It was boring and clinical at Presbyterian, and Ji hated it there. For the past week, he’d been too sick and too sleepy to care or notice, but he was awake, now, and bored, and he wasn’t allowed to go home, yet. The tumor had returned, and he’d been in an aggressive round of chemo the previous week, and experienced complications which gleefully landed him his old room back at Presby. He was supposed to be on bed rest, but he felt better. He’d told the nurse earlier that he wanted to wheel around the hospital if he could; in his mind, to find some new kids to meet & bother; but his usual nurse wasn’t there and this lady told him no.

                The wheelchair was in his room. His legs worked fine, and he could get to the chair just fine on his own. He only needed it because he was too weak to walk, at the moment. Defiance had him sit up in his bed, and he huffed out air, annoyed with how easily he’d become winded. He eyed the chair in determination; it was his escape and he had to get into it. They didn’t seem to want to leave him alone too much, this week, but his mother had stepped out about an hour ago to have a much-needed break, and Jiyong was glad. Honestly, her break was a break for him as much as it was for her, and without her around, there was nobody left to treat him as if he were a baby or made of porcelain.

                He gripped the pole that the IV bags of his nutrition and meds were hanging from, and slowly swung his ever-thinner legs over the side of the bed, huffing again when his feet hit the floor. It was only a few short steps to his wheelchair, but suddenly the distance seemed so far, and a wave of despair washed over him. If he couldn’t even get to the damn wheelchair, he’d be stuck in this boring room all day watching Dr. Phil interview delinquent children and their stressed-out parents, and that seemed like the absolute worst thing about this whole two-week ordeal. There was only one thing to do; it up and shuffle to that chair as fast as his cancerous body could muster.

                One shaky step after another, and he’d made it, sinking into the padded seat in relief. He sat there for a moment, his hand clutched around the metal IV pole as he took several shallow breaths. It was getting harder to breathe, lately; Ji told himself it didn’t mean anything. That if it had, the doctors would’ve mentioned it. He looked down at his Batman pajamas and cringed. How he wished he had the strength to get dressed without his mom or a nurse helping him, but he hadn’t dressed himself since before he’d come in for chemo the week before, and he didn’t think trying now would be a good idea. Instead, he grabbed the Spongebob blanket off of the foot of his bed, draping it over his own lap. For a moment, he wondered if it made him look like an old lady in a retirement home, but he ignored the thought and wheeled himself out of the door quietly, carefully rolling the IV pole along beside him.

                He wasn’t sure why he expected someone to try to stop him and make him return to bed when he left the room, but instead, he was met with smiles and greetings from all the on-call medical staff. They hadn’t seen him alert all week, they commented. It was good to see him out. Whatever. For some reason, their comments both made him smile and cringe, and he felt like they were saying that he was basically a goner before, and it was bittersweet, and he didn’t want to hear it, so he wheeled as fast as he could to the Romp & Play Room. He was 19, but he’d been coming to this pediatric ward since he was 15, the first time he was diagnosed with his sarcoma, and technically, he was still under the care of these pediatric doctors. In the pediatric ward, there was a big colorful room with toys and games and TVs and places to relax and meet other kids. It was sort of young, for his age group, but Ji still enjoyed coming, and they usually brought every kid that was healthy enough to enjoy the place, every now and then. Besides that, there was an XBOX, and if all else failed, Ji could just play Arkham Asylum for a few hours. Or until a nurse or his mom came to fetch him.

                There were mostly little kids there, when he rolled in. It was early; he guessed most of the teens hadn’t decided to come, yet, so he wheeled over to the sitting area, where the XBOX was. The sitting area was a bunch of colorful, vinyl cushions in various shapes that the kids lounged on while they played video games or watched DVDs. When Ji was in the chair, he just parked. There was a kid sitting on those shapes, already; a guy about his age, maybe, lounging on a blue & green square, XBOX controller in hand. Ji thought he would be happy to see another young person there for him to talk to, but honestly, he was just annoyed that the XBOX was occupied. He sat in his chair, eyeing the guy as he idly played some stupid Western game. The guy didn’t look sick, although years of experience had told him that not all cancer kids did. But he really didn’t. He had on his regular clothes, and his black hair was tossed lazily about his head as if he’d woken up and came straight to the Romp & Play room; granted, Ji had basically done the same thing. The black leather jacket and dark blue jeans, with black & white Jordans annoyed Ji, for some reason, and he felt the urge to tell him to off; that this room was for the sick ones and he wanted the XBOX.

                But the dude looked at him, first, and Ji lost his nerve. The guy stared at him for a moment, his fingers lazily pressing buttons on the controller, and then he focused back on the TV screen, cursing under his breath as his character nearly took a bullet. Ji scoffed a little, and the guy looked at him again, lifting an eyebrow.

                “What?”

                “Huh?” Ji lost his nerve again, his eyes widening at the prospect of confrontation. The guy was bigger than him, and Ji was weak and in that chair. Confrontation was the last thing he wanted.

                “… Did you wanna play or something?” the guy asked hastily, pausing his game. He sat up a little, his eyes focused on Ji as he offered him the controller. Ji stared at the thing as if it was alien to him, and after a few seconds, the guy just dropped it in his lap. “You can play. I was just in around…”

                “… I don’t know what this game is,” Ji commented, taking the controller.

                “’Red Dead Redemption’. How don’t you know this game? It’s pretty popular.” The guy commented, staring at Ji again, as if he was curious and sympathetic. It annoyed Ji.

                “I don’t know,” Ji replied dryly, taking the controller in his hand. “I play Arkham Asylum.”

                “Okay,” the guy paused a moment to stare at Ji again. “You want me to put it in for you?” Ji’s first reaction was to be offended that the guy assumed he was helpless, but then he remembered that he was too weak to walk over to the XBOX and put the new game in, so he nodded lazily at the stranger.

                “Thanks,” he forced out. It felt a little too much like sympathy. “You didn’t have to let me play, just cuz I wheeled up in a chair looking completely pathetic, but thanks, I guess.” The guy glanced back at him as he opened the Batman: Arkham Asylum game case, and he froze.

                “Oh… but that’s not… I was just…” the guy seemed taken aback for a moment, and he stared at Ji.

                “What are you waiting for? Put it in,” Ji sighed, looking away from the guy. The stares were getting uncomfortable. The guy fumbled with the disc for a moment, and finally placed it in the XBOX, quickly making his way back to the square to sit down.

                “… I didn’t think you looked pathetic. I just thought you wanted to play,”

                “Okay,” Ji replied, uninterested in the guy’s explanation.

                “You know, you’re not. Pathetic. Being sick doesn’t make you pathetic,” the guy continued, and he stared at him again, and Ji tried to ignore him. But he spoke again. “Leukemia?”

                “… No,” Ji sounded annoyed. The guy chuckled. “I’m glad you’re amused.”

                “You’re just so bitter,”

                “You’re just so annoying,” even he thought he sounded a bit mean, himself, but he bit his lip instead of apologizing, starting his last game from his save point and focusing on the screen.

                “Mine is. Leukemia…” the guy lingered on the thought for a moment, “I used to think that’s what kids got.” Ji glanced at him, then back to Batman and his search for psychopathic criminals.

                “New diagnosis? Bummer,” he commented, feeling a little guilty for having mentally judged the guy earlier. “What are you here for? Starting chemo?”

                “Not today. Just… some kinda scan thing. My mom, she uh… she’s been talking to the doctor all morning, so they just told me to come in here and wait and …” the guy stared at Ji again, and Ji glanced at him. “I’m sorry… I keep staring, right?”

                “Yeah, I’m so pretty, who could blame you?” he smirked a little at his own joke, and the guy chuckled again. “Soft tissue sarcoma… but recently spread to my lungs, so, I’m probably gonna die.”

                “What?” the guy’s eyes widened. Ji shrugged.

                “Eh. They say I could probably live a few more years. Gonna try a new treatment. The other almost took me out last week,” It was fun being able to swear with someone. He’d been talking to doctors, nurses, or his parents for so long that swearing had been kind of off limits for much of the last four years.

                “… My first friend, here, and he’s already signed his own death certificate,” the guy smiled a little, and Ji did, too, but he could see the sadness in the guy’s eyes.

                “What’s with the look? You in love with me or something?” Ji joked, chuckling to himself. “You don’t even know my name, so don’t worry about it. Some of us can be cured, like probably you. Mine… I can just be… kept alive and comfortable. Well, relatively. Who knows, maybe I got some years…” Ji’s words trailed off; this depressing stuff was the he hated the most. He knew he wasn’t going to be cured, and he knew eventually his cancer was going to kill him. Leukemia had a good survival rate, these days, and he didn’t want to scare the new guy. “You’re gonna be fine. Probably take you like a year to be NEC.”

                He didn’t respond for a while, and so Ji glanced at him from the corner of his eye and he saw that the guy was staring at him again. It felt weird, so he bit down on his lip again, and tried to focus on Batman.

                “I’m Seunghyun… by the way,” the guy offered. “You, uh… you don’t look like it’s that bad.” Ji scoffed a little, smirking. He was naïve. It was almost sad.

                “Why is that?”

                “I dunno. You look normal,” he winced as soon as he said the words. “Not that you’re not normal.”

                “Of course I’m not normal. You’re not normal, either. We’re mutants or some … that’s how your body like… cancer is some kinda mutation or some ,” Ji rambled, then he growled loudly as the Joker contributed to Batman’s demise. “God damnit!”

                “No, I mean, like… you like… you um…” the guy hesitated, and then he sighed. “Alright, I just thought that, like, people lose their hair and, you know, all that .”

                “Mhm… it grows back. I’ve lost it a few times,” Ji commented as he started another game. “Probably gonna lose it all again, though. It’s starting to come out.”

                “Am I gonna…” Seunghyun stopped himself, as if he thought it was a stupid question, and he glanced at Ji again. “You didn’t tell me who you are.”

                “Me?... Ji.” He commented quickly.

                “Just Ji?”

                “… Ji … yong… Kwon?” he glanced at Seunghyun. “We’re both Korean, then.”

                “Seems like it. Dunno about that , though,”

                “No?” Jiyong smiled to himself. This guy seemed clueless about everything. “Korean-American parents or something? … I was born in Korea. But, you know, we been here since I was like 2, so…” Seunghyun nodded.

                “My parents were born here. I’m named after my mom’s dad. He died like right before I was born or something.” The guy started to peel off his leather jacket, and he threw it on a red triangle beside him. “It’s frustrating, cuz nobody can say my name.”

                “I can relate. But that’s why I just go by Ji. Everyone can say ‘Ji’,” he responded, trying his best to focus on the Caped Crusader, but honestly, Seunghyun was becoming a lot more interesting.

                “So, how long you been here? In the hospital, I mean,” Seunghyun asked, pushing his fingers through his messy hair.

                “This time? This makes like two weeks. I hadn’t been in the hospital for a while, before then. Just my regular check-ups,” he paused the game, taking a deep breath. Talking to Seunghyun had proven to be a harder task than he thought.

                “You okay?” the guy seemed alarmed, and Ji waved him off.

                “Yeah. Anyway, I’ll probably be here for a while… I’m alert, and they won’t let me go home,” Ji chuckled. “I guess they gotta figure out my new treatment plan.”

                “…Seems like you must’ve been fighting this thing for a long time,” Seunghyun commented.

                “Mhm. Like four years? Yeah. Since I was 15,” it had really been the better half of his teen years. He’d been in and out of hospitals, and been forced to leave school for good when the fight became too much. Mostly, he just sat at home with his parents, and when he felt good, he took classes online. He was a little bit late and still needed to complete his high school diploma, but he thought almost dying was a good enough excuse, and his parents never seemed to push him about school anymore. Almost dying, he guessed, made school seem like a secondary achievement to living to them too.

                “… That kinda scares me,” Seunghyun admitted. Ji glanced at him apologetically.

                “Nah, but that’s me. And I wasn’t sick the whole time. It ain’t easy, but it ain’t so bad… And like I said, you’ll be NEC in no time. Leukemia is studied so much, it has a good survival rate these days,” Ji reassured the guy, giving him a confident smile; the kind of smile that would’ve infuriated Ji if someone had smiled at him that way after feeding him such a load.

                “Thanks… No evidence of cancer, right? Thanks,” Seunghyun nodded solemnly as if he didn’t quite believe it. “What makes you think I’ll be NEC or whatever, but you won’t be?”

                “… I just know what they tell me. It’s complicated,” Ji shrugged, and he smirked a little. “But if you want me to live that much, I’ll do it just for you.” That got a smile out of Seunghyun, a small one, and then Ji unpaused his game.

                “So, you like Batman?” Seunghyun asked, and Ji glanced at him. “I mean… your pants, then your game…”

                “Oh. Yeah. Batman and Iron Man,” Ji commented. “I just like superheroes.”

                “But both of them are just regular guys with money. Not superheroes,” Seunghyun pointed out. “Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark are billionaires who have the money to create themselves into heroes.”

                “Super doesn’t mean powers, it just means great. They are great and awesome heroes, therefore superheroes. And Tony Stark has a super suit, so that counts-“

                “Yeah, but so does War Machine,” Seunghyun added. Ji shot him a look.

                “And War Machine is a superhero. Anyway, as I was saying before the rude interruption; Batman also trained with the League of Assassins. Which gave him super abilities,” Ji was in his element talking about superheroes. Seunghyun chuckled a little.

                “You’re really into that stuff, huh,” he pointed out. Ji shrugged, feeling a bit like he was being made fun of.

                “Comic books are a good way to pass the time. Then, there’s the movies… the video games… I get into it,” he pursed his lips as if he were embarrassed, and then he paused his game again. “You’re the one who likes weird Westerns and .”

                “I never said I liked them, I just wanted to play Red Dead Redemption because I don’t have that one at home,” Seunghyun chuckled to himself. “I was just saying you’re really into it, not that it’s a bad thing. Anyway, I like superheroes, too. I think everybody kinda does.” Ji shrugged. Superheroes weren’t just summer blockbusters and silly cartoons, to him, though. He didn’t think Seunghyun got that very well.

                “I’m not really paying attention to this,” Jiyong commented as he saved the game. “How long you stayin? Wanna watch a DVD?”

                “… Depends. What kinda movies they got, here?” Seunghyun asked, getting up from his square and looking through the bookshelf full of DVDs. “Let’s watch Iron Man, since you like him.”

                “… We don’t gotta watch something like that,”

                “Okay, then Wolverine? Show you what a real superhero looks like?” Seunghyun smirked as he held the DVD up for Ji to see, pleased with his own ribbing. Ji actually smiled, and he nodded.

                “Yeah, Wolverine’s dope,”

                They had only gotten through about half of the movie when a nurse came for Seunghyun. He looked incredibly nervous standing up from his square. Jiyong wanted to tell him that this was the easy part; but then again, that could’ve been even scarier news. After all, Seunghyun’s cancer journey was just beginning.

                “It was… nice meeting you, Ji,” Seunghyun nodded nervously, picking up his jacket to follow the nurse to his doom; at least that’s the expression his face was making.

                “You too,” Jiyong nodded, smiling a bit. He was a bit disappointed, because now he’d really have nothing to do but play Arkham Asylum all day, or wheel back to his room for yet another day of boredness, and being prodded by medical professionals. But meeting Seunghyun was cool. At least he seemed cool.

                “You gonna be here? I might stop by before I leave,” the tall guy asked, standing over Ji’s chair, which made Ji feel mildly jealous, though he shook it off because the chair was only temporary. Ji shrugged in response, grasping his IV pole.

                “Maybe. Eh. I gotta get my IVs changed in a little bit. Maybe try to eat some actual food,” he chuckled, although it wasn’t really funny, because eating hadn’t at all been fun for the past two weeks. “If I’m not here, just ask them were my room is.” Seunghyun nodded, his nervous face glancing at the smiling nurse.

                “It’s alright, you can take a moment,” she assured him.

                “Nah, I’m… it’s cool,” the guy mumbled out, before nodding at Ji. “See you later, man.” The nurse and Seunghyun began to walk away, but Ji called out to him before he could go through the doorway.

                “Come to support group… It’s kinda lame, but I dunno. I go on Saturdays, Saturday, I’ll be there,” Ji didn’t know why he sort of fumbled out the invitation, but Seunghyun nodded a little.

                “Yeah, maybe I’ll come,”

Author's note: please leave feedback! I will try my best to update at least once a week, but more feedback may inspire me to post more often! I will warn readers now; if you are triggered by hospital settings, terminal illness, and major character death, you may want to proceed with caution! But I hope I can create a beautiful story for you all!