All that glitters is not gold

December 3rd

"I'm not a silly sausage."

"I never said the exact phrase silly sausage. I said that you are a foolish bratwurst."

"That's a silly sausage" Mj giggles into her spoonful of Nutella and laughs on the other side of the phone. "Okay, my mom is calling me but I love you, this is just a checkup, I'll see you tomorrow. Byeee!" She blows a kiss before hanging up, leaving the room empty and quiet once again. Bai looks at the poster on the wall. "How to wash your hands" it's titled, teaching every onlooker how to do the thing that we're taught from the beginning. It's as if every hospital thinks that everything, every illness, can be cured by simply a squirt of soap and some warm water.

Her phone buzzes in her pocket disturbing the morbid quiet. "Hello?"

"Hi" a slightly confused voice sounds through the speaker.

"Who is this?" She paces over to the crisp, linen bed and perches on the edge, awaiting the answer.

"It's, uh, Peter? Peter Parker?" 

"Right, uh, hi Peter? What can I do for you?"

"Oh, nothing, just you weren't at school today and I wanted to check if you were okay. MJ gave me your number, I hope that's okay?"

A smile creeps onto her lips and her eyes light a little. "Yeah, that's lovely! I'm okay, I just... I've been really ill recently so I went to the doc and... they're gonna test me for something."

"Something serious?" He asks, genuine worry in his voice.

She pauses, unsure whether to continue or not. She doesn't know this boy and, if he were to tell the press, she could be bombed by people, press, idiots and then there'd be no going back because everyone would know that Tony Stark's daughter...

"Lung cancer."

"What?"

"I'm being tested for lung cancer."

He pauses for a moment. In that one single moment, she doubts telling him.

The silence is deafening. 

Until he answers. "Want me to come down?"

"You'd do that?"

"Of course, how long until your appointment?" She hears him rustling around as he speaks.

"About an hour and a half, I'm stuck listening to music in this tiny room so that'd be really nice."

He tells her to send the address and promptly hangs up, telling her that he'll be there in ten minutes.

So, she runs to the restroom and tries to make herself presentable. She pulls her hair into a high pony, teasing a few strands down around her face, then she adjusts the loose top that she's wearing so that her bra is concealed. She doesn't have any makeup on her but that's okay, she doesn't need to do herself up only to immediately remove it when she goes into her appointment. Once semi-satisfied, she pulls her phone from her pocket to see a message:

 'Here, come find me? I think I'm in reception but I don't really know'

She pulls on her leather jacket and hurries from the room, telling the nurse that she'll be back in just a minute. When she arrives at the reception she sees Peter stood there in all of his glory, a small curl of hair flicking down over his forehead. One hand is in the pocket of his jacket while the other holds his phone but it's not turned on. The screen is blank. Hah, introvert.

"Peter, hey!" She jogs up to him, both hands concealed in her sleeves, and gives him a small hug. "Thanks for coming."

"Hey," he replies, hugging her back "No problem, I was bored anyway." that smile appears on his face, lopsided and full, as he looks back a Bailey. 

They go back to her room and, once they've both removed their jackets, they sit at opposite ends of the bed.

"So, what're we going to do?" Peter asks, arranging himself so that he is cross-legged at the end of the bed.

"I dunno, get to know each other?" She responds, leaning back against the pillows, both legs crossed underneath her.

"How?"

"Uh... show me some music that you like?"

They sit like that for the next hour, exchanging songs and stories, generally learning more. Bailey knew that Peter's Uncle Ben had died but she didn't know that both of his parents were also gone. He shows her 'Your Song' by Elton John and tells her of how his mother would sing it to him until he fell asleep, then he plays 'You shook me all night long' by AC/DC and tells her about how his father would run around the house singing it whilst he cooked dinner when his father was at work. She learns more about his aunt and uncle and how the only music they ever listened to was Second Helping by Lynyrd Skynyrd so he heard it on a loop for most of his time with them.

Then the nurse comes.

"You can go if you want, it'll be a fairly long appointment."

"Nah," He reclines on the bed with his hands behind his head and an impish grin on his face "I'll wait, ice cream after?"