K.BAKUGO X READER (Cover art by me)
In a life where I'd be safe in one moment and on the brink of death in another, I realized that he was the only force that could ground me. Of all the people in the world. My volatile co-worker. My menacing rival...
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part twenty-six
━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━
Everything slowed in those terrifying moments. Like an inescapable nightmare, the kind you run and pray to wake up from. I felt everything and nothing. The wind howling in my ears, consuming my every inch. The dip of my stomach, hollowing into itself. The black icy water, spreading wider and growing closer by the second.
Was this what it was like for Bakugo? As he fell from the balcony that night? Funny how the ease and relief in life can be so easily shattered, like falling glass to a window awning. What a horrible way to –
A blast echoed against the riverbank as he reached for me, still desperately fighting to keep each other alive. Were I not blackened and bloodied, I could've used my quirk like I always did to escape these kinds of dangers. It felt like only a matter of time until I'd meet my final battle with the river.
Our fingers brushed, and then Bakugo fell away. Everything shattered when I hit the water. My skin burned in the cold. My limbs thrashed, flailing my feet and hands without feeling, crawling back to the surface only to be met with rock and ice. The current took all I had. My sight, my sound, my ears, my breath, until there was nothing left. The only part which remained was a hope I held dear, knowing that I hadn't heard a second splash – that my partner hadn't fallen victim to the river.
Were it not for Katsuki, maybe I would've let the current take me for good. To be carried away, without attachment or worry. Endlessly tumbling until the river rolled into the expanse of the ocean, where I could cast away forever.
Just as I began to feel my lungs start to drown, a hand pulled me from the depths. Jittering and struggling to extend my fingers, I sank into the gritty, white snow of the riverside. I sucked my first breath. Blood hummed violently under my skin like I was playing tug of war with my own life.
Bakugo's voice was a muffled blur of anger. I wasn't really listening, deafened by the chatter of teeth banging around in my skull. He dragged me up the bank, into the trees. I could feel his hand shaking around mine, his grip weakening by the second. My wet clothes were stripped, and he buried me in the snow. The cold became all I knew.
Darkness crept in through my eyelids, but the sight of his face kept me from slipping. His palms were fire on my cheeks.
"Look at me! You stay alive while I'm gone!" An order from the heart.
Bakugo disappeared, crunching away. Seconds became minutes which became hours. Hidden in my little coffin of snow, I let my eyes wander in the darkening sky, wondering when the light would finally slip away. I carried my breath. I stayed awake. If I lost either, I would die.
