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A petal, that's what stood in his hand with droplets of blood, what were just light coughs turned into this
The doctor at first was confused, fear only lasting a second as his curiosity lit up, he wondered how could a human being be forced to cough up flowers as the records of such disease were minuscule... But, he needed to keep this under wraps, after all, wasn't this about love? Doesn't matter for now, he had a meeting to attend to with, for his dismay, Aventurine of the Stratagems, he was sure he was going to get a headache.
...
The meeting would only give him a Headache, so why was he now hunched over a toilet coughing non stop blood with beautiful flower, peonies and white clovers turned ruby because of his blood if he's not mistaken.
Aventurine was outside the door knocking softly as if he was unsure if he should, but the coughs that he heard from the other side of the door were concerning.
This continued for a few minutes until he was just wheezing, trying to get air to his longs, body no longer throwing up more flowers was a bad sign, he needed to get out, reschedule the meeting for another time, he couldn't let the other know, it wasn't posible that he was the cause, its unthinkable, he couldn't be.. he refused to believe such nonsense.
And that he did, once he was composed enough, he stood up, cleaned the blood quickly and stormed out of the room while giving a fast excuse, Aventurine tried to stop him, a look of concern flashed for half a second on his face but it quickly disappeared, being replaced by his usual smile while he tried to convince him to stay.
The doctor just shrugged him off and left(escaped?) the room as he felt another coughing fit raising from his throat.
Now he knew for sure it wasn't about love, after all, how could he, a scholar, someone driven by logic, suffer from falling for such an incomprehensible being, a system of Chaos, he... He just couldn't be..
And even if he did, the probability of that man loving him back was imposible, there was not even a slim chance, that man probably just tolerated him at most, all the people he knew did that, tolerated him, but of course they did, no one likes the full truth, nothing indicated that Aventurine was different, he should just suck it up, evade him if necessary, if interacting with him was what caused him to suffer then he should cut it from the source, this wasn't something he wanted to study anymore as everything was quite clear for him, he just needed to force himself to get over it, after all, it couldn't be more than a little "crush" as those empty minded people called it.
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For the next few days Aventurine tried and tried to get in contact with Ratio, after all, what happened in that meeting was stuck in his head, it's not in character for the doctor to just run like that, the man was blunt and harsh at worst, he affronted his problems head first, so why did he run with a badly made lie on his lips?
His face was pale, his body was expelling the intrusion on his breathing pipes, blood and beautiful flowers fully bloomed falling to the floor after he was not fast enough to reach the bathroom, this needed to stop but Aventurine was being stubborn, just when he didn't want to see the man, he appeared everywhere he went trying to talk to him, with that damned smi-
his coughing worsened, he couldn't breathe, his vision was being covered with black spots, ears full of cotton, he distantly heard someone shout his name, it sounded familiar...
Everything turned black.
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Aventurine was just heading to try to talk to the doctor on his office and found him coughing like a sick dog and blood with flowers coming out of his mouth, he yelled his name in worry, his calm mask he had when coming in completely shattered with the sight presented to him, he ran to his side and crouched down to check on him, he didn't know what to do for a second but he remembers bits of what the doctor told him to do when someone was vomiting, he placed the doctor on his side as to not choke more than he already was with the bloodied flowers and called the medical staff immediately, the doctor was already unconscious, face very pale and dark circles under his eyes, Aventurine hoped he wouldn't lose him too, so he stayed next to him even when the medical staff arrived and after he was connected to machines to monitor his decaying health.
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When he woke up, he saw first the white tiles of the hospital ceiling, his vision still blurry barely catching the lines in between each, he heard a light snore coming from his right side.
Feeling his brain slowly clearing up, he also felt weight in his hand, with some effort he slowly moved his head in the direction of the noise, the first thing he saw was blonde locks messily laid next to him in his medical bed, the next thing he noticed was the small tears in those closed sleeping eyes, he looked exhausted... He could barely remember what happened, but he soon figured out that he probably had another coughing fit that made him faint, but that meant... Aventurine saw the flowers, he knewheknowhewillhatehimhewillbedisgusted-
The sound of the shuffle of clothing snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts. Of course he won't do that, what is he thinking, assuming it's an idiotic thing to do, that is beneath him.
Aventurines questioning voice made him come down from his head, and made him freeze for a second, fearing that it will cause another fit, when it didn't, he looked back at his worried face, the hand holding his tightened, Aventurine asked again his question after noticing that the doctor didn't hear him the first time, Ratio stayed silent, he didn't know how to feel, Aventurine was asking him if he was okay and he just couldn't answer, after all, he didn't know, he assumed that staying away from Aventurine would keep the symptoms away, but it just worsened, but seeing him here, worried about him, made his chest feel lighter, maybe there was a chance..? Maybe he didn't just tolerate him if he's willing to stay by his side..
He finally responded, giving him the truth, the undeniable truth, the sickness that was haunting him, the reason of his evasion towards the other. He figured he couldn't escape confrontation any longer, after all, his body could not handle it any longer
The gambler listened to him in silence for the first time ever, no teasing remarks or light jabs, not even that sly smile that he always wore.
He didn't notice the tears flowing from his eyes until the other wiped them off softly with his thumb, it appears that he hadn't realized how repressed his feelings were.
Aventurine chuckled lightly, catching the doctor by surprise, he told him that this was the first time he has ever acted so irrationally in the time he has known him, Ratio thought the other was teasing him, but the gambler remained with a sad look on his features
"Don't worry Veritas, maybe you thought that I didn't love you but, I guess I overestimated your ability to read me" he said as his smile slowly showed in his face, but this time, it looked sincere.
After processing the words the other said, the machine monitoring his heart started beeping rapidly, giving away the happiness he felt at hearing those words.
Then he felt something trying to climb up his throat, making him cough harshly, but it felt different, Aventurine quickly stood up about to call the medics, but Ratio stopped him, shoving his fingers in his mouth trying to pull whatever that was stuck, it made him gag, but it helped him get the flowers that were choking him completely out, when he looked down at his hands, he saw the peonies with the white clovers that even had its roots, his body completely removed the beautiful flowers that were plaguing his lungs.
After coming out of his shock, he felt arms wrap around his body, giving him a warm comfort, the other asked him if he's sure he's completely okay and really doesn't want him to call the doctors, he responded with a slow shake of his head, reciprocating the tight hug the other was giving him.
When the other finally let go of him, he cupped his face in his hands and asked him "Does this mean...that you are willing to be... With me?" The other just looked at him like he said the most out of place thing ever, Ratio looked at him with expectant eyes, waiting for the other to do something, that's when the other placed his hand on the back of his head and pressed his lips on his, the first thing Aventurine tasted on him was the blood that remained in the insides of Ratios mouth but completely ignored it in favour to explore the other, ratios hands that were still cupping the others face snaked to the back of the others back to embrace him while letting the other kiss him like his life depended on it.
When they finally separated, Aventurine asked him teasingly "Does that answer your question Veritas~" the doctor let out a scoff "you can't think I'm possibly that stupid to not understand after that dear Gambler" Aventurine just laughed in response and laid his head in the others shoulder, and ratio felt like he needed to say it
"I love you"