Strangers in Love

The nigh spent in the waiting room with Mike had only been the beginning of a process that would soon become the course of Kellin's life for however long this situation was going to last for them all. Vic had only seem to be growing worse over the course of his stay in the hospital. Though, Kellin still refused to leave his side unless it was absolutely necessary. There was a chair that sat beside Vic's hospital bed where Kellin remained perched for hours on end soothing Vic and telling him to hang in tough because he could get through this like he did the last time, yet his words usually fell on death ears since they had Vic on so much pain medicine due to his worsening condition that he could barely hear a word that Kellin, or anyone else, was saying.

The only time Kellin every really left Vic's side was when they had to run test or during the one hour shift change that occurred from 7 to 8, they didn't allow visitors at that time. Kellin usually took that change to go down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat, which was usually the only time during the day he'd actually take the time to find food for himself. Mike visited often too, and the times he did he'd try to bring Kellin some food or attempted to convince him to go home and shower with the assurance he'd wait with Vic until he returned again. It was always a cause of great anxiety for the raven-haired male to think that something important would happen when he chose to leave.

It had been a few weeks, closing in on a month and Kellin had been repeating this process without fail, yet Vic only seemed to be growing worse as time continued to pass. Kellin had just been allowed back in the room after they had taken Vic down to see if his tumor had progressed any further than it already had. Vic was awake and able to talk to Kellin consciously, they had been talking about how terrible the food was that they served at the hospital.

"Promise me that the first thing you're going to do when I get out of here is get me some decent food." Vic said, looking over at Kellin with a playful smile on his face. The blue eyed male was grateful that he was able to keep up his spunky and light-hearted attitude throughout this difficult situation.

"Of course, I'll take you wherever you want to go. I've had a couple of meals in the cafeteria and let's just say I don't look forward to those trips down stairs anymore," Kellin laugh softly before taking Vic's hand in his own, his thumb rubbing soft circles over the skin that rested there. "You should have seen what they were trying to pass off as potatoes down there. Hell, I never thought you could go wrong there."

"Now Kells, I don't know if you can criticize. Remember when you tried to cook us dinner? You almost burnt down the entire kitchen." Vic reminded, his tone still light and teasing. He didn't mind that he was the only one in the relationship who was remotely good at cooking, he was good at cleaning which helped to balance everything out.

"Hey, I worked really hard on that dinner, I just forgot I had left the oven on when you came over," Kellin's face contorted into a playful pout, his arms crossing childishly after he had released Vic's hand. "You just really distract me is all." He defended lamely.

Vic continued to smile, looking over at his boyfriend in amusement. If anyone was able to make him feel better throughout all of this, it was him. He was just really thankful at this point to have him there next to him, supporting him no matter how tough this situation could get.

"I love you." He merely mumbled in return, reaching out for Kellin's hand once more. He knew he'd never be able to put into words how he felt about Kellin, and how him hanging by with Vic meant just about the world to him, but he'd do his best to make sure Kellin knew exactly how much Vic cared about him and their relationship.

"I love you too, babe." The pout was quickly erased from his face, his hand reaching out once to grasp at Vic's. Not once had Kellin started to doubt their relationship, but it was nice to hear the words come from Vic's lips. He missed sitting around in their living room together watching movies and swapping kisses and compliments. However, if the situation was reversed he knew that Vic would be in the same spot Kellin was beside him.

Before they could finish relishing in their moment together, Mike walked into the room with a bag of fast food in his hand, most likely for Kellin. Though, he seemed to forget whatever it was that he had on his mind when he spotted that Vic was actually lying awake in the bed and was able to interact with him. He immediately wandered over to the bed and smiled down at his brother.

"Hey,it's about time they let you off all of those meds, they keep you hopped up like this and you'll get some kind of addiction." Mike frowned for a moment, looking at all the bags of medicines that were hooked up to his IV machine.

"C'mon Mike, I'm fine. They're only giving me what I need, okay?" Vic disagreed softly, moving to sit up comfortable in the bed, he tapped his fingers against his younger brother's arm to catch his attention so he'd stop fussing over the bags of pain medicines. "It's good to see you again, Kellin said you come up a lot, it's just all a bit fuzzy right now.

Kellin was prepared to leave and let them have their time, he knew he couldn't have a monopoly over Vic, especially since Mike had been so kind and accepting to Kellin. They deserved to have their time together. He slowly rose from the chair that he had been occupying, offering a smile at the two brothers.

"I'll let you guys have your time. I know it's been a while, I'll just be right out there in the living room if you need me, okay?" He was speaking to both of them, but his eyes couldn't help but travel to his boyfriend lying in the bed.

Vic look up at Kellin in understanding, giving a soft nod of his head. "Alright, babe. You should probably go get yourself something to eat, and I don't mean the shitty cafeteria food either." Vic spoke, a soft smile crossing his features.

"Oh yeah, this is for you." Mike jumped in, offering out the bag of fast food that had been forgotten until now. He had a look of appreciation and thankfulness on his features when Kellin met his eye, smiling happily as he took the food.

However, before Kellin got too far from Vic's room he was caught by Vic's doctor who had just been coming in the room to talk to them. Fearing the worse, he trailed behind the doctor back into the room where he had just left, his happy mood had quickly deteriorated and was replaced by a feeling of worry and concern.

The pair looked up in confusion when they saw Vic's doctor enter the room with Kellin not too far behind.

"Mr Fuentes," The doctor spoke, looking down at the clipboard in his hands like he always seemed to do whenever he had news to deliver to them. "We've determined that the growth of your Osteosarcoma is far too rapid to control and that the only way we can try to prevent this from getting any farther than it already has is to amputate your leg."

A stunned silence filled the room, no one was quite sure of what to say at this point. It had been known that Vic had been growing worse as time went on, but to amputate his leg was something that none of them had quite expected.

"What happens if I say no?" Vic asked after what felt like minutes of silence. The doctor must haven been stunned by the question because he didn't answer right away.

"Well, uh, your chances of survival are just about cut in half." He answered causing an uneasy chill to go down Kellin's spin.