When Wilbur first found out he had hanahaki he was sure that he wasn’t going to survive.
Hell, how could he even begin to think he had a chance at survival. He was madly in love with the most beautiful human in existence.
The day he discovered it didn’t help either.
He had been laying in bed, the night just like any other night. The room was quiet enough that he could hear his family on the floor below him through the rain beating down on his window.
Tommy was yelling about something. Techno was responding. Tubbo and Ranboo were laughing. Phil was telling them to calm down through his own laughter. It all sounded like a family.
But he would never tell them that.
He was broken from his thoughts by a knock on his window. He sat up with a jolt, his heart racing as he moved to look out the window. He calmed quickly when he saw who it was.
George was sitting on the small platform outside his window. His face was soaked with tears, eyes rimmed red. He was shivering from the water that had soaked through his clothes.
Wilbur stood up, quickly walking over to the window and opening it.
“Are you ok, Gogs?” He questioned.
The other boy didn’t respond, just continuing to stare at him. The teenagers stood in silence, George collecting his thoughts and Wilbur waiting for him to do so.
“Can I come in?” George asked in a shaky voice, refusing to meet his eyes.
“Yes, of course,” Wilbur spoke as he ushered the other boy inside. George climbed in through the window, using a hand resting on Wilbur’s shoulder as support.
Wilbur closed the window behind him before turning to face George. The teen was standing in the middle of the room. He had his arms wrapped around himself in a poor attempt at warding off the cold that had seeped into his bones.
“Do you want a change in clothes?” Wilbur asked him after about a minute.
George looked up at him before nodding.
Wilbur hummed before moving to grab something from his wardrobe. He pulled out one of his sweaters. It was navy blue and had two different-sized mushrooms on the front. They were made up of multiple white dots.
He turned and tossed it towards George. He turned back to the wardrobe trying to find a pair of bottoms for him to wear.
As he was sifting through the clothes a bright splash of color caught his eye. He reached out to grab it and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts.
They were an ugly shade of orange that was so bright that Wilbur was sure that if someone stood in a field while wearing them, they could be seen from space.
The color wasn’t the only bad thing about them either. The length of them was atrocious as well. They reached down past his knees, nearly covering his long legs in neon orange fabric.
In all honesty, Wil wasn’t even sure why he bought the item of clothing in the first place.
He decided to give them to George, just to see how he would look in them.
He turned to face the other boy and saw him already dressed in the large sweater. It reached down to his mid-thigh, drowning him in soft fabric. Wilbur thought he looked adorable in it.
The other teen crossed his arms over his chest, clearly uncomfortable with being ogled at. “Are you going to give me pants or something?”
Wilbur tossed him the shorts and grinned when he held them out in front of him, raising an eyebrow at the look at them.
“Turn around.” George mumbled in a rough voice. Wilbur listened to his demand.
He turned back around when George spoke, immediately bursting into loud laughter.
“Why are these so fucking long?”
Wilbur continued to laugh as he spoke. “They reach below my knees on me.” “What color are these things?” “Bright ass, traffic cone orange.”
George huffed out a laugh at that. “So I should be glad I can’t see it, huh?”
Wilbur hummed in agreement as he watched the other boy use the drawstrings to tie them around his slim hips and waist.
“Why do you even own these? They don’t really fit your whole ‘indie boy’ aesthetic.” “I don’t actually know. I don’t remember buying them.”
George giggled at that. “Well, you should get rid of them.”
“It’s true. Literally, no one would ever think these are cute.”
“I’m sure there's at least one person out there who disagrees. Maybe they like the neon orange. Perhaps it matches their hair or something.”
“Does this imaginary person have neon orange hair or some shit?”
“I was thinking maybe pink. You know, get some nice color differences.”
“If you say so, Wilby.” George said, turning away and flopping on Wilbur’s bed.
Wilbur went to sit down next to him but was interrupted by the door opening. Philza walked in and began to speak.
“Hey, Wilbur, come downstairs, dinner is ready- oh hey, George.” “Hey, Phil.” Two questions. One, how did you get into my house? And two, why are you wearing my shorts?”
“He climbed in through the window and I gave them to him.” Wilbur answered for him.
“Oh, well, George, you're welcome to come down and join us if you’d like.” “No thank you. I’m not really hungry right now.” “Alright then. Wil? Are you coming down?” “I’m also not very hungry.” “Okie dokie. Well, get some rest boys.”
He left the room and closed the door behind him. Wilbur turned to look at George and smiled at the way he had curled up on his side.
Wilbur quickly changed clothes and climbed into bed next to him. He looked at the other boy’s face, reaching up to rub at the dried tear tracks on his cheeks.
“Do you want to tell me what you were crying about earlier?”
George sighed, moving closer to Wilbur and tucking his head underneath his chin.
“So I’m sure you know that I’ve been dating Ian for a while now right?”
Wilbur hummed in agreement, feeling a small itch building up in his chest and throat. “Well, I found out like an hour ago that he was only with me to try and get with Dream. Hell, I didn’t even find out through Ian, I found out because Dream showed me messages of Ian trying to get nudes.”
“Oh, George. I’m so sorry.” Wilbur whispered as he began to run his fingers through his hair. “You deserve so much better than that asshole. You’re such a beautiful, incredible person. You deserve someone who would love you no matter what. Someone who would never betray your trust.”
George hummed and smiled into his neck. “You’re such a good friend to me, Wilbur. I’m so lucky to have you.” He mumbled sleepily before drifting off to sleep.
‘Friend.’ That word made the itch in his throat grow stronger. It continued to build until Wilbur began to cough, moving away to cover his mouth.
He continued like that for a while before sitting up in a panic at the feeling of something traveling up his throat. He climbed out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. He kneeled by the toilet and began dry heaving.
All of it finally came to a stop when he spit something into the water below him. He opened his eyes and immediately gasped at the sight.
Floating just inches from his face was a singular flower petal. The edges of them were coated with blood.
Wilbur leaned back and let his body fall onto the bathtub next to him. He stared at the edge of the toilet in shock.
‘Hanahaki. I have Hanahaki.’
He rubbed his eyes aggressively, hoping that it was just a hallucination or a dream. He looked again and sighed in disappointment when it was still there.
Wilbur accepted his fate pretty quickly. He knew he was going to die.
So you could imagine his shock when, after blacking out on his bathroom floor, when he woke up to the steady sound of a monitor beeping and people talking.
“No, you don’t get to see him! It’s your fault he’s here, to begin with!” Tommy’s voice was the first he heard.
“Tommy! Calm down.” Philza.
“No, I won’t! How did you even know where he was?” Tommy again.
“Why would you do that? All of this is his fucking fault!” Tommy once again.
“He deserves to know, Tommy.” Tubbo.
“He doesn’t deserve shit!”
“How exactly was I supposed to know? It’s not like he ever told me! If he did, we wouldn't be in this situation, to begin with.” George.
What was George doing here? When had he gotten here?
Wilbur didn’t realize that he had voiced his thoughts until he heard the others in the room gasp.
“Wilbur!” Six different voices called out. He heard them walk towards his bed quickly and opened his eyes.
He looked up at the people around him and took in their appearances. All of them looked disheveled, clearly having not slept in a few days.
He turned to look for George, noticing that he wasn’t standing near him. He was standing near the door with his arms crossed over his chest.
“George.” He called out softly. The other teen’s eyes widened and he began walking slowly towards the bed.
When he reached the bed he grabbed Wilbur’s hand before speaking in a shaky voice.
“Hey, Wilbur. How’re you doing?” “Better now that you’re here.”
George giggled at that. Reaching up to wipe at his eyes.
They stared at each other for a moment before George’s bottom lip began to tremble. “I’m so sorry, Wilbur.”
George covered his face as he began to cry.
Everyone sat in silence for a while. No one wanted to break the tension.
George was the first one to speak. “I love you Wilby.”
Wilbur grinned, the tight feeling that had resided in his chest for months slowly leaving.