"Sniffly Stargazer" (Chicago Fire, Leslie Shay, F/F)

[SleepingPhlox]

Probably a one-shot but who knows with me.  Last time I said something was a one shot I continued it, and half a million times I said "to be continued" I never did so...yeah.  Quick little fic about Leslie Shay and an unnamed female OC (who was already an obvious self insert before, and is now even more of one now ) attempting to watch a meteor shower in very, very cold weather.  Is she coming down with something, or is it just the cold air?

Same characters as in It's Soup, Not A Marriage Proposal but they've progressed a little into their relationship now.

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“So, what time does the movie start?”

I turned my head to see Leslie Shay grinning at me, clearly delighted with herself for making the Joke Of The Decade.

“Oh, I'm so sorry,” I teased. “Is spending time with me too boring for you? I mean, we can head back if you want...”

“No, no, no,” she protested, snuggling herself even closer into my side. “This is nice. I like that you're sharing something you like doing with me. I shared my stuff with you, and now it's your turn.”

“Yes but,” I said, pulling my arm around her even tighter. “You showed me around the firehouse. That's not exactly the same thing. That's your work, this is my hobby.”

“Mmm...well, work pretty much is my entire life. I got work, and I got the bar, and that doesn't leave room for a whole lot else.”

She sniffled and huddled into her thick coat a little more. Yeah, it was really cold out here, even with our coats, and hats, and gloves, and the heated portable stove we were making cup after cup of coffee on, and the portable hand warmers she'd brought a dozen of that we'd tucked into our gloves, under our shirts...and, okay, maybe into our bras too. I forgot how damned cold it could be around here in the winter. I don't know how I forgot that, because it's the sort of thing that once you've experienced it, it should be burned into your memory until your dying day.  There was a perfectly good meteor shower in August I always watched, but it was still too soon to know if we'd make it that far, and I really wanted to share this experience with her. So, there we were, in December, just far enough outside Chicago to get away from the lights and a really good view of the sky.

In December. Outside Chicago.

I am truly the queen of dumbass ideas.

Leslie's cheeks were pink from the biting icy cold air, and her nose was starting to follow suit. It was also running a little, just a tiny bit, but enough for me to notice it, and I was just trying to figure out a tactful way to point it out when...

“Hehhh...MPHtchhh!”

She brought both hands to her face, muffling it with her thick gloves, but it still managed to ring out in the otherwise silent night. When she pulled her hands away from her face, she grimaced.

“You don't have any tissues on you, do you?” she asked sheepishly.

I assured her that of course I did. Which was absolutely true, I did, but getting at them with the big ridiculous gloves on my hand was another story. I fumbled around in my purse, trying to get at the travel sized pack of tissues with the crab claw made out of pillows that currently substituted for my hand, and found it impossible. In frustration, I used my teeth to pull the damn glove off, exposing my hand to the painfully cold air, and finally triumphantly grabbed the tissue pack.

I handed it to her, and she attempted to extricate a tissue from the plastic wrapping's embrace, and ran up against the same difficulty I had. She used the same solution as me, pulling off her glove in frustration, and then once she'd finally successfully gotten herself a tissue from the pack, blew her nose in an awkward one handed fashion.

“Sure you're okay?” I pressed.

“Hmm? Yeah. The cold air gets to me sometimes, you know? Stop looking at me like that. I really am fine. I just got sick like a month ago. Nobody could be that unlucky to get sick again so soon. Besides, my immune system is solid. I mean, except for last month, it's solid."

Despite the fact that there was a slight congestion creeping into her voice, I decided I'd take her word for it. She was right, nobody could possibly be so unlucky as to get sick only a month after getting over a cold. And the cold air was murder on the body. I was pretty sure that the only thing keeping my lips from freezing solid and falling off my face was the frequent sips of hot coffee I was taking.

The fact that her face looked the same as it had back then, when she'd been laid up for a few days with a truly devastating cold – pale with a bright redness in her cheeks and on her nose, her grey-blue eyes bleary and watery, and of course the nose that refused to stop running. But, again, all of those things could be explained by the fact that we were sitting outdoors in the freezing cold at night.

“Hihhh...MPHHtchhh!”

So could that. But still...

“This was a dumb idea,” I said. “We should go. Maybe watch a movie. Not sure if any movie theaters would be open this late, but movie night at home, maybe? Grab some pizza, some beers, curl up under lots of blankets?”

Instead of saying Yes, that sounds amazing, lets do that!...she yelped. I jumped and looked around, immediately assuming that she'd just been bitten by a small animal or something. But, she was staring, transfixed, up at the sky, her eyes wide and actually genuinely shining with delight, her lips slightly parted as she breathed in the wonder of the moment.

“I saw one,” she whispered. “I saw a shooting star.” She turned to me with the most transcendent smile on her face. “I've never seen one in my entire life.”

I was a little disappointed that I'd missed it, but I'd watched a lot of meteor showers in my life, I've been obsessed with them since I was little. I'd seen a lot of meteors, and every one of them was amazing, but I'd never seen something as breathtaking as her delighted grin. I admit I may have melted a little bit.

“Well, maybe we'll see a few more,” I said. “It's hard to predict, some nights you'll see a whole bunch, and some nights maybe just one or two. It's luck really, and-”

Another delighted yelp from her drew my attention and I looked skyward just in time to see a bright point of light streaking through the darkness. Then I looked back to her, still staring upward in rapt attention. I was still gazing at her when she turned to me.

“You know,” she mused. “I expected them to make noise. Kind of like a crackly fireworks sound. You know, the noise fireworks make when they're going up? Like that, but quieter, I guess.”

I'd never imagined them making noise before, but I had to admit that it kinda made sense.

“You know, maybe they do make noise, but y'know, they're in space and the sound waves can't...you know what, it's not important. Nerd stuff.”

“I don't mind nerd stuff. Nerd stuff is kinda cute when it's coming from y-...hihhh...tchieeehhh!”

She sniffled and dabbed her gloved hand against the underside of her nose, avoiding my gaze by staring steadfastly up at the sky. I couldn't tell if she was genuinely looking for another meteor, or hoping she could avoid my concerned comments by pretending she couldn't see me staring at her but either way, it was still cute.

I still wanted to get her inside and warmed up, though.

“You know, movies, pizza, and beers are still on the table,” I suggested. “We can keep with the whole me showing you my nerdy hobbies theme and I can break out some of my favourite cheesy sci-fi movies. I've got a lot of those.”

She shot me a comically exaggerated grimace.

“What, like with...spaceships and, I dunno, like robots and stuff? Hihhh... MPHtchhh!”

“Yeah, most of them have spaceships, and some of them have robots. Some of them...” I leaned forward to murmur in her ear conspiratorially. “Have aliens that are just hot chicks in body paint.”

“Ooh, now I'm interested.”

“Thought so. You know, I'm pretty sure hot alien chicks are at least partially responsible for me being gay. Man, I just see them on the screen and I immediately want to make out with the nearest gorgeous woman I can find...”

Leslie groaned playfully. “You are not playing fair. All right, all right, you win. We'll go do things inside, and get warm. Oof, I'm pretty sure my butt is frozen solid and...hihhh...tchhhieew!”

“And if we don't get out of this cold air soon your co-workers are going to be coming out tomorrow morning to recover our bodies.”

“Yeah. I've seen people die from the cold and let me tell you, it's not a good way to go. Their bodies...you know what, it's not important. Medical stuff.”

“I don't mind medical stuff. It's really interesting when it's coming from you. Even the kinda gross stuff. I think it's cool that you know all that stuff.  It's actually pretty badass.”

I couldn't stop myself from looking into her eyes – though I couldn't help but notice that they looked even more bleary and red-rimmed than I had realised before. But she was looking back at me and damn if I wasn't going to lean in and kiss her but then out of the corner of my eye I saw a bright light streak across the sky. She must have seen it too because she turned her head at the exact moment I did, and there was something a bit special about seeing the same meteor at the same time. We'd just shared a fleeting moment in time that would never be repeated, and was gone forever except in our shared memory.

And then it was quickly followed by a second one, just as the first one had fizzled out.  Now that was something I'd only seen happen a handful of times and I was so grateful that she'd gotten to see it too.

“Are you imagining them making noise?” I asked, with a playful grin.

“Uh-huh. Are you? Hihh...MMPHtchhiew!”

“I'm never going to be able to not imagine it now that you put the idea in my head. Come on, now. Lets get you in the car and blast that heater.”

“Sounds good.”

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THE END MAYBE OR TBC MAYBE, WHO KNOWS

[marip0sa]

I love this sm, literally a fantasy straight out of my dreams. please continue!!

[spn27695]

Love this

[sneezemeister]

Wow! This was great

[Xsneezelover3932]

So good!!