Chapter Text
The end of semester party at Scott’s place was in full swing. The house was filled with music that was loud, but wasn’t too loud to talk over, and multiple games laid out in different rooms. There was also a large kitchen island filled with chips, drinks, and other snacks for all of the crazy people who populated their friend group.
Listen, getting snacks for vampires, werewolves, two different flavors of cryptid, a few demon-born (one of which was still a ghost), and some humans but a little to the left, is a task and a half.
Setup and prep work had been planned weeks in advance. Legundo, Abolish, Cleo, and Pearl had all offered to help set everything up and bring along some games and food, so the four had piled into Legundo’s car to drive from the campus apartments to Scott’s home, and pulled into the driveway an hour before the party was scheduled to begin.
Rather than wait for someone to answer the front door, Cleo simply opened it and let themselves and the others in. Scott had given them an open invite into the house years ago, and Legs was sure they abused it whenever they could. Inside, everyone’s full hands were quickly dropped onto tables and counters, before Scott came into the room and greeted everyone.
Set up didn’t take too long, and luckily there was only one close call with disaster when someone bumped the ladder Abolish was using to string fairy lights across the room, but Pearl reacted quickly and steadied it before anyone tumbled.
Slowly, as the hour grew closer, the full group arrived at the house. The coven members who were currently home trickled downstairs. Shelby and Drift offered to help with the final preparations, and they were followed a little later by Pyro, then Avid and Elle. Owen and Louis arrived, soon followed by Martyn, Apo, Ren, Cherri, and M, who got there together, carpooling after practice.
Finals had kept everybody busy the past month, each of them studying or grading or rehearsing final presentations, anything and everything to finish their classes with passing grades. Everyone spent the first while catching up, a relaxed beginning to what would, knowing their friends, inevitably become completely unruly mess by the end of the night. Eventually, games began, the music was turned up, and the party fully started.
Screaming matches over games occurred, a game of ‘murder on a train’ was started around the house, everyone relishing in the chance to be a little evil, and a game of intense tag was played in the backyard. Snacks and drinks were shared and they were all having a fantastic time.
A few hours later, Legs found himself leaned against a wall in the living room, chatting calmly with Abolish. About anything from classes to the latest show that had interested them to work. Most of the group had gathered in the same room, sat on couches or the floor, talking and yelling and laughing filling the space.
The next song that came on caught several people’s attention. It was a good tempo to dance to, with a catchy chorus and beat. It had come out recently, Legs remembered, and all the radio stations were playing it regularly. His eyes snapped over to Louis as he spoke.
“Oh, I love this song!” Louis exclaimed as he jumped up from his seat. “Dance with me?” He asked, holding his hand out to Owen, who took it with a small grin, allowing himself to be pulled up and to the makeshift dance floor.
More of their friends joined in, grabbing a partner or anyone that was close, as they began to dance in the living room. The room was usually occupied by couches and a coffee table, but the furniture had been moved in their earlier prep to other rooms or pushed up to the walls to make space, freeing up the area for whatever they wanted. Which included dancing tonight; not super common during their parties, but not too rare either.
Even with several dancers swaying and jumping to the music, Legs found he couldn’t take his eyes away from one pair in particular. Owen and Louis were gliding across the room, eyes locked on each other. Occasionally, they would whisper something, before smiling or laughing, seeming completely in a world of their own. They looked so content, almost ethereal, in the soft glow of the fairy lights strung across the ceiling.
He finally tore his eyes away as he felt the itch of a cough grow. Turning his head, he cleared his throat lightly into his arm, which turned into two coughs, then three. It felt like there was something stuck in his throat. Not enough to block his breathing, but certainly enough to make his body demand it be removed.
Legs took a moment and stepped away, moving towards one of the bathrooms down the hall. The music grew faint as he closed the door and locked it. Leaning over the sink, hands griping on the counter, he felt a worse cough tear through him. He screwed his eyes shut, coughing a few more times, and after a very long few seconds, whatever had been lodged in his throat was finally spat out.
He sat with his forehead against the counter for a few moments, catching his breath and taking a moment for his throat to stop burning. Finally, he lifted his head, taking another deep breath before opening his eyes.
There was a petal in the sink. Covered in his own saliva, but a petal none the less.
Had he eaten flowers sometime during the party and forgot? Why were there petals in his mouth? Had there been a game of truth or dare he forgot he had joined in on?
Stepping back and leaning against the wall, his thoughts continued to run wild with concern and confusion. He tried to slow his breathing, to calm down and think logically. It took longer than he would have liked, but eventually his breathing evened out, allowing him a moment to think.
He pulled out his phone with shaky fingers, still taking the extra time to pull up the university’s database instead of using the search engine, before searching: “Coughing up flower petals?”
It took a moment to load, but after a minute, a few articles popped up.
The first ones were only about choking incidents or poison control information. He glanced through each, none seeming to be what he was looking for. But finally, scrolling down, he saw something that caught his eye.
The Flowering Lung Disease: Hanahaki. From Myth to Reality. By Flow Lanson, et. all. Published June 14th, 19XX.
“Historians used to argue over the existence of Hanahaki. Some claiming it was real while others claimed it was a made up cautionary tale about not holding your feelings inside. Everything changed when the first documented case of the disease was recorded at Oakhurst University.
Proven fact, researchers began looking at causes, symptoms and more. It was discovered that Hanahaki is contracted by hiding strong feelings of affection towards someone else. This is manifest as flowers growing in the lungs, usually representing the person of their feelings, causing the affected one to cough up flower petals, and even full flowers if left long enough.
The cure was quickly discovered to be confessing one’s feelings, which causes all the flowers to bloom around them. Studies have proven Hanahaki is not deadly, and will still be cured upon confession even without returned feelings. A common tradition has formed because of this disease, where the flo...
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Huh. That’s… wait. What?! Hanahaki? One of his professors had mentioned the disease in a lecture or two a few semesters back, but as an example of an easily identifiable, but really rare illness.
There was no way he had hanahaki. He had been looking at Owen and Louis as they danced, and they looked stunning, but surely that didn’t mean he liked them like that.
And as if to prove him wrong, a cough tore through this throat, another petal landing in his hand. Dropping the second petal next to the first, he stared at both resting in the sink. One was white, the other a deep red. He could try to lie to himself, say the petals could be for anyone else, but…
Damn it.
Wandering back into the party was harder than he was expecting. A few people were still dancing, a different song on now. His breath still hitched whenever he saw Louis or Owen, each time another petal threatening to appear, but he swallowed the urge to cough each time.
Legs could see Cleo giving him a look from across the room. The type that said, “I swear if you are sick and forcing yourself to be here, I will drag you home by the ear myself.” He tried to send back a reassuring smile, which only made her frown and head his way.
“What’s wrong?” Their tone left no room for arguing.
“Nothing, just feeling a little tired is all.”
“Uh huh. So why do you look like you saw a ghost?”
“I mean Avid is right over there.” He chuckled, fading off when Cleo’s unimpressed glare intensified. “I’m sorry. I promise I’m okay. There’s something I just found out about, and I’m not sure how to feel yet.”
“Is this a ‘share with your closest friend’ something or a ‘I need to stare at my ceiling late into the night’ something? I won’t pry, but I will listen if you need.” They laid a hand on his shoulder, glare disappearing into a small supportive smile.
Legs took a deep breath, genuinely taking a moment to think before answering his so proclaimed closest friend (she’s right, of course, but he didn’t need to tell her that, they both knew they had each other’s backs no matter what.)
“More the second right now, I think. I need a little time to process, but I will let you know if that changes.” He reached up to his shoulder and squeezed their hand, a genuine smile on his face this time. They nodded before heading back to continue their conversation with Shelby and M.
He continued to wander around, absentmindedly chatting as he did so. At one point, Martyn and Owen got into an argument over something Legs hadn’t caught. But seeing the fire in Owen’s eyes, his sharp grin underneath, made Legs lose his careful grasp on his control, another cough breaking out into his hand. He shoved the white petal into his pocket until he could throw it away without anyone noticing.
Everyone began to wind down around 3 am. Some beginning to clean up or put food away, others moving furniture back where it belonged, a few dead asleep. Legs saw that across the room from where he was helping put the coffee table back in place, Louis had drifted off, head resting on Owen’s shoulder, sleepily grumbling as Owen tried to wake him enough to get to their car.
A cough and another petal, this time deep red, immediately in his pocket.
Everything had been tidied up and put back in place, when Legs heard a call behind him.
“Bye Legundo. It was wonderful getting to see you tonight.” Louis half-whispered half-yelled from the doorway, eyelids heavy, but he looked determined to say goodbye before falling asleep again.
“Good night Louis,” Legs forced out, smiling, but another petal itching in his throat. He turned his head to Owen, who was still holding Louis, making sure the sleepy vampire wouldn’t fall or trip. “Message when you get home safe?”
“I will, you don’t have to be a mother hen Legs.” Owen chirped with an over-exaggerated roll of his eyes, his fake frown slipping into a smile. “Tonight was fun. See you soon, doc.”
With a small wave from both vampires, they stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind them.
Legundo rounded up the four friends he was driving home, he had offered during the party to drive Pyro and Apo back to their dorm. Apo had politely declined and gone home with Cherri, but Pyro had taken him up on the offer. Abolish claimed shotgun while Pyro, Cleo, and Pearl climbed in the back.
He was quiet on the drive back. He heard the others talking and laughing, occasionally chiming in himself, though it was short. He even heard them memime-ing at each other at some point during the drive, which did make him smile slightly.
Legs could feel Abolish glancing his way every few minutes, most likely noticing he was off. He can read everyone like a book, able to notice the tiny things no one else would have. But Abolish doesn’t bring it up, just looks at him one more time before looking like he has made a mental note, and tuning fully into the conversation with those in the back seat.
When they arrived back on campus around 4:30, no one else was out and about, the streets were as dead as some of them were. The five split ways with goodbye’s and see you later’s, everyone heading to their own apartments.
As soon as his door was locked behind him, Legs sunk to the floor, pulling his knees to his chest. More coughs and petals forced their way from his throat, spilling to the floor in a multicolored mess.
Why did it have to be them? They were so good for each other, they didn’t need him intruding and screwing everything up.
He couldn’t tell them, he decided then and there, on the cold tile of his apartment floor. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t bear to lose either of them. Even briefly imagining the disgust and anger that would be on their faces if he told them had his heart heavy, sinking into his stomach like it was made of lead
He could deal with this, he thought as he coughed up another two petals. One white, one red. He couldn’t lose them.
At least it isn’t fatal.