Zoom-Sneezes

[hot-with-fever]

Madeleine, a 22 year old working in sales, was a big fan of colds and all their symptoms. Working in an office landscape was excellent for observing cold symptoms, and occasionally it was even possible to follow a cold spreading across the office from desk to desk, person to person. She loved cold and flu season more than anything.

Recently though it had been quite the drought. Being almost summer, the colds had mostly faded away and it had been weeks since she heard a proper sneeze at the office, even an allergy one. 
 

But then one day her boss, Gerry, a handsome man in his late 40s, suddenly started complaining about it being cold in the office. Madeleine’s ears immediately perked up. She knew it could be a false alarm but she was always very attentive to anything that could be signs of illness.

By lunchtime he had put on a sweater. Very good sign, Madeleine though. In the afternoon he was sipping from a cup of tea - excellent Madeline thought, as Gerry normally would have coffee. An hour before the working day was over Gerry started to sniffle a little. At first it was barely audible but eventually there was no denying it.

”Ugh,” Gerry groaned as he went to fetch some paper towels. “I think I might be coming down with something.”

Madeleine suppressed a smile. This was going to be interesting. Her desk was positioned in such a way that she could see Gerry whenever he was at his. In the next hour he would with increasing frequency sniffle, dab at his nose and even gave a honking blow at one point. Madeleine did her best not to stare, but she was thoroughly enjoying the show from the corner of her eye.

When the day was almost over, Madeleine was finally rewarded with what she most desired. Suddenly Gerry’s breath was hitching. His eyes unfocused and his nostrils flared. As if in slow motion his head tilted backwards and his mouth slacked open involuntarily, until finally he released a desperate “Hheet-CHEEEUW”

Madeleine felt her whole body tingle. She couldn’t help herself, she looked straight at him as he sneezed, recording every moment of it in a mental film. She knew she would replaying it over and over again that night when under the covers.

Meanwhile, Gerry was frantically patting his pockets for a tissue. Locating a sheet of paper towel he quickly brought it up to wipe and blow his nose. He then let out a defeated little sigh. When he looked up and caught Madeleine’s eye she quickly called out “Bless you, boss!”

He smiled back sheepishly, eyes looking tired. “I think that’s it for me today. I better nip this in the bud so I’m feeling better tomorrow.”

Madeleine doubted very much that he’d be better by the morning. She was very eager to see if he had developed any new symptoms by then. And she was hoping to get to see his cold really hit its stride.

 

So it was a real disappointment the next day to find that Gerry was not in the office. She has enjoyed his symptoms immensely the previous evening many times over, but now she was hoping for more. It looked like it wasn’t to be.

That is until she attended a meeting on Zoom with a few colleagues, and found that Gerry was on the call. Of course - he was working from home!

Madeline thanked her lucky stars that the company had a policy to always keep cameras on during very meeting. This meant she was now getting a front-row seat to her boss’s illness! And she could stare all she liked, since no one on the call knew where anyone else was looking. 
 

It was clear from the moment she saw him that he should be nowhere but in bed. He was wrapped in a thick sweater yet still looked crouched and huddled like he was cold. His cheeks were flushed and eyes so bright with fever that Madeleine could almost feel the heat radiating off him through the screen. His poor nostrils looked red and abused already, the soreness clearly starting to travel down onto his lip as well. Through a well-placed light in his apartment there was a glimmer of light reflecting in the wetness which was sneaking its way down his left nostril, just before he sniffled audibly, followed by a “guh”.

Madeline almost melted through her seat. This would be her view for the next hour and she was over the moon.

”Oh, sorry,” Gerry said and muted himself. Even in those two words it was clear how raspy and unwell he sounded. 

The meeting started and they were discussing ways forward with the current project. Gerry was mostly quiet but Madeleine was looking at his little square constantly, taking in every silent sniffle and nose-blow. There were a few times where he clearly began hitching with what turned out to be false starts, and he looked absolutely miserable after each one. Madeleine enjoyed every minute of it, but also hoped he would actually get to sneeze properly at some point. It took about 15 minutes but eventually she got to see the first silent sneeze. It was clear he tried to move out of frame as he did it, but she was able to see every twitch of the nostrils and flutter of the eyelids. She could practically hear how wet the sneeze was when it finally arrived. When he was finished he brought up a handful of tissues to his nose and blew.
 

The few times Gerry unmuted to speak, every few words were punctuated by a wet sniffle. But then…

Suddenly, in the middle of arguing for his thoughts on the project, his breath started hitching. He was wriggling his nose but to no avail - the sneeze was gonna come out whether he wanted to or not. He clearly tried to find the buttons to mute and turn the camera off but no luck - the whole meeting was then subjected to a few of the most powerful, desperate and wet sneezes that Madeleine had ever seen.

”Aah-hhe-ahe-aaah-HETCHIEEW! HHHTCHEW! HATCHEEW!! ch-HETCIIW!!”

They were all completely close-up and uncovered, the spray even visible due to the lighting. Madeline felt the same tingle from yesterday but tenfold and had to stop herself from grinding down into her seat, holding on tightly to her desk to avoid wandering hands.

Gerry apologised profusely to a chorus of “bless you”s which came over the voice chat once his fit subsided. 
 

Madeline didn’t say anything, not trusting her voice yet. She was practically seeing stars. After a display like that she could forgive her boss for not coming into the office that day, and she was very pleased she would be able to think back on this moment for many future nights to come.

 

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That’s my little story, I hope you enjoyed  

[muskysneeze]

Amazinggg writing! Love where this is goingg ><