Let Go Before You Fall-TreeBros fanfic

Chapter 3-Connor

I head off towards Evan's place with hundreds of excuses flying through my head in case I cough up blood again. What the nurse told me was terrifying but I can't tell him. He's into Zoe anyways. I pull into Evan's driveway, finally settling on an excuse when I cough up a mix of blood and pink apple blossoms, which I had identified during a huge coughing fit last night. I grab the box of tissues in my glove compartment and wipe off the blood from my coughing with one, and hide the flowers in another tissue, which I place in the bottom of the glove compartment. I honk the horn and see Evan approach the door.

I open my car door for Evan and he climbs in. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY who you wanna listen to this time?" I say as I take out my phone and open Spotify.

"My Chem again? I need to angstily scream a bit," he says, flipping his dusty blonde hair out of his eyes. GOD HE'S SO CUTE.

"Huh? Who?" SHIT DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD?!

"Uhhhhhhhmmmmmm... I was stalking this guy's Instagram earlier... don't judge me." Nice save, dumbass.

"Oh, lil gay, isn't it?" Evan jokes and gently messes with my hair. SCREEEEEEEECH. I'm exploding with gay energy and I can feel myself blushing, so I flip up my hood and start up the car, turning on My Chemical Romance, per Evan's request.

I feel a poke. I turn to Evan, making sure I can still see the road. "You're blushing, Connor. Do you wuv meeeee?" Something about that makes me blush even more and brings on a coughing fit. I turn away and cover my mouth, trying to swallow the flowers that I'm choking up. I wipe as much blood from my face as possible and ask Evan to open the glove compartment and grab my tissues. "Sure thing, lover boy," He jokes and hands me the tissue box. I wipe any remaining blood, ready to give Evan my excuse for why I'm covered in it. Luckily, he doesn't notice.

Until I cough again.

"Bro, you're coughing up blood. Are you okay? Is this why you were worried you wouldn't be able to go to the orchard today?"

"Yeah. I got into a fight with some kid last night while I was out smoking with the guy who's Instagram I was stalking and some rando came up to me and punched me in the stomach. I went to the ER and had it checked out and I'm okay, though. Don't worry about me, tree hugger." I boop his nose and he blushes. Does he like me? Then why do I have Hanahaki? I just keep driving and let MCR drown out my thoughts until we reach the entrance to the old, abandoned apple orchard I used to go to with my parents. And Zoe.

Thinking about Zoe makes me think about Evan, and thinking about Evan brings flowers. And I can't let him see me like this. I get out of the car in an attempt to hide my bloodstained mouth and while I'm walking, I wipe my face. I get to the other side of the car and open the passenger door for Evan, who promptly slides out of the seat. We walk through the deep snow, freezing our legs almost up to our knees. 

Trudging slowly, I think about the fact that my love is literally slowly killing me. The nurse I saw last night said I have the worst case of Hanahaki he'd ever seen so it's more like... quickly... killing me. Still killing me nevertheless. I have to stop this. Soon. And Evan can't know. Ever.

I'm caught up fearing for my existence when Evan taps my shoulder. "Bro, we reached the clearing. You wanna brush off a bench and talk about life and... other shit like that?"

"Very specific."

"Shut up," Evan says as he gently nudges me.

"Yeah, okay, tree bro." I say through coughing and choking back those beautiful yet painful pink flowers.

"Okay, seriously, Connor. What's wrong? You've been coughing blood and what appears to be tiny bits of skin this whole time. You're not okay."

"I'm fine, I swear," I say, just before throwing up practically a bouquet of petals and branches.