Someone was definitely awake.
I could hear footsteps and sniffles, like somebody was crying.
So of course I had to get up, despite it being three am. I was sharing the suite with my three best friends, if one of them was upset I needed to be with them.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and reached out blindly for the chair I'd thrown my hoodie on. My fingers hit the material and I swiped it up, tugging it over my head and letting it swallow my hands. Thinking about it now, I don't think this was actually one of my own hoodies to begin with.

From out in the hall I could see the slit of light seeping out from underneath a door across the main room. Louis' room. I moved across the room carefully, making sure I didn't crash into anything and wake everyone up. We were all pretty run down at this point in the tour and they needed their rest. I did too, but I couldn't just leave Louis to cry on his own. Or maybe he wasn't crying. Either way I should make sure he's okay at least.

My hand lingered on the door handle for a moment hesitantly. If he'd wanted me in there he would've come and got me, wouldn't he? What if he wanted to be alone? Just go in Niall.

So I quietly opened the door, the handle not making a single sound as I stepped inside.

Louis was pacing.

His back sweater clad back was facing me and he had his arms wrapped around himself as he dragged his feet along the carpet. The grey sweats he was wearing were dragging on the ground and I had the suspicion that they weren't his either. He sniffled again as I shut the door behind me. This time it made a sound and Louis jumped in fright, spinning on his heel with his brilliant blue eyes wide and scared.

"Just me, sorry Lou, I didn't mean to scare ya" I apologised guiltily. "What are you doing? I heard you moving around?"

I didn't want to pull him up on the crying thing. He didn't really look like he'd been crying, although his eyes were kind of red, but I figured he probably wouldn't want me to know anyway.

Louis swallowed, a shadow from the lamplight casting over the left side of his face. He looked good in this lighting, or every lighting to be honest.

His bottom lip quivered and then he suddenly ambled into my chest, almost making me fall over. Luckily I managed to stay on my feet, frowning at the sudden hug. I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it but still, it was weird for Louis to be so... Cuddly.
"Hey, what's the matter?" I cooed sweetly, rubbing his back and whispering in his ear.
Louis pulled away and it was only then that I noticed the sickly paleness of his face, all except his cheery red nose and bloodshot eyes. He appeared a little sticky, feverish, and absolutely exhausted.
"I don't feel w-well Ni, can't sleep" he whimpered, his voice quiet and rough. He sniffled again and I frowned worriedly, reaching up to press my hand against his forehead without a moment of hesitation. Although his skin felt hot and sweaty against mine, the touch and his glassy eyes locked with still made a wave of nervous heat wash over me.

"Come sit Lou" I lead him over to the bed with a hand in his back.
He sneezed softly into his hands as he sat and I mentally awed. The sound was so small and so unsneeze- like, there was nothing even mildly disgusting about it.
He moved his hands and stared at me helplessly, blinking slowly from sleepiness.
"My head really hurts..." Louis moaned, shutting his eyes for a few seconds and ducking his head onto my shoulder.
"Aw Lou, have you been feeling sick all day? You should've said something before it got like this" I tucked him in closer to me. With my body in such close contact with his, despite all the layers between us, I could still feel him shaking.
"Wouldn't have made a difference..." Louis whimpered, "Niall it's f-freezing."
"I know Lou, you're shaking. I think you've got a fever" I brushed his fringe off his forehead. His hair should've been sweaty and gross from the fever but it was surprisingly soft between my fingertips.
Louis hummed sadly and sneezed again.
"Ow..."

"I'm gonna go see if I can find some pain killers to help with your head okay? Ya look completely miserable love" I sighed worriedly. He really did seem to be feeling pretty dreadful. He was usually so happy and excitable, seeing him so far on the other side of the spectrum was hard to see.

"Don't go Ni, please?" He gripped onto my arm tight with a desperate look.
"It'll just be a minute or so. I promise I'll be right back. You just hop back into bed and get as comfortable as you can while I'm gone, I'll be back before you even notice I left" I smiled reassuringly.
Louis paused, "fine. Go Qu-quick."

I helped his sit against the head board and then left the room. Liam was the only one who carried anything medicine related, apart from the allergy medicine in Harry's bag, so I had to sneak into his room and ever so carefully take them all from his bag. Thankfully I didn't wake him.
I filled up a glass of water from the kitchen and carried the small bag of medicines and the cup back into Louis room.
"Told you I'd be back Lou" I stated with a grin as I shut the door behind me again.
Louis just grunted appreciatively and opened his eyes.
I placed the bag on the counter and begun to dig through it, pulling out anything cold and flu related. At the very bottom was a thermometer so I pulled that out too.

"What else is bothering ya love? We've got nasal spray, cough meds, ear drops. It's all in here" I asked as I sifted through the bag again just in case I'd missed something important.
"My throat and my n-nose" Louis replied, so quietly that I hardly heard him.
He exploded into a fit of sneezes and I went over to coax him out of it, pressing handful of tissues into his hands and rubbing his overly warm back. He whined once he was finished, falling into me again, "Ni.."
His hands went up to his aching head.
"You need some sleep don't ya Lou? It's okay, once we get you medicated I'll jump under the covers with ya if you like. The meds will knock you out and you won't have to worry at all" I promised, hoping I was right. Cuddling up beside Louis would definitely help me go to sleep easier, I just hoped I had the same effect on him.

He nodded slowly, "okay."
"I'm gonna take your temp okay? If you can just lift up a little... That's it, perfect. Now we wait a couple of secs. Try not to fall asleep just yet Lou, just a couple more minutes" I smiled fondly as he blinked hard to try and keep himself awake.
A minute or so later the thermometer emitted a beep and I took it out, reading the numbers carefully.
"That's definitely a fever Lou, no wonder you're feeling so grim" I looked at my ill friend sympathetically. I didn't like it when Louis was sick, I decided. Although Louis still was Louis, with those eyes and that smile, he wasn't happy, and that made me unhappy.

"Hurry up Niall" Louis grumbled, making me chuckle, "yeah, yeah, prince."
Louis smiled dopily at the name.
I got a cold and flu pill as well as a shot of fever reducer ready for Louis to skull back. I winced along with Louis as I watched him swallow the pill with his water and then again as he choked on the sour tasting liquid.

Louis blew his nose before sliding under the covers, staring over at me expectantly.
I stripped out of my hoodie, knowing that Louis' fever would be more than enough to keep me warm, before climbing into the double bed with him.

He curled into my front and sniffled, "thanks."
"Course love, any time."

I waited until he was fast asleep to let myself drift off.

***

"I thought you might be in here Nialler."

I opened my eyes to see Lima standing over the bed with a knowing smile. I yawned and made a confused face, "what?"
Liam chuckled, "don't worry about it. It's getting late, thought you might wanna get up before you waste our day off completely."

I shifted slightly and remembered the time I'd spent with Louis last night, rubbing his back and helping him with his medicine.
"Lou's sick, came in here last night to help him sleep" I whispered, not wanting to wake him.
"Damn, really? I thought we might be able to go out today but not if Tommo's not feeling well" Liam frowned.
"He wasn't very good last night, I don't think he's going to be up to doing much when he wakes" I admitted. I could still feel the heat emitting from him and I could hear the thickness in his breathing, he was as congested as hell.

Liam pulled a sympathetic face, "that's okay. I won't tell him we were going to make plans, might upset him."
Louis stirred, stretching away from me like a cat with his hands on my chest. He started sneezing almost instantly, burying his face in his pillow as his body shook  with them.
"I've got tissues Lou, come outta there" I patted his shoulder. He listened, and I quickly put the tissues in his hands, "there you go..."

"Not feeling good Lou?" Liam asked with a pityingly look.
Louis shook his head as the sneezes died out, his nostrils stopped flaring and his face relaxed. He threw the bundle of tissue on the floor and cuddled back into me with a wet sniffle.
"How's your head?" I murmured.
"Hurts" came the raspy reply, "a lot."
"Can you ask Liam t-to l-leave?" Louis asked quietly, I figured it was so that Liam wouldn't hear.
Why he'd want Liam to leave I didn't know, unless he was talking too loud and it was making him hurt more.

"We're just gonna go back to sleep Li, if you can get Harry to try stay quiet that would be amazing" I smiled thankfully.
"Yeah, no worries. Hope you're feeling better soon Lou" Liam grinned before leaving. Louis sighed in relief.
"What was that about love? Was he too loud for ya?"
Louis mumbled something but I missed it completely, hardly picking up more than a few scratchy syllables.
"What was that Lou?"
"Nothing" he coughed.

"Do you want to take something else for your head?" I asked.
"Don't want you to m-move..." Louis groaned.
"I'll tuck you up like a burrito" I chuckled as I eased slowly out of the bed. I tucked the duvet underneath him all the way around his body and then dug out another painkiller.
"Here, prince" I handed him the water and the pill.
He swallowed it and I noticed that he was already back to shivering.

"How about a bath? That'll warm you up and get you feeling fresh. It'll help" I suggested.
"If you can't walk I can get Harry or Liam to help me get you-"

"No Ni" he cut me off with a dry croak.
"No, you don't want a bath?"
"No, I don't want their help. You're so much m-more than enough" Louis corrected shakily, forcing his body upright with a grunt of exertion.
I frowned in a bit of confusion but went along with it anyway. I carefully helped Louis onto his feet, worried that the pain in his head would make him unsteady and dizzy. Louis cowered into me straight away and I could feel the amount of weight he had on me.

"Love..." I sighed sympathetically, "are you sure you don't want Harry or Liam to come in and lend a hand. They're stronger than I am-"
"You're s-so strong Ni, an I'm o-okay, let's go" Louis sniffled, starting to stumble in the direction of the ensuite.

He sat on the toilet while the bath slowly filled up with water. I switched the tap off once the water had risen reasonably high and looked to Louis.
"You're gonna be cold for just a second without any clothes on. Then you'll be in the water and it'll be nice and toasty okay Love?"
Louis nodded and started trying to pull his sweater over his head. I stood up to help him, not wanting him to jostle his head around too much.
We worked together to get his jersey, long sleeve and sweats off before pausing at the briefs.
"You can leave them on if you-"
Louis tugged at the material on his hips and pushed it down his legs. He bent over slightly to try pull them the rest of the way down and stumbled a few steps before I caught him, his skin clammy under my fingers.
"S'okay, let me do it."
I was surprised that he was going this far. I'd expected him to take up my offer and just keep them on but he didn't seem to mind all that much about what I did or didn't see.
I swear he even bit his lip when I flung the briefs in to the pile of clothes in the corner of the room. It looked damn sexy too.

He held onto my shoulders as he stepped into the bath and the I helped him lower himself into the water. He made a relieved sound and I smiled, glad that I'd actually done something that was helping.
"Damn it, there's no soap. I'll text Liam and see if he'll bring any in" I huffed, yanking my phone out of my pocket.
"Niall..." Louis whined.
"What?" I looked up from my screen questioningly.
"Don't."

"Why won't you let anybody else help?" I blurted.
"Because only you can actually h-help Ni" Louis muttered, smiling to himself.

"Me?" My heart raced, I was surprised Louis couldn't hear it.

"I really want to kiss you" Louis whispered. My breath caught in my throat. Louis sneezed and snapped me out of the whirlwind of thoughts rushing through my head.

"You... You do?"
Louis nodded, trying to hide a wince at the pain the action brought him.
I felt a slow grin spread over my face, "that's definitely a good thing, because I really want to kiss you too."
A massive smile blossomed over Louis face before his chest leapt and he started coughing dryly into his wet first, jolting around so much I though the water was going to fly out of the bath.

I pulled him upright a little so that I could pat his back to ease the fit. It had to be killing his head, I felt awful that he was sick like this. But I mean, it wasn't all bad, because now I knew that Louis wanted to kiss me.

"See, you know exactly wh-what to do" Louis smiled drowsily.
I leaned in to press my lips against his but all I got was a croaky chuckle and pair of wet fingers."hey, you said you wanted to kiss me!"
"Hmmm, b-but not when I'm sick, don't want you to feel anything like this" Louis smiled sadly.
"I guess I'll just have to wait then, my prince."

Right, it's kinda short, and maybe terrible. I've never really written anything like this before so I apologise if I butchered this request :( leave a vote of you liked it, comment if you have any ideas for improvements or if you want to leave any requests :)

Have an amazing day!