The second morning of Dave's community service was unusually cold, even for winter. He was almost happy to be in the hospital, with its warm halls and rooms.

He went through his usual routine, grabbing the cleaning supplies from the janitor closet and washing away, bored out of his mind. Boy, the janitor must have been loving life right now, Dave bitterly thought to himself. He walked down the hallway, casually peering inside the occasional opened door when he crashed into a girl. "Hey watch where you're—" Dave trailed off when he turned to look at the girl. She was moving about with her hands in front of her and strange red glasses on.

She giggled, "You watch where you're going!" and continued on her way. Dave watched her leave and scratched his head, puzzled. Should a blind girl really be walking around so free like that?

"Dave!" his probation officer waltzed up to him. She was still smiling even though her voice was angry. Dave really wanted to punch her, but he realized that probably wasn't the best of ideas, considering he was doing community service. "What are you doing here? You should have already finished this floor. How long have you been standing around for?"

"Would you give me a break?" he mumbled, "I just got here, damn."

She looked at him for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, "Just be quick with it, alright? Oh and before I leave, did you see a girl with red glasses pass by here?"

Dave was about to say yes and point in the right direction, but he really hated her and he was sure the blind chic probably felt the same. "Nope, sorry, didn't see her."

She stared at him, then turned around and stalked off. Dave could tell he was beginning to get to her. He smirked to himself, "Good."

Dave continued to walk down the hallway, passing by numerous patients that were all equally weird, including a long haired girl with an eye patch underneath her glasses, a guy with an obvious sweating problem and two arguing, fish faced teenagers. He was beginning to think this place was more of a place for crazy teenagers rather than physically sick ones.

He sighed, rushing pass the small group quickly to continue his work. He just wanted to finish early so he could go home and wallow in his own self pity some more.

"Dave," his probation officer passed by him, tapping her watch. When she was out of sight, Dave stuck his tongue out after her in disgust. Honestly, he was working his hardest—probably harder than he'd ever worked in his life and she had no right to force him to go faster! Well, maybe she did, but that was beside the point.

He sauntered around lazily sweeping at the odd area or two and continued on his way until he reached the stairs to the second floor. He climbed up them, just happy to be rid of the jail guard. He walked down the hall, flinging the broom around until he passed by another opened door. He had to do a double take to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

In the room was the same boy that had been flooding his mind since he came to work at the hospital. He was sitting up, staring out the window with an IV strapped to his arm. He was staring at the snow that had gracefully begun to fall since Dave entered the hospital.

Dave didn't know how long he was staring, but the boy turned to look at him with his piercing dark eyes. At first he looked quite uncomfortable with the thought of someone staring in at him, but when he realized it was the guy he met yesterday, he smiled again, those same three teeth peeking out that made Dave blush. He was glad he could hide behind his sunglasses. "Uh, oh, hey," Dave said awkwardly. He figured he should say something. He was the one lurking outside some kid's door he didn't even know.

"Hi there," the boy replied. "It's you again."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Dave coughed. "I thought it was you…"

"Well, don't just stand out there awkwardly. There's a lady going around looking for you, you know."

Dave sighed. She was damn persistent. He noticed her not far away and slipped into the boy's room, quietly shutting the door. "How does she keep finding me?"

"She seems strict."

Dave turned back to the boy, suddenly remembering he'd just shut himself in his room. "Oh, yeah, but I guess I deserve it. I mean I did…" he trailed off.

"You did what?" the boy asked, genuine curiosity filling his eyes.

"No, it's nothing. Just forget about it," Dave didn't want some innocent guy to learn about him in such a bad way, especially one he didn't even know. "I just made a bad choice and it landed me with community service."

"I knew there had to be another reason you were here," he chuckled, but that innocent chuckle turned into a rather violent cough. Dave winced as he coughed. It sounded scary to him, like nothing he would ever want to suffer through.

The boy covered his mouth and bent forward in a mix of pained, muffled coughs. Dave didn't know what to do. He just stood there stupidly, watching him with his mouth half opened. He stepped forward to see if he could do anything, but the boy raised a hand and suddenly collapsed face first onto the bed. He let out a long sigh, "I'm fine, don't worry." He grabbed the blankets and shoved his face into them, embarrassed that some stranger had to see him like that.

"That didn't sound like you were fine, man," Dave frowned. "Should I be getting a doctor or something?" Before he could open the door, the boy raced over and grabbed the back of Dave's sweater all in one quick motion. Dave didn't even have time to touch the doorknob.

"Don't call the doctors… Please," he said. "I don't like them…"

"You don't like the doctors?" Dave blushed at their closeness when he turned around to face him. His cheeks were red, and his eyes were half closed. He looked almost like he was about to faint. "I really think you ought to lie down," Dave turned the boy around and directed him back to his bed. He felt almost doctor like and it was strange. It was strange how he got himself community service for lighting his school gym on fire and now he was trying to aid a sick boy in a hospital.

Yep, definitely strange.

Once the boy was back in bed and underneath his blankets, Dave planned to leave before it got even more awkward, but the boy looked at him and asked him something.

"Hey… What's your name?"