You Had Me At Home (Secret Santa for LeapYearKisses)

[CeruleanBlue]

So...

@LeapYearKisses

I'm your secret Santa this year apparently! (I swear I've seen you around but I don't remember where. I'll probably fangirl over your writing later.)

I hope you like what I wrote! I had a lot of fun writing it (and I'm tempted to write more with the characters). I tried to include a lot of what you wanted, so look forward to that (hopefully lol)!

Without further ado...

 

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Evan groaned as he opened his eyes. In the dim morning light, they appeared perfectly grey, much more than their usual bluish silver.

"Oh, you're awake," a voice said. Evan knew who it was, of course, he recognized his own boyfriend no matter how tired he was. He rolled over onto his side and, finding his lover blurry, put on his glasses.

"Unfortunately, yes," Evan groaned.

"Didn't sleep well, Sweet?" James asked, crouching down over Evan.

Evan considered how he was used to having to look up to meet eyes with him, though, since James was -- as Evan described -- "a mutant" at a height at 6"4. Evan clocked in at 5"11, 6" if he stretched. While James was not obese by any standard, he was of a strong build, making him seem more like an average person sized up. Evan, on the other hand, was decently skinny (and also a year younger at 20), so he often felt like James towered over him.

"Ev?" James prompted when Evan didn't reply.

"Hm? Yeah, guess I didn't," he answered finally.

"Aw. I told you, you shouldn't have stayed up so late," James chided, knitting his eyebrows together.

"I had to study, I have a big test in math today," Evan grumbled.

"Do you even need to study though? You get all A's in math anyway."

"Maybe. But better safe than sorry," Evan explained. It was true though. The only time he had to worry about the more logical classes he took were if he was sick or if his allergies bothered him. The problem here was that there was a cycle. Evan would be bothered by a bad cold, get a grade lower than his expectations, drive himself into the ground studying, and make himself sick again. Because of this, he was fell ill often. They had countless boxes of tissue stored in their apartment solely because of Evan.

At least he wasn't sick that day. At the thought of this, Evan swallowed nervously as he realized the minor sore throat he'd had the night prior was lingering. He wasn't sick, right?

"Anyway, I'll be in the shower," James announced.

"All right," Evan replied, biting his lip anxiously, still lost in his thoughts.

Evan didn't feel like getting out of bed that morning. He felt a little tired. Not because he was getting sick, mind you, simply due to his minor lack of sleep the night before.

A few minutes passed before Evan's worrying intensified a little more.

"Heh... Hihkstchuh!" he sneezed. He didn't have much time to process what had just happened (as he was still groggy from waking up) before -- "heh'kstchihh!" He sneezed a second time. He sniffled and rubbed at his nose. He sighed, grateful that at least his mother-henning boyfriend couldn't hear him due to the shower.

"Hey, you okay? I heard you sneeze a couple minutes back," James said as soon as he was dressed.

Goddammit. Who the hell allowed overprotective boyfriends insanely good hearing?!

"Oh, that? It's just allergies," Evan dismissed. He was sitting up by then, but still in bed in his pajamas. He hoped James would accept it as that and leave it, but he noticed some suspicion darken his lover's hazel eyes.

"Yeah, I figured. Just checking on you," James replied warmly, offering a bright smile. Evan gave a small smile back.

Evan made it through the rest of the morning without too much trouble. He blamed it on allergies and claimed he couldn't take medication since it made him too drowsy for school.

That brought him to his next challenge.

College.

He didn't worry about it, though, since he definitely wasn't sick.

In his first class, he had James sitting next to him. Evan sniffled throughout the entire lecture.

"Hey. Do you want a tissue?" James asked at one point when Evan's sniffling had gone on for far too long.

Evan ran a hand over his silky, brunette hair anxiously. "Ndo," he replied, stuffy and stubborn. In his mind, it somehow made sense that if he needed a tissue, he'd be sick.

However, as if on cue to spite Evan, his sniffs had started caused a tickle to form in the back of his nose. It wasn't long before his breath caught and -- "hyeshhhuu! Ig'stchhh!" he sneezed, pitching forward into his hand. He started to lower his hand, but noticed a pool of liquid in them and strands connecting his nose to it. He quickly grew a deep shade of red.

"Yes," Evan corrected himself, voice barely audible. James made a disapproving "tsk" sound and handed Evan a tissue (into his clean hand). Evan wiped off his nose first, then cleaned off his hands and awkwardly tucked the fabric into his jeans. He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses back from the place where they had slid down slightly.

He just wanted to suffer in silence. He wished James wasn't always so protective. While it was an endearing trait, it irritated Evan to no end when all he wanted to do was sulk in the corner or pretend he was fine, and all James would do was insist he needed to be taken care of and draw attention to his ailment. Besides, he didn't want to worry him. Because of that, he found himself trying to hide how ill he was, every time. He pressed his tongue up against the roof of his mouth whenever he felt like sneezing, sniffled only when necessary, and tried to speak as clearly as possible.

Evan sighed and tried to focus on the professor's words, ignoring the occasional glance from James. They were quiet throughout the rest of the class.

In his next class, history, Evan discovered a new level of the hell that was his day.

He started sneezing more often. They were different than his average sneeze when he was sick. They were more urgent, faster, and came in clusters. Instead of a "heh... Hih'itschoo!", he found himself stuck with "hix'schuh! Itchuh! Ts'choo!"s.

Funny. They almost seemed more like his allergy sneezes. But he had been inside all day, and all the windows were closed, so they couldn't have been. His only allergy was pollen. There wasn't a reason for him to be suddenly affected right then, right?

He looked around, just to check.

Some girl who sat a row in front of him, and one to his left, had received a romantic gesture from her doting boyfriend at the start of class. A bouquet of roses. She kept it on her desk the entire time, fiddling with it every few seconds and sniffing them.

Evan was a pretty easy-going guy usually, so he didn't mind too much at first. After all, he only had one more class before he could have lunch, and his classes after that were pretty relaxed. His third class was math, and he did have a big test, but it would be fine.

He pinched his nose shut and stifled a fit. "Hnxch! Izzt! Nxt! K'mmf! T'chxt!" He let out a soft groan afterwards, finding himself having to adjust his glasses again (subtly wiping off some allergic tears simultaneously). He looked up to see a few people looking at him, and he felt his cheeks grow hot.

He suffered throughout the rest of history class (more than usual, at least), grateful that James had forced a pack of tissues on him. He used all but two in history, and he was still sniffling constantly.

Evan escaped as soon as he could when class ended. It's fine. It's almost lunch, he reminded himself. He took a deep breath to prepare himself and headed into his math classroom.

Unfortunately, the effect of the roses hadn't worn off yet, and that combined with his cold made his head extremely fuzzy.

Not to mention that every few minutes -- "hyeh'tchoo! Inxxg! Itstch!" -- he kept sneezing. He never had time to stifle the first one, but he made sure to do so with the remaining ones. Still, even the stifled ones seemed to echo throughout the silent classroom. The only other sounds were pencils writing, sighs (it was a very stressful test for all), and occasional shushes directed at him.

He never wanted to leave a classroom as much as that moment.

That is, until he ran out of tissues two thirds of the way through the class.

"Hih'gtschuu! Exxt! Kxsh! Tzzt!"

He found himself stuck with a problem. And a wish for death. He might've reused a tissue, but they were all thoroughly soaked. He swore inwardly. He quickly wiped his nose on the sleeve of his black turtleneck (having no other option). He winced at the residue left on his hand, and the visible stain on his sleeve. He decided to put his jacket on to cover up the stain, and wiped his hand off on his jeans.

He felt that he barely survived. He had eventually had to swallow his pride (what was left of it, at least) and ask the teacher for some tissues. Luckily, his teacher was kind and gave him plenty. While he was relieved at this, he still struggled with the exam itself. He barely finished in time, ending his last proof with only one minute left in class, and he was certain he would receive a C or even lower.

Head hung low, he went to meet up with James for lunch.

James spotted him from the floor below. He saw Evan sneeze freely for once, being caught off guard, and the vast majority of the spray landing on their friend, Christie. James chuckled when Evan immediately grew flustered and apologized repeatedly. He could've sworn he could see Evan blush all the way from where he was.

When the two finally found each other, Evan looked completely worn out. James pulled him into an embrace, and Evan let himself sink into it as James ran his hand comfortingly through his mahogany hair.

"Bad day, Sweet?" James asked, smiling.

"You have ndo idea," Evan replied. He cringed at the sound of his congested voice. He'd been embarrassed into total silence, so he hadn't heard his voice since his first class. "I'mb... sick," he finally admitted.

James ran a hand through his own wavy, golden blonde locks as he considered the best thing to say.

"I know. You want to both call in sick and just go home and rest?" James suggested. Evan lit up at this and nodded. This was why whenever Evan said that his grey eyes were dull or lifeless-looking, he insisted they weren't. When he was truly happy, James saw the blue in them become more vivid. He saw them sparkle and practically glow. Maybe James was just a romantic, but Evan needed a romantic extrovert to pair with his more serious and introverted personality.

"Let's go home," James started in a gentle, warm voice. "I'm thinking some tea, some blankets, some cheesy romcoms? I'll make you some soup too and maybe --"

Evan interrupted him with a kiss on the lips.

"You had me at 'home.'"

END(?)

 

 

...

I'm tempted to continue.

Especially since LeapYearKisses said they liked caretaking, and I was going to include that, but the fic just kind of... ended... lol. Sorry about that. I am kinda in love with Evan and James though so I'm open to continuing if people want me to.

Anyway, @LeapYearKisses (and others reading this haha), I really hope you liked the fic!! Happy holidays!

[facet]

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Edited December 1, 2019 by facet
Removed by user.

[Shikee12.haley]

15 minutes ago, facet said:

Literally me.

 

This is way cute! I feel terrible for Evan. I hope he did well on his test in spite of everything. Great work!  

Agreed...of course about it being adorable as hell....now suffering in silence...it's something I'd do but once someone finds out I wanna be a baby

[CeruleanBlue]

42 minutes ago, facet said:

Literally me.

 

This is way cute! I feel terrible for Evan. I hope he did well on his test in spite of everything. Great work!  

Haha glad you liked it!

Don't worry, he's just being pessimistic lol, he actually got an A-.

25 minutes ago, Shikee12.haley said:

Agreed...of course about it being adorable as hell....now suffering in silence...it's something I'd do but once someone finds out I wanna be a baby

I'm glad you guys liked Evan! Also, I relate a lot to that lol. Thanks for reading!

[LeapYearKisses]

AHHHHHHH OMG Thank you, @CeruleanBlue!!!  I love it!  So sorry I'm late in commenting, but wow this totally made my Christmas Eve Eve!

Evan is absolutely adorable.  I love his shyness, and his glasses, and he totally fits all my favorite things!  I got so excited when he woke with a sore throat and it just kept getting better from there.   I could really feel how awful he felt during the math test, which I love, since I'm a hurt/comfort sadist muahaha. Thank you for adding the cute bits of mess, also!  I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, and I really appreciate it!  James was also just lovely.  I laughed when you described him as a tall "mutant"!  He's the perfect one to scoop Evan up and help him feel better after an awful day.

If you want to write more, I would be overjoyed!  I think it's a perfect little snippet as is, though, if inspiration doesn't strike.  Thank you very vert much!

[CeruleanBlue]

11 hours ago, LeapYearKisses said:

AHHHHHHH OMG Thank you, @CeruleanBlue!!!  I love it!  So sorry I'm late in commenting, but wow this totally made my Christmas Eve Eve!

Evan is absolutely adorable.  I love his shyness, and his glasses, and he totally fits all my favorite things!  I got so excited when he woke with a sore throat and it just kept getting better from there.   I could really feel how awful he felt during the math test, which I love, since I'm a hurt/comfort sadist muahaha. Thank you for adding the cute bits of mess, also!  I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, and I really appreciate it!  James was also just lovely.  I laughed when you described him as a tall "mutant"!  He's the perfect one to scoop Evan up and help him feel better after an awful day.

If you want to write more, I would be overjoyed!  I think it's a perfect little snippet as is, though, if inspiration doesn't strike.  Thank you very vert much!

Aw, reading your comment made me so happy!!

I'm glad you like Evan! I tried to incorporate some of the things you like into him, and I was kind of worried he drifted from some of it too much. I'm a hurt/comfort sadist too lol so I liked writing that part. Luckily, I'm not bothered by minor mess in writing, so I was completely fine writing those parts. I actually might like James more than Evan somehow haha. Exactly! Ships with height differences are cute for a reason lol~ And James is such a sweetheart lol so it's even better.

I'm debating if I'll continue and write where caretaking takes places, James gets sick (from spending time with Evan and kissing him), and then caretaking is flipped/mutual. It might be a little awkward to continue, so I'm not sure yet.

 

I'm so glad you liked it!!!  I put a lot of effort into it.

[Alex Hemmings]

omg