Trigger Warning: Multi person ship, heartbreak, blood, death, angst, vomit,

Note: Ehehehehehehe-

Hi.

So this one is a sorta request by ruisgreasyhair? Well I'm classifying it as one anyway. Although in actuality..

Al posted a RuiKasa oneshot where Tsukasa is infected with this sickness and refuses to confess. And Rui, his friend, was totally oblivious to who Tsukasa was secretly in love with, reminding me of Sophie Foster, so I was like "This would be a great SoKeefe oneshot come to think of it" and she was like, "Go ahead then!" so here you are.

Um yeah so

We're gonna say that Fitz and Sophie have been dating awhile now, but Keefe has secretly been in love with the both of them ever since he met them but he (* cough cough * like me) has trouble even thinking about confessing his love for them, especially after they start dating each other. So he's stuck in a unfortunate place. And then he starts coughing up petals and is like "What the panakas?" and when it doesn't go away he gets worried..

Okay I'ma stop right there before I explain the entire plot xD

And for how the sickness works, I'ma change a couple things up but BASICALLY

If you've been pinning away hopelessly after someone for years (and Keefe has ever since he met Fitz) then you'll catch Hanahaki. First it starts with coughing up petals, flower buds and leaves, then the flowers start blooming and instead of coughing you're vomiting full grown flowers, and the last stage, that lasts about a week, is the thorns that start to grow around the flower vines in your lungs, tearing you apart and digging into your flesh until they start to poke through the skin (you start being able to see the thorns usually a few days after death). The only way to be cured is to first, confess your love for the person/people you are in love with, and then second is for them to accept your love, love you back, and kiss you—it has to be that they kiss YOU, not the other way around. And elves have never gotten hanahaki before because they don't pine away, they just move on. Usually. Only humans have, but it's mainly heard of in their Chinese, Korean, anime shows or manga, not taught as something real.

And AND the ships will be SoKeeFitz /SoFitz, ElCassius, and DexSi, a.k.a. some of my TOP FAVORITES (well not the SoFitz, but I REALLY like SoKeeFitz) <33

And and a n d, uh--if things don't run well together I'm sorry. I feel like it started to get crappy towards the end..

Anyway yeah. Read to see what happens. Ehehe.

CYA!

. . .

Keefe coughed, surprised when a random pink petal landed on his detention desk, where he was trying to draw a "flattering picture of" some guy called Burban. Who was the detention overseer for the day. Teacher of some boring class or other.

   He wiped the petal to the floor, unconcerned about it.

   A few minutes later he had a irresistible tickle in his throat and coughed into his hand, petals and a leaf tumbling out of his mouth. He frowned ever-so-slightly, but simply figured that Ro had slipped something into his breakfast that morning as a prank.

   "Mister Sencen," Burban asked, coming closer, "Are you ill?"

   "Yeah, pretty sick of staring at your face." Keefe smirked, leaning back in his seat and twirling his pencil. Sophie shook her head at him, but failed miserably at hiding her smile, making his heart both soar and throb painfully.

   The truth was, he liked Sophie. A lot. From how much she cared about humans, ogres, goblins, dwarves, trolls and elves alike, to her uncommon upbringing and mysterious legacy, to her enchanting brown eyes and gentle but strong mannerisms, to her boyfriend--everything about her was perfect.

   But even as much as Keefe loved her boyfriend, he also loathed that she had him. Because Keefe had loved Fitz first. And he wanted to have been dating Fitz, but due to his fear of being rejected, he never could find it in him to confess his crush..

   And then Sophie came to the Lost Cities and he fell for her as well, but just like with Fitz, he couldn't bring himself to confess his love for her.

   So, long story short, Sophie and Fitz had fallen in love with each other, and Keefe was nothing more then their mutual best friend now.

   More petals tickled his throat but he forced them down.

   Burban frowned. "I believe you will sit through another week detention, and one more day for you, miss Foster. Do not think I missed your smile." he said, turning around to face her.

   "Yes sir." she nodded, shooting a playful glare toward Keefe when the guy's back was turned.

   Keefe shrugged with a eye roll, going back to his sketch and Sophie did the same.

   He went through the rest of the day, continually coughing up more petals and leaves, and when he finally lightleaped to Splendor Plains, he went up to Ro.

   "Okay, but what did you give me and why did you use it on ME and not my dad?" he asked, waving the most recent petals that he'd coughed up in front of her.

   "Ew, get those away from me. And what the groawl do you mean? I didn't give you anything." she said, continuing to paint her claws a murky green.

   "Sureee, I believe you." he drawled.

   "Seriously. I didn't, so you can not blame me, thank you very much. And rest assured that if I didn't, no one else did either. You must've gone idiot mode and eaten a flower or something dumb like that."

   "And then forgotten about it? Yeah--likely story."

   Ro just shrugged. "Whatever. What do you want me to do anyway? Not like I'm supposed to protect you from flowers, Funkyhair." she said, flashing a pointed smile.

   "Not like I need it anyway." Keefe replied, going upstairs to the prism room, tossing his books on the desk and sitting down to finish his painting of Fitz and Sophie's merged eyes.

. . .

After a week of coughing up petals and leaves, Keefe was starting to worry--especially when flower buds were added to the mix. He tried asking his dads, but neither Elwin or Cassius had any idea what it could be. So, for research purposes, he went to Dex.

   The girl triplet, Bex, was the one to meet him at the door.

   "Ooh, DEX! YOUR HOT BOYFRIEND IS HERE!" she called, and Dex was seen climbing down the staircase a minute later.

   "Bex, shut your mouth, just because I tell you about Je--oh, hi Keefe, what do you need?" Dex asked, suddenly looking a lot less like he wanted to throttle his sister and more concerned about the reasons why his friend would have lightleaped to his home without calling first.

   Keefe smirked. "Hey sweetheart, just wanted to--" a untimely coughing fit took over Keefe and he doubled over, hacking out pink petals and buds.

   Bex squealed in delight and Dex paled, taking Keefe by the arm and leading the blonde up to his room, locking the door behind them.

   "Okay, Keefe. Why are you coughing up flowers?"

   "Flower garden salad for dinner last night, why else?"

   The glare that Dex gave him told Keefe that techboy was DEFINITELY not in a playing mood.

   "...obviously I don't know why. That's kinda why I'm here..?" he amended.

   Dex sighed and held his left temple. "How long has it been going on?"

   "Exactly a week now."

   "Did Ro do this?"

   "She swears up and down that she had nothing to do with it."

   "Biana? Sophie? Fitz? Stina? Marella? Elwin?"

   "No to all of those."

   "Tam?"

   "If you think that Black Plague would want me coughing up pretty pink flowers, you are more delusional then my mom and dad when they thought they were in love." Keefe said, raising a eyebrow.

   "You're right, he would just straight up kill you.." Dex mumbled, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead like it hurt to think.

   "Uhh, Shadow McPeabrain actually tried to warn me to stay away from my mom cuz possible death, remember? Like yeah, Bangs Boy and I aren't exactly lovey dovey but we aren't curse-y stabby either."

   Dex didn't seem to be paying attention, getting up and moving to his desk and starting up a gadget, clicking away at the buttons while muttering something that sounded like, "Hannah I key," over and over again.

   "Uhh, three questions, what is that awesome tech thing, who is Hannah, and what does she have a key to?" Keefe managed to force the last part of his sentence out before coughing again.

  "Humans call it a computer, and not Hannah key, hanahaki."

   "Still don't know what that is."

   "It's something I've seen in a anime I've watched.." Dex mumbled, pulling up a image of a animated character with flowers in their mouth.

   "Okay and what does that have to do with me?"

   Dex scrolled the page, reading: "Hanahaki is a sickness seen mainly in fictional Asian media. It is caused by unconfessed love for someone, and results in the chosen character coughing up petals, then flowers, and lastly being torn apart by thorns on the inside until they die."

   "..okay, joyful. But it isn't real, right?"

   Dex was already searching up the origin of hanahaki. He scrolled a bit before stopping to read something.

   "Here it says that it is real, but very, very rare," Dex looked up at Keefe in worry, "Who is your crush on?"

   "Why should I tell you?" Keefe asked, a leaf falling out of his mouth as he spoke. Dex simply wiped it off his desk.

   "Because chances are it'll be easier to tell me then whoever you're in love with."

   "Uh--haha. Very funny. I'm not confessing."

   "You have to or else you'll be killed by thorns growing inside you." Dex pointed out.

   "No I don't.."

   "Yes, you do. Look." Dex said, searching: what is the cure for real hanahaki sickness?

   Keefe leaned closer to read. "The only way to get rid of hanahaki blossoms is to confess your love to whoever you're in love with, and then the rest is up to them. To cure you, they must return your love and kiss you. If they do not, your heartbreak will make the hanahaki plant grow to its full size, and it will kill you right then. Keep reading for a more detailed description of the feared sickness."

   Both boys were quiet for a moment before Dex repeated, "Who is your crush on?"

   Keefe backed up and Dex turned around, them sharing a look of worry before Keefe managed to whisper, "FitzPhie."

   "FitzPhie? Like, you're crushing on Fitz and Sophie?"

   Keefe nodded painfully.

   Dex looked deep in thought as he frowned. "Well, that'll be difficult."

   "Exactly.."

. . .

Two weeks later, Keefe was playing Base Quest with Fitz, Sophie and Biana. He was sneaking up on FitzPhie's base when a blur of blonde tackled him to the ground.

   "Ha! Caught you." Sophie grinned, standing up and offering a hand to help Keefe up.

   "Aww, the Moonlark is finding her wings." he chuckled, silently trying to swallow back the vomit that was trying to push it's way up.

   Yesterday, he'd vomited and there had been two big flowers, fully bloomed, in the toilet bowl. Ro had looked at him with anxiety and gotten on his case all the more, begging him to finally admit his feelings for Sophie and Fitz.

   But now that Fitz came running, wrapping a arm around Sophie as her eyes lit up in welcome, Keefe thought again that he just couldn't risk coming between them. They were his best friends, his (unknown to anyone besides him and Ro) lovers, and he loved them more then anything. He'd gladly die to spare them the confusion and guilt his confession might bring.

   Plus, just admitting that he loved them wouldn't fix him. They had to return his love. And the love that he saw between them, though sweet, was despairingly sickening.

   Wait, no. That was a actual need to vomit.

   Great timing.. he thought sarcastically.

   Biana joined the group. "So, we playing again?" she asked, picking a stick out of her slightly mused hair.

   Keefe tried to swallow back the hanahaki bloom. "I'm actually in need of a slice of Edaline's infamous mallowmelt."

   Everyone looked at him, mirroring Ro's anxiety, when his words came out with more strain then he would have liked.

   "Are you alright, Bud?" Fitz asked in his crisp accent, but the only thing Keefe could think about was the word bud. If ONLY he was still coughing up petals and buds..

   "Of course," Keefe said, trying to fake a smirk, "Like I said, I just NEED Edaline's mallowmelt."

   "Well, let's go then. A snack sounds good." Biana agreed.

   They started towards the Havenfield manor, Keefe bringing up the rear. Right as the others were entering through the front door, Keefe couldn't continue to suppress the hanahaki and vomited by the steps.

   Fitz came back to the door. "Hey, Keefe, you comi-"

   He stalled when he saw Keefe doubled over, puking up again.

   Fitz took the next few steps out, pushing Keefe's hair out of his eyes and holding it to his forehead while pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, offering it to him, which Keefe took gratefully. "Thanks.." he mumbled, standing up straight again.

   "No problem," Fitz said, looking down at the odd puddle, "I can't say I've ever seen someone vomit flowers before.."

   Sophie and Biana came to the door right then. "What? What are you boys talking about?"

   They seemed to take in Keefe's momentary weak state, the fact that he was holding a handkerchief to his mouth, and the pink puddle.

   "You were throwing up?" Sophie asked, worry wrinkling her brow.

   "And you were throwing up flowers?" Biana asked, a mix of disgust, curiosity and (you guessed it) anxiety enhancing her features—and not in a attractive way. Although Biana was always beautiful, Keefe really didn't like that look on her face.

   "Why?" Fitz was the one to ask the question that the three of them were wondering.

   Keefe wanted to lie, so he stayed quiet for a few moments trying to think of one but then he realized that he had no ideas, and even if he did it'd probably sound so obviously untrue, so he sighed. "Dumb disease."

   "How long have you had it?" Sophie asked.

   "Is it contagious?" Biana added.

   "Are you okay?" Fitz finished.

   "Guys, chill out, I'm only one person. So, Sophie. I've had it about...three weeks now I think. Biana, no, I don't think it's contagious. And Fitzy, cute that you care but am I EVER okay?"

   "You know what I mean." Fitz mumbled. Keefe's heart throbbed with the knowledge that Fitz's concern was only platonic, and would never be anything other than platonic.

   "If it's not contagious, how did you catch it?"

   "Uumm. I dunno. I guess usually people catch it if they are secretly hopelessly in love with someone for awhile, so no idea how I caught it but." he lied indirectly.

   Fitz frowned, but didn't say anything.

   "And Elwin hasn't found a way to cure you yet?"

   "The only cure is to tell the person—hang on." he forced out, stooping down to vomit again. This time Sophie and Biana also came to help steady him.

   When he finished, he looked up to find tears in Sophie's beautiful brown eyes. "I'm so sorry, Keefe. It looks so painful. Does it hurt bad?"

   "Eh, I've been through worse." he smiled weakly. And that was true, so far his pain didn't compare to sparing with the ogre king, or his dad throwing a plate at him, or any number of other stuff he'd been through.

   But this thing would actually succeed in killing him where everything else had failed.

   A tear trailed down Biana's face as she tried to laugh. "That's really not saying a lot."

   Sophie went in to hug Keefe tightly, crying. Biana followed her lead, and when Fitz even joined the group hug, Keefe started to cry. He'd never felt this much love before. Even if it was all purely platonic.

   "Anything you need, Keefe. We're here for you. And if we can help you find the cure.."

   Keefe would've collapsed if it weren't for everyone's arms holding him up. Fitz didn't know what he was offering.

   Moments like this almost made him feel like maybe it didn't have to be this way..

. . .

Sophie, Fitz and Biana seemed to forget about his sickness after a few days, which was better anyway. He didn't know that he could handle the sappy friendships right before his death.

   Of course, Ro and Dex kept pushing him to confess to FitzPhie, especially when Keefe started to experience stabbing chest pains. But they just didn't understand how impossible that was.

   Dex had a amazing boyfriend, Jensi. And Keefe was glad for his friend. But just because the confessing tips that Dex kept giving him had worked for them, didn't mean it would work on Fitz and Sophie.

   And Ro didn't understand how complicated it was. He'd been best friends with Fitz for a long time now, and most of that time he'd spent crushing on him. Noticing his teal eyes and how beautiful they were, or how sweet he was, or how well he could bake, or wishing he could comfort Fitz when his dad's mind broke, and again when everything about Alvar had come to light. And by comfort, Keefe meant hold him and whisper "I love you anyway"s and "I'm so sorry"s, and kiss the tears away. Fall asleep comforting his boyfriend.

   Or soothing Sophie's nightmares. Kissing her before missions and then smiling while she blushed and scolded him because she had to be a leader for Team Valiant. Helping her bathe the T-Rex, or cleaning out Iggy's cage. Anything to help relieve some of the never-ending stress that tended to rest square on her shoulders. And of course telling her that he loved her every single day, and that she was the best girlfriend anyone could ask for.

   One morning, shortly after the chest pains had started, Elwin was helping Cassius make porcaroot pie and Keefe was watching, sketching a picture of himself, Sophie and Fitz laughing and hugging each other, when all of a sudden it felt like his lungs were being shredded with a knife.

   He groaned and clutched his chest, drawing the attention of both his dads.

   Elwin came around the kitchen island, flashing orbs of light around Keefe's chest and frowning.

   "Do you want a painkiller?" Cassius asked, his hands trembling a bit. The most emotion he had shown during this painful ordeal.

   Keefe nodded. "Please." he ground out.

   "It's still the hanahaki...are you sure there is no cure? Nothing that I've tried has worked in the slightest?" Elwin asked as Cassius went into the other room to grab the vial of painkilling medicine.

   Keefe had told his dads about the hanahaki and what it would do, but not about the cure. And Ro hadn't told them about the cure either because...well he truthfully didn't know. But he was glad, although guilty, that they didn't know. Elwin had been trying many different things, elixirs and stuff, to try and fix it. But nothing had helped..

   Keefe shook his head. "Sorry.."

   "No, I'm sorry. I just.." Elwin looked up at the ceiling, pausing for a minute. "I mean, there has to be a cure for everything, right?"

   Cassius came back with the elixir for Keefe, which he guzzled down as soon as his dad gave it to him.

   "You certainly would think so, wouldn't you? I mean, if there's a cure for a broken heart it stands to reason that every illness should also be fixable."

   His dad was referencing the way that he'd been "cured" by falling in love with Elwin, which was quite the love story and Keefe liked Elwin much better then Gisela, but Cassius didn't know how similar hanahaki was to a broken heart.

. . .

Sophie was looking at the picture Keefe had gifted her a little while back with all of their friends gathered together.

   It was beautiful, but now she seemed to realize that Fitz and Keefe were on either side of her. She padded over to where Fitz was petting Iggy on the bed and handed the image to him, sitting down and wrapping a arm around him.

   "Keefe drew this, right?"

   "Yes. It's incredible, isn't it?"

   "It is." Fitz agreed.

   Sophie hummed. "I was thinking last night though, and...what if we adopted Keefe into our relationship?"

   "What do you mean?"

   "Well...promise not to get mad?"

   "Of course, I only want to know what you mean by that."

   "Okay. So, I think I may or may not be in love with both you and him."

   "Both of us?"

   "Yes. Haven't you noticed how much better everything is when Keefe is with us?" she asked, thinking about his eyes, his loyalty, his sense of humor, his inner demons that she and Fitz had seen more then a few times.. "Plus, he's acted a bit more, for lack of a better word, down recently, wouldn't you agree?"

   "I would.." Fitz said, thinking for a minute and continuing to observe the picture. "I suppose it can't hurt anything to offer. Did you want to do that today then?"

   "I did."

. . .

A few days later, Keefe was coughing and vomiting up hanahaki blooms and blood in a big bowl while sitting on a sofa. He had been shocked when his dad had offered it to him to sit on, especially now that he figured that he was dying. Ro sat right in front of him, angry and sad but trying to be comforting, while Elwin frantically worked to finish the elixirs he was working on.

   And Cassius sat on the sofa with him, watching his son from the corner of his eye. He'd been that way ever since fetching the bowl and blanket that was now wrapped around Keefe's body, but now he spoke.

   "K-Keefe, can," he cleared his throat, but that did little to help his shakiness, "Can I please...hold you?" he forced out, awkwardly.

   Any other time, Keefe would have looked at his dad like Ro was: suspicious, irritated, longing to snap back--but it was amazing what dying did to ones inner walls. He summoned all of his spare strength and scooted closer to his dad, who wrapped a arm around him and Keefe could feel how bad his dad was trembling.

   Keefe vomited into the bowl again and Ro grasped his hand in her bigger, ogreish one.

   "Come on, Funkyhair. Don't die on me now.."

   Her plea hung in the silence as Keefe was struggling to even breathe.

   Cassius spoke again. "Keefe, I'm so sorry. For everything. I've not been the best father.."

   A tear slid down Keefe's face as he angled his face to look at his dad. All of Cassius's emotions reflected love, genuine regret and pain, and Keefe hoped that he could feel his son's love as well.

   His dad wiped away Keefe's tear, ignoring the one that slipped down his own face.

   "You aren't a bad son, or my embarrassment." he said, his voice cracking.

   Keefe couldn't stop from sobbing, even though it hurt and diminished his already low strength. Even Ro was crying.

   He wanted to hold on. He wanted to stay with his family. They were only just starting to feel like family. But when Elwin came with a few vials of possible cures, Keefe couldn't even swallow. And he finally passed away a few minutes later, surrounded by his family who loved him.

   Sophie and Fitz were only a few minutes too late. And they arrived only to mourn his death, not rejoice in bringing him into their romance.