Sickness

Chapter 5

"Alright! Get your fuckin' hands up in the air!"

Mike looked up at Billie as he pranced around on stage, still wearing Mike's sunglasses, and a couple of other items of clothing that had been thrown at him from the audience.

"We're gonna.. We're gonna keep playing this part until every single ass in this place is dancing!" Billie shouted into the mic, and Mike looked up straight away.

Something about his tone of voice made worry stir in Mike. They hadn't rehearsed this.

Mike was used to that, the fact that Billie sometimes used to just make it up as he went along. Like the time where he was high and he talked about rubbing a rock (for what seemed like 40 years) during 'She' as Mike had to keep playing the same riff over and over. His fingers didn't thank him for that.

Something about the way Billie looked at Mike made Mike take his bass off. The man looked completely wrecked. His eyes were screaming for Mike to help him, but before Mike could move, Billie made his way over having abandoned his guitar on the way.

He made it to Mike's arms and leant on him heavily as Mike wrapped his arms around him for support. Billie was breathing heavily, as if he'd ran all the way around the entire venue instead of just walking a few strides over to Mike.

He heard Billie mumble a quiet 'I don't feel good' before Mike felt his weight pulling him down.

He was going down.

Mike acted quickly, dropping to his knees and cradling Billie in both arms, hiding Billie's face against his chest so he wasn't being stared at. "Shh, it's okay," Mike whispered, stroking the smaller man's hair soothingly. "I've got you."

Billie laid still against Mike, allowing his breathing to slow down, finally allowing his body to relax. Mike picked him up, as carefully as you'd do so to a newborn, and carried Billie backstage.

He sat on the couch and kept Billie in his arms, rocking him from side to side gently as Billie whimpered, Mike mumbling comforting words every now and again.

That was how Tré found them when he went backstage, after playing 'Dominated Love Slave' as a sort of an apology and breaking Billie's guitar. He knew it was one of his copies, of course. Billie had told him he had intended to break it; so Tré did the honours for him.

"How is he?" Tré whispered, and Mike looked down at Billie. He was completely white, and burning up. His normally almost red lips were pale, and he had dark circles under his usually bright eyes.

All he could offer Tré was a shrug.