It had started late Winter of his Junior year.

The day the first petal came was, admittedly, a pretty ty day. He and his sister, joohyun had gotten in a fight in the morning, over a reason he couldn’t remember--the fights tended to blend together, most of the time--and she’d left the house without him, leaving him to walk to school in 16 degree weather. Normally, he would have skipped school, maybe gotten stoned at the park, but he’d already skipped the two days before, and he didn’t really want to find out what ty punishment Jaehyun would come up with if he made it a third, and so he forced himself to trudge his way through the streets, freezing his off, and ended up showing up late to his first class, earning a chorus of whispers from his classmates, alongside an angry look from Mr.Jung.

As a result, he’d remained cranky for the rest of the day. It certainly didn’t help when he ran into Taeyong and his Pack of s at lunch, who had new hilarious gay jokes they wanted to try out on him, and he had to be held back from punching someone in the middle of the hallway by his little sister. He pretended not to hear this snickers and whispers as he ripped his arm out of Joohyun's grip and stormed to the bathroom.

By the time his last period--Algebra--came around, he was just exhausted . The second he made his way into his seat, the only thing he had the energy to do was collapse onto his desk, face in his arms, and close his eyes, hoping people would get the hint and not bother him.

Of course, that prayer went unanswered, as after two minutes, the incredibly irritating voice of Nakamoto Yuta made its way into the classroom, like knives to Lucas's skull.

“Dude, you’re killing me here.” Yuta was saying as he took his seat two rows ahead of Lucas.

“I just...I think it would be cool to see…” A second, considerably quieter, voice came as a response to Yuta, and Lucas briefly glanced up to catch sight of Kim Jungwoo, hands knotting in his shirt after he dropped what he presumed were Yuta's books onto the desk in front of him.

Lucas rolled his eyes at this--he knew Yuta was an , everyone did, but making Jungwoo carry his books, just because he didn’t feel like it, was next level douchery, as far as Lucas was concerned--but he put his head back down nonetheless.

“Yeah, yeah, I already know you want to a tree, Jungwoo. Doesn’t mean I think you need to travel to Sweden to do it.”

Though he wasn’t looking, Lucas swore he could see the blush making its way to Jungwoo's face as he stuttered out an extremely flustered response.

“That’s not-- Yuta no why would you-- say that oh my god I don’t--I just think it looks really pretty, and…” Lucas can’t help the tug at his lips as his classmate rambles on, in clear fascination with whatever it was he’d been rambling to Yuta about.

“Yeah, whatever, plant er. Look up your tree hotel in your own time. I don’t want anything to do with it.” Yuta answered with a snort, causing a small spark of annoyance to fizz its way through Lucas, for no longer than a split second.

Making through the class, with a pounding headache, while in serious need of a nap the whole time was, in all honesty, one of the most excruciating experiences of Lucas's life, and he didn’t think he’d ever booked his way out of a room as fast as he had when he heard the bell ringing at the end of the day.

He made it to his locker before the itch in his throat became apparent, and he frowned, clearing his throat, and found it didn’t really help much at all. The tickle remained as he made his way out to Joohyun's car, knowing he had to beat her to it if he had any hope of getting a ride.

He reached the car with Joohyun nowhere in sight, leaning against the passenger side door and clearing his throat again. At his attempt to get rid of it, though, what started as a tickle grew into an ache, almost, and it felt as if something was blocking his throat. Eyebrows drawn, Lucas forced himself to cough, in an attempt to dislodge whatever it was he had, apparently swallowed, only stopping when he felt the object make its way from his throat to his mouth. Even more confused than before, Lucas lifted his hand to his mouth, and grabbed hold of the item, to find himself inspecting
--
A petal.

In his palm was a teardrop shaped flower petal, pale yellow in colour, wrinkled and covered in spit after being in his mouth.

“What...the ?” He muttered, staring at his hand in dismay, having no clue how a flower petal had made its way into his throat.

He’d out while high before, he’d fully admit it, but even then, he’d like to think he wouldn’t just...eat a flower, for no reason. Not to mention that he hadn’t been that ed up in weeks. It didn’t seem likely that it could have happened without him remembering it, at the very least, which he definitely didn’t.

He was pulled out of his stupor at the sound of the car under him being unlocked, and, clearing his throat, he shoved the petal into his pocket.

He glanced towards Joohyun, making her way towards him and wearing a puzzled expression to mirror his own.

“What was that?” She asked, pointing at her brother’s hand in his pocket, eyebrow raised. At Lucas's blank stare, she elaborated, not without a slight eye roll. “Whatever you just hid in your pocket? Or am I supposed to pretend I didn’t see it?” Lucas watched as his sister stepped inside her car and followed suit, taking his turn to roll his eyes.

“It’s--whatever. Nothing to do with you.” Came his grumbled response, to which Joohyun help up her hands, eyes wide, before starting the car without another word.

It wasn’t until he’d made it home and past his mother in the family room, that he’d pulled the petal back out of his pocket and began eyeing it curiously again. He wasn’t exactly sure what it had come from, but he knew he probably didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention to it if he didn’t need to.

He flopped onto his bed and, after setting the petal on his knee, slipped his phone out of his pocket, taking to Google in hope of finding an answer.

He typed “coughing up flowers” into the search bar, and clicked the first WebMD article he came across, titled “ Hanahaki Disease Symptoms, Treatments, Surgery, More.”

 Upon opening the page, Lucas nearly laughed out loud at the description of the disease;

“ Hanahaki Disease is a disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. This is an extremely lethal disease, and it would be wise to be treated immediately when diagnosed.”

As poetic as it sounded, Lucas wasn’t in love with anyone. Aside from his family, the only person he ever spoke to by choice was his dealer, and he definitely wasn’t in love with Johnny, which meant, as far as he was concerned, Hanahaki Disease was a clear no in his books, and, after briefly scanning the rest of the page to properly rule it out, he returned to the search results.

He ended up scrolling through results for the next 10 minutes, searching 5 variations of his original search, as well as “Can you get Hanahaki Disease without being in love with someone?” but, in the end, came up with no results, and decided to leave it for now, convincing himself that maybe he’d swallowed a flower without realizing it, or maybe Joohyun had snuck some ty “natural remedies” or something into his breakfast. He didn’t quite believe it, but it was enough to satisfy his curiosity for the time being.

Deciding to leave it at that, he flicked the petal into the garbage can beside his bed, and found himself forgetting about it by dinner time.
It wasn’t so easy to forget about the second petal. Or the third. Definitely not the fourth. By the time May had rolled around, the petals had become a monthly occurrence, and he still hadn’t figured out the source. He’d never admit it, but he was a little more freaked out each time another petal popped up. He even briefly considered going to Joohyun about it, which said a lot in and of itself, because a. He never went to Joohyun about anything, and b. Joohyun would probably Google his symptoms and come across Hanahaki Disease herself, and begin questioning him about his “crush” while rushing him to the hospital.

It may not have been the smartest decision, but Lucas's solution to the problem was to simply ignore it, and hope it went away, which he hated, but he didn’t seem to really have another option, at least not at this point in time.

Every time a new petal came up, he’d search for an explanation, and every time he’d come up with nothing but pages of Hanahaki disease, which still made absolutely no sense to him.

After the fifth petal, he’d sat in his room for god knows how long, racking his brain to try and think of anybody who he may be even remotely interested in, desperate for some way to explain, but nobody came to mind.

It was a sunny day, sun shining brightly with the promise of a Summer to come soon that it finally came to him.

Lucas always tended to hide in the Library at Lunch, never one for the crowds of people he’d rather not be near that made up the cafeteria, and nobody ever really used the Library, except for Taeil, occasionally, which meant he usually got a minute of quiet there, for once.

He would have never expected to see, let alone run into another student in the Library, and so, as he tended to, he barged his way into the room, not paying attention to, or particularly caring about his surroundings and, without warning, another student had crashed face first into his chest.

His initial reaction was to be annoyed, and after releasing an irritated sigh, he looked down towards the student.

“Hey, you wanna watch where you’re ing--” And just like that, Lucas could feel the base of his throat clogging up as the student below him made eye contact with him.

Kim Jungwoo.

Wide eyed, like a deer caught in headlights, blinking wildly, Kim Jungwoo. With his hands on Lucas's arms to stabilize himself.

“Sorry! God I’m so sorry that was,” Jungwoo started, averting his eyes towards his shoes as he ripped his hands away from Lucas's arms and wiped them on his shirt. “I’m so sorry it’s just--I wasn’t paying attention I really didn’t mean to--to run into...you.”

Oh.

Lucas felt his heart stop for a second.

Oh.

Kim Jungwoo.

Lucas became increasingly aware of the need to cough, and he found himself unable to utter a response to the boy in front of him.

“Yeah it’s…” A small cough shook Lucas's body, and he tried his best to play it off. “Whatever.” He mumbled, pushing his way past Jungwoo as fast as he could, and towards the table at the back of the library.

He wasn’t even sure whether Jungwoo had left the room by the time the fit of coughs took over his body, but he couldn’t hold it off for any longer, because.

Because it was Jungwoo.

Kim Jungwoo, who sat in front of him in Geometry last year, and liked to doodle on the edges of his homework. Kim Jungwoo, who read To Kill a Mockingbird in his spare time, which Lucas used to do, too, because he sort of felt like a Boo Radley himself. Kim Jungwoo, who always got this weird half-grin whenever he was in Biology and someone gave the wrong answer to a question, and Lucas knew he had the right answer, but never spoke up about it.

Kim ing Jungwoo. The only other person in the school who he thought maybe, was just as lonely as him.

Because who else would it be?

As Lucas sat hunched in the chair, yellow petal curled in his palm, his brain felt like it was moving too fast for him to keep up, and he could feel the makings of a crazy headache coming on. Fantastic.

What kind of ing weirdo finds themselves falling in love with a kid they don’t even know? Who they’ve spoken to a total of maybe 5 times, all in the third grade?

Sure, he’d always paid attention to Jungwoo from the sidelines. Would have called him intriguing, even. He never would have imagined it would lead to this, though. One-sided love? Even just thinking the words made him feel like he was about to pass out.

A sigh escaping his mouth, Lucas shoved the petal into his pocket, bringing a hand up to his eyes.

Guess there’s no running from it now he found himself thinking, as he turned his phone on, opening the WebMD page he’d bookmarked, just in case. He scrolled through the page urgently, until reaching the section titled “Treatments & Cures”, and began reading.

Antibiotics will not heal or relieve any symptoms of Hanahaki Disease. There are currently 3 known ways of getting rid of Hanahaki Disease, with Doctor’s constantly working to find new methods. Options for treatment are:

Surgery:

Lucas found himself wincing immediately upon reading the word “surgery”. He’d like to avoid the hospital at all costs, no matter how serious the situation, and he definitely didn’t want to go to the hospital for a stupid crush , of all things. Not to mention the fact that there was no way he was admitting to being in love with Kim Jungwoo, someone he didn’t even ing know. The thought of Joohyun finding out nearly gave him a heart attack. 

Nonetheless, he continued reading.

Surgery: Surgery is the most common form of treatment for Hanahaki Disease. Depending on the severity of the infection, the procedure is relatively simple, though some more extreme cases can require more dangerous procedures.
Advantages - Is the quickest, most direct method, that has the highest survival rate of the three. 
Disadvantages - The victim will lose their feelings for the loved one. 

Moving On: The victim makes a conscious effort to get rid of any romantic feelings they have towards their loved one, and move on from them.
Advantages - No scarring, which surgery can lead to. 
Disadvantages - Often takes a very long time, and could potentially cause a rift between the victim and their loved one. 

Reciprocation: If the victim’s loved one comes to return their romantic feelings--
     
 Upon reading the sentence, Lucas burst into laughter, shaking his head and closing the webpage. There was absolutely no way that was happening. He wouldn’t let that happen. Nobody, especially kind, nervous Kim Jungwoo, deserved to have to put up with him. And there was no way he was making another trip to the hospital unless he absolutely had to. So, it seemed, he had one option.

Getting over Kim Jungwoo couldn’t be too much of an issue--Summer was coming up and he wouldn’t be seeing Jungwoo for a whole two months, and if that didn’t help, Lucas had spent the last 4 years of his life convincing himself to hate people. Jungwoo shouldn’t be any different to him. They didn’t even talk. For the time being, all he had to do for the next month or so was keep his head down, avoid Jungwoo in the hallway, and hope that was the end of it. Even if it wasn’t, what was the worst that could happen? He’d die?

Maybe, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking, this is just a blessing in disguise. It’s not like I was really planning on living much longer, anyway.

So when the bell rang, signifying the end of lunch, he’d managed to calm himself down from the initial shock of running into Jungwoo, and made his way to his next class, one hand in his pocket, absentmindedly folding the shriveled petal between two of his fingers..

He tried to ignore the tug in his chest, one he’d never really noticed had been there before, but definitely wasn’t new, either, as he passed by Jungwoo in the hallway.