0--------0 (its a car- or a face)

Techno woke up with a start, noticing he was on the couch. A blanket was thrown over his body, wrapping him tight enough so that he wouldn't be uncomfortable, but loose enough so that he was able to move and wasn't suffocating. 

His throat felt alot better aswell-- what did the UK put in their medicine that America didn't? Step up your game.

The second thing he noticed was the silence hanging heavy in the air. No one was around, it was like the place was abandoned- but it wasn't, his friends were just behind the walls. The voices didn't seem to acknowledge that, shouting and shrieking louder than before. Telling him to kill- telling him to let out the tension and stress on some poor soul that got in his way.

Techno coughed weakly, which of course, led to an entire coughing fit. It ended with him retching into the trash can ("Bin," Wilbur had told him.) and noticing the petals looked more developed this time. The thorns were bigger, too, and this time, he even managed to cough up a leaf. 

When he got up and wiped his mouth clean of blood, washed his hands, and disposed of the blood-filled bag in the can, he came back to a now perfectly awake Tubbo, who looked at him sadly.

"You should confess soon, the flowers looked big." Tubbo advised, worry in his eyes. "Roses, huh?"

"Mhm," Techno hummed. 

"Confess soon. Please. It's not worth it, to keep these in your lungs, it's not okay. You're putting yourself through so much doing this, some people don't recover." Tubbo averted his eyes, clearly carefully thinking about it. 

"How do you know so much about this?" Techno tilted his head, getting himself a glass of water to clear his throat. 

Tubbo looked backwards, confirming something, before turning back to Techno and speaking in a low, quiet voice. "Tommy had it once."

"He did?" Techno was surprised by that- Tommy? He never seemed to- oh. Now he remembers. Now he understands. The signs were there, he was just unaware of what the disease actually was and how it showed itself.

"Platonic love, yeah. In a friendship way." Tubbo nodded, smiling slightly. 

"Oh. OH." Techno connected the dots, not being able to help a smile on his own face. "For you?"

The joy died away just as fast.

"How long?" He asked softly.

"He was dying when I found him, curled up in his bathroom, flowers growing from his mouth and choking him to death." Tubbo shuddered, and Techno felt horrified by the image that left in his mind. Tommy, sobbing desperately, gasping for air even though none would come, blood and flowers pouring out of his mouth.

"Oh my god, that must've been..."

"He did die, actually." Tubbo shrugged, wincing. "He was shocked back by the doctors because his heart was healthy enough an-"

"Telling my heroic story on how I kicked Hanahaki's ass?" Tommy yawned, and now that Techno looked closer, he did have scarred lips and throat.

"It was not heroic, you died!" Tubbo protested, grabbing a fistful of Tommy's shirt and shaking the boy back and forth in a joking manner.

"It was heroic as fuck." Tommy stated matter-of-factly, "And I'm alive, now!"

"So you really can die from this." Techno knew this, but his mind was finally registering it. Of course you'd die, not only from throwing up bucket-fulls of blood. Okay, maybe it was like, a plate-full... Or a bowl-full, but- that wasn't important. "Well, I already know why I have it."

"Tell us?" Tubbo and Tommy asked, their voices alot quieter now that they weren't drunk from lack of sleep. 

"No." Techno shook his head, unable to stop the tears that filled his eyes. "I can't. It'd- It'd hurt you."

"We won't think of you any different," Tommy offered.

"Unless it's something illegal." Tubbo added. "Like, a kid or something."

"No- dear god, no. Nothing like that." Techno made a 'pffft' sound. "No."

"Good, then I don't see what's so bad about it," Tubbo smiled. Tommy hovered behind him, but eventually decided he had good enough hearing that he could go to the kitchen and snatch something to eat while they spoke.

"You wouldn't get it." Techno winced, wishing he couldn't easily see Tubbo dead infront of him, his blood on Techno's hands.

"I totally would!" Tubbo challenged.

"What're you pestering Techno about now? Still hung up on the love thing?" Wilbur spoke sleepily from the doorway, evident that he just woke up. 

"Leave the man alone," Phil laughed, immediately making his way to the kitchen for some kind of energy. 

"Yeah, listen to Dad and leave him alone." Wilbur yawned, scrolling on his phone. "What do we want to do today?" 

"Maybe we could go somewhere to eat, get to know what everyone's been doing, and stream? Or is it too early for that? We all just kinda disappeared from all social media.. Except Techno, you don't tweet often anyway, so you're in the clear, loverboy." Wilbur stifled a laugh in the sleeve of his amber honey-colored sweater.

"I like the idea of streaming- but, one small issue." Phil said, "What if Techno gets sick and has to rush out suddenly? What would our cover story be?"

"Well, how often have you been having coughing fits?" Tommy asked, earning confused glances from Wilbur and Phil. This kid knew nothing about Hanahaki--- they didn't know his story yet. And neither do you. Yet.

"Not very often, maybe once ever two hours." Techno responded plainly, mind stuck on the idea of food. Is food in this area different from America, besides the names? Ooooh, he really wanted to try and see, now.

"Perfect, then we won't say much and say that you had to use the bathroom, or we could just say you're a little travel sick. We don't need to say when you got here." Wilbur smiled, grabbing his keys from the counter.

"Shall we get going, then?"