Desperation (F, Illness)

[Anonymace]

I hope the formatting is ok! I’m on mobile unfortunately :,) if anything needs changing, I’ll edit it tomorrow when I can access my computer (assuming I’m able to edit posts?). Anyways, I think this is my first original fiction on the forum! Life has been hectic lately and I’ve scarcely found time to lurk, let alone comment on posts, but I was struck by inspiration and decided to try my hand at an original work. This is a one-shot right now, but I might continue it if people are interested. Enjoy!!! <3

 

God, it was cold on the bus. Of all the days for the heating to have broken down, of course it’s 3 days before Christmas on the most frigid day of the year thus far. Not that there were many days left to compete. 

May readjusted her crimson scarf and tried in vain to reach into her purse for some saving grace from the frozen air. It was no use. The bus was packed to the gills with people making last minute trips to the mall for holiday shopping. She would just have to tough it out until her stop in 15 minutes.

Seven and a half minutes into a daydream about sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace in her partner’s snowy cabin, a thick, wet sniffle in her left ear startled her back to reality. May cringed at the sound. That was not the thin sniffle of a runny nose brought on by a sudden shift in temperature. No, that was a desperate attempt at stemming the flow of thick, cold-laden mucus threatening to drip down to the bus floor. 

A surreptitious glance to her left confirmed her assessment. The passenger beside her was a tall, curvy woman with a nose so vibrantly red it rivaled her (obviously dyed) hair. She sniffled again, uselessly, before bringing a clump of well-used tissues to her face. 

“Tissues,” of course, was a rather generous term. The cluster in her fist more closely resembled a paper mâché project left out in the rain for several days and then trampled by a group of unobservant six year olds.

Another sniff, sharper and quicker and definitely closer to a hitch than the last, startled May out of the mental image of rowdy first graders going full Godzilla on some unsuspecting sculpture. Another quick hitch, and she turned her head towards May, perhaps in some misguided attempt to direct the oncoming assault away from the other passengers. It was no use. There was nowhere to turn that wasn’t occupied by some unsuspecting Christmas shopper. The woman’s eyes drooped slightly, her head tilting back just enough to give May an unwanted perfect view of her glistening nostrils.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. May didn’t even have time to turn her horrified gaze away in search of an escape before the woman’s head snapped forward, spray and snot exploding from her irritated nose and mouth. May felt the wave wash directly over her face and stifled a squeal of disgust. 

The woman’s eyes opened, hazy, before her eyes focused on May in an instant of horrible realization. Obviously mortified, she opened her mouth, intending to apologize and instead gifting May with another mucosal explosion. 

Where the first sneeze had been itchy and suspenseful and unmistakably wet, the second was harsh and desperate and fast. Both left the woman staggering slightly, gripping the bus’s pole for stability in the same hand as her mulched tissues. She sniffled thickly, to no avail. The sneezes had broken through whatever dam was holding back the flow, and snot poured hot and sticky over her upper lip.

“I… am so sorry,” she stammered out, consonants rounded with obvious congestion. How anything remained in her sinuses to affect her speech so much even after so much had been unloaded directly onto her face, May didn’t know.

“It’s fine, really.” May wiped her face as discreetly as she could, doing her best to keep a customer service smile plastered over her disgust. “It happens.”

“Still, I…” Her apology was again interrupted by a series of hitching breaths, shakier and more drawn out than the quick desperate inhales of sneezes prior. May didn’t want a front row seat to this show. It appeared she didn’t have a choice.

Again, the woman’s head snapped forward. Her face scrunched in almost slow motion, as though the tip of her nose had its own gravitational field dragging together the rest of her features. Her teeth clamped together, spray shooting out in the cone formed by her maroon-painted lips. Another tidal wave of mucus slammed into May’s face, but she hardly had a moment to even process her disgust before the woman geared up for another sneeze. And another. And another, and another, and another, crashing out of her one after the other with hardly any room in between them to breathe. Time slowed to a standstill as May was pelted time and time again with snot and spray. It seemed like it would never end. Was this purgatory? Hell, even? Had May slipped into the Devil’s clutches without noticing, to be condemned to an eternity of contagious explosions?

Before May could spiral further into existential contemplation, the squeal of too old brakes and nearly being knocked off her feet by the swift stop dragging her unceremoniously back into reality. The bus had come to her stop at last. Picking her way through the crowd and stepping out onto the frosted sidewalk, she heard another desperate sneeze tear through the air. The closing doors cut an angry exclamation short as May began searching for a dry section of her scarf with which to wipe her face. Satisfied by a slightly less sticky face and a significantly moister scarf, she began the long walk home from her apartment.

[djm4991]

9 hours ago, Anonymace said:

The passenger beside her was a tall, curvy woman with a nose so vibrantly red it rivaled her (obviously dyed) hair.

She sounds lovely! I would love to see you continue this story. Sounds like her nose could use a good blow into some fresh tissues. 🤧😅

[Waters]

Damn, May living my dreams 😩

[CPrime97]

Poor May. It seems that the woman really needed to release her sneezes. Hope you can continue this story.

[OnlyADream]

This is really good, thank you for sharing! Gives the people (me) what they want (mess and contagion)

[Jettous]

Wow. This was amazing. 

[CharliesGirl]

This is a super sexy and wonderful story so far! Needless to say, I love snot! The sneezer sounds very attractive. 

[Mems]

Oh man this is sooooooo good!!! 😍

[Anonymace]

On 8/25/2022 at 10:18 AM, djm4991 said:

She sounds lovely! I would love to see you continue this story. Sounds like her nose could use a good blow into some fresh tissues. 🤧😅

I'm planning to continue! Might take me a while because life is busy at the moment, but I haven't forgotten this story  I'll be sure to include some tissues in the next part

On 8/25/2022 at 10:55 AM, Waters said:

Damn, May living my dreams 😩

May living mine as well 😩

On 8/27/2022 at 12:59 AM, CaeCuba said:

Poor May. It seems that the woman really needed to release her sneezes. Hope you can continue this story.

Planning to continue for sure 😊

On 8/27/2022 at 8:19 AM, OnlyADream said:

This is really good, thank you for sharing! Gives the people (me) what they want (mess and contagion)

Thank you! And same 💀 I'll be the first to admit this was just self-indulgence lol (and look forward to more contagion in the future hehe)

On 9/2/2022 at 9:47 PM, Jettous said:

Wow. This was amazing. 

Thanks so much  I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

On 9/4/2022 at 4:34 PM, CharliesGirl said:

This is a super sexy and wonderful story so far! Needless to say, I love snot! The sneezer sounds very attractive. 

I'm happy you liked it so much! 

On 9/6/2022 at 9:54 PM, Mems said:

Oh man this is sooooooo good!!! 😍

Thank you  I had a lot of fun writing it, and I'm looking forward to writing more!

[GuitarPlayah]

Would love to see this continued and see May get sick!

[Stillwater]

I don’t usually go for contagion but this is wonderful! 

[SneezeLucario]

Even without writing the sneezes, i could visualise them perfectely. Great job

[Anonymace]

Hi all! Thank you so much for your kind comments, you’re all so sweet 💛 I didn’t forget about this, I swear! Life has been crazy in a not so good way and I didn’t have the time to sit down and write everything out. But! Yesterday I scrounged up some energy and time and wrote not only the next part, but planned out 4 more parts after that! Limited sneezing in this part, but LOTS of setting the stage and domestic bliss. Thank you again for your patience and kindness, and I hope you enjoy!

———

Wind whipped at her cheeks as she struggled down the icy sidewalk, nearly knocked off balance by the frigid gusts. Her soaked scarf did little to keep her warm, and by the time she pushed open the door to her shared apartment, she was shivering. 
“I’m home!” The gentle scent of cinnamon wafted from the kitchen down the hall. May smiled to herself at the way her partner’s shadow twirled across the floor, the sound of the Christmas music on the radio nearly drowned out by Max’s off-key belting.
She hung her jacket and scarf on the hook by the door, the cold and germs forgotten for the moment. Nothing could touch her in this little slice of paradise. 
Still smiling, May crept into the kitchen, her attempt at stealth nearly foiled by the creaky old floorboards of the hall. Not that it would have mattered; Max had the music on so loud May was surprised she hadn’t heard it from the street.
Slipping her hands over their eyes, May brought herself close and whispered into their ear. “Surprise, baby.”
They whipped around, meeting her eyes with a broad smile. “May! You’re early, silly goose! If you’d have told me, I could have made sure dinner was ready.”
“I wanted to surprise you. And, I missed you! I took an earlier flight just to see the look on your cute little face when I came in the door.”
Max laughed, taking May’s face in their hands and pinching her cheeks.
“Gosh, you must be chilled. Sit, sit, and I’ll make you some tea! The monkey bread is just about done, too. It’s supposed to be for Lewis’s party tomorrow night, but I think we deserve a little treat.” They bustled around the kitchen, filling the kettle and dropping a tea bag into May’s favorite mug.
“You’re so good to me, Max. What would I ever do without you?”
“Freeze to death, I bet. Now, tell me about your trip! I want to hear everything.”
May laughed from her place at the dining room table, drinking in the scene for a moment. She wouldn’t trade this for the world.

—————————

The next morning came much too soon. They had stayed up a little later than was probably necessary, catching up and eating monkey bread and dancing poorly to the carols on the radio, and May could feel the lack of sleep in the pressure behind her forehead. 
She cracked her eyes open, rubbing the sleep from them, and glanced to her right. Max was still asleep in their own drool. It was almost cute. Almost.
Sighing contentedly, she reached for the glass of water on the nightstand to her left, trying in vain to clear her dry throat. Empty, of course. Seems she’d have to brave the apartment and make a pot of coffee for them both.
Extracting herself carefully from their shared blanket cocoon, May shivered as the cold morning air graced her skin. Standing must have also shifted her morning congestion, because she felt a tickle brewing deep within her sinuses.
She paused there, clad in her tank top and pajama shorts, straight black hair pulled into a messy bun, hand hovering halfway to her face and entirely too far away to cover any of the oncoming spray.
“Heh… hih… hehhh…” Her eyelids dropped shut as her breath hitched and shuddered. The tickle had progressed to a burning itch, lighting her sinuses on fire and consuming her attention completely.
“Hehhh… hi’ehh… hitchshiew! Hih… hetshew!” Her head snapped forward with each sneeze, spray misting her hand and chest. She sniffed thickly against the sudden mess in her nose, then shook her head and glanced behind her to Max’s slumbering form. Good, still out. Maybe she could surprise them with a little breakfast in bed.
Scrubbing at her nose, May crept out into the rest of the apartment to start the day.

[BCCLX]

Loving this! Can't wait to read more! 💗💗

[Dgrayman]

Glad to see this story back!

[SunFlower_10]

Thank you so much for updating, part one is one of my favorite stories!

[Mems]

Ooh interesting second part! Can’t wait to see where this goes from here