April Fools?

The Vicious Cycle Continues

It turned out that Dec only stayed asleep for about forty-five minutes before his stomach protested and forced him to wake.

In his haste to bolt upright, he accidentally elbowed Ant in the chest - which woke him up as well - and he just barely made it to the ice-cream container in time.

Rubbing his eyes clear of sleep, Ant sat up and put a hand on his friend's back, rubbing in comforting circles as he retched and heaved.

Finally, the gags began to settle, and Dec's head eventually re-emerged from the bucket and fell back onto Ant's shoulder.

Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, Ant pulled him in close, quietly hushing him as breathy sobs broke free from his throat.

"Easy, kidda, I've got you" he soothed, "Shush now."

Dec just whimpered quietly and pushed his head deeper into Ant's collarbone.

"I hate this, Anty" he whined, sounding like a small child.

Ant pressed a gentle kiss to his hair, wishing that he could take all of this away and make his friend better again.

"I know, pal" he replied softly, "Shh, try and go back to sleep, hey?"

And that's how things continued for most of the night - a harsh cycle of sleeping, vomiting, being comforted and then going back to sleep again.

By the time the sun started to peek curiously through the drapes at around 7am, Ant was feeling almost as exhausted as his currently sleeping friend. He'd barely been asleep during the night himself, always waking with Dec and he ended up staying awake long after he'd fallen back asleep each time.

If he had to guess, he'd say that he'd only had about an hour of sleep all up through the night.

Dec had only just gone back to sleep after the latest bout, and Ant was feeling rather hungry as he lay there with his friend's head resting on his chest.

Not wanting to disturb him, Ant resigned himself to being used as a pillow for the next little while - at least until Dec was next woken by his stomach. He didn't exactly mind, but his own stomach was starting to complain at being so empty, and he knew he needed to get some food into his system soon.

Just as he was considering making a break for it anyway, the door opened almost silently and Lisa poked her head in - brown hair mused from sleep and her eyes twinkling in the low light of the room.

"Mornin' pet" he greeted quietly, smiling tiredly up at her.

She gave him a weary smile in return, coming over to sit next to him on the bed.

"How's Doolittle this morning?" she asked, after giving Ant a kiss on the forehead.

Ant sighed sadly, eyes drawn to his best friend as he started to twitch and fuss in his sleep.

"He's been up and down all night" he replied once Dec had settled again, "Every hour or so, just like Paul warned us."

Lisa winced sympathetically and reached over Ant's shoulder to rest a hand on Dec's sweaty forehead.

"He feels awfully warm, sweetheart" she noted, biting her lip worriedly.

Letting out another sigh, Ant shrugged his free shoulder resignedly "I'll check his temperature again when he wakes up next" he suggested.

As if hearing his friend's words, Dec started to shift and mumble as he crept back into wakefulness.

"Hey Doolittle" Lisa greeted, smiling kindly at him as he sluggishly opened his eyes.