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Once upon a time, the prince met a boy.
It happened a long time ago, at midnight, in a place far far away from home: the prince left the palace with his mother and met a boy, and discovered that there was more to the world than the king's training lessons and the librarian magic books.
They reached the festival just before it started, where he found snacks he didn't even know could exist, lost himself in the country he grew up in but never had the chance to explore, saw so many people he needed a thousand more hands to count them all. He played in puddles and tasted the rain, and found a boy he could call a friend – his first friend.
He got back to the palace at dawn, regretfully saying goodbye to the boy and his mother before following his own through the forest, and grimaced at the scowl on his father's face when he punished them both for leaving the palace.
He told his mother that that night was something he didn't want to forget, no matter what; she gave him her diary as soon as they were alone and said she would help him write everyday.
Ah, it would be beautiful, wouldn't it? To tell how happy they were to write together every night, and how happy they would be in the future – without a kingdom to reign and a King to hate and bruises on top of their dried skin and burned flesh. What a fulfilled life they would live, with the boy and his family and many other friends they could share their happiness with.
It would be beautiful, indeed.
-
As he opens the diary for the first time, his mother says: «We will write one single page a night, starting tomorrow.» Todoroki Shouto's usually well behaved – especially with his mother – but he's so eager to write he persuades her to start that same day, with only a single sentence or two. The cover is shiny and clean, the pages pure white and odourless – nothing like the old books they keep in the library.
They start from the thing the prince wants to treasure the most. This becomes the only one he actually will remember, for a long time.
When he opens the diary, he reads in his mother calligraphy: “I found a boy who was crying today. I showed him my magic and warmed him up and then he smiled and played with me all night and we became friends!”. That's all his mother could help him write before the King took her away. There are unreadable scribbles then, the ink blurred and the paper stained by so many tears it almost fell apart when he touched it.
His small hands itch when he tries to write about the boy – and that day, and his mother, and anything that isn't pain, shouts and heavy footsteps stomping in the hallway – until he can't stand it anymore and just stops.
He starts to dream when he goes to sleep though, and it helps.
At 7, the prince cannot remember the boy's name anymore, but he can see his face in his dreams sometimes, if he's lucky enough.
At 9, when he tries to recall him he sees a blurred figure just about his height, with no hair, no colors, no clothes – nothing but a huge smile on his lips and some breadcrumbs on his cheeks.
Sometimes he dreams of a tiny voice though, and his smile, and his mother arms around his body when she finds them playing in a dark alley next to the town's river, and it's something he can't help but crave each night, especially as a child.
From then on, he barely remembers what happines felt like.
-
When Shouto wakes up, Midoriya's crying again. It's the second time it happens.
Shouto joins Midoriya's party as soon as he manages to escape his own home, in winter.
They're an... unique group. Uraraka used her magic to help people and bring money home, before they found out she was a witch and tried to execute her. Iida was the one who saved her, too disgusted by the Eight-precepts Alliance's bigotry to keep being a knight. Asui – or Tsuyu-chan – simply wanted a world in which she and her family could be themselves, without being killed for their frog-like appearance. It had seemed a good choice for them to join Midoriya, who was a simple villager that wanted to save King All Might and bring magic freedom in the world again (and it's strange, really, because his father wanted the same thing, but when he was the one talking it didn't feel as right).
As for Shouto – he just wants to have some peace, and look for his mother in the meanwhile.
They travel a lot from then on, months and months, maybe even a year – and each new day Shouto finds many new things about them – many new things about Midoriya (and falls in love with each one of them).
For example, Midoriya Izuku loves puns, but while Uraraka bursts into fits of laughing and Iida kind of freezes for a few moments before giving you The Look, Midoriya puts his lips in a shaky, tight line and pretends to be angry even though he actually thought it was funny. He prefers red over brown, the moon over the sun, the piece of meat they somehow manage to burn when cooking together over the food Momo's servants bring them when she offers them a place to stay after saving her kingdom. He likes pork and is disgusted by mushrooms, and it's cute how he mumbles a lot and puts his bottom lip between his fingers when he's thinking really hard.
He sheds a lot of tears, too. They wet his eyes when Tsuyu-chan says something funny or when Uraraka starts to tickle him, sometimes he has to bit his bottom lip to keep them from overflowing when a mother thanks them for saving his child, or when someone shares something sad with him – when Shouto himself tells him about his childhood. He covers in whichever way the half-sobs that make him shake and has a smile on his lips when he says “sorry, i'm okay, really!”
He just... doesn't cry often – not for himself at least, not in front of people.
When Shouto finds him the first time (during their second or third month of traveling together), he doesn't know what to do, so he awkwardly pats his shoulder and wait until Midoriya starts talking about his mother and how much she's good and nice and how much he missed her. «I know it's stupid,» he says wiping his tears «it's just that... we've been traveling for a while and we finally got to Creacity and there are so many kids I...»
(When Shouto tells him it's not stupid, he can't help but think of his own mother, and wonder where she is, how she's doing, how can he save her, how can he even just meet her, how-)
But this time – this time is different. Maybe it's because he's still amazed by the Dragon's nests, or because they've known each other for almost an year and got a lot closer (to the point he himself started to hope his feelings weren't unrequitted) – or maybe it's just because it's peaceful here, now that Bakugou and that other red-haired kid have gone to sleep. It feels right, to sit next to him and offer him a shoulder to cry on.
It feels familiar, comfortable – as if they've known each other for a lifetime, as if they were born to stay so close.
When Midoriya hides his face on the crook of his neck and sniffles, Shouto reaches for his hair and starts to play with them. «It's okay» he says, counting the freckles in the glimpse of skin underneath his hair, «I'm here if you want to talk about it.»
Midoriya laughs, and he feels his smile on his skin.
«I just don't know how to feel, I guess.» he murmurs, and the ghost of his breath makes Shouto shiver. «I've played with Kacchan through all my childhood, you know? He was really good at magic, and I really wasn't, but sometimes he showed me some tricks I could try on my own, before he started hating me. He wanted to show the world his magic and his mother had to shut him up more than once so he wouldn't be at risk with the Alliance's guards, until she couldn't.» He sniffles once, twice. «We all thought he was dead.»
«But he managed to escape and first thing he does when he meets you again is get angry and punch you.» Midoriya laughs at that. «I would be upset, too.»
«It seems funnier if you say it like that though.» Midoriya grins against his neck, and then he gets up a little so that their eyes can meet.
«Good» Shouto says, and uses his magic to warm his body up a little more when a breeze pass through «Smiles suit you a lot.»
«Stupid» Midoriya shoves him gently, laughing a little more, and then after a little while: «I don't know, by the way. I'm relieved he's alive, and I'm happy I met him again, but also sad he still hates me for whatever. And angry, because we were all so sad – his parents were devasted – and he didn't even try to let us know that he was alright. I mean I know it would have been difficult, and I don't know, maybe he tried but whoever saved him wouldn't let him, but...» He sighs, and moves again until he's basically on Shouto's lap. Shouto warms up a little more. «It's confusing. I'm confused... I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't cry so much...»
Shouto puts his hands on the boy's cheeks and wipes his tears away. «You don't have to apologize. Even heroes can cry, you know?»
They spend some time in silence after this – listening to their breathings, their heartbeats, the gurgling of a far away river. Midoriya puts his head on Shouto's shoulder, again.
«Todoroki-kun» he calls after a while, gently «you're as warm as that time. I like this.» Shouto can feel him smile again, and a pair of arms hugging him tightly. He's confused for a moment, before his mind goes back to the past – to a dark alley in a small town he hasn't seen for a while. There's a festival in the square, and he's lost, and there's a boy crying and trembling in his arms but he doesn't know why – doesn't remember why. He's warming him up and lending him his shoulder, because he knows how much it hurts to cry all alone, during those nights that don't seem to end.
It's his time to laugh then, and it feels like he hasn't done it for years – he actually hasn't for a long time. «And I like you – have for a long while now.» he says feeling Midoriya shiver, and hides his smile in Midoriya's hair, as he can finally recall the little boy in his dreams' appearence. «I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner. That the boy I've been dreaming for so long and the boy I like were the same person.»
«I can't believe it took so much time to meet again.» the other grins. «And I like you, too.»
They look at each other eyes, their foreheads glued together, their lips almost touching.
«I forgot the breadcrumbs on your cheeks were actually freckles.» Shouto breaths as he counts them again, for the umpteenth time.
«I'm trying to understand how I could forget your hair, I never wrote anything about them in my journal?» Midoriya murmurs, gently – and then adds, «I mean, I kind of had a lot of hints – it's not like there a lot of people that can use fire and ice magic, but...» Shouto shuts him up with another, brief laugh.
Midoriya's sigh seems like a laugh when he offers his pinkie: «Todoroki-kun, I... I've been thinking for a while...» he starts, hesitant. «When all this is over, and everything is better can I... Can I-» he gulps, and lower is gaze to look at his lap.
«Can you?» Shouto lets their nose touch briefly, as if to encourage him.
«I... I want to look for your mother. With you.» Midoriya blurts out, determined, and Shouto falls for him all over again. He links their pinkies then and they sparkle lightly before they interwine their fingers.
«I think,» he says before their lips touch. «I think I'd like that. I want to stay with you, for as long as you will allow me to.»
Midoriya's freckles stand out even more, when his cheeks burn red.
«Forever it is, then.»
-
Sometimes Todoroki Shouto dreams of a tiny voice and a smile so warm it puts his own flames to shame.
It happened a long time ago, sometime between the last time he's hugged his mother and his vow to never use his flames ever again – but it happened.
And that's what keeps hope in his heart, until they can share their first kiss under a sea of stars.