Thinking about colds in the summer … popsicles for sore throats … not being able to tell if they’re sweating from the heat or a fever … the chill of the air conditioner making them shiver …
had an academic join an Very Serious online work meeting i was in this morning and start by saying "apologies, i have extremely pronounced hayfever today, so that will be fun for everyone"
um thinking about someone getting new glasses that are a slightly different weight, and sit in a slightly different position, on the bridge of their nose. and even though it's such a small difference, they're just a little extra sensitive to the pressure that day, and it leads to the most indecisive, hitching, wavering sneezes until they get used to it... they keep receiving compliments on their new glasses, too (as if they needed the extra attention!!) and can only blushingly mumble a "thank you" between small, unsteady breaths...
i feel like it's extremely easy to not think about how much snzing does in fact involve your stomach muscles until they're very sore following some kind of intense exercise and then it's. a whole thing
What’s that? I seem distracted? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about someone having such bad allergies that they can’t help crying a little out of frustration
His head was buzzing unpleasantly in a way that he probably shouldn’t have ignored. Neither should he have ignored the scratchyness of his throat or the way he could feel himself getting more and more congested by the minute.
He did, throwing back the fourth cup of coffee in as many hours instead. It caught in his throat and threw him into a coughing fit that left tears in his eyes.
“Woah Grace, you good there?”
Shapiro’s voice made him jump, and he had to hit his chest a few times to firmly stop coughing before responding.
“Yeah, just swallowed wrong.” His voice sounded strained to his own ears. Grace swiped his hand under his glasses, them moved his hand down to rub his nose and sniffed before looking at Shapiro and smiling. He’d been working with her and DuBois for a few months now, lecturing them on the astrophage and working with them to come up with new experiments to figure out as many things about them as possible.
He sniffed again, trying to fight the growing itch. “Is DuBois not here yet?” he asked.
Shapiro nodded. “He’s on his way. He got caught up in the lab. Actually, there was-”
She’s cut off by Grace turning away from her. Raising a finger as he desperately ducked into his elbow with a decently loud “HhHH’DJEschew! H’DJIISchew!” he sniffed again before he came back up, smiling sheepishly. “‘Scuse me.”
“Bless you!” Shapiro said, surprised.
“Bless,” another voice called from the door.
Grace barely suppressed another jump as he heard DuBois enter. He cleared his throat. “Thank you. What were you saying Shapiro?” he asked.
She shook her head. “It can wait until after this.” She started to continue talking, but paused as she really looked at him again. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re looking- not the best,” she said honestly.
DuBois had reached the desk Grace was sitting behind by this point and was looking him over. “I agree,” he said simply.
Grace flushed. In all honesty, he felt pretty bad. When he went to bed the previous night he could already tell he was coming down with something and when he’d woken up it had not gotten better. But there was no resting for him. He’d had mountains of paperwork and new research to get through and that was before he had to prepare for this lecture. Not to mention the other list of things he needed to do after this.
It probably didn’t help that he hadn’t slept more than a few hours in the past days.
He rubbed his eyes, ran his hand under his nose again (it was getting annoying now) and nodded to the duo before him. “I’m fine. Allergies or something.” He waved it off.
He could see that Shapiro was doubting him, but she seemingly decided to let it go for now. Grace got up from behind the desk and started up the powerpoint he’d created for this meeting. “Anyway, let’s get into today’s programming.”
“Hh- HH’HDJISchew! H’DZZschEW! H-” The third sneeze left him in limbo for a solid few seconds before he ducked down again with a final “H’DZSCHEw! Ugh-” Grace cleared his throat, trying to cover up the embarrassment he felt about interrupting himself for god knows how many times in the last hour.
“Bless you,” Shapiro said.
“T-” his voice cracked on the first letter of his word and he was forced to clear his throat again. “Thank you. As I was sayihhg…” he trailed off as he could feel his breath catching and he was forced to turn away again. “H- hh- H’DJZSCHIW! Oh my god!” he groaned. “I apologise.” He grabbed one of the tissues he’d been forced to dig out of his bag earlier and ducked down to blow his nose.
“Bless you again.”
“If I may, you look- unwell, Grace.” DuBois said. “Worse than when we started today.”
When he turned back to his colleagues he found Shapiro looking at him with an intensity that made him uncomfortable. “You do,” she confirmed.
He didn’t need a mirror to know they were probably right. His nose felt red and uncomfortable, and no matter how many times he’d blown it he still felt congested. His voice had also gotten worse, and he honestly wasn’t sure how much longer it would hold out before he lost it completely. “I, uh,” he sighed. “It’s just a cold,” he admitted.
DuBois raised his eyebrow, clearly doubting him. “Just?” he repeated.
Grace cleared his throat again. “Yes. Just. We might as well finish, I’m pretty close to being done with this.” He gestured at the powerpoint.
“Are you sure? We could continue this when you’re feeling better Grace,” Shapiro said.
“It’s fine,” Grace said, frustration lacing his voice. He cleared his aching throat again and pushed on with his lecture.
True to his word, he managed to finish it in about ten minutes, even holding off on sneezing until he was wrapping up. He gave his nose a frustrated swipe and turned back to DuBios and Shapiro. “Any- any questions?” He coughed lightly into his elbow.
“None for today I think,” DuBois said, sharing a look with Shapiro that Grace was too tired to interpret.
“You should rest,” Shapiro said, getting up. “That’s what we’re going to do as well.”
Grace doubted it. He shrugged. “I’ll head off in a second. I still need to wrap up some things for today.”
Shapiro raised her eyebrow. “Can’t it wait?”
He sniffed, rubbing his nose again as the itch came back with a vengeance. “N- not really.”
“If you insist,” DuBois said, and the concern in his voice made Grace feel both annoyed and a little warm.
He nodded curtly, keeping his fist pressed against his nose to stave off the inevitable. As soon as his colleagues left the room he immediately dropped himself back down in his chair and frantically reached for another tissue. “Hh- h- H’DJYZSCHIW! D’JZSCHew!! H- hDSCHHEw!! Ugh-” he blew his nose and leaned his head down onto his hands. His head felt like it was filled with lead. Still, he removed one of his hands to grab a pile of research papers he’d printed out of his bag and put them down in front of him. Then, he put his hand back and started attempting to read them.
A hand on his bicep woke him up. He shot up with a start, gasping slightly with surprise which immediately threw him into a coughing fit. The room was dark, and through his nearly closed eyes and skewed glasses it was hard to make out who had woken him up. How long had he been asleep? When he was finally able to pull himself together he managed to make out the shape of Stratt in front of him, who was staring at him with something akin to concern in her eyes.
“Dr. Grace?” she asked.
He attempted to respond, but his voice came out a nearly inaudible croak. He coughed and tried again, but the resulting “yes?” was still hard to understand and cut out by the last letter.
“You sound bad.” Stratt stated.
“Thanks,” he croaked out.
Stratt sighed. “Go home.”
“But-” he started to protest, beginning to gesture at the pile of paper he’d moved around a bit in his sleep.
“Go home Grace. You’re of no use like this.”
His shoulders slumped. “Okay,” he muttered, beginning to gather up his stuff only to be interrupted by another pair of sneezes. “H- DSZCch! D’JZSChh!”
“Bless,” Stratt said in a tone he couldn’t interpret.
He nodded in response, finishing up gathering his things and slowly heading for the door.
e/va having to take g/race out to a clandestine conference where she needs him to take note of new advancements so he can apply them to their lab back out on the ship, and ofc he catches something because they've been traveling and he's not used to all the planes and new public places after living life between home and his classroom. paying attention to the intimidating scientists is very hard when his nose is leaking like a faucet and his throat hurts with every swallow and a migraine is creeping up on him... e/va of course needs him to be in better shape so the following evening and night is a whirlwind of every cold remedy she can get her hands on
A shy and nerdy botanist with debilitating hay fever working in a greenhouse. Gardening gloves in one pocket, a pollen-coated handkerchief in the other…
the way the image of a person, distinctly sniffly and huddled into a cardigan and pushing their glasses hopelessly up the bridge of their nose every now and then, can absolutely break my brain
someone dragging their partner holiday shopping in a dusty little used bookshop, taking their sweet time browsing the shelves while their poor lover (kinky, easily embarrassed, very allergic...) struggles to keep it together. when it becomes too much they start muffling sneezes into their sleeve, but soon even their puffy winter coat isnt enough to keep things contained. and when a particularly loud sneeze echoes out throughout the shop, their partner looks up, grinning.
ellievsbear
snowghoul
andulkaphoto
titsay
amandla
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
