So, I finally got everything to get working on my computer, and I can update. This has been becoming the most popular fic on here, which, really, is surprising to me. I didn't think people would like it as much as ~X~ Fix Your Eyes ~X~, but I'm not complaining. I'm glad everybody likes it.
Another thing - if you come to my blog, I have a favor to ask: Tell your friends! I know I'm being a slow ass with the fics I've promised, and I'm really sorry. They're all almost finished. Harpsiccord's stuff is, like, a sentence from the end, as is the Fred/Cho fic. So, trust me, I really am working on them, and they'll be up really soon.
Thank you guys for your patience. I can't tell you how grateful I am to you.
Name: Feeling This
Pairing: Mark/Tom (blink_182)
Genre: Romance, AU
Rating: PG-13
Chapter 6: Time
“Skipping class?” Scott asked as Mark and Tom pulled up to the hospital the next morning.
“As are you, I see,” Tom observed. They walked together through the doors.
The smell hit Tom so strongly he almost wanted to turn and run. Hospitals always smelled like latex, cotton balls, and death. Still, it wasn’t like Tom hadn’t ever spent hours with Travis there.
“Hey, Trav,” Mark said sheepishly as they walked into the room. He obviously still felt guilty.
Travis smiled weakly. He had an IV in his arm and oxygen plugs up his nose. He looked so frail and sick that Tom had to swallow a gasp – he’d never looked this bad before.
The three of them took seats around the bed, Scott quickly grabbing onto Travis’s thin hand. Tom set the half-dead flowers he’d bought in the lobby on the bedside table.
“So how are you?” Mark finally blurted.
Travis looked down at the sheets. “Not… Not great.” He looked uncomfortable. “The nurses said they found bruises on me.”
Tom stiffened. Scott gritted his teeth. Mark leaned in and asked, “So, what did you say?”
“I said I fell,” Travis replied. Then he sighed. “Don’t look at me like that, Mark. I know it’s a lie. You know it’s a lie. Scott and Tom know it’s a lie. I’ve never even fallen down in front of you guys. But how else am I supposed to explain a black eye and tons of bruises to a stranger? Bradley would kill me.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t yet,” Tom remarked bleakly. “Dammit, Trav. I wish you weren’t in this situation.”
“Or any of these situations,” Mark added. “It’s like you lost a cosmic bet or some shit.”
“It gets worse,” Scott said. “Travis needs a heart transplant.”
The room went dead quiet.
Tom and Mark exchanged incredulous looks while Travis whispered, “Please, Scott. I told you not to tell them.”
“We kinda need to know!” Mark shouted, making everyone else jump.
“Yeah,” Tom agreed quietly. “I mean, like, how… How bad is it?”
Travis shrugged, fiddling with the edge of his bedding. “I could go a month or two. After that…” He trailed off.
They sat in ominous quiet, the only sounds being the beeping of the heart monitor. Tom stared out the window without seeing anything. A month or two. Fuck. If he could’ve ripped out his heart and given it to Travis right then and there, he would’ve. By the look on Mark’s face, he felt the same.
The only surprising reaction was Scott’s. He clasped Travis’s hand gently and brought it to his lips, closing his eyes. Trav’s eyes were beginning to blur over with tears at this gesture.
Tom ran a hand over his face. “God fucking dammit.”
“Amen,” Mark agreed tonelessly.
Tom touched Travis’s arm. “How are you really? You gotta tell us.”
Travis wiped his eyes. “Well, I’m scared,” he admitted in a whisper. “But it’s not exactly unexpected. I just hope I can get the transplant. If I get it, I’ll finally be normal. But if I don’t, then…”
Mark held up a hand. “Jesus, Trav, don’t fucking say it. If you say it, I’m going to have a mental fucking breakdown.”
Tom nodded and rubbed Mark’s back.
“There’s – There’s one thing,” Travis muttered awkwardly. Mark, Tom, and Scott snapped to immediate attention. “There’s just one thing I really, really want you guys to do. Could you… Bring me my song? The one I wrote?”
Tom and Mark were breaking into Travis’s house in five minutes.
Author's Note: Again, guys, thanks for your patience. Per usual, comments are appreciated.
