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It’s been one month since Kevin had his first migraine.
After taking the next day easy he was back to normal and on the court again as if nothing happened.
Generally, he thought it would be a one time thing and that it would never happen again, or at least not for a long time, but of course The Kevin Day couldn’t be completely lucky with his health and physicality. It only made sense that his body start betraying him in some type of way at some point, he just didn’t expect it to be this soon.
It was a Friday and they were playing against The Texas Longhorns. It was luckily a home game so they didn’t have to catch a flight out but instead let their opponents come to them. It was a tough game, ending with four yellow cards and two red, but they pulled ahead by one point leaving the final standings to be 8-7, Foxes favor.
They piled off the court with adrenaline beating through their veins, gulping air into their lungs, and smiles sporting their sweaty faces. Dan and Renee handled the press while everyone else hit the changing rooms to shower and get changed.
It wasn’t until after Kevin showered and changed that he noticed the pulsing in his head. The pulsing after a good match was normal and expected, but it usually didn’t last this long nor was it this persistent. And it really decided to turn this into an issue for him when he bent over from where he sat on the bench to tie his shoelaces and he almost face-planted onto the tile floor. Fortunately he managed to just catch himself by planting a hand onto the floor and he hauled himself back up, sagging back against the tiled wall and puffing out gasps of air. Okay, this was a bit weird, he thought. His thoughts were brought back to himself when Neil appeared in his line of vision, looking at him with a curious look on his face.
“Hey,” Neil lowered his voice. “You okay?”
Kevin nods. “Yeah,” he says slightly out of breath. “Just catching my breath.”
“For the past 10 minutes?” The redhead questions. Kevin gulps and nods again. Neil sends him a weary look before nodding. “Alright…” His eyes scan down to Kevin's shoelaces and he looks back up at him, silently asking if he can tie them. To which Kevin nods and watches as Neil goes down on one knee and takes the laces into his hands. Afterwards, he stands back up and reaches a hand out for Kevin to take, helping to pull him off the bench. Kevin’s legs felt like jelly.
“Is Drew already out there?” Kevin asks.
“Yeah, Coach wanted to talk to him about something.” Neil waves his hand as he walks ahead.
As they walk into the lounge everyone else is lazing about on the couches, with the exception of Dan and Renee who just recently got back from answering the burning post game questions the people wanted to hear. Kevin slouched down on the end of one of the couches, Neil sitting down beside him as they sat and waited for Andrew to be done with whatever it was Coach wanted. That and they also had to wait for Dan and Renee to be done in the changing room so that Coach could debrief the game.
Kevin laid his head back on the couch cushion for only a second to rest his aching eyes before he was rudely awakened by his father snapping his fingers in his face. He startled awake and sat straight upward, everyone glancing at him before returning their focus to Wymack. Kevin looked over to his left and saw that Andrew had returned, sitting on Neil's other side. The striker tried to pay attention to whatever it was that his dad was saying but he just couldn’t focus, and before he knew it his chin was dropped down to his chest and he was out once again.
The second time he woke it was to a cold hand on his forehead. His bleary eyes opened and he slowly lifted his head, looking around the room and noticing that it was now quiet and empty, with the exception of Neil, Andrew, Wymack and Abby. He went cross eyed trying to look at the hand on his forehead. His temples pulsed painfully at that and he then decided to follow the arm attached instead, finding that Abby was the culprit for the icy appendage touching him. He weakly slapped her hand away and sat up.
“He’s not burning up,” Abby says as she turns towards the others in the room.
“Why would I be?” Kevin speaks up.
“Maybe because you fell asleep out of nowhere. Twice.” Neil answers from beside him.
“I’m just tired, not sick.” He huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone else in the room stares at him as if not believing what he just said. Kevin rolled his eyes, hid a wince from the pain that sparked in his skull, grabbed his bag that was on the floor beside him, and stood up.
“Let’s go,” he aims at Andrew and Neil as he walks out of the court.
The striker only made it outside of the court before his façade started crumbling. With the rest of the post game adrenaline gone from his system he was left shaky and nauseous. Bringing an unsteady hand up to his face he wiped some of the sweat off his upper lip and forehead. He leaned against the building, albeit hesitant, since he wanted to at least make it to the car as he waited for Neil and Andrew.
It didn’t take long at all for them to show up. Neil was a bit startled by Kevin standing by the door, but they didn’t waste time going over to Andrew's Porsche. Kevin climbed into the backseat and sat himself behind Neil, and with that they started off towards the dorms.
It was maybe thirty seconds into the drive when Kevin realized how bad his nausea really was. He tried to scoot over closer to the middle to see the road, hoping to focus on the horizon. That's what everyone said to do when one was carsick right? Unfortunately, the movement alone was enough to make him lose it. He managed to squeak out “Pull over,” before throwing his door open and hanging himself out of it, not even managing to undo his seatbelt in the process. It only took for him to open his mouth before everything he’d eaten earlier that day made a reappearance on the side of the road. He gagged harshly as someone, he assumed Neil, started patting his back. He stayed there for maybe a minute longer before Andrew was standing in front of him, only an inch away from his vomit puddle as he held out a water bottle for him. Kevin graciously took it and rinsed out his mouth, spitting it back out onto the pavement, then afterwards wiping his forearm across his mouth.
“Not sick my ass,” Andrew says as he helps Kevin back up into his seat.
“Whatever, let’s just go,” Kevin says feebly, fixing his stare to the back of Neil's seat, pointedly avoiding Neil looking back at him. Neil looks over to Andrew as he gets back in the car, as if asking for an explanation, but instead Andrew starts the car and pulls off the curb, heading back towards the dorms.
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Miraculously, Kevin doesn’t puke again on the way home, although he has some close calls, none of which the other two occupants in the car know of. When they finally arrive they all get out of the car, Kevin batting Neil’s hand off of him when he tries to help him. The other foxes were no doubt off celebrating their win tonight, but it was unclear about where they were going to do it. If they were in one of the dorm rooms that could be a problem for Kevin's current state, or they could be in the basement, which would be the preferred option. Kevin hoped they were in the basement.
“Are you okay to take the elevator?” Neil breaks Kevin out from his thoughts. He weighs the pros and cons of both the stairs and elevator and in the end decides on the elevator. While it may be worse for his rolling stomach, it would ultimately be the quickest. He could make it. Right?
───── ꩜ ─────
Wrong. So very wrong.
As soon as the elevator jolts upwards Kevin gags into his hand. The bright lights in such a small moving box add further insult to injury. Neil, panicking, jumps to the other side of the elevator while Andrew drops their gym bags and herds Kevin over to face the corner, trying to contain the mess as best as he can. By the time the tallest is done hacking up his stomach acid the elevator doors start to open. And it being a Friday night, it's of course the busiest night of the week with other athletes usually crawling the halls. Neil looks back to the other two and then peaks into the hall. They’re lucky as it seems they have arrived during a lull tonight as there are only two other people further down the hall. But they can’t be too lucky, so of course it’s two of their other teammates. Nicky and Aaron.
Nicky spots Neil and he smiles, waving before jogging over.
“Hey Neil! Are you guys coming to th-Oh my god.” Nicky puts his hand over his mouth once he arrives at the elevator.
“What happened? Is he okay? Is he already drunk?” Nicky fires one question after the other before Aaron makes his way over, still walking of course.
Neil looks back at Kevin and Andrew before looking back at the other two standing outside, speechless.
Aaron wrinkles his nose once stood outside the elevator doors. “Of course he isn’t drunk, they’re just getting back from the court.” Aaron points to their bags on the elevator floor. “That and Kevin clearly didn’t look good after the game,” he finishes.
“We have to clean this,” Kevin says quietly.
“No we don’t. Let them think it was some drunk idiot,” Andrew answers as he guides Kevin out of the elevator, Neil following behind after gathering their bags left on the ground.
“Does he have another migraine?” Aaron asks and Kevin stiffens where he stands
“Who told you I got those?” Kevin questions, too exhausted to even try to deny anything.
“Matt.” Aaron shrugs easily.
“Is that what this is?” Neil looks towards Kevin while he looks down at his feet and shrugs.
“Clearly it is,” Andrew answers for everyone. “Now leave us be for the night.” He shoots a dark look at both his cousin and twin as he wraps an arm around Kevin's shoulders and leads him to their room.
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“Do you want to go to bed?” Neil asks as he shuts the door and locks it behind them.
“No,” Kevin says quietly. “I know when I wake up It’ll hurt more.” He points to his head.
“So you want to try to stay awake?” Neil tries to understand.
Kevin shrugs and sighs. “I don’t know.” He groans as he drags his hands down his face. “I’m so tired,” he looks over to Neil.
“Then go to bed,” Andrew says from his spot slightly behind Kevin. “Being tired won’t help your pain.”
Neither of them miss the way Kevin’s breathing picks up, the beginnings of a panic attack. Neil quickly moves to stand in front of Kevin and puts his hands gently on his forearms. “Hey, Hey,” Neil says gently, coaxing Kevin to look at him, but he keeps his head down. “You’re alright. We can just sit on the couch if you want?” Kevin ignores him, or at least he pretends he didn’t hear him.
“Why am I having another migraine?” Kevin's voice shakes.
“I…we don’t know yet, but we will. Maybe you’re just stressing out about classes or lack of sleep…you haven’t been sleeping the best the past few months.” Neil gently reminds him.
Kevin brings a fisted hand up to his eye and wipes at it, almost as if to stop a tear from falling.
“Fine, I’ll go to bed.”
Neil nods and gently rubs the back of Kevin's neck, standing on his tiptoes to kiss Kevin's forehead. “Alright.”
Both Andrew and Neil watch as Kevin turns around and slowly stumbles towards the bedroom, just nearly avoiding the door frame as he walks in, and closing the door behind him.
Neil exhales and rubs a hand on the back of his neck.
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While Kevin fitfully slumbers Andrew slips inside to place the trash can on the floor beside the bed as well as a glass of water on the nightstand. He watches Kevin's face contort in pain in his sleep and clenches his fist where it's hanging down at his side, angry that he can’t do much to help.
“I was almost gonna ask for someone to knock me out,” Kevin rasps from below Andrew.
Shocked, Andrew is brought back to reality and he un-clenches his fist as he sets a hard glare on Kevin. “I wasn’t going to knock you out,” Andrew whispers.
“Then I’ll ask Matt to do it,” Kevin groans out as he brings a hand up to cover his eyes.
“Don't be stupid.”
“I’d even pay him.”
“Shut up.”
“My brain feels like it's melting out of my eyeballs, Drew,” Kevin whimpers tearfully. Andrew stands there silently for a few moments, not exactly knowing what to do, not usually playing the role of caretaker, at least not for things that he can't magically fix. He ends up going with the first idea that pops into his head, hoping that it works, even the slightest bit. “I’ll be right back.” Andrew murmurs as he walks back towards the door. Kevin listlessly brings one of his hands up and waves him off.
Neil watches Andrew exit the room, making sure to shut the door carefully.
“Well?” Neil questions from his beanbag chair.
Andrew ignores him and promptly walks into the bathroom where Neil hears the sink turn on. About thirty seconds pass before Andrew is walking back out with a damp washcloth in his hand and back into the bedroom.
Kevin doesn't lift his hand from his eyes when Andrew re-enters the room, and for a second Andrew thought he’d have already fallen back to sleep if it weren’t for the tremor running through Kevin's slightly elevated arm.
“I have a surprise for you if you want to move your hand,” Andrew whispers. Kevin hesitates before slowly removing his hand and squinting one eye up at the blonde, the latter presents the damp washcloth and silently asks if he can place it on Kevin's eyes.
“Yes.”
Once the cool cloth is settled on Kevin's now closed eyes his body relaxes, if only the tiniest bit, into the mattress and he hisses out a sharp sigh from his parted lips. His left hand scrambles to his side to try and find Andrews, to which Andrew places it in Kevin's to stop the pathetic search for him and he watches as Kevin gently brings his hand up to his lips and ghosts a tiny kiss over the pale skin in lieu of a thank you. Andrew waits until he lowers his hand to lean over and place a kiss on Kevin's warm forehead and then walks out, leaving him to rest.
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Neil manages to squeeze into the bed with Kevin upon request for the night, but Andrew decides to stay in his own. Nothing against either of them he just knows that he won’t be able to sleep in a bed tonight with others. It's not uncommon, but they also don’t share a bed all the time considering how small the dorm beds are. It’s really just when they need to be together for the night, or when a bigger bed presents itself, like in Columbia.
Now, it wasn’t a totally peaceful sleep by any means. It’s a Friday night in a college dorm and not only that, they won their Exy game earlier that night. A majority of the campus was out late partying, especially in the athletes tower. But after one too many times of Neil mouthing off loud and drunk students making their way down the halls it was more quiet than it usually would have been, and at that moment, Kevin felt as though he was eternally grateful for Neil and his big mouth.
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By the time the sun rose Kevin was curled right up against Neil, the now dry washcloth somewhere lost between them in the blankets.
Andrew thankfully turned off their alarms before bed last night, knowing that is probably the last thing any of them wanted to hear in the morning. But Andrew still got up not too long after the alarm would have gone off and he quietly slipped out of the bedroom to go get breakfast for all three of them.
When Neil eventually roused Kevin snaked his arms around him tighter, trying to keep him trapped to the bed with him.
“Good morning,” Neil whispered into the crisp dawn air, worried that if he spoke too loud he would break the atmosphere.
“Don’t go,” Kevin whispers.
“Okay.” Neil settles back down, head now level with Kevin's. “How are you feeling?”
“My head still hurts a bit and my eyes are still sensitive.” Kevin closes his eyes to avoid the morning light seeping through the curtains.
Get blackout curtains, Neil mentally notes.
“My neck is also stiff.”
“Anything else?”
“Not yet, no.”
Neil burrows his face in Kevin's messy hair and brings a hand to the back of his neck, gently massaging it with his fingers. The redhead feels Kevin melt at the careful touches and they stay like that for a few extra minutes.
“Next time this happens we are going to be prepared,” Neil says into Kevin's mop of black hair.
“Next time?” Kevin asks, a slight tremor going through his voice.
“If there is a next time, yes definitely.”
Kevin sighs into Neil's chest and nods.
“And you need to tell us if anything feels off so we can nip it in the bud before it turns into anything like the other two times.”
“Okay,” Kevin says faintly. Neil leans back from Kevin's hair and looks him in the face despite Kevin's eyes being closed.
“We can deal with this,” Neil says confidently.
“You and Andrew may be able to, but I don’t think I’ll be able to,” Kevin grumbles.
“It won’t be immediate, but we’ll get there,” Neil soothes, rubbing a hand up and down Kevin's back.
The dorm door opens and closes, signaling that Andrew is back with what Neil assumes is breakfast. The bedroom door opens and Andrew peaks his head in.
“Breakfast is out there if you’re hungry,” he says then shuts the door again. Kevin is grateful that he left the food out there, not wanting to test his nose sensitivity quite yet.
“You can go eat if you want,” Kevin squints up at Neil. “I’m gonna try to sleep a bit more,” he yawns. Neil nods and untangles himself from both Kevin and the blankets, But he doesn't leave before making sure Kevin drinks a little bit of water and a quick kiss on the lips. Once the door closes Kevin drapes the blanket over his head and eventually falls back asleep.