Friendship Is Cynical

Ryan stared off into space, looking at his wall, but at the same time not. Since Rainbow had left earlier, he hasn't left the couch. His mind was going a thousand miles per second, just trying to figure out where to go from here. He didn't know how everything was going to work out with her. Were they supposed to pretend like nothing happened and start over, or were they supposed to work past it in some other way? He just didn't know.

While he sat in a near cancer-inducing silence, in the background both Rapid and Autumn stared at the back of his head with worry. Rapid more-so than Autumn. In fact, Autumn didn't look like she could care less.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Rapid asked, looking as though he were afraid for the human rather than of him for once. "He hasn't even moved for the last two hours."

Autumn shrugged, still appearing to feel indifferent about his behavior. "Who knows." She simply said, earning her a shocked look from Rapid. "What? I'm sure he'll be fine."

Rapid gave her an almost disgusted look, "Aren't you even a little bit concerned about him? He's your friend, isn't he?"

She appeared to be juggling a few thoughts as she made a certain expression at Rapid. "Eh, yes and no. It's a matter of perspective, really." Before he could say anything else to her, her body started to tense up and even shook some. A new look worked its way onto her features, like she had just been informed of something important. "I need to leave." She said without any further explanation as she walked over to the couch.

Autumn stared at the mentally lost human for a brief second before clapping her hands together right in front of his face. He jumped a bit and looked over at her without offering much else as a response. She leaned down a bit, staring directly into his eyes so that she knew he would be listening. "Ryan, I need to go for a while. I can't say how long for sure; maybe a few days." She rose back to her full height and walked over to the door, not bothering to grab a coat, or anything for that matter. "Try not to do anything too stupid while I'm gone."

Ryan watched with less-than-curious eyes as she left, keeping his thoughts on how to go about his next few days with the whole Rainbow Dash thing going on. Figuring that he needed to actually get up and move some, he rose from the couch and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water, letting any an all thoughts about his Pegasus with benefits blow away for now.

Rapid was starting to feel uncomfortable with the whole situation. He wanted to help, but it wasn't technically his problem. He also felt as though he shouldn't get involved, seeing how this wasn't any of his business. Maybe he should leave and let Ryan be alone, go back to his own life and leave well enough as it is.

Just as he was about to settle with the idea of leaving and go off to Celestia-knows-where, something caught his attention. The sound of glass breaking rang through the house, coming from the kitchen. Instinctively, Rapid ran over to see what had happened.

Upon entering the room, he was met with a sight that made his concern grow nearly tenfold.

Ryan was leaning against the sink, his arms being the only support he had as his knees rested against the floor. His skin was pale, as if all of the blood in his body had been drained out. His breathing was heavy and he looked like he was going to kill over at any second. The glass he was holding earlier was in pieces on the floor beside him.

Fuck, it hurts! Someone kill me, please!

Being careful not to step on any of the glass, Rapid worked his way over to the ill-looking Ryan, approaching with caution. "Ryan." He said in a shaken tone. "Are you okay?" The only thing he received in return was a pained groan as the human's body leaned back, his head angling upward toward the ceiling.

Goodnight, Aunt Mindy...

Unable to hold on any longer, both physically and mentally, he toppled backwards onto the floor, his head just barely managing to miss the shattered glass that littered the area around him.

Several Hours Later

Ryan awoke looking like absolute hell. He could feel the almost unbearable pulsing in the back of his head, each one feeling as though a knife were being shoved deeper and deeper into his skull. A number of distressed groans escaped his throat as he attempted to lift himself from his...bed?

Looking around, he took a mental not that he was no longer in the kitchen, which was weird. The last thing he remembered was getting up to grab a drink, after that everything went blank.

Sitting up, he propped himself up against the headboard with his back. "Fuck..." He said in a hollowed, dried out tone. "Brain...Report!"

Kill-ow, Ow, OW!!! KILL ME!!!

Ryan raised his hands to his head, digging his fingers into his scalp as he tried to force the pain away by repeating the words 'Fuck off' over and over again in his head. This, obviously, did very little to help. Every little move he made only caused the pain to grow and torment him further.

"Ryan!" He flinched, the sound of someone else speaking his name only pushing him deeper into the rabbit hole he was stuck in. It wasn't long before he felt the gentle touch of soft, furry hands pulling his own from his face. "Thank Celestia, you're awake. I was starting to think that-"

"For the love of all that is holy, shut your goddamn mouth!" He yelled, his body tensing up as the sound of his own voice seemed to ring in his ears.

Rapid took a step back, being careful not to do anything that might upset him further. "I'm sorry." He whispered, "I was just worried that-" He was interrupted as Ryan let out a growl, replacing his hands to his head. Whatever was going on, it was causing the human pain and he couldn't help but feel inclined to aid him. "You have to tell me what's happening to you. I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

"You can't help me...period!" Ryan winces from his own shouting, apparently not learning his lesson the first god damn time. "Fucking...Migraines..." He muttered, being just loud enough for his guest to hear him.

Rapid almost collapsed, taking a much needed breath of relief. For a while there he thought Ryan was going to keel over. A smile spread across his face as he looked down at the sickly human. "Thank Celestia, I thought you were a goner."

"Shut up!" Ryan yelled, trying to silence the feminine stallion. He place a hand against his stomach while the other continued to grip his cranium. "I think I'm gonna be sick." He said, his body convulsing as he moved the hand on his head over his mouth. Quick as a bullet, Rapid took off out of the room, arriving in the blink of an eye with a small black trash bin held out to the human.

Ryan yanked the bin to his gut with both hands and proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach into the plastic bag within. Rapid turned away during this, not finding a whole lot of enjoyment in his actions. There was a small pause in his hurling, leaving them both in silence for a good two or three seconds. Once that small amount of time had passed, there was a loud thud that immediately grabbed Rapid's attention.

He turned back to find the bin sitting off to the side on the bed, while Ryan laid face down against the floor. Rapid could only assume that the human had toppled over as he watched him attempt to raise himself from the ground.

Again, every move he made only increased the pulsing pain in his head. Falling over didn't faze him, but trying to get up was killing him from the inside. No matter how hard he tried, Ryan couldn't get himself off of the floor.

Rapid came up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Here, let me help you."

"Fuck off, I can do it myself." Ryan growled, swinging his arm out and shoving Rapid away from him. He continued to try and fail at getting himself up. At one point he managed to get onto his knees, but only to become lightheaded and fall over once again. His breathing was heavy, his chest heaving as he struggled to get the energy he needed to get up. The more he tried the fuzzier things became in his head, like he wasn't perceiving things correctly.

Finally, seeing that he was getting nowhere, he submitted to God's will, letting himself stay in his place on the floor as he accepted his fate. "I give up!" He shouts to the heavens. "I'm done, kill me." He felt a pair of hands upon him once again, pulling him up as his body hung almost lifelessly. "That's weird, shouldn't I be going down?"

Rapid rolled his eyes as he pulled against the human's weight, lifting him until he was just high enough to roll onto the bed. "Why is it so hot in here?" Ryan asked, feeling himself beginning to sweat.

Rapid noticed this as well. Seeing how the poor bastard couldn't really take care of himself, he mentally declared that he stay here and nurse Ryan back to full health. This might earn him quite the lecture, and maybe even some blunt force trauma, but he couldn't just leave him here to suffer alone.

Taking on a determined stance, Rapid got to work on planning out how to help Ryan. First and foremost, he needed a bath. The sweat accumulating all over his body was starting to leave a very pungent smell to lurk around the bedroom.

When he was sure that Ryan wasn't going anywhere, Rapid made his way to the bathroom, leaning down into the tub to turn on the faucet. The water would need to be cool, due to Ryan's rising body temperature. He probably wouldn't like it, but the furless ball of rage was in no condition to fight him over it.

With the tub being filled, Rapid turned off the water and went back to the room. Ryan hadn't moved since he had left earlier, which was a good thing...kind of. He went over to the bed, grabbing Ryan's arm and pulling him onto his feet. "What's happening?" He asked with a dazed look on his face. "Where are we going?"

"Just follow me, I'll take care of you." Rapid replied, pulling Ryan's arm over his shoulder and leading him to the bathroom. Once inside, he sat Ryan down on the edge of the tub. "Now hold still." He said, pulling the human's shirt off.

Ryan was too out of it to respond to what was happening. His brain felt like pudding, if that pudding had a broken plastic spoon stuck inside of it.

It was a bit of a struggle to get Ryan's pants off. It wasn't that he was struggling or anything. In fact, he was doing the exact opposite. He was as still as a corpse, and with how he looked he could pass for one as well. Regardless, Rapid was successful with de-clothing him. All that would be left was to get him into the tub. It would be...if he hadn't already fallen into it.

Ryan's body hit the water with a smack, splashing Rapid along with everything else within the vicinity. He grumbled a bit from having his clothes soaked, and from looking around, knowing that he was going to have to clean up this mess.

Rapid sighed, moving over to the tub and pulling Ryan up from the water so he wouldn't drown. The human took in a dramatic amount of air once he breached the water's surface. "This is gonna be a long day."