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It started with a tickle.
Just allergies, probably, he told himself as he cleared his throat quickly.
This had never really happened before, so clearly it couldn't happen now. I mean, shit, he'd be long dead by now if it had ever happened to him!
It was just a fairy tale, nothing more, nothing less.
And yet, reuniting with his friends made the tickle worse.
It didn't make any sense.
What made even less sense was watching the man in blue smile at someone who wasn't him and needing to excuse himself to retch.
He made it out of the room fast enough that nobody could watch the sunflower petals falling from his lips.
No. This was bad. He knew it was dangerous to want someone you couldn't have, but Nick had never been someone he couldn't have. At least, not to his memory.
He wondered if those allergies he had as a child were connected, somehow.
It dawned on him that every time he'd been with someone, the tickle went away.
He had someone there to love and cherish, and his body allowed him that respite.
So, the solution was simple. Find someone else, even if it killed him.