"Thank you."

You smile at the woman working behind the counter in the hospital cafeteria and she smiles back, almost painfully. You shiver under her tired gaze and move back towards the elevator with your purchases piled on a red tray in your hands.

When you make it back up to Lin's room, you stop a moment outside to take a deep breath and put on your largest smile. Lin was... depressed, to say the least, and while normally, his positive energy would negate the purposes of you taking your anti-depressants regularly, Lin's sadness drove lemmings off skyscrapers.

"Hi Lin!" You say cheerfully, setting the try of food down on his table and pushing the table over his lap. "I know you've been throwing your food away these past few days so I brought you all of your favorites and I'm going to ask you /very/ nicely to eat something." Lin looks up at you, unimpressed, and pushes the food away.

You sigh, turning away from him for a moment to wipe your eyes before turning back, "Lin, baby, please." You take a deep breath and smile, "Mira, Lin, I got you a piece of cake, tamales, a sandwich, icecream, and a cup of fruit." You hold each of these things up in turn as you speak to him, smiling lightly, "Any of these sound good?"

Lin looks over at you tiredly for a moment before gently pushing the tray away from him, scooting down into the bed and looking away, a single tear trailing down his cheek. You sigh and rub your face, "Lin, please." You plead, "The nurse said that if you don't eat something by tonight they'll put a feeding tube in you." Lin looks over at you and shrugs, before looking back at the wall.

This is enough to drive you over the ledge.

"Ugh! Lin, I have been so patient with you these past few days! You asked for your lap top, you haven't touched it. You said you needed space and then complained I wasn't there for you. You..." You sigh, sitting down in the bed, "You're not going to heal if you don't start eating. You can't do this to me, Lin, you just can't." You reach out and take Lin's hand, "Please." You beg, gently squeezing Lin's hand.

Lin looks over at you and shakes his head, "It's over, (Y/N)..." he says sadly, "I told you..." Lin shakes his head, tugging lightly at the end of his long hair, "Now Im stuck here!"

You stiffen, turning away and nodding slowly. "You're stuck here." You say quietly. "Right... because it's just so unbearable to have someone next to you fighting for your life everyday..." You shake your head, turning back around, "Do you even know how bad your infection is? It's spreading, Lin, because you are weak and won't do anything about it." You say, tears streaming down your cheeks, "I love you, Lin.. and I want you to be happy. I want you to take Hamilton far because I know you can. I... I don't know how far you'll go with it but... that's not what's important right now."

You take a deep breath and turn around, wiping at your eyes before moving towards Lin, "Eat." You say, "Eat something. Anything... eat this." You say, pushing a bruised little banana into his hand. "Eat or Im walking out of here right now, because I'm not watching you destroy yourself."

Lin shivers, these words cutting through him like knives. Lin's bottom lip trembles as he looks down at the banana, closing his eyes and slowly putting it in his head as a hat. You watch him do this for a moment, staring critically before a small and gently ticklish feeling that starts in your stomach erupts in teary laughter, sitting down beside Lin on the bed and gently leaning into his chest, pushing your face under his neck. "I love you.." you say quietly, "I... I wouldn't really have left... I hope you know that."

Lin bites his cheek and nods, pulling his hat off and peeling it, beginning to nibble at the tip and pushing forward into your touch. "I know.." Lin says cooly, "But it surely fucking worked.." he chuckles, putting an arm around your shoulders, "God, what would I be without you.." He whispers.

Dead, you both think.