#prince!todoroki

That's what you've done the past two days. Sure, you're new, but it works, and you're happy with it. It's one of the easiest things you get to do while you work for them.

The dining hall is clear, perfect, so now you only need to make sure everything else's clear, and you can go to bed. The only thing you didn't count on is King Enji walking through the halls too. Being lost in your thought, you don't notice him as he approaches you.

"Why're you not with the other omegas?" It's not his voice that snaps you from your thoughts; it's his scent. It's strong, probably the strongest in the castle, so it pulls your omega brain to attention.

"U-uh- what do you mean, sir?" you ask, looking up at him. You'd only seen him in person since you'd been in the castle about three times. Once when you first came, the other two times in the dining hall, the others were quick in passing, but now you can see him full, right in front of you. You can feel the intimidating energy spilling off of him.

"My son has all the omegas retire to his room for his nightly rituals. Were you not called?"

"Oh, um, sorry, sir, I wasn't aware," you say, nodding your head and turning to head toward the bedroom you knew belonged to his son. But what could he want with you? Not only you but all the omegas? You didn't understand, King Enji wasn't specific, and the way he worded whatever you're walking into makes your imagination run wild.

Prince Shoto is the youngest but favorite of King Enji's. He's a strong alpha, handsome, and loved by many, but he's quiet. Nobody knows what goes through his mind. He's intriguing.

The walk toward his bedroom is tedious. What were you walking into? Was he going to force you into whatever "routine" the king was referencing? Did he not tell you on purpose? What if he doesn't like you and doesn't want you there for a reason?

You don't come up with any answers by the time you make it to the alpha's door. You take a slow breath, raising your hand and knocking, waiting for a response.

You're not sure what you expect when the door opens, but it's somehow definitely not a smiling Makkari. "Y/n! Come in, come in, finally! I wasn't sure if you were going to show up," she says, walking you further into the room.

"I- uh, wasn't sure if I was welcome." You look around the room, all the omegas from the castle, even some you haven't met, chilling around Prince Shoto's room. Some were talking in chairs, others are on a couch, and some are eating. But everyone is smiling and happy.

"Well, of course, you are! Prince Shoto welcomes all omegas here." Shoto's room is like a whole section of the castle. It has rooms within his room. When you first walk in, it's the sitting area, chairs, couches, tables, everything following the white and gold color scheme. There's another door. You can guess it's his bathroom, and then another cracked open, showing you see it's his actual bedroom.

"Make yourself comfortable. Basically, Prince Shoto lets us stay here every night and do what we want as a courtesy. He's not in agreement with how much we work and get treated, so this is our time to rest and be ourselves," Makkari says happily. "You can put your scent collar over there." Makkari points to a pile of scent collars. The king forces all the omegas to them; so your omega scent isn't spreading through the castle. She gives you one more smile before turning to walk back to sitting in the small group she'd been in, her, Haki, and Nami playing a game.

You scan the room for a moment, thinking of what you want to do with whatever time you have left. Your eyes land on the bedroom again. For the time being, you'd forgotten how tired you are, so the second your eyes land on the bed, it's like an invisible force pulls you toward it, and before you know it, you're slowly pushing the door open and stepping inside the room.

Like the rest, it has a white and gold color scheme. It's smaller than the other area, only having his king-size bed, a large window, plus two doors, one being his closet, and the second you weren't sure since you already knew his bathroom was outside of this room, but now wasn't the time for trying to figure that out.

If circumstances were different, and you weren't so tired, Shoto's alpha scent not being so strong it's making you not think, you probably wouldn't have settled into the alpha's bed so carefree. Plus, tho Makkari said Shoto let you guys here for rest. She didn't say he'd given any rules. Surely, he won't be upset if you take about an hour and a half nap? Right?

It takes no time for you to crawl onto the bed, finding a towel first to lay on, not wanting your dirty dress to ruin his royal blankets. The mattress is like feathers, the most comfortable cotton you could ever lay on in your life, nothing compared to the worn coat where you usually sleep. You're slipping to sleep within seconds.

Shoto did have an actual nightly routine that wasn't only for the omegas. He'd spend time either in his den or walking around the garden, all while the omegas have time in his room, and after the two hours, he'll come back, and everyone be on their way. Tonight, he's in his den, so when he exits and sees you curled up in his bed, he's confused, but everything melts away when he sees you.

Usually, all the omegas stayed in the outside area, not going into where his actual bed's located, but here you are, curled up and spreading your scent all over his sheets. His instincts want to let you stay there, his inner alpha telling him to let the omega rest, but he knew he couldn't. You're just the new omega, it wouldn't look good, but he does like your scent a lot.

He quietly walks toward you, putting his hand on your shoulder and gently shaking you. You let out a small groan, beginning to stir before your eyes open. "Hey, Y/n, Prince Shoto's- oh," Makkari pushes open the door, her eyes widening at the sight of him already in the room.

When the omegas stay in his room, Shoto's scent's so strong that they know it's time to go when he gets closer to the room, and they can smell his scent, or in this instance when he comes out of his den, which has a pheromone blocking door.

Makkari bows her head. "Sorry, Prince Shoto," she motions to you, "she's new. I will inform her not to enter your sleeping corridors again." By now, you're awake and starting to sit up, rubbing your eyes and looking around the room.

Shoto feels you moving under him, bringing his attention and making him pull his hand from your shoulder. He shakes his head. "There will be no need for that. It's alright. Have a good night," he smiles and nods to you both, turning to his closet and disappearing into it.

"Come on, Y/n. We need to go and give the prince his space back," Makkari says, putting her hand out for you and urging you to hurry. You take it, sliding from the bed and going with her toward the door. When she opens it, you notice almost all the rest of the omegas are gone, having cleaned up and left no trace, the ones that're still there heading toward the door and waiting for you and Makkari.

Even though you only stayed once, that was the best sleep you ever got. This' the first time you have seen Prince Shoto in person. You've smelled his scent from afar many times, but this time was the first time you were so close. You weren't sure what to expect going to his room. King Enji made it seem like he involved all the omegas in some orgy or something.

You have to admit, the thought of being able to rest at the end of the day did keep you going. You're tired, but knowing you have something to look forward to keeps you going with your work, no matter how much your limbs ache.

The next night, you know your plan. This time you don't miss the call all the omegas get when it's time to go to Shoto's room. You bring your own blanket, prepared this time to nap and, again, not ruin his blankets. You and all the omegas walk toward his room, and when you push open the door, everyone has the same look of confusion on their faces. Everyone smells Shoto's scent stronger than usual, meaning he's somewhere in the room, but usually, he'd be gone by now.

Everyone starts filtering through the room, cautions, but still doing what they always do for their two hours. You separate from Makkari, heading directly toward the bedroom you'd been in the last night. When you open the door, you come face-to-face with Shoto, standing next to his bed.

"O-oh, Prince Shoto, I-I'm sorry, I'll leave you," you turn and go to leave but are stopped by his voice.

"No. Come in. I wanted to speak with you," the prince says. A wave of nervousness flows through your veins as you step back into the room, awkwardly standing there, waiting for him to talk. "Nobody else had made an attempt to come in here, but now that I see you want to, I thought I'd make you a place for you when you'd like to nap," he motions next to you, and you turn to see a couch that wasn't there the previous day.

"Make yourself comfortable. I thought it'd be a better alternative than you using my own bed.” The couch is huge but bigger than a normal one and has more than enough room for you. It looks just as comfortable as any expensive bed. "Let me know if it's not to your liking. I'll get it replaced." Shoto smiles and nods to you, turning and opening the door to his den, disappearing into it for the next two hours.

You don't see him much after that. You smell his scent around the castle but don't see him. Night by night goes by, and you sleep on the couch, not a care in the world.

One particular night, you're asleep and wake randomly. You try to get comfortable again, not sure how much time you have before you need to go again. As you try to get comfortable, a scent catches your nose. You lift your head and look, finding Shoto standing across the room, his den door wide open.

You sit up, thinking it's time to go by now. You push yourself up and grab your blankets in your arms, turning to Shoto with a smile and bowing your head. "Thank you for the couch. I never got to say that. It's lovely and comfortable."

Shoto doesn't answer, only standing there staring at you. After a few seconds, you realize how different the prince looks. His cloak shrugged off his shoulders, his shirt unbuttoned and showing the sweat rolling down his chest, and then you smell his scent. His intoxicating, strong, alpha scent, he's in rut.

A wave of realization runs through you, and you stiffen, your eyes darting to the door. "I- uh, I'm sorry, I can go." Your voice is quiet, and frankly, you're a little scared. You turn and head toward the door, slowly walking to leave, but before you can, suddenly Shoto is in front of you, and you are slightly startled at how fast he got across the room.

"Where are you going, omega?" he speaks lowly, his warm fingers running down your arm.

"Prince Shoto, I don't think it's proper for-"

You're cut off by him slamming his hand into the wall behind you, leaning his head down toward your scent glands, and breathing in your scent. "Who cares about being proper?" Shoto leans closer and starts kissing down your neck, sending shivers through your body.

"Sh-Shoto, I-" you're shaking with fear now. You can't come up with words, and the first thing you can think of is to put all your strength into pushing him away, which is what you do. The second he stumbles a few feet back, you run for the door, opening it but immediately stopping when you see all eyes on you.

Makkari runs up to you first. "Y/n! What's wrong? What happened? We can smell the prince's rut from out here. Are you ok? Usually, he stays in his den while on rut. You smell scared. Did he hurt you?"

"I- I'm ok," you stutter. You start hearing shuffling behind you and another wave of fear through you, and before you can say anything, your legs automatically start moving to the door, and soon, you're all the way down the hallway, heading to your own sleeping corridors.

After that, you stay away from the "nightly routine." Makkari told you the prince's ruts usually last a week, so you stayed away for a week. Sure, you miss the couch, but you're far too scared to go back while he's in rut.

People told you countless times alpha's in rut are dangerous, plus ones with status are known to force their way to many omegas. You figure that's why the king thinks what he thinks. King Enji thought his son got all omegas in his room every night to indulge in his instincts. While that's not true, no matter how nice an alpha can be, his rut changes him.

However, like clockwork, your heat starts on the last day of Shoto's rut. It's all normal. You stay in your room and try to keep your mind occupied. While it's the first heat at the castle, it's the first heat you can't control. Usually, you can force the feeling down, but now, it's intense, burning sensations through all your limbs that you can't ignore. You can only lay on the cold floor of your small room whimpering, tears in your eyes, feeling terrible.

If you didn't know any better, you'd think legends were true about alphas and omegas, how your inner alpha or omega can know their perfect match before you even know it, you could fall for someone before your own mind caught up, but that's ridiculous.

The legend would say the heat/rut would be intense and dreadful, but you refuse to believe it. It can't be true. Your heats were always bad since you've never had an alpha, nest, or something to be comfortable with, so it's no surprise your heat is gradually getting worst. For now, all you can do is dread the worst to come.

After it finally passes, it's back to work, with no time for anything else. You're on your way to the dining hall when you walk by King Enji's chambers. You can hear him arguing with the prince.

"But, father-"

"No! Shoto, I don't want to hear it. It needs to happen!" his voice rings out through the room.

"Father, it's wrong. That'd be forceful. It's not right."

"You cannot become king without an omega, Shoto! What will you do? Stay a prince for your whole life? Give up your throne to your brothers? Or how about your sister? Are you trying to embarrass me by doing that?"

"This has nothing to do with that! The only reason I'm becoming king is by your word. And I will not mark Mrs. Y/n. She's a servant and has no reason to see me that way. I will not force her into anything."

"That's the point, boy. She's a servant, and you would be offering her a better life and riches. Who is she to refuse?"

"The omegas shouldn't get treated as they are in the first place," Shoto mumbles, but still loud enough for you to hear.

"Watch your mouth, son. This' my kingdom. The servants should be happy with what they get. And you should be glad I'm not shutting down your little 'nightly operation.'" Shoto gets quiet. "Yeah, I know about that. You think I wouldn't? I know everything that goes on here."

Shoto's eyes fall to the floor, and he speaks through his teeth. "How?"

"Natsuo was in the hallway a few nights ago after your ordeal during your rut. He saw Ms. Y/n run out of your room, and when the rest of the omegas left, he asked what happened." Shoto sighs. "And by all means, Shoto, if anything like this happens again, your ordeal will be shut down. Natsuo wasn't specific about what goes on every night, but if anything like this happens again, it's over, no more, and that is final. Understood?"

Shoto nods reluctantly. "Understood."

"Good. Now get out of my sight."

Shoto storms from the room, fortunately, not entering through the area you're listening from, letting you continue on your way and think about what you just heard. King Enji wants the prince to claim you. Shoto was clear he didn't want to since he won't want to "force you," but you knew it was probably cause you were a servant, even if he didn't just out and say it.

Sure, he's handsome, kind, and obviously cares for people, but you knew you couldn't be with him. If you ever let the thought even cross your mind, you'd be giving yourself false hope and wanting something you knew you couldn't have. He said it anyway; you're only a servant, not some princess from a far land.

Over the next few days, things slowly change. You start going with the other omegas at night, but nothing you do steals away the tired feeling you keep. Day after day, you drag more and more, and soon, you can barely finish one task.

You're not the only one who feels the change. Throughout the day, Shoto gets more aggravated with the little things. Someone could think it was only his rut, but it'd passed, and yet he's still mad, yelling when his father pisses him off, and barely able to control himself anymore.

"Hey, Y/n?" Makkari comes from behind you, putting her hand on your shoulder.

"Hm?" You slowly blink at her turning your head. You'd been walking toward Shoto's room, but it's taking a while since you're moving so slowly.

"The prince went into another rut earlier today. I figured I let you know so if you'd rather stay away..."

There's no part of your brain thinking clearly. If you didn't feel the way you felt, there's a possibility you would've said no, but now, all you can do is keep moving. "No, no, I'm fine," you assure her, continuing on your way. Your blanket is wrapped around your shoulders, draped over your dress, and you make it to his room, immediately collapsing on the couch, your eyes closing, the alpha scent in the room calming your nerves.

Another thing your tired brain wasn't thinking of is that you know Shoto can smell you. You know he's in rut and more aggressive, not his usual good and genuinely caring self. You're asking for trouble coming back to the room while he's in rut, especially since Makkari explained how Shoto's den door is scent-blocking but only blocks scent from coming out, not in. That's why what happened the other night happened. And not only that, if you were thinking, you'd realize Shoto definitely isn't due for another rut, and again, maybe legends were true.

Something else the legend says is when you supposedly find the match, the alpha's rut will become more frequent. If you were in your right mind, you'd notice and start taking legend into consideration, but now, you're not. And neither is the prince. All he can think about is how much his alpha is growling at him to mate, breed, and claim.

And if he were in his own right might, he'd realize his alpha was growling to claim you.

Something wakes you while you're asleep. You force your eyes open, but a whimper is forced from your through when you feel a sensation on your scent gland, and when you open your eyes, you realize it's Shoto. He's licking down your neck like he's trying to drink your scent.

"Your scent is intoxicating. Ya know that, omega?" Shoto groans, sticking his face into your neck, inhaling your scent, and letting it drag his instincts.

You smell his scent around you, and the drag you'd felt evaporated. You slowly exhale but inhale his scent, dragging your hands up through his dual-colored hair as a burning sensation spreads down your body. You feel Shoto's lips attach to your neck, making a quiet moan escape your mouth. He's dragging you down into a heat.

Before anything goes further, the door flies open, revealing Makkari, Nami, Haki, and all the other omegas. "Hey! Get off her!" Even though Makkari tried to sound mad and threatening, the call came out as a worried stutter. It doesn't matter how many omegas are there; it's an alpha in rut, this' dangerous.

Shoto ignores them, keeping his face buried in your scent. While he's distracted tho, two of the omegas run and push Shoto off you, making him flop onto the couch, and before he can get his bearings, Nami and Makkari pull you from the room.

Makkari does her best to take care of you, but it's no use. Anyone who knows about legends would understand while you're this far down into the rabbit hole, only the alpha of your choice could help, whatever alpha you're matching with that's making this all happen.

After that, things only manage to go down further for you. You're totally incapable of doing any of your work, but fortunately, Shoto vouched for you to the king, and he said you have a few days to recover from your "sickness." Except, omega depression doesn't go away in a few days. But nobody knows you're starting to go into a depression, it was only a matter of time, and you would know, but your mind's focused on other things.

Once again, you're sleeping in Shoto's room, but you're getting watched. Shoto is watching you. After everything that has happened, he's intrigued by you, and if he ever were to try to court you, it's not like you'd say no. He knew that. He's the prince. Sure, it's a little cocky, but it's true.

Shoto's focus on you breaks when he realizes the other omegas are getting ready to leave, and he knows they'll come for you, so he acts first. He walks to the door separating the room you're in from the sitting area and looks for Makkari, but she walks up to him before his eyes fall on her. "Prince Shoto," she bows, "we'll be going soon. I'll collect Y/n." Makkari goes to move past him, but he stops her.

"There will be no need for that. I noticed Ms. Y/n was a bit under the weather. I don't mind her staying here an extra while for rest."

"Oh, um, ok." Makkari is surprised and reluctant to leave you with him. You're her friend, but he's the prince. There's nothing she, or any of them, can do.

Once they leave and you're alone, Shoto looks at you again. His heart jumps when you start stirring, and part of him is scared you'd insist on leaving when you wake up. Automatically, his body pushes out calming pheromones, making sure you fall back asleep. He watches your body relax, your eyes stilling again, and he smirks, walking to pull a chair over next to the couch -so again- he can watch you more.

It's hours later, and you finally start waking, and for the first time in a while, you feel refreshed, not dragged and tired like before. You sit up and look over, noticing the prince watching you from his seat.

"Oh- Prince Shoto, I'm so sorry. I must've overslept," you start to scramble and try to get up.

"No need, it's ok," Shoto speaks gently, eyes scanning you. You shift, unsure under his gaze, waiting for whatever he wants to say cause he obviously wanted to say something. "I had a question for you," he finally speaks up, and you nod. "Do you have a nest?"

Shoto knew many things about you and the other omegas. He knew the only item you had that's "yours" were the clothes the king gave you. He knew you spent most your nights on a cold floor, somewhere highly unfit for an omega, so depending on your answer, he'd know if this treatment would slowly kill you.

"I've never had one, no, never had time or nearly enough provisions for one," you tell him.

His eyes fall on the many blankets around you, way more than for only keeping you warm, you'd slowly, probably unconsciously, been making a nest with his things, and he knew that, but he wanted to hear you say it.

"I'm sorry, if I took too many of your things, you can have them back," you mumble, toying with your fingers.

"No, it's ok, truly. I think things should definitely change around here."

Shoto was serious when he said that, and by the next morning, he'd somehow convinced the king to change things for the omegas. He got them new and clean beds, not coats, to sleep on, plus access to blankets and pillows for nesting, and personally saw to that the omegas wouldn't get worked as hard as you are. You're servants, but you don't have to be treated so poorly. The castle should be happy about what you guys do.

"Y/n?" Shoto comes to you while you're cleaning the kitchen, and he can't help the smile that spreads on his face when he sees you in clean clothes, not looking tired and worn.

"Yes, Prince Shoto?" you turn to him.

"If I may?" he brings his hands from behind his back, showing them to you, a necklace, "I'd like to court you."

"Oh! Shoto! That's beautiful." You look at it and then back up at him. "M-me? Why?"

"I've come to take a liking to you, Ms. Y/n," he says, a shy smile on his face.

You smile and nod. "I accept."

Masterlist

“Your posture is lacking.” Your mother pushes your shoulders back as you balance a vase on your head in front of Todoroki.

As if your back could be any straighter, you roll your shoulders and stand taller.

“I apologize.” You hold your hands together on your lap as you walk across the hall of your ceremony holding.

“Prince Todoroki, I advise you to keep your eyes forward, you’re leading in this section.” Your mother stares at him with her piercing red eyes, watching his every move.

He suddenly trips over your dress and brings you with him, the vase falling as well.

You catch yourself along with the vase, sighing and putting it back on your head.

“May I suggest something, mother?” You keep your eyes forward, already knowing her brow is arching in response.

“Could he have something balanced as well? To help with posture, of course.” Only your eyes turn in her direction as Todoroki stands up, dusting himself off.

“And what would he balance?”

“A book, since he doesn’t seem to have experience with the stakes.” You glance at him, your body unmoving.

“Hm.” She opens and closes her hands at the nearby maid, getting her immediate attention.

“A book.” She says, taking off the vase from your head as she receives the book.

“Prince, have you been shown anything in the balance category?” She places the book on your head and snaps her fingers for another, placing it on your head when receiving it.

“No, Queen Luna.” He responds, staring at her motions.

“Princess (Y/n) has been training in this since she could walk, whether she has bad posture or not, balance is key. Elegance is of the essence.” She finally places the vase on the stack upon your head, surprising him when it doesn’t waver.

“Walk.” She commands. You follow, not a beat behind.

You begin walking slowly through the halls, picking up speed when she informs you to do so.

“Stop, come.” She directs, both of them watching as you stop smoothly, turn, and begin walking again in her direction.

“Notice how her footsteps do not sound heavy, as they are not pounding into the ground in order to stay steady. You lack in all of those categories.” She looks down on him and he swallows, unsure of what to do.

“Stop in front of him, give him one.” She crosses her arms and you pause in front of him, lifting one book and the vase with a spell, floating the other onto his head.

It falls immediately.

“Fix him.” She keeps her gaze on you every second you move.

You put your items down on a nearby table and pick up the fallen book, pushing his shoulders back and spine straight.

“Chin up, eyes forward.” You put the book back on his head and hesitantly push up his chest.

“Chest up, shoulders straight and back, feet slightly apart.” You kick his feet apart softly, only short of his shoulder width.

“Look at me.” You order, taking in a deep breath. He does as you say and you fix his hair, moving a couple strands away from his eyes.

“Perfect.” Your mother praises, placing a chilled hand on your exposed shoulder.

“You will continue to train on this, I will see to it tomorrow that your posture has improved without the need of a book, Prince Todoroki.” She stalks past him, disappearing from the grounds.

Once you no longer sense her presence, you slouch slightly, taking a deep breath.

“Why do you get to slouch?” He hisses, taking the book off his head.

“Because I’ve been trained to get back into an immediate position since I was 1 Year old. Put the book back on or else.” You warn, taking a seat in a nearby chair.

“Or else what?”

“She’ll hang you upside down until your spine forces itself straight forever.” You close your eyes and his eyes widen.

“She can’t do that.”

“She can and she has. I’m evidence A through Z.” You rub your shoulders and he slowly puts the book back on his head.

After a beat of silence, he speaks up again.

“Did she really do that?”

“Why do you think it only takes a soft nudge for me to become straighter, rather than having to fix me like I did to you.”

“I apologize for upsetting you yesterday.” He looks away from you and you conjure up the gift he gave you, floating it to him.

“I don’t like gifts.”

“It’s rude not to accept it. It was costly.” He frowns.

“I didn’t tell you to get me anything, nor to upset me. I would prefer if you didn’t use objects as a first means in order to get me to forgive you.” You place the basket down in front of him and he frowns.

He ignores you and begins to walk forward, the book slipping off him.

After a couple tries, he grunts in frustration.

“Are you going to do something or are you just going to sit on your ass all day?”

“No, I have a sleepover after this. I’m just waiting for the hour to pass.”

He growls loudly, throwing the book at you, watching it fall to your feet.

“You throw like a boy with no manners.” You cross your arms and he stomps in your direction, taking a hold of your arm and pulling you up.

“Get up, and help me.”

“Not with that attitude.” You shake him off and grab the book, pushing it onto his head roughly, making him growl again.

“Stop raising your arms to steady it, you’re throwing off both your posture and your balance.” You hold his arms down and push him to walk, the book falling backwards onto your chest. You push his head forward, putting it back.

“Stop trying to look at it, you’re throwing it off. Look at my phone and lift your body with your strides, both feet should be in contact with the ground at the same time as you take another step.” You take off the book and begin showing him, your left toes planting onto the ground at the same time your right heel moves.

“How is anyone supposed to get anywhere with that walk?” He crosses his arms and you smack his arms down, aggravating him.

“No arm crossing. And that walk is for slow elegance, not travel. You don’t walk with your weight on your heels when you travel, but keep most of it on the balls of your feet, as if you’re floating.”

He raises a brow.

“Let me guess, you’ve never seen plays where the ballerinas wear incredibly long dresses and look like they’re hovering backwards?”

“No.”

“Well, they basically scoot backwards to give off the illusion of floating. I wear heels often, so the rule for men might be different.” You float the book back onto his head, bringing out your wings and flying right behind him.

“What are you doing?”

“Keeping your posture.” You slide your hands under his arms and hold his shoulders back, keeping his spine straight and chest up.

“Isn’t this a bit unnessaccary?” He shivers at your close proximity, feeling your breath on his neck.

“Do you want to be hung upside down?”

“No.”

“Then walk.” You flutter close to him and press your chest against his back, causing him to stiffen.

“Walk, Todoroki.” You nudge at his knee and he keels over, bringing you with him.

You fall on his back and lean up.

“Why didn’t you walk?!” You watch as he remains still, the book hiding his face.

“Todoroki.” You push the book off him and his skin remains flushed, his eyes looking for an escape.

You scoff and rip your dress from out under him, flying above him.

“Practice is over.” You announce, taking your phone and flying out of the building.

He stays on the ground, groaning loudly as he covers his face out of pure embarrassment.

He gets up and calls his carriage, holding his coat in front of him along with the gift basket, not caring for the chilling wind.

When the carriage arrives, he begrudgingly gets in, taking a seat.

Rubbing a hand down his face, he sighs loudly, desperately trying to ignore the obvious issue on his person.

“Of all the times it had to happen..” He thinks, staring out his window that’s been tinted against the rest of the world.

When he arrives at his castle, he steps out, quietly making his way into his room without acknowledging any of his staff that try to check up on him.

“Shouto, how was your practice?” Enji asks, not actually caring but only to get a snippet on what happens on something he’s not allowed to control.

He ignores his father, walking past him and telling the maid to bring his dinner to his quarters.

“Shouto?” His mom stops him.

“How was practice?” She asks sweetly, petting back the few stray hairs that decided to rest on his face on the way inside.

“A mess.” He whispers, closing his eyes at her touch.

“Stop babying him. You’re the exact reason he can’t find a mate.” Enji snarls, reaching for his wife’s wrist until Shouto swats it away.

“The only reason I haven’t found my mate is because of you, and the lack of people with that ability to have one, because you decided to get married based on power. That, and you continuously decide on keeping me away from society in order to make me stronger. Well, look where that got us. I have to get married to a random ass girl because you thought you were always right.” He pushes past him again, heading to his room.

“Stronger my ass. You’re going to a shit retirement space.” 

He stares at the walls as he makes his way, scoffing at the many male leaders of his bloodline that had made the same mistakes as his father, neither of them learning their lesson as his kingdom slowly made its way into damnation.

The maids scurry away when he comes into his chambers, his food freshly made hidden under the lids of the fancy serving platter.

He raises his hand to remove the lid and pauses when he sees the ring you gifted him, glinting in the light of the chandelier.

He takes it off and holds it up in the light, being able to see multiple of the same thing in your favorite color.

“I have something for you, now that she’s gone.” You smile brightly at him, making him suspicious.

“I don’t like gifts.”

You frown.

“Well, you have no choice but to accept this one.” You try to lift the mood as you always do, but he’s proving it to be difficult nowadays.

You bring out a black box out of thin air, catching it once gravity takes its hold.

“Ah, one more thing.” You make another box come out of thin air, much larger than the previous one.

“You got me two things?” He becomes stiff, uncomfortable. He only brought you the ring, unannounced at that.

“You can open the small one first.” You hand it to him before he can reach for the bigger one, giving him big eyes of hope.

He raises a brow at your reaction, taking the small box out of your hands and opening it.

You bite your lip, waiting for a reaction.

He takes it out of the box and looks around it, handing it to you. You look at it, disappointed.

You didn’t expect this to be his reaction. Well, maybe.

“You’re supposed to put it on me.” He says, holding the ring between two fingers.

“Oh!” You toss the big box into the air and he jumps, reaching for it, but it stays in the air.

“Can..I see your hand?” You hold the ring and he exhales, giving you his left hand.

You carefully slip it onto his ring finger, taking a step back when you finish.

“So?”

“So?” He looks at his ring on your hand, full of hope.

“What do you think?”

He looks at the new ring on his finger, twisting his hand around to get a full view.

“It’s..nice. Thank you.” He says slowly.

You try your best to hide your disappointment once again and hand him the big box.

“Now this.”

He huffs, opening the box.

His eyes widen when he sees a red glass bowl, small snowflakes intricately carved and molded into the sides, the lid with a snowflake handle. Inside the bowl, cold soba.

“It’s, custom for the bride to make something with their magic for the groom.” You play with your fingers nervously and he looks up at you, surprised.

“You made this?”

“Yes, I did.. We’re supposed to learn the spell and try it for the first time after fully learning it, then give the piece. Some make necklaces or rings, but I found the bowl to be more convenient. You already have to have something you don’t want on your person, I didn’t want to make it worse.” You smile and his expression saddens, looking back down at the bowl.

“It’s beautiful, thank you. I’ll make good use of it.” He closes the box and you jump.

“Oh, that wasn’t everything.” You step closer and his eyes widen when you open the box again and pull out a pair of chopsticks that match the bowl, the mold of small snowflakes and wind curving through them.

“W-wow, you really put a lot of thought into them..” He takes them from your hands softly and inspects them.

“This is part of your customs?”

“Partially. For witches, you create a spell for your partner and cast it on the wedding day. For vampires, you hunt something and give your partner the best part, after fixing it of course.”

He stiffens immediately. You look up at him with big eyes, confused at his reaction.

“You don’t like it?”

“Not exactly. What did you make this out of? Is it...” He hesitates and your eyes widen.

“No! No no no! I don’t do that! I swear it’s not blood!”

“What is it then?” He holds it with a full grasp again, somewhat reassured.

“They’re rare crystals. Ones elder witches bless and vampires use for prosperity and protection.” You smile at him again but he doesn’t smile.

“Yet you gave it to me as a bowl and chopsticks..? Don’t you need it?”

“Well, I wanted you to have one so you have something to look forward to in this marriage.”

He stares at the blood red bowl on the table next to his food, the chopsticks neatly placed next to it.

“She really is crazy..” 

“I’ve never seen him so relaxed, in a less relaxed position..” Kirishima stands by the door, holding a tray of snacks.

Bakugou has his eyes rolled back but looks angry, laying in your lap with your fingers on his scalp, massaging him.

“He looks possessed.” Shinsou clips his hair away from his face, sliding on a watermelon and peach face mask.

“Can’t believe she managed to subdue him, too.” Shinsou smooths out his mask and Kirishima puts down the tray, placing his hands on his hips in an offended manner.

“And you didn’t think to wait until I was ready so we could put on the masks together? Bun brought headbands.” He lifts the different animal headbands and shakes them aggressively.

“You didn’t tell me you brought headbands!” Shinsou shoots up from his beanbag in disbelief, the betrayal.

“I did, I even singled out the cat one for you, too.” You frown at him and he almost slaps a hand to his forehead until he remembers he’s wearing a mask.

You slip on a yellow puppy headband on Bakugou, placing a mask on him softly.

“I can’t believe I let you do this to me.” He says, acting like he doesn’t like it, then proceeds to swat your hands away to smooth out the folds on his strawberry pomegranate mask.

“What mask are you picking, Kirishima?” You watch as he puts on a red devil horn headband, eyeing the small basketful of different face masks.

“Hm, I’m debating between Cherry Kiwi or Blueberry and Plum.” He taps his chin in deep thought and you hear your phone ring across the room next to Kirishima.

You frown and float your phone over, not expecting any messages for the night.

You jump off the bed and drop Katsuki’s head on the bed, startling him.

“Can I go somewhere private? My mother is saying she wants to talk to me.” You tiptoe hurriedly and Katsuki points outside the door.

You rush out of the room and find another empty room, locking yourself inside.

You call Dabi and chew at your lip, tapping your fingers on your cheek.

“What?” He answers.

“I’m not at the castle.”

Silence.

“Okay, so where are you?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Wha- why not? I don’t exactly have time to be ignored right now.”

“I’m not ignoring you. You’re supposed to text me ahead of time if you’re coming to the castle, and you came when I’m not there, and I can’t exactly leave.”

Silence again.

“Can we video call?” He asks in a weird high pitched tone.

You look at the phone momentarily to make sure you’re still talking to the right person.

“Hello?”

“Nevermind. When are you coming back?”

“In two days.”

“What?! I can’t wait two days!”

“Why not?” You question, becoming suspicious.

“I get bored in my apartment. You’re my only entertainment.”

“Goodnight Dabi, go home.” You hang up before he can respond and take a deep breath, walking out of the vacant room and back into Katsuki’s room.

“Everything go okay?” Kirishima asks, turning to you with a frog mask from a popular show chain they showed you. Seems he went with the Cherry Kiwi mask.

“Yeah, she was just reminding me about how Todoroki should be my priority right now since our ‘ceremony’ is coming up.”

“When is it?”

You shrug.

“Soon, I suppose. 2 years at the most.”

“What?!” Everyone stands up and you don’t make eye contact.

“I know. But I don’t want to talk about it, I came to have a good time and I will. Now hand me the mask basket.”

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