Chapter Text
Summer break had come sooner than anticipated for Bakugou. Of course, this was fine by him. He was glad he’d be able to study in peace for once since he hated being bothered by his classmates (with shitty hair as the exception). Training was for the most part more difficult when they were around, so he was glad to be able to get away. Being on his own for once meant summer break would be a good time to catch up.
At least, that’s what he thought. Until his mother called him during the last week of school.
“THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T GO HOME FOR BREAK?” He shouted angrily. Kirishima raised an eyebrow at him from across the room. What was meant to be a brief interruption of their study session was now turning into a screaming match.
“DON’T TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME BAKUGOU KAT- What? Oh fine.” She mumbled handing the phone over to his dad, since It was clear that the conversation would go nowhere if he didn’t intervene.
”We’ll be away on a business trip during the break, and we don’t want to leave you home alone after the kidnapping and all that. We’ve already contacted your teachers, so you’ll be staying at the dorms.”
“You kidding me? I can take care of myself y’know.”
“Yeah? How well did that work out for you last time.” His mom grumbled from where she stood by his father. Bakugou probably wasn’t meant to hear that. Fed up with the whole situation, he hung up angrily and collapsed in his seat.
”So you gotta stay here for break?” Kirishima said, abandoning the work in front of him.
Bakugou just sighed and folded his arms. He could barely put up with these extras during the school day. How was he supposed to be around them all month? Sure he’d be able to get away from most of them, but he much preferred to train in seclusion.
Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “You could stay at my place for the break. I mean, if you want. I don’t know if you’d like that any better though.”
Bakugou looked up at him. Staying with Kirishima would be better than the dorms. While he’d never admit it, he actually enjoyed the redheads company, and would gladly stay with him over the other extras any day.
“You sure your parents would be ok with that?”
“Oh yeah, my parents wouldn’t care. My mom is visiting her sister right now and my dad works most of the time anyway”
Bakugou grunted. Despite laughing off the words, there’s was a sort of sadness behind his eyes when Kirishima talked about his parents.
He pointed down at Kirishimas textbook. “Homework first. Then we can plan whatever the hell you want.”
Kirishima flashed his signature toothy grin, and a warm fuzzy feeling spread across Bakugous chest. He ignored it and scowled back at him.
———
After getting through the last week of school, a phone call to his parents, and quite a bit of packing, Bakugou arrived at Kirishimas house for the break. Before knocking, he hesitated. While he was glad to be staying with Kirishima, he was actually somewhat nervous. It’s not like he needed be intimidated by shitty hair or anything. He’d hung out with Kirishima plenty of times before, So what was wrong with him? Was he was worried he'd only been invited out of pity? He hated the thought. Though he’d deny it if anyone asked, he enjoyed hanging out with Kirishima. He didn’t want to be a burden to him.
Plus, there was one good reason to be nervous. If Kirishimas messy dorm room was any inkling to what the house looked like, he wasn’t sure he wanted to stay.
He sighed lifting hand to knock, but before he got the chance the door swung open revealing an overly excited Kirishima. He wore a plain grey t-shirt, athletic shorts, and his hair was down for once, light and fluffy from not being gelled to hell and back for once.
”You’re here! Come on in man, I’ll show you around!” He said invitingly. Bakugou stepped inside and set down his bag. He was surprised to find that Kirishimas house, although small, was quite nice.
“This is gonna be so fun!” Kirishima exclaimed pumping his fists. He turned to Bakugou. “Like, a month long sleepover!”
Bakugou grunted, but couldn’t help the small smile that formed on his face at seeing his friend so happy.“What are you, twelve?”
Kirishima pouted jokingly. “No need to be such a wet blanket.
He began to show him around the place and telling him where everything was. “There’s the pantry and stuff, you can help yourself to anything in there. Bathrooms over this way. Cmon, my rooms upstairs. I’ll show you where we’re staying.”
Bakugou followed him up the staircase. His room was very… Kirishima to say the least. The walls were covered in Crimson Riot posters and the space was filled with other things he considered manly. Like dumbbells. And a punching bag.
“You can stay on the floor in here, I’ll get out the air mattress. Or you can stay on the couch downstairs, but you might get woken up by my dad getting ready for work.”
“S’ fine.” Bakugou mumbled, somewhat distracted. Staying in Kirishimas room? He wasn’t sure about that. What if he had a nightmare and woke him up? He didn’t want the redhead to see him in that state. All weak and helpless. Kirishima was too nice to think that sort of thing, but Bakugou still didn’t want to be seen like that. But still, staying downstairs would be worse. Having a nightmare out in the open could wake Kirishima and his dad, which would just be humiliating.
Kirishima slung an arm around his shoulder, breaking him out of his train of thought.
“We’ll? What do you think?” He asked. Whether he was talking about the room or the whole situation in general, Bakugou wasn’t sure.
“I think, I’m gonna go cook dinner.” He said. Kirishima grinned.
With Kirishimas help (which mostly consisted of showing Bakugou where everything was) they made dinner, Bakugou grumbling about Kirishimas shitty cooking skills the whole time while Kirishima kept jokingly insulting him back.
He was surprised to find he was actually having a good time hanging out with Kirishima. Normally he would’ve gotten angry at least once by now, but everything was going smoothly.
At least until later that night, when things took a turn for the worse.
It was just another shitty dream. Nothing he hadn’t experienced before. He was suffocating in the stupid sludge monster again, his face and lungs full of slime. His airflow was constricted, and the pain was excruciating. He hacked and coughed in an attempt to break free, but it was no use. Tears welled in his eyes as he continued to panic. He needed air, and desperately.
He awoke with a start shooting up from the mattress. Normally he would be gasping, but he still couldn’t breath. He tasted blood, and continued to choke in his conscious state.
For better or worse, his coughing didn’t awake Kirishima. He’d always been a deep sleeper. Bakugou was still wheezing for air as he tore off his blankets. He headed out of the room hand clamped over his mouth. He tried his best to muffle the coughs as blood dribbled out of the corners of his mouth. He could feel it in his hands, wet and sticky. As his body shook violently, he could feel the warm liquid trailing down his arm. The feeling was repulsive.
He stepped down the hallway as quietly as possible and threw open the bathroom door. Once he flicked on the light switch, the sight standing in front of him was terrifying.
There Bakugou stood, pale and shaking in front of the mirror as he suffocated. The trails of blood looked even more dark in contrast to his now sickly pale skin, and it scared him half to death. He hunched over the sink and his lungs constricted painfully as he let out a wet cough. More blood splattered onto the linoleum, followed by a red substance with a texture similar to that of mashed up flower petals. His eyes widened as the scent of sickly sweet perfume reached his nose. He coughed again, this time revealing full rose petals, red and dark with blood. There was only one explanation, and Bakugou knew it.
Hanahaki.
This was bad, this was really really bad. He gripped the sink till his knuckles turned white, and he swayed on his feet. He felt sick to his stomach and his whole body began shaking from anxiety. His ears began ringing loudly, and he barely had the strength to stand as his mind spiraled.
They learned about hanahaki briefly in class. There was no cure other than to confess and have your feelings returned, and if the persons love remained unrequited, the flower would grow in the victims lungs till they suffocated.
Previously Bakugou hadn’t worried about it, since there was no way it would ever happen to him. There was no one he liked after all, but as he stood in front of the bathroom mirror spitting up another round of blood and rose petals, he knew that had to be bullshit.
Who the hell are these flowers for then? He wondered, trying his best to regain composure. It didn’t take him long to figure it out however. There was really only one person it could be.
Kirishima.
Kirishima? He’d really gone and fallen in love with that idiot? He couldn’t say he was entirely surprised. Maybe he’d been ignoring it on a surface level but deep down he knew he liked Kirishima as more than just a friend. His stupid hair, that toothy grin, the way he got excited over the littlest things. Bakugou has fallen for all of him and simply hadn’t realized. Just the thought of his friends smile had him coughing up another set of petals.
So why now? He must’ve liked Kirishima for awhile, so what sent him over the edge? Was it because they were living together now? Their dumb banter while Bakugou cooked dinner? Was it that inviting smile he gave when he opened the door to let him in?
Shit. He thought. If he’d fallen this deep, was running out of time. What could he do? Try get rid of his feelings some how? Confess?
That was the thing about hanahaki, people only wind up coughing up flowers when they’re suffering from unrequited love, so Bakugou had already convinced Kirishima couldn’t like him back.
Why would he? Bakugou thought. He was mean, abrasive, a straight up jerk. No one could like him. Not even someone as nice as Kirishima. He probably only nice to him cause he was nice to everyone. He probably wanted Bakugou gone to be honest.
Bakugou knew that wasn’t his rational side talking, but as he trembled in front of the bathroom mirror, he couldn’t help thinking Kirishima would get his wish.
Bakugou just hung his head. He was unloveable, he had to be. Normal people who could actually recognize their own feelings didn’t get hanahaki. He could feel it in the way his heart twisted when he thought of Kirishima. He could feel it in the itchy rawness of the back of his throat. He could feel it feel in his lungs with every shallow breath.
He wondered if he should he tell his parents about the situation. If he couldn’t stop it, they’d probably at least want to say goodbye. The more he thought about it however, the more he realized there was no point. He doubted they could get out of whatever work thing they were dealing with, and he’d most likely be dead before they got home. He wouldn’t want to worry them, or even worse risk their jobs.
It was sorted out then. He wouldn’t tell anyone, not even shitty hair. Since confessing was no use, he didn’t want the red head feeling guilty over something he couldn’t control. It was Bakugous fault for falling in love with the idiot. So with a trembling hand, he reached for the petals in the sink. He tossed the petals in the toilet and flushed away the evidence, and then proceeded to rinse the rest of the blood down the sink. Maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, but the whole situation didn’t feel real. He knew he was going to die, he knew he could never become a hero now, yet all he felt was soft tears sliding down his face.
Quietly, he rinsed off his arms and face. He removed his shirt which has a few droplets of blood still, and left the bathroom leaving no evidence other than the faint smell of roses that hung in the air.
He tip toed back in the room and slowly crawled under the covers of the air mattress. He turned to face Kirishima who was asleep to his right. He looked so peaceful fast asleep. It should’ve calmed Bakugou, but in his mind he could still see the lines of blood streaked down his arms, like rows of veins, trailing down from his throat. It flashed in his mind like a jump scare from a horror movie.
He refocused on the sight in front of him, watching he rise and fall of Kirishimas chest. He felt a little better, and he also had the urge to cough.
That settled it. Bakugou Katsuki was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it.