The Visit
a Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: the Series story
by nermal and Lady Cornflower

---

"What do you think you're doing?" Angel demanded.

Wesley looked up from the parchment spread across his desk, then pushed his glasses back up his nose, then gave his nose a quick rub with the back of his hand. "I'm snff sorry?"

"How long have you been here? Where have you been?" Angel vanished, then reappeared in the doorway with a bottle of Lysol. "What door did you come in?" He began spraying the doorjamb with the antiseptic.

"The front. The snff most pleasant as far as I'm snff concerned." Wesley gave his nose another surreptitious rub and willed the tickle there to retreat. "And I've been here. Where I usually am, from eight in the morning until noon, barring snff! anything unusual. That being, of course, business as usual for us."

Apparently satisfied at the amount of disinfectant he'd used, Angel started rubbing the jamb with a piece of paper towel. "Business as usual. Yeah. For you. But what if you had lungs the size of lima beans, huh?"

"What?" Wesley wrinkled his nose with another soft, damp sniffle. Dammit, this wasn't working.

"Connor! I'm talking about you, coming in here, shedding germs all over where my son is gonna be..."

Wesley yanked his handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it, still folded, to his face just in time to catch a soft, ticklish "hehgishh! "

"That!" Angel stabbed an accusing finger towards Wesley. "That is exactly what I'm talking about."

"Angel, I... h'tish! think you may be h'keshh! overreacting slightly. ehchishhoosh! " Wesley blew his nose, trying to stop the tickle there. "Connor's lungs are a bit larger than lima beans. Heeeishhoo! " He clapped a hand to his face to contain the unexpected sneeze.

Angel advanced, spraying the Lysol at Wesley as he came. "Get out. Go home. Don't touch anything! "

"Cordelishhoo! " Wesley appealed to Cordy when she appeared behind Angel. "Tell echishh! "

Cordy looked over her shoulder. "He's all yours." She frowned at Wesley as he snuffled into his hanky and tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle another tishhoo! "Don't hurry back with him."

Angel squirted the Lysol at Wesley one last time, spurring a louder Eishhoo! , before looking to the door.

"I'll take care of him, Angel," Rupert Giles said as he strode into the room. "Don't trouble yourself," he added coolly.

"Giles." Angel tensed visibly.

"Rupert..." Wesley sniffled into his handkerchief once more before lowering it and giving Giles an anxious look. "I don't need... n-need... yiishoo! " He aimed the sneeze at his handkerchief and then covered his mouth and nose tightly to contain another "itchffm! " and a few coughs.

"Giles... hey!" Angel took up defensive posture when Giles prevented him from spraying the Lysol again, but backed down to let Giles approach Wesley's desk. "I need to kill germs."

"I'm sure you do. But you're just going to make him sneeze more, and..." He glanced down at the array of papers on Wesley's desk. "It's terrible for manuscript preservation, really. Are you all right?" he asked, more softly, resting a hand on Wesley's shoulder. "I rang your mobile earlier and only got the message service."

"Oh... snff snff... I'm f-fine." Wesley frowned slightly, more at the tickling in his nose than the realization that he'd left his mobile phone at home, charging and useless to him at the office.

"We were going to have lunch together?" Giles reminded him. His expression softened when Wesley sniffled wetly and rubbed his nose. "Oh, Wes."

"See? Giles wants you to leave work, too. And we all know he's the dominant partner." Cordelia gave Wesley a smile that might have been meant as encouraging. "You always listen to Giles."

A little overwhelmed by both his co-workers (who never seemed to act anywhere close to respectful when his boyfriend was around, making it rather difficult to convince Giles that working for Angel was worth it) and his partner paying such close attention to him, Wesley pulled away from the desk a few inches. The longer they watched him, the more he felt as if he needed to sniffle; however, the more he sniffled, as softly and quietly, as he could, the more his runny nose tickled.

"It's just... j-juhuhst... itchish! touch of cold... etchoo! " Wesley kept the handkerchief at his nose, struggling to keep his back straight and not to curl against Giles, or melt at the gentle way his partner started rubbing his shoulder.

"You've sneezed about sixty thousand times since I got in. That's not slight anything," Cordelia said. "Giles, tell him. Or don't tell him, just take him away."

Giles's hand stilled, and Wes could imagine his face tightening, but his voice was soft and gentle as he murmured. "I don't think they'll be giving you any peace to work, love, so I'll gather the manuscripts and we can take them back to your flat, all right?" He gave Wesley a little pat, then busied himself arranging the documents back into their folders.

"I could w-work kitchmmphishh! work from home today," Wesley managed. "If you'd be more c-cuh-comfortable." He pinched his nose hard, determined to stave off the sneezes for as long as possible.

"It's not about comfort..." Angel brandished the Lysol bottle, stopping short when Giles threatened to knock it out of his hand.

"Your point is made. We're going. You can run along and sterilize your clothes; I can find my way out. Which books do you need most, Wesley?" he asked, in a quite different, much gentler tone.

Sniffling, Wesley pointed out the volumes piled on a corner of his desk. He refolded his hanky and risked a quiet blow, feeling his face redden from the sense of Angel and Cordelia staring at him. He kept his head down and his breathing shallow until he felt his partner's hand on his shoulder again.

"Right, anything else significant? Good." Giles packed the documents in Wesley's briefcase, found a carrier bag for the books, then put a protective arm around Wesley's back and led him around the desk.

Halfway across the room Wesley had to stop with a body-bending "hehKeshhoo! " After that, however, he managed to keep his nose in check as they passed Cordelia, who ostentatiously backed away.

"Just stay home, Wes," Angel said from behind. "For a few days, I mean. Rest up. Get better. Maybe a week. Ten days. Ten days would be good. And bring a doctor's note when you come back."

"Ah. Easily obtained thanks to the generous insurance and pension plan offered by Angel Investigations, no doubt," Giles threw over his shoulder as they crossed the lobby.

"Rupehurrishhuh! P-please don't tishhoosh! hetishhoosh! chishheew! " Wesley sneezed helplessly into his rapidly crumpling handkerchief.

"Come," Giles said softly and pressed his hand to the center of Wesley's back. He guided Wesley through the lobby and out through the main doors, where, once they were outside, he put down Wesley's briefcase and books and drew Wesley in closer to him. "I'm sorry... I can't stand the way they talk to you sometimes," he murmured. "I'm not trying to start anything."

"I know." Wesley nodded briefly. "It's just..." He couldn't exactly say he was delighted with the way Angel and Cordelia had practically pushed him out of the Hyperion, but really, they were only... And it's not like he wasn't grateful for Rupert coming; he really had forgotten the lunch date, along with his phone, and this cold... Instead of finishing the thought, Wesley snuffled into his damp handkerchief and tried to rub away the sneezy feeling.

"Here, take this." Giles took out his own handkerchief and offered it to Wesley.

"S-second -" Wesley replied, rubbed his nose harder, then finally just pinched it shut through the handkerchief. "hmmmpCH! CHhh! CHshuhh...! oh, god." Holding the last one back hurt his sinuses, making both them and his nose feel painfully congested. The used hanky really was too used at this point to do much good, but Wesley gave his nose another rub with it anyway before attempting to discretely fold it up and hide it in one of his pockets. "Pardon, snff... "

"Bless you. Here, love, it'll feel better," Giles coaxed, offering the handkerchief again. "I wish I had known you weren't well... You should've mentioned last night you felt like a cold was coming on..."

"I'm sure snf it sounds worse snff than it really is. sniffSNFF! " Gratefully, Wesley took the handkerchief and started to walk to the car. "Just a runny nose, bit of a tickle..." Or, more than a bit, from the way his nose was acting.

Giles touched Wesley's elbow and nudged him in the opposite direction. "I'm at a metered spot... I'll pick your car up later, all right? Wes?"

"heeissssshooohh! " Wesley let out the soft, wet, spraying sneeze that had been building up since he had held in the previous series. A few steps later he caught another tickly, wet "eeissshooo! " into the hanky and followed it with a sigh.

"Bless you." Giles gave Wesley's elbow a gentle squeeze. "It's all in your nose, mm?"

"Yes. Well..." Wesley rubbed his forehead, then over his cheekbones, where his sinuses were starting to ache. "My head." He swallowed a soft cough.

Giles made a small, concerned sound. "And a scratchy throat?"

"Just s-slightly... hetchishh! "

"Here we are..." Giles hastily unlocked the passenger door of a small dark-blue sedan and opened it for Wesley. "You need some proper tea." He put Wesley's books and papers in the backseat, then fussed with the safety belt.

"Rupert, I've not l-lohohst the use of my lihitcheeeooosh! " The loud, unexpected, and very ticklish sneeze burst out over the sleeve of Giles' fawn corduroy jacket as he buckled Wesley in. "Oh snff god, I'm s-sorry..."

"Bless," Giles repeated softly, kissing Wesley's forehead before closing the door.

Snuffling, Wesley leaned over to unlock the driver's door for his lover, keeping the hanky pressed over his face as he did so. Despite his best efforts, he greeted Giles with a tickly "eishhoo! " when he sat down behind the wheel.

"My poor love."

"Sorry," Wesley murmured shamefacedly. "Didn't mean t-to... yishheee! "

"Shh, shh, shh..." Giles leaned closer, sliding an arm around Wesley's shoulders. "It doesn't matter."

"Forgetting lunch with you?" Wesley glared at him. "It bloody well does matter. You could have been waiting somewhere, all a... hah... damn... heiishhooo! "

"I meant the sneeze," his boyfriend said gently. "And I'd have come to find you. And we're together now, that's whats imp'ortant." He hugged Wesley closer, and cupped a hand under his chin to gently urge him to look up.

"You shouldn't," Wesley whispered, even as he let himself look up into Rupert's affectionate gray-green eyes. "You'll get ill."

"Hush," Giles ordered, and kissed him.

"Hmm..." Wesley leaned into the kiss slowly, very carefully. He pulled back slightly, sniffled a few times, then sank himself into the soft warmth of the kiss. When he tried to pull back again, nose twitching with another sniffle, Giles pressed closer enough to make the pulling-away ineffective. Wesley sniffled again, then again, quietly, then finally had to break the kiss just in time to aim an urgent "heeeyisssheee! " over Giles' shoulder.

"oh, bless!" Giles smiled as he blessed Wesley, his eyes still bright with affection. "Bless you?" he asked when Wesley frowned and pulled away a bit more.

"ehh ihh! ihhYeeisshooo! sniff sniff! " Apologizing to Giles seemed impossibly between the little damp sniffles that he couldn't hold back and the urge to sneeze that hovered, but wouldn't come to full fruition again. Wesley sniffled at the sensation with tiny, soft breaths, until there was enough of a tickle to make his nose twitch and his eyes fight to stay open. "huh... uhh - s-sorry, need..." Wesley quickly brought the hanky to his face with both hands when Giles moved away from him. "huh... eeh, etchisshoooo! "

For a while, the car was quiet. Giles didn't settle back into his seat and Wesley remained perfectly still in his own. When the feeling in his nose died down to a low-grade tickle and the urge to blow his nose, he leaned down into the hankie with a series of soft, wet blows. He looked up after rubbing his nose and gave Giles an apologetic look. "Excuse me. Rather ticklish..."

"Rather," Giles agreed. He kissed Wesley again, more lightly, on the lips, then just as lightly on his cheek and down to the side of his neck. "Bless, love."

"Thank you... oh..." Wesley sighed quietly at warm touch of Giles' lips on his skin. "Darling..."

"So glad to see you," Giles whispered against Wesley's collar. "Missed you..."

"Missed... oh... you..." Wesley closed his eyes. "Not planning snff welcome you with sneezes..."

Giles kissed a trail back up the side of Wesley's neck to his ear. "Poor love, catching cold... good thing I'm here to look after you." He nuzzled another little kiss into Wesley's hair.

"Oh... oh..." Wesley gasped, a little shiver of arousal going through him when Giles' lips touched a sensitive spot. "Rupert..."

"Wes..."

Wesley melted under Giles' tender kisses until the pressure in his sinuses and the tickle in his nose forcibly took his attention. "L-luhove..." he panted, trying to push Giles away again. "No, g-gohoht to sneheheh... heeiishhoosh! hetchmphishh! " He sneezed twice, the first expelled freely in Rupert's ear, the second messily squelched in one hand. "Sneeze," he snuffled unnecessarily.

"Bless you," Giles brushed another soft kiss over Wesley's lips. "I need to get you home." After a last lingering kiss Giles drew back into his own seat and turned the key.

Wesley sat quietly until Giles' last remark penetrated his cold-fogged brain. "Home?"

"Mm," Giles agreed as he carefully nosed the car out into traffic.

"But snff don't really snff have any suitable snff lunch..."

"I'll worry about lunch, dear." Giles patted Wesley's knee. "There's a market not far from your flat, isn't there? We can stop in and I'll pick up a few things to make us a hot meal."

"We can go out snf if you like. No sniff reason to sniff! sniffle... cancel lunch..."

"We're not canceling our date. Just moving it." Giles turned to give Wesley a warm, reassuring smile. "You know I love cooking for you, and we'll be more comfortable at home, anyway."

"I suppose..." Wesley fumbled with the handkerchief, embarrassed that he'd already managed to make his completely useless and was well on the way to doing the same to Giles.

"I can cook you a few, good, hot meals. Be a change from the take-away?"

Meeting the glance Giles cast at him, Wesley smiled faintly, then ducked his head to rub his nose into the sleeve of his jumper. "Take-away can be hot. sniff! snffSNFFsnfsnf.. oh..." He sighed quietly, rubbed his nose again, and switched to the hanky to blow his nose quietly. Giles was being so quiet and patient, and Wesley simply felt snifflish and head-cold-ish. He blew his nose once again, still trying not to be loud, and sank down a little lower into the seat. "Though, if you cooked.... snff maybe soup? I like your soup."

"Soup and lemon tea?"

"L-like those... snffsniffle..." Wesley's words dwindled down into wet, sniffly sounds as his nose continued to drip despite his recent attempts to clear it. He sniffled again at the damp, tickling sensation at the edge of his nostrils, waiting as long as he could before having to rub the hanky against them and sniffling a bit more strongly.

"All right, love?"

Wesley coughed quietly. "Sorry... it's, sniff my cold... sniffffle... Bit worse than this morning," he mused.

Giles rested a hand on Wesley's knee again and massaged gently. "I'm going to take good care of you. Make sure you eat and keep you warm."

His lover's touch warmed Wesley, even when Giles took his hand away to maneuver the car. "Always take good snff care of sniff me, dearest." He pressed his hanky close to his face to contain a powerful "heeishhoo! "

"Bless, love." Giles took a hand off the wheel to pat Wesley knee once more. "Cold came on all at once?"

"J-just a runny nose and touch of sore throat yesterday..." Wesley snuffled into Giles' damp hanky.

"And then sneezing today."

"Sneezing," Wesley agreed. "hetchishhoo! Oh..."

"Bless," Giles repeated, as he skillfully merged into traffic. "What sort of soup would you like? I can make a nice, light chicken with ginger and rice..."

"Oh... that snff sounds nice snffSNFF..."

"I'll make a good pot of that. The ginger will be good for you, help clear out the congestion."

Wesley rubbed at his nostrils with the increasingly damp hanky. "Not really sniff having a snfff problem with sniff that..." he murmured.

"No, I can hear..." Giles glanced over at Wesley with a sympathetic smile. "Has your nose been bothering you like that all morning? It can't have been easy to get your work done."

"It... all right... hetchishhahh! " Wesley snuffled, pinched his nose, held his breath, then gave up. "heeyishh, ishh, ishh, ishh, ISHHOOSH! " He waited in suspense for a long moment before a final, deep, satisfying "heeeeeschoooosh! " burst out.

"Good..." Giles murmured. "That sounded like it helped."

"Sorry... tickles." Wesley gave his nose a short blow, sighing. "Perhaps..."

"Mm?"

"At the market, we could sniffsnifflesniff... oh.." He pressed the hanky to his dripping nose. "Tissues?"

Giles gave him a look. "I should say so." He touched Wesley's shoulder lightly. "And some cold tablets?"

"Took one this sniff morning, didn't sniffsniff seem to do sniffle much. It's just here." He pointed out the turn.

"Oh! Yes, sorry."

"It's all right, being too kind... all, all... hmmphssh! " Wesley squelched the sneeze as best he could. "djmmphhmm! " He coughed.

"Bless..."

"Thag-- h'ettchmph! eedjyisshhisshhuh... oh. snffsnfff...sniffle! " Wesley futilely tried to sniffle back the runniness, but the messy sneeze that had slipped out left him with a drippy nose and wet hanky. Warily, he touched his nose to the back of his hand and sniffled strongly.

"Bless you! Definitely tissues, if not medicine, for all those sniffles..." Giles found a spot in the car park and after removing his seat belt, he turned to Wesley again. "Would you prefer to wait in the car? Though, I'd like you to pick out what food you'd especially like."

Wesley shook his head. "sniff No, I'd rather come in with you... snf snf... Just wish... SNFFF!snfffsnfff...." One more rub to his nose and Wesley drew his glasses off. He refolded the handkerchief the best he could, held it tightly over his face, and gave his nose a blow to clear away the sniffling. "Nose won't stop running," he mumbled quietly into the hanky.

"No," Giles replied thoughtfully, "bit of a messy cold..." He touched Wesley's hair lightly with his fingertips, stroking it back from Wesley's forehead, then just petting it lightly. He made another small, thoughtful noise before leaning in closer to kiss Wesley's shoulder. "Let's do the shopping so we can get home and spend a quiet evening together."

"Relatively snff quiet..."

"Relatively." Giles kissed Wesley on the shoulder again and nuzzled him affectionately. "Just the right sort of quiet, really."

That made Wesley smile. He took off his own seatbelt to turn and give Giles a kiss. A warm, albeit snifflish, kiss, that had Giles leaning in just a smidge closer to rub his nose affectionately against Wesley's. After a few more kisses, Giles pocketed his keys and got out of the car while Wesley put his glasses back on and rubbed his nose hard into the sleeve of his jumper.

"Do you have any food at home?" Giles asked, putting an arm around Wesley as they crossed the parking lot. "Or just those horrible frozen meals?"

"Some of them are sniff quite nice, really," Wesley protested. "The snff Lean Cuisine Fiesta Burrito, for snff example..."

"Oh, dear lord." Giles hugged Wesley closer, relinquishing his grip only slightly in order to take hold of a shopping cart. "I'm going to make you plenty of stew and freeze it, so you can thaw it out as needed. It will be almost like a frozen dinner, except with food in it."

Wesley paused and raised the crumpled hanky to his nose again. "heeeeishmmph! " He stifled the sneeze. "I dont co'ok as well as you do," he mumbled, after a short blow, as he followed Giles into the produce section. "But you eat them too. Frightful ones with enormous amounts of cheese and monosodium glutamate."

"If I'm going to eat preservatives, I believe I may as well not stint myself on taste." Giles pressed a kiss to Wesley's shoulder. "I'm sorry, dear, I'm being as bad as your colleagues. I just want to look after you a bit, even when I'm not in the same city."

"I know. W-wait... tchmmphshh! " Wesley couldn't completely stifle the sneeze, but he managed to contain it in the damp hanky.

"Bless, dear." Giles rubbed his back. "Next stop, tissues." He quickly selected a few onions, a head of garlic, a knob of ginger, a bag of potatoes, and a lemon. "Have you any rice?"

"At home? Some instant..." Wesley ducked his head when Giles tsked again, and began examining the bell peppers. "N-no."

"We'll need a bit of that as well. Some milk... cream... gelatin...curry powder..." Giles murmured a shopping list to himself as he selected some vegetables, then turned the cart towards the paper goods.

"Could we...?" Wesley laid a hand on his arm.

"Oh, sorry, love. What's that?"

"Grapes?" Wesley asked shyly. "And perhaps a banana or two, if they're not too green?"

"Of course." Giles steered the cart back to the fruit. "Whatever you'd like, dearest." He nodded approval while Wesley selected a bunch of grapes, some bananas, a few pears, and a grapefruit.

"Is that all you want?" Giles glanced down at the small collection of fruit that Wesley had deposited in the shopping cart. When Wesley nodded, he headed towards the paper products aisle once more. "We'll have to make sure we get you plenty of juice, too." He placed the cart to the side and went over to examine the tissues.

"These are fine," Wesley said, picking up a family-sized box of generic facial tissue. "No reason to snff make a fuss."

"On the contrary," Giles murmured and rubbed Wesley's back again when he coughed a few times, "I have every reason to fuss. Your poor nose." He gave the box Wesley was holding a critical glance, frowned, and put it back on the shelf. "You should have the nice sort... "

"I don't need... sniff! sniff! snifff..." Wesley held a finger under his nose as he sniffled damply and watched Giles put two boxes of rather expensive and extravagant Kleenex in the cart. "Oh, Rupert," he added when Giles took another box, examined the label, then ripped it open.

"Hush. It isn't as if I'm not going to pay for it. Here..." He took a few tissues out and held them toward Wesley. "Better than making a mess of yourself in public."

Embarrassed, Wesley gave in and tried to forget the fact that he was in a public place, and random people were witness to the fuss Giles was making over him and the mess he was making of himself. He hid his face in the tissues for a long, wet blow that he did his best to keep quiet. Giles rested a hand on his lower back, rubbing gently, then directing Wesley to take a few steps toward the cart when another shopper had to pass through the aisle. Wesley self-consciously gave his nose a snuffly blow, then another smaller one, then rubbed at his nostrils with a drier section of his tissues.

"That's it, dear." Giles rubbed Wesley's back gently. "Come, now, let's get you some medicine..."

"I don't sniffle r-really need... there's sniff some at home..."

"Not very effective, by the look of it." Giles gave Wesley an appraising look, then selected a bottle of Nyquil, a generic decongestant, and an antihistamine.

"No... love, too much..." Wesley protested, when Giles added a jar of Vicks, cough drops, and throat lozenges to the cart. "Just snff little cold snff snff..." He took refuge behind his tissues again.

"Just stocking the medicine cabinet, then. Have you a thermometer? Mm." In answer to Wesley's head-shake, Giles put a digital thermometer in the cart. "Now, juice, and some chicken stock, crackers, eggs..." Murmuring his list again, Giles led the way to the next aisle.

Wesley trailed after his boyfriend through the store, obediently choosing whenever Rupert asked what juice or bread he preferred, mumbling his answers between muffled tchush! sneezes. After Giles had passed him a few handfuls of tissues, Wesley gave up and tucked the box under his arm. His nose showed no inclination to stop running, and the tickles didn't want to back down either. Quite the reverse; by the time they were standing in line with what seemed to be half the market in the cart, Wesley had to pinch his nose constantly to keep back the itching.

"Have we got everything?" Giles frowned at the mountain of food. "Dearest, is there anything else you want? Hm?"

"Doh," Wesley answered carefully. Even that single word, however, was enough to have him doubling over with an inadequately muffled hrrishhoosh!

"Oh, bless you!"

"hetchishh, chissh, chisshooshushhoo! " Wesley sneezed helplessly into an inadequate few tissues, curling in on himself against the curious gazes of nearby customers. "HEEISHHOO! "

Giles' arm slid around Wesley's waist, drawing him in closer. "All right, Wesley?"

"Fide..." His voice sounded a little more hoarse and cold-ish; his nose was stuffed up from both trying not to sneeze and suddenly having to sneeze and keep sneezing. Wesley snuffled into his wet, crumpled tissues. "huhh... huh yeissssh! YISH! YISH! heh! HEEISSHOO! "

"Bless," Giles murmured and then made a soothing sort of noise.

"ihSHOO! " Embarrassed by how loud and wet his sneezes were starting to sound, Wesley tried to curl in on himself even more. "hissshyishhewsh! " That sneeze missed the tissues, sprayed over Wesley's hand, and left him snuffling uncontrollably. "Oh, god, s-sorry, oh, hoh... heishhtt! " He pinched off another sneeze.

"Hush, here..." Giles hand slid away so he could reach the tissue box and hand Wesley a few clean ones. "Sshh... Bless you."

As soon as he could, Wesley buried his nose into the tissues with a strong, forceful "hurchusshhmpffsh! " Pause. A few snuffles and building breaths. Wesley tightened the grip he had on his tissues and leaned into a stronger "hmmCHUMMPhhhshhh! " After that, he really had to blow his nose. Besides hoping it would get rid of the sneezes, it would stop his nose from dripping all over the place - at least for a while. Wesley tried to forget he was waiting in line to pay for groceries and that everybody in the surrounding aisles had probably just witnessed the loud, messy display he'd given of his building head cold. Not exactly an easy task when he had to fill the tissues, then depend on Giles to hand him more.

More than embarrassed now, he kept himself close to Giles as his boyfriend took care of getting the groceries checked out and paid for. The urge to curl himself against Giles was stronger now than it had been in the office, though, to be fair, so was the urge to get home.

"Bless you," Giles murmured, when they finally escaped from the check-out line. "Do you want to stay here and mind the bags while I bring the car up?"

Wesley blinked, then frowned at him over his handful of tissues. "No... stay with you." He rubbed his nose, stuffed the tissues in his pocket, and picked up one of the bags.

"If you're sure..." Giles looked unconvinced, but at Wesley's nod he picked up the other bags and led the way back to the car. They loaded their provisions into the boot, except for the open package of Kleenex, which Giles firmly handed to Wesley before just as firmly ushering him into the car.

The drive to Wesley's flat was short, though to Wesley's dismay he still managed to go through several more tissues with messy, tickly hutchushhoos that made Giles cluck sympathetically. When they finally parked, he gave Wesley the lightest bag and hustled him inside.

When the door of the flat finally closed behind them, Wesley gave a sigh of relief.

"Sit down, love," Giles urged. "I'll have the kettle on in no time." He disappeared into the kitchen with the groceries. "Have you any decaffeinated tea?"

"There should be a small box in the... I'll show you..."

"Found it," Giles called. "Sit down, dear," he urged again. "I can take care of this. You should relax a little, and tend to your poor nose."

Wesley's nose needed the attention; it was prickling and tickling again, beginning to be sore, and it showed no signs of ceasing to run. With another sigh, Wesley sat down on the sofa and set the tissue box down next to him. After giving his nose another unproductive blow, Wesley sighed again, then took off first his shoes and then his glasses so he could relax a little better on the sofa. Between sniffling into his tissues and trying to rub the funny, cold-ish feeling from his nose, he could hear Giles puttering in the kitchen, putting away groceries and making tea. It was a soothing sort of sound, the reassurance of domesticity and partnership that he longed for, even if he didn't have the heart to tell Giles about it when they couldn't be together. Wesley smiled to himself, thinking of how at home Giles looked when fussing with china, silverware and various types of biscuits.

The need to rub his nose into another pair of dry tissues was less smile-inspiring. Wesley sniffled a bit more strongly, then regretted the action as soon as it made his nose twitch and tingle, in addition to running all over the place. He snuffled back an itch, coughed quietly, then quickly snatched a new tissue to catch a quick, wet, soft "itchissh! "

Expecting another sneeze, he held the tissue in front of his nose and kept still. The tickly sensation increased, spread through his nose up into his sinuses and then made his nose twitch a little more with tiny, liquid sniffles. "heh... hehih...sniff... snf--ih.. ihtchshh! " Another smaller sneeze into his tissue and Wesley rubbed his nose gently. "tchishhoo! hitchishhooo! " Those felt better, stronger, but also a lot ticklier. Moving the tissue away from his face, Wesley urged the tickles to build up again, leaning forward a little bit with small, panting breaths and concentrating hard on the feeling. "huh... uh, uhh...huhhuhhheeeeeiissshoooo! yeeeeiishooo! " Even stronger, a bit louder and more forceful, the sneezes burst out freely and pitched Wesley forward on the couch. "hirrissshooo! "

"Bless you... all right, dear?" Giles' voice came from the kitchen, then got louder as he walked into the sitting room. "Those sounded..."

"eeeYISSHEE! " Wesley aimed the ticklish sneeze toward his lap, gave his head a little shake, and caught a heavier, wetter "hitchissshishhee! " in a cupped hand as Giles walked over to the sofa.

"Quite good actually," Giles finished his previous statement and set a tray down on the coffee table. "Bless you."

"Thak... ehchushhoosh! you... huh, huchushhushhoo!" Wesley snuffled into his hand and tried rubbing his nose gently. The action set off a soft, snuffly pair of sneezes - hutchushh-chushhoosh! - that earned him a kiss on the head from Giles. "Oh... pardon. I've got... got... guhhuh... hutchooooo! " The good, drawn-out, emphatic sneeze seemed to take care of the itching for a while, but it made Wesley's nose drip against the index finger he held beneath it and used to rub his nostrils.

"Got the sneezes," Giles murmured. He sat down next to Wesley and put an arm around him. "Bless you, dearest!" He handed Wesley a few more tissues and hugged him comfortingly.

"Pardon," Wes repeated, snuffling as quietly as possible.

"Hush, it's all right." Giles kissed his hair again. "Your poor nose is so tickly..."

Wesley looked down at his lap as he blew his nose, then kept his eyes down as he crumpled the used tissues. "This cold..." he mumbled, embarrassed.

"It's all right." Giles gave him another little squeeze, then let go to turn his attention to pouring out mugs of tea from Wesley's second-best pot. "Tetley British Blend decaffeinated," he explained, as he stirred honey into one cup. "Not quite Yorkshire Gold, but not bad for American tea. I cut up half a lemon in the pot," he added, smiling.

"Oh..." Wesley accepted the mug and wrapped his hands around it, sniffing eagerly at the steam. His colleagues sometimes made him tea, but not like Rupert did. Not strong and just sweet enough and with fresh lemon. "Thank you."

"Not at all." Giles set his own mug down and took a biscuit from the plate on the tray. He'd laid out a few fruit biscuits, some crackers, and a bowl of grapes, the last of which he nudged towards Wesley. "Can you snack a bit? I've started some soup, but it won't be ready in time for lunch. Once I have the chicken in I'll heat up some tinned soup and make you a proper sandwich."

"Oh, Rupert, d-don't need... hurrischoosh! " Hands occupied with his tea, Wesley had to let the strong, sudden sneeze out over his lap.

"Bless. I don't mind, dear. You needn't eat it all, just what you can manage." Giles' hand was warm and soothing on Wesley's back.

"The grapes sniff look good sniff sniff..." Wesley rubbed his nose against the shoulder of his jumper before leaning in closer to his mug of tea and breathing in the steam. It felt warm and soothing on his sinuses, despite setting his nose running again and not doing much to help mitigate the sneezy tickles.

Giles rubbed his back gently, a slow up and down motion that that became a bit more firm when Giles moved nearer to him on the sofa. "Did you have breakfast?"

Wesley nodded, sniffled wetly, and took a small sip of tea. "Few bites of a bagel at work... before the ... cold... medi-- etchissmphsh! " The sneeze got muffled into his jumper, though it made a messy, wet sound at the end. "sniff!sniff!sniff! And a cup of tea."

"tsk..." Giles made an anxious, impatient sort of sound and he hugged Wesley briefly before reaching for his own mug of tea. "Poor thing... You couldn't have had a good morning at the office."

Wesley replied with an uncertain sound of his own, not trusting himself to say much more before he could get a clean tissue and wipe his nose. He kept the tissue in one hand and the mug in another so he could keep the drippiness at bay while he sipped the hot lemon tea. Half-way through the cup of tea, Giles offered him the grapes again, and Wesley relinquished the crumpled tissue for a few grapes to nibble on. Those were nice, too, like the tea, but mostly because his boyfriend gave them to him when he was ill and it was just ... special.

"There... good." Giles gave Wesley a biscuit and watched him eat it as he petted Wesley a bit. The biscuit finished, he gave Wesley more grapes. "You'll feel better with some food inside you..." he murmured and leaned over to nuzzle against Wesley's shoulder. "Maybe rest a bit before doing some work? Or..." Giles pressed a kiss to Wesley's shoulder and moved in to nuzzle his neck softly when Wesley sniffled repeatedly. "Set the work aside for a few days? Let your cold run its course..."

The soft nuzzling made Wesley sigh, but he pulled away, frowning. "Rupert, no, c-can't, this snff translation snff... next few sniff days.." He rubbed at his nose, then cupped a hand over it. "hetishhmmphissh! "

Giles made an unhappy sound, but didn't protest, just rubbed Wesley's back with one warm hand, then handed him a few fresh tissues. "Rest a little before getting back to it, then," he said. "Drink your tea, then have a bit of a lie-down while I make lunch, hm?"

"Should... tchsshhoo! work..." Wesley protested feebly, face buried in the tissues. "etchishh! tchishhoo! " His nose twitched; the sneezes only seemed to tickle him more.

"Bless, dear... Your nose seems to have other ideas."

"It d-does... heeishoo! Oh..." Wesley sighed, letting Giles take the damp tissues and replace them with dry ones. "Thank you."

"You can take some medicine with lunch, then work for a few hours, how's that? And rest now."

Too fuzzy-headed from the sneezing to argue, Wesley nodded. "All right..."

"Good." Another small kiss to his hair. "Drink your tea and eat a few more grapes for me while I get you some pillows and a blanket." Before Wes could protest, Giles was off to the bedroom, then the linen closet. In a few minutes he was back with several pillows in clean cases, a blanket, and Wesley's comforter. "There..." he set the things in a pile beside Wesley on the sofa, and sat down himself on his other side. "Should be able to make you comfortable with those." He put his arm around Wesley again and sipped his own tea.

Mentally Wesley kept trying to organize what he needed to get done for work. He sipped at the tea a bit, leaned against Giles, and went over the list of texts he needed to look at. There was the main translation, yes, but then the comparative works in other dialects, and the less corrupt, but also less complete manuscripts... Wesley let out a small groan and pressed his face into Giles' shirt. It hadn't seemed like that much work when he sat down at his desk that morning, but now just thinking about going through all the sources and lexica made his head throb. His nose itched inside, but outside it was starting to feel sore and tender from being constantly rubbed, wiped, or blown. His throat still felt scratchy and his eyes were starting to get that sick, bleary feeling that seemed to accompany head colds. Wesley rubbed his face against Giles again.

"Hm?" Giles turned to press a kiss to his hair.

"Getting ill..." Wesley muttered after a few moments. He let Giles kiss his hair again, the pulled away to rub his eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't usually complain..."

"Nor do you usually get ill like this." Giles drained the rest of the tea from his mug, placed it down, and turned to Wesley. He stroked his fingers over Wesley's cheek, then touched his hand to Wesley's forehead. "You don't feel feverish?"

"No... just..." Sniffling, he leaned against Giles' hand and sighed. Now his nose was dripping again and Giles would probably think him a weak, sniveling mess by the end of the day.

"Shh, it's all right. All right," Giles repeated. "Let me make up the sofa for you, then I think a bit more tea and a couple Tylenol? Shall I fetch a pair of pajamas for you?"

A bit overwhelmed at the attention and the unaccustomed pleasure of having his boyfriend there, Wesley just leaned against Giles, shaking his head slightly. "Don't know," he murmured. "Yes? You think so?"

"I think you'll rest better if you're comfortable..." Giles gave him a small hug. "You should take off your trousers at least."

The thought made Wesley shiver slightly and huddle a bit closer to Giles. "Pajamas... I can get..."

"Shh, no, stay here. Finish your tea." Giles kissed his cheek, then his lips. "I shan't be a minute." Good as his word he was back in next to no time with a t-shirt and Wesley's favorite plaid flannel pajama pants - a pair that Rupert had left behind on an earlier visit.

"Thank you," Wesley murmured again. He let his boyfriend help him out of the clothes it felt like he'd just put on, then watched from the armchair while Giles set up a bed on the sofa.

"Here..." Giles tucked Wesley in, then handed him a cup of tea and a pair of tablets. "Swallow these, dear." He sat down on the edge of the sofa beside Wesley and stroked his arm gently as he drank. "Poor thing, coming down with such a cold..."

"Lucky," Wesley corrected. "H-having you... oh, d-dah-hamn... " He pressed a finger under his nose, trying to contain the sudden, sharp tingling.

"Here," Giles said again, this time taking the mug and putting it down on the coffee table. "It's all right..." he reached for the tissue box.

"hrrishh, ishh, issh, ishhewsh! " Wesley sneezed out the soft, messy sneezes over his hand. "Oh... lord... hetchishh! "

"Bless, shh, it's all right..." Giles pulled a good half-dozen tissues from the box and leaned closer.

"N-no, Rupe... echishh! shouldn't... h'kesh! Keshh! keshoo! "

"Shh, I've got you, it's all right..." He gently pulled Wesley's hand away from his face and held the soft tissues up to his quivering nose. "I'll take care of you, love."

"Don't need --"

"Hush... there, good..." Giles slipped his free arm around Wesley's shoulders and made a sound of approval at the wet, messy "chyishhih! " Wesley muffled into the tissues. "Bless."

"huh... chishh! itchsssh! " Still caught in the middle of needing to sneeze the tickling out of his nose, Wesley nuzzled in closer to the tissues and offered Giles a quiet, gasping thanks before his breath hitched again. "hihihh... heiish ish ish eeisshoo! huh... ishoo! " His nose fired off the series of small, damp sneezes rapidly, one little sneeze leading into another without much pause. Wesley took a chance cough gently, drew a wavering breath, and nuzzled against the tissues in Giles' hand just as the sneezing started up again. "heeeish! isshih yeissh, tssshoo... heeeeishhee! heeeeishhee! "

"Bless you! Oh..." Giles gave Wesley a firmer hug and even took a second to brush a kiss over his hair and sigh with soft affection. "Oh, such a cold, really, Wes..."

"Sneeheezy," Wesley explained, which seemed to sum up exactly how he felt at the point, his nose twitching with wet sniffs and the rest of his face twitching around his nose until it let out a really tickly, really wet "heeyeeisssissihh! "

"Mm... very sneezey, poor dear..." Giles rubbed Wesley's nose delicately, tickling out another soft, messy djsshhh! "Bless you!"

Wesley leaned into the warm, comforting embrace, snuffling and wrinkling his nose against the persistent itching. "Oh th...-think... not done... tchishhee! "

"Just keeps tickling your nose... try a blow, dear, that might help... or just sneeze it out..." Giles held the tissues closer when Wesley gave him a pleading look.

"heeeeishhoo! Tchishh! YISHH! " Wesley coughed after the stronger sneeze, then blew his nose damply, then coughed again. "Oh..."

"Bless you..."

"EISHHH! " Wesley sneezed emphatically. "Oh snff god snffsnfflesniffsnff! " He pulled away from the now-soggy tissues to rub at his nose with the back of one hand.

Giles quickly had a dry handful of tissues to offer. "My poor Wes... here, can you blow again?"

"Not snffle stuffed up... sniffSNIFF! " Wesley explained, though he nuzzled eagerly into the soft, dry tissues. "Nose just won't stop snff running and sniffsniffsnffff! tickling... " He blew his nose as strongly as he could, sighing when he'd finished but could still feel the itch teasing him from far back in his sinuses. "Caught a most inconvenient sort of... sniff... cold..." He sighed. Less than a minute after a blow, his nose was already running again. He rubbed his nose with the tissues, then pressed his face into Giles' shoulder. "Ugh..."

"Yes, come here..." Giles insinuated himself closer to Wesley on the couch, stroking his hair and letting Wesley rub his face more firmly into his shoulder. "Poor thing... your nose has a streaming cold..."

"S-sorry sniffle sniff..."

"Shh, no... don't be." Instead of allowing Wesley to move away, Giles drew him even closer. He dabbed at Wesley's nose with a clean tissue. "This isn't something you need be sorry for... still a little runny, hm?" he asked gently and held the tissue to Wesley's nose.

"sniff! still... snffsnfffle... SNFFsnf! " Rubbing his nose against the tissue just made it tingle, except at the edges of his nostrils, where it was starting to sting and get sore from the constant blowing and rubbing against tissues. "oh..."

"Hm." Giles pulled a few more tissues out of the box, layered them, and wrapped them around Wesley's nose carefully. "Let's see if we can get you a bit more comfortable, so you can rest a bit. Blow?"

Wesley gave a brief nod as he sat up to better bury his nose in the soft, dry tissues. Blowing hard only made him cough, but he could manage a few long, soft, wet blows. "Oh... itching," he mumbled after Giles rubbed his nostrils through the tissues.

"Sneeze?"

Wesley answered Giles' question and expectant look with a slow, quiet inhale of breath through his mouth. He tensed, then drooped back when his nose twitched with a tickly wet sniffle that wasn't quite ready to become a sneeze yet. "Almost..."

"Teasing you, hm? Little itch?" Giles gently rubbed Wesley's nose through the tissues, smiling at another tickly sniffle that had Wesley's nose wriggling.

"N-not... so little.. " Wesley panted, frowning as he tried to coax the tingling sensation into something stronger. He thought longingly of the fits of strong, noisy sneezes that Giles would have when he caught a snuffly cold. That's what he needed. The small, wet sneezes just tickled him more. "Oh..."

"Poor love..." Giles murmured. He hugged Wesley close with his other arm as he carefully tickled Wesley's nose. "You've been working so hard... long hours, out in the sewers, damp and chilly... caught yourself such a cold in the nose... all sniffles and sneezes..."

"Mmhuhmm..." Wesley made a breathless noise of agreement. His nose was quivering and tickling all over now, from back in his sinuses to the very tip. He licked dry lips and took a wavering breath. "Hahuhh.. huhhh...."

Through the tissues, Giles rubbed a tiny circle on the tip of Wesley's nose. "That's it... going to have some good, big sneezes for me... Taking care of you," he added softly, pressing another warm little kiss to Wesley's temple.

"Th-tha... hrrishhchoo! " The sneeze was small and unsatisfying, and didn't help the itchy feeling one bit. Wesley made a small, frustrated noise and rubbed his nose hard into the tissues, snuzzling out a slightly louder "Tchushh! "

"Bless, love!"

"hahhahhh... Hetchishhoo! " Wesley pulled back from the tissues with a sharp gasp, then let his head fall forward again with a spraying "Yishhheeeeww! "

"Bless you!" Giles shivered slightly as he caught some of the sneeze on his arm, and he hugged Wesley a little closer. "Good, love, keep sneezing it out..."

"Oh.. g-huh... heh! heyisshhheeshew! " The sneezes were getting a little stronger and much wetter. Wesley snuffled wetly, his nose full, running and tickling at the same time. "Hisssheee-eewsh! " Another sneeze sprayed out freely and almost immediately triggered another great, spraying "hriissshooshhishh! "

"Yes... Bless you, dear..." Giles' voice still held that tone of affectionate approval and he kept Wesley good and close to him as a nice, tickling sneeze - tsssshewww!! - misted the air in front of Wesley. The distracted, vulnerable look on Wesley's face and pinkish tinge to his nose made Giles smile gently once more. "Feel better?"

"huh.... one -- rissshhh! " Not able to control his nose, Wesley let out yet another sneeze, then gave Giles a shy look when he saw his boyfriend wipe the spray from his hand. "oh... irrissshishhew!! snff! sniflfesniffff... sneezed on you?"

"Mmm..." Giles didn't really reply, just made a thoughtful sound and then smiled a little at Wesley. "Here," he offered a clean tissue and wiped Wesley's nose delicately.

"sniff sniff sniff... oh, dripping all over you..." Wesley tried snuffling back the runs, then abruptly turned toward Giles with a convulsive "hirrrishhhishhoosh! "

"Oh." Giles stilled at the look on Wesley's face; at the sneeze took him over and turned the expression on his face into one of pure, sneezy desperation. "Good lord... Wesley."

Wesley blinked a few times, blearily looked up at Giles, and mumbled a snufflish apology that got muffled into tissues as soon as Giles brought another handful to his face.

"Sorry," Wesley mumbled, after giving a long, wet blow into the tissues that Giles held for him.

"Shh, no matter..." Giles kissed his hair. "Again?"

Wesley nosed around in the tissues until he found a dry spot, then blew again, the sound a little heavier and honking this time. "Oh..." he sighed as Giles gently dried his nostrils. "That's better."

"Good." Giles gave his nose a last little rub, then put the tissues aside and hugged him tightly. "Bless you, " he repeated, smiling. "Those sounded satisfying."

"Mm..." Wesley leaned into the hug, snuffling quietly. "Finally... nose just gets so itchy..."

"I know... poor love." Giles stroked his hair. "A little better now, though? Think you can rest a bit?"

Wesley nodded, but stayed pressed up against Giles rather than leaning back against the pillows. "You feel good," he murmured, settling his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Warm..."

Giles rubbed his back in long, soothing strokes. "Shall I lie down with you, love?"

"Not room.." Wesley protested, muffling a yawn in Giles' neck. "And... going to catch this from me..." "If I am, I already have, so we can stop worrying about it." Giles hugged Wesley firmly. "And if you're comfortable sticking close to me, I think you'll find there's quite enough space." He guided Wesley down onto the pillows, then stretched out on his side beside him. "See?" He pressed himself close against Wesley. "Nice and warm. Snug."

"Mmm..." Wesley nuzzled in against Giles with another snufflish sound. "Very..."

"And you're comfortable, hm?" Giles nuzzled Wesley's hair in return, pressing a few kisses there and hugging him even closer at the sound of another snuffle.

"Mmhmm..." Comfortable and very warm, snuggled in with his boyfriend curling up around him. Wesley nuzzled his face against Giles with a small, tired sound of content. He was feeling rather snufflish, but the warmth of being so close to Giles easily lulled him into a more sleepy state and made him want to nuzzle up even more. Which he did, and happily so, especially when Giles cuddled under the blanket with him. "Tired..."

"Good. You'd need the rest even if you hadn't taken cold." He petted Wesley gently and soothingly to quickly calm the tired, anxious sound that Wesley made. "We can have a nice rest together," he murmured into Wesley's hair and gave him another affectionate nuzzling.

That, along with the way Giles petted him and nuzzled into his hair, convinced Wesley to snuggle into the small, warm, safe place next to his boyfriend on the sofa and get some rest. It felt so good to have Giles here, where Wesley could talk to him and touch him and curl up with him like this. He wasn't really sure how much Giles was going to sleep like this, but the cold had made him fuzzy-headed enough to not be able to think about it very long. He pressed a few warm, snuffly kisses to Giles' shoulder before burrowing down into the warmth and cuddling and drifting off to sleep.

***

When Wesley woke some time later, the first thing he noticed was that his mouth was dry. The next was that Rupert wasn't beside him, but that there was another blanket over him. The next was an array of faint cooking sounds from the kitchen. Wesley rubbed at his eyes with a fist, then blinked for a long minute before sitting up to look for his boyfriend.

He smiled at the sight of Rupert bent over the stove, tasting something simmering in a big stew pot that probably hadn't been out of the cupboard since his last visit. Two saucepans were also on the stove, and an array of fresh vegetables and boxes of ingredients were strewn across the counter. "Keeping busy, I see," Wesley said, or tried to say - it came out in a rather thin croak.

Rupert turned around quickly, a smile on his face. "Hello, love." He turned down the heat under the big pot, then came to give Wesley a kiss. "Have a good sleep?"

"Yes." Wesley coughed and frowned, then rubbed his face. "Stuffier than when I lay down, though..." He swallowed with a wince.

"Your cold's still building..." Rupert stroked the side of his face. "Let me give you some tea, that will help your throat." He kissed Wesley's forehead softly, then bustled back to the kitchen. "I'll have some chicken soup for you soon," he added when he returned.

"You... rest?" Wesley asked, between sips of good, hot tea. "Must be tired from traveling, dear."

"I had a very refreshing nap," Giles assured him, stroking his hair.

"Been so..." Wes coughed again and let Giles urge him to drink a little more. "Busy, though... cooking..."

"You've been asleep a few hours, plenty of time for me to nap and start cooking the chicken and simmering the stock." Giles smiled fondly. "I'm fine, dearest, really. Now, drink that, it's good for you."

Wesley nodded and took a few more sips of the tea. "A few hours?" he asked shortly, then reached up to rub his eyes again.

"Three or four, no longer than that." Giles settled him on the sofa so he could sit up comfortably and arranged one of the blankets over his lap.

Wesley's shoulders drooped at the news. He'd slept most of the afternoon away, his head was getting stuffy, and his throat felt wretched. He really did have a cold. "Oh, god..."

"Don't... you know you need the rest."

Wesley just frowned into his tea.

"You're getting ill, love..." Giles pushed the blankets over so he could sit down next to Wesley on the sofa. "I think you're going to need a few days of bed rest, more if you don't take care of yourself." His arm went around Wesley's shoulders and hugged him gently, urging Wesley to ease against him as he sipped the tea. "Or, more accurately, let me take care of you."

He drooped a little more, but against Giles this time. Lowering the tea, he gave a quiet, hoarse cough and rubbed the back of his hand against his nose. At least his nose had stopped dripping for the time being; however, the stuffy feeling in his nose and sinuses wasn't much better. It kept the tingling feeling all the way at the back of his nose, where he couldn't rub at it or coax into a more itchy sensation by wriggling his nose and sniffling. "Not really resisting. I just didn't expect there to be so much cold..."

"More for me to make a fuss over, which, as you might have noticed, I rather enjoy..." Giles pressed a small kiss to Wesley's ear. "Sore throat, congestion, some snuffling and sneezing... That sounds like a good, strong cold in the making."

Wesley tried to groan in response, but found it difficult between his sore throat and another affectionate little kiss to his ear. Instead, he turned and rubbed his face into Giles' shirt and coughed again, then snuffled very quietly.

Giles stroked Wesley's hair, then cuddled him gently. "Getting itchy, dear?"

"Hmmb..." Wesley snuffled again. He nuzzled harder against Giles' shoulder. "Not really tickling, just... mm..."

"Poor dear." Giles kissed his forehead. "Working so hard... always working so hard," he added, when Wesley made a half-sound of protest. "Not surprised you've caught a nasty head cold."

"Hope this is snff nasty as it snff gets..." He frowned, then pulled back, wrinkling his nose and then rubbing at it with a finger. "Oh... " he sighted. "Frustrating..."

"It will come," Giles assured him. He stroked the side of Wesley's face, then let one finger glide down the bridge of his nose to lightly tickle the tip. "Soon be sneezing out that cold with some good, strong sneezes, I think..."

With another congested noise, Wesley nosed against Giles' finger, trying to ease the itch deep in his sinuses by wrinkling and rubbing his nose. "Going to be snff lot of snff sneezes.. not how I snff planned to spend time in snff bed this weekend..."

Giles gave him a warm smile. "Plans won't need to change much," he murmured, hugging Wesley closer. "Not going to leave you alone, dear. Except when you ask me to," he added hastily.

"Not going to ask much," Wesley assured him. He leaned against the warm bulk of his boyfriend. "Don't have to spend every minute, though..." he murmured shyly as he rubbed his nose again.

"I most certainly do. These moments are precious, I'm not about to waste any of them." Giles gave Wesley a nuzzling kiss on the lips that left his nose tingling and twitching.

"R-rupert... wait..." Wesley's breath became uneven; his head tipped back as his chest heaved, then fell forward with a loud, spraying, enormously satisfying "harrrushhoo! "

"Bless..." Giles kept himself close to Wesley, first pressing a kiss to his shoulder, then to his neck as Wesley built up to another sneeze. "That sounded brilliant..."

"huh... huhuh... h'russhooo! hurrusshhoo! " Wesley sneezed again, twice in quick succession and with great feeling. He quivered on the brink of another one, nose twitching with damp snuffles from the few previous big sneezes.

"Bless you," Giles repeated. "Imagine if I had missed those... brilliant, strong sneezes, hm?" He nuzzled the side of Wesley's neck, very, very lightly and laughed quietly when the combination of his touch and the snuffles made Wesley's nose twitch violently. "You're getting so adorably ticklish..."

"N'huh...not....hahHA! hirrRIISSHshoooo!" Loud and amazingly ticklish, the sneeze burst out wetly all over Wesley's lap and probably Giles' as well, but Wesley couldn't tell from the constant snuffles that were twitching over his nose. "N-not... 'dorable... snuff! snfffsnffsnufflesnff...."

"Terribly so... more than usual, really..." Giles snuggled Wesley back into the hug that the sneeze had pulled him out of after reaching over for a tissue. He first dried some of the damp from Wesley's nose, then refolded the tissue and brushed it over the tip, encouraging the tiny, quiverish sensation into an irresistible, twitching, tickling urge to sneeze.

"Oh... y-you.... yeeissshushhussshewsh! " The sneeze came out strong and snuffly as Wesley gave his head a little shake to expel it completely from his nose.

"Tickling you..." Giles murmured, a tiny, pleased smile on his face. He carefully wrapped the tissues around Wesley's nose. "Blow, love?"

Wesley answered by leaning in, taking small snuffling breaths before giving a soft, wet blow that was interrupted by another damp, ticklish tchewshh!

"Bless!" Giles kissed Wesley's hair as he reached for more tissues. "Terribly adorable..."

"Don't snff see how you snffsnffSNFF..." Wesley pressed a finger against the base of his nose until Giles held out a fresh handful of tissues and Wesley could nuzzle into them with another blow. "Oh..." he sighed. Then his nose twitched and wrinkled, and Wesley hastily buried his nose again in the tissues with a messy "idjsshhhh! "

Giles rubbed his nose gently through the now-damp tissues. "My poor love... this cold is all tickles and sniffles..."

"Ahahad sdeezes," Wesley pointed out stuffily. "h'yishhmmphh! " He pinched off the end of the sneeze, then immediately regretted it as the tickle surged back stronger than before, setting off a breathless string of small, wet sneezes. "h'yishh, yishh, yishh, yishheew! Tchishh! Itchishh! Ish, ish, ish, ishhoosh! " Wesley gave a short, stuffy blow and then sighed. "Scuse be..." he coughed a bit.

"Shh, bless you, don't," Giles murmured. He cuddled Wesley soothingly close. "Just your cold, nothing to apologize for."

"Bessy," Wesley explained, flushing a little. "Gettig..."

"No matter." Giles dried his hand with a clean tissue, then took another to wipe Wesley's nose. "Taking care of you, that's what I want to do, Wes, love."

"You're very zealous..." Wesley nuzzled his face against Giles' shoulder, then rested his head there with a stuffy sounding snuffle.

"Perhaps. I do enjoy looking after you."

"Fussy," Wesley murmured, "so considerate." He nuzzled against Giles again.

"Love..." Giles turned to kiss his forehead. "Do you want to nap a bit longer?"

"Doh..." Wesley made a soft, congested sound when he snuffled. "By head... it's gettig stuffy..." Or, that's what he assumed was going on. His nose felt more congested than earlier, and he kept wanting to rub it against the back of his hand or against Giles' shoulder. The headache was a bit better, but he still felt fuzzy, especially after the fits of ticklish sneezes.

"Let me get you another cup of tea and finish fixing lunch. Then you can relax more."

"Oh... oh, doh, I shoud get sub work ..." Wesley started push the blanket off his lap, then gave a feeble protest when Giles prevented him from getting up off the sofa. "I'b dot that ill."

"Maybe not. But your work can't be that urgent if..." Pressing his lips together, Giles frowned tightly. "At least wait until after we've eaten lunch. Then I can sit with you and read while you work."

Wesley acquiesced. It was hard to disagree with Giles when he insisted on stroking Wesley's side so warmly and leaning in so close to nuzzle and kiss him.

"You're goig to distract be..." Wesley smiled, though, and nudged his nose against Giles' a bit more firmly before a few kisses.

"Mm... Quite possibly. I can't have you paying more attention to a pile of old papers than to me."

"Oh dear... doh, cad have you feelig deglected..." Wesley hugged his boyfriend closer and pressed a few more kisses to his face and neck. "Must show you by appreciatiod..."

"Haven't given you... mm, oh..." Giles chuckled softly even as he melted into the nuzzly little kisses. "Much to appreciate..."

Wesley gave him an indignant look. "Dot buch?" He tried to snort, and then hastily grabbed a few tissues. "Beed spoilig be shabefully... ad seeb do plad od codiduig."

"I do plan on it, that's so." Giles rubbed Wesley's back soothingly while he tried to clear his nose with a few short, stuffy blows. "Shh, easy..." he murmured when Wesley coughed. "Need to sit up a little longer, I think, maybe have some tea..." He kissed Wesley's forehead, tucked the blankets up a bit closer, then put the tissue box in his lap. "Just sit and wake up a bit while I finish making lunch. Won't be long." He arranged the pillows and sofa cushions so Wesley could sit up against them. "Shall I put on the telly? Or wireless?"

"Doh..." Giving up on clearing his nose - blowing made his sinuses complain strenuously - Wesley settled for rubbing his nose with a soft tissue. "Dot really idderested... babye..." He blinked up at Giles. "Talk to be? Tell 'bout your trip?"

Giles' face softened. "Of course, dear." He made sure Wesley was comfortable, kissed him once more, then returned to the kitchen. "There's not much to tell, really. We took off only a bit late from Gatwick, and I managed to sleep a bit on the plane. The film wasn't at all tempting - some ridiculous film about American football. The appeal of the sport is utterly lost on me..." He kept up a stream of soothing, amusing chatter as he stirred pots and clattered crockery. Wesley lay back against the pillows, offering small encouraging comments and admiring how Rupert's olive-green trousers accentuated the handsome curve of his buttocks.

"Oh, gooddess, love..." Wesley murmured, when Giles emerged from the kitchen bearing a tray heavily laden with soup, rolls, juice, and tea. "Dever goig to be able to eat all that..."

"Just have what you can," Giles encouraged. He sat down beside Wesley and fussed with the blankets a bit more.

"I'b really warb edough, love," Wesley assured him, rubbing his arm gently.

"Sorry...." Giles gave him an endearingly sheepish grin. "Just a bit anxious..."

Frowning, Wesley sat up straighter. "It's just a code," he assured Giles. "Woulded eved be id bed if you wered here."

"Then I'm even more than usually glad that I am." Giles kissed him softly on the lips. "Now, here, try a bit of soup." He handed Wesley a bowl full of broth, rice, small pieces of chicken and brilliant green peas. "It's chicken and ginger; it may help clear your head a little."

"That woud be dice..." Wesley gave his nose a quick rub into his shoulder before leaning in to try and smell the soup. "Feelig a bit codgested..."

"You sound a little stuffy," Giles observed and petted Wesley's hair as he took a small taste of the soup. "It's hot enough?"

"Quite." Wesley smiled up at the hair petting, then leaned into it slightly. It was warm and soothing and Giles knew just how to pet his hair to make it feel as good as possible. The soup was lovely, too, very hot and just a little spicy. Wesley took a few more spoonfuls, then eased himself in comfortably close next to Giles. "I like it whed you bake be soup."

"Which of course is one of the reasons why I enjoy making it for you so much. And it's just so much easier and more pleasing to cook for more than one person." Giles cuddled Wesley in return. He stroked Wesley's hair off his forehead, then petted it some more, as if he were trying to fix it after the nap had mussed it. "A lot of things are easier when I'm with you," he said softly.

"Oh, Rupert..." Wesley made a move to put the soup down, but Giles pushed it gently towards him again.

"Finish eating. I'll fret even more hideously if I think you're malnourished and cold-ridden at the same time." A small smile and a few more pettings accompanied the encouragement and Giles didn't stop with the pettings one Wesley ate more of the soup.

He also had a few bits of a bread roll, just the ones Giles gave to him, which were tasty, but didn't make Wesley want to eat the whole thing. The steam and spiciness of the soup made his head feel less stuffed and his throat less raw, and was filling enough on its own.

Wesley managed to eat a little more than half the bowl of soup, then let Giles coax him into swallowing two more bites of chicken. Then he pressed his face into Giles' shoulder with a snuffly sound. "Really full, Rupert..." he murmured.

"You did very well, dear." Giles took the bowl away, then took Wesley in his arms and started petting his hair again.

"Mmb... dice..." Wesley snuffled more strongly and rubbed a finger under his nose, which was starting to run from the warm, spicy soup. "F-feels good... snffSNIFF..."

Giles kissed his forehead. "I'm glad. Tickly, love?" he asked, when Wesley rubbed his face against Giles' shoulder.

"Yehehh...hetchishhh! "

"Bless you!" Giles chuckled and held Wesley a little closer. "I'll take that as a yes."

"itchishhee! tchishh! chiyishhooo! " Wesley's head bobbed up and down with each itchy, damp, spraying sneeze. "Oh snff oh dear snffSNFFsnff..." He cupped a belated hand over his twitching nose. "T-tissues? Tchmmphishh! " He tried, without much success, to stifle the last, stronger sneeze. "Oh dear, bessy..."

"Shh, it's all right..." Giles was pulling tissue after tissue out of the box. "Little less stuffy, hm?" He held a handful of soft tissues up for Wesley, who nuzzled into them eagerly with another wet

tchishhhoosh!

"Thags..." Wesley murmured, before letting out a wet, bubbly blow.

"Bless," Giles murmured again, giving Wes a little kiss. "It's nothing, dear, just want to look after you a little... sneeze?" He quickly refolded the tissues and held them close to Wesley's quivering nose.

"hrrrrischooo! "

"Bless you! Ah, good, yes," Giles said with approval as Wesley snuffled and twitched his way to another sneeze.

"h'huhh huptschushooo! uhh chushhushhoo! " Wesley drew back from the tissues a few inches right before he let out two snuffly sneezes, strong, damp ones that felt good as his nose worked them out in a cloud of tickling spray. "huh... uhh, huh..." He drew out the build up to the next one, taking shallow breaths to nurse the next tickle into a more forceful sneeze. "huh! Huhh hurrchusssh, chussh chushiisshisshhihh..." It almost worked. Wesley sneezed three more times, the sound still soft and wet and snufflish, the last one spraying out really wetly. A few clean tissues pressed to his nose and Wesley filled them up with a series of gurgling blows.

"Very good, love... such brilliant cold you've caught... again?" Giles asked when Wesley drew back the damp tissues, nostrils quivering with heavy, wet sniffles.

"heeeYEEISSSH! " Wesley sprayed out a sudden sneeze, louder and wetter than the previous ones, and bent forward in his seat with the force of it. He tried sneezing into his lap when another strong "tschisssssh! " needed to come out, but from the slight shiver and intake of breath from Giles, he could tell he'd just sneezed all over Giles, too. "Sorry," he croaked, voice thick and wet from the snuffling. "Cad hhuhelb... chissshCHISSHEE! " The tickling touch of Giles' fingertips brushed over his nostrils as Giles tried to hold another tissue to his nose, but instead triggering two sudden sneezes, one right on top of the other. ".. oh ..." Guiltily, Wesley looked up at Giles, then down at the damp tissue. "Dose gets itchy whed I have a code..."

"I know... it's all right." Giles kissed Wesley's shoulder, then held up a few more clean tissues to receive another few damp, snuffly blows. "Rather adorable," he murmured softly.

Wesley blinked. The congestion in his head and the uncontrollable sneezes were making him feel very fuzzy. "Adorable?" he asked, sniffling a bit and rubbing his nose into the tissues.

"Mm-hmm.." Giles carefully rubbed Wesley's nose, holding the tissues close to his nostrils for another itchy, wet tchishheeew! "Sort of... unguarded. Letting me see you... it's intimate. Special. Adorable." He wiped Wesley's nose, then leaned in close to kiss the pink, quivering tip.

"heeeyishhheeee! " Wesley sneezed immediately, spraying Giles' jumper. "Oh... s-so sorry... heh heehhh... hetischooo! "

"Bless, hush, bless you! Needn't apologize, love. You've a cold in the head, you're bound to be sneezy." Giles hugged him close in a reassuring embrace and pressed a few more kisses to his forehead, his lips lingering on the skin in a telltale check for fever. "Quite a tickly cold," he murmured, when Wesley let out another itchy "hrrrishhooosh! "

"Tiggly," Wesley agreed. He had to snuffle and keep a finger pressed under his nose while Giles exchanged the damp tissues for fresh. At the earliest opportunity, he dived into the clean tissues with a messy chssmmphisshh! and a strong, burbly blow. "Oh..." he sighed. "Full of code... dided snff thig would snff cub od so fast..."

"Poor dear..." Giles stroked the side of Wesley's face after wiping his nose dry. "I think you might be a trifle run down from working hard and late..."

"We all do," Wesley assured him, feeling a bit protective of his colleagues. He wanted to say "Angel too," but bit back the temptation, not wanting to see the taut expression that always came over Giles' face when Angel was mentioned. "Gettig pleddy of rest dow," he assured his boyfriend earnestly, snuggling closer. "Had a very dice dap with you..."

"I had a nice nap as well." Giles beamed, then kissed Wesley's lips again, very lightly and affectionately. "Looking forward to another, perhaps in the bed, with my traveling clothes off."

"Bore cubfortable for you..." Wesley returned the kiss and gently stroked Giles' chest, petting the warm, soft material of his jumper. "You shoud have subthig to eat.. baybe a bath? Or shower?" He petted Giles more and made a few encouraging sounds. "It'll help you relax."

"I can't say I'm unrelaxed here," Giles pointed out and snuggled himself in closer to Wesley, "but that might be good..."

"Mmb... ad you cad help be orgadize by papers frob work... sniff... sniff! " Turning his head, Wesley gave Giles' shoulder a snuffly nuzzle "Deed to at least do that buch."

"I suppose I could allow you that small exertion. Before you cold comes full out, anyway." The snuffling seemed to make Giles want to snuggle Wesley even more and he pressed a few small, gentle kisses to Wesley's hair, and then his ear, after another nuzzlish touch. "But only that much... I need you to curl up next to in bed."

"Oh, I rather snf like that snf idea... snifflesniff..." Snuffly kisses brushed the side of Giles' neck and Wesley hugged himself closer to his boyfriend. Most pleasing were the quiet, happy sounds Giles made when Wesley kissed him like that, warmly, gently, not able to keep back the frequent snuffles and instead nuzzling them into Giles' neck between kisses. "Bight have snf to snf revise that snf snf idea about snf doig sub snf work... sniffSNIFF! "

Giles tipped his head to the side enough to allow him to draw Wesley in closer for another set of nuzzly kisses. When the tip of Wesley's nose brushed his earlobe at the same time as a tiny, wet, itchy snuffle, Giles sighed happily. "I think being curled up in bed would be much more beneficial for you than staring at a great pile of books and papers, love."

"Ad... bused put you to work snffSNFFFFFF oh..." Wesley rubbed his face into Giles' shoulder, then muffled a stuffy uffschuushh! there. "Udtil you've snffle had sub snff rest."

"Bless, dear." Giles shivered slightly against Wesley, hugging him closer. "That sounds, mm... excellent idea... rest before we work..." He pressed small kisses to the side of Wesley's head. "Curl up warm and snug together in your bed?" He sighed softly when Wes gave him another tiny, sniffly nuzzle. "Maybe... hot water bottle?"

"Oh..." Wesley sighed happily. "Souds v-vehehry dice... huhishhushh! " He snuffled over Giles' ear, making him gasp softly and squirm. "Our bed," he corrected, then pressed his face shyly into Giles' shoulder. "Our bed?"

"Our bed," Giles repeated, his voice low and warm as the touch of his hand on Wesley's back.

Wesley couldn't help making a soft, congested, touched sound and curling closer to his boyfriend, almost climbing into his lap. "Love," he murmured. "So glad snff here, and snff sorry forguhhhot... hutchishhh! " The sneeze sprayed out over the front of Giles' shirt. "Oh..." Wesley snuffled, coughed, and blushed helplessly.

Giles chuckled very gently and tipped Wesley's face up so he could press a small kiss to the tip of Wesley's twitching nose, tickling out another spraying itchushh! "Bless you, darling. It's all right. I'm here, with you, now, that's all that matters."

"heeeyishhhmmmphhhisshh! " Wesley tried to stifle the next sneeze, but another one followed directly behind it, misting the air between them.

"Here to take care of you," Giles continued, in that same affectionate tone that made Wesley's eyes burn with more than his cold. "Here.." He delicately wiped Wesley's nose with a tissue, deftly catching the next h'tchishh! that burst out. "Love you so, my darling Wesley."

"Lub... h'mmphiishhh! " Wesley sneezed into the rapidly-crumpling tissue. "Lub you... huhh, huhhh..." His eyelids fluttered as he looked anxiously at Giles, who scrambled for a good handful of tissues. He was almost fast enough to catch the strong "hurrushhhooo! " as it burst out of Wesley.

"There, love, bless you..." Giles brought the handful of tissues to Wesley's nose and let him snuffle around in them before letting out a forceful "hutCHushh! " and following the sneeze with a few short blows. "My poor Wesley... caught yourself such a sneezy cold..."

Wesley nuzzled closer to the affectionate way Giles rubbed the tissues over his nose, snuffling and wrinkling his nose alternately to work at the tickles. "Idgy.. ad.. snffSNFF! behheh...bessy," he warned as Giles started to lower the tissues. He kept them a few inches away from Wesley's nose as it quivered and twitched.

"Rather," Giles agreed with a faint smile, "poor nose, so sensitive..." He nudged the tissues very, very gently against Wesley's nose. "Quite remarkable, considering - "

"heeisshSHEEW!! " Wesley sneezed with feeling, his nose itching and twitching all over, full of sneezes. "issshew! ish, ish, ihh... heeyisssheee! " He aimed the sneezes at the tissues, but didn't press his nose into them until it had expelled another run of tiny, ticklish "ishee! " sneezes that culminated in a great, spraying, relieving "hih-hirrisssshhISSSHHEEHEEW! "

"- considering you're not very sneezy most of the time," Giles finally got a chance to continue his sentence as Wesley filled the tissue with a nose blow that started off soft and slow and intensified to a strong, gurgling sound. "Only when you catch cold in your nose," he murmured thoughtfully and held a clean tissue, folded in half, to Wesley's nostrils to take care of a snuffle.

"Seeb to snff bake up for it snffSNFF whed I do..." Wesley rubbed his nose into the tissue, then leaned against Giles with a little sigh. "Oh... catch code..."

"Mmm.." Giles gently dried his nose, then nuzzled a kiss into Wesley's hair. "Bless you," he murmured. "Do seem to get wonderfully sneezey nose-colds, when you catch them... all sniffles and sneezes..."

"Ad codgestiod, whiberig, ad tededcy to be a very borig host..." Wesley couldn't help melting into the kiss and embrace, but also couldn't keep a worried frown off his face. "Ad codtagious..."

"Shh, shh." Giles stilled his lips, first with his fingers, then with a kiss. "Hush, dearest. I don't mind the snuffles or the risk of catching your cold, and I certainly don't find you troublesome. Like to look after you," he murmured, with another soft kiss.

"Oh..." Wesley murmured. He shyly rubbed his nose against Giles' with a tiny sniffle. "Do like how you look after be... like havig you..." The sentence trailed off as Giles kissed him again.

"We were talking about bed," Giles reminded him, in a low, throaty voice. "Do you think you're ready for another nap with me?"

"Always ready," Wes answered immediately. "Adythig with you. Bed souds dice... cozy. Warb."

"Mm-hmm... can get comfortable..." Giles stroked Wesley's arm. "Make sure you can keep warm and rest, take care of that cold you're getting... poor darling," he added, when Wesley pressed the back of one hand to his nose to cover a sniffle.

"Just... dose..." Wesley flushed a little, but smiled as he thought of the suggestion. "I'd like that. Cad rest together... baybe, cuddlig?"

"Certainly cuddling," Giles assured him. "I can't resist." He cuddled Wes to prove it.

"Good..." Wesley curled himself tightly into the cuddling and moved only to give Giles a long, loving hug. "Did you wad to shower?"

"Mm... maybe later on," Giles replied, "I'd rather spend some time close to you right now, I think."

"Also good... sniff! sniff..." With a couple small, damp sniffles, Wesley rubbed his nose into Giles' shoulder before pulling away. "I've really beed lookig forward to... sniffsniff! oh, to having you here..."

Giles gave Wesley another little cuddle, then helped him move the bedding and pillows back to the bedroom, eventually coaxing Wesley to sit down on the bed so he could bring some tea and water into the bedroom. "You should get under the blankets, darling," Giles urged softly as he stood by the bed and stroked his fingers through Wesley's hair, "get nice and snug... warm the bed up for me, hm? Hm, love?" he murmured even more softly, leaning down to nuzzle Wesley's hair affectionately. "So I can cuddle in nice and close to you?"

Wesley gave a quiet, pleased sigh. He basked in the feeling of having Giles' play with his hair and nuzzle into it with a few ticklish, little kisses. It felt so good to have Giles there, and to have him being so warmly affectionate. Turning, Wesley tugged Giles down for a nuzzling kiss. "Cub to bed quickly, please?"

"Yes..." Giles returned the nuzzling eagerly, laughing quietly when it made Wesley snuffle against him and twitch his nose at the itchy, wet snuffliness. "Have I not already mentioned how I can't resist you?" He nuzzled at Wesley's nose again. "I've missed you much too much to stay away longer than I have to..." Reluctantly, he pulled away and went to rummage through his luggage for a change of clothes.

Wesley, eager, although snufflish, took a few sips of tea from the mug Giles had placed on the bedside table, then fussed about with pillows and blankets to make the bed comfy for his boyfriend. His efforts were impeded more than a few times by his nose, which demanded attention in the form of snuffles and nose-rubs every few seconds.

"How's your nose, dear?" Giles asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He'd changed into a soft t-shirt and flannel sweats, and looked warm and comfortable and very, very snugglish. "Shall I get you some hankies? Might be softer take ...better care of those good cold-y sneezes, hm?"

Wesley shrugged, ducking his head to give his nose another little rub. "B-baybe?"

"I think so." Giles kissed Wesley's forehead, then his lips, then, very softly, his twitching nose.

"Oh, R-rhuuhhpert..." Wesley turned his head sharply. "hetchishh! "

"Bless," Giles almost purred, hugging his boyfriend close. "I'll get those hankies."

Wesley couldn't keep from whimpering a tiny bit when Giles drew away, but he was quickly distracted by an increasing itch in his nose. "h'yishh! " he sneezed into his cupped hands. Then, "h'tishh, tishh, tishheee! " Small and ticklish, the sneezes sprayed out, only seeming to exacerbate the tickle.

"That's a persistent tickle," Giles murmured when he returned. "Shall have to help you with that..." He put a stack of hankies on the nightstand, keeping one in his hand as he slid under the covers and spooned up close to Wesley. "Here, love, let me..." He moved Wesley's hand away from his face and held up the fresh, soft hanky instead.

"C-can't tyshhew! shake this huh-horrible itch... itchishh, tchishhee! " Wesley shivered a bit, then pulled back from the handkerchief with a quavering "huhuhhh...!" that resolved after an endless moment into a strong, messy "EISHHUSHHH! " that left him coughing and snuffling.

"That sounded a bit more satisfying," Giles said, with a smile in his voice. He held the hanky a bit tighter, massaging Wesley's nostrils, which had started to get sore from the many sneezes and blows, and tickling out another soft, snuffly "tchushhaah! "

"Oh..." Wesley gave a short, stuffy blow, then relaxed slightly into Giles' embrace. "Thag you..."

"You're welcome, and bless you, dear." Giles kissed his ear, then wiped his nose very gently. "Better?"

"It's dice..." Wesley agreed. "Soft, doesn't... get so bessy..."

"Hard to sneeze through," Giles nodded. "Well, harder."

"Good god..." Wesley frowned slightly and looked at the half crumpled handkerchief in Giles' hand. "I'b such a bess... I keep sdeezig... get id all over you..."

"sshh...." Leaning in a bit closer to Wesley, Giles nuzzled at his ear gently, tickling him with kisses until Wesley laughed and squirmed. "Am I going to have to show you much I don't mind? Hmm?" He nuzzled at Wesley again, playfully, and pressed a few kisses behind his ear. "Darling?"

Wesley twitched away from the touch, unable to help himself, but at the same time, didn't stop Giles from pressing in nearer to him. "Rupert... snf snff! oh, tickles..."

"Hm... we've already determined how ticklish you are today..." Giles put his arms around Wesley, cuddled him soothing, and started to press kisses to his neck and shoulder. " I can barely touch your poor little nose without giving it the tickles..."

Nose running, Wesley made a sniffly sound of agreement. He cuddled himself in closer to Giles on the bed as the affection grew warmer and warmer. "I sniff have a snifflesniffsnff! code... bakes be ticklish..."

"Your nose," Giles murmured softly and rubbed his hand over Wesley's' side in slow, soothing motions. After a while, his hand slid up Wesley's chest, petted him with small, tickling, shivering pets and then stroked his finger tips over Wesley's cheek. "My Wesley..."

"Love..." Wesley sniffled quietly, then again, then again, more wetly and wrinkled his nose up against the itching sensation that always seemed to come with the sniffles. "It feels sniffsniff so sniff! " He paused, sniffled a bit more firmly, then turned his head to rub his nose against Giles' hand. "Feels so good to have you home with me..."

Giles gave him a soft, tender smile and pressed closer, hugging Wesley with his free arm. "Feels so very good to be here. Home. With you."

"Oh snff..." Wesley snuggled against his boyfriend, sniffling more damply against his hand.

"Warm... and safe... in bed, with nothing pressing to distract us..."

"Ju-huhhst snffSNFF..." Wesley frowned for an instant, then convulsed with a wet, itchy "h'YISHHooosh! Oh.." he snuffled. "My nose...."

"Not really a distraction..." Giles murmured. He pressed even closer as he took up the hanky again to rub gently at the snuffles, and rubbed one bare foot over one of Wesley's. "Takes more than a cold to distract me from you..."

Wes smiled shyly and stroked Giles' arm, then petted his side through the t-shirt. Giles felt warm and so beautifully solid. "Even snff very persistent snff and sneezey snffsnff cold? Seems to snff interrupt everything..." He blew his nose softly in the hanky, then gave his boyfriend a nuzzling kiss. "Have to concentrate..."

"Not a problem," Giles murmured. He put the hanky aside and shifted so he was half on top of Wesley, his warm weight pressing on Wesley's thighs as he kissed him deeply and slowly, nuzzling his nose against Wesley's when the sniffles persisted. "Having no trouble paying attention..."

Wesley let out a shaky sigh. "That's... very distracting... h-hard to think..." He eagerly kissed Giles back.

"Hard, mm..." Giles agreed, between searching kisses. "Distract you from that nose cold..."

"Mmoh!" Wesley gasped when Giles' fingers slipped under his shirt. "Oh... Rupert..."

"There..." Giles whispered in a low voice, fingertips stroking softly over Wesley's skin. "I'm going to pay such attention to you... take such good care of you..." He kept stroking Wesley's side as he kissed him, lips touching Wesley's with small, gentle kisses after Wesley gasped again.

"Already have..."

"Mmm, oh, but not quite enough... no, not quite..."

Wesley sniffled a bit, quietly, and nuzzled into the kisses that Giles gave him. He arched up into the petting as Giles' fingers moved slowly and lightly over his chest, still sniffling, and sighed a bit. This had to be the best he'd felt all day, so warm and loved and with his boyfriend nuzzling, kissing, and petting him like that. He couldn't seem to get his nose to stop running, but every time he sniffled a few times in a row, Giles would just sort of smile at him and nuzzle him even more.

"Oh.. sniff! sniff! s-sorry.. sniff! " Wesley turned away slightly, then turned back when Giles nudged at him.

"Don't apologize," Giles replied. He pressed the tip of his nose to Wesley's and rubbed lightly. "Just... mmm..."

"That..." Wesley nuzzled against Giles' nose harder, then pulled away shyly to snuffle a bit.

"Mm?" Giles, on the other hand, seemed eager to remain close to him. He kissed Wesley's lips, then leaned up to kiss his nose lightly.

Between tiny little nuzzly kisses, Giles brushed a finger over one of Wesley's nipples and petted gently, sending sparks of pleasure tingling over his skin.

"G-good..." Wesley managed to say, his voice trembling along with his body at the touch. "Love... snffsniffle sniffsniff! "

Giles smiled at him again, that warm, happy, satisfied smile, and gave him a nuzzling kiss. "Love..." he murmured. "Wes, love... "

"Tihihickles..." Wesley cautioned, sniffling harder when Giles brushed the tip of his own nose over Wesley's nostrils, setting them twitching. "Watch sniff out..."

"I'm watching," Giles assured him, though he didn't move away, but kept watching with bright eyes and slightly parted lips as Wesley sniffled back the insistent runs in his nose.

"Oh, snfff going t-to..." Wesley warned, his breath hitching. Before he could complete his caution, his head fell forward with a forceful "heeishhhh! " that sprayed Giles' t-shirt. "Dear..."

"Bless you." Giles kissed the tip of Wesley's nose several times, each kiss tickling out another messy itchushhoo! over his cheek, his chest, his neck.

"A-all snuffsniffleSNIFFsniffsniff! ohohver you..." Wesley rubbed ineffectively at the spray on Giles' t-shirt.

"Shh..." Giles kissed him on the lips, softly and slowly, with gentle flickers of his tongue. "Don't worry... not distracted..." he murmured between kisses. He teased Wesley's nipple again, making Wesley gasp against his lips and grip his arm hard. "Love.." he repeated.

"Love... love you..." Wesley snuffled, coughed, and kissed eagerly. He found that the cold wasn't distracting him, either, at least not as much as he'd feared. The tingly warmth kept growing inside him, the shiver of arousal kept growing, and Rupert kept touching him with those light, teasing, maddening touches.

Wesley trembled slightly when Giles started to slide off his t-shirt, then whimpered quietly in protest when Giles stopped.

"Don't want you getting a chill," Giles replied with a smile.

"I really don't think that's possible. So warm, oh..." Wesley sighed into Giles' mouth with another kiss, rather amazed at how warm he felt. Sort of fuzzy headed, sniffly, and with his nose itching with the constant sniffles and tiny, light touches Giles kept giving his nose.

"Just to make sure then." Both Giles' hands slid up the front of his shirt, warm and firm, and rubbed. At first his touch was very light, more like he was stroking Wesley's skin with the palms of his hands and the tips of his fingers. "Poor love has a cold... shivering a bit?"

Wesley gasped, then shook his head. "N-no..." He trembled under Giles' touch, then gasped again when Giles rubbed his thumb in a circle over the other nipple, a shiver of arousal going through him. " .. oh... sniff! th-that, you... snf..."

"Mmhm..." The smile was back on Giles' lips, widening slightly each time Wesley shivered for him or had to turn his head into his shoulder and sniffle or rub his nose. At the sound of a few really wet, itchy sniffles he moved against Wesley warmly. "All right, darling?"

"sniffllesniffsniff! F-fine..." Wesley rubbed his nose into his t-shirt again. When he turned back, Giles leaned in a bit closer, rubbed his body against Wesley's in that slow, warm way he had in bed, and tickled his fingers over the center of Wesley's chest. The shiver all this inspired, Wesley felt it through his whole body. He tried to press up against Giles, but the wet sniffles continued, nostrils flaring and itching like crazy. Then, all in a sudden moment before he could even take in another breath, "eissh! ish! ish! " Three sharp, wet sneezes over Giles' shoulder, a shuddering breath, and a huge, wet "EISSSHOOO! "

"Bless you..." Now it was Giles' turn to shiver. He hugged Wesley tightly. "Bless, bless, bless," he repeated in Wesley's ear. He followed the blessings with three small kisses along Wesley's jaw, then a fourth, deeper and longer, to his lips.

Wesley melted under the warm pressure of Rupert's lips, but had to pull out of the last kiss to snuffle heavily and rub his nose with the back of one hand. "Sdeezes... bake be... oh... hutchushhaahh! By doze," he explained unnecessarily, for what felt like the thousandth time.

"Your nose... your most wonderful nose..." Giles stroked Wesley's chest again. "I'm quite mad about your nose," he murmured. "Especially..." he smiled that eager, hungry smile when Wesley snuffled again, feeling his face twitch around another strong tickle. "Looking so sensitive... pink and quivering... filled up with cold..."

"Oh..." Wesley breathed, riveted by the look of arousal on his lover's face and the unmistakable desire present in the way Giles' hip pressed against his. "F-feels sniffff sensitive," he murmured hesitantly. "I can..." he paused, sniffled again, deliberately this time. "Can feel the sniffsniff cold building, m-make... making me..." His breath caught, and Giles' breath caught too.

"Making you?" Giles prompted hoarsely, petting Wesley's chest with two gentle fingers. His touch was light and teasing until he reached Wesley's nipple and tweaked it firmly.

"huhh! TCHUSHH! " Wesley sneezed, the explosion even louder and messier than he expected. "S-startled..." he explained, then lurched off the pillows with another wet "Heeeishh! " He clung to Giles, muffling another "h'chushhmmphh! " in Rupert's shoulder. "Gettig stuffy," he murmured, rubbing his face against Rupert.

"Sneezes make you congested," Giles whispered, sounding breathless. He rubbed against Wesley, making a needy sound in his throat when Wes snuffled against him again and coughed softly.

"Codgestion bakes be sdeeze..." Wesley explained. He let out a little moan when Giles touched his nipple again, then let out a messy "idjshhhmmph! " right against Rupert's chest, as if in demonstration.

"There, love, yes... oh, bless you," Giles murmured, his voice low and hoarse with arousal. His fingers trembled against Wesley's skin as Wesley snuffled against his t-shirt. "Love how that sounds... so stuffed up..."

Wesley answered with another wet, messy snuffle and rubbed his nose firmly, slowly over Giles' shoulder. "Gettid v-very snffsnufflesnffff! filled up w-with.. sniffSNFFsnffsnf... by code..." His cold was bad enough already that he didn't even have to tease Giles with sniffles or nuzzles; his nose was practically begging him to snuffle back the congestion or to rub it against Giles in an effort to work out a new tickly feeling. "huhh... huh, huuhh... hrrrushhoomphfff! "

"Ohh....god..." Giles groaned deeply as the strong, snuffly sneeze got muffled into his shoulder. "Bless..."

"Thag..." Nose quivering, Wesley let his eyes slide shut and took tiny coaxing breaths. "Ih ih ih... h! h! h! heeeeYISSSHMMphsshchishhss! " The big sneeze sprayed out, then got squelched messily against the side of Giles' neck. When Wesley felt Giles shift enough that his erection pressed into Wesley's hip, he snuffled and nuzzled and snuffled against the damp skin until another sneeze burst out. "hutchushhmmpph! oh," he sighed, "sduffy, sdeezy doze..."

Giles held him in close for a few moments, hardness pressed against Wesley, one hand moving slowly over Wesley's skin and starting to move down to his hip. He stroked Wesley side, then the curve of his hip as Wesley snuffled, then drew back slightly. His lips were parted, breath coming quickly; his eyes had become dark with arousal. Giles kissed Wesley a few times, gently, firmly, groaning when Wesley nibbled his bottom lip teasingly, then groaning again when Wesley snuffled against his nose.

"Thig snff you bissed be snffsnfflesnffsnff! ..." Wesley murmured, nuzzling Giles a bit more and leaning into his touch. "Or... snff bissed by dose, at snfff least... h'tchushhmmph! "

"Ah!" Giles' hips bucked against Wesley's, and his hand tightened around Wesley's shoulder, but then he forced himself to relax. "Missed you," he panted, and kissed Wesley hard. "Bless," he added, when he stopped to let Wesley breathe.

"D-dod...hrrushhoomphh! "

Giles gasped again, a sharp noise of arousal that went straight to Wesley's groin and had him pressing against Giles as Giles ground against him. "G-god, Wes..." Giles panted out. "Make me so... "

"Hard?" Wesley reached down to cup Giles' increasingly insistent erection through the fabric of his pajamas. "I cad see... or, well, dot egzagly, bud I c-cad... tchushhhmmph! SnffSNFFFsnfsnff... cad feel, oh..."

"Oh..." Giles swallowed audibly, then made a tiny, needy, breathless noise in his throat as he thrust against Wesley. "Love, love..."

Snuffling hard to keep his nose from dripping, Wesley quickly slipped his hand into Giles' pajamas so he could make a fist around Giles' length. He brushed his thumb over the head, eliciting another (impossibly sexy) grunt from Giles. "So snff eager..."

"M-missed you... oh, oh..."

Wesley rubbed him firmly, once, twice, then paused, consciously loosening his hand as his breath caught. "huhh, huhhuh, huhuhh..."

"Wes...!!" Giles begged.

"HURRUSHHOOSHH! " Strong, loud, wet, and unbearably ticklish, the sneeze felt like it ripped through Wesley and jerked him closer to Giles. His hand tightened on Giles' erection, and as soon as he could, he starting moving it up and down slowly. Now his nose was completely full, heavy with snuffling and the lingering itch from his sneezing still tickling around the edges. Wesley snuffled wetly, grinning a little at the tiny, whimpering noises Giles was making at the back of his throat, and at the way his penis twitched as the snuffles got itchier and wetter sounding.

"So close," Giles mumbled. He moved against Wesley, thrusting up into his touch and panting with uneven, warm breaths against Wesley. He stilled for a moment, tensed, and shuddered with need. "Wes... little more... please, harder..."

Wesley snuffled in reply and worked Giles' erection more firmly. Just watching Giles made his own arousal mount steadily, despite, or really, considering what it did to Giles, because of the cold in his nose. He didn't bother to stop snuffling, even when it made him start spraying out little, wet "tisssh! " sneezes, which tried to aim at Giles' neck or shoulder, but probably ending up getting all over his boyfriend.

Giles groaned once before coming, then thrust up harder into Wesley's hand. The shuddering went through his body again and again as he came desperately hard. He kept moving against Wesley until his climax was spent, then stretched out over him, covering Wesley with his body and rubbed against him with a growl of satisfaction. "God... been wanting you so badly, Wesley, love," he murmured softly.

"Rupert..." Wesley, nose full of cold and body full of warmth, pressed into the rubbing.

"Can't help it... love when you're like this..." The kisses brushed over Wesley's nose, teasing at the quivering tip, and coaxing out another series of tiny sneezes. "Could spend all day in bed with you."

"tissh, tishh, itishhtisshisshisshee! " A string of uncontrollable sneezes tickled out of his nose and Wesley tried to turn away from the little kisses and nuzzles Giles kept giving him. "hiptishhee! tish tish tishishish! "

"Oh, love..." Giles slid his hands under Wesley's shoulders and hugged him close, urging Wesley to keep sneezing the tiny, wet, tickly sneezes against Giles' neck and shoulder. "Make that going to spend all day in bed... bless you, bless you, bless you..." Still murmuring blessings, he pressed his face into Wesley's shoulder.

"itishh, tish, tish, tishhushhooosh! " Wesley snuffled cautiously after the last, longer sneeze, and kissed Rupert's soft hair.

Giles made a deep, satisfied purring sound and rubbed slowly against Wesley, intensifying the warmth Wes could feel building in his abdomen and stiffening his erection. "Spend all day taking care of you..." Giles shifted one hand to stroke Wesley's side and kissed him on the lips.

"Probably goig do sped all day sdeezig od you," Wesley warned in a breathless, stuffy voice. The light, teasing touch of Giles' hand, and the warm pressure of his body against Wesley's, and the memory of how he looked and sounded when Wesley made him come, all were making Wesley feel almost as needy as his boyfriend had looked a few moments before. "hitchussss! " he sneezed, spraying Giles' chest and the blanket over him.

"Bless you, dearest. Is that a promise?" Giles whispered. His fingers slipped under the waistband of Wesley's pants and stroked the soft skin there.

"Th-thig so... heeeyishhee! " Wesley sneezed again. "Oh.. yishh, yishh, yisshh, yishhewshh! " Each sneeze rubbed him a little more firmly against Giles, and made him a little harder, a little more breathless.

"Oh, bless you..." Giles tickled his fingers over the damp, curly hair at the base of Wesley's penis. "My poor love," he kissed him, "With such" another kiss "a terrible" kiss "terrible cold..."

"Ahah..." Wesley trembled slightly, arching his hips up closer to the light, tickling touch. Giles was teasing him mercilessly, tickling his fingers just at the base of Wesley's erection, then dipping to flitter his fingertips over his balls and between his thighs. "Just... sniff! snfff... by doze... snff!snifflesniff..."

"Yes..." Giles nuzzled in closer to Wesley and kissed the corner of his mouth very gently, then the edge of his jaw, then rubbed his own nose over Wesley's cheek up to Wesley's nose. "Yes... all that cold in your nose... hm?" He nuzzled lightly, sort of at the edge and then the base of Wesley's nostrils, at the same time pressing his hand to Wesley's erection. "So stuffy... gets too tickly, hm?"

Wesley whimpered softly, still trying to get closer to Giles' touch, but at the same time, twitching involuntarily away from the maddening way Giles nuzzled at his nose. These tiny, soft nuzzles that drove his nose crazy, and coupled with the damp snuffles, were starting to inspire another round of sneezes.

"So sensitive..." Giles nuzzled a bit more firmly at the base of Wesley's nose. "Amazing... love to watch you," he murmured softly, but didn't draw back to watch, instead snuzzling and sniffing quietly as he rubbed noses with Wesley. "Beautiful darling ... Wes..."

"Mmb... oh, ah..." Giles' fingers worked Wesley's erection a bit more firmly, making him gasp softly. The nose-rubbing had managed to push back the tickle for a while, but a series of snuffly breaths and a nuzzling kiss from Giles had Wesley gasping suddenly, and expelling an even more sudden "hutchussshoooo! " that burst out loudly and freely.

"Bless you!" Giles stroked his thumb over the head of Wesley's penis. "Tickles bothering you, hm?"

"tchushhooo! " Wesley sneezed again, even more emphatically, then sighed. "B-better dow... oh..." He trembled at the touch of Giles fingers and his nose, which was back to nuzzling Wesley's sniffly one. "Oh snff Rupert..."

"mmm?" Giles kissed his lips softly, smiling against them when the way he stroked Wesley's length made Wes gasp. "Bless you..." he murmured.

"Th-that snffSNFF..." Wesley bit back a moan as Giles's hand brought him to almost painful hardness. "Love, good... snffsnfflesnff..." He coughed as he tried to snuffle back the congestion, then whimpered when Giles' grip slackened. "Doh..."

"Can't neglect your nose... poor cold-ridden nose..." Giles smiled, but returned to stroking Wesley.

"Cad... I ab..." Wesley panted. He squirmed a bit, sighing in relief when Giles moved so he could rub against his lover. "Thigig of other thigs... h-how you bake... hutchushh! "

"Bless..."

"Bake be feel..." Wesley grunted urgently, trying to thrust against Giles and whimpering when his lover held him down.

"Going to make you feel very good..." Giles promised, in a hoarse whisper. "Said I'd take care of you, mm?" Keeping his hand around Wesley's penis, stroking lightly and teasingly to keep it fully erect, he began working his way down Wesley's chest with light, nuzzling kisses.

Between his nose, which showed no sign of ceasing to run and tickle, and the delicious warmth of arousal that was pulsing through his body, for a time Wesley could only snuffle and whimper, and dig his fingers into Rupert's shoulder. "Good..." he managed. "Like that.."

Giles murmured something indistinct that tickled Wesley's stomach.

"Tiggles..." Wesley chuckled, then gasped as a different sort of tickle suddenly intensified. "Oh!" He pushed Giles back as a strong, messy "heeYUSHHew! " lifted him off the pillows, followed by a series of smaller, itchier sneezes that just seemed to keep the tickle in his nose. "h'tishh, tchishh, chishh, chishh, chissshooosh! " The sneezes sprayed out over the blankets and over Rupert's head, still bent over Wesley.

"Bless you," Giles whispered, finally looking up. He leaned in close and brushed a warm, infinitely gentle kiss over Wesley's lips. "Poor love... must not be looking after you properly..." He bent low to kiss Wesley's erection through the fabric of his pajamas, then he carefully began to ease the pants down."Sshh, love," Giles murmured quietly as he eased Wesley's pajamas bottoms down enough for him to kiss and nuzzle his erection. "Take good care of my darling..."

Wesley shivered at the touch of Giles' lips on his erection, soft, gentle and damp as he pressed kisses to the tip, then moved down the length as Giles nuzzled against him. Another shiver made him sniffle wetly and spray out a tiny, ticklish, little "ishee! "

"Oh, love..." Giles nuzzled the base of Wesley's erection tenderly. "Bless..."

"hee... hish! " An even smaller sneeze tickled its way out and Wesley rubbed at his nose with the back of his hand furiously. "h'shh! "

Giles made a small, touched noise this time, but didn't look up. Instead he concentrated on licking and nibbling at Wesley's hardness, on stroking his hands over Wesley's thighs, and then pressing him down into the mattress when Wesley tried to raise his hips up to meet Giles' touch. "Still tickling, love?" he murmured against Wesley at the sound of a few itchy wet snufflings.

"L-liddle..." Wesley struggled to get closer to Giles, but would either end up being pressed back down by the strong hands on his hips or distracted by the drippy, snuffly, itchy sensation in his nose. "Idges... sniffSNFF! "

"Need to work that out... tickle out a nice, big, snuffly sneeze..." Giles' nose nudged against Wesley's erection gently, nuzzled a bit more firmly, both between nibbling kisses.

But his nose was already working on that, twitches and sniffles and snuffles teasing at the sneeze that was waiting to come out. It felt like it was buried deep inside his nose, building slowly (moreso than his arousal, that already felt like it had reached an almost unbearable pitch) and steadily. And noisily. Breathy gasps and wet snuffles and a series of hitching breaths.

Giles pulled back slightly.

Wesley whimpered a little, but not enough for it to sound like anything more than another desperate pre-sneeze sound. He couldn't keep his eyes open with all the tickling and twitching going on around his nose, but he could feel Giles' touch still on his skin, fingertips seeming to find all his little ticklish spots just as his breath caught one last time. "huh... HUH! hutchushhurushhoooo!"

Huge, loud, wet, and convulsive the sneeze shuddered through his whole body, barely giving Wesley enough time to snuffle and catch his breath before he felt wet heat surround his erection.

Giles took Wesley into his mouth, softly at first, then more firmly, his tongue caressing Wesley's head. When Wesley groaned, Giles looked up, letting him go just long enough to murmur "Bless you" before returning his attention to Wesley.

It didn't take long; Wesley was hard and panting, and Giles knew what Wesley liked, and was as eager to give it to him as he'd been to have Wesley make love to him. A few repetitions of a smooth up-and-down motion, and the motion of his tongue that always made Wesley gasp, and then Wesley was thrusting up into his mouth, crying out hoarsely as he came.

Giles swallowed, and swallowed again, then pressed soft kisses to Wesley's penis as his erection flagged. He kissed and nuzzled his way back up Wesley's chest, until he could pull his lover into his arms, cuddling him as he steadied down from his climax.

"Oh..." Wesley sighed. "Love..." he snuffled against Giles. "Sorry, doze... Rupert, oh..."

"Love you," Giles answered quietly. He kissed Wesley until the sniffles became more urgent, then hugged Wesley against his chest as he reached for the tissues. "Help you take care of your nose, hm?" He kissed Wesley's forehead while he pulled out a good handful of tissues, then held the stack to Wesley's quivering nose.

Wesley blew his nose, softly at first, then with a loud, messy burbling that quickly filled the tissues. "Oh..." he snuffled uncomfortably while Giles held the damp tissues in place and scrambled for more. "Bagig a bess..."

"Shh, it's all right... your nose is full of cold, poor love..." Giles wrapped the clean tissues carefully around Wesley's nose and kissed his hair again. "Try again... can take care of messy."

Wesley answered with a heavy, congested sound, afraid to say anything else before he could give his nose another good, productive blow. The sneezing and snuffling had left him with a terribly stuffy nose that wanted another handful of clean, dry tissues to get it cleared out a bit more. By the time Giles could use a final tissue to take care of the last few, tiny sniffles, Wesley's nose was sore and tired feeling. The rest of him, however, still held the post-coital languor and warmth. As soon as he could, Wesley curled himself in close to Giles, cuddling his lover and nuzzling affectionately against his chest. "This is good..."

"Mmm," Giles replied in a soft, pleased voice. "Very much so. Love," he murmured and kissed Wesley's forehead. "My Wesley... I really am glad to be here with you again."

"Be... sniffSNIFF! Me too... glad to be..." Wesley rubbed his face into Giles' shirt, sniffled again, and settled down with a complacent sigh. "Bed... with you."

Giles made another quiet, happy sound. He let Wesley curl up around him, head on Giles' chest, and then cuddled them both under the blankets. "Do you think you can nap a bit more? Shall I pet your hair?"

Wesley nuzzled snifflishly Giles in reply. When Giles started to stroke his hair, he pressed a kiss to the center of Giles' chest. He wanted to tell Giles that he ought to rest, too, but felt too warm and sleep to do much more than nuzzle Giles again and put his arms around Giles protectively.

"Darling..." Giles kept petting Wesley, then snuggled against him like he usually did before they went to sleep at night. This was good, because it meant he wasn't leaving their bed and he would sleep a bit and it just felt so good to have him there.

Giles cuddled Wesley close and kept stroking his soft hair as Wesley nestled in with a small, sniffly sound.

"...mmcomfortablmm?" Wesley mumbled, rubbing his face into Giles' chest.

"Very comfortable," Giles assured him. "Nice and warm, cozy."

"hmm mmph..." Wesley muffled a yawn.

Smilingly, Giles kissed his hair, fussed a little with the blankets, and kept petting him. "Good, close your eyes and rest, dearest. Good time for a nap..." He stroked Wesley's hair, watching Wesley's face relax and feeling his body go limp and heavy with sleep. "I love you," he whispered. He was sure Wesley couldn't have heard him, but even in his sleep Wes seemed to cuddle a little closer at the words.

Even with a cold, Wesley was beautiful when he slept. Giles watched him happily for what seemed like a long time, admiring the way his dark lashes lay on his cheeks, the strong line of his jaw, the delicate curves of his handsome nose.

After some time, the delicious warmth of Wesley and the blankets, combined with the fatigue of a transcontinental journey, caught up with Giles, and he let his eyes fall shut and followed Wesley down into sleep.

***

The bed was warm. Very warm. Perfectly, wonderfully, almost surprisingly warm. Half-asleep, Wesley burrowed deeper into the warmth, forcing back the burgeoning feelings of congestion and ticklishness in his nose and throat. The bed felt so comfortable and Giles felt so nice next to him, and Wesley still felt so sleepy, that even after waking up a bit more, he simply curled himself in closer to Giles and let himself fall back to sleep.

Finally drifting awake, he pressed in closer to Giles after a few moments and snuzzled into his pajama top. Groggy with sleep Wesley wasn't willing to leave the warm nest of blankets, but his head felt like it had filled up with cold during the time he had been asleep. His throat had gotten dry and scratchy, though that wasn't quite as noticeable as the snuffly, stuffy, itchy feeling in his nose.

Wesley kept himself curled up against Giles and under the blankets as he tried to nuzzle at the itches in his nose. Giles murmured something as Wesley snuffled and nuzzled over his shoulder, then petted Wesley's hair a bit. Soft, warm petting that settled Wesley against Giles again for a few minutes until he nose needed to nuzzle against something again. Like into Giles' neck, where it was even warmer and where nuzzling made Giles sigh, the sound coming low and deep from his chest.

"Feel good, darling?" Giles murmured into Wesley's hair, then gave Wesley a little nuzzle of his own. "hm?"

"Hmn..." Wesley nuzzled against Giles again, drowsily, then more firmly. His nose tingled and twitched the tiniest bit. With another snuffly nuzzle, he pulled back slowly and built up to small, soft "h'chuh! "

"Bless..."

Before he could make any reply, Wesley nudged his snuffly nose gently against Giles' neck. For the next sneeze, he tucked his face into Giles' neck and muffled another little, soft "huchmph! "

"Bless you!" Giles gave Wesley another little cuddle when he snuffled damply after the quiet sneeze. "Woke up with the tickles, mm?" he murmured.

By way of reply, Wesley kept his face buried in Rupert's warm, slightly stubbly neck and let out another, slightly stronger, "h'chssmmphh! "

"I think so..." Giles turned his head to kiss Wesley's hair.

"I..." Wesley's voice was all but inaudible. He coughed, lifted his head and coughed again. "Geddig sduffed ub," he murmured.

Giles tsked at the coughing and rubbed Wesley's back. "I think you're a bit beyond getting, love... sound quite congested." He kissed his forehead softly.

"I hab a code," Wesley whispered, unnecessarily, just to feel the little shiver of pleasure go through his Rupert when he followed the announcement with a soft, liquid snuffle, right in his ear.

"That you do..." Giles trembled as Wesley sniffled again and coughed once, softly, against his neck.

"Code id by doze... all sduffly ad idgy... h'tchss! " Another tiny, ticklish sneeze brushed Giles' cheek with spray.

"Sneezy cold," Giles murmured.

"G-geddig... sdeezier..." Wesley agreed breathlessly. "...oh... h'tch, tch, tch, tchu! " The miniature sneezes rushed out, one on top of the other, leaving his nose quivering and tickling intolerably. He rubbed it firmly against Giles' neck, earning another shiver.

"Oh..." Giles sighed. "Such tiny sneezes... can't help that tickle very much..."

"Tiggles bore," Wesley agreed. "hetchu! " He curled more tightly around his Rupert. "Tiggles you, I th-thig...huhh, huhh...hupt! Ish! " The buildup ended with another impossibly small sneeze, this one spraying but still just as itchy.

"Oh, yes..." Giles' arms tightened around Wesley to hold him secure and close. He let out another quiet, pleased sigh as Wesley nosed against with stuffy snuffles. "All those adorable little sneezes do tickle me... oh, that-that tickles" he added in a whisper at the touch of Wesley's nose snuzzling gently around his ear.

"tsh tsh ... huptishh! " A delicate triple burst out as Wesley nuzzled against Giles, making his stuffy nose itch and twitch just a little bit more. The itchy twitchiness was terrible and constant, like his nose had filled up with tickly sneezes as he slept, but the stuffiness prevented him from sneezing them all out, instead only permitting him to fire off tiny sneeze after sneeze. "huh... huh huh huu! huh-etch etch etchu! " Another little triplet and Wesley shifted to nuzzle his nose around in Giles' soft hair. That resulted in a quick, light "hushoo! " from his nose and a tremble from Giles.

"There, love, blesses..." Giles nuzzled himself against Wesley, his bed warm body encouraging Wesley to curl up as close as possible and continue the nuzzling. "I think we need to spend some more time here in bed and tend to your cold. You really did wake up with such a case of the tickles."

"D-did," Wesley agreed. "By doze is... ih, hih, hupchoo! all sdee-hee, eh... huptchoo, chuh, ch! ch! h'cht! " The last sneeze in the series got pinched off between thumb and forefinger. "Sdeezig," Wesley finished. "Cad seeb do helb id... whed I ged sig..." He snuffled a few times and pressed into the way Giles cuddled and petted him. "Dot quide ready do ged ub yed..."

"Not quite. Nor I, love." A soft, gentle kiss brushed Wesley's forehead, then his lips, and Giles nudged him up for a long series of nuzzling kisses. "Although, my plans for this evening ran along these lines anyway." Giles' nose rubbed gently against Wesley's, then drew back to give a more tickling sort of nuzzle after Wesley snuffled and coughed gently. "Dinner, and oh.. oh, love..." A little grin curved Giles' lips. He kissed Wesley's lips a few times. "You're starting to look and sound like you've come down with such a nose cold..."

Wesley responded eagerly to Giles' kisses until he had to pull back with a sudden, messy hetchishh! that had him scrambling for the tissues. "Very buch a doze code..." he mumbled, blushing as he fumbled for the box with one hand, keeping the other cupped over his nose.

"I have you, dear." Giles still had that tender expression on his face as he pulled out a good handful of tissues. "Can take care of your nose..."

"h'djmmphhiisshh! " Wesley tried to stifle the next sneeze, but couldn't keep it from spraying out messily into his hand. "Oh..."

"Bless you." Giles curled closer to Wesley again. He pressed the handful of tissues to Wesley's nose, carefully wrapping them around his nostrils, and handed Wesley another few to tidy himself with. "Such a nose cold," he repeated, his voice warm and affectionate.

"Always snff beed snfsnff rather s-susuhuh..." Wesley tensed, then pulled back a little. "ahahh, hahh... heeishhoo! " He tried to clear his nose after the sneeze, but only made himself cough.

"Shh, shh, easy, love." Giles kissed his hair. "I think you need a few more good sneezes to break up the congestion. Always what?"

"Suscebdible. Do codes id... snfsnff..." Wesley nosed about in the tissues a little, trying to ease the itch that had started far back in his sinuses. He was unsuccessful - it was going to have to work itself out, probably in a big, messy sneezing fit, probably sprayed out all over Rupert, if he wasn't careful. Not that Rupert seemed at all inclined to object.

"Colds in your nose..." Giles nodded, settling Wesley against his chest and then rubbing his nose gently through the tissues. "When you do catch cold it does tend to be a rather heavy one, and all in your nose... all snuffles and sneezes mm?" he asked, hugging Wesley a little tighter when his breath caught.

"huh, huhh..." Wesley sighed and gave his head a tiny shake. "Dod edough tiggle." He snuffled, coughed, and rested his head against Rupert. "Ebarrasig, subtibes," he murmured. "Cadgig sdeezig codes," he explained, when his boyfriend made a puzzled noise. "Id was awful ad school."

"Being ill at school was always horrible... and of course those horrible cold dormitories at the Academy were like incubators for disease." Giles kissed Wesley's forehead again. "Every autumn term I used to get horrible colds."

"Be do." Wesley snuggled against Giles. "Id was dreadful. A blogged doze rather spoils efforts do be ad ibressive head boy."

"Oh, my poor Wesley... you must have been miserable."

"Log snff ago dow. Snff snffsnff snfff! "

"Yes..." Giles nuzzled a little kiss into Wesley's hair. "But, still. Poor darling, with your nose so stuffy and sneezy, having to try to get well in the dreadful cold dormitory..."

Wesley whimpered very softly. "Bedder sniff thad ssniffsnff beig sig snfsnf ad hobe... snffsnifffllesniff! " He rubbed one finger underneath his snuffly, itchy nose, then lowered the finger to let Giles rub a soft, clean tissue over his nostrils.

"Not now. Now you belong here, at home..." Giles rubbed Wesley's nose again, then dabbed at it with a dryer section. "So stuffy," murmured affectionately, then touched the tip of his index finger to Wesley's nose. "I should've gotten you another hanky to use..."

"Mbb... dissues are fide..."

"Hm." Giles sounded skeptical, but pulled another tissue from the box and had Wesley nuzzle into it for a few damp snuffles. He started to uncurl from Wesley, then settled back at the sound of a whimpery snuffle. "You nose, love... it's getting sensitive... don't the tissues hurt?"

Wesley shrugged, then did his best to wrap himself around Giles. "You ted by doze well..." He snuffled a few more times, pressed his nose to Giles' pajama top, and snuffled again. The itch didn't seem to want to be coaxed out, instead lingering at the back of his nose, every so often teasing at the tip of his nose and edges of his nostrils, but never seeming to resolve itself into a nice, noisy, messy sneeze. Or even a series of little, uncontrollably tickly sneezes. "Tage good care of be."

"I do try... Rather fond of you..." A series of little kisses nuzzled into Wesley's' hair and over his forehead. Giles curled back closer to him and stroked the side of his face gently, then petted his shoulder. "Rather set on making up for all the dreadful times you caught cold and had nobody to fuss over you."

"You do," Wesley assured him. He snuffled against the collar of Giles' shirt, wrinkling his nose. "Cad hardly snff rebeber snff o-o-other...tihihbes..." His head went back a bit with each gasping breath, as the tickle slowly increased. Wesley waited with his mouth open, his breath wavering as he tried to coax out a sneeze, but after an endless few seconds he sighed in defeat. "Doh good, lost the tiggle..."

"It will be back, I feel certain." Giles nuzzled another kiss into Wesley hair and brought the tissues up to his nose again. "Perhaps I can help it along a bit?" He rubbed Wesley's nose gently. "Hm?"

"Oh..." Wesley wrinkled his nose, snuffling through thick congestion and then coughing. "B-baybe..." he mumbled, unconvinced.

Giles wiped Wesley's nose delicately, then lowered the tissues to rub the tip of his nose against Wesley's pink one. "Maybe, hm?" He brushed the tip of his nose very lightly over each of Wesley's sensitive, quivering nostrils, then touched the tip again, echoing Wesley's snuffles with a tiny sniff of his own.

"Ohhohoh..." Wesley's nose twitched under the attention.

"Helps? Mm?" Giles kissed first one nostril, then the other, then nuzzled over Wesley's nose with another few tiny, ticklish sniffs.

"huhhhhhTchishhhh! " The sneeze sprayed out freely, tickling Wesley's nose even more and leading directly to a softer but even messier "h'djshhhh! "

"That sounds better..." Giles rubbed his nose against Wesley's twitchy one.

"h'tchh, tchh, tchh, tchsss! " Wesley's head bobbed with the tiny, uncontrollable sneezes that he couldn't keep from spraying over Rupert. "S-sorry tchsss sdeezig tchhss, tchss, tchsshoo! "

"Mmm, bless..." Giles pressed the tip of his nose to Wesley's. "Good... keep sneezing, dear..."

"hetchu, tchu, tschuu! " Wesley tried keep the sneezes small as Giles kept so close to him, indeed, as he kept his nose so close to Wesley's, giving him little, affectionate, tickly nuzzles. "hitchss! tchsss! " Although keeping the sneezes little wasn't much of a challenge, keeping his nose from spraying them, however was.

"tschisssshhh! chss chss chssish! "

"Bless, bless, bless..." Giles punctuated each quiet blessing with a nuzzle either to the base of Wesley's nostrils or to the quivering, sensitive tip of his nose.

"hitishee! "

"Bless you..."

"tisheee! "

"Bless!"

"Oh... sniff! tiggle - heeisshee! isshee! tishh! tissh! issssh! " Wesley sprayed a series of rapid, wet sneezes over Giles, misting the air between them and making Giles shiver against him when he aimed a messy little

"hujssshhhih! "

towards his boyfriend's neck.

"Wes..." Giles rubbed Wesley's side soothingly, but the affectionate, pleased tone in his voice was unmistakable. His touch got more gentle as Wesley's breath changed from soft, damp snuffles to building, hitching breaths.

Wesley drew back slightly after giving his nose a snuffly nuzzle into Giles' shirt. His breath hitched a couple times, quietly, and then his snuffled tentatively through his stuffy nose. The effect of the itchy snuffle was almost instantaneous - his nose twitched violently, his eyes squeezed shut, and his face screwed up tightly around his nose as it fired off sneeze after sneeze. "itsh! itsh! itish! tissh! itishoo! eisshoo! shoo shoo shoo! " Pause. Snuffle. "heeisshoooo! " A slightly stronger, longer sneeze, then a messier "yissshhishhishh! "

"Brilliant, dear, blessings..." Giles murmured. He leaned up to brush a kiss over Wesley's cheek, then to nuzzle his nose over Wesley's face, which was still tense with the anticipation of more sneezes.

"huh itchushoo! " Certain he had sneezed right in Giles' face, Wesley started to mumble an apology, only to be overtaken by a forceful "hutchushhh! "

"Oh..." Giles shivered, then kissed Wesley's lips. "Bless you, dearest..."

"heptschoo! " Wesley sneezed. "h'tishh, tishh, tishoo! " His eyes watering, he raised his head to meet Giles' gaze. "S-sorry snff sdeezig snff a-all over... huhrrishoo! " Another sneeze sprayed over Giles' shirt. "Oh... snffsnifflesniffsniff... heeeishhooosh! "

"Good..." Giles rubbed Wesley's back in soothing circles. "Good, sneeze it out, that's it."

"A-all over you.." Wesley finally managed to say. "huhh tchoo! Itchoo! EISHOO! " He panted for a moment, then rose off the pillow with a long, shuddering "hrrrUSHHOOOSHH! " that felt like it came from the very bottom of his lungs, followed by an almost equally powerful, but softer and messier "h'djsshhhh! "

"Bless you, darling!" Giles repeated.

Wesley wrinkled his nose, pressed a finger against it, then convulsed again with another series of small, wet, ticklish sneezes. "h'tchissh! Chissh! Chissh! Chisshoosh! Hetchish, chish, chish, heeyishhoo! " The sneezes had his nose running freely, but Wesley was too stuffy to snuffle effectively, even if he'd been able to stop sneezing long enough to manage that.

"Bless!" Giles had another handful of tissues ready. "Think you can clear your nose a bit, now, love?"

"heeeyishheee! " Wesley sneezed at him. "C-cad... sdob... hetchishhoo! "

"Just try...." Giles coaxed. He held the tissues closer, but not too close, giving Wesley all the space he needed to build up to another good, big, messy sneeze.

"huhh, huh... hurrrEISHHoooshhmmmphhhishzzzzzzz..." Wesley sneezed forcefully and went straight in to a long, rumbling, tissue-soaking blow.

"Good, oh, good, darling..." Giles encouraged him, rubbing his shoulder. "Going to blow all the cold right out of your nose..."

"D-dod so sibble," Wesley warned him, breath already catching with the anticipation of another sneeze. "H-hab quite a code... heeeeYISHHeeew! "

"You do, I can tell," Giles gently responded. He brought a few more tissues to Wesley's nose,wiped it delicately, and made a little soothing sound when it trembled and quivered at the touch. "You should see your nose... so pink and sensitive already..."

As Wesley struggled with a hitching breath and a nose that would not stop quivering, Giles very carefully tickled the edge of one twitching nostril through the tissue. "Oh! ohhoh..."

"Mmm... very ticklish?"

Wesley couldn't respond. Giles' tickling was merciless - it was driving his nose crazy, but not getting it quite close enough to a sneeze. The little feeling kept backing down when he snuffled or wrinkled his nose, but flared up again as soon as Giles tickled the tip of his nose or brushed a fingertip at the base of his nostrils. "huh uhh! huhuyuh! h'h'h'h!! "

"Very ticklish," Giles answered his own question. The mattress shifted and for a few seconds, the warmth of Giles' body next to his moved away from Wesley, then moved back closer than before. "Here," he whispered, "I have a feeling you'll sneeze right through the tissues..." He held a hanky to Wesley's nose, or, really, in front of Wesley's nose, bringing it closer only to tickle all over Wesley's hypersensitive nostrils.

"Prohohh..." Wesley leaned into the maddening, tickling touch of the hanky, his nose twitching and running as he concentrated on the itch inside. "Deed a r-rehehh...hehehhh..." He kept his breathing light, trying desperately to coax the itch into the sneeze he so desperately needed, the sneeze Giles was trying to encourage, was expecting - an enormous, wet, messy, hanky-filling sneeze. A fit of them. For the moment, though, Wesley could only frown and pant and try to relax and let the itch work its way down through his sinuses to fill his nose.

"Need to sneeze," Giles murmured. "Yes... my poor love, so stuffed up... makes it hard to work out the itches and tickles..." He brushed Wesley nostrils again with a corner of the hanky. "Such a cold... all those snuffles and sneezes, filling up your nose, just begging to come out...tickling and tickling and tickling..."

Whether it was the touch or the words or a small shift in the congestion, something spurred the itch in Wesley's nose and all at once it spread like wildfire through his sinuses and nose, blossoming into a good, strong "hrrrushhhhoosh! "

"Bless you!" Giles deftly caught the sneeze in the hanky, but didn't press it close, holding back to give Wesley room to work up to another congested hruffrschooo! "Good, that's it..."

"Dehehheed... tiggle?" Wesley pleaded breathlessly. His nose was quivering and twitching and itching all over - he felt he'd go mad if he couldn't keep sneezing it out.

"Of course... just need a little, I think..." Giles murmured. He wrapped one arm comfortingly around Wesley's shoulders and then tickled his nose again, very delicately, with an edge of the hanky.

"heeishh! " Wesley sneezed. "h'yishh, yishh, yisshhee! " He panted for a moment, then started sneezing again, deeper, louder sneezes that just kept coming. "huhhushhoo! Hrrruffschoo! Harschoosh! Hegtchoosh! "

"There, darling, good... Bless you." Giles took a moment to refold and reposition the hanky for Wesley, rubbing his nose between snuffles and stroking his back gently as Wesley built up to another great sneeze.

"huhh... huh! hurrhrrrusshhoosh! harushhoo! " Wesley snuffled quietly, took in a slow, uneven breath, then let out a loud, shuddering "rrUSSHushhoosh! " that pitched him forward into the hanky. He sneezed a muffled "hurchuumpffhah! " against Giles' hand, followed by a nice, satisfying "heruffffCHUSSHMmmphhh! " as Giles as held the handkerchief tightly over his nose and mouth.

"Bless you! Oh, love, nice sneezes... work some of the cold out, hm?"

"Oh... oh, feels good to, tuh... t'chusshhummfff! " Wesley lowered his head at the same time as Giles' raised the hanky toward his nose, catching the end of the sneeze in the soft cloth. "huhhutchummpphh! ah, do sdeeze iddo a haggy," he mumbled into the hanky, snuffled around the cloth and against Giles' hand a little bit, and sneezed out a series of small, muffled explosions. "chuff! uffchuffuh! hutchurfffsh! "

"Sounds good..." Giles leaned in to kiss Wesley's hair and nuzzled his ear softy. "Bless... " He nuzzled again, more lightly, and blessed Wesley once more after a messy, wet "higyisshhihih! " burst out. "Have a good blow, now, love... hm?"

Wesley frowned, closed his eyes, and prepared to blow his nose as Giles' fingers tightened right over his nostrils. "higdjisssshun! " Wesley sneezed without any buildup, but with a good deal of force and spray.

"Or perhaps I need to catch a few more --"

"DJSSSussshh! " Another sudden, messy sneeze. And another - "huJISSSHuuh! "

"Bless you!" Giles hugged Wesley affectionately and kept him close while thick, heavy snuffles followed the hanky-filling sneezes. He wiped Wesley's nose with what drier section he could find. "Finished?"

Starting to nod, Wesley's breath caught loudly in his chest. The hanky hovered in front of his nose, but it didn't do much good when he exploded with a great cloud of spray and a huge, loud "heeeeeYISSSHEEWSSHhhh! " Shaking his head back and forth to get rid of the last bits of tickling, Wesley fired off a series of tiny wet sneezes, "issh, issh, ish, chssh-chss-csssish! " and, when he couldn't stop sneezing, buried his nose into a clean hanky and sneezed his way into a heavy, slow, gurgling blow. "hutchishhzzzzzzhhh-shh-shh-shh-shhmmpphhhssshhh..." When Wesley had cleared his nose as much as possible, he sighed and leaned against Giles, letting his boyfriend tend to the last, lingering sniffles with another clean hanky. "Oh... "

"Is it safe to bless you now?" Giles asked, nuzzling a kiss into Wesley's hair.

"Provisiodally," Wesley answered, with a hoarse chuckle.

"Provisionally, then, bless you, my darling." Giles wiped his nose delicately, then folded the hanky to receive another rumbly blow. "Good..." He kissed Wesley again. "Hankies feel good?"

Wesley nodded. "Sofder... doad bage suge a bess..." He snuffled, then nuzzled into the soft cloth. "Dice."

"Very nice..." Giles murmured. "Those were some brilliant sneezes, much too good for tissues."

"Would have sdeezed right..." Wes coughed. "Ride through theb..."

"Indeed. You filled the hankies right up..." Giles grinned as he cautiously lowered the hanky , but kept it ready in his hand. "All those good, strong sneezes and blows..."

"Feld good..." Wesley murmured, blushing a little. "Sadisfyig... sdeezig ad blowig oud the idge...I was very idgy," he told Giles, grinning himself before turning his head to nuzzle lightly over Rupert's ear. "With this code," he added. "Id by doze. Sniff sniff snifflesniff! " He sniffled deliberately in Rupert's ear, grinning more broadly when Giles' breath caught and he trembled a bit.

"Keeps you stuffy and sneezey, hm? Need plenty of rest and snuggling... good food..." Giles stroked Wesley's hair. "Shall have to keep you in bed and cuddle you well, feed you up..."

"Cuddlig's very ibordad," Wesley assured him, with a damp snuffle. "Stregtheds the ibbudidies. Or subthig."

"Very important," Giles agreed. "So is food." He kissed Wesley's forehead. "Something spicy, for the congestion, mm?"

"Mb..." Wesley clung to Giles, snuffling more loudly. "Lige you here. Dod goig away for food."

"One can get anything delivered in Los Angeles, isn't that so?" Giles asked. He had the hanky ready in his hand, but rather than raise it he just hugged Wesley close and let him rub his itchy nose against Giles' shoulder.

"Well, yes. I subbose I coud led you do thad... order food..." Wesley snuffled wetly and nuzzle-rubbed his nose against the soft material of Giles' t-shirt. It felt good to work his nose against Giles' shoulder, rubbing against the warmth to get at the itching sensations and at the same time feeling Giles' arm tighten around him to bold him near. "You doad hab sniff! sniffsnff! to go snff far to do thad... sniffllsnffsnf..."

"Needn't worry, love," Giles said as he kissed Wesley's hair, "I have no plans to go anywhere far from you..." He kissed Wesley a few more times, then gave a happy, shuddering sigh as Wesley nuzzled against him with a louder, messier snuffling. "Particularly when ... mm, yes..."

Wesley curled against Giles and made a noisy snurfling sound with his nose. "Oh... by... id's by doze... idgig ad codgesdid..."

"Yes," Giles repeated with approval and yet another soft kiss to Wesley's hair as Wesley snuffled up to his neck and shook his head gently as he snuzzled his nose against Giles.

"Very congested..." Giles murmured. "Even after all those sneezes... " He kissed the tip of Wesley's nose. "You've caught such a brilliant cold."

"Dod a daled I'b beed coblibeded od before... snffsnfflesnurffsnffsnff! " Wesley nuzzled into the kiss, his nose twitching with the snuffles. He coughed quietly against Giles' chest. "Oh.. "

"Brilliant," Giles repeated, stroking Wesley's cheek. "All in your handsome nose, with such sneezing fits and amazing tickly sniffles... ohoho..." He shivered when Wesley snuzzled the sensitive skin of his neck.

"Quite sedsidive do thad," Wesley murmured. "Thig you lige id... by sduffly doze, sduffly sdeezes..."

"Yes..." Giles breathed. "Snuffly sneezes, tickling me all over..."

"Bessy snff sdeezes, all snff over snff you.... huptchssmmmphhsshh! " Wesley buried his nose in Giles' neck, muffling a forceful, wet sneeze.

Giles gasped, then let out a long, shuddery sigh. "Oh... oh love..."

"Lige snfff thad? huhtchishhhhh! " Drawing back just a few inches, Wesley sprayed out another sneeze, misting Giles' neck and shoulder.

"...do... oh, I do... love..." Giles kissed him on the lips, quick and deep and hard. "All right?" he asked, when Wesley gave another wet snuffle.

"Jusd by doze..." He grinned and cuddled closer when Giles shivered. "Lige hearig aboud by dozefull of code?"

"Hearing about it..." GIles nodded. "Hearing it..." He ran one light fingertip down Wesley's nose from the bridge to the tip, then tickled very, very lightly, a smile widening on his face as Wesley's breath caught.

"huh... huh, huh... hutCHUSHHHEWW! " Wesley let the sneeze burst out freely, spraying wherever it would - which happened to be all over Giles. "Goig to hear a lod of id," he assured Giles. "Thig by c-code's cubig oud... heeyishh, yishh, yishhee! "

"Full out..." Giles pressed the tip of his nose to Wesley's after the little itchy sneezes and nudged it affectionately. "An amazing, heavy, snuffly cold..." He nudged Wesley's nose again, more firmly, and stayed close enough to feel the way Wesley's nose twitched. "Love when you catch a tickling cold like this," he said softly.

"Mbb..." Wesley replied stuffily. "Cad tiggle you ... hitchissewsh! chewwshh! chisssheew! " Wesley aimed the sneezes at Giles' neck and nosed over his ear with a series of wet, itchy snuffly breaths. "Tiggle you sniffsnufflesnffsnff... lige do diggle you wid by sdeezes..." Nose full and quivering, Wesley nuzzled Giles' ear until his boyfriend was trembling and he couldn't hold back the sneeze that had filled his nose up any longer. "huhh huh-uhh huh! huhhh! hurrrusschooooUSSSHOOOOO!"

"Oh, godd..." Giles gave a start at the huge, loud, long double sneeze that tumbled out of Wesley's nose and into his ear.

"Sorry sniff..." Wesley reached up one finger to touch the tip of his nose. He held it beneath his nostrils for a moment, rubbing back and forth gently, then lowered it for a good, strong "hupTCHOOOooosh! " A few seconds later, his nose decided it needed to follow the big tickly sneeze with a bunch of tiny, ticklier ones. "chushuh! tchush-chush-chusshewsh, chu! chu! itchu! huh... choosh! "

"Wes..." Hoarse, Giles muttered his name and slowly slid warm hands over Wesley's body to tug him closer. "Please?"

"chusshew! oh, sniff! sniffFF! tode you... I ... hitchiiishyooo! " Wesley aimed a sneeze over his shoulder to avoid getting it in Giles face, but as soon as he turned back, his nose twitched anew. "T-tih-t-tode you... lihii... lige..." He tried holding back the sneeze, but Giles had leaned up to nuzzle their noses together. "kxxtgsshttm! " Wesley held in a sneeze, his nose pressed to Giles'. He was able to hold in another, though this one sprayed out with a messy sounding "h'chxxzssissh! "

"Bless..." Giles murmured hoarsely. He rubbed his nose against Wesley's, nuzzling out another powerful hggxxstt! that sprayed over him. "Oh, love..." He kissed Wesley eagerly, a long, hungry kiss that ended only when Wesley snuffled urgently and broke away to breathe. "Love," he murmured again, stroking Wesley's hair.

"..scuse.. hrrrrUSHHooosh! " Wesley sneezed loudly into a cupped hand. "Oh... that snff feld guh-good..." He snuffled and pressed his hand to the base of his nose when even a wet, heavy sniffle couldn't keep his nose from running freely. "oh..."

"Sounded good," Giles purred, rubbing Wesley's back with one hand and stretching the other over to the nightstand to grab a clean hanky. "Blow might feel good too... hm?" He rubbed his hips against Wesley for a moment as he was reaching for the handkerchief, then shifted so he could better hold the soft cloth up to Wesley's nose.

"D-dod yed... snffsnfflesnff..." Wesley let Giles rub his nose gently. "St-still ihihdgy... tigglig all through by doze... thig I'b godda hab adother... adoh... huptchishhh, tchishh, tchishh, chishh! " He fired off the soft, wet sneezes into the hanky.

"...oh..." Giles breathed. His hips twitched, and his stirring penis nudged Wesley. "Bless, bless you..."

"Goig do hab do keeb doig that..." Wesley warned. He rubbed against Giles, just a bit, as he rubbed his nose into the hanky.

"Doing...?"

"Blessig... heeeishhoosh, itchoosh, heeeishheeeewsh! " Another series of tickly sneezes pressed Wesley closer to his lover. "Worgig od addother good fid of sdeezes, I thig... snffSNFFsnfflesnff! "

"Keep catching the sneezes, too..." Giles murmured, cuddling Wesley close.

"Y-yes..." Wesley watched Giles' face, noting the hungry look in his eye, the heightened color in his cheeks, and how his breath came fast through parted lips. "I h-hab a snfff very snffSNFF sdeezey code, Ruberd," Wesley murmured. He pouted slightly, then frowned. "snffSNFFsnfflesnff... huhuhh, huhUhh, HARSCHOOOOSHHH! "

Giles was very quiet after the strong sneezes shuddered out of Wesley. His fingertips skimmed lightly down Wesley's side and he sighed, low and deep, the sound almost turning to a groan as Wesley nuzzled against him. "Bless," he breathed, "very sneezey..."

"mbbuh... snffsnufflesnffff! " Wesley answered congested sound and nuzzled up closer to Giles so he could press his twitchy nose into his lover's shoulder again. Into that space just between Giles' shoulder and neck, more precisely, where warm skin emerged from soft, worn t-shirt material. Where, when he pressed his nose and nuzzled, snuffled, and sniffled wetly, it made Giles gasp with arousal. "Doze keebs idgig," he murmured against Giles' skin.

"Stay close..." Giles shivered again and coaxed Wesley to press closer to him. His breath was coming in small, soft pants, quickly and quietly. Every so often, as Wesley snuffled over his neck and behind his hear, it would catch more loudly and Giles would arch up off the mattress. "Even sound so itchy... itchy nose cold..."

"Doze is sduffy... tiggles...." Wesley snuffled lightly at Giles, nuzzling his nose very gently and carefully as he started to build up to another sneeze. "huh.. huh... here, cubs -- " he tried warning Giles, giving him a little stuffy-nosed nuzzle, but the tickling made him feel so itchy-quivery all over. "heehihhuhh.... hh'h'... eeeisshISSH!! "

"Oh..." Giles hugged Wesley close, shivering slightly. "Bless, love..."

"heeeISHHHEW! " Wesley sneezed again. "heeyishh, yishh, yishh, yishhee! " He snuffled, then rubbed his nose eagerly into the hanky that Giles held up for him, nuzzling out a quiet, stuffy "hrrrufffschooosh! "

"Oh, love..." Giles pressed little kisses to Wesley's hair, his shoulder, his cheek. "Bless..."

Wesley blew his nose strongly and curled into Giles' embrace. "So snff affectiodade snffsnff! "

"So sneezey..." Giles kept kissing Wesley, little nuzzling kisses, and curled more tightly around him. "My darling, such a cold in your nose... need to cuddle you... can't get close enough.."

"Mbb... oh, R-ruhh... hetchishhoosh! "

"That's it..." Giles coaxed, rubbing Wesley's nose through the hanky.

"h'tishh, tishh, tishh, tishh, tishhee! " Wesley blinked at Giles after the quick, ticklish sneezes, and smiled when he saw the dazed, aroused expression on his face. "Ad h-here snff was worried snff goig do disappoid snffsnff you..."

"No disappointment," Giles assured him, with another eager kiss. "Never disappoint, my darling Wesley..."

"Oh... lub... sniffsnifflsnff..." Wesley returned the kiss a few times over, sniffling whenever he got the chance and nuzzling his nose over Giles' between the kisses. Giles pressed their bodies closer, trembling with arousal as Wesley slid his arms around Giles and nuzzled against him some more. "Thig you deed sub... sub... irrishheew! " Wesley aimed the sneeze toward Giles' shoulder. Another one caught up with him before he could turn back to Giles. "hiptisssheee! "

A soft gasp from Giles sounded beneath the wet, constant sniffling. He angled his hips so he could rub his growing erection against his lover, gasping again, softly, as Wesley hugged himself more tightly to Giles. "Wes... oh, you..."

"huh huh-EISSHHOO! S-sorry... big sdeeze," he explained, though the way he had clung to Giles and let out the resounding sneeze was really explanation enough. As his body tensed and breath hitched again, Wesley kept his hold on Giles. "uhh yish yiish... yiishheee! " he sneezed, more quietly this time, but with enough force behind the release to make him shudder a little, especially when he realized how those little sneezes had roused a bigger tickle in his nose. "oh... snff... sniffff! snf-sniiflle... oh, doze... huh huh HUH! TSCHUSSSHuuhh! ah..." The huge, snuffly sneeze burst out freely, loudly, and all over Giles. Wesley snuffled carefully and began to nose against Giles' shoulder even more carefully. "I'b sdeezig... bakig a bess..."

"Yess..." Giles' voice was lower now, almost a whisper. His body twitched at the small, snuffling nuzzles Wesley was giving his shoulder, then his chest after Wesley eased him back against the pillows. "Snuffly, messy sneezing..."

Smiling into Giles' t-shirt, Wesley gave him a series of affectionate, stuffy-nosed nuzzles that slowly built up to a nice, full, round "hutchushhushhoo! " Wesley muffled the sneeze into Giles' shoulder, then snuffled down toward the center of his chest. His nose nudged against Giles, drew back for a moment, snuffled wetly, then moved in closer to nudge Giles once more. "Mbb... I thig... cad feel ... b-bore..." A slow, deep tickle moved from the back of his nose, practically begging to be nuzzled out. "Sneeze id oud... all over you?" he asked and pressed a kiss to the center of Giles' chest.

Giles rubbed against Wesley again with a needy whimper. "Oh.. please.. good for you, sneeze it... all out..." he murmured, panting quietly and trembling at the snuffly nuzzling that Wesley gave him.

"hurrhushhoo! " Wesley sneezed. "hutchushh! h'tchushhmmphhiishhh... " He sprayed the sneezes out over his boyfriend, then nuzzled out the last, even messier sneeze right into Giles' chest.

Giles gasped and ground his hips against Wesley, his erection growing more insistent. "Oh.." he panted. "Love, bless... bless you..."

"Hab a sdeezey code," Wesley complained, grinning when he felt Giles twitch all over just at the word 'sneezey.' "hurrhishhchoosh! "

"...bless..." Giles shivered. "Poor love, s-such sneezes..."

"heeeischoosh! h'YISHHHEW! " Wesley snuffled thickly and rubbed his nose into Giles' shoulder. "Big odes..." he agreed, even as he curled around Giles' warm, comforting bulk.

"Good, big sneezes," Giles agreed. "Working out the tickles... starting to sneeze out the congestion...." He hugged Wesley close, wrapping one long bare leg around him to draw him even closer. "Sneezing all over the place," he murmured in Wesley's ear, shivering a little with pleasure. "Sneezing out that heavy cold... poor darling."

"h'esshyishhewsh! " Wesley sprayed an uncontrollably wet sneeze at Giles, breath heaving with another build-up almost immediately afterwards. "huh, huhuh... uh, uh uh!! hhh... uhhUSHHshoo! hetchushhewshhih! " A sigh of relief and a heavy snuffle followed the sneeze and Wesley rubbed himself against Giles. He gave another sigh at the feel of Giles' arousal, warm and hard as his erection pressed into Wesley's thigh. "Oh... you... good lige this... bissed feelig sniff! snurfffle! mmb, ah... feelig you..." He rubbed against Giles again, then snuffled really wetly, on purpose, as his nose brushed over Giles' ear. "Rather sniff glad I caud snf a bessy, sduff- sniff!snffff! sduffly code... lub makig sniffle you... you... yih, ihh... ihhYISSSHeeee! "

"Ah!" Giles gasped and involuntarily bucked his hips against Wesley. Little, needy whimpers punctuated his gasping breaths as Wesley's wet, itchy snuffles tickled his ear, his neck, his collarbone.

"hurchummphh! " Wesley sneezed into Giles' shoulder and quickly brought his head up for a deep, congested "churrusshoooshh! " that he sneezed down Giles' chest. "Oh... really ab... rushooshh! chrushhuhh! sdeezig snff! all over... oh, hmb..." He pressed his nose to Giles and rubbed a few times. "Doze is sduffed... oh, w-wait... godda, huh... TCHUSSSHuhh.... CHUSSHHoooh.... huh... CHUSSHushhushhooh! " Three, deep, stuffy, head-shakingly strong sneezes took over Wesley's attempt at snuzzling and teasing Giles. Instead, he ended up clinging even more tightly to his lover, quivering with the desperate urge to sneeze more of the tickles out of his full nose. And, truly, to keep that hungry, needy look in Giles' eyes as long as he could, until his lover simply couldn't take it anymore.

"Bless you..." Giles murmured breathlessly. The warmth of arousal was spreading through his body like the itches and tickles spread through Wesley's nose, making his nostrils quiver and twitch until he convulsed with another sneeze.

"hurruschoosh! " Another messy sneeze burst out of Wesley, spraying Giles' already-damp shirt. "Oh snff scuse... sdeezig... snffsnff! heeEISHOO! "

Giles gasped, squirming against his lover, trying to rub his increasingly insistent erection against him. "Love..." he panted.

"huptchushh! itchushh! tchuss, tchusss, tchuss, tchuss, tchushhh! " One after another, Wesley sprayed out the soft, tickly, increasingly wet sneezes.

Each tiny explosion brought Giles' need to a higher pitch, as he shivered under the spray and felt Wesley tremble against him with the force of the sneezes. And the sight of his face - so open and vulnerable, when his nose consumed all his attention, and with that pink, twitching, sensitive-looking nose... Giles groaned softly. "Wes... please, love..." He ground his hips against Wesley's.

Smiling and snuffling, Wesley kissed him lightly on the lips, then at the collarbone. Then he drew back slightly. "huhh, huh, huh! huptchoosh, itchushhoosh, hrrrrUSHHooosh! " He expelled the sneezes strongly over Giles' chest, making Giles groan louder and try to press up.

"Wes...!"

Wesley pressed his face into the soft shirt over Giles abdomen to muffle an even stronger hutchmmphssshhh! Then, snuffling and coughing, he began to ease Giles' pants down with deft hands and work his shirt up using little more than nuzzles.

The impossibly ticklish stifled sneeze, and the amazing feeling of Wesley's quivering, cold-ridden nose nuzzling over his belly, made Giles whimper. He struggled to hold still, but it grew more and more difficult, as first Wesley pulled down his pants far enough to let Giles' now-insistent erection free, and then pressed a nuzzling kiss to the curling hair at the base. "...god..." Giles croaked, letting his head fall back and his fingers dig into Wesley's shoulder. "Please please..." A snuffly nuzzle made him cry out, and then he shouted again when Wesley licked him. "Yes, oh... Wes...."

Wesley pressed his hands into Giles hips to keep him still, then lavished snuffly, snuzzling kisses over Giles' penis, scrotum, and thighs. Giles' breath grew deep and harsh, and he dug his fingers into the mattress in an attempt to keep from squirming. He couldn't entirely keep still; he was ravenous for Wesley, and especially for the maddening, teasing touch of his nose.

"So snfflesnffsnff eager..." Wesley murmured. "hurrushchoo! "

"Ah!" Giles stiffened. "Not going... last long," he warned, panting as he felt the heat coiling in his abdomen.

Wesley finally took Giles in his mouth, but could only hold him for a moment before rearing back with a full "hutchoosh! "

"...oh..."

"etchushhoosh! "

"...g-god..."

"hurrushh, ushh, ushh, uschoosh! " Wesley pressed another snuffly kiss to Giles' head, then surrounded it with the wet warmth and pressure of his mouth. He barely had time to tease Giles with his tongue before Giles arched off the mattress with a cry.

"Wes, oh, WES!! " He trembled for a moment, panting helplessly, then came hard with a desperate shout.

"There... snufflesnffff! oh, lub..." Wesley nuzzled at the base of Giles' stomach and over the curve of his hip, kissing and snuffling and making soothing sounds until the raspy breathing and trembling calmed down. Slowly, he snuffled his way back up Giles' body until he could draw his lover into his arms. "There... darlig..."

Giles whimpered a bit and hugged himself very tightly to Wesley. For a few moments he just held Wesley, hard and close, and then eased back slightly to start pressing kisses to his face and neck. This continued until Giles curled himself around Wesley, head on Wesley's chest, and gave Wesley affectionate little pettings as he tried to clear his nose. "Poor love... mmm..." He nuzzled Wesley's chest a bit after a few coughs. "Wes love... all right?"

"Mmbb... sduffy," he replied and immediately buried his nose back into a handkerchief for another long, congested, and really satisfying blow. The sneezes had filled his nose right up, all that congestion and snuffling only making him sneeze more. Even now, as his nose gurgled and honked into the hanky, a few tickles were strong enough that he had lean away from the hanky, sneeze them out freely, and muffle another blow into the cloth.

"Nose looks sore..." He leaned up to brush a tiny, tender kiss over it, then curled himself back around Wesley. "Mm... "

"F-feels... snff sore... snffsnffsnfff! " Snuffling, Wesley rubbed his nose against Giles. "Code," he explained, smiling when he felt Giles snuzzle into his hair.

"Poor love," Giles murmured, pressing little kisses against him. "Rather a bad cold... stuffing up your nose and making it sore..."

"hutchss, huhtchusssh, hurruffschushh! " Wesley muffled the soft, stuffy sneezes against Giles' shirt. "'scuse be.." He nuzzled into the hanky for another messy blow.

"Bless you... and full of sneezes..." Giles snuggled even closer to Wesley when he coughed and tried to clear his nose again. "Darling..." He kissed him over and over again, firm warm kisses over his face and feather-light ones over his throat. "Thank you," he whispered hoarsely. "So wonderful."

"Just snffsnfflesniff..." Wesley's protest was swallowed when Giles kissed him warmly on the lips. "...oh... welcome..."

"Such a generous love... make me feel, oh..." Lost for words, Giles just hugged Wesley tightly. "Love, love, love you..."

His heart feeling like it might burst, Wesley pressed snuffly kisses on his lover. "Love you," he echoed.

"But, all right?" Giles stroked Wesley's hair. "Didn't do anything that makes you feel bad? Never want that... and you, such a cold, poor love..."

Wesley nuzzled him again. "Feels good," he assured him. "Really, it helbs... duzzle out the tiggles.... idgy little sdeezes... so you cad edjoy theb..."

"I..." Giles blushed. "Do enjoy them, too much, perhaps."

"Dever too buch," Wesley corrected, with another nuzzle. "Always wad to give you that...oh... huhhtchsss, tchsss, tchsss, tshooh! " He let out the small, tickly sneezes freely, shivering as they burst out, misting the air. Giles shivered too, and pulled the blankets closer around the two of them.

"Sleep a little," he encouraged, petting Wesley. "Good for your cold..." he yawned. "I'll make you tea when you wake up..."

"Ad you'll be here?"

"I'll be here," Giles promised, with a soft kiss.

Contented, Wesley curled up close to his boyfriend, and allowed himself to sleep.

THE END.

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