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Zelk was trolling on Skeppy’s server with Bad. They were having a lot of fun using world edit, keeping a backup in case something went wrong.
”Also, Mega is coming to help.” Bad chirped, spawning a huge cube of lava.
He instantly felt a weird feeling in his chest. He just brushed it off as nothing. Then, he heard the sound that someone joined. Of course, Mega’s mic was muted. It was his presence that made the weird feeling come. He didn’t even notice how much messages Mega sent in the chat.
MegaPVP whispers to you: Dude
MegaPVP whispers to you: You’re afk
MegaPVP whispers to you: But your mic is on
MegaPVP whispers to you: I know you’re there
MegaPVP whispers to you: Bro you’re coughing I can hear it
Zelk also realised he was coughing. He wondered why.
”What have you done?!” Skeppy’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He watched as Skeppy’s in-game character flew around the now ruined lobby. Bad was just laughing at the reaction.
”Zelk-“ Bad got cut off by his own laughter, “Get the backup and put the lobby back to normal”
”O-okay” He sounded nervous, but thankfully no one heard him. They watched as the lava and all the burnt blocks disappeared.
”WHAT?!” Skeppy shouted, but his microphone turned it to static because it was too loud. Bad was happy that his troll finally worked.
MegaPVP: HAHA YES WE TROLLED THE TROLL MASTER
There was something about Mega’s presence that gave Zelk a weird feeling in his chest. Suddenly, he felt something coming up his throat.
”Hold on, I’ll be right back” was all he could say before muting his mic and running to the bathroom. He opened the door and ran for the sink. It was closer to the door.
Zelk started coughing up something. It came out as a red petal. The red was the same colour as the blood that followed it. He started coughing up some more. His hand was red from all the blood. He suddenly realised that he was still in a call with his friends.
He decided to grab a tissue box for if it happened again. After cleaning his hands, he went and unmuted his mic.
”I’m back”
Skeppy’s shouting immediately stopped and he just greeted Zelk again.
Little did they know what was going on.
____________________
Zelk was on a call with Mega. Well, it wasn’t really a call if only he was talking. Whenever he was with Mega, even if it was only through text, he would always feel something in his throat
”Can you turn on your camera?” Zelk asked. Mega usually puts on his camera with Zelk only. It also makes him nervous. Why would Mega only use the camera around him?
Mega turned on his camera, revealing his half white half brown face. Zelk suddenly felt that strange feeling from last time. Luckily, he had those tissues. He started to cough into them. The petals were attached to eachother in pairs. They quickly disappeared under the blood. He would say he used about 5 tissues.
That was when it hit him. He had forgotten to mute his mic. What would Mega think? Well, he could just brush it off as a cold.
‘Dude are you ok???’
“Yeah... it’s just a cold”
Zelk didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to say what was happening.
‘A little unrelated but I’m coming to visit you soon.’
He read the text. If he let Mega come, he could see all the blood and tissues. If he didn’t let Mega come, he would be suspicious of what was happening. This was also an opportunity to meet his crush. Wait- crush?
”Uh- sure. You can come.” He was hesitant, but he was going to find a way to hold the petals in.
There was no way he would let those petals come out while Mega was with him. How would he react?
”Are you sure you want to come? I’m sick”
‘Dude it’s just a cold right? Then I can come.’
Mega was definitely suspicious of him now. Zelk was thinking of an excuse. He didn’t realise Mega was looking confused.
”I- uh- yea you can come”
He accidentally said that. Now he definitely messed up. If Mega came, he would realise his feelings for him. Those feelings will probably ruin their friendship. It would be over soon, right?
____________________
Zelk was wrong. He knew he was wrong the moment he was opening his door to his best friend. What if Mega found out? He only knew Mega as the person he played Minecraft with. The mute that would occasionally show his face to him.
”I know you just came, but I have to do something now.”
Zelk knew he shouldn’t go immediately, but the flowers simply won’t hold back. He arrived at the bathroom and immediately gripped onto the sink. A flower came out. This time it hurt more than the previous time. After seeing the stem, Zelk looked at it in horror. It was a rose. It had thorns.
Well, it wasn’t exactly thorns. It wasn’t as strong as a normal thorn and it was easily removable. But if it was coming up his throat, it was definitely going to hurt. He barely even coughed up one single flower. How much would the other ones hurt?
He looked back at the sink as he coughed up another flower. He barely even saw the blood that came out after. Another flower came out. Another and another came out as his throat started to ache from the thorns. The blood also contributed to the pain.
Suddenly, Zelk heard a knock on the door. He was somewhat relieved when he remembered he locked the door. He made sure that he wouldn’t have to cough up anymore flowers. One last flower came out, followed by some blood. Zelk quickly washed the blood stains out of the sink.
He unlocked the door and he was greeted by Mega with a concerned expression. He convinced him that it was nothing. Surprisingly, Mega believed him. The flowers were still in the sink, but it wasn’t a problem anymore.
’Why are you coughing a lot?’
Zelk froze. Mega was becoming even mire suspicious of him. He shouldn’t know about the flowers. This was going to be a problem.
____________________
Mega was laying on his bed in the spare room Zelk gave him. He was thinking about what happened. What was Zelk hiding? He was sure Zelk wouldn’t hide anything from him, especially since they met up.
Zelk was coughing a lot on the call, he took forever in the bathroom. I could’ve sworn I saw some blood and a petal...
That was when Mega realised. Zelk probably had hanahaki disease.
But what are the chances that I am right? He doesn’t have a crush on anyone
Mega sighed. Zelk wouldn’t hide that from him. He knew. Right before he fell asleep, he thought to himself,
Maybe Zelk is hiding it from me.
____________________
Zelk was laying on his bed in his room. He was coughing up some flowers, but he didn’t care anymore. He started coughing them up more, so he got a tissue box to cough the flowers in the tissues to throw them in the bin in his room. The mini thorns were hurting his throat. He could’ve sworn he tasted some blood.
He looked at his hand only to see it was red. It was probably from the blood.
‘There is no way I developed feelings for Mega.’
Zelk didn’t know why he even had feelings for Mega in the first place. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
’If it’s Mega, I can’t let him see all the tissues.’
’I was trying to hide it from him.”
Hesitantly, he opened the door. He was greeted by Mega with a concerned expression, again. What if he noticed how red the inside of Zelk’s mouth was.
Why are you coughing so much now? That doesn’t seem normal for a cold.
Even if it was only sign language, Zelk still seemed paranoid. Mega probably found out about the flowers. What would he think?
”I- I uh-“
Oh no. Zelk couldn’t come up with an excuse. This was the time Mega found out. What would happen to their friendship?
Suddenly, Zelk closed his door and locked it while Mega was waiting for him. Of course, Mega tried knocking. Zelk ignored it and reached for his tissues. He coughed up flower after flower, all the blood spilling into the bin. He didn’t even bother going to the bathroom. Mega was by the door and he couldn’t risk it. He closed the bin lid and sat in his bed. The flowers were making breathing hard for him.
He knew he had to tell him eventually. He spent the whole night thinking about what would happen.
____________________
After Zelk woke up, he called Skeppy. He knew he had to tell someone about it. It would be hard, but he still had to tell.
“Hi Zelk!” Skeppy greeted him.
”S-Skeppy I have to tell you something.” Zelk told him in a quiet tone.
“Ok, what do you have to say?” Skeppy said with a slight tone of concern.
How do I tell him?
"I-I think I might be in love"
"Wait WHAT?!" Zelk winced at Skeppy's deafening yelp.
Oh gods this was a mistake oh shiiii-
"WHO'S THE LUCKY PERSON?" Welp. There was no going back now.
After making sure that his door was shut tight, Zelk whispered into his mic, "...Mega"
"MEGA??" Impossibly, Skeppy's voice grew louder and higher, squeals echoing through Zelk's headphones. "THE UNCUTE MUTE??"
"Yeah...But that's not all"
"Hm?"
"Skeppy do you know what hanahaki is?"
____________________
Mega was stress-baking. If Zelk really did have hanahaki, Mega'd have to play match-maker and set him up on a date with whomever the fool was in love with. Which led to the problem of Mega having no idea whatseover who the poor sap could be enamoured with. Maybe it's you- Mega pushed the thought away, shoving another batch of cookies in the oven and setting the timer. Speaking of Zelkam, Mega hadn't seen the ridiculous idiot in a few hours since he'd rather rudely slammed the door in Mega's face. Maybe he'd appreciate some cookies... Mega slid a few chocolate chip cookies he'd baked near the beginning of his cooking spree onto a paper plate before padding towards Zelk's room.
As he reached the room, he heard Zelk's muffled voice talking to someone. It sounded like he was talking to Skeppy. He decided to listen to the conversation, because why not?
He couldn’t really hear clearly, but he could’ve sworn he heard something about... love?
Mega was confused. He decided to listen more.
”So you’re in love but you don’t know how to tell him?”
”Yeah, and the hanahaki too.”
So his suspicions were right. But that brought Mega back to the nagging question: who? Who on earth was important enough to Zelk that he'd rather die than remove his feelings for them?
”Also, I’m in the last stage of it.”
Zelk’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He was in what?! Mega knew he had to find who Zelk had fallen for. There was no way he could let the hanahaki kill him.
”You have to find who he is- and fast!”
Skeppy was right. Zelk had to find who it was. He didn’t want Zelk to die.
It’s literally you-
His thoughts were trying to tell him. He still wouldn’t trust his own thoughts.
It can’t be me...
It isn’t me...
About the hanahaki, Mega knew Zelk had it from the start. How he would constantly cough and just say it was a cold. How he would run into the bathroom and hear coughing and see that the sink has red stains in it. How Zelk closed the door on him and started coughing again.
Mega still didn’t know who was the person Zelk fell for.
____________________
Hearing a pair of quiet footsteps, Zelk quickly ended the call and poked his head out of his room. He almost tripped over a pile of cookies set on the floor in front of him, seeing the end of a green scarf trail around the corner. How much did he hear? I should be more careful...
He picked up the cookies and began to eat them. Mega heard the call, but he didn’t know how long he was listening for. Who knows what he heard? Zelk didn’t want Mega to find out about the hanahaki, that was exactly why he hid it. He didn’t want to ruin their friendship. He didn’t want Mega to find out his feelings for him.
He was so deep in thought that he didn’t realise he finished eating the cookies. Zelk was thinking of everything that would happen if Mega found out about the feelings.
Suddenly, he felt something coming up his throat. It was happening again. He ran to the bathroom, locking the door and coughed into the sink. The familiar red roses came out into the sink. Following the roses, a lot of blood came out.
The roses were filling up Zelk’s lungs, making it hard for him to breathe. Not that it wasn’t always like that...
The thing that made it worse were the tiny thorns on the flowers. They were removable, but it couldn’t stop the pain because they wore coming from inside of him.
He realised that the flowers had already finished coming out, but he still had to wash everything that the blood spilled on. As he was washing the sink, he heard soft footsteps. Quickly washing his mouth and his hands, he opened the door. There was nothing, but he saw a green scarf on the floor of the hallway. It looked like Mega’s scarf.
Of course he would know what’s happening.
He put the scarf on the table next to him. Mega was far too perceptive. Zelk'd just have to try harder...
____________________
Mega'd narrowed the list down to Bad, Finn, or Spifey. He was rewatching some of Zelk's videos for clues, chewing on a pencil, when he heard the most awful coughing fit he'd ever witnessed. Racing to the bathroom, Mega slammed the door open just in time to see Zelk collapse on the floor, a bloody rose clutched in his hand.
He stared in horror at his best friend. He assumed he was dead. This can’t be happening-
“Zelk?”
”Talk to me”
”Please”
”Don’t leave me”
”Please...”
Mega never spoken before, but he didn’t care anymore that he had finally been able to speak.
____________________
It had been a week since Zelk had died. Mega still felt numb inside, gathering and packing his things from Zelk's guest room. The funeral had been a somber affair, with Bad sobbing into Skeppy's shoulder while the diamond man stared at Mega strangely. Pushing the thought aside, Mega reached down to pick up one of his many scarves that were littered around the room. About to fold it to pack it in his suitcase, Mega heard a light crinkle from inside the thick fabric. Reaching inside the folds of cloth, he pulled out a small, very worn sheet of cream paper. It was stained with blood splatters and petals that had stuck to the stationary, but the letter written on it was still legible. Upon reading it, Mega's small frame started shaking with silent sobs as he slid down to the floor.
Dear Mega
I'm not all that good with these sappy letters so I'll keep it short. Remember that time I called you cute? We laughed it off like a joke. It wasn't. That's right, I'm in love with you. I love the way your eyes sparkle when you smile, the snarky attitude you pretend to have with Skeppy, even the green scarf you always have. (How many of those scarves do you have, anyway? I think I've found like twenty by now) I love you with all my heart, Megapvp. It's a relief to finally say the words, y'know? To get it off my chest. I'm sorry I couldn't say it in person.
I always planned for our first date to be a picnic. A nice one, in a meadow. We would've made flower crowns and laughed at how stupid they looked. We could have had so much time together, if not for my sheer stupidity. By now, it's far too late for any form of confession to save me. No matter what happens, this was NEVER and NEVER WILL BE your fault. Remember that, okay?
I know you hardly need my permission to do so, but hey, it's okay. You can move on, you can forget I ever existed. You can date other cute people without even thinking about me. You deserve someone who'll hold your hand and run with you to the end of the universe. I'm so sorry I couldn't be that person.
Love,
Zelkam