Chapter Text
When Yamaguchi came back to class the day after missing practice he was flooded by his teammates voices.
"Yamaguchi, are you okay, why weren't you at practice?" and similar questions were asked.
"I'm okay, I'm okay!" He said trying to make his voice sound energetic and as normal as possible.
But the truth was he was not in fact okay. Nothing about what he was going through was okay.
That day he had left school early and had spent the whole day looking for cures and remedies to his problem. He had searched website after website searching for even the slightest clue until he eventually reached an almost empty chatroom. He had carefully typed out his question and eagerly waited for a reply. And in that eery chatroom, a text message appeared.
"So you have the Hanahaki disease, huh?"
"Yes, please tell me how to fix it!! Do you know any ways I can, anything will do, any piece of information or stories!" He typed out.
"All right I'll tell you what I know"
And so the anonymous user on that strange website told him what they knew. They told him about their first love and how the flowers had sprouted from their mouth. And in the end, the only true way to be freed from the disease was to have your love reciprocated. Yamaguchi couldn't imagine Tsuki feeling the same, he couldn't imagine Tsuki softly smiling and whispering his name as they laid side by side and listened to their favorite music together.
Surely, Tsuki was imagining a happy life with an amazing and kind girl who he had a soft spot for. But it didn't mean that there weren't ways to ease the pain and lessen the flowers. If you were somehow able to fall out of love with the said person it's possible for the curse to be lifted. Yamaguchi couldn't imagine that either, as long as he could remember he had longed for Tsuki. He couldn't even remember when it started, he couldn't remember when he didn't ache when Tsuki walked into the room, or when his heart felt so full and warm just by hearing his voice.
He couldn't remember not getting flustered when their faces were close or when their hands slightly brushed as they walked down the street. So that option was probably improbable. He wondered if he could distance himself from Tsuki and tell himself over and over that he didn't feel that way and Tsuki could never feel the same then maybe the flowers would cease to explode in his mouth.
His chest clenched when he thought about distancing himself from Tsuki and not getting to walk home together as usual, but if that was what he had to do in order to release this feeling from his chest, he could do it. After all, he didn't want Tsuki to find out and not know what to do, since his heart doesn't feel the same as Yamaguchi's.
He knew that his best friend would feel horrible knowing what he was going through and he didn't want him to worry.
The first day he saw the flowers, he had been cleaning up the gym room. Lightly sprawled across the floor was a flower Tsuki had never seen before. Its petals were wilting and the color was drained from them, but despite that part of him still thought it was slightly pretty or at least he thought what it had been before might've been really pretty.
They stood out in contrast to the bright colors of the shiny gym floor. He couldn't understand why but he felt his stomach drop when he first laid eyes on the flowers. Where had they come from? He couldn't think of any flowers that looked quite like it near the school. Perhaps one of his teammate's siblings had stuffed them in their bag and the flowers had fallen out. He was pretty sure Hinata had a younger sister, and Hinata is so energetic he would surely drop some around the gym, completely forgetting to close his bag all the way. So he shook off the feelings of fear and tried to forget about that ominous flower he found on the floor. It was just a flower, after all.
Avoiding Tsuki was way harder than Yamaguchi had anticipated. Tsuki was everywhere, he would turn the corner, and there he would be. He never realized just how tall Tsuki was, he couldn't help feeling amazed by the way he towered over many of his classmates. It was easy to spot him in a crowd but it felt like he always had an ability to find out exactly where Yamaguchi was and he often had to turn quick corners to hide from him.
Tsuki and Yamaguchi also shared nearly every class together, so it was impossible to not talk to him. Tsuki wasn't exactly making it easy either. It seemed like he was even more affectionate than usual, taking extra care in his words and saying his name more often than usual. He couldn't help that It made him feel warm when he spoke his name in such a soft tone.
He tried his best to finish his work and gaze out the window at the sky above in an attempt to keep his eyes from wandering to Tsuki and imagining those hands caressing his face, their breaths warm against each other. So, as soon as class let out he darted out, trying to leave without Tsuki following him. However, he could hear Tsuki's pound of his feet as he walked towards Yamaguchi.
"Yamaguchi." He placed his hand firmly on his shoulder and squeezed, the fabric of his shirt gently bunching up. Despite his position, Yamaguchi flushed with his touch.
"Let's go home, there's no practice today"
Even though he had meant to brush him off and tell him to go on without him, he had things to finish first his heart wavered as he caught sight of his hazel eyes.
As they walked along the same path as always, the sun was slowly falling down into the horizon and the sky was filled with bright pinks, purples, and reds.
After a while of walking in silence, Tsuki cleared his throat and spoke.
"I know you're ignoring me" He looked at Yamaguchi and he could feel his heart melt.
"What?" He managed to say. He didn't mean for Tsuki to realize this, he should've known Tsuki would've figured it out, he's too perceptive.
The hurt in Tsuki's eyes as he spoke trying to decipher Yamaguchi's mind made him want to cry and wrap his arms around Tsuki and tell him he was sorry, but he felt his stomach swarm once again and his mind filled up with anxiety.
"I..." He tried to explain himself but he found himself choking on his words and the flowers shoved in his throat. He tried holding it, he tried so hard to gulp down those horrid flowers and to let out a smile, but they exploded in an array of color along the concrete.
Tsuki's jaw dropped and let out a simple
"Fuck."
Tsuki rushed to his side, pulling out the water bottle from his bag after the flowers had stopped coming so consistently. He tilted back Yamaguchi's head and poured the water into his mouth. He choked, swallowing some of the water and gasping for air.
"Yamaguchi" Tsuki nearly yelled his tears filling his eyes. Yamaguchi had only ever seen Tsuki cry a few times, so when he felt those tears drop onto his face it felt unreal and strange.
"I'm sorry, I guess I couldn't hide it any longer, I'm in love with you" Yamaguchi managed to speak, letting out a small laugh.
Tsuki squeezed him tightly as he held him. He didn't know how Tsuki was going to respond, he was scared. He was scared of what he would say, scared of his thoughts.
After a moment passed Tsuki spoke again,
"I love you too"
Huh? Confusion spread over Yamaguchi, He couldn't understand, did Tsuki really say he felt the same?
"But, what about a girlfriend?" He spoke relishing in the feeling of Tsuki holding him in his arms.
"What girlfriend?" He traced his fingers along Yamaguchi's arm in an attempt to soothe him.
"You know you said that when you get a girlfriend..."
"So I just thought" He trailed off.
"I'm not interested in them, I just didn't want you to know..." He stared at the ground as he trailed off.
"That you like boys?" he asked hope replacing the knots of flowers inside his stomach.
He simply nodded.
"Seriously Tsuki, you know you could've told me anything, and how did you not see how much I liked you?" He said, the energy returning to his voice.
Tsuki released his hold on his hands to cover his face in embarrassment.
"awww are you really getting embarrassed?" Yamaguchi nuzzled his head further into Tsuki's side and let out a laugh.
He couldn't believe he spent so much time worrying about this and so much time with flowering swarming in his brain.
Tsuki released Yamaguchi from his hold and got up, ignoring Yamaguchi's teasing
"So I assume you're good now?"
"Yup, sorry Tsuki" He let out a laugh and looked up at the auburn sky, for now, everything had turned out okay and now he would always get to laugh with that bright and shiny star he called his own.
That night Yamaguchi had stayed at Tsuki's house. He had insisted, he couldn't just let Yamaguchi puke out his guts and then just go home and lament about the events that happened, but he had to admit, he wanted to feel Yamaguchi's skin and finally be able to have him near him.
Deep down, he always knew he had feelings for his best friend but it took him throwing up on the sidewalk for him to realize and accept his feelings. However, now that he realized it he started to feel a tiny bit conscious of everything.
The way his hair was parted, the freckles across his face and the way his hands moved when he got excited, the way he said Tsuki's name so energetically. He wanted to always stay this way. The same road, the same gym, and the same smiles.
The only thing that pissed him off is thinking about how Hinata had been right the whole time. Yamaguchi was in fact lovesick, and it was over the last person he had expected. He imagined Hinata boasting about how he was right and he knows all about love. He wondered how long Hinata had noticed or anyone for that matter and had let him continue with life oblivious.
He thoughts were interrupted as Yamaguchi plopped down on his bed, with him.
"So... Does this mean we're dating now?"
"Yeah," He replied, he couldn't believe they had spent so much time worrying about this, they should've known from the start.
"I like you," Tsuki spoke softly pressing his hand into his arm.
"I like you too, I always have" He laughed a bit, the warmth flooding into the room.
He could see Yamaguchi's face turn red and he couldn't help thinking about how it would feel to press his lips against the blush on his skin.
He inched his face closer to him,
"Can I...?" He searched for an answer on his face.
Yamaguchi nodded and Tsuki placed a kiss on his cheek. He kissed the other side and then the crease between his brow. He kissed tip of his nose, and as he reached his mouth he found himself hesitating. He could feel the breath hot on his cheek and he felt his stomach swarm with nervousness and excitement. Tsuki released his face for a bit and placed his hand in his.
Yamaguchi tilted his head in confusion and then leaned in swiftly kissing him on the mouth. Tsuki closed his eyes and Yamaguchi led the way and he felt the warmness encase his body. He felt his whole body shudder as Yamaguchi touched their tongues together and gently held his face. Eventually, they resigned to laying on the bed, huffing and gasping for air. For the rest of the night, they listened to music, hand, and hand as they fell asleep together.