delicate • a collection of the music freaks oneshots

Broken Rose

💔🖤 : Hailia
TW: vomit, blood, hanahaki disease
.
.
.

The first time she coughed out a petal, it was a supposedly normal day.

She sat with Zoey, listening to her ramble on about something Hailey did to annoy her today, when she started coughing.

It didn't stop, somehow. She kept coughing until Zoey got worried, passing Lia her glass of water. Lia couldn't accept it, standing up and hurrying to the bathroom.

Her coughing persisted. It felt like something was stuck in her throat. She coughed until finally something fell on the sink, and she felt like she could breathe again.

Except, it was... red? Lia almost dismissed it as a tomato slice or something, but it seemed too smooth to be that.

With quivering and disgusted hands, she picked it up.

And there it was, covered in saliva, an unmistakable petal.

She felt something in her heart crack.

Lia's heart beated insistently, her thoughts wavering back to that girl with warm dark eyes, and the itching in her throat returned.

It took her way too long to leave the bathroom. She only managed to hide the petal before Zoey came in, shaking her shoulders almost frantically.

"Lia? Are you okay!?"

For a moment, she wished she could trust those worried lime eyes. For a moment she wished to melt like putty in her hands, baring the pain in her heart to the blonde. But they weren't friends like that. They didn't talk about things like... this.

So Lia smiled. Put on her best smile to try and fool herself more than Zoey. "I'm fine. Just something stuck in my throat."

Something that wasn't supposed to be inside her.

"Oh, okay," Zoey said uneasily, releasing her shoulders and stepping back. "Do you want to go back outside, or skip class?"

"You can go." Lia waved her off. "I'll see you later."

Zoey eyed her for another moment, Lia shifting awkwardly on her feet, before she nodded, making her way out.

Okay, you're fine, calm down, Lia.

She leaned against the sink, ignoring the two girls coming into the bathroom. Ignoring the way they immediately started whispering. Ignoring the all too familiar resentful stares.

She was fine.

☁️

Sometimes Lia wishes she was Zoey. Zoey walks like she owns the place, ignoring the hateful looks thrown at her. Hell, she even wears them like badges of honor. She wishes she had half the confidence Zoey has.

It has been two days since the incident, and luckily she didn't cough out any more petals, and Zoey didn't inquire further about her health. She was following Zoey during their matching free period, pestering her about a cool dress she saw online, when Zoey suddenly quietened.

Lia didn't take her eyes off her phone for a moment, praying to God it wasn't who she thought it was, but sighed pensively when she heard the gleeful "Hey, music nerd!"

When she looked up, it wasn't Milly.

It was Hailey.

Hailey continued to walk past, barely phased, opening up her locker to slide books into it.