The Kitchen Counter (M)

[Tombchewer]

A boy is sick with a fever and his brother tries to help him cool down.

[Tombchewer]

Zacharie shifted uncomfortably under his blankets on the couch as Ambro, his brother, looked pitifully over at him from his place in his chair. He put down his school book and appeared next to Zacharie, his heart sinking as he looked down at his sick little brother.

"Hey. Get up." Ambrosis said, sounding almost irritated, but more apathetic than anything. "Come on, Zach. Get to bed." He shook his brother's raised knee gently, stirring him from his dose.

"What?" Zacharie asked groggily, meaning to be louder then he was. He sat up with some effort.

"I said, time for bed, Zach." Ambrosis stood next to him, waiting for him to get up.

"Don't call me 'Zach'" he complained a little listlessly, trying to shoot his brother a glare. Ambro offered Zacharie his hand, pulling him up from the couch. "What time isst?" he slurred doggedly.

"It's about eight." Ambrosis replied, thinking of nothing more to say. He winced as he watched his poor little brother cough from his chest. His face was flushed and his ears were pink as well as his nose, and Ambro wondered how long his cold had kept him up during the day. He looked like he didn't get any sleep at all.

Zachaire made his way slowly past Ambro, trudging to the kitchen for a drink to soothe his throat. His brother followed him cautiously, keeping a close eye on Zacharie in his weakened state. But he got himself some sweet tea without any problems and sipped it.

"Do you have a fever?" Ambro questioned, having a weird tone between concerned and feigned apathy; he really did care, he just didn't know anything about taking care of a sick person, especially the coddling.

"I-I don't know. I do feel k-kinda hot." Zacharie answered, his voice cracking.

"Well, where's the thermometer?"

Zacharie started to answer, but was stopped by a tingling in his nose. It was just a slight tickle, so he sniffled to try and either make it go away or just come out. He turned away from Ambrosis, pretending to busy himself with something on the counter as he rubbed his nose. The tickle move from the back of his nose to the tip of his nostrils, causing his breath to hitch embarrassingly. His brother once nonchalant expressing turning soft,"Hey, are you alright?"

Zacharie's eyes watered as he answered, "yeah, yeah j-just..." he trailed of as the tingling feeling spread, his little nose twitching once. It felt as if his nostrils were being stroked by a dusty feather, tickling and burning all at once. His breath hitched again and Ambro placed a hand on his shuddering shoulder. "hhhh, hhhiihhh, ihhhh.... Hheeehhh, he-eh-" he turned his face towards shoulder, desperate to stifle the sneeze. "ki'xxxtch!" he pitched forward a bit and his shoulders went up in a sort of shrug, smothering the sneeze in his shirtsleeve. Ambrosis looked thoroughly relieved, thinking he had been having difficulty breathing. Zacharie flushed with embarrassment, hidden by his fever-pinkened cheeks, his eyes still squeezed shut.

Ambrosis smiled and laughed a little at his brother's expression. "That was it? You had to sneeze?" he laughed a bit more, ripping a towel off of the roll and handing it to his brother.

"d-don't laugh!" Zacharie said indignantly, wiping his nose on the makeshift tissue and blowing into it.

"Awwe, don't get so mad!" he hugged his brother teasingly around the neck, suddenly finding his own way to coddle his little brother. "You're so cute when your helpless!" Zacharie blushed furiously, and this time, noticibly.

"Oh I get it! Zacharie's embarrassed!" ambro cooed devilishly.

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Hi guys! This is my first time posting a sneeze fiction, and I hope you like it even though it's short. If I continue, they'll be more sneezing in the second part.

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

I like it ! very cute for a first fic, ill read it ! can't wait for more c:

[MoonDuck]

This sounds great so far

Mooorrrrrreeeeee

[Tombchewer]

Okay, I've decided to write some more. I know where I want this story to go, but I'm making it up along the way until I get there.

thank you so much for reading and I ALWAYS appreciate feedback. I know my writing style is a bit childish, but by posting on this forum I'm hoping to develop my writing style a bit more. Thanks!!

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"Don't *hic*, don't touch me." the mood suddenly became tense once Ambrosis had moved his brother to his own bed, the childlike attitude a product of his sickness. Zacharie squirmed and kicked off his blankets in a futile attempt to cool down, Ambrosis struggling to keep the boy from overheating; he was moving too much.

"Zacharie, hold still, God Damnit!" Ambrosis said forcefully. Zacharie wriggled and kicked and fought with the struggling dark-haired boy. Finally Ambrosis got his brother pinned down beneath him; his hands held his brother's wrists to the mattress on either side of his head, while his body was kept still my resting one knee on Zacharie's stomach, causing Zacharie to cough.

"Listen, it's in your best interests to get better, right?" Ambrosis coaxed. Zacharie glared at him pitifully, his white-blonde hair sticking up in random places on his head.

"then you're going to let me take your temperature, you're going to take some medicine, you're going to eat something, you're going to take a nap, and then you're going to wake up right as rain, got it?" Ambrosis pushed slightly harder with his knee, causing Zacharie to go into another bout of coughing. He shifted under his brother's eight and silently resented him.

"It's not very polite," the teen spat, "to tell people what they're 'going' to do" He hiccuped and looked away.

"I said, 'Got it?'" The older one said through gritted teeth. Zacharie nodded hesitantly, his core muscles hurting from the pressure.

"Then stop struggling."

He released his brother, who immediately crossed his arms and curled his knees toward his chest, turning his back to Ambrosis and facing the wall. Ambro stood a bit helplessly in the center of his brother's room.

"I wish you weren't such a pain to take care of," Ambrosis sighed, sitting on the side of his poor brother's bed. "Listen. Zacharie, will you listen to me?" he pleaded. "ISh-EW!" was the reply, ending in a wet sniffle.

"Look, mom won't be back from the reunion for another three days. I can't help you if we keep butting heads-"

"I didn't ask for your help." he turned over to face his brother, suddenly more annoyed than he had been."

"You don't have to ask; it's one of the rules of being an older brother," Ambro replied seriously and diplomaticly. He continued, "so I'm going to baby the hell out of your sniffily arse until you're either all better or you beg for mercy."

Zacharie, forgetting his annoyance, smiled.

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Ambrosis opened the bakery at the front of their home, wiping down the surface of the counter and re-stocking the display case with cinnamon buns and donuts. The delay this morning had most likely lost them quite a bit of customers, all hoping for a sweet breakfast to start their day. When the shop had been empty for over 30 minutes, he went to the back and pulled some cupcakes out of the freezer and starting artisticly frosting them.To pass time during this tedious tasks, he focused his attention on mechanically swirling the piping bag around the small spongey surface and counting the sneezes he could hear emitting from his brother's room. They all seemed to come in threes, so once this too got going, he counted the seconds in between. Roughly a minute passed between each set, no doubt causing quite a but of redness to form on the underside of his nose.

Ambro's thoughts were interrupted by the ring of the bell on the shop's door.

"I'll be with you in a minute!"

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Okay, thanks for reading! Obviously this is a bit longer then the first and I hope you'll find it a bit more sophisticated. Ambrosis and Zachaire live in Louisiana and run a bakery out of the front of their house in the city. (just a little background)

Thank you so much and I would really appreciate your feedback!

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

I like it

[Tombchewer]

I don't care about spacing out my posts so...

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Ambrosis returned to the storefront, smiling when he saw the waiting customer. "Hi, Emilia. What can I get you today?" He leaned his forearms on the counter, his fingernails tapping the surface.

"Hey, Ambrosis," the brunette smiled, looking around behind him. "I'll have an Apple juice and... One of your famous velvet cupcakes." she smiled sweetly at him as he got her an apple juice from the refrigerator behind him and went in the back for a cupcake, grabbing a thin sheet of wax paper before picking it up, as per his mother's instructions.

"Have you been very busy this morning?" she asked when he returned to the counter, handing her the cupcake.

"Actually, the shop wasn't opened this morning." he said as he took her money and placed it in the register, getting out the change. "I was... busy." he placed the coins in her waiting hand.

"Busy?" she said, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Y-yeah. Zacharie woke up sick this morning." he said softly, his expression clearly showing how sorry he felt for his brother.

"Really? I thought he was in the back." Emilia leaned to the side to peer in the back kitchen, as if to make sure he wasn't there.

"Nope. I made him go to bed." Ambro assured her.

"Awe, poor thing." she stuck out her lower lip in a comical, sorrowful pout. As if on cue, a loud sneeze sounded from the back, although it didn't sound like it came from Zacharie's room. "heh.. EH-SHOO! USh-IEW!" Ambrosis looked in the back tenitively, then turned back to Emilia. "Excuse me a moment." he said, charging toward where the industrial kitchen met the den.

"Zacharie! He called, looking around, "Zacharie!" his eyes met his brothers as he came out of not the industrial kitchen but their regular one. "What are you doing?" Ambrosis asked him.

"Looking for tissues." his reply was hoarse. He help a couple paper towels in his hand. Ambro looked at him doubtfully with a look that said, you've got to be kidding. His little brother's nose was already red from using up a whole box of tissues.

"Those won't do you any good," he took the towels and set them on the coffee table. "There are napkins in the bakery. I'm positive those are softer. They shouldn't irritate your nose so much." he touched a finger to Zacharie's nose softly, triggering a sneeze. There wasn't any time to grab the discarded napkins, so instead he let out a wet, itchy sounding, "k'KIsSh!" misting his palm as he pitched forward, bending a bit at the waist.

"bless you."

Ambrosis returned to Emilia's company with Zacharie behind him, a pathetic, sniffling heap.

"Awwww, poor Zacharie." Emilia cooed.

"don't say 'awwww'; I'm gross."

Zacharie reached for the napkin holder at the end of the counter, getting himself a large stash of makeshift tissues.

"eh..Act-tchooo!" he sneezed into them, his face flushing pink as he opened his eyes, embarrassed. Emilia giggled a bit as Ambrosis wrapped in arm around Zacharie's neck. "You'll have to forgive my little brother, Emilia," he said jokingly, making Zacharie's face flush redder as he sniffled. "He's a little sneeze-shy"

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

Awwwe awwwe.

embaressement xD yes

I love this.

Perchance more?

i'd love to see more c:

[Tombchewer]

Yes DeathNoteOwner, there should be more on the way. I'm trying to make ambrosis both mean and caring... Tell me how it's working out?

[Tombchewer]

Another chapter should go up before the day is out! Writing it right now!!

[Tombchewer]

Ugh! While I was writing, my computer shut off, erasing everything! I have to start all over!

[ebay34]

This is going to be great keep continuing

[Tombchewer]

Okay, I'm sorry that I didn't get a new part up last night but I had lost so much work when my computer shut off. Here's hoping it won't happen again:

"Sneeze shy?" Emilia giggled, making Zacharie tense and blush even more.

"D-don't look at me like that!" Zacharie cried, looking back and forth between his brother and his friend.

Ambrosis and Emilia went back to talking casually over the counter, laughing and exchanging stories. Meanwhile, Zacharie paced from the store counter to the back of the house to the bathroom, restless and not sure what to do with himself. He went to his bedroom and changed out of his ladybug hoodie and into a plain white shirt; he was too hot for long sleeves. It then occurred to him that it was the middle fall and he had a fever, which he probably should've noticed before. He put a hand up to his forehead to check, frowning when he couldn't tell either way.

He rummaged through the drawers in the bathroom and in the kitchen, and then moving on to the drawers behind the counters in the store front. Why did his house have so much storage? It made everything too hard to find. He rummaged through the drawers louder than he should've, catching the attention of Ambrosis and Emilia from across the room.

"What are you looking for?" His brother called, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Uhm..?" Zacharie said distractedly.

Ambrosis made his way over to where his brother was, Emilia keeping pace with his from the other side of the counter.Ambrosis peered over Zacharie's shoulder, "What is it?" Zacharie stopped shuffling through the papers and straightened.

"I'm looking for the thermometer." Zacharie admitted.

"You feeling worse?" Ambrosis sympathized, moving a hand to the top of his little brother's head, stroking his hair.

"A l-little." he said, a sneeze chasing out his last word. He turned around in time to conceal the nearly silent sneeze from the view of his company into his palm.

"E-excuse me." he blushed at the floor, the other two smiling.

"Bless you, hon." Emilia said, laugh in her voice.

Ambrosis directed his brother to the side as he looked for the thermometer for himself. "Ah, here it is." He pulled it out of the drawer and washed it off just in case.

[ebay34]

This is great keep continuing

[MoonDuck]

Aw, sorry that your computer shut off. Have you tried using Google Drive? it auto saves your work; very helpful.

This is awesome and I hope you write more

[Amberlight24]

This is SO VERY adorable!

I love the sneeze-shy-ness

<3

[Tombchewer]

Thank you all so much for your support, it means a lot to me, being a newbie and whatnot. Thank you for your suggestion, MoonDuck, I'll have to give that a look.

As for eBay and amberlight, thank you so much for reading and I always love feedback. I feel like I'm repeating myself... Anyway, maybe new chapter after I do dishes?

[Hibiscus]

Yes! New chapter please! This is adorable! Also, I have an optional request. Can you italisize the sneezes?

[Tombchewer]

Mento123, I've been actually trying to figure out how to do that, or else I would.. I get what you mean though. If someone could tell me how It'd be great. Thanks for reading, by the way <3

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Much to Ambrosis' relief, his brother's fever wasn't bad: about 99.9°. Despite all the teasing and joking, he had actually become worried and found himself often shooting sideways glances to him everytime he heard a cough or a sniffle. Zacharie had become pale, the only color coming form the slight tinge of pink across his cheeks and the brighter pink that rimmed his abused nostrils.

"Ambrosis? Are you listening?" He realized that his sideways glance had turned into a distracted stare, watching Zacharie rest his head on the counter. Looking back at Emilia, he replied, "Sorry, I guess I'm a little distracted today. What was that?"

Emilia rolled her dark blue eyes. "I said I have work later today; I need to go."

"Oh right, sorry." ambrosis apologized awkwardly, stepping out from behind the counter by a break in the surface to hug her goodbye.

"Zacharie?"

He looked up from where he had been resting his head on the countertop.

"hmm?" His forehead had a small red spot from where he had rested it on his arm.

"Feel better okay?" She leaned across the awkward division to hug him around the neck. But this hug was broken quickly by Zacharie when he realized two things: he could get her sick, and he really had to sneeze. His forearm went up as a sort of sheild between the two, Zacharie's breath hitching embarrassingly again. He pinched his nose to stifle, not having enough time to turn away from his friend.

"hihhhh...HpkShIEW!" He immediately regretted stifling when the pressure in his already splitting headache grew... then again, he would rather have this than sneezing full-on in front of Emilia and Ambro. He was certain that then the laughing would never end. Outside of his thoughts though, the laughter was just starting.

"Awwe!" Emilia giggled, her voice trembling with laughter, "you're so adorable!" Ambrosis joined her, his silver laugh pairing well with here's.

"Guys, please," Zacharie's face had once again returned to it's reddened state, but this time there something in his voice... Whining? No, no, that's not it. Ambrosis' face turned serious after he had waved a final goodbye to his childhood friend, pondering what he had heard...

Zacharie sat slumped helplessly on a stool, looking up sadly at the dark-haired one. Suddenly it clicked; he had gone too far embarrassing his brother. The sound in his voice was the edge of tears. Zacharie gasped shakily, tears welling in his eyes as he slid slowly off the stool.

"Zach-er, Zacharie," he pleaded, lifting the break in the counter and following his brother through the industrial kitchen. "Zachar-" Suddenly Zacharie turned to face him, Ambrosis almost bumping into him. His face was sorrowful and his voice betrayed him as he spoke, trying to come across mad. "Y-you know what, Ambro? I'm sorry I'm sick. I-I'm sorry you-you're stuck taking care of me." he hiccupped. "I'm sorry I sneeze so much, and I'm sorry you won't let me help in the bakery today because you say I'm too sick!" His voice raised to the maximum of what his throat would allow at the end, almost yelling. He dug the heels of his palms into his burning eyes, taking a shuddering breath and trying to calm down. He didn't mean to shout.

Ambrosis was thoroughly taken aback by this sudden outburst. Zacharie NEVER cried. He must be feeling awful, and suddenly so was Ambrosis. He pulled Zacharie into a sort of hug to steady his shuddering shoulders, the older one's hand pressed his face into his shoulder, where sniveling and sharp breaths were being muffled.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed at you like that. I'll bet if I hadn't laughed, Emilia wouldn't have either. It's my fault." Zacharie took deep breaths, swallowing as much cough-free air as he could. "I know how you feel. I've been sick before too." he rubbed his brother's back up and down. "You're snuffed up but your nose is runny, you're so tired but you can't sleep because you've been resting all day. You always feel yucky no matter how many showers you take." Zacharie hiccupped and nodded solemnly as his brother went on, "you've got a headache and you're always hot AND cold which makes no sense at all." he looked down at Zacharie, placing his hands on his shoulders and tilting his head, smiling shyly. Zacharie looked up with his tear-streaked cheeks and tried a small smile.

"Uh-huh." the younger one agreed.

"I'm sorry I laughed at you."

"I'm sorry I yelled, Ambro..."

Ambrosis patted Zacharie on the shoulder and smiled again.

"Uhm... Ambro?" he glanced up sheepishly.

"Yeah?"

"I feel kinda hot.."

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- think this might be the longest chapter I've written. Again, I love comments and I'd love them even more if they had directions on how to italicize. Thank you for reading!

[Tombchewer]

oh, boo I just read over that and realized it was really sappy and Zachaire wasn't upset long enough... I'm probably going to do a revision once I write the rest of it. Just bare with me... More fluff to come

[MoonDuck]

I thought it was fine until you said anything Can't wait for more!

to italicize sneeze: highlight the part you want italicized, then click the sideways-ish I in the left bottom row of the editing stuff when you type. Click it again to un-italicize.

Wow. that made so much sense.

[Tombchewer]

Oh, yeah. That must be when you're on the computer. I type mostly from my phone so it doesn't show that option... I'll try to get on sometime and edit... Maybe I can type it on the phone, then send it to my email, and submit it from the computer?

[SpookyScarySkeleton]

I really like this

[ebay34]

This is great

[Tombchewer]

Thank you both so much!

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"You're hot?" Ambrosis drew his eyebrows together, concerned and stepping closer.

"Yeah.." Zacharie toned awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. Ambro placed the back of his hand on his cheek, then his forehead. "Hmmm..." he grunted, "You do feel a little hot."

"Do you think we have Tylenol?" Zacharie asked roughly, his voice weak from crying.

Ambrosis thought carefully about the treatments for a cold. There was ice bathing, but wasn't that for muscle pain? It might make his nose run. He knew the towel on the forehead thing, but he also knew that Zacharie wouldn't stay still for that long. If his headache was caused by congestion, then some hot peppers would help, but they didn't have any of those. "Maybe" He said, getting an idea and spinning the young blonde around. "This way, come on."

Zacharie let his brother push him gently through the kitchen; it felt good on his shoulders. They stopped by a large counter they usually used for decorating cakes, but they'd done the last of those yesterday before Mom left and there weren't and requests to be filled at the moment. Ambrosis patted the surface and said, "Hop up."

Zacharie followed the older one's instructions obediently but slowly, the cold stainless steel soothing his overheating body. What was so special about this counter in particular was that right next to it was a refrigerator for cupcakes and bags of icing and extra drinks for the front. Zacharie leaned against the side of the fridge, understanding his brother's intentions. Ambro grabbed Zacharie a bottle of apple juice tossed it to him, startling the younger one into gaurding his face as the juice fell heavily onto his lap and rolled onto the counter.

"Better?" Ambrosis smiled as he heard Zacharie sigh contentedly.

"Better." he replied weakly, putting the cold bottle of juice to his forehead like an ice pack.

He felt a tickling in the back of his nose again, and set the apple juice aside to free his hands.

"hhh....hhh-hiihhh...." It was stuck. He crinkled his nose, turning away. More gasping ensued, "eh...hhhhh..iiihhht t-tiihhckles-he-eh, HESHU! HEEH'ktcshhiEW! aCT-Tshoooo!" he sniffled, snot dripping from his nose and onto his wrist messily. "Ugh, yuck." Zacharie remarked as Ambrosis silently handed him a handful of napkins.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ambrosis continued kneading dough for the honey buns and then decorating more cupcakes with the star piping tool, quick and easy. Sometimes he would rush into the front, leaving the piping tool to the side to serve more customers. While Zacharie sat he watched Ambrosis, mesmerized my his quick, sure movements. His eyelids started to droop; he was tired after all. But everytime his breathing became slow and heavy and his eyes closed for awhile, the insatiable tickle would make itself known in the back of his nose. He jerked upright quickly, bending over and sneezing into his hands, misting his palms.

"Hih... Hih-ih, Ek'USHEW! HehIShu!" it was loud. He stayed bent, looking at his lap for awhile while he sniffled. He hoped the bell he had heard a milisecond before was his imagination, but surely enough, a friendly giggle shouted."Bless you!" from the front of the store. He identified this as Sid's voice, a person the boys went to school with. Ambrosis hurriedly grabbed a few napkins and went over to where Zacharie was bent, frozen with embarrassment. "You okay?" Ambrosis whispered, rubbing his back but not waiting for an answer. He returned to the the front of the shop, where Zacharie could hear their exchange:

"I hope that wasn't you sneezing all over the pastries, Ambrosis." Sid joked, a smile in his voice.

"Naw, not me. What can I get ya?"

"What have you got that's good?"

"All of it's good."

"Well, set me up with two cinnamon rolls then."

"Two?" he heard Ambro open the display case.

"Yes, Mr.Judgmental. One's for Malicai; poor little one's not feeling too good."

"Must be going around... Zach's sick, too." Zacharie flushed and shouted, "MY NAME IS ZACHARIE!"

"Hahahaha! Well, Captain, what's the damage?" 'Captain' was a nickname from their 'pretend adventure games' from when they were about seven and were obsessed with pirates.

"$3.50." Ambrosis said.

"Alright." the sound of change could be heard on the counter. "Bye, then... BYE ZACHARIE!" Sid shouted, Walking out into the chill fall afternoon.