Chapter One
The hospital was buzzing with activity, hospital staff attending to their duties within the symphony of IV alarms and call bells. All workstations were occupied as nurses and doctors worked on charting and answering pages. It was always busy, and that's the way I liked it. It made the day go by quicker and gave me no chance to worry about not being in the field. After all, healing quirks were rare, and my agency had set up this program where I could do rounds with the other doctors. Pro hero and medical doctor was quite the combo if I did say so herself.
"Dr. Marigold!" One of the floor nurses called my name as I started to pass by the nurses' station. I paused my walk and turned to her. She was an experienced nurse with sunny blonde hair and a no-nonsense attitude; she was wonderful with her patients.
"Estelle! How can I help my favorite charge nurse?" I gave her a disarming smile, one of my best features. I was dressed business casual underneath my white doctor's coat, a pair of trousers and a soft crème sweater. My curly brown hair was held up by the first hair clip I found this morning in my haste to get out of the door. There were slightly noticeable bags under my gray eyes. I knew Estelle was coming to me because she needed something done and no one else could do it but me.
"I need you to treat room 10. He is refusing to let anyone else in there and it seems like no one else has the spine to do it." She was pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose, trying to relieve some of the tension that had built up there. "I can't get anything done and it's taking me to the edge of insanity."
"I'd do anything you need! You have the chart?" I asked and seconds later it was in my hands. "Dr. Smith okay with me stepping in?" I quickly skimmed the information in front of me. Adult male. 25 years of age. Blunt force trauma to the head, ribs, and bilateral lower extremities. Another Pro that went too far. I let out a hefty sigh as I read the patient's name. "Really? You asked me to take care of him because you know that we have such a great relationship." The sarcasm was dripping in my voice.
Estelle shrugs at me and looks me straight in the eyes, "Look Mari, you get results and I need him off my floor. He makes the rest of unit uneasy." She put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. "Good luck! I'm going to check on the rest of my patients." Her steps were quick as she disappeared into the med room.
I looked down the hall at room 10. Well, let's get this show on the road... I thought to myself. I walked briskly down the hall stopping only a moment to knock before I entered the room, not giving myself any chances for second thoughts. "Hello, I am Dr. Marigold Honda. I'm from the Pro-hero Healer division. I have come to heal your wounds, Dynamite." I put on my best patient care smile, trying to stay calm as I headed into this figurative war zone.
The patient in the bed radiates anger as he meets my eyes. Katsuki Bakugo was not a good patient to say the least. Constantly getting out bed by himself, ripping out IV drips and even discharging himself a few times. This also wasn't the first time that we have crossed paths. "Get out unless you're letting me out of this place!" Bakugo barked at me; his tone was irritated.
"Now, now. I am here to help heal you so that way you can get back out there." I walked closer to the bed. "Let's see what I'm working with." I reached for the sheet that covered most of his battered body so that I could access the damage and work on healing the worst areas.
His hand was lighting quick and grabbed my wrist before it even touched the cool linen of the sheet. The bright red of his eyes met mine and he growled at me, "Who said a chump like you could touch me?" The tension was high, and at that moment, I held my breath.
"I didn't realize you were so comfortable with being the Number two hero." I knew if I laid the bait out, he would take it...
"Number two?!" he dropped my hand, "What the hell are you talking about?!" The vein in his forehead looked like it was about to pop out. "Ain't no way I'm staying at Number Two! This is just a set back!" He grips his damaged ribs in pain as he fails about in bed. I wince in sympathy because I knew that hurt.
"Well, if you don't want to stay at rank two, you should let me heal you." I shrug nonchalantly. "I am a pro hero too, in case you forgot..." While he was distracted by the pain, I took off the sheet and my fingers began to skim along his taut, and tanned skin. "Just because my quirk isn't offensive like yours doesn't mean that I'm useless. Healing quirks are rare." I keep talking as I start my work. My quirk allowed me to take the hurt and the pain from someone and feel it myself. In return their cells would start to regenerate or heal faster. "I don't suppose you would happen to remember my hero name?" I touched his ribs and looked up into his eyes with a smile, the pain I took from him made his muscles relax almost immediately.
He let out an unconscious sigh of relief. "No. Why would I remember your hero name? It's irrelevant to me and my greatness."
"Irrelevant should have been my middle name then." I teased him again, smiling at him. "Since you don't need my help anymore, I guess these pathetic hands will just go help someone else."
"Wait!" He put his hand on my wrist, the gentleness of it caught me off guard. "I didn't mean it like that..."
He was looking at me so intensely that I did the only thing I could think of that would ease the tension. I leaned in quickly and kissed his cheek. He let go of my wrist and he turned bright red. "Careful you might make me fall for you." I quickly stood up and left the room. I was done healing him anyway. I could hear him sputter as I closed the door behind me.
What I didn't see was the look on his face as I walked away.
I returned to the nurses' station and found Estelle at her desk, typing furiously at some document she had pulled up. I snuck up behind her and peeped at the screen, reading what she was typing out loud, "This Hawks Superfan cannot wait for the new merch release-" I was cut off as her head met my chin.
We both let out groans of pain, holding hands tight to the affected areas. "Marigold! How many times have I told you to not read over my shoulder?!" She whipped around in her chair to give me glare.
I couldn't help but laugh at her, "You were just so zoned out! You wouldn't have heard me even if I did try to get your attention." I rubbed my chin again, "You sure are hardheaded... Speaking of which, I treated your patient in room 10. If he tries to leave you should be fine to discharge him." I see her cup of coffee on the counter next to her and grab it, "I'll take this as my thank you. I'll see you after shift change!"
"I was going to give it to you anyway!" She laughed at me as I walked away. I sipped on the coffee the whole way back to my office I kept here in the hospital; it was simple with a few personal touches of mine to get rid of that generic office feeling. On my desk was a picture of Estelle and I smiling, our arms across each other's shoulders. We had been roommates since college, it had been one of those connections where you know you'll be friends for life.
I set the cup down and logged into my desktop, went through the motions of opening my emails and then my patient charts. I paused for a moment before I opened Bakugo's chart, I assumed Estelle had assigned him to me. I began to read the synopsis that Dr. Smith had dictated earlier in the day, it detailed the fight that Bakugo had told me about. I was flipping through his labs and vitals when my email went off, signaling an urgent message.
I tab over and open the new email, the subject heading reading "Upcoming field work." I sat straighter up in my chair. Field work? I never got sent to do field work, the agency was always worried that something would happen to their star healer. My heart began to race as I read through the text of the email. There was intel that there may be a fight going on between factions of street gangs and I would be on standby for the medic tents out in the field.
Finally, I would be able to help in the moment instead of after, when they came into the hospital and limped their way back to the agency when I was there. I was determined to prove that I can hack it in action instead of always behind this desk. For the rest of my shift, I was on cloud nine. My rounds finished uneventfully for the day, and I waited for Estelle to walk out of the employee entrance so we could travel home together.
The sky was dark, but the last glimmers of sunshine painted the few clouds in the sky lovely lavender and soft oranges. I sat on the bench outside and watched patients and employees walk up and down the sidewalk. I waved to a few other Pro Heroes I knew as they came to check in on others or get themselves checked out. I sighed and just enjoyed the moment, feeling the cooling summer breeze that was signaling autumn was just around the corner.
"Hey! Sorry report took longer than I expected, hope you didn't wait long!" Estelle walked up to the bench, her small bag hooked onto her shoulder and her hair loose from the tie she had this morning. "Dr. Smith discharged Dynamite this afternoon, he looked like he was ready to break out of here if had to wait any longer." She waited for me to stand up before we started to walk along the path that led us to our car.
"I am not surprised in the slightest, he never makes it more than two days." I shake my head, "Also you would think with how many times he would remember me, but no." I pull the sleeves of my sweater up to my elbows. "Although I wish you could have seen his face when I kissed his cheek."
Estelle turned to look at me, "Oh? That doesn't seem very professional of you Dr. Honda..." she teased me, poking a finger into my side.
"Oh, and writing a new blog post for your Hawks superfan page is?" I raised an eyebrow at her and countered back.
She pouted for a second before smiling at me, "Well Bakugo didn't say anything to the rest of the floor staff. So that's interesting...or maybe he is paying more attention to you than you thought." She nudged me with her elbow.
"Oh hush." I nudge her back and try to ignore the burning blush that is forming across my face and going to the tip of my ears.
"Want me to help you set up a Dynamite fan page?" I ignored her cackles as I unlocked the door and we got into the car.
We both missed the dark shadow that lingered along the tree line and disappeared out of sight.
Thank you so much for taking the time and reading my first fic in a while! Please enjoy and take care friends!
TTFN~
Ta Ta For Now~
Marina Rose