Roses Are Red [Kiribaku]

Painting The Roses Crimson

A/N: Bakugou does something really incredibly stupid in this chapter. Don't be like Bakugou.

~oOo~

Everything hurt. His chest ached, head thrumming, pulsing, thoughts jumbled by the pain. But above all, he was exhausted.

As his senses slowly came to him, Katsuki could start making out voices. They were far away, like he was trying to hear them from under water, their words hard to grasp, not retaining any meaning. But their tones sounded urgent, and the more he focused on them, the louder and clearer they seemed to become, eventually anchoring him back into reality.

"...it's true that I knew about his condition, and if I had known of the severity of the side effects as well, I would not have let him participate in the first place."

That voice was low, soft-spoken and nearly unfamiliar. Yet somehow, it was unmistakably All Might's.

Someone else sighed. "It's honestly alright, you didn't know." This voice belonged to someone he recognized, too. A woman.

"I truly am sorry, Recovery Girl. You as well, Aizawa."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to," a third voice mumbled, tired and gravely. "Look, he's finally coming around."

As his motor skills finally came to him, Katsuki couldn't help but let out a groan. He finally opened his eyes, squinting at the bright lights of his surroundings. Sure enough, he was lying down in the nurse's office, white and pristine, flushed orange by the sunlight outside. Three pairs of eyes were trailed onto him. Katsuki couldn't look, couldn't bring himself to see their pity staring back at him.

Of the three adults in the room, Recovery Girl was the first to speak up. "Young man, can you tell me why you're here?"

"I..." Katsuki trailed off, swallowing, wracking his brain for answers. Sensations, images, flashed into his head one by one as the memory came back to him in full. The dodge-ball match. The dizziness. The impact. Well, that certainly explained this fucking insufferable headache. He shut his eyes again, grimacing. "I fell."

"Good. And, your name, age, and school."

"Bakugou Katsuki. Fifteen. UA."

"Now, lift both of your arms in front of you, please."

He did.

"Now lower them. And, blink a few times for me."

He did.

"Good." Recovery Girl swiveled to her computer, typing. "You must have hit your head pretty hard back there. You had a broken nose, a dislocated shoulder, and one of your elbows got shattered. The bruises and fractures in your ribs were not a pretty sight, either." She shook her head, tutting. "With how All Might described you slamming into the ground like that... I've seen much worse, but you're quite lucky that you passed out afterwards. You managed to avoid feeling the worst of the pain."

"Hm." Katsuki blinked a few times, trying to take it all in, but the words were swimming around in his head. When he finally started grasping them, he looked to his shoulders. Moved them a bit. They felt fine now. So did his nose, and elbows, and torso. The aching was still everywhere, and he was utterly worn out, but he could move.

"Any traumatic brain injuries you might have gotten seem to have healed already," she continued. "But if you start to notice your memory acting funny in the next few days, be sure to stop by and I'll treat you again. Other than that, you've made a full recovery."

"And the flowers?" The question had left his mouth before he had a chance to stop it.

Recovery Girl tilted her head to the side. "What about them?"