Hanahaki was a disease that progressed slowly, Akira found. The first time he coughed up a petal, he knew what it meant, yes, but what he didn't know was how long this would go on for. What he also didn't know was how long he could keep it a secret. He had unusually perceptive friends—although he supposed he couldn't blame them for that.
The first time he knew he couldn't hide it forever was when he went to Haru, asking what flowers the petals were from. She seemed to have her suspicions about why he was asking her, but she answered anyways.
"Yellow tulips, they mean 'hopeful and cheerful thoughts', although they used to be associated with jealousy and unrequited love," she'd said.
Hopeful and cheerful thoughts, huh? That sounded right. The fact it was yellow made him even more sure on who it was—his best friend—the one who had been there for him since the beginning. He wanted to laugh because of how much it made sense.
The next person he went to was Ann. She always gave the best advice— that wasn't a secret by any means.
"Hanahaki? Who-" Ann cut herself off before gasping, her eyes widened significantly, "Akira, you have to tell him."
He knew she was right, logically. To be fair, though, he didn't expect Ryuji to return his feelings. He wasn't sure if he could handle the last thing he felt to be heartbreak.
It was bullshit, he thought. That you could die because of love. An ironic disease that claimed people's lives over feelings that they couldn't control. Something poetic about it, maybe. If Akira had to die to something, it only felt right that it would be a single yellow tulip blooming slowly in his lungs.
Akira had accepted his fate, reluctantly might he add, but his friends hadn't. Or, those who knew about his fate hadn't, yet he knew they would never let him die if they could help it. He'd told Ann and Morgana about it, Haru had basically figured it out, and Makoto wasn't dumb. Futaba was sure something was up, she wasn't an idiot. Yusuke and Ryuji, however, were pretty in the dark. Neither of them idiots, maybe, but they were oblivious to many things around them.
It was raining outside one day. Leblanc always felt different in the rain. Cozier, possibly, definitely nicer. Akira was brewing coffee as he often did. Sojiro had run to the store, however, leaving the raven-haired boy alone.
Something that was definitely not planned that day was Ryuji walking into the practically empty café while Akira was coughing up bright yellow petals onto the countertop. Dread filled both their eyes as they looked at each other. Well, Ryuji looking at the petals and Akira looking at Ryuji.
"Who?" Ryuji finally asked, choking the question out in such a soft tone it threatened to break Akira's heart. Akira looked back at the petals, only about a handful, yet bright and colorful. Such an irony that they stood for hopeful and cheerful thoughts, wasn't it? A stark contrast to their surroundings, and to what they meant for Akira's life.
Ryuji understood, of course, but stood there with his feet planted on the wooden floor, his legs threatening to bolt against his brain's wishes.
"I thought it was obvious," Akira smiled weakly, coughing up another couple petals before sighing. Ryuji approached the Trickster, cautiously taking each step. Ryuji lifted Akira's chin, making their eyes meet.
And then.. he kissed him.
Well, neither were exactly sure who kissed who, only that this, right now? It felt right. It felt like from the start, from the moment their eyes locked on that fateful rainy Monday morning, they were meant to be here, right now, in a little café in Tokyo on a rainy day, kissing.
Everything they had done since that moment had led up to this. Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, all of them had led to this.
And he thought that was beautiful.
It was beautiful that from the very start, they were fated to be right here, right now, in the backstreets of the capital of Japan, alone, with petals on the counter in front of them and the smell of coffee surrounding them.
Maybe it had been decided long before they met, or maybe it had been decided the moment Akira awakened to his persona to save the blonde vulgar boy about to be killed in front of him, maybe it was never fated and they happened to end up like this.
Whatever was the cause, they only knew they were in love, and nothing could change that.
