5SOS Sickfics

Luke - They Don't Believe He's Sick

Luke POV

As soon as I open my eyes, I know it's going to be a bad day. The light pierces through my skull and my head throbs painfully.

I groan and roll myself out of bed. For a moment I sway on the spot, gripping the wall tightly to regain my balance.

"Luke, you up?" Calum asks, bounding towards my bunk.

"Yeah, but I'm not feeling too good," I tell him, pushing myself upright and trying to ignore the fact that my stomach has just done several backflips.

Great - so now I'm nauseous too.

"Don't pull this one again, Lukey," Calum narrows his eyes at me. "You did this last week too, and I'm not buying it."

My head pounds again and I groan. Last week I pulled a sickie to get out of interviews, but they found out pretty quickly.

"Calum, I'm not joking," I protest, and speaking makes my throat feel like closing up.

"Drop the act, Luke, and come and have breakfast. We've got a busy day." He shakes his head and walks off again.

I feel tears spark behind my eyelids and blink them away. So I feel like utter shit and Calum doesn't believe me.

Ashton, though, maybe. The 'daddy' of the band. I stumble slightly as I make my way to the kitchen of the bus.

"Ash -" I force out, looking pleadingly at him.

"Cal told me you're faking sick," he says disapprovingly.

"I'm not faking!" I cry out, but it makes me feel like I've been stabbed in the head and my stomach overturns itself again; I swallow hard as bike starts to rise in my throat.

"Lukey, we all have to do these interviews. You shouldn't be able to get away with faking sick again and leave it all to us," Michael sighs.

Ashton shoves some toast in my direction.

"M'not hungry," I mutter miserably, and trail off back to my bunk.

••••
By the time the bus sets off towards our first interview, the boys are ignoring me completely.

I'm curled up on the floor of the bathroom, gagging over the toilet - but nothing's coming up, as I've already thrown up twice.

My mouth feels cold and metallic, and my eyes are watering incessantly. My limbs feel weighted and weak.

Somebody bangs on the door and my headache only increases.

"Hurry the fuck up!" Michael yells.

I flush the toilet and force myself off the floor, nearly falling again as I stand upright. I shove past Mikey and curl up on the sofa.

"For God's sake, Luke, stop already," Calum snarls, making me burrow further into my cushion.

The bus slams to a stop - or that's what it feels like - and my head shoots up.

Bad idea. My stomach somersaults and I let out a whine,  feeling bile rise slowly up my throat and knowing there's nothing I can do to stop it.

"Luke?" says a cautious voice, but I can't quite place it - maybe it's Calum, but there are at least seven of him swimming across my vision.

The room spins faster and I gag suddenly.

"Shit," says the disembodied voice.

I gag again and vomit forces its way out of my mouth, splattering over myself and the sofa and the floor.

Somebody distantly yells Ashton get a bucket and there's a loud noise behind my ears and I'm pretty sure Michael's here now, but I can't tell, everything's blurry and moving and stop stop please.

A warm hand lands on my back as I retch again, and something is shoved under my chin.

I'm sobbing now, I can feel the warmth of my tears on my face, and I hiccup as more vomit hits the bottom of the bucket.

"Sssh, Lukey, you're okay," somebody murmers, but they're too close to my head and it pounds again and I struggle to get away from it, because I don't need this please and it hurts and I don't like it.

I whine again between sobs, hiccuping on them now, choking and struggling but somebody's holding me in place over the bucket, holding my head straight so nothing more dirties the sofa.

"Alright, Lukey, okay," I am reassured, but I daren't look up because I can't see and everything's going black and I'm still dry-heaving but bringing nothing up.

"He's going to pass out," says a panicked voice which I think is Ashton's, but I don't remember it echoing so much, and what does it matter anyway?

"Luke, I need you to calm down, okay? Deep breaths, like this, that's right."

I'm pretty sure that's Michael, and I focus on that, taking deep, shuddering breaths that make the room gradually stop spinning.

Arms wrap themselves around me and I collapse into them, swallowing the last of the bile, burrowing into the warmth. I don't remember when I started shaking this much.

Platinum blonde hair falls onto my forehead and the person hugs me closer.

"Mikey," I gasp out. "Don't feel good."

My vision finally clears and I reach up to run the tears away from my face.

"I'm so sorry," Calum says, eyes wide. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you."

"S'okay," I say tiredly, reaching for him and bringing him into the hug.

I feel Ashton slide the bucket away and wipe the sweat from my forehead.

"You okay now, Lukey?" he asks quietly, joining the group hug.

I manage a small smile. "Better," I manage, and then, "thanks, guys," as I start to drift off to sleep.