Male Huff and Puff (Grimm [tv show:nbc]): Monroe's Sneezes

[Hai]

Author's Note:

It has been a SECOND since I posted anything on this site. But my current fixation is that Grimm show from 2011-2017. And my character fixation is Monroe. The last time I was here I think I posted a Hellboy fanfiction about Abe.

This is what happens when Blutbaden (a "Grimmish" word for a Wesen who has been popularized as the "big bad wolf") sneeze. It is a possible explanation for the huff and puff mythology characterized by the Three Little Pigs. 

Quick notes on cannon for those unfamiliar but curious (please skip if you're familiar):

Grimm is a show that features a human who has the ability to see what certain people actually are beyond being human. These people are called Wesen. Wesen are often, but not always, animal-based. Not every human is a Wesen, but the Grimm existed to discover and hunt those who were. Nick is a newly realized Grimm who is less critical of Wesen automatically being bad as he met Monroe, who is a reformed Blutbad (a wolf based Wesen), and has helped Nick understand Wesen he encounters on his job as a police officer and has helped Nick find his identity past his murderous Grimm lineage. Monroe's wife is Rosalee who is a Fuchsbau (a fox based Wesen). They both look human most of the time but in times of great distress only Nick and other Wesen can see them for what they actually are/their inner spirits. They also have the ability to change/morph aka "woge" completely so that anyone can see them.

I am literally typing this in the text box as I go so forgive any typos. I'm also not skilled on writing sneeze onomatopoeia so forgive me if it looks awkward.

Summary: Nick visits Monroe while Rosalee is at work to discuss a case. He quickly realizes something is off. Monroe schools Nick on the origins of the "huff and puff" part of The Three Little Pigs fairytale. And, as usual when it comes to Grimms, it's not at all innocuous or endearing.

Note: There only ended up being two sneezing fits in this. But if there is interest I can continue the story and see if there are any more when Rosalee comes home with some tea.

--

Monroe startled so hard he felt his eyes burning and knew they had flashed red when he heard the knock on the door. Usually he could smell Nick before the detective even got to the door. But, for obvious (and honestly infuriating reasons) his sense of smell was currently lacking. It had him on edge. Which is, of course, why he was still nursing a cup of coffee at 3 in the afternoon. Perhaps he should switch to alcohol. But the coffee was here so he was drinking it. And it tasted awful. He'd used the wrong beans. He'd meant to grind a lighter roast but ended up with a darker roast. He hadn't even looked at the package as he used his sense of smell so often that it was essentially as important as his sense of hearing. But it didn't matter the roast anyway. His sense of taste had seriously been impeded by his sense of smell being nearly nonexistent. Still...he flinched again. Another knock on the door.

Right. Nick was still outside. He'd just been staring into his coffee in repose. He gave a completely useless sniff in an attempt to clear his congestion and padded his way to the door. The pressure in his head followed him, punctuated by each step he took. He swung the door open to Nick having raised his fist to knock for a third time.

"Come in," Monroe said hoarsely. His voice was muffled in congestion. It made him sound pitiful. But, to be fair, he felt pitiful. It was only right.

Monroe walked away leaving Nick to close the door. The curly haired Blutbad ran a finger under his nose for what seemed to be the thousandth time that day. He could tell that it was dry and chapped. Rosalee had also mentioned it was red and that it would have been adorable if Monroe wasn't in such obvious discomfort. Honestly, for Rosalee to call him adorable Monroe would take the discomfort and the little finger to the tip of his nose that it elicited in sympathy any day.

He needed to find his handkerchief. Where had he put it? Oh, Nick was talking. His head was so stuffed up and foggy he'd almost missed what he said.

"Wow, you sound like crap," Nick said. Always with the eloquence with that guy. Seriously, he didn't have a deft bone in his body, Monroe thought.

"Thanks for noticing," Monroe replied with a cough into his elbow. "I feel like crap. Don't worry, I'm not contagious. Allergies." He sniffed again, bemoaning the still futile search for his handkerchief. He gave a frustrated sigh.

"Allergies? Really? You've never had them before..." he said, concern lacing his words.

And, sure enough, when Monroe turned to look at him under heavily lidded eyes he had that patented Nick Burkhardt Concern Look (tm). Dark eyebrows furrowed over widened blue eyes that looked like they simultaneously wanted to kill everything evil in the world and protect everyone at the same time.

Monroe was jealous. He was mostly told that his eyes made him look highly unstable and terrifying. Complexity wasn't a thing that most Blutbaden could pull off. But Rosalee insisted he had deep and soulful eyes. But he was no Grimm and he was no Nick Burkhardt, that was for sure.

"I usually don't. Rosalee," he attempted to clear his throat of the inflammation and crud that had gathered and tried again, "Sorry. Rosalee brought home a plant that a customer gifted her last night. Asiatic Lilies. As soon as I got a whiff--well--it was NOT pretty. She felt really bad about it, though, so maybe don't mention it? She offered to throw it away but I insisted on doing it. Because I'm chivalrous. And chivalry is dead, right? So I decided to kill myself by getting the pollen all over me. You gotta commit to a bit after all." He coughed again, the kind of cough that scraped against the inside of his throat. It ridged against the slightly swollen lymph nodes and made a classically described 'barking' sound. As if it wasn't an insult to injury enough. 

After several coughs Nick was at his side taking the coffee mug out of his hand so the scalding liquid didn't spill. 

"Whoa, okay. Lemme get that," the detective said putting the coffee safely on the counter the taller man was leaning against while coughing into his elbow.

Monroe heard running water and felt a cool glass against his fingers. He took it and sipped the water slowly.

"Ugh! Thanks," he said, coughing a few more times, "damn. Ow." He rubbed his side. "Think I might've bruised a rib last night, actually. Strained something, at least."

"Doing what?" Nick asked, that Concern Look (tm) getting more pronounced.

Monroe took a breath, "Sneezing."

Nick laughed. He thought Monroe was joking. As Monroe continued to sip the water and keep a level look at Nick over the lip of the glass his friend's face dropped a little.

"You're not joking..." Nick surmised.

"No. And, trust me, you're in for a treat. I've been sneezing all day! You ever wonder where that 'huff and puff' nonsense the Grimms came up with for their fairy tales came from, you're about to find out. Have-do you see a white handkerchief anywhere? Don't touch it if you do. It's...well...been used. I've been losing everything today. You don't know how much you depend on a sense till it's gone, I guess," Monroe muttered still looking around.

"Um...huff and puff...handkerchief...what-what sense?" Nick said trying to keep up with his friend's train of thought. Nevertheless his keen and attentive eyes scanned the living room while he waited a response.

"Smell. Not that I can breathe through my nose very well, anyway," he said with a meaningful sniff aborted by inflammation and mucous.

"Oh..." Nick said looking a little guilty. "Um, found it! It's over there on your work station!"

Monroe definitely noticed the tone, though. It took him a half a second longer than usual to place context with it.

"Thanks," Monroe said and walked over to the discarded piece of fabric. "So, that's what you needed, huh? My nose? Me to sniff out someone or something?"

Monroe held the soft white linen up to his nose and attempted to dislodge, well, anything. He was only mildly successful.

"Yeah..." Nick admitted. "It's okay, though. You need to take care of yourself. Obviously. And it's not time-sensitive. Kind of. Don't worry about it. Listen, if you want company until Rosalee gets home, Adalind already knows I'm gonna be over here. So..."

Nick had placed his hands in his pockets. Nick cared deeply for everyone but visually showing compassion was something that he struggled with. Monroe appreciated the effort and, in his usual self-deprecating manner, didn't think he was worth it.

"Oh. No, man, I'll be..." Monroe paused. Blowing his nose hadn't released anything but it had certainly moved some stuff around, it appeared. He felt a very distinct and strong tingle up in his nostrils. His eyes fluttered and his breath sucked in. "Gimme...gimme a sec..."

The Blutbad held up a finger as he only had time to bury his nose in the handkerchief before they hit him.

AAAAAAHCHNK! HAAAASCHU! HUUUUUSHU! HAAAAACHU! HECHU! HECHUU! HECHNK! HEPCHU! CHOO! 

Monroe had gripped the top of his work station before the first sneeze had hit. He had to steady himself as they ripped through his body. They weren't screaming sneezes, necessarily. They were just loud. Like a freight train. They hit past his vocal chords and his diaphragm hoisted them through his nose with absolutely no care to how fast they went. One after another he could feel his body clinch and the spot near his side that seemed to spark with pain with each one from last night when he had turned his torso slightly and sneezed unexpectedly and just as powerfully.

From what Monroe understood this sneezing phenomena was hereditary at least and species specific at most. The literature supported the latter, at least. And every Blutbad he'd ever met had experienced the powerful sneezes. He'd heard about everything from cracked ribs to slamming a head inadvertently on a surface and getting a mild concussion. 'Huff and puff', indeed.

Monroe's throat did not enjoy the attack either because he received very irritated coughing fit and felt, once again, a cool glass be placed in his hand. He took a few sips before the coughing quelled again.

"Ugh, thanks," Monroe said with a squint and blew his nose a little now that the sneezing had dislodged a little more mucous. "Sorry about that. I can't really control it. I'm gonna sit down. Uh, can you get my coffee?"

Only then did Monroe lock eyes with his friend who had a genuinely shocked and Super Concerned (tm) look on his face.

Nick had genuinely never seen anyone sneeze like Monroe had. The man's whole body had convulsed. He wondered if Monroe even knew that his face rippled and woged during it. It would've only been Nick or another Wesen who would've seen it. But as the Blutbad woged the timbre of the sneezes followed suit to the low growl that he spoke in while in his Wesen form. It was, quite honestly, terrifying to witness. Then it was very concerning as he did look like he was in pain.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked as he watched Monroe sit down and proffered the coffee he'd retrieved for him from the counter. Nick sat down on the couch next to him and watched him carefully as if he might explode. Not an unfair assessment, honestly.

"Yeah..." Monroe said, trailing off with a wince. "Definitely strained something yesterday, though. Not a  rib, I don't think." Monroe sipped the warm beverage letting it sit in his mouth before sending the soothing temperature down his throat. He sighed, contented for the moment.

"Hey, don't look so worried," Monroe said. "This is just how I sneeze. How every Blutbad I know sneezes. I don't know. It's a genetic thing or something. I'm not dying or anything. Though this plus the losing my sense of smell thing? It's gonna drive me crazy." He said this halfway from the inside of his mug as he took another satisfying swallow. "Never know how much you depend on something till it's gone. Guess you know that from the weird...eye worm thing..."

"Oh, yeah. Let's...not talk about that," Nick insisted, keenly remembering the trauma of having been blinded by worms sprayed into his eye by a Wesen a couple years or so in the past. It might have awakened his heightened hearing but...not a pleasant memory.

"Yeah, probably a good idea not to talk about that," Monroe said with a little shiver. Not many things grossed him out but that? That was bad.

"So...that...sneeze thing you just did?" Nick asked and Monroe nodded. "You said the Grimms used that for the...Three Little Pigs story? Huff and puff and blow your house down? That part?"

"Oh yeah! Yes," Monroe said and put the mug next to the glass of water on the coffee table. He didn't even feel like looking for a coaster. Nick had been in his house enough times to know, though, that he preferred one so made his hands busy while paying attention to Monroe and put each beverage over top a nearby circular coaster.

"Now, this is all hearsay. So don't take this for truth," he cleared his throat and rubbed his sinuses trying to will the pressure and pain away to no avail. "But legend has it that a few Grimms wanted to get to know their enemy better. So instead of just beheading a couple of Blutbad they found in a nearby town they just kidnapped them and trapped them in some...cave or something. The details are variable. I've heard it was an empty wine cellar. Some people say it was down a well. It's...it was some place underground like a dungeon with chains. Because Grimms really loved their chains. And not in the kinky way. In the torture-y way."

"Yeah, got that," Nick confirmed. As much as he hated hearing about his relative's behavior he willfully listened to all of the stories told to him. He was determined not to become like Grimms before him. That meant he had to hear what had been done to remind himself not to repeat it.

"Yeah, right," Monroe continued, "so...two Blutbad kept in a cold dark place in chains for a week or so. Grimms coming and going to poke and prod and do their primitive tests and see how long they could go without food and, you know, evil villain kind of things. Well, one of them comes down with a virus because weakened immune system means you get sick. He starts sneezing. Like I just did. Probably worse cause he was compromised.

"Dude, those Grimms thought it was hilarious. Scary at first because...did you see...did I woge a little? I felt like I did. Sometimes I do..." Monroe asked.

"Yeah, you did. Wasn't expecting that!" Nick said.

"Yeah, no, they weren't either! They were fascinated. Started...trying to induce them. Just to see what would happen. And that's where it came from. This silly little Blutbad character trying to blow the Bauerschwein's house down with sneezing. Except it got turned into blowing really hard, instead. So just think about that the next time you think about that fairytale. A couple of Blutbad dying in chains somewhere while dudes with feathers tried to get them to sneeze. I mean...that's...tha...fuck, this is karm..a..." Monroe said, trailing off before smashing his nose into the dampened cloth he still clutched in his hand.

HEEEEETCHN! AAATCHEH! HEPTCHU! ETCHUUH! ETCHNK! HECHU! HETCHNK! UUHCHUH! UNCHU! UHCHUU! UHCHU! ..."ugh"... HUPCHOO!

Once again Nick watched as Monroe struggled through the power of his sneezes. It was as if his ancestors had heard him and wanted to give Nick another example. Instead of Monroe having to brace himself he curled up each time he sneezed as he was sat on the couch beside him.

For a moment Monroe just sat there, elbows propped on his knees and his head leaning against his hands. He took some breaths through his mouth trying to swallow down the need to cough. But when it started he picked up the water that was still in front of him and took some sips. Eventually he realized there was a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at Nick.

"I'm okay. Sorry about that," he said and sniffed, then blew his nose in the, at this point, inadequate cloth. "And this." He held up the wet fabric.

"First off, you don't have to be sorry about something you can't control. And secondly, yeah, what's with the handkerchief?" Nick said, mildly disgusted.

"I'm saving the trees..." Monroe said unconvincingly.

"You don't use toilet paper?" Nick teased.

"I'm...Rosalee and I are saving up for a bidet..." Monroe replied a little meekly.

"You know what. I think that might be a line..." Nick said, still smirking.

"Aw, c'mon. You're not really family until you have poop talk," Monroe said, joining in, but leaning back and bringing fingers up to his forehead again in a futile attempt to ease the pain.

"I--wow--okay. Didn't know that was a necessity," Nick said, trying to keep a straight face. He failed and started laughing a little.

Monroe joined in until he started coughing. Nick handed him the water.

"Aw man. Is it too late for you to be the decapitating Grimm? Just," Monroe made a slicing motion across his neck. "This sucks."

Nick watched Monroe's head loll back into the couch cushions. His eyes flexed in exhaustion and pain. His nose was red and raw. It was obvious he was miserable.

"Yeah, well. It doesn't have to suck alone, then," Nick said, making that his decision to keep him company until Rosalee arrived.

---

End note: If anyone's interested in a continuation I can easily do it! I might just do it anyway, but I'll make a bigger point of it if it's wanted. I hope you enjoyed!

[SneezeFae]

As someone who has loved Monroe since the comic and the show, I’m absolutely loving this! Please continue!

[AntheaHolmes]

I loved watching Grimm. Monroe was not my favourite character but I like your story nonetheless. Would love some sneezes from Nick. 

[Hai]

On 11/27/2023 at 12:54 PM, SneezeFae said:

As someone who has loved Monroe since the comic and the show, I’m absolutely loving this! Please continue!

I've not yet had a chance to explore the comics! I don't even know what's out there, honestly!

I'm super glad you're enjoying it. If I can just have one person who appreciates this story I'm doing pretty doggone well!

I'll definitely continue it. I might post it on AO3 with less sneezy descriptions because I do still like the idea of the story. And I'm a big fan of Monroe whump!

I very much appreciate your reply!

[Hai]

23 hours ago, AntheaHolmes said:

I loved watching Grimm. Monroe was not my favourite character but I like your story nonetheless. Would love some sneezes from Nick. 

Hmmm. I'm going to wrack my brain to see if I can make that happen for you. I've always appreciated Nick but always related to Monroe more and wanted to see more of his story. But I know there are a lot of Nick fans out there. I'll see if I can figure out a way.

I really appreciate your reply!

[AntheaHolmes]

22 hours ago, chavah said:

Hmmm. I'm going to wrack my brain to see if I can make that happen for you. I've always appreciated Nick but always related to Monroe more and wanted to see more of his story. But I know there are a lot of Nick fans out there. I'll see if I can figure out a way.

I really appreciate your reply!

Oh my. Thanks a lot! 

[Hai]

So, yeah! Only a month after, right? That's fine. It's been a heck of a month, at that. Let me see if I can't work some more on this for you two people that commented!

A bit of writing before sneezes happen. I'm always a little bit wordy.

And, yes, there are some Nick sneezes introduced. Not many, but hopefully well received!

***

Nick and Monroe had settled into watching something on TV. Monroe had flipped around a few channels until he came on an old episode of The Munsters. Monroe laughed and let it sit.

"Aw, man. My mom and dad and me used to watch this all the time. I loved this show. Have you ever seen it?" Monroe asked rubbing the edge of his handkerchief on his nose and then knuckling the edge of his eye with some frustration at the itchiness. He snuffed for what seemed to be the millionth time, each time just as ineffective as the last at actually moving anything through his nose. 

"Uh, yeah, actually. I think I've seen a few episodes," Nick said casually. He'd just finished typing a text to Adalind: Monroe's not feeling well. No go on sniffing out anything tonight. Gonna stay over hear to keep him company before RLee comes home. Need me to bring anything home when I leave?

It was still beyond unreal that him and Adalind existed as a relationship. To have a casual text conversation with the mother of his child, former adversary/evil villain, about if they needed milk or eggs at home would never not come with a tinge of oddness and whiplash. Nick's life was nothing if not completely unhinged in its narrative. But, oddly, he wouldn't give up where he was right now in the world. Not after seeing...the alternative. He was endlessly grateful for what he had. 

"Uh, Adalind says she hopes you feel better and if you need anything?" Nick announced, catching a smirk on the Blutbad's face as he watched. Monroe's eyes were trained on the younger boy in the scene, the werewolf kid. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Oh, tell her thanks but it's fine. Rosalee will probably bring something over after work," he said, taking another mouthful of a quickly dwindling coffee. He chuckled again.

"What's so funny?" Nick asked watching what was, quite honestly, a fairly benign scene for this show.

"See that kid?" Monroe said, his eyes wide in mischief and just a little glee. The look emphasized the redness around his eyelids. He'd definitely been rubbing at his eyes a little too much, Nick surmised.

"Yeah...he's like some kind of werewolf right? I never did get how any of that made sense, actually," he said of the show's insistence that a vampire and a Frankenstein's monster type character could produce, somehow, a werewolf child.

"What?" Monroe asked. "Oh, you mean the...whole weird family tree thing? Least weird continuity error, but anyway--so--you know when you get arrested they ask for your full name, right?"

Nick was suddenly completely lost. "Working in a police department I am loosely familiar with the process, yes."

"Right. Sorry. So...I've been arrested a few times myself," Monroe said.

"Yeah, no kidding. I've seen your record," Nick said with a smirk.

"Oh yeah..." Monroe said. Then his eyes widened a little. That was a little disturbing. Anyway! "Right. So I only have one name. Long story. Kinda depressing. Anyway. But this cop, he just wouldn't stop. 'Give me your first name!' 'It is my first name!' 'Your last name!' 'It is also my last name! I have one name!'"

"Okay..." Nick said. He'd always been curious about that, but hadn't felt it was his place to ask. Monroe usually did what he had just done when it came off. Pushed it off to talk about never.

"Well finally I just got fed up! This guy was one small step away from me getting in some real trouble. Like a lifetime sentence worth of trouble. So I just yelled, 'Eddie!'. And the prick actually wrote it down. First thing that came into my head. Not on my license. Not on any document. Just this dude's one little police report. Eddie Monroe. And I swear that has haunted me. But this kid? In this show? That's what his name is. That's where I got it! Loved this show. C'mon, how could a Blutbad not relate to Eddie Munster, right?" Monroe's face was cracked in a sort of kid-like joy. It couldn't help but be contagious.

"Wait. Yeah. I remember when I first looked you up in the system. I wondered why nobody called you that. Then I kind of forgot about it. Wow," Nick said with a grin.

"Yeah I kno--" the comment was cut off by a sharp intake of air. It had come seemingly out of nowhere. His breath hitched sharply and his eyes closed tightly to the sensation of the sudden desperate need to expel whatever contaminate his histamines were claiming were there. It wasn't a tickle, it was a slight burning sensation in the back of his sinuses all the way to his throat.

HCKKKKCHOOO! HETCHUH! UHHHCHUH! HKCHU! NGKCHU!

Nick startled at the suddenness of the attack. Monroe had barely gotten the white fabric up to his mouth and nose. Several more followed the first five. Deep thrumming vibrating sneezes continued to assault. Each one strained in his friend's body, neck tensing and body contorting to the releases. When the expulsion finally ebbed Nick put a caring hand on Monroe's back and rubbed it gently. After a few moments of quiet breathing and sniffing from the hunched form Nick spoke.

"How're you holding up?" he asked.

"Super," came the dry reply. It was punctuated by a thumbs up above his head. Monroe had been furiously wiping at his mouth, mustache, and beard before hefting his aching head up to face Nick. The last thing he wanted was mucous to be present in his facial hair from those surprise sneezes.

Then he started coughing again. It was a vicious cycle. The sneezes attacked and then they irritated his throat causing the inflammation there to signal its own affront. And damn if that didn't hurt. His head, his face, his throat, and his chest seemed to be burning in unison like some biological tuning fork of pain. 

Nick saw Monroe reaching out to the glass of water close by as his body convulsed in painful coughs.

"I got ya," he said, sliding the glass into his friend's hand.

Finally Monroe lifted his head, flushed and coughing. He sipped the water until his throat was satiated and leaned back taking breaths into his mouth. He huffed out a puff of air while giving Nick a look that spoke volumes to his absolute exhaustion.

"Have you taken anything?" Nick asked, not even sure what medications a Blutbad would take to help with allergies this severe.

"Yeah, mostly over the counter stuff," he said hoarsely. He didn't even try to clear his throat as he could tell it wouldn't help. "Some not so over the counter stuff. Benadryl makes me feel super jittery though." He swallowed with a grimace. "Only took that once. Last night. Did nothing for any of this." His fingers flitted around to indicate his sinuses and general facial and chest area.

"I think Rosalee's gonna bring some things by from the shop after work," Monroe continued, repeating his previous statement. "This sucks, man."

And all joking, history lessons, and first name anecdotes aside, it was obvious Monroe felt like crap. Nick felt a little helpless to it. He watched his friend's head rest on the back of the couch again. His swollen eyes closed and for a moment there was complete vulnerability in the position, body limp with his neck exposed. There was no guard up, just trust that Nick wouldn't hurt him. And as bad as Monroe felt, there was something to be said about a Blutbad that was being entirely vulnerable right in front of a Grimm. Two historically opposed figures sat side by side having traveled that way for years to the point where there was no hesitation in trusting each other. There was some poetry in that. 

And then in a split second the calm was broken with the metallic clinking of a key jiggling in the door. Monroe woged and Nick flinched back. His friend's hair spiked up his head like fur. His skin turned mottled and his eyes shot open with blood red irises. Monroe gave a snarl and a low growl.

"Whoa! Calm down! I'll go check it out, okay?" Nick implored.

Monroe shook off the woge seemingly slightly dizzy and dazed from it as Nick arrived at the door to see Rosalee coming through.

"It's Rosalee!" Nick shouted quickly. And away from his line of sight Monroe heaved a relieved breath. He couldn't even smell Rosalee. This was embarrassing.

"Hey Nick!" Rosalee said with a grin. "What are you doing here?"

"Came over to ask Monroe about something...having to do with a case...here lemme help with that," Nick said noting the fabric bags filled with what looked like things from the shop. "Decided to keep him company for a bit."

"Aw, that's nice of you. Yeah, he's having a rough time of it," Rosalee said as the aforementioned Blutbad ambled into the kitchen area. Rosalee's face dropped at how much worse he looked than when she had left this morning.

"Oh, hey, you!" Rosalee exclaimed, coming over to the tall man and putting hands on either side of his face to inspect.

"Hey," he said in a near whisper as his voice continued to forsake him at times. "What're you doing here? Shop doesn't close for a few hours..." He bent down to allow her to lay a soft kiss on his reddened lips.

"Checking on you and bringing you some supplies. And I'm glad I did. Have you been rubbing your eyes, again?" she asked, putting a soft thumb underneath the left one and tracing the swelling across the bottom lid.

"Yeah, well, they itch!" he protested, sounding like a petulant child. "I can't help it."

Rosalee's head tilted and she gave a weakly stern face to him, "Yeah, well, try not to, okay? You'll make it worse."

Monroe nodded obediently, but gave Nick a long suffering look. Nick was barely containing his smile at the endearing scene unfolding in front of him. Instead he ducked his head and started unpacking whatever Rosalee had put in the bags to let them have their moment.

"Here, lemme listen," Rosalee said and shook her head with a woge that allowed her fox ears to appear, pushing one on his chest."

"I really wish you hadn't come home. I was...fine!" Monroe started to protest. "I don't want--"

"Shh!" Rosalee said sternly. "Be quiet and breathe." Woged into a red and white furred face with yellow eyes, Rosalee's voice was a few octaves lower so the demand carried a little more weight than otherwise.

Monroe sighed and rolled his eyes. But he did breathe.

"Hmm," came the low reply of the Fuchsbau before she retracted back into her human visage and normal voice, "I still hear wheezing." She rubbed Monroe's chest where her ear had been pressed as if she could ease the inflammation in his lungs by touch alone. Monroe's long fingers covered her hand.

"Hey, I'll be okay. Just some allergies," he said.

Rosalee looked up into his tired but determined eyes. The way they crinkled and he tilted his head in sincerity with his words did placate her worry a bit. This year had been full of worry and doubt, though. She'd almost lost him too many times to think about. And now with her abdomen just starting to swell with 3 new souls they had created within her, anything that threatened them in any way seemed to spike her anxiety.

"I know..." she trailed off but then took a determined breath. "Which is why I brought you some stuff that might help!"

Rosalee spied the product of Nick's curious nature as he opened a vial of particularly potent herbs to give it a sniff.

"Oh, Nick! You might not want to..." Rosalee tried to warn, though a bit too late.

Nick's dark blue eyes blinked rapidly, lashes fluttering, as the smell invaded his nostrils and soft intake of air brought small particles of the herb to rest in the delicate lining of the inside of his nose. And suddenly his body was on the offense.

The Grimm slammed down the vial and rushed to cover his nose with the inside of his elbow but could only get to the back of his wrist before he was assaulted by rapid sneezes desperate to rid itself of the fine powder he'd involuntarily exposed to the inside of his nose.

TSH! TSH! CH! HETCH! Tch! Hshu! Shoo! Tch!

"Ugh!" Nick exclaimed. "Guess turn about is fair play huh?"

Nick's slightly reddened eyes turned to face the couple beside him, them not even attempting to keep amusement out of their eyes. Though Monroe's was more like bemused shock, hand over his mouth and eyes wide in mirth.

"What?" Nick asked, confused. He was sniffing and looking for something to wipe his nose with.

Rosalee chuckled as she hunted out a paper napkin from a takeout order some time ago that was stashed in a nearby drawer.

"That!" Monroe exclaimed finally, "was the most adorable sneezing fit I've ever heard! I mean...I didn't expect Blutbad level sneezing from a Grimm but...like a kitten. I never would've guess!" He laughed airily.

And he wasn't wrong. The rapid fit lasted all of a few seconds as Nick had delicately planted his nose to the back of his wrist in lieu of being able to get to his elbow. His nose and face had scrunched his already boyish features into endearing expressions of frustration. The sneezes might have been forceful but they passed through him like little annoyed puffs.

"Exactly what I was going to say. Like little kitten sneezes," Rosalee cooed while offering Nick the napkin.

Nick may have looked mildly offended by the comparison as he blew his nose quickly.

"Well...I guess I don't compare to a Blutbad..." Nick said, having been completely oblivious until this moment what his sneezes sounded like to others. He sniffed...definitely not self consciously.

"Trust me when I say you don't want to, buddy," Monroe confirmed, holding his hands up with another smile.

TBC...

[AntheaHolmes]

Oh this was so nice. Happy to finally hear Nick's sneezes. Cute little kitty sneezes. Amazing. Thanks! 

[Hai]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52648942

Full fic edited for typos and for a broader audience. Onomatopoeias taken out but more descriptions replacing them as I had wanted to write this fic no matter the audience. Being able to write it here was a catalyst!

I love a good hurt/comfort fic regardless. Sneezing is great hurt/comfort fodder! Thanks to both of you for commenting and encouraging! I hope the ao3 version of the fanfic is just as satisfying!