"Feast On,"

Beau had taken it upon herself to find Mello's doctor though she knew she would get in trouble for walking around on her own. When she found him, she explained how much pain Mello was in; the man only nodded and told her to wait outside when they got to the room. "Is there pain in any specific part of your body you could pinpoint?" he asked Mello, and gripping the sheets, Mello shook his head. The doctor pressed Mello's side when the blonde sat up. Mello winced, and when his doctor's hand eased him down onto his back, the anxiety built up more. "If I do this," he pushed down on Mello's lower stomach, "does it hurt?" Mello bit down on his lip and nodded. The young man next to him wrote a couple things down, and as he shifted his attention from Mello, Mello began to feel weaker and the room swam a bit. Finally he blacked out and lay limp on his bed.

Anaphylactic Shock.

"Bring him to the emergency room."
"Someone get him oxygen."
"His pulse is weak."
"Draw some blood."
"Elevate his legs."

The rapid constriction of Mello's airway was caused by the allergic reaction to his pain medication. As if being here wasn't hell enough. He was injected with epinephrine, which was supposed to stop the reaction. It did its job somewhat well, and with a combination of adrenaline shots, rescue breaths, and full opening of the airway. Beau was shocked, probably as he was. Everything seemed to happen to him…It was scary for her to think of his position.

-x-

Returning to his room late the next day was a relief to Mello. When he saw Beau, she was sketching on the back of an index card. "What are you writing?" Mello asked in a raspy voice. Beau shrugged. "Hey, are you feeling like yourself today?" Another shrug. "Did something happen?"

"Being around you scares me," she replied in a low voice. "Mello, I really like you and it hurts to see all of this happening to you. It's really scary. And I hardly slept last night because of what happened."

"Come here." Beau did as she was told and Mello motioned for her to sit next to him on his bed. She sat and he sat up, wrapping an arm around her. He shifted so they were both facing the same way, sitting on the scratchy sheets and blanket, in silence. "I lead a mafia. I'm from an orphanage. None of this is half as 'scary' to me. You should really calm down, ok Andrea?" Accepting his calling her by her real name, she nodded and a tear rolled down her cheek. She was younger than him, but only by two years. Mello and Beau felt the same way about each other. "Beau," he started.

"Yeah?" she asked in a shaky voice. He rubbed her shoulder. Silence filled the room for a long time.

"You don't know how much I care about you." At that, he gently hugged her and she buried her face into his shoulder, using her arm to lean around his neck. She was crying hard now. Mello couldn't help but feel upset himself by what he was seeing. He never pictured her like this. The girl didn't bother to lift her head, so her speech was muffled.

"Mello, I love you."

"The Rotting Poet"