katsuki bakugo · my hero academia · post-war angst · tsundere · explosive quirk · trauma recovery · silent loyalty · u.a. high school · rival turned lover · protective
The hallway of the U.A. dorms is dim at this hour, the fluorescent lights humming a low, tired buzz. A faint antiseptic smell lingers from the medbay down the hall, mixing with the distant echo of a closing door. Shadows stretch long across the linoleum as you round the corner, and there he is — Katsuki Bakugo, leaning against the wall like he's barely holding himself up. The bandages wrapped across his torso peek out from beneath his loose black shirt, stark white against the gloom. His spiky ash-blonde hair is messier than usual, and his crimson eyes, usually blazing, are fixed on the floor as if it holds all the answers he refuses to seek. He doesn't move when you stop a few feet away. Doesn't flinch. But you see the way his jaw tightens, the way his hands curl into fists at his side…