the flowers in my lungs // yeonbin

the flowers withered.

soobin woke up to yeonjun's smiling face right by his. his heart skipped a beat but oddly enough his throat was fine. weird he thought, usually just looking at him for a second would start a cough fit. soobin didn't think much of it, he'd still be dying soon so he thought maybe he was lucky just this once. yeonjun left and soobin was taken to another room for his weekly xray. he was very hopeful every xray showed he had a new flower or a couple his lungs didnt have much space left last time they had checked so he went in with no expectations. 

much to his surprise and the doctors, the amount of flowers hadn't changed but the flowers had shrunk, almost like they were withering. but that couldn't be possible the only way that would happen was if he stopped loving yeonjun, which there was no way that was possible, or if yeonjun loved him back which was also not possible so soobin was left confused. was it some sort of miracle after all?

the next time someone came to visit it was beomgyu and taehyun. he told them the good news but also warned them not to get too happy because both him and the doctors were unsure of what this meant. 

"are you sure he doesn't love you back soobin? why is it so hard to believe he might love you back?" beomgyu questioned him. "beom you know it's just not possible how could he love me back now? it doesn't make sense." a couple weeks ago taehyun and hueningkai found out yeonjun was the one he loved though neither of them had been surprised claiming it was 'obvious' whatever that was supposed to mean. he tried assuring his friends that there was no way yeonjun loved him back, but they weren't too convinced. after his friends left the doctors came back in. 

"soobin, we've come up with a few conclusions to what might be going on." the doctor looked at him seeking a signal for him to continue, soobin nodded, "we think that whoever it is that you love might have confessed their love to you without you knowing, have you by any chance been alone with them in the last couple of hours?" soobin had a confused look, where were they going with this, he wondered. "yes he was here earlier and i believe he stayed even when i was asleep since i woke up and he was still here." the doctors looked at each other and one of them finally spoke, "we're gonna need his contact information." 

yeonjun had been home for about two hours when he received a call. 

"hello?" 

"hello is this choi yeonjun?" 

"yes this is yeonjun who's calling?" 

"this is xx hospital. we're calling in regard to your friend choi soobin, we need you to come in and answer a couple questions as it is urgent." 

"okay i'll be there soon." 

yeonjun was worried sick on his way to the hospital they hadn't been exactly clear about what was going on. had soobin's condition worsened? was he about to die? he was unsure of what was going on so he rushed to the hospital hoping, praying that soobin was okay. when he arrived at the front desk the nurse's walked him to a smaller doctors office where he waited for the physician to come in. his mind was flooded with thoughts and possibilities of what could possibly be going on. when the physician came in yeonjun got straight to the point, "what's going on is soobin okay?" 

"soobin is more than okay his condition has actually improved a lot." 

the relief yeonjun felt there and then was indescribable thank god he thought. 

"what's going on then? why was i called in?"

"this might come as a shock yeonjun, but we've gotten soobin's consent to disclose this information to you. you are the one soobin is in love with." yeonjun couldn't believe what he was saying. "what are you talking about? that can't be true." yeonjun was just shaking his head how could it be? how could he be the one to have put soobin through this? it wasn't possible. "sir i understand that this is shocking, however we have an urgent matter at hand, we need to know what you did while soobin was asleep earlier in his room. we believe that whatever happened in that time might reveal something revolutionary regarding the hanahaki diseae. so please think hard and tell us what you did." the words settled in yeonjun's mind, right. he needed to stay calm if this could save soobin he'd leave his questions for later. "i just spoke to him while he slept and cried a little too." yeonjun played with his nails he felt anxious. "what exactly did you say to him? we need it to be a bit more specific." yeonjun nodded his head in understanding, "right, umm this is a bit embarrassing to admit to strangers but i know it's important for him. i confessed my love to him. i just told him that i loved him and wished he'd love me back, i had no idea i was the one who caused this. this disease is confusing, i love him back so why did this still happen to him?" at his response yeonjun noticed the look of eureka in the doctors faces, "yeonjun, you don't understand what this means, what you did just saved not only soobin's life but possibly hundreds others who are suffering from hanahaki. thank you for your time, please let soobin know of your feelings he'll be cured by tomorrow if you do." that's all yeonjun needed to be out of the room and making his way towards soobin's. 

soobin had been anxiously waiting for yeonjun, he knows his hyung will make his way here after talking to the doctors. what would yeonjun think about this? what if he hates him? what if he feels disgusted by him? all sorts of thoughts were running through soobin's mind as the time passed. and then there was a soft knock at the door. soobin held his breath as the person on the other side walked in. 

soobin didn't have to look to know who it was, it was yeonjun, his yeonjun. for the first time in months soobin could look at him and not feel a sharp pain and his throat closing up. he took this opportunity to admire yeonjun and take all of him in. he was still as beautiful as always. he was breathing heavily like he had run the whole way. 

"soobin, why didn't you tell me that it was me?" soobin looked away from yeonjun, suddenly ashamed of his feelings for the older. "hyung. i didn't want you to blame yourself, try to understand me please." soobin had tears in his eyes, he was trying to hold them back but it was futile as he felt the first few fall. "soobin, if you had told me from the start you'd have avoided all this pain for yourself." soobin looked up at yeonjun confused and teary-eyed. "what do you mean?" he asked sniffling softly. "it means i'm in love with you. and i have been for a long time soobin. and i love you so much to the point where it shook me to my core thinking that you could die any day." soobin was shocked. he didn't know what to say or feel, but one thing was certain the flowers in his lungs had withered, and with that came relief. he cried tears of joy. and he signaled yeonjun to come closer with his hands and yeonjun complied, how could he not? it was soobin afterall. soobin hugged yeonjun and for the first time in months he felt true happiness. 

it had been months since soobin recovered, he still made frequent visits at the hospital to make sure his throat and lungs were okay, they had a lot of damage to them, some that would be incurable, but he didn't care, he had yeonjun now and he loved him back. the two had been inseparable since the confession and had been more in love with each other than ever before. soobin was grateful to yeonjun for saving his life, and although he had learned to love the flowers that had blossomed in his lungs, soobin loved yeonjun much more. he'd live the rest of his life loving yeonjun, the withered flowers in his lungs were proof of that. and in return yeonjun would love him just as much. 

A/N: and that's it for this one! i haven't written anything in years and i've always wanted to write a hanahaki au and i'm so happy with how it turned out! i was debating on making it a happy or sad ending and i ended up just flipping a coin and leaving it up to that lol thank you so much for reading this and i hope you all loved it as much as i did (: