Oh girl it's you(good ending)
Red had always scoffed at the idea of love. Her mother always told her it was nothing more than a collection of overhyped emotions, a distraction that kept people from focusing on the real world. Chloe could go on about soulmates and fairy-tale endings like her parents, but Red was immune to all that nonsense. She had better things to do, like working on her art, figuring out how the new timeline worked, and class- though she doesn’t seem it Red’s in all honors and she would like to keep it that way, the advantage of growing up with a personal tutor- and love was a luxury she couldn’t afford and one she didn’t want—something that never seemed worth the trouble. Yet, here she was, sitting at her desk in the dead of night, trying not to cough and wake up Chloe as tiny pink petals gathered on her tongue.
It had started a few weeks ago, a tickle in her throat, something strange that wouldn’t go away. At first, she thought it was just allergies. But when the petals started to appear, delicately fluttering out of her mouth, she realized something was terribly wrong. The flowers, the unmistakable sweet fragrance—she knew what it meant. Hanahaki disease. Unrequited love. The very thing she had always rolled her eyes at, the thing she had never believed in, was slowly consuming her. But there was a catch, a cruel twist of fate: the one person who could save her from this was Chloe, her best friend. And Chloe would never feel the same.
Chloe grew up with the perfect love story of her parents in her ear non stop, how could Red compete with that. No… Chloe needed the knight in shining armor she always dreamed of. Red’s met Ella and Christopher, they were highschool sweethearts, still in love over 20 years since their first dance, still act like they’re in the honeymoon phase, it's disgusting in the cute way…. Red could never be like that, could never be what Chloe deserved.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Red wasn’t supposed to fall in love with her best friend, the one person she could always rely on, who understood her, she couldn’t ruin this friendship. Chloe was kind, beautiful, and completely out of reach, in ways Red had never allowed herself to acknowledge. Yet, every laugh they shared, every touch, every smile only made the flowers inside her chest grow more intense, more suffocating. Each petal that slipped from her lips felt like a betrayal, a confession that Red was too scared to voice.
It’s been 4 and a half weeks since this has started, a month, 32 days… Red has somehow managed to hide this from her roommate the entire time, there’s been close calls but she’s gotten lucky, especially with Hanahaki not being a thing in auradon apparently.
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Red sat at her desk working on her homework, hoping to get it done before Chloe got home since she always messed with Chloe for being so vigilant with her work she didn’t want the same flack. She stretched her arms slightly and yawned but felt a tickle in her throat. She cleared her throat hoping to get rid of it but it almost seemed to make it worse. She cleared it again but it turned into a small coughing fit, Red covering her mouth with one hand and hitting her chest with the other. She pulled her hand back expecting some spit or phlegm but froze when she saw a petal in her hand splattered with blood. “No…”
She immediately stood up and ran to the bathroom, wiping the blood from her lips and rinsing the blood from her mouth, throwing the petal into the toilet and flushing. Maybe it was a fluke, her magic acting up, she didn’t like anyone and certainly didn’t love anyone, she didn’t even know what love felt like.
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Red sat in her bed on her phone- she was still figuring it out, she never had a phone in wonderland but Chloe had bought her one after their first week. She was on this app called tiktok that Chloe had showed her.. Chloe was always showing her new things about auradon that they didn’t have in wonderland, specifically alot of what Chloe said was called electronics..
Red would be totally lost without Chloe, she was so smart and strong and kind, Red was so lucky to have her as a frien- Red coughed heavily, more blood splattered petals fell into her hand. Damn it… what the hell is making her cough again, usually Hanahaki coughing fits had triggers
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Red and Chloe sat on Red’s bed with Chloe’s computer on a binder on the bed in front of them- she swore that putting laptops on beds was bad for some reason and who was Red to argue with the tech expert in the room.
Chloe and Red sit side by side, leaning against the wall behind them and eventually Chloe put her head on Red’s shoulder and Red immediately started coughing heavily, making Chloe sit up and stare at her in shock as Red got up to run to the bathroom, coughing heavily into the toilet and spitting out all the flowers and blood that filled her mouth.
Chloe knocked gently on the door and asked if she was alright, Red spat out one last time and flushed the toilet, washing the blood from her mouth and making sure to check for any petals that missed the toilet. She took in a breath and let one out slowly “yeah princess sorry, something in my throat”
She didn’t know why she felt the need to hide this from Chloe but she just… didn’t want to worry her she supposes, Chloe always had bad anxiety and Red didn’t want to add to it. She stepped out of the bathroom “come on Bluey don’t worry about me, just allergies I guess, I mean I haven't really been exposed to most of auradons plants so i guess its gonna be bad for me this year” she said with a soft laugh as she led them back to her bed
As she layed back down against Chloe’s shoulder, wiping her face again to make sure there was no blood, she suppresses another cough and her eyes widen as she realises her trigger
Chloe… it was always Chloe… Red was in love with her best friend
How the fuck was Red supposed to slow down the disease when she lived with her trigger…
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Red and Chloe sat across from each other in the school café, Red being cautious to keep her thoughts from her best friend which is incredibly hard when her best friend is sitting right across from her and is trying to have a conversation with her. She mostly just smiled and nodded while thinking about other things but she couldn’t help but start coughing as Chloe got excited about something and reached over the table to grab Red’s hand with the biggest grin ever on her face.
Before she can stop it a small pink petal flies out of her mouth and lands on the table in the space between them and Chloe’s eyes widened “uh Red? Did you just cough up a flower?” she asked with a slight laugh and Red bit her tongue, cursing internally
“Uh- I don’t know, must have inhaled it at some point, that’s weird” she shrugged, trying to play this off.. Does she not know about Hanahaki? Any Wonderlandian would’ve spotted the clear tell of coughing up flower petals in an instant as Hanahaki..
“Oh jeez what am I gonna do with you Red” Chloe joked lightly with a smile and continued her story with a large smile
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“Red?” Chloe said as she entered their room, her voice sounding concerned and firm “who is it.” she said with no further context
Red looked up from her sketchbook in confusion “what do you mean princess” she bit her tongue, she wasn’t asking about her disease.. Was she?
“You lied to me, it’s not allergies. I looked up coughing up flowers in the wonderland biology text book we found since we already knew theres a bunch of biological differences between you and me and coughing up flower petals isn’t allergies. It’s a very common magical sickness, and we’re gonna cure it. So who is it”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about princess, I told you I must have just inhaled a flower petal at some point some how” Red tried to say with a smile but it was too strained, her eyebags too dark, her frame too light, she looked sick and Chloe should have seen this earlier, shes not sure how she didn’t
Chloe walked toward her and grabbed the back of her chair “don’t lie to me Red, this is serious. We don’t resolve this and you could die… I’m not gonna lose you. The book says it’s caused by being in love with someone and thinking it’s unrequited, so who is it”
“I… I can’t say, Chloe.. It’s not like it would matter anyway, I know that she doesn’t feel the same way so it wouldn’t matter… I’m not even sure that she’s into girls, I know all you auradonians are weird about sexuality and shit…”
“Red the book says it doesn’t matter whether they feel the same way or not just that you confess to them. Please you can’t just let yourself die over some stupid girl”
“Don’t say that about yo-... don’t talk about her like that… she’s not some stupid girl otherwise it wouldn’t be bad enough to give me Hanahaki…”
Chloe’s voice started to raise, she was getting upset, how could her friend be so uncaring that she was going to die, just say some stupid words and you can live how is it that difficult… “Well if she’s not into you than she’s clearly a little stupid” Chloe couldn’t believe that Red would do this… would rather die than just take a chance “why can’t you just tell her, it would save your life”
“And it would ruin my life to tell her” Red replied solemnly biting her tongue
Chloe’s voice started to raise, she was getting upset, how could her friend be so uncaring that she was going to die, just say some stupid words and you can live how is it that difficult… “IS SOME STUPID FRIENDSHIP REALLY WORTH YOUR LIFE, RED? STOP BEING SO DRAMATIC EVEN IF SHE HATES YOU YOU STILL HAVE ME” tears welled in her eyes as she spoke
Red couldn’t help but start to raise her voice aswell “NOT IF IT’S YOU” she yelled back, panting, not even realising what she said until she catches her breath and sees Chloe standing there staring at her… somehow she both feels lighter in the chest as the flowers fade from her lungs at the confession and a thousand pounds heavier with the bombshell that she just dropped “Ch-chloe I-” before Red could finish her sentence she ran off, locking herself in the bathroom. Stupid stupid stupid, how could she be so gods damned stupid…
“Red” Chloe knocked on the door, a soft laugh in her voice.. Jesus now Red was being made fun of and she didn’t even have the decency to hide the laugh
“Go away” she called back, digginer her nails into her arm and she thought of a plan of escape in her head… she locked herself in the bathroom in a panic but theres no windows here, how was she supposed to escape further with Chloe right outside the door, how could she run. “I’m sorry I’ll ask Uma to move my room tomorrow I don’t want to make you uncomfortable just please leave me alone”
Red hears movement outside the door but not footsteps, more like a sliding and then a small thud and another. “What are you doing” red asks.
“I’m sitting against the door, I don’t know in all the movies they always cut to a scene of a side of a door with the two sitting against it with their heads against it. But I don’t think my movies or books ever covered a panicked confession in the heat of an argument about one dying and then the other having to explain to the panicked girl that she very much does likes girls too and really likes her back”
Red froze.. Did… did she hear her right? No not possible, Chloe could never like her back, she’s clearly just poking fun at her. “It’s not funny to make fun, Charming…” Red mumbles, but what she hears next makes her heart skip a beat, no, makes her fucking flatline.
“I’m not kidding Red… I’m in love with you.- oof” Chloe rubs her head as she falls on the floor from the quick way Red opened the door while she was leaning against it. She opens her eyes back up to see Red staring down at her with wide, curious, almost fearful eyes. “Hey pretty girl, you look good up there” Chloe decides to say which makes Red’s expression turn a little less fearful and a little more ‘ are you seriously flirting with me right now while I’m having a mild panic attack’.
Chloe sat up and pulled herself up by the door frame and turned to Red, grabbing her hands and looking at her “I’m serious Red… ever since merlins office I knew that you were my love story, even if I wasn’t yours”
Red still doesn’t say anything, her brain moving both a hundred miles a minute and steaming from the ears as it struggles to process any of her hundreds of comments and questions and concerns, but finally she lands on one. “That long?”
“No” Chloe replies and it temporarily shatters her heart before Chloe continues “I think it might have been from the moment you threatened to feed me to the jabberwocky”
Red huffs and hits her in the arm “I hate you” she says but it has no bark as she takes a step forward and buries herself in the conjunction between Chloe’s neck and shoulder.
“Hanahaki took my heart from me to give to you… take care of it” she whispers into Chloe’s skin.
Chloe didn't respond, just pulled Red in for a soft kiss