Oh YAY. I'd been meaning to write something for this, and royalty was the first thing I thought of. So now I don't have to, because this is stunning.

I've read it three times now... so I guess I should probably say thanks! It's delicious. I'm not a fan of quite this much mess, but I still LOVED it. Eli looking up and seeing the wetness in his nose... His nostrils flared and Eliseo saw another drip laying in wait on the cusp. Fuuuuuuuuck yes.

Seriously, though, you had me at "contract." Not just a verbal agreement but an actual written and signed contract; that's hot. And the way Padgett reassured Eliseo and Eli needing that reassurance even if he wouldn't admit it. He doesn't admit a lot, it seems, but everything he thinks and feels is pretty clear to Padgett :-)

"Now, I'm going to- to hih-- to snhhsneeze, hah-- haktschtsch! Hrh- Hnkgstschhiu!
Are you actually trying to kill me? My gods, every letter in that bit is beautiful. I love warnings/announcing soooo much.

So many good parts though. Reaching up and touching Padgett's thigh. Padgett warning him the next sneezes were going to be wet. Eli getting so hot and just going with it.

I also really loved:
"I think you'll be catching your cold, Eli."
Because, see, normally I think it's hot when a character says "you'll be catching my cold" but you've written is "your cold." It's the cold Eli wants and that Eli hired him to give. It's ALREADY Eli's cold, it's just that it's in Padgett's nose at the moment. Damn, that's so beautiful.

And then of course Eliseo offering to take care of him. Awww. It's hot and tender and so good.


And now that Eliseo has had this reaction to sneezing, I imagine he'll want to see if affects him the same way again (and of course he finds it just as hot). And, as per the prompt, if Padgett really does catch a lot of colds, I imagine the next one he gets will be something Eli pays attention to. So I can just picture Eli coming up with some other reason he needs to catch cold. "It got me out of the wedding last time so well, it's worth trying this time." And I like to imagine that he just starts fabricating reasons just so Padgett will sneeze on him because it's so enjoyable. And Padgett obviously knows but doesn't say because he enjoys this, too. And, hey, if he's already sneezy, he might as well. It amuses me to imagine how long they might be able to keep the charade going. "That's good," Eliseo says, licking his lips before dragging his sleeve across his face to dry it. "I'm sure to catch cold now. That'll get me out of the dinner for sure."
"Dinner? Didn't you say you needed an excuse to miss the council meeting?"
"Ah, right. Yes! Well, there's a dinner directly following the council meeting. That's what I meant, of course."
"Of course."