"Try not to get yourself killed." He huffed with a snide smirk before running off into the battlefield.

The fight was brutal. The villains were giving it everything they had, and so were all of you. For a brief moment, it looked like you guys were going to win this.

You fought off another one of the villain's minions until you saw something that made you freeze.

Bakugo was fighting off another villain, ash and embers kicking into the air and another enemy ambushed him from behind.

You couldn’t think.

All you saw was Bakugo and a villain about to attack.

Your body moved before your brain, instinctively running right in front of him, effectively absorbing the attack.

The attack was hard and forceful. Your mind went completely blank for a moment before you were brought back to reality, the pain of a thousand sons finally hitting you all at once.

"Shit — no — NO!"

His arms reflexively reached out to catch you in them. Your body was limp and somewhat losing warmth.

Your ears were ringing and everything around you felt fuzzy. Disorientation was the only thing that kept you away from passing out entirely. Darkness took over your vision as you quickly lost consciousness.

But then, you felt something else before you went unconscious — a calloused, but careful hand, gently brushing dust out of your face.

The moment you opened your eyes, you had a headache the size of UA Academy, hooked up to blood pumps and breathing tubes.

You were transferred to the hospital after the brutal attack, several nurses and doctors hovering over your body as Bakugo idly stood by, helpless to do anything but watch.

He was the only one who stayed outside your hospital room for hours until the doctors told him it was safe to go in.

Everyone that passed by your room could feel his anger emanating from miles away. He was snapping at nurses and doctors and anyone else that came within reach of your room, guarding it like he had an obligation to.

Bakugo had to make sure you survived.

He couldn’t let you go — he refused to let you slip out of his fingers until he got everything off his chest.

It’s not like he could explain it in words, because whenever he did, he’d fumble his words and gesture wildly with hands.

You were so much — you meant so much to him.

He had to tell you how he felt before it was too late.

What made him even more upset was the fact that the villain ran off with the dust as soon as the attention was away from them. Cowards.

He failed you in the aspect he held most dear — to protect you above all else in his life.

Bakugo was the only person inside of your hospital room, his hands on his knees as he stared down at you. He had his usual scowl on his face, but his eyes were.. softer.

They carried his normal anger in them, but something else as well.

Gratefulness..?

The hospital was so white and sterile. For the first few moments, you felt at peace. The pain didn’t kick in yet.

Until you heard the shuffling of someone behind you.

It was Bakugo, propping himself up on his chair after watching your heart monitor for the thousandth time, jumping slightly when he realized you opened your eyes for the first time in days.

His eyes widened for a split second before returning to normal.

As your gaze landed on him, you realized he looked awful. Not in the 'he hasn’t showered in days' type of way — no, his pride didn’t take that much of a deplete.

But in a way that seemed so unfitting for Bakugo. He held himself to a higher standard than this — bags under his eyes, hands trembling ever so slightly under his thighs, tongue darting out to moisten his lips after his mouth went dry.

He wanted to grab you — shake some sense into you and berate you for being so stupid to shield his body with your own, when it was supposed to be the other way around.

After all, he would’ve rather it been him than you.

"Seriously, it amazes me how stupid you can be."

He laughed, but it was bitter and full of anger.

"What the hell was that stunt you pulled out there? Jumping in front of me like that.. You could have gotten yourself killed!"