It started with Louis. He woke up and winced as he tried to swallow. His throat was burning and as he sat up, he realized a headache was forming behind his eyes. He groaned and pushed himself back into bed. This wasn't going to be a great day, he could tell. After a good half an hour longer, Louis walked into the living room of their current home for the summer and plopped onto the couch beside Harry and Niall.
"I think I've caught an awful cold or something," Louis grumbled after the boys said good morning to him. Harry was quick to examine Louis, looking for bad signs.
"You don't feel too hot?" Niall asked while Harry continued his staring.
Louis shook his head lightly and leaned onto Harry, forcing the curly haired boy to break his glance.
"I feel like shit, if I'm being honest," Louis said, pulling a blanket from the top of the couch and dragging it over himself. "I'm probably gonna fall back asleep on you Harry, just a warning. I'm still pretty sleepy,"
Harry nodded and helped Louis get situated.
"Just get comfy, yeah?"
Louis complied.
"You're pale. You probably have a fever, Louis," Niall said, giving Louis his own good look.
Louis didn't argue, he was pretty sure Niall was right.
"My head hurts pretty bad, thats probably why," Louis explained, feeling Harry's hands twisting through his hair.
"What else doesn't feel good, love?" Harry asked quietly.
"My throat's really sore and I'm tired and achy," Louis mumbled. He wasn't loving how bad his throat hurt when he spoke.
"I don't know if its a cold you caught . You seem pretty run down. Thats not like you,"
It was true. Louis worked hard to make sure he kept up a peppy appearance until he was forced not to. He wouldn't really let the illness sink in.
But he just didn't feel good. He knew he would spend the day cooped up inside, probably sleeping. Colds didn't usually hit him so hard so fast.
He shrugged.
"Strep, maybe. How bad does your throat hurt?" Niall asked Louis. Louis was already getting worn out and his eyes were shut when he answered.
"Really bad,"
Harry sighed, Louis could feel the heavy breath.
"You're already worn out, Lou. Why don't you go back to sleep for a while? We'll get you figured out in a bit."

Liam came next. He wasn't even downstairs before it was obvious something was wrong. Liam's scratchy voice was calling to Niall much too desperately for everything to be okay.
Niall hurried upstairs, leaving Harry with a passed out Louis and a worried expression on his face.
"Liam? Li, what's going on?" Niall asked, panicked as he rushed upstairs. Liam was leaning heavily against the hallway wall, barely out of his bedroom door.
Niall came to him without hesitation, arms wrapping around Liam in a heartbeat.
"Hey hey, talk to me, baby," Niall practically begged. Liam was gripping to Niall's hoodie as hard as he could.
Niall could feel Liam's fever burning against his neck.
"Oh, baby, you've got a temperature. You aren't feeling too well, are you?"
Liam gave a single shake of his head and made no other attempt at movement. Niall could feel him trying to catch his breath.
"I'll take you downstairs, okay? You can lay down. Louis doesn't feel good either. "
Liam shook his head again.
"No moving," Liam whispered. He was dizzy and his head was pounding too much for him to consider an attempt of moving downstairs.
Niall wasn't arguing, but he wanted to understand.
"Can you tell me whats wrong?"
Liam wasn't responding. Niall was patient though, he knew Liam wasn't trying to be stubborn.
"I'm going to move a bit, okay? Not far, keep your eyes shut if it'll help any. I've got you,"
Liam didn't respond, so Niall took it as his cue. He slowly shifted and turned until Niall was up against the wall and Liam was up against him. He would be able to hold Liam's weight longer with the wall as his support. 
"Okay?"
Liam nodded.
They stood there long enough for Harry to become worried when he didn't hear from them. Slowly, he scooted out from under Louis's body and walked upstairs. He was surprised by the sight in front of him.
Liam was nearly collapsed against Niall, almost all of his weight leaning to the blonde boy propped against the wall. His face was shoved into Niall's shoulder, and the top of his head met the wall. He was grasping to Niall for strength.
Niall had one arm wrapped around Liam's shoulders while the other was on the back of Liam's head. He was cradling Liam like he was something breakable.
"What happened? What's going on?" Harry asked, sounding scared and unsure of himself.
Niall knew Liam wasn't going to answer. He hadn't spoken a word since Niall had moved, and Niall was worried he was starting to drift off.
"Liam's really sick. He hasn't said whats wrong but he has a bad fever. He hasn't felt well enough to move," Niall said, carding his fingers through Liam's hair.
Harry walked closer but didn't touch Liam. It was obvious by Liam's protective hold that he only wanted Niall. He wasn't used to not having full control over his body.
"He looks like he's going to pass out or something," Harry noticed.
Niall leaned into Liam's ear.
"I think we're going to have to break that no moving rule, babe. You need to rest,"
Harry watched Liam shift and Niall leaned until they were touching foreheads. Liam finally looked at him and Niall winced.
"I'm okay," Liam whispered.
Niall touched the side of Liam's face.
"You sure don't look okay,"
Liam shut his eyes again.
"Okay," he sighed, "Maybe I lied. M'not so dizzy anymore though, I think I want to lay back down,"
Niall nodded and pulled away, looking over at Harry.
"We're gonna lay down. I think we should get some medicine in him before though, did you pull any out for Louis?"
Harry told him no, but that he'd find what they needed and to just get Liam sitting down.
Harry could feel a headache coming on while he searched for the right medicine for the two boys.
He shook it off though. There was no way he was getting sick too; he was probably being paranoid.
Niall was left with Liam once Harry brought the pills and left the thermometer. Niall gave him two different pills before Liam was asking him to stop.
"No more, please. Throat hurts."
Niall nodded. "Let me see how bad your fever is and we'll be done, okay?"
Liam agreed to having his temperature taken, but Niall didn't seem very happy with the number.
"Jesus, Liam."
Liam didn't want to know, and Niall didn't tell him. Liam felt crappy enough that he knew it wasn't going to be good.
At 103.5, Niall decided to place a cool washcloth over Liam's head a few times before curling up with the sick boy.
All of the boys slept and slept and slept. Harry ended up falling asleep on the couch beside Louis, and when Louis felt the other side of the couch move he woke up just long enough to share his blanket.
By evening, all the boys were ill and suffering.
Liam was by far the worst off. His fever wasn't breaking one bit, and dizziness and nausea plagued only him.
Niall wasn't feeling at all well himself, but he pushed through the fatigue and headache and horrible sore throat that he'd woken up to for Liam.
"I'm okay," Liam rasped, but he was hovering over the toilet and they both knew he wasn't. Niall barely qualified as okay, Harry and Louis too. Liam was far beyond being able to pull off "okay".
"Stop saying that, babe," Niall told him quietly. They were both just above a whisper.
The worst part of strep throat was the fact that you couldn't forget how crappy you felt; your throat was constantly in sharp pain woth every swallow. It didn't get better throughout the day, either. The annoyance just built and built and the best you could hope for was falling asleep for a few more hours.
Unless of course you're Liam, in which case the worst part was definitely the vomiting. And then the burning pain of an already raw throat suffering even further with his stomach coming back up.
Liam nodded at Niall's request. It was almost a reflex to say he was fine.
"Since when does strep throat make your stomach sick? I mean I'm certainly not hungry, but nobody else feels nauseous like you do," Niall asked, rubbing circles on Liam's back while Liam tried to hold his last does of medicine down.
"Strep's always-uhm- its always
m-made me sick. Since I-I was little," Liam struggled to explain. It was usually a phase in children, but Liam had never grown out of it.
Niall frowned.
"You poor thing. I'm sorry you feel so sick," he cooed. Liam let out a shallow gag before trying to respond.
"You feel sick too,"
Niall huffed disapprovingly. Liam was being stubborn about Niall giving him so much attention when Niall was sick too. He wasn't hearing it though, Liam needed him.
"I can stand on my own," Niall reminded Liam.
Liam stopped being stubborn. He threw up twice before letting Niall drag him back to bed.
The band was watching out for each other. Niall was almost completely responsible for Liam because as much as Liam wanted to be strong, he was very clingy when he felt so sick. Niall helped with Louis and Harry too though, just as they helped him.
While Niall was caught up with Liam, Harry and Louis took turns refilling their tea cups and switching through TV sitcoms. Harry had a higher fever than Louis did, so he was usually the one getting his hair played with and being coddled. Neither boy seemed to mind.
It took 3 days for Niall and Louis to feel almost 100% again, 4 for Harry, and 6 days for Liam. Liam's fever was the last to break, and he was never under a 102 temperature until the last night. He only threw up the first three days of his illness though, and he was okay to eat kind of regularly by day 4. Everyone was more than relieved when, finally, they all felt like themselves again.

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This was a request! Hope you like it!