Chapter Text
Bakugou wasn't really sure when it started.
Well, okay, he knew WHEN it started, but he didn't know how.
In their second year of high school, Bakugou and Midoriya's relationship began to change. After their big fight where Bakugou laid his heart bare, they grew somehow closer.
That didn't mean they were best buddies again or anything, but they resembled true rivals. Deku knew now (or at least, Katsuki hoped he knew) that he was one of the only people the blond could open himself up to like that.
No one else knew how terrible he felt about All Might.
Somehow, over the months, that rivalry kept mutating. Bakugou would incite games of chess, racing games, anything to prove he was better than Deku, and they'd get incredibly competitive over even a simple game of connect 4. The more they played, however, a few things changed.
Initially, they played games in the spirit of competition, but it started being more about spending the time together. Deku would lose sometimes because something Katsuki said had him howling in laughter. Katsuki stopped giving him those sneering, fake smiles and started grinning for real, in a way Deku hadn't seen since they were children, and the looks weren't lost on him.
Sometimes, Bakugou would feel an odd flutter in his chest, something he didn't really recognize. He didn't really get nervous over anything, so he tended to ignore it.
Perhaps a small piece of him, in the back of his head, knew what is was, but he largely ignored it, not wanting to acknowledge it or give it the light of day. Perhaps he feared it would grow.
He was right to be fearful; it did grow.
At first, he mistook it for a cough. It was beginning to get chilly outside, so it was a logical conclusion, even if he rarely got sick.
Then it got worse, turned into coughing fits. He'd have to excuse himself, thinking something was going to come up, but he couldn't quite get it out. It didn't feel like mucus, so he was always fearful he may vomit.
It took some time for him to expel the first flower, a dainty, bright red thing.
His whole body shook, and he crushed it to dust in his hand.
The name came to his lips immediately, even if he didn't know what it meant. Hanahaki was talked about in health sciences, but Bakugou had firmly believed he'd never have to deal with it, so he hadn't paid much attention. All he knew was that it could be dangerous if left untreated and that it meant he was in love with someone.
Fuck.
He left the bathroom in a hurry, fled to his room, ignoring the shouts of the squad he'd been hanging out with. Deku was there, too, making dinner with Ashido and Kirishima, but he didn't seem to notice the look on Bakugou's face.
Hopefully no one made a fuss over it. It was so unlike him to just run out like that, but he needed to know.
'hanahaki disease'
A page from WebMD came up first.
'Hanahaki disease is a relatively rare virus affecting the lungs and trachea. As it progresses, it spreads throughout the body, into the muscles of the arms and legs.'
'Symptoms: coughing, nausea, vomiting, headache, fever, fatigue, general weakness esp. muscle weakness. Later symptoms vary depending on the type of flower the virus manifests as. Poisonous flowers are extremely dangerous and should be removed immediately.'
'Regardless of the flower type, life expectancy of an individual with Hanahaki disease is only approximately a year, if left untreated. The roots or vines will eventually wrap around the heart and cause cardiac arrest.'
'Treatments: Hanahaki has two major treatments: 1) Address the cause. Hanahaki is caused by an individual falling in love with their soulmate. The virus will go into remission if the individual confesses to their soulmate. This is the recommended treatment.'
'2) If option 1 is not available, surgery may be an option, especially in cases with poisonous flowers. There are also antidotes to lessen the poisonous effects of such flowers. However, surgery will impair the individual's memory and emotion centers of the brain.'
'Only 1 in every 100,000 individuals who have Hanahaki flowers surgically removed remembers their soulmate at all, and even fewer remember the feelings they once had. For this reason, surgery is not recommended unless the situation is life or death.'
Bakugou was still for all of a minute, grimacing more deeply the further down the page he got. No way was he telling that nerd. Deku could come to him if he really wanted him. Being the first to admit feelings felt somehow weak, like he'd be losing a game he wasn't aware they'd been playing until just today.
His fingers flew across the keys a second time, brows drawn together as he searched for words.
'small red flower'
That search yielded a wide variety of flower pictures, none of which looked like the dainty thing he'd coughed up.
He kicked himself internally for crushing the flower so fast. Knowing what it was could help later down the road, and even though he was pretty sure it was Deku's flower, he wasn't the type to know things like that. Who cared what someone's favorite flower was?
The next three searches led to more websites about Hanahaki, confirming for him that the specific flower had a meaning. It did nothing but agitate him, though, so he put the laptop aside, dropped the issue for the time being.
He needed a better plan of attack than playing gay chicken with Deku until the nerd caved.