Canary

Chapter 39: Heroes in Their Own Way

Five days since the return

Kirishima yawned loudly, blundering down the stairs in the dead of night. He didn't know why he couldn't sleep. It was unlike him.

His aching muscles protested, after being pushed to their limits during the training for their up and coming provisional licencing exam. It was only a couple of days away now, and Kirishima was weirdly looking forward to it.

But there was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He'd woken up like that. Was it... a nightmare? He couldn't remember was it was about but... something scared him. He couldn't just lie there in his room anymore, staring at the ceiling. Sleep just didn't seem to be working anymore.

He had decided to head downstairs to the common room area. Shinso and Todoroki had been muttering about an incidence in the middle of the night once, where the two of them went down to the kitchen at the same time and walked right into each other. Perhaps Kirishima wouldn't be the only one awake. That would be a nice distraction.

Blowing a strand of red hair out of his eyes, Kirishima trotted down the last few steps, not bothering to be quiet as he stumbled clumsily into the common area. He couldn't see anyone around, although, it was pretty dark.

Stopping in his tracks, he sighed. Maybe he should get a drink of water or something...

So, he swerved over towards the kitchen, running his hand along the wall until it hit the light switch.

Blinking in the light – his eyes soon zeroed in on none other than... Canary.

"Canary?" he whispered. The green haired boy had his head down on the kitchen counter. Was he asleep?

No, after Kirishima said his name once again, he stirred, blinking furiously as he looked up at him.

"What are you doing down here?" frowned Kirishima, sitting down on the empty chair on the other side of the counter to him.

Canary just sniffed loudly, rubbing at his eyes as he sat a little more upright, shrugging his shoulders.

He had his mask on, the one that Shoji had supposedly given him. But there were damp patches over it. Kirishima couldn't tell if it was from his mouth being slightly open underneath the fabric, or if they were from the tears that still glistened in the bags under his eyes.

"Hey, man," Kirishima said softly, shuffling a little further forward in his chair, "You alright?"

He just shrugged again, shifting his position to reveal his phone, that he had supposedly fallen asleep on top of.

"You don't look alright," Kirishima continued. He hesitated, taking in the state of his classmate. "Did you... have a nightmare?"

Canary flinched; Kirishima took that as a yes.

"I did too..."

Canary looked up at him again, rubbing the tears from his face as he waited expectantly for Kirishima to keep on talking.

"I – err – I really can't remember what it was about. I just sort of... woke up feeling kind of scared, I guess. And I thought I'd come down here for a bit," he admitted, with a shrug not dissimilar to Canary's. "But like... dreams are generally about what you're thinking about before you go to sleep, right? So, maybe it was something to do with Kamino..."

Kirishima looked to Canary unsurely when he said that. He didn't want to upset him further, but he didn't seem too bothered.

"Um... I'm sorry... I was there with the others – we came to get you and Bakugo back. But we only managed to get him out. I can't help but feel a little guilty we didn't manage to save you too."