Pairing - Bakugo x male reader after the war you and katsuki finally settle down together
happy ending the sad version found here
By the time Katsuki woke up, the war was over.
At first, he didnât realize that. Consciousness came back in broken pieces, pain splitting through his chest, the sharp antiseptic smell of a hospital room, the constant beeping of monitors somewhere close by. Everything felt heavy. His eyelids. His limbs. Even breathing felt exhausting.
For several seconds he simply stared at the unfamiliar white ceiling above him, mind sluggish and empty, until memory crashed into him hard enough to make his pulse spike violently.
The battlefield, Shigaraki, explosions, you.
Katsuki jerked upright immediately with a choked gasp, only for agony to tear through his body so badly he nearly blacked out again. His hands grabbed instinctively at the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest while the heart monitor beside him erupted into frantic noise. âOiâ!â His voice came out rough and weak from smoke damage, but panic sharpened it instantly. âWhere is he?!â
The hospital room door slid open almost immediately. A nurse rushed in first, followed closely by Recovery Girl, who looked about two seconds away from smacking him back unconscious herself. âYoung man, sit back down this instant!â she snapped while checking his monitors. Katsuki ignored her completely.
âWhere is he?â he repeated, more desperately this time. âIs he alive?â The brief silence before her answer nearly killed him. Then Recovery Girl sighed tiredly, expression softening just slightly. âHeâs alive.â
Katsuki felt every muscle in his body go weak with relief so overwhelming it hurt. His head dropped forward instantly while a shaky breath escaped him. Alive. You were alive. The tension crushing his chest loosened so suddenly he thought he might actually cry from it. âHe sustained serious injuries,â Recovery Girl continued carefully, âbut he made it through surgery.â
Before she could finish another sentence, the door opened again, And there you were, god, you looked awful.
Your arm sat tightly secured in a sling while thick bandages wrapped around your ribs and neck, bruises dark against your skin beneath the harsh hospital lighting. One side of your face still carried fading cuts from the battlefield, and you walked with a noticeable limp as you stepped into the room. But you were standing. Breathing. Alive. Katsuki stared at you like he couldnât fully believe you were real. For a second neither of you spoke. Then your eyes met his properly and your exhausted expression softened into the smallest smile.
âWell,â you murmured hoarsely, âyou look like shit.â
Katsuki nearly broke down right there.
Instead, he barked out a rough laugh that sounded dangerously close to a sob and immediately tried to get out of bed again. âGet over here, dumbass.â
Recovery Girl smacked the back of his head with surprising force. âAbsolutely not.â
You snorted quietly before limping toward him anyway. Katsuki watched every movement like he was terrified youâd disappear if he blinked too long. The second you reached the bed, he grabbed your wrist tightly. Not enough to hurt â just enough to reassure himself you were solid and warm beneath his fingers. Real. His red eyes searched your face frantically, checking every bruise and bandage with barely concealed panic. âYou scared the hell outta me,â he muttered quietly.
You smiled softly despite your exhaustion. âFunny. You died first.â
âThat barely counts.â
âYou literally had no heartbeat.â
âYeah, well.â Katsukiâs grip tightened slightly around your wrist. âStill here.â
The look on his face after he said it nearly shattered you. Because beneath the irritation and exhaustion was something unbearably vulnerable â pure relief so intense it looked painful. You reached up carefully with your good hand and brushed your fingers against his cheek. Katsuki leaned into the touch instantly without thinking. âWeâre both here,â you whispered.
And for the first time since the war ended, Katsuki truly believed things might someday be okay again.
Recovery took months. Longer for Katsuki than he liked admitting. His body had been pushed beyond destruction during the war, and while the surgeries kept him alive, they couldnât magically undo the damage. Physical therapy became a nightmare almost immediately, especially regarding his right arm. Some days it trembled so badly he couldnât properly control his explosions at all.
Other days he got frustrated enough to snap at every doctor attempting to help him. More than once he stormed out of rehabilitation sessions entirely, furious at himself for struggling with things that once came naturally.
And every single time, you followed him.
One afternoon, nearly four months into recovery, Katsuki sat alone outside the rehabilitation center glaring furiously at the ground while flexing his trembling hand. Sweat dampened the back of his neck despite the cold weather. You limped out after him a few moments later carrying two canned coffees from the vending machine nearby. âYou know,â you started casually while sitting beside him, âthreatening the physical therapist probably isnât helping your recovery.â
âShe said my mobility plateaued.â Katsuki scowled harder. âThatâs bullshit.â
âShe also said you skipped half your exercises this week.â
âShe talks too much.â
You snorted softly before handing him one of the coffees. Katsuki took it automatically, though his irritated expression didnât fade. For a moment neither of you spoke. Then you gently nudged his shoulder with yours. âHey,â you murmured. âLook at me.â
âYou survived the end of the world,â you said simply. âI think you can survive physical therapy.â Katsuki scoffed, but the anger in him visibly weakened. âItâs different.â
His jaw clenched. âWhat if this is it?â he asked quietly after a long silence. âWhat if I never get back to how I was before?â The vulnerability in his voice surprised even him. Katsuki hated admitting weakness out loud, but somehow it felt different with you. Safer. âWhat if I canât become the hero I wanted anymore?â
You looked at him for several seconds before reaching over carefully and taking his shaking hand in yours. âThen you become a different kind of hero,â you answered softly. âOne that survived.â
Something in Katsukiâs expression cracked slightly at that. He looked away quickly, ears burning red while his fingers tightened around yours. âYouâre annoyingly good at speeches sometimes.â
âYeah, yeah.â You grinned. âBuy me dinner later.â
âYouâre impossible.â
âAnd yet youâre obsessed with me.â
âThatâs notââ Katsuki stopped himself midsentence when he noticed your smug expression widening immediately. âShut up.â
You laughed for the first time in what felt like forever. Real laughter. Bright and warm and alive. Katsuki stared at you for a second too long afterward, something soft settling into his chest so naturally it scared him a little. Because after everything â after the blood and grief and destruction â you were still here beside him smiling like the world hadnât completely fallen apart.
And somehow, slowly, things started healing after that.
You attended nearly every rehabilitation appointment together. Katsuki still complained constantly, still barked insults whenever exercises frustrated him, but now there was always a hand squeezing his shoulder afterward or your voice teasing him until he calmed down again. You helped stabilize his arm during training exercises. Sat with him through painful nights when nerve damage made sleeping impossible.
Forced him to rest when he pushed himself too hard. In return, Katsuki practically hovered over you during your own recovery, glaring at anyone who stressed you out and carrying things for you before you could even ask. Half the hospital staff started referring to you both as an old married couple long before either of you admitted your feelings out loud.
The confession itself happened almost accidentally.
It was raining heavily that evening, thunder rumbling softly outside your shared dorm balcony while the city lights blurred gold against the wet glass. Graduation was only a month away now, and despite everything, both of you had somehow made it there. Katsuki sat cross-legged on the floor beside the couch, struggling irritably with notes for a hero licensing exam while you lay stretched out nearby half-asleep. âThis question is stupid,â he muttered.
âYouâve said that about all of them.â
You smiled tiredly without opening your eyes. âSure, Kats.â
Silence settled comfortably afterward, interrupted only by rainfall against the windows. Then Katsuki suddenly spoke again, quieter this time. âI thought you died.â
Your eyes opened immediately.
He didnât look at you while speaking, gaze fixed stubbornly on his papers. âBack there,â he continued roughly. âWhen I woke up after the war⊠I thought I lost you.â His grip tightened slightly around the edge of the notebook. âI donât think Iâve ever been that scared before.â
Your chest ached painfully at the honesty in his voice. Slowly, you sat upright and moved closer until your shoulder brushed his. Katsuki finally looked at you then, red eyes softer than usual beneath the dim apartment lighting. âYou didnât lose me,â you whispered.
âI know.â He swallowed hard. âStill scared me anyway.â
For a second neither of you moved. Then you reached up carefully and touched his cheek, thumb brushing lightly across old scars. Katsuki leaned into your hand instinctively, eyes fluttering shut for half a heartbeat. âYou know,â you murmured with a tiny smile, âyouâre kinda cute when youâre emotionally vulnerable.â
Katsuki barked out a startled laugh. âShut the hell up.â
But he kissed you immediately afterward.
Messy. Sudden. Completely unplanned.
The years after graduation passed quicker than either of you expected. Life settled into something softer with time. Missions, patrols, late-night takeout after exhausting shifts, movie nights where Katsuki pretended not to care while secretly holding you impossibly close beneath blankets on the couch.
The apartment you eventually shared became filled with evidence of your life together, his gauntlets tossed carelessly beside your shoes near the front door, framed hero photos hanging crookedly along the walls, your hoodie permanently stolen by Katsuki despite his constant denial. Somehow domestic life fit him naturally once he stopped fighting it.
You learned quickly that Katsuki loved quietly. Fiercely. He showed affection through actions more than words most days. Fixing your gear before you noticed damage. Memorizing your favorite meals without realizing it. Grumbling insults while wrapping blankets around your shoulders after difficult missions.
But sometimes, late at night when the city outside fell silent and exhaustion lowered all his walls, heâd hold you close enough to feel your heartbeat against his chest and whisper things so soft you barely believed they came from him at all.
âIâm glad you stayed,â he admitted once while half-asleep beside you. You smiled into his shoulder. âWasnât planning on going anywhere.â âGood.â His arms tightened around you immediately. âWouldâve blown up the afterlife to get you back.â
âThatâs concerningly romantic.â
Three years after the war, Katsuki proposed in the least smooth way imaginable.
It happened in your apartment kitchen at nearly midnight while both of you looked half-dead from patrol. You were standing barefoot in one of his old shirts eating instant ramen straight from the pot while Katsuki searched aggressively through cabinets for painkillers after a rough mission. âYou used the last bandage wraps,â he complained.
âYou exploded through a building.â
âThey rebuilt it ugly anyway.â
You snorted into your ramen. Katsuki finally found what he wanted before turning toward you â and then abruptly froze. You blinked at him. âWhat?â He stared for another long second before blurting, âMarry me.â
Then: â...Was that a question or a threat?â Katsukiâs face immediately flushed red. âYou know what I meant!â You started laughing so hard you nearly dropped the ramen pot. âKatsuki Bakugo,â you wheezed between breaths, âdid you just propose while Iâm holding noodles?â
âAnswer the damn question!â
You grinned so wide your cheeks hurt. âYeah,â you said immediately. âObviously yes.â
Katsuki looked relieved so instantly it almost melted you completely. He crossed the kitchen in two steps and grabbed your face before kissing you hard enough to steal the rest of your laughter straight from your lungs. âGood,â he muttered against your mouth afterward. âWouldâve looked real stupid if you said no.â
âYouâd still be pretty though.â
âTch.â But he smiled anyway.
The wedding happened the following spring. Small, private and perfect.
Your friends cried more than either of you expected. Eijiro openly sobbed during the vows while pretending he âjust had something in his eye,â and even Shoto looked suspiciously emotional watching Katsuki straighten your tie with trembling hands before the ceremony started.
Katsuki himself looked devastatingly beautiful standing at the altar beneath warm afternoon sunlight, dressed in black formalwear with his hair only partially behaving for once. But the second he saw you walking toward him, every bit of nervous tension disappeared completely. His entire expression softened into something unbearably fond.
âYou clean up nice,â you whispered after reaching him.
âYou look worse,â he shot back automatically, though his eyes shone with so much love it made your chest ache.
Not because they were dramatic or poetic, but because they were honest. You spoke about surviving. About growing beside one another after the worst day of your lives. About choosing each other every single day afterward anyway. And when it became Katsukiâs turn, he stared at you silently for several seconds before speaking in a voice rougher than usual.
âI used to think strength meant never needing anyone,â he admitted quietly. âThen you happened.â A tiny laugh escaped him while tears threatened visibly in his eyes. âYou stayed beside me when I was angry, injured, terrified⊠even when I didnât know how to ask for help.â His hands squeezed yours tightly.
âYou make everything feel survivable.â His voice cracked slightly on the last word. âSo⊠yeah. Iâm gonna spend the rest of my life loving you. Thatâs basically the whole speech.â You kissed him before the officiant even finished talking afterward.
Married life suited Katsuki even more than dating had.
He still yelled constantly. Still swore during interviews. Still scared civilians occasionally with his resting expression alone. But at home? At home he became soft in ways almost nobody else got to witness. He cooked breakfast while half-awake with his hair sticking everywhere. Wrapped himself around you in bed like a human furnace during winter mornings. Kissed your forehead absentmindedly while reading reports on the couch. Some nights the two of you would sit quietly on the apartment balcony watching city lights flicker beneath the stars, your legs tangled together while Katsuki rested his head against yours in comfortable silence.
One evening several years later, after an exhausting week of patrols, you both ended up sprawled across the living room floor surrounded by old photo albums from your academy days. Katsuki looked horrified by most of them. âDelete this one immediately.â
âYou looked adorable.â is scoffed and rolled his eyes âI looked sleep deprived.â
âYou always look sleep deprived.â
You laughed softly before leaning against his shoulder. Katsuki automatically wrapped an arm around your waist without even glancing away from the photographs. Eventually your attention drifted toward an old hospital picture tucked loosely between pages â one taken shortly after the war. Both of you looked terrible. Covered in bandages. Exhausted beyond belief. Yet somehow smiling anyway.
Katsuki noticed your silence and glanced over. His expression softened instantly. âKinda hard to believe we survived all that,â you murmured quietly.
âYeah.â His thumb brushed gently against your side. âBut we did.â
You looked up at him then, at the softened edges time had carved into someone once so sharp with anger and fear. He still carried scars from the war. Both of you did. But they no longer felt heavy the way they once had. They were simply proof that you survived long enough to reach this moment together.
âI love you,â you said suddenly.
Katsuki snorted softly like the words still embarrassed him after all these years. Then he leaned down and pressed a slow kiss against your forehead. âYeah,â he murmured. âLove you too.â
And for the first time in a very long time, the future felt gentle.