Chapter Text
Ray could feel the deep ache in the back of his head before he even opened his eyes. He let out a rough-sounding groan, trying to stretch his long limbs in the compressed space of his bunk.
Ray through his legs over the side, standing up despite his body screaming at him, his tired limbs protesting the movement.
Leaning heavily against the bunks, he slowly made his way to the main area of the bus, rubbing the crust out of his eyes. "Sup dude"
Ray jumped at the voice, relaxing once he saw that it was only Mikey, perched up on the side of the couch like a cat, drinking a mug of coffee. "Yo." Ray responded despite the feeling of his scratchy throat contracting against itself.
"You're up early today," Ray spoke quietly, pouring the leftover coffee into his own mug. "I'm usually up earlier than all of you guys." he hummed as the warm liquid hit his throat, leaning back against the counters to look over at Mikey.
Mikey was looking over at him, eyebrow raised in confusion, as if he were growing a second head. "Ray, it's two in the afternoon."
Ray's eyes widened. "W-What?" he choked out, the coffee that was in his mouth getting spat out into his mug.
"Are you okay?" Mikey asked, taking the last sip of his own coffee and setting the mug to the side.
"Shit!" Ray jumped up, eyebrows furrowed as he took a quick sip from his mug before setting it down. "Gerard and I were supposed to work on a new song today!"
Mikey grabbed Ray's wrist when he tried to turn around to walk away, stopping him. "Gerard isn't here right now."
Ray's nose squinted in confusion, looking back over at Mikey. "Had to stop the bus, we're running out of food." Mikey said it with a shrug, slowly backing up toward the direction of the living area, dragging Ray with him.
"Oh." Ray's shoulders loosened, willingly letting Mikey scoot him along, as if he didn't even notice that it was happening. "Maybe I could go practice with Frank then." He shrugged, and despite his words, he wasn't trying to pull himself out of Mikey's grasp.
"Frank's with Gerard," Mikey said, sitting down on the couch, tugging at Ray's arm. "Sit down." Ray did as he was told, sitting down on the couch with a hum, finally pulling his arm from Mikey's grasp to rub his chin. "Ray, you don't look good."
"Do you want to practice with me?" Ray asked, finally looking over at Mikey. He froze when he saw Mikey reaching out to put the back of his hand on his forehead.
The side of Mikey's mouth twitched into a frown, running his hand up off Ray's forehead to fix an astray curl. "You feel warm."
Ray's cheeks flushed, looking away from the man in front of him. "I feel fine." He pulled himself up off the sofa only to be stopped once again by a hand to his wrist. "I should go practice."
"You should sit down." Mikey echoed. "Relax." Ray once again sat down with a huff. "We have a show tomorrow, I should practice."
"Exactly, we have a show tomorrow. So you should relax today." Ray huffed once again hearing Mikey's words, rolling his eyes over to look at him. "I told you that I feel fine."
"You're Lying." Mikey said plainly. "I'll tell Gerard, and I know you don't want that."
"Shit." Ray cursed, sulking in on himself. Mikey rubbed a small circle against Ray's wrist as a comfort before he spoke up once more. "Go lie down, I'll go look and see if we have any medicine."
Ray listened despite how much he didn't want to. Standing up from the couch to make his way back over to his bunk. The moment his back flopped down onto it, he felt an ache of tiredness wash over him.
His brain felt dizzy, all his thoughts mushing into a scene of nothingness. He groaned just at the feeling of himself, the way that he felt drunk just in his own body.
He could hear the sound of Mikey shuffling around the bus through the drowning sensation in his ears. He flinched back once Mikey appeared in his blurb of sigh. "Fuck Mikey, I feel like shit."
Mikey smiled down at him with a nod. "I can tell." He says, holding up a bottle for him to see. "Found some Tylenol." He opens up the bottle, helping Ray sit up before handing him a pill along with a bottle of water.
Ray willingly took them, quickly throwing the pill in his mouth and downing it with some water. He happily let Mikey lead him back down against the mattress once he was done. "Thank you."
Mikey hums." You should get some rest. I'll bring you some food later, okay?" Ray smiles up at him with a nod. "Thank you, Mikey."
Mikey's cheeks flushed, He looked away from Ray. "You already thanked me, you don't have to do it again."
"I wanted to." Ray Hummed out.
Mikey's cheek flushed out a darker crimson, his eyes drifting back over to look at Ray. He reached out to flatten out his hair against the pillow. "Get some rest." Mikey murmured, pulling his hand away hesitantly and letting the curtain fall closed between them.
Ray listened to Mikey's footsteps retreating as his eyes fluttered closed, the quiet sounds of his movement in the bus dulling Ray into a restful sleep.