Chapter Text
If anyone had to find out, Flux was glad it was NewKids. He was well known for his discretion, both in his personal life and in others. The only person he’d possibly have to worry about being told was Sera, but for something this serious he was sure NK would give him the privacy he requested.
Still, the questions were… a lot to handle.
uNKnown:
How muhc longer?
How ong have u hd it
What kind of flowers are they
Is it saps?
Architect:
Jesus thats a lot
1: no idea
2: two months
3: dr said theyre yellow hyacinths
4: no comment
uNKnown:
Lol
It so is
Man im so mad I can’t tell the others
Just because its kinda funny
Cuz he very CLEARLY likes you so idk how this happened
Architect:
He doesnt
I have proof
uNKnown:
If you just say the fact he’s gone on dates that does not fuckin count
Half of them were schpoods idea
Architect:
Listen idk how much i can say cuz i think its priv but just trust me
uNKnown:
I can keep secrets :p
Comeoooooonnnnn
Fluxxxxxxxxx
Fluxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
🥺
Architect:
H e already likes someone
Pls stop asking
Its making it worse
uNKnown:
Hm
Ok
Thx for trusting me
Flux spent the rest of that night hunched over the toilet.
He emerged from the shared bathroom sometime around three in the morning, exhausted and pissed out of his mind. He had a 9 am lecture the next day and here he was stuck hogging the bathroom because he couldn't stop thinking about Thomas’ jab. He heard the fridge close, making eye contact with Snowbird.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” He grabbed a spoon, popping open the lid of a tub of ice cream. “You ok? You were in there for like… half an hour.”
“I’m fine, just a stomach ache,” He paused. “Is that my ice cream?”
Snowbird shoveled a spoonful into his mouth. “Not anymore.”
Flux frowned, narrowing his eyes. “You owe me like three already.”
“You just leave them in there.” He took another bite. “Besides, it’s not just me—Saps steals from you all the time!”
“He asks first.”
“You always tell me no!” Snowbird shot back, pointing his spoon at him.“Besides, we already knew you had a soft spot for him.”
Flux ignored the implication, reaching for a cup of water when his throat suddenly went dry. “Whatever. So, why are you still up?”
“Studying, I forgot I have a test tomorrow and I’m trying to cram.” Snowbird helped himself to another bite of Flux’s ice cream. “It’s not working though, so I’m eating away my failures.”
“And it’s coming out of my wallet. Wonderful.”
Snowbird shrugged. “It’s not like you don’t have the money for it, Mr. Trust fund baby.”
Flux pointedly said nothing. Most of the trust fund had already been liquidated to pay for Ender and Cynikka’s masters programs, leaving Flux with over $20,000 in student loans.
“Anyway, I’m heading to—“
“Are you ok?”
Flux paused, pursing his lips. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You seem… off today. You left for like half an hour and came out visibly pale and sweating.”
He waved Snowbird off. “I’m fine. Like I said, I must have caught a stomach bug. That, and NK scared the shit out of me.”
Before Snowbird could reply, Flux hurried back to his room.The door barely clicked shut before he collapsed on the floor.
He really hadn’t been careful recently, and it would behoove him to pick up some makeup to hide how pale he’d become. Then again, that was a problem for a Flux that didn’t have to wake up at seven in the morning.
—
Flux was sure Snowbird had caught onto the fact that something was wrong. As subtle as Snowbird tried to be, Flux had caught him watching not only across the apartment, but various places around campus. His snide remarks weren’t doing much to help his paranoia, either.
The Conspiracy, plus Saps, met up at the only good cafe on campus—because fuck Starbucks and their overpriced, watered down coffee.
Flux and Thomas were among the last to arrive, having just gotten back from the single elective they shared. Rotation waved them toward their usual spot: a half booth beside a bookshelf, lined with various old thrift store books, and decaying board games.
Thomas took a seat beside Gotoga—directly across Saps, Flux noted. Leaving the chair next to Saps, the only remaining spot.
“Hey, I saved you a seat.” Saps pulled the chair out, smiling up at him.
Flux returned it briefly, before tossing his bag under the table and collapsing into the chair. “If I have to calculate the dimensions of one more non-Euclidean shape, I’m going to rip my hair out.”
“You’re telling me,” Thomas sighed. “I don’t even know why I need to know all of this.”
“Nobody wants an engineer who can’t do math,” Gotoga helpfully supplied, not looking up from his coursework.
Thomas stuck his tongue out at him childishly. “Nobody likes a know-it-all.”
“Have you guys ordered?” Saps interrupted, ever the mediator. “You just got here, right? What do you guys want?”
“I’m good.” Flux had no appetite. Everything had tasted so floral and artificial for the past month that he could barely stomach crackers without wanting to throw up.
Thomas stood, looking towards the counter. “I’m not sure, I need to look at the menu.”
“I’ll go with you.” Saps followed his lead. “I’ll pay.”
Flux’s chest seized. He barely managed to stifle a cough threatening to escape. Newkids and Snowbird seemed to be the only two who noticed, the former shooting him a concerned look.
“You ok, Flux?” Snowbird rested his chin in his hands. “You've been coughing a lot more lately.” Flux barely contained a scowl. Snowbird was notorious for sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, constantly poking and prodding for information.
“I’m fine. I think the cold is getting to me.”
Snowbird opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Rotation. “How do you keep getting sick? You’re like a Victorian child.”
“I’m very prone to getting sick. You know, with my asthma and all that.” Flux shrugged, letting Rotation continue cracking jokes about his weak constitution. At some point, Sera and NewKids joined in. From the corner of his eye, Flux watched Snowbird’s expression sour. It took everything in him not to grin.
‘Thank you, Rotation. This is the one and only time I will tolerate the frail Victorian boy jokes.’
Thomas and Saps came back mid joke, laughing with each other.
“What happened here?” Saps asked.
“Flux is sick again because he’s a delicate maiden.” Gotoga’ teased, voice lilting as he smirked at Flux.
“Oh, laugh all you want. I’m getting you sick first.”
“Again?” Saps turned to Flux. “Are you ok? Genuinely. You’ve been getting sick a lot recently.”
“I’m stressed and have a weak constitution—”
“Victorian child,” Rotation coughed into his fist.
“—but I’m fine, Saps. I’d tell you if something was wrong.”
Saps didn’t look fully convinced, but didn't press; taking his seat beside him.
Flux nudged his knee under the table in silent reassurance. Even so, he couldn’t ignore the pointed looks he was receiving from Snowbird.
He felt well and truly hunted.
—-
Saps:
Hey Flux
Are you sure youre ok
Like fr because yu getting sick a lot is not normal
Flux:
Serious
Im ok
Don’t worry
I’ve gone to the dr they say its just stress and the cold or whatever
Saps:
Ok
If youre sure
—
Snowbird❄️🥶🥶🦅🦅:
Did you get new air freshener for the bathroom
Architect:
?
no?
Snowbird❄️🥶🥶🦅🦅:
Oh
Smells very floral
Being investigated by Snowbird was quite possibly one of the worst things to happen to anyone. Unlike Sidefall’s shitty fake-news-laced radio show/newspaper/podcast empire, Snowbird was dedicated to finding the most accurate information possible by any means necessary. There was almost no level he wouldn’t stoop to: bribery, interrogation, manipulation, stalking, endless poking, and prodding. Hell, Flux wouldn’t put waterboarding past him.
Snowbird once bribed a member of the student council for Alke’s address just to prank his house. Suffice to say, if he wanted something, he would stop at nothing to get it.
Luckily, Flux knew his patterns. They were both aware that Snowbird’s best chance at getting any information out of him was to isolate and corner him. They also both knew that, when push came to shove, Flux was— in simple terms—a slippery bastard. Growing up with two older siblings will do that to you.
Flux managed to avoid being caught alone with Snowbird for over a week, mainly by relying on these three simple hacks:
- pretend to be on the phone with someone, usually his parents, and argue about something realistic enough to discourage being interrupted.
- Stay in his room as much as possible.
- Always, and he meant ALWAYS check a room before entering. He'd learned that lesson from the entire NewKids debacle..
Even with those precautions, Flux took no chances. He avoided Saps, and to a lesser extent, Thomas, just for good measure. Fortunately, their schedules aligned in a way that whenever Flux was in the dorm, most of his dormmates were either in class, attending clubs, or hiding in their rooms to get work done.
It was on one of these days that Flux came home from class only to be greeted by the sight of Snowbird seated on the couch, alone.
“Welcome home, Flux. Have a seat.”
Flux froze. Could he get away with leaving the room? Snowbird could reach his room before he did, and if Flux tried to flee the suite entirely, Snowbird was faster. Besides, where would he even go? He’d collapse halfway before making it to Sera and NK’s dorm. Snowbird obviously had better stamina than him.
“I see you understand the position you’re in.” Snowbird smiled—the very specific smile he made when he knew he’d won.
It pissed Flux off to no end.
“Why are you even here right now?” He asked through gritted teeth. “Don’t you have class?”
Snowbird shrugged. “I skipped. And Thomas and Saps are out getting groceries—or lunch. I can’t quite remember.”
Flux knew Snowbird was baiting him. Clearly, he hadn’t been as subtle as he’d thought. Still, the jab was enough to trigger a coughing fit. He doubled over, smothering the sound against his sleeve as he crumpled the petals in his fist, trying in vain to hide them.
Snowbird watched him with an expression somewhere between pity, concern, and horror.
“So I was right," he said. You do have hanahaki.”
Flux didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to pull himself back together. His sternum felt like it was going to crack in two from the force of his coughs. His stomach rolled once in warning, and he bolted for the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet before emptying what little he’d eaten.
“Jesus Flux!”
“Why the fuck did you say that if you assumed I had it.” Flux spat. His tone was poisonous, as acidic as the bile burning in his throat.
“I didn’t think it was that bad!” Snowbird’s hand was in his hair, raking through it anxiously, “I just thought… Fuck I dunno?!” He sounded genuinely distressed, which made Flux feel a bit better, as pathetic as it was.
Once he was sure his stomach was thoroughly emptied (RIP to the single sandwich he managed to stomach) he turned, glaring at Snowbird.
“Explain.”
“So…”
They’d moved back to the couch once Flux caught his breath.
“How’d you figure it out?”
Snowbird wrung his hands, “You had been kinda weird for a while, like Sa- uh. He said, you also kept getting sick but never actually seemed to get better. I think I only really noticed after the last time we played Risk and you started being weird. You kept hiding in the bathroom and like, avoiding mentioning you know who-”
“You can say his name,” Flux rolled his eyes, “I’m not going to keel over if someone says his name.”
“Will you keel over if you say his name?” Flux’s expression faltered, settling into a harsh glare. “Sorry, sorry. You avoided mentioning him and all so I thought you two were fighting, but Saps seemed like his usual self. Well, he was worried about you but other than that he seemed normal.” Flux flinched, he really didn’t want to worry Saps, mostly because it meant he was liable to ask more questions. Questions Flux would really like to avoid having to answer.
“That doesn’t explain how you figured about… y’know. Him and..” Flux trailed off, his chest squeezed uncomfortably as he coughed, a single petal falling out of his mouth. Gross.
“You got extra weird when Thomas made that joke about you and Saps—”
“About ME and Saps?” Flux’s throat felt raw, “That was about him and Saps.”
Snowbird kept talking, rambling on and on about how Thomas and Saps couldn’t be dating, how Thomas would never betray him like that. Flux’s ears rang, drowning out the noise. He could barely breathe, he felt like his throat was closing up, roots and vines sewing his airways shut.
“Can you. Shut. The fuck up?” He barely managed to gasp out, stumbling towards the nearest trash can. He could feel it coming up again, but this time, it didn't feel like the hyacinths he'd gotten used to. Instead of the streamlined small clusters it felt more like a solid, unified bud. He retched, trying anything to get whatever was blocking his throat out, even sticking his hand in to attempt to fish it out.
He coughed, finally managing to dislodge it from his throat. He instinctively cupped his hand over his mouth, catching the flower as it tumbled out. There, half unfurled sitting in the palm of his hand was a single yellow marigold covered in saliva, and drops of blood.