Spoilers for season 8 of House MD
Tw /// death mentions and cancer (I hate cancer)
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breath in.
breath out.
breath in.
breath out.
james rolled over and laid his arm on greg's chest. greg suppressed a grumble as he now had to re-find james' heartbeat. he searched blindly with his fingers around james' neck.
"greg, i'm fine," james mumbled, grabbing greg's wrist. greg huffed, but let his hand fall. ultimately he knew james was right, it wasn't like he would drop dead so soon. greg was just scared.
"you have cancer, idiot, of course you're not fine," greg replied with a growl. james didn't say anything, he just hugged greg closer. greg knew that's not what james had wanted to hear.
"don't remind me."
greg nodded. he grabbed james' hand and held it. james let out a breath as he snuggled his head into the crook of greg's neck.
"don't think i don't know you're just holding my hand to find my heartbeat, jerk," james chuckled and let out a long shaky breath onto greg's neck. greg smiled, holding his thumb against james' fragile heartbeat.
all fell silent and soon greg could hear james' breathing again.
breath in.
breath out.
breath in.
breath-
james sat up as he started to cough violently. greg sighed and sat up next to him, squeezing his hand. he brought his other hand up to pat james' back.
"it's okay, calm down, you're okay, james," greg soothed him. james did stop coughing, but now he was sobbing. greg held out his hands.
"come here," greg said gently. james leaned in and melted into the other man's arms. greg hugged him close and petted his hair, telling him it'd be okay.
"no, no, no it won't be! i'm going to die! it's not fair! why is this happening to me?" james sobbed harder as he begged for answers. answers that greg couldn't give.
all greg could do was be there for him.
---
james was asleep. finally. getting a sobbing james to sleep was like wrestling a hungry bear. but now greg couldn't sleep. after james' coughing fit greg was on edge. their five months together was dwindling quickly, and they both weren't ready.
one of greg's hands held james' wrist, keeping track of his heartbeats per minute, while his other hugged james' waist. he felt helpless. all he could do was keep james alive for now, but soon it wouldn't matter, james would die anyway.
greg felt tears prick at his eyes.
why we he crying?
he wasn't dying.
james was.
james was dying and greg couldn't do anything about it.
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Just a sad little one shot about them <333
