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It started as a small cough, just a tickle in the back of his throat, like something was there that he couldn’t quite get out. Tolus had been sick plenty of times, he knew how to deal with this. Soup, tea, extra rest. But the tickle only spread, and the cough got worse. Tolus went to the doctor but they couldn’t find a cause, “It might just be the season,” the doctor said, giving the satyr a shrug. Not very helpful but Tolus figured there was nothing more to do but wait for the season to change and hope that that was the case.
It wasn’t. As the seasons progressed the cough got worse and worse. So bad others were asking him if he was okay or keeping their distance in fear of contracting whatever it was he had. Another visit to the doctors was just as enlightening as the last, “Well I can see some irritation but that’s likely just from all the coughing. But everything else seems normal. Have you been drinking enough water?”
It got so bad Tolus was unable to do his rounds and help people, he couldn’t even help in battle. He was quarantined to his cabin and the cafeteria. Everyone would noticeably tense when he would enter and shift away if he sat to close. He opted to just go early in the morning and late at night to avoid the panic.
On one of those late nights heading to the cafeteria a coughing fit took over Tolus sending him to his knees. As he heaved he felt something coming up in his throat. Panic overtook Tolus as he choked and hacked to get whatever it was out. A few flower petals plopped to the ground, wet with saliva and a bit of blood. As he kept going the feeling of something much larger was coming up. Tolus clawed at his throat as the offending object blocked his airway the more he tried to push it up and out.
Pure fear took over him, thinking these were his final moments, in the middle of the street at camp, alone. Tears quietly thudded against the hard dirt, darkening it. Thoughts of how he let people down flashed through his mind, how he didn’t get strong enough, how he hadn’t achieved what he wanted yet, he had wasted his life. He was leaving Steve behind, the kids he wanted to watch grow up. And June. He hated that she was in his final thoughts but he couldn’t help it. He wanted her to comfort him at this moment. Help him. Try and save him even though she had tried to do the opposite before. The softness and understanding she showed him made him feel so loved, the feelings he already harbored never leaving, only changing.
Thankfully there was someone to save him, “Tolus!?” It was muffled in his ears, the sound of his thumping heart and rushing blood drowning anything else out. He felt hash pats on his back, dislodging whatever was in his throat. He gasped for air as he finally spat it out, falling to the ground in a wet heap. Tolus felt a pair of arms wrap around him in comfort while he collected himself, trying to keep himself from sobbing as he trembled and gulped in air.
When he was able to breathe and blink away his tears without more taking their place, he looked to see what he had coughed up. A blood stained flower was lying in front of him. A full flower. What the fuck?
Tolus was losing the battle of trying not to cry, a few choked sobs coming out against his will. That’s when he clearly heard the voice, “It’s alright, I got you!” Steve. He leaned into the hold, reeling from almost dying once again.
When Tolus had finally calmed himself down he looked up to see a small crowd had formed around him. Artemis stood at the front of the crowd, staring down at Tolus. The expression he had was unreadable, not disdain but not not disdain. Tolus wished it was worry but he’d sooner get pity from the man. He didn’t know what he did this time but the embarrassment and shame washed over him in a violent wave, hating that he was seen like this, “Are you alright?” Steve cut off his thoughts, helping Tolus relax a bit finally.
The satyr nodded, his breathing finally evening out, “Yea I’m- I’m fine, thank you,” he breathed, he blinked away the last of the tears in his eyes, leaning further into Steve for comfort.
“Tolus,” Artemis finally cut in and shocked Tolus by asking, “Are you alright?”
The satyr had to blink a few times to make sure he was hearing things correctly before his mind could form an answer, “Y-yea,” he stammered out lamely. The familiar comfort he used to feel from Artemis sparking.
“How long has this been happening?” The sentinel doted but with the same monotone he always had.
“I wha- I’ve had an itch in my throat for a few months,” Tolus clambered to explain, still taken aback by Artemis’s demeanor, “But this…” he looked down at the flower, the blood and mucus drying on it and tinting it brown, “Was the first time.”
Artemis hummed, “So no one has told you…” Tolus just stared at him, his silence being his answer so the other continued, “You have Hanahaki disease, a disease caused by unrequited love,” he explained simply.
“Unrequi- what?” Tolus asked, alarmed by what was being implied. Love wasn’t something Tolus liked to discuss on a regular day, the idea alone making him flustered and hot all over. A day where he nearly died in the middle of the street, it was the very last thing on his mind. Apparently though, it was the first thing in his mind as he somehow contracted an illness around that entirely.
There was a long pause, Artemis could tell the cogs in Tolus’s head were turning more than normal and he allowed the other to catch up before speaking again, “You’re in love with someone you think doesn’t love you back…and I think we know who,”
Tolus became even more panicked, shaking his head aggressively, “No I-! I swear, it’s not like that! I just-”
“You have to go see her, Tolus,” Artemis cut in.
“What!?”
“If you don’t sort out your feelings for her, this will only get worse until…”
Tolus understood the implication.
“But how do I…?”
“Confess, if she feels the same you’re cured,” he stated like that wasn’t a loaded sentence, the implications and outcome of that impacting everyone and everything they were fighting for. The idea made Tolus feel nauseous, an annoyingly giddy kind that morphed into a sinking one. The thing he wanted from the start, it was so simple then, a fluttery joy in his stomach that made him act a fool but feel so fulfilled just in her presence. If it were then this would be no big deal, but this was now and even though Tolus still wanted that, whether he’d admit it or not, the fear of what that meant for him, June and the others shook him. “Or she rejects you and you’ll get over the feelings,” Artemis once again stated plainly, like it was just that simple. Like a love disease that made you cough up flowers and almost kill you was just that cut and dry.
It wasn’t, “Or since the love really is unrequited he dies anyway,” Steve added, weighing in on the conversation. Tolus looked at him, he knew Steve wasn’t trying to upset him further, simply pointing out Artemis’s lack of consideration but a wave of anxiety flooded through Tolus at the thought of slowly dying from pining. Not only embarrassing but painful if his first experience was anything to go by.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Artemis responded so casually it almost pissed Tolus off. Like this wasn’t that big of a deal, as if his life weren't on the line. Then again, Tolus was no stranger to having his life threatened by the man but it didn’t matter to him either way, “Go Tolus,” Artemis ordered before turning to walk off, that was the Artemis he was more used to. The ‘Get the job’ and ‘stop bothering me’ arrogant energy he usually exuded. And Tolus would get the job done, as always.
Steve had stuck by the satyr’s side the entire time, the comforting hold remained and when he came back to reality after Artemis had left the feeling was more than welcomed, “What happens if…” he trailed off as he looked to Steve, with more than half of the outcomes being bad ones, Tolus was clearly worried.
“Whatever the outcome, we’ll figure it out,” Steve reassured, giving the younger man a tight hug which was happily returned. Once they parted Steve asked one more time if Tolus was alright. He was able to stand on his own so he nodded before he meekly clomped into the forest.
As Tolus entered, part of him hoped she wouldn’t show up, but he knew better than that, he knew she had probably been watching the whole scene that led him here. She had probably been watching him this whole time as he got sicker and sicker. His face flushed as he remembered June was basically always watching him.
His guess was correct though and a figure soon flung itself down from the trees, colliding with him and causing him to crash onto the ground, “You asshole! Look at what you’re doing to me! And you have it too you idiot!” June’s angry contorted face met his, throwing a dry blood covered flower and petals into his chest.
He glanced at them before back up at her, his chest swelling with hope, “You know what it means?”
“Of course I do! I can’t believe you tricked me into feeling the same way about you!”
Tolus stared dumbly, although a harsh confession, it was a confession and it made his heart hammer in his chest and his face heat up, “...You feel the same?”
“Shut the fuck up,” June hissed as she stepped off from looming over him and began to pace. Tolus sat up then stood as she did so, his tail wagging wildly now as it wasn’t crushed under his own weight.
All his previous worries, what would happen to him, June, the others, they got quiet as the prospect of June actually feeling the same grew louder. They were still there but Steve’s words encouraged him, they’d figure it out, no matter the outcome. “We can-“ he started but was quickly shut down.
“No! We can’t! You’re too stubborn to just join me and I don’t want anything to do with that asshole of a sentinel so no way in hell am I going back to that camp! Plus we’re supposed- this wasn’t supposed to happen! Ugh! I just needed to get the stupid stones and get out, then you show up and AGHHHH!” She was ranting at Tolus which quickly devolved into her rambling to herself.
Carefully, Tolus interrupted her pacing, her head shooting up and locking eyes with him. She looked frantic, lost and confused, desperate for a solution that wasn’t the obvious solution. She looked beautiful.
He gently took her hands in his, the small gesture making a light feeling blossom in his chest. He figured June must have felt it too as she seemed to visibly relax a bit. They stood staring for a long moment. Tolus not knowing what to say or how to say what he was feeling, he never did. But June seemed to have her own plans, surging forward and colliding their lips in a passionate kiss.
Tolus immediately melted into the kiss, his arms wrapping around her in an embrace. The light feeling began to grow and flutter. The feeling of finally having what he longed for, it was warm and freeing. Until it began to climb up his throat, the itch he had felt for months returning. He tried to fight the urge to cough, not wanting this moment to end. Though it once again seemed like June felt the same as she jerked back and out of Tolus’s grip, hunching over and coughing up withered petals. Tolus followed suit, relief washing over him as he spat the last of them out and the feeling was gone.
They looked at each other, panting from the coughing, “So I guess that’s that,” June said. Not saying if it was good or bad just simply that it was. It was the solution they chose for now. Tolus was smiling wide, unable to contain his emotions as he stared back at June’s indifference.
“This won’t work…we’re better off dead, that’s how we’ll end up one way or another,” she commented dryly but still let herself be wrapped in the embrace Tolus pulled her back into.
“Probably, but we can figure it out,” Tolus beamed, eyes bright and looking love sick.
June just rolled her eyes with a smile, giving in to the helpless romantics wishful thinking, part of her, probably the part that fell for the idiot in the first place, liked that wishful thinking, “Yea…okay,” she mumbled as she buried face in the satyr’s chest. Feeling the heat radiating off of him and listening to his rapid heartbeat. She couldn’t even be too mad, this feeling being better than any power she could have gained. They would definitely figure it out.