Kirishima heard the whistle of a sword cutting through the air before he saw the flash of metal. Time stood still as he took in the situation. Bakugo, his fearless and brash partner, was right in the line of fire. Bakugo couldn't even see the sword, as the enemy was attacking from behind. That was the least manly thing Kirishima had ever seen. He couldn't stand people who performed sneak attacks.
Bakugo was going to get seriously wounded by the sword and Kirishima did the only thing he could think of to keep his Bakugo safe from harm. He lunged in front of the swordsman without hesitation. He knew he had ultimately sacrificed himself to the bloodthirsty swordsman, but as long as Bakugo was safe, that was all that mattered to him. He had expected to get scratched up at most, but as the blade cut through his outstretched hand, Kirishima realized he had made a grave mistake. The sword cut through him like butter and a searing pain shot up his arm.
Bakugo could only watch as Kirishima, the only man he had ever considered to be his equal on the battlefield, dove in front of the sword meant for him. He saw red as the sword slashed through Kirishima, but he couldn't bring himself to engage with the masked swordsman. Kirishima needed medical attention as soon as possible. Nothing else mattered at that moment.
Bakugo knelt beside his fallen partner. He couldn't believe he had let this happen. He was supposed to protect Kirishima, not the other way around. His pride stung at the thought that he wasn't able to save his partner from harm. "Kirishima? Are you okay? We're going to the hospital now, so you need to hold on for only a little bit longer, alright?"
Kirishima opened his mouth to speak, but Bakugo laid a finger over his lips. "Sh...it's alright. You don't need to say anything right now. I've got you." Noting the wound, he tore a strip of cloth from his clothes and wrapped it tightly around the gash on Kirishima's hand. He had never seen this much blood before and was terrified that the sword had hit a major artery. Bakugo couldn't think straight, but he was certain there was some kind of major artery in the hand.
Bakugo took his phone out and proceeded to dial emergency medical services. He couldn't drive and didn't know where the nearest hospital was. It took ten minutes for the ambulance to arrive, but Bakugo was sure Kirishima was dying in those ten minutes. It destroyed him that he was unable to do anything more for his fallen battle buddy, it stung his pride that he was so completely useless in Kirishima's ultimate time of need.
Bakugo was prohibited from following Kirishima any further than the waiting room. All he could do was watch as a medical team swarmed Kirishima's lifeless body and usher him down the long corridor towards the operating theater.
With shaking knees, Bakugo sank down onto a waiting room chair. He buried his face in his hands and reflected on everything that had happened. If only he had been more vigilant, if only he hadn't been so careless, then Kirishima wouldn't have gotten hurt. He wouldn't be fighting for his life in a bleak hospital room.
Bakugo wasn't able to sulk for very long before Mina came barreling through the waiting room. She stopped in front of Bakugo and he glanced up at her. He wasn't in the mood for her emotional theatrics. There was fire in her eyes and her hands were on her hips, which Bakugo knew was never a good sign.
"What have you done?" she began to chastise him. Bakugo wasn't feeling up to trying to defend himself, but her words stung like a slap to his pride.
"I haven't done a damn thing. Maybe if you had been with us, we wouldn't have been so badly outnumbered. Kirishima was hurt trying to protect me from a sneak attack," he admitted. "The fucker was going to stab me in the back, but Kirishima jumped between us. If it hadn't been just the two of us, he wouldn't have needed to do that."
Mina burst into tears by this heated retelling of what happened, but Bakugo wasn't fazed by it in the slightest. He had become accustomed to Mina's crying, which seemed to have a hairpin trigger. "If he hadn't been trying to protect you, this wouldn't have happened! I keep telling you to look out for your blind spots, but you never listen to me!"
"This is stupid!" Bakugo roared. This outburst caught the attention of everyone in the waiting room, but he didn't care. His boyfriend was on the operating table and his girlfriend was freaking out. He felt like he couldn't do anything right in that moment, but knew that fighting with Mina would get them nowhere closer to finding out if Kirishima would be okay. "I'm not doing this with you right now, Mina. Look, I'm really sorry for yelling at you, but you didn't see it. You didn't have to see him being slashed to confetti! I did! I had to watch as the dumbass jumped right between us! It should have been me! Why wasn't it me?"
Bakugo broke down into tears, angry tears that belied his damaged pride. Mina faltered in her stance. She had only ever seen Bakugo this vulnerable once before. She sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She felt sick to her stomach for trying to pick a fight and knew that Bakugo had a point. She should have been there with them. While Bakugo cried, Mina buried her face into the crook of his neck. "I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to add any more stress to the situation. It wasn't either of our faults. It just happened. We knew things like this would happen in our line of work."
Bakugo leaned heavily into the embrace. He craved Mina's warmth around him, having her scent invade his nostrils. It kept him grounded and gave him something to fight for. As long as he had Mina by his side, he could sit through this excruciating hospital stay. He gave her a peck on her temple and he could feel her lips curve up into the tiniest of smiles against his neck.
Before the couple could get too comfy, they were interrupted by Deku and Ochaco's arrival. In everything that had happened, Bakugo had completely forgotten he had contacted their friends in the ambulance. Everything had happened so quickly that Bakugo acted on impulse.
"Hey guys! We came as soon as we could." The normally bubbly Ochaco was subdued by the gravity of the situation. She took a seat beside Mina as Deku stood behind her with a somber expression on his youthful face. "How's Kirishima? Have you guys heard anything yet?"
Bakugo shook his head. It had been over an hour already and he had heard nothing from the doctors about Kirishima's progress. His anxiety was starting to overwhelm him, but Ochaco spoke up again.
"I'm sure he'll be fine. Kirishima's been through much worse," she reassured the couple. "For now, no news is good news, right? And both are better than bad news."
The friends were interrupted by a doctor approaching them with an unreadable expression on his face. Bakugo and Mina squeezed each other's hands as they braced themselves for the worst.
"Your friend will be fine. Kirishima got very lucky that no major arteries or nerves had been damaged. If you want, you can go see him. He's been requesting Bakugo and Mina ever since he came out of anesthesia. He's right down the hall." The doctor gestured down the corridor with his clipboard in hand.
Bakugo had the faintest feeling that something wasn't being said, something was purposefully being left out, but he couldn't fathom what. He got up with Mina and the couple made their way down the hallway, hand in hand. Deku and Ochaco remained behind, not wanting to intrude upon the trio in this sensitive situation.
Mina and Bakugo rushed into Kirishima's room to find Kirishima exactly the same as always—until he raised his bandaged hand to wave at them. They noticed that he only had three fingertips sticking out of the bandage. Mina and Bakugo glanced at each other before looking back at Kirishima's hand to make sure they were seeing things properly.
"Are you guys alright? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Kirishima laughed at his partners' shocked faces. He was just glad to be alive—the sword cutting through him had been one of the worst pains he had ever felt in his life.
Mina threw herself into Kirishima's arms, unable to control the massive wave of relief coursing through her body. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lavished him with kisses all over his face. Bakugo watched the tender scene for a moment and felt lucky that he was able to be in this relationship.
His thoughts were interrupted as Kirishima pulled him into the embrace and landed a kiss on his lips. He returned the kiss eagerly, overcome with the same whirlwind of emotions as Mina.
Kirishima would need to stay in the hospital overnight, but Bakugo was already planning something special for when he came home. Tonight, however, he would be with Mina at Kirishima's bedside, taking turns watching over their boyfriend.
Hello all reading this, I really hope you enjoyed the story. This is the first in what I hope to make a collection of stories for this OT3 taking place in the same continuity. So please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts on the story.