5SOS Sickfics

Contagious Calum

Request for @Cliffordxdrxgs.
Requests are open again now. :-)
xx

Ashton's POV:
I was sharing a hotel room with Michael and I woke up one morning to a rather strange sound. I could hear someone burping loudly next door and cursing profusely. By the sound of the profanities coming from his mouth, I think it's Calum. The walls here are thin; it's like I can hear him shaking.

"Hey, Mike. You awake?" I whisper.

"Yeah... What do you want?" He sits up at a sluggish pace and reaches over, turning his bedside lamp on. The yellow light ignites the wall behind him with a buttery glow.

Calum burps again.

"You hear that?" I ask, propping myself up on my elbows. Damn, my arms are sore.

"Yeah, sounds like Cal," Mike groans and rubs his face. "Let's go check on him..." He throws the sheets from his form and makes a disturbed facial expression. "Lemme put some pants on first!" I roll my eyes and flop onto the floor with a huff.

We leave the room a few minutes after my spectacular fall. When Mikey knocks on their door, we hear Calum and Luke shuffling around inside in a hurry to open up. Eventually, Luke pulls the door open and is shirtless, looking panicky and pale.

"Guys, guys, guys! Calum got all sick and I can't help and I don't know what to do!" A single tear slips down his left cheek and leaves a red line in its path. Michael extends his arm to pat Luke's shoulder comfortingly. "Come in, come in. It's cold outside." Luke turns around and leaves the door hanging open as he heads back to the bed in which Calum is huddled. I give Michael a confused glance, which he readily returns. We slip inside and shut the door, inhaling the strange sweaty smell of the hotel room.

"Hey, you okay?" Michael whispers in Luke's ear, as if he's telling some sort of deadly secret nobody else can know. Luke looks over his shoulder at Calum's bed bundle, sighing in an exasperated manner. "Luke, you look kinda pale."

"I-I-I need to pee," Luke turns away and locks himself into the tiny ensuite bathroom. We hear a small thud and some groans. Michael and I shrug at each other. Calum burps quietly.

"Mate, sit up," Ash sits on Calum's bed and pulls back the covers that engulf his shivery form. Calum slowly straightens himself out, groaning in discomfort. I help Ashton rearrange the covers so that they cover Calum's legs neatly, tucked in at the sides.

"Guys," Cal sticks his arms out behind him to prop himself up. "'M gon' throw up."

Oh dear. Those are the first words Calum has said to us all day, but they were not the ones we wanted to hear. He coughs a few times and spits in his lap; I rub his back and he brings up a long stream of thin stomach acid, which lands in his covered lap. Calum pauses.

"Fuck!" Mike wraps his arms around his torso and rocks him slowly back and forth. "Mikey? Did I get Luke sick?"

"What?!" Michael pulls his head back in surprise. We all listen. The harsh sound of Luke throwing up in the bathroom reaches our ears. We all shiver.

"LUKE! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE WHEN YOU'RE DONE PUKING!" The blonde boy beside me yells in the direction of the now stinky bathroom.

I hit Michael's arm and give him a look that I hope he takes to mean 'what the hell?!'. He shrugs and starts to help me strip Calum's duvet. We grab a blanket and cover him up, discarding the soiled sheets in a lonely pile in the corner of the room.

The bathroom door creaks open and Luke stands there, his face a pale green colour; he's shaking all over. I open my arms to him and he comes running into them, knocking me back so I end up lying on his bed. Calum burps a few times. Michael grimaces. I look over at the other two, and they're cuddling each other peacefully. Thinking about it, Mikey's face is a strange shade of pale white.

He starts coughing. I groan loudly.

Three sick people? I can't handle that. I see Mike run to the bathroom and burp up some disgusting fluid into the sink. Luke nuzzles further into me and covers his ears.

"It's okay, penguin. He's done now," I pay Luke's back soothingly until he falls asleep whilst Calum and Michael lay in a pool of their own misery together. "I feel bad that you guys got sick," my voice wobbles. "Let's face it, we all know I'm not gonna catch this bug."

They nod in agreement.

"Can you get us some water?" Calum croaks. "And some pain killers."

I nod and slowly leave the room, checking on them one last time, just to be sure. In reception, I get them some aspirin and three individual bottles of water.

When I reach the room again, they're all asleep on each other; Luke has shifted from his bed into Calum's, having brought his duvet with him. I sigh and run my fingers through Michael's hair. He lets out a breath nobody knew he was holding in, hot breath tickling my arm. Running my thumb over Calum's sickly cheek, I blow a bit if dust from his fringe.

I was about to move and touch Luke's ear, it was flushed like the rest of his face, but something stopped me. Luke's lips parted and I could hear him breathing heavily.

"Ashton," I took in a sharp breath at the shock of his tired voice. "Thank you. For taking care of us-" he yawns quietly."

"Sleep now. Come on, close your eyes," Luke lazily shuts his eyes. "Night, buddy."