Joan woke up slowly. Their movements were slobby as they ran a hand over their face. They frowned. Since when did running their hand over their face mean smacking themselves with a bush?

The non-binary mortal sat bolt upright, holding their hands before them. Both were covered in lush, fresh, healthy green leaves that climbed up their forearms and pure daisies and golden buttercups were springing from their fingertips. The camper-van wasn't moving but they were alone in the room they shared with their friends and three gods. They began to panic, stumbling to their feet as they stared at their hands. The daisies and buttercups wilted and suddenly forget-me-nots and snowdrops sprung up in their places at a rapid speed.

Swiftly, Joan tried to calm down and the flowers stopped growing but they remained there. "Virgil..." They croaked fearfully. No one responded, so Joan raised his voice. "V-Virgil!" He called.

Something in the main body of the camper-van dropped to the ground and they assumed that Virgil had probably been in his own bed. There was silence until the scrawny god appeared. "Yeah, Joan- Oh, right,  I see what's happening here..." Virgil trailed off, moving swiftly to sit on the opposite bed silently.

"I don't un-understand, what's happening?!"

Virgil grimaced slightly as he took Joans' hands in his and squeezed. The leaves rushed of their arms and poured into Virgil's' palms, quickly followed by the flowers. The moment Virgil let go, they began to push back from the edge of their fingertips.

"Okay, Joan, I'm gonna need you to calm down, trust me. They'll keep growing if you don't!" Virgil instructed, taking back their hands.

Joan breathed in and out slowly. "Wh-What's happening to me?" They whispered.

"You consumed some of my blood," Virgil explained softly. "You're lucky you only picked up on my mothers' genes."

The non-binary mortal frowned as they managed to control their breathing again. "Your... mother?"

Virgil glanced up at them and sighed quietly. He lifted a hand and Joan watched as a mini willow tree began to push its' way from his index finger, blossoming as its' wispy leaves fell like a canopy.

"Woah..." Breathed Joan, looking at their hands and trying to do the same thing. A massive trunk began to shoot swiftly from their thumb and they cried out loudly. Virgil snatched their hands and it pulled back under their nail.

"Don't! I've had hundreds of years to practise."

"B-But how can you do that? You're Hades's' son!"

Virgil gave a quick smile. "And Persephone is my mother. She's the daughter of the Goddess of harvest, we've got a few tricks up our sleeves." The god slowly let go of Joans' hands once he was sure they wouldn't try to grow a tree from their thumb. "It's like Roman with Ares and Aphrodite. He shares both of their magic brands."

"What about P-Patton and Logan?"

He shook his head. "No, Patton is his fathers' son and Athena created Logan from scratch. They have the magic of their parent only."

Joan nodded slowly, processing this remarkably well. Shocks were less, well, shocking now they were on the run from the government with their two best friends and four gods. They glanced up at Virgil. "What else can you do?"

Virgil smirked slightly. "Have you heard about that old eastern myth? The Hanahaki disease?"

"No, what's that?"

"Hanahaki Disease is a disease where the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love." Virgil tried but, judging by Joans' perplexed face, failed to explain completely. He sighed. "Just, watch. Mine is a little different from the disease because of my heritage but I still have it."

Virgil opened his mouth after warning Joan what they'd see might be a little disturbing and the god screwed his eyes tight as he began to gag on what seemed to be nothing. Then Joan saw it. It started with a black rose petal, falling to the gods' lap. And then there was an eruption of black rose petals, springing like a waterfall as they were pushed out of the way by the dark, blackened heads of three roses. The roses climbed out of Virgil's' mouth, the thorns' scratching and catching on his lips as they forced their way to positions on his cheek. Two settled on his left cheek while the third rested a good distance from his mouth. Then, a smaller one finally shifted its' way along his jaw, taking up the final spot.

Joan reeled back as petals continued to drip from Virgils' mouth  and they opened their mouth, stumbling over their sentence before they simply settled on, "What?!"

"Hanahaki disease." Virgil shrugged simply. "Everyone on my mothers' side has it but I'm the only one who's ever been affected."

"H-How?! Is that going to happen to me?!"

Virgil sighed, placing his hand on Joans' again. "I don't think so. You taste enough of my blood for the disease to carry. Besides, it only affects you if you, like I said, are a victim of unrequited love."

Joan gathered their breathing again. "Th-Then... who do you love?"

Virgil smiled simply, scooping up the littered petals from the ground and watching them wither to nothing in his hands. "It doesn't matter. But you're not allowed to tell anyone."

Joan nodded and then felt something prod their cheek. They turned to see a singular leaf and they trailed as they followed the stem back to what looked like a miniature meadow growing across both arms. "Aw, man..." They complained.