#wolfram and allister

[afternoonpoppy]

Thanksgiving

(Rewrote and cleaned up a Thanksgiving fic that I originally wrote... TWO YEARS AGO? OH GOD. I would say that this is thus somewhere earlier in the timeline for my boys but that implies that there is a timeline to begin with and not just a pile of scenarios I think are cute. So anyway, it's apparently been almost a year since I last wrote for Fram and Alli.)

Celebrating Thanksgiving, and other holidays, in fact, had been Wolfram's idea. He couldn't help it, the idea was fascinating to him. These holidays of Allister's world were new and different. Similar in spirit in a few cases, but still. The thought of a warm, home-cooked meal was appealing as well, and Wolfram was more than happy to supply some spirits to help Allister with the cooking.

As far as eating the meal went, Wolfram was beginning to think that, just maybe, he had overdone it just a bit. His stomach felt taut and heavy, packed with an overly large meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and warm vegetable sides. Now he lay drowsily across the couch, barely able to keep his eyes open.

"Allister," he tried to call out, but did not bother to lift his face from the couch cushion to be more readily heard. When there was no response from the kitchen save for the sound of dishes and silverware being moved from table to sink, Wolfram sighed. He sat up, which in itself was a struggle as his stomach jostled about with the movement, and he hiccuped and groaned as he leaned against the back of the couch. "Allister," he called out as clearly as his exhaustion would let him.

After a moment, Allister appeared in the living room doorway, stifling a yawn from his own drowsiness. "What's up, Fram?"

"I'd like you here with m—hic—me. And I have hiccups again..."

Allister smiled a bit, finding the sight of his post-holiday dinner boyfriend to be far too cute. "It's barely been a couple minutes Fram, I'm just clearing the table. You have to do the dishes later, don't forget."

Wolfram frowned and hiccuped, displeased with that reminder, but said, "Fine, but join me—hic—here now. It's cold, and I'm tired."

Allister paused, looking back to the kitchen and thinking. He'd wanted to make sure everything was tidied up before the inevitable couch crash, but Wolfram was just too difficult to resist. "Alright, alright," he said, coming around to the couch and sitting down next to Wolfram.

Wolfram smiled, and wrapped his arms around Allister's shoulders, pulling him to lie down. "Much be—hic—better, isn't it, Alli—hic—Allister?"

Allister yawned, taking his turn to hold Wolfram in a hug. "Well, I never said it wasn't gonna be. Should we see about getting your hiccups to stop?"

"Mm... It's not—hic—that which is bothering me so much..."

"But something is?"

Wolfram shifted, trying to ignore the growing discomfort in his stomach. "Well... Could you—hic—rub my stomach, Allister?"

"Does it hurt?" Allister asked while he moved a warm hand down to the skin of Wolfram's midsection under his shirt and began to massage gently.

"Not quite painful—hic—exactly. Just... full. Difficult to get comfortable without you."

Allister pressed his face gently into the side of Wolfram's neck. "Okay, Fram. You got it. You know, you didn't have to eat so much in one sitting."

"You should—hic—know by now that your cooking is rather diff—hic—difficult to resist."

"Why do you say that like it's my fault?"

"The power of your temptation is too strong, Allister."

Allister chuckled. "This was your idea, remember? I didn't plan on any of this until you brought it up." He gently kissed Wolfram a few times along his neck, and Wolfram squirmed, laughing with the tickling sensation.

"All—hic—Allister, stop, I'm t—hic—too tired—hic—t—to laugh th—hic—this much." Wolfram covered his mouth with one hand as he tried to muffle the next few hiccups that hit him more quickly now.

"Aw, sorry, Fram. Did I make 'em worse?"

Wolfram took a moment to hold his breath, but when that did nothing to stop or slow his hiccups, looked at Allister and pouted. "You—hic—you've betr—hic—betrayed me,—hic—Allister."

"Poor thing." Allister continued his gentle massaging along Wolfram's poor bouncing stomach, rubbing in slow, gentle circles. "Does this help any?"

Wolfram nodded, shifting onto his side and pulling Allister's hand along with him. He tried a few more times at holding his breath, and his hiccups eventually slowed back to their normal pace.

"That better?"

"I would rather they—hic—stopped entirely, but yes."

"Well, this is an improvement. What got you into this holiday stuff, anyway?"

"Is it so unusual that—hic—that I would take an interest? But aside from that, it's my underst—hic—understanding that holidays like this are best spent wi—hic—with loved ones, are they not?"

"Well, I can't argue with that. It is more fun when it's with you. Guess I'll look forward to next year, then."

Wolfram nodded, letting his eyes shut, though he thought he felt Allister suddenly tense up and pause in the very relaxing stomach massage for a moment. "Allister?" he asked. "Is some—hic—thing the matter?"

"I just... Sorry. I should have thought that out better, I guess. You're, uh, probably gonna be home by next year after all, right?"

Wolfram opened his eyes again, staring across the room, then rolled onto his back once more to look at Allister. "I certainly intend that to be the case, yes. I don't see why that should be a problem."

"Well..." Allister's face had fallen. "You know..."

"Allister, do you think I would leave you when that happens?"

Allister looked up, meeting Wolfram's gaze.

"Do remember. I came here by—hic—by accident, but once I've worked out how to return, I'll know how to come back here intentionally, as well. You are far too important for me to leave behind."

Allister smiled, wrapping both arms around Wolfram. "Do you mean that?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, if you get that worked out, does that mean I can take vacations at your place?"

"I don't—hic—see why not."

"I'll look forward to it, then."

"That's good. Now then," Wolfram pushed himself onto his side again and grabbed Allister's hand, smirking just a bit. He hiccuped and said, "I believe my—hic—stomach is starting to hurt after all."

"Alright, fine. But you're not getting out of dishes later, Fram, so enjoy this while it lasts."

[afternoonpoppy]

Feeling bad rn so imma emerge from the depths to ramble about my boys whom I love despite it being forever since I last wrote about them. I'm sorry that there's not any hiccup content here, this is just a self-indulgent post in other respects (and I admit I haven't had any scenarios stick out to me for writing hiccup fics, aaaa)

Allister's favorite food is a nice warm pot pie, preferably homemade but that's hard so he doesn't do it a lot. Wolfram's favorite is literally anything freshly made by Allister.

Aside from Allister's cooking, Wolfram also likes sweets a lot as is probably evident by his response to chocolate and things in various stories. Hot chocolate? Yes, give him all of it, especially when the weather is cold. Or milkshakes in the summer. But he's not too picky about food temperature vs outside temperature, he'll take whatever is offered.

Pretty sure this came up once or twice in stories but Allister can't stomach sweet sugary things. He just doesn't like the taste but he'll feel sick too if he eats too much of them. The fate of being an adult.

Allister isn't one to celebrate the holidays in any particularly special way. A couple decorations are nice, as well as some hangouts with friends, but he grew up with a big and loud family who always made a big deal about the holidays. Now that Allister's living on his own and kind of far from the relatives he'd usually spend the holidays with, he's got the chance to celebrate quietly in that low-key manner he prefers.

Wolfram has more interest in the holidays. It's partly because Earth holidays are new to him and he wants to learn about them, but also because he wants to celebrate with his family. Which is Allister. He likes to do something nice, like cook a big meal to celebrate and get more decorations up. He isn't good at cooking but he'll try. Or conjure some spirits and have them try. Which isn't a much better idea, they're not always good at keeping things tidy. Allister likes this way of celebrating holidays though, it's pleasant. Wolfram is also happy to tell Allister all about his magic world's holidays to celebrate those too.

I wrote a story in which Allister takes care of a sick Wolfram, Wolfram is a whiny baby when he doesn't feel well. But pretty much only with Allister. Wolfram is prideful Wolfram who wants to be a cool and competent spellcaster so being sick is no big deal if anyone else asks. But Allister needs to get him more blankets and some tea and some cuddles, stat.

Allister loves the fall. Early autumn is his favorite time for camping cause it's not super hot and there's not as many mosquitos, and then he really likes to see the colors of the leaves. He would have said the main drawback of autumn would be the leaf raking, but having a magic boyfriend makes that a lot easier!

Allister doesn't like things to be super cold, though. Winter is too much, even if Wolfram can make snow shoveling easy too. Just, all that snow making everything so cold outside? The mornings being dark and then the sun setting really early in the afternoon too? Having to go out to the car in the morning to drive to work? No, no, no. Allister likes it when the outside is a hospitable welcoming environment where he can take walks, not when it makes him want to hibernate!

Wolfram kind of appreciates the Allister that wants to hibernate, though. He feels for his partner, but more cuddles!

[afternoonpoppy]

Hi, long time watcher, first time asker! So I noticed that in an older work, you mentioned that Wolfram gets the hiccups any time he so much as has a drop of alcohol. So uh... I would die a very happy lady if you wrote something about Wolfram having drinks for the first time. Blushy, buzzed, cuddly, hiccupping magical boy? Uuuuughhh yes pleaaaase.

(aaaaaaa I've had this waiting in my inbox for wait too long and I'm very sorry! It took me a lot longer to get a chance to write this than I wanted to.

Not me accidentally making Allister's school and work history really relatable to my own and not me using this as an excuse to write something taking place in December because it's currently way too hot outside.)

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Allister tapped his finger against the keyboard of his laptop, staring at the screen. The math on the screen stared back at him.

"I hate this," he muttered. "Fram, I can't do math."

Wolfram, seated next to him on the couch, leaned against Allister's shoulder and looked down at the screen as well. "Did you struggle during your classes as well?"

"When I was fully conscious, yes. When I was working off of sleep deprivation, coffee, and panic on exam days, I managed pretty decent grades. Somehow."

Wolfram's expression was a mixture of disapproval and concern as he looked up at Allister.

"Hey, I don't have to do that anymore," Allister said with a shrug. Instead, he just had to suffer through the periodic online courses that fulfilled the accursed 'continuing education' his license required every couple of years. It really wasn't so bad and all the questions were multiple choice. He could always have just answered blindly until he got them correct. But Allister had been raised to be honest and to put actual effort into things. This just happened to be the sort of thing he struggled at.

He looked up at the clock that hung up on the living room wall, seeing that it read the same time as his laptop. Quarter past nine, meaning he'd been working away at these courses for the past two or so hours. Something like that, he hadn't really kept track. Allister sighed and placed his laptop onto the coffee table in front of the couch. "I think it's time for a break. Hey, a friend at work gave me a bottle of wine for the holidays. It's cheap, but why don't we have some?"

Despite it being mid-December already, Allister had to admit the house didn't give that impression. It was snowing heavily outside, sure. But inside were only a few small holly wreaths that he'd bought at a discount from the pharmacy on a whim. He hadn't actually thought to buy anything for the holiday season otherwise.

"Wine?" Wolfram seemed to think that over for a moment, then shrugged. "I suppose I'll try some."

"Oh. You haven't had wine before?" Wine and other drinks certainly seemed like a staple of fantasy worlds with magic and the like. But then again, Allister wondered if he should stop making assumptions about Wolfram's home based on YA novels.

"Not in particular, no. During my time studying, my peers occasionally invited me to join them for an evening of drinks during our own holidays or when there was something to celebrate. I preferred to stay to my studies, though."

Allister stood up from the couch, heading towards the kitchen. "So magic college had the kids who wanted to party and the ones who panicked for good exam scores. Sounds like normal boring college."

Wolfram followed, leaning against the kitchen counter with a playful smirk directed at Allister. "Who said I panicked over my exams?"

"Well, if you're such a genius," Allister said, reaching up into one of the cupboards for the wine bottle and a pair of glasses, "I may just have you do my math for me. I bet you'll love dilutions." He had to admit, he felt fancy pulling out the wine glasses. It wasn't every day Allister had an excuse for that.

Pouring some of the red wine into each of the glasses, Allister handed one off to Wolfram.

"Dilutions..." Wolfram stared into the wine as he muttered the word. "Mathematics regarding multiple liquids? I do believe we covered something of the sort in alchemical basics." He paused and took a tentative sip of the wine, then stared at it more as if studying it.

"What do you think?"

"I'm not certain how I feel about the taste."

"Well, that's fair. I doubt cheap gift wine is the best introduction to the stuff."

"I suppose it's fine eno - hic - ohh..." Wolfram grimaced with the sudden case of hiccups beginning.

"Oh geez, that didn't take much, huh?" Allister offered a sympathetic smile.

Wolfram stared at the glass of wine, eyes narrowing at it. "Appare - hic - apparently so... I'm not sold on the - hic - idea of alcohol thus far, Alli - hic - Allister."

Allister gently patted his poor, hiccuping boyfriend on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Fram. It's not everyone's thing anyway." He shrugged.

"Mm-hm... Is it - hic - really all that enj - hic - enjoyable to be intoxicated?"

"Hm... I mean, I guess?" Given that Allister hardly drank much at once, that wasn't the easiest question for him to answer, but he liked it well enough in the right context. Seeing that Wolfram was still studying the wine with something of a skeptical look, Allister offered, "You don't have to drink it if you don't like it, it's fine. Like I said, it's cheap stuff too."

It was Wolfram's turn to answer with a shrug as he said, "It's f - hic - fine. I'm not completely aga - hic - against the taste, so I'll see what I think of it."

"Oh." Allister was, admittedly, surprised. Wolfram wasn't completely disdainful of something that had so easily given him hiccups? That was unusual. "Well, how about we find something to watch for a bit before I get back to work?"

---

A glass of wine and some television later, Allister realized that getting back to work was... difficult. For one thing, he hadn't finished that math from earlier and was now facing down the dreaded dilutions. The alcohol may not have been helping with that. Then there was also the matter of Wolfram.

"Alli - hic - ster." Wolfram whined, draping his arms over Allister's shoulders. "Is the math - hic - done yet?" He leaned forward, resting his head against the back of Allister's neck.

"Still struggling with that part," Allister said. His attention drifted to the empty wine glass that Wolfram had left on the table. Was it a coincidence that Allister's sweetheart, now slightly red-faced in the cheeks, was acting clingier than usual? No, certainly not.

"Well, hurry up," Wolfram mumbled into the collar of Allister's shirt. "Finish up s - hic - so you can cuddle me."

Allister smiled, reaching a hand up to gently squeeze Wolfram's own. "I'd love to, Fram, but it's a bit difficult with you hanging onto me like that."

Wolfram pointed at the laptop. "Then gi - hic - ive it to me. I'll do it, let me - hic - see it."

"You know, I wasn't serious about having you do the dilutions, Fram."

"Allister, I'm - hic - smart, remember? Numbers are numbers even in a different world, I can - hic - do it." Without bothering to wait for an answer, Wolfram sat up and promptly stretched out to lay on his side across Allister's lap, reaching over to the laptop on the table.

"Fram, what are you -"

"It's fine, Allister, it's fi - hic - ine. I can do math," Wolfram muttered indignantly.

Allister sighed and relented, waiting as Wolfram stared at the text on the screen. Eventually, Wolfram rolled onto his back to look up at Allister. "How do I use this?"

"You know, Fram," Allister said, brushing a stray hair out of Wolfram's face, "I have to do a course on pharmacy law after this one too. I don't think you'll be able to help with that one so you're still going to be waiting a bit."

Wolfram pouted and crossed his arms. "Allister."

"What is it?"

"N - hic - o," Wolfram said, the single-syllable word mangled by his hiccups.

"You want to try that again?"

"I'm telling you no, Allister. You're do - hic - ing what you tell me not to do. You're going to ove - hic - overwork yourself, and I refuse to let you."

"I get it," Allister said, "but I have to do this stuff for work, Fra -"

Wolfram put a hand up over Allister's mouth. "Shush. You have ple - hic - nty of time to do this work, right? So I'll make you do more tomo - hic - tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, huh?" Allister mumbled, pushing Wolfram's hand aside with a hand of his own, fingers intertwining. Tomorrow sounded like a better time for the dilutions. "So that means cuddling now?"

Wolfram nodded. "I dema - hic - demand cuddles, Alli." Still lying on his back, he held out his arms up towards Allister expectantly.

Allister broke into a smile at that sight. "You're playful when you're tipsy, huh?"

"I never said I was - hic - tipsy. Oh, wait." Apparently having a sudden idea, Wolfram abruptly sat up. He brought his hands closer together and began to recite a spell - though, with his hiccups interrupting him, it took three or four times before he was able to successfully do so. Once he managed the spell without interruption, one of the small animal-like spirits formed in his hands and Wolfram smiled at Allister. "More warmth to sit with us."

"If we doze off, it's going to run off eventually and start causing trouble, won't it?"

Wolfram thought, looking back down at the currently rabbit-esque spirit. He shrugged and said in a dismissive tone, "It's fine, it's fi - hic - fine."

"Well, if it starts knocking stuff over later, you're the one who has to clean it up. Get over here, then," Allister said before leaning towards Wolfram and pulling him down to lie down on the couch.

[afternoonpoppy]

At least one short fic coming in soon. 👀 Basically just whenever I have the time and energy to go over it for some cleanup.

Tiny thing I get too much joy out of: If Wolfram is interrupted mid-word by a hiccup, he'll usually say the word again from the start to try and be clear, but sometimes he's tired or just stops worrying about it and doesn't bother. I dunno, I just find that real cute and I've been thinking about that fact lately.

[afternoonpoppy]

Camping

Poppy awakens from her slumber, aaaaaa! This was for a commission but also something I’d wanted to sit down and write for a looong while, so this finally got me to do it and I’m glad for that. This turned out longer than I expected but I had fun writing it, so I hope it turned out well!

A bit of a chill had started to creep into the night air, but Allister hardly minded at all. Being sat by a modestly-sized campfire with Wolfram beside him, there was plenty of warmth to go around. And besides, Allister was camping again! 

Sort of, anyway - it was honestly more of a meetup with friends for the evening, and they weren't even more than a twenty-minute walk from Allister's house. But the group had gotten a fire together, brought out a cooler with drinks, and even found some sizable logs to sit on. Allister preferred fold-out chairs, but his cousin Sadie had insisted it would make the whole night more 'authentic.' Plus, it did allow Wolfram and Allister to sit closer together. In all, they'd ended up with about nine people gathered together, some of them being mutual friends of Allister and Sadie, with others being acquaintances invited by said friends. The total was 'about' nine since Allister's coworker Vincent had shouted that they were going on an impromptu snack-run to the nearest convenience store thirty minutes ago.

"Honestly, I don't know what she was expecting to happen," Sadie was saying very emphatically from across the campfire. While the group had split off into their own conversations and activities, she'd recruited Allister and Wolfram into listening to the evening's third rant about the obnoxious roommate she'd been putting up with for the past while. "Like, she was gonna yell at me and then just expect me to finish cleaning up the apartment for her? I am under no obligation to do her laundry, thank you very much." 

Marcus, the other of Allister's two coworkers that had been invited, walked over to take a seat by the fire just in time to catch what was being discussed and followed up with, "I mean, you gotta remember, Sadie. This is the same girl that thought she'd just hand in a Wikipedia article for one of her college assignments. You think she thinks this stuff through?"

Allister's eyebrows furrowed as he stared into the fire and tried to parse that statement. "Wait, as in she plagiarized a Wikipedia article, right?" Surely Marcus hadn't literally meant -

"I mean, I guess it's still plagiarism if you download an entire Wikipedia page and send it to your professor, yeah."

Oh. Allister nodded, struggling for something to say to that, but quickly gave up. Even if that anecdote weren't so absurd that it demanded speechlessness, he'd been content to let his friends steer the conversations of the night. Allister was just glad to hear what they'd been up to as of late, as well as to have a chance to sit outside and enjoy the wilderness. Crickets chirped in the trees of the woods and stars coated the sky up above, making a beautiful sight. 

That sight had been one of his favorite things about moving out here from the city. The other being that he'd been able to meet Wolfram. Wolfram who had spent the first part of the evening nearly dozing off by the fire after the walk to the group's meetup spot, but looked to have regained some energy now that he'd been sitting down for a while. He hadn't bothered to take part in the conversation much either and had also been focusing on either the fire or the stars for most of the night.  Allister wasn't very surprised, though. Considering this was the first time Wolfram had properly interacted with... anyone else in this world in person, Allister was just glad to get him out of the house. Getting into the car was still a no-go, but perhaps that would be another day.

"So, Wolfram, what do you do, anyway? You work, doing the whole 'actually trying to learn' thing, what?" Sadie asked abruptly, apparently letting the previous topic rest for now. "I don't think Allister's ever mentioned."

Allister's eyes widened and he glanced at Wolfram. The two had long ago decided not to mention the whole... 'magic and other worlds' situation to other people for any number of reasons. Not least of all being concerns as to what sort of attention Wolfram would draw as a (somewhat, at least) practiced spellcaster. It wasn't as if the pair hadn't discussed what their cover story would be to other people, but it hadn't come up very much as of yet and Allister couldn't help but worry.

Still, Wolfram seemed unphased by the question and smoothly answered, "I'm a writer. Primarily focusing on short fiction at the moment."

"Whoa, cool," Sadie said with a grin. "What do you write, like, romance, fantasy, sci-fi? Romance? I'm into romance if you've got any of that."

"Apologies, no. It is fantasy, my current project is a series of stories taking place in the same setting, so right now much of my time working on it is spent on world-building."

Allister was impressed at Wolfram's confidence in that answer. Sadie nodded, reaching into the cooler near her for a drink. "Neat. I don't actually read a whole lot, so no promises, but I'll try and give it a look when it's done. Either of you guys wants a beer?" She held up an extra can and tapped on the side with one nail.

"No, thank you," Wolfram said.

Allister shrugged. "Yeah, sure, I'll have one."

Sadie aimed to toss it to Allister but realized the fire between them might pose a problem. Rather than stand up and walk around it, she settled for instead trying to throw the can around the fire at an awkward angle, which resulted in it flying off to the side and rolling across the ground a bit. Marcus stared at Sadie with eyebrows raised.

"Uh, I think we can let that one settle there for a while," Allister said, standing from his seat to grab a can from the cooler. "Let's not ask you to throw things when you've had alcohol."

Sadie objected by holding up her freshly-opened can and saying, "Hey, this is my first one, Alli!"

"That was a sober throw?" Wolfram asked.

"Wait, shit. Okay, yeah, let's say I was drunk for that."

For a while longer, the conversation shifted back and forth through various topics among the group. Eventually, though, Allister glanced over to the trees around the campsite. He leaned closer to Wolfram and asked, "Hey, you wanna go for a walk?"

"A walk?" Wolfram leaned against Allister's shoulder. "Where did you intend to go?"

"Nowhere, in particular. I just wanted to stretch my legs and get away from the fire for a bit. We don't gotta go far."

Wolfram thought for a moment, then said, "We walked here and have to do so again to get home, so I would rather not. Feel free to enjoy yourself, though, so long as you don't end up lost."

"You sure?"

"I'm not frightened of people, Allister," Wolfram said with a smile. "I can handle any questions your cousin directs at me. Either that or I can ask her something about her housemate and let her talk for another thirty minutes."

"Hmm, I guess so. Alright then, if you're sure. I'll make sure I can still see the fire anyway." Allister stood up, stretching a bit, noting that Sadie and Marcus had both wandered off to the rest of the group and were yelling into someone's phone at Vincent, demanding they return from whatever had distracted them on their snack run. Allister had meant to tell them he'd be back shortly but figured he wouldn't disrupt anything if he just stepped away from the campsite.

Once he'd gotten some distance away, he noticed how quiet it was out in the woods. He hadn't been aware of the background noise his social circle's chatter made until he could hear the contrast in nature's quiet cricket chirps. It was nice out here. Much more Allister's pace than when he lived out in the city with his family, but this was the first time he'd taken the time to stop and appreciate it even after moving out here.

He leaned back against a tree, occasionally sipping the beer he'd brought with him, and started searching the stars for any constellations he knew. The answer was none, he'd always been terrible at telling constellations apart and never knew where one ended and another began, but at least they were pretty.

Allister's thoughts were interrupted, unfortunately, as a strong hiccup shook through his chest. 'HUP!' He raised a hand to his chest in surprise and instinctively tried to muffle the next 'HMK!' to follow, his own hiccups startling him as they broke the silence.

"Why n - HULP - now..." he mumbled to himself. As usual, Allister's hiccups were fast and obnoxiously loud. Considering it was almost unheard of for his cases to start up with no reason, he cast an accusatory look at the beer can in his hand. "Thi - HUC - this is you - HIC - your fault - HUC-UP!" He sighed - or tried to with yet another hiccup interrupting - and turned his attention back up to the stars.

Allister had planned to try to wait out his hiccups in the hopes they'd stop on their own. He preferred not to return to the party only to be a distraction for everyone. Unfortunately, he did wait for some time, looking back at the campfire now and then and eventually checking his phone to see that almost fifteen minutes had passed. It was becoming apparent that just the same as the hiccups didn't typically start without reason, they wouldn't stop on their own anytime soon either. 

Allister grimaced at that thought. He had wanted to be back by now, but here he was instead, without even so much as a bottle of water to try to solve the problem. He hated what he was contemplating, but he hated leaving Wolfram on his own even more. So, without putting too much thought into what a terrible decision he was making, Allister inhaled deeply and held his breath. In the past, that had always been a terrible idea, but maybe that had always been a coincidence?

Successfully holding his breath with hiccups leaping through his chest every other second proved to be more difficult than he remembered, and it felt like he ran out of air much faster than he would have otherwise. And he was forced to give up that effort and breathe fresh air when his hiccups abruptly became faster.

Allister immediately regretted his decision. "Wa - HUP - wait - HUC-UP - please ju - HIC! HIGK - just - HUK-ULP - h-hold on - HIC!" His attempt at talking his hiccups into calming down did little to help. Even worse, they had gotten stronger and were starting to hurt now. Allister would have said it was because his own body seemingly wanted him to suffer, but he knew this was his mind's fault instead, for thinking holding his breath might seriously work this time.

"Allister?"

Allister jumped when he realized Wolfram was now standing next to him. When that had happened, he had no idea. "Fr - HUP! HIC-ULP! - Fram, I - HUC-UP! HIGK! - what - HIC!"

Wolfram reached out and patted Allister gently on his back, a look of concern on his face. "Everyone at the fire is currently engaged in a round of trivia about media that is flying completely over my head, so I thought I would come to find you. And it didn't take me very long to hear where you were... Are you alright? Those sound worse than usual, somehow."

Unable to form anything even remotely close to a proper sentence at the moment, Allister could only answer with, "B - HIGK-UP - bad ch - HIC! HUC-ULP - choices - HUP!"

"I'm not sure what that - oh. Allister, did you try to stop them by holding your breath?"

Allister nodded.

"Haven't you told me that's the one thing you absolutely cannot do?"

Allister answered with another nod and a whine between hiccups.

"And why in the world would you do that?" Wolfram asked. "From what I was last aware, there are plenty of drinks available that you could have cured them with instead. That's at least had a partial success rate before."

At first, Allister contemplated how to phrase the answer in a way that his hiccups would allow, then settled for pulling up a note app on his phone and typing. 'I didn't want to bother anybody. My hiccups aren't exactly subtle.'

Wolfram stared at the message, thinking. "I hardly think anyone present tonight would mind as much as you think. You honestly did not need to make yourself suffer like this."

'Suffer' sounded melodramatic, but considering he was still putting up with nonstop hiccup after hiccup, Allister figured it wasn't exactly wrong. 'I know it was a dumb idea. But everyone's having fun, and I didn't want to be a problem.'

"Honestly, Allister, you worry too much about these things..." Wolfram sighed. "Though I... have also hidden in a crate to avoid being seen with hiccups, so... perhaps I am not the best person to hear this from."

"You - HIGK-ULP - what?" Allister asked, too surprised by that statement to bother typing his response on his phone.

Staring down at the ground and fidgeting a bit, Wolfram mumbled, "I, um, it was rarely an issue back home but I... did have a particularly stubborn case at one point and... Hiding away until they stopped seemed ideal..."

"But a - HUC! HIC - a crate?"  

"It - I panicked, I was in one of the Academia Arcana's storerooms to retrieve spell materials and - and I heard someone outside the door - the details aren't important. My point is, I do understand but don't do this sort of thing to yourself in the future, please."

Allister appreciated the thought, smiling at Wolfram and nodding. "Don't w - HUP! HIC-UP - worry, I - HIC - I won't."

"Good. Now then, I'll fetch you some water. Wait here, I'll be quick about it."

After a minute or two, Wolfram returned with a bottle of water, which Allister accepted gladly, trying and failing to state his gratitude, "Th - HIGK - thank y - HULP - you, F - HUC-ULP - Fra -"

"Just drink it," Wolfram interrupted. 

Allister did so, drinking the water in quick gulps between each hiccup. It took a few tries, but eventually, they slowed down somewhat and finally came to a stop entirely. He waited for a few seconds, still unsure if he'd genuinely been cured at first, but then finally sighed with relief.

"Better?"

"Much," Allister said. "Thanks, Fram."

Wolfram smiled and leaned his weight against Allister's side. "Very good. Shall we be returning to the camp?"

"Hmm..." Allister wrapped an arm around Wolfram's shoulder. "It is getting a bit cold, huh? I guess we should." He paused for a moment, then added, "But... Hey, how about we have a real camping trip sometime soon?"

"We won't have an oven for you to cook proper meals, then," Wolfram objected.

"I mean, I guess not. But you've never had s'mores before. Those are best when they're toasted over a campfire."

"I've heard of those... what are they?"

"Chocolate and marshmallows, Fram."

Wolfram's eyes widened at the statement, clearly intrigued. "When is your next day off? We can do it then."

Allister laughed and hugged Wolfram closer. "Okay, we'll talk about it when we get home. C'mon, let's head back to the camp before Sadie comes to chase us down."

[afternoonpoppy]

By Your Side

(Okay so... I have not, in fact, written a new fic involving hiccups or any of my usual fic kinks, oops. I mentioned before that I wrote a little bit of a Wolfram sickfic and since there was in fact interest in it, I'm posting it anyway! I had this hanging around in a notebook, it was actually very tiny and I ended up expanding on it a bit while cleaning it up, so it turned into a bit more of an emotional day for Wolfram than what I usually write.)

Periodically during Wolfram's time in the Academia Arcana or when he studied under his personal master, there would be days when he found himself feeling... Well, if anyone were to ask, he would insist he was quite fine. Despite any chills or headache, despite a general sense of exhaustion, despite any other number of symptoms that may have plagued him. None of those symptoms existed as far as anyone else needed to know.

After all, Wolfram's life was a busy one. When pursuing knowledge of the arcane, an art that takes years of dedication, there is no time to stop simply due to some minor congestion spurred on by allergies or a head cold. And that is why, when Wolfram awoke one cold winter morning to a sense of malaise and a mild ache in his head and neck, he chose to say nothing about it while Allister prepared for work. Wolfram was tempted to remain in bed, but he had work of his own to tend to. He had been slacking in his self-studies of magic, and it was time to correct that.

"You know, if it's gonna be this freezing cold in the morning, the least it could do is give us some prettier snow," Allister complained as he pulled a sweater on. The recent snow had come down more as sleet, the slushy kind that leaves a mess on the streets rather than nice snowbanks for snowmen on the sidewalks. Given the road conditions, Allister was leaving for work earlier than usual in order to avoid any need to rush. "You going to be okay getting breakfast for yourself?"

Wolfram nodded, a movement that his headache did not agree with, and said, "You won't need to worry about me, Allister." He found his throat meanwhile hated the act of talking and felt raw as he said those words

"Well, alright." Allister planted a kiss on Wolfram's forehead, then looked at him with eyebrows furrowed. "Hm... Are you feeling alright, Fram?"

"What? Yes, I'm quite fine," Wolfram said, just as he always did in this sort of situation. He smiled to seem more genuine. Yet he was met by the palm of Allister's hand traveling to his cheek, then forehead.

"Allister?"

"You just seem a little warm," Allister said, concern in his voice and a frown on his face.

Wolfram took Allister's hand in his own and smiled again. "I really feel fine, Allister. I'm sure I feel warmer in contrast to the winter temperature. A shame I can't keep you in bed with me for the day, it's much warmer under the covers."

"It is..." Allister sighed. "Alright, but take it easy if you do feel sick, okay? You can call me at work if something happens. You know how to use the phone, right?"

Wolfram stepped over to the bedroom door and opened it. "Allister, please, you have nothing to worry about. Now, you wanted to have an early start to work, you're going to waste that if you stay here fussing over me."

Allister still gave a skeptical look, but relented and made his way to the door. "Yeah, fine. But I mean it, get some rest if you don't feel good."

"I will if it's needed," Wolfram assured before escorting his partner downstairs.

…

Wolfram missed Allister the moment he'd left, of course. He was noticing the ache in his head and neck spreading to other joints in his body. A day in a warm bed with Allister at his side sounded more appealing by the minute. But Allister had to work just as much as Wolfram did. Just as had always been the case.

Wolfram was never the only busy person in his life. His peers were often just as skilled as he was and thus had important things of their own to do. If Wolfram were ill, should he pester them by complaining about his condition? If someone needed his assistance before they could proceed with their own work, should they be delayed simply because Wolfram came down with a fever or something similar? That would be nonsense.

It was no different with Allister. He was kind and gentle, the type to take care of a sick partner, Wolfram could guess that easily. But Allister had to work. Should he spend his day working while burdened with worry for Wolfram? Just as much nonsense.

Wolfram stared down at the old books before him on the desk, trying to make heads or tails of this passage's contents. Given the complexity of magic, it was slow-going. And even slower as Wolfram struggled to keep his eyes open.

By the time he realized he had reread the same passage three times over without absorbing any of the words in it, he decided it would be time for a break and some tea. Perhaps also that breakfast that Allister insisted on, but Wolfram felt no appetite. As a result, breakfast became tea and some toast.

...

His family was busy as well. Intelligent, just like Wolfram. A father renowned for his magic and a mother who made for a cunning and well-off merchant. Wolfram did not have notable memories of spending time with them. He hadn't spoken to them in years. There was simply no lasting bond after he'd matured.

Did... Did Wolfram have any memories of being cared for by either of them when he was unwell as a child? As far as he could tell, any memories were met with the faces of their house staff.

Wolfram put his pen down, staring at the books before him. A sound brought him out of his thoughts. The front door opening downstairs. It was only just past noon, so Allister should have been working still. But Wolfram, looking outside and seeing the car returned, made no further effort to question that. He only cared at Allister was home.

Standing up from his seat in the study reminded Wolfram of the aches in his body and sent a fresh wave of chills under his skin. He hardly wanted to move, but forced himself out of the study and downstairs.

By the front door, Allister was in the middle of removing his coat and scarf, hanging them on the coat rack in the front hall. Wolfram stood in the doorway that opened into the hallway, watching until Allister glanced to the side and noticed him.

"There's a snow storm coming in, so we closed up early," Allister said, a smile crossing his face. "Which means we can have that day in bed."

The moment Wolfram heard those words, he felt something wash over him. At first, he may have called it relief, but that hardly seemed right. Whatever it was, it brought sudden tears to his eyes. He tried to brush them away quickly, but it was too late to cover up his feelings from his attentive partner.

"Fram?" Allister asked, and Wolfram failed to come up with words to reply with. Allister asked again, "Fram?" as his voice filled with concern.

A moment later, though Wolfram's eyes were too blurry with tears to notice what was happening at first, he was pulled into Allister's arms. A warm embrace that was both firm and gentle, caring and protective. Wolfram pressed his face into Allister's neck, as Allister kept one hand on his back and the other in his hair.

"Fram, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"I... I don't feel well," Wolfram said. The words were strange to him. He felt uneasy admitting to his condition, but he was so safe in Allister's arms. "Please... please stay with me?"

"Oh, Fram..." Allister's hand lowered to the back of Wolfram's neck, quickly retreating when the contact cause Wolfram to shiver more. "Oh, I'm sorry. You definitely have a fever, though... Well, listen, I'm home now, okay? I'm home, and I don't have anything else to do today. What do you say we get comfortable - do you want the bed or the couch?"

For Wolfram, it hardly mannered where he was, so long as Allister was with him. Allister, who had treated him so kindly from the moment they'd met. Who had given him a place to call home when Wolfram had nowhere else. Who had been so supportive, and caring, and kind this whole time. "I just... May - may we sleep in the bed? Both of us?"

"Of course." Allister rubbed his hand up and down Wolfram's back. "But I'm gonna get you some medicine first, and... Have you eaten anything today? I can make you some soup."

Wolfram shook his head slowly. "No, I... I am not hungry. I only want you to stay. Please."

"Fram... Okay. C'mon, let's get you to bed."

...

"Were you feeling sick this morning after all?" Allister asked as he climbed into bed next to Wolfram.

Finally, in bed and under the covers, where he was feeling warm at last, Wolfram was starting to feel as if his emotions were coming under control once more. Now that Allister asked that question, Wolfram felt a surge of heat rush to his cheeks and he tried to hide his face in his pillow. "I... Somewhat, I suppose."

Allister gave a worried hum of a noise and brushed a hand over Wolfram's hair. "How come you didn't say anything?"

"I did not... wish for you to worry. And you are busy, and I am as well, and... I..." The gentle contact from Allister's hand made Wolfram want to just say everything at once that was on his mind. "I've... I do not know how to say something like this. I don't... No one... I've never had... Someone to care for me like this."

There was a pause, and Allister said softly, "No one?"

Wolfram shook his head, but then looked back up at Allister. "It's... I think - are things different now? Are you... Are you alright with this?"

"With wh... With taking care of you? Fram, of course I am. Besides, it's not the first time, you're terrible with Halloween candy still, remember? Have I ever seemed bothered by any of those times?"

"Well... Well, no." That was true. Allister had always been supportive any time Wolfram had felt unwell. Perhaps the fever was making Wolfram more emotional than usual, or perhaps it was the cold weather. Or perhaps Wolfram had just grown so accustomed to Allister's care that the time he was away for work had been too much. "Then... Then you don't mind? Are you certain?"

Allister smiled, then leaned forward and kissed Wolfram on the forehead. "Of course I am. I don't ever want you too feel like you don't have someone to take care of you. And I know you'd do the same for me."

Wolfram smiled back. Allister's words helped, he felt calmer with that affirmation in mind. "In that case... Is there an extra blanket? I'm still rather cold."

"Of course. You don't mind me getting out of the bed?"

"So long as you're quick about it."

Allister laughed. "There, that's the sort of bossy cuddliness I missed. More of that, please."

Wolfram couldn't help but smirk a bit with that comment. Allister truly didn't mind. Wolfram was safe here, with the person he could trust. The person he loved. "Well then, I'd like some hot chocolate after our nap, I think."

"You want hot chocolate when you're sick? You should probably have some soup or something, you know. It's better for you."

"But it would make me feel better." Wolfram added a playful pout as he said that.

"Alright, listen. How about soup after our nap, and then hot chocolate for dessert?"

Wolfram considered that. It was acceptable. "Fine. But I'd still like that blanket."

Allister smiled again and climbed out of the bed, returning to the room shortly with a quilt from the upstairs closet. Once Allister returned to the bed, Wolfram shifted closer to him. He was tired, his eyelids heavy and threatening to shut at any moment.

"That better?"

"Mm." Wolfram nodded, feeling himself begin to drift off. "Thank you... Thank you for staying with me, Allister."

"Of course, Fram. I’m going to stay right here with you as long as you want, alright? Have a good nap."

Wolfram was asleep before he heard the last of those words, but he'd heard enough to be at ease.

[afternoonpoppy]

Ever since that one time it was mentioned that Wolfram gets hiccups from soda, I wanted to write a short little scene about that particular incident.

Allister set a plastic bag full of leftover food packages and drink cans on the kitchen counter, turning his attention to making room in the fridge. His cousin had bought what turned out to be far too much food her birthday get-together - according to her, calling it a birthday party was too childish - and had insisted Allister take home more boxes of donuts and mini cakes than he expected to even eat along with whatever carbonated drinks had caught his cousin's fancy recently. Allister hadn't actually tried most of the drinks, settling just for water.

"What are these?"

Allister jumped at the sound of Wolfram's voice, having not heard him enter the room while trying to clear some space for the drinks Tetris-style. Wolfram was digging through the bag and examining each item with curiosity. "God, Fram, how are you so quiet when you walk?"

"Something of a habit from my time at the Academia Arcana before I was taken on by a dedicated mentor. Much of my time was spent studying and gathering materials at night, so I developed an unintentional skill in stealth to avoid disturbing the other students." Wolfram delivered that fascinating fact about his time in a magic school with all the interest of someone answering what they did over an uneventful weekend, his attention still focused on the boxes of food. He grabbed a donut from one of the boxes, gave the chocolate sprinkles and frosting on it an inquisitive look, and took a bite. His eyes lit up with delight. "Allister, this is delicious."

Allister looked at his boyfriend, who considered magic to be a mundane fact of life and donuts to be a fascinating, discovery and smiled. "That's a donut, Fram. And I'm glad you like them because I'll need someone to help me finish all these before they go stale." Try as he might, Allister never could stomach sugary foods in more than the smallest amounts at a time.

Wolfram next grabbed one of the cans that sat in the bag, looking at Allister as if hoping for an explanation while shoving the last of the donut into his mouth.

"That's called soda," Allister explained, finding Wolfram's genuine childish cluelessness over it to be just so sincerely adorable. "It's just a kind of drink, you can have those too if you want."

"I see." Wolfram stared at the soda can in his hands, brow furrowed in thought. Right. He'd never actually opened a can before. Allister started to say something but Wolfram interrupted, "No, I've seen these on television before, I know how to do this."

There was silence for several moments while Wolfram stared intently at the can and tentatively ran his fingers over the pull tab, Allister trying his best not to show how very amusing this entire scenario was to him. Suddenly Wolfram looked as if he'd had a sudden epiphany and pulled at the tab, pride obvious in his expression when the can opened.

"Hey, you figured it out," Allister said, equal parts happy for Wolfram and having the time of his life seeing an actual wizard grappling with soda.

"I have a keen eye for details, naturally." Wolfram punctuated his statement and his victory with a sip of the sweet drink held in the can - apparently immediately regretting it based on how his face scrunched up with shock and confusion the moment he tasted it. A twitch in his chest turned into a cough and he held the can away from himself as if offended by it. "What is... that...?"

Allister failed to hold back a laugh at that as it dawned on him. "Oh, right, sorry, I forgot you probably haven't had any sort of carbonated drinks before."

"Is it supposed to be... bubbly like th - hic!" That abrupt hiccup was quickly followed by a second and Wolfram placed the can down on the kitchen counter, clearly unhappy with it. "I don - hic - I don't care f - hic - for th - hic!" Evidently, the soda hadn't liked Wolfram much either.

Another couple of hiccups hit Wolfram in the time Allister was able to wince with empathy and ask, "Are you alright, Fram?"

"I - hic - I'm fi - hic - fine, just - hic!" Wolfram gave up on his sentence and placed one hand over his chest, the other covering his mouth as he tried to hold his breath. The effort did nothing to stop or slow his hiccups, unfortunately, and he looked at Allister with an expression that begged for help.

"Oh, hey, c'mere." Allister pulled Wolfram into a hug, gently rubbing his back. "Okay, so, we learned soda's a bad idea for you."

Wolfram's face was buried in Allister's shoulder, constant hiccups still shaking through the poor thing's body. "I h - hic - hate it - hic! Is th - hic - this how y - hic - you feel wh - hic - when - hic!" He whined in a mixture of irritation and discomfort but even that was interrupted by another hiccup.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how they always are for me," Allister answered. He gently kissed the side of Wolfram's head. "Here, I'll get you some water and you can have more donuts after they stop."

Wolfram nodded. "And we're ge - hic - getting ri - hic - rid of - hic - all of that," he said, pointing accusingly to the soda can on the counter.

"Sure thing," Allister said with a smile, "Soda is now considered an enemy to this household, got it."

[afternoonpoppy]

Hey hey hey! It's been a while since I asked anything ^^. My question is which characters of yours would most likely be in pain with hiccups and need comfort. I'm curious as to which characters there are and how they would react in a way. (Sorry if this makes no sense)

Oh boy, this is a good one. ❤️ Okay, let’s see, so I kinda went super extra here and used this as an opportunity to ramble a bit about some of my characters with tangents while I was at it, haha.

Naturally there’s Wolfram and Allister, my two very good boys. Of the two, Wolfram’s probably more likely to end up with hiccups that actually hurt since he just gets them a lot more in general and, on occasion, they’ll sort of just get worse on their own (or sometimes they get worse as a result of his own breathing being thrown off like when he’s agitated or worked up over something, he hasn’t yet realized that particular connection though). He can typically get them to settle down again by holding his breath even though that doesn’t always cure them outright, and so his usual method of handling hiccups back in his home world used to be discreetly slipping the heck away from anyone else who was around and trying to cure them or wait them out in private, though as kind of touched upon in Movie Night, he was pretty careful to avoid getting them all that much for most of his life. But living with Allister has been a very different environment from what Wolfram grew up with for multiple reasons, and he’s become more comfortable with Allister in particular seeing him with hiccups, even if he still gets flustered or embarrassed sometimes. Combine that with Wolfram being a very snuggly romantic partner, and so long as Allister’s around, he’ll gladly demand some comfort and affection if his hiccups do become uncomfortable.

Allister’s hiccups don’t happen all that often and they don’t really hurt usually, they’re just really loud and fast. HOWEVER, if he tries to hold his breath, that’s pretty much guaranteed to do the very opposite of helping and make his hiccups a lot stronger, which is when they do start to hurt. It’s not really seen a lot in his interactions with Wolfram but Allister is actually pretty quiet in his other social circles and tends to worry more about bothering other people, so even if his hiccups are hurting him, he’ll try to play it off and either apologize to anyone around or find somewhere he can disappear to without bothering anyone. But with Wolfram, Allister doesn’t really have that immediate worry - especially since, if they’re already cuddling, Allister knows that trying to leave would bother Wolfram way more. Though Allister doesn’t really tend to associate “hiccups = opportunity for cuddles” like Wolfram is learning to, he’s not going to say no by any means if Wolfram offers that sort of thing.

Percy! Or Percival, but he doesn’t really go by that too much. He’s another case where usually his hiccups are fine, but they are going to hurt if he tries to suppress them or if they last for a long time. That being said though, he’s very much the independent sort, and being a professional thief means he doesn’t have a whole lot of positive interactions with other people so even if his hiccups do hurt or become uncomfortable, he’d rather just put up with it than let on that anything’s wrong.

And also Mildred - admittedly I don’t usually have any particular interest in hiccups for women, but fair is fair! That said, her own hiccups are a lot softer and not an issue for her as far as any discomfort goes, nor is she the type to want any sort of comfort anyway. She will however be very irritable about it the whole time because hiccups and spell incantations don’t mix!

I actually do want to introduce more characters here on this blog. I just either haven’t gotten to putting more thought into them as of yet or when I think about characters with hiccups, they’re characters that I’ve used in non-kink contexts so I can’t just openly discuss them on here without totally outing myself. But I’m always open to more questions if anyone ever wants to pop by my inbox, answering them is fun if y’all don’t mind me totally just rambling on about stuff forever. :3 Maybe I’ll get to writing something new soon too.

[afternoonpoppy]

Movie Night

HEY I DID A THING AGAIN AFTER WAY TOO LONG. In tonight’s episode - What gives Fram hiccups? Apparently everything. The answer is everything.

Allister had never been a particularly big fan of horror movies. In fact, when he thought he would be living on his own at a house in the woods, he had intended to swear off of them entirely. He also hadn't expected Wolfram to be the type to be interested in them either but found himself to be wrong on that count when Wolfram had approached him earlier about watching one. Apparently, Wolfram thought it would be interesting to see some examples of monsters and mythology in this world and so he came up with the horror movie night idea.

While Allister was sitting on the couch and scrolling through a list of movie options on his phone, Wolfram leaned against his shoulder to stare down at the options as well. "What about that one?" Wolfram asked when one about vampires showed up on the list. "I haven't gotten to see much of anything about vampires in your world. Are they as threatening here as they are in mine?"

"Well, I guess it depends on..." Allister paused, something about the way Wolfram had phrased that catching up to him. "Wait, Fram, you don't mean, like... Vampires aren't real where you come from, right?" An edge of fear crept into his voice.

Wolfram spoke nonchalantly, "Of course they are, why else would I have been putting garlic in the - wait, are you saying vampires are yet another thing that doesn't exist here?"

"Where have you been putting garlic?" Allister had thought he'd smelled garlic faintly around the house but was passing it off as his imagination.

"Honestly," Wolfram continued, "this world continues to baffle me. At any rate, I vote we watch that one. It sounds interesting."

"Well, I guess that'll be fine..." Allister didn't do a very good job of masking the reluctance in his voice.

"Do these movies truly make you that nervous? We did just establish vampires are an impossibility here, after all."

"Just like the impossibility of a cute magician being teleported into my basement?"

"Hm... A fair point, I suppose," Wolfram said, smiling a bit. Clearly, he was more adjusted to being called cute these days if it worked in his favor. "What if that cute magician promises to protect you? And provide you with a soft spirit to hold onto as well?"

Allister sighed, unable to say no to that smile. "I'm starting to think this is less about curiosity and more because you just really like scary stories. But, fine, defend me from any vampires and you have yourself a deal."

---

The promise of a soft spirit turned into three at Allister's request. He couldn't help himself, the critters were so fun to have around, and having multiple to pet was a lot like having a group of puppies or kittens present. By the time Allister and Wolfram had gotten to the halfway point of the movie, the spirits had gotten bored and started wandering off elsewhere into the house, but Allister had shifted over against Wolfram's side by then, taking more comfort in his boyfriend's presence.

Allister was pleasantly surprised to find that the movie wasn't actually all that scary, much to his relief. At least, it wasn't scary for him. Something about it just wasn't authentic enough to creep him out like these movies often did. Allister was, however, noticing Wolfram's arms wrapped around his with a tightening grip during the more suspenseful scenes and, when a vampire jumped out at the movie's protagonist with fangs bared, Wolfram leaped with fright and stifled a surprised shout that instead turned into a sharp inhale. Allister held back an amused chuckle and said, "I didn't expect you would be the one so on edge."

Wolfram cleared his throat and shifted his position as he regained his composure and tried to play off his reaction. "I - no, of course not, I simply - hic!" The sudden hiccup left Wolfram with a surprised expression, blushing slightly.

Allister couldn't stop himself from laughing a bit at that point. "Did the movie scare you into getting hiccups?"

Another 'hic' sounded before Wolfram could say anything, causing his shoulders to jump up a little. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, of all the pote - hic - potential interruptions..."

Allister wrapped his arm around Wolfram's shoulder and pulled him closer. "Well, it's one of the cuter options."

Wolfram looked at Allister, clearly disagreeing as the word ‘cute’ apparently stopped being in his favor now. "I'd prefer to - hic - watch the rest of the movie in peace if I - hic - had the choice..."

Allister pulled up the streaming app on his phone and paused the movie. "Wanna take a minute to get them to stop, then?"

"That would be ide - hic - ideal, yes..."

There was a slight problem with that, unfortunately. Allister had learned over time that Wolfram's hiccups were actually rather stubborn and didn't tend to go away with the usual cures like holding his breath or drinking water. In fact, the cures that did work were never very consistent. Allister looked back to his phone and quickly switched over to his notes app where he'd been collecting a list of cures for these occasions when Wolfram's hiccups came up at an inconvenient time.

...

Did he really have an entire list on his phone at the ready? The thought struck Allister so suddenly that he couldn't help but laugh.

Wolfram clearly didn't understand what had amused him so much. "Wha - hic - what is it?"

"I just... You get hiccups a lot, don't you, Fram?" Allister said, grinning.

The comment apparently caught Wolfram off guard, leaving him flustered and turning his face bright red. "I - I do no - hic!" Wolfram grimaced a bit as it became obvious he wouldn't pull off that lie. "Well... Well, it's only si - hic - since I've been living with you, I hardly ever had this issue ba - hic - back home."

"Are you sure about that?" It was a bit difficult to believe considering all of the things that Allister had seen give Wolfram a case of hiccups. Eating too fast, eating too much - both of which he was especially prone to with Allister's cooking - the slightest bit of alcohol during the holidays, that one time Wolfram had tried soda, tonight's incident...

"Yes, Allis - hic - Allister, I am. And quite frankly, you should consi - hic - sider yourself fortunate that I'm fine with you seeing me like th - hic - is..."

"So what you're saying is, you were just being cautious enough not to give yourself hiccups in front of other people before you met me."

"I... Well... Yes, I sup - hic - suppose. What is your point?"

Allister shrugged. "Nothing much. Honestly, I just thought it was sort of cute that you get them so much, but I'm honored to hear that I'm special enough for you to not mind."

"I'll never understand how you - hic - can call this cute... Wait." Wolfram looked down at Allister's phone. "You're distra - hic - acting us, find a cure for me so we can continue watching the movie." 

"Hmm, I don't know," Allister said with a playful smirk. "If you're going to be so pushy about it, maybe I'd rather not -"

"Allister, I will fi - hic - find something spicy to sneak into your food."

"I thought I was banned from spice."

"Retaliation is a perfe - hic - a perfectly valid exception to the ru - hic -  Allister, make these stop!"

Allister wasn't sure when that became completely his responsibility, but alright. "Okay, okay, let's go check the kitchen, I think there's a few things we can try."

[afternoonpoppy]

(per request and my own desire for chaos, let’s just enjoy some Allister hiccups again <3 Also Wolfram just wants to sleep)

The study was quiet, save for the sounds of several spirits shuffling books around onto shelves. Wolfram had almost dozed off over his desk in the study when the familiar sound of a car outside woke him up. Stifling a yawn, he shut the books he’d been looking through and stood to look outside the window. Pulling into the driveway was the old red car in question. A part of Wolfram still hated the contraption due to its loud noises and threatening size - it would be a cold day in hell before he stepped into one of those demon machines - but its arrival did signal one good thing. Allister was home!

Wolfram turned away from the window, ignoring the spirits as they were starting to grow bored and make a mess of the room instead of keeping it clean, and he made his way downstairs. Normally, Allister was home much earlier, but he’d been invited to dinner with some of the people he worked with. Wolfram was a bit embarrassed to admit it, but he was positively delighted for Allister to be home now.

Downstairs, Allister was hanging his coat up in the entryway and smiled when he saw Wolfram. “Hey, Fram. Were you alright on your own?”

“Of course I was. You never have to worry about me when you’re at work, do you? This isn’t any different.” As Wolfram said that, he leaned himself against Allister’s side.

“Hm… Sometimes I do,” Allister answered with a laugh. He wrapped an arm around Wolfram’s side and led him to the living room.

“And what does that mean?” Wolfram let himself be pulled down onto the couch, Allister pulling him close and snuggling against him.

“It means you’re cute.”

There was that word, ’cute.‘ It made Wolfram’s face grow hot and he buried his face into Allister’s chest. “I think it means you don’t expect me to take care of myself.”

“Well, sometimes you don’t.”

Wolfram rolled his eyes. He could hear a grumbling noise from Allister’s stomach and frowned. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Hm?”

“Your stomach’s making a bit of noise.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Food was a bit spicier than expected, is all. That stuff doesn’t really agree with my stomach.”

Wolfram lifted his face and began rubbing gentle circles over Allister’s stomach with one hand. “Then why did you eat it?”

“Because it was good, Fram,” Allister answered. He had reached for the TV remote. “You wanna watch something?”

Wolfram nodded and the two made themselves comfortable, relaxing in silence for a while. Wolfram didn’t actually pay much attention to the TV, finding himself nodding off once more.

An abrupt, loud hiccup from Allister woke Wolfram up again. Startled, he looked and saw Allister with a hand covering his mouth, brow furrowed. “Not again… HUC!”

“Again?” Wolfram asked, finding himself jostled by each of Allister’s hiccups.

“Had - HIC-UP - had them on the - HIGK - the w - HUP - the way home.” Allister struggled to finish the sentence with how fast-paced his hiccups always were. Wolfram couldn’t stand the thought of going through that twice in one day.

“Perhaps I should get some water for you? That seems to help,” Wolfram suggested. 

Allister pouted, wrapping both arms around Wolfram. “But I - HUP - I do - HULP - don’t want - HIC - you t - HIC-UP - to leave.”

“You’d rather suffer through this, then?”

Allister sighed (or tried to, with a hiccup interrupting) and said, “Fi - HIGK-UP - fine.”

“I won’t be gone long.” Wolfram freed himself from Allister and the couch, and returned from the kitchen shortly afterward with a glass of water. “Here, drink.”

Allister had given up saying much of anything at that point and took the water, drinking as much of it in one go as he could manage. He paused once for breath, immediately being interrupted by another ’HIC’ as he did, before finishing off the water.

“Any better?” Wolfram asked once the glass was empty.

The two waited for a few moments, Allister rubbing his stomach as the water settled. “I think they stopped,” he finally said with a sigh of relief. He grabbed Wolfram’s hands. “Now get back here.”

Wolfram made himself comfortable on the couch again, lying down and resting his head on Allister’s chest. “I’m going to nap, I think.”

“Now? It’s eight-thirty, you won’t be able to sleep later.”

“And? You have no work tomorrow, we can sleep however and whenever we want.”

Allister hummed a noise of acceptance, brushing a hand through Wolfram’s hair. Wolfram shut his eyes, letting himself be lulled back to sleep by Allister’s warmth.

It was about an hour later when Wolfram was woken again. Poor Allister’s hiccups had started up again. He was clearly trying to keep them quiet for Wolfram’s sake, one hand clamped firmly over his mouth to muffle them. Unfortunately, even if that had helped - which it didn’t, each hiccup still coming through as a loud ’HMPH’ - the jolting of Allister’s chest and stomach were plenty to wake him.

“You are hereby banned from any remotely spicy foods,” Wolfram mumbled into Allister’s chest.

“Sor - HIC - sorry, Fram,” Allister said with a sheepish grin.

“Water?”

“No, it’ll - HUC-UP - give me a st - HYUP - stomach ache if - HUK - if I keep - HIC-UP -”

“Understood, don’t worry, ” Wolfram interrupted. He thought for a few moments over how else he could help. “Should I scare you?”

Hiccuping, Allister looked at Wolfram, narrowing his eyes in an expression that seemed… Skeptical.

“I could probably frighten you if I tried, ” Wolfram objected.

“Do you - HUC-UP - know any - HYURK - cures wi - HIC - ith your mag - HIC-UP - magic?”

Wolfram watched Allister for a moment. He considered that possibility only briefly, he didn’t care for the thought of it, and he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry.” His expression must have given away his apprehension, however, as Allister suddenly looked concerned.

“Fram? Hey, I - HUP - I didn’t mean - HUC - mean to - HICK-UP - to ups - HIC - upset - HYUC!”

Wolfram couldn’t help but feel sorry for Allister. His poor partner couldn’t even get the apology out, not that one was needed. It wasn’t the usual culprit of homesickness that was getting to him, but purely his concern for Allister. “It’s alright, Allister. You didn’t say anything wrong. I just hadn’t gotten far enough in my apprenticeship to use magic on other creatures. I’d be afraid of hurting you by accident.”

Allister nodded in understanding, planting a kiss on Wolfram’s forehead between hiccups. “That’s - HULP - that’s fine, Fram,” Allister said. “I - HIC - I’m so - HUC - rry I ruined - HUP - your nap…”

Wolfram smiled and shook his head. “It’s fine, I don’t mind. I can always sleep later.”

“You s - HIGK - sure?”

“Mm-hm.” Wolfram adjusted his position a bit. This wasn’t quite how he’d intended to spend his night, but it was close enough. “It doesn’t seem like your hiccups are going to stop anytime soon, though.”

Allister shrugged. “I’ll - HUC-UP - live.”

“If you say so. Shall I fetch us a blanket?”

Not long afterward, the two had settled into the couch for the night. Wolfram’s sleep would have to wait a while longer, but he was content nonetheless. (Meanwhile, several spirits that had been forgotten and left unattended for too long continued to put the study into a state of disarray.)

[afternoonpoppy]

Your Turn Now

Intended to get something written for Thanksgiving a couple weeks ago, but I ended up going a bit off topic with that piece and also made some continuity errors that need some fixing up if I am going to put that on here.

In the meantime, Allister’s not much better than Wolfram sometimes when it comes to overeating, oops.

Allister had been surprised to find out that the topic of studying magic was not as different and otherworldly a pursuit as he’d originally imagined. In fact, it was quite familiar and reminiscent of his time spent studying in college. If only he hadn’t suffered all throughout college.

In his attempt to be of some help to Wolfram with studying magic, Wolfram had instructed Allister to begin memorizing the sigils that functioned as the written language for magic. Allister had initially assumed that to mean it would be a fairly easy step like learning an alphabet. As it had turned out, it was far more work than that.

“This particular symbol represents the concept of light, and is pronounced as ’vetru,’” Wolfram said, drawing a symbol consisting of multiple jagged lines on a stray piece of paper. “In this form, it can refer to the light given off by the sun or by fire, anything that might be considered to be ‘warm’ light. If you were to write it this way, however,” Wolfram redrew the sigil, inverting a line on top and curving it more, “- then this would refer to 'cold’ light such as the moon and stars.”

“Uh… Right,” Allister scribbled the sigil - to the best of his ability - along with some hasty notes in his notebook. He felt like he should have been using a hefty leatherbound tome and a quill pen of some sort for this, but a college-ruled composition notebook and a dollar store pen that threatened to leak ink over the pages if pressed too hard would have to do. “When you say stars are, uh, 'cold’ light…”

“Yes?”

“Uh… Never mind.” Allister thought better of derailing the conversation into the gaseous makeup of stars. Besides, maybe stars worked differently in Wolfram’s world.

“You should ask questions if you have any, it’s essential to learning new topics,” Wolfram lectured.

“No, really, it’s unrelated.” Allister shifted position in his chair and one of his feet kicked aside a book that had somehow made its way to the floor. He looked around, suddenly realizing just what a mess the study had become over the past while. Paper and books were beginning to clutter the floor as space was lost on the desk. Granted, that was bound to happen quicker than usual since both Allister and Wolfram were sharing desk space. A second chair had been dragged up the stairs from the kitchen, something Allister hadn’t realized would be more of a hassle than simply studying in the kitchen until after he’d already made it most of the way up the stairs. “Hey, Fram, should we clean some of this stuff up?”

Wolfram glanced away from the desk long enough to see the floor and say, “Oh, I had forgotten.” He paused, then looked at Allister with a raised eyebrow. “Am I supposed to be ‘Fram?’”

Allister grinned a bit. “What? I thought it sounded cute, you don’t like it?”

Wolfram thought over it for a moment. “It is… different, but I don’t dislike it.” With a hand gesture and a string of 'magic words’ as Allister had continued to dub the arcane language, a mote of light appeared in Wolfram’s hand. Wolfram gently spoke a command to it and it leaped to the ground in the form of a weasel.

Allister watched the spirit scurry over to some of the books and begin pulling them to the bookshelves. “You make that look so easy. Do they alphabetize the books, too?”

Wolfram conjured two more spirits before setting them loose into the room, then said, “No, of course not. They can’t read.”

“Oh. Well, they’re still helpful. Can you teach me to do that?”

“Eventually, yes,” Wolfram looked out the study window where the sun was beginning to lower and the sky was dimming. “Perhaps not today, if that is what you meant.”

Allister flipped through the few pages he’d filled over their study session, unsure if he should be taking more thorough notes on this. “No, I didn’t think so. We’ve been at this for a while already, though. Should we take a break?”

Wolfram looked back at Allister. “Oh. Is this still a lot for you?”

“Well, uh,” Allister fumbled with the notebook in his hands, laughing nervously. Mostly, he was just tired and not keeping up with Wolfram’s method of marathon learning, but Wolfram wasn’t wrong, either. “I just figured, maybe we should get something to eat.”

Wolfram nodded slowly, then leaned himself against Allister’s shoulder. “I understand if this is difficult for you. I will not mind or judge you if you need to slow down.”

Allister smiled and reached his arm around Wolfram’s waist. “I know I’m not the supreme sorcerer that you are. But this is important to you, so I’m going to try my best.”

“I appreciate that.” Wolfram sat up and looked Allister in the eye. “However, I will not object if you think now is a good time for a meal.”

Allister opted to place an order for pickup, rather than let a delivery driver wander the wooded backroads to the house. Wolfram had objected to the idea of food cooked by anyone other than Allister, but there was no way Allister was doing anything else on his day off other than a thirty-minute round trip for food if he was already studying magic of all things. So, dinner would be Chinese takeout instead, complete with whatever movie seemed like it would make a good change of pace to watch on TV. Allister didn’t know How It’s Made had so many seasons.

Despite Wolfram’s objections about the food, he seemed to quickly take a liking to it and had cleared his plate of dumplings and fried rice before the movie had really even gone anywhere. Allister had half a mind to suggest Wolfram not eat so fast before he realized his own plate wasn’t fairing much better, being nearly devoid of food. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was before, nor how full he was starting to feel now. He placed his plate on the living room coffee table, figuring it would be a good idea to separate himself from the food before he overate. Allister leaned back on the couch, hand resting on his stuffed stomach. Maybe it was too late to avoid the overeating part.

Once Wolfram was done with his own food, he settled in closer to Allister, pressing up against him.

“I never would’ve thought you’d be so cuddly when we first met, you know,” Allister observed.

Wolfram rested his head on Allister’s shoulder. “And I hadn’t expected you would make such a good pillow.”

Allister chuckled, but he was becoming increasingly aware of Wolfram’s arm pressed up against his sensitive stomach. “Good to know, Fram, but my stomach’s not as happy about that right now.”

“Oh?” Wolfram pouted for just a moment before straightening his posture and lifting himself off of Allister. “Is that better?”

Allister had intended to answer, only to be interrupted by a loud HIC that cut him off. He clasped a hand over his mouth just in time to muffle a second hiccup into a still-loud HMPH sound. “Ugh, crap…”

Wolfram looked startled at the sudden appearance of Allister’s hiccups, but quickly switched to a more amused expression. “It’s good to see I am not the only one of us who gets them.”

“Yes, we - HIC - well you wouldn’t - HUC-UP - get them so - HUC - so mu - HIC -” Allister gave up on talking despite his intent to point out Wolfram’s poor eating habits. It was clear his hiccups weren’t going to let him make that point.

Wolfram watched Allister struggling with the nonstop chain of hiccups bouncing through his chest and stomach. “Are they always this… aggressive when you have them?”

Allister nodded. “Don’t get - HIC - get them oft - HIC-UP - often, but - HYUC - but -”

“Right, I understand,” Wolfram said, holding up a hand so Allister didn’t need to finish the sentence. “Should I get a glass of water for you?”

“M-may - HIC - maybe,” Allister said. On the one hand, it may help, but the thought of filling his stomach with anything else, especially with how his hiccups were constantly bouncing through his stomach and shuffling around everything he’d eaten, was less than an appealing idea.

Wolfram seemed to key into that same thought, seeing how Allister pressed a hand against his stomach. “Or… perhaps holding your breath would be a better option?”

Allister shook his head, knowing that was definitely a terrible idea. “Makes - HIC-UP - makes 'em wor - HIC - worse.”

Wolfram raised an eyebrow. “They have room to be worse? Love, fate is cruel to you. I’m going to fetch you a glass of water as I think you’ll suffer less if your hiccups at least stop.”

Allister grimaced but was in little position to argue with his hiccups still interrupting him every other word. When Wolfram returned from the kitchen shortly after, Allister opted to get it over with, taking the glass of water he was handed and gulping it down as quickly as his body would allow.

“Well?” Wolfram asked expectantly once Allister had finished the water.

Allister had to catch his breath at first while the sudden influx of cold water settled in his stomach. Much like he’d expected, forcing the extra liquid into his stomach had not ended well as he noticed how bloated and tight his stomach was by the end of it. On the bright side, at least, not a single hiccup had forced its way through him. “I… I think they stopped…”

Wolfram made something of a victorious “hmph” sound and smiled, sitting back down next to Allister. “Much better. Are you feeling alright?”

Allister rubbed a hand over his stomach and groaned as he became aware of the growing ache in his stomach. “Maybe I should have gone slower with the water…”

“Here, let me make it up to you. Lie down.” Wolfram gently pulled Allister closer, lying him down across his lap. “Comfortable?”

“Mm…” Allister nodded. It was as comfortable as he was going to get, anyway. “Does this mean it’s your turn to take care of me?”

“I imagine it’s only fair, isn’t it?” Wolfram traced his hands over Allister’s stomach, commenting, “I always thought you were the more restrained between us.”

“For your information, I was holding up alright before you made me drink all that water. Besides, do I hear you admitting to your own gluttony?”

“Don’t make me use your precarious position against you, Allister,” Wolfram poked a finger against the side of Allister’s stomach. Gently, though.

Allister rolled his eyes. “You don’t have a mean enough bone in your body for it, Fram. But, uh… Thanks for this.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

“Yeah, but, I know you’re… probably not used to this stuff, right?”

“Hm… Not with most people, no. But you’re my lo…” The confidence in Wolfram’s voice suddenly wavered as if that last word got caught in his throat, a hesitant expression coming over his face. He cleared his throat and poorly faked some composure as he shakily whispered, “M-my lo-lover… So - so, this is the least I can do for you, isn’t it?”

The term threw Allister off a bit and brought a blush to his face. He had thought 'boyfriend’ was fine enough, but he realized terminology probably varied a bit between his and Wolfram’s worlds. Despite the more intense sound of it to Allister’s ears, though, it was wonderful to hear that. “I appreciate it, Fram. I’m really happy you’re here with me.”

Allister glanced over to the TV, realizing neither had been paying any attention to it, and reached for the remote on the coffee table to hand it to Wolfram. “Here, if you keep massaging my stomach, you can put on whatever you want.”

Wolfram’s eyes lit up at the offer. “Gladly.”

[afternoonpoppy]

I miss my boys and need to write something with them soon...

I have this tendency to start with the intent to write belly/hiccup kink for Wolfram and Allister, and then I just end up writing plot by accident. But I want more kink, not gonna lie.

[afternoonpoppy]

OKAY IT’S MY BOYS, here’s some rough sketches I did, clean lineart is for work days

In the interest of keeping this blog separate from my main account, I did try to change up my art style a bit... Not sure if I succeeded, I wouldn’t say so. But if anyone does recognize my art... meh. I wanna draw Fram and Allister, darnit! Also have some miscellaneous details about the two

(Wolfram’s only clothes from home are the clothes he was wearing when he got magically zapped out of his world and into Allister’s, so he’s just borrowing a lot of Allister’s clothes until he has a decently-sized wardrobe of his own to wear)

[afternoonpoppy]

Chocolates

Oh hey it’s these two again! Just a short little thing - in which Wolfram has learned that chocolate is very good yes.

"Wolfram?" Allister asked as he peered into the living room from the doorway.

"Mm?" was all Wolfram responded with from where he lay on the couch, looking half asleep. Across from the couch, the TV was airing what was likely not the day's first episode of How It's Made. Wolfram had recently fallen victim to the show's deceptively simple concept when he opted to learn how the TV worked and had been watching it any time he wasn't locked away in the study.

"You doing alright? You don't look so good." Allister leaned over the back of the couch to get a better look at his housemate, but instead, his eye was drawn to a collection of bright colors just to the side of his vision and he noticed more than a few candy wrappers hidden away in the trash bin next to the couch. Those had not been there before Allister left for work that day.

"I'm... just tired," Wolfram poorly lied, a sudden hiccup jostling his chest and stomach. He let out a moan that betrayed his discomfort, shifting a bit and moving a hand over to rub his stomach.

"Mm-hm..." Allister couldn't help but smirk a little at Wolfram's poor attempt as saving face. "How much of the Halloween candy did you eat?" He'd only bought one bag of chocolates since the house was out in the woods away from town and he hadn't expected any trick-or-treaters to stop by. The prediction had turned out accurate and the candy bag had remained untouched on the kitchen counter for the past couple of days since Halloween night. At least, until Wolfram got curious apparently.

Wolfram shot a side glance at Allister from the couch, clearly less amused by the state he'd put himself in. "I suppose I did misjudge - hic - how much was an appropriate limit, but that does not - hic -  mean I will tolerate your quips, Allister.

Allister grinned. "Oh my God, did you eat the whole bag? I didn't realize I was living with a child." He stepped around the couch to take a seat on the other end while Wolfram sat up to provide more room, or perhaps simply to make himself more comfortable. "So, is the chocolate a new thing for you or do you just like it that much?"

Wolfram sighed, only for it to be interrupted by another hiccup. "Of course we have chocolate back - hic - back home, but I think it is made different - hic - differently here - HIC!" That last hiccup caught Wolfram off guard with unexpected strength and volume that caused him to follow it up with a pained groan, placing a hand against the lower part of his chest. His stomach let out a low whine that made Allister wince with empathy.

"Hey, are you holding up alright? Do you need me to get you anything?"

No, it's fi - HIC - ugh..." Wolfram wrapped his arms around his stomach and hung his head down. His stomach was beginning to object louder to the excess of sugar he had indulged in.

"Geez, okay, hey," Allister pushed himself across the couch closer to Wolfram. He began rubbing a hand along Wolfram's back. "Easy, easy."

Wolfram took a deep breath, holding it and pressing a hand over his mouth in the hopes of stopping his hiccups. When he exhaled, one ‘hic’ snuck out right away, proving they would not be cured so easily, but they had at least returned to their normal strength. "Thank you, Allister," Wolfram said. "You're - hic - you're very kind."

"It's no problem, don't worry about it. Can I do anything else for you?"

"Well..." Wolfram said nothing for a moment as if thinking about the offer. "Perhaps, um, if you would not mind..." He turned his head away, but not fast enough to hide a blush coloring his face.

"What is it?" Allister asked.

"W-well... " Wolfram pressed a hand to his stomach and mumbled something too quietly for Allister to hear.

"Wolfram, I can't hear what you're saying." Allister waited at first for Wolfram to repeat himself, but when that didn't happen, Allister pushed himself across the couch closer to Wolfram. "Hey, maybe, um... Would it be alright if I...?" He tentatively reached a hand towards Wolfram's stomach, pausing for a response.

Wolfram sheepishly looked back at Allister and nodded before turning away again. "I-it might - hic - help..."

"Alright..." Allister placed his hand against Wolfram's stomach, feeling just how bloated it was. "Is that... Is that alright?" Allister asked, massaging Wolfram's stomach gently.

"I - I should be - hic - asking you that, shouldn't I?" Wolfram asked. His stomach bounced outward with his hiccups. "I, um, don't typically ask for - hic - contact of this sort from... Well, from anyone. But it, um... You've been so kind to me this - hic - entire time. I suppose I’ve grown attached to that kindness..."

Allister's mind went blank for a moment, struggling for a response while making sure not to apply too much pressure to Wolfram's stomach. He hadn't even realized his heartbeat had begun to quicken when he started speaking. "Well, um, I'm happy to help. And I... I don't mind. I actually, uh, I think I like you. A lot."

Wolfram returned eye contact, his face bright red when he said, "Y-you - hic - you do?"

"I, uh, yeah."

A silence hung between the two for a moment, Allister wondering if his heartbeat could be heard by Wolfram or only himself.

Finally, Wolfram leaned to the side, pressing himself up against Allister and resting his head on Allister's shoulder. After another beat of silence, he said, "You did mean romantically, yes?"

"Wha - yes I meant romantically, you're supposed to say 'I like you too' or something," Allister objected, chuckling at the abrupt change in the conversation's mood.

"Of course I do, but you seemed ner - hic - nervous so I thought I would help," Wolfram said, then abruptly added, "Did I say you could stop?" bringing attention to the fact that Allister had pulled his hand away instinctively during the previous tension.

"God, you're spoiled." Allister resumed the massage on Wolfram's grumbling stomach, wrapping his other arm around Wolfram's shoulder.

"I'm ill, Allister, and - hic - you've just confessed your undying love to me. It is the least you could do."

"Your stomach's upset because you ate a whole bag of chocolate in, what, a couple of hours?"

"Hush." Wolfram raised a hand and then pointed to the television. This segment was covering candles. "I do appreciate - hic - intricate candle designs."

Allister rolled his eyes. "You did this to yourself."

[afternoonpoppy]

OH WHAT HAVE I DONE.

I meant to write a short little thing with a pair of new characters of mine and hiccups, and I wrote, uhh... A whole bunch of lore and character focus. And then some hiccups later on but mostly character focus. I’m so sorry.

Featuring the very good boy Allister, and Wolfram, a spellcaster from another world who got reverse isekai’d who has found himself stuck in this strange little world called Earth thanks to magic shenanigans. (Maybe I’ll write the actual story of how these two met at some point but it’d probably be pure plot and no hics sooo I’ll probably make note of that if I do it)

The sun had already faded for the day, the approaching winter leaving no light even in the evening sky. Allister shut the front door behind himself quickly to preserve the warmth inside his small home as he entered. Taking off his coat and scarf, hanging them up on the rack by the door, he surveyed the interior and saw no sign of activity on the first floor. He left his boots at the door as well, not wanting to track dirt inside, and made his way to the stairs at the back of the house to find the second floor - consisting of a simple hallway and doors leading to two rooms - to be almost as quiet as the first.

The presence of another soul in the house was betrayed, however, by a faint musical tune originating from behind one of the doors. Allister stepped up to the door and knocked gently first, waiting for a response.

"Come in," the response came after a moment, muffled by the wooden door and walls. Allister opened the door to look inside what had once simply been a spare storage room.

Small motes of multicolored light hovered about the room, occasionally shifting from a simple spherical shape to vaguely resembling different animals. Some were perched on the eclectic bookshelves Allister had recently furnished the room with, grabbing at different books and journals from the slowly-growing collection in the room and depositing them on the desk that sat at the room's back wall.

Seated in a chair by the desk, facing away from the door, was the highly-occupied, slim-framed young man that had requested the room be converted into a study, to begin with. He was positioned leaned over the desk, focusing his attention on furiously scribbling notes over sheets of paper and flipping through the books. Allister's old portable radio seemed to be the source of the music, sat atop the desk.

"Wolfram?" Allister addressed gently, feeling unsure if his presence was welcome in the room.

Wolfram turned, placing down the pen he'd been writing with as he looked at Allister. "You're home early, aren't you?"

Allister wondered just how long Wolfram had been caught up in his work. "I'm actually a bit late getting back - it's almost six."

"Oh." Wolfram glanced out the window of the study's back wall, furrowing a brow in thought.

Allister stepped into the room, taking care not to get in the way of any of the motes floating around. "Is the radio working out well for you?"

Wolfram nodded, idly turning down the radio. "It's easy enough to operate." He didn't say much else though, still staring out the window.

"Well... I'm guessing you didn't make as much progress as you wanted?" He gestured to the notes and scattered books on the desk. He didn't honestly understand what any of it was, but he did gather that it was a complex arcane matter.

Wolfram continued to stare out the window. "No. No, I suppose not." He sounded tired, and... disheartened.

Allister didn't care to hear his unorthodox roommate sounding like that, and found himself wracking his brain for some way to help. "Well, in that case... How about dinner? You must be exhausted, I'll bet the break and food will do you some good."

Wolfram's gaze lingered on the window a moment longer, then turned back to the desk, leaning over one of the books and letting his red hair hide his face from Allister's view. "It's fine, I am not hungry." At that moment, however, it seemed Wolfram's stomach was quite ready to disagree, letting out just loud enough of a growl to be heard by the pair. Wolfram visibly tensed up, likely hoping his stomach's complaints weren't so easily noticed.

Allister opted not to address it directly, instead softly reiterating, "A break will be good for you, Wolfram."

Wolfram responded with a tired sigh, but gave in and looked to face Allister. "Fine, but I want something freshly made, none of that packaged 'instant' meal nonsense you have in the pantry."

Allister shrugged. "They're not so bad. Besides, they're faster to make."

Wolfram shook his head, giving a look of disdain and repeated, "Something fresh tonight."

"Alright, alright, if you insist."

---

Per Wolfram's request, Allister went exploring through his refrigerator to find ingredients for a home-cooked meal, coming to the realization he had just enough for a sweet & sour chicken recipe. It would take a bit of time to make, but that did give him an excuse to keep Wolfram away from the study for a bit longer.

"So... What exactly are these little guys, anyway?" Allister asked, shooing a curious light-mote-rabbit-bird away from the chicken cooking in the pan.

"They are spirits, as I believe I mentioned once before," Wolfram answered rather unhelpfully from the kitchen table where he sat. He did seem to enjoy watching Allister cook.

"No, I meant, what... what are they? Like... If I ask 'what's a cat' and someone says they're animals that eat mice and purr and knock things off of tables."

"I see..." Wolfram thought on that for a moment. "Apologies, I often forget most humans don't interact with them often. In short, they are the product of magic in the environment that has gathered in a comparatively dense concentration and spent much time interacting with a particular natural aspect, such as a plant or a pond. From there, the dense magic that has gathered forms into one entity and gains a will of its own, which is now a spirit."

Allister glanced over at Wolfram with an expression that was uncertain at best.

"Hm, alright... Think of it this way; if you crack an egg onto that pan and expose it to the heat, it would change, yes?"

"You would have a fried egg."

"Yes. If magic gathers together and interacts with an aspect of the environment instead of heat, the same concept happens."

"You get fried magic?" Allister couldn't help but grin at his own joke if you could call it that, while Wolfram stared back with an eyebrow raised.

"It changes," Wolfram said, "and becomes a spirit."

"I... think I understand." Allister didn't understand, unsure if for his own faults or if Wolfram was simply a poor teacher, but moved on to a new question. "Are they intelligent?"

"About as much as an animal. They can follow simple commands, so I call them to my side for basic assistance."

"So they're... Sort of like your familiars?" Allister asked, calling on what little terminology he knew from pop culture.

"Similar in concept, yes. Though they have poor attention spans so it is best to have multiple around rather than relying on one and hoping that it does not grow bored." Wolfram absentmindedly placed a hand over his stomach as it growled once more for food. Allister wondered if the poor thing had remembered to eat lunch while he was away, as he was noticing Wolfram tended to ignore such things when wrapped up in work like he was today.

"Dinner will be ready soon."

---

Once the promised meal was prepared, a hearty helping of rice and chicken, Allister placed a plate on the table in front of Wolfram who immediately perked up at the sight and smell of the food. Allister sat down in the other chair with his own plate, idly asking, "So... You can cast magic?"

Wolfram was already shoveling forkfuls of food into his mouth by the time the question was asked. For someone with such small stature, he had displayed a voracious appetite when presented with food he liked, which seemed to be any of Allister's home-cooked meals. Though Allister couldn't quite tell if that was more due to Wolfram's tendencies to neglect the need for food.

Before taking another bite of food, Wolfram paused to answer the question with a confused tone. "Did we not establish this when we first met? The day you found me in your cellar? Having been transported to your world by magic? I have experience with the subject, yes."

"I mean, yeah, I know," Allister said in defense. "What I mean is... I didn't know magic was even a thing until then. And, well, you showed me that light spell you can cast, and I see the spirits..." Allister paused, suddenly second-guessing if he was about to overstep a boundary. Stories always talked about responsible usage of magic, was there some sort of magic etiquette he was ignoring?

Wolfram, on the other hand, seemed far less concerned, commenting between bites of food, "You want to see me cast a spell?"

"Is - is that alright?" Allister couldn't deny how curious he was about magic and what Wolfram could do with it.

"Well, I suppose, given how helpful you've been, some demonstration of my skill is a reasonable request." Wolfram exaggerated his tone as if the request were plain and tedious, but even Allister could tell Wolfram was playing it up. The young spellcaster clearly liked the attention.

Wolfram pushed aside his plate, which he'd already almost emptied completely, and began tracing a finger along the table's surface. As he did, he whispered a quiet string of words which Allister could not understand but had come to know to be the spell's incantation - the 'magic words' that made the spell work. Following Wolfram's finger along the table was a sparkling trail of light formed, leaving shapes and patterns on the surface of the table. Allister watched, mesmerized by the glow of the lines.

"It's a simple spell," Wolfram said, pausing in the spell's incantation, no new trails of light being drawn as he spoke. "The lines will eventually fade on their own if not refreshed, or with my command -" he whispered another spell phrase and waved a hand over the lines, causing them to vanish, " - which makes them ideal for writing if I want to keep it private."

"Or if you don't have a pen and paper," Allister chimed in. "What else can you do?"

"Hm... Ah, yes." Wolfram turned his focus to a small clock hung up on the wall, accompanying another incantation with a hand motion that the clock responded to by levitating off of the wall on its own accord.

"You can do that?!" Allister watched in amazement as the clock floated through the air at Wolfram's command. "I always thought things would be so much easier if I could move things around with my mind. Uh, or magic, in this case."

A slight grin began to spread over Wolfram's face. "Naturally, the use of magic makes numerous tasks quite a bit - hic!"

With a sudden hiccup, Wolfram's spell was interrupted and the clock clattered to the floor, startling Allister.

"Are you alright?" Allister asked, seeing that even Wolfram himself looked surprised by the abrupt interruption.

"Um, yes, I -" Another 'hic!' cut off Wolfram and jumped through his body, and he clasped a hand over his mouth, cheeks tinted red from embarrassment.

Allister held back a smile - seeing Wolfram so flustered was endearing in a way, but he didn't want his reaction mistaken for teasing by the younger man. "It's alright, Wolfram. You did eat a bit fast, didn't you?"

"I..." Wolfram kept his hand over his mouth, muffling another hiccup, then admitting, "Your cooking is quite good." He moved his hand to his stomach and added, "Perhaps... Perhaps you are not incorrect, however."

Allister frowned. "Does your stomach hurt?"

Wolfram didn't answer, sheepishly avoiding eye contact as he struggled and failed to quiet his hiccups. The way he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, however, told Allister that he was also 'not incorrect' about that guess as well. "Would you like to lie down for a bit?"

Wolfram hesitated, then said, "No, it's - hic - it's fine. It will pass soon, I'm sure, and I should be getting back to wor - hic!" After that last hiccup rudely forced its way into the conversation, Wolfram did not bother to finish the thought and sighed with frustration instead.

"Wolfram, I think you've been working hard enough as it is. It's fine for you to take a break for the night if - "

"It is not fine, Allister!" Wolfram suddenly shouted, causing Allister to flinch at the abrupt change in attitude. "It is not - hic - it is not..." Wolfram slumped over the table, defeat in his tone as he spoke now. One hand remained protective over his stomach, the other gripping the side of his head through his hair.

"Wolfram?" Panicked with concern, Allister found himself standing up from his chair and rushing to the other side of the table before he knew what he was doing. Gently rubbing Wolfram's back in an effort to calm him despite a hiccup or two fighting against the contact, Allister spoke softly, "Hey, hey, what's going on? You can talk to me, Wolfram, it's alright." Once Allister noticed what he was doing, he feared the contact would be inappropriate but was surprised to see Wolfram not only accept it but lean towards Allister.

"I'm... I'm sorry," Wolfram suddenly said.

"What? What for?"

"For lying." Wolfram lifted his head from the table to meet Allister's gaze. "I'm not - hic - I'm not the powerful wizard I wanted you to think of me as. I was still an apprentice in training before - hic - before all of this."

Allister was taken aback by the confession. It wasn't so much Wolfram's status as apprentice that surprised him, Allister hadn't really thought about how powerful Wolfram was, but surprise to hear Wolfram thought this image of himself was so crucial. "Wolfram, I.. I don't think any less of you for that. I still think it's amazing that you can do these things."

"Of course you do, you're amused by simple light and - hic - levitation spells."

"I'll try not to take any offense to that," Allister deadpanned.

"I've spent this time in your home focusing so much on my magic. Yet I cannot - hic - I cannot levitate a clock without dropping it from something as minor a nuisance as - hic!"

Allister nodded sympathetically, switching from rubbing Wolfram's back to gentle pats, unsure which would be more helpful at the moment. "So, um, if you don't mind me asking, what have you been doing in the study?"

"You recall the books we found in the cellar?"

Allister nodded. The day the pair had met, they had also located several tattered books hidden away in the cellar which Wolfram had claimed to hold some value and added to his growing book collection upstairs. "You said they were some sort of... arcane records?"

Wolfram hiccuped. "They were remaining journals from the mentor I studied under. I've been attempting to read through them to continue my studies. Unfortunately, it - hic - it is no simple matter, so doing this without a mentor is not an easy task."

"I see... And I guess it's not exactly easy for you to just find someone else to teach you, huh?"

Wolfram sighed, leaning to the side and letting his weight rest against Allister's chest. "Is... this alright?"

Allister felt warmth rushing to his cheeks at the contact. "Uh, yeah, that's fine. You sure you don't want to lie down, though?"

"I suppose," Wolfram answered. He stood up, allowing himself to be guided to the living room couch by Allister. Allister felt bad that the only bed he was able to offer in his modest home was the couch with some spare pillows and blankets, but Wolfram had insisted the meager accommodations were fine. That seemed to hold true here as well, as Wolfram wasted no time in making himself comfortable, one arm still draped over his stomach and hiccups jolting his body every few seconds, and yet, he was able to lie down suitably well.

"Do you want some medicine for your stomach?" Allister asked.

"I do not - hic - care for medicine." Wolfram tucked his legs in just enough to allow space for someone to sit on the other end of the couch. "If you'd like, however, I... I do find your company helpful." He buried his face in one of the pillows as he spoke, hiding from eye contact.

"Oh, I..." Allister was unsure of what to say, feeling that warmth return to his face. He was starting to realize, despite this perhaps being a poor time for it, that he did also enjoy Wolfram's presence. Allister accepted the invitation and sat down. "If, um, if you want, I don't mind if you stretch your legs out again."

Wolfram unburied his face from the pillow to look at Allister, gauging if he should or not, then stretched his legs out over Allister's lap. "This is fine?"

"Mm-hm." Allister nodded. "Hey... I know you're worried about the magic thing, but I think you'll do fine."

Wolfram hiccuped and autopiloted a nod.

"But, I don't know, studying on your own can be really hard, so... If I can help at all..."

"You want to help me - hic - study magic?"

"Well, I - I know I have no idea how any of this works or anything, but -"

"I might appreciate the help," Wolfram mumbled, sounding notably drowsy. "For now, I... think some - hic - some rest... sounds..."

Wolfram failed to finish the sentence and Allister noticed the poor thing had already fallen asleep. Allister watched the steady rise and fall of Wolfram's chest, which was occasionally interrupted by stubborn hiccups that amazingly failed to wake him. As Allister's gaze lingered, he realized something else about Wolfram - he was cute.

Allister grabbed a blanket from where it lay on the back of the couch and did his best to spread it out over Wolfram while trapped under his legs. It wasn't the best job Allister had ever done, but Wolfram didn't seem picky at the moment. Softly, Allister whispered, "Goodnight."

[afternoonpoppy]

Hiya! I'm really love your writings of allister and wolfram. They're so cute. I hope to see more writings from you. I can never find anything good pertaining to hiccups and I finally found some things to read that ate actually good.

aaaa it makes me so glad to hear it when people like my dear boys!! I definitely know that struggle of trying to find good hiccup stories, the community for that sort of thing is so small, but that makes me happy to hear I'm doing a good job of putting more out there. Hopefully soon I'll get something new written up with these sweeties