Red Ink

Part 46 - Exercise

CW: Suggestive content

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"Actually, I have another question for you, Dynamight," Red said.

Bakugou squinted at her from the other side of his desk. "Shoot."

"When I first met Whirlwind, she... offered me something very generous. She mentioned that she has some..." Red's cheeks burned. It was embarrassing asking a pro hero a question like this."...some self defense items she's been working on. I was going to ask her about it today, but do you know if... if any of those are available? I can pay."

"Worried Ei can't cut it as your bodyguard?"

Red shook her head. "No, not at all. I know he can keep me safe, but—" she gripped the fabric of her skirt in her fists. "I keep remembering that gravity villain. At Mei's workshop, he almost really hurt Eijirou. It was just dumb luck, but I had this thing of expired pepper spray— it ended up being what bought us enough time to get out. I know it sounds stupid, but..." she looked down at her hands. "What if something like that happens again and I can't help him?"

Katsuki scoffed. "You want self defense items to protect him?"

"That's not what I mean. What I mean is... I like to... feel prepared. I haven't felt actually prepared since—" her eyes flickered up to Bakugou's and she cut herself off. "I just want to feel in control again, I think."

There was a stretch of time years ago that Bakugou remembered well. Tink had lost her quirk and was suffering greatly at her sudden absence of power. She'd been a long range combatant with her wind quirk, and without it shielding her, she was completely vulnerable.

Whirlwind tried to make up the difference by training for hundreds of grueling hours with Katsuki, drilling different close-combat methods until her knuckles bled, but the problem was psychological, too. Even when she got her quirk back, that fear followed Tink for a long time.

He tried to shake the memory when he looked at Red, but he couldn't. When he looked her in the eye, all he could see was Tink all those years ago: afraid, with no way to fix it. The similarities made his chest ache with a confusing feeling.

Bakugou leaned against his desk and rubbed his brow. "Self defense items aren't gonna fix your problem."

When he saw the hope start fading from her gaze, he rolled his eyes.

"Not on their own, I mean. Y'need more than fancy gadgets. You're scared."

"Of course I'm scared," she muttered. "A supervillain told me he'd ruin my life if I ever went against him, and now he's off probably planning to do just that—"

"See, that."

"What?"

"Catastrophizing. Cut it out."

Red stared at him in disbelief. "You expect me not to be scared? How in the—"

"No, you're using your fear to jump to conclusions. What the hell does that solve? All it does is make you more scared."

She stood up, her fists clenched at her sides. "What am I supposed to do? Dabi escaped. All I can do is wait and wonder and worry about—"

"That's bullshit."

Red exhaled shortly in frustration. "What do you propose I do then, Dynamight? Just not be scared?"

Bakugou crossed his arms over his chest. "You can't control fear. That's why it's fear. What you can control is how you react to it, and right now you're being a baby."