Of headaches and heartaches

Part 2

Here's the comfort part y'all! Enjoy!!

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Shubman groaned when the light and sound hit his senses like a truck all of a sudden. Couldn't they see his brain trying to force itself out of his skull? He gingerly opened his eyes to find everyone else in the room, happily screaming and jumping around. That was good, he thought, before turning around and burying his face in the pillows. The light still felt like it was piercing through his skull, but the relative shade of the pillow helped a bit.

"Shubhi?" Ishan gently called, shaking him lightly by his shoulders.

"Hmm?"

"Come on, the bus is about to start"

Shubhi got up so fast he almost blacked out. Somehow he managed to make his way to the bus, leaning heavily on Ishan the entire way.

Once he sat down on the bus, Ishan instructed him to lean forward, while someone put a cool cloth over his neck. He almost cried with relief at how good it felt. He closed his eyes and let the world fade away.

*

No one said a word when Ishan bridal carried a fast asleep Shubman out of the bus and into their room.

*

Ishan laid his sleepy man on the bed, and covered him with blankets, and was about to head for dinner when a hand grabbed his arm tightly. He turned to see Shubhi with his eyes tightly scrunched up, holding his hand in a death grip.

"Shubhi?"

"Mm?"

"Let me go please.."

"Nnhh"

"I'll be back after dinner.."

"Nnhh"

"I'm hungry, Shubhi"

Shubhi stopped his grumbling, and Ishan made to extract his hand from Shubhi's grip, but stopped trying when he felt teardrops falling on his palm. He sighed. He'd forgotten how clingy and emotional an ailing Shubhi could be.

"Okk baba I'm sorry. I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'll order dinner here, alright?"

"Mm"

Accepting his fate, Ishan sat down on the bed right beside Shubhi and called up room service, and placed his order for dinner, along with some plain rice and dal for Shubhi.

In between having his own food, Ishan tried to feed some to Shubhi, but that boy kept stubbornly refusing to even open his mouth for half a moment. So Ishan kept Shubhi's plates covered, had his own meal and went on to shower and get changed.

On returning from the shower and getting dressed, Ishan found Shubhi sitting ramrod straight on the bed, looking incredibly pale and sweaty, his Adam's apple moving up and down in quick succession as he swallowed repeatedly. He immediately rushed over to Shubhi's side and sat down on the bed beside him.

"What's wrong, Shubhi?" Ishan asked softly, placing a comforting arm over his friend's shoulders. Shubhi simply shook his head before tightly clasping a hand over his mouth and half dashing, half stumbling his way to the washroom.

Ishan quickly followed Shubman on his heels, and found him hunched over the basin, throwing up every bit of the water he'd made him drink into the sink. The white knuckled grip Shubhi had over the edge of the basin, and the way he seemed to be almost vibrating in between bouts were almost alarming Ishan, and he quickly placed a call first to his bhaiya, which went unanswered, before placing another call to Rohit bhai's phone as he knew Bhabhi also struggles with migraines.

"Rohit Bhai, I need your help" Ishan gushed out as soon as he heard the call being picked up.

"Hello to you too, Ishan. Rohit is fast asleep, dead to the world, so you're fortunately or unfortunately stuck with me"

"Oh.. hi, Virat bhai.. can you help me with how to help when someone is having a migraine? I tried calling my own brother, but he didn't pick it up, i think his shift has started, and I don't know what to do"

"Okay, okay, breathe. What's the situation right now?"

"Not good at all, bhai.. Shubhi has been... NO, NO SHUBHI, DON'T BANG YOUR HEAD..."

Virat frowned when he could hear Shubhi's muffled sniffles and Ishu's quiet murmuring over the phone. Damn, it must be bad if it made someone like Shubhi cry, that kid almost never cried.

"Do you want me to come over?"

"Will you, bhai? It'll be a great help. The door is unlocked"

"Okay, be right there"

Within the next minute, Virat was there in his two kiddo's room. Shubhi was curled up into a ball on the bed, holding his hair in a death grip, letting out small sniffles, while Ishan was frantically rummaging through his medicine kit.

"What's the situation, kiddo?" Virat gently asked Ishu, placing a comforting hand over his shoulder. Ishu let out a shaky breath before replying.

"It's bad, bhai, really bad. He wouldn't eat or drink anything, so I can't even give him any medicine. I thought the vomiting would help him feel better, but then he was almost about to bang his head open after vomiting. Even now, look how he's pulling his hair. I have no idea what to do, bhai.. I cannot see him like this..." Ishan rambled, tearing up towards the end. Virat nodded, before making his way to the mini fridge and taking out the ice tray.

"Hand me a dry towel, Ishu," Virat gently instructed. When Ishu brought the towel, Virat emptied all the ice cubes into it, and placed the towel along with the ice over Shubhi's extended neck.

Ishan watched amazed as Shubhi's muscles gradually relaxed, and he eventually let go of his death grip over his hair, as Virat bhai pressed the cold towel all over his neck and shoulders.

"You may have to give him another batch of ice, so go refill the tray, I'll wait. Keep the compress going on for at least 1 hour. Once he falls into a relaxed sleep, just let him sleep it off, he should get better when he wakes up naturally."

Ishan quickly did as instructed, and put the tray into the freezer before taking over the compress from Virat Bhai.

"Bhai, you're a godsend, you know that? I have no idea what I would have done without you.." Ishan gushed, his eyes welling up with relief as he saw Shubhi getting more and more relaxed.

"No worries, I'm just glad it helped.."

"But seriously, Bhai, where did you learn this from"

"Anushka used to do this for me when I got migraines after too intense practices, and it used to work like a charm. I'm glad this works for him too" Virat smiled.

"Yeah..He will be fine, right, Bhai?"

"Geeta will be fine, Seeta. Don't stay up too late. Good night ", Virat wished, before giving a reassuring hug to his Seeta before leaving.

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Enjoy, and let me know how y'all like it in the comments :)

Until next time 👋🏼