Notes: Something that seems very minor or is a throwaway happens in this chapter that marks a change between Bakugou and Uraraka. Whether either of them realizes it until later on because they're caught up in their own stuff, that's another thing.
Day Two: Roses
You should get her roses.
I'm not getting her roses.
Why not? They're pretty - like her.
Would you shut up or go away?
I can't. I'm your soul.
If Katsuki wasn't certain that it would knock him unconscious, he was liked to strangle his own daemon. Even though she could feel his disgruntlement towards her coursing through their strong bond, she didn't have the shame to appear anything but smug as he stood awkwardly outside the gift shop in the hospital. He didn't know what he was doing here. It wasn't like he was the type of person that gave people flowers, get well cards, or stuffed animals when someone was hospitalized.
"This is stupid," Katsuki decided, turning on his heels and walking away from the shop.
"Oh don't be like that," Mako teased as she easily got in front of him and stopped him in his tracks. "You can't visit her with nothing. Everyone else got her something."
Katsuki glared. "I don't care what everyone else did."
Mako sat down. He could've moved around her without an issue, but he stood still and they stared each other down. It was her fault that they were here in the first place. She had suggested that they visit Uraraka while she was recovering after what she'd done the day before. Lifting that building had saved so many lives, but it had put a serious hurting on her. He kept thinking about her quirk. It was possible to use it too much and the damage could be irreparable.
And then there was all that golden Dust that her daemon had been bleeding…
Daemons didn't bleed dust unless they were dying. Whenever he thought back to that moment, it unsettled him. He didn't know what he would do if Mako ever bled like that. As much as she frustrated him sometimes and he did her, he was wildly protective of her and not just because she was his soul and a part of him. Daemons could bleed like a normal animal, but when they bled Dust, things were very bad.
She had saved the day, but at what cost? She could have died.
Huffing, Katsuki turned back around and stomped into the shop. He completely ignored Mako, whose smugness radiated between their bond, as she wandered around the store. The cashier behind the counter eyed them with barely contained suspicion, his bird daemon twittering anxiously. Katsuki didn't know shit about flowers and Mako didn't either. They all looked dumb to him. The names meant nothing to them, their meanings even more lost. He was tempted to get the pinkest ones and be done with it.
"Hayato said she likes roses," Mako hummed as she returned to his side.
Katsuki looked down at her. "Since when do you two talk?"
Mako tilted her head up, giving him that innocent look only a canine could manage, but her tail was swishing in a conspicuous manner. "Since the beginning of the year." When Katsuki furrowed his brow, she rolled her eyes. Why hadn't she told him that? "You're so stubborn – can't see a good thing until it's nearly gone."
He was most definitely mad at her for keeping secrets from him – daemons weren't supposed to do that, least of all them – but he bought a few white roses and called it a day. Even if Uraraka didn't like them or thought he was crazy for getting her something, it appeased Mako and sometimes it was best to just do it. When he didn't, she would egg him on, like she knew him better than he knew himself. There were times when she knew things before he did, so he'd learned to trust her instincts.
But he still didn't like it all the time.
The door to Uraraka's room was already open and he could hear her quiet murmuring along with her daemon's. He had a slightly higher voice than most male daemons, dryer than expected of her. Maybe, just as Mako could be admittedly calmer than him and voiced his softer thoughts, her daemon was the… He wouldn't say meaner side of her, more like the side of her that was ready to fight. He'd seen it a few times and it never failed to catch his attention. After all, he'd learned to pay attention to people and their daemons more.
Before Katsuki could reconsider how stupid this was, Mako confidently padded into the room. He swore at her to get back, but it was too late. The talking stopped as soon as she was spotted and they would know exactly who was standing outside of her room like a complete idiot. Blowing out air, he stepped inside and stopped when he came around the curtain.
There was Uraraka sitting in the bed, the blanket resting on her lap. She was still in a hospital gown, but there was much more color to her face than the last time he'd seen her, those pink spots on her cheek shining as she smiled at him. Besides being in a hospital, she looked good. She looked normal. She didn't look as if she'd nearly tore herself apart to save everyone two days ago. Remarkable what a good doctor and someone with a healing quirk could do for a person.
Sitting at the foot of the bed, her daemon eyed him before laying down to get closer to Mako's level. He looked perfectly healthy again, his coat that impressive reddish golden color. It was weird seeing her act so familiar with Uraraka's daemon as the two of them fell into their own private conversation. He'd have to wheedle the information out of her later. And she said that he was stubborn.
"Bakugou, I didn't expect to see you," Uraraka greeted cheerfully.
"Yeah, well." Katsuki lamely waved the flowers in the air. Not that it mattered. Her room was filled to the brim with flowers. She would struggle to figure out what to do with all of them. He didn't know how the competing smells weren't overwhelming. Judging by the way her daemon's nose kept twitching, it was bothering one of them.
He went to set them down in a free spot, but then Uraraka held out her hands, which forced him to step to the side of her bed so that she could take them from him. "They're beautiful." Her voice was so soft and genuine that it made him squirm irritably. Honestly, they weren't that nice, just some boring white roses. He didn't know anything about flowers, but he knew better than to give her red ones. "I think I've received every flower except roses so far, but they're my favorite. Pretty basic, I know."
Katsuki didn't need to look over to know that Mako was grinning. He could feel how pleased she was to the point that it was melting into him and he tried to shove it back. He did not need to be feeling like that. There was no sense in it. Now she was just being a little shit on purpose.
"I was planning on talking to you when we got back to school," Uraraka said, gently gazing down at the flowers. She turned them over in her hands, but he wasn't sure if she was seeing them or something else entirely. "I wanted to thank you for…" She closed her eyes. "For saving Hayato. He wouldn't have gone unless you'd taken him."
In response, her daemon, Hayato, flicked his tail irritably. "I wasn't going to just leave you."
"We've got a longer bond than most - it comes with my quirk, I think - but we very rarely part unless absolutely necessary," Uraraka admitted, setting the bouquet down on her legs "We don't like being away from each other."
"You'll have to get used to that if you're going to be a pro," Katsuki pointed out.
"I know." Uraraka gripped her blanket tightly to the point where her knuckles turned white. "I kept begging him to leave, but he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't leave me. I didn't regret what I'd done, but I thought I'd killed us both."
Mako huffed, shaking her head. "He wouldn't have made it to the edge without forcing you to release your quirk and then you surely would have died." As usual, she was quick to point out the obvious, even though it might cut someone to the quick. She didn't hold back. Maybe she didn't yell as much as him or threaten as many people, but she was just as blunt as him. It somehow came out softer from her though despite those sharp teeth.
"I know, but I couldn't bear the thought of him getting hurt because of me," Uraraka replied.
"Absolutely stubborn," Hayato harrumphed, although he did crawl over her legs and the flowers so that he could press his body into her chest.
A bark of laughter tumbled out of Mako. "Tell me about it." Her tail swished from side-to-side, like a fucking dog, which she knew pissed him off, so she did it anyway. Gods, she was on a high today. Of course, she usually was after a big fight, be it a takedown or a rescue. In this case, it had been a bit of both. For some reason though, he didn't believe that was the only reason for her behavior. It almost felt like she was particularly pleased to be in here, which was absurd since she hated hospitals. "You should've seen him downstairs. He spent at least ten minutes deciding whether or not to get flowers and then another ten looking through all of them."
Katsuki's face burned red. "Oi! Stop being a little shit!"
"What?" Mako let her tongue loll a bit as she grinned at him. "I got it from you."
When Katsuki turned away from her, he saw that Uraraka was smiling. The dark cloud hanging over her had been broken. Even Hayato looked content as she scratched him behind his ears. For once, the cat daemon wasn't glaring or eyeing him with vague animosity. In fact, he almost looked happy to see them, his eyes going back to Mako, who trotted over to his side.
"Thank you again," Uraraka said, "for the flowers and for saving us."
"You don't need to thank me," Katsuki replied, "just promise that the next time you pull some crazy stunt like that, you'll warn me first so I don't have to do something equally insane."
Uraraka laughed. "I thought you always did stuff like that."
"Don't push it," Katsuki warned her, although there was very little heat behind his words.
Saluting him teasingly, Uraraka replied, "I promise." Although she sounded like she was joking, he knew that she meant it and he nodded his head.
This time he was the one that felt pleased with himself. He didn't want something like that to happen again. Seeing her struggling to keep herself together and then having her pass out in his arms had left an uncomfortable feeling in his gut, like he might get sick and wanted to fight at the same time. He'd been antsy and pushed himself harder at the gym despite his sore arm until Mako had suggested visiting the hospital. He felt better now, although he wasn't sure why, but he was sure as hell ready to go again and it looked like Uraraka was too.
