Gold And Coal (Ryden AU)

2.7 ◇ A Pain That I'm Used To

"Ryan?"

"Oh my goodness!"

I must have fallen asleep because I don't recall the moments leading up to this one, only my name being called and the realization I was in pain.

My vision was blurry and I didn't recognize any of the people crowding around me, which made my heart beat a little more faster than it already was.

"What's wrong with him? What do we do?" Someone asked and I realized I was shivering. I was freezing.

"Fetch him a blanket!" Somebody else ordered and I felt a hand being pressed to my forehead.

I tried to move, but failed, a sharp pain in my lower region keeping me in place.

"Stop," I groaned as more people begann crowding around me. Luckily, someone sensed my distress and shoed away the others, throwing a rough blanket over my sweaty body.

"Drink this," he said, holding a glass to my lips and I sipped at it thankfully, feeling a little bit better afterwards.

I shut my eyes after that, trying to ignore the cold and pain and focused on the hushed voices behind the curtains shielding me from the rest.

●●●

"Is he dead?"

"No! He's going to be fine, I think!"

"You think? Isn't there anybody who knows whats going on?"

"He's not looking all that good, James."

"Shut up! He's gonna be fine!"

●●●

"Someone make sure nobody comes in here!"

"Shouldn't we move him to another room? It's gonna be pretty loud in here."

"No, it hurts him! He stays!"

This time, I remained lucid long enough to catch more than whiffs of unsettling information, but in addition to the pain that now seemed to have spread throughout my entire body and the fact that I was freezing while pearls of sweat were running down my face, it felt like my head would split in two. I felt like I was going to die. Every small noise felt like a stab inside my brain. I couldn't talk, couldn't tell them to shut up. It was killing me. And I didn't even have the luxury to pass out anymore.

"Make them play something softer."

"Uh, okay?"

Make them play nothing at all, I pleaded, but there was nobody here who could read my mind.

I didn't know how much time passed until the sudden loud noise made my whole body twitch involuntarily and my head feel like it had exploded. Every other sore I was feeling seemed secondary at that moment, all that seemed to matter was getting that noise out of my head. But it didn't. Nobody bothered to make it stop.

My widely open eyes took in the curtain still pulled shut in front of me, some guy who was sitting opposite of me, staring up at the ceiling. I decided to watch him, distract myself from the pain. I watched him blink every other second, unaware of my eyes tracing his own. Something about that seemed very lulling, how his eyes shut  and reopened consistently. It was very inviting to just close my eyes... and sleep... forever...

"Ryan?"

Great. Someone had managed to trump that impossible loud noise with an even louder one.

I turned my head slowly, my eyes taking a while to adjust to the image in front of me and a shaky sigh escaped me when I recognized Brendon Urie.

Of course. He always showed up in situations like these.

We stared at each other for a while, until my vision got insanely blurry again and my eyelids drifted shut.

I felt him lean over me and rest a cool hand on my throbbing head. He then gently pulled me forward, out of the booth, which is when the searing pain made me pass out again. I don't think it lasted long though, because when I came to it again, I was being settled down on a much more comfortable surface, the loud music now barely audible.

His hands fumbled to get my sweat soaked pants off my body, but stopped as his fingers brushed over my lower back, which made me flinch in pain.

He hurriedly pulled off my pants and turned over my body, lifting the blanket off me. I heard him hiss and someone else mutter "Oh lord."

"Get the strongest whiskey you can find, some of those pads if you have them and bandages," Brendon said slowly, his hands shaking as he lowered the blanket back on to my body. He moved to where my head was lying on the couch and brushed a strand of wet hair out of my face.

"What the hell did you do?" He muttered and I anxiously managed to move my hand to grab his. I turned my head far enough so I could look into his eyes and tried to display the fear and confusion I felt through them.

"It's going to be alright. I promise," he muttered, not all that convincingly and let go of my hand as the other person reentered the room.

"Ok, alright. This is gonna hurt. Like a lot. You'll be okay though," he continued, now sounding like he was trying to convince me more than himself.

"Get James. Get him to bring others too."

He took hold of my hand again, squeezing it nervously. He didn't know what he was doing, I felt it, but I didn't mind all that much. I myself had no idea what was going on, but I found myself trusting him.

The door opened and more people entered, I couldn't see how many.

"Right, um, you have to hold him down, make sure he doesn't move," Brendon told them, moving away from me and whispering god knows what to them. Comforting.

I felt several hands grab my arms, legs and chest and pushed me down on the couch firmly. By now I was starting to freak out a little.

"Ryan? Uh, it's gonna be alright," Brendon whispered and I felt his hand on my lower back and heard the sound of a bottle being opened.

A couple of seconds later I was in the most excruciating pain I had ever believed was possible. It was like my skin was being burnt, sliced and ripped off at the same time. It was horrible. I think I screamed, I'm pretty sure I did. I remembered about a fraction of it, because thankfully, I passed out from the pain pretty soon.

~

All this running around
Well it's getting me down
Just give me a pain that I'm used to
I don't need to believe
All the dreams you conceive
You just need to achieve
Something that rings true

~