Emote: Bakugo x OC Reader

Chapter 72

Jesus Christ, I'm dying. Surely I'm dying. Maybe I'm already dead?

I lay on the floor of the bathroom, the cool tile a welcome distraction from the pain that radiated throughout my body. Sweat seemed to pool beneath me and sharp, rapid breaths escaped my lips. Now that I had collapsed on the floor, I couldn't see myself being able to stand up on my own. I reached for the edge of the sink although it was a weak attempt and my hand limply fell to the floor. 

There was a soft knock on the door before Mandalay poked her head in.

"Oh, kitten." Her voice was soothing as she stepped in and knelt beside me. "Let's have a look, shall we?"

I nodded my head mutely as I worked to take my top off. Mr. Aizawa had explained to me beforehand that part of the reason I would be training with Mandalay specifically was because she was trained in first aid and could keep an eye on my injury to make sure I wasn't at risk of re-opening the wound. 

She slowly peeled my bandage back to examine the injury. "It's still looking good. Well, relatively speaking. I'm sure it still hurts like hell though. I heard that the others are just about here, so we can be done for today. Aizawa is quite the driving force, isn't he? He really enjoys pushing you kids to your limits."

As she spoke, she worked on re-bandaging the wound. There was a gentleness about her words and the movement of her hands that brought tears to my eyes. I felt them slide down the sides of my face and her busy hands paused for a moment. "You okay?"

"It's my quirk," My voice was choked up. "So stupid. It's the aftermath of overusing my quirk. That and the pain that I feel. It's everywhere. I don't even want to move right now."

"You've got quite the quirk, I must say. I've never felt anything like that. Sparing with you today and not having control over my emotions...it was such a helpless feeling. It's gotta drive control freaks out of their mind."

A laugh bubbled up through my tears as I thought of Katsuki. "Yeah, you could say that."

"And it's probably really underrated compared to other quirks. But I hope you know the value of it. Especially that pain move you've got, that was completely unexpected! Keep it up and you're going to do great things, kitten."

The tears came harder and I couldn't seem to control them. I felt her hand take mine as she said, "Here, let me help you up."

When I was on my feet, still sobbing, she set my shirt on the counter before wrapping her arm around my shoulder and giving me a squeeze. "Take some time to clean up and come out when you're ready. We'll be in the dining hall."

My hands shook as I turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on my face. I grabbed my shirt and pressed it to my face, not caring how disgusting I would look when I met up with my class. Looking at my reflection, I was met with bloodshot eyes and rosy cheeks. My hair was tussled and thrown up in a messy bun. Taking a deep breath, I pulled my shirt over my head and began making my way towards the dining hall.

I could hear the commotion of my classmates before I was even close to my destination. The smell of beef and freshly cooked vegetables hung in the air and I followed the scent as I felt my mouth water. When my stomach let out a lonely cry, I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and the sun was already starting to set.

As I came to stand in the doorway of the dining hall, I immediately looked for that spiky blonde hair and froze when I saw that blonde bimbo essentially throwing herself at him. Pixie Bob was leaning between Katsuki and Midoriya to put a platter of food on the table but was facing Katsuki, her breasts conspicuously close to his face.

"You want some more, kitten?" She was asking, flashing him a sweet smile.

Midoriya, on the other side of her, seemed like he was about to burst a blood vessel, whereas Katsuki seemed not to have heard her at all as he continued to stuff his face and pay her no attention.

Sero, who was sitting on the other side of Katsuki, leaned in and whispered something.

"Dude, check out her boobs! They're right by your face!" The noise level in the dining hall was too loud for me to hear what Sero had said, but I could hear his voice saying the words as though I was standing within inches of the group.

Jealousy flared within me so aggressively that I didn't think about my actions before I started moving. I marched forward, ignoring Mina when she called out to me, and when I got within a few feet of the blonde woman obnoxiously shouted, "Excuse me!"

When she shot up, I shoved my way in between Katsuki and Midoriya to take a seat on the bench between the two boys. Midoriya immediately scooted over, anxiously jabbering incoherently as he did so, whereas Katsuki stayed firmly planted. His blood red eyes looked into mine as he slowly chewed the food that had been in his mouth. My heart was pounding and I wasn't sure if it was because of the adrenaline from the situation or being this close to him. There was a smudge of dirt on his cheek and he looked worn out. I caught a whiff of his sweet scent, like a caramel desert that's been baking in the oven all day.

"You look like shit," He said.

Rage filled me and I was about to slam my hands down into the table to stand up when I felt his hand grip my thigh. "Calm down." He said it quietly and when I looked over at him, he had continued eating with his other hand.

"Nakano, you okay?" Kirishima asked through a mouth full of food.

I nodded as I put my head in my hands and willed myself not to cry in front of everyone and draw even more attention to myself. Eventually I started eating and although Katsuki didn't speak again for the remainder of the meal, his hand stayed firmly planted.