Red Ink

Part 39 - Home

"I've never been angrier at anyone in my entire life."

"I know, kid."

"What were you thinking? You knew your quirk wouldn't last long enough for the plan. Since when are you this reckless?" Y/N demanded, pacing the tiny infirmary room and rubbing at her wrists. "God, Ray, I just— urgh, I could smack you right now. I would smack you if you weren't already so messed up."

Ray let out a long sigh from the hospital bed. There was little else he could do, honestly; whatever painkillers they gave him were working wonders and making everything feel a little distorted.

"I don't care that you're mad," he grumbled. "I wasn't gonna send you in there. Are you crazy? You think I'm gonna send my little girl to—" he cut himself off to check that no one else was listening in. "–to go kill someone? C'mon, Y/N."

"I could've... I..." Red started, but she couldn't even finish her sentence. I could've done it was a lie and both of them knew it. Y/N could barely kill a bug without feeling guilty— something about a poem she read once.

"Did they catch him?"

Y/N slumped into the chair beside his bed with a sigh to match his. "No. No updates yet... not for us, at least. The heroes are doing a 'debrief' I guess."

Ray rubbed at the stubble on his chin, eyes flickering up to her every few seconds. It was obvious he was thinking about saying something and stopping himself. Red knew that look.

"What's on your mind, old man?"

He narrowed his eyes at her quizzically. When he spoke, his voice was soft. "He knew your name."

"Who?"

"That red hero... Riot Guy."

"Red Riot."

"Right. When he thought I was you, he called me by your name. Your real name. How did he know that? No one else here has called you that, not even the nurses."

"Oh." Red shifted in her seat uncomfortably. It was true that she rarely gave out her real name— a habit she picked up in the Underground that seemed to stick. "Um... I told him. We became rather close after I took him on as a client. He's the one who arranged all this," she explained, gesturing to Might Tower. "He knew I had a bad relationship with another client and... dug deep enough to figure out it was Dabi, I guess. He saved my life. He saved your life."

Ray squinted at her for a moment, then his eyes flickered with understanding and the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. Clearly he seemed amused by something, but he followed it up with a contradicting grunt. "Hm. I could've taken Dabi if they hadn't gotten involved."

"Don't be stupid, your quirk would've worn off before you could escape. Even if you killed him, you couldn't have gotten out without the heroes."

"Hmph." He didn't respond, mostly because she was probably (definitely) right. He knew it was reckless to take her place, but all he could think about was keeping his Red away from that terrible place. It was rare that he acted so rashly, but he would rather take the risk himself than watch her do the same.

He never expected to be the kind of person to do that, either. Finding Red when he was 18 changed him in ways he was still figuring out. He still felt like that same stupid kid, but now with a family to protect. He chose this life when he found her all those years ago in the Underground, and even with all the trouble it brought his way, he didn't regret it.

In fact, he missed her. She moved out ages ago, but his house was too quiet now without her humming.

"I'm sorry about the parlor, kid. You can come live with me again 'til it's rebuilt."