Azure Blossoms [SMG34 Hanahaki AU]

all on you

(The top image is a redraw I made of a Homestuck panel with Dave and Terezi lol)

POV: 3rd person

Everyone had different reactions to Three revealing his sickness, most of them being fear or panic or sorrow.

"Y-you're dying!?!" The memory of Meggy's panicked voice played in SMG3's head once again, and then Tari's. "Oh my god! A-are you completely sure it can't be cured?!"

Mario had burst into tears the second he was told, latching onto Three's ankle like a little kid and refusing to let go until SMG4 threatened to take away his spaghetti. The silly Italian finally let go, running away in tears.

SMG3 wasn't in good spirits right now. Everyone knew he was going to die now, everyone would have to live without him. Sure, he was an asshole, but giving everyone the bad news and seeing their reactions made him realize how much they actually cared.

"Hey. Um, how are you feeling?" SMG4 asked his Meme Guardian partner, sitting down next to him on the ugly green couch. "That was...a lot."

Three's stunning dark red eyes met Four's sky blue ones. "I'm fine..." That was a lie. "Hanahaki hasn't come yet today." This statement was true, and he had been with SMG4 the whole day so the blue-clad man knew he wasn't lying.

"Hey, sorry for all the trouble I've caused you," Three said. "From our rivalry to 2020's WOTFI and now...this."

Four's mood had been dampened a lot today, and it didn't seem to be getting better. The dark gray sky above the Internet Graveyard, the endless green grass outside, and the frolicking memes everywhere almost made this look like a peaceful scene. "No one blames you for your disease," SMG4 said. "And come on, man, all of that stuff's in the past now. We're friends now, aren't we?"

"Huh?...Oh yeah, haha... friends..." SMG3 didn't know why he was disappointed. He'd known that Four never loved him from the beginning, why did this hurt so much?

Maybe it was because when they were in that Starbucks together, finally letting go of their secrets and thoughts and worries, and Four was there to comfort Three, it gave him a tiny shred of hope. Hope that he would live after all, if maybe, just maybe this whole experience would bring SMG4 closer to him.

But that's never going anywhere, he thought.

Then again, maybe this was mental instead of emotional pain that he was feeling. The Meme Energy around us is weird and loud right now, Three mentally noted. Guess it's another one of those times.

Sometimes the Meme Energy was...not right. When that happened, it started to feel like a waterfall pounding on SMG3 and 4's heads, destroying their bodies, their minds, their focus. It was loud and quiet and so much and so little at the same time and it was so confusing. It wasn't a common occurrence, but when it did neither Meme Guardian could stand it.

Three used to endure it until it became stable again on its own, which could take an entire hour. Now that he thought about it, it was probably One and Two fixing it from so far away, and that was why it took so long to stop. I guess having awesome powers and shit's bound to have horrible downsides, huh.

Both of the Meme Guardians felt this at the same time, and it was really inconvenient in a lot of situations. Whenever it happened, it was routine for one of them to open a portal to wherever the other one was and meet up as fast as possible, usually at the Internet Graveyard where they could fix it. It was lucky how close they were right now, no portals needed. It just felt natural to take each others' hand and concentrate on the energy around them to fix it.

When they finished their necessary job as Meme Guardians, though, they didn't let go. Maybe it was because of their tangled mess of emotions from earlier, maybe they were afraid to lose each other. Maybe some of SMG3's feeling and emotions were going straight to Four through their weird, mysteeeerious (gay) Meme Guardian/soulmate connection.

Whatever it was, Three didn't want it to end.

"Four..." SMG3 said, gripping an ugly green couch cushion in his free hand to keep himself from doing anything that looked weird and autistic. "I, um, wanted to say...well, w-we know I'm not...going to live, so-"

SMG4 cut him off by quoting the article. "Unless you receive a genuine display of romantic affection from the person you love," he said.

"Not happening...I told you," SMG3 said, looking away to hide the tears brimming in his eyes, blinking repeatedly to try getting rid of them. He couldn't think about losing Four. Losing everyone. Everyone losing him... 

Four got quiet. They both looked out the window, seeing the sun high in the sky. Clouds floated past the giant star, partially blocking its light and warmth from coming in. Three's lights were off, so the room darkened. It began to rain again, heavier than in the morning. The duo just sat there listening for a moment until SMG4 finally spoke up.

"There...was a surgery."

SMG3 tried imagining what life would be like after an experience like that.

The cast would be overjoyed, or at least relieved he wasn't dead. 

He would be happy, too.

Then he would look over at all the smiling faces in the room, and realize...

There was one he didn't know.

"I can't do that." There was a hitch in his voice.

SMG4's lips curled downwards. "Why not?" he quietly asked. "I know none of us have a lot of money- well, except for Mario, and wait, you saw how much he really cared about you! Maybe he could..."

"I can't do that." SMG3's voice was harsh and flat this time. "The side effect is forgetting the person you loved, and it makes all feelings towards them disappear."

Four couldn't stand this anymore. "Three, you have to tell us...! Please just tell me who it is! They're clearly someone you care about a lot, so please..." SMG4 placed a hand on Three's shoulder, which made the latter's heart flutter a little bit.

"Okay..." SMG3 sighed. "You get one question. You can't ask who it is."

"What's their name?"

"Two rules, no loopholes either."

"Fine." SMG4 was unhappy with Three's unwillingness to talk about something life-threatening, but he had to respect this...even if it was costing the purple-clad Meme Guardian his life... "Is it one of us? I mean, like one of the main cast members."

Three took in a shaky breath. Why the fuck did he agree to this? Good thing Four was so oblivious.

"Yes..."