Chapter one- Peter

Beep, beep, beep, went the heart monitor. Peter wanted to smash it. He didn't need a constant reminder that the person before him could die at any moment, but he heard the monitor in his sleep. There was so much white, everywhere. Everything smelled of bleach. The cloth chair was saggy and covered with stains from Lord-knows-what. Down the hallway, a couple was sobbing as the doctor broke them the bad news. The noise was deafening.

Peter looked down at the once beautiful face of his boyfriend, now pale and hollow. IV's and other frightening-looking tubes and wires ran to and from his body like rivers from a mountain. Beep, beep, beep. He wanted to punch something.

"Peter, Jason's not waking up any time soon. Go home and get some sleep, please," Nadia was in the corner, Ivy asleep on her shoulder.

"No. The reason he's here is because I… we had an argument. I'm not leaving here until he does."

"Then at least take a shower, please. Have you even taken one since you got here?"

"No… but I can't leave or something bad might happen…"

"Peter, I'm not going anywhere, and nothing bad will happen to my big brother as long as I'm here."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Shoulders sagging, he limped into the bathroom, towel slung over his shoulder. He turned on the water as hot as it would go and peeled off his clothes slowly. As soon as he pulled the bleached-white curtains closed, he collapsed onto the tile floor and sobbed. He let out all the emotions that had been bottled up throughout the last few months; Jason's doubts, his fling with Ivy, his mom, and the fact that the love of his life, his only light, had tried to kill himself because Peter refused to run away with him. He had poisoned himself, just like Romeo. And if there was no chance of survival, the Lord only knows whether or not he would do the same. Join him now, like Juliet did her Romeo.

After he had gotten all his tears out and his skin was tomato red from the hot water, he rocked back and forth for a while. He lost track of time until Nadia knocked on the door to see if he was alright.

"I'm fine," he reassured her, which was a total lie. Peter had never been fine, at least not by society's standards, but now, especially, he felt like he was thin ice, and every time someone asked him if he was okay felt like a person stomping on the sheet. It was cracking. Soon it would shatter.

He got dressed in the same clothes he had been wearing. Gross, but he had no others. Besides, right now, he couldn't care less about what anyone thought anymore. He ran his fingers through his hair once, took a deep breath, and prepared to face his boyfriend's sister.

Nadia pretended like she couldn't hear him sobbing, which he supposed was a good thing. Ivy had woken up, so Nadia suggested they go get some sandwiches from the vending machine down the hall. At first , they refused, but then Peter got the hint; Nadia needed some time alone with Jason.

"If anything changes, yell, okay?" Peter told her.

"I will," she replied, not taking her eyes off her brother.

"I mean, anything, Nadia. Like, if there's a slight change in his heartbeat or his finger moves a little… "

"Peter, I will. Besides, the vending machine is right down the hall. It will take five minutes, tops. He hasn't changed in two days, I doubt it will be any different today," she promised.

As soon as they were outside, Ivy turned to face him.

"I'll get them. What kind of meat do you want on yours?"

"I couldn't eat anything right now, let alone stale vending machine sandwiches," he replied.

"You have to eat something. I'll get you a granola bar. You like the blueberry filling, right?" she asked.

"Sure, whatever," Peter sighed. He walked with her anyway, to get circulation throughout his legs. On the way, they passed another room. A boy about Peter's age, with messy brown hair, a red hoodie with a pride patch, and big white headphones around his neck was arguing with a nurse.

"Please, just let me see him… "

"Mister…"

"Mell," he answered.

"Mr. Mell, visitation is for family only. That does not include best friends, or boyfriends, or whatever you consider yourself, and that's final." With that, the nurse spun on her heels and sashayed back into the room. Pride Patch kid put his back against the wall and sunk to the floor. He put his headphones on until a tear rolled down his cheek and he tore them off in anger. He wiped his eyes.

"How long have you been here?" Peter inquired. The kid sniffed and looked at his watch.

"Twelve hours, thirty-four minutes, and fourteen seconds," he replied miserably. "I've been asking to visit constantly, but they still say no," he said angrily. "They just don't get it."

"No one does, do they," said Peter, running a hand down his face. "My boyfriend and I are roommates in a Catholic boarding school. Neither of us are out yet, but after a while, I started to get tired of being kept a secret. I kept pushing him to come out to my mother, but eventually, it got to be too much. He and Ivy… well, she's pregnant now, with his kid. And Jason… he realized his mistake. He told me he was sorry and asked if I would run away with him. I said no, and h-he overdosed." Pride Patch boy thought for a second.

"All Jeremy wanted was to be cool. He wanted to be with this girl so badly, and he knew he had no chance. We've been bullied since elementary school, and best friends since kindergarten, but eventually I wasn't enough. He was just so sick of it… and now he might die. I think it's because Rich found out I liked him. He's been torturing us about being a couple ever since," he said. "Anyway, I think he ran into Rich in the bathroom one day, and he said that the only way to be cool was to take this drug. I'm not sure what it was, but Jer took to much of it."

"That sounds… God, I'm sorry. But you and Jeremy… are you dating?"

"God, no! If Jeremy Heere and I were dating, the entire world would know. I would tell everyone he was my boyfriend."

"You must really love him," said Peter. Pride Patch boy closed his eyes and nodded slowly.

"I love Jason more than anything in the world. We've been roommates since seventh grade, but we didn't know about the other being gay until halfway through eighth. He was helping me study for midterms, and I just couldn't understand algebra to save my life. We were up until three-thirty until we finally fell asleep on the same bed. My alarm went off four hours later and he was spooning me. He turned bright red, it was hilarious. Anyway, I got an A- on my midterm, and we were both so happy that it just sort of… happened." Peter wiped a tear from his cheek. "I don't know you very well, but it seems like anything God would want to happen will happen."

"Thank you…"

"Peter."

"Michael." Just then a man walked out of the room.

"Michael, how long have you been here?" asked the man.

"Twelve hours, thirty-six minutes, and… forty-two seconds," he answered.

"Well, Jesus, boy, come inside. He's been yelling your name in his sleep. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure he'll wake up if you talk to him. Lord knows he's been in love with you since he knew what love was…" he winced like he had said something bad, but Michael looked like the entire world had been wrapped up and given to him as a present on Christmas.

"Mr. Heere, visitation is for family only," said the nurse.

"That's the biggest load of bull I've heard in my life! This boy here is gonna be my son-in-law one day, just you wait!" the nurse sighed.

"Fine. But only for a minute. Jeremy's dad looked like he was going to argue, but Michael sent him a knowing glance. They walked in together.

Through the window, he saw Michael start to cry. He ran up and grabbed an unconscious Jeremy's hand, and stroked his hair with the other. Jeremy muttered something in his sleep, and said it again, a bit louder. His eyes fluttered open. They were blue. He looked over at Michael. His expression didn't change, but every muscle in his body relaxed. He started to cry. Peter couldn't hear, but he must have been apologizing for something because Michael was comforting him. Jeremy sat up, and Michael kept trying to push him back down. He shook his head. They kept talking. Peter watched the tension build up in the room until the pair locked lips.

"Move," said the nurse. Peter complied, but through the open door he could see Michael beam at him and mouth a "Thank you."