#woke up early bc i still have that headache but took some meds

[do-you-know-this-adhd-character]

Do you know this (canon) ADHD character?

Proof: Discussed within the book, from chapter 2

[fluffyllamas-23]

If there’s an OC’s anonymous, I think I should join bc I have no self control and made some new ones (honestly, I blame @emeraldthread for enabling me XD)

But they also helped me out a ton, so shoutout to them.  Fic is below the cut, I hope you enjoy :)

(there’s some nausea and vomit mention, just a warning)

Life doesn’t often work out the way we envision it as a child.

When Sean was a child, for example, he had dreams and a plan, neither of which had panned out. He’s twenty seven, and had thought that his music career would have taken off by now. He thought that he would have been living in a house at this point, and not in a crappy, one bedroom apartment with a heater that only works half the time if he’s lucky.

He never thought he’d be stuck working shitty shifts at the front desk in a hotel.

His schedule is awful, with rotating shifts of two pm to ten pm, ten pm to six am and six am to two pm.

Last night was his two to ten, which means that today is his six to two pm shift.  Of course, it sucks, but it wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t wake up with a monster of a head cold.

Sean groans as he rolls over in bed. His body is screaming at him to call into work and go back to sleep, and with each stab of pain in his head he’s more and more convinced that he needs to. Except, it’s two in the morning, and he’s too tired to move.  His phone is too far away, and he feels too heavy to roll over and grab it.  

He sniffles, his sinuses feeling like they’ve been filled with cement, and his whole face feels heavy.

Pepper, his twelve week grey and white husky puppy, whines at the first sneeze, pressing her nose into his hand.  He pats her head as a second, third and fourth sneeze rip out of his throat, and then he lets out a miserable, scratchy groan. He’s starting to feel a little dizzy - a little fuzzy around the edges.  Pepper whines louder, standing up to lick his face before she starts trying to nudge him out of bed.

“Pep,” he croaks, pushing her away weakly, “stop.”

“Pepper,” he grimaces, drawing her name out when she barks and exacerbates his headache.  Pepper whines again, and plops down next to him, putting her head on his chest.  

As it gets later and later, and each sneeze makes him stuffier and stuffier, he becomes more and more aware that he really needs to call into work.  By the time he finally manages to grab his phone, it’s five fifteen, forty five minutes before his shift, and way too late to call out.  

He’s suddenly overwhelmed by how much he needs to do to get ready - he still needs to feed Pepper, get dressed, eat breakfast (although, the thought of eating anything makes him nauseous, so he figures he’ll skip that part).  It’s only two things (three if he decides to choke down a granola bar), and not a terribly long to-do list, but he’s already exhausted.  He’s been up for three hours at this point, has been sneezing almost the entire time, and he just wants to sleep. Pepper hasn’t moved from her spot next to him, opting instead to lay protectively over his chest.  

“Alright, girl,” he sniffles, his voice miserably congested. “Time to get up…you need to get off of me.”

He manages to drug himself with enough medicine that his symptoms (i.e sneezing) stay mostly at bay but not enough that he’ll fall asleep. He wants to, because he’s a little fuzzy headed, but daytime cold medicine always make it impossible for him to sleep, which, in this case, is very helpful.  

He sniffles, rubbing at his eyes as he’s hit with an overwhelming urge to lie on the floor. Unfortunately, his boss is a dick and even though he knows how miserable Sean is, if he’s not running a fever, he refuses to send him home.  

Sean twists to the side, sneezing for what feels like the thousandth time that morning. He fumbles with the tissues in his pocket, brings a crumpled one up to wipe at his nose and then shoves it back into his pocket.

“You sound awful,” Mason grimaces.

Sean hums in agreement, blinking slowly, “yeah.”

“That’s it?”

Sean furrows his eyebrows at his friend, "when’d you get here?”

“…Same time you did…like always.  We have the same Wednesday shift. Are you sure you don’t have a fever?”

“Mmmmnh…no fever…s’cold medicine.”

“You should drug yourself more often, I like it when you’re a little out of it.  Less annoying, ya know?” He says, crouching down so he can grab something from the cabinet underneath the reception desk.

“Shit, Mason,” Sean says, eyes widening as he stares at the empty space in front of him.

“What?” Mason asks, voice muffled from inside the cabinet.

“Where’d you go?” Sean asks, waving his arms in front of him, where Mason was standing five seconds earlier.

Mason stands up, placing a stack of room keys in front of them, “what?”

“You’re back!” Sean cries happily, throwing his arms around Mason.  

“You really need to go home,” Mason chuckles, squirming out of Sean’s grip.  “I need you-“

“Mason, I’m flattered, but no.”

“Shut up, you moron,” Mason laughs, “we need to do wake up calls, and I want to see this.”

Sean blinks, “see what?”

“See you make phone calls while you’re high off your ass.”

Sean blinks again, staring down at the phone, “right now?”

“Yeah.”

“‘Kay,” he mumbles, sniffling, his vision swimming as he dials the number.

“Hello?” A voice chirps on the other end, “who is this?”

“Hey, yo…uh this is your wake up call.”

“…I’m sorry?” She says, confusion coloring her voice.

“Whoops, excuse me, heh, this is the front desk at…the, um…” Sean squints in confusion.

“Oceanside-“ Mason starts.

“OCEANSIDE HOTEL,” Sean cries, slamming his hand on the counter, “that’s it.  Yeah, so your wake up call.  This is it.”

“I’m sorry, I think you have the wrong number.”

“…oh. Sorry.  Shit it’s early, I’m sorry.”

The person on the other end chuckles lightly, “don’t worry, I was up for the day already.”

“Oh…good.  Good…hey, you sound cute-“

“-Aaaaaand that’s where I cut you off,” Mason grins, taking the phone from him to hang up.

Sean squawks indignantly, “hey, I was having a conversation.”

“Yeah, and you’ll thank me when the meds wear off.”

He ends up calling that same number by accident a good five times.  The woman on the other end is way more patient than Sean or Mason would have been, although Sean suspects it’s because he sounds like hell and she feels bad for him. Either way, talking to her was the highlight of his day, and he was slightly frustrated when Mason took the phone away.  

By the time he’s finished with his shift, he’s dead on his feet, and is completely miserable.  He has tomorrow off, which he’s grateful for, because he feels like death.

“Bye, man,” Mason say, grabbing his keys and wallet from his locker.

“Mmhmm...bye,” he rasps, coughing into the crook of his elbow. All of the talking was murder on his throat, and now his voice is virtually gone.

Mason grimaces, “do you need a ride home?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay...well...go home and sleep. And don’t crash and die on your way home. I’ll kill you.”

“Okay.”

Mason stares at him, “you’re not even going to comment on that? Damn you really are out of it.”

“What are you talking about?” Sean asks, irritation lacing his tone as his sinuses buzz again.

“Never mind, just drive-“ Sean sneezes into his shoulder, and mason flinches at how tired and itchy it sounds. “-safe.”

Sean sniffles, “I will.”

Mason nods, “good. Call me if you need anything...or just...someone to come make fun of you because I can do both.”

Sean flips him off weakly, opting not to say anything, because he feels like he’s on the verge of a coughing fit and his throat is killing him.

Mason grins, “okay go sleep. Don’t die.”

When he gets home at two thirty, he collapses into bed and only wakes up to feed Pepper later that night.  

He doesn’t even really remember waking up, but he’s vaguely aware of walking into the kitchen and almost being bowled over by the excited husky when he drops the food into her dish.  

“Chill,” he croaks, pushing at her weakly as she jumps all over him. “Pep, stop, I’m tired.”

She finally calms down enough so that he can stand up and go back to bed.  

“Night,” he mumbles, patting her before walking back into his room. 

He doesn’t sleep well.  He spends most of his night tossing and turning, and when he finally wakes around nine, he feels severely sleep deprived. His brain feels muddled, but even through the haze, he can tell something is wrong.  

It takes a couple of minutes for him to realize that Pepper isn’t on the bed next to him.  He hears her whimpering from the other room, and after he wills himself to get out of bed, he walks out into the kitchen.

Pepper is lying on her side on the floor, crying weakly, and Sean’s heart drops.  

“Pepper? Pep? What’s the matter, girl?” He coos, dropping down on his knees next to her. “Alright, let’s go to the vet, yeah? You’ll feel better soon, I promise.”

He scoops her up, stumbling when he stands upright.  He sniffles, a cough bubbling in his chest as he hurries to the car.

Mason is slumped down in the chair in the exam room, waiting for Doctor Jones to come in and check on Pepper, and maybe let him know what the hell is going on. Pepper is completely listless, a stark change from the hyper puppy that had nearly knocked him over the previous night.

What had happened? She was fine.  

There’s a knock on the door, which breaks him out of his thoughts, and he manages to look up when it opens.  A beautiful, tall brunette who looks a bit younger than him walks in, and he frowns in confusion.

“Uh...you’re not Pepper’s regular doctor.”

“Doctor Jones is out of the office today,” she explains, “I’m Doctor Flynn. Did the nurse not tell you?”

“Um,” he sniffles, rubbing at his forehead, “she may have? I’m a little out of it, sorry.”

“It’s alright.  So what’s wrong with Pepper today?”

“I’m not sure...she was crying this morning when I woke up, and she hasn’t really...moved since then.”

“How’s she been eating?”

He blinks, “um...I don’t think she ate dinner last night? She ate breakfast though.”

“Has she vomited?”

He shakes his head, “no.”

“Okay, well we’ll take her for x-rays,” she says, stroking Pepper. “I kind of get the feeling she might have eaten something she shouldn’t have. Lots of puppies do it.”

The vet pokes her head out of the room, and Sean rubs at his aching temples. Now that the panic and adrenaline have worn off, he’s starting to feel miserable again.

“She puts everything in her mouth, I wouldn’t be surprised,” he sniffles when she comes back in the room., stifling a sneeze into the crook of his elbow.

She grimaces, “bless you.  Caught that bug going around?”

He nods, rubbing his throat, “yeah, um...I probably would have been fine if I didn’t have to work tomorrow-uh...I mean yesterday.”

“Where do you work?”

“Oceanside hotel,” he rasps, clearing his throat.

She bursts out laughing, “by chance did you happen to call a wrong number yesterday...five times?”

His eyes widen, “that was you?”

She grins, “it was, I’m Lucy.”

“Sean...I’m so sorry,” he groans. “I was so drugged up on cold meds...all of the numbers were blurring together.”

“It’s fine, I promise.  I thought it was great,” she chuckles.

“I was right…you are cute.”

“So are you,” she says without missing a beat, and shoots him a cute, dimpled smile.  “Pepper is going to get some x-rays. We’re going to see what’s going on.”

He sighs in relief, which sends him into a coughing fit, “thank you so much.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Hey, so I know this is a long shot, but you don’t happen to have any people medicine?”

“I have some Advil...I don’t think that’ll help you much, though.”

“Not really,” he mumbles, “but thank you.”

She nods, eyeing him intently, “hey, feel free to say no, but can I buy you a coffee...or cup of tea, and maybe some medicine? Pepper is my last patient and you look like you want to die.”

He blinks slowly, not sure if he’s hallucinating or not, “are you asking me out?”

“What if I am?” She asks, crossing her arms and raising a brow at him.

He coughs into the crook of his elbow, “are vets supposed to date their patient’s owners?”

She smirks, “technically Pepper isn’t my patient, I’m just filling in for Doctor Jones.”

He sniffles again, “uh...yeah. That would be great, my throat is killing me.”

He didn’t even need to say it - his voice is hoarse with only a roughness that comes from a severe sore throat.  Every word sounds painful to speak, and she doesn’t miss how much he grimaces each time he swallows.  

“Alright, awesome!” She chirps.

“How is Pepper your last patient?” He frowns, “it’s ten in the morning.”

“I work the ten to ten shift.”

He blinks, “...how do you work zero minutes?”

“...I...the ten pm to ten am shift?”

“Fuck,” he groans, “I promise I’m smarter than this.”

She bursts out laughing, “I’m really spacey when I’m sick, too, don’t worry.”

Somehow when Sean was sleeping, Pepper had managed to chew up something (he was guessing it was the carpeting and/or rug in the kitchen) and swallowed it.  It would have been fine, had she not also swallowed a string, which wrapped around the foam and whatever else she had eaten.  Now, she had a large blockage in her stomach that needed surgery.  

Sean was near tears, which was partly due to the fever that had spiked halfway through Pepper’s x-rays, partly due to how worried he is for Pepper, and partly due to the guilt he was feeling for leaving her alone in the living room instead of bringing her into his room while he slept.  

Lucy keeps telling him that she’s going to be okay, that they have one of the best surgeons on staff, and that their staff will be monitoring her carefully to make sure she’ll be okay.  

He just wants to go home at this point, and he tells Lucy that they’ll have to take a rain check because he needs to go lie down.  

Lucy walks out with him, yawning tiredly.  Sean trudges to his car, and lets out a strangled croak of frustration when he peers through the window and sees not only his keys in the ignition, but his phone on the driver’s seat.

“What happened?” She asks, walking over to him.  

He blinks away the tears that are gathered in his eyes, and clears his throat, “I locked my keys and phone in my car...ugh, I just wanted to get Pepper inside...I must have forgotten to grab them”

“Well shoot,” she frowns.

“Um...can I borrow your phone?” He muffles a sneezing fit into the crook of his elbow, and then sniffles miserably, “I’ll put it on speaker…and try not to touch it too much.”

She purses her lips, “you’re miserable.”

He shrugs, “yeah.”

“I promise I’m not trying to sound pushy, but I have a very comfortable couch and a lot of fluffy blankets,” she adds when she sees him shiver, “and a bunch of medicine and tea and soup.  Come back to my place and sleep, I’ll drive you back here tomorrow and I’ll let you borrow my phone and you can call a tow truck.”

The offer is more than tempting.  He’s aching to lie down, aching to go to sleep, because this day has been hell (and it’s still early), and aching to be drugged with cold meds.

“Okay...that would be great.  I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“Alright.  You can buy me a drink once you’re feeling better.”

He grins lazily, “deal.”

She smiles, tucking a lock of her curly brunette hair behind her ear, “ready to go?”

“More than ready,” he mumbles, muffling a cough into the crook of his elbow.