Moonchild

Seven

"LETMEGOLETMEGOLETMEGO!!!"  The pain was bright and sharp when it hit me, right in the lower left side of my stomach and if Lukas doesn't release me I'm going to end up spewing all over him.

It won't stop throbbing, each wave getting more intense like the invisible knife was twisting itself while lava heats the blade.

Pretty sure Lukas is in shock and doesn't move a single muscle, just stays frozen as I struggle to push myself out of his arms, nearly falling back until he snaps back to reality and lets me down.

....
Lukas
....

"...Bathroom...", Aurie pants, his hands clutching his left side, eyes barely open as sweat starts to bead on his forehead. He was shaking hard enough for his teeth to chatter, gripping his side tighter and tighter and I can't seem to move.
He looks like he's about to be sick. But it doesn't compute. He was... but we were...

He gasps and doubles over, eyes ripped wide open by whatever was happening before dry heaving so hard it makes my stomach hurt.

"Lukas. Bathroom. Now!" He manages to bite out after it's passed and I scramble to lead him over to the entrance of my en suite bathroom where he slips inside and slams the door shut.
There's another slam that could only be him flipping up the lid of the toilet and then long painful heaves and grunts.

I floor the mind link open and scream for Cricket, turning the lock so hard in my door that I'm pretty sure I've successfully stripped the inner mechanism just seconds before Cricket stumbles through it breathlessly.

Before I can even begin to try and explain a snarl explodes from the bathroom and continues for a full minute before fading into whimpering and sniffling after a crash.

I still can't move as Cricket gently knocks on the bathroom door.

"Rie. It's just me. I'm going to get a sweatshirt and then come in ok. So you need to unlock the door if it's locked."

"...pha Lukas!" My eyes focus on him and I'm still confused, not paying attention to whatever he had said in my direction.

"I need a sweatshirt or something soft and thick."

It takes seconds to retrieve a hoodie from one of my drawers and I watch as he wraps it around his right arm fashioning some kind of...something.

He raps three times on the bathroom door before trying to open it, and then slowly pushes it open, right arm slipping in front of him cautiously and slowly until it was the only part of his body actually in the bathroom, the rest of his body shielded by the door.

"I don't understand?"

Cricket ignores me, focused solely on the strange ritual with Aurie. He shifts forward slightly and that's the trigger. Bright white muzzle tears into the offered arm and I wince even though Cricket doesn't make a sound, just does a quick maneuver that slams both of them into the bathroom and shutting the door as quickly as possible.

There's a  crash and a Yelp, and then soft crying, and the tinkling of a quietly hummed song.

...
Aurie
...

"I-I..."

"You're okay. You didn't mean it. It's okay." Cricket hushes, his left hand stroking my hair as I lean against him waiting for the tremors to stop. His right hand was covered in the blood still leaking from where I bit his arm, me wearing the hoodie that was wrapped around it despite the new holes and blood that was sure to stain it because all of my clothes had torn when I shifted.

"I had a feeling that the stress today would make this happen. I just figured it'd be in the morning."

"I relaxed."

He nods knowing what I mean. My body had had a chance to process everything today and decided it was time to pop one hell of a cyst. And at the worst time.

"...Lukas?"

"Confused. Concerned."

"Did I hurt him?"

"You didn't hurt anyone. You know I'd never let you."

His fingertips dig into my scalp a little as his way of telling me to shut up and breathe, "As soon as you can walk we'll go glaze some nipples. I'd roll one for us now but I'm pretty sure Alpha Lukas won't want us to smoke in you guy's bathroom."

I ignore how he phrases his statement, and focus on trying to survive the monstrous cramps rolling through my stomach and the quiet 3/4 count of the song that Cricket hums for me in place of having headphones on.

A knock on the door makes us both jump, only for the door to reveal both Lukas and Jack.

...
Lukas
....

I wasn't sure what I was expecting when we opened the door and Jack helped me figure out how to breathe again. It was not Aurie and Cricket leaning against the tub of a very trashed bathroom with Cricket bleeding and Aurie's shredded clothes everywhere.

Aurie's hand lurches out to flush the toilet before we can get closer. When we do finally step into the small space Aurie visibly shudders and turns grey before scrambling to the toilet and heaves again. It's dry and looks painful, and spends the rest of his energy. I can see it in the way he slumps forward afterwords.
Cricket reaches out to him but then thinks better of it.

"Aurie, don't forget to breathe."

Aurie's head bobs a bit in acknowledgment but doesn't lift from its resting place on the arm that's still hugging the bowl, but he does let out the breath he was holding.

"What...?" Jack tries to find the words to ask, and instead crouches down to examine Cricket's arm. Upon closer inspection, I can just barely make out the scarred indentations of past bites peppering his skin just like the one slowly closing.

"Can we talk about it tomorrow? He needs care,"  Cricket chirps, "He might bite one of you if I leave, so can one of you get his backpack to please?"

Jack thankfully turns tail to fetch the bag in question after Cricket tells him where to find it.  I got stuck again though, just watching Aurie with bated breath. He looks so limp and small... broken.

That's when it clicks.

"This is the part you thought would make me reject you."

He doesn't move, doesn't have the energy to respond to me, but I can hear the sniffle even if I can't see the tears.

Jack comes back with the backpack before I can say anything else and Cricket immediately pulls out a gallon size zip lock bag filled with pill bottles and riffles through them until he finds the right ones.

"Come here, Aurie."

I'm taken aback by Cricket thinking Aurie could move at all until he crawls back, leaning his head on Cricket's shoulder.

His face is still grey, but a less alarming shade than before, eyes closed.

"Okay. Gimme your hand. This is two cramp pills, a nausea tab, and then the new muscle relaxer Dox gave you."

"I want the pain pill instead of the baclofen." Aurie croaks, shoving three of the four pills in his mouth.

"Not until tomorrow. You know the rules. Nothing that thins the blood-"

"For 24 hours after popping a cyst. I know. I know.  The baclofen is fine."

"Do you need water?"

Aurie simply shakes his head and swallows the last pill dry looking defeated.

"What...Are you...What happened?" Is all that comes out when I figure out what I actually need to move my lips in order to actually talk.

"...I told you. I'm just not healthy."