Chapter Text
The worst part is, it came out of nowhere.
It was a normal day. Reo made it to campus, and he hung around looking for a familiar mop of white hair like he always did.
Today was Tuesday which meant if he saw Nagi, they would not only walk to class together but actually be in the same class. Tuesdays were Reo’s favorite because of this. He just loved spending time with Nagi. He had known he was in love with his best friend for a while now, but he was too scared to say anything to Nagi because he didn’t want to risk ruining his friendship. Besides, he truly was happy just being Nagi’s friend. Really.
“Nagi!” Reo grinned as he walked up and slung an arm around his best friend. “You made it to campus today.”
“I live on campus,” Nagi said with a sigh. “It’s part of my sports scholarship.”
That damned sports scholarship was going to drive Reo insane. When they came to University, Nagi had decided to stick with soccer so he could save his money for games and not have to pay for school. It wasn’t a bad idea, but Reo was tired of not seeing his best friend every day. He’d never say it out loud, but he missed riding around on his bike with Nagi on the back, no destination in mind, just happy to be spending time together.
Reo waved his free hand. “Not what I meant. You’re going to class.”
Nagi shrugged one shoulder. “They take attendance in this class.”
“Aw, don’t be shy, you can say it’s because it’s the class we have together.” Reo was teasing, but he wanted it to be true. They only got to see each other in University through one mind-numbing gen ed requirement. Reo looked forward to Tuesdays. He wanted to know if Nagi did too.
“I guess it does make it better that I have a friend with me,” Nagi said, not taking his eyes off his phone screen where he was playing some game.
Reo opened his mouth to respond, but started coughing instead. It felt like there was something caught in the back of his throat and he couldn’t get it out no matter how much he coughed. “I’ll see you in class,” he managed to rasp out between coughs as he headed towards the nearest bathroom.
With a quick scan of the bathroom to make sure he was alone, Reo opened his mouth and tried to look to see what was stuck in his throat. He saw something sticking to the back of the roof of his mouth and was eventually able to pull it out.
It was a bloody flower petal.
Reo stared down at the petal in his hand, unable to find the reason behind why it was inside his mouth. Had he left his window open last night and swallowed it in his sleep? He didn’t think so, but he really couldn’t think of why something like this would be happening.
Thinking about it wouldn’t help at this point, so Reo just decided to throw it away and ignore it. He had to have swallowed it sometime yesterday. It was the only thing that made sense.
He ran back to class, fully late at this point and just hoping Nagi saved him a seat. Thankfully, he had. Reo quietly walked over to Nagi and sat down, trying not to interrupt the beginning of the class.
“You okay?” Nagi asked, leaning over a little to whisper into Reo’s space.
“Yeah yeah, just choked on my own spit.” Reo wasn’t sure why he wasn’t telling Nagi about the petal, he just felt like he should. If he couldn’t figure out where the petal came from, it would just invite unanswerable questions if he told anyone. Nagi seemed to be okay with that answer and refocused his attention on the snack he brought.
Reo tried to push the incident out of his mind and listen to their professor drone on about some book everyone has to read. But he couldn’t. There was a heavy feeling deep in his chest and it was getting more and more uncomfortable.
He tried to take slow, deep breaths, but it felt like he was constantly fighting off a cough. Was he getting sick? Reo let himself obsess over his thoughts, fully zoned out and thinking about the damned flower petal. He shouldn’t obsess over this, he should just shrug it off and continue on with his day. It was probably nothing. But…
But his chest hurt, and his throat felt raw where he had pulled the petal from. What if it wasn’t a flower petal? What if it was a sign he was seriously sick? What if he was contageous and Nagi starts coughing up petals too?
Reo looked over at Nagi to see him texting. He kept his eyes glued to his phone in a way Reo had only seen directed toward video games. “Who’s that?” Reo whispered, jutting his chin towards Nagi’s phone.
“Isagi. He wants to get lunch,” Nagi said, no emotion in his voice to show Reo how he felt about that.
“We usually do lunch on Tuesdays,” Reo whispered back. A sick feeling settled in his stomach, but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was just a side effect of whatever was going on in his chest. Sure, he was worried about the implication that Nagi wouldn’t be eating with him, but that wasn’t enough to make him ill .
Nagi glanced at Reo. “Yeah, but he wants to talk plays for the game this weekend. So I’m going to do lunch with him today.”
“Are you serious?” Reo hissed, still trying to be quiet. “You’re ditching me?” Nagi had never once bailed on their lunch plans since high school. Feelings of disbelief and sadness were swirling inside Reo, morphing into something much uglier.
“I’m not ditching you. I’m just getting lunch with Isagi today.” Nagi was still speaking in a monotone voice, the likes of which had never annoyed Reo before. But now he was searching for any hint that Nagi felt bad about not getting lunch.
When Nagi didn’t even glance over at him, Reo felt his heart drop. “How is that not ditching me when we always get lunch on Tuesday?” He knew he was being whiny, but he had already had a pretty shit day and he could use a normal lunch with Nagi to feel better.
“You’re being a bother,” Nagi said with a sigh.
Reo’s blood ran cold. Nagi thought he was a bother, and didn’t want to spend time with him? He would rather be with Isagi? Breathing became hard again, and if Reo didn’t know any better he would think he was having a panic attack. But Nagi having lunch with someone else shouldn’t send him into this spiral so quickly and he did have a weird pain in his chest.
In his worry, he missed the professor dismissing the class, being alerted to their freedom only when Nagi stood to collect his belongings. “Oh, I have extra practice tonight too,” Nagi said, still not looking over at Reo. “So I can’t come over to do school work later. Do you think—”
At the mention of canceling yet more of their plans, Reo felt something inside him snap.
“If I’m such a bother, why don’t you just do your stupid work with Isagi,” Reo spat. He stood up and gathered his stuff, an itch in the back of his throat starting to worry him. It felt like a petal was stuck again. But surely he hadn’t swallowed two in his sleep. He coughed into his hand only to see a speckle of blood. Something was wrong.
“Reo…” Nagi frowned at his friend as he started to leave.
Reo just shook his head and left the room. He held his fist closed tight, the blood something extremely worrying, but it wasn’t like he could tell Nagi. If he told Nagi he was sick and Nagi bailed on Isagi, Reo would just feel guilty. Nagi didn’t want to spend time with him. He had to just accept that. So, he left the room, no one the wiser to the weird feeling in his chest and the blood in his hand.
—
Reo decided to just go home after his morning class. If he was coughing up blood and flower petals then there was something wrong. Besides, if Nagi wasn’t at lunch with him it wasn’t like Reo wanted to be there. He had plenty of friends, yes, but it was Nagi who he wanted to spend his time with. Not like Nagi felt the same.
As the thought flitted through Reo’s mind in the back of his limo, he was wracked with coughs and pain shot through his chest, stronger than before. He bent over, clutching at his shirt just trying to breathe, but instead two bloody petals fell out of his mouth.
Reo’s vision blurred as panic started to really set in. Had he swallowed a whole flower in his sleep? Surely not, but where else could these be coming from? How else would he have petals coming from inside him? His breathing became erratic and heavy as he spiraled into a true panic attack. Something was wrong.
“Young Mikage, are you alright?” Baya said from the front, his hacking alerting her to the issue.
Reo wheezed, but was relieved to find he could breathe again. “I–” He had to cut himself off, coughing again as more petals continued to fall from his mouth. Tears started to spill from his eyes, the pain and confusion pushing him over the edge. He couldn’t find a plausible reason for what was happening to him. Was he going to die?
The unrelenting coughing seemed to push Baya into gear, speeding up while simultaneously calling the doctor who made house calls for the Mikages. Reo could hear her speaking over his coughs.
“Yes, Master Reo is sick and needs you to look at him. He is coughing nonstop and…”
Reo looked up to meet Baya’s eyes in the rearview mirror, three petals spilling out of his mouth as he couldn’t keep them hidden any longer. She was openly showing concern, her lips turned down in confusion. “And he’s coughing up what looks like flower petals.”
Reo crumpled back into himself, not wanting to hear how even the doctor would be confused. But how could she not be? Reo had never heard of something like this happening before. It shouldn’t be possible. Flower petals falling out of his mouth, covered in his own blood, a crushing feeling in his chest. What the fuck was going on?
They sped home and Baya helped Reo into the apartment and up to his room. Even standing still was difficult with how much Reo was still coughing, so Baya picked him up. He felt pathetic. Needing to be carried to bed when just this morning he had felt fine . He had been fine . What was going on?
“It hurts,” Reo croaked, bunching his shirt up in his hands and letting his tears fall freely. “Why does it hurt so bad?” The heavy pressure in his chest felt like it was getting worse and worse, burning him from the inside. Yet the rest of his body had no reaction. He wasn’t even shivering. His body wasn’t fighting back.
Baya stayed silent, knowing it was a rhetorical question. No one had answers for Reo. At least not yet. She laid Reo down in his bed on his side so he wouldn’t choke on the petals, brushing his hair back to feel for a fever Reo knew wouldn’t be present.
“I’m going to get you a trashcan. Put the petals in that so when the doctor gets here she can look at them.”
Reo groaned in confirmation as he curled up in his bed. His moments of reprieve from coughing left him wheezing and in immense pain. There was something seriously wrong with him and he could only hope his doctor would be able to tell him what it was. He could only hope he wouldn’t die.
Reo went in and out of consciousness, his exhaustion taking over and letting him sleep for a few hours at a time before his coughing woke him up, petals just falling out of his mouth at this point. It was only getting worse.
The doctor was there once when Reo woke up, putting something into his IV that she must have set up earlier. He wanted to ask what it was. He wanted to ask if she had answers for him, but talking was too difficult. If he didn’t die from this he’d find out eventually anyway. He just closed his eyes and tried to fall back asleep.
One time he heard her talking on the phone, just her voice coming through his closed door.
“So you have seen this too…No my patient fell ill today…Yes, I am getting an x-ray as soon as my patient is feeling well enough to– What? How is that possible? Plants can’t grow inside someone…I didn’t have a– Okay, yes, okay. I’ll be in touch.”
Reo looked down at his chest as his head spun with the words he wasn’t supposed to overhear. A plant was growing inside him? And this wasn’t a one-off? He couldn’t decide if he should be relieved or worried. Relieved that this wasn’t a unique case and other doctors have seen this, or worry over a plant apparently growing inside him.
If he was coughing up the petals that meant the plant was in his lungs. That explained the pain. But how did the plant get there? Why was he hurting so bad?
A bitter part of him was still stuck on Nagi, his betrayal this morning the only thing Reo could really think about. He didn’t understand. Nagi had never shown interest in getting to know anyone , even Reo in the beginning. But Isagi shows up to the same university, on the same scholarship, and now Nagi decides he cares about someone else? Enough to just throw Reo away? Did he mean that little to Nagi?
Reo continued to sob, this time the tears coming from the emotional pain rather than the physical. Not only did Nagi not like him the way Reo longed for, but he might not really care about Reo at all.