Vanitas × Noé

Hanahaki

If you don't know Hanahaki disease is a thing where someone coughs up flowers when they have unrequited love. It's either healed by the other person reciprocating or the victim dies. I'm changing it up a bit so there's no danger of dying and it's just a huge inconvenience and the victim just has to confess to get rid of it. The other person doesn't have to return their feelings either. I just think that will make this more light-hearted and it puts pressure on the character who's hiding their feelings rather than the one who's minding their own business. I don't want to put a character into a position where they have to fall in love with someone or they die... that's not romantic. Also, if you're interested in my thoughts on chapter 44 see the notes at the end.
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Vanitas was alone on the roof one day when out of nowhere pain spiked in his throat. He immediately started coughing and retching uncontrollably, tears springing to his eyes. He clawed uselessly at his neck, undoing his bow for some small relief. As the attack continued he began to accept that this was how he was going to die. Alone and choking on air.

As Vanitas began to accept his departure from this mortal coil something forced it's way up his throat and out of his mouth. A single petal, quickly followed by the rest of the flower in an unceremonious and much more painful heave. Vanitas stared at the astérisque flower falling apart in his hands. What was this? Had he been cursed? Could the Book of Vanitas fix this? He had no idea.

Tossing the flower aside in disgust he decided to test the Book's effectiveness. He tried but there wasn't a single inverse operation that fit the situation. Despite this he still tried to use its power only to find it useless as he had expected. Next came consulting medical texts but that yielded no result either. Vanitas planned on visiting a library next but ran into Amelia on the way out. Figuring he had nothing to lose he decided to ask her. Her true name almost vaguely referenced flowers so it wasn't his worst shot.

"Amelia, have you ever heard of people coughing up flowers?"

"Oh! Of course Monsieur Vanitas, that's Hanahaki disease. It's a rather sweet tale. When people bury their romantic feelings deep enough they begin to cough up flowers, especially near the person they love. And the only way to heal it is to confess your feelings, don't you think it's sweet?"

"Sounds terrible to me." Vanitas scowled, pondering his own situation. It couldn't be right. He wasn't in love.

It was relatively tame for most of the day. Occasionally a single petal would force it's way out but that became easy to deal with. The worst thing was the mess they made. The next time there was a violent onset Vanitas was completely unprepared. He was lazing around in his and Noé's room when the vampire came home. Almost immediately he started convulsing violently.

"Vanitas!?" Noé rushed over to him, but Vanitas shoved him away and rushed into the bathroom, locking the door behind him as Noé continued to yell.

Vanitas vomited out two flowers into the sink then stared at his ragged reflection. Pathetic. He looked at the flowers briefly and Amelia's words taunted him in his mind... They begin to cough up flowers, especially near the person they love. Especially near the person they love. The person they love. Love. Vanitas spat on the flowers. As if he was in love with Noé of all people.

After a moment's thought he removed them from the sink and stuffed them in his pockets to hide the evidence. He strode confidently out of the bathroom to find Noé hovering nervously around. He scowled and waved Noé's concerns off.

This continued for week and Vanitas became very good at hiding the flowers. He began to cough silently and even mostly still his body's shaking, even though it hurt more. He even began to wear his scarf almost constantly in order to catch any rogue flowers that may escape at inconvenient times. The flowers, although annoying, became a constant part of Vanitas's life. And he thought it was going smoothly until one day, out of the blue, Noé became interested in what was going on.