A Star for Baby (boyxboy)

Cassiopeia

"Why?" he asked.

Baby's eyes blazed with emotion. "Because now if I die I hurt you!" He swiped angrily under his eyes, where tears had begun to fall. Oliver's chest tightened at the sight. "Before it was just me. I had no family, no one to worry about. I worried about myself and that's it. But now I have to worry about you too."

"You don't have to worry about me," Oliver countered. "I'm not your responsibility. You can't control what I do and who I love."

"I think we should split up."

The room suddenly swam in silence. The only sound was the sound of the French toast crackling on the stove, probably burning if the smell was anything to go by. Oliver couldn't move, couldn't breathe. All that was running through his head was what Emmett had told him, the very first night he'd laid eyes on Baby. Blue haired boys will break your heart.

"What?" Oliver asked.

His voice bit achingly into the still air between them.

"Oliver," Baby looked at him, gaze so full of love that it hurt. "Sometimes you look like a cancer patient. You haven't been sleeping, you've been too stressed out to do anything. Your finances are in the toilet and you haven't been spending any time with your friends. It's like you don't have a life anymore. It's like I stole it from you."

Oliver was reeling, fear burning in his bones. He could barely concentrate on what Baby was saying. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be.

"This isn't your fault, Baby," Oliver eventually said.

"It is my fault," Baby replied. "And I don't want to hurt you anymore."

"You aren't hurting me by having cancer," Oliver almost cried out in desperation. "I love you, don't you understand?"

"I understand too well," Baby said gravely. "That's why we have to end this."

Oliver stepped forward, putting his hand down hard on the counter between him and Baby. "You can't make me stop loving you. You can't. You can't keep me from getting my heart broken."

"Oliver," Baby raised his voice. "If I die--"

"Stop saying that!" Oliver matched his tone. "You're not going to die!"

"IF I DIE," Baby shouted, stepping forward and around the counter so he and Oliver were almost nose to nose. "You're never going to be the same again! How can I do that to you? How can I do that to myself?"

"This is idiotic Baby!" Oliver yelled back. "Breaking up with me isn't going to solve anything!"

"You're too attached to me!" Baby make a wide gesture between them. "My illness is becoming your illness! I want it all to stop!"

"Don't take your guilt out on me Baby Parker! I shouldn't have to pay for your regrets!"

"But you're already paying! I'm hurting you Oliver!"

"Because I love you! Love hurts sometimes, I thought we were together on this!" Oliver was crying as he screamed.

"You're not listening to me!" Baby yelled in Oliver's face.

"I'm listening and understanding perfectly and I don't agree with a single fucking thing you're saying!"

"Leave!"

That shut Oliver up for a second.

"What?"

"Get out, then!" Baby cried. "Can you understand that?"

Oliver sucked in his bottom lip, looking at Baby with all the disappointment he could muster.

"Fine. Don't fucking call me crying in five minutes."