Prompt #47: Allergy Season

[100xoverfest]

Prompt: #24
Title: Allergy Season
Genre: Fluff
Rating: PG 
Side Pairings: -
Warning/s: -
Season: Spring
Summary: Junmyeon has a pollen allergy and is always miserable when spring comes. Yifan is a pharmacist that couldn't stop thinking how cute Junmyeon looks with watery eyes and red nose.
A/N (Author's Note): I took creative liberties with the pharmacy but do enjoy this springtime fic!




Yifan knows when allergy season starts. He himself doesn’t have allergies but as a pharmacist, when you start getting dozens of prescription orders for desloratadine and olopatadine, you know.

The customers generally look okay - a sneeze here and there or maybe slightly swollen eyes. He’s seen worse in other patients with the flu or bronchitis.

Or at least, he thought he'd seen worse.

“Excuse me,” comes the sniffles of the man in front of him. Yifan’s been staring for some time now, because how can he not when the man’s eyes are so red and swollen it’s a wonder he can see at all? Tears have stained his cheeks from all the attempts his eyes have made to flush themselves of pollen to no avail.

“Um...yes?” Yifan replies.

“What kind of medication should I use for this?” the man points at his eyes.

“You should see an allergist,” Yifan replies. “I’m not sure I have anything that can help you without a prescription.”

“Ah…” the man replies.

“Well, alright, let’s try some ketotifen and loratadine for you,” Yifan finally says, excusing himself from the pharmacy counter to help the man locate some preliminary defenses against what is clearly a raging maple pollen allergy.

“Thank you,” the man says.

“I’m surprised that with the extent of your symptoms, you haven’t been to see a doctor yet,” Yifan tells him as he guides the man to the over the counter shelves.

“I’m very busy, unfortunately.”

“But surely being in this much discomfort interferes with your work,” Yifan quips. The man looks up at him and smiles. His smile, at least, is handsome.

“That’s true. That’s why I came to you,” the man chuckles. “But I guess it’s worse than I thought.” He scratches the back of his head. Yifan points at the medicines.

“There’s loratadine. Take that once in the morning and once at night. And here are the ketotifen eye drops. Take them as needed but follow the directions on the box. Although...I’m not sure any of this will really help you much. I think you need something stronger which unfortunately, I can’t give you.”

“This should do for now - can you recommend an allergist by any chance?”

Yifan smiles. “Sure, come with me,” he replies. They walk back to Yifan’s counter together and Yifan scrolls through the list of doctors he knows. Yifan adjusts his nameplate on his labcoat in an absentminded motion as he selects an allergist for his customer. “Dr. Oh on 5th Street should be able to help you. Let me print out his contact information, just a moment.” He hands the man the information, smiling back as the man grins.

“Thank you, Yifan,” the man replies, smiling before leaving Yifan’s pharmacy counter.

Jongdae pops up from the shelves of drugs. “He was cute,” Yifan’s colleague teases. “Can’t believe you sent him to Dr. Oh. That guy seduces everyone without even trying.”

“No he doesn’t,” Yifan shakes his head, frowning as he looks at the prescription another practice just sent him. Ciprofloxacin. Oof.

“You don’t normally help customers find OTCs, though, so that means you liked him. Never thought you’d be into the swollen-red-eyes-and-runny-red-nose type. Weird,” Jongdae continues to make lighthearted jabs at Yifan and Yifan ignores him. Jongdae doesn’t care. “So? What was his name?”

Yifan whips around to face Jongdae with wide eyes.

Yifan forgot to get his name.

Jongdae cackles.

Yifan nearly forgets about the man with the swollen, teary eyes until one day he gets a prescription for high-concentration olopatadine ophthalmic solution. That’s a second generation h1 histamine antagonist. A cure for moderate to severe allergic conjunctivitis. Just what someone with swollen, teary eyes needs.

“Do you think it’s him?” Jongdae asks, peering over Yifan’s shoulder at the prescription.

“Kim Junmyeon…” Yifan looks at the prescription information. “It’s a cute name.”

“Perfect for a cute man,” Jongdae nods. “It’s probably him. Well, brush your hair, reapply some deodorant, you’ll see him soon, then.”

“Shut up,” Yifan mutters, but to be honest, he’s a bit giddy. It’s been a while since he’s actually been interested in anyone. He doesn’t even know this man but at least this guy was friendly, cute, and definitely attractive to Yifan. He wonders if the guy felt the same about him.

A couple of hours after the prescription comes in, the man comes to pick it up. His eyes are still swollen, still red, and he’s still adorable with his brilliant smile and bright cheeks.

“Mr. Kim?” Yifan asks when the man comes up to the window.

“Yes. Junmyeon,” he replies. “Thanks to your recommendation maybe I’ll get some relief.”

“I...yes, I’m sure these eye drops will help,” Yifan replies, grabbing the drops off the counter. He grabs a coupon for the drops too, just so Junmyeon doesn’t have to pay so much for them.

Jongdae slides up to the window. “You saw Dr. Oh?” he asks Junmyeon all innocently, as if he didn’t know that already. “How did you find his skills?” He glances back at Yifan, who’s packaging the box of eyedrops. Yifan wants to growl at him. Don’t ask about Dr. Oh! Yifan likes Dr. Oh but not when they’re competing for a man!

“Um,” Junmyeon thinks for a moment. “He is a good allergist.”

“Yes, he has a lot of talent,” Jongdae smiles. “Oh, a new prescription came in. Let me get to that. Thanks for shopping with us today, Mr. Kim. Yifan will be right with you. His shift is almost over so he’ll be quick to help.”

“Thank you,” Junmyeon replies, a bemused expression on his face.

“Sorry about him,” Yifan says, returning to the window. “He’s talkative,” Yifan chooses that word (rather than “obnoxious” or “intrusive”) in a display of professionalism.

“Oh, it’s alright,” Junmyeon smiles brilliantly once again. “He said your shift is almost over?”

“That’s right,” Yifan nods. “I get off at six.” He looks at the clock. Five fifty-seven.

“I just caught you then,” Junmyeon chuckles, but the way he’s rocking back and forth on his feet make Yifan wonder if this is more than small talk.

“Ask him out,” Jongdae whispers. “Get a coffee with him. Go out for drinks. Whatever. Just do it.”

Yifan gulps. “Um...I was going to go grab a coffee after I leave. If you’d like to join me, you’re welcome to.”

“Oh!” Junmyeon smiles. “Um, yes! I’ll buy! To thank you for helping me with this,” he gestures to his face, swollen and red. “I’ll wait here. Or, first I’ll apply these eye drops. And I’ll meet you here.”

“Okay,” Yifan smiles at him. Cute.

As it turns out, Junmyeon is even cuter when his eyes aren’t suffering from allergies. His eyes practically shimmer when Yifan talks to him. Yifan is totally enamored.

“I’m glad I developed allergies this year,” Junmyeon says as they meet for coffee for the third time that week.

“Really?” Yifan asks doubtfully. “From the drug you were prescribed it sounded absolutely miserable.”

“Well...it was…” Junmyeon mumbles, sipping on his caramel macchiato, “but it allowed me to meet the pharmacist I’d been crushing on for ages.”

“Ages?” Yifan cries, nearly knocking over his americano in surprise. “Ages?”

“Well, yeah,” Junmyeon replies, shooting Yifan a patronizing look. “Did you think I didn’t know how to find over the counter eye drops myself? Did you think I didn’t completely understand that I needed to see an allergist? I’m not an idiot,” Junmyeon laughs long and hard and his eyes turn into little crescents and Yifan wants to kiss his cheeks so bad.

So he does.

Except Junmyeon catches his movement and turns at just the right moment so their lips meet unexpectedly. Junmyeon’s lips taste like caramel and cream and Yifan smiles into their kiss.

“Fine,” he replies when he pulls away. “I’m glad you developed allergies this year too.”

“There we go,” Junmyeon smiles, leaning in for another kiss.