Cutie Pies

Silent! (A/D/S)

A oneshot about when Stephen lost his voice back in 2018.

Stephen groaned as he tossed in bed, unable to sleep. He was too nervous to let his body relax. He let out a small unnecessary cough out, more aware of the problem he was dealing with, and shifted on the bed trying to find a more comfortable position.
It had been a week since he was dealing with larangitis and it started to annoy him more and more and apparently he was losing his voice gradually.

The stress of missing the begining of his show was keeping him awake and thinking, he never missed any of his shows apart from that one time he was hospitalized due to his appendix surgery. He wanted some sort of reassurence, preferably by a professional but his next doctor's appointment was not until Tuesday and unfortunately he was far too anxious to wait that long. Two more agonizing days.

The boys were still in Australia and their usual phone calls had turned into texting and stickers and emojis, and in Ant's case, ruder and funnier ones. since he couldn't talk more than three words and wince in pain, Stephen prefered texing over calling, so they didn't get to know about his new silent self.

After feeling sorry for himself for too long, the londoner got up to make a warm cup of lemon tea and be more useful by picking up a random thin book from his bookshelf.

                                            ****

He thought he was going to feel better by the audition week, but now exactly five days before the tour was about to start he was almost mute. Mute to the point of not being able to even make the annoying raspy sounds he could do two days ago.

The next morning he woke up sore and moody, result of his not very good sleep and the growing anxiety, he checked his appointment online with his doctor. While changing into a more formal outfit and throwing his hoodie and joggers on the bed, his phone started ringing.

He could hear the muffled sound from somewhere but he couldn't find the damn thing anywhere. Making an even bigger mess in the room and throwing the clothes in all directions, he found the phone, almost in time. But it stopped ringing as he was deciding to answer it or not.

He'd missed the call.

Declan, the caller's name showed.

He dialed back and it didn't take more than one and a half  ring for him to pick up. The older man's happy voice washed half of Stephen's anxiety right away.

Dec sounded hyper "Hi Stevie~ how's the voice pet?"
Ofcourse Stephen had texted them both about his illness and had made sure to buy some sympathy and unneeded attention. Unneeded in Dec's opinion and well deserved in Stephen's.

Stephen's lips slightly turned upward, " 'ello love, meh, not much progress... 'm seeing a doctor in an hour"
his voice came out cracked, hoarse and like it was coming out of a well. Talking was hard, almost like breathing under water.

They hadn't called him for four days and with all the daily texts and updates Dec wasn't expecting it to get this serious.

" Oh, you actually sound bad. Are you sick as well? Don't try to talk much." He was ranting " We are going to our hotel eight now and we just wanted to check on you but we can still text if it's hurting you to talk... "

" It's fine " the londoner mumbled.
It was anything but fine, but the younger man would never confess that talking-the very thing he lived off of-was hard for him.

" just tell us what the doctor says after you come back yeah?" He continued when he heard a low 'ok' in response.
"and our flight home is tomorrow, so we're there in less than 12 hours. I let you talk to Ant, love ya pet"
Just as Stephen tried to make a sound and say 'love you too', the phone was passed to the other geordie.