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Victoria realizes something is wrong the second she wakes up. Her throat is dry and it hurts to swallow. She turns around in bed and almost wants to groan at how tired and heavy her body feels. They’re getting ready to leave on tour. She just simply cannot afford to get sick right now. She rises from the warm sheets and immediately wants to shiver at the coldness of the room. She is not ready to deal with this.
“Nnngh.” She hears Thomas groan from next to her and realizes she’s leaning on his back.
“Sorry.” She says in a raspy voice that she barely recognizes, but he’s still asleep, so she gets out of bed and grabs the first sweatshirt she finds on the floor. It smells like it’s been worn already by one of the boys, but she doesn’t care, she goes to the bathroom and after using the toilet, she splashes some water on her face. Thinking it might help with her haze. But it doesn’t.
“Morning, principessa. Keep this up and you’ll outsleep Thomas.” Damiano comments with a stupid smirk on his face and she wants to tell him off but she’s too tired for it. She just sits at the table and hopes someone will give her a coffee. She needs something hot for her throat.
“Are you ok?” She hears Ethan ask and has to hold down a groan.
“I’m fine, just tired.”
“You… look pale.” Damiano comments as he gives her a coffee.
“And you look stupid.” She groans, but they both look worried. “I had a bit too much to drink last night. I’m hungover.” She tells them and Ethan chuckles at her, but Damiano raises his eyebrow, then fills a glass of water and gives that to her as well. It’s cold water, so she grimaces.
“Keep hydrated.” He says and goes back to making them breakfast.
She’s hoping it’s a fluke. That, maybe it’ll get better during the day and after a full night’s sleep she’ll feel all better again. But… apparently her body has other plans. They made it to another company meeting and it’s so fucking chilly in the room. Someone turned the air conditioner up to the highest setting. It’s blowing cold air right at the back of her neck making her want to crawl into herself and shiver uncontrollably. She tries to busy her mind by listening in to the meeting, but quickly realizes that it’s boring business nonsense that they don’t even have to be there for, but their label insists. She then turns to Thomas, but he’s on his phone, he’s texting with someone, sending each other memes, from the looks of it. A quick glance across the table confirms her suspicions that Ethan is the one he’s writing with. Her whole body jolts with a shiver as the cold clammy sweat on her lower back reaches really uncomfortable temperatures. She sweated the whole hot car ride over here and now the severe change in temperature is really making her nauseous.
Victoria looks at Thomas to make sure he didn’t see her shiver, but the younger boy is glued to his phone, so she sighs in relief, because she really doesn’t need them to worry, it’s just a fluke. She’s sure of it.
After another shiver she takes a drink from her tall cold glass of water and nearly chokes on it when she notices Damiano glaring at her.
She coughs, once, twice, then manages to calm herself down and wave the others off. Just an accident. She avoids looking back up at Damiano.
After the meeting they are all shoved into a car and are taken to try on clothes for a photo shoot. It should only be a few minutes, but another hot car is really messing with her body, she constantly wants to shiver even in the baking sun.
She sits in the front with Thomas, which is a bit strange, Damiano usually pulls Thomas in next to wherever he’s sitting, so he can use their guitarist as a human cushion. But this time he chose Ethan. Something’s up and she knows it. Damiano isn’t dumb. For all that he can often play dumb, she’ll be the first one to admit that he’s probably the smartest and the quickest out of all of them. Which is why she needs to avoid him until she’s feeling better and can actually bullshit him.
“You’re warm.” Thomas mutters absentmindedly as he almost dozes off. She hadn’t realized she’d been leaning on his exposed shoulder. He chose today of all days to wear a tank top, she straightens.
“It’s a million degrees in here, of course I’m warm.” She scoffs at him, but he’s mostly asleep, so she sighs again.
“It’s actually a very comfortable temperature.” She jolts when she hears Ethan speak from the back seat. She resists the urge to groan and throw Damiano out of the window.
They get out and she rushes to the fashion house to avoid confrontation. Because it’s Gucci, she gets taken by a female employee to a very luxurious woman’s dressing room while the boys get escorted to the men’s.
“Would it be a bother to ask for tea?” She asks while they take her measurements.
“None at all, we also have wine or champagne if you—”
“Tea’s fine, thank you.” she can’t help the relief she feels, her throat feels like it’s going to close up and she knows that the second she loses her voice she won’t be able to fight this anymore. She can’t tell them that it’s fine, that she’s fine, without her voice.
“Julia! Can the lady have an ice tea, please.” She clutches the material in her hand so hard she’s afraid she will rip it.
What was supposed to be a few minutes turned into a few hours. Their set designer was constantly complaining about something. Nothing seemed to be enough for him. Something was always lacking. It had gotten to the point where Victoria wanted to grab him by the balls and ask if maybe his nut sack would make an “adequate accessory” for her look. It was all too much. She had drowned three cold ass ice teas and had only eaten breakfast and right now feels like she is going to fall over at any given seconds.
Maybe she was wrong. She was acting stupid. This clearly wasn’t passing and in the long run it was only damaging her more. There is no way she can get through the rest of this and then another recording session. She needs to be in bed. She needs them to know. She needs them to help.
She walks out of the change room in a very expensive dress and way too many accessories and practically wobbles across the store to where she sees Damiano. God, she really doesn’t want to do this, but there isn’t much choice left, so she meets his eyes and sighs. He frowns and walks over to her, only in his boxers and with only one shoe on and a measuring tape over his shoulder. He leaves the stylist all confused and calling after him.
“Damiano, I—” She starts but then his hand is on her forehead.
“Shit, you’re burning. We need to get you out of here—Ethan!” She wants to protest, but when Damiano pulls his hand away from under her fringe she feels her legs actually give in. “Ethan!” She hears again, and expects to land hard on the ground, but a pair of arms catch her. She groans at the shooting pain in her head as a lot of voices talk around her.
“Taking her to the hospital ourselves will be quicker, the car is right outside.”
“No! Wha— no hospital, please.”
“Cucciola, your fever is really high. You need to be looked at.” Ethan tells her.
“But—”
“We’re going to the hospital!” She flinches at his tone and finally stops fighting it. Damiano carries her to the car and she sits in the back with Thomas while Ethan and Damiano sit in the middle and tell the driver where to go.
“Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling well?” Thomas asks her in a small voice and she can’t help feeling guilty.
“I was being stupid, amore.” She wants to ask for forgiveness but Thomas is holding her so tight, she doesn’t think it’s necessary right now.
The rush of hospitals and nurses and needles and invasive questions is enough to make her dizzy all over again, but once she is settled into a hospital bed, thankfully alone in the room, with a transfusion in her arm she can finally relax. Maybe an hour has passed until she hears a soft knock on the door and then Ethan walks in.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” He had a backpack in his hand. Her backpack.
“Better.” She mutters, because honestly, she’s a bit ashamed of how she handled this. They deserve better, she probably made them worried sick. “I’m sorry—” She starts but then he sits down on her bed and gently pats her knee over the covers.
“Just focus on getting better and coming back home to us.” She sighs and can’t help the blush that overtakes her already feverish face.
“My temperature went down a bit already, the doctor said I might be released tomorrow if the night goes well. But… I’ll still need bed rest.”
“As long as it takes.” He leans in and kisses her forehead.
“Are the boys upset with me?”
“Cara, no one is upset with you. I swear.” He pets her cheek with one thumb “They would have come with me, but there is only one visitor allowed, so they voted for me. Damiano is upset with himself for not realizing sooner how bad you were feeling and Thomas is just worried sick. But I can handle them.”
“Damiano shouldn’t—”
“I know. And I understand, I really do. We are all the same. We put work before our health and it’s reckless and stupid, but either one of us would be a hypocrite to criticize you on this. You seeked us out in the end and thankfully nothing bad happened and maybe we all learned a little bit from this. No need to put yourself down.”
She has to swallow down her tears and pull Ethan in for a hug.
“I brought you everything you might need for tonight.” He gives her the backpack and she immediately opens it to find her little puppy night lamp. It was a cheap plastic thing that needed batteries every five days. But Thomas won it for her at a fair after giving out ten times it’s worth in money. She loves it. There is also a pair of pajamas that she probably won’t need because she’s in hospital clothes. But a fresh pair of comfy clothes for tomorrow, her charging cable, a hair tie that she immediately uses to put her hair up in a bun. A new toothbrush and toothpaste and even the book she was currently reading. She wants to cry again, but instead she puts the lamp on her little nightstand and snaps a picture of it for Thomas. He immediately responds back with loads of puppy emojis.
“Thank you, Ethan.”
“Honestly, Damiano did most of the packing l’m just the carrier. But if you need anything else, just call. I’ll fight the nurse to get in here again.”
“You’re amazing, caro.”
“You’re amazing too and tonight is going to be lonely without you, but we all want you to get better.”
They hug again and Ethan tells her he has to leave because the mean looking nurse outside only gave him 5 minutes to drop her things. He tells her that she can write if she can’t sleep, but they would all rather wish she slept. She really feels bad for making them worry the way she did and for not putting herself before the job to avoid this situation entirely. But Ethan is right. It’s a learning opportunity. For all of them.
It’s only a little after 8pm, and she’s not at all sleeping. She chats with Thomas for a bit who provides a very hilarious picture of Damiano doing his stress cleaning bit, but only wearing underwear. She’s hoping Thomas will be able to sleep tonight.
After a bit of tossing and turning she dozes off, but wakes up at a little past 2am, her head is pounding and she can barely breathe through her nose. She takes a pill that the nurse left her with and props herself up a bit so she can breathe better. Then, she takes her phone and notices that Thomas is still online. The boy clearly can’t sleep and it makes her sad.
The need to text him takes over, but she knows it’ll only keep him awake for longer. So, instead, she texts Damiano.
I don’t mean to wake you caro, but Thomas can’t sleep, could you please take care of him for me?
She doesn’t know if Damiano will wake up from the notification noise, but she can only hope.
It takes a few seconds until Victoria sees that he has read her text. He writes nothing back for a few good minutes. She almost falls back asleep when her phone lights up again. It’s a photo of Thomas’s head on Damiano’s chest.
I confiscated his phone and he promised to sleep. We love you, please sleep as well.
Morning comes with more interrupted sleep. Constant weird hospital noises woke her up at random hours, but she does feel better. She eats her breakfast and waits for the doctor to come and check on her. Her boys have all woken up too, Damiano provided pictures of their breakfast and morning exercises by the pool, where he and Ethan exercised and Thomas fell asleep on his towel.
She was grinning at her phone when the doctor came in. He told Victoria that she had an inflammation of the membranes that line the nose and throat, but no major damage has been done and that her lungs are fine, and he was also pleased to see that her fever went down.
“It’s fine if you go home today, but considering how bad it got and how high your fever was I must insist you stay in bed the following week. Drink lots of fluids. No alcohol, no ice. And if it gets worse again please seek a medical professional immediately.”
She quickly nods and agrees and as soon as he signed her papers and left, she grabs the phone and calls the first person she comes across. It was Ethan.
“I’m coming home!” Her voice is still somewhat raspy, but she can’t help it. Ethan chuckles and announces it to the other boys, who all immediately rush to him with questions. In the end they agreed to have Thomas pick her up while Ethan and Damiano went shopping for their dinner tonight.
Victoria can’t help jumping into his arms the second she sees Thomas in the corridor. She doesn’t even feel him falter with her weight on his body. He just squeezes her hard.
“You scared me.” He says but it’s not an accusation, it's more of a plea.
“I promise, I’ll never do that to you guys again.” She kisses his forehead, takes his hand and lets him lead her out of the hospital.
The ride back home was rather pleasant. Thomas didn’t turn on the air conditioner and he had a blanket waiting for her in the passenger seat. She cuddled herself in it and leaned against the window and listened to the nice songs that Thomas was playing. They made one stop by the pharmacy to buy the medication that was prescribed to her and went straight home.
Damiano and Ethan were still out when they got there, but she was happy to see the house cleaned and the bedsheets changed when she landed herself in bed. Victoria knows she never should have gotten out of it that morning.
“Hold me?” He extends her hands to Thomas, who is sitting by her side.
“I’ll make some tea first so you can take your medicine, then I’m all yours.” He says and gets up, Victoria can’t help looking after him as he leaves. He’s so fucking amazing and she’ll never stop falling in love with him every single day.
He brings her hot chamomile tea and blows on it until it cools down a bit, then gives her the pills and lets her drink them slowly.
“We’ve spoken with management and we’re all clear until you feel better again.” Thomas reassures her, but she can’t help feeling a bit guilty for slowing them down, and of course he sees this. “Think what if it were me or Ethan or Dami. Wouldn’t you also want us to rest and get better again.” He’s right. He’s completely right. Because even if she’s put her health at risk a bit. He would never do that with any of them.
She finishes the tea and goes back under the covers, Thomas joining her. They hold each other close and she easily falls asleep in his arms. Sadly, it doesn’t last long, she’s woken up what feels like an hour later by voices in the house. When looking down in her arms she sees that Thomas is still asleep. He has tear streaks on his face and she has to swallow down her heart, because it rose all the way up in her aching throat.
After a few minutes, she hears someone carefully walking into the room. Probably Ethan. No way Damiano would be this subtle. She lifts her head slightly and sees him.
He smiles at her. “We’re gonna start dinner now, you two can sleep until then.” He whispers and she gives him a thumbs up. Thomas doesn’t even stir.
When dinner comes around Damiano is the one to fetch them. She hasn’t managed to fall back asleep again, instead she texted her friends to let them know that she’s a bit ill.
“Still sleeping?” Damiano whispers.
“He slept, I think it’s been two hours now.” She says, her voice raspy again. The air in the room was a bit too dry.
“I tried to get him to sleep last night, but he just laid there in my arms.” Damiano sounds a bit defeated.
“It’s all right. He was just worried.” She reassures him and then leans in to kiss Thomas’s cheek. “Wake up, dinner time.” She whispers, but he only groans and turns away.
“Well, that’s not how you wake up a Thomas.” Damiano says while grinning, then takes two steps into the room, pulls the blankets off of the guitarist, and immediately proceeds to savagely tickle him.
“S-stop!” Thomas cries out after getting his breath back. Damiano leans down to kiss him and stops after that, then he quickly leaves the room, avoiding the pillow that Thomas throws after him. “Fuck! I kicked him in the balls once by accident and he still does that!” Thomas esclaims, but then calms himself down when he sees her.
“You’re right, caro, but he also woke you up in more pleasant ways, right?” Victoria asks with a wink. He knows exactly what she’s referring to, because he gets flustered all over.
They go downstairs to eat. Damiano and Ethan made a fabulous dinner, it looks delicious. Sadly Victoria can barely taste anything. But she still eats enough to satisfy them, then goes back to drinking tea. They insist she is not allowed to wash dishes, instead she is marched back to bed by Damiano, who is also excused from washing dishes because he did most of the cooking.
She gets into bed, looking for something on her phone to watch, while he goes rummaging through their closet. He resurfaces a few minutes later with what looks like a lamp.
“It’s a humidifier, I had it that time I lost my voice. It helped me a lot at night.” He tells her and again her heart swells as she sees him set it up on their nightstand. After filling it with water and changing out of his clothes he joins her in bed.
Victoria started watching some YouTube videos on her phone and when he joins in she cuddles into his chest and lets him hold the phone up.
“Some teen girls hit on Ethan in the grocery store today. They had no clue who he was, but were completely in awe at his hair.” Damiano tells her with a smirk.
“Ethan will always be a lady killer.”
“He was silently begging me to help him out of that situation, they were touching his hair a bit too much.” Victoria can picture it, because Ethan would never be able to say no or be rude, but he hates it when strangers touch him or his hair. “So I walked over and smacked a kiss on him. The two girls seemed repulsed by it, so they left.”
“God, I sometimes forget how backwards some people still are.” She sighs.
“Idiots.” Damiano simply says and caresses her shoulder. They’ll never have this. They will never feel this. This unconditional love that she feels daily. It’s their fucking loss.
Thomas and Ethan join them in the bedroom and the three boys decide to go shower. She’d like to join but they insist that it’ll be better not to. She pouts, so after finishing his shower Ethan walks out with a small wet towel and offers Victoria to clean her a bit. She’s a bit flustered but she lets him do it. The towel is warm and the water cleans her sweat away, at least a bit.
It’s still rather early when they all cuddle up in bed together. They pushed her and Thomas in the middle while Ethan is behind Victoria and Damiano is behind Thomas.
“I’m really happy to be back here.”
“We’re happy you’re here too.” Ethan kisses the back of her neck and makes her squirm.
“Yeah, this bed is way too big for just three people. We almost lost Thomas.” Damiano jokes.
“I think Damiano was praying for you to get better.”
“For the last time, Thomas! I was just stretching out my fingers.”
“On your knees? By the bed?”
“That is not what happened! You weren’t even in the room Ethan!”
She closes her eyes because she has tears threatening to spill over, but she only feels contentment in her heart. They quickly quiet down when they see her shoulders shaking a bit and then there’s an arm around her waist and a hand on her chest and even a leg thrown over hers and she lets out a wet giggle and warmth takes over her body.
She knows that she’s exactly where she belongs.