@/ilovepancakesforeve: "Darryl or Zak is diagnosed with Hanihaki disease. They have to tell each other how they feel before one of them dies..."

⚠️ blood, angst(?)
———

No One's POV

Each petal piles up in his throat, blocking his air and blood riding up to throw up. He quickly mutes his TeamSpeak, cutting off the other person in the call and he sprints out of his room, hand over his mouth.

He slides into the bathroom and shuts the door behind him, the thud echoing throughout the house. It causes his roommate to shoot his head up in worry.

Darryl lifts the toilet seat up and without a second to spare, his stomach releases all the blood and petals it has created. Tears fall down his cheeks as he feels the event slowly comes to a stop.

The final petal falls into the toilet and Darryl stares at his mess with a blurry vision. He sighs and wipes his tears with his sleeve, slowly lifting himself up from the ground and flushing the toilet.

A sudden knock on the door causes Darryl to jump.

"Hey, Bad, is everything okay in there? You ran in here pretty quick and you're muted on TeamSpeak." Darryl's heart flutters at the sound of his concerned voice.

Darryl walks to the sink and washes the taste of iron away with mouthwash. He spits out the red liquid and responds back, "I just got a stomach ache. Nothing bad."

Zak crosses his arms, biting his bottom lip as he hears Darryl's voice sound horse and broken. "Are you sure? You don't sound okay."

"I'm fine." Darryl groans, wiping his face and cleaning the blood off of his lips. "Just go back to hosting the event, I'll be out in a few minutes."

Zak sighs in disappointment, concerned piling up as he eyes the door for a final time before back to his room.

Darryl squeezes his eyes shut and tugs his hair roughly, feeling his body shake as he hears Zak's door close.

Zak sits in his room, watching as the players in the game run around a track. He looks back at his door. He knew something was wrong, but he didn't want to force Darryl to tell him. It started a few weeks ago. Darryl disappeared for a few days without telling anyone. He made so many people worried, including Zak.

When he came back, Zak realized Darryl changed. His tone sounded off and he didn't talk much anymore. So, he asked if he could move in, and here they are now.

And the situation has gotten worse.

"Oh my god, Darryl... please tell me what's wrong..."

——-

"You have to tell him, Bad! You are dying! I can't keep hearing you like this!" Vincent huffs on the other side of the phone.

Darryl shakes his head, clutching onto his device as he stares at his bed sheets. Lucy is curled up beside him, taking a small nap with his fingers brushing against her fur.

"I can't A6D. I'm so scared... even if I tell him, my changes for him to like me back will ruin my disease. If he doesn't like me, I die. But, if I get surgery, I lose all my feelings towards him, and I can't do that..." Darryl sighs, closing himself off.

Zak was in his own room, recording a video with Vurb.

"Bad, he likes you back! Please! Just tell him!" Vincent is close to just messaging Zak Darryl's situation.

"He doesn't like me back," Darryl says, voice quiet and broken. "There's no way he likes me back."

Vincent groans, mentally slapping himself as he feels the need to reach into the phone and slap Darryl in person. "Bad, listen to me." Darryl's ears perk up, "Shouldn't he have the right to know what's happening? You said it yourself there is a chance he doesn't like you back, but there is also a chance for him to have mutual feelings! Those are chances you need to be taking Bad!"

Lucy yawns, slowly lifting herself up and stretching her back. Darryl looks over and lifts his hand up, allowing Lucy to jump down from the bed and running out of the room.

Darryl places his hand in his lap, looking back down and nodding. "I'll think about it. I just can't right now, A6D..."

"Okay. You should rest for now. You sound really tired..." Vincent raises an eyebrow as he hears a soft yawn from Darryl.

Darryl agrees and feels himself start to fall back on his back. "Maybe... I might do that... goodbye, you muffinhead."

"Bye Baldie..." Vincent sighs and ends the call.

Darryl doesn't argue back, feeling his energy drift away and he drops his phone onto the bed. He rolls himself onto his side and buries his head in his pillow, soon closing his eyes and feeling his body drift away.

——

"Bad? Bad?" Zak calls throughout the house. He huffs and walks out of his room. He walks to the living room to see Darryl not there. Then he checks the bathroom. He wasn't there.

Then he decides to walk to Darryl's room. He raises his hand up to knock until he hears a soft snore from inside. He perks his head up and places his hand on the knob. With a turn, he opens the door and he peers inside to see Darryl lying on his bed, taking a nap.

He was facing towards Zak, snoring quietly with his lips parting a bit.

Zak smiles and feels his heart twist. "Rest well, Bad." He whispers, taking in one final moment of the older boy in front of him.

Before he leaves, he suddenly spits a dark spot on Darryl's pillow. He raises an eyebrow and his eyes travel to his lips. Then he spots the color red. A blood shade of red stained on Darryl's lips and a trail of liquid stains the pillow.

Zak bites his lip and walks inside, quietly tiptoeing to the bed. His eyes examine Darryl's face and he quietly gasps as he spots Darryl drooling blood instead of saliva. What's even worse is a few small, light blue petals is mixed with the blood.

He frowns and he looks back at Darryl's closed eyes. Zak places his hands on Darryl and gently shakes him awake. "Bad... Bad...?"

The sudden stir causes Zak to jump and Darryl softly groans. His eyes slowly flutter open and he spots Zak in front of him. "W-What?" Then his eyes widen once he feels the taste of familiar iron in his mouth.

He gasps and jumps up, the drool of blood snapping as he feels a drop slide down to his chin.

"No... no..." Darryl whispers, raising his sleeve up and wiping the blood off his lips. He growls at the stain and he looks at Zak, eyes wide and showing horror in them. "I-I..."

Zak knew full well what this meant. He's heard of it before. Hanihaki. A horrible disease that slowly kills someone because of love. Zak frowns and he sits down on the bed. "Why didn't you tell me?" He whispers, Zak's eyes slowly forming tears.

Darryl shakes his head and he pulls his legs up, hiding his face as he feels his body shake. "I couldn't..." Darryl whispers back.

Zak doesn't move. He watches the small petal on the pillow. The petal was very pretty. Light blue mixed with dark blue.

Then his mind clicks. He knew these petals. These same petals come from the flower Zak enjoys. The same flower Zak found at the store and sent a picture to Darryl. Zak's heart skips a beat, "Can I know who?"

Darryl shakes his head again. "It will ruin me... ruin my friendship..."

Zak gently turns his head, slowly raising his hands up and placing them on Darryl's wrists. Darryl's head rises up, eyes making contact with Zak's.

Zak sucks in a breath and contemplates whether or not his assumption is true. He closes his eyes and whispers, "Is it me?"

Darryl's eyes widen. His heart drops as he feels his throat dry up. Before Darryl could say anything, Zak cuts him off. "Darryl, I know those flowers. Those are the same flowers I sent you a picture of. I love those flowers..."

If he wasn't before, Darryl was definitely tearing up now. He bites his bottom lip and he hides his face, "I-I'm so sorry..."

Zak smiles gently and brushes his fingers against Darryl's. He slides his hand into Darryl's and uses his other hand to raise his chin up. "Darryl... I can help you..."

"No, you can't... I'm going to die... I will be gone for-"

"Darryl, I have feelings for you, too..."

WC: 1446