Not connected to other one-shots
Pre-relationship
TW: Blood and (kind of) vomit

Content: Amity thought she could handle it when she found herself in love, but then she began coughing up flowers.

It hadn't been a big deal at first. Being in love with her newfound best friend sucked, sure, but Amity was certain she'd be over it eventually. After a few weeks, she began to have frequent coughing fits, often spitting up blood toward the end, but even then she told herself she was just coming down with something. She'd always known she was at higher risk for Hanahaki; every Blight generation had seen at least one case, with Amity's own older brother being one of them, but she still couldn't bring herself to accept the fact that she'd developed it over Luz.

When she coughed up the first flower, a tiny blue forget-me-not, she could no longer sit in denial. Amity Blight had developed Hanahaki, and now she had to do something about it. Her first instinct was to tell her parents, but she immediately pushed that option off the table. Her parents had forced Edric into surgery for his Hanahaki, which had admittedly cured the disease, but at the cost of the love that had caused it. Stubborn and silly as it sounded, Amity would sooner die than willingly give up something that made her feel so alive. Of course, she would still prefer to avoid death, so that left only one option. She had a few weeks, maybe more, maybe less, to tell Luz and hope that her feelings were returned. Until then, she had to hide all symptoms from her family to avoid suspicion.

That worked really well for about three days. Amity had been doing a pretty decent job of pretending to have a cold to excuse her coughing, as well as disposing of the flowers and bloody tissues in a quick and discrete manner, but there wasn't really a way to hide coughing up an entire cluster of forget-me-nots, stem and all, at the breakfast table.

"That cold's not letting up," Emira remarked the moment Amity began to cough. "Maybe you should stay home today."

Amity tried to respond, but she could hardly get a breath in before the awful hacking stole the air from her lungs again. She felt something rising in her throat and slapped her hand over her mouth to catch the flower.

"Mittens?" Edric asked after about thirty consecutive seconds of coughing and wheezing. His voice rose an octave as blood began to seep through Amity's fingers. "Em, get a towel!"

Emira glanced between them, confused for a moment, but as soon as she spotted the blood, she sprinted into the kitchen. Amity pushed her chair away from the table to spare her plate from the dripping, thanking her lucky stars that her parents rarely ever ate a meal other than dinner with their children. Not even thirty seconds later, Emira returned with a towel and passed it to Amity, who moved her hand away and pressed it to her mouth. By the time she was finished, Amity was left with two panicked siblings, a very bloody towel, and a long stem with several small blue flowers on the end.

"When did this start?" Edric demanded after allowing Amity to breathe for a minute.

"The flowers started three days ago," Amity rasped, her throat hoarse from all the coughing. "I've been coughing for about a week, though."

"You've had Hanahaki for a week and you didn't say anything?!" Emira exclaimed.

"Keep your voice down!" Amity hissed. She didn't think her parents were home, but she could honestly never be sure, and she didn't want to take the risk.

"Amity, this is a huge deal," Edric pressed, though he had the decency to remain quiet. "We need to get you to a doctor."

"No!" Amity shook her head furiously, wrapping the stem up in the towel so she wouldn't have to look at it any longer. "I'm not getting that surgery."

"That surgery saved Ed's life." Emira pointed out, taking the towel from Amity.

"I don't need it, I'm going to deal with it myself."

"If you got Hanahaki, whoever this person is almost definitely doesn't like you back. Believe me." Edric's voice grew soft and his ears sank sadly. Amity knew he was remembering the person he'd been forced to give up in exchange for his life. He'd never revealed the person's identity, only that they had a boyfriend and he had no chance, but it had always been apparent that he had genuinely loved this person.

"I don't care," Amity stood up and snatched the towel back from Emira so she'd have an excuse to leave the dining room. "I like her and I'm not ready to give that up."

She marched into the kitchen, internally groaning as she siblings followed her. Of course they were going to persist.

"Who even is this girl?" Emira inquired.

"That's none of your business." Amity grumbled. She stared at the towel for a moment, decided it was too bloody to be saved, and tossed it into the garbage.

"It is if we're going to help you confess."

"What?" Amity and Edric asked at the same time.

"If you like this girl so much, we can give you one day to get your act together and confess." Emira explained. Amity rolled her eyes; she had her act together. "If she likes you back, great, no more Hanahaki, and if she doesn't, we tell Mom and Dad about this and you get scheduled for surgery."

That actually sounded like a decent plan. If Luz didn't like her back, Amity would just be hurting herself by keeping her feelings anyway. There was, however, one very important factor that Emira had failed to consider. Amity was a wuss.

"Does it have to be today?" She asked meekly.

"Mittens, your life is in danger," Edric sighed in exasperation. "Now is not the time to be a coward. I tried to wait and I could have died."

"I'm not being a coward!" Amity protested. "I'm just nervous."

"Well, man up, 'cause you're doing this today or you're not doing it at all." Emira said firmly with a hard pat to Amity's back. "Now tell us who it is."

"It's Luz..." Amity mumbled. Her siblings exchanged an unsurprised glance. "I'm going to get my bag."

Amity darted out of the kitchen and up the stairs, quickly closing the door once she was inside her room. As she swept her homework off her desk and stowed it away in her schoolbag, she grumbled to herself about her siblings. They didn't need to step in. She had it totally under control, she just needed to be able to confess at her own pace. But a small part of her knew that this was probably necessary; she'd been planning to confess, sure, but she always got nervous and bailed. If left to her own devices, would she ever confess?

With a heavy sigh, Amity slung her bag over her shoulders and trudged back downstairs to meet her siblings at the front door. Surprisingly, they didn't say anything else about her Hanahaki for the entirety of their walk to Hexside. In fact, the walk was pretty much silent, although Amity did catch them staring at her more than once.

"Do you know where she'd be right now?" Edric broke the silence as the three of them stepped onto campus.

"I can't just go up to her and say it!" Amity exclaimed. That would be far too casual. Who just walked up to their best friend and said 'I like you' like it was nothing? She didn't need some huge presentation, but she wanted it to be bigger than that.

"You really can." Emira rolled her eyes.

"No, that would be weird." Amity shook her head. "We have third period together. I can tell her then."

"That would hardly be any different, but fine." Emira decided. "Ed and I are going to check up on you after that class and make sure you didn't chicken out."

"I'm not going to chicken out!" Amity thumped her sister's arm indignantly. "By the end of third period, she'll know. You'll see!" And with that, she hurried away before her siblings could make any more remarks about her (lack of) bravery. She'd show them she wasn't a coward.

Throughout the morning, it became increasingly more apparent that Amity was, in fact, a coward. She had no plan and was absolutely dreading third period. Should she tell Luz immediately or wait until class was over? Should she write a note or say it out loud? A part of her genuinely considered waiting until lunch and getting Willow to confess for her.

By the time third period rolled around, Amity was a mess. She could hardly even bring herself to look at Luz, much less speak to her. For once, she was actually grateful for the coughing, because she could use not feeling well as an excuse to stay quiet until she could figure out what she was going to do. She never did figure it out, though, and when Luz stood up to leave at the end of class, Amity panicked and grabbed her arm.

"You okay?" Luz's brow furrowed in confusion as Amity searched for something to say.

"I-" She cut herself off with a few coughs a wheeze, which only served to worry Luz further. "I need you to meet me on the bleachers at break. There's something important that I want to tell you."

"Alright," Luz said as Amity released her arm. "But are you sure you're okay? That cough sounds really bad."

"I'm fine, I promise." Amity lied, gathering her things as quickly as she could. With a short goodbye to Luz, Amity hurried out of the classroom, heading for her next class. This was fine. There was only one more class until break.

"Mittens, over here!" Amity groaned as her sister's voice reached her. She stopped and turned around to find both of her siblings heading her way.

"Did you tell her?" Edric asked quietly once they were close enough.

"I asked her to meet me at break," Amity replied, stifling a cough. "I'll tell her then."

"Quit stalling!" Emira hissed. "You've only got one day to do this."

"Wait, Em, lay off for a second." Edric suddenly ushered Emira back, his eyes filled with concern. "Mittens, you're bleeding again."

Amity wiped at her mouth, surprised to find the back of her hand smeared with blood. She suddenly became aware of a slow drip from between her lips. She licked her lips to clean them and sucked in anxious breath, only to choke on it a second later. When it became clear that the coughing fit wasn't going to subside, Emira put her arm around Amity's shoulders and began steering her down the hallway, producing a piece of crumpled notebook paper from her cowl for Amity to cough into.

Amity sputtered all the way to the girl's bathroom, where Emira gently took the notebook paper from her and replaced it with a wad of paper towels. Amity gagged hard as a cluster came up, followed quite quickly by another. Her eyes teared up and she leaned against Emira, trying to spit up the stem that she could feel in her throat. When she finally managed to get it out, she stayed were she was, gasping for breath and shaking while her sister supported her with one arm and used the other to take the paper towels and toss them into the trash a few feet away.

"Do you think that was all for now?" Emira asked quietly. Amity noticed a pain in her eyes, and even in her wretched state, she recognized how hard it must be to watch a sibling go through something so terrible for the second time.

"Yeah." Amity whimpered. She knew there was probably still blood on her lips, but she couldn't say she particularly cared at the moment. A small part of her urged her to hurry to class, but the rest of her would've been content to curl up and fall asleep right there on the bathroom floor. Emira seemed to realize this and led Amity over to the wall so they could sink to the floor together, her ears twitching downward sympathetically.

"Let's stay here a little while." She suggested, and Amity nodded wordlessly into her shoulder. Normally, Amity would've fretted over skipping class, but she figured this was probably justified.

The two of them sat there in silence for a long while. At some point, Amity must have nodded off on Emira's shoulder, because after what felt like ten minutes, she was startled by the sound of the bell.

"I have to go meet Luz." She said as she jumped to her feet. Emira's arms darted out, as if she was afraid Amity was going to fall, but she quickly retracted them.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I'll be okay." Amity bit back a retort about not needing her sister spying her. She knew Emira was trying to look out for her, but she didn't think she'd be able to get the words out if someone was watching her.

They walked out of the bathroom together, but Amity soon split off to head out the nearest side door. She was vaguely aware of Emira watching her go, though she did her best to ignore it. The fresh air outside actually managed to ease the burning in Amity's lungs as she made her way toward the Grudgby field. Maybe this was going to be okay after all. As long as her lungs behaved themselves, she could use this time to formulate some kind of plan as to what she would say.

"Hey, Amity!" Or not. Amity sighed and turned around to find Luz hurrying toward her, smiling brightly. "So, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Okay, so..." Amity took a moment to collect her thoughts. Just say it. Say it fast and hope for the best. Don't cough. "Um, alright, I'm... shoot, sorry, I'm nervous."

"It's okay, take your time." Luz said kindly. "I'm not going anywhere."

Amity smiled and felt her chest swell with affection. It was going to be fine. Even if Luz didn't like her back, there was no way a girl this sweet was going to hate her over some crush. For the first time in a while, Amity really thought she was going to be fine. And then she spat up blood onto Luz's shoes.

"I'm so sorry!" She said immediately, but before she could say anything else, she fell into a terrible coughing fit.

"Oh my God, are you okay?!" Luz nearly shrieked. "Amity, that's blood!"

"I'm okay!" Amity gasped between coughs. Blood sprayed from her lips with each hack, and soon she was doubled over, retching into the grass.

"Clearly you aren't!" Luz exclaimed, her eyes wide with terror. "I'm taking you to the Healing Professor."

"She can't-!" Amity suddenly vomited a stem with two clusters, a shower of stray petals falling with it. She collapsed on the ground, trembling and unable to stop gagging.

"How do we make it stop?!" Luz pleaded as she kneeled down beside Amity, helpless to do anything but rub comforting circles on her back. "Tell me what you need."

Amity waited a few minutes for her coughing fit to ease. When she could breathe again, she slowly sat up and met Luz's teary gaze.

"Does that, by any chance, happen in the Human Realm?" She asked weakly. Luz shook her head. "It's called Hanahaki Disease. It's caused by unrequited love. Flowers will grow in our lungs until they're surgically removed or they suffocate us, unless we can get the person to return our feelings." Her face burned with embarrassment as she spoke, silently willing Luz to understand.

"When are you getting your surgery?" Luz asked innocently, and Amity almost wished for another coughing fit so she wouldn't have to answer.

"I'm not getting surgery." Amity admitted, refusing to look at Luz any longer. She could feel her ears drooping so far that they were practically brushing against her neck. "The surgery kills the feelings that caused the disease in the first place. I'm not ready to give you up."

"Wait, me?" Luz asked incredulously. Amity stiffened for a moment, horrified, and buried her face in her hands. "So, if I tell you that I like you back, this will stop?"

"It's not that easy." Amity mumbled. "It has to be genuine."

Luz grabbed Amity's wristed and gently pulled them away from her face. Heat rose to Amity's face as Luz leaned in close, her expression soft. Amity barely registered the feeling of Luz's lips pressed against hers until they'd already been kissing for a few seconds. She pulled away, startled, and stared at Luz.

"Luz, it won't go away just because you kissed me. I told you, it has to be genuine." She appreciated that Luz would try that for her, but she really wished she hadn't. If anything, the kiss would probably increase her longing and make the Hanahaki worse.

"I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't mean it." Luz said softly, releasing Amity's wrists so she could hold her hands. "I do genuinely like you. I would've said something sooner, but I spent so long just trying to be your friend that I didn't want to mess it up. If I'd known this was going to happen, I would have told you so much sooner."

Amity's chest began to lighten and her ears tentatively perked up. A part of her still thought Luz might be lying for her sake, but the rest of her desperately wanted to believe it. Luz wouldn't lie to her, right?

"You promise you mean it?" She asked, maybe a little too forcefully.

"I promise." Luz said firmly. "Can I kiss you again?"

"I probably taste like blood." Amity chuckled self-consciously.

"You do," Luz confirmed. "But I don't mind."

"I think I'd rather get cleaned up before class starts." Amity replied sheepishly, pulling Luz with her as she stood up. She could feel dried blood on her lips and chin, making it a little uncomfortable to talk.

"Can I come with you?" Luz asked. "I want to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Of course, but I don't think it will." Amity smiled at Luz, her face flushed harder than before as she felt their fingers intertwine. She thought it was sweet that Luz cared so much about making sure she was alright, but she was pretty sure she would be. She could almost feel the flowers crumbling away inside her lungs. "I think I'm finally okay."