My Niche Interests ❤️

I was in the middle of something when my phone lit up. I momentarily hovered over decline, but then decided to answer the call from the guy I’d been on one date with a week or two ago.

“Hello?”

No greeting. No words. Just a sudden, unfiltered, “Hashewww!” Perfectly timed. Right in my ear.

I laughed immediately. “Thank you for calling me just for that.”

He chuckled, sheepishly.

“Bless you!” I said. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied, sniffing once, like an afterthought. “I’m good. What are you up to?”

And then the conversation just… continued. Mundane. Normal. Meanwhile, I’m sitting there thinking that I almost didn’t pick up. Which somehow makes it even better.

The rain is relentless, hammering the roof until it sounds like the whole world might wash away. You’re curled on the sofa with a book when the front door bangs open.

Colin steps inside, dripping from his hair down to his boots, his jacket plastered to his broad shoulders. He gives you a sheepish grin, shoving the door shut behind him with a grunt.

“Dublin doesn’t like to let a man go without a fight,” he mutters, voice rougher than usual as he hangs his soaked jacket by the fire. His nose is already red at the bridge, and he rubs it absently before shaking out his curls — sending water spraying across the floorboards.

He tries to brush it off at first — striding toward you with that familiar cocky swagger, even as another rough sniffle escapes him — but then…

His breath hitches mid-step. His shoulders tense, nostrils flaring once before he barely manages to turn aside in time—

“Hh-! Hhh’kxt! Khtchh!”

The sneezes burst out sharp and desperate against his forearm, leaving him blinking back watery eyes afterward.

“Just… just a bit of rain,” he rasps after clearing his throat roughly, failing miserably at sounding unfazed. A droplet from his sopping curls trails down past flushed cheekbones as his sea-glass eyes lock onto yours again — equal parts embarrassed and annoyingly charming despite being half-drowned in stormwater, with snotty crumpled tissues already stuffed into every pocket. Because of course he’d try pretending otherwise until now.

You furrow your brow and murmur, “Bless you, baby… you’re soaked to the bone.”

His mouth quirks up in a wry grin as he tries to shake off the remnants of the sneezing fit, though the redness in his nose stays. He gives a half-shrug, feigning nonchalance even as he tries to keep his voice steady in response to your concerned frown — and his own pounding heart.

“Eh, just a bit of Irish weather, love,” he scoffs. “Nothing a rough-and-tumble lad like me can’t handle.”

You can’t help but giggle in spite of yourself.

His grin softens just a little at the sound of your laughter, though it doesn’t quite mask the way his breath stutters again or how his voice thickens around the edges when he speaks next.

“See? Even half-drowned and snotty, I can still make you laugh. That’s talent, that is.” He reaches for you, fingers brushing a damp strand of hair from your face—until another tickle seizes him mid-tease. He barely manages to twist away in time—

“Hhh-! Khtschh!” before scrubbing at his nose with an irritated sniff. “…Bloody hell.”

You give him a tender smile. “Mm, bless you. Should we get you into a warm bath?”

I’m at a convention with thousands of people right now. It’s overwhelming enough, and I’m one of maybe five people in the whole place still masking. Not surprising, but still wild in a crowd this size.

I’m determined to keep my mask on as much as possible, which became tricky this morning when my nose started to tickle. Sitting in the general session of a massive convention hall, I kept scrunching my nose and rubbing at it through the mask, but nothing helped. The tickle built and built until I couldn’t hold off a sneeze any longer.

khnntchhu! I managed to stifle it, quietly enough that it disappeared into the general roar of the room. But that was just the beginning. Until I could get outside to blow my nose, I was trapped in this loop of sniffling and near-silent sneezes. Through two whole sessions, I stifled so discreetly that no one even noticed.

Finally, at lunch, I escaped outside, blew my nose, and the tickle let up.

and a couple of inadvertent moans from the chhinkni 🙈☺️

long time listener first time caller ❤️