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sipsteainanxiety · 2 years

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holding out (just for you) [2] || katsuki b.

pairing: dragon!bakugo katsuki x reader

word count: 13.2k+

mentions: female reader, fantasy au, descriptions of injuries + blood (bakugo's), not edited!!, aged up chars (24+), sfw, second pov, part of the bnha big bang collab!

with art drawn by the wonderful @your-fellow-passerine!! here is a link to the original post (give it some love!!!!)

masterlist part one

The storm was finally over.

You stood at the mouth of the cave, squinting at the sunlight that poked its way through the remaining puffs of white clouds. It gave everything a warm feel, bathing the surrounding forest and body of the mountain in shades of honey and nectar. There was this fresh, dewy feel to everything that made you feel like a newborn experiencing life for the first time. You honestly never felt so relieved before at seeing the cerulean of the sky. There was not a single hint of the thunderclouds from the storm and you hoped there wouldn’t be for a very long time. You inhaled deeply, then exhaled in a quiet sigh and turned around. Bakugo lifted his head slightly to look at you and started shifting as though he was going to get up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” You held up your hands at him with wide eyes and moved closer to him. You gestured at him to sit back down, though he only stared at you impatiently. A huff escaped your lips. “You should not be moving so much! You’re still ridiculously injured! You could irritate your wounds even more and all the healing I’d done would be a waste!”

Bakugo snarled and bared his teeth at you, displeased. You rolled your eyes. “I know, it’s annoying. But you really shouldn’t move too much. Or at least stay on the mountain until I get back.” He huffed some smoke at you and shifted again to start heading towards the cave entrance. You could do nothing but frown as you skirted around him—after all, who were you to halt a grown ass dragon in his steps? Only, before he could get too far, his hind leg crumpled, unable to support his weight. He made an irritated growl as he sank to the floor, the powerful muscles of his legs tensing before you.

You clicked your tongue and hovered around him, eyes darting at his wounds to make sure they weren’t bleeding again. “See? Just stay put, please? I’m gonna head back to my cottage for some more salves that can properly treat your wounds.” You turned around and jogged back to the mouth of the cave so you could hoist your bag onto your shoulders. You’d already checked to make sure you had everything—including the poor remains of your jacket. You glanced at Bakugo over your shoulders. His teeth were bared in what looked like a pained grimace, though you could also practically feel the frustration coming off of him in waves.

“I shouldn’t take too long,” you told him as you stepped out into the sunlight. “Get some rest in the meantime.”

Before he could respond, you started your descent down the mountain, carefully placing your steps on the rocks that were still a bit wet and slippery from the storm. You had to admit, it was nice being out in the open, finally able to feel the sun’s warmth along your arms and face. There was a warm breeze drifting through the air that was such a large contrast from the battering winds of the storm. You did your best to climb down the mountain at a quick and efficient pace, but it still took you a while before you reached your cottage.

And what you saw made your shoulders sag, your heart dropping to your feet.

Your garden was ruined.

This region of the world never had a thunderstorm last for that long, so you’d never bothered to prepare for it. You’d been hoping that the mountain would take on most of the brute force of the storm and help shield your cottage from the high winds and pouring rain. But apparently it didn’t—or at least, it didn’t block most of the storm.

You grimaced as you stepped along the branch-littered stone path in front of your cottage until you reached the edge of your garden and stared sorrowfully at the ruins of all your plants. They were scattered everywhere, uprooted by the winds. There were giant puddles of water seeping into the dirt along with massive branches from the trees surrounding the area. You winced at the sight of a few branches crushing the poor herbs you’d been so carefully cultivating. Wet smears of soggy leaves and drooping stems peered sadly at you from a waterlogged grave.

It would take you weeks, maybe even months to get your garden back to its original state. The magical plants and herbs you’d been growing would be the toughest to take care of, seeing that some of them were foreign. They just weren’t things you could find out in the wild or on the mountain so easily—you’d have to go looking for a shopkeep that’d sell you the seeds. You might even have to take a trip out of Yuuei if you really wanted to find some of them. You bent down and gently ran a few fingers along a wilted flower, then stood up and let out a long-suffering sigh.

You kind of wanted to cry, and maybe you did let a few tears slip at the loss of something you’d been caring for ever since you moved to this quaint little village. But you had work to do. You couldn’t linger for long.

Still, you allowed yourself a short moment to grieve.

Wearily rubbing at your face, you turned to head over to your cottage, stepping over puddles and branches in your way. If you looked up at the roof, you could see a few thick branches perched precariously on top of it. Great. You didn’t know how you would reach those, but they were a problem for later. You toed off your muddy boots to leave outside, unlocked, and then opened your door. Your eyes swept around the room, looking to see if anything was awry.

You supposed you should count yourself lucky that you’d kept the windows closed, so there wasn’t any obvious mess of the potted plants near them, or the dried out herbs you had strung along the walls. There were a few puddles seeping into the wooden floor that you frowned at, and upon looking up at the ceiling you could see a few wet patches where water was leaking through. None of your books appeared to be damaged, thankfully, and the table stacked with salves and creams was fine as well.

It wasn’t until you walked into your bedroom to check it out that you noticed there was a decently-sized hole in the ceiling. You craned your head back as you looked up at it. You could see a bit of the blue sky through it, though it was mostly obscured by one of those fucking branches you saw on top of your roof.

“Fantastic,” you grumbled as you glared at the hole as though it had personally offended you—and it had!—before you cast your gaze at the floor. There were wood chippings and some stray leaves scattered about the nice little rug you had in your room. An obvious wet spot was on the carpet as well, though that would be easier to deal with than all the other things. Your bed against the leftmost wall looked fine, and as you walked over to the giant bookshelf you had against the right wall, you saw that everything upon it was fine as well. The shelves were stacked with more plants and jars of creams and liquids, so at least you knew you had enough to last you for a while as you tended to your garden—and that wasn’t including the small closet you had in your room that housed a mix of your clothes and some more medicinal supplies like needles and syringes.

You set your bag down on the small desk next to your bookshelf so you could rummage around in it to pull out all the plants you’d gathered on the mountain and store them in their proper places. The bottle of ink and quill were also set on your desk along with your little journal. That stupid rock-hard pastry you didn’t get to eat got thrown in the trash. You left your canteen and the single Nadir flower in your bag. As for the ruins of your jacket… You grabbed them and tossed them next to the fireplace in the living room.

You really, really wanted to lay down at this point, but you couldn’t. There were still things to be done. But first things first, you really needed a bath. You’d been stuck in that cave for who-knows-how-long—you felt absolutely disgusting. Hopefully getting cleaned up would make you feel better as well.

And it did. A nice, cold bath made you feel refreshed and more energetic than before. The fatigue you’d been feeling was eradicated—if temporarily—so you at least felt that you could survive the rest of the day without collapsing in a heap. You bustled around in the kitchen to grab something to eat—bread and a savory spread you’d made not too long ago that hadn’t spoiled yet—and drink. You slowly nibbled at it as you watered your inside plants, took stock of your inventory, and made a list of all the seeds and plants you’d need for your garden. You mopped up the puddles of water on the floor and cleaned out the carpet in your room before hanging it to dry outside. You didn’t know what to do about the hole, but you figured you’d just see if you could place a tarp or something over it later.

At one point, you eyed the materials you used to stitch up wounds of people who needed it, contemplating if they were things you could use on Bakugo. But really… you didn’t think you could. He had too many scales in the way—it would be too difficult to even attempt to stitch him up. You’d have to stick to magic salves and your own healing magic—which was, admittedly, a new experience for you since you tended to not use your magic on people—but you figured you’d be fine.

As you prepared your bag for a trip into the village, you found yourself pausing at the bookshelf in your room and scanning it for that little mythical creature book you had. It was crammed somewhere on the bottom shelf, dusty with misuse. You slid it out and blew the dust off of it. It was an unassuming little thing, with a drawing of a phoenix on its dark cover. You stashed it in your bag to reread later.

With one more check to ensure you had everything, you stepped outside and slipped on the same boots you’d worn to the mountain, locking the door behind you as you set off. Twigs and branches crunched under your feet as you walked. You had to dodge around quite a few muddy puddles on your way and once you entered the village itself, you saw that it had not been spared from the storm’s wrath either. You looked around as people bustled about, tending to their houses and shops that looked like they’d gotten flooded out. Well… at least you didn’t have to worry about that. Just staring at all the deep pools of water around the village was making you wince in sympathy.

You ended up at Denki’s pub again, which was—somehow—open.

“Hey!” he greeted you as you stepped inside and looked around. He didn’t have many customers, though you did see a familiar face sitting at one of the barstools at the back of the pub. Izuku perked up once he turned around to see who Denki was talking to, then gave you an eager little wave.

You waved back as you walked closer and took a seat next to the freckled man. “Hey guys. What’s new?”

“Apart from the crazy storm we just had?” Izuku questioned as he tilted his head at you.

“Yeah that was wild!” Denki agreed as he leaned forward against the bartop. “I was lucky all I got were a few leaks!”

“A few leaks huh,” you said dryly. Your tone made both men look at you questioningly and you crossed your arms as you stared at Denki. “You wouldn’t believe what happened to me.”

He was almost hesitant as he asked, “...What… happened?”

You sniffed and pulled your bag off your shoulder so you could set it in your lap and open it. “Well, a little birdy told me there were Zenith flowers on Kamino sometime before the storm started...”

Izuku looked at you in alarm, his green eyes widening. “You weren’t—!!”

“I was,” you drawled, relishing in the panicked way Denki was looking at you. “And guess what I found on Kamino.” You opened one of the little pockets in your bag and carefully pulled out the cerulean flower from it before setting it on the bartop in front of you.

Denki’s eyes darted down to look at it before his face twisted in confusion. “A… Zenith flower?”

You shook your head and opened your mouth to respond, but Izuku beat you to the punch. “Oh nooo, those are Nadir flowers aren’t they?” He pointed at the leaves. “Zeniths typically have heart-shaped leaves while Nadirs have oval ones. Those small red thorns on its stem are also another characteristic. They’re extremely poisonous!”

“That’s right,” you said as you gave Denki a pointed look.

“Shit, I’m so sorry!” he blurted out, reaching out so he could clasp your hands between his own larger ones and look at you with watery eyes. “You were probably trapped on Kamino, weren’t you? Shit, I’m really, really sorry!”

You cracked and let out a sigh before gently squeezing Denki’s hands. “Relax, it wasn’t your fault. I was just messing with you. Slightly.” When all he did was pout at you, you gave him a small smile. “Seriously, I’m kidding. There was no way for you to know there was a storm coming—or that I’d go the same day.”

“That was some extremely bad timing,” Izuku said as he looked at you worriedly. “What did you do?”

“Camped out in a cave.” You shrugged and slipped your hands from Denki’s so you could pat him on the head. As you opened your mouth to mention the unexpected companion you had while you were in the cave, you found yourself hesitating. You… kind of wanted to keep Bakugo a secret. Maybe that made you selfish, but you didn’t think it would be a good idea to tell your friends there’s an injured dragon on Mount Kamino. They could keep a secret, sure, but you knew Denki tended to blabber from time to time—especially once he had a few drinks. You didn’t want to imagine the type of crowd that kind of information would bring to Yuuei. So you settled on withholding it—at least until Bakugo was healed enough that he could fly away or fight if needed (though hopefully it wouldn’t come to that).

You changed gears and instead said, “No idea how long I was there for, though.”

“The storm lasted a few days. Almost three, I think,” Izuku told you, a frown splayed across his lips. Damn, had it really been that long? He peered closer at your face. “You look tired. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine and dandy, don’t worry about it!” you said cheerfully as you grabbed the lone Nadir table on the bartop and carefully stashed it back into your bag. “Sleeping in a cave just wasn’t exactly comfortable, you know?”

“Aaghhh!!! I still feel so bad!!” Denki wailed, collapsing onto the bartop dramatically so he could press his face against its cool surface.

You rolled your eyes in good nature. “If you really wanna make it up to me you could give me another pastry. I never got to eat the last one I got.”

At that, Denki sprung up, a new vigor to his movements as he looked at you determinedly. “You bet! I’ll give you the best tasting pastry this village has to offer!” With that, he ran off to one of the backrooms behind the bar so he could likely make you a fresh pastry. You weren’t complaining if he was putting that much effort into a simple order.

“So, Izuku”—you turned to look at him—“what’re you doing here? I haven’t seen you in a while. How’s the hand?”

“Ah, it’s doing better!” he told you happily as he turned in his chair and rested his right arm on the bartop. You looked down and reached out to hold his hand, running your fingers along the rough, pink scars that decorated his palm and fingers. “I, um, I’d str— strained it a couple times, but uh, I’m getting better! At not hurting myself! Anymore!” You glanced up to see him fidgeting around, his eyes darting to look at different points in Denki’s pub. He always got a bit… nervous, when people touched him there. You gave him a soft smile when he finally looked back at you and he returned it, albeit a bit sheepishly. “I’d been wandering around the village to help folks out with repairs after the storm. The pub was open when I passed by so I decided to check on Denki and here we are!”

You hummed and flipped his hand over so you could tap at a thin slash near his wrist. “That’s new. What was it this time?”

Izuku nervously laughed and gently tugged his hand from your grip so he could run it through his curly, green hair. “Ahh, can’t get anything past you, huh?” His voice got quieter when he said, “Sword injury. Again.”

You gave his hand a pat and released him so you could brace yourself against the bartop. You didn’t know the specifics of what he did on a day-by-day basis, but you weren’t one to pry all too much. Your eyes lingered on the golden sword hilt that stuck out from the belt around his waist. He carried it with him everywhere. “Were you practicing? Or was it an actual fight this time?” You nudged him teasingly to let him know you were just messing around.

“Ah, it— it was just a bad block on my part!” he stammered, waving his hands in front of him rapidly. “Sweets— she thought I would block it, um, properly, but I fumbled and, well— She apologized a lot!”

Denki took that moment to stick his head through the kitchen doorway. “Tell Sweets I miss her!! When’s she coming back to work?! It gets lonely running this place by myself!”

“Weren’t you the one who told her to take a few weeks off for their honeymoon?” you asked Denki wryly.

He spluttered a bit. “Well! Yes, but— Never mind, going back to work now.” And with that he disappeared back into the kitchen backroom just as quickly as he had appeared.

A small smile still lingered on your face as you turned to look back at a flushed Izuku. “How is Sweets doing, anyways? That rash she had isn’t still spreading, is it?”

“She’s fine now! That salve you gave her worked wonders! Oh, speaking of”—he perked up considerably and looked at you eagerly—”can I ask you what you used to make it? I just— I don’t think I’ve ever seen one work like that before. And it was a different texture from what you typically use. Plus the aroma—”

The two of you ended up talking about the different medicinal plants you use and the ways you combine them into ointments and salves. Izuku always liked to ask questions anytime you saw him either in the village or when he dropped by your cottage for treatment. You didn’t mind—you thought it was a bit endearing how curious he was.

Denki eventually returned after a short while and gave you a fancy-looking frosted bun with ‘sorry :(’ piped on top of it. You couldn’t help but to crack a wide smile at it. You gave him a pat on the head that made him lighten up and hopefully get over the unnecessary guilt he felt. Seriously, you told him, it’s fine. You chatted with them both for a while more as you polished off the pastry, then got up and rolled your shoulders back.

“Well, this was nice, but I have to go. Things to do, people to heal,” you told them as you slung your bag over your shoulder.

“Come back soon!” Denki gave you a thumbs up with a sheepish smile. “And let us know if you need help with anything.”

“Yeah!” Izuku agreed as he looked up at you. “Did your cottage get damaged by the storm? I know you’re in the forest, so there’s a lot of risk there.”

You cringed slightly and thought back to your ruined garden and the hole in your roof. “Yeah, my garden got totaled and I have to do some repairs. I’ll let you guys know—I have a bunch of organizational stuff to do first.” They nodded and waved their goodbyes as you walked out the pub and into the fresh air of the storm’s aftermath. People still milled about and you took a moment to look around. You should probably walk around and check to see if anyone got injured during the storm. You nodded to yourself and set off in a direction down a paved path, calling out greetings to some of the faces you recognized.

But first, you needed to stop by the Butcher’s.

You huffed as you crawled up a particularly slippery rock, the bag on your back weighing you down even more. You probably shouldn’t have bought so much meat from the Butcher, but well, you needed to bring something back for Bakugo. Admittedly, it likely wasn’t enough to satiate his entire hunger—he was a fully grown dragon, after all—but it was all you could do for now. Meat was expensive—you also couldn’t quite carry too much at a time up a bigass mountain.

You stood up straight once you steadied your footing on the rock and looked up in the direction of the cave. You could just see the wide, gaping mouth of its entrance staring at you from atop the slope it sat on. You puffed out a breath of air and continued on, cursing when you stumbled on occasion or narrowly avoided a particularly mossy section of the rock you climbed over.

Finally, you found yourself standing before the dark cave, panting slightly as you stared into it with the expectation that an irate dragon would huff a greeting at you.

Except, Bakugo wasn’t here.

“Hello?” you called out, your voice echoing back at you as it bounced around deeper into the cave. You walked inside a bit, peering around and squinting into the darker areas of the cave in the hopes that you would see a familiar glint of gold or flash of crimson. But there was nothing. It was empty. You sighed and ran a weary hand down the front of your face. You didn’t know how he was able to pull himself from the cave in his obviously dire condition, but it shouldn’t have surprised you all too much. You would’ve been impressed—considering how injured he was—if you weren’t so worried about him having possibly reopened his wounds. It was a good thing you’d made a quick stop at your cottage to grab some salves and other materials you believed would help him heal faster—you weren’t entirely sure if they would work, but it was better to try than not, you supposed.

You knelt down around the area where you’d last seen him resting before you left. There was no visible blood on the ground—a good sign, of course, but it didn’t stop the worry and unease from swarming in your stomach like a hive of angry bees. You reached out and gently touched one of the lines of the scratchy Bakugo he had carved into the floor, then stood up with a deep sigh.

Shit, you cursed as you walked back outside and stood at the edge of the slope. You held a hand over your eyes as you squinted and looked around for any trace of Bakugo. He couldn’t have gone far, right? Not with those injuries. At least, that was what you hoped. You were somewhat glad that the cave was high up on the mountain—it made it easier for you to look around below you. Grey rock with patches of green grass and moss stretched out for what looked like miles below you. There were some trees scattered here and there, but most were at the base of the mountain, where the forest was. Maybe you should walk around the mountain some more—just in case he was somewhere you couldn’t see from your position.

You steadily made your way down the mountain at an angle, picking your way through some steep declines that had your heart stuttering whenever your boots slipped. After wandering about for what felt like hours, you finally climbed up onto a ledge that allowed you to see a small clearing in the near distance. It was a mix of rock and grass, though it looked flat enough that someone could probably build a hut there if they wanted.

Right in the center of the clearing was Bakugo. Seeing him out in the sunlight was immensely different from when you were both in the cave. The light gleamed brightly off his scales, making him stick out from his surroundings like a sore thumb. The swirling black and tangerine markings along his body juxtaposed his golden vividness—their deepness made you feel like you could get sucked right into them. From your angle, you could see the left side of his head, but it appeared that he hadn’t noticed you just yet. You paused, taking a short break to catch your breath as you watched him curiously.

There was a moment where it looked like he was concentrating on something. His large eyes were closed. The muscles along his back and legs were tensed and crouched—like he was on edge or about to spring into a fight. His head bowed forward and you didn’t dare release even the slightest of sounds as you watched him eventually huff out a plume of dark smoke. He opened his eyes—pupils slitted and tiny—and let out a low growl that you could hear from your position.

He looks frustrated about something, you mused to yourself as he snapped his powerful jaws and let his tail whip to the side. The spikes along his back and neck bristled. Common sense was telling you not to approach the angry dragon, but you did anyway, starting the steady descent towards the clearing.

Just as you landed on top of a particularly large boulder, you looked up to see Bakugo attempting something different. He extended out his wings—or well, attempted to. The muscles that comprised them shook as he tried to hold them out horizontally, but he couldn’t with how critical the wounds were on them. You frowned once you noticed the deep ruby blood that dripped steadily onto the grass from his wings, staining it. Great.

You finally called out to him just as he tried giving his wings a few experimental flaps, his thick legs tensing as though he was going to jump into the air. “Hey! What’re you doing?! I told you not to leave the cave!”

Bakugo snapped his head in your direction, a snarl on his face as he watched you clamber down the boulder and land on the grassy part of the clearing. You made your way closer to him, ignoring the way he growled at you and snapped his jaws threateningly. You leveled him with an irate look, your hands on your hips. “I get it, you don’t wanna be here or whatever. But I told you not to move around too much or you’d risk reopening your wounds. And what did you do?”

Bakugo made a deep snarling sound that was probably intended to intimidate you and turned so he could loom over you. He bared his teeth, his head hovering over your own in a way that made you crane your neck. If he was trying to make you cower in fear or run away, it wasn’t working. You pointed to his wings. “Look at all that blood. And I had just finished treating the infection too! It’s your own fault that your healing process is gonna take even longer now!”

He growled and puffed smoke directly into your face before moving away. You waved a hand in front of your face to get rid of the caramel smell and jogged around him so you could stand in his way. His eyes swiveled down to look at you, his sharp teeth glinting like diamonds in the sunlight. “Where are you going? Sit down so I can look at your wings.” He chuffed and narrowed his eyes as though daring you to order him around again. You didn’t back down and instead crossed your arms. “I said sit down Bakugo. The quicker you comply, the quicker I can get to work on healing you. I’m sure those wounds hurt.”

He was so fucking stubborn. You didn’t relent with your glare, not until he let out a deep clicking sound and reluctantly settled on the ground. His tail whipped behind him, nearly catching your leg had you not stepped to the side to avoid it. You rolled your eyes at his behavior. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” You just got another deep click in return.

You pulled your bag off your shoulder and squatted on the ground so you could pull out the chunks of meat you’d gotten at the Butcher’s. Bakugo watched you raptly as you got up and walked closer to him so you could set them on the ground in front of him. The meats were neatly wrapped in paper that you easily peeled away before you got up and looked up at his head. His eyes flicked down to the food, then back at you.

“It’s not much,” you told him as you glanced sadly down at the raw slices of meat. Now that they were in front of him, they looked so small—like they would amount to nothing but a pea’s worth of sustenance. “But it was all I could carry. I can always get more, but I hope you’re good at hunting ‘cuz I won’t be able to do this all the time.” Besides, you added in your head, I can’t bring enough to fill up a whole fucking dragon.

Bakugo growled and snorted some smoke out at the meat as though to say of course I’m a good hunter. He looked down at the pile, then tensed as the spikes on his back bristled. You raised an eyebrow. “What? Is it not up to your standards? It’s better than nothing, I can tell you that.” He turned his head to glare off into the distance. You stood there and watched, wondering if he was going to eat the damn food or not. After a few moments of silence, you spoke up. “It’s really no biggie, you know.” He looked back at you, his narrowed eyes flicking between your face and the meat. You sighed. “Come on, just eat it. You need the energy.”

He let out a low rumble and chuffed again before finally, finally, he lowered his head to begrudgingly sniff at the food. You had no idea what his deal was—this was just like when you attempted to give him the hardened pastry back in the cave. Maybe he hated being doted on by an itty bitty human. Whatever, you rolled your eyes as you went back over to your bag to take out all your medicinal supplies.

You rummaged around for a bit, then found yourself glancing up at Bakugo when he shifted slightly. Your glance turned into a stare when you noticed he’d raised his head, a sort of glow coming from the base of his long neck. It was a fiery orange color that made its way up and up and up until it exited from his open mouth in a burst of brilliant, rushing flames. Your jaw dropped open as you watched him roast the food, the smell of charred meat filling the air. The heat from the flames was enough to make you break into a light sweat.

It was over just as quickly as it had started, a pile of crispy meat and burnt grass left in its wake. With a snap of his jaw, Bakugo swallowed up the food, his forked tongue darting out to lick at his chops before he leveled you with an unsatisfied look.

You stared back. “Not a fan of raw meat, huh?” you asked wryly as you pulled out a jar of a lavender-colored paste to set on the ground near you. “Did you want some spices for that too?”

Bakugo huffed in a way that made you grin. You pulled out some old strips of cloth to use to wipe the blood away from his wings and stood up to step closer to him. “Well, best to get started then!”

And so started the strange schedule of healing a dragon.

Every day, you would dedicate some time to walking up the mountain with some food and more ointments to try on his wounds. They didn’t all work on him, unfortunately, but you were making some progress: his wounds weren’t bleeding anytime he moved around anymore. Though, it was still very risky for him to do anything other than walk slowly about the mountain. You kept a close eye on him—or at least as much as you could between your duties tending to the villagers who were injured or sick as well.

It was very time consuming and energy-sapping—especially once you started using your magic to slowly heal him again. It seemed like that was the only way you were going to make any significant progress with his injuries. You felt a perpetual exhaustion behind your eyes and on your shoulders that only increased depending on how much magic you used to heal him on a given day. You hardly had time to sleep anymore, much less work on organizing your garden and inventory. It bothered you, of course it did, but you’d always put patients before all else. You just didn’t expect one of said patients would be a dragon.

You were slowly wearing yourself down—but you couldn’t really do anything about it.

Or well, you knew of a way that could at least alleviate some of the pain.

“Can you, like,” you started one day as you took a break between healing sessions, “move closer to the forest? It would make my life so much easier not having to hike up the mountain every day.”

Bakugo picked his head up from the ground and snorted some smoke at you. “Great! I know a clearing in the forest you can stay in. It’s not too far from my cottage, too.”

It was oddly surreal walking down the mountain with Bakugo slowly following behind. You made sure you were a good distance ahead of him to avoid accidentally getting trampled under his feet. The way his claws gripped at rock strong enough to crumble them to bits reminded you, yet again, that this was a powerful creature you were dealing with. A creature that the world had not seen outside their homeland for decades, maybe even centuries. The thought made you feel strangely honored.

You had to yell at Bakugo to slow down whenever he tried picking up his pace, wary of his wounds as always. He snarled and bared his teeth at you every time, but it was honestly for his own good—he could be irritated and angry all he wanted, but you were the healer in charge here. You knew he knew that—as much as he expressed that he didn’t like it.

Once you both got to the edge of the forest, it was tricky getting a dragon as big as Bakugo to fit through all the trees, but you managed by getting him to go around until he reached a big enough path.

And once he sat comfortably in the little clearing, surrounded by trees and bushes that concealed him pretty well, you took a moment to think about how strange your life had gotten.

It was clear Bakugo was getting increasingly frustrated by the day.

He snapped at you more, huffing out dark smoke that made you feel lightheaded from time to time. He put up an attitude whenever you reached out to heal him or when you offered him those small food portions. You didn’t blame him, honestly. If you were a bigass dragon and you were forced to stay in a small clearing everyday without being able to fly or move around, you’d get pretty pissed off too. You were sure the lack of sufficient food was also playing a hand at his grievances, but you were doing your best. He hunted, you were certain he did, but there was only so much he could get from the forest.

Though… there were times where you noticed he also got annoyed due to… other things.

Sometimes, you’d catch him concentrating on something—just like that day on the mountain clearing. He would concentrate and concentrate and concentrate, only to snap his eyes open and let out a frustrated roar that would echo throughout the forest and cause the bumbling sounds of the surrounding wildlife to halt for just a second—hauntingly still as though frozen in time. You never dared to go near him when he was in one of those moods—you were very much aware that he could crush you with just a snap of his jaw—but still, you wondered what he was doing.

You tried not to let him bother you too much, but well, it sometimes got rough and you would find yourself dragging your feet as you ventured out along the familiar forest path that led to him.

“I know it’s not ideal,” you told him gently one day as you worked on healing the gash on his face. He stared at you with those slitted eyes of his, unwavering. “My magic isn’t the fastest there is and I’m sorry. I wish the salves would work better, but they don’t, probably because of your different physiology.” He made a sound that was akin to a scoff, but you ignored it and continued. “We’re making progress, at least. Slowly, but surely.”

Dragons were not meant to be trapped on the ground—they were meant to be up in the air, free. You wished you could give him that freedom with a snap of your fingers, but you were painstakingly slow—limited. One day you would get there, but not anytime soon.

You ruminated, in the quiet darkness of your bedroom, on things you could do to ease some of the frustration and tension from Bakugo. Was there anything? You frowned up at your ceiling, the small tarp that covered the hole in it fluttering slightly with the night breeze. How could you get a dragon to expel its annoyances?

You thought long and hard about it for a majority of the night. Come morning, however, you awoke with a newfound vigor to your actions as you changed your clothes, packed your bag with some essentials, and bounded off in the direction of Bakugo’s temporary shelter.

He was still asleep when you reached him, the warm light of morning shining onto him through the tall canopies above in a way that made his scales gleam like freshly polished gold. This was the only time you ever saw him at ease and not tense or peeved in some way, shape, or form. You didn’t think that dragons could snore and yet here he was, a small rumble leaving his mouth as a puff of smoke exited from his nostrils. It was kind of endearing, but you knew better than to linger—the last time he caught you watching him as he slept, he nearly took your arm off.

You set about starting the healing process, concentrating on his wings for the most part that were folded close enough to the ground that you could easily reach them. The honey-like glow of your palms was a constant you had gotten used to, its warmth oddly soothing—even though it sapped out your energy like it was nobody’s business. You did notice, however, that you were getting better and better at controlling your fatigue. You supposed that made sense—with practice came improvement, even with magic.

You healed him until his head shifted as he woke up, jaws opening in a wide yawn that showed off the curved daggers he had for teeth.

“Oh good! You’re up!” you called out cheerfully as you stopped your magic and stepped away from his side so that he could see you once he turned his head around. He blinked at you hazily, sleep still addling his gaze, and you took the chance to snatch up your bag from where you’d dumped it on the ground. You shouldered it as you walked closer to his front and looked up at him. “Hope you’re down to do some walking today. We’re going on a little field trip.”

Bakugo let out a puff of smoke, his head raising slightly as he tipped it to the side and watched you with a peculiar look to his ruby eyes. It was surprisingly calculative, but also curious as well. You gave him a secretive smile and stepped back. “It’s a bit of a distance, but it’ll be worth it, I promise.” You walked over to the opening in the trees that was large enough for him to fit through and gesticulated at him to follow. “Come on, up you go, big guy.”

He chuffed and made a little rumble before his legs tensed as he pushed himself up to his feet. His wings shook out slightly, the smallest hint of a tremor running through them. There was just something… belittling, almost, about watching him do even the most mundane things, like standing. It just made you feel so small. The grass rustled underneath him as he turned around and lumbered towards you—slow, as though testing out how much effort it would take him to walk without aggravating his wounds. You waited until he was close enough, then turned and headed deeper into the forest.

You kept an eye on him as the both of you walked along a path only you were privy to, observing him to see if he was flinching or tensing in any particular areas. He seemed fine, though he occasionally let out a huff or growl at you after long stretches of just ducking between trees. You just looked back at him and gave him a smile whenever he did so, telling him that it “wasn’t much farther.” You don’t think he believed you after the third time.

The cracks and groans of branches and shrubbery beneath Bakugo’s clawed feet nearly seemed to echo through the forest, sharp like a whip. It wasn’t much different than the time he followed you down the mountain, but for some reason, you could practically feel each step he took through the ground—reverberating through your body. Maybe it was because you were both on the same level, maybe it was due to all the dirt, or maybe you were just dramatizing things. Either way, you couldn’t help the shiver that scuttled down your spine, hearing those ominous sounds behind you.

Eventually, once you both broke through the forest and followed a path further down and around Mount Kamino—away from the village and anyone else living in the area—the rock and dirt of the ground gave way to sand and fine grass. You suppressed a grin and jogged up ahead, hands clutching at your bag straps, until you stood at the top of a small hill to gaze at the view before you. Bakugo crawled up behind you, his shadow casting itself over your smaller form like a blanket as he peered over your head.

“Tada!!” You wiggled your hands at the wide, shimmering lake that seemed to stretch on for miles in all directions. Its crystal blue waters reflected an equally blue sky dotted with cotton candy puffs of clouds. Thick trees surrounded it on all ends apart from the side you were on, which instead had a small, empty beach. “Welcome to Lake Might! Named it myself after a legendary swordsman. Not a lot of people know about it—I think I’m the only one from Yuuei who’s found it, so we’ll at least have privacy. I hope.”

You swiveled your head to look at Bakugo over your shoulder as he gazed out at the lake, head turning this way and that to take everything in. He wasn’t grumbling or growling, so you took that as a good sign. “Let’s go closer,” you said as you stepped forward and slid down the hill until you got to the bottom. There was more sand here than grass, so your shoes sunk into the ground before you lifted up a foot to shake off some of the grains.

You glanced only briefly behind you to watch Bakugo start his careful descent down the hill, then scurried closer to the water’s edge so you could lay out a spare blanket you’d packed into your bag. You plopped your bag on top of it to prevent it from slipping away with the breeze and shucked off your shoes. By the time you’d started wiggling your toes into the warm sand, Bakugo had caught up and stood a few feet away from the lake.

He let out a huff of his caramel smoke and watched you once you’d stepped closer to dip your feet into the water. It was cool—a refreshing feeling that helped with the heat from the rising sun—and lapped around your ankles. You breathed in deeply, enjoying the earthy scent that surrounded you, then exhaled it all out with a happy sigh. You turned to look up at Bakugo, who was staring at you pointedly—you could practically see the question reflected in his eyes.

“I know you haven’t been in the best mood lately,” you told him gently. His chest rumbled a bit, but you ignored it. “So I thought a day at the lake might help. You could, I dunno, try to relieve some tension somehow. Relax a bit.”

Bakugo puffed some smoke into your face and made another low rumble. He moved to stare back at the lake. You waved a hand around your face, then used the same hand to scratch at your head. You thought back to all the small moments you’d caught him in and brightened when you thought of something. “Oh! Like this!”

With that, you positioned yourself so that your legs were shoulder-width apart, your front facing the seemingly endless expanse of water before you. Your hands came up to cup themselves around your mouth, and you took in a deep, deep breath.

Then, you let out the loudest scream you could muster.

It seemed to come straight from your diaphragm and traveled almost creepily across the lake like the cry of a banshee. You screamed until you ran out of breath, your vocal chords straining with its pitch. Even after your voice eventually tapered off, you could still hear it echoing towards the trees on the other side of the body of water. You waited a few seconds until you could hear nothing but the distant calls of birds and swaying motion of the lakewater before you turned to peek at Bakugo.

“Your turn.” You gave him a small grin once you saw he was looking at you in a way you would only describe as bewildered. Maybe even surprised. You made a gesture out towards the lake and stepped away slightly to give him more space. “Go crazy.”

He stared at you for a moment more, then let out a low grumble as he faced the crystalline waters and shifted closer so that it brushed against his front claws. You quietly observed him, the way he seemed to enjoy the cool breeze from the lake as it swirled by both of your forms. He took his time, but eventually, he seemed to cement his stance. His head and neck curved backwards like he was taking a deep breath of air, the powerful muscles of his shoulders tensing and coiling as his chest puffed out. His gold-dipped tail whipped around, the spikes along it bristling.

Your eyes latched onto the white glow that started within his chest—not at the base of his neck, like last time, you noticed—and shined as bright as a twinkling star. He seemed to hold it there and before you could even register what was happening, his head snapped forward as his jaws opened to release a literal hurricane of brilliant tangerine flames.

You let out a yelp and brought up an arm to shield your face, but even so, you could feel the wave of heat that washed over your exposed skin like the gentle waves of the lake against the small shore. Your hair blew back from the burst of fire that erupted from his mouth, eyes squinting to look at the mixing colors. It was so much stronger—so much more powerful—than what he had done to charcoal the meat you’d brought him. White mixed with flames of gold and blood orange that danced across the gleam of your corneas and roared in your ears. Your mouth dropped open when they reached out towards the middle of the lake—maybe even further. And you never felt so fucking tiny before in your life.

Bakugo stayed like that for what felt like hours—to the point where you wondered if he would ever run out of breath—but just as quickly as the fire had started, it stopped, disappearing with a snap of his jaw as it shut. You slowly lowered your arm, staring at the steam that wafted from the lake’s surface where the vortex of flames had been dispersed. What the hell?

You cleared your throat as you tried your best not to show how stunned you were. “Well! That seemed… cathartic. Very”—you paused for a second as you searched for the right word—“impressive.” He snorted out a puff of dark smoke as his eyes flicked over to you for just a second too long. Then, he stretched out his back and tail in a motion that kind of reminded you of a cat. You decided not to think about how easy it would’ve been for him to roast you to a crisp should he have deemed you a threat in the cave… or even food. The morbid thought of What if he had eaten you in the cave—would he have? dared to fester itself in your mind, but you pushed it down. The past was in the past—it was better to focus on the present.

You stepped back from the water and headed over to your blanket so you could shimmy out of the loose shirt and pants you’d thrown on earlier. You fully intended to make use of this lake trip to go swimming for once—you never really had the time before. The swimwear you had on underneath your loose clothing exposed more skin than you were used to, but well, it wasn’t like there was anyone out here to really see.

You tossed your regular clothes into your bag to prevent them from getting coated in sand, then waded back into the water. The temperature made you shiver as you walked in until you were submerged up to your waist, and you stood there for a bit so you could get accustomed to it. You could see a few fishes darting away from your significantly larger form as you turned around to see what Bakugo was up to. He was still lingering at the shore, slitted eyes focused on you as you gave him a wave.

“Be mindful of your wounds if you’re gonna get in the water,” you called out. “They’re still tender.” He’d be fine so long as he didn’t do any complex motions, but still, you didn’t want to risk him tearing them open in the unsanitary waters. That would just dump even more problems onto you to deal with.

You watched him contemplate entering the lake for a short moment, then decided to let him do as he pleased—you didn’t need to keep an eye on him all the time, after all. You ducked down into the water to swim around for a bit and observe the small plants that littered its sandy floor. You wondered if any of them had any special properties. It was certainly something to consider.

It was relaxing, being able to spend a day at the quiet lake. You didn’t know how much you needed the stress relief until you found yourself unwinding the longer you swam back and forth. Bakugo seemed to enjoy it as well, from what you could tell. He was content to sit in the water—just enough that it covered his legs—and occasionally breathe out his bright flames in a direction opposite of where you were. Part of you was curious if it was a physiological thing for him to be able to release his fire—if doing so was a thing he needed to do or else he’d face repercussions from his own body. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he looked at peace—much more so than he had ever been over the time you’d been with him—in such an open environment.

Dragons and their freedom, you thought amusedly.

At one point, you found yourself floating on your back somewhere near Bakugo, lingering in the shadow casted upon the lake by his larger body. You could hear the gentle swishing of his tail as it moved leisurely back and forth through the water. You raised your head up slightly so you could peer in the direction of his moving tail—it was somewhere to your right. Your eyes flicked over to see Bakugo staring out into the blue distance of the sky, lost. Daydreaming of better times, perhaps. He didn’t look particularly pleased anymore, a sight that made you frown—maybe you could try to distract him? It was worth a shot.

As quietly as you could, you ducked under the water and swam towards him, before you popped out close enough to his tail that you could reach out and grab it whenever it swished back in your direction. You took a minute to just stare at it—it kind of looked like an aqua basilisk, its back decorated with golden spikes that got smaller and smaller towards its tip. Your eyes traced the swirling noir and tangerine designs that covered his scales.

Eventually, you found yourself reaching out towards it—briefly glancing at Bakugo once more to see if he’d noticed (he hadn’t)—before you latched onto the spikes somewhere on the middle of this tail. Your hands were just able to wrap around them—they were warm, you noted, and oddly smooth—in time for his tail to swish away from you, pulling you along through the water like some kind of strange ride.

Though, almost immediately, he stopped moving and turned his head around to shoot you an unwavering look—almost analytical, if you were reading him right. You gave him a sheepish smile, still holding onto his tail loosely. Well, now you had his attention. “You seem preoccupied. You okay?”

Bakugo eyed you, the way you draped yourself over his tail, then let out a rumble before he started slowly moving it again. You held back a grin as he pulled and pushed you through the water—at least he wasn’t in such a foul mood that he wouldn’t entertain you. That had to be a good sign, right?

After a while, though, he still appeared to be lost in thought and you ended up contemplating what else you could do to pull him out of the slight funk he was in. You had somewhat of an idea—one that would no doubtfully be detrimental for you, but fuck it.

Before you could convince yourself to wuss out, you let go of the hold you had on his tail so you could duck back underneath the shimmering waters. You swam around him and popped out near his front, by his left leg, one of your hands wiping at the wetness on your face. He hadn’t noticed you, having turned his head around so he could look back at his tail once he’d felt that you’d let go.

“Over here!” you called up at him, a small grin pulling at your lips when he moved to gaze down at you curiously. He chuffed out a column of hot air through his nose that you could just barely feel against your face from your position. You gestured at him to come closer, not really expecting him to follow through, but being pleasantly surprised nonetheless when he did lower his head so you could look into his left eye. His compliance almost made you feel bad for what you were about to do.

A mischievous smirk was all the warning you gave him before you used all the strength you could muster in your hands to send a small wave of water splashing across his face—away, of course, from the gash by his right eye (you weren’t dumb—or maybe you were?). He recoiled immediately, water dripping down the vivid scales of his cheeks and chin as he raised his head up on instinct. His ruby eyes slitted down at you, your cheeky expression, and he let out a warning growl that you would have found intimidating had you still been trapped in the cave with him.

“Aw, don’t look at me like that you kn— WAASHFS!!”

He retaliated faster than you could keep up with, his left wing reaching down to casually swipe through the water and send a literal wave crashing into your form facefirst. You fell back dramatically, the water muffling your ears and stinging at your eyes as you were body-checked into submergence.

You resurfaced with a gasp, spluttering slightly as you swiped away the hair plastered to your face so you could shoot him the stink eye. Bakugo only made a sound you would describe as a grating laugh—raspy, unpleasant, yet oddly… humorous?—that practically sawed at your eardrums. Glancing up at his face graced you with the upwards curve of his mouth and general air of arrogance that he practically exuded in mockery of your feeble splashing attempt. Oh it was on.

You’d started this war knowing there was no way you’d be able to win it. But by god you were going to try.

After what felt like hours of you doing your best to hold your own in a clearly one-sided battle, you called for a truce and pulled yourself out of the lake. Rivulets of water streamed down your body as you beelined for your blanket so you could pull out the towel you’d packed into your bag and wrap it around your shoulders. You worked on patting yourself down, glancing up momentarily when you heard Bakugo get up from his position in the lake to trail after you.

Tiny waterfalls ran down the sides of his torso and from the top of his wings as he lumbered steadily back onto land. He shook himself off, his tail flicking drops of water off to the side. You thought he was going to stop somewhere near you, but he ended up completely bypassing your form to head over to a large tree off to the side of the small beach. You watched him curiously, your eyes lingering on the large footprints he made in the sand, but it seemed all he wanted to do was lounge in the shade the tree’s canopy provided.

You mulled it over for a second, then shrugged and reached down to gather up all your belongings before you jogged after him. He’d already settled on a patch of cool grass near the trunk of the tree, his legs curled underneath his body as he positioned himself so he could still stare out at the lake. You wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to take a little nap—the warmth of the air and slight fatigue of swimming around was starting to make you feel a bit drowsy as well.

You were grateful that there was more grass under the tree than sand, but you still ended up laying out your blanket so you could rest upon it. You didn’t think wet skin pressed to dry grass would make for the most comfortable experience. Bakugo only spared you a brief glance when you plopped yourself next to his front legs and set your bag and shoes off to the side. You worked on drying your hair with your towel, enjoying the light breeze that slipped through the air and the way the lake glistened as though its waters were made of jewels.

At one point you heard your stomach let out a faint rumble, so you rifled around in your bag for a snack that you’d packed earlier. As you did, your fingers brushed against something flat and hard—you ended up pulling out a familiar black book with a phoenix etched on its cover. You’d nearly forgotten that you’d stowed it away in your bag. It’d been sitting in there for ages.

You let out a short hum, grabbed your snack, and closed your bag so you could use it as a pillow as you lay down. Your fingers ran delicately over the soft, silver brushstrokes the phoenix was made of, before you finally cracked the book open to a random page to start skimming its contents.

The fae, merpeople, witches, basilisks… You flipped on and on until you eventually landed on the page you were looking for—dragons. There wasn’t much compared to the other mythicals. You read the inky words with interest, recognizing some of the information from when you’d read the little book the day you’d purchased it.

Dragons were noble, intelligent creatures with magic so robust it was almost unfathomable. Most of this power came from gems unique to each individual dragon. These gems were either hidden or displayed on the dragon’s body somewhere, or stored somewhere safe—a place only the dragon was privy to. The author speculated this could be a hoard of sorts or a safe space, maybe even their home. No wonder hunters went after them—to hold a dragon’s gem in one’s hands meant holding the power to destroy countless villages—kingdoms, even. It would make anyone succumb to greed. You suppressed a shiver, not so subtly eyeing Bakugo from the side of your book. He’d rested his head on the ground and appeared to be dozing, if the gentle snores coming from him were any indication. You returned to your book.

The dragons, as you knew, lived in the mountainous regions to the north—areas reachable only by beings capable of flight. At least, at the time of completion of the book. Which made you wonder just how long ago it had been written. You flipped to the front page to check for a publication date and raised an eyebrow at the year: nearly a century ago. You wondered if any information was outdated or unaccounted for. Probably. You flipped back to the page you’d been on.

Dragons, you read, live in a sort of hierarchical society—evident by the kingdom they stay in. At the top are the golden-scaled, indicative of royal status, with the king himself adorned with black and tangerine markings along his body.

Wait a second— gold?! Markings?!

Your eyes snapped up to stare at Bakugo, with his scales that reminded you of the heavy coins used in the capital, and inky designs that covered him from head to tail. He slumbered on, blissfully unaware of your encroaching shock. Your jaw dropped open.

No fucking way were you dealing with the literal king of dragons. No way. What were the odds that you’d find him in a random cave? That he would even leave his kingdom? That he would— that he would get so injured that he couldn’t even fly? Finding a dragon in general was unheard of, but for him to be the king?! Were you dreaming?!

“Holy shit,” you whispered in disbelief, one of your hands smoothing at your slightly wet hair. This… kind of explained a lot actually. Was that why he often looked frustrated or distant? Why he looked longingly at the cotton-ball puffs of clouds in the sky? You’d just chalked it up to him being unable to fly or something, but what if there’d been more to it all this time? Shit, you’d be prickly too if you were the ruler of an entire kingdom and suddenly found yourself miles and miles away from home.

But— this book was pretty old. Who said any of this information was still true? You bit your lower lip, unsure what to believe. Part of you wanted to accept it, but the other part just wanted to ignore it in the hopes that it would stave off the awkwardness and embarrassment of all those times you’d rambled about nonsense to royalty. You literally incited a stupid splash war with him earlier—talk about humiliating!

Those two parts duked it out for a few more moments before you decided to just let it all go. This was something you could deal with later, when you were sure you’d gotten over the bizarreness of it all. You pushed everything away and practically forced yourself to get back to reading.

Preferred food, fire-induced magic, customs and traditions, body temperature… You found yourself getting absorbed once more in the little mythicals book, lost within its pages as the sun crawled across the sky.

And when Bakugo woke up from his nap and blinked at you sleepily, all you did was offer him a small smile.

You dedicated more and more time to healing his wings.

Day in and day out you would put all your focus, your strength, into getting those pesky wounds on his wings to disappear. It was tedious, it was draining, of course it was. But you couldn’t let him suffer like this for much longer—couldn’t let him be confined to the ground when he was meant to be amongst the clouds, the stars. Especially with what you now (possibly) knew about him.

So you worked, and you healed, and you worked some more. You woke up early, went to bed late. You stopped having long conversations whenever you were in the village. You put your garden on hold. You ran yourself down to the Earth.

And after what felt like weeks—months, even—of constant healing, your determination, your lassitude, finally paid off.

“Anndd… done!” You smiled as you stepped away from his left wing, one of your hands wiping at the perspiration that’d beaded up on your forehead. Faint, jagged scars were all that remained of the viscous tears that had previously marred the thin, leathery skin. You couldn’t help but to look at them rather proudly.

Bakugo raised his head to look at you, his wings twitching occasionally as the muscles on his back flexed. You made eye contact with him. “Okay, even though your wings are fully healed, you still need to be care—”

You didn’t even get to finish your little lecture. As soon as the words had left your mouth, his wings had shot out to give a massive flap that generated enough wind to send leaves, dust, and bits of grass up into the air. You yelped as your hair whipped around with the force of his motions, your hands moving up to shield your face. You stumbled backwards and did your best to squint at him—the wicked grin that bared his sharp teeth, the eagerness with which he tested out his capabilities.

The trees surrounding the clearing rustled and swayed as Bakugo gave a few more experimental flaps before he eventually boosted himself up into the air with an extra jump from his tensed legs. He nearly knocked you over, but you cemented yourself to the ground just to be able to watch him rapidly soar up, and up, and up—through the endless blue that stretched way beyond your reach.

A stupid little smile splayed itself across your lips when you heard him let out an exuberant roar that echoed down to the Earth, his wings and body glittering like the sun itself. He really was a sight for sore eyes, you mused to yourself, one of your hands hovering above your forehead as you squinted at him. He looked like he was having fun, soaring about, doing deep dives and impressive spins. He was free, unlimited in where he could go. And well… you were here confined to the ground, forced to watch him do things you could never even dream of accomplishing.

You let out a sigh that got lost in the openness of the clearing, quiet and wistful.

Bakugo spent quite a while just flying around, but eventually he returned to the clearing—to you, sitting under the shade of a tree as you waited for him. You got up just as he landed on the ground with a resounding thump—one that you felt in your knees and nearly made you stumble backwards.

You brushed your clothes off and wandered closer to him as he let out a chuff and stretched his back in a self-satisfied way. “Yes, yes, being able to fly again must be great,” you told him cheerily, stopping somewhere near his front so you could look at his face. He peered down at you with a snort. “But, as I was trying to tell you before, you need to be careful of your other wounds. I put them on hold so that I could focus on your wings, so they’re not in the best condition. You’ll need to stick around so I can tend to them.” You gestured at him to sit down. “Let me check how they’re doing.”

He made a little rumble but did as told, settling down on the grass with his legs tucked beneath him. You hummed to yourself as you skittered around him to poke and prod at his other wounds. They hadn’t been torn open, thankfully, and didn’t seem to be swollen or tender. No erythema either, from what you could see. Good, that was good.

“Looks great!” You gave him a thumbs up once you were done checking the gash on his face. He rumbled at you again as he raised his head. “I’ll work on them later. Finishing your wings took quite a bit out of me.” You stepped away with the intention of heading back to your cottage for some rest, but Bakugo wasn’t done with you just yet. He made a sound that had you pausing, one of your eyebrows raising at him questioningly. “Hm?”

For a moment he seemed to dawdle, his gaze flicking away from you almost like he was… Well, embarrassed wasn’t the word, exactly. Nor was it nervous. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it. But before you could ruminate on it even more, he turned his head to look pointedly at his wings as he gave them a small flap. Then, he looked back at you, making direct eye contact, and sunk his head down in a little bow.

“Oh!” You blinked at him in surprise, then felt a warmth spread itself across your chest and into your heart. You gave him a wide smile when he raised his head again, shy. “Well, you’re very welcome!”

Bakugo started flying around the mountain and village more often, now that he was finally able to. His mood took a turn for the better (thank god, you thought to yourself) and you saw that he was not quite as prone to frustration or anger as he was before. He still had his moments, though, when he thought you weren’t around, but at least he wasn’t snappy at you.

A part of you wondered if he would leave—he could fly back to his kingdom now, couldn’t he? He wasn’t obligated to stay, after all, and surely as king he would have resources to better treat his injuries. But no, he still stuck around, and you tried desperately to ignore how happy that made you feel.

Having him as company was nice, of course, but you wondered if it was a good idea for him to be flying around so freely—it would only draw unwanted attention. You couldn’t exactly tell him to stop flying, though. You wouldn’t do that to him, and you didn’t think he would listen to you anyways. Besides, at least he was healed enough to handle himself should trouble come poking around at the prospect of a dragon hanging around Mount Kamino.

It didn’t stop the slight unease you felt when you wandered into Yuuei for the day only to see people whispering to each other, their gazes flickering up to the sky from time to time as though they would find something there other than clouds and birds. You eavesdropped on a few conversations as you did your rounds (“Gold, too! Didn’t know they came in that color!”), then eventually made your way to a familiar pub to see what kind of gossip Denki had learned about.

Only, when you pushed open the doors to his pub, you saw an unfamiliar figure at the bar chatting with your friend.

“Oh! Hey!” Denki called out your name over the stranger’s shoulder as you walked over and leaned against the bartop with a smile. “You’re here early. Want your usual?”

“Yep.” You nodded and he started bustling around to make you your drink. You turned to face the stranger. ”Don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. What’s your name?”

“I’m Kirishima Eijiro!” The red-haired man introduced himself with a blinding, sharp-toothed grin that turned a bit sheepish after a moment. “S’that obvious I’m not from here, huh? What gave it away?” he joked as he gestured down to his clearly foreign clothing: leathery-looking dark pants paired with thick boots, a thin shirt that he wore unbuttoned and displayed the smooth planes of his chest. Your eyes caught onto a black marking near his heart—it looked like some kind of tattoo, though you couldn’t quite make it out with his shirt covering most of it. Something with the sun, maybe. He was quite large and certainly strong if the way his shirt tightened around his thick arms were any indication.

“The hair,” you joked back, pointing at the spiky mess atop his head. He let out a bright laugh and ran one of his thick hands through said hair. “That and I practically know everyone in the village. Resident healer, at your service.” You gave him a silly little bow.

“Oh!” He blinked at you and leaned forward eagerly. “In that case, maybe you can help me! I’m lookin’ for a buddy of mine. About this high”—he lifted up a hand to somewhere just a bit shorter than him—”with ash-blond hair that looks like an explosion and red eyes like mine. Curses like a pirate and has these tattoos all along his arms and shoulders. He’s been missin’ for… a long time, now. I’ve been passin’ through villages asking if anyone’s seen him. Maybe you’ve… healed him?” He had a slight grimace on his face at the idea that his friend was injured.

You tapped a finger on your chin as you raked through your brain, but eventually shook your head sadly. “No, don’t think I’ve seen him, sorry.”

“Aw”—his shoulders slumped—”thanks anyways. Guess I’ll have to keep searching.”

“Enough about that— no offense, Kirishima,” Denki suddenly butted back in, nearly slamming your drink and pastry down on the bar in front of you. Kirishima held up his hands in a none taken gesture. “I wanna talk about the fucking dragon everyone’s been gossiping about.”

At that, Kirishima perked up suddenly, intrigue glistening in his ruby eyes. “Wait— dragon?”

Denki turned to give him an odd look. “You mean you haven’t heard?? Or like, even seen it?! It’s so hard to miss, flying around Mount Kamino and stuff.”

“To be fair, he is just passing through,” you told Denki before you took a sip of your drink.

“What does the dragon look like?” Kirishima asked curiously, his eyes darting between you and Denki.

“Gold,” you replied before Denki could. “With black markings.”

Denki gave you an odd look. “How the hell were you able to see that? I just heard that it’s gold.”

You shrugged and took a bite of your pastry to avoid looking at either of them. You still didn’t think it would be a good idea to bring up the fact that you’d been healing said dragon all this time. “I spend a lot of time on Kamino.” And that was all you said on the matter. Denki looked like he wanted to press you for more, but Kirishima beat him to the punch.

“Where is Mount Kamino?” he asked you, his eyes locked on your face with a surprising amount of calculative intensity. You only pointed to one of the pub’s windows that had a view of the mountain beyond it. Kirishima wandered over to the window to peer through it, then turned around with a steadfast gleam to his eyes.

“Thanks for everything, guys. I’m gonna take my leave! Have a good one!” he called out as he beelined right for the door, barely catching the confused farewells you and Denki returned to him. The two of you stood there staring at the pub’s exit for a moment. You hoped he wasn’t a hunter or anything—it was pretty obvious where he was heading. But well, you hadn’t seen any weapons on him, so you supposed he was fine. Hopefully.

Denki was the first to break the silence. “You think I’ll get more business if I started selling dragon-shaped cookies?” You snorted and rolled your eyes.

A few days later, you were steadily picking your way through the forest to the clearing that held Bakugo when you heard a strange rustling. You paused, eyes wide as you looked around carefully. It wasn’t unusual for you to hear the odd sound or see the occasional wild animal while you were wandering around. But this didn’t sound like an animal. If you listened close enough, you could hear soft footsteps. The fact that it was so close to where Bakugo was put you a bit on edge—what if it was someone who’d gotten a bit too curious in light of recent village news?

You stood there, simply listening. You didn’t see anything out of the ordinary as you peered in the direction of the rustling, only trees and overgrown shrubs. The sound eventually faded away into the distance—opposite of the direction you were headed in. You let out a sigh of relief. It was probably an animal, you reassured yourself as you continued to where Bakugo was impatiently waiting for you. You forgot about it soon enough.

And when you offhandedly mentioned to Denki, some time later, that you hadn’t seen Kirishima around after your first meeting with him, he responded with: “Oh, yeah! He left a bit ago. Said he found his pal and went back home without him or something. Didn’t really tell me the details.”

part three

#GUYS GUYS LOOK HOW PRETTY THE ART IS I AM HOLDING IT SO TENDERLY IN MY HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!#katsuki x reader #bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #bnha x reader #mybigbangacademia #bakugo x reader #bakugo x you #katsuki x you #mha x reader #hojfykb #I KEEP STARING AT THE ART PLEASE #tiddies!!#LAKDSJFLFS #legends say even the gods heard my scream when i first saw it #i am!! going to EXPLODE!!#and now to replace my previous banner with it<3 #the switch from flowers/grass to fire is so funny to me LMAOO

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