Chapter Text
Katsuki hadn’t had the disease as long as most other people had. He’d never really met anyone that caused him to feel that kind of love that could cause the disease like this. Then again he didn’t really know about it until he had it.
He first started to cough up petals about a week into the school year and when he saw the red aster petals, he knew what they were for. There was only one person he could think about, night and day. Even as he stood now in the shower, Eijiro was the only subject his mind could drift to.
He would never love you. You’re mean and cruel and for fuck's sake less than a year ago you told a kid to jump off a roof. Who would love you? He coughed as the thoughts flooded through his mind and more flower petals spilt out into the bathtub.
He wiped away a spec of blood from his lips and turned off the shower. It was probably time to tell his mom. It had been a month since this all started and he thought it would go away but it hadn’t. He was going to start having problems if he didn’t say something soon.
That was it, Katsuki decided. He would tell his mother when she got home that he had the disease. He sat down on his bed to work on his homework, doodling in his notes while he thought. It was a good thing their notes weren’t collected because poor Aizawa would know plenty well how in love with Eijiro he was. He drew plenty of (really bad) sketches of him in his notes.
It was right about when he finished his homework that he heard the door swing open and a wave of anxiety flooded over him, causing him to cough a few times in his panic. The number of petals got bigger every time he coughed and it was alarming if he was being honest with himself.
He saw his mom putting away groceries on his way down the stairs and he sighed. “Hey, ma!” He called out, flopping at the table with a huff.
“Katsuki, good to see you’re home come and help me put the groceries away” She muttered while she started to put the fridge foods away first.
“Okay but I really need to talk to you”
“After the groceries come on there isn’t that much.”
“Okay fine but this can’t be one of those times where you don’t listen, mom, this is really important like life or death important”
Mitsuki paused. “Seriously? You want to talk to me about something you think is life or death? Alright, fine spill it” She’d already finished with the cold things and the rest could wait until later. Katsuki never wanted to talk about something this important.
Katsuki tensed up when she stopped. She believed that it was important enough to stop. “Okay well...About a month ago, I started to realise something...I really like this boy in my class-”
“Katsuki I know you’re gay it’s okay”
“Bi mom I like girls and boys but that’s not what this is about”
“Oh okay sorry, girls and boys”
“Right but listen. I like this boy in my class a lot...but I know he doesn’t love me back because...well that’s a conversation for another time but because of it...I started to have this problem. The only reason I know what is going on is because of De...Izuku. He has it too for another boy in our class and he told me about it. It’s a disease that makes me cough up flowers because I love someone who doesn’t love me back”
Mitsuki paused in her tracks. “You’ve been coughing up flower petals for a month and didn’t tell me?” There was an obvious worry in her voice. She knew exactly what this disease was. “Okay this is called Hanaki and it’s okay there are a couple of options for us here but I need to know more and we need to get you to a doctor because there are different kinds and if you have the really bad one we might have to get it removed. And you are not going to like what happens if we do that”
Katsuki wasn’t going to lie he was shocked she knew what he was talking about he didn’t even really think that she was going to believe him. Well, at least now he didn’t have to hide it from her anymore. “Okay...I really don’t want to go to the doctor but I’m scared and sometimes there’s blood and it probably really important that I go to the doctor I guess” he muttered.
“Yes. I’ll call and make you an appointment okay? I know it’s going to suck but he’s going to ask you about your boy. He’s going to want to see you cough so that he can figure out what’s going on. Do you know if the boy has it too? Or if he has a boyfriend? Or..or a girlfriend?”
Katsuki shook his head. “He hangs out with the same group I do. They all really like me for some reason but I really don’t think that he’ll ever love me” even just the words leaving his mouth made the flowers pop up again and he trembled, wiping a bit more blood from his lips.
“I don’t want you to talk about it like that. It’s only going to make it worse. We’ll make sure you see the doctor as soon as possible but you are not allowed to talk about it like that right now. Try not to think about it at all.” She paused. “And I know this is going to be really weird of me to ask but just until we see the doctor, just in case, I want you to save some of the petals.” She pulled out a bag and held it open for him to put it in. “That way he has some to analyze. Maybe he won’t need to make you cough up all that blood” Her eyes still held a look of genuine concern and Katsuki almost felt bad for not telling her sooner.
“My poor Katsuki” she whispered, pulling him tight to her chest. “I’m so sorry you have to go through this. But we are going to make it all better I promise”