Saeran's heart was pounding in his chest as he drove to MC's dorm. Everything had been okay. It wasn't good. It wasn't even smooth. But they were moving as best they could and MC had been clueless and V, while intimidating, was dormant.

But now, it seemed like V had his own plans. Saeran didn't know what they were, but from what he could tell, they weren't good. V already had Rika, and she was hurting enough already. Saeran had tried distancing himself from the two of them after Jumin's death, but it was hard since Yoosung and Rika were family. He wasn't about to force his boyfriend to leave his cousin in her poor mental state.

Saeran gripped the steering wheel as he pulled into the campus, thinking over what he was supposed to say. He hadn't thought much of anything when he left the house. Saeyoung had been in the kitchen, something surprising, and Saeran had smiled at him as he ran outside, hoping that maybe it could be the silver lining to this mess- that Saeyoung was finally starting to heal.

Saeran had always been the one to be taken care of. The weak one, the dumber, the lesser. It felt strange taking care of Saeyoung, making him get out of bed to shower and eat. Something about the way that Saeyoung was standing at the counter, though,  gave Saeran a little bit of hope.

If he couldn't sort this mess out with MC, how would he ever be able to sort out the fragile relationship between him and his brother? And V was a whole other problem in its own. Why was everything crashing down now? And why did it feel like it was all Saeran's fault?

Because it is, sneered a voice from inside his head. The voice sounded exactly like V's deep baritone. Saeran scowled at it and parked, yanking his keys from the ignition and jogging from his car to the dorm.

It took all of his patience to stand calmly at MC's door after he knocked, thinking over what he could say as he came up with nothing each and every time. There was a dull thump and a yelp of pain, then a, "Come in!"

Upon entering, Saeran immediately noticed MC awkwardly trying to restack a large pile of textbooks on his desk, smiling sheepishly.

"Saeran!" He exclaimed, running forward and throwing his arms around his friend, smiling happily.

Saeran frowned, "What are you wearing?"

MC pulled back and blushed lightly, smoothing his hands over the white dress which stopped right above his knees, made of slippery, expensive material. This must have been what V was talking about on the phone. Saeran looked over MC in discomfort. He didn't like the idea that MC was wearing a gift from V.

But his best friend had already moved on. "So!" He started, "Last night I had dinner with V and he was being all nice and sweet and GUESS what HAPPENED?" MC paced the space between the two beds in the dorm, the fabric of his new dress swishing around his thighs. Saeran waited for MC to continue.

"We made out. Like hot and heavy. He's a good kisser. Ugh. But then, this morning, it got me thinking. What the fuck is going to happen with Rika? I'm not trying to be a home-wrecker. Actually, V was the one to kiss me," he rambled, hands thrown up in exaggeration.

MC snapped out of his rant and looked at Saeran quizzically. "Wait, what are you doing here anyways?"

Saeran took in MC, watching the way his face was obliviously happy, his light brown hair messy and beautiful. Saeran loved Yoosung with his whole heart. But sometimes he couldn't help but wish he had loved MC too. Maybe then this whole thing wouldn't have happened. Maybe then he could have kept him safe.

Saeran sat down on MC's small bed and patted the striped duvet beside him to gesture to MC to sit down. MC's side was neat, books on the desk and nightstand, binders and folders and pencils in their appropriate places.

Saeran remembered last year when MC had been a senior for the second time, how reluctant he'd been to do his work, how lazy and laid-back and subtly sly he'd been. Saeran realized with a dull pang that it was something MC had picked up from him. And that part of MC had been erased with the rest of the memories that contained any traces of lust or love between the two of them.

MC sat down elegantly and the fabric of his dress hitched up the pale, shaven skin of his thighs. Saeran had left marks along the insides of those thighs and the curve of MC's neck, dark purple bruises that made MC discouraged. Saeran had felt MC's nails drag down his back, their breath in sync, sweat dripping down his forehead and MC's hair splayed out like a halo on the sheets.

It had been beautiful in its own way. MC had been beautiful. The black rose that bloomed from his lips had been the most terrifyingly gorgeous thing Saeran had ever seen. But this MC, the one who didn't know of those beautiful moments, was an imposter. And he'd be corrupted by V in an instant. This wasn't the MC that Saeran had met in math class at 17. This was a ghost- a pleasanter, translucent apparition of the boy Saeran had befriended.

"MC, there's something we need to talk about," Saeran started. He felt sick. MC's dark brown eyes bore holes in the side of his head but he couldn't meet his best friend's gaze. If he did, he'd never be able to tell him the truth.

"You remember your procedure, right?"

MC nodded, his hand floating up to his ribcage, and Saeran could picture the long, white scar that ran between the bones, once opened to extract that damn flower.

"It wasn't lung surgery," he made himself say. And then it was a floodgate. Saeran stared at his lap as the words spilled out of his mouth.

"After we met two and a half years ago, we started hooking up. It was a friends with benefits kind of thing. No strings attached. Except somewhere along the way, you got feelings for me and something happened. You... well, Jumin wrote that- I guess, you started throwing- no, coughing up flower pedals. He wrote that yours were yellow roses.

"And then, I guess, it got worse and you came over to my place and you started coughing up this black rose and you passed out. And then, when they brought you in for surgery, there were flowers blooming in your lungs. They got taken out and Jumin wrote that your feelings for me went away too. So you can't remember any of the memories we had together that were... intimate.

"And then it turned out that Jumin had the same thing, MC, and that he didn't get it removed because he didn't want to stop loving V so he died. And now V is trying to use you, I don't know why, and I can't let that happen." Saeran looked up, pleading, "Oh god, I can't let that happen."

He made himself look at MC. His pink lips had made a round 'o' of surprise, but after a few seconds, he burst out laughing. "You had me for a few seconds," MC said between laughs, "What the hell are you on?" He giggled, face bright.

Saeran scrambled, like he'd been dangled off a cliff and was searching for purchase. "MC, no, you don't understand-"

MC snorted, "I understand that you're high as an airplane, buddy," he chuckled, then stood, running his hands down his waist and over his hips, admiring the dress. The stupid dress.

"Call Jaehee," Saeran pleaded, "or Zen. Or Yoosung. Just please believe me." He felt pathetic.

MC have him a weirded out look, smiling strangely. "Do I need to take you to the hospital?" He inquired serenely.

Desperate, Saeran stood, grabbing MC's face and jerking his chin up. And then he kissed him.

Saeran didn't know why he was doing what he was doing. Even MC's lips felt different. Maybe he missed their hookups. Maybe he just... "You need to remember," Saeran whispered sorrowfully, pushing back away from a stunned-looking MC. The boy blinked, confused and concerned. He pressed one finger to his lips, as if still feeling the trace of Saeran's.

"Why did you do that?" He whispered, and his small frame was shaking. Saeran wanted to cry.

"I thought it would make you remember," he explained. It didn't mean anything. He knew how dumb it all sounded. How drunk he seemed. How much this hurt.

MC slowly picked up his phone from the bed and tapped a few buttons, then held it up to his ear. Saeran heard it ring, and then a female voice.

"Jaehee?" MC asked. His voice shook like his body, like a leaf on the limb of a tree in autumn. He turned his back to Saeran and spoke softly. "What the hell is going on with Saeran?"

A pause.

"He's acting all strange. Talking about memories and flowers and Jumin."

Pause.

An audible gasp. MC's shoulders curved in towards himself and Saeran wanted nothing more than to hug him.

A longer break.

"I thought-"

Pause.

"Why... why all of this now? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't anyone tell me? How do I know this isn't some joke."

Saeran counted the seconds. 23.

"You guys are messed up. I never wanted to know about this."

18 seconds.

"What am I supposed to do?"

2 seconds. Saeran heard the words clearly. "Trust Saeran."

"Why would I trust him? He's the one who lied the most."

It stung. It hurt.

A few moments later, MC let his hand drop to his thigh. The phone fell out of his hand and hit the floor with a clatter. MC turned slowly, and Saeran noticed he was starting to cry.

"Tell me it's not real."

"I want to."

Saeran swept MC into his arms, pushing the brunette's head under his chin and wrapping his arms around MC's shuddering form. He wanted to take all of this away.

"Don't let it be true," MC cried out weakly and it broke Saeran's heart. "Don't let Jumin be dead because of V. Don't let all of my memories of us be gone. Don't let my friends be a lie."

Saeran held him tightly, shutting his eyes and wishing he could protect his best friend from the darkness that was coming after him. He felt fear fall like a shadow over his heart. Fear of V. Fear of V taking MC and letting those flowers re-bloom. Fear of losing to those roses again.

...

Saeran and MC were on a walk together when Saeran's phone rang. It was dusk, and the sky was filled with red and orange, dying the clouds with color. The two had spent the day inside, talking over memories and what had really happened to Jumin.

Reading, coding, class work, hacking, sleeping, eating. It was uncomfortable when either of them brought up when they had hooked up. It was different now.

They'd gotten out of the small dorm room to get some air before Saeran went back home when the loud ringtone had filled the quiet air.

Saeran picked up.

"Hello?"

"I'm at your house. I have your brother. Bring MC."