Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Part 4: Petals?!

-Bakugo's POV

I ended up talking with my squad- the shitty extras, for a while. When I went to my dorm to put my school stuff away, I heard the muffled sound of crying from inside Deku's dorm. I tried to listen in a little more, but I heard the door click open after a few minutes, so I quickly hid behind another hallway wall, which is lucky for me since his room was at the corner of the hallway. He didn't notice me and went downstairs, and I went to my dorm room to put my stuff away.

When I came back downstairs, I heard Deku asking if anyone wanted anything from the store. They all wanted candy, but I decided to go with Deku to make sure he wasn't going to buy drugs or something. Those pills were already technically drugs, and he had packets of them, so I didn't want him buying more... because then he can't compete well with me.

I tried to go with Deku but ended up getting chocolate instead. It was good though because I could wait for him to get back and snatch the bag away so I could look for my chocolate and see if he bought anything suspicious. I patiently waited for him to return as night fell across Musutafu.

-Midoriya's POV

I walked to the store and quickly scavenged the aisles for candy. I also picked up a blade but realized the cashier might question why a teen would be buying something like that. The candy would only be able to cover for me once I got to the dorms. Hmm, I guess I could say that some of the packagings might be hard to open. I eventually collected all of the things I needed, including chocolate for Kacchan. I ended up buying a dark chocolate Hershey Bar. 

Once I checked out, I took the blade out of the bag so the others wouldn't see it, because chances are that they will ambush me when I get back. I put the blade in my hoodie pocket and continued to walk to the dorms. Surprisingly, the others were busy talking with one another and looking at their phones, but Kacchan appeared right in front of me and snatched the bag away.

He started rummaging through the bag and eventually found the chocolate, which somehow ended up at the bottom of the bag.

"Ooh, dark chocolate, that's nice. Thanks, shitty nerd." He thanked me! My heart started to race a bit as I smiled.

"Y-you're welcome." he walked away with the chocolate and I handed the bag to the others for them to sort out. I'm really glad I took the blade away though because Kacchan would have found it otherwise. I went back to my room, locking the door in the process, and I unwrapped the blade, freeing it from its packaging.

I sat down on the carpet-covered ground and got to it straight away.

Fat.

Slice.

Useless.

Cut.

Ugly. 

Slice.

Crybaby.

Cut.

Fake.

Slice.

Disgusting.

Cut.

Fag.

Slice.

Why did I have to like Kacchan? Why did I have to be gay? What would mom think of me? What would the others think of me? Would they leave me? I'm just a useless weak fag.

I sobbed quietly, my tears dripping onto my wounds, making them sting more. I don't want to be like this. I want to be normal. I don't want to be depressed, I don't want to have an unrequited love, I don't want to be me.

Blood stained my pants, but I cleaned my wrists up with bandages and put my hoodie sleeves down. I had changed my pants into different ones of a similar color. Making sure the bandages were secure, I put the blade back into the drawer. It was a miracle that the blood didn't stain the carpet. I was drying off my tears and looking in a mirror to check for bloodstains, but I heard a familiar voice at the door.

"Oi, Deku. It's time to eat." I quickly turned on the light so it wouldn't look like I had been sulking in the darkness and I made sure that my face was no longer tear-stained. I opened the door and put on a smile.

"Hey, Kacchan." My voice wavered a bit, but luckily, my breathing wasn't rattled from my sobs. We walked in silence, but it was somewhat comfortable. My heart warmed up a little, but a voice quickly stopped that.

You fag! It's already bad enough that you're gay, but now you're obsessing over him again! He will never like you!

The voice was right, Kacchan would never like me. It made my heart ache just thinking about it. Kacchan may have been just within fingertips reach, but our relationship was miles away from being close in any way.

"Oi, nerd, you okay? You look out of it. You look pale as well." He grabbed my arm as I winced, but he didn't seem to notice it. He put his rough hand on my forehead, and I flinched. He quickly noticed and took his hand away for a second. "I won't hurt you, I promise. I'm just checking to see if you're sick." His voice was calm and soothing as he reached for my forehead once more, his warm hand touching upon my face.

"That's weird. You don't seem to be sick, but you look ill." I masked another smile once more and tried to ignore the fluttery feeling I got when Kacchan touched my forehead.

"I should be fine." He quickly noticed that we were close to each other, our faces just a few inches away. We both back up a little and he looked away, but we continued to walk towards the elevator.

When we got to the lift, I noticed that there was an awkward silence between us. I tried to break the painful quiet by talking.

"What are we having for dinner?"

"Katsudon. I made it with the help of Ponytail, Kermit the Frog, and Glasses."

"That's nice." Maybe I'll eat a little bit more than usual. Just a little. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. The smell of katsudon filled the air. It was going to be hard to contain myself. At this point, I couldn't make an exception to eat to my heart's content if I wanted to. I would most likely end up puking later anyway.

I filled my bowl with a bit of rice and a small portion of katsudon. I slowly ate so I wouldn't finish it too quickly. I didn't want anyone to wonder why I finished so quickly. Right in the middle of eating, I suddenly coughed without reason, but there was a metallic taste in my mouth afterward. I drank water, but there was the taste of blood lingering. Blood? I then felt something rise in my throat, threatening to come out. No, not in front of everyone. 

I excused myself with the little breath I had left after holding down what wanted to be let out. I ran to the nearest bathrooms to throw up the mysterious substance. I quickly fled to one of the stalls, not bothering to close it.

After throwing up, I felt relieved. I slowly opened my eyes just to freak out again. Blood and food remains mixed with the toilet water, the red giving off plenty of tinge to the clear water. amidst all of it, there was one thing that stood out.

A flower petal.