Begonias

Chapter Twenty Six|Discovery

On the way home, about halfway there, Dream had the urge to cough. For a split second, he let himself cough, forgetting that he had a literal deadly disease.

He cursed himself out as he tasted blood and tried hard not to let the uncontrollable urge distract him; To resist the disease that held him by the throat. But eventually, he had to give in. Dream pulled over to the side of the road as he kept coughing and hacking.

George was absolutely confused and concerned, he started rubbing circles on Dreams back until Dream shoved the boy away, eyes wide. He couldn't see him like this. He crawled out of the car and kept coughing up petals and blood, hoping to high hell that George wasn't looking, George couldn't see.

Dream was absurdly grateful that this episode was short, about five minutes, and Dream used his spit to clean off most if not all the blood, climbing into the car, getting ready to lie his way out of another situation.

---

George was on his phone when Dream started coughing. It wasn't lung cancer coughing, but instead that sick kind of coughing, the type you get when your temperature his high enough to make you pass out.

George was worried beyond belief when Dream pulled over. This wasn't normal. There was no way...

The worried boy started to rub circles on the other boy's back, only to get shoved away, a glimpse of wild eyes and something red- and then Dream was coughing on the side of the road.

It hurt too much for George to even think about watching it, and he just sat there, looking down at his lap and listening to the muffled sounds of the struggle someone feels when their own body is against them.

When Dream climbed back into the car, he saw George, quiet tears rolling down his cheeks, and George was shocked still when he was wrapped up in a hug.

"I'm sorry George. I didn't mean to shove you." Dream said, and George wrapped his arms around him, holding on like the man in his arms was going to disappear into thin air.

"Wh-What.," George said, and he didn't need to continue the question. Dream knew what he was going to ask.

"It's... a Disease. Something I was born with. It... I know it isn't pretty. I'm sorry you had to see that. I try to keep it hidden." Dream said, and only one sentence is a lie. He was proud of those odds.

"You have to tell the other two," George said, leaning away. He saw the pink staining the lower half of Dream's face and got choked up again.

He got some wipes that Dream kept in his glovebox, probably exactly for this reason, and with shaky hands, offered them to Dream, looking away from him. It was just too horrible to look at.

"Thanks..." Dream said and put down the sun blocker to use the mirror and clean his face until it was free of any lingering stains.

He threw the wipes in a bag he kept for non-food trash, moving his face into George's field of view.

"Better?" He said, using his hands to motion to his clean face. His lips were tinted a deep pink, but that was all that shows.

George seemed to shake, and his tears started up again as he fell into the other boy's arms, who just rubbed circles on his back for the fifteen minutes that the boy was crying, whispering sweet nothings in his ears.

When George's breathing finally slowed, he pulled away, hiccuping and wiping at his eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't see it before..." George apologized, and Dream's eyes went wide as he shushed the boy.

"Nonono. I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He said, and George sighed. As much as he didn't want to, his gaze went to where Dream had coughed up blood.

His eyes were blown wide. That... That's a lot of blood... Dream must have coughed it up on a patch of flowers because there were pink splotches shining through- but, there weren't any flower patches around-?

George felt someone grab his chin gently to turn his face away. His cheeks went hot as his eyes met Dream's yellowish ones, and Dream quickly turned away, his face changing color a bit, just like that one time on the couch.

Dream buckled up and George followed suit shakily, and he George couldn't help but start crying again as they got moving.

Dream had to tell the others.

---

It was two hours after they got home that Dream called them all downstairs, and George already knew why.

"So, guys... I bet you're wondering why I'm interrupting your evening." Dream said. Sapnap looked bored, and Bad looked worried.

"I'm here to tell you something that I didn't want you to know about me. I didn't want you.. to worry about me. But I have a hereditary disease."

Bad looked terrified, and Sapnap finally looked a bit worried. They both looked at George, and George looked away as he sifted through the pantry for something that wasn't gluten-free to eat.

"I got a disease from my father called Cystic Fibrosis, and treatments for it can get very expensive. I take medication, but recently it hasn't been effective, and I need to go to a doctor to get my prescription updated." Sapnap and Bad's worry seemed to go down as he continued talking.

"This disease makes mucus fill the passageways in my lungs, and recently a symptom I've developed is... Hemoptysis." They all seemed confused, except George, who flinched a bit as he said it. He knows what it means.

"Its where I cough up blood." Bad gasped and Sapnap's eyes went wide.

"Wait, so, that time you went to the bathroom for ten minutes-"

"Yes."

"The stain by the pool...?"

"Yeah..."

"The time you ran away from George?"

George looked at Dream, waiting for his answer with surprise on his face. He had never thought about that.

"Well, that was... Yeah, that was part of the reason."

Suddenly, Dream was wrapped up in a hug from Bad, and Sapnap joined in. Soon, the four boys were in a group hug. Dream started tearing up.

"We're here for you, Dream. And we always will be."

And Dream's tears fell because unfortunately, that was the truth.

First chapter of the day.

An

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