Aesop And His Harem [OneShots]

Believe in my love

Eli x Aesop

Hanahaki AU

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Why do you keep asking me this same question? Even though I keep telling you the same thing, you don't believe me.

"Eli, do you love me?"

"Of course, from the bottom of my heart."

If only you could trust me.

. . . . . . .

In a dimly lit room, if not for the single candle burning on the desk, two men stood face to face. One was dressed in a blue robe with a blindfold over his eyes, the other wore a gray suit and a mask. There was a heavy silence in the room after the question asked by the embalmer, which only the seer knew the origin of.

How long has it been... A month, thirty days since the two men announced their relationship to everyone. They received all kinds of responses after this revelation, both positive and negative. Well, what mattered was that they were happy together and those who were against two men being together were a small minority.

From everyone's perspective, Eli and Aesop looked like the perfect couple. They never argued, at least not in public, and were always glued together in their free time. They were known as the two lovebirds of the manor who were inseparable. Oh... How deceptive appearances were. The truth was unfortunately not nearly as wonderful.

It was now several long minutes since the embalmer joined the diviner's room. So far, nothing surprising for lovers to find themselves alone like this. However, a shiver ran down the brunet's spine when he felt a pair of frail arms slip around his waist delicately, slowly.

"Eli..."

"Hm?"

The blue-eyed male tried to remain as calm as possible, but he knew all too well the situation he was in and was dreading this moment more than anything else. 

"Do you still think about her?"

'Her'. He was talking about Gertrude, his fiancée, or rather ex-fiancée. He told him that they had already broken up in letters and that she found a better man, but sometimes Aesop's question would come up from time to time. And most of the time, it never took very long before a morbid accident occurred. Was the same thing going to happen again this time?

"I told you before, you're the only one that matters to me."

Eli passed his arms around the waist of his lover, the latter then lowered his mask to place a chaste kiss against the plump lips of the brunet, sketching a soft smile accompanied by a look intoxicated by the scent of love. If only this love could be as simple as it looked. Then suddenly, Aesop was taken by a coughing fit.

The seer instinctively put his hands on the frail boy's shoulders to support him, while he kept coughing to get out what seemed to be stuck in his throat. Finally, he coughed loudly one last time, the thing blocking his windpipe apparently gone as he gasped slightly to catch his breath.

"Are you okay?" asked Eli, concerned. 

"Hmpf... Yes..."

The embalmer withdrew his hand that had been covering his mouth when he started coughing, then pushed the brunet's torso back a bit so that more air could enter his lungs. Eli then noticed something, he saw yellow, then looking more closely, he saw yellow rose petals. Again. It happened again.

"Take care of yourself please..."

"I will."

Hanahaki. A little known disease but with deadly symptoms. The principle was simple, a person would find himself coughing up blood as well as flowers, mostly the favorites of that person or the chosen one of his heart, if his love was not mutual. A terrible evil that gnawed at the body of its victim until it breathed its last.

However, why did Aesop have this disease when he had Eli?

"I love you Eli."

"I love you too."

"I know."

Liar. The love Aesop felt for Eli wasn't a bluff so that wasn't the reason. No, the problem was the loveless and tense environment the embalmer had grown up in, forcing him to distrust everyone even to the point of doubting the one who had captured his heart. 

However, this could not last forever. Aesop had to accept the fact that Eli's feelings were real and that he wasn't just there out of pity. Unfortunately, all the seer could do was hug the embalmer and tell him how much he meant to him.

Until he unleashed one last rose.