𝓐 𝓜𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓷 𝓔𝓷𝓭 | Katsuki Bakugou x Male Reader

Chapter 8

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Mashirao appeared and got a firm grip on (M/N)'s arm, but he wasn't planning on running now. (M/N) looked over at the hospital - just in time to see the rest of the structure give way - and the fight went out of him. All those people, the hundreds of wounded, the relatives, the medics from 13, were no more. (M/N) turned back to Mashirao, saw the swelling on his face left by Shoto's boot. (M/N) was no expert, but his nose was probably broken. His voice was more resigned than angry, though. "Back to the landing strip." (M/N) obediently took a step forward and winced as he became aware of the pain behind his right knee. The adrenaline rush that overrode the sensation had passed and his body parts joined in a chorus of complaints. He was banged up and bloody and someone seemed to be hammering on his left temple from inside his skull. They ran for the runway.

A small hovercraft, different from the one that transported them there, waited on the runway. The second his team was on board, they took off. No comfy seats or windows this time. They seemed to be in some sort of cargo craft. Mashirao did emergency first aid on people to hold them until they made it back to 13. The pounding in (M/N)'s head got worse and he had to lay down on the floor. He passed out not long after.

~

When (M/N) woke up, he was warm and patched up in his old bed in the hospital. His mother was there, checking his vital signs. "How do you feel?"

"A little beat-up, but all right," he said.

"No one even told us you were going until you were gone," she said.

(M/N) felt a pang of guilt. When his family had to send him off twice to the Hunger Games, this wasn't the kind of detail he should overlook. "I'm sorry. They weren't expecting the attack. I was just supposed to be visiting the patients," he explained. "Next time, I'll have them clear it with you."

"(M/N), no one clears anything with me," she said.

It was true. Even (M/N) didn't. Not since his father died. Why pretend? "Well, I'll have them... notify you anyway."

On the bedside table was a piece of shrapnel they removed from his leg. The doctors were more concerned with the damage his brain might have suffered from the explosions, since his concussion hadn't fully healed to begin with. But he didn't have double vision or anything and he could think clearly enough. He had slept right through the late afternoon and night, and he was starving. His breakfast was so disappointingly small. Just a few cubes of bread soaking in warm milk. He had been called down to an early morning meeting at Command. He started to get up and then realised they planned to roll his hospital bed directly there. He wanted to walk, but that was out, so he negotiated his way into a wheelchair. He felt fine, really. Except for his head, and his leg, and the soreness from the bruises, and the nausea that hit a couple minutes after he ate. Maybe the wheelchair was a good idea.

As they wheeled him down, he began to get uneasy about what he would face. He and Shoto directly disobeyed orders yesterday, and Mashirao had the injury to prove it. Surely, there would be repercussions, but would they go so far as Kaina alluring their agreement for the victors' immunity? Had (M/N) stripped Katsuki of what little protection he had given him?

When (M/N) got to Command, the only ones who had arrived were Ryuko, Izuku and the insects. Ryuko beamed and said, "There's our little star!" and the others were smiling so genuinely that (M/N) couldn't help but smile in return. They impressed him in 8, following him on to the roof during the bombing, making Kan back off so they could get the footage they wanted. They more than did their work, they took pride in it. Like Keigo.

(M/N) had a strange thought that if they were in the arena together, he would pick them as allies. Ryuko, Izuku, and...

"I have to stop calling you 'the insects'," (M/N) blurted out to the cameramen. He explained how he didn't know their names, but their suits suggested the shelled creatures. The comparison didn't seem to bother them. The first one introduced himself as Eijiro and the other as Tamaki. (M/N) waited for Tamaki to say hello, but he just nodded. (M/N) assumed he was just shy, but Eijiro told him that Tamaki was also an Avox. The Capitol had cut out his tongue and he would never speak again. And (M/N) no longer had to wonder what made him risk everything to help bring down the Capitol.