Azure Blossoms [SMG34 Hanahaki AU]

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I have only just realized how drastically my writing style changes when I'm writing full 3rd person and not just someone's POV or even their thoughts lol, never really noticed how different it is writing a character's narration versus a narrator's narration!

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POV: 3rd person

Three didn't wake up until the next day. When he finally did, the first thing he noticed was how warm it was... It consumed him, he never wanted to open his eyes and wake up from this hazy dream. 

He felt soft breathing, and when he slowly opened his eyes he saw SMG4's cute, sleeping face. His eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness and he was glad the gay panic hadn't settled in yet.

After a few seconds of just lying there, he reached forward and brushed the other man's dark, messy hair away from his closed eyes.

SMG4's eyes fluttered open at the sudden touch. "Wha-?! Whah 'appened..." he stammered, still quite half-asleep and unable to process anything that was going on at the moment due to sleepiness.

Three felt his face burning. "You actually...um, you're awake. Huh." He immediately pulled his hand back, blushing hard as he sat up in bed. "B-by the way, it's not...I don't-" he squeaked, his eyes darting around the room. "Hey, what happened? Uh, wh-why are you in my bed again?" SMG3 asked Four.

"You..." SMG4 began, rubbing his eyes, "You told me to. You said you needed me here...and by the way, you owe me answers."

Oh god. Oh god. Three had completely forgotten that Four saw his latest Hanahaki attack... And he also said that?! Holy shit holy shit holy shit...

"What even was that?!" the blue-clad Meme Guardian exclaimed. "That was terrifying! I was terrified...! You were coughing up so much blood...and flowers, flowers too- but I guess Google knew what it was, so I know what's up..." Four leaned closer to Three. "Wh...why didn't you tell me about it sooner...?" he asked.

SMG3 looked away in shame. "I'm sorry...I knew I was done for. You read about Hanahaki then, I assume...?" he whispered, getting up and starting to walk over to a random drawer. The purple-clad Meme Guardian pulled open an old, wooden drawer and started rummaging through it, coughing when tiny specks of dust flew into his face.

It reminded him of his disease. Everything was just connected to those fucking flowers now, wasn't it...?

"Fuck..." Three cursed under his breath, but he eventually dug up a blue rose. The petals were slightly losing their life and color, curling downwards. But otherwise the flower was a perfect, beautiful, delicate thing.

"I tossed this in there yesterday. I never wanted to look at it again. It's the first flower," he explained to SMG4, his voice still weak from the day before. "But they'll get bigger. They're going to- they're going to kill me." SMG3 couldn't stop himself as tears ran down his face.

"Who is it?" Four asked.

"...What?"

"The disease is caused by unrequited love."

SMG3's face went pale, he hoped the SMG4 didn't notice. He was silent for a moment, thinking about his options. Telling Four wasn't an option. That would be a waste of a perfectly good friendship, after all, and it was one that Three wanted to keep until he died. Lying to Four wasn't fair, though.

Four's edgy doppelganger wiped the tears away from his face, further ruining his makeup but who the fuck cared at this point. He'd already slept in it and cried at this point. "I can't say who it is."

SMG4 sighed. "You have to tell us, SMG3. This is serious, and I don't want you to die. Please just tell me. No more secrets about this...disease, or whatever it's supposed to be..."

"All I can say is that they don't love me back."

At this, Four's emotions started to slowly spiral out of control internally as he desperately tried to hide his concern. "Wh-what? Are you sure?" he asked weakly. The silence in the air around them was deafening, only broken by the raging wind outside and the splatter of raindrops on Three's window, increasing in volume.

"I..." Three collapsed onto the bed, sobbing. He couldn't take this anymore. SMG4 deserved to know. He deserved to know it was him. But...he couldn't, he just couldn't- "I know it, Four, I know they don't love me and I'm going to die in I-don't-even-know-how-long-but-way-too-soon!"

Before SMG3 could over/underthink the next thing he was going to say, he felt the same warmth as before. Four was here again, hugging him as he cried. 

"Wh...y are you still here...?" Three asked, clinging to SMG4 like velcro. "Do you really want to stay and see me dying? Huh?" When they finally let go of each other, SMG3 flopped back down on the bed. "Staying here won't do you any good, and I don't have anything else to say about my disease."

"Look, dude," SMG4 said, pointing at his friend. "We really can't help you if we don't know anything about this whole Hanahaki mess. But...if you're really gonna..." he didn't finish his thought. "N-not giving up yet or saying there's no chance we can fix this, but I'd like to spend some time with you before...y-you know." He stuttered at the end.

Before Three died.

"Alright, fine. Good point," said SMG3, getting up and handing Four his cap. "Let's get ready, and then we'll... tell the others."