Family Tradition

[SexualOddity]

Jess scuttles to the door when she hears her boyfriend’s key turn in the lock, thick socks slipping against the laminate flooring.

“Sam!” she bursts the minute he comes through the door.

“What?” Sam’s eyes are laughing and surprised, but they quickly glaze with a distant look. “HuhKushyew! Ussshyew! HuUSHyuu! Urgh!” He shakes his head, blinking in surprise. “Excuse me. What’s up?”

“Bless you!” Jess exclaims. “Are you okay?”

Sam rubs at the underside of his nose with the back of his hand. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He frowns, confused. “Can I smell pine?”

Jess bites her lip, grinning. “I bought a Christmas tree.”

Sam reaches in his pocket for a packet of tissues and blows his nose. “You did?”

Jess grins and nods. “I know we said we couldn’t really afford a new one every year, but even if it’s all you get me, I dunno, I think I’d just really like a real one. Something about the smell of them, and it’s what we always had at home.” She fiddles with the end of the sleeves of her sweater, blushing. “I kinda want it for our Christmases too.”

Sam wrenches over his shoulder to stifle a sneeze.

“Bless you,” Jess gabbles, opening up a cupboard door. “I bought decorations too. Wanna help me make it pretty?”

Her voice is practically sing-song. Sam can’t help but smile. He sniffles into his tissue and wipes at his nose.

“I can’t wait. But I was just studying over at Zach and Becca’s and you know what I’m like around their cat. I might need a minute for showering and medicating before…” He thumbs through the packet of Kleenex for another tissue, “before we get ahh-all HuuAHSHuu! All Christmasy. Excuse me.”

“Aw Sam,” she pats his shoulder sympathetically. “Why didn’t you go to the library?”

“Their house was warm!” he pouts. “And the library’s practically as bad these days. I think the cleaners went on vacation.”

He does disappear into the bathroom for a shower, but he shouts something to Jess about having left his meds with Zach and sits on the can to make a phone call.

“Hey Sam,”

“HepTchusshuu!” Sam holds the receiver away from him and sneezes into the crook of his arm. “Urgh sorry.” He rubs at his eyes. “Hi Zach, I don’t suppose I left my allergy meds at yours when I was last over.” He pins a roll of toilet paper on his knees while pulling a few sheets loose with his free hand.

“I can have a look,” Zach offers. “Where would they be?”

“Ashyew! Heh…ah…ASHyew!” Sam groans, “Bathroom cabinet? I’m gonna sneeze like a million times in this phone call by the way, so I’m just gonna apologise now for the whole lot.”

Zach laughs and Sam can hear the creak as he opens the bathroom door. “Are you hanging out with cat’s again, Sam?”

“I’m allergic to our Christmas tree,” Sam answers, utterly miserable. “Hattisshhyew!”

Sam rolls his eyes at Zach laughing helplessly on the end of the phone. “You have got to be kidding me? I got them by the way.”

Sam blows his nose. “Awesome. And I wish I was kidding. Don’t you remember when we went to that party last year and there was that tree?”

There is a pause. “Oh God, yeah… Sam, what the hell are you doing with a real Christmas tree?”

“Jess bought iiiiihhhh…” the pitch of his speech quavered wildly. “Oh, fuck. Hang on Zuh-Zack.” He sets the phone on the edge of the bath and leant over, elbows resting on his knees and both hands cupped in front of his face. He breathes shakily and shallowly into his hands for a moment before staring up at the bathroom light. “HiSHYEW! ItttSCHYEW! HapISHyew! HUTSHYEW! ISSHUU! ISSHUU! HaTtISHYEW!” He picks up the phone, digging into his eyes with his free thumb and index finger. “Urrrrgh! Zach, you have dno idea how buch I ndeed that bmedicinde.”

“I’ll drop it round. I’m heading out anyway. Seriously though Sam, have you not told Jess you’re allergic? What the hell, are you embarrassed or something? She has met you. She knows that you’re like seven feet of allergic beanpole.”

Sam laughs until he coughs and coughs until he sticks his head under the washbasin tap for some water. “How could I possibly be embbarrassed with friendds who speak so highly of be?” He pulls some more paper from the toilet roll and blows his nose. “But it’s dnot about that. Dude, she wandts a real tree so bad. It’s like a fambily traditiond for her.”

“I’m betting she’d break that tradition in a second if she saw you right now Sam. But hey, I’m coming with your meds, sounds as if you need them.”

Sam sniffs and rubs at his nose. “Thandks band.”

While he waits Sam gets a hot shower and a change of clothes. It’s part-motivated by the desire to back up the cat dander alibi and part-motivated by the hope that it might actually help a little. It does clear his head a little, but it also makes his nose run and he still can’t stop sneezing.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door. Sam opens it with a towel round his waist and a bundle of tissues at his nose. Jess bites her lip and winces when he opens up the door. She holds out a nasal spray and some antihistamine tablets. “Zach brought you these.”

Sam nods and bends over his elbow, sneezing “Issshuu! Isshyew! HISSSHyew! Hah-HahptCHYEW!”

“Oh God Sam.” She reaches up to brush his fringe out of his face. “Are you not feeling any better?” She traces a finger over his cheek. “Your eyes are so puffy.”

Sam blows his nose, for what must be the millionth time. “I’ll be good.” He grins, shaking the boxes. “I have medicine now. Give me ten minutes tops, and I’ll be ready for tree decorating.”

She kisses him on the nose. He doesn’t tell her how madly that makes it itch, but he does bury his face in the crook of his arm and sneeze a dozen times once he’s shut the bathroom door.

When he comes out of the bathroom the antihistamines haven’t really kicked in, but he’s as ready as he’ll ever be, armed with the rest of the toilet roll and more than ten years’ worth of experience of trying to hold back sneezes in dusty haunted houses on pain of ghost attack.

He blinks, confused, when all he finds in the living room is Jess sweeping up pine needles in the corner of the room.

“Where’s the tree?”

Jess stands. “I put it outside,” she holds up her hands to hush him when he goes to reply. “Just give it a chance. I’ve opened the window. I just wanna see if this makes you any better.”

Sam rubs the underside of his nose with his wrist. “Jess? What are you talking about?” He crosses to the window. “You’re gonna freeze with this open.”

She puts a hand on his arm to stop him pulling shut the window. “Just give it a try,” she asks him softly. “You’ve been home for a good half hour now, you’ve changed, you’ve showered, you’ve taken meds, but you still don’t seem to be getting over the cat hair. Plus,” she runs a hand over her hair, “I dunno, I could hear you sneezing from the bathroom and it sounded really like you are during allergy season. I just thought, you know, we have a tree in the house, and we just got it. Maybe it’s making it worse.”

Sam looks, just looks at Jess for a moment, before reaching over to kiss her. Sniffling, he closes the window, and then bends over, head in hands, deciding there’s no longer much purpose in trying to fight off the persistent itch.

*HiTCHYEW!” he sneezes. “HuhITCHyew! HITCHYEW HisshYEW! ISSSHuu! When he straightens he pulls some toilet paper from the roll and rubs furiously in circles against his nostrils. “I am allergic to Christmas trees, Jess,” he admits. “But I really wanna keep it. I am SO used to being allergic. Hell, you saw me in the summer. And it’s your family tradition thing,” he takes her hands, smiling widely. “I want it to be part of our Christmases too.”

He frees a hand to bat him playfully on the arm. “You’re such an idiot! Did you even go to Zach and Becca’s today?”

Sam wipes his nose on his sleeve and grins sheepishly. “Well, not today, but I did leave my meds there last week.”

Jess shakes her head, despairing. “You’re such an idiot.”

“Hey Jess, I’m serious.” He catches her arms and looks her in the eye. “I’m really serious about this. I don’t have any traditions to build on. It matters to me that we use yours.”

Jess looks back at him with a look that Sam has only seen a handful of times, but one that never fails to make him nervous to argue with her. “We make our own traditions Sammy.”

She turns to shut the window, and picks up her dustpan and brush. “I’m gonna finish sorting these pine needles, do you want to grab some air?”

He looks at her a minute, but finally nods. “Okay.”

“Okay,” she smiles. “Hold your breath when you pass the tree on your way out.”

[SexualOddity]

Damn! I had her calling him Sammy and I reeeeeally hate that. I'm sorry! It's really late and my proof reading is poor at this time of night!

[DogLover]

This is sososososososo cute and AWESOME!

I love sneezy Sammy...

[obsessed]

Very cute:)

[March Hare]

I really like "seven feet of allergic beanpole", that almost made me laugh out loud Cute story!

[fraggle]

I love the idea of this, that he'd be wanting some "normal" family traditions to make up for his childhood, but that it would backfire for him. He would definitely want to keep the problem to himself and have Jess enjoy the tree as well. Good story.

[Akahana]

It was so cute~

[iluvsneezes]

Aww, this is too adorable! I love allergic!sneezy!Sammy.

[happybunny]

This was really great, and extreamly well written! thanks!

[LizzyLovesYou]

That was such a cute story! Very well written (: