LOST // BAKUGO X OC

Cold

Bleary eyes squinted at the roof, a loud clangorous noise jolting her body awake so harshly that she nearly fell out of bed. Estelle stared, utterly perplexed by the strange noise as her head turned to the male on her right, and her confusion grew as she detected the evident perspiration on his face.

She was silent as Katsuki lurched up, coughing like a possessed man into his hand. When she moved her gaze up to his eyes, she noticed he was wide awake, yet his globes were filled with overwhelming fatigue. His hand moved, gripping onto his heart for dear life as a heavy breath left his lips, and it was then that Estelle shot up from the bed, noting how the air had come out as a wheeze.

Estelle observed his state on her knees, sitting on the bed with evident uneasiness as Katsuki fell back into another round of coughs. He flopped back onto the bed, looking as pale as a ghost and like he was on the verge of passing out from the lack of air. Estelle felt her heart stop, her body moving on all fours to lean over him in question. Her hair hung between them, essentially trapping their sights to they couldn't drift away from one another as Estelle scrutinised him, her thoughts raging in her mind as she softly asked, "Katsuki?"

Katsuki tried to turn his head away when Estelle inched closer, his coughing muffled as he tried to prevent the coughs from reaching her. His eyes stayed on hers, barely able to get his words out as he hoarsely responded, "Yes?"

Feeling apprehensive the more she observed him, Estelle could only question, "Are you...okay?"

Katsuki's eyes broadened from the query, his mouth beginning to tip down the longer their eyes met. Despite the apparent uncertainty in her expression, he could help but give a hoarse cry, "Do I look alright!?"

Startled by the yell, Estelle felt heat flood her cheeks as she tried to give a verbal answer. Completely flustered by the dumb question, Estelle was given a second of reprieve when the blonde hacked his lungs out once again. As the racket strengthened in sound, Estelle was brisk to shoot up from the bed, a layer of nervousness on her face as she shuffled off the covers.

Her feet touched the floorboards, and it was only seconds later that she was hurrying around the bed to reach his side of the covers. The tiny pitter-patter of her feet and the quickness of her movements had caught Katsuki off guard, his stare following her the whole time she rapidly moved. Katsuki would have found the action breathtakingly adorable if he weren't so sick.

As Estelle got closer, his eyes never left her frame, and her palm was placed on his forehead to check his temperature. Despite not activating any abilities, the blonde had never noticed how cold Estelle was, and he couldn't stop the groan from slipping past his lips as he grasped it to keep it in place. Closing his eyes to enjoy the brief reprieve from burning in what seemed like hellfire, Katsuki relaxed enough that he could fall back asleep.

"-Burning up!.... Ruby?!"

Katsuki jerked from the sudden yell, pulling his eyelids apart to check what was wrong with the frantic tone in her voice. Estelle wasn't the type to shout very much, so the fact she was doing so right now instantly caught his attention. Blinking up at her, he recognised that her wide globes were staring with an unbridled fear that made his gut clench.

Tightening his grip on her hand to reassure her, Katsuki forced a mumble through his tired lips. "M'kay. It's jus' a cold."

Pausing from the answer, Estelle frowned, "You should have put your snow gear on last night. Why didn't you?"

"You were wearing them."

Estelle could have groaned if she wasn't jittering with concern. She had made a joke about it yesterday, but colds were life-threatening; it was why she had told him to put them on. She shouldn't have been so careless as to forget it last night in the face of their snowball fight. "You moron! I don't get sick! I would have been fine!"