Louis moved again next to you, flipping around so that you couldn't feel his face inches away from yours.
He'd been tossing and turning for the past couple of hours, you had no idea what the time was but you knew that the both of you should've been asleep by now.
You shuffled over the warm sheets where Louis had been laying a few seconds ago and curled against his back, hoping to relieve him from his restless moving. He was wearing a T-shirt which was weird, because he usually just slept without one. The material was slightly damp from the heat radiating from him.
Was he ill?
You hoped not, he actually had a day off tomorrow and the two of you were going to spend it together, maybe go out for lunch or something.
Louis squirmed again and you pressed a soft kiss to his neck.
"What's wrong Lou? Can't sleep?" You whispered in the darkness.
"My tummy hurts," he murmured back quietly, sounding defeated.
"Sweetie, you should've told me earlier."
You kissed him again as you wrapped your arms around his waist and gently rubbed his slightly distended stomach.
"Do you feel like you might be sick?" You asked, knowing that your boyfriend wouldn't have said anything if it wasn't bad.
"No, not now. It just really hurts," he whimpered, his voice sounding strained. You could tell that he really wasn't feeling well at all, even without being able to see him.
"Hang in there Bud, I'm gonna go grab you something to help, okay?"
You sat up slowly, unfurling yourself from around Louis.
"You'll come back soon?"
Louis rolled onto his back to look at you. You couldn't see him, just darkness because of your shadow over him but you figured he could probably see you in the slither of moonlight that was coming through the slice between the curtains.
"As fast as I can, sweetie," you promised him.
You slid over his legs and off the bed, the brand new carpet squishing between your toes.
When you got back to the bedroom with a bottle of liquid stomach soother Louis had turned the lamp on and was sitting up against the headboard, his hands on his stomach and his legs splayed out on the bed. The light was faint, but it was more than enough to see what was going on.
Louis was looking quite pale, his dark hair contrasting with the pasty tones of his skin.
"I've got some medicine for you babe."
You grinned at him lightly, not quite sure how to act around him. You hadn't really had to deal with him sick before. There had been a few colds and headaches and such but no stomach viruses until now. Or maybe he'd eaten something bad?
You didn't exactly have any experience with food poisoning either so that thought did nothing to ease you.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, you measured out the medicine before holding it out for Louis to take. He complied and swallowed the lot of it with a grimace.
"How about we lay down and wait for that to kick in? Maybe you'll be able to get some sleep now," you suggested, resting a hand just above his knee.
"I'm just gonna go and get a drink. . ."
Louis started moving and you tried to stop him.
"Louis, just sit back down, I'll get it for you."
You gently pushed him back into the pillows but he was resisting weakly, and you didn't want to exert him too much
He smirked at you tiredly, I'm okay to get my own drink, beautiful."
His smile didn't look genuine though, more forced. His sweaty hair and peaky skin didn't exactly make him look okay at all.
Whether you liked it or not, he was getting up anyway.
You watched worriedly as he stood up, still holding his gut. He forced another smile, trying to reassure you as he started for the doorway.
You followed after him as he shuffled down the hallway and into the kitchen. His hands were shaking as he filled up a glass of water and he only drunk about a third of it before setting it down on the counter.
He gripped the bench and stepped back, dropping his head between his shoulders.
"I really don't feel well. . ." He muttered. You rubbed his back.
"I know, Lou you have a fever, that's why you should've let me get you a drink."
"Can we go back to bed now?" he asked.
"Course we can."
Unprepared to let him walk back to the bedroom completely unassisted, you took his head and began leading him there.
In the hall though Louis stopped and coughed. You turned around just in time to see the remaining colour leak from his face.
You gingerly stepped closer, "Lou?"
Louis just paled further and then darted off to the bathroom, tripping over his feet and stumbling against the wall. You quickly followed after him where he stopped over the sink with another cough, obviously not thinking he was going to make it the few steps to the toilet.
He gagged harshly, his knees almost buckling beneath him. Nothing came up though and you immediately ushered him over to the toilet before anything else happened. It was a hell of a lot easier to clean up vomit in the toilet than in the sink.
He lowered himself hurriedly onto his knees. His hands moved between his stomach and the toilet, indecisive about where he wanted them so you sat behind him and rubbed his churning stomach.
"Hey, love it's alright, you've got this," you murmured as he blinked tears away.
"It hurts!" he cried out.
"I know, I know, but you've just gotta let it run it's course. It'll be all over soon, I promise" you said, doing your best to calm him down.
Tears pricked in your eyes. You hated seeing him like this, it was tearing your heart apart.
Louis retched dryly again, his body lurching forward.
Ten minutes later still nothing had come up and you didn't know what to do. Louis was still heaving every now and then, heart wrenching sobs slipping from his dry lips but nothing was hitting the toilet water.
"Love, breathe for me okay, you've got to calm down."
"Just m-make it stop!" he gasped, eyes wide in terror and pain. They were glossed over and bloodshot.
You leaned forward and wrapped your arms around his trembling figure, one hand running through his hair. He rested his shuddering head on your shoulder, his face buried in your neck. He was hiccuping still and you could feel his tears on your skin but he seemed to be slowly calming down so you moved even closer and started humming something familiar. You didn't even know what it was but it worked and soon Louis was just sniffling in your grasp.
"I'm sorry. . ." Louis rasped quietly after a while.
"What are you apologising for Lou? You haven't done anything," you replied.
"I got over w-worked and cr-cried like a little kid," he stuttered, sounding ready to burst into tears again.
"Hey."
You pulled away gently so that you could see him properly. His face was tear stained and horrifically pale still and his eyes were puffy from crying.
"It's alright, I'm here to look after you Babe, that's my job. It's okay to panic a little, you're fine now, it's over."
You stroked a strand of hair out of his face. He looked down at his knotted hands and hiccuped again
"Do you think you're okay to head back to bed now? It's. . ."
You checked your watch for the first time that night, "it's just past four now."
Oof, you were definitely in for a long day.
"I don't know. . .I'm still r-really nauseous" Louis admitted.
"It's okay, I'll get a bucket."
You stood up, "I doubt sitting in here looking at the toilet is helping, let's just get you back to bed where you can relax."
"O- okay," Louis agreed and let you hoist him onto his feet. He looked considerably less steady on his feet than earlier and you let him use you for balance as you stumbled back to the bedroom. Once there you helped him sit on the bed.
"I'll be back in two seconds Lou, lay down."
You let go of his hands.
"I'll be counting," he tiredly mumbled as he slithered under the duvet. You smiled, he was just too cute. Sick as hell, but cute.
You went off to grab the bucket that was stored under the kitchen sink for cleaning and as a second thought you reached up on top of the microwave to grab the thermometer.
Suddenly your name was called loudly, choked and painful sounding. You hurriedly slid the thermometer into your pocket and ran into the bedroom, bucket in hand.
Louis was in the doorway of the en suite, doubled over and puking harshly. You rushed to his side and shoved the bucket under his chin to catch the rest before it hit the carpet. The smell was fowl but you barely noticed.
Everything that hadn't come up in the bathroom heavily splashed into the bucket and you soothingly rubbed your sick boyfriend's heaving back, not wanting him to get worked up again.
After coughing up the rest of the stomach acid he blinked once, so slowly that you thought he might be passing out and then sagged against the wall, sliding down and onto his butt.
"Aw, Love. . ." you cooed sympathetically as he got his breath back.
"I didn't m-make it, sorry. . ." he breathed.
"It's okay, you tried sweetie," you told him.
You put the bucket down and pulled Louis up before putting him back on the bed.
He grunted appreciatively and got under the covers, instantly snuggling into the pillows. You quickly went out to grab the glass of water from the kitchen, returning before he realised you were gone.
"Louis, can you drink some please? Then I'm gonna take your temp," you said.
Louis tiredly took a few sips of water and let you put the thermometer in his mouth. While the instrument did its job you emptied the bucket and put it on Louis' side of the bed and then started cleaning up the mess on the floor. You sprayed some air freshener and then took the thermometer out of his mouth.
The numbers were high enough to be worrying so you wet a washcloth in the en suite and then put it on Louis' forehead, hoping that it would absorb some of the heat.
"Any better after that throwing up?" You asked gently.
Louis shrugged slightly, looking vulnerable and childlike. You grinned at him sympathetically and switched the lamp off. Then you joined him in bed, tucking yourself in against his back as you had earlier.
You yawned, "wake me up if you need me. . ."
"Thank you," Louis murmured, but you were all ready sound asleep.
This is like the most typical sickfic ever, but I realised that I hadn't actually written it yet so here ya go!