Chapter Text
The castle of Dynamight had never looked as busy with life or as adorned with red, white and gold motifs as he did on one of the most important mornings of the history of the valley and the Five Kingdoms.
Personally, Shoto thought everyone was making a bigger deal out of it all than it really was.
Kirishima and Bakugou had been engaged for over three years, their union wasn’t exactly new or exciting anymore, not worth that much noise anyway. Both of them acted as if they were already married. And they probably would be if Bakugou hadn’t insisted on doing things ‘’properly’’ the second time around. For a guy with an allergic reaction to ancient traditions, he made sure to study to perfection all there had to be known about the lengthy courtship rituals for dragons.
Kirishima had assured him that he didn’t care for a courtship, he would be happy to marry him regardless, but it didn’t change a thing. Once Bakugou had made up his mind about it all, there wasn’t a single person on earth capable of changing that. He was stubborn like that.
So, they made all of them wait for three years until they were ready to make it official that day.
Shoto was happy for them.
They complemented each other nicely and they loved each other to the verge of madness. Both of them were the type that would die for the other without a single doubt. They deserved each other.
He was happy for them.
He had had years to come to terms with his own bittersweet ending so it wouldn’t interfere with the happiness he felt for his friends and he had been almost successful in his endeavour. He still felt that pang of jealousy from time to time, wishing for the simple sweetness of the ever after they got to have.
Now it was one of those times.
Shoto knew it was selfish of him but he would let it slide. He didn’t have many opportunities where he could let himself be selfish and he wanted to get it all out in one go.
He wanted to get it out of his system before it all started. He wanted his smile to be genuine when Bakugou and Kirishima swore eternal love and companionship to each other.
‘What are you doing here so early? The wedding starts in an hour.’ Momo looked at him with a puzzled expression as she stood next to him, in between the multitude of benches.
‘I wanted to see it before it all got crowded and loud.’ Shoto replied simply as he turned to look at the altar once more.
Momo sighed and sat down next to him, their shoulders almost touching. ‘It’s going to be a beautiful wedding.’
Shoto hummed in agreement, not bothering with a verbal answer. Momo knew him well enough to understand him anyway.
‘Do you think yours will be as pretty?’
Shoto shrugged his shoulders, brushing against Momo’s. ‘I don’t think I will ever marry. Not like them, at least.’
Momo knocked their shoulders together, playfully. ‘You don’t know that yet.’
‘I do, and you too.’
He couldn’t marry the only person he wanted to so the whole affair could only bring him headaches and displeasure when applied to him. He could never have what Iida and Uraraka had or what Kirishima and Bakugou were about to have so he could only enjoy the ceremony through their happiness.
‘There isn’t just one person for you, Shoto. People don’t just get one great love in their life.’ Momo leaned against him. ‘You still have time to find your next one and marry them.’
‘I find that highly unlikely. He was it for me, I know it.’ Shoto sighed, wishing they could stop talking about it.
Shoto knew that Midoriya Izuku was and always would be the love of his life, regardless of not being able to marry him due to both of their royal positions. Neither of them could or would abandon their respective kingdom for the other and, ultimately, they both had known it since the beginning, they had just ignored it until they couldn’t anymore.
It still hurt to think about it, but Shoto was getting used to the ache.
Momo leaned her head against his shoulder, like she had done many times before but never in such an open and public space. ‘If you don’t find anyone else to love, you know I will marry you without a doubt.’
Shoto huffed a weak laugh. ‘I don’t think I could bear being the reason for the heartbreak of all the female population of the Five Kingdoms.’
Momo giggled, slightly embarrassed. ‘You exaggerate.’
‘Tell that to all the daily courting propositions you’ve been receiving since we were sixteen.’
‘I feel bad for each and every one of them.’ Momo sighed with resignation. ‘I could never even think of marrying any of them. My job, your protection, would always be my first priority and I wouldn’t dream of marrying someone and not giving them all the attention and devotion they deserve. It wouldn’t be honourable or right.’
‘I see we both seem destined to remain alone.’ Shoto rested his head on top of Momo’s.
‘That’s why I wouldn’t mind marrying you, it would be the only way it would work for me.’ She hummed thoughtfully. ‘There are worse fates than marrying your best friend.’
‘Shouldn’t that be the norm? The standard?’
‘Not everyone is that lucky.’ Momo looked at the altar with the same longing as Shoto. ‘I’m glad it is the case for our friends today.’
Shoto nodded slightly in agreement. They stayed like that for some time, just enjoying each other’s company and the view of a future that was out of reach for both of them. It was rather comforting knowing he wasn’t alone through it all.
‘Excuse me, Prince Todoroki?’
Shoto looked up to find playfull black eyes, shaggy black hair and a crooked smile.
‘Yes?’
‘His annoying Majesty, Prince Bakugou, is asking for your assistance.’ he said with a knowing glint in his dark eyes.
‘My assistance?’
‘Yeah, that’s code for he’s freaking out and he needs to yell at someone and you’re the one chosen for the task, your Majesty.’ The man found the situation hilarious with how wide he was smiling.
Shoto nodded, throwing a bewildered look to Momo, who answered with an amused grin, before standing up and starting to follow the man towards Bakugou’s personal chambers. Shoto looked at the man walking beside him. He walked with the carefree air of someone who had had to deal with Bakugou Katsuki for way too long to be impressed by any of his tantrums. Shoto could admire that.
‘Do you know why he is nervous?’ Shoto asked him.
‘It’s so stupid, I swear to All Might.’ the man said fondly. ‘The gremlin is afraid Kirishima will change his mind or something impossible like that.’
‘Hasn’t he seen the way Kirishima looks at him?’
‘Exactly! That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time! The man couldn’t be more smitten even if he tried.’ The man shook his head vehemently. ‘I think this is all because they haven’t shared a bed in a week.’
‘You think this is all because he hasn’t laid with Kirishima?’ Shoto asked, bewildered.
‘What?! No!’ The man started laughing, covering his mouth with his hand. ‘I meant that he doesn’t sleep much when it’s not with Kirishima, that he must be tired and that’s why he has been bitchy.’ Tears of laughter appeared in his eyes. ‘Prince Todoroki! I really wasn’t expecting this of you! Your mind is in the gutter.’
Shoto shrugged his shoulders, a barely there amused smile on his lips.
Shoto didn’t have to guess which door led to Bakugou’s room, they started to hear his screams when they entered the right corridor. Shoto couldn’t mask the distaste in his face and that seemed to make the man laugh again.
‘Yeah, good luck with that.’
‘Thanks…’ He let the word stretch as he didn’t know the name of the man.
‘Sero Hanta, personal guard of our beloved royal gremlin.’
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sero Hanta. Thanks for your help.’
His smile turned tight-lipped and Shoto thought he had made a mistake of some kind.
‘This is not the first time we meet each other, my Prince.’ Shoto looked at him up and down, trying to remember him, but it was useless.
‘I’m sorry, it was my mistake.’ He excused himself, lowering his head slightly. ‘I promise I won’t forget you from now on.’
Sero arched an eyebrow and looked at him in a funny way. ‘I don’t think I deserve that honour, my Prince.’
Shoto tilted his head up to look at him. He was already some centimetres taller than him but now the difference seemed more prominent. Shoto looked at him through his fair eyelashes and wondered how he could have forgotten someone with such an intense black gaze.
It was rather breathtaking.
An explosion on the other side of the door woke them from their trance. Shoto looked at Sero apologetically and put a hand against the wooden door. He pushed it and entered the room.
He still felt a bit winded out.
Huh, he hadn’t felt like that in some time.
‘What the fuck are you doing here, half and half?’
Bakugou was pacing around the room, fuming and cursing up a storm. He was wearing what Shoto supposed were traditional Dynamight robes. He wore greenish-blueish trousers with white furs and high beige boots. Over his chest he had a top with long sleeves the same colour of the trousers and multitudes of ancient necklaces that hung loose around his neck. Finally, over his shoulders, a long blood red cape rested.
He would have looked regal if you ignored his ruined makeup.
Oh. That’s really why he had been called.
‘I’m the one that called for him, babes.’ Utsushimi said, seated on a pretty velvet duvet on a corner. ‘I needed some reinforcements if we want you to be dashing in time.’
Bakugou glared daggers at her. ‘Fuck, this whole shitshow is a disaster.’
‘Did you just called your wedding a shitshow?’ Inasa shouted from the floor, playing with some small knives distractedly.
Bakugou turned his enraged gaze towards him. ‘Yes, I fucking did. I call it what it is.’
Utsushimi looked at Inasa and signalled for him to stop talking. He only managed to put Bakugou on edge every time and, while normally it was quite funny, now it wasn’t the time for it. Next, she hummed as she got up and went to the dresser, where all the makeup had been haphazardly thrown on. ‘You tell ‘em, babes.’
‘I’m fucking serious.’ He growled. ‘I thought nothing could be worse than the first time around. What fucking beats it being crashed by the shitty League of Morons?’
‘Not enough food for the afterparty?’ Shoto supplied, trying to keep his attention on him while Utsushimi sneaked up on him with colourful brushes.
‘I’m going to strangle you.’ He said as Utsushimi took his chin and started to wipe out the remnants of the failed first look.
‘What is wrong, then?’ Shoto asked with all the calmness he could muster.
‘Everything!’ Bakugou shouted as Utsushimi struggled to clean his face completely. ‘Everyone arrives whenever the fuck they want and fucking Deku is in charge of entertaining them meanwhile and he’s probably boring them all to death and the fucking dragon officiator is nowhere to be fucking found so Kirishima is going all around looking for him and I’m fucking stuck here, not allowed to fucking help, because his stupid traditions say that it’s bad lucks to see each other before the wedding and he doesn’t want to risk it!’
Shoto looked at him with wide eyes.
‘That is… a lot.’
‘Fucking tell me about it.’
‘But, it’s nice to see how badly you want everything to go perfectly for Kirishima’s sake.’ Shoto sported his deadly knowing barely there smirk. ‘After all, he’s a huge romantic and has been planning this day for years. It’s natural that you want it to go without a hitch for him.’
‘Oh, babes, that is sooooooo cute!’ Utsushimi had Bakugou pinned down and was doing his red eyeliner with great mastery while he snarled like a rabid dog.
‘Shut the fuck up you two! You’re getting on my last nerve!’
Shoto huffed, rolling his eyes. ‘The thing is, Bakugou, that Kirishima is going to love this day regardless of how it goes because he loves you and wants to marry you.’
Bakugou looked at him, at equal parts disgusted and surprised. It gave Utsushimi enough time to finish the whole look. She winked at him in triumph.
He had finished his mission with total success so there was no need to keep being nice.
‘Even if I don’t really understand it myself. He could do so much better than you.’
‘Oh, fuck off, Candy Cane.’ Bakugou scoffed but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.
Shoto smiled back. They had come a long way.
Luckily, before Shoto had to think of a way to keep Bakugou calm until all the fires were put out, someone knocked on the door.
‘We found Toyomitsu! He had gotten stuck in one of the hallways on his way to the ceremony and it has taken us some time to set him free but we got it!’ Kirishima’s cheerful voice came from the other side. ‘Everything is back on track and ready!’
‘Fucking finally!’
Kirishima chuckled charmingly. ‘Glad to know I’m not the only one that’s eager here. I’m going to run to get your mother here so she can take you to the altar. See you soon, Blasty, love you.’
Bakugou grumbled, cheeks and ears baby pink, and Kirishima’s sixth Bakugou sense must have caught that because Shoto heard him run away clearly.
‘C’mon, babes, our job here is done.’ Utsushimi took Inasa and Shoto, one on each arm, and started to push them out of the room. ‘Break a leg, darling.’
Before Bakugou could reply angrily, they had already closed the door behind themselves. Shoto let himself be guided by Utsushimi to the room where it all would happen.
Unlike before he had been taken away by Sero, the room was starting to fill up with guests. Shoto could see Kirishima’s lot of sisters and Bakugou’s father talking with the huge orange dragon that would be in charge of the ceremony. Now that he was looking at his sheer size, Shoto could understand how he had been able to get stuck in a corridor. He could also see Uraraka and Iida looking around for their places, stopping every time someone approached them to chat a couple of minutes. He could also see Izuku talking with All Might on the first row of seats.
Shoto smiled softly. It had been some time since he had last seen Izuku, maybe around six months ago. He looked just like always, still beautiful and still smiling. Shoto was glad he was still smiling so authentically. It was one of the things that had made him fall in love with him in the first place and even if they didn’t belong to each other anymore, he still liked to enjoy the sight of that lovely smile from time to time.
Shoto was glad he was still happy.
‘Are you lost?’
Shoto looked to find Sero in front of him again. This time around, however, he was surrounded by a loud and cheerful group of people. Shoto noticed then that in the middle of all his reminiscence, Utsushimi and Inasa had left him, possibly to sit down.
‘Do you need any help finding your seat?’ Sero asked again, this time following his gaze towards Izuku with an arched eyebrow.
At that moment, Shoto missed Utsushimi’s clutching arm around him. At least, he would have had something to steady him.
‘I’m waiting for Momo, I’m sure they have seated us together.’ Shoto managed to respond, feeling absolutely ridiculous.
‘Momo? Yaoyorozu Momo?’ asked one of the girls of Sero’s party as Shoto nodded. She was rather short, with badly chopped dark hair and a serene expression. ‘I think she’s supposed to sit next to me.’
‘Then, you won’t be too far away.’ Sero smiled at him. ‘You can come with us.’
Shoto just nodded again and followed them. Just like the girl had said, Momo had been seated beside her. Shoto was on Momo’s other side and Sero was at his right.
‘They really want to make sure you’re alright, surrounding you with royal guards.’ Sero commented thoughtfully.
‘Maybe but I also think this is Kirishima’s doing. He’s always saying I need to meet his friends. He’s always talking about all of you.’
‘All lies, I’m sure.’
‘Not as far as I can see.’
‘You can say the most strange things with such seriousness.’ Sero commented with an amused tilt of his lips.
‘I’m a serious person in general.’
‘I don’t believe that for a single second.’ Sero’s amused smile grew.
Shoto was about to answer, enjoying this back and forth they were doing, when a feminine voice he knew far too well interrupted them.
‘Shoto! I swear to the stars! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I thought you were still wandering around and you would miss the ceremony.’
‘Well, I was not. I’ve been sitting here for a while now.’ He signalled at Sero to emphasise his point.
Momo sighed, relieved. ‘You’re going to be the death of me one of these days.’
‘Most probably but, have you already met miss…?’ Shoto looked at the short girl for her name.
‘Jirou. Jirou Kyouka, madam.’
Momo looked at her in a way that Shoto was way too familiar with. ‘Yaoyorozu Momo at your service, miss.’
This way she would leave him be.
‘Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jirou blush so brightly. I think she might pass out at this rate.’ Sero chuckled in a low voice, to avoid being heard.
‘That's Momo for you. It’s been proven that her charms are just about infallible at this point.’
‘But not on you?’ Sero asked curiously.
Shoto sighed, it was not the first time someone had asked about his relationship with Momo. ‘She’s my most precious and ancient friend. I love her madly but in the platonic sense. Our tastes when it comes to the romantic sense don’t align precisely.’ Again, to emphasise his point, he signalled the blatant flirting that was going on between the two girls.
Sero hummed and nodded. ‘I didn’t mean to be nosy but I heard you two talking about marriage when I went to get you so I only assumed.’
‘I guess it’s a natural conclusion even if it was erroneous.’
‘Good to know, then.’
‘Is it?’ Shoto asked with his barely there smirk.
‘See? I knew you weren’t really a serious person. You’re a true menace, my Prince.’
Shoto liked how Sero said ‘’my prince’’. He wanted to hear him say it more.
Before he could say anything more, though, the ceremony started, bringing Shoto back to the present situation.
Bakugou was accompanied by his mother down the aisle, both of them with serene expressions plastered on their faces. Shoto didn’t think he had ever seen them together without bickering uselessly with each other. It was strange to see Queen Mitsuki so relaxed and content.
She left her son in front of the enormous orange dragon not before bringing her forehead to both his shoulders. He grunted and bowed his head to her.
Shoto observed with amusement how Bakugou wasn’t wearing his beige boots anymore, he was going barefoot. He must be glad it was summertime.
Shoto noticed the exact moment Kirishima appeared at the end of the aisle just by looking at Bakugou’s face.
Contrary to popular belief, Bakugou knew emotions apart from rage and outrage. He was one of those people that felt things more deeply and intensely than others. His feelings could almost consume him sometimes. However, Bakugou was also the type of person that would die from heartbreak rather than show it.
That was until Kirishima. When it came to him, you could see all the devotion on his face plain as day. He wasn’t afraid of the world knowing he loved him with all his being and then some more.
Just like right now. Bakugou was looking at Kirishima walk confidently down the aisle as if he hadn’t seen anything as breathtaking before.
Kirishima’s cheeks were brightly red with glee matching his big smile as he stood in front of Bakugou, one of his hands taking one of his.
‘Hi, gorgeous.’
‘That’s your fucking opening line?’
Kirishima chuckled prettily and looked at Bakugou with stars in his eyes. ‘Well, you are gorgeous, darling. I can’t wait to marry you.’
‘You’re fucking lucky then.’ Bakugou grumbled as he turned to the orange dragon, cheeks and ears pink. ‘Can we get this moving now or what?’
The dragon laughed with his whole belly and officially started the ceremony.
Shoto watched how both of them were looking at each other through the whole affair, even when they weren’t supposed to. He saw them talk with words. He saw them love each other with only their eyes.
That was the kind of love that Shoto wanted, the kind of love that he had had and might have in the future again.
The kind of love that mattered.
Shoto was really happy for them.