hurt-care - Tumblr blog

[hurt-care]

I decided to do a bit of yard work this afternoon when I was finished work because it was so nice out....kinda forgot that yard work makes my nose annoyed with me! So here's some hitching, moaning, itchy spring sneezes for you, Snzblr :)

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It's allergy season and I was looking back through my old writings and found this short allergy-centric fic I wrote several years ago in response to a request. I don't know that I ever posted it here on Tumblr, but even if I did, there's a lot more people here than back in 2019 when I wrote it.

It's OCs, modern day setting, takes place in Egypt. Thom is a grad student in Archeology doing a practicum placement in Egypt. Turns out, there's still pollen and allergens in the desert... enjoy :)

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The jingle of a cell phone ring broke through the cloud of white noise coming from the air purifier and the AC unit. Thom rolled over and reached for the phone, almost knocking it off the bedside table as he fumbled sleepily.

He squinted at the display and toggled the slider to answer.

“Mhm? Hello?”

“I'm out front. It's ten past.”

Thom sat up with a start and blinked at the clock across the room.

“Oh fuck. I'm sorry Asha, I overslept. Give me a few and I'll be right down.”

He kicked off the sheets and tore through his closet in the small flat for a fresh pair of khakis and a thin linen shirt. He splashed some water on his face and ate a banana quickly while he refilled his water bottle and searched for his baseball cap. Thankfully, his backpack was still stocked from the previous day of work, so he slung it over his shoulder, grabbed his keys, and raced down the two flights of stairs out into the busy Luxor street.

Though it was barely seven, the sun was already blazingly hot. Asha sat, idling her motorcycle and chatting with a street vendor.

“Sorry, sorry,” Thom said as he approached. 

“Doctor Rutledge is gonna kill us,” she said, pushing her helmet back down and handing the spare one to Thom. “Let's go.”

Thom sided onto the bike, put on the heavy face-shielded helmet, and took hold of Asha's waist. The bike roared to life and they sped off towards the dig site.

He'd first met Asha two months ago when he'd come to Egypt for his practical experience under the tutelage of renowned Egyptologist, Doctor Emila Rutledge. Asha was a daughter of Luxor, born and raised in the city and her knowledge of its winding streets and the surrounding archeological sights had proved very useful. She was a local assistant on the dig, helping with some of the more tedious sorting and packing of artifacts. And her motorbike was a much faster way to reach the desert than taking a bus and then walking.

They turned down a street leading out of the city and towards the Theban Necropolis dig site. The bike slowed as they turned down the side road and came to a halt where the road turned to sand.

They tugged off their helmets, the sweat dripping down their faces drying instantly in the arid climate. With Asha pushing the bike, they walked the last bit down the sandy path to the tents that marked the research areas. 

Thom blinked in the dry air and rubbed at his left eye, turning it a little pink. As they ducked under the canopy of the first tent, he cleared his throat and took a deep swig of his water bottle. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, capping the bottle and putting it back in his pack. “It's my fault. I didn't set a proper alarm.”

Doctor Rutledge looked up from her table of equipment and glared at him.

“There's limited time out here during the storm season,” she warned him. “Don't waste it being late.”

March and April in the desert meant sandstorms and sometimes they struck unexpectedly, plunging the camp into a fog of dust and undoing weeks of excavation work. Thankfully, none had hit the site thus far in the season.

Thom set down his things and turned to his work, Asha at his side, cataloguing a tray of rocks that had eroded off a nearby statue. 

“You alright?” she asked, looking at him critically. “Your eyes are kinda pink.”

He blinked and rubbed at his left one again. They did feel a bit gritty.

“Still half asleep,” he said. “Didn't have time for coffee.”

She laughed.

“You'll have to suffer until break then.”

Thom nodded and made a mark in his notebook about one of the artifacts. He rubbed the back of his hand to his nose distractedly, pawing away an itch.

In the distance, the air was growing murky and dim as a far-off storm kicked up sand into the air, turning the sky an unworldly red. 

His throat felt drier than usual out in the heat of the open desert. Putting his notebook down, he reached again for his water bottle.

“You sure you're fine?” Asha asked suspiciously. “Your eyes look awful.”

Thom pushed his water bottle cap shut and opened his mouth to answer her, but he was distracted by a sudden, very urgent itch. He wrinkled his nose and turned away, cupping his hands to his face.

Hurh-TSGHT!

“Blessings to you,” she offered. 

Thom sniffled and wiped at his nose. He could feel the familiar burning of an allergic reaction growing in his respiratory system and suddenly his stomach sank. In the haste of his departure that morning, he'd neglected to take his allergy medication.

He'd always been someone who struggled with allergies, to everything from cats to pollen to mold and dust. His youth had been full of inhalers on the sidelines of the soccer pitch, extra allergy pills packed for sleepovers, and his own air purifier for his college dorm room. Adulthood had not improved things as much as he'd hoped. He'd expected that the dry air of Egypt would be a relief to his hayfever, but he'd been warned about dust-storm season and the large amounts of pollen and mold and dust kicked up by the strong winds. The local pharmacy had put out a display of face masks only a week prior.

“Oh shit,” he groaned, digging through his backpack. Maybe he had some spare pills stowed away.

“What?” Asha asked.

“Ugh, my allergies,” he said, sniffling again. “I forgot my medicine this morning.”

“Wow, you really did fuck up the start of your day,” she teased. “You have allergies? Bad ones?”

“Yes, bad ones,” he said, reaching to the bottom of an outside pocket and feeling his rescue inhaler. At least that was some relief. “Bad enough to need a prescription daily.”

“And it's storm season,” she said. “The worst for that.”

“I've been told,” he said miserably. He could feel his eyes beginning to water and he ran his tongue along the top of his mouth and back towards his throat, trying to settle an itch.

Hhrr-TSGHHT!

He sneezed roughly into his shoulder.

“Well,” he said, pulling a bandanna out of his pack. “This might help a little.”

He tied the triangle of cloth over his nose and mouth, tucking the excess into the top of his shirt.

“Very mysterious,” Asha teased. “My work partner, Zorro.”

Thom went back to his notes, but concentrating was extremely difficult. He wrinkled his nose under the bandanna and tried to focus on his work, but the itching was too strong. 

Hehh-ehh-GSHTT!

A damp spot blossomed on the bandanna under his nose.

He clamped a hand over the fabric and pinched his nose, turning away from Asha.

NghT! Hehh...eh-TSGHT! Tsh'GXHT!

Three rapid stifles tumbled forward, held in by his fingers. 

Tsgh! Ehh-TSGH!

“Wow,” Asha said, watching. “You were not kidding.”

“No,” he said miserably, letting go of his nose. “This is pretty mild, actually. Usually I...I..hehhh...heh-TSGHT!”

He sneezed once again into the bandanna and tugged it free from his face, using it as a proper handkerchief. 

“I'll ask around to see if anyone else has some medicine,” Asha offered. “Sit down a minute.”

He sunk into a camp chair with the bandanna over his nose.

Hehh-ehhhh-GSHTT!

By the time she returned, his breath was growing wheezy and his eyes were swollen. He coughed hoarsely into his fist and swallowed hard.

“No luck,” she said.

“What going on over here?”

Doctor Rutledge was standing behind them, looking expectantly at them both.

“Thom is having an allergic reaction, Doctor,” Asha explained. “I was looking around to see if anyone had any medication.”

“And?”

“No one does,” she said. “I'm sorry, Thom.”

“That's okay,” he croaked. “I just need a minute. I—heh-SGHHT!”

He sneezed thickly into the bandana and pinched his nose before giving it a sharp blow.

“It's storm season, Thom,” Doctor Rutledge said. “The longer you're out here, the worse it'll get.”

Ehhh-GSXHTT!

He was starting to feel the strain in his lungs and he fished in his bag, curling his fingers around his rescue inhaler just in case.

“I think you should go back home, Thom,” Doctor Rutledge said. “It looks like the winds are headed this way.”

He could barely see her through his watering eyes.

“Are you sure, doctor? I could go work in one of those more covered tents across the way.”

“No, that isn't necessary. Asha, will you get him home?”

“Yes, I'll do that.”

Doctor Rutledge turned to head back to her work as Thom launched into another fit.

Ehh-tsxSHTT! Ngh'GSHT!

Thom curled in on himself, sneezing rapidly.

Tsgh-GSHT Tsh'GHT! TXGHT!

He blew his nose hard into bandana and surfaced from the fit with a wheezy gasp.

“Hold on,” he croaked, raising the inhaler. “I need this first.”

He took a puff and breathed in the medication, holding it in as long as he could before he started to cough and exhaled nosily.

Asha sighed sympathetically and held out her water bottle. He took a deep swig from it and thanked her.

“Let's go before you get worse,” she said.

They returned to the motorcycle, going slowly along the path because of Thom's swollen eyes. He shoved the helmet over his leaky face and climbed on the bike behind Asha.

The ride back into Luxor was a blur of exhausted sniffling and two very unpleasant sneezes inside the helmet before they pulled up in front of Thom's apartment.

“C'mon,” Asha said gently, taking his arm and leading him inside. He started to climb the two flights of stairs but on the first landing he was forced to pause as another fit took over, wrenching him forward with several forceful sneezes that tore out of him rapid-fire.

Hurhhh-TSGHHH! Ngh-TSGHHT! Hehh....ehh-TSCHHH!

They staggered up the next flight and into Thom's flat. He swallowed two of his prescription pills from the medicine cabinet before slouching down into his sofa and taking another puff of his inhaler.

“I thought leaving England would be the end of all this mess,” he said miserably.

“Oh no, we've got all our own special allergens here too. Storm season is infamous. I'm sure you've been told.”

“I have,” he said. “I probably would still be a bit of mess with my prescription, but I can't believe I managed to forgot taking it at all!”

“I guess we'll see,” Asha said. “There's two months of this dust. Maybe invest in a mask. Lots of people wear them this time of year.”

Eh-TSCHH!

Asha shoved a box of tissues across the coffee table towards Thom.

“And maybe invest in a few more of those too. Sounds like you might need them.”

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Just a plain old "ugh." followed by a sniffle.

Share your favorite post-sneeze exclamation with me!

I personally love a good “whew!” or the ever sexily polite “excuse me!”

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Oooh it's spring and this image is DRIVING ME MAD in the best way

Someone with a sneezy sniffly hayfever seeing the pollen that has gathered on some surface, like a windowsill, and glaring angrily at it, while they rub their nose.

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Oh god yes.

ok hear me out i love a post-shower fit like idk pick your fav to torture and he's just gotten out of the shower, has a towel wrapped around his waist (slut), the mirror is all foggy, there's so much STEAM

it's probably morning and he's about to get ready for the day which means like the usual teeth brushing, hair product, shaving, whatever but as soon as he steps out of the shower-- sneeze

ok no big deal? maybe it was the change in temperature. warm shower to cold bathroom. it happens, right? but then he's drying his hair and there's another, and another and it folds him in half

so now it's a THING. is he allergic to his new shampoo? did all the steam loosen up a bunch of congestion from a cold? who knows take your pick but whatever it is, it's becoming a Thing

(bonus points if s/o with the kink has caught on by now and is poking their head in like? uh? everything ok?) your fav continues on, determined. snuffling, sniffing, rubbing at his nose. he wipes a circle in the fogged up mirror to see himself as if looking at his face might give him a clue about what's setting him off, but all he sees is his expression crumpling up before he sneezes again

and it's just relentless. he thinks it'll taper off after a while but it just doesn't. trying to do his hair, wash his face, put on deodorant, every few seconds he's just waylaid by another sneeze. it's one of those slow but persistent fits that just will not leave him alone

also it's kind of defeated the purpose of a shower to begin with because now his face is a mess and he has to keep blowing his nose to keep ahead of it, he's leaking like a faucet, he's probably flushed from just the sheer amount of sneezes

eventually he gives up on the morning routine entirely and just sits on the edge of the tub with a handful of tissues and decides to just sneeze it out. shuddering, exhausted sneezes by that point, the ones that fold him up and even make one foot come up off the floor as he crunches in on himself

he's completely dry by now but still in just a towel, has not even made it to clothes yet. bathroom is completely de-fogged. how much time has passed? he has no idea. when he's finally done he feels like he just ran a marathon, and probably needs another shower

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This is it.....my entire kink aesthetic. Also today is Re/mus L/upin's birthday and this is the recovery day outfit headcanon always. I'm such a sucker for a knit and pj bottoms.

Could we discuss textured knits paired with pajama bottoms as a sickday attire?

(photos for reference, tissues/handkerchief up the sleeve not pictured but vividly imagined)

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Woke up yesterday brutally sick with a head cold. So snotty I can't even....so I figured in the middle of what has been about 16 hours of sleeping, I'd make a little video to share with my favs here. Contains some minor coughing and one (very necessary) nose blow. Please send cuddles and tea, but mostly tissues and handkerchiefs.

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Appreciation post for that little gasp/sigh sound after someone really congested swallows a big gulp of water and then 'comes up for air' by breathing through their mouth. Like, their throat is so dry and sore from breathing through their mouth all day so they're chugging water but they keep having to stop to take those little gasping breaths.

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Sneezes followed by a slightly wheezy inhale.

That's it. That's the post.

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Look, I know the ethics of AI are iffy but damn....I gave it a description of my OC Francis and it did NOT disappoint....

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And something new for you, internet friends ;)

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OR: someone having a brutal allergy day and they keep accidentally rubbing their eyes and their contacts fall out, so they are forced to wear their glasses when the pollen count is high.

Glasses!!!

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So what about characters who don’t usually wear glasses (either they usually just don’t wear them at all or they wear contacts instead) but when they are sick, they look so different and people can tell they are sick because they ARE wearing glasses, whether that’s because they feel too ill to bother putting in their contacts or they don’t usually need them but their head is really hurting.

I feel like I’ve done a bad job of explaining this but yeah, characters who don’t usually wear glasses wearing them when they’re sick

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Omg 🤯 you're Dusty - like THE Dusty?!!

I'm a such huge fan of your wavs! Thank you for making and sharing them! ❤️

Oui oui, c'est moi....I guess I have never been super clear about that lol (though it's in my bio). That's my name there/on the forums. Idk why I didn't keep it for Tumblr

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There's been some lovely content here lately so I figured I'd share some oldies but goodies (but also maybe some new stuff soon!) This is one of my fave stifle audios I made back in 2019 when the pollen count was out of control.

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I'm so horny for Vicks Vapour Rub lately....the idea of a sickie and their caretaker having a really lovely steaming hot shower together and then afterwards, the caretaker carefully towels the sickie off and wraps them in a fluffy warm robe. While still in the comfort of the steamy bathroom, they slather their chest and back with Vicks to further help with their congestion. Maybe a little dab on their reddened nose too.

I also saw a post talking about someone putting it on their face and massaging it into their sinuses which is just next level....

All this to say that Vicks really needs more love in this community .

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okay but I also propose the slutty cardigan in lieu of a robe - as in, worn on top of pyjamas or with pyjama bottoms.

Seriously the sluttiest thing a man can wear must be a textured cardigan. With textured I mean cables and such. Shawl collar. Pockets, goodness but those pockets just SCREAM for a handkerchief. If a man is dorky sexy enough to wear such a cardigan, he just might be dorky sexy enough to have a sniffly nose too.

(Of course, if he's feeling extra sexy, the situation might progress to a point in which he stuffs the hankderchief into his sleeve....)

It's just such a perfect look, at the same time soft yet ornamental. It projects the air of someone who is a bit of an aesthete, who has the ability to enjoy pretty things, and who is not obsessed with coming across super masculine and hard and tough. Yet it's such a simple thing, just some wool, just a very traditional knit. Not some fast fashion item either.

To make it extra slutty: worn with a nice shirt (think understated pinstripe or such on white) AND a tie. Goddd that looks hot. You lovely little peacock you! (Pants? didn't think that far.)

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good lord yes pls

Okay but the look of like an open robe and some kinda Vicks-menthol-vaporub whatever that makes it just a little shiny?? Paired with fever and disheveled hair and a red nose??? And tissues/handkerchief sticking out of the pocket?????? ESPECIALLY if it’s like some 1950s or before setting, those vibes are the best. Girl, I’m gone, I’m swooning, I’m like a Victorian man who saw an ankle for the first time in months