Nick yawned and stretched out slowly on the sofa.
"You ok, Frack?" Brian asked, looking concerned.
"Yeah, I'm just tired." Nick grinned back.
"Nothing new there then, you're always tired." AJ laughed. "Where's Kev anyway?" He asked suddenly realising that they were all in the room with the exception of their 'older brother' Kevin.
"He said he had some business to take care of." Howie answered before returning to his conversation with whoever was on the other end of his cell phone.
"You really should get some sleep, dude." AJ laughed as Nick yawned again.
"I would but it's not so easy when these guys keep coming and knocking on my door wanting to have sex with me."
"You could always say no." Brian teased.
"You guys could always give me a break." Nick retorted, trying to move into a more comfortable position, his back was killing him.
"No need to get pissy."
"Sorry, I'm just...."
"Tired!" The other 3 men in the room said before Nick had the chance to complete his sentence.
"Yeah. Listen, I think I'm gonna go and have a lie down."
"OK, we promise not to disturb you." Brian grinned.
"Yeah get some rest, it's my turn tonight, I want you full of energy." AJ laughed, Nick swatted him round the head playfully on his way out of the room.
"I'm worried about him you know, he's been so worn out for the past week or so." Howie commented, his cell phone conversation over for now. "Maybe you guys should give him a break."
"It's not like that D, we're not really on a rota or anything I was just playing. It's not really us anyway. If we did decide to give him a break Kevin'd be there in a shot." AJ sighed.
"Talk to him about it." Howie suggested.
"He doesn't listen." Brian sighed. "He'd still go and Nick would still say yes, you know how he is with Kevin. I'm worried about him too though, it's not usual for him to be this tired."
"Hey." Kevin greeted, entering the room. "Why all the long faces?"
"We're just a little worried about Nick." Brian admitted.
"Where is he?"
"He's gone for a nap. He's worn out, Kev. I know we're all tired but he usually has so much energy behind it all but for the past week he's just wanted to sleep."
"He's so pale too." AJ added. " And he keeps rolling around when he's lying down like there's something wrong. I think he needs to see a doctor."
"He hates seeing the doctor." Kevin replied, shaking his head.
"Yeah well he hates a lot of things that he still has to do like award shows and interviews. Getting your health checked up is a little more important than those."
"You want me to talk to him about it?" Kevin asked.
"No, he'll think you're ordering him around. I'll talk to him later, after he's had a nap. He might not bite my head off if he's a little less tired." Brian sighed.
*********************************************************************
Brian stood outside Nick's door waiting patiently for Nick to answer. It always took him forever. Nick had seemed fine at dinner, laughing and fooling around like always. Brian was glad to find that he hadn't lost his usual appetite and had eaten everything that was put in front of him, despite telling Howie to get the hell away from him because the smell of whatever Howie had ordered was making him feel sick. Howie had played around holding up a forkful to Nick's mouth for him to taste until Nick had turned an almost green colour and Howie had swapped seats with AJ under Kevin's barked insistence, the last thing they needed was reports of Nick throwing up in a hotel restaurant. He'd also noticed Nick squirming uncomfortably in his chair, reminding him of AJ's earlier comment about Nick rolling around. They really needed to sort this out. He knocked again, wondering what Nick was up to. It could be anything, from throwing some of his clothes back into his suitcase in case it was Kevin or finishing of a telephone conversation with his mom. The door opened slowly and Nick's large hand pulled him through the gap by his shirt.
"Hi to you too, Nicky." Brian gasped as Nick finally released him from the kiss.
"Don't call me Nicky." Nick grumbled quietly. "I thought it was AJ's 'turn' tonight anyway." He said, smiling slightly before dropping onto the bed. Brian followed him and sat down on the bed, pulling Nick so that his head was in his lap and stroking his hair softly.
"You know he was only teasing." Brian replied softly. "You're not just here for our sexual amusement."
"Tell that to Kevin."
"Kevin knows as well as I do. He loves you, he just doesn't always know how to express it that well, especially not vocally so he does it sexually."
"Mmmmhmmm, whatever." Nick pretended to agree.
"You still tired?"
"Yeah, but I can wake up if you want." Nick replied, tilting his head, there was a seductive lilt to his voice and the smirk on his face was anything but innocent. Brian noticed the emptiness in his eyes though and shook his head.
"That's not why I'm here, Nick."
"It's not?" Nick looked surprised and relieved but also a little hurt.
"No. I was worried about you." Brian admitted.
"Why? I ate all my dinner and stuff."
"I know, but you've not been right for a week or so now." He stroked some blonde bangs off Nick's face. "We think maybe you should see a doctor."
"We? Who the hell is we?" Nick asked, sitting up, raising his voice. "No, let me guess, the 4 of you got together and decided that despite the fact that I'm 22 years old I can't run my own life and I need to see a doctor. And you drew the short straw. How come it wasn't Kevin this time? He's usually the one who likes to run my life for me."
"Nobody drew the short straw, Nicky, and nobody's getting together and talking about you behind your back. We were just worried about you."
"I don't want to see a doctor." Nick pouted.
"I know you don't like going to see the doctor but I could come with you. Hey, if she tells you it's exhaustion again we'll have to cancel all our interviews while you sleep and go home for a few days like last time."
"Yeah and then management will reschedule them along with another thousand for a time when we all had vacations planned or something. It's not exhaustion anyway, it's different this time. How can it be exhaustion, we've been worked harder than this? If it was exhaustion I'd be asleep now instead of talking to you."
"True. What do you mean, different?" Brian asked, remembering what the younger man had just said.
"Nothing." Nick shook his head, looking away like he had suddenly decided that he didn't want to tell Brian anymore.
"Nick, c'mon, this is me, not Kevin. You can tell me, why's it different?"
"You promise not to freak out?"
"Why would I?"
"Because you always do when I tell you I've been sick. All of you do it, last time Kevin practically accused me of having bulimia."
"You've been sick?" Brian demanded. Nick looked sheepish, he hadn't meant to let it slip out like that.
"Yeah, yesterday morning and this morning."
"You were sick twice and you didn't mention it?!"
"See, I knew you'd freak out. It was nothing. I was fine afterwards."
"That's not the point Nick and you know it."
"Look, I was sick once this morning and that was it, I was fine. Nothing to worry about." Nick pouted and rolled onto his side, facing away from Brian.
"Fine. Like you say, you're a big boy now, right?" Nick nodded in response and relaxed his tensed shoulders a little. "Just promise me that if you don't feel any better soon you'll let me take you to a doctor."
"OK." Nick replied, rolling over and resting his face on Brian's lap again.
"I'm gonna get ready for bed, ok. I don't want to sleep fully dressed." Brian stood and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth quickly and stripped down to his boxers before climbing into the bed with Nick and pulling the covers over them. Nick rested his head on Brian's shoulder and yawned widely.
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