The Tree in the Forest

Chapter Thirty-Four

  Karkat is going to his CAT scan today. He told you that he'd call you when it got finished so that he could come over.

  You were sitting in your living room watching TV with Bro. Rose went to Kanaya's and Roxy was probably flirting with Jane. You're pretty sure that she's some level of gay.

  You don't really know what you're watching. It's just some anime that Bro's interested in. Madoka Magic or something, you don't know. He's interested in it, so you guessed you could watch it, too.

  You didn't pay much attention. You just feigned interest until your phone started ringing. You went to your room to answer so Karkat didn't hear poor magic girls crying and being torn apart on the TV.

  "Hey," You answered.

  "Hey, Dave. I just finished my scan. I'm probably going to be there in half an hour," Karkat said, getting straight to the point.

  "Oh, okay. I'll be here. See you then," You said through the receiver.

  "Okay, love you," Karkat said. You said that you loved him as well and hung up. You put your phone on your dresser and laid down in your bed. The bed that you've had since you were a kid. The bed you became a man on. Okay, okay, too much information.

  It didn't take long for Karkat to get there. Bro had let him in himself and Karkat just invited himself into your room. He laid his body right against yours, wrapping around you and hugging.

"Well, hello there, sunshine."You laughed. Karkat rolled his eyes and adjusted the position of his head.

  "Hey, asshole." He smiled. You still lived for that smile. "I'm getting my results next week. They said that they should have them in by Monday,"

  "Good. I want to see them," You mumbled.

  "Okay. I'll bring you over to the hospital when I get them. Dad won't mind," Karkat said.

                                          ~<>~

  Karkat was right. Cameron didn't mind. He filed you into his car happily.

  The ride wasn't very long, but it felt weird to be in Cameron's car. You hardly ever had Cameron drive you somewhere. You did assume that they needed him there for payment or signatures or something.

  It's been a while since you walked into the hospital, but at least Karkat was walking in with you instead of you walking in to ask the desk workers what room he was in.

  While Cameron went to the desk to sign his son in, you stood with Karkat. You felt a tap on your shoulder as Karkat told you to come closer so he could whisper something. You'd gotten a little taller than he has. He's only five feet and nine inches while you stand a good six feet.

  "You have to wait in the waiting room. I have to go see my doctor and you aren't my immediate family according to my files. You have to stay out here," Karkat said. You nodded and waved a little as he walked off down the hall with his dad.

  You sat in a chair next to a guy who was tapping his foot nervously and an old woman who was reading one of the lifestyle magazines the doctor's office provided. You just tapped the arm of the chair, eventually getting bored and pulling out your phone. John had texted.

  Here's Johnny: Hey, I heard about Karkat's scans today
  Here's Johnny: I just wanted to say that I hope they go well :B

  John always loved to make the buck-toothed smiley face. He also loved to make you put in his contact as "Here's Johnny". He said it was funny, but it wasn't ironic enough for you. Regardless, you kept it. It was a best bro type of thing to do. He did make you contact name "Cool Kid" on both yours and Terezi's request, so you guess it's fair.

  You: Thanks dude.
  You: I'm just sitting in the waiting room. You know
  You: Waiting.
  Here's Johnny: Thats what waiting rooms are for. Well, tell Karkat I said hey
  You: I will

  You waited for about an hour, sitting around and playing on your phone before you heard anything from anyone else. You got another text. Damn, you're popular today. It was just Bro, though.

  Bro: You still at the hospital?
  You: Yeah. It's taking longer than I expected. But what the fuck do I know about CAT scan result receiving.
  Bro: Just checking. Wanted to make sure that you didn't just flake me out and go running off somewhere.
  You: I didn't. I don't have a car. Where would I go?
  Bro: True words.

  Bro was funny. You know that you'd miss him when you went off to college. That's one of the prices you paid for going off to college almost all the way across the state of Texas.

  You waited another half hour before you saw Karkat. He looked dejected and you immediately got scared. You got up and went over to him quickly. He was holding papers slack at his sides. Cameron looked upset as well and your mind instantly flickered to the worst case scenario.

  "Hey, babe, you okay?" You asked, grabbing Karkat gently by the shoulders. He just started walking out of the hospital and you followed, trying to get him to stop and talk to you. He didn't stop, though, he just headed straight for the car, opening the door and slamming it behind him. You followed suit, but without the door slamming.

  "Hey, Kat, look at me." You said. He looked at you. "What's wrong?"

  He just shoved the papers at you. You had to situate them back into order. They had gotten skewed around in the passage. You started reading down the first page, trying to look at all of the details.

  Everything was normal on the first page, so you flipped to the second page. It was just full of doctor's names and times. Then you flipped to the last page. There, at the bottom of the page, were words you'd never hoped to read.

  Leukemia: Positive.

                                         ~~~

Fdi guys. There it is.

I'm so sorry. This is sadstuck, guys. You can't run from it in a damn cancer fic.

This is basically a TFIOS au at this point lol except not quite. Still very similar though.

But I'm so sorry, again. I'm hurting you. I want to say that I loved it, but this hurts me as well.

But I've got to go write the last few chapters. Bye children!

~Ghostie