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Request from @emetogirl on Tumblr: I absolutely love the trope where when they go to bed everything is just slightly off, and then they wake up in the middle of the night and have to bolt to the bathroom to absolutely puke their guts up. Bonus points if they have a partner that wakes to the commotion and finds them just absolutely miserable on the floor and rubs their back and takes real good care of them🥺
I could totally see this with like Shane and Charlie, with either of them as the sickie, but especially with Charlie because I feel like he may be just a ✨little✨ over dramatic when he doesn’t feel good and even though Shane isn’t always the touchiest we all know he’s gonna do whatever he can to make the kid feel better.
___
Rin sighed with content in the dark. The sound was warm, though Shayne didn’t know how that made sense. He supposed it was because she sounded like she’d just sank into a pleasantly hot bath.
Spare duvets had been pulled from the cupboard, as well as from the beds, to make the floor of the living room ideal for sprawling on, and that’s what the three of them had been doing for the past five hours. They had gotten through two Zac Efron movies, a screening of Titanic (which Rin had been appalled that Shayne hadn’t seen before) and a handful of Friends episodes so far, and bulldozed through about €40’s worth of frozen pizzas, oven wedges, crisps and jellies in that time; although if he was being honest, Shayne had to admit that Charlie had eaten the vast majority of it.
It had been a lovely night, but Shayne had a feeling the anxiety was lingering in his friends’ minds as much as it was in his. How could it not have been? The emails they received in the morning would decide what universities they’d be going to for the next three-to-four years, could even determine what their entire futures would be like. And for him, his email could mean the difference between keeping his current living arrangement and going back to his terrifying vampire foster parents.
He rolled over, searching for Charlie, whose head was propped against the sofa cushions. Charlie’s gaze was drawn away from TV, towards Shayne.
“You doing okay?”
“Mmm.” Shayne closed his eyes and lowered his head to Charlie’s chest, being careful not to lean too much weight on him.
“Here.” Charlie reached for a half-empty can of Pringles, fished one out, and held it close to Shayne’s lips.
“Mmm, it’s okay,” he murmured. “I’m not hungry.”
Charlie shrugged and put the Pringle in his own mouth instead. “Oh, neither am I,” he said through the crunch. “It’s called stress-eating. Nothing to do with being hungry.”
“The logic,” Rin yawned, stretching her arms over her head before letting her hands rest lightly on her stomach, “is that your mouth is so busy, you have no energy left over to worry.”
Shayne shook his head. “I think I’ll pass on that.”
Charlie laughed and kissed him on the head before shoving another Pringle into his own mouth. “Are you guys wanting to go to sleep yet?”
“I’m already blacking out,” Rin groaned. She’d moved one arm and slung it over her eyes. “It’s, like, three in the morning.”
Shayne closed his eyes at the sensation of Charlie’s fingers brushing against the back of his neck. He could hear Charlie’s heart beating on the other side of his ribs, tapping out a calm, strong rhythm. He also heard the rumble in Charlie’s stomach right before he turned his head away to burp.
“’Scuse you,” Rin murmured, the onset of sleep clear in her voice.
“Sorry,” Charlie laughed. He rubbed Shayne’s shoulder. “Come on, you want to lie down too?”
Shayne nodded and lifted his head from Charlie’s chest. A flutter of worry went through his gut when he saw that Charlie was frowning and pressing his lips together, just looking a bit funny in general.
“You okay?”
“Hmm?” Charlie raised his eyebrows, the frown already gone as soon as he realised Shayne was looking up at him. “Yeah, I’m good, lovely. Go ahead and lie down. Let me just turn the TV and the lights off and I’ll join you.”
“Okay.”
As Charlie got up, Shayne settled down in the pile of duvets next to Rin. She squinted sleepily at him and stuck her tongue out, to which he just narrowed his eyes in a mock glare.
“Night, babe.”
“Night, Rin.”
As soon as she’d closed her eyes and turned her face away, Shayne glanced around in the dark and realised Charlie hadn’t come back from the hallway yet. He felt very suddenly and painfully alone, his heart racing as the darkness started to creep into his mind. He watched the sitting room door and sighed in relief when Charlie returned.
“Hey, where’d you go?” Shayne whispered, cringing at how clingy he sounded.
“Kitchen,” Charlie replied in a hushed voice. He pressed a hand to his stomach, rubbing it slightly through his t-shirt. “I had to get some Rennie.”
“Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’ll be fine. Just indigestion. I can feel it going away already.” Charlie let out a self-conscious laugh as he bundled himself up next to Shayne.
Shayne instantly reached for Charlie’s hand, their fingers tangling between the blankets. Their eyes locked onto one another’s across the pillows, and for a long moment, that was all there was, besides Rin’s light snoring as she drifted off. Shayne was almost afraid of his own breathing, in case a sharp inhale or shaky exhale would shatter the moment. He knew he wasn’t good at these moments, and he always worried that he would somehow mess everything –
Charlie broke the eye contact first, squeezing his eyes shut and tugging the blanket up to his mouth as a deep hiccup wracked his frame. The sound was quickly followed by a light whimper that made Shayne’s heart squeeze.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
Charlie nodded his head, stifling a burp as a look of discomfort briefly crossed his face. “I just ate too much crap.”
“Too much ‘stress eating’?”
“Hey, don’t be a dick,” Charlie protested, his voice rising a little higher than a whisper.
“Sorry, sorry. Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m just being a baby.” Charlie winked, his mouth curving into a half-smile. “Let’s just get some sleep. Rin’s got, like, twelve alarms set on her phone to make sure we’re up by 6:30.”
Shayne closed his eyes and groaned at the mention of the hour of truth. Fuck.
“Everything’s going to be okay, lovely,” Charlie whispered.
“Is it?” Shayne asked, though he couldn’t recall deciding to say it. He felt Charlie give his hand a squeeze under the blankets. It was subtle, but it reminded him that he needed to take a breath.
“I absolutely promise.”
_
Charlie wasn’t sure what had woken him up, but he reckoned it might have been the light in the room. The sun was rising at 5:30 lately, and the sitting room didn’t have blackout curtains like the bedrooms did. The pale sunlight illuminated the room and showed him just how much of a mess they’d all made, between plates of pizza crusts, snack wrappers, cans, and blankets.
Charlie squinted up at the ceiling, trying to place the unsettling sensation that seemed to crawl over his entire body. He rubbed his lips together, flexed his tongue. Maybe he was thirsty, actually. He’d had too many salty snacks last night and not enough to drink. That had to be it.
He did, however, allow himself a small smile at the sight of Shayne sleeping on his stomach next to him. His hand was resting so close to Charlie’s shoulder that he may have been touching him at one point.
Behind Shayne, Rin was sleeping on her side, her red hair sticking up in all directions as she drew soft but audible breaths. The first shot of teenaged Anna in Frozen sprung to Charlie’s mind, and he sort of wished his phone was within reach to sneak a few photos with.
Really though, he just wanted to get back to sleep for a while too, but he needed to deal with whatever was wrong with him first. He knew he’d left a half can of Sprite next to the sofa last night, and while that wasn’t as good as water, he reckoned it would do. He sat up, straining his stomach muscles a little more than he’d have liked. That turned out to be a bad mistake.
A wave of cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck, and while he knew he needed to turn and reach for the can, he couldn’t make himself move. He suddenly knew why he’d woken up.
His stomach was in knots, hurting a lot more than when he’d gone to sleep. All of the junk food had felt unsettled in there when he’d first laid down, but he’d thought the dull burn of indigestion would go away once he’d drifted off. But now his chest felt like it was on fire from all the acid being shot up his throat, and he could feel the onset of some deep cramps settling into his belly.
“Shit,” he whispered, running a hand across his stomach and noticing how bloated and sore it really was. It felt like his insides were squeezing each other. A groan from inside warned him of an incoming burp, but as he felt it move upwards, he got the unsettling taste of salt and vinegar Pringles in his mouth.
He felt like he couldn’t untangle himself from the blankets fast enough. The distance it took for Charlie to get from lying on the floor to standing upright was considerable, as opposed to getting out of a normal bed. The change in altitude made his head spin, made him touch the wall for balance as he opened the door and stumbled into the hallway. He’d hoped to regain some balance and grace after that point, but the truth was that he stumbled all the way to the hallway bathroom, barely catching himself with his hands on the toilet’s cistern before the first pale stream of partially-digested potato snacks hit the water.
He sighed and gasped, feeling the pain in his stomach fade for all of two seconds before it was clenching again, sending up more shitty snacks and sugary drinks until his head was spinning and his sinuses were as much on fire as his chest.
“Oh, fuck.”
The words came from behind him, and didn’t sound nearly as surprised as they could have. Charlie grimaced and spat into the toilet, trying to clear his mouth and throat enough so that he could speak.
“Hey there,” he choked out.
“You feeling any better after that?” Shayne’s hand came to rest against Charlie’s back, the other reaching around to comb Charlie’s bangs away from his forehead.
Charlie’s response started as a low groan, but it quickly turned into a whimper at the sensation of Shayne’s fingers in his hair, the weight of his hand on his back. Touch of any kind was always the way to make Charlie melt. He sank to his knees and slumped an arm onto the toilet seat, resting his cheek in the crook of his elbow.
“No?” was what Shayne gleaned from Charlie’s listlessness. His hands were still now, resting on Charlie’s back and head like he was afraid Charlie would shatter if he moved them.
“Nah,” Charlie mumbled, wincing at the pain in his chest. “I think there’s more… I just need a break.”
Shayne remained in his stiff position. “Want some water?”
“No, not yet.” A shiver ran down Charlie’s spine. He’d only had his head down for less than a minute, yet as he lifted it again, it felt ten times heavier, as though his body was fighting to go back to sleep. “Will you rub my back?”
“Sure. Yeah. ‘Course.” Shayne finally unfroze, letting Charlie’s hair go. He crouched just behind him and began massaging wide circles across Charlie’s back.
The bumps in his spine rose up a bit under Shayne’s palm, so that Charlie could let his mouth hang open over the toilet bowl.
He was dreading the next wave even more now that he knew what tastes and textures to expect. A weak belch slipped up, tasting of fizzy orange and pepperoni, before his stomach managed to send something else up. And then again. And again. Charlie had to shut his eyes to stop himself from seeing his evening of anxiety-fueled over-indulgence reincarnated as a toilet full of sludge.
“Screw this,” Charlie whined. The twisting inside his stomach was beginning to ease off, replaced by a gnawing pain in his diaphragm. His mouth was thick with saliva and god-knows what else.
“Shush, you’re okay,” Shayne told him.
“No, I’m not. I feel horrible, Shayne.”
“Okay.” Shayne cleared his throat. “You’ll… be okay?”
“Will I?” Charlie whined, sinking back from the toilet seat and resting his head against his arm again. “You don’t sound very sure.”
“Mmhmm. Promise.” Shayne slid his hand up Charlie’s back and brushed his thumb against his neck. “Absolutely promise.”
In spite of himself, a weak smile crossed Charlie’s face to hear Shayne echoing what he’d said to him earlier. He sank back from the toilet seat, dragging his hand across his mouth without really thinking about it.
“My stomach hurts,” he said, in a voice he hoped was at least a step away from his whiny voice.
“Yeah, I bet it does.” Shayne rubbed Charlie’s shoulder. “You want to go back to bed? Or to – to the floor, I guess? The floor without tiles, where there are pillows?”
The thought of forcing himself to his feet made Charlie groan all over again. He didn’t want to stand up and feel the room spin around him like when he’d gotten up earlier. His stomach was no longer battling against disagreeable contents, but it still ached. There was only one thing he wanted that would make the treacherous journey back to the sitting room worthwhile, but he remembered how Shayne had been too tense to rub his back until Charlie had specifically asked for it.
“When we go back,” he said in a low voice, “can you rub my tummy?”
He felt Shayne lean in close to the side of his head, his arms sneaking gently around Charlie’s waist. Charlie’s heart fluttered.
“I was going to,” Shayne said.
“Mmm.” The sound was a half-sigh, half-squeak. Charlie wasn’t sure he’d be able to get up at all, since he felt like he was about to turn into a puddle next to the toilet.