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Hiiro had a favorite flower. He didn't know what it was called, but he'd seen it countless times back home, in the mountains, blooming bright red to match the autumn leaves. He'd been hoping to see them during last year's trip to the botanical garden, but due to having to leave early because of an emergency, he never did get to look for them properly. For all he knew, they didn't even have any in the first place.
However, it was a new autumn season, and when Hiiro had overheard Aira talking to Kohaku about how "our one-month anniversary is coming up soon," and "I wonder if Hiro-kun will get me anything," he had the perfect idea.
So here he was, hiking the nearest mountain he could find, searching for the flowers he adored to give to his beloved. He'd left early that morning, before either of his roommates woke up, taking special care to go unnoticed as he snuck out. After all, it was meant to be a surprise, of course! Surely, Aira would be thrilled, and Hiiro would get a good grade in boyfriend, something that was both normal to want and possible to achieve.
It wasn't easy, of course. Hiking in autumn was more difficult than one might think, as his brother would frequently remind him as children. Even if it was sunny and relatively warm at the moment, the temperature could dip at any time. That was the other reason he'd left early–it would be dangerously cold past dark, after all. Moreover, while he enjoyed the autumn leaves and the satisfying crunch they made with every step, they also posed a potential threat, particularly on steep mountain paths like this one, where a misstep could result in one slipping and falling to their doom.
Hiiro was an experienced hiker though, so he was sure he would be fine.
Eventually, he reached a clearing, and sure enough, there was a field full of bright red flowers, with long, spindly petals, and a wave of nostalgia washed over him. It had been over two years since he'd seen these flowers. He'd always felt a certain kinship towards them, ever since he was little and his brother had teased him, comparing his hair to the curly crimson blossoms.
Smiling at the memory, he knelt down, and began gathering as many flowers as he could carry into his arms. As he walked away, his arms, pockets, and bag stuffed with a frankly ridiculous amount of flowers, he couldn't help but fantasize about his boyfriend's reaction to his thoughtful gift. Aira will be so happy…
"Oh Hiiro, these flowers are so rabui~!" He would say. "I love them almost as much as I love you~!"
Getting lost in his fantasy, he failed to pay attention as well as he perhaps should have on the way back. His foot slid out from under him, and in the split second before he fell, he felt a brief moment of mourning for the flowers that likely would end up crushed as a result.
He fell forward, dropping the flowers he carried as he attempted to shield his head from hitting the ground. He aimed for a pile of leaves, hoping they would cushion his fall somewhat.
Unfortunately, he failed to notice the pile of leaves was actually just a bundle of leaves held up by some roots sticking out of the side of a steep drop.
One that he was now currently careening over the edge of.
Oh.
He tried to reach out to grab something, anything to break his fall. He reached his arm out to a rock that was jutting out, hoping to catch himself.
A loud, sickening crack , and through the haze of pain, as he continued to tumble, he realized that he may have broken something else instead.
After what felt like ages of falling, but had probably only been about a few seconds, he rolled to a stop. He laid there on his back, staring up at the sky through the trees.
As his vision began to go blurry, he couldn't help but think about the lecture that would be waiting for him back home, before everything faded to black.
—
Stupid Hiro-kun, Aira thought, as he trudged alongside the older Amagi through the woods. Stupid mountain.
That morning, Niki and Hinata had woken up to find Hiiro completely missing from their dorm, without even a note explaining where he went. Admittedly, he was an early riser, but so were they, so to not even see him that morning was a surprise, to say the least. (Particularly for Niki, who usually woke up about a half-hour earlier than the others to start making breakfast.)
Still, they assumed he'd just gone off to practice early or something, and hadn't thought that much of it until Aira had knocked hours later, asking if Hiiro was up yet, as he was late to practice.
They'd searched practically all over the dorms and ES, asking anyone they could find if they saw him, to no avail, and it was starting to get concerning. The closest thing to a lead they had managed to find was Ibara, who's internet search history records showed that Hiiro had apparently looked up "mountains nearby" the night before. (Aira tried not to think about how easily Ibara had accessed this information, or what that implied about his own search history.)
Particularly surprising was Rinne, who was visibly starting to get nervous as well (despite the fact he usually acted rather blasé regarding his brother's well-being), especially when it had been revealed that it looked like he was going for a solo hike. When Niki asked, he'd just vaguely mumbled something about "the raspberry incident" and then refused to elaborate.
So here they were, searching the woods in teams of two, while Niki waited at the dorms (in case he returned) and Hinata continued to search every last nook and cranny of ES. Tatsumi was paired with Mayoi, HiMERU was paired with Kohaku, and Aira, much to his own dismay, had been paired with Rinne.
He'd been worried about potential teasing (something that Rinne had severely ramped up since they'd started dating nearly a month ago), but instead Rinne just stayed dead silent, only occasionally speaking up to guide him where to step to avoid falling or lifting him up to carry him over a particularly difficult section of trail.
This was worse somehow. If Rinne Amagi, notorious for being unable to take anything seriously to save his life, was actually scared , then something was very, very wrong.
Suddenly, Rinne grabbed his shoulder. "Hold it, I think I see something."
Aira stood up on tiptoes, squinted, and just barely made out a small patch of red. Is that…?
"Hiiro!" Rinne shouted, before picking up Aira as if he was a sack of potatoes and then rushing towards the scene.
"Waugh–!" Aira yelped in shock as he was lifted, then bounced around as Rinne ran off without a thought to spare for his unwilling passenger. Before he could voice his complaints, though, he was dropped unceremoniously on the ground.
Aira was about to give the taller man a piece of his mind, but then Rinne started muttering to himself. "No, no no no, please, no…"
Aira quickly got up, looked at the scene, and then froze.
Rinne was standing over a body. From the angle Aira stood at, he could just make out a head of bright red hair.
No…
"Hiro-kun!" he shouted, pushing past Rinne to get a closer look.
His boyfriend laid on his back, motionless. His eyes were closed, his face streaked with dirt and blood, and his arm was bent at an unnatural angle. It made Aira feel sick.
He knelt down at Hiiro's side, desperately holding his cheeks as he cried. "Wake up! Please, Hiro-kun, please, you have to…"
Rinne started to pull Aira away, but the younger resisted. "No! I can't… I need to stay with him!"
"I'm not taking you away, I just need to check for a pulse." Rinne said, voice deceptively even, despite his own visible trembling. "He'll be okay, I promise."
A pulse. Aira registered distantly. To check if he's still alive. He wanted to throw up.
He let himself be dragged away, and immediately afterwards, Rinne crouched down, desperately pressing his ear up to his brother's chest.
Silence. Then a sigh of relief. "He's alive."
Of course he is, dummy. Aira wanted to say, but didn't. Idiots aren't allowed to die.
Rinne moved to start picking him up, but Aira stopped him. "Wait, you aren't supposed to move people who might've had a head injury, you might make it worse."
Rinne whipped his head around in frustration. "Well I can't just leave him here!"
"I'll call for help." He opened his phone. No reception. Shit.
Rinne continued to glare at him, but still didn't move Hiiro. Aira tried a different tactic.
"...I'll wait here with him. You go find a place with better reception, call for help, and when the first responders get here, you can show them the way."
Rinne looked like he wanted to argue, but then he looked down at his brother, still unmoving. He glanced between the two for a bit, frantically, before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. Keep him safe, okay?"
Aira nodded solemnly, and Rinne ran off.
He sat down next to Hiiro, settling in to wait for Rinne's return. Now that he had a bit more time, he noticed something he hadn't before.
Scattered around him were piles of red spider lilies.
A chill went down his spine. He usually only ever saw these flowers gathered together in such quantities in places like graveyards. He wasn't an expert on flowers, but even he knew these ones had a heavy connection to death and the afterlife.
A vague memory of a myth he'd heard once came to mind, something about the flowers blooming along the paths of people you would never meet again.
He shuddered. He really hoped Rinne got back soon.
—
When Hiiro was taken to the hospital, Rinne had been allowed to ride in the ambulance with him, as family, while Aira was forced to stay behind with the others. He'd yelled, cried, pulling against Tatsumi and Mayoi's tight hug as their injured unitmate had been driven away. It's not fair. He's our family, too.
Still, Tatsumi had wasted no time in piling everyone into the car (except for HiMERU, who opted to go back and inform Niki and Hinata of the situation) and driving like the Devil himself to get there before even the amulance had arrived. Aira hadn't even paid any mind to the even crazier than usual driving, too lost in fear over Hiiro's condition. He'd just sat there, tightly holding onto Kohaku's hand for comfort, as the other tried his best to comfort him between screams of "Wait, the tree!" and "Watch out for the truck!"
In the end, it didn't make much difference. Hiiro had been immediately sent to the ER apon his arrival, and everyone had been forced to sit patiently in the waiting room until the doctor returned with results.
About ten minutes later, HiMERU had arrived with Niki and Hinata, both anxious to hear about their roommate's condition. Niki had made a beeline for where Rinne had isolated himself in the corner, speaking to him in a hushed voice nobody else could make out, holding his hand, while Rinne just leaned into him, wordlessly. As for HiMERU, after he'd taken a moment to check on Kohaku (who was still recovering from Tatsumi's driving, not to mention the fact Aira had latched onto him for comfort and had basically been using him as a human stress ball since they got there, but was otherwise alright), he'd gone to sit at RInne's other side, silently taking his other hand and rubbing comforting circles into it with his thumb.
Aira might've noticed him crying, if he hadn't been sobbing into Kohaku's shoulder, himself.
When they were finally allowed in to visit him (again, Rinne had been allowed in first, much to Aira's annoyance), Hiiro had still been out cold. Rinne tried his best to explain what the doctor had told him, but Aira didn't really pay any attention. All that mattered was that he still wasn't waking up.
He'd just sat in the chair next to Hiiro's bed, staring at him while holding his hand. The spider lilies were long gone of course. The room was clean, sterilized, and Hiiro had been changed into a hospital gown, no pockets to be stuffed with the flowers that were probably all still left behind, anyways.
He could still see them, though. The image of Hiiro, limp on the ground, surrounded by red spider lilies. As if they were guiding him…
He squeezed his hand tighter.
In the end, they'd only been allowed to stay a few hours before visiting hours were over and they got kicked out. Rinne had turned around as they walked to the parking lot, saying he forgot something inside, but Aira was half-convinced he was just gonna sneak in through a window or something to stay by his brother's side. Lucky.
—
Aira had barely slept a wink that night, but the following morning, he got up bright and early (an hour that he would usually gawk at) to go see Hiiro. He opened his phone to check the hospital's visiting hours, when he saw something marked on his calendar widget.
One month anniversary with Hiro-kun!! ヾ(≧▽≦*)o <33
Right. That.
For the past week, he'd been thinking about it nonstop, constantly bugging Kohaku about "what should I get him" and "do you think he'll get me something I mean probably not but what if he did that would be soo romantic~!"
He started to think. He thought about why Hiiro might have snuck out that day. He'd wondered why he had so many flowers with him, in the first place. Oh. Oh no.
Was he doing that for me?
A horrible pit of guilt began to swirl in Aira's stomach. The worst part was, he hadn't even gotten a gift for Hiiro in the end! He'd kept going back and forth on what to get, and ended up deciding to just go buy something the day before, but then everything had gone wrong and aaaaaa–
Focus. Maybe Hiiro would have woken up by today? In which case, he may as well try to get him something before visiting. But what to get…
Well, Hiiro did like flowers, apparently. Aira decided a trip to the flower shop was in order. Maybe this would show that dummy he didn't have to risk his life next time he wanted to get a gift.
That morning, he walked to the nearest florist he could find, and promptly realized he had no idea what flower to get. He looked around the room, searching for ideas.
His gaze landed on a pot of red flowers. His heart skipped a beat for a brief second, before he realized they didn't look anything like spider lilies. Relax. It's just a flower. It's not like it's haunting you or anything.
He walked closer to examine them, just to fully prove their innocence. Sure enough, its petals were round and friendly looking, not to mention familiar somehow… wait. Didn't one of Hiiro's personalized outfits have these?
He asked the florist about the flowers. Apparently they were poppies, and meant "fun-loving". Perfect. No wonder Hiiro's outfit had these, they fit him to a T.
He ordered a bouquet, got them nicely wrapped up, and excitedly made his way to the hospital. I'm sure Hiiro will feel so much better when he sees I'm visiting, and even brought him a gift!
—
Hiiro was still asleep.
He'd been out cold since yesterday, and in all that time, he apparently hadn't even woken up once.
Oh. Aira had known this was a possibility, of course. He'd been seriously injured, no shit he might take a bit more time to recover, but he just…
He'd maybe gotten his hopes up a bit.
He sighed and placed the flowers on the bedside table, before once again sitting down in the chair next to the bed and taking Hiiro's hand. He'd already decided he and Hiiro were going to spend their anniversary together, and gosh darn it, that's what he was going to do. Even if it meant sitting quietly in this empty room until they closed. This is going to be a long day…
"Snnnrkk…" A loud snore made Aira nearly jump out of his chair. What–?!
Hiiro continued to stay stock still, breathing barely perceptible, just as he always had when they'd lived together. Then how…?
He looked under the bed.
Rinne was hiding there, fast asleep. He was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday.
Aira rolled his eyes, and sat back up. Knew it.
He continued to sit there, silently, idly scrolling his phone and texting Kohaku with one hand while he continued to hold Hiiro's with the other. He stayed there, as morning became afternoon, as Rinne woke up and awkwardly left the room upon the realization his cover had been blown, and then when he sheepishly returned a few minutes later with a vending machine sandwich, correctly predicting that Aira hadn't actually eaten anything yet that day.
Aira stayed, even after Rinne left with some random excuse (he was probably just embarrassed), as other visitors filtered in and out throughout the day, offering words of comfort and condolences.
He was still sitting there when Eichi Tenshouin entered the room that evening.
"Oh, Rei and I had been wondering where you were all day," Eichi smiled, casually. "I'm just here to pay a visit to Amagi."
Aira vaguely stammered something, suddenly somewhat embarrassed that he'd been just sitting here doing nothing all day.
The other just chuckled. "No need to be shy," he reassured. "I've been in this situation quite often myself, after all. I'm sure he appreciates the company."
Aira blushed, and looked away. Eichi smiled, and continued to scan the room, when he paused, and his brows furrowed.
"Poppies?"
Aira looked up at the voice. "Huh?"
Eich just stared at the bouquet still resting on the bedside table, expression still just as unreadable as ever. "Well I certainly understand the humor around it, although I must say it seems a bit morbid, even by my standards."
A pit of dread was starting to form in Aira's stomach. "...What do you mean, 'morbid'?"
"Well," Eichi began, "I'm sure you must be familiar with their associations to fallen soldiers, of course."
Association with what!? "No?? I thought they meant fun-loving!" Aira was desperate for Eichi to say he was mistaken, or joking, or something.
Eichi huffed a small laugh. "Perhaps in hanakotoba, our own Japanese language of flowers, but in much of the world, poppies are known to be a symbol of remembrance for veterans who fell in the line of combat." He continued, either not knowing or not caring about the increasing look of horror on Aira's face. "They also tend to represent eternal sleep, or death in general. It's used to make opium, and has powerful medicinal alkaloids such as morphine and codeine."
Alkaloids. Soldiers. That's why his outfit had poppies. Stupid.
"There's also a famous scene in Wizard of Oz where the protagonists are nearly put to sleep forever by a field of poppies…" Aira had heard enough.
"Sorry, Tenshouin-senpai, I really need to get going…" Without waiting for a response, Aira left the room, eyes blurring with tears. Stupid.
—
It was a few days until Aira worked up the courage to visit again, despite invitations from Mayoi, Tatsumi, even Kohaku asked if he wanted to join him on a visit at one point. (Aira knew the two weren't even that close, beyond their mutual friends and family, and that Kohaku was really just hoping to get him out of his room at all. It was a nice sentiment, but Aira wasn't brave enough to go back yet.)
Throughout all that time, apparently Hiiro hadn't woken up even once.
Finally, Aira felt like he'd been a bad boyfriend for long enough, and decided he needed to "man up," as Tetora might put it (yet another person who'd visited his boyfriend while he moped around in bed all day). This time though, he would be smarter about it.
He went to the flower shop, once again, and decided to steer clear of any red flowers this time, just in case. He tried to think of something else he might like.
Once again, his gaze landed on something he recognized from a previous outfit of Hiiro's, a flowerpot with white lilies growing inside. Aira knew that flower very well, of course, Hiiro had been surrounded by them in that "prince" photoshoot he'd done a while back (which Aira had paid very close attention to, and still held onto for reasons that definitely had nothing to do with how unbelievably pretty he was, nor any fantasies of being swept off his feet by a dashing prince with bright red hair and soulful eyes, no siree).
Still, he'd learned his lesson last time. He took out his phone, and frantically googled every possible tidbit of information he could find on white lilies, just to make sure they weren't secretly evil or anything. Sure enough, both In Japan and in the west, pretty much everyone seemed to associate it with "purity" among other generally positive things.
Purity. It seemed rather fitting for Hiiro, honestly. Sure, he might be violent and intense sometimes, but at the same time, he never seemed to have any real ill-intent towards anyone. He never really lied, either, always 100% genuine about anything and everything, to the point he would struggle with sarcasm, sometimes. He never held back his emotions, either. It was part of what made him so dangerous to Aira's heart–that pure, unfiltered affection could be seriously overwhelming at times.
So, in the end, he bought a bouquet of white lilies to bring to Hiiro.
He tried not to think about how the red flowers haunting his nightmares were also lilies. Those were different. Probably.
That day, he returned to Hiiro's bedside, once again putting the bouquet on the table and sitting down next to him to take his hand.
"Hey, Hiro-kun. Sorry for not visiting earlier." Knowing him, he probably wouldn't have even thought to be mad at Aira in the first place. Stupid. "I brought you some more flowers, ones that aren't super creepy this time. You should've just bought 'em in the first place instead of going out on your own like that. Dummy."
This time, Aira remained at Hiiro's side for the rest of the day, right up until the end of visiting hours that night.
—
A week. Hiiro had spent a full week in the hospital, and still hadn't woken up. Aira was starting to wonder if he ever would.
He idly checked his phone as he got ready to go visit the hospital again. His phone had another popup, this time from his photos app.
One year ago today…
It displayed photos of the trip to the botanical garden. Aira smiled fondly at the memory. Even though it'd been cut short, he'd still enjoyed the trip. Admiring the flowers, solving the maze together… Not to mention that was the day they'd decided to join the Underland project, where they performed Vermilion live on stage, surrounded by white and red roses, just like the card soldiers in the story.
Out of curiosity, he looked up the meanings for both white and red roses. Maybe another gift is in order…
—
Hiiro woke up in a white, empty room, in a foreign bed. He tried to sit up, winced in pain, and laid back down again.
What happened…?
"Hiro-kun~ I brought you another–" The voice cut off. Aira.
HIiro shot back up again, this time ignoring the pain as he fought to see his beloved. "Aira!"
Aira dropped what he was holding and rushed to his side. " Hiro-kun! " Aira hugged him, and Hiiro involuntarily hissed in pain, which made Aira jump back again. "Shoot, sorry, forgot–but you're awake! Finally!" He smiled, tears forming in his eyes.
"Umu? How long was I out for?"
"A week." Aira glared, puffing out his cheeks, although the effect was softened by tears still in his eyes. "Next time, if you want flowers, just buy them, alright?!"
A week.
A week.
Hiiro's face fell. "Our anniversary… I'm so sorry, Aira, I know how important–"
"Shush!" Aira covered his mouth. "I'm just glad you're ok, got it? Who cares about that sort of thing, anyways?"
Hiiro tilted his head. "But you–"
"Nope!" Aira cut him off again."Not important!" His gaze softened, and he reached up to hold Hiiro's face in his hands. "I'm just… so, so glad you're okay." He breathed out, as if he'd been holding his breath for the past week. Maybe he was. "I love you."
Hiiro's face went bright red. Sure, they had confessed to each other when they started dating, but outside of that… Aira hadn't really said it before, not like that, not like Hiiro was the only thing in the world that mattered, like it was the truest statement in existence.
"I… I love you too." Hiiro had, of course, announced his love to Aira regularly, just about at every given opportunity, but this… this felt different, somehow.
Then, Aira leaned in, still softly caressing his face, and kissed him.
Hiiro vaguely felt like maybe he should say something, like how kissing is only for married couples, and isn't he moving a bit fast? But it didn't feel too fast, or wrong, it felt right, like there was nothing more right than kissing Aira, and he wondered why he hadn't done it sooner, thanking anything and everything out there that allowed him to live to see this moment.
Eventually, Aira pulled away, and Hiiro leaned forward a bit, in an attempt to follow him, before being cut off by another wince of pain. This seemed to snap Aira out of his trance, and he jumped back, before gently pushing Hiiro back down to the bed.
"Y–You still need to rest, so–!" He stuttered out, embarrassment and concern both catching up to him. "Stop hurting yourself, dummy!"
Hiiro gingerly lowered himself back down, and Aira began to relax, until he shot back up again. "Wait!"
"What?" Aira snapped. "Stop that!"
As he was pushed back down to the bed, Hiiro tried to clarify. "You said earlier that you brought me something. What was it?"
Aira froze, apparently having completely forgotten about that. "Oh. Right." He turned around, walked back to the entrance, and grabbed a bouquet of red and white roses. He sheepishly held it out to Hiiro, who took it with a look of wonder. "it's been about a year since we went to that botanical garden, with all the roses, and I just kinda thought…"
Hiiro held it close, stared at it in wonder, and then smelled it, inhaling deeply. He sighed happily, turned back to Aira, and smiled. "Thank you, Aira. It's very rabui. "
"Thanks." Aira blushed once again at the use of his own catchphrase. "Um, I gotta go, I'll be back later, is that okay?"
Hiiro looked a bit sad, but nodded.
"Great, um, be back soon."
Aira rushed out into the hall, covering his face with his hands as he tried to calm down his blush. Geez, this boy's really gonna be the death of me, if he doesn't get himself killed, first.
—
One week later, Hiiro was deemed well enough to leave the hospital, albeit with a cast and sling for his arm, along with a stern warning to take it easy for the next few weeks.
Of course, the first thing he did with his newfound freedom was making a beeline for the local flower shop.
He knocked on Aira's door, bouquet of pink and yellow roses in hand.
"Eh?! Hiro-kun, why'd you go out and buy these?" Aira pouted. "You're supposed to be resting still!"
Hiiro just laughed. "At least I didn't go gather them myself this time?"
Aira glared further, before rolling his eyes and dragging him into the room. "Whatever. My roommates are out, so get in here and go back to resting."
Hiiro had rested enough, in his own personal opinion, but if it was for Aira, he was willing to do anything.
Even if that meant doing nothing at all.