Unrequited Blooms

Chapter 10

The freckled boy was shocked. Scared, even. Had he noticed? Had his crush, of all people, figured out he had Hanahaki? Midoriya looked around and noticed that Kirishima was also raising his hand. Well, it was obvious he didn't have it currently, so maybe the greenette could play it out that he had some point in the past?

"Oh, I wasn't expecting anyone to have actually had it, haha," Kaminari chuckled, "Well, spill. For those of you who don't know, cause I see a few confused faces, Hanahaki is a disease that affects those who suffer from one-sided love."

A few understanding grunts echoed around the room.

"Well, um, for me it was actually earlier this school year," Kirishima stated.

"Hold up, what?" Ashido noted.

Kirishima nodded, "Yeah, it was over a break. I had a crush on someone and thought they didn't like me back. Turns out I was wrong, cause now we're dating! Luckily it didn't get too bad, so I was fine for the most part. And no, I'm not saying who it is. I promised not to tell, and it wouldn't be very manly to break that promise."

"Ooo! I'll have to figure that out!" Ashido declared, "What about you, Midoriya?"

He panicked. He didn't know what he was going to say! So, he just said something vague.

"I-I don't really w-want to t-talk about it..." Midoriya spouted.

"Aw, it's okay, Deku!" Uraraka looked empathetic.

Iida quickly followed, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to!"

Great, now everyone's worried about him. He looked over to Kirishima. After all, apparently he'd had Hanahaki too. For a second, he looked concerned. But then, his face melted into realization. Midoriya noticed this, his eyes widening. Kirishima looked at Midoriya and gave him a reassuring smile. He returned with a weak smile.

"Hey! We said we would start up with truth or dare after Kaminari's statement, right?" Kirishima said, saving Midoriya a bit of trouble.

"Oh! Yeah! Hmm..." Ashido gazed at her peers, "Jirou! You should start!"

Jirou looked surprised, "Huh? Oh, okay. Uh... you know what, Midoriya, truth or dare?"

"W-what?! Me? O-oh, uh, okay. Uhm, dare?" Midoriya stumbled across his words.

"Hmm..." Jirou looked up, towards the ceiling, "Well, I've got something. Since you keep saying that you've just got a cough, how about you take off that mask for the rest of the game?"

"U-uh... okay?" Midoriya muttered.

He slowly took off the mask, careful to fold it in half before anyone could see the rose petals inside. He'd have to keep himself from coughing up any petals for the rest of the game. He should be able to do that. After all, he was already blocking any roses from coming up, so keeping the petals out shouldn't be too hard, right? Hopefully, this wouldn't affect his situation too much...

Kirishima was giving him a worried look. Well, if the guy had Hanahkai earlier that year, he'd probably know how bad that was for Midoriya. Every now and then, the rocky man would send a worried glance at him.

The game went on for a while, with people getting asked about their crushes and such. Kacchan had left not too long in, so nobody could find out who he was dating. Midoriya did a few other dares, but recently they'd been getting pretty... intense. They'd ended up with people sitting on other people's laps, people holding hands, and Todoroki had to dare the next person he asked who chose dare to kiss the prettiest person in the room. Of course, it was Todoroki's turn.

"Hm. Midoriya, truth or dare," Todoroki stated bluntly.

Midoriya, not wanting to kiss anyone, responded, "T-truth?"

"Aw, you're no fun!" Ashido pouted.

"Hmm... Well, there has been something I've been wanting to know," Todoroki said in his usual monotonous voice, "What's the biggest lie you've said to more than one of us in the class?"

"Uh, hm. That's an interesting one," Midoriya had to think, "I'm not sure. I don't really lie that often, so... Well, you've all probably figured that one out by now... what have I lied about? I don't really... oh,"-the color drained from his face- "oh. Right, that."

Uraraka proceeded to question, "What? What is it? C'mon, it can't be that bad!"

"W-well... I kind of... p-promised someone not to tell..." Midoriya muttered.

That got a few worried stares from his classmates. A few even have looks that showed they were thinking... something bad. Of course, Mineta started drooling, assuming the dirtiest.

Midoriya picked up on these, "A-ah! Not like that! Shoot, I'm p-probably just making it worse..."

"Well, if you can't tell us the truth of the lie, could at least tell us who you promised not to tell? Or, maybe, the basis of it?" Ashido pouted, "At least tell us who you've lied to about it..."

"O-oh, Well, uhm... I-I suppose I c-could do t-that?" Midoriya sputtered.

Kirishima gave him a pitying look, "You don't have to if you don't want to, bro!"

"N-no, it's fine! Uhh... where to start..." Midoriya faltered, "W-well, the only p-person in the class who knows the truth of it is K-Kacchan. Uhhh... I-I promised A-All Might I wouldn't tell..."

"Well, that relieves a few things," Kaminari stated.

"H-huh? O-oh, well I-I guess..." Midoriya stammered, "And uh, well, I guess the b-basis would be, uhm, well... uh..."

Tooru practically jumped up, "Be what?!"

"W-well... uh... m-my quirk," Midoriya forced out, before quickly standing up- grabbing his mask on the way- and running to his room.

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing." - Anais Nin

Prepare yourself for serious angst after the next chapter. Sorry, not sorry.