Elements of a Selfish Desire

The next few minutes where a blur. Yes, the rhythm was a bit buzzed, but alcohol wasn’t a contributing factor to that whirlwind in the slightest. Adrenaline accounted for ninety percent, the other ten was fight or flight mode. The moment he opened the bathroom door and found the older man passed out on the floor, time seemed to speed up. All he clearly remembered doing in the natural realm was deadbolting the door and shouting over the music to try to rouse him. Everything else he did was pretty much all supernatural in nature, and he didn’t think a single thing about it. He used his newly acquired skill of blocking to seal the incident off from public earshot, his ability to craft a spell of protection over the air around them, and even spoke a few words to sober them both up completely, just to name a few things. He kind of lost track.

It took a full twenty minutes to get the sickly man to a conscious state, and that seriously worried Zack. It took everything in him not to attack him with questions as he awoke. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was the knowledge that it would get him nowhere. He had to wait out the fog that was sure to have settled in his brain to dissipate at least somewhat before he could say much of anything.

“What….wh—” the beginning of the sentence that was destined to remain unfinished, was punctuated by a pained groan. “Zack?”

“Hey man. How do you feel?”

“Like I ran into a round of pyrotechnics face first.”

“Feeling that good, huh?” the weak attempt to joke fell flat and in that moment, he wished an ability existed to take the words back. Without giving it a second thought, he manifested a bottle of water in his hand. “Here, you need to drink.”

“Thanks. Where are we?”

“Bathroom.”

“I got that. But where? How long was I out?”

“We’re still at the club. I’m not sure how long you were out. I found you probably close to half hour ago, now.” He was quiet for a moment now. Despite the fact that they were close, he couldn’t always be as blunt as he wanted to be. “You need to let me in, man.”

A slight shake of his head was the best response he could give for a few minutes. He coughed a few times, and a slightly shaky hand came up to cover his mouth. Once he felt confident that he was finished, he his palm dropped to his leg. He was subtle about it, but not enough so that Zack wouldn’t notice the crimson flecks that stained his flesh.

“Is that blood?”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. Why are you coughing up blood?”

“I said it’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“Dude, you’re not going to disappear, pass out, cough up blood when you wake up, and get off with telling me not to worry about it. You owe me something, Brian. Talk to me.”

“Not sure what you want to hear, other than it’s fine.”

“Come on, we’re getting you to the hospital.”

“I’m not going to the—”

“I’m taking you to the hospital to get checked out. You can’t—” his argument stopped short when the lead shoved his hands away.

“Zack. You don’t need to take me to the hospital, they’re not going to do anything but give me fluids and send me home; if they do that much.”

“How do you know that?” dark brows furrowed over jade eyes of confusion.

“That’s what I was told the last time I went to the doctor. There’s no point in me going anymore.” He panted out as he tried and failed to stand.

“I don’t understand. Wait, why did your doctor tell you that?” his heart sunk before he could finish getting the words out. Somehow, he just knew.

With a tired sigh, he flicked a few fingers at his friend to solicit his help in getting up. Aching muscles flexed sorely as the ground carefully took its rightful place under his feet, and he glanced at his long-time pal. “It has everything to do with it.”

Anxiety-darkened pools of green almost glowed with the anticipation of what his friend had to say next. His tongue rolled forward in his mouth, and he had to rest his teeth against it to keep him from beginning to guess what the older man had to say. Experience in both this world and the other in which he lived in told him it was not wise to speak at this juncture. Easier said than done, especially when the lead was not exactly known for transparency when it came to certain things.

Already unstable legs seemed to grow weaker as they stood beneath him. Yes, they almost felt like a separate entity in and of themselves. Things just didn’t feel quite right. He was woozy, seriously felt faint, and this was plainly obvious to Zack. His forehead began to perspire now, had the temperature just shot up ten degrees in the room?

“If you don’t want to go get checked out, maybe we should—”

A heavily tattooed arm raised just enough to hold up a finger up to stop the younger man from finishing his sentence. He suddenly couldn’t process more than one thing at a time. Right now, that thing was standing; breathing even took a back seat at this point. Troubled brown eyes kept squeezing shut and peeling back open like his world was spinning and he was trying to make sense of it.

"Brian?" A head shake was the only response he got. Instinct told him to stay close by, and it caused him to take a step closer just incase. "Are you gonna be okay, man? You’re really starting to worry me."

"F-fine. I'm gon.....na....be....ffff"

"Shit!" though he lunged to try to break the lead’s fall, the sudden change into a dead weight state caused him to slip right out of his arms to crash to the worn tile floor. "Brian!"

*

Blackened pools of chocolate peeled open one sticky eyelid at a time. Parched lips panted for water not to be found nearby. A hand clumsily came up to feel around for the call light, but with whatever drugs had been given, he found it hard to coordinate himself.

The flush of a toilet alerted him that someone was nearby. Good, maybe they could get him some water. His tongue pushed out to wet his lips, but it was so dry that it took several attempts to do so. A groan of discomfort left him as the door that separated him and his visitor opened.

"Mommy?" It was the first thing that came to mind, and as soon as the word left him, he sorely regretted it. What kind of crack had they given him?

"Mommy?" Zack snorted as he came up beside the bed.

Maybe he could pretend to be asleep....

"Did you just call me mommy?" With a flick of a few fingers against the lead's forearm, he prompted, "Brian."

"Hhhwht?" He garbled, though it was clearly useless to try to play the just waking up card.

"Dude, I know they gave you Morphine the last time you woke up, but seriously? Mommy?" A smirk played at his lips now. Hospital and concerning circumstances or not, that was funny.

"I most certainly did not call you mommy. How long have I been out?" He asked, lightly curling the fingers of his fret hand to rub at his left eye gingerly.

He eyed the older man’s action for a moment before he answered. It reminded him of a child. "Four hours this time."

"This time?" He echoed. "How long have I been here?"

"Hell, I don't know. Six, seven hours probably. I don't remember what time we got here. It’s been a long night."

"What did the doctors say?"

"Nothing much to me. Just that your hematocrit levels are low."

"No surprise there. What about my guitar enzymes? Err..." furrowing his brows, he licked at his lips and tried again. "My liver functions....my...." everything in his brain seemed to be melting and his vision going dark. Where was his mommy, anyway?

"You don't look too hot right now. Do you want me to get the doctor?" Tapping the tattooed arm that was tangled in cords and tubes, he realized that asking him would get them nowhere. "Hey, I'm gonna get a doctor, man."

Before he could get away from the bed, Brian's eyes rolled back up in his head and his color pale significantly. He had passed out yet again, and Zack would be lying if he said he wasn't more than a bit worried. In fact, he was terrified.

*

Another three hours, two more doctors, and several more blood tests had Brian sitting up in bed, more or less awake. His lips were slightly cracked, but not nearly as dry as before. They had brought him food, but he pushed it aside. Zack offered to go get him something, and he still refused, saying he was nauseated.

"You need to eat something."

"I will be fine."

"You haven't eaten in over twelve hours and as weak as you've been--"

"I will eat something later." A hand raised in a dismissive action, and he wished that it somehow had the power to take him home. Anywhere away from this situation.

"Fine," the shorter Avengedman conceded. "Will you tell me what's going on now? Please?"

A lump instantly formed in Brian's throat and he seemed to have trouble swallowing it back. He busied his hands as long as he could before it was painfully apparent that he was stalling. A sigh left him now, and his gaze turned blankly towards the door. "You know something? I don't blame Chris for leaving me."

"No?"

He shook his head slightly. "When we said our vows, I remember saying 'for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health', but I never actually thought about it." a cold, humorless laugh left him now, and he drummed a few fingers on the hospital tray before him nervously. "We're in our thirties; it's not fair to ask her to waste her time with me."

"Waste her ti....Brian, what're you talking about?"

"I'm dying, Zack."