Can we pull over for two minutes Lou?"
"Huh?"
"Just two minutes, I need to do s-something" Niall repeated quietly from the passenger seat. I glanced over at, chewing at his lip anxiously.
"You should've pissed before we left Ni" I shook my head as I pulled onto the side of the road.
Niall opened his door and got out of the car while I took my seatbelt off. I turned the radio up a few notches and tapped my fingers on my knee impatiently while he took a few steps away from the car.
We were due at Harry's flat in just under ten minutes where the plan was to just hang out for a few hours before we went to the studio for a writing session. It wasn't going to be a big deal of we were late, it wasn't like we were doing anything, but I didn't want to spend too long on the side of the road either.
I turned to see if Niall was finished just in time to see him lurch and throw up all over the grass.
A shocked gasp left my throat as I scrambled over the seats and out of his door to make sure he was okay.
"You didn't say you felt sick!" I exclaimed as I bounced over to his side, tripping on the tall grass and lumpy dirt.
"I just wanted to stop for a bit, I didn't know I was going to be sick until th-then" he wiped his mouth and straightened up with a wince, "I've g-got the worst headache..."
"Probably what made you sick like this" I told him as I walked him over to the car to sit down, " you probably should've stayed home."
"I took some pills, it'll go away soon" he cleared his throat.
"Are you sure? I can take you back to your place if you-"
"It's fine Lou, can we just go?"
I nodded uncertainly and walked around the car back over to my side. I got in and turned the radio off before clicking my seatbelt. If his headache was bad enough to make him vomit it must've been pretty bad. I felt bad for him.
He stayed quiet for the rest of the drive, eyes closed and head leaned back against the seat. I asked if he wanted the seat reclined but he said no.
"We're here Ni" I jostled his shoulder lightly after I'd parked on the driveway behind Liam's car.
"Okay" he muttered in reply. I undid his belt and got out of the car, eyeing him wearily as he did the same.
"Stop that Louis, honestly those pills are already working" he told me, obviously feeling my eyes burning into the back of his head as he walked over to the door.
I just shrugged as he knocked, "you can't blame me for worrying, you just puked."
Harry opened the door with a cheerful smile, "since when do you guys knock? Don't you have your keys?"
I shrugged with a laugh, "just wanted to make you have to move Haz."
Harry rolled his eyes and opened the door far enough for us to go in.
Niall went in and disappeared around the corner into the lounge.
"What's with him today?" Harry asked, gesturing after him as he closed the door behind him. I knew he'd notice something was off right away. Niall was way quieter than usual, way less bouncy, just way less Niall.
"Well, funny story, he just chuck chundered on the side of the road" I said with an eyebrow raised as we slowly walked to the lounge.
"What? Why?"
"Headache. Or migraine I guess. I told him I'd take him home but he reckons the pills he took are helping" I explained. Harry just frowned.
"Hey Tommo!" Liam greeted when he spotted me. Niall had already curled up on the couch, rubbing at his eyes blearily with his mouth in a tight line.
"Hiya Li" I replied to Liam with a grin as I sat down next to Niall. He caught me watching him again and whacked my shoulder, "quit it!"
I shrugged apologetically and turned away.
Harry sighed, "so what do you wanna do?"
"We could go to the park? Kick a ball around or whatever?" Liam suggested. Harry raised an eyebrow at me questioningly, as if it was all up to me. I thought about Niall beside me and sighed, "I'm tired, can we do something around here?"
He wouldn't have fun running around if his head was hurting bad enough to make him throw up. I doubted he felt like moving at all.
"Movie?" Harry suggested.
Liam nodded carelessly, "sure. I'll go do a snack run. Anyone want anything?"
By the time Liam got back we had managed to pick a movie we all wanted to watch. It took a bit of compromising and a fair amount of arguing but we got there in the end.
Harry turned all the lights of and switched the chosen movie on, the surround sound booming from every corner of the room. With the exception of Niall we all pigged out on whatever snacks Liam had grabbed from the supermarket as the screen came to life.
About halfway through I noticed that Niall had begun to wriggle around occasionally. After twenty minutes of uncomfortable squirming he laid down, stretching his legs out cross my lap and facing the opposite direction of the screen.
"Not interested Mate?" I whispered.
"Light's making my head absolutely pound" he groaned quietly in response, swiping the cushion from behind my back and holding it over his head.
"I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind if you went into one of the other rooms" I suggested but Niall just grunted in refusal, "no thanks."
I was at a loss for words so I just relaxed back into my seat. Liam gave me the universal what gesture with a nod in Niall's direction so I just mouthed back 'headache.' He nodded with a pitying smile before directing his attention back to the TV.
"He good?" Harry muttered to me quietly.
"He can hear you" Niall grumbled.
"Oh. Well are you good then?"
"Yes."
"Okay" Harry pulled a face and sat back into his seat.
Nobody said anything else for the entirety of the movie. When the end credits did start rolling Harry turned the TV off and we were left in complete darkness for a few moments while he got up to get the light.
I could feel Niall moving around again and by the time Harry got the light he was sitting up, face screwed in discomfort. He was literally squinting.
"We're alone at the studio today right?" he murmured questioningly.
"Yeah" Liam replied.
"Then I think I might just go home instead" Niall blinked at us all expectantly, waiting for a reaction.
"All good Mate, we can tell you're feeling crappy" Harry smiled, "feel free to just stay here if you want."
Niall shook his head from left to right slowly, wincing, "nah, can you drive me again Lou?"
"Course." I got to my feet, "I'll meet you two at the studio afterwards?"
"Yup" Liam nodded as he shrugged his jacket back on and tidied up some of the packets from the coffee table.
Niall stood and my arms instinctively shot out when he instantly stumbled, "whoa, hey, you alright?!"
Niall hummed, squeezing his eyes shut. "It just really hurts..." He whimpered, clutching his head in one hand. He shuffled over closer to me and rested his forehead on my shoulder heavily.
"Feel better Nialler" Harry patted his back as we went past.
"See ya!" Liam called. Niall shuddered from the loudness as I closed the door behind us.
He sat in the passenger seat again as I drove back over to his place. I glanced over every few seconds to make sure he was alright and although there were a few times I thought I might have to pull over again we made it without any stops. I went with him inside, I didn't feel comfortable with just leaving him right away.
In the end it was a good thing I stayed or he would've been puking on his own. It was just after he'd settled down in bed, he croaked out my name with a hand over his mouth and I'd hurriedly shoved the bin onto his lap just in time for him to be sick again.
"Damn it..." he moaned tiredly.
I grimaced sympathetically as he eased back into the mattress. I put the bin nearby in case he needed it again later and glanced at the time on my phone with a twitch of my lips. I'd already been here quarter of an hour with him.
"Would you like me to stay with ya Mate?" I offered, "I feel awful about leaving you."
"No... You should go Lou. I'm okay" he whispered, already half asleep by the sounds of it.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes" Niall smiled at me forcefully, "go."
I sighed and stood up, "fine, but the offer still stands. Call me later if you want me to come back okay?"
Niall grunted.
***
The next day's schedule was empty unless we wanted to go back to the studio. We were all pretty keen to show Niall what we got done yesterday but I wasn't sure if he would be better or not so we decided to go over and check in on him before we told him. Otherwise, he'd just come along whether he still felt like shit or not.
Liam knocked on the door and we waited a couple of minutes for the door to swing open. Just as he was about to hit the wood again it opened and Niall stood in front of us all weakly.
"I still have a headache" he said in that voice little kids had when they were trying not to burst into tears. He looked dreadful too, swaying there in a pair of god awful banana boxers.
We all bustled inside and he instantly plopped down on the couch, dropping his head into his hands.
"Has it gotten any better since I left yesterday?" I asked, sitting down beside him and moving his hands from his eyes.
"We'll close the curtains" Liam nudged Harry and they both busied around for a few moments, shutting the majority of the sunlight out.
"Yeah" Niall blurted in a way that was almost a sob, "I took some more pain relief after you left."
He cuddled into me and I felt moisture soak into my T-shirt. I rubbed his back, "then what happened? It doesn't seem better now."
"It went away completely, I was fine" he replied, his voice quiet and almost totally muffled into my shoulder, "I went to bed and when I woke up it was just back!"
"Same as yesterday?" I asked.
"Not as bad, I'm just-" he inhaled a shuddery breath, "frustrated."
"Well have you taken anything else? If it helped yesterday it might help again today" Liam suggested.
"Not yet" Niall groaned, "I haven't eaten either, not since... Oh god, I don't even know." He lifted his head to let us all see the tears pooling in his crystalline eyes.
"It's okay Ni" Harry soothed, "I'll go get you something to eat. Anything in particular?"
"Cornflakes?(Lol when I'm craving cornflakes for some reason)"
Harry chuckled, "cornflakes it is."
While he was gone Liam searched the mess on the table for the pain killers and I just kept Niall comfortable. He suddenly went stiff after a few seconds and when I asked what was wrong he pulled away from me, staring at me fearfully was his complexion paled even further.
"Feeling sick Ni?" I asked carefully, slowly getting up so that I wouldn't jostle him too much.
"I don't think I'm g-gonna throw up" he whimpered, "just feels really- nauseous." He swallowed unsurely and shut his eyes as Harry came back in with the bowl of cereal he'd asked for.
I held a hand up to pause Harry, not knowing whether or not the food would be enough to send Niall over the edge. I couldn't figure out why he was all of a sudden having such bad headaches. He's never been one to get headaches in the first place, never mind migraines like this.
Harry stopped.
"Still reckon you can stomach something?" I asked Niall quietly.
"I'm hungry" he nodded. Harry started forward again as Niall opened his eyes and wiped the tears off his cheeks. He wasn't the same green colour he'd turned a few seconds before thankfully.
Liam walked in with the box of medicine and Niall took it with a few sips of water from the bottle on the coffee table before getting into the cereal. I made sure he was okay before heading up to the bathroom before I pissed myself.
I went in and did my business before flushing and washing my hands. I saw something out of the corner of my eyes and glanced down at the stains on the edge of the vanity. They were dark in colour and went all the way down the ceramic corner. I followed it with my eyes down to the ground. There was another splotch of whatever it was on the tiles a couple of feet away. I chuckled to myself as I dried my hands. Niall must've been eating in here or something, it kind of looked like barbecue sauce.
We decided to just hang around Niall's place for the day. We didn't try to watch anymore movies, not wanting to aggravate his headache any more. Instead we just played card games, couple of board games. Just quiet stuff. He seemed to get a bit better after taking those pills and I was sure that he'd be fine after that.
We ended up sleeping there because by the time someone checked the time it was late and we were all too lazy to drive home. Niall didn't mind us crashing in his living room, he even slept on the couch beside us. I tried telling him to go to bed but he was sure that his head wasn't even hurting any more. He was exhausted though, because he fell asleep right away. I did too, barely three minutes after I noticed he was asleep.
The next morning thankfully he was still okay. He was still a bit tired and a bit woozy but he wasn't complaining about a headache so that was good. We had breakfast and Harry suggested we head out and have a go at the new mini-golf in town. Niall was pretty keen to go so we got ready and left.
He was quiet in the car but when I asked him about he promised that he was okay, just tired. I nodded in understanding and went back to humming and looking out the window.
However when we did start playing I noticed him getting quieter and quieter, slower and slower, with each hole. We were on hole 15 and he was bending over to get his ball out of the hole when he suddenly jerked upright and grabbed onto the nearest tree as if anchoring himself. I ran over, Liam and Harry hardly a step behind.
"Ni, what's wrong?" I tilted his head up so I could see him properly.
"I'm fine now L-Lou, I just got really dizzy for a few seconds" he mumbled, "we can carry on."
He raised his free hand to the side of his head with a wince and let go of the tree.
"Niall..."
"It's not that bad" he blurted.
Liam sighed, "we're almost done anyway Lou, and then we can go straight home when we're done."
"Or a clinic" Harry muttered behind me. I was thinking the same thing. Something felt off.
Just when I was about to agree to sticking around for the last few holes Niall gasped and shut his eyes again, swaying even worse than he had been yesterday. I grabbed onto him before he could properly fall over and shook my head, "nope, we're leaving. Come on Ni, I gotcha."
With Harry stuck to his other side we headed back to the car while Liam returned all the gear we'd hired.
"Just d-dizzy..." Niall complained as he slowly got into the car, hissing afterwards as his hands shot up to his head again. I raised an eyebrow at him knowingly, "headache's back too isn't it?"
"Shut up" he mumbled, leaning onto my shoulder as Liam got into the passenger seat.
Harry started driving and I could tell we weren't going back to Niall's place. Relief flooded into my chest when we finally parked up at a doctors office. Finally this could stop.
"Where are we?" Niall lifted his head and peered out the window.
"A clinic Ni, just to make sure everything's good with you" I unclipped both of our belts.
"Okay" he said tiredly and then let me help him out of the car.
"Are you feeling dizzy at all right now?" I asked as he closed the door.
"A bit" he whimpered.
"You wanna wait until it passes or just go?"
"Just go" he replied.
I hooked my arm around him while Harry grabbed the other side again. We started walking over to the entrance.
"Jesus, I'm not that dizzy" Niall frowned.
Inside we had to wait for a bit because we didn't have an appointment. Niall sat beside the wall and stared at the ground listlessly, eyes trained on nothing. After ten minutes of waiting he shook himself out of his trance with a huff, "can we just go? I'm feeling pretty much fine now."
"You're not dizzy any more?" Harry asked.
Niall shook his head.
"And your head?" Liam frowned.
"It's just aching a little. It's really fine" he shrugged, rubbing his eyes.
I sighed, "no, we've already waited for this long. Let's just do this, just in case."
"Louis..." Niall whined.
"Shush" I grinned with a roll of my eyes, "those kids are more patient than you."
Another ten minutes later we finally got in there, Niall complaining for the entire walk. The doctor had said we could go in with him and although it was probably a bit strange we all went anyway. We were worried.
The man introduced himself as Doctor Finley and asked what the problem was. Niall explained the headaches and the dizziness before before laughing and telling the man that he really was feeling just fine now and it was us that had made him come.
I filled in the blanks that Niall had left out and Doctor Finley sighed thoughtfully.
"Have you hit your head recently? Maybe fallen?" He asked.
Niall paused for a brief second before shaking his head.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, noticing the strange pause.
"Yeah" Niall replied.
"Any background of migraines?" Doctor Finley wheeled closer on his little spinny chair.
"No, I don't usually get headaches" Niall winced as he shook his head. I chewed my lip.
"Are you okay Niall?" Doctor Finley asked when Niall randomly moaned and leaned over to hold his head. I rubbed his back and shot a frown at the Doctor, "this is why we're here."
"Niall, is it okay if I just check your head?" Doctor Finley asked gently.
Niall grunted, "g-go ahead."
I got out of the way a bit as Doctor Finley began by moving Niall's hair of his forehead. He mustn't have found what he was looking for because his hand moved further back to combs through the sides and the back as well. He paused with a hand on the right side of Niall's head and pulled his fingers out. I saw the dark flakes on his skin and inhaled sharply.
"There's a lump and a cut Niall, you've definitely hit your head on something" he said as Niall sat up again. The stains in the bathroom came into my mind then and my mouth dropped open as I turned to Niall, "did you fall in the bathroom?"
"I don't think so... I mean, maybe?" He shrugged helplessly, raising his hands to run over the bump Doctor Finely had spoken about.
"Maybe?" Liam frowned.
"I remember waking up in the bathroom, on the floor. But I thought it was just a dream. Next thing I remember is waking up in my bed. How'd you know about the bathroom Lou?" He looked to me, wide eyed.
"I saw blood in there yesterday. I didn't realise what it was until now" I explained.
"Well I think it's safe to say that what you're experiencing is due to concussion. It's common to have gaps in your memory, completely normal. You shouldn't worry about that. Most likely you tripped and blacked out for a few moments. You woke, maybe cleaned your head a bit, and then went to bed" Doctor Finley explained.
"That-" Niall sighed, "actually makes sense. I feel so stupid."
"It's fine Nialler, it wasn't your fault" Liam chuckled lightly.
The doctor prescribed a stronger pain killer for the headaches and let us all leave, wishing Niall better.
He fingered the lump on his head, "I can't believe I was so dumb."
"None of us realised either. I literally saw your blood spilled on the bathroom floor and I still didn't click" I patted his shoulder.
"True, that was stupid of you" Niall glanced at me cheekily.
"Shut up" I rolled my eyes.
Well, you can't say it isn't original? I honestly am pretty happy with how this on turned out, thanks for the request! I hoped all you guys enjoyed!