Chapter Text
[Lindsay's POV]
"Hey, what took so long at the office? I thought you just had one Play Pals to record?"
"Yah, the game we chose was pretty hard, but Gavin wanted me to keep playing, so we did. There's probably only less than an hour's worth of footage from it anyway."
A ding came from my pocket. I pulled out my phone which read:
"1 New Message: Meg Turney
"I think Gav's got the flower disease. Call when you get a chance <3"
"Who was that?" Michael seemed overly curious.
"Oh, just Meg."
"What did she say?"
"She said that Gavin is sick and possibly won't be able to go to work tomorrow."
"Oh, that's a shame. I bet it has something to do with his freak accident earlier."
I know for a fact that neither Michael nor Gavin knows what the hanahaki disease is, let alone how deadly it is, so I didn't hesitate asking him, "What happened?"
"Well, we were playing a game, and then I made a joke, which Gavin laughed at. After a minute of laughing, though, he started to gasp for air. At first I thought it was from his laughing, but it went on a bit too long for that, so I asked him what was wrong and he said his lungs hurt more than normal, but it was nothing to worry about."
"More than normal?"
"Yah, ever since I met him, he has had occasional moments where he complains about his lungs hurting. I always thought it was just a weird British thing."
"Huh," now I really wanted to talk to Meg about this, "Hey, I gotta go call my mom, I'll be back up here in a bit, and don't bother to come say hi to her, thanks."
I could hear the upstairs shower start running as I looked for Meg in the phone app. Please pick up, Meg, please pick up.
"Hey, Linds!"
"Hey Meg! So you think Gavin has the flower disease?"
"Yah, I got done streaming, and Gav was gasping for air in our bedroom, and when I asked him what was wrong, he told me his lungs hurt more than normal."
"Yah, Michael said Gavin had a freak accident while recording Play Pals earlier."
"Gav told me about that, too. Also, I got a doctor's appointment for him in two days to see what it really is."
"That's good. Has he coughed up any petals yet?"
"Not yet, but I heard about someone else who had it for eleven years before the flowers actually started growing petals and hurting. I wouldn't be shocked if that's what happened to Gav."
"Right. Hey, how are you holding up with this? I mean this does mean that your boyfriend likes someone else."
"Honestly? I'm fine with it, it would mean he is admitting he is gay and chasing after his crush, and I respect that. And anyway, we have been dating for long enough now that if he really loved me more than Michael, he would have proposed. But you're the one I'm worried about. I mean, either Michael stays with you and Gav, y'know," she paused for a minute.
"I know."
"Or Michael gets with Gav and he is saved, but not you."
"I think I have something that could work, thanks for letting me call."
"Anytime, Linds."