Sick
Remus arrived at the sleepover only slightly late. His body was about ready to give out on him, but he was still determined to have fun. The night started with pizza, which he was technically not supposed to eat... Yolo, right? Then, when he was already feeling bloated and gross, James pulled out the Wii and challenged Remus to a game of Wii bowling, which he lost badly.
Remus was having fun, or at least as much fun as he could have with the amount of pain he was in.
It had begun to get late when Remus ran into his first real problem of the night. It was past time for his nightly round of medications, but they were known to make him sleep, and no one else seemed quite ready for bed. Remus definitely should have put his health over his friends fun, but he only came to these things every so often, so he decided one night without his medicine couldn't hurt him, or at least he hoped it couldn't.
The room was dark; the only light came from twinkle lights hung around James’ room, and each boy sat with a bowl of ice cream in their lap. Sirius and James were joking around, and Peter was texting someone. Remus stirred his ice cream in slow circles. He wasn't supposed to eat this much dairy at once. One of his new morning medications reacts really badly to it, but when the other boys wanted ice cream, Remus couldn't just say no. Taking slow bites to try to slow whatever reaction he might have, Remus looked to James and Sirius, hoping to join their conversation.
"James,Sirius, what are you guys talking about?"
James responded first, being the amazing wingman he is:
"Just about how much Sirius lovesss you."
"Shut up, James. Sirius and I are already dating. You don't need to play cupid anymore."
Still, Remus scooted closer to his boyfriend and set his hand on top of the boy's knee. Sirius’ love language was physical touch, so while Remus was not the biggest fan, he knew how much a gesture like that meant to Padfoot. With a slight blush on his face, Sirius turned his head, and Remus leaned forward to kiss him sweetly. The kiss lasted only a second before James was throwing a pillow at them.
"Get a room, you two."
Sirius was quick to bite back, a mischievous grin settling across his face.
"Gladly."
Padfoot grabbed Remus’s hand and, as quickly as he could with the slow boy in tow, headed to the room he had claimed as his. When they got there, Sirius picked Remus up, gently tossing him onto the bed. It was quite a sight to behold, as Sirius was almost a foot shorter than Remus was and still somehow managed to pick him up. Sirius settled in next to Remus, both giggling. When they finally settled, the raven-haired boy took his boyfriend's hand, intertwining their fingers. The small gesture did wonders for both boys. All the emptiness in the world was squashed between their hands.
"I love you so much, Remus, more than you'll ever know."
"I bet I love you more."
"Absolutely not"
With that, they let the silence fall around them, content to just be with each other, and before long, both boys were asleep.
Remus woke up with an awful feeling in his stomach. As quickly but quietly as he could, he untangled himself from his favorite boy and headed to the bathroom. Before he could reach the toilet, the retching started. He allowed his body to sink to the floor, pulling the trash can as close to him as possible. He emptied the contents of his stomach into the small can until there was nothing left in his stomach but stomach acid.
Pushing the trashcan away, Remus fumbled for his phone out of the pocket of his shorts. Dialing the first person in his emergency contacts and lying down on the cold tile of the bathroom. It rang only once before a kind but obviously sleeping voice filled his ears.
"Remus, honey, why are you calling me at 3 in the morning?"
"Mom, I'm really sick. I'm sorry. Please come get me. Please."
Remus heard rustling as his mom got out of bed and gathered her things with as much alertness as one could exhibit at such an ungodly hour. She told Remus that she would be there by 5 before hanging up the phone. Remus curled into a tighter ball, hoping to ease some of the pain in his stomach. He could feel tears streaming down his face, but the only thought he had was that he prayed no one woke up to find him like this. But seeing as the world seemed to be very against him today, he heard the sound of socked feet padding down the hallway toward the bathroom, and within seconds, a very concerned James stood over him.
"Remus, what's going on? Are you okay?"
James kneeled down, checking his friend's pulse and gently laying his hand against his friend's forehead in search of a fever. Remus, though it was difficult, managed to turn his face towards his friend and choke out:
"Mm fine, mom on her way."
Before James got to say anything, they heard the doorbell, and hesitantly, not wanting to leave his friend by himself, James left to go answer the door, coming back mere seconds later with Hope right behind him.
"James, be a doll and get me a wet rag."
Hope said, sitting on the floor in front of her boy.
"You're going to be okay, my love."
James returned with the rag and two empty garbage bags, one for the trashcan and one for Remus to hold on to. Holly took both, setting the bag down beside her and using the rag to clean Mooney's face and the floor.
"James, can you go into Remus's bag and find his medicine bag?"
Coming back with the bag, James helped find and give Remus his medication. Within minutes, he was starting to feel better. James and Hope helped him sit up, leaning him against the wall.
"I'm sorry for ruining the sleepover, James."
"You didn't ruin anything; are you feeling better? What happened?
"It was nothing, just a little upset stomach."
Everyone in the room knew Remus was lying. A ‘little upset stomach’ doesn't cause you to curl into a ball on the floor and sob. Still, no one pushed it. James walked out, murmuring something about getting new clothes for Remus, leaving him and his mom alone.
"Let me guess... You ate something you're not supposed to?"
"I had pizza and ice cream."
"Remus, you know better than that."
Hope scolded him gently, pushing the sweaty hair off of his forehead. She knew there was probably a reason for him to do this. Remus had always been so diligent about his health stuff, so his completely disregarding it was very out of the ordinary. Before either got a chance to say anything more, James returned with clothes, and both Hope and James left to allow Remus to change.
Holding onto the bathroom sink for dear life, Remus pulled himself up. He was able to stand just long enough to pull on the pair of pants James must have taken out of his own closet because they stopped a ways before Remus's ankle. Remus went to stand completely so he could ask James for another pair, but another wave of nausea flooded him, and he keeled over in pain, retching into the toilet. His mouth filled with the sour stomach acid and the water he had just had. James and Hope were by his side in seconds. Hope rubbed circles into the poor boy's back while James wet another cloth to hold to Mooney's forehead. The vomiting seemed to go on for hours, but it was likely only minutes until it stopped and he was able to sit back against the wall.
Tears streamed down his face, and his throat burned. His vision was clouded, and the world was muffled. Remus heard faint voices and felt strong arms pick him up, carrying him out of the house and into the cold night air. He was only slightly aware of being placed in the front seat of a car, then the car driving, and finally the car coming to a stop and being led inside and laid onto the couch. The last thought he had before sleep overtook him was, ‘I always ruin everything’.