𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙙 (𝗄𝗂𝗋𝗂𝖻𝖺𝗄𝗎)

Five | Planting Flowers in the Garden

Just as Kirishima promised, the next day, Bakugou found himself sitting in bright green grass and surrounded by flowers of all sorts: The hospital garden.

"Those over there are camellias, and next to them are chrysanthemums. Fun fact, both of the flowers are used to represent death," Kirishima explained, pointing at the flowers. 

Bakugou hummed in response, tugging at the grass around his feet. He stared down at it, not even bothering to look at the flowers Kirishima was talking about.

"Hey, look. The sun's setting."

Bakugou huffed, annoyed. He had already seen a thousand sunsets in his life—What was so important about seeing another one? Nevertheless, he shifted his attention to the sky behind him, staring straight into the sun as if challenging it before he blinked and looked toward the actual sky.

The sky was changing to all sorts of colors and blending together in a wondrous sort of beauty, casting long, strange shadows over the garden. Bakugou didn't find it at all impressive, considering the same thing happened every single evening when the sun finally decided to make way for nightfall.

But then he glanced back at the garden.

The sun's fleeting light fell over the flowers, illuminating them with the faintest orange and pink hues and making them glow. With the sun behind them, a thin ring of light surrounded each and every plant, making them look truly alive and ethereal. Even to someone as stubborn as Bakugou, it was stunning.

Kirishima smiled. "I told you it was pretty!" he said, eyes bright and smile brighter. "Isn't it breathtaking?"

"Mhm," Bakugou hummed, genuinely agreeing for once (even though it didn't necessarily come off that way).

A few quiet moments passed. Both boys were enjoying the peaceful sunset and silence (besides the ever-present sounds of nature moving), so they didn't speak.

Kirishima took a small breath. "What type of flowers do you want to have at your funeral, Bakugou?"

"What?" he choked, turning around to face him so quickly he almost gave himself whiplash.

"You know, in, like, a hundred years, when you die, what type of flowers do you want at your funeral?" Kirishima asked casually, as if he thought it was a completely normal question.

"It's not like I already have my funeral planned out."

"Well, yeah. But if you had to choose any flower, what would it be?"

"I don't know." Truth be told, Bakugou just didn't know many types of flowers, and it was easier to just say less.

"Really? Okay," he said. "For me, it's kinda funny, because my family has this tradition that whenever someone dies, there are always white chrysanthemums at the funeral. Like, it goes back generations and generations. And, I mean, white chrysanthemums are pretty, but I'd rather have orchids."

"Okay."

"Did you know that orchids are flowers of love?"

"No."

"They are! Plus they're super pretty. I also think it's kinda cool, 'cause they're also really hard to take care of and can die reallyyy easily. Sometimes, I think, like, I'm an orchid. Not literally, of course, but if you think about it, we're pretty similar. We're both hard to take care of, can die easily, et cetera. You know what I mean?"

"Whatever."

"See? You get me," Kirishima said, slowly laying back into the grass. "Sometimes, you just feel like a flower."