Making himself worse

[aggedy_ann]

“It’s almost like you’re trying to make yourself worse,” Tim fussed, watching Ethan sneeze while pulling his scrub top over his head.   “Bless you.” He sighed.

 

“I’m fine.”  Ethan tried to sound reassuring, but his congestion belied him. 

 

Tim sighed.  “You’re not getting better. You’ve been sick all week.”

 

“It’s just a cold.”

 

“That kept you up all night.”

 

Ethan couldn’t argue that point.  His cough had certainly been persistent, and when it had given him a break, he’d woken himself up sneezing.

 

“I’ve got to go to work.” He explained, patiently.  “Full schedule that would have to be rebooked.  Diabetes class to teach today, too.”  He cleared his throat against the hoarseness.

 

Tim sighed.  “Don’t forget to take your voice.” He called after Ethan as he left the room, pretending not to notice as he flipped him off.

 

Tim pulled the blankets over his head and tried to go back to sleep; it was 5:30 am after all, and he’d been out late celebrating the show getting picked up for another 13 weeks.  He could hear Ethan sneezing his way around the bathroom and then the kitchen and wondered how many sneezes were due to Ethan’s typical morning sneezes and how many were from his cold.   

 

He heard the front door close without Ethan popping back in to kiss him goodbye.  Momentarily sulky beneath the blankets, he rolled over, covers over his head and went back to sleep.   If Ethan wanted to be a stubborn ass, so be it; he was the one who’d suffer the consequences.  

 

 

“Hatshoo!”  Ethan walked into the staff office and swapped his hoodie for his scrub jacket, immediately burying a sneeze in its sleeve. 

 

“Thought you would have called in today.”  Toby said in lieu of bless you.

 

Ethan grabbed a tissue off his desk.  “I’mb finde.”  He sniffled.

 

“Fine is spelled with an ‘n’.”

 

This was met with a glare from Ethan over his tissue as he blew his nose.  “I’m fiNe.”  

 

“You’re here?”  Lisa walked in and dropped her purse on the chair next to him.  Ethan pretended not to notice as she handed over cash to Toby who whispered “told you.”

 

“It’s just a cold.” Ethan rasped, sitting down at his workstation.   

 

“God, your voice is shot.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Yeah, how am I supposed to teach with the voiceless sneeze machine?”

 

“Shut up, Toby.  I’m not that bad.”  Ethan glanced up at the white board with the room assignments.  “I’m in 10?  I thought I was in 7.”

 

“We moved you in the corner.  That way only Neely has to listen to you sneeze all day.”

 

“Lucky me.”  Neely commented, walking in and sitting down in front of her computer.   

 

“Sorry.”  Ethan apologized.  Neely had been working with him all week, and had been more patient than the others in putting up with his coughing and sneezes.

 

She shrugged.  “After 3 years of your hay fever, I’m used to it.” 

 

Ethan shot her a grateful look.  At least she wasn’t betting on if he’d call in.  

 

“How are you feeling?”  She asked.

 

He shrugged.  “It’s a cold.  I’m ok.  I’ll rest up this weekend.” He assured her as Tiffany walked in.

 

“You’re seriously here?  You can’t even talk.” She stepped over to Toby and slipped him some cash.

 

Ethan muffled another loud sneeze in his jacket collar.  “Ahshoo!  It’s just-“

 

“A cold.  We know.”  Toby finished for him.  “I’ll see you at 2.”

 

Ethan grabbed his tissues and the box of masks he’d been using.   “Anyone else got any comments?” He snipped.  “If not, I’m going to get to work.” 

 

 

2:15 diabetes ed.   Ethan could all but breathe a sigh of relief.  Well, if his clogged sinuses would let him.   He blew his nose again, attempting to clear out the congestion, dumped hand sanitizer on his hands, then took a long drink of water.    Taking a trip to the fountain, he set his water bottle under the automated water dispenser and filled it, then headed back to the room.

 

Toby hadn’t given him too much hell after the first class, so Ethan knew he had it coming after this one.   He sucked hard on his cough drop as Toby brought the half dozen participants in.

 

He pulled his mask down as Toby introduced himself as the dietitian, and when given an expectant look, spoke up for his introduction.  “I’m Ethan.”  His voice cracked, and he saw his teammate bite back a smile.  He cleared his throat.   “I’m Ethan.  I’m the diabetes educator.  As you can probably tell, I’ve got somewhat of a cold.”

 

A laugh, disguised as a cough from Toby.

 

He turned to glance at Toby.  “Hope I haven’t given it to you.”  He managed a syrupy tone despite his hoarse voice.

 

“Never better.”  Toby came back in the same tone.   “Would you like to get started?”

 

“Hah-Ahchoo!” Ethan hesitated, turned around and sneezed powerfully, tucking his masked face into his elbow.  Sniffling, he straightened up, sanitizing his hands again.

 

“Bless.  Now that that’s out of the way?”    

 

Ethan provided a quick overview of diabetes, the differences between type I and type II and that this course would focus on type II.  He switched to medications, being interrupted by a second, equally powerful sneeze, this time blessed by the entire class.   “Ahtshoo!  Excuse me.”  He managed, blushing.   “I’ve got to change my mask.”

 

Toby jumped in.  “Let’s take 5.  Ethan’s portion gets a little dense.  He’s almost done though.”  Ethan shot him a relieved glance and ducked off to the empty staff office.   He managed to clear his nose slightly, clearing his ghost of a voice and slipped a new mask on.

 

He finished his spiel on medications and switched over to assisting Toby with creating carb counting plates for 45 minutes, only interrupting Toby once with a poorly timed sneeze.

 

Toby transitioned back to him for the second hands on portion of the class.   Checking blood sugars.   Ethan grabbed the kit work had assigned him and began to demonstrate, narrating as he set up the machine, wiped his finger down, poked it, and placed the blood on the strip.   “138.” He read, when the meter beeped.

 

Toby frowned.  “High for you.” He whispered.

 

“Sick.” Ethan whispered back.  “This cold is kicking my ass.”  As if to prove his point, he buried another harsh sneeze in his forearm.

 

“Bless.”  Toby frowned again, then began handing out meters.

 

He provided back up as Ethan made his way around the table, making sure each student was able to check their blood sugar, noticing for the first time how pale Ethan was.  How pronounced the dark circles were beneath his eyes.   A twinge of guilt briefly passed through him for betting on Ethan showing up, and, like Ethan, he couldn’t be more ready for 4:30.

 

 

It was pouring rain when Ethan left the clinic.  He walked the two blocks to his car, wishing he’d brought his jacket instead of his hoodie – he was soaked.   “HahShoo!”  He sneezed freely, aiming it towards the ground, as he unlocked his car.   It was a slow drive home…the rain and an accident on the freeway slowed traffic, doubling his commute time.   Ethan, drenched, shivered and sneezed the entire drive home.

 

At the apartment, Tim was beginning to fret.   Ethan was typically home by now.    He reached for his phone to try calling, when he heard the door open, followed by a loud “Ahshoo!” announcing Ethan’s presence.  

 

He looked over to see Ethan, wiping his nose on a wad of rain drenched tissues.   Ethan was soaked from head to toe.   Tim grabbed the box of tissues, handed it to Ethan, taking the useless wad of tissues from his hand.

 

Ethan took fresh tissues and blew his nose.   He looked up at Tim, shivering.

 

“You’re drenched.”  Tim stated the obvious.

 

“It’s pouring rain.”  As did Ethan.

 

“Go get out of those wet things.  Take a hot shower before you make your cold worse.  I’ll have soup ready when you’re done.”

 

Ethan nodded, swiping at his nose with the tissue.  His sinuses were still blocked, but the chill had caused it to start dripping.  He grabbed clean joggers and a sweatshirt, then slipped into the shower.

 

Tim began heating the chicken soup he had made earlier.  He could hear Ethan sneeze from the shower and winced.  He definitely sounded worse than when he’d left this morning.

 

20 minutes later, Ethan was out of the shower and in dry clothes, making his way to the kitchen.   Tim set a bowl of soup before him.   “This should finish warming you up.”

 

Ethan ate the soup, beginning to look drowsy.   

 

“You’re worn out.”  Tim commented gently.

 

Ethan clapped his napkin to his nose.  “Hatshoo!  Yeah.”  He slowly admitted, shivering.

 

“And still chilled.  I know it’s just after 7…but…”

 

“Laying down sounds nice.”

 

“We can watch a movie in bed.   Maybe take the NyQuil early…I’ll wake you for your snack.”   

 

Ethan nodded, coughing as Tim placed his bowl in the sink.   “Go.   I’ll be right there.”

 

Ethan was under the covers when Tim came in carrying an extra blanket and the thermometer.   He dropped the blanket over Ethan and scanned the thermometer across his forehead.  “99.6.”  He sighed.  “I told you you’d make your cold worse.   If you leave this bed this weekend, it’s for the couch.”

 

“Ahshoo!”  Ethan smothered another harsh sneeze into a tissue.

 

“Bless you.  You want to watch your favorite?”

 

Ethan shrugged, yawning.  Tim found “Jurassic Park” in their video library and put it on, laying next to Ethan, relaxing as Ethan’s sneezing grew sleepier and less frequent until it was replaced by congested snores. 

[Wow Really?]

Yayyyyy! 

[MyOwnPrivateSFC]

Aw!!! 😍😍😍

[Privatedancer]

I hope Ethan appreciates how wonderful Tim is to him

[Victoria]

Mmm...love these two!! ❤️

[sneezy24]

This is fantastic!