A/N: Please excuse my description skills. I can't describe things well. It's my first time writing. Anyways on to the story.
You laid down on your cold hard bed lost in your thoughts after coming back from an exhausting mission with Hunter.
Throughout the whole day you have been feeling off. You couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It was probably nothing.
That was until you felt a sharp pain in your chest, causing you to shoot up from your bed as you started coughing. Covering your mouth with one hand, you quickly ran to your bathroom sink as you felt something rising up from your throat. Gripping the edge of your sink as you tried desperately to cough up whatever was lodged in your throat.
Soon enough, you saw a handful of bright yellow petals stained in blood drifting down to the bottom of the sink.
Ah shit
You take it back. This was definitely something.
You know what this meant and who was the cause of this. You had hanahaki. The only way to cure it was to confess your love and have those feelings returned, or to have the flowers surgically removed and lose all your memories of the one you love.
Sure you’ve liked him for a long time now but you didn’t think your feelings for him would grow this bad to the point of getting a deadly disease.
The getting surgery was not possible for you.You would rather die than forget about him. You couldn't bear the thought of losing all the memories you've made together.
You picked up the petals and discarded them in your dustbin before rinsing your mouth to get rid of any remnants of the coppery taste in your mouth.
It’s not like you could confess your love either. Not when the person you are in love with is Hunter aka the golden guard and your best friend. Besides, he has other things to worry about. I bet he doesn’t even feel the same way. You thought as you headed back to bed.
It’s fine I just can’t let him find out.How hard can it be? Maybe I can make these feelings go away. Right?
Soon your eyelids became too heavy to keep open as you drifted to a dreamless sleep.
The next day, you and Hunter were out on the field sparring with each other. The both of you were currently exchanging blows. You were practicing your abomination magic while Hunter was getting the hang of using Flapjack. When you suddenly feel the petals start to come up your throat again.
Fuck, why now.
You quickly put as much distance as you can between him and yourself. Turning your back to him before breaking down into a coughing fit. Placing a hand to your mouth to catch the bloody petals escaping your lips before lighting them on fire and throwing it's ashes away discreetly.
“Hey, (Y/N) you alright?” Hunter asked. Concerned for his best friend.
“Yeeep, it's probably just a bad cough. Don’t worry it’ll go away on its own. Let's just continue training. Can’t have the golden guard slacking off now can we?” You turned around facing him as you got back into your starting position.
Hunter clearly did not buy your answer but decided not to press you for the truth. Copying your actions before charging towards you. You'll tell him if it was anything serious. Right?
As the days went by, you found it harder and harder to hide your hanahaki from Hunter. Every time you guys hang out you could feel the petals threatening to escape your throat. Constantly having to excuse yourself made Hunter grow worried for you.
And constantly being around him definitely didn’t help with the disease.
You tried keeping your distance, but it's hard to do so when you constantly hang out with him and go on missions together.
So you decided to stop hanging out with Hunter entirely in hopes that it would lessen the coughing fits. Unfortunately, this did not help make your condition any better and avoiding Hunter only made him grow more concerned.
Every time he tried talking to you other outside of missions, you just brushed him off with excuses. This made you feel guilty but it's for the best. This is just temporary, everything will go back to normal eventually. Hopefully.
This made you feel miserable.
You missed hanging out with him without this stupid disease.
You missed the time where you could make jokes with him and laugh without feeling suffocated.
You missed hearing his laugh and seeing his smile.
You missed having him around.
You missed him.
It's fine, I just have to wait for these feelings to go away and everything can be back to normal. Who am I kidding? These feelings obviously won't go away.
One day, the both of you were assigned to go on a mission together. It was just a simple mission in the forest.There have been some sightings of wild witches going in and out of there for a few days now so Emperor Belos assigned you and Hunter to go patrol the area.
Everything seemed normal, no wild witches anywhere in sight. You and Hunter made small talk. Him clearly wanting to bring up the subject about your recent change in behavior while you try your best to avoid talking about it.
Everything was fine when all of a sudden you felt the pain in your chest intensify causing you to kneel on the ground. Hands gripping the dirt beneath you as you started hacking up whole flowers.
Nononono, not now-
But you couldn't stop.This time it was much worse. It felt more painful than any other coughing fit you've had. Tears welled up in your eyes from the feeling of bile coming out your throat. Huge amounts of blood coming out of your mouth, stray drops dribbling down your chin. Flowers you've coughed up landing on the bloody puddle with a splat as it made contact with the ground.The taste of copper lingering on your tongue.
Hunter saw it happen and there's no lying your way out this time.
Ah Fuck
"Holy shit. (Y/N), are you okay what the heck is going on? Why are you coughing up bloody flowers?" Hunter asked, worry etched on his face. Hunter knelt down next to you, rubbing circles on your back in an attempt to comfort you.
"I-it's nothing, just a little cough. I'll be fine." Your voice a little raspy, as you drew in a shaky breath trying to get some oxygen into your lungs.
Brushing off his concerns for you as you wiped the blood and tears from your face. Hunter backed away to give you some space as he offered his hand out to you for support. Which you gratefully took as he helped you slowly get up.
But Hunter had enough. He was not going to let this slide. "That's fucking bullshit and you know it! Please stop lying to me. You're obviously not okay. You look like you’re going to pass out any second from the amount of blood you’ve lost. " Tears welled up in his eyes as his voice started cracking up.
"First you avoided me like the plague for weeks without a proper explanation and now you're coughing up fucking blood and flowers. That's not fucking normal. Don't tell me that it's nothing. Please, (Y/N), let me help you. Tell me what's going on." He said. Desperation seeping through his voice.
You winced at his outburst feeling guilty for lying to him.
Welp this is it, it's probably going to get so awkward. But he deserves to know the truth.
You looked Hunter in the eyes.
You took a deep breath and confessed to him.
"Hunter, I...I have something to confess." You pause for a moment, trying to find the right words to say. "I have hanahaki. I know that we're best friends and that we've been through a lot together, but...I have feelings for you. I don't know when it started or how it happened, but...I just can't keep it hidden anymore. And I know that it's not fair to you to keep you in the dark about it. But I thought that if I avoided you I could make the disease go away. Because the person I have hanahaki for is you. I like you. As in more than just a friend. I know you probably don't feel the same way,but I hope we can still remain friends." You started to ramble off as your eyes trailed to the ground.
Hunter just stood there silently, eyes widening in shock, staring at you as a blush slowly formed on his face.
"Ummm Hunter?" You began to feel more nervous. You took a quick glance at him. You couldn't tell if he was turning red because he was blushing or because he was embarrassed.
"I like you too. I've had for a long time, but I was too scared to tell you."He blurted out after a moment.
You couldn't believe what you were hearing. Hunter likes you too? You felt a blush creep up your face after finally processing his words.You felt the flowers in your chest begin to disappear. You could finally breathe normally again.
You were cured.
"(Y/N), I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, If I had just told you you wouldn't have to suffer because of me"
"No no. It's not your fault. None of it is. It's not like you knew this would happen." You approached him, pulling him into a hug.
"Sooo does this make us official?" He asked while returning the gesture.His gloved hands holding onto you as if you would disappear.
"Yeah. I-I guess it does."
"Does this mean we can hangout again like we used to? I missed having you with me." He mumbled as he buried his face in the crook of your neck.
"Of course you dork. I promise I'll make it up to you after the mission. But for now let's just stay like this a little longer."
"And I missed you too."
The two of you stay like that for a moment, lost in the warmth of each other's embrace. Finally, you pull back, looking at Hunter with a smile. "So...what happens now?" you ask, feeling a bit unsure of what comes next.
Hunter grins at you, taking your hand in his. "Now, we take things one step at a time. We will figure things out together."