Another story with my OCs! (m, sick!Des, and on his birthday, too...)

[Sophie<3]

Hi guys!

Some of you may already know my OCs. Since a few people liked the last story, I decided to post another one. I have a few more in store, too. And I'll be writing more for these five soon, I think. Anyway, I wrote this particular story for MaiMai a while ago, because she's wonderful and I love writing for her. And because she wanted to see sick!Des, I guess. She gave me permission to post this publicly so the rest of you can enjoy it, too. I guess I'll just post my character descriptions from the last story again, so everyone has an idea what these OCs are like.

Background: These OCs are five young people who live together (technically six, because Bronwyn has a kid). Holly, one of the characters, inherited a lot of money and wanted to do good with it. (She lives on the East Coast and comes from a rich background and as she got older, she started feeling increasingly guilty about being so priviledged, so she tries to give back whenever possible). So she decided to buy a house with it and invite people to live there with her who were struggling financially and could never afford the rent normally. These people are:

Tessa: Holly's best friend. Studies sociology. Black, but grew up in a white family because she was adopted. That's how she met Holly, because their parents live in the same area. Struggles sometimes, because she's involved in a lot of political stuff, but sometimes feels like she doesn't really belong because of her background. Normally really confident and vocal about what she wants. Used to think Holly's idea with the house was crazy, but mostly enjoys living with the others now. (She's not poor obviously, but her and Holly were going to live together anyway.)

Edgar: Studies history. Doesn't really have financial issues either, but is a mess when it comes to emotional things. He's been struggling with depression for a while. The others accept that he has bad and slightly better days, though, and while it certainly doesn't fix anything, he enjoys living with them much more than he thought he would. Edgar also has TONS of allergies (Tessa likes to tease him about that sometimes), including dust, perfumes and all kinds of animal fur, and the worst immune system out of the bunch. Basically, he's miserable in some way or other most of the time, but he's also incredibly tough and doesn't give up and appreciates the others very much. Especially Holly, who he has a slight crush on.

Bronwyn: The only one out of them who isn't a college student. Works as a model and earns enough to get by, but struggles a little because she's also a single mom. She had her son Stanley really young and unexpected. He's four now, and she never even wanted to be a mother, but she loves him and makes it work somehow. Still, she's glad to have the others help out with taking care of him. She's kind of stand-offish and cool, but appreciates the others deep down.

Holly: Think: "mom friend". She's pretty sweet and bubbly and happy and always wants everyone to be comfortable. She loves babying Edgar and he loves being babied. She's really happy about living in the house with the others.

Desmond: Desmond is the only one in the house who isn't American. He's from England, but went to the East Coast to study. His major is Fine Arts and he's amazing at drawing and painting. He's a little shy and introverted and sometimes feels overwhelmed by the others, but mostly, he loves being a part of the group. Oh, and also, he's gay. And he has a kinda boyfriend in England, but things are complicated.

 

And now, on to the story. Des gets sick on his birthday. No warnings (except for language). Enjoy! Any and all comments are very much appreciated. Thanks! xx

 

When Desmond woke up roughly half an hour before his alarm rang, what had been a sneaking suspicion the night before became certainty. He had felt slightly worn out during dinner and there had been a bit of a scratch at the back of his throat and a slight itch at the back of his sinuses. So he had gone to bed a littler earlier than normally, hoping to feel better after a good night’s sleep, but instead, overnight, these first little signs had developed into full-blown symptoms. The pain in his throat was, in fact, what woke him up in the first place. When the drowsiness had worn off after a few minutes and he became more aware of his situation, he decided to try out his voice before he had to speak to any of the others.

“Definitely sick, then”, he tried to say, which resulted in coughing right away. With a groan, he turned back around and tried to go back to sleep before he actually had to get up for his classes. For a few moments, he just lay there, trying to ignore the soreness in his throat, but that was when his nose started running. He sniffled experimentally, trying to contain it, but this only served to start a persistent tickle at the back of his nose. He tried to turn around in his bed, but the change of position caused the feeling to flare up dramatically and he froze half-way to the other side.

“Hhhh’iipsh”, he sneezed, his head coming down hard on the pillow. After a few tired seconds of leaving his head where it was, Desmond had to come up for air and since his nose was still running, he decided it was time to get up and grab a tissue.

He had a quick look at his phone to check the time and when he did, he glanced at the date and it came back to him. November 2 already. It was his birthday.

He sniffled, uncertain how he felt about that, then went on into the upstairs bathroom, glad to find it empty. Allocating bathroom times was always a bit of a struggle in a house with six occupants, one being a little kid who liked to take long, splashy baths.

Not only, he realized, was it his first birthday in the house, it was also his first birthday away from home. He would check his emails later to see if his family had send him any kind words. Hopefully, there would be a picture of Liz and the cat attached. Thankfully, she wasn’t angry with him anymore. When he had first announced that he was going to America to study, she hadn’t talked to him for a week. She had called it her ‘silent strike’. And Desmond had to admit, for an eight-year-old, she had a lot of endurance. It hadn’t stopped her from giving him the fiercest hug at the airport, though. He still remembered the way her skinny arms had wrapped around his waist like she was never going to let go again. He thought about how much he would love to talk to her - and all of them - on the phone, but then he suddenly had to cough again and realized that if it was up to him, he would prefer not having to speak for the rest of the day at all. He could go on his very own silent strike until his throat stopped feeling like somebody had given it a good, dedicated rub with sandpaper.

In the bathroom, he had a quick look around for tissues, then went for toilet paper instead. He blew his nose, which dizzied him a bit. Then, when he went over to the sink to brush his teeth, it happened again. For a second, he lost balance and blindly reached out a hand to hang on to something. His fingers brushed against one of the many objects on the small shelf above the sink, then found the wall behind it. The thing his fingers had touched, however, came tumbling down and shattered right by his feet with a terrible clashing sound. And a second later, without even looking at it, he knew what it was.

The smell of cherries and vanilla that hit him was so strong, he couldn’t breathe. The first fatal breath of air caused him to bend over coughing harshly. The thick plumes of Holly’s perfume appeared to have set his already irritated throat on fire. Eventually, when he had to take in some more air after coughing for about half a minute, he tried to breathe through his nose instead, but that proved to be the wrong idea entirely.

“hh’ikkch!”, he sneezed right away, and with only a fraction to breathe it between, it happened again. “Hhh’iishh! Ishhh! Hhh’eptch! Hhh’eshhh!”

His nose had been tickly ever since he had woken up, but the strong scent filling the room was entirely too much for it. Desmond stood, doubled over, the back of his hand pressed against his nose, and sneezed more than he could ever recall sneezing at once. As it was happening, he thought of Edgar with sympathy, since he was normally the one with ridiculously long and dramatically drawn-out fits. In fact, he appeared to be allergic to so many different things – all kinds of flowers, cats and dogs, dust – that the other day, Tessa had, only half-jokingly, asked him if he had ever considered that he might just be allergic to himself. (“I’m just saying, that would explain it, don’t you think? In fact, at this point, I’d argue that it’s the most plausible explanation!”)

Cleaning up the mess he had made soon began to feel risky, because crouching down to pick up the broken fragments of the perfume bottle meant he was even closer to the fumes, causing more sneezes, which, in turn, caused his eyes to water so he could barely see where his hands were. When, in between his sneezing and coughing, he had managed to pick up all of the glass and put it in the small garbage can, it felt like a miracle that he hadn’t cut his hands on the shards. Next, he mopped up the liquid with paper towels as best as he could, trying to turn his head away from the scent, but it was everywhere.

When he had cleaned up, he finally managed to open a window, took in a few deep breaths of fresh air and felt the fit ease up slowly. “Hhh’iKshh! Hh… hhh’ieshh!”, he sneezed tiredly, then paused and rubbed his nose, figuring the worst was over.

The strong smell didn’t only linger in the room, though, it also clung to his clothes and his skin. When he rubbed the back of his hand against his nose, he caught another whiff of it and promptly had to sneeze again.

He decided to take a shower to get it off, and leaned against the wall tiredly once the warm water started rushing over his body. Once again, he thought of Edgar, this time with something kin to admiration. A small fit like this had left him utterly exhausted and Edgar often suffered through several a day.

Under the shower, Desmond also allowed his mind to wander to Matt. Did Matt even know that it was his birthday today? It seemed unlikely. They had only had a thing for about three months, and they hadn’t parted on amicable terms, either. When they had first met, Desmond had already known he was going to leave for the States soon. In fact, he had already had the plane ticket. And yet, he had never found the words to tell Matt, he simply hadn’t known how, until three days before his flight. And that was something Matt had not forgiven him for.

Desmond sniffled, sighed and turned off the water. The bathroom window was still open and it was incredibly cold, but he didn’t want to close it just yet, because the smell of Holly’s perfume still hung heavily in the air. If Edgar were to walk in right now, Desmond mused, it would probably be the end of him.

Back in his room, Desmond yawned and put on his warmest jumper. He wasn’t looking forward to a day of classes. At least he didn’t have a lot of close friends outside of the house, so he would probably be able to rest his throat.

He wandered downstairs, rubbing his face and sniffling again, still feeling incredibly tired, when he stepped into the living room and something slammed into him with the force of a cannon ball. He gasped and looked down to see who had assaulted him and his eyes found Stan, who wasn’t exactly Liz’s height yet, but had wrapped his arms around Desmond’s waist with similar strength.

“Happy birthday, happy birthday!”, he screamed and now, Desmond looked up and saw that they weren’t alone. Mornings were usually slow and peaceful in the house; or at least they were after Bronwyn had left with Stan. Now, there were balloons everywhere and a big, colourful poster on the wall read “Happy birthday!”

Positioned on the couch were Bronwyn and Edgar. Tessa was standing in front of it and Holly came rushing out of the kitchen the second Stan began screaming.

“Des! Oh no!”, she exclaimed. “You’re early! We’re not ready!”

“Oh… um… Sorry”, he mumbled. “Want me to go back…?” He pointed vaguely back up to his room as Stan let go off him.

“Aw, no no no, silly”, Holly laughed. “Stay! It’s fine. Happy birthday, by the way.”

“Happy birthday”, Bronwyn and Tessa echoed, and Edgar nodded. “Yup. Congrats, man.”

He managed a weak “Thanks” as his eyes continued to wander from one face to the next, completely overwhelmed.

“Hah”, Tessa laughed and boxed Holly in the side. “Told you he wasn’t expecting it.” A little quieter, she added: “Probably hates the attention.”

“He does not”, Holly argued. “He’s just… surprised. Right, Des?”

He nodded feebly. “Surprised, yes. Definitely.”

“Well, come on!”, Holly beamed at him. “Here, have a seat. Ed, make some room for him.”

“Did you see the balloons?”, Stan shrieked with delight and started running around, boxing and kicking against balloons to make them fly. The noise was giving Desmond a headache.

“Er, yes. I… saw the balloons”, he told Stan, who was giggling with excitement and continued running around until Bronwyn told him to “settle down”.

“Um, what actually is going on?”, he asked then, when Holly had guided him to the couch. “I mean, who planned all this? Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, but it’s madness! The balloons and the poster and everything?”

Edgar next to him snorted. “Who do you think? Holly, of course.”

“Everybody did their part”, Holly insisted, blushing a little.

“Well, to be honest”, Edgar told him confidentially. “I would never have remembered that today is your birthday without her. No offense, man.”

“But he still helped blow up the balloons”, Holly maintained.

“So did I, so did I”, Stan was yelling and Desmond smiled briefly at him. “Thanks.”

The excitement was all a bit much. His head had started to pound and his nose was running again. He was trying to rub it inconspicuously with his hand, but he would have preferred to be alone, so he could at least wipe it with a tissue.

“I mean, seriously”, he said then, because all eyes were on him and he felt it was up to him to say something. “How did you even know it was my birthday today, Holly?”

Edgar gave him an amused sideways grin. “Dude, remember when she asked us when all of our birthdays were that one time? In, like, our first week here? I thought she was just making conversation, because we didn’t really have much to talk about yet, but guess what, she wrote it all down! She knows all of our birthdays!”

“I do”, Holly smiled. “Birthdays are important. They are the one day of the year that’s all about you and –“

As she was going on, Desmond suddenly felt his nose go tickly again. He pressed the back of his hand against it, trying to get rid of the feeling, but it didn’t work. “hhh’IEshh!”, he sneezed, turning away from Edgar and toward Bronwyn automatically. Right away, he felt sorry for her, but Edgar was the one with the shitty immune system, who would probably catch this cold if he so much as breathed in his general direction.

A choir of Bless Yous sounded, some more sympathetic than others, and he could feel his cheeks turn hot. He didn’t particularly like sneezing in front of others. Sometimes, he managed to leave the room first. Other times, he managed to stifle the sound. But with the double-assault of this cold and the perfume incident from earlier, there was really no fighting them off or quieting them. Shit, he realized. He still had to tell Holly about the perfume.

“Alright”, Holly said cheerfully. “Like I said, we weren’t ready. We wanted to put on music, but we couldn’t really agree on what to play. I wanted something fun, like –“

“Like fucking Taylor Swift”, Tessa interrupted with an eye roll, then, in Bronwyn’s direction, she said “Sorry”, because they weren’t supposed to swear in front of Stan.

“Stan wanted that ‘Happy Birthday’ song, you know the one”, Bronwyn said and promptly, Stan began singing it.

“And I told them that all of those options make me want to throw myself in front of a train”, Edgar declared.

“Even more than usually, he means”, Tessa added ungraciously.

Desmond couldn’t help but smile. They were so American and so messy and so loud and so jokingly argumentative and so them. How he had ever ended up with them, he had no idea, but he was glad everything had happened the way it did.

“So in the end”, Tessa said, speaking over several other people. “I told the others that we should just ask you! Which, by the way, is a valuable approach in many areas of life. Take politics. Nothing makes me angrier than a bunch of white people discussing representation without ever directly asking – “

“Tessa, please”, Holly interrupted. “It’s too early for politics!”

“Oh, no. It is never too early for politics. And it’s never too late, either. Politics are always relevant because they affect people’s lives, okay? They’re not just some – “

“It’s too Desmond’s birthday for politics!”, Edgar tried. “Right? He isn’t in the mood for this, are you, Des?”

“Um, I’m…”, was as far as he got before he had to cough another time. It sounded horrible, even to his own ears, and he could see Edgar squirm a little as he mumbled “Shit, man!”

Holly’s expression went from excited to worried in the fraction of a second. Tessa looked uncertain. Stan had stopped his playing. Bronwyn was watching him with both eyebrows raised.

“Oh, God”, Holly said. “Des, are you okay?”

“I, um”, he cleared his throat and right then, the vicious tickle returned. “I’m fi… hhh’UKchh! IEshh! Uhh. Sorry.”

“You’re sick”, Holly whispered, with all the resignation and sympathy in the world.

“I’m really not”, he tried to argue. “I mean, it’s not that bad. I’m just… hh…” His nose betrayed him once again. He only had time to bring his wrist back up, before: “hhh’iuuushh!”

“Bless you”, Edgar commented. “You sound sick, man.”

“You’re just happy it isn’t you for once”, Tessa told him and he made a face at her.

There were a few moments of all round uncertainty as Desmond sat, sniffling, and everybody stared at either him or Holly. Then, Holly took a deep breath and said: “Right. I’m so sorry you’re sick, Des. Does your throat hurt? I’ll make you some tea. Wait, crap. You don’t like tea. I’ll make hot chocolate, then.”

“I want hot chocolate!”, Stan called out right away. Holly cast a glance at Bronwyn, who nodded. “It’s alright. He can have some.”

“Were you sick last night, though?”, Tessa frowned, watching him closely. “I didn’t notice anything.”

“Maybe that’s because you were too busy explaining the mechanisms of rape culture to us”, Bronwyn pointed out with a hint of annoyance. Thankfully, Stan had followed Holly into the kitchen.

Tessa took a deep breath, then stopped herself. “You know what, Bronwyn. For Desmond’s sake, I’m going to save my reply for another day.”

“Thanks, Tess”, Desmond mumbled and smiled at her. She grinned back.

“Can’t believe you got sick on your birthday”, she said, then. “That sounds like something that would happen to Ed.”

“Oh, it has happened to me, trust me!”, Edgar spoke up right away. “One time, I had mono on my birthday! Can you believe that? God, that sucked.”

“I’m sorry, mate, that sounds unpleasant”, Desmond told him, but had to cough again after such a long sentence. This time, the coughing didn’t abate for a while.

“Aw, shit”, he heard Tessa say, but he could only continue to cough, until eventually, he felt a small hand on his back. He looked up and it was Holly, who had returned from the kitchen.

“Here, take this”, she said and gently handed him a steaming cup. He managed to take a few sips and the hot, thick liquid felt fantastic on his irritated throat.

“Mmh, thank you!”, Stan said with delight as Holly gave him his cup. For a while, everyone watched Desmond and the kid sip their hot chocolate.

“So”, Bronwyn began, after a while. “What are your birthdays at home like, Desmond?”

“What, you think England is fundamentally different from us?”, Tessa replied somewhere between irritation and amusement before Desmond got a chance to say anything.

“Hey, let him talk”, Holly told her with a pointed smile.

“Well”, Desmond began, when everybody was clearly expecting him to speak up. “At home, there’s my sister, Liz. And my parents.”

“How old is Liz?”, Bronwyn asked.

“She’s eight now.”

“I’m four!”, Stan told them with excitement and everybody smiled.

“Exactly. She’s eight, meaning she’s twice your age. And, well, my mum usually bakes this lemon cake for me.” The thought of her was bringing a smile to Desmond’s face.

“Ah”, Holly said neutrally, but with badly concealed excitement in her eyes. “A lemon cake, huh?”

“Yes”, he nodded. “I don’t think we could get anything like it here. It’s her special recipe, you know. So… wait, why are you all smiling like that? And where’s Tessa going?”

The barely contained smile on Holly’s face cracked into a full grin. “A lemon cake”, she repeated. “Much like… this one?”

She pointed at something Tessa was carrying on a small tray. It was a lemon cake, and it looked fantastic and so much like the ones he got at home.

“How…” Desmond stared at it, in amazement, but then, before he could say anything else, suddenly it happened again. “Wait, sorry. Hhhh’iiishh! Hhh… hhh’ikchh! Hnn’uushhH! I’m so sorry! Excuse me!”

“Bless you”, Holly said softly as Tessa sat the cake down in front of him. “You don’t have to apologize. Wait, I’ll get you some tissues.”

And she was off again.

“I’m so sorry”, he repeated. “I just… I can’t help it. It just… Hhh’UKchh! Ah, God.”

“Now you know how I feel”, Edgar said, nodding with satisfaction.

“Very helpful”, Tessa rolled his eyes at him. Then, to Des she said: “Sorry you feel so crap. And on your birthday, too. Is there anything else you need?”

“Well”, he smiled. “I’ve got cake. And hot chocolate.”

“And tissues”, added Holly upon her return, then set a box of them down in front of him.

“Thank you”, he replied, blushing slightly again as he took one out and handed it to him. Then, he turned away from everyone to give his nose a gentle blow.

“And thanks so much for the cake, too!”, he added as he turned back around. “How did you even…?”

“I called your mom”, Holly grinned proudly.

“We looked at your phone to get her number”, Tessa admitted. “That felt a little shitty, sorry. But it was for a good cause, so we figured it was okay.”

“You need to set a code, dude”, Edgar advised helpfully.

“So, yeah, I called up your mom and asked her what kind of a cake you might like.”

“See, I was going to get you an ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen”, Tessa told him, nodding contemplatively. “So you’re probably missing out, because those are the shit. But hey, Holly and I put some effort into this one, too, so hopefully, you’ll like it.”

“Wow. That’s… that’s so amazing of you two. Thanks so much.” He smiled at them and they grinned back proudly.

“Oh, by the way”, he added then, when it came back to him. “Holly? There’s something I need to tell you.”

She looked at him curiously and Edgar frowned, “What now?”

“I, um… I was in the bathroom this morning and I, well, I got dizzy.”

“You got dizzy?”, she exclaimed right away. “Do you mean from, like, getting up too fast or do you have a fever? Come here, let me feel!”

“No, no, just from… getting up too fast!”, he answered elusively. “And anyway, that’s not important. It’s just that I sort of stumbled and, well, knocked down your bottle of perfume.”

She stared at him.

“It broke”, he added quietly. “I’m terribly sorry.”

She stared a little longer, then, unexpectedly, broke into laughter.

“What, that’s it?”

“You’re not… upset?”

“Upset?” She was still laughing. “Des, please! It’s no problem! I don’t even use that perfume anymore!”

“Why not?”, Bronwyn asked. “Is it the cherry one? I liked that one.”

“Yeah, well, I like it, too”, Holly admitted with a shrug. “But it was making Edgar sneeze, so…”

“Just like everything else on this planet”, Tessa said gravely and Edgar glared at her.

“Des, really”, Holly said warmly. “It was an accident and it doesn’t matter. Don’t worry, okay?”

“Thanks”, he nodded and took another sip of his drink to alleviate the pain in his throat.

“Hey, can we eat the cake?”, Edgar asked then, staring at it.

Holly looked at the cake contemplatively, then at Desmond. “He’s probably too stuffed up to even taste anything at the moment! I think we should save it for later…”

“Can I try it, though?”, Stan asked, doing his well-practiced puppy-eyes that were known to work on Holly (and pretty much everyone else except for Bronwyn).

“Hmm… I don’t know. I mean, it’s Desmond’s cake, so…”

“Let him have some”, Desmond said warmly. “You can all try some before we all head off to...” The tickle returned and as his breath hitched and he scrunched up his nose, Bronwyn sighed and handed him a fresh tissue. “Tha… thanks… Huhh’iikchh! Hnnn’ippshh! ‘scuse me.”

Another round of Bless Yous followed and he wanted to disappear behind the tissue, where he hid for a while, ineffectively wiping his nose, until his cheeks stopped burning.

“Were you going to say ‘Before we all head off to college’?”, Holly inquired then. “Because you, Des, are going nowhere.”

“Other than your own bed, that is”, Tessa agreed factually.

“I can go to my classes”, Desmond tried to protest, but the fact that he was suddenly coughing again didn’t really help his case.

“Hate to break it to you”, Edgar next to him said. “But you sound like shit, Des. This thing isn’t going to get better if you walk around in the cold with it.”

“You should listen to Edgar”, Tessa suggested. “He’s kind of an expert on the subject.”

“Haha, Tess, you’re so funny today!”

“Hey, you’re the one who once had mono on his birthday! So I’m just saying, if anybody knows about illness, it’s you!”

“They’re right”, Holly agreed, placing a soft hand on Desmond’s shoulder. “Please stay in bed today. I’ll stay home with you. My classes today aren’t that important and I can copy other people’s notes tomorrow. I’ll stay here, make you soup.”

“Oh, I would not turn down the soup!”, Tessa said right away. “She makes the best chicken soup, I mean, damn. One time, I had a cold and she made that soup for me, for three days in a row! And I seriously considered pretending I was still sick after that, only so I could have more of that soup.”

“And you can probably have more hot chocolate, too”, Stan said in a loud whisper, his eyes big, like he couldn’t understand why anybody would ever hesitate to stay home with Holly taking care of them.

Desmond chuckled, which promptly turned into more coughing.

“See?”, Holly said, cringing. “That sounds horrible, hon. You are not going out there! It is November and it’s freezing!”

“I know it’s November”, Desmond smiled. “It’s my birthday.”

And so, it was decided.

 

After everyone had tried a piece of the cake, the others began getting ready to leave. Before going back up to bed, Desmond warned Edgar not to go into the upstairs bathroom, which caused Tessa to giggle and Edgar to flip her off. Then, Holly told them to stop it and gently ushered Desmond, who was coughing again, out of the room.

He slept for hours and each time he woke up, he found something new on the nightstand next to his bed. First, Holly brought up the box of tissues. Then, when he had gone through all of them, she replaced it with a new box. Eventually, he also found cough drops and a slice of cake. And later, she knocked on his door with the promised soup.

Toward afternoon, Desmond suddenly realized that he hadn’t checked his emails yet. He sat up in bed, blew his nose one more time, then picked his phone off the ground. As soon as he turned on the wifi, he was flooded with facebook notifications of people wishing him a Happy Birthday and a “great time in the States, mate!” Some were old friends; many were people he hadn’t talked to in ages. He was going to reply to them some other time.

Then, however, amongst the meaningless messages, he found one that made his heart stop. Matt had written him. He opened it nervously, then stared at the screen for at least a minute.

It said: “Hi, Des. I still can’t believe you fucked off to bloody America and left me here, you big wanker. I wasn’t going to write you, but shit, it’s your birthday and I miss you like hell. So anyway, hope you’re well. Happy birthday. I really fucking miss you.”

After a while, a slow grin spread on his face. The swearing meant Matt was feeling emotional. It was a clear sign, he knew that much.

Suddenly, Holly came in again.

“Oh, you’re up”, she said chattily. “Do you want some more soup? I could –“

She paused when she saw the expression on his face, and smiled. “Got a nice message?”

Well, technically, I just got called a big wanker, he thought, but he said: “I did, yeah.”

 

[J-Squared]

Ahhhh!!!! This is adorable! I love it!!!!!

[queenie]

Poor Des! He's so happy to be wanted!!

[LeapYearKisses]

Aww, this is so cute!  I loved everyone's interactions and I'm glad it had a happy ending.

[Sophie<3]

On 7.11.2016 at 6:04 AM, J-Squared said:

Ahhhh!!!! This is adorable! I love it!!!!!

Thank yoooouuu! ~

On 7.11.2016 at 6:39 AM, queenie said:

Poor Des! He's so happy to be wanted!!

Aww, queenie! You know I like your writing a lot, too. It's so cool to see that you're enjoying my OCs!

On 7.11.2016 at 7:35 AM, LeapYearKisses said:

Aww, this is so cute!  I loved everyone's interactions and I'm glad it had a happy ending.

Yay, thanks so much, LYK!

 

Honestly, you guys are great!

[Werewolf Sniffles]

Sorry it took so long for me to reply to this! It was sooooo gooooood!! I love your writing skills!

[Sophie<3]

On 13.11.2016 at 3:47 PM, Werewolf Sniffles said:

Sorry it took so long for me to reply to this! It was sooooo gooooood!! I love your writing skills!

Oh, don't worry, it's no problem! In fact, I love late, unexpected replies to my stuff! Thank you so much! I'm really glad you like my writing!

 

[happybunny]

Ah! Is it done? It's so cute! And the writing of each character is perfect!!

[Ignis]

this is so cute aww!! your OCs seem so cool and those are A+ spellings my dude

[Sophie<3]

On 25.11.2016 at 0:28 PM, happybunny said:

Ah! Is it done? It's so cute! And the writing of each character is perfect!!

Yes, I tend to only write oneshots for this lot, sorry! But aww, thank you! I'm happy you like them!

On 26.11.2016 at 6:47 AM, Nagi said:

this is so cute aww!! your OCs seem so cool and those are A+ spellings my dude

Yayy, glad to hear it! Thanks a lot, Nagi! (And good spellings are so important to me, but I worry sometimes that mine might not work for other people, so I'm glad you thought they were good! )

Honestly, people taking an interest in my OCs is really cool! I'll post more about these guys soon, I think.

[MaiMai]

*slides in late*

YES HELLO I AM HERE TO FLAIL AGAIN EVEN THOUGH I HAVE ALREADY FLAILED OVER SICK BBY DES AT LEAST ONCE BUT WHY NOT AGAIN <3

On 06/11/2016 at 9:33 PM, Sophie<3 said:

Anyway, I wrote this particular story for MaiMai a while ago, because she's wonderful and I love writing for her.

Firstly, this is so sweet! You know I love reading your writing. And writing for you too! I just love us, basically.

I quoted last time, so this time, I'll write you a list!

1. Des and his naive hope that he'll feel better after a night of sleep. It never works out that way. And the image of him waking up sick, and then having to test out his voice before he even thinks about speaking to anyone else? That is so adorable, help me.

2. Oh man, the perfume. The perfume just about slayed me. The ironic thing is, it sounds like it should smell so nice, and then poor Des probably can't even smell it anyway and it's just making him feel worse.

3. All of the others conspiring to throw Des a birthday party, when he doesn't even realise they know when his birthday is! Aaawwww! They're such adorable housemates!

4. The cake is just the sweetest thing, how they get the recipe and everything for him, aaaawww! They're so lovely to him, and Holly is such a sweetheart leading it all!

5. The message from Matt at the end, oh my gosh! They're like, my long-distance ship that never quite worked out.

This is probably repeating things that I've said before, I'm sorry! But I just wanted to say again how much I totally adore this story, and how much I appreciate you writing it for me!

[Sophie<3]

44 minutes ago, MaiMai said:

*slides in late*

YES HELLO I AM HERE TO FLAIL AGAIN EVEN THOUGH I HAVE ALREADY FLAILED OVER SICK BBY DES AT LEAST ONCE BUT WHY NOT AGAIN <3

Firstly, this is so sweet! You know I love reading your writing. And writing for you too! I just love us, basically.

I quoted last time, so this time, I'll write you a list!

1. Des and his naive hope that he'll feel better after a night of sleep. It never works out that way. And the image of him waking up sick, and then having to test out his voice before he even thinks about speaking to anyone else? That is so adorable, help me.

2. Oh man, the perfume. The perfume just about slayed me. The ironic thing is, it sounds like it should smell so nice, and then poor Des probably can't even smell it anyway and it's just making him feel worse.

3. All of the others conspiring to throw Des a birthday party, when he doesn't even realise they know when his birthday is! Aaawwww! They're such adorable housemates!

4. The cake is just the sweetest thing, how they get the recipe and everything for him, aaaawww! They're so lovely to him, and Holly is such a sweetheart leading it all!

5. The message from Matt at the end, oh my gosh! They're like, my long-distance ship that never quite worked out.

This is probably repeating things that I've said before, I'm sorry! But I just wanted to say again how much I totally adore this story, and how much I appreciate you writing it for me!

Ohh my gosh!! I wasn't expecting you to reply to this again at all! I was over the moon when I first sent this to you and got your reply, honestly! Thank you so so much for this comment, it was totally unexpected and really made my day! You are too sweet! And trust me, I really love writing for you, like I said, AND receiving your comments! And I love when you write for me, so yes, same, I love us!  

As for the final point... yeeeeahh... Matt/Des... I kinda sent that ship into an iceberg with that newest thing I sent you, huh? I am so sorry!

Again, thanks! You're the best and I had an amazing time writing this for you!

[lalaland~]

I LOVE this. I adore the characters and the writing is superb! My favourite part is the whole thing (haha)

[Sophie<3]

On 25.4.2017 at 0:08 AM, lalaland~ said:

I LOVE this. I adore the characters and the writing is superb! My favourite part is the whole thing (haha)

Oh my gosh, that's so nice of you! Thank you! Late unexpected comments always totally make my day!