15. in waves

warning: mentions of physical pain.

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

IN WAVES

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It was half past two in the morning when Dmitri got a call.

Not bothering to check the caller ID, a mistake he always made, he pressed his phone to his ear, mumbling out a weak, "Hello?"

There was no response.

The person who was calling him at two in the fucking morning had called him, just to not give him a fucking response.

Jesus fucking Christ. If this is anyone other than Eden, I'm going to be so mad. "Hello?" he repeated, rubbing his eyes and breathing out slowly, the silence of the night sending a whole fucking chill down his spine.

"Dmitri," the person finally croaked in response, voice hoarse and thick, all at the same time. Oh fuck. "Can you come to my room?"

Feet already slipping into his shoes, he decided to ask, "Tariq?" just to be sure of who he was talking to, even though he already knew. "What's up?"

A sharp hiss later, Tariq breathed out shakily, his breaths sounding like pure static into the speaker. "I can't fucking move, my muscles are literally cramping so bad," he whispered, the loudness of his words reverberating in Dmitri's ears.

Fuck. "Okay," Dmitri assured, grabbing his reading glasses from the round table next to the bed and placing them in his pocket. "Can I get you anything? Before I come to your room?"

Tariq groaned into the phone, the crack in his voice sending a sharp spike of pain through Dmitri's heart. "No, no, just— just you," he managed to say, or whisper, more like.

It was rare for Tariq to call him when he was in pain. He had only done it once before, and that was years ago, when his entire back had been spasming from soccer practice and he couldn't take even a single step without some part of his body cramping up.

"Uh—" I should get him something. "Any pills? There's a pharmacy like— five minutes away, I think. I can get you something if you—"

"Muscle relaxants," Tariq interrupted, sounding so weak, and so tired that Dmitri just forgot every little thing that he hated about Tariq, threw it out of the window. "My electrolytes are completely out of whack, didn't drink any water today, and I was sweating out my fever, and I didn't take my vitamins today because I fell asleep as soon as I got back to my room, and it's just—"

Before he could go any further and actually end up crying, if the constant cracks in his voice were anything to go by, Dmitri cut him off with a soft, "Okay. Muscle relaxants, anything else?" as he tied the laces of his shoes, already ten times more awake.

A brief two seconds of silence passed by, after which a small sniff was heard. No. Please, no. "I just... I really need you. That's all," he mumbled, sniffing again. "Please come by soon. Door's not locked."

Then, he cut the call.

Taking a small breath, Dmitri nodded to himself, closing his eyes for a second and letting all the remaining exhaustion leave his body, because he couldn't allow himself to be tired when Tariq was in pain, to the point where he was trying not to cry.

He pocketed his car keys, room keys and his wallet, making his way out of the room and running down the stairs, all the way to the lobby, until he stepped out, the cool, two a.m. breeze of LA hitting him, causing his t-shirt to blow back, clinging to his body, only going back to its normal fit once he got into his car and began to drive.

Once he was in the pharmacy that was thankfully open for twenty four hours in a day, he offered up a quick smile at the pharmacist before saying, "Can I have muscle relaxants, please? Pills?" As an afterthought, he added, "And uh— cough drops. Please. Thanks."

Always good to have backup.

"Couldn't wait till the morning?" the pharmacist joked, or at least, Dmitri took it as one.

"Not really."

Shrugging, the pharmacist just accepted his money, handing him the pills and the lozenges in a brown paper bag. "Have a good night!" they said. I wish.

The night was going to be anything but good. Dmitri was sure of that much.

So, he got back into his car, driving back to the slightly shady hotel, and rushing upstairs, panting a little as he made his way to the top of the stairs.

Then, he knocked on Tariq's door. Maybe he's fallen asleep?

But he was proven to be wrong when he received an answer, a hoarse, "Unlocked."

God, did it fucking hurt when Tariq was in pain.

Turning the doorknob on the door, Dmitri just peeked his head in at first, eyes adjusting to the pitch black darkness of the room, the coldness of the room because of the air conditioner that was whirring, the temperature on it reading 62°F.

"Tri?"

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. "Yeah," Dmitri whispered in response, his heart racing in his chest as he moved closer to Tariq, whose face was shoved into his pillow, blankets not covering his feet. "How bad is it?"

Tariq just groaned, flipping over such that he was on his back. And only then did Dmitri see the tear streaks on his cheeks.

"There's a cramp on my calf muscle that just isn't going away," he muttered, coughing as he sat himself up in his bed, his figure barely visible in the dark. "To top it all off, I have a sore throat because I didn't drink any water today."

"I brought you muscle relaxants." Taking another few steps forward, Dmitri made his way to the table next to the bed, finding the air conditioner remote, turning it off and switching on the lamp next to the bed.

Face contorting into a grimace, Tariq nodded, water beginning to pool at the corners of his eyes. "It hurts so bad, you don't understand."

There was no way Dmitri could even begin to understand. He knew that.

Tariq always said that he, himself, could rarely understand why he was in so much pain, why he fell sick so often, why the vitamins that he took worked on most days, but then, they'd just stop working one day, and he would feel so tired that it was as if he hadn't been taking them for years on end, now.

"Can I massage it out for you?" Dmitri asked, because even though it was going to be awkward as fuck, he would do it if it helped Tariq.

Sniffing again, Tariq nodded, taking the blanket off and pulling his sweatpants up, only to reveal his calf muscle quite literally throbbing.

"I can't do it because my hands are shaking, too," he mumbled, rubbing slow, rhythmic circles on his right hand with his left, his dominant hand. He shook his head, the dark circles under his eyes standing out against his brown skin. "I don't know how the fuck this happened. I was sleeping, and then my leg cramped, and then everything just started cramping."

Dmitri just nodded, getting into bed and sitting down, taking Tariq's leg in his hands, placing two fingers on the spot where it was throbbing. Oh my god.

"Let the pulsating calm down a little, okay? I don't want to do it when it's throbbing this much," he murmured, the knife in his chest twisting back and forth when he saw a small tear escape Tariq's eyes, and then another.

"I don't even know why I'm crying," Tariq breathed out, laughing weakly. "It's not even the pain, I can handle that. I just— I'm so tired. I just want to be able to— fuck, Dmitri, please just massage it out, please, oh my god," he hissed, shoulders tensing up.

The pain on Tariq's face was too much for Dmitri to handle so he just nodded. "Okay. Lie on your stomach, I'm going to push your leg up. Okay?"

Tariq groaned again, shaking his head. "Dmitri, I can't move," he stressed as he shook his hand out. "If I turn around, I'm almost certain that I'll spasm again."

This always happened, so luckily, Dmitri knew what to do as an alternative. "That's okay, you can stay sitting up. Just— stretch your leg out for me?" he asked softly, the blatant familiarity of this situation making his heart ache for Tariq.

"Imagine if I got a spasm on my fucking back or something now," Tariq mumbled, wincing when Dmitri began to use his thumbs to massage his calf muscle, the throbbing under his hands reducing and finally, finally stopping. "It's the remix."

Laughing softly, weakly, Dmitri shook his head, drawing careful circles on Tariq's leg, making sure not to apply too much pressure, because the last time that had happened, Tariq had sobbed from the pain of the amount of pressure he had accidentally applied.

"Does it feel better?" Dmitri whispered, knife in his chest only coming out once Tariq nodded, his entire body relaxing.

But it only lasted for a brief moment, until his body tensed up again, a small whimper leaving his mouth as he groaned, not even bothering to hold back his tears now, and fuck, nothing hurt more than seeing Tariq cry.

"What's wrong?" he asked, eyes quickly scanning Tariq's hands and legs, both of which looked fine. "Is there—"

"My fucking foot," he muttered through his tears, quickly wiping his eyes and sniffing. "It's cramped. Left one."

Dmitri frowned, taking Tariq's other leg and placing it on his thigh, slowly rubbing his feet, because as much as he hated feet, he hated seeing Tariq in pain more. "Your feet are so unnaturally big for your body."

Tariq laughed at that, a genuine one. Wiping his eyes dry, he shot back a quick, "Shut the fuck up, weirdo. My feet are perfectly fine."

Lips curving upward into a smile, Dmitri snorted, shaking his head. "Never said that they weren't. They're a normal size, you're just really small."

"You hate brown people and it shows."

"I'm Black, stupid."

"Motherfucker thinks I'm a curry-muncher," he continued like the dramatic bitch that he was. "Thinks I speak Indian, even though one; that's not a language, and two; I'm Pakistani. Thinks I'm—"

"If you don't shut your face, I'll flick your stupid fucking forehead. Or I'll just stop massaging your foot," Dmitri threatened jokingly, rolling his eyes at the sigh of forfeit from Tariq. "I hold the power here, don't fuckin' test me, bitch."

Huffing, Tariq opened his mouth to say something, hissing a little when Dmitri accidentally pressed a little too hard. "Do you like seeing me suffer?" he mumbled. "Save the kinks for when I can actually move, maybe?"

Oh my god. "Tariq, I swear, I'm gonna fucking—"

"Man, let me make jokes to cover up for the fact that I'm literally about to fall apart," Tariq complained, as if those words weren't supposed to affect Dmitri in the way that they did.

"Why?"

Tariq frowned. "Why what?"

"Why are you about to fall apart?"

Sighing, Tariq shrugged, hand moving up to clutch his shoulder as soon as he did. Wow. "Got a cramp on my neck as soon as I got back to the room, it's still sore," he explained, rapidly mumbling out the words, all at once.

As soon as he got back to the room?

Those words hurt. They hurt because Dmitri had just let him go to his room once they had gotten back to the hotel, he hadn't even questioned the I'm fine that had left Tariq's mouth before he slammed the door behind him.

"It's just— everything," Tariq whispered, patting the empty space beside him. Am I supposed to sit? "My fucked immune system. My muscle cramps that literally torture me at least twice a month. Those aren't too bad, though, it's the constant fucking falling sick that bothers me. My fucked brain that keeps thinking about my fucking ex-boyfriend— the bad one— now that I've spoken about him once. Everything. I'm so tired. I have an appointment with my massage therapist and I have doctor's appointment in like, four days. I think she might up the dosage of my magnesium or whatever. Been taking the same dosage since I was seventeen. I dunno, we'll see."

"Oh."

Tariq laughed a weak laugh. "Head empty, no thoughts."

One thought. You. "Are you gonna sleep now?" Dmitri asked, handing him a muscle relaxant from the bottle, watching as he downed it with a single gulp of water. "Also, I got you cough drops."

"That's the first sip of water that I've taken today," he admitted, reluctantly taking the bunch of cough drops from his hand. "Stupid move on my part, I should have made sure to keep drinking 'n shit. Oh well."

"Oh well?" Dmitri asked, incredulous. "Tariq, you literally cried because of how much pain you were in, and—"

"Thank you for reminding me. Bitch."

"— What the fuck does oh well mean? You're so fucking— ugh," he finished, but Tariq had already taken his blanket and wrapped himself in it, moving all the way to the left side of the bed.

"Dmitri," he called out, his eyes shut but his mouth still running. "Dmitri."

Jesus. "It's like dealing with drunk Tariq all over again."

Rolling over, Tariq just hummed, before saying, "Drunk Tariq must have been a joy to deal with."

"Yeah, a killjoy. What do you want?"

Tariq sighed, patting the empty space beside him again. "Sleep with me," he mumbled. Huh?

"No, thanks."

Opening his eyes, Tariq pouted, the ever-present dark circles under his eyes looking more prominent than ever. "Please. I need to have y— someone with me if something happens again." Then, he added a soft, "Please?"

Well, fuck. "Only because you asked nicely," Dmitri stated, kicking off his shoes despite his mind yelling, screaming at him that this was the worst idea that he'd had in a while, that there was no way this could end up going well, that he was being absolutely fucking ridiculous by accepting.

Tariq smiled, and instantly, everything in Dmitri's mind stopped.

Clambering into bed, the right side, Dmitri laid down, covering the both of them with the blanket, his body dangerously close to Tariq's, their arms brushing against each other, their torsos so unbelievably close, their legs so—

"Would totally be down to fuck if I wasn't already sore."

And despite everything, Dmitri laughed, shaking his head. "You're so fucking warm, are you sure you aren't still sick?"

"Who knows? I'm fucking vibing. Unhinged, I tell you."

"If you get me sick, I swear, I'll end your ass," Dmitri muttered, moving closer to Tariq, because he really was warm. And God knows, Dmitri needed some warmth.

"The number of jokes I could make just from that one sentence," Tariq lamented, and before he knew it, his arm was around his body, pulling him closer.

Holy fuck. "Tariq?"

"Thank you, Dmitri," he murmured, eyes already closing. "Appreciate it a lot. Will go back to hating you in the morning, though."

It's okay. We're in a different city. We're tired. This is okay. This is okay.

"I'll be waiting."

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+2548

AN: very tired going back to bed 😋 hope y'all enjoyed one (1) chapter of no dmitri x tariq angst

thank u all for reading💕 i hope u have/had a good day today 🥰🥰