What You Get ~ Secret Santa For Kiwifruit

[obsessed]

Hiya guys! I haven't posted something new for a while. Still remember me?

Well, this is a Christmas in July [or August] Secret Santa gift for Kiwifruit! I really need to do this to my mind, as I was going to write you a totally different story! Is it sad this is the fifth one I've tried for you?

No worries, I have another story waiting for you, but until that's finished, I hope you enjoy this one which popped into my head literally twelve hours before this was due. It gets really lame at points, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. <3

The prompt goes,"A group of friends go camping out in the middle of nowhere with no phone reception. Of course, one of them gets sick xD Contagion would be brilliant, cold, rainy weather would be a bonus (just to make sure they're really miserable xD). One of the friends being germaphobic and sharing a tent would be good too. Getting horribly lost is optional."

[Look! I even put in a lot of emoticons in honor of you! ]

What You Get

“I hate you guys. Huh’NGshhh.” He snaps down into his cupped hands for a sneeze, which refuses to go away. The miserable one sniffles once, and then starts letting out light coughs.

Meanwhile his friend, Joseline is her name, gives a sympathetic glance. She can’t help but smile when he gives her the puppy dog eyes. Joseline finds it all adorable, no doubt, but the most she’s willing to do is give him a hug. Which he looks like he needs at the moment.

“I’m sorry! Who knew we’d get lost? Huh, odd.” The last is a thought she tacks on for her own speculative purposes. He whimpers, and starts shivering despite the fact he’s already got an extra two blankets on top of him. The tent didn’t do much for the rain, though it did far more than being stuck in the rain as he had been before. The rain had been pouring, and though he felt mild twinges of discomfort, by the time they set camp, he joined the downright miserable group.

He supposes he’s lucky. He could be out there with his friends, who are stuck finding branches and making the fire until they’re able to leave. That shouldn’t be for another day or two, at least, not until the rain gives up. The thoughts trigger the crack of thunder, piercing through the midnight sky.

At least he has Joseline, he tells himself. She’s been left to keep the miserable one company, and though she feels bad getting the easy way out, she’s content staying nice and dry with the sick one as opposed to the lovely, crashing thunder and buckets of water.

They’ve been sitting in silence for a few minutes by now, and she realizes that he’s freezing by the way he’s shaking so hard.

“You okay?” she asks, knowing he’s not. It’s quite obvious, but she can’t help but ask.

“Yes, I’b fide—eh’TSCHHh-u… SNF… do. I’b cold.” The sneeze interrupts him somewhere in the middle of his blasé attitude, oh I’m just dandy, and he’s a bit upset at his nose for disobeying him. He sneezes freely, non of that girly stifling, though he does cover from good breeding and the fact he’s already been blamed for infecting another friend. Currently, the other sick one was being nursed by her girlfriend a three or so tents down.

All he knows is that he’s cold. Really cold. And his body aches, and there’s something making his head all fuzzy, and he can’t breath through his nose. He’s not quite sure what he’s thinking, but he’s pretty sure it’s happiness, when he sees Joseline hesitantly sit down next to him. He muffles a few coughs into the blankets from where he’s lying down, head slightly elevated on a pillow. Even then, he can’t get comfortable.

The miserable one isn’t exactly sure how it happens, but eventually he feels her body heat all around, and she’s stroking his head and it feels so damn good, considering the fact he’s been miserable for the past day. If only the storm would die down. If only he weren’t sick.

He falls asleep somehow, and Joseline sits and smiles, memorizing his image. He’s exhausted, his beautiful features tainted with an illness, breathing through his mouth and little small snores escaping, but she doesn’t mind.

<3

When she’s awake the next day, she realizes that it’s in the middle of the night and everyone else is still asleep, just the way she should be. Joseline’s a bit surprised when she wakes up tucked onto the bed next to the miserable one.

Inside the tent, the other two friends have returned as far as she can tell by counting the different breathes in the room. She doesn’t bother getting up, knowing how difficult it would be to get back. There’s no light, asides from the dim colors outside, though even those aren’t bright in the way bright works during the night. Joseline hears a moan of pain come from beside her, and she looks down to see the sick one clutching at his head, though still asleep. She has to get close to see him at all, and his presence surrounds her.

She feels sorry for him, she really does, though she can’t help but find him a bit endearing. Joseline felt that motherhood in her peak, as she wanted to take care of him. It had always been the other way around for as long as she had remembered.

The last time she’d seen him clutching his head like that had been before entering university; the applications, the deadlines, the stress, it had made him a sick man, and she had done whatever she could to take care of him. That had been… practically nothing.

Now, they were camping, as far as titles went. They have no phone reception, they’re stuck in the forest until the storm lets out, people are sick, and she’s really sick of that. She doesn’t know why she agreed to go in the first place, though she knows it’s because they finally managed to drag the miserable one along for one of the camping expeditions. Also, she’s pretty sure she’s a sucker for getting away from her apartment.

She goes back to sleep with these thoughts, but just before she sleeps, she swears she can hear a delicate though strained, “ihTCH’uu” from the other side of the tent, but she thinks that’s just exhaustion talking. She allows herself to go back to sleep.

<3

Even those who liked the rain don’t like it so much after it finally starts to settle down. It’s dusk, and the sun finally makes its appearance right before it’s about to leave. They can finally make a fire, and even the sick ones are outside rejoicing in the small feat. It’s been three days since the storm started, and now they’re just waiting for the mud to dry before trampling their way out.

The miserable one snuffles into his blanket, wrapping himself tightly. The high-fever spiked and passed just as quickly, though the low-grade one stayed. He shivers a full body shiver that courses through his veins, when the icy wind hits his skin. It sends goose bumps up his arms despite the fact they’re also wrapped in the blanket. With a dead voice, he doesn’t talk too much, but he does continue to talk through his sneezing.

“ih—HNZG’shhh! eh-‘TSChhh-u!” He begins to cough, and it’s just the usual routine by now. However, there’ve been new developments.

Joseline wasn’t wrong when she heard the sneeze in the tent a few days back; the shy one had also picked up a cold. To be more precise, Juliet picked up the cold from the miserable one, the rain, or both. Joseline had decided to be on both.

She decides to go take a quick peak at Juliet, who’s copying the routine she’s grown so used to. Juliet starts to pull her arms out of the blanket, unwillingly it seems, and she leans her head back, drawing her eyebrows together, taking breaths that don’t seem to help hold back the sneeze.

However, it wins out eventually, and Joseline watches as the shy one snaps down into a desperate fit. The first is a stifled, though failed, and comes out as a “hih’NGhtz-u!” Blessings arrive from around the fire, with the sick man next to her croaking a “bless you”. Juliet tries to reply, “than—thank—IH!” but she’s broken off by a triple.

“ih’NGTzh-uh!” The next two are unstifled, and burst through as she snaps down into the crook of her elbow. “HIH’TSSH-uh! IH’TSCH!”

Another round of blessing follow and Joseline’s amused when she hears a soft “ih’TSHU” from the guy next to her. It’s not exactly stifled, but it’s certainly softer than she’d expect. She laughs, and in her head, calls the miserable one adorable. She’s not saying that out loud, and her thoughts are interrupted by a familiar sound.

“EH’TSCHH! Ih’hi—uh’TSSCH’uu.” They’re surprisingly loud, explosions which come with only slight hitches of her breathe as a warning. The whole group yells bless you to Juliet. She’s not blushing, for once, though she gives a congested, and characteristically, thaggs after she’s done.

All this happens quickly, and soon enough, Joseline flickers over to look at the other recovering guy, sitting next to his girlfriend. She smiles as she sees him lean his head onto her lap, blushing as he muffles a sneeze. They’re sitting a bit far from her so she can’t hear what they’re saying, but she’s not sure she wants to. The red flames crackle, as she smiles, wishing that she had that with the miserable one on her right.

However, she’s happy, so she just sits and is glad they can soon leave.

<3

The next camping trip, which miraculously everyone goes on, brings some changes. Juliet’s still shy and shy as ever. Her cute couple friends are still dating and cute as ever. She’s got news on the block that she’s being fancied by a certain boy and she sure did like him. She knows she got lucky when she didn’t get sick the last camping trip.

When it starts raining, she knows she’s next.

<3

“ih’HIH-TSch’oo! I hate you guys.”

This time it’s a bit different as the no-longer miserable one hands her a tissue. He’s got his arms wrapped around her, and he gives a wicked smile as Joseline gives another sneeze, this time harsher and more desperate. It’s muffled into the tissue she’s just been handed and she sniffles miserably.

“You made me last time. It’s what you get.”

“I hate you.”

He gives a mischievous smile.

“No you don’t.”

He ends with a quick kiss.

[Kiwifruit]

Awwww! I LOVE this Thank you soooo much, this is sooo good! I want to know what the other four you tried are now I'm sure they're all fantastic. This is really perfect though, all the misery and contagion I had to say I was wondering if you were my author, since what you write tends to be stuff I especially like

I feel bad now though, cause I'm a couple of days past my due date...life got in the way Nearly done though!! I can only hope my recipient likes it as much as I like this

*Re-reads...again *

[BlueRandom]

Aww I love this!! Very very very cute. Plus really yummy spellings (male ones esp. )!

So glad she got her man!

And "the miserable one" was adorable.

[27jj]

Oooh I love this!! Yay camping in the rain! (Except camping in the rain really really sucks, but I love camping and where I live camping in the rain is the only option 9 months out of the year.) But I love that this is a camping fic, and your sneeze spellings, woman! They're HOT Also, I love "the miserable one" -- that was so adorable!! The overall fic was quite adorable:)

[Ciuty80]

soooo cute

[dumpling]

Awwww I love this :laugh:

It's sooo adorable

[Blah!?]

I already commented on the other forum, but I just have to say it again. This is some great stuff!

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Remember you? Hmmm... not sure. Who did you say you were again?

ooooh.... that obby.

Silliness aside, I really enjoyed reading the story. *is still going awwwwwww *

...And I might have smiled at your use of 'the miserable one' and 'the sick one' and 'the shy one'. (more awwww )

[everest]

Love. <3

Your characters, the descriptions, the setting, the misery, the sneezes...

Pure love.

[PaperThings]

So, you told me you'd wrote the story, but for some reason I'm an idiot and didn't realize until I clicked on the forum thing. *headdesk*

I LOVE IT! Especially the beginning and the end . Heehee, both very cute and full circle and oh yeah, the middle was kinda adorable too . OH YEAH, AND ALSO, I LOVE YOUR WRITING . And the whole story really amused me, too. YAY FOR YOUR STORIES!

[ooo]

Ooh, camping in the rain! No fun in real life, but AWESOME in fic

This was so great, and the ending was adorable!

[obsessed]

Kiwifruit, I'm glad you liked it. I was worried about it at first, I've never gone camping so I had NO idea what I was doing! aha, anyways, I hope you enjoy, and your next present will be up soon. C:

BlueRandom, thank ya!! I was worried about the "miserable one" being too lame, guess not!

27jaredjensen, aha, just for you guys I go through the trouble of all the bold and italics. ;D I'm glad you enjoyed!

Ciuty80, thank you! :]

gleek, I'm glad. Thanks!

Blah-San, aha, thank ya sir. Now it's your turn!

Sigrith, who's this obby you speak of? Aha, kidding asides, thank youu.

everest, I have pure love for your writing! Thank you. <3

PaperThings, no problem. It took me way too long to realize what you meant by you updating one of your stories too, I was like, COOL. . . oh wait she did already! Fail moment, aha. YAY FOR YOUR STORIES AND THANKS.

ooo, definitely does not sound like fun but I'm glad you enjoyed. C:

[shygreeneyes]

Sick on a camping trip! Practically my favorite scenario ever!

[lalaland~]

wow I love this fic!

hehe camping trip in the rain...good prompt and you did so well with it!