#groundzero fics

Another day at the station 21, Nigel slinked down the steps with sleep still in his eyes and brown hair tousled in every direction. His head felt heavy, and his whole body ached, but he was more willing to say it was just ‘training soreness’ even if his nose felt completely blocked. Making it to the steps, he’s immediately greeted by his fellow firemen, who are also sleepy but still a little more awake as they brew their coffee, chew on meat sticks, and play on their phones or watch the news.

“Ey look a live kid,” one of them said. Immediately, Nigel's half-lidded eyes opened, and he did his best to look more alert as he muttered a soft “yes sir?”

“See, we didn’t brutalize you too bad this week, told ya we wouldn’t kill ya” Said one as he took a swig of his coffee. Another- Abel- came up behind Nigel and wrapped his bicep around his upper body to trap him and mess up his hair.

“Maybe we ain’t going hard enough, West, he can take some more, I’m sure.” Nigel flinched and grimaced but didn’t fight Abel off much and just dragged himself over to the ‘kids table’ in the back corner of the kitchen when he was let go. He plopped down and put his head in his arms, shuddering hard when the cold wood of the table touched his cheek. With his head down, he felt the congestion move, which caused an awful prickling sensation in his sinuses. He snorted thickly and scrunched up his nose, which temporarily ridded it.

During breakfast, he managed to grab a small bite to eat and downed a bit of coffee. Another person walked into the kitchen. He had black hair that peaked out of his beanie that donned the station’s logo, a short beard and stache, a station company quarter zip, blue tactical pants, a blue backpack, and black duty boots.

“Morning ya’ll” He greeted. The firemen waved at him as they shoveled food into their mouths as if they’d been starving all day and night.

“Ey its the passenger princess!” West pointed at an empty seat, and the man sat down. Morgan Freight, one of their paramedics. Nigel didn’t work with Morgan much directly unless it was dragging victims over to him; he had run 2 calls with him on the ambulance, but not much since. Morgan usually had another older fire medic on board. However, when Nigel started to doze off, Morgan knocked on the table gently to wake him up and told him.

“Ey you’re on the medic with me, when I’m done, we gotta check the back, alright.” Nigel absent-mindedly nodded and laid his head back down “Oh shit, Morgan’s got the probie today?” West snickered, Abel laughed. “Damn, dude’s gonna make the kid soft.” “Meh means when he’s not busy, he’s gonna be training with us, two words, ladder mase.” Nigel bit back a groan.

Nigel didn’t get to rest his head much, as soon as the guys could, they put him on dishwashing duty, which wasn’t anything new. The steam from the hot sink water was sure loosening up the wall of congestion, which meant a lot of sniffling and rubbing his nose into his sweatshirt.

Finally, Morgan called him over.

“Truck check”

Nigel stuffed a few napkins into his pockets after using one to hastily wipe at his nose before heading down the hall to the garage bay. In the bay, he’s greeted by the chilly fall turning winter air and bright sun through the open garage. Morgan opened the doors and handed Nigel a sheet of paper.

“Check everything off that’s stocked. If you find something we’re low on or don’t have, go and get it from the stashroom and sign it out. Do you know how to do that?” His voice was still a bit gravely from sleep. Nigel nodded and took the paper as he climbed in.

“Yes, sir,” Morgan nods approvingly and sits on the center seat to set down his book bag and empty it out. “Good, I like my rig set up a certain way, bags, iv set up stuff, and anything that’ll prick ya should be on the side you’re on. When you’re done checking that, check our oxygen tanks, will ya?”

Once again, Nigel nodded as he opened the little cabinets and boxes and used the pen attached to the clipboard and paper to record everything. They were silent for a little while; the sounds of wet sniffles, coughs, feet shuffling around, and cabinets opening and closing filled it. The up and down motion was making that congestion shift around more than Nigel’s body liked. That prickle turned into a tickle he tried to rub away, but of course, it had to ruin the number one probie rule. Not a sound besides ‘yes, sir’ unless it’ll kill someone.’

He tried to quiet it as much as he possibly could, hurriedly dropping a saline bag onto the work bench to grab at his nose by the second sneeze as the first escaped him. “HhNGgsshhuhw HhNGgsshhuhw! Huhhh HHhNGgknnk!” The ambulance rocked a little from the motion, but Nigel prayed silently that Morgan wouldn’t comment as he fished out a napkin from his pocket.

“Bless you, you alright?” It took a second for Nigel to get his words out but he managed “Ye-yes sir, sorry.” Morgan just chuckled and shook his head. “No worries, ain’t nothing to be sorry for.”

They finished their check, cleaned the inside, and Nigel ran to grab his book bag and plopped it inside the front cab. Right as Morgan and him started to walk away, the tone went off. The speaker's lights flashed a single red bar, and a robotic voice bellowed.

“Ambulance 21 respond. Ill person; trouble breathing.” Morgan took out his phone and checked their app for more information, huffing as he headed towards the driver’s seat. “Welp, let's do it!” He called out. Nigel jumped into the passenger seat, and they drove off with lights and sirens blaring down the road.

It was barely 8 am, and they were on their way. Nigel got out his phone to see what the app said. ‘Adult patient with flu symptoms, chief complaint of trouble breathing and fever.” Well this would be his first.

“You ever ran a med call after your schooling?” Morgan asked “Twice but its been’d abit” Nigel admitted sheepishly, snuffling and rubbing his nose onto his wrist.

“Well, lucky you, this’ll be your call, it's a BLS, so unless shit hits the fan, they’re all yours.” Morgan grinned as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and weaved through traffic. Nigel shrank a little in his seat and started going over the notes he had. Morgan seemed to sense the nervousness.

“Ey, i’ll step in first okay. You remember your XABCs? And assessment?” It took a second for it to process but Nigel nodded.

“Yes, sir, primary, history, and second.” “Good, good, if they’re altered, what's the first thing you wanna check after XABC?” “Blood sugar?” Nigel guessed, and Morgan grinned as he leaned up in his seat to look over the dashboard.

“Yeah, you’ll be fine, you got this. Also, you ain’t gotta call me ‘sir’ like that, I ain’t that strict or that old.” Nigel nodded and sighed hard, his shoulders lowered a bit.

When they arrived at the home, the men hopped out of the truck. Nigel shoved his notebook in his pockets and shivered hard. The cold air stung his throat and nose and reminded him of yesterday’s training. Hose work, and let's just say it got wet, by that I mean the guys decided Nigel needed to ‘cool off’. Now he was sniffling, sneezy, and sore, and all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed.

He grabbed the stretcher, loaded their gear on it, and towed it to the front door. Morgan got the door open quickly, and they walked in to see the Patient on the floor, sitting on the steps. A young woman in her fluffy bathrobe, hair in a messy bun. She was hunched over, shivering, her face flushed, her hands clutching the bathrobe. Morgan introduced them to the woman.

“Ello ma’am, I’m Morgan, this is Nigel, a medic and EMT with the fire department. What seems to be the problem?” Nigel gave a shy wave from behind as Morgan crouched down to the woman.

She weakly tells them she’s had the flu for a few days, her fever hasn’t broken and her chest feels tight. Morgan nodded understandingly as he fished a set of gloves from his pockets and pulled them on. Nigel dug some out from his bag and put them on his.

“Mind if we set you up with some oxygen?” Morgan asks. She nods. He steps back, pats Nigel on the shoulder, and whispers. “I grab the stuff you talk with her,” Nigel agreed, crouching toward her. However, just as he did, the congestion shifted, and he stifled, barely in time. But that also made him tumble onto his ass and hit his head against the wall. He winced at the sharp pain ringing through his head.

“You good?” Morgan asked. Nigel scrambled to his feet with a nod as he rubbed the back of his head with a few sniffles.

“Yeah, yeah, mb’good.” He turned his attention back to the patient. It didn’t take a doctor to know she wasn’t doing so hot. After getting some history, hooking her up to the monitor, and taking her temperature, they got her on the cot, and away they went. Nigel’s heart did sink to his ass a little bit when he saw ‘103’ on the thermometer screen.

Nigel drove this time, since the poor women needed an IV and that wasn’t something he was allowed to give, along with some other things. Being in the driver’s seat always made him nervous; everything always felt wrong, and he was still learning how to drive it. And today was not the day for a driving lesson. He could feel his nose trying to run down to his upper lip, the sirens drowned out his sniffling. All the sniffling was dragging the snot inside against the sensitive insides of his nose, though, and it was causing small tickles he knew would not be a fun clean up if one managed to grow bigger than that. It also made him want to rub his nose off his face.

When they arrived at the hospital in the ambulance entrance, he hopped out to help bring their patient inside. The hospital wasn’t much warmer than the weather outside, well, at least it wasn’t raining today. A small collection of nurses came out from their station as Morgan called out.

“Got a 27-year-old woman, with the flu, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, temperature of 103 both on scene, and en route, I gave IV saline and tried passive cool down, temp’s not budging, and she’s getting altered. Sats got a little better with oxygen, but it's still not great!” Nigel barely registered anything after that; it was a blur of people coming in and out, commands and equipment being shuffled around. The next thing he knew he was out in the hall with Morgan.

“Alright, let's go, gotta decom the back,” Morgan said with a head tilt towards the automatic doors as he pulled the stretcher from behind. Nigel nodded, finally zoning back in.

In the back, they got to disinfect their gear. The faint chemical scent of the wipes seemed to be the one thing Nigel’s nose needed to send it over the edge. He tried to lean away from any of the cabinets as his breath hitched; there was no need to whack his head on anything else. His free hand fiddled around to grab any napkins he stashed away earlier; he just barely pulled a shaky napkin-clad hand to his face in time.

“HeEH! HhPNkksshhhh! Hehhh! Heh! Heieeeh! HhPNkksshhhh! HhPNkksshhhh! hH’atzzZSChhihhww!” Each sneeze rocked the ambulance and bent the poor guy forward even as he tried to hold onto something. He grimaced when he noticed how soaked his hand felt; those napkins barely protected his hands from the spray, let alone the strands of snot that dripped down.

“Bless you! You alright over there?” Morgan asked with surprise, Nigel blushed hard and nodded while he tried to clean himself up. Only to wince at how rough those napkins felt against his nose. When he tried to speak, his sore throat interrupted his chances with a round of scratchy coughs.

“I’mb fide i’mb fide sdrrff sdrck ugh kofff koff koff! Ow!” When he finally regained some composure, he heard the sounds of cabinets opening and closing then a soft ‘thunk’. When he finally gets his eyes open, there’s a small box of tissues.

“Here, sure sounds like you’ll need’em, ain’t much but we can stop by the store and get some more.” Morgan offered. Nigel turned almost bright red, and hesitation filled him while he tried to get himself to apologize and insist it was nothing. Morgan wasn’t having it, though. He patted Nigel softly on the shoulder and rubbed his thumb against his collarbone in a comforting way as he assured him.

“Ey its fine, plenty of us get sick. We take care of so many of the sick civies who act like covering their mouth is an option that it's no surprise. Trust me, been sick plenty, no shame in it.” Finally, Nigel took the offer and snatched up a few tissues to clean up the remaining mess left behind and blow his nose. God, those tissues were shitty at containing it all. He tossed them into the trash and took a steady breath and sighed.

“Better?” Morgan asked, Nigel nodded.

When they hopped back into the cab of the ambulance, Morgan took the driver’s seat again and drove out of the lot.

“How long have you been sick?” He asked, Nigel shrugged, and muttered.

“Felt a lil bad last night.” Morgan raised a brow and asked what all that all meant and what he had been doing yesterday. Nigel thought about it.

“Just felt really tired, throat hurt a little, sdff sdrff but I thought it was just frob training and running calls, ya know. They had bme doing stair climb, forcible entry and hose work…hose work did idvolve gettig power washed though.” Morgan chuckled “Sounds like they had you working hard as hell. How long’s your shift?” “Uh 72hrs, its by last day of bmy shift.” Morgan nodded. “Good, you’re gonna really need the rest. How long ya off?” “48hr” “Ouch, if you’re not better by the start of 2nd day, call off, better to call off as early as ya can, better shot at them being able to bring in a replacement for the day.” Nigel nodded at the advice. “Sounds like a pretty bad cold. You take anything for it?” “Dnot since last dnight, took some Aleve for the soreness.” “You got a temperature?” “…..” Silence. Morgan sighed and shook his head. “You really are new, rookie mistake, not doing a supply run, hell ya could’ve doordashed some DayQuil, man!” Morgan didn’t actually seem angry; there was a slight smile and lightness to his voice as he drummed his thumbs on the wheel at the right light.

“We’re doing a supply run, ain’t having my favorite EMT die on me.” Nigel quickly tried to refuse, dismissing the ‘favorite emt’ comment.

“Dno dno its fide, I cad manage, there’s probably stuff in the bathrooms right?” Morgan laughed loudly this time and started driving again.

“Oh, you really don’t get it, do ya? I know these guys, that cabinet has more cobwebs than toothpaste, let alone an Advil! Sure in the emergency ‘West made dinner’ bag, there’s some Pepto and Advil, but that’s about it. I’ve been needing to stock up on our stuff anyway.”

“There are things to getting through a sick day or week at the station.” Morgan started. Nigel curled up in his seat as a chill ran down his spine.

“ 1: as soon as you start feeling like you got ran over by the ambulance, you DoorDash or go supply shopping, hell send someone out if ya got the rank, and well you don’t. 2: Don’t try a hot shower, you’ll never get the chance. You use a loophole and either heat up a pot on the stove or turn the shower on, but don’t get in it, let it heat fill the bathroom instead. 3:chicken noodle soup. Or ramen as much as you can make and eat, busy call day cup-o-noodles. 4: travel pack of tissues. Pack of tissues in one pocket, the other pocket is your ‘trash pocket’ till you can empty it, and 5: you tell one person, who won't tell the whole damn station. Gossip is more contagious than that cold you’ve got.”

Nigel nodded along as he listened. It was a lot to keep up with, but he’d sure try.

They pulled into a small store and went inside. It wasn’t anything special, just a little store that had the basics. First stop was the cold and flu aisle. Morgan grabbed a couple of boxes of tissues, more than Nigel at first thought was necessary, till morgan explained.

“That cold's gonna go around like wildfire, might as well get as many as I can now so I don’t gotta worry about it later.” Nigel went over and picked up a few travel pack boxes of tissues and dropped them into the cart. Morgan wandered over a few feet away and came back with multiple different pack and bottles of medicine. “Woah thats alot” Nigel commented. Morgan chuckled and set the items into the cart.

“Yeah, well, the guys tend to be lil babies around medicine. West hates liquid medicine so I get the gel pill form, Clayten would rather die than swallow pills, and Castle gets the worst fevers. The rest of them sort themselves out for the most part.” He then grabbed an Advil half and joked.

“This is the only thing getting me through it.”

Eventually, they left that aisle and started to head towards the soup aisle; however, Morgan suddenly stopped and turned the cart towards the main aisle.

“We’re gonna get a call soon, better pay for these now, we can come back for food later.” Nigel looked at him skeptically. Could someone really guess when they were about to get a call? “How do you know that?” He asked as Morgan started to speed walk towards checkout. “It happens every time.” The paramedic answered matter-of-factly.

Right as they started to load the front of the cab, as Morgan predicted, their phones went off. Nigel looked at it, and Morgan cursed. “Shit, trouble breathing, possible unresponsive.” They hopped into their seats, turned on their lights and sirens, and sped out of the parking lot.

From then on, they barely had the time to go back to the station until 6 PM. By then, Nigel was absolutely exhausted and wanted nothing more than to flop into bed. He dragged his feet into the station alongside Morgan, who carried in most of the groceries. They were met by the smell of taco night and the sound of the guys jeering at the TV that played jeopardy.

“We’re back!” Morgan called out. “Ey there you guys are, its been nothing but med calls today” Abel pointed out, Morgan nodded and handed a bag to Nigel and gently told him.

“Take those and go lay down for a bit, I’ll heat up some soup.” Nigel looked in the bag and nodded, but West wasn’t gonna let him get very far without some teasing. A heavy hand ruffled roughly through his sweaty brown hair. “Aw shit, Morgan must’ve worked you hard, you look like shit kid. Didn’t know ol morgan had it in’im” Nigel tried to walk off without a word, but Wes wasn’t done.

“Nuh-uh, rookie, you’re on dish duty, you know that.” Morgan pushed West’s hand off Nigel.

“No, he doesn’t, he’s going to go sit down. It won't kill you to stop dodging your chores yourself, Wes, you’ve ‘made trade’ with almost all of us and haven’t lived up to your end of the deal.” While the two went back and forth, Nigel tried to fight off the buzzing, burning, prickling sensation in his nose from the congestion shifting around when his nose got runny. He was way too tired; he rubbed and pressed lazily at his damp nostrils. When he knew it wouldn’t be any use, he pulled a few tissues from the box in the bag he had managed to open on the way to one of their patients.

He brought up a shaky handful of tissues to his face as he hitched and dove into them with an incredibly wet fit.

“ Hehh! Heh! Haah! hH’atzzZSChhihhww! HHUh!! HhEdssSCHHhheeoo! HhEdssSCHHhhemmmph! EHh!EdssSCHHhhuummmph!” Nigel grimaced as he felt the mess soak into his hand, but his poor sinuses finally felt just the hint of relief from getting it out. He didn’t even care anymore; he just grabbed more tissues to mop up what was in his hand and pressed more to his face as he announced. “I’mb goig to by roomb” and trudged out of the kitchen.

In his room, he kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the bed. He didn’t care that he’d be leaving in 2 hours; he just wanted to lie down. His whole body was killing him. His head pounded, his throat was raw, his bones and muscles ached horribly, and the relief of being off his feet was just a small bliss that he decided to accept as the only good thing he had right now. His sinuses throbbed from being so full, the underside of his nose burned from the constant rubbing, it was HELL!

Just the thought of getting up to pack his stuff to leave made him want to be knocked unconscious. Sure, he’d love to be in his own little apartment, in his own bed away from others, but he was worn out! He rolled onto his side and curled up on top of the covers, knowing he’d be cold no matter what, and he’d have to pack them up anyway.

When he rolled over the soft but still audible-for him- squeltch and squish of the congestion shifting and seeping down his sinuses and nose brought that tickle from earlier back, and his body was determined to get this cold out of him. He lazily pulled a few tissues to his twitching, tender red nostrils as he hitched towards sneezes that made a mess overflow the tissues and drip onto the bedding.

“HhEdssSCHHhheeoo!! HhEdssSCHHhhemmmmphh! Heh Hehh Hh! EdssSCHHhhmmph ugh fugkhih! atzzZSChhihhww!”

Nigel didn’t know how long it had really been til there was a knock on his door. He managed a rough, congested. “Cobe id”

Then Morgan’s gentle voice alerted him. “Hey I made some soup, I put it in some tupperware in case you weren’t in the mood to eat yet. You could take it home.” Nigel sat up slowly, his face scrunched at the movement and he sneezed almost immediately into his hands.

“Ugh, sorry, and thagks” He grabbed tissues to clean himself up again, after a harsh nose blow, he took the bowl of soup. Finally, he could get something on his stomach. The warmth of the soup spread throughout his core and ceased his chills as he ate.

“You did good today,” Morgan commented. Nigel looked up for a moment. Morgan laughed a little at the ‘huh’ look on his face.

“You did real well, sure you’re a lil clunky when ya first start with the patient, but you pulled through.” Nigel couldn’t tell if it was the soup or the compliments that made his cheeks feel hot Morgan outstretched his hand and pressed the back of it to Nigel’s forehead and tsk’d “I’ll handle most of the reports for today. You focus on getting some rest, I’ll text you the other ones you can do when you’re up for it.”

Nigel wanted to say he could do more than ‘afew’ but after today, he knew it was better to take the offer for a break.

“I’m just tired, Keigo, I-I prohh promiseeh heh! Ugh dnot dnuh huhh dnow.” She muttered the last part as she rubbed her wrist roughly against the underside of her nose with a soft grumbling. Keigo leaned against the door frame as he watched. From rubbing at her nose to fanning her face, it was only another few seconds before she-

“hh’iZTSHHuu! hh’iZTSHHuu!…heh huhh! hh’iZTSHHuu!” “Bless you” Keigo walked over with a concerned expression and turned the goddess to face him. He frowned upon seeing how pale she looked, dark circles dimming her eyes while her nose was a dark pink on its way to an angry red. He gently pressed his palm to her forehead and was met by an unusual warmth.

“You’re sick” He stated, Nagant shook her head.

“Dno I’mb just tired” “Being tired doesn’t make you sneezy, sniffly or feverish. And i know you’re not drunk.” “I cad’t be sigk, I dod’t get sihh sih hih! hh’iZTSHHuu! Ugh sigk” Her sentence was punctuated with a long thick sniffle. Keigo wasn’t convinced and Nagant knew it.

“I have things I dneed to do adyways.” Keigo shook his head at her.

“You can’t go out to any of your parties like that. And if you can barely hold back a sneeze, I don’t trust you to be shooting an arrow.” Nagant wanted to protest but was interrupted by her nose proving Keigo right.

“Hey-hey its juh-just a few sdeehehh oh fuck hehh hiehh heh! hh’iZTSHHuu! hh’iZTSHHuu! hh’iZTSHHuu!” She ducked down leaning away from Keigo but ended up stumbling backwards into a wall. Keigo reached out to keep her from falling, with a sigh he pulled her to her bed and sits her down.

“Bless you, now come on, it's obvious, you don’t feel well, just lay down.” Nagant pouted at him but she could see he wasn’t going to let her up.

“Alright, fide.” She huffed and slid under the covers of her bed. Keigo smiled and hopped off the bed and placed a kiss on her lips.

“Stay here, I’ll be back.” Nagant then looked upset at him asking why he was leaving so soon.

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to bring back some supplies, I won't be long. Don’t try sneaking out to the party, please” The party was one held by some of the nymphs and mortals Nagant loved to hang out with who didn’t reside on Olympus. Her pout exaggerated into a playful smirk.

“Sneak out? Me? Dnever~” Keigo rolled his eyes slipped off his jacket and draped it over the goddess before leaving.

By the time Keigo had come back Nagant had fallen asleep, he chuckled softly seeing her tall lanky frame laying in an almost dramatic pose. One arm clutched Keigo’s jacket to her chest, while the other covered the top half of her face, blocking out any light. One leg just barely hanging off the edge of the bed as the other was drawn upwards. Setting down his items on the night stand he gingerly shook his lover awake.

“Nagi, wake up love” There was a quiet hum as she stirred awake, lifting her arm from her face to see Keigo.

“Oh you’re back quick” She commented, Keigo nodded and held up a sealed cup.

“I stopped by Kirishima’s tavern and got you a hot toddy with a double shot of whisky. That should help you get over that cold.” Nagant huffed as she sat up.

“I dod’t have a cold, I cad’t get sigk” She took the cup and sipped on the drink, leaning against the pillows a look of relief appeared. The drink sure felt good going down her sore throat, the warmth slowly melted away her chills. As she drank it down Keigo crawled on to her bed and wrapped an arm around her, pulling Nagant towards him.

“Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that Nagi~” He teased lightly and kissed her forehead.

“Okay fide, I have’t beed sick id like a century or two.” She admitted, Keigo looked surprised at this. Sure the idea of a god getting a cold sounded a little ridiculous but it wasn’t impossible. Though a century?!

“What did you do to get a cold like this? Did you piss off a god of healing or something?” “If I tell you, you’re gonna either laugh or say ‘I told you so’” “It can’t be that bad love, I wont laugh I promise.” Nagant sighed took a long swig of her drink before saying it.

“So you know that party I wedt to, the ode in the east forest near the mountains?” “Mhm” “Lets just say i’mb denver godda go skiddy dipping the-there agaid hehh hiehh! hh’iZTSHHuu!” “Nagi that water is cold!” Keigo exclaimed worriedly, Nagant nodded and rubbed at her nose.

“I dknow I dknow, but I did’t thigk it-ih ihh!” Her breath caught up between her words as the awful tickle tease her nose. This at least gave Keigo time to grab a tissue, he looked over to see the god fanning her face to coax the incoming sneeze along. Pushing her hands out of the way and pressing the soft cloth to her nose seemed to do it. She drew in a sharp gasp before exploding.

“Hh’iZTSHHuu! Hhdd—hdTSSCHhuhh!! Hhih! ITZshmmph!” Each sneeze rocked her body forwards, even though they had a soft sound they were still forceful. Keigo kept a hold of her worried she’d hit her head on something if he didn’t.

“Bless you, I’ve got you, babe, easy there.” Slowly she sat up and then leaned into Keigo’s shoulder with a whine.

“Ugh I feel awful, my Erote.” “Aaaw poor baby, can you tell me what doesn’t feel good?” Pathetically Nagant nuzzled into the devote’s shoulder with a miserable look.

“Bmy head hurts, bmy throat’s sore -the drigk helps though- bm-bmy dnuh dnose hehh hiih hiht’Hh’iZTSHHuu! Ugh is driving bme crazy” “Sounds like you caught god awful cold.” He chuckled softly at his attempt at a joke, Nagant giggled a bit but that soon turned into throat-stinging coughs. Keigo handed back her drink encouraging her to finish it.

“If its been more than a decade since you’ve been sick, it makes sense now as to why its hit you so hard.” After she gulped down the hot beverage she settled back down though now she was laying her head on the hero’s chest. Snuffling, sniffling, and rubbing at her nose she was beginning to turn red from the abuse. At least the congestion was loosening up with how wet they sounded. Keigo snatched up a few tissues and pressed them to her nose, almost immediately he could feel it twitching beneath his palm. Her breath hiccuped against his wrist.

“Aw nose itchy?” “Mhm’b ugh i-ih its suuh so ih ihh itchy hheeih Hh’iZTSHHuu! Hh’iZTSHHuu! Hhdd—hdTSSCHhuhh!!” However, after three sneezes, the horrible tickle wasn’t letting up. Her eyes fluttered open and then shut as another set of desperate wet sneezes came. Keigo was going to try and switch out the well-used tissues for new ones but Nagant shook her head pushing his hand away before stifling.

“Ngk'zzsSHhwwh! Ng'TCHht! Kngkt-chiew!” Sputtering for air with tears in her eyes, she pushed back her messy hair that had flopped in her face during the fit.

“Ugh stupid tissues bmakes bmy dose all itchy.” Rubbing small circles across her back between her wings they shuddered at his touch and chills, Keigo made a small noise and pulled her back to his chest.

“Aaw someone’s sensitive~” “I’mb dnot sedsitive, just this stupid cold bmakig bme sdeezy” “Yeah that means you’re sensitive” “Just shut up and cuddle bme, Keigo.” Keigo smiled and wrapped his arms around Nagant as she nuzzled against him. She tried going back to sleep but it wasn’t working. She tossed and turned, but her body wouldn’t relax. It probably had something to do with her being so congested. Keigo could hear each sniffle hitting a wall almost immediately.

“Can’t sleep, love?” “Uh-uh, dnose is too stuffy” “Here let me try something,” Keigo said, Nagant looked up at him curiously. He gently pressed his thumb and pointer finger against both sides of her sinuses and massaged in small circles. He could feel the congestion shifting beneath his fingertips. Nagant tensed a little before sighing in relief and going lax in her devotee’s arms.

“That feels good” “That’s good, you are so adorable ya know” Nagant looked up at him confusedly.

“How am’b I adorable? I feel and look like death.” “Because you’re all pouty, and the way you blush with fever and cling to me is cute.” “I’mb dn-dnot cuuh huh cute-oh dnuh dnot agaiih agaid.” She whimpered out, her nose twitching and reddened nostrils flaring. Pushing her nose into Keigo’s palm rubbing against it to try and make the god awful tickle go away. But it wouldn’t go away completely, it would settle down and them amp back up again. Teasing her to tears, Keigo saw this and had a slight idea.

“Aw poor Nagi that really is a bad cold huh, is it stuck?” “Uh-huhh fuhh fuck ihh it tih! Tickles, Keigo.” She whined between hitches, Keigo smirked a little and decided to put his thoughts to practice.

“It looks like it does, aw this cold must be awful making your nose so tickly. I bet its driving your nose crazy with how stuffy you are.” “Keihh hehh! Keigo hehh d-duuh dod’t I-I cad’t hehh heh!” “Oh, you can’t what, my love? Can’t get that cold out any faster, your nose looks like it wants it out of you. Cold must be all in your nose for it to do that~” Nagant was quick to bury her nose into his chest right before the tickle reached it peak. It seemed like talking about it did the trick!

“Hhdd—hdTSSCHhuhh!! Hhih! ITZshmmph Hhdd—hdTSSCHhuhh!! hehh!Hh’iZTSHHuu!” Keigo’s shirt got more and more damp with each sneeze but he didn’t mind. Felt the goddess rubbing her nose into his chest between fits, holding onto his t-shirt as if he’d go anywhere. Her body shivered and shook through her sneezes, Keigo wasn’t wrong it did seem like her body wanted this cold out as fast as possible! When it stopped she just barely pulled away before hiding her face against him blushing. He could feel her embarrassment flow over him like water.

“What’s wrong Nagi?” “I bmade a bmess of your shirt” She confessed shyly, Keigo just rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head.

“Its alright baby, I don’t mind, not like your nose can handle a tissue.” “Hey I’mb dnot that b-bad!” Nagant exclaimed, Keigo then grabbed a tissue holding it just out of reach.

“You wanna test that, my goddess~?” She let out a small ‘hmph’ took the tissue and tried blowing her nose. She seemed to succeed at first, managing to get out a heavy amount of snot clogging her up. However, luck was not on her side. She could feel it as soon as the thin paper cloth touched her nose, the buzzing sensation kicking back up all over again.

‘Oh no no no no, not again, no more sneezing please!’ She thought to herself, she tried sniffling in hopes that all she’d need. That only made things worse and the tissue in hand was already ruined, keeping the crumpled-up wad pressed to her now runny twitchy tickly nose.

“Nose getting tickly again, love?” “Nuh-uh, dno, dno bmore sdeezes, i-i’mb fide” She lied, she was more so trying to convince her body than Keigo. Sitting up on his lap trying to take deep breathes wasn’t working, rubbing at it wasn’t helping it was practically edging her again!

“Oh shh-shit cobe od hehh I ih! Dn-dno bmore pleeh please I-I dod’t wadda heh! Ugh” Keigo’s eyes softened watching the goddess of desire struggle.

“Hey now love, I think you need to let them out. Fighting it off will just make it worse.” Plucking a good handful of tissues from the box Keigo sat up and pulled Nagant into him securely in preparation. He could tell this wasn’t going to be a small fit.

“Come on now Nagi, lets take care of that sensitive lil nose of yours. Got a couple of tissues right here” Pressing them just barely against the underside of her nose, he started moving them in a short up-and-down motion brushing them against her septum and nostrils. Her hitches were becoming more drawn out and higher in pitch. Her body tensed up and a hand reached out holding onto his sleeve. She was almost there!

“I’ve got you, darling, just let them out, I know its so tickly, just me holding these up to your nose is making it tremble. Just a little back and forth like this, aw yeah I know its so much for you. Your poor nose is so sensitive, looks like a kiss would set it off.” And thats what he did, delivering a short kiss right to the tip of her nose. A gasp was the only warning before the bomb went off!

“IiHZZsschHIHEWww!! IiHZZsschHIHEWww!! HiIH-! HHZZSshhihww!! IhhHK-!hnNGKSSHHh! HiIH-! HHZZSshhihww!!” Each sneeze barely left her with any chance to breathe, when the fit finally died down the bouquet of tissues was soaked through and she was gasping for air and worn out. Keigo tossed them into a near by trash can and gave her loving praises.

“Good job baby, that felt better, I know that was a lot, you did good.” The pink and purple haired woman collapsed into the blond hero’s chest with a groan finally giving in.

“Oh, Fluuuuug!” Of course, he couldn’t work without Dementia interrupting him. He grumbled and held onto the test tubes tightly as the reptilian metahuman slithered her way in with a grin on her face.

“Whatcha doin’?” He rolled his eyes as he poured in the solution.

“I’m working, Dementia.” “Ah right doing your stupid nerd stuff” She giggled as she wrapped her arms loosely around Flug’s shoulders hovering over him. His face scrunched up behind the bag he wore over his face.

“Why don’t you leave me alone?” he sighs, mixing the solutions and thoroughly watching them change colors. Dementia lets out an exasperated sigh and pokes at the man’s face.

“Because leaving you alone is boring, and you’re fun to mess with,” Flug huffed, kicked Dementia off, and glared at her with his stirring instrument.

“Get out! I have things to do, and I don’t need you messing them up for me!” He seethed, Dementia went down with a sharp skid but managed to get back on her feet. She ‘hmphed’, he was more irritated with her than usual.

“Don’t come in here! I need you out!” With a flip of her hair, she flipped him off and walked out of the laboratory. Flug let out a deep breath and continued to go down his list until he came to the last thing. The thing he had been putting off for a while now, going and checking on his latest capture. Miss Heed.

Usually, Black Hat hated having any heroes in the lair though he allowed this or well requested it. Heed practically bribed the vigilante prison system to hand her over. The reason? Black Hat loved drama and tormented the scientist. Besides Flug was allowed to use her for experiments whenever he so desired. As long as it didn’t kill her, Black Hat didn’t care what Flug did to her.

When he realized he could not stall any longer, he had been avoiding her quite a bit, he got himself together and headed towards the containment area.

Walking into the containment area he noticed her scent which was usually seeping out of the box due to its heavy concentration. Was dull and weak, he didn’t even need to wear a mask. When he walked up to the glass he noticed Heed was curled up in a ball but she didn’t seem to be sleeping or doing her usual scribbles on paper and muttering. He unlocked the door alerting the girl inside. Miss Heed sluggishly sat up from her bed and looked up at Flug. She didn’t even try to fix her messy hair like she usually did when Flug came inside.

“Oh Fluggy, its you!” She said with a weak smile. The usual bags under her eyes were more pronounced and her skin was quite pale and her natural permanent blush looked more feverish than normal. She muffled a throat-stinging cough into her wrist as she crawled towards Flug like a puppy.

“You’re sick” Flug stated, with a look of pity, she kneeled by his feet and looked up at him. She learned not long ago that if she wanted any of Flug’s attention then she needed to be quiet. Flug pulled a glove off his hands, pressed the back to her forehead, and frowned.

“You’ve got a fever, doesn’t feel high but a fever nonetheless. How long have you been feeling sick?” He inquired, Heed shrugged while leaning into his touch taking in whatever she could.

“I’ve had the sdiffles for a while dnow, buhh but I-i Ih’chiew! Ig’chiew! Ig’chiew!”

“Bless you, certainly sounds like it” Flug sighed and turned to leave without a word, Cecilia started to say something but the scientist told her he would return. Why did he feel the need to take care of her? Why, after everything she did to him? Stealing his work twice, brainwashing him just to get to Goldheart. Yet he still could feel his heartache for her, he could feel himself wanting her still. However he couldn’t want her, he couldn’t give her what she wanted, he could he know if she was genuine. But damn she’s been so good, she sits so quietly and he can say no to those big doughy eyes whether they’re light brown with hints of gold or bright pink with hearts in them. Okay okay, he’d just drop off a box of tissues and a blanket and he would leave it at that nothing more!

Flug gathered and exchanged somethings quickly so he could grab the supplies he needed and headed back to the containment room. Upon seeing Flug return, Heed perked up slightly, she rubbed at her overly pink nose and looked up at him happily.

“Here I’ve got some tissues and a blanket for ya” He dropped them down onto her lap, letting the ex-superhero wrap herself up and grab a tissue to blow her nose.

“Th-thagks Fluggy” Then he heard the door click and buzz, uh oh. Flug went to the door and tried to open it, jimmying the handle but it stopped every time. No worries he could just use his key-….card. Patting and searching his pockets frantically to no avail, he must’ve set it down in his laboratory! That meant he was stuck in here! And his walkie-talkie wasn’t on him either, so he couldn’t call for help. He’d have to wait for 505 or Dementia to notice his absence and go looking. That also meant he was stuck in a room, with Miss Heed. “Damn it, I can’t get out” He grumbled sinking to his knees. Heed didn’t know how to respond, on one hand, her heart was pounding at the idea of being locked in a room with the man who she desperately craved. On the other she could sense his disdain for the situation, maybe if she was good then she could get some attention. She restrained herself from clinging onto Flug despite the strong urges. She snuffled wetly and crawled back to her bed, keeping the blanket over her fever-chilled frame. God she hated being sick, it always made her feel so weak and powerless.

Everything so far had made her feel powerless.

Losing her friends, her inspiration for being a hero, her followers, her fame, her love. She barely had her powers, the prison she had been sent to took most of her strength from her. Sapping her ability out of her body as a punishment for misusing them. Now all she had was Flug who she knew hated her however that didn’t stop her from wanting no needing his love! It was selfish and she knew it but even just a little bit of his attention would be enough! She learned to take the little she could get from him, and now he was stuck with her. She wanted him she wanted him badly! Her nose seemed to want to embarrass her badly too.

It tickled and twitched, the tickle would start from the tip of her nose and slowly spread until she couldn’t help it any longer. It was getting so big, her breath hitching softly, one hand coming up to fan at her face as her lips parted. Another hand lazily grabbing a tissue as she tried to coax the tickle along.

“Oh combe od pleehh please heeh i-ih i dneed to hehh heh!” She sniveled between hitches, this got Flug’s attention turning around he watched the woman desperately gear up to sneeze. Something about seeing her so vulnerable made him feel something. Seeing her in such a broken state, so needy but not in the usual way, it intrigued him. Maybe he’s been around Black Hat for too long but the sadism in him was rising. Maybe he could indulge her just a little~

He scooted over to her with a fake frustrated sigh, sitting beside her on the mattress she called a bed. With a sharp gasp, her body rocked with the force of her small yet plentiful sneezes.

“Ih’shiew! Ig’shhiew! It’chiew! Ht’chiew! It’chiew!” Each one of them almost kittenish in nature still rocked her frail body. It shivered and shook every time, Heed whimpered softly at the ache in her bones and muscles.

“Aw poor little hero, taken down by a little cold” Heed blushed at the other’s taunting, she wanted to be upset with him, she wanted to yell at him but. She wouldn’t, she didn’t want him to leave. She blushed further when a gloved have cupped her face and tilted it to look up at the doctor. Even if she couldn’t see most of his face the glint of mischief behind those goggles sent chills down her spine.

“Pathetic, that's how you look you know, utterly pathetic. I bet just me being this close is overwhelming for you, holding you might make your heart explode I’m sure.” Where was this coming from, the Kenning Flugsly she knew could hardly correct a waitress about his order!

“Look at you, is that a fever or are you happy that I’m giving you the attention you’ve been dying for~?” He then tapped her on the nose which seemed to jump-start another tickle. Her nostrils flared widely and she leaned away, whining quietly as the tickle teased her. Growing bigger and bigger only to shrink back into nothing and leave her gasping for air.

“Fluuhh Flug please hehh help” She whispered out her nose running slightly through her desperation. Flug stalled for a moment before he gingerly rubbed his finger over the tip of her nose.

“Honestly it really is a wonder how you’ve lasted this long as a hero when you can barely manage a cold. You’re so attention-starved that it makes you sick, doesn’t it?” He chuckled lightly, he snatched up a few tissues for her. Heed needily held onto Flug’s shoulder and ducked down into the tissues he held to her nose.

Dating? Katsuki? Hell no, no way in hell would he date, especially not a co-worker! Not a chance!

No one actually thought Katsuki would date anyone. Besides who’d like him back, right? And he was glad to keep it that way. He didn’t need everyone up in his love life. Keeping up his loud mouth angry man persona did the job while he did his. Tending to patients in his ER. He was fixing hearts not letting the big redhead sweetheart play with his~ Totally not having the stupidest crush on the radiologist, nope, no way! And there’s no way in hell that he had a date planned for the two of them to go out to dinner after their shift ended!

No fucking way!

And not a chance in the world that he had gotten sick the day of their date.

“Dammit! Stupid fucking germs!” He grumbled to himself while blowing his nose in the bathroom hoping no one else could hear him. Leaning against the cold tile wall, he pressed his wrist to his forehead as he sighed. There was no way in hell he was canceling this date over the sniffles! He wasn’t running a fever, and if so it was low-grade at best! He looked at his watch, he only had to survive two more hours and he was home free! He could do this, he lasted the other 8 hours, and two more would be a piece of cake!

Looking in the mirror he straightened himself up after watching his hands. Good gods did he look tired, I mean he could just blame it on the 11 almost 12-hour shift! Dark circles under his dull red eyes, the pinkness on his cheeks and nose being the only color to his face. His hair disheveled as if no matter how much he brushed his hands through it, it would go right back to looking like a mess! Who cares not like he’d-

“Oh hey, Katsuki!” Shit. Right as Katsuki walked out of the bathroom he was met by Eijirou who was holding a tablet in his hands.

“Hey, did you get the imaging done?” Katsuki asked, Eijirou nodded before pointing out the paleness on the other’s face.

“You alright? You look pale” Waving off his concerns Katsuki referred back to the imaging results. Shrugging Eijirou handed Katsuki the tablet as they walked back over to the nurse’s station. As they did Katsuki did his best to ignore the buzzing in his sinuses, dear god it was annoying! But he didn’t need this escalating, so he just gave his bridge a subtle rub in hopes of pushing it away. Talking through it didn’t help though.

“Yeah, everything appears ready to r-relocate, the swelling’s down a-and, and no n-nerves have gotten s-stuck.” The more he talked the stronger that buzzing got, spreading through his nose as if it wanted a full exorcism of what was irritating it. Maybe he could get away with just stifling it, right? Shouldn’t be too bad, just one and-

“H’Knggnt! Heh’aengt! Kgnnt! Ugh” “Oh bless you, you okay?” “huh? Yeah yeah I’mb fide, sorry.” Katsuki reassured while roughly rubbing at his nose between his pinched fingers. Though Eijirou wasn’t convinced, he hesitated on pressing the matter. Eijirou knew how the doctor could be when it came to things, so he just decided to keep an eye on him.

After going over the results, Katsuki went to go off to his patient but before he could leave Eijirou asked him.

“We still on for tonight?” His voice was low enough so not many could hear, Katsuki nodded and gave a quiet.

“Of course, no reason to cancel, why?” “just checking in, ya know if you’re not feeling good we can always reschedule.” “Over my dead body, shitty hair, I’mb perfectly fide.” “Alright alright, if you say so. Can’t wait~” Eijirou said before practically skipping off to his next scan. Katsuki huffed and leaned against the large desk wall of the station when.

“Aaaw someone doesn’t wanna admit to their work hubby they’re sick~” Katsuki whipped his head around to see a bright-eyed smirking blond behind the desk. Okay, maybe one person knew about him and Eijirou. Katsuki frowned and glared at him.

“Shut up, Duracell I’mb fide, and stop callig him that!” He barked, Denki rolled his eyes still dawning his proud smirk as he twirled a pen between his fingers.

“Oh please Katsuki, even I can see that you’re sick, you sound awful.” “I do dnot sound awful!” “uh-huh, you sound congested and your throat sounds like it hurts.” Katsuki sneered at the other doctor questioning what the hell he wanted hoping to steer the subject away from his obvious cold.

“Oh, nothing just came here to watch you two love birds stare at each other, and to finish charting.” “We were dnot staring w-we we” Ugh that stupid tickle was back with vengeance! Katsuki turned away once again to squash down the oncoming fit.

“H’knggxt Eh’enk! Gxxng! NGT’CHih! Guh, ugh dabmit” Denki the tissue box over to him with a look of concern.

“Bless you, you sure you don’t wanna cancel?” Snatching up a handful of tissues to blow his nose, Katsuki once again stated.

“Over. my. dead. body” Then blew his nose harshly, you could hear just how stuffed up he was. And all the pressure from this made his head hurt. He swallowed a groan and tried to compose himself, looking back at his watch he sighed. Time needed to go faster!

When his shift had finally ended Katsuki was ready to go to bed! He trudged into the locker room to put his lab coat into his locker and put on some more casual clothes. Thankfully he had the decency to bring his date night outfit with him. Seeing as it was late December almost January the outfit was a warm one, but that didn’t help with the god-awful chill creeping into his achy body. As he makes it out to the parking lot he’s practically smacked with the power gust of wind. Pulling his coat around him to try and shield himself from the frigid air, Katsuki looked for Eiijrou. He didn’t see him, was he still inside? Was he running late? I swear if he forgot again!

It was too cold to be out here, thankfully it wasn’t snowing yet but still, it was cold! Being out here was not doing him any favors. His nose was running like crazy, sniffling and rubbing at it only made it angrier and the dry air was killing his throat! Blasted shitty hair where the fuck are you! Before Katsuki could even register as the chilly breeze swept through his body mustering up a sneeze he didn’t have time to stifle.

“HAAASTTIIEEW!” “Bless you blasty” Katsuki froze in place hearing that nickname, and then he felt an arm wrap around his shoulder. When he looked up he was met with that familiar loving shark-toothed grin and red hair. Katsuki tried to act like he wasn’t impressed and grumbled out.

“The hell were you?” “Sorry sorry, my locket got jammed so I couldn’t get into it. Had to get help.” “You ready or dnot?” “hm, yeah, we’re taking my car since I know you walked to work. Plus I know you don’t wanna walk over to the restaurant-” Before Eijirou could finish he could hear the soft hitches coming from Katsuki. Looking over he watched as the blond’s shoulders hiked and how his hands fanned at his face lightly before grabbing at his nose.

“Huh!’kgnnk! Uh’hnnk! Ugh” “Bless you, you shouldn’t do that you know” Eijirou chastised lightly, Katsuki rolled his eyes at this.

“I’b fide, Eijirou” “Uh-huh, you sound sick.” “dno I dodn’t I feel perf-feeh heh! Ugh, perfectly fide.” Eijirou unlocked his car and opened the door for Katsuki so he could get inside first before getting in on the driver’s side. Locking the doors and starting the car, Eijirou couldn’t ignore the exhaustedness on Katsuki’s face, the coughing, or the sniffling. As he drove out of the lot he let Katsuki know where were some tissues in the glove compartment which he silently took.

When they got to a red light Eijirou looked over to check on Katsuki who was huddled in the passenger seat shivering and holding a tissue to his red nose. Eijirou reached over and pressed the back of his hand to Katsuki’s forehead, this got a surprised look out of him and a.

“The fuck are you doig, shitty hair?” “Feeling your forehead, you’re running warm.” “the hell are you talking about I-I ih huh i’b freezig” “That’s probably the fever talking, alright, we’re taking a detour,” Eijirou said clicking on his turn signal, Katsuki looked a little confused wondering what he meant by that. Eijirou then turned on the seat heater for Katsuki’s seat. He watched as the blond relaxed once the warmth of it settled in. Instead of turning towards their original destination for their dinner Eijirou turned to a convenience store. He told Katsuki to stay in the car, the heat would stay on. Leaving Katsuki inside, he remained curled up enjoying the warmth of Eijirou’s car. Since he was alone he tried blowing his nose once again but he was way too congested. Nothing was moving, his nose was completely blocked! What the hell was Eijirou doing in there anyway? When Eijirou did come back out after what felt like forever with some bags. Katsuki asked about what he had bought and all Eijirou said was.

“We’re still gonna have our date, that’s all you need to worry your pretty lil head about~” With that said Eijirou started driving again this time turning down to Katsuki's apartment. Katsuki was still perplexed why was he taking Katsuki home? He was fine, sure probably not the best but he’d be fine if he took some medicine. Eijirou found a place to park, grabbed the bags, and opened Katsuki’s car side door.

“Come on let's get you inside” Pulling Katsuki to him by the waist as they walked into the apartment complex. Katsuki flinched a tad but didn’t pull away and just followed Eijirou inside. Making it to Katsuki's apartment, Katsuki unlocked the door to let them inside. Eijirou told him to get comfortable on the couch and to pick out a movie. Slipping off his shoes and shrugging off his coat, Katsuki lazily nodded and trudged over to the couch while asking what Eijirou was doing. Eijirou set down the bag of items and went through them, placing some of them on the coffee table.

“You like tea right?” “huh yeah” “That’s what I thought.” He says while grabbing a tea box and then grabbing the thermometer he had in his backpack he carries around. Holding it up to Katsuki’s mouth he asks him to open up so he can take his temperature. Katsuki took the tool out of his hand and put it in his mouth himself while grumbling.

“You dodn’t dneed to take care of bme” Kirishima then planted a soft kiss on Katsuki’s forehead before heading to the kitchen leaving the blond blushing and flustered. What’d he do that for?! Leaning back into the couch cushions with a surprised look on his face, what the hell did he do to score such a sweet guy?! While waiting for the thermometer to beep his nose went from completely blocked to running like a broken faucet. Sniffling with the tool in his mouth wasn’t helping considering he couldn’t breathe well in the first place. He tried sniffling enough to keep the mess at bay but the more he snuffled the worse the brewing tickle got. No matter how careful he was he could feel it spiking and getting close to climaxing. It was like a dangerous balancing act, he didn’t think he could last very long trying to hold back. His eyes watering with desperation and his poor nose twitching with need, he prayed this stupid thing beeped soon. With each hitching breath he knew he was only getting closer to losing control, already his hand searching for a tissue just in case, he knew this was gonna be explosive, to say the least.

Beep beep! FINALLY! Taking the thermometer out of his mouth he grabbed a tissue just barely in time!

“HAAATSSSSHIIEW! HAT’SHIIIEEW! At’SHIIIIEEW!” “bless you!” Called out the redhead, Katsuki groaned as he grabbed for more tissues once he realized that fit soaked the tissue he had in his hands. Pressing more to his nose he gave a loud blow not noticing Eijirou coming around the corner with a mug of tea.

“Goodness, you alright?” “huh yeah I’b fide, just a couple of sneezes.” Handing over the tea, Eijirou took the thermometer looked at the numbers, and frowned.

“38.6 C (101.5F) Yup I knew you were running a fever.” Just as Eijirou finished his sentence he felt the weight on the couch shift and a warmth pressed against his shoulder. Looking over to see Katsuki nestled up tiredly, Eijirou grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it over the blond doctor.

“Tell adyode about this and a-and I-I ihh hih! Hah’knggnk! Kill you” He muttered between sneezes, Eijirou chuckled softly and shifted himself so his back was against the armrest and pillow. Moving Katsuki so he’d lay on his chest in an elevated position.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on it till you say it's okay. Now just relax.” Katsuki let out a small noise and curled up a little though not as tense as before, his shivering slowed down as he took on the shared body heat of his partner. Quietly sipping on his tea, Katsuki sighed as the warmth felt good throughout his entire body especially his throat, and the steam was helping with his congestion, albeit killing his tissue supply.

The two spent the night watching a movie together on the couch under the blanket. Katsuki hated that they couldn’t have an actual date like he had planned but, he was okay with this. As long as he got to spend time with his beloved radiologist and med tech, he didn’t care. Turning over he gave Eijirou a soft kiss on the lips and went back to watching the movie pretending like he didn’t just do that. Eijirou on the other hand was bright red in the face looking in shock.

“k-k-Katsuki!?” “hm?” Katsuki hummed trying not to laugh as he could hear the embarrassment in his stammering.

“Y-you kissed me!” “Duh stupid, I’ve done it before,” He says just to mess with him, knowing it would only fluster Eijirou harder. He tried to hide the smirk on his face as he shifted in Eijirou’s lap eyes looking back at the TV. Katsuki wasn’t the best at showing his love for people, usually, it was acts of service and remembering important things about a person. Katsuki didn’t do physical affection, especially not around people. He knew Eijirou lived for it, and well no one else was around~

A few kisses and some cuddling wouldn’t kill him.

As the night went on Katsuki grew tired and wound up falling asleep on Eijirou. Eijirou couldn’t help but snap a picture, plus he could send it to- OH shit! He sent it to the group chat and not just to Katsuki, Shit shit shit shit shit! Maybe people wouldn’t notice?! Fuck why couldn’t he delete it! Stupid ‘no deleting’ policy! Maybe people wouldn’t notice, maybe they’d ignore it!

They didn’t ignore it! The group chat got flooded by morning by a bunch of texts.

“EIJIROU!” Eijirou was shaken from his pleasant sleep hoping that it was all a dream. But there was Katsuki who looked ready to kill him while holding the phone in his hand.

“You sent that stupid pic to the group chat you dumbfuck!” “Hey hey hey I tried to delete it, I’m sorry!” “There’s so much fucking text, god dammit!” “I’m sure it's not that bad” Katsuki then showed him the long string of texts from their colleagues with different reactions. Some said ‘I knew it’ and some said ‘holy shit you two are dating!’ ‘you guys are so cute together!’ ‘finally scored your work husband!’ and many more.

Eijirou sighed and apologized again, this time Katsuki just rolled his eyes and flopped back onto the couch.

“Ugh, it's whatever, they would’ve foud out ehh heh! ETSSSHIIEW! Evedtually” Eijirou passed over a couple of tissues to him before getting up from the couch.

“How about I make you some chicken noodle soup to make it up to you” How could Katsuki turn that offer down, he couldn’t.

“That’ll work~” He said with a lil bit of sass in his tone, when Eijirou went off to the kitchen Katsuki went back to his phone. Rolling his eyes in annoyance when some of the other nurses ‘asked’ “think you could share him? You can’t keep that cutie to yourself”

That annoyed Katsuki, but he wasn’t the possessive type, totally wasn’t. He totally didn’t sneakily take a picture of Eijirou cooking, and send it to his socials. Totally not with the caption

‘Look at my cute boyfriend’

This was the end, the end of his life as a Seraphim, as the angel of death, as god’s favorite, all because he dared to dream. He weakly looked up at the red sky of Hell’s pride, the angels and exorcists were now flying back up to heaven leaving him and Lilith to pick up the pieces of their new home. Bodies were everywhere, bodies of sinners and a few hellborns lay dead in the streets. The clouds darkened with rain, harsh winds blew through their bodies with vengeance. Lilith watched her husband weakly stagger to his feet, stumbling through craters of the earth, tip toeing around entrails of what remained. He approach an old abandoned worn-down castle. Lucifer knew he didn’t have much strength left, he used most of what he had to fight to try and stay in heaven or to protect and heal Lilith. Still, they needed somewhere to stay, so he pressed his hands to the walls and with the last bit of magic, he had transformed it to its reformed state.

“Lucifer what are you doing!?” Lilith asked as she limped up behind him

“If we’re going to be down here, we might as well make the best of it” Lucifer smiled softly right before collapsing. Lilith grabbed him before her lover could hit the ground, she watched as the castle changed, its color becoming brighter, bricks falling back into place. Some of the other angels that fell alongside Lucifer-that weren’t gravely injured or dead- hurried to open the doors for her. Lilith carried Lucifer inside while being followed by her fellow fallen, for a while they took residence on the ground floor until they were strong enough to adventure upwards. Many of the appliances and furniture from the inside needed a mend or updating but it was better than being stuck out in the pouring rain.

When she found the-what would be considered- the master bedroom, she laid Lucifer down gently and began to bandage up what she could while he was unconscious. As a day or two went on some kind demons would bring over what they could to help. The change overnight was overwhelming, to say the least. Going from living in heaven and now in hell was jarring, they had lost everything, their home, their food, and those they thought would never betray them were the ones to almost kill them!

When Lucifer was conscious they both had to grapple with their new reality and it wasn’t easy. Still, they’d make do with what they had.

“ih! IIZZSCHYUE!” “Bless you, Luci, darling are you sure you’re alright?” Inquired Lilith as she let her husband help wash the dried blood from her body. Lucifer nods while rubbing at his nose with a wet sniffle.

“Yes dear, I’m alright. How are you doing?” “Still a bit sore but, better than yesterday, thank you.” Lilith kissed the top of his head while pushing his wet hair out of his face with a soft smile. It was good to see him finally not covered in golden blood. However, she couldn’t tell if it was because he was still recovering or if he had caught something. He had been sneezing since they woke up, his throat sounded painful and strained, not to mention the sniffling. Lilith did manage to sustain a few bad injuries herself, some Lucifer was able to heal himself, though others still needed time.

“I’m so sorry you got dragged into this Lili flower, you didn’t deserve this.” He apologized as he continued to wash Lilith’s body letting her blood be rinsed off and drained by the shower. Lilith shook her head and cupped his face in her hands making him look up at her. Her eyes met his with an adoring glint.

“I followed you by choice Lucifer, I followed you on my own volition, I chose to stick by you and I wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s no need to apologize my love” Lucifer looked up at her with admiration, oh how he loved her so much. Just as he was finishing up to let Lilith wash him up he let out a sudden

“Ih’kgnk! Gnnx-chiew! Hgk-chiew!” A wince and a groan slipped from his lips and he clutched his sides. Lilith quickly reached for him cautiously fearing he would fall over. Lucifer held onto the wall to steady himself and gasped out.

“Sorry, I-I’ll be okay.” Lilith shook her head at this and asked for Lucifer to be honest with her. The blond-haired demon twiddled his fingers a bit while muttering.

“Bm-maybe I’m a little under the weather. Ndothing serious I promise.” Lilith didn’t fully trust his answer, turning off the shower she grabbed a towel and wrapped him and then herself up.

“Stay here and dry off, I will go and fetch fresh warm pajamas and bandages, fix you up and you’ll be off to bed.” She says while carefully sitting Lucifer down on the closed toilet before leaving the bathroom. Lucifer couldn’t help but feel bad for her doing all this for him, he should be able to take care of himself he was the king of hell for hell's sake! But here he was sitting covered in stab wounds, bruises, gashes, and scars. Pathetically snuffling and sneezing while his wife who was still healing from her own injuries was taking care of him. He grumbled to himself while wiping his runny nose on the towel. He didn’t feel as bad when he woke up, but now it was starting to settle in. The aching grew worse with any sort of sudden movement, especially to his chest and ribs. He felt like he couldn’t get warm, his body still shivering underneath the thick fluffy soft towel. His head was clogged with congestion even with his nose running like a broken faucet. And don’t even get him started on his poor throat!

Lilith came back dressed in a casual nightgown with a first aid kit in hand. She went through and rebandaged his injuries trying to be as gentle as possible. She hated to feel him flinch from her touch, she hated even more how overly warm his skin felt to her. She reached into the box pulled out a thermometer and held it up to his mouth.

“Can you keep this under your tongue for me, dear?” Without another word, Lucifer opened his mouth just enough for her to slide the tool under his tongue. As she waited for the results she went back to assessing and fixing him up. A soft yet sad expression washed over her, she was still getting used to Lucifer’s new form. His eyes used to be this bright blue color now turned red and would sometimes change to a dilated menacing gold. His lower half was more goat-like, but now he had a long demon’s tail with an arrow tip that he wasn’t the best at controlling.

His hands which used to be a palish white now blackened from the forearms to the tips of his fingers. These features would become more apparent when angry, he would sprout horns and spitfire. She had changed, Lilith also had horns that would change in size as did her height. Even with the change not being as visibly significant as Lucifer’s, it was still something to adjust to! Yet she still adored the man before her, and he still adored her just the same. The thermometer was done by the time she had finished with the last set of bandages. Looking over the results she sighed and packed it away.

“No wonder you feel so awful, 101.5 isn’t good. It's not too high but, with your injuries, I’m still worried.” Extending a hand out to her husband, she helped dress him in comfortable pajamas as promised and helped him to beg. It hurt him more to see the bandages on Lilith’s ankles and wrists, he hated that she got hurt at all. He watched as she limped around trying to adjust her weight as she walked around.

“Lili, love wh-why dodn’t you rest a bmidute, I can manage on my own love.” He suggested hesitantly he outstretched his arms but had to reel back to muffle a few sneezes.

“Ih hih! IIZZSCHYUE IIZZSCHYUE!” Biting the inside of his cheek to hold back a grunt from pain he went back to making grabby hands at his wife. Of course, she couldn’t say no to him, so she climbed into bed alongside him. Shuffling up to her, he laid his head just barely against her. Lilith pulled him closer laying his head on her chest, her hands started to comb through his damp hair.

“Bless you, I do hope you feel better soon, Luci. I’m sorry you feel so awful.” “Thagks, it's alright Lili flower, I’ll be okay. I’ll be better after sobe sleep. I prombise.” Although she didn’t believe him, he wasn’t wrong about needing rest, he needed as much as he could get! She hummed in agreement and continued to stroke his head soothingly till they both ended up back asleep.

Due to how this cold was going Lucifer didn’t know how long he had slept but when he woke up he was utterly blocked up. He couldn’t get a stream of air through his nose, felt like it was filled with a wall of cement. His throat still hurt to the point of coughing, shit he didn’t need a cough on top of this! He also didn’t need to wake Lilith with it either. So he forced what strength he thought he had and slinked out of bed. The walk down the stairs was agonizing, each step felt like a shock wave of pain that coursed through his ailing body. Making it to the kitchen, he turned on the kettle after filling it with water and waited for it to boil.

Being out of bed wasn’t helping his chills, maybe he should’ve taken a blanket with him. His shoulders were hunched over as he sat on a stool in front of the countertop shivering and rubbing at his nose that for fuck sake wouldn’t stop twitching!

“Uhh…? IIYISSCHUE IIYISSCHUE! IYIIMPH!” He managed to muffle the last sneeze into his shirt thankfully but damn were those sneezes dizzying and strong. It felt like he had the wind knocked out of him! He had to hold onto the counter hoping not to fall off. The harshness of his sneezes ended up making him cough. Clutching his torso torso to try and lessen the pain, he was left gasping shakily for air.

“Damb that fuckig hurt” He whined out before hopping off the stool as the sound of boiling water rolled inside the kettle. Grabbing a mug he poured the water into the cup, grabbed some honey and lemon, and stirred it around, he also made a cup for Lilith. They also needed to eat something, maybe cooking couldn’t hurt him, it was just soup, right? He grabbed what they had and got started on making soup.

He may or may not have overestimated how much strength he had and was beginning to tire out. Fighting his body to stay upright wasn’t as easy as it sounded with each sneeze wracking his body and scratching at his sore throat. Even with him leaning against the counter while he let his soup cook he could feel his energy depleting.

“Sh-shit hih! IIYISSCHUE IIYISSCHUE!” These two had him desperately holding onto anything he could to stay on his feet.

“Luci?” A soft yet worried voice called out, Lucifer didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Lilith.

“Hi darling” He replied while using his sleeve to wipe at his nose.

“What are you doing out of bed?” She didn’t sound angry just concerned, Lucifer held up a mug of tea and handed it to her.

“I figured we needed sobethig to eat or drink so I went and made sobe tea, and soup is sti-stihh still cooking Hih! Kgnk! Ugh Sorry.” Taking the mug Lilith sighed and pulled her husband to her.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed, love, you can hardly stand up.” Lucifer shook his head and tried mustering up a smile.

“You’ve done so much already, and I’m perfectly well enough to make something for us, you’re still hurt too. I didn’t want you to do too much” Lucifer’s voice cracked almost painfully, Lilith cringed at how bad he sounded. Reached for a cloth she pressed it to his nose.

“Blow your nose dear, I can hardly understand you.” Blushing in embarrassment Lucifer tried to wiggle his way out of it but Lilith wasn’t having it. So he did as told, even though he hated being this weak in front of her. She gingerly cleaned up his face before looking at the contents in the pot grabbed the spoon to stir things around and added spices.

“I’ll take care of the soup, you sit back and enjoy your tea okay.” Lucifer pouted at this and tried to protest this.

“I’ve got it Lili Flower, please.” His attempt was weak, and Lilith smiled at him warmly.

“I know you do, and you got just about everything started, i’m just finishing it up for you, like how we used to. So please let me help.” She kissed his forehead, she could feel the heat radiating from him and it worried her. He shouldn’t be straining himself so much, she didn’t want his fever to get any higher. The king of hell huffed and agreed, this was something they would do at times. One would start cooking and the other would either help or come in later and take over. Yet he didn’t want Lilith doing all the work.

When the soup was done, they went back up the stairs to their bedroom and curled up under the covers. They both ate their soup cuddled up beside each other. The warmth of the soup and tea did wonders at warming him up from the inside. For once he wasn’t shaking like a leaf in the wind, it was also loosening up the congestion clogging up his head. The only downside was it made his nose run which resulted him in not so gently rubbing and wiping at it to keep himself from making a mess. Lilith looked over at him hearing a small grumbling noise from him and saw him harshly scrubbing at his nose that was almost a bright red color. She giggled a little at this, she couldn’t help but comment on it.

“Oh Luci love, be careful. Your nose is already so red.”This had Lucifer blushing deeper and almost looking crossed-eyed down at his nose. Lilith laughed harder at her husband’s antics.

“How's your soup?” Lucifer asked trying to keep from blushing any harder.

“It's good, you did a good job love.” Lucifer grinned a little at her compliment and leaned into her side as he set his bowl aside.

“I’mb glad, felt bad about you doig everything, I had to do sobethig for you.” Lilith’s brows furrowed confusedly, setting down her own bowl she asked for him to elaborate. Lucifer’s grin turned sheepish and the tips of his pointy ears tinted the same as his cheeks.

“W-well you’ve been taking care of me since we fell from hell. You’ve been doing everything, bandaging me up, helping me shower, making food, helping the other fallen, and all I’ve done was lie here like a pathetic log while you did all the work.” Tears lined the rims of his eyes as he looked away from the half-human half-demon queen. He looked down at his bandaged arms as he couldn’t face her like this.

“Y-You don’t deserve this Lilith…You deserve to be happy, you deserve to see the good in people, and you deserve to see the light and be up in paradise….Not stuck down here with sobe loser who thigks his dreams will get hib ady where.” Before Lucifer could continue as the tears rained down his face, he felt warm palms gently cup his face and the weight of the bed shifting. He was pulled into a tender kiss by the woman who was now straddling his waist. She made sure not to put too much of her weight on him as she did this not wanting to hurt him.

“Lucifer, I told you before, I chose to do this with you. From the moment I left Adam to now, everything I did was by choice. Sure some things I did unsure of the outcomes but I do not regret them, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be with you. I’m taking care of you because you took care of me, you took the brunt of the attack, you took those spears, arrows, and whatever else they threw at you….When they took me from you and asked whether I would take the same fate as you, I knew that I would be exiled, but I chose to do it because I would still be with you. That is all that matters to me. That I am with you, and that we are both happy. Me taking care of you is the least I could do for you!” She pulled him into a hug as she continued.

“I love you, whether you are Sameal the Seraphim and angel of death, or Lucifer Magne Morningstar, sin of pride and king of hell. You took a risk, and it may not have gone as planned, but it's a start, and I don’t want you to give up. Please. Lucifer.” Her voice breaking as she pleaded to him, Lucifer hesitantly wrapped his arms around her slowly melting into her embrace.

“So please just let me take care of you….You don’t have to take this on all on your own…” Her voice almost a whisper. At first, Lucifer remained silent before he nuzzled his face into the crook of her shoulder while nodding.

Nemuri loved Taishirou, she loved how protective and caring he was towards others. He was always ready to put himself after others he cared about, whether it was in pro-hero life, his firefighting, or his casual life. He was the life of the party and always knew how to help others out. The only downside was that he wasn’t good at taking care of himself, which often gave Midnight the chance to take care of him. Well once he could admit that he needed it which he was never good at like today.

Midnight knew something was up when their morning phone call was less energetic. Usually, Taishirou was the chatty one in the mornings. They always had their morning calls when Taishirou had to spend nights at the firehouse. This time he sounded rough, she could hear him muffling harsh coughs and sneezing through the other line. She asked him if he was alright and of course he said he was fine even with her pressing the matter he insisted it was nothing. She knew that trying to get him to admit to it this early wouldn’t work so she’d wait till he was ready. In the meantime, she went about her teaching day albeit a little worried.

When the day ended she made sure to stop by the store to pick up some medicine, tissues, and miso soup. Spending the rest of the day with a glass of wine in one hand and a book in the other. The day got later and later and it had started to rain, Midnight was getting a little concerned that she hadn’t heard from her boyfriend since this morning. It was reaching 11 pm and nothing! Midnight contemplated texting or calling him until she heard the front door open.

“I’m home!” She hopped off the bed and walked out of the living room after hearing some shuffling. There he was, dressed in his fire uniform covered in ash and smoke leaning against the wall looking exhausted.

“Hey there baby” “Hey, sorry I couldn’t call or text too much, I was getting pulled into every other direction” His voice sounded hoarse and congested. Sniffling and snuffling, rubbing at his nose while coughing even with how dirty his face was she would see the flushness and irritation around his nose.

“It's okay, I’m just glad you’re home.”Just as she got closer to Taishirou to help remove his jacket he leaned away to stifle off a few sneezes.

“Had’kgnk! AD’ckng-chiew! Had’gnnxt! Ugh sorry” She frowned at shook her head. “Don’t apologize, baby, come on let's get you into the shower.” Taishirou meekly smirked at asked if she’d join him getting a small laugh from her, she still agreed to shower with him. Damn did the hot water feel good! Midnight offered to help wash him up at first declined saying he’d be fine to do it himself. However, it didn’t take much convincing for him to let her help. It gave him a chance to relax, breathing in the steam did help with the congestion. His sniffling went from completely stopped up to a sort of wet snuffling.

“Baby, stop rubbing your nose so much its already irritated.” “I cad’t help it, its all itchy and ruddy” “Think you can wait till we get out of the shower to blow your nose?” “Y-yeah hehhh f-fuck huhh hold on’d” Leaning against the cool wet tile wall of the shower, his shoulders hiked up the more his breath hitched. He tried rubbing it away and that seemed to work as he sighed in relief. Midnight giggled when Taishiro moved his hand showing how red and irritated his nose was.

“Your nose is as red as that fire engine” “Is d’not” He blushed, Midnight playfully rolled her eyes at him and helped him finish up.

“Yes it is from how much you’ve been rubbing it, and I know you, you’re not very gentle with it.” Finally getting out of the shower the temperature shift seemed to take the control Taishirou seemed to cling to.

“Had’shiiiew! Ad’shhieew! Ad’shiiew!” He barely had any time to cover, the next few sneezes were muffled into a towel Midnight handed him. She stuck close to him rubbing his back.

“Bless you! Jeez, must be an awful cold huh babe?” “I-I’mb dnot s-siih sick I-I!” He quickly buried his nose back into the fluffy tower as the urge to sneeze left him unconvincing.

“Ad’shhimmff! Ad’sshmmff! Heh’mmph!” He groaned as his body shuddered through his sneezes.

“Dambit” He cursed stuffily, grabbed some toilet paper, and blew his nose hastily. Midnight placed another towel around him to dry him off.

“You finished?” Nemuri asked, Taishirou nodded and followed his girlfriend out of their bathroom and into the bedroom to change into comfy clothes. Getting dressed, Nemuri urged the firefighter into bed. Going through the nightstand drawer she pulled out a thermometer but before she could ask him to open up he spoke up.

“Lutenit took my temperature earlier” She raised a brow at this and asked for her boyfriend to elaborate.

“After a rescue call Torrent-you know my lutenit- said he wanted to check my vitals since rehab was full….I tried insisting that I was fine but he knew I had been ‘off all day’, I knew i wasn’t getting out of it. Said I had a temperature of 38.6 C (101 F), he-hehh heh! H-hang on’d” Hand aimlessly reached around, Nemuri knew what he was searching for and put the tissue box within his reach. Snatching up a few tissues quickly pressed them to his face, and his body got folded through each sneeze.

“Had’shiiiew! Ad’shhieew!”

“Bless you! Aaw poor baby, why didn’t you come home sooner if you felt so bad?” Sympathy and worry lacing the 18+ hero’s voice.

“I thought it was just alittl c-case of the sdiffles, and I didn’t wadda leave Torrent witht he fresh r-rehh recruits damb why’s it itch s-so fuuhh fuckig bmu-Hud’shiiiew! Bmuch?”

“Probably because you’ve been stifling all day~” She teased, Taishirou blushed and pouted.

“I cadn’t help it, force of habit” “I know Tai, I know, I’m gonna heat up some sort for you. You stay here alright.” Nemuri slid out of bed leaving the blond pro hero to his own devices. Going into the kitchen she turned on the stove to heat up the pot for the miso soup she had bought. It hadn’t even been 4 minutes when she could hear heavy footsteps padding along the floor. She gave a small sigh knowing who it was though was a little surprised to feel his larger frame press behind her smaller one. She could feel his body heat radiating off of him. His height always cast a shadow over her. Their high difference wasn’t ridiculous but it was noticeable and something she loved. How such a big rugged man like Taishiro could be such a sweetheart.

“Shiro i thought I told you to stay in bed” Her voice had a slight teasing edge to it. Taishirou whined and pursed his lips in a pout.

“But the bed is cold and lonely without you” His whining was almost like a golden retriever puppy it could make your heart melt. The blond pressed his face into the side of her neck nuzzling into a little, Nemuri couldn’t help but smile at the goofball she called her boyfriend. Taishirou made it clear he wasn’t moving from his attachment to his girlfriend. Muffling sneeze after sneeze into a blanket he had wrapped around himself to at least try and keep his germs to himself.

When the soup was finally done, Nemuri was practically carrying Taishirou back to bed.

“C’mer big guy” She patted the space beside her, which he crawled onto and leaned against her while happily eating his soup. She went back to running his fingers through his hair in a soothing motion just admiring how adorable Taishirou was.

“I’m gonna guess Torrent dropped you off here didn’t he?” Tiashirou nodded at this as he swallowed down his soup.

“Wouldn’t let me do it in case bmy fever got worse, so he drove me home” “That’s nice of him” “Mhm’b hehh huhh! G-god dambit hahh hah! AD’shiiiew! Ugh sorry, i know i’mb gross” He groaned while wiping his nose with the tissue he had balled up.

It was the first spring in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Lilith were exploring their world after such a harsh winter. The sky was a bright blue, the air warm with the sun shining down with no cloud sight. The garden had started to revive itself now that winter had ended and with that. Many plants, animals, and flowers were making themselves known during this time of year.

“Oh Adam look at these flowers, they’re so pretty!” Lilith exclaimed as she tugged the brown-haired man into the garden’s alcove seeing the bright colors of the flora. Adam followed her and smiled seeing the plants, they were pretty.

“Ooh, this one has a different pattern than before the winter!” The woman pointed out as she knelt to admire them. Her hand delicately brushed through a small bushel of hyacinths causing a tuff of golden pollen to rise into the air. This seemed to irritate Adam’s nose in a way he wasn’t all that used to. He made a soft noise and rubbed at the underside of his nose to make it go away but. It wasn’t making things better, and before he could truly process what happened he-

“Hehh! HH'ETSHHIIEW!” That sound sure made both him and Lilith jump, the woman had practically fallen on her bare bottom from being startled by the noise.

“Wh-what was that?” Adam shrugged a mixture of confusion and fear washed over him as he rubbed at his nose.

“I don’t know…” He gave a soft sniffle which seemed to kick-start the sensation again.

“Hehh! HH'ETSHHIIEW!” Lilith stared at the man sharing the same confused yet scared look on her face she asked again what that was, and like before Adam answered that he didn’t know.

“A-Are you okay?” She asked, Adam shrugged and rubbed at his nose.

“Yeah I think so, my nose just feels weird” She got up from her spot on the ground and approached him.

“Weird how? What’s it feel like?” Scrunched up his nose and wriggling it around he tried to describe it.

“I-itchy, my nose feels li-like its buzzing, and ki-kihh heh! Hehh! HH'ETSHHIIEW!” Once again Lilith jumped in surprise, who could blame her? She had never heard Adam make that noise before and it was loud!

“A-Are we cursed? Are we gonna die?” “I don’t know, i hope not” Adam replied nervously while harshly scrubbing at his nose.

“Make this weird feeling stop, my nose feels like it's on fire” Letting out a little giggle, Lilith gets closer to Adam pulling him towards him and poking him in the nose.

“Your nose is moving around like a bunny” Adam blushes at this but is interrupted by that awful sound again

“HH'ETSHHIIEW!” Lilith moved her hands to cover her ears at the sound while Adam had to hold onto her to stabilize himself, he could tell he was gonna do it again.

“Wh-why c-caah hah cad’t I stuhh huh! Heh!HH'ETSHHIIEW! HH'ETSHHIIEW!! Stop’b?!”

Lilith shrugged with concern wondering what would possibly be happening for Adam to react like this.

“Bless you young ones” Said a booming voice, although sudden it was recognizable.

“God?” Both humans questioned in unity.

“Yes it is me, do not fret, nothing bad will come of this, you are not dying” God reassured, Lilith sighed n relief at this statement but then asked him

“Why is this happening?” There was a soft chuckle from the heavens before the being answered her question.

“What Adam is experiencing will not harm him gravely. He is just sneezing, it is something I put into your design it is a way for your body to get things that irritate your nose out of it.” Listening to their creator their confusion washed away momentarily but now they were wondering what would cause this reaction. They hadn’t done anything for this to happen except explore the garden.

“Is this a consequence for exploring the garden, sir?” “Oh dear no, this isn’t a consequence just merely a design choice.” Adam managed to catch another sneeze into his hand thought this time it was more than one.

“HH'ETSHHIIEW! HH'ETSHHIIEW! EED’SSHIIEEW!” Moving his hands away from his face, his eyes were watery, and his nose turning an irritated pinkish red and leaking like a broken faucet.

“Bless you again, my you must be allergic to something in the garden”

“Ah-what?” Again another roaring chuckle came from the immortal at his human’s innocence on the subject.

“Allergic, it is when your body has an over-reaction to something in its environment.” He says trying to simplify its meaning, Adam gives wet sounding sniffle while rubbing at his nose again.

“How do I mb-bmake it stuuh stop?” “Go into the river and cleanse your body, it should wash off whatever is irritating you” Commanded God, nodding, Lilith took Adam by the hand and led him away from the floral cove. The entire way there Adam continued to sneeze, sniffle, and snuffle. Lilith was never one to question their creator but she did hope that his advice would work. Soon the sound of rushing water grew louder and louder almost crashing and drowning out Adam’s sneezing.

“Alright we’re here Adam” She announces and moves pasted the bushes she lets go of his hand as she makes her way toward the water. Just as she dipped her foot into the water she smiled, compared to the month before the water was much warmer with the sun’s light. Setting her self down on a rock beneath the water she beckoned for her love to join her.

“Come on in Adam, the water feels great!” She waved her hands in the water splashing around excitedly. Adam stepped down the rocks though just as he was making his way down the awful buzzing feeling was back. It prickled and spread its way through his sinuses with a force he didn’t see coming

“HH'EEETSSSHIIIIEEW!” SPLASH! The force of his sneeze sent him falling into the water, Lilith flinched and called out for him worriedly. Swimming towards him hoping for him to resurface, when he did his hair flopped over his eyes. He shook his head around animalistically and smirked.

“Aaaw were ya worried about me Lil~” He teased, Lilith shoved him back a bit and pouted.

“Of course I was you idiot, you fell under the water!” A soft giggle came from the brown haired man as he what the blond purse out her lips at him.

“I’mb sorry I’mb sorry, but see I’m okay” Adam smiled widely and tried wrapping his arms around Lilith but she shoved a wave of water to keep him away with a ‘hmph’

“I liked it better when you weren’t being mean 'cause you were sneezing your head off” Then a soft breeze swept through them and she shuddered feeling a rush of cool air run over her. This seemed to trigger a similar sensation. Her nose twitched softly and her breath began to hitch. She looked down cross-eyed at her nose and stammered out.

“A-aah adaah adam, ih iiih is thih this wh-what you were duuh hih!” She couldn’t even finish her sentence before a sharp

“Iitsshiiew!” Adam couldn’t help but laugh this time, and waded his way over to her as she shuddered through another sneeze.

“Hmm what was that word god used?…Ah right Bless you Lil, looks like you’re the one with allergies now~” Even though he wasn’t completely right, with the way god described it, he technically wasn’t wrong either.

“JACK FROST WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Exclaimed the fire wielder, the winter spirit held his hands up defensively and tried to explain.

“I may or may not have went a little overboard on pranking him, i just meant to freeze his cloud….and I might have missed.” “You froze him!” “It was an accident, you can help right?” Leyo huffed and nodded while igniting his fire to thaw the poor rain spirit out. Jack watched in anticipation as the ice melted hoping his boyfriends wouldn’t be too angry with him. Finally Rain was completely unfrozen and stretched but soon curled up on himself and started shivering.

“Wh-what th-h-the hell Jack!?” “Sorry Rain, didn’t mean to freeze ya.” “How about you go home and warm up, I’ll take care of today’s work and I’ll check in later.” Offered Leyo, Rain nodded at this though frowned knowing Jack would be coming home with him. Its not that he hated him, not any more at least, its just Jack could be impulsive and not think of other people’s feelings before acting. Besides, no one likes being turned into a popsicle!

“I’ll make sure he gets home” Jack promised, he knew he was gonna have to make up for it. Rain shot him a glare but wordlessly started walking home beside him. This was the transitional period between winter and fall so the weather wasn’t all that consistent so Leyo taking over for the most part would be fine.

Getting home Rain pulled off his jacket, got out of his wet boots and went into their spare bedroom. Jack frowned at this, sure he knew Rain liked his alone time which wasn’t all that bad but with the way the other closed the door he knew Rain was mad. He figured he would just give the man his space and things would calm down. He probably just needed to dry off and take a nap right?

“Eettshiiiew!” Maybe he was just sneezy from being cold, it wasn’t too uncommon for Rain to do that. Plus he was the sneeziest one out of the three of them. Jack tried to not let his worries and guilt get the best of him, he apologized and by the time Leyo got back everything would be fine! After another few hours the door to the spare bedroom opened but there was no sound. Jack Looked down the hallway only to see two little water sprites trying to beckon him. They jingled and waved their little arms at him and then towards the door. Getting up he went over to them and asked what was wrong. One of the sprites gave a series of soft light flashes, water droplet noises and jingles. Jack wasn’t the best at understanding Rain’s sprites, he could understand Leyo’s and his own but Rain’s hardly talked and were quite shy. The little creatures could tell by the furrowed brows that Jack couldn’t understand them and let out a huff and just grabbed him by the finger. Jack could sense by their tugging that they were worried about Rain, that much he could figure out. He let them guide him back to the spare bedroom where more sneezing could be heard as well as thunder.

Oh boy!

“Rain, babe you alright in there?” He asked from the other side of the door, at first there wasn’t a sound until another “Eetsshiiiew!” and roll of thunder. Jack grabbed the knob, surprised to find that he could just push it open and made his way inside. In the dim light of the bedroom there sat Rain curled up in bed still shivering, with a tissue pressed to his nose and a storm cloud over his head. His hair pressed wetly against his face as he shakily gasped into a fit.

“Etshiiew! Ed’shiiiew! Heh heeh! Eeeshiiew!”

“Bless you!” Jack said softly leaning against the door frame, Rain sighed and grumpily asked.

“What do you wadt?” “Hey I don’t want anything but to see how you’re doing, could hear you sneezing through the door and your sprites got worried.” Rain blew his nose before tossing the tissue into the trash and leaned back into the pillows. Jack walked closer sitting on the side of the bed to get a closer look. Now he really felt back, the poor guy was shaking, nose turning an angry, irritated red around the rims and septum, and he looked worn out.

“Gods you look miserable” Rain rolled his eyes at his comment as he pulled the blanket around him. Jack realized it wasn’t exactly the best thing to say and tried to backpedal.

“Look Rain I really am sorry, I didn’t mean to freeze you and I shouldn’t have tried it either.” He reached out and gently pushed his soaked hair out of Rain’s face. He then noticed the temperature change and pressed his hand to Rain’s cheek and forehead.

“Your temperature is weird” He noted, telling the rain maker to stay put Jack got up and padded down the hall and came back with a thermometer.

“I wanna check your temperature” Rain hesitated but let the other slide the tool under his tongue. Waiting for the thermometer to beep Rain started rubbing at his nose. Jack noticed the way it twitched and watched hoping the other could hold back. A soft whine came as the silvery-blond grabbed at his nose trying to breathe normally through his mouth. Tears welled up in his eyes as he grew dangerously close to losing control. His brows knitted up as he fought the sneeze off. Finally the tool beeped and he took it out himself before pinching at his nose hastily.

“HEt’sknnk! Kdsshhh! Eek’shiiew! Ek’nggk!” Each sneeze rocking his body the cloud above his head grew dark and started to drizzle over his head at the last sneeze. Jack took a look at the thermometer and frowned.

“100F yup you’ve got a fever baby.” “Damb, I should’ve st-staah stay hobe” Rain muttered softly, though not soft enough that Jack couldn't hear it. “Were you already sick before I froze you?” Rain blushed a bit but nodded shyly at him, Jack’s eyes went soft at this.

“Raincloud, why were you out working if you knew you were sick?” “Because you know I c-can’t miss wo-wehh heh! Ugh…work. I dont dneed to be lectured by mother nature addy bmore than usual, and I didn’t feel as bad when I went out. Just th-thehh heh!” Hand mindlessly reached around he snatched up a tissue just in time.

“Eetsshiiew!” ”Bless you, alright well you’re not going out until you’re better. I don’t want you getting any worse.” “Fide fide” “Do you want me to leave you alone so you can sleep?” Rain shook his head

“I cad’t sleep adyways, could you make something warm to drink, I’m freezing.” Jack nodded and stood up telling the sprites to watch Rain as he headed into the kitchen. He knew the other liked tea so that’s what he would make. While he waited for the water to boil the front door opened and in walked Leyo.

“Oh hey you’re back!” Leyo smiled and walked over kissing the other’s forehead and asked how Rain was doing. Though before Jack could answer the sound of sneezing echoed from the spare bedroom.

“Does that answer your question?” He joked lightly, Leyo gave a soft chuckle and nodded.

“You making him some tea?” “Yeah he’s got a cold, and you know what happens when he sneezes with a cold.” “Yup, hopefully the tea should help.” “Yeah it should” Grabbing a mug Jack pours the water over the little tea bag and adds some honey to it before they both head to the spare bedroom.

“Ey there Monsoon, how ya doing?” Asked Leyo as he walked in, Rained huffed and replied stuffily.

“Awful” “Aaw, heard ya got a cold babe.” The fire wielder says as he sat on the side closest to Rain.

“Yeah, didn’t thigk it would get th-this baah hah! Ugh bad but, it did.” Thanking Jack for the tea he made, he let the other two sit on the bed with him. He snuggled up to Leyo since he needed the extra warmth and his heat seemed to make the cloud above his head get smaller.

“Poor Monsoon, well we’re here now.” Leyo says sweetly, delivering a soft kiss on his cheek and wrapping his arms around him. Slowly raising his temperature to help warm Rain up. The steam from the hot mug of tea did seem to help with the congestion now he was sniffing almost constantly. This sniffling was rather wet sounding too. Leyo grabbed a few tissues and pressed them to Rain’s nose telling him to blow. The elven boy blushed at the gentle command but did as told. Feeling the rush of snot flood the tissues Leyo made sure to keep them secured to his face until he was done. His other hand gingerly rubbing circles into his back.

They stayed cuddled up together for a while, Rain had managed to fall asleep for a bit so Leyo went to go and make dinner for the three of them. Leaving Jack with Rain who woke up to his nose being completely blocked up.

“Shit cad breath” He grumbled to himself snorting and snuffling just to try and get some air through his nose. The only thing he managed to do was kick start the worst tickle ever. His nose twitched and scrunched up as he tried to make it go away but it wouldn’t until the last second when it disappeared. Not completely but it was enough for him to struggle getting it out. Nostrils flaring and dripping a bit, his hitches sounded so desperate it almost sounded like whimpering. Jack woke up to this and was quick to blow a kiss at him. Pressing his cold lips to the tip of the needy appendage seemed to be the thing to do it. Gasping largely, Rain pushed Jack off and pressed the sleeve of his sweater over his nose and mouth to catch the oncoming fit.

“Eetssshiiew! Eesshiiieeew!! Eet’chiieew! Eesshmpph!” “Bless you, are you done?” “Y-yeah I thigk s-uuh huh!” Rain buried his nose back into his sleeve before he could finish as another sneeze interrupted him.

“Eesshmpph!” Jack made sure to stay close and held up a couple of tissues to replace Rain’s now soaked sleeve cuff. Trying his best to clean himself up only leads to more sneezing.

“Aaw someone’s sensitive~” Jack teased as he cuddles Rain to help him get through his stronger fits.

“Sh-shut up dod’t eved bmendtion it please.” Jack gave a sympathetic yet playful kiss wrapped him up in the blanket Rain had dragged into the room. Leyo soon came back with some soup for all three of them.

“Could hear you sneezin’ up a storm in here Monsoon, you alive?” Leyo joked, Rain sighed at his boyfriend’s antics.

“Yes yes, I’mb alive, barely.” “Well don’t pass away on me, I made soup.” Taking the bowl of soup, Rain swallowed a spoonful and smiled slightly. The feeling of it going down his throat was good, and definitely warmed his insides.

“Hopefully this’ll help you feel better before you and that sensitive nose of yours kill the tissue supply.” “I’mb dnot that bad” Rain pouted “Yes you are baby, you are already pretty sneezy in general due to your power and your allergies. Adding a cold on top of that makes that nose pretty easy to piss off.” “Its dnot that easy” “Uh-huh, just wait, you'll be sneezing again soon.” Jack chimed in while keeping the tissues close by. Just the mention of this seemed to jinx Rain’s claim, he whined as he batted at his nose to try and quell the sensation trying to ignite. This got a laugh from Leyo who commented at his movement.

“Damn I thought you’d last longer than 5 seconds, Monsoon.” But this time Rain was determined to hold back and it worked! He huffed in relief as the tickle seemed to go down.

“Nope, I’mb dode sdeezing.” He claimed while going back to eating his soup.

“I don’t think you get to decide that, but let's see how long you can last.” Rain nodded confidently, and surprisingly he made it through dinner without sneezing. Sure a few hitches here or there but he didn’t sneeze. Which seemed to impress his boyfriends. Going back to cuddling, Rain was pretty close to falling asleep when the tickle came back. He continued his method of rubbing, pinching, and scrunching up his nose but it didn't seem to work this time. He lasted this long; he wasn't about to lose it now! Though now he was hitching audible enough for the other two to notice.

“Ey you alright Rain?” “Oh boy pretty sure he’s getting sneezy” “Baby just let it out come on” Encouraged Jack, Rain shook his head.

“Nuhh huh! Dno I guuh huh got it!” He protested while his chest heaved, his hands fanning at his face desperately as he tried convincing his body not to sneeze. Nose twitching and flaring he was a mess with tears and snot running down his face, though he seemed to be on the edge of it! Leyo looked to Jack his pulled Rain into his lap while Leyo gathered a bouquet of tissues and pressed them to his bright red nose.

“Oh come on baby, its just so tickly why not just let them out. You’ll feel so much better once you do.” Leyo could feel the poor thing’s nose trembling underneath the cloth he was close!

“We’ve got ya Monsoon just let go. I know its just so big, you can do it” He encouraged sweetly, there was a sudden gasp right before the explosion.

“EEESTTTSHIIEW! EEETSSSHIIEW! EEEESHIIEW! Hehh! HEEehmppph!” As the sneezes game thunder rolled not only from the large dark brooding cloud that floated above them but the ones outside changed as well. The sky darkened even though it was only approaching evening. The roar of thunder shook the cabin with each new set of sneezes! The rain that poured down over them was just as strong as it was outside! When the fit finally ended Rain was left gasping and coughing tears streaming down his face, cheeks flushed pink almost red as well as the tips of his pointy ears.

“Bless you, baby goodness that was alot!” Rain gave one last congested blow into the tissues he had practically decimated. Leyo swapped them out with fresh ones to try and clean up the mess.

“S-sorry” Rain said bashfully, Jack waved at the cloud to try and make it go away.