the romanticism of the “just getting over it” period of a really heavy cold — one that, honestly, kind of knocked someone on their ass for a couple of days.
where their sniffles are loose and marshy and constant; sneezes less frequent but snotty. still a smidge of lingering stuffiness, but nothing crazy. which all sounds like it’d be a pain in the ass, and it kind of is, but it sure was preferable to the near suffocating congestion they were dealing with before and the pounding headaches it brought.
where their voice is still a little rough around the edges, their throat needing cleared every so often, accompanied by short, perfunctory little coughs.
they feel significantly better than they had though, so get back into the normal routines of their daily life, finding themselves constantly rattling off stuff like:
“don’t worry, it sounds worse than it really is”
“it’s all good! honestly, you should have heard me, like, 3 days ago. not pretty”
“no, i’m okay, it’s just the last of it working its way out”
scenario: this really heavy cold kind of wiped out A’s sunday-wednesday, they’ve been on the mend and back at work thursday and friday, and now it’s the weekend.
A and partner B agree to take it easy on friday night, so agree to a night in watching movies. B has some work they need to finish up first though, offering to tidy up the kitchen and do the dinner dishes into the bargain for making them wait. Also, given the fact that A still looks quite run down and easily tired out from getting over being sick.
so B tells A to go get into bed, pick something to watch, get comfy and chill out. both of them know well enough that the dog will follow whoever’s going in the direction of the bedroom, so A will even get a big heated blanket/teddy bear to cuddle up with in the process. B should be in soon.
however, when B eventually joins, A is under the covers, fast asleep. red-cheeked, snoring softly, glasses still on, netflix screen on standby mode from being left idle for too long.
B sighs with distinct fondness. it’s okay — A’s still recovering and clearly still need the rest. so B just quietly turns the TV off, dims the lights a little bit more, grabs a book, and snuggles in.
