“Hmm, what if you were to fall in love with someone you had never spoken too?” Viktor muses, watches Yuuri’s face fall a little. “And spent years suffering from a fatal disease for them. Then, on death’s doorstep, you collapse into their arms, and beg them to stay with you. Imagine that person follows you to the hospital, and waits for you to be safe again impatiently in the waiting room, and only wants to know more about the man who loves them.”
“Don’t you think, just maybe, it would be nice to find more than some vague locations and pictures of food?” Viktor laughs slightly, just a little too petty for it to sound genuine, and Yuuri winces before him. Instead of responding to the taunt, he draws in on himself, and Viktor casually files that fact away. Yuuri doesn’t like conflict. Viktor mentally backtracks, seamlessly transitioning into a sweeter laugh and tone, not giving Yuuri a chance to relay meaningless apologies. “After all, I want to fall in love with you tonight. Shouldn’t you give me a fighting chance?”
“F-Fall in love?!” Yuuri echoes in astonishment, completely baffled by the very idea of Viktor loving Yuuri. He’s as shocked as he was at Viktor even coming with him to the hospital, at Viktor talking to him and being interested in him. Yuuri’s self-deprecating. He likes food and poodles and skating, lives in Detroit with his roommate and best friend Phichit, and doesn’t believe for a second that Viktor could ever love him back.
Viktor wants to prove him wrong.
Blue Petals, Silver Thorns by grassepi 20526 words (complete), rated G.
While there are a lot of hanahaki AUs, this one stands out as beautifully written and lovingly crafted. The author takes special care to dig in deep and really explore what love and different types of love can mean to the different characters and how they deal with such a physical manifestation of it. The sharp contrast in how Yuuri and Yurio view and deal with their own afflictions is wonderfully handled and really adds a depth and richness to this trope. It also helps that this fic is max aesthetic.
