Chapter Text
Test tube was dragging Fan throughout her lab, Fan kept asking questions that were left unanswered as she kept moving on. Test tube walked towards a desk and stopped in front of it, she then took a chair and sat down, she took out her laptop, and started to frantically look for something on it.
Fan grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it next to Test tube’s, and then sat.
“I found something that matched Poppy’s symptoms” She suddenly said “I wanted to show you first though.”
Fan looked confused, but nevertheless, he signaled for Test tube to continue. She sighed and pulled up something on the computer, it seemed to be some sort of official medical page, and she turned the screen towards Fan—then she pointed at the title of the page.
Fan squinted and read the title out loud.
“..Hanahaki? What’s that?” Fan asked “I’ve never heard of it” He remarked.
“It says that the disease causes flower growth in the lungs, causing the person to cough up blood and alongside flower petals.” She replied, turning the laptop to face her.
A moment of silence filled the room.
“But what causes it?” Fan asked
Test tube started to read from the screen in front of her and gave a short explanation of what causes it.
“It’s caused by unrequited love, Fan”
Fan was speechless, how were they supposed to cure that?, he stared blankly at Test tube for a good while.
“How are we supposed to cure that?” Fan suddenly asked, becoming frantic.
“There’s 2 cures” Test tube said matter of factly “We can either find the person they love, or surgically remove it and they could potentially lose the ability to love entirely”
Fan kept staring at Test tube for a while, still processing the absurdity of these 2 options.
“Well I mean, they deserve to love someone, what happens if who they love doesn’t reciprocate it?”
Test tube looked hesitant to answer and it took her a while to actually formulate an answer.
“It can lead to potential death.” Test tube said, not daring to look Fan in the eyes.
She sighed “I’ve got to tell them. And it’s not gonna be easy to break the news”
Fan tried to mumble something in agreement, but Test tube had already stood up and closed her laptop, starting to walk back to the room where Poppy and Bot were—Fan stood up and quickly followed behind.
When they finally made it, Test tube opened the door to find Bot comforting Poppy, she seemed confused, but nonetheless she headed towards her chair, sat down and put her laptop on the desk. She turned to face them, taking a deep breath before speaking.
“We found what’s wrong with Poppy.” she said “You have something called Hanahaki disease. It’s mainly caused by unrequited love”
After saying this, the air in the room seemed to tense up—Test tube saw that Poppy was getting uncomfortable and asked Fan and Bot to step outside for a bit. Outside Bot and Fan sat down on a nearby bench.
“...Will Poppy be okay?” Bot asked, staring at the floor
“I.. I don’t know, Bot” Fan replied “But we’ll find a way”
They sat in silence for a while before Bot stood up and faced Fan.
“I’m going to make Poppy some tea, I know their favorite” Bot said before heading towards the little kitchen Test tube has.
—
Back in the room, Poppy had started to shake a bit and wouldn’t meet Test tube’s eyes. Test tube sighed and placed a gentle hand on their shoulder.
“Look, there is a cure. You can confess your feelings to who you like—or we could surgically remove it, but you will lose your ability to love.” she explained “You don’t have to decide now, take it slow, stress could affect you right now. Rest for now”
After that, Test tube stood up left the room and Bot came in with a cup of tea—they walked over to the bedside and placed the cup on the stand, they then sat down in the chair beside.
“It’s for you, it’s your favorite” Bot said
Poppy hesitantly grabbed the cup and then took a sip, the tea was warm in their cold hands.
“Thanks” Poppy said in a soft tone
“Figured you needed it.” Bot replied, smiling softly at them
Poppy giggled then gazed at them, finally realizing that what they felt for Bot was real, and that it was causing them to be sick—it seemed like love is a rose whose thorns tear at your lungs.