Of Hair Loss & Heartthrobs

"I-I WONT do it anymore!" Leon cried into Cove's chest, his jaw tight as he grit his teeth. He didn't want this....
"An-And dont you d-do that to me..." He sounded so crumpled, like a pieces of paper someone just crushed and threw into the trash bin. "I-Im not Bea-beautiful! I-Im nothing com-compared to you!"
Nothing compared to Briley, either.

"Leon ya have ta do et." Cove's eyes were wide. He needed Leon to keep taking the chemo... "And don't ya say that. Yar gorgeous Leon. Ya always ave been."

"I-I...N-No..." Leon only sobbed harder into his lover, hiccuping hard.
He couldn't breath.
All he could think about was his ugly bald head and how Briley was so pretty and how pretty Cove was and how Cove would be happier with someone really pretty like himself...
He reached up, running a hand through his hair only to scream in agony as clumps gathered in his hand.

"Leon... stop.." Cove could barely take it... He took Leon's hands, holding them tightly. "Love, stop..."

"I-I wish I-I could!" Leon choked on one of his cries, his face a bright red, stung by tears. "I w-wish everything would stop!". The sickness, the hair, he wished he could stop hurting. He was so pathetically broken. "I-I just w-want to go away...". He whispered in his weak, cancer infected voice.

"Please don't say that, love... ya can't goh away. Ah need ya, Leon..." Cove pressed the boy close to himself.

"I-Im sorry...". Leon sniffled into the crook of Cove's neck. "I-I just don't want to d-do this..."
He didn't want to be so sick, he was tired.

"Ah know love... weh just gotta keep fighting." Cove sighed heavily, his brow furrowed as he held Leon tight.

Leon was soon reduced to simple hiccups of pain, the hair still tightly ckutcged in his hand.
He had to keep fighting...
But he was so tired of it already.
"Im t-tired...."

"Ah know love, ah know ya are. Ah know et's hard and et's gonna get worse but ya have ta keep going, Leon..." Cove already felt for the boy. He didn't want to make him keep fighting it. He knew how hard it had to be.

Soon the door cracked open, and Rhett's face appeared in the entry way. He had heard the commotion, he had given them time, and now he wanted to make for dang sure that his son was alright.
"Coveh? Ya need meh?"

Cove glanced up at his father, his face drawn in a worried grimace, his eyes large and pained.
"Noh, et's fine dad..." His hand clutched onto Leon tightly.

Rhett grunted, his chest aching as his eyes ghosted over his son. He had not been thrilled about Leon moving in, but not because of his simple distaste for the boy, because he was sick.
And because Cove loved him.
Cove was going to run himself into the ground trying to take care of this bot and Rhett did not like it.
The man slid inside the room, trying to maneuver himself into the bed without jarring Leon, and slip on the other side of Cove, where he could take his son into his arms.

"Dad, realleh, ah'm fine... ya don't have ta come en hereh..." Cove sighed, his actions contradicting himself as he leaned into his father's chest. He was anything but fine. His Leon...

Rhett simply tugged Cove to flip him over, and then he let a large hand press to the back of his head, pulling him down so his face was in the crook of Rhett's neck.
"Coveh, ya need ah break. Ya take yah ah nap, an let Leon spend someh time with his family eh? Jus' fer ah day." He was not so much as asking, rather telling. His hold strong on his child. "Ah don' want ya ta run yarself down Coveh, thes esn't healthy." Neither was Leon, period. Even if Leon did not have his disease, he was still a bother to his son and he hated it.

"Ah don't want ta." Cove shook his head, glancing back at Leon. He had to keep an eye on him, at all times. "Ah need ta beh weth hem."

"But Coveh, yar going ta make yarself sick if ya keep on like thes. Give et ah day?" Rhett frowned lightly over to the sickly boy on Cove's other side, who had taken to simply rocking back and forth, speaking a tiny mantra under his breath.

"Ah can't give et ah day dad." Cove sighed heavily, whispering so only his father could hear. "Heh might nowt have that many left."

Rhett grunted, his grip on his son tightening as he heard the pain of his son's voice, and the reluctance to miss any moment Leon may have left.
"More reason fer es familleh ta see hem." Rhett was not going to push it though, he just held Cove tightly and stroked the back of his head. "Anythin' ah can do fer ya? Er him?" Rhett glanced to Leon, his nose crinkling up at the boy.

"Jus' beh nice ta hem?" Cove frowned. "Ah know ya don't like hem but ah doh..." He looked back over at Leon. He hadn't even told his father he'd proposed yet... He wanted the wedding soon... before Leon got even worse.

"Coveh..." Rhett would allow his son to like him but honestly he was glad the boy was biting the dust. Not because it would hurt his son, but because without Leon around he had a chance to have a real lover, one who could take care of him.
"Kid." Rhett glanced over to Leon, "Ya migh' as well get over et. Ya can't help et, an noh one es gonna make fun of ya fer yet."
He was making an effort to be nice....Just for his son.

Cove smiled lightly to himself. While the words weren't the sweetest, for Rhett they very well could have been one of the nicest things he'd ever said.
"Thank ya." Cove murmured, moving to take Leon in his arms again. "And dad..." He paused. "Ah just wanted ta let ya know.. we're gettin' married."

Rhett stared at his son, his eyes shifting to Leon.
"Noh." He said simply enough, moving to press his lips to Cove's ear. "Don' ya even try thah' one. Yar nowt doin' thah ta yarself, yar nowt gonnah ben ah windower." He was not going to have that for his son, Cove was far to young for that.

"Ah'm alreadeh doin et dad." Cove shook his head. "Ah proposed ta hem. Ah want ta marreh hem." He nodded lightly.

"Yar not." Rhett shook his head, he had not having it. "Yar luckeh ah'm lettin em stay er', ah' wont ave' ya married a hem." Rhett drew the line there.