Burnt

Chapter 23

"So," Luke looked at Dudley, finally broaching the conversation that had been silently hanging between them since Dudley asked for a name change if he was adopted. "You want to stay? Be adopted by Nico and their wives?" 

"I-" Dudley's voice died in his throat as he looked at Luke, so he tried again while looking at his hands. "I know you like the free life, and I know this is another country in another world where most people don't even speak out language, but-" Dudley sighed, picking at the dead skin around his nail. "But maybe that's what I need." 

"Hey, I never said I was against it!" Luke raised his hands. "I just think we both need to start working on our Japanese." 

"If you're choosing to stay here for my sake-" 

"I'm not." Luke let out a breath somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. "I know you think I love moving around all the time, and I do like being free, but I feel like I'm always missing a home I never had. I don't want to live with Nico, and I don't want to be a hero, but... Well I made my patronus by imagining home here." 

"Oh," Dudley laughed, shaking his head. "I may have a quirk but I will never be a hero." 

"So it's settled? When we see Nico next we say we're planning to stay?" 

"Yeah, but... Shouldn't we tell Harry first? I'm sure he's going back." Dudley slightly hoped that Harry would feel sad knowing he was going to stay here, but he knew how selfish that was with how much he and his parents had already caused Harry misery. 

"Not right now," Luke looked over his shoulder to the door, the two of them being kicked out until his painkillers were finished being administered. "He needs time to get his head on straight before we talk to him about something like this, and we might see Nico before then." 

"I'd rather tell Nico than Raelyn." Dudley knew that he was pretty much agreeing to live with the woman too, but he didn't know her, so telling Nico felt easier. 

"Rather tell Nico what?" A head of dark hair appeared beside Dudley, a woman neither had seen before. "Sorry, I'm joking, I'm Raelyn, Nico's wife. I assume you two are Dudley and Luke?" 

"Yes, we haven't been let back in with Harry yet." Luke responded, Dudley, who Raelyn had popped up next to, was trying to calm his pounding heart. 

"Yeah, these things do take a while." Raelyn looked at the door as she took a seat. "Harry will probably be pretty out of it when we go in, but hopefully the general anaesthetic wares off before the local stuff. Not always the case though." 

"Are you also a hero?" The words had already tumbled from Dudley's mouth before he could stop them. Maybe his quirk affected him too (probably not). 

"Yes, and I'm actually ranked higher than Nico due to being a more public facing hero. Lydia, our wife, is a doctor." Raelyn seemed like a nice person, but they didn't really know each other yet to say either way. 

"So there are still normal jobs?" Dudley breathed a sigh of relief, he wanted to never be the centre of attention, it reminded him of when he had been the person Harry was afraid of when seeing him. 

"Of course," Raelyn smiled as though the idea was funny, but her face fell soon after. "Contrary to popular belief, heroes don't make the world go round. They're a response to a superpowered problem, but the old problems didn't disappear. More often than not heroes are just pretty distractions." 

"That's-" 

"Anyway!" Raelyn cut Luke off, clapping her hands. "I hear you two are from the UK, I'm originally from Scotland, so I'm curious what things are like in your universe."