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“Hticshshew! HitchsSHew!”
“Goodness! Bless you, Diego,” Eudora exclaimed, coming into the kitchen in her bathroom, hair wet from an earlier shower.
Diego glanced up from his cup of coffee he had just poured, standing with his flannel pajama pants and no shirt. He had meant had to follow Eudora into the bathroom to at least start getting ready, but a warm cup of coffee had sounded too inviting, especially against his sore throat.
He suddenly pivoted away from her, nose wrinkling in clear desperation. He reached out to grab a piece of toilet paper from a roll they kept on the counter and ducked forward into it. “HitchSHew! HitcshShew!” He gave a brief pause and closed his eyes, waiting for more. “HtichSHew!”
Eudora had watched the entire display, eyes wide and unblinking. “Bless you again! Are you feeling okay?”
Diego wiped his nose roughly with the paper towel, feeling his nose beginning to burn by the forceful attention. “Ugh, yeah. Just a tickle.”
Eudora pressed her lips into a thin line, a clear sign she wanted to say something else. “As long as you’re sure. We can stay in tonight if you’d like. There are plenty of movies we can watch here instead.”
“No, I want to go,” Diego argued intently. He gave a hearty sniff, feeling congestion already beginning to build. “Once I start moving I’ll be fine. Besides, when was the last time we actually went to the movies?”
He did have a point, Eudora supposed. They hadn’t gone out to the movies in at least four months and a movie was finally coming out that both of them wanted to see. They had also been working almost nonstop, though Eudora’s work had been a little more legal than Diego’s. It wasn’t something that they often discussed, but it was always a thought in the back of her mind. Still, getting out would be good for both of them and get them to relax for at least a few hours.
“Alright, if you’re sure.” She walked around him, tracing her fingers on the back of his shoulders lightly. There was no heat wafting off of him, which made Eudora relax.
Diego didn’t shrug her off, instead bringing his cup of coffee up to his lips to sip it down. “I’m sure.”
Eudora nodded and took a granola bar with her back to the bathroom to finish getting ready.
Once she was gone, Diego brought a hand up to his mouth to contain the sudden hacks that took over his body. He attempted to muffle it to the best of his ability, entire body trembling against the counter. It took all of his strength not to give into the burning claws that clutched at his lungs, tightening even firmer while he coughed. Eudora’s apartment wasn’t that large and things could be heard surprisingly well from the kitchen to the bathroom even with the door closed.
It was only when Diego heard the sound of a blow dryer did he remove his hand from the choke hold it had on his mouth and cough continuously until the tickle was dislodged from his throat. It left him gripping onto the edge of the counter for dear life, eyes watering in sheer discomfort.
There was no way that he was going to admit to Eudora that he was feeling as crappy as he was and risk ruining their movie night. Cold he damned, he would find away.
Besides, it was just a cold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diego couldn’t suppress a shiver as he walked through the lobby of the theater, families bustling around him to buy tickets and purchase their snacks from the concession stand. He was certain that the smell of buttered popcorn filled the air, though his nose was so clogged there was no real way of him knowing. He had to breathe through his mouth so that his clogged nose didn’t make a horrid wet squelching sound that breathing in would cause.
“Do you want to get the tickets and I’ll get the concessions,” Eudora offered, giving Diego’s hand a small squeeze that she had been holding since they walked into the threader.
Diego nodded, not trusting his voice.
Eudora leaned over and kissed his cheek before heading over to stand in the line for concessions. She rocked back and forth on her heels, eyeing the board in front of her that listed the available items for purchase and how much they were.
Diego forced himself to stand in the ticketing line, nose beginning to buzz with a fierce tickle. It resonated deep in his nasal passages, applying just enough pressure that it was annoying while not giving him near the release he needed. He gave the side of his nose a fierce rub, willing the feeling to either fade or reach a cusp of release as he drew closer to the box office where the flustered theater employee was struggling to keep up with the influx of guests that were all there for a major movie release.
“How can I help you,” the man behind the box office started, appearing out of breath, eyes round in unease.
Diego longed to point to the movie on the list that he saw above him so he didn’t have to use his voice, but he was certain that would lead to more talking about which movie he was actually pointing it, and that would accomplish the complete opposite of what Diego wanted.
Diego opened his mouth to speak only to suddenly duck to the side into a raised elbow. “HitchSHew! HitcShew!” Diego surfaced a moment later, nose twitching momentarily. “Excuse me. Two f-for.....HitchsSHew!”
The employee didn’t so much as blink despite at how clearly embarrassed Diego appeared. “Bless you.”
Diego gave a curt nod, sniffing hard so that his voice wasn’t so stuffy. It was a horrid sound that Diego would’ve curled his lip at if someone would’ve done it in front of him. The theater employee didn’t react, just looked down at the screen in front of them, waiting for Diego to finally say which movie he wanted to watch.
“Want to hurry up,” called a gravely voice behind him.
It took all of Diego’s self control not to force a sharp retort over his shoulder. Now was not the time to let his short temper freely flow.
Reluctantly, Diego spoke to the employee and purchased two tickets for the back corner of a theater, hoping not to disrupt the rest of the theater by any of the sounds that he would unfortunately make through the duration of the movie. He would do his best to remain quiet, which was something he was well accustomed to from his days at the academy to now being in the police academy. However, he didn’t want to take any chances especially in the near silence of a theater.
Diego took his tickets and joined Eudora at concessions, where she was already at the register.
“Do you want to share a drink,” Eudora offered when she noticed Diego join her.
Diego felt a tightening in his chest. “Uh....maybe we should each get our own.”
Eudora eyed him in surprise. They had gone out to the movies before and shared a drink, which struck Eudora as odd that Diego would insist on getting separate ones.
“Yeah, we can. I think there’s a combo with a popcorn and two drinks.” Eudora turned back to the concession stand worker and paid for their food before Diego could whip out his wallet first.
They were given the cups for drinks for them to fill up their own and their popcorn. Diego wasn’t very hungry and doubted that the popcorn would do anything for his sore throat, but he knew how Eudora enjoyed it and him refusing to have any would clue her in that something was going up with him. This was one night he was hoping not to ruin.
The two headed over to the Coke machines and each chose a different drink with Diego choosing Coke Zero. He filled it to the brim before bringing the cup up to his lips to begin drinking before he had even grabbed a lid or a straw.
“Thirsty,” Eudora joked, watching him down half of the large cup of Coke Zero in a matter of seconds.
Toward the end of his drinking, the liquid caught in the back of his throat. He began to cough painfully, tears leaping back into his eyes. He reached out a hand to steady himself on the soda machine, still trying to drink so not to pull any unnecessary attention to them.
“Easy, Diego.” Eudora reached out and touched his back, feeling the warmth through his sweater. He always tended to run hot, but this was even warmer than usual.
Her hand migrated toward his forehead where her fingers just grazed his brow when he ducked away, filling up his cup with his drink once more.
“Are you sure that you’re feeling okay,” Eudora questioned. “You’re a little warm and you were sneezing this morning, and were awfully quiet on the drive over here. Are you catching a cold?”
The first instinct Diego had was to deny it and offer a bite of a comment that would send Eudora back on her heels. It took all of his strength to remain calm and not sabotage the night. Eudora was just being considerate and she worried about him; he couldn’t fault her for that.
“It’s just hot in here.” Diego gave a sudden shrug to disguise the shiver that traveled through his body. “I’ll cool down when we get into the theatre.”
The hint of congestion began to soften Diego’s consonants. It was something that Eudora picked up on almost immediately while not commenting on. Diego was insanely stubborn and would fight tooth and nail even when things were quite obvious.
Reluctantly, Eudora grabbed her own drink and popcorn and followed Diego into the theater.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The previews had just started and Diego knew he was fighting a losing battle. His lungs burned with the need to cough and he had almost finished his drink off, hoping it would soothe the soreness in the back of his throat. It just left him wincing even more, especially when he had to chase the drink with some bites of popcorn when Eudora offered it to him.
That, however, was now the least of his worries.
A frustrating itch was beginning to taunt him, moving around his sinuses. A strong sniff may have potentially rid himself of that, but his nose had started to run and a liquid snuffle would definitely alert Eudora that something was wrong. That and the theater was full on a Friday night. Some person would hear it and Diego hated to be embarrassed, and this was one way that he would draw attention to himself in the worst way.
When the final preview had finished and the movie titles started to roll, Eudora reached out and took Diego’s hand in her own, soft fingers brushing over the back of his knuckles.
The momentary distraction was enough for the itch to blossom into a full bloom. It traveled from the roof of his mouth and rooted deep in his sinuses. He took in a trembling breath and pulled his hand from Eudora’s, cupping his hands over his nose and mouth. It wasn’t often that he sneezed into his hands, often hating when Klaus used to do it because it was so unsanitary. Unfortunately, it was the quickest thing he could think of.
“HitchsShew! HitchSHew! Hih’ItchsShew! ItchsShew!”
Eudora rested a hand on Diego’s shoulder as she watched her boyfriend double over into his hands, attempting to muffle them to the best of his ability.
“Diego—“
“HitchShew! Hih......Hih’tchsShew!”
“Bless you,” Eudora whispered, eyes wide in surprise.
A couple in front of them exchanged some words, glaring back at Diego.
Feeling suddenly even more embarrassed than he had prior, Diego rose from the seat, accidentally knocking over their bag of popcorn in the process. He looked back, hands still forced over his nose as he started down the stairs, heat rising on his cheeks. Whether or not all eyes were on him was irrelevant; he felt like they were.
“HitchsShew! HitchShew!” He finally got to the bottom of the stairs and turned the hallway toward the door, nose running freely. He still felt the need to sneeze, despite that he had potentially sneezed more during this particular fit than he had during his last cold combined. He generally wasn’t a very sneezy guy, but that had changed during whatever bug this was for some reason and he was not looking forward to it.
He finally made his way out of the theater and rushed to the nearest napkin dispenser, pulling out as many as he could and forcing them against his nose to mop up the mess. He blew heavily, feeling pressure press on his sinuses until it was too painful and he wiped at the undersides of his nose, praying that it would chase the itch away so he didn’t feel the need to sneeze anymore. He had embarrassed himself too much already.
Diego leaned against the wall that led to most of the theaters, thanking any higher power that most of the movies had gotten in and it was relatively vacant. Part of him wanted to hide out in the bathroom, but it produced such an echo that he surmised that would be worse.
“HitchShew! HitchShew!” Diego’s head shook frantically, napkins already becoming damp and useless. “HitchShew! ItchshShew!”
The click of flats on the tiled ground had Diego flinching, knowing exactly who was coming after him. He had hoped to avoid all that, yet that didn’t seem to be the case.
The clacking grew louder until a cool hand rested on his shoulder and then migrated up to his forehead. Every instinct Diego had was to duck away, but the coolness of her hand had him leaning into it.
“You’re so warm,” she commented, her fingers cascading through the sweaty fringe on top of his head.
Diego rubbed his nose dry, which was already growing red and irritated. “Id’s dnothig.” He suddenly turned away from Eudora with his elbow reaching up to his face, smothering rough, barking coughs in the crook. His body trembled until he was almost gagging at the force of the coughs.
Eudora’s eyes widened in shock. “That is so something!”
Diego swallowed heavily, feeling like glass was sliding down his throat. The post nasal drip nearly caused him to cough again; it took all of his strength to hold back. “Just a cold.” The congestion didn’t edge at his words, though the rasp in his tone was enough to be unconvincing of his health.
“Oh yeah, this is definitely ‘just a cold’. I mean have you heard yourself? You sound like you took a piece of sandpaper to your throat. And that cough.” Eudora reached out to touch a hand against his chest, lungs constricting and heart thumping under Diego’s too warm skin. “This is definitely more serious than a cold.”
Diego shook his head defiantly, sniffing wetly. “You can go back and finish the movie,” he told her, swallowing a few coughs that threatened to make an appearance.
“And why would I do that?”
“I know that you really wanted to see it.”
“Yeah, I did, but I really wanted to see it with you.” She trailed her hand upwards and rested it on his shoulder. “We’ll wait until you’re feeling better and then we’ll try again. I can call when we get home about switching our tickets for a later date. It’s no big deal.”
Diego wanted to point out that it was a big deal as they had been waiting for this movie for quite some time. Unfortunately, his lungs had been suppressed a moment too much and he ducked to the side, coughing wretchedly away from Eudora.
Eudora shook her head and began to half lead, half push Diego forward. “That’s it. I’m taking you back home, getting you some medicine and some soup, and taking you to bed. Tomorrow if you still feel this shitty you’re going to go see a doctor. The last thing we need is this turning into bronchitis or pneumonia.”
Diego was momentarily taken aback by her kindness. It was an interesting change of pace from Reginald Hargreeves, who would push them to the breaking point when they were sick and snarl at them that they were making excuses for not preforming adequately. Grace had been the bright light in that tunnel, but Diego had never fully been able to relax when his mother was caring for him, waiting for his father to make an appearance and say something once more. He had always been on edge about something and it was difficult retraining himself that he didn’t have to be that way when he was with Eudora.
She grasped his hand tightly in her own and helped him move forward, pausing momentarily to pull some napkins from the dispenser, making a soft comment about him maybe ‘needing some of these’ on the ride home.
Diego had been too drained to actually feel anyway about it. His nose had begun to run steadily and he felt like any moment he could delve into a coughing fit that would leave him panting and sore in his side.
But Eudora was with him, and although their movie night hadn’t panned out, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t eager to have her look after him.