"God, I'm starving!"
Harry smiled brightly as he hopped into the kitchen with one leg in his jeans and a toe stuck in the rip in the knee. He tripped and laughed as he caught himself on the counter.
"Might wanna get your pants on first," Louis said, raising a brow as he munched on his piece of toast. It was absolutely covered in jam, almost thicker than the bread.
Niall pushed his plate into the sink, "and quickly, we're leaving in twenty minutes."
Harry shrugged carelessly as he finally managed to get his pants on properly, buttoning them on up across his hips, "Liam's not even up, I've got heaps of time."
He dropped a couple of pieces of toast into the toaster, a little disappointed that there wasn't enough time to fry up some bacon or something.
Louis frowned, "Li's not awake yet?"
"I just assumed, I haven't seen him around this morning," Harry replied, running a hand through his knotty hair. He hadn't given it any time yet and it was more or less a complete mess.
It had been a tiring few weeks full of meetings and promo, each being more boring and unnecessary than the last. Well, the meetings at least. Some of the interviews weren't that bad.
Harry and undoubtedly the rest of the band too were getting sick of them though and there had been a late night one last night meaning they band hadn't gotten back to the hotel until midnight. Harry was over tired and had a bit of a rough sleep, resulting in the tangled bird's nest hair.
Louis sighed as he swallowed the last of his toast, "I'll go grab him, we'll drive people crazy if we're late again."
"I think they're past that," Niall chuckled.
Louis met his gaze with an agreeable nod before stalking off to shake Liam awake. He should know better than to sleep in, he knew exactly how packed their schedule was and yet decided to get an extra couple of hours of rest anyway.
Louis would be lying if he said he wasn't a little annoyed. He didn't blame Liam for it though, it had taken Louis a hell of a lot of will power to open his eyes and get out of bed that morning.
He knocked on the closed door once and got no reply apart from a quiet rustle from behind the door.
"You up, Li? We're leaving in twenty," Louis called through the wood with another knock of his fist.
Still no reply.
"I'm coming in. . ." Louis threatened and upon still not getting reply he swung the door open. Sure enough it was still dark in the room, with the curtains drawn and the covers still tugged over the lump on the mattress.
"Liam, you've gotta get up or we'll be late," Louis whispered, feeling bad for waking him.
"What time is it?" Liam murmured sleepily from under his duvet.
"Late, almost ten," Louis replied, shaking his still form to wake him up more.
Liam moaned, "Louis, don't do that."
"You won't get up otherwise, come on Li, you've got to get moving right now," Louis said, shaking a bit harder to get his point across.
"Stop, Lou! It hurts!" Liam cried out, jolting away from Louis' touch.
Louis yanked his hands back as if he'd been burned. He didn't want to hurt his friend.
"What hurts? Your back? Getting old are you Payno?" Louis teased, hoping that it wasn't anything more.
"No. . .I feel sick" Liam said, his voice slightly muffled.
Louis huffed sympathetically, "your stomach?"
"I feel like I'll puke if I move," Liam groaned as the blankets shifted slightly.
"I'll go see if I can find any stomach relaxers, please Li, just try to get changed while I'm gone," Louis said before leaving the room.
***
"Did you find our sleeping beauty?" Niall asked as Louis trekked back into the kitchen. The blond was pretty much ready to go, apart from his bare feet of course.
"He says he feels sick, that he'll throw up if he moves," Louis replied with a cringe. He didn't like the thought of having to clean up puke, or calling room service and having them clean it up.
Harry looked up with a surprised face, "what? Seriously?"
Liam hardly ever got sick, and when he did he was usually as clingy as hell, Harry was shocked that the older lad hadn't ended up in one of the other's beds last night.
"I didn't see how bad he looks yet, the lights were all off, but we might have a bit of a problem."
Louis retrieved a bottle of stomach relaxer from the top shelf.
"I'll take that to him, you need to get changed Lou."
Niall held a hand out for the medicine and Louis handed it over thankfully, "thanks Ni, just give him whatever it says on the back. And I told him to get dressed, so he should be changed when you get in there."
Louis backed off into his room to get changed and brush his teeth.
"I'll come with you, Ni."
Harry slid off his seat on the counter top and followed Niall into Liam's bedroom.
"Are you dressed Li?" Niall asked the darkness. If Niall had to guess the answer, he would say that it was highly likely Liam hadn't moved since Louis had been in a few minutes ago, let alone got up and got dressed.
"Not quite," Liam replied quietly.
"We've brought you some medicine to take, Louis said you weren't feeling well."
Harry took a few steps to the right and flicked the light on. Liam was sitting on the edge of the bed, pants unbuttoned. He'd gotten further than Niall had predicted, at least.
Liam didn't look too horrible though, not what Niall had been expecting anyway. He looked washed out, but so did the rest of them after the crazy amount of running around they'd been doing lately. His eyes were droopy and exhausted, but so were Niall's, and Harry's were too.
"Okay. . .shoot down this and then we're going to have to leave, mate."
Harry shot Liam a sideways glance, as if calculating something. Niall noticed it, but didn't say anything. He would ask Harry once Liam wasn't listening in.
Liam downed his medicine in one go and shook his head stiffly, "I don't want to go."
"I know you don't, neither do I to be honest, and I know you're not feeling good Li, but it comes with the job. Come on, we'll help you."
Niall held out a hand. Liam shook his head, his eyes wide and desperate.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," he blurted, holding his stomach in one hand. He leaped up off the bed and ducked into the en suite, slamming the door behind him. Niall heard the door lock.
"Are you going to let us in Li?" Harry asked.
"I'm fine, give me a minute," Liam replied in a forced voice.
Harry grabbed Niall's arm and pulled him out of the room, "okay, we'll be out in the kitchen, come find us when you're done!"
They met Louis in the kitchen, dressed in a fresh set of clothes with his hair slicked.
"Was he dressed? Is he coming?" Louis questioned.
"He was nearly dressed when we got there, we gave him the medicine and now he's in the bathroom throwing up."
Niall looked sheepish but Harry just shook his head and gestured in the direction of the bathroom, "he's not throwing up, listen."
Sure enough nothing but silence. Then the sound of liquid hitting liquid.
"I think that's throwing up Haz." Louis raised a brow, "what are you trying to prove anyway? Are you telling us that Liam's lying?"
"Liam's smart. It does sound like vomiting but try to remember last year when he caught that stomach flu from Niall. Every single time he threw up he gagged and heaved like crazy, it wasn't exactly quiet," Harry said, "and by the sound of it, he's in there pouring cups of water into the toilet. Like I said, smart."
Niall shrugged as he though it over, "he's got a point Lou."
"And he's not acting like himself," Harry added.
"Because he's sick!"
But Louis was beginning to sound a little doubtful too.
"When he's sick he's like a leech Lou, he would be crying out for one of us in there with him, and he wouldn't have slept alone in his bed last night. And also, he would actually look slightly ill."
Harry wouldn't have said anything if he wasn't completely sure.
Louis' argumentative look slowly fell from his face as he thought over the evidence Harry had laid down in front of him.
He looked up at Harry with a smile, "Detective Styles is it?"
"I just know the guy." Harry shrugged, "and he's not sick."
"So I take it he's faking because he just wants a day off?" Niall said.
"I'd say so," Louis replied, tucking his hands into his pockets.
"What are we going to do lads?"
***
Meanwhile Liam was in the bathroom doing exactly what Harry had said he was doing. It was a trick he'd remembered from when he was a kid and trying to get out of a tough day at school and it had always worked back then so he figured why wouldn't it work now?
He'd decided to play sick last night after a painfully long interview that started at ten and didn't finish until midnight. He just wanted 24 hours to sleep and let his brain catch up with his body. His brain was exhausted and faking sick was the only thing he could think of.
There was a knock on the door and he heard Niall's voice calling out to him.
"Are you done in there? We rung up management and they've agreed to let us stay here with you for the day while you get better," he said.
Liam sighed quietly in relief.
"I can go back to bed?" Liam questioned.
Niall rolled his eyes and smiled to himself. Liam sounded exactly like a seven year old.
"Yeah, we've got the day off Payno," Harry said.
Liam went to open the door and remembered his apparent puke in the toilet. He flushed it and sprayed some aerosol to hide the fact that there wasn't a smell.
He opened the door to see all three of his band-mates hovering on the other side with small smiles on their faces.
"Better?" Louis asked.
Liam shrugged, "a bit."
"Hop back into bed, grab some more sleep and maybe you'll feel completely new when you wake up."
Niall tapped his back and Liam nodded, moving back towards the bed. He got under the covers and buried his head in the pillows so that the boys couldn't see the satisfied grin making it's way onto his face. He'd gotten his day off and somehow managed to get everyone else one too.
***
Around three a clock, when Louis, Niall and Harry were out playing play-station in the living room Liam awkwardly came out and sat down next to Niall on the couch. He had slept three hours and was now getting bored in his bedroom all alone.
Harry grinned and chucked him a controller, "hey Li, you look better after a nap."
Liam grinned a bit and tucked his knees up.
They played for a bit until Louis spoke up in a cheeky tone, "thanks for getting us the day off by the way Payno, quite a good act you put on."
Liam almost dropped the controller as the words registered in his head, "sorry, what?"
"We completely believed it for the first ten minutes too, until Hazza here laid down the facts," Louis carried on and Liam felt his face heating up. They definitely knew.
He felt the need to make sure anyway, "you knew?"
"Yup." Niall smirked and laughed, "but we went along with it though because all of us lazy fuckers wanted a day off too."
"That's. . .actually pretty embarrassing," Liam said, turning to Harry, "how did you know?"
"You were acting unlike yourself, you're usually nothing like that when you're really feeling unwell." Harry smiled, "not a bad effort, you just didn't incorporate the way you usually are when when you're sick."
Liam face-palmed, "I feel so stupid"
"Eh, don't worry about it, we got a day off," Louis said, laughing.