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#the ro/y and ja/mie fic is 3/4 done and next on the list... I just got distracted
hockeynoses · 6 months
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fix me up along the line (Ste/ddie snz fic)
Summary: Another Ste/ddie snz fic! (Will I ever stop? Only time will tell.) Inspired by @sneezeshame's post here. Steve is traveling for work and is super sick. He calls Eddie from his hotel room. Future fic.
Rating: Other than snz stuff, this could be rated PG. I thought about making Eddie have the kink here, but I didn't. 1k.
Warnings: Mess. Implied future contagion.
Notes: The title is a line from the full version of the ancient song Hello My Baby. I've loved that song ever since I saw that frog singing it. 💖
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Eddie fiddles with the strings on his guitar, killing time while he waits to hear from Steve. He’d promised he’d call Eddie once he got settled at the hotel up in Seattle; some conference his fancy job was making him travel for. Eddie had just gotten back to their house in LA from a gig that kept him away for the weekend. Their schedules caused them to just miss each other, Eddie arriving home the afternoon Steve left.
The shrill ring of the phone pulls him from his thoughts. Finally!
“Hey!”
“Hey babe.”
“You made it! Wait, you did make it, right?”
“Yep, checked idn a bidt ago,” Steve says. Eddie hears what he thinks is a squeaky, congested sniffle. “I’b godda have a shower soon and thedn head down for dinner.”
“Nice. How was the flight?” Eddie asks.
“Idt was… haah… hold odn… ihhh … hih’YEEHIISSHHH’oo!”
Eddie hears a wet, spraying sneeze explode on the other end of the line and blinks in shock. It sounds like Steve had time to twist away from the phone and has now set it down in an attempt to find some tissues.
“Shiiihh- ugh. SNF. Shidt.” An ill-sounding noseblow gurgles down the line, and concern pierces through Eddie.
“You feelin’ alright, sweetheart?”
“I’ve just beed sneezing all day,” Steve groans. “And I thigk the plane gave mbe a headache.” He follows that up with a few desperate, soupy sniffles, trying to stop his nose from running freely. “The cabidn pressure was bmessing with bmy sinuses and I couldn’t stob sneeziiii-hih… Hiiiih-ZZSSHHESSH’iue!”
“It sounds like you’re sick, babe.” He knows how stubborn Steve can be on the rare times he does get sick. Steve was already stressed about this trip, and Eddie doesn’t want him to overexert himself if he really is feeling that poorly.
“I dod’t… huh… I dod’t have tibe to be …haah… het’GGKSSHHH’uh! Hep’TIISHHH! Ughh. To be sigg.” Judging from the sound of those, Steve was just letting them fly, sneezing openly and spraying his hotel room with everything he had. The scrape of several tissues being pulled from a box fills the air, followed by a long, crackling blow.
“I hate to break it to you, but I think you might be. You sound awful already.” Eddie cups the receiver to his face with both hands. There’s a tug in his heart and he wants nothing more than for Steve to be back home so he can take care of him. He’d force him to stay in bed and would wait on him hand and foot, bringing him anything he asked for. “Did this just start today?”
“Dno…” Another sickly sniffle. “I’ve felt rudn down for a couble of days. Then last night I started sdeezing and I-iiihhh huh’KKSSSHH’IUE!” An exhausted sigh. “I didn’t gedt mbuch sleep.” He pulls a handful of tissues out, one after the other, and buries his face in them. “I thigk the pressure on the plane mbade it worse and then ihhh- HEH’TSSCHUH! Idt’s jusdt so damp here.” He clears his throat, his voice starting to go a little ragged. “I got caught ind the rain tryigg to hail a cab, which pro-ahh-bably didn’t h-he-hih’AEEISSHHah! SNF. Helb.”
“Poor thing. I wish I was there with you.”
“Probably best thadt… thadt you-ooo… huh’NGGSSHHiggh! Guh. Thadt you aren’t.” Eddie doesn’t think he’s imagining things when he hears the sheer mess of that one, thick and telling. “I thigk I’b pretty condagious. Huh… hih’YEIISHH’IUE!”
The line crackles as Steve sneezes uncovered, directly onto the receiver; the wet, viscous mess of it contaminating everything. Eddie flinches back on instinct. Steve sounds so cold-ridden and contagious that Eddie almost believes he could catch it over the phone, halfway across the country.
Steve moans, “SNF. Oh god. I’b so sorry. I cadn’t stob.”
“Steve… you sound really, really sick. Are you sure you should be going out like that?” Steve’s too busy abusing another tissue with a drenching noseblow to respond, so Eddie adds hopefully, “You should just come home.”
“Cadn’t. The bmanagement team specifically chose bme to represent the compady at the conference, and if I – if I – hih’kgxshht! Ugh. ‘Scuse bme. If I wandt the promotion I have to keeb bmy shit together. Ha-k’ISH’IGSHH’uh!”
“I don’t think anyone’s going to appreciate you getting them sick.” Eddie says, appealing to Steve’s vanity in a last-ditch effort. Everyone who comes within ten feet of him is going to be at risk of catching this thing. He’s going to be shaking so many hands, sharing so many meals, sitting in so many crowded conference rooms…
“I dod’t really have mbuch of aahh…Ha’AEESHHH’IUE! SNF. Mbuch of a choice.” Another miserable blow travels down the line, straight into Eddie’s ear.
There’s a beat of silence where Steve must be dazed after such a heavy noseblow, trying to catch his breath. Eddie can hear his open-mouthed, congested panting crackle over the phone receiver. If they don’t sanitize every inch of that place after he leaves, whoever stays there next is going to be in for a world of misery.
“I still wish there was something I could do,” Eddie says. “You sure you don’t need some food delivered? Or a care package? I can check if a delivery service would go to the pharmacy-”
“Eddie,” Steve says, and Eddie hears the smile in his voice despite everything. “You’re sweedt, but I’b good.”
“Okay…” Eddie’s still going to see about that pharmacy, just try and stop him. “You’ll let me know if it gets any worse? I could always fly up there and come rescue you.”
Steve chuckles, which turns into the beginnings of a cough. “I’ll be finde, really. Jusdt have to power through a few…heh…days…heh’RRIISHHH’IUE!” Another careless, wet sneeze bursts from him, dousing the phone in droplets, making Eddie wince again.
“May God bless your soul,” Eddie says, with exaggerated sincerity. Steve is too distracted to thank him.
“Ugh, whadt a bmess,” he says, pulling more tissues from his dwindling supply. “I’ve godda get these under condtrol.” His words are muffled into the bundle of tissues before he releases a long, squelching blow.
“Good luck with that.”
“Thaggs,” Steve responds, matching his sarcastic tone. He swallows around his burning throat. “Well, I’ve godda gedt in the shower and gedt cleaned up before dinner.”
“Alright, I’ll let you go.” Eddie has to stop himself from pouting. “But call me before you go to bed, yeah?”
“Assumbing I don’t gedt back and immediately pass oudt. Hih-kxxngt!” Steve says, smothering another sneeze in his full, slimy tissues.
Eddie huffs a laugh. “Okay. Take care of yourself, sweetheart.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
The last thing Eddie hears is Steve’s breath hitching before the clunk of the contaminated phone being placed back into its holder cuts off the call. Eddie immediately starts looking into getting a care package from the pharmacy delivered…maybe some soup, too. Steve’s gonna need it.
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