They weren't mine. Those helpless coughs and wheezes, desperately trying to gain air, for once didn't come from me.
They came from next door.
Fucking Kirishima.
Please. Please. Please. Don't tell me he has it too.
It's probably some sick cold, or he drank water and it went the wrong way. Or—
I'm frantically knocking at his door, desperate for a response.
Nothing.
I bang on the wooden door again.
Nothing.
"Shitty-Hair! Open up!"
Nothing.
Bursting through the door, knowing that he wouldn't have locked his dorm, I'm in his room.
The overwhelming scent of roses blast my nostrils, as I take one step further into his room.
Swallowing the large lump stuck in my throat, I peek at the crooked open bathroom door.
Roses.
Beautiful, golden rose petals, gorgeously painted in blood.
My heart drops at the sight. My heart plummets out of my body, through the floor, down to the center of the earth.
Kirishima, hunched over to toilet, yellow rose petals scattered everywhere. There wasn't a spot in the bathroom where it wasn't decorated in blood stained flower petals. The sickly sweet smell seeped and crawled through my nostrils and in my lungs, making me want to vomit.
Kirishima looks over at me with a tear and blood stained face, petals stuck in his shark-like teeth. The bags under his eyes were prominent, and his eyes brimmed with tears were dull, and could only reflect pain and hurt.
"Wha—What happened?" I croak out, the sight making my heart twist painfully.
"I-I don't know. I—I—I'm going to die, aren't I? I—I—"
I dash over, picking him up bridal style and carrying over to the bed, taking an empty bathroom trash can with me. There was no way I was gonna let him stay in that rose infested room, the overwhelming bitter sweet scent making anyone nauseous.
I sit down, back pressed against the wall, Kirishima in my lap.
"When did this start?" I ask, trying to sound as calm and composed as possible, when really, I'm freaking the fuck out.
I had a panicking and dying Kirishima in my arms, and the turning and twisting feeling in my chest hadn't gone away either which wasn't the greatest help.
"Um. S-Since yesterday evening. Wh-When you suddenly left when we were having a moment, I-I felt this pang in my chest. And suddenly I couldn't breathe. I've been hunched over the toilet since. It hurts. Why does it h-hurt so much?" The weakened red head answered between coughs and tears.
I did this.
I did this to him.
Monster
"So, all that coughing from last night, was cuz of the flowers? Not a cold. You've been hunched over like that, the whole fucking night?!" I ask, bewildered. It took me a week to get this bad, and Kirishima was almost as bad as I am. Until 12 hours ago, we were at the same fucking level. For fucks sake, I really did this to him, didn't I?
I'm hurting him.
Twist
Causing him pain.
Turn
Making him suffer.
Contract
All of this,
Squeeze
is because of me.
Bloom
It's all my fault.
Cough
Covering my mouth with my hand, I try to silently cough up those fucking flower petal, my lungs throbbing painfully at each hack my chest made.
"Ow—what the heck?" Kirishima's weak voice says. I look up, not wanting to believe what just happened.
"Bakugou, do you..." Kirishima's raspy voice wearily asks.
I nod, already knowing the question. Slowly lifting up my shirt, to reveal thorns, pricking at my skin. Rose buds crawling their way up through my chest, one of them already blooming.
I look over at Kirishima's horror stricken face, his eyes wide and brimming with tears.
My attention turns to a small gash on Kirishima's arm. The wound knew and bleeding.
Don't tell me—
It was me.
I did that to him.
Cough
I hurt him.
Cough
I hurt Kirishima.
Cough
This is all my fault.
Cough
If I hand t given him the disease.
Cough
If I hadn't been so foolish.
Cough
If I—
The disease is not contagious, as can only appear in one's respiratory system when their love is unrequited.
I didn't give it to him. It wasn't because some fucking rose seed made its way into Kirishima's lungs when we almost ki—
It clicked.
The pieces of the puzzle finally came together as my fuzzy mind made sense of things.
If it can't be transmitted, and Kirishima only started coughing when I went to barf up flowers, that means he thought—
"Kirishima, do you love me?"
As soon as those words escaped my lips, his tired eyes widened even further, and a bright red blush coated his tear stained cheeks. He quickly averted his eyes, his embarrassment overwhelming him.
"W-Well, you see—uh—hehe—i-it's kind of hard t-to explain. I-I mean, it's not that I—uh—Um."
"You're not denying it." I state, seeing his cheeks redden further.
I grab his face, making him look towards me. Red meet red. Eyes locked on each other. Those mesmerising rubies keeping me enchanted in that spell of his he accidentally seems to cast upon me every time I look at him. His blush deepens to the colour of his hair as his eyes avert to anywhere else in the room. He finally manages to whisper out.
"Y-Yes."
He thought I didn't love him.
My chest is met with an overwhelming and sudden pang, as fresh air rushes through my lungs. I can feel the thorns let go of my shattered lungs, and the roses reluctantly wilt away. My chest throbs at the sudden release in pressure and pain, as I feel everything leave.
My lungs were no longer a garden.
No longer a rose bush for those fuckers to use.
I felt clean.
Open.
Relieved.
Free.
"Bakugou, p-please say something." I hear Kirishima whisper, pulling me out of my trance. His cheeks are wet with tears as his eyes reflect pain. Hurt. Rejection. Hurt. Hurt. Hurt. Hurt.
Shit.
I panic, seeing the hurting boy in my arms.
He lets out a cough.
And another.
And another.
And more.
Even more.
Too many.
Grabbing the small trash can in his bloodied hands, he's gasping. Wheezing. Choking. Coughing uncontrollably as tears freely stream down his pain stricken face.
I need to stop this.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
"Kirishima." Whisper.
Nothing.
"Kirishima, look at me." I try again.
His coughs have gone down to raspy and shaky breaths as he hesitantly looks up at me.
His eyes meet mine once again. Cupping his bloodied face with my shaky hands I inch my face closer and closer to his. Closer. And closer. Until our noses are touching, our foreheads brushing against each other, our warm breaths mixing and becoming one.
My heart drumming, thundering, beating out of my rib cage and out to the fucking heavens, it feels as if I'm gonna pass out. My ears can only hear my heart pounding rapidly and our raspy and shaky, hesitant breaths.
Flicking my eyes to his chapped and bloody, yet soft and tender looking lips, I hesitantly lean a millimetre closer. And another. And another.
"You know I love you too, right?"