Harry woke sprawled out across the back room of bus in a similar position to the one he'd fallen asleep in and the first thing he noticed was the piece of something covering his eyes. His hand buzzed with pins and needles as he sleepily tried to whack it away. It didn't budge, something was causing it to stick to his forehead.
With a grunt and a groan he hoisted himself upright and swiped at it with more determination this time, managing to knock it free. It was piece of paper, he concluded, as it fluttered and the landed on the carpet.
Harry yawned and stretched as he leaned over to pick it up. He recognised Louis' scraggly handwriting scribbled all over the little note but it seemed to be taking him longer than usual to wake up enough to actually make any sense of the words. In the time it took for him to register what the writing meant he realised two other things, one was that his shirt was practically sticking to him, and two that he really didn't feel very well.
He stuck the note to the wall beside him and prodded gingerly at his suddenly upset stomach. The bus wasn't moving, the other lads had stopped at McDonalds to pick up some food for the road. He was all alone and this was definitely a good thing because it was only a few moments later than Harry was jolting to his feet and dashing for the toilet, one hand clamped down tightly over his mouth.
After eating a reasonably big breakfast of toast and cereal the load he brought back up was rather heavy and it left him feeling absolutely dreadful, gasping over the toilet and desperately trying not to be sick again. He hated it, and he didn't want the others coming back and seeing him in the state he was in. It was embarrassing to him for some reason. In the lengthy time he'd known them all he thought he'd seen Niall catch a stomach bug once, and Louis had some food poisoning, but apart from that he had never known any of the three to catch any of the childish bugs he seemed to pick up annually. Plus, he knew he acted like a right kid when he was over the loo he didn't want them to see him like that. He was an adult, and adults don't reduce to whimpering puppies when hit with a minor stomach issue.
More than anything, Harry didn't want them to know.
Five minutes later he had calmed himself down enough to pry himself away from the toilet and stand up in front of the sink. With one hand he flushed the toilet and with the other he ran a hand through his dishevelled hair. Considering what had just gone down he didn't think he looked too worse for wear. His face was pale and a pit clammy looking but that was easily fixed with some water. He whined quietly to himself as he dug through the he cabinets for something he could take to suppress the nausea. His arms didn't feel like they were even part of his body and bending over made his back hurt and his gut churn. He was feeling all too flu-like and he knew that the next few days, week even, were going to be total hell.
He supposed he was lucky they were just driving for the next three days. There was an interview on the schedule at one point but it had been cancelled.
At the sound of the door unlocking Harry quickly sprayed the room clear of the pukey smell and ducked out of the bathroom, plopping onto his butt on the couch just in time for the door to open.
Liam was the first to enter, nodding a head and shooting smile to Harry as he dumped the first piled bag of food on the bench. He stepped aside so that Niall and Louis could bustle their way inside too. Outside the guard closed the door.
"Have a nice nap, nana?" Louis teased around the lollipop jutting from between his lips.
Harry forced a short smile, " yeah, guess I was a bit tired."
"You still look exhausted," Niall chuckled, "but some food should wake you up."
"The smell alone is enough to wake you Ni," Liam rolled his eyes as he started emptying the bags onto the counter top. Already Harry was struggling. Food didn't just wake up Niall, it also woke up nausea, accompanied by the sweats.
Louis hummed appreciatively as he sifted through the array of sweets now covering the bench, "I'm so fucking happy that store was there lads, I'm gonna be stuffed on this all weekend."
"Come concert time you'll be more hyper than a two year old," Liam agreed. Louis shrugged carelessly.
"Here Haz, we got you the usual," Liam smiled and handed over the armful of burger and chips, overfilling the box. With a gulp Harry quietly thanked him and set it down on his lap hesitantly. The smell was so strong and it was making his stomach feel so bad, saliva was beginning to gather in his mouth and it definitely wasn't from hunger.
He wiped his forehead with his arm and sat back as the other lads burst into chatter while they positioned themselves all across the small area and started to eat. Harry simply picked away silently. The chips were easier than he thought they would've been to get down thankfully. He managed to get through them while resisting the urge to bend at the middle and let everything out onto the floor.
However he couldn't justify forcing the burger down, he knew he wouldn't be able to stomach the fatty meat for more than a few minutes and so far he thought he'd done an alright job at keeping any suspicions the band might've had at bay. He didn't want to take any risks.
He weakly glanced around to make sure no one was paying any attention to him and then weakly lobbed the horrid thing into the trash bin. Somehow the lads were too immersed in their overly animated and highly passionate conversation about budget cheese to notice the burger flying through the air and Harry supposed he should feel grateful for that.
Feeling out of place and awkward he picked himself up and trudged through to the bunks. He leaned his head against the wall and took a deep breath, one hand pressed against his stomach. It was making loud sounds of protest against the food he'd just eaten and he decided that he should probably lock himself back into the bathroom just to be on the safe side. The others were still being mightily noisy which came to Harry's rescue yet again as he vomited for the second time, Niall's shrieking drowning out any evidence of the act.
Harry wiped his mouth and sagged heavily against the sink, his arms quaking dangerously at the crease. He didn't know how he was going to carry this on. He couldn't count on yelling to hide the sounds forever and judging by the whale sounds his stomach was emitting it was far from being done with expelling itself. Soon they'd start to notice the fever he was hosting and the grogginess he couldn't mask, Liam probably even quicker than the rest.
He huffed stubbornly and shook his head at himself in the mirror, he was fine. He didn't need to humiliate himself in front of his best mates, he just had to suck it up and deal.
If he was being totally honest with himself he wanted another nap, and he knew that he probably needed it too. However that would be like waving a flag in the others facing, letting them know exactly what was going. Harry wasn't even a big napper on bad days, and he'd already taken one.
Instead he mustered up his strength and exited the bathroom to suggest a movie in the back room to the rest of the lads. Being trapped on the bus there wasn't a heck of lot else to do but with all the sugar Niall would probably conjure some high energy consuming game and Harry was not by any means in the mood for that.
Thankfully they were all keen and the four of them filled the small room with blankets and pillows as well as all the food they'd just brought.
Louis eyed up Harry sitting slouched on the couch as he chucked a duvet into his corner. The younger lad appeared to be struggling to keep his heavy lids open. Louis frowned and waved a hand in front of his listless gaze to gain his attention, "did you get any sleep last night? Are you okay?"
Harry blinked and nodded fervently, "yeah, I'm good."
He coughed into his hand and peered up at Louis innocently. From anyone else Louis would've just shrugged and forgotten about it but Harry 's lying had always been obvious to him. It was to everyone else too. He lied in an almost childhood manner, spouting fibs when the truth was obviously clear.
Louis sighed and sat down. Harry definitely didn't look good.
While Liam flicked through the movies Harry kept sneaking glances over at Louis. He'd thought that he was was going to have to worry more about Liam but apparently he was wrong because Louis was proving to be more observant that he had given him credit for. Maybe it had something to do with all those younger siblings he had.
Harry rubbed his stomach underneath the blankets and muffled a quiet whine into his hands. He wished he wasn't on the bus. In a hotel he'd at least have the privacy to be sick in peace, not to mention steady ground beneath his feet. The jerking movements of the bus weren't helping at all.
A movie was decided and the chatter died down as the picture started across the screen. Harry snuggled down further, taking up all the room he could get his hands on. He tried paying attention at first but within fifteen minutes he stopped trying to keep his eyes open and let himself drift into a light and uneasy sleep. His stomach would probably wake him before the film ended anyway.
No word of sickness came up over the rest of the day. Harry kept mostly to himself unless he had to and although the lads seemed a bit curious nobody asked him any questions luckily.
He showered and put himself to bed just twenty minutes before everybody else retired to the bunks too. He was awake enough to hear the rustling and whispering, although his body was mostly shut down his mind couldn't distract from the constant nausea bubbling inside him or the throbbing behind his eyes.
He must've either zoned out though, or fallen asleep, because when the flush as hot as fire scorches over his body he leapt into full consciousness and sat up, almost hitting his head on the wall above him. He squirmed uncomfortably, his face twisting and scrunching as his stomach fluttered with cramps. If it was a cartoon he'd lift his shirt and he swore he'd be able to see the skin rippling.
Harry swallowed thickly and pressed a hand against his fevered forehead. It was damp with sweat like the rest of his sickly body. A glass of water would help calm his stomach, he thought foggily.
Shakily he shifted and pulled the curtain open. It felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Uncertainly Harry got out of his bed and stood straight for a moment.
Niall's eyes shot open at the all to familiar sound of a retch and gag, followed by an inhumane splash that made his own stomach roll at the recognition. Nevertheless, he was fast to through his duvet off and rip his curtain open to see who'd gotten ill.
Liam had reacted the same as him and was already consoling a shell shocked and quaking Harry as he stood doubled over his knees over the contents of his stomach. Niall glanced up at the sound of Louis' groggy voice above my head, "oh Haz... I knew something was wrong..."
"Go get a towel Ni?" Liam looked over at Niall as he ran a hand up and down Harry's back, "and see if you can find the bucket too."
Niall yawned and nodded, "sure. Sit him down Li, he looks as if he's about to pass out or something."
Liam assisted Harry to sit down on the mattress.
Frustrated tears had begun to leak from the edges of Harry's eyes and he furiously swiped at them. This was not how it was supposed to go. If he'd just been grown up enough to realise what was happening earlier and just gotten to the bathroom sooner it never would've happened. Stupid, he was so, so, stupid.
Niall returned and pushed the bucket to rest right in front of Harry before chucking the towel over the mess on the floor.
"Are you okay now mate? What happened? You should've said if you weren't feeling well," Liam spoke worriedly.
Harry groaned, "I didn't want you all to know..."
The gig was up. His dignity was down the toilet. There wasn't any point in keeping to himself anymore.
"What? Why not?" Louis questioned in confusion as he slipped down from his bunk, landing with a soft thud.
"Cos I'm not a little kid, I'm okay," Harry responded weakly, his voice not making him sound very convincing. He only had time to take a single breath before a familiar sensation returned and he was shakily raising a hand to his lips, "I'm gonna be sick."
He was more than embarrassed as the lads comforted him through the puke session but he did have to admit it did make the whole process easier than being on his own. Afterwards Liam took the bucket away to empty and Louis practically tucked Harry back into bed. Too tired to argue Harry let himself be positioned and drowsily closed his eyes.
"For the record, we know you're not a kid H. But you are sick, which gives us a free card to take care of ya."
Even the gross taste in Harry's mouth wasn't enough to keep him awake. He hoped he'd feel better when he woke up, but knew that if he didn't at least the boys wouldn't mind, and he wouldn't have to go through the whole struggle of trying to keep things from them again. It helped his mind settle.
Not my best, sorry loves.
And sadly I can't tell you who the next request is for because I forgot to write it, I'm awful I know. I can tell you that it's a part two of a stomach flu one where all the boys end up sick. Usually these ones end up being lengthier, but we'll see :)
Have a good day!