'What's wrong?' Cole asked trying not to let surprise overrun the tone of his voice. They had been latched together for a while, the only sound to be heard was Liam's quietening sobs. 'I feel awful' Liam choked out, his head buried in Cole's shoulder.

'Whatever you did in training, that's what they want. There's no too far' Cole began to explain. He normally wouldn't accept hugs, or whatever he was doing to support Liam's weight in that moment, but something told him that this was an exception. 'You would have done what you had to do.'

Liam made a weak sound of protest that went unnoticed by Cole. Everything about his brother's mind now days was focused on training. Somehow the prospect that this was something outside of that hadn't crossed his mind.

'Sometimes people have to do reckless things to get recognition and get ahead' Cole continued. He knows that Liam has a kind heart and struggles with the concept of hurting other people. Although he had no idea what he could have done to someone to cause this reaction, he wasn't a crier either. But none the less he was proud of him, it was time he started stepping up.

'That's not what I mean' Liam's voice was barely audible anymore. It was only then Cole noticed how hot Liam felt to him, and with fire living inside him, that was saying something.

'Lee' Cole gasped realising his slipup. He'd mistaken the shaking of Liam's frame as emotion not sickness. Pushing Liam back from their embrace to get a better look at him, he raised his palm to his forehead, 'you're running hot!'

There wasn't anything for Liam to say, so he let Cole lead his tired and pale form over to the bed. Somehow a fatherly instinct had taken over Cole. Rather than him having the mindset that Liam was inconveniencing him, like he normally had when he came to visit, he felt sorry for him.

Sitting him down on the bed, Cole looked at his sweat soaked shirt and threw him one of his from out of his draws. Liam let out a slight wince as he lifted his shirt over his head. Cole's eye twitched at the sight of the redness and bruises up and down his ribs from the sparing sticks, some of them just forming. He must have taken a beating today.

Bringing his arms down, Liam's breath catches and he pitches forward coughing into his balled-up shirt. Cole steps back at the painful sound of the long coughs being muffled into the shirt's fabric. He can't will himself to do anything more than stand there while his brother desperately tries to regain his breath.

He shakes his head to himself, he shouldn't have been allowed to train like this, not his little brother. 'I'm going to go talk to someone, you're staying the night in the infirmary.'

Liam shoots him a sceptical look. As far as he knew the infirmary is only for people who are seriously injured or can't move.

Cole pulls back the covers on his bed and signals for Liam to get in. He had no doubt that Liam would normally have rejected the notion, but he knows he is too tired to argue or question the gesture.

'You're not going back to your bunk room, can't risk anyone else catching this' Cole finishes explaining as he pulls up the covers.

To Liam it's like the most comfortable thing he's ever felt. His eyes slip closed as his body relaxes, sinking down into the soft mattress unlike the hard one his bunk has. The sheets covering him aren't scratchy like the ones they have in the bunk room and warmth instantly envelopes his body, reversing the work his fever has done to now turn him cold.

'You're not angry, are you?' Liam asks nervously, opening his eyes again to look at his brother standing over him.

'I couldn't be' it took no effort for Cole to reply. He was amazed at the strength Liam showed, still training when he was so sick. He would never admit this to him, barely to himself, but he'd definitely underestimated him. 'Just stay there and try get some sleep. I'll go sort this out.'