"I Am Merely One Hell Of A House Master"

"I am merely one hell of a House Master"

Unrequited love || Cloud Strife

Character: Cloud Strife, Final Fantasy series

Warnings: angst, Hanahaki disease, mentions of blood/death

Summary: Your unrequited feelings for Cloud were weighing heavily on you. You were suffering not only emotionally, but also physically, to the point of death.

WC: 976 words

You've been extremely frustrated during the last few days. Your hands were entangled in the silky strands of your hair, to the point you were tearing hairs from your scalp.

For years, you've had feelings for Cloud, but you knew without asking him, that those feelings weren't mutual.

Every single person you told about your troubles, all advised you to confront Cloud about it. But, you weren't going to do that. What point was there in doing so? He had made it very clear to everyone around him, that he wasn't interested in relationships and all that.

You tried to push yourself past these feelings with every last ounce of energy you had, but it was harder than you had expected. Every time you tried to look the boy in the eyes, you felt like throwing up. And because of that, you had decided to try to avoid him at all costs.

And just like any other day, you found yourself sitting at the bar of Seventh Heaven with tears pooled at the brim of your eyes. Just the thought of Cloud made your heart break into a million pieces, but luckily, Tifa was there for you to take your mind off of things.

''Hey, cheer up! Don't stress it too much, okay?'' You heard Tifa's voice yell from the other side of the room. Tifa's ability to sense how you were feeling from such a distance shocked you. You nodded, biting on your bottom lip as you muttered out a soft 'yeah'.

Tifa walked up to you, lifting your head up a bit as she wiped the tears from your cheeks. ''You know, maybe Cloud does share your feelings. He'd prefer it if you told him instead of keeping it to yourself.'' She remarked as she softly patted your back.

''I don't know, you know how he is. He probably doesn't want to hear me whining to him about my feelings.'' You replied, heaving heavily as you picked up the glass of whiskey in front of you. You gulped the final bit in one go, coughing as a result of the scorching sensation in your throat.

''Well, I need to go out for a bit. Don't do anything stupid, okay?'' Tifa chuckled, waving you goodbye as she hurried slowly towards the door.

As soon as you heard the door fall shut behind you, you ran to the toilets. Your head was dangling over the toilet, spewing blood-tinged petals out of your mouth. You felt sick to your stomach. Not just when you saw him, but even if you thought about him for just a second.

The petals covered in blood were floating in the toilet, the sight making you throw up even more. This feeling was crushing you on the in- and outside. Just a few weeks ago, you started throwing up the petals out of the blue. When you searched up what this meant, you found yourself reading all about the 'Hanahaki disease'.

Unrequited love.

Once you read this, you knew for sure, that Cloud didn't feel the same. Everyone tried to reassure you that it was just all in your head, but it didn't change the way you felt.

Your train of thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking on the door.

''It's me. You okay in there?''

You could recognize this voice anywhere. It was Cloud. Of course it had to be him.

''I'm okay, just feeling a little sick today.''

Lies.

''Can I come in?'' He asked, his voice genuinely sounding worried this time. You heard him turning the knob to open the door that you had locked, your eyes widened as tears started streaming down your face. What were you going to say now? Just ask him to go away?

You stayed quiet, not knowing how to reply.

''Are you sure you're okay?''

Again, you stayed quiet.

You quickly wiped the blood and tears away from your face, rubbing your eyes profusely, before unlocking the door for Cloud. His eyes pierced right through you, even though you weren't looking him in the eyes. You held your breath, trying not to throw up again. It was a nightmare, thinking about Cloud seeing you throw up those petals and having to explain what's going on.

''Have you... been crying?'' He furrowed his brows, stepping closer to you, pushing some strands out of your face as you looked down at the floor. ''And what's that in the toilet? Flower petals?''

Your eyes shot up at him, your heart skipping a beat when you realized you had forgotten to hide the evidence.

''It's nothing, don't worry about it.'' You mumbled, slapping his hand away as you quickly flushed down the blood with petals. You didn't turn around as you wanted to avoid any eye contact.

''Hanahaki disease, right?''

Your chest started to hurt even more, making you pant heavily as you thought about all the possible outcomes of this.

Before you could even think of another reply, you felt his warm hands grab you and turn you around. You felt like dying.

You squeezed your eyes shut, holding tightly onto the fabric of your shirt. And to your surprise, you felt his soft and gentle lips against your own. You opened your eyes slightly to look at Cloud with his eyes shut, kissing you passionately. You were frozen in your place.

He pulled his lips away, cupping your cheeks with both of his hands as she sighed. ''I've seen you throw up those petals before.''

''How?''

That was all you could get out right now.

''Were you that sure that my feelings weren't mutual?''

''Yes, you said last time that you weren't interested in any kind of relationship.''

He placed another kiss on your forehead, his face stoic as ever. You chuckled at the sight, Cloud hadn't changed one bit.

''Maybe.. I changed my mind.''