Three's Company

[Reader]

Today is the start of the writing challenge #FinishTheUnfinishedChallenge! It’s a writing event I created to motivate those of us who wanted to participate to start working again on stories or ideas that have been put aside. Our goal is to finish!

This story I’ve been working on is a polyamorous M/F/M story featuring a plane ride and a vacation with a little hurt/heavy comfort, congested talk/writing, vague mess, and eventual contagion! Without further ado... Chapter 1!

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“huhncxkChu!.......HhNxk-SHUU!”

I glanced up, a bit startled out of my audiobook as my heart skipped a beat. The sounds of wheeled suitcases, low chatter, and hurried footsteps grew louder as my awareness returned to my surroundings. I wasn’t the only one that had reflexively turned toward the sound, and the guy we were all staring at flushed red and looked down, mumbling a quiet but very congested, “Pardod,” behind his sleeve-covered hand rubbing his nose.

Oh, geez, we had embarrassed him. Before I could look away, he let out a vocal gasping hitch. 

Hehhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Warmth enveloped me and I sucked in a breath. He brought his sleeve up and ducked down.

HahhhHNnxkgzgSTChIU!

Blend in. Look bored. Look away. 

“Bless you.” I squeaked out before I could lose my nerve. When he looked up, I could tell he was unwell. He had that hazy, bleary look as he tried to focus on me. Movement next to him made me turn away from the stunner tiredly rubbing his eyes to the man now standing next to him huffing out...

“They are going to cancel the shoot. I just know it. Do you know how important this is? How much money will be wasted? Not to mention my reputation.” 

The model’s only answer was tightly-restrained sneezes that caused his face to scrunch up in pain.

HnNnxX! hehnkghh! ......NxkgGhh! 

The man sneered at the bent form currently in the grip of a relentless sneezing fit. 

HHNnxkgGhhOO! HahSchIEEMphhUU!

“I expressly said to not get sick like you always do and what do you do? You get sick!”

At the pronouncement of a cold, those in the surrounding area noisily shifted away from the sick guy. His neck bloomed a deep red, shoulders tense and hunched, as he stared at the floor. My nails dug into my knees as I tried to keep myself in my seat. There was a chance I could make the situation worse for the model if I said anything to the agent. To my relief, the jerk picked up his bag and turned away. He didn’t leave without a parting shot though. 

“You can’t be unreliable in this field. There’s plenty more models out there that look just like you without all your problems.”

The model’s head jerked up and tears filled his eyes, which he did his best to blink away. Sniffles came from his direction, but with his head now down and his nose full of cold, I didn’t know whether he’d lost the battle with his tears or was just trying to keep his nose in check. Sometimes he used the cuff of his hoodie to wipe his nose and other times he lifted his head in reprieve, but it always lowered again like it weighed a ton. Poor guy. His nose just wouldn’t leave him alone and he soon sneezed again. 

NnxkgzSTChMph!

“Bless you.” My voice was much stronger this time and laden with empathy. “I should have a pack of tissues in my purse if you need it.”

He looked up at me automatically with red-rimmed eyes that shimmered for a few seconds in appreciation before he swallowed thickly and took a breath. 

“Oh, yes, please. Tha’gk you very buch.”

I noticed a thick French accent in his gentle voice. He sniffed wetly before clearing his throat. The grainy sound matched the thready way he spoke.

As I rummaged around in my purse looking for the tissue pack, his sniffles got louder. I glanced up at his hesitant approach. Whoa, he was striking. Tall and slim with bouncing silky curls, smooth soft skin, and high cheekbones. His flushed cheeks gave a healthy hue to his rather pale skin and the tips of his nose was rose-red like he’d been outside in snow too long. I patted the seat next to me that I had originally saved for Monty. His eyes widened and he fidgeted with his hands nervously before flattening them out against his thighs. He took a deep crackly breath.

“Is really okay if I sit here while you fi’dd?”

I sizzled quietly as his accented, congested voice lit up my brain.

“Of course! Have a seat.” I bit my lip at the enthusiasm in my voice. I might as well shout my secret throughout the terminal. “I know it’s in here somewhere. I always put a pack in here so I can clean my sunglasses.” 

He sat down to my left quietly, perched on the very edge. His chest rose with the effort to inhale through his nose. The blocked airway produced a nasally squeak. My heart melted even though I knew I should be careful. Monty caught everything. I should give the sick guy the tissues quickly so he could be on his merry way. Or miserable way, I amended, as he attempted another sniff that just made him cough softly under his breath. Monty would help him out too though. Speaking of... where was he? Ten minutes ago, he’d removed one of my earphones for a second to let me know he was going to grab some food and snacks.

A choppy inhale cut through my musings. 

huHnxk'STChIU!

The germy wet sound turned more heads and the modelesque beauty shrank into himself like a turtle. His eyes were way too unfocused to be finished and his arm was still covering half his face. A beat later his eyes closed and he surrendered.

HuHNnxkSTChIU! HuHNnxkSTChIU!

I blew out a breath. He was way too close for my sanity. I liked to observe from afar, where I didn’t have to monitor my facial expressions. When I turned to bless him, he was looking at me apologetically and there was more space between us than before. It wasn’t until my shoulders started aching that I realized how stiff I was. Shoot! Relax. 

“Bless you twice.” I smiled at him and reached up to rest my hand on his shoulder for a reassuring squeeze before returning to my search for the elusive tissues. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him slowly relax. My internal cheering died down though when he stiffened again.

“Je ….v-vais heh! éternuer!” He whisper-warned as his rose-tipped nostrils widened. He didn’t try to stop the tear that slid out his closed eyes, instead wiping his nose roughly. A greater hitch resulted, tilting his head back further. My fingers landed on something plastic and soft. 

“Found it!” I crowed in victory as I pulled out three tissues and quickly gave them to him and set the pack in his lap.

Hihhhh-STchiuuuu! STCHIUUU!

“Aïe-aïe-aïe….” He mumbled tiredly.

“What’d you say?” 

“Oh, euh, I said aïe. It means in your language….ouch I think.”

“Oh no, what hurts?” I itched to touch his shoulder again.

“My—” He paused as he drew a blank on the English word. He pointed to his face in general, sniffed, and then winced. 

“Your nose hurts?” It was starting to look a little dry. 

He shook his head quickly. “I know that word so dot my dose. Deeper. Udder by face.”

“You have a headache?” He shook his head and bit his lip in concentration. He thought some more before he tapped his forehead and the areas beside his nose. It must have been too much stimulation because his nostrils flared in warning. 

“These hehh! p-positions ehh —” He paused to grab more tissues “— snrkkk have a l-large pressure.” He breathily finished before his head tilted back swiftly. Tissue-bound hands steepled around his nose before harsh sneezes shook his slim form. 

Hahngx-TShu! HMmphSxhh! …...HahhhHNnxkgzgSTChIU! 

“Bless you!” I shifted in my seat and tried not to think about how simple sneezes were absolutely wrecking this man.

He blushed heavily at his display and stuttered out his next words through the tissues draped around his nose and mouth. 

“I-I’b sorry. I try to bake the first quiet, but after I do, they get louder." 

“N-nothing to apologize about. And is the word you're thinking about sinuses?”

His eyes widened and he chuffed out a crackly laugh. “Oh, really! Siduses? We have sabe word! Les sinus.”

“Oh, wow, it sounds very similar.” I agreed as I felt my cheeks level up from warm to hot. I needed a subject change stat. 

He nodded as he pressed the tissues to his nose again and harshly sniffed. Barely any sound escaped in the makeshift vacuum he’d created, but I could tell his nose wasn’t in any danger of leaking afterwards. 

“My name bight be difficult for your tongue, but I wadt to give it to you. Grégoire Thibault.”

There were noises made in the back of his throat and soft rolled enunciations of letters that didn’t exist in the American alphabet. I didn’t want to butcher his name. “You have a beautiful name. My name is Phylonia Daniels, but my friends call me Nia.”

His lips started to turn up, but a shadow crossed his expression and he frowned for a second as his thumb circled his index finger.  After a dozen loops, he spread his hand on his knee. “We are friends, no? That is why you share the nabe your frie’dds call you?” He checked for confirmation, a bit of doubt in his eyes. I imagined it was tough making friends in a different country. Different protocols involved.

“Yes, we’re friends.” 

He grinned fully for the first time and I froze for a second, stunned. In that moment, I’d felt the strongest urge to never let that smile falter in any way. 

“My nickdabe is Gigi. Buch easier for you to say I thi'gk. And Dia, I have a questiod.” My goodness, my name was three letters, but he’d stretched it out like a melody in an attempt to get around his congestion. 

“Uh-huh?” Not the most coherent response I’ll admit.

“Euh, is it okay if I s-sit here? I dod’t wad’t my cold to catch you. I’ll be cautious. It’s just…euh...” A blush darkened his cheeks as he broke eye contact. “You’ve beed so kind and I-I just feel better arou’d you.” 

My heart was jelly.

"Yes, of course. I'd really like that. You know, one of the best things about vacation is meeting new friends. You’re not going to Hawaii for a vacation though, right?” 

He scooted back into his seat until he was slumped against the back of it. 

“For work, but I hope to also explore.” He sniffed and sniffed, blushed, and sniffed some more as quietly as he could. Each time he expelled a breath, the entrance to his nostrils would bead with congested moisture. After the tenth sniff, he finally grabbed some tissues but he just wiped his nose. 

“Gigi, um, you don’t want to bl- use the tissues.”

“I could not. The sound would not be pleasant. Everyone will stare.” 

“I think they’re already staring with your sniffling.” I gently countered. 

“What about you? You will find it gross.”

Debatable. “I’ll be happy you’re finally able to breathe.”

 A chime sounded from my phone.

Montgomery: Sorry, baby. I got sidetracked browsing the book section. Going to grab a couple sandwiches and stuff and head on back. 

Nia: Okay, honey. See you soon. Oh, I gave your seat away. Loveyoubye!

I smiled and then looked up at Gigi, but he was in his own world. His eyes were closed, nose wiggling back and forth as a current of desperate hitches quivered his parted mouth. He had two tissues at the ready.

HehhGhSchhh! HuHNnxkJUI!

He tightly pressed the tissues against his nose and mouth, ushering out a muffled HuHNmmxtppshoo! A mini explosion pushed through the top of the tissues and landed on the bridge of his nose. A blur shot up and disappeared, leaving an empty seat and a bag next to me.

 

Author's Note: Next chapter is Gigi's perspective starting from him leaving and you'll also get to meet Montgomery!

[SleepingPhlox]

Oh goodness, I'm so glad that this did not remain unfinished and that you posted it.  I love this.  Its such an interesting scenario and I love the characters you have created.  And the illness you describe is delicious.

[Chanel_no5]

Holy shit, this is so well-written you should change your name from Reader to Writer. 🤩 

It's not my fetishy preference, male and colds, but I really do appreciate some particularly good writing, and this is it. Wow.

[trumpeter25]

Oh my goodness, this is perfect! Can’t wait for more!!

[EveP]

This is great! More please. 😊

[aggedy_ann]

This is delightful.   I’m looking forward to the change in POV

[Reader]

Oh my goodness guys! Thank you so much for the votes of confidence! I really, truly appreciate your comments! I ate them up and put all of that fuel into this second chapter. I have the next part ready! A couple things. I'm going to have a house full of visitors for the next week and the fetish needs to disappear during that time. And then it'll take me a few days to get the third chapter ready. So this next chapter is around 3,000 words. I'm going to post it all, but I'll put a break line like this ~~~ in the story just in case you want to read 1500 words now and then 1500 words later in a few days. The first chapter was 2,000 words for reference. @trumpeter25 I'm super honored I was your first post. That's never happened before!

Grégoire 

My throat and eyes burned as I held back the tears. I rolled out a bundle of tissues from the bathroom stall and brought it up to my nose with shaky hands. Thick fat tears dropped onto my cheeks and my nose began to slowly empty on its own as I swallowed the sobs forming a lump in my throat. After another minute, finally, the last person left the bathroom. I blew my nose as quickly as I could. The next person could come in any second. I didn’t have time to fall apart. But blowing your nose while choking back tears made me not able to breathe, which made me anxious, and soon I was sobbing while trying to clean up my leaking — and sensitive — nose.

HehhGhSchhhUUU! HehhGhSchhhUUU! 

I bent forward with the sneezes like a sprinkler going off. Frustration built and my anxiety grew, causing more tears to spill on an already very messy canvas. Nia had told me to go ahead and blow, but I hadn’t listened. I yanked more tissues out of the dispenser and clenched them to stop my hands from shaking before blowing my nose. Not good. I needed to calm down, slow my breathing, and find solutions to my anxiety before they grew too big for me to handle. My agent, this cold, Nia, the modeling shoot...

Daniel Beckin had been so upset when he saw me this morning. I usually bought him something for dealing with, in his words, “my most challenging client,” but what would he want from a little airport shop? Magazines maybe. My breathing picked up and I scrambled for more tissues as the tickle in my nose cranked my face until I was a gasping, chest-ballooning, open-mouthed germ dispenser. 

Hihhhh-STCHIUUU! Heh!uhhSTCHIUUU! 

Drained and achy, I blinked out the last of the tears and washed my face with cold water. No amount of the cold liquid made my face any less puffy or my eyes any less red. My curls looked flat and my nose was noticeable for all the wrong reasons. Taking deep breaths to stop another flood of tears, I washed my hands carefully and went back into the stall to stuff my pocket with toilet paper. 

With a plan in place and a shopping list in my head (magazines, sunglasses, and some medicine to minimize my symptoms so Dan wouldn’t be too annoyed) I searched for a nearby shop. It was easy to find the medicine section in the tiny store and I added a few things to the pile in my arms before getting in line. I tapped my foot, trying to ignore the tickle in my nose that was a constant companion in the slow-moving line. Why hadn’t I grabbed a basket? I sniffed and leaned my head down to rub my nose against my shoulder. Come on. Come on. Come on. I shuffled my items to one arm, but didn’t trust them not to topple to the ground if I lifted my hand up to scratch my nose. 

Heh heh! 

I was going to sneeze! 

“Hey man.” I jumped at the deep voice and nearly dropped my items anyway. When I swung around, my nostrils twice their normal size and my lip curled up over my teeth, my eyes valiantly tried to pry themselves open.

“Oh, let me get this stuff so you have your hands.” He leaned in and cupped his arm under the items. 

“Ah, non, heh! I m-mean, no.” He was too close. “I will ...heh! excusez-moi!” I turned my face into my shoulder. HehhGhSchhh! HihhGhSchhh! 

“Bless you.” He scooped up the items in one go, and I brought my hands up quickly, praying it wasn’t messy this time. 

HihhGhKk-SchhhOO! HehhGhSchhhUUU! 

No such luck. Cheeks on fire, I kept one hand around my nose as I pulled the toilet paper out my pocket. The long strip of rolled toilet paper fell to the floor in a clump like a dozen cables wrapped around each other. My heart stopped beating for a full second and my stomach tried to climb up my body as I painstakingly slowly started to circle my wrist to wrap my hand around the toilet paper, mindful of the stares. 

“Here, I’ll ….” My rescuer held tight to the items he carried in one arm and used his free hand to lift the tissue from the middle stretch of it up to my fingers.  “Hold this.” He instructed before he tore the tissue. He stood to his full impressive height and shifted slightly until I was dead center with his chest. I noticed with relief I was hidden from view. 

“Go ahead and take care of that.” He gently prodded. 

I lowered my head and quickly brought the tissues to my nose, wiping roughly and quickly.

“Go ahead and blow too.” His voice was so low I knew only I could hear him, but my whole body still flushed with embarrassment. He was watching me. 

“I caddot.”

“Why not?” 

A well of frustration bubbled within me as I stared at the floor. "Because I...I'b in public."

"Pu-bleek? Oh, wait, I understand."

His hand moved to my back and he ushered me to the back of the store.

“Everyone has blown their nose before. Try to keep that in mind.” He turned around to give me privacy as he continued to hold my stuff. Tissues pressed around my nose, I eyed the width and span of him. He had muscles galore, some connecting his neck to his shoulders, some carved down his arms, and no doubt he had the muscles necessary for a letter V on his lower abdomen. I gave a tentative blow but quickly stopped at the spurting sound. I glanced up. His muscles were relaxed and he hadn’t moved away. 

“Good. Keep going.”

I jumped as his voice came out, warm and guiding. Sparks popped in my chest. It reminded me of the feeling I got when Nia blessed me. I blew a little bit harder, hating the sound but liking the approving nods from the guy. I blew my nose until I was red in the face, both from embarrassment and the effort to clear out blocking congestion. 

“Proud of you, man. And I bet you feel much better.”

I knew he was turning around from his feet pivoting toward me. His voice was warm and deep, calming. I found myself leaning forward, softening, happy, even though I shouldn’t be. Merde! Colds made me so mushy. Was I so starved for affection I was getting it from strangers like Nia and this guy? 

“Bless you.”

I cleared my throat, hoping my voice wouldn’t give out when it was time for me to speak, and looked him in the eye. I blinked stupidly. Why was everyone I was meeting today insanely attractive while I looked like this? He had the same dark brown hue as Nia, but the similarities stopped there. Whereas she had her hair hanging down her back in curls, his hair was just enough to keep his head and jaw warm, maybe an inch grown out. She was slim and average height with no visible add-ons. He had a tiny silver nose ring on his right nostril and a purple piercing just above and just below the tail end of his eyebrow. His right ear was studded out and vibrant tattoos peeked out from under his shirt.

“Merci beaucoup.”

I wasn’t contributing much to the conversation, but it must have been enough because he continued talking. 

“I saw you had a cold. That’s why I initially came over here.”

He held up an item from my stuff that he was still carrying.

“Just wanted to make sure you knew you grabbed allergy medication.” He put it back in his arm and grabbed another item. “Now, this medication is cold medicine, but it’s for night time. If you take that now, you’ll be a zombie.  They should have the daytime version here. I didn’t get a good look at everything you got, but if you need some help, I have a little bit of time.”

I wasn’t familiar with the brands so I’d just focused on the pictures that aligned with my symptoms. 

“I’m an idiot.” I stressed the sounds in the word idiot.

“Hey, I don’t want to hear that. You’re not an idiot. You know at least two languages. Pick any word and I bet you I don’t know how to say it in French.”

I watched his back as he started walking away. It took me a moment to realize he was headed back to the medication section. Giving my hair a quick brush through, I followed behind him. He looked at me expectantly between putting the items back. 

“Euh…” I paused to think. “Green.” 

He smiled wide enough for his dimples to come out, and I felt oddly proud for drawing it out of him.

“Not a clue. Am I an idiot for not knowing the French word for green? Are you an idiot for not knowing every American product?” He queried. 

The game was silly but the American’s point was made and surprisingly, I felt a little better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1500-word mark~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well not better in the sense of my health. I still felt fuzzy and my head hurt and my throat was sore and everything was still up in the air and….and ….my train of thought vanished as a tickle bloomed in my nose. My brain powered up with an urgent message. DON’T SNEEZE ON HIM! 

As nauseating adrenaline and anxiety pumped through my veins, I stumbled back into the shelf, which was dumb because products clattered to the floor and I heard someone across the store curse. The guy stepped closer to check on me. And that made me want to step closer because no one was stepping closer to me, besides Nia. But I definitely ruined it with Nia. What if I ruined the shoot too? Fear gripped me and my chest started feeling tight. 

“Are you okay?”

I was clammy and my legs felt weak and I had to sneeze and he was too close and my hitches were starting to sound like pants as less oxygen got to my lungs….I stalled for a moment as I realized I was having a panic attack. Warn your surroundings, deep breaths, and something else I couldn’t remember. 

“Crise …..de panique.” 

“Crees de Pa-neek? Panic? You’re panicking? You’re having a panic attack?”

More products littered the floor as he set down the items he'd been carrying for me. I could feel my heartbeat in my veins as much as I could feel his hands on my shoulder. This was different than usual. Was I dying? Why had I told him it was a panic attack? This was a heart attack. 

“Crise cardiaque!” I whimpered as I felt my fingers and toes go numb.

“Let’s get to the ground. I’ve got you. Cardiac? Your heart? It’s beating strong, man. I’ve got my fingers on your pulse. You’re good. This will pass. I promise.”

Why could I understand him, but he couldn’t understand me? I was a trembling, shaking mess with my forehead pressed against his chest as we sat on the ground for what seemed like forever. My blunt nails were dug into his shirt and I was holding on for dear life. 

"Deep breaths. Try to follow my breathing."

 “Je meurs!” I tried again weakly as my vision became spotty. Someone should know I was dying. 

“I’m sorry. I wish I knew French. I only know bonjour and bonsoir and un, deux, trois.”

As the numbers flashed through my head, my heart rate didn’t beat as loud in my head and the pain in my chest eased slightly. Numbers! That was it! 

“Sept... un…. trois…..huit…. cinq…..neuf…. dix..deux ..quatre.. six. Un... neuf... quatre.... sept... trois... six... dix.. huit….”

I became more aware of my body as I continued to count out of order and several conclusions hit me at once. My nose didn’t have an off button and was making a trail of its content down his shirt. Dried, skin-tugging tears on my face let me know I’d been crying the whole time. My whole body flashed hot then cold as I realized what I’d put this stranger through. One of his arms was loosely around my back and the other was around my shoulders with his fingers touching the side of my neck on my pulse. I started to move but he kept me still.

“There’s no need to rush. Let your muscles relax and continue to take deep breaths. I’ve got you. Yes....... that’s right. ......Good, I can feel you settling again. You did it. You got through it. You grounded yourself with numbers and it passed. Great job, man.”

I wiped my nose and sniffed as another lump grew in my throat. No one told me I did good after they witnessed an attack. All of a sudden, lethargy hit me and I slumped against him as my muscles all seemed to give out at once. 

“Sd...ee….” I muttered a feeble warning into his chest. 

“It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be all right.”

I wasn’t sure if he had understood me or if he was just continuing his reassurances, but the tickle was at its zenith.

HaaaHNTtgshiew! …Hehh! XNTtgshiew!

“Bless you. I say your panic attack has passed if your body has moved on to trying to rid your body of this cold.” He chuckled and ripped open a box of tissues. “It should be okay to open a box and then pay.”

I wanted just a few more minutes like this, but the tickle was persistent and I started to hitch and hitch. A cloud of white moved into my blurry vision. It wasn’t quite close enough or high enough to my nose. I realized too late he was holding it up so I could grab it. 

…Hehh! XNTtgshiew! HaaaHNTtgshiew! 

Spray dotted the tissues and the parts of his palm that the tissue hadn’t covered. 

“Merde! Je suis profondément désolé!"

He chuckled again and placed his hand on top of my hand that was securely holding my nose. 

“It's profondement okay! Bless you.”

I paused at his barbaric mixing of French and English to make a sentence. With any other person, my French dignity would not allow it. With him, I let it pass and he somehow coaxed my hand away from my face too.

“I didn’t realize there were so many words we share in French and English. Or at least that sound similar.”

His deep voice surrounded me and I focused on the gentle way he was now maneuvering the tissues around my nose to clean up the messy sneezes. I should be embarrassed or stop him, but when you suffered enough panic attacks alone, you learned to appreciate anything anyone was willing to give for as long as they gave it. And also, for some reason, my chest was really warm and fuzzy. It was a level higher than receiving a bless you but less than when he told me I did good, whether that was blowing my nose or getting through this panic attack. 

I searched his eyes, wanting to know how close he was to his limit. Everyone had their limit and I’d learned to read body language. Tight jaw, lips pressed together, wan smile. Relief filled me as I didn't see any of the signs on him.

Footsteps sounded to my left and he leaned forward, pressing my head against his neck to hide me. I gulped as my cheeks reddened, but I felt really thankful. 

“Is everything okay now?”

“Yes, everything is okay. Thank you.” The gentle thrum of vibration from his voice tickled my nose. My eyes began to water. My breathing picked up.  

“I’ll clean this up. You two can sit outside on the bench. I’d just ask that you pay for any items on the floor that are damaged.”

“Of course. Thank you for being so gracious. One moment.” There was shifting and my nose was bumped again. My face slackened and my head bobbed before I got a hold of myself. “Here’s my card. And thank you again.” I thought I was home free but then he kept talking. “And if you wouldn’t mind, I would really appreciate it if you added cough drops, DayQuil, tissues, and a water bottle.”

Around the word tissues, the tickle became unbearable. Bringing my hand to my mouth, I jerked forward in the tiny space above his shoulder.

HhNxk-SHU! HuhNcxkCHU!.......

“Bless you.” 

Warmth bloomed in my chest. It multiplied when he rested his hand on my back. 

“Berci.” Snfffffffff. I sighed as the congestion came back.

“Do you think you can walk?”

Not having to walk out alone sounded perfect. I resolved I wouldn’t burden him further after that as I nodded. My legs felt like jelly and I had to focus on them to make sure one foot walked in front of the other but we made it to the bench. 

“Euh…” My brain was still too tired for English. 

“Yes? What is it?”

“Je m'appelle Grégoire.” I spoke slowly and then gestured it was his turn. “Comment vous-appelez vous?”

He smiled brightly, even after this ordeal, pearly white teeth gleaming, dimples popping out, the corners of his dark brown eyes crinkling with laugh lines.

“Oh boy, the pressure’s on. Okay. Jem uppelle Montgomery.”

“C’était un plaisir de vous rencontrer.” 

“Oh, I’ve got this one! It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”

I wondered if he really thought it was a pleasure or if he was just letting me know he understood me. I circled my thumb around my index finger clockwise and then counterclockwise back and forth. Before I could embarrass myself and ask him, the employee thankfully came out with a bag stuffed full. He apologetically handed a receipt and card to the man and he handed me another bag with the water, DayQuil, cough drops, and tissues in it. I started to pull out my wallet, but Montgomery held up his hand. He thanked the employee and then turned to me.

“It’s already taken care of, and I’m sure I’ll find use of whatever I just bought. Can I walk you to your gate?” 

“Tha'gkyou so buch. I….”

I’d promised not to be a burden. I’d promised! I just hoped I would say the right thing even now as I stared into his kind and understanding eyes. 

“.....I...” I blinked rapidly and shook my head before standing up and hurrying away. I knew if I kept talking, I would have accepted his offer. 

~~~~~~~~

I hope you had a good read! Next chapter will be Montgomery’s perspective and Nia, Gigi, and Montgomery will ... Happy Thanksgiving!

[EveP]

J'adore the way you're mixing languages, since that's sort of my world. Your story is great and there was no way I could stop reading after 1500 words. Now I'll try to be patient while waiting for part three. A week you say, and then another couple of days... I might have to do some more writing myself to cope. 🤪 Monty seems like a really nice guy.

[Kolen]

AGHHHH. I will wait. PATIENTLY, god help me if I explode..! This a beautifully written piece! Well, pieces~

[Mems]

Agh this is so good!!!

[starpollen]

This is SO stinkin’ CUTE!! 🥰 Can’t wait for more!!… 🤩

[uwus and love]

I'm... kinda in love? i want? happen? to me? please? 

[aggedy_ann]

This is awesome.  I can’t wait to see what happens next!!

[glitterdoll78]

Omg this story is so good I can’t wait for the next part!

[Reader]

Nom nom nom! You guys!  Thank you so much for commenting! I loved reading them and of course I read them several times. It's really awesome to hear from you all. I'm so happy you've been enjoying this story and I hope you enjoy this next chapter! I will warn that it's different from the first two because it's Montgomery's perspective. It's the longest chapter so far so I've added in a break line. 

 

Montgomery 

Grégoire took several steps away and then paused mid-step before planting his foot back down and standing unnaturally straight. His posture melted immediately as he brought his elbow up. 

HuHNnxkSTChIU!.......HhNgxk-SHU!

He groaned quietly and sighed.

Just look back and I’ll...

It was just a furtive glance, a peek really. He even continued walking, but it was enough for me to know he hadn’t wanted to leave and only needed a reason to stay now. 

“Wait, Gregoire.”

I wracked my brain as I walked over to him. Anything would do really. My steps slowed as nothing came to mind still. 

“Bless you.” That was a start and it made Grégoire’s face redden adorably as he looked up surprised. 

“You cabe just to bless?” 

His accent-drenched words, how he spoke them, and the view as I heard him were all very distracting. Curls for days, a kaleidoscope of different shades of brown in his dark hazel eyes, firm jawline, nice lips, soft skin, toned body. My brain abandoned the mission and began sending tantalizing signals to the rest of me. 

“Not just that.”

His hand hovered over his nose suddenly as he looked into the distance. With a quick pinch to his nose, he ducked his head. 

Ngehshh! Nxxght! Hnx'MPH! 

That had to hurt, but was I really going to be bossy enough to tell him even how to sneeze?

“Don’t hold back like that, man. Just let it out.”

He sprang up like he was shooting out of water, breathing in deep for the first time, irritated tears spilling onto his cheeks with eyes shut, nostrils flexed, and mouth sucking in air. His lips quivered and his deep inhale thinned out just as he turned away and bent in half with the explosive sneezes. 

HehhGhSchhhOOO! .......HihhGhSchhhIEEE-UU! 

“Bless you!” 

“Sorry. I b-bight have overcorrected.” He gave an apologetic smile to me as he rubbed his nose before glancing around his surroundings. His attention quickly returned to me when I burst out laughing. My arm snaked out and I caught him around the shoulders, giving it a squeeze, as I tried to speak. “You’re hil...hilarious. Oh wow. I really…..whew... there’s just ...oh, man, that was funny." 

And suddenly, my brain cooperated. “You came to the store for a reason, right? Did you get everything you needed?”

“Oh, right. Snff I deed bagazides snffff for by agedt. I’b a model snff snff.”

What he needed was to use some tissues. He was sniffling every few words. I took a breath. I wouldn’t force the tissues on him, even though he had listened so well to me previously. I inwardly sighed and kept my mouth shut. He looked up at me with a slight frown.

“I usually snfffff look better snff snff than this. I really snff ab a bodel.”

“What? Of course you’re a model. You're super duper good-looking. And if you do usually look better than you do now, the world is unfair.”

He glanced away with a blush as he tried not to smile. And of course he sniffed some more. “That’s snff nice for you to say.” 

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I was surprised to see several notifications. I hadn’t felt them go off. 

Nia: Okay, honey. See you soon. Oh, I gave your seat away. Loveyoubye!

I chuckled and read the next message. 

Nia: Did you get caught up in the book section again? I moved seats so Gigi can sit with us. He’s a friend I met today. 

Nia: Everything okay? You’ve been gone a while. 

My father’s words materialized in my mind like a dull headache.

Never let your partner frown. When she does, smooth out the lines of her face as a reminder to her that she should not worry for you will take care of everything. Avoid women like your mother with creases etched into her skin. 

My lips pressed together. Creases he’d caused. 

Montgomery: I’m sorry, baby. I hope you weren’t worrying too much. I’ll be a little bit longer. There’s a guy I’m with. You would go crazy over him. I’ll be back in 10. I love you.

Texting bubbles popped up almost immediately. 

Nia: Oooo We’ll swap stories later. And just remember, it doesn’t count as joining the mile high club unless you’re in the air

I laughed and shook my head as I sent laughing emojis. Grégoire was currently back on the bench quietly blowing his nose. He didn’t look as if he felt well enough for any, ahem, club joining. After throwing away the tissues, he popped a cough drop in his mouth and shuffled up to me. 

“Let’s get your magazines.” I said as I nodded toward the store. 

He hesitated and chewed on his lip. Was I being overbearing? More than likely. I waited for him to tell me to back off. 

“Cad we go to adother store besides this ode?” 

Of course. Facepalm. 

“Yeah, of course. There’s tons of stores like that.”

We grabbed our stuff and headed to another store further down. On the way, he told me about his agent and why he wanted to buy the magazines. I really didn’t like the guy. Grégoire bought magazines, sunglasses, and hand sanitizer. We stood outside the store with our purchases. I rubbed my eyebrow piercings like a lucky charm and breathed through the nerves. 

“Gregoire, I should get to my gate. I don’t want this to be the last time we talk though. Can I have your number?” 

The world became a little more unfair as he smiled brightly. It was beautiful. Devastatingly so. 

“Oui! Yes.” He rattled off his number to me and I sent a message to him right away. 

We started walking off in the same direction, but he split off to go to the bathroom shortly after.

It wasn’t hard to find Nia. She’d chosen a spot in the very back where at least a half dozen empty rows separated us from the rest of the passengers. My heart sped up like it always did when I saw her and my body tingled with anticipation. Any second now. She turned and the sweetest look of love entered her eyes and her smile split her face as she waved. Sweet sweet serotonin. 

“Monty!” She stopped short of hugging me. “Hold on, babe.” She let me go and headed over to her bag. Soon she had a tissue soaked with water from her bottle and was dabbing my shirt. “What is this?”

Looking down at my shirt, I was reminded of a gorgeous, honest, communicative, heart-on-his-sleeve model. 

“Oh, nothing.” I said, purposeful in my nonchalance. “I just got sneezed on.”

The tissue slipped out of her hand and landed on the floor with a dull splat. She bent to retrieve it, and upon resuming, she focused a little too hard on the stains. 

“Oh really?”

She was so cute. I tried and failed to suppress the desire to tease her about her kink.

“Yes. A few times in fact.”

“Dang it.” She bent again to pick up the tissue from the floor. 

Her gentle dabs to my shirt became harder jabs as my body shook from held back laughter. 

“I don’t like you.” She mumbled under her breath. 

“I’m sorry, Nia. I’m almost.... done I ...promise.” I managed to bring my laughter down to chuckles.

“Oh, I can help you with that.” She smirked and before I knew it, the most ticklish sensation moved through my nose. 

“Ehhhh! Baby, wait. Hhh okay. I’m done l-laughing.” I hitched on the last word as she continued to softly manipulate my nose ring. She let go and sweet relief filled me as I began to breathe normally and my eyes stopped watering. She bit her lip and just stared at me, almost hypnotized, as I wiggled my nose back and forth to dislodge the rest of the tickle. Her hands rested on my chest and her cleavage peeked out further as her breaths deepened. I felt as powerful as a king in that moment. I was big enough to shield her from anyone behind us looking this way. Hardly any people would pass by.

“All right. You can continue. I’m not going to make it easy for you though.”

Eyes dilated, she licked her bottom lip and rested her hand on my cheek. She stretched her thumb until it was petting my nose ring. The tickle revved up in my nose with each stroke from her deft finger.

“You know what they say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Her voice was low and warm.

Hehhhhhh! 

“Your nostrils are flaring,”

“Just flexing my ahh m-muscles, even the nihhhh-nasal ones.” 

“Oh, gotcha. And what about your breathing? It’s sounding pretty erratic.”

“I th-think hehh you mean ihh HiH erotic.” I somehow managed to smirk although it was definitely lopsided and shaky.

“Oh yes. Very. Your face is very animated.” She informed me.

It was getting harder to speak and blink and wiggle my nose and keep my eyes open and not sneeze all at the same time! 

“J-just heh! heh! hhhhappy to see hehhhh you.”

“Oh, I just thought you might need to sneeze.” She teased as she took another pass at the nose ring, never touching my nose but wreaking havoc on my nasal nerves all the same until there was nothing I wanted to do but let out the sneeze, stubbornness be damned. A sheen moved over my eyes, signaling the end was near. I sniffed and even that tickled. My body shook with the need to sneeze. Nia moved to my side but remained glued to me. 

“Hehhh ehhhh n-not at all.” I said breathily right before my face crumpled.

Hehh-igschh! .......Huh CHHH'uh! Nhh'gsghht! .............HeHH-IggSChhHHuuuUU!!

“Ohhh baby, bless you. That was so hot.  I feel like my legs are about to give out. I definitely need to sit.”

We sat and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and leaned in close to her ear. Snffffff. She shivered and turned toward me, finding my lips. I wasn't about to remind her we were in public. She wrapped her arms around my arm and leaned against my shoulder.

"Thank you, honey."

 

--------------------break line 1700-ish words and no sneezes below but fluff and more background info--------------------

 

"Tell me about the guy you met."

So I did.

“Oh my goodness, that has to be Gigi! You said he was a French model and sick. Was he okay when he left?”

Wow, what were the odds? It was suspiciously like it was meant to be.

I stood and looked at the entrance before scanning the crowd. Still not here. 

“I think so. He should be coming this way soon and then we can make sure.”

“Okay. Good. And what did the damage end up being?” She took a peek inside the bag of damaged goodies.

“Oh, I haven’t even looked at the receipt yet.” I pulled the receipt out of my pocket and balked at the price.  

Son, listen to me well. A woman has no business in your finances. If she’s curious, that means you are not providing well enough for her. Or that she’s greedy! Like your mother!

I gnashed my teeth together, wondering for not the first time why his words still rang through my head years after I’d cut off contact. Nia waited for me to hand her the receipt with brows creased with concern. I resisted the urge to smooth out the fleshy ridges and tell her I'd take care of it. Instead, I handed it to her. Her eyebrows shot up as she saw there was about three hundred dollars’ worth of damage. She blew out a slow breath as she went through each item on the receipt, a broken EpiPen for 100 bucks, a few leaking bottles of various cold medicine totaling 50 bucks, an expensive humidifier that had a small piece detached for 110 bucks, and a three-month supply of eye drops in a damaged box plus tax.  I had to listen close as she began talking to herself.

“The luau/pig roast dinner and show at the Polynesian Cultural Museum was 75 dollars a piece, so I’ll call and get a refund on that. I might be able to get the hotel to refund our upgraded breakfast for a week. That’s 40 dollars right there. We won’t have to dip too much into what we’ve reserved for next month.”

Cursing inwardly, I shook my head, sat back down, and collected her hands in mine.

“No, baby. No, no, no. I’ll cover this. We've been working so hard lately. I want us to enjoy this vacation fully. I'll get rid of my gym membership for a while."

Nia gave me a look, the look, and shook her head. “No thank you. Besides that’s ten months of you not going to the gym. I just won’t get my hair done next month. I’ll go natural for a little while.”

Now it was my turn for bedroom eyes.

“I love your natural hair. You go from 5’5 to 5’11 in a snap. And as tempting as it is to have a whole month of you looking like a Nubian queen, I know you enjoy catching up on gossip with the neighborhood aunties while Shantel does your hair. Plus, I like we get to spend more time together in the mornings since your hair is already done. Let me think of something. I’ll figure it out. 

A three hundred dollar bill didn’t crease her face, but my last statement did. “We’re in this together, baby. I’m really happy you helped Gigi and I want to help.”

I still sometimes couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to be with Nia. 

“I promise we are in this together. Honey, you do more than I can ever repay just by letting me cover my mom’s bills. That’s a huge chunk of money. Let me figure this out, please?”

Her eyes’ softened at the mention of my mother. I envied her the ability to think of my mother without thinking of my father too. A wave of anger moved through me, and I suddenly wished I was in the gym in front of a punching bag. Nia’s hand moved to my jaw and she rubbed my hair. She always knew when I was thinking of him. 

“I hope you know I’ll never suggest you stop paying for your mom.”

I blew out a breath and leaned into her touch as I mumbled. “She did so much for me after we came here. I was too young to help her then. The letters …all those years.” I looked away. “She wants me to stop paying her bills and put the money into our charity.”

Nia gasped and gripped my hand tightly. “Really? She must feel stronger if she wants that. How do you feel about it?

Our charity was our passion. It killed me that I couldn’t help out as much as I wanted, but my job paid me very well and it allowed Nia to quit her job so we could start our dream of opening the charity. It was still early days and Nia was the only employee and worked for free, but the monthly donations were just enough to help 10 single mothers every month. The extra money would allow me to put some money into the charity, work just part-time, and spend the other half of the week working with her.

“Well, she's held down her current job for six months already, which is a new record, and she has been saving up. If she can keep that up, then maybe.”

She nodded and leaned in for a kiss. “Sounds good.” She froze. “Oh, shoot! We need to watch out for Gigi.”

I jumped up and turned around, hoping we hadn't missed him, but there he was. Poor guy looked alarmed as he stood in the previous spot he and Nia had sat in. I was about to go over there, but Nia called him as she moved out of the row. “Gigi! Over here!”

Grégoire was flustered, wringing his hands together, as he made his way toward Nia. 

“Je suis désolée d'être par—no.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “Nia, I’b sorry for leaving so abruptly and taki’g so long. A-and for whud you s-saw earlier. If I cad have my bag, I’ll go sit sobewhere else.”

The confusion on Nia’s face matched my own, but luckily she spoke up first.

“I want you to sit with us. I chose an area where no people were so you could feel more comfortable.” Nia pointed to our seats, which is when Gigi noticed me and did a double take. 

“Crazy, huh? And I'm sorry. We were looking for you, but then we got caught up in conversation.” 

On the last stop of the realization tour, he looked at all the empty seats. He closed his eyes, looking like he really wanted to go back in time and take back his words. “I’b sorry. I always just assube the worst.” 

Nia’s eyes slid to mine. I could see some questions there, but she refocused on him and rested her hands on his shoulders. 

“Well, maybe once you know us better, you won’t assume the worst.” She leaned up, moving slowly toward his cheek. He met her halfway, completing the French greeting on one cheek before they switched sides and again the sweet sound of a synchronized cheek kiss filled the air.

That was Nia. She knew he needed comfort and gave it to him in the form of something familiar to his home life. 

“We’re friends, Gigi. That means something to me, okay?”

At his vigorous nod, she seemed content and stepped to his side with her arm around his back. She looked up at me expectantly. 

“I can’t believe you’ve met Nia already. Saves me the trouble of introductions.” I leaned down and kissed him on both sides of his cheeks before giving him a hug. Nia’s hand moved to my back and a sense of completeness like I’ve never felt before bowled me over. Nia and I were both polyamorous although the way we expressed it was different. She just liked having extra fetish friends. What I wanted was for us to have a partner together. A unit of 3.

I straightened up, wondering if the other two felt anything. Gigi was currently avoiding eye contact but I could still see the blush on his cheeks and Nia was looking slightly horrified. Not the reactions I was hoping for.

“What’d I do?”

He looked up and stopped at my chin as he said quietly. 

“La bise is whed you bake the sou’d of a kiss while our cheeks press together. You don’t kiss cheeks actually. But no worries! It’s dothi'g! I just tell you so you know.”

Nia shook her head in amusement now that Gigi wasn't bothered and pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. She pulled Gigi down with her and he sat in the middle seat. I sat down in the available seat next to Gigi. “I’m sorry about that. My bad.”

“Is all right. Your first tibe. You dow know. Like earlier with Abericad product,” Gigi reassured just as the intercom came on. 

“All right, everyone. Welcome to Air Travel Airlines. We will be boarding shortly, so please have your ticket and ID ready when you’re in the line. Remember this flight has no assigned seating so first come, first serve. We just ask that you only come into the line when your group number is called. We’d like to invite our VIP members to come now.”

 

A/N: That is all the perspectives! Nia is up next! I will be back in a week!
 

[Kolen]

sCrEaM

THIS IS AMAZING!!! SO MUCH FLUFF, SO MUCH .. SO MUCH.. Meep~!

*passes out from the cuteness overliad*

Thank you for the update ^^

[ichixshiro14]

Oh my goodnessss!!!! I've been on the forum coming up on a decade and this is definitely one of the best fics I've read, thank you so much for sharing it with us!!! ❤️

[CharliesGirl]

This is amazing! I love it so much. Beautiful writing and lovely characters. 

[aggedy_ann]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

This is fabulous.  I can’t wait to see where it goes.  

[Reader]

Waaahhhh you guys!!! Thank you so much for your comments. They are the type of comments I've never received before! I can't tell you how much I appreciated reading them. Writing this story is already enjoyable and to have such sweet, special comments in addition is spectacular for me. I'm so happy you're enjoying my story. I have two parts for you guys because I'm late posting and because I went tinker happy and added a lot to the original chapter. I promise we will get on the plane the next time I post. LOL

Nia

I swallowed nervously as the third group was called. Not too much longer till it was time to get on the plane. Leaving my poor bottom lip alone, I drummed my fingers against my thighs. It would be fine. It was always fine. I didn’t even really have a fear of flying. It was just the takeoff and landing and sometimes during the middle as well that made me unsettled.

Gentle pressure combated the kinks in my neck. I sent a grateful look up to Montgomery. He reassuringly smiled and winked, letting me know it would be all right. I closed my eyes and stubbornly pushed away thoughts about the plane ride. I wasn’t going to freak out now before I’d even stepped on the plane... if I could help it. Best to focus on something else. Or someone else. 

Gigi had been struggling to stay awake ever since we first sat down. Now soft snores labored through his congested, swollen sinuses. There was light purplish bruising under his eyes, his nose was sickly-red at the tips, and his lips were chapped. In his sleepy state with his defenses down, he couldn’t feel the sticky sheen gathering underneath the shadow his dignified nose provided. Heat bloomed in my chest and my eyes narrowed in interest as one side of his nose scrunched up and froze in that irritated state. 

“Grégoire! There you are!”

Gigi startled at the snappy voice and whipped his head in my direction, trying to focus with bloodshot, bleary eyes. I turned too, feeling like I’d been caught red-handed. It was the agent from earlier. 

“Da’diel, sor…” Gigi’s forehead puckered, eyebrows drawn down, nostrils flaring, but he silenced his hitch mid-inhale, stubbornly fighting against the tickle. His nose squelched and squeaked as he furiously rubbed it, ending up with a smeared nose and the same tickle.

HHHHHHHHhiiihh!

I could tell a big sneeze was coming, so I started to grab tissues but paused when Gigi pulled out a massive balled-up clump of wrinkled toilet paper from his pocket and held the white material in front of his nose like a flag of surrender as his head bobbed with the tickle. 

…HHHHHHHHhehhH! 

“Grégoire, could you please control yourself?” The agent barked out. Panic flashed across Gigi’s face before he ducked into the tangled ball of tissues. 

Ttxcht! Shiew! ...HihNgSch!!

Anger burned through me as I saw the pain lance Gigi’s face each time he stifled. Tears welled up in his eyes as the pain continued to sting through his achy sinuses after the sneezes. He rubbed his nose gingerly as he bent and dug out the magazines he bought. 

“Da’diel, I’b s-sorry. These hihhhhh! sorry! ...are for you.”

Daniel grabbed the magazines and in one smooth motion, he tossed them to the side, completely missing the chairs and hitting the floor with several resounding splats. Gigi deflated with a resigned sigh as he saw the magazines sprawled out in disarray. He used both hands to rub up the side of his nose, seemingly even more determined to stop the irrepressible tickle. 

“Grégoire, you always do this. If you think” — The agent paused and held on to his sunglasses atop his head as he craned his neck up to Monty standing to his 6’5 height. My light-hearted, laughed-at-everything giant was gone. He cut in between the agent and Gigi and crouched down to the floor to gather the bent, wrinkled magazines off the floor. Mechanical in his movements, he stiffly walked back to his seat and sat back down, laying a heavy arm on Gigi’s shoulders. His knuckles though softly moved up Gigi’s upper arm until Gigi looked up at him, hands massaging his nose still. 

“You’re going to rub your nose raw and if you don’t already have a sinus infection, you’re going to get one from stifling like that. No more stifling and stop rubbing your nose before you sneeze, okay?” Monty was asking, but it was in a tone that brooked no argument. I tried to get his attention to silently tell him he couldn’t do that with Gigi, but he was in his element, giving Gigi the look, the “follow what I say because I know what you need more than you do.” Bossy alpha. 

Gigi debated for a few seconds, looking at Monty and then the agent, who was frowning, before moving his hands off his nose to grab tissues. His eyes immediately watered and his nostrils arched in irritation as the tickle flourished unimpeded. Gigi folded the tissues and pressed them against the underside of his red-rimmed arched nose.

HiHNTtgshiew! …Hehh! Ttxch-shiew! Heh'GhSchOO! 

Monty smiled, squeezed him close for a few moments, and pressed his lips to Gigi's curls. 

“Thank you. And bless you, Gregoire.”

It might seem strange, but what Gigi had done was a big deal and you had to reciprocate on the same level. I sighed. It was a dream watching those two, but not with an audience. 

“Bless you, Gigi.” 

Losing a bit of bluster, Daniel started fingering his designer collar of his outlandishly expensive shirt. “Grégoire, I n-need to talk to you and I think you’ll prefer to have this conversation with me alone.” 

Gigi tore his stunned gaze from Monty and cleared his throat. “Oh, euh, I-I’b okay if they hear, Da’diel. Is there a probleb with the shoot?”

The agent took in our glares, Montgomery and I, but he seemed to have regained his cool somewhat.

“Well, if you insist on having this conversation in front of God and country then all right.” A smile I didn’t trust appeared on his smarmy face. 

“Je ne viens pas avec toi, Grégoire. Tu es trop malade pour travailler. J'ai ma réputation en jeu.”

The agent smirked at our scowls as he finished speaking in French. I looked to Gigi, hoping for some facial clue and a wave of dread moved over me as I saw him. 

Gigi was stiff, eyes wide as saucers as he opened and closed his mouth. Finally words came out in a jumbled rush. 

“Non! Je t'en prie, ne fais pas ça! Veuillez reconsidérer.”

The conversation volleyed back and forth with a clear winner leading the score. This was driving me crazy. Montgomery was just as frustrated as he looked back and forth between the two. Gigi sounded really upset as he talked, but he also kept sniffling. Inevitably, he froze, eyes glazing over. He gave a hitchy moan of frustration and broke off the conversation with a held up finger. He hurriedly turned away from the agent, bumping me with his knee accidentally as he plucked a few tissues out the box. The soft tissues shriveled as they made contact with his nose that was full of gushy productions. Once he noticed the agent walking away, he disregarded his nose for a second, face contorting as the itch accelerated in those few seconds. He pressed the tissues further to his nose, flattening the overactive appendage as he continued to plead with the agent. 

“Est ce que ….hehhh vous pouvez m'accompagner s'il hih! Hih! vous plaît.” 

heh’gxch! stchxx! n’gxt!

The agent grimaced as he turned back to Gigi and vehemently shook his head. 

“Tu es dégoutant, tu sais ça?”

Gigi flinched. One look at Monty and the agent made himself scarce. It actually hurt to look at Gigi. He was shaking, back hunched slightly and head bowed with his shoulders up to his ears as he kept the tissues against his leaky nose. 

“Oh, Gigi, I’m so sorry.” While trying to think of what else to say in this rather confusing situation, I rested my hand on Gigi’s back. Every few seconds, his back muscles rippled like a bow tightening before relaxing completely. I gasped as I realized his shakes were stifles, completely without sound and painful as all get out. My heart buckled as sympathy pain punched through my chest. 

“He’s gone, Gigi. Please don’t stifle.”

Head shake. “It’s fide.”

Monty’s hand joined mine on Gigi’s back. 

“Gregoire, don’t…” Monty closed his mouth as I held a hand up. I moved down to the floor and then rose up on my knees. This angle allowed me to see a little more of Gigi’s face. I caressed the side of his cheek. He jerked his eyes open momentarily but then he concentrated on his lap and braced himself. Veins instantly popped out on his temples as his face shook with the stifle. His nose was a mottled red from how hard he was pinching it. Afterwards he caught his breath and a little whine slipped out as the pain echoed through him again.

“You’re hurting yourself, Gigi. Please don’t stifle.”

He quietly murmured, “You’ll get tired of by sdeezes too if I don’t.” 

Too? I took a stab in the dark. “I promise we’re not like your agent.”

He shook his head, but not hard enough to shake my hands off his flushed warm cheeks. “He’s paid to tolerate me. Beaucoup d'argent. Six figures. And he’s tired of theb.” He whispered as he hung his head even lower. My fingers ended up in his hair by the time he finished lowering his head. Keeping my fingers in place and my nails against his scalp like I would do for Monty’s thick 4C hair, I scratched softly. 

“He’s an idiot, Gregoire.” Monty jumped in. “You don’t need to be tolerated. There’s nothing about you that anyone would need to be paid to handle.” Gigi was quiet and wound up tight for a split second too long. Suspicions raised and not thinking about my next actions too deeply, I pulled out three tissues and covered the lower half of his face, intending to tell him to just sneeze. The contact surprised him enough that he couldn’t stifle that time. 

HmMPttshh’ShieW! 

My heart raced as I felt pressurized warmth through the tissues. Not now, fetish. He grabbed the tissues from me and snapped forward for more germ-clearing, gunk-ridding sneezes. 

X’TGShUU! …Hehh! HuHNnxkSTChIU! HuHNnxkSTChIU!

I stayed where I was, didn't even move my curls off my hot neck, and hoped I looked like a normal person because I knew he would look at me. And he did. Very uncertainly like he was seeing if now that he’d sneezed fully, would I change my mind. 

“Bless you, Gigi. And thank you. I know you don’t know us really, but we’re not like your agent and we won’t do what he did.” Whatever that was. 

“Nia’s right. We’ll show you. Bless you, Gregoire.”

Gigi looked at us both and then his lap. “For however lo’g your kindness lasts, I will accept it.”

That seemed ...fair... for now. 

“Gregoire, what did your agent say? Did he ask for more money?”

By the time I got back in my seat with my legs that had fallen asleep, Gigi still hadn’t answered Monty. He’d turtled up. Monty turned his head toward the crowd, scanning. Then he stood up. 

“He’s at the counter. I’m going to talk to that jackass.”

Gigi came alive at his words and reached out to Montgomery, just managing to snag his hand before Monty walked away. He shook his head. Montgomery debated for a few seconds before he sat back down with a huff, jaw clenched and leg bouncing with irritation as he got a better grip on Gigi’s hand. 

“Anything we can do, Gigi?” I asked as I rubbed his back. 

Another head shake. It was unsettling for Montgomery and I. He was a protector and I was a fixer, but we couldn’t do anything. So we just sat with him. A few minutes later, Gigi pulled his hand from Monty who let go with a confused frown. 

HehhSchhh! HihhSchhh!

Mystery solved as Gigi caught the first couple of sneezes in his hand until he was able to get some tissues. 

HehhghuSchhhU! HihhSchhhggHIE!

I bit down on my teeth and tried to regulate my breathing, but that went out the window when he started a series of swampy, mucky sniffles. My kryptonite. He doused his hands with enough hand sanitizer it was dripping off as he rubbed his hands together. And then he started playing loop de loop with his thumb and index finger as he side-eyed Monty's hand.

Monty sniffed, frowning slightly as the smell of the hand sanitizer took his attention away from the gate. His forehead cleared of lines and a soft smile curled his lips as he took Gigi’s hand back. Gigi blushed and didn’t look up. He just stared at their hands together, occasionally sniffing.

“He quit. He left.” Gigi said out of nowhere after about ten minutes. He said he was stayi’g here, that I ab too sick for work. Said he had thoughts on his reputashud. Wait, actually he said….”  He looked up in concentration and I imagined he was translating French into English. “.....he deeded to think about his reputashud.”

Monty spoke up first. “He’s your agent. How can he just do that?”

“Parce que je suis dégoûtant.” Misery laced his congested words as he muttered to himself. There was that d-word again. The agent had used it first so I knew it wasn’t a compliment. 

“Gigi, you’re not a degootant. Your agent is a jerk. He’s the degootant. Don’t listen to him.”

“Yeah, Gregoire. Degootants like him shouldn’t be in the business.”

 

--------------------break line--------------------

Gigi pressed his lips together and bowed his head further, shaking it back and forth. A moment later his shoulders shook. I reached out to place my hand on his shoulder but withdrew when he sat up suddenly. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and let out a groan chuckle that turned into muffled coughs. Red-faced and worn out, he slumped against his seat. 

“Your use of by la’guage…..” He shook his head as he chuckled some more. “Dégoûtant is sabe as disgusti’g.”

I thought back to my and Monty’s sentences.

“Gigi, you’re not a disgusting. Your agent is a jerk. He’s the disgusting. Don’t listen to him.”

“Yeah, Gregoire. Disgustings like him shouldn’t be in the business.”

I had to chuckle  “Okay. But my sentiment still stands. You’re not disgusting. And your agent is a jerk.” I arched my eyebrow at him and waited.

“All right. All right. Da’diel is a jerk and I’b dot disgusti’g eved though I’b so stuffy, caddot stop sdeezi’g, and I’b starti’g to cough dow.” 

I bent down, hoping there was a draft below that might cool down my overheated face. My heart galloped in my chest as I grabbed the bag of medicine and started rifling in it. Monty thankfully drew Gigi’s attention away.

“Exactly. And you won’t be so stuffed up if you blow your nose. I know you don’t like doing it, but you’ll feel much better. Like earlier.”

I swallowed a small sound as I started picturing earlier. Smoke had to be coming out of my ears at this point. 

“Whud is point whed it will just get stuffy agaid?” 

Do you know what a moan sounds like when you press your lips together? Still a damn moan. 

When Gigi turned to me questioningly at the strangled sound, I held back from blessing him pre-sneeze. I wasn’t sure how I had become so attuned to his sneezing nuances — maybe it was the stillness in his stance or the frown with no heat — but soon enough, his nostrils bulged out as every other muscle in his face spasmed for half a second in alarm. He made a grab for the tissues, but didn’t bring it to his nose in time. The sneeze flew out on all sides with accompanying mess.

HahhngxTShu! 

“Sorry! Didn’t f-feel hhhhhhhhih….” Gigi cupped his tissued hands around his nose and mouth, catching the wet sneezes.

HMmphhSxhhh! IHhhNxtscCHHH!

Keep steady, girl. Steady. “Bless you.”

“Bless you.”

Gigi was silent as he cleaned up his nose. 

We had a moment earlier where we’d gotten back on solid ground and cemented our friendship, but he looked down at me now with pinched features. I glanced down at his tell, but his thumb and index finger, his whole hand in fact, was flattened against his thigh, which meant he’d psyched himself up enough to say what was on his mind. 

“Euh, earlier with la bise, I shouldn’t have dode with by cold. The truth is…..” He finished his sentence, but from his expression, I could tell the words tasted bad in his mouth. “I shouldn’t eved sit so close dow to you both.”

I warmed at his consideration. 

“But you want to sit here, right? You said you feel better around me. And I want you right here too.”

“I second that.”

Gigi looked down as he nodded, but he was still frowning. 

“Will you tell me whed I ab too gross? I know people frob here tend to be dice euh to save feeli’gs. Id Fradce, we are bore frank. Still dice, but frank. I have really appreciated you and Bonty’s Abericad softdess though.” Gigi reassured and admitted all in the same sentence.

As I giggled and Monty chuckled, his hand moved to Gigi’s back. He leaned in close. His voice lowered, which made it bass deep and full. I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist a smart aleck remark even if Gigi was just being frank. “Ain't nothing soft about me.”

Monty wasn’t even talking to me and my body reacted at the innuendo. Poor Gigi looked like he’d forgotten how to speak both French and English. I decided I’d better save him from answering. 

“Except Monty’s belly.” I teased and leaned over to tickle the layer of fat that softened the look of Monty’s abs. He groaned and leaned back, dramatically bemoaning, “Gregoire, feel my stomach. It’s definitely all abs, right?”

I shook my head and rubbed Gigi’s back to get his attention. “Ignore him. And I think I understand what you’re saying. If I say you’ll never gross me out with your cold, you’ll think I’m lying and just trying to be nice?”

“Yes, the exact point.”

“Okay. That’s simple enough. We promise to tell you when we’re grossed out.”

He stared at me and then Monty for a beat or two before he sighed and nodded.  

“All right. Combining you two, you’ve seed me get hubiliated several times, have ad attack, and cry. And you’re still here. So….”

He grabbed the tissue box and got several tissues. He wasn’t hurried in his movements and for once his nose was calm. He covered his nose, flattening one nostril before he took a deep breath and noisily cleared out one side of his nose with gloopy, thick productive spurts. 

“Still here?”

“Still here.” We both said at the same time.  Monty placed his hand on Gigi’s back. “Good. That’s really good. Now the other side.” 

I didn’t need my hand on Gigi’s back to see the slight shiver that overtook him at Monty’s words. Gigi blushed and nodded, a bit of uncertainty still dotting his hopeful eyes as he looked at me and then Monty. He had to get new tissues for his next nose blow and it was equally as productive and full as the last one. 

Monty’s voice came out low and sure. “And we’re still here.”

“Thank you for still bei—” Gigi stopped talking and gently pressed against his throat as he did his best to clear it. It didn’t work and he coughed into his fist over and over. From the slightly wet sound, his cold was beginning to move into his chest. 

“Okay. Now medicine.” I pulled out DayQuil, a water bottle, and cough drops. “DayQuil should help you not to have too much sinus pain on the plane because it’s a decongestant, Gigi, and it’ll help your other symptoms as well. And then you can suck on these cough drops on the plane. The point is to swallow a lot to unpop your ears.”

He gratefully nodded as he accepted the pill and took it with the water. 

“Group 7, it is now your turn to get in line. Group 8, you’re on standby. Thank you so much for choosing Air Travel Airlines.”

Bucket of water all over the nice feelings. 

“I’ll be back, guys.”

Up like a flash, I made my way over to the wall-to-ceiling windows. I just needed five minutes to mentally prepare myself for getting into the 40-ton monster. I was given exactly 32 seconds. 

“Nia?”

“You should be sitting down, Gigi. You look like you’re about to fall over.”

He spoke through a jaw-stretching yawn. 

“I’ll sleeeeauuuup on plane. I am okay. Monty says you do not like planes.” 

He leaned against the wall with his hands casually in his pocket. I smiled at him. 

“Wait, why the smile? What is it?”

“Despite the fact you’re having a bad day, and you’re sick, and exhausted, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone booked you for a shoot this minute posing against the wall like that. You’re going to crush the shoot in Hawaii.”

He stuck his fingers through his hair and I watched the silky curls bounce around his pale fingers. My eyes cut across to the reveal of his defined arm. I returned back to his face, intending to get a look at those nostrils, but I froze, eyes wide as his piercing gaze snagged mine. The world fell away and it was just me and him and I became consumed with the desire to know more, to do whatever I could to — he tiredly smiled and slipped his hands back into his pocket as he spoke conversationally. “What I just did was a pose. This,” he indicated his now slack posture against the wall, “is just me resting.” 

My cheeks burned with embarrassment, hot and uncomfortable, as the world came back in with loud and startling clarity. Depressed gray and blue checkerboard carpet, the squeak of uncomfortable burnt-orange chairs as noisy passengers sat, the ice cold window that my hand was pressed against. 

“Y-you …” What was I going to say? He’d bewitched me? I shook my head and licked suddenly dry lips. “Wow, I see the difference now. Should we go start gathering our stuff?”

He moved off the wall until he was standing right in front of me. Even with the backdrop of the plane, being this close to Gigi felt lik a canopy of safety hanging overhead.

“I would like to comfort you first.”

“What?!” Symbolic pearls clutched.

He frowned and his chest caved as his shoulders moved inward. “Did I say it wrong? I’m sorry. I can say much better in French. But you’re afraid and I want to console you. May I hug you if that is okay?”

This didn’t have anything to do with the fetish and I wasn’t the one comforting him. This involved intimacy and emotional attachments. I didn’t do those with my extra friends, let alone regular friends. There was a line I felt like I would cross if I stepped forward and accepted. 

“Oh, thank you, Gigi, but I’m fine.” And to prove it, I looked at the metal beast out the window. I jumped slightly when I felt my hands being raised up, palms down. When he let go, my traitorous hands started shaking. He stilled my hands and gave a gentle tug, sincere eyes silently pleading for me to accept his offer. The energy he was giving off right now was different from my curly-haired shy turtle. This was model Gigi. Or maybe it was post nose blow Gigi. Or maybe I was just feeling like the shy one now. I knew this was a bad idea and I confirmed it when I melted like goo in his arms. It turns out he wasn’t a hugger. He was a cuddler. I just so happened to be one too. 

“Monty and I will help you, okay?”

I nodded as I felt my cheeks warm. We walked back to our seats and joined Monty who looked oddly pleased.

“Can you still do your shoot in Hawaii without an agent?” Monty asked when we sat down. 

“We have saying in France. Mieux vaut être seul que mal accompagné. It’s better to be alone than to be with someone who isn’t good company. I will be okay, especially now.”

We all shared a smile as the intercom came on again as it had done with the previous groups.

“And Group 8, the last group, can get in line. Thank you so much for choosing Air Travel Airlines.”

I stood and put everything back in their respective bags before doling them out to be held.

“Okay, we need to get in line quick. I want to get seats for the three of us. It should be fine though. I’m sure whoever is seated next to Monty and I won’t mind switching with you, Gigi. What’s your seat number by the way?” Hopefully it was towards the middle of the plane to sweeten the pot. 

Gigi reached into his pocket for his ticket. 

“It says Cabin 2.”

Cabin? 

“Let me see, Gregoire. It should say something like 38A.” Monty looked at Gigi’s ticket, blinked, and then bent further down. He let out a low whistle.  “He’s a VIP member and it says cabin, which I assume is a fancy way to say there’s a door with his seat.”

You could have blown me over with a breath.

And here I was planning to have him sit in the back with us. I felt very silly. Amusement laced my words. 

“Gigi, you could have been sitting in your seat sipping on wine this whole time. Here, take this grocery bag. In four hours, I want you to take another DayQuil with lots of water.”

Gigi was frowning and hadn’t yet reached out to grab the bag full of medicinal goodies. 

“I thought we sit together. I thought you want to sit with me.” His accent thickened as his emotions came to the surface. 

“Of course we do, Gregoire, but you have an awesome seat. You’ll have lots of room and you can sleep and be comfortable.”

“Gigi, you paid a lot of money for your seat.”

“It’s just money.” He said with a defensive shrug. Monty and I both cocked our heads to the side at that statement. Then again, he hadn’t been heartbroken over the damaged magazines. He didn’t mention the cost of his ex agent’s seat which I assume was also a first-class seat. And his agent was paid six figures so Gigi had to be paid a considerable amount more than that, right?

I hated to even think it, but Monty had issues with money stemming from his rotten and very rich father. I didn’t want that to get in the way of our friendship with Gigi.

Merde. I hope I was just not giving Monty enough credit.

[EveP]

Oh, my heart! This is just getting better and better. 😍

[NotWho]

Oh my god this is incredible! My heart can’t take it!

[Kolen]

😮

😍😍😍😍😍

I LOVE ALL THREE OF THEM PRECIOUS BEANS!!!