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It started with a sore throat here, a light cough there.
"Hiro, are you okay?" Keitaro would ask. Oh, how sweet he was, his heart covered in gold with only the most beautiful and ornate scriptures carved into it from his experiences. Hiro was in love. He couldn't wait to spend his last summer with Keitaro at Camp Buddy.
He gave Keitaro a smile.
"I'm alright, Keitaro! I'm sure it's just late season allergies acting up!" He was being honest, he felt fine other than the consistent itching in his throat and the throbbing pain in his heart.
That was until Keitaro started to drift. Of course it was justified; he knew he wasn't actually drifting, he was just making friends with others. Regardless, though, it hurt. Hiro's sore throat worsened, occasional specks of blood following. His chest felt.. small. Claustrophobic, somehow. It felt like his lungs were getting weaker. What was happening? Did he get pneumonia? Bronchitis? Lung cancer?? He wasn't sure.
What he was sure about, though, was the fact that he couldn't let Keitaro know. He could still go around and pretend to be fine, nobody had to know. Even he didn't know exactly what it was, so what did it matter! What mattered was the way his heart jerked every time he saw Keitaro smiling like that to Natsumi. Hiro loved Keitaro. He would be happy for him no matter what. But it hurt. He was his best friend, and he was sure no one could love Keitaro more than him. His smile, his eyes, his small ways of picking at his surprisingly clean face under stress, his passion and joy and enthusiasm.
Hiro loved him. So incredibly much.
Then the petals began. Hiro was dumbfounded.
He had heard of.. hanahaki disease? before, but he'd always expected it to be folklore. There were no real records of it being real from what he knew. Why was he coughing up petals?
He was unsure of what kind of flowers they were, although they looked unusual. They were soft, smooth, most of them surprisingly intact despite their tough journey. They were mostly green, almost mistakable for regular plant leaves if it wasn't for the shape and the texture, fading into orange near the edges. Hiro let out a humorless chuckle.
It was their colors.
His coughing got worse, and it was often followed up with periods of being unable to breathe. He had pulled himself further from his friends, though staying fairly inconspicuous about it. Of course, he continued helping Bro Aidan in the kitchen, he loved him! He just took slightly longer breaks and encouraged Bro Aidan to go finish other chores more often.
"I've got this covered Bro! You can go ahead and finish the laundry from earlier!" Hiro would say. Aidan knew something was up. Hiro knew that he did. They both avoided the topic, Aidan not wanting to push Hiro about it, and Hiro being thankful for exactly that.
Keitaro was worried.
Hiro was terrified of that.
He knew he wouldn't leave Hiro to.. die. But what if Keitaro didn't reciprocate his feelings? Maybe he would throw everything and pretend to keep Hiro alive? Would that even work, and if it did, would it make either of them happy?
Hiro was exhausted.
Between coughing, cooking, cleaning up blood and petals, he was tired.
And then it was the sports event. He was sweating. Maybe a fever? Was that out of stress or from the hanahaki? He didn't know. His friends looked worried. Even Yoichi did, despite his regular tough act.
"Hiro, are you sure you're okay to do this? You don't look too good.." Hunter asked, his eyes wide with concern. Keitaro looked at him with a small frown. He wished he wouldn't.
"It's okay if you have to sit out! Your health is more important!" He said. He knew this meant everything to Keitaro, so how could he.
Before Yoichi made a snarky comment, he swallowed and gave them all a large smile, ignoring the rasping in his voice,
"No way I'm sitting this one out! I've been doing stretches all morning for this, I'm so ready!"
He wasn't ready.
First up was Natsumi. As usual, he did everything perfect , and Keitaro looked ecstatic. God, how he hoped he could do it.
Next up was Yoichi, and being the dumbass he was, he started bragging part ways, specifically trying to catch Hiro's attention.
‘I should save my lungs for the hurdles,’ he told himself.
He couldn't stop the grin forming as he yelled back, telling him to hurry up and win. It was followed up with more showing off, as well as more bickering.
"Eduard from team Taiga wins this round!" Rung out, causing Yoichi to release the monkey bars and drop to the ground on his butt in disbelief.
Keitaro pouted a little, letting out a small disappointed "Guuys…" less because of losing, and more because of the two of them arguing. "It was torch-head's fault, he kept distracting me," Yoichi said, causing Hiro to cross his arms and look away while pouting. "Hm. You were the one who kept showing off." Their arguing was quickly cut short by Natsumi calming them both down.
Next up was Hunter against Felix. It was a close fight, both of them scaling the wall at their own speed, doing their best to take in the encouragement of their friends below. In the end, Felix won.
Hiro was screwed.
"It's okay Hunter, you did your best, and that's all we wanted of you! I'm still proud of you for doing it!" Keitaro told him. His chest hurt. His heart throbbed. 'I'm sorry,' he thought to Keitaro.
With the sun beating down and the additional pressure, his sweating had increased. He was boiling up from the inside, and he could feel it. He could hear his own slightly raspy breath as he waited for the call to start. He could do this.
The starting gun went off, and he went. First hurdle, deep breath. Albeit slowly, he made it. He cleared the next few, now gasping for air. The fifth one was coming up, he was in the lead. He could do it.
He felt his muscles give out as his foot hooked on the hurdle, dragging it with him to the ground as he collided against it. His face felt wet, his vision blurry. He thought he heard someone call his name in alarm, but it sounded as if he was underwater. He couldn't breath.
He passed out.
-----
He woke with a cough. Grasping at what he was laying against, he could feel bedsheets curling in his weak fists. His head pounded, his chest burned, his body felt limp.
"Hiro?" Ah, Keitaro was here. With all of his power, Hiro opened his eyes, only to realize that the blur of his vision didn't let him see him regardless.
Upon the movement, Keitaro grabbed Hiro's hand in both of his, holding it close to him. Hiro heard the other let out a sob, breaking his heart.
"Sir Aidan looked you over. He's not sure what's going on, but he said we should probably take you to the hospital." Hiro jolted up a little, shaking his head. Keitaro looked lost.
"Keitaro," he winced, gladly taking the cup of water that Keitaro had quickly grabbed from a makeshift side table, along with a small bucket and a cloth. He downed the water, feeling just the smallest bit of relief. "What I have I don't think can be fixed by doctors."
Keitaro looked confused. Of course, he didn't know how bad it was. He had been hiding it. He wouldn't understand what was happening to him, either.
Keitaro looked like he was about to object. Hiro couldn't let him. "Keitaro, please trust me, okay?"
His body betrayed him, entering a coughing fit. He grasped onto Keitaro's hand, whether for support or to stop him from rushing out to get help, he didn't know.
Keitaro looked shocked, tears welling in his eyes at the display of blood as well as… something? Forcing itself up his throat and past his lips. Blood dripped along his chin, spattered objects falling heavily onto the sheets.
Hiro managed to calm his coughing as he weakly looked at Keitaro, their conjoined hands both quivering, along with the rest of their bodies.
"No.."
".. Huh?" Hiro muttered in response, looking at Keitaro. Tears were now streaming down his cheeks, snot lightly dripping from his nose as he grimaced.
"You can't just tell me not to get help and then do that. Hiro I knew something was up but I hoped you were being honest, that you would come to be as your best friend." As Keitaro said this, Hiro's heart shattered. He turned his head, looking at his free hand messing with the blanket covering him. He gasped when he felt Keitaro pull him into a hug.
"God, you.." Keitaro continued. That was new, Hiro thought as tears started falling, mixing with the blood still on his face. He sounded tense. Frustrated, almost? "Hiro, I love you. You can't do this to me okay? Please," Keitaro was begging. God it stung.
Hiro sniffled. "I know you love me, we're best friends."
Keitaro pulled back from the hug, lip quivering as wet cheeks reddened from the wave of emotions he felt. "Hiro I love you more than just as a friend. I have for years. I thought it would be a small crush that would pass, but it never stopped. You mean so much to me, Hiro, and I can't just let you be like this." Keitaro planted a shaky kiss on Hiro's forehead before pulling back. He stood up decisively.
"I'm going to ask Sir Yoshi to drive us to the nearest emergency room," Keitaro said before jogging out the door.
Hiro, dumbfounded, just sat. Little did Keitaro know, his chest was already feeling quite a bit lighter than it was just a few minutes before.