Sharing (Uncharted 4)

[ICan'tThinkOfAnything]

(I should be doing homework right now. I have, like, seven fucking chapters of book to catch up on. And a finals packet. And a presentation. But guess what? The Drake boys are more important than that. Specifically, sick Drake boys. Enjoy this. Also, because I've only watched playthroughs of the game and I'm not totally remembering all the locations and shit, I've taken some creative license with which characters are where and when they're there. Enjoy nonetheless.) 

---

"Dude, what's going on with you? You've been sniffling for the past, like, twenty minutes." 

Nate shrugged and sniffed again, quickly running his wrist under his nose. "No clue. My nose has been running like a damn faucet."

"That's attractive." Sam remarked dryly, turning sideways to weave through a particularly dense area of the crowd. Nate scoffed and rolled his eyes, following Sam. He would have loved to take the time to observe the many vendors at the open marketplace just outside of King's Bay. Tables and tents of all sorts were set up in an open square, crowded with people, displaying everything from local cuisine to intricate carvings of mythological creatures. But time wasn't a luxury they had. Oh, well. Nate could add Madagascar to the list of places he'd been to but never truly seen, right along with Scotland, Italy, Panama...

"H'eestchuh!- excuse me, sorry," Nate quickly apologized, having narrowly avoided sneezing on a woman who hurried away from him. It could've been worse, he mused, turning his head and quickly wiping his nose on the shoulder of his shirtsleeve. I could have actually sneezed on her, and then she'd probably hit me or something-

"Hey, Nate! Keep up!" Sam's voice traveled over the heads of the crowd and snapped Nate out of his thoughts. "You alright?" 

"I'm fine! Pardon me, coming through..." He continued to work his way through the crowd, occasionally sniffling. He didn't have a clue what was making his nose run, or itch, for that matter, seeing as a tingling sensation had taken up residence in his sinuses. If it were allergies, they would have acted up earlier, and he didn't feel sick. Well, he was tired and achy, but that was a given considering what they'd dealt with the past few days. Same went for the headache. No, it was probably just something in the air. 

Finally, they made it out of the crowd, with Sully right in tow. "Alright, so we're looking for the next of the-"

"H'stch!" 

"Bless. We're-"

"Heh-h'gshht!" 

"Bless you-" 

"Hi'shtch!" 

"Jesus, are you done now?" 

"I'm done, I'm done," Nate jokingly raised his hands in surrender before running his wrist underneath his nose once more. "Jesus, sorry. I don't know what's up with me today." 

"As long as it doesn't interrupt me anymore," Sam quipped, but Nate could see in his eyes that he was concerned about his little brother. "We're looking for the next of the twelve towers, and we don't have much time. Shoreline's heading there too, and the last thing I want to do is meet up with Rafe again. The map indicates that we should be heading up this path-" He paused to point in the direction of said path, "And eventually reach a plateauuh- h'estchu!" 

Nate, who'd been squinting at the horizon in an attempt to locate the plateau, snapped his head towards his brother with a look of mild horror. "No."

For as long as they could remember, Sam and Nate had always shared colds. Even up into their twenties, before- well, before the prison incident. One of them would start to sneeze and sniffle, and within four hours tops, the other would be doing the same. And right now was possibly the worst time to catch a cold for one of them, much less both. 

"No what?" Sully asked, arching a brow. Both Drakes- Sam looking sheepish and Nate looking dismayed- turned to him. 

"Uh...it's nothing. I may've just pointed out the wrong path." Sam lied smoothly, pretending to examine the map. Nate rolled his eyes and wondered if Sam had still caught colds at the same time Nate had while they were separated for fifteen years.

"Definitely." Sully replied in a voice that very obviously was calling out Sam's bullshit. "How about we wait a day? Something tells me you two will need a real bed to sleep in tonight."

Sam glanced up and looked at Sully as if he'd suggested the three of them join a ballet class. "Sully, we don't have time. Rafe and his men are already on their way to the next tower." 

"We'll be fine, Sully," Nate added in a softer, more controlled tone. He mused that his words would have been more believable if he wasn't still sniffling. He really needed to find a pack of tissues or something. 

Sully grumbled and made a hand gesture that amounted to "whatever, be my guest". Sam, mollified for the time being, glanced down at the map again. 

"Alright, let's get going. We don't have much time."

--- 

(Shitty endings are shitty. I meant to finish this off tonight, but I do have stuff to work on. I'll try to finish this soon, but that may be difficult with finals coming up. Thank you for reading this!)

[Red Ring of Death]

Ah, I was just working on mine but hell, I take it where I can get it! Yesss I love it

[SweaterWeather]

THEY SHARE COLDS?!  Guh-- Yep, you've just done me in. What a beautiful headcanon, and lovely sick Drake boys is just.. mwah, perfection! Awesome start~

[IveGotRedHair]

I didn't know I needed this until now!

[ICan'tThinkOfAnything]

(Hooo boy, guess who hasn't spent upwards of probably an HOUR studying for finals? I'm so fucked. But whatever, at least I've got UC4. Anyone else love how Sam calls Nathan "little brother"? 'Cause I sure as hell do. Another short piece with a crappy ending, although this one isn't as crappy as last time. Please, enjoy.)

---

After what felt like an eternity of trekking through foliage of varying densities, all the while sniffling and coughing against the inside of his wrist, Nate was beginning to lose the battle he'd been waging with illness-induced fatigue. His muscles felt more tender and sensitive than usual, and the running and jumping that the travelling required of him was beginning to take its toll, sending a throb of pain through his body anytime a landing jostled him. Sam seemed to be holding up better than him, making Nate the weak link of the trio. He tried his best not to lag behind too far, but keeping up with Sully and Sam was becoming challenging.

Really, they'd only been travelling for three hours or so. Sam had miscalculated the distance of where the tower was and how long it would take them to travel through the dense vegetation that grew abundantly on the island. They'd moved forward mostly in silence, only with Sam's optimistic "we're almost there!" or "probably just a few more miles..." filling it. Despite his brother's semi-forced positivity, it was hard for Nate to focus on the positive with his calves aching and his ability to breathe through his nose being steadily diminished. Still...only forty-five minutes to go, according to Captain Sunshine to his right.

Forcing positivity had been a common move on Sam's part, a tactic he'd used often before when sick or injured to deflect the topic away from himself, to say "I'm fine, we're fine" without actually saying it. Growing up, he had to be strong for his little brother, or so he convinced himself- he had to be a rock to lean on if Nathan ever needed it, and he certainly did at times. Being an older brother with no parents to guide either of them didn't allow for sick days. 

Still, as of then, Sam wasn't as affected by the illness, or he wasn't showing it. He was slower than usual, that was apparent, and his voice had developed a congested quality to it. But his symptoms weren't as vocal as Nathan's yet, and likely wouldn't reach Nathan's level. That was something else that had always irked Nate- he always caught it just a little worse. He made up for it by recovering quickly, though. 

"Keep up, little brother! Half an hour left!" Dammit, had fifteen minutes already passed? Nathan sighed wearily and rubbed the side of his hand against his nose. 

"You said forty-five minutes two minutes ago," Nate remarked dryly, although his words held no true venom. "Now, I'm no master at telling time by just looking at the sun, but-"

"Oh, bite me, Nathan." Sam cut him off jokingly, an easy smile on his face. He sniffled congestedly, although it was clear that it wasn't very effective. "Once we're there, we'll find what we need and-"

"H-hii'stchu!"

"You'll be doing plenty of that, I'm sure. But we'll find what we're looking for as quick as we can and leave. Find an actual building to sleep in tonight- I bet you need it."

Joking though it was, Sam's comment showed a glimpse of his concern for Nathan. "As do you," Nate replied without missing a beat. Two could play at this game.

"Nah, I'm fine. But with you sneezing your brains out-"

"Objection. Exaggeration of condition."

"Pretty sure that's not how the legal system works, but whatever lifts your skirt, I suppose." Following the sentence was a harsh cough that was muffled into his shoulder. The sound made Nathan wince.

Despite the theory of head cold versus chest cold, Sam always seemed to catch some strange mid-body cold that affected both head and chest, although neither severely. As for Nate, the cold always seemed content in his head, making him a congested, sneezy, feverish mess until it was through with him. It rarely migrated to his chest, and he was hoping it would stay that way. Navigating the terrain of Madagascar was difficult enough while ill, he didn't need additional wheezing and coughing to slow him down.

"Ladies, you can chat later. We need to move quick if we want to get there before Rafe." Sully's voice ahead of them brought their attention back to the current task. Nathan forced whatever strength and stamina he had left to come forth, and soon enough he was keeping pace with Sully while Sam stayed a few steps behind them.

"H'estchu!"

"Bless you, Nathan." Nate glanced up at Sully to see him wordlessly offering Nathan a handkerchief, his face expressionless. "Here," He said after a nanosecond of hesitation on Nathan's part.

"I'm good," Nate said firmly, facing forward once more and climbing over the roots of an impressively large tree. He sighed and wiped his dirt-and-sweat covered palms on his pants. The night air was beginning to nip at him- maybe he was running a fever. But either way, it didn't matter. They couldn't slow down. "Let's keep going, guys. Almost there."

After all, there were only another twenty minutes to go, right?

 

[Red Ring of Death]

Ahhhhh I LOVE when Sam calls Nathan "little brother" - it gives me life.

An equally great little excerpt, you rebel, you. They're like little pick-me-ups; short and easy to read but still full of character and entertaining. This was a nice little surprise to come home to

[Watercolor Daydreams]

Yaaay updates!!! This is fab!!!! <3 

[Glowie]

LOVE. Sneezy Nate makes me weak at the knees!

[ICan'tThinkOfAnything]

(I really didn't plan on updating so soon. And as of typing this before writing the actual thing, I've got no clue where it's going. But inspiration struck so geometry can wait. Enjoy this probably short, probably poorly ended installment of Sharing, which will finally actually be a part of the fic. Jfc. Enjoy.)

---

The problem with hot, humid areas, is that they weren't nearly as hot at night. Once the sun fell, a wave of cool air rolled over the island of Madagascar and promptly froze Nate to the bone. Between the climbing and the cold- the cold temperature, that was, not his cold- his hands were shaking gently and his fingertips went numb, along with the tips of his ears and the tip of his nose. The base of his nostrils, however, along with the philtrum, had become sore to the touch due to his constantly wiping his nose with his sleeve or shirt collar. Oh, that was another lovely perk of the night. Cold weather made his nose run. And itch, because apparently it wasn't doing those two things enough already.

"Heh-h'ngxt!" Nate made an effort to stifle the next sneeze, and managed to do so successfully. But it did nothing to satisfy the persistent itch in his sinuses. "Eh...h'eshu! I'itchuh!" Note to self: no more stifling. "Hh'eETCHuuh!" 

"Bless you. Still breathing over there?" Sam's joking tone reached Nate's frozen ears, making him roll his eyes. 

"It would seem so. Keep up, Sammy!"

"Hey, I told you n- heh'NGXTchh! Ow, fuck!" 

Nathan and Sully whipped around at Sam's cursing to see him hauling himself over the top of a small rock shelf, rubbing his forehead and looking distinctly pissed. It took Nathan a moment to piece together what had happened, but once he did, he doubled over with laughter. Sully shook with silent chuckles. 

"D-did you seriously whack your head against the rocks-" Nathan cut himself off laughing once more while Sam stalked past him and gave him a brotherly one-armed shove. The younger Drake straightened up, still laughing softly under his breath while Sam told him that it wasn't funny, despite the incident being quite hilarious.

The path they were walking on had become progressively narrower, and soon it became necessary for them to start scaling the face of small rock formations to reach an area where they could properly regain their footing- small, meaning thirty feet or shorter. Nathan's smile quickly disappeared as his the ache in his muscles became more and more pronounced; by the time they got to solid ground for what would be a good while, he was sure someone had actually set his calves on fire. 

"Got an ETA for us, Sam?" Sully asked once they were walking once more. Sam paused before answering- with the sun disappearing below the horizon, it was difficult to calculate. 

"We've got maybe another thirty minutes or so left." He responded. Nathan started to speak, but Sam cut him off. "I know I said twenty minutes, but it's gonna be harder to navigate in the dark. Plus, we aren't moving as quickly as we could be."

"Let's pick up the pace, then," Nathan said, although they both knew that wouldn't happen. The lack of speed didn't come from voluntarily being slow; two of the three were compromised, to one degree or another, and it slowed the whole trio down. Even so, they made an effort to move quicker, although it wasn't as successful as they would have liked. They also traveled in relative silence for a while, with only the sound of occasional coughing or sniffling coming from the brothers. Perhaps six or seven minutes passed before the itch in Nathan's sinuses made an appearance once more.

"Hh-heh'ngxtchu!"

Now, Nathan liked to consider himself someone who made pretty smart decisions most of the time. Attempting to stifle entirely through his nose, keeping his mouth shut, when sneezing, particularly in combination with a runny, congested nose? Not one of those smart decisions. No, this was ranked somewhere with eating out at a shady seafood restaurant and having sex in a car during summer with no access to running water nearby. 

He kept the hand he'd sneezed into clamped over the lower half of his face, cheeks burning, more than aware that there was a mess on his upper lip and his hand. Thank Jesus they didn't have to climb more anytime soon. 

Snuffling as quietly as he could into his palm, Nathan continued to walk as if nothing was wrong. A second later, he felt Sully's hand on his shoulder. 

"Take it." Once more, Sully extended the handkerchief to him, and this time, Nathan didn't refuse.

"Thank you. " He took the handkerchief with his clean hand and waited for Sully to take a few steps forward before cleaning himself up and finally blowing his nose, sighing softly at the relief it gave him. He still couldn't entirely breathe through his nose, but it was definitely an improvement. 

Blowing his nose seemed to satiate the tickle for some time and they were able to travel in (almost) silence once more. Another fifteen minutes passed almost entirely sneeze-free before they reached a small plateau in front of them, on top of which the tower was situated. Thankfully, it was low enough for a boost. 

"Here, I'll boost you up." Sam, rubbing his nose against his fist briefly, walked over to the wall and knelt down, hands placed one on top of the other. Nathan stepped into his hands and left Sam boost him up, forearms digging into the rich soil as he hauled himself over the edge. Once he was up there, Nathan turned to face them and knelt down, arm extended for Sam to grab. 

And it was when he did that Nathan realized just how warm his brother was- maybe it was just how cold his own hands were, but Nate could've sworn that Sam felt a couple degrees warmer than he should've. Immediately, the worry of a fever began eating at him. But maybe it was just him...

Sam knelt down and took Nathan's place, lowering his arm and helping Sully up. Nate brushed the dirt from his knees and turned to face the tower. "Almost there- I'd say, judging by the sun-" He pretended to peer into the night sky at an imaginary sun. "Another ten minutes of just walking."

"Sounds about right. We'll be in and out before the sun rises." Sam proclaimed, slapping Nathan on the back and walking towards the tower. Sully shook his head good-naturedly and followed him, with Nathan in two. With luck, all would go according to plan and there'd be no run-ins with Rafe or collapsing buildings. But really, when did things ever go according to plan?

Edited June 2, 2016 by ICan'tThinkOfAnything

[Watercolor Daydreams]

Ugh, that was so lovely.  I just recently got into Uncharted 4 through youtube walkthroughs and Sneezy Nathan was something I never knew I needed until I read this fic. <3

Good luck on your finals!!!! They suck.  I'm smack in the middle of them too, I feel ya.

[Red Ring of Death]

Wh-- -looks around- I could've... Huh. I must've missed the update. Well, in any case.

I gotta say that I really love the casual tone that's been consistent with these three parts so far. It all feels very natural and flowing with the characters working well off each other