"So he was just stabbed? Like right through?" A boy asked. He had black hair and thick, round glasses.

"Oh Weas-you wouldn't believe it." Wade shook his head. "I feel awful for Phil, of course, but damn. I got a whole five bucks from Matt Murdock, so it's not all that bad."

"I heard you got sent home early." Weasel said.

"We did." Nathan nodded. "Apparently it was traumatic for the kids who witnessed it."

"We only went back today." Wade added.

"Is Phil okay?" A smaller boy with mousy hair asked.

"C'mon, Bob. A flagpole skewered his body. Do you think he's okay?"

"Actually, he's alright, Weasel." Nathan shrugged. "He's in the hospital though. Still not well."

"That would suck." Bob shook his head. "I would hate to be skewered like a kebab."

"You would be a keBob." Wade chuckled.

"Wade." Nathan shot his friend a stern look. "This isn't funny."

"Wow, Priscilla, when did you become such a stick in the mud?"

"Wade, I never had cancer, I know that." Nathan shrugged. "But I did nearly die when I was a baby. I've come closer to death than you. And that shit kind of messes with your brain. Especially when there's a bit of damage to it."


(Flashback)

"Wade!" Nathan ran as fast as he could to his friend. They were in a big room being used for art therapy. A nurse stood her distance, smiling as Wade wrapped his arms around Nathan. Wade was bald from the chemotherapy he was receiving and Nathan had bandages wrapped around his arm and a gauze pad taped to his left eye.

"Cable, what happen to your eye?"

"It's gone now, like my arm." Nathan smiled as he picked up a red crayon from the table and began to draw on a piece of paper.

"Cable, this is Bob." Wade pointed to a nervous looking blonde haired boy, who wasn't attached to an IV like Wade or a feeding tube like Nathan. "He gotta have a operation on his heart."

"Mom said my heart don't work properly." Bob looked up at Nathan. "So the doctors are gonna fix it."

"They got good doctors here. They made me better when I got sick." Nathan nodded.

"What are you drawing?" Wade pushed his own paper away and looked at Nathan's.

"Bunny." Nathan replied, not losing his focus.

"I like bunnies." Wade affirmed.

"Bunnies are cute." Bob agreed. "Penguins much cuter." Bob looked at Nathan and the lack of a left arm under his pajama top. "What happened to your arm?"

"My arm made me sick but the doctors made me better by taking it away." Nathan picked up a blue crayon and started coloring his bunny. "It hard to color without my arm." He growled at the paper, which was sliding on the table.

"I can help you, Cable!" Wade declared proudly, putting his hand on Nathan's paper. Nathan smiled thankfully at Wade.

"What are you drawing?" Nathan asked, putting down his crayon.

"I did a bird." Wade said.

"And I did SpongeBob SquarePants." Bob said.

"Well it Easter. I made my bunny the Easter Bunny." Nathan pulled his paper off the table and showed it to Wade and Bob.

"That good bunny, Cable!" Wade giggled. On the paper was a childish scribble, but to Nathan, it was different. He was a toddler adjusting to an amputation and a missing eye and that automatically made it harder for him than it did for Wade or Bob to draw or color.

"Look at the kids." Kate smiled.

"I know." Hailey sighed happily. "Your Nathan is a good influence on my Wade. They're very good together."

"Yep." Kate agreed. "And your Wade seems to be making my Nathan more determined. But uh... Who's that kid they're with?"

"Bob Smith." Hailey said. "He's got a bad heart and the doctors are fitting him with a pacemaker."

"He seems scared." Kate noticed. "It must be hard on someone so young to be here. I mean, I know I'm finding it hard just being with my son."

"But they're getting along and that's the main thing." Hailey gave a small smile.


"Wait, you met at hospital?" Weasel raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Didn't... Bob tell you that?" Nathan cocked his head slightly.

"He didn't say a thing."

"I think all that matters is that you three are my most treasured friends and I would hate for you guys to get skewered with a flagpole." Wade grabbed his three friends and pulled them all in for a reluctant hug. "I love you guys."


A/N: Happy Easter!