As Cactus was the only one of the two who drove, making him ferry them both to a surprise destination wasn't exactly on the cards. With this in mind, a taxi was waiting outside to take them. Rose held the door open for his boyfriend like a practiced chauffeur, even giving the blond a little bow as he passed. The ride there was fairly uneventful, with Rose complimenting Cactus's outfit - "See? I told you you'd scrub up well!" - and little else happening aside from idle chatter. Not even any hand-holding? He'd usually have to stop the Brit from getting too heated in this sort of scenario! They seemed to be going to a fancier part of town, and soon arrived at the restaurant Rose had booked. Perhaps he didn't want to wrinkle his clothes, Cactus thought, seeing the clientele that was entering. Shit, should he have gotten a suit?
It wasn't Michelin star quality, but it was significantly higher end than their usual date spots, and Cactus felt increasingly out of place as they were seated. Yeah, he was fairly sure they wouldn't have let him through the door if he wore his hoodie. He felt underdressed as it was now, with men wearing dress shirts and women in sleek, figure-hugging gowns. If you're gonna go eat food, why wear somethin' so tight? There was a weird smell in the air, too, past the scent of cooking food. A sweet, cloying scent, like a memory of a strong perfume - perhaps a woman at another table, or a previous patron, but it was irritating Cactus's already sensitive nose.
He'd timed his medication wrong, he realized, and it was starting to wear off now, when he needed it most.
Ask game assumption: Cactus provides hankerchiefs for Rose, and Rose enjoys it more when Cactus catches his sneezes for him instead of him doing it himself?
Ohoho.... Usually Rose is the one with handkerchiefs, Cac never owned one until the events of 'lavender in bloom', but since then he's been very slowly collecting them (he wants to embroider one for Rose)
Rose has his own fancy embroidered one, obviously the stock he orders for the shop, he definitely has a selection of them. Cac should have more, he gets caught out...
Rose gets self-conscious if Cac catches his sneezes for him, it's very embarrassing to him considering his kink... But in the right situation it could totally drive him crazy 💖
Cac, being a Little Dense, catches them for him when he can anyway ehe
Have literally never considered this before but my god does it fit.
"It's just so vast, and doesn't end... And it's full of things we've never seen, and it's so DEEP!"
Thank u Myles your assumption has become reality. Also now Rose can't swim 💖
He LIKES the seaside, the view is nice, but try and get him to paddle at the shore and you might as well have asked him to kill a man.
(Cac on the other hand loves the ocean he's very buoyant it's just nice to float around and keep cool like that) (so when he returns to Rose, who is 'sunning himself' under a large parasol, and shakes like a dog to get the water out of his hair...)
Ask game assumption: Cactus and Rose dont purposefully try to resemble their own name, they just happen to look and dress like the plant they're named after (?)
YESSSS absolutely
It is not on purpose at all! Rose's hair flicks into that sort of position (and then he just styles it so it's not so messy and more 'intentional')
He has no control on his beanpole stature, and he just thinks green looks good on him!
Cactus, since his plant name is a nickname (based on many factors, his personality when he was younger, his jagged vitiligo on the cheeks), is SLIIIIIIIGHTLY more intentional, but it's only slight lmao
The scarf was made because of his nickname, by someone else, and gifted to Cac.
Depending on context and who's saying it (insult vs observation, etc), both of them either get defensive about it, or joke about it and be all light-hearted.
Hi Dye! Would love to hear about 🏠🙄💭 for Cactus and Rose! They’re both so sweet, I love their dynamic haha
OMGGGG SCATTER HIIII. omg. When I tell u best laid plans had me in a CHOKEHOLD. I'm starstruck omg.... Thank u so much for asking I shall do my best to answer well!!!
As always, under the readmore 💖
🏠
Their home!!!!!
I still have to like, make their places in some sort of program for a VN i wanna make (I'm on the 'writing script' stage rn), but until then I have to simply imagine...
When they don't live together:
Cac has a cute little house, his sister helped him get a mortgage for it. It's got a spare room for guests, a decently sized kitchen, living room with big telly and a few consoles, and, most importantly, a front and back garden. It's got the white picket fence and all. This is in some sort of amazing world where one person can afford the mortgage and bills on a house on their own. He's got a dedicated place where Barry (the saxophone) sits, a permanent fixture of a little step stool in his kitchen, a bathroom with a bathtub, not just a shower... It's not massive, but it's his, and he's happy.
Rose stays in an apartment - the majority of his money goes into his flower shop, so renting something like this is his only real option, but most surfaces (and floorspace) are taken up by houseplants. Some are for the store, especially trays full of seedlings and his crossbreeding experiments for different colours/traits. Some are just because he likes them.
He barely ever cooks, he's just AWFUL at it, so his kitchen is very small but relatively untouched. The only area that looks like it really sees use is the kettle, teabags organised into type.
When they're together, Rose moves in with Cactus. He helps out with the mortgage and bills, the spare room becomes a makeshift greenhouse with a sofabed in it. It's a struggle at first, but everything ends up slotting together and they all get their places. An area of the living room is dedicated to Cac Jr (a kitten) who starts living with Cactus when Rose hasn't moved in yet. He decides to make Rose's stuff all smell like him and rub up against/try to eat his plants.
"Any chance I could budge over-"
"Barry ain't movin', sorry. Find somewhere else for the that big ol' plant."
After Rose moves in, the kitchen is used even more 💖 he cannot be trusted to make food, but he can at least do the washing up.
OH AND AFTER ROSE MOVES IN THEY GET A CHAISE LOUNGE FOR HIM TO FAINT ON (he is very dramatic)
(The medicine cupboard is much better stocked as well...)
🙄 Pet peeves...
Very difficult...
I think it would both be endearing but ALSO annoying whenever Rose says some Very British Shit, like if he says 'wangle' or 'faffing about' or something... Endearing because cute, annoying cause they need to stop the conversation for Rose to explain what tf he just said.
Oh oh, Rose I think would sit in the middle of the sofa/chaise lounge instead of just picking a side, which frustrates Cac to no end. Budge over!
As for what Cactus does... He does a lot of stupid stuff. Probably singing along to songs and getting words blatantly wrong would annoy Rose something fierce!! Or like, phrases... OH and how Rose tries to talk to him when he's playing. Either a game or his sax, both fit...
💭 Inspiration
So like they were both originally Megaman ocs??? Robot Masters are usually based on a theme, like Magnet Man, Tundra Man, Elec Man... My sis started keeping cacti around the time of Cac's creation, so after some terrible designs I eventually settled on something similar enough. Through many RPs and drawings, his design solidified into two designs: robot master and human. I use human much more these days. That's why he's called Cactus, cause he was Cactus Man! (This is how Axo and Lotus were made, too. And Cac's sister, Serena, used to be Succulent Woman!)
Cac's scarf, in his Robot Master form, is actually a set of vines that come out from the back of his neck. They're fully controllable!
As for Rose, my friend made him, we did it about the same time and... They didn't start as 'supposed to be together' but antagonistic towards each other. He was Rose Man, and got a human design at the same time as Cactus. Through this and that, ownership has moved to me, so I own both Cac and Rose. I can't explain Rose's design decisions exactly because of this. His hair being shaped like a rose bud is so cute though...
🌩️ What is a trait they dislike about themselves?
For Cac and Rose!
(shamefilledsnzblog)
EHEEEEEEE HI SHAMEEEEE this was sooo tricky to answer, so I'm sorry if I got the meaning of 'trait' wrong (very sleepy all the time)
Once again I yapped so it's under the readmore....
☀️ Rose: his fashion sense. It's unclear whether anyone else believes that. Cac MIGHT trust him when it comes to fancy clothes. He has a VERY strong sense of justice when it comes to things like homophobia. Much to Cac's chagrin, he'll run headfirst into a fight with someone who calls him a slur. But Rose likes how strongly he feels about it, he'd be upset if he heard hate and didn't do anything about it.
Cactus: his ability to come up with retorts real fast. He's pretty proud of it, how else can you be a snarky jokester? Also, his resilience, he can usually bounce back from things without issue, and it's served him well so far! Even if he's had problem after problem, he'll be okay. He's always okay. If he's turned away and his shoulders are shaking, you didn't see anything. His selflessness when it comes to people is something to be commended, he thinks.
🌩️ Rose: He's a perfectionist, and this can paralyse him. He's aware enough to know this, which frustrates him. He could have so much more done if he could just get over himself and not try to make everything perfect! He can end up working into the night if he gets caught up in his mind and is too meticulous about an order due the next morning. Cactus has a certain time of night that he'll drag Rose home by if he's not back in time. Without this, Rose can easily work himself sick.
Cactus: He can end up reading the room incorrectly, and jokes about something only to be met with silence. He'll take that incident and think about it for weeks. Despite how pleasant he usually tries to be, he's very insecure. This is why it took them so so long to get together in the first place! He hates getting scared, and may lash out in that scenario, which makes him feel even worse about it. Rose is pretty good at snapping him out of a funk like that, luckily.
"🗝️ Is there anything they never leave home without?" and "🔎 Tell us one thing about them that you know but we don't." if I may? :3
HIIII MYLESSSS
I presume this is about cactus and rose because I refuse to shut my trap about them ehe
Case in point this needs to be under a read more cause I cannot shut up!!!
🗝️
Obvious about Cactus: his scarf, he'll not leave home without it, even if he's not actively wearing it
Less obvious: he has a little green bear plushie keychain that Rose gave him one day, he likes to keep it in a pocket of whatever outfit he's wearing so he can fidget and stim a little with it. And it really is on his keys, that's his excuse for taking it everywhere.
Rose: he's always got his embroidered handkerchief with him, juuuuust in case. He's even more vigilant about it these days, eheeheheeeee
He also keeps a little squeezy jar of hand sanitizer on him. Basically required for how much his immune system wants him to stay in bed at all times. It's rose scented!
🔎
What a very interesting question aaaa cause! Cause! While I yap a lot I do it in different places... But also you guys find out stuff when I do?? (Esp those on discord...) Cause they just do stuff! I'm not in charge, they just live in my head...
Let's start with Rose then, he's less fleshed out in comparison to Cactus, it kind of feels.
He grew up with Lotus since he was about 12 or so, Rose's parents took Lotus in after some events involving Lotus's famous parents essentially abandoning him for their careers, leaving him alone in their often-empty house. Once Primrose, Rose's mother and Lotus's aunt, found out, Lotus didn't have much of a choice but to come and live with them. (Jared, Rose's dad, is a librarian! He used to be a woodcutter, but he switched careers as his body started to ache more and he couldn't handle it like he used to.)
As such, Rose and Lotus have a more sibling-like relationship than cousins. That ended up as more about Lotus, though...
Rose does not play games or understand technology very much, except old puzzle games. He has a smartphone, but only uses it for texting, calling, and using Facebook like a boomer. However, he might be persuaded to download a game if someone showed him Umamusume...
Sorry if you already knew these! I'm struggling to think...
Cac feels even more difficult, um...
I've mentioned it a few times, but he knows how to play Baritone saxophone! He grew up in an Asian household, so he was sort of told he had to learn an instrument... A sort of rebellion had him choosing bari sax over anything else.
That being said, he also calls his sax "Barry", because he's unoriginal. He's not usually one for sheet music, and prefers to play either by ear or to just improvise. He can do it if he needs to, he just feels less free being constrained in such a way.
Also also, he has a step stool in his kitchen because the cupboards are not made for short people.
Since borrowing Rose's embroidered handkerchief one time and realising that left Rose handkerchiefless, he's been practicing embroidery so that he can givehim a second one as a gift. He'll get there eventually.
Cac knows conversational french from his father, who was born and raised in Cameroon. His dad is also why he's called Charles. His French isn't traditional, so conversations with native french people can be a bit stilted, but he'll usually get his point across eventually.
Rose has secretly been trying to learn some French so that he can both understand Cactus when he speaks it, and so that he's not always having to rely on Cac when it's needed. When he starts realising the differences between French and African French, which is what Cactus speaks, he gets thoroughly confused.
Axo gets the flu and a subsequent fever. He struggles to deal with it, and it's now Lotus's problem.
“Loooooo…”
This had been a frequent calling from Axo recently, and if it was anyone else, Lotus would have snapped at them to shut up and leave him alone.
But it wasn’t anyone else.
This was Axolotl.
Axo, with the strength of a bear and constitution of an ox, was usually the picture of health. Yet here he was, bundled up in bed with the flu, and here Lotus was, tending to his every need.
Fevers hit Axo hard, and this was no exception.
“You should be more careful,” Lotus had told him before he came down with it, “You meet a lot of people, yet you haven’t had your seasonal vaccine.”
Axo’d brushed him off and explained that he didn’t have time with the bakery’s opening hours. Not to mention he’d never gotten the flu before, so he’d be fine!
“I- I have t-to… ggh… haa… aahh… h-hhaaa… Hhhi-iih-iiih… HhiiIITSHHhhoOO!! Hhg-hhIITSSHHIEWW!! N-nn…” The Icelandic man pulled the covers around him tighter with a pathetic whimper, body trembling as he struggled to feel anything but freezing cold.
“…Bless you, Ax. I could say ‘I told you so’, you know.” Lotus offered up a tissue from the almost-empty box next to Axo, thumb tracing the back of his friend’s hand as they touched. He was too warm.
Luckily, he’d had his own flu shot the moment it became available to him.
“T-T-This-” the larger man blew his nose productively, ears feeling like they were going to pop from the pressure in his sinuses, “This sucks… I don’t like it, Lo… I don’t get sick like this… Ever. My body hurts… My muscles are screaming at me… A-and my skin aches, it’s… It’s so sensitive, and I’m sweating, but I’m so cold… My nose keeps running, but whenever I try to sniffle, or wipe it with a tissue, o-or blow, it makes me sneeze…”
Lotus sighed. This really was his own fault, but Axo wasn’t used to taking care of himself when he got sick like this.
He wasn’t the mother hen sort himself - that was more Rose’s deal. But seeing his friend like this, drowning in misery, it made his chest twist up in uncomfortable knots - he couldn’t bring himself to leave Axo to deal with this alone. The accountant would hole himself up and away when sick himself, but when it came to Axolotl? He couldn’t deny it, he was weak for that man.
“That’ll be the fever, and… Well, everything else that comes with the flu. Mm…” He hummed, “I don’t recall ever seeing you get an injection. Even when we were at school together, though we got called in separately for them, I suppose. But still…”
While Lotus’ brows furrowed during his reminiscing, Axo avoided his gaze and stared down at the corner of the blanket he was fidgeting with. He was usually happy to talk about times past, so the silence was unusual.
Well, silence bar a sniffle, and then growing hitches.
“H-hhei-hh…iiih… H-hhah…”
“Ax, tissue.”
“H-hhaa…aahh… Hhaaiih-!” The sick man pulled a tissue out from the nearby box just in time, despite his ample warnings, “hhaAIIMPFFH!!! IITsshHHIEWh!! Iish-TSSHHHIIieww!! N-nngh… Haahnn….”
Lotus blessed him softly. “Poor thing. It’s hit you hard, mm?”
“Mmb…” Axo nodded, eyes teary from sneezing and cheeks radiating heat. Embarrassment? Maybe. Fever? Absolutely.
Stepping close, the pink-haired man traced a soothing hand down Axo’s arm, pausing at a wince, and then continuing.
“You don’t have to tell me the details. But did you? Have your flu vaccines back then?”
As if shamefully, Axo slowly shook his head, strawberry blond hair cascading around his face and catching the light, seemingly glowing in the sun’s final rays of the day through his window. The British man found it hard to be mad at him, even a little.
“Never went. Snf-! HHnngh-aaah- a-ah… hhuaa’ttSHHHhew!! -ktsSHHIEW! Nngguh… I, um… I got the… Necessary ones… But… Y-you’re going to think I’m pathetic, Lo…”
“Go on.”
“I cried, every time… I was so scared… It hurts, I don’t know how people can do it… I, um- t-they had to hold me still for the important ones… I think I would have run away if they didn’t.”
“I don’t think that’s pathetic. So you have a phobia, is that right? I think it’s very brave that you got them. But you really should have your seasonal one. I’ll come with you next time. I’ll hold your hand. Hold your head, so you can’t see it. Then we can get, I don’t know, ice cream afterwards, or something. Or a hot meal, if the weather’s shite.”
Axo stared up at him, eyes wide.
Lotus fidgeted.
“…Say something, would you? I’m dreadful at this sort of thing.”
“A-Ah, sorry. I, uh… Thank you… You don’t have to do that. Nobody’s ever offered. It’s usually alone, just… Me and them… And they have the- the thing, and…”
Axo started to choke up just thinking about it, helped along by his fevered, highly emotional state. Goosebumps ran up his arms, a shudder running through his body despite the thick blankets currently cocooning him.
The pink-haired man’s expression instantly turned to worry, clearly unequipped to deal with a very upset, very sick Axo dealing with vivid memories of phobia-triggering events on top of a raging fever, “Shh. It’s okay. Don’t cry. Think of something else. Sorry for bringing it up, I didn’t know you were scared. You can go back to whining about how miserable you feel, or telling me a nonsensical fever-induced recipe idea for the bakery. H-How about that pesto-filled turtle bread you mentioned earlier today?”
A single laugh broke through Axo’s tears at Lotus’s attempt at helping, making him snort and send mess down his face. With a sympathetic smirk, the Brit cleaned him up easily, with the patience one might expect from a mother, or a nurse, or a long-term roommate-turned-boyfriend-turned-friends-with-benefits.
“You’re so silly, Ax. You always have been.”
“P-Pathetic…”
“Nonsense. You’re scared and unwell.” He threw the tissues away, then put the back of a hand on Axo’s cheek, then his forehead, then the nape of his neck.
“Still too warm. Can you take some medicine for me? Need to get that fever down, and I’m not strong enough to carry you into the bath.”
Axo didn’t understand what Lotus was saying, not figuring out what a bath had to do with him having a fever, or why he’d need to be carried to it. His confusion distracted him from the bulk of his upset, luckily enough.
“Ok…ay?? Are you, um- h-hold… Hold ohhhn… Are you s-s-suuh… Suuu…. Uuhh-iiIIhh…!! S-sure- that you’re n…naah…ah… No-ooht- s-sic-ck-kktSHHiiIIEW!! Hh-aaah-hTTSHHHIIEWw!!”
Lotus tore his gaze away from the tickly, hitchy, very sneezy man, cheeks warming alarmingly as he mumbled, “…Again with the nonsense… Barely able to tell what you’re saying… I’m certain, Ax. I’ve had my thing this year. I can’t catch it.”
Axo appreciated Lotus not mentioning the name of the object that brought him to tears, though he didn’t have much time to dwell on it before his sensitive nose twitched again.
“S-seeh-… Serious…ly…? It’s like… T-thuh-… The slightest breeze… Or… What’s i-iih-iiit… A hair trigger…? G-gonna- gonna s-sneeze agaaiih… Again, Lo…” The Icelandic man sounded slightly annoyed at just how easily his red, sore nose was set off at the moment, yet he still had to build up so much to his fits. He wished he could get them over with, like someone else he knew.
Cheeks now starting to feel like they were radiating heat, Lotus continued to look away from his friend as the dramatic buildups shot through him, pretending there was something particularly interesting on a nearby shelf that required his immediate attention. Well, Axo clearly hadn’t dusted in a bit. May as well busy himself with a little cleaning.
The breathy hitches continued for longer than he expected, and he ended up glancing at the larger man, only to find him just as he imagined – no, feared – from that sound.
The blond’s chapped nose was running freely down his face as he hitched, bridge scrunching up in irritation, lips curling at the itch the mess brought on. His eyes were shut tight, hot tear tracks shining down his equally fevered cheeks.
Shit, Lotus wouldn’t be able to control himself if this kept up.
“…L…Looooo… Lo… S-stuck… It’s… I cad’t-hheh-!! S-Sdeeehze-!! H-heh-eehiih!! Oh by god-!” Axo begged, attempting to open his eyes and look over at his friend, “He…elppp…“
Help?
Help how?
Was he kidding with this?
Lotus discreetly pinched himself - ow - and found that he wasn’t, indeed, dreaming. With a sigh, he took a seat beside Axo. More ‘traditional’ methods of inducing a sneeze felt like cartoonish fantasies, like pepper, a feather, or anything like that. Out of the question. He couldn’t dare use the rolled up tissue method - what if Axo asked how he knew about it? Allergies? As far as he was aware, he didn’t have any aside from certain perfumes, of which he had none here. Pollen gave him no trouble, he was fine around Cactus’s cat, dust did little more than make him cough when around too much, plus the fact that he just cleaned, Ax owned a dog… A clothes tag? Where the hell would he get one of those right now?
He couldn’t touch his nose. No way. That’s…. That’s far too intimate for this situation. Ignoring the fact that they’d already done unmentionable things to each other over the course of their ‘friendship’, of course. Axo’s kinks were normal, Lotus couldn’t admit or allude to a particularly uncommon one like this. Especially not right now. He didn’t want to be seen as taking advantage, or enjoying Axo’s suffering. He just wanted him to feel better - if anything, this kink was getting in the way.
Lotus let out another sigh, not having given an answer yet. The poor flu-ridden guy was completely stuck, despite his nose being so sensitive at the moment. What was it he said? A slight breeze would set him o-
Oh.
That could work.
“Look at me, Ax.” The accountant guided Axolotl’s face with a careful hand on his cheek. He took in his visage - so unabashedly tickly, so sick, it made his heart ache.
Axo sniffed hard, trying to be not such a mess in front of Lotus, though was now hitching in his general direction regardless. Lotus pursed his lips slightly and blew.
“Ggh-?! L-Lo, what- h-hah- t-that- that tickles- I’m… I… I-iih-…!! I’m g-gonna-…!! Gonna… snhh-… Snee-eeeh-eeiIISSHHhIiew!!! Ee-eehii-hiitTSSHHUue!!! S…Sdeeze…! Hhi-iih-hhiTTSHHiieeew!! AahTSSHIEW! E-eh-eeh..!!” The Icelandic man held a tissue in front of his face, sneezing at it rather than into it, and Lotus was belatedly incredibly grateful that he didn’t have a problem with needles. He didn’t wanna catch this, and with Axo being this bad at covering in the midst of an overwhelming fit like this, he would have been doomed.
Axo’s breaths paused, teetering on the edge of another tickle, so Lotus blew again.
“Hh-hhhdt-!! HhdTSSHHIEW!! AASHhEEUUHh!! AasSSHHhh-aaht’SSHHEWW!! O-ohhh…. Ndgh… S-scuse be… I, ub… Did’t bead to sdeeze that buch… Thadk you, Lo…”
Lotus felt like he was on fire, heart leaping to his throat as he choked out a blessing.
“I, uh… N-no problem. Glad I could help. Bless you. A thousand times.”
Axo blew his nose into the now-damp tissue, ears popping from the pressure. And of course, because he hadn’t tortured Lotus quite enough yet, he kept talking.
“I didn’t know the flu could be so sneezy, Lo… I always thought of it as, um… Like a bad fever and a cough, and… Stuff like that, but… This is just– it’s like a bajillion feathers all up in my nose, all dancing and swirling around, all covered in- in p-pepper…”
Lotus turned around with the mumbled excuse of ‘I’m getting you medicine.’ and stiffly walked off as Axo muffled another harsh sneeze into the tissue. Apparently just talking about it was enough to set him off now.
Ax really had no idea what the hell he was doing to him, so he couldn’t exactly blame him for this, but Lotus was being driven absolutely insane right now. Okay, medicine. Medicine… Hopefully it would help the poor guy start to feel a bit better, and knock him out long enough for the Brit to regain his composure.
After a few minutes of rummaging, he found a packet of cold & flu medication, blissfully unopened, and brought it to Axo, who was still rambling to himself about who-knows-what. (He knew what.)
“Sneezing so much is making my chest hurt, not from, um- not from the lungs, but the muscles, it’s so much movement, and I already ache…” He whined, eyes blinking open when Lotus nudged his hand and placed the small cylindrical pills on his palm.
“Take these.”
“W-wh- did you teleport? You were just here, and now you have those-”
“Hush. Just take them. Here’s your water.”
“….Thank you, Lo.” Axo swallowed the pills with a wince, chased them with his drink, then smiled at him, “I’m so lucky to have you. Thanks for looking after me.”
Looking away pointedly so that Axo hopefully wouldn’t notice the blush on his cheeks, Lotus replied. “….D-Don’t be a sap. You’d do the same for me. You have done the same for me.”
“I know, but… I don't know how bad I'd be if you weren't here. I'd be drowning in my mountain of tissues, probably… I don't think I've sneezed this much in my entire life.”
With a sigh, the Brit took a seat on Axo's bed. He still refused to look at the other man, but spoke regardless, “That department store about a year ago. The perfume section, when it was the only way to get to the men's clothes.”
Axo blinked, then smiled in recognition, “Oh, yeah! I'd completely forgotten about that! Wow, your memory is amazing. Yeah, I sneezed loads… I had to buy a new shirt, ‘cause all the perfume made… made me… my chesthh! Hhah… hhapTShhyuuUUuh!! Mm, bless me. Just thinking about that stuff… sneezing that much in public broke my shirt buttons, somehow…”
‘Somehow’, as if his chest wasn't absurdly huge and struggled to fit in shirts on a good day.
“I could barely breathe… it's a good thing you used your shirt and chest like a filter for my poor nose, the perfume was so unrelenting…”
Lotus was starting to regret mentioning that event.
“I'm sorry for sneezing on you then… and now, too. It's not on purpose, they just… they take over, so it's… it's hard to control… ohgod- I have to sneeze again, Lo… hhah… hha-aaAAHH…!! HhaPTSSHYIEWWwwwh! HhatSHOOoooh! Hhah-ahh-AH! AAHTSHIIEWWwwh!! Mmnh… goodness, bless me.”
“You ran out of blessings. I have a limited amount to give, and you’ve had them all.”
“Awww…” the Icelandic man pouted dramatically, his drippy nose only serving to accentuate how pathetic he currently sounded, “How can I get more?”
Lotus placed a hand on Axo’s, thumb tracing the back of his hand intimately, “There’ll be more by the time you wake up. So, can you guess what I’m going to suggest you do?”
“Take a nap?”
“Good job.”
“...I am pretty tired, but I feel like… like… hhah… hhaiIH…! HHIih… hhiPPTSHHYEEWwwh!! …Like I’ve done nothing but sleep. And sneeze.”
The Brit pushed him back slowly onto his pillow, “That’s because you have to recover. Your fever’s still not down. I’ll be here, okay? I’m not reading you a story, though.”
“Could you, um… Tell me about work? I’m not calling numbers boring, but they do always relax me…”
“Yes, because they were so riveting that you didn’t need my help with the bakery’s finances in the first place, hm? Well, if you insist. It’s coming up to tax season, so I’ve been busy with them. There’s a lot to say. But aren’t you lucky that I’ve been on top of everything for you? Truly, there’s an inane amount of forms to fill in. This week’s turnover will likely be lower than previous weeks, thanks to all this.” he motioned to his sick companion.
Axo gave a tired sigh, a smile growing on his face. He loved Lotus’s voice. He always had.
“But you’ve been doing well otherwise, profits are exceeding expectations despite the current climate. Going to those events with those booths, getting catering jobs, all of it helps.” Lotus couldn’t help but enjoy himself as he then started to rattle off stats, percentage returns, and costs. He didn’t often have someone willing to listen to him talk about work, and while it wasn’t ideal that it was being used as a bedtime story, he didn’t really mind.
“-and if we don’t want the IRS on our asses, I’ll be needing to fill in all those-”
A snore interrupted him. Lotus turned to look at the other man, relieved to see him sleeping peacefully. Finally.
“Mm, you weren’t kidding. But I think they do a little more than just relax you. No wonder you struggled. You probably fell asleep at your desk… Don’t think I’ll ever forget you were doing all your finances on paper, silly thing. You sleep well, and feel better in the morning, okay? That’s an order. A threat, perhaps.”
Lotus gave the feverish man’s hand a squeeze, three unspoken words hanging heavy in the air.
‘I love you, Axo. One day, I’ll be able to tell you properly.’
