#greyrambles;

but not without repercussions.

it isn't their natural sneeze, though. their natural sneeze is the exact reason they learned to properly stifle in the first place. desperate, intense and always, always loud, they've learned through considerable trial and error how to choke them down into something that's more acceptable for polite society.

it isn't without it's drawbacks: not only are the stifles wholly unsatisfying (and really only delay the inevitability of the proper fit they'll need to have later) it gives them the worst headache if it goes on for too long.

but in moments where they can allow themselves to just... relax, and really let loose, their nose has decided to make up for every single instance that they've been smothered and stifled. what was already a source of embarrassment has become a near force of nature, thanks to their efforts to diminish it.

I’m imagining a person gently cupping the side of a sickie’s face, taking in their sweat-dappled brow, their loss of color aside from flushed cheeks and a red nose, the sheen across their eyes that tells of a mild fever potentially getting worse.

They frown as the sickie melts into their palm, and they coo out:

“You don’t look well at all…”

Like what's their story? Did they just get broken up with? Got stood up?

Or it could be pure coincidence that, on a day where everyone else looks as happy as ever, they're muffling sneeze after exhausting sneeze into scratchy bar napkins and pressing an ice-cold glass of vodka to their temple to soothe their low-grade fever?