Chapter Text
Sam laid down, right next to Colby, the headache still piercing right through his head. He thought that he should give sleep a try. Their exploration of the hotel was tiring, after all. Langham had a lot to offer, which wasn’t good when your job is basically ghost hunting and looking for trouble.
''I set up the camera, let's do like a small outro before we go to sleep,'' he told Colby, rubbing his temples.
''You okay man? I don't remember you ever getting migraines. I had those in middle school, they are nasty.''
Sam complained about his migraine-like headaches for the whole trip now. He tried not to, but it was hard to keep things from Colby.
''I'm fine,'' Sam said with a smile on his face. He was happy to just lay down and rest for the night, as much as the hotel allows them.
Colby wasn't buying it though. It wasn't something he wanted to joke about. It was their paranormal experiences that caused Sam to get those rare headaches/migraines. They usually wouldn't last for long, but this one just wouldn't stop.
''Actually, let's just sleep. That camera's mic won't pick up the outro unless we yell, and I don't wanna get kicked out.'' Sam yawned.
''Yeah, I'm wasted. You wanna turn the lights off? Maybe it could help with the...'' he then gestured to Sam's head. Both of them were laying down now, Sam covered himself with his blanket.
''I'll be fine. I'd rather have them on. No thank you,'' he chuckled, which made Colby smile and after they whispered goodnight to each other, it seemed like it took Colby a few seconds to fall asleep.
But that left Sam in the half dimmed light of the lamps, alone. He couldn't stop thinking about what he felt, the chills that went down his spine as they were inspecting the bathroom in their room for electromagnetic field disturbances.
After a few minutes of turning around to find the best possible pose to sleep in with the migraine mostly on his right side and the creepy closet on the left, he laid on his back and soon was falling asleep.
But, Sam wasn't lucky that night. In half an hour he woke up with a silent scream that just wouldn’t escape his mouth. He was shaking as he tried hard to move his limbs, but it was impossible.
Of course, Sam would call for Colby's name if he could. That was the second thing after screaming aimlessly. But the words just would not form on his lips. Even his facial muscles froze. His heartbeats were drumming in his ears, the blood thumping through the blood vessels. Every single breath was getting harder to take. He did one smart thing though - he did not open his eyes. He was really afraid of what he might see.
Unfortunately, the paralysis was only the beginning of Sam's horrors. His chest was getting heavier, like an elephant was sitting atop of it. Sam was in so much panic that it clouded his mind. He could not think of the problem, because he was barely conscious.
Meanwhile, Colby was in and out of light sleep. He could hear Sam shuffle, but after that, he actually fell asleep. But, there was something that woke him up. The bed shook beneath him and he sat up, afraid that he'll see someone there, or even worse - something.
At this point, he knew he had to wake Sam up but he felt bad about it. Poor guy was having hard time focusing on anything they would talk about that night due to the horrendous headache he was getting out of nowhere.
He turned around to look at Sam, but the guy was shaking. He could hear how he was taking short breaths, hyperventilating or almost choking on the air he was trying to breath in.
Of course, the first thing to cross his mind would be to wake Sam up. He sweated a lot too, it was almost like he was swimming the moment before he jumped in the bed.
''Sam? Sam!'' Colby shook his shoulder, not sure if waking people up from nightmares that were this severe was even the right thing. But, honest to god, he was too scared to think about it. he needed someone, just not to be there in that creepy ass hotel room alone. It seemed like he was.
''Sam, buddy, you have to wake up. Sam!'' Colby whisper-yelled, not to get them kicked out for making noise.
In that moment though, Sam couldn't hear a thing, he was completely unaware of his surroundings. He forgot where he was, lost the concept of time and space as he was thinking that he was fighting for his last breath. Tears were rolling down his cheeks and he was sure that the headache was getting stronger and stronger.
Then, he heard his name once. Then again.
''Sam, you have to relax dude, don't swallow your tongue on me!'' Colby uncovered them both to get closer to Sam and cupped Sam's cheeks. ''Please wake up dude. Please Sam.''
That's when Sam finally opened his eyes, seeing Colby right there, his hair messy and eyes wide in shock. Sam realized he could move his hands and legs again.He could finally breathe.
''You have to breathe, but like slower. Deep breaths.'' Colby took his hand and tried to get Sam to imitate him as he took a deep breath in and then let it out.
While Sam was slowly coming back to reality, remembering where he was, what he was doing there, Colby smiled down at him. He didn't know he had the strength to do so, but it seemed like he found it so he can reassure him that everything is fine. Right away, he could tell that those things weren't coincidences.
''You feeling okay?'' Colby asked Sam, pulling his blanket over his naked torso. He also gave Sam back his own blanket, waiting for the guy to start forming words.
''I don't know what happened to me.'' He wiped his cheeks and realized he was crying too. ''I only remember falling asleep and right before waking up, I could not move anything at all and it was getting really hard to breathe. Like something was sitting on the top of my chest, it was hard to move it.''
Since Colby was shocked as he was telling him everything from his perspective, Sam thought for a second that he must've sounded crazy.
''Dude I swear to you, I swear on my life. I don't know what it was, but my head hurts really bad, my chest started hurting when I couldn't breathe in or out, it was like I was suffocating.'' Sam explained while Colby was nodding.
''I believe you, I get it. I got really worried bro, that's it. You were shaking a lot. And right before you woke up, I felt the bed shake so I wanted to wake you up. I got pretty damn scared,'' he said.
''I don't know what's going on Colby, this has never ever happened to me.'' Sam hugged himself and sighed before burying his head in his palms. His head hurt so bad now that he couldn't stop the tears forming in his eyes.
''Sam? Headache?'' Colby asked and got a nod in response. He sighed and sat closer to his best friend to hug him tightly. It was all getting too much. He got a small flashback of one of their talks about honesty, how good it is for any type of relationship to just be honest and say it right off the bat.
''You'll be okay,'' he whispered. ''It's so fucked up, but you'll be good. I won't let it get to you, you understand me?'' Sam hugged back and let himself sob in Colby's chest.
''I don't want to die here. People get signs before they pass away, I don't want these to be the signs. I don't wanna die Colby,'' he said, not daring to move his face away from Colby's neck.
''You won't die. It's not it. You're under stress. We can't keep pushing the side effects of this all under the rug,'' he said and looked down at Sam, whose eyes were closed.
''You don't think I care about all that- I've seen you cry Sam, have I ever made fun of you for it? Do you know why you are feeling like this now?''
''Why?'' he asked looking up at him. It was around two in the morning, but there was no way that Colby would miss how upset Sam actually looked.
''Because you are the bravest of us all, you always plan out what we do and you have courage to carry it all out till the very end. It means that you are awesome and you just needed a pause, your body wasn't ready for you worrying about dying.''
Sam laid back down because the pain spread to his neck and he couldn't keep his body in the sitting position anymore.
''I genuinely thought I'd die a few times in my life. I think that I got so scared of this room because..'' Colby laid down next to him, making sure he's covered. It was cold in London that night.
''I get you bro. I'm scared too'' Sam gulped when Colby said those words. ''I am. But I also love these trips. I love that we're doing this. I love how inspiring we are, how enlightening it was for us. How we evolved from trespassing on government property to going to these cool hotels, seeing the real stuff.''
Sam looked at Colby's lips and fought his urges to just give in to what he felt sometimes. Of course he loved Colby. As a best friend. To pieces. But they were not a thing, and they will never be a thing. That was a fact. Rumors will always be there. None of it had to mean anything to them.
He knew that what Colby was saying was also reassuring words, something he could grasp on to not to lose his mind. It didn't mean as much to him as it meant to Sam.
Then, Sam felt his friend's hand on his own. It was warmer than his own.
''You know that I'm being real with you, right? I never lie to you Sam. I try to never give you anything that's gonna make you question me or yourself or us. I wanna help you,'' Colby whispered, his voice warm and deep, still slightly rough from his small nap he had until it was interrupted.
Sam looked away.
They both knew. They were aware of their feelings, of the possibilities, of how they could ruin everything by saying the wrong thing. Years and years of awkward sexual tension and silence and questions that never got to be answered, Pandora boxes they wouldn't dare to open. But Colby wanted it now. Even though it was a huge risk, the biggest one in his entire life, he wanted to feel a warm body pressed to his, he wanted endless smiles, careless whispers through the sleepless nights and soft kisses on the cheek. He wanted an anchor, a hand to hold as he's going through everything. He could have it. All of it. With someone who he didn't want to give up on. More precisely, someone who's friendship meant the world and beyond.
Sam Golbach was everything he needed, everything he loved, everything he never deserved.
''Sam,'' he called his name, so their eyes would meet again.
Sam would give up on everything right at that moment if it meant that he gets to protect the most precious person in his life. Of course he knew what Colby felt. He knew him better than he knew himself. Colby was the one to hesitate, to be the more scared one.
For all these reasons, role reversal was really hard to swallow. This was what pushed Colby to get closer, cup Sam's cheek and kiss him.
Sam backed away for the smallest fragment of a second before he grasped reality again. There they were. It was happening. His migraine was unimportant. He just hugged Colby and kissed back as gently as he kissed him. That perfect moment of silence was broken when Sam broke the kiss. Their eyes met.
''I really wanted to do that,'' Colby whispered.
''I waited for you to do that,'' Sam smiled, getting closer to hug him.
''Let's...'' Colby's voice broke, unable to fathom what happened. He wanted to talk, to say so many things. But words would be pointless. Only one glare from Sam who let go from the hug was enough. That was it. His perfect smile. His infinitely blue eyes.
This time he went in for the kiss. It lasted a tad bit more than the other one.
''I don't even care where we are anymore, ya know?'' Colby said, which made Sam giggle. ''We both knew it was bound to happen though. You can't deny it.''
''I won't even try.''
Colby then felt the need to lay his head on his best friend's chest.
''We have an hour or so before calling Corey and Jake,'' Sam said after checking his phone.
''I don't want to tell them. Like, I never wanted to tell you,'' Colby whispered.
''We won't. Let them catch up.'' Sam chuckled a little and played with the hair on the back of Colby's neck. It was almost as if they've been together for ages now. It didn't feel like a new thing.
Colby didn't ever have the opportunity to have the relationship with someone he actually knows as well as Sam. It would all lead to an endless loop of hooking up and wasting chances.
''Colby?'' Sam mumbled to the half asleep boy who hummed in response.
''The headache is gone'' Sam said before closing his eyes. It was gonna be the shortest hour ever.