Dirk had tried to maintain a casual stoicism, he really had, but he found himself pacing in the living room nervously as he waited for his brother to get home from school. He stopped himself from jumping when the door opened.

"Sup," the younger asked flatly upon entering.

"Dave."

Dave stood still suddenly, hearing the tone of the elder's voice as he dropped his backpack next to the entrance. He held himself there for a moment, lips parted with anxiety. "What happened."

Dirk crossed his arms, jaw set. "You should sit down."

"Did I do something…"

"No Dave, sit down."

"Tell me."

"You… I don't think you get it; you really need to sit."

"Bro…"

"Dave."

He moved to the futon immediately to sit down in obedience. Dirk sighed and mirrored the motions. He didn't know how to even say what he needed to in the right way.

"Take your shades off."

"What."

"Take them off."

"No."

"It's important, kiddo." Dirk pulled his own glasses off and hooked them on the collar of his shirt, and Dave's parted his lips once more, raising shaky hands to do the same.

Dirk reached forward to take Dave's hands, and the latter pulled back in surprise at first, but allowed him to continue.

He sighed again. "Dave… I need you to know that I'll always care about you."

"…what?" Dave's voice went up at the end, so unlike its usual monotone, and his exposed eyes showed traces of the fear he felt. His brother never spoke to him like this. He never had.

"I have to tell you something."

"Dude, you're freaking me out."

"…Dave this is something I would understand you freaking out about."

"But you're never okay with me freaking out. It's always 'c'mon kid,' or 'you can handle it,' or 'take it like a man,' 'you got this,' 'poker face,' 'stay strong.'"

"I still want you to stay strong, and I still think you can handle it. But… I get it if it's a bit too much, y'know? And I'm not going to look down on you if you don't take it well. In fact, if that's the case, I'm here for you; it's just that you really, really need to understand how important this is."

"Bro just say it; you're still freaking me out. This better not be some dumbass prank with Lil' Cal."

Dirk frowned and bit the inside of his cheek. "I swear on my life to you Dave that I am trying to have a genuine conversation about a scary topic with you."

"Tell me then…" he said with a slow nod.

"I have cancer."

It was silent for a long time before Dave finally answered weakly, in a pitch far too high to suit him, "What?"

"You heard."

"You wouldn't joke about that. Even you would not joke about that…" He hesitated and put a now violently shaking hand over his mouth.

"It's okay…"

"No it's not! Oh my fucking God, Dirk!" He found the fingers of the hand Dirk was still holding wrapping around Bro's hand tightly, to a point that the other blond's fingers were probably starting to ache from lack of blood circulation. "You can't—I just—Why didn't—"

"Are you going to complete any of these statements and/or questions?"

"How long ago did you figure out?"

"This morning. You were at school."

"What did you know before?"

"That I've felt like shit for weeks, and that something was wrong with me."

"Why didn't you say something about it?"

"I had my reasons."

"What were they."

Dirk dragged out a sigh, running hands through his hair. "I didn't want to worry you first off. You have other things to focus on. That, and I…didn't expect it to be so serious. I was just pulling through, y'know?"

"You could have gotten yourself killed in that!" Dave spewed, keeping his eyes open to look at his brother to the best of his ability even as they stung. "You—You still can. You can die. What if—"

"Shut up," Dirk snapped. "I'm not going to die. Just shut up, okay? That isn't what I want you concerned about… Okay?" he asked again, because Dave was just sitting there shaking his head.

"You seriously think that I'm going to ignore this? How the hell do you figure that?"

"Because this doesn't concern you."

"The hell it doesn't concern me!"

"It doesn't."

"You're my brother. Of course it concerns me. Saying anything else is moronic."

"Stop, Dave."

"No! Fuck no! Are you kidding me?"

"I'm not going to negotiate with you. Drop it."

"Do you realize what you're asking me to do here? Drop the fact that you have a terminal disease?"

"It's not terminal."

"Dirk—"

"No. I just had to tell you. I'm not going to argue about it."

Dirk moved his hands away from Dave's and crossed them over his chest, leaving Dave completely speechless.

"Can you just… go to your room…"

"No!"

"Dave."

Dave shut his mouth, shaking his head and going straight to his room, abandoning his backpack by the door.

I don't have any real life experience with situations like this, but if you do and you're comfortable talking about it, I would love to hear. I really want to do this accurately! O_O I currently have 3 or 4 tabs open about cancer and treatments and effects and everything. If I end up doing something way wrong that offends at all, just don't hesitate to let me know! I will do my best to fix it!