#tl;dr: kirby does not run away. some friends of their's try to trick them into it due to personal biases but it doen't land

[darth-sonny]

Has Kirby ever thought about running away? And I'm not talking about the passing thought of leaving, I'm talking about literally thinking about it, reasoning about it, thinking about the consequences of running away, about what he would do after he ran away.

well, Kirby has thought of running away, but since they're still pretty much a child, to them running away means leaving for a few hours and then coming back. they don't have a good grasp between the difference of "running away" and "going out"

maybe, when they're a little bit older, they meet a group of slightly bigger teens. mostly mid-to-late high school age. and, well, they're somewhat of a bad influence. Kirby, having been raised mostly in the Lair with their only influence on friendships being television and comics, has no idea about this

all of them come from shitty backgrounds with even shittier parents, and all of them talk down about them on the daily. Kirby just feels uncomfortable whenever they do, but they're too nervous to leave when that happens. they think that their friends probably don't mean any of what they say

(they do. they very much do)

and, being from shitty backgrounds, they can probably smell that Kirby's homelife isn't as good as they believe. and it kind of isn't, but Kirby tries to make it work. some confusion and misunderstandings lead their friends to believe that Kirby needs to get out of there, and all of them are willing to help them

the friend group were planning to run away from their homes and move somewhere else, maybe to the East Coast. and now they're planning on bringing Kirby along. all of them know that they can't outright ask them to come along since they're still very much a little kid, and they're very obviously not going to run away from their home at the drop of a hat. so the friend group tricked them, telling them about a sleepover they were going to have in one of their homes when their parent's weren't around, so they better pack some clothes and toiletries

and Kirby is excited. very excited. their first sleepover! sure it's in somewhat of a bad side of the Hidden City, and their dad is very worried about the location and that their friends are older kids, but a sleepover nonetheless! it's great!

they pack up quickly and get there early, with dad's help. a couple of hugs and goodbyes later, Kirby is climbing up the stairs to their friend's apartment, only to be met with all of them ushering them to the window so they can climb down using the fire escape. they're worried about leaving their stuff, but one of them says, "take 'em, you'll need them", which just confuses Kirby even more. all of them cross through a portal, put on some cloaking broaches (or, in Kirby's case, pull their hoodie up), go to a bus station, by some tickets, and get onboard

Kirby, by now, is panicking. they don't know what's happening, and by now they wanns go home. they try to get up and get out, but one of their "friends" holds them back and keeps them seated, telling them that everything will be better now once they leave New York

and that... sort of makes something inside Kirby snap

they don't want to leave New York. they don't want to leave dad. they don't want to leave their family, or the Lair, or their toys and comic books. they don't want to leave any of that behind

and this is the instance that Kirby's ninpō shows up

they land on their bed, shaking and this close to tears. they don't even think about what will happen next. they just run to their dad's room and don't let go for the longest time

Leo has no moderate idea what just happened, but by instinct, he wraps his arm around kirby's tiny frame and hugs them back

they'll talk in the morning