Ricky Bowen Sickfics

26

so the timing of this imagine is kinda weird bc i want it to be at one of the performances of the musical but apparently in the show "opening night" is their only performance so idk just pretend this is like the second night show and gina is still there and everything is fine LMAO

Third Person POV

It isn't uncommon for people to bring flowers for the leading lady on the opening night of a show, as everyone knows, but it is a little more uncommon for someone to give the male lead flowers on the second night a show is in production. In this case it was especially unforeseen and so were the events that followed.
It all started when Ricky got to the school and headed down to the theater department. He was getting ready with everyone and he and Nini were holding hands. They were sitting in makeup chairs while the makeup crew beat their faces. Kourtney was doing Nini's makeup and she was laughing about how glad she was that she didn't have to go on for Gina a second night in a row.
The girl doing Ricky's makeup finished and he hopped up out of his chair and stood behind Nini's with his arms around her neck.
Right as Kourtney made a joke about not being able to do the splits Gina entered.
"Hey, G!" Kourtney said.
Ricky turned and saw Gina walking to the makeup chairs holding a few bouquets.
"Hey guys! I know I missed the beginning of opening night and I didn't get a chance to give the leads something, so here!" Gina grinned and handed Ricky and Nini each a bouquet of flowers.
Nini's bouquet was larger than Ricky's and made up of beautiful red roses.
Ricky's bouquet however was made up of something else. Yellow and pink tulips.
"A-are these tulips?" Ricky asked.
Gina nodded, "Yup! I didn't want to give you both roses so I thought I'd go for something cuter!"
Ricky started to panic. He was quite allergic to pretty much all of the flowers in the Liliaceae family, including lillies which he found out after a bad anniversary with Nini.
He went to put the flowers down and away. "Come here, Ricky, take a picture holding our flowers with Gina!" Nini said.
Ricky hesitated and sniffled reflexively. He swore under his breath. It was already starting. He needed to get away from these flowers soon if he was going to be able to go onstage.
He stood next to Gina with Nini on her other side and they snapped a few pictures. Again, Ricky went to put the flowers down.
But again, he was interrupted. "Oh, Ricky do you mind taking a picture just us so I can send it to my mom? And then taking one of just Nini and I?"
Ricky nodded.
"Nini! We need you over here!" Someone called.
"Oh shit, Ricky can you take the picture first?" Gina asked and shoved her phone into Ricky's hands.
Ricky snapped a couple pictures and then turned to the side and sneezed. It was harsh and forceful and exactly like his allergy sneezes when it came to Liliaceaen flowers. He was starting to panic even more.
Nini and Gina posed a few more different ways and then Nini ran off. It took Gina a minute to find someone else to take their picture and in that minute Ricky sneezed four times. Everyone was too busy running around getting ready for the show to notice.
Gina walked back up to Ricky with Seb in tow holding her phone and she posed next to Ricky. He tried to smile but he had to hold a finger up and then turn to the side to sneeze twice.
"Bless you, Ricky." Gina said.
Ricky tried to thank her but was cut off by another sneeze.
"Are you okay, Ricky!" Seb asked.
Ricky muttered, "I'm fine just take the picture."
Ricky smiled as hard as he could without sneezing which became especially hard once Seb turned the flash on. Ricky sneezed again after the first flash picture and Gina shot him a look but he brushed it off.
After Seb finished taking the pictures he darted off somewhere he was needed. Gina looked at the pictures on her phone while Ricky was finally able to put the goddamn tulips down.
He had been holding them for about fifteen minutes at this point though and he knew that was just enough time.
"Ricky, come here!" He heard Nini's voice beckoning him over to the piano.
He made his way over, sniffling as much as he could on the way so he didn't have to when he got there. Big mistake. As soon as he approached Nini Ricky sneezed twice into his elbow.
"Are you feeling okay? I saw you sneezing a bit over there when Seb was taking your picture," Nini said.
Ricky nodded and sneezed two more times. "I'm fine."
Nini gasped at his voice. "Ricky you are so not fine you're so congested! How are you going to perform? I can barely understand you!"
Not making the situation better, Ricky sneezed three times into his sleeve.
"What's wrong?" Nini asked with a soft voice.
Ricky gave in, "The flowers Gina brought me. Tulips, I'm really fucking allergic."
"Oh shit, what do we even do?" Nini asked. "Why didn't you say something when she handed them to you? Why were you holding them for so long?"
"I didn't want to be rude!"
Ricky coughed and then it turned into a sneeze which turned into two which turned into three.
"You okay, dude?" Big Red appeared at his side.
Ricky huffed, "Tulips."
Big Red's jaw dropped. "Shit. I'll ask Miss Jenn if she has any Claritin or Benadryl or something."
"No no no, don't tell Miss Jenn she'll freak the fuck out," Ricky said.
"Okay well if you don't do anything about it you're gonna go onstage sounding that nasally," Big Red pointed out.
"You're-heh-" Ricky cut himself off with two sneezes into his sleeve which was becoming a little gross. "You're right. Get Miss Jenn, please."
Nini ushered Ricky to the piano bench. "Here, sit down."
A few minutes and several sneezes later, Red returned with a frantic Miss Jenn.
"What is happening? Who gave my lead flowers he was allergic to? What do we do?" She wasn't too calm about it either.
Ricky said, "It doesn't matter, I just need to stop sneezing. And I need some tissues."
"SOMEONE. TISSUES. STAT!" Miss Jenn yelled.
Ricky looked down at the ground as everyone else turned to look at him. He made the matter worse by not being able to stop himself from sneezing while it was still quiet. The entire chorus room blessed him.
Suddenly there were three or four boxes of tissues in front of Ricky. Then there was a very frazzled-looking Gina.
"Ricky, are you okay?" She asked.
Miss Jenn responded before Ricky could. "No he is not, Taylor. Someone gave our leading man flowers he is very much allergic to and now I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do."
Gina's expression dropped and Ricky felt his heart sink. He didn't want Gina to feel bad about it, especially after he was going to have to cut things off with her now that he was pretty much bad with Nini.
"I'm so sorry, Ricky," Gina said. "I'm gonna find Ashlyn she pretty much always has Zyrtec!"
Ricky thanked god she didn't say Benadryl. He wouldn't have been able to do the show whilst passed the fuck out. It took Gina a few minutes to track Ashlyn down but she sent her over, in full Mrs. Darbus glam and a handful of Zyrtec.
"Gina told me you're having an allergic reaction, if it's something with food I can't help but I have some Zyrtec." Ashlyn held them out in her hands.
Ricky sneezed four times into his tissue. His sneezes were starting to become weaker and he hoped that was a good sign.
"Ah, okay. Not a food thing, here," Ashlyn popped some of the pills out of the plastic and handed them to Ricky.
Miss Jenn yelled, "I NEED A WATER!"
"Miss Jenn, I can dry-swallow them-"
"No you can not, your throat is already being tested and we don't have time for this."
Someone brought a cup of water and Ricky knocked back the Zyrtec.
"ALL RIGHT, TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES UNTIL SHOWTIME, PEOPLE!" Carlos yelled.
Miss Jenn was breathing heavy. "Okay. Zyrtec usually takes about fifteen minutes to kick in so Ricky you better blow the hell out of your nose and then get the makeup team to assess the damage."
Then she was gone.
Seventeen minutes passed and finally Ricky's sneezing was starting to slow down. He did what Miss Jenn said and used as many tissues as he could. Then it was back to the makeup chair while he tried to warm up his voice.
"Jesus Christ, what happened to you and the perfect foundation I set?" Kourtney asked.
Ricky ducked down and sneezed into his hands. "Long story. Allergies. I need my face fixed," Ricky said.
Kourtney sat him down and did what she could to cover up the deep shade of red that Ricky's nose had turned.
Lights flickered signaling there were five minutes remaining until the curtain would rise.
Nini was suddenly back at Ricky's side holding his hand. He was so thankful to have her there to calm his nerves through this.
She kissed his cheek and handed him a few last-minute tissues. Ricky's nose was a little pink but Kourtney had done her best.
"I mean...it kinda looks like I just went ham on the blush," Kourtney tried.
"Fuck. It's fine," Ricky panicked.
Then it was time to go onstage. Ricky had to sneeze as silently as he could into his arm onstage a few times throughout the first few scenes but after that the reaction started to fade more and more. Ricky took more Zyrtec than he was supposed to have during intermission and things went smoothly from there. He was a bit sniffly but no one in the audience seemed to notice.
Things didn't go as well once the show was over and Ricky had to pack his things up and take the tulips home.