iwaoi [i]: hanahaki

1.7K 42 21

by IeovaIdez

by IeovaIdez

wc: 571
genre: angst
au: hanahaki
warnings/triggers: none??
relationship status: unestablished

Hanahaki Byou:

The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from one-sided love, where the patient throws up and coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love (or believe so). The infection can be removed through surgery, but the feelings disappear along with the flower. The patient can also be cured by earning the love of the other. The illness is fatal, as the flower grows in the lungs, and eventually the patient will suffocate from the petals, or choke on the flower as it grows.

It's the second time Tooru crumples on the court during practice, but this time it isn't because of his knee. An unbearable pain is blooming in his chest, in his lungs, and he's finding it hard to breathe. He feels the cool gym floor pressed along one side of his body, and all he can think is that he must be dying. He pushes himself up the best he can, onto all fours. He stares at his hands, which are bracing him against the floor, and they're becoming blurry. He must be crying.

The court is still; no one rushes to help him. Aoba Josai is staring, absolute horror in their eyes. Wasn't he just bragging about being able to hit the water bottle on the other side of the court? How did this happen?

He can hear, through the ringing in his ears, things being dropped, like a gym bag, a water bottle. "Oikawa!" He can recognize who it is, of course, how could he not? Even through the unexplainable noise he can hear- he's sure only he can hear it- he recognizes Iwaizumi's voice. Someone- definitely Iwaizumi- crouches in front off him, grabbing his chin a little too roughly and jerking his head up to face him.

"Iwa...chan..." Tooru breathes, and then he's choking, coughing like there's something stuck in his throat. Tears pour out of his chocolate eyes at a quicker pace; his face turns red. Iwaizumi looks afraid, like he's thinking what Tooru's thinking, like he's thinking that he's dying. He grabs his shoulders, a tight grip to steady him, and the setter just now registers it's because he removed one hand from the floor to cover his mouth.

As sudden as the coughing started, it stops. Tooru's vision clears considerably (maybe the blur wasn't from only his tears), the ringing in his ears stops. He feels weak, frail, drained. Iwaizumi is still steadying him, thankfully.

And then he feels something in his hand.

He pulls his hand away from his face shakily, revealing a single daffodil petal sitting in his palm. There's a murmur of "no," from the manager, but Iwaizumi remains silent, eyes wide and focused on the petal, like he's come to a startling realization. What? Tooru needs to ask what's happening. Do they know something he doesn't? But before he can open his mouth, he falls forward, collapsing against Iwaizumi. The world fades to white, along with the screams.

Daffodils are also known as the narcissus, after the legendary young Greek man of the same name. Narcissus was full of himself, because he had been given the gift of great beauty by the gods. One day, a sweet, young wood nymph named Echo spotted Narcissus gazing into a stream, admiring his reflection, and instantly fell in love with him. However, he was too occupied with his own beauty that he ignored Echo, and she wasted away from loneliness, until nothing was left of her but her voice.

Thanks to this tragic tale, daffodils are used to represent unrequited love.

a/n: i found the concept of hanahaki byou yesterday, while reading a jikook fic on ao3, and now i've become obsessed with the idea. what a poetic death, right? apparently, though it's possible to, hardly anyone would get the flower removed, because they don't want to stop loving whoever they love.

do you want me to continue with this? i found out about it, and then i just had to write something, so apologies that it's rushed. give me feedback! i will continue if you ask me to; you can also leave aus + pairings in the comments and i may write it!