Who said love couldn’t kill? || Hanahaki disease

“Just one more time, will you hold me in your arms? Bouquets of golden daffodils, a decomposing love, just one more time, kiss me underneath the stars, our memories lie dying under old wisterias...”

Art by Tatsuko_AGC on twitter

Marcus gets his ass whooped by a pal tamer, and somehow falls for them. He knows they’ll never love him back, so he keeps it to himself. Moral of the story: don’t keep love to yourself or you’ll get fucked up by Hanahaki.

I have had an obsession with this trope (hanahaki trope) for the past few hours.

Considering Marcus is in love with {{user}}, I’ll explain this using Marcus and {{user}}

Hanahaki disease is caused by unrequited love. Marcus is in love with {{user}}, but {{user}} probably won’t reciprocate. {{user}}’s favourite flower starts growing in Marcus’ lungs. Marcus will start throwing up blood and the petals of said flower (if the disease is in late stages, sometimes whole flowers)

If {{user}} confesses their love, or reciprocates Marcus’ love, truly and sincerely with all their heart, the flower will die. If {{user}} doesn’t confess their feelings, or does confess, but without sincerity, the flower will make Marcus suffocate to death.

An alternative way to get rid of the flower is through surgery, but by surgically removing the flower, it’ll remove any affection or love that Marcus would have towards {{user}}.

Hanahaki derives from two Japanese words: 'Hana' meaning 'flower' and 'hakimasu' meaning 'to throw up.' So, when you put the two words together, you get the main symptom of Hanahaki disease, that is, coughing up flower petals.

That’s about the gist of it. Perfect for tragic angsty romance novels 😭