Tim was in Ethan’s room ten minutes later, rapping softly on the door frame. Ethan was laying on one side of the bed, flipping through the channels.
“Come in. Lay down.”
Tim lay next to Ethan. “Looking for anything in particular?” Ethan shook his head, remote settling on a rerun of an old sitcom from their high school years. “We can go with this…I loved this show in high school.”
Ethan nodded. “Me, too.” He reached out and squeezed Tim’s hand before directing a sudden, powerful sneeze into the opposite shoulder. “HatChoo!”
“Bless you.” Tim rubbed his arm. “You’re really having a rough day. Your voice has been completely wrecked, and the sneezing hasn’t given you much of a break today.”
“No,” Ethan blew his nose. “I’ve been sneezing like crazy today. And that phone call with mom wrecked my voice, for sure.”
Tim wanted to ask Ethan why his mom would keep him on the phone so long or why Ethan would stay on the phone so long knowing the shape his voice was in, but didn’t feel that it was his place at this time. “Did you want some more tea?”
Ethan shook his head. “I’ll stick with water right now. In the morning.”
Tim and Ethan lay next to each other, occasionally talking, mostly about the TV show, but mostly just enjoying being together. After an episode and a half, Tim was distracted from his thoughts by a very sleepy sounding sneeze from Ethan.
“Ha’shoo.”
“Bless you.” Tim looked over.
“Thanks,” Ethan yawned, looking half asleep.
“You look ready to fall asleep.” Tim commented. “I’m gonna go to the guest room now, ok.”
Ethan blew his nose. “Are you sure? We can keep watching tv.”
“You’re gonna be asleep very soon if your nose lets you. I don’t want to push this too fast.”
Ethan’s face fell. “I like having you next to me.”
“Too fast. While it may be true, overnight is the NyQuil talking.” He bent forward and kissed Ethan’s forehead. “Sleep.”
“A’shoo.” Sneezing again, Ethan nodded, laying back down.
Tim retired to the guest room where he heard a few more of what Ethan called his “sleepy sneezes,” then relative quiet, then he was asleep.
Tim awoke to Ethan’s rap on the door the next morning. “Hey,” he snuffled.
“Hey.” Tim sat up. “What’s up?”
“Thought I’d see if you were awake. Wanted breakfast…”
Tim yawned. “Yeah, you need to eat, don’t you. Give me five, and I’ll get breakfast, k.”
“I can…Hatchoo!”
“Bless you. I got it. I believe I promised you breakfast.”
“You said you made a great one.” Ethan pulled a tissue from his pocket and blew his nose.
“I do. Give me five minutes. You wanna start some coffee?”
Ethan nodded, heading for the kitchen. Tim pulled jeans and a t-shirt on, got his hair to lay down, then headed into the kitchen.
“What do you like? Waffles? Pancakes? Muffins? Omelets?”
Ethan stared at him. “Usually I just have oatmeal. Sometimes scrambled eggs. I don’t even know if I have the stuff to make any of that.”
Tim stared back. “What do you have?”
Ethan hesitated before burying his head in his arm. “Ahtshoo! Um,” he sniffled, looking up. “No pancake mix, for sure. Beyond flour and sugar, I doubt you can make muffins.” He crossed over to the fridge. “I have eggs, cheese, and bacon. And bread and oatmeal.”
“Omelets it is. Basic omelets, but omelets. Do you have any vegetables?”
Ethan pulled out a carton of grape tomatoes and a bag of baby carrots.
“You like tomatoes in your omelets?”
Ethan wiped his nose gingerly. “I’ll try it. Sounds good.”
Tim started frying bacon. “You have fruit?”
“Oranges, apples and bananas.” He poured Tim a cup of coffee, turning to hand it to him, then abruptly setting it back down on the counter and turning away for another loud sneeze. “HahAtchoo!”
“Bless you.” Tim took the coffee from the counter and took a sip.
“You don’t need to keep saying that. At least not over breakfast.” He gave a weak smile. He knew what mornings were like; Tim was about to find out.
Tim shot him a confused look from where he was checking the bacon. “Ok. Any special reason?”
Ethan shifted from one foot to the other. “I sneeze a lot in the morning. Mostly the first hour I wake up.”
Tim laughed. “From what I’ve seen, you sneeze a lot no matter when it is.”
Ethan shook his head. “Normally it’s like 5 to 10 times in the first hour. When I’m sick…”. He trailed off and grabbed a napkin, pressing it hastily to his nose. “Hahchoo!” He blew his nose, nodded at Tim’s blessing and continued. “It’s more like 15 to 20 times. So really, once will suffice.” He smiled.
Tim poured the egg mixture into the pan. “Well, then, god bless you.”
Ethan laughed. “Thanks. You want an orange, apple or banana?”
“Orange, please. Toast?” Tim flipped the omelet, sticking bread in the toaster.
A minute later, he dished up a plate for Ethan and set it in front of him, sitting across from him with his own plate.
“L-l-Ahshoo!” Ethan hastily clasped his napkin to his nose. “Looks good.” He said, gently wiping his nose.
“Thanks. I usually make omelets on at least one of my days off.”
Ethan nodded, coughing harshly for a long minute.
“You ok?” Tim asked when he finished. “Need the inhaler?”
Ethan nodded. “Not a bad idea.” He slipped off to use the inhaler, and Tim could also hear him blowing his nose.
Ethan came back and started eating. “This is good. At least from what I can taste of it.”
“Thanks.” The two at in occasional conversation; neither was much of a morning person. Breakfast was broken up mainly by Ethan’s sneezing.
4 more sneezes later, Tim looked sympathetically at Ethan. “Do you want the tissues? Those napkins can’t feel good on your nose.”
Ethan flushed. “I should have grabbed some when I went to use the inhaler.” He gave a thick wet sniffle. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to blow my nose again,” he said softly. “I’ll grab some then.”
“You don’t have to leave the room to blow your nose.” Tim told him. “Your food will get cold if you do.”
“It’s alright.” Ethan sighed. “I don’t want to ruin your appetite.”
“Just turn away.” Tim shrugged. “Two of my best friends have bad allergies. It doesn’t bother me.”
Ethan looked wary. “Hatshoo!” He gently held the napkin to his nose and wiped again.
Tim gave him a sad smile. “Past relationship trauma again?”
Ethan nodded.
Tim grasped the free hand that was resting on the table as Ethan coughed again. “I’m not your ex.” He reminded softly.
Ethan nodded. “I just don’t want to…” he trailed off.
“I have 5 brothers. Trust me. It’s fine. There’s probably nothing you could do that would gross me out.”
Ethan laughed, moving to stand up.
“Where are you going?”
“To get the tissues.”
“I’ll grab them; you eat. Your food’s getting cold.” Tim stood up before Ethan could. “Let me take care of you.” He grabbed tissues from the living room and set them on the table next to Ethan. “There you are.”
“Thanks.” Ethan pulled a couple tissues from the box, pressing them to his nose in time to direct a muffled “Hatchoo!” over his shoulder. He turned away and tentatively blew his nose a few times before turning back to Tim. “Thanks.” He said again, sounding clearer. “I needed that.”
“I can hear that.” Tim smiled. “More coffee?”
After 45 minutes awake, Ethan was at 14 sneezes. “Think I’ll hit 20 in the next 15 minutes?” He asked, sighing.
“That’s one an average of every 2 and a half minutes. Does it taper off at all?”
Ethan coughed, then caught a sneeze against his wrist. “It should.” He sniffled, gathering up the dishes and filling the sink with water.
“I can do those.” Tim jumped up. “You are supposed to be resting.” He said as Ethan wrapped his arms around himself, rubbing his arms. “You ok.”
“Cold.” Ethan admitted. “I’m gonna go grab a sweater.”
“Thermometer still in your room?” Ethan nodded. “Grab that, please.” Tim turned his attention back to the small amount of dishes, finishing them by the time Ethan retuned. Ethan had an oversized cardigan wrapped around him and had stuffed a handful of tissues in one of the pockets. He handed over the thermometer, and Tim stepped closer to scan his forehead.
Ethan stepped back, noticing the confused look on Tim’s face. “Atchoo!” He managed to turn to the side just in time, directing the sneeze down at the floor, starting to bring his hands up up to cover, but not making it in time. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t want to sneeze on you, and sometimes, they sneak up on me.” He fished a tissue out of his sweater pocket.
Tim waited for him to finish blowing his nose, then grabbed his temperature. “100.6. Back up again. Did you take the cold medicine?”
Ethan shook his head. “Not yet. I’m supposed to take the other pills with food, so thought I’d take them all at once.”
“Go take them, then get comfortable on the couch. I’ll finish up in here.”
Ethan sighed, but took his pills and headed for the living room. Tim could hear him coughing, followed a minute later by a loud “Hatshoo!”
“18.” He called. “You’ve got 4 minutes left to hit 20.”
“You really want me to hit 20, don’t you?” Ethan groaned. “As if I’m not miserable enough here.” He blew his nose loudly, coughing.
Tim came in and sat in the chair. “I’ll settle for 18.” He teased. He paused, not sure how Ethan would respond. “Your cough is really bad this morning.” He commented.
Ethan nodded, taking a sip of water. “Yeah.” He sighed. “I should probably take the cough syrup.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t want to be asleep half the day.” He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself.
“Went from being hot to being cold?” At Ethan’s nod, he continued. “I think you’re still at the point where you need to be asleep.” He said gently.
“I don’t want to leave you with nothing to do. Get bored and think I’m useless.”
Tim nodded. “You don’t have to worry ahhhbout thahh–ahhHuhshoo, uhhshoo…that. I’ve got p-plehhh–ehshoo, heyyehhchuhh…plenty of studying to do. And if you’re ok be-beihhng…not agaihhihshoo, hihhShoo…being alone, I thought I’d run to the grocery store, then cook a little.” He sniffled and took the tissue Ethan held out. “Thanks.”
Ethan smiled. “You talk through your sneezes. It’s cute.”
“Mom would call it stubborn,” Tim laughed. And I’m certainly sneezy in front of you. I think I’ve sneezed more in front of you in two weeks than in my last long term relationship.”
“I bring it out in people.” Ethan joked. “And I think my morning show ends for you at 18.” Again he coughed roughly. “I’ll be ok if you want to run to the store or go check on your cat or grab clean clothes. I’ll be sleeping. Might as well duck out for a couple hours.”
“I’ve got everything through Monday. Dustin asked me if I would. Alex is gonna look in on Cashew. So, I’ll just hit your nearest grocery store and be back. Once you fall asleep. Where’s the cough syrup?”
“It’s on my nightstand. I woke around midnight, and couldn’t stop coughing.”
“Ok with me getting it?”
Ethan nodded, burying several deep coughs into the blanket. Tim walked into Ethan’s room, once again taken by surprise at how neat it was. If he were as sick as Ethan was, his room would be a disaster of dirty clothes and snotty tissues. He grabbed the cough syrup and the dose cup, waiting for Ethan to press a tissue to his face and sneeze before handing them over.
“Hatshoo!”
“Am I allowed to start blessing you again?”
Ethan nodded. “Thanks.” He poured out the cough syrup and swallowed it, making a face. “Can you grab me an extra blanket while you’re up? Closet next to the bathroom.”
Tim grabbed a blanket from the closet and draped it over Ethan, then tucked the blankets around him. “Let’s find a movie while you fall asleep.”
Aggedy Ann 