Histamine Rising

[aggedy_ann]

It was a harsh sneeze that woke Ethan from his nap.   Waking up sneezing in itself wasn’t all that unusual, but the intensity of the sneeze was surprising, as was the fact that he needed to find tissues instead of just roll over and go back to sleep.  Sitting up, he grabbed for a tissue and blew his nose once, twice, three times.  Chucking the tissue in the trash, he realized that not only was his nose stuffed up and running, he could feel the pressure of deep congestion in his sinuses.   

 

Musing on this he sat on the bed, blowing his nose again, trying desperately to clear it.  This couldn’t be a cold - he’d felt fine when he’d laid down.   He’d never had a cold set on like this before.  Besides, his right ear didn’t ache.   He absently rubbed at his eyes, clearing his throat.  Realization dawned on him as he pulled his fists away from his eyes; they felt as though they were filled with finely ground grains of sand.  This was an allergic reaction.  But, to what?

 

He hadn’t had allergies when he’d laid down.  Pollen was low, he hadn’t needed an allergy pill in days.  They kept the apartment relatively free from dust.  They didn’t own a dog.   But still, histamine was coursing through his system.  He reached up to rub at his eyes again, and then it became clear.  He heard a small bark coming from the living room.

 

Red flashed before his burning, watery eyes.  Tim had brought a dog into the apartment despite the reaction Ethan had had last time. 

 

After firmly blowing his nose, he stalked out to the living room. Ava, Sam, Tim’s coworker’s, spaniel ran over to him.

 

“No.  Go away.”  Ethan pushed the dog down as she pawed at his legs.  “Go away.”  He gave her a nudge to the side.

 

“Hey.”  Tim looked up, looking nervous.  

 

Ethan’s response was another powerful, jolting sneeze.   

 

“Bless you.”  Tim snagged the tissue box off the coffee table, handing it to Ethan.   

 

After a few useless blows; the congestion wasn’t going anywhere; he gave Tim an expectant look.  “Why?” He paused, clearing his throat, “why is there a dog here?”

 

“There was a fire at Sam’s building. She needed someone to take Ava.  Alex is out of town.  I’m the only one she knows whose building allows dogs.”

 

“So we’re stuck with a dog.”  Ethan snapped, but the effect of his anger was dulled by his congestion.  “For god knows how long.”

 

“E, chill.  It’s just for a couple hours.  Her mom’s coming to get her.   We’re just waiting for her to make the drive from San Diego.”  He looked at his watch.  “Maybe 2 more hours.”

 

Ethan scrubbed at his nose, trying to relieve the itching and burning.  “Don’t tell me to ‘chill!’ You couldn’t tell her no?”

 

“She was hysterical, Ethan.”  Tim was patient.  “To be honest, she handed me Ava, explained everything, and ran out the door.  I didn’t get a chance to tell her no, remind her you’re allergic…”

 

“You could have gone after her.”

 

“Tried.  She was already in the elevator.  By the time I ran down 8 flights of stairs, she would have been gone.”

 

Ethan pitched forward into his tissues again.   “So we’re stuck with her.”

 

Tim’s nod said everything.

 

“I tried to keep her in the kitchen, but she can get under the stools.  I’m trying to keep her off the furniture…”

 

Ethan said nothing, just turned and stormed the bathroom, resisting the urge to scratch at his face.  He dumped a zyrtec into his hand and swallowed it dry.   He shut the bedroom door firmly, sinking down on the bed.   

 

He’d seen his face in the bathroom.  His eyes were bloodshot, giving him the appearance of one who hadn’t slept in weeks, already beginning to get puffy.   ‘How long had that dog been here?’ He wondered, rubbing his nose up in the classic “allergic salute.”  He rubbed fiercely at his eyes, then pulled his hands down.  Itch-scratch cycle, he reminded himself.  Itching would only serve to increase the inflammation and irritation leading to more itching, one of his takeaways from nursing school as it finally explained why rubbing his eyes during allergy season never helped.  

 

He swiped roughly at his nose with his tissues and flopped back on the bed.  30 minutes and the Zyrtec would start fighting the waves of histamine coursing through him.   There was always Benadryl if this didn’t help.  He knew this was just an immune mediated response.  For some reason, unbeknownst to him, his body just saw dogs as an enemy.  IgE in his body remembered it didn’t like dogs, attached itself to mast cells and on each exposure, released the stream of histamine that was running through him now.   

 

But god, did he hate it.   It was a dog.  Everyone was supposed to love dogs, and he just couldn’t.  Not with the agony they caused him.   And despite the fact he knew he had no control over his reaction, he hated.  It make him feel weak.   And after Matt, it made him feel burdensome.

 

He pulled his shirt collar over his nose to cover another wrenching sneeze, tissues having been abandoned on the bed.   

 

Hot tears filled his burning eyes as emotions bubbled up to the surface.   He was angry, yes.   Red hot anger at Tim for placing him in this situation.   Why hadn’t Tim woken him when Sam brought the dog?  Suggested he bug out for a couple hours?  Whereas Ethan couldn’t control his response to the dog, Tim could have mitigated it.

 

That hurt.  It had been a few years, but he still remembered walking in the door to Matt’s apartment to find Matt with the German shepherd on his lap.   Was this a sign from Tim that he didn’t care?  That Ethan didn’t matter as much as his older friends?  Just as Ethan had given up his lease and moved in?   Was Tim going to turn out like Matt?

 

His logical brain tried to take over, to tell him he was being ridiculous, but his dinosaur brain had full control.  He grabbed his useless, crumbled wad of tissues off the bed and sneezed into it, propelling himself forward.    “Unghhh” he groaned.  He didn’t think he could take 30 minutes of this, let alone two hours.

 

He properly lay down on the bed,  next to his tissues.  He’d moved beyond the eyes itching stage, although he was at the point where he’d love to pop them out, rinse them in water and put them back in.   His ears itched, his throat itched, the roof of his mouth itched, fuck, he just plain itched.

 

He was dying for a glass of water to try to calm his throat, but he didn’t dare go back out into dog central.  Instead, he coughed and cleared his throat, tried vainly not to rub his tongue against the roof of his mouth and closed his eyes, trying not to think of Matt, of the current situation, but the intensity of his increasingly frequent sneezes made it hard.

 

Tim sat in the living room, playing with Ava, hearing Ethan sneeze every few minutes.  A twinge of guilt went through him with each one.  Maybe he should have tried harder with Sam, but in her state, he didn’t think that would have been possible. He should have tried to chase her down, maybe he’d have caught her as she was unlocking her car.  He looked at his watch.  Maybe Sam’s mom would be here sooner rather than later.   He wanted to check in on Ethan, but Ethan’s body language indicated he wanted to be alone plus there was the issue that Ava would follow and likely hop right up on the bed.    

 

Another sneeze, louder than the rest.  Tim looked up as Ava darted towards the hallway.  “Go Away.”  Ethan growled in a low, stuffy voice, stepping away from her.

 

“Ava, come.” Tim called, holding up her ball.   Ava glanced at the ball as Tim threw it, then darted after it.

 

 “Damn, you ok?”  He asked.

 

“Can you bring me a glass of water? I don’t want…” he indicated Ava.

 

Tim nodded, sliding his lanky frame off the couch.  “I’ll be right there.

 

Ethan ducked in the bathroom.  It had been over 30 minutes and the Zyrtec had done little to quell his reaction.  He was still sneezing, and looking in the mirror…his eyes were no longer bloodshot, they were flat out red.   Sighing, he picked up another bottle and shook two pink pills into his hands.  Benadryl time.  Going double duty on the antihistamines would definitely help, but he’d be zombie the rest of the day.  Which, depending how long it might take Sam’s mom to get here, might not be a bad thing.  

 

Tim met him in the bathroom door, guilt-ridden, apologetic expression on his face, with a glance off water and a granola bar.  Ethan ignored the look, just took the water and swallowed the pills, then took the needed snack he had forgotten about before retreating back into the bedroom.

 

Flopping back on the bed, he nearly landed on Cashew.  Brushing his hair from his eyes, he rubbed a hand across the cat’s back before moving him to the other side of the bed.   “Guess you’re not a fan of Ava either.” He muttered congestedly, sniffling harshly.   A loud sneeze shook him, followed by a groan.   It would take at least another 15 minutes before the Benadryl began to start working on the flood of histamine and leukotrienes flooding from his mast cells, and, truthfully, that was just too long to wait.   

 

He didn’t know why this allergy kicked his ass, or when it had grown to do so.   Growing up, it had been a mild allergy – he could be in a house with dogs for a few hours before the full on attack started – with medication of course – but now…

 

Granted his last two exposures, courtesy of his boyfriend and Ava, he’d been unmedicated, but he’d reacted quickly, and horribly.   Even that night with Matt, it hadn’t been this bad.  Maybe something to bring up to the allergist, he mused.   

 

“Hatchoo!” His head snapped forward again.  This time he blew his nose, positively dripping at this point.    The runny nose – his least favorite symptom.  He could cope with the sneezing; it’s not like he wasn’t used to sneezing all the time anyway – what did more matter?  The congestion, even though sometimes the sound of his voice made him cringe, it was tolerable.   He could even stand the itching.   But the runny, drippy nose drove him insane.   

 

Tim listened from the living room, waiting, hoping, for Ethan’s sneezing to slow down into Benadryl induced slumber as the medication slowed, then blocked the release of histamine.   Guilt gripped his stomach.  Ethan had every right to be mad.  The least he should have done was wake Ethan from his Saturday nap, tell him to bail from the apartment for the afternoon.   He wouldn’t have liked it, but he would have liked it more than this.    

 

The look on Ethan’s face when he saw the dog had been filled with so many emotions.  Shock.  Anger…had he looked hurt?

 

It cam crashing in to Tim.  Matt.  That son of a bitch ex.  Ethan had given up his lease, moved in with Tim, and come home to a dog.  No wonder he was upset.  It was Matt.  He seemed like Matt.   Tim had some making up to do.

 

Ethan curled in with a desperate sneeze.  He blew his nose and looked at his watch.  5 minutes since the last one.  At least they were slowing.   He yawned.  And starting to get sleepy.  He favorite – sometimes, and least favorite – often, side effect from the Benadryl.   Wrapping the blanket over him, not wanting to get up to properly crawl under them, he snuggled against the tissue box, holding as if it were a security blanket.

 

Tim relaxed as the sneezes slowed and stopped.  Relaxing further an hour further when Sam’s mom knocked at the door and took Ava.   After a few minutes of small talk, he all but chased her out the door.  “Ava has to go now.” He explained.  “My boyfriend’s allergic.  He’s been miserable.  He’s finally got meds to kick in enough to sleep.”  

 

She had apologized and taken Ava straight away.

 

Tim turned to the task of checking on Ethan and cleaning the apartment.   His first duty, he decided was making sure Ethan was ok.  Following a knock on the door, he slipped in the bedroom and shook Ethan awake.   

 

“Atshoo!”

 

Ethan awoke with a sudden sneeze, barely able to duck his head down, and Tim had to jump to the side to avoid being hit with the spray.

 

“Bless you.”

 

Ethan tried to focus in on Tim, then reached for his glasses.  He zeroed in on the dog hair on Tim’s shirt.  “Get away.”  He sniffled.

 

Tim looked at him.

 

“Go stand in the doorway until you’ve changed.”  Ethan felt histamine surge through him again.   “You have hair all over you.”

 

Tim’s eyes widened with that revelation, and he stepped back to the doorway.

 

“Checking on you. How are you feeling?”

 

“Been better.  Been worse.  I’ll be out most of the day now.”

 

Tim nodded.  “I owe you.”

 

Ethan nodded.  “You think.”

 

“I’ll make you anything you want for dinner.”

 

“Considering I’m limited in how much I can eat, and desserts are off the table, that’s not much of a make up…”

 

“Any thing you want in here.”

 

“What if I want to do it with with someone else right now?”  Ethan turned to his side and buried a quick sneeze in Tim’s pillow.

 

Tim made a face.  “I’m, uh, gonna go vacuum.  You gonna be ok?”

 

“Now that the dog’s gone.”  Ethan nodded, rubbing carefully just below his eyes.   

 

He flopped back down on the pillows with another forceful sneeze.  

 

“Bless you.”

 

Ethan forced a smile.  “Thanks.”

 

He heard crashing as Tim pulled the vacuum out of the closet and stepped out to check on Tim.  Tim was replacing various items stored in their linen closet.   “I’m ok,” Tim assured him.   “When we get our apartment, it needs more storage space.”  He commented.

 

Ethan nodded, wiping his nose with the cuff of his sleeve.  Gross, he knew but tissues had been forgotten when he heard the crash.  Reassured Tim was ok, he retreated back to the bedroom.   

 

The whirr of the vacuum lulled him back to dozing, and he didn’t even hear the shower running.   The next he knew, Tim was back in the bedroom, towel clad, rummaging through the closet. 

 

Ethan sat up, only to bury a sneeze in his lap as Tim pulled a t-shirt out of his closet, setting it with his jeans at the edge of the bed.  

 

“Sorry I woke you.”

 

“‘S ok.”  Ethan mumbled, reaching for the tissues.

 

Tim moved to the edge of the bed, picking up his boxers.

 

“Sponge Bob? Seriously?”

 

“My nieces gave them to me!” Came Tim’s protest as he slipped them on, showing them off.  “I have to wear them.”  He made sure to give Ethan a view of his calves before he slipped his jeans on, then slipped his t-shirt over his head.    “I gotta fix my hair.”

 

Ethan nodded, blowing his nose.   Tim was back in the bedroom minutes later, and Ethan had to admit…the second offer was sounding tempting…if he weren’t knocked out on Benadryl.   Tim looked good fresh out of the shower; hell, Tim always looked good, even holding a puppy.  Which made the fact that Ethan looked like shit even worse.

 

“Seriously Ethan,”

 

“Hatshoo!”

 

“Is it at least slowing down?  You were going pretty good for awhile.”

 

Ethan nodded.  “Yeah.  Remove the source, the reaction will start to go away.  But you’re stuck with this for awhile.”

 

Tim nodded.  “I deserve it.  I just froze when Sam thrust Ava at me.  I should have woke you up…told you to go hang somewhere for awhile…Dustin’s or something.” 

 

Ethan nodded and his features froze, and he muffled the sneeze in Tim’s pillow again.

 

Tim wrinkled his nose.  “Dude.  Can you at least stop sneezing on my pillow?”

 

“I’ll consider it.”  Ethan sniffled.   

 

“You’ve been doing that all afternoon, haven’t you?”

 

Ethan shrugged.

 

“Anyway,” Tim sat on the foot of the bed.  “I remembered what you told me about you and Matt.  Then I felt even worse.”  Tim looked down.

 

Ethan nodded, secretly glad that thought had crossed Tim’s mind.   “Yeah.  I did, too. Especially, you know, with the timing.  Me just moving in and all.  Brought that all back.”

 

“I wondered.”  Tim looked at Ethan. “I know I can’t make you believe I would never do that to you, but I would never do that to you.  Your ex was an ass, Ethan.   Ok, I’m not going anywhere.”  He paused as Ethan sneezed again, of course, on his pillow.  “Dude…”

 

Ethan sighed.  “Sorry.”

 

“So, how do I make this up to you?”

 

Ethan grinned.  “Sleep on your pillow.”

 

Tim groaned, but lay down next to Ethan for a nap.   

 

 

[Freshair]

poor Ethan,  so sneezy and so vulnerable....just how I like it! 😍

[Kolen]

Eek! Is there a continuation of this? If so, I'd love to read it!😁