From Sharing to Caring

[hellopeople123]

this story is so great

waiting with anticipation for the next part! 

[Masking]

She'd been expecting it for approximately half a second, and she'd fantasized about it for months, but Raina couldn't have imagined what it was like to actually kiss Julien.

It was -

It was like -

Julien's hand, she realized suddenly and nonsensically, was in her hair, his palm on the back of her neck. How had it never hit her that he had big hands? Or maybe it was just that his hands were bigger than hers, and also she needed to stop thinking right the hell now.

He parted his lips, and Raina wouldn't have been surprised if her entire body was fizzing and popping like a lightbulb about to blow out.

"Wait!" Julien said. Raina opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) and blinked, taking in how cold her face suddenly felt. "Raina, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"You shouldn't have..." His words hit her like a punch to the stomach. Raina blinked, found that her eyes were wet, and swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. Of course. He'd had a moment of weakness, which was probably his right since he was sick and everyone's brains went a little loopy when they didn't feel well, and he'd made a mistake. Which he was now fixing. Right.

Then Julien was leaning in as he stared at her with worried eyes. "Raina, what's wrong? Does something hurt?"

She swallowed hard, again and again, until her voice was steady enough to talk. "I've wanted to kiss you for so long," she said, "and now...we kissed and you say you shouldn't have." Her vision went wavery. "Why'd you kiss me if you didn't want to?"

The look on Julien's face turned from worry to horror. "Oh, God," he said. "Please - no, don't cry, I didn't mean...bordel de merde -!" He cut himself off with a frustrated noise. "What is wrong with me? I get you sick and then I make you cry."

Raina looked down. Now he felt guilty, and that only made her feel worse. "Just don't." The inside of her chest was tight and hot, and she could feel sweat breaking out on her forehead. She needed to go crawl into a hole and die. She needed to -

"Breathe, Raina, please, you need to breathe." Julien's hand was in hers. "With me. Come on, I know you can. In and out." He demonstrated with a slow, gusty breath. "Do it like this - that's right, yes, just like that." Raina copied his breathing and was rewarded with a squeeze to her hand. "Listen. I promise you, I wanted to kiss you very much."

She looked up at him, but saw only sincerity in his eyes. "What?"

"Yes. Believe me, I have." Julien sniffled and licked his lips. "But you're sick, and you're so tired. I shouldn't have kissed you when that might make you feel worse. The...exercise?" He touched his chest. "I don't remember the word."

"Exertion," Raina volunteered, clearing her throat. She wiped her eyes as unobtrusively as she could.

"Exertion," Julien echoed. "Exactly. That's not a good idea when you're sick." He looked closer at her and shook his head. "I'm so sorry - here -" he reached for the tissue box and set it down beside her. "Do you feel a little better now?"

Raina tried breathing normally and found that she could, then took another breath and realized with renewed embarrassment that her nose was running. She was probably a teary mess, too, which was undoubtedly why he'd grabbed the tissues. "Yeah," she said, gratified that her voice was only slightly thicker than usual, and cleaned up her face. "You've really wanted to?"

"Wanted to - oh. Yes, I did. Do." Julien leaned back, watching her with such intensity that she felt hot all over again, only in a good way. "I have for a while. When Lee said we would be working together, I was so happy to work with you, but then I caught this - thihhhs cold." He blinked a few times and rubbed his nose. "It was disappointing, because who wants to go out with someone who spends all day sneezing? I even sneezed on...on you."

"I said it wasn't a big deal." She could hear her voice as if from far away as she watched Julien's nose twitch. "You couldn't help it."

"I..." Julien started to say something else, then shook his head and held up a finger instead, his eyes falling closed. "Pardon, I need to -" He reached out a hand and landed on the tissue box, and he desperately grabbed a few, bringing them to his face. "HMMFSHHH!" The sneeze was glorious, full and satisfying-sounding and muffled perfectly in the tissues. Blinking, he lowered them and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I was saying that - agh, no, n-not again..."

She wanted to touch him, but her arms wouldn't move. "Julien, just let it out," Raina said, hardly believing the words were coming out of her mouth. "Come on. Let yourself sneeze."

He nodded and crushed the tissues against his face again. "Ehh'IHTSHH! Hehh...huhhIHSHHuhh!" A few sniffles later, he blew his nose, then rubbed it a few times with the tissues, an adorable wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows. "I wish I could stop sneezing."

"I guess you just have to let it run its course," Raina said. God, how was she sounding anywhere near normal in a situation like this? She touched her cheeks, feeling the half-dried tear tracks there that the tissues hadn't quite taken care of.

Julien sighed. "I suppose. But I have to ask..." He touched her hand, not taking it in his this time, but just stroking the back with one finger. "If you're not angry at my stupidity, would you let me kiss you when we're better? Or to go somewhere, but I would be happy here with Netflix. Right now, tissues and Netflix." His smile got a tentative one out of her.

"Yeah." It came out fainter than she'd wanted. "I'm not mad. You just scared me." She coughed against her upraised arm and winced at the soreness in her throat. "But I know you didn't mean to."

"I'm sorry again for that." He trailed two fingers up to her wrist, then back down. "Wait, no, that's - was that all right?"

"Mm-hm."

Julien smiled. "So, kisses later," he said, and she nodded. "For now, will you let me hold you again?"

Raina wasn't sure how her head didn't pop off her shoulders with how hard she nodded. "Okay. Yes, please."

He reached for her, then stopped halfway through. "Again - hehhEIHSHH!" He sneezed off to the side, but the sound of it uncovered made Raina shiver. "Okay, I think I should probably find more tissues. We will both need them, especially if your cold continues like mine has."

"I can go get them."

"No, no, don't get up," Julien said. "I'll find the tissues. Where do you keep them?"

Well, if he was offering, who was she to argue? "Bathroom," Raina said. "It's right off the kitchen."

"Okay. I'll be right back." With a last rub of his thumb over her wrist, he got up.

Raina watched him go, drawing her legs up and resting her head on her knees. He was right about one thing: she was tired. Crying even a little had further exhausted her, and if she drifted off while he held her, she wouldn't be surprised. That would be just her luck: a guy like him wanted her near him, and she would be asleep the whole time.

She wasn't sure how long it had been when she heard the sneeze ring out. "HIHHSHH!"

"Julien?" Raina shot up from her sitting position. That sneeze had sounded off, somehow. "You okay?"

The answer was another sneeze. No, two. "Hhh...hhHEHSHHuhh! - hehhIHSHH!"

Okay, that was weird. Raina got up and headed to the bathroom, where she found Julien with two boxes of tissues out on the counter and his hand pressed against his face. "Hey, what's wrong?" She tapped his shoulder. "Bless you, by the way."

He turned, rubbing his nose in a frantic circle. "Sorry, I was trying to find the tissues," he said. "You have many - hh...hEHSHHuhh! - many cabinets, and I didn't want to pry, but my nose is so - it's - huhhh...ehhUHSHHoo! I was trying to stifle them, I'm sorry."

"Stop being sorry, and bless you again." Her belly fluttered just saying it, even through her concern.

Julien lowered his hand. The state of his nose would have made her feel like she was on a roller coaster if she didn't feel so worried. "It has been tickling for a minute or two," he said, sounding like it was taking everything he had to keep talking. "I think maybe - something smells - ehhIHTSHHuhh!" He barely caught the sneeze in his shoulder. "Something smells strong?"

Smelled strong. What did he mean by - oh. Shit. "Is this what's setting you off?" Raina asked, indicating the reed diffuser on one of the wall shelves. It was some kind of sugarplum scent, and she'd gotten it on a massive sale after the holidays.

"Maybe?" Julien blinked, then reached for the diffuser.

"Julien, don't -"

But he had already taken it down, and taken a deep breath. "Oh," he said, almost as if he was surprised, and put the diffuser down in time to catch a desperate "HEISHHuhh!" in his hands.

"Bless you!" Wow, so he was the kind of sweet, conscientious idiot who did things like go around smelling things to see if he was allergic to them. "Okay, we're getting rid of this." Raina stepped on the trash can lever, tossed the diffuser in, and pushed the lid down with her knee. "Come on, let me get you out of here."

Julien had the presence of mind to pick up one of the tissue boxes, even as he let out three sneezes in thirty seconds while she guided him back to the living room. "What were you thinking?" Raina asked. "Why would you try to figure out what makes you sneeze by making yourself sneeze?"

"That's how you discover what makes you sneeze, no?" Julien quipped as he sat back down. "It's - h-hold on, I - IHTSHHH!" He sneezed into a few hastily-grabbed tissues from the opened box. "Anyway. I didn't mean to make you throw out your things."

"It's not exactly necessary to my well-being," she said.

Julien shook his head and blew his nose. "I don't have many allergies," he said. "This is unusual. Maybe only because I have a cold, too?"

"Well, I mean...yeah, maybe."

"It's unfortunate," Julien continued, "because now I'm too sneezy to hold you."

Raina wondered where exactly he'd heard the word 'sneezy,' and if she could find whoever taught it to him and shake their hand. "No, you're not," she said, and joined him on the couch again. "You have tissues, so you're armed against surprise attacks. And for the zillionth time, I'm not grossed out." The opposite, she thought. So much opposite. "Come over here."

She ended up coming over there, as it happened, with Julien settling his right arm around her just as his left hand was busy with his nose. "IhhHTSHHuhh!" He sniffled against the tissue he held, then snapped forward with another sneeze. "Huhh...hihhh...IHSHHuhh! Hihh'hhuh...EHSHH!"

Raina leaned her head against his shoulder and blessed him. "Seems like that reaction is slowing down."

"Yes, thank goodness." Julien ran his right hand up and down her arm, slow and soothing. "I will have to go home by the end of the evening," he said, "if you feel like you'll be okay."

It was disappointing, but Raina understood. It would be supremely awkward to offer to have him stay over right now. "That's fine."

"Until then..." He sniffled, which echoed deliciously in her ear, and rested his hand where it was. "I'll still take care of you. And you may keep the sweater as long as you want."

If it smelled like him, and was as warm as he was, Raina didn't think she would ever take that sweater off once she put it on. "Okay."

Julien's breathing was slow and smooth, even punctuated by sniffles. When she was the one to sneeze a few minutes later (irony, she thought, thy name is Raina Silver), his quiet blessing and the soothing movements of his hand soon made her feel a little like melted butter.

There were dirty dishes in her kitchen and she would have to empty all the tissues into a bigger trash can at some point, and her temperature was probably still up if she judged by her shivers. But for all that her throat was sore and her nose was stuffed, Raina couldn't remember the last time a bad cold had left her feeling so good.

[ID2006]

I love these two so much

[orange]

thank you ! 🧡

[Privatedancer]

What an awesome gift seeing an update - thank you !  Love seeing the story unfold!

[beau34]

so good omg, i hope we get to see some more caretaking from julien and sneezy raina

[Elle]

A wonderful treat as always! I love the sneezy cuddles! And the air freshener setting him off, delicious!

[AceOfSpades]

Very nice!! I love this a lot, what a good read. Your characters are very developed, and I love that each of them has their own unique style of sneezing!

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Ooh.... thank you for pointing me at this, @Masking. I love it. ❤️ They are such cute dorks. Plus of course a very hot storyline. Two thumbs up from me.