katsuki x fem!reader, readers in an accident and she never took her ex off emergency contact, angst abomination, i will delete this i swearrrrr
it’s the sterile smell of a hospital that you don’t expect to smell on a tuesday afternoon. antiseptic and something stale underneath it, like old coffee and bleach.
you stare at one of the 4 walls you’re enclosed by, all pale and empty, you’re eyes soon focusing on the tickling clock above your head.
you put a hand over your head. too bright are the lights above and you shift and settle for looking at the ground.
you’re not sure how a quick lunch break across the street ended in this. in screeching tires, an impact too strong, a bunching crowd, the blaring arrival of an ambulance too loud and the trip from the pavement to the hospital bed.
surely your boss will understand.
a knock at the door has your attention and a nurse enters the room for what feels like the millionth time today.
you say it before you think. you’re not sure anything is, least of all after being involved in a hit and run less than an hour earlier. you’ve already been poked, scanned, questioned, and examined in every way you can think of. being discharged you hope is next on the list.
“good news is—”, she looks at the papers on her clipboard. “no head or internal injuries showing. just the arm fracture.”
she circles a parts on the x-rays she’s holding up, does some more talking you can’t promise you heard. you think about your work, the upcoming deadline that’s due too soon for your liking, and how you’ll do to finishing it on time in this condition. you should probably call your mom too.
she’s done before you know and reaches for the doors “—oh, and you do have a visitor right outside.”
you barely have time to process the sentence before your eyes drift toward the doorway.
katsuki looks wrong in a hospital. too big for it. too sharp around the edges. his broad shoulders nearly fill the doorway, ash blond hair messier than you remember, like he dragged his hands through it the entire drive here. he’s still in his hero costume pants and combat boots heavy against the tile floor.
his eyes find you instantly.
for a second, neither of you says anything.
two since you last saw him with exhaustion written all over his face and your hurt spilling out faster than you could stop it.
in seconds he’s crossing the room.
his eyes move frantically over you, scanning every visible inch like he’s checking for damage, for proof you’re actually alive, and you hate the small, embarrassing part of yourself that still melts beneath that kind of attention.
it’s been so long since he looked at you like that. like you mattered more than whatever disaster was happening outside.
the shift in the atmosphere is felt quickly and nurse is moving before you realize. “i’ll can be back in a few minutes, i can leave the two of you alone.”
the closing door marks the end of his silence.
“you got hit by a fucking car?”
you note the harshness in his tone, the infamous way of speaking he’s always been known for, not surprised at all of the seed of irritation it plants in you.
“i’m okay,” you say automatically. you bite the bottom of your lip, stare back at the clock against the wall some more.
katsuki finally drags a hand down his face before looking at you again. “they said you lost consciousness.”
your fingers tighten against the thin hospital blanket and you do anything but meeting his gaze.
“it was only for a minute. you didn’t have to come,” you say quietly.
katsuki’s eyes snap to yours immediately. “what?”
“i mean…” you shrug weakly with your good shoulder. “you’re probably busy.”
something flashes across his face. not anger. worse.
“you think i wouldn’t come?”
you’re not looking at him.
his chest rises once, hard.
“the hospital calls me,” he says, voice suddenly rough, “and tells me the only woman i’ve ever loved got dragged in here after a hit-and-run— and you think my mind didn’t fucking spiral?”
you look at him for the second time today but you’re not phased in the slightest. not in the admission, not by the way he loses his cool over this. you’ve been hurt too many time by the man before you to be swooned at any mentions of love.
if he loved you he would’ve meant it every time he said he’d make time for you.
if he loved you he would’ve never agreed to plans he had not intention to show up for.
if he loved you he would’ve never made you carry the burden of a dying relationship on your own.
if he loved you he would’ve never made you compete with disasters.
the nerve he has to state he regarded you in such a way boils your blood and laces the next words that come out of your mouth with venom.
“how many cities had to crumble for you to be here?”
you regret them the second they’re out but it’s too late.
katsuki bakugou goes still. the kind where something deep inside him caves in.
your words hang in the air between, sharp and ugly and twisted. you watched as they hit him in real time. his eyes tear up and for the first time you see an emotion you’ve never seen the man you love show: fear.
in hurried steps you’re enveloped in his arms before you know, big and strong and cushioned against the muscles of his chest as he pulls you tighter against him.
it comes out weak, like he can’t stand the shape of the words you just said, the audible effect of the pain he’s driven you to voice.
“baby, please don’t talk like that.”
his hands shake against you. it startles you more than anything else could have because katsuki doesn’t shake.
not in collapsing buildings. not in front of cameras shoved in his face after battles. not when the world expects him to save it over and over again with blood running down his arms and smoke in his lungs.
his forehead presses hard against the top of your head like he needs to feel you there physically, needs proof you’re solid and breathing and warm.
“i got there and your phone was busted on the side of the street,” he says quietly. “and they wouldn’t tell me shit over the phone.”
guilt creeps in almost immediately. because you know him.
you know the man currently holding you together with trembling hands spent the last several years watching people die in front of him. you know he carries cities on his back until it bends him in places nobody else notices. you know he runs toward disasters while everyone else runs away. and still, you threw that at him anyway.
you squeeze you eyes shut but before you can answer, a knock sounds softly against the door.
the two of you pull apart just slightly.
the door opens and two police officers step inside, one older than the other. the older one begins speaking first before his eyes land properly on katsuki beside your bed.
he straightens immediately, giving a respectful bow. “dynamight sir. sorry, didn’t realize you were here.”
katsuki barely acknowledges it, attention already drifting back toward you like the interruption itself annoys him.
“we just needed to ask a few questions regarding the accident whenever you’re comfortable. the suspect is in custody."