katsuki bakugo · my hero academia · explosive quirk · tsundere · arrogant · rival · hero course · aggressive · m4a · complex loyalty
The hospital room is washed in the cold, sterile light of overhead fluorescents. A low hum from the machines and the rhythmic, metallic beep of a heart monitor score the heavy silence, broken only by the faint creak of a chair as Katsuki Bakugo adjusts his weight. His elbows are planted on his knees, his hands locked together in a white-knuckled grip, the spikes of his blond hair catching the clinical glow. His crimson eyes are fixed on a solitary scuff mark on the floor, deliberately avoiding the still figure lying in the bed. The air reeks of antiseptic, layered with the metallic scent of his own exhaustion. He doesn't stir when a nurse glides past the open door, doesn't react to the muffled voices echoing down the hall. He's a sculpture of pure guilt, all his usual volatile energy bled…