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Harry sat in the back of the tour bus, his chin tucked low against his chest and his arms wrapped around himself. The rock and pull of the bus trundling along the road that was normally calming instead sent shivers up his spine and left his stomach flip flopping around like a fish on dry land. It was their first tour slowly drawing to a close, and while the boys had grown used to the rattle and tumble of the moving bus it seemed that today Harry’s body had chosen to forget the good month they had spent together in peace.
The other four boys tried to be quiet when they noted the youngest members current state of discomfort, but any situation with five boys on one bus will end in some sort of commotion. Each time a sound was made Harry felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, his face crumpling into a look of pure pain. It would have been comical, even, if it wasn’t so unusual for Harry to be the one hurting. It left the others feeling like they had failed somehow, even if there was nothing they could do about it.
“You think he’s carsick?” Zayn whispered to Louis, his voice low as he looked over at Harry’s hunched figure. He’d never seen Harry sick before, and had in fact, never even considered such a thing as possible. Harry was usual rather noisy, bouncing of the confining walls of the bus or running long, looping trails in the larger venues backstage areas.
Louis wrinkled his forehead, peeking over at Harry himself and noting his pale, yellow green appearance. He noted that Harry’s shoulders hunched forward and that his knuckles turned white with the effort of pulling at the fabric of his own t-shirt.
“Maybe…” Louis nodded, looking back at Zayn for a moment. He honestly agreed that there was something up with their youngest member, but he wasn’t sure it was just the motion of the bus that ideally trundled along the long and winding roads of Greater Britain. “Maybe we should stop, or get Liam to talk to him; He always listens to Liam,” Louis decided, getting up from his not-so-comfortable seat across from Zayn to go tell Liam of his plan. Honestly, Harry’s lack of bounciness brought down the whole attitude of the bus, even if no one could quite put their finger on it.
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Liam sat himself down next to Harry on the makeshift window seat the boys had constructed out of two old boxes and a pile of blankets. It actually worked quite well, and hadn’t toppled over yet, much to Niall’s (the grand architect) surprise.
“You a’right?” Liam asked gently, leaning over so as to be able to see the other boy’s obscured face. Harry didn’t respond, but leaned into Liam, letting him wrap his arm around his slim shoulders and burying his head in his chest. Liam was a little surprised, but went along with it, letting Harry get more comfortable on him, and wrapping his arms around the younger boy’s body properly, resting his chin on Harry’s head.
“You want to tell me what the matter is?” Liam asked once Harry had ceased moving, and seemed to be well and situated in his embrace. “Maybe then Zayn and Louis will stop consorting and plotting to get you to a hospital and checked out.”
That seemed to get through to Harry, and he looked up at Liam, his eyes obviously watering.
“No, please, no,” he pleading, trying not to let his voice shake though it did on the last word. “I’m just not feeling so well, I’m fine,” Harry muttered, his stomach flipping as he looked up as if just to undermine him. He quickly sat up, his eyes flying wide as he pushed away from Liam and tottered to his feet, getting the the front of the bus and getting the driver to pull over before Liam had even fully realized that Harry wasn’t in his arms any longer.
Liam stood and chased after the younger boy, getting off of the bus and stepping into the pouring rain where Harry was retching, his skinny jean clad knees pressed into the soaking ground as the rain pelted down on his curly head.
Nothing came up and Harry was left chocking like a fish out of water-Like the same fish that was flopping around in his stomach personified. Liam knelt down in the damp dirt next to Harry and began to rub circles around the base of Harry’s spine, shushing him and shooing the other’s away as they began to come and try and get them to come back onto the bus or make sure Harry was okay. Their manager came out, and Liam shooed him away.
Nothing came up after 30 minutes of sitting outside in the pouring rain, and though Harry seemed to be pushing to stay outside but Liam decided they needed to go in then, even if the bus wasn’t where Harry needed to be-It was better than out combating the elements.
“Come on buddy,” Liam huffed, picking Harry up, and letting him tuck his curly hair head on his shoulder as he carried him onto the dreaded bus, bringing him to one of the pulldown beds that Zayn had made up moments before. Harry’s jeans were soaked through and Liam knew his won weren’t in a much better state. Grabbing two pairs of sweatpants out of the bags stored above their heads, handing a pair to Harry and starting to change himself as Harry changed almost simultaneously.
“Do you feel any better?” he asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking at Harry questioningly. He hoped he had gotten rid of his gag reflex for a while at least, even though he hadn’t actually thrown up.
Harry shook his head, curling in on himself and leaning easily against Liam. There was no hesitation, or coldness in their touch. It was easy. It was family. It was a place they had waited a long time to get to, and now they had it they hardly noticed it.
“Do you want something to drink?” Liam followed up, putting Harry’s curls as he wrapped his arm around the other and leaned back against the vibrating bus wall so he could support the both of them. Harry shook his head, his eyes growing heavy as he let his mind get foggy and his body shift more and more to the support of his friend.
“Okay, buddy,” Liam whispered, feeling Harry’s breath grow steady and smiling as Niall brought them one of the many fluffy flannel blankets the bus had on board and covered the boys with it. As Harry slept the other four boys watched some soap on the TV, no one really knowing what was going on on the silver screen, though Niall seemed to be very attached to a certain character though he said he had never seen the show before when pelted with questions from the other boys on why he knew so much about a sissy drama.
Liam watched from the sidelines, feeling Harry’s warm breath on his neck. It looked like any family, just without the parents...or the house. A mobile family of boys.
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Harry woke late at night, his stomach tossing. He didn’t move. He hoped it would go away, or at least that nothing would happen. He was too tired to get up, too shaky. He didn’t want to ask the driver to pull over, or sit in the rain again. He was too tired to even get up and go to the bathroom, or grab a rubbish bin from under one of the little tables attached to the bus wall.
Liam was still sleeping next to him, his arm wrapped around Harry’s shoulders, and his leg sticking out of the edge of the blanket. Harry tried to shift, tried to get up when he realised he wasn’t going to be able to keep his lunch down. Before he managed to detangle himself from the blanket and his own legs he started to gag, a resigned and pained whimper escaping his chapped lips.
Liam woke just as Harry was violently sick on himself, quickly standing and grabbing the rubbish bin from a few meters away and handing it to Harry as the other boy’s began to rouse groggily around them and wonder what the commotion was.
“S’going on?” Zayn grumbled as he sat up, his eyes bleary and his tongue thick in his mouth.
“Harry’s getting sick,” Liam nearly snapped, sleep deprived and dealing with vomit-Two things he would never list as among his favourites. He continued to rub circles on Harry’s back, drawing him closer to let him know he wasn’t alone. Despite the angry tone he had taken he didn’t mind being with Harry, not even when he vomited. He cared for him, and he knew if he was somewhere else he would just be worrying about Harry and wouldn’t be asleep anyway.
The other boys had all woken and caught on by this time, and were already getting up and helping out. Niall had gotten a soda from in the fridge, Zayn had bussied himself finding new clothes for Harry once he could change, and Louis was calling their manager and canceling the next show scheduled to take place only hours in the future.
“Harry, you kay?” Liam asked, once it seemed that the younger had finished getting sick and was ready to get back to sleeping, and maybe have a drink.
As the boys buzzed about getting Harry resettled and ready for bed Liam smiled to himself-They really were a family...becoming one, anyway, and he hoped it would just get better from here.
As Harry began to fall asleep again, this time under four pairs of watchful eyes he slurred a thanks, and an ‘I love you man,’ before drifting off to a hopefully peaceful sleep