Turn Away, Cause I'm Awful Just to See

[Will Spencer]

Acute Myeloid Leukemia, the words echoed in Will's mind, his eyes closed, pretending that he was sleeping. Pretending that he couldn't hear what the doctors were saying. What they had just confirmed for him. It had been strange the way he just passed out in the middle of the library, strange that his nose bled at random times, his gums too. The symptoms had been showing for just over a month now, and he hadn't placed what they were until the words came from the doctor's mouth. The surprise shouldn't have been there, but when he did wake up, he had been. He'd been shocked by the fact that he was sick and hadn't even been able to tell.

Gabriel Mendes, the next two words out of the doctor's mouth had William's body going rigid. Gabe was his emergency contact. They were going to call him. They couldn't tell him, he couldn't know. Will's heart started racing and the monitor beside his bed beeped frantically. The doctor rushed to the side of the bed and Will opened his eyes. What followed was simple. He told the doctor that he wanted to inform Gabe himself. That the doctor of course could call his best friend, but that Gabriel wouldn't be told. Not by him. Will had been struggling with speaking, his throat was dry and it cracked with every sentence that came from his mouth. After the conversation, after the struggle, the doctor sedated him and he slept a little while longer.

While he slept, he dreamed. He dreamed of what it would have been like if he hadn't been a mutant. If he'd been able to stay in England with his family. If he'd grown up with his sisters, with Lottie. If he had never come to America. Never met Gabe....Gabriel. Gabriel was the one thing he couldn't allow himself to regret. If nothing good came from this life he was given, there was Gabe. What would Gabe be like without him? What would Gabe become once Will died?

He couldn't tell his best friend. Not yet. He needed a plan. A back up for what had caused him to pass out and end up in the hospital with tests being run. But that could wait until he woke.

[Gabriel Mendes]

Getting a call from the hospital and cited as being an emergency contact for Will made Gabriel jump to the worst conclusion. Luckily he wasn't in the middle of an assignment or he wouldn't have been able to get to the hospital on time.

As soon as he saw Will, Gabriel sighed and went to the side of his bed. "The hell happened, man?" Gabriel whispered, the urge to press his hand on the other guy's forehead pretty overwhelming. He was sleeping so Gabriel didn't wake him up. He sat on the chair and waited a bit.

When Will woke up, Gabriel straightened up in his chair. "Will...the fuck, man?"

[Will Spencer]

The dreams had started out okay, great in fact. He was happy in the beginning, but the longer he slept, the more they turned to things of nightmares. He became a nightmare and his heart rate began to speed up before his eyes opened and he winced where his arm had tugged on the IV. Well fuck. That wasn't the smartest, he tried to take a few deep breaths, the last thing he needed was for the doc to come back and sedate him again. He was tired of sleeping, although it was probably the longest he'd slept in weeks...months? He was shaking and he frowned, this was definitely not how he wanted to spend the next few days.

Slowly recovering from the haze of the sedatives, he glanced up to see Gabriel straightening up. Shit. Shit. Shit. FUCK. He hadn't found a cover story. He hadn't expected Gabe to get there so fast. How had he gotten there so fucking fast? Shit. William groggily frowned and waved off the man's worried tone. Of course he'd blow things out of proportion, er well, without actually knowing the reason to be worried. "What are you doing here? I thought you had a thing? A date or whatever..." He was stalling. He was stalling so fucking hard because he needed to think of something believable that he could convince Gabriel of. The man beside him was not stupid and he knew Will was quite the liar, but maybe he'd still believe it.

"I passed out, it's not that big of a deal. Don't get your panties twisted you cock bite," He attempted to smirk, but he was exhausted and drained. Perhaps they had drugged him to make him so slow. God he fucking hated this shit. Why did it have to happen now? Hadn't he dealt with enough? Didn't he still have two years?

[Gabriel Mendes]

"No, she ducked out early." He waved his hand dismissively, knowing the only reason why he was even asking was that he was stalling. There wasn't much about Will that he didn't already know. He had the worst poker face.

His attempt at making light of things was frowned at as Gabriel looked at Will with a raised eyebrow. "People don't pass out for no reason, you hamster." Gabriel responded. It was probably not the best time to quote Monty Python but if Will wanted to play insults...

[Will Spencer]

"Took one look at your ugly mug and had to leave eh? Rough time, mate," William smirked a little easier this time at his joke. If he could just keep the insults coming then Gabriel would fall right into the stall. All he needed was enough time to think of a convincing illness that would cause him to pass out in the middle of the library randomly. If his brain wasn't reacting so slowly, he might have had an easier time coming up with something and wouldn't have to stall, but the sedatives they'd used were absolutely killer on his mental speed. Gabe was going to see right through him, if he hadn't already.

William laughed and instantly regretted it when he started coughing, painfully. Water, they'd said they would bring water. His eyes searched the table beside him and he reached for it, the IVs pulling at his skin. He frowned and struggled until he finally got ahold of the cup and brought it to his lips. Heaven forbid he ask for assistance. "Is that elderberries I smell?" Will smirked once he removed the cup from his lips and sat it down, a bit easier than he had gotten it.

Briefly his smirk faltered and he shrugged, "Just a virus, mate. Nothing to fret about. Trust me if I was dying, you'd know. I'm quite dramatic and I don't quite wish to die." William said it easily, no stuttering, no hesitation. It wasn't necessarily a lie. It was a half truth. He didn't want to die and he was dramatic, but he wouldn't let Gabriel know. Not until it was necessary to tell him.

[Gabriel Mendes]

Gabriel just stared at Will as he responded to everything he said. He knew Will would eventually realise that Gabriel wasn't in the mood to joke and when that happened, it usually meant Will wouldn't see Gabriel's usual amused grin.

What he got instead had him sighing with relief, though by how Will was looking, being hooked up to the IV drip and his face even paler than usual, he wasn't sure it was the whole truth.

After all the years they've been friends, Gabriel felt a little offended that Will thought he would believe the fact that Will would actually tell him if he was really dying. Will was not the type to tell him anything important. It wasn't their dynamic. And it wasn't like Will. At all. Gabriel had come to terms with that a long time ago. He just never called Will out on it because there was always that hope that Will would actually come to him for anything besides beer, food and a sparring partner.

Gabriel forced a smirk on his face. "Mm...You're right about being dramatic." He walked away from the bed and to the door. "I'm getting snacks, you want anything?"

[Will Spencer]

William found it hard to look at Gabriel, and yet he knew that Gabe was getting frustrated by the jokes. Typically they bantered, they bickered and it was easy because they were never truly serious with each other. During serious conversations, neither of them were all that good at conversing. They got irritable and uncomfortable because their friendship was based on laughs and beating the hell out of each other. Add onto that a big fat lie from Will and the tension rolling off of him couldn't be more obvious.

When he did glance up at the sound of Gabriel's voice, he caught the smirk, something that didn't sit well on the other man's face like it usually did. Will half-heartedly smiled back and glanced down at his hands that were shaking subtly. "No, I'm not hungry. I've had my fill of drugs to hold me over for the night," He joked. "Don't go stress-eating just because you're worried now."

To be honest though, he was glad Gabriel wasn't going to be glued to his bed. He needed space, he needed time to process and he needed a way to fix it. They said drug therapy and chemo were options, but that they didn't always work. Surely if they caught it early enough they could at least subside it for a little while longer. He just wanted his two years. He needed them. Will was holding on so tightly to his future and what he was making of himself. If he died now, he wouldn't even graduate from BA. And he still had medical school to go to. He had lives to save....

Just like they were trying to save his.

[Gabriel Mendes]

Snorting at the stress-eating remark, Gabriel threw his best friend a grin over his shoulder before it dropped as he walked over to the vending machine. He knew there was no way it was just a virus. He wasn't angry, rather he was frustrated that Will, in his attempt to spare Gabriel's feelings, was willing to lie to his face about it.

Should he blow this out of proportion though? The hospital wouldn't have called him if it wasn't serious, right? Gabriel sat on the chair directly across from the vending machine and tried to calm himself down. He stared at the machine until his eyes glazed over.

When he came to, he rubbed his face and walked back into the room. "When are you getting discharged?" He asked, sliding into the chair beside Will's bed.

[Will Spencer]

As the older man walked out of the small, sterile-smelling, cold hospital room, William's composure slipped completely. He was panicked. He was angry, filled with that pure, unfiltered rage that he'd felt for years before meeting his best friend. And now here he was in the exact place he knew he'd end up and though he'd thought he had prepared himself for death sneaking up on him, he knew that he wasn't. He wasn't ready to die. He didn't want to. He wanted to grow up, to get old, to experience his life. His heart monitor began going erratic and he remembered that if he didn't calm down, they would sedate him again. And Gabriel would know that something else was going on.

And the lie would only get bigger.

Gabriel entered the room again and William had successfully gotten himself to relax, or to appear as though he were relaxed. His eyes followed Gabe across the room and dropped as the man sat beside him. "Few days, they still have some tests they want to run to make sure it isn't anything worse and to see which antibiotics they should put me on. I s'pose I'll be stuck in 'ere the rest of the week."

[Gabriel Mendes]

"Long time for just a virus." Gabriel said quietly before mentally shaking his head. "Guess that'll just leave me a few days to chat up the nurses here." He smirked, though the cheekiness of it was lost.

Frowning slightly, a thought occurred to him, though it was quite insignificant. "Hey, you...wanna go to the mutant hospital? Get yourself properly checked?"

[Will Spencer]

Fuck. William remained as calm as he could and just shrugged it off. He wasn't a doctor yet, he wouldn't know exactly what tests and procedures they'd need to do for viruses, but he did know that he had a few more days for them to poke around inside him and figure out just how bad off he was. Perhaps later on he'd think of a legitimate illness that would require days of being treated or tested on. The joke fell flat and Will frowned because he couldn't even focus on a witty or snarky comeback. Sure there were cute nurses, several of which that would probably enjoy company from a man like Gabriel, but Will say it written all over Gabriel's face, the worry that would keep him from doing just that.

"Nah man, you'll miss out on all the hot nurses I got here," He attempted a smile, but it was more of a twitch of the mouth. The fact of the matter was that it had nothing to do with his mutant genes. It was a human illness through and through. Even if the reason behind his leukemia was a heightened risk that came from his mutation, he didn't see the point in going to the other hospital just to be told exactly what he'd already been told. Healers wouldn't be able to fix what was wrong with him. Nobody could.

Will looked at his hands and shrugged again, "It's just a virus, anyway, mate. I've been properly looked at, they're doing their jobs, not much else that can be done about it."

[Gabriel Mendes]

There wasn't much he could say to change things so he remained quiet. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. It was hard to look at Will then. It didn't help that Will's silence and lack of snark were all too glaring signs of something being seriously wrong somewhere.

He looked up when Will tried to reassure him about what's going on and Gabriel gave a smirk and a small hum. "Guess not." He responded quietly, not even looking at Will.