From Sharing to Caring

[Masking]

For once, I do own the characters I'm writing about. It's a just-past-Valentine's-Day miracle. The title is probably a total cliche, but I can't think of a better one right now. And yes, there will be multiple parts...eventually!

Thank you very much to @Elle for going over some ideas with me.

I hope you all enjoy!

-

If Julien had just been hot, Raina might have been able to enjoy seeing him from afar without catching feelings about it. But no, he had to be nice, too. He had to be polite and sweet. He had to have the most gorgeous accent she'd ever heard, and when it became clear after a few weeks of working with him that all of those things applied to him at once, she'd been toast.

"I have the second conference room reserved for us."

"Oh!" Raina whipped around in her chair and immediately banged her elbow against the desk. "Ow. God, why. Um..." She pushed her hair behind her ears and focused on Julien, who had his fist poised to knock against the side of her cubicle. "Conference room two?"

Julien nodded. "We were going to spend the day working on the ad campaign, right? Did I have the day wrong?"

She shook her head. "No, you didn't. Sorry, I was concentrating." Concentrating on a game app on her phone, granted, but he didn't need to know that. Anyway, it probably counted in some way. "Give me two minutes and I'll be over there."

"That's fine," he said. "I brought my lunch, so we can - sorry -" He cleared his throat. "So we can spend the day working without any interruptions."

"Lee will like that," Raina answered. She wasn't sure what demon had whispered to her boss that Raina Silver and Julien Saidi should be working on a digital advertising campaign together. Whatever Lee's reasons were, she anticipated spending the day in the kind of fresh hell usually reserved for traffic jams. Whether it was a pleasant cause or not, the results would be the same: what she so desperately wanted or needed would be unavailable, and she'd spend the evening watching sitcoms with a lot of dramatic romance in them.

"Okay. I'll meet you there." He smiled at her and wrinkled his nose. "I look forward to it."

As he walked away, Raina rested her head in her hands. A pining mess, that was her. She'd always fallen hard and fast, and always for the most unattainable guys, the kinds of men who did stuff like holding the door open for everyone and getting all googly-eyed over other people's pet pictures. At least he didn't know.

She didn't think she would be able to live with the embarrassment if he knew.

Once more unto the breach, she thought, and steeled herself, gathering up her laptop to head into the conference room. Okay. She and Julien would hash out their plans and return to their individual desks, and she would be free to sneak covert stares at him in the break room like an idiot and be overly casual in her acquaintance-type chats with him. Her usual, in other words.

When she got in, Julien had set up the whiteboard and was standing by the window. "Raina, hi," he said. "I thought it would be a good idea to have everything." He indicated the board, then his own computer on the table. Raina scanned over the laptop, his lunch - wow, he hadn't been lying - a big drawing pad, an assortment of dry-erase markers, hand sanitizer and a box of...wait. No way. This was either a dream or a nightmare, because she'd never known Julien to have tissues with him.

"Sure," she said in what she hoped was a normal voice, and set her stuff down. "So what are we going to start with?"

"Maybe our goals first?" Julien suggested. "The general outlines of what we want to do with this campaign, and then we can work inward. I should warn you, though." He indicated the tissue box, followed by the hand sanitizer. "I came down with a cold over the weekend. I'll try not to show it, but if I do anything disgusting, this is why."

Hot, nice, smart as anything, voice like music, and now sick with a cold. This really was hell. It was like God had reached into her head, pulled out her deepest fantasies, and set them down in front of her while sticking out their tongue and saying "ha ha, you can look, but you can't touch."

Raina swallowed hard. "Sure. Why don't we take turns up at the whiteboard?"

"That sounds good."

For about twenty minutes, things went off with about as few hitches as she could have hoped for. She wrote out her ideas for an appealing website to advertise the organic fruit and vegetable farms their clients were trying to hock, Julien disagreed on design and coughed when his voice got too loud, she amended her thoughts, and then he replaced her at the whiteboard to blend his ideas with her own.

That was when the first hitch happened. Namely, a hitch in his breath.

"I think that if the links open in a new tab, this will be more..." He stopped, blinking. "More convenient for the - wait a - a minute." He held up a finger. "I have to -"

Oh, for the love of God. Was he about to -

"HehhIHSHH!"

Raina watched, rapt, as if he was being hot as hell in front of her in slow motion. Julien buried his face in his upper arm as he sneezed, and she'd never seen him sneeze before, and -

"I'm sorry," Julien said, looking shamefaced. "This is why I said I would be disgusting. Please tell me if you want to do this another day."

"It's not a big deal," she managed. "Bless you."

"Thank you." He went to the tissue box and pulled one out to blow his nose, then sanitized his hands. "I mean it. If you'd rather try when I don't have a cold, I won't be insulted...oh, wait - ehhISHHuhh!" This time, he directed the sneeze into another tissue, which he pulled out just in time. "I'm sorry, I was doing that all of yesterday. Medicine was supposed to help, but maybe it only works so much."

This was the best and worst possible time to work together. Logically, Raina knew that. She also knew that their project could only wait so long. "Lee will be pissed off if we wait until you're better," she said, and it wasn't like it was a lie. "Look, just take care of yourself. I won't be grossed out, I promise."

-

As the day wore on and Julien's cold meds wore off, she wasn't forced to eat her words per se, but she was forced to watch as he slowly and visibly succumbed to his cold. Raina wasn't quite sure what was worse: hearing him sneeze or seeing him do it, plus seeing the effect his illness was having on him.

Julien was her type even on an ordinary day, with dark wavy hair just this side of dashing, olive skin a shade or two darker than hers, and a nose that she could only describe as a big, gorgeous wedge in the middle of his face. As it turned out, that nose was just as expressive as the rest of him. He had a tell: when he had to sneeze, his nose would wrinkle and his nostrils would flare as he visibly tried hard to fight it off. But it only worked about half the time in the morning, and as morning turned into afternoon...

"IHMPFSHHhh! Hehh - hhihMFSHH!"

They were back at their computers, having determined that sharing a Google Doc would be more productive and would also give Julien freer access to his tissue box. He'd frantically grabbed tissues to stifle the sneezes into, as he'd been doing for about the last half hour, citing his mistaken thought that really, she had to be disgusted by this and she didn't have to lie about it to be polite. He'd apologized about a million times, too.

"Pardon," he said now. His brown eyes were red-rimmed and watery, and he wiped them with a new tissue. Raina thought it was quite possible she would combust at the impossibility of being able to do that for him. "Ah, where was I?"

"Bless you. You were..." Raina dragged her train of thought back onto the tracks. "Mock-up for the main page sidebar menu. That's what you were doing."

"Yes. That." Julien's voice had gone a little low and raspy from (she checked the time) five hours of having a cold in front of her. His nose wasn't red, but the skin was subtly darkened at the very edges of his nostrils, and she just hoped he couldn't tell that she was staring at them. Or at him. He looked so adorably pathetic that she wished she could wrap him up in her arms, if she couldn't sit on his lap and kiss him. "Your idea for the...movements?" He waved his hand. "It was good."

Raina bit her lip. "You mean the way the widget moves? I think maybe I should make it less wiggly."

"This, we can work out when we design it." Julien took a breath in through his mouth. She could only imagine how stuffy his nose was getting: his last few sniffles had sounded thick and unproductive. "Then -"

His phone vibrated on the table and started playing an insistent ring that sounded like a piano. "Excuse me, I think I need to take this," he said, making a face, and picked the phone up. "Allo?"

Whoever was on the other end had Julien frowning within a few seconds. "Until next Monday?" he said. "Wait, who is this? Oh. Did you ring my..." His nostrils flared. "My supervisor? Or yours? I am not the person to - to call wihhth..." Raina's breath quickened as he brought his hand up to his nose and rubbed his palm in circles against it, an irritated-looking line appearing between his eyes. "The person to call with questions about this." Now he had his knuckles against his nose, squishing his nostrils first back and forth, then up and down. He looked so, so utterly sneezy.

How long would he be able to hold out? He didn't even look like he could finish the call without sneezing.

"Let me - letmeputyouonmute," he gasped out, and pressed his thumb against his phone screen, letting the phone fall to the table as he tented his hands over his nose and launched into a fit that put his other sneezes to shame. "IhhrHSHH!" It was harsher than his usual sneezes, sounding itchy and irritated. His nose must have been tickling so badly - the thought made Raina shiver. "MPFSHHhh! Hehh...HMPFSH! - hhh...IHSHH!" His whole body shuddered with each sneeze, like a little earthquake rolling through him. "Ih...hh-hheHH - EHHMPFSH!"

He emerged cautiously from his hands and looked at his phone. "Oh," he said, sounding surprised. "I think he hung up on me." His accent had thickened just a little.

Raina opened her mouth to talk and found that she had to clear her own throat. "Did you forget to press mute?" Great. She still sounded strangled.

"Maybe, or I missed the button. I'm sure that if he heard me sneeze, that is why he ended the call." Julien gave her a faint smile. "Should we continue?"

"I think we have to," she said. They weren't going to get the project done today even if they hurried, and that meant tomorrow she would once more have to deal with him and his cold, which would probably get deliciously worse overnight because that was how colds worked. But at least she could lessen the amount of torture she would have to go through by a few hours.

After some more back-and-forth about design, Julien shook his head and let out a frustrated-sounding sigh. "All right, I think I need to look at this with you," he said, and got up, bringing a smaller notepad and the cup of water he'd grabbed at lunch with him. Raina went stiff as he sat next to her. "Is this all right? I don't want to get you sick, but it's best if we both have our eyes on the document together."

Together. She wanted to look at the document together. And sit together while she rubbed his back, and talk together while he sneezed, and - "Yeah, sure. It'll be time to go home soon anyway. You shouldn't be working late if you're sick."

"I wish you weren't right," he said, "but yes."

He had never been a workaholic. It was one of the things Raina liked so much about him; he seemed like he took so much care to keep his life balanced, and there was nothing fake about it or him. "Okay." She reached for her pen. "Look, the thing you were talking about with the shadows under the font is -"

Julien cut her off by grabbing for the tissue box. "Oh, wait, I - hhpfSHHH!"

In the space of a split second, he missed the tissues and clapped his hand over his face instead - and still misted her hand.

Raina's brain bluescreened. It took way too long to convince her body not to hyperventilate. "Bless you."

Julien blinked. "Um, thank you - oh. Oh, God." His eyes went wide, and he lunged across the table, grabbing the hand sanitizer and then grabbing her hand. "Here, please let me - I'm so sorry -" He squirted a pile of hand sanitizer into his hand, then his own, frantically rubbing his hands together. "I can't believe it!"

"Julien, it's not a big deal." She mimicked his motions slowly and jerkily. "It's okay."

"Okay? I sneezed on you. If you don't hate me now -"

"Julien!" She touched his elbow. He stopped mid-movement, looking at her. "You're sick. I know you couldn't help it." How she wasn't radiating enough heat to save the entire building a month's worth of heating costs, she didn't know. "Why don't we stop for the day? You can go home and rest."

He paused, then nodded. "Yes. I think maybe that's what I must do."

Raina shut her laptop and stood, going around to his side of the table and gathering up the things that stayed in the conference room. "If you're feeling better tomorrow, we'll meet up then. Just please take care of yourself, okay?"

Julien coughed into his shoulder. "I will try," he said. "And will you please take Vitamin C?"

"Tomato sauce with dinner it is," she said, and echoed his hesitant smile with one of her own. "I'll be okay, Julien. Seriously."

When he left the room, she absolutely didn't listen to the sound of his tired-sounding sniffles on the way out. Really, no, she didn't. Or maybe she was just lying to herself, and was not only a big liar who lied, but also someone whose crush was now completely out of control.

[Dusty15]

How lucky am I to log onto the Forum just a few minutes after this delicious gem of a fic got posted?! Ahhh that was such a lovely read and the tease of more to come is extra exciting 😁 
Julian sounds so dreamy...

[Elle]

Ahhhh!!! It's so good! I was definitely fanning myself through his fit mid phone call. And the idea of him being worse tomorrow while they have to continue to work together 😍🔥. And God him having a box of tissues is so hot.

[Privatedancer]

Lovely - looking forward to day 2 of his cold

[ID2006]

Oh gosh this is lovely. I do hope much caretaking ensues.

[Masking]

It was going to be a while, but seeing these lovely responses (and wanting more of Julien and Raina) made me decide to write again! Thanks again to @Elle.

-

The next day, it was raining when she left her house. Pouring, in fact. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but it was definitely in "I'm going to look like a drowned rat when I get to work" territory, not "I'll have drops of water beading up on my hair" territory.

Oh, well. She lived within walking distance of her job, so walk she would. Raina grabbed her umbrella and started out the door.

By the time she got to work, the wind had blown it nearly out of her hand so many times that she might as well have not used one at all. "God," Raina sighed as she came in and closed her apparently-useless umbrella. The cubicle next to her was empty, so she would be able to prop it up there to dry, thank goodness for small favors.

Her mood wasn't made any better by the fact that the paper towels in the women's room did a crappy job at drying her hair, but at least they worked for the water dripping down her face. When she left the bathroom, though, her mood abruptly lifted.

There was Julien, walking through the door with water falling off his coat and his face. His hair looked plastered to his head, and he was shivering. Raina knew she should have left well enough alone, but it was like someone else was piloting her body as she went over to him. "Hey," she said. "What happened?"

Julien sniffled. He looked even more cold-ridden and gorgeous up close than he had the previous day, but the deep circles under his eyes had Raina biting the inside of her cheek in sympathy. "I thought my car would mean I was safe from the rain," he said. "I didn't..." Another shiver ran through him. "I didn't think about the parking lot. This was stupid of me."

"Not stupid. Everyone forgets things," Raina told him. "You can go dry your hair in the bathroom. That's what I did."

He looked her up and down, eyes going wide. "You were caught in the rain, too? Wait, don't you walk?"

"Yeah. And please don't start with the 'Raina rained on' jokes, because I've heard it all before." She didn't think he was the type of person to do that, but you never knew.

"I would never joke about that. You must have been rained on more than me!" Julien reached a hand out, as if to touch her shoulder or maybe her hair, before suddenly letting it drop - much to Raina's disappointment. "Your clothes are wet."

"It's not so bad, seriously. My desk is right under the vent. I'll dry." She wanted so badly to take his hand and squeeze it until he knew he shouldn't feel bad for her. "What about you? You're the one who's sick, Julien, and you look worse today. Why aren't you taking care of yourself at home?" Or letting me take care of you. Shut up, Raina. "Seriously, if you don't want to work today, I totally understand."

Julien shook his head, loosening water from his hair. As Raina watched, a few streams began to drip steadily down his face. "I made a commitment to you. You should..." A drop of water was dripping down the side of his nose, and she stared, transfixed. "It's not so bad to sit huh-here and work in a - a warm office -" The drop of water traveled along the curve of one nostril. Both of them flared, nose wrinkling, and as the drop stopped at the tip of his nose, Raina knew he was going to lose control. Damn it, damn it, damn it.

"Hehh..." His eyelashes fluttered as his chest lifted sharply with a hitched breath. "N-non - sorry -" He rummaged frantically in his coat pocket with one hand, probably searching for tissues, but it seemed like he was too sneezy to find them. Either that or they had gotten wet, too. "Hihhh..." A wrinkle appeared between his brows as his head tilted back just slightly, exposing how irritated his nose clearly was. "Hihhh'EIHHmpfshh!"

It was a powerful sneeze that shook his whole body, and he brought his hand up just in time to squelch it into his palm. Raina winced even as she still stared. That couldn't have been comfortable. "Bless you," she said after a few seconds. "You okay?"

"I think I maybe..." He spoke into the confines of his hand, voice muffled, and let out a deep, chesty cough. "I maybe should not have done that."

"You couldn't help it."

"Yes, but now I've already sneezed on myself and it's only nine in the morning," Julien said. Would he ever stop being so hot? "Excuse me, please, Raina. I need the restroom, and then we can work in a bit. I'm so sorry."

She watched him go, then walked back to her desk in a daze. The vent blew warm air onto her and she let it ease her own slight shivers. Even the way he addressed her made her feel like someone was holding a candle inches from the back of her neck - kind of like the word reine. Raina was no queen, but hearing his accent curl around her name was intoxicating.

Then someone knocked on the edge of her cubicle.

This time, she turned around slowly enough to see him without hurting herself. "Julien, seriously. This is probably a bad day for you to do this."

"You don't want to work with me?" Julien asked. That was weird. He looked almost hurt. But then his expression cleared in realization. "Ah, yes. Okay, you don't want to get sick. I completely understand. I wouldn't want to get sick either."

"You're already sick," Raina said, unable to help a smile.

"Yes, but you see my point. Listen, I think we won't need much time on this." Julien sniffled softly, but he was so audibly stuffed up that he clearly needed more than that. "Maybe two hours. Lee emailed me last night and said we can use the room again if the project draft can be finished today. Is that all right with you? Then I'll leave you alone and you won't have to worry about more contagion."

"Um..." Every word he said in relation to his cold almost made her breath catch, even the word 'contagion.' "Okay. Ten minutes? You can have some time to...catch your breath." And blow his nose and maybe sneeze a few more times. She wanted to find tissues and cover his nose with them, and wrap her other arm around him, feeling him melt against her. If she tried that, though, he'd probably report her, and he'd be right.

He nodded and walked away, probably back to his desk to do what she suggested.

After ten minutes on the dot, Raina went to the conference room, only to find Julien already there again. He had a bigger box of tissues with him this time, the hand sanitizer again, and a cup with steam visibly rising off it. "Mint tea," he said, catching her look, "like my parents make. It helps me feel better."

"Makes sense," Raina said, sitting down across the table from him. "Okay. You're right, we don't have much left to do, so let's just bang it out - finish, I mean. Sorry to be confusing."

Julien shook his head and coughed a few times. "Not confusing," he said in almost a whisper. God, his poor voice. "Let's start working."

He was right; they only needed about two hours. They were torturous hours, though. Raina was torn between wanting to kiss him, wanting to take care of him, and just plain liking him, especially every time he stifled a sneeze into a bundle of tissues or took a much-needed drink of tea. "I think this will work," he said when they deemed themselves finally finished. "If..." He paused. Raina looked up from her laptop to see him blinking again, reaching for tissues. "Sorry."

"Okay, you have to stop apologizing every time you sneeze," she said. And she needed to stop talking when he was about to sneeze, because if she wasn't careful, he would figure everything out and it would be all over.

"Hh - I can't," he said, somehow managing a laugh even through those rising breaths. "It's p-polite - ihhhh..." He brought the tissues to his nose, pressing them firmly against his face with both hands, and curled in on himself. "HhMPFSHH! Ihhh...IHSHMPHhh!" Raina winced. All that stifling probably felt horrific, and it couldn't have been pleasant after doing it two days in a row. "HIHSHFF!" Usually the fits, when he had them, petered out after three, but it was clear he wasn't stopping. "Hihh-huhhh...hh'hehHHMPHSH!" He gasped in a deep breath, and then for the first time all morning, let loose. "Hhh'EIHSHHH! Hhh'GHSHHahh! Hhh'hh...hhhihh..." No. Oh, hell, no. It was teasing him. She wished she was sitting next to him and she wished she was anywhere else but here, and then the last of the triple ran through him like a sword. "EHPFSHHUHH!"

His ragged breathing was the only sound in the otherwise silent room after that. Even the murmur of voices outside had stopped. Julien coughed and blew his nose productively, then moaned. "Doux Jésus," he said. His voice was so rough and crackly that Raina drew in her breath to even hear it. "I'm so sorry. This is disgusting. I've probably become a biohazard."

Raina knew she was staring even harder, but she was powerless to stop it. "Oh my God, Julien, bless you. I'm so sorry that hurt."

Julien rolled his eyes, giving her a weak smile. "How could you tell?" He broke into a low chuckle, interrupted himself with a cough, and reached for his cup. "Agh, it's gone."

Well, there was something she could do about that. "Give me a minute," she said. "I'll be right back."

She went to the break room, pulled out one of the tall foam cups they had left over from the last someone-landed-a-huge-client celebratory party, and filled it at the sink. "Is that for you or for Julien?" asked Annie, who sat two desks away, from her spot at the table.

"Julien. He ran out of tea."

"You're being really nice to him," Annie said. "I mean, you're not even scared of getting sick? I know I am. Probably the whole office is."

"You're not mad at him for that, are you?" Raina turned, cup in hand, and raised her eyebrows. "Do you really think he'd be allowed to take a day off in the middle of a project? Not the way things run here. We finished, so he can rest, but he keeps insisting he had to come in."

Annie shrugged. "That's a good point. I guess the real ass here is capitalism. Just tell him to take care of himself."

Raina nodded, already halfway out the door. "That's what I've been trying to tell him since yesterday, so good luck getting him to listen if you try."

When she got back to the break room, Julien had his elbows resting on the table and his forehead against his palms. She couldn't even imagine how much his whole face had to be hurting. "Hey," she said quietly, and set the cup down on the table. He didn't move, so even though the thought made her heart pound, she put her hand on his shoulder. "I brought you some water. You won't get any better if you're dehydrated."

Julien nodded against his hands. "I know."

Raina squeezed his shoulder gently. He felt a little warm - not feverish, exactly, but definitely exertion. "Come on, Julien. You have to drink."

He lifted his head. "Yes," he said. Raina took that as her cue to grab some hand sanitizer and go back to her side of the table. After a long drink, Julien reemerged and cleared his throat. "Thank you so much."

"No problem, seriously," she told him. "Look, you have to stop stifling your sneezes. You're just going to give yourself a sinus infection or an ear infection or something."

"I wanted to be polite," he said through another cough. "For you. You've been so kind to work with me."

"Believe me, Julien, you don't have to be polite with me. I already know you're nice."

Julien nodded, drinking more water in silence. Raina was just about to tell herself that he now thought she was a creep when he spoke again. "Jules," he said. "My friends call me Jules."

"Jules," she echoed, pronouncing it like he did: Zhul. "Are you saying I'm your friend?"

"If you want to be," he said, and his tired eyes looked so sincere. "What do your friends call you?"

"Just Raina. My sister calls me Ray, but no one else gets to do that." She'd never hear the end of jokes about rain versus ray of sunshine in that case. "Julien. Jules. Please, will you go home?"

He hesitated. "Let me talk to Lee," he said. "If I'm allowed, then I will go. Thank you again, so much."

"Okay," she said, getting up from her chair. Her clothes were still clammy, sticking to her, and maybe if she crouched and stood under the hand dryer in the bathroom, she could fix that at least a little.

When she got back to her desk, having been only mildly successful, there was a different foam cup sitting there. It was filled with something clear and green, and next to it was a note.

I'm allowed to go home. Thank you for everything.

Don't worry: I washed my hands before pouring this for you and I did not breathe on it. Please enjoy.

J.

[Privatedancer]

So glad for the update .  Will she get to visit him at home?

[sprinkles287]

Ooooooh LOVELY. She’s totally going to catch this. Love the set up and how sweet they both are.

[Elle]

Omg this is so sweet! I love how apologetic he is and his cute note at the end made me giggle!

[AutumnSneezes]

Oh! Julien is such a baby boy! I love your description of him, it's impossible not to love him in this. And I adored all the observations about him sneezing and how Raina was feeling. This was sweet and sensitive and just lovely, I'm so glad you were inspired to write more! Thanks so much for sharing 

[Masking]

Am I capable of writing sneezy h/c fic without pouring a gallon of plot all over it? Apparently not.

-

Julien didn't come in the next day, but she hadn't really been expecting him to.

Raina took his absence as a mild net positive. Even selfish as she figured she was, wanting to see him at work with a bad cold, she knew staying home and resting was the best thing for him. He'd looked miserable, and she wouldn't wish misery that never ended on him. When he came back, she decided, she would ask him how he'd been. Maybe they could make conversation about something else...like their boss giving their project a thumbs-up over email, or how he'd called her his friend. 

Anyway, the distraction caused by wondering about how he was handling his cold at home was much less than the distraction him being there all sneezy would have caused.

She concentrated on writing necessary emails - sometimes it felt like her job was about 85% bureaucratic minutiae, and if she was going to be honest with herself, she was probably undercounting that - until lunchtime. Annie got up from her desk and asked her if she wanted to eat in the lobby cafe. It was an easy yes, since the vent over her desk had changed from blowing hot air to cool air halfway through the morning.

"Hey," Annie said when they'd sat down with their sandwiches and drinks. "I just noticed, and I hope it's okay to say this, but you look tired."

Raina touched her undereye circles. "I always look tired."

"I mean, you've said that before, but it's worse today." Annie leaned forward over the table, frowning at her. "Are you okay? Did something upset you?"

"That's nice of you to ask," Raina said. She probably did look tired from worrying about Julien, and it was kind that Annie wanted her to be okay. Maybe they should start hanging out more often - more friends at work would be good. "I'm not upset. It's probably just the weather. Atmospheric pressure, right?"

"God, yes. That rain! I was only in it for half a second yesterday, but I swear my hair hasn't recovered."

Raina laughed. "Mine either. Fellow frizz queen, reporting for duty." The rain had largely stopped, but the weather hadn't let up being nasty. It was so gray outside that even the evergreen trees looked sad.

Annie took a sip of her drink. "You're lucky your hair texture's so much looser."

"Fair point," said Raina, and bit into her sandwich. "So look, are you going to that happy hour thing the week after next? Lee practically has a stroke whenever any one of us RSVP's too late."

"I'm thinking about it." Annie looked at her with an expression that was the perfect definition of 'speculative.' "Do you think Julien will be there?"

Raina took another bite and briefly forgot how not to talk with her mouth full. "Why?"

"He's come to a few of the other ones."

She could have just kicked herself for not going to them herself. Clearly she should have a blank schedule Friday nights instead of gaming over Discord, got it. "Oh. I mean, his cold will be gone by then. They don't last that long." Casual, Silver. Keep it casual. "Who usually comes?"

"Probably half the office," said Annie. "Lee's been trying to pull the whole 'team player' thing to get more of us to go."

"I've seen those emails," Raina agreed, glad to have a new jumping-off point for the conversation. "If we start getting asked to pull more hours in the name of team player stuff, I'll be heading over to the malicious compliance subreddit for ideas."

"You and me both. HR seems to be on our side here, at least." Annie smiled. "Look, you're newer than I am. If you don't go to as much stuff, that's not your fault."

"Sure. Makes sense."

Raina was sorry when the lunch hour ended. Uncomfortable conversation about Julien aside, she obviously needed to get out more if she was missing out on time spent with good people. Maybe she'd stop looking tired if she talked to people instead of messing around on her phone during the evenings.

The rest of the day went on about as fast and in as pleasant of a way as it could, air-conditioning issue aside. Even Annie's grin and whispered "still look tired!" as Raina got up from her desk to go home just made Raina roll her eyes and smile back.

When she got home, though, it became clear within a couple hours that she could barely keep her eyes open, and she couldn't seem to shake off the deeply cold weather she'd encountered while walking back.

Raina made tea, but the heavy feeling in her entire throat and the stinging pain in the back of her mouth where it met her nose just kept getting worse. TV didn't help, either, and when she tried to send a work email, she microslept partway through.

Bed at 9 PM, then. Right. She just hoped this wasn't what she thought it was.

When she had a coughing fit right after lying down, though, she figured it was a fruitless hope.

-

The next morning, the 7 AM alarm blared into her head like reveille played on the world's most unwanted horn. Raina sat up blearily in bed to shut it off, and surprised herself within seconds with a sneeze. "HhihSHhh!"

It was loud enough in her small room that she made an embarrassed noise before remembering that, yes, she lived by herself. But an audible sneeze was the least of her problems. Overnight, she had gotten stuffy enough that it didn't clear even when she was upright, and even getting out of bed to brush her teeth made her shiver.

"No," she said. "Shit," but she reached for the thermometer in her medicine cabinet anyway.

It beeped about thirty seconds later: 99.6. Not a fever, or maybe barely a fever, but it was enough that going to work was probably a hazard to other people, too. Hey, she wrote on her work email account after fumbling for her phone again. I'm sorry, but would it be okay if I didn't come in today? I'm sick. It's not life-threatening, but my temperature is up a little and I'm probably contagious. Again, I'm sorry if it would leave the office short-staffed.

The response came back a few minutes later. Sure, stay home. You can work from home today and tomorrow like Julien. If there's an emergency, I'll let you know.

Julien. The realization, only vague before now, made her shiver. This was Julien's cold. He'd given it to her. If she wasn't feeling a little too warm right now anyway (although it was a nice change from feeling too cold), she might have felt even warmer. How weird was it that there could be anything positive about getting sick? She obviously didn't want to be sick, and the next few days were going to suck, but wow, she was a total freak.

Then another realization hit her: sometimes other people actually did want to be sick because of the capitalist hellscape, and they said so. Okay, in that context, getting the shivers over a hot sneezy guy giving you his cold did seem less weird.

Raina wrapped up in a sweater and went to make more tea, which was tasty enough. The steam loosening her congestion was a bonus, too, at least until - "Hhhshuhh!" The sneeze made her snap forward. "Ow." Her head was hurting, too. She wondered if this was how Julien had felt after he went home that day, tired and headachy. Sympathy bloomed in her all over again.

She had to squint while looking at the computer screen, but she managed to get enough work stuff done that by the end of a few hours, the client's satisfaction over the preliminary website design was cemented in writing. By the end of those few hours, Raina also wanted to put her head down on the table and sleep again, but she contented herself with reading some online stuff instead. She'd probably just sneeze on herself if she put her head on her arms anyway. Just like -

Her phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts, and she grabbed for it. "Hello?"

"Is this Raina?"

"Yeah," she said, and then remembered that she was probably supposed to be Work Pleasant during what were technically working hours. "Um. I mean, speaking."

"Good. This is Julien."

She almost fell out of her chair, and almost dropped the phone to boot. Julien was calling her? "Hi," she said stupidly after way too long of a pause. "Hi, Julien. Did you need something?"

"No, but I heard you'd gotten sick," Julien said, "and I wanted to tell you I'm very sorry. This is my fault."

"How'd you get my..." and then she remembered. "Company directory." Or, more specifically, the departmental directory that Lee had insisted they all add their names, phone numbers, and a quote of their choice to. "You don't have to -" She paused again, this time to cough. Once again, ow. "You don't have to be sorry. You couldn't help it."

"I could!" Julien insisted. His voice was lower and hoarser than usual, even more so than it had been at work. Raina's breath caught just hearing it. "I was the one who insisted we should work in the same room when I was sick. And then I sneezed on you. I feel so terrible over ihhh - it - huhh'hh...hhIHSHHuhh!" He gave a defeated-sounding sniffle. "Pardon. You see, this is what I did to you."

Raina was torn between passing out and whimpering, and thankfully did neither. He'd just sneezed right in her ear. Over the phone, every part of it was magnified: the desperate hitching breaths, the way he tried to talk through it, the full-sounding sneeze itself. "Bless you," she said. "Like I said. It's okay, Julien."

He gave a crackly sigh. "Excuse me a moment," he said, and then she heard the muffled sound of what was obviously him blowing his nose. He sounded so stuffed up. "I'm back," and that was the cutest thing she'd ever heard. "Do you have someone to take care of you, at least? You said something about a sister."

"She lives about four hours away, unfortunately," Raina said, wrinkling her nose. Okay, no. She was not going to sneeze while talking to him, because he'd just feel guilty. "I won't call her over something this stupid - GHNXSHT!" She pinched her nose and shuddered through a stifle, and hoped desperately that he didn't recognize it.

But luck wasn't on her side. "Bless you!" Julien exclaimed. "That sounds so awful. How do you feel?"

'Awful' was a pretty good word for how she felt, but she wasn't going to admit it. "Okay."

"Raina." There it was again, that way he said her name. "You don't sound okay. Wait - I'm sorry. Is that unkind?"

"No. You're kind of right," she admitted. "But I'll get better. I'm working from home."

Julien puffed out a breath. "Working!" he said. "That's unfair. You should be resting. I've done hardly any work."

Great. Now she'd put more time into the daily grind than she really had to. "I'm resting enough."

"Could I..." He took in a breath, and she hoped for another sneeze, but it seemed he was just gearing himself up to speak. "Please tell me if this is too...forward. But could I - is there anything I can do to take care of you?"

If her brain had bluescreened over him sneezing on her, this almost made her shut down like a city block after a fallen power line. "Don't you live alone yourself?" she got out.

"Yes, but now I have slept and you haven't."

"Ouch. But that's fair."

He was quiet, and Raina wondered if maybe she'd gone too far somehow. "Julien?"

"I -" The syllable was breathy. "Just a - hhh - I h-have to - AHSHHHH!" Oh, God. That sounded so itchy. "Again - ihhGHSHH! Hhhh...huhhISHHHuhh!"

He stopped, breathing ragged, and Raina felt her own breath match his. "You okay?" she ventured.

"Yes," Julien said. "No more sneezes for now. But I will later." He coughed out a laugh. "Again, please tell me if this isn't...if this is...creepy? But may I come to take care of you? If the answer is no, that's fine. I just thought I would ask."

"You feel...obligated?" Raina said carefully, her heart sinking.

"Not obligated! I wouldn't ask if you weren't - if I didn't want to be..." She couldn't interpret the silence. "If I didn't want to," Julien said. "But I should warn you, it will be loud and terrible when I sneeze...like so - hhh...ehIHSHHuhh!" Raina's stomach clenched. "This was excellent timing," he added. "To demonstrate the sneezes."

"They don't sound terrible," Raina said. If only he knew, but thank God he didn't. "Are you...sure? I won't be very good company."

She could almost hear his nod. "Yes, I'm sure. If I'm not imposing. I promise I'm not a - serial killer? Is that the right word? And I won't go through your things and sell them online."

That got a surprised laugh out of her. "I trust you, Julien," she said. "If you don't mind that this place is lived-in. I mean, not magazine-model neat or anything." He wanted to be in her house. This was something out of a dream. Or maybe it was a nightmare and she'd wake up after the dream turned into an octopus trying to eat her or something.

"Okay. Will you give me two hours?" Julien asked. "I want to bring some things."

"You don't have to."

"I want to, Raina. I promise." Even hoarse, his voice was so warm.

She gave him her address in a daze, letting him know that he could park behind her car. "And the porch steps creak," she added.

"Thank you for letting me know," Julien said. "Maybe try to go to sleep before I arrive?"

"I'll try," Raina answered. "Thank you again."

"Thank you for allowing this. I'll see you in a while."

She hung up, or maybe he did, and she found herself staring at her phone. Had that really just happened? Was he going to -

Well. Anyway. He was right, and she definitely needed to get some sleep. Raina dragged herself over to the couch and covered herself in a blanket, pulling it over her head for some darkness. If she woke up and he wasn't there, then maybe it had been a dream after all.

-

There was a knock on the door. Raina sat up, the words he's here running through her head before her brain caught up with it to tell her who 'he' was. She ran to the door, ignoring the sudden dizziness that caused, and yanked it open, hoping it wasn't the mailman.

It wasn't. Julien stood there, a bag slung over one arm. His hair was mussed, his eyes were still exhausted-looking, and he was here. "Hi," he said, giving her a soft smile. "Do you feel better at all?"

Raina took stock of herself. "Not really," she said. "Please come in, Julien. Thank you so much."

"You are very welcome," he said, and stepped inside. "This house is very nice."

"Thanks." Raina ducked her head down. "Do you want to put your stuff in the kitchen?"

Julien nodded and followed her. "I brought things for you," he said. "Us, I suppose, if you don't mind that I share." He pulled a large metal container out of the bag and set it on the kitchen table. "This is soup, and I've also brought tissues. And honey, if you like that in your hot drinks." Reaching in the bag one last time, he took out something soft. "And a sweater."

Raina laughed. "I'm wearing one."

"I see that, but I didn't know." Julien smiled back, ruefully. "This is one of mine. I thought maybe you would be cold."

She wanted to pull her own sweater off and put his on instead, bury her face in it, and see what he smelled like up close. "Thank you," she said instead. "You brought me soup?"

"It's not fresh," Julien said. "Defrosted. Is that all right?"

"Of course! I'm just grateful you brought me any at all."

"Mm-hm." Julien tapped the container. "This is chorba frik. I know people recommend chicken soup, but this is what I have when I'm sick. It always makes me feel better to have something that tastes of home."

"Yeah, totally."

He nodded. "It's a bit spicy, I should warn you, but that helps also. It makes my nose run, and then I feel cleared out, at least until everything comes back."

"That's...it makes sense." Raina cleared her throat, then regretted it when that made her cough. "Ugh. Sorry."

"If I can't apologize," Julien said, "then neither should you." He touched her back lightly between her shoulder blades. "Does it hurt?"

"A little," Raina admitted. No use trying to lie when he was already here. "But it's not so bad."

Julien sniffled, and she watched his nose start its gorgeous wrinkling and flaring. "Not so bad is not the same as - as good - " He was going to kill her with this constant talking-through-it thing he did. "And you should - huhh - not..." His breath was choppy, nostrils widening with every hitch. "Try to...hehhEHSHHUHH!" He didn't sneeze into his arm, but instead yanked the collar of his shirt up over his nose just in time. "Huhh...huhhISHHHooo!" That was pretty much a perfect sneeze, and Raina already knew she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it. "IHSHHUHH! Huhhh...hhh..." He emerged cautiously, shaking his head. "Wow."

Raina could see the slightest glimmer on his upper lip, and her toes curled in her socks. What the hell was wrong with her that that didn't gross her out? Her fetish was the weirdest thing. "Bless you," she said, and pushed one of the boxes of tissues towards him. "Do you want to..."

He nodded, opened the box, and grabbed a handful of tissues, turning aside for a relieving-sounding blow. "This cold will not let go of me," he said, still sounding stuffy. His poor nose must have been so swollen on the inside. "It's still so bad. I feel terrible for giving this to you."

"Lee said I could have today and tomorrow to work at home," Raina said, "and then I have the weekend. Seriously, Julien, it's not a big deal."

"It is to me," said Julien. "I like...working with you so much, and it made you sick. This is the least that I can do." He looked at her. "Does your head hurt?"

"A little." Her ears felt stuffed-up, too, enough that they were ringing. "I've had worse - ehSHH!" She turned to the side just in time.

Julien shook his head. "Tes souhaits," he said. She hoped she wasn't imagining the tenderness she thought she could hear in his voice. "Sorry, bless you, I meehhIHSHHuhh!" He sniffled, wiggling his nose in the most adorable way. "I am so loud with this cold. It's not like this, usually."

Usually? He wasn't a sneezy person, not from her experience at work, so - did he have allergies? What else might get to him? The possibilities were endless and delicious, and Raina had to stop thinking about them right the hell now. "Be as loud as you want," she said. "And just so you know, my place is yours. Make yourself at home. Do you want to sit down or something? The couch? We could watch TV and - and, um, so you won't make your throat sore or anything."

He rubbed a hand up and down his throat. "It is sore," he said. "Thank you for the offer. Please lead the way."

Heart quickening, Raina did as requested, trying not to stare at him the whole time. This was going to be a very difficult afternoon in either the best or worst way.

Edited February 25, 2023 by Masking

[ID2006]

I don't know how I missed the last update but I think you may have nailed one of my dream fic scenarios.  Neeed more. Must have cuddles, lol.

[a-and-b-snz]

This is SO CUTE 🥰 I could sit and read about these two forever ❤️

[Elle]

Mmmm delicious! I love how he always talks through his sneezes. And bringing her soup and A Sweater!! So cute .

[Privatedancer]

Great update 

[Dusty15]

Another sweet and lovely update! He's such a cutie  

[Tumble]

Oh, this is wonderful. I love the way he’s taking care of her while he’s still sneezing. 

[Sneezyboy]

This is so amazing!

[Masking]

Julien tipped his head back once he was settled on the couch, closing his eyes. "This is comfortable," he said.

"Thank you." Raina sat down a cushion and a half away, as close as she dared. "You know, you can go to sleep if you want."

"No, it's all right," he said, shaking his head - or rolling it, really, seeing how he was positioned. "I just need rest for a minute. Have you worked very much today?"

Raina shrugged, even knowing he couldn't see it. "Probably too much," she answered. "Mostly stuff with our client. I think the website draft's pretty settled for now, so they'll pass it on and they probably won't bother us until we're better. At least that's what I'm banking on." She smiled. "Okay, that could be a salary joke if you looked at it the right way."

"Mm." Julien huffed a laugh, then seemed to think better of it, rubbing irritatedly at his nose as he straightened up and opened his eyes. "My nose! It won't stop itching," he complained. "Has yours been bothering you this way?"

"Just...just a little," Raina said. "Um." She licked her lips, which had become stubbornly chapped over the course of the day. "I have tissues in here, too, if you need them."

"I will soon, I think. But not yet." Julien rubbed the back of his hand harder against his nose. "It hurts and itches, so I touch it, and that makes it worse. Oh - I'm sorry." He looked at her. "I've only just arrived and I've done nothing except complain."

"And bring me soup," Raina pointed out. "And tea the other day. That was really good, by the way, so thank you - crap, I should have thanked you already." She almost facepalmed. "I must have forgotten."

He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "It's all right. I was sleeping a lot of yesterday anyway, and I wouldn't have been able to appreciate your thanks." He sniffled. "So you like mint tea. I'll make it for you again sometime."

Shot through the heart and he was to blame. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had offered to make her tea. "The office would appreciate that, I bet," she said.

"That's very kind," Julien said, "but I did mean for you, not the office."

"I..." What was she supposed to say? What could she say? 'You're so cute and I love how sneezy you are and I want to jump into your arms' probably wasn't on the table in terms of options here. She settled for "Thank you," followed by "How about TV?"

Julien gave another sniffle. "Yes, that would be very nice."

Raina swallowed hard. "Just a second." She reached for the tissues on the coffee table and set them down next to him. "You probably need these," she said, and busied herself with the remote.

The couch cushions shifted with his movements as she turned on the TV. "Hihhh..." There was an unbearable pause. "HIHSHHuhh!" Not stifled, but he'd definitely caught the sneeze in tissues.

"Bless you," Raina said. "You okay?" she added as he coughed.

"Yes. Thank you. I just..." Julien paused to blow his nose. "I'm annoyed at myself. And my nose."

"Don't be annoyed. I mean, it's a cold - you can't help it." Raina pulled her sweater tighter; it was like just mentioning their mutual cold had given her the chills again. "How about Shadow and Bone? I've never watched it, but maybe now's a good time to start."

In her peripheral vision, she saw Julien lean forward, probably depositing the tissues in the nearby trash can. "I think that would be good," he said. "You should...what is it? Binge watch?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, that, then."

Raina finally turned to look at him again. "Cool. So...if you need anything, you'll tell me, right?"

Julien nodded. "Of course. But I'm here for what you need, remember?"

How could she forget? "Uh," Raina said for probably about the millionth time, and turned on the show.

-

She wasn't aware that she'd fallen asleep until Julien jolted her out of it with a sneeze. "Ehh...hhhh...IhtSHHuhh!"

Raina sat all the way up out of instinct, swayed in place, and looked around just in time to see Julien cupping tissues against his face. "Ihh...huhhEHSHH!"

"Julien?"

He made a noise that she thought might have been a groan. "Hh...hh-huhh...ihhEIHSHH! D-désolé...hihhTSHHHuhh!"

"Holy -" She tried to calm down her breathing. "Bless you."

"I'mb so sorry." Now Julien's voice was full-on stuffed up. "I saw you were..." He grabbed tissues and blew his nose hard enough that he curled in on himself with the visible effort. "You were sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you, but I did."

"I didn't know I was asleep." Her eyes felt gritty, her own nose blocked. The TV was off, she noticed. "How long?"

Julien threw the tissues out, then sniffled and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Only a few minutes, I think. Are you very tired?"

"Like you said." She tried to keep her tone nonchalant. "Just shouldn't have worked like I did."

"Maybe not," he said with a frown. "Do you think you'd like some soup?"

She was about to say he didn't need to go to the effort, but to be honest, that sounded really good. That and some water; her throat was parched. "Yeah, hold on," she said, and got up with some difficulty. "I'll show you where the bowls are."

In the kitchen, Raina pulled out the bowls, spoons, and two glasses. "We should probably both drink some water," she said. "Hydration." Everything she said was just coming out seriously stupid, and even that thought made her head ache. She pressed her knuckles against her forehead and tried not to grimace.

Julien dished out two bowls of soup, which turned out to be red, filled with chunks of vegetables and meat, and smelled absolutely delicious. "Do you prefer to eat in the kitchen?" he asked as Raina filled their water glasses. "Or the living room?"

"Here's fine," she said, and grabbed napkins. The last thing she wanted to do was spill soup on herself in front of them.

The soup turned out to be - well, in terms of taste, she had a hard time not moaning as she ate. "God, this is amazing," she said, and looked down to see that a lot more of the soup than she'd expected had already disappeared. At least she had an appetite. "You said it's, um, chorba frik? Am I pronouncing that right?"

"Yes, you are. That's very good, actually." He was going to kill her with that smile. "I thought you would like it - I remember you're not a vegetarian."

"Nope," Raina said. "But I know some people who are, and I can cook vegetarian food." She ate another spoonful of soup, which was burning pleasantly on her tongue.

After a few more bites, Julien shakily set down his spoon. "Excuse me," he said, "I - ihhHUHHSHH!" He directed the sneeze into his shoulder, his face frozen in a mask of utter sneeziness. "Eh-huhh...ehhISHHH! Hh'EIHSHHuhh! Hhhh..."

"Are you okay?"

He nodded. "The - spices, I forget how they - ihhhh'TSHHoo! How they affect me."

"When you're sick?" Raina wasn't sure how she was still talking.

"Yes. Normally, I can have spicy things, but my nose is so..." Julien wrinkled it. "Sensitive now, because of this cold."

"I'm sorry," Raina said. "You know, you don't have to try to talk when you have to sneeze." Why was she saying such stupid things? Why? "Just so you know. I'll wait to hear what you have to say, seriously."

Julien nodded, gasped, and muffled another sneeze. "IIHSHHuhh!" His eyes were watery, and he rubbed them again. "I hate when I can't stop doing that."

"Looks like that made your head hurt," Raina said.

"No, not so much. Does yours hurt?"

She was about to say no, and then realized that it would be a lie. Her head was still hurting. "How did you know?"

Julien leaned in and pointed at her forehead, his finger stopping dizzyingly close. "There," he said, "between your eyes. There is a line, like you're in pain."

"Yikes," she said. "I - I'd hope I wasn't being that obvious."

"Obvious? I think that kind of thing is involuntary." Then, oh, God, he actually did touch her, laying his fingertips lightly on her forehead. "Is this okay?"

Raina said, or maybe squeaked, a yes as much as she could.

"Okay, good," Julien said, and frowned. "You're a bit warm."

"I know," she said. "I haven't taken anything for it. Maybe I should." And then she didn't know what boldness possessed her, but she lowered his hand for him and kept her fingers squeezed gently around his wrist as she brought their hands down to the table. Julien's eyes widened. "Sorry, I can -"

"No," he interrupted. "Please don't be sorry, not about this. Or anything," he added, "but especially this. If I didn't want you to touch me, I would say no."

Good to know. Very good to know. "So I can..."

Julien jerked away, holding up a finger. "Hhhuhh...hhihhh...hhHUH - hh..." She watched his nose as the sneeze tormented him. "Ihhh...hehh...hh...hhehhTSHHHooo!" His voice pitched up, desperately tickly-sounding, through the sneeze. "IEHSHhhhuhh! Hhh...ihhIHSHHH!"

How was it that every sneeze and fit of his was better than the last? "Bless you."

"Thank you. I tried to take your advice," Julien said, "and not talk." He smiled, but weakly. "Did it work?"

"I think so. I mean, yeah. Especially when it's, uh, teasing you like that."

"Yes," he agreed, "it was. I hate how much I sneeze when I'm sick."

Raina was about to say something, anything, in reply - and then her nose started tickling. "It happens," she said, trying to keep her voice modulated. The irritation wasn't going anywhere, though, and she knew she was about to embarrass herself. "Sorry - hh'tSHH!" She managed to sneeze into her sleeve, at least. Just letting go in front of him would have been horrible.

Julien shook his head. "Bless you."

She wanted so badly to be done, but no. Her nose was having the last laugh. "HSHhhh!" Raina sniffled, looking down at the table. "I hate that."

"Sneezing?" Julien asked. "Do you know, I've never seen you sneeze."

If he'd thought about her sneezing or lack thereof before, that meant he'd been thinking of her, or maybe her cold-muddled mind was just playing tricks on her. "Same with you," Raina said, "until you got sick."

He hummed in agreement. "You don't have to, just," he demonstrated with a few sniffles. "I won't be offended if you blow your nose in front of me. Unless you'd prefer to go to the bathroom?"

"I'm okay," Raina said. Walking away would just be a pain. She took some tissues and turned in place like she remembered him doing at the office, trying to blow quietly. That only backfired when she coughed from the suppressed force, which made the whole situation even more embarrassing. "Ouch."

"Don't." Julien touched the back of her hand. "Don't try to hold anything back, I mean. You'll hurt yourself."

Raina laughed, surprising even herself. "I think that's my line."

"So, all right," he said ruefully, "I'm a hypocrite. Here, let me..." He got up and brought over the trash can, and she gratefully threw the tissues in.

Julien smiled at her and started eating again. Raina copied him, quickly finishing off her soup. It was probably a good thing that his nose behaved this time, but she couldn't say the same for her throat. After a few painful coughs that drew sniffles out of her, she pulled her arms in closer to herself.

"Raina?"

"Mm-hm."

Julien stood up. "Will you -" She stood, too, and before she could even tell what he was about to do, he had his arm around her. "Come on," he said softly. "Let me take care of you."

She was too tired, or maybe too stunned, to ask what he meant as he brought her back over to the couch and sat down, this time next to her. In her space. "Here." He tugged her gently closer, and she felt herself relax against him despite everything in her screaming that she had to be on alert, alert, this was what she'd been wanting and there was no way she was going to miss it by zoning out.

"Thank you," she finally said. "You know, you're warm, too."

"I'm not surprised. This was my cold first." Julien let out his breath in a sigh. "But at least you're not trying to go to work like I did."

Raina breathed in, and heat filled her stomach at the realization that he did indeed smell as good as she thought he would. She wasn't sure if it was cologne or soap, but all she knew was that she wanted to press her face against his neck, and it was taking a lot of effort not to do just that. Instead she let him keep his arm around her shoulders. "Guess we're both here now," she said, for lack of anything else.

Another nod from Julien.

They stayed like that a few minutes, just sitting, until Julien's breath caught again. This time she could feel every movement, every tiny hitch of his breath and the way his shoulders stiffened as he built up to a sneeze. "Hh...ehhh..." He started to move away. "Raina, I hahh-have to..."

"It's okay."

"If - if it is -" Somehow, he chuckled, even through the build-up, and pressed a bundle of tissues against his nose. "Then I will - huhhh...hhh'EHSHHH!" The sneeze shook him against her. "Hhh'IHFHSHH!...only two. Huh." He looked at her, tissues still pressed to his face. "Is it okay if I -"

"Yeah. Stay."

He blew his nose, another set of movements and sounds that reverberated through her, and tossed the tissues. Then, carefully telegraphing his movements - she nodded, and nodded, and oh wow - he put both his arms around her. Somehow they ended up with her head on his shoulder and his chin resting on the top of her head, one arm wrapped around her shoulders and the other around her lower back. "Is this better?" he whispered. "Warmer?"

"Mm-hm." She hugged him in return and shivered again, this time definitely not from her own temperature. "Thank you."

"I will put your dishes away when I get up," Julien said after a few moments.

"Don't worry about it."

She closed her eyes, drifting a little with the sheer sensation of possibly having died and gone to heaven, and then she heard his voice again. "Raina?"

Raina opened her eyes. "What is it?"

Julien pulled away. Raina mourned the loss of his touch, or would have, if he hadn't cupped her face in his palm instead. "Okay?" he asked.

Her heart pounded. "Okay."

Without another word, he kissed her.

[ID2006]

Yas!

[Elle]

Yess. Love the spicy food making him sneeze so much. And him sneezing pressed next to Raina 💕

[Tumble]

Oh! This is so good 🥰

[Sneezyboy]

WOW!🥰

[A4o]

I worry this part might really be Raina's fever dream, it's so perfect !

Although I will certainly have that Bon Jovi song in my head for the rest of the day... 

[beau34]

I’M IN LOVE WITB THIS