In the Air (M)

[March Hare]

I really like this story a whole lot of a much, and not just because Patrick is REAL HOT with a cold. You have a canny grasp of just how much background info to work into the narrative. Also, the dialogue between Patrick and Wendy is hugely enjoyable.

[SneezyHolmes]

Okay, I am in utter love with Patrick! Poor thing needs some proper rest and TLC, stat!

[gingerbreads]

16 hours ago, March Hare said:

I really like this story a whole lot of a much, and not just because Patrick is REAL HOT with a cold. You have a canny grasp of just how much background info to work into the narrative. Also, the dialogue between Patrick and Wendy is hugely enjoyable.

That's a great compliment, thank you so much! I am trying to make the story interesting enough besides, of course, the fetish aspect hahaha. 

 

12 hours ago, SneezyHolmes said:

Okay, I am in utter love with Patrick! Poor thing needs some proper rest and TLC, stat!

He's gonna get it 🥺 ❤️

[Feo]

Ohhhh, I'm absolutely in love with Patrick!! What a cold; what a man! And he pushes through everything! And the way he starts to cough every time he laughs... and they comment on it 💖 With a cold that bad; I'll guess his cough is wet now? 

[gingerbreads]

5 hours ago, Feo said:

Ohhhh, I'm absolutely in love with Patrick!! What a cold; what a man! And he pushes through everything! And the way he starts to cough every time he laughs... and they comment on it 💖 With a cold that bad; I'll guess his cough is wet now? 

I'm glad you love him ❤️ Yeah it would be!!

[aggedy_ann]

He needs snuggles.  All the snuggles.   Loving this.  

[gingerbreads]

A/N: The final part!! 🥺 At last... It's been a while. Thank you for reading, this one’s a bit short but I am happy to finish this fic. I actually want to write more of these two and sort of establish backstories. And definitely a follow up to this in particular.

******

Miraculously, the flight from Atlanta back to New York was relatively uneventful, with Wendy and April doing most of the talking to cover for Patrick’s failing voice. After they landed and had gotten everyone off, Patrick once again basically collapsed into a first class seat.

Wendy collapsed violently next to him, likely imitating the way he had thrown himself into the chair. Patrick gave her a look.

“Don’t make fun of me dramatically falling into the seat,” he rasped, smirking. “For all you know I could be on my last legs here.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I just make fun of you swooning like a Victorian lady who had just witnessed someone showing her ankle?”

Patrick snorted, rubbing at his nose. “What- what the fuck does that even mean?”

Wendy laughed. “I don’t know.” She sighed. “Well, I’m gonna drive you home again.”

“No, you-”

“Patrick, you look worse than two days ago and frankly, I didn’t know that was possible. No offense.”

Patrick sniffed. “How am I not supposed to take offense to that? To think, you called me hot earlier… You’re just playing with my heart left and right.”

Wendy laughed and got up. She held out her hand. “Okay, I don’t have all day.”

Patrick took her hand and she hauled him up, but he misjudged the shifting of his weight and he crashed into her. She was tinier than him, so she stumbled back a bit, his hands gripping her arms, the sick sweat slipping on her nylon sleeves. Their eyes met and Patrick’s heart stuttered in his chest. Her eyes darted down his face, lips parted. He opened his mouth to apologize but the prickling in his nose flared suddenly and he dipped forward, stifling a sneeze into his wrist.

“Shit, sorry,” he gasped, pulling back, his face hot. He let go of her arms.

“It’s fine!” Wendy avoided his eyes, color high in her cheeks.

When they arrived at Patrick’s apartment complex, Wendy walked with him to his door. They talked about work, though Patrick knew Wendy was probably walking with him to make sure he didn’t fucking keel over before he made it inside. He didn’t mind, though.

But he didn’t expect her to ask, “Can I come in?” after he turned the key and opened his door. Without waiting for an answer, she followed him in.

“You know, normally a person says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to that question, before they waltz in,” Patrick started, pressing a knuckle to his nose, kicking a sweatshirt off the floor onto the sofa. Shit. His apartment was not ready for visitors right now.

“Shut up, I want to make sure you’re not living in a disaster zone,” Wendy said, eyeing his cupboards and counter appraisingly.

“I…” Patrick shuddered and ducked forward into his elbow. “Hih… hih-ich’oo! Snf. I’m not living in a disaster zone.” He thought for a second, still sniffling. “I did run out of Nyquil though.” Without its help he probably wouldn’t sleep well tonight. “And kleenex. Oh, and-”

“We should get you some stuff,” Wendy cut him off, raising an eyebrow.

Five minutes later, they were in the grocer/pharmacy down the street, Patrick standing in the cold and flu aisle, staring at the bright bottles and boxes neatly lined up on the shelves. Wendy had said she needed to pick up a couple of things herself, so he was alone, He kept zoning out and had to try to remember what he was doing. Rubbing at his nose, he sniffled and tried to keep it from running. The sniffling just irritated it and he ducked into his elbow.

“Hih-nxt.” Ugh. Stifling wasn’t going to work. He tried to sneeze quietly, “Hah… Hah-chushhh!” Thinking he was done, he brought his face back up, but then his mouth went slack and he hurriedly ducked back, “Chush’oo!” Patrick sniffed and grimaced as he eyed his sleeve; he’d have to get his jacket dry cleaned again.

“Bless you!” he heard a man call from another aisle, and he blushed, unsure whether to even answer. He grabbed some Nyquil and a couple other things, almost running into Wendy as he turned around.

Wendy put the medicine in her basket. Then in line she ended up insisting on paying for everything, despite Patrick’s protests.

“It’s fine, I needed things anyway,” she said, smiling.

Back at the apartment, Wendy followed him in, taking out his items from the plastic bag and setting them on the counter.

Patrick shifted his weight from foot to foot, watching her, fiddling with the cuffs of his sleeves nervously.

“Do you want a, uh… a drink?” he asked.

Wendy grinned and mock gasped, “On a school night?”

Patrick laughed, the sound hoarse. “School night, yeah. My flight isn’t until late tomorrow.”

“Mine either.” Wendy tapped her fingers on the kitchen counter thoughtfully. “What do you have?”

******

“Wait, you know, you shouldn’t actually be drinking also,” Wendy said, grabbing the glass of whiskey from his hand, ice clinking. They were sitting on his sofa, Patrick with his legs pulled up, their bodies angled toward each other. Wendy had taken her hair down and it fell on her shoulders in soft waves. “You’re sick.”

“Look, I’ll take this with it.” Patrick took his whiskey glass back, opened up another cold pill packet and popped in his mouth, washing it down with the alcohol. “Healthy, right?”

“You’re just the spitting image of a responsible adult.”

“Besides, as far as drinking… you’re the one who has to drive, Wen.”

“Good point.” Wendy shrugged. “But I drank it like, a half hour ago; I’ll be good in a little while, right?”

“Yeah, there’s a rule for that…” Patrick sniffed and pressed a knuckle to his nose. He sipped the whiskey; the liquid burned his throat, but the warmth that filled him was absolutely worth it. “Isn’t it like, forty five minutes per drink or something?”

“Let’s make it a whole hour to be safe.” Wendy gave him a dimpled smile.

Patrick leaned back against the sofa, craning his head back to stare at the popcorn ceiling, a comfortable silence settling in around the two of them. That is, until he felt the itch in his nose resurface and he brought his head back forward, angling himself away from Wendy, sneezing into his elbow, “Hih-chushh! Hih…ish’iew! Hih...Snf.” He paused, lips trembling, waving his hand in front of his face, annoyed. “HihISH’ieww...!” The force of the last one bent him over at the waist with its force and he spilled a couple of drops of whiskey onto the floor from the jerky movement. He stayed bent over for a couple of seconds before righting himself. He fished out a kleenex from his pocket, wiping at his dripping nose.

“Bless you,” said Wendy, her voice tinged with sympathy.

Patrick blushed, crumpling up the used kleenex. “God, I bet you’re tired of saying that.”

“No, not at all.” Wendy gave him a half smile. “At least, I bet you’re more tired of sneezing.”

“You have no fucking idea,” Patrick breathed out a laugh. They sat there for a while, talking about work, what they hoped their schedules would be like, the most interesting place so far they had flown to, then delving into cringey things they did in their childhoods, like how Wendy stayed saved a year’s worth of allowance to see her favorite teenage pop idol, or Patrick’s somewhat regrettable coin collection.

“I was quite the catch in high school, as you can probably imagine,” Patrick grinned.

“Oh, I would place a hefty bet on it.” Wendy laid her head on her arms, her knees brought up to her face. There was a small run in her tights running up her thigh, her skin a stark contrast to the dark nylon.

Patrick laughed. Then his face fell. “Ah, shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re going to get my stupid cold.” He sniffled, tugged at the cuffs of his sleeves. He shuffled farther from her on the couch, as if that would do anything at this point.

Wendy smiled. “I think I’m well past the stage where I could avoid being contaminated. I’ll either get it or I won’t.”

Patrick sighed, staring at his glass on the shabby coffee table, emptied of whiskey. It certainly wasn’t crystal. He couldn’t afford fancy glasses. In fact, the whiskey had set him back, as it was higher quality liquor. He had been saving it for a special occasion. Based on his previous conversations with Wendy about their ridiculous cost of living in New York City and the wages they were paid, Patrick knew it was hard for either of them to miss much work.

“Sorry, Wen.” Then he startled when he felt a hand jab at his arm. “Um, ow.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Wendy still had her head on her arms and she was biting her lip, trying not to smile, but her dimples gave her away.

“I’ll have you know I’m stupid on a 24/7 basis.”

Wendy snorted, her hair falling into her face. Patrick resisted the urge, just barely, to sweep it away.

“Hey, uh…” Patrick trailed off, swallowed. Wendy had flicked her eyes toward him, her expression warm but questioning. His heart skipped, and he pushed his hair out of his face; his hands were shaking, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the sickness, alcohol, or something else. “Thanks. You could have spent your time off work doing something… anything but this.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” Wendy said somewhat quickly; then, as if realizing what she had just said, seemed to pinken and she turned her gaze to the coffee table in front of them. Then, in a lower voice, “You’re, ah. You’re still cute like this, anyway.”

Patrick blinked, sniffed, rubbed at his nose. “I’m… wait, what?” He couldn’t have heard that right. His brain was tired. He was so fucking tired. His heart started beating a little faster anyway, and he felt his face warm, at the possibility that… well, there was no need to get ahead of himself.

“You know what! It’s late.” Wendy stood up, pulling her hair back into a ponytail, grasping for her purse. “Still a school night, remember?” Then she met his eyes, and there was something in her face Patrick couldn’t read. “And you really have to rest.”

“Yeah! Yeah… uh, of course.” Patrick stood up then, stumbling a little at the sudden change in orientation. Moving his head also seemed to reactivate the fucking faucet in his nose and he hurriedly scrubbed at it with a kleenex. He followed Wendy slowly to the door, dragging his feet a bit, his body feeling as heavy as lead.

“Hopefully the last stage of this won’t be you completely losing your voice.” Wendy stepped outside, zipping up her jacket against the cold.

“I guess then I’d have an actual excuse to miss work,” Patrick said, leaning against the door frame.

“Go to bed, Patrick,” Wendy called over her shoulder, grinning, as she headed back to her car. The night air was crisp and harsh against his face, the chill seeping in through his attendant uniform, but he watched her go anyway. He still certainly felt sick, his head full of cold, head foggy, nose dripping, but somehow he didn’t feel so completely terrible anymore.

[ID2006]

Awww, I really enjoyed this part

[gingerbreads]

2 hours ago, ickydog2006 said:

Awww, I really enjoyed this part

thank you!!

[Victoria]

Really loved this follow-up.

On 11/16/2020 at 3:45 PM, gingerbreads said:

I actually want to write more of these two and sort of establish backstories. And definitely a follow up to this in particular.

That would be great!

[aggedy_ann]

I love this ending.   💕💕💕💕💕

[Ti🌸]

I just binged the whole thing. Thank you so much for sharing this lovely story with us! It’s really rare for me to find things I enjoy so much lately. Definitely looking forward to anything else you decide to write!

[gingerbreads]

On 11/20/2020 at 1:51 PM, aggedy_ann said:

I love this ending.   💕💕💕💕💕

thank you!!! I'm so glad you liked it, it took me a little while to get the energy to write the end omg.

6 hours ago, Ti🌸 said:

I just binged the whole thing. Thank you so much for sharing this lovely story with us! It’s really rare for me to find things I enjoy so much lately. Definitely looking forward to anything else you decide to write!

omg that makes my day 🥺 you're welcome, thank you for enjoying it!! I hope to write more soon!