I woke up and I was starving.
It was the very first thing I noticed, the almost painful grumbling in the empty pit of my stomach as I stretched in the morning light seeping into my hotel room. I'd had a quick snack before last nights concert, a plate of roast potatoes and meat from the buffet downstairs, but I had pretty much crashed the second I got back last night before managing to squeeze in dinner.
According to my phone it was ten a clock now, so I had more than enough reason to be hungry.
I turned and threw myself out of bed, my knees cracking as I rocked to get my balance. My eyes closed for a second, a small smile spreading across my cheeks as I felt the warm sun heating up my bare back. Nothing beat a sunny day.
I shook the other bed in the room, "get up!"
A head of curls peeked out the top of the massive white duvet and I grinned, tugging the rest of the coverage away.
"Liam" Harry groaned playfully, holding his hands up in a 'what the fuck' gesture. He smiled at the sun like I had, "hmmm, that's so nice..." he hummed appreciatively as the beams of light played in his eyes.
I grabbed his arm and yanked him up out of bed, "come on, let's go get breakfast."
"Do you think you can give me two seconds to put some clothes on first?" Harry laughed, pulling to a stop. I turned back to see him standing behind me in a pair of briefs.
I laughed, "I suppose you can have two seconds."
"What's got you in such a good mood?" Harry asked curiously as he wondered back over to the wardrobe and began sifting through the hangers.
"Slept well I guess, sun's out. What reason is there to be grumpy?" I replied with a shrug. I glanced down at my bare chest and realised that I should probably change too. I hurriedly pulled on a singlet and a pair of shorts, finishing before Harry had even begun.
Louis was out in the main room, lounged across the couch and staring at the ceiling.
"You gonna come down for something to eat with Harry and I?" I questioned as I strolled past.
Louis chuckled, "I woke up this morning so hungry I could've eaten my own hand. I went down a couple of hours ago."
"Thanks for waking me" I rolled my eyes sarcastically, running a hand through the most likely hazardous hair on the top of my head. Surprisingly I didn't get caught in too many knots.
"Any time" Louis clicked his tongue with a smirk.
"Well, do you wanna come down for seconds then?" I asked.
"Nah, I'm tired now. I stuffed myself to the brim earlier" he replied, patting his stomach triumphantly.
"What's going?"
"Just about anything you can imagine. The eggs were good, sausages, ham. It's all amazing" Louis grinned, his eyes shut as he reminisced. I laughed, "I'll go wake Niall then, he'll definitely want to come."
Sure enough, Niall was up and ready to go within five minutes. By then Harry had managed to put himself together too so we headed down to the buffet together, chatting about the rehearsal we had to attend later or that day and how everything we'd done the other day had been completely forgotten. Thankfully the fans didn't mind all that much what we did on stage, whether we looked like total idiots or not they seemed to have a good time.
The minute I saw the benches of food the smell of food wafted into my nostrils and I sighed in pleasure. It all smelt so damn good, I was literally drooling.
The three of us loaded our plates up, piling on whatever looked good. I made sure to help myself to the eggs, sausages and ham like Louis had suggested and then everything else just went on top, toast, bacon, a muffin. It all just looked amazing, it was hard to remember the tips we'd been given for staying in shape when surrounded by all this incredible food.
My stomach felt like a bottomless pit as I enjoyed my massive plate of food, everything went down effortlessly and the flavours exploded in my mouth like popping candy. Louis had been so right about the eggs and sausages, they were so good. I contemplated stuffing my pockets before shaking my head at the weirdness of my own thoughts. Knowing my luck I'd stumble across a cute girl only for a sausage to fall out of my pocket and then that would be the end of that.
"Whoa, I'm so full now" Harry leaned back in his seat and let out a sigh, looking down at his empty plate.
"This food came from heaven or something..." I swallowed down my last mouthful of eggs and grinned happily. My stomach was more than full now and I might've overdone it a little but I definitely had no regrets.
"Didn't it, I dunno, taste a little bit off to you?" Niall frowned, stabbing at a piece of sausage and staring at it calculatively. I laughed, "hell no."
Niall put his fork down, sausage still stuck on the end of it. His plate wasn't scraped clean like mine and Harry's was. He still had bit left over.
"Either of you want the rest?" He asked, gesturing at his plate. I went to nod before a burp raised in my throat and I muffled it behind my hand. Niall held the plate out to me and I shook my head. As good as it was, I didn't think I could fit any more in without throwing up.
"Haz?"
"Nah, I'm full" he declined the offer to after a second of thought. We walked the plates to the kitchen and then headed back off to the room. The wait for the elevator felt abnormally long and then when the doors finally opened a flood of people flowed out before we could get in there. It took us up to the top story and we walked back to the room. It was a slower than our walk there, the food weighing us down a bit.
Niall swiped his card through the lock and the door opened. He pushed us inside before him and then he shut the door behind him.
"We're back Lou!" Harry called out, dumping his jacket on the counter top. The zip hit the marble and the loud sound it made made me cringe.
There was no reply.
"Louis?!" I yelled with a frown. He wasn't on the couch. He'd said he was tired, maybe he'd gone back to bed?
"I'm- uh, in the b-bathroom..."
I shared a confused look with Niall and Harry and then we all stalked over to the bathroom slowly. I knew that people used the bathroom, it was a normal thing obviously, but Louis' voice hadn't sounded very good at all. Something weird was going on.
The bathroom door was open.
I got closer and peered inside.
Louis was sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him and a pitiful look on his wet looking face. Sweat. He was sweating like crazy by the looks of it. And pale.
"I threw up" he croaked, looking up at us with a sad look.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked awkwardly, going past me and into the bathroom. Honestly I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to go any further in. The smell of vomit was pretty strong even from where I was.
Louis' response was a strangled grunt before he scrambled up and over the toilet before heaving and releasing a load of sick into the bowl with a sound that made me want to cover my ears. Poor guy, vomiting wasn't ever any fun.
Harry blanched, staring blankly as Louis continued being sick. Niall huffed and went in, pushing Harry aside so that he could crouch down beside Louis and rub his stiff back comfortingly.
"Wet a cloth or something will you Haz?" Niall said, pulling Louis' fringe off of his forehead as he panted over the toilet.
"Should I go find the thermometer?" I asked. I wanted to help, but I didn't really know what to do. At some time I had been the caretaker of the group, but everyone had grown up very quickly a long time ago and I hadn't had to take that position for a while. I was out of practice.
"There's one in my bag, right side pocket" Niall nodded.
I hummed an 'okay' and rushed off. Niall's bag was a mess and it took ma few moments to spot the small device amongst the other random bits and pieces filling up his bag. Once I had it I hurried back to the bathroom.
Harry was standing by the sink, resting on his arm and Louis was sat back from the loo again, eyes watering and face a sickly pale colour. Niall thanked me for the thermometer and took it, switching it on and helping Louis get it into place.
Harry slowly walked over and flushed the toilet and when he turned around I was taken back by how... Well, sick he looked. He'd been perfectly fine ten minutes ago and now he looked like he was about to blow chunks.
"Whoa Hazza, you good?" I asked.
He nodded stiffly with a gulp, "yeah, I think so. I just ate so much, and the smells just messing with me a bit."
"Go grab some fresh air, we're okay in here" Niall told him, gently pushing him away. I patted his shoulder as he went past, disappearing around the corner. I heard the door open and knew that he was out on the balcony.
The beeping sound of the thermometer made me jump.
"100.9. That's not so bad" Niall smiled and Louis forced one back.
I took a breath of fresh air and then headed into the bathroom. I filled up a glass of water and squirted a small amount of toothpaste onto Louis' orange toothbrush. I smiled sympathetically as I handed over the two items.
"Here, brush the taste from your mouth" I suggested.
Louis nodded wearily and got to work, slowly rubbing the brush against his teeth with a shaking hand. Then he took a sip out of the cup and spat it back out inside.
"Thanks Li."
"Why do you reckon this happened!" Niall said quizzically.
"I don't know. I was mostly okay when you guys left and then I just started feeling really sick. Came in here just in case and then started vomiting about ten minutes later" Louis explained, rubbing at his stomach in discomfort. His voice was raspy and quiet, most likely from the half digested food that had just barrelled up through his system.
"Maybe it's a bug of some kind" I offered with a shrug.
"Probably, sometimes they come on pretty quickly" Niall nodded thoughtfully. He looked at Louis, "do you feel any better after getting that out of your system?"
"Worse" Louis replied.
I remembered the sheets of painkillers in Niall bag and went off to get them. Louis seemed pretty happy with me as I handed them over.
"Thank you" he moaned in relief as he swallowed a couple down with a sip of clean water, Niall had washed out the toothpaste cup.
"I wanna go back to bed..." He exhaled shakily, trying to push himself off the ground.
I gently grabbed onto him and assisted him in catching his balance, not wanting him to fall and knock his head open or anything.
"I might go out then, see if I can find a pharmacy" Niall stated thoughtfully.
"I'm gonna check on Harry" I hit my lip.
Louis paused and when Niall went to leave his hand shot out and grabbed onto Niall's shirt tightly, "it's fine, just, just don't go" he looked at the ground.
Niall smiled to himself, "I'll stay if that's what you want."
Louis nodded and tugged Niall off in the direction of their bedroom.
Harry was out on the lounger on the balcony fast asleep when I went looking for him. He was tucked up in a ball with the sun shooting right at him. The lounger next to him was empty, and it felt like it was just pleading me to sit down and join Harry. Whether it was the food or the heat, I suddenly felt exhausted and I found myself sinking into the cushions with a relieved sigh as my eyes fluttered shut.
When I woke up again everything was silent. Harry was still snoozing beside me and we were up so high even the noises of the city were gone. I pulled my phone out of my pocket with squinty, sleepy eyes and unlocked it, catching a glimpse of the time. 2:13.
I sleep for a-
Shit.
2:13.
The van was supposed to be to take us to rehearsals in quarter of an hour. I quickly got up and kicked Harry's arm before rushing inside, figuring that it'd be enough to wake him and then he'd work the rest out on his own.
Niall was sound asleep and curled up against Louis on the bed.
"Niall, wake up. We've gotta get ready to leave" I shook his shoulder urgently, "come on bro, wakey wa-"
I stopped and doubled over slightly as a cramp in my stomach hit, making my insides tighten and wind up. I grunted softly and straightened back up, a hand pressing on my stomach. Why did it do that?
"Ugh, Liam, what is it?" Niall whispered, covering his head with his arms, "I have a headache."
"We've got to, uh-" I paused again, wincing in pain.
"You okay?"
"Stomach hurts all of a sudden. Listen, the vans gonna be here soon" I explained, digging my knuckles into the tender skin of my mid section.
"What are we gonna do about Lou?" Niall murmured. I shook him again, in case he was falling back asleep. I felt kind of bad, he said he had a headache, but at the same time he needed to get up or we were going to get into trouble.
"You wake him, see how he is. I'm gonna go make sure Harry's up and moving" I told Niall before heading out.
I went back out to the balcony just in time to see Harry puke up his guts onto the concrete with a gasping retch. I froze as he pulled back and suddenly burst into tears, sobbing and crying loudly.
He coughed up another stream of sick and I snapped out of it, hurrying forward to let him know that he was okay.
The minute I touched his skin I knew that we had a problem. He was scorching. It was probably the reason for the tears, as he was never a big crier.
My own stomach didn't like the look and smell of the puddle of sick below me at all and as I tried to calm Harry down I realised that if I didn't calm myself down I was going to be sick as well.
Something was wrong. Louis and Harry were both throwing up, I was about to, and Niall had a headache. Surely we wouldn't all be sick at the same time, it was highly unlikely anyway, so it must've been something else. Something we've all done that's made us I'll like this.
I couldn't think of anything that made sense other than breakfast. Niall had said that it tasted funny, I might've been too hungry to realise.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" Harry wailed, wiping his hand over his lips with wide eyes and trembling fingers.
"Shh, I know, you don't need to cry, it's okay" I promised, being careful to keep control of the nausea lingering beneath my skin.
"My stomach hurts!" He cried and I noticed how tight of a hold he had on it.
"Right, it's okay. Come here" I gently pulled him in for a hug, hoping to slow down the flow of tears.
Thankfully it worked for the most part, I couldn't stop the sniffling and hiccuping but I managed to put an end to the sobbing and wailing
"I need the loo Liam" he whimpered, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach.
"Come on then, let's go" I nodded. With a deep breath I hoisted myself and Harry upright. I swore Harry was lighter yesterday.
We stumbled to the bathroom and he shut the door in my face, making me realise that he wasn't going in there to throw up more. Poor guy.
"So Louis' out, I texted management and they say it's fine that he hangs back today. He was sick again just now and I don't think he could get up if he wanted to" Niall said quietly from behind me. I turned around with a slight getter towards the bathroom.
"Harry just completely ruined the balcony with bodily fluids from his mouth and now he's in there emptying out the other end, I don't think he's coming either."
Niall frowned with a sigh, "great." He moved over to the couch and sagged down onto his butt, holding his head in his hands. "You're not good either, are ya?" I sighed. Stupid hotel food. I felt sort of betrayed really, it had looked and tasted so good, but it was all a trick.
"Just a headache" Niall murmured, his super quiet voice doing nothing to assure me. Nausea stirred in my aching stomach and I moved over to the sink.
"I think it's food poisoning from breakfast, that's why it hit Lou first" o explained my theory, my voice getting thick as the nausea strengthened.
Niall nodded slightly, "makes sense, I knew it didn't taste right."
My breathing was heavy now as I fought the urge to puke.
"I'm gonna be sick Ni" I panted, spinning around to face the steel cavity in the countertop. I latched on tight to the edge of the bench.
Niall came up behind me slowly and cautiously, "just let it happen."
I spewed heavily, my throat burning, "don't really have a choice" I gasped. It was true, Niall told me to let it happen but I couldn't have stopped it if I wanted to.
I puked up a few rounds, breathing like I had run a marathon and sweating like it too. I could feel Niall squirming uncomfortably beside me and with a wave of my hand I told him it was okay to leave if he needed to. I knew he hadn't eaten as much as the rest of us had, and that was probably why he had t been sick yet, but the poisoned food was still taking its toll on him.
"I'm okay" he gulped, "are you done?"
I hummed with a nod and let him lead me back over to the couch. My body felt exhausted and weak and sleep seemed like the best choice.
"I'm gonna text management, let them know that none of us can go anywhere" Niall told me before I could drift off.
I nodded soundlessly.
"Here, take a couple of these before you sleep" he passed me a few tablets. I didn't bother waiting for a glass, instead I just chucked them into my mouth and swallowed them dry.
"Can I please have a bucket?"
***
When Niall woke up it was dead silent in the hotel room and he instantly felt like he was going to throw up. With a low moan he tossed his covers off and got out of bed, holding a hand to his thumping head as he stumbled towards the bathroom in the darkness.
Everyone else was asleep, thankfully. After the disaster with the buffet food that morning the day had moaned by incredibly slowly. It was nothing more than hours and hours of spewing and sickness and even though Niall was feeling pretty unwell himself at this point he was definitely better off than the others which meant that he was on caretaker duty and he was exhausted in the very least. He'd seen almost more puke than he could handle, and he usually had a reasonably strong stomach. He was still the only one who hadn't been sick as of then, but he knew that that was about to go down the toilet. Literally.
He felt along the wall to the bathroom, wanting to keep out the light as much as he could. It was the middle of the night but he thought that some of the lights were probably on considering how much the other lads had already been up during the night. He rounded the corner and went into the room he knew was the bathroom, stumbling in the direction of the toilet with his shaky arms stretching out in front of him.
His foot hit something solid on the ground and he didn't have the strength or the balance to even try get his bearings straight. Instead he just toppled right over, hitting the tiles with a thud and a panicked groan. Having his body tossed around like that did nothing to ease the headache or the nausea.
A low whimper made him jump and back up against the wall. His eyes flew open in fright and he croaked as the light invaded his eyes and made the throbbing pain in his head amplify. It was a few seconds before he could make out the body curled up on the floor.
"Liam?" He murmured in confusion, a warning hiccup fluttering out of his mouth. He spun to face the toilet.
"Sorry..." Came a quiet reply, "you all good?"
Liam's voice was completely ragged. He'd been in the bathroom for a few hours now, his and Harry's was the room with the en suite but he didn't want to keep Harry up, and his stomach was so far past empty he didn't even know what would come up next time he vomited. He knew it would happen though, he could feel it somewhere deep inside the emptiness of his growling and rumbling belly.
"Gonna be sick" Niall coughed out before retching and releasing a heavy load of vomit into the toilet. He didn't like it at all. It burned his throat and made white flashes erupt all over his vision.
Liam swallowed hard and held a careful hand to his mouth as he scooted over to Niall's side. The blond had been with him every time he'd found himself hovering over the loo or leaning over a bucket so the way he saw it was that it was only fair he did the same. His stomach apparently didn't agree all that much though.
By the time Niall's vomiting had reduced to heavy breathing and spitting into the water Liam's stomach was trying to force something else up as he hung over the side of the tub and heaved fruitlessly.
Niall sagged back into the tiled wall, shutting his eyes and trying to gather the strength to crawl across the floor to Liam. His chest was heaving up and down relentlessly and he could feel his blood pulsing loudly in his ears. He couldn't move. His body felt far too heavy.
"S-sorry" he gasped helplessly, his head instinctively dropping between his knees as a wave of dizziness flooded over him.
Liam was a bit preoccupied to reply but he knew exactly how Niall felt and he didn't blame him at all. When his body was done with trying to throw up he flopped down like a fish and weakly gestured for Niall to lay down beside him. He had a couple of duvets in the bathroom with him, one for below him and one for on top so it wasn't too cold on the tiles.
Later on when the sun was just beginning to come up Harry was rolling around in his bed, sweating messily with scared whimpers and cries vibrating at the back of his raw throat. He had the worst fever out of the boys and although he hadn't been sick as much and Louis or Liam the excess heat ravishing through his body was enough to weaken him totally.
Pictures of people falling, dying, disappearing flashed through his mind over and over again, spinning through his vision like a repetitive movie.
He woke up confused and feeling went worse than he had the day before. He was never going to eat from another hotel buffet ever again. Not if they left him like this. He shifted slightly and winced at the feeling of the sweaty sheets against his skin. It felt gross, he felt gross. His stomach was make loud sounds and cramping up painfully. Quickly the nausea from yesterday settled into back into place and he groaned, rubbing tiredly at his eyes to wake himself up properly in case he needed to make a mad dash to bathroom. They only had one bucket between the four of them and Louis had it as he was throwing up hourly or more.
The bed on the other side of the room was empty, the sheets in a tangled mess in the middle of the floor and the pillows scattered everywhere else. Harry couldn't remember Liam going to bed. He himself had pretty much spent the whole day there, in and out of the en suite but he hadn't seen Liam last night. Judging by the destroyed bed though he must've been there at some point.
Harry swallowed and realised how thirsty he was. The nauseous feeling wasn't enough to put him off water and the dryness of his throat made him cough a few times as he forced himself to get out of bed. He made a shocked sound as the ground tilted around underneath him and reached out to grab on to something, anything, to stop himself from teetering right over.
His outstretched fingers landed on the headboard and instantly curled around it.
He stood completely still for a few moments, taking deep breaths and squeezing his eyes shut while he waited for the dizziness to clear.
He grew impatient of waiting after a few minutes. It was a little better and he though he would make it to the kitchen before he keeled over at least so he took a weary step forward, holding his aching stomach.
It went okay so he carried on, shuffling in the direction of the fridge at the pace of a dying snail.
Three quarters of the way there and he paused in the centre of the lounge area. Couches surrounded him but they were all a few metres out of reach thanks to the unnecessary size of the room. The dizziness came back full force and Harry groaned, swaying on his jelly like legs and fisting his hands. His ears felt thick and the spinning of the room around him was causing a violent storm in his empty stomach.
His head swarmed with nothing but stuffiness that made no sense. It grew heavy and through it all he was suddenly hit with the thought that he might be about to pass out.
He croaked out each of the boys names as loud as he could manage, each syllable shaking something terrible.
However much he wanted help he wasn't feeling overly confident that anyone was going to come. They were all dealing with their own stuff.
Whoa okay, he barely caught himself as the ground rushed towards his eyes, he was definitely going to faint.
Harry let his knees buckle, calling out one more frantic time for help as his knees hit the carpet.
"Harry?"
Harry made a sound.
Louis' body protested angrily as he moved as quickly as he could over to his friend. He was running on fumes and he knew he needed to get something into his system soon unless he wanted to join Harry's dizzy party. First thing's first though, Harry needed his help and as weak as he could felt he reckoned he could muster up enough energy to deal with the situation at hand.
Tears tracked their way down Harry's face as Louis stared into his glassy eyes trying to figure out what the best plan of action was.
"Gonna f-faint Lou..."he whimpered helplessly, grabbing onto Louis' arm tightly. Louis' presence alone wasn't enough to pull him from the dizzy haze he'd spiraled into.
"You're not Haz, I'm here" Louis promised. He tugged Harry onto his bottom and shuffled him over to the couch carefully. Louis coughed a bit on the way and paused for a second, thinking he was going to be sick again. Nothing happened and Harry was moaning again so he carried on.
When Harry's back was up against the couch Louis pushed his head down between his knees, hoping that it'd help his head clear a little.
"That any better mate?" Louis hiccuped and turned away slightly to compose himself.
Harry hummed in response. He could feel it clearing slowly but he didn't feel confident enough to answer Louis just yet.
Louis stomach lurched and he cursed himself for not bringing his bucket along him. In his defense he had been pretty frantic after hearing Harry's panicked called.
Before he knew it he had heaved and coughed up a small puddle of bile and acid, along with a little water. It was all he had left. His stomach was still reeling as he flopped against the couch beside Harry.
"Aren't we just a mess?" Harry muttered. Louis nodded lethargically with a grimace.
Later on when Niall walked out into the main room, planning to plant down in front of the TV to distract himself from the aching in his head, Louis and Harry cuddled into each other and fast asleep. Niall pulled a face at the sight of the sick on the floor but he couldn't really be bothered dealing with it properly. He took his shirt off and threw it over the mess before easing onto the couch behind the sleeping lads and wrapping himself up in the blanket that was hanging over the side of the lounge suite.
He switched the TV on and turned the volume down so that he wouldn't wake anyone. He was feeling much better than he had been a few hours ago. Although his head was still playing up a little his stomach had pretty much settled after he'd thrown up a few times throughout the night.
Liam was still out cold on the bathroom floor. Niall had thought about waking him but decided against it, Liam was worse off than he was and probably needed all the rest he could get.
In the middle of an episode of Criminal minds Niall heard footsteps and glanced away from the TV to see Liam leaning on the door frame looking absolutely dead on his feet. He was as pale as paper and the bags under his eyes were like deadly storm clouds ready to burst.
"Aw Li, come sit" Niall patted the space beside him, his voice a little raspy.
Liam swallowed and shuffled over to the couch with his arms roped around his middle protectively. Niall tucked his legs up a little more so that Liam had more room and threw the rest of the blanket over his friend. Liam looked at him sadly and Niall made a sympathetic sound, gently leaning Liam onto his shoulder.
It was when Harry began stirring Niall realised what could potentially happen at any time. If one of them woke and vomited, there was a high possibility it would trigger everyone. He wasn't overly confident about trusting his own stomach yet either. He sat Liam against the couch and eased onto his feet, rubbing the side of his head with a wince.
He retrieved the bucket from beside Louis' bed and then found the biggest bowls he could from the kitchen cupboards. He didn't know why they hadn't thought of using the bowls earlier.
With the bowls and bucket scattered around the little formation in the main room Niall sat back down on the couch. Liam immediately slouched back on top of him.
With all three lads snoring around him Niall fell asleep pretty easily, knowing that when he woke he would be feeling much better and be ready to take care of his friends.
I'm really sorry about how slow this was. I've had an insanely busy week, and I'm working on another story through private message with a new friend :) Hope you're doing well!