the name of your sickness is...

The dumbest thing Yuuri has ever done in his life is not take antihistamines this morning. The second dumbest thing Yuuri has ever done is not bring antihistamines with him to a cherry blossom viewing.

He and Victor are having what should be a romantic experience - a picnic in the park under a canopy of cherry blossom trees. Victor had never seen the cherry blossoms blooming in Japan, so when they visited Yuuri’s family in April, that was a must-see.

But because he's an idiot, Yuuri forgot the other thing that happens in April - the tail end of cedar pollen season. At first, he hadn’t had any symptoms, but after three days of coating his sinuses and lungs with the stuff, it's starting to get to him. A lot. The cherry blossoms, which don’t normally bother him unless he’s already in hay fever mode, are making things worse. Yuuri sniffles, hoping it isn’t loud into to tip off his husband. Victor is distracted for the moment with scratching Makkachin behind the ears, but it won't be long before he notices that something's up. Yuuri wants them to have a nice time together, uninterrupted by Yuuri’s allergies - but barring that, he doesn't want Victor to worry about him.

He sniffles again, noticing that it’s a lot more difficult this time. Louder, too. One of his nostrils is blocked, and the other feels raw and itchy when he breathes through it. His nose is dripping. He can probably get away with blowing it once without Victor thinking anything is wrong.

“Want a drink?” asks Victor, passing him a can of yuzu chu-hi. Yuuri takes it, hoping that it will distract him from feeling like a clump of pollen is rolling around the inside of his sinuses. “Tha…thank—ahhh—!” He clamps his nose shut, knowing that if he sneezes once, he isn't going to stop sneezing all day. Victor looks at him with a raised eyebrow, and Makkachin paws at his leg. “Would you like a tissue as well?” asks Victor, passing him a napkin from their bag of picnic supplies. There is snot dribbling from his clogged nostril, and his  efforts to sniff it up aren’t working. Yuuri accepts the napkin, then immediately launches an itchy “hhhnnghCHIH!” into its folds. “Bud'te zdorovy, Yuuri. Are you feeling okay? You’ve been sniffling nonstop since we got here.”

Yuuri is too busy sneezing to answer him. He catches a trio — “Eh’KSCH! HhphCHH! Huh…ASHHIH!” — into the napkin, destroying it with a flood of snot.

Scrubbing at eyes which are now prickling and tearing up, he decides that Victor will worry more if he doesn't explain the situation. After grabbing another napkin and blowing his nose, he says, “my allergies are actidg up. I forgot to—snff—take bedicine. Snff. I’b okay though — they’re ndot that bad—hhHEHCHIEW!!”

He doesn’t hear the next thing Victor says because his ears are ringing with the force of his last sneeze, which pitched him forward and would have made him spill his drink if he’d opened it. Makkachin whines, and Victor gives Yuuri’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Poor thing,” he says. “Do you want to pack it up and go home? I don’t want you to just sit here and suffer.” “Ndo, it’s fide, we only just got here—hhhchiew! Hikshihh! AshhKKCHH! HEH-CHHUH!” He catches those sneezes in the crook of his elbow, then reaches for another napkin with which to mop up the mess. His nose is completely stuffed up now, and blowing it accomplishes nothing except exacerbate the itch that’s centered in his sinuses, but extending tendril-like down his throat and into his ears and his eyes.

He dissolves into another fit, then wipes his eyes on the back of his hand. His glasses are completely fogged up with allergic tears.

“I’b okay Vitya, really. I cad deal with mby allergies for add hour or so if it mbeans you get to see the cherry blossobs—HHUH-CHHOO! AHH-HUHCHH!” The sneezes are getting heavier, more violent.

“You can’t even see them yourself,” says Victor, plucking Yuuri’s glasses from his face and wiping them off on his shirt. Before replacing them, he blots Yuuri’s eyes and nose with a damp napkin, and hands him dry one to blow his nose with. Trying makes him sneeze again, which makes his entire face feel like there’s a squirrel crawling around on the inside of his face. Yuuri tries to tell Victor that it doesn't matter, he's been to a million of these viewings - to Victor, it’s a new experience, one that’s integral to the culture he’s marrying into. It doesn't work, because he can’t stop sneezing long enough to speak. Even spasm leaves him stuffier and drippier than the last, and by the end he’s so dizzy that Victor has to prop him upright.

For a while, Victor alternates between rubbing Yuuri’s back and mopping up the mess produced by his endless string of sneezes. When it finally stops and his chest is heaving and he’s so tired he practically falls into Victor’s lap, Victor says, “if you won't accept me not wanting you to be miserable, maybe this will convince you - it’ll be impossible for us to kiss if your nose is blocked and you can't stop sneezing." “That's a good point — hahhCHOO! EH’SHUHH! Ughhh…” Yuuri blows his nose, wincing at the sparks of pain this produces. When the pain fades he’s left with horrible itching. He wants to laugh at Victor’s attempt at a joke, but when he tries he just starts coughing.

Victor moves Yuuri’s head so that he’s using Makkachin as a pillow, and Makkachin immediately starts licking his face. “I’ll get packed up and call a cab, alright? When we get home you should take some antihistamines and then take a nice long shower. I’m happy to join to you for the second part if you’d like.”

After a moment of though, Victor adds, “if the medicine works, we can come back later, okay? If it doesn’t, I’ll come back on my own. I know it's important to you that I see this.”