[P] There's Good Days... And Then...

Before he even returned to the waking realm, a groan slipped between his slender lips. Each of his arms lifted to cover his head, shielding his eyes from the light that was beginning to penetrate through the window. Already his skin seemed ashen, blue veins seeming more prominent than they usually were beneath his skin, and the skin just beneath his eyes was gray.

Slowly his eyes opened, and Noah buried his face into his pillow, trying to lengthen his rest. Soon though he began to realize he wouldn't be going back to sleep - his ability to feel pain was near gone, but his stomach felt like it was on fire and his entire body was aching intensely. It felt like each of his muscles and tendons had been sundered, and yet nothing could have happened during the night.

It was just going to be one of his worse days.

After a few more minutes of lounging around in bed, Noah forcefully pushed himself up, feeling a slight throb in his head from moving so fast. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he got to his feet, pulling on pajama pants and rubbing his bare arms. He'd go shirtless for the time being. Standing up, Noah made his way into the kitchen on shaky legs, beginning to look through cabinets for something to eat even though he really didn't feel like ingesting anything.

"Morning..." he groaned weakly to Rei out of force of habit, taking a deep breath and trying to put on the strong visage he had perfected for days he felt like this.

There was Rei, as helpful as ever, right beside him from the moment he'd woken up. Even though help was offered, Noah couldn't accept it - he was so accustomed to being smothered and hovered over that he'd learned to deal with it on his own. Ignoring her for the time being, Noah continued to shift through the cabinets. There was nothing he wanted.

"I'm fine," he said softly, voice sounding weak despite the oomph he tried to put behind it. He waved his hand in dismissal and tried to smile, although each gesture he seemed to be making was absolutely weak. For being something of a masochist, this was not the sort of pain he enjoyed.

"Ummm... if you want to help me... help me decide what I should eat?" he suggested. "My stomach is like, burning, ugh..." Usually he didn't complain, but he couldn't help it just once.

He supposed there was no resisting what she said; he'd figured out a long time ago there was no saying 'no' to a female when they were trying to take care of you. Noah shuffled to the kitchen table, pulling the chair out and taking a seat. "I know..." he said quietly. "I just don't want to be a burden." Anything but that. While he was still on this earth and not yet rotting to the point where he had to stay in a hospital, he wanted to do as much for himself as he could.

"There's nothing anyone can do..." he trailed off with a sigh. He hated thinking about himself like this. No one else had to deal with this, so why should he have to? Noah said nothing as Rei set to work to fix him breakfast, and he couldn't help but feel awful. She shouldn't have to make him anything, especially when it was only cereal. That was probably the only thing his stomach would take.

"You're too kind," he said sincerely, about to pick up the spoon when he felt a slight jolt as Rei's hand came to rest on his shoulder. He sat up immediately in the chair, feeling like he'd just been struck with something, and looked up at her wildly. The pain... it... it wasn't as bad. Still there, but not as overwhelming.

Looking at her like she was some sort of miracle worker, his mouth fell agape, and he asked near breathlessly, "What did you just do?"

Before Noah could answer her question, he was tugged into an embrace, which caused a soft smile to pull at the corners of his mouth. He remained silent until Rei stood and twirled, which made him chuckle softly. "You could be a regular ballerina," he commented quietly. There was a slight glimmer to his eyes now; her attempts at trying to fully fix him had failed, but what about this? Would it delay anything? Would it only mitigate the agony, not fully solve what was wrong with him?

He'd take any of those options.

Nodding, Noah went back to his cereal, not wanting it to get soggy. "Thank you..." he said, turning to look at her again. "That's... the first time in sixteen years anything's actually ever helped, if only just a little bit."

Figures, Noah thought, immediately mentally slapping himself afterward. Stereotyping was awful and what she'd been the victim of thus far in her life, and he should have been better than to do that. "Sorry," he said. "About the failed dream, I mean. What's your plan now?" Even if Noah didn't bother thinking about the future, it didn't mean Rei didn't, right?

Shaking his head, Noah hoped to ease her a bit. "You've already done plenty," he said softly. "Don't worry about helping more." Being there was enough, and assuaging some of his pain had been more than appreciated.

He nodded; if he wanted to bring over other foods he was welcome to do so. "Do you want me to help you start moving stuff today?" he asked. Although he still felt achey and altogether sickly, he was still capable of helping out, even if Rei wound up disagreeing with him.