Time To Go

Twenty-Four: John O

"John?"

It's just after lunchtime, and we have been in my room since shortly after sunrise. The sky is dank and miserable and cloudy outside the window. I feel as if I'm being pulled apart, inch by inch, but I don't tell Kennedy... it will just worry him.

"Hmm?" I say non-committally as I stare blankly at my hands.

"I'm leaving the hospital today."

"A-are you?" My eyes slide up to meet his, framed with confusion. "But you're still-"

"I know," he says gently, his fingers brushing lightly over my cheek and my eyelids flutter at his touch. "But the doctors say the best thing for me is rest and relaxation in a comfortable environment. I tried to tell them I'm comfortable here with you, not at home, but they won't listen to me. I'm sorry," he adds, eyes shining slightly as he presses his lips to my forehead.

"It's fine," I mumble, a blush creeping onto my cheeks. "You do too much for me."

"I'm not doing enough." He sighs quietly, his chin against my head and his thumb stroking my back rhythmically through my paper gown. "I should be helping you."

"How can you possibly do that?" I frown. "Kennedy, you can't just shake me by the shoulders and tell the cancer to go away! You've done enough. You've made me realize that my life wasn't useless, that I actually did something worthwhile. But you have to promise me, totally and utterly, that you will find someone else once I'm gone."

"What are you gonna do if I don't... spit on me?" He smiles as he looks down at me. "Listen, John, you changed my life. Before I met you, I was just a shell walking around Chandler with nothing better to do than get drunk every other night, meet a girl and steal her virginity... then you showed me that my life is worth living."

There's a pause after his words, and then he laughs.

"We are so cliché, it's embarrassing," he giggles.

I laugh despite myself. "They should write a story about us... or a movie... out of curiosity, who would you have playing you?"

He laughs gently and says, "Leonardo DiCaprio."

"Why?" I snigger.

"'Cause he's pretty," Kennedy puts his fingers to his lips and giggles. "What about you?"

"Hmm..." I frown. "Most probably David Tennant."

"Hey, that's actually not a bad choice," Kennedy prods me in the side gently. "Once upon a time, there was a boring city, population of two hundred and forty-nine thousand. Inside that city, there was an insignificant little man by the name of Kenny, who looked a hell of a lot like Leonardo DiCaprio. Then he went to the hospital to see his anorexic sister and got bored, from there he went off on a fantabulous trek around the building. There, he met Johnny, who shared a certain likeness with David Tennant, only a lot nicer looking and with a bigger, weirder nose."