A/N: I just word vomitted this in like five minutes because I watched episode 10 and got really emotional. This just happened so it's not edited or even completely thought out. I just needed an outlet and this is what happened. Enjoy!
Hero
A story is compromised of characters.
There are villains and there are heroes.
Munakata Reisi has always hated heroes.
Too bad for him that Suoh Mikoto would always be one.
There's enough snow that a blanket of white sticks to the ground. It's cold but not enough for him to feel the chill through his heavy blue coat. His sword feels heavy at his waist but he retains his casual posture, even when he hears the crunch of Mikoto's boots on the ice covered cobblestone.
Reisi regards the other king with a familiar impassiveness.
Mikoto tilts his head, an amused smirk twisting his lips. "I thought breathing the same air as me makes you want to puke."
Reisi shrugs, "Sometimes I feel like breathing toxic air." He catches a cigarette between his lips and pulls it out of the carton, offering the box of Blue Sparks to his counterpart. Mikoto eyes the cigarettes and then Reisi with mild suspicion and even greater surprise.
Reisi moves the carton closer.
Relenting, Mikoto plucks a cigarette from the stash. Reisi snorts. The Blue King moves to grab his lighter but with a flick of his wrist and a half-assed shove, Mikoto has done the deed for him and Reisi rolls his eyes.
The rest of that moment doesn't really go the way Reisi wants it to, but it does go the way he expected it to.
I came to see a friend.
Mikoto had always, always been like that. Even when they were younger; even if things weren't going so well or even if things were going well. Mikoto did what he had to do if it meant protecting the people he loved.
That frustrated Reisi. That frustrated him because half the time Mikoto didn't owe anyone anything. Because Mikoto wasn't supposed to be like that. He was supposed to be rough and angry and uncontrollable.
Mikoto was supposed to be a villain.
That would make Reisi's job a whole hell of a lot easier.
But Mikoto isn't a villain.
He never was.
Suoh Mikoto was a goddamn hero and it drove Reisi completely and utterly mad because he knows he's completely incapable of crushing a hero's spirit. HOMRA loved their king. They were gruff and barbaric and obnoxious but they were family and they adored Mikoto.
The Red King is their hero.
And in some ways, Mikoto was Reisi's hero too.
I never wanted to be a king.
Reisi watches Mikoto's back and says: "That's why you make a good one."
And for a second Mikoto stops but it's only for a second and then the ice crunches beneath his boots and his aura melts the snow away. He had said nothing, but Reisi understands.
Thank you, Munakata.
The Blue King turns on his heel to return to his own men and to his rightful place to play the part of a hero.