"stupid romantic feelings" | kuroken hanahaki AU

sorry for the angst but I just really wanted to write this idea, there is a happy ending so don't worry! also this is not related to any of my other stories!

thumbnail art: https://twitter.com/erihua1/status/1344500019483664384

NON-SPOILER EXPLANATION:
In case you don't know, these are the normal rules of hanahaki disease: "Hanahaki Disease is a fictional disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. It ends when the beloved returns their feelings (romantic love only; strong friendship is not enough), or when the victim dies. It can be cured through surgical removal, but when the infection is removed, the victim's romantic feelings for their love also disappear." https://fanlore.org/wiki/Hanahaki_Disease

I was mostly inspired by this tumblr post: https://aro-corvid.tumblr.com/post/660119462810451968
Personally I really don't like the hanahaki trope because it's a very toxic idea of romance and love in general. I'm aromantic and asexual so I've never understood the huge significance people (or mainly romance tropes) place on romantic love. Hanahaki just takes this to the extreme where the victims always seem to believe that it's worth dying to hold onto their feelings and that the person who isn't returning their feelings is cruel for causing so much harm. This puts romantic love and mutual feelings on this huge pedestal, when in reality it's not the end all and be all of life, nor does anyone owe anyone else romantic feelings that they have no control over.
SPOILER EXPLANATION:
(this will make more sense if you watch the video first)

I changed the rules of hanahaki a bit so the cause is from a difference in what they want from the relationship, not just unrequited love. So Kuroo gets hanahaki when he starts to be unsatisfied with their friendship and wants Kenma to love him romantically, and the hanahaki stops when he stops clinging to his unrequited love and he accepts the level of love that Kenma offers him, so they now want the same thing. (side note: I didn't know how to show that it was cured coz I don't really read hanahaki fics, like do the flowers just disappear? I went for coughing up the roots but idk, and I could seem to find any discussion on what would happen if the victim stopped having romantic feelings towards the love interest so I guess no one has considered that being an option...?)

Anyway, basically Kuroo represents the toxic idea of romance being put on a high pedestal (I don't actually think Kuroo would be like this but it's an AU so it's fine) and Kenma represents the impact this has on aromantic people/anyone else who doesn't fit within this norm. I ended up focusing on platonic love being equal to romantic love but this is not a fix to the bigger problem. "Love" shouldn't be so idolised in society, no matter what form of love that is, everyone experiences love or lack thereof in different ways. It should be ok for the love interest to feel however they feel about the person "suffering" from unrequited love and it not be a problem.

tldr: just please think more critically about love and romance and don't place such a high value on it that it becomes toxic
apps I use:
texts: wit - we are all creators (mobile)
video editor: shotcut (desktop)

herbal tea by Artificial.Music | https://soundcloud.com/artificial-music/
Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/

Видео "stupid romantic feelings" | kuroken hanahaki AU канала yuki x