Chapter Text
Before going to bed that night, Liam checked on Noel one more time, reminding him that despite the fact that he didn't want to, he needed to change his tampon one more time before he fell asleep. He complained, as any man would, but Liam read the little insert that came in the box, and it said every four to eight hours.
And he wasn't going to allow Noel to get sick on his watch.
Noel slept as soundly as possible, waking up multiple times during the night in pain and needing more paracetamol. He even turned the heating pad on a few times, accidentally waking Liam in the process.
"Sorry," he would mumble.
"No, 's fine. Startled me, all it did."
He had practically begged Liam to share the bed with him, and it didn't take much convincing.
Originally, it started out with their heads being on opposite ends, but it was far more comfortable to just lie side by side, with Liam's arm wrapped around Noel's chest. And due to the heating pad and natural body heat, it was much warmer.
They slept chest to chest, Liam's face buried in the crook of Noel's neck as if he was the one who needed to be comforted. It was more comfortable that way, for whatever reason. The blanket was pulled up to their shoulders, and they stayed that way until Noel awoke in the morning.
Like always, he was the first to wake. Although this time, instead of ordering room service, he went directly to the bathroom to take care of himself. Him leaving the bed woke Liam up, but he feigned sleep until he heard Noel swearing quietly from the cracked-open bathroom door.
"Ah, fuckin' shit."
It had been a rough night for him.
If he remembered correctly, although he could have been wrong, the first night and second day, for him personally, were always the worst. He didn't know what it was, but it always made him feel as if he had been hit by a truck, and he bled so much that he thought he would bleed out and die on the spot.
And the cramps.
They always felt like they were literally killing him, twisting his insides until they couldn't take it anymore and burst into hundreds of small chunks inside of him.
"You alright?" Liam called out.
"'m fine."
There was a moment of silence.
"Actually, can you bring me some boxers?"
Liam dug through Noel's bag until he found another tight-fitting pair of underpants and passed them through the barely opened door, receiving a small "thank you" in response.
Liam knew everything Noel liked and everything he didn't like, and he used that to his advantage as he ordered room service for their breakfast. Eggs, toast, tea, and whatever other little bits and pieces he thought Noel'd like.
And although he didn't know if it would help or not, he even ordered some kind of chocolate shit he had to specially order because they didn't serve it for breakfast. He thought Noel would appreciate it. He wasn't sure if it was real or not that chocolate helped, but at least it would provide some sort of emotional comfort, if nothing else.
Noel rinsed up in the bathroom, not needing a true shower from the one he had the night before. He washed himself off as much as he needed and washed his face and brushed his teeth, normal morning things.
He came out of the bathroom in just his boxers, and as the morning light hit his chest, Liam realised how beautiful the older man's chest truly looked.
He had gone to the best surgeon in the entire continent. The only thing that could be considered wrong was one little stretched bit under his left nipple, but he seemed not to care, and no one really noticed, so it was nothing for him to be concerned about.
His chest was flat, flatter than Liam's, but not unnaturally so.
It fit him well. His chest hair even connected to the little trail on his upper stomach that led to what could truly be considered a layer of fur on his lower stomach, starting right above his bellybutton and connecting down to his pubic hair.
"You alright?"
Noel gave a barely audible response, but it was obvious that he was in significant pain. He wasn't clutching his stomach, but his face was twisted in pain. He had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept well. Obviously, he hadn't, but neither he nor Liam expected it to affect him as much as it was.
"Food'll be up soon."
Noel gave a small "thank you" and flopped down on the bed, fully on his stomach with his face buried in the show cold sheets where his pillow had been.
They both waited silently until a knock came on the door. It was their food.
Liam retrieved the food, locking the door with the chain lock before putting the trays down on the counter. He helped Noel sit up, pulling his blanket up to his waist and putting a pillow on his lap to ease any potential pain from the pressure of the plates that would be pressing against him.
Before giving him his food, Liam offered more paracetamol and put the two capsules on the bedside table before having to decide what food to give Noel first. He couldn't decide, so he took his entire tray on the bedside table and sat on the foot of the bed as they ate.
"D'you like your food?"
Noel nodded.
Liam had never seen him be in so much pain that he was basically nonverbal. It was a surprise for them both. The paracetamol wasn't touching the pain at all, and although Noel genuinely thought the food was good and ate almost all of it, it was making him nauseous.
"Liam?"
"Hm?"
"Can you rub my back? Later? When 'm not gonna be sick."
"Yeah, sure."
Liam had expected it to be a gentle back rub, but Noel asked him to practically straddle his upper thighs, almost sitting on his ass. He asked Liam to massage his shoulders and his lower back as hard as he could, letting out groans as Liam would hit the tightest knots in his muscles.
Noel had his hands under his head, resting it on them instead of directly on the bed or a pillow. He asked Liam to go up and down his spine.
There was an occasional crack of his bones, and although it sounded like it hurt, Noel seemed to enjoy it.
"Would it help if I did your stomach?"
Liam was nervous to ask. He didn't know why. Maybe it was fear of hurting Noel or of him telling him he was a fucking idiot for asking.
"Yeah."
Liam helped him gently turn over, taking special care as he held his hand and put his other under Noel's side to help him. He turned, the cramps growing stronger as he moved. As he was turning over, he stopped halfway, his breath hitching and curling into himself. He winced, just enough for Liam to notice.
The younger man stopped, letting Noel take his time before fully lying on his back.
"Be careful."
It was more of a question than a command. Liam had no intention of being rough anyway, but the reminder was nice either way.
With just the tips of his fingers, he rubbed gentle circles on Noel's lower stomach. He paused every few moments to check if he was doing a good job, and Noel would ask him to move just slightly to the side or slightly upwards. "Can you pull me boxers down just a bit?"
"What?"
Noel did it himself, thinking he was asking too much of his brother.
He pulled his boxers down so little that it was barely noticeable. His hip bones were slightly more prominent than they were under the fabric, and he asked Liam to massage lower, right where his stomach and pubic hair met.
He let out a low groan as Liam massaged with his fingertips.
It seemed to help a lot, and Liam had no plans to stop until the hotel phone started ringing. He wasn't sure whether to answer it himself or to let Noel do it. It was Noel's room, after all. Their rooms were connected, however, and as the panic set in about who was to answer the phone, he came up with an excuse as to why they needed to miss sound check.
"'ey," Liam said.
He was asked why they hadn't shown up to rehearsal or to sound check, and he pressed the phone to his chest every time Noel let out a moan of pain.
"Nah, man. Noel's sick as fuck. Puking and all that shit."
There was a bit of silence, and Noel assumed there was a part of the conversation he couldn't hear from where he was lying.
"Nah, mate, we can't make it. Our kid can't even get up. Lying on the floor, he is. Proper nasty."
Liam ended the call without saying much more. Noel was truly convinced he had convinced whoever he was talking to that they couldn't make it to sound check at all and that he thought Noel wasn't going to be able to be at the gig at all.
Through the bits and pieces he heard, he was silently arguing with Liam not to cancel the gig entirely.
It was difficult, but Liam was finally convinced and told whomever he was talking to that he'd be there, without Noel, but maybe a bit late.
They were both surprised at how quickly the day had passed. Noel had spent most of the day drifting off to sleep, watching a rerun of a recent Man City match that he, very surprisingly, couldn't give two fucks about. It hurt too much to care. Liam, on the other hand, spent the day flicking the switch to turn the heating pad on and off.
"You sure you'll be fine?"
Noel gave a muffled sound, mostly because his face was buried in the pillow. Knowing Liam couldn't hear him, he gave a half-hearted thumbs up, his arm hanging off the side of the bed.
Liam offered him the last bit of beer he had been drinking as he prepared for the gig, but Noel declined. He watched Liam dress himself, envious of how he seemed to be able to move so freely and without pain.
Liam needed to go; he really did, but first, he checked on Noel one last time. He set out some more paracetamol and a few bags of tea so Noel wouldn't have to rustle around for them. He also reminded him that he could call for room service whenever he wanted. Management would foot the bill.
When Liam returned, five, maybe six hours later, he found Noel sitting in front of the toilet in a pair of stained boxers, emptying his stomach into the toilet bowl. He was sobbing. It was full-on sobbing as he threw up into the toilet, and every time he gagged, he would moan in pain.
A half-drunk cup of tea sat on the bedside table.
"Mate—"
"Get out."
"Look, our kid. Just wanted to check on you."
"I said, 'Get out.'"
For once, Liam didn't take it personally. He knew it was the hormones or something. He'd read about it, surprisingly, or heard it from a previous girlfriend. He shut the bathroom door to give Noel some privacy, but it clicked shut a bit too hard, making Noel shout out.
"What the fuck? I can't get any fucking peace and quiet."
It was definitely the hormones.
Liam needed a shower, truly. He went over to his own room, which he had barely been in during the past day, to take a shower and get himself cleaned up. Under normal circumstances, he and Noel would've gone out and gotten proper fucked up, but he couldn't. He couldn't leave Noel in the hotel moping around like a dog and being all upset and in pain.
He heard Noel gagging and retching even from his own bathroom as he showered and dried himself. He got himself dressed in his own pyjamas, and having not noticed if there were any room service trays on Noel's bedside table, he ordered something for the both of them to be delivered to Noel's room.
Noel was finished vomiting by the time Liam returned and curled up on the bed, on top of a towel, wearing fresh underpants. Liam could tell he was quietly crying, and he watched his older brother wipe his eyes on the sleeves of his jumper, trying to pretend that he wasn't crying.
"You cold? D'you need anything?"
"'m fine."
"What about some socks? Yer feet seem cold."
"They're fine."
Liam fished a pair of socks out of Noel's suitcase anyway, and they both made a little show of Noel trying to fight him off as the younger man put his socks on him. He was a grown man, after all, and he didn't need any help with his socks.