Chapter Text
The final exams were coming. Which mostly meant a lot of unslept nights, insane amount of stress and dealing with headaches.
Not that Apollo was afraid. Well, he wasn’t stressed either. He knew no test was too hard for him. But still, he had to study. It was Sunday night, and next week was just test after test. First math, then English, then physics, then biology, then chemistry. He gently rubbed his temple and looked at his notes. No matter how tired he was, he still had to fight with this integral. He promised himself that it’s the last one, and he will go to sleep after it. It was important to show up well-rested, after all.
With this fancy pen that his dad bought him, he started copying his notes on a new page. Sometimes it helped him with collecting his thoughts. Yet, for some unknown reason, he couldn’t really focus. It was a foolish reason, truly, but before his eyes, he was still seeing Graves. He made her laugh last friday. It was truly a beautiful sight.
Something was scratching his throat. He tried to clear his throat, but it only made it worse. Coughing, he reached for a glass of water. With a huge strain, he managed to swallow whatever was bothering him.
He looked at his notes, and sighed. No way he’s able to solve that at this hour. He turned the light off, and hoping he’s not getting sick, went straight to bed. The last thought that bothered him before falling asleep, was the hope that he would see her before the test. Just to wish her goodluck. Nothing more.
The corridor was filled with stressed students, trying to learn as much as possible five minutes before the test. Someone was crying. Someone was successfully stressing themselves out even more. Someone happily brought up that they can always just retake the exam.
In this crowd of frightened students, Apollo managed to find Graves. She looked way too calm in comparison to other students. Her hair was up in those two cute buns, and her bangs, that she was playing with, covered her eyes.
“You don’t look stressed, Graves.” he said, trying to keep an indifferent tone. He also made sure his hair looked presentable on his way to her.
“You on the other hand look sick. Have you seen yourself today?” she looked at him through her bangs. “You look pale. And you have bags under your eyes. Can it be that the Prince of Ixia is scared of a math test?”
Apollo should be bothered by this remark, but his entire attention was focused on a faint smile that formed on Graves’ face.
“Check your eyes. I’m completely fine.”
“Go visit the school nurse, because you’re clearly not.”
Before he managed to form a reply, the teacher showed up, carrying a stack of papers. Everyone’s attention instantly moved to him, and someone loudly sobbed in the crowd.
“Well, good luck.” said Graves, before entering the classroom. He tried to answer, but something scratched his throat. Maybe he really was getting sick?
Obviously, the test was painfully easy. At least to him. But for the entire time, his throat felt off. When he finished, he started feeling sick. After delivering the paper to the teacher, he quickly left the class, putting hand to his mouth. Thankfully, the toilet was nearby.
Hunching over a toilet, he forced himself to cough. At first it was futile, but with a few more tries something finally fell down the toilet.
It was a flower petal. It was amaryllis. He knew that flower very well, his mother loved it.
Something scratched his throat, and forced to hurl again. This time it was a persian lily. Its little flowers fell down and danced on the sheet of toilet water.
“What the hell” he managed to mutter. He heard about many things, but throwing up flowers was something new. Maybe he somehow swallowed them earlier? He couldn’t think of any other reason for that.
After collecting himself and washing his face, he returned to his classmates. Graves was nowhere to be found. He almost felt sad. Almost. He wanted to ask her how she did on her test. Not that he cared, but pleasant conversation could strengthen their bond, which would result in better collaboration as lab partners. That’s all. With that feeling of disappointment, he attended the rest of the classes, wondering if she’ll show up tomorrow.
The next day, he woke up with a nagging cough. He rolled to his side, clutched his throat, and tried to cough out whatever was bothering him this time. He finally spit out a red flower. Oh great, it wasn’t a one time occurrence. If it won’t be gone soon, he will look for help.
His throat hurt as hell. Begrudgingly he took some meds, and left his room.
Graves came before him, but as usual, she avoided talking to anyone. She sat away from her classmates, and held a book in her hands.
“You look like shit.” She looked at him, putting her book away. Apollo noticed its title, it was Carmilla.
“I’m happy to see you too.” His voice was hoarse. And to his surprise, he realized he was honest. “I like that book.”
“I’d never guess you like romance. And a vampire one. Do you need any meds? Seriously, I'd skip it if I was you.”
“The premise was interesting. I didn’t care about romance.” he scoffed. “And no, I don't need meds. I took some already.”
“Get better soon. I don’t want to do stupid assignments alone.”
“I won’t skip any assignment just because I'm sick.”
Graves shot him a glance, but before she managed to answer, their teacher showed up.
“Well, good luck.” said Apollo, before leaving her to enter the class.
Obviously, this test also wasn’t any challenge to him. The problem was his burning throat. He had to stifle his coughs, and soon as he left the class, he spitted two flowers into his handkerchief.
“Have you tried to eat this flower, or are my eyes deceiving me?”
“Graves!” he turned to her, crushing the flowers in his hand.
“Are you sure you don’t have a fever? You were always weird, but that’s another level.” She had that tired expression on her face, like she had seen everything, yet somehow, that almost impressed her. Key word, almost. “Well, I have to visit the graveyard. And study for tomorrow. Don’t eat all the flowers on you way to-”
“Are you free tomorrow after school?”
Graves raised her eyebrow. He also couldn’t believe he said it outloud.
“I might need some help. With something.” he gulped, making his throat burn again.
“You really are sick.” She sighed. “I can find some time for you.”
“Thank you, Graves. I appreciate it.”
She turned away, and he could swear he saw some red on her cheeks. Not that he had time to think about it, since another flower was already making its way up his throat.
He spent the entire evening wondering how he should explain this situation to Graves. “Hey, I’m coughing out flowers, and I don't know why.” Obviously he doesn’t know why! Why on earth would anyone cough flowers? “Trust me I’m not insane, but I've been coughing out flowers for the past two days.” That’s even worse! He really didn’t want to make things awkward between them. He will have to be careful with words…
The next morning was somehow even worse. He felt like he was choking. He barely managed to cough out all the flowers, and pulled out stems from his throat. It was painful. This time not only in his throat, but his lungs were burning. It felt awful.
“Are you feeling alright, Apollo?” the teacher asked him, when he barely made it on time. He just nodded, knowing that if he opened his mouth, the flowers would fall off. He had to keep them inside for the rest of the test.
Graves found him after the test, next to the school cafeteria. He was holding stupid water bottle like it could sooth burning pain in his chest.
“So, what the hell is wrong with you?” she asked, keeping her hands in her pockets. She clearly tried to act nonchalantly, but a little bit of worry showed up on her face. Not that she cared. She just knew that there was no way she'd find a new lab partner. That’s all.
“I don’t know.” he sounded way worse than yesterday. “Let’s… let’s go somewhere more private.”
Graves cowered her face with her hand to hide a blush that for some reason showed up on her cheek, but went after him. She followed him through the corridors, all the way to the school’s courtyard. There, he finally sat down on a bench, and gestured for her to follow him.
Before she managed to ask, he bent down, and covered his mouth with a hand.
“Fuck, Apollo, you should really skip at this…” she stopped, when she saw a flower in his hand. “Were did that come from this time.”
“I coughed it out.” He said bluntly.
“That’s.. unusual…” she bent to look closer. It was slightly covered in blood, but under it she could notice some green. She didn’t know that flower’s name, yet she had to admit that it was very pretty. “Is it normal in Ixia?”
“No, I hoped that you’d knew something about it.” He sounded almost desperate. He held his other hand on his throat, like he tried to somehow ease the pain. “Doesn't it ring any bells?”
“I can ask my mentor about it-”
“Don’t do that. She’s using you.” he reached, like he wanted to stop her from doing something, but as soon as he realized what he did, he backed away.
“Oh, do you want help or not?” she stood up, aggressively putting her backpack on. “I don’t know anything, sounds like you also don’t know anything, but she may know something. I’ll visit you this evening, after I’ll talk to her.”
“Are you seriously going to skip the rest of the classes?”
“Yes, and I recommend you to do the same! We don’t know what we- you are dealing with! Maybe appreciate the help.” She turned and walked away a little bit too fast.
Maybe it was a wind and her brain was playing pranks on her, but she swears she could hear quiet “Just be careful.”
When they finally met again, it was almost 11pm. Graves knocked on his door, holding a huge, old book.
“And that is…?” Apollo asked with a weak voice.
“An answer to your sickness. Probably.” She shoved it into his hands, and made her way to his bed. She sat on it, and reached for her backpack. “We are supposed to find a description of something called flower lungs.”
Apollo opened the book, and the first thing he noticed was an article titled “How to avoid getting infected with lycanthropy?".
“Are you sure this is the right book?” he asked.
“Pretty sure. It is also my only trope.”
The book didn’t have any index or table of content, so they had to physically look page after page. He also realized a little bit too late, that he sat a little bit too close to her. Her breath kept tickling his shoulder. Not that he was unhappy about it, it’s just that for some reason it made him feel warm. And it made his lungs burn harder.
After flipping through pages filled with information about vampirism, they finally found what they were looking for.
“Flower lungs. Hanahaki.” he read the title. “Sickness that affects individuals who believe to be…”
…in unrequited love.
Graves raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t expect you to be in love.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you like a person who only loves himself.”
He sighed, and decided to ignore the remark.
“The symptoms of hanahaki are dry coughs that become worse with time as the flower starts to form roots in the victim's lungs. The victim might start coughing out flowers, sometimes even blood. Once the victim starts coughing flowers out…”
“...they have no more than a week of life left.” Graves finished.
They sat in silence, staring at the book.
“It must be a mistake.” finally said Apollo. “Why would I die only because of some flowers?”
“Maybe because they are destroying your lungs?”
“You know what, why don’t you finish reading it.” He handed her the book, hoping that she didn’t notice his shaky hands. “Just skip to the treatment part.”
“Yeah, yeah…” She cleared her throat. “To cure the disease, the victim has two choices. Either to confess their feelings, or go through a surgery that completely removes flowers from lungs. The second option will also result in forgetting about their love.” she flipped through pages. “Do you want to see what the flowers in your lungs look like… no, wait I don't think you do, gross!”
He just stared at her face, trying to comprehend what he just learnt. Trying to decide what to do. Trying to understand what was happening.
“So…” he tried to form the thought, but it was harder than he expected. “I… either confess my feelings, find a surgeon or die.”
“Precisely.”
“And how much time do I have?”
“When did you start coughing flowers?”
“Three days ago.”
“No more than four days.”
He leaned back, put a hand to his face. That was too much.
“I guess you need some time alone, right?”
“Yes, I’d appreciate that. Can you also leave the book here?”
“No problem, but I want it back. Take as much time as you need.”
“Thank you.”
She stood up, and walked towards the door.
“Oh and… Apollo?” he could hear hesitation in her voice.
“Yes?”
“Let me know what you are going to do, once you decide. I’ll help.”
“Sure.”
He heard the doors closing.
No matter how much he tried to deny it, he knew damn well. He loved Graves. He just wished he didn’t need stupid flowers to realize that.