lifeboat

40.

mikey actually started crying both out of stress and panic when he kicked open the bathroom door and saw a very familiar looking body curled up by the toilet.

fuck. fuck fuck fuck fuck.

"pete," mikey said, more like yelled, rushing forwards and kneeling down next to the other boy, shaking him roughly. "are you okay? pete!"

and then, like some miracle, pete tried to sit up, making eye contact with mikey for a solid second before giving in and falling back down. he had tears filling his eyes as well, but mikey nearly smiled because he wasn't too late. for a golden moment, his heart slowed down, because pete hadn't done it and he was still alive.

but then pete opened his mouth, his voice spiked with pain that shot the relief right out of mikey. "i'm fucking dying, oh my god, i don't want to die."

"pete, pete, what did you do?"

pete curled up into a ball, little teardrops budding at the edges of his eyes as he squeezed them shut.

mikey was this close to passing out, or throwing up, or maybe both - was it healthy for his heart to beat this quickly? he didn't like this. he didn't like this at all. "pete, what the fuck did you do?"

"i relapsed," pete mumbled, and he looked a thousand miles away; maybe it was whatever drugs he took starting to set in, but mikey didn't want to wait around and find out.

"fuck." mikey pushed his wet hair from his face, trying to make his brain work properly. he didn't function well under pressure. he couldn't think clearly. "i-i'm calling an ambulance."

pete nodded, still looking distant, and mikey tried his best to fish his phone out of his sopping wet hoodie pocket with his shaking hands, praying that it still worked properly despite probably being waterlogged.

the call went through, thankfully. whoever picked up said something along the lines of "911, please state your emergency," and mikey tried his best to fill them in with the situation without tripping over his own words; the operator told him some things which he could barely comprehend, followed up by "help is on the way."

mikey hung up and stowed his phone away, overall proud that he'd managed to hold a conversation over the phone, and turned back to pete. he felt a little bit better now that someone was coming, but he wasn't going to stop worrying until pete was in safer hands.

"i'm so scared," pete whimpered, and mikey helped him sit up. "i don't wanna die."

"you're not going to die. medical help is coming," mikey replied, though he sounded uncertain, and he pulled pete into a hug. "it's okay. it's going to be fine."

"are you sure?"

mikey bit his lip. he wanted to be sure, but there was still a chorus of what-if scenarios singing in the back of his head - "yes, i'm sure."

"okay."

they sat like that for a few more moments before mikey pulled away and stood up, offering a hand to pete. "let's go downstairs just in case the ambulance comes soon."

pete nodded and took mikey's hand. he didn't let go.

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hopefully i'll be able to upload more chapters at once soon