The moment he heard the soft sobbing of one of his roommates, Dev knew he was going to be in for one hell of a night. The brunet sighed as he opened his eyes, weighing his options carefully: it wasn't any of his business, whatever that idiot was depressed about this time, but ever since a couple weeks ago– at least, that's when the prankster had noticed the crying happening in the middle of the night– he hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep.
   Yeah, sure, he's an asshole for ignoring the pitiful sounds for this long, but Dev had hoped that the source of the noise would've felt better about it sooner rather than later. They're all adults in this house: they should all at least be able to handle their personal issues by themselves.

Sniffling again, then more subtle crying.

Dev was now sitting upright on his bed. As much as he and his roommate despised each other, that didn't mean he couldn't be just a bit concerned.
   'Hypocrite', the brunet's head mocked at his change of heart.
Hands on his face, he groaned in mild annoyance– god he wished he was a worse person, but his morals got the better of him.
   "If he gets any snot on me, I'm setting up pranks in front of his room for a week." The prankster grumbled, already off of his bed and heading to the source of the noise.

   Stepping outside his room as he put on his hoodie, Dev glanced towards the direction of the blue's room down the hall. From the crack of the door, dim light emitted eerily against the dark wash of black.
   For whatever reason his roommate, Edgy, always had his door unlocked.
Whether it was for himself or for the red and Sunny-D was a mystery, one that didn't really matter as Dev quietly looked inside. It would've felt immensely better to be yelled at for potentially invading the ravenet's privacy (but not really, he did leave his door open) instead of having to hear any more sniffling.
   Surprisingly, the blue wasn't in his room.
Momentarily the brunet wondered if he'd imagined the crying this time, a potential side effect from hearing it consistently for the past few nights, when a horrid retching came from elsewhere.
   'What the fuck...?' Dev listened quietly for the sound once more.
For a moment it was silent, until the rasping picked up again– harder to hear than the first time.

   It was coming from the bathroom. Of course.

The brunet felt himself wincing as the retching seemed to have replaced the initial crying. How could a sound be so horribly loud yet so quiet at the same time? Making his way towards the cracked door, he noticed a soft pulsating glow emitting from the corner of the sink: a phone?
   'How responsible.' He joked, mostly to calm his nerves. Dev peeked inside, his frown deepening at the pitiful sight.

   Edgy sat at the edge of the toilet, his hand pushing away disheveled hair as he struggled to breathe properly. "If there's a god up there," He started with a strained hiss, obviously to no one but himself. "Fuck this shit..."
   His puffy eyes glistened with used-up tears as he looked up, red and glaringly sorrowful, and his face was flushed from his sobbing. Dev watched as he wiped away– uh, rose petals?– from his mouth, not caring for how they scattered across the bathroom floor. He missed a few that still littered his cheeks, but it seemed to be less of the blue's concerns.
   The question remained in the brunet's head however: what in the world was his roommate doing to have so many petals on his face? What, did he eat an entire fucking bouquet or something?
   The thought was almost enough to make the prankster scoff, arms crossing against his chest as he rolled his eyes. Maybe this really wasn't anything to worry about then, just the blue being stupid as usual.

   Before Dev could turn away from the bathroom, he watched as Edgy took an oddly nervous peek at his phone. Slow, hesitant, almost scared...
   Maybe the red missed something– blinked for a split second– but almost instantaneously the ravenet jolted upwards. He grabbed for the rim of the toilet, and the impossible happened: dozens upon dozens of rose petals and leaves were upchucked into the bowl. Loud, painfully so, and visceral to the prankster's ears. Dev's eyes widened in horror, arms unfolding slowly.
   "Fuck!" Edgy rasped out painfully, his voice hoarse. He leaned his head onto the toilet and broke into another sob. "Fucking– god... help me, please..."
   Something inside the brunet plummeted to his stomach, making him sick. 'Help him up.'

Dev opened the bathroom door. Edgy jumped from where he was resting his head, his wide eyes looking right back at him– whether out of fear or out of confusion, the brunet didn't know.
   "Hey." is all the red said, as nonchalant as he could muster, before stepping inside.
"Hey– what? Wait, wait, what are you–" Edgy was lighter than he expected. He picked up the blue with relevant ease. "HEY!"
   From the proximity, the prankster could smell the sickeningly sweet stench of roses softly wafting from his roommate, along with the strong vile stench of blood and bile. Without a word Dev slowly went to bring the ravenet back to his own room, ignoring the protests and squirming. He nearly wanted to laugh again– Edgy barely had any strength left to fight him off. It was pathetic.
   Fists pounded softly on his back, the blue hissing as he spoke with venom in his voice. "What the fuck?! Put me the fuck down, asshole! I swear to god–!" As much as he protested, Edgy's voice seemed to get weaker with each curse he threw at his red-cladded roommate.

   His words, however, were drowned out as Dev pondered to himself with furrowed eyebrows. Questions of 'why' started to itch at the prankster's brain. 'It would've just been easier to talk to him while he sprawled on the bathroom floor.' His thoughts rationalized coldly. 'Going soft, then?'
   Dev shook his head. 'Yeah, right. Like doing any of this won't secure me a goodnight's rest? 'Going soft', my ass.'

The moment they were inside Edgy's room, the ravenet shoved himself harshly away from Dev.
   "Ack!" The red glared daggers at his roommate, who annoyingly landed safely onto his mattress. Fucking prick.
   Edgy glared back, looking murderous despite the blood that dried up on his cheeks. As though he dared the brunet to try anything else, to see what'll happen. It made Dev's blood boil in a simmering mixture of irrational rage and irritation. There was a brief moment of silence between the two of them before Dev let out a huff of air from his nose as he quietly stomped back towards the bathroom.

   Just a few minutes passed and the prankster returned to the room, seemingly much to the blue's disappointment. Dev's eye twitched before he recomposed himself and pulled Edgy's phone from his pocket.
   That got the latter to sit up real quick.
Eyes widened once again, the ravenet tried to reach for his phone in a haste, stumbling forward. Immediately Dev was there to catch him, putting a hand on his roommate's chest and pushing him back down on the bed.
   "Relax, pint size, if you're worried about me looking through your shit, I didn't." The brunet reassured, waving the device slightly for emphasis. "Yet. I won't, if you explain to me what I just fucking witnessed in the bathroom."
  "You– saw that?" Edgy's eyes looked more panicked than ever, but only for a second as they shifted immediately back to anger. "I don't have to tell you shit, asshole. Just give me my goddamn phone back."

   Dev's patience was running dangerously thin as his eye twitched again. He stared with incredulity as Edgy still tried to fight him off and grab at his phone, but it was amazing how he could still move at all while the former could simply hold him back with one hand. For a moment, the red closed his eyes and scrunched his nose in brief contempt as he breathed inwards then out.
   "Look," He started, eyes opening again to look back down at his roommate. "If it were up to me? Yeah, sure, I'd have left you back there in that bathroom to choke out on your blood and stupid flower petals. See if I care."
   "The problem is," Dev put the phone back into his pocket as he flicked Edgy's forehead, to which the latter could only glare even harder. "All your crying is putting a damper on my sleeping hours. Think I can sleep while you're having a pity party all to yourself? Be fucking real."
   He sighed heavily, pulling the phone back out. "So, personally? I think I have every right to know what's causing you to freak out on a routinely basis and choke up flowers like someone's shoved a whole fucking flowershop down your throat."

   By some miraculous effect, whether Dev's words reached Edgy or if Edgy simply lost his energy, the ravenet squirmed a little less and came to a halt. Still, however, his roommate glared at him with the same rage as earlier– but the prankster could only raise an eyebrow as his half-lidded expression stared back with faux disinterest.
   Sleepless eyes challenged reddening ones until, finally, the blue let his head thump softly back onto the mattress. He sighed quietly as he closed his eyes, and Dev noticed the smallest trickle down his cheek.

Edgy's eyes shot open as he suddenly jolted once more.
   'Just like earlier– oh shit–!' Immediately the brunet took his hand off the blue as the latter tripped over himself, rushing for the trashcan.
   Again, the hacking and coughing continued as Dev held his arms, unable to hide his visible discomfort. He waited quietly on the bed, looking the other way until the sounds came to a staggering halt. From the corner of his eyes, the red glanced over as his roommate weakly leaned his back against the frame of the bed, slumping onto the floor with one hand on his face. He watched as Edgy's chest rose and fell slowly with every soft heave that came from the ravenet's mouth, likely exhausted from how much throwing up he'd been doing for god knows how long. Again, something dropped in the prankster's stomach, uncomfortable and aching.
   The two roommates sat there in silence.

"Hanahaki."
   "Bless you." This response earned the red a deathly glare, to which he raised his hands up slightly in mock surrender. "Whoops, sorry, I guess."
   "It's a sickness, prick." Edgy seethed. His expression betrayed him, Dev noticed, as blue eyes glanced at the phone that was still in the brunet's hands. "That's all you're getting out of me because I know damn well if you get involved, everything's going to go to shit."

   Dev contemplated the morality of punching a sick man.
He shook his head and shrugged casually. "Mm, sure whatever you say, blue." The prankster couldn't help the wry smirk as he lifted the phone to his face, only slightly amused by the horrified realization on Edgy's face. With a quick couple taps on the screen, the device unlocks. "Guess I'll have to look into it myself, oh! You don't mind, right?"
   A strangled yelp escapes from the blue's mouth as he stands up far too quickly for his current state–toppling onto the brunet. Still, however, he tries to reach over for the phone in his red-cladded roommate's hands.
   "The fuck is wrong with you?!" Edgy exclaimed, but it came out far too soft due to his initial vomiting. "How the hell do you even know my password anyways?!"
   "Helps that I'm just simply that amazing. Try it sometime." Despite being under the ravenet, it wasn't difficult for Dev to get the upper hand as he slid out from underneath and smoothly sat atop his roommate's back.
   He hummed in more amusement at Edgy's struggling. "Geez, relax Edge, it's not like I'm going to talk to whoever was ringing up your phone earlier. It's– what, 2AM? Who would even be awake right now–"

Ding!

   A notification popped up on the screen, causing both men to stop for a moment.
Dev blinked in surprise. "Huh." 'Speak of the devil.'
   He felt Edgy recoil underneath him, confirming the red's suspicions that this must've been whoever he was texting before the whole... thing in the bathroom. Contrary to popular belief, Dev was a man of his word, so he ignored the text and opted instead for opening the search engine app.
   H-A-N-A-H-A-K-I. It only took a few seconds for a brief description to flash on the screen. "Found it."
Edgy slowly stopped squirming as the prankster began to read aloud.

   "'Hanahaki is a disease where the victim of unrequited or one-sided love begins to vomit or cough up the petals and flowers of a flowering plant growing in their lungs, which will eventually grow large enough to render breathing impossible if left untreated.'" Dev stared at the screen in disbelief, eyes searching and scanning through the rest of the text. This can't be real, can it? That's just too impossible, there's no way.
   He looked back at his roommate, an eyebrow raised. "This– I can't– You??"
Edgy, who had been so seemingly ready to kick Dev's ass, now refused to look at him at all. His head was lowered into his crossed arms as his shoulders hunched slightly. The prankster clamped his mouth shut, because holy shit. He opened, then closed it again, repeating the process a few times as he struggled to find his next words. When he couldn't decipher what he wanted to say, Dev decided to slide off his roommate's back, watching as the blue leaned into his bed frame.
   Edgy sat up, head still low and knees curled up to his chest as he hugged them together. Somehow, despite everything he'd seen today, this made Dev frown with immense pity. It's just... he'd never seen him look this small.
   Awkwardly, the red sat a little ways next to him, sticking to sitting on the edge of the bed rather than leaning back. "Uhm... who is it? That, you uh, y'know?"
   What came out was a soft, shaky breath from the ravenet, before the genuine answer. "It's Dallas, alright?"

   Well, it looks like tonight continues to be filled with even more surprises. Dev resisted the urge to gape as he stared at Edgy again. 'Well, that'd explain the text notification.'
   "Dallas, as in goody-two-shoes Dallas who people couldn't stop comparing me to for, like, a week?" The brunet asked blankly, still processing this information. "The Dallas that doesn't curse, who's really sensitive and prone to lacking any spine that any normal person would have? That Dallas?"
   "You'll be lacking a spine too if you don't stop spouting bullshit." Edgy snarled, snatching his phone from the red's hands.
   Dev whistled dramatically, hands up once more in yet another mock surrender. "Damn. Sorry for asking."
   "Listen, fuckwit," A finger was jabbed towards the prankster as the blue hissed aggressively. "You can talk shit about me all you'd like, I've put up with it for years. But–" He prodded his finger forward, causing Dev to blink in surprise. "If I ever hear you say the same about Dallas, I'm going to remind you who can knock your teeth in without you so much as laying a scratch on me. You understand, asshole?!"
   The prankster nodded slowly as the corner of his smile twitched slightly. "Ah, uhm, yeah. Sure, like he's so much better than me, apparently."

Now this? This was new to Dev, his mind racing with questions.

   Edgy was right: Dev is an asshole and he does tend to tease and prod at the ravenet much to the latter's annoyance, but color the red surprised that Edgy would defend anyone but himself when it came to this sort of thing. The prankster knew he'd let comments like these slide for people like Meg or Snap, maybe there'd be a little push back if the brunet ever dared to say anything about Sunny-D (which, he would never because Sunny-D was the one angel who'd actual put up with the two's whole song-and-dance)– but how in the world did Dallas take top priority on the "No Dev Bullshit" list?

   Putting his hands down and shrugging off the blue's words, Dev glanced back at his roommate. Edgy sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, before brushing his messy hair away from his face. Phone in his other hand, the moment his eyes met the screen it was as though all the internal turmoil and stress from tonight seemed to melt away at an instant. Watching the light flicker and change color, Dev knew he had opened the text messaging app– likely to respond back to Dallas' text. Though the expression on the ravenet's face had softened enough to look calm, Dev knew better: it was an act, clear as day, because Edgy was never okay enough to actually be calm.
   Eyes casted down onto his phone, the red noticed there was a wet glisten on his roommate's eyes. His smile seemed melancholic and sadder than what Dev was used to; in the prankster's shock he realized that it seemed like Edgy was just... giving up. As though he was already expecting death to be at his doorstep the next day, without so much as the same fight he had earlier inside him now.
   Something in the red stirred. The blue's in love, right? Isn't love supposed to be worth fighting?

Then why is it that Edgy was so complacent with his love dying before it could even begin?

   Dev smacked his roommate upside the head. "HEY–!"
Edgy frowned as he rubbed where the brunet had hit him. "What the fuck did you do that for?!"
   He was glaring at him again, looking just about ready to knock Dev's skull into the ground. The fire in his eyes rekindled, and the prankster couldn't help the smirk on his face. Edgy wanted to live, of course he did.
   He just needed a little push.

'There's no way you're thinking of doing this right?' Again, his thoughts came back to rationalize his next decisions. 'It's not going to be worth the effort, you know how stubborn this dick can be.'
   'And yet, it can't be helped,' The brunet thought to himself. 'If we don't do this, say goodbye to a good night's rest forever.'
   "Alright," Dev spoke casually, standing up from his roommate's bed. "you're a hopeless case on your own– as if that wasn't obvious enough. So–!"
   He turns to look back at Edgy, who stares at him with an odd expression. That only made Dev's smirk grow. "I'm going to help you with your crush, whether you like it or not."
   Just as Edgy was about to disagree, the red raised one hand to stop him. Surprisingly, he did.
"You can't get out of this one either." Dev added, lowering his hand slightly. "If you keep dealing with this 'Hanahaki' thing alone, I'll have to deal with this already-growing insomnia and seeing your flowery dumbass corpse in the bathroom when I need to take a shit."

   Once he finished talking, he did a small hand-gesture to signify that Edgy may now speak. The brunet found amusement in the way his roommate's eye twitched. However, despite Edgy's clear distaste for the idea as a whole, his expression boiled down to one of tiredness– which, fair, it's been a long night for them both. Dev watched as the ravenet seemed to contemplate his offer. Given their current relationship, it's no wonder he'd stop and think about it first: afterall, it wasn't everyday you reached a hand out to your rival and offered them an olive branch instead of a flying fist.
   "Two conditions, and they're non-negotiable."

Dev rolled his eyes. As if saving his life wasn't on the table, but sure, he'd humor him. "And they are?"
   The blue raised two fingers. "One, do my chores for a month. That includes the dishes, taking out the trash, and cleaning Oreo's little box."
   "Tedious, but yeah, I can deal with that."
"And two," Edgy's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't say shit about this to anyone. Not Sunny-D, not Meg, especially not Dallas. This–" He gestures at Dev, then at himself. "Is between us, and us alone. Got it?"
   "Doable." The prankster agreed without hesitation as reached out his hand, offering to shake on it. "It's a deal then?"
   His roommate stared at the hand for a brief moment, as though deciding whether or not he really should go through with this whole ordeal. Soon enough, the ravenet gripped the former's hand and shook it firmly. "Fine, as long as you keep your end of the bargain."
   With that Dev stretched as a yawn spilled from his lips. He then turned towards the door, giving the blue a lazy wave goodnight. "We're starting tomorrow morning, be up by then or I'm scattering Oreo's litter all over your room."
   "Fuck you, you'd be breaking the deal already!"
"Goodnight, Edge!"
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The moment Dev reached his room, he tossed his hoodie over his head and onto the ground, flopping into the comforts of his blanket and pillows with a blissful sigh. Blessed be the gods above or whatever, maybe he can have this one night to catch up with some sleep before having to work the hardest he'd ever worked for– for anyone else but himself at least. Sure, the brunet knew next-to-nothing about romance, having hardly experienced much of it himself– aside from the romcoms that Sunny-D seemed to love so much– but it can't be that hard to get someone to fall for Edgy, right?
   It was only then did Dev begin to realize the situation he just got himself into, leaving him to turn onto his back and stare up at his ceiling with a slight frown.

   What the hell was he thinking, getting involved in someone else's problems– Edgy, of all people– and, not only that, having those problems be related to romance of all things? Of the group, hell of their entire social circle, Dev's probably the least qualified person to do anything like this: how is he going to help Edgy win over his stupid crush?
   'It can't be that hard to get someone to like you.' The red thought to himself, eyes drooping as he began to slowly fall asleep. 'What's the worst that could happen anyways?'

Edgy could die.

   Dev abruptly sat upright, feeling a cold sweat. Edgy could die. His roommate, granted one he's terrorized for years, could actually... die. Just like that. If anything went wrong, didn't go the way he planned, Edgy would genuinely be unable to live out the rest of his life: and the blue already knew this.
   How long had he known this, and was he planning on waiting out for his death? What would be happening now, or in the future, if Dev didn't or hadn't decided to step in and take control of the situation?
   Would his stupid roommate's blood be on his hands now, now that he's intervened?
"...Fuck." Dev groaned in frustration, eyes wide open and hands on his face as these depressing thoughts swirled menacingly in his head. Looks like he wasn't going to get much sleep tonight either.

   Fuckin' damnit.