Chapter Text
Nick had an absolutely dreadful night. Due to the room’s freezing temperature, he found himself repeatedly waking up throughout the night. He spent the first half of the night feeling like a frozen icicle even though he was wearing four layers of clothing.
It was only around five in the morning that he started to feel warmer. But not just warm, no, he was suddenly sweltering. He ripped off his jacket and kicked away his blankets in an attempt to cool his body down, but it didn’t take long before he was racked with chills. At that point, Nick was too tired to care. He simply pulled his blankets over his head and forced himself to ignore his physical discomfort, hoping it would go away in the morning.
Well, that was a fool’s dream. Not only did Nick feel just as terrible as the night before, he now also had a throbbing headache. But that wasn’t even the worst of it. No, he had woken up with a fucking sore throat.
There was no way. He had felt perfectly fine the day before, how the fuck did he end up with a sore throat? From past experience, Nick knew that once he got a sore throat, it wouldn’t take long for other illness symptoms to set in. That can’t happen, it just can’t. Not when they were literally on vacation.
The triplets were currently in Chicago for a week-long trip, with today being their second to last day. The trip was Nick’s idea, just a private getaway for the three of them to unwind and destress. The triplets had looked forward to this trip for weeks, as it wasn’t often that they went on vacations without any of their friends and family tagging along. Not that they didn’t enjoy the company of their loved ones, but sometimes it was nice to be alone, where they could be their true and authentic selves.
There was no way Nick was going to ruin their vacation by mentioning that he wasn’t feeling well. Not only would it dampen the entire holiday mood, but it would also cause his brothers undue stress and worry. Besides, it was just a sore throat. It didn’t necessarily mean that he would get sick (fuck past experience). And sure, he did feel pretty awful due to his headache, but that could be easily remedied with an Advil.
Anyway, it was just one more day. They would be flying back to LA tomorrow, he could hold out until then. Even if he happened to fall sick tomorrow, they would be back home by nightfall and he could rest in the comfort of his own bed.
A soft prodding at Nick’s shoulder broke him out of his thoughts.
“C’mon Nick, time to get up,” Chris said with a yawn.
Nick groaned and immediately winced as the action irritated his throat.
“Matt, you too.”
“Fuck off,” Matt grumbled.
“I know for a fact that you’ve been awake since nine, Matt-”
“Only because of how noisy you were-”
Feeling his headache spike at his brothers’ loud bickering, Nick quickly headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
When he emerged from the bathroom, his brothers had thankfully stopped arguing. He didn’t think he could contain his irritation if they started yelling at each other.
Nick muttered a quick greeting to Matt, who was on the way to the bathroom himself.
“Hey,” Matt yawned. “Did you take a shower? Your hair looks really dry.”
“No, I didn’t feel like it this morning,” Nick answered.
Matt quirked an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“I’ve got a bit of a headache.”
“Again? Make sure you take an Advil instead of trying to tough it out like last time,” Matt said as he brushed past Nick.
Nick went over to his bags, grabbing a change of clothes and an Advil. He quickly popped the pill in his mouth, washing it down with a gulp of water. He then proceeded to change out of his pajamas, and had barely done so when Chris called out to him.
“Hey Nick, c’mere and grab a bite. We still have some leftover donuts from yesterday, so take your pick.”
Truthfully, Nick didn’t feel all that hungry. He just wanted to go back to bed and sleep the rest of the day away. But not eating would raise his brothers’ suspicions, which was the last thing he wanted, so he joined Chris at the table and forced himself to eat a few bites of food.
Unfortunately for him, Chris still noticed that Nick was not eating as much as he usually did.
“Is that all you’re going to eat?” Chris asked.
“Well, it is almost lunchtime. I don’t want to overeat and ruin my appetite for lunch,” Nick replied.
“It’s still early. You can eat more if you want,” Chris told him.
“I’m good.”
Chris narrowed his eyes as he studied Nick. “Are you okay? You seem a bit off this morning.”
Shit. Nick was not expecting Chris to notice so quickly. Sometimes he hated how well his brothers knew him.
Nick tried to play it off. “I’m fine, just a bit tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Oh yeah, I get you. I had trouble falling asleep too. These hotel beds are so uncomfortable,” Chris remarked.
“Well, there’s that. The room was also freezing last night, so I kept waking up throughout the night,” Nick said.
“Freezing? ” Matt echoed, as he exited the bathroom.
“You must be joking, kid! It was nowhere near freezing!” Chris exclaimed.
Matt frowned at Nick. “Are you coming down with something? You don’t have a cold or fever, do you?”
“No, of course not!” Nick said quickly. “You know me, I get cold easily.”
Even as Nick denied it, it clicked in his mind that he may have a fever after all. It would certainly explain his chills and sudden headache. He kicked himself for not realizing it earlier. He must have been more out of it than he thought, if he couldn’t connect the dots and figure out that he had a fever.
“Then throw on a sweater, Nick. Feeling cold at 70 degrees is insane. You’ve literally lived your entire life at way colder temperatures,” Chris said with a roll of his eyes.
“Yeah yeah. Anyway, you guys ready to head out?” Nick said, changing the subject.
“Hold on, I need to dry my hair,” Matt replied, retreating back to the bathroom.
“Well, I’m all set– Oh shit, can guys give me a few minutes to charge my phone? My battery’s at sixty-five percent,” Chris said, hurriedly plugging his charger into his phone.
Nick rolled his eyes at the delay, but did not complain as it allowed more time for his headache to subside.
By the time they were all ready to leave, Matt and Chris had seemingly forgotten their earlier conversation with Nick, much to his relief.
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Throughout the day, Nick kept convincing himself that he was fine. And he really was! He could barely feel his fever and his headache was completely gone by lunchtime. Nick was even beginning to think he was mistaken about having a fever after all. Even if he did have a fever, it was so mild that it was not worth mentioning.
The only thing that was mildly irritating was his sore throat. (It wasn’t mild at all, but Nick was trying to ignore that.) His sore throat made talking a painful activity, which sucked for Nick. Luckily for him, Chris was in a talkative mood, dominating most of their conversations for the day. For his part, Nick tried his best to act as he normally did and hope his brothers didn’t notice that he was quieter than normal.
He did feel a small stab of guilt for not telling his brothers that he was feeling unwell. There weren’t many secrets between the triplets, so Nick always felt like he was committing a crime whenever he kept something from them. But it was not like he planned to hide this from them forever, it was just until tomorrow. How much worse can he get in a day anyway?
When night finally fell, Nick breathed a silent sigh of relief that the day was finally over. He had started to feel a bone-deep weariness in the late evening, so he was grateful his brothers decided to retire to their hotel room early.
After a quick shower, Nick mumbled a “good night” to his brothers before he crashed on his bed.
“Nick, it’s only 10 o’clock. You’re going to bed already?” Chris asked from his shared bed with Matt.
“Mmh.”
“Okay then. Good night, Nick. Love you.”
Chris’ voice sounded miles away as Nick slipped into Morpheus’ sweet embrace.
It must have been hours later when Nick was abruptly dragged from his slumber. Still half asleep, the first thing he registered was the icy chill permeating his body. The second was his burning sore throat.
Nick didn’t think it was possible for his sore throat to get worse, but it did. It now felt like his throat was being stabbed by knives every time he swallowed. Maybe he strained himself too much by talking more than he should have the day before.
Nick grabbed his water bottle and was about to take a drink when he was hit with a sudden coughing fit.
He quickly clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his coughs, hoping he didn’t wake his brothers.
“Mmhm… I said…no ketchup, Chris…”
Nick froze at Matt’s sleepy mumbles. He held his breath and waited for Matt’s muttering to subside. After a minute or two without any further movement from his brother, Nick let out a breath and slowly relaxed.
Fuck, he sighed mentally. Seems like his sore throat had progressed into a cough. It was going to be hell trying to hide this from his brothers. Nick decided that was a problem he’ll deal with later. Instead, he pulled his blankets tightly around his body and tried to return to sleep.
Nick spent the next few minutes shivering like a wet kitten before he had enough. Using his phone for light in their pitch-black room, he staggered out of bed towards the thermostat to shut off the AC. He knew his brothers would be pissed at him for doing so, but he was too cold in that moment to care.
As Nick trudged back to bed, he glanced at the blinking numbers of the bedside clock. 3:37 AM. It was still way too early. He hoped he would be able to get some sleep or he’ll feel even worse in the morning.
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“-the fuck?”
“Unngh…Chris? Wha’s going on? And why is it so hot?”
“The AC was off. Who turned it off??”
“Why the fuck would I turn it off?”
“Then what, it turned off by itself? Get real, Matt.”
“Maybe Nick did it? He did say he was cold last night.”
“Then he should have worn a fucking sweater or something. Not turn off the fucking AC! I was literally sweating through my shirt!”
Through the haze of sleep, Nick heard fragments of his brothers’ conversation and dimly registered the mention of the AC. Oh. They must have realized he turned off the AC, he thought drowsily. He had barely finished that thought when he erupted into a fit of coughs.
His brothers’ voices fell to a hush.
“What was that? ” Nick heard Matt say.
Nick heard a soft shuffling and the click of the bedside lamp, then Chris’ voice suddenly sounded next to his ear.
“Nick?”
Nick didn’t respond, hoping Chris would go away and leave him alone if he thought Nick was asleep. His brother wasn’t deterred however, because not a moment later, Nick felt a warm hand on his forehead.
Nick made a sound of annoyance and shifted away from Chris’ hand.
“Go ‘way,” he grumbled.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” Chris apologized. “We heard you coughing and just wanted to check if you’re okay.”
“‘M fine.”
The coughing fit following his words belied that statement.
Chris scoffed. “Yeah no, you don’t sound fine at all.”
Nick shot Chris a baleful glare. He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by another bout of coughing.
Matt pushed a bottle of water into Nick’s hand. “Here, Nick.”
Nick gratefully accepted and downed half the bottle.
“Thanks,” he said hoarsely.
“What’s going on, Nick? Are you sick?” Matt asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.
“Nuh uh. Not sick.”
Matt and Chris exchanged skeptical looks over Nick’s head.
“Riiight. So we’re supposed to believe that you just randomly started coughing for no reason?” Chris said sarcastically.
“I don’t know, Chris,” Nick groaned. “Why does it matter? Even if I was sick, we’ll be returning home today anyway.”
“I know, but we don’t want you to get worse, Nick,” Chris said with a frown.
“I’m fine, okay? Can you two stop hovering over me so I can go back to sleep?” Nick said in an irritated tone.
Chris relented. “Okay okay, fine. You let us know if you start to feel sick, alright? C’mon, Matt.”
“Hold on a moment,” Matt said suddenly. “Didn’t you say you have a headache this morning?”
Nick stilled. “Yeah, so? I often have headaches.”
“And do you usually feel cold when you have headaches?” Matt challenged.
“…I never said I was cold.”
“That’s not what you said this morning,” Matt said sharply.
“I’m not cold anymore,” Nick amended.
“If you’re not cold, why did you turn off the AC?”
“It turned off by itself?”
“…”
Nick shrank at Matt’s unimpressed glare.
“Kid, you’re wearing four layers of clothing,” Matt said finally, tugging at Nick’s sweater.
“Well, I…”
Chris turned to Matt. “You think he has a fever? I checked earlier, but he felt fine.”
“I’m pretty sure.”
Before Nick could react, Matt laid the back of his hand against Nick’s forehead.
“Yeah, he does feel a bit warm,” Matt muttered with a frown.
“Matt, ” Nick snapped, swatting away his brother’s hand.
“Nick, ” Matt retorted in the same tone. “Tell me the truth right now, do you have any other symptoms of illness?”
Nick glanced away from Matt’s piercing gaze. “I…might have a sore throat,” he admitted.
“Since when?” Matt questioned.
“This morning?” Nick said weakly.
“Since this fucking morning? Why didn’t you tell us?!” Chris burst out.
Nick flinched. “It was just a sore throat. I didn’t think it was something worth mentioning.”
“But it wasn’t just a sore throat! Did you also have a fever this morning?” Chris demanded.
“I…maybe? I’m not sure,” Nick said uncertainly.
“How could you not be sure if you have a fever?! You have been sick enough times that you should know better by now,” Chris snapped.
“I don’t know! Usually I feel much worse than this when I have a fever, so I thought it was just a headache!” Nick cried.
“It’s probably a mild fever, which is why you didn’t feel the symptoms as badly. Or you would have been bedridden by now,” Matt commented.
Chris huffed. “Either way, you should have told us, Nick.”
“I didn’t want to ruin our vacation,” Nick said quietly.
“Ruined our–you wouldn’t have ruined anything!” Chris exclaimed.
“We don’t care about that, Nick. Your health is more important to us than this vacation,” Matt interjected.
“It’s just…we spent so much time planning this vacation. I didn’t want you guys to spend our last day in Chicago worrying about me,” Nick tried to explain.
Chris frowned at him. “There’s really no point in this vacation if you are not happy,” he pointed out.
Matt nodded in agreement. “And we could have visited again some other time. It’s not a big deal.”
They were right, Nick realized. In his effort to not have his brothers worry about him, he made them even more worried by concealing his sickness from them. If their situations were reversed, he would have been equally angry and upset. Plus, they found out anyway, so he achieved nothing by hiding that he was sick.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted everything to be perfect,” Nick said guiltily.
“Things don’t have to be perfect, Nick. What matters more is that we all have fun,” Matt said gently.
Nick looked down, fiddling with his hands. “I know…”
“We’ll talk more later. For now, just get some rest,” Matt said with a pat on Nick’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry for turning off the AC. You guys can turn it back on,” Nick mumbled.
Chris let out an exasperated sigh. “Kid, forget about the fucking AC. We can live without it for a few hours.”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine, Nick, don’t worry. Call us if you need anything, alright?” Matt said as he flicked off the bedside lamp.
Nick made an agreeing noise and settled back into bed. From the other side of the room, he faintly heard his brothers speaking in hushed tones. He was undoubtedly the subject of the conversation, though he was too tired to bother eavesdropping. He allowed his eyes to fall shut, and despite the discomfort from his sore throat and fever, found himself drifting off to sleep in seconds.