It's was the first day of grade 10, lunchtime, and Kiku was walking down the school hallways. His eyes were on the floor in front of him while in search of his best friends, Ludwig and Feliciano. It was quite a difficult task to do so while trying not to face anyone he didn't need to, so in reality, he was really wishing that they'd find him.
His wish was granted when he heard Feliciano yell his name from across the hallway. Kiku sighed in relief when Feliciano ran up to him with Ludwig not far behind. "Ciao Kiku! God, it's been a whole summer since we've seen each other! C'mon! I saved us a table at the cafeteria with Antonio and Lovino." And before Kiku could reply, he was taken by the hand and stumbling behind the excited Italian who was quickly running to the cafeteria.
"Hello everyone." Kiku greeted as they approached the table.
"Oh hey Kiku! How was your summer?" Kiku smiled at Antonio and walked around the table to go sit beside Feliciano.
"Mine was good, how about you?" he asked, continuing the conversation. Antonio smirked.
"Oh, ours was great. Right, Lovi~?" Antonio smugly said while placing his hand on top of Lovino's, causing Lovino to turn a bright red colour on his cheeks. "Awh, you look like a little tomato." Antonio continued.
"Sh-Shut it, bastard!" Lovino retorted.
After Kiku sat down, he noticed he forgot to take out his bento box from his locker. He internally groaned and was about to stand up to go get it when Ludwig sat down and passed him the box. Kiku smiled at Ludwig "Arigato Ludwig, but how did you-?"
Ludwig sighed before vaguely returning the smile. "I've been with Feliciano all summer. He'll give you next to no time to grab your belongings when he wants to go somewhere. He can be a bit of an airhead sometimes." Feliciano blushed slightly, puffed out his cheeks and humphed a little "Hey!" Ludwig simply chuckled at Feliciano's reaction.
Kiku felt a pang of jealousy towards the two different couples sitting at the table with him. Kiku knows that they'll never know how lucky they are to be able to love someone without any extreme consequences. However, for Kiku, things were different. He had developed a fear of falling in love due to a curse that has been in his family for generations.
He was cursed to develop the hanahaki disease if he were to ever develop a one-sided crush on someone.
At first, he didn't believe his father's stories of family members falling in love and developing this disease. That is, until his cousin, Leon, started coughing up flower petals when he fell in love with some exchanged student. But thankfully for Leon, his feelings were returned not long after and he didn't have to go through the painful stages of the disease. But the thought still scared him. For if you have the disease for too long, you'll eventually die. There is another option in which you can choose to go under an operation to have the flowers removed from your lungs, but in return, it leaves you unable to love ever again, and in Kiku's opinion, that would be a fate worse than death.
He was soon snapped out of his worrisome thoughts when a loud voice approached the table. "Heya Ludwig! I was wondering if you've seen Mattie around or something. He was with your brother last time I saw him." Kiku looked up and instantly recognized the boy. He was Alfred F. Jones. Kiku had known him in grade 1. They used to go to the same elementary school as each other but eventually separated when Kiku moved back to Asia with his family again. But now, as fate would seem to have it Kiku returned and they both went to the same high school. 'How did I not bump into him the year before in grade 9?' He thought, a bit confused.
"I think I saw them outside on the bleachers." Ludwig answered.
The American smiled his signature smile before nodding "Alright thank you. Also, it's nice to see you again Ludwig and Feli, Antonio and Lovino and-..."
Kiku kind of just awkwardly sat there while Alfred stared at him with a confused look on his face. That gave Kiku time to go over all of Alfred's features. His eyes were a beautiful ocean blue, his hair neatly combed aside from that one cowlick that never seems to want to stay down. Kiku remembered always being fascinated by it when he was younger. His skin looked smooth with just barely noticeable freckles spread out across his nose and cheeks... Now that he was thinking about it, his face looked kind of cute with that confused expression. Kiku was quickly snapped out of his trance by the American suddenly shouting.
"Kiku? Is that really you?! Holy crap it's been years! How're you doing?" The American sat down beside him, seemingly forgetting his search for his younger brother, and Alfred placed his arm around Kiku shoulders in a rougher manner than he intended.
"E-Eek!" Kiku made a little noise of surprise before quietly answering Alfred's question. "O-Oh. I'm doing fine..."
Feliciano looked at the two, surprised. "You two know each other?!" Alfred simply laughed at Feliciano's question.
"Why of course! We went to the same elementary school when we were younger. In grade 1 when he moved here. He moved away for a bit in middle school or some jazz like that." Alfred stood up and smiled again. "Anyways gotta go find Mattie, and also get my gym bag before the bell rings. My locker's on the complete other side of the school from where the gym is so I'll save some time if I get it now. I'll see you later, okay Keeks?"
Kiku was a bit flustered by the use of his childhood nickname and just nodded slowly, still feeling a bit uncomfortable.
As Alfred left the cafeteria, Antonio smirked. "So you two were friends in elementary school?" Kiku stared at his bento box, trying to avoid all eye contact as he mumbled a small 'Yes...'
Seeing Kiku being this timid when answering Antonio's question made Feliciano have an excited look on his face as if his suspicions were correct. "So, um, do you like hi-"
Before Feliciano could finish, he was cut off by Kiku, who was now speaking in an unusually stern voice. "Feliciano, please. Don't."
Feliciano and Antonio gave their significant other a confused look to which they both replied with a simple shrug. Kiku sighed, knowing he'd have to tell them sooner or later. Besides, this is high school, the place where dramatic love blossoms. Whether it be figuratively or literally. He looked up from his bento box and looked at the four. "Um. I..."
No. He couldn't tell them about his secret. They didn't need to know...
Not now at least. He didn't want pity and he wasn't sure that they'd believe him. Besides, the only place you'd find examples of this disease is in angsty and pining fanfiction.
"Never mind."
And with that, he opened up his box, grabbing his pair of chopsticks from his bag and began eating without another word for the rest of the lunch hour.
When the end of lunch bell rang Kiku felt relieved to be away from the loud cafeteria. That is until he looked at his timetable. Instantly, he felt the weight in his stomach returned. Alfred mentioned his next class was gym right? So that meant... Of course he had gym class with Alfred.
Hopefully, it was the only class he had with Alfred, at least for this semester. He started walking in the direction of the gym with a heavy heart. God, he did not want to be in the same class as the guy he used to have a minor crush on when they were younger. Kiku always suspected that flowers didn't grow in his lungs when he was younger because Alfred returned the feelings and that they both kind of knew about their crush on each other.
But things have changed since then. Alfred is now a teenager and probably has a girlfriend or boyfriend or something. When Kiku snapped out of his thoughts and looked up, he realized that he was already at the gymnasium.
He opened the door to the gym, apparently being the first one there, and walked to the changing rooms to quickly get changed into a pair of fresh gym clothes. He was glad to be the only one inside right now, having been was rather uncomfortable with changing in front of others and vice versa. Plus changing rooms didn't have stalls like they did in middle school.
Once finished, Kiku instantly sped walked out of there before anyone else could come in. He went to the back of the gym and sat down on one of the benches and took out his sketchbook, starting to draw while waiting for class to begin.
The only time Kiku looked up from his sketchbook was when Alfred entered the gymnasium and headed straight towards the changing rooms, not long after reappearing from the changing room in different clothes as well. 'That shirt really accents his muscles... What am I thinking?! No, I don't care.' Kiku blushed and looked back down at his art book, making sure not to make eye contact.
He sighed with relief as Alfred apparently didn't spot him and went to go sit beside a boy who was already ready on another bench instead, who he noted looked similar to Alfred. 'Oh right! Matthew! That's his brother. He was here last year, though I never was close with him until the last month of school when we discovered we have similar interests. He's kinda my anime and manga buddy, and sometimes video game buddy. I always assumed Alfred wasn't in the same school since their parents divorced, if I remember correctly.' he thought to himself as he continued to draw.
Eventually the gym teacher ordered everyone who wasn't already sitting to take a seat before basically just reminding everyone of the rules of the gym and what they'll be doing for the semester for a good half hour. Once that was over and dealt with, everyone was told they could either walk or run laps for the last ten minutes. Throughout the gym teacher's speech, Kiku's nerves had finally began to calm down and he felt a lot more relaxed.
But that didn't last long as Alfred approached him, brushing his shoulder as he started running beside Kiku, causing him to blush a bit. "Hey there Kiku! Isn't it awesome that we have gym together?"
Kiku stifled a cough as he tried to hide the light blush. "Ah. Yes of course." Is all he managed to awkwardly reply with.
They ran side by side quietly for a few minutes before Alfred broke the awkward silence. "So, uh, I was wondering if you'd like to come to my house after school or something. We totally need to catch up and what not. I mean, it has been over 4 years since last time we've seen each other."
Kiku almost tripped on the air when Alfred offered the invite to his house. He really wanted to decline the offer, but at the same time, he didn't want to come off as rude after 4 years. "Uhh, sure." Kiku mumbled.
Alfred pumped his fist in the air before cheerfully exclaiming, "Alright, I'll drive you there right after school. I don't think Matthew and Gilbert will be sucking each other's faces after school and my boyfriend won't be coming over tonight so the house will be totally PG."
Suddenly a quiet voice from behind interrupted their conversation. "Alfred, I heard that." Both Alfred and Kiku turned their heads around in surprise.
"Oh hey, Mattie! When did you get behind us?"
Matthew frowned slightly "I was here the whole time."
Alfred laughed loudly. "Geez, you're a quiet one, aren't-cha?" He teased, to which simply Matthew rolled his eyes.
"Quit talking to me as if I am a puppy."
That's when Kiku slowed down, not only because it was a perfect opportunity to escape Alfred, but also because he was starting to run out of breath. 'Hm? That's strange.' He thought as he put his hands over his chest which was unusually tight. 'I can normally last longer than this. Maybe it's because I hadn't exercised as much I should have since I got back from my visit to Japan this summer?' He shrugged and sat back down and pulled his art book back out from under the bench.
For the last few minutes, Kiku decided to sit down and draw. The teacher luckily didn't care too much since it was the first day never rally was too strict of a person in general.
Kiku's mind slowly wandered back to his conversation with Alfred. More particularly the fact that he had a boyfriend. Not a girlfriend, a boyfriend. Not that Kiku was judging or anything, in fact, he felt comfort knowing that Alfred still swung that way and smile crept up on his face. Though, all too soon he regained his senses and promptly wiped the smile off his face. He shouldn't care and he decided that he didn't.
When the bell rang, he quickly changed and spent the rest of the day nervously waiting to go to Alfred's house rather than focusing on his last period. He didn't really care for Spanish anyways. Unfortunately, it was mandatory.
When the time came and Kiku was at his locker to get is bag and Alfred walked up to him, it was as if he couldn't breathe. 'What the hell is wrong with me? it's just Alfred.' he grumbled. "Come on let's hurry before the next wave of the crowd comes along! The sooner we get to my house the better, we're going to have a great time."
"Yeah, just hold on a second please." Kiku took a deep breath and quickly gathered his belongings before closing his locker, gripping the strap of his bag around his shoulder a lot tighter than necessary. "Alright."
They both started to walk to Alfred's car in the parking lot, side by side. Kiku's heart racing, but his face calm and normal. He was glad he was able to hide his emotions well. It helped a lot in uncomfortable situations.
Once they approached Alfred's car, Alfred walked to the left-hand side door and unlocked it, getting inside, Kiku slowly entering the car moments after Alfred.
"Please be careful with anything inside. This is my dad's old car and he'll kill me if I got a single scratch on it. I guess this car meant a lot to him, but I think he needs to calm down a bit. Like come one, I'm not that untrustworthy." Alfred explained while turning the key in the ignition, starting the engine.
Kiku nodded in response and started to daydream as they drove down the streets of the town, though his daydreaming ended up not lasting long as they pulled up to Alfred's house in a matter of minutes. Kiku blinked a few times and looked around at the house.
Memories of coming here in elementary school suddenly resurfaced in his mind. His stomach fluttered at the memories of him playing tag with Alfred and his brother and watching cartoons side by side, talking about their friendship, playing the Wii and the GameCube and having gaming tournaments. They both got out of the car and Alfred unlocked the door to the house.
Everything looked the same from how Kiku remembered it except for some
furniture that was either new, thrown away or was moved around.
He hung his coat on the hook by the door and took off his shoes, grabbing a pair of slippers from his bag instead and putting them on. Even though Kiku has been in America for the majority of his life, he still feels uncomfortable when not he doesn't follow basic Japanese traditions.
"Heh. You still have your slippers? Wow, it's like nothing changed. Anyways let's go play on the Wii! And yes, I still have the same Wii from when we were younger, surprisingly it still works. So does Matt's GameCube." Alfred exclaimed as he grabbed Kiku's hand and lead him to his bedroom and Kiku looked around.
Alfred's room was painted a dark blue. An American flag was hanging above his bed along with a few other posters of people that Kiku didn't recognize except for the one Fairytail poster that was hung above the TV that was across from the bed. There was also a desk with papers and other random stuff on top of it, his dresser of clothes beside it along with a huge beanbag chair that could fit up to three people.
The bed squeaked as Alfred sat down on it. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV and Wii on, motioning Kiku to come to sit beside him. Kiku grabbed the Wii remotes from the desk, passing one to Alfred and sat down on the bed. "How about some good ol' fashioned Mario Kart? Maybe this time I'll be able to beat you." The last part of that sentence was mumbled, but just loud enough so that Kiku could hear. This made Kiku laugh. "Try me. You still have a classic controller?"
"Yup, though I still claim the ones with thighs!"
"And they're still handles, Alfred. Handles."
"Whatever. What course you wanna play? Also, ground rules are no ultra shortcuts, gap jumps are acceptable, no trolling. And I dibs Funky Kong."
"Cool, I'll be Daisy, of course."
After a few races, it was clear that Kiku was still was the master of Mario Kart and was basically unbeatable. After a few more attempts, Alfred finally gave up. "Well, that was unfair... How about we watch some horror movies instead?"
Kiku perked up at the mention of that. He nodded and pulled out a horror movie from his bag. Before Alfred could ask why the hell he had a horror movie in his bag, Kiku interrupted him. "Don't ask. Just go with it." He said sternly as he put the disc into the movie player and selected play.
Not even 20 minutes into the movie, Alfred was already clinging onto a blushing Kiku for dear life. Kiku felt quite uncomfortable, like always, with physical contact, but he just went along with it.
A few minutes later, Kiku was released from Alfred's death grasp as Alfred's phone buzzed. Alfred pulled his phone out of his back right pant pocket and checked the caller ID. "Oh, sorry I have to take this." He gave Kiku an apologetic look as he paused to movie as he stood up and walked to the corner of the room. "Hey, babe. What's up?"
At those words, Kiku felt a sudden pang of jealousy, and he didn't know why. It felt as if breathing had become a difficult task. His chest was heavy and honestly kinda hurt.
Then it hit him. If it was anyone else, it would be pushed aside as the feeling of jealousy, love, a crush. But this was himself. His face paled as he suddenly felt a choking sensation in his chest.
He suddenly stood up and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He placed his hands on the counter, resting himself over the sink. That's when he started coughing. And coughing. And coughing... Until the choking sensation disappeared and he felt something rise his throat and into his mouth. It felt weird, so he spat whatever it was into the sink.
When he looked down at what it was, he was horrified.
There, laying there in the sink right in front of him was an awful truth. A pair of cherry blossom petals sickly coated in his own saliva.
This explained why he couldn't breathe normally throughout certain periods of the day, especially when around Alfred. His head spun as he heard a knock on the bathroom door and he heard Alfred from the other side. "Yo, Keeks. You alright...?"
He quickly grabbed the petals from the sink with shaking hands, wrapped them into a piece of kleenex and threw it into the garbage bin.
He replied with a quick "Yeah." but on the inside, he felt like dying. Because no matter how much he wanted to deny it, he had fallen in love.
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Total amount of words in this Chapter (Not including ending note): 3434
WOO A NEW WORD RECORD!
Ahhhh! Finally done! I've been wanting to write this forever. I've recently grown a soft spot of hanahaki disease fanfics but I haven't seen a lot of Hetalia hanahaki fanfics. They're all either one-shots or are just, ships I don't like or make me uncomfortable. Sooooo, I decided to take matters into my own hands.!
Of course, this story is going to be based around Ameripan. So I apologize if you don't like the ship.
Little Fun Fact I Guess?: The hanahaki disease's origins are from Japan, so it's, of course, it's Kiku who falls victim. If you think about it, it makes sense and is quite logical.
Anyways, thank you for reading chapter 1 of 'Love Petals' and I hope you have a wonderful day and/or night where ever you are!
[EDIT]: I fixed a lot of things, such as dialogue, grammatical mistakes, general cringe and just miniature plot holes within the backstory of the two you wouldn't really notice unless you thought about it. For example, why Kiku knows and was friends with Matthew the year before without ever bumping to Alfred or assuming Alfred is at the same school. I also made things make more school within their school day because I actually started writing this before I was in high school to be honest. Though now that almost a full year has passed, (I'm sorry guys, shit has been hard, I'm trying to be better I promise! I've just really needed to focus on myself these past couple of years.) and I'm in the tenth grade now, I understand highschool life a LOT better. Anyways, thanks for sticking around, chapter 3 will hopefully be up before the school year starts.