Epithet Erased One-Shots

I Just Need to Hear it from You [Giovanni x Hanahaki!Crusher]

Requested by @Snowball3235 

"Boss!" Dark Star's voice shouted behind him, startling Giovanni out of his sleep.

"Dark Star, be quiet!" Giovanni hissed, "My moms are sleeping!"

"You have to come quick," Dark Star pleaded, much quieter, "Something's very wrong with Crusher!"

Giovanni would never forgive himself if anything bad happened to one of his minions under his watch. "Take me to him right away."

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Back at their Banzai Hideout, Spike, Flamethrower, and Ben were all doing their best to aid their friend. Car Crash was was on his way, and had been for around twenty minutes. They all assumed he lived up to his name once again since he wasn't there by now.

"When did this start?" Spike asked.

Crusher winced as he answered, "A few days ago. It started small. So small I wasn't really sure if it was really happening or if it was my imagination. Coughing and then seeing a flower petal fluttering away, and it's spring. I figured it was just a coincidence. Flowering trees and all that. A few hours ago, I coughed up a whole flower, so that's how I'm doing now." His voice was hoarse from the flowers constantly emerging from his lungs.

"What kind of flowers?" Ben asked.

"Ben, don't ask such stupid questions!" Flamethrower berated.

Crusher's hand raised up to his mouth as he coughed once again. A white flower with round petals fell into his hand as he did so. He shivered with discomfort afterwards, then left the flower fall to the floor slowly.

"A white orchid. That's not good," Ben murmured.

Spike and Flamethrower gave Ben a long and frightened look. "Ben... What do you mean?" Flamethrower asked in apprehension.

"Naw, I don't want to scare you."

"That scares me even more, Ben!" Spike yelled.

Crusher gagged up more orchids, grabbing the attention of all three of them. These one had red spatters on the tips, and each of them was certain it wasn't just a pretty feature of the flowers.

"Have you figured out what's wrong yet?" Flamethrower asked.

Spike frantically scrolled on her phone. "The only thing I've found so far is this thing called 'hanahaki.' It seems to fit the bill pretty well, but..."

"But what?" Flamethrower asked.

"It's... Bizarre," Spike explained, "It almost sounds like a curse instead of an ailment."

"I've heard of it," Ben chimed in with a nod, "It definitely sounds like a magical thing, but most sources swear up and down it's not."

"Well I don't know what it is," Flamethrower complained, "Could you please tell me?"

"It says that hanahaki begins when someone is facing unrequited love," Spike explained.

"That what causes the flowers," Ben pointed out.

"I don't like where this is going," Crusher managed, his voice hoarse.

"The only way to cure it is for your love to be reciprocated," Spike finished her explanation.

"Good thing Dark Star is coming back soon with Boss," Flamethrower commented.

Crusher didn't answer, he just looked down at the ground.