#eye allergy symptoms are the woooorst

[snezfics-n-shit]

Sicktember Day 26: [Allergic] Conjunctivitis

Fandom: Ace Attorney Characters: Larry Butz, Franziska von Karma, Adrian Andrews Notes: The “[allergic]” part is my own addition because if you’re squeamish like me (no shame in that), what’s often called conjunctivitis or “pink eye” is kind of an uncomfortable image so I wanted that clarification out of the way. Allergic conjunctivitis is just the “official” name for allergy symptoms in the eyes. I lasted these many days, I think I should be allowed to bend the rules just a little as a treat. Larry gets his time in the spotlight because I love him. He’s staying at Franziska and Adrian’s house (believe it or not he doesn’t live there, though) and has managed to give Adrian quite the scare upon his return from running some errands. There’s established married Fradrian and set post-SoJ purely for timeline purposes, as always. If you like the things I write, I always appreciate reblogs and comments; they really make my day!

     The nearly ten years of friendship Larry and Franziska shared taught the two a lot about each other. There were important things, like Franziska and Adrian requiring the utmost privacy and quiet whenever either of the couple said even insinuated designating an evening as a Date Night, which Larry had accidentally neglected to respect when he needed help using the air fryer. There were also small things, like Larry’s vehement denial of having any interest in the celebrity ballroom dancing show that was frequently on the Andrews’ household TVs was merely a façade he would put on before secretly enjoying the show from the corner of the room. 

At this point, there was no sense in the friends hiding anything from each other. Various life details often found themselves sprinkled in when sharing embarrassing anecdotes involving Phoenix or Miles, too. That said, while hiding information was never a problem, there was always the rare instance of things that Larry would just forget. 

Over the past two weeks, Larry and Franziska had actually been in a sort of lightning round of sharing information vital to have on record for an upcoming collaborative project they had planned. Adrian contributed as well, but her role would have more of an impact later on. There were even some things Larry didn’t consider important to this at all, like his higher education transcripts, that made it into the almighty manilla folder Franziska had been filling with more papers than Larry thought possible to fit in there. 

This diligence on Franziska’s part was probably why Larry could feel his heart sink into his stomach as Adrian frantically led him into the living room as a visual aid for expressing her worries to her wife. 

“What in the world…!?” Franziska made a face perfectly blending confusion and disgust. 

Larry didn’t think he looked that bad, though.

“Do I need to disinfect everything?” Adrian wondered aloud, fretting. “I’ve never seen pink eye before, so…” 

So that’s what this was about. Thankfully, Larry knew well enough that pink eye was not the problem here, and he trusted Franziska to know the same.  Unfortunately, that still meant Adrian was drawing attention to the considerable swelling and visual irritation of Larry’s eyes, something he didn’t realize would be that easy to notice. 

“I don’t believe that to be the case, sweetie.” Franziska spoke calmly, soothing Adrian rather efficiently. She stood up to approach Larry to better assess the situation. “What were you doing to get yourself like that?” 

“Does it really batter?” Larry was about to rub his eyes, but was stopped by Franziska’s superior reflexes when she grabbed onto his hand at what felt like lightning speed. “It’s dot that big of a deal.” 

“It is a ‘big deal’ when you make Adrian worry like she’s doing now.” Franziska firmly lectured him. “You will not put my wife through any more of this and you will provide an explanation for the allergic response you have on full display.” 

“Allergic response?” Adrian repeated quietly. “It’s just allergies?”

“Yeah, like I said–” Larry started before being promptly interrupted.

“Yes.” Franziska nodded. “If you recall, Larry Butz, you were to inform me of every flaw in your health record. Considering the combined efforts of the three of us to keep this house impeccably clean and the gardens’ intentional lack of the flora you explicitly described as giving you trouble while living in France, I am of the firm belief that you are withholding valuable information from both me and Adrian.” 

When Franziska put it like that, it almost sounded like Larry was hiding something on purpose, but in his defense, the cause of his current symptoms was something he frequently allowed himself to forget. It was only just last year when his introduction to a litter of puppies born in the home of a fellow writer went awry, something he had never experienced before. Maybe there was a bit of denial, since the dogs Larry had met in recent years were just so friendly it would be hard to just stop welcoming all that love, but Larry could swear on his life that he would never purposely pretend he forgot about his newly developed allergies. If Franziska needed someone to blame, she should take things up with Larry’s subconscious. 

“Oh, I don’t think Larry would do this on purpose.” Adrian’s defense prompted a look of sincere gratitude from Larry; well, it was as sincerely grateful as he could manage in his face’s current state. 

“Yeah! What she said!” Larry agreed, punctuated by some sniffling. “You see, I was picki’g up food for Shoe like you asked for, and there were just the cutest puppies brought by the local dog shelter…” 

“Puppies did this to you?” Franziska sounded either puzzled or in shock of what she might have perceived as a great weakness on Larry’s part; Larry wasn’t actually sure of which. 

“Hey, dod’t put it that way! They’re just babies!” 

“That’s not–” Franziska stopped herself and pinched the bridge of her nose with a heavy sigh. “Just… Please explain why you waited for us to see you in this miserable state before you said anything.” 

“I’b dot biserable.” The congestion heavily affecting Larry’s voice did a poor job in supporting that claim, especially when followed by a thick sniffle. “I swear I just forgot.”

“Larry Butz, you are very lucky that Adrian and I have known you well enough for us to find that claim credible.”  Franziska finally let go of Larry’s hand and pulled out a pouch of pocket tissues from the pocket of her very comfortable loungewear sweatpants. The irony of the pouch having a puppy theme design was not lost on any of the three occupying the room. “Now, blow your nose, and most importantly: do not rub your eyes simply because your dominant hand is out of my grasp.” 

“Alright, alright.” Larry grumbled as he followed Franziska’s command. The tissues were really soft. Maybe if he used these tissues to tend to the lingering itch…

“Don’t even think about it!” Franziska scolded.

Was Larry that predictable? He looked at his left hand steadily lifted near his eye while holding onto a fresh tissue… Maybe he was. 

“I’m really sorry, guys. I’m completely honest when I say–... K'ttchshiun!! Ht'sshhiiu!! Kk'sshhnn!!” Those sneezes actually felt pretty good compared to the ones that plagued Larry at the pet store an hour ago. That last little bit of dander must have been on its way out, he figured.

The duet of barely stifled giggles from both Franziska and Adrian in response to Larry’s sneezes seemed to greatly lighten the mood. 

“Adorable.” Adrian let the word slip out.

“I told you about that, didn’t I?” Franziska didn’t even attempt to whisper to Adrian. 

“So, uh, I’m forgiven, right?” Larry hoped any unintentional interruption from asking that didn’t ruin his chances altogether.

“For this offense?” Franziska pretended to need a moment to think, struggling to suppress the amused smile on her face. “Yes. Especially given the improvement of Adrian’s mood.” She blew a kiss to her wife after saying that. “Now, I will fetch you a damp cloth and some antihistamines.”

“Aw, thanks, Franzy.”

“However,” Franziska added sternly, “should Adrian tell me you were rubbing your eyes again, I will use you to give my whip a proper send-off before its planned retirement!”

Larry knew then that he had better be careful from now on.

#snez attorney #my writing #my fics #sicktember #sicktember 2023 #eye allergy symptoms are the woooorst #Larry is STRUGGLING #also the Little Guy on Franziska's tissue pouch is referenced