“It’s jealousy. I’m jealous of you,” Jiyong continued, and he winced a little, and looked away; Seunghyun thought he would start crying for a moment, but he didn’t. “But you’re in my same shoes, huh. I’m being a jackass, and you’re in my same shoes.”

                “My shoes are $150, though. Yours seem like basic Nikes,” Seunghyun commented. Jiyong glanced at him, and he seemed to fight a smile.

                “I have Jordans, too. These are my ‘You Didn’t Die’ present,” Jiyong replied, and he smiled a little. Seunghyun smiled, too.

                “I’m… glad you didn’t die. Cuz, you know… I need a cancer friend,”

                “Yeah. I at friendship, so you’ll have to teach me how to that. We can exchange; my cancery-ness, and your normal person-ness,” he smiled; Seunghyun thought his eyes still looked sad.

                “Step one: don’t tell your new friend you hate them,” Seunghyun teased.

                “I won’t. Ever again,” Jiyong frowned a little. “I won’t say that.”

                “… Step two: don’t worry so much, because your new friend likes you,”

                “It’s because I’m pretty,” Jiyong rolled his eyes, grinning to himself. “I like him, too. Because he looks mean, and talks mean, but carries me down hospital hallways and gives me XBOX controllers.”

                “It’s not just because you’re pretty. It’s because you’re a little prick. And because you’re bitter, but you always … I dunno… I feel better when I talk to you. Like, maybe I’ll be okay, and be able to laugh at this , like you,” Seunghyun was more honest than he wanted to be, and so he blushed. Ji looked up at him shyly, blushing a little.

                “But… it’s sorta because I’m pretty? … You said it’s not just because I’m pretty,”

                “Huh? Well… I mean, it’s kinda of because you um… have a nice smile. It’s warm,” Seunghyun squinted, and his heart felt like it would beat out of his chest. That was the easiest way he could think to answer that without sounding kind of … weird. But it seemed like Jiyong was almost eager to be thought of as pretty. Seunghyun wasn’t sure if it was because of him, or because of some insecurity that the guy had inside. Jiyong seemed to ponder that answer for a moment, and he took another few steps forward.

                “So, I’m gonna go with it being because I’m pretty,” he stated matter-of-factly. “But you’re wrong, anyway. I’m a guy, so that makes me handsome. In a pretty way.”

                “You really are crazy. I think you really lost your mind during treatments,” Seunghyun laughed.

                “… Blah blah blah, denial,”

                “You know, if you took a break from flirting with me, we might actually make it down this hallway,” Seunghyun commented. Jiyong smirked a little, but he didn’t reply, and the pair walked more steadily down the hall.

                “You like it, anyway,” Jiyong replied after a while, and Seunghyun chuckled to himself. They had finally made it to the play room, and Seunghyun sort of wondered if they were still teasing each other, or if this was some sort of subtle admission that they were, in fact, flirting. “I’m gonna walk to the shapes by myself.” Jiyong offered, determination in his milk-chocolate colored eyes. He pushed Seunghyun off of him a little, and took a few steps forward, looking back at Seunghyun gleefully. “Not bad, right?”

                “See? I told you, you were just being a baby,” Seunghyun chuckled, walking beside Ji, matching his slow, cautious pace. “Man, you’re doing great.”

              “If I go slow, it’s not so bad,” Jiyong smiled as he walked. “You’re … really cool for being patient with my broken .”

                “Nah, it’s no big deal. I’ll just be waiting for you to return the favor when I’m in here and broken, too,” he teased. Jiyong nodded, chuckling a bit.

                “But you’re bigger than me, so I hope you don’t need me to carry you,” they had reached the shapes, and Jiyong flopped down on the blue & green square that Seunghyun had been sitting on the last time. He huffed a little, catching his breath. Seunghyun sat beside him, watching him breathe for a moment.

                “You okay?” he asked cautiously.

                “Winded…” Jiyong exhaled sharply, then in a deep breath. “I got lung cancer, so it’s normal.” Ji chuckled, smiling at Seunghyun. “Don’t get all concerned. And please don’t ask me if I need oxygen.”

                “I’m sorry,” Seunghyun frowned, though he didn’t mean to. “… that you have lung cancer.”

                “Yeah, cancer has a tendency to spread to other organs,” Ji shrugged. “You gonna start up the XBOX, or you gonna make the hobbling mutant do it?”

                “Sorry, I just…” he was staring at Ji, again. It didn’t seem fair. Ji seemed like a great person, and he was good looking, and down to earth. It didn’t seem fair that he had something that was probably going to kill him. “I’m sorry.”

                “You’re not getting sentimental, are you?” Ji smiled brightly. “It’s okay. I’ll let you stare, today, so you can commit me to memory and all that. Maybe, sketch me later or build a shrine…” Seunghyun smiled softly; sadly. “Dude, relax. I promise I’ll live.”

                “… Where did it start? Your cancer…”

                “Muscle tissue in my chest. It was a tumor, at first they just did surgery, but it grew back, so we did chemo to shrink the tumor, which worked that time,” Jiyong chuckled. “But those things are tricky. You know? So, anyway, here I am four years later. Different drugs, different therapies, different homeopathies, seven surgeries later.” Jiyong’s thoughts trailed off, and he frowned. “Here I am…”

                “You never know, this could be the time you get better,”

                “I’m … I’m really not expected to get ‘better’. I can probably live a pretty extended life, with treatments, but… eventually, I’ll succumb to it,” Jiyong sighed, shaking his head. “Why I’m talking about this, when it’s so depressing….”

                “My bad. I shouldn’t be asking you this ,” Seunghyun looked apologetic, and he looked away. “I just… think you’re cool. And I wanna… make sense of it, I guess.” Jiyong chuckled.

                “Makes sense of it? There’s no sense. Things happen by chance. Why did you get leukemia?” Jiyong asked.

                “… Because I’m a piece of who gave my parents hell,” Seunghyun commented, horrifying Jiyong for a moment. “I’m just kidding. Not about giving my parents hell, though, I mean… I cheated at almost every game of Monopoly we ever played.”

                “People don’t get cancer as a punishment. It’s cruel and random,” Jiyong replied quickly.

                “I know. I’m sorry. Bad joke,” Seunghyun apologized, patting Jiyong on the shoulder. “I was always a goody-two-shoes, anyway.”

                “Yeah, me too,” Jiyong chuckled. “I wish I woulda caused more trouble, though. I was saving everything for … when I got older, when I … went to college or something. Drinking, , partying. I had no idea I’d miss everything.”

                “So, wait. You never had a drink, never had , and never partied?” Seunghyun asked curiously.

                “… Never… did… those things, nope,” Jiyong smiled shyly. “I mean, I went to parties at all, but not that kind of party.”

                “Awww!” Seunghyun laughed, Jiyong pushed his shoulder weakly. “You’re so innocent.”

                “Innocent, no. Inexperienced, perhaps,”

                “That’s our mission. To change those things,” Seunghyun decided, nodding to himself. Jiyong blushed a little, glancing at Seunghyun.

                “Number two…”

                “ting? You have to ?”

                “What?...  No, I mean the second thing. What made you think I was talking about ting?” Jiyong laughed a little, and Seunghyun chuckled.

                “No, I knew, I was just ribbing you. Yeah, even number two. That’s the main thing we gotta fix,” Seunghyun glanced at him, lifting a brow. “You look nervous.”

                “Are you volunteering?” Jiyong smirked.

                “… Alright, you really gotta stop flirting with me,” Seunghyun replied quickly, brushing a hand through his hair.

                “That… was a legit question, I swear,” he probably should’ve been embarrassed, but he was amused, and thought that maybe Seunghyun was enjoying it a little, too.

                “I am not,” Seunghyun replied calmly. “I was suggesting that I help you get laid. I was not volunteering to sodomize you.” Jiyong laughed loudly, coughing soon after. His lungs were s, these days. “I didn’t mean to kill you with that response.”

                “Not dead yet,” Jiyong coughed again, clearing his throat. “I shouldn’t have laughed that hard. Stupid cancer sacks my body passes off as lungs…”

                “…. So, like… you’re gay, right? I mean, that’s totally okay,”

                “Huh?” Jiyong’s eyes widened, and he looked at Seunghyun nervously.

                “I’m just asking,” he paused a little, then cleared his throat. “Just, with all the flirting…”

                “… Are you straight?” Jiyong asked shyly, and nervously, he continued. “Because it’s not like, um… I was just playing around, and stuff. I don’t wanna, like, force you or force myself on you, or something…”

                “I… um… never…”

                “Pause? Let’s not have this conversation. Yeah. Yeah, let’s just play Red Dead Redemption,” Jiyong’s pale face seemed to turn bright pink, and he covered his mouth with one of his thin hands. For a second, Seunghyun was worried that Jiyong wasn’t feeling okay, but after a while, it became apparent that he was just embarrassed.

                “… So, are you gonna give me your number?” Seunghyun asked cautiously, staring at the guy. “You know… so we can have totally … platonic and masculine conversations and make totally manly man dates…” he smiled at Ji, chuckling a little.

                “I…would be okay with that. I would also be okay with… not platonic man dates…” Jiyong replied shyly, blushing a little. He’d never gone on a date. With anyone. Even suggesting it felt weird, but maybe, he thought, they were both into the idea, and he was probably going to die anyway, so he figured he might as well enjoy himself while he was here.

                “Okay. Then… give me your number,” Seunghyun smiled again, chuckling.

                “Oh, yeah. My number,” Jiyong smiled shyly, biting down on his lip nervously. Seunghyun handed Jiyong his cell phone, and the younger guy typed in his phone number. “I’m really nervous, for some reason…” Jiyong commented, handing the guy the phone back.

                “It’s because I’m pretty,” Seunghyun replied playfully. Jiyong smiled.

                “Hey, that’s my line.” 

Updated with part 2 of this chapter! I'll try my best to update again, soon. Please leave comments to let me know what you think, and how you feel about the story so-far! As always, comments make me more excited to update! And things will be picking up for Ji and Top very soon! Thanks to all the subscribers! I'm glad so many of you find this story interesting! -mv