Chapter 7

It had taken some coaxing but Noctis was finally able to find the courage to invite Prompto over again. For almost a week they were barely talking and Noctis could only blame himself. He was trying to avoid Prompto just so he wouldn't see the flowers.

He started to worry that Prompto thought he was pushing him away. There were a couple days where Prompto just told Noctis he wasn't feeling up to hanging out so they didn't. Noctis only could blame himself because he was the one with the messed up feelings. He chose to avoid Prompto and that made Prompto feel all alone.

Now that the Hanahaki Disease had grown worse in Noctis, he didn't want to waste any more time. If he was going to die because of his unrequited love for Prompto, then he wanted to spend as many of his days as he could with him.

"So ready for a night of games and movies?" Noctis asked, stretching his arms out.

"Yeah! It feels good to be doing this again. I'm glad you're feeling better," Prompto replied, smiling slightly.

Noctis pushed forward a smile as best as he could. "Yeah, you too. Guess we must have picked up the same bug or something. Ha ha, right?"

"Oh yeah, I totally got Noctis cooties and that's what happened," Prompto replied as he stuck out his tongue.

"Dude, what are you six?" Noctis asked, trying his best not to laugh.

"I don't know, I thought you were the six-year-old with all your afternoon naps."

"Hey! Those are important naps!"

"Even the ones in class?"

"Yes even the ones in class. Those are the most important!"

This was what Noctis needed. Just some good moment with his best friend that he loved dearly. He could have this night to just kick back and relax with his friend. A night to laugh and just enjoy the good things in his life, like Prompto.

Everything was fine…

Until it wasn't.

Noctis felt a sharp pain in his chest. He nearly fell off the couch as he clutched his sides. He tried to take in some deep breaths, but he ended up only gagging and struggling to breath on the petals rising up in his throat.

"Gotta get to the bathroom…" Noctis thought, pushing to his feet. He was sure he heard Prompto ask him something, but he couldn't focus on that anymore. Everything was being drowned out by his coughing and the lack of air in his lungs.

The room felt like it was spinning and before he realized it, he had collapsed on the floor, gasping for air. His body twitched again and he finally let out another series of hard exhales, rose petals expelling from his mouth in full force.

"Noct!" Prompto shouted as he came closer.

"No…" Noctis thought weakly to himself. "Can't let him know…"

"Noct!" Prompto shouted. "Noct, can you hear me? Shit shit! I gotta… I gotta call Iggy!"

Noctis laid there, coughing up bursts of petals while he heard Prompto shout nervously on the phone, presumably to Iggy. The next moment though Prompto was at his side, his arms placed on his back.

"Noct, h-how bad is it? Are you having any trouble breathing? Shit I mean I know you probably are but like ah… I don't know! I don't know what to do!"

In between his coughs he could hear Prompto panicked sobs. He was causing the distress to his best friend that he never wished could happen. The way Noctis wanted it was to be as discreet as possible. If only there had been another way…

Prompto's own coughing distracted him from finishing his thoughts. Opening his eyes to a teary vision he could see red petals falling to the floor in front of Prompto. But that didn't make any sense.

"What…? Why would Prompto be coughing… rose petals… No he couldn't… why would he have it… doesn't make any sense…"