holding my last breath - a noah sebastian/nicholas ruffilo story

chapter 7 // can we just pretend?

A day of rest did Noah good, but it didn't fix anything. He performed the following show after the cancellation, doing his best to mask his discomfort during the set. His voice wasn't right, he didn't feel right, and the constant nausea in the summer heat didn't help. He held it together until the end of Dethrone, immediately exiting the stage to race to the closest bathroom. His stomach lurched right as he collapsed in front of a toilet, bile spewing out from his sore throat.

Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he coughed, the acid from his stomach making his stomach flip inside out. He's got a palm pressed firmly against his lower belly, desperately trying to get the waves of pain to stop. He's begging internally to his baby, pleading with them to make it stop. The last wave escapes him, and he collapses against the bathroom stall, trying to catch his breath while struggling to self-regulate his temperature.

He felt like he was burning alive from the inside out, nausea and chills overtaking his shaking frame. He can hear Nicholas yelling for him, trying to find where Noah ran off too. He weakly cries out, unable to get off his ass and pretend nothing happened. Nicholas followed his cries, his pace quickening when he heard the broken voice calling through the halls.

"Noah?!" Nick yells, slamming the bathroom door open and finding the one closed stall, Noah's feet poking out from underneath the frame, "Open the door," He pleads, ready to resort to breaking it down when the lock clicks, the door falling open.

What Nick saw absolutely terrified him to his core.

Noah was lethargic, his skin turning an uneasy shade of grey, his face bright red from tears. There's vomit on his shirt, and he sees it in the toilet, Noah's hand rubbing circles into his stomach. Nick drops to his knees, pressing the back of his hand to Noah's forehead, which was burning up. His eyes search frantically over Noah's broken frame, Noah whimpering and reaching out for his comfort.

"Nick...hurts," He coughs, his hand finding Nick's and squeezing weakly. The room is spinning, and he can see his vision turn spotty. He can't focus, even when Nicholas is snapping his fingers in front of his face.

"Oh fuck baby, fuck," Nick yelps, looking over his shoulder to see Jolly and Folio running in, "We need a fucking ambulance!" He screams at them, and Jolly's face flushes in fear.

Jolly yanks his phone from his back pocket, dialing 911 as Folio fills a cup of water from the sink, offering the beverage to Noah. Nick takes it gratefully, bringing the cup to Noah's lips, who just stares at him from hooded eyes.

"Noah, please drink something," Folio asks, his heart pumping with anxiety. He's never seen Noah so sickly, and it's scaring the absolute shit out of him.

"Ambulance is on it's way, we gotta try to get him out of here," Jolly announces, stepping in beside Nick in the stall, who is too consumed in trying to help Noah that he's ignoring everything around him, "Nick, come on, we gotta move him,"

Nick shakes as he and Jolly hoist Noah up from the floor, moving him into the room next door and letting him sprawl out on the leather couch in the room. Nick is frantically running around trying to get their things together, Folio sitting beside Noah's head as he helps him drink the water from earlier. Jolly takes the moment of distraction to find Matt, and fill him in, causing the man to panic.

Jolly and Matt make it back to the room as paramedics show up, a gurney in tow to get Noah out of the venue safely. Noah's lying on the couch, his eyes closed and skin paler than normal as EMT's check his vitals and ask him questions he can barely answer. They hook him up to a blood pressure machine and pulse monitor, the room thick with anxiety when they announce his blood pressure and pulse was low, going to move him onto the gurney when Nick cried out.