#roadtrip🚗 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

selene-and-the-cold · 1 year

Note

😷🚗

hehe

A while ago, I reblogged this amazing prompt list and got this wonderful ask from you, dear anon.

😷 - “Sharing is not caring!”

🚗 - Road Trip

I'm sorry it took me ages to respond, but truth be told, I just could not decide what to do with this prompt combo. My first attempt at writing something was the most obvious one, having two SOs together in a car, one of them sharing their cold with the other.

However, then my brain decided that I had to come up with a different take on this, so I redesigned a second take, which I then binned for this last and third instalment.

What my brain came up with is this 3.8 k of roadtrip, where the burgeoning cold of one person is not the only thing that makes the trip uncomfortable.

Set in an AU where these two are actually colleagues, although their relationship status is canon in my OC-universe ^^

Hope you enjoy. And if you would have preferred that SOs sharing a cold thing, let me know ^^

Also: writing this after quite some time away from writing was so much fun. If anyone is interested in any further prompts, just send me an ask :)

CW for talk about ex relationships, implied contagion, slight mess, and mentions of sexy times, but nothing graphic

Male sneezes. M/M

--------

It was Tuesday. Usually, Nicholas was ok with Tuesdays. Monday was always awful. Who wanted to give up their cozy weekend in exchange for getting back to a stressful job?! Wednesday was either hopeful or terrible, depending on how the week had gone so far. Thursday was often dragging its heels or gone way to fast in the race up to the weekend, while Friday was technically weekend already, so Nicholas was cool with Fridays.

This particular Tuesday, though, was the horribly uncomfortable lovechild of a merciless Monday, an insurmountable Wednesday, and the longest Thursday ever known to mankind. At least that was how it felt.

Due to a chain of unlucky events, Nicholas found himself in a car together with his colleague Sebastian. He was a nice enough guy, the prototypical calm and tall Northern European type, blond, blue eyes. Actually quite hot. There was only one catch - Sebastian was his ex-boyfriend.

"So, how are things between you and Robert going?," Sebastian asked, in a friendly, non-chalant tone, but the question had Nicholas grab the steering wheel tighter.

"Good," he replied tight-lipped, eyes fixed firmly on the road. He did not want to have this conversation. Sebastian had no business asking questions about his new relationship.

"Only good?," Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “I was expecting a little more enthusiasm."

"Very good," Nicholas growled. "But that's nothing I want to discuss with you."

"Shame… seeing that you are practically glued to the guy whenever he's around. If you're set on not talking about him, you won't have much to talk about, at all, and it's going to be two looooong silent days worth of road trip."

"It's going to be two long, uncomfortable days anyway, so we might as well get started with being uncomfortable now. And please stop calling this a “road trip”. This is work and we only had to take the car because you forgot to book our flights in time!"

Nicholas huffed, then did not say anything, jaw set as if he was mentally glueing it shut for the next 48 hours.

Said uncomfortable silence stretched between them, the only noise coming from the hum of the engine and the subdued chatter on the radio.

They drove in silence for a good amount of time, both following their own trains of thought, and after a while, the long, wordless minutes kindly melted into hours.

After a while, Sebastian breathed in as if he was about to say something. Instead, his head bobbed forward. "Heh'UttSccHhIu!"

"Bless," Nicholas mumbled, out of politeness rather than true concern.

"Sorry… snfffl"

Another long stretch of silence, followed by a sharp, breathy inhale.

"HEHhhh'USSSHhiuh!"

Nicholas eyed Sebastian from the side. A cloud of misty spray danced around his blonde head. In the sunlight, it looked like specks of gold.

"Bless you again."

"Snnnrfff Thag you…" Sebastian sniffled harshly, then dragged the sleeve of his shirt under his nose.

"You getting sick?"

"What? NO! Of course ndot! snnnrrff"

Nicholas didn't believe him. Sebastian had sounded so fucking insincere that one could hear the lie and denial a mile off. Which was unusual. Nicholas knew Sebastian to be an excellent liar.

"Alright then." Nicholas grumbled, decidedly not taking the bait designed to lure him into prying further into that cold denial business. Sebastian crossed his arms in front of his chest as if he was angry that Nicholas had passed up his bait.

A few more minutes passed, then Nicholas could see how Sebastian's head reared back, exposing his long, pale neck. Nicholas suddenly remembered the little sighs of pleasure Sebastian had made when he had kissed it during sex.

"Hehh'ISSSsHHU!! Hueehhh… H'ESSSHH!!"

Two forceful sneezes, both uncovered, filling the car with specks of gold.

"Ugh… 'scuse mbe!"

Sebastian gave a pathetic sniffle, then rubbed his nose with his knuckles. Nicholas had a hard time focusing on the road. Fuck Sebastian and fuck his sneezes.

His annoyingly sexy sneezes.

"Would be nice if you'd cover that. Sounds like you're catching something nasty and I don't want to get whatever you caught." Nicholas said gruffly.

"Sharing is caring, isn't that how the saying goes? And I still care a great deal about you," Sebastian replied, a sly grin spreading on his face. It made him look so impeccably sexy. He had always been good at pulling of the cheeky, youthful look. Clean, straight, intelligent, and with a boyish charm that effortlessly clad him in an air of innocence. Except he wasn't.

Sebastian was a wolf in sheeps clothing and Nicholas had to keep that in mind. Actually, he had to keep a number of things in mind. All the stuff they'd need for the conference they were headed to. His boyfriend Robert, who had not called or texted after their argument three days ago, and who had ignored all of Nicholas' calls and texts. They hadn't even said goodbye or seen each other before Sebastian and Nicholas had had to set off for their work road trip, and it stung like hell, right there in the pit of his stomach.

"Well, I for one do not care, Sebastian, and you shouldn't either. And I particularly don't care for your germs all over the car."

"Hmm…" Sebastian hummed, contemplating this statement. "That's odd, because I distinctly remember times when you cared a great deal about it when I sneezed~"

Nicholas blushed fiercely, right to the tips of his ears. Shards of memories exploded in front of his inner eye unbidden. Sebastian lying on their bed, wearing nothing but his cherry-red cold-ridden nose. Their bodies intertwined in frenzied passion. Sebastian's features convulsing as he sneezed and came all at once. The warm weight of Sebastian's body against his, as Nicholas had held him tight, while Sebastian had quivered with sneeze after helpless sneeze…

Shaking his head slightly, Nicholas cleared his throat. His lips were parched, and he licked them, realizing that he had held his breath for some time.

"You remember, my heart… my Nico… don't you?," Sebastian insisted. "Our long nights and lazy days of passion. Especially those we spent after you told me all about your secret little kink…"

His voice trailed off, its absence conjuring up images of their shared past. Sebastian had often called him Nico in the intimate moments when they were sprawled out in bed after making love, their bodies a tangled mess, heavy with the contented weight of satisfaction. But Nicholas did not want to remember. He wanted to forget.

"Don't call me that! I'm neither "your heart", nor "your Nico". We're not together anymore!" Nicholas snapped.

"I am a- hhHAAhh!!.. Aaahhh!… snnfff… aware."

Sebastian hitched theatrically, then gave his nose a self-indulgent rub, massaging it until a small squelching sound was heard. Congestion building and shifting. It was almost as if Sebastian teased him on purpose, playing up his symptoms.

Nicholas shifted in his seat. His body - the fucking traitor!- started to react to the ongoing shameless display of Sebastian's sneezes, no matter how much Nicholas tried to fight it. Apparently, it remembered more than Nicholas would have liked.

He tried to push the physical reaction down into submission by reciting poetry in his head, while the changing scenery of countryside and villages flickered past outside. He had gone through quite a bit of Robert Frost, when another poem popped up in his mind:

"What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head till morning; but the rain Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh Upon the glass and listen for reply…"

Just as Nicholas' thoughts caught on these last two lines, a thunderous sneeze sounded from the passenger seat, the ghost of his own past uncomfortably close.

"Ugh… Ndico, mby heart, could we please stop and take a break?"

Sebastian moaned his voice heavy with his cold. It sounded like his throat was badly swollen and someone had his sinuses filled with sticky syrup.

"Umm… sure. It's quite late anyway…" Nicholas replied, letting Sebastian's use of his term of endearment slip. Truth be told, he was too tired to argue anymore.

Since it was already late and Nicholas was tired as a rock, while Sebastian was not feeling up to driving with the burgeoning cold he had not yet admitted having, they decided to crash at a motel for the night earlier than planned, but both were in dire need of some rest.

Nicholas asked for two rooms, but like in some kind of cheap rom-com, there was only one bedroom with a double bed left due to an event taking place in the city.

"Fine, we'll take it," Nicholas growled, even though sharing a room with his ex was the last thing he wanted. He grabbed the keys and set off to find their room, Sebastian hot on his heels.

“Mhm, sharing a roob agaid after all this timbe~" Sebastian suggestively wiggled his eyebrows, but his seductive tone lost its allure due to the thick congestion in his voice.

"Needs must, but don't think I'm gonna share a bed with you! I'll take the couch.."

--------

The two of them walked down a set of boring beige-walled hallways, feet floating on a thick, dark-blue carpet that reminded Nicholas of a cruise ship. Not that he had ever been on a cruise, but this was the idea of a cruise ship the media had shaped in his brain.

Sebastian had gotten awfully quiet and shivered a bit as he stood next to Nicholas, waiting for him to let them into their room, then sneezed violently as soon as the lights in the room came on, taking possession of the place by unleashing his army of germs into the space.

"Bless you," Nicholas offered, meanwhile on autopilot. God, he was tired all of a sudden. All he wanted was to crawl into bed and rest. Well, scratch that. Crawl onto the couch and rest. He was just about to get a pillow from the bed to his makeshift resting place, when he realised that there was no couch. There wasn't even a fucking armchair. Only a rickety looking chair and desk combo, which looked like someone had made them out of cardboard, ready to fold in on themselves as soon as someone just breathed too forcefully next to them. That wasn't good…

Sebastian must have connected all the dots about a fraction later, because Nicholas suddenly heard him chirp: "Looks like it's going to be a shared bed after all~"

"Oh, shut up!"

"Alright, alright! Ndo ndeed to be-… hiihhh…. snnfff grumpy. Hiihh?! Hiihh'yISSSHHU!!"

Sebastian burst forth with a spraying sneeze, a tiny rope of mess shooting from his left nostril.

"Oh… 'scuse mbe!" Sebastian sheepishly looked at Nicholas, flashing him an embarrassed smile. "Would you be a dear and hand mbe a tdissue?"

Nicholas gulped. This whole set up painfully reminded him of some of the early days after Sebastian and him had newly gotten together at university. An unplanned sleepover at his dorm room when Sebastian had been coming down with a nasty cold. His body pressed against Sebastian's feverish frame, as they had both squeezed into his tiny single dorm bed, Sebastian curled up against his chest, snuffling sneezing, and coughing all night, while half of Nicholas' body had hung out of the tiny bed frame because he'd wanted Sebastian to be comfortable and the bed just was not big enough for two people to rest comfortably all night.

"Ndico?"

Sebastian's voice suddenly jerked him back to reality. Damn, why did all of these unbidden images keep swimming to the surface?

"Hmm?"

"Tdissues? I really ndeed theb…"

"Oh! Right. Sorry."

Nicholas hurried to fetch the box of tissues and handed one white square directly to Sebastian, who immediately pressed it to his streaming nose and gave a hearty blow.

"Thank you."

Nicholas just bobbed his head in silent acknowledgement. Suddenly the room felt stifling and way too small. He wanted out. He wanted to get away from Sebastian. He wanted Robert.

"I'll go for a short a walk. You get comfortable, ok?"

"But…"

"No buts. Please, Sebastian. I just.. need some time alone. It's been a long day."

With that, Nicholas took the key and went outside. It was quite cold, so sleeping in the car was not an option. He wished he had brought a thicker jacket, but it was at Robert's place and he had not dared going there after their fight.

Nicholas kicked a stone with his foot. Why had they even started to argue anyway? Oh… right. It was because of this stupid trip. A few months ago, Sebastian had started working at Nicholas' work place. Fortunately they were not direct colleagues, but their departments worked together on some projects so there was overlap.

This road trip was such an overlap. Both him and Sebastian had been chosen by their respective departments to represent them at an important conference. Leading up to that, Nicholas and Sebastian had to prepare a presentation. Robert had not been amused.

Especially because Nicholas and Sebastian had to spend a considerable amount of time together preparing said presentation and Sebastian – ever the flirt – had not bothered to hold back, even – and especially! - when Robert was present. Sebastian wanted him back and had even told him so on numerous occasions. Sadly, he had not taken no as an answer.

Nicholas sighed and stopped himself re-enacting the argument he had had with Robert in his head. He had done so at least a dozen times, but since Robert refused to get in touch with him, it was difficult to apologise and address certain things.

After he had been wandering around aimlessly for some time, and after he had tried calling Robert twice more without getting any reaction, the chill fall air had wormed its way through his thin jacket into his bones, and Nicholas decided to go back to their room. Perhaps he could make the old chair and desk combo work after all.

---------

As Nicholas returned to their room, Sebastian was already changed and in bed, tissue box clutched to his chest, bright-red nose streaming, and rolled into a tight ball against some invisible cold draft only he could feel.

Nicholas made quick work of changing into his pyjamas - in the bathroom, as if the man in the other room had not seen him naked more times than Nicholas cared to think of. But it felt odd to just undress in front of him. The ease and trust this entailed had been left behind in another life. Furthermore, even the thought of undressing in front of Sebastian felt like cheating on Robert.

Therefore, Nicholas got himself ready for bed in the tiny motel bathroom, then arranged the desk and chair so that he could sit in the chair and put his feet up on the desk, thus creating a wildly uncomfortable half sitting half lying down position for himself between these two pieces of furniture. It looked like a decidedly uncomfortable, Frankensteinian version of a hammock.

Sebastian watched, but did not say anything until Nicholas came to the bed, grabbing a pillow and a blanket.

“Whadt… *sniff* whadt are you doing?” Sebastian asked, clearly bewildered that instead of climbing into bed next to him, Nicholas had tucked the pillow under his arm and was tugging at the second blanket to take it with him.

“Getting ready for bed.”

Nicholas shot the rickety desk and chair combo a meaningful look, pointing at it with his chin.

“Oh, dod't be ridiculou-… Huhhh?… Huh'USSHHzzuh! God, sorry… *sniff* ridiculous. You cad't sleep od that thing!”

“I can't sleep in here, either and frankly, the floor does not look very appealing…”

Nicholas had wrestled the blanket into submission and was standing at his makeshift bed, arranging the pillow.

“But Ndico…”

“No more “but”s, Sebastian. Pleeeaase? I'm tired and I just want to go to bed…. and so should you, by the way. You look awful!”

“Thank you, I've mbissed your combpliments, mby heart.” Another sneeze wrecked his body. Sebastian tried to catch it in the flimsy tissue he was holding, but Nicholas could see specks of spray dancing in the dim light of the reading lamp on the night stand.

“'scuse mbe. What I was triyng to say was: I just dod't get why you're so stubborn?”

“Stubborn? Me?! ” Nicholas was more than just a little annoyed at this point. The long drive, his argument with his boyfriend and Sebastian's constant nagging finally getting the better of him.

“That's rich coming from a man who has no concept of the word “no”. I'm sick and tired of your constant double innuendo, flirty eyes, eyebrow-wiggles and all of that crap, barging in on my job and my new relationship. You are the last person on this planet I want to share a room with. Yet, here I am, sharing a room with you because work is important to me. If I did not have to be here for the job, you better believe I'd be ANYWHERE but in a room with you!”

At that, Nicholas plopped down into the chair, put his legs up on the desk and pulled the blanket over himself, demonstratively closing his eyes. He had nothing more to say. Fortunately, there was a light-switch nearby, which he kicked with his foot, plunging them into darkness, hoping to cut off any possible attempts of his room-mate to continue this farce of a conversation.

Sebastian had gotten the point, though and did not try to force the conversation on Nicholas anymore. Both men were lying awake in the darkness for the next one and a half hours, listening to each other's breathing. A neon side from outside shone dirty orange light through the cracks of the curtains. From time to time, a car sped by on the nearby road. And Sebastian could not find rest. He tossed and turned on the bed, sheets rustling like the ruffled feathers of an angry flock of birds. From time to time, a heavy, congested sneeze cut through the silence, and from the sound of it, Sebastian must have gone through at least half the tissue box already.

Nicholas could tell that Sebastian tried his best to keep the noise down to a minimum – sneezes muffled into tissues or pillows, suppressed coughs that were only made worse as the sick man tried to fight them back down his throat. In short: Sebastian sounded miserable. And Nicholas was uncomfortable as hell. The chair was somehow both rickety enough to keep him worrying about it breaking under him, and hard enough to make him feel like he was sitting on a riverbank littered with the sharpest stones known to mankind.

“Ndico?”

Sebastian's voice drifted over. A weak, shivery thing, heavy with congestion.

“Hmm?”

“I'b sorry,” said the small voice, sniffling pitifully.

“What for?”

Nicholas was confused. It was fucking late o'clock at night and he had no idea what the hell Sebastian was talking about.

“For getti'g sick and for getti'g you sick as well with all mby sndeezing. And… well… you kndow… Everything.”

Nicholas sat up a little straighter in his chair. This was not about the trip. This was about them. About the lies. The cheating. That other guy.

“Everything? You mean…”

“Yes.”

Nicholas felt his heart pump in his veins. “Even for…?”

“Especially that.” Sebastian had cut him off before he could say the words out loud, but the calm, decisive way he responded left no doubt that Sebastian knew what he had meant to say.

“Hmm…,” Nicholas hummed, his brain searching the darkness for words that might fit, but they were running through his minds like sand.

“And for Robert too,” Sebastian continued, then sneezed twice more. They sounded heavier, like the congestion had settled not only in his nose, but in his chest, too. “I kndow I've beed putting pressure od your relationship with him, and I'b sorry. He seebs like a good guy. That's why I hate id that he's with you ndow.”

Nicholas just stared ahead at a speck of orange light filtering in. There were goosebumps on his skin, and he swallowed hard. What the hell was he supposed to say to that? What the hell was he supposed to do with all of these sudden confessions?

“I erm… Thanks, I guess. For telling me.”

“You're welcobe. That was long overdue..” Another long silence. Another hefty sneeze. Then: “Hey, why dod't you cobe and lie down here id bed with mbe? It mbust be hella uncobfortable od that chair.”

“It is,” Nicholas agreed with a small chuckle. Then the rustling of a blanket was heard before the mattress dipped down next to Sebastian under Nicholas' weight.

“Oh god, this is so much better,” he groaned, sounding like he had just experienced the best climax of his life.

“You kndow that I'b good in bed…,” Sebastian chuckled, but it transitioned into a coughing fit. “cough Sorry.”

“'tis fine,” Nicholas said, his voice suddenly drowsy as his lack of sleep caught up with him and his body could not resist the siren song of the soft mattress any longer. Still, there was one more question he had to ask: “Seb, why did you tell me all of that now?”

Sebastian pondered this question, then propped himself up on his elbow and turned, facing Nicholas.

“Because sharing is caring, and it was time that I shared mby thoughts with you. Ndot just mby germs.”

Nicholas smiled faintly. Oh there sure as hell was no escaping this cold. But perhaps this road trip had been worth it after all. Perhaps it had been good that this particular ghost of his past had come to haunt him right now. Perhaps Robert would be less cross with him if he returned a sniffling, sneezing mess from this trip.

“Thank you. Now try to get some sleep.”

“HEHhhh'USSSHhiuh!!! TtZZSHHU!!”

“Goodnight…”

#answered asks #prompts #my writing #Nicholas #Sebastian #road trip #snzfic

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