A Flower's Affection (KiriBaku Flower Shop AU)

Eijiro Kirishima-Recover

Hello, my lovelies. I do believe that if you've made it this far—
        You'll check the date.

        White plaster walls. Polished marble floors. Clean sterilized air. And wrapped in pastel linen, a ghastly pale boy of his.

        Eijiro hated this. Hated looking at him like this, knowing that he'd done this. He hated hospitals, hated knowing that he'd sent Katsuki to this one. He'd hated listening to Katsuki scream as they loaded him into the ambulance, wrapped in a web of confusion. Of all the times for his hearing aids to break, why when he needed them most?

        Eijiro ran a hand down his tired face, his other locked in Kat's grasp while his knee jogged anxiously and he glared holes into the bedsheets. He hadn't bothered with his hair, but Mina was an nervous braider, so he'd sat still long enough for her to weave a dozen tiny strands into his sad, low ponytail. He didn't have much more time here—he'd only managed to nab these few minutes at all because Midoriya had offered himself as a distraction to get Katsuki's parents off off guard dog duty.

        Whatever brownie points he'd earned with Katsuki's mother had been lost with one swift kick, and he couldn't blame her at all. Worse even was Katsuki's father, with whom he hadn't had any brownie points to begin with. Between the two, Masaru Bakugo was the more outwardly hostile, and his threats often included a shotgun, a shovel, and a shallow grave.

        Mina assured him that was normal, but Eijiro was sure those threats were real, said with such venom he wouldn't be surprised if the man grew viper fangs.

They were just so... so... protective. It was startling, really. Every time Katsuki had ever spoken about his parents, it was to say his mother was intense and harsh. His father was timid and gentle.

But it hadn't been Mitsuki Bakugo that's not so subtly suggested that a trash compactor made a convenient body disposal service.

Puffing a sigh of irritation, Eijiro pressed a small kiss to Katsuki's knuckles. Before he forgot, he pulled the case containing Katsuki's repaired hearing aids from his pocket and set them on a bedside table where they could be easily seen. Hatsume had promised they were better than new—Eijiro didn't know what to think of that. He didn't know if he liked having to trust her work, when apparently so many of her so-called 'babies' tended to explode without warning.

But Katsuki needed those. And he was the reason they were broken.

Which made everything he wanted to say so much harder, because no way would Katsuki tolerate 'I don't think I should see you until you've recovered' while he was deaf, unconscious, and probably looking for a fight.

        Who was he kidding? Katsuki would never tolerate that at all.

        But if he woke up, and Eijiro wasn't there... was he going to think badly? Was he going to think that Eijiro had abandoned him? While he was hurt...

        Eijiro squeezed his hand. If Katsuki would just wake up, everything would be fine. Somehow Midoriya had managed to hold the doctors off of surgery until Nurse Shuzenji could make it out in the storm, which she was none too pleased about but she gave all the anxious students lollipops anyway. One full break, one partial fracture, thankfully no complications, but her work was exhaustive, and Katsuki was still sound asleep two mornings later. He'd made a few half hearted attempts to wake himself—Midoriya said they always ended with 'fuck you,' 'go away' and 'die.'

       His phone buzzed in his pocket. That would be Midoriya, warning him that his time was up. He didn't have much longer before the Bakugo parents were once again at their son's side, and he couldn't take another round of being screamed at or the snide implications that he had somehow done this—somehow wanted to do this—on purpose. He pulled himself up from his chair and give Katsuki's hand a final squeeze, leaning over to kiss his forehead.