The alarm went off at it's usual time of 6:30am, bright and early. It was still dark outside, the blackout of British winter was in it's full form, giving you what felt like an hour of light a day. It was cold, the entire flat felt chilly and made it even harder to lug yourself out of bed.

Illness always came with winter for you, there wasn't a time during the cold season where you weren't full of cold and could actually breathe out of your nose. This morning felt different, however. The pulsing feeling of a migraine was creeping against the side of your head and your cough was worsening it. The thought of even looking at your phone or laptop increased the pain in your skull, there was no way you could work today.

You decided instead to focus on getting better so you could work well tomorrow. You text your boss through squinting eyes and climb back into bed, not bothering to set an alarm. Shoving ibuprofen into your mouth, you feel yourself slip back into a deep sleep.

It was 11am. You had had another 4 hours of sleep and felt much better for it. Checking your phone was less painful, too. You had a message from your boss telling you to get well soon and a couple from your colleagues. The texts you really cared about were from your boyfriend, Ross.

He had been away for a while, around a month. It no longer phased you, him being gone for long periods of time. You had been together for 9 years, since the mere age of 21, and had been with him through every milestone, every fan gained, every success and downfall. You hadn't known what dating was like, you hadn't ever been with anyone else, he was your one and only. You often wondered if it was hard for him, not being included with his bandmates on their boozy nights out, meeting with strangers. He had always reassured you - 'I find it tacky.' He'd say.

The first couple of tours were hard. From spending every day together to being apart for even two weeks was strange. As they gained in popularity and often found themselves touring the world you had gotten used to it and even accompanied them on a few. You found peace in his absence by knowing he was loving what he was doing, you could tell how much he enjoyed performing when you were there to experience it first hand. He was always so chuffed when the crowds went crazy, loved watching you cheer him on and always gave the biggest hugs when you sang his praises as he came off stage.

He had three weeks of tour left, and only one until you went up north to see him. They had the biggest shows of their lives in England and what made it better was that you were free to watch them.

His text was short, but sweet.

Can't wait to see you. X

You smile at your phone as you crawl out of bed, your stomach making embarrassingly loud noises to signal how hungry you were. You shove some random food down as you make yourself a hot drink to soothe your throat and throw yourself down on the sofa. There's nothing particularly interesting on TV, so you flick through your phone instead.

Lots of new pictures of the boys from their show in Paris last night pop up, bringing a smile to your face. They all look so happy in their element, the arena is packed and the crowd seems ecstatic. You like a couple of images from the concert and scroll through some posts from your friends. One that catches your eye is posted onto Adam's girlfriend's account. It was a selfie of her and Adam, captioned 'Unexpected day off = happy me' - posted twenty minutes ago.

As you're mid way through crafting a text to send to her you hear the front door click open. Panicked, you freeze. The only people who have a key to your house is you, and Ross.

You stay as still as possible as your arm reaches for the remote, knowing fully that you'd never be able to hurt an intruder with it, but you needed some sort of defence.

You hear bags drop onto the floor and a loud sigh, a sigh you recognise very well.

'Ross?' You call out.

'Oh shit, hey!' He jumps as you bound towards him, leaping up and wrapping your legs tight around his waist as his hands find their way down to your legs to keep you up.

'You're supposed to be at work! I was going to surprise you!' He laughs.

You wrap your arms around his neck and giggle at his failed attempt to come home without you knowing. He smiles widely as you hug him tight and stroke his hair, still not letting yourself down from his body.

'What a coincidence I'm home then.' You reply as he leans his face into yours before you pull away.

'I wouldn't.' You explain as he looks confusingly at your apprehensiveness. 'I'm so ill.'

'I don't care.' He replies as he repeatedly pecks your lips as you lower yourself from his grasp.

You can't help but grin at him as he settles himself back into your shared flat, chucking off his shoes and hanging his jacket back on it's usual space on the back of the door. He yawns loudly before turning back to face you.

'If you're poorly you need to rest.' He states.

'I'm fine, I want to make your day off worth it.' You argue.

He shakes his head before walking back up to you and wrapping his arms around you, engulfing you in one of his bear hugs, your happy place.

'As long as I'm with you I don't care what we're doing. I'm tired from travelling anyway.' He replies.

Before you could argue any further he bends down and throws you over his shoulder, fireman's lift style as you slap his back and let out a series of ugly laughs.

He carefully puts you in bed before joining you himself.

You had no sleep left in you after basically snoozing all morning, and Ross had slept on the plane, so you found yourselves spending most of the rest of the day catching each other up with your lives, him telling you endless stories of tour, the amazing places he'd visit, places he was planning on taking you one day. The comfort you found in his embrace was incomparable to anything you'd ever felt, you played with his hair as he listened to your tales of how you'd been occupying yourself whilst he was gone, how work was and what you were looking forward to.

It was the perfect day. Afternoon slipped into evening as you had enjoyed lots of cuddles from Ross, he made sure to let you know how much he missed you and how much he would miss you for the week you were apart. Being together for as long as you had been would have made you think that the romance was no longer there, you were just stuck with each other, but this couldn't be further from the truth.

As you were sat on the sofa later in the evening powering through an enormous pizza delivery, you caught Ross staring at you.

'What?' You asked.

'I was just wondering how you can look so good whilst shoving basically an entire pizza slice in your gob.' He replies through a fit of laughter.

You put your middle finger up to him in response, only provoking him to laugh more.

After you'd finished your food you were back in bed, back in Ross' arms, consumed in his warm body once again.

He's wearing his glasses and scrolling through his phone as you feel yourself feeling sleepy once again. You knew he had to fly back in the morning and didn't want to doze off without expressing your gratitude towards his effort of coming home when he didn't really need to.

'Ross.' You say.

'Hmm?' He replies.

'Thank you for coming home and spending time with me. It means a lot.'

He smiles softly.

'I'm happy you're still excited to see me come home after nearly a decade together.'

'Nothing makes me happier. To many more.'

You turn to face him and put a hand on his cheek as he leans in his face and kisses you slowly and softly before taking off his shirt and pulling you close into his body and planting a final kiss on your forehead.

'There's proof I love you, I'll even kiss you when you're ill.' He jokes as you turn off the lamp.

'Like I need any more proof. I love you too.' You reply as you return to your previous position, safe in the comfort of the protective arms of your forever.