until the weak light that shines through the key hole goes out and smiles satisfied.

***

[riotinoakland]

Does My Dog Own Allergies?

This blog post is created by our holistic vet at "I and also love as well as you", Dr. Angie Krause, DVM, CVA, CCRT.

It's allergic reaction period! You might wake up with a drippy nose and also watery eyes, as well as make a decision to take an over-the-counter medicine to ease your signs as well as proceed with your day. Yet what regarding your dog? Review our guide to canine allergies - from kinds of irritants, to the symptoms to look for as well as just how to treat them.

Symptoms Of Allergies

Your dog's allergic reactions might materialize as a runny nose and also itchy eyes, just as they appear for us. Nevertheless, dogs are a lot more typically itchy as a result of food as well as environmental allergic reactions. Symptoms of allergies consist of:

Licking & chewing paws

Scratching

Locations

Persistent ear infections

Scooting

Hyperpigmentation (skin with a blackish layer).

Nasal congestion (much less usual).

Sneezing (less common).

Red, watery eyes (less typical).

What Is Causing My Dog's Allergies?

Dogs can be adverse food or points in their environment (dust, plant pollen etc). Drastically sensitive dogs tend to have a combination of both food and ecological allergies. Meats and healthy protein abundant foods are the most common irritants. However, dogs can be allergic to nearly any food.

What Is My Dog Allergic To?

Prior to we begin with diet changes and also various other therapies, it's essential to ensure your dog doesn't have any kind of skin parasites. The majority of these pests can be related to a quick journey to the vet. Additionally, if your dog has scraped themselves raw or has a deep skin infection, prescription antibiotics might be required to quit the impulse.

When you have actually cleaned up any kind of infection as well as dismissed mites, lice and also fleas, it's time to figure out if your dog has food allergic reactions. Right here are the steps I adhere to for itchy individuals in my practice. 

Action 1: Eliminate grains, consisting of corn and wheat.

If no renovation in 4-6 weeks.

Action 2: Switch to a raw diet regimen. Raw diet plans transform the microorganisms in the gut that impact the immune system.

If no renovation in 4-6 weeks.

Action 3: Switch meat sources. Make certain that there is only one meat source in all deals with and food provided.

If no enhancement in 4-6 weeks.

Action 4: Try an elimination diet. This consists of feeding a diet plan with just a couple of components. Home cooking is better to prevent cross contamination. An example removal diet would include beef, potatoes as well as carrots.

If there is no improvement or you don't have time to cook for your puppy.

Action 5: Use an amino acid based diet. This is the fastest method to identify if your dog's signs and symptoms are brought on by food allergies. You can find out more about amino acid based diet regimens right here.

At any time you can avoid to tip 5 if your dog is miserable or you are really feeling disappointed!

How Can I Make My Dog Better?

If you have actually successfully determined as well as gotten rid of angering foods, and your puppy is still scratchy, it's time to consider ecological allergic reactions as a reason. Immunotherapy is a great choice to assist the body immune system come to be much less reactive to anything from dust mites to plant pollen. Immunotherapy is an all-natural means to decrease allergic reactions by presenting the immune system with small amounts of the offending irritant two times daily. I prefer utilizing vets that focus on dermatology when possible. You can find a veterinary dermatologist to assist your dog here.

If your dog is unpleasant and also scratching, there are a few medicines that can stop the itch extremely rapidly. These include steroids: Apoquel and also Cytopoint. While these medications are not one of the most all-natural option, they can save your dog from a terrible circumstance. Simply bear in mind, if you have the ability to recognize food allergies and make use of immunotherapy, your dog might not require these drugs permanently.

Unfortunately, the very same non-prescription antihistamines that aid your signs hardly ever assist dogs.

Itchy, Allergic Dog Breeds.

While any dog can have allergic reactions, the following breeds are extra commonly itchy:.

Labrador Retrievers.

Golden Retrievers.

Terriers.

Chihuahuas.

German Shepherds.

Rottweilers.

Are you enjoyed by a scratchy, sensitive dog? Just how do you assist your pup live even more easily with allergic reactions? I would enjoy to learn through you in the comments below!

Large hugs to you and also your puppy!

[hurt-care]

eyy my dude if you’re still taking prompts i’d like to offer my hopes and dreams: remus lupin with a focus on stifling and/or holdbacks (+bonus points if he isn’t able to anymore by the end or is told to stop) with sirius/remus? thank you for your time

You know I will never turn down a Lupin prompt ;)

-

Remus appears at the base of the hill with the crack of Apparation and he holds his wand at the ready, scanning the area around him. Sirius raises a hand and waves from his spot among a crop of trees in the distance. Remus looks exhausted as he trudges over to the forest edge, rubbing at one of his eyes as he walks. Sirius frowns and extends his arm to put it around Remus' shoulders.

“Hiya, Moons,” he says. “You alright?”

He plants a kiss on Remus' eyebrow and grins at him.

Remus nods and stifles a yawn.

“Yeah, fine,” he says. “Didn't sleep well last night.”

“Well, we have a long afternoon ahead of us,” Sirius replies. “I don't know why we can't just set some kind of surveillance charm instead of sitting in a forest starring at a house.”

“I guess Dumbledore has his reasons,” Remus says. “He always does.”

“You should probably start questioning those reasons,” Sirius replies. “I know you think he's your high and mighty saviour but frankly I have more important shit to be doing that staring at a supposed Death Eater hideout.”

“Yeah, like staying out to half-three with James?”

Sirius shoves him playfully.

“You didn't even stir when I came in. And if you didn't notice, I was up and showered and gone before you were even awake this morning.”

“I heard you leave,” Remus says. “You walk like a hippogriff with tap shoes on.”

Sirius snorts a laugh at the mental image.

“I'm not going to ask how you know what that sounds like. What you get up to in your personal time is your own business.”

They walk through the trees and down a path towards a rugged hillside manor house. The spring air is warm and sunshine is filtering through the trees, making dappled patterns on the ground and illuminating various floating motes of pollen and dust and tiny flies. It would be all together lovely day if not for the mind-numbing mission.

They find a spot where they can comfortably sit back-to-back with eyes on the house and with enough of an angle to check behind them for anyone approaching that way. Sirius casts a silencing charm on the air around them so they can speak freely while Remus puts up a disillusionment charm to keep prying eyes away. They settle down on the dirt ground, spine-to-spine, and wait.

“In case you were wondering,” Sirius says.

“I wasn't.”

“I was not out with James until half-three. James went home like a good husband at one and then I ran into Marlene and Fabian, and then we ended up at Maudie's until closing.”

Remus tilts his head back and shakes it slowly against Sirius'.

“You're incorrigible,” he says. “And here I was going to owl James and tell him off for being a bad influence.”

“Prongs is innocent in all this,” Sirius says with a laugh. “I promise. Don't get him into trouble with Lils.”

Remus does not respond, but instead twitches silently against Sirius' back, bobbing forward and then exhaling a quiet breath.

“Er...bless you?” Sirius says, confused. He hears the soft sniffle that follows and turns his head to look back at Remus.

“Merlin, Moons, don't give yourself an aneurysm.”

Remus shudders again, this time with a slightly more audible sound.

NghXHT!

He exhales again and presses his wrist to his nose, sniffling.

“Remus...”

“Stop,” Remus mutters. “I'm fine.”

“I'm just saying don't hold them in, that's all.”

“Because you're such an authority on healthy living,” Remus chides.

“Of course I am,” Sirius teases. “What do you think being a Pureblood is? We're bred for the prime of health.”

Ngh-TXHT!

Remus spasms against him again and Sirius nudges him with his elbow.

“There's a silencing spell on, you know.”

Tss'GHXT!

Remus breathes out with a shaky breath.

“I don't trust your shoddy silencing spells,” he whispers, wiping his nose again.

“Moony...” Sirius begins, trying a new approach. “You sure you're okay? You're not sick?”

“No,” Remus replies. “I'm fine. It's allergies.”

Sirius tucks his head back against Remus shoulder.

“Why didn't you take a potion?”

“Pay attention,” Remus admonishes, gesturing to the house. “Stop flirting with me---mehh---tsh'NGHT!”

He stifles again, almost inaudibly. His sniffling is getting wetter and more congested-sounding.

“Fuck surveillance,” Sirius says, digging in his pocket. “I could've sworn I had a handkerchief in here somewhere.”

“I've got one,” Remus replies. “But I'm saving it.”

“You're expecting to need it later?”

Eh-GHXT!

Sirius spins around, glaring at Remus who has his fingers pinched around his nose.

“For the love of Merlin, Lupin, what is going on?”

Remus eyes are looking swollen and pink in the sunlight and he blinks slowly at Sirius, not sure what to say. He tucks his head forward suddenly and stifles again into his own shoulder.

NGHXHT!

A tear leaks down his cheek and Sirius reaches to brush it away.

“Moony, why didn't you take a potion?”

“Ran out,” Remus says, resorting to pulling the handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his nose as it begins to stream.

“And you didn't think it was a good idea to go get more before you spent a day outside in the woods? You know how bad your allergies can get.”

Remus shrugs, staring at the ground and playing with a pinecone, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger.

“If you didn't have money, you can always grab some from me. You know there's a bag in my wardrobe.”

Eh-GXHT!

Remus shivers with another restrained sneeze, looking away from Sirius' intense gaze.

“Moony,” Sirius says softly, reaching out and stroking the man's hair in a sweet gesture. “I don't like seeing you uncomfortable.”

“Well, spring does this,” Remus says miserably, sniffling with a congested snort. “Took me ages to fall asleep last night. Too stuffed up.”

He shakes his head slowly, breathing shallowly through his mouth. He shudders once again, sneezing with his nose pressed into his arm.

Eh-GXHT! Ts'NGHT!

“It's no wonder you're stuffed up, holding them in like that,” Sirius says. He leans in and kisses him on the forehead before he stands, extending a hand down to Remus.

“C'mon,” he says. “We'll tell Dumbledore we had to abandon our post.”

Remus looks up through bloodshot eyes and nods.

“Ugh fine. I told you you're incorrigible.”

He allows himself to be hauled to his feet and Sirius side-along apparates them both back to their flat. They reappear in the sitting room with a loud CRACK! and Remus stumbles forward in the landing, sneezing freely.

Hurhh-TSGHHHT!

“That's the way,” Sirius says cheerfully. He circles his arms around Remus. “Poor, allergic Moony.”

Remus' head bobs against Sirius' shoulder.

Ngh'XHT!

“Stop that!” Sirius admonishes.

“I didn't want to sneeze all over you,” Remus mutters, rubbing at his itchy eyes.

Sirius kisses his cheek.

“I appreciate that. Put your sneezing self into the shower and I'll pop down to the apothecary for a potion, okay?”

“M'kay,” Remus begrudgingly agrees. “I'll pay you back later.”

“Whatever,” Sirius replies. He disappears again and Remus goes to rinse off the residual pollen from himself. When Sirius returns, Remus is sitting on the couch in his dressing gown, a handkerchief held to his nose. He's in the midst of a wrenching fit that he's trying but failing to stifle.

Hehh-tshhGXHHHT! Nghh'TSGHH!

Sirius uncorks the vial of potion and pushes it into Remus' grip. Remus drinks it and sighs with relief as the magic does its work. He wipes his nose with the handkerchief and gives it a final clearing blow.

“Thanks, Pads.”

Sirius captures his mouth in a kiss and then grins.

“You're welcome.”