daisies lost their place as taehyung's favorite flowers.
it took him one question, four words, eleven letters to know.
"do you love me?"
an answer, a hesitation he had never heard in jeongguk's voice before in the ten years they've known each other was the confirmation he needed, "of course i do, tae."
a tight, pained smile in response (and an effective way of keeping his emotions in check), "i love you too, so much."
jeongguk only hums in response, focusing back on the movie playing before them as if completely oblivious to the uncertainty in his husband's voice–not even ten minutes later taehyung's forced to disentangle his fingers from his boyfriend's to run to the bathroom, an influx of petals clogging his larynx and forcing their way out.
he manages to get there in time– kneel by the toilet, lift its lid and let the contents within his lungs pour into the water. watches as the flurry of red petals float by before flushing and proceeding to let himself crumble between the four walls of his hopefully soundproof restroom, unable to blink away the tears that make his vision blurry and letting them roll down flushed cheeks instead.
the doctor had said a day prior, "i'm aware that you're in denial, but the symptoms are very clear. are you in a relationship?"
"yes, in a very happy one."
(the lie slipped past his lips so easily, so instinctively he could barely notice it.)
"can you in any way relate the color or the flower to your partner?"
taehyung swallowed thickly, heart thumping rapidly against his sternum, "daisies are his favorite flowers, red is his favorite color."
"does he know?"
"no, i can't tell him. no."
"you need to talk to him about this", the man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and heaved out a sigh, "he can either love you again and you'll cough up the entire flower, or we can make a procedure in which we remove it surgically."
"are there any complications in that surgery?", there's a nervous lilt to his voice, now.
"unfortunately, yes. you won't have feelings for him anymore."
the thought has tears prickling at the corners of taehyung's eyes.
"what if both of those aren't possible?"
"it can lead to your death, taehyung. the amount of petals you expel only increases and eventually you could be asphyxiated by them."
a pause, "thank you, doctor."
"i expect to see you again soon enough."
don't.
taehyung is slowly dying, and jeongguk doesn't know.
