Duty, pt1 - Ridiculous
//AN: I have a longer story coming once I iron out some bumps, but this one should be fun in the meantime; 5000 words and counting. Not 100% snz all the time, but it sure starts out that way.
“uhh-kscht!”
Alaina drifted awake to a curl of warmth below and her husband shivering faintly with his little stifle. Unfortunately for him she had a feeling—
“ih-kt! iih….ksggch!”
— that he was going to keep it up so long as he could, or try to leave the bed if he couldn’t. His chest expanded involuntarily.
“h’hhSHHT! Snf, nh damn…”
He was curled around her, his bare chest to her bare back, and his hand smoothed over her waist, light skin against her deeper tan. She had his arm pinned, she realized; it curved around her, elbow at her waist with her body weight on it. He couldn’t move without waking her. And apparently her usually astute husband hadn’t realized he already had.
“n’gkksh! h’hhkSHT!”
Alaina bit her lip, shifting just a little to pull her legs together. He wasn’t stopping, and she worried she was right; he wasn’t going to be able to without getting some actual relief, and apparently didn’t prioritize it over waking her, judging by the wrenching stifle he attempted to muffle in the pillow.
“h’NGKT!”
Warmth and worry suffused her and she spread a hand over his own. “Dearheart, don't stifle.”
“Alaahhh… h’haaa…” He sniffed sharply, and gave up on trying to talk. “H-hh…. AESSSHHIH!”
Alaina squeaked as he pulled away immediately with an audible gasp, and turned to get a better look at him. Brandt was always an expressive man and this moment was no different. Irritation was broadcast in every line of his body. How he laid on his back, with one leg pulled up for balance and a hand half raised towards his face. Long, loose black curls fanned out over the pillow, at least that out of the way. She bit her lip, watching intently as the elegant line of his nose wrinkled up. His nostrils flared, quick and irritated as he sniffled. The almost sleepy cast to his eyes told her that all that restraint was on the edge of ruin.
Sitting up, she nabbed a handkerchief off the side table and tucked against him, watching intently. “Here, no, let me love—”
“H’hh… hehh…. ESSSSHUu!” He jerked a little, then melted back against her with a few soft, itchy-sounding sniffles that assured her he wasn’t done. He yielded to her anyway, head tipping towards her. His smile was a bit dazed, but his honey-hazel eyes were sly. “Good m-morning?”
“Well, at least one of us has,” she said. “What’s gotten into— ah, wait.”
She shifted to hold the handkerchief for him as his breath caught. He managed a strangled sort of gasp and an entirely useless stifle. “h’nTCH!”
“Brandt,” she warned, but was cut off by a sharp inhale, wavering and desperate that went straight to her core.
“HEESHHIIIH!” Brandt groaned in sheer relief and finally curled into her with an absent sniffle against her shoulder.
Alaina stayed put, rubbing his back and listening as his breathing evened out. “Yes… good morning.”
She would very much have liked to just pounce him, except for one thing. Brandt was not a man given to waking up sneezing, and absolutely not in multiples. It was early spring and the doors to the balcony were shuttered. It most definitely was not allergies and the implications, while normally a lovely little surprise at home, were the last thing she wanted to hear when he was about to spend the next few days away abroad in guise.
“Ngkt-shu!”
“You’re going to hurt your neck turning away like that,” she said, finger combing through thick black hair. “You know I don’t mind.”
“My apologies,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. “Might get a second chance.”
“We are well beyond ‘second’, dearest,” she said, working her way down to the base of his neck, feeling out tension. His bare skin still held the warmth of their bedding, supple and relaxed. “Brandt, my darling…”
He hummed, nuzzling against her shoulder with a sharp sniff, quite possibly a mix of need and a desire to distract her. She would not be distracted.
“Hiih… hitSCHIH!” Brandt sniffled with a decidedly needy edge and she shifted a little at the answering bloom of heat in her. He raised his head, lips just barely parted and eyes nearly closed, the picture of expectation of the inevitable.
But he didn’t sneeze. His breathing came shallow and shaky as he pushed up on one arm to put some distance between them.
…so maybe she was slightly distracted. Alaina narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re doing that on purpose.”
He pressed the back of his hand to his nose, wetting his lips. He blinked rapidly, fighting back the urge. She could tell he didn’t have much time even to put it off that way. “N-nnooooo?”
“Liar,” she said fondly. “Lower your hand.”
Brandt hesitated, knowing as well as she did that was not going to work towards his goals. He also had to know, knowing her as well as he did, that she was going to move if he didn’t. He lowered his hand, breath immediately catching before he fought to will it under control.
Her beloved had fought off enemies personally, ended battles and wars with strength and wit, survived wounds that ought to have killed the man and been back up far sooner than he had any right to…
“Hiihhh…” his eyes squinted, faintly watery in sheer irritation
…however, despite the many things he had overcome…
“ehhHEEHH…” his lips parted, and all at once his expression collapsed. “HtSHUu! ehhISSHU! heEEH-HESSHHIHSHu!”
…he was absolutely helpless in the grips of sneezing fit. Despite her very real concerns, her skin prickled. “Brandt my darling… is there something you want to tell me?”
“Snf. No.” He grabbed up the handkerchief, dabbing cautiously under his nose. This time, it only made him sniffle.
She touched his knee. “Anything you need to? I seldom hear you fit like that unprovoked.”
“You’re welcome?” He offered a rogue’s grin, and when she didn’t immediately give him the reaction he wanted, wiggled his eyebrows.
“You’re ridiculous,” Alaina informed him, chuckling despite her efforts.
“Also devilishly handsome and I think that ought to count for something,” he said. He stretched and her eyes couldn’t help but trail the ripple of muscle, evidence of strength she knew well.
Distracting.
“Oh you’re quite handsome,” she agreed. “In fact, should you stay here with me, I’ll see that you’re well reminded of my regard.”
His smile melted into something soft and apologetic. “You know I can’t do that.”
“You are ill.” No more dancing around it, not if he was going to be stubborn about this.
“Perhaps,” he said, which was more than he usually gave her. Then again, seldom had his body given itself away so thoroughly right before they discussed it. “But I have been summoned, and I don’t shirk my duties because I’m a little off.”
“A little—” Alaina put her hands firmly on his shoulders. “I would like it to stay little, thank you. So help me, if you go out there for three days and get that much worse I will send Adrian after you.”
Brandt wrinkled his nose, this time in dismay. “That’s unnecessary, don’t you think? It’s three days, ‘laina. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re not,” she said warningly, “you are going to suffer and I won’t feel bad at all.”
That made him laugh, a rich, full sound. “Little liar, I know better.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and thwapped his shoulder. “You absolutely shameless—”
He caught her hand in his, kissing her palm tenderly. His voice, when he spoke, was just as soft and gentle. “I’ll be careful. I’ll be mindful and take care of myself. It’s just three days, sweetheart, I’ll be fine. I’ll come straight home to you and let you tend me as you see fit. There’s no need to worry about any of that.”
“I always worry,” she said. “Someone has to have a care for your health and it’s never been you.”
“Guilty as charged.” A slow, clever smile curved the corner of his mouth as his free hand came to stroke her cheek. “You’re flushed.”
“I can’t imagine why,” she said. Definitely another distraction to keep her from pursuing the topic. So be it; it was nearly impossible to resist that smile. That promise.
“Mmmm. Do you need a reminder, then?” He asked, wrinkling his nose with a sharp, provoking inhale. “Because I… I-iiihhhh…”
Alaina bit her lip. “You’re terrible.”
“But I— hn’ktch!” He blinked, appearing to be genuinely startled that it had come on so swiftly. She should have worried about that, but the creeping daze in his eyes, the way his lips parted, was a delicious segue into a more diverting scenario.
“It caught you off guard, did it?” She asked, just to see if he had the breath to talk. He’d certainly try.
He nodded hesitantly, taking a slow, shivery inhale. “A bit.”
She pursed her lips, trying not to laugh at the breathy squeak his beloved tenor had barely managed. “You don’t say.”
He gave her one of his trademark mischievous grins, but even that faltered, a little almost nervous sound heralding an involuntary hitch, then a second, and a third, his broad chest jumping with them.
So close… she wanted to hear it, powerful and unrestrained, with all the force he’d denied himself. His eyes slid shut and Alaina tipped him over into the bedding, earning a startled sound and a watery squint mere seconds before the break in his concentration hit him like a freight train.
“h’eeEEEHH! ‘Laiiinaa…. I… I— iidjsshhu! ntshu! Ehh… ehhiIIHH… hyehh’ISHHHUH!” He blinked heavy eyes at her, expression gone slack with the irresistible urge to sneeze until the tickle was sated.
She supposed she might have expected him to spare his last plotting for her, but she was stunned beyond words when he hauled her onto his lap. She felt the tremor of tense muscle with every panting breath, the heat of his breath on her shoulder, a little nudge of his nose just under her ear, where surely there wasn’t any remaining perfume and yet—
“HIIH’RRSSHH!” he echoed her groan, if for very different reasons. “‘laina, I… iiiht tickles, snf, o-oh… h’SSHTCHU! Nnnhhh… ‘laina I n-need…”
“Tell me.” The well honed tone of a queen who would not be accepting any other outcome earned her a heated look. “Or I will make you.”
Brandt tipped his head up in playful challenge. “Go on then. Snf. Make me sneeze, Alaina.”
That was wholly unfair but she wasn’t going to argue it. There was something deliciously intimate about his allowing this, and she was ever eager to take advantage.
And she did.
Oh, she did.
[[Go to Part 2]]