The Emerald Prince

Chapter 109: Kiri's night in

Kirishima found himself strangely determined to remain in Izuku's room to sleep. It felt so damn safe and comforting and he had no idea why. He had curled up in the many blankets and taken the rainbow unicorn plushie back off the bedside table to hug it.

He was in his PJs at least, and he wanted to be there when Izuku came back. Though... he'd gone at nine and it was eleven already. But he had a feeling Izuku's late was slightly different to his.
He'd never ask aloud, but he was very curious about why Izuku was Izuku.
To befriend villains?
To have the ability to give and take quirks?
To have a villain for a father - genetic father?
What happened to his mum?
Where did Eri come from?
Why could he flirt so well?
Why did he flinch at loud noises?

Bizarrely he felt himself cursing his secure life and his loving family...he appreciated them as much as he could, but it meant he had no idea why, or what to do, and knew he could never understand Izuku. And it was so frustrating to be there, yet unable to help properly. He could be a friend, sure. Cheerful, optimistic, supportive...but he couldn't truly be there.

He looked at the time again on the alarm clock. 11:03.
He needed distractions, he was experiencing self pity about not having anything to justify self pity.

He looked around Izuku's room.
As Ashido had said the boxes under Izuku's bed contained foreign books. They looked big and tough to read. He was no good at English so he gave up on them quick enough, and looked over the books openly displayed in the strange pseudo forest.

He was fingering the spine of a battered copy of 'Snow County' by Yasunari Kawabata, when some equally battered but far from acclaimed books caught his eye.
They were set in a corner, and well cared for, though bearing that slight bend only months in a school bag can create.

He shuffled over, still wrapped in blankets and clutching the plushie under one arm, leaning down to look at the handwritten titles on the spines of the notebooks.
They appeared to be hero analysis books, and later villain analysis.
He had found his distraction.

He settled on a suitably positioned bean bag, and opened the first book.
Childish scribbles splayed across the margins making him smile. The book seemed entirely focused on All Might, and he was surprised by the passion and almost fanatical devotion in the early pages. He smile faltered at he leafed through though.
Small articles discussing damages caused by the hero, accidental deaths...quotes and indications that the hero discriminated against quirkless people, and people with villainous quirks. He was shocked by a hand written paragraph covering how he prevented Shinsou entering the Hero course and his lips narrowed. Very unmanly.

The next book covered Endeavour, which contained horrific evidence that explained Izuku's lack of respect for the Hero long before the bastard attempted to murder him, and Kirishima worried for the first time if all the books were like this. There was a section that mentioned Shoto, but Izuku had written it in french and Kirishima couldn't read it, and he didn't have his phone to translate... that was probably the point of it being in French to begin with.

He shouldn't have worried, the next books covered copious heroes, including Crimson riot, and most were fairly positive, and going into frankly disturbing levels of detail.
Noticing the dates, he skipped from the seventh book to check through the ones further on, finding class 1A in the 26th one.
He found his pages and flushed with pride at the admiration and enthusiasm that oozed from them. There was even a really nice drawing of him in his hero outfit, and he couldn't help but flush at how flattering it was compared to how he always saw himself.

He was reading the section on Ashido when there was a gentle knock on the door. He'd learned his lesson after Tokoyami, so didn't move to open it.

He wasn't expecting the gentle knocker to be Bakugou.
"Hey nerd, you in?"
He remained quiet.
"Oi!"
Kirishima resisted the urge to answer and kept his mouth shut.
There was a slight creak as Bakugou rested his head against the door and a soft sigh.