[In which Mike can't handle energy Drinks]
"Hey, Mike, are you okay? You're not looking so good." Paige took a seat opposite Mike, who sat at the kitchen table. He looked up at her, a small grimace spreading across his face. One arm was wrapped protectively around his stomach, while the other rested on the table, his hand clenched into a fist.
"Yeah, I'm okay…"
Paige scoffed. "Yeah, right. What's going on with you?"
Mike swallowed and his face seemed to go several shades paler. "I've been awake for 72 hours." He finally said.
Paige's eyes widened, "Then why the hell are you awake?! Go to bed. Now."
"I…can't." Mike bit out.
Paige crossed her arms over her chest. "What's going on?" Her voice held the 'no, bullshit this time, Mikey' tone.
"Bello has been working my hard these past few days, hence being awake for three days. So this morning around three, Bello put an energy drink in my hand."
Paige blinked. She had been expecting some nasty story, but instead she got…energy drinks.
"For a while, I was good. Wide awake, ready to go."
"You mean, you were wired." Paige tried to hide her smile.
Mike nodded and then grimaced. "Yeah, I was wired. Pretty much bouncing off the walls."
"I would have liked to see that." Paige said, laughing.
"Bello was amused." Mike said sadly.
"So what happened?" Paige asked.
"This happened." Mike gestured toward himself vaguely.
Paige gave him a blank look.
"I can't handle energy drinks." Mike clarified. "My stomach…rejects them or something. I'm fine at the beginning and then—BAM!" He slammed his hand down on the table, causing Paige to jump. Clearly, he was still a little wired.
"My stomach turns inside out," Mike continued. "And I feel like I'm gonna puke." He stopped, his eyes narrowing. He put a shaking hand to his clammy forehead, and swallowed.
"This is not good." Mike mumbled, "I'm not gonna make it." He turned crazed blue eyes to Paige.
"What?" She said, concerned.
Mike suddenly sprang to his feet, his chair flying out behind him. He dashed away from the table, his arm still clutched around his stomach.
Five seconds later Paige heard Mike emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl.
She let out a low laugh and stood up. Poor guy. She'd better go see if he was going to be okay.
Paige leaned against the bathroom's door frame. "Mike?" She asked. "You doing okay?" She leaned her head in seeing Mike kneeling in front of the toilet, both hands gripping the sides of the white porcelain.
He turned his head to look up at Paige.
"Ooh." Paige said. Mike's face was now a pasty white and sweat shone on his forehead. "Not so good?"
"No."
"Well, let me help you to your room."
"I got it." Mike said. He pushed himself to his feet and slowly trudged out of the bathroom.
Paige reached a hand out, but Mike only shrugged it away.
"I'm fine, Paige. My dignity is gone, but I'm fine." He gave her a reassuring smile, which she returned.
"Okay, Levi. Have fun with those stairs." She jerked her chin in the direction to the staircase.
Mike looked to where she had gestured and groaned. "I'm doomed."
Paige waited a beat before saying, "I'm helping you." She didn't wait for an answer. Instead she looped her arm under his and together they attacked the staircase of doom.
By the time they reached Mike's room, they were both out of breath. Paige unwound her arm from Mike, waiting for him to regain his balance.
Mike then reached for the door handle, but missed and ending up slamming his hand into the door.
He bit off a swear word and tried again. The second time was a success and Mike stumbled into the room.
"It's like you're drunk." Paige observed, following Mike into his room.
"I'm not."
"No, you're just drunk on life." Paige said, a small smile playing across her lips.
Mike swiveled his head around and gave her an annoyed look. "Uh-huh."
He flopped, face first, on to the bed.
"You're not even gonna take off your boots?" Paige asked, laughing.
A soft snore was her only reply.
"Guess not."
She stepped softly into the room, quickly unlacing Mike's boots. Paige eased them off, tossing them to the corner of the room. She then pulled a blanket from the shelf and spread it over Mike's form.
Paige crouched down by Mike's head, and carefully brushed a few loose strands of hair from his forehead; Mike didn't stir at her touch.
"Sleep tight, Levi."
A/N: I wrote this in one of my afternoon classes last week when I had decided to have a energy drink an hour before class started. Yeah. Bad idea. Energy drinks don't agree with me. And apparently they don't agree with Mike either ;)
Anyway. I hope you guys enjoyed it!
Also, one of my guest reviewers asked if I could do a Briggs/Charlie one-shot. Did you want it to be a romantic kind of thing or were you thinking more of their friendship? I'm just gonna say it now, I'm not very good writing romance stuff (in fact, I'm really not a big fan writing or reading it). Let me know!
Thanks guys!