#hanahaki.arc

[ua-monoma]

He takes his time.

Iida’s invitation had been unexpected, after all, and he still had this gory need for this night to be perfect. The conversation just now had... hurt... it, like everything else lately, hadn’t gone entirely the way he’d wanted it to, but at least this was something he could control. This was something he could get right.

So he showers, brushes his teeth, gets rid of every little trace of blood on him until he feels fresh and clean enough to face him. The flowers were an odd little thing to have to work around, glistening brightly as they took their sweet time to dry. He almost picks one of Iida’s shirts to wear over him, but decides against it in the end, thinking it might be too much...

What he does pick is white and simple, and very reminiscent of their first night.

And then he’s walking over, spiraling higher with every step closer to his room. By the time he’s in front of his door, he feels almost drunk with the feeling, biting his lip and feeling on the verse of laughing, or breaking into tears, somehow simultaneously.

He knocks... even though Iida had mentioned he’d left the door unlocked for him, he still feels the need to. He wants to be let inside properly, so he can at least feel allowed around him again.

[ua-monoma]

The flowers grow, just like he thought they would.

Blue roses, huge and beautiful, practically glowing as they stretch towards the light. And they hardly hurt at all, petals silky and soft, stems shining, kissing his skin. 

Iida cries when he sees them. Happy tears.

And he tells him everything he wants to hear.

The flowers, satisfied, cascade to the ground at their feet. 

He takes his hand.

They... (what do lovers do) ... walk along the beach. The water sparkles with the reflection of the setting sun. Iida’s talking, but he’s smiling too hard to make the words come out right, and he’s smiling back, happy, satisfied, until--

Iida stops short in his steps. He rips his hand free. He points at him. And Monoma looks down and he sees the holes, gouged away by the roots. He sees them, empty, hollow, ocean behind him peeking through.

“Wait--” he says quickly. He knows there’s something there but--

Thorny vines snake their way out of the holes and all around him. His skin shreds at their touch, blood pouring in ribbons. They shoot into his mouth. They shoot into his eyes. The flowers fill and fill him, and he can just barely make out the sight of Iida’s back as he walks away before there’s a burst of gore and--

“NO!”

Monoma jolted up in his bed, hands clawed to his face. Frantic, he felt at the wetness before he realized he was sobbing, and then he curled up back into his sheets, hugging himself tight as he shivered in horror.

[ua-monoma]

@ua-mitsuki

He’d thought it was a panic attack at first. He’d been having enough of them, after all, his chest seized with anxiety and the feeling of fire smashing his thoughts apart. The feeling had been similarly suffocating, so he had thought...

But, no. He’d been wrong. Something was wrong.

Not wanting to keep Mitsuki waiting, Monoma jogged from his dorm room to let her in. That’s really when he noticed it. How hard it was to breathe. His eyebrows furrowed as his fingers dug into his chest, panting harder than he reasonably should be.

After too long, he finally found Mitsuki’s car in the parking lot, collapsing against it as he desperately tried to suck air into the cloying tightness of his lungs. “M-mitsuki-chan...?” he called out nervously before he started to cough.

[ua-monoma]

((V-Shigaraki)) what happened to your neck, we have a doctor here if you need one, be more careful idiot

,,,, n-nothing happened to my neck it’s fine,,

[ua-monoma]

This is ridiculous.

[ua-monoma]

@ua-ayameko dum bitch. how do i get them back

[ua-monoma]

(Pony Tsunotori) Are you ok? When I ask if you are ok, I do not mean physically. I mean mentally. Do you feel like you can give a real smile? When was the last time you smiled for real? Do you feel normal? Do you know how much your friends care about you? I care about you, Monoma. So when I ask if you are ok, I ask if you feel happy. Can you say that you are happy? Can you honestly tell you feel happy? Not in your mind- but with your heart. Are you ok?

Yes– Oh. No. I don’t know. No. No. … … No. No. No.

…

Can you tell Vlad-sensei tomorrow that I’m sick? I don’t think I’m going to class.

[ua-monoma]

@ua-kendou

Kendou’s standing outside of Monoma’s door with a bunch of homework papers in her hand, too nervous to go in. He hasn’t shown up to class for the past few days and she was really worried about him.

After pacing the halls for a bit, Kendou decided to finally knock on the door.

“Monoma? Can I come in?”

He didn’t answer.

“Monoma? Hello??”

He didn’t answer. But, Kendou wasn’t just going to let this go, she cared too much. So, she knocked once more.

Monoma flinches as he moves away from the door. Why now...? Why couldn't this wait until later? Why was this happening at all...?

 He looks around fast, grabbing a hoodie and throwing it over his pajamas, then returns to frantically kicking his blankets under his bed as he tries his best to smooth his hair down the irritated back of his neck-- 

"... coming, coming, okay, hold on--" He returns back to the door, forcing himself to breathe, before he tugs the hood over his head, effectively hiding anything that could possibly be... unsavory about his neglected appearance. And then he opens the door, stepping back to let her inside with his eyes downcast to the floor. 

"Sorry, I was getting dressed..."

"Hoodie over pajamas? That's what you call getting dressed?" Kendou asks in a suspicious tone. Kendou notices that Monoma is covered from head to toe, the only part that's not covered is his face. This causes her to worry, because... Why else would someone wear such clothing in such warm weather. What possible reason could there be to be dressed like this? "Anyways, that doesn't matter right now... How are YOU doing?" Kendou asks him, walking in past him and placing some books and her bag on Monoma's desk. Kendou goes and sits on Monoma's bed with their math homework waiting for a response.(edited)

Monoma flinches at that, but it's only natural she calls him out. She could always see through him so well... 

Bowing his head a little, he hugs himself, watching her get settled on his bed and trying to hide his grimace. It was an action that implied she'd be staying for a while, and he could already feel the tightness in his chest fighting for his full attention. 

"I still feel sick," he mumbles without moving, holding onto himself a little tighter. "I just woke up but I was thinking of getting back to sleep again, um, sorry you came all this way... I really don't feel up to anything right now though..."

“No” Kendou says determined. She wasn’t just going to leave without knowing what’s wrong with him. She wasn’t going to let him lock himself up and distance himself, it’s not like Monoma to act this way. “Here, take this.” She tells him. “It’s fine if you don’t feel comfortable talking to me about whatever’s going on, but I’m going to do anything I can to help you. And right now, I can help you pass your classes. Take the text book.” She says holding out the math notebook to him and hoping he will accept. If Monoma wasn’t going to talk, she wasn’t going to push him.

Monoma stares at her dully. She couldn't be serious.... 

... But also this was Kendou, and of course she was... With a defeated, depressed sigh, he takes a few steps closer and takes the notebook, sitting carefully on the bed besides her. The proximity of her body to his... It seems to radiate in the air and he feels the itchiness starting, a full-body flinch hitting him at the feeling. ... With shaky hands, he forces himself to open the book, but he can barely read the numbers as panic rises in him again. 

"I-I really don't feel like I can--..." he begins faintly. "... Kendou, please, I'm not lying when I say I feel sick..."

*Kendou looks at his shivering form and immediately becomes guilty for forcing him.” “Y-Yeah, I’m sorry. But, I’m here because I care for you. If you don’t want to do homework that’s fine. I-I” Kendou starts to say that she’ll go but, she couldn’t force the word to come out. She didn’t want to leave Monoma when he’s not feeling well. She needed to do something... Then she remembered that she’d brought something to cheer him up. “O-Ok, I’ll le-leave then... I guess. But first...” She trails off reaching into her bag and pulling out a brown paper bag and a little pouch out. “I made you some chicken soup, and I brought some CDs that I thought we can watch, but now you can watch them.” She stares at Monoma, hoping that he’d call her to stay. But, he stayed silent, so she proceeded to place the soup and CDs onto the desk. “I-I’ll... Bye.” She said, wanting to say something more, but she couldn’t, so she said bye instead. She began to gather her bag, but she kept feeling like she couldn’t just leave him that...

Monoma closes his eyes as he listens to her. His whole chest hurts. Not just his chest, but everything in his ribcage feels awful. Itchy and wrong. It... really hurts to see her trying so hard, when he knows he doesn't deserve it. He doesn't deserve her. She's so good to him and he just repays her with pain, every single time...

"..." He almost lets her go but he can't help but flinch back to life as she starts to say goodbye. Moving faster than he even means to go, he gets up and and catches her wrist before she could exit the room, holding it tight in his shaking hand as he forces his eyes up from the floor to meet hers. "... don't leave yet," he murmurs in a small voice. "Please..."

Kendou was taken back by Monoma’s actions. She stood stiff for a moment trying to process what just happened, then she nodded and put here bag back down. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asks, Monoma’s hand still holing into her wrist. She took his other hand in hers and said, “It’s ok if you don’t want to, we can always just watch some of the movies and just relax...” She said. Then suddenly, her collarbone area slightly started to itch a little.

"I don't know how to talk about it," The words leave him in a rush. All he can focus on is his grip on Kendou's wrist, and hers on his hand, and he adjusts the two to match so that both of his hands are just... entwined in hers. It's such a nice feeling too, but it's ruined by the sudden itchy flare across his skin that he can feel, hidden under his sleeves. "... You know I really cherish you, right?" he asks suddenly, both his expression and his voice steeped in hopelessness. "And that I don't mean to be like this...? I want what's best for you, I really do, y-you have to believe me on that..."

“What are you talking about? Of course I believe you. I want what’s best for you too.” As she says this, she can’t help but grow more curious as to what’s happened to him. Then suddenly, she hisses as the itch starting to grow stronger on her collarbone. She didn’t want to worry Monoma, so she dismisses it immediately. “Hey, let’s sit down ok?” She asks changing the subject.

*Monoma nods slowly, though a little stab of guilt hits him as she seems to react so strangely all of a sudden. He gives her hands a little squeeze before he lets go of them and goes back onto his bed, dropping down into it limply. * "Okay, I'm sitting," he mumbles.

Kendou gives him a warm smile and goes back to her bag. “Ok. So, I was holding out on you. I ALSO got us some popcorn. Want to watch those movies now?” She asks pointing to pile of CDs in the little pouch she brought.

"Yeah... movies are fine." At least he wouldn't have to think about anything as they watched... It would all just be what was in front of him, what was on the screen and who was at his side, which was a nice thought. Frowning absentmindedly, he starts to scratch a little at his arms. "What kind of movies did you buy...? Please don't say romcoms," he says in a weak attempt at a joke.

"U'Uhhhh, well.. if you don't want romantic movies, I did bring an action movie.." Kendou felt a blush creepy onto her face because most of the movies she had were romantic ones or rom-coms... "Here, and don't judge. I like these movies." She says passing her movie pouch to Monoma ad she moved toward the mini microwave to heat up the popcorn still blushing. "Pick one. Most of them are rom-coms so too bad for you."

Monoma smiles a little at that. Making her blush was fun... "I'm not judging you," he promises as he reaches out into the bag to try and pick something. But that's when he sees it-- Something strangely soft and pink poking out from his sleeve. Alarmed, he turns his wrist over and sees just a glimpse of something velvety before his eyes snap to Kendou and he tucks his sleeve further over his hand, his heart racing with anxiety. Barely even wanting to use that same hand, he snatches the first movie he sees up and hugs it to him as he waits. "A-ah, picked one," he tells her in a strained voice.

Kendou takes the CD Monoma chose and looks at it, suddenly, she bursts into laughter. She didn't realize that she put this movie into the pile too. "Re-Really Monoma? Yo-You want to watch 'My Lit-tle Pony'?" She asks not being able to control her laughing.

Monoma splutters, his whole face turning red as she laughs. "Y-yes, I want to watch My Little Pony," he snaps back at her, too stubbornly unwilling to go back on his 'choice'. "I-if you didn't want to, you shouldn't have put it in the pile anyway, so there...!"

Kendou found Monoma's face turning red cute, she smiled and said, "Oh come on, I'm just teasing you. I didn't even realize I'd put this in here. But, yeah we can watch it. " Kendou puts the movie on, gets the popcorn and sits right beside Monma. She tilts the popcorn bag towards him as the movie starts and asks, "You want some?"

Monoma just huffs at that, crossing his arms and pouting. But he wasn't really upset... Honestly, it was nice. Kendou had always had this adorablely pushy way of caring about him that always drilled right through the walls he wanted to push up. It was a relief, in a strange way. Lost in thought, he continues to scratch at his arms as she set everything up, then automatically rests his head against her shoulder with a sigh once they were settled, already exhausted. "Thanks," he mumbles, taking a few kernals for himself, simply because she offered.

Kendou smiles at Monoma, laying her head on his. “You’re very welcome.” *As they’re coming watching the movie, Kendou starts to dose off a bit, but still lightly awake.”

The movie drags on, Monoma barely even paying attention to it considering... He's technically seen it already in his time he's spent with Pony after their little lessons. So he spends the time just enjoying the hum of noise from the the movie, comforted by the light weight of Kendou's body against his. He finds himself dozing off a little as well, though he snaps out of it by the time the credits pop up. "... uh?" He frowns. Everywhere Kendou is touching feels alive with itching and he shifts a little at that, scowling deeply.

 "... hey, Kendou, the movie's over," he murmurs, turning to look at her before stopping. Her face is so close to his. It feels strange, after everything that's happened, to still be allowed to even witness this sort of... innocence. He inches a little closer, holding his breath as to not wake her, but... even though they'd had that talk and decided to be friends and everything... he still couldn't help what he wanted. And he wanted to kiss her... 

"... Kendou...?" he breathes out softly, getting close enough that their bangs were tangling together. "... Are you asleep...? Um. Wake up, I wanna--..."

Kendou’s half awake but she still hears Monoma talking to her. When she opens her eyes, she notices that Monoma’s so close to her and she feels her breath hitches “Hm?” She said softly, her eyes focused on his lips. She feels this overwhelming feeling to connect then, but she remembers saying that they would just settle as friends. But, at this moment she didn’t care, she wanted so badly to kiss him.

Monoma can't help but smile at that. She's so pretty... "... I..." He shifts on the bed a little bit, just so that their bodies are a little closer. His finger reaches out to graze a little over hers, his heart beating quickly as he breathes the scent of her in. "... I might make you mad at me in a second," he admits, leaning forward to brush their noses together, but giving her plenty of time to back away if she wanted to... "I... I just want to-..."

“Oh, Monoma, there’s nothing you can do at this moment to make me mad.” She says touching his face. Her collarbone began to itch even more but she didn’t care, because Monoma’s face was so close to her’s. Kendou’s heart beating fast, she leans in and finally connects their lips. She couldn’t help it, he was just so close and... it just... happened. It was her first kiss, and she thought it was perfect. It was with a guy she really liked and she was there... kissing him.

... It really was kind of perfect. Which was upsetting. Still, he has enough sense to smile against her lips as she kisses him, his hand coming up to cup her face as he deepens it just a little, as carefully and as delicately as he can. He doesn't want to startle her, but she feels so warm...

Kendou really liked the feeling of Monoma’s hand on her face. She deepened the kiss letting Monoma know that she was ok with it. She felt him smiling and that made her smile as well, even though she was scared that she might be a bad kisser, especially since this was her first. Monoma was her first. She adjusted her self so that her body was facing Monoma while kissing. She still couldn’t believe what was happening.

Shyly, Monoma started to take the time to explore all the things he's always wanted to do. He went from caressing her cheek to pushing his hands through her hair, gently marveling at its softness as their lips move together. He continues to test the waters for a few moments before he breaks the kiss with a little sigh, leaning in to press a kiss to the line of her jaw. "... um... Is this really okay...?" he murmurs against her cheek before he quickly steals another kiss, unwilling to part from her for more than a moment.

Kendou didn’t want it to stop, she wanted more. When Monoma asked her that question, she was going to say ‘yes’ but his soft lips met hers once again. She smiles and deepened the kiss even more, she felt butterflies in her stomach. But there was also a painful itch on her collarbone, but she decided to keep ignoring it. As Monoma’s hand sunk into her hair, her hand slid down to his chest... She frowned immediately, there was something there... in his shirt. It felt odd, so she stopped the kissing, but still kept her face close to his. 

“Monoma, I want to keep... doing what we’re doing... but, w-what’s-“ She starts not being able to find the right words, so she pointed to his chest hoping that he’d understand. She held a confused expression on her face and she was well out of breath too, but she tried her best to get the words through.

Monoma frowns at that. For a moment, he falters, wanting to just lean forward and keep kissing her despite her worries. It wasn't like he hadn't known that something would stop fuck up and stop their happiness, but he hnadn't wanted it to be so soon. When she breaks their lips apart, he returns to just kissing her cheek, but she finally stops when she hears the apprehension in her voice, following the point of her finger down to look at his own chest. 

"... What the--" It looks odd, all puffed up and strange like he'd stuffed something up his shirt, and he reaches up and pulls at his collar to peek... Immediately, a soft scene wafts up, and his face screws up at the sight of lightly pink petals. 

"Wh-what the fuck is this...?" he exhales out shakily. It was the same as earlier, pink and velvety-- He backs up a little, pushing off his sleeve to see the fully bloomed pink rose sitting square on his wrist. His breath rushes out of him in horror before he grabs it and tries to yank it out, only to let out a cry of pain when not only did it stay in place, but he could literally see where the roots were settled under his skin, spreading out like veins. 

"It's-- it's not coming off," he whines out in distress, returning back to looking at the matching roses on his chest. He wants to rip his shirt off and see just how many were there, but... he didn't want to do it in front of Kendou.

Kendou is shocked at his reaction, when she saw the flower she was freaked out; but looking at Monoma’s freaked out face, she knew that she has to at least calm him down first.” “Shhh- Shhh- Shhh” Kendou shushes, trying to sloth him down to a somewhat relaxed state. Kendou holds onto his arms and looks into his eyes. “Hey, look at me. Monoma, look at me.” She says bringing his attention to her. “Now don’t look at anything else and focus on me.” She mover her hands gently over the the flowers growing out of his body, she couldn’t help but wonder how this happened to him. But, she couldn’t worry at the moment when Monoma needs someone to help him stay calm. So she kept a smile on her face and kept observing the beautiful flowers. Kendou touches the flowers with care, they were beautiful flowers, but she was mostly attracted to the pink ones. She decided to treat them carefully as they’re connected to Monoma’s body somehow. Throughout the time spent observing Monoma’s flowers, she felt a burn and itching on her collarbone increase...

"B-but-- but--" Shaking violently, he did his best to follow her instructions, focusing on her face despite how much he wanted to see what was happening to him. Not looking only made him imagine the worst, it made him hypersensitive to the feeling of them sitting on his skin. Beautiful as they were, they really only made him feel dirty, violated somehow by their intrusion. It had to be a quirk of some sort, but when had anyone had the chance to...? His eyes wandered a little, off her face and down along the line of her neck, and then he let out a yelp, scrambling away from her. "Th-there's one too!" he shouted out, pointing to the deep, rich pink blossoming onto her. "God, what the fuck is all this!?"

Kendou was really confused, he was just fine. Then she noticed a pink flower down her neck where the itch was, there was a pink flower there too. Kendou let out a yelp and looked at Monoma with wide eyes. Were they contagious? What happened? Is it quirk related? She ran all the way to the mirror and looked at her self, it looked beautiful. She started having a panic attack, there were flowers growing around her neck into the shape of a beautiful flower. “M-Monoma? I-Is what... ever it is t-that you ha-have contagious?” She coughed out. She was still standing in front of the full body mirror, staring at her neck, as her wrists started to itch as well...

"I don't--" Monoma scrambled off the bed, horrified. He felt sick to his stomach, guilt and revulsion attacking his insides as he inched helplessly a few steps closer to her, then shook his head and backed away. "I-- I d-don't know, oh fuck..." He wanted to help her, but he's so afraid to get close to her in case it gets worse. Wringing his hands, he twisted one of the roses under his wrist, wincing at the pain but continuing to dig at it like if he could just remove it from himself, he could seperate them from her. After all, if it was all his fault that she was like this-...! It was the only thing that really made sense to him. "K-Kendou, I don't know what to do...!" he whimpered out pathetically, tears starting to fill his eyes again.

Seeing the state he’s in, Kendou gets worried and goes over to him. She hold his hands distancing them from the beautiful flowers. “Don’t hurt them.” She says softly. “And it’s ok if you don’t know what to do, we’ll figure this out, together.” Kendou wasn’t sure of what to do, but out of no where, she took Monoma’s hand, which she was already holding onto and brought it to her flowers. “Feel it, be gentle... it didn’t hurt when I was just touching it.” She showed him how she touched her flowers gently. “Now, you try.”

Monoma whimpered for a second, retreating away from her the second she tried to come close again until his back hit the wall and he had nowhere to go. Giving her another pitiful look, he frowned down at their hands, staring hard at the pink flowers that decorated both of their skin. "... Kendou," he whispered morosely, shaking his head again, but he followed her instructions nonetheless. They were soft and delicate to the touch, completely unassuming and seemingly innocent. But that didn't make him feel better... He also didn't want her to worry about him anymore, so he forced himself to fix his expression, his lips pursing as he brushed his fingers along the petals. "... w-well, at least they're pretty," he mumbled, not knowing what else he could possibly say...

Kendou knew he was faking, but she went with it, because she knew Monoma and she needed for him not to worry about him for now. “They are pretty. It’s in the shape of a necklace.” She whispers with a smile, still a bit freaked out. After a couple minutes, she realizes how close they are and she becomes stiff and shy.

"... I suppose it is a necklace..." Monoma murmurs, lost in thought as he traces the line of flowers that surround her neck. At least they didn't seem to be hurting her, which was more than he could say for himself, but that tiny little detail was a relief... It was quiet. When that little fact dawned to him he blinked, raising his eyes to meet hers. "... are you okay...? You're not... saying anything..." He paused, then looked away, light blush returning to his cheek. "I'm... sorry about all this, Kendou... whatever this is, um... but, some of this was nice at least..."

“...Uh, yeah...” Was all Kendou said, before she realized that they didn’t get to hang out like she’d plan, but then again nothing ever goes as planned when it comes to Monoma.. for better or for worse... Kendou shudders at the touch of Monoma’s fingers on the fliers aligning her neck. Then she starts goggling as it started to tickle. “Mo-Mono-noma... it tickles...” She says still laughing.

"... Does it...?" Monoma asks, grin twisting into something devious. He can't help but tickle his fingers through the flowers at first as he watches her reaction, but then moves to tickle her stomach and under her arms, trying to get her in as many places as possible, the sound of her laughter finally bringing a bright smile to his otherwise completely exhausted features.

“N-No! Stop!” She squealed laughing. Kendou finds herself walking backwards as Monoma keeps tickling her and fell backwards and let out a small squeak and she lands onto the bed.

"O-oops..." Monoma flinches a little as she falls, worried for a split second that she was hurt before he hesitates and climbs back onto the bed with her, settling besides her and shyly reaching out to touch one of the flowers again. "... You okay?" he asks as his fingers drift over to her hair again, brushing the askew strands away from her face.

Kendou giggles a bit at his touch, she then look at him with a big smile on her face and she’s met with Monoma’s face so close to her’s once again. “Yeah, I’m ok...” She whispers, “What about you?” While she asks Monoma that question, her hand subconsciously cups his face.

"..." Monoma's hand raise to cover Kendou's and he lets out a sigh, closing his eyes to the feeling. "... I'm okay," *he whispers back to her, the quiet between them making his heart race with anticipation and nerves.

 "I'm-... I guess I'm just, ah... happy." He lets out a breathy chuckle at that, feeling a little stunned at his own words. "It's... been a while since I got to be, I guess, so, um... thanks for this..."

"You're welcome." Kendou whispers. She then inches closer to Monoma, but hesitates before placing another kiss on his soft lips. She felt butterflies erupt in her stomach once more and she smiles at the feeling.

Monoma can't help but smile as well when he feels her doing it. It feels infectious, making him feel so giddy he almost wants to start laughing. He kisses her back, being careful to cup her face with both of his hands gently cradling her jaw.

Kendou then breaks the kiss and sits up properly on the bed. “Hey, want to want another movie?” She asks raising a brow and smiling. She was forced to stop kissing Monoma by another itch on her wrists, ‘it could be another flower’, she thought.

Monoma falters at that. He can't even answer at first, spluttering a little in disappointment until he frowns, then sighs a little, shifting himself into a more comfortable position on the bed. "Another movie sounds good," he says tiredly, scooting closer so he could nestle his head against her shoulder.

When Monoma laid his head on Kendou’s shoulder, his hair tickled her neck causing Kendou to laugh a little. She hugged one of Monoma’s hand, laid her head on Monoma’s and proceeded to watch a movie that she picked, ‘Crazy Stupid Love’. She’s never watched it before, but looking at the title, she thought it would be perfect because the title itself explains Kendou’s feelings for Monoma, in just three words.

Monoma blushes as Kendou's hand finds its way entwined with his, daring to give it a small squeeze as they settle. He can barely even pay attention to the movie, only able to keep glancing in her direction to study her face until the exhaustion of the day finally, finally catches up with him. He falls asleep to the soft warmth of her against his side, barely even noticing another pink flower winding its way along his shoulder, petals reaching up like they wanted to touch her cheek for him.

Kendou’s eyes start to drape, heavy with sleepiness. Just as she’s about to fall asleep she feels a slight tickle on her cheek. She opens her eyes and sees one of Monoma’s flowers reaching out to her. She smiles and reaches for it, then notices that there’s another flower growing around her wrist, like a bracelet. It was really pretty. Kendou continued to reach out to the flower, she admired it for a bit before she kissed a sleeping Monoma on her forehead and fell asleep herself.

Eventually, light starts to shine over the two of them. Monoma grimaces at the brightness on his eyelids, becoming more and more aware of music playing from a little ways off. When he opens his eyes, he acknowledges the dvd menu still playing, advertising the movie they never got a chance to finish. 

He starts to sit up before he stops. There's a weight in his chest, making him realize he'd moved at some point during the night. Kendou's head lay cradled in his chest. He blushes instantly, going rigid with shock. Had they really fallen asleep in such a...compromising position?!? 

"Ahh...." He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to wake her up and have her freak out on him. ... Plus she was warm... Biting his lip a little, he reaches down and shakes her shoulder a little, flushing more the longer it took to wake her up. "....Kendou, c'mon.. Wake up."

Kendou felt someone trying to wake her, but she didn’t want to wake up. She was comfortable, warm and it felt perfect, she wanted to sleep some more. 

Then she heard a familiar voice calling out to her, she was a bit confused because she thought that she was in her room. She then realized who’s voice it was, she also realized that she was sleeping in someone’s chest and shot up. 

“Oh my god Monoma. I-I’m sorry, I just fell asleep and... yeah.”

 Then she quickly checked the time because it was a school day and she couldn’t miss her classes. Once she found her phone, she freaked out as she was about to be late for class. 

“I’m-I-I’ve got to get to class, I’m going to be late. See you later Monoma.” She said as she dashed out the room.

[ua-monoma]

#PROKENDOU MOTHERFUCKER YOUVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR SO LONG AND EVERYONE ELSE JUST WANTS TO BONE YOU

Is that so

[ua-monoma]

He doesn’t move until the sun starts to ride. He spends the whole time thinking.

He kind of has to. His heart hurts too much to do much else.

Eventually, he rolls over in bed, frowning at the mess. He’s long since sobered up by now but he hadn’t thought to clean when it was still fresh. It would be more bothersome now...

Sighing, he reaches down and grabs Iida’s pillow. He means to give it a squeeze, or replace it back in its place on his bed, but something draws his eye.

Little dots of something dark, seeped into the fabric.

Dread starts to latch onto him.

It’s not hard to guess it’s blood, but why...? He hadn’t even nearly been drinking as much as that night.

Frowning, he scratches at the stains a little bit, watching morosely as it gathers under his fingernail. He notes the old, awful taste in his mouth, stale, bitter and metallic. Liquor and gore. His chest continues to ache on, and, slowly, it dawns to him, that, maybe...

Dropping the pillow, he moves to his mirror. He looks a mess, having neglected himself for days. The bandages he was supposed to be taking care of were ragged where they loosely still clung to his skin.

He opens his shirt, seeing the scars for the first time.

Seeing...

“... haha...” 

That explained it.

He grins to himself, exhaustion clear as he searches his delirious reflection, seeing where the flowers had marked his skin, made it pale and white like a corpse. He sees where the skin is raised like flower stems. He sees where the smallest of buds, practically microscopic and still partially hidden under his skin, gathers over his heart like a fungus, a hungry trail creeping up like veins up and up until they disappeared just under his throat, where he still had his stitches. Moving to touch them, he lets out a sickly giggle, digging a nail under the closest little bud.

Iida had been wrong. He hadn’t been cured at all.

He had... proof.

His smile grows. He knew he hadn’t been lying... He knew it.

And he couldn’t wait to tell him.

[ua-monoma]

I think you and Iida match well. He cares about you and he lets go around you ((#proiida))

… Oh. Does he…?

I don’t see how he is around his friends a lot. Never paid attention.

So.

[ua-monoma]

Iida is a really nice guy.

[vague smile.] Yeah. He really is.

[ua-monoma]

((ua-mitsuki)) you are okay right? You couldnt breathe last time we were together

Um... Yeah, I feel fine. I think. Nothing’s really been bothering me after the fact... The bandages are kind of annoying but I can deal with them.

[ua-monoma]

Monoma finally puts his phone down.

His smile fades.

It’s bright outside again and he shifts a little in his bed so he can face his window, his expression softening into something pensive.

It feels nice, being in his room again. Fresh. Clean, without any of that sterile stench in the air. Hospitals always smelled like people dying, inside and out. Right now, he feels revitalized. Like a new person. A little bit like he used to feel, before...

... He can only assume, anyway. It’s been a rough few weeks.

At least he’d be allowed back in class soon. The doctor’s note he’d taken back with him from the emergency room advised a day or two off, so that was taken care of, but he really hates the thought of falling behind anymore. He feels so antsy, with nothing really left to do but analyze what happened.  

 He’s... glad things are calming down. And that he has time to think about it all, now. He just wishes it hadn’t gotten so far...

Sighing a little, his fingers drift to his wrists. There would be scars left over from the incident, he’d been warned. Marks left by the violent way the flowers had left his body. Even more by the clinical way they’d been sliced off. He’d probably have to change his bandages soon... He should get to that before he goes back to the casual fun he was having online. It might even put him in an even better mood, to see how much he was healing. Because he really was feeling better...!

... He was definitely feeling something. 

...... Maybe.

Either way.

He’ll have to figure that out later... once he was done.

[ua-monoma]

Fucking neck hurts, what the fuck...

[ua-monoma]

Kinda surprised Iida's flowers havent killed him

,,,