Red Ink

Part 6 - Little Red

Y/N was a bit shocked at how nice the apartment complex was.

It had to be at least 10 stories, the side of the building lined with balconies and scattered with flowering ivy. The part of town was nice too. On her way to the front door, a gardener gave her a friendly wave.

This place looked expensive.

She pressed the buzzer next to his apartment number and heard the door click softly. Inside even smelled nice. Potted plants were placed along the walls and she had to walk around a large water feature in the center of the lobby.

Okay, he was rich.

As the elevator music played on her way up, she tightened her grip on her backpack straps. Why was she nervous? Kirishima was one of the nicest guys she'd met. He was going to make this easy for her, of course, but for some reason that was why she was nervous. He'd always been overly accommodating, showering her in praises and doing everything he could to make her feel good about herself.

What if it was a ploy? He was a big dude, after all— if this was an act to get her to his place, she was in deep shit. The realization sent a nervous feeling to her stomach and she reached her hand in her pocket to make sure her pepper spray was still there.

What was Kirishima's quirk anyway? He was a hero, sure, but she hadn't even bothered to ask. Was that rude that she hadn't asked? What if his quirk was dangerous? Even without a quirk he was a threat. Was she making a huge mistake coming here?

Too late now.

The elevator doors opened and Red took a deep breath. You got this, she told herself as she walked down the fancy hallway. It was natural (and smart) for women to err on the side of caution in these situations, but it was difficult to stop the fear from rising in her throat. Calm down. Kirishima isn't like that.

The truth was, Y/N had been in situations like this that went wrong. So often men felt entitled, like they were owed her time, her company, or her body. Thank god she'd never gotten hurt, but she'd be lying if she said her pepper spray had never been used.

Y/N took another shaky breath before knocking gently on his door, her heart almost jumping out of her chest with anxiety. Her grip tightened on the pepper spray.

Kirishima swung open the door and flashed her a big smile. In his other hand was a small orange kitten. "Hey, Red! Good to see you! Come on in."

Oddly enough, the sight before her washed away every worry she had. This was Kirishima— he wouldn't lay a finger on her. Red smiled back, still reeling a bit from her unnecessary panic. Why had she gotten so worked up? The guy was literally wearing a pink apron.

He closed the door behind her. "Red, this is Sunny. Sunny, this is Red." He propped up his elbow a bit so that the little orange cat could look Y/N in the face.

Y/N used the back of her finger to rub Sunny's cheek. "She's so little. How old is she?"

"My partner's cats had a litter a few weeks ago. Lil Sunny here is one of 'em. Isn't she sweet?" He kissed the orange furball on the top of her head before setting her down and heading towards the kitchen. "You want a drink? Let's see, I've got juice... soda... or wine, if you wanna have a fucking wild morning."

"Juice sounds nice," Red said, clearly trying to hold back a laugh. "Do you usually get wine drunk for meetings?"

"Only the fun ones."

"Hm. Glad the heroes we rely on are getting tipsy at important conferences."

"Ha! Important," He scoffed, twisting off the cap. "Maybe 1% of them are important. The rest are just filler nonsense, to be honest." He filled up two glasses of juice and handed her one with a grin. "Won't need alcohol for this meeting, though. Meetings with you are fun without it."