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They should have looked over their spaceship regularly, but in all honesty, the festivities knocked everyone dead on their feet the moment they arrived on the ship.
It’d been a hectic array of performances and they were more packed than expected as they might have stumbled upon some local fairs on that planet, so the stacks of coins and rewards came with equal amounts of effort. And despite what Katsuki claimed, it was good to let go and party once in a while, drinking and eating their asses off in local cuisines.
The only thing they did at the end of the very last performance, each wobbling with their rewards and their bellies filled with food was lock the ship to not get robbed again. And Katsuki will be the first to protest loudly that it wasn’t a robbery when the bastards got their asses kicked and bitten and their faces exploded by yours truly.
After waking up, more rested and less heavy on their limbs, they all made their usual routines. Katsuki made the food, Sero and Kaminari check the fuels and engines, Mina hungrily counted their rewards, stacking them and arranging their financial needs and reserves and Kirishima made sure to sweet talk his way into having a map and gathering information about their next possible trip to another rich planet.
With everything set and a destination really far from here, they get leaving fairly quickly.
So, it was a long line of neglections that got them into the mess of having an intruder o far in their journey.
Certainly not the first time, but it’s always annoying. Even Katsuki, that is pretty eager to get into a fight with the rude bastards that entered his home under his nose, is sluggish and sporting a splitting headache from the blissful intoxication they made him drink after the show.
Kirishima’s dragonian blood though makes him process and dissolve those substances a lot faster than every one of them. Besides, he’s always their first line of defense with this rough scaly skin in both quadrupedal and bipedal from.
“Hey guys,” Kirishima calls slowly, “You might wanna see this.” His tone is inquisitive, hesitant but on guard.
The rest of them shoot up immediately, following his voice towards their storage unit, each ready to get into a fight.
What finds them is making Katsuki wish it was someone he could beat the shit out of freely.
Kirishima is helping up someone on their feet and his ease lessens the tension on their shoulders a little. That someone doesn’t look like he wants to fight them but he’s not as intimidated as he should be in his situation, standing tall but not imposing. Instead, he looks nervous and, Katsuki bets his entire fortune on that, fucking sheepish.
And to fuck everything up even more, he is really fucking hot and that pisses him off.
“Who the fuck are you?” Katsuki asks in the universal language.
The hot guy looks at Kirishima with a mocking raised eyebrow in obvious question and his friend the traitor of the trillion galaxies laughs, “Don’t worry, he’s like that all the time.”
Katsuki will put extra waterbeat into his food for that. We’ll see who’s laughing when his fire turns gassy.
He’s picturing that exact moment when the other looks at him for the first time and his mind halts. Well fuck him if Katsuki doesn’t have a weird thing for strange colored eyes. And two in the same person is making him want to punch the bastard even more now. To ruin his stupid attractive face.
“My apologies for intruding into your ship.” He replies in kind fluently. At least they won’t have a language barrier, “My name’s Todoroki Shouto. I seek refuge and your ship appeared like a good opportunity.” He runs a hand on his already ruffled two coloured hair and Katsuki refuses to focus on the whole picture in front of him.
Before he can ask if they look like childcare, Mina stops him by pulling him back and getting on that Todoroki’s face, studying him too closely for anyone’s comfort.
“What are you doing Mina?” Sero says, still reluctant despite Kirishima’s words.
Katsuki is with him; no one can be really trusted until they are turned inside out and found innocent.
“You remind me of someone.” Mina says suddenly, and with the visible tense up on Todoroki’s shoulders, everyone is leering back on him with caution.
He opens his mouth to speak but he doesn’t get the chance as Mina continues, “Oh!” she grins in absolute glee, like Kirishima does but with less sharp teeth, “You’re the prince of the planet we just left.”
Katsuki has his laser gun already out and aiming at the new guy. Kirishima tries to stop him but he growls in menace.
“No way!” Kaminari exclaims, either is shock or disbelief, “How do you know? We never saw any royalty there!”
“The townsfolk described him very well!” she chirps, “He’s very popular because of how handsome he is and how he’s the heir of the throne despite being the youngest! People are fawning over him! Isn’t that right, your highness?” she nudges him in the ribs with her elbow.
Todoroki winces, not from the pain, he’s sure about that, but at the words that make his situation even shittier.
Not as much as the one they are already in.
Katsuki is not a killer, contrary to the amount of fights he, and all of them, get in. He’s just a nomadic space actor that makes a living off of his passion of making and acting plays with his most trusted companions. He doesn’t fucking need a spoiled space prince that has a rebellious stage on his fucking ship, his fucking home.
“All of you shut the fuck up!” he shouts, and everyone does. He approaches the prince and in his rage he forgets how pretty he is and swings his fist with aim right at his nose.
But the other doesn’t just sit and take it; he dodges the attack with ease and raises his hand to give his own, but decides otherwise, opting to stand by Kirishima.
Before he can try a second time, Sero is taking charge and restrains him with his power of otherwise helpful and right now really fucking annoying tape. He’s also learned how to restrain Katsuki most effectively.
“Let me fucking go!” he yells. “Let me throw his royal ass out!”
“Calm down blasty!” Kirishima tries, “We can’t just do that.”
“You can’t but I sure as fuck can! Otherwise his royal highness’ army is going to kill us for kidnapping him or some shit.”
“I’m right here. And killing me and throwing me into space will have the same results.” The person in question says, daring to be annoyed.
Katsuki snarls back at him, showing teeth and gums, “Not if l left no trace.”
“Guys just calm down, okay?” Kaminari comes and pats him in the back softly, undeterred at the rumble in Katsuki’s chest, “Let’s hear him out before we decide, okay?”
He knows by that that the talks will happen and whether or not Katsuki wants to just listen all tied up in a chair with them it’s up to him.
**
Of course, they take him in.
They agreed that the prince is of no threat and that no one saw him sneaking out of the palace and inside their ship. Katsuki is still suspicious but the others have taken a liking to him; with his looks and voice and sob story, he has to admit, it’d make one hit of a script. He’s sure if Mina doesn’t get to writing it for their next play, she definitely has it in her mind as a fantasy.
Because to quote Kirishima’s tears that make the scales under his eyes shine even more it’s “Super brave and manly to leave everything behind for that soulmate looking for you, Bakugou!”. It makes him scoff; the prince being a helpless romantic for that being that makes your heart or chest or whatever part of biology corresponds shine whenever they kiss? He’s already practicing his promiscuous way with his crew, asking them to kiss like it’s no big deal and looking so fucking determined each time that his chest doesn’t give that glow he so wants.
When he looks at Katsuki with those same gorgeous puppy eyes in a shy unspoken question, he cracks his knuckles with his most hostile snarl.
“Are you afraid of a little kiss?” the other asks with mirth.
“Are you afraid of a little punch on your golden face?” he retorts with a wave of his fist for emphasis.
There will be a long way until the galaxy of their planet of destination and he will spend that time trying to figure out how to use the prince. He won’t accept any freeloaders in his ship.
**
Todoroki is an asshole as he turns out. Every little movement of his getting under Katsuki’s skin. Behind that princely exterior of his, there is a rebel that Katsuki might have hung out with if it was literally any other person. Outside of his expensive robes, he still has the posture and the demeanor with all that objective handsomeness of his. Katsuki is enjoying seeing him away from the conforts of his home, as a petty payback from him and they start slowly including him in their basic crew life.
Firstly, as he expected, the prince is absolute garbage at simple chores.
In the beginning, he’s horrible but with patience only the others have, they ease him on how to clean after himself and wash his own clothing.
Nothing similar can be said for his cooking skills. He stays as bad as he was and Katsuki admits being disappointed that he isn’t some kind of prodigy so that he can take a break from being the only great cook in here. But no, the prince like the others settle on downing his meals like they are going to some kind of war.
Secondly, he sucks at acting. Not as much as cooking, but it’s a close second.
His ability to memorize the scripts fast and word by word, learned by his years of education and tutors of several subjects as he said, is astounding but it doesn’t make him feel the words and transform them into the appropriate balanced feeling that makes the audiences feel and be engaged. Not too real so that it’s a problem for the cast but not too fake for the audience to disapprove. Todoroki is one or the other, too hot or too cold. It’s a pity, with his looks and all.
However, he finds things the other can be useful for.
His power, for one, of handling both fire and ice covers a wide range from cooling engines on their ship, to making stunning visuals effects for their play, to heating food without wasting too much energy. He can sense how annoyed it makes the prince and he doesn’t bother to take advantage of it in abandon.
Like now where he makes him use his fire power to fix some of the artificial soulmate lights for the play. Todoroki looks at them in both fascination and utter disgust, that makes Katsuki roll his eyes.
“It’s for the play, you dipshit! Get over your romanticism and let’s go.”
As they approach their destination, they crank up the number of performances in the few plays they have for this particular bunch. After that, they hit a hundred performances of the same plays and comes the time to come up with new storylines and play altogether. It certainly keeps them from diving into a dispassionate routine of repeating motions.
Todoroki helps put up the stage and Katsuki doesn’t glance more than necessary how he looks just as hot without his princely clothes and with some spare clothes they all had to give him to conceal his identity. In addition to that, Kaminari and Kirishima died white part of the hair to the other side’s matching red and gave him a grey contact for the blue eye so his can look more ordinary. It does nothing to lesser his attractiveness.
Which becomes a huge advantage at the days when they make themselves known. Todoroki’s looks attract the people of this planet and due to his heritage, he’s good at talking to people with politeness and interest. Even the times when he’s flustered and real do nothing to make him less ‘adorable’ or the millions of positive adjectives they use to describe him, giggling and gossiping when he puts up the holographic posters and talks people into coming. Damn you prince like charm!
Nevertheless, they are packed as fuck at the first show, which can be the less profiting at times as many are hesitant to try and seeing it. The opposite case with the last performance when most of those that wanted to come see already have.
The show goes without a flaw, they are all in their elements and it shows, the effects don’t break and the lights on the final romantic kiss is glowing bright for the audience to marvel and gasp. They cheer in excitement and Katsuki can’t help the wide smile as they bow for them from the stage.
Even locking eyes with a bewildered Todoroki can’t keep it away from his lips.
**
“You’re not completely useless.” Katsuki admits on their final night, both of them carrying supplies from the planet they are about to leave. Todoroki’s debut as unofficial part of the crew was a huge success during their entire stay and the money they allows them all not to only get the basics but indulge to their own guilty pleasures; in Katsuki’s part, it’s expansive fabrics from the costumes and for himself.
“Keeping me in was better than throwing me out, isn’t that right?” He can hear the bastard’s smirk in his voice and he feels his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. He’s doesn’t have the strength to react further than that as he’s feeling like he’ll pass out of exhaustion any minute now. With the corner of his eyes, he notices Todoroki staring at the bare arms around the boxes, trailing and licking every inch of his body in an absurdly indecent way.
“Don’t push your luck bastard.” He mumbles, walking ahead and leaving the other behind. Completely ignoring his chuckle as well as his racing heart, his sticking sweat and his even hotter than before face.
**
Everyone already seems to have fully taken in Todoroki in such a short time and as much as he wants to deny it, that statement includes himself as well.
During their brainstorming of new scripts, stories of royalty, political intrigues and secrets are capturing them all as Todoroki tells them like he hasn’t been living an extraordinary life from the moment of his birth. He just shrugs at their dropped jaws and wide eyes.
“It’s nothing special.”
“Dude.” Kaminari says in disbelief.
“You’re hopping from planet to planet to put up plays.” He counters.
“Definitely not the same.” Sero scoffs and everyone agrees until Todoroki gets flustered and recounts another story.
He talks about his family in longing fondness, his sibling being his only friends until an older than normal age as his title got in the way of many things they consider mundane.
It’s easy to write a story and the words come like clear thoughts. The take turns, correcting here, adding there and by the time the make a stop to refuel and stretch their legs, they have them ready; sooner than their best time until now.
Katsuki takes advantage of the fine fabrics he bought and begrudgingly takes Todoroki with him for input whether they look authentic and true to what he’s told them.
He sits too close and Katsuki doesn’t mind which is probably bad but doesn’t pull away at all. Not even when he notices the way Todoroki is looking at his lips while he speaks. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away those many times they are together and at some point, he can’t take it anymore.
“What’s your fucking problem?” he asks, not loudly; more with curiosity then anything else, even embarrassment.
“What are you so afraid of Bakugou?” it’s the answer he gets.
That has him finally looking at him. He’s not wearing the contact and his hair is slowly fading to its natural colour, but his eyes are soft and inquiring.
“What makes you think I’m scared of kissing you bastard? I just don’t feel like it.”
“You kiss the others pretty easily.”
“That’s because they are my crewmembers and it’s for the sake of the play, dipshit.”
Todoroki nods, disappointed but not pressing any further, “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” He touches the fabric Katsuki holds, their fingers brushing, “These look marvelous.”
“Of course they are. My mom taught me and if I say so, I’ve surpassed her already.” He huffs in pride. Like the previous conversation never happened, the topics is changed and spent their time until rest about the fabrics.
**
“Why the fuck are you here?” Katsuki snaps at the third gasp he hears.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do I bother you?” he bastard doesn’t even bother to pretend he’s sorry.
“You’re lazing around while we’re rehearsing!” He retorts, hands clenching around the holographic script device.
As he said, Todoroki decided against actually doing some chore and instead laying his royal ass down and watch them rehearse.
“I supervised the script. I need to observe if it’s any good or needs corrections. The settings and props too.” He smugly answers. He’s daring Katsuki to challenge him.
Damn royals with their diplomatic hypocrisy and immediate retorts and arguments!
With a stubborn and definitely not defeated huff, he takes the line he was saying once more, ignoring Todoroki’s over the top reaction to the play’s plot that he just said supervised. Katsuki’s professional experience allows him to enter his zone of focus again. It’s definitely not the first time that they had a rowdy audience member or members and Todoroki is tame in comparison to them.
The kissing scene in the end of the play arrives, with Kirishima on the other end. There is no awkwardness when their lips connect and just as planned, the light activates underneath his blouse to emit the soulmate-like light. It shines beautifully and realistically right above his heart and lightly catching his eye, just enough to make its presence known.
Somehow, he can feel the burning stare of Todoroki’s heterochromatic eyes boring into him until the very end when the last line is uttered, when Todoroki claps softly like you’d expect a stereotypical member of nobility to do.
In the middle of changing his clothes in the back of their stage, Todoroki sneaks in like it’s his home or some shit.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he growls.
“Came to congratulate you for the great performance?”
Katsuki’s brain implodes.
“Now and here? Couldn’t you just wait until I get dressed?” he doesn’t actually feel self-conscious about his body being out in the open, but Todoroki’s gaze is surely making the heat travel from his face to his neck, to his chest, as fact that heterochromatic eyes catch and follow soon after.
“I didn’t think about that.” he says coolly.
“The fuck you di-” his cursing is cut off by the other taking a step forward. Suspicious, Katsuki takes a respective step back to keep the distance.
Todoroki, that stupid and cunning bastard, gives him a small sweet smile.
“Break a leg tomorrow.” He says.
“Hey what the fuck asshole?” Todoroki laughs at that.
“It’s something we say in my planet to theatre actors for good luck.”
“Your planet is just as fucking weird as you! Just say good fucking luck!”
Todoroki’s smirk stays intact, only shrugging at him casually and leaving him confused, half naked and very pissed off.
**
And what do you know? Todoroki continues to bring as much misfortune as he did the moment he boarded their ship.
Kirishima gets sick in the middle of their stay in their new planet. Apparently, some plants inhabiting the planet cause him an allergic reaction and he’s sneezing fire since the rise of the two moons. Sero manages to make him a thick enough mask to cover his mouth and nose, while also under the effects of a lot of botany and medication, to take care of the entrance of the theater but certainly he cannot act in his situation.
The others already have their roles memorized and rehearsed, but they’ve stumbled upon many similar situations, so it’s a relatively easy fix. They just need to fill the place of the rival.
“I can play.” Todoroki says and it’s completely unnecessary. He voices that thought.
“Shouto.” Mina tells him fidgeting, “It hurts me to say it, but acting isn’t your strong point.”
“I’m the only alternative we have. There can’t be a play without the love interest.”
“He’s right” Kirishima coughs.
“Take your shitty hair and disease out of my stage.” Katsuki growls.
“Katsuki, the play starts in a bit and the crowd is in, we can’t do anything else.” Kaminari says.
He knows that, his pride of letting down a play and refunding money, along with the plausibility to get a stain in their reputation is greater than his feelings for Todoroki and his potential flop on stage. It’d still be bad for their fame, but not so much as the first scenario.
“Get him the clothes, read your lines and we go.” He says.
This plot is a political centric story of a royal family and their decisions in the face of war. The love interest which Todoroki plays to Katsuki’s protagonist prince is brief but there to lighten things up and lift he spirits even more at the bittersweet ending they are going to get, with one parting kiss before the almost lovers fall apart forever for the sake of their people. Inspired by true events that happened to a close royal family, as Todoroki said.
The play goes perfectly and it’s more surprising that in front of the crowd is better than when before the few of them. He’s posture is carrying most of it and a non-professional would buy the role with ease.
It goes smoothly until the second to last scene, where the kiss happens. Katsuki approaches him with slow steps and they are face to face. Todoroki cradles his cheeks with his hands, scripted words of passion uttered and there is silence in the audience, on the edge of their seats. They can’t see his face hidden by his ruffled hair to show his distress. But Katsuki does see it. It’s sincere and he’s not good enough of an actor to fake that. He grinds his teeth not to snap his neck when he notices a slight pull of his lips, ‘I’m having that kiss after all’ they say and dive in to capture Katsuki’s lips. Where the previous contact they had in these roles is through hand holding, an arm around his waist and a forehead kiss, those weren’t affecting him as he was sucked into the role. But this? Todoroki being himself for a moment, it brings his own self back and realizing.
The kiss is not brief, for the sake of the plot and he feels every moment of it. A fire ignites his nerves from his lips to his mind, blurring it in euphoria and to the rest of his body.
He hears a gasp from the crowd and he’s snapped out of the moment. It’s the first and only kiss between them and it makes it even more impactful in meaning. Todoroki’s artificial lights are glowing bright but he looks unraveled and shocked. Katsuki manages to save the scene with a little improvisation.
The crowd cheers and backstage he lets a sigh of relief and sinks into the floor.
“Katsuki!” Todoroki calls him, hurried and desperate but happy with a flush on his cheeks.
“What?” he’s tired and wants to go to sleep, the tension got him hard.
Todoroki kneels next to him and in a repetition of the scene before, he kisses him.
The shock of the first-time fades but there is still that thrumming in his body and when they pull away, he’s puzzled in his haze but the frustration comes right up.
“What the fuck?” he pushes the other away.
“Look!” he points to the fading light on his chest and smiles brightly like an oaf.
It doesn’t clear the confusion but raises his temper, “It’s the fucking devise.” He explains slowly to calm himself.
Rolling his eyes, he unbuttons his shirt carefully and exposes an empty place where the device was supposed to be.
Todoroki grabs Katsuki’s hands tightly, but to him they feel numb, “Who knew I’d find my soulmate here?” His smile and eyes are bright but he feels too cold to process it.
He’s Todoroki’s fucking soulmate.
“But that doesn’t say anything about you being mine.” He whispers faintly. Tension reigns again but Todoroki doesn’t let that sink him into a frown as he digs into Katsuki’s clothes, takes out the device and stares at his chest. Now his breathing is nervous and wrecked, but he kisses Katsuki for the third time in such a short period of time.
This one is briefer and they pull away fast enough to see the fading of Katsuki’s glowing light coming from definitely under his skin and not some made up technological piece.
“What would you have done if it wasn’t glowing?” is the first thing he asks.
“I’d be disappointed.” Todoroki responds, “but in our time together, the stories you tell have taught me that there is more to life than what we believe and what matters may change with the right people. Being outside of my home showed me more than I could ever imagine; including you.”
That reliefs him more than enough to smile genuinely and softly at the other.
“Goddamn you prince charming and your fucking fancy words.”
Todoroki laughs with him.
“I don’t want to ruin the moment or anything, but are you going to help up clean up?”
**
There is a gigantic ass ship looming in behind them with other faster and smaller ships surrounding them.
“What the hell going on?!” Kaminari shrieks as he makes the best possible maneuvers to avoid them and get away. It doesn’t work and the circle gets tighter, like a noose around their neck.
“It’s my family’s army.” Todoroki says.
Well, that make the noose something literal and unavoidable. Of course they would find them sooner or later. He sincerely hoped later or closer to never. But here they are.
“Your fucking army is going to kill us all!” He screams at Todoroki’s face, who is too fucking calm in the face of his soulmate getting arrested and possibly killed.
“Stop trying to escape and let them take you to the mothership.” He orders, “I’ll talk to them.”
They are taken back to Todoroki’s planet, them in custody and the prince being pampered and fawned on. One positive of this is that instead of rotting in a cell with minimal food, they get normal quarters which means majestic in prince language, with meals and time to spend with each other, but away from the prince. All those under heavy supervision of course.
When they finally arrive in the throne room, decorated with riches that makes Mina’s greed and Kirishima’s dragonian instincts flourish and salivate, they are all facing the whole royal family, all 6 of them.
“You are accused of kidnapping the second prince.” The king’s voice booms and god he’s tall and imposing and those fires he’s exhuming aren’t making things better, “Are you going to defend yourselves, criminals?”
Before anyone and everyone can talk, Todoroki, the second prince stand in between them and his family, “Dad, I told you they didn’t kidnap me. I escaped from here myself and found their ship by accident.”
The only princess speaks, “So if we weren’t alerted of your sights in the other galaxies and acted, you’d been gone forever?”
He flinches at her words, soft spoken but still hurtful and lowers his head, “I don’t know. After I learned about the arranged marriage, I panicked.”
“So you joined the space carvinal.” The prince with the black hair and marking says and Katsuki has enough.
“It’s a fucking theater you idiot. Don’t you know the difference?” he snarls.
Everything gets silent except his crewmates sigh and mutterings of ‘couldn’t hold it in’ and ‘you just had to speak’. Todoroki is sporting the same look.
Then the two older princes laugh out loud, following with the princess hidden giggle and even the fucking Queen’s amused smile.
The king looks at his youngest son with a demanding look of explanation.
“Free them.” He orders the guards instead of doing that.
The guards hesitantly look at their king who nods stiffly and in the next moment, they are free of their bindings.
They introduce them all by name and by speaking compliments about them, Mina’s wholesome cheerfulness, Kaminari’s sense of humour, Sero’s reliability, Kirsihima’s loyalty.
Which leaves Katsuki for last.
“And this is Bakugou Katsuki,” he stands next to him, sneaking an arm around his waist, “The one I love and want to spend my life with.”
A second deafening silence.
It doesn’t bother Shouto as he takes advantage of Katsuki’s surprise and kisses him foully on the mouth, to show off the lights on their chest.
“And will not accept anyone else.” He finishes when it ends.
“And what do you expect to say to the other party?” the king asks with just a hint of anger and more frustration, “That their promised prince backs off our alliance for a street actor?”
Well, that wasn’t the best description but wholly better and more accurate than space circus.
“Please wait a minute, dear.” The Queen speaks for the first time, hand slightly raised but all the attention is on her from word one, “Your name and your appearance remind him of someone. The Queen of the planet of another planet in our alliance, Bakugou Mitsuki.”
That’s definitely his mom’s name.
“She was the royal seamstress but had an affair with the prince and had a child. She had to leave for many years in fear of assassinations from inside the royal court. Her son would be around your age. The father, now the king found her and made her his rightful queen but the child, the son and heir, was never found and searched for years.”
Part of the story, the beginning mostly, was what his mother used to tell him when he was young, among the stories she fabricated along her clothing. She was good at her job and had her own shop but for reasons that couldn’t see until know, they used another name. only when he left with the crew did he reclaimed his true name.
“So it’s not about a street actor.” The queen concludes with a smile, “It’s about a better offer from another nation. And everyone will be happy. Alert the queen that her son has been found. And that we have a wedding to plan.”
Shouto turns to Katsuki and lifts him in the air in a swirling hug.
“Will you write our story with me, my prince? For it to be recounted and played for the centuries to come?” Shouto ask under the whistles from his crew and the voices around them.
“You already are, stupid prince.” Katsuki mumbles but his splitting grin more than shows he can’t hide his own happiness in the slightest.