WARNING: ANGST/SWEARING

♡●♡

I felt something building in my throat, and coughed.

Small petals, with droplets of blood, came out and landed on my arm.

I raised my hand and looked up at Mr. Aizawa.

"Yes Pearl?"

"May I go to the bathroom Sir?"

He nodded, already aware of my condition, and I stood up, ignoring Ellie's concerned stare while leaving the room. Once I was outside the classroom, I bolted to the washroom.

I closed the door to the stall, and turned around, vomiting into the toilet. Blood and cherry blossom petals. Just like usual.

I continued to vomit for a few minutes, before hearing someone knock on the stall door.

"Pearl? Are you okay?" It was Ellie.

I threw up again before I could reply.

"I'm coming in," the door opened, and my sister stepped inside. She immediately rushed over, kneeling next to me. I felt weak from throwing up.

"Oh god, not again..." she muttered, "here, I brought my water bottle, and the medicine." She handed them both to me, and I quickly downed a pill with the water.

My name is Pearl, if you hadn't noticed already. Pearl Terrilynn. I suffer from a rare disease known as Hanahaki. An illness that sprouts from a one-sided crush. According to x-rays, it causes cherry blossoms to sprout in a person's lungs. You generally have half a year, maybe a full one, before it cuts off access to your lungs and suffocates you, unless you confess your feelings.
But if you get rejected, the blossoms sprout ten times faster, giving you a day at most.

You can get surgery for it, but it forces you to forget your feelings.

"Better?" I nodded at Ellie, and she helped me up. I flushed the toilet, and she helped me to Recovery Girl.

Along the way, we ran into some of our friends. Kohaku, Yula, Ashley, and Ace.

"Hey! Are you two okay? You missed the end of class!" Ace exclaimed worriedly. Ace Kasai, a boy with a dragon quirk, and one of my first friends. We became friends during the UA Sports Festival.

"You look sick Pearl, are you feeling okay?" Yula asked, tilting her head slightly. Yula Xen was one of the newer students, her quirk allowed her to change her skin colour and gain certain abilities based on the colour. She's kind of like, the class memer.

"I'm alright..." I said quietly.

"She just needs some rest," Ellie assured them,  "I'm taking her to Recovery Girl."

"Aww man... there goes the sleepover..." Yula grumbled.

"Sleepover?" I asked.

"Yula wanted us all to go to her place for a sleepover, but if you aren't feeling well..." Kohaku trailed off.

"N-No, I'm fine..." I said, "I just need some rest. I'll be better by tomorrow." I forced a smile.

Ashley hadn't said anything, and just stared at us. I could slowly feel a blush growing on my cheeks. Ashley Toast was my crush, at first glance she seemed like a quirkless wannabe, but she's extremely good with knives, and does technically have a quirk. She just tries to avoid using it.

"What do you think Ashley? You haven't said anything." Ace turned to her.

Ashley shrugged, "As long as she doesn't make the rest of us sick I guess. It would be nice to hang out again though..."

"Hey, Nightmare! Rishi! Misty! We're still good for the sleepover!" Yula cheered, calling out to three more of our friends.

Rishi was the first friend I had made at the Sports Festival, he had an extremely powerful quirk. Misty and Nightmare were both newer to the class, but they're both nice.

Misty floated over on her cloud, like usual, and grinned. Her quirk was Cloud, she could create things out of a fluffy cloud-like material.

"I'm glad! You've been pretty sick lately Pearl, I'm glad we can all hang out again!" She exclaimed.

That hit me with a pang of guilt.

"So, tomorrow night!" Yula cheered, "At my apartment! Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic agreed to come watch us, so we should be good for supervision."

I nodded, and Ellie continued with me to the infirmary.

Recovery Girl said the same thing as usual.

"Confess or get a surgery. You're running out of time."

I was already half a year into the disease, she was right. I was running out of time.

I decided I would confess at the sleepover. I couldn't get a surgery, I loved Ashley too much to forget my feelings.

♡●♡

The next night, we were at the sleepover.

I mostly sat in the corner, not really making any conversation.

"Anybody know where Zashi went?" Aizawa asked tiredly.

"I think he's raiding the snacks again," Yula laughed, as Aizawa sighed and went to the kitchen.

Ellie was laughing at Rishi and Ashley, who were arguing again.

Ace was passed out in his sleeping bag.

Nightmare was watching an anime about a midget with a metal arm whose trying to get his brother's body back on the TV.

Misty was sleeping in her cloud.

And then there was me, in the corner on my phone.

I coughed into my mouth, and sighed as I shoved the bloody petals into my pocket. I had to do it soon, as I was rapidly losing my courage.

I stood up, and went over to Ashley, Ellie, and Rishi.

"H-Hey Ashley? C-can I talk... w-with you, privately?" I asked nervously. They all paused, and Ashley nodded, following me outside the room.

"Is everything okay?" She asked. I nodded.

"I-I-I," I stuttered, "I... h-have a c-confession-"

I cut myself off by coughing. It didn't stop though. I coughed more, and more, and more.

"Pearl? Are you okay- HOLY SHIT! Okay! Uh, um..." She backed up, as I vomited on the floor.  Everything started to go blurry.

"Pearl, hey Pearl!" I wobbled, as the door burst open. A rush of voices started ringing out, I couldn't make sense of it.

"Sis! Pearl, stay with me!"

"Zashi! Call the ambulance!"

"Are those flower petals?!"

"Is that blood?!"

"Ashley, what did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything! She just started throwing up petals and blood!"

"Everyone back up-"

Everything went black.

♡●♡

I woke up to Ellie crying on me.

"E-Ellie?..." I asked weakly.

"P-Pearl?" She looked up, brightening immediately, "oh my god your alive!"

She was still crying though, as she hugged me.

"W-why are you crying?"

"I'm sorry!" She cried, "I'm so sorry... the flowers cut off your lungs, a-and..."

I didn't like where this was going.

"A-and?"

"The only way to save you was the surgery so I just told them to do it!" She cried.

The door opened, and more worried faces filed in.

"How are you feeling?..." Ace asked quietly.

"I..." I didn't know how I was feeling.

A doctor came in, and made everyone leave before turning to me.

"Alright, Miss Terrilynn, I have some important information," he said, "during the surgery," he pulled up an x-ray of my lungs, "something went wrong and we were unable to remove all of the flowers. Do you know what this means?"

I shook my head, as I stated at the x-ray.

"It means a couple things," he explained, "one is that you are still carrying the feelings that caused this, and two is that we have somehow, ah, RESET, the disease, for lack of a better term. You have another 6 months to confess, however unless you agree right now, we will not be able to finish the surgery if this happens again. You almost died during it today, your body won't be able to handle it again."

"So, what your saying is... I still have feelings for her, and I still have the disease?..." I asked quietly. He nodded.

"I'll give you some time to think about your choice. Your friends are in the lobby if you want to hang out with them or talk about it. Your clothes are next to you on the chair." He said, leaving the room. I hopped out of the hospital bed, and followed him out of the room, to the lobby.

When I entered the lobby, I found Ashley and Mic arguing.

"I already told you Goat, I didn't do anything! She just started throwing up petals!"

"Yeah, well I find that very hard to believe when you're the person she was LITERALLY dying over! And I keep telling you, I'm not a goat!"

"What the fuck?! Why would she have feelings for me, out of all the people, you stupid delusional Goat-"

"Um, Ash, Mic is right-"

I was about to say something, but I broke into a coughing fit, coughing up petals and blood again.

"Pearl!" Everyone noticed, and ran over.

Ellie practically jumped on me, getting pulled off by Aizawa who was concerned for my health. Mic started crying for some reason, and was hugged by Aizawa. Rishi came over and helped me up, grinning.

"Glad to know the Shit Squad is still alive," he said, as I smiled slightly and nodded, leaning on Ellie for support.

"Oh my god you're okay!" Ace cheered, "I knew it! I told you guys there was no reason to cry!"

"You and Ellie were sobbing your eyeballs out silly!" Yula laughed, "And Dadzawa and Mic."

"I did not cry!" Mic snapped, through tears.

"You're crying right now you Goat." Ashley retorted.

"Glad you are okay," is all Aizawa said.

"So, who were you crushing on?" Misty asked, floating over.

"Uh... y-yeah... about that..." I muttered, coughing. A couple petals fell into my hand.

"You're still sick?!" Ellie exclaimed.

"The doctor said something went wrong during the surgery... but they basically reset the illness to the beginning, so I have another half a year to confess... or they won't be able to save me next time..." I said quietly.

"Girl you gotta confess!" Yula exclaimed, jumping forward.

"B-but-"

"If you say 'but what if they don't feel the same way' I'm going to slap you. Who the hell would be crazy enough to turn down someone like you?" Ellie cut me off, glancing at Ashley in a threatening way.

Out of nowhere, Nightmare groaned loudly.

"Just confess your love for each other already!" He exclaimed, glaring at me and Ashley.

Ashley threw a knife at him.

"NIGHTMARE WHAT THE FUCK?!" She yelled. I covered my hands blushing.

"Oh my god..." I mumbled, covering my face in my hands.

"I'm actually with Nightmare on this one." Misty said, laying on her cloud.

"Hey can I have one of those?" Nightmare asked her. She nodded, creating another cloud that he jumped on.

"Hey, why don't we go to that new restaurant down the road from here, Pearl and Ashley can go ahead while we finish up here!" Kohaku exclaimed suddenly, pushing me and Ashley towards the door.

"What the- but Kohaku-"

"No buts Pearl! Now get going!" She pushed us outside, and left us there.

"I don't remember there being a restaurant near the hospital..." I mumbled.

"Lets just look around then I guess..." Ashley sighed, "I'll kill them later..."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing to be stuck with me," I laughed quietly.

"That's not what I- UGH! I hate having human emotions..." she grumbled, "I do enjoy hanging out with you, it's just... awkward doing it as friends when they all keep saying I caused your Hanahaki..."

I didn't reply, as we walked around. I trailed slightly behind.

"Do you actually like me?" She asked suddenly, "Like, as more then a friend?"

"W-what?" I blushed, and coughed up a few more petals.

"Answer my fucking question Pearl..." she grumbled.

"I uh..." I looked down, as she stared at me. We were the same height.

"Y-Yeah... I do have a crush on y-you... a b-big one..." I mumbled.

She didn't reply, but flipped her knife, and stabbed a tree with it. Ashley grabbed me by the collar of my hoodie, and kissed me.

I blinked in surprise, and it took me a moment to realize what was happening.

Once I did, I kissed back.

"Yes!" We heard cheering, And pulled away from each other. The others had followed us, and Ellie had cheered loudly.

"Ellie you blew our cover!" Rishi facepalmed.

"I knew you could do it Sis!" Ellie cheered.

"Good job Ashley!" Ace yelled.

"THAT'S IT! I'M KILLING YOU ALL!" Ashley pulled her knife out of the tree, and ran towards them.

"SHIT! RUN Y'ALL!" Yula grabbed Ace and started running. Mic and Aizawa climbed a tree. Misty and Nightmare floated up on their clouds.

"BRING IT ON!" Rishi yelled back.

"RISHI NO YOU'LL DESTROY THE CITY!" Ellie yelled, grabbing him and running.

"ASHLEY!" I groaned, and ran after them.

And somehow, breathing felt so much easier now.

♡●♡

Words: 2137
Time Taken: About three hours.
Ace and Ashley's Owner - TD
Kohaku' s Owner - Mic
Nightmare's Owner - Nightmare
Rishi's Owner - Kai Chisaki
Pearl, Ellie, Yula, And Misty's Owner - Me
Don't question the EraserMic, Nightmare and Mic probably would've killed me if I didn't include it