"Nialler, oi wake up, there's muffins out there for breakfast and they taste like fucking heaven," I mumbled through a mouthful of the fluffy baking. Liam had said not to wake him up, that it meant more for us, but I was in a good mood today so I figured I'd let him know anyway.
He grunted and shuffled slightly but his eyelids didn't even twitch.
I laughed, "come on Niall, you know you want it!"
It was almost eleven o' clock and he was still drooling in his sleep. Usually we all were, a day off was the only chance we really had to sleep in so normally we'd take full advantage of it but today for some reason I'd woken up at eight and gotten up, Harry and Liam had too not much later. Niall was the only one sticking to tradition.
"Piss off Lou, I would like to die here alone without your voice echoing through my skull if that's not too much to ask."
He lazily threw a cushion in my direction and I chuckled as I moved out of it's path.
"You can't die on our day off, how inconvenient," I said.
Niall was always pissy in the mornings, it made a good laugh.
He let out a strange, dinosaur-like sound and kicked the covers down, shoving them until they fell off the edge of the bed and onto the floor and then tucked his limbs into his chest. He was wearing a dark long sleeve that made his hair look white and his skin pale, and a pair of sweats that were rolled up to his knees. He usually slept without a shirt, and a lot of the time without even pants either so it definitely was a little weird.
"Well done, the next step is to actually get up," I praised teasingly.
"Leave me alone Tomlinson, before I strangle you," he growled, his accent strong.
I winked, "fiesty."
Apparently this wasn't the right reaction because Niall responded by opening a single blue eye and glaring at me as if he was planning my demise. He licked his lips and closed his eye again with a deep sniff. His nose whistled and his mouth dropped open and I realised what had him in such a grumpy mood.
"Is little Nialler feeling sick?" I cooed with a smirk. He was always really easily irritated when he was unwell.
"Shut up and get out or I'll shove your toothbrush up my arse," Niall threatened. Judging by the sad sight of him I doubted he'd be geting out of bed any time soon so I wasn't fazed.
I shrugged and smiled, "that sounds like it would be uncomfortable for you."
"Get out!"
His voice croaked as it rose in volume and I laughed as I ducked out of the room before he could chuck something heavier than a cushion at me.
Harry glanced at me with an amused smile as I came back into the main room, "that sounded like it went smoothly."
He was peeling the cup off of a blueberry muffin and he took a massive bite out of it as I snickered, "he's got a cold or something, it'ssuper easy to piss him off."
"He didn't want anything to eat?" Liam asked.
"He didn't make any move to get up, so I guess not."
I shrugged, grabbing another muffin for myself. An entire basket of the heavenly things had been delivered twenty minutes ago and I'd probably eaten about ten already.
"Would you quit talking about me?"
I jumped in fright and whirled around to see Niall standing in the doorway with his hair sticking up everywhere and an irritated look on his face. His cheeks and nose were red, like felt tip red, and his eyes looked glossy and unfocused even from where I sat.
"Jesus Christ! I didn't even know you where there!" Harry exclaimed and I noticed him cringe slightly as he took in Niall's appearance. He actually looked worse now that he was out of bed.
"Yeah well, and stop looking at me like that, I know I'm sexy but I'm not in the mood to be eye-fucked this morning," Niall barked, one hand on the side of his head.
"I hate to tell you Ni, but unless you're going for the whole vampire look then you're about as far away from sexy as you can get" I teased, knowing full well that it'd get on his nerves. He was sick, but if he was well enough to give it then he was well enough to take it.
"Toothbrush Tomlinson, I'll fucking do it," Niall warned.
"How are you feeling, Ni?" Liam asked knowingly with a raised eye brow.
Niall looked at him with narrowed eyes. I wasn't sure if it was because he had a headache or because Liam just earned the next slot on the hit list after me but either way it was frightening.
"Absolutely fantastic, Liam, I'm just dancing on rainbows and living in a glitter-filled world right now," Niall spat but I didn't miss the quiet whimper at the end and the way the hand on his head twitched towards his throat. I could tell that he really wasn't feeling well, the worse he felt the worse his mood and he was really in a shit right now.
Like a kid throwing a tantrum.
Liam snorted, "that was a tad dramatic."
Niall stumbled, slipping from his position on the door-frame and I jumped up as he caught himself.
"I'm fine."
He glared at me and grabbed one of the several drink bottles in the fridge before retreating back to his room.
"Well, today's gonna be heaps of fun," Harry sighed, ending the silence we'd been sitting in after Niall's departure.
***
Niall's POV:
The fact that the lads just found me being sick funny angered me so much. I didn't like treating them like I was, they were my best friends, but I felt horrible and all they could do was joke about it and I couldn't stop the harsh words from bursting from my mouth.
I really hated feeling sick. My whole personality was based on energy and at the moment I didn't have any, even blinking felt like more trouble than it was worth.
I just felt stupid, it was nothing but a cold but I was pathetic enough for it to take this much of a toll on me.
It wasn't something I was ready to admit to anyone, so when Louis came in again I pretended to be asleep to avoid blurting out more things that I didn't mean.
"Hiya Horan, just thought I'd check in on ya."
I tried my best to ignore him.
Louis just chuckled and I heard him move closer to the bed, "I know that you're not really asleep you slug, you're breathing way too fast."
"You don't know my breathing patterns, and you're the slug," I blurted before I could stop myself. My throat protested in pain as the words scraped past the raw skin.
"Cute voice, the girls are gonna love you,."
"I'm Niall Horan, they already do."
The bed dipped down by my feet and I realised that he'd sat down.
"Ever so modest, huh Ni?"
My head throbbed as I poke it out from under the duvet. I blinked a few times and the picture of Louis focused. He was pulled back slightly, his face a mirror of Harry's earlier. Before I could say anything he cut me off.
"You look terrible, even worse than this morning." he said, and there may've been a trace of sympathy in his voice.
My stomach churned suddenly and it got awkwardly warm. "Motherfucker. . ." I muttered as the nausea spiraled up through my chest.
"I've been called worse," Louis shrugged, not understanding.
"Louis, I think I might-"
Then it stopped, all of a sudden I didn't feel like I was about to spill my guts all over the sheets. My stomach still hurt, I could feel it whirling around under my hand, but it didn't feel as sick anymore. Maybe I was hungry, I hadn't eaten all day.
"What? Niall, what is it?"
I swallowed, "nothing."
"You went really pale just then."
I looked at him through my lashes. He sounded worried, not sarcastic and joking like he had been since this morning, since he learned how to talk really. It took a bit to shake Louis so I must've really looked like hell.
At least he was done finding it all hilarious now.
"Do you need anything?" He asked, "I feel bad leaving you in here by yourself now."
"I'm not a two year old."
I rolled my eyes and regretted it right away, it just made my head pulse harder. At least my words had become a bit less coarse and bitter. Louis was slowly but surely stripping me down and I wanted him to keep going. I didn't want to be hated by my friends.
"No, but you're about as stubborn as one and I know you won't tell us anything even if you're about to drown in congestion."
I rubbed my nose and shifted to tuck my cold feet underneath me, "why are you even here?"
"Honestly? I lost paper scissors rock," he replied, smiling apologetically.
"Nobody wanted to see me?"
I choked on something then- air probably- and coughed hard, my head spasming in protest. It took a few seconds for my chest to quit heaving and I grimaced at the pain in my throat.
"You're not exactly the most pleasant person to be around when you're ill, Ni."
Louis bit his lip, as if guilty. As if it was his fault I was a dick.
I looked down at my hands, "I know. . ."
"It confuses me, you know? You're always so nice and sweet and then you get hit by a cold and all of a sudden you're completely different" Louis said. He was obviously confused. I didn't blame him, it confused me too.
"I get irritable, you know that, and then you all tease me," I said, revealing myself without meaning to. I didn't mean to give myself an excuse, I was just an asshole. And now I really was acting like a two year old.
"I didn't realise it made you upset," Louis said.
Another voice came from behind the closed door, "neither did we!"
"Are you two seriously out there eavesdropping?" Louis asked. I whimpered as the pain in my head suddenly spiked. I was just not having a good day.
The door slowly opened and two sheepish faces peeked in, "maybe."
"We're really sorry Ni," Harry apologised sincerely, staring me straight in the eyes.
Why didn't I just tell them to quit it in the beginning? Who knew that it would be this easy?
I relaxed back under the covers, "it's okay, I was a dick too."
"Are you gonna let us take care of you now?" Liam said hopefully.
"Please? I feel like absolute arse."
"I'll go grab the thermometer."
Harry smiled gently and headed off to dig it out of the bathroom.
"I'll do the drug run," Louis volunteered, tapping my leg comfortingly as he stood up.
"Anything else you need, mate?" Liam asked me.
"Are there any of those muffins Lou mentioned this morning left?"
Liam laughed, "I should have known. I think there's one or two, I'll go check."
I exhaled as he left the room. This was definitely the better way to do sick.
***
"Hey, where are you going?" Liam questioned as I dizzily stumbled up onto my feet. My head was absolutely pounding.
A few hours had passed and we'd moved out to the main room to watch some movies. Apparently my fever was at 102.9 and I was feeling it, along with the steadily increasing pain in my stomach. It had never happened before, a stomachache and a cold and I was beginning to suspect that maybe it was something else. I mean, hopefully not, but what if it is?
Anyway, it was starting to making me nauseous and I didn't want to be in bed when my gut decided that it'd had enough. My head was so stuffed up that it was making me feel light-headed and being on my feet was more difficult than I thought it would be
"The bathroom," I replied quietly, pausing while my vision adjusted.
Someone grabbed my arm, "Ni, you're swaying."
"I need to go," I said, my mouth feeling like rubber.
"I'll come with you," Liam offered, standing up beside me.
I gulped, resting a hand on my stomach. The lights were off, to help with my headache, so Liam didn't notice. He carefully lead me out of the room and down the hall where the bathroom was situated.
Liam paused just outside, "I'll wait out here for you, unless you want me to come in?"
I shook my throbbing head once and closed myself in the bathroom, "I'll just be a minute."
I stumbled over to the toilet and folded down in front of it, fist to my mouth as my stomach churned, tossing its contents around like a washing machine. I didn't want to be sick, my throat was burning and my head was hurting really badly, I didn't want to make either any worse and throwing up was just gross in itself.
I tried blowing my nose into some of the tissue paper to distract myself but even by the time the toilet was full of snotty paper my stomach was still clenching and cramping painfully.
I flushed it and went back to trying to keep the sickness at bay.
"Niall, is everything alright?" Liam asked through the wood, worry seeping into his soft voice.
I forced a reply out in between heavy breaths, "Few more minutes, Li."
"What's wrong? Can I come in?"
I coughed and stared down at the water with wide eyes. I swallowed hard and whimpered pathetically, rocking back and forwards on the floor.
"Ni?"
Before I could respond I gagged, slamming a fist over my mouth and jolting over the toilet. The door burst open loudly in the same second and Liam skidded to a stop next to me just as I started to vomit heavily into the bowl, pained tears streaming down my face.
"You didn't say you felt this type of sick!"
Liam winced as I calmed down, trying to focus on his hand on my back instead of the rancid taste in my mouth.
I just hummed in response, utterly exhausted from the whole episode.
"I think I'll go wake the other lads up, we'll take you in to a clinic somewhere."
Liam seemed to be thinking out loud but a few seconds later he went to go stand up and I whined in protest.
He smiled sympathetically and held out a hand to help me up, "I know Ni, it's probably just a rough flu, but you're not doing well and I just want to make sure. The others will agree."
We made our way back out to the main room, me pretty much clinging to Liam for dear life. My stomach felt empty and although I wasn't nauseous anymore it still hurt and the throbbing in my head was getting louder than background noise. I was even dizzier than I was before and just done. I wanted it to be over.
Harry drove us, straining to hear the GPS over my constant complaining. I was past caring about what the three of them must be thinking, I felt like crap and I didn't care who knew about it.
Finally we pulled into a small car park and I was lugged inside like a floppy full size doll. Thankfully there wasn't too much of a wait because the minute we got into the office I threw up again, barely missing the poor man's shoes.
"It's okay kid, happens all the time," Doctor Ride assured me with a kind smiled and I blushed as I sat down and a sheet of some kind was thrown over the mess for the time being.
The doctor frowned at me as he sprayed air freshener around the room, "you're obviously not well, what's been going on?"
I opened my mouth but only coughed. Harry patted my back and Louis picked up the questions, "he's been sick all day. At first it seemed like a mere cold and then about an hour ago he started throwing up. We just want to make sure he's okay."
"Completely understandable, I would've done the same," Ride replied.
He checked me over, just like my doctor would when I was a kid, and determined that it was in fact just a flu, nothing to be too concerned about as long as my fever didn't climb too high.
Apparently it was going to get worse before it got better, so yeah, exciting days ahead.
I can't wait to spend the next 72 hours- or more- of my life feeling like I was about to die.
Note the sarcasm.